#its funny but also sad T-T if she gets her memory back before he manages to tell her oops

[oviids]

pls share some of your spn fic recs 🥺🥺

ok, a few things first:

followers and mutuals who do not have supernatural brainworms, kindly avert your eyes

i don’t normally rec or even read much fanfic any more but this is a CRISIS ok (cont.)

there is so. much. content for deancas out there and i have incredibly high standards, several ancient ao3 bookmarks, can speedread, and want to spare you guys the experience of wading through it all.

i also have a section for spn femslash since I was pretty into that back in the day (sadly a lot less fan content for this :/)

I don’t really like au’s or pure smut (I honestly usually just skim or skip those scenes) so if you’re mainly looking for that kind of thing this probably won’t be very helpful to you. jsyk.

i’m not great at describing stuff but i’ll do my best, i’ll also try and add tw’s when neccesary.

i wil try and keep updating this with any other decent fics i find, feel free to rec stuff too since i’m like 7 years behind.(edit 1/25/21) this is getting looooong so i’m going to start making another list on my spn blog rather than update this one

(edit 1/3/21) since this has gotten pretty long i’ve added rating/approximate word counts and marked my particular favorites with an asterisk.

Dean/Cas fic:

So Says The Sword*** - explicit/85k. FUCK its good...au/time travel where dean is not pulled out of hell by cas and says yes to becoming the michael sword. honestly could serve as an alternative to actually watching the show, if you want to get into dean/cas without actually doing that to yourself.

Fata morgana.*  - teen/6k, pst s9 finale. very bela centric and i love it, she finds cas looking for dean in hell.

Redemption Road -misc/600+k. an incredibly long fic from a collaborative writing group back in the day. canon divergent from the end of s6 on, has a cool take on godstiel and the leviathans, as well as the lovecratian mythos connection. ngl when i reread it i only made it about 28% in but imo the casual reader can actually stop around there, the rest concerns a lovecraftian apocalypse that is still good (i think i don’t remember it very well) but not required to enjoy the first half. if you prefer i have an ebook version i can send you on gdrive.

Someone Who's Feeling For Me* - mature/45k, s12. they run into lisa braeden and dean thinks cas is into her while cas thinks dean still likes her. treats lisa way better than the show ever did and the miscommunication is pretty funny rather than annoying.

a turn of the earth - mature/95k. time travel fic where cas from s10 keeps showing up in deans life from a few years before s1 to right before the hellhounds take his soul.  slow burn, good character study, and at one point cas punches the dad in the face and it rules.

On the Wings of War - teen/85k, canon divergent s5. dean accidentally becomes the Horseman of War. plays fun, fast and loose with biblical lore, michael has some rights.

Named - mature/95k, alternate s5. EXTREMELY blasphemous in a fun sexy way. manages to predict metatron almost to a T. there’s one major character death and its literally jesus christ, everyone is very sad about it and it sets the rest of the story rolling. an alternate interpretation of cas’ mission to raise dean from hell which had me on the floor. ngl its kind of misogynistic at points, but its from 2010 and tracks with late oughts-2010 spn (sorry anna the author did you dirty here:/).

The Girlfriend Experience - explicit/15k. uhhh i don’t normally rec or even read smutty stuff unless someone i know is specifically asking for it but this has stuff like sam trying to be a good ally and dean thinking holding hands with cas is ‘kinda gay :/’ minutes after having gay sex with him.

i crippled your heart a hundred times - explicit/19k, s8. cas confesses his feelings and dean spends a long time getting his head out of his ass about it. truly hits different after the actual confession, despite being written six years early it feels like its actually what could have gone down more or less if the writers weren’t talentless demons who hate us.

My Roots Take Flight** - mature/125k. reverse au where cas is a hunter and dean’s an angel...OR IS IT???? an alternate retelling of s4. tw for briefly being set in a psychiatric hospital/the hospital being mentioned somewhat frequently throughout the fic, plus more references to torture in hell and heaven than usual.

The One Thing You Can't Lose* - teen/4k.you know those posts about how cas is a super-strong super-tough ancient warrior but he just lets dean tug him around because he likes it? thats it thats the fic.

Hands, From Which All Things Are Built - teen/14k, post s8′s ‘goodbye stranger.’ cas is on the run with the angel tablet but keeps in touch with sam and dean by text, he and dean still manage to be terrible at Actual communication.

Autrement, Danger - or, The Account of an Exceedingly Long Day - mature/30k, post s11. a monster that takes the appearance of your soulmate leads to some wild miscommunications and dealing with years of repression, also dean gets to see cas’ true form which is always cool. tw for non-graphic mentions of underage sexual assault/sex work.

Down to Agincourt - mature/explicit/900++++k, endverse continuation. endverse!cas survives his encounter with lucifer and discovers another time-displaced dean from s7. i’ve only read the two of four parts but its really good, veeeeery slow burn, has a lot of fun oc’s and takes a rather surprising but (imo) entertaining and intriguing turn into Hellenic history and mythology. usual tw’s for endverse/endverse!cas but nothing graphic, it’s actually pretty light-hearted (relatively speaking of course).

Nothing Equals the Splendor** - explicit/8k, THEE finale fix it fic you’ve been waiting for! posits that the entire final episode was just a (very bad and lame) djinn’s vision.

like moses and batman and james dean - explicit/31k, post s8. explores dean’s trauma and internalized homophoba from his technically canon experience with sex work and its impact on his relationship with cas. the sex work itself isn’t really shown in any detail but it’s still a relatively heavy fic.

Crazy Diamonds - explicit/25k, s4/alternate s14. fresh-out-of-hell dean and dean from 10 years in the future are displaced from time and sent to each other’s present.

where the weeds take root - explicit/30k. au where the men of letters kick them out of the bunker and they accidentally move out into the country, get over their codependence and semi retire. featuring chicken coop building, sam volunteering at a dog shelter, gardening, and blissfully mundane domesticity.

No Resting Place - teen/6k. djinn dream fic, switches back and forth between cas’ dream of being married to dean and retired from hunting to the aftermath when he wakes up. tw for brief mention of suicide since, y’know, djinn dream.

any port in a storm - mature/52k. post s8 finale. cas and dean have to pose as a couple going through a rough patch for a case and actually deal with their emotional baggage, cas struggles with being human and metatron is up to stuff.

all this and heaven too* - explicit/7k. in the author’s own words ‘...a love letter to every trans person who ever projected onto Dean Winchester.’ absolutely unzipped me emotionally and theologically, its just. so good. tw for very brief mentions of internalized transphobia/dysphoria.

Because it is* - mature/6k, finale fix it. killing chuck does not bring back anyone back and the winchesters spend a very long time dealing with what they’ve lost, cas and dean SOMEHOW still manage to have signifigant communication issues even after the confession. tw for suicidal thoughts/brief attempt.

Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit* - teen/4k, s6. when cas fell for dean it automatically soulbonded/angel married them, shenanigans ensue when dean finds out during the angel’s civil war. funny and actually written back when s6 was airing so cas is still (or at least pretending to be) kind of an OP asshole which is fun.

Rinse, Repeat - teen/3k, s8. angsty character study of cas as he’s reprogrammed and trained to kill dean. not really dean/cas since its just cas’ pov of canon events but its beautifully written and ends with him snapping out of it through the power of love (also now a canon event!).

Emergence - explicit/59k, canon divergent after s11. dean meets a hunter he only recognizes as their friend claire novak’s missing father, but soon realizes he might be the answer behind the mysterious void in his memories and feelings (aka everyone’s memories of cas are completely wiped away for three years).

Cuckoo And Nest - explicit/10k, early established relationship/character study, cas tries to figure out how he fits into dean’s life and space in the bunker.

Build a Home* - teen/20k, canon divergent s12. sam and eileen are cute and turn the bunker into men of letters/hunters hq and everyone but cas moves in, mutual miscommunication issues and pining ensues.

Down in the River - teen/5k, early s8, cas prays to dean in purgatory while sam and dean try to figure out a way to get him out.

Teaching Poetry to Fish* - mature/52k, ?? BC through the entire series/canon divergent s14 and 15. retelling of crucial scenes throughout the shows timeline from cas’ pov, feat. actual fish and poetry.

the minor fall, the major lift - gen/4k, post confession/finale fixit. dean goes into the empty to save cas and runs into several old friends (and enemies).

With the Kisses of His Mouth* - teen/3k, gen later seasons. dean and cas keep kissing by accident.

Remaining Grace - explicit/109k, alternate s6. au where cas asks dean for help with raphael and dean, of course, does. tw for temporary major character death/semi-graphic depictions of alcohol withdrawal.

The face of heaven.* - teen/10k, au, dean is a regular guy and cas is a fallen star (think ‘stardust’, kinda).

Stories Are Made of Mistakes*  - teen/5k. newly human cas has trouble getting used to a human body and humanity in general, but still figures out that he and dean are A Thing before dean does.

Hurry Up And Wait - mature/21k, canon divergent s12. a fairyland and quite possibly LOTR related case comes up and dean goes full fanboy, mary is introduced to the wonders of the peter jackson adaptions, many references and comparisons (including between cas and dean’s ‘friendship’ and arwen/aragon). also charle is still alive and has just been doing fairy stuff this whole time.

There Are Many Things - explicit/28k, s9. cas is extremely lonely/touch-starved and trying to figure out this whole human thing, as well as where he and dean stand after being kicked out of the bunker.

It's A Long Life to Always Be Longing - teen/40k, post s11 finale. amara helps dean by putting him in a magical coma so he can finally get some much needed rest and show him possible futures for him, sam and cas. meanwhile sam and cas go on a roadtrip (or several) to find componets for a spell to wake dean up. really good sam and cas friendship, they actually talk about their shared lucifer trauma and stuff.

Non-Photo Blue - gen/2k, s4/5/alternate s5. fifty moments from cas’ memories of dean.

Tall Grass - explicit/57k, canon divergent post series. cas becomes the ultimate plant dad. feat the wayward sisters gang, cathartic character growth, fun oc’s, domesticity, and lots of actual botanical info-dumping.

on vessels - no rating/gen/2k. established dean/cas, cas tells dean about how he used to imagine what it would be like to have him as his vessel.

search for tomorrow on every shore* - teen/11k, post-finale (extremely derogatory). some angels in jack’s new heaven act out and dean gets temporarily resurrected in 2003 and runs into his younger self.

Architecture of the Minotaur’s Heart - explicit/45k, very canon divergent post s1. dean’s new house seems to have a life and mind of its own, while in his dreams he sees glimpses of a world and apocalypse that never came to be and an angel that looks strangely like his mysterious neighbor, cas. loosely inspired by the book house of leaves (which i highly recommend for fans of weird horror).

The Distance Of The Setting Sun - explicit/17k, post s5. established dean/cas relationship, team free will finally takes advantage of cas’ abilities to go on vacation around the world.

diamond star halo - teen/5k, s11. dean lets cas use him as a temporary vessel while he recovers from rowena’s spell, sam is a long-suffering third-wheel.

Make Known** - teen/16k, s6/7. dean struggles to understand how cas could have become his enemy and whether he ever truly knew him in the first place.

blunt little instrument* - mature/1.4k, post finale. dean finally confronts his father in heaven, very cathartic.

my heart a compass*** - teen/10k, post confession. the empty forces cas to re-experience his most regretted moments while dean tries to snap him out of it and bring him home.

A Crash Course in Someone Else's History - teen/11k, s6. cas from the very start of s4 is brought forward in time by s6!cas to distract the brothers from his and crowley’s plans.

The Cuckoo Father - mature/8k, s7 au. the woman who found cas in the river post-leviathans does not marry him bc he was sent to her by god or whatever, but actually identifies him as jimmy novak and sends him back to claire and amelia.

The Dead Dean Clause* - teen/5k, post alt s5 ending. team free will celebrates surviving taking down lucifer by getting blitzed, cas lies to a cop and gets an impromptu driving lesson. title/description sound dark i know but it’s actually very funny and light.

Suck It, Judy Garland - mature/20k, s12 (after the ‘i love you...i love all of you’ episode). cas and sam have to pretend to be a couple for a case and dean is NOT happy about it.

By Daylight and In Dream - teen/16k, s5. pre-dean/cas, dean invites cas to use his dreams to hide from the other angels. tw for very brief mention of a memory/dream of alastair sexually assaulting dean.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven - mature/22k, post-canon. an actually happy (if sometimes bittersweet) heaven endgame written several years ago, though some details are rather eerily similar to the show’s ending.

heaven is a place on earth* - teen/2k. dean’s pov of some of the times cas left him behind throughout the show, and one alternate ending where he finally gets to stay.

I Cleanse The Mirror - teen/20k, alternate s6. dean’s body is stolen by an ancient elemental and his soul has to hitch a ride in cas’ vessel.

an exploration of gender; angelic*** - mature/4k. *oscar isaac voice* lets get into angel gender politics!! aka cas is trans.

Zenith - explicit/33k, s9. after 9x06 an angry witch curses cas with the ability to see supernatural beings and human souls.

La cucina. - gen/3k, alt s9. dean goes wild helping a newly-human cas find out what kinds of food he likes, or the early s9 domesticity we deserved!

Dean Winchester, Cocksucker at Rest***** - teen/7k, post-finale. john and mary finally come over for dinner and john reacts to dean/cas in a rather predictable fashion. SOOOOOOOOO good omg, its so funny and a little sad and very very cathartic. part of a series that has a few other really good short fics.

The Way You Didn't Go - teen/5k, s15. coda to 15.09, dean has nightmares about the moc!cas timeline.

On Drowning - teen/28k. dean saves cas after he nearly drowns, they both try and deal with the physical/mental fallout (aka the fic where thee iconic “you only touch me when you think I’m dead or dying” originates). tw for realistic depictions of drowning/triage/misc medical information.

The Thirty-Six Questions That Lead to Love* - mature/13k. claire has dean and cas pretend to be her gay dads for a case and they play the titular 36 question game, get mistaken for swingers, and birdwatch, among other things.

Assorted F/F stuff:

Deep Breaths* - mary/ellen, au where mary said no to azazel’s deal and let john stay dead, still becomes a milf.

Like Rebel Diamonds - krissy/claire, they become hunter gf’s on the hunt for cas to kick his ass for taking jimmy. not-so-stealth dean/cas as well.

To Ash and Bone - anna/ruby, same author as the previous fic (p much all of her stuff is good from what i recall). au where ruby is a witch and helps anna when she’s cursed.

Holy Clockwork Angels - jo/ruby, STEAMPUNK au with very cool worldbuiilding.

At Day's End - jo/anna (my fucking KINGDOM for more jo/anna content, the dean/cas parallels are allllll there), au where they are both at the camp in the endverse and gfs.

these posts - ok so not actually a fic but i’m now obsessed with this hannah/meg dynamic.

Tagelied - mary/ellen, the true story of how ellen got into hunting before angels interfered.

Hell's Bells** - meg/abaddon, alternate s8/9 where meg survives crowley’s attack with sam’s help and teams up with abaddon (who she has a sk year old crush on) to take back hell.

The Ecstasy of the Rose - anna/ruby, anna travels back in time to escape heaven and becomes a signifigant part of ruby’s old human life.

Angel Underground - anna/jo, kind of an urban fantasy au with a very intriguing premise (sadly its very short, i’d love to see more if this ‘verse).

Clover, Flame - billie/mary, billie was always the reaper that showed up to take mary after her death(s) over the years.

Drag Me To Heaven - anna/ruby, a variant on the ‘last night on earth’ thing with dean.

Come Home* - jo/anna, canon-divergent au where anna is the new waitress at the roadhouse and helps jo set up a (probably not really) haunted house for halloween.

[weelittleweasley]

bar maid (b.w.)

prompt: a long night at the leaky cauldron and the late shift can only mean one thing: a boring night. but when a new face pops into the bar, the mood shifts drastically.

pairing: bill weasley x fem! reader

warnings: drinking, mentions of the war, language (literally once), sexual references

word count: 4.5k

taglist: @harrysweasleys​ @gcdric​ @lumos-barnes​ @whizboingies​ @lumosandnoxwriting​ @pxroxide-prinxcesss​ @c-t-h​ @another-lonely-heart-blog​ @starlightweasley​ @parseltongueswriting​ @shilohpug​ @peachypotter​ @vogueweasley​

“Another round of ale, Albert?” you ask with a smile as you wipe down a section of the bar from its previous attendants. The damp dish towel wipes across the mahogany bar, leaving streaks that shine underneath the bar lighting, the faint smell of chemical lemon lingering in the air mixes with the overwhelming scent of lager and spirits. 

Albert flashes you a toothy grin and gives you a shrug. “Eh, why not. It’s a Friday, isn’t it?” Albert laughs before sliding you his brass mug down the length of the bar as you stealthily catch it in your hand. You fill the mug with amber ale, teeming with white foam, smelling of wheat. “You’re too good to me, (Y/N),” Albert tells you with a grin before taking a sip of his usual drink of choice. 

You were a bar maid at the Leaky Cauldron and Albert was one of your regulars. Now, you didn’t think that you would be a bar maid after graduating from Hogwarts and trying to become a professor, but the world had a funny way about it, didn’t it? Being a bar maid meant you got good tips and had the luxury of creating your own schedule, but it also meant when you worked, it was long hours of standing on your feet and serving cheap ale and lager to annoyed businessmen and exhausted workers from the hours of five o’clock to two o’clock in the morning. Work was grueling, but you tried to make as much fun of it as you could.

“It’s the least I can do, Al,” you sigh, flopping the dish towel over your shoulder as you lean over the bar. “Any juicy gossip for me today? I’ve been bored out of my skull since I clocked in and I still got another five hours ahead of me. I need some entertainment,” you groan, cracking your knuckles against the wood of the bar. The thought of another five hours dealing with more alcohol, more grumpy patrons, and another tired night made your head ache. 

Al takes a long sip from his mug, wiping the foam from his upper lip before speaking, “Not much gossip, I’m afraid.” You throw your head back and groan, taking an annoyed sip from your water. “Nothing interesting has happened, my dear,” he huffs in just as much annoyance as you. “We’re living in dark times, all news is usually disappointing, scary, or both. I’m looking for something hopeful just as much as you are,” Al confesses.

You tighten your ponytail and push your baby hairs away from your face, hands flopping on your shoulders as you slump over. Albert was right. The thought of a looming wizarding war over everyone’s heads was enough to keep everyone living in fear of when it would all come to a head and pop. At least working at the pub took your mind off of things, even if it was just for a few hours of the day.

“However,” Albert’s tone changes as you dart your eyes to him, curious. “I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the name Fleur Delacour? I heard through the grapevine that she has recently started working at Gringott’s. Desk job, but people were confused as to why should would come all the way to London for a silly desk job,” Albert explains before sipping from his ale again.

Your eyebrows furrow as the name does ring a bell. “The name sounds familiar. I certainly didn’t go to school with her or else I would know who she was. But the name is oddly recognizable...I’ll ask my younger sister when I speak to her next. She’s at Hogwarts now. I’m sure she’d know,” you tell Albert. “Anyone else take up a job? Familiar names or faces?” 

Al searches his memory for anything else. He presses his tongue to his cheek. “Yeah, there was someone else. William...I don’t remember the surname for life of me, but it was William something...” he trails off.

You think for a moment, trying to scan your brain for a William that you might know. But you drew blank. It had been so long since you saw anyone from your graduating class. You had spent most of your time in the pub or studying or applying for new professor jobs. But no one was looking to hire an under-experienced professor in these times, no matter how good your marks were at Hogwarts, regardless that you were top of your class in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions. The thought makes you infuriated because you knew you could teach this new generation of wizards better than anyone else.  

Shaking your head, “Well, whatever, if he was important, you would know his name.” Albert shrugs. “I need to go bring in some kegs from the back, I’ll be back in a second,” you tell him before go around the bar, walking to the back of the Leaky Cauldron, hearing snippets of conversations here and there, most people talking about the news or their families. It was sad; just two years ago people would be roaring with laughter, telling stories and jokes, recounting happy times. Now, everyone was so focused on how the world as you knew it may be crumbling around you. 

The cool fall air wraps around you as you push the door to bring the kegs from outside in as you pull your jumper over your hands to make some make-shift mittens. “Bloody hell,” you whisper to yourself as you see three kegs lined up outside for you to bring in. “Seriously, Tom?” you groan as you grab one keg and start dragging it. “I don’t get paid enough for this, I swear,” you grumble. 

“Need a hand?” a voice interrupts you as you drag the steel keg across the cobblestone. 

You look up and your eyes meet a pair that you haven’t seen in years. An instant smile rises on your lips as the all too familiar red hair is swept in the wind. “You’re kidding,” you laugh as you stand up straight, brushing off your jumper as he smiles widely at you with a chuckle. “Bill Weasley as I live and breathe?” you laugh as you run towards him, Bill engulfing you in a large hug. Your arms wrap around him tightly as he picks you up, your feet leaving the ground as you giggly madly as Bill sways you back and forth. 

It had been years since you had seen Bill Weasley. The two of you had attended Hogwarts together in the same year and became fast friends. You had always admired how Bill was so smart and confident in himself (borderline arrogant, but in the sexiest best way). Bill was a popular one at Hogwarts, but through it all, he always managed to make time for you since you liked staying out of the lime light. Bill was well-loved and revered at Hogwarts, so it was obvious that he became a prefect during your time. And that’s when you two started to drift apart. He became busy doing his things and you became busy with your own studies. After graduation, the two of you went your separate ways, but you always wondered where he had gone. 

Bill sets you down on your feet, his hands still on your hips as he smiled brightly down at you. He looked so mature now, longer red hair tied back in a ponytail, but he was still tall, thin, and undeniably handsome. The hunter green jacket he sported clung onto his tall figure, underneath a button down that was unbuttoned just enough so you could see the chest hairs that poked out from the loose material. Hanging from his ear lobe was a fang earring that wasn’t there before. Bill had changed, but in a way that caught your eye in a way that has never happened before. You gulped. 

“Godric, (Y/N), you haven’t changed one bit,” Bill laughs as he takes a good look at you as you mentally curse that you had been wearing something different than your old blue jumper and leggings with stained boots from the bar. “How long has it been? Seven years?” he speaks as you nod. “Bloody hell, it feels like yesterday we were at Hogwarts,” he recounts the memories fondly as your heart warms to the same memories.

You smile brightly, “Time flies, Weasley.” He chuckles. “We can talk more about it if you help me bring in these kegs and I’ll treat you to an ale on the house. Or are you more of a lager man?” you ask as you walk back over to the steel kegs that wait to be dragged into the pub. 

Bill chuckles as you grab one keg, starting to drag it into the pub. Without any hesitation or effort, Bill picks up the remaining two kegs in each of his hands, muscles flexing underneath his jacket as he shakes his head. You gulp and avert your eyes, trying not to focus on the way he so effortlessly carried the heavy steel kegs as you pushed yours in. “More of a whiskey kind of guy if you got any of that,” Bill tells you as you push the kegs towards the back of the bar, Bill places his two next to yours. “I didn’t know you were working at the Leaky Cauldron.”

Walking back to the bar with Bill by your side you speak, “Yeah. Been working here for a while now since there seems to be a hold on hiring newer, younger professors,” you roll your eyes as Bill laughs. Bill remembered how badly you wanted to be a professor and teach the younger generations of wizards and witches magic. It was your dream, but now it was on pause. “What about you? Why are you back in London? Last I heard of you, you were in Egypt!” you nudge his arm with your elbow.

He gives you a smile, happy that you had been keeping your tabs on him. “I was in Egypt for a long while. Loved it, really. But I came home to help my family out with the Order and such. I’m working at Gringott’s now at a desk job. Very exciting, I know,” he rolls his eyes as you giggle, making your way behind the bar.

A William working at Gringott’s. I should have known, you think to yourself. “Hey Albert,” you call over the man who sits just a mere stool away from Bill. “That new William who's working at Gringott’s now? It’s not just any bloke, he’s a Weasley,” you smile at Albert who looks over to Bill with a look of realization. “Bill, this is Albert, one of my regulars. Al, this is Bill Weasley, we went to Hogwarts together.”

Bill gives Albert a firm shake shake and warm smile. “Nice to meet you, sir,” Bill beams. “You’ve been in good company with this one, I’m sure,” Bill winks as Albert chuckles lowly.

“That I have been. She’s great company and serves an even better mug of ale,” Albert speaks as you smile sweetly at him, Bill laughing. “I would love to stay and chat longer, but I gotta get home to the family,” Albert tells you and Bill, putting on his coat before digging into his pockets and places and handful of coins on the table to pay for his drinks and tip you generously as he usually did. “I’ll see you on Monday, my dear,” Albert calls as he walks towards the door, you giving him a salute goodbye.

Bill speaks, “He seems like a good guy.” You nod as you take out a glass and start to pour him a generous glass of Fire Whiskey before placing it front of him. “How did you know I take it neat? What if I wanted it on the rocks?”

You give him a knowing look. “I know you, Bill. Last time I checked, you were drinking Fire Whiskey straight from the bottle at your graduation party,” you recall with a light chuckle as Bill groans at the memory. “You were off your rocker that night, I’m tellin’ you,” you start to laugh harder, remembering how Bill stood up on the dining room table of the Burrow, singing along to music that he blasted as everyone laughed and sang along with him. Graduation was such a happy time in your young adult life, you wished you could go back and relive it.

He rubs his face with one hand and speaks, “We were a mess that night, weren’t we?” 

“We? Don’t drag me into this, Weasley! I was perfectly happy having one drink, but it was you who made me drink bloody Daisyroot Draught! The smell now makes me sick,” you contort your face with disgust as Bill laughs. “I will admit though, I’ve missed you quite a bit,” you confess, playing with the edges of the dish rag in your hands as you look up at Bill.

Slowly, a smile finds its way onto Bill’s lips as your heart flutters gently as his eyes look into yours. He still had the same eyes that you adored so fondly as a child and teen. In his eyes contained all the memories of Hogwarts and late nights and sleepover at the Burrow. His eyes had laughter and joy in them that you so missed during times like this. You missed Bill Weasley. For more than one reason.

“I’ve missed you more than quite a bit,” Bill reveals as you allow heat to rise to your cheeks. “I missed having my partner in crime around. Sneaking into the kitchens and then getting caught by McGonagall,” he recalls.

You laugh, “Stop, and then she asked if she could join us!” The two of you are in hysterics at the memory of eating leftovers and sweets in the kitchens with Minerva McGonagall as third year students, chatting about school and life after Hogwarts. McGonagall had always taken a liking to the two of you. She always said that you two were peas in a pod.

Bill smiles and takes a sip from his whiskey before speaking, “How long are you working tonight? I’d be happy to stay with you until you clock out.”

Your eyes widen and you shake your head, “Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to do that. I’m the closer and we don’t close the bar down until two in the morning.”

