#in the beginning it was a constant deal and it was great watching them having to fight with their own system

[defectivefoci]

started homestuck today. im already at act 5. im enjoying it.

[two-white-butterflies]

she's got away

Description: You frame your husband for your murder. It looks like Homelander has finally found his match.

Pairing: homelander/supe!reader

Warning: infidelity, murder, downfall of homelander, implied domestic abuse, planned suicide.

A/N: inspired by amy dunne. also, because i know that homelander isn't just gonna marry some basic bitch, he wants that crazy 😭

Homelander has read all news articles about you, your ex-boyfriends couldn't stop talking about the beauty of being the recipient of your love, but that was the thing. It was beautiful when the full warmth of your love is focused on them, but once the spotlight shifts - it leaves them feeling empty, reeling because of the loss.

When he married you, he expected that spotlight to be on him 24/7. "I can't believe that you convinced them to cancel the deal," a giggle escapes your mouth and Homelander's jaw clenches. Seeing you draped all over Stan Edgar made him want to kill that man. "It isn't that difficult when you have the D.A's office on retainer," the man boasts in a low whisper, but Homelander can hear him.

He can hear every little conversation happening inside the building. He glances at you - what did you have that he didn't? Why does Stan Edgar trust you of all people?

"Well that ought to remind them," you mused, taking a sip of your fizzing champagne. "Of what?" Stan raises an eyebrow.

You look straight at Homelander's eyes. Aware that he was listening in to your conversation with the executive. "that Vought isn't a superhero company. It's a pharmaceutical company." The sweet smile does not leave your lips, his jaw clenches - eyes glaring.

How dare you!

Openly defying him in front of Stan Edgar. Besmirching everything that he built and fought tirelessly for, just to twist the knife. Homelander had half the mind to march in your direction, to grab you by the arm and fuck you in front of all the executives that you tried to kiss-ass to. He takes a deep breath.

He mumbles a few curses, none loud enough for anyone to hear.

His heart sinks to the bottom of his chest once he realizes the glaring truth, that your love was beginning to slip away. The spotlight that all your exes couldn't stop talking about was now moving to the next big thing, and no one leaves Homelander! No one leaves him!

"Cheers," he hears you offer a toast.

He sees a woman standing in the table in front of him, clad in a black Etro dress that she probably rented just to wear. She looks like you in some lights. Homelander smiles - a lazy yet charismatic smile.

He walks towards her.

"It must be boring for you, watching all these idiots drink wine." He opens his mouth to speak, and the woman's attention turns towards him. Oh, he was going to move his spotlight before you move yours.

You lazily walk towards your shared apartment with Homelander. It was never a great pleasure spending the night here, the decorations were too manly and corporate for you to ever feel at peace with the surroundings. Dark blue walls - endless fake pictures, and that constant smell of perfume makes your head hurt.

A sigh escapes your mouth as you sink deeper into the sheets. His bed was magnificent - almost like he slept all the time. You sent him a message an hour ago, but he hasn't responded yet. "Where the hell are you," you mumbled while opening your phone - quickly navigating towards the 'find my phone' app.

Uh, yes, you put a tracker on your husband without his consent.

The app loads rather quickly, and you zoom out of the map - to see John inside of a Hilton Hotel. "Son of a bitch," you cursed. You rise from the sheets, sitting down and leaning on the bed-frame. You dial Ashley's number, and she answers on the first ring. "Where is Homelander?" You ask before she could say hello.

"Um, uh, I-" she stumbles in her words.

"Don't lie to me, please." Your voice was surprisingly soft. If the phone call was recorded, you didn't want it to come biting your ass in the future. "I don't want to tell you," Ashley responds in a firm tone. "I won't tell him that I know. It's a promise." You vowed.

"He's going to kill me. I don't want to get in the middle of this." She begged, her voice sounded desperate. "Well, you are in the middle of this and if you don't tell me then I'll find a way to screw you over." You threatened, recorded call be damned, playing good cop was over.

"He's at the Mandarin. He met with someone, please don't tell him that I told you!" She cried, a scoff escapes your mouth.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

yourname: This cape stands for everything that I believe in! It is also a reminder of how thankful I am to call this beautiful land my home. #FosteringTheFuture #Homelander

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homelandertruther: No supe has ever done as much damage to America than Starlight. Thank you homelander 🦅🇺🇸

MyEyesOpen: God bless this country

BootySheath99: Christians for Homelander >>>>

A fake smile ghosts your face as you feel his muscled arms wrap around your body. "Where were you?" You question. Not a nerve in his body showed signs of nervousness, which only made you think that he's been doing this for a long time. How it didn't eclipse your radar? You're not entirely sure. "I had a meeting with Madeline." He lies, pressing a kiss to your naked shoulder.

All men do is lie.

"At the Mandarin?" You raised an eyebrow, a sigh escapes his mouth. He presses another kiss to your naked shoulder, before pressing his face to the crook of your neck. "You don't have to be so damn possessive. It was just a meeting and Madeline is a prude." He talked down on the woman who was responsible for his success.

Your fingers danced across his clothed body, playing with the strands of his perfect blonde hair. This love story began because of a coffee shop, because he wanted to see the good in this world - and found it inside of you. He liked getting his ego stroked, you stoked his ego and then some. He liked watching old american films in his room projector, and you listened to him ramble about every little detail. He wanted a cool girl, and he got her.

Being a cool girl and being his wife is a mutually exclusive event. The occurrence of one supersedes the other and vice versa. You can't be 'cool girl' and also be his wife. It is humbling to become something that you once mocked. "I can't help it," you mumbled.

"No one is going to steal me from you," he promised. Oh, this was the first time that he addressed your feelings towards one another - and it looks like he's only doing it to not get caught. Who is his mistress? You wondered. Was she more beautiful than you? Did she have blonde hair or piercing blue eyes? Was she a southern belle, or perhaps a foreign woman who he has never seen before?

"What's happening to us? We're not happy anymore," you breathed out, watching as his features turned darker. His pupils dilated, his jaw clenched, and his grip on you tightened. This was another one of your mind games, one of the things that you'd do before pushing him off the edge. "We are happy." He insisted, because the truth is - there is no use being in a relationship with someone when you're not at your happiest. "We were happy." You corrected, pulling away.

"I know that you met with someone else," you whispered - almost in fear that someone else could hear. "I'm angry - disappointed, but I also love you. I want to be happy, again, with you." You confessed.

He kept staring at you, looking deep into your eyes, almost unable to decipher between the truth and your lies. "John," you refer to him by the name closest to his heart. His eyes soften, thrown back into the reality that you're nothing like him - there was not a bone inside of your body that schemed, or got jealous, or thought of bad things. You are good - the only good part of him.

"I'm sorry, baby." He apologized.

You press a kiss to his lips. Fuck you.

"Hello, you may all know me as Homelander's wife or Comet which is my superhero name. But my real name is Y/N Gillman. A few days ago the NYC District Attorney subpoena'ed me and I agreed to testify against my husband. He's done a lot of bad things. I'm not really sure if I'll be safe. If something happens to me, Homelander did it, my husband killed me."

The television screen fades to black, and his daunting reflection stares right back at him. A few hours ago you were reported missing, seemingly abducted in the middle of the day - and now this video is going viral. Homelander admits that it doesn't look good on him. "What the fuck is going on!" Madeline barged into the office, obviously as discombobulated as he was.

"I was hoping that you could tell me," a shrill air of madness hovers over his poignant figure. He wanted to kill the person in charge of posting this video, he wanted to know if you did this on your own accord - or if there was a gun pointed at your head. The thought of both sends him reeling into a cage of madness.

"I-I think that there's a reasonable explaination for this. She could be abducted by a terrorist group and forced to film this confession." Ashley came to your defense.

Homelander clenches his fist.

"If my wife was abducted under Vought's watch, then, I'm going to kill everyone, and I don't care how this plays out in social media." He threatened, glaring at Madeline - who he was sure had everything to do with this. Madeline takes a deep breath, regaining her composure - and an unnerving smile ghosts her lips. "We should all calm down, Vought is trying its best to track her down right now." She smiles.

"Make it fast!" Homelander raises his voice, throwing a vase in Madeline's direction.

Y/N GILLMAN'S DIARY ENTRY #30

Dear Diary,

My husband looks at me so sweetly, I can't help but think that he's the man of my dreams, the father of my future children, and the love of my life. Lately, I think that this man of mine is going to kill me.

He had sex with someone else. Mandarin Oriental. Find my Phone. It wasn't that hard to figure out. I confronted him last night, and the way that he promised me that he was going to change - almost had me believing that he would. My mother always said: men never change. My mother was right.

I opened his phone (don't ask me why I know his password) but I saw that woman's message. MISS U INSIDE ME. I fucking hate her.

Like any good wife, I confronted him about it (again) and he told me that it was nothing. I can't remember the other parts of our conversation, but it dragged on for so long that I almost thought that it would never end. He told me that he'd kill me. I think he's going to.

"Detective Harold Brink. I'm here to solve your wife's disappearance," the man shook Homelander's hand. The Detective had a certain rogue-ish charm to him, tanned skin with a light stubble. He had a head as big as his ego. Harold Brink seemed confident in his skills. Homelander is going to be the judge of that.

"Shouldn't you be out in the field doing exactly that? You wasted time coming here," Homelander gritted his teeth, staring at the man from his head down to his toes. "Nothing but protocol, Homelander. I don't want to point a finger but there was a video going viral, an accusation made by the person missing, if you may." Harold states.

He doesn't have to be a genius to understand that this incompetent detective was pointing a finger in his direction. "We also found her diary when we searched your apartment." The man lays the book on the table in front of him. He sees your beautiful handwriting, with loops and straight lines. Your handwriting always danced between the line of print and cursive. "I think this man of mine is going to kill me, a direct quote if you weren't able to read." Harold says smugly.

Homelander contemplates killing the man, but it would be obvious. His demographics were going down, he was already facing a media trial - Harold was his hail mary, whether he liked it or not.

"Hyperbole. You don't know my wife." Homelander insisted, seeing the glaring red lights in his periphery. The cameras were rolling, he needed to make a performance of the lifetime. "- and clearly you don't either. I have a video of her saying that if she were ever to go missing, then you'd be the one responsible for it. I also have a page from her diary alleging that you wanted to kill her." Harold says.

"I'm not at a deposition." Homelander glares.

"You will be, soon." Harold stands up, hearing footsteps from the outside. Most probably Homelander's lawyer. "I'll give the subpoena to your attorney," he informs.

Homelander stands up.

"Give me all the papers that you want, but my wife is out there. Instead of spending time trying to back me into a corner, maybe you should actually begin to do what the American taxpayers are paying you to do. Find my wife!" Homelander yells, and on cue the door opens. "How dare you talk to my client." His lawyer says.

Homelander sighs, this was going to be a long month.

homelander: My wife is missing. If you have seen her please report to the authorities. Keep us in your prayers ❤️🙏🏻

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homelander: There has been an avalanche of fake news coming my direction. I want to make it clear that I would never do anything to hurt my wife. The video that has been going viral is a deepfake. 📍 pinned comment

cometfanbase: There's literally evidence of u cheating on her 😭

kuchie92: #WeStandWithHomelander #HereForHomelander

"What is this?" Homelander shoves the phone in Ashley's direction. "Your legal counsel and the PR firm decided that it would be wise to post something in light of..." Ashley does not finish her words. She keeps her distance from Homelander. "I'm surrounded by fucking idiots. What if someone looks into that video and finds out that it isn't a deepfake?" He questions.

These people at Vought keep underestimating the power of social media. "We already took care of that. We own all the deepfake detection software, and they all flag that video down. Plus, our influencers have been posting a lot of videos to sway public opinion." The woman continues speaking, after three shots of vodka - fear doesn't make itself evident.

Homelander sits down at the head of the table. "Updates about the case?" He wanted all the insider information. He also wanted to know if you were really abducted - or just faking it to punish him. "They think that she was abducted, there was blood on the floor, signs of struggle. Vought thinks that we're dealing with a larger force, people who have the resources to pull this off inside of Vought Tower." Ashley avoids his stare, placing a stack of files on the table.

If Homelander was to find out that she was the one who told you about the affair, then she was going to be food for the worms. "Cameras?" He takes a sharp breath. "All records have been wiped from the database. They're trying to recover it but it's a slippery slope." Ashley continues, shifting as she stands.

Should she really be the person to tell him about all of these? One wrong word and he's going to shoot a laser through her head. "Get out of my sight," Homelander leaned on his chair - Ashley scattered faster than pigeons do at the sight of danger.

Madeline warned him about his temper, told him that he wasn't allowed to kill anyone until they were able to find you. She really thinks that he has something to do with your abduction. For the first time, Homelander is innocent in this crime.

His heart beats a little faster at the thought of you being held in danger. Hopeless against your abductors because he wasn't there to protect you. He looks like a goddamn pussy. It is his duty as your husband to protect you, and he couldn't even make sure that the cameras in Vought Tower were working.

When he finds you - when he finds the person responsible for this. He is going to kill them. He's going to torture them gently until they beg for death, and he's never going to give them death. He's just going to make their existence a meaningless chore. Born to be tortured. Born to be reduced to nothing but limbs and organs.

The perfect radical justice.

He was just about to shoot his lasers through the window but Harold Brink walks through the sliding doors of the Seven meeting room. "Homelander, you're coming with me. You have the right to remain silent..." Harold's voice drowns out once he feels himself stand up, his hands wrapped around by cold steel handcuffs.

You will remain in police custody until the investigation is over.

The following day, his lawyer came marching. His pays the man $10,000,000 annually and Homelander can say that he is worth the money. His cell (if he could call it that) was luxurious, a double mattress bed and five star dining - it was almost a vacation. But his mind couldn't rest - all he could think about was you.

If you were safe, fucking with him, or actually dead in a ditch.

"You need to make a public statement." His lawyer made his message very clear. "The Seven has been doing work without you. Vought has been talking about suspending you, most of all, half of the public thinks that you killed your wife." The man updated.

"If I speak then everyone is going to think that I did it for public opinion." Homelander gritted his teeth. He could easily get out of this facility in a blink, but due to propriety he must stay. "If you don't speak then everyone is going to think that your shameless," his lawyer enunciated. "- if we allow that fact to sit then it will become the truth." He added, handing him a file.

Presumably, the script for his 'public' message. Homelander brought to his knees by a goddamn missing person's report. "My wife is still missing. I'm not seeing anyone do anything about that. They're all pretty determined to point the finger at me." Homelander scoffs.

The man in front of him adjusts his glasses. "Did you do it?" He questioned, aware that Vought made contingency plans - so that no one would be able to record Homelander during his 'jail' time. "No," Homelander said with all the strength in his chest.

His people, the Americans, were turning against him.

"It doesn't matter anyways. As long as there is no body, they can't make us do shit. Now, about that public announcement, I'll be back here tomorrow - and ease up on the whiskey." His lawyer stands up.

HOMELANDER'S INTERVIEW

Cameron Coleman: Did you kill your wife, Homelander?

Homelander: I did not kill my wife, I am not a murderer.

Cameron Coleman: But you hurt her. You were unfaithful to her.

Homelander: I was. I am not proud.

Cameron Coleman: How do you expect us to believe you, when we all know that you're a liar?

Homelander: I didn't come forward about that fact because I knew that it would make me look bad. I knew that no one would trust me if that fact ever came forth. A real man doesn't hurt his wife. A good superhero protects everyone, but I'm just a man. I don't care about my reputation anymore. I need my wife, because I know that I need to make it better. I was a bad husband to a wonderful wife, that is the truth, Cam.

Cameron Coleman: And you expect us to [cuts off]

Homelander: I met Y/N L/N ten years ago and I was enchanted by everything that she did. She made me believe that there was good in this world, as I was always exposed to all the bad sorts, all the bad crimes. My job as a superhero has desensitized me to violence, I thought that violence was normal. When she came into my world I realized that it wasn't, life could be and can be gentle and kind. I wanted her to love me so I pretended to be something that I was not.

Cameron Coleman: You talk like a man who believes that his wife is still alive. Is she?

Homelander: She is alive. Please stop talking like she isn't.

Cameron Coleman: Okay, what would you like to say to your wife?

Homelander: Y/N, I love you. You are the most special person in this world, and I have hurt myself over the things that I've done to you. Come home, please baby. I'll spend my whole life trying to make it up to you, trying to be the man that I promised to be. The man who makes you happy, the man who thinks and remembers everything that you love. I'm sorry for doing the easy things instead of doing the right things. Come back, please.

Homelander: I'll do everything that you want me to do. We'll build a house by the beach, I'll stop being Homelander. I'll give you kids and dogs and make you that surfboard that I always promised to buy.

[tear trickles down Homelander's eyes]

[screen fades to black]

A gasp escapes your mouth as you finished watching his interview. A sudden realization comes to you. This man has killed for you - this man is killing himself for you. He has stripped himself bare of everything that he holds dear (he only holds his reputation dear). The American consensus on his morality has waned significantly.

They all think of his name and spit on the ground. Once he realizes that no one loves him, he's going to burn the world. And isn't it your duty to keep Homelander down to earth?

This husband of yours has hurt you so much, but he also knows what kind of words to say to keep you drawn back to him. You were twin flames, both with large fires, just waiting to burn each other out. No one understood you like him (vice versa) and he is the only person who's able to match your craziness.

The wanton desire that he feels over destruction. The wanton desire that you feel over destroying him. We are born for each other, you thought. You made that man - filled his boring and touch-starved self with attention until he began forming his own ambitions. He's nothing without you, and Vought is nothing without you.

A few weeks ago, you really wanted to kill yourself.

You planned on slitting your throat down the river. Your dead body would wash up on the shores, and everyone will point their fingers at Homelander. His life was going to be ruined, his reputation, his demographics - he was going to be a FAIL in all demographics. But now, maybe you should get back to him.

Because he really loves you. He wants to make it up to you. He knows the words to say to rile you up, and he knows what words to say to make you forgive him. He was the Adam to your Eve.

Your creator and your ruin.

If love doesn't rile you up, make you change yourself, make you evil, then it isn't love in the first place. It's dependence.

This thing that you feel for Homelander. It's love.

Love in its own twisted way.

[im-so-normal-iswear]

Stan/Ford with a girlfriend who's love language is physical touch and acts of service?

K

Stan/Ford x touchy reader

Stan Pines:

Stan is surprised but secretly loves it when you show affection through physical touch. You’ll wrap your arms around him while he’s watching TV, or rest your head on his shoulder, and though he plays it cool, it makes him feel appreciated in a way he hasn’t felt in years.

You make a habit of brushing your hand against his when you’re walking side by side, and he’ll eventually start reaching for your hand first, loving how natural and comforting it feels to be close to you.

Stan’s not used to someone being so affectionate, but your love language starts rubbing off on him. He’ll begin to lean into your touches, hugging you from behind while you cook or resting his arm around your shoulders when you sit beside him.

Acts of service? Stan is all over it! You’ll notice he tries to do little things for you, like fixing things around the house or going out of his way to make sure your car is running smoothly. He might grumble about it, but he’s actually thrilled to be doing things for you.

You help him feel more secure by offering simple, grounding gestures like rubbing his back after a long day or massaging his hands when you can tell he’s stressed. He’s never had someone who shows love like that, and it makes him realize how much you care.

Stan will start doing little acts of service for you as well, taking out the trash without being asked, picking up your favorite snacks from the store, or fixing that creaky floorboard you mentioned in passing. It’s his way of returning your love.

He loves when you run your fingers through his hair or playfully ruffle it. He’ll roll his eyes and act like it’s no big deal, but deep down, it melts his heart every time.

He’ll often sneak up behind you to give you a playful squeeze or a surprise kiss on the cheek, loving the way you react with laughter or a return kiss. Stan might not have been overly affectionate before, but your love language has made him far more open to showing how much he cares.

Stan may not be the best at verbalizing his feelings, but you know he loves you deeply, even if he’s not always great with words.

Ford Pines:

Ford is initially awkward about the constant physical touch, but he eventually grows to ease at it. Your casual touches, like placing your hand on his arm while talking or leaning into him when you sit together, become little moments he looks forward to every day.

When you wrap your arms around him or give him an affectionate squeeze, it catches him off guard at first. But as time goes on, he starts melting into your embraces, finding comfort in the way you always seem to know when he needs it.

Ford isn’t always great at initiating physical affection, but he loves when you take the lead. When you take his hand while he’s working on a project or pull him close after a long day, it helps him relax in ways he didn’t realize he needed.

Acts of service? He adores it. You offer to help him organize his research, make him tea when he’s been working late into the night, or leave little notes of encouragement around the shack. It makes Ford feel cherished and understood.

