#it could be them and their friend in the room & i'd chime into the conversation except No I Didn't. ignored lol

[unproduciblesmackdown]

one thing i can intermittently remember re: lackadaisy is that way back when, would've been around '08 to '10, i mentioned it to someone in person w/whomst like informal Media Recs Trading was established & i think mentioned wanting recs for checking out webcomics specifically? & i was like ooh lackadaisy Gotta be lackadaisy (i read like, a few others at the time but was immediately huge on that one specifically due to [the ways it pwned were obvious to me first reading it in '07 and Now alike]) and like. in the realm of Left Field Responses I Got After Ventures Of Someone W/o The Confidence I Have Now Thanks To Grinding For It In The Entire Interim i eventually followed up like did you check it out, what do you think, b/c my enthusiasm was stronger than my reluctance to bring shit up unprompted. and i think they were sort of evasive a moment but then were like nah b/c.......why are they cats....like lmfaoooo was Not ready for that like yeah idk what to tell you if that was that significant a factor. except that if you know that much it's too late the furry police are en route

not long afterwards perhaps truly more unexpected. i managed to finagle going to the first convention marble hornets was at, relatively short notice, and this is thanks to by that point having Enthusiasm behind it again, of course. afterwards to the relatively small tumblr mh ether i Ventured Forth again like is there interest in my talking about it, livestream q&a possibilities style even? and then i got an anon telling me not now b/c hοmestuck had updated. omicron just to not risk it plus i think even now i'd filter my own post. like divide this into four sections the way i'm truly at a loss. didn't have that much to talk about but looking back like fr you're neurononconforming in online fanbase Posting same as in the [random discord servers Hate them! non normative verbal communication happens in scores / hundreds of words if it happens at all] like and yet it gets to you to the con. and to the "i don't need other people to like media 'with' me i didn't talk about lackadaisy at all till the pilot dropping & my [first full reread in a Minute] got me all fired up posting style & 'hey wait. my special little guy. all this fresh Mystery Plot Everything appreciation. whoa'" moment. plus nowadays it's only like Lol Lmao whereas back then it was like :( :/ but also still funny b/c this person was running away throwing chairs & tables behind them like i'm not a furry i'm not and an anon was like didn't ask don't care oppa homestuck style. standing there palms open like. furious theorizing is there for me

[sohyxn]

OPPOSITE⠀───⠀DANIELLE MARSH.

TAGS : fluff, dani have a huge crush on yn, yn is a dumbass, jealous? dani, the whole fic is more like in dani's pov

PAIRINGS : dani x fem reader, jiyeon ( triples ) x fem reader

NOTES : just finished rewriting it, hope this is better than the og 🙏🏻

danielle marsh, a popular student at ador high school, is known for her outgoing personality and charismatic presence. she was always surrounded by her close-knit group of friends, minji, hanni, and haerin.

despite her extroverted nature, magically there is someone who has caught dani's attention — y/n l/n, someone who's personality is completely opposite of dani's, an introverted student that intrigued her.

every day, dani admired y/n from afar, finding herself captivated by y/n's calm demeanor and attractiveness.

however, despite having the ability of socializing. she could never muster the courage to approach her crush. the fear of rejection and the thought of potentially jeopardizing their friendship kept dani from expressing her feelings.

one afternoon, as dani sat with her friends in the school cafeteria, laughter and chatter filled the air. minji, ever observant, noticed dani stealing glances at y/n from across the room.

"bro" minji called out, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "you've been eyeing y/n for weeks now. seriously when are you going to make a move?"

blushing slightly, dani averted her gaze. "i don't know, minji. i'm scared of messing things up. what if y/n doesn't feel the same way?"

hanni chimed in, playfully nudging dani's arm. "oh come on, dude! you're confident and outgoing. i'm sure y/n would feel the same way as you do. just be yourself and go for it!"

dani sighed, feeling torn between her desire to confess and her fear of rejection. little did she know, fate had a funny way of intervening.

a few days later, as dani walked down the hallway, she noticed y/n engrossed in a conversation with another girl — jiyeon, the ballet dancer for their school? she think . panic surged through dani's veins as she began to suspect jiyeon's intentions. what if she was confessing her feelings to y/n?

unable to bear the thought of losing y/n to a potential rival, dani's determination skyrocketed. she couldn't let this opportunity slip away. with her heart pounding, she approached y/n and jiyeon, interrupting their conversation.

"he-hey, y/n! can i talk to you for a moment?" dani blurted out, her voice slightly shaky.

y/n looked surprised but nodded, "uh... yeah sure" ,excusing herself from jiyeon. dani's friends who was watching ( stalking ) on them exchanged knowing glances, sensing the drama.

as they found a quiet corner, dani took a deep breath and confessed, "um y/n, there's something i've been meaning to tell you. i know this might be so sudden but i've had feelings for you for a long time now, and i couldn't keep it to myself any longer. i know we're friends, but i want to be more than that. will you go out with me?"

y/n's eyes widened, a blush creeping up her cheeks. she let out a nervous giggle before responding, "dani, you have no idea how long i've been waiting for you to say that. i like you too, more than just a friend and i'd love to go out with you."

relief washed over dani as a smile spread across her face. they were both pleasantly surprised to learn that their feelings were mutual all along.

meanwhile, dani's friends, minji, hanni, and haerin, who had been eavesdropping nearby, couldn't contain their excitement. they burst into applause and cheered for the newfound couple.

minji teased, "finally, the great love story of dani and y/n begins! we've been waiting for this moment since forever!"

hanni added, "yeah, dani, we knew you had it in you. now, you better treat y/n right, or we'll come after you!"

haerin chimed in with a mischievous grin, "and don't worry, dani. we'll be your love advisors, guiding you every step of the way."

" what the fuck- have you guys been stalking me?"

"no? why would we?"

"where did you come from then, our class is literally over the next block."

"just shut up and enjoy the moment idiot"

"somehow.."

[godsfavdarling]

chapter 01

pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!oc

summary: Molly is an elementary school teacher with a simple, fulfilling life. Her romantic life, though, remains stagnant, lacking any signs of flourishing, as she faces continuous disappointments in her pursuit of love. However, a chance encounter with Spencer, a sweet and gentle genius, might just be the catalyst for a change in her romantic fortunes.

list of chapters, also available on wattpad and Ao3 my masterlist

warnings: none for this chapter

words: 2k

a/n: it's been like 6 months since i wrote this and it was my first finished and proper series so... looking back... not the best! but i still love Molly and some chapters... yeah... i ate that.

The aroma of various lunches filled the air as teachers chatted, unwinding from their morning classes. As Molly settled at a table with her lunch, her colleague Sarah joined her with a curious grin.

"Hey, Molly! Spill the beans. How was your weekend?" Sarah asked eagerly. Molly chuckled, taking a sip of her tea.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Lesson planning, grading papers, and a bit of relaxation." Sarah leaned in, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"Come on, Molly. I know there was something more exciting than that! What was the guy's name again?"

Molly blushed slightly, a shy smile playing on her lips. Sarah's eyes widened with excitement. "Details, please! Are you gonna meet again?"

Molly giggled, "It's not like that, Sarah. It was just a casual dinner. Nothing more. And I don't think he'll want to meet again."

"But you'd like to meet again?" Sarah raised an eyebrow, a mischievous grin forming. Molly chuckled, realizing she wasn't going to escape Sarah's playful interrogation.

"His name is Mark, and I liked him. I'd give it some time, you know... One dinner is not enough, and he had potential, but I could tell when we were saying goodbye, he is no longer interested. Maybe I scared him. I don't know."

Sarah nudged Molly with her elbow. "Oh, come on. He has no idea what he's missing out on! Plus that's good if he ain't playing you! Didn't get your hopes up! There'll be another!"

Molly hesitated for a moment before speaking again "Yeah.. when? I'm honestly so fucking done with those dating apps. I can't do this anymore. I'd very much prefer to meet a guy in you know... normal life. Real life! Those dates from the internet are just sooo depressing!"

As Molly and Sarah continued their lively conversation in the break room, the door swung open, and Regina, another colleague, entered with an enthusiastic grin on her face. Her eyes lit up as she spotted the girls.

"Hey, ladies! What's the gossip today?" Regina chimed in, joining them at the table.

Sarah, always ready for a good tease, turned to Regina with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Molly here had a hot date over the weekend."

Regina's eyebrows shot up with intrigue. "Really? Do tell!"

Molly blushed but couldn't help smiling at her friends' excitement. "It was just another dinner with another guy from the dating app. Nothing too exciting. We won't meet again!"

Regina leaned in, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. "No second date? Well, at least you had a fancy meal at a restaurant. Did he pay?"

"No." Molly said through her teeth.

Regina frowned, "Oh... well... enough about unsuccessful dates! Molly, are you free this Saturday? Both Sarah and Kurt are joining Alan and I! We're planning to hit the karaoke joint downtown. You should join us!"

Molly smiled, glancing at Sarah, who nudged her playfully. "Come on, Molly! A night of karaoke sounds like so much fun!"

Despite Molly's outward enthusiasm for her friends' invitations and plans, a subtle unease lingered within her. As Regina and Sarah chatted animatedly about the upcoming karaoke night, Molly couldn't shake the feeling that they might be extending the invitation out of pity for her single status and what seemed to be a less eventful personal life.

As the conversation continued, Molly found herself lost in her thoughts. She appreciated her friends' efforts to include her, but the unspoken assumption that she needed companionship to fill a perceived void stung a little. In truth, Molly enjoyed her independence and the quiet moments she spent pursuing her passions. Although part of her yearned for someone special, she liked her peaceful, simple life.

Regina noticed Molly's thoughtful expression and nudged her gently. "Hey, Molly, what do you think? Are you in for karaoke on Saturday?"

"Sorry! Um... I'd love to but this Saturday I can't. Remember that kid I'm giving piano lessons to? Alice recommended me to her neighbor's kid Henry?" The girls nodded remembering that Molly took on giving piano lessons as if being an elementary school teacher wasn't hard enough.

"Well... his mom is pregnant and they invited me to the baby shower. I thought it was really nice of them so I decided I'm gonna go! And I know I'll probably be home early that evening but I'll just try to reset on the rest of the weekend. Sorry."

Regina and Sarah exchanged understanding glances. "No worries, Molly," Regina said, offering a comforting smile. "That's sweet that they invited you! Is Alice going too? If so, don't let her eat you alive!" she laughed.

Sarah nodded in agreement, "Absolutely. Don't stress about it. We'll have plenty of opportunities to hang out in the summer."

..................................

Spencer stood nervously in front of JJ's door, holding a carefully wrapped gift for the baby shower. It had been a while since he attended any social event, and the excitement and anxiety blended into a unique mixture. Taking a deep breath, he knocked gently.

The door opened, revealing a warm and welcoming JJ. "Spencer, you made it!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with joy. "Come on in!"

Inside, the room was filled with laughter and chatter. Rossi was engaged in conversation with Hotch and Garcia, discussing their last case as he sipped on a cup of coffee. Spencer joined them for a while, engaging in the familiar banter that often filled their interactions.

Suddenly, his attention was inexplicably captivated by a tall girl in an orange summer dress standing near JJ and some older lady. Spencer's gaze lingered on her, taking note of the details that made her stand out in the lively crowd. Her blonde hair, elegantly down and curled, framed her face with a natural grace. Delicate hair clips on the sides kept the strands away from her eyes, allowing him to catch glimpses of her expressive features.

As the girl listened to the conversation near the food table, the soft curls of her hair caught the light, creating a subtle halo effect that seemed to accentuate her presence. Spencer found himself inexplicably captivated by the way she effortlessly blended sophistication with an approachable warmth.

His analytical mind usually focused on details related to cases, but in this moment, it was the intricacies of Molly's appearance that occupied his thoughts. Spencer couldn't quite explain the fascination, but there was an undeniable charm in the way she carried herself, the gentle sway of her hair adding an air of casual elegance to the scene.

He made his way toward the food table. She stood gracefully, engaged in conversation with Alice and JJ about the neighbourhood.

Although Spencer didn't know her, he couldn't help but find himself subtly observing her every move. There was something about the way she carried herself, a quiet confidence mixed with a warm demeanor that intrigued him. Perhaps it was the way her laughter added a subtle melody to the surroundings or the genuine interest she showed in the conversation. Whatever the reason, he found it hard to look away.

Molly, with a thoughtful expression, interjected the conversation "The street is the river of life of the city, the place where we come together, the pathway to the centre.'"

Spencer, ever the repository of knowledge, couldn't resist adding, "William H. Whyte, 'The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.' A classic perspective on the dynamics of public spaces."

Molly's gaze shifted towards him for the first time, her eyes locking onto his with a hint of surprise and intrigue. She smiled, appreciating Spencer's quick recognition of the quote's author.

Feeling Molly's gaze, Spencer met her eyes with a friendly smile, a subtle curiosity mirrored in his expression. Before either of them could say anything, Alice, JJ, and now Will, who had joined the conversation, sensed the unfolding moment and decided to break the silence.

JJ, with an awkward but friendly grin, nudged Molly gently. "Hey, Molly, this is Spencer Reid. We work together, and he's got a knack for remembering quotes and book titles like no one else."

Will chimed in, trying to ease the tension, "Spencer, this is Molly. She's...." Will's attempt of introducing Molly to Spencer was interrupted by Alice, who couldn't resist joining the conversation with a bright smile. "Hey there, Spencer! I couldn't help but overhear the bookish banter. I'm Alice! I'm the neighbour of the future parents of two! Nice to meet you!"

Spencer, always gracious, returned the greeting, "Likewise, Alice. It's a pleasure."

Alice turned to Molly with a playful grin. "And speaking of banter, meet Molly. She's not only our quote encyclopedia but also a fantastic teacher!" Molly smiled bashfully, staring at her feet

"Molly here has been my partner in crime in the world of education. We teach at the same school, and I also recommended her to JJ and Will as a piano teacher for Henry." Alice added.

Spencer's curiosity deepened as the layers of connection unfolded. "It's wonderful to meet both of you. Teaching and piano - that's quite the repertoire, Molly."

Alice chimed in, "Absolutely! Molly's a gem, and her piano lessons have been a hit with Henry."

As he stood near her, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was an unspoken connection, a curiosity that lingered in the air.

Spencer wondered if, in the midst of a bustling baby shower, the universe had orchestrated a moment of quiet recognition. Little did he know that this chance encounter might just be the beginning of an unexpected connection, a thread waiting to weave its way through the tapestry of their lives.

"Oh sorry! I have to go!" Alice got distracted by the arrival of a friend, and Will and JJ discreetly slipped away to attend to other guests, leaving Molly and Spencer in a momentarily awkward silence.

Molly, breaking the ice, offered a warm smile. "So, Spencer, how long have you known JJ and Will?"

Spencer, equally eager to keep the conversation flowing, replied, "We've been friends for quite some time. JJ and I have been on the same team for over a decade now!"

Molly exclaimed, "Oh wow! That's impressive! Especially given how difficult your job is. You know...FBI... that must take an emotional toll on a person."

Spencer nodded in agreement, acknowledging the emotional toll the job could take. He shifted slightly.

"Yeah, it can be emotionally challenging," he admitted, his voice carrying a weight that hinted at the gravity of the work. However, Spencer didn't elaborate further, a subtle sign that he wasn't keen on delving into the details. The complexities of the job, the cases he had worked on, and the emotional highs and lows were aspects he seemed reluctant to openly discuss.

Instead, he changed the subject, perhaps steering away from the sombre tone. "But, you know, it's also incredibly rewarding. Making a difference, protecting people - it's what keeps us going."

Molly could tell by Spencer's demeanour, a mix of guardedness and resilience, that he had learned to navigate the emotional challenges of his profession with a quiet strength. It was a glimpse into the intricate balance that he often needed to maintain, acknowledging the difficulties while emphasizing the purpose and impact of the work.

"It's a bit just like yours!"

"Mine?"

"You know, in a way, our jobs are similar. We both deal with challenging situations, albeit in different contexts." He acknowledged, "I can imagine working with kids has its own set of difficulties. Their minds are so malleable, and you have the responsibility of shaping their future. That can be as demanding, if not more so, than some of the cases I've worked on."

"I suppose you're kind of right! I'd rather deal with little ones who learn how to read than some psychos though!" They both laughed.

"By the way, how are Henry's piano lessons going? I am his godfather actually, and honestly, I had no idea that he was taking piano lessons. So much was happening at work..."

"Oh it's kind of a new thing. I've been coming over for the past two weeks only. He's doing well! He isn't a quick learner, but his enthusiasm for music is truly remarkable. He asked JJ if he could start playing. I'm just happy to teach someone who's excited about it, you know?"

"Yeah I get that! Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere..." "Chinese Proverb" "Chinese Proverb"

They said at the same time.

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x06 - Palmon's Angry Evolution! / Togemon in Toy Town

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Deep inside the Factory of Redundancy Factory, our new zapping bug pal bug-zapped the bugs out of Robocop. Also we may not be on Earth anymore, something the American team already knew but they don't get to be smug because they spent twenty minutes panicking about being in an unlocked room.

Now Andromon's guided us into the sewers, which he insists will help us but I'm half-convinced it's just a more civil way of flushing the intruders away like waste.

The kids pass the time in the sewers by playing a singing game I'm not quite familiar with. They're divided into two teams: One team of children and the other team of Digimon. They sing a couple verses then pass to the other team, who has to start their verses on the same sound that the previous team left off on.

Agumon briefly stumps Team Kids by ending on an 'e' sound, though Mimi chimes in with a curious little tune.

Jou: What is that? Mimi: It's Enka! My Dad sang this in karaoke a lot.

But since nobody knows the tune, they can't follow her. Koushiro's able to find one they know, and soon they're back to marching and singing.

The dub doesn't preserve the game, but it keeps the singing. The kids are singing a song Agumon wrote for them. Then Agumon singles out Mimi and asks her to do a solo performance. She sings a verse of Home on the Range off-key.

Mimi: ~Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam! Joe: ~Avoiding your drone! Mimi: Hey, come on! I had singing lessons for three years! T.K.: Oh, you did? Did it help? Izzy: Mimi, you should get a refund, that's what I think. Sora: Then let's sing as a group.

Dub Sora defuses yet another round of Dunking On Mimi by bringing us back to the group song, and the kids march on.

Suddenly, Sora lets out a shriek.

