#like. hey. it's actually kind of messed up that my mom would insult my drawings and think i could improve off that.

[somekangarookid]

i'm always so proud of people who are fighting so hard to try and be better. it's not always an easy thing. it's not always just realizing you made a mistake and you can apologize and learn to do better in the future. sometimes it's learning your whole worldview was painted for you, that you were raised to hurt yourself and others. breaking away from that is hard when it's the "reality" you've been living for possibly decades. you were actively shielded or punished from learning otherwise. here's to everyone who managed to escape and to everyone trying to escape a hateful reality.

[nightowlfandom]

Min Yoongi- Humiliation Looks Good On You

Hey there! SO ANON ASKS

Hi I want to make a request with the prompts 10, 109, 110 with Yoongi please. I have a story in mind. Yoongi is a pretentious nerd, the best in college but also has some kind of hate relationship with y/n he really makes sure to make her feel humiliated cuz he gets turned on by doing it. but then he tries to make a move on her. Thank you.

So y’all just wanna be bullied by Yoongi, now? Ight bet! Damn Masochists! I like it tho-I’m assuming you want a happy ending to this, so that’s what I’ll be doing.

10-  I think I’ll keep you as a pet! You’re fun to mess with.

109-  Are you crying because of me? Hm…I didn’t realize I have that effect on you.

110-  That’s daddy to you, sweetheart.

CHECKOUT MY MASTERLIST HERE!

Leggo!

Also hi yes, I used the name is kpop stars for your friends names,

Also humiliation, daddy stuff...IF ANYONE TREATS YOUY LIKE THIS YOU BETTER BREAK THEIR FUCKING FACE I SWEAR TO-

 ...

“Hey guys!” You greeted your friends as your rushed into the classroom. 

“Hey babe!” Momo waved you over. “We saved you a seat! Irene was just telling us about her date last night!”

“Thanks.” You acknowledged Lisa and Hyuna who were also sitting. “What’s up?”

“Hyuna decided to be a mom and ruin my date!” Irene scoffed. “She scared him off!”

“You’ll thank me.” Hyuna waved her off, not bothered in the slightest.

“Sure.” Irene shook her head. Everyone laughed while you mustered up a sideways smile. “Y/N? Everything okay?”

“Oh..Y-yeah!” you shrugged. “I’m alright.”

“Bullshit.” Lisa scoffed. “I saw her hiding from Min and his cronies.” 

“Min Yoongi?” Momo asked. “He’s still bothering you?”

“No! You guys it isn’t like that!”

Oh yes it was. The college golden boy who was both an academic genius and promising young performer. He thought because he was intelligent that everyone was beneath him. His plan A and plan B would more than likely workout. 

“Y/N, do you need us to-”

“No!” You cut Hyuna off. “Don’t get involved or you’ll make it worse. Can’t we talk about the party tonight?”

“Ah, the biggest turn-up of the year!” Irene danced in her seat. “I have the entire house for the weekend.” 

You, Hyuna, Lisa, Irene, and Momo were someone of the popular (but also super kind) girls. Every Semester you all hosted a party. You guys were notorious for throwing the best parties and this semester was no different. 

“This is gonna go down in history!” Lisa smirked at the thought. “But if that tool starts something-”

Lisa didn’t like Yoongi....Lisa despised him with a passion. Mostly because he bullied you so much.

“Namjoon said that he’d behave.” Hyuna sighed. “Don’t know how much that means to you babe.” she put a hand on your shoulder. 

“Speak of the devil.” Momo sighed, staring at the door. 

Everyone knew than Yoongi tormented you. There was an endless array of mixed reactions.

“Hey Y/N.”

Don’t answer, don’t answer, don’t answer.

“Yo, leave her alone.” Hyuna warned. 

“You gonna let your friends fight your battles?”

That alone made you whip your head around. “I don’t let anyone fight my battles!” you snapped, drawing the attention.

Before anything could go down, the teacher came inside.

“Hello class! Can anyone tell me what we were focused on last class?”

“We were getting into cliches and niches in romance novels.” You answered aloud. “We were talking about the Bully to Lover Archetype.”

“Very good Y/N.” the teacher praised you. “Now can someone tell me why we- and I would like to hear from the women on this...Why do you as women hate such a stigma.”

Your hand instantly shot in the air. “Yes Y/N?”

“Because it promotes the stigma that if a boy or man bullies you, it’s because he likes you. Which is extremely toxic to those with love self esteem because it makes them feel like they have to be ridiculed to be loved.” you said. “In my opinion any man who feels the need to degrade a woman is festering garbage.”

“Hm, interesting! Yes Mr.Min did you have something you wanted to add?”

“Yes, what my dear acquaintance Y/N fails to realize is most women actually like being teased-”

“Teased, not tormented you imbecile.” you snapped your head in Yoongi’s direction.

“Unless she’s a masochist.” he winked at you knowingly. ‘We don’t know why the male characters bully the females.”

“Because they have nothing better to do!” you replied as calmly as you could.

“...Well, women love the bad boys.”

“Women. Love. Respect.” you seethed.

“OOh a spicy debate!” the teacher noticed the tension. “In a way, you two are very similar to the characters we will be discussing!”

“Huh?” you turned back towards the teacher.

“Yes! The male bullied the female out of jealousy and spite and the female who is very outspoken, doesn’t allow herself to be insulted.”

“Out of spite, maybe. Jealousy, never.” Yoongi laughed.

What a smug bastard.

...(Later in another class) 

“Good going Y/N” Yoongi walked up to your table where you were sitting with your friends. “Now the teacher thinks we have something going on.”

“None of that is my problem...mkay?” you raised an eyebrow. “Any other stupid comments and or questions you have for me?”

“Sure.” Yoongi scoffed. “Is it true that you had to work at one of those sleazy bars to pay off your student debts?”

“So what if she did?” Lisa seethed.

“Hm, maybe if she was smarter she could have gotten a scholarship. Unless the superintendent is one of her sugar daddies.” He laughed. “It’s amazing what some people will do for money So is it cash or connection?.”

That comment made everyone fall silent.

“You don’t know me Yoongi.”

“Oh but I do. That’s why you’re my pet...Do you want me to keep you as a pet, Y/N?”

“No.” your voice wavered. 

“Are you crying because of me? Hm…I didn’t realize I have that effect on you. “

Yes, you had to work in a shitty bar as a waitress on some days and a bartender on other days. It wasn’t because you liked the attention. It was because those dirt-bags tipped you just for winking in their direction and you needed to pay off your debts.

But to insinuate that you had a sugar daddy....not that you judged anyone who did...the way he meant it...most likely meant something completely different.

“THAT’S IT!” Hyuna lunged from her seat and attempted to jump at Yoongi, age be damned. “IRENE LET ME FUCKING AT HIM.”

You didn’t notice the tears streaming down your face. In the midst of every boy in the classroom attempting to calm Hyuna down, you rose to your feet and exited the classroom. As soon as you were far enough, you bolted down the halls. 

You kicked open the doors to the school and ran home. You would face the consequences later.

...(Meanwhile, back at school)

“Hey! I was just joking!” Yoongi burst out laughing.

“Not to us, it isn’t!” Momo barked, her bubbly and cheerful spirit was gone. “Y/N is struggling to make ends meet as it is and she doesn’t need you COMMENTING ON IT!”

“Not to mention, she’s one of the smartest girls in school!” Lisa sneered. “I bet she’d score circles around you if you actually looked at her test scores.”

“Its bad enough she won’t let us help her out, but now she sure as hell won’t let us help her now, no thanks to you!” Irene sighed. 

“Oh Come on! You guys act like Y/N is some Miss Perfect!” Yoongi crossed his arms. “Is she really all that great?”

“If she wasn’t, why would you waste your time trying to bully her?” Hyuna finally calmed down. “You’re lucky that you’re friends with my boyfriend or else I swear you wouldn’t set foot at any of our parties.”

“Maybe the teacher was right. You’re just so jealous that Y/N wouldn’t give you the time of day that you turned to making fun of her to stroke your disgusting guy ego.” Momo crossed your arms. “I’m gonna go after her, she probably went home.”

“I’ll come with.” Lisa rose to her feet.

“I’ll get you guys the homework.” Irene nodded the two friends off. “And make sure Hyuna doesn’t kill someone.”

Momo and Lisa ran out of the school while Yoongi was standing there dumbstruck. For the first time, he was speechless.

...

“You guys, I really don’t wanna be here.” you sighed as the loud music deafened you and everyone within a five foot radius. “I don’t really wanna party...”

“You’re one of the hosts!” Irene sighed. “Enjoy your night! Come on! I heard Seokjin was just waiting to dance with you!”

Seokjin, the beautiful teaching assistant that any girl would kill to get their hands on. University life...Speaking of which, he must of sensed you were thinking of him because he sauntered over looking handsome as ever. He stared at you, a warm and friendly smile gracing his angelic face.

“Hey Y/N.” he smiled. “You look great.”

“Oh...Thank you Jin!” you smiled. 

“I’ll leave you two to it.” Irene nudged you before sauntering off, belting the song at the top of her lungs. “WHOSE READY TO PARTY!”

You were left with Jin who was smiling knowingly at you. “Hey...I heard about today.”

“I don’t have a sugar daddy and I am NOT a sleaze!” you cut him off sharply. “If that’s what you’re here for, then-”

“Hey Y/N!” he put his hands up in defense. “I was just gonna say what he said about you wasn’t cool at all. Everyone is giving him hell for it.”

“Oh...thanks I guess. Sorry.” you looked down sheepishly.

“Hey...You wanna dance?” Jin motioned over to the dancefloor. He noticed your hesitance. “Come on...it’ll be fun. If anyone gives you trouble, just focus on me.”

You nodded, allowing a smile to cross your face again. You grabbed his hand and ran over to the dancefloor.

From a distance, Yoongi was watching. He was drinking a beer. He glared potholes at Seokjin who had his arms protectively wrapped around your waist. You looked genuinely happy. It made him mad. Since when and why were you and him so chummy?

He decided to do something about it, so he put his drink down and marched over. 

“Yo! Jin! Hyuna said she needed your help with something school related.” he made up some lame excuse. Knowing Jin, he’d probably believed it anyways.

“Oh...Okay. Be right back Y\N!” he smiled at you which you returned. Your smiled was quickly replaced with a frown when Yoongi and you were left alone. He perked up an eyebrow and held out his hand.

You would have slapped it away, but Promiscuous By Nelly Furtado suddenly began playing. 

“Come on....” he winked. You begrudgingly took his only only to be yanked towards him. Unlike Seokjin, when he wrapped his arms around you it feel uneasy.

“ I think I’ll keep you as a pet! You’re fun to mess with. “ he whispered in your ear. His body felt hard and cold, yet you moved so effortlessly with him. 

“I’m nobody’s pet.” you snapped. 

“You’re mine.” he leaned forward and whispered in your ear. “Otherwise you would have killed me by now.”

“Still debating.” you laughed dryly. “You’ll always be a pain in my ass...”

 You broke away from his embrace to dance on your own. Working at a bar, the other girls taught you how to dance. The only positive to come out of working at a shithole like that, plus the tips you got just for smiling at someone. Yoongi took note of this. What happened to the timid little victim he loved to poke fun at.

You almost looked like you could hold your own.

“GO Y/N!” Momo yelled while dancing with her own date. 

As you turned back around, getting closer to Yoongi again, your eyes met. Things fell silent between you two as you took a step back. You had to get out of there before you did something you would regret. 

You wound up running into a random room in the mansion, struggling for air. Absolutely not! No way! You were not falling for Yoongi.

“Jin is so kind and sweet and Yoongi is the reason I don’t wanna go to school. Hell no.” you seethed.

“Is that how you feel?”

Yoongi stood at the door, raising an eyebrow at you. 

“Yes! I hate you!” you could feel everything welling up inside you as you met his gaze again. “I hate you so much that I wish you would-”

“Wish I would what? Drop dead? Drop out of school, leave you alone?” he cut you off with a harsh tone. “Tell me how you really feel!”

“Make your move or shut the fuck up!” you gave your answer.

You knew good and well Yoongi had a reason for doing this, you just figured you would give it your best guess. This caused Yoongi to raise an eyebrow. You almost regretted opening your mouth when Yoongi stormed over and grabbed you by the waist. He crashed his mouth over yours, claiming you in a kiss.

You felt him tangle your hair in his fist, keeping you in place. You tangled your hands in his hair.

Imagine, the schools bully and the girl he’s tormented since he met her, in such a compromising position.

You were two focused on Yoongi pinning you to the bed to worry about it though. 

“You are such a-”

“ Ah ah ah~...That’s daddy to you, sweetheart.”

[the-hidden-writer]

A Second Chance: Chapter 9

An Ace Attorney fanfic. Read on both AO3 and FF.net!

Summary: Miles learns the identity of his “dead” mother, and the aftermath of that revelation is a tricky one. Especially when his newfound little sister is trying to turn him into a spirit medium.

AKA Miles is a Fey. Miles also doesn’t really know how to family properly.

Comments make my day! :D

The Question

“This is your last chance! I’m warning you! You take another step and I’ll- ARGH!”

Maya squealed and her chocolate eyes went wide as they peeked over the pillow she had started to clutch so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Miles grimaced with an audible exhale of breath as he subtly averted his eyes from the screen, his teeth grabbing hold of his bottom lip in suspense.

Phoenix looked between them blankly.

“H-Ha, you... may have defeated me today Samurai… but my c- *cough* curse has already taken hold of you… I win…hahahaha-”

It was Friday and just as he’d sort-of-promised, Miles Edgeworth had arrived at Wright & Co. Law Offices to watch Steel Samurai with Maya clad in his usual attire. Phoenix felt guilty knowing he’d probably come straight from work but appreciated him coming anyway.

“Impossible!”

“Pa? Pa where…? Pa!!!”

A loud gasp broke the tense silence in the room. Maya squirmed in her seat, sending worried, questioning looks in Edgeworth’s direction. Edgeworth didn’t notice. He had his eyes glued to the screen.

“Pa! Are you alright?! What-”

“Suki, I… you’re all I ever wanted… you’ve made your father so proud…”

“Shh Pa, save your strength. I *sniff* I promise to finish what you started, Pa. I love you.”

“Suki…”

“P-Pa…”

“S…”

“Pa? Pa! PA!!!”

Once again, the silence in the room was shattered. This time by Maya’s muffled sniffs into her pillow. Phoenix, instinctively despite his confusion of exactly what was going on, reached out a hand to squeeze her shoulder comfortingly. Miles didn’t react.

“You did this, didn’t you Samurai?”

“I…”

“Of course you did. I’m not blind. I know how you’ve been destroying everything we’ve been working toward.”

“We?”

“Don’t take me for a fool! Pa told me everything. I know exactly what I have to do. And I know that the magnificent warrior Steel Samurai will never harm a vulnerable little girl like me.”

“You might be too young to realize Suki-chan, but you seem more than smart enough to know that I have responsibilities I must fulfil. The fate of Neo Olde Tokyo rests on my shoulders, and when you have been doing what I do for as long as I have, then maybe you will understand why I have to make an exception.”

“Pwaha, you would never-”

The screen went black just as the Steel Samurai moved to draw his katana, causing two-thirds of the room to exclaim their annoyance in extremely contrasting ways.

“Uh, yeah… that’s enough of that.” Said Phoenix with only a hint of apology.

“Nick!!!” “Wright.”

Alright, maybe not so contrasting after all. That might’ve been the first time Phoenix ever saw some kind of resemblance in the siblings.

“Hey, it was pretty much over anyways! Besides, I did it for a reason. Have you seen your faces? You look like ghosts.”

Truthfully, both Miles and Maya’s faces were extraordinarily drained of color when they’d simultaneously turned to face him (it was actually really creepy how in-sync they were). Phoenix may have purposely forgotten to mention the fact that this particular story arc could be compared to their own experiences. He was trying to do them a favor.

Miles cleared his throat and straightened his posture from his position on the floor where he sat with Maya. Phoenix was lucky enough to have the couch to himself. “Well…” he said. “I suppose you do know what happens next.”

Maya nodded solemnly. “Yeah… up ‘til now I was thinking why they pulled these episodes but now I think I get it.”

“It’s kinda messed up for a kid’s show.” Phoenix commented, unsurprisingly subjecting himself to fall victim to yet another simultaneous sibling glare. Individually they’d always been quite intimidating, but together? Their eyes bore into his soul so much that it genuinely felt like he was on trial all over again.

“Thanks for coming, Miles!” Said Maya, all-too-obviously choosing to ignore Phoenix’s statement. “It’s so much better to watch along with someone who understands art.”

“Hey-”

“Shut up, Nick.” “Noted.”

Edgeworth began to slowly push himself up from his awkward sitting position on the office floor. “It was my pleasure. I had a nice time.”

Phoenix noticed that his voice was quite clipped and he found it quite uncharacteristic of Miles to be so open with his compliments. Guess he really was a changed man.

“Actually, Maya, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask of you.”

Ah, there it was.

“Sure,” replied Maya, wiping her eyes as if she hadn’t been bawling her eyes out just minutes ago, “what’s up?”

Miles looked off to the side. “I was wondering if… with your blessing, of course… if I could visit Kurain Village. Talk to some of the people there.”

“Miles…” Phoenix began in concern, but Edgeworth held up a finger to silence him.

“I’ve been thinking about this a great deal, and it is something I want to do.”

It was understandable, Phoenix thought. Life hadn’t been kind to Edgeworth’s family, and it was only natural to want to get to know his mother’s traditions and the life he might have led. He was more surprised that he hadn’t asked sooner, seeing as Maya would be more than happy to-

“No.”

Edgeworth must have been as surprised as Phoenix was because his mask of neutrality suddenly disappeared and he looked both taken aback and absolutely heartbroken.

“N-No?” 

“No.” Maya repeated, more firmly. “I’m sorry but that’s not a good idea.”

“Why not?!” Miles protested loudly. Phoenix cringed at the outburst. He knew both of them well enough to be able to tell when they were getting riled up. This was not going to end well.

“It’s just that I don’t think it would go down well with the village, okay?! They have a bad history with men!”

Miles sprung up onto his feet. Maya did the same, took a step forward so that her face was inches away from Edgeworth’s chest, and looked up at him angrily. Phoenix sunk further into the couch.

“It’s a simple request!” He exclaimed, forcefully waving an arm to exaggerate his point. “You have no trouble taking Wright there!”

“Yeah that’s because Nick isn’t my brother and also not a main family Fey,” Maya yelled, “because like it or not, you’re-”

“I’M NOT A FEY!”

Maya’s mouth snapped shut instantly. Her chin began to wobble. She glared at Edgeworth with as much hatred she could possibly muster.

“I’m not a Fey and you have the same right to my father’s name as Wright does. Which is none!”

“Miles…” Uttered Phoenix, in an attempt to calm the man down. Said man wasn’t listening. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were darting around the room.

“Well,” Maya started quietly, “I’m sorry to break it to you but you are. I’m your sister, and that’s not changing anytime soon. So deal with it!”

“Where were you then?!” Miles argued, with a ferocity that Phoenix had never seen before, not even in court. “Where were you when I was being-”

He caught himself and sighed, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and index finger, and said with a voice barely above a whisper: “I’m sorry.”

Maya scoffed and replied in a voice equally as quiet. “You’re sorry. For what? Insulting me, our Mom, or my village’s entire way of life?”

Phoenix finally braved sitting up. “Guys, calm down.” He said. “We had a good time, you can talk about this properly another day.”

“So you call her our mother,” said Miles, completely ignoring Phoenix, “but you say that it’s your village?”

“It’s my home!” Maya countered. “Have you been there even once?”

Edgeworth didn’t answer.

“Thought so.”

“Perhaps if your mother had bothered to alert me of her existence, I would have visited considerably more often!”

“Oh yeah? Well maybe if your father had just taken the stairs then none of us would be in this mess, would we?!”

The silence that was left in the office was tense and sickly thick. Miles seemed at a loss for words. His cheeks were red as he puffed on the spot. Without a word, he grabbed his blazer and stormed toward the door.

“Wait!” Maya called as she ran after him, her sandals clicking against the hard floor.

He stopped and turned to look at her, eyes cold and unforgiving.

“That was stupid of me to say.” She looked down. “If you want to go to Kurain Village we can work toward it,” she suggested, “but you need to trust me. I don’t want you getting hurt, or worse, disgraced from the village.”

He seemed to acknowledge her for a second, before letting out a long sigh. “Alright. That’s… that’s a good idea.”

Phoenix let out his own sigh of relief from his spectator’s seat and stood up to join the pair. If he thought their last meeting was intense, this one rewrote the book in its entirety.

“See? You guys can get along!” He laughed, no humor in his voice.

“Not now, Wright.”

“Fair.”

The air felt lighter all of a sudden, and for the first time since Miles had arrived, it felt right.

Right until Maya opened up her arms.

She was already very close to Miles, but instead of accepting her embrace, he took a step back in surprise. When Phoenix caught his gaze over Maya’s shoulder, he nodded at him in encouragement. 

And so he awkwardly hugged Maya back.

Suddenly Maya pulled back with a long gasp. “I have an idea!” She announced happily. “The perfect way to help you get accepted in the village!”

“What?” Phoenix and Edgeworth asked at the same time.

“We’re gonna teach you how to channel spirits!”

~-.-~

Brrrrrrrrrring!

“Uh, he-”

“Detective.”

“Oh, hey boss! You okay? It’s kinda late-”

“Detective, I need to ask you something. You have a brother, correct?”

“Nah, got one hell of a big sister though. Love her to bits. Why are you asking? Did something happen with Maya?”

“Do you ever… disagree with her?”

“Oh yeah, sure, sometimes. We get over it pretty quickly though. What happened?”

“That’s none of your business, detective.”

“Sorry, sir. I’m just worried about you, y’know?”

“...We had a rather intense argument. And then she suggested that I should…”

“Should what, sir?”

“Ugh, that I should start ‘spirit medium’ training.”

“It’s a real thing, I’ve seen her do it! It’s kinda creepy to be hone-”

“It’s preposterous! I’ve witnessed her doing it too, but I… really don’t want to involve myself in all of that. I told her as much.”

“And what did she say?”

“She was so excited about it, and I didn’t want to upset her again so I begrudgingly agreed.”

“I thought it was a girls-only thing?”

“So did I. Again, I told her as much but she assured me that she had a plan, which I don’t believe for an instant since it was only seconds… detective, what’s so funny?!”

“Nothing, sir. It’s just that you’re starting to sound like a big brother.”

Miles hung up.

[alounuitte]

Where Loyalty Lies

When shipments from a mining station suddenly stop, Lotor's generals look into the reason and get more questions than answers. At the same station several days earlier, the Blade of Marmora encounters a surprise when they try to take out the operation.

Chapter 2 (also on AO3 under LovelyLessie!)

-

There’s a long moment of silence before Kolivan says, slowly, “It’s a what?”

“A - a child,” he says. “Or, um, a kitten? A - like, a little Galra, I don’t know what—“ 

“I know what a kid is,” Kolivan says, cutting him off. “What is it doing here?” 

“Uh, right now, hiding from me,” Keith replies, taking a few steps back. “It’s back behind the machinery, I don’t think I can get in there.” 

“Proceed with your mission,” Kolivan instructs him. “We will retrieve the child before we go.” 

Keith frowns, chewing on his lower lip. “Is… are they gonna be okay back there while I’m messing around with the controls? I don’t want them to get hurt.”

Silence. He looks at the console, and then back at the gap between the machinery, angling his head until he sees the glint of yellow in the child’s eyes. They haven’t moved, still curled up tight in the narrow space, and he’s suddenly reminded of himself as a child, hiding from sitters in the back of the closet or behind the washer in the cellar. 

“I’m gonna try to get them out of there,” he says. “If I can’t fit, none of you are going to, so we’re gonna have to convince them somehow, right?” 

“A sound argument,” Kolivan agrees. “We will join you shortly to assist.” 

“Don’t get bitten,” Dazvar says quietly, and chuckles. “Kits have sharp teeth.” 

Keith laughs at that and switches his comm off, demasking as he approaches the child again. “Hey,” he says softly, and drops into a crouch. “It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you.” 

The kit growls again, eyes narrowing. 

“Can you talk?” Keith asks. “How old are you?” Not that it would mean much to him, really, since he has only a vague concept of how the empire measures time, and no idea how early Galra learn to speak, but it seems like the sort of thing to ask a strange child. 

They hiss in response, and he can make out enough to see the way their teeth bare and their ears twitch back. 

“Okay,” he says, taking a deep breath to steady himself. Patience. “Guess not. That’s...fine.” 

He sits down and unstraps the sheath of his knife, setting it aside. The best thing he can think of to help coax the kit out of hiding is to be less threatening, so he’d better at least put down his weapon. It doesn’t seem to make any difference to them, but anything’s worth trying. 

“I’m Keith,” he says when he can’t think of anything else to say. “Do you have a name? Uh - wait, I guess you don’t talk - or you’re not right now, anyways. I get that, I don’t like to talk to strangers either.” 

He frowns, looking down at his open hands. The kit has stopped growling and is watching him silently from the back of the room, which he thinks might be progress. 

