#just found it really fun back then and now it's back to regular birthdays is all haha

[xboobayaga]

after having a birthday on 02-22-22 a bit ago, every birthday after has not felt as special

[puckinghischier]

Meet the Parents

Jack Hughes x fem!reader

summary: reader is nervous to meet jack’s parents

notes: got the itch to write again, and this request has been sitting in my inbox for awhile. this was very fun to write, and i’m learning i absolutely LOVE writing jack! the ending is kinda weird bc i didn’t really know how to end it, but i hope you enjoy it nonetheless! happy reading!! 🫶🏼

request: jack bringing his gf to meet the rest of his family and they all quickly adore her, but can tell she’s really important to jack and he really just loves her but she is also super close to Luke and that makes ellen very happy!! just something sweet have fun!!!

[4.2k]

“Darling, chill out. Everything’s going to be fine. I’m telling you, they already love you,” Jack brings a hand over to calm your bouncing knee.

You worry that Jack made a reservation at the wrong restaurant, seeing as the two of you have been sitting in the half circle booth for fifteen minutes already, and there’s no trace of the rest of the Hughes clan to be seen.

Jack’s parents had flown into Jersey yesterday, wanting to be there when the Devils play the Canucks tomorrow so they can see all of their children on the same ice once again.

Quinn and Luke were joining you for dinner tonight, too, but you had no fears about either of them being in attendance. If anything, the fact that both of them will be here calms your nerves a little more.

Luke was actually the reason you had met Jack in the first place. The small café you worked at being one of Luke’s favorite spots to come and decompress after practice or before big games. He would come in and sit at the same table in the back of the small dining room, ordering an iced green tea and a grilled ham and swiss every time.

You went to take your break one day, going to sit at your favorite secluded corner booth, only to find the space already taken by none other than your curly-headed regular.

He offered for you to sit, claiming his table had been taken when he came in, but he was about to take off anyways. You insisted he stayed and you share the booth, then spent your entire break chatting with the hockey player, as you had learned, and a friendship was quickly formed.

He started sitting in your booth instead of his table, causing you to spend most of your breaks talking to your new friend. The conversations during breaks and between rushes became him inviting you to games and outings with his teammates.

He had introduced you to Jack the first time you agreed to meet up with him at a sports bar down the road after a shift, and you were instantly drawn to the middle Hughes brother.

The more games you went to and the more you made appearances during post-game celebrations, the closer you became to Jack, until the two of you made the jump from friends to dating.

Luke had admitted that he knew from that first time he sat with you on your break, you were perfect for his brother. He orchestrated the whole thing, from inviting you out to bringing Jack along to a few of his ‘zen’ lunches before games after your first introduction to his older brother.

You were thankful Luke had decided to play matchmaker for his brother all those months ago. You couldn’t imagine your life without Jack in it, now. You had found your person, and gained two brothers out of it at the same time.

And even though you had been with Jack for quite some time, the opportunity to meet his parents had never presented until now. You had met Quinn only two months into your relationship, taking a trip to Vancouver with the two devils players to celebrate Quinn’s becoming captain of the Canucks.

Jim and Ellen hadn’t been able to make it then, flying out a few weeks after the three of you made your visit. Jack and Luke had invited you to spend the week with their family at their lake house this summer, but it was the same week you had flown home for your grandfather’s birthday party.

There were a couple more missed opportunities between now and then, but now is the time that you’re faced with the infamous task of meeting the parents.

You keep trying to tell yourself that they can’t be that scary, considering how quickly you were accepted by all three children they raised. But that seed of doubt keeps digging its roots in your mind, causing you to become a ball of anxious energy all day.

You had shown up and proceeded to clean Jack’s entire apartment at seven o’clock this morning, after cleaning yours last night, because you couldn’t sleep. You color-coded his t-shirts in his closet and re-organized all of Luke’s drawers in his room. Luke had joked that they should take you to a family reunion and maybe you’d start detailing their cars, next. The comment earned him a swift smack to the head from Jack.

Your boyfriend, on the other hand, begged you to stop, and take a breather with him. He took you to a salon to get your nails re-done, the scrubbing you did to your shower last night ruining your current manicure. He also took you to the local animal shelter, remembering how you babbled about a statistic stating that petting a cat for ten minutes can reduce a person’s stress by 50%.

He brought you back to his apartment with plenty of time to get ready, and sat in the bathroom with you the entire time you showered so he could listen to you list your worries about this evening and reassure you everything would be fine. He claimed he wanted to learn and help when you sat down in front of the vanity he had bought and placed in his room for you, eager to help you apply the various creams and powders to your face. He tried to curl a few strands of your hair for you, causing you to break into a fit of giggles when he got the iron so tangled in your hair it stayed without either of you holding on to it.

His actions did ease your anxiety, being so focused on Jack and your love for him to leave any room for the familiar bubble of nervousness in your belly. But the second you stepped foot in the restaurant, it all became real again.

“Jack, are you sure this is the right place? Why aren’t they here yet? Do you think they forgot?” you place your hand on top of the one he just placed on your knee, looking over at him with wide, worried eyes.

“Yes, this is the right place. They’re just running a bit behind. Dad isn’t always the best judge of traffic. He thinks he can beat the GPS every time,” he chuckles, leaning in to place a kiss to your temple.

You close your eyes and lean into his kiss, allowing yourself to get lost in Jack and the comfort he never fails to bring you.

He removes his lips from your temple, lowering his head slightly to speak quietly into your ear.

“I promise, you have nothing to worry about. Mom is so excited to meet you, and Dad always asks about how your classes are going when I talk to him on the phone,” he starts, rubbing his hand up and down your thigh. “Plus, if for some reason they decide they don’t like you, which is literally impossible, by the way, it’s not going to change the way I feel about you.”

He places a kiss to your cheek, your eyes still closed listening to his words. You let out a breath you had been holding, letting yourself fully sag into his side. He starts to speak softly once more as you lay your head fully on his shoulder.

“They will never change how much I love you, Y/N. You’re it for me. I’ll live the rest of my life in familial exile if I have to. You’re the only thing that matters to me, understand?”

“Now, don’t be so dramatic, Jack, I’m a catch. Surely if I can survive all the puck bunnies I can survive your mom and dad,” you joke, his words giving you a small boost of confidence. “Plus, they raised you, how scary can they really be?”

You lift your head off of his shoulder and pinch his cheek, poking fun at the fact the internet claims Jack isn’t very threatening.

“Heyyy,” he draws the word out, feigning offense. “I can be scary. I am a big scary hockey player after all,” he pouts bringing his forehead to rest against yours.

You bring your hand up to pat his cheek. “Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that, pretty boy.”

You giggle as Jack growls at you and brings his hands to tickle your sides, causing you to yelp and try to squirm away from him in the large booth.

Neither of you notice the hostess escorting the rest of the Hughes family towards your booth.

“Alright, get a room you two, geez. And don’t make it mine this time,” you hear Luke’s voice ring out, referencing the time Jack’s sheets were being washed so the two of you decided to nap in Luke’s room.

You snap to attention, separating yourself from Jack fully.

You look up to see his entire family standing there, looking at you. Jack rolls his eyes at his brother, quickly scooting out of the booth to greet his parents.

“We take a nap in your room one time and you never let us forget it. We even slept on top of your comforter, for crying out loud!” Jack ruffles Luke’s curls as he walks past him.

You wiggle your way out of the booth to greet his family, taking a few deep breaths for good measure.

You find yourself in front of Quinn first, walking into his open arms for one of your favorite Quinn bear hugs.

“How are you, squirt?” he asks, squeezing you tight.

“Quinnifer, I’m only two years younger than you,” you squeeze him back, hearing him chuckle at your own nickname for the defenseman.  

“Yeah, so you’re forever and affectionately known as squirt,” he says matter of factly, pulling back from the hug but keeping his hands on your upper arms as you roll your eyes at him.

“So, you doing okay? Any meltdowns yet? Jack told me you were nervous,” Quinn questions you, ducking slightly so he can look into your eyes.

“Well, Jack’s t-shirts are color coded and Luke’s drawers are now sorted in order of how he gets dressed, so if that’s what you call okay, then yeah, I’m doing great,” you reveal, giving Quinn a sheepish smile.

“I thought Jack said you were nervous? Sounds like a typical Thursday night for you,” he teases back, letting his hands drop.

“Ha-Ha, very funny, Quinnifer,” you deadpan.

Quinn laughs at you. “Seriously, you have nothing to worry about. I don’t know if Jack told you already, but they ask about you all the time. I think Mom’s over the moon that Rowdy finally has someone to keep him in check. They love you already.” Quinn tells you with the most sincerity you’ve ever heard from him.

You reach out and squeeze his shoulder, a silent thank you for the reassurance.

“Yeah, I think Mom’s already got the wedding colors picked out,” Luke approaches the two of you.

“Shut up, Moose. You’re just mad Jack snagged her when you were too dumb to,” Quinn elbows Luke in the ribs as he stands next to his oldest brother.

“Quinn, that’s literally the most disgusting thing you’ve ever said to me,” Luke hunches over, rubbing his abdomen.

“Gee, thanks Luke. Glad to know how repulsive you think I am,” you throw your arms up slightly, playfully scoffing.

“Don’t get me wrong, Y/N, you’re a catch and all, but my God, that’s like someone telling me I should make a move on my sister,” Luke makes a gagging noise, emphasizing his point.

“Don’t worry, Lukey, I feel the same way about it. You’re the annoying little brother I never wanted and didn’t have…until now,” you dig back, earning your own eye roll from the tallest Hughes.

You look over to see Jack conversing with his parents when he catches your eye, waving you over.

“Well, here goes nothing, I guess,” you whisper out before walking the few feet to your left where Jack stands with his parents.

You walk into the open arm Jack has held out for you, his arm slipping around your waist, his thumb lightly rubbing up and down to let you know he’s right there with you.

“Mom, Dad, this is Y/N,” Jack introduces you as you place your own hand over his on your waist, grounding yourself to him.

You’re so focused on trying to smile without looking like you’re in pain that you don’t see the look Jack gives you.

Ellen, however, does. Jack told her how nervous you were for tonight, begging her to not ask you too many questions and to let you do the talking, no matter how well intended her questions are.

She sees the way her son looks at you, never having seen such an expression of love on his face before. She notices how tightly you’re gripping his hand, and the slight motion of his thumb.

She knew she liked you before this moment, Jack’s constant talking about you making her feel like she’s already met you before. But witnessing your moment with Jack before the two of you were aware they had arrived, seeing how comfortable you are with her son, and how much joy was on his face every time he looked at you, was enough to sell her even further.

You reach your hand out for a handshake, trying to discreetly wipe your hand on the fabric of your dress.

“Hi, It’s so nice to finally meet you two. I’m so sorry we haven’t been able to meet before now. Jack’s told me so much about you,” you say to both of them, but reaching your hand out towards Ellen first.

Ellen takes your hand. “Oh, honey, we’re not a hand shaking family. You see how Quinn is, we’re huggers,” she pulls you forward, wrapping you in what you can only described as a motherly hug.

She squeezes you tightly before letting go, giving you a wide smile.

You turn to Jim, his arms already open and inviting.

You give him a quick hug, now knowing where Quinn gets his bear hugging tendencies from.

The six of you make your way into the large booth, you and Jack taking your spot in the middle of the booth with his parents sitting to his left and Quinn and Luke sitting to your right.

Jack’s hand makes its way to your leg immediately. Throughout the meal he’s never not touching you. Whether it’s his hand on your leg, his arm around your shoulders, or his hand resting in yours on the table, he always lets you know he’s right there with you.

Ellen and Jim ask you about your school work and what your plans are after you graduate. They ask you about your family and where you’re from, but they mostly let you set the pace of the conversation, which you’re thankful for.

The food comes and goes, and the anxiety you felt earlier melts away the longer you converse with the family.

Once the plates are cleared and dessert is ordered, the topic of hockey finally makes its way into the conversation of the night. You’re thankful, the spotlight finally being taken off of you for a few minutes.

“So, Quinny, hope you’re ready to get your ass beat tomorrow, because Luke and I won’t be taking it easy on you out there, Cap,” Jack changes the subject when there’s a lull in the discussion of how you ended up in New Jersey, giving you a squeeze and a quick wink, being able to tell you were getting a little talked out.

“Oh, I wouldn’t expect you to. Then it’d be too easy, considering we’re going to shut you out anyways,” Quinn teases back.

“I don’t know, Huggy, I think that C added a bit too much weight to your jersey, you’re looking slower and slower every time I see you. Or maybe it’s just that old age catching up with you,” Luke chimes in.

“I’m twenty-four you idiot. I’m still one of the youngest guys on my team,” Quinn rolls his eyes. You notice a lot of eye rolling among the three brothers when they’re together.

“I don’t know, I heard that twenty-four in hockey years is basically like you’re fifty in normal people years,” Jim adds, smirking over at Jack.

“Oh, yeah? So you’re saying you could out skate me if we were to get on the ice right now, huh, Dad?” Quinn challenges his father.

“Sure I could. Who do you think you got all of your talent from, hmm?”

All three of the boys respond in unison. “Mom.”

The table erupts in laughter.

“Alright boys, enough. Before you talk your father into doing something that could get him hurt,” Ellen speaks through the laughter, looking up at her husband while resting her head on his shoulder for just a moment.