He’s not used to someone expressing love in such a tangible way, and it makes him incredibly grateful to have you in his life. Your acts of service show Ford that you’re attentive to his needs and care deeply about his well-being.

Though Ford’s love language might be more verbal, he tries to return the gestures by doing small things for you in return. He’ll fix things around the house or offer to carry the groceries in, wanting to make sure you feel cared for too.

Ford grows more comfortable with your constant touches and even starts to crave them. You’ll catch him leaning in closer to you while you talk or gently holding your hand under the table during meals.

He loves how you’re always there with a hug, kiss, or touch when he needs it the most. After stressful research sessions or long days, the way you hold him or gently rub his shoulders does wonders for his mental and emotional well-being.

Ford becomes more physically affectionate as time goes on, though it takes him a bit longer than Stan. He’ll give you gentle touches when you’re together, like placing his hand on your back or brushing a lock of hair out of your face. These little gestures become his way of expressing love when words escape him.

[intooned]

MY FAVORITE SHIPS!

This was a LONG time coming! And I want to thank @expensiveeggplant & @coffinbrotherr for putting up with my procrastination while boiling down the who and why of this list!

Adventure Time: Finnceline

My first real ship, the first fanfiction I ever read, and I spent hours watching Finnceline AMV's way back when YouTube didn't have commercials. Finn and Marcy's personalities and experiences play so well off of each other that I'm thoroughly convinced the writers were terrified of their potential. They would be an amazing butt-kicking couple, but that wouldn't leave Finn with as many flaws to develop as a young man coming of age. And it's such a shame because you know they'd always have each other's backs and best interests at heart. And with a fully grown adult Finn I'd bet money they'd have at least turned out as cuddle buddies... who occasionally engage in some very aggressive cuddling courtesy of my good friend Lofty! (Click at your own risk!)

Flame Princess and Huntress Wizard were great and had their cool moments with Finn, but something tells me Marceline would give up her immortal life in a heartbeat to protect Finn. Having seen each other's pasts and memories and going out of their way to help each other with deep-rooted life issues, Finnceline just has more depth to work with than the other ships.

Gravity Falls: Dipper x Pacifica x Mabel

The first episode I ever saw was the one where Pacifica and Mabel play mini-golf. I wasn't fully paying attention and assumed Dipper and Mabel were just best friends dealing with a bully. The car ride home together was cute and solidified my first ever threeway ship. THEN I found out they were siblings...

Then I found out fanfiction didn't care! In fact, here's a [link] to the BEST fanfic I've ever read for this ship, enjoy!

Star Vs. The Forces of Evil: MonStarco

The MonStar AU is where things are relatively the same except for one thing: Star is half or part monster. It makes good sense that Star, being an interdimensional magical princess from an interdimensional magical kingdom would be a little more... interdimensional. It gives some fresh blood to Starco fics, which can be a bit too vanilla most of the time, especially when you get to parts where Star's otherworldly anatomy and quirks cause all sorts of problems and shenanigans!

Sort of like her muberty phase but she's stuck looking that way, and if you remember the show said there's a chance every Mewman actually COULD end up stuck in butterfly form! Super interesting! It reminds me a lot of the episode of Teen Titans(original) where Starfire was going through alien puberty, and how fun of an episode it was to watch. The fact that there's tons of Monster Star AU and Mewberty art out there helps a ton as well!

Steven Universe: Lapiven & Stevinel

Lapiven: These two are the perfect example of "cute sunshine boy X hot goth gf". Plain and simple, Steven's optimism is exactly what Lapis needed to begin working through what happened to her. And no one appreciates a cinnamon roll the way a scarred person does. Also, tell me they don't look like a couple everytime they're onscreen together? I mean really watch them! Blushing, giggling, constant eye contact, twinkling eyes, immediately responsive to each others change in mood, plenty physical contact, elation whenever Steven calls or visits.

You can call it platonic for the Shtewball, but Lapis adores Steven in every sense of the word! She warned him and negotiated his safety when she realized Homeworld would get involved. She held Jasper prisoner in her own head just to protect him. She faced her trauma and returned to confront the Diamonds, ready to put hands and feet on an enemy she knew she couldn't beat. And entirely because, to her, Steven's safety was more important than her own life! Weigh out those exact same scenarios, their exact same interactions with each other with just about any other two characters in animation and tell me it doesn't make sense? I swear most of their episodes together are just them going on dates!

Stevinel: Now this is special to me. On the opposite side of the scale Steven and Spinel share the same feelings of abandonment and inadequacy from and by Pink. Of course they aren't the only ones, but Spinel didn't raise Steven as a parent or sibling. There was no one better suited to empathize with Steven's issues, and his downward spiral into becoming a monster who hurts people.

What Spinel went through in the movie is too on the nose for what Steven goes through in Future, and I'm flabbergasted that the writers chose to have her be of little to no help when Steven needed to be shown that he didn't have to hold himself together on his own!

But back on topic. The other Gems love Steven, but Spinel is wired to love him just like Pearl, on top of whatever blooms between them naturally. So when those wires were damaged from Pink's abandonment, it's quite poetic that Steven is the one to mend them. From there It's as easy-peasy pink-heart-squeasy to assume the seeds of affection could sprout from such fertile ground. It also helps that Rebecca Sugar blatantly suggests Steven and Spinel's relationship isn't concretely platonic, at least for Spinel. Even going so far as to give us fan service!

Possibility is all that is needed for shippers and fanfictioneers to run wild with wishful thinking. I also might have a revenge boner for heartbroken characters who find happiness despite the tomfuckery done to them. "Pink abandoned me in her garden? Guess I'll have Steven frolicking in mine.

RWBY: Nora's Arc

Although I may grow enamored with other RWBY ships, I always come back to this one. It's just tons of fun! Responsible & Awkward meets Extroverted Hurricane, legally banned from IHOP and the Sloth exhibit at the zoo! Premium family man real estate meets poster girl for found family and there's no one better than Jaune-1-of-8-kids-Arc to get the job done!

I'm also of the mind that Nora's bombastic personality is meant to draw people to her, because she's absolutely terrified of being alone and left behind again. And with family gatherings at the Arc residence, isolation is all but nonexistent.

Wakfu: Yumalia

Dreams do come true! LET'S GOOO! Not much to say; they were set to be together from first sight and it was a rollercoaster from there. A lot like Aang and Katara, Yugo got his feisty princess and Amalia got her dashing hero. It's classic, it's timeless, and you love to see it done well!

The Dragon Prince: Rayllum

Obvious cuteness is obviously cute. It's nearly unheard of for the strange but exotic alien girl to be the one intrigued and smitten with the human boy. An action adventure fantasy but the non-human girl is the awkward one hiding her feelings? Sign me up! It's a breath of fresh air!

Sonic The Hedgehog: SilverWolf

The newest addition! Some fresh meat to sink my teeth into as I rekindle my love for the Sonic franchise! I haven't followed anything Sonic since the fever dream that was Sonic 06, but happened to see a few panels of Silver talking to what appeared to be a new character, Whisper the Wolf! Shy, soft spoken, but not from timidity, rather a desire to not scare others away because of her frightening features.

Pairing her with the very approachable and reassuring Silver makes for good chemistry in my opinion. I also adore Whisper's color scheme and the combination of silver, gold, and neon lights they have in a lot of comic panels together. They'd make a cute pair that's easy to reduce to a blushing mess with any little bit of teasing, and I'm here for it!

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!

I have loads more ships but these are the ones that I felt were most worth sharing.

[writingroom21]

The Nanny

Pairing: rafe x nanny reader

Summary: Being Wheezie's nanny was great. The only downside is dealing with the oldest Cameron, Rafe. What happens when his fascination with the nanny becomes a reality?

Warnings: 18+, fingering, oral (m and f receiving)

wc: 4.9K

Chapter 2: Let the fun and games begin

The next day was a blur of anxiety as you didn’t know what to do about last night. Rose and Ward had left early this morning taking Wheezie to drop her off at her camp. That just left you, Sarah and Rafe all alone at Tannyhill. This normally wouldn’t have been a problem but considering Sarah is MIA it became one. Every room you enter fills you with anxiety and dread of seeing Rafe. How do you even look at him after what happened? After he caught you watching him fuck his fist. Alright you think as you start to throb just thinking about how his arms flexed everytime he stroked himself. This is getting out of hand, it was one thing for your thoughts to keep you up all night but it can't affect your daily routine.

What’s the worst that can happen right? So what if you stood there and watched him, he would have done the same in your position. Hell he probably would have taken it as an invitation if he walked in on you like that. But no matter how you tried to spin it in your head it all led to the same conclusion. You were utterly fucked. The past year was easy to blow him off, all you had to do was think about all the girls you saw crying over him. But now that you caught a glimpse of that side of him you can’t help wanting to get a closer look. It wouldn’t hurt to have a little fun, you thought. It really wouldn’t, he’s really handsome and if his reputation is right then he’s also really good in bed.

Then you think about Wheezie and how hurt she would be if something went wrong and you had to leave. The thought of hurting her alone was good enough for the thoughts to finally stop. No matter how attractive Rafe is it isn't worth it, plus his personality would probably ruin it before it even starts. Yeah the two of you are completely different, he grew up rich and thinks the world is his to rule and you grew up in the cut. If it wasn’t for this job you would still be living at home barely making anything to feed yourself. He only tolerates you because he thinks you are hot and you work for his family. Yup that it, right?

The tv plays in the background reruns of Grey’s Anatomy playing as you try to relax. It’s close to five o’clock and no one is in the house. Sarah is probably off with John B and Rafe is well he’s mostly likely off somewhere getting high. Derek’s voice plays in your ear as you focus back onto the screen forcing yourself to think of anything but the older Cameron. Watching as the surgery scene plays out your phone pings. Mom: Hi baby. Just wanted to let you know dad and I are having a cookout tomorrow night. We would like it if you came, we know you’re a busy bee but we miss you. You let out a sigh looking at the message. It wasn’t that your relationship with your parents is bad, they just expected a lot from you. 

It was always about getting good grades so you could get a good job and help them out with bills. They wanted you to take care of them once you had a stable job. So when you decided to take up a job as a nanny they weren’t too pleased.  The displeasure faded away once they found out it was being a nanny for the Camerons. Even though the paycheck was nice, well more than nice, it still wasn’t enough to cover their expenses and your own. It’s been a constant argument between the three of you. You type out a quick response before she starts sending you more. You: Hey! I miss you both. I’ll try to make it, Ward and Rose asked me to watch the house while they are gone. Your phone wasn’t even out of your hand before it went off again with another message. Mom: I’m sure they won’t mind you being away for a few hours. But if you can’t make it we will just see you another time then. Her message seems so understanding but deep down you know she's upset. Fingers go to respond but a voice scares you. The phone drops from your hand as you whip your head to look at who came into the living room. “Still pretending to text that boyfriend of yours?” Rafe says, making his way over to the couch and plopping down near you. Scoffing at him you respond. “No, I'm texting my mother.” “oh so you admit the boyfriend was fake.”

There’s a twinkle in his eyes as he grins at you, watching to see what your next move will be. “Yeah it was fun watching you get jealous but I decided to give it a rest for tonight.” The two of you just stare at each other for a moment, he’s looking at what you are wearing. You didn’t notice it at the time but it’s one of his old shirts that got mixed with your laundry a while ago. It looks like a dress on you blocking the view of your sleep shorts underneath. Which is a good thing because those shorts leave nothing to the imagination, barely covering you up from the world. Every now and then you wear it but only in your room, not allowing yourself to let him know you have it. 

“Nice shirt.” He comments scooting a bit closer to you on the couch. “You should wear it more often Sunny. Really makes your eyes pop.” Mhm you mumble knowing that he’s not looking anywhere near your eyes. In fact he’s staring at the exposed flesh of your thighs. Skimming up along your legs pausing for a moment at your cunt. Rafe’s eyes on you are making you wiggle in your seat as you try to focus back on the show. It is quiet for a moment as the voices of the characters fill the room. The sky outside starts to darken as the sun finally sets, the room painted in the soft lights of the screen.

Rafe is staring at you, looking at how the light washes of blue dance across your features as you try your best to not stare at him. Movement catches your attention as you see him slide further along the cushions to sit right next to you. “Where’s Sarah?” He whispers by my ear, his right hand brushes against your left thigh. “Um… I don’t know. Maybe she’s with John B or the rest of them.” Clearing your throat, the voice leaving you sounding weak. “Hmm so it’s just us in the house?” The question was met with his hand resting fully on your thigh. Lightly squeezing you as it slowly goes a bit higher right where the shirt ends, fingers quickly skirting underneath before going back to its original position. 

“Rafe.” The rest of the statement was cut off by him. ”Don’t do that. Enough with this game of cat and mouse. I know you want this as badly as I do.” A moan slips from you as his hand goes back under the shirt to tease you through your shorts. Rafe’s middle finger grazing you up and down, noticing the way your eyes screw shut. Creases forming around them as he keeps playing with you. “We shouldn’t do this, I literally work for your family.” You try to reason with him turning to be face to face, whimpering as the heat of his hand leaves as he retracts it. 

“I know.” He whispers as the hand that was touching your caresses your check, knotting into your hair to drag you closer. The other hand worms it way back to your shorts, sliding them to the side to finally feel you. “Fuck no panties? See you’re practically soaking those little shorts of yours.” You moan as he circles your clit with a feather-like touch. “Are you always this wet or do you like me touching you like this?” He chuckles as you move further into his touch. “You’re not special Cameron. I’m always this wet.” The response stops all movement, the grip in her hair tightening for a short second causing your eyes to open. Meeting the blue eyes that haunted you all night, you let go.  “Don’t stop.” 

Your lips crash into his, soft pillowy lips melting together, teeth nipping at each other's lips as Rafe’s fingers continue their assault. “That’s a good girl, Sunny. Fucking perfect.” The words tickle your lips, head thrown back as he makes his way to your entrance. Rafe pushes his middle finger in, dragging it along your walls in a delicious and intoxicating way. Moans keep slipping from your lips and only intensifies as his lips skate across your skin, latching onto your neck. 

A second finger joins his middle one curling just enough to hit your g-spot, tingles spread across your body, legs spreading giving him better access. “Right there.” You moan, your hand landing on his thigh trying to ground yourself when all you can feel is pleasure. Wet squelching fills your eyes only adding to the sensation of his thick fingers fucking you open. “That feel good, baby?” Rafe picks up his speed before taking his fingers out of you and putting them in his mouth. He moans around his fingers, pushing you back to lay down on the couch.  “Come on, pretty girl, lay down for me. Want to have my dinner.” 

Your brain is so hazy from having his fingers inside you that you don’t fight back. Lifting your hips, his hands wrap around your hips to pull the pathetic excuse you call shorts down your legs. The flimsy material being thrown off to the side, shirt pushed up to your waist exposing you to him for the first time. “God your pussy’s perfect. Look at it clenching around nothing. Want me to fill you up.” His lips start to kiss up your thigh, biting into the soft flesh when you don’t respond. “Please.” You whine 

“Please what? Use your words, I know a smart girl like you can do it.” The praise goes straight to your head, hips lifting off the couch trying to chase after his touch. “Please, sir.” The whimper halts Rafe and he stares up at you. After a moment of him not doing anything you look down at him between your legs. If you had a camera in this moment you would take a picture, he was a sight to be seen. Rafe’s lips are puffy and red but his eyes are staring at you with this hunger that makes you go to close your legs but he stops you. Both hands spread your legs as he dives into your cunt.

“Fuck that wasn’t what I was looking for but I’ll be damned if you don’t call me that.” His voice vibrates against you sending chills down your body. “Say it again.” His middle and ring finger push into you once again, pumping in a cruel slow pace. “Please, sir. It feels so good.” Your walls flutter around the fingers inside you, his tongue kitty licking your clit. “Such a good little slut. Begging me to keep finger fucking you like some depraved whore.” His words cause you to squeeze his finger and throw your head back with a moan. 

“Yeah you like being degraded?” A chuckle leaves him “Should’ve known you would like it. Prancing around the house in those little skirts. Just asking for me to bend you over some surface to fuck you. Bet you want me to fuck that attitude right out of you. Huh would that finally shut up that little mouth of yours?” With his fingers curling into you deeper and his mouth suctioning against your clit no words come out. Your mouth hangs open and all you can do is place your hand behind his head, keeping him as close as possible to you. 

A choked moan is lodged in your throat, eyes peeking at him through your lashes. His eyes are closed as he keeps devouring you, his hips thrusting into the couch to relieve the growing pain in his pants. Rafe wanted nothing more than to rip his pants off and shove his dick into your tight pussy. If you were squeezing him so nicely now, he can only imagine how good you would feel wrapped around his cock. He wanted to watch as you crumble into a mess of pleasure, taking his dick like a cock drunk slut. The thought of that alone causes his hips to stutter, the feeling making him moan into your pussy.

At this rate you can feel your peak creeping up fast. “Oh god Rafe. Don’t stop, please don’t stop.” Hips thrusting up to match the brutal pace his fingers have set. If you thought his arms looked good jerking himself off, nothing compares to watching it flex as he fucks you. “I’m not stopping, baby. I’m never going to stop. But that’s not my name.” Rafe means it too. Just the little taste of you has ruined him, no one will be able to compare to the sweet taste of you. “Sir!” you squeal. He's drunk off the feeling and taste of you, every clench of your pussy making him grind harder into the cushion. “I can feel you squeezing me. You want to be my good girl right? Cum for me Sunny.”

With a graze of his teeth on your clit, you were sent to ecstasy. Hips thrashing all around as he kept sucking on your clit, fingers pushing deeper into you riding out your orgasim. Once you come down he removes his fingers, quickly cleaning them with his tongue before diving back into you. Licking you clean and holding you down by the waist as you try to escape him. When he’s finally done he lets you go, leaning back, chest heaving looking down at you.

You were the prettiest thing he’s ever seen. So fucked out catching your breath with a peaceful look on your face. Eyes still closed you don’t notice him leaning back down, encasing your body with his. His thumb lightly dances along your cheek, waiting for you to open your eyes to look at him. “Thank you.” You whisper suddenly shy as if he wasn’t just eating you out like you were his last meal. Rafe laughs, kissing you deeply before moving off of you. “Such good manners.” He walks over to your shorts, throwing them back at you, making his way out of the room. “I have to go deal with something. I’ll be back later okay.”

Silence wraps around you, the tv displaying Are you still watching? Getting up you pull your shorts back on looking around the couch for your phone and the remote. Finding your phone you also notice something on the couch. A huge wet spot from where you were laying, heat rushes to your checks knowing you just soiled an expensive couch.

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The rest of the night was uneventful, Sarah never came back home so you were left all alone. Usually you and Wheezie would spend the summer nights outside swimming in the pool or staying up late chatting about god knows what. Without her there really wasn’t anything to do besides lay around or go to a party. After much consideration the only one that seemed right was staying at home. You knew Rafe would most likely be at the party, the something he had to deal with being selling coke. After last night and tonight you don’t even know how to face him again.

So staying at home was the best option in your books. A few hours were spent reading whatever romance book was on your bookshelf and making dinner for yourself. By midnight you were fast asleep in your room. Sleeping so peacefully, the sounds of the bedroom door opening weren't noticed. It was the door closing that stirred you from your slumber, looking at the bedside clock you noticed it was past two in the morning. Soft footsteps echo in the dark room, the person fumbling their way around knocking down whatever they made contact with. “Fuck” they curse the sound barely reachign you.

Scared and not knowing what to do you lay there slowly reaching for the bat by your bed. Even though this is a good neighborhood and people would have to have the gate code to get in you can never be too safe. The bat is now next to you in the bed, the side behind you dipping with the weight of the person sitting on it. “Sunny.” They whisper. Are you fucking kiddin’t me? “Rafe?” His hand wraps around you to turn you around, the bat coming along with you. “Jesus. Is that a fucking bat?”

Rafe slips it out of your hand placing it under your bed before going back to you. “Do you always keep a bat on you?” “Depends. Do you always sneak into girls' beds at two in the morning?” The moon shining through the windows dimly lit the room, contouring his face. “Only the pretty ones.” He whispers in the space between you two, telling you a secret he normally wouldn’t say. “I’m sure you say that to all of them.” You tease trying to put distance between you both. It’s weird having him laying in your bed, sure the two of you were friendly, things only changing the previous day. But this is different, he’s in your room, he’s laying in your bed next to you.

“Nah none of them need the sweet words to sleep with me.” Cocky tone matching the grin growing on his face. “Oh of course. Forgot that the kook king was also a king in the bedroom.” Rolling your eyes and lying on your back, you stare at the ceiling. Of course he would only say nice things to get into your pants, you don’t know why you could even think differently. Rafe’s face invades your eye line as he rests all his weight onto one arm to get a better look at you. His eyes are bloodshot, pupils dilated scanning your face hoping it can tell him what you are thinking. 