“Sorry,” he says. “I’m not really that great at conversation. Um, I’m…” 

A Paladin, he means to say, and then second guesses himself. Most people they’ve met across the galaxy are reassured by that, but this kid’s family is part of the empire; anything they’ve heard about Voltron probably sounds more like a threat than a consolation. A member of the Blade of Marmora probably isn’t any better, either - if that even means anything to anyone outside of the group. 

“I’m from a really, really far away planet,” he says instead. “Called Earth. But my mom was Galra, so maybe we’re not that different, right? Except you grew up with other Galra…” 

It occurs to him, suddenly, that the guard who was running up to the control room in such a hurry they didn’t even notice him might have been looking for the kit, and then, there was another biosignature on the lower level. His heart drops so fast it makes his stomach lurch. 

“Hey, Therlok,” he says, switching his comm back on. “Did you run into that other guard?”

It’s a brief moment before Therlok replies, “Negative. No interference. Likely in the docking bay.”

Keith breathes a sigh of relief. “Okay,” he says. “Thanks.”

“What is your status?” Kolivan asks. “Have you retrieved the kit?”

“No, they’re still back there.” He looks over and hears them growling softly again, ears flattened against the sides of their head. “I think they don’t like too many voices. I’m going to switch my comm off again.”

“Let us know when you’ve extracted them,” Kolivan says. 

“Will do,” he agrees, and turns off his comm. “Sorry about that,” he tells the kit softly. “I wanted to make sure your family’s okay, that’s all.”

Slowly their growl trails off into silence again. 

“Don’t worry, I understand,” he adds. “I’m not a big fan of too many people talking, either. And our voices sound pretty weird with the masks on, huh? That’s probably kind of scary.” 

The kit still doesn’t move, and he sighs, his breath rumbling in his chest. Patience, he reminds himself again, purring quietly to try and soothe the tension in his shoulders. He doesn’t usually do it around anyone else, but the sound is comforting, and he figures a Galra kitten isn’t going to judge him. 

“They’re probably gonna be coming here pretty soon,” he says. “Don’t be too scared of them, okay? They’re my friends, they won’t hurt you…”

He trails off, staring, as the kit slowly uncurls and creeps a few steps closer. 

“Hey,” he says, giving them a small smile. “You wanna come say hi?” 

They draw back slightly, and then, in a tiny voice, reply, “Hi?” 

“Hi,” he says. “Uh, I mean - hello. Greetings? I guess I don’t know what Galra say to greet each other.” 

The kit angles their head, ears twitching. 

“Do you want to sit out here?” he asks. “I can, um, move farther away, if that would make you feel better.” 

“Maybe,” they say. 

“Okay,” he agrees. “I’m gonna get up and move back, and you can come sit right here.” 

Very carefully, he climbs to his feet and takes a few steps away towards the console before crouching back down on the floor, and the child finally emerges from behind the machinery. 

She can’t be more than five, or the Galra equivalent, anyways - a skinny little thing with wide eyes and round cheeks, the corners of her mouth drawn down in a pout. For a long moment they both survey each other, silent except for Keith still purring under his breath. 

“I’m Vrani,” she says finally. 

Keith grins. “Hi, Vrani,” he says. “I’m Keith.” 

“Keith,” she repeats, and smiles back, all sharp teeth. “You look funny. Where’s your ears?” 

“Right here,” he tells her, pushing his hair up so she can see. “The people from my planet don’t have big pointed ears like Galra do.” 

She frowns, considering that. “But, you’re Galra?” she asks, tilting her head, one ear perked up. 

“Only half,” he says. “My dad’s from Earth. I grew up with other humans, so I don’t know much about the Galra, actually.” 

Vrani comes a little closer and stops three feet away, dropping into a crouch. “You look like them?” she asks. “Humans?” 

“More or less,” he agrees. 

She wrinkles her nose. “Wow,” she says. “That’s really sad.” 

Keith frowns, pretty sure he’s being insulted. “Well, people on Earth don’t know about any other races,” he tells her. “They would have thought I was pretty funny looking if I looked like a Galra.” 

“Hmm,” she muses. “I guess you’re right.” 

“And just because I look human, doesn’t mean I’m not like you in some ways,” he says. 

She giggles, and the sound startles him; there’s a low rumble to it when some of the Blades laugh, like Dazvar, but he’s never heard anyone trill like that. “Like how?” she presses. 

“Uh,” he says. “I… I can see in the dark, humans can’t really do that, I guess. And, um, I have sharp teeth, too, that’s because I’m Galra.” 

“Show me,” she says. 

“What?” he asks, blinking. “Uh, okay.” He bares his teeth for her to show off his oversized canines, and to his surprise she jumps up and runs over to him. “Whoa, hey!” he yelps, but before he can move to stop her she grabs the sides of his face with both hands to peer into his mouth curiously, her claws digging into his cheeks. 

“I guess so,” she says. “Mine are sharper, though.” 

Keith removes her fingers from his mouth, glowering. “Don’t do that,” he tells her.  “Didn’t your parents teach you any manners?” He can taste iron on his tongue; he must be bleeding where her nails scratched the inside of his mouth. 

“I - I just wanted to see better!” she says, her eyes wide. 

“You shouldn’t grab people without asking,” he says, grimacing. “That hurt, and I don’t like being touched.” 

“Sorry,” she mumbles, shrinking into herself and pulling her hands back out of his grasp. 

“It’s fine,” he says, shaking his head, and manages a slight smile, though it stings a little. “You just caught me off guard. You were so scared at first, and then you ran up in my face.” 

“You were purring,” she says, looking up at him. “The soldiers wouldn’t do that, only people who are nice.” 

“Oh,” he says, and realizes he’s stopped in the time since they’ve started talking. “Are the soldiers… not nice to you?” 

She shrugs. “I’m not allowed to talk to them. They’re scary. Avka and Atka say they’ll be mad if they see me.” 

He sighs, trying to focus his breath in his chest. It’s a lot harder to do it on purpose, but now that she’s out in the light he sees the way she relaxes at once when he starts to purr again. 

“Do humans do that?” she asks after a moment, reaching towards his chest tentatively before stopping. 

“I… don’t think so,” he says. “I’m pretty sure it’s just me.” 

“No,” she says, “all Galra can do it, see?” She closes her eyes and he hears a faint thrum in her chest as she breathes. 

He smiles. “Yeah, I guess so,” he agrees, and takes her outstretched hand, letting her rest her palm against his breastbone.

[thisismandee]

The Rebel and The Criminal

Chapter 6) Are you a Virgin?

The time was 7:45, I noticed that Bender still seemed a bit steamed from the exchange that happened earlier. I was debating whether or not I should say anything to him or not. He had been nothing but a prick all day, but that doesn’t mean that he deserved the treatment that he was getting. I decided that it wouldn’t hurt to try to be nice to him. I took the piece of paper that was in front of me and crumple it up. I threw it in his direction, but I missed hitting him and instead it landed on the table in front of him. Either way it still got his attention.

He turned around to look at me. He had an annoyed look, but I was already in this deep I might as well go for it. 

“Are you okay?” I whispered to him. Trying to make sure I didn’t grab the attention of the others in the room. He just looked at me for a second before he responded.

“I don’t need your sympathy, sweets.” He then turned back around. I was a bit annoyed. I went out of my way to try to be nice and it bite me in the butt. Oh well, at least I could say that I tried to make everything better.

***

I watched as the clock just ticked by. It seemed like it was going by at a snail's pace. I looked around the room. Claire was daydreaming, Andrew was playing with his sweatshirt, the Brain was messing around with his stuff. The girl in the corner was drawing on the desk. And Bender, well Bender decided to light his shoe on fire, and then proceeded to light his cigarette with his shoe. I watched as he slapped the flame out. 

I decided to take this time to zone out and maybe day dream a bit. I took the jacket I had and put it under my head to use it as a pillow. After what felt like ten minutes, my eyes began to get heavy. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep.

***

I got woken up to hearing Vernon coming into the room. I didn’t bother opening my eyes. 

“Wake up!” He said, but I refused to move, and I don’t think anyone else moved either. “Who has to go to the lavatory?”

My hand shot up and I also heard everyone else move, so my best guess we all raise our hands. I was glad to be able to finally get up and stretch my legs. 

***

 The time was now 10:22. Bender was sitting at the front desk ripping pages out of a book. The Brain was leaning on a pillar close by. Andrew was stretching his legs out on the railings that was nearby. Claire and the other girl remained sitting in their seats. I decided to sit right on top of the table that Bender was sitting at earlier. 

Bender continued to rip out the pages in the book and he threw them in the air. “That’s real intelligent.” Andrew commented.

Bender replied, “You’re right, it’s wrong to destroy literature.” He continued to tear out the  pages in the book. “It’s such fun to read and,” He looked at the pages of the book, “Molet really pumps my nads!”

“Mol-yare” Claire says from her seat looking over at the group of us. 

“I love his work” The Brain said from his spot by the pillar. Bender threw the rest of the book over at him for that comment. John then takes a draw full of catalogue cards and begins to mix them up. All I have to say is I am glad that I don’t have to work in the library after Bender has been in here. I would not want to have to pick up this mess. 

“Big deal, nothing to do when you’re locked in a vacancy.” Bender says.

“Speak for yourself.” Andrew responds.

“Do you think I’d speak for you? I don’t even know your language!” 

Andrew ignores Benders comment and instead turns to face Claire.”Hey, you grounded tonight?” Claire gives him a shrug.

“I don’t know, my mom said I was but my dad told me to just blow her off.” She says.

“Big party at Stubbies, parents are in Europe. Should be pretty wild.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, can you go?”

“I don’t it” Claire sighed.

“How come?” Andrew questioned

“Well, cause if I do what my mother tells me not to do, it’s because my father says it’s okay. There’s like this whole big monster deal, it’s endless and it’s a total drag. It’s like any minute, divorce.” 

Bender decided to speak up. “Who do you like better?”

“What?”

“You like your old man better than your mom?”

“They’re both strict”

Bender shook his head. “No, I mean if you had to choose between them.”

Claire shrugs and looks down at the table, “I dunno, I’d probably go live with my brother. I mean, I don’t think either one of them gives a shit about me. It’s like they use me just to get back at each other.”

“HA!” We all whipped our heads around to find the source. It was the girl in the back of the room. She blew some of her hair out of her face. She gives all of us a grin. I was shocked, she did speak.

“Shut up!” Claire snapped at her. I couldn’t help myself I glared at Claire. She didn’t even know this girl and she was being rude.

“You’re just feeling sorry for yourself.” Andrews says.

“Yeah, well if I didn’t nobody else would.” I couldn’t believe she was saying this.

“I doubt that. If you told your friends, they would feel sooo sad for you.” I spoke up from the table. Claire gave me a mean look. She was about to say something when Andrew interrupted. 

“Aw, you’re breaking my heart”

“You guys are one to talk. Hey Newbie, do you get along with your parents?” Bender decided to ask me.

“No, and before you get to ask me. I would choose my mom. Correction, I did choose my mom. My parents got a divorce in December.” I snapped right back at Bender. I don’t think he was expecting that type of answer. He gave me a blank expression. I was not going to deal with this kid anymore today. I had tried to be nice to him, and then he came in and started to single me out. I was not going to play this game. I think he caught the hint because he turned his attention to Andrew.

“What about you sporto? You get along with your parents?” Bender then jumps down from the desk he was sitting on and jumps over the railing to face Andrew.

“Well if I say yes, I’m an idiot, right?”

“You’re and idiot anyway, but if you say you get along with your parents, well you’re a liar too!” Bender starts to walk away then all of a sudden Andrew pushes Bender.

“You know something man, If we weren’t in school right now, I’d waste you!”

Bender pints his middle finger to the floor. “Can you hear this? Want me to turn it up?” He begins to flip his finger around so he is now flipping off Andrew.

I see the Brain stand up and get in between the two boys. “Hey fellas I mean, I don’t like my parents either. I don’t, I don’t get along with them, their idea of parental compassion is just, you know, wacko.”

Bender turns to face the Brain, “Dork”

“Yeah?”

“You are a pren’t wet dream, okay?” Bender starts to walk away, but the Brain was not going to stop there.

“Well that’s a problem!”

“Look, I can see you getting all bunged up for them making you wear these kinda clothes. But face it, you’re a Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweedbie! What would you be doing if you weren’t out making yourself a better citizen?”

“Do you have to insult everyone?” Andrew asks Bender.

“I’m being honest, asshole! I would expect you to know the difference.”

“Yeah well, he’s got a name!”

“Yeah?” Bender said while raising one eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Andrew looks over to the Brain. I am not going to lie I was a bit excited to finally learn this kids name. “What’s your name?”

“Brian” The Brain responds.

“See”

Bender looks over at Brian. “My condolences”

Claire speaks upf from the front of the room. “What's your name?” She directs towards Bender.

“What's yours?”

“Claire”

“Ka-Laire?”

Claire seemed offended by his response. “Claire, It's a family name”

“No, It’s a fat girl’s name” I couldn’t help but hold in a chuckle. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I had a friend in the past and she also had a fat girls name.

“Well thank you”

“You’re welcome”

“I’m not fat!” Calire yells at Bender.

“Well not at present but I could see you really pushing maximum density. You see, I’m not sure if you know this, but there are two kinds of fat people. There’s fat people that were born to be fat, and then there’s fat people that were once thin but they became fat. So when you look at them you can sort of see that thin person inside. You see, you’re gonna get married, you’re gonna squeeze out a few puppies and then uh...” Be fills his cheeks with hair and makes a fat noise. Claire flips him off. “Oh obscene finger gestures from such a pristine girl”

“I’m not that pristine”

Bender bends down and gets closer to Claire. “Are you a virgin? I’ll bet you a million dollars that you are. Let’s end the suspense, is it gonna be a white wedding?” These comments were actually starting to get me pissed off. I didn’t like the populars that much, but I think someone's sexual life is not a topic that should be talked about in front of a bunch of strangers. 

“Why don’t you just shut up?” Claire exclaimed.

“Have you ever kissed a boy on the mouth?” I felt my blood starting to boil. “Have you ever been felt up? Over the bra, under the blouse, shoes off, hoping to God your parents don’t walk in?” I began to stand up from the table. No one deserves to be harassed like this. 

“Do you want me to puke?” Claire asked him. I could see on her face that she was getting upset.

“Over the panties, no bra, blouse unbuttoned, Calvin’s in a ball on the front seat past eleven on a school night?” Before I knew it I was right next to Bender. He hadn’t noticed, but I was fed up with his shit attitude, and at this point I was blinded my rage. Before I knew it, my hand was in a fist. In a blink of an eye my fist had made contact with Benders jaw. Oh my god, I just punched John Bender. 

| Chapter 1| Chapter 2| Chapter 3| Chapter 4| Chapter 5|  Chapter 7|  Chapter 8| Chapter 9| Chapter 10  | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14

[breg21]

Ladynoir Month:  Bad Luck Charm

@ladynoirjuly2019

Ao3 FFN

Here's part 2! And boy am I exhausted. I'm calling it a night, guys! I hope ya'll enjoy!

Adrien couldn't help but feel a tad of disappointment.

It was neither his, nor Ladybug's fault, really. He had been an emotional wreck the week before, and after they kissed, she comforted him the rest of the night, and for that, he was grateful, he had this amazing, caring partner, and even though they didn't officially become a couple that night, he knew they had all the tie in the world to figure everything out, and he couldn't wait. It was all going so great.

That was, of course, until the ground began to shake beneath his feet.

The look of horror on his teachers face chilled him to the bone, yet she was easily distracted so he took advantage of that fact crawling under his desk as to have the room to himself for what came next.

He put the phone up to his ear, only to hear his father's voicemail. "Come on. Pick up for once."

He pierced his head above the desk to see if everyone had fully evacuated. The classroom was left entirely empty yet there was a strange golden glow coming from the air vents. He didn't have time to worry about that. He jumped out of his hiding spot as he yelled.

"Plagg, claws out!"

The little creature swirl around him, materializing his suit in seconds.

With a heavy heart, Chat picked up his phone one last time.

--------------------------------------------------------

"Come on Lil' Bug, we've got some time to fix."

Ladybug looked at the future Bunix with all different levels of confusion. "What are you doing here?"

She placed a hand on Ladybug's shoulder, making sure that they kept walking the entire conversation. "Listen, long story short, I picked on a kid who was trying to lose some wieght, it was stupid, I was young, I know. Point is, he's the akuma right now, and because of my actions, his life goes down the drain big time. So, because of my massive regret for my actions, I thought I would come back and fix that mistake."

Ladybug smiled. "That's great, how can I help?"

Bunix grimace. "You already did and it ended terribly."

Ladybug couldn't tell which feeling was strong, her confusion about time travel of her anger for being insulted for something she hasn't done yet. "I'm sorry?"

Bunix crouched down, placing her hands on Ladybug's shoulders. "No need. It was entirely my fault and I'm here to correct my mistake of trying to correct my mistake."

Ladybug blinked a few times before trying to shake her head clear of her jumbled thoughts of the complexed explanation. "Let's just say I don't understand anything that you just said. What do we do from here?"

Bunix let out a slight grin. "Me, I do nothing, I already messed this day up enough, still not as bad as the darkest timeline." She shuddered. "Word of advice, never alter the timeline after 16 shots of Tequila. Man, those ships did not work."

Ladybug stared on, completely lost to the older woman's words. "Okay… What do I do?"

"Just do what you do best, jitter bug. Take names and kick butt. Speaking of which we should get moving, we have to meet up with your kitty in a couple minutes."

Ladybug's face went flat. "Don't call him that, please."

Not saying a word, they bolted out of the locker room and onto a nearby rooftop where they were soon greeted by Chat with a goofy smile on his lips. "What do we have today?"

She gave him a confused look, trying to signal just how weird their world was going to get with their bunny friend around.

"We know quite a bit actually. The victim has super strength and incredibly fast speed, but because they're not used to their new body type, they are super bad at aiming or controlling it."

Chat looked to Alix in a state of confusion. "How bad is this guy if you're here with us."

She gave him a playful smile. "Not too bad, just, you know, time travel stuff. And I'm definitely not your lucky charm, more like bad luck charm. Anyway, have fun you two." She gave them a very forceful pat on the back pushing them off the building entirely. "Sorry!" Bunix shouted from her spot above them. "I'm still not used to super strength."

The akuma turned to her and before any of them had a chance to blink the Akuma had broken through the building they were standing on.

Both Chat and Ladybug jumped to the nearest rooftop.

When they were in reach of the akuma, Chat took a swing at it, but missed. Over and over, he tried to throw punches, kicks, or anything that would work, but he always missed his reach by a few seconds. "Okay, he's fast." Chat let out as he did his best to catch his breath.

Ladybug nodded before she added, "Yeah, and apparently he doesn't like being called Billy either." She considered calling on her lucky charm and seeing if it could give them any insight as what to do next, but thought better of it knowing that her timmer might run out too soon if she did it then.

The two looked around in the rubble to see if anyone was hurt. Luckily, they found a condemned sign amongst the wreckage.

Ladybug continued to search for the future miraculous holder, but came up short in her findings. The fear held an iron grip on her spine, and started to slowly crawl all over her being."No sign of civilians but where's Alix?"

They felt the ground shake beneath them as a blur flashed before them wrapping them both in highly muscular arms.

Chat wiggled around in the akuma's grip, trying to break free, but realized his struggles were pointless. His hold was too strong. "This is not the kind of hug I needed today."

Ladybug reached for her yo-yo, her fingertips barely able to brush the surface of the weapon, before sending Chat a wink from the other arm. "I'll have to keep that in mind for later."

The akuma victim released them as their momentum sent them both crashing into a wall.

Chat spat out a piece of rubble that found its way into his mouth. "That is, if we're still physically able to give hugs."

She readied her yo-yo as she pointed to the extremely muscular man "Hey, there! Strong arm, you want another go or are you just too slow?"

As he planted his feet firmly in the ground, Ladybug tossed the other end of her yoyo to Chat, making sure she had her footing just right. "When he makes his charge, you pull as tight as you can and when I say throw, you throw it forward with all your might."

He gave her a shaky thumbs up.

Within moments the akuma victim took off toward them, right as Bunix jumped directly in front of the cable.

"Bunix, look out!" Chat shouted, but it was too late. The akuma and Bunix were bound tightly together unable to move.

Ladybug let out a small chuckle. "Hey look, Chat. I made a rabbit trap."

The street became dead quiet before Chat burst out laughing, having to hold his stomach at bay. She felt proud of her pun. "That was so good M'lady."

Bunix rolled her eyes before she started to squirm in her confines. "That's real cute and all, but can we please get me out of here?"

Ladybug took the dumbbells from Billy's hand, purifying the butterfly and returning things to normal.

As the Ladybugs scattered about the city, future Bunix went up to the large teen. "Listen, I have a little secret for you. That girl that made fun of you today is going through a really hard time. And that definitely doesn't give her an excuse as to why she said what she said, but she hasn't exactly found herself yet and she didn't mean to hurt you."

He looked up to her with shame on his face. "I didn't mean to react the way I did, I don't like the thought of hurting anybody. It's just...I've been working out for three months and it just doesn't get any easier. I guess when I hear her making fun of me, it just made me feel like I'm never making any progress."

Bunix shook her head. "You don't have any reason to be sorry. She needs to learn that her words hurt, and you didn't deserve any of it." The bunny superhero paused as she thought over a few things. "Hey, here's a tough thought. Go to her. Tell her how you feel. I know for a fact she has an excellent fitness regimen and could really use a friend right about now."

He gave her an odd smile. "How do you know this, are you her mom?"

Bunix's face nearly cracked at that. "Close, but no. I just know someone who's lost when I see them." She looked back to Ladybug and Chat. "And I know when someone has been found."

----------------------------------------------

With the akuma taken care, of Alix went back to her own time, finally leaving the two to their thoughts. The city below glistened in the golden hour of the sunset as the two once again took their place on the Eiffel tower.

Chat looked out onto the city as Ladybug scooched closer to him eventually bumping her knees against his in an effort to gain his attention.

A loose smile formed on his lips. "What's all this about M'lady?"

She placed a hand on his upper knee. "Alix was talking about how difficult it is as a time traveler not fixing the regrets she made in life and she also told me about how in trying to drastically fix a regret she had to redo this entire day. She also said something about 16 shots of Tequila, but I honestly didn't listen to that part."

Chat let out a little chuckle at that, and she couldn't help but join in. "Point is, I don't want us to have regrets with each other and while I'm still terrified, I think that's never really going to go away. Not fully at least and not knowing who I would be dating... I don't necessarily know if I want that feeling to go away."

His air was almost gone, and knew if he lost everything else, that if he still had her, in the end, he'd find ways for everything to be okay.

She booped his nose, drawing his attention back to her. "You've loved me practically since you first laid eyes on me and have fought tooth and claw to get a fair chance. While I know there's Hawkmoth, we can't let him define who we are. If I choose to be with you, then that's my choice, we may have to fight to keep each other safe but at the end of the day, there is nobody I'd rather have my partner."

He felt like he was choking on his own tongue as hope bubbled up in his chest. "Does… are you saying what I think you're saying?"

She laughed, and he swore that sound was gonna be the death of him someday. He really didn't mind that though. She scootched even closer and into his personal space and brushed her nose against his chin. "Yeah. That is, if you want still want to."

He yelped, and flashed to his feet, scooping her in his arms, and began to pepper her face with kisses, getting every inch of unmasked skin that his lips could possibly touch and it pulled beautiful giggles from her lips and he wanted to continue and just never stop.

He loved this girl. He loved her so much, and he got to keep her.

She pulled nack, but remained in his arms. Her face was slightly flushed all around and he thought he had died in that second, because she had to be an angle. "So, um." She started out, and giggled nervously, which made his eyebrow arch in confusion, because why was she nervous now. He didn't have to wait long for an answer. "Are.. are you gonna ask me?"

Oh, his brain lit up as realization came flying in. Oh.

She wanted him to ask her to be his, and he wanted that, truly he did. But the words fumbled in his mouth. He tried once, opening and closing his mouth. Twice, thrice, four times, but no matter how hard he tried, the stupid words would not tumble out.

He had been pining for this girl for so long, and it had been only a dream in his mind, and his nerves were just eating at him. They just didn't want to leave his mouth, and he knew why.

After so long of being rejected, even though he knew her answer already he was scared to be the one to take the step in their relationship. He had given her full rein, letting her have the space she needed and wanted, and letting her set them at the pave that she needed.

Which was great, because he knew he needed to respect her boundaries, and let her do what she needed to do have them a good relationship— friendship or otherwise— But now she was handing over everything to him, she was asking him to take one of the very important milestones between them in his hands.

He was terrified out of his mind.

And she noticed, as she always did. Her face softened as she inched forward. "Kitty," she breathed. Sweets. Sweets were all he could smell, and he wanted to taste. "I've been the one to make the first move in our relationship because you've been respecting my feelings. I've cared about you a long time— even before it was romantic— but you've cared about me for so much longer."

His breathing stopped, and he could feel his adam's apple bobble in his throat as she cupped his face as he contoured her argument. "Because that's what you deserve. You deserve the world, and I'd give it to you if I could."

