#jokes aside this is why I can't have a snake anymore :')

[ozzgin]

i have bring you a gift!

Enjoy your dead rat!

There issn't a rat anon?? O well! Whatever

-🐍

Hey hey hey, I'll let you know this is a rodent household! No rattos shall be harmed!!! They are for cuddles and mischief. Here's a vegan sausage instead.

[cutesyscreenname]

A Cowboy Like Me : Chapter 2

What Must It Be Like

Chapter 1

Series summary:

I've had some tricks up my sleeve

Takes one to know one

You're a cowboy like me

Javier Peña is a playboy, sleeping his way across Bogotá, never settling down. And he's used to being the only one. What happens when he meets his match? A friendly challenge between friends couldn't hurt, could it? Unless that friend is you...

Chapter Summary: Javier thinks over everything that happened at the bar as he and Steve get you home. He shouldn't be feeling like this...

Pairing: Javi Peña x f reader

Rating: 18+ minors DNI

Word Count: 3k

Warnings: drinking, hangover, language, angst 😉

Notes: So this is turning into a much longer endeavor than originally intended 😂 I thought it would only be a few parts but I capped this bad boy at 3k and we only made it halfway to where I thought we would. The next one will likely be even longer so hopefully y'all are down for it.

Here is the song mentioned at the end (there's no canon for it but I feel like Javi would have a few records from the 70's he brought from home and Santana would be one of them):

And the full playlist:

What must it be like to grow up that beautiful?

With your hair falling into place like dominoes

My mind turns your life into folklore

I can't dare to dream about you anymore

From the moment your eyes closed until you reached the parking lot of your shared apartment building there was no sound but the dull rumble of the engine and a gentle crooning over the radio.

Javier leaned his dark curls against the headrest, staring straight ahead but seeing nothing in front of him.

Steve’s eyes flickered over to his friend with concern but he held his tongue. The man was a million miles away, gears turning so quickly behind his eyes Steve swore he could hear the faint sound of metal scraping over itself in a desperate grind.

A cowboy. Like him.

I do what Javi does.

I'll prove it to you.

I hear it every time I try to sleep.

You're declarations float around Javier's mind in a jumble, a record that someone keeps lifting and dropping the needle onto at random.

You were a tricky one, no doubt about it. It’s why he liked you, why he wanted your friendship. Smart but not pretentious, guarded yet forgiving, sure footed but still a little reckless, and the biggest heart that you thought no one could see. Maybe they couldn’t, but he could.

He had imagined your romances before; tentative coffee dates, sweet kisses shared in taxis, most of your suitors left disappointed aside the select few who manage to be invited up for a night cap.

He had supposed not even these lucky finalists would prove to meet the standard for dating you longer than a week, a month tops, nor should they. The man you would keep long enough to mention, to bring to drinks, to invite for dinner at Steve and Connie’s, he couldn’t build such a human in his mind’s eye.

Javier had posited all of this and a million other things but none of his thoughts matched what you had just divulged.

Entertaining my companions.

Like Javi does.

The evening in review plays on the projector screen of his hippocampus.

Quick like a bunny, sweetheart, or I won't tip ya.

Even though it was for the sake of a deprecating joke, you’d never called him sweetheart before that night. It made his ears burn and he’d practically bolted to the bar to hide the involuntary flush sure to be staining his cheeks.

Pinche mocosa, he’d thought to himself, the smallest smile tugging at his lips. The smart little mouth on her.

Later in the evening you’d groaned when Javi appeared with three tequila shots in hand.

‘Come on, we don’t have to be at the office tomorrow. Plus, Steve is a better conversationalist when I’m drunk.’

With a ‘good point' from you and ‘fuck you both’ from Steve the three of you licked salt from your hands, kicked back the poison, and pressed your teeth into limes like sucking venom from a snake bite.

His gaze couldn’t help but linger on the way your flat tongue slid across the skin between your thumb and forefinger to collect the salt crystals, his breath hitching when your lips rolled over the edge of the citrus rind as you sucked the juice from it’s flesh.

A deer in the headlights, he’d been snapped from his reverie by the man across from him.

‘Ooooo-wee. I’m switchin’ to beer after this. Someone’s gotta get you two geniuses back home later.’

‘Awww, thanks dad.’ You’d said ruffling Steve’s hair.

After your glass had emptied and refilled once and then twice more, Steve started poking the bear to amuse himself, going after the way the drink colored your words with a heavy Texas twang.

Javier relished in it, your lilting voice drawing him in like a moth to a porch light. It felt nostalgic, like the polaroid of his mamá that rested between the pages of the book on his nightstand; intimate, like a secret piece of you, buried beneath the Gulf Coast clay, awaiting your return home.

Ever the co-conspirator, you followed his lead to help him land a crude joke. Not his finest, but enough to make you laugh which was plenty for him. Then something shifted.

‘Oh it’s what they ALL say, I hear ‘em every time I try to sleep at my place.’

You’d tormented the man about his noise level before. Hell, just that morning you'd been playfully ribbing him for it. It’s not like Javier tried to keep it down. He could hear the creak of your wicker ceiling fan when he lay in his own bed chasing sleep.

The paper thin walls between you concealed nothing. Sometimes Javier swore he could hear you thinking too hard on the other side of the studs and drywall. So it stood to reason that no matter what he did to dampen the lewd soundtrack you’d hear it, and if he couldn’t shield you from it he figured it was moot to even try.

The tone in your voice tonight, though, it was different. Still playful, still antagonistic, but there was a rough undercurrent slipping through. If it weren’t for Steve’s uncanny knack for levity, Javi might have gotten caught in the undertow.

‘Girl’s out to catch Escobar all on her lonesome.’

A solid deflection but you spurred on.

I do like Javi does.

A cowboy.

Like me.

I’ll prove it.

His mind was reeling, trying to amend the portrait of you in his mind. It felt impossible. You must have been fucking with them. He was really feeling the alcohol, more intoxicated than he’d been in a long while. He was reading it wrong. Back to the script. Back to the game.

‘I don’t fuckin believe you, cariño.’

If you thought he wouldn’t call your bluff you had another thing coming. With all the cool and confidence he could muster, Javier dug his heels in even more.

‘In fact I think you’re home every night. Ear pressed to my fuckin wall, apparently.’

Yup. That would do the trick. The point goes to Agent Peña. But no-

A wave of anger flashed across your eyes, making Javier’s throat run dry.

I’ll prove it to you.

If his mind had been racing before, it short circuited when you took two of your delicate fingers and pressed them to the exposed skin of his chest. He couldn’t fight the shiver that ran through his body so he just hoped you hadn’t noticed it.

And then you- God. Fuck.

You reached up and tapped his cheek gently with your hand, your determined gaze softening just so as you peered up at him. He almost leaned into the touch. Get yourself together, Peña. She doesn’t see you like that. Goddamn tequila - una idea estúpida. He turned away from you, trying to collect his thoughts, but in his periphery he could see you were on the move.

Too sloshed to walk without stumbling, you’d swayed dangerously when you stood in pursuit of another drink. Acting on instinct, Javier had placed his steady, calloused hands around your waist. The warmth of your skin through your t-shirt seemed to creep up his fingers and send a searing current down his spine.

His hands stay curled around you for what feels like an eternity and he wonders when you’ll slap them away. To anyone that asked he’d say he had kept hold on you because he couldn't let you fall over. Really, though, he couldn’t let go if he’d tried, a man electrified, hands locked in place on the raw, exposed wire of your form.

He'd flashed a pleading look to Steve and nearly collapsed when the man took you by the hand, breaking the circuit.

He trailed behind as Murphy helped you to the car with a strong arm around your shoulders, taking the opportunity to run his hands over his face, trying to calibrate his thoughts. He sealed himself in the front passenger seat and slipped into silent thought as you slid your eyes closed.

The next sound Javi took note of was his friend’s voice.

“Jav- we’re here, man.” His tone was gentle and Javi couldn’t tell if he appreciated the care or resented what bordered on sounding like pity.

“Let’s get you both upstairs, be good to sleep it off a little.”

Javier nods, not moving at first as Steve glances at the back seat where you lay, still lost in slumber.

The man in the driver’s seat reaches back and gives you a firm shake, calling your name a handful of times before sighing.

“I’m gonna need your help getting her upstairs, bud.” Yup that was definitely pity, Javier decided.

Not wanting to prove the man right, whatever he was thinking, Javi exited the car briskly and opened the back door on the side opposite your head. Lifting your calves from the where they hung over the edge of the seat, he hooked his hands beneath the crooks of your knees and pulled you to the threshold.

When he chanced a quick look at your face he took note of how soft, how peaceful you looked. Would you even remember the night's events in the morning?

Steve moved to help but didn’t get the chance as Javier steeled himself and swiftly maneuvered you, first sitting you upright in the seat before lifting to carry you in front of him. One arm beneath your legs, the other supporting your back, and your head slumped drowsily into his shoulder, he steeled his expression and started toward the apartment wordlessly, Steve hustling to catch up and help with the door.

“Can you tell where her keys are at?”

Javi sighed as they reached the landing. Your warmth pressed into his torso and he found himself torn between wanting to hold you tighter, to soak it in, and needing to get as far from you as possible.

“Well her pockets are clearly empty, so I’m guessing she keeps ‘em next to her cash. Not sure about you, Murphy, but I’m not lookin’ to cop a feel of an unconscious woman.”

It was the smart move, keeping your pockets empty and stashing the necessities in your bra, but it was a hindrance at this moment.

“Yeah that’s a game of go fish no one would be pleased with. Alright. She can crash with me and Connie.” Javi gave a quick nod to acknowledge his friend and turned you both toward the Murphys' door.

The lock turned almost silently under Steve’s careful movements but the hushed entry proved unnecessary when they walked in to see his beautiful wife, Connie, standing at the kitchen counter.

“Hey gang.” Her voice was soft and warm, gently welcoming the three of you in as though it was home to you and Javier as well. “She okay?”

“Yeah, honey. Just can’t find her keys and-“

“Say no more.” She waves off the explanation.

As Javier settles you onto the couch, Steve steps into the kitchen to speak with her quietly.

“What are you doin’ up, baby?”

She matched his hushed tone, just low enough to evade Javi’s range of hearing.

“Well when I woke up a bit ago and you weren’t here I figured drinks ran late. I’m about to put the kettle on, I thought at least one of you could use some tea and aspirin.”

“Let’s skip the tea and leave her some aspirin. Javi’s in no shape for company. I’ll tell you later.”

She nodded while Steve went to fill a glass with water for you.

As if on cue, “Not that I don’t enjoy seeing you, Connie, but I’m gonna head out.”

He finished pulling a blanket over your limp frame, slowly turning toward them with apologetic eyes.

“ No worries, Javi. I’m on my way back to bed anyway. Thanks for helping Steve get her inside.” Her knowing smile had him feeling uneasy.

“Anytime.” He replied softly. He and Steve exchanged quick nods and Javier slipped from their dwelling to his own. He locked the door behind him and leaned against it with an exhausted sigh.

What was he even thinking? Why should he be bothered? There was no good reason.

You were his friend, perhaps his best friend, and he had learned a surprising fact about you. That was all. He had no right to be anything but slightly surprised, maybe amused.

He didn’t worry for your safety, he’d seen you take down grown men twice your size on the job. You could handle yourself, no problem.

And so what if you were chasing away your demons? Lord knows he does the same. Columbia was vast and humid. The underbelly of the drug trade held the country in its bloody grip, pressing in on you from all directions. The assignment was full of uncertainty and it left Javier so lonely in the silence of his government issued abode.

He would do anything to fill the empty spaces, to stave off the cold tendrils that would pull at the walls of his chest when he lied awake, freefalling through the dark skies of his mind until morning. He could never fault you for doing the same.

Slumping into the worn sofa, his eyes shut slowly. Nothing is wrong. I drank too much and I'm being dramatic. She doesn't even think of me that way. It's not a big deal.

Still, as the weight of the day sank into his bones, sleep beckoning softly, his mind drifted to your faint sigh as you had nuzzled into his neck in your sleep while Steve unlocked his front door. When he opened his eyes again it was morning.

You awoke with a low groan, a sharp pain throbbing a wild cumbia rhythm behind your eyes. What happened last night?

You cracked open one eye cautiously, then the other, thankful to find the room somewhat dim around you. Only the small lamp across the room from you was on, blinds and curtains muffling the sunlight that tried to peek through the window behind you.

