#literally me and my brother when i was little trying to trade the candies i couldn't eat for a 'fair market' price

[makenna-made-this]

Candy economics is very serious business!

bawktober day 30- Trading Candy

The teens attempt to trade candy, but not everyone agrees on what's a fair trade. Don't even get me started on the toddlers...

At least the babies are happy :)

[only-lonely-star]

‧₊ ᵎᵎ ⋆ 🎃 ˚｡⋆.ೃ࿔ Halloween HCs ‧₊ ᵎᵎ ⋆ 🎃 ˚｡⋆.ೃ࿔

Warnings - Mentions of gore, Johnny’s headcanons are kind of sad tbh 😭, “laced” candy, mentions of Curtis’ deceased parents.

Author’s Note - These are miscellaneous headcanons!! I can’t bring myself to wait until Halloween to post this, so I’m doing it now! I’ve been in the fall mood for so long and this scratched my brain just right. I would kill to live in Tulsa around the holiday season in the 60s- like you guys don’t even understand. I hope you enjoy! 🐈‍⬛🍂

── ── ⋆⋅🎃⋅⋆ ── ──

The Curtis gang NEVER misses on Halloween, it’s their night.

I can definitely see Two-Bit going all out with his sister (I personally HC her to be younger, around 6 maybe), and decorating their porch all cutesy with jack-o-lanterns and fake spiderwebs. Two-Bit would probably take her trick or treating around 7-8 pm when it’s just getting dark. He’ll save the actual night for fun with the gang.

Soda and Ponyboy still go trick or treating even though most greasers see that as “little kid stuff” and stop around the age of 12. It’s like a tradition for them to go every year. Darry grew out of it before their parents had passed, but when they were still alive they sent him to drive Soda and Pony around town and help out with navigating the streets. He still does it to feel more at ease with them going out as well as reminiscing on past Halloweens. (This made me think of the annual ornament situation from S.E Hinton’s Christmas story 💔)

Darry always rummages through Soda and Ponyboy’s bags and picks out his favorites to smuggle from them, hoping they won’t notice. I just know he loves his chocolate bars - I’m talking Hershey’s bars and Milky Way bars.

I feel like Dally would be an even bigger asshole and blame it on Halloween.

Dally tricks, he doesn’t treat.

He’d also pull all sorts of pranks on people he knows just for kicks. He’d try and scare Tim or some shit by messing with his lights and causing loud banging sounds from outside. Tim obviously knows it’s Dally so he chooses to ignore him until he can’t take it anymore.

Steve’s favorite holiday growing up was always Halloween. He would always earn the title of best dressed for the costumes Mrs. Curtis would hand sew ☹️. She took pride in it too, she’d work super hard until he was satisfied with it. (I get superhero vibes from him, maybe even like a pirate 😭)

The Curtis household is THE hangout for trading candy (let’s be honest, when is it not?)

Johnny’s favorite holiday is Halloween because it’s one of the few major holidays that doesn’t require him to see families bonding all around him ☹️ (Also because he can roam the streets without being singled out for being a Greaser.)

I’m pretty sure (like 99% sure) it’s canon that Dally is afraid of spiders, so I think it’s safe to say he fucking HATES any of those life-sized spiders people put on their windows as decoration.

Johnny hates people dressed up as the dead, it’s just unsettling to him when people do that whole ‘fake axe in the head’ thing or plastic intestines (I hope you guys know what I mean, or else I sound like I’m literally insane.)

Halloween is Ponyboy’s second favorite holiday (besides Christmas) because he gets to dress up. I think this is so cute because I also headcanon him to do theater for school. 😭❤️ Costumes are very exciting for him because he’s so used to doing it for theater.

Darry loves to carve pumpkins with silly faces and put them out on their porch for the little kids when they stop by. I personally think he’d be so great with kids since he’s had the older brother role all his life.

Darry can’t STAND fruity and chewy candy.

Two-Bit was Mickey Mouse for Halloween when he was like five and it just stuck with him. 😭 I also feel like he could imitate Mickey’s voice so well that a little part of his inner child is screams every time he successfully does it without having a voice crack.

Cherry ironically hates cherry-flavored lollipops or chews even though everyone hands her that specific flavor to be funny. She thinks it tastes like medicine. (She likes the fruit though!)

Soda will gladly suck down the old grandma candy nobody likes. Those strawberry chews, butterscotch, off-brand candy corn - he’ll eat all of it.

Steve would totally try to make the DX all festive for Halloween and tell Soda “it’s for the kids” even though no kids willingly go to the GAS STATION unless their parents drag them along.

Ponyboy lovessss Halloween movies and usually wants to watch them with Johnny since he loves the horror portion of a ‘Halloween movie’. Johnny likes the thrill.

Two-Bit dresses up at school on Halloween. He doesn’t give a shit, it’s canon he just goes for kicks.

Johnny likes to hang with Dally and mess with people or play stupid pranks on them since he really doesn’t like the idea of trick-or-treating at sixteen.

Johnny grew out of trick-or-treating at a young age. He felt he was too mature for it since he was forced to toughen up as a kid due to his parent's constant abuse. Normal child activities feel foreign to him.

Halloween parties at Buck’s go CRAZY and Dally always looks forward to seeing those girls in skimpy ‘costumes’. (Very Mean Girls ‘Halloween rule’ inspired.)

Darry used to always be like a little photographer on Halloween eve and would take pictures of Soda and Pony and proudly show the pictures to their parents. “Pony, give me your pillowcase so i can take a photo… now hold your hat up… smile normally, not in character….perfect…”

“Careful, you gotta check that candy first, kid. people hide blades and stuff in candy,” while Two-Bit stabs Ponyboy’s candy bar with his switchblade and laughs his ass off.

I’m so ready for Halloween. I don’t care how old I get, I’ll always love dressing up and shit and just fall vibes in general. I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did making it.

I LOVE YOU, THANK YOU FOR READING 💋

[kitkatopinions]

Mercury Black.

Mercury for the RWBY asks post! One of my favorites in the Villains Group!

My top three ships for the character

I’ve shipped some pretty weird things for Mercury via fan fiction, so this list is a little bit weird, but uh... Mercury/Yang could have such an interesting dynamic and relationship if Mercury gets redeemed and works hard to be better. Another fun one is Whitley/Mercury. I’m sorry lol, but while writing a fic with a mutual wherein Mercury and Whitley were forced to interact as Watts was living in Schnee Manor and using Jacques, and the two of them ran away from their abusers together and had to rely on each other to survive... I started kinda shipping these two! It only works in AU fics right now (and was less weird when I thought Whitley was fifteen and Mercury was sixteen/seventeen.) Also, I don’t hate Mercury/Emerald. I tend to see them more as siblings, but dang, there’s some good artwork that has made me start seeing the chemistry there.

My three least favorite ships for the character

Mercury/Oscar is... Not my favorite. XD They’d have older brother, younger brother energy only and that’s it. Nora/Mercury is something I don’t think would work at all. And Adam/Mercury... Ew, I mean, it’s kinda ew. But I literally had to look up a list of ships and go ‘I don’t hate that’ for a lot of them to find three I definitely don’t like. He’s pretty easy to ship with a lot of people!

My biggest criticism for the character

There isn’t enough of it. The character Mercury does have is pretty good, but he’s used so sparingly that I almost forget he’s a character at times. He should’ve had a bigger role in the story, they should’ve put more emphasis on his relationships with more than just Emerald, they shouldn’t have dropped him out of season eight before he could do anything. We need to know more about him and see him vulnerable and have him be relevant to the plot again, or he’s in danger of becoming boring.

My favorite thing about the character

I love his versatility. I already talked about him being easy to ship with a lot of people, but it’s more than that. The knowledge that he just goes with things even if they’re crazy (”I killed my dad and then this lady showed up talking about destiny and took me to a castle with a magic demon woman so here I am”) makes him a character that can be put into a lot of situations. You want to get him redeemed? Throw him into a situation where he’s with the right people and away from the wrong ones and his character naturally starts adjusting to fit that. You want him to be sad and whumped? Isolate him with someone like Tyrian or Watts and let him suffer. Want him to be a hero from the get go? If Ironwood or Qrow had found him instead of Cinder, he can be! He can go to Beacon or be in Atlas as the friend of Penny! He’d adjust to that! Want him to be a wildcard grayer scale character who isn’t on the heroes side or Salem’s side? If Roman and Neo had found him instead of Cinder, he can be that! He can view Roman as a father figure. He could’ve run away from home when he was younger, found Ren and Nora, and become attached to them. He could’ve been friends with Team SSSN if he’d been sent to Haven before moving to Beacon. He could’ve been found by Raven and the tribe and become attached to them. He’s a character you can put into almost any scenario on any side and it’d work!

A headcanon I have about them

In my headcanons, Mercury was raised isolated and didn’t go to school, so Emerald saying he’s socially awkward wasn’t a lie at all. Mercury can’t hold a real conversation with anyone outside of talking about plans and illegal action... And Emerald, who he doesn’t want to admit is his best friend. Also when he went to Beacon, he started getting interested in all kinds of hobbies and things he’d never heard about before. He liked going to the library because there were always kids reading and playing games that looked interesting. He loved checking out the booths at the Vytal Festival and trying foods and wondering what the hell cotton candy even was. Emerald was constantly rolling her eyes about it, but she secretly found it endearing and it made her feel a little less cynical herself.

What I would change about them if I was making a re-write

He needs to be involved. I don’t know why he constantly got shafted, but he should’ve had a proper second fight with Yang, he could’ve gotten dropped into Atlas with Watts instead of Tyrian (or along with Tyrian.) And I know this is a bit of an unpopular opinion, but I think Mercury should’ve been the one to start his redemption in season eight and Emerald should’ve been given time to work through her Cinder issues some and get redeemed maybe in season nine. Like I said, Mercury is versatile, he never had someone who he was committed to and believed in amongst Salem’s followers outside of Emerald, he didn’t care about the cause, and he’s deeply connected to the trauma of being abused by his father. Like many Merc fans, I think he should’ve gotten a wake up call when he saw Oscar getting abused, and tried to convince Emerald to leave with him, and I think Emerald should have said she had to stay and try to talk to Cinder about what she’d heard Oscar tell Hazel. Mercury is reluctant, but agrees, and he’s the one who starts escaping with Oscar. Yang’s frustration and hesitance in trusting him would be more personal, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be Penny’s murderer that everyone (and Penny!) is working with so easily, then, either.

What I I think of their character allusion and what (if anything) I would change about it

Mercury (mythology) was the god of messengers, thieves, commerce, travelers, and trade. His predecessor in Greek mythology, Hermes, was a messenger of the gods and called ‘a divine trickster.’ If that sounds weird, it’s because it is. If that sounds like it fits more with Emerald, that’s because it does. Emerald, the thief, who steals from sales people and takes the reins in every deception and most conversations with other people, who carried out Cinder’s orders from Salem and was arguably one of the biggest contributors to the Fall of Beacon (messenger of gods,) who was the one to tell Salem why they’d failed in Haven, and then later was the one delivering Oscar back to the group and the first face Ironwood sees when he realizes he’s been tricked by Ruby’s group. Emerald could be argued as the messenger role here. I truly believe that they made Mercury based off of the god of Roman/Greek mythology only because he has special shoes. Mercury does connect to Hermes/Mercury as a guide to the dead, leading them to the Underworld. As an assassin, this is treated literally in the RWBY world, but he isn’t really utilized in that way! Other than murdering his abusive father, Mercury’s direct kill count is at one the same as Emerald (who is Penny’s murderer, period.) The only other connection is a very lose one - Hermes’ role as a boundary crosser reflects Mercury’s loose morals and his easy slide into villainy, but also his potential to cross over to another side at the drop of a hat as I already established. As I already said, I’d have Mercury either replace Tyrian when Watts goes to Atlas, or I’d have him join the two, and act as an assassin there, increasing his role of guiding the dead to the Underworld. And having him be the one to deliver Ozpin/Oscar makes him more of a messenger of the gods, but I would also give him some important information about Salem to deliver to Ozpin as well. And I’d also have Salem ask him and Emerald to tell her what had happened at Haven and have him play more of a role when Cinder went to talk to Raven in the mid seasons. I’d have Mercury used to deliver information from Cinder to Roman in the early seasons, and just over all increase his connections to the various big names around him and give him a lot of information. I might also have Watts add some sort of Iron Man/Shadow the Hedgehog sort of flight capabilities to his boots in the seventh and eighth season sort of like Penny’s flight abilities just to get the whole ‘winged shoes’ thing. But I’d make sure that his flight is sporadic and rough-around-the-edges, worse than Penny’s, and something he can’t always rely on or use for long. Idk, I just think that’d fit with his personality really well.

[yixxes]

Anger Management | p.p.

Warnings: Cursing, altercation w a stranger, y/n has a bit of an attitude/anger problem

Word count: 1722

A/N: The reader is Bucky’s younger sister which is like not possible but it’s fine. Enjoy (: 

.

.

“Oh, go fucking fuck yourself!” 

“Hey!” Bucky gave you the look he always gave you when you stepped out of line and you rolled your eyes. You weren’t in the mood to be scolded but your brother obviously didn’t care. “Watch your mouth! The hell’s wrong with you?”

You spared him a two second scowl when he approached the couch, his curious frown trading in for realization and then quickly switching to disappointment. “Seriously? This is your problem?” 

Your brows furrowed and your lips jutted out in an annoyed grimace. “This game is stupid, he’s been cheating for the past eight rounds!”

Sam raised his hands with an amused smile on his face that you found beyond annoying. “Hey, I didn’t do anything, but look, I’ll apologize: I’m sorry you picked up the controller before you knew you couldn’t play.”

“Here,” your brother shoved you over and sat in your place before you could enlighten Sam with your colorful vocab and snatched up the controller from your hands. “let me kick his ass for you.”

Sam cackled at Bucky’s confidence and readied up another round. “Yeah, let’s see how far you get with that one.”

“I was playing with that.” You grumbled. 

“You’ll live.” 

You watched how your brother tapped different buttons and chose certain patterns and inwardly noted how it contrasted to your inarticulate button mashing. It always worked when you played with Steve, why would it not work with...

Crap.

Of course Steve let you win! “That bastard!”

“Y/n,” Bucky warned you firmly and you hated how he kept the button pattern going even when he took his eyes off the screen to stare you down. “seriously, watch your mouth. Who are you even talking about?”

“Come on, kid, I’ll apologize for real if that’s what you want.” 

“Not you,” you muttered to Sam. “Steve, he lets me win at this stupid game.” You turned to look at Steve who was on the other side of the couch, smiling guiltily at you.

“You’ll live.” Your brother said again, distracted. “Why don’t you go to the store, we need snacks.”

“Then go get them.”

Bucky paused the game with a sigh and turned to you after setting the controller down on the table. He fished his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out a few bills that he extended to you before nodding towards the hall that led to the door. Buck wasn’t asking and you weren’t trying him any further. 

“Ugh.” You snatched the money and got up from the couch, but you weren’t clear to go yet.

“Stay away from people and don’t go fighting with strangers again.”

What a gross assumption. “That was literally only two ti-”

“Don’t worry, I’ll go with her.” Peter came up and threw an arm around you. Your sisterly attitude towards your brother melted into a smile and butterflies. 

“Good, hey, make sure she doesn’t speed.”

“Got it!” He called over his shoulder, already making his way to the door with your hand in his.

.

“I don’t get it.” 

Peter frowned and got to explaining the joke to you. “Because the ham sandwich is ordering the beer, but the bartender says-”

You pushed a loaf of bread off of the shelf and let it fall into the basket. “Why would a ham sandwich be ordering anything, it’s a ham sandwich-”

“It’s a joke,” he said pointedly. His attitude at the fact that you didn’t laugh at his joke was funnier than the joke itself. “Why are you laughing? Do you get it now?”

