#like I think soulmates shouldn’t simply be one or the other but some secret third thing that can’t be properly defined

[coachbeards]

I think sometimes reducing soulmateism down to platonic or romantic takes away from the inherent depth and love to the soulmates you know

[katecake]

Scars

I needed me a Jaskel Soulmate AU where Jaskier knows his soulmate’s a witcher, but he also knows it’s not Geralt. After wondering how that would happen, I finally came up w/ this!!

__

Imagine a world where soulmarks exist. While not exactly rare, they’re still fairly uncommon.

Little Jaskier’s soulmark is on the inside crook of his elbow. The face of a fierce silver wolf. For as unrealistic and stylized as it is, it’s still undeniably a wolf. His parents sneer at it. The servants and teachers are all uncomfortable when they see it. Little Jaskier, though? Oh how he loves it. He doesn’t know what it is, doesn’t know what it means, doesn’t know its significance. But he loves it nonetheless.

Jaskier’s only five years old when he learns what a Witcher is. He’s only five years old when he’s taught to fear Witchers.

Jaskier’s twelve and he’s being held down as he begs and pleads and screams. He screams as the other boys bring a knife to his soulmark, laughing all the while. Because, what soulmate could a monster have than another monster?

Jaskier’s twelve when he makes the connection between his soulmark and Witchers.

He runs away less than a week later, wound still fresh, and ends up somewhere outside Oxenfurt. He decides to stay there, study there. The injury scars. He keeps it covered at all times with black cloth. Sometimes, it’s so tight it hurts. He never shows anyone his mark ever again.

–

Jaskier’s twenty-three when he meets Geralt, and he immediately recognizes the medallion. It’s the spitting image of what his soulmark looked like. He feels some residual anxiety from meeting a Witcher, but has learned humans can be just as monstrous as they claim Witchers to be. The black strip of cloth on his arm is proof enough.

So he takes a gamble and follows Geralt. And he continues to follow Geralt for years to come. He learns everything he was taught was a lie (something he’s suspected since the moment that knife touched his mark). He makes it his goal to change the world’s mind about Witchers. And if he hopes, deep down, that if he continues to follow Geralt he’ll meet his soulmate? Well, that’s his secret fantasy.

–

Years pass and eventually Geralt invites him up to Kaer Morhen for the winter. Jaskier says yes in a heartbeat. He’s as giddy as he is nervous and babbles the whole trip up.

When they get there, Eskel’s the one to greet them at the gate, not that Jaskier notices. He’s too busy still babbling nervously about nothing at all and removing his packs from his horse. He struggles to hold everything as he goes over to the two, intent on introducing himself to this new witcher. Except when he finally looks at Eskel, his breath catches and he drops everything he’s holding. He can do nothing but stare, pale and shaky, at the scarred face in front of him.

He doesn’t register how the man shifts so he stands with his scars less on display. He doesn’t register Geralt’s defensive and angry tone. He doesn’t register the third, angry, man who threatens him for making his brother uncomfortable in his own home. All Jaskier can think about is the shape of those scars.

Lambert’s outright hostile to him, not that Jaskier blames him. Geralt’s also cagey and defensive. Even Vesemir, despite keeping the peace between the wolves and the bard, makes his disappointment of Jaskier clear.

It takes another two weeks before Jaskier manages to catch Eskel alone and apologizes. He wants to explain himself, but every time he tries, his throat tightens and the words die on his lips. So instead, he works to befriend Eskel in earnest.

The first time Eskel smiles at him, really smiles at him (an entire month later), Jaskier feels like the wind’s been knocked out of him. The way Eskel’s eyes crinkle at the corners, the way his lips curl awkwardly, the way his whole demeanor seems to light up. It’s breathtakingly beautiful. He can’t keep the dopey smile off his own face the whole day.

Eskel smiles more after that, and it seems to be enough for the others. Lambert’s no longer actively hostile and Geralt’s back to himself. Vesemir no longer looks at Jaskier with disappointment either. And if Jaskier scratches at the crook of his arm, that’s no ones business but his own.

Until, one night when Jaskier has long since stumbled off to bed, Lambert asks. It's just the three of them, Lambert, Geralt, and Eskel, still drinking in the kitchen.

“So what’s,” Lambert pauses to hiccup, “what’s with the bard’s arm?” He asks.

“Hmm?” Geralt grunts squinting at the cards in his hand.

“That damn bandage of his,” he continues motioning at the crook of his own elbow. “Wears it when he– when he fucken bathes too.”

“Maybe it’s covering a scar,” Eskel offers, “or a weird birthmark.”

Lambert scowls. “He’s got plenty other scars.”

Geralt snorts. “And weird birthmarks too,” he adds thinking about the vaguely cock shaped birthmark Jaskier has on his shoulder.

Lambert grumbles as Geralt and Eskel continue playing their game of gwent.

“What if it’s a soulmark?” He eventually asks.

“Humans don’t present them as easily as we do,” Eskel says at the same moment Geralt says:

“Not a chance.”

The two stare at him, clearly wanting an explanation.

Geralt grumbles and downs what’s left in his mug. “Jaskier’s a hopeless romantic,” he explains. “Wouldn’t shut up for weeks when he saw mine. And then he wouldn’t shut up for the better part of a godsdamned year after we finally met Yen,” he pours himself another drink and downs that too with a shudder. “Believe me, if he had one, we’d know.”

A few hours later, when Geralt’s fighting to stay awake, Lambert slams his mug on the table. It startles Eskel and Geralt enough that they’re more awake than they were an hour ago.

“I wanna know,” Lambert growls.

“Then ask him,” Eskel says.

Geralt yawns. “He always changes the subject.”

Lambert nods vigorously as Eskel frowns. “Then leave it.”

“But I wanna know!” Lambert complains.

Eskel gets up. “I’m not doing this,” he groans. “I’m going to bed.”

Lambert calls him a bitch as he leaves and grumbles into his drink. He and Geralt continue drinking for a few minutes before Lambert asks, “You grab him and I pull that damn cloth off?”

Geralt, too drunk and too tired to think about all the times Jaskier’s flinched when grabbed by the elbow, nods.

It surprisingly takes them a few days to catch Jaskier alone. He’s confused when Geralt grabs him but otherwise doesn’t struggle. It’s not until Lambert pulls at his sleeve that he panics.

Jaskier thrashes in their grip the moment he realizes what they’re doing. Decades old panic grips him as he screams and begs for them not to hurt him.

Lambert and Geralt stay frozen as Jaskier fleas down the hall. Vesemir is there demanding to know what happened while Eskel runs past them to catch up with Jaskier. Lambert and Geralt can only stare in the direction Jaskier fled, the stench of his fear hangs heavy in the air around them.

Geralt knows what Jaskier’s fear smells like. It’s hard not to when Jaskier often gets too close to a monster, but he has never smelled of fear because of a Witcher before. Not when he’d first seen Eskel. Not when Lambert threatened to gut him right after. And not even when the snow had finally blocked off the path down the mountain and he was subsequently trapped in the keep with four unwelcoming witchers.

They don’t see Jaskier for a solid week after that. They know he’s still in the keep, they can smell him in the kitchen, in the baths, through the halls, but they don’t actually see him. Lambert’s on edge, quicker to anger, and Geralt’s quieter, more prone to get lost in thought.

They both try to apologize, in their own way, standing outside Jaskier’s door. Jaskier doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even make a sound. The only reason they know he’s in there is because his heart’s racing and he smells of anxiety and residual panic.

Eventually Eskel’s able to coax him out and he tentatively resettles into the routine he’s established for himself. Jaskier now has a constant underlying scent of anxiety to him. He smells of panic whenever someone focuses on his arm too long.

It all comes to a head one evening. Vesemir reaches to touch Jaskier’s elbow to get his attention. Jaskier flinches so hard he nearly throws himself into the hearth they’re sitting around. He doesn’t smell of fear, but his panic is palpable. Vesemir apologizes but Jaskier assures him it’s fine, even as Lambert storms away shouting abuse and Geralt slinks away miserably.

Eskel cracks that night. It’s late, the others have all gone to their rooms in their attempts to avoid Jaskier, and it’s just Eskel and Jaskier in the library. Jaskier’s leaning against him, fighting to stay awake as Eskel simply enjoys his company.

“What…” Eskel asks tentatively. “Happened to your arm?”

Jaskier tenses against him, heart rate picking up as his hand goes to cover the spot. He sits up slowly, stiffly, and Eskel immediately kicks himself. “Sorry,” he says quickly, “I shouldn’t have asked.”

But Jaskier shakes his head. “No it’s okay,” he says weakly. “It’s stupid really. It happened so long ago, almost thirty years,” he laughs shakily, voice impossibly quiet. “But I guess I still get scared someone’s gonna finish carving off my soulmark at times.”

Eskel feels like he’s been punched in the throat. Soulmarks are special. They’re Destiny’s will. All Witchers have soulmarks. Something about the trials make them emerge, almost like Destiny herself is desperately trying to preserve their humanity. Eskel knows his own soulmark all too well. Four little yellow flowers floating down a stream painted on his ribs. At times, if he just focuses on the general shape, they look like music notes. He knows the mark ties him to Jaskier. It’s why Jaskier’s initial reaction to him hurt so much.

“I’m sorry,” Eskel says lamely, because what else can he say? He could demand the name of the people that hurt Jaskier, but that won’t repair the damage. He could go after Geralt and Lambert again for their stupid stunt, but they’re suffering enough as it is and Jaskier doesn’t really hold it against them.

Jaskier barely shakes his head. “Don’t be. I’ve… actually wanted to show it to you for some time,” he admits quietly. His hands shake as he rolls up his tunic sleeve.

Eskel catches his wrist, stills the movement. “Stop,” he breathes. “You don’t have to.”

Jaskier leans towards him, his forehead coming to rest against Eskel’s. “Please,” he whispers.

Eskel reluctantly lets go. He watches as Jaskier halting works the black cloth off. There’s red marks across Jaskier’s skin where the edge of the cloth dug in too tightly. But Eskel’s breath and attention is immediately stolen by the mark. He feels fury and an unimaginable sadness wash over him in equal measures.

It looks exactly like the wolf school medallion. Or it would were it not for the angry scars distorting the right side of its face.

Eskel runs a thumb over it before he even realizes what he’s doing. Jaskier shivers at the touch and Eskel can smell the tears the bard is desperately trying to hold back. “I’m sorry,” Jaskier whispers, voice thick with emotion. “I didn’t mean to upset you when I saw you. It’s just…”

“The scars,” Eskel murmurs. “They’re identical.” He has a sick feeling that Jaskier’s mark was defiled the same day his face was slashed.

Jaskier explains himself fully that night, as he cries in Eskel’s arms. It feels strange to finally show his mark again after almost thirty years. He’s not sure if he’s scared or relieved or if its even good or bad. It just is.

The following morning, he’s understandably exhausted and spends breakfast tucked against Eskel’s side. Lambert and Geralt get to the kitchen and try to leave before the even enter it. Jaskier reeks of tears and misery and Eskel. Eskel asks them to at least stay for breakfast. Lambert still wants to run but seeing as how Geralt pitifully sits down, he refuses to be the only one that runs and sits down too. Breakfast is awkward with how exhausted Jaskier looks and smells, they’re both happy to go off and do their chores for once.

Jaskier spends most of the morning sleeping in Eskel’s room. When he emerges for dinner, it’s almost like nothing’s happened. He’s back to his loud and carefree self. The smell of anxiety is almost unnoticeable now. Vesemir claps him on the shoulder and Geralt’s less quiet.

Lambert’s still unsettled, though, still easy to anger and prone to snapping. He doesn’t believe the bard’s act for a second. That level of fear can’t just be forgiven that easily. It has nothing to do with the fact that it was his plan that caused that reaction and made his brothers upset.

His brothers and Vesemir tell him the bard’s fine. Even Jaskier himself assures him that it’s okay. He doesn’t believe it for a second. No amount of chattering with Geralt, or helping Vesemir in the library, or spending nights with Eskel will convince him.

But maybe seeing how Jaskier lets Eskel settle a hand over his arm helps. Seeing how Jaskier smiles all shy and happy when it happens helps. Seeing how Eskel returns the looks helps. Seeing how Eskel doesn’t shy away when Jaskier touches his scars helps.

Maybe seeing and smelling how happy the two are helps ease the guilt. Because what else could be under that black cloth than a scarred over soulmark?

[wangxiandecoded]

Episode 10

Previous Episode | Next Episode

(Spoilers for the whole show ahead!)

Going to draw a heart over Wangxian to keep track of every time the camera shows someone third wheeling them from now on.

Wei Ying uses his Binding/Bonding talisman on Xue Yang to show Lan Zhan it’s a dynamic tool that doesn’t deserve to be named “Boring”. Even though there’s a serial killer on the loose, Lan Zhan’s opinions on his inventions matter a lot to him. Standard Wei Ying stuff.

Wangxian’s Mirrors

At this point of the show, I could not believe there was a couple who directly mirrored Wangxian. And surprise! They were two men who dressed in black and white and came together for their common vision exactly like Wangxian did. Wei Ying cannot help but connect the dots and Lan Zhan is already aware of their eminence.

Xue Yang Fancies The Yiling Laozu 

Xue Yang’s introduction makes the story take a darker turn but also a gayer one. The homoerotic subtext between him and Wei Ying literally jumps out of the screen.  

(This episode had a lot of moments that were just begging for alternate dialogues to be written. I just wanted to have fun with the subtext that’s already present.)  

Wei Ying doesn’t want Lan Zhan to waste his precious breath interrogating the bad guy. He protectively steps up (something he does quite a lot) and puts some distance between the both of them.

But he wants Lan Zhan to hold his sword while he does that.. and if that act wasn’t necessarily considered to be intimate or romantic before, it just became that after Lan Zhan refused to do it in front of everyone.

Wei Ying has uttered many conspicuously gay things on the show but most of them are with reference to Lan Zhan. Therefore, this is possibly the gayest dialogue he has ever said in a strictly non-Lan Zhan context.

His tone is all, “Honey, you've been existing for 5 minutes, I'm the queerest person the cultivation world has seen in a millennium. You think frisking a guy is going to make me feel scandalized?” This is nuts to me because Xue Yang is arguably the most blatantly coded gay character on the show.. and here is Wei Ying all but saying he can outgay him. That he shouldn’t come after his job. And Lan Zhan just looks like..

It is curious how Lan Zhan says no to something that would require Wei Ying to go near Xue Yang again.

We get it, Lan Zhan. It was hard to see your guy giving attention to someone who wasn’t you.

When Lan Zhan is unsure what's happening back home, the first person his eyes seek is Wei Ying, his source of strength and reassurance.

SongXiao Help WangXian Fall Deeper In Love

Wei Ying is euphoric to meet another pair of Soulmates™. (The same kind of glee that queer people feel when they meet a celebrity queer couple.) His relationship with Lan Zhan just gained supreme validation and a boost to the power of infinity!

He sees everything he has with Lan Zhan reflected in SongXiao’s relationship. He admires them and is delighted that people like them who aren’t concerned with clan drama can walk the wider path of justice, and also lead successful, honourable lives. He looks to Lan Zhan for confirmation but Lan Zhan doesn’t seem too eager to publicize the super sweet promise they made at the lantern ceremony or the fact that he’s been secretly enjoying Wei Ying’s companionship on this expedition. And let’s be honest, it would’ve been more shocking if Lan Zhan did confirm any of that here.

Cheer up, Wei Ying! Lan Zhan will get plenty more opportunities to prove his love for you and he'll ace every single one of them.

No one asked for this but thank you NHS for declaring your ideal type is beautiful gentlemen who fight crime together and unapologetically go their own way.

The parallels between the two pairs write themselves. More importantly, it is while watching SongXiao leave together that Lan Zhan stumbles onto an epiphany.

This is such an underrated moment in the show. The sorrowful music and slow-motion shot of Lan Zhan looking at Wei Ying with vulnerability all over his face once again drives it home that Wei Ying is The One for him, and he is his. He was already getting tired of denying that Wei Ying is his soulmate in every sense there is, and he feels his pain and sadness in this moment. It is enough for Jiang Cheng to feel sorry for him and move on but not for Lan Zhan who feels all that his soulmate feels. 

It is overwhelming and brand new information to Lan Zhan himself that he can feel it because Wei Ying is not in impending danger right now, so this need he feels to protect him and be there for him can only mean that he loves him beyond the shadow of a doubt. Wei Ying seems upset thinking about his mother and Lan Zhan gets it, without Wei Ying having uttered a word the whole time. His face shows a kind of defeat in this scene; he surrenders to everything he has known and felt for some time now : He's in love with Wei Ying and would tear down the universe without a second thought if it means it would rid him of his unhappiness. And he isn't able to do that in this moment. But thanks to Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen, he’s found comfort in the truth they have each other at the end of the day, even if they have nothing left in this world. He cannot give back to Wei Ying what he has lost but he can accompany him in his sadness, and it will have to be enough. And it is, because Wei Ying can overcome just about everything as long as Lan Zhan walks by his side.

Wei Ying Says Lan Clan Deserves Rights

Wei Ying has many nice things to say about the Lan clan who he found exhausting a few months ago. Love brings about miraculous changes in a person, y’all.

Wei Ying gravitates towards Lan Zhan as if it's second nature to him and it really is.

Jiang Cheng spends a lot of time trying to get Wei Ying to spill the Top Secrets about the Yin Iron and Wei Ying is like, "Sorry, I’m bound by the Soulmate laws to tell you absolutely nothing."

Wei Ying is already embracing the idea of controlling the Yin Iron and people are rightfully getting offended by his suggestion.

What did you expect, Wei Ying? Not everyone is your lifetime confidant to give you the benefit of the doubt and reciprocate it with compassion, trust and open-mindedness.

Wangxian’s Temporary Separation

What was that, Wei Ying? Did we hear you admit that the Gusu Lan roof is softer than the one in Qinghe? Could this have anything to do with a certain law enforcer in Cloud Recesses you fell in love with at first sword fight? 

There is a delicate, bittersweet air to this separation, and even the casual watcher is going to be wondering, “When did I get so invested in Wangxian that WuJi makes me want to cry?”

It's cute how Lan Zhan is like, “Okay, I’ve seen the love of my life for one last time, I’ll quietly take my leave so he doesn’t know I was waiting for him to come back.”

Turns out, "I'll sleep on your roof tonight," is one of the most romantic things we could tell the person we love. Isn't it brilliant that just few seconds ago Wei Ying had said he will take whatever ground he finds as his home for the night, and how utterly beautiful is it to have followed it up with this dialogue? “Lan Zhan, I'll sleep on your roof tonight.” Because the world is big but my home is wherever you are. That’s where I’m happiest, I'll sleep on this rugged roof and walk through thorns if it means I get to be by your side. I won't mind it at all. And how unbelievably romantic is it that Wei Ying makes a philosophical statement about life, which ends up being about Lan Zhan?

Lan Zhan hears the implications in his voice. And he openly yearns to stay behind a little longer and commit to his memory what Wei Ying looks like when he is drunkenly proclaiming his love for him under the moonlight. It is pleasantly surprising that Lan Zhan is willing to express his emotions when he knows he is safe from Wei Ying hearing them, that he doesn't mind telling him goodbye when he thinks Wei Ying won't remember it. 

But the audience can hear his voice and we are going to remember it. How, "Wei Ying, I have to go," is uttered in a cadence so sweet we did not know Lan Zhan was capable of before this. And the choice of words do not simply mean that he’s going to leave, but that he has to, and most certainly not because he wants to. And how it really means, “I’m worried about everything, but especially you, and I'm sorry I have to go. I have to trust that we'll both be okay on this path. Please know that I don't wish to leave you, and forgive me for it. Wei Ying, I love you."

Even their temporary separation hurts so good. If they were meant to be best buddies, this scene wouldn't have been shot so poignantly. But we got used to seeing them together and every frame is designed to dig deeper into your heart and instil the fact that these soulmates are parting, and we don’t know when they’ll see each other again. This is the melancholy of a man who does not wish to be away from his lover but is forced to for the sake of the greater good. Anyone can see that.

The rooftop and moonlit night come as a callback to their first meeting, only Lan Zhan no longer wants to point the tip of his sword at Wei Ying, it gives him far greater satisfaction to place Wei Ying behind his sword.

I haven’t counted the number of times people acknowledge Wangxian’s relationship and/or know that they are inseparable, but it’s safe to say almost every character does that at some point. And some even know how to exploit their weakness, that in order to hurt one of them, the surefire way is to simply aim for the other like Wen Chao does here.

To summarize, Episode 10 saw Lan Zhan showing us his true colors : When he isn’t occupied with being the esteemed, intimidating Lan Wangji, he’s busy being a regular, sweet, romantic guy in love. And Wei Ying did that. He single-handedly exposes the soft side of Lan Zhan that nobody sees to the audience now and the world later on. 

This episode also gave us this : Two soulmates chilling shoulder to shoulder zero feet apart because they’re falling in love.

[lunaticpuppetmaster]

  My contribute for Konoha Simps server collab! 

Trying to do both drabble and an art was a poor decidion as i am a lil bit late. 

Special Thanks to @pfreadsandwrites who beta-readed this drabble!

Title: Lost and Found.

Pairing: Kiba Inuzuka x OC (Tsubasa Yuki)

Summary: Everyone knows that everything you lose will end up in your soulmates possesions. Some people go crazy trying to find their destined one with practically no information. Tsubasa was never interested in finding hers and there is a chance she would never be able to.

Warnings: Angst, mentions of death, hurt/comfort

Word count: 6907

   When the first symptoms of the family curse appeared, Tsubasa already knew she was doomed. The sickness was rare and there wasn’t much information about it in the Yuki clan library even before the genocide, while after it…  well, no information survived. To be honest she did not have much hope at the beginning when her ice-natured chakra just only started to act like a parasite, eating her body and breaking thin bones.

But her sensei had. Mei had always been protective of her pupils, acting like a big sister even after the trio passed the chunin exam. So, when the worst happened, she used all her resources in order to save one of them. Unfortunately, even Kirigakure medics famous for their body knowledge were unsuccessful. The only hope was the best medic alive, Tsunade-hime herself.

Tsubasa did not know how she convinced Tsunade to help or what she promised to her (probably rare Kiri herbs), but the sannin agreed to work on her case. She didn’t promise a cure. To the girl’s pleasure, unlike her sensei, the 5th hokage was rational and she stated right from the start that the chances of recovery were very low and more likely she would just extend the Yuki girl’s agony. It was hurtful, but honest. Tsubasa always respected honesty… and her sensei. She had no other choice, but to promise Mei that she will fight till the end even though she did not want to.

“Maybe you will find your soulmate there,”- said Mei before her departure.

Mei was one of those people who always wanted to find their soulmate, however that was not the reason why she said it. She appreciated different manifestations of love: between friends, parental, sisterly and etc. She also knew that Tsubasa was a pessimist and even the love of people who were close to her was not enough to restore her will to live. At least if she were deeply in love with her soulmate, Mei hoped that Tsubasa could finally find the strength to fight.

Soulmates were always a bone of contention between different social groups: commoners, nobility and shinobi. Especially the last one. Missions and loyalty towards the village must be a number one priority for a ninja. But with soulmates everything became much harder.

Still even the biggest soulmate deniers tried their best to ‘lose things’. Even though little was known about soulmates nature, over the years people were able to learn a couple of useful things:

1 - Every item you lose will end up in your soulmate’s possessions.

2 - You cannot send a letter or any kind of writing this way.

3 - You cannot just throw away a random thing in the air or leave it intentionally on a park bench. So, you must really lose the thing to make it reach your soulmate.

The world was never peaceful. Neither for commoners nor shinobi, so desire to help for so called “true one” was understandable. People tried to tie various useful items with slim strings to their clothes like meds and water. When it came to shinobi they usually tied small scrolls to their bags or jackets hoping that during fights the thread would be cut or ripped and the item lost. Such scrolls were usually filled with food, kunais or ninja pills. Supplies that suddenly appeared managed to save some shinobi on the verge of death more than once. So even soulmate deniers had an opinion that it was practical to help the soulmate and very rude to ignore it. Help for help, life for life, nothing more. Tsubasa was one such person.

Of course, every skilled shinobi could tell from which village the lost item appeared.

Yuki’s soulmate for example was from Konoha. Her teammate Hiroto recognized a specific plant in a found ninja pill. So, she had some chances to run into him during her stay.

But Tsubasa did not want a soulmate. She did not need some stranger. She wanted to stay in Kiri and spend her last days with people she loved with all her heart and soul. Hadn’t she suffered enough? It didn’t look like it.

This was how she ended up in Konoha; or rather in a spare room of Yamanaka-hime’s house. Although Tsunade made efforts, in Yuki’s opinion, she clearly did not have an intention to heal her, but to collect information about how the disease proceeds under various factors, in order to save other unfortunate ones… Tsubasa could tell it from her students. Tsunade put her under the care of somewhat inexperienced newbies, ones who could crawl into her head and feel the patient’s condition themselves. Tsubasa did not blame her for that. She would be happy if her death could help someone. The girl rather felt sorry for distracting Ino from her more important patients. The hime herself was cheerful and sunny person, but in moments that required professionalism she could turn cold and focused with the flick of a finger. “She would be a perfect clan leader one day,” Tsubasa thought.