With a cheeky smirk, Bill huffs, “Well, we’ve got a lot to catch up on and we got...” he looks at the clock on the wall, “four and a half hours to kill. So, start talking, (Y/N). We’ve got all night,” he speaks, dropping his left eye in a wink as you smile with a blush. 

-----------

For the next four hours, you and Bill caught up on everything. And by everything, you mean everything. His life after Hogwarts sounded much more interesting than what you had been doing to keep busy. Bill had been spending his time as a Curse-Breaker for Gringott’s, going on missions throughout Egypt, coming home to London here and there. You smiled as he recounted his stories with such passion and love in his eyes. It was evident that Bill loved what he was doing and he was sad that he couldn’t continue doing his job, now being stationed back in London at a boring desk job. Quite the downgrade from fighting and defeating mummies to working an office job.

Soon, people were filing out of the bar as closing time approached until it was just you and Bill in the pub. You had moved from standing behind the bar to sitting on a stool next to Bill, leaning on the bar as you listened to his deep baritone voice speak to you. 

Bill placed a hand on your knee, giving it a squeeze. “(Y/N)? Tell me something,” he speaks.

“Anything, Weasley,” you smile at him, sleepily.

Bill chuckles, “Why are you working as a bar maid when you could be going out and doing what you love? Teaching. You’ve always wanted to teach students magic and it doesn’t seem fair that you are parked behind a bar pouring ale and lager to lazy blokes.” You roll your eyes and shake your head. “I’m serious. What’s stopping you?”

You sigh and recount everything that has held you back from doing what you want. First off, no wizarding school in the United Kingdom was hiring any professor right now due to the climate of the wizarding world. The only other option was moving to America and maybe teaching there at Ilvermorny? Maybe Beauxbatons in France? But it wasn’t a guarantee that you could find a job with such little teaching experience under your belt. “Besides the hiring freeze? I have no experience teaching, Bill. Plus, I want to make money for myself right now so I can save it up and move into my own place rather than living in my small flat with a bunch of my mates. The only other jobs are abroad and I do not have that much money to make a move like that. Besides, my whole family is here. My friends. And you’ve just come back now and leaving just seems illogical,” you sigh, knowing that your dream would have to wait.

He shakes his head, “Excuses, excuses.” You shake your head and take a sip from the whiskey that you had poured yourself, the amber liquid warming up your chest and stomach. It tasted like graduation. “If I can teach a year at Hogwarts, then you certainly can. Besides, you were just as good, if not better, than me in Defense Against the Dark Arts. I’m sure they could use your help more than ever right now.”

Looking up at Bill, you see how tender and soft his gaze is on you. He really meant every word he spoke to you with genuine honesty. Looking at Bill now was like looking at someone who you had known forever. He really hadn’t changed one bit. He was witty and kind and smart and sweet. Your Bill. But at the same time, he was different. He had become so mature and ruthless and brave. It was a new Bill, a Bill you could get used to. 

You look down and see that his hand was still placed on your knee. Clearing your throat, you shift in your seat and Bill retracts his hand, digging it into the pocket of his jacket again as you take a sip of your whiskey. “Well,” you start, “I know I would be a better professor than you...I’m better at a lot of things than you,” you tease him as he rolls his eyes. 

“Oh yeah? Do I smell a challenge?” Bill laughs as you shrug. “Ah, ah, don’t start something you can’t finish, sweetheart,” he leans back in his chair, tongue pressed to his cheek as you gulp, the nickname making your palms sweat. “Go on,” he speaks, daring you to challenge him. “You chose.”

Trying to ignore the rapid increase in your heart rate, you swallow hard. “Fine,” you smile before reaching over to the other side of a bar, grabbing a jar filled with a red liquid and multiple bright red cherries. Twisting the cap open, you pluck out two maraschino cherries, one for you and one for Bill. “I can tie a cherry stem with my tongue faster than you can,” you smirk, flirtatiously biting the cherry of its stem as Bill’s eyes widen and he gulps, shifting in his seat.

He clears his throat, “Yeah? How much you wanna bet?” 

You think for a moment, trying to find a wager that would make this worth your while. “If I win, you pick up the tab from tonight,” you smile.

“I thought this was all on the house?” he scoffs with a smirk.

“Not if you lose,” you sing song, making him roll his eyes. “And Albert told me about a new worker at Gringott’s. Fleur Delacour? Yeah, you’ve gotta ask her out on a date,” you smirk. 

Bill’s eyes widen. “Fleur?!” he exclaims with a laugh. “She’s my co-worker! Plus, we’re just friends. Nothing’s there,” he reasons as you shake your head.

You laugh, “Well those are my terms if I win. Gotta get you out on the dating field, Weasley.” You tease him as he smirks, looking down at the whiskey glass in his hands. “And if you win?”

He thinks for a moment, swirling the whiskey around and around in his glass, pondering what his terms would be. Bill bites the cherry off the stem as you watch his lips move carefully, like you were in a trance of some kind. You quickly shake it off, trying to keep yourself from getting distracted by him. “If I win,” Bill huffs, “then first of all, the drinks are on the house. Second, you’ll have to stop by the Burrow because once Mum hears that you’re in London, she’ll have a cow,” he laughs as you giggle. Molly Weasley, what an angel. “And third of all,” he speaks, leaning forward on his elbows so he’s closer to your face as you inhale sharply, “I’ll ask whoever the fuck I want on a date.”

Your heart stops for a moment as your whole body tingles as the words all from his lips. You can’t take your eyes off of his you are frozen. Bill smirks at your reaction before slowly leaning back in his chair, biting down softly on his lower lip as you gulp. “O-Okay then,” you manage to make out, trying to reorient yourself as Bill chuckles. “Count of three?” you speak before placing the cherry stem in your mouth as Bill does his. “One...two...three.”

With that, the two of you start twisting your tongue around the cherry stem, trying to tie it before the other could. Your heart is racing a mile a minute and your stomach is doing flips as your mind is screaming what the hell is going on. The entire time Bill doesn’t take his eyes off of you, staring into yours. The act felt so inherently sexual that you could feel your palms sweat and a second heartbeat between your thighs grow. This was a terribly good idea. 

You can feel the cherry stem in your mouth finally slip into a knot as your eyes widen in victory, hand flying up to your mouth so you can show Bill the work you have done. As you hand reaches your lips, Bill’s fingers slyly pull his cherry stem out of his mouth just mere milliseconds before you. “I win,” he speaks.

“You cheated!” you instantly accuse him, pointing your finger at him.

Bill chuckles, “How did I cheat? I won fair and square and you know it, you sore loser.”

You shake your head, “I clearly won, you saw me! You had to have cheated, just so you could get free whiskey out of it!” Bill just shakes his head and grabs your chair, pulling you closer to him as you fail to notice as you keep rambling nervously. “Admit it, Bill, you just don’t like to admit that you’re not Hogwarts’ golden child anymore. You’ve out grown that title. Step aside for the new winner which is me, of course. You know I won, come on, Bill. I def-”

“(Y/N)?” he asks softly.

You realize that you are mere inches away from Bill now, his hands resting on either side of your stool. You inhale slowly and gulp, trying to calm yourself down to prepare for the inevitable. “Yes, Bill?” you respond just as softly.

“Shut up,” he whispers with a smile.

“Okay.”

Without further hesitation, Bill leans forward and connects your lips together as you inhale deeply, kissing him back and wrapping your arms around his neck instantly. Bill’s hands slide around your sides before hoisting you onto the bar, him standing between your legs as he kisses you deeper. You wrap your legs around his torso, drawing him closer to you, needing to feel his body pressed against yours. His lips move against yours with deep desire that he had been saving for so long and finally, you both were getting what you wanted for so long. His mouth tasted of the whiskey as you took more and more of it, drunk off of his kiss. 

His hands held onto you tightly, not daring to let you go as you lightly moaned into his lips, making him smirk. Bill’s tongue was cool against yours as he massaged yours with his, snogging you right in the middle of the bar. Your mouths moved together, lusting after the other’s touch. You hands ran down his chest and his abs as he groaned gently into your mouth, making your stomach flutter as you smirked softly. Bill’s hand cupped your cheek before making its way to the back of your neck, pressing your lips harder against his. 

You wanted to take him in this pub just like this, but Bill pulls away before you can push off his jacket. The two of you are breathless from kissing, chest heaving up and down, a smile on both of your faces as you blush a wild crimson. “You win,” you surrender to Bill who chuckles.

“I always win, sweetheart,” he winks before kissing you again, this time short as you whine when he pulls away. “And since I won, that means that this whiskey,” he points to his glass, “is on the house, you’ll be joining the Weasley’s for Sunday dinner, and on Monday night, you’ll be taking the night off so I can take you out on a proper date rather than just snogging on the bar of the pub,” he speaks as you laugh.

You run your fingers through his hair, “You mean you do like snogging me on the bar?” you tease him.

Bill furrows his brows, “Hey, hey, slow your roll. Don’t put words in my mouth now.” You laugh, placing your hands on his shoulders. “There’s nothing I’d rather do than snog you in every location of his pub,” he winks as you roll your eyes. “But I reckon a girl like you should be taken out on a proper date by a bloke like me, eh?” 

Pressing a chaste kiss to his lips, you speak against them, “It’d be my honor.”

“Wicked,” he smirked, giving your sides a squeeze before hoisting you down from the bar. “How about you lock this place up and I’ll walk you back to your flat. Can’t have precious cargo like you roaming the streets alone,” he speaks with a gentle tap on your bum as you roll your eyes.

You shove his shoulder teasingly, “Hey, just because you came back from Egypt, Mr. Big Shot, doesn’t mean you make my decisions for me.” Bill chuckles as you smile, “But yeah, I’ll let you walk me home, Weasley.”

[amindofstone]

Jolly sailor

{

a/n: Dream a little dream with me and imagine. Imagine Luffy being able to save Ace and him making it out of the Marineford. Imagine him taking Whitebeards place as the captain and keeping the crew together. Now imagine...

Words: 5164 (I´m sorry my fingers didn´t stop typing.)

Genre: anime imagine?

Warnings: Maybe grammar or spelling mistakes. (I genuinely apologize. English is not my mother tongue and I´m really trying to improve. So please be so kind and have mercy)

Character(s): Portgas D. Ace x reader (Serena)

Info: For better reading keep in mind that the words in italic are Serenas (readers) train of thoughts. And the words put between a note “” are the lyrics of the song “Jolly Sailor Bold” I was inspired by.

!!! Please do not steal my idea or work. Credit me if this is shared or published in any other platform or any other way. This took me a lot of time. So please respect me as the writer and my work. Piczure is not mine. Credits to the rightful owner (Twitter: @tsuyomaru1a). !!!

}

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“Mommy?”, said the boy sitting at the dining table, while trying to focus on his drawing. Serena, the mother of the boy with the raven black hair hummed in response without looking up from her painting. “Where you ever at the Grand Line or the New World?”, Serena who was painting the person that appeared in her dreams last night, stopped in her tracks and looked at the direction the little boy was sitting at. The question of her son caught her by surprise what made her look at him quite dumbfounded. “Ehm… Dear, where did that question come from now?”, she asked while she put her brush aside. The little boy who still wasn´t looking up shrugged his shoulders and gave an answer what could also have been that from his father. “Probably somewhere from the corner of my brain.”, he answered and looked his mother in the eyes. He knew that his way of talking resembled that of his father a lot what always surprised his mother when he talked because he rarely was home, but still he managed to sound like him. So every time he said something his father also could have said, his mother would stop doing whatever she was busy with at the moment and just stare at him with the same loving eyes she looked at his father. And every time she did so, he always tried to never miss the sight of that, because it made him proud to see that he could make his mother happy with such a simple thing.

“Well yes, I grew up on an island on the Grand Line until my teenage years. After I turned 20 I guess I ended up somewhere in the New World where I also met your father. But you already know that so why ask me that?”, Serena slowly approached her son and sat down next to him. Her son Faun, who seemed to be thinking about something deeply, put his pen down and intended to ask another question when he stopped himself by putting his small hand over his mouth. The little gesture made the brunet haired woman next to him laugh. Faun was now slowly looking back to his mothers face and tried to form a proper sentence. “May I.. ehm.. ask you some questions about… well about… you and… dad?”, although the young boy knew that his mother did not like talking about her past he always wanted to know so much about her. He always tried to ask her some questions but she somehow always managed to get out of those situations by changing the topic or making him forget what he wanted from her. Even now he had no hope of hearing her tell him her and his dad’s story. He was about to apologize and get back to his drawing when she took him in her arms and left her atelier behind. “Mom? Where are we going?”, asked the confused little boy. But Serena just smiled at him lovingly and kept walking. When she did not reply to him he decided to keep quiet and see what´s going to happen. Little did he know that she was going to tell him the story he always wanted to hear. Serena walked into her bedroom and placed her usually talkative son on the bed she slept on alone for the last eight months. Sitting on his mother’s bed, Faun was following her steps with his eyes. While she was busy taking a box out of her closet. After taking the box out of its place she closed the doors to her closed and walked back to her son and sat down next to him on the bed that seemed to be bigger than usually since she slept alone on it.

“Tell me Faun. I do know that you saw pictures of me when I was younger but did you ever saw a picture of your father when he was younger or a child?”, the Question caught the ten years old boy by surprise what made him blink a few times. But he quickly pulled himself together and shook his head a bit to fast. She gave him a loving smile and went through his raven black hair. “In that case I´ll start telling you something about your father with some pictures of him and that of some others. Alright?”, the look the incredibly beautiful boy gave her was worth to be photographed but she did not dare to leave him just to go and get a camera so she just took him in her arms and kissed his cheek while laughing. “You have pictures of Dad, when he was younger?! Wow! Was he good looking? Was he as muscular as he is now?”, curiosity rolled over Serena’s son what made him ask one question after another. It took him a while until she could calm him down and make him focus on what she is going to tell him so she took her time and let him talk for a while. While he did so she couldn´t stop thinking about his father, her husband. The man who stole her heart, her mind and her soul.

A man every person feared and respected at the same time. A man whose story was spread around the world like that of a tale. Whose story was seen as that of a hero who also played the villain at the same time. The name of that man is well known. A tale with a title that can create any kind of emotions when read. A title made of just a name. A name that was and forever will be the cause of her racing her heart and trembling hands. A name that was engraved in her heart and carried by her soul with so much love and passion that it caused her pain. A name that was always on her mind. Portgas D. Ace.

I wonder how he is doing right now. Is he alright? Is he hurt? Is he getting enough sleep?

“Mom? Is everything ok?”, Serena got lost in her thoughts thinking about the man who promised her to come see her every four months and forgot that she had her son sitting in front of her. “Mom is everything alright? You look sad. Did I upset you?”, the huge smile that was lingering on the plum red lips of her son was now gone. Serena knew that Faun was not the child he used to be. A little boy she could trick with a smile or by changing the topic. He no longer was the naïve boy he used to be. He was a mature 10 years old boy. For her taste even to mature but Luffy said that he is just like Ace himself. He told her stories about him as a 10 years old boy who was also really mature for his age and who did things she could never think of.

🎼 Upon one summer's morning, I carefully did stray. Down by the Walls of Wapping, where I met a sailor gay. 🎼

Faun was about to call his mother again when she took a deep breath and started to speak in a soft calm voice. A voice that was so beautiful that could make any person weak in their knees. Her voice what was one of the many things Ace fell in love with.

“It was a calm and warm morning on the island I was living in at that time.”, Faun was taken aback for a second but quickly understood that she was telling him what he always wanted to hear. So he sat back and listened. “It was a huge island but not many people lived there. There was a small village of probably just 100 people. They were really nice people. Each of them was friendly and respectful, with caring and funny personalities. I loved them from the bottom of my heart. As you know my beloved Faun, I am half mermaid but they never judged me because of that. I fact they never made me feel out of place. They helped me and my father every day. They brought me my favorite sweets, my fathers favorite dishes and clothes for the both of us. When my mother came visiting us they would treat her like any other person on the island. They loved me and my small family so much that they even where ready to fight for us when one of the most strongest pirates stopped at the island and asked for my father. It was really funny because my father knew the pirates but they still were suspicious and didn´t trust them a bit. When my father invited some of them to our house the women of the village would come and literally drag me out of my house and keep me in theirs until they left.”, the memories of the village and the time she spend there made her emotional. She missed all of them. They turned in just a short period into her family. A family that loved her more than she ever deserved.

“Now guess who those pirated were my father knew?”, Faun did exactly was his mother asked him to do. He thought and came up with a bunch of famous pirate names but each time she said no. When he looked at his mother with a mad and frustrated sigh, a chuckle left her and she sat her son in between her legs and placed a kiss on his head. “It were the Whitebeard pirates, who are now called …”, before she could finish the sentence her son finished it with big eyes filled by amazement. “… the White Fire pirates. Grandpa knew Whitebeard?! But how?”, Serena smiled at her son and opened the box she previously took out of her closet. The box was filled with different pictures. Some by people he instantly recognized and some by people he didn´t knew. “My father was part of the Whitebeard crew and was in the fifth division. And what made this division so special was that it was called the swordsmen division. And yes. Before you start to freak out again, Grandpa is a swordfighter.”, it only took a second for the boy to lose control over himself again and to start jumping around out of excitement. “Oh Mother! You have to tell me more! Why did you never said that Grandpa was so awesome?!”, a small giggle left Serena before she took her sons hand in hers and sat him down in front of her again. “Father was an amazingly strong pirate and on top of that a good man. That´s why he was so loved by the village.”, Serena took out a picture of her father when he was in his forties and Serena just 19. Faun looked at the picture with an open mouth and talked without thinking. A habit he had from Ace. “No offense but he looks older than he is now on the picture. How can one look so old? And no wonder dad fell in love with you. You were beautiful! But now you are even more beautiful. Don´t tell dad but you even look better than him. Just a bit though!!”, the words that left the young boys mouth made Serena laugh. How come he is so much like his father when he´s barely home and with us?

“You really need to stop telling him that he looks so old. Otherwise he won´t come see us anymore.”, Serena let Faun still look at the pictures of her and her father when she took out a picture of Ace as a young man in the age of just 20.

🎼 Conversing with a young lass, who seem'd to be in pain. Saying, William, when you go I fear you'll ne'er return again. 🎼

“The day they came to our island was not one to be happy. It was a sad reunion between my father and the pirates. A lot of their crew mates where hurt and some of them were even close to death. They needed help and a new captain. One of those who were about to die was your father my dear Faun. Uncle Marco who is the commander of the first division was worried to death because he couldn´t help him. He was just able to keep him alive while he was in coma. And this is when I meet him for them first time. Badly injured and with a weakly beating heart that threatened to stop keeping him alive. My father called me and convinced me to heal him since I ate from a devil fruit that gave me the ability to heal people. Marco and the other commanders talked to me and promised me to give me anything I wanted when I would promise them to heal Ace. Their friend, their commander and the man they would die for.”. the memories of Ace when he was close to death made her realize how worried she was about him now. Ace, who was now her husband. He should have been here four months ago. He should have came and see her and their son but he didn´t came. He did not reply to any of her letters in the last two months. Her heart clenched with the thought of him getting hurt and she started to cry. “Mom? Why are you crying?”, She didn´t wanted her son to see her cry and make him worried. She didn´t wanted him to lose hope in his father and the promise that he´ll come see them again. So she wiped her tears away and smiled. “It´s just that I miss my old hometown. It’s nothing serious.”, Faun hugged his mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “No need to be sad. When dad comes home we can ask him how Grandpa is doing because he always visits him whenever he comes back home. Now please stop crying and show me your smile. I want to see your dimples and kiss them just like dad does whenever you’re sad!” Ace. Just know that although you might not be here with me and although I am left alone with my longing for you and the painful emptiness in my heart caused by your absence, the presence of our son takes all of that away from me.

Serena gave her son the smile he asked her to show him and instantly got showered with kisses. “Are you feeling better Mom? If not I give you more kisses and hug you for hours just like a koala does a tree. No wait. I hold onto you like a sloth holds onto a tree! Yes that´ll do for sure. Wait no! Sloths aren´t cute though….”, the adorable nonsense her son talked managed to make her laugh again. Marco was right; although father and son are not always together they are alike. Even to the point Faun sometimes looks like Ace´s clone. “Now what happened next? Please tell me more.”, Serena nodded and showed him more pictures.

🎼 My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold. There is nothing can console me, but my jolly sailor bold. 🎼

“It took us a long time until all of the men were healthy again. But it took us the most making sure Ace was back to his normal state. Although he had the power of the fire fruit it took a long time until he was fully healthy. That caused a lot of them to be worried since they planned to make him to their new captain at that time.”, Serena showed Faun pictures of some of the Commanders and Ace when he suddenly said something that made her blush. But as quickly as the pink shade crept up her cheeks as quickly did it also leave and that only because of the words of her little boy. “That’s a great story but how did you and dad fall in love? Can you tell me that? Uncle Marco told me that Dad is the main cause of any problem they have and a risky captain. He never backs off from any fight, what I also do and forever will but compared to him you are his total opposite. You are calm and he is loud. He is ready to take risks you try to avoid anything that is close to being a bit difficult. It´s like a normal civilian and a princess that ended up as a couple. How did you to end up marring?”, Serena looked at his son with an unreadable gaze lingering upon her. She was shocked by his words but also in the verge of laughing out loud. At the end she wasn´t able to keep her laughter in and started to laugh. While she was holding her stomach from the pain her son was looking at her with an emotionless face. “What did I say?”, with a slightly tilted head the green eyed boy was looking up at his mother with confusion written all over his face. “Oh dear!”, Serena wiped the tears away that fell on her cheeks before she started to talk again. “I do understand what you mean but don´t you know the saying opposites attracts? But going honest I have to admit that it did take us both a while before we actually understood that we had feelings for each other. In those weeks where I took care of him and his crew while they decided on how to start all over again as pirates, I started to get happy whenever he was around me. I turned into the happiest living being whenever he called me or asked me for a favor. Whenever he needed anything I was the first one to go get that. No matter what it was. I loved him but I couldn´t believe it at the beginning until he and his crew left the island. Days and nights passed and I got sadder whenever I saw something that reminded me of him. I couldn´t sleep. I couldn´t eat. I was lost and felt empty. I was restless and somehow just existing. One day I got a letter. The envelop had just my name on it and nothing else. But somehow I still knew that is was from your father. The letter itself had no actual beginning nor and ending. The content of the letter wasn´t anything special but still made me more than just happy. If any other person would have read it they would have been disappointed and wouldn´t think about it. They even would have called it unnecessary and nonsense. But to me it was more than that. It was special because it made me feel like he thought about me and the time he was on the island. You know what made it so special was that fact that he started his writing where our talking ended before he left. This was the beginning of us getting closer. The love I had for him, the sentence anyone who was in love would have probably said hundreds of times never left my mouth nor had a place in my letters for him. He on his side did also never mention those three magical words. I don´t know about him but I was way to scared to say it out loud or write it down. I was scared that he might not feel the same and just see me as a good friend. But my heart was telling me otherwise. I was always praying to read those three words in one of his letters but never was disappointed when he did not write it down. Getting those letters and writing mine for him was a feeling I could never explain. I was filled by pure joy and love whenever I read his letters or wrote for him.”, Serena talked and talked. She told him anything she could think of while her heart was racing and her eyes were fixed on her hand with the ring he proposed to her. She remembers all those little moments with him. All those months and years of her crying over him. She remembers all those restless nights filled by the pained sobs that left her, accompanied by her aching and longing heart. She didn´t realized but while the memories of the man she would die for slowly made their way back to her mind a single tear fell down her cheek what made her realize how much she missed him and his touch. His voice calling her name and his laugh that would always light up her days.

🎼 His hair it hangs in ringlets, his eyes as black as coal. My happiness attend him wherever he may go. 🎼

Serena knew that she shouldn´t be crying in front of Faun so she kept the pain and the tears that threaded to fall back for later. But still she missed his presence more than ever. Eight months passed and he did not come back home. He should have been back four months ago. She should be getting letters from him every one or two weeks but nothing came. She was worried to death and couldn´t bear the pain anymore. She was scared of losing him. She was sacred to open the newspaper and read an article about his death. She wanted him to quit being a pirate and do whatever Garp would tell him. She wanted him to be save. Save, happy and at home. But she knew that his happiness is not only made of her and their son but also by sailing and being the free man he always wished to be. He wanted to be just like the man who saved him and gave him a reason to live. The man he called father from the bottom of his heart. The man he owns his life. She knew her wish of him being with her was selfish. She knew that she was selfish for wanting him to quit being a pirate but what else could she do? She was scared to death. She wanted him to be next to her. Somewhere she could take care of him and hold him. Kiss him and tell him how much she loved him. How much he meant to her. He was her life. The reason why she kept living. The reason she woke up every morning. He was the reason of her happiness.

But she put everything aside and let him be. She let him do whatever he wanted to do. She let him do whatever his heart desired and made him happy. Just so she could see him smile. He deserved it. He deserves to be happy and loved. He suffered enough in his life and deserves to be carefree now.

🎼 From Tower Hill to Blackwall. I'll wander, weep and moan. All for my jolly sailor until he sails home. 🎼

Faun was looking at a picture that showed his mother and his father at their wedding that was held on the main flagship of the White Fire Pirates, when he realized that his mother stopped talking. He looked at her and followed her gaze that was lingering upon her hand with her wedding ring. He saw her eyes that were filled with tears and was irritated since her lips were showing a beautiful smile. He wanted to say something and console her but he knew that he should not do anything since it might make it even worse. He knew that if he started consoling her by telling her that father was alright she might lose it all and break down. He knew his mother well. She was a soft hearted woman with a heart of gold. Although she was a strong woman with admirable fighting abilities she still was a woman in love after all. He remembers his Grandfather telling him that no matter how strong a person is. When they’re in love their strength can´t save them from the pain love brings. Faun was lost.

He didn´t wanted his mother to cry. When he asked her to tell him something about his father he didn´t wanted her to cry. He felt bad and started to tear up. Guilt took over him and he started to shed tears. “I´m sorry mother! I made you cry. I made you think about your past. I´m sorry.”, the son of the emperor was now hugging his mother while apologizing over and over again. “No my dear. It is not your guilt. And who says that I´m crying? See I´m all good. There is nothing to feel bad about. Hear me out. It it getting late. How about we get ready for bed? I tell you more about your father some other day. Alright?”, Faun who was still hugging his mother just nodded while soft sobs left him. The pained mother took her sons face in her hands and put a kiss on his forehead with a smile on her lips. She took his hand in hers and led him into the bathroom and prepared him for the night. And just like any other night she started to sing his favorite song. Usually Faun would never dare to make her stop since it calmed him down and made him feel loved and special. But tiday was different. There was a question lingering on his mind he needed an answer to. So he called for the woman he loved the most and made her stop singing to him not even half way through the song. “Mom I have a question. Is dad alright? Will he ever come back?”, when Serena thought that nothing’s going to worsen the pain in her chest her own flesh and blood proved her wrong. It took her a lot of courage and strength to put on a bright smile and answer him with a stabile and confident voice. “Of course he is doing fine. He is Fire fist Ace after all, isn´t he? And why shouldn’t he come back home? There is no reason to think that. Your father loves you more than anything on this planet. Believe it or not but he loves you even more than he loves Uncle Luffy or Uncle Sabo.”, the words of the half mermaid made the young boys sad face turn into a bright happy one with a huge smile upon his lips. “Thank you mother. Could you maybe continue with the song? I really love hearing it before falling asleep.”, Serena who was laying down next to her son nodded and continued singing the song not only he loved but also his father.

