#its just a wild thing to happen during my nap and wake up to see the fallout of

[baalzebufo]

drifting awake from my afternoon nap to see like the notes on the germs post, saying 'heh... gottem...' then immediately falling back asleep

[keefwho]

November 08 - 2024 Friday

9:00am

The need for reassurance is strong right now. Its just 'random' how this happens. Its usually high in the morning, maybe because its very easy for me to feel alone waking up and think that it's going to last forever. Actually, thats something our trauma book mentioned that I wasn't sure I related to. Its feeling like this will last forever. I think thats part of my issue. When I feel lonely, I dont see it ever going away. I desperately want to be rescued from it because I can't wait until the end when I don't see an end. Its a lot like when the power goes out. Thats something I KNOW will come back but I have no idea how long it'll take so I have to act like it's forever. This also applies to when Im feeling hurt by someone or if my trust feels compromised. Its hard to move on, it doesn't go away.

Other than that, I've privated my personal twitters and logged out of them finally. I don't have much of a reason to have them, I haven't for awhile. I made them awhile back to see what it would be like to have a personal account for my thoughts and stuff again with the bonus of having people like DS to interact with instead of making it completely solo. But it's become a thing of habit that doesn't benefit me at all I think. If anything I use it as an outlet to feel lonely because of how little interaction I get. Makes me feel like I don't matter.

12:12am

I was tempted to watch Summer Camp Island this morning but I was going to out of habit and I actually wanted something else so I watched Youtube instead. During lunch I read a fanfic from this person I met on VR (I dont like them much) and it was pretty mid. I don't mean to compare but DS floors this person. They mentioned how it took them all week to put together a few pages of rushed story. I don't mean to be mean but I wasn't impressed. Good for them though for writing either way. This afternoon I streamed in VRchat again via video player but no one showed up until maybe 70 minutes in and they didn't really care. I saw 2 very good friends playing in the world which warmed my heart and I wished that was me. Funnily enough DS and I went to that world tonight and chased each other around too. I finished another background for the book club and attempted to advertise my recent work. Then I took a 20 minute nap. Before VR time I baked 4 servings of biscuits, all I am able to atm. Tonight DS and I watched a good Pop Culture Detective video, the leaked Hazbin Hotel episode (hilarious that happened), looked at this really good work from a sculpture maker although most of it was realistic pony smut, and played VR. We got caught up on Wild Manes and did our bed stuff. I've started playing Star Stable at night again which is a little low brain thinking time for me.

[onepiecesb]

Ok so I saw Film Red again today and here are my ramblings about it

Spoiler warning!

-I love Uta’s outfit when she takes out the pirates trying to kidnap her the lance is really cool

-The stamina it’s gotta take to keep the sing-sing illusion going is bonkers Blueno makes a comment about how taxing it is to use the door-door fruit and remembering how little Law could do during Dressrosa and Punk Hazard to save his energy for fighting I think helps put into perspective just how crazy it is that Uta is creating a fantasy world where the people there essentially can have anything they want while also duking it out with the marines in reality and being under the affects of wakeshroom overdose

-Explains why she can save luffy from water despite being a df user herself because his real body is still on dry land

-I just thought it was interesting that when they were younger after Luffy Yassop was the first other pirate to wake up from Uta’s singing

-When asked what the audience thinks of pirates a child screams for the pirates to bring their mother back which makes me think if Uta has enough information could she “Bring back the dead” in a sense?

-During the little montage of Gordon explaining Uta’s past when she gets the transponder snails and starts to gain fans she literally starts climbing pedestals as the fans send their love until finally she sits on the very top and all she hears are all the awful things happening elsewhere (mostly due to pirates) which if you think about the fact that Uta KNOWS she was the one who destroyed Elegia (only a year after it happened?) it makes sense why she feels the need to bring a world of peace to these people that maybe it can right her own wrongs (even tho it was really tot musica possessing her as a child and taking its revenge on the island that imprisoned it)

-She isn’t omnipotent in the sing world it being the limits of a df but I imagine her awakened form very much could be

-I love that SunnyKun is a little lion thing but god I wish Law had to carry his ship in a fish bowl or a little room bubble

-WHY DOES SANJI SLEEP LIKE THAT 💀

-The fact that Uta can also use peoples devil fruit powers is crazy wild and the fight between Uta and Fujitora/Kizaru is super fucking cool

-The snails can still transmit videos outside of reality I think it would be cute if you caught a transponder snail napping u could see their little snail dreams (I imagine doflamingo’s transponder snail has nightmares 💀)

-ODA PLS I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE ROCKY PORT INCIDENT QUIT TEASING US WITH KOBY AND GIVE HIM THE SPOTLIGHT FOR A SEC I BEG

-I love that there are people in the crowd for and against staying in Uta’s sing world I imagine if things had gone differently and Uta was upfront about her ability she really could have made a world for people to be happy for a bit even if it is ultimately a dream

-Law putting Luffy in timeout is hilarious but also Luffy breaks out of Bart’s ball and ends up getting put BACK IN TIME OUT 😂

-Ok so they explain that Tot musica is literally man’s fear and doubts given form to this “demon” I love that on the flip side Uta is an angel of hope (but also love the fight between luffy and tot being a god vs demon thing)

-I was surprised for a second when Robin didn’t chew out Franky for destroying the records room but it is only in the dream I imagine when they woke up she took another peak down there 👁

-Going back to Tot being an entity created from human emotions luffys is too? Luffy’s is just happiness

-Oven makes a comment about there being a record because this was an incident that happened before and with how old the music papers were I wonder if this was during the void century ^reasons robin would take another look

-Everyone looks so good everyone looks so hot usopppppppp ♥️♥️♥️

-I like that Luffy actually gives a clear answer on why he wants to become the king of pirates and it’s to create a new era I wonder what it would be called

-Is it just me or did Gordon sound WAY more upset in the dub when he goes “THEYRE DEAD! EVERYONES DEAD!!! THEY KILLED THEM!” Because in the sub he seemed a lot more reserved about it

-I still don’t think the red haired pirates should have left uta I get that what happened is a lot they didn’t want that on her consciousness but I think just straight up lying to her about it was also terrible imo

-“Bad guys need to look like Bad guys” literally makes them look so fucking cool probably my favorite strawhat outfits individually but absolutely my favorite look as a group for suresies

-When Tot Musica shows up the Five Elders couldn’t mute the recording making me think for a second they were asleep too but also where do the people asleep elsewhere go in their dream? And that Tot can manipulate the transponder snails too is scary

-Tot musica is actually super scary ngl

-That flute is way way too loud when luffy and uta make up

-Ben saying our daughter kills me yesss

-Sanji bringing back the “Something only u can do” for Brûlée

-Also can I take a second and say brûlée and oven look so good in this movie I do wish that other characters got more spotlight but I’m glad they don’t look like trash or are used as the butt of a joke

-I could do with less Bartolomeo……

-I loved seeing Koby take charge for the final battle strategy wise I really want to see the Rocky port incident!!!

-Katakuri and brûlée sharing sight is cool but that also makes me think brûlée has observation haki considering katakuri usopp and yassop do which makes sense considering her df powers and how she uses it mostly for intel gathering for mama

-Sanji and zoro cooperating for .5 seconds is always fun

-Usopp finally calming down and using his haki is so so good

-Zues is alive and with Nami pls pls pls pls plssssss

-Everyone fighting simultaneously at the end is probably one of my favorite one piece moments I’m ngl all the build up and then actually knowing the characters it just all fit so well the music fucking rocked and I had a great time

-Shanks being found by Rodger in a chest is super fucking cute but Oda really pulled one over us giving Uta red hair but that makes me think why would a baby like Uta be found in a chest (I’m assuming it’s bc baby uta ate a df so someone was just going to sell her or whatever) but before Uta’s backstory was revealed I was leaning heavily on Uta being something created by Vegapunk a la the seraphim

-Uta looks so tired by the end Jfc let her sleeeep

-Oda really has to kill all of Luffy’s siblings Jfc 💀

-Loved the credit scene now I know that Johnny and Yosaku are just chilling with Nojiko

-Also the after credit scene when luffy tries to talk to sunny again for a second is still cute and I’m convinced this proves that sunny has a soul because uta only affects people’s souls and when she changed the people in the dream she didn’t make them disappear but changed their form into toys etc that’s why I think sunny didn’t just disappear but was turned into sunnykun

[madametrashbin]

Blissful Relief

Modern Day life is stressful (no one can tell me otherwise), and as someone who will practically deflate upon suddenly having nothing to do and nothing important going on in the future (because being isekai'd means all regular world plans for life are cancelled), I will not hesitate to sleep like the dead because I'm not on a tight schedule now.

(Two posts in a Day?? What have I become?!)

A.K.A, I make an excuse to write a Lazy Nocturnal God!Darling who will abuse the cult pampering system... because that is what I would do without hesitation when I’m free from Modern Day duties that eat away at my health and sanity bit by bit with every hour I spend working like a mindless zombie from dawn to dusk, juggling home life that is filled with bothersome troubles that never change.

I’m also a night owl, caused by both insomnia and because it is the quietest hour that I cannot help but want to relish in since my life is filled with so much loud noise it gives me daily migraines... but of course, habits are formed from repetition and I will always wake up at 4-6am like a dumbass thus suffer the consequences the next morning.

Uhh... and I guess there might be OOC stuff?? Characterization who? Also Self-Indulgent again?? Super Self-Indulgent??? Letmeenjoysleepingandbeinganocturnalcreatureplease--

Morning tends to consist of Zhongli coming into your room, leaving the tray of breakfast he prepared on the coffee table near the sofa in your room before he walks over to kneel beside the bed where you're happily dozing off on, a hand moving to gently rest on the small of your back to rub small circles with his thumb. He’s softly smiling the whole time, looking at you with such adoration and fondness with how relaxed you were. As much as he wants to let you sleep in, he knows what would happen if a mortal body doesn’t move that much on a daily basis.

He'll try get you to wake up without being too loud, and if you ask for affection (kisses in particular, because I’m an affection and touch starved bastard), he will give it to you without hesitation and pepper your face in adoring kisses before carrying you off to the sofa so you could eat. He will feed you himself if you’re still too sluggish.

Will also put you in his lap if you’re nodding off, mostly to prevent you from hurting yourself (and because he enjoys the close proximity, if you allow it).

On rare occasions, Childe will be the one to wake you up in the morning instead whenever Zhongli is busy, letting you snuggle in bed a while longer if you want a few extra minutes before smothering you in his affections as he whisks you off from bed to get ready for the day and drop you off in the kitchen where breakfast is waiting on the table.

He will feed you himself if you're still drowsy, looking at you while cooing as though you are the most precious little thing this world has ever given life to (and to be fair, you are the most precious person to him with his family).

Will give you more cheek kisses if you’re still half-asleep, or in-between spoonfuls as a way to let you know you’re doing great... and because why not. It’s a rare moment to have, since Zhongli does hog a lot of your time.

Noon/Afternoon usually has Venti to keep watch over you if you ever choose to nap somewhere random around the teapot outdoors, or somewhere out in the wilds of Teyvat where the weather is just right and the surroundings are generally quiet. If you were outside of the teapot, you’d also have either Kaeya, Xiao or Kazuha to accompany the two of you depending on where you are for extra protection (per Zhongli’s safety precaution).

Venti will hum a song, and maybe strum a calming tune while you nap, happily basking in the gentle breeze and warm sunlight as the day goes by in a very peaceful and quiet manner. If lunch time comes around, he’ll try to wake you up as gently as possible, but finds it difficult to disturb you when you look so comfortable and peaceful right now. (And usually, this has you missing out on lunch if Zhongli is too busy to check up on you. Don't worry though, he'll make sure the packed lunch is empty before the old man drops by and that you did eat something.)

Kaeya will take the chance to cuddle with you, usually keeping you between his legs while you're using his chest as a pillow as your head is tucked in the crook of his neck. He's going to keep a loose hold on you, arms wrapped around your waist while occasionally shifting in case you're uncomfortable. He's smiling the whole time because you're so cute when you sleep like this. (Will occasionally give you kisses on the crown of your head if you don't mind it. Man wants to spoil you with so much love if you allow him to.)

Xiao is 100% attentive to all things in the surrounding, wanting to keep you safe from all potential dangers and will not relax while you're in such a vulnerable state. He will, however, melt when you sleepily call for his name while lazily reaching for him in such a lazy, but cute manner. Just like that, he's right by your side, asking for whatever you need. He's still on guard, but whatever you need, he will be there to provide... kisses and snuggles included, even if he’s struggling to be open about it. 

Kazuha would be smiling serenely, occasionally brushing the hair off your face if it gets in the way of giving you proper sleep. He would take care of problems that may arise before it reaches you, and if you ever have trouble trying to be comfortable, he’ll let you lay your head on his lap while he gently pets your head in such a soothing manner that the nap turns into full on sleep... his legs might go numb, but he just couldn’t wake you up when you looked so peaceful sleeping right there.

Sayu will always accompany you when you’re in Inazuma, mostly because she could find an excuse to sleep with you around when you are getting ready to nap. She’ll be quick to defend you though, because if you get hurt, she’ll lose that excuse and she’ll struggle to find peace to sleep for a while without having people tailing after her.

Dusk/Evening you’re decently awake (or rather, barely awake), Zhongli’s not letting you sleep anymore until later into the night. Ei would keep you company, the time when it’s not so busy for her as things settle down and allow her to spend time with you. She’s honestly just internally squealing when you end up holding onto her hand or sleeve if you’re too groggy to walk by yourself and properly guide your own feet.

Sometimes the Kamisato Clan would be the ones to accompany you, per Ei/Raiden Shogun’s orders. Ayaka used to be on-guard (because how did someone who was barely standing on their own two feet turn the Raiden Shogun into some excitable puppy??) when she first met you, but she got over it after realizing you’re not a bad person after spending enough time with you to see it.

Thoma sometimes coddles you, knowing well enough that you were just tired from the stress of the daily life you used to have when you told him once during a day when he was left to take care of you... He does his best to make sure you were enjoying yourself in the city, keeping a watchful eye in case you’d trip on your own feet.

On rare occasions when even the Kamisato Clan is busy, Kujou Sara would be the one to care for you... as foreign as it was in the beginning, because you’re so idle and pretty sluggish most of the time, but she grew to find these times relaxing. Of course, she is ever watchful for all problems, and when you were awake enough, would be helpful with your foreknowledge if you do remember everything well enough.

When Night falls upon Teyvat, you are fully awake, if only for a while until you grow exhausted again. In these moments, they would all try to spend time with you and gain more of your attention... but aside from that, you would often take strolls on Watatsumi Island, if only because you do sincerely enjoy the scenery the island had during the night... but other times, you would either take a stroll at Starsnatch Cliff or Qingce Village.

Kokomi would be with you, walking alongside you while she admires the sight of your relaxed, fully awake expressions that mostly appears at night. She would keep each of these moments to her heart, knowing that if her God loved Watatsumi as it is, then all her efforts into protecting it was worth it... plus, there was something nice just knowing a God like you enjoying the natural sight of her home while taking a nightly stroll.

Gorou trails behind you like a puppy, basking in the attention you give him and will always be ready to defend you. When you talk, he is absolutely silent, wanting to hear your voice in its more clearer form. He will not be happy if someone interrupts you, definitely will snarl at them if you don’t keep him in check... but aside from that, he will stick close to your side while you’re at Watatsumi Island as your guard with Kokomi.

Diluc will be by your side during the night when you’re in Mondstadt, always looking away when your gaze is directed towards him but otherwise would observe you closely... since he often sees you when you weren’t fully awake. He enjoys seeing this side of you more, and while he does find your sleepy self to be adorable, he likes knowing that you’re aware of everything... It gives him a peace of mind when you do acknowledge his efforts.

Midnight rings clear into the night, the clarity of your mind would return into its sleepy state. You would return back to the Teapot and get ready for bed, tucked in comfortably by one of your acolytes before you slumber until morning rises once more and repeat your day... Sometimes, if you’ve relaxed enough, you might be fully awake for the whole day.

Of course, that is a rare moment that might not always happen, but if you were truly awake for a whole day, none of your acolytes are going to miss this chance and might fight to have your full attention if you don’t give them the satisfactory amount, unless you put your foot down and make sure they behave. 

Aside from that, your cult will always be there for you, ready to take care of you and give you all the affection you want.

[luimagines]

Hey it’s the same comfort anon! I really loved what did with the prompt!

If you don’t mind I have another rq 👉👈

RQ: You help them out during an embarrassing situation.

Masterlist

Comfort Anon! My first requester! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I’m glad you think I did it justice!

I absolutely do not mind that you have another request!

I think I’m going to keep all of them in the same post this time around.

Set platonically and within the group since there wasn’t any specification.

You know the drill! Scenario under the cut!

Twilight

“Wolfie...” You try to fight the grin on your face and fail. “What are you doing?”

Said wolf pauses and stares at you thus beginning an impromptu staring contest.

You had been walking away from the camp to relieve yourself when you spotted familiar looking fur running around. It had sparked your interest so you ventured closer as quietly as you could.

When you reach your furry friend, you feel your face split into a large grin.

Wolfie was running in circles and rolling around the dirt trying to catch his tail.

It naturally amuses you greatly and you decided to watch for a little moment longer before Wolfie had actually managed to catch his tail and had begun chewing on it with fervor.

Realistically, you knew it probably itched and the poor thing was just trying to scratch it in the best way he could.

But it was still so adorably cute!

You ask your question, breaking the moment and try to hide your amusement for the sake of the creatures pride.

You can see the moment when Wolfie sees you. His whole body goes still and he stops chewing himself completely. Wolfie slowly lets his tail out of his mouth, making a small thump against the ground, while never breaking eye contact and waits.

You’re not sure for what but the way he’s staring at you makes you think you weren’t supposed to see what you saw. He looks the equivalent of getting your hand caught in the cookie jar and is trying to see how much trouble he’s going to get in.

It’s makes the whole thing infinitely funnier.

Your giggles escape and the animal begins to lower his head to the ground, ears back and flattened.

You’d dare say he looks embarrassed.