“Yup. ‘s really funny, baby, will you grab the coffee grounds, I’m gonna go get a bag of chips,” 

“Okay, wait for me by the chips, I’ll meet you there.” 

You nodded and leaned up and forward to kiss his puckered lips and then went off towards the chip aisle with the cart. As much as you were opposed to this shopping trip at first, you really enjoyed doing stuff like this with Peter. Anywhere else, there were eyes on you at all times. With the two of you being the babies of the group and Bucky picking up the overprotective trait that older brothers usually had, your privacy and alone time with Peter typically ranged from scarce to nonexistent. Going on little snack runs with him where you could hold hands and kiss without scrutiny was nice. It even made you think about how maybe sometime down the line you and Peter would have a shared place of your own and trips like these would occur much more frequently and that definitely made you smile.

Your smile was short lived, though, when some man stopped his cart right in the way of yours and decided that right then and there was a perfect opportunity to take a look at his phone. 

Breathe in through your nose, Bucky always instructed, and out through your mouth. It could’ve been an honest mistake. Maybe he didn’t see you there, you thought to yourself. So, with a polite but rigid smile, you spoke out to him. “’Scuse me, sir, I’m trying to get through.”

He turned to you with an annoyed expression, phone still in hand. He didn’t even look sorry. “And I’m trying to send a text. Some of you damn teenagers were never taught manners a day in your life.”

Manners!? You went over your words in your head and came up with zero reason why some middle aged prick was choosing to yank your chain like this. Your anger was already begging to be let out but you were trying hard to remember how condescending everybody had been back at the tower. They didn’t think you could make it back without blowing up on someone and you planned on proving them wrong.

“Your cart is in my way.” You returned firmly. 

“And your patience is just that thin, isn’t it?”

You stared at that man for a few painful seconds. Was he trying to fuck with you? For all of the time that he wasted being a dick without cause, he could’ve moved his cart and been done with you. Paranoia struck and you took a glance around the immediate area. Maybe the guys were here, lurking around to see how long you could hold out, but after a look around you realized how ridiculous that thought was. The guys weren’t here and this wasn’t a test. This guy was a douche and you were letting it slide but you weren’t sure you should’ve been. 

“Can you just move your freakin’ cart?” The ‘before I move it for you’ was as silent as the g in lasagna. What was he? 6′1, 6′2? You’d debunked and corrected taller, this would be a breeze. 

You quickly shook that thought from your head. You weren’t fighting this grown man. 

“Just go around!” He practically shouted.

“Go around where!? You’re blocking the-”

He yanked the front of you cart forward, pulled his back and pushed it into a display of croissants. “You’re welcome.” He said smugly. “Now will you please leave me alone?”

You blinked at the gaping empty space where your cart used to be and then looked up at him. To absolute hell with proving the guys wrong.

“Hey! I got the coffee grounds, did you grab the-”

“Screw you!” You screamed, reaching in his basket and grabbing the first thing that you laid your hand on and throwing it as far as you could. 

“What the hell!?”

Peter swooped in after you had already thrown a second thing out of the stranger’s cart and started pulling you away from the scene.

“You need to learn a thing or two about respect, little girl!” The guy was yelling after you, red in the face, stupid phone still in his stupid hand and the other in a fist on his hip. 

“Fuck off!” You screamed back, swiping a bag of cotton candy from an end stand, ready to chuck it at that man.

“Hey, hey,” Peter smacked a bag of cotton candy from your hand and continued lugging you away. “take a breath, take a breath. Let me handle this-”

“What’s going on here?” Naturally, the security guard stepped in at the perfect time. You looked like the crazy one, but in fact, it was the douchey middle aged man that started it and you were more than happy to explain that to security.

.

"Can I have a retake?” 

So you had to get your pictures taken by security. You single-handedly landed yourself and Peter on this ridiculous list of people that couldn’t return to the store without adult supervision which was absolutely ridiculous. Even more ridiculous, the man told you that you couldn’t retake your picture.

“Fine.” You didn’t plan on coming back to this hot mess of a store anyways. 

Starting the car, you were more than happy to be in the safety of your vehicle, but you remembered that the two of you came out for a reason... and you left without a single one of those reasons. 

You ended up driving to another store that was just up the street and got back to the tower about an hour and a half after you left it.

“Where’d you go for the snacks, Australia?” 

You rolled your eyes at Sam’s sarcastic comment and set the one bag that Peter let you carry down on the table. While Peter set the rest down, you walked passed Tony (whose smile was far too big for your liking) and sat down on the couch. 

“How’d it go?” he asked.

Peter lied like a rug. “Good. We got a bargain on the coffee grounds, two for-”

“I got us banned from the store unless we have adult supervision.” You were dejected. This never would’ve happened had you just let that man be stupid by himself. 

Bucky hit pause on the game and looked over at you like he was beyond ready to scold you. “You what?” 

“Ten.” Peter finished like he hadn’t even stopped. “There was a coupon that we actually found on the floor, luckily it wasn’t expired-”

“Kid, will you be quiet!?” Bucky’s mean mug could scare almost anybody into silence. You watched your boyfriend shrink into himself before your brother turned back to you. “This explanation better be good.”

[dexpairs-blog]

My MC Ciel and Beelzebub headcanons

I'm bored so take this lol. Reminder that this hcs are PLATONIC. also, it's probably not all about Beel but uh,, idc. It also contains some general headcanons. I'm gonna do proper hcs for him maybe later lol

TW: mentions of trauma, Ch.16 related issues, cursing, Ciel being petty?? (idk ).

ah yes, ✨SOFT BIG BOY HOURS✨

At first Ciel was a little intimidated by him, because he's HUGE.

They bond over food, the First time they talked Beel asked them if they had food and they pulled out a bag with 20 cherryXplosion (it's a popular candy in Italy, it's also my favourite lol) and they shared it.

Also, when Beel got mad at Mammon for eating his custard he never touched Ciel, he never laid a finger on them.

He saw Mammon showing the custard in their mouth and Ciel refusing to swallow it bc it wasn't theirs.

He still destroyed their room tho rip-

When they shared a room it was kinda awkward lol, but they got along almost immediately. They started talking about foods and he learned that they were really picky because of their sensory issues.

So now when he know there's something they don't like HE'S WILLING TO TRADE, he trades something from his plate he knows they like with said food. He also learns how to cook foods in certain ways so they don't have a "yucky texture" as Ciel says.

Ciel Is so grateful for that🥺 they make him pasta, HOMEMADE pasta and HOMEMADE bolognese sauce as a thanks. Oop he's a fan of their cooking now.

Their relationship is really wholesome, they're just babies being babies.

After the pact with him they can be seen hanging out togheter often, he likes to carry Ciel around on his shoulders.

HIS HUGS ARE SO SOFT AND GENTLE 😭💕 while Ciel likes to squeeze him with all of their strenght he's really gentle with them. Baby boy know he could crush them if he's not careful.

He thinks it's adorable the fact that Ciel squeezes him as hard as they can but it doesn't affect him in the slightest, they're so tiny compared to him🥺

Ciel likes playing with his hands, they're huge. Sometimes when they get distracted at rad meetings they absentmindedly reach for his hand comparing it to their tiny one, HAJDYEKHDIS IT'S SO CUTE OH MY GOSH AAAA.

They like to cup their cheeks with his hands for the same reason, his hand alone is just as big as their skull lol.

The brothers are jealous now-- now their all take turns to play with Ciel's cheeks AAAAA 😔

Dia also joins, don't leave him out 😡

Lol the meeting is completely forgotten now, they're all playing with their cheeks and tiny hands👀

This is what you get for being baby Ciel😡 jk jk-

The other side characters may or may not get involved as well.

Ok now some angst-

After the incident™ Ciel locked themselves in their room for a while and only got out for breakfast, rad, lunch and dinner.

Y'know, they just fucking witnessed their own death. And got almost killed for the 5/6th time, it's obvious that this kid had a lot of trauma to internalize.

After two weeks of this they just moved to purgatory hall, Lucifer was being bitchy bc their grades were getting lower.

Beel felt horrible, he knew it wasn't his fault but he couldn't help to blame himself for this.

Belphie felt even worse, the whole House of Lamentation was a chaos when they left.

At first they didn't seem to realize how badly this whole thing affected the poor child, they slowly realized as the time passed.

They all felt like monsters not realizing that they not only made Ciel internalize so much trauma, but they also wanted them to act as if nothing happened AND the fact that they're Lilith descendant.

Meanwhile at purgatory hall, Ciel vented to Simeon and Solomon. They preferred to leave Luke out of this.

They stayed there for almost a month, Simeon basically became their therapist and so did Barbatos.

The healed from this pretty quickly thanks to them and Solomon and Luke distracting them.

For the time they were there they shared a bed with Luke, simeon didn't want them to sleep on the couch despite Ciel protesting and saying that it wasn't a big deal.

Ciel and Luke have matching pajamas you can fight me on this.

They also helped everyone around the dorm, Simeon had to do the laundry? Cool, can i help?(they ended up Just watching bc it was confusing-), Solomon do you need help with the dishes?, Luke lemme help you make dinner! Actually, why don't you just sit and relax? I'll do it for you!

Tbh Simeon and Solomon were surprised, Lucifer always complained about how messy they were or how they never helped him. (Lmao it's actually bc of his attitude- cause if you ask them they're always willing to help) and yes, they were messy but they try their best ok?

Also, they need Simeon ironing their clothes because they can't do it. Or they need Solomon to help them with the washing machine. They need help with the 'adult stuff' as they call it.

Simeon please teach this child how to fold clothes in the right way, their clothes are always full of wrinkles😫

At some point they just straight up go to Barbatos to help them with these things.

Ciel calls Simeon 'mom' unironically, Solomon jokes about it but they both don't care. He thinks it's so sweet🥺 him? A mom? He's soft. Solomon also thinks It's cute.

Lmao they influenced Luke and he does it too. He did it once by mistake and he's flustered lol.

Speaking of Luke, they always try to be a good example for him. Simeon really appreciates that, he's so grateful that they know where it's time to act mature.

That's why they're always the first option when he needs someone to babysit Luke.

BACK WITH THE BOYS

They all came to purgatory hall to apologize. Even LUCIFER and he was CRYING, him CRYING.

Ciel forgave them but they still stayed for a bit longer, they were still so uncomfortable around Belphegor.

At least they get to hang out togheter!

When they hang out it's just the two of them at first. They are still good friends and they helped him cope in a healthier way instead of stress-eating.

Belphie and Ciel actually became friends towards the end of the year, yes they made the pact during Diavolo's birthday party but they still didn't hang out much.

As i previously said, Ciel was petty at him, they would do everything to make him upset. By hogging Beel 24/7 to straight up pour a bucket of ice on his face when he's napping.

They would only smirk and say "now we're even" and then leave. He noticed how they would act tough around him even tho they were literally shaking in their boots and flinching every time he got close.

The kid has guts, he respects that.

They only stopped when they were told that it would also affect Beel, they felt bad.

From them on they just straight up avoided him.

Lucifer got fed up and locked them in a room togheter.

they both vented, and eventually Ciel forgave him completely.

Now Beel, Belphie and Ciel all hangout togheter :)

Happy Beel noises

Turns out Ciel and Belphie have a similar sense of humor

Beel is glad that their family is back togheter🥺

All of the brothers remind Ciel that they care about them a lot and not because of the fact they're Lilith's descendant, they constantly remind this to them.

Beel is always the one picking Ciel up from therapy, Lucifer decided it's best for them to see a therapist after this whole thing.

He was right. They go regularly and it helps a lot.

They go get ice cream togheter 😎

Sometimes Belphie joins too

Now Ciel and Belphie are always talking about running away togheter with Beel

LOL

Beel is glad their family got a new younger sibling.

Also, Beel, Belphie and Ciel have naps togheter, fight me.

Ciel is the little spoon, they just get squeezed between the two demons, it makes them feel safe.

[simp-for-spencer-reid]

Favors- George Weasley Fanfic Ch.2

Chapter 2: Establishing Ground Rules

The three champions had been announced the next day with a twist: Harry Potter was named as the fourth champion. It was shocking enough to Essie that Cedric was named Hogwarts’ champion, but it was unheard of for there to be two champions from one school. Essie couldn’t imagine being in Harry’s shoes, having all that attention and being forced to compete in something when he was so young. Essie had heard rumors going around the common room about how Harry even got his name in the goblet in the first place. 

Essie ate breakfast that morning with Cleo and Gwen. As Essie was reaching for toast, the owls came flying in from the Owlery bringing mail with them. Her own owl, a Boreal owl named Napoleon, was flying over the Hufflepuff table carrying a small letter. He settled on the table, holding his foot out for Essie to take the letter tied to his leg. Essie undid the small knot of twine holding the piece of paper. Unraveling the small scroll Essie read the note.

Essie, would you accompany me to Hogsmeade before the first task? -G

Essie looked at Gabriel, who was sitting a ways down the table, staring at her while he picked at the food on his plate with a fork. Cleo and Gwen were over her shoulder, asking her who it was from. 

“Who do you think?” Essie rolled her eyes, before scrawling her answer below the question: Thanks, but NO. As she charmed the note to turn into a small paper plane to return to the sender, it turned from the direction she threw it at Gabriel towards the Gryffindor Table. She watched, mortified as it landed in front of George Weasley. 

Her face grew hot while Cleo and Gwen gasped in shock. She watched as Fred clapped him on the shoulder, encouraging George to open it. In a state of panic, she pulled her wand out as George reached for it and sent a jinx that made the note burst into a small flame and smolder into ashes. 

The twins turned their heads toward Essie, who gave a meek wave in response. George stood up, and made his way to the entrance hall after giving Essie a pointed look. Cleo and Gwen nudged Essie and whispered between them. Essie excused herself and followed him out of the great hall. 

“I can explain,” she spoke hurriedly as she tried to catch up to him. “I thought that was from someone else-” Essie was cut off by walking face first into George’s chest as he had turned around quickly. 

“If you don’t want to go, you could’ve just said so,” he smirked at her, “I just figured since we’re ‘exclusive’ now, maybe we should go on a date.” 

His statement made Essie go red and she wasn’t sure if it was from anger or what else, but she was definitely flustered. She pointed a finger at George’s chest.

“I- You don’t- That was a one time thing, I don’t expect you to keep up that, that lie.” Essie crossed her arms over her chest. The bell chimed from the clock tower and could be heard throughout the main floor of the castle, signaling the end of breakfast and the beginning of classes. 

“Let me walk you to class.” George gestured for Essie to walk. “Think of it as a trade off. It’ll keep that git Truman off your back.” he said it as if it was the most obvious thing.

“And what do you get out of it?” Essie asked him warily, walking down to the greenhouses for her Herbology lesson. 

“Eh, I’ll think of something,” George replied, shrugging and putting his hands in his pockets. Essie hummed in response.

“So,” Essie started, “how long are you in for?” She supposed she should get all of her information. Admittedly, it would be nice to not have to worry about Gabriel Truman. It would give her plenty of opportunity to focus on her work without avoiding him.

“Well, Truman seems quite insistent. Probably best to keep it up for the year- for your sake at least.” 

“Right, well. I suppose we can meet later to discuss some ground rules?” Essie suggested as they approached the greenhouses. Ravenclaws that shared this class were walking by the pair as they stopped to continue their conversation. 

“Ground rules?” George scoffed. “Like what?” he rolled his head back in disbelief.

“Yes, boundaries, if you will.” Essie retorted. “If you’re going to be my fake boyfriend then I need to establish some rules for you.” 

“Woah, now you’re calling me your boyfriend? We’ve only just started seeing each other, Essie.” George laughed dryly at her. 

“Oh, piss off.” Essie shoved his shoulder. She began to walk into the greenhouse.