Her smile was so bright. He wanted to kiss those happy lips. "That's why I want you to ask me. You've waited so long. Please. You should be the one to ask me."

He could tell she meant her words with the utmost sincerity, and who was he to refuse his lady? He didn't think he could if he tried, it'd hurt way too much. "Ladybug." He swallowed the pool of spit that had built up. "Will you please be mine?"

The forever part was silently implied.

She giggled, moving onto her tiptoes to press her lips onto his for a slow, sweet, lingering kiss that broke between smiles. Everything else ceases to exist after that. "Of course, kitty." Another kiss that was interrupted by their face eating grins. "You wanna know a secret though?"

Breathing on his own was becoming impossible, but she was sharing enough. In a daze, he asked, "What's that, bugaboo?"

Against his mouth, she whispered, "I already was."

*Slams fist on table* I demand more fluff. I love fluff. I live for fluff. Take that away from me, and you will not see a happy girl. You should be scared in fact. Anyways. Till tomorrow, guys! Lots of love!

[lenacker]

Rivetra Week Day 1 : Lesson

My very first fanfic for my very first @rivetra-week ...I'm so nervous 😥😥

1805 words

Petra Ackerman sat anxiously on a parsons chair, waiting for someone to sit on the chair in front of her. That day was her first son Leo's first day at Elementary school, and she really didn't expect to be called to the teachers' room. Leo was always a well-behaved boy, maybe a little mischievous, blunt, more curios and critical than most of the boys in his age, but being a troublemaker in his very first day in the class? That didn't seem like the boy she raised.

The auburn haired mother grabbed her phone from inside her handbag, typing furiously to her husband, not even thinking about grammatical errors she made.

What kind o/ thing do u think your son into? He definitely got that whatever shitty idea from u.

And of course that man didn't respond right away. Petra was thinking about what kind of insults she can type to bait a respond from her husband, when a feminine voice interrupted her thoughts

"Mrs. Ackerman?"

Petra raised her head while putting her phone back to her handbag. She observed the lady in front of her. She was a raven haired mid aged woman, big brown eyes, her skin tan and she looks really nice.

"Yes?" the mother responded reluctantly, still wondering about what might her nice son did.

The nice lady smiled, pulling a chair and sat in front of her.

"I'm Grace Wide, Leo's homeroom teacher," she said, extending her hand to shake Petra's. Petra gave her a nice grip, forced a smile and responded, "Petra Ackerman, nice to meet you."

Mrs. Wide smiled again, before taking a deep breath and said, "You must be wondering what made us want to talk with you personally, right?"

Petra nodded, wishing with her deepest heart that's not something really bad.

"It's not too bad or anything, actually," the raven haired teacher gave a light chuckle, "it's just a bit...confusing"

Petra bit her lower lip. 'Just spit it out already, you're making me more nervous!'

"Leo is a really smart boy, he answered almost all the questions in the class. He also has amazing social skills, smiling to everyone he met. Really, I liked him from the first time I laid my eyes on him. But..." she paused, took another deep breath, then continued,

"At the lunch break, I left the class for a while. When I came back, the class was a mess! Leo was in the center of it, grabbing a crumbled sandwich. Although his surroundings are really dirty with sauces and other..things, the tables turned upside down, he stayed clean and impeccable. He didn't show any sign of being angry, or sad, or anything. He looks rather...bored? Another boy, James, which I know he's a bully in his pre-school from his mother, was on the floor with bruised hand and cheek."

The auburn haired mother scrunched her face, yeah, that sounds too much like his father.

"What he did after was even more surprising. He dropped the crumbled sandwich in front of James and said, 'You want this, eh? Eat it.' Then he went to the wash basin, wash his hands, and approached a scared boy in the corner, Mike, and tell him to eat lunch with him."

Another deep breath from both Petra and Mrs. Wide. Each waiting for the other to speak.

"So, " Petra tried to draw a conclusion, "I guess while you're gone, the James boy took Mike's sandwich, and then Leo tried to take it back, which cause a mess...In the end he exchange Mike's sandwich with his own lunch.." She exhaled, lowering her voice into barely a whisper. "That sounds like something he would do."

Mrs. Wide nodded solemnly. "I don't really blame Leo, though. That's such a noble thing to do, but I really hope you and your husband could direct him to avoid violence, since some parents are really against it. We're lucky James' mother doesn't bothered, she think her son deserve to be taught some lesson. But I'm afraid Leo's lack of emotional control and sudden outburst might cause him further trouble in the future."

Petra smiled bitterly, "Okay..."

"I think that's enough for now, Mrs. Ackerman. We don't wanna keep your sons waiting for too long, right? Who knows what kind of trouble they involve theirselves into?" The teacher stated those words in such an amiable manner, but for Petra that sounds like an accusation that her sons are a pair of trouble maker (like how their dad likes to call them). Maybe she's just being too high-strung.

Both women raised from their chairs, exchange smiles and 'once again its really nice to see you's then left the room. The petite mother quickly seeked for her boys, looking throughout the school corridor. It was easy to spot them, a bunch of black hair and a -smaller- bunch of ginger hair like hers.

The two boys, Leo and Liam, both have Levi's features ; eyes, nose, lips, cheekbone, jaw line. The former even inherited his father's hair color. Even so, people always acknowledge him as 'a nice combination of Levi and Petra', for he somehow got Petra's eye color and 'facial movements' ; the way he bring out his expressions, the pout when he's upset, the warm smile, the laugh (Levi was the one that pointed out the 'facial movement' part).

Meanwhile Liam has his mother's hair color, but other than that he was Levi's carbon copy. He also has the man's super-gorgeous-but-not-so-often smile. The 5 years old boy didn't speak as much as his older brother, his favorite words are just, "Why?" "How?" "WOW!" "Okay" and Petra's favorite, "I love you, mommy.." with that soft smile. That one got her heart every time.

The boys are playing some fights from whatever ninja cartoon show on the tv without any concern of their surroundings, running here and there while screaming 'hyaaaa's and 'ha! You missed!'s. They look genuinely enjoying theirselves Petra almost felt bad for interrupting them.

"It's time to go home, guys," she called.

They abruptly stopped their fight play, until Leo shouted, "Let's race to mommy!". Then they started running through the corridor as fast as their not so long legs can. Their mom grimaced seeing how they almost stumbled in the process. She felt how hard their bodies hit her leg and wondered how they do that every time they're playing a bit far from her and she told them to go home.

Liam tugged the hem of Petra's shirt, his language of asking her to bent down so he can give her cheek a quick peck. The mother smiled, happily accepted his kiss. She took their hands and started walking out of the school. They walked in silence for some minutes, before she felt the sway at her left hand weakened. Usually when they walked hand by hand anywhere, Leo would sway their intertwined hand, and walk with his typical style -fiery, taking the biggest step he can, sometimes combined with some jumps-. Petra looked down to her left, where her oldest son playing with his bag straps, with little pout in his lips. She tugged his arms that intertwined with hers.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Leo looked up to his mom, his eyes full of doubt and sadness. “Am I a bad boy, mommy? My friends said if a parent go to that room the kid is bad.” Petra frowned, she never even imagine her Leo could sound that troubled.

She gave him her best smile, trying to sound as convincing as she can, “No, of course not! Even Mrs. Wide said you’re smart and nice!”

“Then why did mommy go there?”

“It’s called teacher room, Leo”

“I know it is. Why did you go there?” The boy sounded so demanding Petra feels like talking to Levi when he found her doing something he think she shouldn’t, like doing laundry when she’s pregnant or put a damn wet towel on the bed.

“It’s because you hit James, maybe you shou-“

“But he won’t shut up about how lame Mike’s sandwich, mom! He even snatched it from Mike’s lunchbox!” Now Leo replaced his sadness with anger. He even stopped walking and released his hand from his mother’s grip.

“Wow! You hit him?” And of course Liam chose that very moment to express his adoration of his older brother.

“Nah! Even Liam agree with me! Right, bro?”

“Yea!”

“Bad boys gotta learn some lesson right?”

“Yea!”

Petra huffed. Sometimes she underestimated how stubborn her sons were. Of course, combine hers and Levi’s stubbornness with Levi’s un-beatable way of talking.

“Alright, alright. You’re right. But when people do bad things doesn’t mean we have to do the same.”

“Well someone have to tell him that’s not right!”

The mother huffed once more. “Well, maybe….For now let’s just go home, okay? You must be tired.” She gave him a final pat on his head, then continue walking home.

Later at night, Levi smirked while listening to Petra’s speech about ‘why he has to teach their son some lesson’, ‘I don’t understand how you guys think’ and ‘you gotta quit putting shitty ideas in their heads’.

He stood from his chair, walked to his wife that was standing by the kitchen sink. She scrubbed the dishes with unnecessary force while keep nagging about things he didn’t give a fuck about. So instead he leaned on the countertop, observing her appearance. Her hair disheveled, tied in a messy ponytail. The light ginger strands sticking to various directions, some even stick to her forehead. He couldn’t help but wonder how someone look so messy and yet remarkably kissable at the same time? Her flushed cheeks, her small pink lips that keep talking and protruding cutely.

So he did the only thing in his head to stop her from talking.

He squeezed her cheeks with exasperation, efficiently switching her words into “hmmmmffftt!”

“Now quit your nagging, will you? You make me craving for that lips”

She blushed even more. “Lev-“

“Ssshhtt. Don’t. This is okay, right? The kids are not here, so I can dirty talk you however I want.”

The wife’s eyes widened instantly. She removed her husband’s grip from her cheeks to say, “Ah! They already in the bathroom for 2 hours! I gotta fetch them before-hmmffftt” another squeeze to her cheeks.

“Stop making excuses to run away from me.” Levi stared at her eyes menacingly, one hand keep squeezing her cheeks together, the other holding her nape close and joining their foreheads to add some scary effect.

Petra tried to shake her head -and failed miserably- and said “I don’t!”

Her husband huffed, “Tch. Fine. Let me fetch and teach them some lesson. Just…continue doing the dishes. And straighten your hair. It’s going everywhere.”

Fin.

Well, that's it! Please leave a review here if you don't mind :))

[sweetpeaslover]

The Serpent Dance 🐍

*reader x Sweet Pea where the reader has to do the Serpent dance and is nervous*

It was the night you had been waiting for, Serpent initiation. You had wanted to officially become a Serpent for a while now, mainly because many of your relatives were also Serpents, but also your boyfriend Sweet Pea was a Serpent and you wanted to feel closer to him. Problem was, you were incredibly nervous. You basically had to strip in front of the entire gang. You knew they wouldn't hurt you, but it just felt awkward and embarrassing to be performing that kind of dance in front of them. You were no stranger to the stage, you had been dancing all your life. Your mom was a dance teacher so you were actually really good. Your forte was ballet, you had the perfect ballet dancer's body, long legs, short torso, long neck, small head, and a skinny but strong body. Not to mention flawless technique, you were a ballet prodigy, best in Riverdale. There was absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind that you were meant to perform and would excel at the Serpent dance. You even heard that there would be a bigger crowd than usual because everyone knew you were the one to watch and that your performance would be incredible, which was frankly kind of insulting because there was never this kind of hype surrounding any of your other dances, even when you went to the Grand Prix. Everyone had confidence in you, so why did you have none in yourself? You never had to worry about entertaining a crowd before, particularly a crowd of rowdy gang members, you were usually able to impress people with your performance and just let your talent speak for itself. Now you had to make sure you entertained the men enough so they would give you a jacket. The idea terrified you.

You were at your house with Toni getting ready. She had already done the dance, and she was trying to reassure you that it would all be okay and the crowd would love you. You were wearing a sparkly red lingerie set with a matching robe that you would peel off before you started dancing. You had a very dramatic smoky eye and vibrant red lipstick. Your hair was teased and curled so you had a big, beautiful mane framing your face.

"Tell me everything will be okay" you begged Toni, about to have a nervous breakdown.

"You are going to be just fine" she assured you. There was a knock on your bedroom door and Sweet Pea walked in carrying a bouquet of roses and sweet peas. That was your thing, he would come to every single performance you had, and every time he brought a bouquet with roses because they have always been your favorite flowers and he personalized it with sweet peas. He was so amazing, even though he knew nothing about dance, he came to every performance as well as many of your rehearsals and classes, he spent at least twenty hours a week sitting in the studio watching you practice (that was nothing compared to the time you spent rehearsing, but it was still sweet). He was so proud of you and nothing gave him greater joy than watching you dance. When you two had started dating, he had completely immersed himself in the dance world watching movies about dance, learning how your competitions worked, and just being there for you as you navigated a future career in dance. You had never met anyone that was so interested and supportive of your dancing than him, except for your parents.

"Are you ready" Sweet Pea asked.

"No, I'll never be ready for this, Sweet Pea, I can't do this, not in front of them!" you cried. He engulfed you in a hug.

"You are ready and you will be amazing, you have performed this dance perfectly hundreds of times, I know because I've seen it. You will be the one with the best dance and they won't hesitate to give you the jacket," he said, kissing your forehead.

"I know," you said. "But I'm not used to dancing like this, they're not even really watching me dance, they just want to see me in my underwear, and this costume is so different, usually my costumes complement my dance but this one is supposed to draw attention to me and distract from the performance. Usually I'm portraying a character, and this time it's just me, I don't want people to see me!", you were crying softly into his jacket.

"Hey, none of that, you are y/n y/l/n, the best dancer I know, people want to see the real you because you are beautiful and amazing and you are going to prove it on that stage tonight," he promised.

"Also," Toni piped up from next to you guys, "If you keep crying, your makeup will smear and then you'll look like a hot mess onstage,".

"That's a good point! Y/n you need to put that stuff on your face," he told you.

"What stuff?" you asked, amused.

"That stuff, uhhh.... the flesh-colored cocaine," he said. You and Toni burst out laughing.

"You mean finishing powder?" asked Toni between giggles.

"Yes, that's it," he looked proud for remembering that necessary step.

"Good god Sweet Pea, how could anyone mess that up so badly?" you ask punching him lightly in the arm.

"I'm trying baby, I really am! he pleaded. "Um, that, that stuff on your eyelashes, that's mascara right? I learned that word at your last dance competition".

"Good job, you have redeemed yourself slightly," you praised him. The three of you were still laughing when you got in his car and drove to the White Wyrm. At the door, you paused and looked at the crowd. There were a lot of older, tough-looking men at the bar. You knew they were the ones who would be watching you the closest, taking in every detail of your lingerie set, imagining what it would look like if you took that off too. You clutched Sweet Pea's arm tighter. Sensing that you were getting nervous again, he pulled over to the corner behind the pool table.

"Baby, there's no need to be nervous, if you want, you can just look at me the whole time, just dance for me," he told me. How to explain it to him...

"Sweet Pea, this isn't something that I feel comfortable with, it's not age appropriate and I'm not acting, I'm really doing this. I just don't feel comfortable. Especially in front of all these people, this is something I would only ever do for you, when we're much older and actually having sex," you confessed.

" I know, to be perfectly honest, I hate that I have to share this moment with the rest of the gang. I wish we were at home alone and you were just performing for me, but you also need to join the Serpents and this is necessary for that," he said. Just then, FP called your name and the crowd cheered. There were at least two hundred people in there, all waiting for you. You looked back at Sweet Pea and he nodded. You proceeded towards the stage and took off your robe. The music started, Electricity by Ashley Jana, and you started dancing. You wanted to incorporate some of the dance that you were good at rather than just pole dancing. The crowd went wild as you swung around the pole and did a bunch of provocative dance moves where you opened your legs. It felt horrible and dirty, like you were doing something wrong, although you had to admit, you always liked jazz, and this dance had a lot of jazz elements that reminded you a lot of the dancing you did when you were younger, but obviously more provocative this time. When you finished, FP presented you with a jacket of your own that made it all worth it. You made your way back to Sweet Pea as soon as you could and he picked you up and swung you around like a little kid, he was so happy you were finally a Serpent, officially. As you two were talking, an older man came up and asked for an encore, which resulted in him getting tackled to the floor by Sweet Pea.

"Sweet Pea, stop, its not a big deal!" you said.

"Well, it's a big deal to me," he said, standing up. "I want to make sure the Serpents know they need to respect my girl" he warned.

"Well no one's going to mess with me when you're around" you assured him.

"Damn right they're not," he said putting his arm around you and pulling you into his body.

[magic-and-moonlit-wings]

Chapter 21: On The Edge Of The Spotlight

Becoming The Mask

Bold and italicized text indicates trollish.

"Behold." Toby opened up a tied grocery bag. An absolutely awful smell wafted out. A nearby troll leaned in for a better sniff. "Month-old sweat socks. Shopping spree tonight, on me." To the relief of the humans, and disappointment of the curious troll, he tied the bag back up.

"Speaking of buying things, I got my tickets for the play," said Darci. "My parents said they'd come, too." Assuming her dad didn't get called in to work.

"Nice," said Mary. Claire groaned.

"I'm not ready. We're not ready. Opening night's practically here and Steve still can't really get into character. I mean, he knows his lines, finally, but his delivery could still do with a lot of work."

"I thought he was doing fine," said Mary. "Everyone but you and he and Eli keeps stumbling. I feel like I'm doing tongue twisters. At least when Steve messes up, he acts like he meant to say it that way, so most of the audience probably won't notice."

"Sure, it's 'good enough', but it feels like he's using that as an excuse not to try and get better. Iambic pentameter is supposed to flow, and he just … blasts it out."

"Toby, do you or Jim have tickets yet?" asked Darci.

She knew he had. As the Mole, she'd been helping sell tickets at a table outside the auditorium that afternoon. But none of her friends knew she was the school mascot yet, so she asked.

"I bought two, for Nana and me. Jimbo said he's worried some emergency might come up in Trollmarket or at the clinic so he's not sure he or his mom can make it, but I'm working on him to buy tickets in advance just in case, so he doesn't get to the door and find out they're sold out."

"How many emergencies does he get called in for?" Mary gestured at the bustling underground marketplace as the four humans stood aside for a few carts to pass by. "It's busy down here but it all seems pretty peaceful. And when stuff does happen, most trolls seem like they'd rather fight out their own problems."

They all jumped when a gnome popped out of the wall beside them and chittered angrily. They reminded Darci of squirrels that way.

"Have you noticed the hat colours?" Claire wondered out loud. "Red and blue, like in Gnomeo and Juliet. Except these little guys don't seem to be fighting each other."

"Have you noticed," said Toby, "how there's now at least two movies that take a Shakespeare tragedy, rework it for a happy ending, give it a surprise cast, and set it to Elton John music?"

"What's the other?"

"Lion King is supposed to be based on Hamlet."

"… Yeah, I guess I can see that," said Claire. "The sequel to that one was Romeo and Juliet, too, and the, what's it called, interquel, was like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead."

"I think it's a sidequel?" Toby looked it up on his phone. There could, amazingly, be a better signal in some parts of Trollmarket than in some areas of the town above. "An interquel happens in the time between other stories. A sidequel basically overlaps another story in time, but with different perspective or locations."

"Elton John also did the Road To El Dorado soundtrack," said Darci. "I've heard the first song was supposed to have another verse, where it talks about a prophecy of the gods coming to live in the city of gold and that's why everyone was expecting them when Miguel and Tulio showed up, but it got cut for some reason."

"We should do a slumber party this weekend," said Mary. "We could marathon a bunch of 'contemporary takes' on Romeo and Juliet and tell our parents it's for school."

"I really need this to go well," said Claire, going to fidget with her hair. Her hand brushed one of her clips and she stopped herself. "My parents have been on me practically since I auditioned. The one time I got a B, what was their advice? Drop the play. If this doesn't go great, they're going to be all, 'we told you so'."

"Hey, no matter how bad the rest of us stink, you'll do great," Mary insisted.

"You both will – AAAHH!" The gnome hopped onto Darci's shoulder, and from there onto a green troll with an orange – pelt? A beard and a fringe of fur across his shoulders – who was walking the other way. The troll either didn't notice or didn't care about the sudden passenger.

"You okay, Darce?"

"Yeah, just startled me."

"It's wild watching them jump," said Toby. "I wonder if anybody's recorded, like, a record, for how high and how far they can go. We should ask Blinky. Or Chompsky; he'll do anything for a Nougat Nummy."

"Who's Chompsky?" Darci brushed off her shoulder. She was pretty good with names, and that one sounded familiar, but she couldn't put a face to it.

"Kind of my roommate? He's a gnome who lives in my dollhouse. I don't speak gnome so I don't know his real name, so I named him after that linguist guy Noam Chomsky; Nana's got some of his books; and Chompsky rolled with it."

Pedestrian traffic had eased up, so they were able to wander onward without fear of being stepped on.

"You have a dollhouse?" Of course that was the part that would draw Mary's attention.

"It's technically Nana's but it's in my room. It's the perfect size for Sally-Go-Back and digging it out of the basement was easier than saving up for the Moon Base."

"How'd you end up with a gnome in your room?" Mary asked next. "Did it follow you back from Trollmarket or something?"

"Stow away in your backpack?" Darci could see that. They seemed to like small places, being so small themselves. An open bag would look like an invitation.

"I think he followed Jim, actually. It was before I found out about, you know," Toby spread his hands in an expansive 'ta-dah' gesture, "this. Chompsky showed up one night, and then Jim came in and saw him and was all, 'oh no, we need to catch him, this is unsafe, what if he bites?', but then Chompsky found the dollhouse and kinda settled in, and I thought he was cool, and … I guess Jim decided he had to keep his cover, so he dropped it."

Toby's face fell a little. It had to hurt, knowing his best friend had been keeping something this big from him for so long. Darci felt bad sometimes about keeping her mascot job secret from her friends, and that wasn't nearly on this scale.

Jim was in the Hero's Forge. Usually he spent some of the night with the four of them, but apparently he'd lost a sparring match a couple of nights ago, and things were tense between him and Draal and Blinky now. As Darci understood the explanation, Draal had accused Jim of slacking off and Blinky took that as an insult to his capacities as a trainer when he found out.

So Jim was ramping up his training.

AAARRRGGHH, at least, was acting as calm as ever. Darci wasn't sure the placid troll could get mad for real.

"Hi, Bagdwella," Mary greeted when they reached her shop. It looked like a junkshop to human eyes but Bagdwella advertised it as 'fine gifts'. "How's business?"

"A little slow this week," she answered. The humans liked to stop by her place because she'd let them practise speaking trollish with her. "Not unusual for the season. It should pick up in three or four days. Rumour has it" – Darci and Claire exchanged amused looks at one of the first phrases they all learned, since it was one of Bagdwella's and Mary's favourites – "some of Glug's relatives are planning to visit from Floor-ee-dah. They always forget to pack a few essentials and they like to bring home souvenirs."

"What's this?" asked Claire, suddenly, sharply. She held up a stuffed rabbit and switched languages. "Where did you get this?"

"My suppliers brought it in a while ago, I don't recall exactly."

"This is my brother's bunny! He's been acting weird ever since he lost it. Suzy Snooze was here the whole time?"

"Uh, Claire?" Toby waved at her. "First rule of bargaining, don't let them know just how bad you want the thing." He turned to Bagdwella. "I'll trade you three socks for the … toy. I don't know the words for 'stuffed rabbit'."

"It's a stuffed rabbit if it's cooked and a cloth rabbit if it's a toy. Twelve socks and a bedspring."

"Four socks and a candy wrapper."

"Ten socks, all argyle."

Toby checked his pockets. "Six socks, a candy wrapper, AND a pen full of delicious dried ink."

"Deal."

"You didn't have to do that," Claire said to Toby when they left.

"I kinda did. She runs a store, not a Lost & Found. Even if she believed you about it being your brother's, she wasn't gonna just give it back."

Claire cuddled the plush rabbit. Darci's skin crawled a bit, watching her. Who knew what the toy had gotten into while it was missing? Trolls were amazing but not very clean.

"You'd better run that through the laundry a few times before you give it back to Enrique," she said.

"It'll be good for his immune system," Claire joked. "But seriously, yeah, I will."

Previous Chapter (Barbara has dramatically ironic concerns about Jim)

Table of Contents

Next Chapter (Back to the main plot!)

What Toby refers to as 'Shakespeare tragedies' are more accurately called 'Shakespearean tragedies', but he either doesn't know that or doesn't care.

In S1E4, Gnome Your Enemy, Toby refers to the dollhouse in his room as "Nana's dollhouse" at least once, so he presumably got it from her.

Bagdwella has a sister, Sagdwella, who "lives under a trailer park in Oo-tah". The Quagawumps live in Florida except for one, Glug, who spends her time in Trollmarket and makes a presumably-alcohol-equivalent drink that she seems to have named after herself.

Jim and Toby didn't see Enrique being carried by a goblin or chase after them, so Suzy Snooze was left in the alley until a troll on a scavenge run happened upon the abandoned plush bunny.

[aiicheerios]

Title: Store bought Pairing: Kuroo Tetsuro/Yaku Morisuke Rating: G Word Count: 3567 Tags: post-canon, established relationship, domestic fluff, baking Summary:

“Wait, so let me get this straight. All this is because neither of us likes cooking- like we always have -and you're too embarrassed to admit that that hasn't changed just because we're in college now?"