Water dripping on her from the ceiling freaked out her. Another drop lands on her shirt. The dub puts a fruit squish sound effect jere, like you'd hear when a tomato or watermelon or something gets crushed, which doesn't seem like the right sound.

The grossness of the moment sends the kids spiraling, starting with Sora lamenting that she wants to do laundry. This opens up the rest to fantasizing about what they wish they could be doing right now.

Sora: I want to do laundry. Taichi: I want to relax in the bath. Takeru: I.... (pantomimes playing video games) Yamato: Takeru, this isn't the time to be thinking about video games, Ahahaha!

Yamato laughs at Takeru for that, but concerned looks from the rest of the group bring out the sincerity in him.

Yamato: I guess I can't laugh at him. What I want right now is sizzling barbecue. I want to eat until I'm stuffed! Jou: Don't laugh, but I miss studying. I want to do loads of homework! Mimi: That's weird. I want to drink ice-cold Cola! Takeru: Mimi-san, that sounds great! I want that too! Koushiro: I want to send emails back and forth with my friends.

Each of their wishes comes with a fantasy sequence, where we get to see what the kids want most visualized onscreen.

In the dub, Sora skips over wanting to do laundry because of gross sewer water on her clothes and ties the singing into her homesickness instead.

Sora: I used to sing at home. I used to sing to myself all the time when I would do my chores. Especially when I'd hang clothes to dry outside, I'd sing really loud 'cause nobody could hear me then. Agumon: (offscreen) It's okay to miss your home, Sora. What do you miss, Tai?

Which then sets the dub kids down Reminiscence Alley.

Tai: I miss playing sports and then taking a nice hot bath. T.K.: Games. My games. I wasn't far from beating Matt on my video games! Matt: Beating me, T.K.? I don't think so. Maybe in your dreams, kiddo!

This is what Matt laughs about in the dub. Unlike the original, where silent stares from the rest of the group make him feel self-conscious, the conversation just continues on from there.

Agumon: (offscreen) So you don't miss anything from home, Matt? Matt: Well, actually, now that you mention it... I've been dreaming about Sunday, when Mom grilled us steaks! Mmm, makes my mouth water! Joe: I miss doing my homework. If I fall too far behind, I might have to go to a junior college! Mimi: I don't miss school, but I do miss going on vacation! Nothing beats having a cool drink on a summer day at the beach! I just love the ocean air! T.K.: Wowee, that sounds like fun, Mimi! Mimi: It is! Izzy: *angrily* Get a grip! *calmly* I miss accessing satellites to look at the stars and planets.

It's mostly the same, with some added detail to fill dialogue space during the fantasy sequences. Except for Izzy, whose internet activities are questionable and who also snaps at Mimi for no reason. Because being mean to Mimi is everyone's favorite pastime in the dub.

Suddenly, the kids hear a sound. A scuffling sound in the sewer tunnels that sets the Digimon on edge. Gabumon ID's the sound as Numemon.

The Digimon explain that Numemon are weak, disgusting creatures who enjoy dark, slimy places. They're the most loathed Digimon in "Digimon Kai", or the Digimon World - A terminology we have officially begun to use as of this episode, since Koushiro made that discovery back at the factory.

At the Digimon's behest, the kids run for it. Taichi doesn't understand why they're running from weak Digimon, but he gets his answer shortly.

The narrator chimes in to explain. Numemon are Adult-stage Data-type mollusk Digimon who attack with their own droppings. His typically stoic voice falters and he sounds incredibly distressed to have to explain that they throw poop.

Mimi takes over narration for this one in the dub, explaining that they throw "Nume Sludge" and have bad breath. "Nume Sludge" is probably the dub's attempt at plausible deniability. It's not poop if it's Nume Sludge! Even though it's clearly poop and uses stock cartoon poop sound effects.

Running for their sanitary wellbeing, the kids take a side passage and emerge from the sewers.

The Numemon stop following as soon as they see daylight, instead retreating back into the sewers. Agumon explains that Numemon can't stand sunlight, just in case that wasn't clear.

Which it wasn't; Like, they could have been freaking out because we crossed into some really dangerous Digimon's territory or something. So I appreciate the clarification.

Back above ground, the kids get to walking again. In time, they come upon another strange anomaly of the Digimon World.

You know, there are worse things we've run into out here than a metric fuckton of vending machines. Maybe this is where vending machines go to reproduce or something, IDK.

You know what that means, though. You know what they have in vending machines? You know who specifically wanted what they have in vending machines?

Wish granted!

Of course, since the dub changed Mimi's lamentation to wanting to go on vacation rather than wanting an ice-cold Cola, this doesn't connect as well. They're forced to generalize it with a bit of extra dialogue.

Mimi: I bet there's enough snacks to last us a lifetime, at least. Tai: Mimi, they probably don't work. Don't you remember the phone booths? Palmon: Hey, that could be. I bet it's a trick, Mimi! Mimi: I won't accept that!

They don't have to write too far out of their way to make it work, but it's nonetheless a solution to a problem created by earlier writing choices removing points of characterization that later scenes were going to do something with.

As Mimi races to the vending machines, I want to call special attention to this exchange.

Taichi: Mataku... (general expression of annoyance) Sora: It can't be helped. She's still just a kid.

And its English counterpart.

Tai: Mimi! Sora: You can't stop her. She's so stubborn!

Mm.

Mimi descends into the nesting grounds of vending machines and picks out one she licks. Then she inserts a coin. Rather than dispensing cola, however, the front of the machine falls off and nearly crushes her.

Oh, I suddenly regret not being crushed to death. Can I have a do-over?

The Numemon immediately hits on Mimi, but she aggressively shoots him down and calls him a lowlife. Dub Mimi goes even farther, calling him a "short, slimy, sewer-sliding sludge-slinger!"

(Probably a good time to remind everyone that Mimi is 10 years old. So. Y'know. Fuck this guy.)

Mimi's response is so blunt, in fact, that Palmon worries about Mimi upsetting him. However, Mimi points out that the bright sunlight means he can't do shit to th--

Oh. Well.

Fuck.

Numemon Chase, Round Two begins as not only that Numemon attacks, but all of the vending machines open up and pour Numemon out into the plains, who descend upon the kids slinging even more poop.

(A fairly accurate metaphor for being hit on in public. "Why can't women just say no directly?" Because this is what happens when they do.)

Yamato suggests splitting up, and the kids break off individually with their Digimon Partners.

(Surprisingly, Yamato does not try to stay with Takeru; Instead, they go completely opposite directions.)

Palmon tries to fight off the Numemon with her signature move, Poison Ivy. But before she can even attack, the Numemon freak out and flee for their lives. Mimi initially credits this to how cool Palmon is, but the true source of their terror quickly becomes apparent.

The narrator introduces us to Monzaemon, a Perfect-stage Vaccine-type Digimon.

Narrator: Although he looks like a stuffed animal, he's actually a Perfect-stage Digimon. His special attack, Lovely Attack, even makes his enemies happy!

For her part, Dub Mimi's narrative has this to say.

Mimi (V.O.): Monzaemon looked like a cute big ol' teddy bear, but he wasn't very cuddly!

But this is only for our benefit. For her part, Palmon has to explain Monzaemon to Mimi too. He's the Mayor of Toy Town and a lot stronger than he looks. She assures Mimi that he is a good Digimon.

Monzaemon immediately opens fire with eye lasers while rambling out salutations.

Monzaemon: We've been waiting for you, Miss. *fires* Enjoy yourselves! *fires* It's an honor to meet you!

Like Meramon, he just sounds like he's spitting out words senselessly. Dub Monzaemon comes off just slightly more coherent.

Monzaemon: I must say, so pleased to make your acquaintance! *fires* Please, come spend a fun night at Toy Town with me! *fires* Why are you running? Did I startle you? Sorry!

Dub Monzaemon seems at least to some degree cognizant of what's happening around him, but the vibe is about the same.

Forming an unlikely alliance, a Numemon offers Mimi and Palmon shelter from Monzaemon.

As soon as he's passed, Palmon wonders aloud if something's happened to Toy Town. Numemon presses his luck by asking Mimi to go on a date with him at Toy Town. She rejects him immediately, and then she and Palmon crawl out of the trench to go check out what's going on in Toy Town without him.

No sooner do they arrive than they find the rest of the group that split up earlier. The other kids are here in Toy Town, being played with by the toys. Forced to run around and pretend they're having fun. Emotionlessly regurgitating sentiments like "This is fun" or "Banzai" or "I'm so happy", but visibly exhausted.

Their Partner Digimon, on the other hand, are nowhere to be found. Though a bit of poking around quickly reveals what's become of them.

Oh, they're locked in a chest. That was easy. Entering the warehouse, Palmon confirms with Agumon that the rest are in there with him. Agumon then recaps the story of how they got here.

It's exactly what you'd expect. Monzaemon came after each of them, and they were powerless to defend themselves against him.

The bubbly hearts from his Lovely Attack - or Hearts Attack in the dub - scooped up each of the kids and their Digimon, then whisked them away to Toy Town. The Digimon were imprisoned in the chest, and we've seen what became of the kids.

An interesting note: When the kids split up, Yamato and Sora departed off the left side of the screen while Jou, Koushiro, and Takeru left from the right side. Taichi and Mimi went straight down, though they clearly got separated from each other.

However, when Monzaemon attacks, he takes Taichi alone, Sora alone, and then takes Yamato, Jou, Koushiro, and Takeru together. This implies that Yamato realized he fucked up and doubled back for Takeru.

Once he's collected his prizes, he issues his decrees for the fates of his prisoners.

Monzaemon: The Digimon will go in the Toy Box. The children will have their emotions erased and serve as toys for the toys!

Dub Monzaemon has... a bit more confusing of instructions.

Monzaemon: So all of you will now serve us! You're all going into our community Toy Box! Our Toy Box is only filled with children!

...no, the Digimon are in the Toy Box. Also, what do you mean, "Our Toy Box is only filled with children!" That implies that you regularly put children in the Toy Box, but there are no humans in the Digital World outside of our Isekai'd kids.

Absolutely butchered that set of lines.

The Digimon don't know how Mimi and Palmon can get them out of the Toy Box, but they don't want them worrying about it; The other kids being played with to exhaustion are the priority right now. In order to save them, Palmon and Mimi will have to do the impossible and defeat the Perfect-stage Monzaemon.

Leaving the warehouse, Mimi and Palmon talk shop. Palmon doesn't understand what's happening; Lovely Attack is supposed to be a happy move, not to do all of this.

Then the toys find them. A monkey with cymbals starts clapping his cymbals together in Mimi's direction, as if trying to make her play. Mimi stomps on the toy instead.

Just then, Monzaemon arrives, stomping around the corner to greet Mimi.

Mimi lets him have it.

Mimi: Be quiet! I don't know what happened to you but you can't just take away my friends' feelings! Give them back!

His answer is eye lasers.

(On the one hand, it's not fair that everyone else gets Lovely Attack but Mimi keeps getting eye lasers. Man, even both versions of Corrupted Monzaemon are mean to Mimi! But on the other hand, given what we've seen Lovely Attack do to people, it's probably for the best.)

Suddenly, the Numemon swarm appear to fight Monzaemon and defend Mimi.

It does not go well. He stomps and swipes his way through the swarm. Mimi is genuinely touched by the sight of the Numemon.

Mimi: The Numemon are fighting for me... Even though they can't to anything but throw poop....

Dub Mimi doesn't quite convey the same emotional sincerity.

Mimi: Well, Palmon, what can I say? When you've got it, you've got it! ...oh no, I don't think the Nume Sludge is working!

Yeah, not really capturing the touching emotional moment there.

Palmon joins in the fight, attempting to entangle Monzaemon with her signature move, Poison Ivy.

But he's too strong and easily throws her off.

Finally, Monzaemon goes for his Lovely Attack. However, the Numemon form a wall, blocking his hearts from reaching Mimi and Palmon, and getting captured themselves in her place.

Palmon: They're useless and cowardly, but the Numemon are desperately trying to protect Mimi!

Again, the emotional sincerity of this moment gets lost in the dub, where Palmon just shouts a battle cry.

Palmon: Time to take it to the next level! I may be a lady, but I am not a pushover!

The sight of the Numemon sacrificing themselves provides Mimi and Palmon's trigger for evolution. Palmon SHINKAAAAAA!!!

Palmon's evolved form is Togemon, an Adult-stage Data-type Digimon. "Toge" or 棘 is the Japanese word for "thorn"; She's Thornmon. An appropriate name, given both her prickly exterior and her signature move Chiku-Chiku Bang Bang, which the dub calls Needle Spray.

Despite Monzaemon being Perfect-stage, Togemon's able to overpower him in this fight. Showering him in needles, she hits him hard enough to send him hurtling to the ground, and to dislodge the Black Gear from him.

(It helps that she has Type Advantage, as a Data-type against a Vaccine-type.)

With Monzaemon defeated, he unpacks what was going through his head with the kids.

Monzaemon: When people get tired of their toys, they break them readily, without a single thought. I couldn't forgive that. That's why, as Mayor of Toy Town, I wanted to raise the social status of the toys. Mimi: "The social status of the toys"? Jou: I think he means making us realize the importance of toys. Monzaemon: That's right. Toys shouldn't be toyed with, but played with. Taichi: So that's why you made us play with the toys! Monzaemon: I'm sorry. I got carried away with myself.

As the kids watch the Black Gear disintegrate, the sight of it fills in the rest of the explanation for Monzaemon's behavior. They're familiar with this concept by now. Dub Tai remarks, "Y'know, I'm beginning to take this whole Black Gear thing a little personally!" which is a line I really like.

Once he's finished apologizing, Monzaemon offers up his ultimate apology: A true and proper Lovely Attack, bathing the kids in pure concentrated happiness.

Briefly interrupted by one more person, ready and eager to receive his reward.

It was nice of the Numemon to put up a defensive wall against Monzaemon and stuff but, like, nobody asked them to do that. We close on a straight-up riff on romantic entitlement.

(Ten. Years. Old.)

Assessment: As with the other kids, this episode serves as our proper introduction to Mimi's distinctive qualities. Mimi is open, honest, and direct. She wears her heart on her sleeve, speaks her mind, and doesn't think about the consequences of her actions. She knows what she wants and she reaches for it without hesitation. There are both positives and negatives to that way of being, but that's who she is.

Mimi is closely associated with a childlike innocence, which is why hers was the episode that featured something as juvenile as Toy Town. As Sora said, Mimi's still just a kid - even compared to the rest of the group, who are still kids themselves.

So far as the dub goes, some questionable decisions were certainly made. They make extra work for themselves in the sewers when they remove Mimi's desire for Cola, and they butcher a few parts of the third act in Toy Town. Also, of course, a Mimi-centric episode is a perfect time for the dub to bully Mimi some more.

But there's some parts I really liked. Mimi's extended version of her insult to the Numemon is great, and the actress's delivery when she realizes the sun isn't protecting her anymore is perfect. Tai taking personal offense to the Black Gears is also funny, especially given where this arc is going with that.

This episode probably isn't the best of the character introduction episodes. But it is Mimi's episode, and she was my relatable character from when I was her age, so that automatically makes it the best by default. Sorry, I don't make the rules. Take it up with the Fandom Parliament.

[apupp3tw0-strings]

The Trouble with Ads

Date: October 31st, 2131

After searching and calling out for quite a bit, rolling around Castle Town on my skates, I failed to notice when I wandered into Addison Alley/the shopping district until I accidently bumped my way into one of Spamton's old friends, Flash (the yellow one). Pretty much since my first interaction with the Addisons, any time I've found myself running into Flash, he's been constantly asking me about Spamton. Which like, isn't a bad thing. I'm glad at least one of the Addisons is concerned enough to try and keep tabs on the situation but, when it happens every time I run into this guy, it starts to get awkward. That's why I've, um, kind of been avoiding the shopping district and Flash as much as possible. (I'm not exactly proud of it! But like... There's not a lot I can tell Flash. Not to mention anytime I'm with Spamton and he spots Flash or any of the other Addisons, he jumps into my inventory pockets or some other hiding spot! ... Same deal with the Swatchlings too actually. Gyeeeeeeh...)

Of course Flash had heard me calling for Spamton and asked what was up, it's not like I was being all that quiet. (I mean, how would I expect Spam to hear me if I was?)

"He's not missing, is he?" Ooooh boy. I didn't not want to be in this situation. In fact I tried to escape it a bit... But also I couldn't just pretend like everything was alright. They had heard me calling for him!

"Gyeeeeeeeeeeh..." I tried to turn around, maybe it I was lucky I could still skate off the other direction before they asked more questions. "Well, um, m-maybe. He wasn't in his room in the castle when I got off school."

"Tch." Another, pink, addison piped up from a nearby tea stand. "Of course he has a room in the castle." The more I got to know Click, the Pink Addison, the less I liked her. He might've been the one who I promised I'd bring Spamton to talk to all of them eventually, when he was ready, and the one who said they wanted to apologize, but Click is a bit of a jerk! I've seen how she acts sweet to customers and stuff, but anytime Spamton comes up in conversations she's not even part of, she'll always make some rude comment. (I'm kind of ashamed how much Click's behavior reminds me of Taffy...)

After shooting a glare Click's way (thankfully I wasn't the only one who found his behavior rude), Flash turned back to me. "Did he leave a note or any other thing saying where he was going?"

I shook my head. "Jevil said he went out to look for some place to read in peace but other than that, I don't know." I honestly should've just said no and left there. I don't think the Addisons needed to know all the details. ... But then again, they WERE his friends, at one point, and Flash at least seemed genuinely concerned. Not to mention, I'd been searching for at least fifteen minutes to half an hour with no luck and I didn't want to leave Papa waiting in the school parking lot forever.

At that point, the Askers also chimed in with questions, trying to provide some help at narrowing the places Spamton might be down. I didn't exactly want to mention to the Addisons that some of places Spamton tended to hang out before Papa and I brought him in or before I got Remie to make him and Jevil rooms in the Castle were dumpsters and alleyways (I'm not sure if Spamton would've also wanted to hide that from them, or would've gladly told them in an attempt to get them to feel guilty), but when the Asker asked if there were any like, libraries or bookstores nearby, I mentioned the closest to that might be the Cafe.

"But... I don't think Spamton would head there."

"Why not?" Flash asked in response.

"He has an erm... Complicated relationship with Swatch."

"Jeez, has he been able to maintain ANY good relationships?" Click chimed in again, uninvited.

This time I was the one to shoot her a glare. "I mean, I'd hope my friendship with him is a good one."