“My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold. There is nothing can console me but my jolly sailor bold. My father is a merchant, the truth I now will tell and in great London City in opulence doth dwell. His fortune doth exceed 300,000 gold and he frowns upon his daughter, who loves a sailor bold. A fig for his riches, his merchandise and gold. True love has grafted my heart, give me my sailor bold. My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold. There is nothing can console me but my jolly sailor bold. Should he return in pov'rty from o'er the ocean far to my tender bosom, I'll press my jolly tar. My sailor is as smiling as the pleasant month of May. And often we have wandered through Ratcliffe Highway. Many a pretty blooming young girl we did behold. Reclining on the bosom of her jolly sailor bold. My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold. There is nothing can console me but my jolly sailor bold”

Soft snores could be heard what signalized her that the little man she was singing to was now fast asleep. With a last kiss put on his head and a softly whispered “Goodnight my little treasure.”, she left his room and closed the door as soundless as possible. Her atelier she was working on before was still not cleaned up so she made her way back to her beloved work place and started to clean everything up. The song she sang her son before was not finished yet so she began singing where she stopped.

“My name it is Serena a merchant's daughter fair. And I have left my parents and three thousand pounds a year. Come all you pretty fair maids. Who ever you may be. Who love a jolly sailor that plows the raging sea. While up aloft in storm from me his absence mourn. And firmly pray arrive the day he's never more to roam. My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold. There is nothing can console me but my jolly sailor bold”, usually she would now repeat the song since it ended but the sight that life offered her did not only made her stop in her tracks but also made her drop anything she had in her hands. “I´m not sure if the original owner of this song would be really fond of hearing you change the name Maria with your own. I mean, it does sound beautiful but still, I´m just saying.”, Serena did not know what to do. She was overwhelmed with the situation and could not believe what she was seeing. A few minutes ago she was talking about him and lost hope of ever being able to see him again. She told her mind a few days ago that it shall stop hurting her more and forget him. But now she felt like she did not only betray herself but also him, who was now standing in front of her in all his glory. “Ace?”, tears she kept in all these day couldn´t be hold back anymore and made their way out. One after another wetted her cheeks and made her vision get blurry. She couldn´t believe what she was seeing. She told herself that he is not real but rather a trick played by her heart, mind and soul. She told herself to stop crying since he was not here with her. She told herself that her husband was somewhere in the New World and that she should stop crying, when the person who was the cause of all of her pain came closer and gave her a reassuring hug. As if he knew that she couldn´t believe her eyes and wanted her to believe. He wanted her to believe in him and his person that was truly standing in front of her. “Ace?”, she looked up in his eyes with tears still falling down his cheeks. “Love, I´m home.”, not knowing what to do himself the emperor placed his lips on those of his wives with the hope to get rid of the pain in his chest that accompanied him all those lonely night.

[annoyed-galaxy]

One Moment at Sea

Welp no shame. This is pretty old, but some nice bonding moment between Sparrow and Reaver cause why not. Posted this on AO3 so feel free to read it over there as well but I'll also post it here cause why not.

What was she doing here honestly? Out on the seas in Reaver’s stupid prototype ship. No sails, it only ran off of steam produced by coal that would turn some device propelling the ship forward. Honestly though, this could barely pass as a ship. It was barely bigger than a fishing boat. Sparrow guessed it made sense since Reaver had never tried this out before and there was no point in spending a lot of money on something that wasn’t going to work. So far, it was doing pretty good.

Sparrow was actually impressed. She didn’t take Reaver to be an inventor. But knowing him, he probably stole some of these ideas from someone else and just had the money to actually make it. Sparrow kind of didn’t care. It was pretty peaceful. She stood at the front of the boat, leaning against the railing watching the water part in front of her. There was no land around them, just the open sea. It did make her slightly nervous to be around so much water with no land.

Still, it was the most peace she had gotten ever since...well since she was born. It was kind of sad that this was the only time she had ever experienced peace within her life.

“Enjoying the view?” a voice came from behind her.

Well. Peace ruined.

Sparrow looked over her shoulder at Reaver who was wiping soot off his face. “What were you doing?” she asked.

“Oh well, turns out the coal will run out. So unfortunately I had to shovel more into the engine. Now I’m all dirty,” Reaver complained looking down at his clothes.

Sparrow rolled her eyes and motioned to the open water around them. “You have an endless source of water to clean your clothes,” she snorted.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Reaver rolled his eyes. He joined her at the front of the boat and leaned against the railing. His arm brushed against hers, but she didn’t move.

“Please tell me this thing will get us back to Albion,” Sparrow clucked looking around. “We got this far and there is no longer any sort of land in sight.”

Reaver chuckled. “Of course it will get us back. I calculated how much coal we would need to power this lovely thing and got a little extra. Besides, due to its size, it’s not going to consume much.”

“Yeah about that,” Sparrow started. She pointed behind her to where the wheel was. It was on a deck above what she had assumed was the one and only quarter on this floating hell. There was also a small trapdoor that led to the “engine”. “Why is there only one quarter?” she asked.

Reaver smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Well, to save on space obviously,” he drawled. “Besides, you don’t mind sharing a bed with me anymore do you?”

A blush spread across Sparrow’s face. They hadn’t engaged in any sexual activity, but they had slept in the same bedroll when traveling on the road when it was too cold one night. She had hated that night. Reaver had no problem snuggling up to her, but she was annoyed. Mainly annoyed because she had liked it when he held her. Liked it when had nuzzled his face into her neck. Ever since, they had shared a bed only twice due to similar reasons. Or when there was only one inn room left and it was too small for him to sleep on the floor. She had really hated being in the same bed as him because when he had held her, she didn’t push him away.

A thumb stroking her cheek pulled her out of her thoughts. She blinked a couple times and saw Reaver looking at her with a smile on his face. She frowned, but did not slap his hand away. “Can I help you?” she muttered.

Reaver didn’t say anything, he just moved in closer and brought his other arm around her back. He pulled her into him. Sparrow’s blush deepened and she froze. Part of her screamed to push him away and off overboard, but another part wanted to lean into him.

“Has anyone ever told you you are beautiful?” Reaver said suddenly, his eyes scanning her face. Sparrow had never realized how blue his eyes were before.

“Only when they were trying to get in my good graces or just wanted to throw a random compliment at me,” she grumbled.

“No one has told you sincerely?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. The hand on her cheek moved to her chin.

“N-no,” Sparrow stammered really hating how she liked him now caressing her lips.

“Well, I think despite everything you’ve been through, you are still absolutely gorgeous,” he whispered. “Stunningly breathtaking. I have never met someone as interesting as you Sparrow. You intrigue me so much that I don’t want to let you go.”

“Is that why you kept me around trying to keep me alive?” Sparrow breathed, her breath almost hitching as Reaver leaned in closer.

“Yes,” he replied plainly. “I don’t want to lose my source of entertainment.” He smirked as he said that. Sparrow had half the mind the punch him, but she was still frozen. He was so close their breaths mingled. “I find it interesting how you claim to hate me, yet I have gotten this close and you haven’t punched me or pushed me away,” Reaver chuckled. It seems he had noticed that she was paralyzed and how she liked being held by him.

“What’s the point of fighting you?” Sparrow murmured, looking away. She put her hands on his chest, but she didn’t push.

“So what would you do if I kissed you?” he whispered, gripping her chin with his thumb and forefinger and forcing her to look back at him. She was one hundred percent positive that her entire face was red, even the blue Will lines that traveled across her skin could be red with how much she was burning up.

Again, part of her screamed no, but another part of her really did want him to kiss her. He had kissed her only once and that was right after the balverines had attacked her. But that had been just a small peck on the lips that lasted only a couple seconds. It was right before he offered his proposition to her. It had been a crazy year since then, but now she was on the open sea, in his arms with him literally just centimeters away from her lips asking what she would do if he kissed her.

She looked at his eyes but they were on her lips. Only when he realized she was looking at him did he look up. Sparrow had never really looked into his eyes before. They matched the ocean around them.

Her lips parted just slightly and Reaver took notice as his eyes darted back to her lips.

He took it as an invitation.

Sparrow was overcome with so many emotions when Reaver had finally closed the gap and put his lips on hers. Sparrow closed her eyes and hated how her hands moved from his chest to the back of his neck pulling him closer to her. Reaver took that as another invitation and his tongue broke through her lips. Sparrow was lost in bliss as their tongues danced together. Reaver’s arms moved right above her bottom and he pulled her closer. Their bodies were now touching and their mouths were ravishing each other. Sparrow hated how much she loved this.

Reaver had pulled away from the kiss, but he went to her neck immediately with kisses. They had turned so that Sparrow’s back was against the railing. She tilted her head back as Reaver left delicate kisses on her neck. Then her body lit up when he dragged his tongue from the bottom of her neck to her chin. Her breathed hitched and she really hated how it did.

“I didn’t think you’d allow this, Sparrow,” Reaver breathed, his mouth by her ear now.

Sparrow groaned. “Shut up.”

Reaver chuckled, but went back to placing kisses on her throat. As he was kissing her, his hands traveled down her back and cupped her bottom. She had gasped when he pulled her against him, but by some weird instinct, she wrapped her legs around him. Reaver chuckled and pulled away from her neck just to kiss her again. Sparrow’s fingers dug into his hair, messing it up, as their kiss became more and more fiery.

She hated this so much. Hated how much she loved it. Hated the taste of him. Hated how she felt in his harms. She hated everything about this, but that’s what made it better. They broke apart and were panting. Sparrow’s hands moved to Reaver’s cheeks and she just looked at him. She hated how she was falling for such a selfish asshole.

“Tell me one thing Reaver,” she whispered, caressing the heart mole on his cheek, “did you ever care about anyone before? And I mean at all.”

Reaver raised an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

“Because the way I see it, there was someone you used to love,” Sparrow whispered. “And you lost them. And to make yourself never feel that pain ever again, you isolated yourself and pushed anyone who got too close away...or well just made sure no one ever got that close.”

Reaver’s mouth parted slightly and Sparrow could see genuine surprise on his face. “W-what makes you say that?” he stammered. Odd. Reaver never stumbled on his words.

Sparrow smiled and slid her thumb across his lower lip. “I found some old journals of yours. I couldn’t read them but I paid someone to read them for me. Don’t worry, I managed to erase their memory so only I know your secrets Reaver.” Sparrow’s smile widened as Reaver’s eyes went wide with shock and disbelief. “You don’t have to say anything. I’ve come to realize that you and I are not so different. We lost people close to us and went about that loss in very different ways. You didn’t want to die so you made a deal to live forever. I wanted vengeance but when I found it and lost my purpose, I didn’t want to live anymore. Somehow, I just think that makes us work well together. You don’t have to call it love cause I know you’d claim to be above such feeling, but I just think this was meant to be. At least for a time.”

The entire time she spoke, her thumb ran across Reaver’s lip and her other hand played with a strand of his hair. “Now would be the time to dump me in the ocean and leave,” Sparrow added, her tone suddenly becoming darker. “Or do you sincerely want to keep me?”

Reaver was too stunned to really say anything. Sparrow managed to say things that resurfaced old dark feelings he had refused to acknowledge ever again. She read him like an open book. It made him...nervous. But she was right. He hated to admit it, but he was actually caring for her, beyond her entertainment value. He loved seeing her yell at him, loved seeing her get feisty when people refused to back down, loved seeing her fight. Most of all, he loved it when she kissed him back. When she doesn’t push him away. They were no strangers to giving themselves away to other men and women, but he didn’t think they had ever felt so right in each other’s arms.

He knew he should stop. If he opened his heart again, he knew it would break. Sparrow already gave her life away for him. It wouldn’t be long before she started to wither away. After all, when he saw her on the beach a year later after she made the sacrifice, her hair had turned almost completely white. He knew he shouldn’t let her in, but he couldn’t stop himself. She was too intriguing for him. If he could just ignore the fact that she’d be gone in a few years, everything would be alright.

“Sparrow,” Reaver finally spoke up. “I will never let you go because you are mine. And I don’t like losing what’s mine,” he declared. It was the closest thing Sparrow would ever get to some sort of declaration of love from him, but for some reason, she liked this much better.

She smiled. “Then don’t let me go. Keep me here in this world for just a little while longer.” For once ever since defeating Lucien, she felt at peace, happy. She moved to kiss him and he met her halfway. The loss of Rose would forever haunt her, but she now knew she wasn’t alone anymore. She would stay as long as Reaver kept her here. However, she knew to keep her heart guarded. There was no telling whether or not Reaver would stay true to his word or cast her aside.

But she let herself believe that maybe he would keep her for as long as she lived. When they shared the bed this time, Sparrow let herself cuddle close to Reaver. It was going to be a rocky road from here on out, but she didn’t care. It gave her a new purpose.

[heyyyharry]

Chapter 6: Crooked House

(from ‘The Winter and The Crown’)

…in which Harry and Y/N find a house in the middle of nowhere.

Word count: 5k

AU: queen!y/n, commander!harry

Description: Y/N and Harry set off on a new adventure to find ‘the cure’ for an ancient curse, meanwhile, the enemies are plotting to take her kingdom.

Wattpad link (Reyna as Y/N)

ANNOUNCEMENT: 

I’ve been so busy this week and I have an exam on Friday so there won’t be an update next week :’( Chapter 7 will be posted on Friday, September 11, 2020 on Patreon and Wednesday, September 16, 2020 on Tumblr and Wattpad. Love you guys so much! Thank you for loving this story!

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Y/N woke up recalling Harry pulling her from the river and carrying her back to his horse. She recalled his hands on her skin, him whispering words in her ear to keep her from slipping away. It wasn’t until reality set in, and she found herself completely naked underneath the fur coat, that she knew it wasn’t just a dream.

She’d almost died, and he’d saved her, again.

She propped herself up, her arms shaking. She was in a cave, the horses were there and the fire cast eerie shadows on the walls. Harry was nowhere to be found. She would assume he’d left her here on her own if his sword weren’t lying there by their satchels. Outside, the birds were chirping.

How many days had passed?

She flexed her fingers until the numbness went away, secured the coat around herself and gripped a rock for balance as she got to her feet. Her joints cracked and her head spun a little as though there was still water trapped in the hollows of her ears. She thrust her feet into her boots and followed the faint light to the cave entrance, stepping out into the snow.

Her muscles were weak, and the cold almost knocked her over. She put a hand on the wall for support and was thinking about going back inside when Harry emerged through the white branches, shaking the snow off his hair.

He halted when he saw her. “What are you doing out here?” he asked, crossing the space that separated them. He was holding some dry sticks so he must have left the cave to collect them. “Go back inside. It’s too cold.”

“The air feels good,” she said, blinking slowly. He shook his head, his brows knitted as he rested his hand on her shoulder to spin her around, but she took his wrist. “Just let me stand here for a little while.”

Harry exhaled as he rolled his eyes and his hand fell away from her shoulder. Her pout had worked like a charm. “Do you feel better?”

She nodded and cleared her throat. “How long was I asleep?”

“Three days.” He sighed deeply. “You woke up a few times, but I assume you weren’t aware of it.”

She wrapped her coat tighter around herself then noticed that his eyes flicked away and a bit of colour brightened his cheeks. “I’m sorry,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I had to do it. You were...dying.”

“I understand.” She tried to suppress a smile. It was funny to see him so flustered just from thinking about what had happened. “Thank you for saving my life.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, giving a tight smile. “But...why did you go out on the ice?”

“I thought I saw someone,” she said, trying to recall what had happened. “I think it was just my mind playing tricks on me.” She didn’t fully believe that, as she could have sworn the woman had been real until she wasn’t. Thankfully, Harry didn’t ask more questions about it.

She held onto his arm as they walked back inside the cave. Her legs were still wobbly but she was growing more confident on them. She sat down by the fire, watching him feeding the flame with the sticks he’d collected and fumbling through his satchel for her clothes. He was still blushing when he handed them to her.

“I didn’t...k-know how to put them on for you,” he said timidly. She bit back a smile as he sat down beside her. Before she could thank him, he went on, “We’ll eat and then go back to Isolde, or do you need to rest some more?”

Y/N was taken back. “Go back?”

“Yes.” Harry raised his eyebrows. “We’re on our own and you’re unwell. You need to be returned to the castle.”

“But we’re already here.”

“We’re not very far from the castle.”

“No!” she snapped, making him flinch. “We’re not going back. If you want to go back, go alone.”

“I can’t leave you here.”

“So don’t!”

Harry said nothing, yet the reluctance in his eyes made her feel like bursting into tears. And so she turned away and roughly unfolded her shirt, not sure if she was angry at him or herself.

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“What?” Y/N snapped as Harry kept on staring. “Have you not seen enough?”

He cleared his throat. He was supposed to look away for her to change. She was a queen and he could be beheaded for what he’d done. Though he didn’t know much about royals, he believed she must save herself for marriage, and he of all people should not have been the first man to have seen let alone touched her body.

“I just didn’t expect to see so many scars,” he heard himself say and immediately regretted it as she pulled the giant coat tighter around herself to cover as much skin as possible.

“And what’s wrong with them?” she asked, looking offended.

He shook his head fast, holding up his hands. “No, no, there’s nothing wrong. I only meant to ask if you got them from fighting in battles...”

She cocked her head to the side and gave him the kind of look that made him think she could stab him at any moment. But instead, she slipped her arm out of the coat and showed him the scar on her bicep.

“My brother gave this to me during our duel,” she said. “The cut was so deep they had to stitch it up. I lost so much blood that day that I passed out on the field and Lance had to carry me back to the castle.”

Harry didn’t realize he’d been gawking at it until she let out a breathy laugh and proceeded to show him a few more on her arms and legs. She didn’t go into details about them, only telling him she’d got them during the journey last year.

Harry wished he could remember. He wished he knew how he’d reacted to the things that had happened to her, or if he’d tried his best to protect her, and if he had, he must have failed, because now she was carrying these bad memories on her body, while to him, they didn’t even exist.

“What about the one on your back?” he ventured. And his face turned scarlet when he received a look of shock from her. He hoped it hadn’t sounded like he’d counted all the scars on her body and memorised them while she’d been unconscious. He hadn’t. But he had spent a lot of time watching her sleep.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” he said when she didn’t respond. “I’m sorry for asking…”

Her lips arched at the corners when she met his nervous gaze. Slowly, she reached behind her back to feel the scar he was talking about.

“I got shot trying to save you in the ambush,” she said.

“Oh,” was probably not the best response, but it was all he could manage. She was staring, so he felt like he should say something else. “T-Thank you.”

“Why?” she snorted. “I couldn’t save you.”

“But you tried to.” And never had Harry thought someone would’ve done that for him. But perhaps it was just how the Queen was. Hadn’t she almost died because she’d thought she’d heard someone crying for help in a snowstorm and felt the need to jump off her horse to save the person? Harry didn’t have to get his memory back to know that she had a good heart. But would it do her any good or only bring her more trouble in the future?

He took a deep breath and shook off the thought. It wasn’t his place to question these things.

“Oh, there’s something,” he said as he suddenly remembered. “When you were sleeping, I think you were having bad dreams.”

Her eyes went round. “Oh?”

“You kept saying, ‘Do not take him from me,’ and that you’d find the lake to save someone from dying.”

The subtle change in her expression got Harry feeling anxious.

“This mission isn’t about Calanthe, right?" he asked. "At least that’s not the only reason.”

When her gaze fell to the floor, he knew that he was right.

“The King is sick, isn’t he?”

Her eyes snapped up to meet his. She seemed rather confused.

Harry raised both eyebrows. “You’re looking for the lake to save His Majesty because he’s sick?”

It took her a moment to answer with a gentle dip of her chin.

He thinned his lips and exhaled. “I’m sorry."

“But also for Isolde,” she said, not looking at him. “For Lance and Isolde."

Harry only nodded.

She must really love the King, because as soon as Harry had mentioned his sickness, the light in her eyes had gone out. Harry now felt like an arse for having touched her without their clothes on even though he’d only done it to save her life.

“Would he kill me if he knew we—” He widened his eyes to hint at what had happened. As her cheeks turned pink, he couldn’t help but agree with his past self that the name Peach really did suit her.

“I’m sure he’ll get over it,” she said, her eyes crinkled at the corners.

Harry thought about how lovely she looked when she smiled like that. When she really smiled. But of course, he wasn't going to tell her.

“Will I be invited to your wedding when we get back?" He grinned.

“If we make it back,” she said, lifting her shoulders and pursing her lips.

She looked sad again. And so Harry told himself not to mention the King's sickness until they’d found the lake.

He sat up straight and put on a tight smile. "Are you hungry, Your Majesty?"

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“She’s looking for the lake?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” said the Lord Chancellor.

Calanthe sank back into her chair and rested her chin on her knuckles. The room was so quiet that if there were a fly, she would be able to hear it flapping its wings. All eyes focused on her, waiting for the next thing she said. But it was another voice that broke that undisturbed silence.

“Your Majesty, I have a question.”

Everyone’s attention shifted to the man sitting on Calanthe’s right at the other end of the table. She motioned her hand for him to speak.

“I don’t understand why we haven't invaded the North,” he said. “We’ve got the upper hand now. Their cities are burning and the low courts of Isolde are in chaos. Now their Queen is absent, and the North is like a headless snake. Why do we have to wait when we can just win without a fight?”

Whispers passed around the room as Calanthe took a deep breath and tilted her head. “What’s your name?”

“Brion Warton, Your Majesty.”

“Sir Brion,” she said, lacing her fingers together on the table. “How long have you been serving in my court?”

“Ever since the King died, Your Majesty.”

“That’s not quite long, is it?”

“No, Your Majesty, I–”

“Guards! Seize him!” Two men violently yanked Sir Brion out of his chair, twisted his arms behind his back and forced him onto his knees. Nobody else made a sound as Calanthe gave her guards a dismissive wave. “Take him out of here and cut off his tongue.”

“Your Majesty, please!” cried Sir Brion, but no one dared to speak and ask the Queen to spare his life. Calanthe could see the fear in their eyes as the guards dragged Brion out of the room. They were just glad it wasn’t them.

Calanthe looked to her left and gave the group of men wearing black cloaks a satisfied grin. The Monks seemed proud of her. They were convinced she was the chosen one.

She’d been looked down on her entire life, been called a little girl and a whore, been told that she could not rule a kingdom. Well, look at her now. People feared her, and she had never felt more powerful.

“If you’re planning on staying in my court,” she said loudly, pulling all eyes back to her, “you ought to know that you don’t get to give me ‘advice’ unless I ask for it. And you don’t get to doubt me or question my decisions.” She looked at every single face to make sure they knew that any of them could end up a tongueless fool if they crossed her. “I bet a lot of you have the same question as Sir Brion but are smart enough to not ask it aloud. So I’m going to do you a favour and give you an answer.” She sucked in a breath, sitting up straight. “Y/N has set off to look for The Lake of Tears. No one has ever succeeded. We don’t even know if the lake exists. So chances are she’ll not make it back. That leaves the high court of Isolde for Lance Devanny, The Bastard King of Attwell. It seems like the perfect opportunity for us to take the North, right?”

A frightful silence ensued as people exchanged uncertain glances.

“Wrong!” Calanthe slammed her fist onto the table, startling several of the men. “Lance Devanny is a living saint in Attwell. He’s freed his people from his half-brother’s tyranny and is betrothed to the Queen of the second-largest kingdom. The low courts of Attwell worship him. They’d kiss the ground he walks on. So if we take advantage of this ‘opportunity’ and invade the North, who’s to say that Attwell would not fight for their King? And when the West is against us, so will the East and every living soul in Isolde who’s blindly pledged their loyalty to Y/N. We must be patient and win this war on the battlefield, so all one hundred kingdoms could see that I deserve to be their one true queen.”

With that, she pushed away from the table and got up. Everyone immediately rose from their seats.

“Court dismissed.”

Calanthe took her sceptre from a servant, and without a second glance at any of the frightened faces, she spun on her heels and sauntered out of the room.

A guard ran up to her when she stepped into the corridor. “Your Majesty!”

“Speak.”

“News from the North! They’d survived the snowstorm.”

“They?”

“Y/N and the thief.”

Calanthe lifted an eyebrow. “Good,” she said, a corner of her mouth arched. “If the spirits of the mountain don’t kill her first, we’ll make sure she suffers when she gives us what we want.”

.

.

.

Harry and Y/N had run out of food so they decided to go for a hunt. It was difficult to find prey in the woods during winter. Still, they managed to catch two rabbits and brought them back to the cave. Y/N had done the catching, killing and cooking, and Harry was mostly there for...emotional support.

It was funny how impressed he seemed watching her roast the rabbits on the fire. She felt his eyes on her and had to speak. “We used to do this all the time.”

“We?”

“You and I. Before you went missing, we used to go hunting together.”

“Oh.” His mouth formed a tiny circle, which made her laugh. “So I actually knew how to throw a knife at a rabbit?” he asked.

“No.” She shook her head. “You were also there for emotional support.”

Harry scoffed as he rolled his eyes. “I don’t believe you. You could just tell me anything because I don’t remember.”

“If you don’t want me to manipulate you then you should try to remember,” she said it as a joke but deep down she hoped that he was still trying.

They finished their meal and Y/N had gained enough energy to set off. She waited for Harry to try to talk her out of it. If Lance were here, she knew that he would. But Harry said nothing as he saddled the horses and helped her mount Thunder.

They rode side by side through the forest, the cold settling beneath her skin. She was lost in her thoughts and worries when Harry decided to break the silence between them with a random question. “How did you and the King meet?”

She snorted yet didn’t look at him. “I was betrothed to his brother. Then he killed his brother and I killed mine. Now we’re King and Queen and soon to be married. Happy ending.”

“Wow,” Harry breathed. She didn’t know what to make of that reaction. “Couples who kill together belong together," he said.

She wanted to tell him that it was the exact reason why they belonged together. However, she continued to pretend that she was not interested in having this conversation, just so she wouldn’t end up saying the wrong things.