“See you in Defense Against the Dark Arts, sweetheart!” He yelled after her. Her face turned red as some students looked her way. Essie focused her attention on the lesson about the Whomping Willow. 

Her next class was Charms with Slytherin sixth years and their first lesson of the year was nonverbal spells. Professor Flitwick stood on his pedestal of a large stack of books, talking about focus and using your imagination. 

She had passed by the twins on her way to Defense Against the Dark Arts. They were sitting on either side of a younger Gryffindor, showing him an array of little candies. Their trick candies, no doubt. 

“Boys. Class.” Essie called to them in her demanding Prefect voice. They mischievously grinned up at her in response before passing the boy a bright green candy and standing up to get to class. Essie picked a seat amongst the other Hufflepuffs, but Fred and George sat at a desk to the right of Essie. 

Mad-Eye Moody was pacing at the front of the class, lecturing about Shield Charms when another paper airplane floated under her desk and hit her in the ankle. She reached down and picked up the plane, unfolding it as discreetly as possible over her roll of parchment that held her notes. 

Rule number one, don’t fall for me too hard ;) 

Essie made a quick glare towards the twins catching George’s smug face. She hurriedly scribbled her response.

As if. 

Rule two: don’t call me sweetheart. 

After she wrote back, she folded the note back into a triangular plane and placed it back on the floor, quietly muttering the enchantment to make it fly under the desks and through pairs of legs to get back to George. 

She saw him snicker when he opened it, writing back. Essie turned her attention back to the board, taking notes of what she missed in the moments prior. She felt the plane hit her ankles again.

Rule number three, I get to use the Prefects’ bathroom

Essie scoffed a bit louder than she liked. Her deskmate, giving her a look. 

Not a chance.

She sent it back. George’s response was quick.

We’ll work out the kinks- figuratively and literally ;)

Essie crumpled the parchment into a ball and shoved it into the pocket of her robes. 

The end of class couldn’t have come quick enough for Essie. As soon as Moody dismissed them, she hurried off to her Potions class, which was also shared with sixth year Gryffindors. George had jogged to catch up to her.

“About the Prefects’ bathroom,” George was now walking backwards, to maintain eye contact with Essie. 

“Not gonna happen.” Essie reaffirmed.

“Not even once?” George smiled at her, pushing his luck. Essie thought about it, deciding that maybe once wouldn’t hurt. 

“Fine. You can access my bathroom once. Use your pass wisely.” Essie advised the ginger boy. He looked over her shoulder and spotted Gabriel Truman: who was watching the back of Essie’s head, observing her and George’s interaction.

George now turned around, letting his hand fall on her waist over her robes. He slightly tucked Essie closer to him. Fred was now joining them, coming around Essie on the other side. 

“You know, I can’t seem to figure out how you would choose my brother, when you could have the arguably better looking twin.” Fred joked. 

“Hey, we’re identical!” George briefly removed his hand from Essie’s waist to swipe at his brother- who dodged the attack. George placed his hand now on Essie’s back. 

In their shared Potions class, Snape discussed that this exam they were going to take would be a similar difficulty to their N.E.W.T. exam at the end of the year. He would grade this exam as though it were the N.E.W.T.s. Essie decided she would do whatever it takes to pass all of her N.E.W.T.s at the end of the year with Outstanding marks. 

Trying to shake George and their new deal from her head, she got to work on her Potions exam. It was a whole roll of parchment, about two feet long. Each question was a short answer. 

Time ticked by, and Cedric Diggory was finished first, handing Snape his exam and leaving the room. More Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors had passed in their tests, getting to leave class a bit early. Essie was barely halfway finished. Fred and George had stood up to give their work to Snape, who sneered their dismissal. 

Twenty minutes later, Essie finally completed all the questions of her exam. Letting out a long sigh, she walked to Snape to hand her exam in. It was the sweetest release being able to walk out of class still early. It meant an early lunch before her History of Magic lesson with the Ravenclaws. 

As soon as Essie stepped foot out of the dungeon that Potions was held in, she was met with her two ginger acquaintances. The two of them took a spot on either side of her, discussing their latest prank up their sleeve.

“I was thinking we give Neville one of our trick wands,” Fred told his twin. George replied with his agreement, and the two continued talking over Essie’s head about their mischief.

“You do realize you’re talking to a Prefect about your plans, right?” Essie raised an eyebrow. 

“Do you see a Prefect around?” Fred joked, looking directly at George over Essie’s head, and jokingly looking around him.

“Fred, I can’t say I do.” George also started looking around. “Not one that would tattle on us anyway,” George lightly nudged Essie in the side. 

Fred stopped walking beside them to talk to Neville about a trick wand- not letting him know that it was a trick wand, of course. 

Essie walked to the Hufflepuff table to grab a quick lunch. George followed suit, plopping down next to her, and taking a sandwich from one of the platters.

“So you’re only going to give me one pass to use the Prefect’s bathroom?” George clarified.

“If you’re lucky.” Essie smirked as she bit into an apple. The pair grew quiet as they began to eat.

“How do you think you did in Potions?” George struck up a new conversation.

“Reckon I did better than you,” Essie quipped at him. 

“You’re a feisty little Hufflepuff, you know that?” George stated, taking another bite of his sandwich.

[team-science-mega-nerds]

AgentCorp - Lena has been trying to kiss Alex for the first time for weeks, but Kara keeps interrupting. Lena has to get creative to get that first kiss.

Frustrated would be the understatement of the century. It isn’t just that Lena has been spending a lot of time with Alex over the past few months, but it’s also that in that time, Alex has somehow gone from a bundle of angst - dealing with her breakup - to this confident - lowkey cocky - woman. Truly, all of it would be just fine with Lena because Lena loves seeing her friends grow into their own. She wants Alex to be happy. She wants her to get promoted and continue saving the world. Lena just isn’t sure when all of those strictly platonic feelings had shifted so dramatically to Lena simply wanting Alex. 

Perhaps, it’s the haircut. She first saw it at game night. Everyone had screamed and joyously surrounded Alex, poking and prodding at her. Lena had tried to keep a respectable distance but Alex had found her in the crowd and said do you like it? Lena didn’t even know that Alex was aware of her existence, let alone concerned about whether or not Lena liked her new haircut. Lena had responded with an embarrassingly breathy yes and the smirk that Alex gave her seared its way into Lena’s brain. Though the haircut was obviously a factor, that alone couldn’t cause this kind of sheer panic that Lena seemed to feel every time she was in Alex’s presence. 

Last week, Alex showed up at the bar to pick up Kara because Kara was wasted. She’d looked good. All leather jacket and tight jeans, even her slight annoyance at being pulled from her comfortable bed at two in the morning, slowly disappeared into a smile as she watched Kara attempt to tip every bartender in sight because I like their little aprons. James stood up like he was going to help Alex take Kara to her motorcycle, but Alex waved him off before - literally - lifting Kara up in a fireman’s carry. Lena had actually exclaimed good Lord like some kind of fair maiden watching her valiant knight battle a dragon and instead of being embarrassed Lena found herself pulled deeper into this maze of emotions when Alex winked at her on the way out. 

 For a Luthor, Lena is actually rather good at handling her emotions. Unlike her mother and brother, she doesn’t jump right into Big Bad territory every time something goes wrong. Instead, Lena turns to her journal and tries her best to write out what she’s feeling. Unfortunately, writing I want to get railed by Alex Danvers isn’t exactly doing her journal any good and it’s certainly not helping her actually accomplish that goal. 

Not that it is a real goal. Because that would be bad. Lena certainly can’t go around thirsting after Alex because something will go wrong. Terribly wrong. And things will get awkward and strained and Lena really might go all Big Bad if she has to live with this undeniable ache for much longer. 

Which brings her here. Now. To this bar on this night because she knows that Alex and her DEO crowd usually hang out here on Wednesdays after work. Lena expects to be walking into an oddball mix of military personnel, cops, and hipsters, but she does not expect to see Kara sitting next to Alex and screaming something about this really cute dog she saw today. “Pictures, little Danvers. Show me some pictures!” Lucy says holding up her hands and urging Kara to hurry up. Alex is laughing along with another agent. She has her jacket draped behind her on the chair and all Lena can think about is how nice Alex’s arms look. Alex grabs her beer bottle and takes a pull and now all Lena can think about are Alex’s hands. Fingers mostly. That’s her main focus. 

Thankfully, Alex notices Lena before she blacks out from overthinking things, and Alex waves her over with a smile. “Hey! You meeting anyone?” Alex asks, already shoving Agent Vasquez over to another seat, leaving a vacant spot next to Alex. “Join us.” Lena does, completely abandoning whatever half-assed plan she’d come up with and settling into the chair next to Alex. “What brings you to this dive?”

“Long day at work. Just thought I’d grab a drink.” It isn’t all a lie. Lena did have a long day at work but she’d gone completely out of her way to show up here. She suspects that Kara knows this because she cocks her head to the side but Lucy is still badgering Kara about dog pictures so Lena is in the clear. For now. 

“What are you having?” Alex waves over one of the waitresses. 

“Bourbon,” Lena responds. One of the other agents hoots and Alex gives her a smile. Alex looks slightly mischievous and it’s giving Lena all kinds of thoughts. “What?”

“Nothing. Just happy someone around here has good tastes.” Alex looks pointedly at Lucy who has some fruity drink sitting in front of her. “Two more,” Alex tells the waitress. 

“You don’t have to pay for those,” Lena assures Alex. 

“My treat.” Alex leans over and says out of the earshot of everyone at the table, “Happy you’re here to class this place up.” 

“Is that what I’m doing?” Lena questions. 

“Providing great eye candy at least.” Alex, apparently, has no shame. Lena tries not to smile, but really, she feels like a nerd getting attention from the most popular girl in school. Their drinks arrive and Alex makes a big show of leaning back and twirling the stirrer around her drink. Lena has a distinct feeling that she’s being watched and when she looks over Alex is looking back. 

There are ten people sitting at the table with them but everyone else seems focused on some TV show drama that Alex and Lena have very little interest in. “I’ve noticed a huge change in you.”

“Have you? How so?” Alex wraps her arm around the back of Lena’s chair. Lena’s wearing a sleeveless dress so she can absolutely feel Alex’s fingers grazing her arm ever so slightly. 

“You clearly think you can get anything you want,” Lena asserts. 

“Can I?” 

“Can you what?” Alex pulls Lena closer to her. Lena feels almost weightless, clearly not knowing just how enticing it is to get manhandled until Alex is the one doing it to her. 

“Can I get anything I want?” Lena thinks she might pass out. Truly. She feels lightheaded and warm. And the only thing she can grab for balance is Alex’s thigh, and here they are. Touching more than they ever have. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” Alex says suddenly. She stands and heads to the back of the bar, looking over her shoulder at Lena. The offer is clear. Follow me if you want to. 

Lena doesn’t have to think about it. Not even for a second. But on her way to meet Alex she starts to get butterflies in her stomach. What if Lena isn’t a good kisser. What if she isn’t good at anything? Lena was a billionaire, all of her partners had probably just complimented her and worshipped her just because of who she is. Alex doesn’t do that kind of thing. She’s proved time and time again that she doesn’t really care about any of that. 

Lena considers turning around. Maybe she should. But she catches a glimpse of Alex leaning against the wall down the dark corridor and if Lena could run in heels she would. Alex grabs hold of Lena’s hips and her eyes trail up and down Lena’s body for a long moment. “Shit, you’re gorgeous.” Lena leans forward and just as she’s about to finally do what she’s wanted to do for months-

“Is there a line?” Kara is standing there bouncing from toe to toe, apparently oblivious to the fact that she’s just interrupted a moment. 

“Uh…no, go ahead.” Kara rushes into the bathroom, leaving Alex and Lena in some kind of sexually repressed limbo. Alex grins, seeming completely unfazed by the entire situation. She actually seems to be having the time of her life. “You look lovely all flustered like this.” Alex tucks a strand of hair behind Lena’s ear. 

“Well, I’m happy you’re having fun.” 

“Don’t you worry.” Alex reverses their position so that Lena now has her back pressed against the wall. “I promise to make it up to you.” 

“Alex, will you take a Lyft with us back to my apartment? Lucy doesn’t want to go all the way back to her place, and you’re the only one who can control the chaos.” Alex looks like she wants to roll her eyes but instead, she nods. And it’s somehow even more attractive knowing how sweet Alex can be. “Lena you can come with!” 

“Sure,” Lena says because she absolutely cannot fathom a reason why she would choose to be anywhere except where Alex is. When they say their goodbyes and make it outside, Lucy and Kara are singing some early 2000s pop song, while Lena and Alex trade glances. 

“I wasn’t too forward back there?”

“Absolutely not,” Lena says as their car pulls up. Alex helps Lena into the back of the SUV and Lena doesn’t even care that Alex seems to mostly be focused on checking out Lena’s ass on the way in. While Kara and Lucy are busy chatting with the driver, Alex is trying to get handsy in the backseat. 

“Do you want to go back to my place after we drop them off?” Alex asks. “I promise not to disappoint.”

“I can believe it.” Alex’s hand has found its way under Lena’s dress and pressed against her thigh. “Easy tiger.” Alex just smiles again, and toys with Lena the entire way to Kara’s apartment. Lena doesn’t even consider going up to Kara’s apartment. She wants to get to Alex’s place as soon as possible. 

“I’ll get my blowup mattress. Lena, you don’t mind sharing with Alex do you?” Kara asks. 

“Sure doesn’t seem like she minds,” Lucy quips. They head inside and as Lucy and Kara drunkenly stumble into the elevator, Alex grabs Lena’s arm and holds her back. 

“We’ll meet you up there,” Alex yells. Kara protests but Lena can’t even hear her because here they are again, nose to nose. Lena thinks, as she’s gazing into Alex’s eyes, that Alex is very beautiful. If she wasn’t so desperate and - well, horny obviously - she’d definitely take the time to kiss Alex’s nose and jaw and cheeks. 

But, Lena dives in. She’s afraid that Kara will somehow find a way to interrupt them again and she’ll have to wait another few months until she gets the courage again. Thank God for walls, because the way that Alex kisses Lena back makes Lena feel unsteady. Thank God for Alex’s strong arms and hands that are pressed against her hip and the back of her thigh, lifting slowly, slowly until-

“Do you guys want a knitted blanket or those soft ones I got at Walmart?” Kara asks from the stairs which she apparently ran down in order to ask this extremely unimportant question. 

“Kara, get out!” Alex and Lena say as they continue their makeout session in the middle of the lobby, all tongues and teeth and exploring hands. Lena is going to get thoroughly fucked in public - or at least in the middle of an apartment lobby at two in the morning - and she doesn’t even care.  

This is going to make an amazing entry in her journal. 

Buy me a coffee?

[lloydskywalkers]

snip, snip

*weeps* I finished this just in time, here’s a trade-

This is for @ninjawhoa , who’s an all-around great person who goes and does really sweet art that successfully distracts me from every other wip I have. (And this fic is entirely based off that, because the headcanon that Kai spikes up Lloyd’s terrible hair is great, okay.)

“And then I just, like, drown it in gel until it sticks right.”

Lloyd watches in fascination as Kai finishes off sculpting his hair into an extra-sharp spike, making sure it falls just right. Kai turns back to the mirror, surveying his reflection. Ugh — it’s been humid lately, so his hair doesn’t stick up quite like he likes it. But the Fire Ninja never has a bad hair day, so Kai’s got enough hair gel to make up for it.

Besides, this is more of a learning session than a full routine. Because FSM knows the kid needs it.

“So you cheat,” Lloyd says, squinting at the bottle of hair gel in his hands. Kai double-takes — how’d he get that?

“It’s called ingenuity,” Kai sniffs, snatching the bottle from Lloyd’s hands, giving him a side-eye as Lloyd scowls. He carefully places the bottle back in the medicine cabinet of their tiny bathroom, hiding it behind Nya’s bath salts and that moisturizer she never uses. “You gotta know how to overcome the weather, Lloyd. Hair care is very important.”