You watch the two look at each other, seeing how much love they share.

You turn your head to look over at Jack, laughter still on his face. You can’t help but smile up at him. You love him with everything you have in you, and finally meeting his entire family just solidified that for you. Being able to spend time with the wonderful people that raised him makes you love him that much more. You look around the table at his two brothers, still laughing with each other. You hope that one day you can have this with Jack. A family with nothing but love to give each other.

As you’re picturing your future with Jack, he’s looking over at you, thinking about how lucky he is that Luke happened to stumble into your café on one of his first days in New Jersey. He thanks the universe for putting you in his path and for the fact that you, for some unknown reason, decided to love him out of all the people in this world.

Ellen once again observes the looks both you and Jack gave the other when the other wasn’t paying attention. She feels a warmth settling in her chest when she looks at the two of you. She can see how much you mean to Jack, and how much he means to you. She sees how well you get along with Luke and Quinn, both of them talking about you nearly as much as Jack does. You fit in so well with their family; your humor, kindness, and capacity to love her boys making her feel like you’re simply an addition to their dynamic that she didn’t know was missing until now.

Dessert comes and goes and the boys all argue over who’s paying for dinner until Jim sneaks his card to the waiter while they were too busy yelling at one another.

You all exit the booth and make your way to the sidewalk in front of the building, chit chatting a little more while walking to the parking garage before parting ways.

You’re walking with Quinn, Luke and Jim, listening to them bicker about tomorrow’s game. You notice Jack and Ellen fall behind, Ellen linking arms with her middle son as they walk.

“So, what do you think?” Jack asks his mom, watching you push Luke lightly, wondering what he said to make your head fall back in laughter.

“Jack, she’s great. But you already knew that. Not that you need it, but my approval was given the second you called and said you’d met someone,” Ellen responds, following his gaze, watching you pull Jack’s jacket tighter around your shoulders.

“God, I love her, Mom. More than I ever knew was possible,” Jack sighs out, letting his head fall onto the top of Ellen’s as they walk.

“I can see it, Jack. And I can see she loves you just as much,” Ellen starts, bringing her free hand up to pat Jack’s arm. “My only advice? Don’t let her go. She’s special, Jack. The way she gets along with your brothers, and the way they love her like she’s been part of this family for years, that’s rare.”

Ellen blinks back tears, just overwhelmed with happiness that Jack found someone that’s able to love him as much as she knows he deserves to be loved.

“I know, Mom. Trust me, I know. I don’t ever plan on letting her go. In fact,” Jack pauses, pulling back from his mom as you round the corner into the garage with his dad and brothers, “I bought this about two months ago. Not gonna give it to her just yet, but I couldn’t stand it any longer. Had to go ahead and buy her one,” he pulls out a small velvet box, popping it open and showing his mom the ring he picked out for you.

“Oh, Jack,” Ellen coos as she takes the box from his hand, looking at the princess cut diamond sitting on top of the gold band.

Her eyes fill with tears for the millionth time this evening when she looks up at Jack, finally letting them spill over. She keeps looking down at the ring and then back up at Jack while the tears stream down her cheeks.

Jack feels his own eyes sting at his mother’s reaction, knowing they’re happy tears.

“Jack, I’m so proud of you. And so happy for you,” Ellen sniffles through the tears. “She’s going to love it, honey. Just…let me know before you do it, yeah? And don’t forget her parents, you gotta let them know, too.” She wipes her eyes, closing the box and handing him back the ring.

“Already taken care of. Asked them when I bought it. Told me they’d love nothing more, but to just let them know when it’s happening. And to send them lots of pictures,” Jack chuckles, placing the box back in his pocket but not taking his hand off of it.

“Oh, yes, I want lots of pictures too. Don’t want to miss a second of the moment I finally get a girl!” Ellen exclaims, throwing her hands out in excitement.

“Don’t worry, I plan on flying everyone out when I do it. Know it’d mean the world to her to have everyone here to celebrate afterwards. Got it all planned out and everything,” Jack tells his mom, pulling her in for a hug.

Ellen squeezes him as hard as she can, letting every ounce of pride and love she has in her body flow into Jack through her hug.

“Oh, and just in case you get too far ahead and start planning the wedding before I propose,“ Jack breaks the silence, knowing how excited Ellen can get, “Luke already called dibs on being the flower girl.”

Ellen bursts into laughter so loud it alerts you and the rest of her family that they were no longer behind you.

You back track just a little to find Jack and Ellen walking towards you while hugging each other and laughing.

“Where’d you guys go? I thought you were right behind us?” you asked, noticing the puffy nature of Ellen’s eyes but choosing not to overstep and comment on it.

“Oh, honey, we were. And always will be. Right here behind you, whenever you need us,” Ellen says as Jack comes up beside you and tugs you into his side.

Her sentimental comment confuses you, but you catch Jack smiling down at you out of the corner of your eye, any confusion forgotten the second your eyes met his.

“Alright, I better catch up with the rest of my crew. You boys need your rest tonight, you have a big game tomorrow,” Ellen points at Jack.

She makes her way over to you, Jack letting go of you in order to let his mother pull you into a hug.

“Y/N, it was so lovely to finally meet you. I’ll see you at the game tomorrow, okay?” She pulls back, bringing her hands to rest on your cheeks. “Welcome to the family, dear,” she tells you, pulling you in for yet another hug.

She meets her son’s gaze behind you as she squeezes you, a knowing look shared between the two.

You squeezed her back, willing yourself not to cry as you digest the words you wish you could go back and tell yourself this morning, so you could let her know it would all be okay, and to leave Jack’s closet alone.

She finally pulls back, walking over and giving Jack a kiss on the cheek before giving the two of you a small wave before disappearing around the corner, following her husband and two other sons.

You turn to look at Jack, tears in your eyes.

“Does that mean she liked me? Or was she just being nice?” you ask him, wanting to make sure you really did make a good impression on his family.

“Darling, she meant it, trust me. You’re one of us now. Have been from the start, really. The only thing you’re missing is the last name,” he assures you, earning a laugh as you shake your head and grab his hand, leading him in the direction of his parked car.

He watches as you walk in front of him, feeling the weight of the ring box in his pocket, finding no humor in the idea of you officially becoming a Hughes, knowing that day is coming sooner rather than later.

[anonymousewrites]

A Not-So-Disastrous Romance (Book 2) Prologue

Saiki Kusuo x Reader

Prologue: Relationship

Summary: Saiki reintroduces us to the cast.

Quick Key:

“Hello” -Saiki speaking telepathically

Hello -Saiki thinking

“Hello” -regular people speaking out loud, Saiki speaking with telepathy

Hello -regular people thinking

Mouse Note: We're back! Just a cute reintroduction to characters and our beloved pair, but we are back. Updates will be Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays unless I fall behind or have to take a break, which is unlikely. And without further ado, welcome back to A Not-So-Disastrous Romance! It's such a fun story, and we've got a ton of fun moments going on this book. Please comment your thoughts, it helps me continue to write, and I love hearing your thoughts! 

            Saiki sighed in irritation as every single one of his bothers at school (aka “friends”) were reintroduced (even if only a week had passed since his birthday party). He really didn’t need the crowd. He could have made it extremely quick. For example:

            Himself, Kusuo Saiki: psychic who has uncontrollably powerful abilities, loves coffee jelly

            His mother: kind and considerate, loves her husband

            His father: the annoying parent, loves his wife

            Nendou: idiot, his mind can’t be read

            Kaidou: believes/pretends he’s some anime protagonist, stupid

            Kuboyasu: former delinquent

            Toritsuka: pervert, medium, a nuisance

            Hairo: way too intense

            Yumehara: wants more screentime, has a crush on Kaidou (bad judgement)

            Teruhashi: prettiest girl alive according to most people, has a crush on Saiki (not good)

            Mera: hungry

            Saiko: rich

            That was all the annoying people in his life that people had to meet.

            “Hey, Kusuo!”

            Now for someone Saiki was fond of. Really, more than fond of. Saiki turned in his seat to face the final person entering the classroom. They were a pure ray of sunshine with a smile to match, and Saiki found himself far more willing to put up with his bothers so long as they were there.

            (Y/N): Saiki’s significant other, his favorite person, angel, amazing cook/confectioner, wears germanium earrings that mean he can’t hear their thoughts, ray of sunshine, the only person Saiki is ever excited to be around, protects Saiki from bugs and bothers, etc. (Saiki could go on for a while)

            “Hello, (Y/N),” said Saiki.

            Thankfully, as he turned to address (Y/N), the rest of the Saiki K cast meandered away, having gotten their time in the spotlight.

            “So, have you recovered from your party?” asked (Y/N). They grinned and laughed. “I know crowds aren’t your thing.”

            “It wasn’t as terrible as it could have been,” said Saiki. You were there. And that was the day they had admitted they liked one another and decided to start dating.

            (Y/N) just smiled at Saiki. They didn’t need him to say that he was glad they had been present; they could read him well enough. He was their boyfriend, after all. (Saiki was their boyfriend. Boyfriend! (Y/N) still couldn’t believe it and was positively giddy)

            “Well, it’s not like you’ll have to deal with another party for a while,” said (Y/N). “And I’ll keep your actual birthday more low-key.”

            Saiki deadpanned. He doubted that. He never had luck with these things; he knew he’d end up with a giant party where all his bothers (friends) followed him.

            “I’ll make sure you get coffee jelly, at least,” said (Y/N).

            Saiki perked up again. He could always count on (Y/N) to think of something for him.

            (Y/N) chuckled at his instant reaction. He was a total sucker for sweets, and they knew it.

            Saiki looked at them as they laughed, and his heart softened. He really didn’t deserve them.

            “I’m going to Café Mami after school,” said Saiki. “They have a promotion.”

            “For coffee jelly?” said (Y/N). Saiki nodded. “I’ll go with you.” Saiki mentioning it was his way of asking them to go.

            And, hey, (Y/N) wasn’t going to say no to a date with their boyfriend.

            I still can’t believe it.

l

            Saiki and (Y/N) both let out a pleased hum as they took a bit of their coffee jellies. Café Mami was delicious as always, and since they already went their together before they were dating, it wasn’t strange for them to still be seen together, just the two of them.

            Together, Saiki and (Y/N) had decided to keep their relationship lowkey. First, none of their friends were…calm, for lack of a better word (others would include: discreet, normal, not-embarrassing). Second, some of the people they knew would make some problems (see Teruhashi and her crush on Saiki while being friends with (Y/N)). Third, Saiki and (Y/N) didn’t really care about people knowing their business. It didn’t feel necessary.

            So, for now, they weren’t going around announcing to people that they were dating. But that was alright. Saiki and (Y/N) had each other. That was all they needed.

Taglist:

@elaemae

@painstakingly-juno

@characterreaderwriter

@melovepurple

@sleep-7372

@w0mank1sser

@geminigengar

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@drowningfishy

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@snowy-violet

@jaguarthecat

[wisteriainslumber]

baby twst headcanons

happy mothers day, have some disorganized tiny shenanigans feat. the twst women warnings: ch7 spoilers for draconia family members, siblings lying for fun (borderline malicious behaviour), foul language, and maybe a teensybitoftraumaoopsies

Riddle

if he could, he'd be an outside kid with tons of bug friends

secretly kept a caterpillar pet in a lil terrarium jar until it could fly on its own

he found it while it was raining outside and wanted to help it grow :(

my guy was a sickly victorian child

rarely would three months go by without riddle falling ill

he has dyslexia. without the pressure of having to get everything right on the first try, riddle can kinda enjoy reading now because he gets to learn new words and concepts at his own pace

deep in the corner of his room sits a journal with only half if it filled out. most of the entries start like 'i read a new book today' immediately followed by something like 'i do not understand life'

he actually can't bear to read the contents of the more recent diaries, but he equally can't bear to throw them away (not until he can send his younger self a letter that it will all be okay)

his only connection to other people his age were trey and che'nya

and on the occasions where trey was absent che'nya would 'teach riddle about the queendom of roses'

most of the time he fed him lies and riddle believed him

and most of the time riddle would yell at che'nya for being confusing and not clear enough

you can't just tell him that the hat man haunts him at night then reply with "what hat man?" when riddle asks for clarification

like !!! the hat man you just told him about !! (which gets him a reply of "who told you about?" damn you che'nya)

his favourite childhood memory was going out with them to get matching pins together

he still wears his little crown pin today!!

cats would frequently perch on his windowsill and riddle likes to watch them lounge in the sun and wonder what cats think about

(che'nya claims to know but riddle has never seen the beastman talk to a single cat)

but kitty-speak was riddle's first learned animal linguistic. he would practice by talking to the regular cat by the window

it stopped showing up for a while and then came back with four kittens and riddle smuggled them for a good... three anxiety-riddled hours before telling the cat their babies will be well taken care of with che'nya instead

riddle may had to give up those kittens that day but owning a pet cat will be in his future soon. #manifest