“Have I told you how I met Kenny?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied flatly.

Harry chuckled. It seemed like he didn’t get the hint that she wasn’t in the mood to chat about their ‘love interests’.

“So,” he went on, “have I told you that I have a sister—”

“I already met your sister, her husband, and your mother.”

This information made Harry shut up for a few seconds before he spoke again. “I was going to say you reminded me of my sister.”

This time, she allowed herself to look at him. His dimples made an appearance as their eyes met.

“Did my family know that I was serving in your court?” he asked.

“Yes. You used to write to them before Calanthe closed the border.”

Harry heaved a sigh of relief, and she could tell it’d been bothering him that he might have left his family without a proper goodbye.

She expected him to drop the conversation now, but then he said, “You know so much about me and I don’t know anything about you.”

“You do,” she said. “You just don’t remember. But if you’d like to be reminded, you can just ask me.”

“Anything?”

She shot him a warning look. “Make sure it’s appropriate.”

“I’ll try.” He smirked and pursed his lips. “Hmm. Let me think.”

And so he spent the next few moments asking her about her childhood, just boring questions about herself. But seeing him so excited and interested in knowing about her made her feel at ease.

They’d lost track of time as the conversations went on and on. They had no idea how long they’d been travelling until they saw a smoke pillar rising from the trees.

Y/N’s chest throbbed as the pictures of the burned village and black corpses flashed through her eyes.

But there was no village here. So where was the smoke coming from?

And so they kept on riding until a small lovely house appeared behind the trees, with its chimney blowing dark smoke into the white cloudless sky.

“Someone lives here?” Harry asked as their horses stopped. “In the middle of nowhere?”

“Probably another witch,” Y/N mumbled, trying not to sound worried despite her wavering voice.

She would suggest that they ignore the house and move on, but they were out of supplies and there might not be small animals for them to hunt as it was getting colder.

After a thorough discussion, they both agreed to walk up to the house and ask for food and water.

To their surprise, the door was left open.

“What are you doing?” Y/N hissed as Harry walked in as if he owned the place. He ignored her and dashed straight toward the fireplace. Taking off his gloves, he sat down and started warming his hands.

“Relax,” he told her with a smirk. “We’ll apologise to the owner when they return.”

Letting go a breath, Y/N timidly stepped in and looked around. The living space was small yet clean and cosy. Everything was made of wood. And in the corner of the room was a table with bread, meat and wine. Harry jumped to his feet as soon as he’d located where the wonderful smell was coming from, but Y/N snatched his coat and pulled him right back before he could make himself too comfortable.

“We’ll just warm up while waiting for the owner to come home,” she said, glaring at him. He heaved a tired sigh, looked regretfully at the food before returning to his previous spot by the fire.

Y/N shrugged off her coat, draped it over a chair and joined Harry on the carpet. She watched the flame dance in his eyes as he was completely mesmerised by it.

“Who do you think lives here?” she asked.

“Probably a lonely old lady,” he said with a shrug. “But it could be anyone. With all that’s happening in the North, this seems like the most perfect place to live.”

“You’re right,” Y/N murmured. She would rather have a life like this, completely isolated from the rest of the world, alone with Harry.

For a second, she didn’t want to go back or even go on.

She just wanted to stay here.

Her thoughts were cut off by the embarrassing sound of her stomach growling. She clutched it, face burning red as Harry chuckled and pushed up from the floor. He went to the table, took a loaf of bread, broke it in half and handed one half to her.

“We can’t!”

“The food’s all cold, Your Majesty. The master of the house is probably stuck somewhere in the storm and won't be back until morning.”

Y/N stared at the piece of bread in her hand and let go a shaky breath. “Fine,” she said. “Just don’t take anything else.”

Despite what she’d said, the two of them ended up eating everything on that table.

They’d been starving, and Harry reassured Y/N that with all that was waiting for them on this journey, dying in the hand of an old lady would be the easiest death.

By the time they’d finished the meal, the sky had turned dark and another storm was coming. The master of the house would certainly not return anytime soon.

Harry and Y/N let the horses into the house, spread a blanket they’d found on one of the chairs out on the floor and lay down together by the fire. The snow and wind were beating down on the roof and against windows, but the crackling of the fire and Harry’s slow breathing had drowned out all those horrifying sounds for Y/N.

For the first time in so long, she felt at peace.

“What if she’s a witch?”

“Who?”

“The lady who lives here,” she whispered and scooted closer until their shoulders touched.

His eyes fluttered open as he turned his face to her. “Then she eats us.”

She swatted his chest playfully and he burst out laughing. Both of them turned on their sides and lay face to face with one another.

He gave her a lazy grin. “Are you scared, Your Majesty?”

“Never.”

“I’m scared, though.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“You’re a big whiny baby so of course you’re scared.”

Harry snorted at the remark. “I am big, but not a baby nor whiny.”

“I’m just going to say nothing because I’m too tired to disagree,” she said, her eyelids growing heavier and heavier.

Before she nodded off, she heard him whisper, “Let’s just stay. Let’s never leave this house.”

“I agree,” she whispered back, yawning. “Let’s do that.”

She felt happy.

She was happy.

And she didn’t ever want to leave.

.

.

.

When Y/N woke up from a dreamless sleep, Harry was still sleeping soundly and the fire was still burning. Outside, the storm had cleared and the sky was growing light.

They were still in the house.

Good, she thought. They weren’t going to leave anyway.

Y/N pushed herself up and came to the table to find it full of food just like when they’d first arrived. Someone had prepared all the food for them while they were asleep.

She was right to have decided to stay here forever. There were food and fire and water and Harry – all the things that she needed to survive. Time didn’t matter here. She didn’t have to care what day it was. She could have been asleep for days and she wouldn’t even know.

Time made you weary. And she was glad to be rid of that burden.

She sighed happily and grabbed a chair, and a sting at her fingertip made her jump. A drop of red blood flooded the surface where she'd pricked her finger. She stared at it unblinkingly.

Reality rushed right through her. She snapped her head up and was horrified to find herself standing in front of a crooked table, empty and undusted, just like the rest of this place. It wasn’t the same lovely house they’d spent the night in. It was dark and filthy and looked like it’d been abandoned for ages. The sweet smell of wood was now the stink of a dead rat rotting in the corner of the room. The only thing that had been real was the fire, now burning in a hideous black fireplace.

Y/N stood completely still. Sweat formed on her forehead as her heartbeats thundered.

Harry finally awoke. He slowly pushed himself up from the floor, yawning and stretching his arms as he looked around the room to find her. From his expression, she knew he still saw the same room they’d been in. His eyes lit up as they spotted her. No, not her.

“Food!”

Y/N stumbled back as Harry rushed toward the empty table and grabbed a fistful of nothing and shoved it into his mouth. Then he started chewing.

“Harry!” She shook his arm, terrified. “Harry, we must leave. None of this is real!”

“Leave?” He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “You said you wanted to stay here forever.”

“No, Harry, wake up. We can’t stay here forever. What you’re seeing right now...is not real!”

Harry grimaced as he roughly pushed her hands off him and took a step back. “I’m not going. We’re safe here. Everything we need–”

She charged forward and gripped his arms. “Is not here! We must go! I think this place is messing with our heads. We must get out of here.”

The fireplace flared to life, and Y/N jumped. The wind gusted against the house, groaning like a monster waking from its hibernation. The fire had caught on the dirty carpet and started spreading onto the walls and broken furniture. Y/N grabbed their coats and things as the horses kicked the door down and sprang outside. She seized Harry by the hand but he didn’t budge.

“Harry! The house is burning!”

“It’s not. You’re seeing things again, Y/N!”

She was seeing things? Was she the crazy one or was him? Or were both of them?

Y/N was frozen when Harry took her face between his hands. The smoke thickened quickly, burning her eyes but Harry seemed more concerned about her than the fact that they were going to die if he didn’t come with her. “You saw the woman in the forest and she wasn’t there, Y/N,” he said, his voice calm and soft. “We’re safe here. Trust me.”

“No,” she snapped. “You’re going with me. Whether you like it or not.”

He had the strangest smile. “Do you hear that music?”

“Harry–”

“It’s like a party!” Harry sighed happily. “Let’s dance. You love to dance, don’t you, Peach?” He swept her into his arms, turning her around and nuzzling his face against her neck. “Isn’t this everything you’ve wanted?”

She pushed away from him at once. The walls sighed, she could swear, as if it were making fun of them, taunting them before swallowing them whole. She coughed into her sleeve, feeling dizzy but Harry looked like he couldn’t even feel the heat. She must wake him. But how.

She grabbed his face and smashed her lips to his. When she pulled back, he was startled, then a light came to his eyes and he whisked his head around the burning room. He could finally see what she saw.

She grabbed his hand and he didn’t protest as she pulled him to the door. The roof fell and crashed right in front of them and they jumped out of the way just in time, coughing and pulling each other up to find their way through the blinding smoke. Harry nearly fell. Y/N had to yank him back to his feet. When they broke out into the cold air and tumbled down onto the snow, the crooked house collapsed right before their eyes and was completely engulfed in the vicious flame.

“What was that?” Harry asked, gasping for air.

“It’s this place,” Y/N said, tears welling in her eyes as she could not stop coughing. Harry’s arms sought her and pulled her close to him as they lay there in the light of dawn, shaking from terror.

So this was why most people who'd come here could not return to tell the tales. It wasn’t just the cold or wild animals or snowstorms. It was the magic or whatever power that was protecting this place from intruders.

The legends were all true. The lake existed.

[indestinatus]

Yellow Brick Road

TIVATOBER 2020 // DAY 17

↳ prompt: Scarecrow - rated T (1,726 words)

summary: Alone in the hideout from Sahar, Ziva finds herself doing something she didn’t expect, which brings back memories from the past. 

A/N: also known as - if you chose to read one story of this whole series, please let this be the one.

read it on AO3 🌾

Heavy rain poured down on the gray tiles of the sidewalk. There was enough water on the street to reflect the blurry traffic lights and undefined skylines, at least until a car passed by and splashed it all over the closed stores. Umbrellas piled up in front of a popular restaurant and some moved across the street, but Ziva’s vision was out of focus enough to only distinguish them as blurs of color, disappearing quickly.

It had been hours since she had passed the point of tiredness, now breathing only out of instinct. Her eyelids burned but she kept them open, watching the skies fall. 

It was rare for her to need a break like this, though it was turning even more frequent these days. She could only track Sahar down for so long - with just a name, the mysterious woman quickly vanished only to reappear again in another city a few weeks later - and after so many failed attempts of getting to her, Ziva decided to wait until they came to her instead. 

That usually didn’t take long. 

A taxi stopped just in front of her and a man rushed to open the door, motioning for a woman just behind him to enter ahead. She did so hurriedly, holding what looked like the man’s suit over her head as she disappeared into the backseat of the car. 

A second later, the man did the same, hastily running a hand through his wet hair before disappearing. Ziva thought she saw him smile to himself, but the car sped up and she lost track of them before she could confirm. 

Two strangers she would never see again, nor hear the end of their story. 

She didn’t really process how or why, but suddenly she found her reflection staring back at her, heavy bags under her eyes and hair dripping wet. Ziva blinked, realizing she had crossed the street and now stood in front of the glass door she’d been watching from the opposite side all evening.

Before she could change her mind, Ziva’s hands moved on their own accord and pulled the door open. Blaming the tiredness for her poor choices, she stepped into the movie theater, searching for the ticket booth.

The air conditioning of the room made her soaked clothes feel cold. She picked a spot near the exit, blending into the shadows. In a second she had memorized all viable routes of escape, but it had been more out of habit than from a real necessity. 

Her heart was in her throat when the main title started to play. It was this loud melody with a classic tune to it, the high notes revealing the passage of time. As the title appeared, nostalgia burned in her chest. It had been too long since she’d last seen it, way too long.

“I thought this was a colored one.”

“Do you really want me to spoil it to you, woman?”

“I’ve read the book, you know.”

“Then how come you always manage to quote it wrong?”

“How do you know they’re the right lines? Perhaps they’re different in the book.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Yes. Exactly. You would not know.”

“Don’t brag now. You’re the one who hasn't seen a movie that’s seventy years old.”

“I had other things to do.”

“That’s older than Gibbs.”

“That’s older than you.”

“Miss David. You hurt me this way.”

“Shush. It’s about to start.”

“You… Wicked Witch of the West.”

“Hm… Doesn’t she die?”

“You’ll have to watch and see.”

It knocked the breath out of her. She already knew it was coming, but the sudden change from sepia to technicolor was still a marvelous thing to see. Bright colors invited the viewer to enter this brand new world, and Ziva let herself get lost in the songs and the details. 

The room was almost empty, some people scattered across the rows ahead. She wondered if they had seen this movie before. Probably, considering how old it was. Though she knew the story by heart, it was because she’d read the book a dozen times while growing up, it being a classic in her mother’s personal library. 

He had teased her the whole day when he discovered she’d never watched it. She remembered it clearly—quoting lines and singing lyrics, he’d succeeded in driving her crazy enough for her to give in, which led to them renting a DVD copy on a free Friday night. She brought the beers and he led the place, the one between them who had a television at home. 

Tony’s selective memory always surprised her, though his insistence in getting under her skin was a force on its own. He would bug her until he got what he wanted, and she was used to it—most times great at fighting back—but some days she just wanted to give in and see that typical smile of his, the one that stretched over his face until the corners of his eyes got wrinkled. 

She could picture it so clearly, the image still imprinted under her eyelids.

It was a memory she visited often, that day. It had been one of those moments no one could know it would become a memory until it did. Their laughter, the sureness of safety and the genuine feeling of happiness were things that still warmed her heart, whenever she thought of it. They were so young and worry-free, she always felt a sting of regret for not cherishing the moment more when it was happening. 

Dorothy reached a crossroad, unsure of which path to go next. When the Scarecrow changed the arm that pointed where to go, some people chuckled, and Ziva smiled weakly. He had always been her favorite one of the group. There was something really endearing about his clumsiness and care. He was smarter than he would ever know, and it was a charming quality she rarely saw in people.

“How can you talk if you haven’t got a brain?” quizzed Dorothy, tilting her head.  

“I don’t know,” replied the Scarecrow. “But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't you think?”

“Yes!”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“Nothing.”

“Yeah… Right.”

“What? It’s true. Plus, he’s cute.”

“He’s a scarecrow.”

“So…?”

“Don’t tell me you’re turned on by a scarecrow.”

“I did not say I was ‘turned on’. You are wiggling my words.”

“Twisting.”

“I thought it had been a twister.”

“Just… Watch. See? Now your scarecrow is also part of the narrative.”

“I like him.”

“Sometimes I just can’t respect you.”

“He talks a lot.”

“You say that to me all the time!”

“Well, you do talk a lot.”

“Are you admitting to like me, David?”

“I will call Ducky right away. We finally solved it - your brain is there, only it is made out of straw.”

“Ha-ha. Very funny.”

“Hm.”

Ziva felt her heart clench when the thought of Tony showing it to Tali crossed her mind. Had he done the same? Was he excited over little details and quoted its famous lines just like he did with her? Or did it remind him of them? Did they ever get the chance to watch it together or he avoided it? She certainly stared at the movie theater marquise for hours before she gave in, the tiredness making her too vulnerable. 

She missed him so much her bones ached from it. 

Ziva wondered if she would ever feel the same again. That flickering in her chest whenever they spoke in riddles, both of them catching each other’s stolen glances more frequently than not. They had always been good in sharing non-verbal cues, and even if they bickered until one of them got tired, the silence was the one thing she missed the most. 

To be able to be understood like that by someone else, it was the closest she had ever been to love.

“Oh,” confided Dorothy to the Scarecrow, “I think I’ll miss you most of all.”

She pressed a kiss to his cheek, saying goodbye. Both of them were too emotional to say anything else, Dorothy wiping the tears with her hand and him giving her a sad smile. There was something incredibly bittersweet to have known it would have come to this all along. 

Ziva struggled to breathe. She didn’t recall when exactly she had started crying, but she couldn’t see a thing now. There were only blurs. 

She tried to remember the last time she did cry. Her chest ached from keeping it silent, the loud beating of her heart the only thing she could hear. She knew it would happen as soon as she bought that ticket, but there was something quite soothing about being in a dark room where no one else knew her. 

She could finally be free, even if for a brief moment.

Ziva stood up before the credits started rolling. Hastily wiping the tears from her face, she exited to the street, hoping for once that she was really invisible, and no one would approach her now. 

The rain had stopped. It was much darker now, though the street lights seemed brighter. The line of people outside of the restaurant had disappeared, probably already inside. Some taxis were available at the other side of the street, but she preferred walking. She couldn’t take any risks now, knowing she could quickly become the prey. 

Ziva looked up to the sky, clenching her jaw. Letting the cold air inundate her lungs, she tried to ease her breathing. Tony and Tali were somewhere safe, far away from there, but at least they were under the very same sky. She wondered if it was raining there. She wondered if they were okay. 

Closing her eyes, she pictured them again. Happy. She needed them happy, even if it meant they had found happiness without her. There was no other way to keep her going, other than to imagine them alive. Even if it looked like nothing more than a dream, she needed them there, safe, tucked away in her heart.

When Ziva opened her eyes again, the sadness had already been buried. 

With Dorothy’s words still ringing in her mind, she ducked her head, following the gray brick road into an adjacent alleyway. 

There is no place like home, she had said. 

And wishing for nothing more than a pair of ruby slippers, Ziva David disappeared into the shadows. 

[kermitbread]

yes I bring in some pain before the new chapter comes. now if you excuse me I shall go and sharpen my pitchfork in case we don't get any hananene tomorrow.

it's also in my AO3 if you guys prefer it there. idk

important note: don't worry about the ending here, the rest of the manga's supposed to be a follow-up. also cuz I'm uncreative lol

Being a better version of the real world, the stars were surely prettier to look at that night.

Hanako had to thank Shijima for the intricate details put into it. It was the perfect setting, perfect moment.

He just didn't count on what would happen later on that time.

He saw from the corner of his eye Nene climbing up to where a lone telescope stood, taking a peek. Seeing her face brighten up at the sight of the stars, it gave him comfort, yet bittersweetness in the end.

He wouldn't see that face ever again once he left this world, after all.

Sneaking up from her field of vision, he heard her softly mutter to herself, still engrossed with watching the constellation. In all his fashion, he continued for her, making her jump with surprise.

"Oh, Amane-kun! You were here all along?"

He didn't look at her, keeping his eyes at the stars. At that time, he didn't have the heart to do so.

If I look at you too much, it'll just get harder for me to leave, you know.

So he just settled to talking about the stars, one thing he had never gotten to do when he was alive. Well, in this fake world, he can, anyway.

He didn't know how everything had lead up to this. He just remembered meeting this clumsy girl, summoning him for a wish. Of course, he couldn't forget he had been aware of her decreasing lifespan since the start, but he didn't think much of it.

The plan was to merely humor her and go along her silly wishes, let her enjoy her remaining time left. Once that day came everything would go back to how it used to be.

Oh, how wrong he was.

He definitely didn't count caring for her more than he should. He didn't expect developing this kind of fondness to her.

He didn't expect to fall in love at all.

That's impossible. I'm already dead. None of those things mean to someone whose life is already over.

Apparently Nene had proved him wrong.

Perhaps this was why he had let himself work with Tsukasa this time. He let them do whatever, in exchange he would be allowed to put her and Kou in the fake world where they could live happily.

Not worrying about death, not worrying about tomorrow.

Not worrying about losing Nene for good.

Even when he himself wasn't there to see that anymore.

"Amane-kun, do you wanna take a look too? Through the telescope." He heard Nene ask. Putting on a wry smile, he shook his head.

"Nah. I'm good."

"But... It's so pretty."

Just like you.

With his smile growing into a wide grin, he chuckled softly, taking a quick glance at her way before turning to watch the sky once more. "Exactly."

I hope you'll understand.

"If I look at it too much, it makes me wanna go there."

But you know I can't. Not anymore.

"And I've made up my mind now. I'm not going anywhere."

I'm sorry, Yashiro.

He tried breaking the growing tension with another laugh. "After all, going to space is impossible!"

"Hanako-kun."

At the mention of his name, his eyes widened. There was some part of his mind that almost let him break off his facade, and the urge to give away his identity as Hanako sat for a while.

Nene reached out a hand, tugging at his sleeve. She looked at him with a look he couldn't understand.

Sadness?

"I mean... Amane-kun. You are Hanako-kun after all... aren't you?"

Her voice sounded pleading, and a little bit scared. She was looking at his eyes, as if searching for any clue of him being Hanako all along.

How he wanted to say yes. How he wanted to just say, "It's me. I'm here."

But Hanako had to be firm. He can't let her know. He had to keep up this fake persona of his former self, just for her.

"...no." He managed to reply, almost stuttering. It was getting really hard to say no to her, really.

"You really like saying that don't you? But I'm Amane-kun!" He waved his hand around nonchalantly, laughing it off. Maybe if he acted more casually, Nene would brush it off as just a strange thought.

She just stared at him, not finding the situation funny.

You've always been the stubborn type, huh?

Hanako's smile faltered, and he sighed, avoiding her look. Why was she so persistent into convincing herself that? It wasn't like he mattered anyway.

"What... kind of person is he?" He found himself asking. He didn't get it. Scratch that, a lot of things about her didn't make sense.

He found it endearing, though.

"Hm?" She looked kind of surprised by his question.

"Hanako-kun, I mean. Are we really that similar?"

Secretly he was hoping that she would say something profound.

"Yeah... you are similar." He turned around as she stood up and walked away a little, her back turned to him.

"He does various annoying things."

What. Hanako almost commented on that, holding back his words with a weird choking noise. Is that how it is, huh?

"He's always acting like a perv... And making dumb jokes. And he doesn't take things seriously most of the time."

Well... The perv insult I can take, but now your just making fun of me.

"T-that guy's similar to me... how?" Hanako raised an eyebrow at her. Is that how you see me, Yashiro?

"But..." To his surprise once again, she walked back towards him, sitting down and leaning backwards, her head almost touching his shoulder. He felt her hand rest upon the top of his, clutching on it gently.

"I don't... hate him."

At that moment, the shooting stars had began to fill the dark of the sky, painting it bright.

He felt himself tremble a little from her soft tone. Unable to look away.

"I really like him."

He held back a gasp, eyes wide with surprise.

Nene liked him. Not as Amane, not as anything else.

She liked him, because he was Hanako. He was himself.

Suddenly it didn't feel so fair for the both of them. It wasn't fair that she had to say those things, and it wasn't fair he had to hear them, only to leave for good.

If circumstances were different, if this make-believe world were real...

It hurt.

"So... Hanako-kun." Nene's hands turned to his face, bringing him to look up at her. She had a determined look, her form almost glowing against the shine of the moon.

She really was like a star. A star he could never reach, no matter how hard he tried.

Even so, it made him happy she was a star that had remained by his side, when no one would.

"Let's escape together. To the real world!"

Can't you understand, Yashiro? If you come back...

Pained memories from his living past flooded back. He had lost his brother, his future, and now, if Nene were to return to the real world...

...I'll lose you too.

He pulled away from her, not really liking that he had to swat away her hand from him, but he had to. He can't give in, no matter how tempting it sounded.

Besides, he couldn't give her the life she wanted if she came back in the real world.

Nene confused him. Why was she insisting on leaving this world? All he wanted was to protect her!

These words came unspoken, however, as all he could do was stare at this strange, frustrating, beautiful girl in front of him.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wanted to give of a humorless laugh.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons he had fallen for her in the first place.

All of a sudden Nene took his hand and pulled him along, with them leaving the rooftop. "Let's go, Hanako-kun!"

"Eh? Wha—where?!" He almost tripped on his feet being dragged by the girl.

Nene smiled brightly at him. "Home, of course! Let's get back to the real world!"

Home.

Muttering the word under his breath, he said nothing else, settling for staring at her as they both made their way out of the school, approaching the gates.

The pain seem to just grow more.

Hanako closed his eyes, letting things take its course.

This was no time to get distracted. It was a matter of time before Shijima completed this fake world, after all. And once it was, Nene's memories of him would vanish.

All for the greater good.

He stood there, watching her open the locked gates, looking back at him. "Alright, it's open! We can get out now!"

All for the sake of her life.

"...I'm not going."

I'm sorry, Yashiro.

[nicolewrites]

this house is full of ghosts (and they all look like you)

just some thoughts from last night...

Rating: T+ Genre: Angst  Characters: [Ingrid Brandl Galatea, Sylvain Jose Gautier], the Blue Lions Words: 2,532

Ingrid returns home after the war.

AO3

The ride from Enbarr back to Galatea territory is long and lonely. Ingrid doesn’t want to stretch it out any longer than it already is, so she pushes herself and her pegasus to the brink of exhaustion every day that she rides until the rich soil turns to rocky dust beneath her and she flies lower to the ground, breathing in the familiar, cold Faerghus air.

She touches down at the edge of the property that belongs to her family and she stares at the Galatea manor: big and empty at the top of the hill.

Ingrid pulls out the hunting dagger she was gifted when she was twelve and slashes the reins and bridle and tack on her pegasus until it falls free into strips of leather on the ground. The child in her is angry with both her treatment of expensive material and tack that carries so many memories for her. The Ingrid she is today wants to burn all of it.

She pushes away her pegasus by the nose and then the flank, urging him to fly away. He whinnies at her, but Ingrid doesn’t let up, shooing him away until he flaps his wings and jumps, moving away from her with a sad noise.

There is no more war so there is no more need for her to ride.

-

The manor is closed and locked up tightly and Ingrid doesn’t have a key. She smashes a window on the front door and picks her way through the broken glass she leaves in the entryway. She unlocks the door, to ease her comings and goings later, and then looks around her childhood home.

Dust clings to every surface and there are cobwebs strung between bannisters and rails on the chandelier above the front hall. The floors are scratched as they have always been and the rugs that cover them are matted and tattered. From the front entrance, she can just barely glimpse the portrait gallery at the top of the stairs of her entire family. She leans Luín against the wall by the door and moves closer to the stairs, staring up at the paintings.

Morbid curiosity drives her to climb the stairs slowly, her boots clicking on the wooded stairs as they creak beneath her. She stops in front of the first portrait: her father. He died defending Galatea from Empire excursions on the Alliance side four months ago. Her mother’s portrait, smiling and radiant, is gathering dust on her father’s right. Her mother has been gone for a long time.

On her father’s left is a patch of barren wall and Ingrid’s stomach twisted. Six years ago, there had been a portrait of her that had hung there. She’s not surprised that he took it down.

Her brothers are memorialized here as well, staring straight with small smiles or flat expressions. Their paintings are as lifeless as her brothers are now.

Ingrid walks back downstairs.