Lloyd props his elbows up on the counter beside him, standing on his tip-toes as to see his own reflection. “I guess,” he says, obviously trying to sound disinterested. Kai struggles to suppress a snort as he watches him pull at the edges of his bangs, clearly trying to hold them up in a style that looks like his.

Oh, all right.

“Here.” Kai grabs the bottle back out, rolling his eyes. Darn kid, worming his way so deep into his heart that he’s sharing his hair gel now — what’s happened to Kai?

“Hop up on the counter,” Kai says. Lloyd looks confused, but he scrambles up the sink counter, swatting Kai’s hand away as he tries to help him.

“I got it, I got it!” he huffs, and Kai watches in amusement as his legs flail briefly in the air before he finally pulls himself up, grinning triumphantly. “There. Ninja.”

“Oh yes, the mighty green ninja, regularly struggles to get up on counters,” Kai says, snickering.

Lloyd blows a raspberry at him. “The mighty fire ninja, regularly dances to Nya’s girly disco songs when everyone is out-“

“You said you’d never say anything!” Kai hisses, pulling Lloyd into a mock chokehold as he cackles. “You swore, you little punk, or I’ll tell Sensei where your candy stash is and eat it in front of your face-“

“No-o!” Lloyd wails, still trying to bite Kai’s arm. “I won’t say anything, I promise, don’t tell Uncle Wu I have a secret candy stash!”

Kai gives him one last hair ruffle before he lets Lloyd go, laughing at the disgruntled expression on his face. “Sound deal,” he says, as Lloyd mutters darkly about blackmail under his breath.

“Now, what I was trying to say,” Kai says, picking the bottle of hair gel back up and unscrewing it. “Is that I’m gonna do your hair.”

Lloyd watches him warily. “Wait, what?”

“I’m gonna give you a cool hairstyle,” Kai says, already squeezing some of the gel onto his hand. “Trust me, it’s gonna be way better than the lame one you’ve got now. I bet I can get some serious spikes outta that mess.”

“I dunno,” Lloyd says, eyeing the hair gel. “It smells kinda girly- ack!”

Kai’s already sprayed Lloyd with the shower nozzle, wetting his hair just enough to where it’s manageable. Lloyd sputters indignantly, wiping drops of water from his eyes. “What was that for, you jer- hey, stop!”

“Oh, relax,” Kai says, as he works the gel into Lloyd’s hair. He frowns as he runs his hands through the mop, catching on snarls and tangles. “Geez, do you ever brush your hair? This is a rat’s nest.”

“My hair isn’t a rat’s nest!”

“Well, it’s not now,” Kai says, tugging (gently) through the tangles. Lloyd fidgets a little, but he relaxes the more Kai runs his hands through his hair. Kai grins — so the kid’s not immune after all.

He continues to slather the gel into Lloyd’s hair, starting to push the - ugh - bangs up, styling them. “Who gave you this haircut, anyways?” Kai says, frowning. “Were the teachers at Darkley’s that cruel?”

“I did,” Lloyd says, glaring at him. “It was gettin’ too long, so I hacked at it with the safety scissors when the teachers weren’t looking.”

Kai gapes at Lloyd, his eyes wide in horror. “Safety scissors?” he wheezes. He shakes his head, starting to work on the back of Lloyd’s hair. “I’ll educate you, green bean. I’ll save you from yourself.”

“It’s not that bad,” Lloyd grumbles, looking down. Kai just smiles slightly, focusing on fluffing the ends of Lloyd’s hair up just right. He pulls a few locks to the left, spiking them up, squints a bit, then pulls one or two tufts down, giving it that rebellious little edge.

After a few more moments of tweaking, Kai finally pulls back, surveying his work with pride. “There you go,” he says, smugly. “A hundred times better.”

“Please, I bet it’s terrib-“ Lloyd turns, going quiet as he looks at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes go wide, and he traces the edge of one of the spikes ever-so-gently.

“Ha, you love it,” Kai smirks.

Lloyd flushes, and he spins back around, glaring at Kai — and wow, look at that, he can see his eyebrows properly now. “I do not!” he says. He turns back, looking in the mirror again. “It’s…it’s a little cool, I guess,” he says, his hand following one of the spikes again, clearly marveling it. Kai smiles in satisfaction.

“Now, let’s cut it.”

Lloyd whirls around, his eyes going wide in horror. Kai opens and closes the scissors, and Lloyd yelps, covering his head with his hands.

“No!” he cries, sliding off the counter and making a break for it. “No, get away from me with those, you maniac!”

Kai just grins viciously, chasing after Lloyd with the scissors as he shrieks, sprinting down the hall of the Bounty.

It only occurs to him after Nya’s chewed him out that literally running around with scissors probably wasn’t the best move. Good thing Lloyd looks darn cute with his hair spiked up — successful distraction, ten points to Kai.

*****

“Kai, I am literally begging you, go ahead and cut it, please.”

“Give me a sec, this is sensitive stuff!” Kai grumbles, trying very hard not to start sweating. He carefully levels the scissors again, hovering over the ends of Lloyd’s now much-longer hair, pulling a strand out between the scissors, and…

Kai quickly pulls his hand back, yanking the scissors away. Lloyd makes an agonized sound, kicking at the counter where he’s sitting on the cover of the toilet seat. “Just cut it already, you’re making it worse!”

“I’ve gotta come up with a good style, first!” Kai defends, waving the scissors around. “You gotta have a vision before you make art!”

“Then could you at least move the scissors before you like, accidentally snip my neck or something?” Lloyd says, in strained voice.

“I wouldn’t cut your neck,” Kai says, insulted — but he stops waving the scissors quite as much.

“If anything, it looks like he’s gonna take a chunk out of your ear,” Nya says, where she’s huddled in the bathroom corner, watching Kai warily.

Lloyd yelps, throwing his hands over his ears, and Kai glares at Nya. “Would you stop it? Have a little faith in me, c’mon!”

“I like my ears,” Lloyd says pathetically, in a voice that sounds just a tad too much like the old Lloyd-

Kai swallows. It’s still Lloyd. Still his baby bro. He just…looks a little different, sounds a little different, that’s all.

And Kai’s going to make sure he’s got a good haircut. If the tea’s gonna have the nerve to age him up and still leave him with that terrible haircut, then darn it, Kai’s gonna give his little brother this one justice.

(Stupid grundle, and stupid Kai for not figuring anything else out-)

Kai takes a breath, and focuses back on Lloyd. There’s no going back now. They’re just…they’re just gonna make the best of it. Lloyd is holding it together like a champ, it’s the least Kai can do for him to act the same.

Kai purses his lips, staring at the blond curls again. Lloyd’s hair is a lot longer than it was, so the awful bangs he’d been getting used to don’t really exist anymore, but it’s still lacking any real style.

So, new style. Kai taps his finger on the edge of the scissors, brainstorming. He doesn’t wanna give Lloyd the same haircut as any of the others, and he doubts he can pull off Kai’s — Lloyd’s hair is thicker, the blond strands better suited to easy waves and little curls that form on the ends. Kai racks his brain, trying to think of a hairstyle that’d work. He mentally scrolls through the latest celebrity styles, any pictures he’s seen recently-

Huh. There was that picture he spied scattered among the papers on Sensei’s dresser the other day, when he was totally not snooping for next week’s chore list — some random brunette couple, a smiling woman with glasses and some tall guy who was too busy laughing at her to look at the camera.

Kai looks at Lloyd again, ignoring how he squirms under his gaze. Huh. Random dude on Sensei’s dresser might have had the right idea. It didn’t look like that difficult a cut, either…

“Okay,” Kai says, snipping the scissors twice and grinning. “I’ve got it.”

Lloyd still looks a bit scared, but he nods. “Okay,” he says. “I-I trust you. Just make it look good, please?”

Kai feels something tug on his heart, and he brushes one of the long blond strands out of Lloyd’s eyes before he can stop himself. “I’ll make it look awesome,” he promises.

Lloyd takes breath, watching nervously as Kai brings the scissors back up. Nya covers her eyes with her hands, but she watches them through her fingers.

Not giving himself any time to hesitate, Kai snips cleanly through the thick blond hair, and tries not to think too much about how it feels like he’s cutting the past away.

New hairstyle, same Lloyd. It’s a new beginning, that’s all.

[cordialtiger]

Unicorns. Sparkles. Goddamn rainbow ponies.

I thought death was going to be different. Maybe a crowd of emo kids singing Sisters of Mercy. Sort of a choir of agony.

It wasn't like my life was all great. I mean, I filed data on the degradation rate of rubber soles which was interesting but not a life mission.

Not like the Blues Brothers had...

Which brings me to how I became undead and how glittery eyeballs hurt like a bitch.

His name was Henry. He pronounced it in the annoying french way, so it sounded ennui.

Come to the party, he says, waving his perfectly styled nails into his coif of golden hair.

Is coif a word?

Party sounded great. I'd meet some of his hipster friends from Seattle where literally conversation boils down to: How high is the rent. The rent is too damn high.

Maybe he'd invite me to meet his mother that weekend. She was Jewish. And I wasn't (though I do like their stance on animal rights). White. And I wasn't. Rich. I definitely wasn't. But I could put on an expensive sweater (that I would later return for store credit) and hobnob. I could nob all the hob.

I wore a green dress with scales like mermaids tails. This was going to be a fancy hipster plaid-as-a-fashion-statement party. I did not own plaid so I went for over-fancy. Plus it showed my legs which always distract from any intellectual conversation.

Warehouse. Rotten fruit. Empty wooden crates. Does that say hip kid's party to you? Me either! Henry mumbled something about atmosphere or geography. He was always confusing the two.

There I am, in the fancy mermaid dress. Henry touches my hair and says he's sorry. And I think, well you should be. I told you about touching my hair.

Then he's running and all I hear is the sound of his sneakers. And when did he put on goddamn sneakers?

I start laughing. Full on church giggles until I can't breathe.

I couldn't tell you why. Maybe I knew he'd traded me. Must have been for something good. Vaccine? Yeah, for the girl with the stars in her eyes. I'd seen the photo in his wallet.

Would be a shame if she turned into a monster.

The ghouls come and eat me alive and it was all very unpleasant.

I didn't expect to wake up. Most don't. Or if they do, it's as a hand or a big toe. Can't have body parts wiggling around everywhere with thoughts and feelings of their own.

And then, rainbows. All I see is pink cotton candy and my eyes are always itchy from the light and bright of it all.

I keep trying to get humans (the alive kind) to kill me. I break into houses and make rude noises. I insulted one woman's mother so viciously I actually felt a little bad. Sent her some flowers after. Peonies.

Can't die. It's a hellscape in every color. I scream. I have no mouth but I scream (yeah I stole that).

[fallforcs]

Sugar Rush

Art by: @nicole-nikla

Author:  @athenascarlet

Summary: Emma Swan loves making ice cream – as long as her daily deliveries avoid Killian Jones and his cupcakes as much as possible. She doubts this is going to be the season for her to change her mind about the infuriatingly attractive and frustratingly talented owner of The Jolly Cupcake. But as the leaves change in the fall, is it possible her feelings could also morph into something else?

Rating: T

——

“Emma! Delivery is ready!”

Emma wiped her ice creamed hands on her apron and headed to the back of the store where Ingrid was standing in their kitchen, filling up a cooler with gallons of ice cream. She pulled off the apron and hung it on a nearby hook.

“How did the batches turn out?”

“Amazing, as usual,” Ingrid told her. “I really think your apple cider ice cream will be a hit.”

“I hope so,” she replied. “As long as we don’t get apples from the mayor’s tree, we’ll be fine.”

Ingrid gave her a teasing smile. “You act like they’re poisoned.”

Emma shrugged. “They might be. You never know.”

She was sure they probably weren’t, but the mayor was definitely more sour than sweet so she wasn’t about to test her theory.

Emma threw on her red leather coat and grabbed the cooler from the counter. “Granny’s first, right?”

“Yep! Tell her I said hi!”

Emma nodded and headed out the front door of Any Given Sundae to Granny’s Diner. She always loved walking down Storybrooke’s Main St. at this time of year. After two years here, she finally could call it home, which was something that still caught her off guard at times.

When she was younger, Ingrid had been her foster mother, caring for her as a teenager. But as with most teenagers, Emma had a problem with authority and ran away from Ingrid’s home. She went out on her own, eventually tracking down bail jumpers to make ends meet. It was fine until one in particular busted her arm. She still got her bounty but decided it may be a good time to try something different, and since she was so good at finding people, she decided to find Ingrid.

Her former foster mother had moved to a small town in Maine and opened a store specializing in homemade ice cream made on site. At first, she seemed surprised to see Emma, but quickly gave her a smile and a hug. The next thing Emma knew she was whipping up cream and sugar and whatever else Ingrid had decided to try for customers.

The store sold ice cream staples: chocolate, vanilla, cookies and cream. But it was really known for its more unusual or fun flavors, which brought people in from all over Maine. They were one of the first stores in the state to make cake batter ice cream from scratch, and Emma’s frozen hot chocolate ice cream was a favorite. She often encouraged customers to add a little shake of cinnamon from their toppings bar.

This month, Ingrid had encouraged Emma to come up with some good fall flavors. She whipped up the perfect batches of pumpkin spice ice cream and candied pecan ice cream. She also found some amazing apples at the local orchard and used them to create an amazing apple cider ice cream. It was just like drinking the real thing.

“This is the best one you’ve ever made,” Ingrid said when Emma finally let her try the recipe.

They quickly sold out of the first few batches, including a few gallons that Granny ordered for the diner.

Granny was one of their best customers, always putting in an order for gallons of vanilla ice cream to go along with her pies. The unique flavors were also a hit with customers who got a scoop included as part of the dinner special.

Emma’s feet crunched on the dry leaves in Granny’s courtyard, which made her smile. She swung the door open and walked in, taking a quick look at what the miners sitting at the counter were eating for lunch. Lots of lasagna, a few grilled cheeses, and Leroy’s heaping bowl of orange sherbert. He was definitely their best customer.

She headed back to the kitchen window where Granny was placing orders with the kitchen staff.

“Thank God you’re here,” she told Emma. “We just ran out of vanilla. I thought a cupcake/ice cream combo would be a hit, but it was way too popular at lunch today.”

Emma gave her a perplexed look. “What kind of combo?” she asked.

“Delicious cupcakes with ice cream, Swan! In fact, I’m here to drop off a new batch myself.”

Emma scowled. She recognized that voice and was not surprised when she turned to see its owner leaning against the counter with a smug grin on his face next to Granny’s cake plate stocked full of cupcakes.

Killian Jones.

She had no idea why the cupcake store owner insisted on wearing all black. It seemed so impractical for a cake maker who was constantly around flour and sugar, but he made it look effortless. Emma was always picking sugar out of her hair or cleaning spilled cream off her clothes. His clothes were immaculate and made her mouth water.

She would never tell him that second part. Because honestly, everyone knew that man was gorgeous. But not everyone recognized the feud there was between Any Given Sundae and The Jolly Cupcake. Hell, even Ingrid thought Emma’s belief that The Jolly Cupcake was a rival was overblown.

“Sweet treats can co-exist in this town,” Ingrid once told her. “I don’t know why you have such a grudge against one of them.”

Because one of them was run by an infuriating man. He was gorgeous and successful and, dammit, his cupcakes were amazing. His flavors were special and perfectly balanced between the cake and the icing. It was annoying.

He was annoying.

Emma gave the smiling baker a once over and sighed. “Jones.”

“What did you bring with you today, Swan?” He swaggered over and pushed into her personal space. “I do hope it’s deletable.”

Emma just rolled her eyes. “Of course, it is. I made it.” Her eyes darted over to the cake plate on the counter. “What about you?”

