#look at me yapping and giving u absolutely nothing to work with

[vuldak-juneau]

Who: @heroic-ignus Where: Stumble Inn When: Directly after the Mystery Box event, just as soon as she could get home.

The events of the Mystery Box had been draining, even for Juneau who often held sorrow in the palms of her hands as if it were something to protect, as if it were her closest friend. Sorrow was something she found reliable–no matter how those around her abandoned her or disappeared sorrow was always there like a soft, deep blue landing space. Sorrow permeated her so deeply at times she thought it ought to be considered one of her personality traits, though she knew since her mortal death and abyssal rebirth this sorrow manifested as resentment and anger more often than not. The sadness that entered her tended to be repurposed as cruelty and cynicism, but watching the others suffer at her side inside of the–well, wherever they had been–didn’t inspire much spiteful behavior. It just made her open herself up to more misery.

The openness might have been her salvation. The option to leave Juneau behind to a fate of death or entrapment had presented itself to them more than once, and she wasn’t sure if she would have blamed them for leaving her. Especially Elokian toward the end, who knew how she had suffered but had still been at the receiving end of her critical comments. Her trial had been illuminating, forcing her eyes to gaze upon the reality of what she was and the circumstances that had led her here. And then–the time alone, underground… those long days, mostly spent in total, eclipsing darkness. Things as small as the dripping condensation and the slightest tremors underfoot had caused her extreme agitation. Her terror-filled dreams had become indistinguishable from the waking nightmares of her hallucinations, and she had no idea how often she had actually slept. She didn’t know how long she had been down there either–just that it had been long. And when the rest of the group found her, their whispers landed with the volume of screams, their eager gentle embraces and soft touches were so overly stimulating after the isolation that it burned when they touched her. They had passed her between a few people, she thought she remembered, murmuring their relief to have found her in voices that she only half recognized–did they know that during those first few minutes, even the light of the moon and stars overhead was enough that it blinded her? But as raucous as it was to her after such a long period of disuse of many of her senses, it was as soothing to be with them as it was overwhelming. 

But now, it seemed her fate would be to go home–or whatever approximation of home she had. In this case, that would be Alder. Another person, rather than a place. A person who had known the truth of Ivar’s actions and had tried to explain to Juneau the truth of the matter that she now had no choice but to accept. Once, when Juneau had been helping Ivar smuggle a faiman philosopher to the Lysaran border the faiman had spoken with her about their current fixation, the concept that “hell is other people”. Juneau felt this now–she felt proof of this could be found in how the deepest traumas she had witnessed of the others were brought forth by the hands of those that, in most cases, she loved the most. Ivar was proof positive of this, in his cruel indifference to his death that sealed the fate of her descent and damnation. And so, too, was Alder in this moment–he was the only person she could conceivably think to look to for comfort at the present moment, but that comfort would come with the necessary acknowledgment that he had been right all along. It wasn’t that Juneau expected he would rub her nose in it or hold it against her, but she would carry the guilt of how she had lashed out against him when he tried to move her to see reason. 

Juneau wished now that she would have been more forthright with Alder about where she was disappearing off to for a few days.  She had told him that she would be staying with Jamie on the other side of Eterna, as she often did a few days of the week knowing he likely wouldn’t question it as it was a cemented part of her listless routine. Now, knowing she couldn’t say much about the Mystery Box, she regret that prior choice. How was she supposed to seek his guidance when she couldn’t express to him what it was that disturbed her? She was still skittish and affected by her time under the mountain so it took her longer than it normally would to lift her hand to knock on the door to the room at the inn. The hesitation likely didn’t amount to much consequence, she was certain he would know she was there by now, the way she could sense him when he was close enough or Lor and her pack when they were nearby in the forest. 

Whether Alder opened the door because she had an opportunity to finally get around to knocking or because he could intuit he was there, she didn’t offer him much else in the way of greeting other than her signature, kicked-puppy half-moon eyes lifted to meet his and an expression that told him, like most days, she was going through it. But in this case, it looked like what weighed on her mind was a bit worse than normal.

[willmiwi]

Thought I'd analyze Eddie's reaction to Buck coming out to him bc i don't think it's given enough credit.

First thing after buck tells him tommy and buck were on a date is Eddie looking confused, I don't even think what Buck said really set at all. He made the connection of the date and the first thing he wondered was "wait. Tommy's gay?".

Then, goes the question "so .... You two were...."

And he looks... Shocked, kind of hesitant too, doesn't even end the sentence, maybe afraid he misunderstood somehow.

Doesn't matter because Buck comes to the rescue to finish it. He smiles fondly at Eddie like his hesitance is endearing and kind of like saying it's "hey it's okay, yes we were on a date, you don't need to hesitate."

Buck is immediately insecure though; it's been a second and Eddie Still looks like someone has dropped a bucket of cold water on him. I think he's more focused on how this new information shocked him than doing what one does after someone comes out to them: reassure them. It's okay though, he's just surprised, nothing weird. And so Buck asks. "Is that weird?"

And he's looking at Eddie with that analysing look, searching for something and Eddie's quick this time. Pulled out of his own head.

"No . Absolutely not." You just took me by surprise there.

Buck's still looking at him like that, like he doesn't really believe it. And so Eddie's quick with a joke too, he looks kind of nervous? From now on? Like we Needs this situation to feel lighter somehow.

It works. Buck finally relaxes and laughs.

Then, this scene:

And Eddie's just trying to reassure him, telling him what every queer person hopes to hear when they come out, "this doesn't change anything, I still love you"

But Buck.... Oh buck, looks like that's somehow Not? What he was hoping to hear? He literally pouts, breaks eyes contact and goes "that's uh. That's good to hear"

Doesn't sound like he means it though.

He goes on:

Eddie proceeds to yap on best friend @ best friend advice: If he doesn't call u back he's an idiot.

But then. THEN!!!!

Eddie's reaction is what gets me the most here so I'm getting a gif that's a bit longer so u can see the reaction he has to that line:

Again. Same reaction. But from Eddie this time. Pouts, rises his eyebrows defeated, and pointedly looks away. All while looking upset and Not all all overjoyed about his best friend is crushing on someone. Hello?

Eddie then gives him some advice about not giving up and Buck gives it right back to him. Eddie takes that opportunity to all but Run off to talk to Marisol:

I think it hits him then that as much as he wants to run, to think about this on his own without prying eyes that want an answer from him right then and there, and just, Sit with it, That this is..kinda Huge, and maybe he should just put his feelings aside for a bit and reassure Buck a bit more. Like he doesn't want there to be any hint of doubt that Eddie's not okay with this.

So he stops by the door, turns around and they hug:

That's it ! I just think this tells us so much about their relationship, especially since after this Eddie doesn't seem to want to hang out with Tommy anymore. And the few times they do he doesn't look like he's having the best time, if u compare it to before (he knew about Buck's crush).

If you got here, thank you for reading!

gif creds: @beets @livelovecaliforniadreams :)

[thebrookesnook]

Now that both torso studies are officially completed, time to yap about it >:)

–

QnA Time

"I really like the variety in the body types!"

Thanks! But that's mostly thanks to what Nii-sensei already gave us in their character designs. Since I already talked about Shitara's dad bod, heres my thought process for the others:

I knew I wanted to draw Togame as boxy/rectangular (Ales said he was built like a tank and I agree) and his build in canon speaks for itself.

Umemiya's shape is trapezoidal and his arms are built af because that man is a gardener, nothing more to be said.

Takiishi's arms are quite muscular in the manga but his torso's pretty lithe so I mostly referenced male ballerina dancers.

Shizuka has an hourglass shape with some of her ribs showing with her arms being thin as she came from the same place as Gravel so she'd likely be malnourished as a child (her height—151 cm fyi—just adds to that).

I gave Kotoha a tubular shape with some toned arms since shes a cook and does groceries by herself so she's bound to have some meat on her arms (also I fully believe she can knock someone's teeth in).

Drawing Tsubakino with a muscular back that I see in some of the bulkier male ballerinas was a highlight for me, they also have trapezoidal body type that Nii-sensei draws them in.

And then there's Endo, its not clear cuz of the pose but his shape is an inverted triangle.

"Why aren't the abs more prominent?"

To preface, I absolutely love fanart that do more defined muscles and the like (most of my references def had those and also i follow artists who do). But personally, I wanted to go for the relaxed/"usable" abs type of look that athletes or blue-collared workers in rest usually have—so it was me being (somewhat!!) realistic. There was this one post on here that talked about how Roman paintings portrayed the ideal (at the time) nude men with like their rolls & stuff which I absolutely adored and has stuck with me ever since but I don't think I did a good job in conveying that in the studies tho 😔. I'll work on that on my own time.

"Why no boob showing for the girls but only for the guys >:(?"

Trust me, I was going to originally (I have a version without their tops but no render) but then Endo snuck in so I went yeah I'll just give them my bras (wow tmi bra reveal sksks). If you must know, I gave Shizuka an A cup and Kotoha a B-leaning-C cup. I was also planning on making another version for Tsubakino (a transfem with breast aguementation scars vers.) u know?? But I got tired from drawing Endo's tats so blame Endo twice if you wanted both of those things.

"You said something about body hair?"

YES! So the happy trails right? Takiishi doesn't have one because I hc him as not really producing a lot of body hair so no happy trail or armpit hair. Togame too doesn't have armpit hair either because I'd imagine he shaves if he's a frequent onsen goer. Also Japanese men don't usually produce a lot of body hair, genetics u know but when they do they look *chef's kisses*. I'm (respectfully) thinking of you TsudaKen 🫶🫵

The others definitely do have, but I'd like to think Ume had his waxed by Tsubaki (aka one of the darlings who helped give us his iconic hairdo) one time and they just kept going u know? (Read: Hiragi was probs laughing in the bkgd while Ume was in pain the first time). I kept his happy trail for his fans tho <3.

–

Silly Thoughts:

The torso studies was super fun to experiment with some canon characteristics and just go crazy with my headcanons!! Not as crazy as I wanted but oh well,,

While making that reaction vid of how drawing endo was like, Ales said that putting togame after endo made the latter look like a twink and I couldn't stop wheezing for a good hour 😭.

Next art study will probably be on dynamic poses so lots of action poses which will definitely be fun since me and dynamic posing hang out on the weekends, but i'll do that when break comes around and maybe after Furin Trio week 🤔🤔.

[iid-smile]

HIII SUNNY HOW R UUUU 🙆‍♀️🙆‍♀️ curiosity killed the cat so pls answer my qs ^.^

🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing

☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username? ( PLEASE TELL ME ITS THE SONF IID SMILE )

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

FAY !!! 🫂🫂🫂 this is literally like so perfect prepare for some yap 🤭 (foreshadowing how im gonna have to put a cut) (future sunny here yes i did put a cut yes i did talk a lot)

🕯️ — what editing are we referring to here? 🤔 if its writing editing i'll give it like a 6/10 because i skip over entire paragraphs to avoid cringing 😣 + my spelling is so bad its embarrassing. but like video editing? 1/10. i have suffered one too many times trying to figure out capcut and other apps like that.. i struggled for like an hour trying to put audio over a STILL IMAGE. wasnt a fun time......

🍄 — wowowowow theres so many to choose from um... ill go with hiori and rin because why not??? (i physically couldn't think of another one) i feel like rin is an absolute grandpa when it comes to all sorts of games (board games included, this guy doesnt know a thing about chess) and hiori would be so patient teaching him all of the right moves 💔 rin doesnt get any better but he puts in the effort. he probably has tried moving a pawn over half way across the board on the first move

🦷 — it's really not worth trying to peak in high school... big friend groups dont usually last after everyone separates so its better to keep in contact with those you trust the most. being popular or going to parties all the time really does nothing in life unless you build up those memories. trust me ive picked up some bad habits that ive only come clean from recently and ive found some much better friends (moots included 😘) even at my old age 😁 ok im only twenty but like little me wouldve never guessed i would be able to still make friends

🌿 — i actually dont have any... im a pro at procrastinating and random sparks of inspo so i just write whenever 😋 thats why series dont usually last for me because i have to continuously build on and write the same plot or idea over long periods of time. ig if you have a good idea, write it somewhere asap so you dont miss any key details or forget what it was completely (we lost cupid!rin over this). as for inspo i lovveeeee daydreaming and im literally just itching to be in a cutesy relationship so usually my works are based on that. i just think "what would this character do?" and a lil scenario pops up and i just roll with it? idek 😭

🍦 — No. jk we'll do it on mahito because i have a love hate relationship with him. first of all hes written like a true villain and seeing how everyone hate on him just means that he's done his job effectively 🙂‍↕️ chat hes kinda cute im not even gonna lie... in the few scenes where he actually looks pretty hes actually so fine?? WHO KEES MAKING HIM CROSS EYED AND GIVING HIM DORITOS FOR A NOSE? at least the fan art does him so much justice... I PROMISE U NOW if mahito wasnt given so many ugly scenes literally everybody would love him like sukuna. i stand by that.