-

There are two broken windows in the parlour and half of the decorations in the room are knocked over and smashed or missing, leaving the empty shelves and tables to gather dust. There had never been much in the way of decoration anyway, thanks to the barren lands of Galatea, but they had still been nobles.

Ingrid approaches the mantle slowly, staring at the chipped and dusty bricks. Whatever was in the fireplace had long since burned to ashes, leaving a fine grey layer of soot along the base of the pit. She knows what used to sit on top of the mantle and she’s a little upset to see it gone.

The ceremonial sword had been a gift from House Fraldarius to House Galatea as a symbol of Glenn and Ingrid’s engagement. It had been the centrepiece on the mantle for as long as Ingrid can remember, but she also knows that the sword is worth a fair bit of money and that of all the things that have been stolen from her house in the last five years, the sword is something that she should have expected to be gone.

She traces the Crest of Fraldarius into the dust pattern atop the mantle and thinks of Felix.

She didn’t kill him herself, but she might as well have. She knows that he had been watching her when the Empire stormed Arianrhod. He had watched her to see if she would really cut down Kingdom soldiers, some of whom originated in Galatea.

Ingrid had made a request to Edelgard that Felix be buried with his father in the grounds outside the Silver Maiden. He had deserved an honourable burial for having died an honourable death in service to his King and country.

Nobody will be around to bury Ingrid. She doesn’t deserve their grief anyway. Maybe no one will even know when she dies. That seems like the easiest situation to pursue.

She writes Felix and Glenn’s names in the dust on either side of the Crest of Fraldarius. They can stay here with her, she supposes.

-

The kitchen is probably one of the dustier places in the manor. It’s too large for what was actually used by her family since it was built to accommodate a staff that her family had not been able to afford to employ.

There’s an abandoned rolling pin wedged halfway under the counter that’s filled with splinters. Ingrid picks it up and places it atop the counter, flicking it with her finger and watching it roll, lop-sided, across the top of the counter.

The Galatea manor kitchen had once been a beautiful kitchen, but the hardships of her house combined with the utter lack of care that has gone into this place since Ingrid left, have put it in quite the sorry state.

She pulls down the tattered, moth-eaten drapes and throws them in a pile. She wipes off the table and opens a window to let some air into the place. The next step would be to find a few simple wildflowers from her garden to set in the middle of the table and then she would feel almost like it was the kind of place she might have shared a meal with Dedue.

If he hadn’t been holding a grudge against her for both her treatment of him and then her siding with the Empire over her own King.

She hasn’t really been able to taste her food since the war began and she had raised arms against the Kingdom. She figures that’s only fair.

-

Mercedes is everywhere in her mother’s old study. She’s in the pianoforte at one end of the room and in the shattered china that litters the floor. Ingrid digs up a towel from the linen cabinet and wipes away the dust from the keys of the piano.

She sits on the rickety bench as it creaks beneath her weight and rests her fingers on yellowed keys. The piano doesn’t play properly since half the strings are broken or worn, but the D closest to the middle C makes a light chiming noise that reminds Ingrid of Mercedes’s laugh.

Mercedes had thought it funny that Ingrid could play the piano of all things, but Ingrid knows that she has never been any good at it. It had been purely for the noble appearance of it all.

She manages to find a broom back in the kitchen and she quickly sweeps up the remains of shattered china and trampled tea leaves. A few of the pieces of the tea set, ones that were in the cabinet for safekeeping, have survived over the years, but they just remind Ingrid of her mother as well so she leaves the study as abruptly as she had entered it.

-

Next to her mother’s study, is her father’s office. The room that, at times, doubled as a war room when Galatea still held an advantageous position in the war. Ingrid can only ever remember standing in the doorway of the room as a child, waiting to be granted permission to enter, despite never having received it.

Her father’s study is where she had been told that she would marry Glenn and it’s where she had been told that Glenn was dead. Her father’s study is where she had taken Luín and told her father that she would not serve the Kingdom, that she had made her choice.

She dusts the edges of the bookshelves in this room. It’s mostly battle tactics and farming techniques that have never born fruit, but there are the occasional magic tomes tucked in between as well. One of her brothers had had an aptitude for magic, even without a Crest, but Ingrid has never shared that blessing.

Annette had tried to teach her a simple Reason spell once, but Ingrid had only succeeded in giving herself frostbite on her fingertips before the spell fizzled and Annette had laughed, warming her hands up with a perfectly controlled fire spell.

Annette probably would have liked her father’s study with its leather armchair that is perfect for sitting with a good book and his sturdy oak desk that’s both a statement piece of furniture and also the perfect size and height for getting a lot of work done.

Ingrid writes Annette’s name in the dust atop her father’s desk before she searches the drawers. Surprisingly, she finds a spare key to the manor in the bottom right drawer hidden under a bunch of paper records and letters.

She hesitantly takes out one of the letters and stares at the familiar, curling script on the page. It’s Annette’s handwriting and it’s dated four years ago as her friend asks her father about Ingrid’s whereabouts and the situation in Galatea on behalf of House Dominic.

She leaves the letter on the top of the desk when she leaves the study.

-

Ingrid’s own bedroom is the next place she dares to venture. The stairs and floorboards creak under her feet and she feels weary from days of heavy travel and fighting and horrible sleep, but she can’t stop now.

At least the manor is empty.

Her room is exactly how she left it years ago: a bed tucked on the right side with sheets pulled up neatly, like a soldier. There’s a vanity across from the bed, next to a dresser, and then there are three bookshelves, all packed full of books that Ingrid had collected as a child.

The large window in her room isn’t broken, but the latch is stuck when she tries to open it, so she doesn’t force it.

Ingrid studies the titles on her bookshelves. Most of them are knight’s tales and fairytales with knightly and chivalrous characters who would die and lay down their lives for their loves and for their rulers. There are a few Faerghan history books as well.

Ingrid had always meant to bring Ashe home just to see her collection. She had wanted to share with him a new story that he hadn’t heard yet, since he managed to find her the Moon Knight, that wonderful story about the female knight.

She has a few books that she can pick out, even after all this time that she knows Ashe would have been incredibly interested in reading. She picks books off her shelves until her arms are so full that she can’t carry any more and she dumps them into her fireplace. She doesn’t have a match on her right now, but she’ll light them up later.

She’s got no use for books on knighthood and chivalry now.

She brushes her hands off and moves to sit on her bed. Like everything else, there is a fine coat of dust over her sheets, but she doesn’t acknowledge it, sitting on the mattress that was always just a little too firm for her taste as a child. It hasn’t aged well and it sags beneath her weight.

Ingrid leans back, falling onto her back on the bed, ignoring the puff of dust that flares in the air around her. She rolls onto her side, towards the far wall that her bed is pressed against and she presses her fingers into the wooden wall. She doesn’t have to search hard for what she’s looking for.

Her fingers clear the dust from the carved crevices and then she’s staring at the carved letters: D, A, and B.

It had been a silly childhood fantasy of hers to serve Dimitri as both a knight and also something more. Her crush had faded quickly once she had become engaged to Glenn.

For the first time since she had set foot in her old home, Ingrid’s eyes grow warm and wet.

Dimitri had fallen in the rain on the Tailtean Plains and Edelgard had taken his head clean off with one swipe of her axe and Ingrid remembers that she had screamed. She hadn’t cried on the battlefield when Felix had died, but she had fallen asleep clutching the old Fraldarius Crest ring that Glenn had given her, dreaming of his brother.

Felix’s death, at least, had been quick. Dimitri had watched his army crumble and his close ally, Dedue, mutate himself into one of the monstrous Crest-beasts.

And then he had lost his head.

Ingrid rolls onto her back and stares up blankly at the ceiling. The last time she had come to Galatea, before she had delivered her ultimatum, she hadn’t been alone in this room.

She had told him to leave, but the only person she had ever known who was stubborn enough to ignore her stayed instead. They had lain side-by-side on her too-small bed, Ingrid’s head resting against his shoulder while his arm wrapped around her. It had been nice.

She wishes that that had been her last memory of Sylvain.

She wishes she could just think of how warm he had been next to her on the bed and how it had felt when he had asked that night in the candlelight if he could kiss her. She wishes she could say that it had been enough for her to hold Sylvain for one night, that she returned to Fhirdiad or to Fraldarius or to Gautier with him to fight on behalf of the Kingdom.

Instead, she lives with the memory of driving Luín through the plates of his armour as she cried on the battlefield at the Tailtean Plains.

Do it yourself, he had said to her. Make it worth it.

She had grounded herself after that, keeping her feet anchored in the sucking mud of the field as she had screamed and cut down anyone, friend or foe, who had tried to get close to her.

Ingrid had buried Sylvain herself and stuck the Lance of Ruin into the earth like a cursed gravemarker.

Lying on her bed, alone, Ingrid imagines Sylvain’s lips on hers and how cold he had felt when she had kissed him then, rain and blood-soaked. Her tears roll down her cheeks and she closes her eyes, listening for the wind as it blows into her home through the windows she had opened on the main floor.

Galatea manor is full of ghosts. Ingrid feels like becoming one of them.

[schoolastica]

12th birthday

In AO3!

Summary:  Morgan Happy Stark-Parker is turning 12 and Tony can't believe he raised a kid until now.

Start:

12th birthday

Tony felt the mattress stiffing, shifting as he felt a small body pressing up into his back. Maybe ten years ago, that could have meant a slow, sweet loving making session with his Alpha, but in the present, today more precisely today, it only meant one thing. So Tony turned around to hug whoever was the little monster that wanted snuggle time before the others got their chance. He was surprised when he saw it was Morgan, she hadn’t done it in about 4 years. Then again, today was a special day. When he faced her, she had a curious look in her face and hugged him tightly, sniffing her daddy in search of comfort.

- Hello birthday girl- Tony hugged back and closed his eyes, just enjoying his 12-year-old daughter. -How are you feeling this morning? - He muttered.

Tony waited for an answer but Morgan just snuggled closer and scented him deeper. That started to worry him.

- Morgan?- Tony called a little bit louder and pulled her head gently so he could see her eyes.

- I can present now- Morgan’s voice sounded unsure- When do you think I will present?

- Well- Tony started to understand why all the comfort was needed, it was indeed a sore topic- It depends on who you are most like to, I presented pretty early, wasn’t even 12. Your dad was a late bloomer, he presented at his late 14’s.

Morgan stopped hugging Tony and faced the ceiling. She had grown to be a lovely lady, full-on Peter-like. Her features were soft and delicate but she had a permanent pout, brown warm eyes, tan skin (from playing so much in the sun). She was also very tall for age, she played so many sports that she had an infinite painting of bruises in her long and lean body. That came because she definitely had Tony’s spunky personality. Any activity that got even close to being “ Ladylike” made Morgan uninterested. Not that Peter and Tony cared about Lady-like things, they tried to give Morgan all the opportunities, that’s all. So they took her in Ballet. Then Gymnastics. Anything that meant dancing and funny clothes was a no-no.

She did like soccer, karate, Nerf guns, and everything in her parent’s lab (there were some incidents but she was a smart kid).

Before Tony met Peter, he thought he was a fluke and that you could tell a person’s gender by its behavior during childhood. Alphas were tough kids, they were possessive, spunky, got into fights, and liked races and trucks. Omegas were calm children, seldom falling and going towards arts and had manners and liked soft things. Betas were medium, they liked to follow a lot, they would find a best friend in kindergarten and follow it for life.

So everyone thought Tony would be an Alpha for exactly this childhood traits, he even found his Beta best friend in kindergarten: Rhodes. He was a spunky and problematic child since the beginning, he would break expensive things and Howard would beat his tiny butt raw and Maria would be the one cuddling him (in secret). He’s genius would be in mind and temper, he would fight with teeth and claws and only be scared of the impetuous figure of Howard Stark.

And when he presented as an Omega, he thought it was a fluke. He had been such a cocky 11 years old. The presentation came after your 12th birthday but Tony presented exactly on his birthday. He was so happy, he spent the whole day in bed, Maria had to cancel his party and stayed by his bedside while he howled in pain, rolled around in sweat and cried painful tears, but he was still happy, he was becoming an alpha! Until the next day, when his scent settled down and his mom frowned upon his sight. The shame that followed would be part of his memories for a long time.

Until he found Peter, an Alpha that everyone thought it was an Omega, a fluke. So really now Tony believes this is all shit. Children will behave the way they like and biology will take care of the rest.

Morgan seemed worried, more than it was normal to be.

- What do you think I will be? - She questioned, still looking at the ceiling. Tony felt Peter slightly shifting by his side, and he knew that his mate was listening, but letting them have this conversation.

- I think that you will be an amazing woman, Morgan- Tony stared at her, hoping that she would understand his feelings. She sighed. - What happened honey? That’s not like you.

- The kids in my school were telling me some stories about people that presented Omega or Beta and were expelled from their home- Morgan got her face against Tony’s chest again and her voice wavered with tears held back.

- What? Baby!- Tony sitter up and managed a 12-year-old into his lap, like he did when she was a small baby. Morgan was full-on crying now and Peter gave up staying out of the talk and also set up.

He came in Tony’s help and tried to give soothing words for his daughter. He glanced worriedly at Tony while petting Morgan’s back.

- Okay, Morgan, listen to me.- Tony whispered to her in a calm tone- Those stories are from the past. People don’t do that anymore, well, only buttheads do- Peter glared at Tony.

- There’s nothing wrong in fearing the presentation, Morgan- Peter rubbed slow circles in Morgan’s back as he talked in a slow and steady voice- But those stories are about sad, horrible times were ignorance laid bare in the world. We love you so much, we loved you since before we knew your face and our love doesn’t have a limit, baby.

Morgan’s cry had quiet down to light hiccups and now Tony was rocking her gently back and forth and her hiccups were slowly fading. She slowly took her head out of Tony’s shoulder and decided that she wanted her Alpha daddy, so she shifted towards Peter, who gladly took her and smiled at his partner. Tony felt joy then, especially watching his mate help calm their child down. When he presented, his mother had cried disappointed tears and his father haven’t even looked at him. And started treating Tony like if he was less then nothing. He never got snuggles from his mom anymore.

And he felt joy because none of his children would ever feel like it. They might feel fear, which was normal, but they would never feel ashamed or abandoned. His child was scared and she knew that coming to her parents was the right thing. And if that wasn’t a great way to show Tony that he was on the right path, then he didn’t know what it was.

After Morgan’s tears dried and her hiccups faded, Peter took her to the Penthouse kitchen to make her his “ special birthday breakfast ” like it was the tradition. They had the whole day planned and couldn’t let a day like this start like that. First, Peter would make the special breakfast and wake the kids while Tony had called Pepper, Nat, Wanda, and Vision to help set up the perfect picnic in Central Park. The birthday party would be a picnic and about 40 kids would attend it so they had work to do. Passing through the kitchen, he saw Peter finishing up the breakfast while Morgan helped him and the sleepy-looking Maria and Harley we’re watching them.

In Central Park, they organized everything. The Picnic tables had green and red tablecloths and they hang the letters “Happy Birthday Morgan” between two trees. They cleaned the leaves and set up the games for the children and set up a table with all the food that Nat brought. They also made sure that all the paparazzi were away from where the party would be. When everything was ready, Tony called Peter saying he could take the kids to the park.

Peter arrived with the kids and they all managed to look somewhat presentable (leaving Peter in charge of setting the kids up was like letting a child dress the children up). Morgan had her usual casual clothes, Maria was in all her glory in a pink soft dress while Harley was in his favorite t-shirt, a red one with an Iron Man figure, and had the saying “I am Iron Man!’ written on it. Their kids were beautiful, mind you.

Morgan was a cute kid. She was the most similar to Peter, she had her soft chin and his eyes. Completing 12 today, you could see she was going to be as tall as Tony, for she had a slim and tall body for her age. Her deep brown hair was cut short in a spunky style, never bothering itself into a bun and being almost constantly dirty. Maria also had almost nothing on Tony, she was Peter all the way down. Her hair was light brown, long and soft, permanently combed and tied with bright ribbons or held up in tiaras. Her eyes and her baby-like cheeks formed a beautiful face, similar to her older sister and Alpha, but also unique. Now, Harley, that one was something else.

Harley was Tony’s copycat, something that even frightened him a little bit. To see a picture of Tony at 6 years old and to see a picture of Harley was almost to see the same thing. Almost, and that was important. Because Tony’s childhood photos were black-and-white and presented a sad boy, clearly suffering through a bad father and hard times. And that was not Harley. Harley was an energetic 6-years-old, he smiled 24/7, and no photo of him ever presented the contrary. He was a copycat of Tony, except he was way happier, cheerful, and more looked out for.

Morgan’s eyes shone in the sight of her pretty party and as soon as the kids started to arrive, the chaos was unleashed. Tony and some parents took care of the barbecue and the other foods while Peter took care of entertaining the kids. At 31, Peter kept having energy enough to impress all the parents that saw him attracting the kids with uncountless games and songs and even some magic tricks. And so the day went on, the party was a success. The kids were having a blessing, some of them had scratched knees or sore members, but all under control. If there was any sight that the weird theory that kids behavior could say their gender, it was destroyed here. Morgan and her pals were all in for playing violent games of chase and soccer, Harley would get excited to play with his sister so he would follow her like a puppy while Maria and two of her friends played a quiet Tea Party, all pretty and sweet.

When the time to sing “ Happy Birthday ” arrived, the sun was giving the first signs of it going down. Morgan was already so dirty, but Tony managed to gather all his kids (including Peter) to get closer to the cake and help sing the song. Morgan was so excited that she blew the candles with all the strength her lungs could express and everyone cheered loudly.

In the end, all the kids left slowly, all with a tired face, sore knees, and full stomachs. With the help of all the adults there they managed to clean things up while an exhausted Harley slept in the grass near them and Morgan and Maria enjoyed the last pieces of cake they could have. Tony took Maria in his arms and Peter took Harley and they both held each of Morgans’ hands and took them back to the Penthouse. They thought about showering the kids but they were so tired that they just put them in their beds and let them drift off to deeper sleep. Tony put Harley into his bed and just looked at his soft face, feeling his calming scent and just for the fact he existed.

When Tony finally got up from the little’s bed, he noticed Peter in the doorway, watching them. Peter moved silently and kissed Tonylightly. They hugged each other in the darkroom, only illuminated by the light from the hallway, and they just breathed each other scents for a while.

- If you ask for anther kid right now, I’ll punch you babe- Tony muttered. Peter snorted a laugh.

- Nah, I was just thinking how lucky I am.- Peter’s voice was full of joy.

- How so?- Tony questioned. Peter sighed and hugged him tightly.

- I mated with my teenage crush- Tony wasn’t sure, but Peter seemed to be blushing- I mated with my teenage crush, and our eldest child just turned 12. Im the luckiest person in the world.- And now Peter’s voice was shaky with what Tony bet was tearing. The kid was so weak sometimes, pfff.

But Tony couldn’t complain at all, especially when his eyes were moist. Yeah, they were lucky. Peter had his teenage crush and Tony, he had a new beginning. All his suffering, all life had thrown on him, all made sense if he got Peter Parker at the end of the night. So they retired to bed, holding each other close and preparing for their morning routine. In the early days, they could enjoy the quiet night together, but they were both dead tired. Instead, they got to cuddle and talk until they drifted off to sleep.

Of course, everything turned different in the morning.

[vaguely-concerned]

Mass Effect: Annihilation thoughts

TL;DR I fucking LOVED IT, a balm to my heart after struggling through Nexus Uprising! Also canonical lesbians! The sweetest quarian & his badass grandma! Elcor Hamlet except this time it’ll make you cry!!! 

- Aaaaaah the audiobook reader is Tom Taylorson (so male Ryder)!! Fryda Wolf (female Ryder) read the two others and did a nice job, but man I’m soft for his voice in a way only rivaled by (...outside-of-Overwatch!)Jennifer Hale and Nicholas Boulton haha. He also has a much better handle on the pronunciations and voices for the different alien species -- delightful, I’m still cackling over his pitch perfect elcor impersonation. (Bioware please give him more Scott Ryder to voice I miss my son)

- I’m only about half an hour in and this is already SO much better than Nexus Uprising, it really does feel like a brave new galaxy haha. Very funny, very warm and smart and engaging in how it does its characterization and Valente clearly has affection for the setting and the universe, she and Jemisin both do incredible jobs with these. 

- I’m fucking crying laughing at this cross-species near-brawl over a flower arrangement, god I love Mass Effect SO MUCH (what a neat idea though. something blooming quietly even when no one can see it. impractical as hell and hilariously including a high-nutrition celery now, but still neat)

Taylorson continues to wonderful things with the voices, that volus suit sound is so good. (he’s just generally really good at comedy) also a volus bellowing insults ‘moments before punching an anti-bouquet batarian in the groin’ sdafhjklsahfsjadkhfklajshdfkjlsadhf

- a high as a kite elcor... what a time to be alive, to get to read this book

I have already reached the ‘I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR’ stage with these characters, hard boiled drell detective lady and sweet sweet quarian first officer and manically enthusiastic elcor doctor TOT I would die for any one of you!!!

- The quarian/multispecies ark was built for long-term habitation, potentially over multiple generations. So what you’re telling me is that the quarians are the only ones who fucking thought this through and the rest of the Initiative probably should have listened to the people who’ve essentially been living on arks for ages. Who’d’ve thunk huh lol. (I guess the in-universe explanation is that people like the mysterious benefactor just wanted those arks yeeted to Andromeda ASAP, no time to get fancy in case the Reapers changed up their schedule. Fair enough)

- ;n; petition to let senna have a SAM pls (also uh. how happy do you think the stringently anti-AI quarian pathfinder will be when he finds out about everyone else’s SAMs lol lol lol he’s going to PASS OUT FROM RAGE upon meeting ryder. well he sounds like an asshole, I hope he dies so senna gets a chance)  

- I can’t BELIEVE yorrik is an anti-stratfordianist, i am betRAYED! disgraceful, how can I still love you knowing this (and yet I do he is extremely funny and sweet)!!! (at least his theory is that this so-called ‘shakespeare’ was actually an elcor, which makes it better somehow lol. anything so long as he’s not an oxfordian tbh)

senna and yorrik’s friendship is so good and wholesome 

- I really love the consistent alien POVs in this book, mass effect should indulge in this more -- everyone loves this universe so much, bioware, stop making us squint through a human lense to look at it!!  

- oh of course quarian ‘pirates’ exist, the people who’re thrown out of the fleet must be doing something huh. 

- haven’t written that many notes in a while just because I’m enjoying myself so much, I keep forgetting 

- lfsdkhfsajkldhfskadjhfsjakdfhsdkjfh communist volus!!!! this is not a drill, communist volus! I am completely and utterly charmed by this entire book

- the quarian ancestor VI is so interesting and weirdly touching. senna is adorable (and relatably neurotic lol)

grandma AI smoking T___________T I love everything about this, she’s so cool. the worldbuilding being done around pre-geth revolution rannoch here... exquisite 

- way to make me cry about batarians cat valente ;_______;

- the voice acting is SO FUCKING GOOD! I keep forgetting it’s one dude reading all these characters haha, I caught myself wanting to look up who voiced this dying batarian. (special shoutout that he does so many wonderfully distinct and specific female voices!) 

- haHA I KNEW the quarian VI was a full AI (or near enough that it makes little difference tbh)!!! this fabulous grandma was self aware the entire time b i t c h e s !!!!

- the running joke of borbala’s ‘you need ______? I can make _______ happen’ is SO satisfying hahaha

ooooooh serious femslash vibes!!!! initially I thought batarian ex-crime matriarch was too old for drell PI, but this is undeniable. (I don’t think we actually ever get to know how old annex is, anyway, come to think of it) I guess if asari get to be five times older than everyone else and still fuck freely this isn’t really that weird lol

- “don’t look! it’s not so bad if you don’t look!” ofhsdalfhskldlsfjas oh senna baby boy 

hey qetsi? qetsi both senna and I love grandma liat more than you. stand the fuck down 

- NOOOO GRANDMA LIAT ;______________________________________;

- do you think SAM could meet liat (either ship!liat or just grandma!liat).... and have... a friend ;_________; (a cool laidback friend who isn’t a murderous angaran ai who might very well go the murder suicide sort of friendship route lol) 

anyway I miss SAM a lot and love him??

- yorrik noooooooooooo this is awful everything is bad and terrible I love all of them so much why must senna be sad and watch everything he loves fade away 😭😭😭

“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand?” He realized he’d forgotten to preface the words with an emotion. Now they wouldn’t understand what he meant.

Oh. Oh what a way to drive home the sadness and loneliness of this moment f u c k  (and again the emotion taylorson brings to it jesus cHRIST) 

I’m destroyed over how much senna and yorrik love each other, cross species found family out here wrecking my heart in true mass effect style 

- yorrik is such a great character though. he’d be so easy to make a one-note joke character (like most elcor have been in canon lbr), but there’s nuance and depth and just enough satsifyingly believable alienness there. (I love the staunch elcor ‘you can’t call anything love that hasn’t lasted at least two centuries’ perspective haha) his memories of his childhood and disappointment with his profession and everything... goodnight sweet prince indeed :(

- they went and made elcor hamlet heartbreaking how dare they 

(to be real for a second I think some of the human culture references are a little bit clunky, but the elcor hamlet stuff is perfect. contextualizing a throwaway joke from the original trilogy and giving it emotional depth, helping us see it from the elcor perspective and how frustrating and lonely it is to be so fundamentally not emotionally understood or seen on a level most of the other races are, despite their other differences, even though you have all these feelings and want to communicate... its very good.)   

fun additional fact: both mordin and yorrik have played/wanted to play polonius in a production of hamlet! though I guess mordin is the slightly problematic fave in that duo and yorrik is a sweet melancholic angel who has never done anything wrong in his life, I would say protect him but I guess it’s too late for that D:  

- qetsi giving off some real ophelia vibes here, I wish yorrik was here to see it, he’s the only one who’d properly appreciate it despite it all

- I. am. SO FUCKING HUNGRY for more mass effect after this (well even more so than usual) I’m so hyped!! I love this universe so much! I want a new andromeda game with senna as quarian pathfinder and grandma liat as the ship’s AI and see how they interact with ryder and SAM! (honestly though I feel like senna might be the one who’d translate the most cleanly into a game, I think there’s a lot of potential in him that’s barely being realized towards the end there with his deep righteous rage cutting through his uncertainty. also I just want nice things for him. is that so much to ask. he is a good boy, yorrik was so right.)

- aaaah not just femslash vibes, canonical lesbians, this is not a drill! I can’t wait until they propose... ‘we get shit done together, want to be in good cop/bad cop with me until the day we die y/n?’  