“Penny for your thoughts.” Your eyes shut trying to form words with all the things you want to say. That he made you feel something no one else has been able to do, how you want to keep chasing that feeling, but more importantly that it was a mistake. It doesn’t matter that it felt amazing, that whatever it was would only lead to heartbreak. You’ve seen this film before with all the girls he flaunted around the house. “This.” You clear your throat, averting your eyes to the window. “This can’t keep happening.” 

Rafe takes a hold of your chin turning you to look at him. “Do you want it to keep happening?” The loaded question fizzling in the air was replaced by a quick “No.” leaving your lips. “But it doesn’t matter what I want.” “It does matter.” Blue eyes burning into your own pleading for you not to take away these moments. Communicating with you that he needs this as much as you need him. “It can be our little secret. I promise I won’t tell.” You giggle, his head burying into the crook of your neck, kissing the junction where your shoulder and neck meets. 

You try to push him by his shoulder but he won’t budge, kissing up your neck until he meets your ear. “Stop letting life pass you by. You stay cooped up in this house with Wheeze all day, she’s not a kid you know. When was the last time you let yourself go?” His breath tickles your ear before biting it and continuing to kiss your skin. Rafe’s right, you don’t do anything fun anymore. Before you took this job you would go out constantly, always with friends running around the island. Wheezie shouldn’t even need a nanny, the only reason you have this job is because Ward was scared. Sarah running away and Rafe doing drugs all the time made him paranoid, he doesn’t want the same to happen to her.

“I don’t know, I would say what we did on the couch would count.” His kisses travel to your jaw, then check, and finally meet your lips. “Yeah I would say it counts. Fucking soaked the couch from how wet you were.” You tense for a moment, embarrassed that he noticed the mess you made. “Nah nah don’t get shy on me pretty girl. You’re just as dirty and depraved as I am.” Pretty girl, that's the second time he’s called you pretty since he sneaked into your room. “You’re high, you should go to sleep.”

“Not high, that shit is practically out of my system at this point.” Kissing your lips he weasels his way on top of you. Your legs widening allowing him to slot his hips between yours, his dick rubbing you in the right way. You are still wearing the shorts from earlier, his dick making the fabric  stick to your folds. “Just want to feel you.” Rafe’s words punctuated with his hips slowly thrusting against you, lips kissing any exposed skin he can get to. “I’m not letting you fuck me after you’ve been taking drugs all night.”

You can feel him smile against your skin, giving you a peck and moving his head to meet your gaze. “So what I’m hearing is you would let me fuck you any other time.” scoffing you roll your eyes flicking his forehead. “Yeah dumbass that’s what I’m saying. It's too bad. I guess we’ll have to find another way.” “Another way?” There’s that smirk again, a fluttering feeling starts in your stomach. Shaking the feeling away you pull him up by his face to kiss you, using all of your body weight to get him on his back. Throwing your leg over his hip you straddle him. 

Rafe is the first to break the kiss, watching you from below as you start to grind against him. “Tell me princess exactly what is this other way?” The hand that was resting on your neck makes its way down the valley of your breast, teasing you nipples through the shirt with a pinch before finding its home on your hip. Viewing him from this angle is breathtaking, the moon painting him in a light blue. “Let me suck your dick.” His hips thrust up into your after hearing how you want to suck him off. “Yeah? Want to put the little mouth of yours to good use.” You grind a little harder leaning down to kiss his neck.

There’s a slight taste of sweat on his skin, probably from partying too hard, it doesn’t stop you from sucking on his pulse point. Pecking up to his ear and placing kisses right behind it, gaining moans from him. Bingo. Sucking on his sweat spot he uses his grip on your hips to move you back and forth. “Yeah. I want to feel you in my mouth, want to taste you.” This causes him to groan bucking into you. “Fuck! Yeah, yeah you can have whatever you want baby.” The words are like a reward, smiling as you look down at him, your hair covering the two of you from the outside world.

“Good boy.” Two simple words, two words that had him wrapped around your finger. The grip on your hip tightens as you kiss down his body, pulling his shirt over his head so you can nip at his skin. Your hands reach between your bodies undoing the belt and pants button easing the pain the zipper was giving him. He’s so painfully hard he can’t even remember the last time he wanted someone this much. “You like being my good boy just as much as I like being your good girl. If you admit it I’ll suck you so good.” You whisper, eyes flickering up to look at him. 

If his ego wasn’t so big he would admit it, he would tell you just how fucking bad he wanted to be good for you. But that’s not who he is, admitting something like that would just show you how weak he truly is, he can’t do that. “Oh you begging for me to fill that mouth up of yours and fuck that tone out of you.” He taunts from above, grasping at anything to give him the upper hand. “You’ll definitely be filling up my mouth. It’s just going to be under my rules.” Pushes his shorts and boxers down his cock springs free bobbing in front of your face. Reaching up you grab him and give him a little squeeze, electing a groan out of the boy laid out on your bed.

You kiss his left thigh before licking him from the base up to the mushroom tip that was red, begging for attention. The taste of pre-cum invades your tongue as you wrap your lips around him, sucking just the tip. He’s heavy in your mouth and you only have the tip in but based off of the quick glance you got you knew he was big. Like huge, he’s also wide, stretching your lips as you take more of him in. If he’s stretching you out like this then you can only imagine what fucking him would do. As if Rafe was a mind reader he calms your nerves. “Don’t worry baby, we’ll make it fit. Just…just keep sucking like that.” 

Humming around him, you start to move your head up and down, making sure to hollow your cheeks and give him a nice long suck on the way up. Repeating the motion you get into a rhythm, right hand wrapped around what you can’t fit helping you along. “Fuck that feels good. Who knew that mouth was good for something else other than talking back.” The vibrations of your chuckle send pleasure through Rafe’s body. He doesn’t know whether to watch you or to shut his eyes and enjoy the moment. But looking at the way your eyes are closed, worshiping his dick has him throwing his head back. His eyes closing, moans escaping him as he wraps your hair in a ponytail in his hands. Guiding your pace he pulls your hair this causes you to moan around the sensation making you wet. 

“Touch yourself.” The command takes you by surprise, following it, your unoccupied hand makes its way into your shorts. You're wet, wet is an understatement, you were soaked. You would never admit this but you liked the feeling of him in your mouth, the feeling of him rutting into you. “You get off on this shit don’t you?” Your fingers rub faster on your clit, already so close to cumming just by sucking him off. “Knew you were a cock slut. Damn baby.” He huffs between breaths. 

All you can do is moan and keep sucking, picking up the pace of your bobbing, moving your arm to slip a finger inside yourself. Rafe lifts his head at your movements, entranced by just watching you. His beautiful little Sunny being perfect, your eyes flutter open and his breath hitches. He’s going to remember this moment forever, it’s going to play on repeat in his head every minute of every day. Whatever happens after this is worth it in his eyes, this right here made it worth it. “If you keep going I’m gonna cum.” He moans, head falling back onto your pillow. 

Disconnecting from him a string of saliva and pre-cum kept the two of you tethered. “That’s kinda the point, pretty boy.” You continue your previous movements, on the verge of cumming yourself. You can feel him throbbing ready to explode in your mouth so you squeeze his base tighter, letting him know it's okay and you want it. “Can you be a good boy and come for me sir?” Not even a second later he lets go, white ropes of cum filling your mouth as you cum right after him. Swallowing around him, you let him go, releasing him from your mouth, the hand in your pants laying motionless. 

Rafe lets go of your hair, grabbing your arms to pull you up his body. The motion was so fast that you had to catch yourself as your body tumbles on top of him. He reaches for your hand, still glistening from your sum to pop them into his mouth. Rafe’s tongue swirls around the digest, licking them clean and releasing them to kiss you. “Taste just as sweet like before.” He kisses you, turning your bodies so you are both laying on your sides.

He has a soft smile on his lips, hands rubbing up and down your arm as he regulates his breathing. “Did so good, sunny.” His eyes are barely open, fighting off the sleep threatening to overcome him. “Yeah?” You whisper resting your head on his shoulder, feeling a sense of comfort with his arms wrapped around you. Snoring mets your ears as sleep takes you along with it. For the second night in a row, you go to bed with the taste of him still lingering on your taste buds.

[mrchiipchrome]

The Best Kept Secrets...

W.C. - 3.7 k

a/n: all Spanish is in italics bc i'm lazy.

----------------

Homecoming! From Barcelona’s youth academy to Manchester United and back again, read more about the incredible journey Ona Batlle and Y/n Leòn have made on their way to first team football at the Spanish giants…

The Red Devils lose 2 Spanish superstars as Batlle and Leòn prepare to leave in the summer, read more here…

A package deal! Manchester United stars switch rainy England in exchange for sunny Spain, will we finally get an insight to what makes them so great?

That’s what most of the tabloids had sounded like as soon as you and your girlfriend announced that you were leaving the club that had housed you for more than three years, the club that had helped you develop as players and people. 

It was bittersweet, you had gotten attached to it after all like anyone would but it was time for a new challenge, and that was apparently having to deal with your older sister every hour of every day.

But having Ona by your side made everything miles better, the constant playful annoyance with your sister melted away as soon as her warm hand slipped into your own, the huge smile on your face something not even Mapi could wipe away.

Although that was a problem, well for Mapi at least. She wasn’t the only one who noticed the small seemingly insignificant touches between the two of you, the playful teasing, the stolen glances when you thought no one was looking. 

It drove her mad, it was clear that the two of you had some serious feelings for each other and the fact that you were stupid enough to not see it was making her more annoyed than it probably should’ve. You even lived together, how could you not see how madly in love you were with each other?

But to start from the beginning, when Mapi came to pick you both up from the airport.

“I really hope it’s Alexia coming and not Mapi.” You groan into your girlfriend’s shoulder, sitting on the suitcases that you’d placed into the luggage cart, the sleepiness from the flight translating into grumpiness when you felt her hand stop threading through your hair.

“Come on, I’m not that bad.” The second you hear Mapi’s voice, your head snaps around, and despite you seemingly having complained about her only moments before, you wrap the smaller woman up tightly in your arms. Ona stays back and watches the interaction with a soft smile on her face.

“She didn’t cause you too much trouble, right? I know how she can be.” Mapi looks past your body to meet Ona’s eye, the brunette smiling softly in return and shaking her head.

“Slept like a baby the entire time.” Ona exposes you, joining Mapi in pinching your cheek like an old grandma would.

Slapping away both their hands, you maneuver around so that you can grab the luggage cart, gently pushing it in the direction you thought Mapi had come from.

“Amor, you don't even know where she’s parked, you have to wait for us.” Your sister’s eyebrows furrow at the affectionate nickname, but even more so at you actually listening to the shorter girl, since you were almost globally known to be stubborn beyond comprehension.

She’s even more confused when you let Ona sit in the passenger seat, seeing as it was your designated seat that you’d fight for if you had to. It all made her even more suspicious of you, something had clearly happened in England, more than likely between you and the girl next to her.

“When do you two get the keys to your apartments?” Mapi asks, her eyes trained on the road despite her talking. Ona looks back at you, almost questioningly but as you shrug in return, she decides that it’s best to just bite the bullet.

“I think we get them next wednesday, right amor?” Smiling softly, you nod your head at her so as to say that you agree.

“Oh, well you’ll just take the couch then for now?” Mapi asks you, not seeing the utterly confused look on your face, why would she think that you would sleep on the couch when you were perfectly fine sleeping in the same bed as your girlfriend?

“No, we’ll take the spare room.” There’s still some lingering confusion running through your mind but when Ona practically tells you ‘hey, she’s your sister’ you just decide to not think about it anymore.

Arriving at the house your sister shares with her girlfriend, you waste no time in disappearing out of the car and walking straight into the house. It had been a while since you’d seen the better of the pair and you didn’t want to delay your reunion any longer than you already had.

“Ingrid! I wish you could’ve come to pick us up instead, María was so annoying.” Enveloping the Norwegian in a bear hug, she quickly squeals as her feet leave the floor momentarily, but soon enough she hugs you back.

“My favourite Leòn, it’s so nice to have you home again.” Ingrid’s hands cup your face as she makes sure to really look at you, the last time you’d met in person had been at christmas almost 2 years before and there was no telling how much you’d grown into your features over facetime.

“Can you two stop bullying me, por favor?” Mapi groans as she comes into the kitchen, carrying most of your luggage, Ona entering just after her with the lightest of the packing in her arms.

When Ingrid’s eyes scan over the shorter girl, who shifts uncomfortably under what’s practically her sister-in-law’s gaze. But it’s clear that Ingrid approves when she sends the defender a bright smile, quickly bringing her into a hug of her own.

“You must be Ona, Y/n’s talked about you a lot.” Ingrid shoots Mapi a look as both you and Ona start blushing madly, the two of you shuffling out of the room under the guise of getting the room ready.

“There’s something going on there.” Ingrid notes out loud, telling herself to ask you about it later.

“Sexual tension, they need to get it out.” Mapi yelps as Ingrid slaps her arm harshly, the childish defender not expecting the assault.

Upstairs you and Ona were enjoying a soft moment of your own, with the defender laying atop you with her head on your chest, listening to the steady beating of your heart that speeds up every so slightly when her hand traces soft shapes into the skin just below your ribs.

Her head follows with the steady rise and fall of your chest as you breathe deeply, and as your hand starts to thread through her hair softly she can’t help but kiss at the underside of your jaw, nipping every so often just to hear the melodious laugh escaping your lips at the tickling sensation. 

“You’re so beautiful, I adore you, I love the way you see the world and how you don’t fear being yourself, I love the way your mind works and even more just how great you are. Anyone who can look at you, know you, without feeling even the slightest bit of envy at the fact that they aren’t you is someone robbed of basic emotions. I love you so much that I just want to.” You wrap your arms around her body tightly, using so much strength you could without hurting her as you hug her tightly to your body.

Despite the smaller girl tearing up slightly at your heartfelt confession, she giggles lovingly when you hug her, pushing her face further into your neck.

“You know, there’s a beach not too far from here, we can go tonight when the oldies have fallen asleep.” Your soft breath against the shell of her ear has Ona shivering in anticipation, feeling a soft kiss being placed against the side of her head.

Feet slapping against the steps of the stairs wake you two from the little moment you were having, the knocks of the door startling you two even more, not that it matters seeing as the two women already knew of your relationship, right?

“Shh, they’re sleeping.” Both you and Ona have to keep from laughing at Ingrid’s hushed tone, and at the thud of your sister’s body as it meets the floor. But as the door closes, the two of you fall into a quiet fit of laughter, nothing stopping you.

Safe to say, that was the first time of many Mapi was confused by your ‘friendship’.

Over the next week, you and Ona could be found cuddled up anywhere, from under the apple tree standing proudly in the backyard reading together to the couch and even the roof (how you two even got up there in the first place Mapi didn’t even know.)

You were everywhere and if you hadn’t been her sister, Mapi would’ve probably killed you for being so oblivious to Ona’s feelings. 

“They can’t see that they love each other, I’m going crazy.” The older Leòn complains to her girlfriend, who just continues to read her book like Mapi hadn’t even spoken in the first place, which only makes her groan harder.

“María, it runs in the family. It took you almost a year to realise that I liked you back.” The couch shakes with the force of which the woman in question slams her body into it with, her hands quickly running through her hair.

“But they’re so oblivious, they need to just-” Mapi gestures around with her hands like it would tell the other woman everything she needed to know, which it seemingly does.

“I know, but we have to let them figure things out themselves, we can’t meddle.” Ingrid sends a fierce glare towards her girlfriend, almost warning her of the consequences if she were to try pushing you and Ona to get together prematurely.

“Okay, but I’m not happy about it.” Crossing her arms and pouting, Mapi quickly gets a kiss pressed to her lips, a sneaky smile forming on her lips as she pretends not to notice the action.

“Playing hard to get then, are we?” Ingrid giggles out, settling her body over Mapi’s lap, placing kisses all over her girlfriend’s face. The sound of their giggles surround the room, filling it with joy that’s hard to replicate.

“Can you two not be gross for two seconds?” The two women on the couch look up when your voice echoes through the room, seeing you and Ona on the last step of the stairs, your hands joined together as your nose is almost turned up in disgust.

The two older women laugh when your girlfriend slaps the back of your head, clearly not approving of your words.

“Amor, it’s their house, they can do whatever they want.” You grumble in response, lifting your free hand to sooth the ever so slight throbbing in the back of your head.

“Yeah, yeah, we’re just about to go get our keys, so yeah.” Mapi and Ingrid watch as you and the shorter girl make your way to the door, another slap landing on the back of your head when you don’t wave goodbye.

“She’s so in love with that girl.” Your sister remarks to her girlfriend again as they see you climb into the rental car you’d gotten as you waited for your actual car to be transported over from England. They see the way you open the door for her and how you smile oh so timidly at her as she grasps your hand in  hers.

“No meddling.” Ingrid points at Mapi, her stern gaze once again telling the shorter woman that she wasn’t fucking around.

“Yeah, yeah.” 

The realtor explained everything, from how you could move in directly to how everything was already in the apartment, ready for the two of you to pack up. As the key finally gets dropped into your hand, you almost breathe a sigh of relief, not wanting to stay out there any longer.

But as soon as you entered the apartment, a loud groan fell from your lips, the boxes stacked on top of each other something that would take up the majority of your coming week. The rolled up mattress in the corner of the living room was the one thing you found to be positive, well except for your girlfriend’s hands on your waist.

“What are you thinking?” The shorter girl gets up on her tiptoes, her lips meeting your neck ever so slightly, tiny butterfly kisses being pressed all over the column of your neck.

Humming softly, your fingers tangle with hers over your waist, swaying your bodies back and forth in an almost dance.

“I’m thinking that we take the mattress, place it on the floor then we order some pizza and just ignore all the boxes in here.” You mumble out just loud enough for her to hear, feeling her smile against the skin of your neck. It was somewhat of a tradition, seeing as that’s what you had done when you first moved in together.

“I think that’s a great idea.” She whispers, her lips directly besides your ear just to get her point across even better.

After you order the pizza, you start moving some of the boxes out of the way to make room for the large mattress that’s all wrapped up. You loosen the belt containing it after enough space is created, watching it spring out and flop down on the floor.

It’s not long after that the pizza arrives and it takes even less time to pay for it and bring it back up to the apartment, the two of you plopping down together on the mattress as you start to eat.

“We have to start packing for camp soon.” Ona breaks the blissful silence with her whispered words, another groan falling from your lips, it was no secret that the spanish federation were unethical in their treatment of their players, especially with the threats of revoking the player licenses if you declined the call up.

“They can stick their call up where the sun doesn’t shine.” Ona’s soft giggle warms up your entire being, like it always did, she just had that effect on you no matter what.

“Yeah I know, but we have to make the best of it, don’t we?” Her hand comes up to cup your face and you lean into it, her thumb stroking your cheek softly.

Pulling her hand off your face, you drag her up off the soft foam of the makeshift bed. One hand wraps around her hip whilst the other one falls to the middle of her back, a light tune appearing from between your lips.

Swaying her body around to the tune, the two of you relish in the shared moment, the one so fleeting that even the most secure hands wouldn’t get a grip on it. Ever so often the hummed tune would change, sometimes to something slower, sometimes to something quicker, all that mattered was that you could stay there in that moment, all wrapped up in your lover's arms like nothing else in the world mattered.

Soon enough there were more than a few kisses being exchanged between you two, lips moving against each other sweetly in an almost synched rhythm. 

“I love you so much.” With your bodies pressed up all tightly, you could feel her heart beating as her chest pressed tightly to yours, and in your mind you could only imagine it joining yours in a shared rhythm, a single heart beating for the both of you, a single heart beating for the same purpose, one deviating from what most thought.

She lays her head upon your chest, your hand on her back tracing up and down her spine as her short breaths tickle your collarbones.

The next day you two start on packing for the world cup, picking up different pairs of clothing and stuffing them into your bags haphazardly. You were both leaving for Australia within hours, not knowing that you’d come back as world cup champions.

Sitting together on the plane, you were both wrapped up under a blanket during the entire flight, sleeping for a while until you started playing card games together, not being bothered much by your teammates much to your surprise.

The group stages passed by in the blink of an eye, with both you and your girlfriend having masterclasses on the field, your shared room an asylum away from the loud group of trainers that seemingly only enjoyed the power aspect of football.

Beating Switzerland in the round of 16 was easier than you’d thought, but with a hattrick from you there was really no denying Spain’s dominance, quick and instinctively moving, Spain was the team to beat.