Trey

it was a massive game of follow the leader in the clover household

when mama clover was carrying flour over to the patisserie, you'll see the mini clovers carrying small bowls and utensils to help

easy bake oven user

but he was ass at it

legend says his unique magic manifested at age 10 when it was mommas birthday and he baked a really shitty cookie, so he prayed to the queen that his mum would think it tasted nice and it did :D

his siblings took a bite out of the rest of the batch and wretched very dramatically

had his hands full trying to convince che'nya to not eat the glass he found on the sidewalk because it 'looks crunchy'

in fact, whenever talking to adults, trey never refers to che'nya by his nickname but his entire full name. he just wants you to know!! also che'nya is a nickname for friends and family >:(

trey's room has always been free reign for his other siblings, they treat it like a common room

why? mostly because they don't have permission to do anything fun without supervision but big brother trey can to be their supervision :)) right :)))

the clover household is no longer shocked by che'nyas abrupt presence in their house. he seems to favour a certain corner of the house and most of the material on trey's bed

theres usually an extra set of utensils by their table in case che'nya appears. there used to be two extra sets but.. you know🫠

his siblings started a game of hiding as many rubber ducks in trey's room without him noticing

but after they permanently clogged the pipes of the toilet with their duckies, they switched to ugly stickers all over trey's bicycle

howEVER, it happens to be their bicycle now because trey outgrew it and had to get a new one. have fun cleaning the stickers :D

unofficial designated seats at the table and in the family car. real fights have broken out over the siblings because of these spots

still fears basketballs to this day because his brother threw one and trey happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and he woke up with the wrong accent. oh, and a concussion

Cater

all brands but barbie was ruined for caycay

his sisters used him as a mannequin to practice makeup

he had extremely elaborate revenge plans to pin them on the other sister but would get his ass whooped if he was caught

of course, that never stopped him from being extremely crafty to get out of trouble :)

referring to himself in third person cutely was a learned behaviour for survival™

it never worked in his household but it surely worked with other kids his age

collecting pity points but at what cost

had a girlfriend on club penguin for two months and got publicly dumped on club penguin

banned from club penguin because he wouldnt leave her alone and she reported him

sold off his sisters rainbow looms

those kids that are cognitively gifted such as he thought the people in the tv were trapped in there and then asked his mom if they were also in a tv and trapped

whenever dad worked in the office, cater would sit in the big boss chair and 'help', which meant that he was sorting coins and bills based off colour

he also told his dad to wash the money because it looked dirty on the corners

whenever he and his sisters played together, they'd tried to open the compartments of their toys and cater had so much fun with the screwdriver and taking stuff apart

also owned a joint notebook with his sisters. there would be things like poems, drawings, and the hair of ruined barbie dolls taped inside

cater has his own journal though, and he composes very emo poems in there. all written in glitter gel pen. cater would later look back on these and cringe but the more you read, the more you kinda get into it. it is a tad bit profound... for an eight year old, that is

Ace

demented ass doll player

his version of fun was making his dolls de-limb each other and throw them into a big pit to summon his darth vador figurine

whatever in-game ace is, that was his brother except he was significantly worse

my boy ace was the number 1 victim of big bro trappola

ate brown paint chips, which was 'chocolate' according to his brother

was locked inside the bathroom while his brother whispered bloody mary into the walls

sat through horror movies to prove he was a big boy and shit his pants when his brother recreated the jumpscares in the middle of the night

until he got a little older and started outsmarting him

now the trappola brothers team up to terrorize everyone else

its a competition for the brothers to compete over who can spoil the plot of which movie first

weaponized the slap bracelets

sucked milk out of plushies. no i will not elaborate

he's a jump rope champion! and it carries over to those skipper hoops as well

he does prefer the skipper hoops over the rope simply because there are um... ankle shattering consequences if you miss a jump, which meant it was perfect for sharing with the neighbourhood kids! gotta keep those stakes high, ya know?

tried to do a lot of magic tricks to impress papa trappola

made his brother take him to the amusement park and big bro got MAD tips because everyone thought ace was so cute, and quote unquote 'an angel'

like NO HES NOT???? if only big brother trappola knew ace picked up his charisma from him😭

Deuce

grew up with 80s movies, he thinks every that happens in those movies are true stories

he was always presented with old gadgets to 'fix' so its now something he can do pretty well; restoring old devices

the kids his age thought he was like wayyy too old fashioned, like born in the wrong generation

bike kid. if he wasnt inside he was on wheels

he kept a barbie doll in his bike basket and always made sure she wore her helmet (she was the bike guard)

slept with eggs and held them in his hands hoping to hatch a baby chick

thinks teachers live at the school

super sweet child. he's the first at the other kids' side if they got hurt

at the same time he is the biter kid. especially on fathers day

loves reading stories with grandma. whenever she came over, he would bring her a book

he'd also stick around the kitchen and try to see what she was doing. he thought that maybe he could learn to cook a few things by himself so they had more time together

in times like these he would be internally angry at his father because?? grandma is always working, mum is always working, fuck that guy specifically.

easter is his favourite holiday. his family have a tradition of egg painting and deuce used to hide caramel candies in them because grandma liked them

best helper kid around. will hold the dustpans and stuff while Dilah was sweeping

knew the names of all the trucks his mum drove and also a lot of the mechanical part names

had a habit of accidentally breaking things like clocks so he learned quickly how to fix them back up

his grandma takes him shopping for stamps so deuce can send mail to his house, addressed to his mum

Leona

parkour child

bounced all around the palace, climbing the trees outside and everything. gotta keep those claws sharp

before his father fell ill, the kingscholar family used to have lil picnics with Kifaji outside

without fail, leona would always find the highest seat or a nice sun rock to rest upon

unconsciously, even now, leona finds immense comfort in sun rocks

followed his brother around everywhere

when he couldn't catch up, Falena would give him piggy back rides while he was going about his day

asked him many questions bc hes curious about the world

would ask him difficult questions he already knew the answer to just to see Falena struggle lol

whenever tiny leona got tuckered out, his brother would carry him back to bed in lieu of the servants

leona insisted on sitting in the conference room with his dad to gain insight on how kingdom affairs were run

papa kingscholar agreed since it would be good exposure for them, and leona was the one who took notes, Falena would point out the participants at the table and quietly introduce them to leona

ruined the lives of people he played chess with. imagine being bested by a nine year old in chess. the shame.

after Falena got married, leona shifted his studies from maintaining amicable kingdom relationships to medicinal research and ancient curses

the palace staff thought it was out of malice, but leona wanted to focus more on the properties of magic now

(and also, well, based on the new target on his brother, his new sister-in-law, and his nephew, there can never be too many precautions..)

even when he was a tiny child he did whatever he fancied

his servants may have told him that tending to a servant's hair was below his stature but that only made him sneakier when making tiny braids in Kifaji's hair

git gud g

Ruggie

another crafty child

aye, when it depends on your survival, you learn to use those legs of yours to run like the wind

even worse he was a small ass child so he was hard to find

snuck into schools and pretended he could talk to ghosts and charged the kids a quarter to talk to a ghost for them

mental math god. from multiplication to geometry and time, ruggie knows the most efficient ways to get the job done, as well as a few backup plans

would sew up little felt dolls for his neighbourhood friends

left the house to do a bunch of odd jobs and picked up quite a few languages, which meant even more jobs all around, and now he has some pretty unique talents

like, he can preform acrobat tricks! and he can also paint a house upside down. oh, and he can travel quickly on one foot! (don't ask)

oh yeah, ruggie had a huge slime stand

he would make so much slime and sell it off and it made mad bucks but he also absolutely hated slime. what a good waste of detergent and glue, honestly... >:(

and people wanted them different colours and with charms and the like. at least it was a thriving market, but ruggie cannot stand the sight of slime ever since he retired from the slime scene

really liked rubiks cubes because it was like painting a little puzzle. also, when the children got bored of it, they would try to detach the squares and put them on the faces they desired

it was so funny to watch because they will use the oddest tools and tricks to dislodge the squares (like tying a shoelace around a square and trying to tug it off like you do with baby teeth)

ruggie also made lots of origami as seasonal decor :D his grandma really like the flowers and birds he would fashion

this IS canon but i want you to know that he would take the neighbourhood kids and rotate the group around houses in different costumes to get more halloween candy. everyone stan ruggie

Jack

he has younger siblings so his sense of justice was in his personality wayy back then

got to be an exemplar big bro for them💪

whenever they were playing castle, jack was always the princess because his sister wanted to be the heroic knight

if you asked jack, he would say that his sister only wanted to be the knight as an excuse to beat the shit out of his brother

wanted piercings but couldnt get them pierced so his sister gave him sticker earrings

they did not work nor stick very well but he loved him

let his siblings bite him, it seems to be their preferred mode of affection

sometimes they will wordlessly enter his room just to bite him and chill

often had playdates with vil when he was home

jack still doesn't quite know what the difference was between all these water brands vil was showing him but the spirit is there

oftentimes vil was alone in the house so the two played grown up and cooked by themselves

vil had told his dad that they were married because jack would come over and had sleepovers a lot

jack has a big green thumb. he wanted to plant a garden but he started with succulents first because they are notoriously hard to kill

by now he's ready to advance but every time he goes to get different plants, he comes back with more succulents haha

the plants under jack's care are happy enough to bloom flowers, and he gives them to his mama

if vil learned a spell, he would teach jack and vice versa. the BIGGEST supporters of each other. friendship is magic, guys

the first time they learned colour changing spells was an entire mess and vil was bawling in a panic by the end of it because they dyed Eric Venue's favourite couch bright blue and didn't know how to reverse it

jack wanted to call vil's dad to tell him but he ended up calling the wrong number and thought they were in trouble so he ended up bawling too

whenever vil wasn't in the class, no doubt jack is going to question his whereabouts

oddly, jack and neige have never interacted and only found out about vil being their mutual friend well into their teen years

Azul

like ruggie, was a master hider

unless he wants to be found, you will never find him

learned how to read earlier than kids his age because he wanted to prove he could spell big words to his mama

he may have cried a lot as a kid but do you know what that means? FREE black paint!! SUCK IT, PLEBS.

my boy was an astounding artiste, its why hes so creative with getting his way

azul is a visual learner, and always finished books a little slower because he REALLY analyzes all the pictures like downright dissects it

his grandma suggested art as a way to express himself while also making sense of the world around him

even though he thinks his old drawing of him and the twins is outdated in terms of his skill level now, he has a sentimental attachment to it and keeps it in his room always

trading trinkets was a common thing between the trio aka the twins would pop by

mama ashengrotto adored the twins bc they adored azul('s mom that is)

also inherited a beautiful singing voice from mama ashengrotto. he and his grandma would bond by playing the piano and singing. sometimes, they'd do a little show at his mom's restaurant

red hair was seen as very attractive in the coral sea and he very regrettably colour-magicked his hair

it was not the shade he wanted, but he was curious on what was, so with the many complex spells he learned at his age, he experimented with different lengths, colours, and styles until he restored it back to its original form

there remains one surviving picture of his red hair and it is kept in his stepdad's wallet (because its the only place azul wouldn't look!)

no azul is not aware pictures of his redhead era even exist

Jade

loved to weave necklaces and bracelets using shells and plants

gave a lot of necklaces made of sharks teeth to his family and azul because those are valued good luck charms!

it might also be because he loved to hunt sharks but he pretends thats not the reason :)

wandered off all the time and floyd always had to drag him back home before night

hes a curious boy, wanted to explore everything around him, especially the dangerous places

child leashes don't work in the sea but im sure mama and papa leech would have loved to have one anyway

was the main reason why he and his brother have separate rooms

too many petty "stop leaving your mess on my side (of the room)" and hissy fights had mama and papa leech mad

things definitely settled after they had separate rooms

sometimes if he got into trouble he would pretend he was floyd and sent his parents off to look for "jade"

highkey never worked but it never stopped him from trying

started a new method of using tears and his parents were more lenient with him after so he realized he can get away with things if he shed a few tears

he can cry on command and this is his primary weapon if scaring people off didnt work

will then pin it on the other party as if he didn't enable the fight

straight up told floyd lies growing up, that the pufferfish would crawl inside his ears when he sleeps, or that floyd was 'allergic' to seahorses, or that in order to get an angler mer to go away, floyd had to use bioluminescence

this carried over to land as well except jade didnt know whether his words were true or not he just straight up made things up

was also a very very sickly child. got ill extremely easily and is much more sensitive to temperature or water pressure changes

esp during pollen season? jade is gonna lose those lungs he just acquired from sneezing and coughing

Floyd

grade A hoarder

he sees something he likes? he's bringing it back home

unlike at NRC, the twins have separate rooms so the entire space is filled with a bunch of floyd's knickknacks (its why jade is always mad)

as soon as hes done playing with one he's found something else on his swims so his room is 80% things lying around

and when jade stole said knickknacks claiming it was his turn to play thats when floyd suddenly claimed that mermaid doll (that he highkey forgot existed) was his prized possession

back off jade thats his property😡

when he was younger, he loved looking and behaving exactly like jade, but as he got older he valued being his own person instead of an X2

is actually legitimately the older sibling by a few minutes and deliberately decides whether its his privilege or not whenever he can

but as soon as "because you're the oldest" is said he claims that none of them are older because they were born on the same day

to the outsider, it sounds like floyd is feeding jade a heap load of bs, but he likes gathering trivia and wording it so it *sounds* fake but really isnt

like that seahorses give birth via baby explosion

one exception to this rule is that floyd is constantly changing the story of how he met jade

one instance it was that they found each other, another was that some kid kept begging him for food and that later their mom said that was his sibling, other times, jade had allegedly died before floyd used his awesome magic to revive him

most of the time floyd tells jade that a whale shat him out and whatever came out of it looked so deformed and floyd thought jade was so soppy pathetic (in a cute way) so he brought him home

jade never tries to refute nor confirm any of these allegations but when the last story gets told he's always a little more passive aggressive with floyd that day