Yaku stopped fiddling with the ingredients to fully turn his attention on him. "Yeah. Absolutely. Now you gonna help or do you have something else planned for tonight you astaxanthin?"

[ao3 mirror]

eyy i can finally post this yay

surprise @priintaniere i was your secret santa for the @haikyuusecretsanta exchange!

funny enough i actually love all the ships you listed (you even had my favorite!) but since i never get the chance to write kuroyaku i wasn’t about to pass that up so this was a lot of fun to do!

I hope you like it as much as i did writing/drawing it!

"Uh, Yakkun?" Kuroo looked around their normally clean (due to it almost never being used) kitchen that was now covered in various baking supplies with Yaku in the middle of it. "You know that I'm all for learning new things about you but since when do you bake?" In the past year they'd been living together he'd hardly ever seen his boyfriend cook, let alone bake. Not that Kuroo did either but hey, take out was invented for a reason after all!

"I don't." Yaku answered quickly. "Hey you're free for the rest of today right? Come over here and help me with this."

Kuroo stared blankly at him. "Right... remind me what," he gestured at the accumulation of ingredients "this is exactly?"

Yaku rolled his eyes. "The party. With the guys from Nekoma. Did you forget what we planned oh, four months ago?" He turned his back to Kuroo in favor of searching for something in their cabinets. "Whatever. If you can't it's fine, just try to stay out of the kitchen until I'm done. Don't want you messing up the cake and end up giving everyone food poisoning tomorrow."

The jab wasn't a serious insult but it still bruised his pride enough for Kuroo to feel offended. "If that's how you feel then why'd you ask me to help in the first place?"

"I refuse to use that step stool to reach into our stupidly tall cabinets- where the hell is the- the," Yaku mimed a frustrated stirring motion, "you know, the mixing thing with the wire things!"

"Wire thi- you mean a whisk?" Yaku let out a victorious 'YES!', stating how he'd been trying to remember the name for literal hours with no luck. Kuroo couldn't help but laugh at his boyfriend's reaction. "You do know that the party's tomorrow right?"

"Why do you think I'm making this now? Some of us can't get Christmas eve off, Tetsuro ." Yaku smiled to himself, pleased at the way his boyfriend's cool exterior crumbled at the use of his given name. Honestly, he always complained about how Yaku never called him by it but whenever he did, Kuroo would become a sappy mess and get embarrassed by it like he was some schoolgirl and not the nineteen year old college student that he was.

"Why do you only call me Tetsuro when you're trying to one up me or when you're angry!" Kuroo pointed accusingly at him. "That wasn't even the point I was trying to make here. Yakkun, you know they'd be fine with us just buying a cake don't you? They're not that picky- not even Kenma's that picky!"

Yaku held up the whisk he'd been searching for triumphantly. "Found it!" Kuroo golf clapped for his personal win and, deciding to humor him, Yaku responded to it in kind with a couple of over the top bows to his audience of one with a cheesy grin.

"And that's not the point here Kuroo."

"So what is the point then? Because I'd love to know."

"The point , is that we're in college now." Yaku moved his boyfriend aside as he went to rummage in the fridge. "We're supposed to be more mature now aren't we? Set an example for our former underclassmen- here we are." After successfully finding the milk he'd wanted, Yaku turned to find himself trapped between the fridge and Kuroo who was not at all bothered by their position. As if he was either, deep down.

Kuroo's arms easily found their place around Yaku's waist and he pulled the libero close so there wasn't any space between them. "We're plenty mature already even without a cake to prove it."

"Mmh maybe, but mature people don't max out multiple restaurant reward cards in a month because they're too lazy to buy groceries and cook for themselves." Using the milk, Yaku pushed Kuroo back two steps. He leaned up teasingly into Kuroo's face. "Don't you think?"

Kuroo was too stunned to try and stop Yaku from ducking around him and back to the kitchen island. "Wait, so let me get this straight. All this is because neither of us likes cooking- like we always have -and you're too embarrassed to admit that that hasn't changed just because we're in college now?"

Yaku stopped fiddling with the ingredients to fully turn his attention on him. "Yeah. Absolutely. Now you gonna help or do you have something else planned for tonight you astaxanthin?"

"It’s docosahexaenoic acid! And I thought that offer was revoked since I'd just 'give everyone food poisoning'?"

Yaku laughed. "I'll give you a chance prove yourself first. If we end up accidentally killing someone tomorrow though I'm pitting the blame all on you."

"You said we, that makes you an accomplice!" Kuroo dodged a crumpled up napkin that came flying at him. He narrowly avoided another as he made his hasty retreat to their bedroom. "I'll be back in a sec! Just gonna shower and change first, try not to miss me!"

"Oh be quiet!" Yaku called after him. "And make sure whatever you change into is clean! I don't want a repeat of the chloroform incident." He grimaced remembering what had happened on that day, at least from what Kuroo had told him.

Kuroo's disembodied groan rung out simultaneously with the sound of the shower turning on. "Babe I told you it was an accident! I didn't know it had spilled on my shirt!"

Instead of responding to him, Yaku spent the entirety of Kuroo's absence retrieving everything else they'd need for the cake. Almost everything. The last thing they needed was the largest mixing bowl from the set Yaku's mom had given them as a gift when they'd first moved in together. The very same one Kuroo had teasingly placed on the highest possible shelf in their already stupidly tall, as Yaku liked to put it, cabinets and there it'd stayed ever since unneeded.

Unneeded until now that is.

Yaku was seriously contemplating how bad the consequences of climbing up onto the counter and just going on his tiptoes to get it would be when an arm that was definitely not his reached up behind him and effortlessly got it for him.

"Step stool not working?" Oh he could just hear the teasing smirk in his voice.

The fully prepared argument on how he didn't- shouldn't have to use that stupid step stool in his own home died the second Yaku got a good look at his boyfriend.

Kuroo's stupidly ecstatic grin could often get Yaku to overlook a lot of things. His amazingly cliched ideas of what a romantic set up was for their anniversary, the sappy send off speech he'd prepared when they'd retired from the club at Nekoma, even the entire week he'd spent trying to make up for accidentally trashing three weeks worth of homework Yaku had set aside thinking it was junk. He could overlook all of those easily, but this?

This was by far the worst one and so Yaku could not possibly be asked to overlook it.

Kuroo was a good looking guy, sometimes too good Yaku would think when he'd catch others staring for too long, but not even he could successfully make the red and green monstrosity he was currently wearing look good. The offending clothing was a horrible green sweater with red trimming and a picture of an anatomically warped Santa somehow pouring milk up and over him directly into a glass that was balanced somehow perfectly on his butt. It was hands down the worst thing Yaku had ever had the misfortune of seeing.

"So," Kuroo smiled wide in anticipation. "What do you thi-"

"I'm staying over at Suga-kun's tonight." Yaku responded immediately.

"Yakkun!" Kuroo tried to call for Yaku but he wasn't having any of it. He just barely was able to catch his boyfriend before he was able to leave the kitchen. Kuroo buried his face into Yaku's hair, hugging him from behind. "Don't be like that babe, you know you love it."

"I hate it."

"'Kay but you love me!"

"Who knows why. You- stop!" Yaku tried to squirm out of Kuroo's strong grip but he didn't budge, only nuzzling closer. A tighter than comfortable squeeze made Yaku groan and Kuroo whine at the noise. "Get off me already! We still got a cake to make."

Yaku was finally able to get him to release by jabbing an elbow into Kuroo's stomach. The former captain doubled over, apparently he'd hit him a lot harder than he thought. A quick kiss on the head in apology was more than enough for him to jump back better than before.

"Yakkun don't leave me for Sugawara," Yaku couldn't help the small smile that formed at what sounded like the beginning to one of Kuroo's sappy statements. "Only I get to hear those cute noises you make." Ah. False alarm. Just for that Yaku flicked him in the exact same spot he just kissed.

Kuroo gaped at him, feigning hurt. Yaku only shrugged. "You deserved that."

"Excuse me? I have done nothing wrong ever."

" Tetsuro... "

Kuroo straightened up into a stiff salute. "Yes sir."

Amazingly enough, even though they absolutely hated cooking and didn't have much of a talent for it, they two of them weren't half bad at baking. So long as they had a recipe to follow made by someone who actually knew what they were doing, of course. Until it came to the actual baking part of the mix.

"Where's the pan we're pouring this in again?"

Yaku nodded off to the side as he went back to mixing their nearly finished batter. "Right there. Where it's been this entire time."

It was not a baking pan. Kuroo picked up the small tray. "Yakkun this is a cupcake tray."

"I know. That was the closest thing we had. Why do we even have that anyways? Neither of us have ever used it."

"Until today?"

"Until today." Yaku did a few more quick stirs of the thick chocolate batter. "I think that's good enough. What does it say to do next?"

"Yaku, you do know that this thing only holds six cupcakes right?" He knocked once on the tray to emphasize his point. "There's no way that's going to last those guys five minutes."

He waved his free hand at him. "We'll just make some more then. Next step?"

"Ok but still, there can't be enough for everyone in that one batch of mix we made,"

"Testsu..." Yaku's grip on the bowl tightened.

"That'd be like telling Kenma he's only allowed to play one game for the rest of his life,"

"Testsuro..."

"Or like telling Bokuto to not try one of those all you can eat meat challenges-"

"Tetsuro- hey!" Yaku scowled at the satisfied look on Kuroo’s face as he popped the finger he'd sneaked into the batter into his mouth. The irritated flush to his face turned even brighter when Kuroo moaned exaggeratedly in delight at the taste. "I hope you get salmonella from that."

Kuroo tried to pull him into his arms but Yaku wasn't having any of it. He stepped further away, holding the bowl protectively to his chest. "Knock that off."

"What? It's good! Besides wouldn't we have to taste test it eventually anyways?" Yaku stared coldly at him. "I'm helping! And might I add, you can get salmonella from raw cookie dough, not cake batter. I would've thought you knew that, Yakkun." In the moment his boyfriend made a move to swat at him, Kuroo was quick to take advantage of the now unprotected state the bowl was in and stuck his finger into it again.

"Will you stop that! You're getting your dirty hands in something other people will be eating tomorrow!"

Kuroo waved him off, thick batter splatting on the counter. "I don't have germs! Besides it's not like I haven't already had my hands in it!" his eyes lit up suddenly.

Yaku stepped back wearily. "...What's with the face?"

Instead of answering Kuroo crept closer to his boyfriend who immediately took a step back to keep the distance between them. "Why're you backing up Mori-kun?"

Yaku became torn on whether to keep his eyes on him or look away from embarrassment. "I don't trust this."

"You don't trust me? I'm hurt Yakkun."

"Not right now with that look on your face I don't. What're you doing?" He eyed him suspiciously. Kuroo hadn't been known as the scheming captain for nothing after all, and while he may no longer be a captain the scheming part definitely still lingered.

"Nothing bad I promise! See?" he even made a big show of making an X over where his heart would be. "Would I ever make you do something bad babe?"

"Yes."

"Yaku..."

Yaku shook his head. "Nope. Nuh-uh, don't even try and deny that one. Just tell me what it is you're planning here."

Kuroo sighed but finally surrendered. "I just thought maybe you were mad because I stole the taste testing job from you. So me being the caring boyfriend that I am, thought I'd offer you a taste as well." Kuroo offered up his finger he'd dipped in the batter up to Yaku's mouth.

Yaku gave him an unimpressed look.

"Come on even if it could give you salmonella- which it can't, I'm pretty sure -I'd be right there besides you suffering."

Yaku snorted, unable to fight off an amused grin. "Well that sure convinced me. Don't ever become a salesman Kuroo, you'd be terrible at it."

"So is that a no to the taste test?"

The worst he could do is just go in for a kiss instead… which isn't really a loss either.

Sighing, Yaku finally allowed his guard to drop and opened his mouth for it.

That was his first mistake.

Instead of sticking the batter-dipped finger into his mouth or even going ahead to kiss Yaku like he thought he would, Kuroo chose to boop him on the nose with it. Some of the batter began dripping down his face. Yaku tried hard to scowl at Kuroo but with the way he looked like he was just barely holding back from laughing at Yaku, it probably didn't look as threatening as he'd like.

"Kuroo..." Yaku's voice was calm but they both knew that was only a front. He could feel some of the batter land around his mouth and could only imagine how ridiculous he actually looked right then.

The former captain pointed at his own mouth. Clearly fighting, and not succeeding at all, to keep a crooked grin from forming. "Y-you got a little... right here."

"Thanks."

"Here let me just," before Yaku could make any move to stop him, Kuroo had leaned down and licked the drops of batter on the seam of his lips. He gasped in surprise, allowing Kuroo to slip his tongue into Yaku's mouth in a brief and sweet, both literally and figuratively, kiss. When he pulled back Kuroo's face was as red as Yaku's felt.

Yaku placed the bowl back onto the island, amazed in his own ability to not drop it during the entire exchange. He bit down on his lower lip, mouth still tingling from the kiss. It wasn't their first, not by a long shot, but it definitely felt like a first of some sort.

"Was that supposed to shut me up?" all of the previous pent up tension and anger was gone already but Kuroo didn't need to know that. Not that he was positive he didn't already. He also didn't need to know how lightheaded that kiss had left him feeling. Hopefully Kuroo didn't already know that either.

Kuroo wasn't looking at him. In fact, it looked like he was making a conscious effort not to look, like it was impossible to face Yaku all of a sudden. He hid his face in his elbow, arm raised so that Yaku could only just see Kuroo's eyes that were determined to not make any contact. It wasn't a very effective disguise since his ears were now burning the same dark red that was probably still coloring his face.

"I- um," Kuroo tried to look down at Yaku but was only able to last a few seconds before looking away again. "I was just planning on messing with you but," he cleared his throat, voice scratchy. "I actually did mean to let you have a taste so that uh, that happened."

Now it was Yaku's turn to try not to laugh, only he was much worse at it and wasn't trying nearly as hard as Kuroo had. It took all of two seconds for him to break and Yaku was doubled over pointing and laughing at his thoroughly embarrassed boyfriend who had let his own guard drop to defend himself, face still ablaze.

"Ok I get it, you can stop laughing now!"

"N-no hold on. You- you mean to tell me you were trying to screw with me," Yaku paused for a fit of laughter. "ah-and you ended up backpedaling so hard that you slipped me some tongue to make up for it?" Kuroo's telling blush was enough for him to have to grab onto the edge of the island to keep his balance as Yaku dissolved into another bout of relentless laughter.

"I was trying to be smooth! You know, sweep you off your feet, make you swoon kind of thing." the sentiment sounded sweet sure, but the means was still ridiculous.

"Yeah how'd that work out for you? You look like a sunburnt tomato Tetsu!" Yaku was laughing so hard tears were welling up in his eyes and his stomach was beginning to hurt. It took Yaku a moment to realize that Kuroo had been quiet for a while and when he looked up after wiping unshed tears from his eyes, he was quickly embarrassed by what he saw.

Kuroo was staring at him. But it wasn't the angry 'are you finished yet?' stare or the mortified 'kill me already' stare Yaku might've expected to see. The way he was being stared at was how Kuroo often looked at Yaku when the libero usually didn't notice, with complete and unabashed adoration and awe. Way too sappy for Yaku to handle head on, but he wasn't a quitter so he wasn't about to look away first.

"What's with that face?" Yaku's laughter calmed down. "I got something on my fa- actually forget I said that." he wiped the rest of the batter off with the back of his hand, some of the previously fading blush returning.

Kuroo was still staring, somehow completely missing the chance to tease Yaku in retaliation. He whined needily. The sound sent a shiver up Yaku's spine. "Why you gotta do that Yaku?"

"Do what?"

"Call me Tetsu while doing that cute snorting laugh of yours. It's just not fair, that's playing dirty."

Using that stupid pout while saying such embarrassing things is what's unfair! Damn you Kuroo!

"And I don't snort." he said under his breath. Yaku's resolve was wearing thin and if Kuroo kept this overly honest act up, he wouldn't last much longer. They hadn't even put the cake in the oven yet!

Yaku reached past him and dragged the cupcake tin over to where he was. "We're not done here. C'mon, you sprayed this with the no-stick stuff right?" Kuroo didn't look completely snapped out of whatever sappy, lovey-dovey mood he was in but he still nodded dumbly to answer him. "Right... then I'll just pour this in and we can finally throw them in the oven and call it a night."

"Uh-huh..."

Pouring out the batter was a good enough distraction for the moment, but Yaku could still feel Kuroo's eyes staring besides him. He wanted to squirm under it but Yaku's stubbornness was not to be tested. The few spared glances he gives him are enough for Yaku to have the whisk in a death grip as he sharply scrapes the bowl's contents into the tin's cups.

"Kuroo if you keep staring at me like that I'm gonna put you in the oven." Yaku finally snapped. He stared Kuroo down, daring him to respond.

"Aw, I'm just admiring the man I love." he didn't miss the teasing lilt in his voice. At least it wasn't the sappy tone from before. "anyway, even if you did shove me in there it wouldn’t be anything compared to my burning love for yo-!"

Yaku smiled, a little glad that his boyfriend was back to normal. "Yeah, yeah, be quiet."

He slid the tray inside the pre-heated oven then turned back to Kuroo.

"So," Yaku took a step forwards so there was hardly any space between them, "we've got thirty five minutes. What now, captain?"

Kuroo blinked in surprise. "Oh so it's captain now?"

Yaku shrugged. He patted Kuroo on the back as he walked around him to their living room. "Just thought I'd help you get a little bit of your pride back that's all." halfway out of sight, Yaku called back, "You coming?"

Kuroo didn't hesitate to scramble after him, nearly knocking some of the mess they'd made onto the floor in the process.

Forty two minutes and six somewhat charred cupcakes later, they had to try again with their leftover batter. Still, it was better than store bought.

bonus:

[dejnar]

Secret Santa Marinette Style™

I am so sorry @buttercupandwestley that I failed to upload this even near the holidays. It’s too late and it does not match the mood anymore but I hope you still like it! Oh my god I hope so bad that you like it.  Like I said earlier it escalated. It got completely out of control. You will see what I mean.

If you don’t like to read long texts on Tumblr I uploaded this on fanfiction.net too.

Christmas is over but... Happy New Year! 🎉 I wish you good luck and that everything you wish for comes true ❤️ You are a cutie and it was a joy to regularly visit your blog 😊

That’s my contribution to the @miraculousladybug-ss  , thank you guys for setting this up!

Last day of October

“Do you remember how I told you about my mom being that happy about my sibling’s grades that she got way too high-spirited and granted them a wish and that, and I quote, ‘they could wish for whatever they want no matter what it is’?” “Yeah, I remember. Part of the reason your mom was that overwhelmed was the fact that your grades were pretty bad because of all the time you spent on the Ladyblog, wasn’t it?” Marinette grinned whimsically at her counterpart. “That’s not the point Marinette!” Alya pouted and folded her arms. Yet she couldn’t keep her acting up too long since she longed to break the news. “Anyway, listen to me instead of teasing me!” She lightly hit Marinette’s shoulder as she giggled. “Excuse me, I didn’t mean to offend you. What did you want to tell me?” Feeling quite noble Alya continued. “Well, since this fateful day my parents and I lived in a constant fear of what could possibly come up to us. What can I say, they finally decided what they wish for.” That was kind of a turn of events for Marinette because she witnessed the two girls had debates going on for hours about it. “Wow, I thought those little monsters would never come to an understanding. So what do they want?” Curiously she looked at Alya who kept silent clearly punishing her for her previous chaffing. “Come on, tell me already! What is it? The table tennis table? Or, my personal favorite, the trampoline?” Marinette begged to know and willing to finally proclaim Alya gave her a resigned look. “Neither. Somehow they came up with another, completely new and different idea.” She sighed. “They want a cat.” Adrien’s head literally popped out of nowhere. “So it’s true!” Surprised Marinette blinked at her crush who suddenly stood beside her. “Your family is bringing an unbelievably cute kitten to your house at that very moment!” Shorttaken Alya looked at him in confusion. “Not exactly. My siblings are too young and my parents and I too busy to care for a little kitten with a lot of needs. They’re adopting a cat that’s already grown a little.” “Still adorable” Adrien’s eyes began to glisten with joy. After getting over his cuteness, which took her nearly twenty seconds, Marinette pointed at him. “How does he know?” Alya shrugged. “Nino I guess.” In indignant disbelief Marinette looked at her. “Wait, you told Nino before you told me?” Alya rolled her eyes at her best friend when she answered. “Sure, duh. You were gone throughout all of lunch, remember?” Beginning to blush Marinette sheepishly lowered her head and remembered the akuma attack she fought down with Chat Noir earlier “Uhm… You’re right. Sorry?” With a smirk Alya waved it off. “Don’t sweat it girl. Hey, you guys wanna hang out next week to get to know our newest family member? I think she needs some time to acclimatize before she meets so many people but it should be fine in a few days if you’re cautious.” Loving the idea Marinette began to smile brightly. “You betcha! Adrien, do you wa-” as she turned to face him she had to laugh at the view she gained. Obviously overjoyed Adrien was nodding aggressively, face slightly red. “Who could say no to a kitten?” Nino asked as he joined the scene and patted his best friend’s back. “Calm down man or you may pass out because of anticipation.” “Kitty!” was all Adrien managed to blurt out through his compressed lips causing his friends to bubble over with laughter. The bell rang and they headed to class, the other three still amused while Adrien blushed embarrassed. After school Nino and Alya had to leave right away for whatever reason they didn’t want to reveal so Marinette ended up waiting for his drive home next to Adrien. Frozen she rapidly thought about any topic to talk about to distract herself from just staring at him. But Adrien forestalled her smiling dreamingly at a point in the distance that wasn’t really there. “I bet Alya rushed home to see her cat.” “You’re really that excited over a random cat of a classmate?” Marinette asked him astonished and he looked down timidly. “Yeah… Well, as you know I was homeschooled and never had many friends besides Chloé. I wanted a pet since forever and cats have always been my favorite. But obviously my father didn’t approve. It’s kind of a childhood dream coming true even if it’s for someone else. You know what I mean?” He laughed nervously but Marinette’s genuine smile banished all of his bashfulness. “Yes, I think I understand. I have to say that I really admire it that you’re happy for Ella and Etta instead of getting jealous and being cruel.” He couldn’t help but blush over such an unexpected compliment especially because it was about his character for once. “Thanks, Marinette. You know” he beamed at her “I’m super glad we’re friends.” Now it was Marinette who blushed. Before she could respond a shining car drove around the corner and Adrien waved his goodbye at her. “See you tomorrow!” She looked down the road still after the car was long gone.

First week of November

“Ok guys, I need to talk to you after school. All of you.” Surprised at Marinette’s serious greeting instead of her usual warm hugs her friends looked at her. “Something’s up girl?” Alya asked worried but Marinette shook her head. “After school!” she repeated and headed to class without any other word. “Damn, did we do something?” Nino looked at Marinette’s back in concern. “She was alright just yesterday” Adrien replied thoughtful. “What did you say to her when we were gone?” punching his arm Alya threw an angry glare at him. “Ouch! Nothing! …I guess.” His assailant just bristled with anger in response and followed Marinette to class. “Dude I hope you didn’t screw up too bad” Nino said while putting one hand on his shoulder. “I didn’t even do anything!” Adrien cried in despair but Nino just gave him a pitying look. “Maybe that’s the problem.” And with that Adrien stood in the halls alone, no idea what he possibly could have done to cause such a situation.