It softens your heart to see Wolfie in such a state so you try to rein in one final snort, fail, and begin to leave. “I’ll... leave you to it, Wolfie. I gotta pee. Have fun with what you’re over there.”

With your back turned, Wolfie gives out a pitiful whine that leaves you snickering until you find a more private spot.

Apparently, this one’s taken. 

Wild

“Wild...” You say, looking upward until your neck hurts. “How do you manage these things? I swear it’s only you who gets into this kind of stuff.”

“I just want to make eggs for breakfast!” He cries in defense. “I’m sorry for trying to do something nice for all of you!”

“Oh no, I get that. It’s this that worries me.” You sigh and try to get step back and assess the situation. Looking up is a little easier with and you’re able to see a better plan of action.

In theory anyway.

Wild, as mentioned, was about to make breakfast and had thus spotted eggs in  a nearby tree. Naturally he wanted to go collect them and feed his friends but there’s one thing he didn’t account on. The mother returned.

That being said, he freaked out enough that he dropped the sheikah slate, nearly fell out of the tree and in the ruckus had also scared away the mother.

He kept the eggs though.

However, when the word nearly is mentioned it’s meant to bring point that he didn’t actually fall out of tree. ...But he still might.

Why?

Because the only reason he didn’t hit the ground head first is because his foot got caught in one of the branches.

So he’s hanging upside down by his ankle and can’t access his tools to even attempt to get out.

This is where you, dear reader, come in.

Wild was actually far enough away and covered by enough foliage that the others haven’t noticed him in this precarious situation. You though, were heading to the creak nearby to wash your face and begin your morning routine.

Wild then yelled just loud enough to catch your attention and had asked for your assistance.

“Are you sure I can’t just get Twilight? Or Time?” You ask him. “I’m sure that one of them can just shake the tree and you’ll be free.”

“NO! Do not! Just-!” He flails around a bit, the branch creaking in protest but doesn’t  budge from the spot. “I get into a lot of stuff but neither of them will ever let me live this down.”

“What about Warrior then? Or Legend? He might have a tool of something to get you out-”

“No one else can know! Why can’t you just help me?” Wild begs.

“I have to say I’m little over my head here.” You admit. “Or rather, you’re a little over my head.”

“Very funny.”

“I think I have an idea but you have to catch yourself.” You grin and begin to move away.

“Just make it quick. All the blood is flowing to my head.”

You jog back to camp and take out your sword. A few more familiar faces are awake now and waiting for their food. 

“Hey,” Wind greets you with a tired smile and a yawn. “Where’s Wild?”

“He’s a little hung up at the moment.” You smile. “I just gotta go help him for a second and he’ll be back.”

Wind takes the answer for what it is, too tired to read too much into it and nods.

You sprint back and grin wildly. “Try to stay out of my way ok?”

“You couldn’t think of any other solution?” Wild nearly whines.

“This is the quickest way. You said make it quick.” You take a breath and run forward. With your momentum to run what you can up the tree and jump. With the added height to turn to where Wild is and swing in his foot’s direction.

With speed and accuracy on your part, you slice the branch that’s been holding him back and the two of you fall to the ground.

Wild dips into a roll and somehow manages to expertly swipe the slate off of the ground as he passes it. You do a similar motion but angle yourself to not come into contact with your blade.

Together you spot each other and grin, small laughs exiting your mouths as you get up.

“Thanks for that.” Wild pats himself off and turns on his heel. “I gotta get breakfast started but I’ll come get you when it’s done, ok?”

You nod and begin to head toward the creek once more, willing to play as if this never happened.

You decide on the way to not tell Wild that the branch is still stuck on his boot though. 

Time

Everyone was in Wild’s house for the day, chilling while they could, since there was little to no activity.

Time had actually retired momentarily to take a nap on Wild’s bed for the afternoon.

It was quiet.

Because the group was afraid to wake up the grumpiest member of the group.

So naturally you wanted to take advantage of the peace and brought your book and sat on the stairs while the boys took over the table and floor.

After a hot minute, you looked up to see that half of the group was gone, haven’t left to do something more chaotic and grinned to yourself.

Behind you the wood of the house creaked under applied pressure. You turned around to look at the cause and saw that Time had woken up from his nap. His eyes were closed and he was mid-yawn as he traveled down the stairs.

You got up from your spot and traveled a few steps to let him pass, but that didn’t happen.

Time hadn’t opened his eye yet and had mis-stepped.

His mistake cost him his pride as he fell down the stairs all the way down to the floor.

“Don’t break a hip old man!” Warrior called out in a laughing voice.

You threw your book onto the table and went to help Time up. “Are you ok?”

“Ow.” He deadpanned and grabbed the railing for good measure. “On top of that, I think I left my shoes up by the bed.”

“I’ll get them” You squeaked around him and dashed up the stairs. In your enthusiasm you over stepped one of the steps and fell up the stairs.

You paused in shame and shock while Warrior lost his battle and started laughing hysterically.

Swallowing the last of your dignity, you dash up the remaining steps and help your friend.

You came back down with an attempt to hold your head up high and held out Time’s shoes out to him. “I think these are yours.”

There was a small smile on his tired face. “Thank you. Are you ok?”

“Yes.” You nod. “I’m fine. Nothing happened. No one saw anything.”

Time snorted and took them from you. “Of course.”

Warrior

It’s was absolutely pouring.

Everyone was wet and there was no shelter in sight. It was dark and loud and everyone still had to continue forward.

No one was happy and everyone was silently fuming at the unideal circumstances.

You were walking next to Warrior, not making eye contact with anyone and you had to stop from commenting that he looked like a drowned rat.

His scarf has no doubt doubled in weight with all the water its absorbed and Warrior kept having to adjust it. It was sagging off of his shoulders and he kept having to adjust it or else it risked falling into the muddied ground.

As time passed Warrior had to continually fix it, and adjust it and he was growing exponentially frustrated with the prospect and was getting fed up with it.

You watched in growing amusement and restrained from offering your help because you were certain that he would snap at you.

In one final moment of baled up frustrations, he threw the scarf in one more lap around his neck and... well... he overjudged the strength needed and it swung all the way around just to smack him right back in his face.

Oh but it didn’t end there.

In his moment of blindness, he mis-stepped and tripped.

He hit the ground on his knees first but kept going, twisting to his side, just missing slamming his face into the mud as well.

You just stop in your tracks and tried your hardest to not laugh.

With hesitant steps, you walked over to Warrior who slowly started to get up.

His entire side was just brown. And Warrior... didn’t bother with showing the emotion on his face.

Just a neutral face of displeasure.

You quickly, helped him to his feet and and began cupping your hands to throw the collected rain water onto him and wipe off the mud.

It’s not helping.

“Not. One. Word.” Warrior takes a deep breath and begins to help you clean himself off.

“Yes, Captain.” You grin and take his hand. “You want me to take the blame? Say I pushed you down or something.”

“It’s fine.” Warrior bites the words as he says them. 

You pass a creek.

With the idea in your head, you shove Warrior hard and he goes right into the water like you wanted him to.

“Excuse me!” He screeches as his head bobs above the water.

The mud is washed off as least.

“You’re clean again! No one will know!”

Warrior is not amused.

You grin. “It’s not like you got any wetter.”

“...Why are you like this?”

“I’ll take my thanks in monetary compensation.”

Hyrule

“Hyrule.” You gasp. “Oh no. Oh boy. Don’t go back yet. Hold on. Don’t leave. Stay here.”

He pauses and does what you say, although confusedly. “Ok? Why?” 

“There’s a rip in your pants. Huge. I can see your whole-” 

“WHAT?” Hyrule grips the fabric and finally catches wind of the tear. It’s long and goes down the side of his leg but it’s... pretty revealing.

“I’ve got some sewing stuff in my pack.” You say dropping your equipment and dashing as quickly as you could. “I can sew it up. No one will know the difference.”

“...I can never show my face again.”

You roll your eyes and make the quick trip. There’s a small part in the reptilian part of your brain that calls to make it a quick mission. Stealth, silence and shadows are your friends and you make it back to camp, grab your supplies and make a break for it without tripping anyone else’s hand.

When you return to Hyrule, he’s sat down a nearby rock and inspecting what he can of the rip.

“I have no idea how you managed this,” you say when you get close to him again. “But I’ve managed to get there and back with no one knowing. I will, however, need you to take off your pants.”

Hyrule flushes bright red instantly.

“...Do I have to?”

“Unless you’re ok with my face being right next to your-”

“No, no, I’ll do it, I’ll do it.” Hyrule gulps and strips.

“I’m glad you agreed because I, for one, was not ok with that.” You hold your hand out and take the pants from him. “At least your tunic is long.”

“This is humiliating.” Hyrule mutters and sit down on the ground instead of the rock and hugs his legs close.

“Why on earth do you think I stopped you? Someone had to save you from the the ridicule of the others. Like don’t get me wrong, we all like you but there’s no survivors, no mercy, and no alliances when it comes to roasts.” You sat down in front of him and began to sew up the tear. “Any idea how this happened?”

“I think it got caught on a bush?” He rests his head on his knees and avoids eye contact. “I suppose I should thank you.”

“A bush?” You put it down and and stare at him. “A bush?”

He doesn’t reply.

“Hyrule if your clothes are weak enough to rip this badly on a bush then we need to get you knew clothes.” You finish and return to your task of fixing his pants. “We can get Legend and Wild and figure something out. Wild has enough clothes to spare and Legend knows good quality when he sees it. I’ll pay for your new clothes next town we invade, ok?”

“I can’t believe this happened.” He says instead.

“Give me ten minutes and you can at least put your pants back on.”

Legend

They were having a race.

The boys were so bored that they were having a race.

It was between Legend, Wild, Wind, Hyrule and Twilight.

Sky refused to run, Time was content with just watching and Warrior had a bet going so he had money on who the winner would be.

You were the judge and had placed yourself at the end of the strip with a small cloth for a flag and got in position. It was anything goes. Items, sabotage, dirty plays- anything.

Twilight was actually competing on Epona.

“Ready?” You call with a grin. “Get set! GO!”

You hear them take off but there’s a blast of wind next to you.

It’s so close to you that it takes you by surprise so you scream in shock but it ends in a thunk against the tree behind you.

There’s a groan and you turn to see the winner.

Twilight is next and he stops before he could run you over. “Are you kidding me? What the heck did he do? How did he do that?”

Legend is sitting in front of the tree and rubbing his head.

He wins at least.

The others make it within the next minute and they groan and whine but they leave without looking at the winner.

You grin and skip over to him, placing your hand on his shoulder when you get there. “Congrats, Mr. Hero. It looks like you were the- oh my god.”

You kneel next to him and tilts his face towards yours.

He’s bleeding from the face, a cut on his eye and a bloody nose.

“Hey, so you see this tree here?” He spits and it’s more blood.

“Yeah?”

“I didn’t.” He hisses and goes to wipe with his sleeve but you stop him.

“Oh boy. Hold on.” You gently take the cloth flag that you have and wipe his face, getting him to pinch his nose as you wipe his cut.

It’s thankfully not deep and not bleeding profusely. With a little inspiration, you take out your bag, your magically enchanted pocket and pull out a potion.

Legend is quick to refuse but you shake your head and splash a little on his face. The magic hits the cuts and is absorbed in his skin.

“Hey!” He splutters.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want to explain to Warrior why your face is bleeding?” You smirk and begin cleaning the rest of the blood of him.

Legend pouts and looks away, letting you work.

“I guess not.”

“I thought so.”

Sky

“Oh... that is... not ideal...” You hear Sky say.

With your interest piqued, you turned your head to look at him and what was bothering him.

“Sky, what did you do?”

It... was interesting. Somehow Sky had managed to get his whip stuck in a tree. Not just caught between two branches, no that would have been too easy to pull out. It had somehow wrapped around the branch, at least three times and was too tall for anyone in the group to get out unless they had somehow managed to climb the tree.

The tree itself was also inclined to be easy to climb. You were quick to see that only The Champion could probably scale it but he wasn’t here at the moment. 

Twilight kidnapped him to go fishing.

“...How?” You ask and make your way over to him. “How did you do this?”

He glances at you with wide eyes and a bit lip. ”Help?”

“Ho boy...” You take a breath and get up. “This.... I have one solution.”

“Ok?”

“How good is your aim?” You glance up at the problem again. “Scratch that, how good is your throwing arm?”

“Pretty good I like to think.” He admits. 

“Ok, throw it over the branch but in the opposite direction. We have to undo the loops first.”

“We? Sounds like it’s just me.” Sky steps closer to the tree and prepares to throw the handle over the branch.

“Well there’s not exactly place for me to step in now, is there?” You put your hands on your hips and smirk.

It goes over one loop just fine.

It still doesn’t budge.

Sky throws it again, misses, tries again and makes it.

It’s only one loop over the branch but it still won’t move. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Sky growls and throws it into the air in frustration.

“Ok, hold on, if it just need one more throw-”

He made it loose in the process but neither of you were paying attention. It had sung for a minute, budged and had swung all the way back to to you both coming off of the branch in the process. The inertia was still in motion and it had managed to hit Sky directly in the face while you were talking.

Luckily, it wasn’t that strong of a hit.

“Oh hey!” You grin and try not to laugh. “It’s out!”

“Let’s never speak of this.”

“Come on, it’s funny.”

“Ever.”

Four

“Wild, do you have any towels I can dry my hands off with?” Four asks from behind you.

You were all in Wild’s house once more and currently getting ready for dinner.

“Yeah, top shelf.” Wild replies without looking up from the pot.

You glance back as well to see where Wild would have been thinking about.

Yup, you think, that’s the top shelf alright.

Four is stuck staring at the height and begins to slowly look around.

You get an idea of where he’s going with this and power walk to his side. Your intuition is proven correct when he then attempts to climb Wild’s house and furniture just to get it.

His hands are also still wet, mind you.

You can see his white knuckled grip as he tries to fight the lack of traction and decide to help him out.

“I got it!” He says, when you nudge him aside.

“You don’t.” You reply and copy his movements to reach a singular towel. You’re back down in a split second but the bounty in within your grasp.

“It’s not like you can reach it either!”

“Still took me less time and significantly less climbing to get it.” You toss the towel in his face with a grin. “I doubt you even had good grip either. I thought you were going to fall and crack your head open on the floor.”

“Please don’t fall in my house and crack your head on the floor.” Wild speaks up. “Blood is so hard to clean up.”

“Know from experience?”

“Don’t tell Twilight.”

“Get lower shelves Wild Child.” Four dries his hands and tosses the troublesome cloth to Wild.

He catches it with blinking and shoves it into his apron. “I’ll take your criticism to the manager and see what we can do.”

“Manager? This is your house! You’re the manager!”

“So? I said what I said!”

“You boys done play fighting or are we going to have to wait to eat?” You ask.

...

“I’d like to eat now please.”

“On it.”

Wind

It was your turn on watch and there was nothing to do.

Not that you were asking for trouble but it would have been nice to at least be able to do patrol or something.

But nooooo... For safety reasons, i.e. the storm just beyond your coverings, everyone was supposed to stay within the camp at all times.

You didn’t disagree with it so to speak. It was more of a mild inconvenience.

That was until Wind got up with whispered...but still loud, curses.

You stood up and tip toed your away around the half hazardly tossed limbs of your comrades. “Everything ok Wind?”

He jumps and grabs the blankets around himself, folding them, bunching them together and curling ever so slightly over himself.

“Everything’s fine!”

“Shh..” You put a finger to your lips and look around the group.

No one woke up.

“What’s got your jimmies in a twist kid?” You squat down and place your hand on the blankets. They’re wet and the smell....

Oh you know what happened.

You stand up again and give him the curtesy of not saying it out loud. “I have a plan but you have to do as I say, no questions asked. We can make it so no one will know what happened. Ever. And this stays between only you and me, ok?”

You wipe your hand on your pants and hold out the opposite one to the boy. He stares at you with a red face and contemplates the choice. After only two seconds of deliberation, he takes your hand and gets up.

You suppose that to have an out, verses having to explain to everyone that he’s been looking up to sounds very appealing in the end. Better for only one person to know than ten.

“You’re lucky it’s still pouring buckets.” you say and grab all the blankets from his bed roll that you can. Chancing a glance at him, you see that his clothes are wet as well, pretty much from the waist down. With another thing to fix, you notice that his very bedroll is right by a huge puddle that had been forming and no one knew.

The hand in the glass water trick, then.

Your friends have seen and done that a few times to a few poor unsuspecting soul.

“Ok, here’s what you’re going to do.” You turn to Wind. “You’re going to change out of your clothes and into some clean ones. And then you’re going back to bed in my bed roll.”

“But where will you sleep?” He asks with a hand gripping his shirt

“I’ll steal it from the next guy.” You lie...kinda... That actually sounds appealing but you don’t think on it too much. “I’ll take the next shift to buy time and I’m going to throw your blankets and bed roll out into the rain, ok?”

“You were too close to the borders of the tarp anyway.” You continue with your plan, throwing them out for a second before turning on your heel and getting some of your clothes for Wind.

You think you might have something that’ll fit him but if not, it’s only to sleep in.

He changes into the clothes while you back out to the blankets.

In your search for the clothes, you dug out your powered soap and tossed some of it on the blankets and bed roll. After rubbing the fabric together to get it sudsy and deep into the material, you set it up against the tree and branches, letting the falling rain drops hit it and filter through.

It’s rudimentary and it took you longer than you wanted because now you’re also soaked to the bone and only halfway through but you think back to being a thirteen year old and how embarrassed you would have been and plow on to save Wind from the same fate.

You step back into the tarp and guide Wind, taking his clothes away to where you were sleeping prior. You’re clothes are way too big on him and it’s honestly more endearing than you would have thought.

“Thanks.” Wind says in a small voice. He’s humiliated, you know but you don’t focus on it.

“Your hand got wet and you pissed yourself in your sleep.” You say and shrug. “My friends and I were... are brats and it’s not the first we’ve played that prank. Put the poor saps in a glass of warm water and watch them pee their pants. It’s funny when it’s planned and well... not you. I won’t tell a soul.”

“You better not.” He sits down in your bed roll and begins to get comfortable. “It’s smells nice.”

“I try.” You grin.

“Do I owe you?” He looks up with big eyes and you think that it makes him look younger than he is.