Eyes adjusting quickly, you recognized the comfortable sight of the Murphys’ living room. It was the same exact layout as yours, but Connie’s warm touch made all the difference. The soft decorative pillows, kitschy knick knacks, and framed candid photos transformed the small unit into something that felt like a home.

Okay I'm on Murphy’s sofa. So- Your gaze finds the full glass of water and bottle of aspirin on the coffee table. The puzzle pieces begin to fit together quickly. Just as you start to recall what happened the night before, what you had said, Steve slipped out of his bedroom and noticed you stirring.

“Heyyy good morning. How ya feel?” Thankfully he kept his tone low, guessing the answer to his own question.

“I’ve been better.” You croak, sitting up gingerly.

“I thought that might be the case. You see the Aspirin? Connie made sure to close the curtains for ya.”

“Yes thank you.” You tap two pills into your palm and kick them back with a healthy glug of water. “Is there a chance I could have some-“

“Already on it.” Steve was moving to fill the coffee maker with water before you asked.

“Where is that angel you tricked into marrying you?”

“At the clinic, unfortunately. Somebody called in sick and they’re so shorthanded as it is. She said to give you her best and inform you that you’d better come for dinner soon.”

You raised your eyebrows as Steve raised his hands in surrender. “Don’t shoot the messenger, kid. I’m just quotin’. You know she won’t take no for an answer.”

You chuckled in reply.

Once your mugs were filled with rich black liquid, Steve placed them on the table in front of you, taking a seat on the sofa. You both sipped in silence for a few moments before you decided to break the ice.

“So…last night. Um. Did I-“ You did not want to ask but you needed confirmation. “Did I basically tell y’all all about my sex life in no uncertain terms?” You wince when you hear the words out loud.

“Well, my friend, in no uncertain terms… you said that Javi’s lady friends are so loud you can’t sleep so you conduct your own ah – activities – in other venues, namely the homes of your own dates.”

You groaned loudly and covered your face with your hands. It wasn’t a dream. You’d definitely made a tequila shaped mistake and said the in-your-head thing out loud.

“Do ya wanna hear the rest or should I just leave it be?”

“There’s MORE?” You didn’t want to ruminate, better to rip the band-aid off. “Let’s hear it.”

“Okay. So that, and then I guess Javi thought you were kiddin’ so he tried to push your buttons and you said somethin’ about provin’ it to him.”

The confirmation was all you needed, the words flooding back to you all at once.

Ear pressed to my fuckin’ wall apparently.

Ah yes, the anger. You were remembering quickly. Pendejo. Why wouldn’t he believe that about you? You weren't a delicate flower, some witless debutante in need of safekeeping. You were his friend and his fucking equal. Of course rubbing his nose in it seemed appealing, especially after so many drinks.

Polishing off the contents of your mug, you placed it on the table and stood, crossing to the door.

“I think I should go back to mine. I just-“

“Yeah. No. I get it.”

“Thanks for not diving for my keys, by the way. And ya know…everything else.” You smiled weakly at the man on the sofa.

“Yeah we, uh, figured that wouldn’t work out well. For all involved.” He chuckled. “As for the rest, anytime, kid. You know that.”

You nod and open the door. “I’ll call Connie soon.”

“Oh believe me, if you don’t she’ll be at your doorstep. She knows where ya live.”

You smiled, shaking your head. “Bye Murphy.”

Once alone in your apartment, you stripped off your jeans and t-shirt, collapsing on your bed as you vowed to shower after another round of sleep.

You could hear the faint sound of Javier’s record player, the muffled melody lulling you into relaxation.

I am just a mirage

Oh, I am just a mirage

When you look at me

Through your crystal glass you will see

That I am now your past

But you give your love to me

In your life I wasn’t meant to be.

Oh I am just a mirage

Oh I am just a mirage

Just a mirage fading away like water

The faint guitar licks pull you towards sleep like a receding tide carrying you out to sea. Even as you sink into slumber, you almost swear you can hear Javi thinking too hard on the other side of the paper thin wall.

Let me know if y'all wanna be on the tag list! I'll have one going as long as Tumblr cooperates 😂

@heythere-mel

[iwannaban0nym0us]

so according to my friends my life is a romcom (which means the past 2 days have been a lot because it doesn't actually feel like a comedy when you're living it)

btw i'm exhausted and posting this in a half done state because i just need to put this out into the world and i may or may not come back to edit this into like actual coherent thoughts

like 5 6 hours of sleep

good morning text

felt like i was gonna throw up while eating breakfast

first ones at school

on the same bus

talked while explantion and intro stuff

kept canoeing by each other

game them my 3d printed snake

spent all of lunch together

pushed their boat off

i dropped my phone, felt like shit

we got back they were swimming i called my parents

i went over to ask for the snake back, still on the brink of tears, they didn't know where the snake was, them and another friend gave me a hug

they pulled me away from everyone and we talked, and i cried, i don't cry, esp not in front of people, they knew exactly what i needed, "you're not allowed to be worried about me when you're literally crying"

we went to get changed and then we played games

they found my snake and gave it to me and apologized for a stupid joke their (but kinda my) friend made about it and losing things

i did some kinda stupid stuff

some people who i kinda know in the grade asked me how i was doing so ok about losing my phone, at some point i mentioned to M that it was because to be ok about it i had to pretend it was ok and joke about it and like fake it till i make it

they told me that my asshole ex has no idea they hurt me

we acted like we used to and there was a soccer ball

they joked about seeing my cry (which was then corrected to seeing me be emotionally vulnerable) being something on their bucket list

we explored a bit, climbed a tree, at one point they wandered off and i followed after and i paused at the edge of the clearing and just really whished i had my phone because they just looked so pretty slowly walking through and just everything about the moment i was kinda frozen for a minute or 2 and then they turned around

us and friends ate blackberries

my friend confronted me about wtf is going on with me and M and told me to stop flirting with them

there was a campfire and i was so exhausted the guides talked for a while, at one point a friend came up to me and we talked about M and he said i should talk to them (later i found out that friend and the friend who confronted me were considering making a bet on us getting back together by the end of september, so uh wtf)

me and 2 friends slept outside and i told them everything and i knew that i had to talk to M and tell them that i can't deal with the in between anymore and i'm being too logical about everything and it's a stupid situation that's complicated and i hate emotions

i didn't sleep awful but i also got <7 hours of sleep, but the stars were pretty

i choked down a bowl of cereal for breakfast but couldn't get myself to eat any sausage or pancakes

i just kinda hovered around M for a while and kept trying to find the right time to talk to them because i wanted to make sure they were awake enough and ate breakfast and packed enough

i help some people pack up their tents i packed up my tent

eventually when (according to what the teachers had said) we only had 15min left and M me and another friend were talking to guide i pulled M aside and asked to talk to them and as we were walking away from the group i asked if they were up for a serious conversation and they wanted to say no because they had one w/ another friend last night but they ended up saying yes

we talked for a whole hour,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and the conversation still isn't really over

"i loved you"

i felt like i was gonna throw up

both of us talked to a mutual friend

we're both such logical people and want to know why their feelings changed but neither of us can figure it out

we're both so bad about pretending everything is ok and just convincing ourselves and others of that

they cried, like really cried

they told me that i'm a hard person to get over

apperntly i really didn't do anything wrong

they also had a really rough summer and wanted to reach out

we were both so terrified to see each other in person again

we both had a so much fun yesterday

we were both trying to follow the other's lead and that just spiraled

we don't know how to exist as friends

they told me at least 3 times that they still think they made the right decision to break up with me

i mentioned the breakeven line ("what am i supposed to do when the best part of me was always you") that they had as their status and they were like 'oh shit you saw that' and confirmed that it was about me

when we went back to school we both just pretended that everything was ok, and apperently they were also doing that over the summer while i was trying to feel things and then convicing myself that i was over them

neither of us has ever been through anything like this before and we're just kinda lost

i told them several times how much i trust them

we both really care about each other and neither of us wants what we have to go away

they didn't realize that i don't have a therapist and that led to them telling me how strong i am for making it through everything i did with my asshole ex and i told them that i don't feel strong and they said strong people never do

they know that they hurt me and they're sorry about that but also i can so how much pain they're in too and i can't be mad at them

we both wish that one of us was an asshole so this would be easier, or at least that i had fucked up in some way so that there was a reason for this

we both just kinda knew that if we made it through the summer we would be ok

they're just really really glad to be talking to me again

they feel like they're never going to be able to have a solid romantic realtionship, and idk the words for this one are hard, but like basically if what we had which felt so good and real fell apart then what kind of romantic hope do they have, and i didn't have anything to say to that other than they didn't lose me, and just for me in general that felt good to hear because it meant that they weren't lying when they told me that night that they had never felt like this before

we're gonna try and keep having conversations like this on a semi-regular basis because we still haven't figured out how to exist with each other and that conversation was something we both desperately needed, but also wouldn't have worked if it had happened sooner

i filled my friends in on the conversation and i could see that M was doing the same, and obviously we couldn't tell them everything because the conversation we had was just so long

and we wrapped up the conversation as we were shifting to the next thing and before we broke off into our groups they gave me a good solid hug

then we had some time with advisories, that then morphed into chill time for a little i ended up lying in the sun by M and their friend and one of my friend's boyfriend and then somehow i ended up w/ M's headphones on and they were queuing up music for me to get a sense of their music taste

then we sat in a reflection circle w/ the whole group (i was still listening to their music)

and then after that we went to grab lunches and i lost track of them and then i found them and they were kinda frazzled and looking for a mutual friend of ours and i could smth was going on and what ended up happening is them giving me their phone (so the music would keep playing) while they went to find the friend and idk what happened but i hope it all worked out

i wasn't able to eat lunch, i just like couldn't make myself do it, i did drink a caprisun and eat like 3 marshmallows tho and i talked to a friend for a bit and we were both going through it

then we had a 2 hour bus ride and i just listened to an audio book on my kindle and like half fell asleep and I looked back at M a few times esp when we went over the bridges because i know they don't like bridges

and then we got back to school and i said hi to a few freshmen i know who had gotten back at a similar time and had like one more conversation with a friend and one more with M and then i went home

and i haven't really done anything this evening and i wasn't able to make myself eat anything for lunch/snack (unless you count a singular pack of fruit snacks) but i did a reasonable amount for dinner

oh and btw one of my closet friends didn't end up going on the trip and has a non apple phone (plus just doesn't check messages often) so i can't fill them in on anything until tuesday

i still kinda feel like i'm gonna throw up (no where near as bad as when we were talking tho, because i was like convinced i was gonna throw up then) and that combined w/ the not eating much thing is scaring me

anyway it's 11:15 now and last night i got 6.5 hours of sleep and the night before i got <6 hours of sleep plus like all of that happened so i'm worn out gonna try and sleep now, sorry about the disaster that is this post

[ravenprinzess]

genshin boys with a s/o that is scared of bugs.

featuring ; diluc, kaeya, zhongli, childe, albedo, xiao, kazuha, scaramouche.

genre ; fluff.

warning ; mentions of bugs.

𓄷 diluc 𖤐

this poor boy.

the moment he hears you screaming he'd burst into the room with a claymore in his hands.

"what's wrong ? are you hurt ? did someone break in ?"

when he sees you standing on the bed and pointing at the corner of the room, he'd sigh deeply.

a small ladybug was where you were pointing at.

he knew you had a fear of bugs so he wouldn't mention it.

the male lowered his weapon, placing it aside before making his way towards the small bug. he didn't want to scare it away and have it fly across the room, knowing it would scare you more than it already did. and so he grabbed it carefully in order not to squeeze it and kill it by accident. he then let it out of the window, watching it escape far away before closing the window to prevent bugs from coming in again.

once he ensures that the area is clear for any more bugs, he'd scoop you in his arm and stroke your hair to calm you down.

"it's alright, it's gone. it won't bother you anymore."

he'd pepper your face with kisses to make sure you know he is protecting you.

overall he's one protective boy that you adore so much.

𓄷 kaeya 𖤐

when he feels you cling to him because of a small bug, he can't help but chuckle lightly.

"my, my. do you want your prince to protect you ?"

he'd tease you, but it wouldn't last long since he wouldn't want to make you feel uncomfortable.

especially when he's very much aware of your fear.

ironically enough, with his title as the '"calvary knight", he wants to present himself as your "prince with the white horse."

the blue haired man crouched down to the poor bug that has been bothering you in order to take a closer look. he discovered it was a harmless fly that had injured wings so it couldn't fly properly, resulting in it dragging itself on the cold floor with it's annoying buzzing noise. "you aren't in any danger, my love." he'd chuckle before picking it up and placing it outside of the window before returning his attention back to you.

when the bug is out of sight, he'd wrap his arm around you and pull you against his chest to calm you down.

he knows how terrifying it must have been, so he does anything to help you forget about the incident.

that includes picking you up in his arms and carrying you all the way to good hunter to treat you for a proper date.