The ad just took another swig of his tea before making another un-welcome remark. "Sure kid, keep telling yourself that." ... If I wasn't already focused on locating Spamton, I would've punched Click in her stupid pointy nose.

Shortly after that, another Asker commented how'd it'd be a shame if someone here knew where Spamton might've been, before mentioning a can. I took Click bringing up the tin can sticking out of Flash's pocket before the gears finally turned in the yellow ad's head and they remembered it. Click face palmed and shook his head.

So, apparently some time earlier, Flash got a spam call on this literal tin can that they thought was some other addisons from a different division but actually turned out to be Spamton. (... Of course Spamton would spam call people even on a tin can and string phone.) Though it turns out after figuring out it was Flash on the other end, Spamton got cold feet before abruptly hanging up once an Asker pointed out to Flash that it was actually Spam on the other end. (This guy is as oblivious as Blane... Maybe more so.)

After the reveal that Flash had a direct line to Spamton this whole time, we started following the string. I would have preferred Flash not come with, but I guess now I was stuck with him since he had the can phone and was already coming with me. (At least Click was staying at his stand. It would've been even more tense and awkward if she'd tagged a long.) There was maybe like, a minute of awkward silence before Flash tried to break the ice.

"So um... It's Halloween up in the Light World tonight, isn't it?" I wasn't even aware Darkners knew what Halloween was. I mean, I know they don't celebrate it and Jevil sure didn't know about it when CK and I explained it to him and Spamton a couple weeks ago. I guess maybe some of the Cyber World citizens know about it because literally the internet?

"Hmm? Oh um. Yeah." I replied. I still didn't exactly want to talk to Flash. I barely wanted him to even be there. So much awkwardness...

"You going Trick-R-Treating, kid?" I guess it does make sense for an advertising Darkner to know about holidays like Halloween. How else are they expected to advertise stuff around it?

I nodded before responding. "I was actually gonna get ready for it after I picked up Spamton. Thought maybe I could use it as a chance to introduce him to my friends."

"And yet you keep him from his own, huh?" That caught me off guard. Flash had a point, was it selfish of me to want to introduce Spamton to my friends while his own hadn't seen him in years?

"G-gyeh!? I-I'm not doing it on purpose!"

"Hey, hey, relax kid, I was joking!"

"Gyehh... It's just... I don't think he's ready yet." It wasn't a lie. I'm still not sure he's ready. "Any time he sees one of you, he hides. He never likes talking about you all and... If my Papa is right... I think he's scared." ... I'm not sure he'll ever be ready.

"Scared? Why would he be scared? I know he had some serious social anxiety back in the day but, he knows us." Flash paused for just a moment, looking at me in a bit of concern. "We were his friends." ... Was he trying to convince himself of that statement?

"... I don't know. There's probably multiple reasons." I tried to keep walking "... I guess, when I think about if I was in his situation. If I got super popular and my friends sort of left me, even when I really needed them... I'd be scared too." ... I... Ever since meeting Spamton, since learning his story, I've thought about that scenario more than I can really count. Even if it may be incredibly impossible, I'm still scared of it. Of everyone leaving me for something so stupid. Of not getting the help I need when I need it most. ...

It feels less impossible after what happened a couple weeks ago.

Flash paused, perhaps confused, perhaps concerned. I couldn't exactly tell. I was still trying to follow the string. "... Do you actually think your friends would leave you?

"Maybe? I dunno. I don't... Sometimes it feels like I don't fit in with them." Why was I pouring my heart out to this random Darkner I barely knew? Was it just because I wasn't thinking? ... Was it the odd sense of familiarity? Was it just because they were Spamton's former friend?

"Psh. What? You seem to fit in fine with that other Lightner kid." Right. Flash only knew about CK because CK was the only other Lightner to come here asides from Kris. And I mean, Flash wasn't wrong. CK and I catch on like a house on fire. (Sometimes literally with CK's magic.) We've been like that pretty much since we were babies.

"CK's different. He's my cousin and we live in different towns. My main friends... They sorta remind me of you guys?" It is eerie how much the Addisons remind me of my friends. When I first met them, I thought it was just the colors, but since having more small interactions with the ads, no. No it's more than that. There's these subtle little quirks and things that both parties seem to share. Little mannerisms and behaviors that I'm not sure anyone else would really notice. ... It's weird.

"Huh? ... That meant to be a good or a bad thing?" ... Was it meant to be a compliment? Was it an insult? I... I don't know. I feel if anything it might be making me see my own friends in lights I really would prefer I didn't see them in. Lights I don't want to think about because of what they might imply. ... Yet lights that are getting too bright to ignore.

"... I'm not sure." At that point, we reached a point where the thread led into an alleyway before stopping with the other can, laying near the wall across from a dumpster. I turned to Flash. "You remind me of my friend, Blane, though. Good and bad." ... Blane's always been one of my more... interesting, friends. He often goes too fast for me and is constantly getting into trouble, often roping me into it with him, but I still wouldn't trade him for the world. He can be a dunce and a jerk, but I still think he's a genuinely caring person who has my back. ... At least I hope he does. ... I hope they all do.

After that, I headed into the alley, Flash did too, though I had hoped maybe at that point they would leave. ... No. No he wouldn't. Which proved things a little more difficult when I did find Spamton after hearing the lid of the dumpster slam close after calling out for Spam. Upon opening the dumpster, I found Spamton holding his nose in pain (I'm guessing he caught it on the lid when trying to close the dumpster), before I could exclaim his name though, Spamton was quick to try and pull me into the dumpster and cover my mouth.

"[Sound off] KID !!" He hissed while gripping the handkerchief tied around my neck before I tried to wriggle my mouth away from his other hand. (It smelled like garbage, unsurprisingly.)

"W-what? Why-?" I asked before Flash piped in from the background asking if I'd found Spamton. The look Spamton gave me, that pleading, begging look... Yeah it was probably a very bad idea to have brought along one of the Addisons. A very, VERY bad idea. But also... This might be one of the only times I'd be able to get Spamton to confront his past. Even if it was through a bit of force, when else could I get him to talk to them? If he was just afraid, there was no way he's going to just get over that unless forced to face them, right?

... But then again. Was it really my place to make that call?

Either way, if I kept standing with my head in the dumpster, eventually Flash would come to investigate anyways. In a panic I stood up and tried to hide Spamton behind me, one of my hands holding the lid mostly closed. I probably should've said something after that but... Once I locked eyes with Flash again, I froze. The Askers kept pressuring me to just tell Flash the truth but... at that point I think my anxiety was starting to spiral. I couldn't stop sweating as I ummed and "well"ed while trying to avoid eye contact with Flash.

... I was lucky that eventually Flash got the message that Spamton had no interest in seeing them and I was just nervously stalling to try and not hurt their feelings.

"He still doesn't want to see me, does he?"

I gave a sheepish nod, still trying to avoid eye contact.

"Ah, well... As long as he's alright, I guess I'll get going." And with that, Flash left. ... I feel even if I had tried to convince Flash to stay, Spamton still wouldn't have changed his mind.

After a few moments and Flash had long since gone, Spamton finally popped back out of the dumpster.

"IS HE [Going going gone!]"

"Yeah" I sighed before taking Spamton back home, making sure to avoid the shopping district this time.

Can someone tell me when I signed up for this? And more importantly, where I can fricking unsubscribe?

To Be Continued.

[creepylittlelady]

Proxies Headcanons! [Puppet Strings Lore Dump]

Hey! I have an unfortunate confession to make; I used to really like Fanon Masky when I was like 9 years old. Thankfully I finally watched Marble Hornets and realised what the fuck I'd been missing out. I used to love Fanon Toby too but maybe about two years ago I completely rewrote him after a sudden change of heart.

Did Hoody even have a fanon? I don't think he had a personality beyond being Masky's best friend. That's unfortunate seeing as how he's my favourite one out of the pair.

Anyways, the Proxies have always been such an interesting concept to me. I know that they don't exist in canon, but seriously it's an entertaining thing to imagine a sitcom between the Proxies and Slenderman.

So, without further ado, let's get into it!

Proxies Headcanons

-The 'Proxies' are the employees (only slaves like 50% of the time) of the Slenderman. They do have a greater purpose for being 'hired'; to serve as human energy for the Operator to feed off of. That's why the MOST unstable ones get picked to be proxies, since he feeds off of trauma and emotional energy.

-They do get paid, but only when the Slenderman takes over. Sadly he's aware of why they're here but accepts the fact that there's nothing he can really do about it since the Operator's fed on them so much that they'll basically die if they stop being Proxies (if the Operator doesn't kill them first). It's a lose-lose situation, unfortunately.

-As I said prior; they're the most mentally unstable in the whole Mansion. There are six of them; Rouge, X-Virus/Cody, Kate, Masky/Tim, Hoody/Brian, and Toby. Rouge is the oldest (due to the fact that in her original story she was almost married and almost a mother), and Toby is the youngest.

-Many of the Residents avoid them, especially Masky and Hoody. As they're the most well-known Proxies, they're generally known for being violent and ill-mannered towards others besides each-other and Toby. Although they get closer to everyone eventually, most of the residents heavily disliked them when they first arrived.

-Slender has no idea how they got here, although he has an idea of why they could be here. He's got no idea what happened to Toby, Kate, Rouge, or what the hell a Marble Hornets is. No matter how many times they explain what Slender supposedly did to them, he just doesn't remember as Charles wasn't conscious when it happened.

Although (I believe, its been a while) Marble Hornets take place in 2006, they sort of departed from the Labrinth and returned in 2009 after Masky and Hoody find themselves homeless and basically just drug addicts. They put up with Slender as they have no other place to turn to.

-They mainly go on Political Missions; such as assassinating a target in the Underworld, or they kill actual people in the real world. These usually consist of people who get too close to finding out about the Pastas, cultists, and basically just any random target Slender picks out for them.

-They're sort of their own family, as they share rooms in the same corridor which is quite far away from the other Residents. Rouge actually has her own home, but the other four live in the Mansion.

-They all magically have access to drugs. Nobody knows and nobody asks why, but whenever they need a fix, all they need to do is go to Hoody's room and pay $5.

-Speaking of Hoody, he has selective mutism, and even then he rarely talks. He only verbally communicates with the other Proxies, and doesn't speak to anyone else at all. Sometimes he'll randomly chime in to a conversation Toby and Masky are having and laugh as the two jump.

He's just a bit of a goofy guy, really.

-Wondering why I'm exclusively calling them Masky and Hoody? Well, I know it's sort of implied that Tim and Brian have DID and that Masky and Hoody are simply their alter egos, but in this AU they're more like personas that the Operator made up for them. He didn't like how disobedient Tim and Brian are, so when the Operator takes over he personally remolds their personalities so that they're more subservient. It sounds confusing but I'm trying

-I'm going to make a separate post for Tim and Brian, but a little backstory is that the two of them have known each other since Kindergarten and have grown up together since. They're best friends and their bond is just so strong that nobody can ever really come between them.

Although they're seen hanging out with Toby a lot, Toby is aware of the fact that Tim and Brian are the original duo.

-Masky is the unofficial group leader of the Proxies, and everyone else just kind of accepts that. He's a cool guy and does know how to take charge, however he's always incredibly rebellious to the Slenderman's orders, which leaves Toby to step up every time they fuck up real bad.

-Slenderman sometimes accompanies them. He doesn't help, he just watches from a corner and sometimes jumps out at them to scare them. It's a favourite pass time of his. He will help them out on occasion, as keep in mind he is a low-level God.

-Dr. Smiley and Nurse Ann's makeshift Hospital is basically their second home. Since they get injured so much on all of their missions (totally not due to Masky going against the direct orders), they often all come together to get treated with whatever nasty injury they get from their most recent endeavour.

-Hoody and Slender, both people who don't talk very often, easily understand each other. It's sort of an inside joke that they can telepathically talk to each other. It's basically the only form of a relationship they have considering Hoody's very wary of him.

-Masky hates cheesecake. And crayons. And children. And Slenderman (although when it's Charles they're relationship is a bit better). The Masky in this AU would fucking HATE fanon Masky.

Cheesecake is Masky's least favourite food. He'd rather eat a pile of dog shit. Lazari thought this was funny and made sure to include a panel of him eating Cheesecake in every comic that she makes.

I'll get some more later! Hope you enjoyed ;)

[live-the-fangirl-life]

The One Where Everyone Finds Out

The Court - Throne of Glass x FRIENDS - Fic Series

S5, E14 : After Lysandra finds out Elide and Lorcan are secretly together, she, Aelin, and Fenrys plan to get the couple to confess. Meanwhile, Rowan finds a new apartment that’s too good to pass up.

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Read on Ao3

Warnings: Language, Nudity (non graphic)

8093 words

A/N - I don’t know if I love this but I was more than halfway done and I couldn’t not finish it, so let me know what you think lol. This is the first piece I’ve written in a few months and I’m trying to shake myself out of this slump.

*******

Cartons of Chinese food were scattered across the coffee table still pleasantly warm despite having been brought back in take-out containers. Lysandra’s voice cut through the chatter that seemed to always fill the apartment as she stood by the large wall of windows overlooking the building beside them.

“Oh hey, you guys, look” she chirped, moving to get a better view, “Ugly Naked Guy is putting stuff in boxes.”

That was enough to encourage everyone up from their spots in the living room and leave their food to join her. All except Lorcan; he kept eating, like popcorn for a movie, as they watched the man they’d all come to know pack away his things. Well, as much as you can get to know someone by spying on them in the nude for years without actual conversation.

Aelin crouched down and moved so Elide could see too. “I'd say from the looks of it, our naked buddy is moving.”

“Ironically, most of the boxes seem to be labeled clothes,” Rowan snorted, crossing his arms and squinting as he read what was scribbled onto the cardboard.

“Aw,” Aelin crooned, “I’m gonna miss that big old squishy butt.” As weird as it was, the view had been a strangely comforting constant in all the years she’d been around.

“Aaand we're done with the chicken fried rice.” Lorcan’s groan of disgust earned him some chuckles that he rolled his eyes at as he tossed aside his meal.

“Hey!” Rowan glanced around with a small grin as an idea came to him. “If he's moving, maybe I should try to get his place!” It would make his life so much easier. A chorus of yeahs and oohs and good ideas quickly answered him before he added “It would be so great to live across from you guys.”

Nodding, Fenrys chimed in excitedly, “Yeah! Then we could do that telephone thing! Y'know, you have a can, we have a can and it's connected by a string!”

Before the blond could even finish talking, Lorcan closed his eyes and sighed heavily through his nose. “Or we can do the actual telephone thing.”

“Taking all the fun out of it,” Fenrys muttered under his breath, reaching around Lorcan to steal his discarded food as they wandered away from the window.

***

The next day, Aelin and Lysandra joined Rowan for a tour of the prospective apartment. Most things had already been packed away, but there was still enough left to make you feel like it was a reals living space. The familiar couch sat in the middle of the living room along with another chair and side table, and a large cabinet nested in the corner.

“Gods, I love this apartment.” Rowan walked around the surprisingly spacious living room in disbelief. “Isn't it perfect? I can't believe I never realized how great it is.”

Aelin agreed, scoffing as much to herself as any of them, “Ah, well, that’s because your eye immediately goes to the big naked man.”

He pointed at her and nodded. Approval shone on his face as he kept looking around the place. He could clearly picture where he would set up his own furniture, where he’d display souvenirs and knick-knacks…he could even paint the walls and make it feel brand new.

“It’s amazing!” Lysandra agreed as she paced behind the sofa. “You better hurry up and fill out an application or I'm gonna beat you to it. Aedion and I could use a bigger space.” She muttered the last bit under her breath, but fondness shone through her tone.

Rowan chuckled good-naturedly until Lysandra made to walk out the door and then he quickly hurried out before she could. The brunette’s huff of a laugh followed him around the corner.

“Well, I never thought I’d say this,” Aelin mused, “but I'm gonna go use Ugly Naked Guy's bathroom.”

Lysandra watched Aelin giddily walk away before getting a closer look at the window that up until now had been their only glimpse into this surprisingly interesting apartment. It was tall and wide, letting in lots of light, and offered a clear view of the building next door…of Elide and Lorcan who stood in their own apartment a little above Lysandra’s eyeline.

“Oh, look! There’s Ellie and Salvaterre!” Her voice carried to Aelin in the other room as she grinned and tried getting her friends’ attention. “Hey! Hey, you guys! Hey!”

Despite yelling and waving her arms trying to get them to notice her, they remined oblivious to their unwitting audience. She was just about to pull out her phone to call them and say ‘hey, look out your window, it’s me!’ when they moved.

Lysandra’s excited grin wiped clear off her face, leaving her to watch in horror as Elide and Lorcan grabbed at each other at the same time and pulled themselves into a fierce kiss while simultaneously unbuttoning and pulling off the other’s clothes.

“Oh!” She shrieked, the sound laced with shock, gaping at what she was seeing. “Oh no! Ahh-ahhh!”

Hasty footsteps echoed behind her as Aelin rushed to see what was causing Lysandra’s horrified screams. “What?” It only took a second to register, and then blue-gold eyes flew wide at the scene.

“Ahh!” Lysandra screamed again, pointing frantically at the couple. “Elide and Lorcan! Elide and Lorcan!” It was like a horror movie she couldn’t drag herself out of.

“Oh my gods!” Aelin added her voice to the screaming. Lysandra’s hysteria serving only ramp up Aelin’s own panic, more horrified at the display itself than the pair doing it.

“ELIDE AND LORCAN!”

“OH MY GODS!”

Lysandra finally tore her gaze away when she was flashed a glimpse of Lorcan she’d never, ever wanted to see. “Oh! My eyes! My eyes!”

She scrambled backwards away from the window as Aelin quickly followed and tried to get a hold of her.

“Lys!” Aelin grabbed her shoulders, urging her friend to stop freaking out. “Lysandra! It’s okay, It’s okay!”

“NO!” she screamed, turning back towards the window, pointing an accusatory finger at it before immediately remembering why she’d looked away in the first place and clamped her eyes shut again. “THEY’RE DOING IT!”

“I KNOW! I KNOW!”

“YOU KNOW?!”

“Yes, I know!” Aelin hissed frantically. “And Fenrys knows! But Rowan and Aedion don’t know so you have to stop screaming!”

“What going on?”

Both women whirled to find Rowan in the doorway.

Aelin leapt forward and spun Rowan around so his back was towards the view and a still reeling Lysandra, and plastered on a wide grin as she did her best to divert his attention.