🍅 — gosh my description needs a lot of work 😭 i dont understand how people can make their writing so abstract and creative while im stuck here using the basics. and some words and phrases that ive made up myself and are trademark mine if u get what i mean?? like you could read it and say "oh, sunny probably wrote this". and maybe expanding on emotions more to engage with the reader.

☁️ — YES IT IS BASED ON IDSMILE!! literally love that song sm!!! somewhere out there i believe i posted a video of me singing it when it first came out but it got like no views so i deleted it 🙄 my digital footprint is crazy

🧩 — overwhelmingly huge paragraphs are always a struggle for me. im very guilty for this rn but i have an excuse because this is just answering questions 😎 or even like not separating the speech and adding a space when different characters are talking because i just cant read it! like ive seen a fic that was literally a huge block of text throughout the entire thing (which was like 600 words) and i was just like "damn..." there was no way i was going to read without skipping over lines or getting them mixed up.

[fappellmoan]

not to sit here and weave a story out of nothing like a little protagonist via my quirky online storytelling but i rekindled my friendship with sam who is such an interesting person there are just a lot of stories of all sorts and this is funny timing but truly we just fell into such an easy banter this past class so we were like omg lets hang right so. his roommate really is just like stupid hot right. i could get corny with it but i wont. a face sculpted by the hands of god though. all this prefaced i will now tell u an absolutely nothing story and i really mean that read at your own discretion ((A/N: trust and believe i yapped. putting under keep reading to be somewhat forgivable) (i am not in my best of states rn. okay.)

anyway so we're chillin in sams room im getting caught up on the latest construction projects and shit.. one thing abt sam hes always up to something. they've got an entire work desk #butchrealness. then i hear some singing out in the hallway but from where im sitting cant actually see anyone so convo just goes sam and roommate 'hey' 'hey' and then i peeked my little head out and waved and said hey and they stopped and set down their basket and said 'Hey' and then i did not introduce myself (flop) (combo of cramped room and sam talking and me being wildly awkward) (also keep in mind i dont know if this person has swiped left on me or not been on tinder or if theyd even recognize me anyway and hating that that's even a situation bc i hate that stupid app but just hoping worst case scenario i dont come off as an insane stalker but rather a victim of circumstance) but they just chatted for a sec abt whatever shelf sam needs to fix and that was that. and then they went back to humming which was cute or whatever

to set the next scene we're down in the kitchen and sams cooking and this is a while after we took his homemade gummies so im not rlly high per se but chillin and something about the noise and setup in their kitchen is so overstimulating for me lol when shes cooking im just like frozen. i always offer to help but he always just gets in a groove it's best i dont intervene. one time he had to tell me to go sit down in the other room bc i was freakin out a little lol

so im perched on this single high chair they have in the kitchen right next to their washer and dryer as sams whipping up some food and im kind of obnoxiously saying Unfortch in response to a story he was telling me and he gives me a look so im like UnfortunateLy. and then hes like 'psh i know unfortch i live with this guy' cue roommate strollin in with laundry and theyre just like Whaat and sam explains and theyre like Oh ofc you gotta know unfortch or whatever. forgot to mention that earlier in sams room they said three similar abbreviated words in a row just during a normal sentence and it caught me so off guard i wanted to giggle. so naturally my brain is going through Immediate social response of a semi awk laugh or quippy remark about that but also theyre literally like a foot away from me and im largely nonverbal atm lmfaoo so i just mumble smth to try and go along w the bit but then trailed off cause i was like wtf am i even saying. brain was overloaded

and then i was like um. i literally was just staring around doing fuck all like a perched bird or something but i was fighting a war in my mind of like ok do i introduce myself or look to sam to do so or do we not do that or is that rude idk but also they have headphones on one ear and are doing all their laundry shit and i once again dont want to be like overbearing but also well come on now we gotta feel out the vibe (and i do a great job here.) idk so im like Ok dont just look at them but dont Not look at them just behave like a normal person. you know. the usual. sam comes over to give me a bit of bread with balsamic vinegar and oil and i spilled it on my sweater fuck this stupid baka life (didnt really show. but still they were right there..)

and so after a min of this they were kinda like awkward laugh 'dont mind me' and i once again was very self conscious and had several things that wanted to come out 'not at all' 'dont mind me' 'it's your house' 'these all sound awful abby' then i got anxious that i was in the way the whole time but they were almost done and if i got into a weird apology thing well i would have had to kill myself so i just once again kind of uttered something that would have sounded like 'youresogoodicanmovetoo' and also 'sorry if i just keep like looking over at you' WTF IS THAT SHIT. FUMBLE BOOOOO and my follow up was essentially nothing cause i couldnt decide if i should say 'im just a bit out of it/high' 'im easily distracted (kys)' 'idk what to do w myself haha' 'im useless in the kitchen' (not entirely true) i mean just a few minutes before sam and i had talked about how ill just wander around peoples rooms and observe things to avoid feeling awkward and it's just how i am and so i was kinda just doing that due to the nerves of the sitch but there was only so much to look at. and i just sat there. offputting realness. whatever. so. straight face emoji. and that was mostly the extent of that i dont remember what they said in response just like a lil laugh or w/e. probably couldnt hear my stupid ass mumbling. so im thinking my chances of charming them at all are really stellar

if you read all this i want you to just take note that the events depicted here could not have been more than 3-4 minutes collectively. and yet the yap goes on..

for future reference, what did we learn? probably best to just continue convo with sam, excuse urself to br, or perhaps even attempt a conversation w them if ever in a similar situation again and they talk to you first again. also stop inventing complicated situations in ur head chill the hell out. idiot. says the bitch with the anxiety disorder. feel free to egg me on or tell me to fuck off ok xoxoxoxxo love u

[stellewriites]

twenty questions for fic writers 🫡

thanks for the tag @syoddeye!

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

50

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

699,806

3. what fandoms do you write for?

oh god, ongoing or previous too?? uhm currently batfam, star wars, cod, st - but i’ve had a few extra that i used to write for too

4. top five fics by kudos

i’m not linking them all bc some are,,,, far from my best work. also can u tell i love a long lyric title?

if you can’t give me all, give me nothing ; memorise the way you make me feel ; the way you move like you do ; i’m addicted to the way i feel when i think of you ; took the words right out of my mouth

5. do you respond to comments?

literally every single one,, before getting this account back a few months ago it was the only way i interacted w people in the fandoms so 🤷‍♀️ sometimes it might take a week tho but i try to be quick

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i don’t tend to do angst endings? like even in darker angsty fics i usually twist it so it’s like dubcon happy at the end 🥴🥴 sooo maybe either no grave can hold my body down or can i steal a kiss or two? or even choices made in anger

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

liiiiiterally any other fic i’ve ever written lmao

8. do you get hate on fics?

not often? BUT i usually do fluff fics and when i started dabbling in darker stuff that’s when i got more hate - specifically on one fic in particular

9. do you write smut?

yeah! not all the time but maybe 65%

10. craziest crossover:

i dont really do crossovers but my last mando fic was inspired by justified if that counts?

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of,, again im not very online to be able to know :/

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

yeah! just one but now i dont do it,, learning curve for me

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

almost when i was first starting out writing 6 years back but it fell through - katy if ur still out there i hope ur enjoying life <3

14. all time favorite ship?

ffffuckkkkkk i don’t think i can choose bc i dip in and out so often but i do tend to always come back to jaytim? they’re my for lifers i think but soap x reader is a close second atm

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i’ll always finish my wips bc i can’t stand to see them unfinished,, but it’s been like three years since i first said i was going to write my sci-fi dystopian jaytim fic and im still not past the first paragraph :/

16. what are your writing strengths?

i think i’m good at dialogue and catching accents and nailing personalities pretty quick,,

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

i’m so fucking slow. if nothing else, watching people write for cod on here has shown me how quick everyone else seems to be able to write :’)

and also with longer fics i’ve gotten into the (bad) habit of leaving out like integral details that i assume the reader will just know bc ive been too in my own head about it all and ive forgotten what i’ve established already; leads to decisions looking like they’ve come out of nowhere or random personality changes

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i’ve attempted it but i have to google translate it so i try to keep it to a minimum and ask for correction in the comments. sometimes i do it italicised but written in english so readers can understand that it’s meant to be another language but dont have to skip to the bottom notes or another tab to understand what’s being said

19. first fandom you wrote in?

teen wolf 🥴

20. favorite fic you've written?

idk if i’ve got a favourite,, in hindsight a lot of the ones i think about most fondly are the ones that absolutely killed me off when writing so i’ve got real rose tinted glasses about them all. however these are few that should get honourable mentions just because i like them and they didn’t pop up earlier

whew this was long i think i yapped ontoo much lmao but it was so fun!!

no pressure tags: @glossysoap @mikichko @kyletogaz @femalefemur @sentientcave @gemmahale @madstronaut and anyone else who wants to give it a go!!

[asbestos-11]

Hi I'm back again!!! Sorry for the long wait, I genuinely lost track of the time.....

But yeah!!! I feel like Aventurine and Ratio would be the type to be scared, because she's always coming home injured from her adventures. And then one day she disappears for a lot longer than she usually does. Absolutely no way to reach her while she's gone. Then she comes back, but she's slightly different. There's a haunted look in her eyes, visibly exhausted and bleeding, but she says nothing about it. And then the next day she's acting fine, as if nothing happened at all. (And then one day, on a sunny afternoon, it will hit her all at once and she'll break. She'll move on. She has to.)

She does, in fact, teach people on the more practical stuff as shes out! Eventually she will get formal education to teach in a more educational setting, but thats not for a bit.

Honestly imagine a little Eleni waddling behind Ratio like a little duck, trying her very best to watch as he cooks. Aventurine cooks too sometimes, but she's obsessed with Ratio's food, not his. A sting to his pride for sure, but he got over it pretty quickly seeing how cute she is just following Ratio around. And then he buys more duck themed outfits just to complete the look. (When she grows out of it, it's a shame, but at least there's pictures....)

As she grows older, she travels too, but it's mostly just to collect recipes or ingredients for the next project she's trying out. She meets a lot of people of different cultures and backgrounds, but she never really makes a proper friend as she does this. It's a bit lonely, but she's fine as long as she has a home and family to return to.

(And then one day, she gets stranded on a planet as her personal ship malfunctions. As far as she can see, there's no sign of human life. It's just her, the greenery, and the night sky covered in stars. And she gives her a moment, just a moment, to think back on her life before getting up and trying to fix things. She's exhausted and bruised, but she tries and tries. Mechanical work was never her strong suit, but she still tries. She tries because she just wants to go home. To go back to that warm feeling of being cared for and loved. It's cold out here.

And a few weeks later, as she comes home and breaks down in her parents arms, it's warm.)

As for how the both of them feel about their roots, I think they would be a little sad. As they learn more and more growing up, there's going to be a disconnect as they can't fully immerse themselves in a culture that was abruptly taken away. At least for the Avgin half. They would both take a bonding trip to their parent's home–planet, and just take in what's there. They would both have a talk about what they feel as they stand there, and the hijinks they've had. And they'll leave feeling settled about it for the first time in their lives.

Thank you for loving them! It's a joy being able to build up who they are and how life has changed them! I would love to hear more about your fankids, I feel like im taking over with how much I yap about mine, haha......

raya girl stop giving your parents (and me) a heart attack everytime u go out and about.

i can totally see her just teaching the locals what she knows about survival and stuff, and them in turn teaching her their customs and tricks. i feel like she'd appreciate every bit of new knowledge learned (taking after her father^^). i'm not so sure if i see her teaching in a formal setting, but the image of raya as a elementary school teacher kinda endears me. just her teaching some practical class and being ridiculously cool and all the kids really liking her ;;;;;

anon pls i need to see eleni in the duck outfits too, you can't just say things like that and gatekeep them :,000 i feel like aventurine would just pull out his wallet and out would fall pics of his two girls (the whole department knows that if they ask about his kids, he will never stop talking about them).