𓄷 zhongli 𖤐

this gentleman.

he would never poke fun of you or attempt to joke when he sees your terrified face.

all because a small bug found itself in your room.

it would break his heart, seeing you shaking in fear from this small, harmless creature.

you were fragile in his eyes and he had to make sure you were safe and comfortable.

especially in your own room.

zhongli hummed softly as he picked up the bug that had been bothering you and placed it outside. "it would not bother you anymore, my dearest." he'd say, his soothing voice sending shivers down your spine. he would then make sure all the windows were close to prevent such incident again.

he'd then attempt to calm you down by snaking his arm around your waist.

he'd bury his face in your hair and whispers sweet nothings whilst his thumb makes circle motions on your back.

overall the best boyfriend.

can i get a zhongli please.

𓄷 childe 𖤐

this idiot.

he'd laugh at you.

you'd probably smack him over the head before hiding behind him.

"aw, this poor bug is stealing your attention from me."

he'd probably get smacked again.

"ow- why ?!"

poor guy would be cluess on why you're hitting him.

until he turns around and sees you shaken up.

immediately feels bad for making the situation worse.

"hey- baby, it's fine." he'd chuckle, nudging you playfully with his playfully before turning to the bug. he'd remove his gloves and pick up the bug with his bare hands in order to impress you. "you like that ? i am such a strong man." another chuckle escaped from his lips before freeing the bug outside.

when he'd attempt to reach out to you, he'd pout because you've pushed his hands away.

sir, you've touched a bug with your bare hands. get away from me.

he would slide his hands back into his gloves before taking your hand gently in his.

"you're so cute when you're being so dependant on me."

he'd probably get smacked for the third time.

𓄷 albedo 𖤐

you knew your boyfriend was the chief alchemist.

and you knew he'd be fascinated with creating a new life.

but the last thing you have expected was to find a farm of bugs in his laboratory.

his goal was to create different hybrids from different bugs and see how they would function.

you didn't like that one bit.

you almost fainted from this sight.

the blond was seemingly far too deep in his experiment. his purpose now was creating hybrids to see how they'd function. but when he heard the door to the laboratory open up and your figure staring widely at his experiment, he raised his eyebrow before approaching you. his heart would break when you'd storm out of the room with a scream.

he'd follow you, a worried expression on his face.

after learning about your fear, he'd apologize and pepper your face with small kisses.

he'd promise he'd get rid of his experiment the next day despite your protests.

you didn't want him to stop his research because of you.

but he insisted.

and the next thing you know is that he got rid of these bugs for you.

best boyfriend part 2.

now i want an albedo.

𓄷 xiao 𖤐

help this boy.

like diluc, he'd burst into the room when he hears you screaming.

this boy thinks you were being attacked by a hilichurl that somewhat managed to break in.

you'd hear a violent "DISAPPEAR" whilst watching xiao storming in with a mask on his face and his polearm in hand.

when he sees you weren't in any danger he'd remove his mask and look at you confused.

"why were you screaming like that ?"

you pointed at a tiny spider crawling on the wall above your bed.

"tch, you mortals are scared of trivial things."

and yet he'd be concerned over your well being.

xiao placed his weapon away and approached the small spider. it was seemingly harmless, but it was enough to scare you. and he promised he'd protect you from everything and anything. and so he picked it up and placed it outside before turning back to you and facing you awkwardly.

despite being your lover, he'd be hesitated to intiate the first move.

but he knew he had to comfort you somehow.

so he had to get over it and approached you.

"let's sit on the balcony."

he'd practically drag you outside to the top floor of wangshu inn.

he'd let you place your head in his lap, his gloved fingers stroking your locks carefully.

he wouldn't say anything, but his presence comforts you.

this makes him happy, that you trust him that much.

but he'd deny it, that lil tsundere.

𓄷 kazuha 𖤐

this man is a samurai.

he was trained to kill anything.

but he never thought his next victim would be a bug.

of course, he wouldn't make fun of your fear.

you were already stressed enough because of this small creature.

his eyes would soften if you were to cling to him.

he'd get into action as soon as possible. the last thing he wants is you uncomfortable.

the red streak in his hair fell onto his face when he crouched down to the small bug laying helplessly on the cold floor. it was seriously injured, causing it to lay on it's back and move it's legs hopelessly. he'd sigh, picking it up carefully in his palms before taking it outside to set it free. soon he'd return to you with a gentle smile forming on his lips.

he'd pull you into his arms for a warm embrace, his soft locks tickling your neck when he buried his face in the crook of your neck.

"i'm here, don't be afraid."

he'd kiss your neck softly to reassure you that he'd always be there for you.

literally best boy.

𓄷 scaramouche 𖤐

just like childe, this man will laugh at you.

he'd think you're being ridiculous.

"you're slaughtering ruin guards everyday on your missions, but a mosquito startles you ?"

you're this close to shoving him to the mosquito.

even though scaramouche sucks more life out of you than the mosquito ever will.

but after seeing your expression he'd just sigh loudly.

scaramouche huffed as he grabbed a shoe before smacking the mosquito dead. "here, simple. i don't understand how you couldn't do it by yourself." of course he was aware of the fact that he was harsh to you even though you were visibly shaken up.

what stops him in his tracks is the feeling of your arms around his small figure.

you hugged him.

he had no idea what to do.

a warm feeling spread across his chest at the sudden affection you gave him.

slowly but surely, he returned the affection by hugging back.

he'd soften up, apologizing for being harsh earlier.

"i suppose you can't live without me."

of course, he wouldn't be scaramouche if he wouldn't slip in a harsh tease.

[sob4]

Hiiiii soba, can i ask you a request? I just recently saw your comment on youtube, and i wanna request right away.

Can you make a headcanon about Tokrev Male character breaking up with you bcs you did something? And their last line to you. If you have no character in mind this is my specially one:

mikey

baji

draken

Takemitchy

rindou

Ran

Sanzu

(Optional) Izana, Kakucho, Wakasa

♡: hi there too sobby! I'll grant your wish, so please bare with this headcanon. This is the only thing i could imagine whenever i stay up night and create scenarios. + also, i talk with the requester, and this is absolutely set in future with a lil different concept.. =>

***

⚠︎: angst. pure angst. mention of gun.

MIKEY AND BAJI. prt 1 of tokrev Angst

—sob4

MIKEY: you left him at his worst.

Your face become pale as you see the platinum haired male in front of you as soon as soon as you enter your apartment. You can't move: afraid that once you did, the gun that played between his fingers will shoot you.

Attempting to run for your life, the door close as you heard multiple chuckle's escaping from the other side. Horror pasted on your face as you recognize those.

'Sanzu.. Rindou..!'

"Y/n." Once again, you paralyze in your feet as you heard the nearing step and your name.

Your hands shake at the sudden feeling, the temperature seem cold enough but your body are hot; nervous and feeling of terrified hugs your whole soul and body to each bone.

"Why seem so distant?" A hand snake around your waist, apart from that; a cold metal has been on your side head.

The cold metal is without a doubt the gun. Your tears pool as Mikey kept roaming his other free hands on your waist, though his warm breath fanning on your neck did'nt help to help you ease.

"You should know what sin you commited," he said. The gun roughly digging through you. "For me to judge it."

Your breath hitch as you can feel his hands going up, from your waist, breast and finally your neck. Mikey suddenly pull you over his chest, his hand choking you with a firm grip.

"M-Mikey..!" You could only mumble out of desperation.

"Shh.." He said, hushing you as he slowly move his body: dancing his body a little and yours.

If it any other day or timeline, you'll be covered with re hues as butterflies start flying in your stomatch. But tonight, the present: what he does is nothing but scary, this move is'nt romantic as it suppose to be. Not when he is the criminal boss.

"Let's see, Y/n. What do you think the proper justice i should put above your head?" He ask,"Death..? Or cage you?"

None of it are possibly the peaceful. You close your eyes as you remember how this thing happen, what happen in the past for him to have his gun in your head. How your suppose to be loving boyfriend turn into a criminal who commited crimes beyond human can commit.

You look at Mikey, his head hang low as your eyes blur at the sight of his bloody shirt and pants. The glint and the smile on his lips that never fade are nowhere to seen: he without a doubt become the man you fear to become.

"M-Mikey.." You mumble before you fidget with your fingers. The cold stare he gave, gave you anxiety.

Who would'nt be in atmost panic after seeing their oh-so loving boyfriend covered in multiple bruise and most of all blood? After the war he and other two gang have done, leaving the enemy bruise, in coma and one dead, you can't see your future just like what he have promise.

"Let's break up."

Mikey's eyes widen, his eyes have a glint if another expression as he watches you looking at him with nothing but determination to leave him.

'Leave.. me?'

Mikey could'nt process the joke you have said. Oh, he was'nt that fond with jokes anymore. So he could'nt see what is so funny with that. Aside from that, oh, you are a best actress: it look almost real.

"That's... not a nice joke." He said.

Mikey knew you, the pranks you pulled multiple did not fool him anymore:maybe he act like it, but this prank goes too far.

"Mikey, it's not a joke!" You said, finally snapping as you pointed your finger at him. "I -I can't keep up with your shit anymore: what's the point of what you are doing!? Not that you just throw your friends aside, but you put many people in hospital, and even one in funeral too!"

"I respect you; your brother's dream of creating an era you deliquents wished to see! But this– this kind of way is'nt going to solve and make that dream come true! Did Shinichiro-nisan, Baji, and Emma-chan died just for you to become like this?!"

You don't even see Mikey's face as his eyes just look at you blankless. "Stop it. Let's head back home, Y–"

"No! No! I'll never come back yo you, Mikey! We are done, I never want anything that's have connection with you! It's a shame i love someone like you," you said before you wipe your tears. "It's so fucking tiring! Just because someone died you'll be that mosnter? I know it hurts, it definetely hurt! But i don't want someone in my life that's fucking inhumane."

You look at him before you turn your back, running as fast as you can as the rain poured down.

"You'll never escape me..." Your tears again fall, it's the same one. The same words you heard before you left him at his worst, and now, it's the same one you hear as the blood poured from the impact of the bullet piercing in your head.

After all, If you can't be with Mikey and love him. Why don't you just die so no one can have you? You'll never escape him, not when you're dead.

BAJI: you get tired waiting for him.

As you walk the aisle, your tears stream down as you see the man waiting for you in the end of the journey. The man who'll share the same love with you and officially become your husband rest his eyes on the piece of cloth to ease his crying eyes.

As soon as you finally in front of the priest and other people, you smile as a male held your hand and kiss it.

"Baji." You said before kissing his cheek. "Thank you," you whisper as you walk again, going for your husband: Chifuyu. "For attending my wedding." You said, completing the sentence as he smile and escort you to his bestfriend.

Baji smile, it never fade as he watch the whole ceremony unfold. Though againts his wishes, the tears keep streaming down as he watch you and Chifuyu kiss with passion. He slightly pinch himself secretly, why the hell he's thinking the day you chased him? But, he can't help it: he wonder, what'll happen if i just love you earlier?

Baji remember it, how you always go in the meeting just for you to see him. In that time, he did'nt really like the idea of being in-love or someone who he can be with. He think it's dumb, he live for his dream and mikey! What's the point for you?

It's until one day you stop hanging around him, stalking him, giving him obvious gift of affection. And that day also, he knew he already fall for you. But too late. You get tired of waiting for him.

Few years after, in his pet shop with Kazutora: his wish come true. He see you, buying some goods for your cat/dog pet. He wanted to confess, that he afterall love you: even it's embarassing, he stalk you through internet and reacted 'heart' at every post with different account.

Though, that never happen as his dream scattered.

"Baji, nice to see you again! It's been almost forever when i see you," you said as you smile at the man.

Baji then chuckle as he lean over the table of the front area of his store.

"Yeah, remember you: you always asking me for a date."

Baji smile as he see you cover in red hues and muttering gentle insult which he did not overlook. He sigh as he reach for his back, 'man up, baji! You can do this'. About to reach for the letter, you already handed him a letter.

Baji's heart stomp and goes wild at it. Are you again giving him love letter? Though it did'nt happen as you said words that cut deep in his heart.

"Baji, can you.. you give this to kazutora? He said he'll be the one to buy the supplies for our wedding!"

