#it means they want him to be a romantic figure

[rositaslabyrinth]

Don’t open that drawer - Dean W

Dean x fem!reader

While patching yourself up after a rough hunt, you find yourself in Dean’s room late at night—only to discover a drawer he forgot to close.

Content warning ; canon typical violence, emotional vulnerability, smut, oral (f!receiving) but nothing to crazy, dean being a sweet coward <33

Word count ; 1,511

Minors please do not interact !!

You never meant to find them.

It was late—past midnight—and the Bunker was unusually quiet. Sam had already gone to bed, the echoes of his footsteps fading down the hall hours ago. You’d stayed up patching your jacket, a fresh tear sliced through the arm from the hunt earlier that day. Dean had said he’d help, but he never came back from the garage.

You figured he was brooding. He did that, after a close call. And tonight had been closer than usual.

The kitchen light flickered as you passed, mug in hand. You made your way to Dean’s room instead—mostly because it was closer than yours, and partly because you were tired of pretending that wasn’t a habit.

He always left the door unlocked.

The room smelled like him—leather, old cologne, whiskey, something earthy underneath. You set your mug on his nightstand and dropped into the chair by his desk, rubbing your sore arm. His flannel was slung over the back of it. You pulled it on without thinking.

That’s when you noticed the drawer.

The bottom right. Slightly ajar. Not enough to catch the eye unless you were sitting this close.

You didn’t mean to open it.

But there was a curl of paper sticking out.

At first you thought it was one of his old case notes, shoved out of sight. But the handwriting was neater. More intentional. And then you saw your name.

Your name. On the top of the page. Centered. Underlined.

Your chest tightened. You knew you should stop. But your fingers moved on their own.

“You had blood on your cheek tonight. You didn’t even notice. I wanted to wipe it off, but I didn’t. I just watched you laugh with Sam like we hadn’t almost died. I think that’s what kills me. That after everything, you still know how to laugh. You make the worst parts of this job feel less like hell. And God, I want to tell you that. But I never do. So I’m writing it down, instead.”

Your hands trembled. You unfolded another.

“I had a dream about you. You were wearing one of my shirts, standing in the library. You didn’t say anything. You just looked at me like you already knew. And for once, I didn’t feel like running.”

There were more. Dozens. Some torn out of notebooks, some written on scraps of diner napkins, lined legal pads, the backs of maps. Your name on every single one.

And they weren’t just sweet, or romantic. Some were angry. Frustrated. Devastated.

You walked into the room today and smiled at me like I was someone worth loving.

“I don’t know what the hell I did to deserve that, but I know I’ll never be brave enough to say what I should. So this’ll sit in a drawer. Just like the others.”

You didn’t realize you were crying until a drop hit the page.

“Hey.”

You jumped, heart thudding. You hadn’t heard the door.

Dean stood in the doorway, keys in hand, jaw clenched, green eyes locked on the drawer you’d pulled open.

He didn’t yell. Didn’t rush to snatch the papers away.

He just said, quietly, “You weren’t supposed to read those.”

“I know,” you said. Your voice cracked. “I didn’t mean to. I just… I saw my name.”

Dean stepped inside slowly, closing the door behind him. For a moment, he didn’t move. Then he leaned back against it like he needed something to hold him up.

“I wrote them when I couldn’t say it out loud,” he admitted. “Didn’t think anyone would ever see them. Especially not you.”

“Why not?”

He looked down. “Because if you knew how long I’ve felt this way, you’d either hate me for keeping it quiet or pity me for being too much of a coward to do anything about it.”

You stood, slowly, letter still in your hand.

“You’re not a coward.”

Dean gave a soft, broken laugh. “You don’t know how many times I almost told you. How many nights I sat right there—” he nodded toward the desk—“and thought about knocking on your door. But I’d look at you the next day, and you’d smile, and I’d think… if I tell her, she might stop smiling at me like that.”

Your chest ached.

You crossed the room and stopped in front of him. The silence was thick—too full of everything unsaid.

“I never would’ve stopped,” you whispered. “Not ever.”

He looked at you then. Really looked. And all the years of buried emotion hit the surface like a storm breaching a dam.

“God, I’m in love with you,” he said. “I’ve been in love with you since you walked into that diner in Nevada with a busted lip and a silver blade and said, ‘You boys need backup?’”

You smiled through the tears. “I remember that. You said, ‘Only if you’ve got whiskey.’”

He huffed a soft laugh. “You had some in your boot.”

“And you smiled at me like you hadn’t done that in years.”

Dean stared at you. “Because I hadn’t.”

You reached for his hand, gently, lacing your fingers with his. “Then stop writing me letters you’ll never send.”

He squeezed your hand like he never wanted to let go. “Can I kiss you now?”

“You’d better.”

When Dean kissed you this time, it wasn’t restrained. It was everything. The hesitation was gone, stripped away by years of closeness, tension, aching want, and love too long buried. It was the kiss of a man who had written you into the quiet spaces of his life, who had bled feelings onto paper because his mouth had failed him too many times.

His hands cupped your jaw, thumbs brushing tears you didn’t remember falling. You melted into him, fingers fisting into the front of his henley like your body finally recognized where it was meant to belong.

The kiss deepened — slow, hot, careful, then not-so-careful.

Dean pulled you flush against him, one hand sliding down to rest at your waist, gripping tight like he couldn’t believe this was real.

You let out a soft, shaky sound into his mouth — something between a gasp and a whimper — and felt his whole body tense in response.

He pulled back just enough to search your face. “Tell me if this is too fast. I mean it.”

“It’s not,” you said. “Dean… I’ve wanted this for so long.”

His expression softened. “Me too.”

He kissed you again — more urgent now, more certain — and walked you back toward the bed. His hands were everywhere, warm and calloused, reverent as they slipped beneath your shirt, memorizing the feel of you like he’d dreamed it more times than he could count.

When your shirt came off, he stared like you were sacred.

“God,” he whispered. “You’re beautiful.”

Your hands trembled when you pulled his shirt over his head. The soft light of the bunker caught the scar across his collarbone, the curve of muscle, the slight freckle near his ribs you’d noticed years ago and never forgotten.

You touched him like the letters — slow and sure and aching. He groaned low in his throat when your palms slid across his chest.

“Lie back,” he said, voice thick. “Let me take care of you.”

You did.

Dean kissed every inch of skin he uncovered — from your collarbone to your stomach, your hips, the inside of your thighs. His hands gripped you like he was terrified you’d vanish if he let go. He kissed like he was still writing to you, but now with his mouth and body — all the things he couldn’t say poured out in sighs and touches.

When his mouth found the place between your legs, you gasped — arching into him, fingers buried in his hair.

“Dean—”

He groaned against you like your voice undid him.

You tried to speak — to tell him how good it felt, how long you’d dreamed about this — but your words fell apart under the heat of his tongue and the rhythm he set. Slow. Devoted. The kind of touch that said I’ve thought about this a hundred different ways, but nothing compares to the real thing.

When you came, it was with a cry of his name, your thighs trembling around his shoulders, your whole body curling in on itself.

He kissed your inner thigh, then crawled back up your body and kissed your lips like he wanted to taste the sound you’d just made.

“Still with me?” he asked, eyes full of warmth and wonder.

You nodded, dazed and smiling. “Still here.”

“Good.” He kissed your forehead. “Because I’m not done.”

Later, when he finally wrapped you in his arms on that old mattress, the letters still sat on the desk. Open. Read. Finally seen.

“I was gonna burn them one day,” he murmured into your hair.

“Don’t,” you whispered. “They’re part of us now.”

He was quiet for a moment.

Then he said, “You know what’s funny?”

“What?”

“I don’t need the drawer anymore.”

Liz talks : GUESS WHOS BACK!! HEYYY did you miss me cause i missed all of you <33 I am so sorry about being away for so long but this app was lowkey draining me, but we should be all good now !! I hope you all enjoy this sweet little thing :))

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[dekariosclan]

Hello! Thought stuck in my brain, and I’m not sure how to craft the right search to see if this has already been discussed anywhere. So to the expert I go!

Gale flirting in the Shadow Cursed Lands (aka the “I once read a book” bit) - help me peel back the curtain into his brain here. At this point, Gale is aware that Tav is interested in him to some extent based on the Weave lesson where they pictured something romantic with him. He couldn’t do much about it before because of the orb, before it was stabilized.