“What? What?” He tried turning again but Aelin’s hands on his shoulders kept him in place.

“Nothing! Oh gods, we’re just so excited you might be getting this apartment!” she exclaimed and kept clapping and laughing.

His shoulders relaxed and he carded a hand through his hair as the corners of his mouth twitched up. “Actually, it looks really good.”

As he tried turning once again, Lysandra finally snapped out of it and started screaming excitedly, drawing his attention to her with an almost manic look in her eyes. Aelin quickly joined her and amped up the distraction by jumping around to keep Rowan’s gaze off the very clear, very indiscreet window.

“Ahh!” Incoherent cheering filled the apartment as Aelin and Lysandra desperately tried to keep Rowan focused on the moment.

Too caught up in the weirdness to wonder why his friends were being so odd in the first place, Rowan let Aelin tug on him to be excited too. With a bewildered shrug, Rowan quickly thought fuck it, this place is awesome and started jumping and cheering along with them.

***

Back in Cadre Coffee, Aelin felt a weight lift off her shoulders as she finally got to tell some else about the ‘secret’ relationship. She and Lysandra carried their coffees to their favorite couch - it really was amazing how it always seemed to be empty – as Lysandra kept asking questions about their friend’s sneaking around.

“You mean whenever Elide and Lorcan were like, y’know doing laundry or going grocery shopping, or—Oh! All that time Elide spent on her phone with sad Molly from camp?”

Humming along as Lysandra talked, Aelin nodded and corrected with a bit of smug satisfaction, “Uh-huh, doing it. Doing it. Phone doing it.”

“I can’t believe it!” The brunette leaned back against the soft backing of the couch. “I mean, wow, that’s great! For him.” She shrugged half-jokingly, “she could do better.”

Aelin snorted into her coffee as the bell above the door jingled and Fenrys walked in.

“Fen! Come here!” Aelin waved him over to plunk down into the chair next to them

“What?” He shrugged off his jacket and furrowed his brow at her urgency.

Grinning brightly, Aelin said, “Lys just found out about Elide and Lorcan.”

He shot her confused glare and said in an entirely unconvincing tone, “You mean how they’re friends and nothing more?”

“No. Fen, she knows!” Aelin rolled her eyes at him but explained. “We were at Ugly Naked Guy's apartment, and we saw them doing it through the window.” Fenrys’ sharp inhale cut her off midsentence, but she went on. “Actually, we saw them doing it up against the window.”

“Okay,” Lysandra interjected, “so they know that you know, and they don’t know that Aelin knows?”

Fenrys nodded. “Yes. But you know what? It doesn’t matter who knows what. Now, enough of us know that we can just tell them that we know! Then all the lying and the secrets would finally be over!”

“Hold on a second,” Lysandra’s brows pinched together and confusion flitted across her face. “Why are they keeping it a secret?”

The three shared a look before Aelin shrugged and guessed, “Maybe they didn’t want to mess things up if it didn’t work out?”

“Sneaking around is hot,” Fen offered instead.

“Thought we’d judge them?” Aelin suggested. “I mean, we are, but it’s not like that’s gonna stop them.”

“Okay, fine,” Lysandra brushed past it. “Doesn’t matter why, it just matters that it used to be a secret and now it’s not.”

“For us. Rowan and Aedion still don’t know.”

Both women shot Fenrys a flat look for adding that obvious clarification. Aelin refocused. “Okay, so, we tell them that we know?”

A feline grin spread across Lysandra’s lips as her eyes twinkled with delight. “Or, we could not tell them that we know and have a little fun of our own.”

“What do you mean?” Aelin asked skeptically. She been on both sides of Lysandra’s ideas before; she knows that glint in her eye can only mean trouble. Or hilarity; its all about perspective.

“Well, y'know every time that they say that they're like doing laundry we'll just give them a bunch of laundry to do.”

“Ooh, I would enjoy that!” One thing Aelin didn’t like about the building was the lack of in-unit washing machines. If she could avoid trekking up and down from the ground floor and have a little fun messing with her friends, it was a no-brainer.

“No, no no!” Fenrys cut them off with a shake of his head. “No, wait, Ael, you know what would even be more fun?” he dropped the faux interest and deadpanned, “Telling them.”

“Mmm, no, I wanna do Lys’ thing.”

The man groaned. He knew a losing battle when he saw one, but couldn’t help bemoaning, “I can’t take any more…”

Lysandra shook her head and reassured him, “No! You don't have to do anything! Just don't tell them that we know!”

“No, no. I can’t take any more secrets!” With wild eyes he looked to Aelin, “I’ve got your secrets. I've got their secrets. I got secrets of my own y'know!”

“Oh, you don't have any secrets!”

“Oh yeah,” Fenrys scoffed. “Well, you don't know about Moony, my bedtime furry friend.”

A beat of silence passed during which Fenrys sunk back into his chair and looked like he wanted to crawl inside it. Taking pity on him, Aelin refocused on Lysandra.

“So, how are we going to mess with them?”

They both ignored Fenrys’ annoyed groan.

“Well, you could use your position y'know as the roommate.” Lysandra suggested.

“Okay.” Easy enough.

“And then. I would use the strongest tool at my disposal. My sexuality.” She threw both her friends a wink. But her expression faltered. “ I would…if y’know, if I wasn’t married to your cousin.”

“Right…” Aelin hummed. “And how set in stone are you about that? I mean, do you like like him?”

“Do I like like my husband?”

“Uh huh.” At Lysandra’s exasperated sigh, Aelin lifted her hands placatingly. “Fine, fine, you’re the one suggesting we mess with Elide and Lorcan, I’m just wondering if you’re not fully committed.” When she met her friend’s eye again, they had a silent conversations consisting of raised eyebrows, quirked lips, and head tilts. Then they both swung around to look at Fenrys. She opened her mouth to ask—

“No. Don’t look at me. I mean, it would totally work, I could charm the hell out of ‘Lide,” he pointedly ignored the double snort. “But no, nuh-uh, this is your scheme, you do the dirty work. I will sit on the sidelines and watch happily as this all blows up.”

“Alright, blondie,” Lysandra and Fenrys both turned to Aelin, “its up to you to ‘charm the hell’ out of Salvaterre.”

A long pause settled around them as Aelin blinked at her friend.

“Absolutely not—”

“Oh that is so not going to work…”

“Hey,” Lysandra shook her head and cut off both interjections. “What happened to being fully committed?”

“Not happening– ”

“…not even believable…”

Spek of the devil – Lorcan chose that moment to stride into Cadre Coffee, effectively cutting off the trio’s conversation. He greeted them quickly before stopping at the counter to order. With his attention elsewhere, he didn’t see the looks his friends were erratically exchanging.

Lysandra kept jerking her head towards Lorcan with wide, adamant eyes while Aelin glared daggers at her and shook her head furiously. Her silent scoffs at her friend’s stubborn nods only emphasized how ridiculous she thought the plan was. All while Fenrys looked between the two with mixtures of disbelief, amusement, and skepticism.

The women’s intense silent conversation finally ended with Aelin jabbing a finger in the brunette’s face, sighing deeply, and plastering on a fake smile.

“You owe me big time. Big. Time.” she hissed. Then Aelin shook her head and loosed a breath. “Okay, watch, learn,” her eyes flicked towards Fenrys, “and don’t eat my cookie.”

Standing up from the couch, Aelin made her way to the counter where Lorcan was waiting for his coffee. She summoned up a bright smile and inwardly cringed because there was no way this was going to work. Lorcan was never going to believe she was into him. She couldn’t sell that. And even if she could, he knew she would never do that to Elide. But he didn’t know she knew about Elide…which is why she was doing this at all…but it didn’t matter because she would rather kiss her cousin than Lorcan and that was something that made her want to vomit, but if she vomited on Salvaterre? Well, then all this wouldn’t be in vain, but—

“Hey,” Lorcan’s deep voice cut through her spiral and she managed a blink and a sly quirk of her lips.

Fine.

“Hey,” she leaned closer to him and swept her eyes over his figure, hoping she was putting on as a good a show as she thought. “Oh, wow that jacket looks great on you.”

He lifted a dark brow and squinted in confusion. Yeah, this was stupid, Aelin should drop it and move along and forget she even tried. And get back at Lysandra for even suggesting it.

“Really?” He drew out the word with the level of skepticism she expected from him at her unexpected compliment.

Okay, fuck it. If Aelin was going to put on a show, then she would bring her best performance. “Yeah, the material feels so soft,” she stepped closer into his space, ignoring the incredulous look he flashed her as she ran a hand up and down his arm. “—hello Mr. Bicep! Have you been working out?”

Fenrys choked on a laugh that he tried covering up as a cough and she subtly kicked the back of the couch.

Lorcan opened and closed his mouth completely thrown off guard by Aelin’s come-ons. She couldn’t blame him.

“Well, I try to you know…” he carefully answered, probably deciding whether or not to just go with whatever the hell she was doing. “…lift things.”

Her giggles hurt her own ears and he kept looking at her like she’d grown a second head.

“Are you okay?” Lorcan asked clearly disturbed with this whole interaction.

“Well, if you really wanna know, I’m—oh! ! I can't tell you this.” Aelin forced another light laugh and brushed his arm again.

He looked genuinely concerned now. She was acting so far out of off from her normal self that he honestly worried for her sanity. “Galathynius, you can tell me.”

“Well, actually, you're the one person I can't tell this to.” She stepped back and looked up at Lorcan although her lashes, batting them a few times for equal measure. “And the one person I want to the most.”

Lorcan kept watching her as he reached around for his finished coffee. Had she smoked something before coming here? What the fuck? “What’s going on?”

She sent a silent apology to Elide. And to Lorcan. And to herself. Aelin coated the sigh leaving her lips in longing and looked at a point over his shoulder.

“I think it’s just, y'know, that I haven't been with a guy in so long and how sometimes you're looking for something and you just don’t even see that it's right there in front of you sipping coffee—Oh no, have I said too much?” She feigned a gasp and for the first time had to hold in a laugh at the look of pure revulsion that settled on the man’s face. Don’t worry Salvaterre, feeling’s mutual. “Well, it's just something to think about.” She flashed him a flirty wink. “I know I will.”

With one last glance at Lorcan’s disturbed face, Aelin grabbed her coat and walked out of the café with an extra sway to her hips.

***

That evening, when Elide and Lorcan were about to go to sleep, Elide settled herself against Lorcan’s chest and absentmindedly drew patterns across his skin.

“You are so cute,” she crooned with a sly grin, “how did you get to be so cute?”

Lorcan rolled his eyes at her and scowled, but as much as he tried, he couldn’t stop the heat that lined his cheeks. “I’m not cute,” he grunted, “I’m manly.”

“You can be manly and cute, they are not mutually exclusive,” She argued. “Key example: you.”

He grunted again but Elide emphasized her point with a kiss that had him tightening his hold around her, pulling her more firmly into his space. “You know, that is a popular opinion today.”

At the sound his voice trailing off, Elide propped herself up on an elbow and arched a brow. “What?”

She waited as Lorcan scrubbed a confused hand down his face.

“The weirdest thing happened at the coffee house,” he furrowed his brows, still trying to make sense of the odd, and frankly disturbing, interaction he’d had earlier. “I think…I think Aelin was hitting on me.”

Elide snorted so hard she almost choked. “What are you talking about?”

Groaning again, Lorcan unenthusiastically explained, “I’m telling you, I think Aelin was coming onto me.”

“That’s not possible.” His girlfriend answered so fast that despite wholeheartedly agreeing with her—

“Ouch.”

“I’m sorry, its just,” Elide rolled her eyes again and sat up. “Aelin would never hit on you. She’s always accepted you as a necessary evil – her words, not mine – and sure, you’ve grown on her in the last few years, but in a, in a sexless acquaintance sort of way.”

“Oh y’know, I can’t hear that enough,” he deadpanned even as the corner of his mouth twitched up.

Chuckling, Elide brushed her hair over her shoulder and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Lor, I think you just misunderstood her.”

It’s not like he wanted Galathynius’ advances, but if he had to go through the disturbing interaction, then gods be damned Elide should too. Lorcan propped himself up against the headboard and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “No, I didn’t misunderstand, okay? She was all over me! She touched my bicep for crying out loud!”

His girlfriend’s dark brows shot up and she eyed the offending muscle. “This bicep?”

He let her fingers graze a path down his arm, waiting until she was halfway to his elbow to flex. She almost startled at the sudden strain of his muscle but instead flashed him a smirk and lied backdown. “I wouldn’t blame her,” she hummed, “if that had actually happened.”

With a resigned huff, Lorcan dropped it.

***

Aelin and Lysandra were spread out in the apartment’s living room while Lorcan sat in the kitchen. The blonde flipped through a magazine she had opened on the small coffee table. Elide breezed in from her bedroom and the sudden entrance made the other two women look up.

“Hey El, what are you doing today?” Aelin asked. “Wanna come see a movie with us?” she jerked her head towards Lysandra who waited for Elide’s answer.

The quick glance at Lorcan wasn’t missed. “Uh, you know actually, I was going to do some laundry.”

Aelin feigned nonchalance as she forced back an eyeroll, sharing a confirming glance with Lysandra. “Oh.”

Elide spun towards her not-so-secret secret boyfriend. “Hey Lorcan, wanna do it with me?”

“Sure, yeah, I’ll do it with you.” The large man pushed himself to his feet with surprising eagerness

“Okay,” Elide grinned back.

Aelin smirked and sprung up from where she’d been sitting on the floor. “Okay great, hold on a sec!” Before anyone else could chime in, she was in and out of her room, carrying a large bag of laundry. “Here you go! Oh you don’t mind, do you?” She opened her eyes wide and pulled her most grateful face. “That would really help me out a lot, thanks!”

It took everything in her not to laugh at the panicked look that dashed across her friends’ faces.

“I mean, uh, I don’t think I have enough quarters,” Elide shrugged, doing her best to look apologetic.

“I have quarters!” Lysandra jumped up and pulled a cartoonishly large sack of loose change from her purse and came to stand next to Aelin as her lips spread in a wide grin.

Rowan chose that moment to stride into the apartment and unknowingly saving Elide and Lorcan from having to come up with another lie. “Hey.”

“Hey Whitethorn, any word on the apartment yet?” Lysandra asked, sitting back down in her chair.

“Well, I called over there and it turns out Ugly Naked Guy is subletting it himself and he's already had like a hundred applicants.”

“Oh.”

“Oh man.”

“No, no,” He waved off their sympathetic groans. Rowan had a smug air about him as explained. “I got the edge. I know it's not exactly ethical, but I sent him a little bribe to tip the scales in my direction. Check it out, you can probably see it from the window.”

Rowan aimed straight for the large paned window followed closely by his curious and nosey friends. The apartment across the way was filled from floor to ceiling with treats, toys, and trinkets. Rowan’s shoulders started to slump when Elide squeezed closer asking, “Oh is it the pinball machine with the big bow on it?”

“No.”

“That new mountain bike?” Lorcan guessed.

A beat. “No.”

“Well, what did you send?” Aelin asked, wincing at how Rowan kept deflating with every question.

“…A basket of mini-muffins.”

Lysandra squinted. “But there’s a whole table of mini-muffin baskets. Which one did you send?”

Loosing a long groan, Rowan rubbed his eyes and mumbled, “The small one.”

“What?” Aelin snorted. “You actually thought that basket was gonna get you the apartment?”

“Well yeah! Someone sent us a basket at work once and people went crazy over those little muffins.” He sighed wistfully. “It was the best day.”

Lorcan clapped him on the shoulder. “Your work makes me sad.”

“Damnit!” Rowan cursed himself as he walked back towards the door. “I was so sure that was going to work. There's twelve bucks I'll never see again…” His voice trailed off as he rounded the corner and the door shut behind him.

“All right babe,” Lysandra grabbed her coat and shot Aelin a look. “we’d better go if we wanna catch that movie.”

Elide waved them goodbye and missed the way Lysandra nudged Aelin towards Lorcan again. Inwardly sighing, Aelin made a point of brushing against Lorcan as she walked away.

“Bye, Salvaterre,” She shot him a wink and leaned in closer to tell him quietly, “I miss you already.”

For the cherry on top, Aelin smirked and planted a suggestive smack on his butt as she walked away. He whipped around so quickly she could feel the air shift as his hair fanned out. But then she was gone.

“Okay, did you fucking see that?!” Lorcan whirled on Elide, his dark eyes bugging out incredulously. “With the inappropriate, and the patting!”

More than confused, Elide slowly nodded and looked between him and the closed door. “Actually, I did.”

Lorcan carded a hand through his hair. “Yeah, so now you believe—”

“Oh, my gods!” Elide inhaled sharply. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes flew wide, gaze darting everywhere as she made sense things before finally meeting his incredulous stare again. “Oh my gods, she knows about us!”

“Are you serious?”

She nodded emphatically. “Aelin knows and she’s just trying to freak us out! That’s the only explanation for it!”

For all his love for Elide and toleration for Aelin, he was still a man. So he argued, “Okay, but what about my smackable ass and my biceps—she knows!”

***

“Fenrys!” Lorcan slammed his apartment door open and stormed in, Elide hot on his heels.

The man in question woke abruptly from the nap he’d been taking in the living room. Lorcan didn't have the energy to wonder about the wolf toy Fenrys hastily threw behind the recliner. Later, he’d tease him about it later.

“Yeah?” Fenrys’ voice came out higher than he expected. He cleared his throat and tried again, “yeah?”

“Aelin knows about us.” It wasn’t a question; it was an accusation. Elide crossed her arms in solidarity and glared at Fenrys.

He sputtered. “Well, I didn’t tell them!”

“Them?!” Elide hissed. “Who’s them?”

“Uhh, Aelin and,” Fenrys opened and closed his mouth several times before finally landing on: “Fenrys.”

His friends shot him nearly identical flat looks. Gods if they weren’t already together he’d be stupid not to try and meddle with that, but whatever.

“Fenrys.” Elide scolded again.

It didn’t take long to crack under Lorcan’s intensifying glare. Fenrys loosed a long breath and confessed reluctantly, “And Lysandra. I would’ve told you, but they made me promise not to tell!”

Again, nearly identical muttered fucks were the responses he got.

“I’m sorry. But hey, it's over now, right? Because you can tell them that you know they know and I can go back to knowing absolutely nothing!”

Fenrys’ relived smile fell as he saw the scheming glint in Elide’s eye. She was small but she was scary.