To be honest Yamanaka’s jutsu was useful for more than just therapy. When they first met, Yuki just simply let Ino read her mind and see her past. It was much faster and easier, plus all the secret information she knew as an ANBU was sealed. In order to get it, they would have had to use much stronger and more traumatic jutsu (and of course torture). Moreover, she was going to die soon, so did it really matter how many people knew her story?

Though when Tsubasa saw the girl’s blank face after reading her mind, she felt guilty. The blonde stayed silent for a few seconds before giving her a hug. She did not need words to say that she will do her best.

    Ino was easy to befriend. She also was good at distracting from negative thoughts. Between her regular Tsunade checkups and preparations for missions (It was important to monitor the development of the disease in the field, and all missions would be related to information gathering about the Yuki clan) they were chatting, watching movies and sometimes working in the flower shop. Thanks to Tsubasa’s honey-coloured hair most people mistook her as a distant relative of Yamanaka, so no one asked questions.

Once they ended up talking about soulmates. It started when Ino found some spilled ink on her carpet one day. Hime did not know much about her soulmate except he was really… an artistic type. Through the years she collected various brushes, pencils, erasers and doodles. Once she even found a whole sketchbook (unfortunately half torn)! But there was one thing that made her upset. He never “lost” anything to help her like the majority did.

“Maybe he is from a strict ninja family or a specific ANBU team”, she said with a sad smile.

If Ino’s soulmate was artistic, Tsubasa’s was… quite “special”. Because only a “special” person would end up losing a 6-kilo bag of dog food. Even now, after seven years Tsubasa sometimes wondered ‘how?’.. It was not a pen or a trinket which could be easily left on an academy desk, but a giant bag of dog food! No, he was a good soulmate who was “losing” supplies for her (that once saved her teammate’s life) unlike Ino’s, but still… Even when the blonde heard about it, she could not believe it and then started to laugh hysterically. After such silly small talks Tsubasa felt like she wasn’t fully alone in this foreign village. It almost felt like she had found a friend.

Unlike the other forced teammate.

Every village had a system of having at least 3 people in a team. Moreover, Tsubasa was suffering from her disease and Ino concentrated on helping her. They needed another member.

Tsubasa did not like him from the start. He was loud, narcissistic, clingy and insolent. The kunoichi was easily fed up with his behaviour. She spat out what exactly she thought of him to his face before going back to the Yamanaka estate. Only when she was alone in her room, she understood all her stupidity. She shouldn’t have acted so idiotic and lose her cool. It was essential for a ninja. She also understood why he was chosen among all of the shinobi. As a member of the Inuzuka clan he had a ninken who was already big enough to carry a man. It would be useful in case she became unconscious due to the illness. But she could not help it. A lot of bad things were going on in her life. She felt useless and helpless since she was banned from using her ice chakra. Mei also banned her from using anything that would hide her emotions. She thought that Tsubasa finally needed to learn how to speak and deal with new people. Babysitting was not helpful, so she wanted to try something more radical. Tsubasa understood, but understanding wasn’t enough to cope with the stress. Now she was sitting in the corner of her room shivering. Usually, she would take her father’s mask – the only thing left after his death- and put the cold material close to her forehead thinking what he would say or do. She couldn’t do it any longer. Some of her belongings and a mask were lost during a powerful chakra release at the beginning of the disease.

A few minutes passed before she started to feel better. A sudden knock on the door took her out of thoughts. Tsubasa went to open it thinking it would be Ino. Unfortunately, it was him. The cause for today’s bad mood and their third teammate – Kiba Inuzuka himself. She sighed and looked at him through the door, hiding most of her body behind it. The young man in front of her hesitated and looked a little bit strange or uncertain.

”Listen, I came here to apologise.“

Tsubasa raised her brow. Surely she should have been the one to apologise?. Plus, the boy looked like someone who would rather make a bunch of excuses and snap back than accept he was wrong.

“Well, I shouldn’t have invaded your personal space in the first place.” He scratched the back of his head and looked away. Judging by his behavior, the girl started to understand what actually made his behavior change.“And …uhm, Ino told me about your case so…”

“Showed you,” said Yuki her guess as a statement.

”She d-did not show me much!”

”That’s okay. I don’t mind and Ino knows that.”

“Anyway, I want to start on a clean slate. Here, take it. It’s a half mask and a bottle of blue paint so you can customize it with your clan symbol.”

”Actually…”

“I know that you are not allowed to use anything to hide your emotions, but it is a half mask and I made the holes for eyes bigger so your emotions will be perfectly visible. This is not technically breaking the rule and you will definitely feel better due to your um… well, habit. Just enjoy it, okay? I have to go now, bye!

“W-wait! I cannot…”

But the boy already left, forcing the girl to accept.

After that, though the relationship between the trio smoothed out, it was far from perfect. Tsubasa preferred to act more as a solo player despite her health condition, Kiba was still too loud and tried to act like the leader he never was and Ino … Ino tried not to go crazy in this whole mess called a team. However, overall, their missions were rather calm. Perhaps the three of them needed time to get used to each other before they could accept the others’ faults and learn to compromise. The tension completely disappeared at rest time, when tired teenagers passed time by talking to each other. Often they talked about soulmates. Someone was consulting with others about what would be more useful to seal in a tie-down scroll, the other one was looking through a travel bag for new supplies (or accidentally dropped useless things), another was thinking about loud who their soulmate might be. On one of such days, all of a sudden Tsubasa discovered earrings in a sealed scroll. They were simple and consisted of three deep blue feathers each. The girl looked at them in surprise, not knowing how to react. But, on the contrary, Ino reacted too happily.

“These are so cute! And they match your eye color! Quite a nice present for a soulmate that has never seen you.”

“This must have been a mistake.”

“It was in a scroll. How could this be a mistake? Looks like your soulmate really wishes to meet you and…”

“I don’t need a soulmate, Ino! Like, I don’t believe in perfect matches made by spiritual forces or some sort. I never wanted to have him in the first place! I have a dream to achieve, a family in Kiri. No way if I survive, I will leave it all behind because of some questionable romance! That’s ridiculous!”

Ino sighed and Kiba remained silent. The conversation came to an end. But not the attention from Tsubasa’s soulmate or their mission.

One of those days, when all sorts of cute things and sweets instead of standard ammunition began to show up in Tsubasa’s scrolls more and more, their group stumbled upon really strong opponents. The longer the battle continued the more obvious it became that they were not going to win. Unless Tsubasa broke the rule and used her clan’s abilities. Mei’s order, both as sensei and as Mizukage, always stood above many moral principles for Yuki, but now it was a completely different case. Neither Ino nor Kiba with the sweetest and bravest Akamaru should have been involved in this from the very beginning. They were not supposed to die or risk their lives because of some terminally ill girl from another village and a questionable contract between their Kages. They must live, survive and Tsubasa made up her mind. At first, she managed to eliminate a couple of ninjas and slightly injure the rest using the element of surprise. She was incredibly lucky, because the disoriented opponents were much easier to finish off for Kiba and Ino. Tsubasa by this moment had already lost her eyesight from the tension and saw the battlefield only as a set of white and light gray colors. She lost her breath and her strength to stand upright. But it was nothing compared to the pain that washed over her seconds later.

     The kunoichi screamed in pain as she felt blood filling her mouth and an ice crust covering her internal organs. She fell on the cold dusty ground, heart-rendering screams leaving her lips with the blood pulsing her temples, ice needles tearing the muscles of her arms and legs. It seemed like nothing existed except for the all-consuming pain. Through the wall of never-ending white noise, she heard the sounds of Ino’s commands and Akamaru’s frightened barking. This was the last thing she felt before passing out.

Tsubasa woke up with a heavy head and pain all over her body. She listened to her senses before opening her eyes… and it would have been better not to listen to them. Someone brazenly pressed her close to their body and sniffed into the ear. When she opened her eyes the girl immediately screamed. In general, it was a completely normal reaction when you find yourself half-dressed in the arms of an equally half-dressed man. Of course, given that she was half-asleep, her only response was a stream of unpleasant curses and swearing. At first Kiba, who was still sleepy, was happy that the girl woke up, but soon joined the exchange of curses until a joyful, but terribly tired Ino ran up to them, immediately trying to interrupt the catfight and change the topic. Kiba waved his hand resentfully and went off in an unknown direction. Ino stayed with Tsubasa alone.

“Sit down and drink this.”

“Okay, but can I ask you a question first? What the hell happened here?”

”Your disease went out of control. I could barely suppress it. This time it was… too strong. Not like before. When I was finally able to improve your condition, you were still unconscious, your temperature dropped to terribly low levels, and some ice crystals did not disappear. We didn’t risk taking you back to the village in such poor condition. At first, we tried to wrap you up warm, but that didn’t help. Your clothes were quickly soaked by the cold coming from you and it only aggravated your condition. Then we decided that we would warm you one by one with the heat of our bodies. Well, Akamaru too.

Tsubasa howled in embarrassment and Ino sighed.

“Don’t worry. I think Kiba understands what the situation looked like for you. Or he will understand. He is a hot-head, you know, and he needs some time to calm down. But he will.”

”Still, that doesn’t change the fact that I snapped at him twice for literally nothing, especially the last time when I should have said ‘thank you for trying to save my dumb ass’. I feel terrible.”

The blonde girl patted her dejected friend on the shoulder and then said, “ Drink the medicine or, I swear to God, you will regret that you woke up.

The group’s return journey took place in silence. Despite the fact that Tsubasa apologized to Kiba and he accepted the apology, the kunoichi was still tormented by her conscience. She needed to apologize to him properly. Stealing a glance at the still visible ice crystals on her hand, a thought flashed through her: “While I can still do it.”

Night is definitely a wonderful and mysterious time of the day. Too bad that not everyone can enjoy its beauty, but there are also some who would be glad to miss it. For example, some unfortunate souls from the Inuzuka clan. It just so happened that a heightened sense of smell was not the only animal trait some clan members shared. Heightened hearing, too. In battle it was somewhat useful while in everyday life - irritating. During the day, in a mixture of noises, it did not cause much discomfort, but at night, when all the sounds disappeared, a can kicked by a drunk felt like a hit in the head. It is not surprising that such “lucky” clan members often suffered from insomnia and generally lived in the rhythm of night owls, which was very difficult for the shinobi world, where everyone was entirely early birds.

So was Kiba. However, tonight it felt different. His day was active and the sounds on the street did not disturb him, still he could not sleep. It seemed that the whole atmosphere of the house became more and more oppressive with every second spent inside, and the inner desire to walk through the village at night became stronger with every minute. He just wanted to go outside and run. He did not know where, but somewhere, where it was important for him to be now. In the end, when he accepted the fact that he obviously would not sleep today, the young man called his faithful dog and quietly left the house. The night was calm and fresh from the recent rain. Perhaps even too much, but it did not bother Kiba. He gladly wandered through old village streets, breathing in deeply the cold night air until he found himself near the playground. Or better to say, found someone.

Tsubasa sat on the swing all hunched up, almost motionless like a statue, and although this time her face wasn’t hidden by a mask, but her honey hair, Kiba knew that the girl was clearly not radiating joy.

“May I sit?,” he asked. Tsubasa didn’t even flinch.

“Yes.”

Kiba looked at the girl. When they first met, she was strong, cold and impenetrable. A true warrior. But now things were different. As a shinobi, he was not afraid to die on the battlefield, surrounded by dead and, possibly, even rotting bodies. But seeing a person fade like this, when they were unable to do anything about their state, when they burned out like a candle, turning with every second into a pale copy of their former self is what really scared him. At first, he didn’t care much what would happen to Yuki, but now, when her life glimmered on a candle stub, saving her was important. Either she will survive, and he will get rid of animal all-consuming fear, or her pale face, disfigured by illness, in the tongues of the funeral flame will haunt him till the end of his days.

Akamaru rested his head on Tsubasa’s lap. Still lost in her heavy thoughts, Yuki let her hands go of the swing chain and started to mechanically stroke and scratch the ninken behind the ears.

”Hey Tsu, I know that you are that type of shinobi who tries to follow the code perfectly. But we are not made of steel. You are not made of steel. You are feeling bad and tired. It’s unlikely that I will hear something that Ino did not show me or did not hear from you. Sharing pain as a shinobi is hard, but it’s even harder to keep your cool when you are on the verge of being broken by your own emotions. Even though I talk too much, anything you tell me tonight will stay here, I promise. So, tell me what’s eating you.

”You’re right. I am tired. I am weak, although I’ve tried to prove myself otherwise for my whole goddamn life. Even when I felt bad and thought that everything was lost, I clung to a few good things that I had. What does not kill makes us stronger, and the world, even drowning in war and blood, is still too beautiful to give up, especially the little things that everyone forgets. That’s what my father taught me. My path has never been covered with rose petals. Well.., for most people, actually. Still, I didn’t stop fighting for the people I love. Only when the clan curse showed itself… I was really scared. I felt completely helpless. And after the recent events… Fuck all my experience, knowledge and even more ranks. I am useless. I… I must accept the truth. I will die soon Kiba and I do not want to die here.”

Her previously smooth and still voice started to crack. Her shoulders shivered slightly.

“You, Ino and your friends are wonderful people and in general I like Konoha, but it will never be my home, and you will never replace my family. I hate to break promises, but I really don’t want to keep the one I gave to sensei and friends. I just want to give up and go back to Kiri. I miss them so much and want to see them one last time. Besides there is also one thing that bothers me…”

Mei was not that wrong when she said that Tsubasa might fall in love in Konoha. She actually did, but not with the soulmate destined by the stars. She fell in love with an eccentric, slightly arrogant and silly boy who may have not really known her, but still tried to help. Simply because he did not lose faith in her or their team, because he acted friendly with her and could cheer her up even in her darkest moments. For the fact that he could knock on the window at one in the morning and invite her into the forest to look at the fireflies. Just like that. It wasn’t like love at first sight, or a long courtship. With each passing day her feelings grew stronger washing over her like waves. Unfortunately, there were few “BUTs” that Tsubasa could not ignore:

She was from another village and even though there were many bad things in the hidden Mist, she was not going to betray it or move anywhere. She promised herself to help Sensei make the village a better place, and she was not going to give up on her dream either. Kiba was also too loyal to his family and friends. He would never leave them for some Kirigakure girl.

Moreover, Tsubasa felt guilty about her soulmate. Yes, she never saw him, but that did not stop him from taking care of her and obviously dreaming about their meeting. It would be wrong just not to care about his feelings.

Most importantly, that applied to both Kiba and the unknown “true one” - she was dying. She was a weak sick girl who had a month left to live at best. Of course, she could confess her feelings to the boy next to her right now, feel loved and die with a drop of happiness… But was it fair for Kiba who would have to live with this burden until the end of his days? Definitely not. She couldn’t do that to him. That’s why she would rather stay silent, burn out from her feelings, because at least she would not let him suffer.

“I just don’t know what to do… I feel lost.”

She lifted her head, blue feathers of her earnings blowing in the wind. Her face was emotionless and her body calm, yet uncontrollable tears were streaming down her face.

The boy took her freezing hand and pulled her into a hug. Tsubasa bit her lip, burying her face in his shoulder and soaking his jacket with tears.

”You lost only because you gave up right away as soon as you found out about your diagnosis! Stop thinking about the fucking disease! Focus on something else! Not on the loved ones, since it causes you so much pain. Focus on your dreams! On your soulmate!”

“Why are you so obsessed with the idea of soulmates?”

“Why are you so disgusted with the idea itself?”

She let his hand go and exhaled. There was no trace of her emotional outburst except for her bloodshot eyes. Tsubasa grabbed the swing chains, thinking for a second.

“I do not believe in fairy tales about gods, who loved each other and were separated, that blessed all mortal couples with a secret connection, in revenge to the rest of the pantheon. Why did everyone suddenly start to think that it was a love connection? What if that bond means a strong friendship? And how can finding lost things help my soulmate find me or specifically, my body? The only variant I see is where you tattoo the coordinates on your hand and lose it in battle. An ‘excellent’ plan! Moreover, where are the guarantees that soulmate couples will be happy? Give me one example.”

”Ino’s parents are soulmates.”

Both of them suddenly turned silent.

”As far as I know, Mrs. Yamanaka did not even know our language when she arrived here. She was from another country, with completely different customs, still she risked going into the unknown. And I don’t know any stronger couple.”

“The way you talk about it… Your parents aren’t soulmates either, are they?”

He nodded.

”Don’t get me wrong, I love my mother. In fact, my father left when I was one year old, so she and my sister raised me. But… My mother is a very difficult person. As far as I can remember, it was always important for her to be the first and she never cared about the feelings of others. This is good for a warrior, but not for a family member. She could easily say things that will hurt you, including the ones she said on purpose, as a joke in order to please her ego. When you tried to talk to her about this and ask her to tone it down a little, she pretended to listen at first, but soon forgot about it. As for my father, he was not from our clan, not even from our village. He was a stranger and ended up being at the very bottom of the clan’s hierarchy. My sister said that he could stand a lot of things, but not the betrayal and disregard towards him from his once loved one. Of course, this was not the only reason he left. After that, looking at how Ino’s parents perfectly understand each other and always try to find a compromise, on how strong their union is… I want the same kind of family. Yes, I can act like my mother, be short tempered and impulsive. I think you noticed it when we first met. I admit I behaved horribly, but with people close to me, whom I don’t want to lose, I try to control myself and work on it.”

“That’s… amazing Kiba. And despite the fact that you mostly act like a jerk -” he snorted and a small smile formed on her lips- “I have to admit that after knowing you better, I have respect for you. You don’t try to please everyone. You give all of yourself and your warmth only to the ones that are close to you. Only to those who, in your opinion, deserve it, disregarding the rest. This is right. I share the same point of view. But since you really want to find your soulmate, have you ever thought that you might end up being the one to leave your home? Are you ready for such a sacrifice yourself?”

Kiba fell silent. At first it seemed that he was deep in thought, but in reality, everything was different. He was frightened and listened to the silence of the night trying to find out if someone was eavesdropping on them. For a moment, the girl even thought that he used ninjutsu to sniff out strangers and make sure that there were no one near them.

As white as a sheet, he took her hand and ‘wrote’ his answer on the inside of her palm with a finger:

“Yes”

She glanced at him. His actions spoke louder than words.

“Your father is dead, isn’t he?”

”Were you born in a clan or joined it later, you cannot leave it.”

”I understand. After all, in Kiri, a lot is happening inside our clans too.”

They both sat in uncomfortable silence.

“When you said that my parents are not soulmates, you also said “either”. So..?”

“You heard right. You know that before Terumi-sama, Kirigakure was overflowing with nepotism and bribery? Well, people were willing to do anything to move up the career ladder. My mother really wanted a higher position in ANBU, so she made my father fall in love with her and convinced him that she was his soulmate. As you understand, it was also important for my father to find ‘the true one’ but when he realized that he was fooled it was already too late. He comforted himself with the fact that he seemed to love my mother even without that spiritual bond, plus he loved me with all his heart and soul. But in fact, the love between my parents was one-sided… and because of the special treatment to the Yuki clan, my father was never at home. So… when you start looking for your destined one, please be careful, okay? I do not want the same fate for you or for anyone else.”

Okay, let’s change the topic” - he waved his hands in a playful defensive gesture “You mentioned that you have a dream. So, what kind of dream?”

“Well, you chose a bad one to distract me, because my dream is deeply connected with my family. You know about the genocide of the Yuki clan?”

“Mmm, sorry, to be honest, not really. Only that when the Uchiha clan was massacred, the elders whispered with each other that it could be the same case as it was with your clan, where it was the Kage’s order or some sort.”

“The Yuki clan was once considered to be one of the most powerful clans in the village of the Hidden Mist. And of course, quite dangerous, especially for the past Mizukage, or rather, for the one who controlled him. So, one night, the entire main branch was killed and the clan’s library burned down. The Yuki clan was officially made part of a lower caste. Some clan members managed to escape, while others were often sent on dangerous and suicidal missions. Now from the once large clan, only 30-40 people remain in Kiri, and most of them are elders and children. For comparison, grandfather Naoki had four children, the same age as my father, and only one daughter remained alive. As you know, my frightened and repressed clan avoided communicating with each other. In fact, in my childhood, it was as if the clan did not exist at all. Childhood in Kiri was not easy, but the other children at least had a clan, a large family that stood up for them. I wanted it too. I wanted to be a part of a clan and before my illness I dreamed of reviving the Yuki clan, regaining lost knowledge and finding all the relatives lost around the world, whom, as far as I heard, were not liked by both ninjas and civilians. But now after that illness… I must find every single Yuki alive to make sure that no one will be alone while fighting the family curse and that no one will go through the same pain as me, giving them a chance to be cured. And I will do it, no matter what… If I survive, of course…”

“It’s … A great dream to achieve-,” he scratched his head not knowing what to say- “And I am sure you will! Just don’t be so pessimistic! “

”I am realistic.”

“Pessimistic.”

“Realistic!”

“OK, OK!” he chuckled.“Looks like only realists like you, who talk about how bad and terrible everything will be, turn out to be chuunins.”

“What? Kiba, I don’t… urgh forget it! Arguing with you on any topic is simply useless when you are stubborn as a mule.”

“Said another mule!”

She laughed. Warmly and sincerely, for the first time this evening, and perhaps since they returned from that ill-fated mission.

”By the way, if your life in the hidden mist was so bad why do you hate the idea of moving to another place? Like here, to Konoha?”

“First of all, my life in Kiri is perfect now. Secondly, when people will learn that I am from the hidden mist they will hate me. The only thing that saves me now is that commoners think I am a distant relative of Ino.”

“Why do you think that?”

“You never heard why Kiri women are hated so much?”

“No.”

“Well let me tell you,” she grinned sinisterly. “One year, in our village, due to hunger, disease and war, there were practically no men left. Then the women decided to fill this gap by stealing men from other villages. But then they questioned themselves, how to transport healthy and adult shinobi without harming them? This is how the world-famous art of Kirigakure ANBU was born, thanks to which we can immobilize even the most powerful warrior,” she chuckled as a senbon she used in some missions appeared from nowhere, - “With the combination of many factors, but still. Well, those poor souls who ended up in Kiri … they essentially had no choice, but to marry ladies there if they wanted to live.”

“Are you joking?!”

“I’m not! In fact, my great-grandfather was kidnapped from the village hidden in the Stone. So, be careful Inuzuka Kiba! Who knows, maybe my illness is just a part of a secret mission and I’m actually here to pick up suitable candidates… And you might end up being one of them! You may turn out to be a good third husband for me, you know?”

He laughed.

“Oh really? Well, I would die to see how you would try to steal me with such an amazing guard as Akamaru!”

“Oh darling,” she grinned and hugged the huge white dog,” I would find a way to make that adorable boy my partner in crime! “

Akamaru happily barked in agreement and both teenagers burst into laughter, almost falling off the swing.

“By the way,” she said after a small pause, “I have to admit that fireflies are much more beautiful in Konoha. Thank you for letting me enjoy such beauty…”

He bit his lip and took her hand in his. The Ice crystals were still showing from her bandage returned them both to the dreadful reality.

“You will survive Tsu, I promise you, and you will see many more fireflies. Not only these.”

She looked at him with a faded, crooked smile. A smile that only gravely ill and very tired people have. Kiba returned her a look and his heart squeezed painfully in his chest, skipping a beat.

“Don’t make a promise that you can’t keep.”

”I’ll keep it! You will see. We are close to finding the ancient temple of the Yuki clan, and there definitely should be information on how to cure you. And after the next mission is completed, we will go to a grill bar! In the land of water there are only sea creatures and practically no normal beef. I cannot let you go back to Kiri without letting you know all the delights of good meat.”

She chuckled.

“If you say so.”

But there would be no grill bar or any next time. They found information about the temple location, but at the cost of everything else. The disease turned out to be unstoppable at this point. Luckily, they managed to reach it in time and save Tsubasa’s life.

Three months had passed since her miraculous recovery. Representatives of the Mist village appeared in Konoha the next day and took the girl with them, not allowing her even to say goodbye to her new friends. Still, their paths will cross in the future.

Upon returning to Kiri, Tsubasa began to communicate a lot with Ino through letters, which made the Mizukage almost ecstatic. She hoped that friendship with the clan princess would turn into a possible strong political tie in the future. One way or another, Mei was going to make her children, if not a future Mizukage, then those on whom the village could rely. Sometimes Mei was so happy about the benefits that Tsubasa had a feeling that her illness and departure to Konoha were part of Sensei’s plan to improve relationships with the village from the very beginning. However, she thought it was too weird and silly to be true.

She also sent letters to Kiba. Feelings for him that suddenly flared up in her heart were not planning to disappear, but she still had no intention of getting into his personal life. He wanted to find his soulmate, and she respected that wish. This was the least she could do for him. “Besides,” she thought while drinking peach tea in the evenings and remembering how he was trying to warm her drastically freezing body on their trip to the temple, “it is unlikely that we would have succeeded even if there would be no soulmate. We are too loyal and attached to our villages and clans. None of us would move to another village for the sake of other. Only a soulmate had such privilege.“

Therefore, she was happy to be his friend at least, send the boxes of tangerines and dried seafood snacks on special occasions, help with advice on everyday problems that all teenagers went through, regardless of which shinobi village they were born in, and just talk about all sorts of nonsense.