Wedding? Baji's smile curl into thin line as he watches and listen to you.

"Oh, i have'nt told ya! I'm marrying Chifuyu, what a small word, aye? He said he knew you! We've been together after i move to another city."

You look at him, as you see him smiling. "Haha, okay." He said before he secretly crumble the letter he made overnight.

You're so mean. "Don't forget to invite me to your wedding hm?"

[thotsome]

Tell Them

Harry Potter x Fem!Reader

Summary: When Harry sees you getting a little too comfortable with his friends, he realises he doesn't want to keep you a secret anymore.

Warnings: Dom!Harry, Sub!Reader, nsfw, smut, penetrative sex, oral sex- female receiving, master kink, choking and size kink if you squint, angst start and fluff ending because :)

Word count: 1.4k

~♡︎~

As you sat on Seamus' lap and laughed at his stupid, sexist jokes, you spotted Harry Potter fuming about 15 feet away. You smiled.

Tonight was going to be fun.

"You're so funny, Seam" you said as you ran your hand up his arm. Seamus looked delighted

Harry looked furious.

His bad, you thought. If he doesn't want to tell people we're dating I'm going to act like we aren't.

Him and his stupid hero complex. He insisted that being the chosen one's girlfriend was going to make you a target. What he didn't take into account was that you could look after yourself just fine. You were a Gryffindor through and through.

And today you were wearing a Gryffindor red dress. It was working.

Poor Harry.

"Hey, um, you wanna come to my dorm to see my...uh... chocolate frog cards?" stammered Seamus.

Oops. You hadn't foreseen this. He obviously wanted to show you more than his cards.

But it would make Harry jealous. And if Seamus tried anything you'd just shoot him down.

"Sure", you said, getting off his lap and taking his hand, but not before you saw Harry glaring at you two.

As you reached the boys' dorm and sat on Seamus' bed, he began frantically hunting for his "prized collection". He was such a liar. You almost didn't feel bad for leading him on.

"I'm sure they were here, Weasley must've nicked 'em-" he said

You gave him a reassuring smile that said take all the time you need.

He sighed and went back to "searching".

Just as you were starting to regret coming upstairs, the door was flung open.

And there stood Harry.

"Get out", he said to Seamus, in a dangerously low voice. Seamus looked over his shoulder at you and left the room.

"Well?" You asked.

"I've changed my mind" and then he stode over the room and his mouth was on yours.

He tasted like butterbeer and wind. Like Harry.

You could never get enough of him.

His hands roamed all over your dress. You wanted them below the annoying material. But you couldn't let Harry get away with this so quickly. You pulled away.

"Changed your mind about what?" You asked.

"About telling everyone"

"Why?"

"Y/n" he breathed. His hands pressed your waist gently.

"Tell me, Harry."

He didn't answer. Instead he kissed your neck and snaked his way behind you. You couldn't bring yourself to think rationally when he was nibbling at your soft spot like this. Before you could turn around he picked you up from the back and set you on the bed on your knees while he positioned himself right behind you.

You could feel his hard on pressing against your ass. You moaned. Harry took that as an invitation and unzipped your ridiculously tiny dress and threw it aside.

He raised his eyebrows once he saw what you were wearing underneath it. See-through red panties and a push up bra.

As he ran his fingers lightly over your body, you shivered.

"You little slut," Harry said "Who's your master?" You didn't reply. You couldn't let Harry get the better of you. You pursed your lips.

"Is this how it's gonna be?" Harry asked "Y/n? You're not going to tell me who your master is?"

You shook your head. Not today.

Harry tutted and chuckled. You were such a Gryffindor. He bit your shoulder lightly as he unhooked your bra. You could feel his hunger even from behind you. He took your breasts in his hand and squeezed them.

You swallowed, trying not to moan.

Harry cupped your breasts and played with them, making them bounce and pinching your nipples lightly. You couldn't help it. You whimpered. You wanted him inside you so badly you could feel your walls clenching.

Harry growled at hearing the sound and ripped your panties off you. He wrapped his fingers around your neck lightly and pushed you face- first onto the bed, your ass in the air, your back arched, as he stood at the edge of it.

"Mm, so wet already" Harry said "you're such a good whore, y/n, tell me who your master is and I'll give you what you want."

And you did want. You wanted it so bad.

But all this was to teach him a lesson. You held your ground.

"All right then, if this is how you want to act"

Harry split your thighs with his hands and touched his lips to your now slick opening and you moaned. Very loud. It was so damn good. You pushed your ass onto Harry's face to create the friction you so desperately needed. Harry complied, tracing circles around your clit with his tongue and eating you out. You couldn't stand it. You gripped the sheets with your fingers tightly enough to tear them.

As Harry's tongue slipped inside you, an almost primitive sound left your mouth. . You could feel the knot in your stomach tightening, so close to your release. You were going to cum.

Before that could happen, Harry removed his mouth. You let out a frustrated whimper. Damn this. You were going to get what you wanted.

"Harry," you said in an innocent tone, your voice muffled by the sheets, "you're my master" You prayed to Merlin it would work.

And it did. Harry groaned at hearing those words finally come out of your mouth. He flipped you over and pinned your wrists to the bed as you opened your legs wide for him, your feet on the ledge and your knees in the air.

He removed his pants and underwear with his free hand and allowed you to admire him freely. He was really so gorgeous. You inhaled when his member sprang up, now free. He was huge. You'd done this with him before, but you always wondered how you could fit all that inside you. You weren't complaining though.

Harry smiled at you before lining himself up at your entrance. That smile still made your stomach flip.

As he penetrated you, you screamed and arched your back. It was so amazing every. single. time.

Harry went slow first, attempting not to hurt you. But you needed him to go faster and deeper. "Harder, master" you managed to speak between moans and gasps.

Harry released your wrists and hooked his thumb into your mouth. You sucked at it greatfully. He used his other hand to knead your breasts and you couldn't have been more euphoric.

But then Harry hit your g-spot, causing your eyes to roll to the back of your head. As he continued pounding you into the bed, you moaned and panted and gasped. This man owned you. You'd let him do anything to you. He took his now wet thumb out of your mouth and stimulated your clit. You closed your eyes. You could pass out of the pleasure.

"Open your eyes y/n", Harry said, "I want to watch you fall apart"

Your eyes fluttered open and you looked into his

Harry gave a particularly deep thrust and you could see stars as you moaned his name. After a few more of the same, your walls squeezed Harry's cock as you came over it.

"Oh fuck, y/n you're so beautiful" Harry continued thrusting into you and you felt his member expand. He fucked you through your aftershocks and made your orgasm last longer.

A few moments later you could feel his hot cum fill you up.

Heaven.

As you both lay panting on the bed, Harry turned your face upto his and said "You know why I changed my mind y/n?" You looked at him expectantly as he stroked your hair.

"Because I can't let anyone else do that to you. I love you, y/n."

"I love you too, Harry."

"Reckon everyone already knows that by the way you were screaming my name. I didn't use any silencing charms, you know."

As you mock punched him, you knew that it didn't matter if everyone heard you. You were together, and from how much you loved each other, you would be for a while.

[giorno-plays-piano]

Abominable Part 1

Pairing: mage!Peter Parker x mage!Reader

Warnings: yandere, obsession, stalking, murders, possible gore in the future chapters, pretty dark story overall.

Words: 1543

Summary: An investigator of the Mage's Association, you are sent to discover the mystery behind a series of murders before more sinister events take place.

P.S. This was inspired by The Garden of Sinners particularly. I loved it dearly when I was a teenager.

To avoid any confusion, the reader is neither good nor bad due to the nature of her profession. Peter is an adult.

____________

Stepping on a platform with a vintage Samsonite briefcase in your hand, you looked at the people standing aside, most of them waiting for other passengers to leave the train. Although you knew the face of a magus who was supposed to meet you, it was hard to recognize him in the crowd, and you stared at all those people in front of you, clenching the briefcase’s handle. You hated waiting.

Of course, Lord Pierce wasn’t too happy with your arrival: the old fool thought he was untouchable even after a series of murders and an unnatural magic activity in Tombra that got the Mage's Association alarmed. You remembered the revulsion in Mr. Stark’s voice when he talked of Alexander. The old aristocracy, Lord Pierce was an outstanding magus who had long abandoned practicing any decent magic and instead preferred to exploit the strength of his numerous successors. While he still had some friends in the Association, Stark hated him greatly and was happy to remind him who was in control.

Naturally, Pierce knew why you came to Tombra, and the conversation between you two didn’t go well. You didn’t hide your intentions: you were the Investigator of the Clock Tower, and your job was to figure out what was happening in that megalopolis where Lord Pierce resided proudly. It meant you were going to be a great disturbance and a possible danger to many aristocratic families under Alexander’s protection. 

It wasn’t surprising he chose the most useless assistant to help you find out the truth. His name was Peter Parker, and he was class D+ magus who attended neither Clock Tower nor Atlas Academy. His role was to slow you down, you thought and sighed. 

Suddenly, you saw a familiar face when a young man hurried to you, his cheeks red, sweat running down his face: apparently, he was late. You snickered, looking at his formal attire - his black tie was so long as if he stole it from his father.

Once he was close enough, the young man stood tall, at attention, waiting for you to say something as he stared at you with awe and horror.

“Lady Ragna of the Clock Tower,” you named your rank coldly, and your companion nervously bit his lower lip, acting exactly how you expected of him.

“Peter of Tombra! Pleased to make your acquaintance!” He sounded too excited, and his hands were trembling a little, although he tried hiding it.

Gods, what was he good for in a situation like this, unless he possessed some extraordinary powers not stated in his file? Well, now was the time to discover that, you thought as you narrowed your eyes at the young man.

"Your primary magecraft?"

"B-bounded fields and healing!"

Nothing spectacular there, but bounded fields could be of use to you if you would ever be attacked while performing magic.

"Elements?"

"Water and wind!"

This was better: magi controlling more than one element were still rare, and the boy could make a nice apprentice if he were to be send to the Clock Tower. Besides, with Tombra surrounded by a river, a liquid manipulation skill Peter definitely possessed could be valuable, too.

"Magic circuit composition?"

"N-normal?"

"Any familiars?"

"None."

He was clearly feeling like a mouse in front of a snake, his face getting even more red with every second, and you found the situation rather funny.

"Your motto?" You stared him dead in the eye.

For a second Peter looked horrified, his mouth slightly open as if he were to say something, but you heard no sound coming from him. Then, as if struck by lightning, he gibbered with fear, "Live p-proudly?"

Oh boy. He really thought you were being serious when you talked rubbish with a stony face. If anybody was to talk about a personal motto, even the most pretentious magi of the Clock Tower would burst out laughing.

Rolling your eyes skyward, a gleam of deviltry in them, you smirked, "It was a joke. Don't ever use a motto, it's a terrible idea."

"Thank goodness! I thought it's something high magi of Clock Tower have." The next second Peter made a sigh of relief, and then the both of you laughed loudly, making other people on the platform throw glances at you.

Although you realized the young man had much less experience than you, you still felt he would be fun to have around. If he could make your life a little easier, you would accept his help.

Moving away from the platform and soon passing through the station's hall, you went straight to the city streets instead of catching a taxi. Peter hurried after you, still perplexed at your refusal to let him carry your bag - you guessed he expected you to boss him around, and it made you chuckle. What Pierce was doing with young magi here if Peter had such an impression about higher-ups?

"Lady Ragna, I was informed that the cottage where you chose to stay is in the suburbs. Did you decide to change it?" He asked, seeing you walking to a completely different place.

"No, it's the same cottage. If you wonder why we aren't driving there right now, I'd prefer to patrol the streets tonight to get to know the city. We can discuss the details of the job in the meantime."

You walked away fast, not looking at your companion anymore and watching the night city instead: you had never been to Tombra before, but many magi from the Clock Tower were born there, and their talk about the city always made you a little jealous. Born in a small town to a simple human woman who knew nothing of magic, you always wished to know what it was like to grow up in a true magic society like the one in Tombra, a home to many noble families, albeit smaller and less significant than those living in the capital. 

The city looked exactly like you imagined it: giant grey buildings stood besides the streets, and while they didn't look particularly pretty, you loved those countless neon signages and bright posters that were shining even in the darkness of the night. The streets were busy with tourists admiring the city, couples walking out of the fancy restaurants and cinemas, and young people, recklessly snooping around some nightclubs and bars, trying to get in despite the security glaring at them and requiring them to show their ID cards while the kids pretended they forgot them. There was also a small marketplace with colorful food trucks and booths, offering both local and international cuisine, and you blended into the crowd immediately, taking some crepes and then buying takoyaki - Peter, following you like a puppy, looked shocked.