Now, he openly tells Tav he is def interested, specifically in a physical way. What is his goal here? Just to gauge their reaction, see if Tav was serious when they pictured romance or a kiss before? He doesn’t make another move until he admits he’s in love with Tav, which tells me he doesn’t like to sleep around unless there are meaningful feelings involved.

I guess I’m just trying to figure out if he had a plan when he does this post battle flirting, or if he was just caught up in the moment (you know, the brush with danger affecting his desire for other forms of stimulation, lol). I mean, what if that same night at camp after he flirts with Tav, they tried to initiate intimacy with Gale? He had point blank said he wanted them, so it wouldn’t be outrageous for a Tav to try to follow up on that.

Hello anon!! You want to talk about Gale’s post-battle flirting scene?! 😍 Let’s do it!

So you’re wondering what Gale’s goal was with his sudden, impeccably timed dialogue (nothing like some steamy flirting in front of the whole team, surrounded by post-battle carnage!) and whether it was planned vs spontaneous.

Here’s the thing about Gale—he’s absolutely telling the truth when he says he’s ‘many things, but coy isn’t one of them’. He is not someone who says rehearsed lines or speeches. He says what he feels when he feels it. The famous ‘musk’ line at the Tiefling party is a result of this, as is the ‘tummy rub’ line, both which show him speaking a bit too freely because of how much he likes Tav (and his adorable embarrassment after).

So I believe that his Shadowlands flirting is a combination of a few things: First and foremost, that the orb being quieted has allowed him to consider being intimate with Tav as a real possibility, not just a fantasy; second, that he wishes to make up for lost time and wants to court/compliment/flirt with Tav a bit more now; and third, that he does actually find post-battle thrills to be quite invigorating, and cannot help but comment on it.

I think it must have been very hard for Gale in Act 1 (no pun intended) to know Tav shares his feelings, and is open to his affection, and yet he still has to put Tav at arm’s length and hold back for everyone’s safety. To wait and watch other companions flirt boldly and openly with Tav and offer them things that he can’t. Imagine how that must’ve stung, and how worried Gale must have been to think he could lose Tav—yet his hands were tied due to the orb.

So when the Shadowlands battle happens, and they survive, and everyone is a bit charged up (especially Gale) I think he realizes he can talk about the desire he’s feeling for once and know that it’s okay. The orb is stable, Tav looks amazing in all their sweaty glory—so he goes for it. And I do think his goal here is to make up for lost time, and remind Tav of how much he wants them, and assure them that the idea of them being together is now a real thing.

Finally, your question about what would happen if Tav had approached Gale that evening with the intention of being intimate: I don’t think Gale would have been upset by this. Not at all! But I do think he would have asked to hold off for the time being. Not because he was worried about the orb, or because he needed more time to develop feelings for Tav, but because he wants their first night together to be perfect. He wants to offer Tav everything he has, all of himself, and all of his skills in both magic and lovemaking. He wants to have a magical evening in a beautiful setting, with company to match. So he would ask, please, for Tav to bear with him just a little longer, to allow him to show them something truly spectacular.

I can’t imagine Tav would say no, can you?

[useless-catalanfacts]

hi!

i don't know if you've gotten this question before, but are there any catalan movies or series you'd particularly recommend? could be any genre, i just haven't really found any, so i figured i'd ask the expert :)

gràcies!

Hello! Sorry I took long to answer, I started writing the answer, saved it in drafts and then forgot about it for some days.

Yes, there are many I like. I'll divide this answer into movies, fiction TV series, and other TV shows. I'll include where you can stream them, but they don't always have English subtitles available.

Movies:

Casa en flames [House on Fire]: drama and comedy about a family learning each other's secrets. It's on Netflix and in some countries on Prime Video.

El 47 [The 47]: based on the real story about how a working class neighbourhood in Barcelona's periphery decides to kidnap buses until they get the routes they need. On Movistar+ and can be rented in other streaming services.

Fènix 11*23: tells the true story of a Catalan teenager who was arrested for terrorism over having sent an email. It's on FilmIn and can be rented in other services like YouTube Movies.

La vampira de Barcelona [The Barcelona Vampiress]: thriller-horror based on the real story of a woman from early 1900s Barcelona who legend accuses of being a vampire, and at the time was accused of kidnapping children for rituals. The movie looks at the story from a point of view of social criticism. Trigger warning for discussion of child sexual abuse. On Amazon Prime and can be rented on Rakuten TV.

Wolfgang: heartwarming comedy drama about a boy with Asperger's who suddenly has to move in with his dad he had never met before, and his aspirations of becoming the world's best piano player. This one is still in the cinemas.

Alcarràs: art house film about a farmer family who is about to lose all their farming land to build a solar energy centre. This is a slow movie (if you think of European artistic cinema, it's that kind of thing) and it has won many awards like the Berlinale. On Netflix.

Estiu 1993 [Summer 1993]: another art house film by the same director as Alcarràs (and if I remember right, this one is based on the director's life), about a little girl from Barcelona whose mother dies and she has to move to the countryside to start her new life. On Netflix.

El mestre que va prometre el mar [The Teacher Who Promised The Sea]: most of this movie is in Spanish since it's about a Catalan teacher who taught in a village in Spain in the 1930s. It's one of my favourite movies (not Catalan movies, I mean all movies) of the last couple of years. On Movistar+ and available for rent in other services.

Herois [Heroes]: coming-of-age story about a group of young teenagers who spend a summer together. Available for free with English subtitles on Rakuten TV.

Pa negre [Black Bread]: movie adaptation of the famous book, it's about a boy during the first years of Franco's dictatorship (1940s) and how he has to find out who committed a murder that the authorities want to pin on his father. On FilmIn.

Incerta Glòria [Uncertain Glory]: another movie adaptation of a famous book, about 20-year-olds who are volunteers in the antifascist army of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and how they and the women they meet deal with the war and try to make sense of what they're living through. For free on RTVE Play.

Jean-françois i el sentit de la vida [Jean-François and the Meaning of Life]: coming-of-age-ish story of a child who dreams of meeting his favourite writer: Albert Camus. Not knowing he's dead, the boy runs away from home to travel to Paris and look for him. For free on RTVE Play.

Salvador (Puig Antich): biopic of one of the last people executed by Franco's dictatorship in the 1970s, a 24-year-old Catalan anarchist. On FilmIn.

Barcelona, nit d'estiu [Barcelona, Summer Night]: romantic comedy about different love stories that mix with each other on the night a comet crosses the sky. Since it was very successful, it has a sequel called Barcelona, nit d'hivern [Barcelona, Winter Night]. On Netflix.

A two-parter mini-series:

Descalç sobre la terra vermella [Barefoot on the Red Dirt]: biopic of Pere Casaldàliga, a Catalan priest who lived in Brazil and was at the forefront of the fight for indigenous rights. Free to stream on 3cat.

Fiction TV series:

Plats Bruts [Dirty Dishes]. It was mandatory for me to start with this 😂 the most iconic Catalan sitcom, about two men and their squatter (and some time also the assistant of one of the men) who live together in Barcelona and all the weird situations they get into. Free to stream on 3cat.

Polseres vermelles [Red Bands]: stories about a group of children and teens who become friends when they meet at a hospital, each one interned for a different reason. It has some coming-of-age, some drama, a bit of romance. This was the most followed Catalan fiction show in the early 2010s and has been translated to other languages because it was aired in other countries. Steven Spielberg made a USA remake (called "Red Band Society"), but the remake wasn't anywhere near as good. Free to stream on 3cat.

Merlí: high school drama that follows the story of a high school philosophy teacher and his students, the "peripatetics". This was the most successful Catalan fiction show of the late 2010s and has been translated to other languages and aired in other countries, it was particularly popular in Latin America so I'm sure it would be easy to find it with Spanish subtitles. Free to stream on 3cat. On Netflix you'll find the sequel (Merlí: Sapere Aude) but in my opinion the sequel wasn't very good.

Lo Cartanyà: sitcom about a self-centered weatherman in a village of the Lleida region. Free to stream on 3cat.

Porca misèria: comedy and drama about a group of people in their 30s who have to deal with this new period of their lives, including things related to their friendships, infidelities, etc. And for some reason they live with a pig. Free to stream on 3cat.

La Catedral del Mar [The Cathedral of the Sea]: historical drama based on the famous book with the same name. This one was filmed in Spanish but I'll include it because I know it was generally liked and it's on Netflix with English subtitles. It tells the story of a man in Medieval Barcelona who lives when Santa Maria del Mar was being built. There's drama, political intrigue, romance... a bit of everything.