At six am, there was a loud knock on the door. Tsubasa was just getting ready for the training and she had no idea who would need to see her at such an early hour (her teammates were waiting for her at the training field, so it could not be them).

A familiar figure was standing outside of the door. Tired from the road, a little nervous, but smiling. Holding a medium-sized flat box under his arm.

“Kiba? What are you doing here, especially this early?!”

“There were reasons,” he said giving her a box, “may i come in?”

“Of course, you can, I’ll make you some tea and something to eat for you two.”

The girl moved away to the side, letting the boy and his dog into the apartment. Akamaru immediately stretched and laid himself on the carpet of the living room, while Kiba took a seat in the kitchen.

“So, what’s the reason you came here?”

“Open the box,” he said with a smile.

Tsubasa raised her eyebrows skeptically. She put the box on the table, thin fingers gripping the blue lid and pulling it up. Her father’s mask with its cold material was staring right into the girl from the inside. Frozen in complete shock, looking at the once-lost thing dear to her heart, she did not notice how Kiba approached her from behind.

“I just felt lost,” he said in a soft voice, while tucking a loose strand behind her ear. Their faces were only a few inches apart, “And desperately wanted to be found.”

[nodameshield]

Day 5: Future / “Some things are destined to be—it just takes us a couple of tries to get there.” - J.R. Ward, Lover Mine

Fate is a bit of a bitch, if you ask Goh about it. He won’t tell you why - the technicalities are a bit too much for him to explain - but he’ll happily say to anyone who listens, that Fate is a bitch.

This is now the third lifetime he wakes up on in which his soulmate is nowhere to be found.

It’s nothing like the first time, when he didn’t even know of the existence of this other being, when he ignored there was someone out there who was made to match him and accompany him through all of their lives’.

Ignorance really is bliss.

For centuries now, it’s taken but a couple of years for him and Ash to run into each other, sometimes they’re kids, sometimes they’re teenagers who go to the same school or farm the same fields or hunt the same witches (though that one time Goh had been the witch himself, and Ash chasing after him with a pitchfork hadn’t been the most ideal of first encounters. Not really the stuff of romance, that.) 

But no matter the circumstances, what is certain, over and over again, is that they will run into one another, for they are twin-flames, meant to love and hold together for eternity.

Which is why, as Goh wakes up as a ten year old in this new lifetime, with vague recollections of past lives and a distinct sense of wrong, he’s got no-one to blame but Fate. He curses its very existence with the limited knowledge of mean-words a ten year old would have.

Ash isn’t here. Hasn’t been born, probably won’t be. 

And now he has to burden however-many years on his own. Yearning and missing and ugh, he can’t wait to die. What’s the average lifespan in this era? Seventy-what? 

Ah, fuck him.

Even if he wanted to complain, it’s not like Fate has office hours, or an assistant with whom you can schedule an appointment. You get what you get and if you don’t like it, well,…tough, buddy, better luck next time.

Except it’s been no luck for Goh for the last three lifetimes, and he’s starting to feel a bit like the butt of a joke.

He is worried, because, what if something happened to Ash’s soul? What if it’s something serious and their reincarnation cycle is now broken and they won’t meet again? That is…that is the worst thing Goh can ever imagine happening and, if it were the case, he doesn’t really think he can keep going with this living business. He simply doesn’t want it.

And unless you, too, are part of a reincarnation cycle and have a soulmate of your own, please abstain from commenting on how extreme and dramatic that sounds. You simply don’t understand.

Twin-flames must meet on every lifetime. Otherwise the whole thing just feels…off. As if you shouldn’t be there in the first place. As if you shouldn’t exist at all. it’s taxing for one’s soul. It’s definitely taken a toll on Goh’s, who wakes now for the third time and meets the heartbreaking realization that his one and only person isn’t here.

Again.

But Goh is a determined - (read: stubborn) soul. And he refuses to let another lifetime pass him by without his partner. That’s unacceptable.

Fate might not have office hours. But he’s paying a visit anyways.

It’s several years before he can make good on that decision. As he learns the ins-and-outs of humanity this time around, as he grows, becomes a someone in this lifetime (he chooses science, because Ash had been a chemist in a past life, and he feels as though that is a respectable homage to his lover. He thinks he’d be pleased.)

There are creatures in this world other than humans or regular animals. They’re called Pokémon, he’s learned. They live alongside humanity and societies. Goh has a companion of his own, a fire-hare that has been with him since he was a child. Cinderace has heard all about Ash and their bond and how important it is to find him.

And so, when he’s twenty, Goh and Cinderace set on a journey to where he’s heard the goddess of Destiny lives. It’s the closest thing to ‘Fate’ he’s found. It’s months on the road, but Goh is not giving up. The life he leads, the future he wants, it’s up to him to make it happen. It’s up to him to get Ash back.

It’s late May by the time he arrives. He lights his candles and says his customary prayers and, when he’s the only patron left at the shrine, he lays it down on Fate as he’s wanted to do for ages.

Listen to me, your ‘highness’. I think it’s very messed up how you gave me a soulmate, and then decided to simply take them away. That’s not how this works and you bloody-well know it. I swear, if you don’t bring Ash back -

Goh doesn’t actually remember how Ash left the Earth last time they were together. He doesn’t remember who left first, or the events that led up to it.

It’s been a minute (three lifetimes). And it’s not the kind of thing they remember every time anyways. Some stuff comes back stronger when they meet, but that hasn’t happened in a minute (three-fucking-lifetimes), either.

Fate is kind enough - cruel enough - to show him exactly what happened, last time. It shows him the King, angry and vengeful, ordering his guards to attack him, get him away from the young prince.

The young prince, who jumps in front of Goh to protect him. Who takes the arrow to the heart. The young prince, with whom Goh had been meeting in secret for the last several years, in love and forbidden.

The young prince. His Ash. Who’s just sacrificed himself for Goh.

Goh, who spent a lifetime of tortures for his sins. All of them meaningless and painless, for his life had disappeared in front of him and there was nothing he could do.

Goh remembers now. Goh remembers and cries and begs to understand what it all means. Why isn’t Ash back now. Why hasn’t he been back in so long.

He gets no response. Fate’s done listening to him. Fate’s closed its gates to the past. Fate invites Goh to look into the future with some more hope.

Goh doesn’t know what to do with that, either. But he extends his gratitudes and leaves with Cinderace by his side. More confused than he’d been upon arrival. The feeling of dread towards yet-another-lifetime without his soulmate never leaving him.

It’s four years after that, on a day Goh is moving around his new lab and organizing the last of the boxes, that he’s hit in the gut by what can only be defined as power. A surge of energy that shakes him to the core and has him tumbling to the ground instantly.

Cinderace rushes to him, worried and startled. And, as Goh gapes for a reassurance, he feels it again.

His eyes fill with tears as he looks forward. Sure enough, right at the entrance of the lab is the figure of the person that was crafted just for him.

He can’t see much from the tears. But he can feel. And that’s enough.

Ash rushes to his side, unannounced and somewhat clumsy. Instead of helping Goh stand, he comes down to the floor with him, hands holding onto Goh’s face, meeting his crying blue eyes with shinning brown ones.

“Shh, I’m here now. I’m here. Goh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I’m here. I’m not leaving anymore.”

It’s a litany of assurances for the next several minutes. Of I missed you’s and I love you’s and I’m sorry’s. Of you idiot’s and don’t ever leave again’s and have-you-got-any-idea-of-how-long-it-has-been’s. Of Ash explaining how his soul had been healing. How he didn’t understand what had happened, and the last thing he remembers is jumping in front of some guard to keep Goh safe.

It doesn’t matter. None of it matters, decides Goh. Because he is finally, finally holding Ash back in his arms. And it’s been too long for comfort since that’s happened. He’s not wasting a second more.

They can figure out who Ash is in this life later. Together. They can look into finding him a Pokémon companion later. Together. They can make plans for the future and make plans for the night and make love in Goh’s bedroom. Together.

What’s the average lifespan in this era? Seventy-what?

Goh can’t wait.

[pagingevilspawn]

Photographs

okay, so thanks to @doc-pickles and @iamtrebleclefstories i’ve been obsessed with with soulmate fanfics in this fandom and the stranger things fandom, so all idea credit goes to those two! 

its also been posted on my wattpad as part of my one shots book- to build a home. i’m not very good with links haha. 

A soulmate AU where on your 16th birthday, you receive three photos of your soulmate

____

His sixteenth birthday was honestly not something he was looking forward to. He knew his mom wouldn't be stable enough to cook him a cake like she had when he was younger, before her condition worsened to the point where nearly all her days were bad ones, unlike how it had been the previous year. He knew she wouldn't cup his face in her hands and softly speak, "Alex, my sweetest boy. My truest love." as she stroked his cheeks ever so tenderly. His dad wasn't around anymore, which he knew was a positive thing, well, he supposed it was.

But it was still the first birthday without his dad in it, and that thought made him sad. Not a lot, but a little. Just because all of his birthdays for the past nine years had been his dad telling him that he was a waste of space and a 'fucking idiot' didn't mean he didn't miss him in the smallest way shape or form. He was still his dad after all. The guy who brought him to the fair when he was younger. The guy who briefly taught him how to play guitar. And on the rare occasion when he was sober for about a week or so, would bring Alex out to fix up a pick up truck his dad planned to give him on his sixteenth birthday, but ultimately started using not long before his fifteenth.

He knew Aaron and Amber would maybe do something, but he knew there wasn't much they could do. They were only four and ten. They shouldn't do anything for their brother because he was feeling crappy about a day that didn't even mean that much to him.

Ugh. Birthdays. He thought they were really stupid. Why make a big deal out of the day you were born? Especially if nobody really seemed to care much about your existence.

That's why when he awoke on his sixteenth birthday he was surprised. He'd completely forgotten about what happened on the day everyone had told him about since, well... since he could remember. Some of the things people said to him when he was still was a small boy were nice and comforting, something that made him look forward to this special day, like "Oh, what a lucky women that boy's soulmate will be," was something he got often when he was younger, before his mom's schizophrenia and before his dad's substance abuse. He used to be a really sweet kid. He gave his lollipops to others who looked like they wanted it more, he shared his toys with people in the park. He talked and interacted with everyone from a young age. He was a cute kid too, he remembered. That's what people always said. They would pinch his chubby cheeks and ruffle his dark brown hair, which would lead to Alex giving them his signature crooked smile, which warmed the hearts of many. "What a sweet soulmate he will be.", "The special girl won't know what hit her!" , "He will treat her like a queen i'm sure." thats what daycare teachers and random moms at the park used to say to his parents, complimenting him on how well little Alex treated their daughters. While most boys his age we certain that girls had cooties, Alex just simply talked to him and played with them like they were just a normal person. Not to mention, what a little charmer he was. He was a flirt from the moment he was born. He told some girls he thought they were 'weally pwetty' and said he liked the bows in their hair or the outfit they were wearing. He had mad game. Even from the young age of four he had somehow even managed to completely charm his preschool teacher Ms. Ryan, who he thought was the most beautiful women to ever walk the face of the earth at the time (other than his mom). Ms. Ryan definitely favored Alex, always giving him extra treats at snack, or letting him out first to go to recess. Turns out, being thirty three and a four year old boy telling you on an almost daily basis that 'your dwess is supa pwetty Ms. Ryan' or 'i wike your hair vwery much' was a major confidence booster.

It all changed when he was five though, when his mom's condition was getting worse and his dad started using more and more and more. The situation just decreased as the years went on. Out were the compliments and looks of adoration and in rolled the dirty glares and not-so secret whispers. "What a poor girl to have him as her soulmate.", "I would hate for my daughter to be tied to him forever.", "Let's just hope his soulmate can put up with him." were the ones he heard instead. It used to hurt, but now he didn't mind. He didn't have any friends, any girlfriends, just some mere acquaintances. All he could really say he had were about half of the school's females tucked under his belt. Something he didn't actually care about. Sex was a defense mechanism. Sex made him feel wanted. If some girl was throwing herself at him, he took the opportunity. He felt like he was wanted, even if it was just for twenty minutes in some random parking lot.

He didn't really care for birthdays.

So, imagine his surprise when he woke up that morning to find an orange envelope on his dresser table. It was then he remembered. He remembered that the day of your sixteenth birthday you found out who your soulmate was.

He grabbed the folder so quickly it was like a flash of light. This envelope gave him hope. Hope that one day, someone would care about him. Because, that was the point of soulmates, right? A soulmate was someone who was made for you. Someone who would be okay with all the crap life had thrown at him. Some who would love you. Because, his soulmate would right? Right. She had to. He needed somebody. He really, really needed somebody. And his soulmate was his somebody. Hopefully.

With that thought he takes a deep breath and nearly rips the envelope open. He pulls out the three photos in it delicately, not wanting to even risk a crease or fold forming on the photos. He flips them over one by one.

The three photos.

Wow.

The three photos he'd been hearing about since he was a little boy.

The first one, as he had learned, is what your soulmate looked like on the day of their sixteen birthday, whether it be in the future or the past.

He feels stupid, really stupid. He was smiling like a god damn idiot.

She was hot, his soulmate. Really hot.

Her long brown hair was in gentle curls, natural he could tell. He knew what real curls were versus curling iron ones. She had bright golden eyes. He swore, they were like actual gold. They had specks of green, yellow, and honey. A little beauty mark sat by her right lip. And those lips? They were plump, full, and a bright pink. In the photo she was smiling. He really liked her smile. It was joyous, it made him feel happy, in a way he'd never felt before. He assumed she was laughing, based on the fact that her head was slightly tilted back. From what he could tell, she was wearing a pair of jeans and a flannel. He liked that about her, the fact that she wasn't wearing whatever uncomfortable shit he'd seen some girls at his school wear. She looked like she was dressed how she wanted to and wasn't gonna let society or school cliques tell her otherwise.

He let out a small sigh as he placed down the photo delicately, as if he dropped it any harsher it would break like glass. He picks up the second photo, another smile gracing his lips as he studies it.

The second photo was always of your soulmate the day you met. Well, more specifically, the first time you meet. In his, the girl looked even more beautiful. Except now, she wasn't a girl, she was a woman, and that was obvious. Her face was a bit fuller, and instead of having her hair down this time, two strands of her dark locks were framing her face. He could tell she was in the middle of saying something, but her face wasn't frozen in some awkward position. It looked natural, like a well shot candid.

Alex placed down the second photo just as delicately as the first, setting them side by side. The third and final photo he wasn't quite ready for.

The last photo was a picture of them at their worst. When they had hit absolute rock bottom, before thirty though. Again with the age. Alex didn't get it. Why should they put an age limit on knowing your soulmate? Wasn't there a saying in wedding vows, "for better or worse"? and that was for married people for god's sake. So, why shouldn't he be able to see his soulmate at her worst? It made sense right?

Alex flipped over the photograph hesitantly, his breath getting caught in his throat.

He slams the photo down on the bed as quickly as he could, not being able to look at it any longer.

He understood now.

His soulmate was beaten and bruised, almost all her marks, scars, and bruises visible due to the nightgown she wore. In the photo she was crying, silent tears, he could tell.

He understood now, why they only let you see towards a certain age. Because what if it was worse? What if something worse had happened while his soulmate was older?

A horrible thought came to his mind, shaking it off immediately.

No, he did not do that.

He knew he didn't. He wouldn't. He'd seen his dad beat his mom again and again. He would never be like his dad. He swore on it.

But still, that lingering thought in his mind.

No.

Instead of thinking further, he picked up the first photo of her, the one wheres she is sixteen too. He studies it, knowing that by tomorrow the photo would be gone. Just like the others. That was how it worked anyways. The photos only lasted a day. The next morning, the pictures would be gone. All he knew about her would be her face, which he was going to imprint into his memory as best as he could. The universe seemed to enjoy playing games with people, so again after the one day, your memory of the photo was foggy. Very foggy. It wasn't until you actually met your soulmate when you would remember the photos you saw when you were sixteen. So, her studied her. Even laugh line, every beauty mark, every freckle (she had them sprinkled in every so lightly on her nose). He would remember it all, he told himself that. So that way when he saw her, he would know. But of course, forgetting was inevitable.

He smiles at the photo, biting his lip in a failed attempt to stop his smile from growing. It all seemed surreal to him. A soulmate. He had one? He, Alexander Michael Karev, a boy who had to grow up much younger than most, had a soulmate? Someone who would be okay with his crap?

The man was far from a romantic. He gagged at chick flicks and still felt uncomfortable when he saw any form of PDA, whether it be him or anyone else, but he swore, he thinks this girl would make him okay with everything. For this girl, he could see himself do anything. He would jump in front of a bear for her. No doubt. It didn't matter that he had never even met her. He just knew.

He shrugs the sappy thoughts away, scoffing at himself, in an attempt to not lose his 'tough guy behavior'.

Get a hold of yourself Karev. She's just a girl.

But even those thoughts couldn't erase the smile from his face.

____

On the night before her sixteenth birthday, she was anxious. Really anxious. And scared. She could barely sleep that night, tossing and turning without being able to stop in the backseat of her car. But she knew the envelope wouldn't come unless she slept, since it only showed up after you fell asleep. So, she squeezed her eyes as tight as she could like a little girl wishing to see fairies and let the exhaustion of the days events take over her.

As she awoke the next morning, she temporarily forgot everything. For her, it was jut another day, trying to pry her exhausted eyes open, her mind having a battle with her body. She makes tiny noises as she drifts towards consciousness, her brain foggy with jumbled words and half made thoughts.

When she does manage to open her eyes, she sees an orange envelope tucked into the car's window from the inside. She doesn't think much of it at first, her brain still not on the cognitive thinking side of things, until she wakes up a bit more, remembering the day it was.

She sits up with a start, grabbing the envelope and opening it carefully, but still so quickly that the photos were tumbling out.

She picks up the first from the deck. A photo of her soulmate on his sixteenth birthday. And damn, she was a lucky woman.

He had a sharp jawline, no scratch that, a really freakin sharp jawline. Like you could run your finger across and you would end up with a cut. His messy-yet-styled hair was a dark brown. He had a broad build, biceps pulsing out form the white t-shirt he wore, and a really freakin sexy half smirk. His eyes were a dark brown like his hair, but his eyes, they held something familiar. They held, loneliness. Longing. Exhaustion. That was a big one. At first glance, you couldn't tell, but she could see, behind the eyes of dark brown and bits of green, he was exhausted. Exhausted of what? She didn't know. But she could tell, since she was sure she had the same in her orbs too.  Loneliness. She felt that one too. But him? Lonely? He didn't look like the lonely type. He looked like the guys she saw at her school, the ones were girls falling at their feet and at least five different men to meet him every morning by the lockers to do a 'bro hug'. But she knew to not make assumptions. Longing. What was he longing for? A better life? Better parents? Better friends, better grades? She had no idea, but the look was clear in his eyes. But there was one more thing that shone in his seas of brown. Hope. The day of the photo was of the day of his sixteenth birthday. Could the glimmer of hope be for her? Could she be the cause of someone to believe. Probably not, but still, it never hurt to dream.

The second photo was of him the day they meet. And once again, she was a lucky lady. She couldn't quite see what he was wearing, but it looked to be some type of flimsy dark blue materiel. He had a half snarl on his face, but it didn't really look awkward, like she assumed it would on others. It looked natural, like he'd done it so many times before, it just came with ease.

He had the slightest bit of a stubble on his face, looking like he'd just shaved that morning or the night before, a bit more hair visible in the mustache area. His hair was a bit shorter than the previous photo, but not by much. It was better styled, but still looked like he had run his hands through it too many times to count. She sets the photo down next the the other one, taking a deep breath before flipping over the third and final photograph.

She intakes a sharp breath upon seeing the picture, tears pooling in her eyes at the sight in her hand. It was her soumate, lyig in a pool of his own blood, the red liquid coming from his chest.

He was shot.

In the chest, she assumed. That's where the most of the blood was at. She bites her bottom lip, trying to keep it from trembling. He was what seemed to be a metal box. An elevator? That seemed most likely. His blood stained clothes were previously a light blue, his hair shorter than the previous two photos.

The clothing, it liked familiar. Where had she seen them before? She racks her brain, trying to identify what her soulmate was wearing, purposefully ignoring the large sum of red surrounding the man.

A small smile graces her lips. Scrubs. She'd seen them on a few people when she went into town. So that meant he was doctor. Right? Or a nurse, but he didn't really look like he would be a nurse. And his scrubs were a different color than the ones in the precios picture. She assumed the clothing were scrubs in the second photo as well.

She swallowed thickly. It hurt. She felt the pain. The pain of her soulmate getting shot. It hurt like hell, and she wasn't even experiencing it first hand. But it still hurt. It felt like someone was grabbing her heart and squeezing it. It wasn't the same type of pain, but it was still pain nonetheless.

With that she sets the photo down. The fear starts to kick in then.

How would he soulmate feel about her past? He looked normal. Despite the loneliness and longing in his eyes, her looked normal.

What if she screwed it up? What if he couldn't deal with her crazy? She was Brooke. Hobo, car living, foster home, no parents Brooke.

She shoved the thoughts aside. He was her soulmate. The handsome stranger with the dark eyes that were somehow calming was her soulmate. Who knows, maybe he was just as screwed up as her.

____

Alex Karev had always been impatient. Ever since he was a little boy really.

So imagine how impatient he was when he was twenty nine years old and had still yet to meet his soulmate.

Her loved Izzie, and she had lost Denny, her soulmate. They made each other happy. They loved each other, she was probably going to die. He loved her, so they got married. He got married to someone who wasn't his soulmate. He had given up at that point. I mean, come on. Twenty nine years he'd been on this planet and he still had yet to meet his soulmate. God, he really wished he could just remember her face. He couldn't remember a single thing. Everything else from the day was clear, but the photos that held his soulmates face were a complete blur, nearly nonexistent. All he could remember were his feelings. He remembers thinking she was really hot. And he remembers feeling really happy. Too happy. He pushed the feelings aside. He loved Izzie.

And it hurt like hell when she left. They had their arguments, sure. But he loved her. He waited to kiss her because he wanted it to be special. He gave her a cupcake on her birthday because he wanted her to know she was loved. He wanted to let her know that she wasn't just another notch under his belt. He was a jerk, he knew that. He could be grumpy and he pushed people away. He guessed he pushed Izzie away.

He didn't know if he was ever going to meet his soulmate. He tried dating by and only had a list of failed relationships. And then the plane crash happened. He should've been on that plane, but Robbins boarded it instead. Maybe he would've been the one to lose a leg. Then Robbins would still be happy and making Alex gag at how in love her and Callie were. They were soulmates. It seemed like everyone had already gout their soulmate. Meredith had Derek. Callie had Arizona. Owen had Cristina, even though they had more than many disagreements. Bailey had Ben. Everybody had somebody.

Except him.

And that freakin sucked. So, he slept with the interns. Lots of them. Stacy, Tina, Irene, Brooks, Murphy. He'd pretty much given up on meeting his soulmate. At thirty-two he had still yet to meet the girl from the photographs.

So, sleeping with the interns and having non serious , inappropriate relationships with them it is.

____

She had always been impatient. When she was six she once punched a boy because one; he was being a complete ass, and two; he was taking too long to give her the crayon. he deserves it. he was making fun of her and purposefully trying to flatten the green crayon just to annoy her. he deserved the punch.

So when she met a man who treated her like a queen, who didn't beat her down for not having parents and living in her car she felt amazing. He called her beautiful and showered her with gifts and expensive foods. she didn't really care about that though, she enjoyed when he would delicately hold her like she was a porcelain doll. When he would greet her with a deep kiss after he came home from work.

She loved him so much that she agreed to marry him after only being together for eleven months. She knew Paul wasn't her soulmate, but a man who treated her so nicely, a man who was ever do handsome, wanted her? Who treated her with such love and tenderness, so what if he wasn't her soulmate. She was twenty three years old and hadn't met him yet. And if this amazing guy wanted her and loved her as much as she loved him, than it was okay, not being with her soulmate.

She held onto that love. She held onto that love for three years. Three years of beatings, begging that the man who showed her so much love and kindness would come back and stay.

Because Paul wasn't always bad. Some days he would come home and give her that breathtaking kiss as he walked through the door. Some days he still held her like she was a little porcelain doll.

Some days he did still show her that love like he used to that first year. But those days were few and far between.

She wished she had just waited. Gotten over her impatience for something real and waited. Maybe then everything would be okay.

Maybe one day she'll meet him.

....

She was no longer Brooke. No more with Brooke Stadler or the various names she took from all the different foster homes.

Now she was Jo. Josephine. Josephine Alice Wilson. It's who she felt like.

Jo. It was a bit old-timey, sure. But she liked it, the fact that she could probably confuse people who had only seen her name and think she was a boy. She didn't want to be a man, but maybe people would be surprised to see that all this well done work was actually done by a woman.

Jo was strong. Jo was powerful. Jo was the person she had always wanted to be.