Kalim

sickly victorian child #2

its from all the poison attempts

and as a result he may or may not have tried mithraism so maybe its worse than we think😭

allergic as hell to bug bites too like someone please give them a electric racket

hide and seek is banned from the Asim household

at that point in his life, kalim had a good 6-7 siblings and letting them loose in a big household AND telling them to hide is a recipe for disaster

it was almost impossible for him to get in trouble too because no one was about to scold the heir of the house

workers of the Asim palace were absolutely not going to scold him and his parents had like fourteen other more rambunctious younger children

but don't be fooled, kalim is a very good seeker when it matters! he can spend hours focused on finding something important, so those hide and seek games were banned for a VERY good reason when kalim was out at night searching and didn't return the next morning (meaning he got childnapped)

oh, whats a little kidnapping but a minor setback? hes fine and in one piece, the doctor triple-checked! anyways, who's ready for another round of hide and seek??

every now and then, kalim falls victim to the good ole' midnight hour and kitchen scissors hair disaster. no, no one learns

the birds and random animals in the Asim park (that's right, his private park..) all have names and kalim visits them often to befriend them

he's learned around a total of eight languages and he will personally translate (with jamil as the scribe) his own books so he can teach his younger siblings

even remembers all their favourite hobbies, genres, activities, etc, etc

the Asim children all have one thing in common and that is their love for bubbles, but who doesn't?

kalim spends time in the nrc lab to create the perfect bubble solution with big, long lasting bubbles. trust.

remembers faces, names, and even birthdays very well. you can always bet on kalim to wish a servant or one of his tutors a happy birthday!

to kalim, having someone know your name and be happy to see you is very important! so he wants his loved ones, guests, and servants to feel appreciated, especially on their very special days :)

Jamil

has the immune system of god he has survived all of the flu seasons without catching it himself

he and kalim played in the bird houses often

taught the parrots a bunch of silly words and phrases

Najima taught one of the parrots to only refer to jamil as 'stinky'

he and Najima claim they look nothing alike even though kalim and everyone else insists its true

the two siblings fought over particular hairbands while sitting next to an entire selection of them💀

Najima loved to fight over things that jamil wanted first just for the victory

yeah, even in childhood jamil never got a break. as if the universe would give him that

we all heard the silly goofy story of jamil shuffling around under a vase thinking he was all sneaky and shit. he has many more stories like this

such as climbing in trees (he only got stuck twice!), wrapping himself in cloth and slithering on the ground (very conspicuous!!), again, draping himself in fabric and trying to blend in with the walls (with a 50% chance of success) etc, etc.

he is SO good at hiding and has so many secret spots around Asim palace, trust him.

Najima?? literally sent him a picture of curry for his birthday to celebrate. the two constantly send each other a bunch of pictures of random rocks, disfigured trash, and all sorts of unsavory things with the caption 'look its you'

while other servants were renovating Asim palace, they told the kids not to run around, because someone could crack their head if they fell off the ladder/the ladder fell on them

so, like the curious kids they were, jamil, Najima, kalim, and a few of his siblings camped around the construction zone waiting for someone's skull to break

its just morbid curiosity, they weren't wishing ill upon anyone

Vil

'don't carry me! i can walk by myself!' but in a way to convince his dad to pick him up

loved being carried around but would never admit to it

partook in many sweets as a kid even though he limits himself now

had a tradition with neige to make hot chocolate every thursday after school. in the warmer seasons, they switched to making their own fruit juice with the blender

from whole kiwis, to sweet potatoes, and ginger roots, it evolved to throwing random things in the machine to see what kind of funky juice would be made

our dear Eric Venue thinks this is so cute he has no problem with it as long as they dont waste food and clean up after. it would be a good habit to learn

plus vil looks so happy because he thinks operating a blender is such a grown up thing to do

1000% ate things he wasn't supposed to

the lipsmacker smelled so good though :(

when he failed a spelling bee and didnt want his papa to be disappointed in him the most logical thing in his seven year old mind was to eat the test

ripped it up and munch munched on the paper

and that had been his primary solution to bad grades until he was able to get in a good study technique (that, and his stomach rejecting the paper)

HORRENDOUS handwriting and it was because he tried to trick himself into being left-handed for a good portion of his life because the Beautiful Queen was left-handed >:(

also had trouble with enunciation from learning very big words. Eric can understand him but a bit of speech therapy and musical training helped

(if you're lucky, you'll still hear hints of it when vil's extremely sleepy)

often made friendship bracelets with, like, no one to give them to

traded a few with jack because vil taught him how to make them. jack thought that they would be a nice thing to give to the rest of his family, and made a few for vil in exchange

Rook

you think him crawling around on the dirt was a recent thing? hell no this was a learned childhood behaviour

he may not have had a bow back then but he had rocks and a will to play

and by will to play i mean he would pelt a lot of things with rocks

his old teachers had to placate him by teaching him how to skip stones on the lake for every one else's safety

only members of his own family were willing to play hide and seek with him

mostly because he is a terrifying seeker. you hide in the bushes and not two seconds later you hear those loud ass military grade boots stomping in your direction

ik no one wanted to play hide & seek with his ass. he only got worse after he developed his unique magic

helped paint his family's nails bc he had such a precise hand

its probably the nail polish fumes that made him this way. among 10 million other things

you know how kids would give each other cards and lolipops on valentines day?

well, on heart's day, rook would have drawn a picture of all his recipients and attach a cool leaf or flower to it

its very adorable and extremely thought out. his old recipients still think of him to this day (real)

rook had very nice penmanship even at a young age. he started by replicating his fathers handwriting and liked the flow of cursive and flair of a signature (rook has made a lot of personal signatures for himself)

had a wax stamp phase where he would dry out and collect a bunch of flowers and presses to make wax stamps

he still is crazy about wax stamps but now he can carve his OWN presses with his OWN knife 👍👍

made homemade twisttube videos at home with his siblings. they range from movie scene recreations, lip sync videos, or full on original scripts

be assured that the costumes, lighting, acting, and editing were rather top tier for their age, and it is because rook's family is exuberant like him (all cutie pies!!)

Epel

mud pie maker

he and the chickens in his village go wayyy back

didn't need animal linguistics to understand the clucks

uhh hey did anyone else have the experience of having pet chickens and then having them disappear and reappear on the dinner table??

im not saying it happened but im also not saying it didn't happen

he does brush his hair. the only reason he hates it when vil brushes his hair is that he feels like his scalp is getting scraped off

the only way to get epel to bathe was to use those three-in-ones because he would never sit still

those children that get dirty thirty minutes after you bathe them. sigh

overlined his lips with his ma's lipstick because ma used it to look nice before going to sell their produce, and epel wanted to help with sales this time. you can probably guess what happened after

the dislike for cosmetics is lifelong

(he did apologize by picking a handful of dandelions for his ma)

adrenaline junkie through and through. as soon as his legs were long enough to touch the pedal, he'd be operating the forklifts and in no way was it safe or responsible

fed the birds with seeds meant for their garden. they were hungry :(

fiddled around with the stray instruments on rainy days, now he can play in perfect harmony during celebrations with his relatives

epel has perfect pitch. destined for pomefiore all along <3

epel did not fear bees. he has potential for being a beekeeper but he didn't want to wear the bee suit

learned how to read and write very early in because he wanted to help out around the village. epel put checkmarks to confirm shipments and things

a bunch of his drawings are hung around the home

'helped' his grandma Marja knit by using the needle to stab the ball of yarn she needs to hand it to her

Idia

banning him from anything was impossible

locking your kids away from the cookie jar would work for anyone but idia. and not for the spiteful reason you think

makes him want to do it more because its interesting enough to stimulate his genius little brain

at that point he doesn't even want the cookie anymore

doing mental gymnastics to exploit loopholes. having a remote controlled airplane fetch him a cookie isn't going against his parents' word because technically he never touched the jar at all

which leads to extremely specific rules established in the shroud household

some notable ones include "severed limbs are only allowed in the staff freezers on halloween" and "no hacking the automated showers to chase down staff member C for thinking Premo are cuter than ortho"

his minecraft boyfriend broke up with him after they built their house together

it doesnt end there though, it never does. ortho took control of the pc to burn down the house and idia also got them banned. never underestimate the rage and revenge spirit of a child scorned

you know that thing about a devil and an angel on the shoulders? well, ortho was 90% the enabler for Bad Behaviour

and mostly because if idia was thinking of doing something, chances are, ortho was already doing said something

the S.T.Y.X staff often with the brothers were usually roped into playing video games and were happy to listen to whatever the boys felt like talking about

idia would bring new inventions to them and play a guessing game of what they think the function was

ortho stunk really bad at building things from scratch, but he was pretty good at memorizing the names of the parts to help idia

idia would ask the staff to take them to the observatory often. they would learn all about the constellations and idia liked to chart how they changed through the seasons

Ortho

his parents mostly had him because idia always got too creative when he was bored and thought having a new baby in the family would help idia fix up his behaviour, you know, be a good role model for ortho and all

... turns out, ortho would be pulling idia into all sorts of mischief. and worst of all, he ALWAYS GOT AWAY WITH IT.

he is tiny but mighty

lots of attitude in this little body

his favourite word was 'why'

him and idia had new nicknames for each other all the time

some of the time they were just kid things, most of the time they were a prize

whoever clears the extreme level with the highest score gets to make the other call him a nickname of their choosing

his received nicknames included such like "cosmic warrior", "lord of the shadow realm", and "the almighty" (when he beats idia's high score... after 5 losses in a row that is)

has no problem hacking the main S.T.Y.X system then blaming it on the employees for having weak security (some bs like 'im six and managed to break into the most secure network')

im sorry but i can't deny it. yes, ortho is an ipad kid and yes his ipad was disgusting

except ortho actually does listen to cyber security and he didn't have the passcode lock, he had the password lock, and it was changed every other week

(idia has accidentally locked the ipad on several occasions trying to guess the overly complicated password)

insane attachment in the sense that he will make up some bs reason (AND a forged research paper to further solidify it) on why he can't be separated from idia

if he were actually surrounded by children his age, just know ortho would've been the biter kid

weaponizes his cuteness just like jade but in a more ^^🌸 way

in these cases he will only refer to himself in third person because it pulls the most heartstrings

tugging on idias sleeves and telling him "ortho wants a cookie" had yielded better results for him than "i want a cookie"

and ortho is nothing if not a very smart boy

Malleus

fully believed that eating the seeds of watermelons would cause one to grow in your stomach

grandma Malificia found it too funny to correct him and to this day malleus still believes it

1/2 contributor to lilia's hairstyle. whenever lilia tried to make him take his bath he would spit fire

(until lilia let him play with the bubbles that was)

when he was a little kid and knew he was in trouble, he would hide in all sorts of places and pout

except he sucked at it. his hiding skill was between "if i dont see you, you cant see me", or his tail would be poking out behind the couches

usually the servants would turn the other way unless it was an emergency. because if malleus was found by anyone but the Queen or lilia, he'd have a toddler tantrum (he thinks they gave up on him)

spent most of his early days finding comfy nesting places or hunting for shiny things. there was nothing but Instinct in his little noggin until he could transform into a bi-pedal form

every day, without fail, he would get his horns stuck in something and throw a fit over it

testiest kid to ever test. when you tell mal he can't do something he'll do it bc he wants to understand why he can't do it

wanted to help grow the roses in his garden faster by summoning a thunderstorm that lasted three days and three nights

whatever tantrums you think malleus throws now are the most mild ones in his entire life

a younger malleus would summon entire hurricanes unknowingly and he would screech and babble in old fae tongue

a non-briar valley resident could easily mistake this for a demon summoning, but this is a normal tuesday in the palace

TRUST, malleus' temper is the tamest ever in the entire draconia lineage

the palace staff actually thank the witch of thorns for her mercy because this tantrum only burnt the entire east wing of the castle to the ground. the young prince is so tame !!