Norats: fiction about a father and a son who have to hide from the fascists during the Spanish Civil War in Mallorca (in Mallorca, the fascist occupation succeeded very quickly and they massacred the dissident population with a lot of cruelty, there were many people who had to hide for years inside chimneys, locked rooms, etc to try to survive, similar to Anne Frank to explain it quickly). This show is based on that real historical context and creates a story where these two men will live as outlaws and bandits in the mountains. Free to stream on IB3.

Other TV shows:

Comtes. L'origen de Catalunya [Counts. The Origin of Catalonia]: dramatized documentary about the early history of Catalonia, when it was being formed as Counties. Very well done and very historically accurate. Free to stream on YouTube (legally, it was posted by the TV channel that made it).

Bèsties & Flames [Beasts & Flames]: the presenter travels Catalonia meeting different elements of the bestiary (beasts from our legends that are part of the festa major holidays). Each episode is dedicated to a different beast. She talks about the legends and talks to the members of the group about the role in folk culture celebrations. Free to stream on 3cat.

Eufòria: a very popular singing talent show. Free to stream on 3cat.

Crims, de Carles Porta [Crimes, by Carles Porta]: true crime about crimes that happened in Catalonia. This is one of the most popular TV shows of the last decade. The last season is free to stream on 3cat, the rest are on Netflix.

Tor: another show made by Carles Porta, all the series is about a crime that happened in the small village of Tor. Free to stream on 3cat.

El Foraster [The Foreigner]: a stand-up comedian travels to Catalonia's smallest towns and spends a week with them getting to know the neighbours, to put up a stand-up comedy show to laugh with them about the strange things he learned. It's very wholesome and funny and you can see some pretty weird things going on in some villages lmao. Free to stream in 3cat.

La Travessa [The Journey? this one is difficult to translate, it means a journey through something, where you cross something]: adventure reality TV show where a group of people have to race through a part of Catalonia getting through different challenges. The 1st season was to cross the whole length of the Catalan Pyrenees mountains, in the 2nd season they follow all the coast of Catalonia from North to South, and now they're preparing a new season that will be in the inland. Free to stream on 3cat.

Pirates a les balears [Pirates in the Balearic Islands]: documentary series about - well, about piracy in the Balearic Islands, of course. Free to stream on IB3.

This list is extremely Catalonia-centric since Spain has laws that don't allow us to watch Valencian TV/radio in Catalonia and don't allow Catalonia's TV and radio in the Valencian Country (even though all other regions of Spain air to all of Spain, we're the only ones with a legal restriction). Typical "divide and rule" strategy.

As always, everyone is welcome to leave recommendations!

[saveahorserideaneddie]

the “slow burn” issue:

something i’ve seen tossed around a lot by fans and by some of the journalists who cover the show is this notion that the buddie slowburn officially started in s7, and that we are still only at the starting phase of the slow burn because to ABC this is only s2 of the show, not s8.

i find the logic in that to be flawed in various aspects, and it frankly makes me a little angry to see people who call themselves buddie shippers perpetuating/supporting this narrative because it makes me wonder if they truly actually want to see buddie go canon.

my first gripe with this argument is the notion that the show “restarted” when abc took over:

if this were the case, then does that mean that we as fans are expected to completely disregard the previous six years of canon in order to watch the show go forward at abc? does this mean that all of the development the characters have gone through over the years, the traumas, hardships, and pains are just nullified because nothing that was intentionally set-up and written into the story counts anymore? the argument is that buddie scenes were not being intentionally written in former seasons the same way they have been in season 7 and 8… we know this is untrue based on multiple cast interviews on previous arcs, as well as tim minear himself stating that he has written them the same, and to his credit- he has; buddie secens in s7 and 8- with a few exceptions of course- ultimately to me have not felt any more subtextually romantic than they have in any other season. this difference lies in the fact that we have received a lot more buddie scenes since the shift to abc, but the intention behind them has not changed and you can tell in most of the writing (again, barring a few exceptions)

my second issue w this take, is that (in the tweet that inspired this post), the journalist and a few replies i also saw screenshots of made the argument that a buddie slowburn couldn’t have started until buck was canonically bisexual.

i have qualms with this for many reasons, namely that no one before s7 even thought to entertain the idea of anyone other than eddie being buck’s bisexual awakening- aside from the “he’s always known” route that wouldn’t have necessarily gone over well in the fandom. if that is the crux of thus argument, then technically the slow burn hasn’t started now either since eddie still isn’t canonically queer. the implication that characters have to be out or have things figured out before they can enter into a relationship to me feels antiquated and very much in line with a heteronormative view of relationships that should not be applied to queer meta.

my final issue, is that if this take holds true, and the writers are treating this as if it’s only the beginning of a slow burn, then how much longer do we have to wait?

those of us who have been here since the beginning and have been waiting for seven years- those of us who have gone through both high school and college being told constantly to “be patient.” how many more seasons of the same things we’ve gotten the past seven years (because let’s be for real- there’s not much more they can do in one-on-one scenes w them without stepping into explicitly romantic territory) are we going to have to sit through before the “slow-burn” that apparently hasn’t been happening since s2 (it has) can finally end? season 12? season 14 or 15 to give it another 7 or 8 years? why would anyone in the fandom be content with 14 seasons of stagnation just because a network decided to randomly decide a that pairing who were already a slowburn could officially start being considered a slowburn in the writer’s room?

i’m tired of being told to be patient. there is no reason why buddie should not be canon by midseason 9, especially with the trajectory they’ve been on. buck has literally been WAY beyond the realization zone since 8a ended, for some reason he just hasn’t noticed yet, and eddie’s about to be right there with him. it gets to a point where it’s no longer a “slowburn for the ga who haven’t noticed it until now” (an argument which is frankly bullshit considering the ga HAVE BEEN noticing this for a long time) and it’s just “stalling bc we don’t want to put effort into this anymore.”

idk why seeing a pic of that tweet really pissed me off the way it did, but i guess i’m just tired of being told the whole “it’s only a matter of when, not if” because that’s the same shit i’ve had to hear for 7 years

i’ve been watching this show since i was 15

i’d rather buddie go canon before i turn 30 with 14 years of waiting under my belt just because yall want to say that them going canon in s9 is “rushed” all because you think the slowburn didn’t start until s7.

i understand the appeal of slowburns, and i am not saying that buddie shouldn’t be a slowburn- my point is that it HAS been for years, and acting like it only just started being one is ridiculous

[guiltyandashamed]

headcannons: breakfast in bed

You woke up early one morning, the House of Lamentation still cloaked in quiet. With a spark of mischief and affection, you slipped into the kitchen, determined to brighten the brothers’ day before it even began. You cooked carefully, remembering each of their favorites and set the trays with care, adding a small flower to each for charm. Walking up the stairs, you couldn't wait to surprise them with breakfast in bed.

Lucifer

Wakes up the moment you enter the room, already halfway sitting up, like he hadn't really been sleeping.

Eyes scan the tray, coffee, perfectly crisp bacon, fruit slices arranged like art. Something flickers in his chest. You went out of your way for him.

“You didn’t have to do this,” he says, but the way he reaches for the coffee immediately says thank you.

He eats slowly, savoring every bite, occasionally watching you with a thoughtful look.

He's already planning your own breakfast platter to pay you back, the thought of you waking up, eyes hazy and on him, makes his heart beat a little faster.

Mammon

Doesn’t wake up at first, tangled in blankets and snoring softly. You nudge him and he cracks one eye open.

“Huh? What’s all this?” He blinks, then sits up fast. “Wait—you made this for me?”

Turns red. Won’t stop grinning. Tries to act casual but is clearly glowing.

“I mean, obviously ya wanted to spoil yer favorite, I get it,” he says while stuffing pancakes into his mouth.

Sneaks you bites off his fork, purposefully spilling maple syrup on the corner of your lip so he can wipe it off and taste it.

Leviathan

You have to knock first or he panics and thinks it’s a raid.

When you come in with the tray, he turns pink instantly.

“Wh-what? Breakfast in bed? F-for me?!” He practically short-circuits.

Accepts it like you just gifted him a signed limited edition figure.

Eats in his tub in his hoodie, murmuring, “I’m not worthy…” between bites, but finishes everything.

Afterwards? He invites you under the blanket to watch a cozy anime about food and refuses to let go of your hand.

Satan

He’s already half-awake reading, but blinks when he smells cinnamon.

“Is that... for me?” he asks, sitting up as you walk in. He’s surprised, then immediately moved.