“It’s on the house.” You wave him off and dash back in the rain to clean the rest of his clothes.

On the way back to cover, you kick the support that was closest to Wind’s spot, sending a torrent of rain upon yourself in the process but the spot where the pirate was is considered useless now.

Wind tilts his head from his spot and you grin. “Cover story.”

The rest of night is spent watching the time, watching the others and taking turns with Wind’s clothes and blankets by the fire so that all three of you can dry off before the sun comes up and the other inevitably ask questions.

By morning you’re dead on your feet, but consider it a job well done. 

[jinmukangwrites]

@damianwayneweek 6 (6-18): Baby Damian | Family bonding | First crush

Warnings: none

Notes: Short, sweet, barely edited cuz it's 1am. Please enjoy some de-aged Damian and frazzled Dick. Yes I'm back on my Damian and Dick bullshit. I just love them so much.

-o-o-o-o-

Three days, according to Zatanna. The magic that hit Damian isn't permanent, and should wear off on its own within three days.

Dick already doesn't know what to do with himself. He was hardly prepared to take over and raise a ten year old, let alone a toddler.

But here he is, sitting in the manor living room watching as a small version of his already little brother toddles around on chubby baby legs. He can't be more than two. He can walk around on his own well enough—though Alfred did block off all of the stairs in the manor anyways—and every so often he'll point at something and say... Something that sounds like a demand.

Dick wasn't really ever good with understanding baby gibberish. It doesn't help that Damian seems to have reverted in memories as well... so the things he's demanding probably aren't in English as it's not his first language.

Damian wobbles up to Dick, holding out a toy train that Alfred dug out from the attic that used to belong to Bruce. Dick takes it and thanks him, but Damian pays him no mind and returns to his toys, babbling about something only he understands.

It's so weird seeing him like this. All small, chubby, soft, and bright eyed. Dick doesn't know everything Damian has gone through... growing up in the League... and as much as Dick dislikes Talia, he knows she was the best mom she could be to him. She's raised him to be a smart, strong young man, and taught him to be able to protect himself in his dangerous surroundings... and of course Dick has known Damian long enough to have gotten through his walls and see the wonderful boy underneath, but as he watches this toddler squeal as another toy train turns on and runs on its own...

He cannot help but mourn the child Damian could have been. Should have been if every child in the world had the privilege of growing up in a safe home and no worries besides homework.

He shakes his head. He cannot think like that. Whatever child Damian could have grown into if he hadn't been raised by the League is still in there. Just a bit harder to bring out. Dick can feel himself getting closer every day.

Damian notices him shaking his head and makes a curious ah sound. He walks over to Dick, lifting his arms, and Dick assumes he wants to be lifted. He smiles at the kid and grabs him under the armpits and lifts him into the air perhaps a bit quicker than what he was expecting. The kid screeches as Dick lifts him over head and let's go for just a moment to catch him and bring him back down to his face.

Damian scowls a familiar scowl and hits Dick on the nose with his stubby little fingers.

"Bah," he scolds, and a laugh bursts from Dick's throat.

Yup, Damian is still in there.

-o-o-o-o-

"I'm beginning to understand why B adopted all of us when we were already in elementary," Dick complains as baby Damian screams in his wooden high chair—yet another thing dug up from the attic that probably belonged to Bruce.

Alfred hands Dick a rag with a smirk. The thrown bowl of mac-and-cheese is all over Dick's shirt.

"Master Bruce always had a tenderness for infants," Alfred replies as he uses another rag to wipe off the still screaming and complaining Damian. "He always found joy in finding whatever excuse he could to hold and play with a baby. We used to go to a church when he was still a child himself, and there was a woman there without a husband who would always bring her infant. He would always offer to hold the child for her during the sessions to give her a break."

There's a twinkle in his eye when he looks over at Dick. "I imagine that if this had happened to you, or your other siblings, when he was still around, he would have loved every second of it. Food throwing, tantrums, and all."

Dick can't help but smile. He looks over at Damian who's now kicking his legs and waving his now clean hands in a fit. "Still, I wonder what's making him so mad."

"He might not like the taste," Alfred says, "or the texture. Perhaps some experimentation is due."

After some expiration and a lot of screaming through baby lungs that couldn't possibly hold that much air, they find that Damian really likes tomato soup, apple sauce, and broccoli.

-o-o-o-o-

"Master Dick," Alfred speaks up on the first evening while they were showing Damian Pooh's Heffalump Movie. Dick was relaxing and watching the movie, trying to remember if he's seen this one or not, while Damian was on the floor playing with an old kitten stuffed animal.

"Yeah?" Dick asks. He looks over at Alfred, only to see Alfred raise an eyebrow down at Damian. Dick follows his look, then his stomach drops when he finds that under the recently shopped for infant clothes, is a full looking diaper.

Dick looks back up at Alfred.

"Please, god, no."

Alfred drops a diaper, a bag of wipes, and a cloth into Dick's hands. "Good luck, sir."

-o-o-o-o-

Dick's about to lose his mind. He did everything Alfred told him to. He read a bedtime story—Where the Wild Things Are, as it was Dick's personal favorite as a child. He made sure his diaper was clean. He turned on some white noise. He even gave him Zitka. Yet, everything he did, Damian would scream and sob in his borrowed crib until Dick picked him up and started to sing the lullabies sung to him as a child. He sings the ones from his own native language, and even though there's no way Damian understands Romani, the kid calms down and reduces to exhausted little hiccups and almost seems to fall asleep with his little fingers curled in Dick's shirt.

And the second Dick puts him down, the crying rekindles.

Dick doesn't know what to do. Damian cries and cries until he's held and sung to, but Dick can't hold and sing to him all night. He paces Damian's room, bouncing the aforementioned kid-turned-infant in his arms, mumbling tunes to whatever lullaby decides to leave his lips.

Alfred told him he has permission to wake him up if he needed anything with Damian through the night, but Dick can't bring himself to. Alfred already works so hard during the day and night, keeping the manor in shape and making sure Dick doesn't get himself killed during patrol... He shouldn't have to be relied on to take care of a grumpy baby that won't go to sleep.

No, no Dick can handle this. Damian is calm when he's held and sung to, so that's what Dick will do. He walks to the cradle and pulls out Zitka, then goes to his own bedroom to sit on his bed and holds Damian close to his chest, singing and bouncing him gently.

Eventually, Damian goes completely still against his chest, snoring slightly, but Dick's too fearful to risk anything now. He stops singing though, resorting to simply holding Damian and trying to keep his own eyes open.

He fails, but he wakes up in the morning with Damian laying on his chest, still fast asleep and drooling all over his shirt.

Dick doesn't look a gift-horse in the mouth. He shifts into a better position, then allows them both to sleep in a little longer.

-o-o-o-o-

Alfred discovers the problem quickly when Dick tells him how hard it was to get Damian to sleep. Turns out, Damian's teething. By noon, Alfred had returned from the closest grocery store with a few tools to help with that. He puts a few water filled plastics into the fridge, then gives Damian one to chew on in the meantime. And chew on it, Damian does. He gets slobber everywhere, but at least he's no longer so upset, especially once a cold one is exchanged into his grubby little hands.

-o-o-o-o-

"That's absolutely adorable," Barbara says over the phone. Dick's just finished sending her a massive amount of pictures he's taken of Damian after taking him outside to play in the backyard with the dogs. He's sent her the pictures mostly because he needs people to see how cute Damian is while trying to tackle a dog twice the size of him... but also partly because he gets the feeling once Damian's back to his normal age, he will make sure all evidence of this is destroyed.

Barbara is someone Dick's sure can keep pictures hidden in a safe place... just in case Dick wants to see them again after lying to Damian he deleted them.

-o-o-o-o-

Dick's beginning to understand why people like babies. Like, they're cute, yes. The sounds they make are cute sometimes too. The things they find funny are usually very goofy and enjoyable to watch. Their laughs are contagious, and their babbles are enjoyable to try and decipher...

But nothing beats watching them sleep, curled up against your chest. Full trust in you that you'll keep them safe. It's nap time, and instead of trying to peel Damian off from him and put him in the crib, he's decided to just let the kid pass out in his arms and use the opportunity to take a nap himself.

Apparently it's bad to always let babies sleep with you, but Damian's not going to be this small forever. Might as well enjoy holding him like this in pure peace while he can.

-o-o-o-o-

It seems Zatanna was generous with her prediction, as he wakes up with his breath being knocked out of him. Damian, his rightful age and dressed in his full Robin uniform, scrambles off of Dick's chest. It's all knees and elbows, and Dick's left rubbing his ribs as Damian pats his body, as if making sure he's really a 10 year old boy and not an infant.

"Good to have you back," Dick grunts, rubbing his eyes and holding back a grin.

Damian whirls on him and points an accusing finger. "I don't remember what all happened," he hisses, "but you will delete any photos immediately."

Dick bursts into laughter, grabbing Damians pointed hand and tugging him into a proper hug. Damian squawks just a little, but relents when Dick squeezes him tighter than what he would to an infant. Yes. This feels right. Baby Damian was cute and cuddly, but he really missed the prickly attitude of this rascal.

"Okay," he says, releasing his charge. "I'll delete the photos, after we tell Alfred you're back and you've changed out of the suit."

Damian huffs and nods. "That was horrible."

"I don't know, I thought it was fun," Dick teases. Damian glares at him and Dick grins back.

Yeah, he missed his kid.

[romioneficfest]

Mine

Title: Mine Prompt/Day: Day 5 - Baby Rose or Hugo does not sleep Tumblr name:  Rating: G Brief summary: A newborn Hugo refuses to sleep. Can Rose be the answer to the young parents finally getting some sleep? Any possible triggering/warning tags: None.

Ever since the day she was born, Rose Weasley-Granger was a blessing to her young parents. Quiet, undemanding and easy to please, life was bloody brilliant with her around, or so her Dad thought.

As she grew, Rose showed great curiosity about the world around her. Even as a toddler, she absorbed every book and every story. When she came across bridges, cranes, or muggle vehicles — she always asked how or why.

Ron was more than happy to indulge her, taking her out for walks, and trips to the museums, places his wife teased him about as he’d always claimed he hated them before Rosie. And when Hermione discovered that she was pregnant again, he braced himself for the incoming questions the now three-year-old might have.

But none came.

Rose accepted that her baby brother was growing inside her mother, her curiosity replaced by the excitement of finally getting a sibling, just like the rest of her cousins. And that was that.

As Hermione’s stomach began to grow, Rose was obsessed and developed an instant love for the life inside. During family cuddles, Ron would often find himself elbowed out of the way so that Rose could get access to the baby bump.

“My baby,” Rose would say to anyone who would listen, splaying her hands across her mother’s belly and giggling as it rewarded her with a kick in response. “My baby. In there.”

⁂

As soon as Ron and Hermione brought Hugo home from St. Mungo’s, Rose claimed him as her own.

But Hugo was unlike his sister.

Restless from his first day in the world, the baby refused to settle, and the parents soon found themselves struggling to sleep or cope with two small people with very different demands to look after.

Ron found himself calling on his mother more than ever, pleading with her to take Rose, something he and Hermione agreed never to do.

Bereft every time they parted the siblings, sending Rose away came with its own problems. She would kick and scream as they forced her into the Floo network, tears marking her face and a look that told her Dad she’d never forgive him for this.

⁂

“I don’t know what to do,” Hermione fretted on their fifth morning with baby Hugo. It had been another night of not sleeping. She bounced him in her arms; his face bawled up. He wanted to be latched to her all the time, yet he rarely fed, meaning she was not getting a break.

Ron looked on desperately. They were out of their depth. Noticing that Hermione was about to give up completely, he held his arms out.

“Let me take him, love. I know I don’t have boobs, but he’ll just have to cope for a bit. You’re so frazzled. Why don’t you go and get a shower, and I’ll try and calm him down. Then when you’re ready, we can try feeding the terror again.”

“Okay,” Hermione whimpered, her entire body sagging against the pressure of not being able to calm her baby.

Taking the bundle of blankets from his weeping wife, Ron pressed a kiss to the top of her head and pushed her towards the bathroom. As soon as she was gone, he started to pace the bedroom floor, following in Hermione’s footsteps. With a million nieces and nephews, Ron had an arsenal of tools to try and help soothe his son, and he was willing to try them all. Hugo must be exhausted with all this crying; maybe he just needed a decent amount of kip.

The roar of the Floo activating distracted Ron from his mission, and he shifted the aggravated baby into one arm before heading down to greet their visitors. He arrived in the living room just in time to see his mum and daughter tumble from the green flames.

“Daddy!” A bundle of bouncy red curls threw herself at his legs, almost knocking him off balance. Her grip was vice-like but comforting. At least one of his children liked him, despite her regular protests at him ‘sending her away’.

“Hugo still not settling down, love?” His mother clucked, peering at the red ball of anger in Ron’s arms.

“Nah, I reckon he’s pissed off that we took him away from Hermione’s womb. He was so comfy in there, getting fat and sleeping. He’s just trying to punish us for it.”

Scooping up her granddaughter, Molly settled on the sofa. “Well, he was over two weeks late; it was about time he came out. Not like his sister, hey Rosie? Perfectly on time and lovely ever since, weren’t you? Where’s Hermione?”

“I’m letting her take a shower. She’s probably trying to drown herself in there, just for a breather.”

“Want me to take Hugo for a bit?” Molly glanced up, a hopeful look on her face. It didn’t matter how many grandchildren the Weasley’s popped out; each and every one was special and exciting.

“Su—” he started, eager for a break from the annoyed newborn, but he was rudely interrupted by his daughter.

“No. Mine.” Rosie’s arms were up in the air, demanding a cuddle from her brother.

“Oh, I don’t know, Rose.” Ron frowned. “Your brother still isn’t a happy bunny, and he’s very noisy. Why don’t you help Nanny cuddle him instead?”

“No, Daddy. My baby.”

Ron was surprised that Rosie hadn’t used accidental magic to summon her brother to her. The adamant look on his daughter’s face, with furrowed brows and curls that crackled with electricity, reminded him of Hermione, and he chuckled. He knew his daughter wouldn’t give up until she got what she wanted.

Glancing at his mum, Ron shrugged and, with her help, placed the baby into Rosie’s arms.

“Aww baby,” Rose cooed, the hand not supporting the baby’s head reaching across to stroke Hugo’s cheek. “My baby. Poor ‘oo-go.”

To Ron’s amazement, the baby calmed down almost instantly. Two bright but unfocused eyes searched the room for the source of his comfort. Something must have assured him that it was close by because Hugo closed his eyes and finally settled down to sleep.

A clammer on the stairs broke the silence, and Hermione burst into the room, a towel wrapped around her body and hair, her eyes wild with fear.

“He stopped crying — what happened? Is everything okay?”

“Rose sorted him out,” Ron stated before collapsing into the armchair and closing his eyes. “Now shhhhhh before you wake the beast up.”

Forcing his eyes open, his heart almost stopped as Rose continued to coo over the baby. He thought he couldn’t love anyone as much as he loved Hermione until these two tiny people were thrust into his life. He just wished they would always be this quiet.

The silence wouldn’t last long. Rosie’s arms were small, so she wouldn’t be able to support Hugo for the rest of the day. And he guessed it wasn’t ethical to allow their three-year-old to look after her brother forever. As parents, they’d need to step in eventually.

Sensing his thoughts, Molly smiled over at him. “Time for your shower, I think, Ronnie. And then maybe the two of you can take advantage of the quiet to have a nap. Rosie and I have things under control. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

“Yes, Nanny. Mummy, Daddy. Go!” Rosie beamed up at her grandmother.

“You heard her. Off you go.”

Shaking his head and marveling at the way his daughter already had him under her thumb, Ron got to his feet. He was desperate for a shower and a decent sleep. Placing a hand on the small of his wife’s back, he steered her towards the stairs.

“You heard the child. It’s time for us to have a break."

[cottoncandyjester]

Yan oc squad when jealous

Okay so I'm currently working on backstory posts for all the boys as well as kinkmas stuff so til those come out enjoy random quick headcanons about the boys or any request people want to give about..well anything

Theodore

He hates getting jealous

It's a bad feeling

When he sees you smiling and laughing cause of someone else a dark feeling fills him

He can't help but think of horrible thoughts like you finding someone else

These feelings control him and cause him to do foolish things or things he would seem as idiotic

If you're talking to someone he will quickly come to you and hold you simply staring

He is far too much of a gentleman to make a scene

He shouldn't be so jealous but as he watched you giggle with an old a friend during what was supposed to be a coffee date, he gripped his cup as he felt like some sort of third wheel. Everytime he would try to interrupt you he was cut off by your friend and their obnoxious talking

Soon fed up with it he stood up now grabbing your arm feeling you tense lightly, he simply flashed a sweet smile now holding your hand

"I'm sorry to interrupt this conversation but we really must go, right sweetie?"

Before you could speak the male was pulling you out the cafe and towards the car, his grip on you firm as his sweet smile turned to a friend now glancing over at you

"don't talk to that person ever again, she is bad for you okay?"

"I'm an adult I ca-"

Theodore pulled you roughly infront if him his eyes wild with rage but he simmered down now smiling as he reached out and placed a hand on your cheek

"what did we talk about hmm? You make bad judgements, you're too sweet and kind and everyone will take advantage of that..so trust me when i say they are bad okay?"

You gulped and gave a small nod, you did trust him since he always knew best but he still scared you. You had no choice but to agree and as the two of you went home you could feel the tense jealously coming off him..he truly wanted you to himself

Hikaru

Is a very very jealous person

He had a photoshoot in korea and of course he had to take you along for the ride

It was a lovely vacation

During the shoot his photographer would ask you questions

His photographer seemed to like you

And hikaru did not like that

Of course hikaru kept his cool but after a while he got fed up

He sent you back to the hotel so he can deal with this

After getting very violent he comes back blood soaked and takes his anger out on you

Hikaru has been gone for hours but you figured nothing of it, maybe photoshoots take a long long time. You sat on the hotel bed scrolling through your phone before you heard a click and the door opened

You rushed to greet your boyfriend only to see him covered in blood now using a cloth to wipe his face, his eyes still dangerous and wild. When his blue eyes landed on you a chill went down your spine before he reached out and gripped your wrist

"it's your damn fault y'know? Its cause people think your so fucking attractive. I'm all dirty cause of you, damn pig."