Lilia

straight out of a horror movie, this one

has the long dark hair and only wore long white dresses to really complete the look

loves walking around bare foot to connect with nature. that dress will be smeared with mud, fur, and berry juice (that were always red or purple tones, to everyones horror)

you all have lilia to thank for the inspiration to this horror trope

im talking wandering around in the dark, glowing magenta eyes, which appear red at times

sits SO still when its story time and the story is ancient curses and tomes

was also the kid that claimed they had a ghost friend and that his peers were being mean to "billy"

and no his family was probably the exact same way tbh

the fae are sturdy and lilia went without supervision for days

its quite a normal thing in his household

lilia would be fighting real ass ghosts in diapers and his mom would be cheering him on

the streaks are not from a goth phase but it was more of a 'the fruit juice in cranberries make really nice paint did you know??'

he also really loves tomato juice and it happens to be pretty too, so, why not?

it was originally red streaks but faded and he liked the pink better

one day he packed his bags and told his parents he was going to live in the afterglow savanna and his mom straight up joined him in packing

i like to believe that lilia did have edible food as a child but the army just ruined his tastebuds for Ever bc at that point, food was only a substance needed to live, it didn't have to be enjoyable

yeah, anyway it would be super funny if lilia's parents were good chefs, but lilia legit cannot tell the different between salt, flour, and white glitter

lilia was scooped up by Malificia mostly for his skill but it really turned out to be a glorified playdate for Meleanor

the princess was a mENACE and lilia could take her thunderbolts a bit better than the rest of her servants

(meaning that lilia was the only one that wouldn't be screaming bloody murder, he just would be hella mad and Meleanor thinks his audacity is funny)

Silver

lilias method of feeding him was waterboarding him with milk and that does not come without consequences

although lilia would go out often, its safe to say that silver was never really 'alone'

lilia would have a magical beacon on him at all times even if mal was babysitting, and he appreciates that the wildlife took a liking to silver

speaking of, silver had no concept of stranger danger no matter how much lilia told him so

every time malleus would come over silver would ask him to play murder mystery with his dolls

his first word was an attempt at malleus' name

they played together a lot it was really inevitable

helps worms and snails when it rains by helping them get under tree stumps or grass

played with axes & garden shears (thanks lilia)

2/2 contributor to lilia's hairstyle. and by that i mean he gave lilia a haircut with garden shears (that lilia fully encouraged so silver could 'build his repertoire of skills')

at this point lilias hair length was more of a liability since his sons loved to tug on it and one had a penchant for burning it

take your eyes off silver for one second and he's gone. he saw an ant, a bird, a cool statue, etc etc

loved all the fairytales lilia read him and always asked to be read the ones where true love reigned

him and malleus ran off together (more like mal whisked silver away) everywhere to play and explore

mal loved to show silver the most random things and he would always speak to him like a grown up

would often protest at the end of the day because he didn't want to part ways with him

their earlier conversations looked like mal was listening to silver say something profound even though all silver could do at the time was babble in toddler language with the occasional 'tar-tar' (no one knows what this is but malleus insists that silver is telling him he's hungry)

Sebek

beat the shit out of rocks with sticks

in the colder seasons, and and silver would find rocks or big ice pieces to smash on the ground

poor dude grew up confused as heck. lilia tells him lots of things, and he goes home and his parents tell him a different thing

complained about going to the dentist so much that now silver knows so much about the teeth structure of fae

his siblings love him so much, they're always doting on him and pinching his cheeks and that's why his smiles are so big and nice (real)

refused to eat anything on a fork. he hated the taste of metal

much preferred to use chopsticks. learned because he was a Big Boy now (he is one) and can help himself!!!!

unexplainable hatred for felt fabric. he used to melt all of his felt puppets in the water

him and silver dug a hole in lilia's backyard thinking they could make it to the shaftlands

they didn't make it to the shaftlands, but they dug too close to the river, so the hole filled up with water

and while silver panicked, sebek straight up burst into tears thinking the hole was going to drain the river

also burst into tears one halloween where lilia was dressed up and claimed he was the river spirit and didn't know anyone named sebek

ate a dog treat at some point but silver and malleus also joined him (not before malleus trolled sebek by saying he's going to turn into a dog now)

sebek was so distressed that he dragged malleus into it that he questioned his entire life because he loved playing with sticks. did he eat a dog treat earlier in his life???

when questioned, sebek told silver he didn't need to worry about the dog treat because he already drank milk like a puppy anyways (referencing the milk waterboarding, of course)

anyways, this incident ended in a stick-sword fight and malleus got a bonk on the head from lilia for his instigating

this is where sebek learned it btw. silver developed a thick skull because sebek is ALWAYS bonking him on the head for not knowing things he deems 'everyone should know'

taglist (let me know if you want to be added): @bigmoose1964

[scoopsahoy]

birthday boy

ぺ  word count ⋰ 1.2k

✰  tw ⋰ none :)

❍  cw ⋰ swearing, sex + fingering

៚  a/n ⋰ yes i came back from the trenches to post a fic about steve for joe's birthday. and what about it

✐  masterlist

⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★

April 24th. The 115th day of the year had many celebrations including National Pigs in a Blanket Day, but the most important one to you was the birthday of your boyfriend, Steve. The two of you hadn't been together long, just about a year. But you knew him pretty well at this point.

You knew what he liked and what he disliked, and you knew how he liked to celebrate important events, like birthdays.

So you invited all of his friends, including Robin, Dustin, and the rest of The Party. You baked him a regular chocolate cake at his request. You rented Back to the Future, as he didn't really get to see it properly the first time. All in all, he had one of the most fun birthdays he'd had in a long time.

But his real gift didn't start until after the guests left.

You stared in the bathroom mirror at yourself, all dolled up in a new lingerie set that you bought specifically for tonight. It was a deep purple, black lace lining the edges of both the bra and underwear. The bra was just a normal bra, but the underwear tied on both sides like bikini bottoms for easy removal.

You hadn't had the opportunity for intimacy for a few weeks, as you'd been incredibly busy with work trying to save up extra money. But tonight it was just the two of you in his empty house.

When you walked to his room, he was sitting in his bed propped up against the headboard, rereading the card you got him with a small smile on his face. You leaned against the doorframe, trying to be as sexy as possible.

"Thank you for tonight," he said, looking up as he began his next sentence. "It was really-"

When he finally did look at you, his eyes grew so large you swore they were going to pop out of his head like a cartoon. You'd never worn lingerie before, as it wasn't really your thing.

But seeing the look on his face made you realize that this will probably become a recurring thing.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sitting up a bit.

"Oh, nothing. I just thought, since it's your birthday, I'd... do a little something extra."

You stepped into the room and closed the door, locking it behind you just in case. You slowly strutted over to the bed, his hand instinctively raising to meet your hip.

"You like?" you asked in an innocent voice.

"Hate it. Take it off," he joked. You couldn't hold in your chuckle as you swung your leg over his lap and positioned yourself on top of him.

Now both of his hands were on your waist, wrapping around you firmly.

"It's your birthday, you have to open the gift."

He looked at you with his brows raised. You weren't usually the perpetrator of dirty talk, so this came as a bit of a surprise to him. But he didn't hesitate to reach up and unhook your bra, freeing you from the constricting material.

His lips were on your chest and your bodies were connected before the garment even hit the floor, a satisfied sigh escaping your mouth as your hands found his shoulders.

As he reached down to your left hip to untie one of the sides of your underwear, you stopped him.

"Now you know you don't get to take those off until you've taken something off yourself."

You could have sworn that his shirt was off in less than a second. You knew he was eager to finally fuck you again, and so were you. Every fiber of your being wanted one thing — him inside of you.

His hands untied both sides of your underwear at once, throwing it to the floor on top of the rest of the discarded clothes.

Part of you wanted to make this as slow and sexy as possible, but a bigger part of you just wanted to get to it as fast as you could.

He wrapped one arm all the way around you and flipped you onto your back, his hips settling between your thighs.

"Steve," you breathed. "Take your pants off."

With zero hesitation he did what you commanded. Within less than twenty seconds, both of you were fully naked, aside from a condom.

His right hand reached down and his fingers began circling your clit, a low hum filling the room. It was the first time you'd had any stimulation there in forever, so you knew it wasn't going to take you long to cum.

"I missed you," he said into your neck. "I feel like we haven't seen each other in forever."

"I know. I missed you, too."

Without another word, you felt him slip into you, and you both gasped. You pulled his lips to yours and kissed him deeply as he picked up a steady rhythm.

"You feel so good," he said into your mouth, being met with an 'mhm'.

You raised your legs a bit and pressed them into his sides, allowing him to go deeper than a moment ago. And, noticing this, he snaked his arms behind your knees and pushed your legs higher, almost to your shoulders.

This was new for you — being this bent. But it felt amazing. And you couldn't hold back the moans that immediately got significantly louder.

"Fuck, Steve."

"Is that okay?"

You nodded frantically. "So good."

With that verbal approval, he sped up again. His lips once again attached themselves to your neck, sucking on that oh-so-tender spot that he knew you loved.

As he fucked you, the sounds that came out of you only got louder and more guttural, as this position brought a whole host of new sensations. You were convinced that your g-spot was nonfunctional up until this point, but this angle made you realize how wrong you were.

Every single thrust brushed across it in the exact way that you needed to feel something from it, and you could have sworn you grew it overnight.

Your hands gripped his biceps tightly and your eyes widened as he made eye contact with you.

"Steve, I'm not gonna last much longer."

The couple of weeks of no intimacy really did make a difference, more so than either of you expected.

"Good, me either."

It was less than thirty seconds later that you were probably able to be heard from outside as you came, his fingers on your clit not helping you keep your volume down in the slightest.

Neither of you moved for a good ten seconds. Your legs were back down at their normal position. His face was buried where your neck and shoulder meet and you kissed the side of his head, rubbing your hands up and down his sides.

"Happy birthday," you whispered. He lifted his head and looked at you with a dorky tired smile and kissed you.

"Best birthday ever. I love you."

"I love you, too."

"So... I think you should take me with you next time you go lingerie shopping."

"Well, now, that would ruin the surprise of it, wouldn't it?"

[raainberry]

Corrupt Kisses

« silly series - 12 »

synopsis - is corruption really a crime if it’s Sana’s kisses?

wordcount - 725

A/N - finally fought back writers block, we cheered🥳 (i am losing)

You never found your name special until you heard Sana say it. There was something behind the way she sounded it out; a feeling, a meaning. It felt as though it meant something to her. Something bigger than you could ever understand.

You knew it had something to do with the obvious love and affection she felt for you, yet you couldn’t quite tell the reason. Why she felt this way about you was beyond you, but you’d be a fool not to accept it.

You just hoped her love ran as deep as yours did for her, and it seemed like it. Especially when she left those sweet, soft kisses all over your face for whatever reason.

The small glimpses of happiness you caught on her glowing features felt unreal. Your heart fluttered at the sight every time, confused and unable to process how such beauty was reserved for you and only you.

That feeling, along with the overwhelming amount of love pouring out of her lips in those moments, often made you dizzy. The only thing you could grasp and distinguish was her giggles, her voice as she teased you about how you loved it despite all your grimacing and whining.

“Y/n…” Sana sung, dodging your hands and arms as you tried to push her love away. She managed to steal a few kisses here and there, weakening your defense, but you held up.

All those kisses were all fun and games until she used them against you, baiting and bribing you on the regular over harmless and ridiculous tasks. Last time she did, you found yourself carrying her home on your back for several blocks. She was well aware of her power, you enjoyed it, but maybe it was time for restrictions…

“Can you please help me?” She whined through giggles as you crossed your arms over your face. That way she couldn’t numb your common sense with that sweet love of hers.

“You’re so foul, Sana, using my love for your dirty jobs!” You wiped her kisses off your cheeks and she scoffed.

“I am not using you! I’m just asking you to do me a little favor.” She argued, playing with the collar of your shirt.

You sighed, dropping your arms below your nose to peek at her. Her eyes immediately met yours, abandoning the fabric between her fingers in order to put her full focus on that pout you couldn’t say no to.

“That’s the same thing.” You pointed out, taking her aback.

Had she lost her charm? Why didn’t it work? Did you fall out of love? Her thoughts were far from reasonable until she felt your hands cupping her face, lightly squishing her cheeks together and smiling at the sight of her. “Admit it.”

“Only if you actually help me.” She said, still pouting but in an angry way now, letting you know she was set on making you fold.

In a way, you could understand her dedication. She had gotten herself in a bit of trouble by hosting the latest get together with her friends. Her living room was a hot mess, to the point your jaw dropped when you walked in moments ago. You guessed it hasn’t been long since she woke up when you saw her bedhead dragging a trashbag, lazily pulling and grabbing whatever waste was closest to her.

“Last time I helped you it took us hours, I’m not going through this again!” You told her as your mind flashed back to the terrifying memories of that one day (also known as Sana’s birthday morrow).

“But it was different, that was like the whole apartment…”

“That’s not at all why it took us hours.” You reminded her, and a smile creeped on her lips as she remembered the numerous ways you’d gotten side tracked.

“Okay, but it won’t take long if we actually stick to cleaning up.”

“No kisses, no snack breaks, no breather, nothing.” You warned and she shook her head, agreeing to the conditions.

“Only cleaning up, I promise.” She said before stealing a kiss from your lips. “Starting from now.”

You could only blink and stare as she slipped away from your hold, her melodious giggles letting you know how proud she was of herself.

“I can still leave and let you deal with this alone, you know?” You said, trying to erase the blush from her kiss.

“Sure you can, but you won’t.” She smiled, sure of herself.

And she had every reason to be.

[star-girl69]

I NEED MORE OF THE LA RUE FAMILY (Clarisse reader and ivy) PLSSSS ITS SO CUTE 😭😭😭

@voidashh gave me this idea so credits to them i love this little family

synopsis: ivy and y/n comforting clarisse after her spear breaks!!!!!!

basically you and ivy do nothing the entire game

you like hang out in the woods

near enough to clarisse so she’ll hear you if you shout for her

but far enough away so you don’t draw attention

except this particular game clarisse says she’s changing her strategy and you’re like hm ok suspicious…..

so she leaves you by the flag/her siblings protecting the flag

and you and ivy are just having a fun time she’s running around and jumping up and down and you’re like ok girl!!! jump!!!! run!!!!!! do it!!!!!!!!

then you hear the conch blow and you do do do do make your way to the beach and THE BLUE TEAM WON?????

ivy is so pissed off bc red is her favorite color

she’s about to have a tantrum in your arms and then you look at luke and chris and start jokingly yelling at them

“LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE HER BIRTHDAY IS IN 2 MONTHS YOU COULDN’T GIVE HER THIS???”