Watches you with soft eyes while you set it on his lap. “You thought of all my favorites,” he notes.

Compliments your cooking, then makes a mental note to do something thoughtful for you in return.

Eats quietly, then pulls you down beside him with a hand around your shoulder. “Let’s just stay like this a while.”

Asmodeus

Gasps like you just brought him a diamond necklace.

“Darling! You’re spoiling me!” He fans himself dramatically before taking your hand and kissing it.

Takes photos of the tray, himself, and then one of both of you smiling with food between you.

“This is so romantic. We should do this every weekend. Or every morning. Forever.”

After eating? He pulls you into bed and insists on feeding you bites in return. Possibly shirtless. Definitely flirty.

Beelzebub

The smell wakes him before you even get to the door.

You find him sitting up, hair messy, eyes wide with that sleepy, hopeful look.

“Is that… for me?” he asks, already moving to make room.

Devours the breakfast—but not too fast. He paces himself so he can enjoy it and say thank you properly.

Between bites, he offers you some of his toast, just in case you wanted some.

“No one’s ever done this for me before,” he says quietly. “Thank you.”

Belphegor

Grunts when you wake him. Tries to roll over.

You place the tray near him, and when he catches the smell, his nose twitches.

“For me? Not Beel?” he mutters with a smile, peeking at the tray through half-lidded eyes.

Pulls it into his lap with a yawn, leans into your shoulder while he eats slowly.

Doesn’t talk much, he’s too sleepy, but rests his head against yours.

Later whispers, “You keep doing stuff like this and I might never get out of bed”

[sillysonata]

Hi :D

Just wanted to say that I love love love you LoZ AU!! All the art you make for it is so spectacular and the the story is so captivating :)

If you don't mind questions about the au, I was wondering -- what was the inspiration for it (and/or how did you come up with the name for it?)

My biggest inspo was def using classic fairytale tropes, think Cinderella rapunzel Snow White sleeping beauty, and using a pretty soft ‘Disney’ esque art style to boot 😩 a kind main ‘heroine’ that sings to animals and is very romantic, the evil wicked villain & cronies who ‘curse’ them or otherwise have them put under their thumb in some way, and the strong hero that ends up saving them from the horrid life they led and they ride off into the sunset or sumn. Something corny but a bit dark since as a fairytale enthusiast I love that shiii

But as I started to think about it more I thought it would be cool as hell with a sort of “role”reversal, but done in a way where they technically all still fit their triforce markings. Link may be meek compared to his other counterparts and he’s a very head in the clouds kind of person but he’s def courageous for staying a good person despite it all, Zelda may want to be a hero and angry at the world but she is still wise enough to know not to let her anger get the best of her, and always is doing it all for what matters most, her ppl

And the general “role” reversal I mean is the question what if link was not the strong and badass one, it was Zelda, but their roles are not reversed in the sense that she’s still hyrule’s princess, he’s still some random guy destined to save the world? Link being saved by Zelda in the way that she protects him but him saving her by being this sweet and loving person kinda intrigued me idk

The name kindaa just came from the fact that since link is a servant to Ganondorf, doesn’t know of his own history or anything, and no one knows of his whereabouts the hero is missing for all they know, and that’s what drives the main conflicts and moments of the story. It’s why link believes himself to be the monster, it’s why Ganondorf is still considered a trustworthy “good” figure despite all the horrible stuff he’s done in secret, it’s why Zelda is so serious and tries to prove herself more than she “needs” to. It’s why the king and queen die, it’s why the sages are recruited. But it also especially shows that even after Ganondorf has kept link away from the world, somehow, just like in every other timeline, he finds his way back to Zelda. & ofc in this more fairytale esque timeline they have a romantic relationship

Sorry if this might not explain it well 😅 but feel free to ask for any more clarification

[uncannytimecandy]

SO IS THE VISION VISIONING??? ARE THE PARALLELS PARALLELING?????

I think Elle and Magnus are soooo close to working, just one last thing that can't quite click between them. They are heros and part of a team, it feels wrong to prioritize their relationship. They end up dancing around their feelings and never really open up and fully understand each other. Misplaced resentments and lack of communication. They never put a name to their relationship, neither willing to speak it into existence.

(Ellegaard HATES feeling like a stupid girl in love, an insult to her academic prowess. She will never admit how much she wants to be with him, to both of their detriment. Despite knowing better, she's still hoping it might work out. Situationship final boss.

Magnus genuinely can't envision them together long-term. He likes Ellegaard, a lot. But theres too many differences between them. They would both have to compromise who they were to make the other person happy. Overall kind of non-committal and allergic to emotional self-reflection. He's not going to start something thats doomed to fail. Better to just never talk about it.)

Axel and Olivia are friends first and team members second. Yeah, they have their disagreements. There are some fundamental truths about themselves that ultimately don't mesh well, but its another fundamental truth that they accept each other unconditionally. They also aren't technically 'dating'. They would take things super slow and steady cause no matter what happens they don't see a future completely devoid of the other, that means they have all the time in the world to figure it out.

(Axel doesn't really like romance, or sappy stuff, or anything emotional, but he DOES like Olivia! and that might just be enough. He's in way deeper than he realizes, but doesn't run from it. He's kind of simple minded, why hide that he likes spending time with her? Why does romance have to be this world-changing event? 'Dating' or not isn't going to change anything, it will still always be Axel and Olivia.

Olivia is a bit more hesitant, a little more scared of change. She never really thought about Axel as perfect romance material, but she never really thought about romance at all. And if nothing else he's dependable. He's a constant, she likes constant. He's always had that 'role' in her life anyways, her 'partner', if you will, romantic or not. But hey, she's willing to give it a try, for Axel. The idea of someone else filling that role makes her queasy anyways.)

also when im trying to defeat and take the title of the King of Boomtown, but his STUPID 'girlfriend' keeps wishing him good luck before the match and he literally NEVER LOSES when she wishes him good luck u_u

[mbirnsings-71]

I was housed by your warmth, thus transformed

"'Hi.' His partner says in a hushed whisper for Scar's sake, not that it's needed right now seeing as there currently isn't any other noises to compete with besides the two of them breathing, but the thought is appreciated nonetheless. 'Hi G.' Scar whispers back, a faint smile tugging at his lips as Grian looks at him fondly. 'How are you feeling today?' 'I mean... still undead?' 'You know that's not what I mean Scar.'" ----------------------------------------- A.k.a Scar and Grian pretty much talking and cuddling for 5.9k words

Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP, Life Series | 3rd Life SMP Series

Pairing: Scar/Grian

Tags: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, Alternate Universe - Twilight Series Fusion, no beta we die like scar in third life, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Romantic Fluff, Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Sleepy Cuddles, Sleepiness, I will say there is a paragraph mentioning Scar in the process of dying, but I don't go into enough detail for it to be labelled GDV or MCD me thinks, so I figure I'll put it in the tags to let people know, as is a usual tag for me... this is my first work in this fandom, so if Scar or Grian seem ooc well that's my excuse okay okay, Soft Charles | Grian, Soft Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar, they're literally just soft and in love idk what you want from me, Disabled Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar, Autistic Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar, cause it's important to me okay- I couldn't help myself, it's also not said but in my heart Grian has audhd so yeah, mentions of overstimulation and the struggles that came with it

Complete | 5,995 words | Read on AO3

Tag list because I know certain people will yell at me if I didn't tell them I wrote something-

@cannimochi @pup-pee @divine-victory @junespriince @icyfox17 @jtownraindancer @voidzzermc @lookatthissh-t

[literaturemeetsreality]

Please let me word vomit a bit. Having Ifa brainrot like imagine that whole exchange between Ororon and Ifa about why they’re in Fontaine for the new event but you’re with them and the whole time in Fontaine, besides getting Cacucu back and the smuggling case, you’ve been trying to get Ifa to understand you like him. Like trying to set the mood for a romantic stroll through the city or at the festival and bro is literally NOT taking a hint. You’re trying to get out of the bro-zone and he’s being completely oblivious, but he’s just busy trying to hide the equally massive crush he has on you so is missing all your cues.

Ifa: so I’m getting the grandson treatment too? See? Doesn’t matter how much older you are than this dude. Hang out with him long enough, and you’ll eventually find yourself being treated like a kid.

Ororon: Meaning, everyone looks after you. What’s so bad about that?

They continue on, and Paimon and the Traveler ask for for your side.

Paimon: So are you here on vacation too Y/N?