ANON STOP HURTING ME WITH THESE PARAGRAPHS OF SAD RAYA AND ELENI. WAAAAAAH THEY DESERVE THE WORLD SO STOP PUTTING THEM THRU THE WRINGER (i say as if i don't enjoy it).

ahhh the roots one hits a bit too close to home bcs man same. the disconnect is real and no matter how much you learn about your background, you cannot fully immerse yourself into it. it's certainly a weird feeling, but as someone who comes from two nationalities, it's very much something i'm familiar with. i wish to explore that some more (esp with my fankids too, bcs there's a lot to unpack here).

arghhh i wish i could rant abt my fankids too, but rn i'm on a rarepair bender and i can't seem to stop (i'm sure you've seen me rant about it on your tl >~<"). maybe some other time, when my ideas are structured enough to put into coherent sentences.

btw anon ur fic is actually my comfort fic and i turn to it whenever i feel sad and whatnot. hehe i do love miserable ratio :)

[its-deputy-caleb]

would u possibly do some NSFW morbell? where they're up in colter ( i loved ur original morbell post on them ) pls do more as i love ur blog 💛

this is an absolute mess oml i literally have no idea how to write anything smutty but here we go i guess. I love this pair but i kinda went off topic and centred this on a praise kink for micah. ANYWAY this is probably terrible since i'm melting, its literally 40 degrees and the aircon is broken so its unedited af and i wont look at it again until i have a cold drink. but pls enjoy some morbell <333

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

‘Cold up in Colter’

Fuck, what a mess Blackwater had been. The Pinkertons were on them faster than ever and they found themselves fleeing from a blood bath.

That was almost three days ago and Micah hadn’t had an ounce of sleep. He’d been sent out with John to scout ahead, having found a homestead which ended up burning at the hand of O’Driscoll’s. Okay maybe house burning down was his fault but he tends to make stupid decisions when he’s had little to know sleep. And it was so fucking cold.

That didn’t stop heat rising to his face when he felt Arthur’s hands on his shoulder, pushing him back with a roughness he could only wish for in another way. Damn Arthur Morgan and his ability to have Micah curling in on himself and blushing like a virgin at the mere thought of a hand on his shoulder.

He should hate Arthur, really the two are nothing more than rivals, competing for the spot of Dutch Van Der Linde’s right hand. At the beginning, almost six months ago now, Micah couldn’t stand the sight of the man but somehow that anger tapered off into something more akin to admiration and that admiration slowly turned to desire.

He’ll never admit to how badly he wants Arthur but he won’t deny however that he’s pushed the man’s buttons more than once just to have an interaction with him. All he had to do start a silly argument over camp earnings or a bet at five finger fillet to have the man shaking him by the collar and threatening to break his nose.

It almost always ended with Micah sneaking off into the woods with half a bottle of whiskey and his pants bunched around his ankles as he thought of the way Arthur roughed him up by his shirt collar. Fuck he was pathetic sometimes.

There were other occasions where the two had actually managed to get along and that’s what pissed Micah off more than any threats of violence. Arthur just had to go and bring him a beer as he grabbed one for himself, letting their fingers touch accidentally. Or he went and offered him a seat by the fireplace where they ended up much to close for his comfort. Damn Arthur for always leaving him short of breath with a hole in his heart.

Despite what Micah did to impress Dutch, Arthur was still the camp’s favourite by a mile and he never failed to outcompete him in the eyes of the gang. Micah never minded much, not looking for anyone’s approval, but the thought of proving himself to Arthur, of being worthy of his praise is enough to have his wild side reined in.

Naturally that didn’t stop Micah from losing it from time to time and wasn’t surprised when his jealousy shot up again as Miss Grimshaw announced Arthur got his own cabin while he shared with the rest of the fellers. And he’d be damned if he had to share a room with Williamson who didn’t stop snoring.

That’s why he found himself huddled in the makeshift stables, choosing instead to wrap himself in his coat and down a bottle of whiskey to wait the night out. He cold planks he was sitting on offered little comfort and the draft in the room had his lip shaking. But at least he wouldn’t have anyone in his hair and he’d be left alone, just the way he liked it.

Of course that didn’t last long when the cranky wooden door was barged open, spooking some of the horses in the opposite end of the room. A broad figure entered the room, blocking most of the door way but that didn’t stop to whoosh of cold air flood into the room, draining even more colour from his face.

It wasn’t until the door was closed and the man stepped closer when he realised it was Arthur.

“Micah? What the hell are you doing in here?”

Arthur sounded surprised, with only a hint of concern in his voice.

“Sleepin’— what the hell ya doing here Morgan?”

There wasn’t much of a response from Arthur, only a quiet noise which was barely heard over the whistle of the wind between the planks. He walked over to the horses, checking over them and ensuring none of them were freezing to death. Micah watched in silence, scared to disturb the man as he patted along Taima’s neck.

It wasn’t until after Arthur had checked over all the horses did he turn his attention to Micah.

Micah watched as Arthur’s gloved hand extended out and offered itself to him, he hesitated before taking before taking it and being pulled to his feet. Arthur’s hand draped over his shoulder which he didn’t realise had shaking in an effort to keep warm, having drunk the remaining whiskey from the bottle.

“Common now, yer gonna freeze in here alone.”

Micah dug his heels into the ground, not allowing Arthur to pull him any further to the door as he tried to hold his voice steady. He’d be damned if he ever let Arthur know just how much he affected him.

“I ain’t sharing a bunk with Williams—“

Arthur tutted, pulling Micah out the door as he pushed him towards his cabin in the snow storm.

“Quit yer yapping, you’re sharing with me and I ain’t having any more folk die tonight. Now let’s go.”

Arthur didn’t utter another word until they were well and truely in his room, wrapped in a blanket that was barely big enough for the two of them. The bed wasn’t much bigger, having been made for one person which was evident by Arthur pressing against Micah’s back in efforts for them to fit. The only thing that kept them apart was the fabric of their jackets, otherwise Arthur would probably hear Micah’s heartbeat which was beating much to fast for his liking.

The uncomfortable silence was broken when Micah cursed under his breath which caused his teeth to chatter and Arthur spoke up.

“Yer still cold, c'mere”

Micah’s breath fell short as Arthur’s hands slid under his coat, resting his hands on his tummy to use his body heat as a source of warmth. In doing so Arthur had moved even closer, ensuring Micah’s back was flush against his chest.

Despite that Micah wanted to protest, to go straight to his default of arguing he couldn’t help but feel as he began to warm up and he slowly relaxed under his hands.

A blush rose high on his cheeks as Arthur also relaxed into their embrace, accidentally letting his hands drift lower until he felt the hard press of Micah’s straining erection against his knuckle.

Micah instantly sucked in a breath, panicking and trying to push his way out of Arthur’s hold.

“Shit Arthur I—“

Micah froze as Arthur gently pulled him back to the bed and rubbed slow circles along his stomach.

“S’alright Micah, I’m not mad…”

Arthur held him close, letting him relax before talking again before he whispered right into the shell of his ear.

“…This what you want? Is this why you’re always staring at me from across camp, why yer always picking fights and asking me to robberies?”

A high pitched noise left Micah as he shivered, feeling Arthur’s hot breath against his ear. His blush deepened as he pushed back slightly into him, whimpering at the feel of Arthur’s own erection pressed against his ass.

Fuck it, he thought as heat pooled in his abdomen and he finally allowed himself to have the one thing he’d been craving for months. He nodded frantically, grinding back onto Arthur’s clothed dick and squirming in his grip.

“Relax boy, gonna give you everything you’ve been waiting for— just be good and you’ll get it”

Micah nodded in agreement, a needy, desperate sound leaving him at the promise of praise. He wanted, no needed to be praised by the man so badly that he’d do anything for an ounce of it from the man.

“Oh god Arthur! I need it, need you. Fuck I can be good I promise.”

He knew he was probably being too loud but apart of him didn’t have it in him to care. He moaned softly as Arthur moved him to roll onto his back, towering over him but ensuring they were still kept under the blanket.

Arthur spent the next ten minutes undressing him without exposing much of his skin to the cold. He unbuttoned the lower buttons of his leather jacket, enough for Arthur to work his fly down and pull one pant leg off. He whined pitifully, grabbing at the lapels of Arthur’s coat in a silent plea for him to undress him properly.

Micah mentally scolded himself at just how desperate he was for Arthur to rip his clothes off and fuck him like a bitch in heat but he knew that wasn’t happening any time soon. Arthur however caught on pretty quickly to what he wanted, it seemed the man knew just what made him tick.

“I know sweetheart, once we’re well and truly outta here I’ll get us a room and we can do this properly.”

Micah’s eyes beamed at the thought of Arthur taking him to a hotel in the future, panting as his mind raced with images of Morgan making him fall apart on his cock for hours on end.

While Micah was busy in his mind, Arthur took the opportunity to retrieve the gun oil from his satchel. It certainly wasn’t the best option but it was their only choice with their limited supplies.

Arthur draped himself back over Micah’s body, kissing at his jaw and nibbling as he coated his fingers. The air was cold, only making the oil feel colder as he slowly dipped his index finger past Micah’s rim.

A devilish grin came to Arthur’s face as he heard Micah sigh and take his finger easily, deciding to work his way up to two sooner than he was expecting.

“You’ve wanted this for a long time haven’t you? I saw you once, bout a week ago. Head down, ass up with three of yer fingers inside you while you cried out for me to fuck you. It all clicked in my head then when you started acting different around me at camp.”

Micah flushed a deep red, coughing on air as he realised Arthur knew about his little crush. He tried to think of an excuse, to weasel his way out of it but his thoughts died in his head when Arthur twisted his fingers, scissoring and stretching him open before adding a third.

Arthur dragged a lip along Micah’s cheek to his lip, ghosting his lips over his before kissing him properly. This time Micah didn’t even try to fight for dominance, opening his mouth instantly for Arthur’s tongue to enter. Instead he sighed into it, pulling his legs to wrap around his waist as his hands wrapped around his lover’s shoulder.

It went on like that until Arthur was satisfied that Micah was well prepped enough, simultaneously rubbing against Micah’s prostate while he kissed him deeply. He only pulled away to pull his own leaking member out, bunching his pants around his thighs so he had enough room to move but could stay warm. He coated the rest of the oil onto his member, jerking slowly as he stared down at the sight of Micah below him.

Micah looked like an absolute mess against the pillows already, his face was flush and the scarf around his head had unwrapped slightly, revealing his disheveled blond hair. His chest was heaving as he panted and his thighs shook from pleasure as the weakly wrapped around his waist.

“You look so pretty like this sweetheart”

To say that Micah hated the pet name was a lie, one that he didn’t try deny as he moaned softly. His back arched and he gripped Arthur’s coat tightly as he felt his cock slide between his cheeks and over his hole. He’s wanted this for so long now and yet somehow it still didn’t quite feel real as his mind was clouded with arousal.

Micah’s toes curled and he moaned when he felt Arthur push into him, slowly inching forward until he felt him bottom out.

“Ah— ah! Oh Arthur fuck! Please fuck me, I’ll be good I swear.”

Micah practically sobbed with pleasure as Arthur set up a fast pace, pulling almost all the way out till just the tip was left inside his tight hole before pushing back in quickly, brushing his prostate in the process. His cock twitched from where it rested against his tummy, pinned between Arthur’s jacket which caused a string of moans to fall from his mouth.

“Look at you, so good for me— fucking perfect Micah. Such a good boy”

Arthur’s hands came to hold onto Micah’s hips for leverage, pulling on his slight muffin top under the jacket to help pull him back to meet his thrusts. Beneath him he heard Micah whine and whimper at the praise so desperately needed to hear.

Micah bought a finger up to his mouth, biting on his knuckle to silence any more noises he deemed to be pathetic from slipping out of him. He hated how close he already was just from being praised by Arthur.

It seemed Arthur wasn’t having any of it when he pulled his finger away from his mouth before kissing him like he had done not that long ago. He swallowed every one of Micah’s noises, mindful of Dutch sleeping next door and slowing his thrusts to something deeper and slower.

His hands roamed all over Micah’s clothed body, breaking away for air and whispering praises down his ear.

“That’s it, make those pretty noises for me sweetheart.”