"I can't do my job on an empty stomach," you smirked and handed him some takoyaki.

Funny enough, he accepted the second you showed the plastic plate into his hands, eating so hungrily as if he had been starving the whole day.

"Well, now since I feel a bit better, let's talk business," you motioned the young man to follow you, and turned to a narrow alley, leaving the noisy market that was going to be full of people for at least a couple of hours more. "Do you have any idea why I have been sent by the Association?"

Licking his fingers, Peter looked somewhat shyly at you, probably afraid he would say something silly, "From what I understand, the reason is some unnatural magic activity the Association couldn't trace, and the involvement of its user in several murders."

"Correct." Crossing the alley, you scratched the chipped paint from an old building in front of you and looked at your fingers, furrowing your brows. "To be precise, the reason why the Association didn't leave these murders to a human police is the method how these murders were carried on. Whoever did it pretty much sucked the soul out of victims' bodies."

Peter frowned, staying still while you kept examining the concrete wall in front of you, drawing strange symbols that started glowing immediately as you finished them.

"It may sounds funny, but the ritual necessary to prevent the soul of a dead person to come back to Akasha is known only to a couple of magi, and each of them is considered a great danger to the society by the Association. This alone is a threat, but Mr. Stark's other concern is the indefinite nature of magic practiced in Tombra. It is likely that the magus responsible for the deaths is planning something much more sinister, and we can't allow this to happen."

Finding what you were looking for, you nodded to yourself and moved further, Peter walking right beside you with a concerned expression on his face. He was probably surprised you didn't need his guidance, but you spent the last three days memorizing Tombra's map.

"Do you mean that the souls of victims can be combined to become a power source for some... dark ritual or something?" He asked nervously, licking his lips.

You smirked, turning to him and pointing to the wall of the next building that started to glow subtly as you got close, "Exactly, Peter."

__________

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[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S3:E4; Chapter Four, The Sauna Test - [Pt. 4]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘌𝘭, 𝘔𝘢𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘠/𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘯, 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘺𝘯𝘹.

||𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋'𝐒 𝐏���𝐕||

We shouldn't be doing this. I thought we all agreed? It was too risky putting her in there, even if she is backup. But Y/n insisted.

There were just too many things that could go wrong.

What if the plan didn't work? What if he caught on before he got in the sauna? What if he breaks out?

Everyone seems pretty confident in the plan, and it is a strong plan. But... they don't know the Mind Flayer like I do. They don't know how determined he is.

Especially when he's angry.

"Y/n...?" I wince internally when my voice comes out softer than I wanted.

She looks over her shoulder, away from the huddled party, and steps away with me out of earshot while Lucas finishes up the details. She took my hands in hers and gave them a gentle squeeze, already reading my thoughts.

"I'm still doing this, hon,"

I can't help but sag my shoulders, avoiding her eye and nervously I begin playing with her hands. "You don't have to though,"

"I know," she says. But with one look I can tell she's trying to bury her worry. "But we've got no other choice,"

"Yes, we do. We can wait for more backup. We could finally find Dustin? Get my mom, the chief...?"

I trail off as Y/n gives me a bittersweet smile, tracing my hands with her thumbs. My gut sinks.

"You said it yourself, Will. We need to do this as soon as possible. If it is him, he could hurt someone,"

This time it's her turn to trail off, and finally, I speak with a gentle, countering voice. "Like you?"

She sighs, sagging her head against my shoulder and lazily snaking her hands around my waist in a hug. I hug her back, trying to enjoy this moment. I can tell she is too. It's then I hear her mumble against my shoulder, "I'm too stubborn to die,"

I laugh to myself, hugging her tighter and over her shoulder I see the Party split up. Mike was tailing El, Lucas was most likely out on the hunt for a lock of some sort as he had volunteered earlier and Max stayed put with the binoculars.

Against my better judgment, I pull away and meet Y/n's eye. The look of adoration in them was hard to believe, and it still made my knees weak. Thankful again for her and this moment, I planted a kiss on the crown of her head and she smiled.

"You trust me, right?" She asked, her voice unusually delicate.

I moved my chin off of her head so I could gawk at her, completely appaled.

"What?" But she was serious, and it broke my heart. "Of course I trust you. It's him I don't trust. I know what he's capable of and... I know what he thinks of you."

Y/n doesn't say anything this time. She just looks back at our interwoven hands and then back at me. She shoots me a quick, forced smile that unintentionally told me she was feeling more and more uneasy. But because it was Y/n, she was trying to brave for others. She was putting it aside for the great good.

She shouldn't have to. She doesn't have to. I just wish she knew that.

"Come on," she says, pulling me along after Lucas. "Let's go."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

We found Lucas in the maintenance shed, digging through multiple boxes. I fell quiet and immediately got to work searching the shelves. Behind me at the door, Y/n hesitated, almost unsure of the silent tension in the room before ultimately shrugging it off and getting to work.

So far, all I was seeing was gardening gloves and other gardening supplies like pesticides, undoubtedly for lawn maintenance in front of and around the pools.

"Uh, Will...?" Lucas asks, shooting a nervous glance between me and Y/n from over his shoulder. "Um, you know about yesterday...?" Lucas asks softly.

Y/n hesitated from beside me for a moment, and in turn, so does Lucas. But he seems determined to make things right.

"It's fine, Lucas," I say, looking up from the box. "You don't have to say anything."

"I know..." Lucas continues, closing whatever lockbox he had found himself in. He was obviously nervous doing this in front of Y/n, but I guess I couldn't blame him. "But it's just... it was a really cool campaign. " he looks between both of us now, earnestly. "both of you did a great job."

He looks back at me, and Y/n shifts by my side, a frown on her face and her mouth in a small 'o' shape.

"And Mike and I should have never-"

"I don't care anymore Lucas," I say, moving on to a new box. "I really don't. We have bigger things to worry about now,

I know he's sorry, but I also know that if I dwell on it any longer I will only grow more upset. And I was already too worried about how this was going to go.

A pile of metal in the next box caught my eye. It was a long rope of steel chains and I pulled it out of the box, showing it to them.

"This should hold him,"

They both nod, looking somewhat relieved. But as I had feared, the matter wasn't being put to bed. Y/n had turned back to Lucas with a quirked brow and an edge in her voice and asked the last question we needed in this moment.

"Mike and you shouldn't have what?"

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

The chain lock on the door undid itself and the azure gate swung open, allowing El to stride inside.

'A fake man' is what she was told to look for, at least that's how the others summed it up when she asked what a "dummy" looked like. Her first answer had been from Max - "easy, we both dated one" - she told El. She had rolled her eyes despite fighting back a small smile. She half expected a rebuttal from Y/n but El had turned her head just in time to see Will pulling her away, and El's shoulders sagged.

She wasn't gonna think about it, or get her hopes up. El was determined to keep her mind on the task at hand, even now as her wide eyes scoured the shelves of many peculiar items. Finally, a flash of bright red caught her eye and she knew immediately why they called it a fake man.

El picked it up off the shelf and tried not to think about how much it creeped her out. Its head, arms, and legs flopped around when she picked it up and suddenly she was filled with aggravation. But it had not been from this dummy. It had been from the one that followed her.

"Hey, I found the breakers," El didn't turn her head, she just grimaced and sighed. The last person she wanted to see now was Mike. "Woah, that thing is super creepy. Let me see it-"

He took it from her arms abruptly when she turned, and she frowned up at him. Mike didn't notice. With a goofy smile, he held it up in his arms like a puppet.

"I think this'll work. Right buddy?" His other hand moved to the dummy's chin, making it talk in a grating high pitched voice. "'Right Mike',"

El was done waiting, and she certainly wasn't impressed with his behavior. She gave him a purposeful, deadpan glare before taking the dummy back and making a break for the door. Alone.

But Mike didn't still didn't seem to take the hint. Why was he laughing and joking, she wondered. Why was he acting like nothing was wrong?

"Hey, El," he calls after her, for once sounding earnest.

Against her better judgment, she turns around.

"I just," he sighs, beginning to fight nervously. "I wanted to say..." he shifts on his feet. "You know when I said Nana was sick?" He took another, plunging deep breath. Here goes nothing, he thought."Well, she wasn't. I lied."

"I know."

El turned to leave, and Mike called out again. "Right, right, right, I just... I think it was important for you to know the context," he adds.

Her eyes tighten in a glare, she was growing impatient.

"Hopper," Mike says quickly. "he went crazy on me. Telling me I'm spending way too much time with you. He made me lie, I mean, you're the most important thing to me in the world-"

"-What if he's right?" El cut in, dropping the dummy on the ground.

"What?"

"Hop," she challenged, stepping forward.

A lazy grin took over Mike's face, a mocking grin, and he laughed dismissively. "Oh, no, no, no. He's just some angry old man who hates joy,"

The girl grits her teeth, reminded more and more of Diana's truth lasso and the Amazon warriors Max and Y/n had taught her about. And it gave her more confidence in her answer.

"But if I only see you," she explains slowly, putting on a facetious tone and jabbing a finger in his shoulder. "and I'm a different species than you, then I should be with my species more."

"What are you talking about?" Mike asks, flabbergasted as El retrieves the dummy from the floor. When she nears the gate, his jaw drops in shock when it clicks. "...Did you spy on me?"

"That's totally against the rules!" He cries, and she heaves the dummy over her shoulders.

"I make my own rules,"

And with that, El had left leaving Mike alone and in shock.

The silence had lasted only moments before a crackle of his walkie startled him.

"Mike? Are you there?"

"Yeah!" He can't help but snap, still much too in his own head.

"Where are you guys?" Max asks from her station at the car.

She hadn't left, nor had she taken her eyes off of Billy since everyone split.

"I'm coming... just hold on a second- Mike!"

Max did a double-take at the walkie when she barely heard the second voice in the background. It sounded like Y/n. But Mike had already shut off his coms. So Max shrugged, setting down her walkie and taking another hesitant look through the binoculars at her stepbrother.

"I hope it's not you," she says under her breath. "I really hope it not you."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"Mike!"

Mike stumbled back against the shelves, startled when Y/n came storming in and he nervously closed his walkie.

She looked livid.

Will and Lucas were right on her tail, fearfully and hesitantly trying to persuade or calm her in some way.

"The hell is wrong with you, Wheeler?"

"What?!" He asked, completely dumbfounded.

"You heard me! What the hell is your problem?"

"You tell me! Apparently, I'm messing up everywhere," he exclaims, gesturing after El. "you're gonna have to be more specific,"

"Y/n, really, just let it go. I'm over it-" Will eased.

"-Well, I'm not." She spits, glowering at Mike. "Why the hell would you say that? How could you say that?!"

"Say what...?!" Mike's heart and stomach sunk 6 feet when he met the saddened eyes of Will, and he felt he might hurl. He had been kicking himself since it came out of his mouth, just as he had with his fight outside the mall with Y/n. It was getting harder and harder for Mike not to explode these days, everything instinct seemed to be the wrong one. "Oh..."

"Yeah, oh," she snarls, completely disgusted. "None of us said that to you when El was gone for a year now did we?"

Mike picks his eyes back up off the floor where he had guiltily been avoiding everyone's eye and meets her fiery glare, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. The more and more she looks at him the more he feels like he's standing on hot coals.

But despite her intimidating stature, her voice grew quieter and more intense.

"And you spent all those nights in her fort, testing the channels and calling out to her?When we all thought she was dead. Did we ever say anything so horrible?"

He shifts again, his heartbreaking and anger swelling up in his chest at himself as he recalls what he said to Will. "No, you didn't."

"No, we didn't. Because friends don't do that shit."

"No, they don't,"

"They also don't shit all over their friend, leaving him behind, mocking things important to him either," she says pointedly, now sharing that look with Lucas but it was less severe towards the Sinclair boy. "huh?"

They both nodded, and Will stayed quiet.

-"No,"

-"Huh-uh,"

She turns back to Mike, shaking her head with her arms folded over her stomach. She was still passed but the boy looked well past sorry. And suddenly her face went blank, scaring Mike.

"What?" He asks carefully.

"You drew first blood, metaphorically speaking," Y/n informed, still trying to tamper down her anger. "so you have to apologize. A real one, not a fake one, and not out of defense."

Mike fell silent again, looking between her, Lucas, and finally Will. Before he could open his mouth to speak, she finished.