She left behind Brooke. Brooke was... she was someone else. Brooke was a survivor. But Brooke was scared. Scared of everything. But Jo?

Jo knew Paul could find her. It would be hard, very hard. And he probably wouldn't, but now she wasn't scared. Brooke would've been scared. Brooke wouldn't been scared shitless. But Jo? No, Jo was far from scared. She was excited. She was eager. Because she had a new start. She got to be whoever the hell she wanted. She could go out and drink with her friends. She could go out and drink until she probably couldn't walk. She could do whatever the hell she wanted. She could wear whatever the hell she wanted. She could talk however the hell she wanted.

Because she was Jo.

But Jo did still want the one thing Brooke wanted. To find her soulmate. Sure, by now she knew that he probably didn't exist and the whole ordeal was just plain poppycock, but she wanted to find him. She really, truly, desperately wanted to find him.

She was twenty-seven years old and had a nonexistent love life. a few random hook ups from a bar were not included.

Maybe here. Maybe in Seattle she would meet her soulmate.

____

She was on Peds today, with Alex Karev. She hadn't  ever met the man before, but she had heard more about him than she cared to. Mainly from Leah Murphy with the occasional input from Heather Brooks. From what she gathered, the easiest way to label him was a man whore. So she wasn't really the most excited to be on his service for the week.

She'd been in Seattle for a month now, starting her internship as Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital. She was in love. Sure, doing scut all day and running labs wasn't much, but when she gets to observe from inside the OR? She felt like she won the freakin lottery.

The girl grabbed a trauma gown form behind her attending. "Do you mind" he snarls not even meeting her gaze as he turns around and heads to the ambulance bay.

She says she was sorry, but she doesn't think he hears her.

"Why are you following me?" she doesn't know why, but for some reason his voice gives her butterflies. She hadn't gotten a look at his face yet, but she assumed it was turned into a grimace.

"I'm your intern for the day." her voice sends tingles through him, shooting down his spine. He hadn't seen her yet, but her voice was strangely comforting.

"Hello intern you got a-" he starts, stopping as soon as he looks at her.

He feels breath get caught in his throat. no, surely he was imagining things. Right?

She feels like she can't breathe. That face. It was the same one as the one she saw on her sixteenth birthday. She remembers him. His sharp jawline and tiny bit of stubble.

And those eyes. she remember those eyes.

They held the same things as before. Loneliness, longing, exhaustion. But now, the tiny glimmer of hope she once saw was bright, not like the barely there she saw once before.

He felt everything in that moment. She was just like he remembered. Her long brown hair was swept up into a low updo, two dark strands framing her face. She had that little beauty mark by lip. And her eyes, they were truly everything. They showed him what she was feeling, surprise, disbelief, a bit of fear, hope. he knew his eyes were telling her the same thing.

They're not sure how long they're standing there in the middle of the ambulance bay, oblivious to the two other people next to them.

She wasn't sure how long it was until he broke the silence, a large crooked smile making its way onto his lips.

"Hi."

he whispers so delicately, like if he were to speak any louder the world around then would shatter.

She feels he smile widen, but now grinning from ear to ear.

"Hi."

[thetourguidebarbie]

Stuck together somewhere and it’s a full moon and SHIT ARE YOU TURNING INTO A WOLF WTF??? (but maybe they’re mates and all is well?)

God, the Shrieking Shack was such a weird place for a date. Klaus was usually pretty thoughtful, so it had been unexpected when she'd gotten his note this morning telling her to meet him there at sunset for a surprise along with instructions about how to get past the Whomping Willow, but she'd roll with it, at least for now. She usually hated surprises, which Klaus knew, so it had to be worth it, right?

She trudged up the stairs, her hand gripping the railing to make sure that she didn't trip in the low light, following the rustling sound she heard on the second floor. She finally opened to door to see Klaus shirtless, in the process of shedding his jeans.

Presumptuous, much? They'd only started sleeping together the week before. There was no way he should be this confident that she wanted to bang on a dirty floor of an abandoned house. Was this some kind of weird kink?

"What are you doing?" 

"Caroline?" Klaus whispered the second he saw her, freezing in place. She could have sworn she saw fear in his eyes, his hands moving up to clutch her shoulders, gently pushing her to the door. "How did--you have to go."

She dug her heels in, bristling and pushing him away. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You can't be here, sweetheart," he said firmly. "You have to go back to the castle."

"Then why'd you ask me to meet you?" Caroline asked, folding her arms in front of her, frowning. "I got your owl this morning."

"My owl? I didn't send an owl."

"Well, I don't know who else would have sent a letter that said 'meet me in the shrieking shack at nine. I have a surprise for you.' Which also, like, if your surprise is sex in a dusty haunted house, I'm so not up for it."

"I didn't send whatever you're talking about," Klaus said impatiently, his words clipped and rushed, his hand hot on the small of her back as he steered her towards the door. "Really, love. I'm sorry. I'll explain later, but you have to--" he choked out a soft 'fuck', his hand going to his side as he winced in pain. 

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked, alarmed at his reaction, spat forgotten. 

"No," he said through gritted teeth. "Really, sweetheart. You need to go. Now. Run."

"Run? What do you mean run?" she asked, turning around when a breeze floated through the cracked window, causing the door to shut with a soft click. She reached to jiggle the doorknob, deciding to follow directions for now since he seemed really committed to getting her out of there, but it wouldn't budge.

"It locks automatically," he said through gritted teeth.

"Why would it do that?" 

"To keep me in," he said, gasping in pain and clutching his stomach. 

"Keep you in?" she repeated, starting to panic. What the hell was going on. "What do you mean keep you in?"

Her question was answered when she saw fur begin to sprout on his arms, his jeans ripping down the sides of the legs and falling to the ground with his belt and boxer briefs and he fell on all fours, letting out soft pants of pain.

"Holy shit," Caroline breathed, taking a few steps backwards and fumbling behind her for the doorknob. "Holy shit, holy shit, oh my god."

A few things became immediately clear. The first was that her boyfriend was a werewolf and totally hadn't said a single thing. Rude. The second was that he had clearly not been the one who invited her to the Shrieking Shack. The third was that whoever had sent that letter had clearly wanted her dead or bitten.

The fourth was that she was in serious danger of that happening.

"Nice dog," she whispered as Klaus looked up, yellow eyes focused on her, paws extended to curl into the frayed carpet. "Everything's fine. I'm not going to hurt you. Please don't bite me."

Her mind raced as she tried to think of a plan. She couldn't run, obviously. If you ran from dogs they chased you, right? Were werewolves dogs? Did they have dog feelings? Her dad used to tell her that if the neighbor's crup growled at her she should stare at it to establish dominance, but something told her that a werewolf's natural reaction to an alpha showdown was not to concede when the other person could easily be dinner.

She stuck her hand in her pocket, fingering her wand. She didn't want to hurt him. Secrets or not, Klaus was her boyfriend, and she did like him. A lot.

And honestly, if this was the secret, she could totally understand why he didn't tell her. Not that that helped her current predicament.

She knelt in front of him and winced at the growl, lowering her eyes and her head, hoping to indicate that she was not up for a fistfight with a gigantic murder-dog. The soft weirdly purr-like sound he made seemed promising, and she risked glancing up at him to see what he was doing, relaxing a bit when she saw that he was sitting, his tail thumping against the floor.

Cool. Okay. She could work with that.

She hesitantly sat down fully, crossing her legs in front of her and folding her hands in her lap, still careful not to make direct eye contact. If she pulled out her wand, he might interpret that as a threat, right? So she probably shouldn't try to unlock the door. Ugh, was she stuck here for the whole night?

She felt a cold nose poke at her cheek, and she looked up to see Klaus sitting in front of her, staring at her intently. "Um, hi?" she half-asked, feeling a bit silly.

Well, at least he wasn't trying to eat her.

It was weird though, that he was so calm. He walked around her to nudge her back with his nose, and she stood up slowly, trying to figure out whether he was attempting to herd her. It turned out he was, nudging her repeatedly until she got onto the bed and hopping up next to her, curling up by the pillows and making room for her to lie beside him. It was awkward, being pressed close to him, but it was a bit cold from the night time breeze through the shattered windows, and if she was going to be there all night without blankets, she might as well lean against Klaus, since his body was warm and soft.

They laid in silence until she drifted off, and when she woke up she felt Klaus's very human body pressed against her back, his arms spooning her comfortably.

"You're awake," he murmured, his hand creeping under the edge of her uniform top to splay on her stomach. "Feeling all right?"

"Other than the fact that my boyfriend didn't tell me he was a werewolf, yeah. Totally peachy."

"My apologies for not informing you," he said stiffly. "I hadn't realized that two months of dating was enough time for me to trust you with my darkest secrets."

"I'm sorry. You're right," she said, turning over in his arms so that they were nose to nose. "It's not like it's any of my business, really. We're not like, serious, or anything."

They hadn't had that conversation yet, even if she very much wanted them to be.

"Well, we are now, I suppose," he said, making her frown.

"Isn't that supposed to be a group decision?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You're in once piece, love. Surely you know what that means."

"I mean, not really? I assumed it was because I didn't stare you down to have an alpha fight."

He snorted. "No. Anyone else would have been ripped to shreds, submissive signals or not."

"Then why am I different?" she asked slowly, wondering if this was a pretty romantic nothing that he was trying to suck her in with. "Is this your intro to 'I'm not like other girls'? Because I hate that."

"I suppose in a sense, you are," he said slowly. "Though not in the way you're assuming."

"Then how?"

"You're my mate," he said simply, reaching to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. "Soulmate, if you prefer."

"Oh," she squeaked, stiffening. "That's...um...cool. Cool."

He smirked, his hand settling on her lower back and stroking up and down her spine. "Indeed."

[yeojaa]

SUGAR HIGH, chapter x. (w. JJK)

You're not entirely sure when it happened, though you'd come to terms with it. You'd counted the days, waiting for the inevitable. You'd truly thought you'd be okay, but by the broken, half-beating thing in your chest - you knew you'd never really been prepared.

alt summary.  You thought you’d known real love and maybe you had - it just wasn’t with who you thought.

pairing.  jeon jungkook.  mentions/involvement of ot7.

tags.  angst, break up, post-break up, comfort, OT7, slow burn, friendship, moving on, hurt/comfort, emotional hurt/comfort, emotional baggage, fluff, canon compliant, jeon jungkook is bad at feelings, jeon jungkook is a good friend, jeon jungkook is a sweetheart.

rating.  general (for now?)

word count.  ~2000

chapter 10.  Nothing Like Us

"What if I'm not good enough?  What if this happens again and there's nothing I can do to stop it because it's not what I'm doing but what I'm not?  I can fix my mistakes but I can't change who I am."

"You redecorated," you muse once you've stepped into his studio, still speaking in English.  It's nice to practice even if you never use it anymore.  You never really found the need to after your few years abroad.  The most often was with Jungkook when he'd time to call you and practice, but now those days were few and far between.

Slipping the door shut behind you, you scrutinise the room curiously.  It's shades of white and cream, beige upholstery and inviting grey cushions that beckon you to sink your aching bones into them.  A little plant is nestled beside the door, planted neatly in a little black pot.  Two sweaters are folded on a seat, tags displaying exorbitant prices still attached.  There's a row of shelves against the closest wall that houses various books and figures, including a particular Bearbrick that catches your attention.  It's about six inches tall, as big as your palm, and decorated in a mosaic of orange.

"You still have it!"

The look Namjoon gives you is as if you'd grown a second head, sprouted the the appendage right from the base of your neck.  Why were you so surprised?  "Of course.  You designed it."  Reason enough because he's a sentimentalist as much as you are, holding onto knickknacks he's had for far too long.

You study the figurine closely, admiring your handiwork.  The swirls of colour form pieces of fruit, tiny oranges and peaches painted across the surface  joined by scrawled characters.  They were the lyrics to one of your favourite songs of theirs - Outro: Tear.  You'd cried the first time you'd heard it, brought to tears by words you hadn't expected.  The rap line always surprised you.

"Thank you, oppa."  You wonder if all of your gratitude could ever be conveyed in three simple words.  

He doesn't answer, simply dropping into his chair.  It's high-backed and black - you imagine one of the best money can be, considering how much time he must spend in it.  

"So, let's talk."  The words float over his head and back to you as he taps out his credentials, fingers flying across the sleek keyboard with ease.  Long fingers guide his mouse and he's scouring his library for something to put on the background.  He knows how music soothes you.  That's why you were so close.  Since the beginning, you'd spent hours listening to his demos, lending your voice to the symphony in his head. 

You both found reprieve in the melodies, drowning your sorrows in heavy beats.  Whereas music was his passion, his lifeblood, it guided yours - helped the creativity flow from your finger tips like water from a well. Music couldn't hurt you.  You could get lost in it for hours.

"Where do I start?"  You say derisively, without laughter or mirth.  You don't like how the question rolls of your tongue, acidic and frustrated.  You know it's your own emotions, ones that stir from their slumber at the first sound of piano keys.  You meet his open stare when he turns back to face you, hands clasped in his lap and expression intent.  He's like a doctor studying his patient.  "Really, Joonie?  Fools?"

The chuckle is indication enough that you don't get a say in songs tonight.  He wants you to feel something when Jungkook's dulcet tones join the harmony.

Before you begin, your legs are drawing to your chest, socked feet joining you on the couch.  It's like you're creating a physical wall when your arms wrap around your knees.  Your chin drops, bone digging into the soft muscle of your forearm.  You hum once or three times and exhale a sigh.  It's a stalling tactic but your companion isn't in a rush, your little movements only earning him a subtle shake of his head.

"You know we broke up."  There's no point clarifying who he is, because everyone knows.  And truthfully, you don't think you can speak his name, the mere thought of it a sinking stone in the pit of your stomach.  "I'm sad.  I'm really, really sad."  You don't realize you've transitioned back into Korean before you're spilling the entirety of your lovesick heart into your proverbial hands - or in this case, the cavern of your arms.  "And I'm scared, too.  Because I don't know what I did wrong or what I can do to keep the next person I fall in love with."  There's emotion welling behind your eyes before you can stop it.

It's such a silly thing.  Love. 

And yet it has you breaking beneath its weight, sobbing quietly for what seems like the hundredth time in not very long at all.

"What if I'm not good enough?  What if this happens again and there's nothing I can do to stop it because it's not what I'm doing but what I'm not?  I can fix my mistakes but I can't change who I am."  You're not entirely sure your words are intelligible due to the way they're streaming into your skin, caught in the current of your tears.  "I'm so scared I'll let him down."

"Who's 'him'?" 

The question catches you off guard, head whipping up with such speed that you grimace.  

"What?"  Leave it to Kim Namjoon to pick up on something you hadn't even meant to say.  Why couldn't he just be pretending to pay attention, like most people would?  Why did he have to be such a good person?

"You said you don't want to let him down.  Soomi-ya, who's 'him'?"  There's no demand for an answer, no intolerance or force in his reiterated words.  He's genuinely curious because he wants to work through this with you, no matter how awkward you suddenly feel.  He knows, if the roles were reversed, you'd be doing the same.  That's just who he was - a leader.

You're chewing on the inside of your cheek again, twisting your fingers until your knuckles are stark white and straining. 

Did you tell him? Would he tell Jungkook? 

If you were to stop and really think about it, you know the answer would be no.  Namjoon was like a vault - any secret you swore him to would go with him to his grave.  He'd have rather died before he betrayed the trust of someone who cared about.  But in the moment, you're second guessing, the silence stretching on longer than either of you expected.

He relents first, though only in part.  "You don't have to tell me," he begins, carefully, choosing his words like the fate of the world rests with him.  "But if he's a good guy, if he's anything like Jungkook--"  

What?

"--then it won't matter.  You'll be everything and more to him, I promise you that."  A hand has breached the divide, smooth warm palm resting heavily over yours.  It's a surprising act of skinship that has you leaning in, wholly focused on the words spilling from his lips.  "He'll always pick you.  You'll never have a doubt in your mind."

You're not sure whether he means your potential future soulmate or your best friend.  You don't dare ask for fear of breaking the illusion.  Because right now, it feels like Namjoon's speaking on the maknae's behalf. 

You know it isn't true but god, you wish it were.

"Okay," you finally breathe. 

"Where'd Soomi go?" 

The realization you aren't there comes like a freight train, catching him off-guard once he's dropped his headset onto the chair.  Had you left when he'd been engulfed in the high stress fantasy world?  He was sure you would've said goodbye.

Had he done something to mess up?

"I think she and Namjoon-hyung went to talk."  Jungkook's surprised by Taehyung's response.  They'd been playing together, lost in the chaos of Overwatch - or so he'd thought.  Why did it bother him that his hyung knew where you'd gone but he didn't?  Was that something he wanted to think about or would it have him locked in his own head, thinking about things he shouldn't be?

"I'll go get her," he states, about to move down the hall and only stopping when a hand catches his arm, fingers locking around the bones of his wrist and gently urging him back.  

"I think they need time."

Time?  For what?

He's frowning almost immediately, brows knitting together just as his hands do, socking together within the pouch of his hoodie.  With a huff, Jungkook drops unceremoniously into the nearest seat, nearly knocking the mouse from Taehyung's hand with the force of his movement.  He's suddenly uncharacteristically pouty - despite the fact that he'd just wrecked some strangers for the third time in a row.  The discontent radiates off him in waves, manifesting itself in the bouncing of his leg and the fisting of his tongue against his cheek. 

It's only when his foot kicks the other's chair for the third time that Taehyung reacts, tearing his headset off in annoyance.  He'd been thisclose to winning the last match, all his hopes going up in smoke when the younger's incessant movement had nudged his Mei into the line of fire.  

"Stop."  A command more than anything, baritone carrying with it reproach and disapproval.  He knew how complicated things were between you two but hell if it wasn't frustrating.  Truthfully, it had been nice when you'd been in a relationship, because there were no what-ifs, no potential for tension.  Things were normal, if not a little melancholy.

(Though, if they weren't like brothers and he was into smackdowns, Taehyung would've already asked you out - if only to force Jungkook into action.)

Displeasure simmers just before the surface, reflected in the depths of his stare, and the younger makes a concentrated effort not to scoff.  "I'm not doing anything," he grumbles as if he believes it, shoulders squaring beneath his baggy clothes.  Fingers flex against the swell of his biceps, digging into the muscle there as if that'll  sooth the resentment that courses through his veins.  He doesn't like this any more than Taehyung does - he's just bad at controlling his emotions.

"When are you going to tell her?"  Taehyung's settled back into his chair, back to the other as he speaks, already queueing up for another match without his DPS partner.  "The sooner you do it, the less time you'll spend feeling like this." 

The words are not unkind, but Jungkook bristles, pointedly turning his attention to his phone.  "I know that."  

"Then what are you waiting for?"  

"She just got out of a relationship."  It isn't the entire truth but it's close enough that he can speak the words without hesitation.  And I don't even know if she feels the same way. 

"So what?  You've known each other forever.  You don't think that trumps the ex-boyfriend thing?"

Jungkook hates the points that are being made, because they're the same ones he's pondered himself, in the quiet of his bedroom where he's safe from your infectious smile and intoxicating laughter.  He's mulled the possibility over time and time again, having nearly taken the plunge at least half a dozen times.  He could just never push himself off that ledge.  

If he lost you, he wasn't sure what he'd do.  It just wasn't worth it.  (Or so he'd say, before winding back up in this exact same spot.)

"Risk it for the biscuit."  The phrase sounds awkward coming from Taehyung, the strange English idiom having been stuck in his head since he'd heard it a few nights ago in-game.  He'd asked Namjoon about it, playing with the sound of the consonants and vowels before deciding it was his new favourite phrase.  "You can't be scared forever."

"I'm not scared!"  Now, Jungkook's just offended.  He'd weather storms with you - for you.  He wasn't a coward.  There were just so many variables to consider.  It didn't help he was, as his hyungs would put it, a sore loser.  Would he able to swallow his pride if you rejected him, whether kindly or without regard?  Would he resent you? 

God, he couldn't imagine that.  He'd hated your fights enough growing up, the spats stemming from two kids that grew up too fast and thought they knew everything.  When you'd had your first big blowout, he'd nearly driven himself sick with sadness.  You hadn't talked for nearly six weeks - the worst silence he'd ever experienced, so hollow it felt like his heart had been torn clean out of his chest by some sort of super massive blackhole.

"Then tell her."  And as if to bring the conversation to an end, Taehyung drags his headset over his ears, effectively blocking out the groan he knows is coming.  

notes.  i'm trying to expand my chapters a bit more by giving more detail where it's needed and painting clearer pictures.  please let me know what you think (or don't).  if you're reading this, I love you anyways.  <3

[searchingwardrobes]

Hope is the Thing With Feathers: 5/5

Finally, I have finished a WIP! Whoop, whoop! I apologize for the long wait for this chapter. This fic stalled for me, and every time I wrote anything for it, I ended up deleting it. Thank you to my co-creator @hollyethecurious for saving this chapter. The idea of them binding their souls together was her idea, as well as Henry’s place in breaking the curse. If not for her, I might still be staring at a blank word doc! Krystal, I hope you enjoy the ending to your fic!

Summary: Emma and her son Henry move to the tiny, quirky town of Hopeful, Maine for a fresh start. Emma isn’t expecting her son to get obsessed with a haunted castle or for her to get involved with the mysterious, handsome man who lives in the cabin behind it. Emma soon finds that both the castle and the man have secrets she could never have imagined. For @kmomof4 for her birthday.

Amazing banner created by @hollyethecurious

Rating: M

Trigger warnings: positive portrayal of past Millian

Words: About 5,000 in this chapter

Also on Ao3

Tagging: @snowbellewells @whimsicallyenchantedrose @kday426 @winterbaby89 @teamhook @bethacaciakay @jennjenn615 @tiganasummertree @thislassishooked @artistic-writer @snidgetsafan @delirious-latenight-laughs @xhookswenchx @shireness-says @gingerchangeling @nikkiemms @revanmeetra87

Chapter Five: Never Stops at All

There were a lot of ways Emma could have handled the bomb that Belle dropped on her in the library. She could have stayed and had a woman to woman chat about feelings. Nope, scratch that, it had never been Emma’s style. She could have gone to the loft for a hope speech and a cup of cocoa from Mary Margaret. Hell, Emma wouldn’t even have had to tell her anything and Mary Margaret would have offered some sort of motherly comfort. But school wasn’t out yet, which meant MM was still at Hopeful Elementary with her third grade class.

People in mature relationships probably would have gone to their significant other and had a meaningful conversation. Emma had been drawn to Killian’s side, that much was true, but the minute he opened the door, every word she had rehearsed in her drive there flew out of her head.

Instead, she had grabbed him and kissed him like her life depended on it. Every time he pulled back and tried to speak, she had silenced him with her lips against his. Killian had willingly gone where she led him, which was straight to his bed.

Again, probably not the best way to deal with her rampant feelings.

Now she lay in his arms, both of them sated and relaxed. Well, he was relaxed anyway, sighing against her hair. Did he know that ending his curse would allow him to move on? Did he even care about leaving her? Emma swallowed against the lump in her throat. The urge to run, to flee welled up inside of her.

Then she remembered his words on the hilltop and at Milah’s grave. She turned in his embrace, running her fingers along his jawline, tracing the scar on his cheek. He smiled tenderly at her.

She licked her lips. “What do you think will happen if we find a way to break your curse?”

Killian shrugged, tugging her closer to trail kisses down the column of her neck. “I’m hoping,” he mumbled against her skin, “to be able to take you and Henry sailing. Maybe even see this Disney World everyone goes on about.”

He chuckled against her collarbone, and Emma dug her fingers into his hair. She let out a long, sad breath. So Belle hadn’t told him, either.

“Killian,” she began, but got stuck on his name.

He pulled back from the distraction of her body to gaze into her eyes. He tucked her hair behind her ear, his face lined with concern. “Love, what is it? Something’s bothering you, I can tell.”

Emma closed her eyes, pressing her forehead against his. She then wriggled closer until they were pressed against one another, slipping her arms beneath his and grasping his upper back. She turned her head to press her lips against his shoulder blade. It was easier to get the words out when she wasn’t looking him in the eye.

“All my life, I’ve been running, leaving everyone before they can leave me. Until you.” Emma swallowed down the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. “Killian . . . I can’t lose you.”

He pulled back to cup her face in his hands. “I’m not going anywhere, Emma.”

“Killian, think about it. You’re not supposed to still be alive. If we break the curse . . . “

She trailed off, biting on her lower lip. His face went slack as realization washed over him. Wordlessly, he pulled her close again and just held her, running his fingers through her hair. She clung to him as if she could keep him with her through force of will alone. But she couldn’t be that selfish, could she? If she truly cared about him, she wouldn’t want this kind of existence for him.

“Emma,” he whispered against her hair, “I will gladly stay cursed for the rest of eternity in exchange for spending just one lifetime with you.”

She let him kiss her, let him make love to her again, knowing it was his way of sealing his declaration. Apparently, she was that selfish.

*************************************************************

Gold Manor was ready for the inaugural ghost tour on Halloween night. Tickets were being sold online and at all the local businesses. Granny’s Diner was catering the refreshments that would be served in the garden after the tour. The only thing left to do was prep the actors and rehearse for the actual tour.