Micah eye’s rolled into his head as he cried out.

“You’re mine, all for me— my good boy.”

More moans slipped from his lips.

“Atta boy— taking me so well, so good.”

His back arched and he withered in his embrace

“So eager to please aren’t you? I’ll take care of you now boy.”

“—Arthur! I’m close— Ah, I’m gonna—“

“Go on sweetheart cum for me…that’s it good boy.”

Micah’s whole body when rigid as he finally came. His mouth hung open, tongue lolling out as his orgasm dragged out with each thrust Arthur delivered, eager to chase his own.

He collapsed into the pillow, thighs shaking as he whined at the oversensitivity. It didn’t last long before Arthur’s thrusts changed pace to something more erratic, picking up the pace as he spilled his load inside him.

Arthur groaned into his neck, pulling him close and collapsing into him as he regained his breath.

He pulled out slowly with a wet and obscene pop, sitting up and helping Micah put his clothes back on. Micah only weakly managed to fiddle with the button on his jacket while Arthur gently manhandled his jelly-like limbs to fit back into his pant leg. He used the blanket to wipe the cum off his tummy, a weak attempt at cleaning up and something they would both no doubt regret come tomorrow morning but for now they were keen to sleep after such a horrific and chaotic few days.

Arthur pulled Micah into their original position for the night, the only difference being that his face was now tucked into his chest. Arthur rested his chin of Micah’s head, littering his hair with kisses as he played with his hair between his rough fingers.

Micah was the first to fall asleep, curled up with his forehead against Arthur’s collarbone. Arthur wasn’t far behind him either, finally letting himself get some much needed rest but not before he pressed a soft kiss to his hairline.

[kuroopaisen]

the in-between | i (kuroo tetsurou)

➵  it took you and kuroo 24,000 words and 69 pages of pure behemoth far too long to learn that love was never singularly defined. it can be both striking and understated, sudden and unhurried, gentle and all-consuming. and most of all, it can be anything else in-between.

wc: 9k (part 1 of 3)

warnings: f!reader, good old f2l (do i write anything else?), depictions of anxiety & depression, cursing

 a/n: i cannot thank @w-yuren enough for all the love and care she poured into beta-ing this :( i’m honestly so touched you worked through this absolute monstrosity w me (and put up w my incoherence) ren u deserve the world <3 (also @jupiturde erin ilysm thank you for reading this over So Many times you’re incredible!!) 

m. list | ch. 1 ↠ ch. 2 

"I'll help you," Kuroo sighed. "On one condition."

The scant bit of confidence you’d worked up was starting to crumble. You clenched your fists, steeling yourself. At this point, you're willing to do just about anything.

"Manage the volleyball team for a while."

Your face fell. "What, really?"

"Mhm," Kuroo nodded, still slouched over his desk.

"You're kidding, right?"

He shook his head. "Nuh-uh."

This wasn't quite how you’d expected the situation to go. And quite frankly, you were just upset that you were even in this situation in the first place. But, who wouldn't be?

Begging Kuroo Tetsurou to help you with chemistry wasn’t a situation you’d envisioned yourself ending up in. But, something had to be done about those abysmal exam marks. Your grades in everything else were fine; good, even. Certainly high enough to earn you your spot in Class 5. But that chemistry grade was something to be concerned about. Your homeroom teacher had warned you as much on the very first day of the school year.

And for the handful of weeks since, you’d been driving yourself mad trying to think of a solution. Hard work had only gotten you so far, and none of your friends felt they were competent enough to tutor you. You needed help – desperately.

So there you stood, in front of the desk of a boy you’d never had a proper conversation with before, asking for his help – all while uncomfortably aware that this was cutting into his lunch break.

You hadn’t quite known what to expect from this interaction. You weren't really friends, after all; you’d been vaguely aware of him over this past year and a bit, but knew little, if anything, about him. All you knew was that he was topping the grade when it came to chemistry, and therefore, turning to him in this time of need might help.

You hadn't expected this ultimatum.

"Why?"

It was a genuine question.

"Hm?"

"Why ask me to be your manager?" You asked, tilting your head at him. "I know nothing about volleyball."

"You'll learn."

You frowned. "This is the only way you'll tutor me?"

"It's not the only way," Kuroo shrugged, raising an eyebrow at you. "But it'd certainly bump it up my priority list."

The worst thing was that it didn't even seem like he was trying to be a dick.

Right, you thought. Pros and cons.

Cons: being a manager would eat up a lot of your time. Presumably. Maybe. You didn't have any real idea.

Also, it would mean spending a lot more time around sweaty boys. That sounded kind of gross.

And what time did practice finish? Walking home after sunset was always a little scary. Certainly scary enough to stoke a bit of anxiety.  

More importantly, it sounded like responsibility. Maybe you were overestimating just what being a manager meant, but it sounded like there was plenty of stuff you could mess up.

Pros: it'd look really, really good on your college applications.

Just like a passing chemistry grade would. Which you weren't going to get all on your own.

“It doesn’t have to be for long,” he offered, raising an eyebrow at you. “Just a couple of months. And I’ll be your resource to use as you please.”

You blinked at him, baffled at his choice of phrasing.

“How about you just drop by practice this afternoon?” He suggested, balancing his chin on his fist. “You can get a feel for it.”

You sighed.

“Alright.”

You were willing to do just about anything, after all.

✧ ✧ ✧

Teenage boys, no matter how polite or kind or accommodating, are always scary in packs.

That little revelation came to mind as you pressed yourself meekly against the wall of the gym, watching a gaggle of boys running back and forth, jumping and hitting and shouting. Part of you wanted to melt into the wall, hoping that none of these giants would pay you much attention.  

You’re painfully aware of one of them staring at you; a first-year, judging by his use of honorifics. He’s tallish, but not enough to be scary, with close-cropped hair and grumpy eyebrows. There’s a certain intensity to him – he seemed like the sort of person with too much tenacity for his own good. 

And yet, he seemed terrified of you. Was he the sort of boy who couldn’t talk to girls?

You smiled to yourself. Such dichotomy in one personality, huh?

There was another boy that caught your eye. A quiet one, with chin-length black hair who seemed to want to sink into the ground. He didn’t look like the sort of boy you’d expect to find on a high school sports team. He was a little shorter than everyone else – except for Yaku, who’d greeted you quite amiably when you’d first arrived.  

But Yaku seemed like he wanted to be there. Like he enjoyed it. This kid? He looked like he just wanted to melt into the shadows. He always flinched whenever anyone called out to him. Hell, he seemed to flinch even when someone so much as looked at him. Was he okay? Should you ask if he’s okay? Should you point him out to Kuroo? But Kuroo had already spoken to him a few times…

Well, checking in with people’s well-being would be part of your job as a manager, right? It’d be your duty to make sure that the club members were doing okay. 

But practice was still going. You’d have to put a pin in that thought.  

The third years were frightening, as expected. But, you felt as though your upperclassmen would always be somewhat scary. The captain had traded a handful of words with you – hellos, nice to meet yous, a what are you even doing here – but he hadn’t made any particular point to help you out.

That job was left to the coach, who, thankfully, seemed quite kind. You had said very little to him, but you could tell that he loved his job just from the serene smile that graced his face as he watched his team go at it.  

Practice was over before you knew it. The sun was setting outside the windows, the sky blushing orange. You bit your lip. Maybe you’d be able to get home before it got too dark…

You sighed, turning your gaze back to the gym floor. Maybe you should try talking to one of the boys… Yaku had always been friendly. Maybe he’d tolerate a conversation with you? Oh, what about Kai? He’d been very quiet, but he seemed nice… There was Kuroo, too…

You pressed your lips together, eyes scanning over the gaggle of boys in front of you as your mind ran through the pros and cons all at once.

You frowned. The third years were yapping at that quiet boy; whatever they were saying, it didn’t seem exactly friendly. You froze. Should you do something? Was this normal? Was it a problem? He looked terrified – not that he showed it outright, but it was in his eyes.

Kuroo was standing behind him, saying something to one of the third years. You couldn’t quite hear them, but Kuroo’s expression was… cold. Not confrontational, just unyielding. Whatever he’d said, the third years stalked away.

You watched closely as Kuroo’s expression softened as he looked at the shorter boy. He looked concerned. Were they friends?

“Oi, manager chick!”

You cringed. It’s one of the third years – not the captain, but someone you’d noted had quite the nasty serve.

“Help clean up!”

“Right!” You gave a quick half-bow, your head flicking around almost frantically as you looked for something to do.  

You settled for collecting stray balls, rushing them back to the ball bins. All the while you watched the sky darken beyond the gym windows – and with it, your anxiety began to blossom.

By the time you were picking up your bag to go home, the sky was positively black. You bit your lip as you stared out the gym windows, your eyebrows a little furrowed.

“Hey.”

You looked up, a little startled. Kuroo, forehead slick with sweat and cheeks tinged red from exertion. You resisted the urge to scrunch up your nose. Being this close to a sweaty teenage boy wasn’t high on your priorities list.

“What’d you think?” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck with a towel.

You shrugged. “Seems intense.”

“But you don’t hate it, right?” He smiled. It’s hopeful. Almost pitifully so.

You bit the inside of your cheek. In truth, you didn’t. There’s something quite fun about watching them play volleyball up close. They all got so into it. It was always nice, watching people care about something so deeply that enjoyment seeped through every part of their being.

“We’ll see,” you said. “Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow.”

He smiled brightly at that half-promise. Brightly enough that you knew you didn’t want to let him down.

This side of him was already a far cry from that trickster-like figure you’d negotiated with this morning.

“Hey, uh…” He cleared his throat, one hand finding its way to the back of his head. “I was wondering… did you need me to walk you home? I know it’s getting kind of late, so…”

You felt something that’s not quite elation, but certainly a bit more intense than relief. Tokyo’s a safe enough place, yes, but that fact’s never enough to quell the anxiety you’d always felt from walking home in the dark.

“If it’s not too much trouble.” You tried to make your smile look relaxed and natural, but you knew some hint of tension had made its way in there.

“Cool,” Kuroo said, giving you a little nod as his eyes scanned your face. He relaxed his shoulders a bit, slouching down a little. Was he… trying to make himself smaller? “But, uh… where do you live?”

By some miracle, it’s not all that far from his place. You caught the relief on his face, even if he made an effort to hide it. Would he really have walked you all the way to your house, even if it wasn’t in the same area?

He didn’t give you time to think about it, turning around and waving a hand in the air.

“Hey, Kenma!”

Your brows rose instinctively as the shy kid scurried over, head hunched down and hands stuffed into his pockets.

“This is Kenma,” Kuroo smiled, nodding at him. “He’s my next-door neighbour.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” you smiled, tilting your head at him.

“Yeah,” Kenma nodded in a quiet response, not quite able to meet your eyes. You didn’t press it. You offered him your name quickly, a bit like an afterthought, but Kenma gave you a little nod in recognition.

“You guys ready to go?” Kuroo looked between the both of you, tilting his head at the door.

You glanced over at Kenma. He didn’t glance back.

“Yeah,” you nodded, relieved that you wouldn’t have to walk the dark streets on your own.

✉

[YOU] 7:21 PM: hello! Is this kuroo?

[Kuroo] 7:34 PM: you got it

[YOU] 7:36 PM: thank goodness! I just wanted to say, thank you for walking me home today. I was a bit worried about it, but I didn’t want to impose

[Kuroo] 7:38 PM: not a problem. I’m more than happy to do it again tomorrow

[Kuroo] 7:38 PM: since you are coming to practice, right?

[YOU] 7:40 PM: Sure :)

✧ ✧ ✧

Kuroo Tetsurou hadn’t been what you’d expected.

For one thing, he’d actually made good on your deal. You’d half-expected him to bail on tutoring you – though you couldn’t exactly say why. But, you supposed it would be hard for him to dodge the ire of his club manager. Regardless, he dedicated most afternoons to helping you study.

You’d meet up in the library before practice and you’d always start with chemistry. He was actually kind of good at explaining the concepts to you in a way you understood, without all the bells and whistles. He had a way of simplifying the concepts to their bare bones. That’s not to say that it wasn’t difficult; you still felt like you’d been left far, far behind. But, Kuroo was something of a comfort.