Turned out they were just messing with him. After the bell rang to free the students into a beautiful autumn afternoon Adrien stepped out of the school building and spotted Marinette who looked perfectly happy. Relieved he headed towards her and the other two who also seemed pretty glad it wasn’t a severe situation. Buzzing with anticipation Marinette jigged in front of her three closest friends. “It is November guys!” she finally squealed with glee and a thrilled beam on her lips. “It certainly is” Alya agreed smiling fondly. Every time Marinette got so excited over something Alya loved her even more than usually. Her overwhelming joy also infected the two boys standing next to them although they had no idea what caused Marinette to reach that level of enthusiasm. “Man you must have some great plans to get that hooked about a month like any other” Nino whistled impressed. “It’s not a month like any other!” Marinette disagreed indignantly as if he just insulted her. “It’s the month before December!” she stated stamping her foot. “Riiiight…” he tilted his head and mystifyingly narrowed his eyes. Adrien laughed. “Could you please bring back the overjoyed Mari? I have to say I liked her way more than huffy Mari to be honest.” Carefully he reached out his hand to open the fist Marinette clenched without noticing it. “Sure” was everything she was able to mumble into her scarf glad that she could hide her blush behind it too. Nino and Alya exchanged a knowing look. “Back to business!” she continued in a cheerful tone again since she managed to regain her voice shortly after Adrien let go of her hand. “What I wanted to say is that it’s Secret Santa time!” Adrien’s eyes promptly began to glisten, causing Marinette’s heart to jump. He also liked one of her favorite things in the world! Nino’s face brightened up immediately too and Alya clapped her hands in delight. “That’s a great idea Marinette! But… I’ve never done such a thing. How exactly does it work?” ashamed Adrien looked down to the ground where he drew circles with the tip of his toes. “Well, normal groups of people draw a partner by lot in December and buy them a present for Christmas.” Alya explained to Adrien showing him that he had no reason to be embarrassed. “But I guess Secret Santa in Marinette Style™ is quiet different?” she added questioningly looking at her best friend. “You’re absolutely right!” she grinned back. “We all get our so called giftee assigned at the beginning of November - means today, right here and now - so that we have enough time since Secret Santa Marinette Style™ is a little more complex and has some strict rules!” “I am kind of afraid” Nino confessed playfully frightened but Marinette just laughed it off. “Don’t be! Actually it’s pretty simple. You’re supposed to make four gifts instead of just one, secretly delivering them one by one every week of December. The fourth one is ought to be opened on Christmas Eve, obviously. And most importantly, every gift has to be self-made!” Adrien’s eyes widened “How am I supposed to do that?” Marinette’s smile grew even bigger though nobody would have guessed that something like this would be possible. “We have some cute Christmas angels who are willing to assist us!” She waved at someone behind Adrien’s back and as he turned around he saw Rose waving back while Juleka took her hand and dragged her towards the group. “Hey guys!” Rose chirped happily not letting go of Juleka’s hand even though they already reached their destiny. “We’ll help you deliver your presents!” “Yeah. Just hand us the gifts every week and we’ll make sure they’ll end up with the right human” Juleka explained with a smile on her face. While Nino and Alya were performing some sort of cute jig together, Adrien looked at the two girls in front of him in concern. “And you’re ok with that? I mean, like, helping us but not participating yourself?” “Sure! I had to experience a lot of Secret Santa rounds already. I’m kinda glad I don’t have to do it again this year” Juleka sighed and he would have sworn he saw her shiver a little at the words ‘Secret Santa’. “That’s true!” Rose nodded in agreement still smiling brighter than the sun. “Juleka is everything I need anyway.” The world suddenly seemed to freeze. Alya and Nino immediately stopped in their tracks, Adrien and Marinette stood thunderstruck and everyone’s glances flew between Rose and Juleka and their still touching hands. “Oops. Dropped it” Rose laughed nervously while Juleka hid her face behind her black gloved hands. Before the silence could grow uncomfortable Alya pointed her finger at Marinette with a triumphal smile on her face and declared “Told ya!” Marinette giggled with joy. “This day is getting better and better!” Raising her hands to Juleka’s shoulders Rose sheepishly smiled at her classmates “I guess we’ll leave now or Juleka will melt on the spot. Please keep it to yourselves!” “Of course we’ll still be your errand girls though” Juleka mumbled as Rose pushed her towards the school building. “Nice!” Nino simply stated watching them leave and then turned back to Marinette as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. “Is that everything we need to know?” Before she answered to her friend she made sure through eye contact that Alya felt the same urge to freak out about what they just witnessed later. “Nope, you don’t even know the best part yet!” She went silent for a moment to raise the tension. Looking into her friend’s eyes told her that it worked. “In the end you have to guess who your Secret Santa is and deluge them with all the love you have!” she bounced like an excited toddler causing her pigtails to bounce. Alya chuckled as she put an arm around her shoulders. “Typical Marinette. Being the love spreading cutie she has always been.” “Sh! The drawing begins at this very moment!” Marinette hurried to say to hide her flattered embarrassment. The attempt failed. “As you wish” Alya tousled her hair before letting go with an affectionate smile on her face. Marinette smiled back with still a slight blush on her cheeks. “Nino, gimme your hat!” Marinette reached out towards him. “Of course Your Highness.” Nino handed her his red cap while making a bow, she curtsied with a giggle and took it. Reflexively she inspected it from every possible angle. “By the way, you should definitely exchange this with a beanie to avoid catching a cold” Marinette warned Nino but he just shrugged. “Nah. I have my headphones keeping my ears warm, I’m fine. Thanks for worrying though.” “I hope that’s true” suspiciously she glanced at him but decided to leave it there. Rather than starting a discussion about her friend’s valuable health she threw the four sheets with their names on them she prepared earlier into his hat. “Ladies first” Marinette said as she held it up to Nino. “Very funny” he rolled his eyes while reaching out his hand but at his comment Marinette pulled the hat back down. “Tz, if you don’t want to go first I won’t make you do it!” Instead she handed it to Alya who grinned and grabbed the first slip of paper. “Whoops, gained myself” she said apologetically and put the paper back into the hat. “Try again!” Marinette encouraged her nearly smacking the hat into her face. Amused Alya took a step back, chose a new one and rolled her eyes at it the moment she read it. “Seriously? Again?” The other three laughed as Alya tried again. A sigh of relieve escaped her lips as she gladly smiled at the name. “Got one!” victoriously she waved with her piece of paper. “Great! In that case I’m giving Nino the opportunity to draw next!” Turning back to him again she smirked at an impatient Nino. “You’re too kind!” Sincerely delighted he took his turn and scanned the name then nodded perfectly satisfied “Nice.” Slowly Marinette turned to the remaining participant trying very hard not to blush too intensely. “Ok. Adrien it‘s finally your…” Before she could finish her sentence Adrien gently pushed the hat towards her. “You go first, Mari. It was your idea and you put so much effort into it, you should at least have a choice.” His kind smile made her legs shaky and useless. She shyly smiled back at him as she chose one of the last two names. Nino. Wondering if she should be relieved or disappointed over the fact that it wasn’t showing Adrien’s name was quickly replaced by tons of present ideas for the upcoming musician. “Okay then! It’s my turn!” Curious Adrien grabbed at the last name. For a brief moment Marinette was afraid that he still could have ended up with his own name and they all had to try again but as he unfolded the small white paper he began to smile widely. “Sweet! This is going to be so great.” Sheepishly Nino coughed and looked at them with an apologetic expression. “Sorry guys but I have to leave now since I have to discuss our new physics project with Kim. Wish me luck he doesn’t turn it into a dare. See ya!” He waved at them as he ran away and Alya caught him clenching his fist and cutting a caper. Her buzzing phone interrupted her smiling shake of the head. “Mom? Hey, what’s up?” She quickly turned to Marinette and Adrien “Sorry guys, I’ll be right back!” With that she took a few steps away from them. Meanwhile Adrien worked up all his courage and hesitantly approached Marinette. This could be his only chance if he didn’t want to confess his weakness to all of them. “Uhm, Marinette?” he tapped her on the shoulder so she would face him. “Yes Adrien?” she turned around and looked up to him. The unprepared sight of his dreamingly green eyes made her heart skip some beats. “You know… When I asked how I was supposed ‘to do that’” he drew quotation marks into the air in front of her face “I didn’t mean the secret delivery thing but the rule that everything has to be self-made. I guess… I’m pretty bad at those things.” Nervously he turned his look away and scratched the back of his head. Marinette���s eyes widened. You stupid little goopy mess!, she thought to herself wanting to slap herself. Making Adrien feel incapable and uncomfortable was the last thing she intended. “Oh! I’m so sorry! Sometimes I kind of forget that not all people do the same stuff as I do” she laughed awkwardly and lapsed into babbling. “Guess I kind of threw you in at the deep end, huh? But don’t worry. Until you don’t tell me who it is I will help you and teach you a thing or two about handicrafts if you want me to and I’m convinced you’re better at it than you think! And I’m certain we will find another conclusion for you I mean it should be fun for all of us after all, right? Right, of course. Uhm, what I want to say is your Secret Santa, whoever it might be, can, and will!, be glad about the fact that they-” Adrien laughed a pure laugh that calmed Marinette down a little and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I didn’t mean to make you feel guilty, no need to get nervous about this. I’d like to take your offer to help me if I need it which, let’s be honest about this, won’t take too long I guess. Thank you Mari, I actually feel a lot better now!” She returned his warm smile although she had no idea how her absurd chattiness would help anyone. Eventually Adrien looked down at his watch. “Unfortunately I have to leave now too but it looks like Alya finished talking to her mother. See you tomorrow! Bye Alya!” “Bye Adrien” Alya waved at him as she passed him on her way back to Marinette. “You were that excited over this whole Secret Santa thing that it even distracted you from acting weird and awkward in front of Adrien. It must truly be a Christmas miracle!” she gasped excessively. “You are a horrible person, Alya Césaire” Marinette laughed but at the same time linked arms with her best friend. “But seriously” Alya smiled and nudged Marinette’s shoulder with her own “I’m proud of you.”

 For the next few days Marinette was caught in a relentless battle against her own self. Of course she could just change the rules entirely so Adrien wouldn’t have to struggle too much with the crafting and allow him to buy everything instead. But then it wouldn’t be Secret Santa Marinette Style™ anymore and if her parents drummed one lesson into their daughter it was that “amazing girls like you should never and under no circumstances change for a boy who simply couldn’t handle their brilliance”. Thus changing the rules wasn’t an option. Another voice in her head tried to seduce her to take advantage of the situation and spend as much time with Adrien as possible under the pretext to show him a thing or two about handicraft work. Marinette had to admit that she liked that idea a little too much but knowing herself she would just lose control over herself and screw both of her purposes – resisting the impulse to encroach on Adrien’s projects (in that case it wouldn’t be Secret Santa Marinette Style™ in Adrien Style anymore) and, even more importantly, acting like a decent human being around him. So what should I do?! Marinette groaned and tore her hair. “Seriously Marinette, you have to stop to treat yourself like a sinner for wanting to spend time with Adrien” Alya shook her head at Marinette’s inner conflict. She may not have said anything for a little while but Alya knew exactly what was going on behind those bangs. “So I’m not a terrible person for considering exploiting Adrien’s lack of knowledge?” Marinette, by now a picture of misery lying on her desk, mumbled into the crook of her arm. “Get a grip on your unnecessary feeling of guilt, girl! May I remind you that Adrien Agreste himself suggested that you should teach him that stuff? In fact I would go as far as to say that he asked for your help and it would be very cold-hearted of you to refuse his request.” Slowly Marinette straightened up and Alya smirked proudly at herself. “If you put it that way I have to help Adrien…” Pondering Marinette stared at a poster on her wall, straight into a pair of enchanting green eyes. “Exactly.” While patting her best friend on the shoulder Alya decided to get a pastry from the bakery below as a reward for another good deed she just performed.

 Second week of November

“Ok guys, new rule!” Marinette opened the Emergency Secret Santa Meeting with her friends at lunch with a determined smack on the table. Adrien looked at her in absolute horror while Nino next to him squealed and stared up to her, frightened. “Even more rules?” Laughing Marinette quickly calmed them down. “Don’t worry it actually makes it kind of easier: Everyone gets a joker! That means I allow you to buy one of the presents instead of crafting it.” She winked at Adrien who gave her a thankful glance. “Obviously I’m not going to make use of said rule” she continued and playfully threw her hair over her shoulder. “That’s a point of honor.” “Guess I’m not as honorably as you, I’ll definitely buy something. Thanks Mari! That makes it easier for me to deliver the best presents out of this group.” Confident as always Alya put an arm around Marinette’s shoulders and looked at the boys with a challenging smirk on her lips. “What about you guys? What do your egos say?” A resoluted expression appeared on Nino’s face as he answered completely serious: “I will do this on my own! I know I can make it!” He ended in an epic pose with a clenched fist. Impressed Adrien clapped him on the shoulder while the girls suppressed their giggles. With a resigned smile Adrien looked at Marinette. “I guess I’ll desperately need that joker. Thanks for changing the rules for us I know how much you liked your original idea.” As always when Adrien directly addressed her Marinette flushed and started to stutter a little. “Oh, uhm… no worries! It will be fun. I-I mean, it will be a lot of fun anyways!” Gladly Adrien smiled at her and her knees weakened. “I’m happy to hear that! I’ll do my very best for you guys.” Before Marinette could respond something to that cute statement Alya cut in. “Hate to interrupt but I have to go. And I’ll take Nino with me, just because I can.” Surprised by the unexpected grip around his arm and the enormous force behind it Nino defenselessly followed Alya out of the room. Sheepishly Adrien smiled at Marinette and scratched the back of his head. “So… do you still agree with helping me out here? Otherwise I have to pay you to grant me three more jokers.” Nervously he laughed since it was only partly meant as a joke. But Marinette’s genuine smile calmed him down immediately. “Sure I will, I always keep my word” she responded with a kind smile and gained an even softer smile from her counterpart. “I never expected anything different.” “Besides” she nudged his shoulder with her own, “I can’t allow you to mistreat Secret Santa Marinette Style™ like this.” His laugh warmed her whole body, giving her the confirmation that it was worth the effort to act like a sane person around him. “With that being settled would you meet up with me tomorrow to brainstorm a little? I really don’t want to screw this so… I guess it’s best to get down to it as soon as possible.” Marinette could only smile entranced by how sweet he was. “Sure! I’ll think about something easy to show you.” As a reward she gained a happy smile. “Thank you so much Mari! I have to go get my books before class but we’ll see each other tomorrow at my place at the latest!” Not even waiting for her response he waved at her as he left the room, leaving behind a startled Marinette. She would visit Adrien’s house. The house that also happened to be the home of Gabriel Agreste. If it wouldn’t have been for Max who asked her why she was just standing in the middle of the room staring at the door she would have been late for class once again.

 On the same day Marinette headed to her favorite store to get some materials she needed for the presents she came up with and to get something for Adrien to practice with. It was a beautiful clear autumn day and on her way she appreciated the colorful trees and enjoyable breezes. Just as she was about to reach the store she closed her eyes to inhale one of those breezes and immediately bumped into someone. “Oh god, excuse me, I wasn’t…” The words died on her lips as she looked into a pair of amused, green eyes. “Princesses don’t need to apologize” Chat Noir said before giving her a kiss on the hand. “Not even if they’re clumsy.” Perplexed by the unexpected encounter with her partner Marinette looked up to him in silence for a few seconds before she finally managed to say something. “Chat Noir, what are you doing here? Is there a needle-swinging akuma or anything?” she jested, too surprised to realize that Chat began to nervously fidget. “Uhm, a friend of mine recommended the shop to me since I needed something to… do heroic things. But what are you doing here? I thought princesses have servants to handle those things for them. Don’t tell me…” he gasped. “You’re not a real princess?!” Marinette rolled her eyes but giggled. Maybe she would have been suspicious of his behavior if she wouldn’t have been that confused herself so she only ascribed it to his usual weirdness. “I’m fine on my own, thank you. Also, if your friend recommended this shop they must have a pretty good taste! I like that one very much too.” “I’m sure the sense of taste of such a charming princess is the furry best” he winked. “I would love to let you tell me how great I am while ignoring your horrible puns further but I actually have to hurry, my parents are waiting for me to help with the bakery. Good luck with those mysterious heroic things you have to do” Marinette excused herself with a playful smile. “I will definitely overcat every difficulty to secure you a save kingdom!” he assured her with a flirtatious grin. “Told you your puns are horrible” Laughing she walked past him into the store. When she was gone Chat Noir sighed loudly and leaned against a lantern next to him. Why didn’t he think of the possibility he could meet Marinette when he decided to go to the store she mentioned to him earlier? Maybe he was overreacting but it could have been a hint to her when she saw him there as Chat Noir at the same day. Not that he had much of a choice. He knew very well that his father would not let him go to buy fabrics, of all things. He would tell him that he could get him anything, only the best of the best of course. And also he would hire someone to create the gifts for Adrien. Since there was nothing he could do about it he hoped Marinette wouldn’t think about the reason why he was there and headed home.

 The next evening Marinette heard a muffled sound from above her and got a little worried. Quietly she opened her window and slowly peered out on her balcony but what she found there soothed her instantly. “Chat Noir! What are you doing here?” For a moment she was afraid that he somehow figured her out but looking at the nervous, guilty looking boy in front of her she knew he had to be there for another reason. “I came to apologize” he answered hesitantly. “I was quite a flirt yesterday and I wanted to make it up to you. You deserve a proper conversation at least.” A soft smile appeared on Marinette’s lips due to his unexpected kindness. He was a good one after all. “But you don’t even know me. How do you know that I deserve your effort?” she walked up to him with a curious expression. “Let’s say I’m pretty good with assessing someone’s character” he answered smiling and his tensed body began to relax. “So, what brought you to the store?” he asked as if he didn’t know too well. But her shining eyes and the devotion in her voice was totally worth to hear the whole explanation of Secret Santa Marinette Style™ again while hardly getting a chance to speak on his side. “…and that’s how it works! I am so excited I can barely wait for December to begin!” Chat couldn’t help but laugh warm-heartedly. Of course he knew how passionate she was about her project before but he once again witnessed her charming cuteness and once again it completely enchanted him. “You really are the incarnated Christmas spirit, aren’t you? I have to admit that your words kind of move me and I would love to hear more but unfortunately I have to leave. Keep it real, Princess.” Slightly he bowed and giggling Marinette followed suit. “It was very nice having you here, minou.” Surprised by the warm feeling Marinette’s words caused inside of him he jumped over her balustrade. “The pleasure is all mine. See you soon, Marinette.” While she watched him leave over the nearby roofs Marinette realized something. Usually, as Ladybug, she didn’t get that emotional around Chat Noir but today, as Marinette, all her thoughts bubbled out of her without interruption. And it felt right and save with him. No matter what happened, no matter how bad things would be, she could always count on her partner, her friend, and that meant the world to her. With a knowing smile Tikki watched the two of them saying goodbye.

 Third week of November

“This gift from god is the most precious creature I have ever seen in my entire minor existence.” “You say that every time you see a ca-““SHE IS!” Adrien was holding Totoro, apparently Ella and Etta were huge Ghibli fans and didn’t care for the sex of their cat, right in front of his face so their noses touched. Nino imagined seeing the same eyes-squinted grinning expression on both his best friend’s and the cat’s face. Every now and then Adrien let out a squeal of joy while snuggling with the British shorthair silver tabby. Marinette was sure she would never see anything that pure and innocent in her whole life ever again. “Can you even imagine the drama if Totoro would have disliked Adrien?” Alya was watching the boys with crossed arms. A shiver went down her spine as Marinette considered that scenario. “Don’t even think about something as terrible as that! I guess it would have completely wrecked his will to live.” She sighed, relieved that they hadn’t had to try to prevent Adrien from drowning in his own desperate tears. “Quite possibly” Alya laughed, nudged Marinette’s shoulder with her own and began to smirk. “You should join the cuddling. Maybe Adrien will end up nuzzling your nose somehow.” In no time Marinette’s face turned flame red, too baffled to stop Alya from pushing her towards the carpet the boys kneeled on. Well, Nino kneeled. Adrien had ended up lying on the ground, Totoro climbing over his chest like it was a part of Mount Everest instead of the body of a model. An affectionate smile replaced the blush of embarrassment on her face and she gathered the courage to sit down next to Nino. “I didn’t even get the chance to pet her” he grumbled jealously. The moment the three of them had entered Alya’s home Totoro had run up to Adrien straightaway, rubbing her head against his legs and meowing in delight. Clearly there was something to Adrien that somehow connected them but Marinette had no idea what it could be. They captivated each other on the spot. Marinette understood Nino’s grudge too well. But Adrien didn’t even realize how grumpy his friends were. “Don’t you think cats are the greatest?” Happily he smiled up to the cat on his chest. “I like turtles” Nino answered deadpanned. “Foxes are definitely the best!” Alya jumped in as she joined her friends serving cookies. Marinette held her hand in front of her mouth and giggled joyfully. She was thankful to whoever blessed her with those quirky, wonderful friends. “What is your favorite animal, Mari?” Adrien asked, averting his eyes from Totoro for the first time this afternoon and smiled at her for a little moment before turning back to the cat. Still counts, Marinette thought proudly before answering. “I like all kinds of animals it’s hard to chose just one…” “She loves every single creature on this earth, our lovely Marinette” Alya chuckled and put an arm around her best friend. “When it comes to favorite earth-creatures those present have a good chance” she responded laughing. At the end of the day Marinette had another entry on her mental list of terrific gatherings with her best friends.

 After an exhausting day full of lectures about being late to class and nearly falling asleep during dinner Marinette allowed herself to take a break on her balcony. As she admired the sight in front of her she spotted a fast shadow approaching. “You again” she said surprised when Chat Noir landed in front of her and bowed. “The path of faith brought me here once again, Princess. Your speech from last week inspired me and I want to learn from the furry best how to Christmas” he explained with an eager smile. “How to… what?” Uncomprehending Marinette tried to understand what Chat was talking about. “Since a flawless hero like me has to live a life in isolation I never experienced Christmas like you described it to me. Would you mind to…” Suddenly he became timid and Marinette was taken aback due to the fact that she never saw him like that before. “…show me to enjoy Christmas the way you do?” The coy and begging smile on his face could just as well belong to a five-year-old. It was impossible to say no to that. Everyone was talking about puppy eyes but no one ever gave warning of kitten eyes! “I’d be honored to pass on my legacy. Even though it’s not that hard, you simply devote yourself to something you like that delectate others too. In my case it’s crafting gifts for my friends and family and I’ll help you find that something for you too but, for my sake, no puns” Marinette imposed her one and only condition. “I thought this was meant to be a time of fun and joy!” Chat protested, causing a cheerful laugh of his newfound master. “Yes, you’re right but since both of us are meant to have fun…” “You think my pawns are hilarious, don’t even try to deny it.” “…let’s try to find something different that both of us will enjoy. Is there anything else you like?” Without a second thought Chat revealed the thing he was already thinking about all day: “I love Totoro.” Panicking over the realization of what he just said he already made up an excuse about how he met Alya’s siblings and their cat but Marinette’s eyes began to shine and she excitedly jumped up and down in front of him. “Really? You do? That’s great! If you want to we can watch it right now!” Chat Noir blinked at her, uncomprehending. Until now he had thought the girls came up with the name for their cat on their own and he had no idea what she was talking about but since it seemed to be a suitable opportunity to keep his identity a secret he tried to play along as best as he could. “Yeah sure, it’s great!” Marinette squealed and looked at him curiously. “What’s your favorite part?” “Uhm… uh… I don’t know… That’s a tough question. Maybe… everything?” Laughing she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards her window. “We’ll watch it right now so you can decide what you like best about it!” After 86 minutes of laughter and tears of joy Chat not only got the origin of his favorite cat’s name but also craved for more Ghibli films. Since Marinette was perfectly fine with that they ended up in a Ghibli marathon all night.

 Last week of November

“Father, my friend Marinette is with me to work on a project together!” Adrien called up the stairs into an empty hallway. To Marinette’s surprise Gabriel Agreste appeared just seconds later and her heart stopped for a second at the sight of her greatest idol who even addressed her directly. “Hello Miss…” “Dupain-Cheng” she blurted out tensed. “Hello Miss Dupain-Cheng. I don’t understand what is withholding my son from studying with my assistant Natalie as usual but I guess as long as it is for school I can accept it.” Adrien didn’t feel the need to correct his father who once nodded his head at them and then disappeared into the hallway as fast as he came. Normally Marinette would have been worried about putting Adrien in trouble but she barely realized what his father had said because she was too overwhelmed by the impressive mansion and its noble furniture. Even though they had planned to meet at his place before Adrien had to postpone their meeting due to extra fencing lessons and all the built-up excitement flooded Marinette at once. “You’re coming?” with an amused smile Adrien startled her out of her thoughts and she saw that he was already halfway up the stairs. “Oh, uhm, sure…” she mumbled embarrassed and hurried up the stairs behind him. Once they settled on Adrien’s comfortable couch he gave her an eager look. “I am ready to learn!” he stated, triggering tension and happiness in Marinette at the same time. “Well… I never taught anyone so don’t expect too much, ok? I don’t want to disappoint you” she responded carefully but Adrien’s expression stayed as cheerful. “I’m certain you won’t. Let’s try this out together! What do you think is a simple thing even I can handle?” Relieved Marinette smiled at him and relaxed, starting to bloom while talking about her passion. “It shouldn’t be a problem for you to modify already existing objects to your heart’s content and it may not sound like it but it’s fun! You can live out your creativity very easily. To begin with something appropriate…” gleefully babbling Marinette scrabbled through her bag until she finally found what she was looking for and proudly handed Adrien a simple white picture frame and a… gun? Adrien’s eyes widen in shock and as soon as she understood where his fright was coming from she uncontrollably started to laugh. “That’s… That’s just a hot glue gun! You never saw one? When it comes to handicrafts it is your very best friend!” Embarrassed Adrien looked to the ground. “In that case I’m going to call it Nino” he tried to distract her from his slip-up, gladly realizing that it worked perfectly. Greatly bushing thanks to his sweet words as always Marinette hurried to continue. “In that case take Nino and some decorations I brought you’d like to stick to the frame. Of course you can paint it previously too but it would be a waste of time to wait for the color to dry so we’ll directly start with the glue.” Gently he interrupted her. “I think that spending time with friends is never a waste of time but I get what you mean. Go on, that’s very promising and encouraging!” That cuteness again. If he would go on like that he would end up accidentally killing her. Marinette had to clear her throat before continuing her explanation. “I have to offer… beads of all kind, glitter, colorful buttons, feathers, small bells and… a lot of other things in fact.” They laughed together and Marinette felt that she grew more and more comfortable and relaxed around him. All in all she slowly but surely grew a little more confident around him. At the end of the afternoon Adrien knew the basics of crafting and Marinette made her way home extremely happy and proud of herself, promoted by a set date for another crafting session.