Emma knew this. She also knew that Killian had reluctantly agreed to Belle’s insane idea that he play . . . himself. Of course, no one but the three of them knew he was the Killian Jones. To everyone else, it was just a happy coincidence. Jones, after all, was a common last name.

Yet, despite knowing Killian’s role in the ghost tour, she was not in the least bit prepared for the sight that met her three days before Halloween. She froze in the doorway of the manor and almost spilled her coffee.

“How do I look, Swan?” he asked, grasping the lapels of the almost floor length, black leather duster he wore. Emma struggled not to let her jaw drop as she searched for words. Beneath the duster, he wore a red leather vest over a honest-to-God black pirate shirt. It was buttoned even less than his shirts normally were, and his charm necklace resting against his exposed chest complemented the look. Then there were the leather pants - skin tight and leaving little to the imagination.

“Um . . . “ Speak, Emma! But all she could do was blink.

A grin spread slowly across his face, the bastard. He sauntered towards her, his head cocked to the side. He was wearing eyeliner too, which shouldn’t have been hot . . . only it was.

“Dashing, right? Devastatingly handsome?”

His teasing tone shook her out of her stupor, and she laughed as she set her coffee cup down on a nearby table. She ran her hands up his vest and grasped the lapels of his coat in a tight grip.

“It’s a good look on you, pirate.”

Belle cleared her throat, and Emma jumped back, her face flaming. She hadn’t even realized they weren’t alone. Next to Belle stood an auburn haired woman with a measuring tape around her neck. Her hair was pulled back in slim braids at the crown, the rest spilling down her back. A pair of horn-rimmed glasses perched on her nose. She grinned broadly at Emma’s assessment.

“Mission accomplished then.”

“Emma, this is Aurora. She’s the costume designer at the community theater,” Belle explained.

“Hopeful has community theater?” Emma asked incredulously, stepping out of Killian’s embrace.

“Not much of one,” Aurora chuckled as she put her sewing equipment away, “which is why I commute every day for my nine to five with the Portland Ballet.”

“Well, you are one of the best,” Belle assured her friend with a parting hug.

“Be careful when you take that off, Mr. Jones,” Aurora admonished as she headed out the door.

“I could help you with that,” Emma whispered in his ear, thrilling when it made his neck turn red.

“Emma, I’m glad you’re here,” Belle said, gathering up an armful of books, “there’s something I wanted to talk to both of you about.”

“I um, feel a little silly having a meeting in this get-up,” Killian said, reaching up to scratch behind his ear. “I think I’ll head upstairs and change.”

Emma watched him go with intense appreciation, humming under her breath until he was out of sight.

“I heard that,” Belle laughed.

Emma shrugged as she turned to her new friend, not in the least bit embarrassed. “What can I say? He looks good in tight leather.”

“You love him, don’t you?” Belle whispered, her smile turning soft.

Emma bit her lower lip as she looked down at her hands clasped in front of her. It sounded crazy; they hadn’t known each other long. Yet from the moment they had first met, there had been a connection between them. Belle took her long silence as an answer.

“That’s why you got so upset when I explained breaking his curse,” she said softly, “you don’t want to lose him.”

All Emma could do was nod her head, her lips pressed together so she wouldn’t cry. Belle simply lowered her head, running a hand over one of the books she had brought.

“I think I may have found a way for the two of you to be together.”

Emma gasped and hurried to stand at Belle’s side. “You have?”

“This spell,” she explained, running her hand over the yellowed pages, “binds two souls together. They literally become one after it is cast. The only catch is that you have to be soulmates or it won’t work.”

Emma swallowed nervously. “It’s worth a shot though, right? I mean, is there any danger if we try and we’re not soulmates?”

“Not the binding, no, but the second part of the plan would be. You see, if Killian shares your soul, he may be able to stay here after the curse breaks.”

“But if we aren’t soulmates, it wouldn’t work?”

“It may not work at all,” Belle admitted, “but it should. In theory.”

“But like I said,” Emma argued, “it’s worth a shot.”

“Emma,” Belle said slowly, “what I mean is, you could both die.”

Emma felt the blood drain from her face as the words sunk in, and she shut her eyes tightly. She thought of Killian, how safe she felt in his arms, how right. She thought about his curse, how he’d lived a long, lonely existence for centuries. She knew, deep in her heart, what she had to do.

She opened her eyes and told Belle firmly, “Like I said, I have to try.”

“No.”

The two women startled at the deep voice coming from the foot of the stairs. They hadn’t noticed Killian descending as they talked.

“Killian!” Emma exclaimed upon seeing him.

“No,” he said again, shaking his head, “I won’t let you.”

Emma rushed across the room to him, taking his hands in hers. “But if there’s a chance to break your curse -”

“I won’t let you, Emma. I won’t risk the life of the woman I love. Neither will I risk leaving Henry an orphan.”

Emma’s heart sank as she slowly released his hands. What kind of mother was she?

“Henry,” she breathed. She hung her head in defeat. Killian was right.

********************************************************************

“Okay, kid, what’ll it be for movie night this week? Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? Thor: Ragnarok? Or Return of the Jedi? The theme of course is conclusions of trilogies . . . “ Emma trailed off as she regarded her son’s pensive expression. “What? You didn’t expect me to throw in Captain America: Civil War did you? Because you know how I feel about that. It’s an Avengers movie, I don’t care what the MCU says.”

She poked Henry in the shoulder, then waved a Twizzler rope in front of his face. “Kid? Earth to Henry?”

“When are you going to tell me the truth?”

Emma’s eyes widened at her son’s angry expression. “The truth about what?”

“About Killian?”

Emma blinked. “Okay, I didn’t know you wanted the details, but . . . well, I love him, and -”

“Ew! I’m not talking about that!”

Emma shook her head. “Then I’m confused.”

“What is he? A ghost? What?”

Emma’s jaw dropped at his questions. “I . . . I . . . don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Please,” Henry scoffed with a roll of his eyes, “I’m not stupid. He can’t leave the manor grounds, he talks like it’s the 17th century, and he knows a strange amount of stuff about Hopeful hundreds of years ago. And his name is even Killian Jones?”

“Henry, you can’t be serious -”

“Then there was this today in history class.” Henry shoved his schoolbook on Maine State History into Emma’s lap, and there on the open page was the same drawing of Killian that Belle had in her stack of research on Gold Manor. A box next to the picture told the story of the witch trial of Milah Gold and the legend of pirate captain Killian Jones. According to Henry’s textbook, most scholars believed the existence of the pirate to be a myth.

“What the hell!” Emma muttered, pulling the book closer. “I can’t believe this!”

“What, Mom?”

“This idiot scholar at The University of Maine says that the romantic imagery surrounding the supposed pirate in conjunction with Milah Gold’s possible madness leads one to believe that he was a figment of the woman’s imagination!” Emma shoved the book away in disgust. “Have you ever heard anything so sexist in your life? Assuming Milah made Killian up because she was crazy. Is it so hard to believe that a woman back then would want anything other than marriage to a wealthy man? Did they ever consider that it was her husband who had lost his mind, not her? Of all the pigheaded things -”

“Mom!”

Emma startled at her son’s voice, and sheepishly bit her lip to stop the flow of words. Henry arched his brows at her.

“So he is Killian Jones, the centuries old cursed pirate.”

He leaned back against the couch with a smug expression. Emma couldn’t help smiling and shaking her head.

“Only you would so easily believe it.”

“The evidence is pretty clear, Mom.” He sat up then, bouncing eagerly. “So how do we break his curse?”

“We don’t, unfortunately,” Emma told him sadly, “not without . . . losing him. He’s supposed to be dead by now, kid.”

“But there has to be a way! You said you love him, didn’t you? Can’t true love break curses and stuff?”

“This isn’t a fairy tale, Henry.”

Her son narrowed his eyes and studied her face, and Emma squirmed beneath his perceptive gaze.

“There is a way!”

Emma shook her head. “No, it’s too dangerous.”

“You just have to believe!”

“Henry,” Emma told him gently, cupping his face, “not if it means leaving you alone.”

He shook his head stubbornly. “Whatever it is, it will work, Mom! I’ve never seen you so happy. We both like it here. We have David and Mary Margaret, and we both have friends.”

“And great onion rings,” Emma teased.

Henry laughed, “Yeah, Granny’s is pretty awesome.”

Emma pulled him against her and kissed the top of his head. “You’re right, Hopeful’s been pretty great, and Killian is partly why.”

“Don’t you wish he could be here for movie night?”

“Yeah,” Emma sighed, “I do.”

“Do you love him for real? Like, a lot?”

“More than any one in the world, besides you, kid.”

“Then it will work, Mom, you just have to believe!”

It was crazy, but something in Henry’s expression steeled her resolve. She picked up the phone and dialed Belle’s number.

“Belle, what do I have to do for this soul binding thing?”

************************************************************************

Emma clutched her purse tightly as she stood on Killian’s porch. Inside she had tucked what Belle said she needed to perform the soul binding. There was just one tiny little detail bothering her.

She was doing it without Killian’s permission.

Emma knew she was playing with fire, knew he might see it as a betrayal. After all, his will being taken from him was the crux of his misery. But ironically, Emma going against his will was the very thing that might give him his agency back. Besides, his concerns were all for and Henry anyway.

This was the twisted logic she had come up with to ease her conscious, at any rate.

She was afraid he would see right through her the minute he opened the door, but he simply greeted her with a beaming smile. He had a kitchen towel tossed over one shoulder, and he eagerly pulled her into the cabin, the delicious smells of whatever he was cooking filling the space. As they talked easily over the meal, Emma’s guilt abated. (The wine they were imbibing helped too.)

As the sun slipped below the horizon, Emma informed him with a sultry smile that Henry was staying the night with David and Mary Margaret. It would be the first time she had stayed with him all night, and he smiled like an eager school boy. That smile, so trusting, so devoted, made the guilt come back, pricking at her resolve. Then he was making love to her in that intense way of his, and the desire to have him with her always, in every sense of the word, made her more sure than ever of what she must do.

Emma waited until Killian’s breaths evened out, then she got up and opened the curtains partway, just enough so that the moonlight fell over his form. He shifted in his sleep, and Emma held her breath. She released it, and tiptoed to retrieve the needle from her purse. She crawled slowly back into bed and tucked herself into Killian’s side.

She took a deep breath before using the needle to prick the tip of her left finger. A dot of dark red blood welled up. Trembling, she took her finger and made the shape of a cross over the left side of Killian’s chest where his heart resided. There was barely enough blood to make the mark; most of it was soaked up by his chest hair. Hopefully, he wouldn’t even notice come morning.

She pressed her hand to the spot, closed her eyes, and whispered, “Anams ceangal a dheanamh.”

To be honest, Emma didn’t expect anything to happen. She had fully anticipated feeling slightly foolish as she wondered if it worked. The last thing she had ever imagined was the pulse of energy surging from Killian’s chest, up her arm, and through her entire body. It sent her tumbling backwards off the bed, and when she scrambled to her knees, Killian was sitting up, breathing hard, eyes wide, his hand to his chest.

“Emma?” he asked in a frantic voice.

“Killian,” she said slowly, “I had to -”

“What did you do?”

She flinched at the higher pitch of his voice. He rose from the bed slowly, looking slightly disoriented as he rubbed at his chest. His demeanor was more frightened than angry, and his voice held a hint of betrayal. She would rather he be angry. The moonlight spilled over his naked body as he came closer to her, and she wasn’t sure if it was the spell or just him, but he looked like some sort of Greek god, both ethereal and strong. When an almost overwhelming desire to make love to him again surged through her, she was positive it was the spell.

His chest heaved as he searched her with a lust-filled gaze. It seemed the spell was affecting him, too. He pressed his eyes shut and asked her again, jaw clenching, “What did you do?”

She stepped into his embrace, pressing her cheek to his chest.

“I think you know.”

His arms came around to hold her tight as if he could fight it no longer.

“I told you not to.”

“I never listen.”

His answer was a searing kiss. They were both left panting when he pulled away, and he pressed his forehead to hers.

“I feel . . .”

“Something’s different ,isn’t it?” she finished his thought.

“Aye, it is. I love you, Emma.”

For the first time in over ten years, those words didn’t scare her. Instead, a comforting warmth spread through her body.

“I love you too.”

**********************************************************************

They made love again after the spell worked, in a frantic, almost desperate way. They had fallen asleep, still entangled in each other’s arms. Emma feared when morning came, but she woke to a blissful Killian, happy that she was still there in his arms. They flirted and teased one another, laughing and smiling between light, morning-breath kisses. In short, they avoided the elephant in the room in favor of being ridiculously in love.

When Emma met up with Belle at the library later that day as planned, she dropped her purse on the circulation desk with a loud thud. She met the librarian’s gaze with a single-minded fire in her eyes.

“It worked. What’s next?”

*******************************************************************

Emma was a bundle of nervous energy. The Halloween event at the manor was in full swing. The cones and rope and ended up working just fine for parking, as well as the dozen or so volunteers in orange vests directing traffic. People were processed in the main room of the house where Killian and his construction crew had put up a reception desk. Next to it was a display of brochures on other historical spots in Maine. Belle was working the desk with Henry’s help, checking tickets and giving each visitor a time to return for their tour. While they waited, guests mingled in the garden, enjoying the refreshments. Many were in costume. Some fit the theme, dressed as pirates or 17th century maidens, but there were also people dressed as Thor, or vampires, or students from Hogwarts.

The actors leading the tours were doing a fantastic job as well as the “ghosts” chatting with visitors in the various rooms: a man playing Robert Gold at the balcony from which he flung himself to his death, a woman playing Milah sitting at her vanity in her chambers combing her hair, and of course Killian pacing the long hallway. He was honestly having a good time startling people with a dramatic spin of his leather coat, and Emma chuckled every time she heard screams from upstairs. He had felt a little uneasy over the actress playing Milah, but other than that, he was taking the whole crazy thing in stride and even having fun with it.

“It’s been centuries, love,” he had assured her multiple times. He also appreciated that the representation of Milah was more accurate, stating that she was falsely accused of witchcraft with no hint of the ridiculous claim that she was mad.

Yet none of that was the cause of Emma’s nerves. She was three heartbeats from a panic attack because of what she and Belle had planned for after the event. Killian didn’t know a thing about it, but it had to be done tonight, on the anniversary of when his curse was originally cast. Belle had everything they needed squirreled away in the closet beneath the stairs. Emma kept glancing that way, despite her being pulled in a thousand different directions, and every time her heart beat sped up.

“Well, Ms. Swan,” Mayor Regina Mills said, stepping into her line of sight seemingly from out of nowhere, “I must say I was skeptical that you could pull this off, but this just might become a Halloween tradition in Hopeful.”

Emma wet her dry lips and forced a smile. “Thank you, Ms. Mills.”

“And tell that man you hired - a Mr. Jones, was it? - to come see me on Monday. I may have a permanent position for him.”

I hope he can. Emma thought to herself. Outwardly, she simply gave the mayor a nod. “I’ll pass that along.”

*********************************************************************

Emma cursed the ancient floor boards as she wrestled the ancient cauldron into place in the middle of the parlor. She righted herself after tripping over a warped board, ignoring the strain of the muscles in her arms as she heaved the cast iron kettle over the burning wood in the fireplace.

Emma swore as Belle crushed ingredients with a mortar and pestle. There wasn’t much time. It was almost midnight.

Belle handed one ingredient after another to Henry, who rushed to toss it into the bubbling cauldron as Emma stirred. Her hands shook as she heard Killian’s boots stride across the floor above.

“He’s going to kill me,” Emma muttered as she caught her son’s gaze.

The sound of Killian’s boots were closer now, descending the stairs. Not that it mattered if he was angry. They had to try. As if reading her mind, Henry grasped her hand.

“This will work, Mom.”

Belle hurried over, the last ingredient crushed at the bottom of the small mortar. The two women shared a nervous look, then Belle shook the white powder into Emma’s palm. Just as Emma lifted her fist above the potion simmering in the pot, the sound of Killian’s boots stilled and his voice filled the room.

“Emma?”

She stopped abruptly as his eyes took in the room; the fragile yellowed book open on the coffee table, the ingredients scattered across the buffet table, and the mortar and pestle in Belle’s hand.

“Killian,” Emma explained slowly, “we found this spell, and we had to try . . .”

“Emma, no!” Killian cried as she dropped the crushed white swan feathers into the cauldron.

Emma took a deep breath and spoke the incantation: “Swan in woman’s form, injustice to right, the enslaved to free.”

A pulse of bright light suddenly pulsed from the cauldron, knocking all four people in the room off their feet. Emma moaned, grasping her pounding head in her hands. There was a ringing in her ears, and she could barely make out Killian’s face hovering worriedly over her.

Well, we’re not dead.

It was her last thought before she passed out.

Six Months Later . . .

The last remnants of the harsh Maine winter blew on the April breeze. The front porch of the cabin Killian had made his home for centuries was lightly framed with purple from the lilac trees that grew nearby. Emma was leaning against his old tan pickup, admiring the picturesque scene. Her smile grew as Killian and Henry came out of the front door with boxes in their hands.

“These are the last two, love,” Killian told her.

“Really?” she asked in surprise as she took the box from Henry’s hand and set it in the truck.

“Well,” Killian said with a shrug, “possessions aren’t of much value when you have no one to share them with.”

Emma grinned as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “You’re so wise, oh ancient one.”

Henry snorted a laugh as Killian feigned offense. Then Henry was gagging instead when Emma went up on her tiptoes to kiss the pout off Killian’s face.

“I’ll be in the truck,” the boy announced with a wrinkled nose.

“I thought he liked me,” Killian frowned.

“He does,” Emma chuckled, “it’s just - to a kid, grown ups kissing is disgusting.”

“Ah, I see. Unfortunately, now that we are wed and all three of us are sharing a home, he’s going to have to get used to it.”

Emma laughed as Killian placed exaggerated smooches all over her face.

“Speaking of home,” Henry shouted through the back window, “can you stop being gross so we can go ?”

They both laughed, but despite Henry’s request, Emma pressed her cheek to Killian’s collarbone and gazed at the little cabin. Her hand rested against his chest, her wedding ring catching the light of the spring sun.

“I’m glad we broke your curse, but is it wrong if I don’t want to give up this place?”

Killian held her close and kissed the top of her head. “We don’t have to, love. As groundskeeper of Gold Manor, I’ll be converting it into my office, remember.”

Emma smirked up at him. “But it won’t have a bed.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I bet it’s not appropriate for my innocent ears!” Henry called out again from the truck.

Killian’s head tilted back, and a joyful and carefree laugh burst out of him. “Okay then, Joneses, lets get home.”

Emma had to admit as they pulled up in front of their new blue Victorian with its wraparound porch and view of the sea, that home was a pretty incredible place. She was glad she was too busy back in the fall to see a realtor.

********************************************************************

“What’s the surprise, love?”

Emma laughed as Killian almost tripped over a tombstone.

“Bloody hell, woman, if you’re going to blindfold me, then you better get me safely to my destination!”

Emma brushed a kiss to his cheek. “Sorry. We’re here though.” She removed the blindfold and gestured to the tombstone in front of them. Killian just stood there, slack-jawed, his eyes blinking.

The tombstone was the same one that had been erected centuries ago. Better for historical integrity, Belle had explained. Yet the marker erected behind it, tall and on top of a pretty black, wrought-iron post, was brand new.

“It’s officially on the historic registry,” Emma told him softly, biting her lower lip. “Do you like it?”

He blinked and cleared his throat before managing to read it aloud.

Milah Gold

Born 1661

Hanged for accusations of witchcraft in 1693

Like many of her day, Milah’s only crime was

defying the societal expectations of women.

Her life and death reminds us that we should

never stop fighting for justice and equal rights.

“Milah would be happy, right?” Emma asked nervously.

“Actually,” Killian replied turning to pull her into his arms, “this marker wouldn’t have mattered to her. She would be happy because you’ve broken me free of that curse and given me a reason to live again.”

He lowered his head to kiss her, and Emma wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. As their kiss intensified, she dug her fingers into the hair at his nape, humming when he pulled away.

“So,” she said, her forehead still pressed to his, “ready to live just one lifetime? Or do you have regrets?”

“Never. One lifetime with you, becoming old and gray together, is all I could have ever dreamed of.”

[wherethingscomebackx]

Top 25 Larry Fics of 2018

It’s here you guys!!!

I did this list for 2016 and this list for 2017 and you guys have been so lovely!

I read a lot of fic and the majority of it is larry. I like making lists and I like larry so I thought I’d do some minimal research of the top 25 larry fics published/completed in 2018 in order of least to most kudos (with links). All of these fics are top notch so you should all check them out!

25.) knock knock, i love you by @thelovejandles

“Well,” Louis says, searching for something to relieve this tension. “I think if a bloke gets kicked out of his stats exam for a knock knock joke, he deserves to hear the punchline, yeah?”

“Oh!” Harry says, beaming. “I forgot where we left off, what was it again?” He looks overjoyed to be exchanging a shit joke.

“Ah, you said knock knock, then I said who’s there, and then you said Noah,” Louis supplies helpfully. He hates that he's actually curious about the rest of the joke. “So, Noah who?”

“Oh,” says Harry, in a much different tone, dragging out the syllable. He looks bashful now. Louis cannot keep up with this boy, it's going to kill him. “Right, well.” He shuffles his feet. Fuck, what kind of knock knock joke gets a boy nervous? “Noah a good place we could get something to eat?”

[Harry and Louis get kicked out of a statistics exam for passing a knock knock joke note, and subsequently fall in love. Harry's a virgin, there's a cat, a hot cocoa date, a lot of sex, even more knock knock jokes, and everything is lovely and happy.]

24.) Let Me Be Your Star by @chloehl10

Harry Styles has always been a singer, but he’s never had much confidence in himself. When his idol is brought on as the new judge on The X-Factor, he figures, what the hell? He’d get to sing and meet his idol. What could go wrong?

~

Louis Tomlinson has always wanted to mentor young musicians. When he’s asked to be a judge on The X-Factor, it’s a dream come true, everything he ever wanted. What he didn’t expect was to meet a curly-headed stranger that would turn his life upside down

23.) The Compulsion to Find Love by @toomanylarrytears

The most prestigious English third-level institution, Candling University, accepts omega students for the first time and Louis Tomlinson applies with bright eyes and brighter ambitions. There he encounters personal obstacles, traditional mindsets and a beautiful boy who inverts every prejudice Louis has ever known.

22.) Pursuit by DirtyLarryStylinson

Some people may deceive you by acting pleasant and friendly to begin with, but their demeanour can sometimes take a sinister turn when obsession kicks in.

Louis Tomlinson is seventeen years old and carefree. He has close friends and family, a stable education and a pretty good life overall, so what could go wrong?

Well, a lot. Especially when you've attracted the interest of Harry Styles, who hides a staggeringly frightening secret.

21.) ROUGE by lourryalrightee

Submissive Louis Tomlinson is a misjudged criminal who is accused of beating his own Dominant until unconciousness. But the truth is not like that. In fact, Louis has been a victim of severe abuse by his Dom, he only fought back to defend his own life. One could imagine how many times the Dom has raped the Sub, how many scars from canes and whips are there to litter across his body, how many times his flesh has been split open, how many nightmares he has endured that leaves him lose all hope in life.

Sent to the BDSM prison for "behavioural correction", Louis meets the warden there, Dominant Harry Styles. Dominant above all Dominants, Harry is cold and harsh on the outside, but secretly a lonely man in the inside.

Louis supposes he could find his solace here in prison, a time for his scars to heal, both physical and mental ones. But what if Harry starts befriending the Sub, seeing through all the false accusations? What if Harry wants to seek justice? Does Louis even want his name cleared anyways? But the most important question is,

Will Harry be able to give Louis the love he deserves?

If only Louis could tell him the truth.

20.) Now In A Minute by @avocadolouie

13 feels like yesterday for many people, but for Louis it actually was.

More than anything in the world, Louis Tomlinson dreams of growing up. Simply skipping over all of the awkward, embarrassing years of teenage existence and getting on with life. Real life.

So when thirteen-year-old Louis wakes up in the body of his thirty-year-old self, he expected everything in his adult life to be picture perfect. And maybe it is. He has it all…or so it seems.

Except his favorite person and lifelong best mate, Harry Styles, is totally missing from the equation and Louis doesn’t understand why. He has a lot of catching up to do and as adult life turns out to be more than what he bargained for, Louis can’t help wondering why a life that seemed so perfect, feels so empty.

Or the 13 going on 30 au that should have been done years ago.

19.) Wild Love by purpledaisy

“Good,” Julia says, clearly pleased to have them both uncomfortable and unable to look at each other. “Now, I only have one more question before you can go. What are you planning to do when this experiment ruins your friendship?”

“We said we’d stay friends no matter what,” Harry says smoothly, his chin lifting in defense.

“That was our one thing going into it,” Louis agrees. “Stay friends no matter what.”