"Do it when you mean it, Mike. Not because you got caught,"

And then, like deja vu, she was gone leaving him and this time, his friends in silent shock. And with one lingering look, Will had left with her.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"Erica, do you copy?"

Erica buckled the helmet under her chin, her head still getting used to the weight of two flashlights and Dustin's walkie headset.

Night had fallen and everyone had locked up, including their very own Scoops Ahoy. With the addition of one Dustin Henderson and Erica Sinclair of course. The girl tightens her backpack over her shoulders and stands ready at the latter.

"Mm-hmm. I copy. You nerds in position, or what?"

"Yeah, we're in position," Robin answers softly, careful not to draw any attention like last time despite the lack of company. "It's It's quiet here, so you've got the green light."

"Green light. Got it." She nods, beginning her ascent. "Commence Operation Child Endangerment."

"Can we maybe not call it that?" Robin plead.

"See you on the other side, nerds." Was her only response and the line went quiet.

Erica had begun her journey into the vents.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

After several painstaking, hair-tearing minutes the trio finally heard a response.

"Alright, nerds. I'm there,"

"Do you see anything?" Robin asks.

Erica peers through the vents with little interest.

"Yeah, I see those boring little boxes you're so excited about,"

"Any guards?"

"Negative,"

"Booby traps?" Robin inquires.

Erica scoffs as she slips the backpack off her shoulders.

"If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps, wouldn't they?"

Steve fights a smirk, but it wasn't hard given his stress level.

"Thank you for that," Robin deadpans.

Erica rears back her legs and with a fearsome cry she kicked out the vent and tossed her backpack out onto the floor. And nary a booby trap in sight. So far.

Her feet collided with the ground and she gave a firm nod.

"I'm in,"

Those words hit Steve harder than anything they had done all week, and he feels suddenly as if a giant weight had been placed on his lungs preventing him from breathing.

"Oh, god," he groaned into his hands.

They were sending an actual child - not to mention a child he barely knew - into certain danger for the sake of reward. Oh, he definitely went too far, this was bad. This was so very bad.

A far-off buzzing pulled his eyes back to the doors just in time to see them swing open. And out waltzed Erica who was waiting for them with a knowing look.

"Free ice cream. For. Life!"

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

A choir of crickets sings into the starless night. The warm breeze blowing in from the east enunciates the sway of the trees and carries with it the smell of chlorine drifting in from the closed pool. The concrete was still wet from today's patrons, and the last of the darkened footprints on the concrete had begun to dry. Including the trail that led all the way into the men's locker room.

Billy stood under the gentle stream of water, allowing the freezing water to soak all the way to his bones. He had been in the shower for at least an hour, trying desperately to quell the fire in his veins but he only managed to subdue it to a small ember.

Finally, he kills the water, and the locker room falls deadly quiet. Billy liked the quiet, he always had. And now more than ever.

Towel secured around his torso, he now stands at and opens his designated locker, and begins to change. His mind wanders aimlessly, anything that wasn't the obvious when suddenly, the silence is first disturbed.

The moaning of the metal door bounced off of the long stretch of lockers with an echoey tin, and Billy bristled.

"Pool's closed,"

Metal cried out to him again, finished by a shuddering clang from the door yet again.

"Hey!"

No answer.

He slams the locker shut so hard the whole row shakes and he takes off down the hall after them in a blind fury.

"YOU HEAR ME?!"

Again no answer, but Billy wouldn't accept it.

"The pool is closed!"

He throws his fists against the exit door, confused as to why it wasn't opening. Unbeknownst to him, a certain brunette was hiding in the shadows across the locker room, playing with the door - and the lock now trapping him inside - all without lifting a finger.

Angered and confused, Billy continues his assault on the door; slamming fist after fist, push after push but there was no give. He was locked inside.

And the lights cut out.

Billy was high alert now. And so was He. Billy could feel him prickle, far back in his mind but he was there. Watching.

Waiting.

"Billy," came a distant, sing-song voice.

"Who's there," he seethes.

"Billy~"

He stalked back around the corner as he echoes the mocking, sing-song voice.

"Who's there~"

More rattling preceded a chilling, squeaky laugh that echoed seemingly from everywhere. Billy takes a chance and rips open the first shower curtain, but finds nothing. The voice calls out again, once, twice. It laughs.

"You think this is funny?" He asks, in a frighteningly low voice.

The voice laughs, once again, in response and hisses another taunt. "Billy! Come and find me!"

He stalks further and further, edging the end of the brick wall as his eyes prowl across the room in search of movement.

"I find you, it is your funeral," he promises.

His eyes lock on the closing door leading to the weight room, and as if reading his thoughts, the voice eggs him on.

"Come and get me! Come on!"

Slowly he maneuvers towards the door, reaching ever so slowly for the handle. And in one swift motion, he rips it open and storms inside, finding no one but himself. At first.

"Billy!" The voice cried again, closer than ever. Another taunting laugh.

But Billy's eyes were dead set ahead on the sauna door, and more specifically the silhouette of moppy hair waiting for him behind the foggy glass window. The corners of Billy's mouth are yanked up in a disconnected smile that never quite reaches his pained eyes.

"Got you,"

His lips curl back into a snarl - an exaggerated smile - as he claps his hands and cackles, marching in for the kill.

He's already ripping open the door, face falling and realizing the truth of it all when he registers the voice clear as day and flatter and angrier than ever.

"Come and get me you piece of shit."

A fake. A goddamn fake made out of a stolen CPR dummy was the only thing waiting for him, harnessed from the ceiling. In a flood of anger, Billy steps forward and grabs the dummy in a chokehold, its rubber head hitting the ceiling with a thud. And that's when he spots it.

The walkie-talkie duct-taped to its chest and still talking to him.

"Hey. Behind you,"

Billy whirls around to find one of the girls from the night before.

El.

"Hi,"

Billy chucks the dummy into the sauna floor, but before he can do anything else, the girl flicks her head with a grunt and he's sent flying into the tile wall. It shatters where his back makes contact and he cries out in pain, falling to the floor in a heap.

"Now!" Mike cries.

The lights return with a sharp click and across the room, the Party emerges from their hiding spot in the locker rooms.

Billy's already on his feet, blood pounding in his ears just from his furious screams as he storms after El. But El is faster. She rakes one clawed hand through the air with a grunt and the door swings shut with a loud bang, where the others got to work.

Y/n had stopped at El's side where she was mostly hidden, for once allowing her best friend to shield her from the man pounding and screaming against the glass like a rabid dog. The others had already secured a smaller metal pipe through the door handle and the pipes attached to the wall, encircling it all with the rope of chains Will had discovered.

"Come on! Come on!" Mike reflexively cried, with nothing more to do but help hold the door closed and watch as Billy atta ked inches from his face.

He could feel the door moving.

At last, the click of the lock reached their ears. "Got it!" Lucas cried.

The four of them scurry back to El's side, watching in horror as Billy descended into madness before their very eyes.

The lock and chains rattled, as did the pipe and with every flinch of the door, the edge in the air grew sharper. Y/n felt a hand squeeze her own and she knew it was Will, and she gave his hand a thankful squeeze. Nobody said anything as he roared in anger, and they all feared what might happen next but not a single one of them expected what did.

His face slowly fell, his screams dying out with it as his expression turned to gasp when he noticed a particular individual.

"Max,"

His voice was a whisper, barely a breath, as he looked upon the girl. Her expression was unreadable, but it didn't take a genius to know she was trying to be brave. He looked - and sounded - betrayed. One by one, her friends look to her, her ocean eyes dead ahead on her brother.

"Do it," she says.

Releasing Y/n's hand, Will runs forward to the controls, commencing the sauna test.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

The trio, now quartet, stood packed together inside the locked room, peering over the same Imperial Panda box that was identical to the others piling the shelves. Steve handed Dustin's pocket knife back to the boy after splitting the tape. He pries the lid open, popping the remaining bit of tape, and unfolds the cardboard to reveal an unexpected sight.

The four of them peer in to get a better look at the single metal box with one indented handle in the very center. Steve sends them each a curious look before twisting the lid until he felt and heard the satisfying click and hiss of air releasing from the inside. Discarding the lid revealed to all four figures four similar handles inside corresponding cylinders; steam spilling out from all sides.

"That's definitely not Chinese food," Steve says finally.

He makes a grab for one of the cylinders but stops himself, motioning for the three.

"Uh, maybe you guys should, uh, you know stand back,"

Robin shrugs and complies, and Erica steps off the box of Kauffman Shoes she had been standing on but Dustin doesn't move. He just shakes his head defiantly.

"No,"

"Just step back, alright?" Steve says, eyeing the handle while trying to shoo the kid away.

"No,"

"Step back!"

-"no!"

-"seriously!"

-"No!" Dustin cries, growing upset. "If you die, I die,"

The room goes silent and everyone stares at Dustin as he gives Steve a challenging look. And after several moments of silence, Steve concedes.

"Okay," he finally shrugs.

Steve turns back to the handle and draws in an anxious, and unlikely-but-also-not-impossibly last breath, and unlocks the cylinder. Again, it hisses and more and more steam spills out but all eyes were on the glowing green substance in the cylinder Steve now held up.

"What the hell?" Steve gasps.

"What... is that?" Robin can't help but ask.

The billowing sound of grinding gears and squeaking pulleys rang in their ears and they all felt an invisible force sway them on their feet. They hadn't previously thought it possible, but their attention was stolen away from the mysterious glowing substance and towards the room.

"Is that just me or did the room move?" Dustin murmured.

"Booby traps," Erica croaked, for the first time sounding scared.

The room was filled with more and more clicks that only grew louder and Robin snapped into action.

"Okay, you know what? Let's just grab that and go," she says, snatching the cylinder from Steve's hands and begab securing it in Erica's backpack.

Dustin made a break for the panel, where Erica had shown him and wasted no time in pressing, "door open," but nothing happened. Just the empty clicks reaching his ears as he feverishly pressed the button over and over and tried not to panic.

"Which one do I press, Erica?"

"Just press the damn button, nerd,"

"Which one, I-" He gulps nervously, swiping at his sweating brow trying to maintain a level voice. "I'm pressing the button, okay?"

"Press 'open door'!"

"I'm pressing 'open door'!"

-"Just open the-- press the other button!" Steve cuts in, and all four of them begin shouting over one another as they spiral into a frenzy.

-"Guys, just get out of the way so she can press the button!"

"-would you stop?"

"-I'm trying!"

"-Would you let me just do it?! Would you just stop?!"

"Just open the door!"

Pulling a hail Mary, Steve hit every button he could see and a sudden jolt shook the room with the loudest clang they had heard so far. They all stilled; the room falling silent around them apart from the wailing of the gears.

A giant red barricade had unsheathed itself over the door, blocking their only exit and their stomachs dropped. Literally. The room itself was suddenly plunged at a sickening speed, knocking them into the walls and floors with terrified shrieks. As Steve gripped the shelf and the wall, trying to steady himself, his widened eyes fall on the upper wall - or lack thereof - where concrete walls and rows upon rows of lights were rushing past them all confirming to him the worst.

"Oh, shit,"

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

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[annerly-san]

Have you noticed that seemingly every single Food Soul who wears a coat can't seem to wear it properly? Fuck, even Whiskey can't seem to get it right, this man really is a disaster.

[For some reason, when I think of coats, I picture Champagne and Red Wine for some reason?  And they seem to wear their coats properly.

And it’s no surprise that Whiskey is a literal disaster.  Disasters spring up in his footsteps.  I think we can both agree on that, eh? (/ ‘з’)/

Actually I’ve worn my trench coats like Whiskey sometimes when the inner chuunibyou comes out at odd times.

So based on that logic, Whiskey might be a secret wanna-be villain by wearing his coat like that. ヾ(≧∇≦*)ゝ ]

Since I did take a class on the aesthetics of fashion and retail design… I’m going to guess that the logical reason has to do with the fact that Whiskey’s dress shirt has bishop sleeves which means that the sleeves poof out.  If he were to wear his straight sleeved jacket on top of it… well it’d simply look like an atrocity…]

“WHY?!”

“I can guarantee that I’m not the one this time-” Whiskey retorted as he turned around upon hearing his attendant’s voice yell that one favorite word of his.

“NO!”  His attendant was flushed faced as they gestured with wide arms at his entire self.  “WHY?!”

“Hehe… Master Attendant, if you’re concerned about Pizza he’s safe in his room.  Though I can’t say the same for Cassata-”

“NO, YOUR FUCKING COAT!” his attendant motioned at him again before his earlier comment registered.  “Wait, what did you do to Cassata-?”