Somehow, you’d end up working on other subjects. Apparently, Kuroo’s surprisingly bad at literature. He was doing well enough, but it was something he just couldn’t wrap his head around. Maybe you’d been a bit gung-ho about offering your help, but you were just glad you finally had something to offer in this arrangement. Even though you were still managing the volleyball team, overwhelming as that could be sometimes.

But, you’d made a deal, and the whole manager business was less scary than you’d first thought. And you felt that with time, you’d get the hang of it. Maybe.

More often than not, your study session before practice wasn’t enough time to cover all the content you needed. So, sometimes, you’d continue it after practice, holed up in the library until you got kicked out. Kenma usually stuck with you guys, sitting in the corner with whatever game console he’d brought that day.

And without fail, Kuroo walked you all the way to your house every night. And during those walks, you talked. Rather animatedly.

“What I’m saying is that the divide between the arts and the sciences is arbitrary,” Kuroo shrugged, raising an eyebrow. “When they work together, incredible things happen. Genuine art happens.” He cocked his head at you, that perceptive grin of his spread across his face. “You’d really disagree with me on that?”

“I didn’t say I disagree,” you grinned. “I’m just surprised that you’re not one of those sciencey people who thinks that the arts are worthless.”

He scoffed at that, shaking his head. “Excuse you. I’ve got more nuance than that.”

“Sorry for doubting you,” you giggled.

“You better be.”

The thing you’d been most surprised about, above everything else, was just how enjoyable it was to talk to him. How easy it was to get lost in a conversation that most of your other friends might get bored by. It’s not that your other friends treated you badly, but Kuroo had a way of naturally drawing out your thoughts, and he usually treated them with enough respect to engage with them. Of course, there were times when he loved to tease, and you’d learnt to not take it too personally.

Kuroo Tetsurou was far more interesting than you’d first given him credit for. And you felt kind of bad for that. You’d known he wasn’t just some dumb jock – he wasn’t topping chemistry for nothing – but you hadn’t expected him to be so… clever. So playful. So fun to talk to.

You were beginning to feel that maybe, just maybe, he was someone you could end up being quite close to.

✉

[YOU] 10:41 PM: hey, kuroo?

[Kuroo] 10:46 PM: what's up?

[YOU] 10:47 PM: i was just wondering, why did you ask me to become manager?

[Kuroo] 10:48 PM: oh ahaha

[Kuroo] 10:48 PM: i thought having an extra pair of hands around would help the coach out a bit

[YOU] 10:48 PM: wait really

[YOU] 10:48 PM: that's it?

[Kuroo] 10:50 PM: ??????

[YOU] 10:51 PM: you were so seedy about it!

[Kuroo] 10:51 PM: was i?

[YOU] 10:52 PM: i–

[Kuroo] 10:53 PM: :)

✧ ✧ ✧

“Kenma wants to quit.”

Your head shot up, turning to Kuroo with wide eyes. “What?”

“Yeah,” he sighed, one hand raking through his hair. “The third years have been giving him a really rough time.” He bit his lip, glancing at you. “You’ve seen it yourself.”

You swallowed. “I hoped I was just being too sensitive, but…”

Kuroo groaned, running a hand down his face. “They’re such assholes.”

You bit the inside of your cheek, unsure of what to say. The third years had almost made you want to quit in the early days. They were scary, sharp, unrelenting. But they’d left you alone pretty quickly once you’d settled into the thrum of your responsibilities.

Kenma hadn’t been so lucky.

“Is he okay?” You murmured, brows knitted together. “I mean, I know he’s getting picked on, but is he… is he… I don’t know…”

“I get it,” Kuroo sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know. He doesn’t really talk about that sort of stuff.”

You set your pen down on the dining table, shifting in your chair to face him directly.

Practice had been cancelled for the afternoon, and Kuroo had bustled you out of school before you even had a chance to ask why. You’d been surprised when he had asked if the two of you could study at your place that afternoon – and some part of you had dreaded what your parents might say about you bringing a boy home – but you’d conceded. He’d seemed stuck in his head; something not unusual for him, but he’d been just withdrawn enough to pique your concern.

This must’ve been why.

“I just don’t know what to do,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. “I don’t want to push him too hard or anything, but I don’t think he’s making the right choice.”

You bit your lip.

“Why?” You asked, feeling bold.

“Huh?”

“Tell me why you don’t want him to quit,” you said. “Other than the obvious.” You sat up a little straighter, grabbing your notebook and picking up your pen. “We can brainstorm together.”

“Other than the obvious?” He tilted his head at you.

“You know,” you shrugged. “I know you want him to stay around because he’s your best friend, but... there’s more to it, right?”

“Well…” Kuroo swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck as he leant back in his chair.  “We’re not gonna get very far without him.”

You scribbled that down quickly. “Why’s that?”

“He’s a good strategist,” Kuroo said carefully, “And he’s great at running through all the potential outcomes on the spot. And nobody on the team’s as observant as he is.”

You bit the inside of your cheek as you transcribed. You weren’t narcissistic enough to think you knew Kenma better than Kuroo did. Nor did you want to presume you were closer to the second-year than you actually were. But you wanted to help.

“Why don’t you… explain that to him?” You asked, peering down at your notebook.

“What do you mean?”

“Like… just tell him the logical reasons you want him to stick around,” you shrugged. “I think he’d respond well to that.”

“I guess…” Kuroo pursed his lips, looking at you with a frown.

“What I’m trying to say is that… maybe putting it into terms that’ll resonate with him is the best way to go.” You weren’t quite sure if your point was getting across. You just had to hope that he understood.

“I get you,” he nodded, crossing his arms. “I dunno if it’ll work though.”

“He’ll listen to you,” you mused, propping your hand on your chin.  

“Huh?”

“It’s obvious you mean a lot to him,” you shrugged. “Even if he doesn’t really use his words to express that.”

Kuroo blinked at you, a touch of pink to his cheeks.

“I mean, he’s stuck it out with volleyball this long, hasn’t he?” You smiled at him, watching his cheeks grow even pinker. “That’s because of you.”

He cleared his throat as he looked down at his lap. It was strange to see him so… speechless. He was the sort of person that always had a comeback. You were never able to get a one up on him. Sincerity, however, seemed to be his hamartia.

“I just… I wanna go as far as I can with this team,” he admitted, scratching the back of his neck. “You know, me and the other second years… when we first joined the team, we were asked about our goals.”

He sighed, looking up at the ceiling. “We all said that we wanted to win nationals.”

He wasn’t quite sure why he was telling you all this. He didn’t know where it came from. But he knew he’s grateful to be able to just talk. To share this with someone.

“Yaku and I used to fight all the time,” he smiled sheepishly, casting his gaze at you.

“I can see that,” you giggled. There was always a little fire between the two of them; it’d given you a good laugh many times.

“It was kind of stupid, but… we got over it. We learned to work together,” Kuroo sighed.

“I feel bad for poor Kai,” you smiled.

Kuroo laughed. “Yeah…” He sighed as he leaned over the table, resting his chin on his folded arms. “Nekoma used to be hot shit, you know.”

“Did we?” You asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Made it to nationals a couple of times. But, we sort of… fell off. We haven’t been as good as we could be for a while. And… I want to change that.”

He pressed his lips together, his brows furrowing. “We can’t do that if we don’t work together. And I know that sounds obvious, but… we need to focus on our teamwork more. We’ll only be great if we all learn to rely on and trust each other. We’ve gotta make the best use of all our strengths while covering our weaknesses.”

You nodded, making a little noise of agreement. You couldn’t help but smile as you listened to him. This side of Kuroo – this genuine, honest one – was quickly becoming your favourite.  

“Sorry,” he chuckled, sitting up straight. “Didn’t mean to ramble at you there.”

“No, no, it’s fine!” You shook your head. “Ramble all you’d like.”

He quirked an eyebrow at you for that, but he was smiling.

“Hey, Kuroo?” Normally, you wouldn’t have thought to ask the questions that were currently poking at the back of your mind. But he’d just been so honest, so open with you in a way he’d never been before. Maybe it was okay to be a little bit curious. Just this once.

“Hm?”

“I have a genuine question,” you said, folding your hands in your lap.

He looked at you, pouting a little.

“Why volleyball?”

He bit the inside of his cheek, brow creased ever so slightly. Usually, he’d just dodge a conversation like this; not because he was particularly embarrassed by it or anything like that, but because he didn’t want to talk about himself too much. He didn’t want to be rude and dominate the conversation.

But, you were asking. And, you seemed genuinely interested.

A little bit of sincerity wouldn’t hurt, right?

“My family moved here when I was pretty young,” he said, shrugging. “And I didn’t really… know how to make friends. Before I moved, I’d been part of a volleyball team. All my friends were on it, and… I had to move away from them.”

It was a little strange, trying to pull up all these memories. And trying to condense them was harder than he’d expected. “When I first met Kenma, we just played video games. I didn’t really… know how to talk to him. But he agreed to play volleyball with me, and that made things so much easier. I had something to talk about.”

You smiled to yourself, the image of a shy little Kuroo more endearing than it should be.

“I even convinced him to go to a weekend class with me,” he smiled, looking down. “You know, I even remember when I first met Coach Nekomata.”

“Huh?” You frowned.

“The old coach who used to work here. Rumour is he’ll come out of retirement sometime soon,” he smiled. 

You nodded, even though you didn’t quite understand. 

We bumped into him at one of those classes,” Kuroo said. “He told me, ‘do what you love, and success will come.’ I still think about that.”

Do what you love, and success will come. Yeah, that definitely sounded like something that’d resonate with Kuroo.

“Anyway, I joined the team in middle school, and that made it a lot easier to make friends,” Kuroo shrugged. “I don’t know. I love volleyball. Have for as long as I can remember. It’s fun. And… it helped me connect with people, even when… even when I couldn’t find the right words.”

He looked at you, a bit more tentative than usual. But, you were smiling, your chin propped up on one of your palms as you listened to him talk.

“Believe it or not, but I was a really shy kid.” He didn’t know why he’s still talking. And honestly, he’s a little embarrassed by it. But, you’re still listening. And for that, he’s grateful.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” you grinned.

His eyes widened a little. “Huh?”

“You think so much,” you mused, looking upwards. “But, like… in the way introverts do, you know?” You blushed, looking down at your hands. “Well, I mean… I tend to overthink everything I say, right?”

“No, really?” Kuroo gasped, covering his mouth with one hand.

“Shush,” you shot him a half-glare, suppressing the urge to stick your tongue out at him like a child. “It’s just that… I see a little bit of that in you, too. Not… massively, but it’s there.”  

You couldn’t quite read his expression. It wasn’t one you’d seen before. And honestly, he wouldn’t know how to describe it himself. He was caught between the relief at being seen, at being understood, and the embarrassment of being called out. People didn’t tend to pick up on that part of him – and yet, you had.

He wasn’t used to being the one getting read.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, “I really didn’t mean to ramble so much.”

“Oi,” you giggled, “I said it’s fine, didn’t I?”

He raised an eyebrow at you.

“It’s nice that you care so much about the game.” You were smiling at him. Nothing unusual. But the look in your eyes was so genuine, so bright that he could feel his face burning up from looking at it.

“Yeah,” he smiled, breaking eye contact with you. God, he really didn’t know what to do in conversations like these. “Anyway, should we get back to chem?”

✉

[closet introvert] 9:22 PM: so

[YOU] 9:25 PM: so

[closet introvert] 9:25 PM: i think i’m gonna try to talk to kenma after school tomorrow

✧ ✧ ✧

If there was one thing you were fairly decent at as manager, it was looking after the first and second years. Bit by bit, you’d worked up an adequate rapport with each of them, and you had most of their personalities sorted out. Most importantly, you knew what to do when they were down.

You just had to let Yaku rant – let him shout and gripe and swear, and he’d be okay. Kai liked a constructive conversation, had in soft, measured tones, and offering a solution or two. Yamamoto wanted fire and conviction, a challenge to do better, to be better. Fukunaga liked a distraction, something to take his mind off of whatever was bothering him. Kenma liked to be left alone to sort things out for himself – but you were permitted to make him a care package or two.

You’d known Kuroo long enough by now to know that he was rather reticent when it came to his own feelings. He wasn’t the sort to talk about them upfront; you had to peer at the silences and the spaces between his words to find out what he really meant. You had to look at his behaviour; he was never too straightforward. That sort of thing seemed to overwhelm him.