“Delightful as always,” he said with a wicked smile. “Would you like to try a maple brown sugar cupcake? Or perhaps a dark chocolate one with cinnamon icing? I hear it’s a favorite of yours.”

Emma’s mouth was watering from the cupcakes and Killian’s voice was heating up other parts of her body. Dammit, why did a rival who pressed her buttons have to be so delicious as he did it?

“They sound fine.”

Emma grabbed the empty cooler sitting in the pick-up window from the kitchen and started to head out.

“I thought we were sharing, lass?” Killian asked as she walked by. “What new concoction did you whip up?”

“Ice cream,” she yelled back.

“Sounds tasty! I can’t wait to lick it up!”

Emma was thankful to hear the door close behind her as she pushed her way into the chilled fall day outside. She needed a little air to cool off after that meeting with Killian.

Of course, she was going to go back to Granny’s and try that chocolate cupcake with cinnamon icing. What kind of person wouldn’t want that? But there was no way in hell she was ever going to tell Killian she did it. Just like there was no way she was ever going to tell him about her taste tests of several other flavors she quietly snuck out of Granny’s Diner over the past few months. It would be better to not inflate his ego anymore than it already was.

xxx

Apparently, today was not Emma’s day. As soon as she got back to the store, Ingrid sent her out on another ice cream run, this time to Hansel and Gretel’s candy shop. She had no problem with the brother-and-sister duo, probably because neither of them was as infuriatingly attractive as Killian Jones.

Which is why she was so frustrated when she ran into him – literally – as she was leaving the candy shop.

“Careful with the cupcakes, Swan. You wouldn’t want to smash my treats.” He leaned in and gave her a wicked grin. “Or perhaps you would.”

Emma rolled her eyes. Infuriating.

(Also, she wouldn’t mind smashing his treats. Also, that made her frustrated. Again.)

But there was one place where she could really throw him off his game: The Rabbit Hole.

Emma smiled as the bar’s owner, Liam Jones, poured his creamy concoction into two glasses, adding straws to both of them.

“OK, let me know what you think of that,” he said as he grabbed his own off the bar.

It only took a few sips before Emma moaned in delight. “This is amazing, Liam.”

“Hey!”

Emma smiled. Once again, she recognized the voice. “Hey, Killian. What’s up?”

He put down a large white baker’s box on the bar and pulled the bar stool out from right next to her. “Don’t ‘what’s up’ me, Swan. What are you doing here?”

“Just drinking.”

Her lips curled dramatically around the straw again and she took another drink. She could tell it had the effect she wanted on Killian. His eyes trailed down to her mouth, his jaw did that thing where he flexed it whenever he was tense. She could play this game all night.

“Here, try this, brother.”

Liam put a glass down in front of Killian and poured some more of his experiment into it. Killian gave the glass an odd look and then did as he was told, his long lashes fluttering shut as he drank.

“Bloody hell,” he finally said. “What is that?”

“An apple pie. It’s apple cider ice cream from Any Given Sundae mixed with vanilla vodka. It’s great, right?”

Killian’s ecstacy turned into a scowl as he looked at Emma. “Are you turning my brother against me now?”

She just shrugged. “I saw a business opportunity.”

She leaned over and drank more, keeping her eyes focused on Killian as his did that thing where they lingered on her lips again. Was this really what their relationship had come to? Trading jabs over ice cream cocktails at a bar?

And yet, after the day Emma had, she didn’t mind it. She liked teasing him like this. In fact, she liked alot of things about him. She liked the way he responded to her teasing. She liked the way he smiled at her comebacks. She was definitely impressed with how he looked in that black outfit of his, no matter how infuriating it was that he could keep it so clean.

Killian finally cleared his throat to gain some composure. “Well, if you want to talk business, Swan.”

He gave her one his trademark eyebrow raises and reached over to the box next to him. He lifted the lid just high enough for Emma to see all the cupcakes inside. They all looked amazing. Killian’s decorating skills were ridiculous. Then he set a dark cupcake down in front of her.

“Winter ale cupcake with a stout frosting. Tell me what you think.”

“Really?” she asked skeptically.

He seemed undeterred, giving her a warm smile in return. “Go ahead, and be brutally honest. I know you won’t hold back.”

“And not to sway you one way or another,” Liam said. “But we sold out of yesterday’s batch in an hour.”

She looked at the bartender, who simply smiled and grabbed the box of cupcakes off the bar and took them to the back. Emma turned to the cupcake, pulling the wrapper down to expose the moist cake inside. It looked amazing – fluffy and light with just the right amount of frosting. Some cupcake makers added too much frosting, but Killian had a knack for getting the right balance. Dammit again, it was so annoying that he was so good at this. And he opened the shop only six months ago! Crazy prodigy baker always dressed in black.

She stared at the cupcake a bit longer and then finally took a bite. Damn, it was good. Great flavors that weren’t overwhelming. The frosting and cake complimenting each other so well. If she wasn’t being watched, she would’ve quickly stuffed the rest of it in her mouth at once.

But she was being watched. She couldn’t see his eyes – she was still staring at the cupcake. But she could feel his glare. He was anticipating her response. Because for as much as they teased each other, as much as they were at odds – whether true or exaggerated – there was a mutual respect between them when it came to their crafts. Emma could give him some snarky comment in response, or she could just tell the truth.

She looked up to see him staring at her in anticipation. She couldn’t tease him about these.

“This is amazing.”

His face broke out into a huge smile. “Be honest, Swan. Do you really like them?”

She rolled her eyes. “It pains me to say it, but I honestly do.”

“Better or worse than the chocolate with the cinnamon frosting?”

“Couldn’t tell you. Never had one of those.”

She took another bite, the cake and frosting melting together in her mouth.

“That’s a lie,” Killian teased. “Granny said you bought half a dozen from her.”

Emma stopped eating as she stared at the man next to her. She loved Granny dearly, but that woman sold her out and told Killian her secret. And yes, she had in fact bought out all of Granny’s inventory of the chocolate cupcakes with cinnamon frosting. They were delicious. So what?

“Emma, you’ve got some frosting…”

His voice trailed off as he motioned on his face to a spot near his lips. She swiped at the spot, but it only caused Killian to laugh at her more.

“Hold on, let me help.”

“This is your fault,” she said. “You put too much frosting on this one.”

He didn’t have to say anything. The disbelieving look on his face said it all.

“OK, fine. It had the right amount of frosting.”

“Thank you,” he said as he reached for her. “And for the record, your apple cider ice cream is mind blowing.”

She could only stare at him. Mind blowing? He thought her ice cream was mind blowing? Wow. That was… quite the compliment from the cupcake king.

He swiped at the frosting on her face, his fingers warm against her cheek. “There,” he said quietly.

But instead of pulling away, his hand pulled her closer, his breath against her face. Then he kissed her. It was warm and gentle and sweet. So sweet. The buttercream frosting from the cupcake mixed with the apple cider ice cream on his lips. It was like kissing a heaven full of fall flavors.

He pulled away slightly, an awkward smile teasing at the corners of his lips. “Sorry, lass. I don’t know what came over me.”

She shook her head, trying to clear out the fog that seemed to have settled over her brain. “Um, it’s OK. It’s fine. Well, more than fine. It was, uh… Well, this cupcake is pretty magical or whatever I guess.”

The tension in Killian’s shoulders disappeared, his swagger back but with a genuine warmth in his smile.

“I’m glad you like it.” He leaned over and took another drink from his apple pie cocktail. “This, by the way, is bloody amazing.”

“Do you like it?” she asked. “It was actually Liam’s idea. He came into our shop after he had some of our ice cream at Granny’s.”

“Liam has a knack for finding new flavors for the bar.”

Emma looked down at her half eaten cupcake and smiled. Maybe Liam wasn’t the only one who could try new flavors. Maybe it was time for Emma to try something new, starting with Killian Jones.

She turned to Killian and smiled. “So were the winter ale cupcakes Liam’s idea?”

“Of course,” he replied in a dejected tone. “And he hasn’t let me forget it.”

Killian started talking about Liam’s ideas for spiked egg nog cupcakes for Christmas and Irish Creme cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day. He talked about the bad batches he still made on occasion that would crumble instead of stick together. Emma suggested maybe using the broken cupcakes in a vanilla base for a new ice cream flavor. Then she talked about the latest cake batter flavors they were trying for the ice cream with Killian giving her tips on different ways to mix the ingredients she was using.

And sometime after midnight, he walked her out to her car and kissed her again, and his lips were just as sweet as before.

[athenascarlet]

Sugar Rush

Summary: Emma Swan loves making ice cream – as long as her daily deliveries avoid Killian Jones and his cupcakes as much as possible. She doubts this is going to be the season for her to change her mind about the infuriatingly attractive and frustratingly talented owner of The Jolly Cupcake. But as the leaves change in the fall, is it possible her feelings could also morph into something else? Rating: T Notes: For @fallforcs, originally published as a blind date with a fic so you may have read it! Banner by @nicole-nikla -- thank you! If you like this, I'm also in the middle of the Captain Swan Big Bang so please catch up with Hide Your Love Away on AO3 or FF. I also have published two novels on Amazon. You can buy them here for less than the cost of a grande pumpkin spice latte (or less than a half gallon on Emma’s ice cream and one of Killian’s cupcakes).

Also on AO3 | FF

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

“Emma! Delivery is ready!”

Emma wiped her ice creamed hands on her apron and headed to the back of the store where Ingrid was standing in their kitchen, filling up a cooler with gallons of ice cream. She pulled off the apron and hung it on a nearby hook.

“How did the batches turn out?”

“Amazing, as usual,” Ingrid told her. “I really think your apple cider ice cream will be a hit.”

“I hope so,” she replied. “As long as we don’t get apples from the mayor’s tree, we’ll be fine.”

Ingrid gave her a teasing smile. “You act like they’re poisoned.”

Emma shrugged. “They might be. You never know.”

She was sure they probably weren’t, but the mayor was definitely more sour than sweet so she wasn’t about to test her theory.

Emma threw on her red leather coat and grabbed the cooler from the counter. “Granny’s first, right?”

“Yep! Tell her I said hi!”

Emma nodded and headed out the front door of Any Given Sundae to Granny’s Diner. She always loved walking down Storybrooke’s Main St. at this time of year. After two years here, she finally could call it home, which was something that still caught her off guard at times.

When she was younger, Ingrid had been her foster mother, caring for her as a teenager. But as with most teenagers, Emma had a problem with authority and ran away from Ingrid’s home. She went out on her own, eventually tracking down bail jumpers to make ends meet. It was fine until one in particular busted her arm. She still got her bounty but decided it may be a good time to try something different, and since she was so good at finding people, she decided to find Ingrid.

Her former foster mother had moved to a small town in Maine and opened a store specializing in homemade ice cream made on site. At first, she seemed surprised to see Emma, but quickly gave her a smile and a hug. The next thing Emma knew she was whipping up cream and sugar and whatever else Ingrid had decided to try for customers.

The store sold ice cream staples: chocolate, vanilla, cookies and cream. But it was really known for its more unusual or fun flavors, which brought people in from all over Maine. They were one of the first stores in the state to make cake batter ice cream from scratch, and Emma’s frozen hot chocolate ice cream was a favorite. She often encouraged customers to add a little shake of cinnamon from their toppings bar.

This month, Ingrid had encouraged Emma to come up with some good fall flavors. She whipped up the perfect batches of pumpkin spice ice cream and candied pecan ice cream. She also found some amazing apples at the local orchard and used them to create an amazing apple cider ice cream. It was just like drinking the real thing.

“This is the best one you’ve ever made,” Ingrid said when Emma finally let her try the recipe.

They quickly sold out of the first few batches, including a few gallons that Granny ordered for the diner.

Granny was one of their best customers, always putting in an order for gallons of vanilla ice cream to go along with her pies. The unique flavors were also a hit with customers who got a scoop included as part of the dinner special.

Emma’s feet crunched on the dry leaves in Granny’s courtyard, which made her smile. She swung the door open and walked in, taking a quick look at what the miners sitting at the counter were eating for lunch. Lots of lasagna, a few grilled cheeses, and Leroy’s heaping bowl of orange sherbert. He was definitely their best customer.

She headed back to the kitchen window where Granny was placing orders with the kitchen staff.

“Thank God you’re here,” she told Emma. “We just ran out of vanilla. I thought a cupcake/ice cream combo would be a hit, but it was way too popular at lunch today.”

Emma gave her a perplexed look. “What kind of combo?” she asked.

“Delicious cupcakes with ice cream, Swan! In fact, I’m here to drop off a new batch myself.”

Emma scowled. She recognized that voice and was not surprised when she turned to see its owner leaning against the counter with a smug grin on his face next to Granny’s cake plate stocked full of cupcakes.

Killian Jones.

She had no idea why the cupcake store owner insisted on wearing all black. It seemed so impractical for a cake maker who was constantly around flour and sugar, but he made it look effortless. Emma was always picking sugar out of her hair or cleaning spilled cream off her clothes. His clothes were immaculate and made her mouth water.

She would never tell him that second part. Because honestly, everyone knew that man was gorgeous. But not everyone recognized the feud there was between Any Given Sundae and The Jolly Cupcake. Hell, even Ingrid thought Emma’s belief that The Jolly Cupcake was a rival was overblown.

“Sweet treats can co-exist in this town,” Ingrid once told her. “I don’t know why you have such a grudge against one of them.”

Because one of them was run by an infuriating man. He was gorgeous and successful and, dammit, his cupcakes were amazing. His flavors were special and perfectly balanced between the cake and the icing. It was annoying.

He was annoying.

Emma gave the smiling baker a once over and sighed. “Jones.”

“What did you bring with you today, Swan?” He swaggered over and pushed into her personal space. “I do hope it’s deletable.”

Emma just rolled her eyes. “Of course, it is. I made it.” Her eyes darted over to the cake plate on the counter. “What about you?”

“Delightful as always,” he said with a wicked smile. “Would you like to try a maple brown sugar cupcake? Or perhaps a dark chocolate one with cinnamon icing? I hear it’s a favorite of yours.”

Emma’s mouth was watering from the cupcakes and Killian’s voice was heating up other parts of her body. Dammit, why did a rival who pressed her buttons have to be so delicious as he did it?

“They sound fine.”

Emma grabbed the empty cooler sitting in the pick-up window from the kitchen and started to head out.

“I thought we were sharing, lass?” Killian asked as she walked by. “What new concoction did you whip up?”

“Ice cream,” she yelled back.

“Sounds tasty! I can’t wait to lick it up!”

Emma was thankful to hear the door close behind her as she pushed her way into the chilled fall day outside. She needed a little air to cool off after that meeting with Killian.

Of course, she was going to go back to Granny’s and try that chocolate cupcake with cinnamon icing. What kind of person wouldn’t want that? But there was no way in hell she was ever going to tell Killian she did it. Just like there was no way she was ever going to tell him about her taste tests of several other flavors she quietly snuck out of Granny’s Diner over the past few months. It would be better to not inflate his ego anymore than it already was.

xxx

Apparently, today was not Emma’s day. As soon as she got back to the store, Ingrid sent her out on another ice cream run, this time to Hansel and Gretel’s candy shop. She had no problem with the brother-and-sister duo, probably because neither of them was as infuriatingly attractive as Killian Jones.

Which is why she was so frustrated when she ran into him -- literally -- as she was leaving the candy shop.

“Careful with the cupcakes, Swan. You wouldn’t want to smash my treats.” He leaned in and gave her a wicked grin. “Or perhaps you would.”

Emma rolled her eyes. Infuriating.

(Also, she wouldn’t mind smashing his treats. Also, that made her frustrated. Again.)

But there was one place where she could really throw him off his game: The Rabbit Hole.

Emma smiled as the bar’s owner, Liam Jones, poured his creamy concoction into two glasses, adding straws to both of them.