“Never mind what I said.  That was a joke.  Now, what was it about my coat?”  Whiskey diverted the question elsewhere.

“WHY ARE YOU WEARING IT LIKE THIS?!”

“Like what?”

“Why is it just perching on your shoulders?!  Why aren’t your arms in the sleeves?!  Do you not understand sleeves?!”  They took a breath to regain some of their oxygen.  “Are you trying to imitate some cheap-ass villain, wearing your coat like that?”

“Why would I need to imitate them?”  Whiskey scoffed.  If he were to say that he was not moderately offended, he would be blatantly lying.

“Then put your arms in the sleeves!”

“Hehe~.  No.”  Whiskey stood resolutely with his arms crossed and free of his jacket sleeves.

“WHY?!”

“Goodness, have you no pride?” Whiskey heard a familiar voice mused behind him.  Champagne.  A surprise.  The food soul had never bothered too much with Whiskey, so it was strange to see him get involved in Whiskey’s conversations and interactions aside from being placed in teams with him.  “Our Master Attendant is asking of you to do such a simple thing…”  Champagne shook his head disapprovingly.

While Whiskey bore no ill will to his fellow alcoholic food soul in any way, he was now tempted to see how the both of them fared in a one on one battle to the death.  The thought gave rise to a series of chuckles from him.

“Red Wine, what do you think?”  Whiskey was dragged out from his mental depiction of his dead comrade when his attendant posed the question to the second food soul which had made an appearance.  It would seem that this would have to be a battle royale instead of a pvp fight.

“The way that the jacket is worn isn’t bothering me as much as his pants…”

Ah.  Whiskey changed his mind.  This was going to be purely homicide, not a fight anymore.

While he was a tad distracted at plotting out the deaths of his fellow food souls, he let the motions of his attendant talking to the two of them slip through.

Whiskey was suddenly ambushed by the two food souls and his attendant– all three proceeding to try and shove his arm into his jacket sleeve.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING-?!”  Whiskey pushed Champagne’s face as he attempted to pry the food soul off of him.

What seemed like an eternity of struggling, dodging bullets, summoning snakes, avoiding sword strikes and feeling betrayed at his attendant bringing out their blade chop, both of Whiskey’s arms were rammed into his jacket sleeves.

He felt terribly betrayed.

“Ah, the jacket sleeves are poofing out!”  His attendant pointed at the ruffled and bulged out sleeves of his jacket.

He contemplated what would happen if he chopped off both his arms.

“What?  Oh!”  Red Wine grabbed ahold of Whiskey’s arm and held it up higher for the other two to see.  “The dress shirt is a bishop sleeve!”

He retracted that earlier thought.

Whiskey was going to lop off both Champagne’s and Red Wine’s arms and put them on display.

“Oh, is that why you can’t wear your jacket sleeves?”  His attendant was somewhat understanding.  He could forgive that.

“Why is your dress shirt a bishop sleeve?”

The next time that he and Champagne go out on a mission together, one of them isn’t going to come back in one piece.

“See?  I said that the jacket was fine!  It was those pants-”

Red Wine he could easily kill in his sleep.  Or better yet, simply get his more likable alcoholic food soul to wreak havoc upon Red Wine and Steak’s relations.  Or both.

Upon Champagne’s long hair having been haphazardly chopped up in the food soul’s sleep, Red Wine finding a mysterious strand of white hair on Steak’s bed– leading to a very lengthy argument and fight spanning a week, and both offending food souls suffering from poison after a mysterious mark of two dots appearing on their arm, the topic of Whiskey’s fashion was no longer discussed.

[the-acid-pear]

Okay I'm home so allow me to elaborate

First and foremost: my therapist is so nasty y'all OMFGGGG 😭😭😭 i was mentioning Patrick Bateman bc of course i was (I'm so close to admitting to kin the guy i swear 💀) but also bc i was talking about my essay and she was like "ugh i deal with so many guys like that daily" and then proceeded to talk about one guy that fucking Kubrick stared her the whole session and then SHOWED ME A FUCKIG DRAWING HE DID??? Y'KNOW OF THE PERSON UNDER THE RAIN and like fair yeah it was pretty disturbing lmao never saw anything like that, he drew a woman running w an umbrella and the lines were so shaky and violent 💀 BUT GIRL YOU CAN'T SHOW ME THIS NO MATTER HOW EVIL YOUR MAN WAS EMERHRNRVDMDGR 😭😭😭

Okay but that hilarious thing aside; y'all know I'm a pretty rational guy, right? Like y'all know me I'm super rational and specific and to soothe myself at night i think of snake (game) patters and how to complete them effectively. That last i never mentioned before and now that i say it i realize it's pretty weird but the point is I'm a very rational and structured guy who is fucking nuts (did you know I'm utterly insane? 🧑) but is grounded in reality just about enough.

WELL TURNS OUT I KINDA AM NOT. ??? LIKE i was telling her how a lot of the time I'm fucking scared to move around in my own house and how it was paralyzing and a bunch of things i won't repeat and she was like "hmm those are actually obsessive thoughts, intrusive even" and a bunch of other talking but it just. Made me realize all the rules i thought as true so i never rationalized might have not been fucking true but me being Utterly Insane 🧑 ???????

Like this is something I've done since I'm a kid, to set imaginary rules that mean the world to me. Never thought it was serious bc most of the time i kind of twisted them to my convenience if needed, but there's many others that i can, and it just makes so much fucking sense but that's also so crazy?????

Like like i just cannot stress enough how crushing it is for a guy like me, a rational and clever™ and so thoughtful guy, to realize a lot of the truths are not truths and completely made up. Shit I've believed for years shit i was convinced about and now i. I cannot trust that shit anymore!!!!!!!!

For good, of course, maybe now i won't be so irrationally scared of moving around my house, or doing something in a different order or whatnot. But it just. Like we didn't talk about a diagnosis this could be just a standalone shit and i would be so ok w that but i never thought these... Obsessive thoughts and routines would be like that. I always imagined them to be so obvious and clear and specific. Not just irrational fears and made up rules . And it's . I. ITS CRAZY BRO!;!;!!!!!

Like i literally joke all the time about living in utter fear and this, might be fucking why????? BecauE i just convinced me of it, i convinced myself that everything is Bad and Scary and i need to behave on certain ways and if i don't do the certain. Thing something bad will happen and . I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE IT BC AGAIN IM A THINKING RATIONAL GUY™ HOW TF DID I JUST LET THIS SLIP AND GET TO THIS POINT ITS SO CRAZY LIKE RNDBBFFBSGANSVT 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

LIKE FUCK GIRL NOW IMMA START QUESTIONING EVERY LITTLE THING I DO WTFFFFF 😰😰😰😰

Last therapy session left .y wod crumbling to pieces um gonna cry omfg

[pearlplusau]

PearlPlusau Chapter 7 Part 4 FINALE! - Tower Of Mistakes II

Meanwhile for Rose and Coral…

After Coral got Rose in a sitting position leaning against the wall, she tried waking the unconscious gem up and hoped she could tell why Amethyst was so opposed to going with them in the first place.

Coral had faced gems that were poofed or gained a crack in their gem during the war, but she had never tried waking up a gem from being unconscious. Knowing that Rose’s gem was fine and she was nowhere near poofing, the pearl truly had no idea what could be done.

She recalled the events up till then, and realized there’s one thing that needs to be done.

Coral apologizes, “Rose, this is all our fault, none of this would have happened if we accepted her right away. We made her feel unwelcomed and drove her back-”

*Rose wakes up from the guilt literally bestowed upon her*

Her eyes snapped open as she rubbed her head, “Ugh, what happened?”

“Rose! You’re okay!” Coral cheered as she dove in for a hug.

Rose however, did not reciprocate the hug, instead she gently pushed her aside and asked “Coral, did you say something while I was out?”

“Ye-yeah! I believe this is all our fault. If we had accepted her right away, she wouldn’t have felt so unwelcomed and not get attacked by that corrupted gem!” She repeated the words she said with a little bit more details. “We have to make things right! After Sardonyx takes care of the situation outside, I’ll ask Pearl and Garnet to come with me and apologize to the little gem.”

This scenario seemed familiar, so familiar that she’s hearing voices, it's White’s voice? But there’s also a mixture of her own. As she peered into the pearl’s eyes, the voices became a lot more vocal…

Oh Pink, letting others take care of your messes again. You couldn’t clean up the mess you made from that colonization project, the rebellion created is literally in shambles, and you’re still not taking responsibility for your own actions. You haven’t changed one bit, and you never will.

better representation below:

She wasn’t sure what to make of the voices in her head, but she knew what had to be done.

As Coral was about to leave for Pearl and Garnet, she was stopped by Rose’s hold. “Coral wait, please. There’s something you should know…”

The pearl turned with a look of concern, but she sat back down with the leader nonetheless.

“This is all my fault.” Rose admitted, “You three were right about the risks and how it could potentially sabotage our freedom on earth. But that’s not the case, Amethyst ran off and was chucking boulders to scare us away, not because she’s a spy trying to get us into harm's way, but to stay here because, because I bad mouthed the kindergarten, her home, and made her feel like it was not ok to be a part of it. Amethyst has been living in the kindergarten for who knows how long, and I never considered that this is a place she has been calling her home all this time! I looked down at the place she grew up, and it was unwise of me to do so.”

Coral didn’t make any comments as she solely listened, she knew silence was the required element at the moment.

The leader recalled the cracks of the walls she had witnessed, and proceeded to blame herself with a sob, “And now, she’s going to get hurt just because I couldn’t save her from that corrupted gem! Or worse!”

Rose’s hands were buried into her face, a face that was written with guilt and immeasurable fear for the gem and the events she had caused.

Coral tried to comfort the weeping gem, “Rose come on, you know it’s not entirely your fault! You were just trying to do what’s best for her, she just never realised it yet. We didn’t know about the monster, heck, we haven’t visited the kindergarten for decades! Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not your fault, and it’s not hers for not knowing the dangers of corrupted gems lurking around either.”

The fluffy pink gem made little sniff noises with her nose and responded, “Y-you really think so?”

“I know so.” Coral gave out a gentle smile, relieved that she’s out of her own pit. “Come on, I think Sardonyx is almost done out there. Let’s go say hi!”

Rose nodded and gently got up as her knockout was not a light bruise. The two gems came out and met up with the fusion who was just finishing up.

The fusion briefly greeted the two gems before she finished the job. “Why hello there you too! One moment please!” With one last smash with her mallet, the snake monster finally gave in and POOFED! Into a cloud of smoke as its blood red gem clinked to the ground.

“Good to see you too.” Rose greeted with a smile.

“Nice work Sards!” Coral cheered with higher enthusiasm for her efforts.

“You too darling! Glad to see our dear Rose is back on her feet!” The fusion approached the red gemstone, picked it up and encased it in an orange shaded bubble.

“This one was a real stubborn little snakey-snake! But I was able to give it a smashing time!” Sardonyx laughed at her own joke while holding the bubbled gem.

“Whelp, see you at the temple!” She bid the gem farewell and gave it a little tap. The bubble vanished and teleported into the temple. “And I’ll be seeing you, next time! Ta ta!!” And the fusion unfused, leaving her two components, Pearl and Garnet, posing for their return.

After the monster dilemma was resolved, the gems moved on to Amethyst.

The entrance of the hole was covered with giant rocks that pilled up from the smashing. Fortunately for the gems, that’s an easier challenge faced than the giant red snake which threatened to shatter the gems around.

Inside the hole, Amethyst was still in her hugging pose, unaware of the ceased attacks of the snake monster. The poor gem was covered in tears, dirt and grime all over.

Seeing a gem in this state, the gems were heartbroken of the ordeal she suffered, especially Rose. The leader of the gem tried to get closer to Amethyst, but the entrance was too small for her to fit through. She altered to sitting while facing the hole, hoping the purple gem could understand that the danger was over.

She knocked on the wall, hoping to get the small gem’s attention. “Amethyst?”

The gem called upon flinched, and gave a small sigh of relief when she saw the nice lady instead of the snake monster that was ready to shatter noise makers. But she made no apparent effort to get close to her.

“Hey….” Rose started, hoping for a response.

“….”

“Are you okay?”

“…”

“I get it, after all that, you might not want to be with us anymore. But you were right to run away and drop a bunch of boulders at us, at me! Because I deserve it. I belittled your home, the place you’ve lived for your entire existence, but you have to understand, this place could’ve looked like the flower patches we rolled in this afternoon! And I never realized it until it was too late.”