 “I’m curious Chat.” Prying Marinette advanced towards him. Once again she found herself next to the hero of Paris who grew a habit of visiting her regularly. “Someone’s being a nosy princess” he teased, provoking Marinette to playful huffy crossing her arms. “I only got one question minou. Don’t act like such a jerk!” His smirk softened and turned into a genuine smile “You know you can ask me anything, Mari.” Ignoring the light blush on her cheeks she smiled back. “What… Uhm, what would you like to be if you weren’t a superhero?” Chat looked at her in surprise. He didn’t know what he had expected but it certainly wasn’t a question like that. “Hmmm…” He scratched his chin and narrowed his eyes. “No idea?” laughing Marinette nudged his shoulder with her own and Chat began to laugh too “In fact I’m 100% sure what I want to be but it’s kind of embarrassing.” “What is it?” Marinette asked encouraging, excited for his answer. “A pokemon trainer.” “A… pokemon trainer?” “Yes. Absolutely. No other option.” Marinette blinked in disbelief and Chat got worried that he unsettled her with his nerdy confession. After a few seconds she finally began to beam. “It suits you, minou.” “It does?” he was visibly delighted and relieved. “Yeah, I mean it. Out there looking for adventures and caring for your friends, I can even see it in front of my inner eye.” “You don’t think it’s weird and… awkward?” he asked to reassure and Marinette gave him her ‘Are you serious?’-look. “Chat, I just outed myself as the biggest Ghibli fan there is so, no, that’s not awkward at all. Never be ashamed of the things you love. They make you who you are and I like who you are.” Pondering silence fell upon them. A warm feeling filled Chat’s chest. Rarely someone took his dreams serious, especially his childish ones. But Marinette seemed to understand him and he added it to the reasons why he cherished her. “So” Marinette crossed her legs, leaned even closer to him and looked at him as curious as ever “Which one is your favorite pokemon?” He didn’t even need a second to think about his answer. “Easy. It’s Eevee.” A complacent grin appeared on her lips since she had expected that answer. “Ah, I guess your favorite eeveelution is Umbreon then?” “Purrfectly right my Princess. You seem to understand me incredibly well, I truly appreciate that. But you still have to tell me what’s yours.” Marinette’s face turned bright red. “Mi- mine?” “Of course” Chat laughed. “You obviously know pokemon pretty well. You can’t hide your inner nerd from that super Cat with super vision! Tell me, you have to give me the chance to make a guess too.” Sighing she squared her shoulders and looked straight into his attentive green eyes. “Skitty.” An amused twitch played around the corners of his mouth. “Seriously, that pink little fur ball? You got to be skitten me.” “Shut up you moron” Marinette had to laugh that hard she nearly fell off her chair. “Besides, I guessed right.” “Yeah, sure you did.” “I did!” They spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing a lot without realizing that he started to call her ‘my princess’. But Tikki did.

 First week of December

On the first day of December four nicely wrapped little presents were sitting on the desks of Adrien, Nino, Alya and Marinette. The whole class caught a Christmassy spirit as they saw them while walking into class. Marinette hurried to her desk smiling but stopped as she heard a high-pitched squeal from behind her. She turned around to look at Alya wonderingly but Alya herself stared to another direction. As she followed her gaze Marinette realized who the real origin of the sound was. Nino stood in front of his present, hands pressed to his mouth and almost crying. “But… You didn’t even open it yet.” Adrien put his present back down to the table that he had already grabbed excitedly too so that he could try to calm his best friend down. “It’s so beautiful” he whispered but opened the soft package impatiently. Inside was a self knitted orange and blue striped bobble hat with some sort of flaps on the left and right. Confused he inspected the holes and his eyes widened as soon as he realized they were meant for his headphones. “The one who did this must be a genius” he exhaled impressed. Alya raised an eyebrow at him since he didn’t instantly realize who his Secret Santa was but decided to concentrate on her own gift instead of scolding him for being an idiot. Without further ado she ripped the paper apart and opened the box inside it. Brightly smiling she inspected a piece of paper with a photo and some personal information of her on it. “Wow, this is great, my own journalist pass! I’m officially important now!” she proudly concluded and pinned the badge to her blouse. “I’ll wear that every day so if Ladybug crosses my way she may think I’m worth giving a personal interview to! It’s the perfect plan!” Marinette giggled and Adrien felt a little proud of his idea while opening his own poorly wrapped present. Confused he looked at a chaotic basket with a little awry patchwork blanket inside of it. “What is this…?” he wondered and Nino next to him tried to act as innocent as possible. “Maybeee… it will make sense once you have all presents?” Adrien’s face brightened up without thinking about the fact that Nino more or less revealed himself as his Secret Santa. “It sure will! That makes the whole thing even more thrilling!” Proudly Nino beamed and Marinette had to suppress a laugh while opening her own small present. Inside she found a short ribbon with two pendants on it: a small green paw and a little ladybug. Excitedly she attached it to her phone and held it up to the others. “Look what I got! It’s great!” Nino gave her a thumbs-up and Adrien opened his mouth to congratulate her but was stopped by Madame Bustier’s voice filling the room: “Good morning, children! Let’s start today’s class!” During the whole lesson all of them inspected their gift further and waited for the break to come to brag and discuss about them. And they did. Marinette walked in on Alya and Nino who headed to the cafeteria before her and they seemed to have a serious conversation. She wanted to leave already but then she heard Nino saying her name. “…but also, Marinette!” “Hey, did you call for me?” she joined them but froze as soon as she saw the pale, wide-eyed Nino. “Woah, hold on, what’s going on here?” Alya waved it off and smirked. “Nino’s having a crisis.” “I mean, like” he continued without even realizing Marinette had arrived “she suggested I need a warmer hat but she was talking about a beanie not a bobble hat. So someone else could have used that as an inspiration for my gift. BUT there’s a high chance that it indeed is her! Alya help me I’m going insane.” He was sweating. “Stop torturing yourself, Nino! This is meant to be fun! You still have three weeks to figure your Secret Santa out and you will even get more clues. Relax, you’re not supposed to know it by now.” “But Alya said…” “Alya does not know everything even though she likes to act like it” Marinette interrupted him for his own sake and he already relaxed while Alya next to him stuck her tongue out at her who blew her a kiss. At that moment Adrien came up to them with a huge smile on his face. “Hey guys, are you as excited as I am? I can’t wait for next week!” For the rest of the break they happily chatted with each other, Alya kept chaffing Nino causing Marinette to laugh adorably and Adrien realized something. Throughout the whole Secret Santa event and its preparations he grew closer to Marinette with every day and she finally came over her shyness around him. Of course he had already cherished her but now he experienced how truly pleasant her presence and friendship was. And even though he got to spend more time with her it still wasn’t enough. Luckily for him there was Chat Noir. At the same day Marinette heavy heartedly came to a conclusion too. The more time she spent with Adrien she discovered that she truly admired his presence, as a friend. She had a crush on him for over two years now and he hadn’t shown the slightest bit of interest in her so what could possibly happen to change his platonic feelings towards her? Maybe she should work on that ‘just friends’-thing to be able to spend more, less awkward, time with him.

 To her own surprise and joy Alya’s plan of catching Ladybug’s attention worked out. Since the rules of Secret Santa Marinette Style ™ forbade it to give a present to any other than your giftee Marinette made a plan to rejoice her by admiring her newest achievement. “That badge is pretty cool!” Ladybug gave Alya an accretive look who proudly smiled at her heroine. She puffed up her chest and presented a badge that read ‘VIB – Very Important Blogger’. It looked objectively real. “Isn’t it? A friend of mine made it for me but I don’t know who it was yet. Secret Santa, you know?” She leaned in and whispered as if the following were top secret information. “I guess it’s my best friend though. It seems she made another present too but I just can’t imagine that the boys in the group are… creative enough to be capable of something like that to say the least.” Chat tried very hard to keep a straight face. Aside from needing to keep his identity a secret he didn’t know if he should be insulted about what Alya just said or if he should be proud about the fact that she thought Marinette’s gifted hands created the thing that was actually made by him. Thinking of Marinette… He wanted to visit her again this evening.

 Still musing about her feelings towards Adrien and her resolution to let go of them Marinette stood on her balcony and admired the scenery in front of her. Somewhere along the line her thoughts wandered off to the wonderful moments she had spent there during the last few weeks and how suddenly the person who accompanied her ever since sneaked a way into her life. Making excuses about not knowing “How to Christmas” he joined her on a regular basis as she was working on Christmas presents for her loved ones. Yet again Tikki tried to talk to her about her feelings towards Chat Noir but Marinette wasn’t ready to face the inconvenient truth about the conflict she was in as Ladybug. Maybe it would have been different if she had to work on gifts for Adrien. Maybe it was led by her decision to come over him. Or maybe Adrien hadn’t had the slightest part to play in this. No matter what it was, Marinette fell for Chat. “Princess! I’m here to wish you a happy Christmas Month!” Chat greeted her, startling her out of her thoughts. Nevertheless a bright beam appeared on her face because she was more than happy to see him. Amazed that his words had such a positive impact on her Chat couldn’t help but smile happily as well since her beam was quite infectious. “The same to you, minou! Good to see you” hearing her own affectionate tone she advised herself to pull herself together. Relieved that Chat seemed to not analyze her words she relaxed. “You missed my clawver puns, didn’t you? I knew it, you long for my catchy jokes and my tailent to make you laugh” he blathered and instantly wanted to slap himself. Snap out of it Agreste, it’s just Marinette! No need to be nervous. But the scolding didn’t help at all, his heart beat rapidly against his chest and under his gloves his hands were sweating despite the chill weather. To his surprise Marinette laughed instead of shaking her head annoyed yet amused like he expected her to. “You are terrible, you know that? I would rather call your puns pawful to be honest. Maybe I should look for a new furend to spend my evenings with” teasingly she smirked at him while his eyes widened in disbelief. “Did you just… Did you made…? For me?” An excited smile and a suppressed squeal found their way to Chat’s lips. Even though she intended to do something nice for him she didn’t expect him to get that happy about only two horrible puns. Not that she wanted to complain. His reaction was adorable. “Consider it an early Christmas present” she laughed while motioning at him to enter her room. “It’s the best gift you could have pawsibly made me, Purriii-” She pushed him into her room. “Enough is enough” she said before following him. But secretly she thought to herself that she could get used to that silly, loveable kitty curling up on her bed. And he didn’t want to leave it anytime soon either.

 Second week of December

“Fancy!” Alya stated as she immediately put on the orange mask she found inside the sparkling box she just opened. Marinette inspected it impressed too. She recognized the mask from her favorite store she recommended to Adrien and was quite proud of how he customized it. The painting wasn’t perfectly symmetrical but it still looked pretty good. Deciding that she sufficiently examined her student’s work she finally opened her own present. Silently she stared at the photo inside her hands. Everyone knew that she loved Alya with all of her heart but this present freaked her out. Shocked she looked at a photo of herself standing in front of the Eiffel Tower right next to Chat Noir and… herself. She blinked. Alya had photoshopped the two heroes of Paris into a photo of Marinette she took a few weeks ago. Gawking at the picture she was afraid that she was unable to pretend that she liked it even a bit. She just looked at her face and her face and it gave her goose bumps over her whole body. Apparently she couldn’t believe that Alya spent so much time editing the photo and still didn’t recognize her. Or did she?! Warily she looked at her best friend. “I can’t remember that ever happened” she nervously said to her friend. “I know that you met Chat Noir but did you ever meet Ladybug?” Alya asked without really paying attention while looking at her mask through her selfie camera. “Maybe one day you will really stand next to our heroine” she winked and Marinette wasn’t sure if she should be offended that her best friend still hadn’t get it even though she must have spent hours with Marinette’s face next to Marinette’s face but she was too glad to even care. It was nothing to make believe her relieved happiness was thanks to the present. She wrapped her arms around Alya’s neck. “Thank you so much!” “Who said it’s from me?” Alya shrugged but smirked at her. In front of them Nino barely could hold back the tears as he looked at the poster with a logo Marinette had designed just for him. Behind a graphic of Nino’s headphones a red vinyl shimmered due to the color she had used. The picture was surrounded by a quote of him she had always liked very much: ‘All I need is friends, family and music!’ Next to him Adrien inspected some ugly grey felt shaped like mice. At the sight Alya wrinkled her nose and Marinette began to feel bad for him but Adrien seemed to be perfectly happy with it. “I have no idea what’s going on but I still love it” he said cheerfully and everyone was impressed by his unconditional trust and love he had for his friends.

 Later that day Marinette once again found Chat Noir on her balcony and invited him in on condition of no puns for at least that evening. Grudgingly he agreed but both of knew that he wouldn’t stick to his word but it didn’t matter because they also knew that Marinette didn’t mean it. In consequence of him spending a lot of time inside of her room over the past few weeks Chat straightaway recognized the new frame on Marinette’s desk. In school he hadn’t had the chance to look at it so he inspected the picture interested and ended up genuinely confused. “I can’t remember that this ever happened?” he said, scratching the back of his head. He wouldn’t forget about saving Marinette and taking a picture afterwards, would he? Guilt built up inside of him but it vanished as soon as Marinette began to laugh. “That’s just what I was thinking! But a friend of mine made it, it’s photoshopped.” Chat smirked and took his chance to show off a little. “I guess I could arrange something to actually take a picture like that.” Marinette laughed it off nervously because no matter how incredible his powers were he definitely couldn’t arrange that. “Nah, I already spend more than enough time with you and I met Ladybug a few times so I think I can live with that one.” “You’re lying.” Afraid Marinette looked up to him. Did he figure it out at least? But he just wiggled his eyebrows. “One could never spend enough time with me.” “Please shut up” Marinette laughed relieved and loaded the cheesiest Christmas movie she could find into her computer: Love Actually. Today Chat would learn about the sentimental feeling of Christmas.

 “I am ready for something more difficult!” Adrien announced as soon as he was standing inside of Marinette’s room, his posters long gone. Unsure she motioned him to sit down on her second chair. “Are you sure? It’s only two more weeks until Christmas.” With a motivated grin on his face Adrien nodded and settled down next to her. “I learned from the very best and I’m certain I can try something more complicated! But not too hard please” he backtracked and Marinette giggled quietly. Then she had a sudden inspiration. “I have the perfect idea!” she said, hurried to her cupboard and rummaged through it for a while. Suddenly she threw a pair of fluffy socks at him that he managed to catch before it hit his face. “Socks?” he asked wondering as Marinette came back to her desk with her sewing box. “Yes, socks! It’s quite easy to sew a plushie with a sock. Let me show you…” Delighted Adrien watched her as she transformed the sock into the head of a black cat. Firstly she drew the shape of a cat on the sock and then sewed the outline. After that she cut it out, turned the inside out and stuffed it with some fiberfill until it looked squashy and cute. He had to admit that it indeed seemed to be easy but Adrien had the presumption that it would be harder for him as it was for her. Throughout the whole process he kept asking her questions and he intently watched every step as she showed him how to backstitch. “It may not work perfectly the first time you try to do it but a pair is made out of two socks for a reason” she winked and giggled cheerfully and if anyone would see Adrien’s affectionate smile they would instantly know what kind of feelings he developed for her. Tikki nearly had a breakdown. Unfortunately he had to leave for Chinese lessons but maybe it wouldn’t take long for a certain superhero to visit Marinette. On his way home Adrien bought 6 pairs of socks.

 Third week of December

Deep in thought Adrien inspected the present he found inside the little box that lied on his desk that day. “What’s that? A bracelet? A keychain?” He narrowed his eyes and intensely tried to solve the mystery. “Maybe you’ll get it once you get your last present?” Nino next to him said, unsuccessfully trying to not sound too suspicious again. “I guess…” Adrien answered barely paying attention to him. There was another person barely paying attention to the whole scene: Marinette. She looked at the nicely decorated sketchbook inside her hands. It was red, had green paws and black dots all over it and some glittering highlights. A pink Logo said ‘Marinette’s greatest ideas’. Tearing up she quietly stared at it for straight 5 minutes while Alya watched her happily smiling. Since it was clear that her best friend loved her present Alya decided it was time to wrap up her own gift. She squealed as she held some kind of lasso in her hands. “I’m a true superhero now too!” Excited she shook Marinette before she posed epically in front of the class. In the meantime Nino had another breakdown. “But I need to wear my glasses! All your work goes to waste!” he cried out in agony, dramatically holding the spectacle case he got up to the sky. Before anyone could try to calm him down he made up his mind. “You know what? Whoever you are, your effort will be appreciated!” He took off his gasses and put them inside the case. “I will not be able to see anything today but that’s totally worth it!” He stood up again and tried to sit back down on his seat but the whole class watched him nearly falling over the backrest. Hurryingly Adrien stood up to guard his best friend to his seat. “Thanks man” Nino said and blinked, looking slightly past him. “You should really put your glasses back o-“ “No! My Secret Santa will be appreciated!” Marinette giggled. Of course she was a little worried about him but Nino was too dorky and adorable to be serious about that and she was sure Adrien would take good care of him.

 “You’re a Marinette-Elf! A Marielf!” Chat Noir said excitedly, inspecting her hat, skirt and shoes while circling her. “I’ll definitely hold on to that nickname” he decided, ignoring her disapproving snort. She had known it would be a mistake to show herself to him like that but she was really proud of her design and for some reason she wanted to present it to him. “Where did you buy it?” Chat asked after his 5th round around her. “Excuse me?” she revolted with her hands on her hips. “Where did you get the costume? I would love to dress up with you” he admitted sheepishly but she was too offended to realize how sweet he was. “Chat, I made it myself” she clarified deadpanned. Wide-eyed he circled her another 5 times and inspected it even more precisely. “Oh my god Princess, I am so sorry! Marinette, that’s impressive! It looks professional and it is really well sewn. Of course I knew you’re good but why didn’t you tell me that you are a genius?” Actually Marinette wanted to tease him and ask him why he had thought so poorly of her but his admiration embarrassed her and she proudly flushed as he stepped extremely close to her to look at the pattern she stitched on her collar. Her breath caught with his face just a few inches away from her own and he slowly looked up as he realized how near her face was, how closer her lips were. For a few seconds they got caught up in each other’s eyes and while Chat noticed that the clear blue of Marinette’s had a calming influence on him she decided that the vivid green she lost herself in was from now on her uncontested favorite color. Eventually Chat shrunk back from her as if he just burned his hands on her body. In fact it exactly felt like that. Heat crept through his whole body from where he touched Marinette despite his gloves and he began to laugh nervously. “Well, Princess… ha… uhm, what do you want to t-teach me today?” he stammered, feeling like an awkward idiot who saw a beautiful girl for the first time in his entire life. “Wearing ridiculous costumes” she exhaled still paralyzed staring at him. The situation and the emotions that unexpectedly flooded him were too much for him so he followed his cat instincts and did the only thing he was able to manage at this moment: running away. “In that case I already passed my lesson for today, didn’t I? That comes in handy because I forgot I… I need to be somewhere. See you soon!” And with that, he was gone. For way too long Marinette kept staring at the spot where Chat stood before, only one frightening thought screaming at her: She had a helpless crush on Chat Noir.

 Marinette couldn’t stand it any longer, she needed to talk to someone about her confusing feelings. Too late she realized that Alya may not have been the best choice. “He’s just a flirt.” “He is not!” “You are the one dating him after all” Alya smirked at Marinette who rolled her eyes. “I am not.” Alya shrugged “But you want to. And in that case you totally have a crush on said flirt.” “I told you he is not a flirt! He tries his best to be a gentleca- man. A gentleman.” Oh no. There was no way Alya would ever let go of what she just said. Unsurprisingly her best friend’s eyes widened, her mouth fell open and her ‘I don’t really care’-attitude was gone within a single second. “Were you just about to say gentlecat? Are you freaking kidding me, Marinette?” Bright red Marinette avoided eye contact and fumbled at her purse with Tikki inside of it. Come to think of it she should have rather talked to her in the first place. “I didn’t… I wasn’t… Seriously that was not what I was going to say!” Finally Alya managed to regain her composure and shot Marinette a knowing grin. “Whatever you say girl. Oh, for your interest, you didn’t even deny that you have a thing for Chat Noir at all.” With a resigned sigh Marinette slid down her chair. “I don’t have the power to do that. Please give me a break.” Laughing Alya patted her best friend’s head to at least comfort her a little. Neither of them noticed Adrien sitting in his chair as straight as a post. He had heard everything. For the last few days two strong feelings accompanied him on every step he took: the urge to confess his affection towards Marinette and the painful dread of being rejected by her. Nevertheless at that very moment he made the decision to tell Marinette how deeply he felt for her. Persuading himself that as Chat Noir he could deal with it if she dismissed him and that he could try harder as Adrien gave him all the courage he needed.

 Last week of December

This week no one found a present on their desk, the friends had agreed to get to the finally on Christmas Day. A little disappointed the rest of the class compelled them to report every present to them since they witnessed the whole thing from the beginning and wanted to know how it ended too. Except for Chloé of course. On the last day of school Rose handed every single classmate a little personalized Christmas card while Mylène served various cookies and Kim refused the bet that he wouldn’t miss a single one of them. Marinette loved the team spirit of her class and knew for sure that she would miss them dearly throughout vacation but she was too excited to feel sad. Alya, Nino and Marinette planned to meet on Christmas Day to deliver the last gifts and even though Adrien wasn’t sure if his father would let him go he assured his friends that he would somehow find a way. That statement worried his friends more than it eased them but they couldn’t change his mind so they decided to just enjoy the holidays.

 “Come out already!” Marinette hid out of sight of her window. So far she was not ready to face Chat Noir after what happened the week before, she needed more time to figure her feelings out. “Tikki, what should I do? He knows I’m home but I… I can’t talk to him!” With an understanding smile her Kwami snuggled up to her. “I get that it’s hard Marinette but you don’t want to be as shy around Chat as you were around Adrien, do you? Is it worth to-“ “Princess! Please, I have to tell… show you something!” “Gosh, he’s stubborn. What did you want to say?” slightly annoyed Marinette faced Tikki again. “It’s just that I’m concerned that you’ll be unhappy about-“ “I know that you can hear me Marielf. It’s urgent, come on!” Questioningly Tikki looked at her. “You don’t want to go see him? Not at all?” Conflicted Marinette began to waffle. “It’s not like I’m completely aga-“ “I am freezing, you know?” Eventually an upset moan escaped Marinette’s lips and she tucked a blanket around her shoulders as she rushed furiously towards her balcony. “Chat, I swear to god I’m gonna…” She popped her head out of the window but froze in her tracks as she saw Chat’s face right in front of hers. Suspiciously she looked up and there it was, fatefully hanging above them: a mistletoe. “Woops” Chat whispered. “Guess we have to do it since it’s a very strict Christmas rule and I just learned that you have to stick to those.” He already leaned in but Marinette grabbed the green branch and threw it away. “I’m not going to kiss you because of such a stupid thing!” Seeing his deeply pained expression made her say the next sentence earlier than she had planned to. “I’m going to kiss you because I want to” she corrected under her breath, quickly wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him towards her. Both of them felt the smile on the others lips as they finally met gently. It was a cute, soft kiss but it was all they could ever wish for.

 Christmas Day

Adrien spent the next day with his head up in the clouds. All day long he felt the memory of her kiss on his lips, thought about the enchanting blue of her eyes and heard her laugh in his ears. Never before had he experienced such a fuzzy, tickling feeling and he knew that this had to be love. But his high spirit got dumped just a few hours after his first kiss. “Adrien.” His father looked down at him and Adrien was afraid of what he had to say. It was a rare occasion that his father spoke to him personally instead of delivering news through Nathalie except for when they were dining together. If he was completely honest to himself Adrien already knew what his father had to say but he fought back the disappointment and instead kept his hope alive until his father continued. “I have to excuse myself this evening. A… situation appeared and I have a lot of work to do. I’m aware it is the second year we have to miss your mother and I genuinely regret this unfortunate situation.” Adrien gulped. Don’t cry. “But we’ll still have dinner together. Just… a little earlier. I’ll spend Christmas with my son nevertheless”, his father added quickly as he saw his son trying to hide how deeply hurt he was. Even Gabriel Agreste couldn’t let his son feel so bad on Christmas so he reluctantly made a decision and sighed. “You may even spend the evening with your friends. Just be back home in time.” After that showing of emotions he left immediately and Adrien was too overwhelmed to stop him. He knew exactly where he wanted to spend his Christmas Eve. Or rather: With whom.

 Dinner with his father was unexpectedly amusing and light-hearted. Obviously his father tried his very best to make it up to his son that he would not be able to spend Christmas Eve with him by trying to even joke around a little. Of course he wasn’t funny at all but Adrien appreciated the effort he made. Maybe the unexpected meeting his father had to participate in was the best thing that could have happened, Adrien couldn’t remember of when he had so much fun with his father before so it didn’t matter if it was Christmas Eve or Christmas Noon. In addition he was super excited to meet his friends and especially Marinette later. He had never spent a holiday with friends before and the anticipation flooded through his body with every heartbeat.