“THERE WILL BE A CAPTURE THE FLAG GAME IN TWO MONTHS YOU CAN WIN THEN”

“UGH”

so then you go to find clarisse bc you KNOW she’s gonna be mad and ivy loves screaming with her about how STUPID the blue team is and how AMAZING the red team is

but she’s nowhere to be found

and then you overhear someone talking about clarisse, her spear getting broken, percy being claimed

you’re like oh 😱😱😱😱😱

so you and ivy go walking around looking for clarisse and she’s not anywhere near the cabins or in hers or yours and ofc you find her in the training field

she’s beating the crap out of a dummy with some random sword

you’re like stressing and like AGGHJJDHJN

but then ivy just let’s go of your hand and starts running towards her

“CLARISSE CLARISSE THE BLUE TEAM WON IM GOING TO GO INSANE”

she drops the sword in shock and laughs as ivy jumps up into her arms

“I HATE LUKE’S STUPID FACE”

“IVY NO”

“THATS MY GIRL!!!!!”

then ivy kind of realizes OH clarisse is REALLY sad so she’s like “what”

and clarisse is like “it’s nothing” bc she’s a baby and you can’t rly burden her w that

ivy then proceeds to fall asleep

playing is really hard work ok!!!!!

so you go back to your cabin and lay ivy down in bed and then you’re all just like cuddling tg bc it’s cute

and clarisse is telling you about what happened while ivy is asleep in between you

you try to comfort her as best you can but she doesn’t really want to talk about it

she got most of her initial anger out

now she just wants to be sad

which she never gets to do

so you all just take a nice nap together

and clarisse is sad but she has her girls here so it’s okay

like she loves her spear but she would snap it in half on purpose to save you two

also when percy actually found out that ivy is like yours and clarisse’s adopted child he is so SCARED

THERE IS A MINI CLARISSE RUNNING AROUND????

WITH A REGULAR CLARISSE TO PROTECT HER????

IS NO ONE ELSE CONCERNED

ofc ivy over hears the two of you talking in bed so the next day she finds percy and kicks him in the shins

“IVY NO”

“IVY YES”

—-

taglist:

@lvrue @t-wylia @laughingcheese037 @kroumi @urdeadpoet @colezb @rey26 @harmzilla @elliewilliamsbae @amberfreemansburntface @kyuupidwrites @neverwaakeme-up @shark1008 @liballer @heyimadison @nvirskies @pnsteblnme @mar2ss @restellsss @ravisinghs-wife @marsconer @evangelinexo @randomhoex

[effy-writes]

Fizz x Fem! Reader: Happy Day

requested from my friend :D

You and Fizz grew up together, but not in the circus. You were always in the audience and grew fond of him. He always noticed you, and ever since you became a regular he would search for you in the audience.

About age 7 he came up to you after the show and started talking. Getting to know your name, which ring you're from, (he was shocked that you were born in the Lust ring), etc. Eventually you guys would hang out before and after his performances just about every day.

When you guys were 16 he gave you flowers and finally asked you to be his girlfriend.

Blitzo and Barbie always made fun of you two. Barbie found it sweet, saying that Fizz deserves you, but Blitzo was definitely jealous.

The day the fire happened you were hanging out with Fizz in the tent celebrating his birthday. Until this day you believed you should’ve been the one to get injured. Fizz wanted to save your life.

Before the fireworks went off he pushed you far away where only he would get the impact. The sides of your body were in white, but you didn't lose arms or legs like you should've.

The following months was definitely traumatizing for the both of you. You stayed by his side everyday until he got better, and during those times you would always apologize and saying you should be the one in that bed, not him, but Fizz loved you. He wanted to sacrifice himself so you wouldn’t be injured, or even worse killed. He didn’t want to lose you.

Once he got better you tracked down Asmodeus and asked him if he could make Fizz mechanical arms and legs so he would be able to perform again.

Right when Fizz got acclimated to his new arms and legs he went straight away to Mammon to audition, and he was a sensation.

So popular that he got his own sex robots, servant robots, he was the most popular jesters all throughout Hell. You were never jealous, but you were definitely afraid of him getting hurt again.

As years went by you could tell that Mammon has been draining Fizz. You always told your boyfriend that you're worried about him, but he shrugged it off and kept telling you that he's okay. You asked Fizz if he could try working at Ozzie's since you worked there and they were hiring. You hoped that Fizz would stop being underneath Mammon’s wing by him working there, but he was still underneath his wing.

Once Blitzo (now you learned it's Blitz) got into your live’s again you were kinda hesitant, but saw how clearly Fizz needed his best friend back. It did cheer him up a bit, but he was still stressed out about being the perfect clown.

It was that time of the year for Fizz to audition again, and this time you actually put your foot down. You called Blitz to go with you to try to convince Fizz to not do this thing again.

So now the two of you are trying to get Fizz to quit but he didn't.

Until finally the end of the audition he literally said, "I quit."

Ever since then you can see the light back into his eyes. He gained some weight, has a new wardrobe, and is always singing and dancing with you.

"Fizz, I'm tired." You playfully whined as he spins you, "I just want to take a nap with you."

"Oh come on, you don't like dancing with me?" He teased.

You placed your hands on his shoulders as you two swayed left and right. "I love your dancing, and I'm glad youve been happier since Mammon, but I'm SO tired and I really want to take a nap with you." You smiled.

"Okay, okay, fine." He fake pouted.

"How about after this nap we go out to eat at Ozzie's hm?"

"The place where we work at? Let's eat somewhere else."

You climbed on the bed and got underneath the covers. "Like what?"

Fizz laid down beside of you, resting his head on your chest. "How about...Hearts?"

"Sure."

Instead of going to sleep, the two of you kept switching sleeping positions. First you were on your back while he was on his side hugging you, then you turned over to where he was big spoon, then vice versa. The two of you kept laughing whenever the other person would move.

One moment he was on his back while you were in-between his legs with your head resting on his stomach.

Finally you crawled up to where your head was on his chest with him rubbing your back in circles. He looked over at the penis shaped alarm clock and the time read 3:50. He gently shook you.

“Hm?”

“It’s almost 4. Were you wanting that dinner?”

“Yeah.” You mumbled.

“Then get ready.” He shook you a little harder to wake you up.

“Okay, okay fine.” You groaned. “Wanna match our outfits?”

“Of fucking course! Don’t we always?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The two of you picked out your outfits together. He wanted to wear something purple, so you happily obliged, even if you didn’t wanna wear something with that color. You knew it made him happy.

You guys made your way to the restaurant by taking a fancy limo that offers champagne. As you looked over at him you saw him with that big smile of his that you missed for the longest time.

“Do I have champagne on my face?” He wiped his mouth.

“No, silly. I’m just admiring you.”

“Am I that handsome?” He joked.

You snickered, “Very.”

The dinner felt nice for you two. You let him talk about so many things as you listened. Not superficial things, but things that were deep inside of him. You didn’t realize how much he changed before, during, and after Mammon.

The moment you guys got home you got in your pj’s and planted back onto the bed. Fizz pulled you in closer to where he was big spoon.

“I’m so happy to be with you.” You couldn’t help but to smile.

Since he can’t feel your hands he wrapped his tail around your tail to make it like you’re holding hands. “I’m happy too.”

[zexapher]

Art Imitates Life

Had this idea in my back pocket for what must be a few months now, but after Akumu_Oukoku’s wonderful ‘Weiss is silly’ meme,  I thought I’d finally put this one together. That, and I wanted to make a little something to celebrate White Knight’s glorious victory in Ship Wars 8! The hordes of r/fnki well and truly descended upon the tournament, and all the better for White Knight!

I think there were a few folks on the regular sub that hadn’t quite realized just how popular White Knight had become within the community, but fnki itself has turned into something of a fortress for the ship, and the results of the tourney speak for themselves. White Knight really wound up dominating, becoming champion by an overwhelming margin, and with just Lancaster and Nuts & Dolts putting up strong competition in the previous rounds.

I’m impressed, and super stoked. It’s really something special seeing White Knight come out so strong after so many years treated as a pariah, having never before made it past the first round but now becoming the champion. The stars had aligned, really. The final round taking place on Weiss’ birthday, White Knight winning the championship being the perfect gift. Volume 9 had given the ship strong foundations to stand on. We can see that expressed in not only the various memes put out over time, but also in the A-Jaune-da alliance and numerous comments inundating the polls in order to promote the ship. White Knight shippers really had an incredibly strong messaging campaign this tournament, I might say no one else came close, and we always kept it positive. Everyone involved should feel proud.

Now, as for this meme, I chose these six characters (and Weiss) because I found it rather appropriate that they have all to some extent shipped White Knight in canon. Jaune, of course, is an obvious one. The story is littered with examples for him all the way through. Similarly, Weiss has been growing fonder of Jaune throughout the show, but Volume 9 saw her interest revealed in a very pronounced manner. Nora has the most tenuous claim here, having shared few moments with Weiss. However, Nora has a moment in Volume 5 where she teases Weiss about liking Jaune’s nickname, going on to tease the Ice Queen about her thawed heart.

Oscar, of course, gets his absolutely stoked look that he throws at Jaune when Weiss accepts Jaune’s invitation to the movies. Like, Oscar is just so happy for his big bro. Blake has a moment or two over the course of the show, notably her happy little glance between Jaune and Weiss at the Argus reunion, her smug look at the ~mature~ line, and how she perks up at Weiss’ giggle with Jaune about his restored youth. No real surprise there, since Blake is actually Jaune’s offscreen super-secret best friend. Yang herself throws a little dating advice Jaune’s way, and gets her ‘one day’ line, when our boy was down in the dumps following a rejection or two. She points out to Weiss that her harshness rejecting Jaune is the sort of thing that earned her the Ice Queen nickname. And, like Blake, Yang gets her own smug look following the ~mature~ line. Then there’s my most controversial addition to this list, Pyrrha. After all, she did walk Jaune through how to ask Weiss to the dance.

Yes, this was all an excuse for me to make a post about every little scrap from the show suggesting the characters ship White Knight. If anyone can think of any more, feel free to share. Maybe Cindere killing Jaune’s rival love interests, yet her attempts on Weiss’ life seem to have only helped Jaune and Weiss grow closer, hmmm. Well, I hope you all enjoy, I had good fun making it!

[funnyscienceman]

Ok but like WHYY did ubisoft have to insist with the one game a year thing. Why couldnt they let syndicate cook in the oven more. Why do they have THREE queer men in the same game and not do ANYTHING with them!!!

Like yes, yes, i get it, i get wanting to for once make a story in a fun setting where you dont have to think about real life prejudice and hardships and bigotry and just have characters be silly, i love that too. I do! And id be all for that if doing it just didnt waste a potentially banger study of the characters and the setting ;-;

Like god i go back and forth on this constantly. I already love syndicate as it is, i think it's fun and neat and the happy gaming vibes about it is core to its identity, it's just that simultaneous to that, three queer men in the same game!!!

like GOD im still miffed that there are only, like, two or three fics about this, and so far i havent found any discussion or anything of it, but oh my god how different all three of them are from each other. You could do so much just with having any of them in the same room — and they are often enough in the same room (jacob and either ned or roth at a time), but nothing's really done there!

we have roth who sees fcking nothing wrong with getting kids hurt, because he doesnt actually care about anyone or anything, he's just some fucking joker wannabe that yeah, sure, probably has some anger and resentment at society because he's a gay man in his 40s or 50s by now, but jesus fucking christ retaliation against homophobia does not equal rampant needless unproductive violence roth!!!

then we have ned, who — i mean he doesnt ever give his opinion on whether kids deserve any respect or anything but considering in every other department he's pretty much just Some Guy, it'd be fair to assume he also has the extremely average stance of 'dont fcking kill kids and dont blow up buildings for no good reason??' in the grand scheme of the templar-assassin stuff he has just about as much relevance as roth: roth was just the boss of the blighters, ned just finances the fryes by virtue of them working for him. He probably doesnt even know about it, and tbh i dont even know if he'd care??? But like i imagine roth doesnt care in the way of 'as long as you dont get in my way, it's all set dressing,' ned i imagine would be smth like 'are yall fckin serious? are you kidding me rn? i have to skirt around transphobes on a daily basis, now youre telling me there's a secret society on top of that with even worse ideas?? What the fuck???'

like uh, not caring about it as in 'I cant deal with this rn i need a nap'

HE'S JUST AN EXTREMELY REGULAR PERSON (besides the crime lord stuff) IS WHAT IM GETTING AT.

then there's jacob, who's the youngest out of these guys btw, fckin 21 good god he should be at the club not trying to disassemble systemic oppression— ANYWAY

(ned is 27-28 over the course of the game, btw; we dont actually have a solid timeline for anything, just the year, so tbh jacob could've also been 20 and not 21 yet during the game. both he and ned have late birthdays, just a month apart)

so, yknow, being extremely early 20-somethings, both frye twins just take a train to london completely on impulse and dive headfirst into undoing the templars that've had an iron grip over the city for basically as long as they've been alive, yknow, as you do; and throughout the game jacob has to deal with goddamn daddy issues and fighting with his sister and insecurity and trying to be an assassin — and that's a lot for a guy to handle!! Especially one who's still just a couple years out of being a teenager! That's a fucking lot and if the devs are right, then he hasnt even realized that he's bi yet! Not until roth fucking kisses him while jacob's got a knife in his throat for the aforementioned indiscriminate, unproductive violence!

i mean, granted, yeah there were gay undertones during sequence 8, but i have to admit my bias here because i honest to god cannot take those missions seriously. Roth fucking preaches this and that about freedom and whatnot and then im plopped into the mission and it's the most rule-heavy shit ive ever seen in my short life as an assassin's creed player. Like what the hell, those missions were atrocious. Apprently i need to detonate the bombs a specific way, i cant just shoot them from a distance, i have to hold a button crouching down right next to the bombs, and then run the hell away! I have to avoid THIS and THAT while kidnapping xyz! Like there's freddy's apprehend missions and then there's THIS.

at least with ned's missions all you have to do is get the shit and go… i'm still salty that ubisoft cut his questline because they fucking insist on releasing a game a year >:((

my battery's dying. All these guys are different flavors of queer on top of just being pretty different and pretty similar in various ways, and there's just… barely anything about it. Ned especially, since he's just a quest giver whose screentime totals to, like, 2-5 minutes. I just wish they really did more with the setting; not just the queerness and these three specifically, but like, evie, henry, the class conflict — like there are shreds of it, seeds, but there's not much before you kill starrick and credits roll :((

idk. im just gonna refresh ao3 again cjemddjekjx

[nanawritesit]

Yuqi Girlfriend Headcanons!