As hikaru now squeezed your wrist panic set in as you tried to pry him off of you and maybe calm him down before he get any more angrier

"b-babe I didn't know this would happen and plus, you know I love only you"

Your stumbling and stuttering only seemed to make him more pissed as he now yanked you to the bed before pushing you down now throwing his coat off and eyeing you with utter disgust

"then fucking prove it, prove that my piggy only loves me and maybe I won't be so mean anymore kay?"

Prince

Instantly gets into a fight

Just no questions asked gets into a fight

You two were just walking around the park with his dog, queen

Prince let you alone for a single minute just to grab some food

Did not take long for some Chad to get to chatting with you

Queen was not happy

And when prince came back he was not happy either

So he got into a fight

You scolded him while you were patching him up

"prince.."

"yeah my beautiful and amazing love who I adore everyday?"

You shot the male a glare as he lit a cigarette before taking a smoke, he clearly did not like upsetting you and was definitely stressed

"as much as I love your protectiveness, getting into fights isn't a good thing"

"I can't let someone steal ya away from me baby, just won't allow it"

You shake your head as you put the last band-aid on before feeling something crawl into your lap, you stare at the Pitbull who laid her head in your lap

"-and you! You were supposed to protect her queen! At least bite the son of a bitch or something!"

You couldn't help but laugh at the male's antics, you didnt really see much of the fight since prince told you to wait in the car but you figured the guy was fine

Prince on the other hand simply smiled as he though about how he took care of the situation, queen was such a good dog though he hoped that eating that bastard wouldn't make her sick.

Yuki

Also gets into a fight

You both were at a cat cafe enjoying your time

Yuki fell asleep..no surprise there

You knew he was tired so you let him nap while you played with the cats and ate more yummy snacks

Yuki did say you can order as much as you want and anything you want..

When a worker came to the table and saw yuki sleeping he decided to shoot his shot

Did not take long for your green haired boyfriend to wake up after hearing awkward laughing coming from you

One violent fight later and you two were home while you patched yuki up

He only responds in pouty grumbles and grunts cause you scolded him

Gives you the cold shoulder

But he can't stay mad at you

"yuki, stop being a baby"

"...."

"yuki, look at me"

With still no response you groaned lowly now sliding into the male's lap and seeing him tense up lightly but he simply turned his head away from you with a scowl as he tried not to give in, he was angry that you weren't taking his side on this

Someone tried to steal you away and he protected you! Yet you scold him and tell him not to do it again?! He doesn't get it at all

"yuki narukami you look at me!"

He jolted at the use of his full name and he looked at you with a shocked expression before you squished his face together causing him to get even more confused

"you were going to kill him if you kept punching him, that's why i was mad. Thank you for protecting me though I love you and it's sweet"

Yuki paused before simply wrapping his arms around you giving a low grunt now nuzzling his face in your neck as a dark Expression pooled his eyes.

So, protecting you is fine but he has to make sure he can't kill infront of you? Good to know. As yuki held you in his arms he couldn't help but smile

You were so interesting to him.

.

Axis

It's always the baby types you have to watch out for

You both were at a new amusement park that opened up a few weeks ago

You two were having fun

But after two big drinks axis had to pee while you both were waiting in line for a ride

He told you to hold the spot

You were of course worried your blind boyfriend is going to find a boyfriend on a crowded area but he reassured you that he will be fine

You let him go and It didn't take long for someone to come up to you and try flirt

When axis came back

He tried to play tough guy

But being 5'4" has its downfalls..

Axis was getting tunnel vision, they were laughing at him..he claimed to be your boyfriend and they called him a kid, how can he protect you if he can't even protect himself..how?!

"leave him alone! He's my boyfriend so just go away!"

You had to step in, it was embarrassing. Axis felt you grip his hand tightly now feeling nothing but anger and jealously bubble within him even as the situation diffused he thought about it

Did..you take him seriously?

"[y/n], am I hot?"

The question made you jolt and you looked at him with a choked laugh. You laugh only made him more upset but he tried to remain calm

"am I hot? Yknow like sexy and everything like that?"

"ax, you're adorable! So cute! I mean you were pouting when those jerks were talking to me and it was just so cute!"

Cute...? Cute..?!

He snapped and hugged you close, his face mask had a zipper and you never did know what the purpose of that was but next thing you knew you felt a sharp pain on your neck along with something trickling down your shoulder

You winced in pain now trying to pull the male off but with no progress, when he did pull back he had blood all around his mouth

"treat me more seriously, you're mine. I won't let anyone else take you, come on let's go home..I'm not done marking you up"

A sense of fear hit you and you never felt this before, axis has always been your adorable boyfriend but this..was new.

Axis Definitely show you just how much he owned you when you two got home and it was something you definitely never forgot.

[teachingtales]

Migraines

I am writing this for those of you who:

don’t have migraines, but know someone who does and want to know more

don’t have migraines, but may develop them later

do have migraines and don’t really know how to tell other people about them, so you can find some phrases that may help here (or just link them)

My mother had migraines, and I never did. I remember asking her what it was like, and was told, “It’s like a really bad headache.” In no way did that prepare me for migraines. I started getting them after getting disabled in the Marines with neurological issues. I honestly thought I was having a brain aneurysm or something. Was I dying? Is there a parasite boring through my brain and trying to find its way outside of my skull? 

It turned out to be a migraine. 

Later on, I lost strength in my left side. I was confused, dizzy. Is this a stroke? I went to the veterans hospital. Nope, it’s “just” another form of migraine. Uh...cool?

What is a migraine?

Unlike regular headaches that have many causes, migraines are a neurological disorder. You may have another neurological disorder that also produces migraines, or your neurological disorder may produce migraines as the primary problem. Migraines affect about 10% of the population, making them the most common neurological disorder. 

How can I tell if I get migraines?

Being the giant nerd I am, I looked up the etymology of the word and it comes from Greek. The original word is “hemikrania”, with “hemi” as “half” and “kranion” is “skull”, and you can see that over time the “he” part was dropped off. 

While there are lots of different symptoms of a migraine, this is actually one of the most defining symptoms...that’s probably why they chose this name. The head pain will happen only in half of your skull, either the left side or right side. A single migraine event can switch sides, but they won’t hurt at the same time. I usually get migraines on my left side, but occasionally they happen on the right instead. I’d say it’s about 95-5 for the split. 

A friend asked me if having them on the right side was any better or worse, and it’s a great question. The answer is: they still suck the same way, just on the other side. Although I will say that they’re almost worse in a way, because I have my habits to compensate for my left-side migraines and have to alter all of those habits. It’s not terribly annoying, objectively-speaking, but when you’re in the middle of a migraine it is annoying.

If you experience severe pain on half of your head, see a doctor. You probably are having a migraine.

What is it like to have a migraine? What are the symptoms?

This is what I wish I knew going into them. The pain severity can be “oh this really sucks” to “aslasfoiafjagjglkagnlgfjajwoi”, and I use that keyboard smash because when the pain is severe you can barely talk. Think of getting a brain freeze. You know how you stop doing everything to address the pain in your head that’s suddenly there? Imagine that level of pain for several hours. This is what it’s like to have a severe pain migraine. You can’t think of anything else, you can’t even sleep. 

While “really frickin’ bad head pain” is what most people know about for a migraine, there really are tons of other symptoms. As a neurological condition, it can cause syptoms like:

nausea and vomiting

diarrhea 

diarrhea and vomiting together

sudden dizziness (for anyone that’s been blackout drunk, it’s like that period right before you black out, where you’re really dizzy), and you end up walking in a swaying motion, sometimes falling down or falling into walls...it really looks like you’re drunk

loss of coordination, so it’s hard to do things like open a small package or tie your shoes

loss of strength in arm, hand, leg, and/or foot, making it difficult to walk

change in perception of temperature, including wild swings between shivering shaking cold and sweating hot

sensitivity to everything: lights, smells, sounds, tastes, touches...all of these increase the symptoms you’re already feeling

confusion or “brain fog”, which lead to things like you losing your train of thought mid-sentence, forgetting what you’re doing while you’re doing it, inability to focus, difficulty talking

slurred speech (sounds like you’re quite drunk)

suddenly feeling incredibly tired

slipping into sleep  without warning when seated or lying down (not great during commutes on the bus or subway)

changes in vision, such as blurred vision, changes in color perception, seeing “auras” around things, missing one eye’s vision, or having chunks of your vision missing

Sometimes you know when you’re about to get a migraine. This is called “prodrome”, but since most people don’t know this term I just call it a “starter migraine” or “I’m on the edge of a migraine.” If you can catch yourself in this period, you may be able to prevent the migraine with medication. The prodrome period depends on the person and takes a while to get used to, and you won’t always get them. Sometimes you just HEY MIGRAINE, sometimes you wake up and already have a migraine. You’re not guaranteed any prior warning. 

The opposite is the “postdrome”, which I just call the “after-effects of the migraine” because most people don’t know what “postdrome” is. As you can see from the symptoms, it’s quite intense. As a result, you’re left exhausted, drained, sometimes sore, and often feeling a bit vulnerable, like anything you do will cause you pain or bring the return of the migraine. Even though the migraine is over, you still can’t get back to your normal activities. It depends on the person, but it can be quite common to experience the postdrome. As with the prodrome, you may not have this. 

What triggers a migraine?

What is so frustrating about migraines is that there are so, so many triggers, and they’re often inconsistent. Sometimes, they’re even opposing. 

caffeine can help during a migraine, but too much caffeine without having a migraine can trigger a migraine; and sometimes caffeing during a migraine makes it worse

chocolate can trigger a migraine but I personally have not experienced this

strong cheeses can trigger a migraine, but as with chocolate I never experienced this

 low blood sugar due to skipped meals can trigger a migraine 

too much sugar can trigger a migraine

changes in air pressure 

changes in humidity

dehydration

too much exercise 

not enough exercise

moving around too much

too much lying down or sitting

stress is a common trigger

cold, such as cold weather or cold items touching the skin

running/jogging

bright lights, especially flashing lights

loud sounds of any type (human, booming sounds, construction)

vomiting also can trigger migraines, such as if you’re sick with something else or if you have bulimia

being sick with another illness can stress out the body to trigger a migraine

I’ve had relatives ask if I can “just move to another place” to avoid things like storms, and that’s not an option. While stormy, rainy weather is a common trigger, so is bright sunshine (especially if dehydrated)...which rules out most of the world during summertime. 

I was enjoying Avengers: Endgame until I realized that the sounds and light were hurting, and I was shoved into one of the worst migraines I’ve had. I had no prior warning, I otherwise had felt fine that day, but after a couple hours of loud booming noises coupled with bright flashes, it triggered a migraine. 

As you can see, this is really a difficult thing to manage. Some people get rare or occasional migraines, but people like me have chronic migraines. “Chronic migraines” are classified as “having at least 15 per month”, but in my case I will get them daily if I don’t take my medication and do my best to avoid all these triggers. Just this morning, I woke up around 06:30 and a couple hours later a migraine came because of the weather so I went to take a nap, but that made the migraine worse because I was lying down too much. I woke up in more pain and had to go for a walk (after taking my noon medication) for it to try to subside. 

What are the treatments for migraines?

No matter which route you take, you will always have to do your lifestyle changes. This means making sure you have plenty of water, don’t skip meals, manage stress, etc. 

You can take medication. I have medication I take a few times a day, and another one I take for when I feel a migraine breaking through. If that also fails, I take an injection at home. 

You can take supplements. There are things like butterbur, magnesium, catnip, ginger, and other things. Look online and include the words “migraine study” with the supplement name. This way you can see how effective it was, and the dosage. Check the company as well to see if they’re reputable. In places like the USA, supplements are not regulated so companies may put other ingredients instead. You can also make extracts or teas with things like catnip and ginger. Send a PM if you want to know how to do that. It’s easy. 

You can get Botox. I haven’t tried this but some people swear by it. The price was out of my range and I was told that it would impede my range of motion; since I lift weights, I didn’t want to deal with that. My regular doctor told me that my migraines are managed “well enough” with medication and I can’t expect any better with Botox; in other words, it’d be a waste of my money. But if you are having problems managing yours with medication, then see if Botox works for you. 

Other treatments for migraines include:

resting in a dark room

sunglasses or yellow-lens glasses

ice pack on the pain area (or a cold pillow)

stretching (but this can increase pain in some cases)

going to sleep

drinking water

drinking caffeine (coffee, energy drink, green tea, any source is fine)

eating a small meal if you haven’t eaten yet; preferably something with sugar, like fruit or fruit juice

binaural beats (this is my sound-video of choice, but be careful because there’s a loud “BING” type of sound at the beginning)

no screen time 

removing strong smells (such as cleaning the cat’s litter box if it has feces or urine)

not eating anything with a strong flavor, and avoid spicy food

don’t wear a bra

don’t wear anything tight/snug around your waist or upper body, to include: tight waistbands, pantyhose, snug belts, corsets. If you need a belt, wear it looser than normal

If I’m at work and having a vomiting + head pain type of migraine, I will make myself a mix of electrolyte drink (like Powerade) + an energy drink and sip it. This helps get some caffeine and helps wake me up a bit, plus it helps re-hydrate me. 

Not a treatment, but apparently if you get migraines as a child or teen, finishing puberty can somehow result in your migraines stopping, so that’s cool, but it doesn’t always happen because migraines are apparently a gift from some kind of trickster deity.

Are migraines dangerous?

Chronic migraines can unfortunately increase your risk of stroke in your forties. 

Chronic vomiting, if you get this as a common symptom, can have a negative impact on your teeth and muscles...including your heart. If you get chronic vomiting, ask your doctor about any supplements (like potassium or magnesium) that they can prescribe to help mitigate the muscle issues. Wash your mouth out with water after vomiting (this is what my dentist recommended...I asked about baking soda, but they said to just do water. Do not brush your teeth because it can do more damage, but if the post-vomit taste in your mouth is going to trigger more vomiting, gargle with mouthwash or drink some juice).

I don’t get migraines but know someone who does. How can I help?

You are a beautiful person for wanting to help. How you help depends on where you are...you can’t lie down and take a nap when you’re at the grocery store, for example. Ask the person what they need, and remind them that it’s okay to sit down or stay home. We’ll often feel guilty about having to cancel plans, so let them know it’s okay. 

If it’s around a meal time, bring them something kind of bland that they can pick at. This can include hard boiled eggs (peeled and cut into quarters or halves), sliced bananas, peeled/shelled nuts, rice balls, cooked potato pieces (chips, crisps, french fries, roasted potato cubes), small pieces of cooked chicken breast, bread that has been cut into cubes, cubed or sliced apple or pear. 

Be prepared to make an ice pack, which needs to be wrapped in a small towel. Some people have never used an ice pack before and you cannot put it on your skin directly. It needs to be wrapped in a small towel or shirt. If you don’t have an ice pack, frozen vegetables/fruit in an unopened package works. If not, put ice cubes into a zipper baggie and then wrap that in a cloth. If you have a loved one who gets migraines and visits often, buy a small ice pack to keep at your home. This is a pouch with a gel in it, and it is quite inexpensive. You can find them at pharmacies or large stores with a pharmacy section. 

In closing, migraines suck and I’m sorry if you get them. Please have some memes I made.

I thought I had more but I guess not or I forgot where I put them. Feel free to share or ask questions.

[the-mandalorian-clone-lover]

Warm familiarity

So, someday I’ll name this series? 

More platonic Obi-Wan x Padawan!Reader, guess who is absolutely in love with the idea of cuddle piles?? *points to self with a big foam finger*

Codywan is probably a little less than a squint away, you being adorable, Obi-Wan being a Dad™ and Cody being a Fun Dad™, Reader is 14 here!!

@demigod-dragonrider-schoolidol Thank you for being a soundboard for ideas and listening to my screeching, love youuuuuuuuuuuu

Masterlist

Given that it’s the fifth time he’s tried to sleep since he got back and all five have failed, Obi-Wan feels like its safe to reach out to Cody. The likelihood that the Commander is also awake doing paperwork is extremely high and if neither one of them can sleep they might as well be productive together.

Reaching out with the force he ends up finding the soft light that is his Commander, in the gym of all places. Which, he will concede, is a wonderful idea. He hasn’t sparred with anyone in quite some time and Cody would be a more than suitable partner. Nodding to himself he rises, grabs a robe and departs, no need for his boots, he’ll end up discarding them anyway.

When he arrives however, the door opens to total darkness, he barely has time to register it before being hit with such a strong wave of the force it nearly knocks him clean over.

Warmth.

Gentleness.

Complete Serenity.

Home.

Blinking he steps in, allowing the door to close behind him, and tilts his head as his eyes adjust.

Bodies. There are bodies everywhere. Laid out on mattresses that had to have been drug from the barracks, equipment pushed to the walls and barely any floor space to be seen. He continues his examination a moment longer before finally realizing, they’re sleeping.

The troops are sleeping.

And his Commander, his loyal second in command, is right in the middle of it all.

Slightly unsure how to proceed he nearly ducks out of the room before hearing the voice of the one he came in search for.

“Kenobi?”

It’s a whisper, but since it’s ‘Kenobi’ and not ‘General’ (and he’d know that voice from all the others anywhere) Obi-Wan turns back.

He raises his eyebrows in question before realizing its very likely Cody can’t see him. “I didn’t mean to intrude.” Comes his whisper, this feels like a very sacred moment in time, in the force and outside of it, he wouldn’t dream of ruining that for his men.

“I can’t hardly hear you, it’ll be easier if you’re closer Obi-Wan, I can’t move or the Commander’ll wake up.”

It’s a little louder than before but Obi-Wan perks his ears. His Padawan was here too? Did that explain the beautiful feeling of comfort that was the force was steeped in?

“I can’t—”

“Use the aisle”

Aisle? Oh. Now that he looks a little closer there does seem to be small pathways between sections, most likely to make leaving easier for those on night shift, though with how entangled everyone is, Obi-Wan isn’t sure anyone could leave (He’s barely left the doorway and he certainly doesn’t want to, this feels comfortable, content, like coming home).