Y/N: Sort of, I tagged along for the chance to see the nation, but I was told to make sure these two don’t get up to any trouble. It was going smooth, up until just recently at least.

The whole group watches Ifa and Ororon bicker.

Ifa: “In that case, guess I better start over. Hi guys, my name’s Ifa, and I just turned five.

Paimon: Oh, Paimon gets it! Y/N’s the responsible adult!

Ororon&Ifa: Seriously, bro☹️

Paimon: So what about Cacucu?

*** open dialogue after Cacucu is back***

Paimon: so what are your plans while you’re here! Are you staying for the rest of the festival?

Y/N: Sightseeing is definitely on the agenda! Now that Cacucu is back safe, we should take the time for a stroll. Fontaine has lots of beautiful places to see, romantic even, wouldn’t you say?

(You flick the feather at Ifa’s shoulder, but he turns away and pulls his hat down)

Ifa: Um yeah totally, sightseeing’s cool.

You frown at his disinterest but continue talking to Paimon and the Traveler

Y/N: and Ororon finally found another film he wants to watch so we’ll fit that in somewhere too.

Meanwhile Ifa’s trying to cover his blush because he thinks you’re just teasing him again and he can’t let you know how much it affects him.

Cacucu: you’re bombing bro!

Ifa: shhh!

****

And I read a post about Ifa confusing Y/N because he’s trying not to call them bro and friend-zone himself. Like what if Y/N is trying to figure out why he’s not calling them a friendly term of endearment anymore because yes they like him but they were friends first and he used to always call them dude/bro so that must mean something is wrong now. And he happens to also be distancing himself while they’re in Fontaine because he can’t wrestle with his feelings while around Y/N.

And what if Y/N heard him say it to Cacucu or Ororon. I love the misunderstanding and slight miscommunication trope😩 it’s playing out like a movie:

Ororon: Y/N asked me if you’re mad at them

Ifa: What? Bro, no, why would they think that? And why wouldn’t they ask me about it?

Ororon shrugs: Maybe because their best bro has been avoiding them and not calling them a bro like he always does

Ifa: What did you tell them?

Ororon: Bro code

Ifa: is.. is that what you said or are telling me, dude?

Ororon, proud of himself: Both

Ifa: 😓

Ifa: Bro, come on, you know why. I don’t want to be bros with Y/N anymore.

Door opens, and you’re there like 🥺

Ifa can’t catch a break and is screaming inside like:

Y/N: You could’ve just told me if I did something to make you mad, Ifa. But not wanting to be friends without talking to me is wild.

Ifa is scrambling to explain and is panicking while you get more upset. Ororon and Cacucu watch and somehow have popcorn at the ready to share.

Ifa: No, bro- not bro- I mean yes, Y/N-

Y/N: So what, you weren’t even going to tell me? Was I supposed to just take a hint? Guess I should’ve the way you’ve been avoiding me.

Ifa: No, I haven’t, I just..

Y/N: Just what? Anytime Ororon went off to do his own thing, you acted like you couldn’t stand to be alone with me. And now you’re saying you don’t want to be friends anymore?

Y/N: Oh archon, you found out didn’t you? Ororon must’ve told you or you finally got a clue

You put your hand on your forehead and laughed. Ifa was still trying to find the words that wouldn’t dig him into an even bigger hole.

Ifa: What?

Y/N: If you don’t like me back Ifa, you could’ve just talked to me like an adult. I can handle rejection. Or are you actually five years old?

Ifa: WHAT

You shook your heard, unable to believe your friend would avoid you and end your friendship because of your crush. Even if he doesn’t like you back, you thought you meant more to him.

You were about to leave, thoroughly disappointed and heartbroken when Ifa grabbed your hand.

(Cacucu: Oh dear! Oh dear!

Ororon: this is getting good; both were still aggressively munching on popcorn.)

Ifa: Y/N- darlin’ I wasn’t avoiding you, I was just being stupid because I didn’t know how to tell you I’m in love with you.

(Ororon gasped, then proceeded to cough violently as he choked on a kernel.

Cacucu: Epic fail, bro!

Ororon, wheezing: wait, I already knew that)

Ifa and Y/N enjoy the remainder of the festival and return to Nathan as couple. Suspiciously, when they shared the news with their friends, all were happy for them but half begrudgingly exchanged hands and mora was passed around, most of it landing in Ororon’s pocket.

Y/N: you bet on us?

Ororon: what can I say? I know my bros, and most of this is because everyone else thought it’d take longer

Ifa: how about you split the earnings three ways and we’ll call it even

Cacucu: count me in, bro!

Ororon: aw, man

[reachexceedinggrasp]

Yes the Twelve/Clara stuff I specifically heard is that there's the travelling together/personal enmeshment/the presence of a third love interest representing the mortal world she tries to balance with the new world type of thing, but there's not (yet) the burn-down-the-world investment you have with that pairing, which as I can glean from your posts is very necessary to understanding Twelve/Clara hahaha.

But yeah, I, too, have been trying to resist it, Because I Don't Trust Like That Anymore, and I'm still preoccupied with another pairing eating up all of my fandom energy, but I would never turn my nose up hearing more from people with good taste. I also played New Vegas when I was a teenager, which is considered the best of the Fallout games, and I think it's probably more hopeful than the others? It's also going to be most relevant for the next season, so there's that. You probably know that it needs fan-made patches to run properly without crashes (actually one of the developers released his own patches for it as mods, but they're obsolete now).

It's really funny to see all the fantasy romance enjoyers now being lured into the post-post-apocalyptic setting, lol. When there's a will (a Beauty and the Beast ship) there's a way.

I was initially very hesitant about the show because of the established media property mill, and having watched Westworld, the bad man/nice lady ship was straight-up dark, and after the second season descended into total nonsense. My hope is that the different writer for Fallout doesn't let Jonathan Nolan ever do that again. But it's pretty faithful to the games and one of the original creators, Tim Cain, gave it a pretty glowing review, and that's actually nice to hear. I watch his videos on the YouTubes (they're no frills and actually pretty good) and it's so funny that he doesn't like romance in RPG's because he feels like they're never done very well. Now we put romance in your television show, how do you like that

I'm personally extremely ambivalent about the likelihood of the Fallout pairing evolving beyond flirtation with evil, but who knows? I would love to hear your thoughts on it if you get around to it!

I thought it might be something like that. Yeah, I wouldn't say they were really comparable because the dynamic is very different, but there is the immortal/mortal aspect and him as the knowledgable and hyper-competent native of the larger world versus her more sheltered and ordinary experience. There's the inherent B&tB conflict over power dynamics and emotional vulnerability. But yes lol, part of the essence of Twelve and Clara is us-against-the-universe, being all things to one another, deeply entwined in each other down to the foundations of their identities. Unconditional and unhinged devotion. Which isn't where Ghoulcy is (yet? :D? one can dream).

Oh yeah, just to get further than the menu and actually start a game for Fallout 3 I had to install a mod lmao. My brother was also telling me stop playing that, play New Vegas, it's the best one. But I didn't have NV sitting free in my gog.com library. I got a PS3 version from ebay coming. Hilariously, it's easiest to play the original game, the oldest one. I had zero problems with that on a modern PC.

I know, man. So many times I've sworn off getting invested in anything with such high likelihood of going south or otherwise being disappointing, but the temptation is real. I mean if the second season drops and it goes in a direction I don't like, I would just not watch it, but if they set up something super interesting and squander the potential that's always so frustrating. At least there will be a lot of fic before anyone can rain on the parade.

People are calling attention to the parallels between the characters, but I think we can take for granted they will have a significant relationship going forward, the question is more if it having a redemptive, healing, and/or romantic component is something the writers have considered. If it doesn't hit the first two, I wouldn't want to continue with the show, because that's what's appealing to me about it. If there's a flat token romance with another character for Lucy while her most important and transformative relationship is with Cooper, whom her influence helps reclaim his humanity/decency/hope, that'll annoy me as a missed opportunity but won't make me as sad as if he just stays the same or dies getting revenge or something.

I, too, would have dismissed it as unlikely to be canon (even in a foyay way that doesn't go anywhere) except for how much the creators have emphasised that they wanted him to be attractive and how he's framed very romantically, even heroically by the cinematography (I've seen gifs). That isn't, like, hugely compelling evidence the ship will happen, but it does make it seem like a possibility. It makes me (perhaps foolishly) hope his arc is going in an optimistic direction. If he's literally still wearing a white hat, it's just dirty? I'd honestly put a lot of stock in that.