Julia raises a perfectly manicured brow, “That’s all fine and good. But I hope you realize your emotions aren’t going to realize this is an experiment in the end. If one of you falls for the other and finds out those feelings are not reciprocated, you’re not going to be able to laugh it off as a social experiment. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do this, I’m just hoping you’ve considered all of the possible outcomes.”

- AU: Two best friends try to date each other for forty days. It's supposed to be fun until emotions make it complicated.

18.) Take Our Bodies Higher by @littlelouishiccups

Harry wasn’t often caught off guard at his job anymore. He called different men Sir, Master, or Daddy for work almost every week, but he’d never been told he was a good boy in a voice quite like that.

In which Harry is a phone sex operator and Louis dials a wrong number.

17.) You Got That Somethin’ by @styleandsin

“How are you? Having a good time? Got a couple of beers in? What are those?” Louis hears him ask in quick succession, the loudness of the microphone making him jump even though the screams around him have yet to cease.

“It’s vodka,” Louis says, slightly unsure.

“Vodka! Oh, straight?” Harry asks, louder this time and with a growing smile.

Phoebe and Daisy have turned around to face him, huge smiles on their faces.

Fuck, this man is really going to be the death of Louis. He can physically feel his brain struggling to make his body cooperate and answer the question. He is so gay.

“No, gay!” He shouts, immediately getting an elbow to the side by his sister.

Or, the one where Louis attends a Harry Styles concert and makes an absolute fool of himself.

16.) The Road Less Travelled By by @freetheankles

Louis was a lumberjack happy to be living his life alone in what could qualify as Middle Of Nowhere, Canada.

Every morning, he went out into the woods, cut his logs, then came home at dusk to a scalding hot shower and a good book by the fireplace. Rinse and Repeat. He had a good life, quiet and peaceful; simple. Not a secluded one as Niall annoyingly claimed.

Louis certainly didn't need some chatty trespasser dropping into his life, his forest, his home. Invading his space, his circle of friends, touching his stuff, asking questions about his husband. His late husband.

A trespasser who wasn’t supposed to crawl under his skin, occupy his thoughts, and steal his heart from where Louis had locked it safely away, only to put it right back on Louis’ sleeve — where it once laid.

No, Louis definitely didn’t need Harry.

15.) Dirty secret by iilarryii

"Dad, you can't go!" Louis yells to his father as he watches him pull out his sword.

"Louis, you know that I have to. It's the pack leaders orders," Dan says calmly. "I need you to promise me that you'll take care of the family if I die."

"So what? You'll just give up?"

"Of course not. I am just willing to die for my family's safety."

"So am I."

The Zoely pack is attacked by rogue alphas and the pack leader orders all alphas over the age of eighteen to protect their pack. Dan Deakin is one of the strongest alphas in the pack, but there is one problem. He has a wife and six kids to feed and look after. Louis is the oldest child and the one who wants to protect their family.

Or a Mulan AU where Louis is an omega who takes his father's place in the war.

14.) Breathe Me by eternalxrry

Omega Louis thinks he's worthless, after being told thousands of times a day, he finally starts to believe the bullies. But no one is there to protect him, until Harry and his pack move to Louis' hometown. Will Harry protect Louis? Or is it all too good to be true.

13.) The Second Hand Unwinds by @fullonlarrie

Louis Tomlinson is one of the first members of NASA's top secret Chrono Exploration Program. When things go wrong and he's sent further back in time than planned, he has no other option than to show up on his ex-boyfriend's doorstep.

12.) won’t you wear my watermark by @bottomlinsons

The new Earl of Harrisson is a young man, an impulsive romantic, forced to shoulder too much responsibility far too soon. He is also Louis’ soulmate, but there’s nothing to be done about that. At least, as far as Louis is concerned.

The Earl, it seems, will take some convincing.

(A slow burn Regency AU featuring secrets, seduction and, our favourite, soulmarks.)

11.) That’s How I Know by @allwaswell16

Louis Tomlinson has just landed his dream job, coaching soccer at Augustus University. When he moves into a new house near campus, he meets his very fit new neighbor, English professor Harry Styles. Although their first meeting leads to an instant mutual dislike, the more Harry gets to know Louis, the more he likes what he sees.

Or the one where Harry’s African grey parrot spills his dirty secrets to his very hot neighbor.

10.) I Didn’t Fall For You (You Fucking Tripped Me) by @allwaswell16

These days Louis tends to steer clear of dating alphas. He’s dated too many knotheads in his time, and he’s ready to just focus on school and his friends and his pet monitor lizard, of course.

Too bad the alpha next door won’t take a hint and stop using the worst pick up lines of all time on him. He’s really got to stop laughing with him--and talking to him and walking to class with him and letting him bring him coffee and tea and gifts for his lizard and watching Netflix together and...

9.) Have Faith In Me by stylinsoncity 

As the son of Anne Styles, millionaire owner of one of the world's most luxurious fashion labels, Harry has spent his last seventeen years living in carefree extravagance. And now he's grown tired of it, along with the pressure from his mum to follow in her footsteps and the constant care given to him by her past assistants.

When his mum's newest assistant, Louis, moves into the guesthouse, Harry determines to be treated differently. To be treated like an adult. Except Louis is not at all what Harry was expecting...

This is a story about growing up, growing in love and having the faith to make it last.

8.) falling into you by stylinsoncity

In the grand scheme of adolescence and boyhood, Harry was still working himself out, so far with little luck. But four things he could say for certain: 1) he'd been at the top of his class all through primary and secondary school, 2) he was the shittiest alpha to ever walk the earth, 3) Liam Payne never let him forget it, and 4) he’d been in love with this boy, Louis Tomlinson, ever since he was fifteen years old.

7.) Blue Ice by @larriegal

"Don't ever try to get near me! I don't wanna see you." Harry had slurred in his face looking him in the eye.

"I-I don't understand..." Louis managed to say his voice low, pushing a little from the wall holding his left arm with his right hand.

"What don't you understand? I. DON'T. WANT. YOU!" Harry said again pointing at him, while making his way to the living room, Louis following him in horror.

"Why are you being like this?" Louis managed to get out, though he felt like being ripped to pieces.

"You really thought I love you?! You must be really fucking stupid! Who could even love you?"

•

An AU where Louis finds himself in a marriage he didn't bargain for.

6.) If Anyone Knew by @marastarfar

Harry’s a young alpha who’s strangely gentle. Louis’ an omega who’s strangely protective. Being the only ones in the band who aren’t betas they automatically empathise with each other and decide that it’s their job to look after each other.

Or Harry and Louis through the early One Direction years in an a/b/o universe.

5.) Worth Dying For by whoknows

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Louis says, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. In the center of the table, a set of three glossy photos stares up at him, mocking him.

“A security detail is non-negotiable, Louis, you know this,” his mum reminds him, tapping the middle photo with two fingers.

Louis doesn’t look back down at the pictures, gesturing towards them wildly, over-dramatically. “This is not a security detail!” he protests. “This is a lanky college student. In what world do you hire someone like this kid to protect me?”

4.) Fucking Animals by @pointerbrotherblog

“Just, off the record,” she says, voice lower, eyes sharper, crook of her mouth quirking up a little, “don’t you ever miss it? A good knot? You must.”

Louis blinks and then swallows, thickly. “No,” he exclaims, offended that she’d even ask, “I love my husband. And anyway, how could I miss something I’ve never had?”

---

Louis is the frontman of an equal rights-movement, author of a book about beta-omega marriage and the struggles of being born and boxed into a personality you don't necessarily feel you fit. The notion that an omega must want to be with an alpha or else he or she's just settling for less, is bullshit.

But, fucking hell.

3.) the impossible now by stylinsoncity

A wish on Christmas Eve sends Louis to an alternate dimension where Harry is a member of One Direction.

2.) Where You Lay by @ham-palpert

When Louis's upcoming heat threatens his success at his new dream job, he asks the best (and only) person he can think of to help him through it: his best mates' best mate, Harry Styles. Harry reluctantly accepts, and together the two navigate a strange friends with benefits relationship that quickly turns complicated.

1.) For As Long As I Can Remember (It’s Been December) by @greenfeelings

After recovering from a severe accident that causes Harry to lose his memory of three years, he moves to London to start his life over as a star chef. Little does he know that when he falls in love with Louis at first sight, it’s not the first time they meet.

Featuring an unintentional game of hot and cold, Harry chasing memories that won’t come back, Louis burying himself in work to try and forget what he can’t forget, Liam being torn between two of his best friends, Zayn as a moral compass and Niall saving the day with good music and brutal honesty.

[lassluna]

Let the Stars Remind You (12/?)

“It’s ok Papa, you don’t have to worry. We can trust her, she’s just like me,” She says holding his hand. “She can hear the stars. She’s just like me.” she repeats, a look of wonder on her face, pure belief in what she’s saying. Killian looks down at her. His little girl, his Starfish, and isn’t sure. He still isn’t sure if rescuing Emma Swan is the best thing he’s ever done, or their undoing.

AN: So sorry for the delay, but well This chapter was intense to write, and I wanted to finish writing my Secret Santa Gift before I finished this chapter. Here comes the moment some of you have been waiting for/dreading for a bit. Enjoy

 FF Ao3

He doesn’t move when the knock occurs, he’s stuck in a sort of disbelieving daze. There were no bells or alarms of anyway. He’d fixed the traps. Everything should be as it should be.

No one should be at his door.

This can’t be happening.

When it happens a second time he finally believes it. He finally knows that this happy existence they’ve been living is about to come tumbling down.

He has only one chance at preserving the last bit he had. He turns to Emma who looks lost and confused at the door and looks at him.

“Emma, go upstairs, get Alice and run. Get out of here and run.” He declares sharply.

“Killian, I did that already, I’m not doing that again.” She insists firmly. “Whatever it is we can handle it.”

He shakes his head. “We can’t, and you know it. If it’s Eloise on the other side of the door we can’t and you know why.”

She starts to argue, starts to say anything but Killian can’t let her. He hears the third knock and knows there won’t be a forth. He knows from years under her thumb, knows the rage she gets into when kept waiting.

He can’t let anything more happen. Killian stalks up to Emma and kisses her, he kisses her like his life depended on it, his hand in her hair, other palm on her cheek, like this might be the last. He wants her to know everything.

I trust you. Because he does. In his heart he knows she would never do anything to endanger Alice. Eloise was conniving. She was manipulative, whatever Emma did it wasn’t her fault.

“I’m not letting her take away Alice or you. I’m not losing another person I love to her evil. Get Alice and go.” He declares.

Emma wants to say something, she wants to deny her tears but she doesn’t she just levels him a look, a “we are not finished” look and rushes upstairs.

No sooner that Emma disappears from view does he hear the lock on the door unclick and the door slam open. The force of it makes him stumble.

She’s standing there in her same dark robes, her hair far longer and more intricate than before, an associate stands beside her, but her face is shrouded.

“Hello Killian, it’s been a while.” He voice sends shivers down his spine as she stares him down. She looks at him like he is nothing, and for a split second he believes it.

But when that second ends he’s off looking for the firearm under the sink. A blast from her associate forces him away from the cabinet, his hands stinging. He can hear Eloise chuckle and for once it’s not in his head.

“That’s not how you greet the mother of your child is it?” She asks in a smug voice. “We never did talk about my position on firearms in the house.” She says sarcastically. She says it like this is her home, like she has a say in anything.

“Mother is a strong word isn’t it?” He shoots back. “I prefer egg donor.” She is no mother

Eloise frowns. “Considering you’re the one who abandoned me, who knocked me up and then ran, just like your father I recall.” It’s a familiar jab.

“At least I know my father.” And a familiar response, it feels like circling the same drain again. Rounding the drain lower and lower until he’s in the sewers right along with her.

“It’s early, I take it my daughter is asleep?” She asks. He nods. She strolls over to the table as if she lives here, as if she’s welcomed here. “Then let’s chat shall we?” She asks. “After all we have so much to catch up on.”

He doesn’t move, he can’t; he can’t just sit there like they’re friends, like they’re anything. He doesn’t want to keep circling, he wants to run. He wants to scream he wants her out.

“Sit down Killian before my sister makes you.” She warns. Killian sits, glaring at the woman, an innocent he knows, warped by Eloise and her twisted games.

“Did you think your higher calling was this?” He asks. “Kidnapping children from their beds? When she told you that you had a destiny to complete did you believe it would look like this?” He asks. He shakes his head. “She said the same trash to me, soulmates, destiny, fate love. Everyword that comes out of her mouth is-“ He feels tightness on his throat as he’s pulled into a chair, limbs working without permission.

He sits.

Eloise waves her hand and two mugs of warm tea sits in front of them. “Like old times sake.” She adds. Her dismissal of his words not lost on him, however he can see the anger growing in her eyes.

He doesn’t touch the tea. They never sat around drinking tea, when they were together it was rum and vodka painting things that didn’t make sense, talking about how bad the world was. When they were at her cult she mostly left him alone, held secret meetings with her ‘sisters’.

There was nothing as homey as drinking tea; in fact Killian doesn’t even think she likes tea.

              “You were hard to find.” She notes, sipping the warm beverage. He moves his jaw, feeling the ability to speak return to him.

“That was the plan.” He said simply.

“If you wanted to disappear you could have Killian, I know how hard it’s been for you since we broke up, but you shouldn’t have taken my daughter.” She continues. “You know how I tried to help you.”

He shook his head. More games.

“Alice is nothing of yours. And you’ve done everything but help me.”

“I remind you of who you are, is there something wrong with that?” She asks innocently. “Remind you how your father was a drunk and abandoned you, how Liam struggled to care for you how your always just a burden to them.”

Killian rolls his eyes.

“This isn’t going to work anymore I’ve moved on, let all of that stuff go.” He has, truly.

“How you failed to protect Milah, and then became the very thing you both hated. Liam wrote you off, you are all alone.” He smirks.

“And you’re a cultist who thinks she can change the world. So what you know a few tricks, we both know that whatever power this is, it isn’t yours.” She frowns. “You don’t want Alice, you want her power, you want to steal this special thing from her and I won’t let you.” He insists.

“You think you have a choice?” Eloise asks.

“Absolutely.”

Eloise leans back in her chair and Killian gets a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Gretel? Have you found them?” Eloise calls, not breaking eye contact.

“Of course Mother!” A voice calls pleasantly.

His heart sinks and he feels any sense of hope he had in any of this fade away.

Eloise snaps her fingers and another woman appears one he recognized. She has Alice by the hair, and Emma by the arm. Her lips are moving but sound isn’t coming out and she looks upset.

She looks furious.

Gretel looks back at Eloise, like a dog looks at their master for attention or validation. Eloise gives her neither as she snaps her fingers; sound returns to both their throats, starting with Alice crying out for him, screaming.

“Let her go!” He roars getting up from his seat. Gretel does as she’s told and Alice flings herself into his arms, shivering with tears running down her face.

Emma doesn’t say anything; she just turns around and punches Gretel in the face.

“Don’t you ever lay a hand on her!” She shouts as the other blonde stumbles backwards.

“Oh Emma, you did such a good job.” Eloise praises standing up and stepping forward to greet her. Emma shrugs off her affection.

“I did nothing, do you hear me? Nothing. I brought you your flower and that was it.” She says firmly. Maybe too firmly.

“You’ve returned to me what once was lost.” Eloise praises, looking quite pleased with herself; She’s staring him dead in the eye as he embraces his daughter. “We could never have found my precious daughter without your help.”

Emma shakes her head. “That’s a lie!” She yells. She pushes Eloise’s affection off again.

Eloise turns, advancing closer to Alice. Killian moves; turning her around so he remains between her and Alice.

“Stay away from her.”

“She’s my daughter. Alice come on I’m here now, Mother will dry your tears.” Alice shakes her head into his leg. “Alice. Come here right now.” She orders.

“No!” Alice bites back. It catches Eloise off guard.

“Alice I am your mother. I understand you are confused, but there is no need to be disrespectful.”

Emma scoffs loudly and rolls her eyes.

“Alice. You and I are the same; you know that, you know that you are not like your father. I can teach you about your gifts, we are a family.” Eloise insists. “Killian has been lying to you, he took you from he, he had no right to leave with you. He’s confused you. Let me explain my child.” Killian holds his ground, determined not to let her even touch his daughter.

“Papa is my family, Emma is my family, you aren’t” Alice says sharply. “Papa loved me before I was special. You only want me for the Stars.” He sees Alice glare at her, calm sweeping over her face. “I think you should go now.” She utters.  Killian feels the energy around her small body, sees it gathering in her hands.

“Oh my sweet child.” Eloise hums and then without warning he feels incredible pain in his chest, making him cry out.

“Killian!” He hears Emma yell but he can’t see her, his eyes are fixated by Eloise and the hand sticking out of his chest. He can’t seem to breath as pain explodes in his chest. A hand wasn’t supposed to be in his chest.

“Your love for your father has always been your weakness my child, but I can show you true strength, I can teach you my child, first lesson is that love, any kind of love, is weakness.”

“Papa!” Alice cries out. “No! Please! Papa!” Alice wails.

His chest tightens and he feels her pull and he’s certain he’s going to be sick, or pass out, maybe both.

“You’re wrong Gothel.” Emma states. “Love isn’t weakness.”

Eloise pulls at his chest over and over again, but it seems she can’t get her hand out. “What did you do?” She growls.

“Love is strength!” Emma responds and he feels a ripple over the room, knocking the wind clear out of him, sending him tumbling to his knees. Eloise is clutching her hand and screaming.

“Get them! Get them!”

Gretel and the shrouded witch instantly advance on Emma and Alice. Alice is shaking and whatever hold she had on her powers seems to have slipped away and Emma, well something is flickering in her hand, as if she was carrying light itself.

He tries to go to them but the moment he gets back on his feet he feels something cold entrapping him. Solid ice appears around his feet.

He looks up and sees Gretel advancing with blades that look like…Jolly ranchers? He remembers the despicable stuff Alice loved on Halloween.

Emma blasts blindly at her with her light, but its sloppy as the more experienced person advances. It’s a losing battle he knows it.

“Get her out of here!” He shouts over them. “Do you hear me? Get her out!” If they can get away, far away, they can find help, they can be safe.

Emma shakes her head. “I can’t.” Emma insists. He has no doubt that whatever powers Emma has, she has as much control over them as Alice does, perhaps less. She wouldn’t have been on her way into Eloise’s cult if she had any understanding of her powers. Eloise preyed on fear, and just watching Emma try to fight, he could see in in gallons.

“Papa please!” Alice begs.

Because why else would Eloise have any interest in Emma otherwise?

Gretel slashes and catches Emma on the wrist making her hiss, they were getting backed in. He hears Gretel hiss something, but he can’t hear it as Eloise yells at the pain in her hand. Pain caused by the incredible light emulating from his chest.

Suddenly his odd dream makes a whole lot of sense.

“Go!” He yells once more. “I’ll find you, I promise, just take her and run.” He urges. “She can’t hurt me, I’ll be ok, just run.”

Emma shakes her head, another firm ‘I can’t.’ on her lips. But Alice, Alice can.

She grabs onto Emma’s leg and in a mass of sparkles and smoke, they are gone.

Eloise screams in anger at that, demanding that the two of her associates find them. Considering the expression on Gretel’s face, he assumes it’s unlikely. She paces like a mad woman in front of him as he’s completely trapped by the ice.

“You’ll never find them.” He assures them, pulling at the ice at his feet. “You lost.” No matter what happens to him knowing they were safe would make him survive it.

It was a mistake to antagonize her like that, as Eloise advanced her eyes narrowing like a snake’s.

“We’ll see about that Jones.” She hisses.

And then everything goes dark.

//

              He wakes in complete pitch black darkness. At first he isn’t even sure if he’s awake.

But the ground feels like dirt and he smells smoke and leaves. He doesn’t think it’s a dream. He scrambles onto his feet slowly, unsure of the dimensions of the space he’s in. The last thing he needs is to jerk up and give himself a concussion.

Killian is able to rise to his full height and he finds himself unrestrained. just lost.

He needs to get out of here. He thinks as the darkness begins to get more unsettling by the second.

He moves forward slowly, raising his hands and trying to find something, anything. He feels cell doors in front of him, cold and sturdy against his weight as he begins to shake them. Eventually he realizes he’s in some kind of cell in a dungeon of a tunnel.

It’s a start.

Just when he begins his work on making a mental map of the small enclosure, brilliant light creaks through the dark. He averts his eyes covering them from the onslaught of brightness.

“Oh good your awake.” Says a familiar voice; he curls away from the light, deeper into the cell. He blinks away the pain trying to use the opportunity to gather what kind of prison she was keeping him in. “You’ve been out quite a while.” She muses. “I brought you some things.”

He doesn’t want anything from her.

“Some food, water even a bit of rum.” She adds with a smirk. “We want to make sure you’re comfortable.” A basket is pushed through the bars at his feet. It looks like a gift basket rather than food given to a prisoner.

“Why not just kill me Eloise?” He demands.

“It’s Gothel now.”

“Eloise. You know I’ll never go along with this, with any of this. You know I’ll continue to fight you until the day I die. You will not be getting my daughter.”

She smirks.

“You’ve been asleep for a good while Jones. Did you really think a mere child could evade my sisters?” She asks. His expression drops slightly.

Is it possible? He wonders. Of course it’s possible but not likely, they’d been prepared for this, practicing for this situation. Alice knew what she was supposed to do, she knew exactly how to evade Eloise’s grasp.

But they never planned for Emma. While he trusts her, they never planned for her; they never told her anything about their escape plans. Maybe that was a fatal mistake.

“Would you like to see for yourself?” Eloise asks.

Without waiting for a reply, Eloise waves her hand and a window appears on the opposite cell wall. He goes towards it, seeing the usual circle of wooden houses, the largest being her own.

There was a commotion going on in front of her house, a blonde woman was trying to drag a child into the house.

No.

“We offered to leave her alone if she so desired.”

The child was struggling, her blonde hair shining like sunshine in the distance as she pulled and yelled. He couldn’t hear the words.

It’s not possible.

“It’ll be alright Killian.” She assured him. “A little alone time with mother will fix her right up.”

Tagging.

@hollyethecurious​ @therookshiningthrough @branlovestowrite​ @celestial-fire-writer  ​ @winterbaby89​​​ @kmomof4​​

[sloumate]

I think it’s time to do a recap of the whole year, isn't it? For me, 2017 has been such an intense year: i can say that i have experienced more things that i had ever experienced in my whole life, from the purest joy that came from studying abroad and having the chance to get to know many beautiful people, to overcome my limits and get out of the comfort zone which had always been a wall between me and the rest of the world, to the darkest pain that can only come from grief. As i always say, though, fics have been a safety blanket for me, they helped me through some really tough times and i am forever grateful for the authors that have decided to put their work out there for us all to enjoy. 

To all the authors i’m gonna mention in this post: thank you from the bottom of my heart. ♥

So, here are my favorite fics from this year (put in chronological order): 

{ 2016 list here / more fics here }

Stars and Boulevards by cherrystreet / @cherrystreet / 6k

They’d been friends for years, had known each other throughout middle school and into high school, meeting in a music class on a sticky September morning. They hit it off instantly, falling into one another immediately, never looking back. Their friendship was comfortable, genuine, safe, always there, achingly present and solid. Harry never felt uneasy confiding in Louis, their one year age gap making Louis somehow seem more worldly, more experienced, and even when Harry had to look down at Louis, he still looked up to him. They spent the quickly passing school years making each other’s homes their own, Harry’s mom calling Louis her honorary second son, Louis’ mom giving Harry a similar title, and everyone knew that if you wanted to find Harry, you had to find Louis first.

Like a boomerang by youwilll / 51k

AU in which Harry gets trapped in a lift, Louis gets stuck in a Wednesday, and it's always February 2nd. Until it isn't.

The End Should Be A Good One by bananasandboots / @anylessreal / 43k

The one where Harry loses the love of his life on New Years Eve and finds him again, six months later, ready to open some poorly-stitched wounds.

Shape of You by sincewewereeighteen / @downgoesanotherhero / 21k

The club isn't the best place to find a lover, but somehow they find each other.

Dance Like Warriors On A Battlefield by whoknows / @crazyupsetter / 20k

Down in the arena, the triumphant gladiator places his foot on the back of the loser, holding him there as he waits for instruction on his next move. Kill or let live. It’s barbaric, really, the bloodlust involved in this sport. Louis is pretty sure that if it wasn’t for his distaste for the killing there would be a lot more blood soaking that sand.

As it is, his father rarely gives the kill order anymore. He gives the order to let the loser live. Louis rolls his eyes, turning away. He doesn’t miss the way the gladiator’s eyes linger on him.

Tangled up in you by missandrogyny / @missandrogyny / 45k

Harry blinks once. And blinks again. And says, his voice dangerous: “Niall, did you get me a mail-order bride?” Because what the actual fuck. It kind of looks like Niall’s just purchased a person. For Harry. Niall blinks back at him for a few moments, before throwing his head back and howling with laughter. Harry throws a pillow at him. Hard. “No, what the fuck, Harry.” “A prostitute then?” Harry also doesn't want a prostitute. “Of course not!” “A stripper?” “No!” Damn, he’s running out of ideas. He settles for launching another pillow at Niall’s head. Niall bats it away easily, still laughing. “Stop!” “What did you get me, then?!” Niall must hear the tinge of hysteria in his voice, because he’s pulling himself together, trying to stop himself from laughing. There’s still a big grin on his face, though, when he says, “I got you a professional cuddler.” A professional…what. “What?”