The Netherlands were the next team to beat, and it was nothing if not rather simple to beat the footballing giants, they’d managed to slip a goal by your keeper but there was no coming back from the two goals scored.

After that you had to beat one of the most on form teams in the entire tournament, Sweden. It wasn’t as easy this time, but ultimately you got it done without too much fuss, sending them to fight for the bronze medal against the host nation.

And then at last, the final. The final against England, a team that would be so hard to beat, nonetheless, you were ready to send them home with their tails between their legs, and with a goal (that would ultimately win you the golden boot) in the 20th minute you did just that. And so, you returned home to Spain newly crowned as champions of the world.

World champions who had to spend ages making their apartment a home right before the official season started, but not without help from their friends. 2

It became something of a team bonding activity when Mapi invited practically the entire team over to help with the ‘packing problem’, with you only finding out when they all turned up at your door asking to come in.

“María I swear to god, you have to stop inviting people over.” You groan as you open up the door to Alexia’s smiling face, Mapi sitting on a cardboard box further into the apartment.

“We were told you needed help, so we’re here to help.” Alexia says, pushing past you and into the space, the rest of the women following with.

“Alright baby Leòn, where do we start?” Grumbling at Lucy’s words, you point at a section of boxes you thought she’d be able to help with, mainly things that needed building like bookshelves and the couch.

“Okay everyone, some of you are going to help with the easy stuff and some with the more difficult. We’ll make a game out of it, the team that assembles the most furniture and packs up the most boxes wins, I don’t know, a batman figurine?” You speak, some of the girls venturing over to Ona’s side of the room and some coming over to yours,  like they already knew what the teams would be.

“Starting in 3…2…1, go.” With that everyone is off, you and Lucy quickly discard the instructions and build the coffee table on free hand, Irene and Ingrid being a bit more careful as they assemble the bookcase.

After 20 minutes, it’s about even with you and Lucy having assembled the coffee table and gone through three or so boxes of random stuff that needed organizing, the rest of the girls on your team having put together more than a few things. But Ona’s team were just as efficient, about 70% of every cardboard box being gone.

Ripping up a new box, Lucy quickly starts laughing quietly, pulling a stuffed lion out of the brown box that she shows to virtually everyone.

“This yours, baby Leòn?” She asks, wiggling it in front of your face. Trying to take it from her, it quickly ends up in Mapi’s hands.

“No way, El Tigre. You still keep him?” She asks you wide eyed, like she couldn’t believe that you’d kept the plush even after all these years.

“Of course, he’s even got a girlfriend now, Ona thought he looked sad all alone in our bed.” Pulling out the small lion that was left in the box, Mapi looks at the small pink bow near its ear and smiles, even if you were technically an adult now, she would never see you as anything but the tiny little baby she’d gotten to be a big sister to at only 4 years of age. The four year old that had chosen the lion stuffie that was currently in her own hands.

She hugs you real tight, the women around the room all looking on in confusion at the two of you and the emotional moment being shared. Slowly she separates from you, a confused look on her face.

“Wait, ‘our’ bed, as in you and Ona share a bed?” She asks, her eyebrows furrowed up in a way that was totally Leòn, your brows furrowing in the exact same way.

“Yeah why wouldn’t we?” You ask your sister, your girlfriend coming up to clutch at your hips, your arm falling around your shoulders. Mapi looks at the two of you as realization dawns on her face, wow she really is oblivious.

“Wait you two…?” She points between you two quickly as Ona leans up to kiss your cheek, catching on to the memo much faster than you had.

“Amor, did you forget to tell your sister that we’re dating?” Ona asks, looking up at you with that adoring kind of look that makes everything so clear for everyone, of course you were dating.

“Oops…?” Mapi slaps your arm as you look at her cheekily, her own girlfriend coming up to place a kiss against her cheek, the two oblivious sisters both turning a bright shade of red.

During your life you had kept few secrets from your sister, but this one was probably the best one, even if it wasn’t meant to be a secret.

Like the saying goes, the best kept secrets are the ones never told, and well that was fitting for you.

[arlana-likes-to-write]

You Look Happier

Part 4 of the Family, Pawns, and Sins of the Family

Summary: After every thing you've been though, it's time to move forward. While doing just that you run into a unlikely friend that looks past the scars you bare.

Warning: panic attack, mention of past abuse, suicidal thoughts, fluff, Kamala is a joy and I love her, small scene of a guy grabbing the reader, mention of nightmares, facing past abusers in court.

Word Count: 5.4k

Note: Ignore the fact that I said the next chapter of Second Chance will be posted today, I finished this one shot instead lol. Also, this will probably be the last part of this!

*

Healing was not linear. If this whole experience taught you one thing, it was that. Some days were good. They were great. You smiled and laughed without restraint. Those good days bleed into good weeks. Then, the darkness over your shoulder would rear its ugly head. All your hard work to overcome everything seemed pointless when you couldn’t leave your bed and your moms stayed by your side out of fear you would hurt yourself. There were close calls. The overwhelming urge sometimes became too much. You wanted to feel anything besides their hands on you.

Tonight was the end of a terrible day. You shut down after your therapy appointment. The mid-afternoon nap you took was ruined by a nightmare, and the court called, and they needed you to testify against Principal Cook. It was not your day. Still, you managed to pull yourself out of bed when the Avengers came over for a cookout. You sat at the fire pit with a marshmallow on the end of the stick. The flames engulfed the sticky treat and fell into the fire. Sighing, you blew out the flame and leaned back into the chair. You pulled the blanket to your chin and watched the get-together.

“Hey bug,” Natasha slid next to you. The chair was big enough for you two to sit comfortably without touching it, but you folded it against her. You buried your face in her shoulder and felt her hand draw shapes on your back. “How are you feeling?” Lying was never an option when they asked you this question. They would rather have the brutal, honest truth than a lie. It was a hard thing to overcome in the beginning.

“I’m,” Tired. Sad. Angry. “Struggling.” You sighed.

“Yeah,” Natasha kissed your forehead. “Today was a lot.” You nodded against her.

“Have you heard from the lawyers?” It was Natasha’s turn to sigh and kiss your forehead again.

“Not yet. They are talking with Cook’s defense team and hoping the man will take a plea deal.” You nodded and closed your eyes. The constant motion and her soft humming almost sent you to sleep. “Your mama and I have to go to the tower tomorrow. Is it okay to have your therapy session online?” The other thing was they refused to let you stay home alone on terrible days. It made sense. Through all of this, they wanted you to be safe.

“Yeah,” you whispered. “That’s fine.” There was no need to open your eyes because you knew there was a smile on her face.

“I love you, our firefly.”

“I love you too, mom.”

*

Today was better. Your therapist let you discuss your relationship with Wanda, Natasha, and the twins. It was a breath of fresh air to talk about something positive. The two Avengers were still in their meeting, so you waited for them on the common floor. It was half your fault. You were looking at your phone when a body slammed into you, causing you and your phone to fall to the ground. “Are you okay? Is your phone okay? Do you have a concussion?” You blinked at the girl with long brown hair and bright brown eyes. “Oh my god, I’ve concussed you.” She cried, placing her hands on top of her head.

“I’m not-wait. Who are you?”

“I’m Kamala Khan,” she offered you her hand, which you took to stand up.

“I’m-”

“Oh, I know who you are. Peter won’t stop talking about you. He says, You’re super cool.”

“I’m-” broken. Hurt. Sad. “Okay,” she laughed, and the sound erupted butterflies in your stomach. You noticed you were still holding her hand, and you dropped it suddenly. “Sorry,” you whispered. She smiled, picked up your phone, and looked it over.

“It’s not broken. I would have hated it if I gave you a concussion and broke your phone.” you were surprised by the laugh that you let out. It only made Kamala’s smile grow. “Here you go.”

“You should put your number in it,” a surge of confidence washed through you. Her eyebrows went up. “I mean, you did assault me. I think you owe me,” her mouth opened and closed like a fish. It was cute.

“I see why Peter likes you,” she said, handing you the phone so you could open it, and she quickly put her number on it. “I have to run-”

“Hopefully, not into someone again,” you said with a playful smile. She rolled her eyes.

“But I’ll see you again. Text me so I can have your number, too.” You waved bye as she ran off. Flopping onto the couch, you sent Kamala a simple hello with your name. For some reason, your cheeks were hurting from your smile.

*

You giggled at the funny meme Kamala sent you of Yelena and Kate that she made. You befriended the girl three days ago, and her goal seemed to make you smile. Even after a tough day at therapy, you were welcomed with messages from her that made it better. “Alright, enough,” your phone was ripped away from you. You gasped as you watched Yelena go through your phone. “You’ve been giggling all night. Who are you texting?”

“Mama, tell her to give me my phone back,” Wanda chuckled, standing over the stove to make dinner.

“Give her the phone back, Belova,” the witch laughed. “But I am curious who has got you smiling so much.” Yelena refused to give you the phone.

“First off, you’ve met Kamala,” she handed Wanda your phone. Instead of looking through it like the Black Widow, she returned it to you. “Second, I am going to kill her.” You smiled.

“We ran into each other at the tower,” you texted her, letting her know Yelena saw the memes she made. “Literally,” you mumbled. Every time you thought about how you met your new friend, you laughed. This was amplified when Kamala responded, saying you betrayed her trust.

“Hey,” Yelena snapped her fingers in front of your face. You jumped, not expecting it. “Your mama was talking to you.” The Blonde rolled her eyes and left the kitchen.

“Sorry,” you apologized. “What were you saying?” Wanda smiled with a shake of the head.

“I said dinner is almost ready. Can you go wash up and get your brothers?” You nodded and closed the book you were trying to read, but you were distracted by your phone. “And sweetheart,” you stopped to look at Wanda. “She’s making you smile a lot. Is there more going on?” You felt your body heat up.

“N-no,” you stuttered. “We are just friends,” Wanda smirked. “Mama, we are.”

“Okay, I’m just teasing,” you huffed and walked to your room. You dropped your textbooks and notebooks on your desk. Friends. That was all you and Kamala were. Nothing more. Right?

*

You were nervous as you stood outside Natasha’s home office. You could do this. You could do this. Knocking the door, you heard her voice on the other side telling you to come in. You entered and closed the door. “Hey bug, what -” she stopped mid-question. “Are you okay? You look like you are going to be sick.” Instead of answering, you walked to the front of her desk.

“Can I ask you something?” Natasha nodded, the worry evident on her face. “Can I go to the movies?” The Black Widow blinked at once, twice.

“Jesus, kid, you were about to give me a heart attack,” she let out a shaky breath and placed her hand on her chest for added effect. “Who would you be going with?”

“Uh Kamala,” you played with the fidget ring Yelena gave you after they saved you from Dmitri. “She and a few of her friends are in the city, and they invited me to see Detention Disaster with them.” It was a comedy. You looked at an in-depth review of it, so you knew nothing would trigger you.

“Are you sure? That’s a big step,” you knew what she meant. You rarely went anywhere besides the tower, the park down the street, and your brother’s school. Natasha and Wanda were with you even if you went somewhere outside your comfort zone.

“I don’t know,” you admitted, but you wouldn’t grow or heal if you stayed constant. “But I’d like to try.”

*

“That scene in the cafeteria was so funny,” Bruno said as he walked next to Nakia. “And it was shot so well,” Kamala chuckled and shook her head at her friend.

“Did you enjoy the movie?” She asked you. You were walking behind Bruno and Nakia.

“Yeah, it was funny.” Even after reading the very in-depth review, the movie still managed to make you laugh. Also, the comments Kamala and Bruno made to one another throughout the entire movie added another layer of comedy. They thought they were being quiet. Still, they walked no matter how often Nakia threw popcorn at them. You liked Kamala’s friends, who included you in their group.

“Hey, there is an arcade over here. Do you guys want to go?” Bruno asked. He stopped walking so you could catch up. The arcade was loud and unpredictable. There were too many things to account for.

“It’s up to you,” Kamala said. I can take you back home.” Home was safe and predictable—well, your brothers were not, but they knew your boundaries. But you shook your head.

“An arcade sounds fun,” you said. Today was good, and you wanted to keep hanging out with them. If they wanted to go to an arcade, then you would go no matter how much anxiety swirled in your stomach.

Luckily, it wasn’t busy. A small group of kids was at the basketball game, and some were looking at the prizes through the glass box. You bought a card with your tokens, and Kamala grabbed your hand to show you all her favorite games. You were worried that she thought you were clingy, but she kept a tight hold on you. Playing video games with your brothers helped you with some of the games. You beat Kamala on some of the two-player games.

It was fun, and you pretended you were a normal kid for a split second. No deep trauma that kept you awake at night. No scars that ached when it got cold. You were a kid having fun with her friends.

Until you walked alone as you decided on the next game, you needed a few more tickets and could get a new fidget toy. Suddenly, you felt a body crash against your back, and you stumbled forward. Your first thought of who it was was Kamala. For an Avenger, she was very clumsy. “Hey, watch where the fuck you are going,” you turned around to see a guy; he had to be 18.

“You ran into me,” you said. “You should listen to your advice.” You turned away, but he grabbed your arm and spun you back around. He pushed you against the arcade machine. The corner dug into your lower back, and you let out a pained yelp. Fear washed over you. His mouth was moving, but nothing he said mattered to you. It was happening again. Why? You felt frozen. The way his hands felt on you transported you to Jason, Conner, and Dmitri. Then, a new pair of hands were touching you.

“Hey, Y/n,” the voice said. “You’re safe. I need you to breathe for me.” Your chest felt tight, and it was impossible to get air into your lungs. “What do you need?”

“Hands,” you managed. “Get your hands off of me.” They were removed instantly, and you slid down to the ground, bringing your knees to your chest.

“You know you missed me kicking Bruno’s ass in basketball,” it was Kamala. Kamala was in front of you. “I mean, I was cheating, but don’t tell him that.” You managed a chuckle, which Kamala smiled. “Are you back with me?” You nodded, licking your dry lips. “Bruno and Nakia brought that guy to the manager, and he’s calling the police.” Again, you nodded. “Do you want me to call your parents?”

“No,” you finally spoke. The reality of the situation caught up with you, and embarrassment washed over you. You jumped to your feet. “Shit, sorry that was-”

“Whoa,” Kamala stood up slowly with her hand sup. “It’s okay. You did nothing wrong.” But you did, and if you just walked away from him, none of this would have happened. “No matter what happened, he should have never put his hands on you.” You nodded again. “Come on, let’s go somewhere more private.” She let you go to a small back room used for birthday parties. You were grateful she kept her hands to herself when she opened the door. You slumped in one of the chairs and placed your face in your hands. You heard Kamala sit in front of you. “Are you okay?” She finally asked. You sighed.

“I wanted today to be good and normal,” you said. “But it’s like one step forward and four steps back.”

“Isn’t that the point?” You removed your hands and looked at her. “Healing. Some days are better than others. It’s how it is,” she carefully took your hand, and you allowed her to. “And today was fun. I had fun hanging out with you.”

“I had fun, too,” you admitted. She smiled.

“These things will happen,” she continued. “And that is okay. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. I will be there to help you. If you want me to, at least,” she added quickly. You smiled.

“As long as I don’t scare you off.”

“You could never,” she spoke with so much confidence, and without hesitation, you almost believed her.

Delete Created with Sketch.

Today was a bad day. You had to go down to the courthouse to prepare for your testimony against Principal Cool. He wasn’t there, but you had to relive the whole ordeal. After that, Billy and Tommy begged to get ice cream. However, a man mistook you for someone else and grabbed you by the arm. The cherry on top was Kamala was on a mission with Carol. You missed the way she could make you smile and laugh.

It was past midnight. No matter how many times you tried to go to bed, every horrible thing flashed through your mind. Your phone buzzing caused you to jump, not expecting a phone call. Somehow, just seeing her name made you smile. It felt like your first genuine smile all day. “Hi,” you answered softly.

“Did I wake you up? I am so sorry. I can never figure out what time zone I’m in,” you giggled and rolled onto your back.

“No, I’ve been up. What are you doing calling me?” you asked. “I thought you said it was impossible to find cell service up there.” She was quiet, but you heard shuffling as if she was lying down.

“We usually can’t, but we found some. So Carol is calling Val, Monica is calling her mom, and I’m calling you.” Oh. That was a surprise.

“Why are you calling me?” She had her parents, brother, and her high school friends.

“Because I wanted to silly,” she answered. “Now, why can’t you sleep? Are you okay?”

“I’m,” Kamala knew bits and pieces of what happened to you. You strayed away from the more graphic details. It wasn’t easy to open up to your therapist. “I’m,” you sighed. “I miss you,” you admitted instead. Sometimes, it was easier to change the direction of the conversation.

“Awe, I miss you too,” you heard the smile in her voice. “I’ll be home soon, but you failed to answer my question.” you rolled your eyes.

“I’m tired,” you pushed the calm of your hand to your eye. And you were. You wanted to move past all of this and live a normal life.

“Get some sleep. I-shit. I’m sorry, I have to go. Carol needs me.” You were lucky she couldn’t see you, or she would have seen your frown. “Look, if you need anything, you call me, okay? I may not respond right away, but I’m here.” You nodded.

“Stay safe, superhero.”

“Always.”

*

Soft knocking woke you up. Slowly, you sat up and looked towards the sound. “Kamala,” you whispered. The girl was smiling on the other side of your window. You climbed over to it and opened it. “What are you doing?” She smiled.

“To see you. Can I come in? It’s cold,” you stepped out of the way, and she crawled through the window. It was a little clumsy. Her foot got caught on the window ledge. A small yelp, and she rolled off your bed and onto the floor. You cringed at the sound and were grateful that your room was on the first floor. Soon, your room was filled with laughter.

“Are you okay?” You closed the window. Kamala nodded and rubbed the back of her head.

“My pride took a hit,” you giggled and helped her. “Hi,” she smiled and sat down on your bed.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be in space?”

“Well,” she took off her shoes. “The mission is almost over, and Carol doesn’t need me, so she said I could go home.” You raised her eyebrows at her.

“The last time I checked, this isn’t your house,” she said, looking around the room with a confused expression.

“You know, I thought my room looked a little different. There are not enough Captain Marvel posters,” you rolled your eyes. Besides, Carol may not need me, but you do,” you looked at the ground. Kamala placed her arm around your shoulders. That’s okay, you know that? It’s okay to need people.” You shrugged.

“I don’t want to be a burden,” you whispered. “You are an Avenger. You have more important things to worry about than someone as broken as me.” Kamala removed her arm and forced you to sit more on the bed. You crossed your legs to give her more room. She grabbed your hands.

“You are not broken. You are healing. That is a big difference. Soon, all these scars will heal,” you stared at your connected hands.

“What if whatever they broke inside me can never be fixed?” Kamala was quiet. She moved your hands so your palms were facing up. Her fingers were arms as she traced the lines on your hand.

“Then you learn to live without those parts,” she bite her lip. “When I discovered the true nature of my abilities, the old me was gone. I had to embrace the person I am now. It’s scary, terrifying really, but you have your family to help you,” she squeezes your hands. “You have me.” You looked at her, and she had a soft smile.

“Can you stay the night?” You whispered.

“I wasn’t planning on going anywhere,” you stood up to get some clothes to change into. Once she was ready for bed, you climbed under the covers with her next to you. “For what it’s worth,” she broke the silence. “I think you are pretty great.” You bent your arm to rest your head on your hand. She was lying on her back.

“You think I’m pretty, superhero,” she rolled her eyes and mirrored the way you were laying.

“What if I did?” You raised your eyebrows in question. “I think you are pretty.”

“Oh,” you squeaked and cringed at the nose that escaped. “Scars and all?” You questioned.

“They are kind of badass,” she said. “Makes you all hot with the ladies.” She wiggled her eyebrows. You chuckled and pushed the girl on her shoulder. She fell onto her back.

“You are such a flirt.” You said.

“Just for you, khobsurat,” you titled your head at the foreign word. “It’s Urdu.”

“What does it mean?” You questioned. Kamala faced you.

“Beautiful.”

“I don’t know how to do this,” you admitted. You were never in a normal relationship. Everyone wanted something from you. Everyone tried to hurt you. “I’ve been hurt by so many people that promised not to.” Your biological parents used you to get money. Jason promised to love you. Principal Cook and Coach Griffo were hired to protect students. They all hurt you.

“I can’t promise I won’t mess things up because I’m an idiot,” you smiled. “I can be aggressively passionate, overwhelming, and loud, but I will never hurt you like they hurt you.” You nodded, looking down at the shapes on your blanket. “You don’t believe me.” You wanted to. You tried to jump head first, but you weren’t sure if your heart could handle any more heartbreak. It was already bruised, bandaged, and broken.