Tiptoeing along he makes his way to where (he thinks) his Commanders are. He happens to guess correctly, finding you wrapped around Cody’s torso, face pressed into his chest, Waxer’s back pressed into yours and boil next to him, there’s a trooper he isn’t familiar with that’s laying between Cody’s legs, with an arm extended to catch your calf—that will certainly need addressing.

“Something up on the bridge?” Cody breathes in a whisper, he’s picked up his head to look at Obi-Wan and in the closeness (despite the darkness) Obi-Wan can see the depths of his brown eyes, the lack of frown lines on his forehead, and the blissed out smile that’s settled on his face. What he wouldn’t give to keep Cody—all the troopers, always like this.

So he shakes his head. “No, I was—” What had he been doing anyway? Looking for Cody yes, but he can’t say that because Cody will feel obligated to move.

“Sir, with all due respect, shut up or I’ll sit on you.”

Both Cody and Obi-Wan turn slowly towards the voice to find Boil has raised his own head and is glaring at the Commander. Voice still thick with sleep and eyes only half open he grouses “Waxer’s a mess if he doesn’t sleep and since I’m the one that has to be on duty with him, hush.” Belatedly his eyes turn to Obi-Wan. “All due respect General.”

With that he flops back down, pulling Waxer closer and humming a little, already asleep again.

“I’ll just—”

“Obi-Wan. Lay down.”

Half turned away Obi-Wan’s eyes go back to Cody’s. The only place open is—Well. Sort of, compromising for the Commander.

“I wouldn’t want to—”

Cody’s raised eyebrow (normally reserved for errant shinies) hikes itself up his forehead and Obi-Wan’s nose twitches. Apparently he’s the one being a stick in the mud (as the Padawans say these days).

“Alright” Comes his voice, much smaller than he gave permission for it to be, and he discards his robe in favor of putting it over the two of you. Cody adjust slightly as Obi-Wan settles, pulling you nearly atop him in order to raise an arm around Obi-Wan.

Obi becomes suddenly aware of the broad chest of his commander and the fact that unlike the others (that are totally encase in their blacks) he is wearing a tank top. Force help him.

“Read an article from Gree that it’s best for young humans to have skin-to-skin contact, its been good for the troopers too.” Comes Cody’s low whisper, his head turned to Obi-Wan to keep the noise down.

“You do this often” Obi-Wan realizes, and he doesn’t sound strangled as he feels the warmth of the arm that is now around him, or the chest that he is now very close to. He doesn’t.

“Usually every Taungsday but the Commander opened up Primeday since this campaign started.  She says it’s good for us.”

They’re interrupted by the door sliding open again, two troopers entering and making their way around the room. Also in blacks, they rouse two others, trading places, and the new set leaves together. Obi-Wan looks to Cody questioningly and he closes his eyes, nodding.

“We go around the clock, trading in and out so everyone has time here.”

Obi-Wan is floored. How hadn’t he known about this? Clearly you had snuck out to do it, you’d been securely in your quarters every night when he checked before going to his own, why hadn’t you told him?

“Go to sleep Obi” Comes Cody’s sleep slurred voice, “I’m almost in the field, she can take you too.”

“Field?” Obi-Wan asks hurriedly but its too late, Cody’s already snoring.

Now intrigued he closes his own eyes, he does feel much more tired he suddenly realizes, like he could actually sleep.

Barely a beat passes before he finds out what field Cody meant.

It’s Naboo. Nearly two years ago now, after the war had kicked off. He doesn’t remember why he’d been there, (probably looking for Anakin) but you’d wandered off during a meeting, gone missing for hours, and then been found just outside the city in a field of wild flowers; napping and talking to nerfs and loth cats. He remembers the trip with a certain amount of anxiety because you’d been young, and from one minute to the next missing. It wasn’t uncommon for young Padawans to be targeted by those less than morally upstanding, he’d feared the worst for several hours. You’d been lectured by Captain Typho for quite awhile before he managed to get there himself so he’d tried not to scold you, it did lead to the two of you further strengthen the bond you shared as Master and Padawan but he’d never realized what had happened in the time you’d been missing.

Sunshine, warm with a soothing breeze, the purring of a loth cat nearby, the stirring of the grass and the sound of the nearby stream. The ground firm beneath him but cushioned by the soft grass, the comforting weight of Cody’s arm around him.

Each new thing his brain becomes aware of encloses his senses in tranquility, coziness and reassurance. He doesn’t blame you for leaving now, or for being sorry you were caught.

He wakes what must be hours later, unwillingly and quite slowly but he does, and realizes there are several others coming to consciousness as well. Somehow during the night Cody has moved to face him, both of them clinging to each other, and Cody stares at him for a moment before breathing a quiet greeting. The lights are still off but Cody can see the chrometer on the far wall that lets him know they should be on the bridge soon.

“Where’s my Padawan.”

Cody’s eyes fall back to Obi-Wan, then further down to his own arms where you had been at one point, he begins to roll over with a grunt of question, arms loosing on Obi-Wan (who is rising to look over his own shoulder before turning back toward Cody—

You’re wrapped up with that unfamiliar trooper.

“Wooley’s got her Kenobi, she’s fine.”

“Fine?” Comes Obi-Wans harsh whisper, “Fine??”

Cody raises his eyebrow again. “You know we’ve been doing this for months right?”

Obi-Wan sputters.

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

Pirate AU Masterpost

Different ships captained and crewed by different hermits, maybe some could be normal sailors too? Or maybe even some could be sirens? There could be a pirate ship, a pirate hunting ship/law-keeping ship, some random shipping vessels, some sirens or sea monsters, or whatever else! I envision Doc as a pirate captain and Xisuma as the law enforcement captain, but it's open to whatever changes! (@-shadeswiftdraws.)

Headcanons to start us off:

-Bdubs is a fruity sailor.

-Cub and Scar sell things to both pirates and the law enforcement. They only take the aide of profit.

-DocM threatened Bdubs into joining him. Whether it worked is up to the 'what gets popular' Gods. If not, he probably just holds Bdubs hostage or something.

-Hypnotizd's bandana has a skull and crossbones on it, as does Etho's headband.

-False is feared by Doc.

-Grian has a parrot that always sits on his shoulder. Doc keeps telling him to get rid of it but Grian refuses.

-Iskall wears an eyepatch.

-Hypnotizd has scurvy.

-iJevin makes maps and sells em to pirates to keep them off his back. Did he bury the treasure? I dunno.

-All of ZIT collectively own a boat. They like to pretend its a yacht and have fun. Sometimes they just use it to relax, sometimes they just go fishing. Sometimes they scare each other with stories of pirates and massive storms.

-Joe Hills is scared of the water because he nearly drowned as a child. But when he ends up accidentally stowing away on the ZIT boat, his worst fears happen.

-Keralis is Xisuma's second in command.

-TFC is a retired sailor that knows too much.

-VintageBeef and basically all of the NHO are with Doc.

-XbCrafted grew up by the beach and likes to collect shells. One time he found a fossil of a dinosaur. What will he do? I don't know. His childhood friend, Hypnotizd, left to be a pirate. Xb hasn't heard from him since (he promised he'd write letters,) and fears the worst.

-ZombieCleo is a dead zombie captain. Her and her crew (the gals, and maybe some co,) are out to get their revenge on Doc. Her second in command is Stress but her main muscle in False.

-Mumbo is usually the one who works maintenance on the ship. (He's with Xisuma.)

-Rendog got stuck on an island he's called 'Loser Island' and has been there for at least a year. He's found by Doc.

-Stressmonster makes people fear her through her name, but they usually laugh when they see her because she's really unintimidating.

-Welsknight hoardes cool swords.

-Everyone underestimates Stress when they see her but those who have faced her in battle have realized their mistake. She is slowly but surely gaining the reputation as one of the most feared pirates of the seven seas. She’s still very sweet if you get to know her tho - 🌙

-At some point while attempting to leave the ZIT crew's yacht, Joe somehow ends up with Cleo and the gals in the middle of the ocean, who take pity on him. Because they help him with his fear and take care of him on the way back to land, he decides to stick with them for good. The Navy and a lot of other pirates don't believe that Cleo can be the captain of such a feared vessel or that False can be that deadly and decide that Joe must be doing it all. He takes joy in deferring to Cleo whenever he can, and the whole crew gets a laugh out of his combat attempts. He mainly handles navigation and stuff, though he does record their adventures and anonymously submit them to newspapers and/or publish his accounts. (Don't want to skip the Joe+ZIT stuff, just love him and Cleo and need that dynamic :-) )

-Half siren/merman grian? - Frost Anon

-Different anon adding to the Merman Wels idea, he's a siren but instead of stealing your life he steals your swords and shinies. Some pirates may be on good terms with him and gives him swords occasionally and ask for directions or just hang out with him and be nice (I'd think Ren would sing with him and Jevin would hang out and steal shinies with him landing both their crews on good terms with him. He may even follow them around as it can be lonely in the ocean)

-Mumbo never meant to be a pirate. There was just a mutiny of the last captain he was under and everyone liked him enough to keep him around.

-Some loser thinks that joe is the muscle of the group and asks for a duel. cleo decides fuck it and just pushes joe into a fight with them because thats how she be sometimes. (False is on standby so joe doesn't get creamed)

-https://hermitcraftheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/619926302710956032/another-take-on-the-pirate-au-concept

- At some point, Cleo's ship begins picking up stray orphaned children. They are kept safe below deck during battle and are taught by the crew how to run a ship and fight, but Cleo also teaches them stuff like how to read and do math. The crew is very protective of the young'uns and the ship eventually becomes known for the fact that they take care of kids. Most other ships, upon learning this, respect that and don't attack them. If a ship does, they will find that the Rotten Corpse is viscous, and has many powerful friends who will back them up. If Doc or X come across Cleo's ship, they will give the kids gifts and stay close for a bit to provide protection. As the kids grow up some go back to shore and build legitimate/legal lives (including opening an orphanage) but a group of them go off and become their own pirate crew! Their ship's name? I don't know, I'm not clever.

-In a tavern someone's just like "im gonna sail to this island." Tfc, sitting nearby "you wont find anything" a little while later that ship goes missing. No one actually knows what tfc found in his sailing days. But my god does he know where to avoid

(All above in red are from our community's lovely Anons!)

-The ZIT boat is a bit of a disaster because each person always thinks it's the other people's turn to maintain it. Joe probably saw it on an evening beach walk and thought it was abandoned, decided to explore it, and accidentally fell asleep in the hold. He wakes up to the ZIT boys arguing about what to do with him.

-Xisuma has a reputation for being strict and disciplined and running a very tight ship, but if you're actually on his crew you'll know that's a front for intimidation purposes. In reality he is organised but extremely forgiving, and he will often sit down with crew who are new or going through something stressful and talk it out with them.

-Iskall is with Cleo's crew, he appears just as driven as the rest of them but he's mostly just there to make sure Cleo and co don't go too overboard with the revenge thing. He just doesn't want them to do something they'll regret....

-Wels can be a merman! He hoards cool swords as souvenirs of the surface world and dreams of two-legged adventurers and explorers.

-The "incident" that put Cleo on the path of undead revenge was partially accidental. Doc's goal was to raid the ship and get away with no casualties, but things escalated way too quickly. He is haunted by what happened, but Cleo doesn't know that and is determined to hunt him and his crew down.

-Pirate singalong nights! Doc's ship definitely has a singalong under the stars every night, where everyone can gather together and relax and let loose. It's fun to think about who would be good at it, and who would be bad at it but sing anyway ☺️

-Grian starts off on Doc's ship (with his parrot), but he gets washed overboard in a storm. Siren!Wels rescues him and gives him siren magic.

-I got tired of referring to "Xisuma's ship" and "Doc's ship", so: X's ship is called the Voidrunner, and Doc's vessel is the Black Goat. (Cleo's is The Rotting Corpse -Anon.)

-(I did a submission mentioning ConPost earlier, so look at that for context) The ConPost boys don't sail, but they're very knowledgable about sailing supplies and even ship repair. Cub does bookkeeping and negotiates big deals. Scar likes to wander the docks checking stock levels, with Jellie napping in piles of rope or following close behind.

-https://hermitcraftheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/619819577428279296/for-the-pirate-au-cub-and-scar-own-a-supply

-Xisuma is feared and respected by pirates because his ship is one of the first/only steam powered vessels at the time. Mumbo is his engineer; he maintains the mechanics and is constantly testing ways to make the ship faster and more efficient.

-If you ask Iskall why he wears an eye patch, you will get a wild tale of adventure and heroic battle that may take an hour to relate. However, the story is different every time. He actually lost his eye in a completely non-pirate related accident as a child. It just sounds cooler the way he tells it 😂

- About Joe moving from the ZIT crew to Cleo's ship: Joe really wants to be taken back to shore, and the ZIT lads understand his fear of water and try to take him back as soon as possible. However, they get caught in a storm, and the boat isn't in great shape to weather it. The boat is not quite wrecked, but badly damaged, and Joe is washed overboard. Cleo's crew finds him and pulls him aboard to save him (maybe siren!Wels helped bring him to her!)

-As a pirate Etho is known for his skill in boarding enemy ships. It doesn't matter how many ropes you cut, how many pirate grappling hooks you throw into the sea in an effort to keep them from your decks. Even if there's no possible way across, Etho will just sort of.. . End Up on your ship, and you will end up in Davy Jones' locker. (Based on the creepy teleport thing with Grian, and just Etho's general cryptid-ness)

-The sea spray and the general ocean humidity is horrible for Doc's arm. Ren helps him keep it as clean and rust-proof as possible, but it still probably squeaks a lot and stiffens up sometimes.

(-@shadeswiftdraws.)

-ZombieCleo's gal (& co.) crew includes Iskall. [More info pending for when I finally get around to watching s6 and see the infamous Iskall & Stress duo in action] (-@basaltdragon.)

-Inspired by shade: Cub is an ex-sailor, and Scar grew up in a family of fishers. Cub was really good at ship maintainence (he just got sick of the politics), and Scar loved keeping stock of the fishing nets and what sort of fish were caught, how much they might sell for, though he's not as good at repairs.

-For the Pirate AU, Mumbo telling Siren/MerGrian stories of the surface world and (secretly?) making a way for Grian to see it for himself. (-@shiniestumbreon.)

-Pirate au: one day there is a really bad storm that destroys all of the hermits boats except for one of them. So now all the hermits are all on one boat that’s really far away from land. (Angst part) some of them went over board (I’m thinking the captains maybe) so the remaining hermits are either grieving them or looking desperately hoping that their crew mates are still alive and clinging to wreckage. Who they find, if they do find any of them is up to the reader for now. (-@lookitsspacekween.)

- Mumbo, being the spoon he is always forgets where he buries his treasure. (-@xxpzmistxx.)

-Mumbo, as the Voidrunner's engineer, has so much to work on that Xisuma will sometimes take over the maintenance so poor Mumbo can get some sleep. This leads to the hunt for a secondary engineer and maybe that's how Mumbo and Iskal end up meeting. (-@my-cat-is-a-bastard.)

-A cat scratched out Iskall's eye as a kid, and he's too embarrassed to tell anyone. He's still a bit afraid of cats, so you'll always see him keeping a close eye on Jellie when he's at the dock. (-@12u3ie.)

- i dont really know much about pirates but ima try!! ok so, cleo is human, but she gets the nickname "zombie cleo" because she faked her own death. people thought she drowned, and her old crew along with her. most of them went to live normal lives under different names, but cleo missed the sea and eventually returned to being a pirate, eventually becoming the capitain of a new ship. (i hope this makes sense lol) (-@bakubakunyanyaa.)

-Pirate headcanons! As someone said before Ren and Wels are friends and like to sign together. I can imagine Wels telling the Black Goat that there is a treasure burried in Loser Island to get Ren rescued. Also! People think Ren is halve siren/has siren magic as he is really good at singing and the melodies he hums are similar to the ones sirens are said to sing, turns out just a bit of siren magic and Wels singing style rubbed on Ren during all the time they spent together singing.

-More pirate hc cause i have no self control and they are not a lot of them: Doc gives shiny stuff to Wels in exchange of him warning them when X’s crew is on a port. Iskall is also a great engineer and is working to make the Rotten Corpse Steam powered too. He insist Cleo to let him take a peek on the Voidrunner to see if he can copy Mumbo’s work, the gals agree this is the most dangerous idea Iskall has.

(-@ivi-prism.)

-Ship AU! Hypno originally joined the ship's crew with his friend, Jessassin. They became a swashbuckling duo, and still sometimes work together, despite Jessassin's inactivity from pirate duties. (-@calmshejaguar.)

[mysmesomefluff]

Believe Again: Chapter 33 (Preview)

Three years later

When Saeran left the apartment this morning, it was clean, pristine and neat. He had left everything in order, having been the last one on cleaning duty over the weekend.

But now… eight hours later, he had returned… only to find that the apartment now looked like it had been completely and utterly ravaged. There was a (thankfully) wrapped diaper lying abandoned in a corner, splotches of milk powder on the floor, and little white footprints mixed with big ones trailing into the hallway. The couch looked like someone had been using it as a trampoline, pillows and cushions had been left on the floor, children’s books and toys were scattered everywhere like leaves in fall, and the dining table was a mess of food stains, some of which looked suspiciously like vomit.

Saeran had come home early, skipping out on dinner with his friends at college because MC wanted him home for dinner today. But he was starting to regret his decision when he surveyed the apartment, a grimace forming on his features when he realized he would almost certainly be dragged into cleaning everything up together with his stupid brother. Said man had one simple job today: to babysit his three-year-old child, while MC went out to do some grocery shopping.

And as expected, he had failed spectacularly at it.

The wind slammed the door shut loudly before Saeran could grab the handle. Not thinking much of it, Saeran shrugged and entered, but was promptly startled by a wail—one that belonged not to his niece, but to his brother.

Saeran sighed, carefully tip-toeing his way past the minefield of dirt to avoid getting his socks dirty. He managed past the living room and was about to approach the hallway that looked equally disastrous, when he heard an adorable, heart-stopping voice.

“Ran? Un-ko?”