- the ME universe doesn’t feel quite itself without all these ‘background’ species hanging around, I suddenly realize. I dream of an Andromeda sequel with all of them on the board and in play again Y-------Y 

- potential Liat and SAM dynamics are so fucking interesting though! if she becomes/is confirmed as a full AI (all I hope and dream of), you’ll have two artificial intelligences with such different starting points but not that dissimilar goals? Liat was an organic person once who’s looking out for her family even now, and SAM is completely artificial but also intimately tied to and protecting His People. (and pulling a whole lot of symbolic weight re: the strength of familial/interpersonal relationships to boot; he’s the best way alec ryder managed to connect with his children. even though he was dead. because as established alec ryder was a disaster of a person)  

- I enjoyed the loose murder mystery structure of this quite a lot, but that might also be because nexus uprising is so shapeless and meandering by comparison that I’d be relieved by anything else (sorry I’ll stop ragging on NU soon it just. took some hours of my life I can’t get back)  

- jemisin did great stuff for characters already in andromeda (cora, SAM, alec ryder) and valente made me remember just why I love this universe so much and desperately want these aspects brought to andromeda too... and now I’ve exhausted all the fresh mass effect content I had available to me and will sit here consumed with lust for the rest of the time it takes for a new game to be announced thank you and goodbye  

[rareficsnstuff]

Babysitting [Shinsou, Mirio (Eri)]

Summary: Shinsou’s left as a last-minute babysitter for Eri and the poor guy has no idea what to do. But never fear! Lemillion is here! Mirio suggests a game they can all play, but Shinsou’s never been the type to get into playful moods. Mirio can help with that.  

Words: 2,842

                                      _____________________

 “Just keep an eye on here while I’m gone, alright, Shinsou? Stay with her until I get back. You don’t need to do anything special; just make sure she doesn’t die.”

“Yes, Mr. Aizawa.”

It was an odd set of orders to give to a babysitter, and would probably come across as careless to anyone listening, but Aizawa cared; he just wasn’t one to flaunt his concerns. Aizawa and the other faculty had a meeting to discuss the current situation of the school and the hero community in general and needed someone last-second to watch Eri. Usually, the task went to a delighted Mirio, but he was currently at the hospital getting a follow up examination. So now, here he was; left alone to watch a little girl he knew next to nothing about. He had no idea how to interact with kids in general (let alone girls).

They were sitting in the living room, Shinsou in an arm chair, and Eri on the floor in front of the coffee table hard at work on a jigsaw puzzle. He watched her, unsure of what to do. For the moment, she seemed pretty content, but what was he supposed to do when she finished? He figured he should probably try talking to her…

“You tell me if you start getting hungry, okay?” he asked flatly.

“Yes, mister… um..?”

“What is it?”

“I don't know your name… sir…” Her voice was getting smaller and less sure. Crap. Was he scaring her already? How do kids even work?

“Shinsou.” The reply was blunt, but he tried to make his voice soft.

“Mr. Shinsou,” she tried. Her eyes seemed to register some kind of understanding, as though she truly intended to commit this to memory.

Eri returned to her puzzle and a long silence followed as Shinsou continued to watch her, elbow propped up on the chair arm and his head resting on his fist. She was almost finished, just a few more pieces left. When she got down to the last piece, her pale eyebrows furrowed in slight concern. All the pieces on the table had been put into place, but there was a hole in the picture. That meant the last piece was missing. She began looking around the floor a little frantically and Shinsou stood up, taking that as his cue to help.

“There it is,” he said, getting up as he spotted the stray piece on the kitchen tiles a few feet away. “It must have been kicked over here at some point. Her eyes brightened when he held the piece out to her and there was a slight bounce to her step as she went to retrieve it and place it in its proper position.

“Thank you…” Her voice was soft and airy, and there was something distant in it as she stared blankly at the finished picture, like she didn’t know what to do with herself now. Shinsou suddenly felt very awkward again.

At that moment, the front door opened and a bulky blonde walked in.

“Mr. Lemillion!” Eri squealed, rushing to his side and taking one of his giant hands in both of her tiny ones and shaking it excitedly. Her face instantly lit up – a stark contrast to what it was a moment ago.

“Hi, Eri!” he exclaimed brightly, taking her wrist in his fist and lifting her off the ground and poking her in the stomach, making her swat at the offending hand as she giggled in glee. Shinsou watched from afar, a little stiffly. How did he do that so naturally? With this guy here, she was fine now, so… should he leave? No. Aizawa told him to stay until he got back. He might get in trouble if he left now. So… What?

“Who’s your friend, kiddo?” Mirio asked, finally noticing Shinsou.

“That’s Mr. Shinsou,“ Eri replied, a bit bashful now.

“Ah,” said Mirio simply before approaching him and offering a hand. “Togata Mirio! I’m a third year here. You’re a first year?”

“Yes. Shinsou Hitoshi,” he replied accepting his hand in greeting. Mirio grinned.

“So, what have you and the little one been up to, huh?” Shinsou opened his mouth to speak but Eri beat him to it.

“Mr. Lemillion, look! Look!” she said, excitedly pulling him towards her finished puzzle.

“Wow, Eri! Did you put this big puzzle together all by yourself?!” The puzzle was a fairly impressive one thousand-piece depiction of a starry galaxy. A beautiful thing when it was all put together, but not the sort of puzzle you might expect to see a little girl laboring over.

“Yes! I just finished it! The last piece was missing and I got really sad, but Mr. Shinsou found it in the kitchen!” she said joyfully.

“Well, that was nice of him, wasn’t it?” Shinsou had reclaimed his position in the arm chair and looked awkwardly out the window as the two conversed.

“SO!” Miro said suddenly. “What do you guys wanna do?” At this, Shinsou looked back at the two, a little surprised to be included in their potential activities.

“What?” he said. But the low inquiry was overpowered by Eri’s excited suggestions.

“Hide and seek! Tag!” Mirio laughed at her indecisiveness.

“Which one, Eri,” he chuckled.

“Umm… BOTH!”

“Haha! Alright, how about this: FLASHLIGHT TAG!” he exclaimed, thrusting a fist into the air. Eri tilted her head in confusion and Shinsou merely blinked.

“Well turn out all the lights and the person who’s it will have a flashlight. They count to… 40 while the others hide anywhere they want. The seeker looks for them with their flashlight and once they’re spotted, the hider has till the count of thee to get a head start running. They’re not out until they’re tagged by the seeker. Whada’ya guys think? Sound like fun?”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes! Let’s play, Mr. Lemillion! Let’s play!” Eri cheered.

“Wait. I’m not-“

“Alright, so who should be it first, Eri?” Mirio asked, ignoring Shinsou’s objection.

“Could I be it first?” asked Eri, timidly.

“Sure! Bur you’ll have to go easy on me. I’m not too good at hide and seek…” Mirio feigned. Eri giggled.

“ Okay!” Mirio found a flashlight in one of the kitchen drawers and gave it to Eri who immediately tested it joyfully.

“Okay, guys, let’s get all the lights. Oh, yeah! There’s one more rule: the one who’s it will count in the bathroom – with the lights on, turning them off when they leave. Any other time throughout the game, the bathroom is a safe-zone. Got it?!”  

“Right!”

“Uh… excuse me-“ Shinsou tried.

“C’mon, man, help me get the lights,” said Mirio, grabbing his wrist and tugging him off the chair.

“Mirio Senpai, I don’t want to play. I’m only here because Mr. Aizawa asked me to stay with Eri until he got back.”

“All the more reason to play since you don’t have anywhere else to be! It’ll be fun! Loosen up a little, huh,” Mirio encouraged, patting his junior’s back. Resigned to his fate, Shinsou began making his way throughout the rooms, turning out all the lights. When they were all out, Eri went into the bathroom.

“O-ne, t-wo, th-ree…” she counted.

“Okay, let’s go!” Mirio whispered eagerly to Shinsou. He tiptoed away into the darkness and Shinsou almost found it comical to see such a big guy trying to move so delicately. Almost. The first year also made his way into the deeper rooms, searching – none too enthusiastically – for his own place to hide.

“40!” Eri exclaimed. Shinsou heard the click of the bathroom light and there were several seconds of scuttling noises as she searched the rooms around him. He saw the beam of the flashlight as she passed by him. Apparently, his hiding spot was at least halfway decent. She didn’t notice him. He still couldn’t believe he was doing this; he felt ridiculous. A second later, Eri was giggling.

“Mr. Lemillion, I can see your butt.” Mirio gasped over dramatically.

“Oh no! I’ve been discovered!” Shinsou rolled his eyes. The was an obnoxious clattering noise as Mirio scrambled to run.

“One, two, THREE!” Eri called, giggling again as the chase began. The cacophony that followed was astounding. Like a small stampede, Mirio stumbled his way through the hall, into the living room, through to the kitchen, and back again with Eri hot on his heels. It sounded like every turn he made sent him into a wall, or furniture, or to the floor. At one point, the sound he caused could have meant all three, one after the other. Eri sounded like she was having the time of her life.

The best crash by-far was what sounded like Mirio trying to hurtle the couch in an attempt to evade his tiny pursuer. Evidently, he didn’t quite clear it. Shinsou had no idea the sound of someone face planting could be so funny. One corner of his mouth twitched.

“Gotcha!” laughed Eri. Mirio groaned dramatically.

“AW MAN! You’re too good at this, Eri!” he whined. “Well, now all you have to do is find Shinsou and you win!”

“Yeah!” Eri set off again in search of her other target, this time with Mirio in tow. Shinsou could hear them getting closer. It wouldn’t be long before he was found. Not that it mattered; this was just a stupid kid’s game anyways. And there was the momentary blindness of the flashlight beam in his face.

“Hi, Mr. Shinsou!”

“Hello.”

“Squeezed yourself between the wall and the fridge, huh?” said Mirio. Shinsou sighed. “Three seconds to run now, buddy.”

“One, two…” Shinsou made a bit of a show of trying to squeeze out of his hiding spot and wasted two of his precious three seconds. By the time Eri reached three, he had only managed to make it off the tiled floor of the kitchen before he felt a little hand tap his forearm. Good. He was able to get that over with quickly.

“Gotcha, Mr. Shinsou!”

“You sure did.”

“Dude… that was just… sad. Did you even try?” Mirio judged.

“Mr. Lemillion, you should be it next!”

“Sure!”

“Wait, we’re playing again?” Shinsou asked as Mirio took the flashlight from Eri.

“Of course we are! And you’re gonna have fun!” he accented with a light poke to Shinsou’s stomach. The flinch it produced didn’t go unnoticed by the elder.

“Better hide ~ ” he sang as he disappeared into the bathroom. Eri squeaked and scuttled off to hide when Mirio began counting.

Shinsou was at a loss for what to do. He suddenly felt a lot more uncomfortable about this whole thing. But, against his better judgment, he started looking for a new hiding spot.

“40! Here I come ~ “

For several minutes, all Shinsou could hear was Mirio moving around from room to room. This was really boring.

“Hi there!” Eri shrieked in delight before Mirio started counting. Under the sound of her giggling, Shinsou heard the soft thuds of her feet as she quickly retreated and they were soon joined by Mirio’s own heavy footsteps. The game of cat-and-mouse went on for a minute more before Eri’s happy shriek rang out again.

“C’mere, missy!”

“Naha – Nooohoho! Gehehahaa!” Eri was full-on laughing now. What was gong on? Shinsou was getting more nervous by the second.

“Alright, kiddo, let’s go find Shinsou.” Why was his heart beating faster? Their footsteps were getting closer and closer before they suddenly stopped. Eri giggled again, but was quickly hushed by Mirio. The beam of the flashlight disappeared.

For a moment, everything was so still and quiet, you could have heard a pin drop.

“Boo!”

“Gyaa!” All at once, the flashlight’s beam and Mirio’s far-too-proud-of-himself face was in his field of vision, Mirio having thrown himself to hang over the desk Shinsou was hiding under to peak over at him.

“This is really the best you could do? Oh well- THREE SECONDS, MAN! BETTER RUN!” Mirio shouted. Once again, Shinsou made a show of escaping his hiding place, pushing the desk chair aside and crawling out on his hands and knees. By the time he stood up, Mirio had finished counting.

“Dude, you gotta put up a better fight than that. If you don’t star running, I’m gonna tag you and you’re gonna lose.”

“But it’s just a game.” Mirio stepped back, crossing one arm over his waist and brought his other hand up to his mouth in a thoughtful pose.

“Mmn… Maybe you just need some motivation… Okay, how’bout this: run or else…!” he finished, placing his hands on his hips. Okay, now that was a threat. But what kind? What in the world did he mean by that?

“Huh?” Shinsou was lost. However, when Mirio brought his hands up and formed claws, the younger suddenly understood.

“Wha-?!” Sneaking a wink at Eri, Mirio started counting again.

“Oooooone ~ ”

“You can’t be serious..”

“Better scram ~ . Twoooo ~ .” That was enough for Shinsou. He bolted.

“Three!” And there was the horrifying sound of pounding footsteps coming steadily closer. Shinsou was suddenly in full-panic mode.

“Go away!” He turned a corner a little too quickly and slipped on the polished wooden floorboards, sending him into the wall. This mistake caused his downfall and Mirio caught him, gripping one of his wrists and shoulders, throwing him to the floor.

“Go away? But that’s not how this game is played.” He didn’t know why he hadn’t done this from the beginning, but that didn’t matter now. It worked. Mirio froze.

“I can’t blame you. I mean, we’ve only just met; how could you know how my quirk worked. Anyways, get off me and let me go,” Shinsou ordered. Obediently, his senpai climbed off him and stood to his feet, allowing Shinsou to stand as well. His relief was short-lived, though, as Eri chose that moment to round the corner quickly, running full-force into Mirio’s leg and snapping him out of the trance.

“Huh, wh- wha-?” Mirio sputtered. Shinsou’s eyes widened.

“Mr. Lemillion, what’s going on? Did you win yet?” Eri asked, rubbing her nose. Mirio glanced down at her and a grin formed on his face.

“Not yet, but ooooh, I’m gonna!” he teased, turning his gaze to his stunned Kohai.

“Leave me alone,” Shinsou tried, thinking he still had a chance to put his quirk to use here. Regrettably, Mirio said nothing; simply continuing his advance. The younger stepped back, feeling much less confident now. “What are you trying to do here, anyways?!” Still nothing. Did he really figure it out already? Well, he wasn’t going to take any chances here. He ran for it again, but this time he didn’t make it nearly as far. The same move he used before, and Shinsou was on the ground again. Déjà vu.

“No, no, please!” And all at once, it started: ten strong fingers dug into his ribs, burrowing and squeezing.

The sound was more along the lines of coughing and choking than laughter at first. But the sensations shooting up his torso was enough of a distraction that he couldn’t hope to use his quirk now. He was doomed.

“Oh, no you don’t! I told you you’re gonna have fun. Now laugh, mister!” Mirio cheered as he wormed his fingers under his Kouhai’s arms.

“Nahahahaaa! Noho, STOP IHIHIT!” That giddy, panicked feeling fizzled in the pit of Shinsou’s stomach. Somehow, that tickled too and it made Mirio’s tickling even worse. His nerves were suddenly more sensitive, firing off like little fire crackers and popping the bubbles of laughter in his throat.

“Haha! Gotcha!” said Mirio triumphantly and beside them, Eri was giggling happily as she bounced on her toes.

“Pleahese! Naa-I-he! I give uhup! You wihihihin!” Shinsou pleaded, falling steadily into hysterics.

“AaaAAAlRIGHT! I WON! WOOOHOOO!” Mirio threw his fists in the air as Eri cheered along with him. Meanwhile, Shinsou was grinning and panting, still trapped under Mirio’s weight.

“Senpai, could- could you get off me, please?” he asked shakily.

“Of course, giggles!” he emphasized with a few last squeezes to his ribs, causing the younger to cackle in surprise. But ultimately, Mirio did comply, climbing off Shinsou and taking his hand to pull him to his feet as well.

The trio stood together in comfortable silence for a moment, all with varying degrees of smiles on their faces. They were all happy and they had all had fun. Regardless of the tactics, Shinsou did appreciate the effort Mirio had put into making sure he had enjoyed himself. These sorts of occasions were rare for Shinsou.

Just then, everyone’s attention was drawn to the door which had just opened. Mr. Aizawa was back.

“Oh, Mirio. You’re here” he said simply. “Good. Could you watch Eri while Shinsou and I are out training?”

“Of course, sir! I’d be happy to!”

“Let’s get going, Shinsou.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Bye, giggles! ~ ” Shinsou blushed.

“Bye, Bye, Mr. Shinsou!” chirped Eri.

“… Bye.” And he and Mr. Aizawa were gone.

“He’s fun,” said Eri, grinning.

“Yeah.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

[hellohongkong-blog2]

COVID-19 19: Laura Cozijnsen

“Laura you are being irrational you wanted masks but you got disposable gloves!”

To start off the COVID-19 19 interview series, I invited Laura Cozijnsen for a discussion at her office in Tsim Sha Tsui on a Thursday morning. Laura is the founder of Lighthouse Consultancy,   a communications consultancy delivering diverse public relation campaigns and events with high profile clients such as Tai Kwun, HKUST and HKIA. Alongside Laura’s entrepreneurial success at Lighthouse, she is an award-winning MC and public speaker hosting events such as the 2010 Expo in Shanghai. With Laura’s longstanding involvement and commitment for Hong Kong’s communications industry, this interview hopefully reveals a glimpse into the potential changes and innovations Lighthouse Consultancy and the larger creative industries will have to go through in order to adapt with COVID-19. And as much as it is important to consider the new corporate strategies set in motion, I also wanted to know how Laura was personally coping with the pandemic whether it be with how she greets her dog when she comes back from work or on the political nature of the face mask. Everyone in Hong Kong has their own memories of SARS and now COVID-19, and this is Laura Cozijnsen’s:

T: Reflecting on the past, what was your understanding and experience of SARS in 2003?

L: 2003, I was working for a media company starting in Hong Kong.  I remember vividly that it was very scary. The times were scary. Scary in a sense, there is almost like this fog of fear around hong kong. I think it was scarier then now. I remember vividly because my role back then was a regional role. I had to travel to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. We had a few trips planned before SARS. There was this Singaporean company who called us and said “please don’t come to Singapore, you are from the SARS zone”. And I felt so bad, we always felt so welcomed to have meetings and then we could dine out. And then all of a sudden all we got was “you’re from the SARS zone”. It was also a time when I felt…we felt collectively sad. And the loss of medical professionals - the doctors, the nurses and the caregivers all live in our memories. And of course Amoy Gardens and the area around it, no one wanted to be near the buildings. That was how scary it was.

T: I wrote an essay before this all happened - an essay focusing on illness narratives. I wrote about how prevention was also part of an illness really, because it was a social reaction. So I wrote about the prevention methods in the United Kingdom versus Hong Kong. It reminded me that one time, I told my mom that I was going to a birthday party buffet in the Metropole Hotel in Mong Kok. I didn’t know at the time, because they changed their names and everything. So my mom was like “What’s wrong with you?”.

L: I think it was different from now. SARS was more a Hong Kong/China thing. At the beginning of coronavirus, it felt very much the same. There was China and there was Hong Kong. No one knew that it would blow up in the rest of the world. And now it felt like it was the whole world going through this. And from a financial perspective, it’s worse now. Because SARS was just here, and now the rest of the world. I think, is this nature’s way of telling us like “wake up”. No one can escape.

I had a friend in the UK that caught coronavirus. She is from Hong Kong, she works in London. Her mom visited her in January and her mom came back early March, after staying with her for two months. And the tests at the airports, she was confirmed as a case. And then my friend started feeling coughs and heavy breathing, and it was only then that she realised that she might have coronavirus. She was not tested, because they said we do not have enough test. So the numbers…what does a number mean?

T: You touched on it briefly, but how has it changed in 2020? And especially in the earlier months, when it felt so much more like an “asian problem”. What was your perspective in Hong Kong?

L: I thought it would be like SARS. Okay, as long as we continue doing the precautions we will be okay. But then there was also this scare of the lack of masks. Everybody was trying to get a mask. You know the internet meme of “two boxes please”? When someone says, I have a source and then you respond with “two boxes please”. That has become a joke amongst friends but that was the most scary. Because we had no idea we would need so many masks. And it was Chinese New Year. The Wuhan lockdown was 25th of January. And that really sent a message. I should send you my Facebook Live, I did a facebook live on the survey results. It was amazing, the day Hong Kong people started wearing masks was before the Wuhan lockdown. So why would we know, how come we can predict that we need to wear masks? It was before the first confirmed case in Hong Kong. So there was this collective memory of this type of illness, and the knee-jerk reaction of us needing to do this.

This was so funny, one day like many others I was trying to get a box of mask for myself and my mother who does not live with me. I went all over the neighbourhood trying to get masks. We ended up at a grocery store, and the saleslady said “We ran out of masks, why don’t you get some gloves?”. I think the irrationality got the better of me, I bought two boxes of gloves. So it’s still sitting in my kitchen, unused. That was the moment where I realised “Laura you are being irrational you wanted masks but you got disposable gloves!”. I think it was also realising that the death rate in Hong Kong was much less than SARS in Hong Kong was reassuring. But yes, that was the early days.

T: Especially the HKU Prevention of Diseases department, they continued to speak out even after Carrie Lam was asking citizens to not wear a mask. And the team at HKU, they were like “please wear a mask!”.

L: There are so many mixed messages! I think a lot of them come out and say “don’t wear a mask because there is a shortage”. If you don’t have enough stock, you should be clear about it. We have stock for how many days, what’s the best alternatives. You cannot say you do not have to wear one, it is irresponsible. When you look at the statistics, how the growth was being contained in certain cities you realise mask wearing helps. When you look at the President of the United States, he does not even wear a mask, he does not wear a mask in the hospital.

Which brings to the question - how do we select our leaders, how are our leaders being selected and why are they our leaders?

When I was writing my thesis, inevitably people would start talking about the Anti-Mask Law, last year in Hong Kong for the protests. But I think as researchers in that role, we report what is being brought up. And its totally okay, with people there has to be politics.

I think we should provide all medical and sanitation staffs a bonus and a longer holiday after this. Because they work their asses off. I’ve got close friends working in public hospitals that were so stressed, understandably stressed. You also see the beauty of someone going into the Dirty Team with SARS experience, bringing in new nurses and doctors who do not have SARS experience. Hopefully that would educate them and help them understand what it is like. There is a good thing going on as well, those who have experienced it say, “I need to do this because I want the second and third generation of caretakers to know what it's like.”.

T: Going on more of a business perspective, since industries have been pushed into a digital realm during COVID-19, how has that changed working in event management?

L: I think there are a few layers, when you see something that is such a change that is so abrupt. I would think the first thing to do is internal stabilising within the company. In early Feb, we talked about how COVID-19 would affect us as an industry and what we have to brace ourselves for. Every month we have a “situation room meeting”. We basically talk about how business is, what it is going to be like. So internal is phase one. The second is facing external but not in terms of switching gears but understanding what our clients are facing. Because we are all human. They might be afraid of losing their job or bottom line. So really understanding their concerns is what is important. And the thought then would be to switch gears or to think about new things. It would hopefully in the next year that hybrid events could be an option. Once we have this, we can go back and have internal education and the talk yesterday for clients we can reassure them and tell them that we have done this before.

Everything begins with the team, then to understand what the market and client wants and then do it instead of jumping right in. Because without an internal support or understanding you can never do it well. Of course during this time period, all companies are under a lot of stress. It is a time to tell people’s virtues and real characters.

T: Do you think it will change the future of physical events, do you think people will be less willing to participate since you do specific location based events?

L: I think there is going to be a push and pull. There will be a switch in terms of the proportions for a while. And if digital picks up and serves the purpose then we will see events in a different light. Digital events will become less of a ‘nice to have’ and more of a main thing. The benefits have not been capitalised before. I do think that physical events are important because we are human beings, we crave social interactions and seeing each other. But it will be very different.

T: Thinking about your colleagues at work, since they are younger do you think their understanding of SARS is vastly different to yours?

L: I don’t think a lot of them remember, I think at least you have to be 30 years old to have good memory of SARS because it was 17 years ago. To pick up a new thing it does not necessarily have to be for young people, you might see older generations willing to pick up new things. It does not mean that young people will be more accepting to change. So I think the future of education is about growing a generation of agility, flexibility and change. Instead of having to tell students to take ten subjects and pass all of them.

T: How have you and your personal circle (family and friends) been coping with COVID-19?

L: It’s interesting, I get to see more friends now than before. We will call each other more. Before, I had a busier schedule. I do not think that without COVID-19, I would have met so many friends if that can be considered a plus. Family - my mother has been through SARS, she is okay. She has more supplies than she needs, but her only thing is that she is a big church person. So I was teaching her how to use Facebook to watch mass.

T: My grandma does that too! She tells me, “Yes we can go to mass together online!”.

L: I think that has changed, my mom is 78 and she can still learn which is pretty amazing. I also think the world has slowed down. And for us to realise when there is less work, what is important. It is the friends and family that we have. I have friends who paid horrendous amounts of money just to get their kids to get back on the soonest flight. I asked them, “Can you wait for a week? It would be maybe 1/10th of the price.”. And they responded with, “No it must be today.”.

T: This question is more of a precursor to developing one of my other projects, something I want to extend beyond this interview series: In terms of understanding the political nature of the mask, what is your opinion on Hong Kong’s culture of donning masks?

L: I think mask wearing in Hong Kong is a constructed social defence, because that is something we can do. It is almost like psychologically I can do something about it. SARS has redefined for us what a mask is. Because it used to be if you were sick or for a medical staff. But now after SARS, if it is the flu season, you see a lot more people wearing masks. Especially now, according to my research, it is 96% of Hong Kong people wear a mask. Maybe every now and then before the pandemic, someone wearing a mask would be not judged that much. So in fact, the social judgement can change. And not to mention last year, the anti-mask law, and now people see differently. It is something that we feel i can control - both on a hygiene level and on a choice level. So I will do it.

T: How do you feel about the anti-mask law? How did others go about it? Because when I first heard of that law I wondered what people who were sick would go about their day. Even if you were stopped by authorities how can you really prove that you are sick?

L: Personally I was quite resistant to the anti-mask law because I think it is a personal choice. Of course there is a discussion with those who would be held responsible in the eyes of the law with those participating in unauthorised rallies but I still think this is a human right. I think we should want to choose whether we want to wear a mask or not. Of course if a police officer needs to check my HKID for whatever reason, they can request me to temporarily take off my mask. But you cannot say you cannot wear a mask. It’s like if its for religious purposes, oh you cannot wear a veil. It just does not make sense. Or by telling people that you cannot wear a mask it makes people want to wear a mask, its a kind of reverse psychology.

T: I would like to talk about the situation in Mainland China. There are videos on the Internet of people coughing on lift buttons. Now, I do not know if these videos are one hundred percent real or staged. But even the very act of filming it or recording it from a security camera, what does that mean for the health and safety for people living their day to day lives?