“I want to. It’s just-”

“Hard?” Kamala guessed. You nodded. “That’s okay. I’m not going anywhere,” she yawned, covering her mouth. “Sorry, that was rude.”

“Get some sleep. It’s been a long day.” She nodded and closed her eyes.

“Night, khobsurat,” she whispered. Was it weird that you watched her fall asleep? Maybe. But you liked how peaceful she looked. You weren’t sure when the last peaceful night of sleep you had. You were a little jealous. Sighing, you turned to your side and hoped for a nightmare-free sleep.

*

The sound of thundering footsteps woke you up. It was your only warning before your door opened, the force almost falling off the handles. “Breakfast - hey, what are you doing here, Kamala?” You heard the girl behind you groan. Sometime in the middle of the night, you gravitated towards each other. Her arm is secured around your waist. It wasn’t an uncomfortable position. You only allowed your parents and sometimes your brothers to cuddle you.

“Not sleeping,” she mumbled. Her breath caused goosebumps on your skin. That was uncomfortable. Your mind flashed back to every time someone held you down, breathing against your neck. You tensed up. “Hey, are you okay?” You shook your head.

“Mom!” Billy yelled. “Y/n has a friend over that she didn’t ask permission ,and she’s having a panic attack.”

“Billy,” you hissed, but your brother ran off. Kamala removed her arm and created some healthy distance between you and her. You needed some space, not your brother getting Natasha and announcing you were having a panic attack, which you weren’t. Now, the hurried footsteps were from the Black Widow.

“Is she going to kill me?” You heard Kamala whisper as Natasha slowed down. That was a great question you weren’t 100% sure about.

“Kamala, what the hell are you doing here?” She asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be in space?”

“Well, you see, Mrs. Romanoff,” Kamala said slowly. “I requested to leave my mission early because she seemed upset.” Your head whipped around to look at her.

“You told me your mission was almost over, and Carol didn’t need you anyone.” Her eyes widened, frantically looking between you and the Russian.

“I did say that, didn’t I? It was a white lie,” she said. “I knew if I told you the truth, you would make me go back, and you sounded so sad on the phone,” she held up her hands, almost to defend herself. “Carol knows the truth, and she approved it. I couldn’t lie to her,” she pointed to Natasha. “She scares me more than you,” she whispered. Her comment made you laugh, but you were still angry at her even though her heart was in the right place. Natasha scuffed.

“I scare you now. Is that so?” You looked at your mom. Her arms were crossed, and she was leaning against the doorway.

“No, ma’am, Mrs. Black Widow, sir.” You laughed so hard that you snorted, which sent Kamala into a fit of laughter. Natasha had a soft smile on her face.

“Breakfast is ready, girls. Come on,”

“Thanks, Mom,” the Black Widow nodded and walked back towards the direction of the kitchen, not bothering to close the door. Kamala let out a shaky breath and slumped back into the mattress. “I can’t believe you lied to me.” You pinched her side, and the girl yelped.

“It was for a good reason,” you rolled your eyes. “Are you telling me if I told you the truth, you’d let me stay?” There was no good reason you had. “Exactly,” she pinched your side back. “How did you sleep?” She sat up and stretched her arms above her head.

“Good, actually,” your mind was blank; no nightmare woke you up.

“Good,” she climbed out of the bed. “Come on. I’m hungry. Your superhero needs food,” she rubbed her stomach.

“My superhero?” She winked at you.

“I like the sound of that,” she teased and grabbed your hand. You were a little stunned, but you led her to the kitchen, where the rest of your family was. My superhero, you liked the sound of it, too.

*

“I’d like to call Y/n Romanoff-Maximoff as my first witness to the stand,” the prosecutor said your name, and your stomach still dropped. This moment was what you were preparing weeks for. All you had to do was take the stand, tell the truth, and be free. Easy minus facing Principal Cook and the side full of his supporters. But you weren’t alone either. Every Avenger that was not on a mission seemed to be there; even the Bartons made the trip to the city. Still, you felt frozen in your seat. Until you felt a hand on your shoulder squeeze it.

“We are right here, bug,” Natasha whispered. “Eyes on us the entire time.” You nodded and forced yourself to stand up. The prosecutor smiled at you as you passed her and headed for the witness stand. You tried to keep your eyes on your section. Even when the Bible was brought over to you so you could swear the truth and nothing but the truth. But you were curious, so your eyes flickered to his defense team. His lawyer was whispering to him, but Cook was watching you. The man smiled and gave you a little wave. You looked away immediately, eyes scanning your section until you found Kamala. She smiled, and the weight on your chest disappeared. You let out a shaky breath. You could do this. You could do this.

*

“I am so proud of you,” Wanda said for what felt like the 10th time once the trial ended. Her arms were wrapped tightly around you.

“Alright, darling,” Natasha smiled. “Don’t hog her. She’s got other people to thank for coming.” With a sigh, she let you go. You made your way around the large group right outside the courthouse. You thanked everyone for their support and tried to ignore the press taking your picture. Kamala was the last person you went up to. Immediately, you slumped into her arms.

“Hi,” she whispered. “Are you ready to go home?” You nodded against her. She took your hand and led you to your parent’s car. There was no need to say goodbye as everyone was invited to the house for a small party. It was your one request to do after the trial. You wanted everyone close by for a gentle reminder you weren’t alone.

Once again, you found yourself at the fire pit as you watched the party. Kamala sat down next to you and handed you a plate of food. “Are your parents enjoying themselves?” You saw them talking with Natasha and Wanda. They weren’t at the trail; they stayed at the house to set everything up.

“They are. I hope you are ready to hear many stories of when I was a baby,” you smiled and took a bite of your hamburger. “You know Yelena gave me the shovel talk,” your eyes widened. You knew when the Blonde found out you were dating Kamala; it was only a matter of time before the ‘talk’ happened. “It was nothing bad. She did not threaten bodily harm,” you laughed, a little surprised, and sipped your water. “She did make me promise something.”

“Are you going to tell me what that promise was?” Yelena was with the Bartons. Nate was handing on her back with his arms around her neck. She caught you staring and winked at you.

“She told me this has been the happiest she’s seen you,” you looked at the girl next to you. She was looking forward, but you saw her eyes flick to you. It wasn’t the first time you heard that statement. You look happier. Everyone said it in their way. “Is that true? Do you feel happier?” It was a complicated question because there were days you were on cloud nine. Others felt it impossible to move forward. But she made it better.

“Yeah, I am,” you admitted. “So, what promise did you make to her?” She took her free hand in yours.

“Just to keep you happy,” she kissed your cheek. “And you know how much I love making you smile.” You rolled your eyes and felt your body warm up.

“Hey, lovebirds,” you heard Kate yell. “I think you should cool off.” You gasped as the cool water drenched you and Kamala. You ignored Kamala’s laughter and looked at who was responsible: your brother, the Bartons, and Peter.

“Tommy, Billy, I’m going to kill you.”

“Awe, why?” Tommy whined. “It wasn’t just us.” That was true, but you had a free pass to bully them.

“Besides, it was mom’s idea,” your head snapped to look at the Black Widow, who was now with her sister and Laura. She was smirking at you. You narrowed your eyes at her.

“Give me your water gun,” you said to Billy. Your brother looked at you, then Natasha.

“I’ll speak kindly at your funeral, soldier,” he saluted you and handed you the water gun. You placed your now ruined food on Kamala’s plate.

“Khobsurat,” she stood up and grabbed your hand. “Are you sure about this? You have a lot of life to live.”

“Oh my god, guys,” you laughed. “I’ll be fine.” Well, you hopped anyway. Besides, you knew Wanda wouldn’t let anything happen to you. You were secretly her favorite. You pumped the water gun and looked at the Black Widow. She shook her head and mouthed ‘no.’ You winked at her and used your powers to turn invisible. Since the Avengers saved you from Dmitri, you rarely used your powers. Besides the occasional training session Natasha and Wanda put you through. You were grateful for that; what they taught you kept you alive. It felt good to use your powers for fun.

You watched the Black Widow walk over to Wanda and wrap her arms around her waist. She was talking with Maria and Sam. Clever or suicide to use the witch as a shield, but it would not stop you. Carefully, you walked closer to them. “What are you doing, sweetheart?” Wanda asked. Natasha placed her head on her shoulder.

“Can I not love on my beautiful wife?” The witch narrowed her eyes at her.

“Who did you piss off?” You slapped your hand over your mouth to stop the sound of your laughter. Wanda glanced around the yard. “Get off of me.” But Natasha held onto her tighter. “Natalia Alianovna Romanova, I will not be your shield because you messed with our enhanced daughter.” Sam laughed, throwing his head back.

“You got your full government name,” he teased. You are in the dog house.” The Black Widow pouted, but her arms remained locked around Wanda.

‘Don’t even think about it,’ Wanda’s voice echoed in your head. Usually, it would scare you. Now, it was a calming presence when you felt her magic enter your mind.

‘Sorry, mama,’ You appeared behind Natasha and unleashed your water onto her back. Natasha gasped and moved Wanda to take some of it. You stopped immediately but still got her wet. You cringed. “That was not my fault,” you said. The witch sighed.

“I know,” Red Magic took the water gun out of your hands. “Run Romanoff.” The Black Widow’s eyes were filled with fear, and you laughed as she took off towards Tommy, who threw his water gun at her. Yes, you were happier—all thanks to them.

[wannabepoeticischiya]

to live in a plato perfect world

If I had gathered just enough courage to begin—

Would I not be left wondering... what we could have been?

ao3: to live in a plato perfect world pairing: okkotsu yuuta x f! reader genre: romance, angst wc: 7.1k status: one shot

Based on a true story.

"So, [Name]... what happened with Yuuta?"

November was a fickle thing, so [Name] would think. Just a moment ago, they were cradled under the amber skies littered with a nimiety of clouds varying in shapes and sizes now, a darkened canvas hung overhead; the stars she would have loved to stare at for hours on end were nowhere to be found... even the moon had hidden behind the curtains of the abyss. Her eyes reflected the same emptiness the heavens held, almost as if the nothingness painted so high above was created to replicate the very emotion surging through every vein and artery in her. Strange, wasn't it not? To feel everything yet feel as though you're nothing at all. She turned her gaze to the person who spoke her name—Maki.

Maki who was there through it all. The one and only who triggered the idea of what it could have been. The one who was right all along. The one... [Name] couldn't bring herself to tell.

You owe it to us, [Name]-chan!

Tuna!

Yeah! So, tell us what happened~

Is it good? Bad?

[Name] can vividly remember the words her friends had spoken that night and the days that would follow that; she would laugh at their attempts to get it out of her, yet her answer remained the same. 'That's a secret~', those words were not complete lies... and [Name] made sure of it. She never liked lying—especially when it comes to her friends—but this one was something that she thought was a necessary action.

She loved each and every single one of them, and heaven knows that she'd take a curse for them any day. They were supportive and loving—there for her through thick and thin. [Name] couldn't have been more grateful that she had met them... but this was simply just not something she could tell—not when they were so hopeful.

[Name] turned to look at Maki, probably for the first time since that fateful day. She was eternally thankful that Maki didn't push her to talk about it up until now... "Ne, Maki-chan..." Her spoken words to the green-haired girl would have been mistaken as a melody carried by the nearing yuletide... but Maki knew her, and she knows that it took [Name] a great deal of courage to do what she did.

"Would it kill me if I didn't talk about something that's really bothering me deep inside?"

Now that was something the Zenin did not expect. To her, this felt more like an unravelling: would you accept the answers even if they're not the things you hoped that you'd hear? Will you still look at me like that even after you hear the truth? Would you still have the heart to say that I'm your friend even if I destroyed something we both hold so dear? A small stutter in time went unnoticed by the quiet girl patiently waiting for her answer. Maki took a deep breath and voiced out the words that would allow [Name] to say it all. "It would."

So, tell me what happened... were the words that [Name] heard behind her answer.

"He rejected me."

---

"You run like a little girl, [Name]!"

"I am a girl, Yuuta you twat!"

There they go again. Inumaki Toge, Panda and Zenin Maki collectively sighed at the scenery playing out before them.

"We're just crossing the streets but somehow they still find a reason to argue." It wasn't that Panda was annoyed by his two classmates' constant bickering, on the contrary, it was their main source of amusement. Watching Okkotsu Yuuta and [Name] bicker like an old married couple was better than any soap opera Gojo Satoru would stay up late into the night just to watch.

"Shake Sushi!"

The two sorcerers watched as an aggravated [Name] reached into her bag, pulling out a small, circular object (a walnut), and hurling it in the direction of the teasing exorcist.

"Ow!"

Traces of irritation etched into the girl's face had faded, replaced by a triumphant expression at the sound of Okkotsu Yuuta in pain—it might be sad that her only source of external joy was to get a step ahead of him, witness his demise and get back at him for his incessant teasing. [Name] was about to let out a haughty laugh yet held herself back once she saw that the obsidian-haired boy still had that wicked grin plastered all over his stupid face.

"You missed."

[Name] looked at him with every hint of malice she possessed, hell if she wasn't a sorcerer, she would pass as a curse (Yuuta's words). "Why you little—" She leaped from her current position from the side of the road and attempted to claw out Yuuta's eye sockets.

"Okay! That's enough of that you two!" Maki intervened, swiftly going in between her two classmates. The Zenin threw an appreciative look at Inumaki who held back the thrashing girl like a cat.

"Let me at him, Inumaki-san! That primitive little piece of—" [Name] struggled desperately from the Cursed-Speech User's hold, still trying to scratch away that stupid smile her classmate had whenever he'd get a kick out of teasing the daylights out of her.

"We should go Maki, before the two of them kill each other."

Why don't they just date already...

--

"What? Really? Megumi-chan, you never had a girlfriend?"

If someone were to tell [Name] that purple was not an actual physical entity, naturally, she would believe that. It was scientifically explained, after all. She even went as far as arguing with Gojo Satoru about the existence of the color purple (she didn't really get why he was so defensive about it, if purple was his favorite color and the people of science deemed it was something that didn't exist, then he could just go find another color). But what her cute, little underclassman was saying is outright preposterous! He's got it all! Besides the terrible people skills, who wouldn't like little Megumi-chan? "I'm quite sure, [Name]-senpai." And just like that, the upperclassman's enthusiasm deflated like a balloon. If Megumi-chan can't get a girlfriend, it's hopeless for the rest of the world!

"Itadori-kun! Have you ever had a girlfriend?" [Name] passed her hope onto the next underclassman on the list, ever-so-precious Itadori-kun! Surely! For sure, this little ball of sunshine has had at least—

"Nope!" And as though sensing the following question the older exorcist would throw, Itadori quickly added, "Not a single one, [Name]-senpai!" Why is he so happy about that! If those two can't get girlfriends, then there really is no hope—

Out of the corner of [Name]'s eyes, she sees that a certain classmate of hers has been attempting to burn holes into the back of her head since the beginning of her conversation with the two first years. Sneering at him physically and in her head, the girl turned her head to face away from that annoying pest. If I ask that racoon, it will surely go to his head. I'd rather not. Despite [Name]'s attempt to ignore his stare, it ultimately fails. Yuuta was not going to give in, not when it involves getting to gloat in [Name]'s face. With a tired sigh, she reluctantly asked him the same question.

"You?" [Name] turned to look at Yuuta, half-expecting him to say he had at least one. If he gets on his high horse again, I will smack the life out of him I swear— She was confident in her cold, logical reasoning, as well as Yuuta's behavior to revel in triumph at finding out he was better than her in something; casting all of those aside, as much as she hated to admit it—and she would rather drink vomit than do so—he does have the face...

And like a child, he pointed at himself, albeit with feigned confusion. What an idiot. She would think, but his answer stunned [Name] to a momentary silence: short enough to stare at him menacingly like she always did yet extensive enough to give her an ample amount of time to contemplate his reasoning.

"With the way I look?"

Was this a joke? [Name] had taken Yuuta for many things, a sleaze, superiority complex (although it generally only applied to being better than her), a loser with nothing better to do than to pick on her every chance he got, but not once did it ever occur to her that he would be a liar. Yuuta was many things to [Name], and she knew, a liar was not one of them. Yuuta must have taken note of [Name]'s reaction to his answer—or rather, the lack thereof. "No, I haven't." Not a hint of mockery could be traced back to his response for a change. Although, even after his confirmation, the girl was still skeptical, but she gave him the benefit of doubt.

"I don't believe you." But the words that come don't always comply with the ones in her head.

"Well, your choice." He shrugged. I hate this guy. [Name] narrowed her eyes at him and scrutinized him from head to toe.

"But... I never did have one."

Then he smiled. What was there to smile about? [Name] didn't quite know why he was acting like a lunatic. He was always a lunatic, plus he was annoying too, and every bit of her soul screamed at her body to get as far away from him as it was physically allowable. But a rhythm changed somewhere in her, like a beat of a drum going out of sync with the rest of the symphony or a galaxy colliding with another far into the cradles of the cosmos... and along the lines of Yuuta's smile and his kind eyes, she thought he at least looked a little nice.

---

"I don't need your help, Yuuta you twat!"

"Okay, okay... I was just asking."

Perhaps, [Name] did require Yuuta's aid... but she was too stubborn to admit that. Yuuta knew that as well, but he was far too disciplined to deny her of her wishes... even if they do contradict her situation. The stands of the abandoned running field were eerily silent, usually, students from the nearby college would go here just to loiter, even athletes occasionally use the tracks for practice... now, it's just as desolate as the rest of its surroundings. Broken staircases leading up to the platforms were easy enough to climb... although, it later proved to be difficult for gravity-challenged people such as [Name] to descend, hence why Yuuta was generously offering to help the Sorcerer who was too prideful to accept.

"Are you two done flirting? We got curses to exorcise."

"I'd rather eat a curse that date that weirdo." [Name] jutted her thumb in the direction of Yuuta, an expression of disgust carving itself onto her face at the thought of even remotely being close to Okkotsu, let alone be psycho enough to be in a relationship with him. "Ew." She added for good measure.

Traces of cursed energy lingered in the uninhabited buildings nearby, as to why they were built in the first place only to be abandoned, [Name] didn't know. What she was sure of was that an unnecessary, foreign feeling was brewing in her stomach and made her want to puke her insides only to swallow them back again. She did not like that one bit.

After a few moments of walking, "What is this place, Yuuta?" It was the Panda who had voiced out everyone's curiosity. The skies had long faded into the indigos of the night, fragments of the warm afternoon zephyr drifted to the far ends of the horizons, leaving the cool evening breeze to ravage in their wake. No longer were they cradled under a palette covered in multitudes of colors; little by little, stars had littered the darkened canvas above, shining down on the figures of the young Sorcerers.

It was foreign to them—well, all of them aside from Yuuta who has lived here for the majority of his life before moving to Tokyo. "They built this place way back for a regional competition," he began, slicing the tall grass so their group could advance further into the sea of darkness, "it was used for a few times, and as crazy as it sounds, a senator even came to watch. But once the stadium in the neighboring town was established, everyone just seemed to pretend like they didn't know this place." Cutting the last bits of greenery, the students soon came face to face with more neglected infrastructures.

"Most of these buildings just ran out of money to operate," he gestured to the old signboards scattered all over the street, "now they don't even have the funds to demolish the place."

Moonlight seeped through the crevices left by the drifting clouds, blanketing the unremembered lands with a soft glow; wades of grass danced to the rhythm hummed by the autumn gale as the footsteps of the Sorcerers slowly came to a halt. Everything around them is what was expected of a curse's home: shattered windowpanes, fractures littering the ivy-covered walls of the many buildings caging them in, that sad, desolate feeling you get at the sight of a place that used to thrive with life be reduced to a graveyard. In a strange way, being forgotten came with a sense of peace.

"This place is pretty big, we'll split up to cover more ground." And there goes the ever-so-reliable, Zenin Maki. The task handed to them by their dear teacher wouldn't go as smoothly as they had wanted to if it wasn't for their Green-haired classmate. Always quick to think, always ready to act. "I'll go south, Inumaki will go west and Panda to the east." Never hesitant to push Yuuta and [Name] to get along.

Maki turned to look at them, giving them a warning stare, "You two go north, and try not to kill each other."

If you wanted us not to slit each other's throats, you should have separated us, Maki-chan! Is what [Name] wanted to protest, but seeing as everyone wanted this night to end and get this labor done and over with, the exorcist kept her complaint to herself. Besides, the sooner they finish the assignment, the faster it would be to ditch this whacko and call it quits. For now, she'd at least put in the efforts to deal with his antics... for everyone's sake.

"If there's any sign of the curse, give the signal and we'll proceed with the plan."

With that, the rest of their classmates walked down their own assigned locations, leaving the two—who are most likely at their wits end trying to restrain the urge to tease away the remnants of patience the other has left or to stab the other in the eye—alone, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by abandoned buildings.