Regardless of your gender identity, she’ll most likely play the “boyfriend” role in the relationship

She isn’t super romantic or affectionate all the time, but she definitely makes you feel loved by taking care of you

She’s a big acts of service lover, she likes to help with chores, help you go shopping, cook you dinner, etc.

She’ll also occasionally surprise you with a small gifts whether it by flowers, a stuffed animal, or chocolate!

This girl is super strong, so you never have to worry about opening a tight jar 😤

She also kills bugs for you 💀

Yuqi insists on paying for everything while you’re out, claiming that she makes more than enough money to pay for the two of you

Pretty much the only time you get to really spoil her back is her birthday

You cook all her favorite foods for her, including jokbal, hotpot, pickled radish and sweet zongzi 🥰

You also make sweet zongzi whenever she’s feeling homesick

Her favorite gift you’ve ever given her was a huge stuffed corgi that took up the entire corner of her bedroom 💞

Although, she almost cried when you surprised her with a trip to Beijing to see her family 🥹

They were so grateful that they offered you Yuqi’s hand in marriage 💀 (It was a joke but you were ready to put a ring on it 👀)

She was a bit intimidated to talk to you at first because she found you so beautiful (like she did with Miyeon LOL) but due to her outgoing nature, she was able to get over it and approach you

Thank god she did, because now she couldn’t imagine living without you <3

She likes to be called “cutie” :)

She struggled to find a nickname that fit you for a while, but eventually she decided on “cookie” 🥰

You’ll help her reach things on high shelves because her arms are so short 😭

She’s not very good and realizing when she’s working too hard, so you’ll have to be the one to reign her in

She randomly dances around the house ALL the time

You also catch her rapping various lyrics to herself

She really needs something to fill the silence okay 😤

Yuqi really doesn’t like being alone so even if you guys aren’t around each other, she’ll call you to at least hear your voice and check in on you

She’s told you several times that you can literally call her 24/7 and she’ll always pick up for you ❤️

She’s super goofy, so you’ll never be bored with her around. It also makes her really good at cheering you up when you’re sad :)

Her making you listen to Super Junior all the time (I hate them bc they’re so problematic but who am I to disagree with Queen Yuqi)

Her joking that Ryeowook is her “REAL boyfriend” 💀 You’ll literally have to square up with his poster 👊🏻

You guys love teasing each other and getting on each others’ nerves

You go back and forth annoying each other, but it’s all in good fun (she’s really hot when she’s angry too)

She can get you to anything by asking you in her deep, husky voice (She knows it’s your weakness)

Although, you know her weakness as well… if you call her “noona” or “unni,” she’ll be putty in your hand 👀 She usually hates formalities like that but when it’s from you, it gets her going so fast

She’s super outgoing, so she’ll constantly push you to try new things and move out of your comfort zone

There’s no secret you could ever tell her that she wouldn’t keep. She’s super trustworthy and will take it to the grave

While she’s super patient, she can be a little possessive. Especially if she feels threatened by the person who seems to be interested in you

She never gets mad at you, just at the other person

Her expression alone is enough to scare them off though 😳 She can be super scary when she wants to be!

But you don’t notice anything, and just smile at her innocently 😊

Her stealing your clothes on a regular basis

She’s not super into PDA but she does enjoy holding your hand while you walk places together

Speaking of which, one of her favorite activities to do with you is taking walks together. It eventually becomes a daily habit whenever you guys have time!

Behind closed doors however, she’s the biggest cuddle bug :) She’ll cage you in her arms and not let go of you for HOURS while you watch dramas together

Yuqi is 100% a big spoon!

If you rub her neck, shoulders, and back for her after a long day, she might get down on one knee right then and there 💀

In the end, you’re super lucky to have Yuqi as a girlfriend. She always takes such good care of you, never leaves you feeling lonely, and constantly keeps you entertained. She’s so in love with you and wouldn’t have it any other way 🥰

[aquarii-if]

Ellery leans back into his chair, groaning as he stretches his arms above his head.

His eyes move over to the small digital clock on the corner of his desk, a large red 8:30 PM flashes on the black box, causing Ellery to let out a long, tired sigh. He's been working later and later every day of this week. With the human's arrival, the talk of war, and Liviana constantly ten seconds away from popping a blood vessel, Ellery's been swamped.

It doesn't help that Liviana has seemed to forget that he is her personal doctor, not the people's doctor. He isn't supposed to be reviewing regular citizen's medical records. But with this sudden influx of head injuries and psychosis in many Mitans, the other doctors of New Ambus have been having a hard time keeping up, so Liviana put him on the job to help take off some of the workload.

He turns his head to the last pile of papers he needs to complete today, it's a large pile, but it's mostly just him circling the same five symptoms, so he's certain he'll get it done in an hour.

He picks up the large tower of papers and sets it on his desk before taking the one on top to begin working. A few minutes of intense scribbling go by when he is startled by a sudden loud knocking on his door.

"Come in." He calls out, and he is surprised to see Amare sauntering into his office. Amare hates coming by the castle, he always tells Ellery that all of the royal decorations and the posh demeanor of the people who live here remind him too much of his home life. Ellery always called him pretentious for that.

“You’re killing the old tired dad look.” Amare chuckles, earning an amused eye roll from Ellery. “But… what are you still doing here?" Amare closes the door behind him and leans against it, eyes wandering over Ellery's office as he throws his car keys into the air and catches them.

"I'm... working?"

Amare makes a face, shaking his head. "Today? What kind of maniac works on their birthday?"

Ellery pauses for a moment, processing what Amare said. His eyes find the far right end of his computer and he reads the date. 6/29. Indeed, today is his birthday. He had completely forgotten.

“You forgot?” Amare says. “How do you forget your own birthday? I never let anyone forget mine.”

Ellery runs a hand through his hair, pursing his lips. "It's been a busy few months for Liviana, with the human and everything, and I'm sure the JAA has been struggling too. I guess it just slipped my mind."

Amare’s demeanor hardens at the reminder of the newly found demigod, but he quickly shakes his head and walks over to Ellery, switching out his scowl for a mischievous smirk. He grabs Ellery and pulls him out of his chair, and drags him to the door.

"Woah, hey, where are you going? I still have things I need to do! Amare!" Ellery struggles to get his arm out of Amare's tight grip as he is dragged out of his office. Goddamn JAA officers, where the hell do they even find these Mitans with supernatural strength?

"Stuff that you can complete later, Ellie. You’re too young and good looking to lock yourself away in your office all day. Today's about you, so we're gonna do something fun. Date’s entirely on me, I promise." Amare drags Ellery out of the castle and to his expensive bright red car. Ellery shakes his head at the sight of it, Amare is probably one of the only people who still owns a car that drives on the regular roads.

“We’re not dating.” Ellery attempts a deadpan expression, but he can’t hide his smile.

“For now.” Amare finally lets go of him, causing Ellery to stumble due to the lack of support. Amare opens the car door for Ellery, accompanying it with a small courtesy bow. Ellery chuckles, as he sneaks a look back at the castle. He thinks about all of the work he really should be getting done right now, and realistically, he could just tell Amare to go away and get back to work. But...

"Well? We goin' or what?" Amare calls out as he walks over to the driver’s side of the car.

Ellery pushes past the thoughts, while he does feel a little silly taking off work for his birthday, he deserves a break. Ellery turns back to Amare with a smile. "Yeah, let's go." 

[misc-obeyme]

biography & inspiration

Basic Info

Arsenios's main color scheme is grey, purple, and dark red. His name is ancient Greek rather than being an actual demon name. It still has the old sound of a demon name, but otherwise has no associations tied to it. He has light brown skin, long hair that's mostly a deep dark brown but has bright red highlights, and purple eyes with a circle of grey. He has black magic circles tattooed on the backs of his hands. Mostly wears button up shirts that are partly open, varies between jeans and slacks, generally in grey and black with the occasional bit of dark red or purple.

History

In his younger days, Arsenios was the kind of demon who was regularly summoned to the human world by humans who were looking to make pacts in exchange for musical talent. Arsenios would lend them his power, enabling them to play their chosen instrument amazingly well. How they used this talent was up to them. Inevitably, many of them couldn't handle the burden of that talent and died young. Upon the death of each human, Arsenios was freed from the pact he had made. Currently, he has no pacts.

After Lucifer and his brothers fell, Arsenios stopped making pacts. After that, he simply stayed in the Devildom where he works as a local musician. He can play just about any instrument and in any style, so he just does whatever the venue asks him to. He has a handful of other demon friends that play in a band with him, if that's something he needs.

Relationships

Arsenios has been friends with Barbatos for a long time, since before Lucifer and his brothers fell. Back then, Arsenios was still making pacts, but he also worked part time playing the piano at a cafe. This is where Arsenios met Barbatos. They bonded over tea and now they've been friends for some time. Barbatos often invites Arsenios over to the castle for tea.

When RAD was founded, Arsenios had zero interest in attending. He didn't start going until after he stopped making pacts. Barbatos basically talked him into it, explaining to him about Diavolo's vision. Arsenios, who does not like stuff like school or rules or having to wear a uniform, agreed to go as kind of a favor to Barbatos.

Arsenios knows all the brothers and MC, but their relationships vary depending on how his story goes. I'm still deciding if I'm going to write a whole separate story for him or not. (Update: I'm writing it. I mean, who was I kidding by thinking I might not?)

He lets his friends call him Arrie. He likes it when people call him this, but only if he's given them permission.

Random Facts

Arsenios writes music by hand with fountain pens.

He can play all instruments, even ones he's never played before.

He's a TSL fan and once spent years writing scores for the books, only to be disappointed by the official musical versions and the soundtracks for the movies.

He plays the piano at a regular gig at Cafe Lament.

The name of his band is Angel's Temptation.

The drummer of the band is the librarian at RAD.

He's friends with Asmo who he considers a fellow musician.

He sometimes busks in the Devildom streets just for fun.

He chose his own name out of a massive book of names.

He doesn't know who created him.

Considered a very ancient demon, but one of medium power.

Not overly fond of sorcerers in general.

He has a tattoo other than the ones on his hands.

Blames Barbatos for his own tea obsession but really it was there before he even got to know Barb.

A hopeless romantic, but he has a serious side as well as a goofy side. He has many layers.

His birthday is also a time signature (March 4 or 3/4).

He has perfect pitch.

arsenios | masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[knownangels]

jealousy (october prompt)

Benji has always imagined himself a fly on the wall of most conversations. Present, but not in. And still he found them difficult to parse. As if everyone had gotten the script, but Benji showed up one day to be assigned ad-lib improv.

(Fuck if he knew the only reason certain social activities like improv comedy were real activities people did together. Make shit up on the spot to try and get a laugh? He’d rather be hung, frankly. Improv comedy. Pickleball. Microbreweries. Lunch espressos at a co-operative community work space? Things to do because Grace by the cooler said they were fun?)

Asking why, none of those things sound fun at all, would only draw accusations of impoliteness or poor social skills or something worse.

But Benji was really just curious. He wanted to know. Be in on the thing everyone else was, if not to do but just understand. Why this, why that?

He preferred to be the fly, really.

If he got into the weeds, he’d just muck it up per usual. He was prone to misreading a situation; uncomfortably misreading an expression for humored when really it meant, annoyed and following social decorum to not show it. He was prone to, when faced with heavy emotion, ask: wait, are you really angry? are you just joking, or are you really sad?