“OK, let me know what you think of that,” he said as he grabbed his own off the bar.

It only took a few sips before Emma moaned in delight. “This is amazing, Liam.”

“Hey!”

Emma smiled. Once again, she recognized the voice. “Hey, Killian. What’s up?”

He put down a large white baker’s box on the bar and pulled the bar stool out from right next to her. “Don’t ‘what’s up’ me, Swan. What are you doing here?”

“Just drinking.”

Her lips curled dramatically around the straw again and she took another drink. She could tell it had the effect she wanted on Killian. His eyes trailed down to her mouth, his jaw did that thing where he flexed it whenever he was tense. She could play this game all night.

“Here, try this, brother.”

Liam put a glass down in front of Killian and poured some more of his experiment into it. Killian gave the glass an odd look and then did as he was told, his long lashes fluttering shut as he drank.

“Bloody hell,” he finally said. “What is that?”

“An apple pie. It’s apple cider ice cream from Any Given Sundae mixed with vanilla vodka. It’s great, right?”

Killian’s ecstacy turned into a scowl as he looked at Emma. “Are you turning my brother against me now?”

She just shrugged. “I saw a business opportunity.”

She leaned over and drank more, keeping her eyes focused on Killian as his did that thing where they lingered on her lips again. Was this really what their relationship had come to? Trading jabs over ice cream cocktails at a bar?

And yet, after the day Emma had, she didn’t mind it. She liked teasing him like this. In fact, she liked alot of things about him. She liked the way he responded to her teasing. She liked the way he smiled at her comebacks. She was definitely impressed with how he looked in that black outfit of his, no matter how infuriating it was that he could keep it so clean.

Killian finally cleared his throat to gain some composure. “Well, if you want to talk business, Swan.”

He gave her one his trademark eyebrow raises and reached over to the box next to him. He lifted the lid just high enough for Emma to see all the cupcakes inside. They all looked amazing. Killian’s decorating skills were ridiculous. Then he set a dark cupcake down in front of her.

“Winter ale cupcake with a stout frosting. Tell me what you think.”

“Really?” she asked skeptically.

He seemed undeterred, giving her a warm smile in return. “Go ahead, and be brutally honest. I know you won’t hold back.”

“And not to sway you one way or another,” Liam said. “But we sold out of yesterday’s batch in an hour.”

She looked at the bartender, who simply smiled and grabbed the box of cupcakes off the bar and took them to the back. Emma turned to the cupcake, pulling the wrapper down to expose the moist cake inside. It looked amazing -- fluffy and light with just the right amount of frosting. Some cupcake makers added too much frosting, but Killian had a knack for getting the right balance. Dammit again, it was so annoying that he was so good at this. And he opened the shop only six months ago! Crazy prodigy baker always dressed in black.

She stared at the cupcake a bit longer and then finally took a bite. Damn, it was good. Great flavors that weren’t overwhelming. The frosting and cake complimenting each other so well. If she wasn’t being watched, she would’ve quickly stuffed the rest of it in her mouth at once.

But she was being watched. She couldn’t see his eyes -- she was still staring at the cupcake. But she could feel his glare. He was anticipating her response. Because for as much as they teased each other, as much as they were at odds -- whether true or exaggerated -- there was a mutual respect between them when it came to their crafts. Emma could give him some snarky comment in response, or she could just tell the truth.

She looked up to see him staring at her in anticipation. She couldn’t tease him about these.

“This is amazing.”

His face broke out into a huge smile. “Be honest, Swan. Do you really like them?”

She rolled her eyes. “It pains me to say it, but I honestly do.”

“Better or worse than the chocolate with the cinnamon frosting?”

“Couldn’t tell you. Never had one of those.”

She took another bite, the cake and frosting melting together in her mouth.

“That’s a lie,” Killian teased. “Granny said you bought half a dozen from her.”

Emma stopped eating as she stared at the man next to her. She loved Granny dearly, but that woman sold her out and told Killian her secret. And yes, she had in fact bought out all of Granny’s inventory of the chocolate cupcakes with cinnamon frosting. They were delicious. So what? “Emma, you’ve got some frosting…”

His voice trailed off as he motioned on his face to a spot near his lips. She swiped at the spot, but it only caused Killian to laugh at her more.

“Hold on, let me help.”

“This is your fault,” she said. “You put too much frosting on this one.”

He didn’t have to say anything. The disbelieving look on his face said it all.

“OK, fine. It had the right amount of frosting.”

“Thank you,” he said as he reached for her. “And for the record, your apple cider ice cream is mind blowing.”

She could only stare at him. Mind blowing? He thought her ice cream was mind blowing? Wow. That was… quite the compliment from the cupcake king.

He swiped at the frosting on her face, his fingers warm against her cheek. “There,” he said quietly.

But instead of pulling away, his hand pulled her closer, his breath against her face. Then he kissed her. It was warm and gentle and sweet. So sweet. The buttercream frosting from the cupcake mixed with the apple cider ice cream on his lips. It was like kissing a heaven full of fall flavors.

He pulled away slightly, an awkward smile teasing at the corners of his lips. “Sorry, lass. I don’t know what came over me.”

She shook her head, trying to clear out the fog that seemed to have settled over her brain. “Um, it’s OK. It’s fine. Well, more than fine. It was, uh… Well, this cupcake is pretty magical or whatever I guess.”

The tension in Killian’s shoulders disappeared, his swagger back but with a genuine warmth in his smile.

“I’m glad you like it.” He leaned over and took another drink from his apple pie cocktail. “This, by the way, is bloody amazing.”

“Do you like it?” she asked. “It was actually Liam’s idea. He came into our shop after he had some of our ice cream at Granny’s.”

“Liam has a knack for finding new flavors for the bar.”

Emma looked down at her half eaten cupcake and smiled. Maybe Liam wasn’t the only one who could try new flavors. Maybe it was time for Emma to try something new, starting with Killian Jones.

She turned to Killian and smiled. “So were the winter ale cupcakes Liam’s idea?”

“Of course,” he replied in a dejected tone. “And he hasn’t let me forget it.”

Killian started talking about Liam’s ideas for spiked egg nog cupcakes for Christmas and Irish Creme cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day. He talked about the bad batches he still made on occasion that would crumble instead of stick together. Emma suggested maybe using the broken cupcakes in a vanilla base for a new ice cream flavor. Then she talked about the latest cake batter flavors they were trying for the ice cream with Killian giving her tips on different ways to mix the ingredients she was using.

And sometime after midnight, he walked her out to her car and kissed her again, and his lips were just as sweet as before.

[theheavenlymoon]

I totally did this out of order, so let’s try this again!

I would like you to meet Uzuki Hanako! (うづき- Uzuki はなこ- Hanako)

(My first introduction was a hot mess, so I wanted re edit that one and put up this one instead!)

(I can’t draw for crap so I’m using picrew.)

This will basically be me talking about her rather than all the fandoms she’s in. I’m gonna be making post about her and the fandoms later, but for now it’s all about her!

First Name: Hanako

Last Name: Uzuki

Gender: Female

Race: Demigod

Age: ??? (Depending on the fandom, her age changes)

Birthday: December 27

Zodiac: Capricorn

Height: 6’3.3

Sexuality: Bisexual

JP CV: Ami Koshimizu

ENG CV: Amanda Céline Miller

FRENCH CV: Indila

(Couldn’t find a Greek CV 😔)

Nicknames: Shachi-chan (Floyd), Child of Hearth (Malleus), Ms.Herbivore (Leona), Princess, Wifey (Gojo)

Favorite food: Cheesecake, literally anything sweet

Least favorite food: Hummus, mushrooms, candy, and beans

Likes: family/friends, cooking, singing really loud to her music, working out, making clothes, nail polish, memes/vines, rain/cloudy weather, animals, purple, doing anything around the house, video games, anime, fictional books, roughhousing, and day dreaming about her crush/significant other

Dislikes: Fights between friends and family, Candy, crying in front of people, and bookshelves

Since I can’t draw I have to use picrew, but sadly some of the makers that I find have limited options so allow me to go into detail about her looks. (I’ll probably make another post about her abilities later)

Hanako has bright gold eyes and long lavender hair that goes all the way down to her mid thigh. She has two beauty marks, one under her right eye and one on the left side of her lip. Her signature hair style is space buns with the rest of her hair down in the back. Like I’ve said before, I can’t draw so I’m using characters I know as reference! This is what her body looks like.

(^ This is Flare, a character from fairy tail! I recommend watching it if you have time. Fairy tail is a very long series, but it’s really good!)

(I’m pretty sure you can look at almost all the women in Fairy tail and get the idea.)

Obviously I know that Hestia doesn’t have any demigod kids but demigods don’t have to be born the normal way. Hanako was born from fire and was given to her father. With that being said, when Hana was first claimed she was given a fire place poker but traded it in for a sword so she it could help control her pyrokinesis. (Her sword is disguised as a charm bracelet!)

As for her sword...

Hana’s sword helps her control her pyrokinesis a little better and it’s fun to try and see who can pick it up. Her sword can reach up to about 2000°F (1093°C). She has a few special moves but those are for another time.

Although Hana acts like her mom in some moments, she met Apollo and Hermes when she was quite young and those two have had a big impression on her personality. One moment she giving motherly advice, and the next moment she screaming vines across the room.

Random facts about Hanako 🌸✨

Since Hana means flower I use cherry blossoms and lavender to represent her.

Has a huge soft spot for children!

Hanako is super understanding and open. Wanna try something new? She’ll come with you, so you aren’t lonely and scared. Skydiving? What time are we leaving? Want to be left alone? Call her if you need something! Wanna try working out? She’ll be your personal trainer! Feeling down? She’s coming over with movies and snacks! Can’t make it to game night? It’s alright just be safe with whatever your doing!

Once Hanako falls, she falls hard.(Romantically speaking) She is a SIMP. She’ll wear the most giddiest smile after talking with them. Probably screamed in her pillows at least a few times. “They make my heart beat so fast, and they make me feel like the happiest girl in the world!!” - Hanako.

Attempts her best not to be obvious about her crush, and for the most part it works. Until anything other than platonic stuff comes up. Her face is gonna turn crimson if ANYONE mentions her crush in not so platonic ways, gods forbid anything even more intimate. Children of Hestia are so shy when the idea of sexual things is even bought up that they blush deeply and cannot articulate any coherent words, and any fire nearby also turns crimson as if it were blushing like the child of Hestia. This shyness is amplified if they are around their crush.

Gets kind of anxious when she’s beside a bookshelf.

She’s a smart ass. It’s gotten to the point where she does it automatically. It doesn’t even have time to process, it just comes out.

Hana is actually really good at acting and singing. She was in a few commercials and videos when she was younger but only as background characters.

Hana is amazing with kids. She grew up with 3 little brothers before she was moved into the orphanage, which meant even more kids to watch over. (she takes her big sister role very seriously)

Since she was born from fire, she can raise her body temperature up if she wanted too, and she rarely gets hot or cold. Heat based attack have no effect on her. Hana’s hugs feel like a warm blanket wrapped around you while sitting next to a fireplace, all in all just really comforting

Hana grew up around a lot of guys and so she calls everyone ‘bro’ and ‘dude’ a lot. She has a few friends who are girls but most of them are guys. That being said, she grew up rough housing and yelling.

Hana also comes from a very affectionate family. (Hugs, kisses, feeding food to each other, smashing food into someone’s face, etc.) So it’s not uncommon to see Hana tackle all of her friends into hugs and kisses.(platonically)

Hana also likes to tease a lot (curtsy of Hermes) so don’t be surprised when she tease about you burning food.

Is super flexible. I’m talking like, Mitsuri flexible. Her friends have at least saw her in the scorpion pose a few times. The more flexible she is, the easier it is to move in battle.

The woman is a tree. I’m pretty sure all of her lovers (with the exception of Gojo) are shorter than her.

She can not, for the life of her, wear heels. Anything above a 3 inch that isn’t thick, would make her snap an ankle. Besides she’s already tall enough

In terms of anger, Hana has the patience of a saint. She still gets annoyed here and there, but very rarely does she get genuinely angry. On the rare occasion that she is angry, she gets pretty violent. Veins showing from her forehead, her body temperature spikes, and she wears one of the most nastiest glare ever. (from what she’s been told) Only a select few have seen her mad.

When thrown into a new situation (or a new world-) that isn’t familiar, Hana will come off a bit sarcastic (more than usual) and aloof. She wants to get a feel for her surroundings before she can actually be herself. Give her some time to come around and she’ll be back to hyper and happy.

Hana has a bunch of hobbies. She plays volleyball and is known as the queen of the court. She loves to paint her fingernails and her toes as well. Her cooking is top tier! As a Hestia child obviously she would excel at anything that has to do with domestic and home type things.

She 100% would/will make her own dress. Once made a huge ball gown dress because none of the place had what she was looking for.

When she isn’t doing any of her hobbies she’s working out and practicing her pyrokinesis. Hana trained a lot back where she was from, so she could master her pyrokinesis and her sword. She’s gotten to the point where she can lift a car. Just because she’s in a different place doesn’t give her the excuse to slack off!!

Ironically her mother is a virginal goddess and isn’t married to anyone. Hana on the other hand, wants to get married and have kids. She shooting for 4 but it all depends on what her partner wants. (2,6,8 it just depends)

Hestia children can induce serenity and make tense situations a lot more calmer. Hanako has defeated a lot of enemies and monsters this way.

Hanako knows 4 different languages. English, Japanese, Greek, and French. She was taught Japanese by her father and Greek by her mother. She learned French and English herself

Even though Hana loves to do girly things, makeup is not one of them. She always thought it was pretty cool but she never had the time to sit down and practice it.

Thank you for reading✨ I had a lot of fun making this and I can’t wait to write more stuff about her! I’ll probably have to learn how to make a master post so her stuff is easier to access. If you have any questions about Hana my inbox is open, or you can message me in private, either way works!

I hope you stick around for more content with Hanako! 🌸🔥✨

[heartslogos]

newfragile yellows [417]

Bull wakes up because Ellana wakes up. He’s not sure why Ellana woke up, because his internal clock is telling him that it’s nowhere close to morning. As in the morning people wake up to and accept as a good time to start the day - like, eight or nine. It’s maybe around just past midnight.

“What?” Bull says, listening to Ellana breathe a she recovers from the initial jolt of waking up so abruptly. “What’s wrong?”

“I had a nightmare,” Ellana says and then she drags one of his arms over her and wedges herself as far into his chest and side as she can. “It was terrible. You guys made me tank as a cleric. What kind of shitty party are you guys that you make me tank as a cleric.”

Bull closes his eye again and does his best to let himself unmoor himself from being wake and go back to sleep.

“And I kept rolling fails and - I don’t know why but Herah was our DM and she kept raising the difficulty level each time and literally all of you were holding your turn for me to do something? But I could do literally nothing.”

“I don’t know how I didn’t know you were a fucking nerd,” Bull says. “I have no idea how you pulled that one over me for years. I slept in your apartment half the time. You had a one bedroom apartment the size of our current living room. And somehow you managed to hide all evidence that you were a the biggest gamer geek ever. Now we have an entire game room and I have to fight you for space.”

“The only reason you ever caught me was because I let you and sometimes I regret it because I think I could’ve kept you in the dark for at least another year,” Ellana says. “And you were just so cute when you were being all nice and trying to play it cool while you were obviously bouncing around the inside of your own head like a little boy in a candy store every time I gave the idea of casual interest in any reference you made. How could I deny either of us that? You liked teaching me Dungeons and Dragons basics.”

“If I had known that you’d been a player since forever we could’ve gotten into the good shit.”

“You’d have been defensive, baby.”

She’s not wrong, but Bull can’t think of a good response right now. He can’t think a lot of things right now.

“Can we talk about this later?”