Saeran froze in his tracks, wavering slightly as he almost lost his balance in the awkward position he was standing in, with one foot directly in front of the other. He was this close to stepping on a puddle of water, and he refused to get his socks wet.

The voice was followed by the sound of little feet running across the floor, like the soft pitter-patter of rain. Saeran’s eyes darted to the source of the noise, and there he found his little niece, with her wild bedhead and rubbing her big, yellow eyes. It was the most adorable thing to watch—the moment she noticed him, he watched as the sleepiness in her features evaporated in a flash, her lips parting into the brightest beam he had ever seen.

And then she was running towards him, releasing a high-pitched squeal as she went as if she were a train.

Saeran didn’t even have time to register his foot stepping into the water when she practically slammed her face against his calf, her little arms wrapping tightly around his leg like a koala to a tree.

“Unko Ran!” she cried happily, and Saeran didn’t even realise he was smiling until he noticed the slight ache in his cheeks. He bent down and scooped her into his arms easily, listening to the sound of her laugh echoing off the walls.

“Were you a good girl today, Eun-byeol?”

“Yes!” she nodded enthusiastically, cheeks turning a rosy pink as she held his cheek with one tiny hand. “Play, play!”

“I was just about to put her to sleep…” Another voice emerged, and Saeran craned his neck to see his brother slinking out of the bedroom, looking like Death itself. His hair was a complete mess, and he had what looked like marker stains on his arms and face—he must have let her use him as paper again.  

It took a moment for Saeran to realise what had probably happened, his mind going back to the loud sound that the door created when it slammed shut earlier.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch the door handle in time. The wind was too strong.”

Saeyoung merely sighed, but it seemed more exhausted than anything else. Saeran could only guess at what on earth happened in this house today. No doubt, his niece must have been a handful—she had inherited her mischievousness from Saeyoung and her stubbornness from MC. And that made for one very difficult and out-of-control kid.

Saeran remembered Saeyoung retelling how Vanderwood had laughed when he first begged him to help babysit, saying something about how “karma’s a bitch” before hanging up on him altogether.

As terrible as it sounded, Saeran couldn’t help but agree.

The most peculiar thing was that for some reason, his niece had taken an exceptional liking to him, attached to him at the hip and always wanting to play with him. It didn’t help that “Un-ko” were her first words, instead of “Mama” or “Papa”. That had upset MC and Saeyoung both so much that Saeran almost felt guilty for playing with Eun-byeol whenever she so asked.

But it wasn’t like he could refuse her, not when she was so cute. She had big, round yellow eyes, fat cheeks that he loved to poke and pinch, long, wavy red hair that made her look like an angel, and her voice was adorable too. Especially when she called his name. Like she was doing now.

“Yes, yes, I’m here,” he chuckled, patting her on the head.

“She was asking about you all day, you know. Ever since we told her that you were staying for dinner today. She even refused to take her nap until you were back.”

“You were?” Saeran asked, turning his attention back to his niece, who was beaming at him proudly once again, as if she had achieved something huge. Well, he supposed, to a three-year-old, staying up past naptime was a huge feat in itself.

“Play, Unko Ran!”

“But you need to nap first.”

His answer didn’t please the three-year-old. Her lips dropped into a pout, and she shook her head. “No, play play!”

“We’ll play after you nap,” he told her firmly, already walking back to the bedroom where she had emerged from. She started to struggle, and he had to tighten his hold around her lest she fell out of his grasp.

“No! No!”

“If you’re good, I’ll let you crack the eggs later.”  

That was the most effective bribe he had up his sleeve. Saeran smiled to himself when he watched her pause thoughtfully, mentally calculating the pros and cons of his suggestion. She had been obsessed with cracking eggs ever since they made pancakes together in the kitchen, of course while she was seated safely in her high-chair and watched Saeran do all the work. She had pleaded and begged for him to let her try cracking the eggs but he hadn’t allowed it. It took a while to placate her by giving her a slice of lemon to play with instead.

“Okay…”

She was rewarded with a peck on the forehead. “That’s my girl.”

It didn’t take long for him to put her to sleep—since she had been staying up past her naptime she was already exhausted. Within five minutes she was out cold, although it took another minute for him to carefully wrestle his index finger out from her grasp without waking her.

When Saeran left the room, he was greeted by the sight of Saeyoung wiping the floor with a wet cloth. He took a moment to watch his brother do the work, sighing as he went and looking thoroughly drained.

Parenthood was certainly taking its toll on this inexperienced father who couldn’t do anything without his wife.

In an uncommon show of sympathy, Saeran stepped forward, snatched the rag from his brother, who then looked at him, confused.

“Go sleep. You look horrible,” was all he said, before he took over and started wiping the same spot that his brother had earlier.

Saeran hated cleaning already, and his stupid brother just had to make it worse by squealing his name and throwing his arms around him in a hug. It took two kicks before Saeyoung finally let go, rubbing at the sore spots on his thigh but still wearing the silly, idiotic grin on his face.

“Thanks, Saeran. I appreciate it.”

“Just shut up and go to sleep or I’ll knock you out myself.”

***

A/N: I’m so sorry that this took so long, I died during recess week lmao and I actually had this part written out before but then I scrapped everything and re-did it soooooo yeah.

I ended up thinking more about how I can develop the plot to end things on a fluffier and happier note, which is why this probably isn’t the last chapter (AAAAAA I WAS SO READY FOR IT TO END BUT AT THE SAME TIME I WANT FLUFF) 

so yeah i’ll TRY MY BEST. To upload soon. But also finals are in like a moNTH so :D Anyways I’ll definitely have time to work on this after finals so wheeee it’s just a matter of time (I’m SORRY THAT I ALWAYS KEEP PPL WAITING am truly unreliable but :”(((( thx for sticking with this story i rly rly appreciate it) 

okay enough rant from me i’ll try working on this chapter more although my plan is for it to be p r e t t y  l o a d e d so it miiiight not come so soon either. I’ll just try :) 

[since0202]

Chapter 42: Tail

The hand reached out through the dark forest as ancient blue light swept across its floor. Grace held her breath for what came next. The hand was reaching toward her, it’s soft, plump little arm glowing in the moonlight as the darkness of the forest swallowed up the body that was attached to it. As the hand reached toward Grace’s face, suddenly, it changed and the soft infant hand twisted into the gnarled skin and bone of Bella’s. She wrapped her decaying hand swiftly around Grace’s throat as she felt ice shoot through her veins. Bella emerged from the darkness of the forest. Her eyes were clouded and her porcelain skin was now hanging off of her face as black decayed bits dripped to the forest floor. Grace gasped for air and felt no warming presence around her. 

She was entirely alone. 

Bella closed the distance between, bending her head down intent on tearing open Grace’s throat. A gurgling sound grew up through Grace’s throat as she felt herself drowning in her own blood, despite never feeling Bella’s teeth tear into her. As she tried to muster a scream through the choking blood she heard a baby cry somewhere off in the forest. 

Grace shot up in bed, gasping for air, as the late morning light filtered in through the porthole window above her bed. She tentatively touched at the skin around her neck as she tried to pull in clean breaths to her lungs. Sweat dotted around her hairline and she looked around her. She was alone and had kicked off the sheets during her nightmare. Off to her right in the bathroom, she heard the shower running. Grace pulled her knees up and rested her chin on her knees trying to shake the dream. Her eyes darted to her cell phone lying open on the nightstand. She could tell by the lack of blinking light that she had no new messages. 

It had only been 5 days since Renesmee’s birth and Bella hadn’t woken up. Carlisle thought that they had made it in time to have the venom take hold and for the change to happen, but she had yet to wake up. After the second day of staying by Bella’s bed without sleep, Jacob had ushered Grace out of the room against her will and taken her home. Grace had fought but sleep won out. He had held her tightly to him in bed until she had fallen asleep, the tears still staining her cheeks as he tried to whisper soothingly to her. 

After coming home, Jake had told her it would be best for them to wait for Carlisle’s word before heading back over. 

“Why?” she had said angrily. 

“If she has turned, it’s not going to be immediately safe for us to be around her. You’ve fought newborns. She might not remember us right away,” Jacob said as he had gently pushed the hair out of her face. Grace was not having it. 

“She asked me to protect Renesmee. I should at least be able to see her to do that, don’t you think?” Grace folded her arms in front of her taking a step back from Jake. He let out a hard breath. He was nothing if not patient with her. 

“Yes, but you’ve done that. The threat is gone. Sam’s retreated, and we have a second to breathe until Bella comes back. Let’s just let the Cullens take care of Nessie for now and we’ll go back when we know it’s safe.” He pleaded. 

“Nessie?” Grace raised a skeptical eyebrow. 

Despite Jake’s efforts, Grace hadn’t been sleeping well. She was constantly woken up by nightmares and the rest of the time she spent pacing the house, too worried about Bella to let herself settle. She was constantly irritated, not at Jake, but at the situation in general, and she wasn’t able to think straight. Everything felt thrown in disarray despite the obvious calm that had fallen over the pack. Quil had even been by to see how they were doing. But for all that, Grace still couldn’t let herself calm down and her moods were unpredictable. 

“You nicknamed Bella’s daughter after the lochness monster?” Grace had let out a huff and turned toward the door. 

“Babe, please don’t make me chase you,” Jake said as Grace clambered down the front porch steps ready to recast. 

“I just want to see her Jake!” Grace spat, her voice got loud as she spun around to look at Jacob standing at the top of the steps, his arms by his side. He stared at her, concerned but frustrated. “I’m going.” She said with finality and Jake shook his head, a light laugh coming out of his mouth. 

“No. You’re not. Stay here.” He said, the alpha command clear and easy in his voice. Grace immediately felt her entire body tense up and the anger in her had tripled. 

“Excuse me?” she said through gritted teeth. Jacob was in front of her now, hands on her waist as he turned her and guided her back into the house. 

“Let’s go take a shower, maybe a nap, watch a movie. Carlisle will call us soon. But for now, I need you to stay put,” Jacob said with certainty. It was a gentle tone, but firm. Grace had seethed, bolting up to her bedroom and slamming the door behind her. Jacob had taken the hint and stayed downstairs, now reassured that she couldn’t go anywhere.

Now as she sat with her arms wrapped around her legs, she felt the cold ache settle in her once more. Carlisle hadn’t called with word but Edward had sent a text saying that Bella might be waking up soon. He also sent Grace a picture of Renesmee who was sleeping peacefully in Rosalie’s arms. That must have been at Jake’s request and she made a note to thank him for his kindness when she was out of this funk. 

The faucet turned off in the bathroom and Grace turned her head toward the bathroom door. As steam pushed its way out around the massive figure blocking the door, she smiled. 

“Hey, come back to bed for a bit would you?” Grace said softly to him—a peace offering. She knew she had been difficult the past few days but her heart hammered with worry. 

“Don’t mind if I do!” Embry’s tall imposing figure, with a towel wrapped neatly around his waist launched toward her on the bed. 

“OH GOD!” Grace cried out in shock as the massive frame landed next to her, Embry’s arm pulling her back onto the mattress as she flailed. He made loud, exaggerated kissing noises and shook his wet hair out over her, sprinkling her with warm water. “EMBRY!” she cried pushing against him. “Get off!” she was laughing now, “Enough! You’re getting me all wet!”

“If I had a nickel for every time a girl said that to me,” he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. 

“Alright, get off her.” Jacob’s voice came clear through the doorway and Embry looked over his shoulder with a grin. 

“What? Can’t take a little competition?” Embry said as he hopped up out of the bed. Grace scrambled out of bed and righted herself. 

“As if you could compete with an imprint.” Jacob said. He gave Grace a nod and she felt her whole body swim with warmth. As if on silent command, she quickly padded across the room to him, a smile breaking across her face as she slipped into his outstretched arm that winded around her waist. 

Jake was settling into his own as alpha. He beamed confidence in his movements, his commands (but not orders, he tried to stay away from using the alpha tone with everyone as much as possible), and in how he led the pack. Grace felt magnetized to him. Sam and Jared had always made it seem like when you first imprinted that that was when the bond felt the strongest, as if you couldn’t breath without the other person there. But Grace had only felt the feeling grow in her as Jake came into his own and maybe as she did too. 

She still hadn’t entirely forgiven him for the alpha order to stay put, but felt no need to fight against it. Jacob’s hand gripped her waist as he pulled her into his side more, cupping a hand to her jaw and leaning down to place a gentle kiss to her upturned face. He let a thumb slide across her cheek and Grace felt the wild swing of emotion pull through her again. 

“Sleep okay?” he said softly, his eyes roaming around her face to take her in. Grace’s breath caught in her throat. How did he do the intimacy thing so well, even when someone was standing in the room half naked behind them? She swallowed a lump down in her throat and gave a nod. He gave her a signature Jake grin before letting his hand drop from her face to wrap around her and pull her into a hug. 

As she buried her face into him he said to Embry over her head, “What are you doing in our bathroom and waking up my girlfriend for anyway?” Grace’s heart fluttered and she let out a quick laugh as he rubbed his hands down her back. 

“Ran through a particularly nasty mudslide this morning on my way back. Seth pushed me into it so, if you want someone to blame, blame him,” Embry said. 

Grace pulled out of Jake’s embrace and slipped off downstairs as she heard the bickering start between them. 

“You’re going to be cleaning out that shower if you left it a mess dude.”

“Who died and made you Mrs. Doubtfire?!” 

“I swear to god, Em.” 

“Suddenly, he gets a house and he’s all Jonathan Taylor Thomas in Man of the House.” 

“Can you stop naming 90’s movies? It’s 10 in the morning.” 

“You’re Clueless.” Grace could hear a scuffling upstairs now as Jake clearly tackled Embry. 

Grace stumbled into the kitchen and pulled out some pans to start breakfast as a distraction from the growing worry building in her now. After a few minutes of cracking some eggs into a bowl and cooking up some bacon, Jacob descended the steps, running a hand through his tossled black hair. Embry followed close behind, pulling on a black shirt and rotating his shoulder. Jacob came up behind Grace and put his hands gently on her arms, leaning down to kiss her neck before saying softly, “Need any help?” 

She gave him a small smile and shook her head, letting out a “Mmm mm.” He leaned up and let his hand run down the length of her back. 

“Kay, I’m going to go check on Leah and Seth. Let me know if you need anything,” he said tapping his temple as he headed toward the door. Embry crashed down onto the couch flicking the TV on. Jake high fived him as he went past. 

I need you to let me go see Bella. Grace’s inner voice muttered involuntarily. 

“Yah, I heard that,” Jake said, not stopping as he jogged out onto the beach, shedding his shorts and phasing out of sight. 

Later that night, Grace was wrapped around Jake in bed listening to the rise and fall of his chest as she stayed wide awake. Her heart hammered in her chest still. 

“Jake?” she said softly. He stirred and readjusted his hand to rest under her shirt on her covered hip. 

“Hmm?” he said sleepily. Grace bit her lip. 

“I want to go see Ti’Hal.” She leaned up, pressing on his chest, her weight not making a significant dent on his hard body, as she watched his face in the moonlight. 

“Okay,” he said casually. Grace’s eyes widened. 

“Really?” 

“Of course, Grace. You’re not a prisoner. You can leave and go see Ti’Hal,” Jacob said quickly. She immediately felt the weight of the alpha order lift from her and she exhaled a shuddering breath. Jacob suddenly realized what had happened: “Oh God, the stupid fucking alpha command. I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize, I was just trying to keep you safe.” 

“I know,” Grace breathed trying not to belabor the conversation. “Thank you.” She leaned down and kissed him. He held her there for a  moment, his other hand placed on her back. Grace shivered and felt goosebumps erupt along her body as he deepened the kiss. 

She felt guilty for not being more present with him, but the constant worry of Bella’s life hanging in the balance made it hard for her to focus on much, and the distance from her only made it worse. While he was just trying to keep her safe, Grace couldn’t help but feel controlled. And just like in her early life, whenever she felt like someone was trying to control her, she rebelled against it. Jacob was hers though, and he only wanted the best for her but sometimes, she felt like he still didn’t trust her completely. Whether that was the imprint filling him with anxiety over her safety or the alpha in him, she wasn’t entirely sure. 

She let him roll her over onto her back as he fitted his knee between her legs, his lips never leaving hers. His hands roved under her shirt, tugging it up to expose her breasts. Grace tangled her hands in his hair and as he pulled away to kiss down her neck and collarbone, she let out a heady breath. Her knees trembled and she felt heat rising in her. 

Jacob ducked his head hungrily to take her right breast in his mouth and Grace pushed her head back into the pillow letting out a satisfied sigh. Jake’s left hand gripped in her waist as his right slithered down her waist. He dipped a tentative finger under the waistband of her lace underwear and traced the line of her hip to her lower stomach. His hands were deft and knew just where to go to make everything in her feel weak. As he slowly moved his hand down, Grace whispered his name in the form of a question. He knew what it meant.

He leaned his head up and the cool air that brushed across her exposed nipple made her shiver. “Okay.” He said, as his eyes connected with hers. Grace was frustrated with herself. Despite everything in her begging her to continue, something always stopped her from taking the next step with him. Jake had always said he understood even though she never offered an explanation, but she still felt unending guilt about it. He was her imprint, they were clearly in love, so what was the problem? What was she so afraid of? She couldn’t even bring herself to answer the question, not now, not with everything happening. Grace only knew that she just needed time to process whatever it was that was holding her back. 

He rolled off of her and pulled her into him, planting a kiss on her forehead as she wrapped her arms around his body. 

I love you. 

“I love you too. Get some sleep. For me,” he replied out loud Grace was flush with fresh regret at his overwhelming kindness and she burrowed her head into his neck to hold back the tears. 

Before Grace left the next morning to see Ti’Hal, Jake had taken her face into his hands. “I’d feel better if you took the truck instead of recasting.” Grace’s face fell. So, he thought she’d recast to the Cullen’s house anyway. The truck was easier to keep tabs on her with.

“Is that an order?” She said, sadness instead of anger threaded in her voice. Pain flickered across his face and he let his hands fall, taking her hands in his. 

“No. It’s not. I’m just asking you to take the truck instead. Can you do that for me?” He watched her carefully. Grace paused, letting her eyes connect with his and feeling the weight of the imprint pulse through her. The feeling was familiar, calming, safe. 