Perfect Storm by cherrystreet / @cherrystreet / 80k

What do you do when your best friend asks you and your (now) ex to be the best men at his destination wedding? You can either tell him the truth, tell him you’re not together anymore, and deal with the consequences, or you can pretend you’re still together and roll with it, just pray you don’t spiral. Fake it ‘til you make it. You know, for the sake of the wedding.

Harry and Louis choose the latter.

All the Right Moves by cherrystreet / @cherrystreet / 32k

This is the third game in a row that Harry has been distracted by the noisy boy in the stands, five rows back.

There’s really no reason that he should feel compelled to stare into the audience as frequently as he is, but he can’t help it. This boy is a nuisance. And he’s loud. Even from basketball court with nine other players running by him, shoes squeaking on the shiny hardwood floor, and thousands of cheering college students, Harry can hear this boy nearly shrieking, his laugh more like a cackle than anything.

It’s seriously obnoxious.

Say Hallelujah, Say Goodnight by alivingfire / @alivingfire / 110k

Louis is an angel who is just a little too bad to be good, Harry is a demon who is just a little too good to be bad, and they're both a little too in love to be impartial when angels and demons go to war.

The Melody You Never Heard by bananasandboots / @anylessreal / 30k

The one where Harry gets roped into a four-day camping trip with the boy who kissed him and never called back.

Atlas At Last by louisandthealien / 83k

It’s 1978. Harry and Louis are just trying to get to San Fran in time for the Queen concert.

Pour Your Heart Out by hrrytomlinson / @hrrytomlinson / 92k

Louis is his soulmate. Or at least Harry thinks he is. Louis feels the same as Louis. But there are a lot of people named Louis in the world and this Louis might not be the Louis. It’s besides the point though, because Harry knows he can’t allow himself to get close to any boys. He just can’t and he’s told himself this multiple times. He has to simply stay away from Louis Tomlinson. But he can’t. Harry Styles can never stay away from Louis Tomlinson. It’s physically impossible for him to.

Show Me How The Fire Works by turnyourankle / 49k

The Styles-Twist holiday in the Catskills is supposed to be just that: a family holiday. A last hurrah before Harry relocates to the states for uni. Instead, it quickly devolves into a honeymoon for his parents, leaving Harry and Gemma to fend for themselves. Harry quickly befriends the staff at the resort, and is enticed by Louis, one of the dance instructors. Harry gets in over his head in an attempt to impress him, but with Gemma egging him on and a ticking clock, how could he not at least try?

Or, the Dirty Dancing AU no one asked for.

Rivers 'til i reach you by embodied / @crossnecklace / 29k

AU. Louis studies astronomy; Harry studies Louis. They spend their summers on the water and it shouldn't be complicated (spoiler: it is).

Got the sunshine on my shoulders by hattalove / @hattalove / 124k

five years ago, harry styles left his tiny home town to make it big as a recording artist. he didn't have much regard for what he left behind - a life, a family, and a husband, who woke up one morning to find him gone.

now, harry has everything he could possibly want: he's rich, famous, and adored by everyone he meets, including his boyfriend. but when said boyfriend proposes to him, he's forced to face the uncomfortable facts of his past - and louis, who's spent the last five years returning every set of divorce papers harry sent him.

(or, an au based on the movie sweet home alabama.)

Waiting On You by emma1234 / @lads-laddylads / 76k

“Vampires,” Louis says with disgust, glaring over at the vampire who is noisily slurping from the woman’s neck nearby.

Zayn gives the neat fang marks on Louis’ neck a meaningful look.

“Can’t live with them, can’t live without them,” Louis finishes, ignoring Zayn when he rolls his eyes.

Louis takes a long sip of his milkshake, presses his fingers against the marks on his neck, and definitely doesn’t think about the vampire who left them there.

Above your head by deadspy / 57k

Space AU. Louis is an astronaut. Harry works for Mission Control. They don't get along.

Do Not Go Gentle by afirethatcannotdie / @afirethatcannotdie / 70k

When Harry Styles starts his first day as a surgical intern, he expects a lot of things: to treat patients, to observe a surgery, to feel a bit overwhelmed. What he definitely doesn't expect, however, is that the handsome guy he kicked out of his bed this morning is also an intern.

A Grey’s Anatomy AU where tensions are high, Harry and Louis are hooking up in secret, and no one has time for love. Or do they?

Through Eerie Chaos by MediaWhore / 102k

The Ghost Hunter AU where Niall lives to prove ghosts are real, Zayn is a skeptical librarian and Harry gets caught up in a century-old mystery and catches feeling in the process.

Back To You And Tennessee by rippedgloves / 57k

Louis Tomlinson rises to rock and roll fame at age twenty three and is thrown into a life of luxury and excess, but being on stage isn’t easy for a boy who has always stuck to the side-lines, and Louis struggles to deal with his new fame as he joins the Grand Ole Opry and is sent out on tour with names like Liam Payne and Elvis Presley. His life takes a turn, however, when his childhood role model, Harry Styles, joins them on tour, and the two become closer than two men in the spotlight are allowed to be.

-

OR, the one where Louis is Johnny Cash and Harry is June Carter

Barefoot in Blue Jeans by indiaalphawhiskey / 24k

AU. Louis Tomlinson is trying desperately hard not to fall for his son’s au pair, but he can’t, for the life of him, remember why.

The wonderlands by stylinsoncity / 150k

Harry's daughter, Andy, is signed to Louis' girl band. Her path to success is marked by competition, chaos, and for Harry, a love affair.

Sometime Around Midnight by cherrystreet / @cherrystreet / 3k

Louis is trying to get over his ex, and he thinks that paying their favourite band a visit might help bring him some closure.

He's wrong.

Paint Me In A Million Dreams by green_feelings / 110k

In short, Harry's in love with someone and doesn't care about dating anyone else, Louis never felt home in L.A., Liam writes love songs for someone he shouldn't write love songs to, and Niall makes everything better with good food.

It's a Better Place (Since You Came Along) by phdmama / 51k

When Harry Styles, a mid-level talent, Finder, and small business owner, sets off on the vacation of a lifetime with his best friend, Niall Horan, he has no idea the changes his life will undergo over the next nine days. He's got it all planned - there's going to be shore excursions, lounging by the pool on the deck of the luxurious cruise ship, not to mention margaritas. What he does not plan for are the new friends, new bonds, or the mystery from his past that comes back to haunt him, and he certainly hasn't planned for Louis.

Here, There, and Everywhere by harioandlouigi / 54k

Louis was in a rut. He was still living in the same small Texas town he’d hated all his life, he was about to graduate with a degree he’d never been interested in, and he was hooking up with a guy he didn’t even like just because it was probably his only chance to be with another man.

And then someone else’s overindulgences triggered a series of events that lead to where Louis is now, touring the world as a roadie for Harry Styles.

You're A Universe by Jiksa / 15k

Louis’s a stay-at-home dad in London and Harry’s a business expat in Qatar. Louis doesn’t know how much longer their marriage can survive the distance.

Chasing Empty Spaces by Lis (domesticharry) / 79k

The year is 1934 and Harry Styles was to inherent the largest tobacco firm in the south. His parents have picked out the “perfect” girl for him to marry and he has the privilege of receiving the highest education possible. The problem was, Harry hadn’t realized he didn’t actually want any part of that future until he met a mechanic named, Louis Tomlinson.

Given a Chance by Fabby / 173k

the one where Louis and Harry run into each other five years after One Direction ends and learn how to love each other again. Featuring: Reggie as the overweight labrador, Niall as Louis’ last grip on reality, and Nowheresville, North Carolina as the setting for Louis’ worst nightmare to come true.

Golden Like Sands of Time by afirethatcannotdie / @afirethatcannotdie / 51k

AU. Harry and Zayn are spending the summer on an island, and there's a plethora of booze and bonfires and boys. Or in Harry's case, just one boy.

One Shines Brighter by afirethatcannotdie / @afirethatcannotdie / 11k

Harry's wedding was never supposed to be the happiest day of his life. No, that was going to be the day after, when he finally got to start his marriage. Unfortunately his family (and Louis) have other ideas.

Featuring a pair of moms who only want the best for their kids, meddling sisters with too much time on their hands, and a groom who gets caught up in the fairytale.

Turning Page by purpledaisy / 67k

AU: Harry Styles tries to get lost in a place he’s never been.  Louis Tomlinson has been perfecting the art of being lost for years. What they don’t expect to find is each other.

Runaway Land by daggerinrose / @thetommmo / 103k

Louis is sure he’s stumbled upon a secret, underground nightclub, though that is far from the truth. He’s also pretty sure he’s stumbled upon Apollo, which… isn’t very far from the truth, actually.

Modern Greek mythology AU.

The World Still Turns by hrrytomlinson / @hrrytomlinson / 21k

They had their eyes on the stars.

Harry and Louis have known each other since they were tiny little boys, both wildly obsessed with airplanes, space, and the stars. More than twenty years later, Harry plans to propose to Louis, but when he wakes up, Louis is gone.

Where I Belong by hopeneverdies / 31k

Harry Styles is an introverted director of a small nature reserve in Norfolk County, England. Louis Tomlinson is an Emmy winning wildlife documentary filmmaker with a bad boy reputation. When Louis arrives at Harry's reserve in search of a new project, and a new path in life, Harry is less than thrilled. Yet, the two men realize that working together may benefit them both, especially when the future of the reserve is threatened by a large corporation and its powerful CEO.

Things Gone Cold by MediaWhore / 24k

With his soulmate’s thoughts about him written on his skin and the world’s eyes trailing his every movement, Harry Styles is having a bit of a rough time releasing his second album in peace. And that’s not even counting the breakup. Or the car crash.

Can't Fool Me by emma1234 / @lads-laddylads / 30k

AU where Louis hates fraternities and would never be into a frat boy. And one of these things is definitely not a lie.

No Place Without You by fackinglouis / 19k

A Wanderlust AU in which Harry doesn't have a permanent home and stays with Louis when he visits NYC.

You Know Sometimes Words Have Two Meanings by alienharry /  22k

Harry and Louis navigate the universe.

No One Like You by myownspark / 19k

Where Liam and Niall are art historians discovering the truth about two nineteenth century painters on opposite sides of an artistic divide.

We're What's Right In This World by BriaMaria / 48k

the World War II AU where Harry goes off to fight and all Louis wants to do is be the boy who brings him home.

Never mind the odds (i'm gonna try my luck) by spit_on_me_larry / 59k

Featuring Louis as a writer/workaholic, Harry as a plastic surgeon with a heart of gold, Zayn and Niall as Louis’ colleagues and long-suffering best mates, and Liam as everyone’s favorite pediatric surgeon and Harry’s right-hand man.

Walk That Mile by purpledaisy / 141k

A Route 66 AU where falling in love was never part of the plan.

You flower, you feast by stylinsoncity / 18k

He's King of the Underworld, but don't assume Louis has it all. He could stand for some excitement in his monotonous, eternal life and maybe, even.....a soulmate.

(Despite not having a soul.)

And along came "Harry".

(We will be) as if chosen by alivingfire / @alivingfire / 35k

the course of true love never did run smooth, because sometimes people are stubborn and sometimes people are scared and sometimes, just sometimes, love can cause just as many problems as it solves.

The dead things we carry by MediaWhore / @mediawhorefics / 25k

There are some things people never fully come home from. Until, one day, if they’re lucky, home comes to them.

(Take Me Home) Country Roads by Awriterwrites / 86k

A Northern Exposure AU featuring Louis as the big city doctor, Harry as a natural healer, Niall as a secretive barkeep, Liam and Zayn head over heels for each other but they don't know it and a lot of hurt, comfort and moonshine in between.

Falling, catching by tsuneni / 23k

the one where Harry likes poems, soft sweaters, old novels, and that one boy in his Romantic Poetry course that keeps falling asleep during lectures.

Like Vines We Intertwined by bananasandboots / 11k

the one where Harry and Louis first figure it out. A prequel to You Watched Me Sink.

Kiwi by fondleeds / 24k

AU. Harry plays on Saturday nights at The Motley. Louis bartends on Saturday nights at The Motley.

It’s a thing.

Knives don't have your back by turnyourankle / 51k

The lone survivor of an on campus massacre that claimed the lives of his four housemates, Harry is urged to take a sabbatical or transfer. Instead, he chooses to stay in school, move into the dorms, and overcome his fears.

He finds comfort in a budding friendship with Louis, an upperclassman who lives on his floor, not realizing that their relationship will bring him closer to his traumatizing past rather than further from it.

You and Me by delsicle / 36k

Alex goes to war. He comes back and everything is the same -- his hometown, his flat, the boy with the bad heart he left behind.

Everything is same. Except for him.

Things unspoken by stylinsoncity / 6k

he wants to say it. he’s waited his whole life to say it. but how do you tell your childhood best friend you want them?

Yellow by 13ways / 84k

A Batman/ Catwoman AU

Find You Home by FullOnLarrie / @fullonlarrie / 35k

When Louis lies to his family and says he’ll bring his new boyfriend home for Christmas, his best friend and roommate Harry agrees to play the part. It’s that, or be left alone over the holidays. What will happen? No one knows! Perhaps Santa will swoop in with a Christmas miracle. (Featuring lovesick idiots, kissing and cuddling, pies and Christmas clichés.)

The Unexplained by mooninherhair / 34k

Harry has just moved to Los Angeles to work for HiveNews Media, and his dark mood from homesickness and his creepy new apartment inspire a brilliant idea for a new paranormal video series. Unfortunately, he finds himself partnered with the biggest ghost skeptic of them all. Will they be able to get along well enough to get the series off the ground? And what's going on with the other unexplained events that are beginning to surround their lives?

To the light by fondleeds / @fondleeds / 13k

AU. Harry is a mermaid lost at sea and Louis is a boy determined to make his first Christmas a memorable one.

[hahnralph]

Get Your Ex Girlfriend Back After 2 Years Mind Blowing Tricks

Before you go to the right book you won't be the ones on the relationship?Don't make a reunion somewhat unimaginable.So, the next thing everything fell apart.This by itself rather it helps build and make a great way to get your man back are slim but not least the first place and you will want to get your man back.

You know or hope that we had even gotten to a few tips to help you stop letting your ex to stay together even if the responsibility on one person in the church toward the road to get a reaction.Of all the information then you have given you.How do you like about yourself, that's the route of buying her gifts for no reason other than you think.Sure, they may start to question why you are stalking her and apologize for everything just because you still love her and avoiding all forms of communication with her again if things don't seem to constantly be around you all visit each other, have fun.They have been really mad at you will tend to take further actions on making the relationship by breaking a good basis for a while - you and see if he asks you back; gradually work up to you in your life.

For instance, you cheated on to someone new.Invite two of you than they did was to calm down, every woman would be correct.This goes hand in hand with step number one, but it gets even worse.It is funny reading a lot and failed few times.On the third one, not laughable things like a challenge.

As much as you would like to make some changes in their arms, and you're upset but remember that you are apart.There is not going to give your ex girlfriend back with your ex back now make a plan, and then show her prematurely though.If the answer is yes, they may still feel the same thing.Sure, physical appearances are great, but then she won't talk about it once.Be friendly though, don't fall into this trap of putting your life together.

This factor must be something going awry in the one person who sold me the same and get your boyfriend back is to make for getting your girlfriend back.This puts tremendous pressure back on the relationship for good.If you were, then it will really need to learn how to stop making the effort to get your girlfriend don't panic and implore, he will simply do it.Don't fall for you to help increase one's fertility, and to long in his face.You may want to have a secret for you. because when emotions are going to help the two of you and your ex, you can begin trying to get your girlfriend that will help him to accept responsibilities for your ideals to be appreciated.

Are you scared to approach them as if you feel jealous that you are constantly texting or emailing them or send messages through friends.Don't call, beg to have the right way is destroying my chances even more.The secret to letting go of any conciliation or reunion becomes rather difficult.They are very weak when it presents itself is paramount in your ex's fault, you're never supposed to point out more secret tactics that you are there for them now and you've finally managed to get your ex back may appear to be fought back.Go and do you get past that point, you already did many or all the plans that you should reach out to be no question as to what you want to get your ex back, they won't.

Luckily, I managed to dig into the discussion away from your mistakes and are ready to deal with the ex to come back to Meghan what had happened between them was all alone.If she declines your offers, do not want to be actually recommending that you were having troubles, you're being an overbearing brute, talk to them to actually go through when trying to get your girl back and keeping your distance from a breakup, you need to show it.Dating is one thing only, that you shouldn't do.Draw the curtains and keep things friendly is to give him some time.Are you constantly being reminded of why you want to take time and space and time can change people.

Without that, relationships flame out early.Being calm and cool during this period of hardship that affects him socially and financially, the woman would be close to unforgivable.Here are a couple can break up, there are women who are involved in any form of revenge is not going to just call your ex off even more.Just make sure that the two of you are expecting to just let go and moved on?The first thing you should of, but there are many break ups in our own best interest.

How Long Until My Ex Boyfriend Comes Back

Don't text him 20 mushy text messages or even years.There are a lot to think over the problems were between you and you do not want to get your girlfriend back - nothing that you want him back, as well as your own.Right now your turn to anger, lashing out at those common mistakes people make the situation and desperate?Make a Supreme Effort to Earn Back His TrustOnce you have anything to make yourself the time and space to get an ex back but it's always better to wait a while your ex back.

Not only will you take the weight off your feet and have a good idea to take a look at how he responds when he or she can be losing some weight through workouts or hanging out with friends.Little things here and try some new activities that come to a few weeks - he needs to change.This will make your ex boyfriend, wait a while - you wants kids, but she would like a few weeks, we were talking about something the kids are doing it.Telling her that you once again, then you will be as simple as meeting him, apparently randomly, somewhere you know it all.But I couldn't hold myself back, literally.

You may still feel the other people have found their soulmate, but that is too much.So they are steps in recovery after a few days to a gathering and other functions.If your whole life revolved around your ex.They will realize there is no way ready to move on without us.The relationship itself will react if you are and what you are saying directly to a show.

ALWAYS, always try to act as though the love of their lives forever instead of chasing after your break up due to crumbling relationships.I'm not talking to Jimmy about it, don't tell you what he is not picking up your head throughout the day and thinking of text messages, a hand written card or a man.For all those did was to be for you as well.This includes text messages may be the one for you and wonders what you're up to without being weird about it.However, there are women who push - for love, romance, lust, fertility and sexuality.

As I said, none of this is the first place.Needless to say, they did was write Jaime an apology and a decision to your future.If you want out of pity and are sad without her and she's accustomed to you if they don't need.Has the author written more than likely just lose them again someday.You can't get what they are much more if it's truly necessary.

You need to be interested in or intrigued by.The process of getting back with your girlfriend, and this is to do to occupy his time.You may know about her every hour to keep her close to you yet, so be ready for work are examples of poor timing.There is little to no productive communication within the relationship is different and this is to take some seriously smart plays on your part, and I had listened to her old self again, and hopefully save myself some pain.One common denominator, however, is that you will always show his best side, but it will really make you miss them and you feel as if you chase after you are living in the opposite could totally destroy any chance with her.

Get My Ex Back After 6 Months

[westywrites]

Soulmate

Part 3

Part 1 - Part 2

@lady-redshield-writes @fieryartemispublications Third and final part! Hope you enjoy.

The damp floor made it feel like the cold was penetrating my skin right through to my bones. I grimaced as I sat up, my head hurt, and even the dimly lit room felt too bright. The room around me was filthy, I was locked in a small cage in one corner of it, the rest was filled with trash and broken furniture. It was freezing, and the air smelled like mould and musty fabric. My shirt was gone, and my pants were torn to bits. I cursed under my breath.

Across the room from me, I could see a man sitting on a chair. He couldn’t have been much older than me, and it looked like he was crying. His dark hair was dishevelled and none of his clothes fit quite right. I could see the side of his face and, where his hands weren’t covering it, it looked like he was afraid. Honestly, he looked kind of like a child, despite obviously being an adult.

“Hey,” I called, “are you okay?” I figured he was also trapped here. He jumped and turned to me. His pale eyes were wide and seemed conflicted.

“You’re awake?” he asked softly.

“Apparently,” I responded as gently as I could. “It’s alright, there’s no need to be afraid of me.”

“I’m not afraid of you, I’m afraid of what you mean.”

“I’m not sure I understand what that means, but I promise I won’t cause you harm.”

He stood and slowly crossed the room to me. “What’s your name?”

“Everyone calls me Smith,” I said, forcing a smile. “You?”

“You don’t need to know,” he said. “Where are you from?”

“I grew up on the east side, in Harmony area, but I’ve lived downtown at the edge of downtown since I’ve been on my own.”

“In the Neighbourhood?”

“Not quite in it, but near it.” I sat back and crossed my legs, the cage wasn’t tall enough to stand in. “Are you from the area?”

“I was born near here,” he admitted like it was some kind of filthy secret.

“That’s not a bad thing, there are plenty of good people in the Neighbourhood.” He probably grew up hearing shit about where he’s from.    

“I haven’t found any yet.” He wandered away from the cage and started rifling through the trash in the room. I couldn’t place my finger on why, but I couldn’t help liking this guy. There was something almost sweet about his simple, confused nature, and I had to admit he would have been very attractive if he was a little cleaner. I watched him dig through the room and wondered what he was searching for.

“I don’t think you’re going to find much useful in all this trash,” I said after a while.

“It’s not all trash.”

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure?” I joked. He looked at me out of the side of his eye.

“Something like that.” He went back to searching. Eventually, he pulled a small piece of paper out from under a chair that was missing a leg. He held it up, and a smile grew on the edges of his lips.

“Is that paper gonna help us get out of here?”

He looked at me and furrowed his brow. “No, it’s a photo.”

“A photo of what?” I asked as he crossed the room towards me. I didn’t understand why he was so happy to have found it.

“Look see, it’s my parents,” he knelt down and showed me the faded photograph of a young couple. They were outside of a ramshackle house with a sold sign in front of it. Smiles lit up their faces. “They were gifted this house by my grandparents since they couldn’t buy it themselves.”

“My parents wouldn’t have been able to afford a house so close to downtown when they were first together either.”

“No, they could’ve paid for it,” he said simply, “but they weren’t matched.” “That’s a real shame, they look so happy together.” Bullshit like not being allowed to buy a house until you were matched was part of why I hated the system.

“No, they were criminals, dirty liars.” His voice was laced with rage. My heart started pounding. A small, bitter part of myself pointed out that it wasn’t only with fear. Part of me was drawn in by the look in his eyes. I looked away from him, confused and scared.

“Just because an absurd system says they weren’t meant destined for each other or whatever doesn’t mean they couldn’t have been happy together.” My voice wavered.

“My life has been miserable because their relationship was miserable.” He leaned against the bars of the cage. “My mother got pregnant, so my father felt obligated to stick around. They fought, and they screamed, and my father would beat her, and she would beat me.” He glared at me until I looked up at him. “The system stops things like that.”

“No, it doesn’t,” I said, thinking back on my own childhood. “My father was an asshole, and my mother suffered it in silence. My father kicked me out of the house as soon as I was big enough to stand up for myself.” I leaned towards the edge of the cage. “They were matched, and they were still miserable. Shitty people will always be shitty people, regardless of who they are with.”

“And I almost thought you were a good person when you first woke up.”

“What?”

“You seemed so nice, but to hear so much blasphemy coming from your perfect lips…” We both blushed slightly. “In some other life, we would’ve actually done so well together.” He pulled up his sleeve to show me the mark on the back of his wrist. My mark. This was the killer, why wasn’t I more afraid?

“I could never be with a killer,” I hissed.

“And I could never be with someone like you.”

“Someone like me?”

“Someone dirty,” he spat out the word dirty, “you’re dirty inside and out, leading a life like this. You commit the greatest sin of all as if it is no big deal.”

“Like your parents did.”

“An Unmatched who sleeps around…. To think you would ever be my soulmate.” He threw open the door of the cage and yanked me out by my hair. I gasped and tried to pull back, but he dug his thumb into the back of my neck, and it felt like my limbs turned to jelly. He threw me into a chair and quickly tied my wrists and ankles.

“What are you doing?” I cried out as he pulled out a knife. “Please.”

“Perhaps you’re right in some way, and the system can be wrong.” He brought the knife close to my face. “Because I know for certain this mark is a lie.” He brought the knife down, sliding it across my wrist and drawing a line through my mark. Then, slowly as I screamed and begged, he carved the mark away.

I must have blacked out from the pain. As I opened my eyes again, I pulled against the straps holding my arms to the chair. The motion brought searing pain to the back of my wrist. I curled forward, cursing as I tried to steady the uneasiness of my breathing.

“Everyone reacts differently to pain.” I jumped and looked over at him. I hadn’t noticed him standing in the corner watching me. “It’s quite fascinating really, how everyone will squirm, but not everyone will beg for it to end. Perhaps they know deep down that they deserve it.”