 Christmas at the Dupain-Chengs was the purest thing Adrien ever experienced. The love they had for each other was sensible in every word they spoke and every gesture they made. There was not a single moment anyone seemed stressed, annoyed left alone angry. Even when Tom forgot to get the dough for his Bûche de Noël out of the oven in time due to a video game he and Adrien lost against Marinette he laughed about it full-heartedly. Now Adrien knew where all the warm feelings Marinette had to spread were coming from. This little flat near Notre Dame was filled with more affection on only one evening than the mansion Adrien called home had been since his mother disappeared. He truly felt like he was part of the family. Knowing that the comfy homey feeling he felt in every inch of his body wouldn’t last he enjoyed it to the fullest. After all it was impossible anyway to not be extremely happy spending the whole time right next to Marinette. “You haven’t opened your present yet, Adrien!” Sabine complained and handed him a nicely wrapped round package. “My what now?” Adrien asked bewildered and Sabine giggled nearly as cute as her daughter did. “You’re our guest and we like having you here! Of course we prepared a little something for you.” Adrien couldn’t believe it. The evening got even better. “But… I asked if I could spend the night here just three hours ago. How could you find me a present in that time?” Heavy-weighted Tom placed his hands on Adrien’s shoulders. “It’s nothing big but we want you to feel truly welcome here. Open it already!” Marinette’s encouraging smile sealed the deal. Excited Adrien ribbed the paper apart and held a little jar in his hands. Inside of it were cookies and if that wasn’t enough he realized they were shaped like cats as soon as he wanted to try one. “Oh my, thank you so much! That’s incredible nice of you but I don’t think I can eat them. They’re adorable.” Tom proudly put an arm around his wife as she gladly smiled about the fact that Adrien liked his present while Marinette threw her arms around him. His heart stopped. “In that case I’m going to make you more cookies in any shape you want!” she laughed and Adrien wanted to tell her so badly how cute she was but he couldn’t. He wanted to tell her that he was the one she kissed just yesterday and that he wanted to do exactly that right now. He wanted to tell her the truth, that he was Chat Noir and that he was the one who loved her. But not a single sound made it over his lips. Fortunately the bell rang at that very moment. “Alya and Nino are finally here!” Marinette cheerfully sprinted towards the door, leaving Adrien alone with his complicated thoughts. A few moments later Nino startled him out of his thoughts. “Dude, you’re coming?” Quickly Adrien followed his friend to Marinette’s room where she and Alya were already chatting cheerfully. It seemed like they were talking about Totoro but Adrien was too distracted to even realize that. “Okay I can’t take it anymore you need to open your present right now! You know I’m your Secret Santa anyway.” Eventually Alya handed Marinette an oversized present. Gasping she took it hesitantly. “Oh my god Alya, what’s that?” “You know the thing is you have to open it” laughing Alya pushed it towards her and slowly Marinette unwrapped the gift. It was a huge framed screenshot that threw the bold headline ‘THE GREAT MARINETTE BLOG!’ to its reader’s faces. Some of Marinette’s designs were spread over the page and Alya wrote down a list of things ‘Everyone has to love about Marinette Dupain-Cheng’. In the middle was another headline above a photo of them: ‘Does she have the best friend in the world or what?’ “She does!” Marinette squealed and threw herself into Alya’s arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! This will definitely get a special place on my wall. I love it! I love everything! I love you!” “You’re next!” Regardless of the cuddling going on Nino passed a package to Adrien. Realizing that it wasn’t official yet that Adrien was his giftee Nino got afraid he screw the whole gift exchange and made up a pity excuse. “I… uhm, I found it over there… It had your name on it… so I guess… it’s from your Secret Santa?” The gift did not even have a name tag on it but Adrien was too excited to notice and quickly opened the present. “What is that even supposed to be?” Alya crocked an eyebrow at the… thing in his hands. “It’s a cat!” he answered without missing a beat. “… a cat?” “Yeah, sure! It is obviously a cat.” “Obviously!” Nino emphasized Adrien’s statement. He was holding a stuffed black sock, two corks glued to each side, two buttons poorly sewn to what Alya considered the front as it seemed slightly thicker than the rest of the ‘body’ and some loosen strains of wool were tucked to it at the other end. It did not have ears though. Obviously Nino could have used Marinette’s help too. “Moreover it is a gorgeous little kitty” Adrien added. And he meant it. “Adrien, please tell me you didn’t draw your own name and kept quiet to not cause us any trouble and please tell me you were not making these crappy gifts for yourself.” “Crappy?!” An offended yell escaped Nino’s lips. “They’re made with love! … Wait, I just revealed myself. Now he knows that his Secret Santa is neither Marinette nor you. It’s obvious now, I screwed up everything!” “It’s already been obvious, babe.” “No!” “Yes. It’s been as obvious as your Secret Santa since the very moment you opened your first present.” “No, it wasn’t!” “Nino, I can’t even knit. And I guess neither can Adrien.” “Maybe I was in the misconception of believing that both of you loved me enough to learn it for my sake.” “Nino, you can’t be serious. Since it’s obvious that I am Marinette’s Secret Santa yours could only be Mari herself or Adrien and you cannot convince me that anyone would assume that Adrien is capable of creating the gifts you got! No offense” she added with a short glance to Adrien. “None taken” he laughed. “People are full of surprises, Alya! I believe that everyone has an unexpected hidden talent inside of them. Also I got that excited that I couldn’t think straight” he added quietly. “Yeah, that’s obvious” Alya answered after a victorious laugh. “I get it now!” Adrien suddenly interrupted her. “A basket, cat toys and a collar! You made sure that I would be able to secure a comfy home for my new kitty friend and that it has everything it needs! You’re at least as precious as this little boy right here” Proud and happy Adrien beamed at his best friend. “Aw, man!” Nino clenched one hand to his chest and started to tear up while Adrien put an arm around his shoulders. “These guys…” Alya shook her head while Marinette giggled next to her. Before Nino could start to cry Marinette decided to step in. “Do you want your gift now too?” “YES!” he said a little too loud without hesitation so she handed it to him. Within seconds Nino opened it and revealed a fictile trophy that looked like a Grammy Award. “Best musician in any universe and all dimensions - ever” Nino read out loud and looked at Marinette, tearing up again. “Dude. How can you expect me to act all stoic while all of you are being cute as hell?!” He threw his hands up in despair before putting his glasses down to dab his eyes with the tissue Alya offered him. Coughing slightly Adrien took out the last Secret Santa present of the year. “So it really is you” Alya whistled impressed as she reached out to take it and started to unwrap it. Adrien flushed a little, scratched the back of his neck embarrassed and avoided her eyes but smiled brightly due to her surprised gasp. “I did everything on my own! But I had great help when it comes to instructions” he smiled at Marinette who would have been proud of him if the plush Alya was currently holding wouldn’t have been a Kwami. It was possible that he miserably failed the proportions of an actual fox or he did very well at Kwami proportions. “It’s a side kick!” Adrien explained unsure why Marinette looked so shocked. “Isn’t it time to go back to your families?” Marinette heard herself saying while her thoughts circled around one question. “Unfortunately yes. It got kinda late so I have to leave… But we’ll see each other tomorrow, right?” Alya asked with a hopeful smile. “Of course! Say Merry Christmas to your family for me, would you?” While the girls hugged each other Nino faced Adrien who was still worried about Marinette’s reaction. “Man, I’m still kinda sad that you’re spending this big day with her family instead of mine but I get it that it’s too crowded at my place with the whole family for you. Save some Christmassy happiness for me, would you?” “Of course” Adrien laughed and for a moment he thought that he was only overreacting but as soon as Nino and Alya were out of the door Marinette expression got serious and she dragged him back to her room. “How did you come up with the sidekick?” she asked as innocently as possible. Surprised he looked at her. “What do you mean? You showed me how to easily sew plush toys with socks and that’s exactly what I did” he explained, wondering what she wanted to hear. “Yeah but… why did you chose these proportions? It looked… quirky.” “Oh… well I guess that’s all I was capable of” he tried to laugh it off. When he decided to sew Alya a Kwami he was sure no one would get suspicious since they had no idea what Kwamis were much less what they looked like. “Yeah, makes sense” Marinette answered without a trace of amusement in her voice. Nervously Adrien tried to withstand her observing look but he failed and his eyes darted to his bag where he assumed Plagg being asleep as usual. “Ha!” Marinette blurted out and sprinted to the bag to rip it open. Helplessly Adrien reached out his hand in an attempt to stop her but he could only watch her, now paralyzed. Even though she already expected it she stared at the black cat-like Kwami inside bewildered. It yawned. “Hey kiddo, why did youuuuuuuuuu…” It’s already huge eyes widened even more as it saw Marinette. “Too late now to act like a doll, isn’t it?” With a resigned sigh he flew up to be on eye-level with her. “Hello Marinette. My name is…” “Plagg. I know. Tikki mentioned you before.” Plagg’s jaw dropped open while Adrien finally overcame his state of shock and hurried towards them and grabbed Plagg, laughing nervously. “Hahaha, Marinette that’s kind of embarrassing, you found my… You know that’s just a toy that… Wait. Who’s Tikki?” ‘And how does she know about Kwamis, Plagg in particular?’ he added mentally. The situation freaked him out, he had no idea what was happening. Already opening her mouth Marinette intended to explain but she was stopped by a red flash that dashed towards Plagg from a hidden corner of her room. It happened too fast for Plagg to elude so he got caught up in a tight hug from Tikki, her voice even higher pitched than usual. For the first time since he met him Adrien heard something like a giggle from Plagg as he snuggled up to his red companion. Adrien didn’t know which fact bewildered him more: Marinette holding a Kwami or Plagg being delighted at shown affection towards him. And then it hit him. “Wait… wait. Waitwaitwait. That would mean that you… you are…” “Yes, Chat.” “You are… You are… I mean it would mean that you are…” “Chaton!” “But… You are- wait! You are…” “Tikki, I hate to interrupt your reunion but spots on for the sake of that adorable dork.” Dumbfounded Adrien stared at Marinette. Ladybug. Who was Marinette. She waited for him to react in any way but he just stood there, frozen. For more than 40 seconds and Marinette got nervous. “Minou? Could you say something?” “Howcanyoubesocalmrightnow?” he squealed. “I guess I kind of hoped it was you…?” she admitted quietly and sheepishly looked down. Finally Adrien moved and walked up to her. She looked up to him. “I couldn’t have wished for this in my wildest dreams” Adrien whispered under his breath, took her face in his hands and kissed her. “Oh my… I’m so happy right now.” Smiling Marinette nuzzled his nose with her own and Adrien happily leaned in to touch foreheads. Neither of them realized how long they were standing there but suddenly Marinette drew back. “Oh wait, I got a present for you!” Excitedly Marinette rummaged through her drawer while Adrien watched her delighted. “You were not allowed to prepare a gift for me. It’s an official rule of Secret Santa Marinette Style ™, remember?” “I didn’t know it was you, remember?” she responded, slightly annoyed. “Oh yeah. I guess you didn’t break a rule. But I did!” he beamed brightly at her and proudly handed her a small package wrapped in pink at the same time Marinette gave him a small box in light green. “You dishonored my baby!” she yelled and threw her present at him. As he caught the soft piece he walked over to her and put his arms around her. “I wanted to make you something special. And Chat Noir did not participate so… It’s absolutely fine.” “I guess” she answered trying to hide her smile but Adrien cupped her face and kissed her again. “Now open it!” he said excitedly and she began to laugh. Since she really wanted to know what it was she ripped the paper apart. “Oh my god! This is… open yours.” “We are meant for each other. That’s the purrfect purresent, Purrincess” Adrien whispered into her ear and Marinette had to fight the urge to slap and to kiss him at the same time. “You’re not even in costume right now” she complained and he grinned roguishly grinned at her. “You have to deal with the Chat Noir inside of me all the time now.” She leaned towards him and smirked. “I guess I can only just live with that.” And with that she decided to give in to the urge to kiss her silly cat. “But… you know Umbrion’s details aren’t green but ye-“ “It’s shiny, ok?” she interrupted him. “And I mean… Do you really think Skitty looks like this?” she held up the sock plush he made for her. He smirked. “But you still love it.” She beamed at him. “I do indeed.”

“Merry Christmas, my Lady.” “Merry Christmas, my love.”

You did it! It’s over! I am still sorry and I still hope you like it! You’re great!

(also thanks to @midnight1217 and @reyawoodelf because without them this wouldn’t have come to an end and I would have been completely lost)

[creator-zee]

1

    I laid in my bed staring at the ceiling. My laptop was next to me open to an empty word document that needed to have a rough draft on it by Friday. I lay in a stupor for a while until I jumped up when I heard the door the my dorm open. I knocked my laptop of the bed and let out a string of curses under my breath as I leaned over the bed to grab it. Rex snickered from the back of my mind and I mentally chastised him as I straightened and made my way to the entry room

     A tall girl (who added to her already considerable height with a pair of black leather boots) stood in the entry way with two suitcases and a back pack looked slightly confused. I took note of the cross necklace and “god is life” pin on her back pack and internally groaned to Rex. ‘Great of course my roommate would be some church girl. And a tall one at that. I’m the one bonded to a demon but yet she towers over me. What use is a deal with a demon if some bible girl is still taller then me?’

     Rex mumbles some reply but I don’t pay attention as the girl finally seemed to notice me. Her eyes went straight to my right arm which had a black demon mark from the shoulder to wrist. She scoffed “Of course I get stuck with the roommate with a demon mark.”

     My brain raced to come up with a believable excuse how did she recognize the mark. “Just because I choose to express myself through ink on my skin doesn’t mean my tattoo is a ‘devil mark.’”

     She stared blankly at me. “I said demon mark not devil mark but whatever.”

    I decided instead of defense to go on the offense at least get her off my back so I could do my English homework. “Either way bible girl, my body, my life, my choices. Just because I don’t choose to worship an imaginary deities some ancient dudes supposedly met doesn’t mean I’m evil.”

    The girl paused, biting back a retort, and exhaled one kind slow breath before starting. “Look I don’t want to argue with each other. Let’s just ignore each other unless we need something. I’ll stay on my side you stay on yours. My name’s Rachel if you need to talk to me demon girl.”

    I shrugged. I didn’t really want to get in a fight with bible girl... Rachel... if I could avoid it. After a quick confirmation from Rex I replied simply with my name, “Lily,” before turning and going back in my room to continue staring at my blank laptop.

     I didn’t have another encounter with bible girl until a week later when my thought process was interrupted by a series of short knocks on my door. I paused before deciding I couldn’t just ignore it and got up to open the door. Sure enough bible girl is standing outside looking slightly nervous. I lean against the doorway and raise an eyebrow. “What.” I see no need for niceties.

    She fiddles absentmindedly with that cross before droning, “Look demon girl I figured I should ask you if it’s okay if I had a few friends over.”

      I shrug “Not like I care bible girl. Just don’t get to wild.” Rex snorts in my head ‘like that should be a problem. Look at her, bet she hasn’t had wine outside of church.’

     She scowls. “I told my name’s Rachel stop calling me that. Besides what do you care? Need peace and quiet to go smoke your pot in your room?”

      I mentally restrain myself. I can’t incinerate my roommate as much as I want to. The paperwork would be a hassle. “Uh, no. I need to write an essay; my final draft is due tomorrow.” She turns to leave and I add, “and I will stop calling you bible girl if you stop calling me demon girl, bible girl.” I hear her stammering some response but turn around and shut my door. I really need to work on my essay.

     Several hours later I’m reading through my essay again much to the complaint of Rex who claims “all the stupid English words look the same at this point and I should just stop.” In favor of coffee ,which require me getting up, I use a simple spell to keep myself awake and Rex complains ‘this is not the intended purpose of demon magic. I did not make a contract with you so you could use my magic for homework.’ I wave my hand in the air brushing him off. ‘Whatever, I let you have fun on the weekends or did you forget how we pay for this ‘crappy human crap.’’ Rex groans in response and I meant ally laugh before continuing to work. Halfway through, I hear a loud crash from outside my room. I ignore it and keep reading. I’m sure bible girl can figure it out she is a giant after all. But a few seconds later another crash shakes the walls. Rex is still sulking so I don’t have to worry about him but my curiosity is still very much present. After sitting for a little bit I save my work close the lid of the laptop and exit my room.

     Outside my room is chaos. The entryway is littered with shoes and coats tossed randomly everywhere. I thought church girls were supposed to be organized. I follow the sound of giggling girls to bible girl’s room. The door is cracked open and I peak in the see bible girl sitting in the floor while her two friends are draped over her bed laughing. Bible girl is loosely holding a bottle of champagne and a few other empty glass bottles are littered around the room. What happened to goody two shoes? Finally I spotted the source of the commotion: bible girls desk is upside down and another girl is laying spread-eagle on top of it like she fell. I turn to leave after all it’s not my problem, and I don’t feel like trying involved in this nonsense right now. 

     Unfortunately, bible girl spots me. She giggles drunkenly, “Hey demon girl. Mind giving us a hand?”

I ignore her continuing to walk away. 

     “Hey! She was talking to you bitch!” 

      One of bible girls friends has yelled at me from the bed. I turn slowly gritting my teeth using all my restrain from stopping my eyes from shifting into demon form like they do sometimes when I’m really angry. I really don’t like being insulted. 

     I spit out each word carefully. “Yes, I do mind, so clean up your own mess. Bitch.” Before I can hear their response and lose control I storm back to my room. Finally finished with my essay, I put my laptop away and sigh, time for some sleep. 

     Just as I’m about to drift off to sleep I feel my bed sink under someone’s weight. I lie very still and try to control my breathing opening my eyes slowly to see who it is. Fear leaves my body being replaced by anger as I see the tall form of bible girl.

     I whisper shout, not wanting to wake the whole dorm, “What the fuck are you doing?”

      Bible girl giggles. “Stealing a kiss from a demon.”

     I sigh, some thief. “Won’t you go to hell for that, bible girl?”

     She hiccups. “Maybe.”

     I sit up keep the drunken girl at arms length. ‘I should probably help her right? She’s so drunk.’ 

      Rex laughs. ‘Why? It’s her fault. I say dump her in her room and let her friends deal with her... or even better draw something on her face then give her back.’ 

      I glare as best I can at a demon in my mind. ‘No we’re not doing that.’

      I get up and drag the drunken girl out of bed forgetting I’m only in shorts and a large t-shirt.

      She giggles while stumbling after me, “Ooh the demon has some nice legs. Too bad you have that ugly demon mark, oh sorry tattoo, or you might actually be cute.”

      I ignored her and took her back to her room. It’s still a mess but her friends seem to have vanished. I lay her in bed and point. “Stay.” I return with a glass of water and hand it to her. “Drink.” She finishes it and I take it back. “Sleep.”

      She mumbles. “Fine bossy pants,” but lays down anyways. I return to leave a full glass of water on her night stand before retreating back to my room. Rex mumbles ‘and you call her goody two shoes.’

Being the genius I am I retort ‘oh just shut up.’

     I wake up to shouting in the next room. I squint and run my eyes who is bible girl in an argument with this early.

     “Ugh! Moooom I already told you I don’t want to date Bobby. I don’t care care that he’s handsome and sweet and a real gentleman...”

     Sounds like bible girls in trouble with her parents. 

     “... can’t I just focus on school while I’m in college... yes I know eventually you want me to get married and have kids but eventually isn’t right now... yes I promise... no I won’t fool around with girls anymore... no that’s not why I’m not dating any guys right now...”

     Off sounds like bible girl drew the short straw. Must suck being gay and religious. Guess I shouldn’t have been surprised after how she acted last night. 

      “... I already told you there’s no demons here... no I’m not sure... lots of people have tattoos okay mom... yeah I’ll be careful... yes I’ll call you if I found one. I really doubt a demon will be going to college though... love you... bye.”

     Oh great she knows demons exist, and that they can bond with humans in a demon mark. Just great. I bet her family are demon hunters too and use the power of christ in an honorable quest to rid demon scum from the earth. Not like demons can survive un-bonded on Earth anyways. They can only survive in hell.

     I glance at my clock. Shit! It’s already 7am I have to print my paper and get to class by 8am to turn it in and the library and my class are on opposite ends of campus. Guess I’m skipping breakfast. 

    Rex, being his oh so helpful self, suggests, ‘why don’t you just teleport?’

      I groan ‘because that won’t go badly at all.’

      ‘I don’t know what your talking about we only almost teleported inside a girl last time. It was fine.’

      ‘Right. Fine.’

    Luckily I only have morning classes today meaning I can return back to my bed after a quick snack from the cafeteria. 

     I shove the bagel  in my mouth as I fiddle with the keys to my dorm. As I get the door open and remove my keys I take the bagel out of my mouth only for it to be knocked out of my hand by bible girl who has pinned me up against the wall? What is going on? Anger and confusion night for control before I see the fallen bagel and anger takes over. Low on sleep on food I’m not in the right mind and I let my anger control me. My eyes turn black and my iris begins to glow a cyan blue.

     Bible girl whispers next to my ear. “Hah. Knew it. You are a fucking demon. Don’t worry I won’t tell. I like demons. They make such good fuck buddies.”

     My anger grows and I use my magic to bolster my strength. A cyan glow surrounds my arm in the rough shape of Rex’s demon form’s arms. Bible girl, though maybe I should just call her bitch since she certainly doesn’t act like much of a bible girl anymore, stands no chance against my magic and I slam her against a wall. 

     “Want to say that again?” I growl lowly. 

     She doesn’t look scared like she should instead she smiles. “Ooh, feisty I like it.”

     ‘I’ll show you feisty.’

     I start with a knee to the stomach causing her to double over. I bring her face down into my knee. Blood begins to soak my pants but I ignore it. In fact I’m invigorated by it. I let her go and she collapses to the ground. I kick her in the side. Hard. Repeatedly.

     “Please... stop...” I hear her whimper.

      I snap out of it. My eyes returning back to their normal brown color. I stare at the bruised bloody and beaten girl on the ground. What have I done?

      ‘What she deserved’ Rex states before retreating in my mind.

      I crouch down and feel for a pulse. It’s there. Thank god I didn’t kill her. I hurry to my room and grab my bandage kit that I use on myself on the weekends. Luckily, I don’t think I broke anything since I used my legs not my magically strengthened arms. But her nose is bleeding. If that doesn’t stop she could bleed to death. I sit her up despite her groans and tilt her head forwards pinching the bridge of her nose until the blood flow stops. Then I assess the damage her clothes are probably ruined, stained with blood. The floor luckily is wood and should hopefully clean up fine. I help bible gir- no Rachel to her room and tell her to change into new clothes and I will try to wash those. While she’s changing, I clean the floor. I toss the bagel in the garbage and the towel in the sink. I’ll wash it with Rachel’s clothes when I get them from her.

     As I wait outside Rachel’s room I wonder how I’m going to fix this. Rachel’s obviously going to tell someone after I beat the shot out of her. Man... I’m so screwed. L is going to kill me if he as to move his operation because I got mad over a bagel.

     Rachel hands me her clothes holding them as far away from herself as she can. When I reach for them she flinches back and I sigh. I really messed up. I sit against the wall as I wait for the clothes and towel to dry.

     Several hours later Rachel leaves her room and towers confidently over me. “You know I could call my parents. One word and they’d be here in an instant to exorcise your sorry ass.” She holds her phone in one hand fingering it gently to call attention to it. She pauses, staring me down. “But... I suppose I could keep it a secret and this,” she gestures to her nose, “a secret. If... only if you do what I say.”

     I nod slowly. Unfortunately, I don’t have many other options and I think she knows that.

     Rachel grins evilly. “Great! I’ll let you know if I need anything.”

      I think I’m going to start calling her bitch. 

     Bitch comes into my room later (without knocking) and plops down on my bed, where I’m sitting. I pull my knees up to my chest away from her. She’s currently sporting a black eye and probably several other bruises under her, admittedly stylish, outfit. 

     “What’s a demon like you doing in college?” When I don’t respond right away she pulls out her phone and pretends to start dialing.

     “Fine. Whatever. I’m just here to get my medical license.”

     “Really? Why would a demon want to be a doctor?”

     “Why does anyone want to be a doctor?” I retort. “And don’t you know I’m not a demon. I’m still human just bonded with a demon.”

     Bitch laughs hollowly. “Of course I know that. Blonde, not dumb. Saying human bonded to demon is just such a mouthful we just refer to people like you as demons. Obviously, real demons can’t survive in this realm.” She pauses for a while just looking at me. Normally I don’t care about what people think about me but I shrink from her gaze. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because she tried to seduce me or maybe because I beat her up or maybe because she know has control over my life.

     She suddenly grabs my right arm. I resist at first but she glares and I let her grab it. He runs her arms up and down I try to resist flinching at her touch. As she pushes the specs of my t-shirt over my shoulder she mutters, “You know you can learn a lot about a demon from its mark.”

     I did actually know that and knew what to look for in other demon marks to gauge power, strength, and specialties. The ability to read my opponents tends to come in handy in the ring. She yanked on my arm pulling it closer to her face. Reluctantly, I let her.

     “You must be bonded with a particularly powerful demon since your mark covers your whole arm.”

     I don’t reply hoping she won’t uncover anymore info about me or Rex.