[Name] tried her best to keep her remarks to herself, following a few steps behind Yuuta who had begun moving forward as soon as their classmates' last shadow had blended with the darkness. She was not from here—where [Name] grew up, stream of lights would flow from every direction she'd look, illuminating every nook and cranny as though the sun had never slipped under the blankets of the horizons; warm, incandescent glow would erupt from the meadows that served as her haven for many, many moons; radiance gifted by the stars would end their journeys in the pools of her eyes, embedding themselves deep into her soul—never to be forgotten. It was different now, even if [Name] had never once feared darkness, she would not allow her pride to cloud her judgement of danger. So, she simply let Yuuta, who originated here, be a step ahead of her.

Their walk was silent, nothing but the steady sound of shoes hitting cobblestone echoed between the abyss and where they were. It was odd, unnerving even... but [Name] would never dare to voice that out. Her annoyingly annoying classmate was willingly being silent for once, and she would rather feed herself to hyenas than to admit she yearned to hear the sound of his voice.

[Name] can't remember the time it began, what soil did this mess even sprouted from, or even just the moment it all came crashing down. She guesses that somewhere between the hazy lines of 'I will kill you, Yuuta you twat' and mocking whispers of '[Name]~', everything blurred and faded... until all that remained was this annoying, unwanted, echoing sounds of voices that rampaged within her like a storm. [Name] tried to be kind, desperately so, but the universe had different plans when it heard her praying for extra amounts of patience and self-restraint.

It was drizzling when she spoke her first words to the Exorcist whose back was turned to her, bleakness blanketing the institute when the echoes of 'would you like to share an umbrella?' was met with silence. [Name] liked to think she was considerate, after all, that was the first time she had ever attempted to offer a classmate an ounce of kindness; only her kindness was repaid with getting left flabbergasted when the first ever recipient of it in history had stared at her for a momentary silence and flat-out declined—preferring to walk under the tears of the heavens. [Name] let the issue slide, telling herself that perhaps the boy whose hair flowed in waves of obsidian did not like the thought of sharing with a shorter person's umbrella—she let it slide. [Name] tried to be kind, hopelessly so, but every bit of her restraint and resolve to fulfill a New Year's resolution had disintegrated that one summer evening.

Much like now, they basked in the stillness of the night. Not a word spoken out of line, not even a breath. Whispers of everyday life had wandered into the orchestra of the city, revs of the passing vehicles drowning the words left for the wind to take; painted yellow from the lights, Yuuta and [Name] treaded silently. Their classmates were already far off into the distance, eager to get to the restaurant where their teacher awaited, leaving the two exorcists alone to ponder over their thoughts. The reason for their sluggish pace wasn't that the two of them did not wish to attend (Gojo Satoru was paying, why decline?); it was because [Name] did not know how to cross the road, thus leading to their delay.

Thankfully, Yuuta was kind enough to stay with [Name] (although, in reality, he was forced by Maki) and prevented her from getting run over by a bicycle or a truck, whichever would come first. Back then, [Name] was filled with the thoughts that perhaps she would become good friends with the black-haired sorcerer. Yuuta was kindhearted as to not scrutinize her for not knowing how to use pedestrian lanes, or jaywalk, whichever was necessary and even went as far as waiting for her when everyone else went on ahead.

A small smile painted its way on her face, visible only under the light of a closing stall as they passed by. The sidewalks narrowed down greatly the further they walked the path leading to their destination, leaving only but a few spaces for a single person to walk through. Yuuta placed a single foot onto the open highway, followed by another and another until he completely diverged from her path leaving her to walk the pavement alone. Lost and somewhat befuddled, [Name] attempted to follow where the Sorcerer went, only to witness as the world descended at a speed akin to the fall of gravity. Suddenly, Yuuta, who was laughing hysterically, became an entire arm taller than her, and a stinging pain erupted from her knee.

"What are you doing, [Name]?" He questioned, trying his best to restrain the amusement begging to coat his words. "Catch any frogs down there?" Yuuta ultimately failed and laughed for at least five more seconds before extending his hand out for her to take.

And just like that, [Name]'s New Year's Resolution had exploded like fireworks. Angrily, she accepted Yuuta's offer; swore to herself it would be the first and last time she would. How could she ever think of accepting another? When, at this very second, his shameless chortling had reached the ears of a few passersby! As if his previous teasing was not enough, "New core memory unlocked." Yuuta stoked the fire of rage even more.

Of all the things this guy has to set as his core memory, it's the one where I make a fool of myself?! "Why must this be your core memory of me?!" [Name] tried to complain, at least try to convince Yuuta to switch gears so she wouldn't have to live in fear of this moment being used as potential blackmail. "Couldn't you have picked something like, 'my classmate who is good at English'?" Now [Name] tried to bargain.

"Oh, yeah, that's good too, but this one would be added as well." [Name] was not one to believe in ghosts, nor of ogres and trolls hiding under bridges, but for a moment, under the fluorescent lights of the establishment before them, when Yuuta grinned... he looked like the devil himself.

[Name] skipped all the stages of friendship, as well as the stages of grief. Okkotsu Yuuta, to [Full Name] was an enemy and nothing but anger was reserved for him.

"What in the world happened to you two?" Kind enough of their snow-haired teacher to come out and greet them, if he hadn't, it would only be [Name] standing before him now. Gojo Satoru would have to play jigsaw with Yuuta as he looks all over the dumpsters of Tokyo trying to piece his body back together for a proper burial.

"Say a word, Yuuta you twat and I will kill you."

"Nothing~ Gojo-sensei."

Far too preoccupied she was, that [Name] failed to see the smile Yuuta gave her way the moment the curse of their task was signaled as exorcised.

"Let's go home now, [Name]."

---

Cold was the mid-autumn breeze; leaves descended from the trees like rain, painting the cobblestones with palettes of orange and brown. [Name]'s breath escaped her lips in a form of mist, clouding in front of her reddening cheeks. Their ever-so-pleasant teacher just had to call them out at 7 A.M. on a perfectly freezing Tuesday morning for his quote—unquote Terrific-Tuesday-Endurance-Training. It was useless if you'd ask [Name], only because she felt that it could be done on any day, preferably days when the temperature wasn't close to turning them to ice, or hours where the sun isn't just peeking through the horizons.

Despite the lack of warmth of the November zephyr, Gojo Satoru definitely exceeded any passing wind the season of winter had to offer when it came to heartlessness! Terrific-Tuesday-Endurance-Training just had to be done in the middle of the courtyard where not a speck of heat could be made, or a source of warmth was near, what's worse is that everybody was already here, everybody but the sole proprietor of this grand idea.

"Hi, guys... sorry I'm late..." [Name] had to suppress her growing irritation, she didn't want to mangle what was left of her New Year's Resolution... but with the rampage of those unwanted chemicals in her system, the temperature that was nearing the point of freezing off her limbs, and the ungodly hours in which they were called upon—the year is already ending anyway, let's just make another resolution.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG WE'VE BEEN STANDING HERE—" [Name] turned to scold her teacher, or at least, who she expected was her teacher only to be met by the sorry state that was Okkotsu. Red-nosed like a reindeer, bloodshot eyes like an addict, flushed cheeks of a drunkard, and wrapped with more layers than a burrito. He looks terrible. "You definitely seen better days." She sneered.

"Hah... yeah, for sure." Yuuta sniffed, or breathed, who knows—before going to stand beside [Name] who took a few steps to widen their distance which made Okkotsu trace the steps she left on the earth. This idiot—

Maki, noticing what [Name] was obviously trying to ignore, asked the question. "Are you sick, Okkotsu?"

Detecting her annoying classmate's distraction, [Name] took the chance to escape from Yuuta's space trespassing and instead cross the fence to the Panda's space.

"Maki-san? No, no... I'm fine. Just a little cold that's all—" taking note of the missing warmth beside him, Okkotsu's gaze left the green-haired Zenin to look for where it had gone.

The moment his stare met the awaiting eyes of [Name], he gave a toothy smile; his eyes closing to form two crescent moons.

Unable to hold that sick—quite literally—expression, [Name] forced herself to look away, afraid that her heart would burst out of her chest from how quickly it was hammering against her rib cage. Don't look at me like that. She did not know what to make of it all—when Yuuta looked at her like she was everything but an annoyance. Like she was nothing but herself... nothing but the girl he loved to tease to no end.

"ARE YOU GUYS READY FOR TERRIFIC-TUESDAY-ENDURANCE-TRAINING? CAN I GET A YES SIR?!"

[Name]'s eyes directed towards her teacher that was an entire forty minutes late, as much as she wanted to yell at him, scold him for his negligence—making them wait for so long in this weather—the young exorcist bit her lip to suppress her words. Fearful that if she were to speak, she would fail to find her voice, that she would be left a stuttering mess—unable to grasp onto a single coherent thought. The once monochromatic palette that shaded her surroundings began morphing to this kaleidoscope of colors that bathed in too much saturation. Limbs that were once close to frostbite felt like fire, burning at every vein that gave her life. Damn you, Yuuta you twat!

"Huh, tough crowd."

Taking note of his students' response, or rather, the lack thereof—the blindfolded sorcerer took it upon himself to begin his Terrific-Tuesday-Endurance-Training which, quite frankly, none of them wanted to do.

Who in their right mind would want to run ten laps around the courtyard? Or thirty pushups? Who would even willingly want to exceed past twenty with sit-ups?

[Name] wished she faked an errand beforehand. Watching her grandma's cat was certainly better than whatever the hell this was.

"Hey, Yuuta... you okay there, buddy?"

Sparing a passing glance at the voice's general direction, [Name] caught a glimpse of the flushed expression her classmate wore on his face. Oh...

"Yuuta-kun?" Satoru approached the obviously sick student who just had to be stubborn and still go to school on this cold, November Tuesday, not only that but forced himself to execute half the exercises of this Terrific-Tuesday-Endurance-Training. "You're burning up," Gojo's gaze skimmed through the faces of his awaiting students, assessing who'd fit best into the responsibility he was about to pass. Inumaki was on a mission. Maki could care less if Yuuta hit his head on the way. [Name] would kill Yuuta if she felt like it. Panda it is!

"Panda, bring Yuuta to Shoko. We'll continue this another time."

Is he gonna die? [Name] watched as Panda supported Yuuta's weight and made their way to the basement, eyes not drifting away from their figures until the last of their shadows disappeared inside the building. Who cares? Why would I care about that idiot anyway...

"Maki, [Name] go warm up."

"After what you just put us through? I'm never taking any of your offers again." Maki complained, sneering at the older sorcerer before departing.

Gojo expected that much from the Zenin, very much so that all that laughing it off would be the best response. Similarly, an answer parallel to her friend was what the snow-haired exorcist prepared for when he turned to set his gaze on the remaining student, but he was surprisingly met with silence. How odd...

[Name] took one look at her teacher, nodded in acknowledgement, and left to go after her classmate.

"Now... what is going on with that girl..."

The majority of Terrific-Tuesday-Endurance-Training Day was spent wondering whether or not Yuuta was going to live to see another day. [Name] found that it was a rather unpleasant way to further ruin an already terrible day but sadly, it was all her brain allowed her to think about. Damn you, Yuuta. No matter what corridor she passed, window she looked through, room she occupied... there was nothing but the thought of Okkotsu Yuuta in her head. And it was annoying her to no end. [Name] never really believed that she was particularly blessed with Yuuta's presence, that was until... she was striped of it.

When twilight passed with no sign of that blasted sorcerer, [Name] sent out the very first message she would willingly send... not out of obligation but of genuine concern.

[Name] wasn't hopeful, honestly, she was not so sure where all that compassion escaped from. But when her phone buzzed from the pocket of her coat, a small smile shadowed her face illuminated by her screen.

---

Maki was never really one to beat around the bush. Once, she told her twin that her new perfume made her smell like feet, which was not all that off the mark but of course, a little sugarcoating wouldn't hurt...

There was also the time she told Panda that wearing a shirt made him look like an Asian version of Winnie the Pooh, which—once again—would not be far-fetched from the truth. But never, in [Name]'s wildest dreams did she expect that one day, she would be the one at the receiving end of that blade.

"Why don't you just confess already, [Name]?"

[Name] laughed, like she did every time Maki, Panda or even Inumaki would imply this blasphemy her classmates would label as 'fessing up and expressing how you really feel'. Sadly, this has been an on-going thing for the past weeks. One of them had to give it up and [Name] swore heaven and earth would have to collide and shatter before she would even think about admitting defeat.

"And what makes you think that I like Yuuta, Maki-chan?"

The Zenin gave a wicked smirk, taunting her friend. It was then, that [Name] realized her slip-up. "Oho~ but I didn't say a name, [Name]-chan~"

Oh shi—

Realizing there was no way out, [Name] did what she did best—turn it into a what-if situation. "Well, say that I did hypothetically, hypothetically hold... affections for him—hypothetically, what makes you think that he'll hypothetically, return them huh?"

This was it. It's over. [Name] was not one to mess things up to this degree where she couldn't worm her way out of, even after just swearing a moment ago that defeat was absolutely unacceptable. But, truly... to what extent could she keep holding onto these feelings? It was getting increasingly more and more difficult to hold them back, her retorts turned meaner, her gaze a lot sharper... enough to cut through the stares she would often feel emanating from Yuuta.

"Simple, I have proof."

"What proof?"

"Say you'll confess, and I'll show it to you."

"Are you out of your mind? That's ridiculous!"

"Promise me, and I'll show it."

"You don't seem to be getting the idea that I need certainty before I can proceed with the actual execution of the mission, knowing that I have guaranteed success—"

"Promise. Then, I'll give you proof." Maki pressed. She really did know where to hit a jackpot when it came to [Name], or—simply put—pressure the one who took promises to an esteemed regard. [Name] stared painfully at her friend, knowing full well that in order to quench her curiosity, she would have to seal her fate and do the unspeakable. The worst he could say is I'm built like a tutorial boss.

"Fine. I promise, I'll... hypothetically, confess."

"Great!" The Zenin beamed, fetching her phone from her pocket, tapping a few times before handing the gadget to the awaiting sorcerer.

Lowering the phone, [Name] looked at Maki with a face that screamed, betrayal. "You tricked me! Where's the proof in this?"

"What? That is proof." Taking her phone back, the green-haired female emphasized on some key points that was clearly never even there. "You can see it right there that he holds you in some sort of regard and that he is considering that the two of you could be something more." See? Right there? Right where?

"Maki-chan... you're being delusional! And what's up with your messages? They're so cryptic." [Name] crossed her arms over her chest, shocked by the trickery she had to face from her own friend. Now, she would have to hold her end of the deal...

"[Name], there's nothing even remotely close to cryptic in that, everyone can see it, even that blindfolded idiot."

"Gojo-sensei is in this too?"

"Uh-huh, even the Kyoto kids and Utahime-sensei. Like I said, [Name]-chan... everyone can see that there's something more, but it looks as though the stars of the show are the only ones oblivious to it all."

How blind do you have to be not to see that he likes you, [Name]? Was the thought running through Maki's head. Nobody would go that far for a person you'd hate, perhaps you—but Okkotsu wouldn't. "Hey, if it turns out he doesn't feel the same... worst he could say is you'd drop common loot if you were defeated."

---

[Name] broke barriers, hammering down the walls she'd built so high—not even the skies could shelter them. But that was exactly the problem. [Name] often thought of it, pondered over the idea in the dead of night, lost hours of sleep trying to get her head around it, yet she never expected that the day the acceptance would come would be something like this. Perhaps all great people should die early, so that they may never have the chance to fall from grace.

"I like you, Yuuta." It took everything in her to admit it, the feelings she had harbored for him for only heaven knows how long. [Name] wasn't sure when it occurred, how he managed to shimmy his way into the fortress of trust issues, but he did. Everything was in place. Then out of nowhere, his eyes shone in a different light; it wasn't the kind of glimmer it would have made when dusted by the luminescence of the setting sun but the kind that refracts and scatters to a million tiny pieces, looking as though faeries had painted them with all the colors the universe could offer. His laughter, which she would have found infuriating and annoying a month ago, bewitched her like a spell, playing like symphonies even in the midst of her most fervent dreams. And little by little, she caught herself stealing glimpses of him, turning her head when someone called his name, she caught herself watching him walk away until all she could see was the last bits of his shadow.

"... Is this a prank, [Name]?" He laughed; the smile plastered on his face not quite reaching his eyes. Is this what he thinks this is? "Wait—that sounds kinda offensive—I didn't mean it like that [Name]—really—"

I see...

Before Yuuta could trail off with his incessant rambling, "Surprise!" [Name] had already interrupted him, with a voice an octave higher than what he was accustomed to hearing accompanied by an enthusiasm that felt more like a stranger than anything else.

Despite his attempt to hide that flickering emotion, [Name] saw it. After all, he was quite easy to read—conflicted, that was what he was. [Name] wouldn't put it past her if he was, to Yuuta, it probably looked as though every fiber of her being wanted to get as far away from him as it was physically possible. "Is this a joke, [Name]?" Yuuta spoke once more, repeating his still unanswered question. You really could be cruel if you wanted too, Yuuta. [Name] remained silent, nothing but the November zephyr singing melodies for the two of them to hear.

And that was enough of an answer for the boy.

"Of all people, you still liked the guy who was always out of it."

Yuuta wanted to laugh it off, hoping it would ease that awkward space wedging itself between the two of them, but he thought better. That wouldn't be right.

"Well, now you know!" It felt unbearable, his silence that is. [Name] was painfully aware of what was to come, the impending future she had laid out for herself, the path that her choice would lead her to; she'd gone down that road more times than she'd like to admit, to the point she'd know where the potholes were planted, where the stones and pebbles would be littered—everything about that place was familiar yet every time she'd be directed that way, her heart would break just a little bit more.

Sunlight painted them golden, its warm rays bouncing off her glossy eyes scattering them like stardust; [Name] felt like absolute scum for doing this, regretfully so... but she didn't want him to think of her any differently. "Let me down easy, will you?" She smiled at him, with sadness that looked as though hurt him more than it hurt her.

Yuuta stared at her with disbelief, certainly not comprehending fast enough that what he was facing right at this very moment was indeed, reality. Her laugh, which he'd only hear when she teased him, was no longer filled with a playful song but a solemn hymn of acceptance for an answer that was yet to come.

[Name] closed her eyes and inhaled, perhaps the last bit of oxygen she'd get before her chest would ache every moment she breathed. Now, [Name]... don't—

"I'm sorry," he whispered, I should be used to those words, "but I can't return your feelings."

... so why do they still hurt? I knew, didn't I? I knew he would never—that he could never—that he...

"I know." [Name] didn't know how she managed to keep her voice from crumbling, she was sure Yuuta thought so too. She hated it. She hated that when she opened her eyes to look at him, he showed nothing but understanding. There was nothing in those damned eyes of his that was anything but kindness. Nothing. Yuuta was making this harder for her than it already was. And she hated that even more. She hated that she couldn't find a single bit of resentment—even pity—or sadness in him at what she just did. [Name] was full of anger, ready to burst at a moment's notice... yet she couldn't borrow any anger to throw at him. She wanted to hate him—yell at him or even just be angry but... she couldn't.

She couldn't—she just couldn't... find a single reason to bring herself to hate him.

... could never feel the same— "I just wanted you to know."

.

.

.

A little too late...

Almost, such a hurtful word to say That the song made just for us had failed to play Melodies I hummed and sang to the skies Didn't reach you as they scattered like petals in the wind and eventually died

You shone so brightly that it left me blinded Faltering... endlessly questioning if I could be the one you wanted Magnified by how many stars you painted on my darkened ether Constellations you hung on my ebony sky, they lit up every fissure

Winter came and they began dimming... losing their once-radiant glow The last of them burned into oblivion, leaving me wandering so Until all that was left for me to see was the unending abyss Remnants of fractured memories I once had thought I would never miss

If I had gathered just enough courage to begin— Would I not be left wondering... what we could have been?

.

.

.

Yuuta swallowed the lump in his throat, eyes reflecting the girl standing before him... pouring her heart out. The girl he thought had resented him with every ounce of strength she possessed, the girl he thought could be an angel to the rest of the world but never to him... the girl he once had thought would be the least likely to like him back.

Why would she like him, out of all the people? He teased her to no end, contradicted her every statement to get her riled up because he thought it was amusing to see her angry. He laughed at her when she fell on the side of the road, when she misspelled convenience with an 'i' and he ended up getting a point higher than her because of it. Why? What did she see in him? Which side of the prism did she look that she uncovered all the things he desperately tried to hide even from himself?

He couldn't bear to see that. The eyes that looked at him with that familiar distaste morphed into a glow that he couldn't understand. Yuuta would imagine himself telling her: don't look at me like that. Like what? She would ask. Like you could love me... he would answer.