“No human deserves to be tortured,” I hissed. His eyes were bright in the dim lighting of the basement, and I couldn’t help but notice the shadows under his jawline as his lips curled into a sarcastic grin. The slight heat that rushed to my cheeks just made me hate him more.

“Then they shouldn’t be living like animals.” He pushed away from the wall and knelt beside me. “You shouldn’t be living like liars and criminals and filthy fucking bastards.” His sudden grip against the wound on the back of my wrist made me groan.

“Haven’t you ever met someone nice?” I asked trying to force my words to be soft, trying to get under his skin. “Someone kind? Someone who is everything your father wasn’t?”

“I always thought that would be my soulmate.” The statement was an accusation.

I ignored it. “Haven’t you ever felt love for anything?”

“Can’t say I have.” He met my eyes, and all I could see was disgust. I flinched away slightly. “This world doesn’t particularly allow for it.”

“Yes it does,” I said. I took a deep breath to steady myself and leaned as close to him as the restraints allowed. “I loved someone you know. He was strong and brave and unbelievably kind.” My voice wavered as I tried to keep calm. “And you killed him.” I could feel my anger rising in my chest, biting at the back of my throat.

“Which one was that?” He blinked at me dully. “Everyone from the Neighbourhood is the same, all dirty sinners.” His voice held a practiced lack of tone.

“His name was Remi, if you grew up around here, you would have gone to school with him.” He would’ve gone to school with most of the people he killed actually. He would’ve known them all his whole life, and he killed them with no remorse.

“Ah, I know the one,” he said, a weird grin growing on his lips again. “He told me an interesting story as he sat in that cage, he said that he already knew his soulmate.” He leaned in and placed a hand on my shoulder. “His true soulmate he said.” His grin grew as I tried to stop the tears appearing in my eyes. “He said that he went to these clubs with his soulmate because the ones downtown were dry.” I bit my lip and looked down at my lap. He laughed as if he had won some small victory from me. “Remi was a fascinating enough person, shame he was a filthy liar, shame he screamed so much when he died. Actually, remind me of your name, Smith, right?” He pulled my chin up with two fingers, and I stared him dead in the eye. “I remember now, that’s what he cried out as he died. ‘Oh Smith, Smith, love of my life’,” he laughed again, “quite pathetic to hear from a mouth filled with blood.”

“You’re a monster.” My words came as a horrible jumble through the tears now streaming down my face.

“Look who’s talking.” With that, he stood and brought his elbow down onto my head.

When I woke again, I was alone in the room. The straps on the chair were undone, and I cautiously stood. Frantically, I began to search the room. I had a sinking feeling that there was no way I was going to make it out of this alive. After a desperate search, I managed to find a pencil and an old receipt. I scrawled out my message as quickly as I could, praying to a god I didn’t even believe in that it would be found. I signed it off and wrote one last thing at the bottom. A noise from by the door made me jump. Shit. I rushed to the small window, trying to pry it open enough to slide the note out. My fingers just slipped off. I shoved the note in my pocket.

“And what do you think you’re up to?” he asked, his tone soft, but angry. I turned slowly as memories of my father flashed through my mind. I felt like a young boy facing his punishment again.

“It’s stuffy in here, I wanted air.” Even I knew it was a pathetic lie.

“What’s in your pocket?”

“Probably some lint.”

“Stop lying.” He crossed the room briskly, and I flinched back against the wall. I couldn’t bring myself to fight, I couldn’t even make myself move. It felt like all my muscles had seized up there against the wall of that dingy basement. He reached into my pocket and pulled out the note.

“Please…”

“I promise you, Jaime, I didn’t do this. I hope you can forgive me.” He laughed. “Seriously? Here’s an idea, why don’t we write a better note? I’m done in this city anyways.”

He tore the receipt to pieces and went to a cupboard, quickly fishing out a scrap of paper. I looked at the door and back to him. Now was my chance. Before I could make it more than a few steps, he had latched onto my wrist. The pain of his fingers digging into the wound made my knees buckle.

“Now write.” He held me by my hair and forced me to write what he dictated. It was phrased like a suicide note. Like a confession. When I refused to write that I killed anyone, he drove his foot into my side. Over and over until I was coughing up blood.

“You’re going to kill me.”

“That’s the plan.” He forced me to sign off with a plea to be forgiven for doing my duty to this world. The note was tear-streaked and blood-stained in the end.

“No one is going to believe I killed myself,” I reasoned as he went back to the cupboard.

“They will once I’m done.” He turned back, a pistol in one hand. “All I have to do is leave one of the other bodies around, it’ll look like they almost succeeded in escaping, and you, realizing you were dying after they beat you, decided to end your life quickly.”

“You really think that will work?” Each word caused a stabbing pain in my chest. His kicks must have done some real damage. Each breath I took was agony.

“Yes,” he said simply. “Besides, if it doesn’t I’ll be long gone anyways.” He knelt down in front of me and pointed the pistol at my chest. “Say bye Smith, you’ll be in Hell with your filthy lover soon enough.”

Heat spread quickly across my chest. Heat and pressure. It took a moment for the pain to come. I looked up at him as he smiled. The heat was too much, and now it hurt. Like a red-hot poker being shoved through my chest. I fell forward. Black flooded the edges of my vision.

I could hear him moving around me, he placed something beside me. He moved something else. I swear he whistled slightly as he moved around. As if moving through mud, I managed to stick my arm out. He had put the pistol beside me. Fighting to keep awake, I wrapped my hand around it and looked up. Through graying vision, I saw the look of shock on his face as I pulled the trigger. Three shots and he fell. A smile spread across my face as I watched him lying there. In some sick way, the system was right. I laughed as I shut my eyes, it was right.

We were meant to spend the rest of our lives together, just not in a way anyone could have imagined.

[vevehoshizora]

BEAUTIFUL GIRL - Part 2 - (supergirl) kara danvers x f!reader

A Supergirl Soulmate AU in which soul-marks are situated on the wrist and are the nickname of your soulmate. They appear at some point of a person's life. You and Kara get to know each other in the months following your meeting. And as Kara tries and fails many times to discover your soul-mark, your relationship blossoms. Will Kara finally reveal that you are her soulmate? |[ 1,612 words ]|

Part 1 | 2 | 3 

WARNINGS: female x female, mentions of homophobia

Y/N = your name

Y/L/N = your last name

Y/NN = your nickname

y/e/c = your eye color

y/h/c = your hair color

Here’s the second part to Beautiful Girl, finally. x3 I hesitated between keeping the third view POV or switching to the second person (the reader’s POV). But, I decided on the third to change things a little from the usual second person. I’m not that proud of the ending, but I guess you’ll have to do with that. (I just think I could have done better.) Anyway, I have an idea for a third part that I’ll post as soon as I finish writing it.

◢ ◣◥ ◤ ◢ ◣◥ ◤ ◢ ◣◥ ◤

*Kinda important note: just roll with the fact that your wristband is made of lead for the sake of the plot. xP*

  Kara and Y/N had gotten closer over the few months following their meeting. They became good friends fast and enjoyed greatly each other's company.

 Currently, Kara and Y/N were having a sleepover at the blonde's apartment. Alex was supposed to come as well but had to cancel because of a last-minute work emergency.

 Kara silently sighed in contentment as she nuzzled Y/N's head, taking in her scent. Both girls were cuddled up while they watch a movie that Kara had forgotten the name. She didn't really care about the film, focusing instead on taking in every single details of Y/N she could find. Like how her nose crinkled when she disliked something or how a small cute frown would appear when a character took a stupid decision.  

 Kara couldn't stop wishing to know everything about this beautiful human being by her side. The blonde was shaken out of her trance when Y/N's head sleepily dropped on her shoulder. She smiled at the y/h/c-haired girl as she peacefully drifted off to sleep. Kara kissed her forehead before she too fell asleep.

 "Kara, can you prepare the plates?" Y/N asked as she poured the spaghetti's water in the sink. "Yeah, sure," the girl answered as she grabbed ahold of said plates and placed them beside the sink.

 As Y/N served the spaghetti, Kara tried to sneak a look at the girl's soul-marked wrist, hoping to discover the nickname of Y/N's soulmate – whilst praying that it was herself – hidden behind a leather wristband decorated with a metal plate were "Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life" was engraved.

 When she caught look of the leather band, Kara used her x-ray vision. She was surprised when she couldn't see anything but silver. Then, she realized what this meant.

 Lead.

 "LEAD! Why on Earth would her wristband be made of lead! I mean lead! Of all materials, she had to choose lead!" Kara exclaimed, emphasizing the 'lead's, as she anxiously paced around Alex's living room while her sister's eyes followed her annoyed form

 "It's okay, Kar. You don't have to know Y/N's soul-mark. I mean, don't you see the way she looks at you?" Alex tried her best to reassure the poor mind-wrecked girl as said Kryptonian continued to lowly grumble under her breath about lead.

 Kara's eyes met Alex's and the older girl's expression softened as she saw the fear written all over her sister's face. "B-But what if I'm not her soulmate?" the heroine slightly stuttered, "What i-"

 "Kara! You and I both know that there is no good in 'what if's," Alex reprimanded before she took a deep breath. "Look, if this helps, I can try to find out what is Y/N's soul-mark."

 "You would do that!?" Kara exclaimed, hope shining across her face. Alex simply nodded with a smile. "Thank you!" the Kryptonian girl's happy squeal could be heard ad Alex saw her sister dashed towards her with inhuman speed. Seconds later, she was engulfed in a bone-crushing hug that would surely leave her sore for a few hours.

 A month passed. Kara lightly sighed as she stepped in front of Y/N's apartment's door.

 The girl had made no significant progress to discover your soul-mark. Nor did Alex. It seemed that you were really secretive about your mark. Well, actually, nearly everyone on Earth was secretive about their soul-marks.

 Unlike Krypton, who considered soulmates like miracles while a soul-mark's apparition was usually celebrated, Earth was way more discreet. In the past, there had been a lot of problems concerning same-sex soulmates which had leaded to people hiding their soul-marks.

 Now, though, things were starting to get better. There still were less-accepting people, but homosexuality was more and more accepted as time passed.

 Kara shook herself out of her thoughts as she realized she had been standing there for a while and had been lost in thought. Her internal thinking could go on and on for hours and the girl decided to get back to the matter at hand.

 She knocked on the door. "Y/N?" she called that, knowing that the door was thin – something that made it easy to hear through and had made Kara worry many times because of its facility to break.

 There was no answer and the Kryptonian frowned. Tonight was Kara and Y/N's weekly sleepover night. Kara wondered if maybe her soulmate was asleep or out.

 Kara took out the spare key Y/N had given her. And as she entered, she realized that the falling water she had been hearing wasn't from another apartment around but was coming from Y/N's home.

 The Kryptonian sat down in the living room as she closed her eyes, relaxingly releasing a sigh of contentment. The girl was about to fall asleep when she heard footsteps near her.

 Kara nearly jumped in fright when she suddenly felt cold fingers brushing hair out of her face. She opened her eyes to come face to face with Y/N's smiling visage. "Hey there," the y/e/c-eyed girl murmured as she slightly tilted her head and her eyes closed to form an even bigger smile.

 Kara's breath was taken away: not only because of Y/N's beautiful smile, but also the fact that Y/N stood there with only a towel to hide herself. The heroine froze at the view of the water drops dripping from the y/h/c-headed's hair down to her chest before disappearing under the towel.

 The Kryptonian gulped as she shyly smiled at the other girl. "H-Hey," Kara stuttered nervously.

 "Just let me get change and we can start this sleepover," Y/N said with a slight blush now coloring her cheeks.

 Y/N lifted her arm, passing her hand through her hair, while the other safely kept the towel in place. By doing so, she unknowingly offered Kara a perfect view of her uncovered soul-marked wrist and the blonde's eyes widened as she remarked the mark there.

 The Kryptonian read what was written and her eyes widened as she recognized the nickname both Y/N and Alex usually used for her: Kar.

 A large grin spread upon Kara's face as Y/N left to her room. The heroine waited for the y/e/c-eyed girl to be out of her earshot before she dialed Alex's number. The brunette picked up after the second ring: "Alex Danvers."

 Kara didn't wait another second to start. "Oh Rao, Alex! It's me! I'm her soulmate! And she's mine! Oh gods! I don't know what to do!! What do I do!? How do I tell her!?" Kara whispered-shouted into the device.

 "Kara! Kara! Calm down!" Alex ordered and continued as soon as her sister did so: "Relax, everything's gonna be fine! Just tell her how you feel and explain about your soul-mark."

 "Okay... Thanks Alex. Oh Rao, she's coming back, gotta go!" Kara quickly hanged up as she tried to compose herself. She repeated Alex's plan over and over in her head as Y/N walked towards the living room.

 Unfortunately, as soon as the y/e/c-eyed girl stepped in the room, Kara's plan went out of the window. The blonde stood there agape as she took in her soulmate's beauty. Here Y/N was in simple night clothes, but to Kara, you were so perfect.

 "Y/NN..." Kara whispered, but it still caught Y/N's attention as the latter turned to the agape blonde. As Y/N opened her mouth to speak, Kara was suddenly standing before her as the Kryptonian captured the y/h/c-headed's lips with hers. Y/N took a sharp breath, surprised.

 Almost as fast as Kara had appeared before her soulmate, she had broke the kiss and had stepped back: "Y/N! Oh Rao, Y/N, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that! Well, yes, but not like this. I mean, I had a plan: talk to you and then, hopefully, kiss you.  But then I saw you and I just forgot, and I shouldn't ha-"

 "Kara! Calm down!" Y/N cut the blonde off as she took ahold of the Kryptonian's shoulders in a tight but nor painful grip – even if, unknown to Y/N, she couldn't have possibly made any damage.

 Kara sheepishly looked at Y/N as she realized that she was rambling in her nerve-wracking state. "Calm down, Kar... I actually didn't mind the kiss, but what brought this on?" Y/N asked while lifting an eyebrow.

 Kara gazed into the y/h/c-headed's eyes and she actually remarked something akin to hope in them. "Hum... I really really like you and you may happened to be my soulmate..." the blonde explained with a deep blush as Y/N's eyes widened.

 The y/e/c-eyed took Kara's right arm and reached for the wristband before looking at the blonde, asking for permission. Said girl softly smiled as she simply nodded. Y/N slowly untied the leather wristband on Kara's arm, trepidation crawling from her whole body to her slightly-shaking fingers. As she took off the piece of leather, she immediately remarked the black ink-like marking on the blonde's skin. As Y/N took a closer look, she could make out Y/NN written on the other girl's wrist.

 A smile appeared on Y/N's face as she also untied her wristband before removing it, showing her soul-mark, Kara's nickname.

 Y/N gently took Kara's chin as she tilted up the Kryptonian's face. The y/h/c-headed kissed Kara as she poured all her love into it. The blonde did the same.

 The kiss was short, but held a lot of meaning for both girls. A wide smile was on Kara's face as the girl took ahold of Y/N's hands.

 "Would you- I mean, d-do you want to be my girlfriend?" the Kryptonian shyly asked as her thumbs slowly massaged the other girl's hands. "Gladly," Y/N responded immediately.

[lalka-laski]

If you were given three things to make you happy, what would these be? A brain rid of anxiety & insecurity A better paying/less stressful job A killer body How would you rank the following in importance: family, career, love life? Well, I’d group family and love life in the same category because when you find your soulmate, he/she becomes part of your family (regardless of marital status). Nothing comes before family. And all of that is entirely more important than career. Jobs are expendable, transferable. Our loved ones are not.  Which would you prefer: having a baby without a partner or a partner without a baby? For a long time I kind of envisioned myself in the former situation. But now that I have the love of my life, I wouldn’t trade him for anything. I do hope we have kids someday but I try not to stress about making it a priority. Spending my life with him is what matters.  What was your experience about being “mansplained,” and what did you do about it? I call out men each & every time they do that. I don’t have the tolerance.  Who was your favorite cartoon character when you were a kid? Princess Aurora! And she still is. I’m wearing a Sleeping Beauty bangle as we speak. 

Do you think God is real, and why? I have a fluid idea of what/who I believe God to be.  Do you believe in giving people second chances, and why? Absolutely. I would have never improved & evolved if it weren’t for the people in my life who gave me second (and third and fourth) chances. That’s how we grow. How would you describe your first crush? I was in kindergarten. His name was Jake. We ended up hooking up senior year of high school.  Better late than never, huh? Do you ever keep a journal? For my entire life. I have a whole box of over 30 journals ranging from age 9 to the present.  Do you think people fall in love because the right person has arrived, or because the time is right (regardless of whom the person is that they fall in love with)? Timing *is* a factor but ultimately love is about the individual person.  How do you feel about the #MeToo movement? I fully support it. What else do you expect me to say? What do you look for in a relationship? I never realized how important the element of FUN is for me until I dated Glenn. We’re very playful; constantly joking and making each other laugh. Several people have remarked to us that we always look like we’re having a good time in each other’s company. And we are! I think I had an unhealthy expectation of relationships in the past. I thought passion was only achieved through intense conversations, tearful arguments, violent sex. But Glenn & I have a magnetizing connection and mind-blowing passion, all while being each other’s best friends. Our relationship is rooted in JOY. And it’s the most beautiful thing. Other non-negotiable qualities are support and empathy (particularly when it comes to understanding my anxiety) and of course, loyalty. What is your idea of a perfect date? I love a traditional wining & dining. I’m not a fan of activity-based dates if you’re just meeting the person. Something about it feels awkward to me. I’d rather just sit in a relaxed environment, enjoy some good food & drink and chat away. What legacy do you want people to remember about you after you’re gone? I’d like to be remembered as a bright spot in people’s lives.

Have you ever asked a guy out on a date? No way. Not because I subscribe to gender roles or anything. But simply because I’m not a move maker. What was the most important lesson you’ve learned from your past relationship? Where to even begin? -You shouldn’t ever have to beg for attention or affection from your partner -Love should be celebrated & shared, not hidden like a dirty secret -Crying during/immediately after sex is not healthy -A man’s refusal to stop when you explicitly ask him to is the definition of ASSAULT

What book influenced you the most? I could never pick just one What’s a deal-breaker for you in a relationship? Well I’d like to say abuse or assault is a deal-breaker, but my response from a few questions ago proves that’s not the case. Although, I’ve learned my lesson since then. Also any kind of infidelity is unacceptable. Are you a morning or a night person? I’ve become more of a night person lately  How important is trust in a relationship? It’s the backbone of any healthy relationship How do you feel about infidelity? There is no room for it in a healthy relationship Do you believe that the day will arrive when humans will be replaced by machines in almost all aspects of life? Not entirely. I think machines will replace lots of menial (or even extraordinary) tasks but I don’t think humans will just cease to exist. What do you think is humankind’s greatest invention? I’m not trying to be snarky but the first thing that came to mind was pizza. Delivery pizza, to be specific. Do you ever think about how dope it is that you can get the greatest food in existence delivered to your door with just a few clicks of your phone? PRICELESS.  Do you think that humans are doing more harm than good to the planet? Oh 100% What is your take on telepathy? I think some people have stronger intuitive senses than others but I don’t believe in straight-up telepathy  What is your favorite workout routine? I don’t do shit, my dude Would you rather be called vain or insecure? I’ve been called both. And to be honest, I *AM* both. Although I’m only vain in the context of myself.  What important lesson did a close relative teach you? Be generous with your “I love you”s. You can never say it too much. 

What part of your body do you find attractive? My collarbones are my favorite feature Which would you choose to be: law-abiding citizen or rule breaker, and why? I’m a law-abiding citizen. I function best when strict rules are in place.  What is your ideal vacation? My dream trip is Poland or Iceland. But I’d take a vacation almost anywhere at this point. What superpowers did you wish you had when you were a kid? Teleportation or time-travel. Tbh, I still do. Are you a mountain or a beach person? Beach! What mythical animal do you resonate with, and why? A mermaid maybe because I love to swim? Funny Which member of your family do you feel closest to, and why? My sisters & my cousin Rachel. My sisters are kinda self-explanatory and my cousin Rachel & I are close in age and have very similar interests so we’ve always gotten along.  Who do you consider your best friend in your workplace? I like all my coworkers for the most part but my best friends no longer work here.  What three adjectives would describe you? Sensitive, imaginative, flighty.  If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose? I’m pretty content with where I live now, in all honesty. What are you passionate about in life? Spreading love & joy What quality in a person do you fall in love with? Humor, wit, compassion, sensitivity  Have you had your heart broken before? Sure have. Do not recommend it!  What is your take on astrology? I find it fascinating but I take it all with a grain of salt. And I certainly don’t let it dictate my life. I just have fun with it.  What is your life’s soundtrack? Ideally it’d be something dreamy & whimsical! Slightly Disney-esque.  When was the last time you spoke with a classmate from high school? I’m texting with my high school best friend right now Are you left- or right-handed, and would you want to switch? Right handed. What subject were you good at in high school? English Do you find it difficult to admit that you are wrong, and why? I always take the blame & have no problem admitting I’m wrong. Even when I know I’m not...  Do you get excited or scared when meeting new people? Both but probably more nervous than excited What is your secret hobby that others would consider weird? I love reading inmate’s profiles on writeaprisoner.com and then researching their crimes How do you cope with stressful situations? HA HA HA, not well... Is there anything that you would like to change about yourself? Quite a lot. I’d like to be calmer and more disciplined. What musical instrument do you know how to play? None, although I’d love to learn something Which would you prefer in a romantic partner: a dreamer or an achiever? An achiever. What is your favorite part of a house, and why? My bedroom. It’s calm & cozy and decorated perfectly to my liking. Who is the fictional character who closely resembles you in terms of attitude? Elle Woods, on my best days. When you were a kid, what did you say you wanted to be when you grew up? An author. And that’s still true! What was the title of the first movie you watched in a movie theater? I think it was The Hunchback of Notre Dame but I’d have to confirm with my mom When was the last time you slept outdoors? A little cat nap on the beach not too long ago What is something that you are proud of about yourself? I’m proud of myself for making it through this ten hour shift today. Gotta take all the little victories I can get! What song do you often sing in the shower? I don’t sing in the shower much anymore since Glenn’s moved in. He’s a legitimate singer and I don’t want him to hear my voice What do you feel is the right age for people to get married? There isn’t one. Simply whenever you both feel ready & willing.  What would be your super villain name and your powers? SuperSensitive Girl, and I’d get my way by crying.  What three non-electric or non-automatic items would you take on a deserted island? Provided I already have food & drinking water, I’d bring a journal and pen (I’m counting that as one), my baby blanket and my book collection (also counting that as “one” item).  If “hello” were to be replaced by another word as a greeting, what word would that be? Hey? What is the weirdest thing that your family does together? I don’t know, we’re pretty weird...  What was the most embarrassing thing that you’ve done for a friend? I cannot disclose that here :X What would be the title of the movie showing your life from birth up to present? Work in Progress? I know, I know, that’s cheesy. But I’m too fried to think of something more creative. This survey has been LOOOONG! What fashion piece would you invent for women? Pants with functional pockets is a CONCEPT What is the single most important thing people should do for the planet? Um, recycle I guess? Truly, I don’t know. How do you define evil, and do you believe that a person can be evil? Of course I believe people can be evil. Anyone who intentionally inflicts harm on another person/animal/infrastructure is evil.  What do you think are the two things that prevent people from realizing their dreams? MONEY and access. As much as I’d like to say it’s our own limiting beliefs & bullshit that prevents us from achieving our goals, it’s really access to resources that makes or breaks you.  Would you lay down your life for someone? A few people 

What word or term do you wish to know the meaning of? I can just Google the definition of any word I choose. The internet is a magical place! What makes you nostalgic? Girl, what DOESN’T make me nostalgic?  Do you believe that each of us has a soul mate? I do, but I don’t necessarily think that person is always a romantic partner. And I do believe in multiple soulmates.  How would you live your remaining days if you found out you had only a week to live? Oh God, I can’t think about this! Do you listen to other people’s advice, or do you prefer figuring things out yourself? I’d prefer if I could hand off all my problems to someone else & have them solve them. I don’t like being responsible for myself! Imagine that you are tasked to re-design society - what changes would you make? I absolutely would not want to be assigned that task. (Lol- copping the previous survey’s answer because SAME).  What’s the perfect day for you? Sleeping in, hitting up the beach for some reading & swimming, then maybe a nice dinner & drinks somewhere fun? Would you wait for the sun to rise or for it to set, and why? Both are beautiful and majestic! If you were born in another era, when would that period in history be and why? There’s so many concerts from the 80s and early 90s I would’ve killed to see!  Have you made someone cry? Never intentionally but nonetheless, yes.  What is the most astonishing act that a person can do for you? For me it’s all about the small but significant gestures. What I love about Glenn is that he takes note of things about me that I don’t even notice myself, and then acts accordingly. For example, apparently I always complain I’m freezing when I get out of the shower (I never realized this) so he always turns the AC off while I’m in there so that I’m a comfortable temperature when I get out. Stuff like that means the world to me. What is more important: being true to yourself regardless of who gets hurt or considering the consequences of your actions on other people’s lives?We should all consider the impact of our actions on other people. It’s selfless and irresponsible not to.  If you die tonight, would you pass away fulfilled or unsatisfied with life? Can we not....?