“Unless…”

“No!” he tried, “Not unless! Look, this must end now!” If he thought Lorcan would back him up against Elide’s plans, then he should’ve known better.

“Oh man, they think they are so slick messing with us!” Elide’s grin grew and Fenrys groaned and plopped back down in his chair. “But see, they don't know that we know that they know! So…”

“Yes.” Her boyfriend caught on and mirrored her sly grin. “The fuckers become the fucked with.”

***

“Would you stop that?” Aedion groaned to Rowan who was standing at the window in Aelin and Elide’s place with a pair of binoculars aimed straight into Ugly Naked Guy’s apartment.

“Yeah, Rowan, you gotta stop torturing yourself!” Lysandra added, nodding from her place on the sofa beside Aedion.

Aelin looked over her should at him, leaning back into the arm of her chair, “Yeah, why don't you just find another apartment?”

Rowan sighed but walked away from the window. “Look I've already looked at like a thousand apartments this month and none of them even compares to that one.” He knew he sounded like a broken record, but he couldn’t help it, that apartment was perfect.

Aelin tried a different suggestion. “Y'know what you should do?”

“What?”

“You should find out what his hobbies are and then use that to bond with him.” She nodded towards Fenrys who was walking back from the fridge. “Yeah! Like if I wanted something from Fen I would strike up a conversation about say umm, sandwiches. Or uh, or my underwear.”

Fenrys focused on her, “I’m listening.”

“See?” She spun back to Rowan, raising encouraging eyebrows.

“That is a great idea!” a spark of hope lit up Rowan’s face. “And! I know Ugly Naked Guy because we've been watching him for like five years—”

“—don’t lead with that.

“—so that gives me back my edge!” Rowan’s brows furrowed as he thought. “Oh, let's see now he had the trampoline.”

Lysandra hummed warningly “He broke that.”

“Well, he had gravity boots,” Rowan offered.

Aelin winced. “Yeah, he broke those too.”

Nodding sagely, Fenrys concluded, “So he likes to break stuff.”

Aedion snorted.

“No. Okay, I have to go but I will figure something out.” He was halfway out the door when he spun on his heal and looked back. “Hey, didn't he used to have a cat?”

“I wouldn't bring that up,” Lysandra grimaced, “it would probably just bum him out.”

Humming, Aedion muttered, “Yeah, poor cat, never saw that big butt coming.”

A few moments after Rowan left, the phone next to Lysandra rang.

“Hello?” she answered, waving off Aelin’s eye roll about answering someone else’s phone. “Oh yeah! Hold on a second.” Lysandra kept one hand over the phone’s speaker and turned her attention to Aedion, “Babe, could you run back to our place and grab that jacket I was telling you about?”

“Now?” he raised a brow.

“Mhm.” She waited for him to mutter a yeah, fine, sure “Thank you!”

Once Aedion left, and at the questioning looks from Aelin and Fenrys, Lysandra finally passed Aelin the phone, grinning maniacally and explained “It’s Salvaterre”

Aelin took the phone but mouthed I hate you back to her friend who simply grinned wider. She could hear Lorcan’s impatient grumbling before she used a soft, sexy voice. “Hello, you.”

Aelin pretended to gag just to make sure Lysandra knew how ridiculous this was.

“Gala—” he puffed out a short breath like he’d been cut off. “Aelin. I've been thinking about you all day.”

Any amusement Aelin felt instantly disappeared. She blinked assuming she heard wrong. “Huh?”

Her friends shared a confused glance at her sudden change in demeanor, but Aelin was trying too busy trying to process what Lorcan was saying to notice.

He cleared his throat but kept talking, “Well, you know that thing you said before – I’d be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued.”

What??

“What??”

“Yeah, listen, Moonbeam isn’t gonna be here tonight,” he dropped his voice even lower. “So why don’t you come over. We don’t have to talk. Better we don’t, actually. But we can still have a bit of fun.”

Aelin choked out, “I’ll have to get back to you on that. Okay, bye!” she frantically hung up and threw the phone onto the couch like it personally offended her. It had. She whirled on Lysandra with wide eyes and shrieked, “Oh my fucking gods! He wants me to come over a have a bit of fun.” She hissed out the last bit.

Her friends jaw dropped. “Are you kidding?!”

“No!”

Lysandra seethed. “I cannot believe he would do that— and with you of all people— to Eli—” she stopped, blinked, and slowly turned to narrow her eyes at Fenrys who was doing everything he could to avoid her glare. “Fenrys…do they know that we know?”

“No.”

“Fenrys.”

“They know you know,” he admitted.

“Agh! I knew it!”

Aelin felt waves of relief wash over her, but then growled “Oh, I cannot believe those two!”

But Lysandra was laughing, “Gods,” she faced Aelin who soon mirrored her near manic grin. “They thought they could mess with us?”

“They’re trying to mess with us?! They don’t know that we know they know we know.” They both looked towards the man hanging his head in his hands. “Fenrys, you can't say anything!”

“Couldn't even if I wanted too.”

***

Rowan spent ages trying to find the best way to connect with Ugly Naked Guy. It really shouldn’t be so hard, seriously, they’d been watching him for years now. There had to be something Rowan had picked up on that could give him the in. He needed that apartment.

When the idea finally occurred to him it stopped him in his tracks and nearly made him hit himself for how long it took for him to get there. He did know one thing about Ugly Naked Guy…

Deciding not to waste anymore time, Rowan headed straight for the building and knocked on the guy’s door. He pulled up his most charming smile and acted as if the sight of a middle-aged man answering the door fully nude while holding nothing but a jumbo-sized soda was the most normal thing in the world.

“Good evening, sir. My name is Rowan Whitethorn. I'm one of the people who applied for the apartment.” The guy simply kept looking at Rowan, waiting for him to get to his point. “And I realize that the competition is fierce but—I'm sorry. I can't help but notice you're naked,” Rowan made a show of clapping, hoping to gods it looked genuine. “I applaud you. Man, I wish I was naked. I mean, this—” he gestured to the man in question; the man who determined Rowan’s next living situation, “this looks so great. That is how the gods intended it.”

Because if nothing else, Rowan knew one thing about Ugly Naked Guy, and it had been staring him in the face the whole time.

***

“Ooh this is good! They’re panicked!” Elide laughed quietly. She and Lorcan had come back to hers and Aelin’s apartment after the fiasco of a phone call.

“They’re totally going to back down,” Lorcan agreed. There was no way Galathynius would go through with, with…with whatever it was they were trying to do.

While the couple was whispering to each other in the kitchen, Aelin and Lysandra were huddled on the couch discreetly making their own plans.

“All right,” Aelin said, half to Lysandra and half to herself. “All right! If he wants a date? He's gonna get a date. Okay, I'm gonna go in.”

The brunette nodded and gently nudged her friend’s shoulder. “Be sexy.”

“Please,” Aelin laughed. She tossed her hair over one shoulder in the way she knew caught people’s attention. Lorcan and Elide stopped their hushed whispers as they watched her approach. Aelin winked at Lorcan and noticed, to her immense satisfaction, the moment of disdain that crossed his face before he masked it with faux intrigue.

“So, Lorcan,” She batted her eyelashes and side-eyed Elide for good measure as the shorter women began stepping away. Sorry. “I’d love to come by tonight.”

He blinked, grunting, “Really?”

Oh, this was too fun. “Absolutely. Let’s say around seven?”

“Yes.” And though he tried, She could tell he’d spoked through gritted teeth and a forced smirk.

“Good,” she replied. And just to see him squirm, “I'm really looking forward to you and me having sexual intercourse.”

She wished she had a camera to capture his bewildered face. As Aelin walked away, she missed the alarmed and pleading look Lorcan sent Elide and her friend’s answering it’s okay we got this.

“Hey!” Fenrys’ laughing voice cut through the tension. “Check it out! Ugly Naked Guy has a naked friend!”

Most thoughts of fake dates and faking fake dates disappeared as the group crowded over at the window.

“Oh yeah!” Aelin huffed out a laugh.

“Oh, my gods!” Lysandra leaned on Aelin to get a better look. “That’s our friend! Its Naked Rowan!”

“Yeah, it is! Naked Rowan!!” Good for him.

***

“Show time!” Came Lysandra’s sing-song voice as they got Aelin ready.

Wearing one of her best dresses, Aelin went over her look once more. “Oh, Lys, get me perfume.”

“Okay,” she laughed and went to grab it.

“And Fen,” Aelin turned to him, “could you get me a bottle of wine and couple glasses?”

He grumbled under his breath and dragged his feet but turned form the kitchen table towards the shelf and reluctantly got what she asked for.

Lysandra came back and spritzed Aelin’s light lemon verbena scent around her, urging her to twirl and complete the preparation.

Across the hall, Elide was hyping her boyfriend up to fake seduce her best friend.

“All right, it’ll be great” Elide encouraged as she flattened out his shirt and handed him a breath mint. “You just make her think you wanna have sex with her. It'll totally freak her out!”

Lorcan slowed her down, “Listen, how far am I gonna have to go with her? Because I can’t pretend like I’m attracted to Galathynius forever.”

“Relax,” Elide waved it off, “she's gonna give in way before you do!”

“How do you know?!” he narrowed his eyes at her.

“Because you're on my team! And my team always wins!”

He just muttered a fucking hell under his breath before Elide pressed a quick peck to his lips and rushed to hide in the bathroom. “Go get some!”

In the hall, Lysandra and Aelin waited by the door.

“Okay, hon,” Lysandra grinned at Aelin. “I’m gonna try to listen from right here.”

“Okay. Oh, wait,” Aelin glanced down at herself and pulled the neckline for her satin dress to expose more cleavage. “Yeah?”

Lysandra nodded. “Perfect.”

They shared a glance and both women paused. “This is so weird,” the blonde muttered.

Turning towards the door, Aelin knocked with the hand that wasn’t holding the bottle of wine. Lysandra moved to stand against the wall so she wouldn’t be seen when the door opened but could still hear what was being said. She flashed Aelin one last conspiratorial smile right as Lorcan opened the door.

“Aelin.”

“Lorcan.”

Tension radiated between them, and the silence grew with each moment they stood there. Finally, Lorcan jerked his head backwards and stepped back to give her room to walk in. “Come in.”

This was happening. Aelin smiled seductively and tossed her head to the side, allowing her golden hair to effortlessly flip over her shoulder. “I was going to.”

He closed the door behind her and before he could interject, Aelin went on, showing off the bottle she’d brought. “I brought some wine. Would you like some?”

He nodded, a harsh jerk of his head, so she made a show of uncorking it and poured two glasses of the red wine with a flourish. “So, here we are. Nervous?” She asked.

Lorcan merely arched a brow looking rather unimpressed and picked up his glass. “Me?” he scoffed, “No. You?”

She eyed him. He eyed her right back. She lifted her glass to her lips and took a long sip. He followed suit and in a few deep gulps completely drained his glass.

“No, I want this to happen,” Aelin lied.

“So do I,” Lorcan grimaced and snatched the bottle off the counter between them and poured two more full glasses. Each trying to get the other to break, they kept up the ruse, watching each other for signs that the other was about to crack. Eventually, they both broke eye contact and each downed the rest of their wine.

The clinks of glass on the countertop broke through the heavy silence and Lorcan turned away, carding a hand through his dark hair. “I’m gonna put on some music.”

Damn. How much longer was this going to take? “Maybe I’ll dance for you,” she told him instead, slowly moving her hips to the music now echoing through the apartment

The corners of Lorcan mouth tightened as he held back scowl. He cursed his devious, beautiful girlfriend for convincing him to do this as he gritted out, “You look good.”

“Thank you,” Aelin crooned, making more of a show with her movements and raising her brows suggestively as she inched closer to him. “You know, when you say things like that it makes me just wanna…rip that…shirt right off you!”

Barely concealing a wince, she took great pride at the alarmed look that flashed across Lorcan’s face. But he disguised it so quickly she almost thought she’d imagined it. Almost.

“The let’s move this to the bedroom,” he suggested, smirking.

That brought Aelin up short. “Really?”

“Oh,” he took a giant step back and sounded far too innocent as he asked, “do you not want to?”

“No. No!” She shook her head vehemently. “Its just, you know,” she scrambled and dropped her voice lower, more husky, “I want to take off all my clothes and have you rub lotion on me

Lorcan’s responding gulp was audible but his face remained neutral. “That’d be nice,” the strain on his voice gave him away, “I’ll go get the lotion.”

He spun on his heel and beelined for the bathroom, startling Elide who’d been pressed up against the door.

“Listen, this is getting way too fucking out of hand,” He hissed to his girlfriend. “Okay? She wants me to put lotion on her!”

Scoffing, Elide waved off Lorcan’s worry. “She's bluffing!”

“Obviously!” he griped with an eye roll. “But she’d not backing down. She went like this!” he tried to mimic Aelin’s earlier dancing but only managed to look stupid and cause Elide to huff a laugh.

The moment Lorcan’s back had turned on her, Aelin had darted into the hallway and hissed to Lysandra, “He's not backing down. He went to get lotion.”

The door across the hall opened and Fenrys took one look at the women standing there and groaned. “Come on, aren’t you guys done yet?”

“Fen, look,” Lysandra huffed, “just look at it this way, the sooner Aelin breaks Lorcan, the sooner this is all over and out in the open.”

His face lit up. “Ooh, yeah okay. I like that.”

Back in the bathroom, Elide was trying to get Lorcan to keep up the ruse.

“You go back out there, and you seduce her till she cracks!” Elide told him. The bathroom door wasn’t very thick, and she could hear the entire conversation despite being hidden. Aelin was so close to breaking, Elide just knew it.

“Okay, shit, give me a second.” Her boyfriend scrubbed a hand down his face and absently looked around the small room. He looked at her again with a raised brow and said with some amusement, “Did you clean up in here?”

“Of course,” Elide admitted and shrugged with an air of obviousness. Then she nudged his arm to get him to turn around before pushing him out of the bathroom. “Now go!”

Throwing an annoyed look over his shoulder at his girlfriend who simply gave him a thumbs up before quietly closing the bathroom door, Lorcan walked back into the living room and paused when he saw Aelin at the apartment door.

“Oh, you’re going?” He asked, crossing his arms, and trying not to look so smug.

“Uh,” Aelin floundered for a second but then she slowly sauntered towards him. “Not without you, lover.”

Yikes.

Lorcan would never be into her like that, just like Aelin would never, ever be into him. She knew that. She knew he knew that. She knew that he knew that they were playing a game of chicken…but Aelin was the reigning queen; she had never, not once, lost a game of chicken. And she certainly wasn’t about to let Lorcan Salvaterre dethrone her.

He cleared his throat, but it sounded more like a strangled grunt. “Right. Get over here.” he had the audacity to look her in the eye as told her, “I’m very happy we’re gonna have all the sex.”

In any other scenario, Aelin would laugh at how ridiculous he sounded.

“You should be. I’m very bendy,” she said instead, taking a step closer. “I'm gonna kiss you now.”

“Not if I kiss you first.”

The pair eyed each other warily, silence stretching between them as they took comically slow steps towards each other. When they finally met in the middle, Aelin narrowed her eyes and lifted her brows in challenge right as she reached forward and placed a hand on his hip. His gaze shot down to the point of contact before carefully rising back to hers. Then, like she had, he hooked his hand around her opposite hip and pulled her closer. Never one to be outdone, Aelin used her free hand to reach behind him and grab his ass. Lorcan grunted, nearly seething. His remaining hand hovered over her breast before wisely deciding – for the sake of his life and sanity – to rest it on her shoulder instead.

“Well, I guess there's nothing left for us to do but kiss.” Lorcan gritted out.

“Mhm,” Aelin nodded, dragging out the syllables. “Here it comes. Our first kiss.”

They eyed each other and after a few moments concluded that the other wasn’t backing down. Incrementally slowly, Aelin and he leaned in. Closer, closer, so close she could feel his breath fan across her face. And then he was flinging himself away, shaking her off and finally dropping the act.

“Okay! Okay! Shit, okay! You win! You win!” His voice carried loud and clear to everyone. “I can’t have sex with you!”

“Ha ha!” Aelin shouted gleefully as her win continued, taking no small amount of joy as she goaded, “And why not?!”

“Because I'm in love with Elide!”

Triumph morphed into shock as she registered what he’d said. “You’re—you’re what?”

The front door swung open as Lysandra and Fenrys walked in with equally stunned looks. At the same time, Elide walked out of the bathroom, not sparing her friends a fraction of her attention as she kept her focus on Lorcan, a soft smile blossoming on her face.

“Love her!” Lorcan’s voice rose, his hands waving erratically like what he felt had all been bottled up and now there was nothing stopping it form overflowing. “That’s right. I love her! I! Love! Her! I love her.” He loosed a harsh breath and met Elide halfway, taking her into his arms and calming repeating, “I love you, Elide.”

Her words were thick with emotion as she looped her arms around his neck. “I love you too, Lorcan.”

She pulled him into a kiss, her hands raking through the hair at the nape of his neck as his found their home around her waist, gently but firmly keeping her pressed against him.

Their moment was broken by the cooing of their friends.

“I just,” Aelin started. Her eyes wide with surprise but happiness for them. “I thought you guys were doing it, I didn't know you were in love!”

“Dude,” Fenrys awed and shot Lorcan a grin and a thumbs up.

Lorcan jerked his head reluctantly towards Aelin. “And hats off to Galathynius. Quite a competitor.” He smirked at her and snorted when she smirked back.

“All right!” Fenrys clapped, looking overjoyed. “So that's it! It's over! Everybody knows!”

Elide slid to stand next to Lorcan with her arms still wrapped around his middle as he slung an arm over her shoulder.

“Well, actually,” she said, “Rowan doesn’t.”

“Or Aedion,” Lysandra reminded them.

“Yes, and we'd appreciate it if no one told them yet.”

Fenrys’ joy melted away. His lips pressed into a firm line as he leveled a cold stare at his friend.

Lorcan’s response? He shrugged.

*****

Taglist:

@acourtofsnakes @a-frog-with-a-laptop @astra-ad-mare @autumnbabylon @backtobl4ck @bankerfrog @becarefuloflove @camerooonchiu @captain-swan-is-endgame @charlizeed @cookiemonsterwholovesbooks @doubt-less @earthtolinds @elentiyawhitethorn @feyretales @goddess-aelin @highqueenofelfhame @jorjy-jo @julemmaes @leiawritesstories @lemonade-coolattas @llyncooljones @mariamuses @moodymelanist @morganofthewildfire @nerdperson524 @rhysiedarling @rowaelinismyotp @rowaelinrambling @rowanaelinn @shyvioletcat @stardelia @superspiritfestival @sv0430 @swankii-art-teacher @thegreyj @the-lonelybarricade @the-regal-warrior @tomtenadia @westofmoon @whimsicallyreading

[austinsgirl]

Rather Die | Chapter 20

rating: Pg-13

warnings: pregnancy talk

masterlist

————————————————————

It is currently Christmas Eve.