And of course they were. He just hadn’t been paying enough attention from his spot on the wall.

*

Benji pays attention now. Now, in the brisk early spring, off on a post-bar food run with the rest of the regular miscreants.

He hangs back, to watch. Maran and Xavier walk shoulder to shoulder, arms around necks and heads tilted in the way they do while whispering. Except the two of them gossip loud; voices and laughter rocketing into the night air. They’ve both got the sort of accents that jump. Together, their whooping and laughing remind Benji of a rollercoaster.

To Maran’s right, Lark strolls several paces ahead of the rest. He’s graceful about dodging things on the sidewalk (or the two swaying boys) while texting. Lark’s decent at multitasking, but best when something like texting Matilda was involved.

And Benny, on the far left: he lopes smoothly next to Xavier. He’s just about the only one of them that can properly keep up with the redhead — or cares to try.

When Maran briefly trips, stumbling behind their little chorus line, it’s Benny who loops a finger in the back loop of his jeans and keeps him just-barely upright. Xavier, whose cheeks are blotchy with a few drinks and the cool air, assumes Benny drapes near him for a hug. The four of the nearly go to the pavement in the ensuing tangle of limbs cut from their rhythm.

And Benji sighs, although he feels like laughing. He could spend all night like this: warmed, watching.

“Watch it.” Benji drawls. He sidesteps to narrowly avoid becoming a crash victim. “First day with legs then, lads?”

“Fuck your mum!” Maran pops back first (of course), with genuine cheer. He rights himself, his cheeks also pink despite the fact that he’s got more general color than Xavier. Almost like he’s blushing.

Benji’s eyes snap from his wide grin down — Benny’s still keeping him upright, or using that as an excuse, with a hand on the small of his back.

In what seems like a covert aside only they’re privy to, Benny and Benji lock eyes. Benji raises an eyebrow. Benny sheepishly looks away, but keeps his hand in place.

Benji swears he spots a smirk. His eyes narrow.

“Mar?”

“Yeeeees?”

“Didya know Benny’s birthday was a week or so ago?”

Maran whirls to look at Benny. His expression makes the rest of them laugh in unison.

“No it wasn’t.” He twists again: Benji. “You’re havin’ one.”

“Swear.”

“On your mum or you’ve reached the top of my list, mate, I am properly serious here.”

(Lark blinks, leans towards Xavier. “Sorry, what the fuck are they saying?”

Xavier shakes his head with absent sort of smile. “I don’t know. I’m still learning.”)

Their caravan has stopped moving now. They pause in a half circle with Benny positioned in, what Benji evilly assumes, must be an uncomfortable center.

“I swear, Mar. Ask him.”

Maran does immediately.

Benny’s frosty stare pings between the lot of them and then settles into the night sky. “Jesus, yes. I’m — I’m over the hill as of —“

“No!” Maran wails dramatically. He shakes Benny by the lapels of his ugly Hawaiian shirt. “We weren’t fuckin’ friends two weeks ago!” He kicks and sighs and scuffs his shoe. Benji isn’t sure if it’s genuine or put-on, that show, and loves him all the more for it.

“And here I am, got you fuck-all.”

“It’s okay,” Benji assures to pull them all back on track to his petty revenge. He holds Benny’s eye. “Benson here got nice of lovely gifts. What was your favorite, hey?”

Benny stiffens. He’s quick: he can see where Benji might be moving his chess pieces, and does not fucking like the outcome.

“Um. Actually my a-a-aunt sent me a pair of really nice house slippers—“

“Oh, really?” Benji quirks an eyebrow. “Because.”

Benny lifts both his: please don’t.

“I thought.”

Benny’s nose wrinkles: brace for impact.

“You seemed pretty fond of that DVD set that girl from your O-chem class sent along.”

Nobody else is paying attention to what Maran’s face is doing, except Benji. It goes through quite the same series of expressions. Except unlike Benny, who looks devastatingly embarrassed as Xavier and Lark ooooooh! boyishly at him, Maran looks.

Well.

Maran looks jealous.

“Oh nice.” Maran says. To Benji, it sounds thinner than usual. And not really at all curious when he asks: “What series was it?”

Benny, not looking at him but Benji, grits his teeth. “X-Files.”

Benji whistles. “His favorite.”

“Is it really?” Are the words that leave Maran’s mouth, but what Benji hears him ask is: and she knew that?

“Original packaging too, wasn’t it Ben? Vintage find online?”

Maran’s head whips; Benji and the nickname, Benny and his splutter.

“Wow.” Maran says dully. “Original packaging. Vintage.”

Benji laughs. “Yeah, should seen the number of hearts over i‘s and shit on that cute little birthday card.”

“No way,” Lark interrupts. “That you’re that much of a loser and still getting love notes.”

Benny spins in an awkward circle, making a cartier of faces at first Maran, then Lark, then Benji. He points at the latter, eyes flashing.

Benji smiles back.

“That’s really sweet.” Xavier sniffles.

They all turn to look at him, flummoxed by the emotion in his voice. He wipes a hand under a wet cheek; Benji’s heart lurches painfully in his chest.

“Xavier, buddy?”

Xavier takes Maran’s offered hand, his attention pulled from Benny’s crush and the hurdles his brain must be leaping to rationalize those feelings.

“I’m okay.” He sniffles again, convincing no one.

“Are you?” Lark pats him awkwardly. “You look like you’re gonna puke, dude.”

Maran wiggles back a step or two, clearly unimpressed by the prospect of having sick splatter his trainers.

“Yeah, mate. You sure…?”

“It’s just really sweet. It’s really romantic, and nobody does that anymore. It’s all apps and stuff and bot-slash-never-verse and pay for a few swipes left and, and — nobody wants to hold hands anymore and—“

Xavier leans over and retches.

“Oh!” Maran yelps. He tries to balance rubbing Xavier’s back and standing a safe distance away. “Oh shit, mate. You usually put it away.”

“I think I forgot to eat.” Xavier announces. He stumbles woozily into Benji, who can do nothing but move instinctually. Catch, hold upright. He covertly checks Xavier’s pulse as he slips a long, gangly arm around his own shoulders.

“Alright, someone’s clocked out. You all go on, we’ll take up the rear. Bit of a walk left, Xavier. Have you got it?”

Eyes blearily clouded, Xavier offers a wobbled smile. “Yeah, totally. I can like, maybe walk a whole two miles still for sure. I go to the gym every morning.”

“Oh. ‘Grats then.”

He did not need that mental image. It must show on his face because Benny’s suddenly looks victorious.

As he leads Maran and Lark forward, Benny holds back an arms length to two-finger point his own eyes, then Benji.

“Watch your back.” He hisses. “I’ll get you, bitch.”

And with the way he observes Xavier’s slumped lean into Benji, his face tucked into the top of his head, Benji has no doubt he’ll make good on that threat.

It’s why he preferred being a fly on the wall —once he got himself into it, involved? Well. That was no fucking good.

[naradivision]

“Merry Christmas,

I wasn’t sure of the things you’d like, but I do know your division’s famous for its deer parks, I thought this might be something you can get behind. Have fun with this little guy.

— Makina Setsukura from Akihabara Division (did you know that? I dunno, maybe you do, maybe you don’t)”

Yuuya Kanata chuckled, shaking his head as he set the little notecard down. He lifted the lid to the present that was delivered to him.

Inside was a somewhat firm stuffed animal in the shape of a deer that was almost half the size of his upper body.

At long last when the reddish haired boy had returned to his home after relaying his Christmas presents to another division due to the ‘Secret Santa’ campaign, it seemed like his turn had come to receive some gift from his secret ‘Santa’ too.

Looking at the big deer plushie while softly chuckling, Yuuya picked up the fluffy stuffed animal from the box he found at his doorstep and took it inside his room.

“Here we go, newcomer. Why not befriend Mr. Greenie over there?”

The boy gently placed his stuffed animal gift beside the dinosaur plushie he received from his graduated senior last year, then he recalled his secret Santa’s name.

Makina Setsukura? Oh, that’s the gamer girl whom he and Hi-chan had sent some birthday presents to previous September. Nice to know that she still remembered him even if he didn’t really interact much with her in person. And if he wasn’t mistaken, she was one of those numerous streamers Takane had befriended online.

Takane was the name of his classmate who, in fact, had an alter online-sona known under the name ‘Aozora’ and was actually Makina’s upperclassman at the academy —Only if she knew his true identity. This low-energy friend of his was also happened to be the regular client of Kiyozaki-san as well since he still had some problems with his insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness ongoing from past two years. 

But Yuuya was sure his friend didn’t know that one of his online fellows did turn out to be a resident at his therapist’s place too

—Pfft, internet and coincidence were definitely curious things, weren’t them? 

Suddenly, he felt the intense glare from somewhere behind his back.

“Phew. Is it just you, Ojou-chan?” 

Facing off his intensely staring kitten who was now hiding herself in the empty present box, Yuuya gave out a sigh of relief. He was never good with the spooky kind of stuff and that made him wonder how those two streamers could have fun playing some hair-raising horror games even in the middle of night.

“I’m afraid this unfortunately isn’t your new toy. I just got this from one of my friends out there. Uh, so, no scratch on this one please?”

“Meowwrrr.”

“Okay, okay. Aren’t you satisfied with the new toy I got for you last week? Fine, want me to add some more scratching posts to your house?”

“Meowwwrrrrr.”

“This isn’t it? Eh... Then what else can I do…”

Slightly tilting his head as if using his thought, he soon followed the direction of her stare and finally understood why his petite kitten was glared daggers at him.

“—Wait, are you looking at this thing? Hi-chan had made it for me and everyone in the team, so don’t worry, it can neither hurt you nor me.” 

He picked up one end of the weird-looking cat scarf on his neck and hurled it around in the air to show his petite roommate that this lifeless piece of cloth can’t be harmful to anyone.

The Siamese kitten looked at him in disbelief as she gave her final hiss while jumping out of the box. She cautiously stepped back, still eyeing his scarf like some kind of paranoid predator until she thought herself was far enough and ran away.

Even though she was always behaving like a little kid with him, somehow Yuuya felt like his Ojou-chan was a tad bit more understanding than normal cats. 

But, oh well, this funny thought might be nothing but his imagination anyway.

—Thank you for the gifts and Merry Christmas! 🎄

[thistransient]

Thoughts on my visa run to Tokyo: not to be a complainer (I'm gonna complain), but taking into consideration that it was a last-minute decision with minimal planning, I was a bit underwhelmed. I have fond memories of walking around Naha, Okinawa some years ago with great delight at simply being there, but perhaps a certain percentage of that was "first time in Japan" thrill (or I was so fed up with my circumstances at home that the break was particularly welcome). It could also be that enduring life with recently sprained ribs took my focus off the sights somewhat (there was a hefty price to be paid for forgetting to hold in sneezes). As such I didn't press myself to go to too many places: I stayed at a hostel in a traditional house in Asakusa, and spent the most time walking around Yanaka and Koenji with a brief foray into Shinjuku (albeit late enough that my feet hurt and it was very crowded on the streets, so this did not last long). There were so many foreign tourists in Asakusa that I felt rather as if I were in that Japan-themed part of Disney World, and I found myself gravitating inevitably to the riverside (pictured above).

If anything I felt self-conscious that said tourist contingent appeared to be having the time of their lives, whereas I had come here somewhat on a whim and kept being told "wrong ticket!" by the metro staff almost every time I made at attempt at transferring

(In addition to not buying a SIM card I also didn't bother with a metro card because I figured individual tickets couldn't be that hard, could they? Ahahaha.)

But for all these woes, I do love looking at Japanese buildings (a treat for my niche interest in external fire escape stairs), the bakery offerings were excellent, and I decided eventually to forgive myself for my restaurant anxiety and just eat onigiri in the cemetery such that I was at least ingesting something. I'd go back to Japan (to other cities), but I'd like to do it with company, and more planning.

Coming back was in fact the real adventure, with the flight diversion to Macao, the jaunt in the wee hours of the morning with my hotel roommate, and eventual return to Taipei. The immigration process has really been streamlined, there's an online arrival card now, and the line moved so fast I just managed to fill it out before it was my turn. The agent barely glanced at me before stamping me in (I had actually been practicing my speech justifying flying in and out of the country every 90 days, and even printed out a bank statement, but the online form required one to list an exit flight, which evidently preempted any interrogation).

In the moment I was extremely relieved! But now I find myself bereft of my regular activities either on account of my ribs (watching shibari is not half as fun as being on the receiving end, and I really miss biking) or because I've become disillusioned with a couple of my former sources of regular socialisation. I feel increasingly like I don't actually have much in common with the people at the trans group beyond us all being trans, and my presence (or lack thereof, last time I had a bit of a panic episode and ran away without saying anything) at their events is pretty meaningless as far as 'volunteering' goes. I also abruptly lost interest in a friend I'd spent a lot of time with in the past year, which bothered me quite a bit (how could I feel so heartless towards someone who had bought me a thoughtful birthday gift) until I did enough writing and figured it out, but that still hasn't rekindled any desire to hang out again, except perhaps out of guilt (not the best motivation). In the face of these things (amongst others), and the fact that I've done my 3rd visa run this year with no apparent plan to stop living in 3 month increments, I think it's time...time to go back to therapy.