L: I feel the most sorry for the people in Wuhan. I think they would require a lot of support after this because it is like where the nuclear bomb hit, right? You didn’t know it was happening, it happened, you didn’t know how to react, you didn’t know who to trust, and you’re just trying to fight for your life. And it is so sad to see videos of people living there and reporters trying to cover footage, its such a quiet city. It is a city that needs a lot of love. And politics is one thing but we always need to remember we are all people, whatever political affiliations we have we are human beings. And imagine that feeling in Wuhan, is like the feeling of being in SARS in Hong Kong. Like, “Fuck, what’s going on? What’s going to happen next?”. I still remember during SARS when I go home, I’d take off all my clothes and then run straight to the bathroom and take a shower before I’d play with my dog. And my dog would be looking at me like (makes confused face). Even now, its not as serious. I would go home, wash my hands and then take off my mask and change into home clothes and then I’ll play with my dog. But she still looks at me confused. And I’m sure people with kids as well. Just imagine doctors and nurses with kids, they (kids) don’t understand. If this is happening to us, we aren’t even in the epicentre. Imagine those in the epicentre.

T: I remember when they did the lockdown in Wuhan, initially they said it was two weeks. But when I saw the lorries barricading the city. I thought to myself, “This is not for two weeks. This is something very serious.”

L: I think for us in communication there is a lot to learn. How should we communicate? What should we communicate? And I think the Taiwan government this time has done a good job. There is so much to learn from them, how they communicated, what to say and what not to say. It is not a parental way of ruling, it is more like how can we work together. I think it is a lot to learn in terms of communications and media.

[x0401x]

Reports and Highlights: Yuukei Roadshow in Tokyo

Compilation of info found on Twitter, Togetter and Privatter. Many thanks to ayara-resara for indicating them all.

<< Previous Show || Index >>

Before reading any further, I highly recommend those who haven’t seen the first show’s reports to read them, since one is related to the other. I advice those who have already read the previous reports to take a look at the bottom of the post again too, because I’ve managed to find and translate more info on it.

@kon_noooo

Q.: Is Kano left-handed? A.: Ah~, I kinda feel like I’ve heard something about this from Sidu-san~! But there’s also the possibility that we’re being deceived... There’s a chance that he’s actually a vigorously right-handed right-hand shot! He seems to think of himself as cute. Like, “It’s so cute that I’m left-handed~”. Please wait for an official announcement on that...

I asked about this when I was getting his autograph... I’d wanted to confirm it no matter what...

(T/N: The “right-hand shot” part is a gatcha reference. Scoring a big hit from the right side is called “right-hand shooting”.)

@enehai_hiyori1

LISTEN UP!!!!!!!!! JIN SAID THAT ASAHINA-SAN IS A CUTE GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, y’see, I asked about what she likes.

I’m getting lots of reactions here so lemme tell you about when I got his autograph...

Q.: Does Asahina-san have anything that she likes other than cats? A.: She’s a cute girl who likes normal stuff. (The nuaces are difficult here so I can’t convey the whole idea, sorry.)

This is something that had been decided since the very beginning: she likes pancakes.

Jin-san: She probably wouldn’t make them herself, though. Me: She’d be like, “You do it”? Jin-san: She’d be like, “You do it”.

Jin-san: I wonder what state her bedroom is in... Me: Indeed...

Me: I tried to think of Asahina-san’s way of thinking (preferences), but I couldn’t come up with anything at all... Jin-san: Eh? She’s a girl who surprisingly likes normal stuff, isn’t she? Staff member: She is. I don’t remember the details so well but how much does that staff member know...?? They said something about “24 hours a day 365 days a year”. They did say that.

@takephotos12

Jin-san said, “Actually, just how much of what Kisaragi Shintarou says to his comrades is the truth?” and that’s too much for me; I’m in pain. I remember him saying before and after this that he was “going to kill a Kisaragi Shintarou cluster”, but my memory is kinda flying off the nest, so I hope I wrote this in my memo.

@nagihararion

Me: I like Haruka-senpai, so I dressed up like him today... Jin-san: Uwah~! Amazing! That blue plaid is really Haruka-like! Speaking of Haruka, I wanna make a spin-off with him as protagonist or something... Me: !?!?!?!! My memory is fuzzy from the point he said “spin-off” onward so I don’t remember it very well, but I feel that he talked about how he “wants to write it” and said that he’d “probably publish it”... I recall him telling me to “look forward to it”... probably...

By the way, I was dressed mostly like this back then:

@Tanapi_May

Me: When will Takane-chan’s birthday be revealed? Jin: Hu~m, I have no plans for it right now... but it’s a very important day. Some big incident or something of the sort will happen. Ah, but it might be in the future edition... Me: “Future edition”!? Jin: Yep, Takane-chan maybe being a Mama... Me: “Mama”!? I asked about this when I got his autograph.

@knkd3131

I only took a memo of the colors of the limelights during each song and my impressions on them, in case anyone wants to use it as reference... 🙇‍♀️

1. Imaginary Reload Lights: blue, green. The background guitar was cool. 2. Shissou Word Lights: purple, blue, green. It stopped at the second “watashi wa” (lol). 3. Additional Memory Lights: red. The interlude was long (nice). The last hook was emo. 4. Lost Day Hour Lights: white and peach with a mirror ball. Lights during the last hook: orange, peach, yellow, white and purple flashed on and off. Jin kept raising his right leg and his smile was cute. 5. Yume no Hana I don’t remember this one. It was a request from the last person to ask a question in the Q&A corner. “A song from THE BACK HORN that Jin-san likes.” 6. Remind Blue Lights: purple and blue with a mirror ball. 7. Solitude From the MV. Jin’s first independent album will be released. He wants the album to be like a picture book of short stories that will make us think he wants to create a new self separated from Kagerou. 8. Mermaid Lights: blue, green. A song from the album. It depicts a honeymoon. A song about boarding a plane alone. Jin: It’s a sad song, isn’t it? 9. FREAKS Lights: white, red. Lights during the last hook: peach, white, green, orange and red flashed on and off. Once upon a time, there was a clumsy monster. The song is about him, who entretains the crowd in a circus group today as well. Jin-san was lifting his right leg in this one. It was the one I liked the most, super emo. Parts of the song that I was able to catch: “I cried out of emptiness” (from the hook) “They laughed at me, who couldn’t become anything” (from the first part)

@shiunteen

I was overwhelmed by “FREAKS” and how its lyrics tear your body apart when you catch on Jin’s full-throttle melody and some other bits; the tears poured out of my eyes with pitter-pattering. Even though I don’t know anything about Jin, it left me in tatters, like, “Aah, he has it so hard; he’s suffered so much; must’ve been so painful”, and I saw in it the earnestness of an artist’s story depiction. I wanna listen to it again soon.

@yuzu_cosp

PV of MekaRelo

A funny story (about Jin’s chronically bad health) 🎵 Imaginary Reload

Q&A 🎵 Shissou Word

Q&A 2 🎵 Additional Memory

Break 🎵 Lost Day Hour

Lottery 🎵 [Requested song] Yume no Hana (THE BACK HORN)

Remind Blue Encore

Solitude

Jin’s first solo album will be released! 🎵 Mermaid 🎵 FREAKS

The editor of Mekakucity Talkers, Kuroda-san, was the host this time too.

Jin-san entered the stage with a mask on. “‘Why is that?’ Is what you’re thinking, right?”

He’d fallen into a bad condition at the end of the year. Caught a persistent cold that wouldn’t get better at all, and just when he thought he had finally cured himself from it, it turned into influenza. It got better a week prior to the concert, and when he thought he’d be able to do the live just fine, his molar swelled up two days before. Since his tooth was swollen, he got an edema in his face, and so he put on a mask.

There were cavities doing bad things to the root of his molar. He was told that he had no choice but have the tooth pulled out, but he explained that he had a live concert to do, so he received symptomatic treatment. He got three injections on the spot, in a place that had him going, “You’re gonna inject it there!?” and went home. Next morning (the morning of the day before the concert), he had an incision in addition to the injections, so he was in a lot of pain.

“Loxonin is amazing; it’s the only thing I can rely on.”

“Master, I’ll have the same as always,” he said as if to make his order → Jin-san and Kuroda-san’s drinks were soon delivered to the stage. One of the songs was the theme of the drinks...

🎵 Imaginary Reload

(On the tooth) “Thanks to the Loxonin, I’m not feeling pain, but it’s hard to move my mouth. Like, ‘it won’t go any farther than this point’.”

(Regarding Kuroda-san’s question of, “How’s the Imaginary Reload drink?”) “It’s carbonated, and I can’t be having carbonated drinks. Also, I had an incision yesterday, so all the more...”

Q&A Corner ①

Q.: Where do Hiyori and Hibiya live? A.: This would become a matter of “where is the setting of KagePro?”. There are models for it. I was indecisive as to whether I should reveal the actual place or not. In the series, it gets messed up (by terrorists and the like), so we’d decided not to announce it for the time being. As for the model of where the two live, it’s based on a village from somewhere in Hiroo Town, in the Tokachi District of Hokkaidou (where Jin-san himself used to live in the past). If you go there, you’ll figure that it’s a place where perverts are born (because it’s too full of nothing).

Q.: What’s Tsukihiko’s eye color? A.: Ah, I’m also curious about that (lol). The eye colors are important, so they’re all decided, but I told Sidu-san that “Tsukihiko is a normal human being”. Sidu-san also thinks lots of things out, like, “Won’t it be passed down to his daughter and granddaughter?”. In the Kisaragi family, too, there’s the setting that the father has orange hair and Shintarou takes after him, and the mother has black hair and Momo takes after her.

The comics would be over soon. They were going to end, but will continue.

This time, they’re following the track order of the album...

🎵 Shissou Word Right before the second hook, Jin-san ate the lyrics by the middle. He started singing again as if nothing had happened.

Q&A Corner ②

Q.: What kind of “story that -- the eyes” are Daze, Days and RED? A.: Daze and Days were made to be the theme songs of the anime from the very beginning, so I haven’t decided on that. If I were to give a subtitle to RED, it would be “the story that changes one’s eye color”. It’s a song about how two friends, one who likes to play around and one who is the studious type (memory is faint here), become self-conscious of the fact that the other has grown up. That “their eyes have been dyed into a color that they had never seen before”.

Q.: Please tell us about what you hesitated to say regarding Shintarou in the previous Q&A... A.: Ah, it’s the topic that will come up in this month’s Gene. Shintarou is the protagonist, but I didn’t get to delve into him, and there are more depictions of other people’s viewpoints than of his. Shintarou will be in the continuation of the series and will be a school teacher. Since marriages between characters and things like that are esteemed, I’ll write the continuation story, but this will be in a parallel what-if world. The next protagonist and abilities have been decided too. There are also new characters, characters that remained the way they are and characters that have grown up. It might not happen just in Japan. I wanna hurry and write.

Q.: How did you come up with Benisake-chan? (T/N: For those who don’t remember, that’s the name of the salmon mascot that Momo likes.) A.: I’ve always liked trout salmon ever since my days in Hokkaidou. I couldn’t eat it after coming to the Kantou Region because it’s expensive here, so I had it delivered from my family’s home and when I ate it for the first in a long while, I noticed that it makes you stinky even if you only touch it a little bit, so I was like, “This is it!!” and made her up. Sanrio’s Kirimi-chan was invented immediately after that, and it made me go, “Hey, hey...”. She was cuter and had me like, “This is how a mascot character is supposed to be”, ww.

Q.: What do you create first, tune, lyrics or melody? A.: I started using VOCALOIDs after the band I was in broke up, and when I thought of “doing what I wanted to do”, I considered creating a story through albums and started KagePro. I’d decided from the beginning that the story would include phrases that go “a story that ○○ the eyes”. KagePro was the first thing I made in which I created songs from world-building. Sometimes, songs come out of phrases like “Oh, my dirty!”. And the phrases come from requested themes.

🎵 Additional Memory

(10-minute break)

The song that Jin-san was happy to write out of the ones from this album... 🎵 Lost Day Hour

Lottery (prizes below)

A picture with Jin

A Jin can badge set

A special (signed) ticket holder and two bookmarks of the study books series

Mekakucity Talkers (signed)

A poster of MekaRelo (signed)

A secret present (which would be mailed at a later date, since Jin-san couldn’t look for it in his house due to his poor health condition)

The right to request a song

The request → a song from THE BACK HORN that Jin-san likes.

🎵 Yume no Hana (THE BACK HORN)

“This is the last one...” he said, and a video played after he was done, but then he was like, “I’ll come up and play one more song w” (swinging his body forward).

🎵 Remind Blue

Jin-san leaves the stage. The PV of Solidute plays. At the end of the PV, the confirmation that Jin-san’s first solo album will hit the shelves is announced.

Jin-san reappears on stage. “I’ll release a full album,” he says. He composed Solitude about four years ago and sang it at CDJ before.

“They’re songs I made because I wanted. I’m looking forward to this the most.”

🎵 Mermaid (a song about someone boarding a plane all alone on their honeymoon)

When he only played the songs he was asked to play, it was like, “Lie low.”

🎵 FREAKS

“I’ll do other concerts so please come again!” With this one sentence, it was over.

@BlueD01

On the topic of Jin-san’s tooth: “My mother always told me to brush my teeth so I always brushed it... How did it turn out like this...? It’s like it comes from the side of the tooth...” *proceeds to explain the proggression of the cavities*

Q.: Jin-san, when you’re create a song, do you give them to a character after making the song? Or do you come up with a character and make a song for them? A.: I formed a band in high school in the past and we used to be active, but though I’d wanted to continue on the band, the others wound up turning into “adults”. From there, I was recommended to use VOCALOIDs, but I could only make incomplete songs, like, the type of song that you play a little bit and just two people in the audience go, “wa~h” at it. Back then, the common usage of “eyes” caught my attention, like, “people become idols when they draw in the eyes of others”. So I started making KagePro. Also, I’d wanted to make idol-like songs. And that is connected to the following topic. I wanted to write a story of growth. Just like Hoshi wo Tsunagete from Kemono Friends, you can make stuff that goes, “this character is like that~”. It varies with each song.

So, Jin-san wanted to create idol-like songs. Also, Kisaragi Attention (he didn’t state this but most it likely) is a song with the theme “it doesn’t matter if one’s own nature (their sense?) doesn’t match them, as long as a third party accepts it”, and it seems it turned into an idol song from this.

Jin-san: *sees the lottery poster* I want that poster... The host: Do you not have it? Jin-san: I don’t. I might’ve given it to my mother.

(After the lottery) Jin-san: I’d wanted to bring it over from my house, but lots of things happened... I’ll mail the big deal on a later date. After the concert ends, please... talk to the staff member over there. We won’t do anything bad with your personal information. *laughs*

@bonus_time34

During the introduction of the colaboration drinks: “We did this in Oosaka last time, and we prepared the same stuff for Tokyo.” He called the drink a “soup”. “This soup has a nice color, huh~. Master, I’ll have the usual (lol).” A red “soup” came straight from the back. “It’s almost as if it was already prepared, lol.” The host joked as it was brought to him, “You’re getting VIP treatment, huh (lol).”

First half of the question and answers corner. “Think of a question with my songs as the BGM (lol).”

“Jin-san is in a period where he uses ‘I really like you’ in his songs a lot (lol)!”

“Now comes the song by your beloved uncle for your other beloved uncle: Additional Memory.”

Jin-san waving his hand as he retreated into the waiting room looked so happy and cute that everyone waved back. I wound up lost as to whether I should applaud or wave.

“How was the album?” “It was the be~st!” some people raised their voices. “I listen to it a lot too. But I don’t cry. I did cry when taking the injections, though (lol).”

“I’m glad I was able to compose this one: Lost Day Hour.” The prolongation of his voice during the hook was wonderful. The high-pitch parts were beautiful. “This song is about the character called Kokonose Haruka.” (My memory of this talk is faint.)

To explain the rules of the lottery: anyone who made an additional order would get a lottery ticket. “(The special present) Could be a signed truck tire (lol) or a signed light-motor vehicle with an expired license (lol). Something that would be a pain in the ass (lol, lol).”

Here, he talked about brushing his molars. “‘How do you brush your molars?’ The dentist’s face looked like a lightning had fallen in front of him.”

The request of the lottery winner was for Jin’s favorite song by THE BACK HORN. “I’m indecisive about this one (lol)! Seriously?! Okay, then!” He played Yume no Hana. He was excited and seemed to be having fun. To the person who made the request, thank you... “I didn’t think I’d get to play THE BACK HORN. It was the best.”

Then, we had the last song... or so he said. “Though I say this is the last one, we will play a video, and I’ll come back after the applause, so I might play something once more (lol),” he stated. “Let’s see each other again somewhere else. This has been Jin. Thank you. Here’s Remind Blue.” The arrange of the second part was amazing. The hook of that part... was great...

The animation of Solitude was cool but the lyrics were good too... Below are a sketch I made of the girl from the video while watching it, as well as a drawing I made of her relying on my memory.

“I played this at COUNTDOWN JAPAN. Is there anyone who listened to it?” About ten people raised their hands. “So there is~. I had thought something along the lines of, ‘let’s do this (solo album)’ after releasing the second album. I was asked things like, ‘Won’t you make that into a CD?’ by the people who listened to Solitude. I’m the one looking forward to it (the release of the solo album) the most.”

He introduced a new song from that album, Mermaid. “Weren’t your titles always supposed to be written in kanji and katakana!? What happened (lol)!?” “Nothing happened (lol).”

“Until I started using VOCALOIDs, my songs felt like holding a concert for only two people while going, ‘It’s destruction~! I’ll tear up your eardrums~!’ (lol)” “It’s been about eight years since last time I made something just because I wanted to compose and listen to it. I wanna make stuff that I feel like conveying.” It seems he composed it based on that. Unlike KagePro, this album will be like a “collection of short stories”.

Mermaid was a song about a honeymoon. The high-pitched hook was melancholic. Jin-san also said this, but it was like a fairy tale.

When he was making songs on request or KagePro songs: “It was like, ‘Even if you have a scenario in your head, lie low’.” He managed to put the things that crossed his mind into songs. He did it...

(A little before another song.) “Can I do it? It’s okay, isn’t it (lol)?” “I’m happy to release (the song) in this occasion (talk live concert).”

The thrilling melody of FREAKS is damn great. It’s a song that gives you courage.

This one was really the last song, so Jin concluded it with his farewells. “I’m thinking of playing many other new songs.” So he’ll do concerts again...? Ambiguous...

After this, there was an announcement, and an autograph session of sold goods and sets.

From the time I got Jin-san’s autograph: when I said, “I like Kisaragi Momo-chan! Thank you very much for always!” he replied, “She sure is popular, huh~”, so I think there were probably about two more people before me who showed the appeal of a Momo fan.

It was a really fun talk-and-play show and I wasn’t able to cool down my excitement. I wanna go again...

@mine1_Hedgehog

Yuukei Roadshow in Tokyo Memo

(About his tooth.) His face was swollen, so he came wearing a mask, but even after his cavities healed a little, instead of going “wah~”, he ended up feeling dejected. “It was like, ‘Did I put on weight?’”

This time, the host ordered a drink that was named after one of the album’s songs! “That’s right; if you pay for it, you get a drink.” He thought it had a good color and was happy to receive it. “Then, Jin-san, you order yours too,” he was prompted. “Master, give me the usual soup.” → “Oka~y.” And so, a red drink came to him as if it had been waiting for a cue. It was an Imaginary Reload one.

The first track was Imaginary Reload. The lights were green. I got emo when listening to that yapping electrict guitar song being played with an acoustic guitar... He’s good with the guitar...

Once it was over, the host was like, “It was a cool song with a dashing sense to it, huh?” and Jin-san interjected, “That’s right.”

When he was asked why he wasn’t having his drink, he said, “I can’t drink anything carbonated right now (because of his molar).” “Don’t cry~” Why did he choose that, then? “Carbonated drinks seriously sting. They make me feel awake.” “It’s literally an ‘imaginary reload’.” “It smelled of blood.” Seriously, why did he choose that?

Here we had the first questions and answers corner. *Looks at the letters displayed on-screen* “This is like a detective drama!” “You can ask about anything, even if it’s not KagePro-related! It can be about secrets regarding Jin’s birth and things like that too!” [roar of laughter] “It’ll finally be revealed...!”

Shintarou’s mother is set to be originally from Hokkaidou. Speaking of which, Momo-chan had mentioned this.

HibiHiyo’s village is based off the village where Jin-san used to live in the past. It’s linked to a town, but the place is actually a weird gathering of villages that you could hardly call a town. There’s seriously nothing there at all. “You’d understand if you saw it, but it’s a place where perverts are born. You have nothing to do there except be delusional.”

(On the topic of Tsukihiko’s eye color.) Sidu-san is in a zone unknown to Jin-san regarding this. In volume 4, his eyes “don’t open because he’s laughing”, but in the manga, he indeed has them closed at all times, www. Jin-san said he had normal eye color, but Sidu-san’s “normal eyes” are wicked, so we can’t know for sure.

There was a lottery after this. The rule was that people would win based solely on the amount of food they got. “You don’t have to spend too much money. That’s not the kind of game it is.”

*drinking his beverage* “Is there anyone here who was also in Oosaka? [lots of hands go up] “I love you...” [roaring laughter]

Second track was Shissou Word. He trailed off at the first verse of the second half like, “wata(shi wa)...” and then resumed after three seconds as if nothing had happened. I forgot why, but he said “I love you~” again afterward.

I think Shintarou is a smart, lovable and good person, but Jin-san sees him as mysterious. He doesn’t know very well how much of what Shintarou says is the truth.

Jin-san was shocked that Vegeta and Bulma from DB got married. “That yankee and Bulma...” It seems he thought he was gonna die.

Everyone thinks that so and so are in a romantic relationship and will definitely get married! Jin just hasn’t written that yet! Even though this kind of thing goes on (in fandom), he can’t bear to see these sprouts of hope get plucked. That’s why the future story that he’ll write next will be like a parallel/what-if thing, and won’t become the future of the normal route. There’s no definite answer to the things Jin writes.

The next protagonist is already decided. The new characters too. It might also happen in places other than Japan. For Mekakushi-dan, there’ll be those who will appear just like they were before and those who will appear grown-up. I think it’ll be a good story.

@natunyudo

Jin-san: How was the live? Me: It was great! I also went to the one in Oosaka, but it was so good that I also came to this one in Tokyo... Jin-san: Thank you very much. How were the new songs? Me: They were good! Jin-san: Which one did you like most? Me: Ah... Mermaid! I was touched...! Jin-san: I’ll do my best in the other new songs! I’ll also make even better albums than this one (MekaRelo)! Me: I’m looking forward to them! I’ll buy them for sure! Ah, also, this... *hands over a letter* Jin-san: Wah~, thank you so much! *stares at the letter fixately* There’s a musical note written here~🎵 *sees my name written at the back* Thank you very much, [my name]-san. Me: ......!!? (He called my name...!!???) Jin-san: I’ll also do my best to fix my cavities! Me: Ah... please do your best! I’ll be cheering for you!

@nozunozu0815

Me: Thanks for having me win the lottery! Jin-san: Ah, it was you?! We also met in Oosaka, didn’t we?! This time, unlike back in Oosaka, we obsessed with the CD order for the songs so it was different, right? Did you have fun? Me: There was Imaginary Reload and it was really the best! Speaking of which, that person who’s been an Asahiner for seven years came today too, but there was no My Funny Weekend. 😇 Jin-san: Ah, that’s true. You noticed it. You see, I can’t open my mouth to sing My Funny Weekend. 😇 That one has really high notes~, honestly~. Me: Indeed. Since your mouth is swollen, it might be difficult. 😇 But getting to listen to new songs was also the best! (He finishes writing the autograph)... If it’s okay with you, can we shake hands? Jin-san: That’s fine! Thank you for coming today! I intend to do this again somewhere else, so please do come listen~! Me: Thank you very much too! I’ll definitely go! And I’ll definitely not wash these hands anymore! Jin-san: Please stop that, ww. Please wash them, ww. Seriously... you’ll get influenza, ww.