That presented a bit of a problem. If he didn’t want to talk about his feelings, he simply wouldn’t. He’d deflect the conversation, or downplay how he was feeling. Sometimes he gave you bits and pieces, but he rarely spilled his true thoughts and feelings. They were exceedingly difficult to draw out of him – he had to offer them up himself. And most of the time, he bounced back pretty quickly from his more melancholic moods on his own.  

But not today.

Kuroo wasn’t exactly loud. At least, not in the same way Yamamoto was – or that rambunctious wing spiker from Fukurodani. It was well within Kuroo’s abilities to be obnoxious, but he wasn’t loud. But even for him, he was being uncharacteristically quiet today.

Practice had gone fine, as far as you could tell. Nothing had gone obviously wrong, and nobody had gotten injured. From your perspective, things had even gone well. Admittedly, your knowledge of volleyball didn’t run particularly deep just yet, but you were trying your best.

Kuroo was usually so bright after practice, always grinning or cackling at something despite his exhaustion. Half the time he’d point things out to you, explaining certain moves they’d practised or formations they were trying out.

But today, he’d just picked up his bag dourly, waiting at the door for you and Kenma to leave. He’d said very little on the walk to the train station when usually he’d be rambling about something or other. You and Kenma exchanged a look; he was just as concerned as you were.

And just like you, he didn’t know how to breach the conversation.

“So… how do they even work?” You asked, blinking down at Kenma’s DS screen.

You couldn’t stand the silence for much longer. And you knew that a sure-fire way to get Kenma talking was by asking him about video games – especially optimization.

“EVs are gained by defeating specific Pokemon,” Kenma murmured. “If you defeat a Pokemon with naturally high HP like Chansey, you’ll gain EVs towards your own HP. However, you can only gain 252 EV’s towards any one stat.”

You nodded, opting to let him ramble. Usually, Kuroo would’ve led the conversation between the three of you. But, you’d valiantly taken that task up yourself today – and the easiest way to help things go smoothly was to get Kenma on a roll.

“You can gain a maximum of five-hundred and twelve total, so realistically you can only optimise two stats at a time,” he continued, eyes still glued to his screen. You took a moment to glance at Kuroo. He was staring out the window of the train, his expression worryingly forlorn. Was he even listening?

“IVs are a Pokemon’s innate capabilities.” Kenma was still going. You made an affirmative noise in the back of your throat, nodding. “A Pokemon with a high attack IV will have a naturally higher attack stat than a Pokemon with a low attack IV, even at the same level.”

On the one hand, it was nice to know that Kenma was comfortable enough with you to ramble like this. It was also nice to see Kenma talking freely; a rare and precious sight.

On the other hand, it just made you more stressed about Kuroo. He hadn’t breathed a word the entire ride. He hadn’t even taken a moment to gaze fondly at Kenma while he was rambling. And he always did that when Kenma was on a roll.

You managed to ask enough questions to fill the distance to Kenma’s house. He was speaking more than usual. That much was obvious, yes – but even for a Kenma that was geeking out, this was unusual.

And with the way his gaze kept flicking to Kuroo, you knew it was because he was truly, deeply concerned.

Kuroo still made somewhat of an effort to say goodbye to Kenma, despite his mood. The usual “make sure you don’t go to sleep too late, okay?” and “make sure you drink enough water, so you don’t get a headache.”

But before Kenma walked through his front door, he looked at you. And when you looked back, he held eye contact. Then he looked very pointedly at Kuroo, who was staring up at the sky. By the time you turned to look at Kenma again, he was already scurrying through his front door.

“You ready?” Kuroo asked, now looking at you.

You nodded, half-jogging to join him on the street. Even today, even when it seemed like he just wanted to go home and sleep, he was still walking you home. Sure, your house wasn’t all that far from his, but he still went out of his way every night, just to make sure you felt comfortable.

That quiet thoughtfulness was part of who he was. You’d seen him direct it at Kenma all the time.

The same Kenma who’d just sent you a silent plea.

The Kenma, who never looked you in the eyes for longer than half a second.

The Kenma, who had just asked you to speak to his best friend.

That was all the push you needed.

“Hey, Kuroo?” You murmured.

“Hm?”

“Are you okay?” You asked.

Kuroo looked at you, one eyebrow raised. He was torn.

Should he really burden you with this? Was it right for him to worry you again?

But you’re looking at him with such genuine concern, such genuine care. And the advice you’d given him when he was worried about Kenma had been both helpful and effective. And surely, you wouldn’t have asked that question if you didn’t want a proper answer, right?

Fuck it, he thought.

“I feel like I’m not measuring up,” he sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. “My blocking hasn’t been improving. And I don’t know why. I’ve been trying to work on my read blocking but I just can’t get it down. I can’t even fix the problem because I don’t know what the problem is.”

He took a deep breath, his steps slowing to a stop. “I convinced Kenma to stay on, but I’m not a team-mate he can be proud of.”

“Kuroo…”

You looked at him, cloaked in the shadows of the street. His gaze was cast at the ground, his brow furrowed and the smallest of pouts on his lips. You wanted to hug him, but you weren’t sure if that’d help.

You didn’t quite know what to say. You knew what it was like to get caught up in your own insecurities – you were sure most people did. You knew he couldn’t see himself the way you saw him; tenacious, hard-working, passionate.

“You’re being too hard on yourself,” you murmured. No, that was too soft – too wishy-washy. “I know that it… seems kind of silly for me to say, but you are.”

You clenched your fists to steel yourself, taking a step closer to him. That got his attention – he looked up at you, eyes slightly wide.

“You feel like you’re not measuring up, or that you’re not improving… but I don’t see it that way.” It was true. You watched him push himself harder each and every day, improving little by little. And when he wasn’t, he’d learn from those mistakes.

“It must be easy to lose yourself on the court, but from where I’m standing… you’re improving every day.” Your eyes searched his face, looking for any indication that your words were having some kind of impact.

“And… you don’t need to be the world’s best middle blocker, you know?” You said, tilting your head at him. “You’re good, Kuroo. And you know you’ve got space to improve – that’s your strength. That makes you a team-mate worth being proud of.”

He was staring at you, eyes still wide. The dim light of the street hid the blush on his cheeks. For that, he was thankful.

“Uh…” He felt like he should say something. But he didn’t quite know what. ‘Thank you’ would’ve been the natural response, but those words just wouldn’t come.

“Sorry,” you blushed, your nerves finally catching up with you as you looked away from him. “I didn’t mean to… push your boundaries or anything like that, but… if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.”

Had you overstepped his boundaries? Had you made him uncomfortable? Those questions plagued you for the rest of the way home, Kuroo still quiet and reticent at your side.

You hadn’t overstepped his boundaries at all. Kuroo just couldn’t find the right words, even as you closed the distance to your house.

In all honesty, he’s touched. Touched that you cared so much. Touched that you reached out, even though he could tell how nervous you were. Touched that you were paying that much attention.

As he walked through the door of his own home, he couldn’t get the image of you looking up at him so resolutely out of his head.

He’d have to thank some deity above for the fact you were bad at chemistry, wouldn’t he?  

✉

[japan’s okayest tutor] 10:57 PM: hey so uh

[japan’s okayest tutor] 10:57 PM: i just wanted to say thanks

[japan’s okayest tutor] 10:58 PM: for listening to me be all emotional like that

[japan’s okayest tutor] 10:58 PM: i put a lot on you but you were really nice about it

[japan’s okayest tutor] 10:59 PM: so yeah

[japan’s okayest tutor] 10:59 PM: thanks

[YOU] 10:59 PM: NO! DON’T APOLOGISE!

[japan’s okayest tutor] 10:59 PM: !?!?!?!

[YOU] 11:00 PM: honestly, i don’t mind! and i’m happy to listen :(

[YOU] 11:00 PM: i’m here if you need to talk to anyone, okay?

[japan’s okayest tutor] 11:04 PM: you too

✧ ✧ ✧

You were alone.

Your sobs were the only sound fracturing the fragile silence of the empty gym as you slumped against the wall, your knees brought up to your chest.

Why did you have to fuck up so bad? You’d managed to survive your first year with no drama, the only cause of concern being your studies. They were overwhelming enough  to deal with on their own. You’d certainly felt down about your grades and whatnot before, but those ruts were a little easier to pull yourself out of. ‘They’re just grades,’ you’d try and tell yourself. ‘You can improve next time. And they don’t define you as a person.’ Even if you didn’t quite believe any of that, it was nice to have some rhetoric to at least attempt to counteract those thoughts.

But now? Now you truly felt alone. Like no-one cared about you.

You felt like you deserved it. Like anyone who cared about you was wasting their time. Like you were taking up their time and attention undeservedly.

It was all too overwhelming.

The pain choked you. Every thought, every feeling you’d been trying to fend off for so long ripped through you like an arrow.

Fuck, why couldn’t you just hold yourself together? Why did you have to be so weak?

You let go. And you cried. And cried. And cried.

The sound shattered the vacuous silence of the gym. You weren’t sure how long you’d been sitting there, letting your sobs rack through your body.

Your throat was sore.

Your eyes stung.

You were alone.

And you deserved it.

“Woah.”

You froze. You knew that voice.

“Hey.” Kuroo knelt in front of you, his hands finding their way to your forearms. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He was knelt in front of you, eyebrows knitted together as his eyes roamed your face.

You shook your head, squeezing your eyes shut. Shit, why was he here? Why hadn’t he just headed home?

You didn’t want anyone to see you like this. You didn’t want to worry them.

Kuroo’s arms found their way around you, coaxing you gently towards his chest. You collapsed into him, burying your face in his chest.

Fuck, that didn’t help at all. Your sobs came with more voracity, rawer and harsher than they had been.

He just held you, chin propped on your head and one hand rubbing your back. He didn’t say anything; he knew you didn’t need that right now. He knew that in moments like this, it was nice just to be held. To feel like someone’s there.

And then slowly, breath by breath, everything seemed to calm. Your sobs grew softer and softer against his chest, his gentle hums setting a new rhythm for your fractured mind. He was grounding you; each touch, each sound was an attempt to bring you back down to earth. You could tell it wasn’t the most comfortable position for him, crouched awkwardly in front of you while holding you to his chest, but he stayed. 

He stayed until your breathing had levelled out, and your grip on his shirt had loosened.

“There you go,” Kuroo murmured, letting you go. He shifted to sit next to you, and you immediately missed his warmth. You found a little comfort as he looped an arm around your shoulder.  

You took a long, shaky breath. You weren’t sure how long you’d keep it together for, but you were glad for the reprieve.

“What are you doing here?” You sniffed, rubbing your nose with the back of your hand. He shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t have made him worry about you.

“You didn’t show up for our little study session,” he said, eyebrows knitted together. “I tried texting you, but you didn’t respond. And I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

Shit. You’d forgotten to tell him you’d ‘headed home early.’

“I was worried about you,” he murmured, giving your shoulder a squeeze.

You swallowed roughly, the guilt bubbling up in your chest.

“I’m sorry–”

“No.” Kuroo shook his head. “Don’t apologize. If you need to get it out, you need to get it out.”

You bit your lip, looking down at your hands. Your knuckles blanched pale as you clenched the fabric of your skirt.

“And,” he swallowed, “if you need to talk to someone… I’m here.”

Your breath caught in your throat as you felt everything rush back. The fight. The loneliness. The insomnia.

Kuroo didn’t need to hear this. And you didn’t want to burden him with this.

But God, you needed to talk to someone.  

“I- I had an argument with Hana,” you sniffed, fingers playing with the hem of your jacket.

You could barely remember how it started. Something stupid, probably. Something immature. But it had blown way out of proportion, and she wasn’t speaking to you anymore. You’d been spending your lunchtimes alone, behind the gym or in an empty classroom. You didn’t have the strength to face the rest of your friends, nor did you know what she’d been telling them.

It had struck at the worst possible time, too. The usual anxieties about grades and the future had been compounding recently. You’d been a bit more down than usual, and this whole Hana debacle had exacerbated that. You were usually able to manage feelings like this, finding ways to keep your head above water.

But not this time.

“I just,” you swallowed, squeezing your eyes shut. “I just feel like something’s missing. And, and I’m… there’s… there’s this gap in my heart, and I don’t know how to stop feeling so empty.”

You took a deep breath, feeling it tremble through your body. “But… but I also just feel so numb.”

And all of it, even the numbness, was overwhelming. No matter how desperately you tried to distract yourself, you couldn’t. Nothing worked. You’d lost too many nights sitting at the bottom of your shower, letting the water run down your back as your mind ran in the same repeating circles.