“Listen, the nightmare gets worse and I need to talk about it because I’m scared that if I go back to sleep it’ll pick up where it left off.”

“Didn’t you train yourself to lucid dream?”

“Babe.”

“You had several successive fails with an increasing challenge rating.”

“And then my brother came in and he pointed at me and called me a false idol.”

Bull opens his eyes and lifts his head for that, “What?”

“Yeah. And this is where things get really weird,” Ellana says, staring up at the ceiling. “Everyone at the table started chanting false idol over and over and Herah told me to roll my dice and I did and of course it was another failure and then everyone started to…quiz me? On the handbook? And various other stuff? I think you guys were trying to gamer gate me or something. It was so bizarre and I was just staring at you all because it was so weird and then the police came.”

“Someone called the police on you in your dream?”

“Yeah and it just - it just kept getting weirder and weirder. Like people came out to stare at me and point and I was walking to the station in the middle of the street with the squad car slowly driving behind me and this hoard of people following and staring and chanting. I am one hundred percent certain that there’s subtext and shit to that but right now I’m terrified that I’ll go back to sleep and I’ll be tied to a stake with people about to set me on fire.”

“Did you, by any chance, eat something when I wasn’t looking? Right before we went to sleep?”

“I had a glass of milk before we went to sleep but that’s because your curry was really strong.”

“Yeah, it’d been in the fridge for three days with all the chili seeds marinating in it. It’s probably the milk. I told you to stop eating things before going to sleep. It messes you up every time. Actually, I’m surprised you didn’t get the shits or something from that milk. Dairy, babe. Really?”

“Love me my calcium.”

Ellana hugs his arm tighter to her chest. He hears her nervous swallow in the dark.

“Okay. You can go back to sleep now. I’m good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” Ellana nods. “I’ll go to sleep after you.”

“Maybe you should go to sleep first and I’ll watch you for a bit to make sure you’re okay.”

“That sounds creepy, babe.”

“Whatever I’ve got to do to make sure you’re alright, babe. Also? Your dream? Kind of freaked me out, too. Why do you always get these weird dreams?”

“I don’t know. I wish we could trade. You always get the nice dreams, the really vague ones that you can sum up in one sentence or less.”

“I’d rather we didn’t trade and we both just had vague dreams that aren’t terrifying mobs.”

“There must be thermodynamic balance, Bull. I have cold feet, you have warm everything. I wake up early and make you coffee and you make us eggs. I can make a really good seven layer dip but you can find the best chips to eat it with. I’m impossible to stop, you’re impossible to move. I’m good at word searches and you’re good at sudoku.”

“That’s cute. Go to sleep.”

“You think we could time it that we fall asleep at the same time?”

“I’m good. I’m not that good.”

[chromaticstasis]

Strings of Fate:  Prologue

Aine and Ruwa are a successful idol duo.  They find themselves in collaboration with  a progressive rock band that has struggled to find success.  Fate/Stay Night rock band/idol group AU. Rated Explicit for future chapters.

A contentious sigh signals the man's trepidation. "It is something to think about," he says slowly, rolling a pen in his teeth as he looks over the short, crude contract. Crimson eyes looked up from the table to give a hard stare to the priest sitting opposite of him. The man of the cloth looked quite pleased with himself, content to sip his tea in a leisurely fashion while his colleague looked over the papers he brought. His smile is arrogant, as though he knows he'll get what he wants. "Your girls are quite beautiful," he says in a pleasant tone. "And the publicity from such an odd collaboration would build on itself." He snorts. "Come on, Kirei, is that the best line you have?" He tilts his head and glowers. "They're idols. It's their literal job to be beautiful." "And talented," Kirei answers, savoring another sip of his drink. "You have an eye for talented beauties, Caster," the priest's eyes slyly glint. "That is how you earned the name, is it not?" He set his tea cup down and clasped his hands on the table. "Besides, my boys aren't as rough around the edges as their material would have you believe." Caster scoffs and looks down at the paper again, trying to find some reason to deny Kirei's request. The wording was careful and it left plenty of room to back out if things got out of hand. After he sweeps over the contract again, he looks back to Kirei, this time his expression less hostile. "I'm not sure how I feel about pimping out my idols to be eye candy for your audiences, Kirei." The priest laughs, a harsh, cold sound. "'Pimp'? This is a musical collaboration, not a dating service." He waves a hand dismissively, but then leans forward with another cunning grin. "However, if rumors should spread, certainly that kind of publicity can only be good for both our clients?" Caster narrows his eyes. After another long, hard look at the priest, he can't find fault with his reasoning. He closes his eyes and sighs, resigned. "Keep to your end of this bargain, Kotomine," he points the pen at the priest, "or I'll have your ass, financially and professionally." Before he changes his mind, Caster leans over the paperwork and signs it, his signature scribbled chicken scratch. "Excellent!" Kirei leans back in his chair, crosses one leg over the other, and folds his hands into his lap. "You will not regret this decision. We will both succeed with this joint venture." He shakes his head and sighs. "Whatever you say, Kotomine," he dismisses. "Remember. One of those 'boys' is my brother. That means if you fuck this up, I'll be after you personally, too. Got it?" "Have no fear," he answers through a catlike smile. "I take only calculated risks. I have every confidence this will end well, even if some things may go awry." Caster leans back in his chair and sighs, then stands. "It had better." He turns and walks away. Though he knows intellectually that Kotomine Kirei was very good at what he does, he has a nagging feeling that something was going to go against the plan. He leaves the restaurant, pulls his hood up and shoves his hands into his pockets before departing. Aine, Ruwa, he thinks, I'll look out for you. Don't worry, Back at the table, Kirei is joined by a man with pale skin and blonde hair. He snorts as he sits where Caster once did. "He went for it?" Kirei smirks. "Of course he did. Our argument was iron-clad." His gaze meets the new man's, and his smirk sharpens. "Worry not, Gilgamesh. You shall be within striking distance of the object of your desires." He snorts derisively in response to Kirei's word choice. "Do not presume you've done me any favors, priest," he says as some sort of reminder. "And I will thank you not to act as though you've set out bait for a scared rabbit." His ruby-red eyes glimmer dangerously. "I will win her over on my own. You set this up because you want to get rich. Do not presume to think otherwise." "Perish the thought," Kirei says with some sarcasm. "Besides," he adds, "the press won't give a damn what a band's bass player is doing." He makes a show of indifferently sipping his drink. Gilgamesh snarls and tightens his fists at the slight. "All the more reason to stop acting like you've done me a favor," he seethes. Kirei nods. "As I told the Caster, this is a musical collaboration." He looks up from the brim of his cup. "Not a dating service." He lifts an eyebrow. "Why are you here, anyway?" At that question, the blonde man peered at the priest. "I wanted to be sure you would not screw us over. Emiya and Cu Chulainn are in this purely for the music. They're not savvy in the ways of conniving musical managers." He crosses his arms, his stare unblinking. Kirei smirks all over again. "Fair enough." ////////// A young lady with short, punkish black and grey hair and brilliant purple eyes stared at herself through her glasses in the mirror, her expression weary.  The muffled sounds of thousands of fans made their way through the walls of the dressing room where she prepared for her performance.  "Aine!"  She's jolted out of her stare attack by her friend's voice.  "Hurry up!  We're late to the stage!" Aine shot her friend a small smile.  "They'll wait for us.  Just listen to them," she gestured toward the door.  "They're chanting your name.  'Ruwa!  Ruwa!  Ruwa!'"  She grins at her friend reassuringly.  "Trust me, they won't leave."  As she speaks, Aine tucks her hair up into a net, then lowers her idol wig on.  They managed to get her to wear a hair piece that looks similar to Ruwa's natural locks.  While Aine's hair was short and dark, Ruwa's radiant, blonde hair framed her face and trailed well down past her back,  long and luxurious.   Ruwa was built to be an idol.  She had the face, body, voice, and disposition for the profession that made her a force to be reckoned with.  So, when Ruwa asked her to start an idol group with her, Aine was excited.  Though she looked different from her friend, she still was more than happy to support her.   Which is why she continued now.  Ruwa's career has taken off, and Aine was usually relegated as a support on stage.  Which suited her just as well.  But work as an idol was beginning to wear on her.  Having to dress in clothing that straddled the line between provocative and modest left little room for practicality.  Wearing the wig was itchy and bulky, though with some tricks of the trade, she has learned how to minimize the discomfort there.  She did manage to convince their manager to allow her to wear cute flats instead of high heels, because dancing for hours at a time in that sort of footwear left her aching and unable to walk for a day or two after a performance.   It's clear to Aine that Ruwa is caught up in the idol hype.  She loves their fans.  She'd do encores and meet-and-greets all day and all night, if time would allow. Thankfully, Caster put a stop to that.  He, at least, saw how Aine suffered when Ruwa tried to give too much to the crowd.  "Always leave them wanting more," he'd said to her when she tried to argue with him, and though at first she seemed dissatisfied with his explanation, eventually, she saw the payoff.  When she didn't give them everything they asked for, they were more willing to stick around for what she was offering, be it a concert with only one song as an encore, or a meet-and-greet with time limits.   She had them wrapped around her little finger.  And she handled them with great care.   Which is why Aine is so torn.  She wants to support her friend in her work.  But she is not built for life as an idol.  She didn't have the same social graces when it came to persistent fans.  She didn't care for the wardrobe choices.  Even the music choice wasn't hers.  Not really.  Oh, she performed well.  Even now, on stage, with the idol's smile on her face, the bubbly personality, the high notes, all meant to uplift the audience, all meant to bring a little brightness to their lives, she was competent. But, her heart wasn't in it.  Not anymore.  Now that Ruwa is the clear headliner in their duo, Aine felt the time to let her be a solo act was near.   Then, she'd be free to pursue her own goals. But, today's not the day.  Today, she's content to be Ruwa's backup, because even though Aine didn't know if she wanted to perform anymore, she loved watching Ruwa dominate the stage.   At the end of the show, as the fans roared their admiration, the duo left the stage, grinning and waving to everyone on their way backstage.  Only after the door was shut and they had made it back to the dressing room did they both allow their weariness to show.   "What a great show!"  Ruwa was beaming.  Though she was overheated, she looked dewy instead of sweaty, like there was a natural glow to her. "Yeah!"  Aine moved to remove her wig and release her natural hair from the netting.  "Ugh, I'm sticky," she complains, placing the hair piece on the mannequin head by the mirror.  She flips on a desk fan and lounges in front of it.  "Ahhh, that's much better." A gentle knock came a few minutes later.  "It's open!"  Ruwa's voice greeted their manager, who cracked open the door and peeked in. "Are you girls decent?"  He paused before he opened the door to step fully inside.  He was dressed in his usual sky-blue hoodie, and his darker-blue hair was tied, as usual, in its long rattail.  His eyes lit up with pride.  "You did wonderful out there.  That was a packed venue!"

Aine smiles wistfully, but Ruwa jumped on the comment.  "Of course it was!"  She grinned, as though unaware of her own pridefulness.  "We put on a hell of a show every time!  It'd be weird if the venue wasn't packed." Caster grinned at Ruwa.  "That's what I like to hear."  He looked to Aine, his smile taming a little bit upon seeing the look on her face.  He pretended not to notice.  "Come here, ladies, I have some great news!"  He waited, but the room was small enough that he was met with unimpressed stares.  He chuckled. "Okay, okay.  Here it is.  I've arranged for you to collaborate with a rock band." Aine's ears perked up.  Rock would be a pleasant change of pace.   "A collaboration?"  Ruwa sounded more suspicious than Aine felt.  "With who?" Caster rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.  "Kirei's crew." "I'm sorry, what!"  Ruwa snapped.  "The band with your kid brother?  Really?"  She seemed more surprised than anything else.   Caster patiently glanced at the blonde girl.  "Yeah.  But I'd hardly call him a 'kid' these days," he lamented.   Ruwa groaned.  "But their band is so... so..."  She gestured with her hands, implying somehow without words that she was unimpressed with the choice. "I think it'll be fun," Aine spoke up, in unusually high spirits, given that she's not twenty minutes out from having been on stage.  "Come on, Ruwa.  Let's do it.  Please?" Her friend gave her an appraising stare.  "You seem enthused," she observed.  She paused for a moment, then considered Caster.  "Well, I guess I'm out-voted.  Collab, it is!"  She seemed to perk up, as if Aine's enthusiasm for the idea infected her. "Great to hear!"  Caster grinned.  "Especially since I already signed the contract." "Damn it, Caster!"  The girls both cursed at him, then threw small objects at him, clearly displeased at having been signed on to a project when they weren't consulted.  His apologies were all laced with laughter, and couldn't sound less sincere if he tried. ////////// "Rejoice, degenerates, for I have found our big break!"  Kirei busted into the recording studio, also known as Emiya's garage, papers in hand and arms spread wide, like he was giving a sermon. The trio hadn't begun practice yet, and were still tuning their instruments, Gil on his bass, Cu on his guitar, and Emiya setting up his drum kit.  Gil, completely unsurprised, eyed Kirei from his spot, sitting on a folding chair, running his fingers along the strings of his instrument. "Great news!"  Cu was enthusiastic, as he often was when presented with a new opportunity.  "What is it?  Are we underlining for a big shot?  Is there a competition of some kind?" Kirei's smile was a little more predatory than Cu would have liked, and when he caught on to that expression, his enthusiasm dulled a bit.  He crossed his arms and waited patiently for the priest to explain himself. "Better."  His answer had a reptilian quality to it.  He motioned for the three men to gather around the folding table set aside for snacks, drinks, and other odds and ends, and when they huddled around, he laid a picture on the table of two young, blonde women with great, big, open smiles holding microphones. "What the hell?"  Emiya squinted at the image.  "I think I've seen them before." "Huh?"  Cu's face was more curious.  He tilted his head.  "You mean, these girls?  Haven't we seen them at festivals and competitions?" "The very same."  Kirei smiles that crocodile grin. Cu narrows his eyes and chews on the inside of his cheek.  "But, they're so..."  He gestures in a way that shows he's a little confused.  "... how are they supposed to mesh with us?" Gil snorts.  "You can see heavy metal bands playing with classical orchestra, but you can't see a prog rock band pairing with idols?"  He chuckles and shakes his head.  "You have no imagination, mongrel." Cu snapped at Gil.  "I told you not to call me that."  But he sags and sighs.  "I do admit, it's hard to see."  He picks up his guitar and strums out a few chords.  "What are the details?  I can't imagine we'd just jump on stage together without rehearsing?" Kirei nods.  "Indeed.  But their facilities are much better than... well..."  He gestures broadly around.  "Besides, they do need more security.  These girls pack stadiums, and you are still getting a toehold." "Yeah, maybe we need a new manager," Emiya quips. "Watch it," Kirei points at the drummer, who busies himself by testing his instruments.  Kirei stares at Emiya for a solid few seconds before he continues.  "To answer your question more directly, yes.  You will meet and rehearse.  You'll need to, because the songs in mind are new to both groups."  He hands out more papers with sheet music.   Cu snorts.  "We're not going to be these girls' backup band, old man."  He scans the sheet music, and the more he reads, the higher his eyebrows climb on his forehead.  "Oh.  But this song looks like it slaps!"  He sets down the sheets and strums out a few notes.  "Okay.  It's not garage band quality, but it'll pass.  Now, here's hoping these pop princesses don't turn their dainty little noses up at us scrubs."  His grin is wicked and rebellious.  "But, I kinda hope they do.  Just so we can see them squirm." Kirei sighs.  "Be respectful, please.  They're your partners, not your betters in this contract."  He gives Cu a reprimanding stare.  "You will be duetting with the one named Aine." Cu shrugs.  "Works for me.  Long as I can play and she doesn't get in my way."  He's oblivious to the seething glare Gilgamesh shoots to both he and the priest. "Shut up and play," Emiya sighs, tired of the conversation, punctuating his comment by throwing down a heavy beat, which Gilgamesh picks up on the bass, and Cu joins in with his guitar to one of their old, familiar songs to get warmed up.   The volume of the instruments was enough to chase Kirei out of the garage and away from them. On his way out, Kirei smiles triumphantly.  They were legally bound to follow the contracts he set out.  But at least, this way, it won't be a fight to get them to go along with his plan.  They will find success with this venture.  He was sure of it.