Victoria's mom, Evelyn & her stepdad, Peter, both came into Los Angeles to visit and to meet Austin's family as well. Victoria's parents are staying with her & Austin while they are in town.

Currently, both families are together at their place, including Ashton, Mila, & Juliet.

"Wait, how far along are you?" Evelyn asks Victoria as she glazes the ham in the kitchen. Victoria is currently mixing together the potato salad.

"About 5 months. I'm due around Easter." she looks to her mom with a smile.

"Ok, that's what I thought. Just a few more months to go."

"Yeah, I'm excited. About halfway there or so."

"When did you move in with Austin? Not long ago, right?"

"Yeah, I moved in last month like a week before Thanksgiving. I ended up moving in sooner than we planned."

"Why is that?"

"It was just easier, since I was going to be starting the good pregnancy milestones & more doctors visits. Austin doesn't want to miss anything, and I don't want him to either. Also, wanted to get moved in before I was too pregnant and couldn't do anything."

"That makes sense. I'm glad you two have figured things out. I know how rough it was between the two of you at the start."

"I'm glad too."

"And I see he's moved on?"

"Mhm. I think any day now he'll ask her to be his girlfriend."

"I still can't believe what you said to her." Evelyn chuckles.

"Mooomm, please. I know. But it's fine. I apologized, we're good with each other."

"Good. The last thing you need is to be stressing over a new girl he's with."

"Don't worry, I'm not."

Victoria looks over to the living room and sees Austin & Juliet cuddling on the couch, being all cute. She feels lowkey disgusted on the inside, but Ashton comes up behind her & takes her away from those thoughts.

"Hey, baby." Ashton says, wrapping his arms around Vic, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"Hi, honey." she smiles. "I wish you didn't have to leave after dinner."

"I know, me too babe. It's just a lot easier on my family if I go to them rather than them coming here. But my parents want to come out soon to meet you."

"They do?"

"Mhm. We're thinking next month sometime."

"That would be great, Ash." she smiles.

"Is dinner almost ready?"

"Yeah, actually. Hey, Aus?" Vic gets Austin's attention, looking over to him.

"Yeah?" Austin replies.

"Can you get the table set, please?"

"Yeah. Wanna help me set the table?" he asks Juliet.

"Sure." Juliet smiles.

Mila walks into the kitchen, "Hey, is there anything you need help with?"

"Uh, yeah. You can start putting the sides on the table. Mom is finishing up the glaze before she cuts the ham, & Ashley is finishing up the desserts."

"Alright, sounds good." Mila smiles. "Is that a new necklace?" she asks Vic, noticing a sparkly diamond around her neck.

"Yeah, it is." Vic smiles. "Ashton got it for me. We already exchanged gifts."

"It's so pretty, I love it."

"Thank you. I love it too."

Austin overhears their conversation & rolls his eyes. "A diamond necklace?" he thinks to himself. "It's nice, but c'mon. Don't be so basic. At least I got Julie my birthstone so it's more meaningful."

By the time the table was set, dinner was ready. Ham, kielbasa, potato salad, green bean casserole, pierogis, veggies. A whole feast to say the least.

Ashley asks Victoria as they eat, "Any plans for a baby shower? I'd love to help!"

"Oh my gosh um, I haven't even thought about it. I guess we'll have to start planning it." she responds.

"Do you have a theme picked out yet for the nursery?" Victoria's mom asks.

"We're just doing a pretty floral theme with shades of pinks."

"Oh, that'll be so nice! Maybe you can do the shower the same theme."

"That's a good idea." Mila chimes in. "My mom's friend is a florist that could probably help us out."

"Perfect. One step of planning done." Vic says.

"We still have to pick out a name." Austin says.

"You haven't picked out a name yet?" Ashley asks.

"Nope. Have we even talked about it?" Austin asks Victoria.

"To be honest, I don't know. We might have early on."

"We'll have to discuss it later." Austin smiles.

After dinner

"Hey, don't worry about cleaning up. I got it." Juliet says to Vic smiling, as she was gathering up plates.

"Are you sure? You're a guest, I don't want you to feel the need." Victoria responds.

"Yeah, it's fine! Austin & I can handle it, right Aus?"

"Yeah, we got it. You did a lot today, Vic. Go rest." Austin says.

"Alright, alright. Ash? You got time?" Vic smirks a little.

"Yeah, a little bit." Ashton responds.

Victoria & Ashton head off to her bedroom to have a little alone time before he heads off.

As Austin & Juliet clean up, they talk amongst themselves.

"You're still coming over to my parents' house tomorrow, right?" Juliet asks.

"Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Just checking. I know you get shy, and I didn't want you to back out because you're too nervous to meet them."

"I mean, I am nervous, but I'll be fine. They want us there at 4, right?"

"Yeah, 4 or earlier."

"Alright, maybe we can head over there early. Get more settled in before dinner."

"Sounds good, Aus." Juliet smiles.

Not too long after....

"I can't believe you're leaving me." Vic pouts as she's saying goodbye to Ashton.

"I know, baby. I'll be back before you know it. I'll call you when I land, okay?"

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too."

Ashton and Vic share one last kiss before he heads off to the airport.

"I'll see you soon, love." Ashton says

"See you soon." Vic shyly smiles.

Around 1AM, Victoria finds herself watching the 24hr marathon of "A Christmas Story" while shoving Christmas cookies in her mouth, being hungry and not able to sleep.

She hears footsteps coming down the hall, "Austin?" she calls out, but not too loudly.

"It's Santa Claus." Austin says sarcastically, walking into the kitchen. "What are you doing up?" he asks, looking over at her in the living room.

"Baby girl was hangry for cookies & wasn't letting me sleep. Why are you up?"

"I don't know, honestly. Just not tired enough to sleep. Came out here for a snack, sometimes that helps." Austin responds grabbing some milk & cookies for himself. "What are you watching?"

"The 24hr marathon of "A Christmas Story". Peter left the cable on from the football game earlier, so I just put this on."

"It is a classic. I didn't know TBS still did the 24hr marathon." Austin sits on the couch next to her.

"I guess so. Did you grow up watching it?"

"When we had cable, yeah. Or if I was at my grandparents for Christmas. We weren't always able to afford cable."

"Makes sense. New Zealand didn't have TBS, but I think one channel did show "Home Alone" all day or showed all 3, all day long. My brother would keep it on until my mom got tired of it." Vic chuckles.

"That's cool. We mainly watched VHS or DVDs for movies. I think my sister kept them all after my mom passed, or she donated them."

"Is that one of your favorite memories with your mom around the holidays?"

"Yeah, yeah it is. Also making these cookies with her." He holds up a cookie that looks like a candy cane. "She had taught Ashley & I how to make them. Well, not so much the dough, but how to dye the dough and roll it out to make different shapes."

"Did Ashley make these ones? I don't remember seeing you make them."

"Yeah, she did. They're my favorite because they remind me of my mom."

"That's really sweet, Aus." Vic smiles. "They are really good. I'm gonna need this recipe. I'd like to pass down things like that to baby girl."

"Me too. And speaking of baby girl..."

"What?"

"We should probably think of a name."

"We should. Any ideas?"

"Nope."

"Me neither. Let me pull up a baby name list."

"Well actually..."

"Yeah?"

"If it's okay with you, I'd love for her to have my mom's name as her middle name. Whether it's Lori or Lorraine, whichever sounds better."

"Of course we can do that, Aus. As long as our next born has David for his middle name after my dad. IF it were to happen." Vic jokes.

"Deal." Austin chuckles.

"Okay, names that will go with Lori or Lorraine. The number one name on this list is Olivia, which is so pretty but doesn't really sound right."

"Also, people would probably think we named her after my Elvis co-star."

"True. Emma?"

"Eh. Too popular I think."

"Charlotte? Amelia? I like Amelia."

"I do too. Let me start a list. Charlotte is okay."

"Ava wouldn't sound right, Sophia is too close to Sophia Loren, that actress."

"What's next?"

"Isabella. Reminds me of Twilight."

"Her name was Bella though."

"Close enough, Aus."

"What else is there?"

"There's Mia, which we'd probably call her for short of we named her Amelia."

"Mia is short for Amelia?"

"Yeah. Mia's name in "The Princess Diaries" was Amelia, but went by Mia."

"Okay, well I'll put Amelia/Mia on the list. What else?"

"Evelyn, Harper, Luna, Camila, Gianna, Elizabeth. None of these are sticking out to me."

"Let me see." Austin puts her hand out for his phone and starts looking at the list.

"Ella? Scarlett? Aria?" Austin asks.

"Maybe Aria."

"Hazel?"

"No, too "Fault In Our Stars". Maybe when I was fifteen."

"Madison?"

"I have a cousin named Madison."

"Ellie?"

"That's kinda cute."

"Violet?"

"Violet? That's pretty. Violet Lori? No. Violet Lorraine? Hmm.."

"Violet Lorraine. I like that. It flows nice."

"Yeah, it does."

Austin keeps scrolling to see if there's anything else on the list of names.

"Ew. Hell no." he says.

"What?"

"Eliana is on the list."

"Ew. Fuck that bitch."

"I'm really liking Violet."

"Me too. It just seems right."

"Did we just choose name?"

"I think we did." Victoria smiles big.

Austin repositions himself to be near Victoria's belly.

"Hi Violet, Merry Christmas from your daddy." he says, getting teary eyed. "I love you so much, my beautiful girl." Austin places a kiss on her belly.

Victoria tears up as well.

"Hey, Merry Christmas to you too, Vic." Austin smiles at her as he sits back up.

"Merry Christmas to you, Aus."

"Don't tell Juliet this, but I like it better when you call me Aus."

"You do?"

"Yeah. I mean, you started it. It was your thing first, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that. But don't worry, I won't tell her."

"And you do know I'll always love you, right?"

"You will?"

"Mhm. You're the mother of my child, of course I'll always love you in some way. I'll always care about you. I hope you know that."

"I feel the same way about you, Aus."

Vic looks into Austin's blue eyes. She notices his eyes leave hers to look at her lips as they sit close.

Austin leans in for a kiss, Vic doesn't stop him right away, letting him deepen the kiss as he puts his hand on her face. She eventually realizes what's happening & pulls away.

"What are we doing?" she asks him.

"I-I don't know. I got caught up in the moment." Austin responds, blushing, looking down.

"We won't speak of this. This never happened. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. We should go to bed. Big day tomorrow." Vic says getting up & turning off the TV.

"Agreed. Goodnight." Austin says.

"Goodnight, Austin."

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

[dragongirlbooty]

Arcadion, Round 2

cw intox, mind control, coercion. Very much 18+

Kharia turned in front of the mirror a few times, studying her new clothing. While she didn't really understand Alexandrian fashion, she had to admit, the jacket was quite comfortable, and while a bit tight, the pants were stretchy enough that they wouldn't get in her way in a fight. An elezen woman watched from across the room.

"Do you... like it?" she asked nervously.

"It could use a bit of tailoring," Kharia replied, "but I like it well enough." Her expression shifted, and she donned a mischevious grin as she pulled the hood over her head and summoned her scythe. "It'll look pretty badass in our next match too." Shale chuckled.

"Veronica, right?"

"Damn, you're catching on quick," the xaela replied, striking a few poses and seeing how the outfit looked with the weapon included. "Y'shtola's the only other one who's that good at knowing who's fronting, but she's got that whole aether sight thing which is kinda cheating."

"I'm pretty good at catching non-verbal cues," Shale shrugged, "Mannerisms, body language, that sort of thing." Their conversation was interrupted by a chime from Kharia's tomestone.

"Ah, I need to go," she groaned, "it's Metem. I bet he's got our next opponent picked out." She dispelled her scythe and gathered some of her other belongings, stuffing them inti her jacket's myriad pockets.

"Good luck in the arena hotshot," Shale said, "Don't fight too hard though, you hear? I'd rather have you lose and survive than die trying to prove yourself." Kharia rolled her eyes.

"You worry almost as much as Raha. I might need to stop picking up partners, or soon I won't be able to go on adventures from all the fussing."

"I take it that's a 'yes' to my offer of drinks this Friday then?"

"Of course! I'll call when the match is done."

"No need - I'll have them put it on in the Neon Stein so I can watch live." Shale waved her out the door. "Now get going already - I've never met a patient milala, and I don't want to be the reason you're late!"

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

Kharia sat back in her seat on the sofa. Seeing her ready, Metem cleared his throat and pressed a button on a remote in his hand, casuing the screen behind him to light up. "Your next opponent, Ms. Kharia, is famed songstress Honey B. Lovely. She-"

"Oh she fights dirty," Yaana interrupts between handfuls of popcorn, "Poison, drugs, the works. I hear her feral spirit lets you emit some kind of mind control gas - foramanes or something?"

"Pheremones," Metem corrected with gritted teeth. "Thank you for your input, Black Cat, but prematch briefings are part of my job. I'll take it from here." Yaana shrugged and continued to munch on her popcorn. "As I was saying, Honey B. Lovely, as her moniker suggests, fights with the soul of the queen of a vicious, and thankfully extinct, species of giant bee. As our friend here said, this soul not only gives her a vicious stinger and limited flight, but also the ability to produce a potent venom, along with a mind-numbing pheremone used, in its original, natural environment, to subdue prey and keep the colony docile and obedient. Fortunately, I've already taken the liberty of procuring a gas mask for you, which should keep you safe from that angle of attack. So long as you avoid her stinger and her natural charms, you should be able to win this fight hands down. Any questions?"

"Yeah. Why is she here?" Kharia asked, gesturing towards Yaana with a thumb.

"Told you, I wanna watch you fight. And as a fellow fighter, I'm entitled to free front row seats."

"Unfortunately, live audiences are prohibitted from viewing Honey B.'s combat performances ever since the incident," Metem replied, "so you'll have to watch on-screen like everyone else. If you're ready, Kharia, it'll just be a quick call to her agent and we can start the match." Kharia nodded and stood from the couch, causing Yaana to immediately take advantage of the extra space by lying down. Metem handed her a gas mask, which she affixed to her face before heading to the exhibition elevator. The door sealed shut with a quiet hiss of air, and she heard Metem's voice over the loudspeakers above. "Ladies, gentlemen, Arcadion fans of all sorts, welcome to tonight's match. In the blue corner we have our defender, the superstar sensation who's swept us off our feet time and again, it's Honey! B.! Lovely!" Though no applause could be heard from the arena, prerecorded cheers erupted from the small screen in the elevator itself. The lift slowed to a stop and the door slid open. "And in the red corner! A fresh-faced fighter, the upcoming upstart, the bane of the former King of Resolve, none other than Khariaaaaaaa Adarrrrrrkiiiiim!" Kharia strolled from the elevator onto the arena floor, waving to a few of the orbiting camera drones. The vacant arena made her feel small, but she focused on her opponent, a blonde hyruan woman.

"Well aren't you just the cutest little thing? Hope you're not ridin' too high off your beginner's luck, darlin', because I won't be goin' easy on ya'," she called across the ring. "Oh manager? My song, if you wouldn't mind."

"Let the match begin!" Metem's voice rang out, and a cheery electronic tune began to play over the speakers. Honey B. reached up to her regulator, gave it a few short taps, and was engulfed in a golden light. As the transformation ended, Kharia's foe was a hyur no longer, but a towering hybrid of insectile and human features. Her dark, spine covered form stood in stark contrast to the upbeat pop music in the background. As Kharia drew her scythe, her foe summoned a lance and dashed forward with astonishing speed. Kharia felt a brief tug on her jacket as Veronica opened a hellgate and dragged her out of the charge's path.

"Focus on the spear, not the chick holding it," her avatar chastised. Kharia rolled her eyes.

"I was going to block, Ronni", she mumbled, "but thanks." As Honey B. reoriented herself after her opponent's sudden displacement, Kharia threw a few darts of hellfire while the bee-woman's guard was down, then lept into the air. Shifting her momentum into her scythe, she careened downwards with a heavy slice. A deft dodge on Honey B.'s part caused the floor of the arena to become gouged out - solid, Kharia noted, not glass like the last match. She rolled forward to continue her movement, dodging a few rapid jabs from stingers formed from the ends of Honey B.'s twintails.

"Not bad, sweetie, not bad," Honey B. crooned. "I'd say we're nice and warmed up now. Hope you don't need to catch your breath." A faint pink mist began to coalesce, though Kharia's mask held firm. She advanced on her insectile foe with a barrage of slashes, each near miss providing a windup for the next blow, forcing Honey B. to retreat.

"Let me take a few swings," Veronica demanded, and Kharia receeded, feeling the voidsent's dark aether flow across her body. Veronica cackled wildly as she threw more strength into each blow, increasing the speed of her swings, forcing Honey B. to use her lance to deflect blows coming too swiftly to dodge. Veronica lifted her free hand, and an array of crimson crystals erupted from the floor, sending her target skyward. Rather than falling to the ground, however, she unfurled her wings and stablizied midair. Veronica's brief confusion provided the window she was looking for, and she hurled her lance downwards. Veronica poured her last bit of strength into a ward to mitigate the worst of the blow, but nonetheless was left with a gash upon her bicep.

"Metem told us she could fly you idiot!" Kharia's soul hissed. "You go recharge while I try bringing her down." The surge of aether faded, and the xaela's black and red aura dimmed as she dodged a strike from one of Honey B.'s stingers. The lance behind Kharia wobbled, and as it began to return to Honey B.'s outstretched hand, Kharia bashed it with the haft of her scythe, causing it to go awry and pierces one of the bee-woman's wings. She cried out, more in surprise than pain, and Kharia prepared to press her advantage when her arm was suddenly wracked with pain. Glancing sideways, she was in her periphery dark purple venom seeping into her open wound, the prior injury now seething with a sharp burning sensation. Honey B. landed with a smirk.