You were exhausted.

“And part of me,” you swallowed, your throat rough and dry as your emotions tried to hammer themselves into something coherent. “Part of me feels like… like it’s wrong to feel like this.”

God, that felt stupid. Stupid, but true. On top of everything, you felt defunct.

And frankly, you couldn’t say why. Was it shame? Guilt? Something else?

“Hey.” Kuroo’s voice was low, almost soft as he wrapped an arm around your shoulder. “You’re gonna feel what you’re gonna feel,” he murmured, “You shouldn’t feel guilty about that, okay?”

He felt you tremble as you tried to take a deep breath.

He knew that your pain wasn’t a one-to-one reflection of his own. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to understand exactly what you were going through.

But he knew what it was like to be a small child, so afraid, so alone, without an understanding of what was really going on around him.

He knew what it was like to feel as if something was missing, like there was a constant gap in your heart. He’d felt that way when his parents had split up. He’d only been a kid, too young to properly comprehend why that had been happening.

All he had known was that his family had crumbled to pieces around him. And then his mother was gone, half a world away with little more than a kiss on his forehead as a goodbye. He hadn’t been ready for it. He had felt like he might never be.

That feeling of separation had followed him, even into his teen years. It was quieter now, a half-whisper on the bad days. Usually, he could ignore it, setting his mind to more productive concerns. But, it never quite disappeared.

Kuroo knew what it was like to be lonely.

And he hated seeing you go through the exact same thing.

Lonely. Afraid. Probably hoping that someone, somewhere, would acknowledge your pain.

That was the worst part. Wanting your suffering to be known. Wanting someone to look at all of it, to see it for what it was. But no matter how palpable that desire was, how desperately you wanted it, it was too terrifying. To speak up was to be a burden. To speak up was to expose yourself to pity; and that was always the last thing you needed.

Pity’s useless. All you were asking for, all you really wanted was understanding. Acknowledgment. To have someone see.

He knew exactly what that was like.

“You, uh…” The sentiment caught in his throat, somehow both persistent and reticent.

“You don’t have to do this alone.”

They were the very words he’d wished someone had said to him all those years ago. The words he’d wanted someone to offer him, a child who didn’t know how to reach out. To cry out for help.

And in that moment, with his arms around the manager who had looked after him and his boys so well, Kuroo felt that call.

✉

[passable at best] 8:30 PM: hey

[passable at best] 8:30 PM: how are you feeling?

[YOU] 8:45 PM: alright

[YOU] 8:45 PM: i ate dinner and i’ve just been watching youtube

[YOU] 8:46 PM: and i’ve been drinking a lot of water

[passable at best] 8:46 PM: i’m glad to hear that

[passable at best] 8:46 PM: make sure you get an early night, yeah?

[YOU] 8:47 PM: i’ll try

[passable at best] 8:47 PM: and if you need anything, please text me

✧ ✧ ✧

"Come to the temple with me."

The surprise was evident on your face. You’re glad he couldn’t see you. "What… just us?"

"Yeah." There's a pause. An almost painful one. "I couldn't get Kenma to leave the house, so…"

You pretended you weren’t disappointed. If anyone could see you, they wouldn't be convinced.

"Oh, well, uh…" Your fists curled into your nightgown. "Sure."

"Great!" You could hear the smile in his voice. It's the one you like best; full of sunlight, pure and whole. The one that reached his eyes. "I'll, uh… see you at eight?"

Usually, if someone had called you at seven-thirty in the morning, you would've simply ignored them. But when you’d seen that it was him, you’d answered immediately. The lack of hesitation was almost frightening.

There was no reason that your fondness for a certain Kuroo Tetsurou should scare you. You just knew that you adored the guy. In less than a year, he’d become one of your favourite people. And, he’d been such a solid support for you. Of course you’d go to the temple with him.  

But as you stood at the temple steps, swallowed up by a coat and two jumpers, you wondered if anyone was worth being this cold for.

“Sorry I’m late.”

You glared up at him, nose embarrassingly red.

“What?” He groaned, hands dug deep in his pockets.

“It’s cold.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“It’s eight in the morning.”

“Hey,” he grinned, reaching up and ruffling your hair with a gloved hand. “You could’ve said no.”

You huffed. Unfortunately, he was right.

“Well, I’m touched,” he chuckled, looking up at the sky. “It’s a nice morning, though.” He looked back down at you with a grin. He was far too peppy for this hour of the morning. “You ready?”

The walk up the steps was almost laborious, given just how cold it was. Your breath misted in front of you as you told each other about your first dreams of the year; he’s still regaling a tale about Kenma turning into a dragon with five heads and chasing him through the streets of Tokyo by the time you reach the fortunes.

You tried to shake off the superstitious jitters as you carefully chose one of the knots on the string. Kuroo showed much less care.

As you read the fortune written out on your strip, you let out a surreptitious sigh of relief. You looked at Kuroo, tilting your head.

“What’d you get?” You sniffled. You hoped you wouldn’t get a cold from this.

“Bad luck,” he said, turning the strip towards you.

You snorted. “Oh, ow.”

He shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal.” His expression said otherwise; it was that half-grimace he had whenever he didn’t want to admit he was wrong. Or that Bokuto had done something cool.

“Really?” You grinned, tilting your head at him. “You’re not bothered by it at all?”

“Alright, what did you get then?” He peered down at you, puffing out his chest.

“A little luck.” You held your strip towards him, and he scowled.

“Bad luck’s more exciting,” he mumbled.

“Don’t be mad about it,” you smiled, nudging him with your elbow. “God just likes me more.”

“Oi,” he huffed, ruffling your hair with a cold hand.

“Hey!” You wacked his hand away, but he just cackled.

“Anyway, you’ve forgotten the most important part of a temple visit,” he yawned, looking back at the fortunes lined up on the strings.

“Hm?” You frowned.

"You gotta make a promise," he sniffled, his fortune scrunched up in his hand.

You pouted, your hands dug deep in your pockets. A promise, huh? Did he mean a wish? You weren’t about to argue the point. He’d win it, anyway.

“You go first,” you mumbled, a little embarrassed by the fact that nothing was coming to mind.

He paused, staring at you for a moment. You squinted back, perhaps half as a challenge.

"Hm," Kuroo puffed his cheeks out, looking up at the sky for a moment. "I promise… to always be there for you. No matter what."

You blushed. What sort of promise was that? And why did it make you feel like… this?

Thwump!

You were only half aware of it as you punched him in the stomach.

“What was that for?” He wheezed, hands clamped on his stomach as he stumbled back a few steps.

“You can’t say things like that!” You whined, feeling the colour in your cheeks growing deeper.

“Why not?” There was something a little too genuine in his frown.

“Because I was going to say something really lame!” It was only eight-thirty in the morning, and Kuroo had already worked his way under your skin. And you weren’t entirely sure he’d meant to. “If I knew you were gonna say something like that, I’d’ve said it back.”

He raised an eyebrow at you. “You still can, you know.”

“Oh.” Yeah. You could.

That was all he needed. In an instant, that familiar grin was once again adorning his face, and he was towering over you. A little closer than maybe was appropriate.

“Is that… a blush I see?” Oh, he looked far too pleased with himself. You had half a mind to punch him again.

“Shut up,” you huffed.

“Aw, have I made you all embarrassed?” He grinned, ruffling your hair. “I’m sorry,” he said, the words spoiled by his fake pout.

“If you don’t shut up, I won’t say it,” you threatened, glaring at him as resolutely as you could. The weird twang in your chest made it more difficult than it usually was.

He shut his mouth immediately, eyes a little bigger and much more expectant than usual.

“Kuroo Tetsurou–”

“Are you about to propose?”

“You know what? Nevermind–”

“No, no, no! I’m sorry!” His shoulders were slouched towards you, head tilted to the side and a bright smile on his face. “I’ll shut up.”

You took a deep breath. It certainly felt a bit like you were trying to propose to him. You shuffled that thought out of your mind as quickly as you could. Once again, Kuroo had put you in a situation you hadn’t quite anticipated.

“No matter what comes, and no matter how irritating you are–”

“Hey!”

“–I promise that I’ll be there to support you,” you managed to say, cheeks flaring and fists clenched. “I… really care about you.”

You couldn’t bear the look he was giving you. It was the look you’d give something you positively adored – something you believed would bring nothing but light to your life. It was a look so full of affection that you felt like you might shatter beneath it.

He reached out and wrapped you in his arms, pulling you gently into his chest. You snuck your arms under his jacket, circling them around his waist. You’d done it mostly on instinct, but you weren’t upset about it. It’s warm, and it’s nice, and you didn’t want to question it. 

There’s too much to worry about – studies, volleyball, the fact that it’s really not all that long until you’re third years. That took precedence. Whatever’s going on here – whatever this was – couldn’t take priority.

All you knew for certain was that you loved Kuroo Tetsurou. In what way didn’t matter. And this in-between, this unnamed space was comfortable. And, as far as you could tell, it belonged to both of you. If he didn’t want to say anything about it, then neither did you.

✉

[i can be your angle] 5:21 PM: hey hey

[YOU] 5:21 PM: hey hey hey!

[i can be your angle] 5:21 PM: no don’t do that

[i can be your angle] 5:21 PM: anyway, i just wanted to make sure you’re practicing appropriate after-cold care

[YOU] 5:21 PM: why do you always have to phrase things Like That

[i can be your angle] 5:22 PM: no idea what you’re talking about

[i can be your angle] 5:22 PM: anyway, drink a tea or two, stick a heat pack (or seven) in the microwave, and rug up

[i can be your angle] 5:22 PM: can’t have you going and catching a cold

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch17 A Maid’s Job

(See if you can spot the Skyrim reference.)

Lemons.

The first thing that he noticed upon fazing through the floor into the kiddo's space ship today was the strong smell of lemons coming from the kitchen. If he had a nose it'd be wrinkled up from the amount of lemon in the air and making him cough if he had lungs still. But instead he just found it annoying as the smell wafted in through the kitchen and the hole in the kid's ceiling. Was someone making a lemon merange pie or too much lemonade? Well he wasn't the only one who found it annoying when the little ankle biters commented on it as well snorting and giving a few coughs as they inhaled the strong smell. This wasn't what he was expecting when he popped in from the forest. He just wanted to see her for a moment and make sure she was ok-.....And totally not because he was worried about her adjusting or that her hand was hurt by any means keeping his mind a float with worry. NOPE! Absolutely not. Strictly business relationship as a boss coming in to see how his newest employee was adjusting to the whole new serving a powerful ghost king. ....And maybe because he wanted to make sure she was actually there and everything that had happened in the last two days was actually real and not a hallucination from hitting his head hard doing that ridiculous crawl. He shivered. That was still an experience he did NOT want to remember or repeat. He would've gotten here sooner but he was a little busy with some very important business last night. He had to reset the trap Poppy triggered, combed through his forest for anyone else lurking around(took a while it was a big forest), making his minions get back to work, looking over the limited plants that actually grew around his forest to make a garden......

Yes. You read that right.

The idea had come to him in that moment during their talk yesterday. What did Poppy love more than anything else in the world? ...Sadly not him- FLOWERS!! She loved plants and growing things, so what better way than to help a new employee settle in than a small welcome to the new 'company'? That and he didn't want to see her anymore upset than needed. SO long after he dropped her off at the kid's ship he went plant hunting. .....Not too surprising that in a dead cursed forest not a lot of things grew there, but he was making due with what was availible. So ordering his minions to dig up some of the small bushes and multicolored mushrooms of all sizes he went. I mean, technically he knew mushrooms weren't a plant, but you try finding something else in a forest where everything else is dead. Needless to say his minions were extremely confused as to why they were running around carefully digging up fungus and what little plants they could find around there.

"Be pecking careful with that! You think stealing shovels was easy?," he yelled at another minion dropping their shovel again. "For peck's sack! I made sure they're small for a reason!''

The minion who dropped their shovel apologised before quickly picking up the mini shovel again before going over to help two other minions of his pushing a large blue mushroom up from the ground. Roots becoming visible as they heave-hoed the large thing up.

"And careful with the roots! They need those to live!''

"Uh, Boss." One free handed minion looked up at the giant ghost who stared down at him just as another one of his comrades ran by holding a small red mushroom towards some unknown location. "Would you remind me why we're digging up all these plants?"