And maybe I'm basic, but I want my ships to be canon. They don't have to be, I have some that aren't even close, but I do prefer it lol. I like the relationship to be a formative part of the character arcs. If it seems like a good/interesting/satisfying place for the narrative to go, I want it to go there.

[riddlerosehearts]

isabeau's confession at the end of ISAT is constantly living rent-free in my head it's so fucking good. right now i'm obsessed with the way he responds to siffrin saying "i love you too" because just. imagine you're siffrin and for so long now you've believed that you were horrible disgusting manipulative unloved and unworthy of love and yet. your best friend is telling you he loves you. and you feel that you love him too (in what way? the same way that he loves you? you're not quite sure yet, but stars, you feel like your heart is going to burst out of your chest, he means so much to you) so you tell him so.

and he responds by telling you he already knew that because he has eyes.

you're siffrin and you are kind passionate protective and so loved and full of love for your friends, your family, and yet you hate yourself so, so deeply that you don't see any of that but isabeau does. according to him it's written all over your face, apparently--the face you're always trying so hard to hide with your hat, which as the universe would have it, you don't have anymore!! and he sees you and he loves you and he knows you love him back, even after you said and did such horrible, cruel things to him and the rest of your family that you know they didn't deserve, after you almost broke the world trying to keep them by your side, somehow isa understands you and still loves every single part of you. and you love him, you love him, you love him because how could you not?

especially since he also got so excited when you told him you loved him that he shouted "CRAB YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" in your face.

[leonardalphachurch]

you know what. i say that all chucker is actually chuckboose in disguise but you know what the same is true for tuckington. caboose is there. he needs to be there. why are you writing tucker and wash together without their third. where is he.

[buddietommys]

"Why not?"

"I wish you were a girl."

[heavencasteel420]

I still wanna write the impulsive S1 Stoncy three-way that’s predicated by Joyce going missing instead. There’s no UD and she’s fine; she just got accidentally locked in a weird closet at work or something. Both because I don’t want to deal with too much sci-fi or tragedy, and because I think it’s very funny for the rumor mill at Hawkins High to abruptly switch from “the weird kid’s crazy mom went missing (probably because she’s crazy)” to “the weird kid, the most popular guy in junior year, and some cute but dorky sophomore all had a threesome.”

[avirael]

The Frozen Lake

It was the third day since he had stopped feeling like dying.

About a week ago he had woken up from his far too lifelike fever dream and a few days later the last spikes of the fever itself had been gone too just like the hallucinations it had brought in his sleep.

He still had been sick though and welcomed Rael telling him to stay in bed until he was perfectly healthy again all too eagerly.

While he still sneezed every now and then, it was at least tolerable now, still annoying but he didn’t feel incredibly uncomfortable anymore.

That day, just like the last and also the ones before that, he had awoken late. Against Rael’s order to stay in bed he had found the courage to get up and take a look out of the window. It was a sunny day, which in Coerthas still meant that it was bitterly cold though. But the sun was shining brightly and already high in the sky too which meant it had to be almost midday. He had slept way too long again, way to many hours for a surprisingly dreamless sleep. Or maybe it was exactly the lack of dreams that allowed him to finally rest, after all in the past there rarely had been good ones…

For a moment he considered to go downstairs and ask for a late breakfast if that wasn’t too insolent given the late hour but then a knock sounded from the door.

Quickly he hurried back to bed, just in case it was Rael, but the person who carefully peeked into the room a few seconds later wasn’t a viera.

“Ah, you are awake! That’s good!”, Haurchefant exclaimed happily and brought a small tray with hot soup and also something warm to drink. “It is so late already, you must be horribly hungry. Alphinaud checked in on you earlier but you were still fast asleep and he didn’t have the heart to wake you.”

A little uncertain on how to answer to that, A’viloh just nodded. Haurchefant grinned, put down a mug on the bedside table and handed A‘viloh a comfortingly warm bowl filled with some rather delicious smelling stew.

Instead of fetching the chair from the small desk by the window, Haurchefant sat down at the lower end of the bed balancing the tray with his own lunch on his knees. Rael once told him that ishgardian society had an absurd amount of strict and antiquated rules and so A’viloh couldn’t help but wonder, that although it seemed like a very appropriate distance to him, in Haurchefant’s hometown the fact alone that he dared to sit on someone else’s bed was probably scandalous.

“I hope you don’t mind me having lunch with you.”, the Elezen asked as he noticed A‘viloh staring.

Quickly the Miqo’te lowered his gaze to his bowl of soup. “Not at all.”, he muttered and tried a spoonful of the food just to change the topic. “Mhh, this is very good!”, he mumbled, still chewing, surprised by how good this really was compared to the bland food and bitter teas Rael had usually brought him these last few days. It must have been the Viera’s way of punishing him for running away.

Haurchefant laughed and then for a while they ate in silence.

“You look a lot healthier already.”, the Elezen stated after a while with an amiable smile on his face before taking a sip from his mug.

A‘viloh shrugged a little embarrassed, since it had been his own fault that he hadn’t been well in the first place. “Only because all of you took so good care of me.”

Haurchefant nodded. “You know, you had us all horribly worried right?”

“Sorry about that.”, he said and guitily looked into his mug.

Curiously Haurchefant eyed him for a moment. “Why did you do that anyway? Run out into the storm.”

A bit surprised A’viloh looked up. Had they all thought he had done this on purpose? “There wasn’t a storm when I left! What do I know about weather? I didn’t expect it to start snowing, let alone that much!”

That made the Elezen chuckle again but he still looked at him expecting an answer.

“Still… why did you leave?”

“I assumed Rael told you…”, A’viloh replied not sure what Haurchefant wanted to hear exactly. He nodded. “Rael did. But maybe I want to hear it from you…”

A’viloh sighed. His plan hadn’t been very smart and he felt a little uncomfortable having to explain his reasons to someone else, when in retrospect it didn’t make much sense even to his own ears.

“You know the… circumstances under which we fled Ul’dah… I couldn’t… um… the fact that we didn’t even know what happened to our friends… I wanted to find out, because it doesn’t seem fair to me that we escaped while all of them didn’t…”

“Mhh…”, Haurchefant nodded thoughtfully but let go off the topic for now. Instead he asked, „And how are you feeling today?”

Somehow that question confused A’viloh even more.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a simple question, isn’t it?”, he said still smiling politely.

Of course it was a simple question. Just the answer felt unreasonable complicated to him. To make things even more difficult people who asked such a question usually wanted to hear “I‘m fine, and you?” or “Very good, thank you.” for an answer and rarely the truth. They certainly didn’t want to hear “A few days ago I was convinced I was going to die and honestly it wasn’t that bad, so now I‘m still not sure wether I am happy to still be alive or not”.

“Alright… I guess.”, he mumbled instead. He had never been a good liar and could only hope that this fact wasn’t too obvious for the Elezen.

“You know what?”, Haurchefant proclaimed after watching him thoughtfully for a second. “Today is a wonderful day. We should go for a walk.”

“A walk?!”, A’viloh exclaimed wide-eyed, as if he had just asked something unreasonable of him.

“Why not?”

A’viloh couldn’t think of a good reason why not, other than that he was supposed to stay in bed, so he shrugged.

“Where’s Rael?”, he asked instead.

Haurchefant smirked. “Do you need Rael’s permission to go outside?”

“Of course not.”, the Miqo’te protested. “But Rael will be mad if I run off again, especially against their orders to stay in bed.”

“Rael and Alphinaud went to the observatory earlier.”, Haurchefant explained. “We’ll be back before they are, I promise.”

What was A’viloh supposed to say against that and also against the expectant look on the Elezen’s face. He took another glimpse towards the window and decided that it looked nice enough to go outside.

“Fine.”

“Good!”, Haurchefant exclaimed happily and collected their empty bowls and mugs. “There should be warm clothes for you in the wardrobe. If you need anything else just ask someone. I’ll wait for you by the northern gate.”

After Haurchefant had left, A’viloh remained sitting in his bed for a moment longer contemplating on the Elezen’s question. Yes, he felt better again. But better in what comparison? Better than a few days ago when he had felt and also been half-dead? Though he didn’t feel sick anymore now, there still was a weigh on his heart. From his plan that had failed so spectacularly and even more so from the dreams he wouldn’t have minded to keep on dreaming forever.