“Okay.” He let out a breath he’d been holding at her answer. 

“Thank you.” Jake pressed his forehead to hers and Grace closed her eyes. 

Please, just trust me. 

“I do, Grace. I just need to know where you are. I’ve already had too many close calls with you for one lifetime. Just do this for me as a favor. Please,” he said pulling back and ducking his head to meet her eye line. Grace nodded in understanding, putting a hand to his face. He kissed her and pulled her into a hug breathing a thank you into her hair before he left. Grace looked at the keys on the counter and hesitated before scooping them up and heading to the truck, pulling her hood up against the rain, her face set. 

The drive to Ti’Hal’s was peaceful as the rain splattered against the windshield. Grace felt calmed by the fact that she was fulfilling Jake’s request and also that she was able to leave the house. She believed him when he had told her he hadn’t intended to make her a prisoner there. And if Grace had asked to go anywhere other than the Cullen’s sooner, he clearly would have agreed to it. 

As she pulled into Ti’Hal’s muddy driveway, she let out a sigh of relief. The wafting smoke from her crooked chimney set Grace at ease and as she pushed the truck into park and hopped down, she felt a sense of renewal wash over her. She bounded up the short steps to the front door and as it swung open at her touch she beamed at the crouched figure of Ti’Hal working away at making tea. 

After two cups of tea and walking Ti’Hal through the events of the past six months, Grace kept her eyes trained on the fire as she mustered the courage to ask the question she’d been wanting to ask since she got there: 

“Did I do the right thing? Protecting Bella and the Cullens, I mean?” Grace’s heart felt as if it beat in her throat. Ti’Hal paused before saying, 

“Do you feel it was the right thing?” 

“Is this a trick where you answer every question with a question?” Grace met her eyes now, but Ti’Hal just smiled gently at her. After a beat, Grace let out a sigh and said, “It felt right. Mostly because I knew I couldn’t let Sam lose himself like that, or lead the others to do something like that. Plus, he was asking me to destroy my family. I couldn’t—” Grace choked a little on her words and couldn’t seem to continue. 

“Sam is also bound by his idea of family. And in the same way, you both were trapped in what you thought was right. He came around eventually though.” 

“So then...I was right?” 

“You were right to hold your own. But when it comes to protecting family, there is no right or wrong way, there is only love that guides us. And love can make us do things we normally didn’t think ourselves capable of.” She said pouring herself some more tea. 

“Yeah, like give your girlfriend alpha orders to stay in the house like Rapunzel locked in a tower.” Grace grumbled. Ti’Hal watched her carefully and let out a chuckle. 

“Young Jacob is quickly understanding his power as alpha. He’s bound to make a mistake or two along the way. You’d be wise to forgive him some of those mistakes. And he’ll forgive yours too.” 

“Even premeditated mistakes?” Grace said offhand. Ti’Hal didn’t answer right away, and Grace wasn’t even sure she had even heard her at all until she said, 

“You both will make mistakes with each other, in the name of love for one another and for others. What matters is how you come back together.” 

Grace leaned back onto the floor and splayed her limbs out around her trying to ground herself in Ti’Hal’s warm living room. But her decision was already made as soon as she scooped up the keys and walked out the door this morning. 

As Grace said her goodbye’s to Ti’Hal, she tread carefully toward the truck and opened the door before placing the keys on the driver side seat, closing the door and turning on her heel. Just as she turned and was about to recast, Embry caught her eye, leaning against a tree in Ti’Hal’s front yard with his arms crossed and without a shirt. 

“Jesus Em!” Grace started, clutching a hand to her chest. 

“How was your visit with Ti’Hal?” he said nonchalantly, a knowing casualness to his voice as he stayed planted next to the tree. Grace took a few deep breaths to steady herself before she leveled him with her eyes. 

“It was good. What are you doing here?” She asked knowing the answer already. 

“Ah, well you see, Jake asked if I could swing by and keep an eye out for you. Didn’t want you getting lost on your way back into town or the rez. He’s perceptive like that.” Embry smirked. 

“So, he’s assigned private security to me now? Why not just give an alpha order and call it good?” She was irritated now. He had the audacity to have Embry keep tabs on her in case she bolted for the Cullens? “This is absolute bullshit, Em.” She said her voice raising slightly. Embry put his hands out in front of him in surrender. 

“Hey don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just here to do the job I was assigned. So, where to next? Charlie’s? The diner? We could swing by and see Sue, I’m sure she’d have some grub.” Embry was invested now, excited for his Spirit Bird day out. 

“I don’t need a chaperone, but thanks anyway,” Grace said as she walked away from the truck toward the treeline. 

“Uhh, truck’s that way, Gracie-poo,” Embry said, raising his eyebrow in confusion. 

“Yeah well, if alpha overlord Black thinks I’m going to recast and break the rules anyway, what’s the point in sticking to the plan, right?” Her frustration was boiling over into anger now. She clenched her hands into fists as she trudged forward. Embry jumped out in front of her. 

“Or, you could be totally chill and not get me in trouble and we could just go somewhere that is definitely not the Cullen’s place. And you can yell at our overlord later!” Embry almost begged but Grace pushed past him. “Grace don’t do this! You know I’m going to have to tell him right away after you recast anyway and it’s going to end in a blow out.” 

“Fuck off, Em!” Grace said. 

“He’s just asking you to wait! Just a little longer until they know it’s safe. Can’t you just wait!?” 

Grace stopped in her tracks and thought about it for a moment. His ask was not entirely unreasonable. Was she just being impatient? Was she being impulsive? Or was it just that she pulled so hard against any form of control, done in the name of protection or not, that was a holdover from her childhood? Grace wondered all at once if she was just being selfish. He pleaded with her this morning to just take the truck, a way of asking for her to promise not to go to the Cullen’s without the pressure of actually asking it. And she had agreed. So why couldn’t she just stick to the plan? 

Grace felt her resolve go limp. She hesitated for a moment, almost turning to go back to the truck and then she recast quickly, hearing the tail end of a yell as Embry tried to tell her to stop. 

[brideofcthulhu10]

More headcanons to help me work through the dreaded writer's block! Hope you guys don't mind it's a bit slow right now, I plan on posting another tonight and hopefully I'll be able to get to some asks once my brain is no longer fried

Dwayne Headcanons

When he was responsible for Laddie, Dwayne would often take him out to the boardwalk whenever Star was busy. Sometimes he’d even choose to take him along even if they were with Star just to hang with the munchkin

If anyone told him he was too short Dwayne would hypnotize them into letting him one. He wasn't exactly worried about the kid being flung from the roller coaster, he could easily catch him if it happened. It felt awesome impressing him at the strength test, just watching him jump up and down as the attendant handed him a giant blue monkey which of course he'd give to Laddie. The boy was such a hyper, sunny child it was hard not to laugh when this spritely eight year old would play a water gun game and yell “this is a load of bullshit” when he lost. Well, he did grow up around four teenage guys, two having the worst language you could imagine. David used the word "fuck" like it was going out of style. At one point some lady in her thirties tried to lecture Laddie about watching his language, to which Dwayne had immediately stepped in after he said “piss off lady”. Again he had to choke back a laugh, pushing the kid behind him before this lady throttled him. To save face Dwayne feigned some half assed “shame on you” to Laddie just so she would piss off, and then ushered him away- for an ice cream sundae. Granted while he couldn’t condone a kid cussing up a storm, he did find it utterly hilarious watching this uppity chick squawk like a hen in outrage.

“Seriously though I don’t know where the hell you learned all that from-”

“Paul taught me.”

“Yeah, well, Paul probably isn’t the best guy to copy, kiddo. "

Chinese food isn’t his favorite, but he knows it’s Markos so he doesn’t complain when they have it at least once a week. Actually, his favorite is probably Hispanic. Many forget much of California was once Mexico, and as such the culture still thrived even into the early 1900s. Santa Carla flourished, and between pick pocketing gigs and heavy labor on the docks, Dwayne could always count on there being fresh tortillas for a few dollars after a long day. Elotes with extra chili powder, huarache, freshly brewed horchata on ice? Utterly delicious! Nothing can compare to freshly made tamales by a sweet abuela in a tiny food truck cooing to you in Spanish. Even he can blush when they pinch his cheeks gushing about what a skinny man he is. Paul and Marko love it as well and will often tag along when Dwayne goes to Mama Rosa’s, although he often has to elbow Paul in the gut because he’ll flirt with the cooks in the back into getting a free taco.

“Ay, Paul, mi angelito querido cielito, you’re skin and bones!”

“Well, I always skip a meal before coming here, abuela. Your cooking is too epic to have anything else in my stomach!”

“Dude, will you stop flirting with that poor woman before you give her a heart attack, you ass?”

Dwayne had a brother many years ago who was lost after being caught in direct sunlight during the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Since then on April 18th he holds a small memorial for his brother Jasper, who died pulling the curtains shut to shield them from the sun. Some years David, Paul and Marko will join him, silently drinking to their fallen friend. It's a rare moment of seriousness for these wild boys, sitting beside an altar crudely constructed atop a wooden crate, draped over with the jacket once worn by Jasper that survived the flames. Decorated in worn candles melted by decades of use, a bottle of rum from over eighty years ago still untouched with an empty shot glass beside it caked in dust and cobwebs, worn flowers shriveled into darkened husks, a glass of blood they keep freshly filled with each visit, feathers of birds to help carry him to the sky. Every time he adds something new, a gift from every era. Recently he brought Jasper a Def Leppard vinyl record, propped against a sketch of his brother drawn before his passing by an admirer who had died long ago. Paul left a little toy motorcycle for him, Marko brought an old pocket watch he found at an antique store that bore a striking resemblance to one he had admired long ago, and David brought him a hunting knife

“You would’ve loved hair bands, Jas. Everything’s changed now, its crazy. It sucks you never got a bike of your own,” Dwayne would say, sitting in the dark with only the tender flicker of candles brushing away the dark. Never again would he let the sun take him. It was the darkest, deepest cave in the hotel. And there, Dwayne spoke more than he ever does outside “Horses were cool, but it’s better to have something that doesn’t stop every time it takes a shit, you know?”

Unfortunately Dwayne sucks at video games. It’s not that he doesn’t get it, but he has the worst gamer rage. Now, Dwayne doesn’t often get legitimately mad, but when he’s been playing the same god damn stupid water level for the past hour and a half just to be killed by a squid-! Well, lets just say Paul practically dove to catch the controller before it was chucked at the tv, and cue a dirty look towards Dwayne for nearly smashing his “baby”. He wasn’t about to have him break ANOTHER controller. Yeah that wasn’t the first. At this point he’s content just watching from afar and sometimes back seat gaming when Marko is going the wrong way. He’s not nearly as bad as David who will openly call someone stupid after dying. 

Dwayne is definitely the type to nap after a long night. Truthfully he misses when he could just lay out in the sun like a lizard on a hot rock after a long day, it’d feel incredible. Instead he’s resorted to a hot water bottle or a heating pad. Yeah, he loves hot weather. Summertime is his favorite time, just savoring the toasted air blowing in his face on rides over the beaches. Sometimes he’ll try to wake up early to watch the sunset from within the cave, although it’s burnt him on more than one occasion he will still try to get a glimpse. Winter is the worst for him, he hates, absolutely despises the cold. Even though he doesn't technically get cold anymore, everything seems to die away in the winter leaving only twisted branches and grey skies. David may enjoy all that gloomy melancholy but not him.

One wouldn’t assume Dwayne to have much of a sweet tooth. That’s because they’re wrong. While he isn’t into the marshmallow caramel double candy bars deep fried and dipped in chocolate like Marko or Laddie, he has a serious weakness for chocolate. Like, a major weakness. Paul is still searching for his stash, tucked away somewhere secret in the hotel. Any time he thinks he’s close to finding it, Dwayne moves it again.

“Dude, sharing is fucking caring you greedy bastard”

“Get your own candy asshole, why do you think I keep my stash hidden from you guys?”

Now the whole hoity toity fancy chocolate isn’t what appeals to him. He can certainly appreciate a well made chunk of dark chocolate sprinkled with chili powder, but he’ll settle for a cheap bar snatched from a gas station. Most sweets weigh heavy on him, but chocolate is such a unique medium that can be changed into almost anything, appealing to every taste imaginable. Sweet, savory, spicy, bitter, semi-sweet, rich, dense, light. Chocolate cake, chocolate doughnut, hot chocolate, fudge, and of course the traditional candy bar. You make him a mug of Mexican hot chocolate and he is putty in your hands. You couldn’t necessarily bribe him with food. But you could certainly butter him up to suggestions when he’s crunching down on a candy bar. Paul knows this, and at this point Dwayne knows this guy has royally fucked up if he comes up to him with a stack of chocolate bars.

“Heeeeey, Dwayne, buddy, old pal, chum, lookie what I found, all for you man how cool is that?”

“....,” Dwayne glances up from his book at the handful of chocolate and slowly lowers it with a firm sigh. “What the hell did you do now?”

“Wha-Whaaa-? Oh! Okay, wow. Woooow. Offend much? I go out of my way- I mean, can’t a guy just, you know, do something nice for his best friend-?”

“Paul. What. did. you. do?”  

“Okay okay, well you see David made me go fill up his stupid bike, and there was this hot chick at the gas station, I mean perfect fuckin ten man, she had the biggest frickin tits- okay anyway! Well, next thing I know the keys are gone, the chick's gone, the fuckin bike- You gotta help me man he’s gonna fucking kill me and dance on my grave!”

Of course Dwayne will help… in exchange for twice the chocolate. Like I said, it won’t always work as a bribe, but it’ll certainly help your cause if you go in with some incentive.

[come-on-shitty-boys]

//sober thoughts. kuroo tetsurou//

Warnings: slut shaming, vulgar language, swearing 

Word Count: 2K

Notes: I was listening to the Breath of the Wild soundtrack while working on this and now, I may or may not be planning on spending my weekend FINALLY beating the game on Master Mode

*Characters are aged up because I am a responsible adult who does not condone underage drinking*

*Read Part I - ‘Drunken Words’ HERE*

Honestly, he didn’t know what he was expecting when he sat down next to you in the lecture hall.  Maybe he was hoping that things would go back to how they used to be, before he made a total fool out of himself.  Maybe he was hoping that he’d be able to sit down and joke with you.  He was hoping that you’d start doodling little pictures in the margins of his notebook just like you always did when you were bored during lecture.  

But, he got none of those things.  He was welcomed by a cold silence, a quick glance up from your phone to recognize that he was there.  As he sits down in the seat next to yours, he watches you shift your body, leaning further away from him as if not wanting to be seen anywhere near him.

And who could blame you?  The videos of drunken Kuroo making all of those snide remarks, telling everyone about the relationship that you had with, had been circulating the campus all weekend.  Everywhere you went, you could feel the judgemental eyes on you, staring you down to punish you for your sins.  Even now, in a lecture hall filled with hundreds of students, people were turning their heads to get a glimpse of you and the fraternity brother who let all your secrets out after a few too many glasses.  Hushed whispers were filling the room as the rumors continued to grow and increase in severity.  Calling you any number of filthy names in the book.  

As if the guilt wasn’t already eating you alive.  The heartbreak that had crept into Daisho’s eyes as he realized that this wasn’t just Kuroo talking to talk felt like a punch to the gut.  He hadn’t even bothered to yell at you, he just walked upstairs, locking the door to his room.  You could’ve knocked on his door all night and he never would’ve answered.  You had sat outside for what seemed like hours before you heard the lock slide out of its place, the door creaking open ever so slightly as he poked his head out.  His eyes had been trained at the floor, refusing to meet your gaze.  But, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, there was no mistaking the slight puffiness to his eyes or the tightness in his voice.

“I think you should just go.”

Nothing else.  He spoke six words to you and went back into his room, locking the door tightly behind him.  You didn’t know why it hurt as much as it did.  You had said yourself that you weren’t in love with him anymore, but seeing all of the pain etched on his face overwhelmed you with guilt and Daisho wasn’t even giving you the option to try to fix things.  It was over.  Plain and simple.

It didn’t matter how many times you tried to text or call him, each one was ignored.  You showed up at the house the next day to try to talk to him, but you were turned away at the door by one of the fraternity members.  You didn’t deserve it, but you wanted to see him one more time, try to leave things off on a better note, but he wasn’t having it.  All of the pictures of you that had been posted to his Instagram were gone by the end of the night.  He was already forgetting you, obviously having no intentions of trying to work this out.

And then there was Kuroo.  To everyone around him, he was perfectly normal.  He still had his normal kind smile plastered on his face as he greeted people on campus.  He was still able to laugh and joke, this entire weekend just being funny for him.  No one was belittling him or calling him a whore.  If anything, people were high-fiving him, congratulating him on getting Daisho’s girl.  Kuroo Tetsurou’s life hadn’t even shifted.  Sure, the extra shit he got from Daisho wasn’t fun, but it was bearable.  This whole thing was so easy for him.

At least, that’s how it looked from the outside.

If anyone were to get a look inside of his mind they would see the same scene playing in his mind, the loop never seeming to end.  That look of shock painted so sadly on your face as he finally said what he had been hinting at throughout his entire drunken rampage.  Those solemn eyes staring up at him, mouth open as if you wanted to say something, but then closing as you come to realize that nothing could save you.  He broke whatever trust had been built between the two of you and now, he was being pushed away as you put up another wall around yourself.  Kuroo was getting pats on the backs, fist-bumps, and high-fives from guys he didn’t even know.  They would simply say, “Man, I saw the video! Epic!” and leave him to carry on with his day, unaware of the guilt gnawing away at him, worsened by the fact that it seemed that everyone around him had seen that stupid video.  

So, when he sat down next to you, he wasn’t expecting to be completely ignored, but he couldn’t say that he was surprised either.  But, you both carried on throughout the class like normal, silently taking notes, glancing over at the other’s notebook to copy something missed, phones being checked for the time every few minutes.  

1:51 p.m.

The sounds of students shuffling to put their books away echoes throughout the lecture hall, quiet conversations being held between friends filling the air. But, nothing could fill the awkward silence that enveloped the area that surrounded you both.  It’s not like he wanted to stand there in silence, eyes locked on you trying to fit your binder back into your bag, but what was he supposed to say?