Yuuta couldn't bring himself to tell her the awful-tasting truth, so he covered it with those bitter lies. I can't return your feelings, he would say. What [Name] would be unaware is that it was her who returned his sentiments. It was always her for Yuuta... but she would remain ignorant of that fact for a long while. Yuuta would have conquered the heaven and the earth for [Name], given her all that he was—but... he couldn't.

If he really did return her feelings as he was, right now... it would be a disservice to her. Because he would not complete and whole as a person. He would prefer not to turn her down, but he would be hurting her more if he tried to give something he didn't have. Yuuta wouldn't lead [Name] on like an idiot, he'd prefer to be forward than tell her things he didn't mean. He wasn't complete enough to be able to give himself away to another, and he knew that. But he would work hard. Work hard so that she'll deserve him—the best of him.

Yes, the scenarios of this one-shot are true and they did happen... happened to none other than me! *cries* I did fall on the side of the road and my Yuuta did laugh. I did spell convenience wrong and my Yuuta did get a point higher than me because of it. I did throw a walnut at my Yuuta and it hit someone else. My Yuuta did say that I ran like a little girl. My Yuuta did drag me by my feet and wouldn't let me go when he, along with all our friends were drunk out of their minds and I was the only sober one. Me and my Yuuta threw pillows at each other because of that. My Yuuta did offer to help me down a high place, and I did refuse. Me and my Yuuta... only his name wasn't Yuuta. I did write a poem for my Yuuta, and that is the poem that you saw. My Yuuta did get a kick out of teasing me. In the end, it was my Yuuta... who thought so lowly of himself had assumed my confession was a joke, hid his feelings, and ran away, deeming it would be a disservice to me should he return them to me now. My Yuuta was not complete, so he had declared, my Yuuta was not whole enough to be able to give himself to another. My Yuuta was cowardly, but he was in the right. I was too stubborn for my Yuuta, and my Yuuta was far too disciplined. My Yuuta and I made no promises. Me and my Yuuta had no agreement. My Yuuta and I... are going separate ways. But I can see it in my Yuuta's eyes, that my Yuuta has lied. I see the way my Yuuta behaves, my Yuuta... you cannot hide stars under carpets. Perhaps, My Yuuta has felt regret, thinking he might be too quick in turning me down; fret not, my Yuuta, for I was too eager to speak of a feeling that had not fully formed. But, I once asked my Yuuta a question, possibly something self-serving, it was that should we live in a plato-perfect kind of world, would me and my Yuuta have a chance? My Yuuta spoke the words...

Me and my Yuuta... only his name wasn't Yuuta.

oh, to live in a plato-perfect world.

[atinyslittleworld]

A Night to Remember

wooyoung x g!reader

Summary: Wooyoung and Y/N, notorious for their constant bickering, find themselves locked in a bedroom during a party leading to unexpected confessions.

Genre: angst

Warnings: alcohol consumption

Wooyoung and Y/N Haneul’s best friend, were known for their constant bickering and clashing personalities. They never seemed to see eye to eye, always finding something to argue about whenever they were in the same room. Their friends had long given up trying to mediate between them, resigned to the fact that Wooyoung and Y/N would probably never get along.

One evening, San decided to throw a party at his house, inviting all his friends for a night of fun and celebration. The atmosphere was lively, with music blasting and people laughing and dancing. Wooyoung and Y/N, despite their mutual animosity, both attended the party. They spent most of the evening avoiding each other, but as the night went on and the drinks kept flowing, their paths inevitably crossed.

“You’re in my way,” Wooyoung said, glaring at Y/N as she stood by the kitchen counter, blocking access to the drinks.

“I’m not moving,” Y/N shot back, her eyes flashing with defiance. “Find another way.”

Wooyoung rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath before turning to find another drink. Y/N watched him go, her irritation simmering beneath the surface.

Hours later, the party was still going strong, and both Wooyoung and Y/N had consumed more alcohol than they probably should have. Their inhibitions lowered, their usual arguments became more intense and heated.

“You always have to be so difficult, don’t you?” Wooyoung snapped, his voice slurred as he pointed an accusatory finger at Y/N.

“Oh, like you’re any better,” Y/N retorted, her cheeks flushed from the alcohol. “You’re impossible to deal with!”

Their argument continued to escalate, drawing the attention of their friends. San, seeing that things were getting out of hand, decided to intervene. “Hey, you two,” he called out, stepping between them. “Cool it. This is supposed to be a party, not a battleground.”

Wooyoung and Y/N glared at each other but reluctantly backed down, each muttering under their breath. San sighed, shaking his head as he watched them.

As the night wore on and the party began to wind down, Wooyoung and Y/N found themselves in a quiet hallway, still bickering. In their drunken state, they stumbled into a nearby bedroom, not realizing the door had locked behind them.

“Great, now we’re stuck,” Y/N groaned, trying the doorknob to no avail.

“Fantastic,” Wooyoung muttered, flopping down onto the bed with a frustrated sigh. “Just what I needed.”

Y/N paced the room, her irritation growing. “This is all your fault,” she accused, pointing a finger at him.

“How is this my fault?” Wooyoung shot back, sitting up and glaring at her.

“You always have to start something!” Y/N exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

Wooyoung opened his mouth to argue but then stopped, a strange expression crossing his face. “You know what?” he said, his voice quieter. “Maybe you��re right. Maybe I do start things because… I don’t know how else to get your attention.”

Y/N blinked, taken aback by his sudden admission. “What are you talking about?”

Wooyoung ran a hand through his hair, his usual bravado faltering. “I mean… I can’t stop thinking about you. And it drives me crazy. So I pick fights because it’s the only way I know how to deal with it.”

Y/N stared at him, her anger slowly giving way to confusion and something else – a flicker of understanding. “You… you think about me?”

“All the time,” Wooyoung confessed, his voice raw with honesty. “I know we argue a lot, but it’s because I don’t know how else to handle these feelings.”

Y/N’s heart skipped a beat as she processed his words. “I think about you too,” she admitted softly, her own walls beginning to crumble. “And it frustrates me because I don’t understand why.”

A silence fell between them, heavy with unspoken emotions. Wooyoung stood up and took a tentative step toward her. “Maybe… maybe we’ve been going about this all wrong,” he said, his voice gentle. “Maybe we fight because we care too much.”

Y/N looked up at him, her eyes shining with newfound clarity. “Maybe you’re right,” she whispered, taking a step closer to him.

Wooyoung reached out, his hand trembling slightly as he cupped her cheek. “I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” he said softly before leaning in and pressing his lips to hers.

The kiss was electric, a culmination of all their pent-up emotions and unspoken feelings. Y/N’s arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer as she kissed him back with equal fervor.

When they finally pulled apart, they were both breathless, their foreheads resting against each other. “Wow,” Y/N whispered, her heart racing. “That was… unexpected.”

Wooyoung chuckled, his thumb gently brushing her cheek. “Yeah, but it felt right.”

They spent the rest of the night talking, their usual arguments replaced with honest conversations and shared confessions. As the first light of dawn began to filter through the window, they both knew that something had changed between them – something real and meaningful.

When San finally found them the next morning, still locked in the bedroom, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Looks like you two finally sorted things out,” he said with a grin.

Wooyoung and Y/N exchanged a smile, their hands intertwined. “Yeah,” Wooyoung said, squeezing Y/N’s hand. “I think we did.”

[jazzyblusnowflake]

You've got some cool headcanons for Nuzi and Vuzi, but what about the third? You got any for EnVy?

Wow i suck at answering these on time smh. sighhhh, in my defense i procrastinate answering some questions cuz i don't wanna just put together some random stuff and call it a day-

i actually wrote some stuff for some asks before but had to delete it last minute cuz i thought its worth putting more time than that, i guess TvT sorry, im probably taking this too seriously idk.

My eNVee headcanons TvT:

[yall know the drill, the drone versions only, the human versions aren’t involved, and no nsfw- for now.]

k so, light envuzi involved too, Uzi is the mediator here, whether u consider her a friend here or their mini toaster in the middle- also there's some of the stuff from my future version where V is safe and sound thankfully. and also maybe some stuff from their past too.

With how N was realizing that V was lying or hiding stuff from him in a constant manner, naturally he grew to grieve the loss of who V USED to be, and with that loss he tried to accept that he has to let her go, because the V he fell in love with was long gone. despite this, when they both started teasing each other over their relationship with Uzi and N started to bite back a bit at Vs behaviors with more self confidence, they grew to form a completely different kind of relationship. Uzi was just having fun seeing them try to win her over lmao; but in the end they kind of started enjoying eachothers company again. Uzi felt happy seeing them get closure for the things they went through and was more than happy to support them through it.

Back at the manor V was fixed up after J and N, she was one of the later drones added to the family, she hardly spent much time at the manor at all before the great yeetening happened- she was originally a maid drone for a family before she was broken and dumped in the drone corpse junkyard. Maid drones are programmed with sweet and soft AIs with more round/short body shapes to have a friendly image in a household, they are made to be able to deal with both adults and kids, and they are best made for cleaning and setting up the house in mind. N was made as a butler/chauffeur before getting broken and yeeted in the junkyard [yes he can drive]. Due to V getting broken for some sort of mistake during work, she was left scarred after her reboot to make any more mistakes, which left her slightly jitter-ish and clumsy. Tessa put N in charge to help her around and although at the beginning V didn't talk much and felt unsure, slowly N became her safe space- especially since Tessas abusive parents remind V alot of her old household. N in turn thought V was always cute, he helped her with her work, having more steady hands, which ended with a lot more hand touching and blushing on both their ends :p

N was the one that suggested glasses for V which Tessa decided to try doing to see if it would help her visual efficiency in any way, and it did. V as a DD often tries to rely on her real eyes rather than look through her main visor, the glasses remind her too much of N...

N and V sometimes used to get out of the manor in secret spots to spend some time away from the chaos to help V calm down. during this time they would read books, learn stuff from each others past lives, and sometimes draw lol, but V just liked watching and listening to N, she felt happy with him. although unlike N, V felt a bit nervous around the animals in the area XD

N and V actually have shared kisses, just not on the lips. with N kissing her on the back of her hand as a gentleman and V giving him kisses on his cheek [Tessa's idea of a cute plan to put them under a mistletoe lol], but Vs last words to N was a promise to give him a kiss before she became comatose. as more drones in the manor stopped working and Ns efficiency and work became less useful to the manors occupants due to him wanting to spend time with V all the time, Louisa and James started becoming more impatient with Tessa's drones, which lead to the whole "get rid of them" line...

back in the current time V is obviously trying to protect N in her own traumatized way; but even then, most of the things she had done to "shelter" N, was probably not the best choice one could make, and some of it was done out of jealousy towards N and Uzi getting closer. However, slowly she started convincing herself that N deserved someone like Uzi. V had convinced herself that she deserves nothing. She was willing to give up everything for N and keep him safe from the beginning, even if it meant knocking N down a few limbs/heads just to keep him away from danger- which is problematic in itself. she made choices based off fear and urgency. she was always traumatized.

When N and V started getting along together a bit more and hanging around a bit in the human cities- V takes N to a bookstore she found once and they spent the whole day in the shelter of the store reading different old books. V still does not admit she did this to see N happy again lol.

When N started showing V affection again, V started becoming heavily touch starved and dependent on him again, just like the manor days, which she feared, which caused a minor set back for a while where she tried to avoid N. Uzi had to come and fix this shit cuz apparently only she can scold 2 dinosaurs without feeling intimidated. after N and V kiss for the first time PROPERLY after the whole solver BS ends, V just gets more touch starved and she hates both N AND Uzi for this lmao.

N and Uzi know that one of the only ways to make V calm down is to act soft with her, occasionally praising her and calling her nice things; even when V is literally threatening to bite their head off- [shes bluffing-.......mostly.]

N is usually the one that initiates any closeness with V. after their first kiss, N does tell her that she's done stuff that he might not be able to casually forgive, but at the same time he has seen her grow, and she does have good in her that he still loves her for.

V has nightmares and hardly ever sleeps, and when she does, its usually cuddling N or Uzi.

V tries to wear her glasses more often in the future. N likes it a lot :"3

V is surprisingly a good mom :p [spoilers for my au lmao bye] but yeah, since her original OS was for a maid, she still has some functions to be good with little ones. she cant help herself, she just really likes babies and kids.

N likes sometimes ballroom dancing with V for old times sake...

[i think this is as far as my brain will allow me, please excuse me as i jump off a cliff :") ]

[goingmerryfics]

hi again! :D I hope you're doing well! im back with the killer requests again- could i request killer as a girl dad?

Girl Dad w/ Killer, Ace, & Law

Content: Obviously SFW & no reader mentioned, just characters and their little girls <3

Notes* YES and I added two more characters because I really wanted to do this prompt!!

Killer

He, also having long hair, LOVES to braid her and have his hair done/played with by her, too. It doesn’t matter how dumb he looks- with uneven ponytails, too many hairclips and bows everywhere -he loves the time spent together 

In fact, doing her hair in the morning is his favorite way of spending time with her. He loves getting a new request for a style every day, and it doesn’t matter how outrageous it sounds because it’s for his little princess

He would even ask around/read some books to teach him how to do hair like any mother would know how to do

He would also be so excited to teach his little girl how to cook! Not because of gender roles of course, but because it’s an activity that he loves to do and is a good life skill for anyone to have.

His lessons start with him holding her and letting her watch, then continue on into letting her add ingredients, and when she’s old enough and understands the dangers of using the stove/oven and knives and such, lets her stand beside him and make her own mini meal while he does the same, so she can watch his steps and perform them herself

It’s great, because she gets to have the freedom of adding whatever ingredients she likes to her food, while learning a life skill hands-on, and also getting to spend time with her dad

She adores her father, too

Only when they’re alone does he take off his mask and let her see him with no restrictions

And of course at one point, he had to explain why he looks the way he does. Maybe she was too young to understand it fully, but she loves him no matter what and that’s all that matters

And as she ages, she begins to look like him, too. At first it makes him uncomfortable- to have a little copy of his face, he wonders if she’ll face the same insecurities and hardships that he does when it comes to self-image. But that’s not the case at all- in fact, she adores that she looks like her daddy!

In a way, she teaches him how to love himself a little bit more.

Ace

He has no idea how to be a dad and he’s so confident in his ability to wing it until he actually comes face to face with the newborn baby girl. Then he panics

He doesn’t know how to parent! He’s hardly responsible for himself! 

Everything is a journey with him. Changing his first diaper, dealing with the constant crying, even making his first bottle is a disaster 

he lit it on fire trying to warm the milk with his devil fruit

And if you think for any moment that it would get easier as she grows, you’d be dead wrong.

She is just like him in terms of activity. She runs everywhere. Gets into everything she’s not supposed to, even at the age where she knows better. She just likes to watch her dad panic and run after her, it’s fun

She’s just as much of a hot-headed trouble maker, and at half his strength at Ace’s age, still just as daring

She’ll challenge anyone, which means Ace really has to keep a close eye on her when they’re in public. There are too many people out there that are happy to hit a kid if need be

But if anyone were to actually lay a finger on her, he would burn them from the inside out.

He calls his daughter his little firefly because of how she lit his life up after having her. For a self-deprecating man who believed himself unworthy of love to have someone in his arms who adored his every move, it only proved how needed he was by others. Not just her, but everyone in his life.

He loves to show her off to anyone that’ll listen, just like how he adores Luffy. Except he’ll hold her up like a trophy he’s won while he does it

While he has a hard time scolding his daughter, he does have his own way of parenting- it’s called distraction. Is she throwing a tantrum because she wants something she can’t have? He’ll start to tickle her, or pick her up by her ankle to hold her upside down, or do anything to make her laugh

He’s a work in progress dad, but he makes it work enough for the both of them. At least he’s proud that he can be a better father than his own was

Law

Law would be strict father, but he would melt with his little girl, and it’s a struggle for him

He values education and knowledge, and would want to teach her everything he knows. But that gets boring for a child, and sometimes he forgets that his little sweetheart needs a brain break every now and then

It’s not that she dislikes hearing her dad talking about medicines and health conditions, but sometimes what he tries to teach her is a little outside of her level of understanding

It would take a little bit for them to get on the same level, with Law reading some parenting books on the matter, but eventually they get into a rhythm of holding a daddy-daughter study session

It’s great. It means they get time alone to spend with each other, and while she’s studying, he can catch up on his own work, stopping only occasionally if she has a question about the text she’s reading so Law can clarify what it means in words that she can understand.

Therefore, his little sweetheart becomes very smart very quickly, and even starts to spout facts that she finds interesting at other crewmembers on the ship. Law is so proud.

Speaking of the others, he’s so protective of his daughter that he even restricted Shachi and Penguin from spending too much time with her after they taught her their mischievous pranks

He doesn’t want her to think that doing things that could potentially be very mean to others is funny. That’s his precious little sweetheart there, he wants her heart to be pure forever

Unfortunately for him though, he often finds her with them, scheming things that no matter what he does, he just can’t stop them because he could never actually give her trouble for something so small. It just annoys the hell out of him

With his past, Law is very careful to watch her health and when she is sick, she’s treated like royalty. Law brings her anything she wants, carries her everywhere, and spends as much time as he can with her all the while blaming himself for her sickness, even if it’s something completely unavoidable

She’s a little bit spoiled since Law won’t really punish her too hard

(Once he put her in timeout and she cried for a little while, and Shachi and Penguin had to hold him back when he immediately tried to go back on it and run to hug her to tell her everything was fine)

But no matter what, they love each other and that’s all that matters

[lowkeyrobin]

hii i love your writing and im wondering if you could please write something fluffy for tommyinnit? maybe y/n is also a streamer/cc and their relationship is well known in the community and theyre always so sickeningly cute that their friends get so annoyed!! i just think that'd be fun.

tyty!

(also could i be 🌙🌊 anon? thanks!)

yeah of course!! welcome to the family 🌙🌊 anon :) ; and oooo okay, hopefully I did this right! thank you for requesting!

TOMMYINNIT ; sickeningly adorable

summary ; two streamers publicly dating, who would've guessed

warnings ; language

word count ; 562

y/s/n = your ship name

masterlist

You and Tommy finally made yourselves official in late 2021 as the Dream SMP fandom had started dying out. You waited for a while for the hype to go down because of toxic fans and weirdos online who'd care too much about your relationship, and everything turned out fine.

Most of your social media feeds were filled with support, but of course, there were always some hate comments here and there, from yours or Tommy's "fans" about each other. There was a toxic side to every fanbase, and you'd both go to great lengths to try and deal with it. After a while, you both stopped caring and accepted that giving those people attention only drove it further.

But, the toxicity was small, the love and support for you two being together was ten times larger, and that's all you could care about. From fanart and fanfiction to deep dive analysis' on Tumblr connecting your real selves to your characters, it was cute in all honesty. What was even cuter in your opinion was compilations of "adorable y/s/n moments for ____ minutes straight" videos.

You regularly binged those videos, even on stream, even with Tommy. That's what started the constant teasing and bickering from your friends. They were playfully annoyed at the two of you, which also led the community to do the same, which made him trend at #10 on Twitter for the day.

You were both grateful for your communities, and the opportunities and memories you could share online because of it.

But now, you're recording a vlog with Tommy, Freddie, and Tubbo as you hang around an arcade for the day. You split into two teams, You and Freddie v Tommy and Tubbo, to see who could win the most tickets in an hour. You and Freddie quickly went to grinding up tickets on Dance Dance Revolution, while the two T's went to try and get tickets off the basketball shooters.

You look back at Tommy, failing to make a ball in the basket behind you, Tubbo next to him, reminding him of his awful aim. You lightly smile and turn back to Freddie, already judging you with his facial expression.

“What?” You question

The boy with the dyed orange hair looks between you and the blonde across the room, an eyebrow raised.

“You’re both annoying”

“Shush”

You look back at Tommy, lightly chuckling as he and Tubbo begin throwing the balls at each other, aiming for the face. Freddie snaps you back to DDR, wanting to win free lunch.

"C'mon, Y/n/n, I can't carry this myself!" He lightheartedly laughs, pulling you into another round.

As you're playing DDR with Freddie, back to Tommy and Tubbo, the blonde begins to get distracted by you as well. He widely smiles, watching you bounce around on the mat while you focus on the game.

"Look at Y/n" He whispers to Tubbo, watching you with hearts in his eyes. "They're having so much fun"

Tubbo rolls his eyes. "Tommy, we need to get tickets, stop swooning over your partner"

"It can wait!"

"Half of our time is already gone!"