[purkinje-effect]

The Purkinje Effect, 19

Table of Contents

“You in there yet, brother?”

Geek groaned, cuddling up to the body next to him. The stink of petrol and plastic coated every scrap of his senses.

“–I’m awake, Hancock.”

“That’s not me you’re holdin’, and it’s an understatement to say I’m glad it isn’t.”

The pink mess opened his swollen eyes and tried to process his surroundings. They were in a computer-encrusted, warehouse-sized room that very likely had been the brain and heart of the Switchboard before it had been occupied. When Geek looked to the one with whom he lay in the floor, he was met with a tangle of robotic gore. A short breath jutted out of him and he shoved it away.

“My friend, you ate the face off half the Synths we’ve encountered,” Deacon explained, visibly shaking. He’d been clearly maintaining a safe distance from Geek for some time now. “Your display spooked even me, and I’ve seen things.”

“It’d give a Deathclaw nightmares,” Hancock seconded, already having been smoking to even out his nerves. “Remind me not t’give ya more of that stuff unless we’re in a pinch. You took out every single one of ‘em on your own. We haven’t fired a round since we first stepped foot in here.”

The more Geek saw of the carnage littered around him, the more he wished he hadn’t. Smears of coolants and lubricants, shreds of wire and structure. He’d even leapt up the wall to punch down a turret that had made him mad, the dome-shaped glorified tin can now pulp on the polished concrete. If these had been humans– He couldn’t even form the horror, and took the moment to wipe the crust of half-solidified fluids from his entire face best he could.

“You good now?” the ghoul fished, not trying to hurry his friend faster than the Psycho-induced hangover would allow. Geek sat up with a grunt.

“I will be.”

“Stay here with him,” Deacon urged, motioning with his rifle. “I’m gonna go retrieve our hidden treasure, now that Geek’s worn himself out and gotten out of the strong room.”

“Fall back a tic. Got it.”

Geek knew better than to object. Once he was sure Deacon was out of earshot, he lit up a cigarette of his own, scooting up against the metal front of one of the office desks in the middle of the room.

“I didn’t hurt either of you, did I?”

“We’re both fine. Justifiably rattled, but ah. I never said I always make the best decisions. I’m sorry that happened. That was my fault.”

“Did I at least clear it out? Make it safe to get back out?”

For a moment, Hancock focused on his smoke instead of answering directly.

“Oh yeah. No question of that. At one point you were even beating one Synth with the wreckage of another Synth.”

“…I wonder if they feel pain,” Geek blurted, glaring at one whose pseudo-skull he’d cracked open and gutted the components inside it.

“It doesn’t matter if these ones did. They were enemies, brainwashed by the Institute. Did you achieve the goal of shutting them down in the messiest way I think you could have possibly done it? Sure. But no matter the means, the end was supposed to be the same. Deacon couldn’t have retrieved that prototype without ya fumigatin’. What matters is whether you’re okay after all that.”

“I… I don’t know.” He slowly rubbed at his face with his free hand and held a squint. “To be honest, I’m not sure if I can rightly stand up. Everything is heavy. Not emotionally, literally.”

“If you actually swallowed everything you ripped off, I’m not surprised. Sorry if that comes off as bad taste.”

“Was that a goddamn pun, Hancock?” Geek kicked his foot at him.

“…An unintentional one, but at least it got you smiling.” Hancock looked at him in earnest. “I know how it’s gotta sound, but I gotta ask. This is comin’ from a place of worry… but you said all this time you’ve been feeling ill? All that…” He vaguely motioned head to toe at Geek. “That stuff ain’t… comin’ out the other end, is it.”

The gauntness of Geek’s eyes deepened in a heartbeat, to have it verbalized. For a moment, the pink dreg couldn’t look at his companion, but when he did, Hancock felt like the whole room had dropped twenty degrees.

“Did I interrupt something?” Deacon began. When the two looked up, they weren’t sure how long he’d been standing there. He’d put up his rifle at his back, and he held up a decently-sized rectangular device with one hand to demonstrate the prize. “We should get this back to Carrington. I’d planned all this time for Geek to be delivering it to him personally, to make a statement to everybody back at HQ, but… I think it’d be better if I did. Forgive me for not entrusting it to you, Geek, but I’m sure the Doc would like it back in one piece.”

“Now that ain’t fair.” Hancock smashed his cigarette out on the concrete floor and whipped up to close the gap between him and the Intel specialist. “If this ghoul had half a brain left, he’d say you were plannin’ on taking all the credit for yourself. You played us. Do you have a clue what this recon mission did to Geek? And for what? Some dumb piece of tech? Sure hope it’s worth somethin’.”

“For as understandable an impression you have of this situation is, you’ve got me wrong, Mayor. I just… don’t want what happened to all these Gen I’s and II’s to happen to this prototype. It’d make this trip for nothing.”

“Give me the prototype.” The ghoul flipped a switchblade from his back pocket and wavered it at Deacon. “I’ll make sure Geek brings it back in tact.”

“Hancock, cool it.” Geek clenched his teeth and tried to stand up, needing to defuse the argument. “I… I get it –agh.” He turned to face the desk and used it to brace himself and push upward. His stance uneven as he hunched over the desktop, he tried his best to look the part of composure. “Deacon, give the damn thing to Hancock.”

“You did earn it,” Deacon reassured dryly, having no option but to hand it over, lest he belie his motives. With it in hand, Hancock put away the knife, and Deacon’s posture loosened. “You did all the work. But you have to understand, how little of a trust exercise this has been. Geek… did all that, and I don’t think we could have stopped him if we wanted. And Hancock just pulled a knife on me, when you didn’t like that I’m shy to hand over candy to a kid who can’t keep from putting anything and everything his mouth. And what’s to say that dose of Psycho didn’t give him an addiction? The rate of that happening is… alarming, to say the least. …Geek, you look bad. Real bad.”

“You said you had a doctor back at HQ?” Hancock started into a second cigarette. “Would that doctor be able to take a look at him? Willing to?”

“Delivering that prototype will beholden him to you, that’s for sure. And he sees a lot of strange ailments, tending to the agents after their missions.” Deacon sighed, looking on at Geek. “This does prove one thing, Boss. You are one hell of a Heavy. Dez wanted to take you on board as just another tourist–the odd jobs, the laundry lists, the errands. What a waste! You are a force. Psycho only enhances qualities a body’s already got. The first impression you gave me was messy, but it was definitely impressive. I hope I get to see what you do clear-minded.”

Geek managed to turn toward them finally, sitting on the side of the desk.

“You should’a seen him mow down all those mole rats so we had a place to sleep last night.” Hancock laughed dirtily. “Took out easily a dozen of those fuckers without hardly breaking a sweat, still had the stamina after to gut, skin, and smoke ‘em all.” He exhaled smoke through the gap in his face, side-glancing suggestively at him. “He’s a freight train. Perfect Railroad material, going on merits like those.”

“Funny, you turned down mole rat chunks for breakfast this morning.” Geek flicked his cigarette butt off to the side. “Y’trust Hancock with that gadget, right?”

“I do worry he’ll try to sell it for drugs between here and North End. You’ve got a reputation, Mayor.”

Hancock read the deadpan delivery like a byline, and held up the brick-like tech in both hands and playfully narrowed his eyes at it, his cigarette loosely between his lips.

“This thing really worth anything to anyone but the Railroad? How many hits of Jet are we talkin’?”

“I know it might not be the best piece of information to disclose to present company, but the Doc does keep Jet on hand for the more shell-shocked agents.”

“Y’don’t say.” The ghoul looked over to his companion and puffed at his smoke a bit, still holding up the prototype. “Hopefully the cost of treatin’ Geek’s cheap enough that the doctor can toss a few ampuoles into the trade.”

“Good to know I’m top priority.” Geek tried to bear his full weight on both feet and stifled a flinch, starting to sweat. “–I think I’m gonna need t’take it slow gettin’ back to headquarters.”

Deacon gave him a long stare.

“You take all the time you need, Boss. If you feel as bad as you look, Carrington needs to do you a once-over. I hope you don’t mind me sticking behind with the two of you. I’m worried. And you’re right. As little good it does casting blame after the fact, it’s just as much my fault as it is Hancock’s you ended up in this mess.”

Trying to lead the way, Geek felt as though he were dragging his legs with every step he took. After a moment walking away from his traveling companions, he stopped, realizing he didn’t have recollection how any of them had gotten to the room they were in. His leg burst into a wildfire of pain and abruptly buckled under him. He narrowly kept himself from falling by steadying himself against the door frame.

“We should get outta here, and head back. …ASAP.” He didn’t have to look down to know his lower leg had snapped. “Either of ya– got a Stimpack?”

[caemec]

The proposal - Armin

Sometimes, Candy really didn’t understand her boyfriend. They were together since more than seven years now, and still at the same situation than the first day. Well, not exactly, maybe she was a little over dramatic. 

He was now living in his own apartment, became a quite influential youtuber, while she had finally reached her last year of study, and lived in the student district in collocation with Alexy and Priya. They met each other family since years, and all those basic couple stuffs. But Candy was more than ready to make a new step — a big one. The problem was, Armin still didn’t propose anything. Even speaking about it seemed prohibited. 

It was why, after her last class of the day, when she came home, she literally jumped on a disconcerted Alexy. She needed to know everything he knew. Without further delay. 

Did his twin planned something ? Did he tell him he wasn’t ready for that ? Or maybe he said he didn’t even want to marry her at all ? Could he maybe chea... 

“STOP.” She froze while Alexy sighed with dismay. “Candy, just, stop, please. It is nothing like that. And he doesn’t cheat on you. He never did.” 

He made her wait the time to put her on the couch and serve her a glass of water. His best friend could be a veritable ordeal when she decided it.  

“You can breathe. Girl, of course Armin already thought to you and him as wife and husband. Well, maybe not in the classic way, but wathever, you know in what you are stepped.”  

“He... Seriously ?” She blinked with consternation and relief. Before frowning as she was thinking about the reason he still didn’t propose yet. “But if... Why... It doesn’t make sense...”

“I know, for me neither. He has a particular logic. In fact, I never saw him so serious and concerned by anything else. Like, you are still a student, with your thesis he thinks it’s not the time to bother you” Candy raised an eyebrow at this senseless argument — how could his proposal bother her ? — “you don’t live together yet and he believes it is a strict condition for you, and everything like that.”

She could pratically be hurt. Since when Armin forgot who she was ? Right, she wasn’t so free and glib than him — who could ? — but they already lived so many unbelievable stories together, essentially because they were both adventurers. They were sort of jack-of-all-trades. Compared to those moments, what was an engagement ? 

However, the answer was simple : if for her, it was a logical suite to their couple, for Armin, who traditionally had to propose — since he was the man, and she was the woman — it was so much more. They never spoke about marriage, and he maybe took it as a sign she didn’t want it. Of course, in this condition, he had all the right to felt insecure and anxious. In fact, Armin was maybe purely and simply afraid she could reject him. The same feeling she had because he didn’t propose anything. They had a little bit of a tag team. 

“Well, I’m not agree. Honestly, I’m more than ready, and if he is too, well, we will not wait like that until the end of the world.”

“Do you want me to speak to him, and give him all the signs he needs ?”

“No. If that moron continue to doubt like that, there is only one solution. Come on, take your jacket, we have a shopping to do.”

“What the... Candy !”

“I’m gonna cry. Really.”

“Don’t, or I will begin too.”

“It’s the most beautiful day of my life. My brother will finally have what he wants, and my best friend will also become my sis'. I can die in peace.”

In front of them, the jeweller had all the difficulties to keep his smile for himself. It wasn’t every day he had the occasion to help a woman who needed an engagement ring for her boyfriend — unfortunately, about that subject, traditions were still a little to much anchored in their society. It was quite a hard choice, by the way — and the twin’s lucky guy didn’t really help. 

Once they were out of the shop, Candy took her phone and called her boyfriend to fix a date.  

“Hey princess, what’s up ?”

As soon as she heard his voice, Candy knew she was doing the right thing. More than ever.  

He was late. Of course he was, until evidence to the contrary, he was still Armin. It was too perfect until now. 

She was alone on the bench, and she just started to realize what she was doing. Oh god. How did men manage to do that, honestly ? She was fighting against herself to stay concious. Candy remembered those meditation stuffs her father tried to teach her, and closed her eyes, trying to relieve her anxiety.

“Is it for a yoga class you asked me to come ?” 

She flinched and opened big eyes. Armin was just in front of her, totally amused by the situation.

“Oh god.” 

His smirk grew up. He raised an eyebrow before giving his hand to lead her into a walk.

“No, it’s just me. But thanks for the compliment. I will remind you next time we argue.” 

She was so nervous that she couldn’t even get in his game. He certainly saw it, because he started to caress her wrist — with time, he learned how much that simple gesture had a relaxing power on her. 

“You know, you’re really pretty like that. In which occasion ?” 

No. Could he know ? Did Alexy... ? No, no, no. He wouldn’t.

“Usually, when the boyfriend says something like that, the girlfriend answers by “oh Armin, on you, it would be even much better! You’re so handsome!”. But I understand if you don’t want to admit it.” 

As she was still froze, he straightened her head with a finger and gently smiled at his apparently anxious and distracted girlfriend.

“If you told me what kind of thoughts are inside your pretty head right now, it would be easier, don’t you think ?” 

That was exactly at this moment she remembered why she was just so eager to marry him. A lot of jokes and sometimes sarcasms, but always with respect and kindness. Even his little smirk he practically always had on his lips showed how attentive to her he was.  

Armin was Armin. Maybe not totally perfect, but enough to make her fall in love with him day after day.

“Still nothing ? Well in that case, let me relax you first. Dare or truth ?”

“Wha... Armin, seriously ?”

“Dare or truth ?” He replied, and she couldn’t keep a little laugh he took for a victory. 

“Dare.” 

Just because Candy was absolutely not ready to make her proposal right now, and because of course he would ask her if she choose the other option.

“Mimic me what’s in your head.” ... Oh. OH. 

She was officially trapped right now. This little...

His eyes expressed his pride, and she knew she already loose his game. If she postponed it to tomorrow, she would be exactly in the same condition. She always would, with him around her. That was one of the effects he had on her. 

That’s why she looked at him in the eyes, took his hand, before kneeling in front of him. People all around suddenly stoped, but she was focus on her boyfriend right now. His eyebrows were frowning, and he really looked like he tried to understand why the hell she was almost sitting on the floor. So, she just took the ring in her pocket. 

Candy offered him a shy smile. 

“Normally I am supposed to say something with that, but as I have to mimic it, I can’t do more”.

A weird silence accompanied her speech. He seemed like if he was in another galaxy.

“Wait... What does it mean ? Hum, I have an idea, but are you... You are ? Really ? It’s not... A trick ?” He couldn’t be more lost than that.

“I love our jokes, but it would be a really, really bad one. So... yes, it is really happening. Well, only if you want it, and I could understand if...” Her voice was no more than a whisper. She was tamed by uncertainty. 

However, she didn’t have the time to continue, because the second after, he was with her on the ground, being busy to kiss her like if it was the last time.  

People all around them applauded, but it was like if they were somewhere far away from them. He was the only one who matters, and Candy felt those million butterflies in her stomach relieved her stress, while his delicious laugh came to her. 

“It’s exactly why I love you.”

Castiel | Nathaniel | Kentin | Lysander ||| global summary