"Oh, don't tell me one little ol' sting is enough to take you out," she taunted. "I thought you were made of tougher stuff than that." Kharia gritted her teeth and wove a simple balming spell to suppress the pain before leaping in for another blow. Honey B.'s lance caught her blade, and the two struggled face to face to break the clash. "That's more like it," her foe whispered, "it's more fun when they put up a fight." Kharia saw her stingers shift out of the corner of her eye, and broke away to dodge two ground-shattering blows. Honey B. dashed from the smoke with a speed that caught the xaela off-guard, and while she managed to absorb the latest strike with her weapon, the impact sent her careening, landing on the stone floor of the arena with a thud - and a sharp crack from her mask. As she returned to her feet to regain eye contact with her enemy, she noticed a faint, sweet aroma. Rather than contemplate the fragrance further, however, she narrowed her vision onto her enemy, shifting once again through space to dodge a venomous lance-strike. As she emerged from the hellsgate, however, she was caught by one of Honey B.'s stinging tendrils clubbing her in the stomach. The wind was knocked out of her, and on reflex, Kharia gasped, before immediately cursing herself as a sticky-sweet taste filled her mouth. She scrambled to her feet and began to feel at her mask for the crack, trying to cover it with her off hand. "Ready to give up?" her foe asked mockingly. "Manager mentioned you don't use a regulator. It'd be such a waste to kill a pretty little darlin' like yourself, so why don't you be a good girl and concede?" Kharia narrowed her eyes and stifled a cough, leveling a hellfire-wreathed weapon at her enemy. Honey B. narrowly dodged as blackened blades rose from the ground. She grinned wickedly, saying "Well! If you won't come quietly, then I suppose I've no choice but to make you come loudly." Kharia's brow furrowed in confusion. She'd never hear that saying before. Maybe it was an Alexandrian thing? Distracted by the oddly-worded goad, she was almost hit by a fierce slash, which tore through her jacket a hair's breadth from her skin. She could feel the room tilt ever so slightly, and willed herself to fight through the myriad of debilitations caused by Honey B.'s chemical attacks. Preparing to guard again, she noticed that her rival had paused to whisper something into a linkpearl.

"Oh dear," Metem's voice echoed in the empty arena, "there seem to be, eh, technical difficulties, with the cameras. I'm very sorry everyone, we'll have to schedule a rematch. But my, what a show!" Kharia's muscles burned from the venom, and buckled, forcing her to lean on her scythe for support.

"Hope you don't mind if I keep the cameras rolling, sweetpea," Honey B. said with a sly grin. She strolled towards Kharia, and lifted her chin with the flat of her spear. "But a very special part of my audience will pay quite handsomely for this footage." Kharia glared at her defiantly.

"I didn't... surrender... yet..." she growled, though in truth she could hardly stand. Honey B. chuckled and with a swift strike of one of her stingers shattered Kharia's gas mask.

"Darlin', you lost the moment I cracked that mask of yours. But it's been a while since someone put up a fight like that." She circled Kharia slowly, like a beast entrapping its prey. Her stingers flicked rapidly and with precision, shredding Kharia's jacket. "And all that excitement's gotten me quite warmed up. But if you can... entertain me further, then we can call tonight a draw. What do you say?" Kharia drowsily turned to face her foe, head buzzing. The cocktail of substances in her system meant she had no chance of hiding her surprise when she saw that, at some point, her competition had removed what little clothing she'd be wearing to begin with. Kharia's face flushed a deep emerald color, her pulse quickened, and she found herself unable - or perhaps, unwilling - to look away. "Oh, but it must be so hard to think right now, isn't it, you poor thing? You head must be so fuzzy... But I can take good care of you. Come here," she teased, beckoning with a single finger.

Kharia's thoughts blurred, and she felt herself shuffle a few steps towards her former opponent before falling to the ground. She felt tendrils wrap around her wrists, lifting her to her knees. She felt a hand gently stroking her hair, before taking a firm grip and pulling on her head. The faint, sweet, pleasant smell of the arena all at once intensified, and she couldn't help but take a deep breath.

"My my, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you've gotten even more worked up than me," Honey B. cooed. "I'm certain a good little slut like you doesn't need instructions, does she?" Kharia tried, desperately, to come up with some kind of retort or argument, but words were too hard to form, and her burning, desperate need overrode any thoughts or reservations she may have had. She craned her neck, and gently, nervously lapped at her rival's nectar. The taste filled her mind with stars, and she picked up her pace, diving deeper and hungrier with each passing moment. Honey B. let out a low, soft moan.

"That's a good girl... you certainly know your place, don't you darlin'?" she whispered breathily. She released Kharia's arms, and the xaela quickly wrapped them around the bee-girl's thighs, squeezing her ass and driving her face deeper, eliciting an even louder moan. "Gods, I... Kharia, was it? Gods... Slow down, just a moment," she panted, pulling Kharia's face back. The auri girl was panting as well, needily struggling to return to Honey B.'s lips, tongue lapping desperately in the air. Honey B. crouched down and pulled Kharia's mouth to her own. The pathetic xaela's tongue dove greedily into her mouth, and the former hyur returned the gesture. Kharia let out a deep, urgent moan, pressing further into her partner, who obliged, leaning back and sitting on the arena floor. Kharia kissed her hungrily, as if getting her tongue deeply enough into her lover would quell the burning sensation flooding her body. She slid her hand from Honey B.'s hip, along her waist, and to her breast, cupping it briefly before giving a firm squeeze. The bee-girl responded in kind, dragging her nails along Kharia's back and tugging gently at the waistband of her jeans. Kharia fumbled blindly at the button with her free hand, assisting her partner in removing one the last bits of clothing adorning either of them. She let out a half-moan, half-yelp as she felt a playful slap on her ass, and shivered as the hand drifted around her waist, a pair of gentle fingers teasing her throbbing erection before tracing further down and sinking into her soaked, desperate cunt. At finally getting the stimulation she craved, Kharia let out a long, loud groan of pleasure.

"Yes, please... please fuck me..." she whimpered, grinding against her partner's hand. Honey B. obliged, thrusting her fingers deeper, grinding the palm of her hand against the base of the xaela's twitching cock.

"I'm sure that's not all you wanted, sweetie," she purred. "But I can't give you what you want if you don't ask." Kharia alternated between whines and moans for several agonizing moments.

"Please... make... make me cum... " she panted, fingers curling against her partner's breasts. Her hips rocked of their own volition.

"Address me properly, pet."

"Make me cum mistress... please, I need to! I'll be your good girl, just let me cum." The words formed on their own - Kharia's thoughts were lost in a whirlwind of pleasure, dizziness, and delirium.

"Good girl~" her mistress praised her. She slid her slick-soaked fingers out of her toy and teased her twitching, throbbing cock once more, lubricating it with Kharia's own fluids. Kharia thrust desperately into her partner's hand, and Honey B. stroked her in kind. What felt like an eternity of blinding pleasure passed, until Kharia uttered a long, breathy moan. Her hips bucked a few times more, and the bee-girl felt thick, warm cum shoot across her arm. Kharia collapsed to the floor next to her and let out a relieved sigh. "Such a good pet," her domme whispered in her ear, "but that was just a warm-up. I haven't finished playing with you just yet." She traced a single finger down the length of Kharia's still-hard member. "Not to worry, though. My venom will ensure you won't need to take any breaks."

[maryamsweb]

WORST OF YOU, miles morales

“my left hook, a no-show

'cause I'll just keep letting you in”

synopsis: in which miles agrees to help felicia.

a/n: this is apart of my other story, “holy ground,” just writing some blurbs before i continue writing atsv!

felicia stood quietly by miles' bedroom window, her eyes fixed on him as he sat at his desk, absorbed in his drawings. the rhythmic tapping of his pencil on the paper echoed in the room, accompanied by his soft singing.

"needless to say, i keep a check. she was a bad-" miles' voice trailed off as felicia smiled, thoroughly entertained by his impromptu performance. intrigued, she decided to break the silence and share a secret she had been keeping.

"you know, when i left earlier, i may have... 'borrowed' your phone," felicia admitted, her mischievous grin widening. with a slight bounce in her step, she moved to sit on his bed, observing his reaction.

startled by her unexpected revelation, miles turned around in surprise, accidentally knocking his pencils off the desk. "how did you...? wait, you listened to that song the entire time?" he stammered, his voice tinged with a mix of disbelief and amusement.

ignoring his question, felicia continued, her tone growing more serious. "i need your help, miles. i want us to break someone out of prison."

miles froze for a moment, his eyes widening in shock. "what?!" he exclaimed, unable to comprehend the gravity of her request. before either of them could say anything else, the door burst open, revealing miles' mom standing in the doorway.

"mijo, qué pasa?" she asked, her gaze shifting from miles to felicia. her eyes lingered on felicia for a moment, noting her presence. "i didn't know you had a friend over."

felicia stood up from the bed, extending her hand toward miles' mom with a warm smile. "hi, mrs. morales. i'm felicia," she introduced herself politely.

rio shook felicia's hand, returning the smile. "felicia, hi. nice to meet you. miles talks about you a lot," she remarked casually, causing miles to facepalm and mutter, "mamí!"

rio's attention turned back to miles and felicia. "you should stay for dinner, felicia," she suggested, her hospitable nature shining through.

miles quickly intervened, positioning himself between the two women. "no, i think felicia should-" he began, only to be interrupted as felicia forcefully shoved him aside, taking charge of the situation.

"thank you, mrs. morales. i'd be honored," felicia graciously accepted the invitation, leaving miles to frown at her audacity. rio smiled and left the room, leaving the two teenagers to face each other with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity.

"you talk about me a lot, huh?" felicia teased, a playful glint in her eyes. miles rolled his eyes, trying to hide his embarrassment, but the telltale blush creeping onto his face gave him away. "shut up," he muttered, playfully defensive.

miles and felicia walked over to the dinner table, with felicia taking a moment to look around the house. the sight of the familiar surroundings brought back memories of what her home looked like before her father was locked up. as they approached the table, felicia noticed a man already seated there, giving her a curious glance. she looked back at him with a polite smile and asked, "who's this?"

rio, miles' mother, took it upon herself to explain felicia's identity. she said, "this is felicia, miles' friend," and she winked, sharing a knowing look with her husband. felicia nodded and greeted the man, saying, "nice to meet you, sir." miles observed felicia, wondering how someone who had once resorted to such violence, like clawing a person's face off, could now be so respectful.

rio initiated the conversation by asking felicia, "so, felicia, do you and miles go to visions together?" miles chimed in, saying, "yes, we do." jefferson, the man at the table, squinted at miles while taking a bite of his rice. "you look familiar, felicia," he remarked. felicia took a breath and replied, "maybe you've seen me around?" jefferson nodded, and rio added more plantains to miles' plate, saying, "well, i'm just glad miles has another friend."

playfully, felicia asked, "another?" the whole table erupted in laughter, except for miles, who discreetly kicked felicia's foot under the table. trying to steer the conversation away, jefferson asked felicia, "what did you say your last name was again, felicia?" felicia hesitated for a second before answering, "hardy." jefferson's fork clattered onto his plate. "hardy? as in walter hardy?" he questioned. felicia clenched her jaw and replied, "yes."

rio looked confused, her eyes shifting between the two. "qué? who's walter hardy?"

jefferson explained, "i arrested him for the murder of officer jenkins."

all eyes were now fixed on felicia. she took a deep breath and continued, "my father... was a dangerous man," she winced, "but you can't judge a daughter for the sins of a father."

the room fell into a heavy silence as the weight of felicia's revelation sank in.

the dinner continued awkwardly, with no one asking any questions after. as they finished, felicia spoke up, breaking the silence, "thank you for the food. It was delicious." rio responded with a tight-lipped smile and gently squeezed her shoulder, saying, "dont hurt him." felicia returned the smile and replied, "o would never."

miles, observing the tension, decided to intervene. her walked up to the women and said, "i’ll walk you out." as they left the apartment, miles couldn't resist breaking the tension with a light-hearted comment. "so, who are we breaking out of prison?" he asked with a smirk.

felicia paused for a moment, a mischievous smile spreading across her face. "i knew i could count on you," she said appreciatively.

[the-kittens-of-vol-tron]

Langst: using the Taylor swift lyric "and I can go anywhere I want just not home"

Yes yes yes

Short but angsty

(I don't own any aspect of this song, all rights go to the proper individuals)

-----

Lance stared out into the never-ending space, letting Blue take control of their tract home. Home. Back to Earth. The only thing he had been thinking about since he was launched into space all those years ago. 

Hunk was rambling about seeing his family again, how old his younger siblings were, and the food he was excited to cook again. 

Pidge chimed in a lot. While she found her brother and father and knew her father was back on Earth she still missed her mom. She was excited to see her again and apologize for leaving.

Shiro talked about his fiancé, a guy named Adam. Unless Pidge’s father told everyone what happened he still thought Shiro was dead; he couldn't wait to see him again. His name was a bit familiar, Lance had seen him around the garrison.  

Keith even talked about what he was looking forward to when they reached Earth. Apparently, he wanted to see a couple of bands in concert and build a new hoverbike. 

Coran and Allura expressed their own excitement. After hearing about Earth for the past couple of they were impatiently waiting to see it for themselves. 

“What about you Lance? What are you excited about?” 

Lance fought back a frown as he thought about his family. “I’m excited to see the ocean again.” He laced his voice with fake happiness. Something he had mastered years ago. 

Everyone was clearly waiting for him to say more, but he never did. 

---

“Welcome home,” Iverson stood in front of them, a smile sitting awkwardly on his gruff face. 

After some small conversations, Iverson pulled Lance to the side, his face holding a somber expression. “Your family...they well.” He avoided Lance’s gaze, watching the others hug their family and loved ones. 

Lance nodded, feeling a bit empty inside as he watched his team. “It’s okay.” 

---

That was a couple of months ago, the Galran were officially beaten and Lance and the others were in their retirement stage already. Lance had followed his team to their homes, met their family, and tried his best to fall into his new life.

"Lance!"

He looked up from the book he was reading, his entire team standing in front of him. "Yeah?"

Shiro sent him a warm smile, "it's time for you to take us somewhere important to you."

Lance blinked at his team, why were they asking him to do this? "Uhhh...why?"

"We've dragged you around the whole world, we want to return the favor. Learn more about our favorite purple paladin." Pidge said a wide smile on her face at her own color joke.

Lance stared down at the book in his hands, "I have nowhere to take you all." He ran his fingers over the hardcover, letting his fingers trace the indent of the title. "Nowhere important like what you all have shared with me."

"Come on buddy. You said you wanted to see the ocean. Let's all go to your favorite beach." Hunk sat down next to his friend, pulling him in for a side hug.

"If I had one, I'd tell you. But seriously guys. I'm happy here, we don't need to go anywhere for me."

The team frowned at him, leaving the room in silence.

The team didn't give up, they brainstormed together, trying to figure out where they could take Lance. He hadn't seen his family since they came back to Earth, he didn't even mention them at all. He became quiet when they came back, more reserved than what they were used to in space.

Coran finally remembered a detail Lance had mentioned to him while they were still on Arus. Varadero Beach.

They had a plane reserved and everything packed that night.

Lance stared out the window, letting his vision blur on the white clouds. He had no idea where the team was dragging him, they wouldn't say no matter how many times he asked.

The plane finally began its descent and Lance felt his heart drop as he looked at the familiar ground below. Ground he never was supposed to see again.

The plane landed sooner after, the team chattering happily as they collected their things to exit.

Lance stared down at his hands, why was he here?

"Lance? Are you coming with us? The beach is waiting!" Coran called from where he stood, a bit too much sunscreen on his face and a hat already on his head.

He shook his head no.

"What do you mean no?" He could feel the team's eyes on him and he wished he stayed in bed.

"I can't...I want to go back to the Garrison. Or just somewhere else."

The team made a collective sound of confusion. Shiro quickly fell back into his leadership role and sat down in the seat across from Lance.

"Lance, we're in Cuba. This is your home. We're right next to Varadero beach...don't you want to go."

Lance shook his head again, keeping his eyes trained on his hands. "I can't."

"But you're home," Pidge said in a confused voice.

Lance shrugged.

"Can you explain? Tell us what's going on." Shiro said his voice light.

"Yeah, let us help you!" Hunk added.

Lance sighed, "y'know," he lifted his head slightly. "I can go anywhere I want." He allowed his eyes to look at his home one more time. For the last time before he reached up and closed the blind to his window.

He felt himself break slightly, trying to swallow down the emotions that he had kept buried for years. Emotions he had meticulously locked up. "Anywhere I want, just not home."

-----

I left what happened to his family open so you could decide the "issue" (did they banish him? Are they dead?)

I hope you don't mind how short this is, but I didn't want to drag it on

Thank you!!! <3

[iamthecomet]

Hi Comet! Do you have any advice on getting more involved in the Ghost fandom? I’m mostly just reblogging things because I’m too self conscious to post my original works/headcanons/etc. but I want to be more active and make friends and I’m not sure how -A

Hi!! Yes! I can do my best to help! I've been chewing on this for a little while trying to figure out what I want to say--and the best way to say it. But it still might be a little disjointed--I have a lot of thoughts. The biggest one is: talk to people. Send people asks. Reblog stuff and add your two cents. Insert yourself in conversations (this one is scary, I know). Tell people how much to love the things they're creating. You don't have to do it off anon if you don't want to, we have plenty of anons who are staples in the community who we know only by their signatures, and they're no less a part of it than people who talk off anon. This community is full of an unbelievable amount of love and support. It is constantly surprising me with just how warm it is. I love talking to people, I LOVE when new people show up in my ask box (usually at the strangest times, it's wonderful). And I will make space in this community for you--in whatever capacity you need me to. That being said.

You should post your stuff. You should post your works and your headcanons. Because those things drive conversation to you. And look. This community LOVES fics, and artwork, and headcanons. We go fucking FERAL over them. Head canons are a GREAT place to start. I could literally talk about them all day. Once I start I have to force myself to shut up. And I'm not the only one.