     “Unfortunately, I never learned how to read demon marks, thought it was useless. But, I have an uncle I bet would be willing to teach me. Just you wait demon I will know all your secrets soon enough.”

     With that foreboding statement she dropped my arm and left the room. I pulled my arm back to me, pulling my sleeve back down. Maybe I’ll start wearing long sleeves.

[siverwrites]

For the ship meme... I'm not sure who you ship besides Olivier/Mueller so do you want to have a go at this one as well? :D Or how about Sheena/Zelos from Tales of Symphonia if you ship that? (and if you don't, your ToS OTP?)

As tempting at Olivier and Mueller are I think all my answers would just follow a similar vein to yours. You covered them so well. No damnit, I want to ramble about them too so, they’ll come in another one because I can’t help myself. Zelos and Sheena below.

I don’t specifically ship Sheena and Zelos but good with giving this a shot. I pretty much can go either way with them and hey some ToS love!  That game will always hold a special place in my heart.

who is more likely to hurt the other?Physically: Sheena giving him some well earned smacks.Emotionally: Zelos not necessarily always intentionally but if it was gonna happen (and then there’s the whole apparent betrayal thing)

who is emotionally stronger?Pheeew... That’s an interesting one for these two. They’re both messes and dealing with traumas. I’m gonna with Sheena here though overall taking into consideration how she does handle things with Volt and Mizuho and Kuchinawa whatnot. She also faces her stuff and admits to it as prickly as she gets. Zelos is in laugh at it off and flirt and be an ass mode. And if you go with the Kratos route for party than Zelos really loses it. I mean he has his redemption at death’s door but... yeah Sheena. 

who is physically stronger?Easy thing to do is look at stats but I honestly can’t remember. I’m guessing Zelos stronger, Sheena being more agile.

who is more likely to break a bone? Not being entirely serious here but Zelos. I mean Sheena gets dumped down a pit trap, caught in the attack on Luin, grabbed by giant tree roots and always comes out okay. Ninja training. She’s tough stuff.

who knows best what to say to upset the other? Leaning toward Zelos. Sheena is more likely to just throw insults but Zelos is smart and tends to know more than he lets on. Probably more insightful than Sheena. (some of these questions are evil argh)

who is most likely to apologise first after an argument? I’m not sure. Whoever started it eventually owning up?

who treats who’s wounds more often? Zelos with the actual healing magic while Sheena grumbles.

who is in constant need of comfort? Just quietly scratch out the constant part.

Can this be mutual? They both need.

who gets more jealous? Kind of leaning toward Zelos. For all his cockiness he’s lacking self-esteem and people issues and his ‘joke of a life’

who’s most likely to walk out on the other? Why this question? Ugh... maybe for similar reasons to the above, Zelos?

who will propose? Zelos to a very flustered Sheena who can’t believe he’s actually being serious you idiot. Butokay.

who has the most difficult parents?We don’t get to learn about Sheena’s but from what I remember of Zelos’s background his mom (or was it step or half mom?) was a real peach. Zelos here all the way.

who initiates hand-holding when they’re out in public? Zelos.

who comes up for the other all the time? I wish I knew what this meant.

who hogs the blankets? Sheena. (I have no reason for this. It just sort of feels right and then he teases her about it)

who gets more sad? They both do and don’t show it. Real good, guys. Uh... hm... Zelos maybe? Once Sheena does resolve her stuff she’s doing better.

who is better at cheering the other up? Zelos. He can make her laugh or (not seriously) irritate her through whatever is upsetting her than draw her into a better mood.

who’s the one that playfully slaps the other all the time after they make silly jokes?Sheena. Playful might be a matter for debate...

who is more streetwise?Zelos from city living.

who is more wise?Uhhhh.... Going for Zelos but can’t articulate why right now.

who’s the shyest? Sheena. Neither of them are all that shy but Sheena gets flustered more easily and hides behind the prickle. Zelos doesn’t know what shy is.

who boasts about the other more? Zelos boasting for sure

who sits on who’s lap? Zelos may sling himself around her sometimes but Sheena more likely to end up in his lap and for a while she’s not quite sure how that happened.

[nickireadstfc]

The Foxhole Court, Chapter 11 – Orange Sportsball Gets The Fuck Real

In which the Foxes play their first match of the season, I have questions about American college sports, my Percy Jackson obsession has a brief cameo, and I’m sadly less excited about Actual Sportsball Games than I should be.

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to read The Foxhole Court.

           Thursday’s excitement had nothing on Friday’s. The whole school got decked out overnight with vibrant orange and white streamers. Ribbons and banners hung off every sidewalk lamp. Live student bands took over the amphitheater for short concerts and the student newspaper released that morning gave details for the afternoon parade.

Is that, like…………. Normal behavior on game days?? Actual American high school/college students, please confirm. Is this an actual thing???

I mean, I know y’all are big on sports and school spirit, but this big??

Please understand my confusion: At my school, no one fucking gave a shit about the sports teams. I didn’t even know when anyone had games/competitions unless we got told afterwards who won what brilliant award now, and even then like 5% of us cared. And I can’t speak for my uni yet, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same there as well. Do German unis even have sports teams?

I always liked to make fun of High School Musical 3 for having those giant ass banners displaying the athletes hanging in the halls. I am now starting to realize that might be perfectly normal for American schools.

What the fuck.

Also, Neil officially came out now – as a member of the Foxes, that is, of course.

           Neil wanted to cut class and hide at Fox Tower until game time, but athletes weren’t allowed to call out without a legitimate medical excuse. Someone from the athletics committee went around all day counting heads through classroom windows, and Wymack would be the first to hear Neil was absent.

They seriously stalk their students all day in fear they might be skipping class? And these students are in college, they are grown adults, not 14-year-olds. Again, is this a thing, what the fuck??

Then again, we’re talking about the country who invented hall passes. This is probably not the craziest thing around.

Fortunately, the Foxes decide to display their first sign of group solidarity in these trying times and guide Neil from class to class. This is a really small detail, but I love it.

I’m imagining Neil as a lil baby duck who obediently follows a big spikey-haired Matt duck, a small white-pastel-y Renee duck or a glamorous blonde Allison duck, wagging behind them in a tiny duck-sized jersey.

Although, when you think about it, they’re all just lil baby ducks following a big Wymack momma duck.

(Someone draw me fanart, I’m BEGGING YOU.)

I’m getting off track. Back to the plot.

           Andrew hadn’t lied to Neil back in May. In almost every article that talked of Neil’s pathetic experience Kevin was quoted as having high hopes for him. Kevin really had said that Neil would one day be Court.

Because this is the second time this has come up: What exactly does “being Court” mean?? Like, being Captain? Being MVP? Also, is this a regular sports expression or is is Exy-exclusive? Exyclusive?? Help.

A small silver lining of future hilariousness appears on the horizon: An Exy kickoff banquet is going to happen sometime in the next few chapter, and I am HYPED. This chaotic mess of a team + all their rivals + dates + drinks can only equal a Massive Fun Time™.

Fun for us, not for them, might I add. I am dying to see this.

           “[Renee] hasn’t asked [Andrew] yet, but it’s inevitable. (…) Money’s on the table as to whether or not he says yes. Pot’s getting pretty big, so get your bet in fast.”

           The only thing the Foxes had in common besides Exy and hardship was their strange obsession with betting on the stupidest things. Neil had figured that out only two weeks into practice. A week didn’t go by when there wasn’t money on something or another.

A team after my own heart <3 Can I join? I can never find anyone to bet on dumb things in my own circle of friends.

Will I throw this piece of paper in the bin on my first shot? Will the bus be late? Will Friend A and B hook up tonight? Will I lose my (nonexistent) emotional sanity to this series before the last book is over?

I don’t know about the others, but the last one is 100% happening.

           “There’s something we haven’t told you yet,” Dan said. (…) “So Andrew’s technically legally required to take his medication, right? (…) He struck a bargain of his own with Coach. The only reason he signed with us is because Coach agreed to let him come off his drugs for game nights.”

Is this supposed to come as a big plot twist? Because I kind of saw that coming. 10 bucks says Andrew comes off his meds for all Important Moments.

*insert yet another rant about the negative portrayal of mental health meds as barbaric mind-numbing, mania-inducing ~happy pills~ here*

Anyways, back to game day!! Our beloved foxy nutcases are playing against the Breckenridge Jackals, which is shaping up to be a Fun Time™ as they are apparently the biggest bullies around (second only to the Edgar Allan Murder Mob Clique, of course).

However, when faced with his impending wipe-out on the court, our favourite Sassmaster McSavage reaches new levels of Hell Fuckin Yeah:

           “[Gorilla] will break every bone in your body if you give him the chance.”

           “Don’t worry, though,” Matt said. “He’ll probably be too busy killing Kevin and Seth to notice you.”

           “This is my reassured face,” Neil said, pointing up at his blank expression.

SAVAGE.

I actually laughed so hard at that. This is some Percy Jackson level of sass right there.

Come to think about it, I want the entire AFTG series narrated by Percy Jackson, especially the chapter titles.

“I Am Offered A Foxy Deal”

“My Troubled Past Comes Back To Haunt My Ass”

“I Get Dragged Into Some Gay Shit”

“We Kick Serious Jackal Butt, Sort Of”

Remind me to make a full post of that once I’ve finished the series.

Off topic again. Sorry.

Before we finally begin the actual match (and wow, it’s 1.1k words already), Nicky seems to finally get the mental slaps I’ve been sending him since a few chapters ago:

           Nicky looked at Neil. “Hey,” he said, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant. “We haven’t really had a chance to talk after… Well. I wanted to say sorry, but I kept chickening out. Are we okay?”

           “I don’t know yet,” Neil said.

           Nicky weighed that for a minute, then sighed and said, “Fair enough.”

Deep sigh. Who are we kidding, I can never resist a self-aware comic relief, Nicky, you’re still one of my faves. At least he knows he fucked up.

And now, finally: It’s Orange Sportsball time!!

Time for fast-paced sports action, balls flying, racquets hitting, body-checks left and right, a flurry of energy and emotion… that I simply can’t get behind.

I’m sorry, you guys, but I found myself having to double- and triple-read passages here in order to keep up with who is standing where, who is passing to whom and just generally what exactly is going on. Maybe it has to do with my own lack of interest for any sports involving balls (or actually any sports that isn’t dance, cheer, or anything involving performance), but I’m not really excited about this whole game part, to put it mildly.

Don’t get me wrong: I am loving the emotions attached to it. Solidarity, passion, group dynamics and character development shown on the field, give me all that good shit. I just couldn’t care less about who’s passing to who. Forgive me.

Did someone say passion and group dynamics?

           Neil’d watched his teammates fall apart to in-fighting all summer long, but now he finally saw them as a whole. As much as the Foxes disliked each other at times, they disliked their opponents more. They were still too fractured to be truly great, but they were good enough to give him chills.

This is shaping up to be good, you guys.

I can only imagine the sheer gloriousness in the upcoming books when Kandreil finally get their shit together and play on the field as a beautiful unstoppable three-way killing machine. I WILL DIE.

Twenty minutes into the game, Seth is crushed against a wall by three hundred pounds of pure douchebaggery – and I actually do feel sorry for him, not gonna lie – which means it’s time for the moment we’ve all been waiting for:

           “Going on for Seth Gordon is freshman Neil Josten, number ten, of Millport, Arizona.”

           Neil wondered if casket lids sounded like court doors being shut.

Ah yes, thank you for reminding me, even in the face of impending doom, how incredibly extra our boy Josten is.

           “A national champion and an amateur? South Carolina’s gotten even crazier than usual.”

           “An amateur and a cripple, you mean,” the dealer said.

           Andrew slammed his racquet against the goal, making several athletes jump and drawing more than a few wary looks his way.

This is such a small detail but it’s the /best/. Nobody insults my boyfriends in front of me, fuckface.

Bla bla bla more sports bla bla, I’m putting everything remotely interesting that’s happening in a bullet list because let’s be honest, it’s not fucking much.

Neil scores! Twice! Good boy.

Matt takes a card for the team by punching the fuck out of Gorilla, what a babe.

Also, his mom is a professional boxer? When can we meet her. I’m always a sucker for strong women who could kick my ass.

Gorilla has been hitting Kevin’s hand on purpose all the time, which is not cool, yet not surprising, ain’t no honour in Exy injuries, apparently.

That is it, my dudes.

Writing the next chapter on a coach (yet again) as I’ll be visiting some friends in NRW, so I’ll be coming to you live from my Prime Flixbus Office Space, let’s see how that works out. Till next time, ily all. <3

[of-course-i-dont-love-him]

I’m Not My Parents(Hugo Weasley)

Request: So half the things I request are never published or never tagged or something. But can you do a Hugo Weasley x reader (if you don't do next gen then James Potter) where he finally, after lots of convincing, got his girlfriend (or bf) to visit his family over Christmas break. And because they're the child of an ex-death eater they kinda insult her(him). And so Hugo goes to comfort her (s)he runs off and they see them both asleep all cuddly and stuff and the family kinda accepts it. Fluff.

A/N: Shoutout to @katie27hp for first of all requesting this and then secondly giving me a wonderful description of Hugo. 💚 I don’t know much about Hugo Weasley, obviously, so it may not be how you expect it. And because this is me making my own interpretations, reader and Hugo are in Hufflepuff. Deal with it. Sorry in advance for any and all typos/errors. 

Y/N~ your name L/N~ last name M/N~ mum/mom’s name D/N~ dad’s name

“Oh, come on, Y/N. My parents would love to have you over for Christmas,” Hugo pressed. You looked up from your book to see your boyfriend of two years giving you puppy-dog eyes. He wrapped his arms tightly around you.  “I dunno... They probably won’t like me,” you sighed.  “Why would you think that?” He curiously asked. You look away a bit. “Y/N if you think it’s because your parents were Death Eaters, you’re wrong.” You look back at him and smile. He grins a goofy grin. His yellow tie was loose and poorly tied. You leaned back a bit and adjusted his tie to make him more presentable. “You’re adorable,” he chuckled.  “Thanks,” you blushed. “Hey, how about we go study for the Charms exam?”  “Okay,” he sighed. You walked to the library, hand in hand, talking about Charms, but you knew in the back of your mind that Hugo wouldn’t let it go. 

Throughout the next few months, Hugo continued to bring up Christmas break. You could tell he was just waiting for you to finally say yes. But he was also a bit impatient. And stubborn.  “What’ll it take to convince you to come stay? Even just for a day?” He begged one night a couple weeks before the semester was over. You sighed.  “Hugo...” You start, reaching for a book on a tall shelf. He easily reaches up and grabs it for you. You mutter thanks. “Look, I’m thinking about it,” you say. His eyes light up. “Really? You’re not kidding me?” He asks.  “That’s not a yes,” you warn.  “Yet. It’s not a yes, yet. And it’s still not a no.” He grins before pecking you on the lips.  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever,” you say, rolling your eyes. The truth was, you had to ask your parents. That was twice as scary as actually staying over break. You’d written them the other day and knew it’d probably take at least a couple more days for them to decide and write back. Seeing as your parents were on opposite sides of the war as Hugo’s parents, you almost knew the answer would be a no. You hated letting Hugo get his hopes up that maybe you’d say yes. Genuinely, you would after seeing how excited he was. 

It was a week later when you got the letter from your parents. The final yes or no. The envelope landed by your breakfast when Hugo was telling you a story about something. He was really into it, using hand movements to better express himself. Watching him, he looked very cute. He was usually quieter and wouldn’t draw much attention to himself.  You slipped the letter into your bag without him noticing and smiled as he clearly altered the story. 

Later, you were alone in your dorm and pulled out the letter. 

Dear Y/N,          We understand you would like to spend time with your boyfriend over break. After much discussion and careful consideration, we have decided that for the first week of break you can stay with Hugo and his family. A letter every day must be sent in order to assure us of your safety. We expect you to find your own way to get home, however.        Sincerely, M/N and D/N

You stared at the letter. Then you reread it. And then again. Running out of your dorm to the Common Room, you almost left the letter in your room. You found Hugo in front of a fire, drinking hot cocoa. Calming yourself, you sat down on the couch next to him. He smiled at you before handing you the cup. You took a sip and handed it back to him.  “What’s up?” He asked. “Wrong question,” you said. His eyebrows furrowed together. “What?” “Wrong question,” you repeated.  “What are you talking about?” “Still not the right question.” “Y/N, what’s going on?” He questioned. You shook your head. “Wha... Give me a hint.” “You wouldn’t stop bugging me about this. For, like, days on end,” you explained. He looked at you for a minute before realizing.  “Wait... Are you... Are you serious?” He asked. You handed him the letter you’d received. He read it. Once. Twice. Three times. The fourth time you ripped it out of his hands.  “Yes! Yes! I’m saying yes!” You exclaimed. A few people looked over at you curiously. You giggled as Hugo enveloped you in a hug. 

The entire ride to Kings Cross you can’t stop fidgeting. First, you were messing with the page of the book you were attempting to read, then you were playing with the window lock. It was when you started twisting and ruffling your skirt that Hugo grabbed your hands and stopped you.  “Relax. It’s alright. My parents will love you,” he assured. You glanced up at him nervously.  “And what if they don't?” You asked.  “Then screw them! Y/N, I love you and there’s nothing they can do to change that,” he exclaimed.  You blushed at his words. “Okay... Okay...” You took a deep breath and sighed. “Okay...”

When the train pulled into the station you knew your parents wouldn’t be there since Hugo’s parents were taking you to their house. Your nerves spiked up again. First, you saw his mum, Hermione, standing tall in her dark suit. Her hair pulled back into a perfect bun. She’s not intimidating at all, you thought, sarcastically. Then there was Hugo’s dad, Ron. He looked exactly like an older Hugo with redder hair. Something about him seemed soft and kind until he looked over at you and you could see the judgment in his eyes. The least observant person would notice the way he seemed to question your morality.  “So, mum, dad. This is my girlfriend, Y/N,” Hugo introduced, almost as nervous as you.  “Hi,” you greeted. Hermione held her hand out and you copied, shaking her hand.  “Hello, dear,” she said with a smile.  Ron glanced at you, questioningly. He slowly held his hand out and you took it in an awkward handshake. “Yes, nice to meet you,” he said after a moment. He seemed to think you were going to blast him or something. Hugo’s sister, Rose, walked up with a smile on her face until she saw you. She seemed to turn her nose up in disgust.  “Oh. Hey, Y/N,” she said, unenthusiastically. Then she turned her back to you and completely ignored you. Your head fell a little, discouraged. Hugo took your hand and comforted you.  “It’s okay, she just doesn’t know you, yet,” he whispered, leaning close to press a kiss to the side of your head. You smiled at him, but were still nervous. Hugo kept a hold of your hand as you walked with his family. They stopped to talk with Harry Potter and Ginny. Their kids were close by. You tried to hide behind Hugo a bit, hoping they wouldn’t notice you, but of course, Albus Severus did.  “Hi, Y/N! What’re your plans for the holiday?” He asked, bringing the attention to you. You slowly stood next to Hugo so everyone could see you. They all seemed to be waiting fro your response.  “I’m staying with the Granger-Weasleys for a week, but that’s it,” you answered, quietly.  “What’s your name?” Harry asked after a moment.  “Y/N L/N,” you answered, looking away. Harry and Ginny had shocked faces, James Sirius looked at you with confusion and the same questioning look that Ron had given you. Lily Luna watched to see what you’d do, but didn’t seem to think you were going to kill everyone. Albus smiled at you. A real, genuine, encouraging smile.  After several moments of awkward silence--which felt like ages--somebody finally mumbled something and the topic of conversation shifted.  “Oh! Look at the time! We’ll have to get going before we’re late,” Ginny said, checking her watch. The group dispersed as the Potters went one way and you went with the Granger-Weasleys in the opposite direction. 

The car ride to their house was quiet and awkward. A tension seemed to settle in the air that you knew was only present because of you. When you got to their house Ron levitated your stuff out of the trunk of the car into the house. They had a nice-sized house on the outskirts of a village. Neighbors were spread out and a woodsy area covered the land behind the house.  “There’s a clearing in the woods where we can practice quidditch without being seen,” Hugo told you as you followed him into the house.  “That’s cool. I imagine your dad takes you out there a lot?” You assume.  “Yeah,” he chuckles. “Everyday when we were younger.”  “We’ve set up an extra bed in Rose’s room for Y/N to use while she stays here,” Hermione says to you and Hugo.  “Of course, Mrs. Weasley,” you said with a polite nod. She smiled at you. Maybe she would like you after all. Hugo tried to hide the grin spreading across his face. She nodded at left to the kitchen.  “Wait, you’re making her share a room with me?” Rose asks, upset. You look away.  “Is there a problem?” Hermione counters. Rose scoffs and glares at you. Hugo tugs your hand and leads you upstairs. You sit on his bed with him. He kisses the side of your head.  “You okay?”  “I dunno,” you mumble, too quietly to be heard.  “What?” He asks, softly. His head gently knocks against yours.  “I dunno...” You say a bit louder.  “How can you not know if you’re okay?” He jokes.  “I dunno...” You repeat, rolling your eyes.  “But seriously, are you okay?” “I’m perfect as long as I have you,” you answer after a moment. Hugo looks at you seriously for a moment. “What?” You ask.  “That’s really sweet,” he says, hugging you tighter.  “Hugo! . . . I can’t breathe!” You yelp. His grip on you loosens a bit, but not much. 

Over the next couple days Rose glared at you and said rude things under her breath, Ron cautiously watched you, Hermione mostly ignored your existence, and Hugo continuously reassured you that they didn't hate you. On the third day you were staying at the Weasleys’, you all went to Hugo’s grandparents’ house. Almost all of Hugo’s aunts, uncles, and cousins were at the house along with a few family friends. Everyone gave you weird looks. With the exception of Scorpius and Albus. But people were giving Scorpius weirds looks, too, so that wasn't that reassuring.  You were about to walk into the kitchen when you overheard your name.  “What is Hugo doing, hanging out with Y/N?” Someone asked.  “I truly don’t know. If he were smart he’d stop. It makes our family look bad that he’s dating a death-eaters child.” That was definitely Rose.  “And Albus is always with Scorpius. People might start to think we agreed with Voldemorts stupid plan.” Someone else said.  “I think Y/N’s just tricking Hugo. Making him fall in love and do something horrible to him.” “Like what?” “I dunno. Maybe kidnap him for ransom. Maybe get him to believe in all that blood purity crap.” “I’ll bet Y/N’ll blow up the house while everybody’s sleeping.” “I think Y/N isn’t going to doing anything extravagant except break his heart.” You backed away from the doorway as they continued to come up with horrible things they thought you might do. Hugo came down the stairs and saw your horrified face.  “What’s wrong?” He asked, stepping closer to you. You backed away from him before running out the front door. You didn’t know where to run to, so you went to the makeshift quidditch pitch and hid behind the broom shed.  When you sat down with your back against the wall you couldn’t take it anymore. You broke down. After a minute or two, Hugo found you crying.  “Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay,” he said, sitting next to you and pulling you close to him. “Shh...shh...it’s okay,” he mumbled as sobs wracked your body. “What’s wrong?” You start to tell him what's wrong, but you just sob more. You hide your face in his shoulder to muffle your cries. He lets you cry it out and calmly waits for you to stop crying.  “Your...your cousins were t-talking about m-me...” You start. Hugo watches you with all his attention. “Th-they said they think I’m just tricking you and I'm gonna... g-gonna k-kill... k-kill you in y-your sleep or br-break your heart... They think I believe the d-dumb blood-purity s-stuff.” “Oh, my... I’m gonna kill them all. I... Look, Y/N. I thought they would at least give you a chance. I’m so sorry. I know you’re not like that, okay? Y/N I... I thought if they’d at least give you a chance, they’d love you... Not as much as I love you, though.” You look up at Hugo, who was watching you anxiously.  You press a gentle kiss to his lips. “I love you, too,” you mumble against his lips. He smiles as he kisses you again.  “We should go back now, probably,” he says. “Dinner will be ready soon.” “Can we stay here for a bit?” You ask, wrapping your arms around him to cuddle.  “Of course.” His arms pull you closer to him and you both slowly fall asleep. 

“Hugo? Where you at? Hugo?” Ron and Hermione called. They walked together out to the quidditch pitch. “Hugo?” They were about to head back to the house and look somewhere else when Hermione noticed something had stomped down some weeds by the broom shed.  “Wait, Ron?” Hermione said.  “What?” Ron asked, turning back around.  “I think someone’s been back here,” she says, walking towards the back of the shed. Ron followed her. They saw Y/N and Hugo, cuddled together, asleep. Hermione’s face was unreadable, but Ron seemed almost disgusted at first. A smile slowly spread across Hermione’s face and Ron couldn’t help but enjoy how happy his son looked.  “I guess we’re just going to have to accept the fact that Y/N’s staying around for a while, aren’t we?” Ron said, eventually.  “We?” Hermione questioned.  “Yeah, you know, me and Rose.” Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes.  “Guess we’ll just leave them be for now,” she said before walking back towards the house. Ron stared at his son for a moment. Then Y/N. He sighed before joining Hermione in the walk back to the house.