“…”

“I can’t expect you to forgive me so easily, all I ask is for you to give me a second chance. I don’t expect you to fully join us at this point, but from that monster attack, you should learn how to summon your weapon, or at least how to defend yourself so none of this would happen again!”

“…” Still no response.

Rose gave the little curled up gem ample time to respond, but she didn’t seem to budge.

“…well, I guess I should get going. If you ever change your mind, you’ll know where to find us, okay?”

The leader got up and turned to the gems, “Come on guys, let’s head back.”

As Garnet, Coral and Pearl followed their leader out of the kindergarten, Pearl noticed the layer of dirt on Rose’s backside of the dress.

“Rose, you might want to dust yourself, your dress is covered in dirt.” Pearl said as she was about to dust off the grey dust for her. But Rose intercepted her before she was able to brush it off.

“Nono, leave it there, I think I’ll keep it as a reminder for a little while. Thank you for the concern Pearl.

“Oh! Alright, if that’s what you want.”

As the group walked towards the warp pad, Coral asked the leader about something she found rather perplexed. “Uhm, Rose, isn’t the whole point of this mission was to recruit her as our newest member? You didn’t even try to persuade her or anything?”

The gems reached the warp pad and activated it to get back to the temple.

During the warp process, Rose gave an answer for her decision, “Well, I had the time to think, and I realized dragging her into the Crystal gems won’t do her any good if she’s not willing to join on her own terms. We can’t force our ideals on others, even if they can't see it for the better. Our only hope is to believe that Amethyst will make the choice of becoming a crystal gem on her own. Not just because I told her so.” Rose sighed while reminiscing about the past recruitments, “I just hope I didn’t force anyone into something they don’t believe in during the war. It would have just been a waste of life for them if they never understood the true intentions of the rebellion…”

The gems reached their destination, and were about to head into the temple before the pink pearl provided some assurances to the quartz.

“Well,” Coral responded, “I can give out 100% certainty that I knew what I was getting into, and you were right!”

Garnet added on, “The crystal gems weren’t just about protecting the earth. There’s also love involved, where we are more than able to love each other, and ourselves!”

Pearl pitched in, “Right! It’s also about the freedom of Homeworld’s rules, the freedom to do more than what we’re supposed to do!”

Rose turned to each member of the crystal gems, getting prouder after each statement, and grabbed everyone into a big huge! “Ohhh you guys, thank you for the reminder, and I’m glad we went through that, even though shes-

Just then, the warp pad was activated. The group turned and saw that the arriving gem was no other than-

“Amethyst!” Rose exclaimed with tears in her eyes, as she dropped the group hug and went for the purple gem from behind. “You really came! Thank you for giving me a second chance! Come on, I’ll formally introduce you to-”

Her welcome speech was cut short when she realized something was wrong. From the back, Amethyst looked fine, but on the front, there was an abnormally huge nose that took over the lower half of her face, her mouth was missing from her face.

Rose turned her around to get a proper look, and the purple gem’s eyes were trying to tell her that she was freaking out! She frantically pointed to the major issues and was on the verge of a breakdown.

The gems poked a peeked over their leader’s shoulder, “That, does not look good.” The fusion stated.

Rose was trying her best to stay calm, she scanned to see if there were any bite marks of the gem monster, but she couldn’t find any.

But then her eyes landed on her gem, and she puffed out a huge sigh.

“It’s nothing to worry about, you just cracked your gem a bit. It might have been from the falling.” Rose suggested.

Amethyst’s form slightly glitched out of place but she finally calmed down as Rose continued, “Our gems project light that makes our bodies as they are. Therefore, our bodies are reflected based on the gemstone’s state. Your face appeared to grow abnormalities because your gem cracked. I think there’s something I can do without messing up.”

Rose took hold of Amethyst’s face, making sure it was focused on her own.

“Amethyst, would you like me to heal your gem?” The pink lady asked, making sure she heard the main point of that question.

This time, the purple gem did not hesitate to give an answer. She frantically nodded her head to showcase she's ready to be fixed up.

“Very well, and since I’m here, we don't need to go for that extra trip to the fountain.” As soon as she finished saying that, she closed her eyes, and focused on the tearful events she had experienced.

She recalled her time where she found out her first shattered recruit, and that no tears in the world would be able to fully heal them.

She recalled her time where she had to fight against her best crystal gem just to save her old family, and that she won and stored her away from everyone else.

She recalled her time where she had to put up a shield against the attack from the other diamonds, regretting all the gems around her that got corrupted.

But most importantly, she recalled her time where she had to put up a scene in front of her entire entourage, making her final goodbyes to her pink diamond status, and finally being free for the very first time.

After a while, tears started streaming down her cheek, and a single drop was able to land right on top of Amethyst’s gem.

The gem began to react. It’s glow manifested to the rest of the body, making Amethyst the biggest glow in the dark being on Earth.

After the glow finally subsided, the abnormalities on Amethyst’s face returned back to normal. She checked her gem and noticed the crack was gone.

The grateful little gem tackled in for a hug, and said the first thing that came to mind.

“T-thank yo-u, R-rose.”

The leader was thrilled to see the gesture and hear that response, more tears streamed along her cheek as she responded, “Your welcome Amethyst.” And returned the hug.

(Quick A/N: I was really tempted to just end it here, since it feels like such a beautiful scene to end. But there are still questions left answered, so I had to continue. But if you want to end the story here, I can totally relate.)

-

“Does this mean you're ready to be a crystal gem now?” Rose asked after the hug ended.

Amethyst stared into the eyes of her saviour, and proceeded to stare at the rest of the gems before she gave her answer.

The three gems gave her various nods, as if joining the team would be the best thing that’s ever happened to anyone.

She nodded in response.

“Let me start off by introducing the gems, so this is…” Rose introduced the gems one by one, and one by one they returned the greeting of the little new recruit.

Shortly after the introduction, the gems went straight into training, but also not as much as to put too much pressure.

The first training session took place in Garnet’s room. Garnet was admiring the little gem’s ability to shapeshift with little to no trouble. “Very impressive, now let me show you what I can do.”

The fusion pointed at the lava pond in the middle of the room and gave her prediction to the little gem.

“One of the few strengths I have is future vision. I can predict what would happen and they would usually come true. For example: When you walk over there, 5 bubbles will pop continuously, and at the end of the session, you will be giggling on the floor. Ready? Go!”

The purple gem hurriedly ran for the lava pond, and just as she got there, a huge bubble burst, along with 4 other bubbles right after.

It might not be much to anyone else, but to Amethyst, it looked like the funniest thing she’s ever experienced.

The next training was with Pearl, and she took the liberty of teaching communication.

“Now Amethyst, in order to convey your thoughts, you need to know how to speak properly so we can know exactly what you’re talking about.”

The pearl had cue cards shuffling around and introduced the concepts of nouns, verbs, adjectives, word formation, tones, and other language components required to be able to speak.

“I can’t expect you to learn all these immediately, but we have time. We can take as slow as you need to.” Pearl reassured before Amethyst regretted any of this.

And they did.

After that it was time for the training with Coral, and she focused on gem forms. The two gems sat in Coral’s pink cloud and river transfused room. Coral stood and showcased the form she was currently in, “This here is a very simple outfit with transparent clothing around. The most important thing is that it’s comfortable and practical in any situation, especially when fighting gem monsters!”

Amethyst nodded. She took a deep dive in observing her own body features and wasn’t feeling the best with the lines all around her limbs. She focused on her gem, and with a glow of her gem and limbs, the lines on her limbs were gone!

“Well done Amethyst! That’s a good first step into owning your appearance instead of being given the form you were assigned! Now let's see, what else can I train you for?” The pearl pondered around in her room before an idea struck!

“Oh! I can teach you about summoning your own weapon! You haven’t had that right?” Coral asked before she moved on.

The purple gem shook her head, as to tell the pearl she had indeed not summoned her weapon before.

“Alright then, watch closely!” She said as she focused on the gem at her navel. The gem glowed and a handle leading to a weapon appeared. She grabbed the handle and pulled out a pink lance entwined with thorns and decorated with roses.

“This lance was crafted by a strong, beautiful bismuth. Ever since she gave it to me, I’ve been using this weapon in battle to remember her by. Most gems are able to conjure their own weapon from their gems, but I prefer this lance more than anything!”

Amethyst checked the weapon in amazement as Coral explained how to summon her own weapon.

“You could give it a shot, try to pull something out of your gem, it might not be a weapon at first, but who knows?”

Amethyst nodded, and concentrated on her gem. The gem stone glowed almost immediately. Amethyst reached for her gem, and felt something within the glow. She gripped the handle and pulled out-

A whip!

A very simple looking violet whip with purple handles, but the weapon currently did not possess anything special like shimmering stones decorated around the whip.

“Very impressive Amethyst! Don’t worry if you think it looks simple, most of the time, our weapons get improved and developed by ourselves, or other gems that can add on additional features to the weapon. Can’t wait to see you swing that rope in one of our missions some day!”

“R-really? M-mi-missions?” Amethyst responded with bewilderment that she could go on missions with them someday.

“Of course! You’re a Crystal Gem now, and you’ll be joining us in no time!”

The quartz rushed in to huge the pearl, “T-thank you!”

Coral returned the hug, “I know you’ll do great!

After the training was over, Coral led Amethyst outside to meet up with everyone else at the beach.

It was dark out, so Rose thought it would be a good idea to do a little campfire. Everyone sat around the fire, exchanged pleasantries and how crazy the snake monster fight was only a few days ago.

Amethyst sat between Rose and Coral, she looked at the two pink gems, and later peered at Pearl and Garnet, and realized this was working out better than expected.

To show her gratitude for saving her and teaching her how to be a crystal gem, she gave a little speech to thank everyone here. Within the speech, she emphasized that she understood the initial doubt of the other members and made a comparison with her rock family.

“If – new rock, fell i-into my – r-rock family, we – w-would have – said – n-no to it too! So- what – i-I try to – say, is – I – u-understand no – me – into – crystal gems, and am – glad – I am – now Crystal Gem!” That was the longest speech the new gem had tried to say without any echoing. Not only did she surprise the gems around her, but she surprised herself as well!

“Soo…these rocks, they are just rocks?” Coral confirmed, but unsurprised by the improvement since she had a previous training with her.

“Ohh, your first full complete sentences! It’s mostly in the right tones, and your grammar has greatly improved! Amethyst I’m so proud of you!” Pearl spoke with so much pride and glee.

Garnet added, “I can see that we’re going on the right path of the future.”

The leader rose and agreed, “Yes! To fixing mistakes, and to the future! Oh I can’t wait for Amethyst to be ready for her first mission! It’s going to be such an experience!”

“D-ditto!” Amethyst agreed.

End of Chapter 7.

Extras:

“Look at what this horrible place has done to you, this is no place for a gem! Gems are durable in most situations, but theres still a limit to how much we can handle!”

“I see a lot of possible outcomes, but I would never expect her to come from a place like this. It must be difficult to live without the ones you care and love.”

“It must’ve been so lonely after all those centuries, to be abandoned like this, I kinda know how you feel tho. don’t worry, we’ll take good care of you from now on”

Rose: Amethyst, im sorry I hurt you by saying all those things about your home, about the kindergarten, but you have to understand, this place could’ve looked like the flower patches we rolled in this afternoon!

“Flower patches?”

Yes, this place could’ve been another beautiful batch of flowers growing under the sun! But bad gems took all the life away, and now, no flower patches will grow here, ever again.

Notices the differences between the two similar gems, pink more kind and sweet, tries to approach her like a new friend. White looks disgusted, but trying to repress it for a reason.

Amethyst slowly gets into the whole Crystal gem thing and really, really like the company after all that time.

.

.

.

(A/N: Heyy there, its me. It seems that we have reached to the end of another chapter! Even though this isn't a Coral/Pinkpearl centric chapter, its still pretty fun to intepret and guess on how Amethyst came to be.

The gems might not have to go through the dilemma when recruiting Amethyst in the canon series, but i personally think an ordeal is required for Amethyst to actually trust them.

Sure the story could have been simpler and just have the new gem join in without any crisis happening, but wheres the fun in that? I personally like to have possible elements from the canon series. For example, once a while theres gonna be a gem fusion in their earlier forms, or a different gem monster that causes havoc to the gems objective, or both!

All in all, this story has been fun writing. Hopefully it cures whatever SU themed hole you have in your soul until a new series comes along.

Again, thanks for reading till the end, and i'll be posting explanations for certain artworks and why theyre like their current forms! Stay tuned!)