In fact, send ME your headcanons. I NEED THEM (do it on anon if it makes it less nerve-wracking, but I WANT them I want to talk to you about them!). And I KNOW it's terrifying. When I wrote Flip of a Switch I buried it in my documents so deep I hoped I would forget it existed and tried to tell myself that writing it was enough (it wasn't). I hadn't written fanfiction in ten years. The idea of having other people look at it made me physically ill. And then I didn't forget about it. and I looked at it. over and over again. And then, I still don't know what possessed me to do it, I posted it. And then it got a couple kudos, and no one commented on it for a LONG time (until well after I'd posted other fics). And I told myself I was done, ghost brain rot conquered (lies). But then I resurrected my ancient Tumblr, and looked at this community longingly (like pressing my face against the glass to look inside). And then I wrote another fic. And I tried to wiggle my way into conversations with varying results. And then I wrote the boot fucking fic (it's my claim to fame at this point, god damn it), and things...just...happened after that. It wasn't all the fics, but they helped. They opened up conversations and relationships. Posting my stuff made it easier to talk to people (because I had something to talk ABOUT). It's REALLY hard to take the leap. It feels impossible. I know the doubt is LOUD. But believe me, we WANT your works, we want your headcanons. We want YOU. There is more than enough room in this community for you and we are SO happy you're here. You are a part of it already, I promise you, even if you don't feel like it yet. And, if you want to share your stuff with a test audience before you put it all the way out there--you can always DM me about it (or about anything else). I'm sorry this turned into an essay. And I really hope it's helpful. And if anyone else had other advice, feel free to chime in. ♥♥

[unknown-writez]

The Traveler and The Jester

Chapter two: The Nightmarket

Part six

“fine.” puck said, giving an exasperated sigh before explaining. “she has been somehow traveling in her dreams, transporting between realms randomly. I bound her to me so that we could figure it out without running into unnecessary complications.” With an intrigued smile Grimm said “quite the deal for you goodfellow. I know someone who can help enlighten us on the situation however they are on earth. we can take the maze to a portal but unfortunately for us the kings and queens locked them up tight after the Meghan incident…” The cat paused for a second reminiscing as he glared at Robin who nervously laughed scratching the back of his head and shrugging sheepishly “it wasn't just my fault.” Puck defended himself only earning a eye roll from the cat before he moved on speaking again “royalty themselves each have a personal key so that they can go back and forth as they please. All you have to do is go to the summer court and steal one. assuming you can, that is.” Grimm finished taunting puck at the end. Robin scoffed, crossing his arms saying “I can do that in my sleep. no problem.” “good.” grimlarkin responded “cricket should be just about finished by now. if you both are done Lollygagging. we can go meet her.” grim finished hoping off the horse and stepping off the platform disappearing out of thin air after. I sent a confused glance at puck to which he replied “he does that. He'll show himself when he has something to say. the only time he actually disappears is when something bad is about to happen.” “makes sense.” I said back hopping of the old metal structure puck following behind me. When we got back to crickets grim and her were standing out in front of the wagon waiting for us. cricket smiled looking over at me with a pile of clothes in her hand. “here you go!” She said tossing the bundle to me “you can go change in the wagon” she finished me saying “thanks.” In return as I went to enter her wagon. going up the wooden steps I opened the door and both nuts and bolts raced out of it going into the field, almost toppling me over before I went inside closing the door behind me. The inside was bigger than anyone would have thought with a bed and workstations on each of the sides of the wooden room. The floor and makeshift counters were covered in metal clutter, blinking lights, and wires. Taking the clothes I put them on a nearby surface, taking my old ones off, I changed into the green velvety patchwork pants that had tiny gold and orange glitter strips and struggled to put on the orange corset top that matched it adorned with a glittery autumn leaves pattern and green ribbon. Last but not least I noticed some brown boots in the corner tucked under a workbench deciding I'd rather not be barefoot this whole time and that cricket most likely wouldn’t miss them. I put them on. lacing the laces tight. When I was finally comfortable I exited crickets wagon. Upon stepping outside everyone’s conversations ceased as their eyes met me. “wow…” puck said almost stunned, unable to form more words as cricket chimed in with “she really does look like you summer fey now!” I smiled nervously starting to walk up to the group only for puck to meet me halfway grabbing my shoulders to stop me. “just one more thing.” puck said to me and with a snap of his fingers my hair changed from messy and unkempt to an extravagant half up half down look with little accent braids that held beads, golden cuffs and rings on them. “perfect.” puck said with a smirk “add some glamour to hide a couple things like your ears and not even king Oberon himself will be able to tell the difference.” puck spoke finishing as I smiled up at him. “Yes, good work. you all managed to do the bare minimum.” grimalkin said sarcastically “thank you for all your help cricket.'' I chipped in warm heartedly sensing grimms growing discontent at still being here. “It's no problem! anything for a friend! just remember to tell everyone you bump into that crickets trinkets is the place to go for all your needs and more!” cricket responded her voice proud of her accomplishments

[casspurrjoybell-31]

The Consort - Chapter 13 - Part 1

*Warning Adult Content*

Finn

As the weeks pass, the world around us transforms into a macabre whirlwind of chaos, fear and war.

Up until last Thursday, Leo would turn on the news every day so we knew what was happening.

But now the TV announcements have stopped.

Mass communication has stopped.

The last thing we heard from our leader was that all contact between vampires and their consorts was hereby banned.

Above all else, his reinforcing words never wavered, stay hidden and keep safe.

We are at war.

"I'm heading to the store," Fiona announces, shoving away from the kitchen table.

Leo hunches beside the water heater, tinkering with the levers at the top.

A tool belt hangs lazily on his narrow hips.

He doesn't bother glancing up at her before saying no.

"We're running out of food," she argues.

"We'll make do."

"We have been 'making do,' Leo. It's not enough."

Leo sighs and stands, wiping off his hands on the length of his frayed blue jeans.

If it was just the three of us here, we'd have enough food to last another month.

Over the past week, however, seven additional people have shown up at Leo's doorstep... all of them loyal followers to his radical idea of a revolution.

I recognize some of them from class but the rest are all strangers that I no longer have the strength to make small-talk with.

"It's too dangerous," Tony chimes in.

"The last broadcast told us that the vampires are being ruthless. They're dressing up like humans, blending in until they get a chance to advance."

"I'd rather they just attack us," Midge comments from the couch.

She flips a page of her magazine and stares off into the distance.

"Just get it over with, you know? At least then we wouldn't have to be afraid all the time."

All of us glance around at one another.

For the first few days she was here, Midge reminded me of myself.

She's quiet and pensive, not usually one to ruffle feathers.

I even tried approaching her one night after dinner but five minutes into the conversation, I quickly realized we are more different than night and day.

Where my personality is filled with understanding and the netting of an open mind, hers is closed off and wired shut around one thought... kill all the vampires.

"Well while all of you sit around and pilfer through your magazines or debate about your deep-rooted fear of the undead, I'm going to check the store for food. Anyone want to come with me?"

I immediately jump to my feet.

"I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not," Leo says, shutting me down.

Normally Fiona agrees with him and writes me off.

My spirits sink, expecting this time to be no different.

But to my surprise, my old friend meets my gaze from across the room, her eyes dancing over me thoughtfully before smiling softly.

The sight makes me ache.

I haven't seen Fiona smile since the day she found out Kelly changed.

Truthfully, I haven't even really talked to her since that day, either.

Seeing her smile, just briefly, reminds me all the warm memories I shared with her and Kelly.

So much has changed since then and yet in one, slight smile, hope manages to swell in my chest.

"He can come with me," Fiona offers quietly.

Leo walks over to her, his eyes squinting with frustration.

"No, he can't. It's too dangerous."

Fiona rolls her shoulders, unfazed by the foot and a half height difference between the two of them.

"It is dangerous, Leo. You're right. But Finn stays here of his own accord. Our freedom is running thin as it is. If he wants to come with me, that's his choice. Not yours."

Midge gasps from the couch.

There aren't many people who stand up to Leo.

We're staying at his house, after all and he could kick us out at any time.

Not only that but many of us still view him as our Professor, a role where his opinion holds more weight than ours.

Leo purses his lips, staring down at Fiona with a look akin to betrayal.

Then he turns to me and his eyes relax.

"You really want to go?" he asks me.

I nod.

His nostrils flare and he looks down at his tool belt.

This will be the first time I've left his side since the day he brought me here after what happened at the University.

It's not that I'm ungrateful for all that Leo's done for us because I appreciate it more than he realizes.

Really, I do.

I just can't keep hiding in this house without ever getting a chance to really breathe.

"Fine," he grits out.

"Mark, you're going with them."

Mark, an old family friend of Leo's, agrees without protest.

He gets to his feet and starts heading towards the garage door.

Fiona throws me a triumphant wink, one that thankfully goes unnoticed by Leo.

She turns towards the car but Leo catches her by the elbow and yanks her back.

"You keep him safe," he warns.

His tone is minimal but terrifying.

"And if you can't? Don't bother coming back."

Fiona's stumbles back a step.

Neither of us has seen Leo act like this before.

Kelly used to tell me that in tough times everyone's ugliest colors start to show and that the strongest people are the ones who find the courage to overpower it.

"Let's go, Finn," Fiona says.

Her shoulders become rigid as she makes her way to the car.

I follow behind her but hesitate as I pass Leo.

Will he have any warnings for me too?

But Leo doesn't say anything.

Instead his arms wrap around me, pulling me against him so tightly that I can smell the sandalwood soap he used this morning in the shower.

When he releases me, I notice his cheeks are red.

"Be safe," he murmurs.

"I will."

Leo steps aside to let me pass and minutes later, I am in the back seat of Mark's SUV while he pulls out of Leo's driveway.

Once we're out of the subdivision, he cracks the window open just a hair.

The cool air from outside rushes in and I breathe it in longingly.

There isn't a single car on the road but ours.

It's unsettling, the type of thing you'd expect to see in an apocalyptic movie.

I try to shut down the fear as best I can.

My eyes lap up the view of the outdoors, appreciating every color and house that we pass.

"I'm thinking we stop at that little grocery store on Maple," Fiona says from the passenger seat.

Mark's dark eyes dance along the road ahead of us.

"Fine. Just tell me where to go."

Fiona navigates the three of us into town, avoiding the major roads when she can to play it safe.

Mark never questions her directions,but every once in a while I notice his knuckles tightening over the wheel.

A single car passes us just before we reach the grocery store.

There's two women in the car, both of them looking about as terrified as I feel.

Even though I promised myself I wouldn't be afraid, I'm suddenly second-guessing my willingness to come on this little grocery trip.

"We're here," Fiona announces.

Mark pulls into the deserted parking lot.

The grocery store is dark and the front glass doors have been shattered.

Apparently we aren't the first people to come up with this idea.

Fiona grabs a handful of plastic bags and disperses them to both of us.

"We're looking for canned goods, especially," she says.

"But really, anything that is edible and has some sort of nutritional value will be good."

Mark takes the bags from her hands and hops out of the car.

Fiona watches him, her eyes brightening with every step he takes.

I expect her to get out of the car but instead she sits back in her seat and glances at me from the rear view mirror.

"Finn," she says quietly.

"I'm going to ask you this once and only once."

Mark gets closer to the door and turns to make sure we're following.

When he sees we're still in the car, he frowns with confusion.

"When you kissed your vampire, did he kiss you back?"

[fenlock]

Strange dream, may have been astral. Recording to look back on later.

I remember driving in the nearby city, the road and buildings along it were familiar and I know I've dreamed the exact same road. It doesn't exist in real life though.

Some sort of jump, or time skip, and I was in a shop. I distinctly remember feeling weird about it, because I knew I had just been driving and had no memory of actually parking or entering any shops. It was very fae-themed, and I again got the feeling I'd been there before, aware of the layout and knowing there were multiple rooms.

I went into a side room, to the right (I think?) of the main entry. Looked at a few items, only to get drawn into conversation with an employee, an older woman. She was sitting behind a cashier desk, which again felt strange as you'd think check-out would be done by the door and not in a side room. We made small talk, then she offered me a small glass pendant, deep blue with a horselike 'head' protruding from the front. I think it had something to do with horses as well, some type of magic or charm? I recall her saying "wild horses" anyway. Paid for it, then she offered me tea. I accepted, but was leery, the vibes of the shop felt off and taking food or drink seemed like an unwise decision.

Some more conversation. I remember socks? Long and dark gray, very thick like alpaca fur. Parted ways from the employee, only to be approached by a man. More talk about horses, this time rescuing them I believe. Aromatherapy was mentioned for sure, and herbalism for their health.

Another skip. I don't remember the end of my conversation with the man, but was in the same place, a small corner of a room with comfortable brown chairs. I got up to leave, and saw three people approaching through some type of screen or mirror. Was suddenly outdoors, in the back of a cart of some kind, while the three people stepped through a frame-type structure. First two were strange, one non-human with furry ears and an animal face (can't remember what kind. I think something small, maybe hamster or rabbit?). He was vague, I couldn't tell what exactly he was there for or what he wanted (can't remember what he said at all, now I'm awake, just that it was vague and I felt frustrated). Second one chimed in, but again why they were approaching me was unclear. Some sort of rant against another person (Fiddlesticks? Started with a F and had a sticks/styx sound at the end). Both got distracted and started tussling in the grass. Third person finally stepped forward, feminine with pale purple hair and a light southern accent. She said something about training my powers or abilities, and there was some kind of glow at her fingertips. The cart began to move, heading toward some kind of settlement.

Time skip, maybe? It was evening, instead of daylight like before, and I was still in the cart. I think there were small cottages around the path, but few and far between. A town, but definitely not crowded. Some kind of large, manufactured pool of water, extremely long and rectangular. The cart began to travel across it, not on top of the water but not fully sinking either. Water level came up roughly to the top of my chest. As the cart grew close to the opposite side, I got the feeling it was going to dive, and when it came back up it would be a new place, potentially dangerous. I know I did not want to go wherever it was heading. Had the idea of water > portal > waterhorses, and called out to some of my friends. The water got extremely dark, practically black, but I could tell something was different, and the feeling of dread went away.

Resurfaced in a new place, as expected. A huge field, still evening time, with lots of open pavilions strung with fairy lights. Festival vibes. Five of my kelpie companions were waiting a short distance away from the pool, far enough out of the way for the cart to come onto land but still close and intimidating. I hopped out of the cart, calling the kelpies my lovelies (as I do haha), felt/heard someone concerned they were glamouring me, but no one attempted to stop me. Very much an aura of confusion from the people nearby when I approached the kelpies without harm and was allowed to pet and croon over them.

Walked around a bit with my "guards", exploring the festival. Someone yelled something about why tf were there murderhorses roaming about, sounding annoyed rather than concerned, and I recognized the voice as someone I knew (not someone I know while awake, conscious, but I recognized him immediately in dream). Peered around Es so the person (a blonde man, appearing maybe in his 30s, long black coat) could see me and cheekily replied they were there for me and my comfort/protection. An immediate look of fond exasperation of the face of the man, very much an "ofc it was you" type of look.

Woke up shortly after this. I don't remember the end, but I think the blond man and I talked?

[george-weasleys-girl]

North Star Series

Prologue

George Weasley x fem!reader

Warnings: none

Summary: Beginning of multi-chapter fic. British boy meets American girl.

~•~•~

Hogwarts, Spring 1994

~•~

"How'd the date go?" Fred asked when George joined him and Lee in the common room.

"It went." George shrugged.

"I saw you two at Honeydukes." Lee said. "Looked like you were having a good time to me."

"Oh yeah, it was just like every date I go on. Things go great until we get to the sitting down and having an actual conversation part." George let out a long sigh. At some point, on every date, he would say something stupid or weird or obscure, triggering an uncomfortable silence that usually lasted until they parted ways.

"I think your expectations are too high, mate." Fred popped a piece of candy in his mouth.

George rolled his eyes, but said nothing. 'They're the ones with the expectations,' he thought. 'I just want someone who makes me feel comfortable just being myself.'

Truthfully, he hated the whole dating scene. All the pressure to impress and be endlessly funny was exhausting. Sure, he was well known for his quick wit, but he couldn't be "on" 24/7. Nor did he want to be. It was like girls didn't want a relationship with him, so much as someone to keep them entertained.

George reckoned that's why they all gravitated to Fred. The only time he was "off" was when he was asleep. It was so disheartening that girls always seemed to be disappointed that he wasn't a carbon copy of Fred. 'They look the same, so obviously they must be the same person, right?' Funnily enough no one was ever upset that Fred wasn't like him. All of it was enough to make George want to swear off dating for good.

Except he didn't fancy being a lifelong bachelor. He very much wanted to eventually settle down, get married and start a family. Preferably, with someone who loved him for his dorky, geeky self.

~•~

Ilvermorny, Spring 1994

Y/N relaxed with her newest novel on a pile of pillows in the Pukwudgie Common Room. The rain pattering against the window behind her was like a lullaby, lulling her into sleep.

"Hey, Y/N!" A cheery voice startled her out of her drowsy reverie.

"Hey, Callie." Y/N rubbed her eyes and looked up at her best friend.

"You planning on sleeping through dinner?" Callie asked.

"Is it that time already?" Y/N ran her fingers through her tousled hair and pushed herself up.

"Yup. Come on." Callie extended her hand to pull her friend up.

~•~

"We should definitely build a gigantic pillow fort," Y/N said, as they sat down to dinner. "Get the whole house in on it."

"Absolutely. Especially since you'll be off gallivanting across the English countryside next year." Callie teased. "You're so lucky."

Y/N gave her friend a rueful smile. "I wish you could go, too."

Callie waved it off and returned to the topic at hand. "Maybe we could do it on our last movie night of the year? We could get all the houses involved. Imagine it, one massive pillow fort covering the Great Hall."

"Epic," Y/N laughed."That'd be one for the history bo-."

"Hey, Y/N!" Amy Wells sat down across from them. "Word on the street is that Alex Trinton asked you to the End of the Year Dance."

"Yeah. We're going as friends."

Amy's mouth fell open. "Friends? He's, like, one of the hottest guys in school."

"Annnd we're friends." Y/N took a bite of strawberry shortcake, preferring to eat her dessert first.

"Ugh, what a waste..." Amy shook her head.

"Y/N, I have to agree with Amy on this one." Callie said. "You're 16 and you don't date."

"Not true. I've gone out with two guys." Y/N replied, matter-of-factly.

"Two or three times each. I'd hardly call that dating."

"Yes, and?" Y/N shrugged.

"You're too picky." Callie retorted.

"I'm Selective."

"Picky." Amy chimed in.

"Discerning."

"You're picky, Y/N admit it." Callie insisted.

Y/N rolled her eyes. "So, what if I am?"

"You're going to end up alone, if you don't stop being so picky." Amy pointed her fork at Y/N.

Y/N's brows furrowed together. "That's so bizarre to me."

"What is?" Callie asked.

"Why shouldn't I be picky? Why would I want to settle? Why would anyone want to settle? I think it would be far worse to be with the wrong person than being alone. At least alone you can still be yourself."

~•~

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~•~

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