"I'm enjoying my view of my very happy partner, Tubbo. I'm buying lunch anyways"

The shorter brunette groans, "I'm getting a slushie then, have fun staring at them and looking like a creep"

Tommy quickly blinks before running after him, "Tubbo, no, wait!"

[saijspellhart]

Tumblr keeps recommending me posts with some of the worst takes on Catra’s character. Always an//ti//Catradora posts. (Like, did we watch the same show? We couldn’t have possibly watched the same show. Why the fuck would anyone compare her trauma to Hordak? Because they are on two entirely different character journeys, at wildly different age ranges and maturity, and with wildly different amounts of time to grow and change. Never mind the constant outside negative authority influences on Catra all the fucking damn time, that Hordak never has to deal with until season 5. And fortunate for Hordak, Prime doesn’t allow him the free will to choose a path, so Hordak gets a free pass, his character growth and budding humanity remain intact.) Don’t get me started on this, I could write a whole critical analysis on why Catra is a wonderfully written complex character, and why comparing her to Hordak is fucking ludicrous. Honestly the lack of comprehension about writing, character, fantasy, narrative and trauma astounds me when I see some of these Catra hate posts pop up in my recommended feed.

Tumblr, hopefully your algorithm gets this, but I LOVE Catra. I love her. I love this tortured mess, I love the writing that went into her character, I love her waffling precarious hold on sanity and reason. I love how she struggles to cope with her trauma. I love the realism put into her character despite the fantasy setting. But I also love that they didn’t push the realism too far, because it is at the end of the day a fantasy story. I love the delicate balance they wove into her character. I love the complexity and thought put into her entire character arc through the whole series. (And before anyone comes to crucify me, I say I love Catra, as a person who suffered immense parental trauma and manipulation. As a victim of some of the worst of it. I shouldn’t even have to mention my own trauma to justify appreciating a FICTIONAL character. But here we are.)

Would I have loved one extra season to really explore her redemption more thoroughly? Yes of course. An extra season would have been delightful to explore a lot of the character relationships more thoroughly. But we didn’t get that, and what the show creators did give us was still wonderful and satisfying. (Even if I have some critiques on some things.) the writing of the show at the end of the day is still smart, and tight, and so so competent. (Looking at the myriad of other story driven cartoons and shows that fall apart in the later seasons or just have an overwhelming amount of inconsistencies and botched writing. **coughs** Voltron, Miraculous, YGO, Netflix Carmen Sandiego, Bleach, many animes in general, just to name a few. Not that I didn’t love and adore most of these shows too.) the fact that She-ra (2018) stayed consistently tight and snappy and smart with their writing, narrative, and characters from beginning to end is a treasure.

Anyway. Catra is great. I could write a character analysis going into why from a writing and storytelling standpoint. But honestly I don’t think anyone cares that deeply, and I don’t exactly have followers who are particularly interested in She-ra. Tumblr, you god forsaken windfall apple, please stop suggesting an//ti//Catra and an//ti//Catradora posts. I don’t want to see them. I support the canon relationships. And I support the non canon ships too. What I do not support is hating on shippers who like other ships. It breeds contempt in a fandom, and leads to a fandom canabalizing itself until there are no fans left. Also letting hate and disdain take up such a large amount of time and space in your brain, leads you down some dark paths mentally.

[micahdoesmusic]

Albatrio hair-brading headcannons (because I’m deranged)

Personally I feel Gillion would have some sort of sensory issues, especially when it comes to his gills.

At first when Chip pulled him out of the water, it was very difficult to not be overwhelmed and find solutions to calm himself down. He took extra swims by the ship when his dry skin felt unbearable, ripped out part of his shirt to free his Gills and fins, etc. But it was hard to deal with his hair.

In my mind Gillion has two patches of Gills. One on the side of his waist, (he ripped out a space in his shirt) and the other on his upper back above his shoulder blade.

In the undersea, Gillion’s hair probably would’ve been floating about, maybe passing over his Gills occasionally or resting on his shoulders at times, but it wouldn’t be constant. However, when Gillion comes out of the water, his hair sits right atop his Gills and it feels itchy and horribly difficult to breathe.

Naturally, he tries to move it or tie it but it’s a struggle for him. (Unfortunately Gillion isn’t great at small hand coordinated tasks.) Edyn used to braid his hair, so he attempts to at fail. Eventually he gives up, unable to make a difference. Sure he could cut his hair, but Gillion has a sort of attachment to it.

After a while of getting to know Chip and Jay, Gillion notices a few braids in Jay’s own hair. He builds up the courage to ask her about it, and she offers to braid his own. At first it’s awkward, but they settle into it. Once Gillion has to take out the braids in fear of his hair becoming matted, he comes back to Jay to ask her to braid it again, until eventually it becomes a routine.

Jay and Gillion sit together weekly, doing each-other’s hair as Jay slowly teaches Gillion. They begin to talk and gossip, enjoying the company on late nights in their makeshift washroom.

Eventually, I think Chip would find out about it. It wasn’t that they were hiding their little get-togethers, but it never came up during the day. He’d probably be woken up some night by quiet laughter, crawl out of bed and find them sitting next to each other on the redwood floor.

After explanation, Chip awkwardly watches them continue their conversation and watches them braid. He chimes into their chatter occasionally, but goes to bed after awhile. From then, Chip would occasionally join them to watch when he couldn’t sleep. A little albatrio bonding time :)

Some time later, Chip admits that he knows how to braid and offers to help Gillion in Jay’s place when she is clearly tired. He explains that Lizzie taught him how to a long time ago on the black rose, that he’d almost forgotten it with time but watching them brought it back to him. Gillion tied a small braid into his hair in return.

And now they all have little matchy braids in my brain weheheghs

[desultory-novice]

Kirby Characters + Poker

:guilty look: I, uh, completely and unrepentantly stole this ask from @stardustshimmer because I love card games so so very much! (Even though I myself am not all that great at them.)

Anyway, I just really wanted an excuse to write a about the Dream Team + Dream Friends various competitive poker abilities so I did. >.>

-

Kirby: Knows the basic rules but not much else. Has no poker face and plays absolutely no mind games but is blessed with amazing luck and will pull off hands that don't seem physically possible and as a result, they do decently in spite of everything. Whenever they're playing with Dedede, everyone tends to gather around to watch because without fail Dedede will lose. It's completely uncanny.

Bandanna Waddle Dee: Doesn't like to play mind games or bluff but always maintains a level head so he usually never ends up the biggest loser at the table. When he wins, it's almost always an honest win.

Meta Knight: Ostensibly has a great poker face, given his mask, but it's the rest of his body and posture that gives him away in the end. And while he always maintains his cool in the first half of the game, making wise decisions and analytical judgements about the deck, as the night goes on, he slowly begins giving away every.single.hand.

King Dedede: Competitive games are his thing! His poker face is to be SMUG CONSTANTLY. Great player who runs into problems only because it is monstrously easy to bait him. Also addicted to getting high card combos and will never settle for the "smaller" win. ("High card pair? HA! I bet I can get a straight flush!" :gets dealt nothing:)

Rick, Coo, Kine: These three are exactly your uncles / your dad's friends that you'll always find playing poker after dinner. They're very good on a casual level but generally speaking too relaxed to provide a lasting challenge for the best players. None of them has managed to take a significant lead over the other in all their years of play.

Gooey: No idea how to play. Likes the colorful cards though.

Marx: Insanely good at mind games. To the level that it's not fair. Even when you think you know all his tricks, he STILL manages to get you eating out of his hand. And that stupid, ever-constant GRIN of his! RGH! Bad loser though and if his luck runs out or if you see through his games, he'll be the first to leave the table with a "Tch."

Adeleine: Zero poker face. Smiles or blushes every time she gets a good hand. Gets nervous and bites her lip if she's got a bad hand. Like Bandee but less interested in challenging her friends. Tends to fold. Often the first out of the table unless you're playing with one of the more protective members of her found family, in which case, they will hand her a few wins just so she's not disappointed.

Ribbon: When she's playing alongside Adeleine, provides her with helpful advice and keeps her mood up. Calm, sweet, big sis vibes. If Adeleine ever has to leave the table for a game, she gets surprisingly vicious and Adeleine will come back to find her winnings doubled?!

Dark Meta Knight: Significantly worse poker face than Meta Knight. On the positive side, the fact that he only seems to have one single mood, that being aggression, means that he's got shockingly good immunity to several of the other players' mind games. Pulls out all the stops whenever Meta Knight is playing at the same table.

Daroach: No one can beat him. NO ONE CAN BEAT HIM?! They swear he's cheating. Is he? He must be! But no one's been able to prove it so far. How can he hide cards if he doesn't have any sleeves?! Also, Daroach is forbidden from dealing. His little rat hands aren't allowed to touch the deck anymore. Cards are handed TO him. Will do this infuriating thing where after the cards are dealt, he leaves his face down on the table and just taps the ones he's exchanging.

Magolor: Has a really good poker face - as long as he's somewhere comfortably in the middle. If he's at either extreme, his tells become more obvious. It's the laughter. The hand-wringing. He's a smart player, but he almost always has to rely on mind games because for some reason no one can figure out, he has the worst luck.

Taranza: Always everyone's preference for dealer when playing together. Everyone also loves playing with Taranza because you can always score a win off him as, at least once a night without fail, he will completely bungle a fairly easy play. He's just as confused as everyone else. At least he laughs it off good-naturedly!

Susie: It always takes a little extra effort to convince Susie to play with everyone as she claims to have no interest in the game, but as soon as she sits down at the table, it is on. Acts like the queen of the universe whenever she has even a slight lead on her fellow players. Not as easy to bait as Dedede, but her confidence is her undoing.

Sisters: The inverse of the animal friends, as one of them has always bankrupted the other every weekend and it's usually Zan or Flam with the empty wallet. Fran plays her cards close to her chest and gets very tight-fisted with her bets when she's ahead. Flamberge doesn't have much of a poker face but her bluffs are still hard to decipher because she gets excited about even small hands. On the off chance that Zan is actually winning, all you need to do is casually mention Hyness's name, then peek at her hand while she has her head turned.

[galedekarios]

Oh wait now I’m curious what the backstory reasons behind Alton’s physical design are! He’s very handsome and I crave the oc lore.

thank you so much for asking about altonaufein. i really truly do appreciate it a lot! 🖤he's the favourite of my bg3 ocs.

his development and growth as a character is mostly tied to his hair and how he presents himself, so this is what i focused on for my choices throughout the game:

altonaufein was born as the third child but first son to matron ithrana of house hlarahel, a younger brother to his eldest sister nadriina and the second-born iraeae.

house hlarahel of ust natha has produced a long line of powerful clerics in service to lolth so altonaufein, with his natural talent and inlination for both the divine and the art of combat, was trained as a cleric to aid drow scouting and raiding parties:

this is how his hair would have looked then--perhaps even longer as the cc allows us--white hair worn long and open, symbolising lolth's demon webs, her reach and control on her drow, despite altonaufein's dreams of a bright moon hanging in a dark sky he has never seen.

i will put the rest under a cut because a) it's very, very long so sorry in advance and b) because it deals with some very heavy themes so if you aren't comfortable reading, you absolutely do not have to!

(cw assault/rape, cw mind manipulation, cw enslavement, cw drow society in general tbh)

drow society is a matriarchal society, where male drow are considered lesser, and it functions under a particular set of rules:

"The cruelty and injustice of Drow society are utterly familiar because they are constants, from the womb onward. Drow mothers punish and manipulate from the start, and Drow women rule each household. Typically, nobles are divided up into houses which jockey for position in the city, and each noble house is headed by a cleric of great skill. A wise matron mother will have several cleric daughters to ensure that her line and influence continues, but she will watch them carefully. Inheritance is passed through daughters, with children ranked in importance by gender, and then by age. A matron will guard against her eldest daughters and pit all of her children against each other to ensure her own survival." "Drow children are not coddled. They are raised together and sent to schools with high standards of conduct. Drow children are trained to compete with one another and to show no mercy. Some children do not survive the intense childhood games." "The Drow are infamous for their torture practices, as well they should be. Among the elves of the beginning times, they were the first to experiment with the sensation of pain. They have honed torture into science and psychological treatment. Drow parents will punish their children with pain and humiliation in very tactical ways. Drow students are publicly punished in front of their fellow students and class clowns are rare (although pranks for which no one was apprehended are remembered by Drow students as legends of a sort). Drow adults are not all masters of torture, but they have seen enough pain to know how to make others hurt. Not all Drow use physical pain as their modus operandi. A good many are adept at humiliation and terrible mind games. Some slaves are so broken mentally that all they can do is concentrate on the task at hand. Some Drow actually do not like to put forth the effort that torture requires and would rather kill someone than waste their energy. The worst punishments are said to come from those closest to Lolth - the yochlol and the clerics. They are whispered to be divinely inspired."

these are the circumstances that shaped altonaufein as much as it did nadriina and iraeae, who, in the tradition of house hlarahel, are both striving to become powerful priestesses of lolth in their own right, seeking to inherit control of the house from matron mother.

drow house politics are insane and it's all encouraged by lolth. lolth wants to determine who of her followers are worthy enough to be supported by her, so all drow have to pass a test of faith, a trial of lolth.

after altonaufein foolishly (he truly did love--in a way that drow are capable of--his sister iraeae and confided in her visions that spoke not of lolth or a great spider swallowing the world, but of a moon, shining bright silver.

iraeae felt conflicted. she, too, loved her brother in her own way. of course that weakness was what made her realise what she had to do: weed it out. so she told not only nadriina, but her her mother. it was then decided that altonaufein was not simply to die.

they would not further shame their own house like that. instead he would be put through his trial of lolth, to weed out that weakness and corruption within their own ranks. should he die, he'd be a sacrifice to lolth, should he live, he would prove lolth's favour to their house and advance them further in ust natha's society.

altonaufein with that was sentenced to undergo the test of strength. power and resourcefulness, whether or not the subject is strong and clever enough to defeat a powerful foe. the test is only fulfilled by a battle to the death between the test subject and another, stronger person, sometimes a creature.

the fight is usually difficult, and the test subject often has to expend all their resources to survive and vanquish their foe, who must be slain: the more brutal, the longer drawn out the fight, the more you've suffered and the more your foe has suffered, the more it will satisfy lolth.

altonaufein earned his first brutal kill like that. he had just reached maturity.

nadriina had hoped he would die. winning the trial had garnered favour and attention. a strong male could be just as dangerous as a scheming female. she devised a plan with iraeae to ensure that they would not be threatened and, with that, iraeae passed her own trial of lolth: chwidevbrii, or the test of betrayal.

it's a punishment that strikes particularly deep. trust is a distasteful concept to drow, though they understand that sometimes it does happen and is even necessary. to rid themselves of this, to succeed at this test, the drow must betray someone who has garnered her trust or in whom she has placed her trust.

mentors, teachers, leaders, friends, family members. as long as there has been a solid connection of dependence made in the past. the relationship between master and slave or servant does not count; the goddess knows that no betrayal can happen in such a relationship. it is simply a slave. the drow must utterly destroy the other drow in a way that allows her to advance in some manner. the method is not important: blackmail, slander, torture... magic. in the end, the victim must die or be thoroughly disgraced and dominated. usually, the victim is murdered by the drow herself, commits suicide, or is killed as a result of the drow's action.

so what better way to show to her goddess that she is a true drow, that she is worthy, what better way than to serve the house than humiliating and dominating someone who was once a little brother.

drow females are able to take over the mind of a male drow just like that, with a spell, akin to a thrall. all thoughts are gone, all will is gone. your mind is not your own anymore.

iraeae did just that: after he was beaten, whipped, mental and physical defences exhausted, the spell on altonaufein took hold and, as perhaps a final "kindness" in her utter triumph, altonaufein was discarded in ust natha's dark underbelly.

ust natha has a tavern. to entertain both those lusting for blood, for sport, and for more carnal pursuits. altonaufein still remembers szordrin and sondal, the keepers of the tavern. their taunting faces. mind gone, he and others were kept in a cage. he served there for a while. to fight. to please. to be of use. to those who asked. to those who had power or gold. for battle. for pleasure.

he was there, under that spell, until it broke: iraeae dead by her sister's hand. betrayed just like altonaufein had been by her. altonaufein doesn't remember how long it lasted, remembers only parts of it: the many hands, more than hands, the pain. he remembers fighting. other drow. other prisoners. the surface. running. the moon. fever. then nothing for a long time again.

and finally, karl:

karl is an ilmater cleric, a part of a small settlement built around a modest church of ilmater that, unknowingly, is very close to an entrance to the underdark.

during one of his patrols with another of the settlement, karl found altonaufein: delirious with fever, malnourished, ravaged by old wounds that never truly healed, hair tangled.

any other man might have killed the defenseless drow, thinking it to be a ruse, or perhaps to put him out of his misery, but karl is an ilmateri through and through, for better and for worse, and so he shouldered this suffering and brought altonaufein to the temple. he was tasked with caring for him. and watching him.

so karl came to care for the drow: he cleaned and dressed his wounds, sat by him. tried to talk to him, engage him in moments of clarity and despite the obvious language barrier. karl, an ex-soldier and deserter, was forced to fight for his homeland cormyr against sembia. he saw a lot of cruelty during that war. a lot of violence, both in battle and outside of it. in the villages and cities that were torched and conquered and pillaged. he saw a lot then and sees a lot of it now in altonaufein, who survived a different kind of war.

as for altonaufein himself, he tries to settle into that new life, tries to come to terms with what he remembers of his old one... it was incredibly violating. he remembers only snippets. moments. sudden movements and motions, that send his heart racing.

the clearest memory is a hand gripping his hair so tightly, pulling and guiding. it's not anymore, but he still feels it.

he hasn't brushed it or touched it since his rescue, it's a tangled, matted–and it’s also something that hasn’t escaped karl’s notice.

altonaufein goes to cut it with the only blade he could find (stolen and kept on his person from one of the meals karl had shared with him).

(ilmater clerics and priests are good and nice, but they are also no fools who would give a drow access to sharp weaponry. kindness goes only so far, even here, no matter how much karl vouches for altonaufein.)

so altonaufein begins to cut it with a dulled blade and it goes about as badly as you'd imagine: it's hard to do, it hurts, and the strands that he manages to cut are choppy (which is the least of his worries). he still manages to hurt himself simply by the virtue of hard he is trying and how badly his hands are shaking with it.

karl would find him, take one look at him and leave, coming back with honeyed tea to soothe frazzled nerves and a sharper blade, one of his own. he drinks the tea first from the little teapot, pouring himself one cup and another for altonaufein, to show him it's not poisoned or meddled with. he had noticed how skittish altonaufein was with things he hadn't seen being prepared.

they sit there for a while before altonaufein, too, calms enough to drink his cup, and it is only then that karl begins to speak, voice soft but clear.

he takes up the sharp blade, lets it rest on his hands just so, where altonaufein could reach out and take it at any time, and tells him of what could happen: he could leave the blade with altonaufein and he can try again, but karl would prefer it if he could help, clean the cuts and nicks and heal them, and help altonaufein cut his hair.

altonaufein looks at him for a long time, searching his eyes, still holding onto that dull blade as a last defense, but there is no deception in karl, none at all. only that strange kindness that he has come to associate with the human.

it was one of many, many small gestures, things, that karl did for altonaufein that made him trust karl. trust him enough to at first take food and drink from him, later to help fix injuries like this one--and finally, to let him cut his hair.

he turns his back on karl--even though the human might not realise fully how meaningful that truly is--so he can do as he had said he would. and karl does. he keeps his word.

time passes and altonaufein settles into his new life, bit by bit. he helps with that he can at the temple and the settlement: repairing fences, caring for the animals, the harvest, building and repairing things.

he still wears his hair short, but here and there, he allows it to grow just that bit longer than it had been for a long while now:

and it's this way when the settlement is attacked and he is captured on the nautiloid.

on his journey to find a cure, and to find karl, he meets another human, just as kind as the ilmateri. one who knows the goddess behind the light and moon he had dreamed of, prayed to, albeit not knowing just how to, and gives her a name that altonaufein had not known until then: eilistraee, lady silverhair--and a close friend to the man's own goddess, mystra.

this bond between them, beginning with a moment of connection, grows ever closer and brighter.

through them, karl and gale, with them and alongside them, altonaufein begins to heal and helps them heal in return, begins to find his purpose and helps them find theirs:

he is a cleric of eilistraee. he can be more than a tool for bloodshed and violence.

he's not kulg llarzoran ithrana qualla hlarahel (his designation as a male of his house). he's not auflaque (dog) as he was called during his captivity. he is simply altonaufein and that's what he is to gale, to karl and the friends he has made.

settling in waterdeep with them, altonaufein joins the promenade and its leader trelasarra zuind. to help others as he had been helped.

🖤