“Kuroo?”

Amber eyes snap up to meet yours and he sees you adjusting your bag onto your shoulders.  He’s pulled out of whatever mental games that he had been playing with himself, expecting you to start the conversation that he had been anticipating all weekend.  But, his “Yeah?” was only met with:

“You’re blocking the aisle.”

“Oh, right, yeah.  Sorry, about that,” he mutters, shouldering his own bag to move out of your way.  But, the slight bounce to your hair as you walked away, the soft pat pat pat of your well-loved sneakers against the tile floor, the various enamel pins that you had stuck to your bag, glinting off the harsh lighting of the classroom.  He wasn’t ready to let all of that go just yet.  He wasn’t ready to let go of all of the time that he had spent with you.  Kuroo wasn’t ready to let go of you.

Before he could even second guess himself, Kuroo’s fingers wrap around your wrist, keeping you from moving another step away from him.  “Y/N.”

“Kuroo, let me go.  I have class.”

“No, you don’t.  It’s Tuesday and on Tuesday’s you have Italian in the morning, you used to go take a nap at the house afterwards, and then we’d walk to lecture together.  Don’t lie to me.”

“Well, don’t you have class?  You should get going,” you argue, trying to get out of his grasp, but Kuroo’s fingers only tighten around your wrist.   

“I’ll be late.  I don’t care.  Please, can we just talk?”

“What the hell is there to talk about, Kuroo?  Do you want to call me a bitch?  A slut?  There’s nothing to talk about as far as I’m concerned.  I’m done!  Do you know how many random guys are harassing me, asking if I can give them head, see if I’m as good as you say I am?  You may just get to laugh Friday night off, but I can’t!”

“I’m so-”

“I don’t care!  Your apologies aren’t going to make this all magically disappear.  This whole thing was a mistake, Kuroo.  I threw everything away.  I was stupid and now Suguru hates me.  He won’t even look at me, let alone talk to me!”

“But, didn’t you say-”

“I know what I said!  I know that I told you that I didn’t love him, but you should’ve seen him, Kuroo.  I don’t remember the last time that I’ve seen him so upset and knowing that he was that hurt because I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life? Seeing him so close to me, but so stupidly far away, because he didn’t want anything to do with me? That hurt and it still hurts.”  You pause, turning away from him.  A little laugh leaves your lips.  “You just- You wouldn’t understand.”

The grip that Kuroo has on your wrist releases as he drops his hand down to his side.  “I wouldn’t understand?  What makes you think that?  Just because I didn’t cheat on my high school boyfriend, doesn’t mean that I feel good about what happened either!”

“You ruined a relationship with someone that you already didn’t like.  Do you want me to buy you ice cream for your loss?”  You roll your eyes, crossing your arms over your chest.  “I know that after all of this, it probably seems like I don’t care about him, but I really do.  He- he was good to me and he didn’t deserve this, but I fucked up and now I can’t do anything to fix it,” you say, your voice straining to get through your sentences without falling apart as all of the shame comes bubbling back up.  “I hurt someone that I cared about, Kuroo.”

“What?  And you think I didn’t?  Y/N, I hate to break it to you, but I don’t buy you coffee after lab because I just want to be your friend.  I don’t put granola bars in my bag because I know you always wake up too late to eat before class, because I just think of you as someone that I’m sleeping with.  I don’t carry around a pack of your favorite pens for me.  Whether you like it or not, I love you.  And I know that this is the worst possible time to say it, but I love you and I was too stupidly drunk to realize that I was hurting you before it was too late.”  Kuroo runs his hand through his hair, exasperatedly pushing his fringe back.  “I keep thinking about how sad you looked and every time I see that in my head, it feels like someone just stabbed me in the heart.  I know that my apologies aren’t going to fix a damn thing, but I’m sorry, Y/N, really.  And, for what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re any of those things that people are calling you.  I still think that you’re the same person that I fell in love with.”

His words catch you off guard.  After everything, Kuroo Tetsurou is professing his love to you in the middle of a poorly lit university building, students slowing down as they try to overhear what’s going on between the two of you.   Part of you already knew it deep down, but you had hoped that his feelings would just go away and your arrangement could go back to what it was meant to be.  Seeing that you were likely not to give him an answer, Kuroo spoke up once more before turning to leave you.

“I know that I can’t tell you what to do, but I care about you, really.  So, remember, that I’ll always be in your corner.  I want it to be us versus the world, but I’m okay with just supporting you from the sidelines.  I just want you to be happy, okay?”

[thegrandromantic]

The Yiga Conspiracy

A/N: This is the first chapter of a new multichapter postgame Breath of the Wild fic I’m starting. Eventually it will be uploaded to fanfiction.net and I’ll make another post linking it so anyone who wants can follow the story there.

Chapter 1 - Quiet

The tree was solid against my back, the grass tickled my legs, and I took a deep breath of the clear Hylian air. We had stopped to rest under an expansive tree atop a foothill just south of the Dueling Peaks. My eyes were closed, feigning a nap. In reality I was keeping my ears peeled for the smallest crack of twigs, the metallic scrape of Yiga weapons being unsheathed. They’d dogged me all through my journey across Hyrule. Now that I travelled with the princess, the danger had only increased. The only sound that came was the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves above me, the slight rustle of grass, and the familiar light stomping tread of the princess. She was surveying the area’s wildlife, I could hear her humming an old Hylian song under her breath which I knew she often did as she researched.

It had been… at least three months since I defeated Calamity Ganon. I had always been bad at keeping track of time, and dates were hardly remembered by anyone in Hyrule except farmers. People tended to worry less about what day was on the calendar and more about not getting killed by the monsters still plaguing all of the wilds. It turned out that defeating Calamity Ganon hadn’t put a stop to the blood moons, so monsters just kept coming back no matter how hard we tried to fight them.

I thought that when I met Zelda again, I would finally remember all of it. My whole past and childhood from 100 years ago would finally come rushing back to me right when I saw her face. I was so sure of it, staring at her face over and over again as I rewatched my old memories on the Sheikah slate. Somehow I knew she would be the key to all of my memory problems. Well, I thought I knew at least.

It turns out 100 years of single handedly holding off the apocalypse had taken its toll on the princess. I certainly couldn’t blame her for holding some resentment for me. Every day I kicked myself for not having the words to apologize for what she went through, for not being strong enough to save her 100 years ago… there were so many things I knew I owed her an apology for. Things had been terse between us since I rescued her. I suppose I was always terse, but Zelda had taken on an air of stern hostility that I had only seen her with during what had seemed like the earlier memories of our relationship on the Sheikah slate. I was sure that my continued silence wasn’t going to earn me any favors with the princess, but no words felt like they could be enough to describe the size of what we’d been through together. My memory didn’t come back.

After all, what would I have said, “I’m sorry”? For what? I hadn’t created Calamity Ganon, the only thing I had to apologize for would be my own weakness, and I knew the princess would hear none of that. She had always been the type to blame herself for these types of things and I’m sure she was feeling just as much guilt as I was over not being able to awaken her powers soon enough. Still, there were so many things I needed to tell her. I mean, the last time we had been together had been 100 years ago, when I still had my memories. I was sure I was a completely changed person from who I had been before. Not that I really felt like I even knew who I was before. When I saw the young man dutifully and silently following the princess around in memories on the Sheikah Slate, he looked like a stranger to me. After I came out of the Shrine of Resurrection and recovered those first few memories I knew I had changed.

Something in my old expressions I think. Before, I protected Zelda not out of any sense of personal loyalty or even really a sense of fondness. Everywhere I showed up in my old memories I had the same blank expression. I was there, doing my job, trying my best to protect a princess who didn’t want protection. It was all duty, all responsibility, with how big a job it felt at the time I hadn’t even considered that I was allowed to have feelings about it. I realized in the panicked moments after I awoke from my slumber with a blank slate for a mind and saw my reflection for the first time in the Sheikah Slate I had finally seen real fear in my eyes. Of course at the time I hadn’t known this was unusual for me but I noticed that the more I learned about my past and the more I remembered who I had been I became more and more convinced that I was never meant to be a knight or a bodyguard. I was meant to be a hero, and I swore that I would be the one to define what that meant, no one could force my fate upon me.

So, I had set out to learn as much as I could about my old self, as well as my new self. One of the first things I realized was that my gender felt… all wrong. I felt that my connection to being a “man” whatever that meant, had simply disappeared. It felt like just another vestige of my old life, yet another thing I had dutifully accepted when the world tried to force it upon me. I realized that I found myself connecting more with a feminine presentation and at first, it was scary. I quickly realized that gender was yet another thing the citizens of Hyrule simply can’t be bothered to worry about though. I found it remarkably easy to “pass” and even the few times I’d had to correct people they’d always apologized profusely and accepted it right away. All of this though, I had yet to tell the princess about. It felt like… a weird time to bring it up, I guess.

With how quiet we had both been since traveling together, it almost never came up anyway. I would cringe inwardly when the princess spoke for me and misgendered me. This had really only happened 2 or 3 times since we’d met again though, which goes to show you just how little we talked during those first few months.

I was broken out of my long reflection by the princess’s familiar firm but graceful touch on my arm. She left her hand on my arm as I opened my eyes and feigned a yawn. She was crouched in front of me, staring with surprising intensity right into my eyes,

“Wake up, sleepyhead. We’ve got a ways to go if we want to make it to Kakariko village today.”

I simply nodded and began silently collecting my few belongings, loading them onto my horse. Zelda began her preparations as well, and I kept stealing small glances at her as she worked. That was another change from 100 years ago. Suddenly, I felt like I could hardly look at Zelda for too long at a time. She seemed radiant, bright as the sun, and I relished each moment I did get to see her.

“You know, there were some really fascinating flowers I’d never seen until now not far from here. They were so beautiful…” Zelda trailed off reverently.

I raised an eyebrow at her. Zelda had learned by now to watch my face for responses, since I didn’t really talk much.

“We could go and see them if you like?” Zelda offered, heaving herself up onto her horse.

I joined her on horseback and stared into the middle distance for a moment. It was strange, I had so rarely been asked about what I wanted to do that I almost didn’t know how to respond. But I had been dying for some touch of femininity. Since meeting Zelda again, I’d felt like I was holding myself back from my more feminine impulses again. I finally nodded.

“Excellent!” Zelda kicked her horse and began trotting down the hill I’d been relaxing atop. We rode for about 5 minutes before coming to a small clearing in the middle of the woods just north of us, across the river around Batrea Lake. Sure enough, there was a little patch of pretty yellow and orange flowers. Zelda dismounted her horse again so I followed suit. She knelt down to smell the flowers. I knelt next to her, very delicately grazing a petal with one finger and burying my face in the patch to get a whiff of the smell.

“My, Link… you have quite a gentle touch for such a strong and stoic knight. What an enigma you are,” Zelda grinned, looking suddenly up from the flowers and at me.

I found it almost unbearable when she looked at me. It was that sense of overwhelming radiance but a thousand times more intense. I felt my cheeks heat up and leaned back and away from the flowers, staring ahead and running a hand through my hair. 

“Ah, I didn’t mean to tease…” Zelda said with that baleful sadness in her voice that spoke of the unspoken 100 year history between us, “I find it quite admirable, in fact.” Zelda leaned down and plucked one of the flowers, bringing it close to her nose and inhaling deeply before turning to me and holding it gently near my head, her hand hovering a few inches away. It was close enough that my skin prickled and I could feel her slight warmth, “May I?” she asked.

I nodded, and she placed the flower just over my ear, it’s stem gently twisted into my hair. I stood and walked over to the nearby Batrea lake, and knelt by the water to take in my reflection.

“It’s quite pretty, don’t you think?” Zelda appeared behind me, I saw her reflection appear slowly beside mine as she approached.

I blushed again and nodded at the water, still not daring to look directly at her. 

She was unafraid to look right at me. I felt as though she was… seeing right through me, seeing all of me. Even all the feelings I’d tried so hard to hide for the sake of my duty. As she stared into me, trying to uncover all my secrets, I felt a tear come to my eye and roll down my cheek, dripping once into the water.

“Link? What is it?” Zelda placed her hand on my shoulder, still standing just beside me at the water’s edge.

I dried the tear with a bit of a scowl at my emotional slip, but my face softened again when the ripple my tear caused began to clear and I saw Zelda’s reflection again. Her touch was warm but soft on my shoulder. I turned to her, not rising from my kneeling position. I took her hand in mine, gently as I could manage. I lowered my head so we were in a similar position as we had been when she’d sworn me in as her knight 100 years ago. I remembered the grim ceremony like it was yesterday, the champions had been impossible to convince that it was even necessary, and with how Zelda’s attitude had been about the day I was almost inclined to agree with them.

That moment had locked Zelda and I into our fates, bound us together forever. It was at that moment that we became the hero and the princess, not Link and Zelda. We were fated to suffer at the hands of Ganon’s evil, Hyrule’s only hope of surviving the seemingly inevitable apocalypse. I found myself hoping Zelda would be reminded of that moment together as well. I realized that in this gesture I was communicating what was wrong… being Zelda’s knight and then her hero had been what had kept us apart all this time. That moment was what was creating this insurmountable wall between us. I just hoped against hope that she would understand.

“Link…” she trailed off, it had been hard to tell but I thought I’d heard that her voice was a bit choked. My suspicion that she was crying was confirmed when I felt some tears drip gently onto the back of my head, “Haven’t we been like this long enough?” She asked, pulling her hand away from mine and finally kneeling down to my level. She gently brushed a hand against my cheek where the tear I had let go had left its track. I could tell she wanted me to look at her, and finally, I felt like maybe I could. I looked her right in the eyes, something I had rarely had the chance to do. Her eyes were still glistening with her tears. I nodded, and imitated the gentle motion she had used to dry my tears on one of her cheeks.

Zelda used her sleeve to dry her other cheek and stood up offering her hand again. I took it, but this time she pulled me up off the ground out of my kneeling position, “I’ll have no more of this stoic hero business,” Zelda said with finality, “I can tell that isn’t you, Link. I may not know who you really are yet, but now it is your turn to decide what kind of man you want to be. Because... Hyrule doesn’t need a hero anymore, Hyrule needs Link.”

Something in the way she said Hyrule, maybe the hesitation just before that made me think she’d wanted to say something else, but had perhaps thought better of it. I had cringed when she used the word “man” and realized that now might genuinely be the best time I could have hoped for to tell her… to finally bare some part of myself to her, to finally show her the real Link below all the duty and titles. I had to think for a long time about how to say it, but Zelda had always been patient at waiting for me to speak. My voice croaked slightly as I spoke from lack of use, but at last I began, “I… don’t want to be a man,” I said bluntly.

Zelda’s calm facade faltered for just a moment and her eyes widened in surprise but it seemed, that on consideration, the idea settled on her and she responded, “Tell me, truly, who are you?” 

“I’m… a woman.”

“Well that doesn’t answer my question silly,” Zelda said laughing, “though I want you to know I’ve ah… had my suspicions for a while.”

I blushed, unsure of what else to say now.

“I think its something in that more gentle side of you I’ve been seeing today… and more and more every day since we’ve defeated Ganon. You’ve treated me with such gentle consideration… so many small kindnesses, and such a gentle understanding for my feelings, even on the days I was absolutely fuming at you. I’ve only ever seen that kind of gentle care from the other women in my life… my mother and Impa for instance.”

I nodded and managed a small grin, pleased at how reaffirming Zelda was being of my feelings, what few I had managed to express to her.

“I must say I felt rather bold in my compliment earlier…” she said, reaching out to cup the flower she’d put in my hair in her hand, “Now it seems even more fitting though, you are… beautiful, Link.” There was something in the way she’d said the word beautiful that made it resonate deep to my core. She had sounded so completely sincere, and almost… urgent, like there was something bigger she desperately needed to communicate with that one word.

“Ah… perhaps I’m being a bit forward again,” she said, replying to my stunned silence and pulling her hand away. It was torturous to have come so close to a moment of intimacy but something in me refused to speak out or correct her. As she turned and walked back toward our horses, gently petting hers and rummaging in her saddlebag for an apple to give it I just… silently followed suit, hefting myself back onto my horses back, ready to move on toward Kakariko.

It felt strange… leaving those woods. Leaving that moment together behind as only memory. Still, there was definitely something changed between Zelda and I. Where we had been riding with her in front and me behind her, she took to riding next to me for the rest of the day. Occasionally she’d shoot a glance over at me or tap my foot gently with hers. My heart raced every time.

We stuck to the roads through Dueling Peaks and on through to Kakariko. These were mostly safe as they were always some of the first ones I cleared after a blood moon. They were well-trodden by traders and thus worth keeping relatively peaceful. Not to mention I liked to pay frequent visits to Kakariko village. Impa was always able to tell me old stories about 100 years ago and I could listen to her describe her days as Zelda’s advisor for hours, especially before I had defeated Ganon and retrieved all my memories. I drank in knowledge about Zelda like I needed it to survive. 

This was to be our first time visiting Impa since the end of the Calamity. Zelda and I mostly had been staying in my house in Hateno village, only venturing out for Zelda’s research trips and for me to re-clear monster camps after blood moons. These two activities had taken so much of our time these first few months, and what time we weren’t spending on that we spent at home resting. I’d had an extra bed added to my house for Zelda to sleep in, but our relationship to this point had been so terse that I couldn’t say we exactly lived in domestic bliss or anything like that. Most days we had passed in complete silence, still the months of “rest” had been well earned after how much we’d been through, and we each kept in contact with Impa through letters, though I noticed Zelda wrote many more than I did.

We rode into Kakariko at about dusk and each bought beds at the inn, tying our horses up just outside. We walked over to Impa’s house and I hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. For some reason I had a bit of apprehension at seeing Impa again now. After all this time I had no idea what to say to her. I had finally met Zelda, who had practically always been the subject of our conversations. What else did I have to do here? Would Impa even be happy to see me after how distant I’d been? All of these anxieties melted away as Zelda caught up to me, stopped at the base of the stairs with me and laced her fingers in between mine, “We can do this, together,” she said, sounding confident although when I looked at her face I could see she had a bit of a cloudy expression as well. Together, we took the stairs, and entered Impa’s house.