We had a conversation like that. 😇

[markhycks]

markhyuck au where

it’s their first christmas together as a couple  (continuation of real estate agent au)

so mark’s nickname for donghyuck is ‘spirit’

it’s so adorable bc hyuck always pretends to get mad about it even though lowkey he kinda likes it bc it makes him feel special that someone has a nickname for him?? (how soft right?)

whenever he tries to be mad at mark for it mark just embarrasses him about it and uses his own words against him, like the phrases hyuck used to use to scare him as a ghost

it’s so cute though 

so sometimes when hyuck wakes up in the middle of the night to get like a glass of water and mark’s probably already up doing his lil real estate work bc he’s a busy bee (pls rest soon mr fully capable!!) he’ll use this fake deep n ~scary~ voice and he’s all “WHO GOES THERE”

and hyuck just j u m p s and he’s mad like “Wtf r u doing??!?! it’s 3 goddamn AM who are you trying to kill what if i had a seizure”

and mark just can’t stop laughing bc he’s lowkey a savage too n he’s all “wow hypocrite, you literally used to do the same to people that’d come view the house??”

hyuck just goes red and he’s embarrassed

mark carries on teasing him by using all the cheesy ghost phrases hyuck used to (like srsly where did donghyuck even get his knowledge of ghosts from who evensays ‘who goes there’ anymore) 

donghyuck’s just embarrassed and he’s all “whatever” and quietly drinks his water before heading back to bed

mark can only smile fondly at his boo and pats his butt as he leaves as a form of apology

donghyuck doesn’t mind anyway and reminds mark to sleep soon 

ok so anyway it’s christmas soon!!

and mark’s like, all about christmas he’s a WHOLE christmas enthusiast and he loves christmas jumper day at work and wears his fav christmas jumper which is rudolph with a bright led red nose that lights up and he’s just s o excited to put up decorations in their house

donghyuck doesn’t have many memories of christmas and views it as any other day

when mark hears about this he just gets so sad and he hugs hyuck and the poor boy is emo all day bc ??? hyuck hasn’t celebrated christmas before 

donghyuck’s just rolling his eyes because his boyfriend is so dramatic but he lets mark cling sadly to him all day (mostly bc he can’t even get him off him in the first place)

mark buys donghyuck a christmas jumper with little christmas trees that also have lights on them 

and donghyuck pretends to hate it but on the inside he’s just so happy n shy n blushy bc what did he do to deserve such an amazing boyfriend??

jisung comes over occasionally and him and donghyuck get along pretty well (they both gang up on mark always) and one day he brings his best friend chenle with him so they can all help put up decorations in their home

mark wants it to be extra special because it’s donghyuck’s first actual christmas and also their first christmas together

hyuck’s like “pLEASE stop making this a big deal” but mark’s just huffy n puffy like “nO it has to be special its our first christmas together!!”

so hyuck just rolls his eyes like ok FINE and they even go out together to choose a tree

so come the day where they put up their decorations

chenle’s the l o u d e s t boy ever and him and jisung are both just so hyper together but they’re really fun boys

they spend the day attempting to put up the tree and lights and they blast christmas songs all evening

at one point mark jumps up onto a table to dramatically lip synch to mariah’s all i want for christmas while pointing at a mortified donghyuck

chenle and jisung can’t stop laughing bc its s o hilarious and jisung records it on the sly (bc brother duties!!) as blackmail material

donghyuck goes silent bc he is so SHY and also embarrassed

mark gives everyone second hand embarrassment 

but they still love him 

at one point mark asks donghyuck to grab the star from their room

hyuck’s like oki and heads into their room to search for it

mark quietly follows him when he’s gone and jisung and chenle share a knowing glance with each other when they see him holding a mistletoe behind his back

jisung pretends to gag while chenle only coos

donghyuck spots the star and picks it up before heading back out to the living room

just as he gets to the doorway mark’s standing there in front of him with an unreadable expression on his face  

“hey i got the star-wait what’s wrong?” he blinks, confused

mark’s lips curl upwards into a small smile as he holds up the mistletoe high in between them

donghyuck’s eyes follow the mistletoe and then to mark as he blinks in confusion, his cheeks heating up

he doesn’t know why he feels so embarrassed today

maybe he’s just overwhelmed at the idea of spending christmas with mark??

he pretends to play dumb and clears his throat, fingers curling over the star in his hands

“so..”

mark raises a brow at him, slightly dumbfounded

“what do you mean so? look!” he says, dangling the mistletoe in between them

donghyuck lets out a playful scoff before pursing his lips

“kiss me then, stupid.”

so mark does

donghyuck’s lips are soft against mark’s, they’re warm and still taste like honey, it’s still his favorite taste

they both stay like that for a while until mark lowers his arms to bring them around donghyuck’s frame, gently holding him against his chest as the younger continues to press soft kisses to his lips, fingers still clutching onto the star

mark’s hands give hyuck’s waist a gentle squeeze and all he wants to do is stay like this forever

they’re interrupted by a loud scream (surprise: it’s chenle)

later when they finally manage to decorate the tree, mark INSISTS that donghyuck put up the star just because

hyuck hates being put on the spot like this since he’s not used to it but chensung and mark are looking at him with hopeful eyes and he really loves his boyfriend so much so he’s like o ok 

jisung (as the tallest) has to give him a piggy back so that he can reach the top of the tree

as he’s putting up the star he has to stretch a lil more bc it’s so?? far away still??

“jisung move closer a lil pls”

and so jisung does

but donghyuck still can’t reach and so he makes the mistake of tugging at a branch 

CRASH

the fuckin tree topples over and jisung and donghyuck topple over and all their endless effort has gone to wASTE 

everyone just goes silent for like 5 seconds staring at the DISASTER that is their tree

donghyuck feels so bad bc he knows its his fault and he panics and looks at mark 

mark’s blank for a moment before he lets out the loudest snort

and soon they’re all laughing so much because it’s just so ?? funny ??

slowly they start putting the decorations and lights back onto the tree and this time mark grabs a stool for donghyuck to stand on before putting up the star

it goes right this time 

they’re all so tired and mark suggests ordering takeout but chenle and jisung already have made dinner plans to eat at this new restaurant and mark’s a lil butthurt that he wasn’t invited

they only roll their eyes and say their goodbyes as donghyuck flops onto the couch tiredly

mark takes a seat beside him “move over, lazy ass”

donghyuck huffs and proceeds to sprawl over the couch more, his head nuzzling onto mark’s lap before he glances up at his boyfriend

mark smiles fondly at him, giving his hair a little ruffle

“thanks for today, mark. i really had fun”

“anytime, my little ghost of christmas past”

donghyuck blinks at him, confused

“your what?”

and mark just g a p e s 

because donghyuck hasn’t read or seen A Christmas Carol??

when their dinner finally arrives, mark insists that they have to watch it that night (even though donghyuck’s complaining bc mark has work the next morning)

they end up watching it even though mark ends up falling asleep near the end 

donghyuck watches the whole thing and lowkey he’s a huge fan already

also bah humbug becomes his new favorite catchphrase 

~

mark’s workplace is having a christmas party at the office and they’re each allowed to invite one guest 

so o f c o ur s e mark has to bring his boo

donghyuck’s already met most of his boyfriends colleagues and he’s really really fond of sicheng (whose internship has now ended and is a full employee at the company)

they play cheesy christmas games and wear crowns and boss taeil gets super hyper it’s hilarious

he spends the evening ganging up on mark with his colleagues 

mark also ends up drinking a lil and he gets kinda tipsy (really mark?? on wine??) and he’s all red and tired and clinging to hyuck the entire time

they make out secretly in taeil’s office when mark says he wants to show hyuck a ‘document’

mark’s a clingy drunk and donghyuck finds it so adorable

donghyuck doesn’t have his permit yet and mark is not allowed to drive while drunk (no drink-driving, kids!) so they have to get jaehyun to drop them home who will drop mark’s car over later on

mark’s being all touchy when they get home that night and hyuck’s like p le as e as he tries to help his boyfriend out of his shoes 

that night they end up cuddling with donghyuck being the big spoon

when they wake up however, mark’s worried about his lil baby’s arms getting numb and he immediately pulls hyuck into his arms, brushing gentle kisses to his temple

~

they spend christmas eve with mark’s family back at his parents home

jisung has invited chenle over and one of his cousins jeno has invited his boyfriends jaemin and renjun over too

they all get along with donghyuck (esp mark’s mother she absolutely a d o r e s him and treats him like her own son)

donghyuck’s shy again because!! family!! so mark squeezes his hand under the table and gives him reassuring glances the whole evening

hyuck sticks to his side the whole night and at one point mark’s mother calls him into the kitchen to help with dessert

when he goes in she gives him a big hug and tells him she loves him and kisses his forehead 

donghyuck bursts into tears right there bc suddenly he misses his parents and he’s never experienced being with family before and he’s just super overwhelmed

she tells him that she’s happy that mark has found someone like him and that her son is lucky

in his head he thinks its the other way around

mark’s watching them from the doorway, an overjoyed expression on his face bc he’s so happy and he just sniffles silently

they sleep in mark’s childhood bedroom that night and mark shares stories about his childhood 

the bed they’re on isn’t exactly for two people so there’s a spare mattress on the floor 

donghyuck insists he’ll take the floor but then decides it’s too cold despite all the blankets

he climbs onto the bed and sprawls onto his boyfriend’s chest while he’s asleep

mark groans, playfully teasing him about being heavy before pressing his lips to donghyuck’s nose and bringing his arms around him

the next morning mark’s awake first and he’s so !!! excited !!! because it’s christmas !!

he shakes hyuck awake (who actually woke up before him but pretended to be asleep) and plants a kiss square onto his lips

donghyuck groans playfully about his morning breath and they end up getting into a brief pillow fight until there’s a knock on the door

as they get dressed into their christmas sweaters again, donghyuck pulls his boyfriend towards by the hem of his sleeve

“what’s up?” mark asks

donghyuck leans over to kiss his boyfriend once more, fingers gently lacing with mark’s before he pulls away

“thank you for all of this, really” he whispers, eyes twinkling

mark just looks at his boyfriend with the s w e e te s t gaze, arms coming to wrap around donghyuck

“merry christmas, donghyuck. i love you”

“i love you too, mark”

and they hold hands before heading out into the living room

[butterfly-child99]

If you follow me on instagram/facebook/twitter you may have seen a few weeks ago, we got to experience something wonderful. We got the chance to have a sleepover at Dorset County Museum in Dorchester with Dippy the Dinosaur, YES, you read that right, THE DIPPY from the National History Museum. He is currently on tour and his first stop is in Dorchester. I have wanted to write about our experience since we very first got in but I wanted to take my time so it wasn’t just excited drivel.

I don’t believe I have ever done anything quite like this, but I do hope to experience some wonderful things with my children in the future, this was our first stop on our quest for a fun filled and happy life. Dippy has been at the museum since February and as my son is a huge, huge fan of dinosaurs, and as a family we are all pretty dino crazy, we got tickets to go see Dippy. Firstly, we went with some family friends, and the children loved it! So much so, they wanted to do it again, so we booked more tickets to go see him in May with my mum (Mamma) and Mr BC’s dad (Grandad). However, before we reached that second date, I got an email with the exciting news that as the first two sleepovers were so successful, and had sold out so quick, they had added an extra date, and as I subscribe to the mailing list, I was given advance warning. I spoke to Mr BC as quick as I could and without much thought we booked tickets. This was almost a once in a lifetime experience, we could not pass it up.

We told the kids, who were obviously excited and it wasn’t far  in the future, so we had no moans or waiting which if you’re a parent you will appreciate is a amazing.

I took a few photos on the night but mostly I did live videos to my facebook feed, which was very cool as we got to share our experience with family and friends as it was happening. The whole experience was really well planned and was just amazing. My initial thoughts were that it may be quite scary staying in a museum and I thought it would be quite strict in what you could do and when. But the staff were amazing  and we got to wander round the museum, spend some time with Dippy, and they had organised games and activities. We had hot chocolate before bed and they had organised two films to watch (Dinosaur related obviously), and it was not scary at all. In fact, it was incredibly exciting.

Even before we got in they had some entertainment for us as we queued, this lady was amazing. She had a dino disco set which played lots of music from T-Rex to Everybody walk the Dinosaur, accompanied by her son she was very entertaining and we saw some more interesting things from her later too.

She was just as excited about dinosaurs/fossils and the chance to sleep over as us, she was also really insightful and just fun to be around.

When we made it into the museum, the biggest decision came, did we pick somewhere quiet to put our sleeping bags to try to get some sleep or did we sleep under the towering skeleton of Dippy…..

Obviously the children picked Dippy, which we knew would be terribly exciting but also full of lots of other excitable children and lots of accompanying adults (with snoring/talking/laughing) but we may never get to do this again, so we went for it. One night of restless sleep would be worth it. So we made our way into the great hall and picked a spot to camp out. The kids had made  a friend in the queue so obviously they wanted to be near her. So we set up out gear and waited to find out what exciting activities awaited us.

We all had handy printed itineraries to follow and before the event we had all been spilt into teams and had been asked to wear a colour to define our group, and we could do fancy dress if we wanted to try to win a prize. As we didn’t book until last minute our dress wasn’t amazing, but we all had matching blue hoodies, as we were on the Jurassic Tropical Seas team with the Pliosaur as our prehistoric creature.

The activities ranged from a Pliosaur versus Megalosaurus Quiz to Parachute Games. I really can’t praise the whole evening enough, who would have thought a museum would let children run around playing a game of dinosaur tag or playing exciting parachute games within one of its collection halls. It was an amazing experience, that I do not think I will ever stop talking about. The children loved every single moment, even though the recommended age was 7, and Poppet is only 5, she still got to join in and experience everything.

During the Pliosaur/Megalosaurus quiz, the children had to answer questions by finding the answer in the room. My two worked beautifully together which doesn’t happen often, and they managed to find all the answers, and poppet did some beautiful handwriting. So educational as well as fun, so a thumbs up from mummy!

After this, we went through and some wonderfully, exhilarating fun playing dino themed parachute games. For me the idea of children running and playing within a museum panicked me slightly, what if things got broke. But the children were really well behaved and the staff again were incredible. I even got to join in with a game of dino tag, we had a slight incident, as poppet got a little crushed by some the bigger children and I was on the other side of the room so didn’t see it, but she was rescued and got to stay with the museum lady for a bit, so she was happy enough.

We then went into the main Dippy hall where we got to see the lovely Dinosaur Disco lady again and her son. She talked to us about how she was a huge fan of the jurassic coast and she had a special skirt made of sedimentary layers, and she sang us some Jurassic themed songs with her ukulele and son accompanying her. It was amazing! She sang about sedimentary layers, fossil formulations and about Mary Anning (famous for all the fossil hunting she did and so much more, look her up and if you want more exciting and interesting information have a look on the Jurassic Coast website); which if you are a big dino fan, or live around the Jurassic coast or are interested in fossils; will know she is a big deal and this lady was a huge fan. I think after this evening, I was also a big fan and my appreciation for dinosaurs, fossils and history of where we live, increased tenfold.

We got to walk around Dippy again and get our selfies if we wanted one! It was amazing seeing him from up high, as you can imagine we would be as high as tree level, which is where Dippy would have been eating from and until you see how big he is, you cannot truly appreciate what it must have been like when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The video below is a link to my facebook, as I don’t have a downloaded version of it. Please let me know if you have any issues with the link.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155504355437411&id=543807410

As the night wore on, we were invited for a hot chocolate and to get our pyjamas on. Whilst we waited for the films to be prepared, we were allowed to have a wander around Dippy and into some of the other rooms, and we did a raffle and the fancy dress competition. Whilst Mr BC took the kids to the raffle I spent a few minute with Dippy all on my own. It was quiet and peaceful not eerie as I thought it might be. It was an incredible moment, that I won’t ever forget.

This is me all alone with Dippy!

The choice of films was Jurassic World or Dino time for the little ones. Monkey wanted to go watch Jurassic world so we all went through to watch it. I had brought some snacks and we all had blankets which we snuggled under. I could tell, Poppet was not going to make it to the end. She was yawning away and had asked if she could do some colouring. We had already seen this movie, so I could understand her getting bored. So Mr BC stayed with Monkey, and Poppet and I went back to our camping area under Dippy.

Monkey enjoyed the film and returned a couple of hours later and was asleep by 11:05pm, 5 minutes after lights out. Poppet and I had been doing some colouring and telling dinosaur and princess stories, and we had settled down but waited for the boys before also drifting off to sleep.

Everyone (nearly everyone) slept soundly, there was a few snorers and a creaky door somewhere, but mainly it was peaceful. However, at just after midnight Poppet developed a funny doggy sounding barking cough, and it kept waking her as she also developed a wheeze. We had been locked in the museum so I couldn’t go anywhere, and it was only a bit of a cold but unfortunately it meant I spent most of the night holding her up slightly so she didn’t have to lie flat. Whilst I was  sitting awake cradling Poppet so she wouldn’t lie flat, the museum was generally quiet, I could however, hear some kind of exhibit in the background, still talking to itself, and for one moment I had the silliest thought that maybe things did come awake as we sleep, like in the movies, and it added to the excitement of the night. So even though, Poppet was a bit unwell and I didn’t get much sleep, me and Dippy really enjoyed each others company as everyone else slept on.  I think it must have been from sleeping so low to the floor, and she suffered with croup as a baby. It didn’t dampen the experience though as we all had a great time and we were sad to go. Poppet especially got sad as she didn’t want Dippy to leave but we reminded her we had one last visit to do, although sadly as you will know from my previous posts, Grandad didn’t make it with us to visit Dippy but we did still go in his memory and Monkey and Poppet hoped his spirit was with us to see us enjoying our final visit to Dippy on his tour.

The morning after, we all were given cereal or croissants for breakfast which was yummy, but we rushed through it as I wanted to get Poppet home to get some calpol in her and some fresh air. We had so much fun and I cannot thank the staff enough for such a wonderful and incredible experience. In itself, the whole evening was amazing and a real once in a lifetime thing to do, but the staff made it even more special, by how welcoming, knowledgable and just how excited they were by it all too. If it was possible to just pick and do any job in the world, a Library or a Museum would be my dream. Being surrounded by all the History and exciting artefacts, always learning new things and passing this knowledge onto children, and making learning exciting, would be perfect. If I can pass on a love for learning to my children, I will be happy. And I think surrounding ourselves with people who are equally as excited, and by going to events such as these, I am on the right path, but definitely if I could work somewhere with events like these and show just one child the excitement of learning, then I would be happy!

Here was our final picture of the kids in front of Dippy saying our good byes. They do both look a little hungover, which I thought was quite funny. Poppet obviously wasn’t feeling too good but Monkey looked excited and thrilled but exhausted all at the same time and I think thats what grown ups look like after a really good night out.

If we get chance to do it again, I would jump at it and if you ever get the opportunity, do it! It was incredible and I will remember it forever. Not only was it amazing but it helped to remind me that my life is pretty great, I have longed for a third baby, and I would love to not be in as much pain as I am sometimes but looking at my beautiful children and taking part in such a wonderful thing, and knowing, you know what I can do so much more with my children. I cannot wait for our next adventure and I say BRING IT ON!!!

I am not sitting back and letting pain or anxiety get the better of me, I want to enjoy my life, spend time with the kids and do things now! We have our first part of our Europe “tour” booked, we are off to Rome in the Summer Holidays and we have lots of exciting day trips or experiences we would like to do, on our ever expanding to do list, and I cannot wait, and I hope you can’t wait to hear all about it, too!

As a final video, here we are saying Goodnight when the room is almost empty! It really was incredible!!!!

You may have seen a few weeks ago, we got to experience something wonderful. We got the chance to have a sleepover Dippy the Dinosaur! Check out all the exciting things we did in my new blog post! If you follow me on instagram/facebook/twitter you may have seen a few weeks ago, we got to experience something wonderful.

[ramblingthoughtsofayoungadult]

Desperate Times-Lip Gallagher Imagine

Requested: No

Warnings: mentions of drug use, alcohol abuse, angst, swearing, and some fluff

   So far, Y/N had had a pretty decent day: her boss at her internship for Chicago Times complimented her proof reading for an article, she got free coffee from the Starbucks near work, and her mom made Y/N’s favorite dish y/f/d for dinner that night. Even her dream was unbelievably amazing since it involved a certain, hot male celebrity and rolling around on a Caribbean beach. However, Y/N was forced to come back to reality when the sound of crashing glass alerted her. Immediately, she jerked up in her bed, feeling pretty disoriented. Then, there were footsteps and Y/N got extremely nervous.

    Y/N didn’t live in the best neighborhood so she was pretty sure that the intruder was holding some sort of weapon and was dangerous. Unfortunately, her parents were the heaviest sleepers known to man so they wouldn’t be any help. So, Y/N grabbed the bat that she kept underneath her bed for emergencies and tried not to shake too much as she climbed out of bed and slipped out the door. Her footsteps were quiet as she listened for anymore noise. The only sound that came from downstairs was broken glass crunching as the intruder stumbled around.

     “Y/N…Y/N!” Lip yelled.

     “Lip?” Y/N whispered.

     She lowered her bat to her side and frowned. She hadn’t seen Lip since high school and she thought he had been doing well. However, Y/N couldn’t have been more wrong. Y/N stood on top of the staircase and what she saw made her heartbreak: there, stumbling towards the staircase was Lip Gallagher, an extremely intoxicated Lip Gallagher. His eyes were blood shot and he had no sort of balance. When he saw her, he smiled a little and leaned against the staircase.

        “There you are,” he said.

        “What are you doing here? Why did you break into my house?” Y/N hissed. 

        “I wanted to see you,” Lip said, his eyes roaming over her body. “You look good.”

         Y/N folded her arms across her chest, feeling her y/s/c cheeks warming up at his words. She had known the Gallaghers since she was eight years-old, but was closest to Lip. His quick wit and genius made him interesting to talk to and the fact that he was good with words added to his attraction. Also, he was extremely good to look at. However, it wasn’t his sharp intellect that had Y/N crushing on him for so long but rather the darker side of him, the side that made him steal money and do many illegal odd jobs. It was with darker side of him that drew her in and took her to a very scary place in her life—-a place that she never wanted to go to again.

         Lip began trying to walk towards her but tripped over one of the stairs and fell pretty hard. He muttered curses under his tongue, but Y/N moved to immediately help him up. She wrapped her arms around his waist and helped him to his feet. Lazily, he leaned his head back to look up at her and smirk.

         “You’re so lucky my family’s too broke to have a security system or you’d be in jail by now,” Y/N whispered.

        “You’d never snitch on me,” he said with a laugh.

        “Be quiet. I’m gonna be nice and let you stay over but you have to go by morning.”

       “Bout time we spent the night together anyway.”

       Y/N rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the butterflies fluttering around in the pit of her stomach as she helped Lip walk up the stairs. She thought that she was over her crush on Lip that she never admitted to him, but old habits were supposed to die hard. 

        She managed to sit him down on her bed before she started making a pallet of blankets for him on the floor next to her bed. 

        “I have no idea how I’m going to explain the broken window to my parents but I guess I’ll think of something,” Y/N said as she stood.

        “Why can’t I sleep in the bed with you?” he whined.

        “Because you’ve been bad.”

        “So are you punishing me?” A sly grin worked its way onto Lip’s face and Y/N shook her head.

       “Just lay down on the pallet and go to sleep while I clean up.” She started to walk past him but Lip grabbed her wrist and pulled her close so that she was standing between his legs.

        “I’m sorry, Y/N.”

       “It’s a window, Lip, my family and I will figure out a way to pay for it.”

       “No, not that, I’m sorry that I got you in a load of sh-t. I…I shouldn’t have let you have that coke,” Lip slurred. “It’s my fault, all of this is my fault.”         “Go lay down, Lip,” Y/N whispered back.

        Even though every fiber of her being was asking Y/N to stay exactly where she was, she pulled away and went downstairs to start cleaning up the glass. As she swept, her mind drifted back to that particularly low point of her life that Lip had just apologized for. In spite of all the therapy Y/N had gone through, she had a bad habit of repressing memories that she didn’t enjoy and avoiding people that she thought triggered her. Lip managed to fall into both of those categories. Sure, he had offered her coke during a party in their freshman year of high school and she had taken it, but neither of them could’ve guessed that she would get hooked the way she did. Y/N could still feel the gravel digging into her knees when Tyler forced her down to them when she was short on money and she could feel her veins in her arms begin to itch with withdrawal.

       “Stop it, that was the past and this is the present,” Y/N whispered to herself. “You have changed, you don’t need anything to take the edge off, you’re healthy and you are doing well.”

     After fifteen minutes, Y/N managed to clean up all the glass that Lip broke when he broke into her house and prayed that a real intruder wouldn’t take advantage of the broken window. When she got back to her room, Lip was passed out on the floor. He looked so sad and troubled that Y/N could’ve cried. She knelt down and draped a blanket over him before crawling back into her own bed. Unfortunately, her dream did not pick up where it left off since all she dreamt of that night was a dark void.

      The next morning, Lip stumbled down the staircase and froze when he saw Y/N eating dinner in her kitchen. She was dressed for an office and seemed fairly perky.

      “Good morning, Lip,” Y/N said.

       “Morning.” Lip glanced at the broken window. “Sh-t, I’m guessing I did that.”

      “No, the intruder I scared off last night did. My dad’s filing an insurance claim so we don’t have to pay for it.”

      “Huh.” Lip scratched the back of his head and walked over to her. “I’m sorry if I said anything stupid but I had a pretty f-cking bad day yesterday and I had a few too many drinks.”

      “That’s pretty normal except most people refrain themselves from breaking into old friends’ houses and scaring them half to death.”

       “I said I was sorry.”

      “Yeah, I know.” Y/N ran a hand through her hair. “Do you remember anything from last night?”

       “Not after I left the bar.”

       “Well, after I found you stumbling around in my living room, you told me that you were sorry for…for what happened back in high school.”

        Lip hesitated and looked at his hands. “Yeah?”

        “I know that we’ve drifted apart over the last couple of years, but I never got to tell you that I forgive you for what happened. We were good friends at one time and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it.” Y/N tightened her grip around her cup of coffee. “I was in rehab for two years and I had to do therapy as well. They helped me come to terms with my addiction and the underlying causes of it. Basically, it was a coping mechanism but while most people learn to cope with stress via religion, exercise, or a sport, drugs were my way of coping. Whenever I was upset or under distress, I’d do a line and it made things seem less bad, but then I…I almost got hit by a bus because I was too high to notice that the walking light hadn’t gone on.”

       “Why are you telling me all of this?”

       “Because I want you to know that I forgive you and I’m doing okay now. I got my GED and got into Northwestern on a scholarship. Not everything is your fault, Lip, I had an idea of what I was getting into when I accepted your offer. My addiction was my problem and I caused it, but I’m doing better now.” Y/N glanced at her watch. “I have to head to my internship soon, but if you ever want to talk about anything going on with you, my number hasn’t changed.”

        “Thanks.” 

         Y/N washed her dishes and grabbed her purse before walking out of her house with Lip. She felt a bit of a weight being lifted off her shoulders as she locked the door behind the two of them. Closure certainly was a beautiful thing.

        “Besides that whole apology thing, did I do anything else last night?” Lip asked.

         “Um, you were a bit of a flirt but that’s normal with most drunk guys, right?”

         “Yeah, I guess.”

          They started down the front steps and Lip insisted on walking Y/N to the nearby L. It was a pretty warm day since it was summer in Chicago, but Y/N still had to wear a stupid long-sleeve button down and a pencil skirt to work.

         “Wanna hear something funny?”

         “I’d kill for funny right now.” 

         Lip chuckled a little bit. “Ian thought you had a thing for me.”

        “When?”

        “Middle school and high school and I told him that guys don’t have to be gay to have straight girl friends.”

         “Course not. You didn’t have to walk me to the L, you know, I can take care of myself.”

          “C’mon, Y/N, you used to make me walk you all the way home from school because you thought you’d get jumped if you walked alone.”

         “I’m older now, I’ve changed and so have you.”

         “I highly doubt that.”

         “Fine, I’ll remember that for the next time you ask me to be your fake girlfriend to get some hoe off your back,” Y/N teased.

         “That’s not fair.”

         Y/N laughed at Lip’s whining and shook her head. It felt like old times except there wasn’t a Karen or Mandy hanging around as well. Mandy and Y/N got along just fine, but it was Karen who almost fought Y/N because she knew how Y/N felt about Lip. She would flaunt the fact that Lip was really into her in front of Y/N that would have the young girl crying herself to sleep sometimes. Y/N was sure Mandy knew too but she was nice enough not to say anything. In fact, Y/N was surprised that Lip didn’t know that she had had a crush on him for most of their friendship.

         Finally, they got to the L and Y/N paused. “Well, this is me.”

        “Yeah, have fun interning.”

        “Wait, I never asked you what you were doing.”

         “I’m working for my sister over at Patsy’s Pies. You should stop by sometime, I might slip you a free slice.”

         “Will Fiona like that?”

         “She won’t know about it.”

          Y/N shook her head and started walking up the stairs for the L. “See you around, Gallagher!”

        “Not so loud, I’m hung over,” Lip joked back.

         When Y/N got to the platform for the L she knew one thing was for certain: she was not over Lip Gallagher, not one little bit.