Vehemently he shook his head and decided not to think about that now or he would just crawl back under the blanket of his comfortably warm bed again. Instead he got up and took a look into the wardrobe. Almost none of these were his own clothes of course since all he possessed were the ones he had worn on his body that day they fled Ul’dah. Very unsuitable for this climate. But neither did he see the borrowed clothes he had worn that night when he had tried to run away. Everything in here looked even softer and warmer like someone had wanted to make sure he was feeling comfortable. To his surprise the things didn’t look that much too big for him either, unlike his last set of clothes. Besides a few Hyur most people here at Camp Dragonhead were grown up Elezen but these clothes looked like they belonged to neither. Maybe it were clothes for Elezen children, he wondered and also thought that in that case someone must have brought them here just for him.

Grateful for so much effort he picked a few pieces and got dressed. Lazily he ran his fingers through his hair to get rid of the worst knots but the look into the small mirror at the washbasin, where his tired face stared back at him reproachfully, just made him sigh. Once he was ready he took the warm coat out of the wardrobe too and went out to look for Haurchefant. Just as he had said, the Elezen was standing by the gate that led to the north-east, towards the ruins of the Steel Vigil.

From afar Haurchefant already recognised the Miqo’te, his bright red hair a singularity among all the people living here. Pleasantly smiling as always he waved at him and A’viloh couldn’t help but smile a little too and wave back as he hurriedly walked towards him.

“There you are! I see the clothes fit you nicely.”

A’viloh nodded.

“They do. Thank you very much for these.”

Haurchefant dismissively waved with one hand. “It’s the least I could do…”

But he had done a lot more than that, A’viloh thought. “I think there’s more I need to thank you for. Rael told me it was you who saved my life.”

“Mhhh…”, Haurchefant tilted his head as if he wasn’t sure if this statement was entirely the truth. “Rael is too humble. They played a bit of a role in that too. After all it was Rael who noticed you were gone. And it was also Rael who didn’t leave your bedside and tried their best to heal you.”

A’viloh remembered waking up and finding the usually quite touch-averse viera cuddled up to him with a look on their face so horribly sad like he had never seen on them before. Rael had pretended it was nothing but it had been a very unconvincing performance. Asked about it Alphinaud had only offered a few sentences about how worried Rael had looked and how they had used all kinds of spells he himself had never seen or heard of before, all of it to try and save him. It had made him feel even more guilty for his stupidity.

So maybe Haurchefant was right. But still it had been him who had risked going out into the storm to find him.

“Anyway. I still want to thank you! Honestly.”, he insisted. But how honestly was it really?

Sure, he was glad to still be alive. After all his plan hadn’t been to run out into a blizzard and freeze to death, although some of them seemed to think that was the case. But once he found himself in this situation he had to admit that he had welcomed his fate rather willingly. A fact that shocked even himself a little looking back at it now.

“You’re welcome. After all you wouldn’t be any help to your friends frozen to death out there.”, Haurchefant joked with a wry smile on his lips.

“I guess not...”, A’viloh muttered, the topic of his friends making his mood visibly sink again.

Of course the Elezen noticed and his smile turned into a playful grin. “But I acted a little selfish too, you know? I think Camp Dragonhead is a lot friendlier with your company and I would like to have you and your pretty smile around a little longer.”

For a moment A’viloh’s eyes shot up to look at the others face before he quickly pretended that something somewhere a little bit to his left was a lot more interesting. Sometimes Haurchefant randomly said things, A’viloh hadn’t had the slightest idea how to react to. Not because he was that oblivious but simply because it puzzled him. Nonetheless the air suddenly didn’t feel that cold anymore on his face.

Haurchefant was always very kind to him. Well, he mostly was kind to everybody but sometimes he seemed to admire him especially. Him of all people, although there was nothing special about him. Haurchefant sometimes spoke of him like he was one of the greatest heroes of all time and it felt so ridiculous to him. He was just silly, cowardly A‘viloh! What had he ever achieved in his miserable life to justify such admiration? The people called him a Warrior of Light but wasn’t that some grand overstatement? Some days he thought all of this had been a horrible mistake. A great misunderstanding! Then he wondered how he had ever gotten entangled in this madness in the first place and also if he ever would get out of it again. But what else should he do with his life anyway...

While A’viloh’s brain still screeched in desperate search for a proper response, Haurchefant seemed to realise he had flustered him and glossed it over by gesturing to the gate.

“How about we walk a few yalms? There’s something you need to see!”

Still too dumbstruck to speak or to even wonder what the Elezen was talking about, A’viloh nodded and then proceeded to follow him out into the snowy landscape.

After a few minutes Haurchefant paused and took a deep breath. “Isn’t the air wonderful today?”

A’viloh followed his example, breathed deeply and let his gaze wander over the snow covered landscape with a few pines here and there and the mountains and ruins of the Steel Vigil in the distance. The air was cool and fresh, still cold enough that the warm sun couldn’t melt the snow. Instead the rays of sunshine made the scenery shine and sparkle as if everything was covered not in ice but in millions over millions of tiny diamonds.

“It is.”, he answered and smiled, surprised how beautiful this inhospitable landscape could be, before with a sudden spark of curiosity he finally asked. “Where are we going?”

“It’s not far anymore.”, Haurchefant said with a grin on his face and pointed into another direction. Shortly after and only a bit further ahead they reached a small lake.

As they got closer A‘viloh noticed that it not only was covered in a layer of snow and ice but also that quite a few off-duty soldiers, given the proximity to the camp he assumed they had to be, were standing right on top of the frozen lake. No, they were not quite standing. It looked more like they were dancing or flying maybe. More or less gracefully they moved over the lake‘s surface in fluid swift strides, some just moving in wide circles and other swirling around this way or that. A’viloh had never seen something like this and it looked strange and impossible but at the same time very beautiful to him.

The two of them had almost reached the lake by then, A’viloh a few steps ahead to get a better look at the wondrous people on the ice and he already wanted to ask how they did that, when his attention was drawn elsewhere by a curious squawking sound.

“Oh! Look at them!”, the Miqo’te exclaimed, his fascinated smile still turning a little brighter, as he gestured to a small flock of wild geese resting at the shore of the lake. With ruffled feathers they sat closely huddled together at the edge of the ice and suddenly A‘viloh couldn’t help but worry about them. They looked so unbothered by his presence, sleeping through the day and all the hubbub around them, looking all exhausted and frozen with their puffed up feathers. Like anything could happen to them and they wouldn’t even mind.

Strangely he wondered what he himself had looked like when Haurchefant had found him unconscious in the snow. He must have been a pitiful sight. Had the Elezen thought him beyond saving too, just like he himself had. What if he had found him a little later or not at all? Maybe that would have been better, a voice murmured to him just like it had so many times before and for a moment, tempted by the grief heavy on his heart once again, he almost believed it.

But no, he would be dead then and while he would have liked to imagine that this would mean he could be with his loved ones again, it was not exactly what either of the tribes he had lived with believed.

Vaguely he remembered his father working for hours, digging a grave at what used to be Wellwick Wood. An elderly woman too exhausted by their long journey, his grandmother if he remembered correctly, had died shortly after they had arrived there. With a sad smile on his face his father had explained to his children, who had stared down into the hole in the ground with confusion in their eyes, how by returning her body to the earth there could still grow new life from this death.

Or the drake tribe of the Sagolii Desert, who always burned their dead and left the ashes to be carried away by the desert wind, believing that it would make it easier for the deceased‘s aether to return to the Aetheric Sea and create something new elsewhere.

With a sudden sharp pain in his heart A’viloh realised that neither of the people he loved had gotten the burial they would have wanted for themselves. And neither had A‘viloh himself wanted to die in the coldness of Coerthas and be forever forgotten under a thick layer of snow and ice. He had thought about dying before but never had he been this close to it. For a second he wondered if this was something worth speaking to Rael about, but he wasn’t sure they wouldn’t misunderstand and get mad at him again.

“Why do you make such a sad face now?”, Haurchefant asked having noticed the smile slip from the Miqo’te’s face. But A’viloh just vehemently shook his head and focused on the geese again.

“They must be horribly cold.”, he wondered in a voice that suggested he already planned to take all of them to the safety of his comfortably warm room.

Haurchefant chuckled. “Don’t worry, they survived the storm out here after all. They keep each other warm, that’s why you‘ll rarely see one of them alone. A bit like you and your friends.”

“Maybe…”, A’viloh answered thinking about this comparison for a moment. “I just wish it wouldn’t always be me who needs to be taken care of. But as proven in Ul’dah and now once again I am simply too weak and useless to keep myself alive, not to mention anyone else.”

The Elezen’s face got a little stern as he folded his arms in front of his chest. “Don’t say that, I am sure it’s not true! This was just bad luck! You are neither weak nor useless!”

A’viloh shrugged. “But that’s how I feel right now...”

Slowly Haurchefant nodded before speaking again with a silent but determined voice. “Listen. I‘ll never forget how bravely you fought for Francel although you barely knew him. You could have gotten yourself in trouble with that and you helped him anyway.”

“It’s not like I did that on my own -”, A’viloh tried to protest but was immediately interrupted. “But you still helped! And I’m sure even without Rael you would have done so!”

Another shrug was all Haurchefant got in response, so the Elezen thought for a second before making an offer. “You want to make yourself useful, right? Get stronger? I could teach you how to fight like a real ishgardian knight, with sword and shield. Or we have some dragoons at Camp Dragonhead too! I’m sure there’s a lot you could learn from them.”

A‘viloh‘s face turned to disbelief. “I really don’t think I could fight with armor and weapons this heavy…”

“You can’t say so if you don’t try! And I have you know that dragoon armors are surprisingly light. How do you think they could still be this agile otherwise? Promise me to at least try training with them a little!”

He didn’t really want to agree to that. He knew he would make a fool of himself. But how could he say no with Haurchefant trying everything in his power to cheer him up. Weakly he shook his head and muttered: “Fine…”

“Perfect!”, Haurchefant exclaimed with a bright smile on his face. “I think an early reward for your efforts is appropriate then!”

Confused A’viloh watched him take a small bag off of his shoulders, which he hadn’t even noticed until now. For a moment the Elezen was busy undoing a knot before he opened the bag and presented to A‘viloh a set of two weirdly shaped blades attached to pieces of wood with leather straps. He had no idea what these constructs were meant to do and that was plainly visible on his face. “What’s that?”

“Ice skates of course!”, Haurchefant said as if that would explain it all but the Miqo’te‘s face remained clueless, so Haurchefant gestured to the lake behind them. “You attach them to your boots so you can walk on the ice like this!”

“Oh!”, A’viloh exclaimed as he understood what Haurchefant was planning. “I don’t think-… I mean I‘ve never-… You don’t really want me to step on that lake do you?” The idea somehow scared him.

“Why not?”, Haurchefant asked for the second time today with this smile that made the question sound like a challenge.

“It’s just a bit of ice!”, A‘vi objected. “What if it breaks?”

The Elezen shook his head and proceeded to fasten the metal blades beneath his boots. “Ah, don’t worry. The ice is thick enough, it will take at least a few more days to melt.”

“I don’t know…”, was all A’viloh replied as Haurchefant pressed another pair of skates into his hands. But the Elezen remained determined and took a few wobbly steps through the snow and onto the ice. “See! I can stand on it and it doesn’t break! You are a lot lighter than me, so why wouldn’t you be able to?”

Oh, you don’t know my bad luck!, A‘viloh thought but Haurchefant didn’t look like he would take that for an excuse. Instead he stretched out a hand towards the Miqo’te. “Come one! Believe me, this is going to be funny!”

For a second A‘viloh pondered his options. The idea of nothing but a little bit of ice between him and the water still terrified him but Haurchefant seemed so excited about this and the other people actually seemed to have fun too. Maybe he should at least pretend to try... Reluctantly he sat down on a rock and tried to put on the skates just like Haurchefant had done a moment ago.

“The clasp on the back too. Make sure none of them are loose… Yes, that looks fine!”, Haurchefant helpfully explained. As A’viloh got up, he almost flopped right back down into the snow. It was a weird feeling to balance his whole weight on only two thin pieces of metal. As he carefully took the first few steps towards the lake Haurchefant reached out for him once more. “Here! Take my hand! I don’t want you to fall…”

Hesitantly A‘vi stepped onto the ice and immediately felt like the ground was being pulled away beneath his feet. He struggled for balance, feeling himself falling backwards, so Haurchefants arm was a very welcome thing to hold on to.

With a chuckle the Elezen tried to loosen A‘vi‘s desperate grip on his arm and instead took each of his hand in one of his own before carefully making slow steps backwards pulling A‘viloh over the ice, which A’vi could swear was making suspicious crackling sounds below them. There was no way to tell the blades beneath his feet not to move, so all A’viloh could do was try not to fall and plead to Haurchefant with ears flat on his head and panic in his eyes, as he slowly was pulled further onto the lake. “No, no, no. Take me back, that’s a horrible idea!”

“Calm down. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I promise.”, Haurchefant said soothingly and continued to explain to him how to move on the ice skates. And in fact the Elezen’s calm voice slowly made A’viloh feel less anxious. His hands, frantically clasping at Haurchefant’s, relaxed along with his legs. It was still a weird feeling to be standing on the ice but now it felt a lot easier to remain balanced. He glanced at the people around them while remaining as still as possible, studied their movements for a moment and then tentatively tried to mimic the way they slowly pushed their feet above the slippery surface. To his surprise he really moved forward without much effort and also without feeling the sensation of falling again, closer to Haurchefant who had steadied him with his outstretched arms so far.

“See! It’s not that difficult.”, he said while making another step backwards so A’viloh had to follow with another step forward. The Miqo’te, strangely excited about the fact that he was actually moving on these weird ice-blades, laughed happily. “You are even going backwards!”

Haurchefants laughed. “One step after the other. Let’s teach you how to go forward first, hm? I‘ll let go off one of your hands but don’t worry, I still got you. One feet after the other just like you did before…”

In fact it almost felt easier now that he could use one of his arms to balance himself. Very slowly at first they floated above the icy surface of the lake but soon A‘viloh got braver. Once he almost lost his balance but for a comparably tall and strong person like Haurchefant it seemed like a very easy task to keep a small Miqo’te on his feet. Almost falling had felt like a shock for a second but only moments later they were laughing about it and in the end A’viloh was surprised and also a little proud how quickly he had learned and how much fun this was.

He wasn’t sure how much time they spent there on the frozen lake but at some point a bell sounded from the nearby Camp. Startled A’viloh looked up (and almost lost his balance again). “How late is it? I’m sure you have more important things to do than this! I’m sorry if I’m keeping you from doing your work.”

But Haurchefant just laughed and teased, “What could be more important than prove to you that not all of Coerthas is a deadly wasteland trying to kill you? But I think we really should return soon. I don’t want you to get cold again and after all we also don’t want Rael to find out about this little excursion, do we?”

For a second A’viloh wished the viera could see him now and wondered what their reaction would be like. The thought made him chuckle.

And as they floated, one last circle around the lake, A’viloh couldn’t help but wonder that maybe it was happy moments like this. The reason he was still here. Moments that made his life worth living.

---

inspired by the poem The Reversal by Leila Chatti

[quillheel]

─  romantic gestures.   bold what applies to your muse , italicize if there's potential / it depends.

holding hands · buying flowers · cooking · cuddles · writing a poem / song · holding door open · tying shoe laces · sharing a milkshake with two straws · offering their jacket when it's cold · kissing in the rain · publicly confessing love · long walks at the beach · doing the titanic pose on a boat · taking cute pictures in a photo booth · sharing a taxi / uber · kissing the back of their hand · slow dancing · getting tickets of their favorite artist / sports team / other · introducing them to your parents · lighting candles · flower petals on bed · love letters · star gazing · brushing / doing their hair · picnics · teaching them to play an instrument / sport while gently guiding their hands · compliments · late night drives · taking selfies together · drawing them · self-made gifts · massages · proposing with a family heirloom ring · lending them your favorite book to read · paying for dinner / coffee · mixtapes / playlists · surprise birthday parties · feeding them · handing them keys to your apartment · making space in drawer for their clothes when they stay over · sharing a blanket · couple costumes · tucking a hair strand behind their ear · running after them at the airport / keeping them from leaving · moving cities to be together · blowing a kiss · breakfast in bed · defending them in a fight (verbally / physically) · joint bubble baths · dropping the L-bomb ("i love you") · dedicating a song at the karaoke bar to them · wearing their clothes · yawning before putting an arm around them while watching a movie · granting them the last bite (from meal)

tagged by: stolen from @infog <3 I legally HAD to tagging: @tenebriism @braveryhearted @autonomousxselves @fantomevoleur @musesofthesun @pluviacuratio @tendercoded / @manebloom / @lncanting @cozyfarms @deiscension @shadowedresolve @sakuaxe @lovlorne @leuvspell @adoranoia and you!!!! ( multi's, decide as you please! )