The ghost huffed. "Because I said so and felt like it that's why! Why aren't you getting one of those ridiculously too huge apple bush things like I told you?!"

They looked suddenly nervous. "U-Uh....B-Because you told Two Hundred Four that boss. I'm Eighteen. "

".....Oh. Well you go grab another one!"

"Y-Yes, Sir. Mr. Boss!"

Snatcher scowled as he ran off and sighed shaking his head, but raised his head back over when he heard one of the minions yelp. The minion helping to push up the big blue mushroom was hanging off one edge of it as it teetered and hanging onto it for dear life despite only being three feet in the air. The other two were hopelessly jumping and reaching for him to pull him down.....And Snatcher brought a claw up to facepalm himself just as an explosion went off behind him and another minion went flying before tumbling head over heals in the dirt before face planting a few feet away from the tree. ...They were fine as they sat up and shook the dirt off them as yet another comrade of theirs rushed over to check on them, scolding and yelling something about 'I told you carrying the apple by the wormy guy was a bad idea' or something like that. It was going to take a while to put this thing together with this lot. Which is why he needed to buy himself more time to put this thing together and to keep those kids out before they went blabbing off spoiling his idea to her, he was already a little paranoid about a certain hatted child keeping her mouth shut about a certain little secret of someone's identity. Another reason why he came up here. Maybe he could make some excuse about Poppy needing space from the terrible haunted forest for a while and to just relax. He thought it'd be a good excuse considering how freaked out she looked from the whole exploring adventure, but when he popped up he wasn't expecting lemon to sucker punch him in the face.

"What's with the strong smell?," he asked as the kids yawned and came trudging in through the door that lead to the bedroom but they were a little busy trying not to gag on the smell.

"It wasn't me!," Hattie protested before anyone could ask her.

"I never said it was." He eyed the two for a moment. Bow yawned and wiped at her face tiredly and Hattie looked slightly nervous as if Snatcher would decide it was her spraying whatever powerful perfume this was around, both still in their pjs. "What are you doing up this early?"

"The smell woke us up," Bow yawned as she spoke before giving a few coughs to it. "We thought you were messing with us again."

"Trust me. If I was it'd be something much better tactful than some smell...Wait. You could smell that all the way through your sleeping? You sleep worse than the dead." Hattie blew one of her famous raspberries at him and gave a small pout to his remark, to which he rolled his yellow eyes and turned his attention to the kitchen where it seemed to be coming from directly, and with a zip away from the children the giant ghost went up and over to the double doors of the kitchen area and being a ghost he easily stuck his head straight through the doors without opening it and raised a brow. Nothing out of the ordinary other than a nice clean kitchen, but the lemon smell was there though. As if someone had JUST finished cleaning the place-

"Rumbi?"

He turned around and stuck his head back out through the doors just in time to see the little girl peek under the control panel. "What's got you so up tight now?"

"Rumbi's gone!," she replied worriedly. Hattie leaned back up and went to the other side of the control pamel looking under the buttons and levers but still no tiny robot in sight. The poor girl worriedly looked up to the ghost still halfway through the kitchen doors. "He was right here!" She pointed to the carpeted floors. "He's always right here! Where could he have gone?!" She gave a slightly more worried look and grabbed at her hair. "Did he get stuck in the kitchen again?!"

"Wasn't there when I looked." The small child made a distressed noise and he held up his hands. "Wait up, Kid. Don't say good bye to that head of yours just because the annoying machine is playing a magic trick. He's probably stuck somewhere waiting for someone to help him."

"YEAH!! BUT WHERE?! WHAT IF HE FELL DOWN AND CAN'T GET UP!?"

"That's literally just what I suggested,'' he grumpily muttered to himself but sighed. He didn't like seeing the kiddo any more stressed than the next person so he guessed discussing the plan to secretly busy her with Poppy would have to be put on hold for the time being-....Oh wait. He looked back to the distressed and confused kids and made a clearing his throat noise to get their attention back on him. "As much as I like dramatic fear in the morning, where's Red?"

"Ms. Poppy?" After Snatcher nodded with a grunt, Bow pointed her hand up towards the attic entrance. "In there."

"Why is she in your cruddy attic?"

"She said she wanted to sleep somewhere her size."

Ah. That made sense. He almost forgot how tiny the some of the ship's areas were actually. Of course he could get around no problem getting around ghosting through walls, but he guessed Poppy would have a harder time having to crawl through the child sized tunnels to get anywhere on this blasted ship. Ignoring whatever Hattie was yapping about Rumbi to them, he gave the attic a suspicious look and slowly made his way towards it. It certainly was quiet up there, besides a rather peculiar noise he rose a brow too. With a hum he floated his way over towards it and just popped his head right on in and......Oh...OH! Well at least he found the source of the lemon scented cleaning products, and ..Huh. Was it just him or did the attic look less dusty that it usually was? Hoisting himself the rest of the way up through the whole he managed to spy two small pink glowing objects in the dark, those said objects turned back around away from him as the small vacum cleaning turned away from him to start sweeping back up the long orange carpet stuck up here making that light sweeping sound as he went. Well at least he knew what was making the strange sound up here, but it was the sight of the lightly snoring woman on the floor that really caught his attention as his brows rose. The redhead was laying on the floor snoring away obviously passed out, but was surrounded by cleaning supplies. A small broom, mop here, a bucket there, and a few things of soap. Well.....This explained a whole bunch of things actually, Poppy must've cleaned up a little bit. He thought he remembered her saying something about being a light sleeper when he was still alive. The ghost floated over her and stared down at her current state of being. Body lightly going up and down in her sleep. Her body curled up to her right side and holding a pillow to her chest. Poppy looked rather peaceful in her sleeping state which made him not want to disturb her at all...Which what he was exactly going to do.

A claw gently moved the messy hair of flames away from her soft face and paused when she lightly hummed and stirred, but not too much as she relaxed back into the same position just a second later. She didn't wake to see the fanged smile or the softened eyes of the spirit watching her or hear him give a small huff of a chuckle at the dare say cute sight before turning his attention back towards the exit just as a small vacum cleaner was starting to slowly go by. The small robot beeped in surprise when he was just picked up by a giant purple hand and carried through the air towards the exit by the ghostly figure giving off a few curious beeps to it all. A moment later the ghost's head shoved itself outside the hole in the roof just as the platform elevatoring between the levels went down and out came most of his body. Being a large ghost he easily was able to go near the floor but still have some of his body stuck partially through the ceiling as he held up the robot with a questioning look.

"Looking for this, Kiddo?," he asked holding the blinking robot.

"RUMBI!!" A feeling of releif washed over the child as she raced up and over to the ramp towards him as he held him out to her. The corner of his mouth in a semi smile as he watched her smile and grab Rumbi from him, hugging the sweeper to herself in a hug and sighing. "I missed you! What were you doing up there?"

"PLeaSE clEAN OuT Dirt filterS. MASS capaSITY MaKeS it UNCoMFORTABLE fOr mE," was his only answer in that robotic voice of his.

"I think he's saying to dump out the dirt he swept up," Snatcher clarified gazing at her as Hattie happily nodded and looked happily at the robot in her arms practically skipping to the kitchen to presumably dump out his filters into the kitchen trashcan.

"Actually that's a good question." Bow was gazing up to where the platform was rising fazing through his body and such with curiousity on her face. "How did he get in the attic? Did he accidentally ride up there?" She asked gesturing to the platform. "And where is Ms. Poppy? Is she still asleep?"

"Yeesh. So many questions and it's only been fifthteen minutes since I got here." He rolled his yellow eyes at the curly haired girl's light frown. "She's still asleep. Just leave her alone until she wakes on her own. I think she deserves it after dealing with everything don't you think?"

Bow shrugged and walked off in the same direction towards the kitchen as well presumably for breakfast he guessed or to see what her friend was doing in there. Fine by him. He could wait for as much as he needed. There was books up there to keep him occupied for a while.

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

Someone stirred.

Probably shouldn't have fallen asleep on the cold hard floor but she was so tired by the end of her little adventure between the two rooms that she zoned out almost immediately afterwards. Not a good idea to stay up so late just to clean up but she couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard she tried and she wasn't about to go sleeping in some dark room that looked and smelled like an old closet no one used for like ten years, so it gave her one job to do anyways. She doubted the children would mind or notice one or two rooms cleaned anyways. Children in her experience didn't usually didn't. But something felt oddly unsettling somehow. A shiver running up the spine and odd feeling settling in the stomach kind of deal. The one watching her saw the shiver along with the stirring and had looked up from his book right above her, his full attention right on her now. ......Poppy gave off a cough. Probably due to the strong-ish smell still in the air. It had lessened a lot during the hour and a half she remained asleep while everyone else was awake but it was still enough to be noticable. Her face noticably cringed before groaning and slowly pushing her aching muscles to sit her top half of her body up, pillow she was previously holding onto flopping to the ground as the hand that held it made it's way up to rub at her face as she yawned and stretched out her back.

"Hey, you." Poppy literally jumped falling back onto her with a gasp of surprise. Knocking over the metal bucket close to her foot which tumbled over with a few metal clangs and those bright blue eyes of hers snapped open blinking into the darkness and her brain trying to register the dark figure of the ghost floating and giving her a neutral look. When in reality he was chuckling internally. "So you're finally awake."

It took a while for the still tired woman to really recognize who exactly the blurry black figure was talking to her. Which involved more yawning, more blinking, more rubbing at her face, and more silently staring at him before the idea of who he is finally came to her in the form of the the dark purple ghost.

"......Snatcher?"

"The one and only. Took you long enough to wake up."

"Wait. Were you watching me sleep?," she asked awake-ness finally starting to slowly over come her body.

"Like I'd do that." He held up the red book he was currently holding. The cover reading 'How Black Holes Are Formed And How To Avoid One.' "I've been sitting here reading waiting for you to finally get up," he answered truthfully. He had been reading, only looking at her every so often.

"Really? What ever for? Seems a bit rude to just spook someone like this if ya ask me." That pout he knew all too well when something annoyed her graced her face as she made herself stand to those tired legs of hers.

"I have a job for you."

"Oh really? How lovely. And what might that be?"

"I see you've been rather busy yourself." He pointed a claw down at all the cleaning tools and the open box of cleaning wipes. "And rearranging your living space quite a bit." His eyes flicked up and over towards the far side of the attic. All the crates, barrels, and chained trunks were all moved over to one corner of the room along with the globe and useless telescope. But it seemed everything was rather clean. "And I take it you're responsible for the strong smell everywhere."

......She looked sheepish for a moment, momentarily gazing at her hands. "I-I'm sorry. The soap was pretty strong s-so I orginally only used a few drops in the mop water but when I was mopping the kitchen I accidentally knocked the bottle over and spilt a lot of it everywhere. I-I'm sorry if I caused any trouble with it. I made sure to clean all of it up I promise." She then glanced behind her. "A-And if me moving everything was wrong I'll gladly put everything back. It was just so dusty I couldn't breath a single breath without sneezing from the dust bunnies-"

She stopped when Snatcher held up a hand to stop her rant. "Don't apologize. The old place never looked better. Did you really stay up all night cleaning here and that kitchen?"

She sheepishly nodded having been called out by the ghost. "Um...Y-Yeah. T-This may sound strange, b-but when I can't sleep I clean. Growing up in a house of farming folk, there was plenty of dirt scattered about so I often helped to clean it all up."

A hum came from him. Of course he already knew this but decided not to comment on it. "I see....Well I don't want you staying up so late again. Next time try my advice and read a book. I used to do it and it did wonders for me."

"Oh. Y-Yeah right. I just thought it'd be rude to leave the kitchen like that with a sink of dirty dishes from that cat's cookin."

He paused for a moment. ".....Oh. So the cat showed up again. Did you meet her?"

She nodded and smiled happily at the memory. "Yes. Cookie was so kind and she was kind enough to show me a few places. And gave me food! OH MY PECK!! Her food was to die for!....Uh n-no offense."

"None taken. But getting back to it, I said I have a job for you today." He closed the book and let go of it leaving it to float in mid air before it flew back over to the neat stack of what few books were up here. Poppy watched in slight amazement but was quick to snap back to the ghost when he spoke again. "I'm going to be very busy for the next few days. I think I found a way that might help you out even if it only brings a little piece of mind, but I'll need some time to prepare it. And I can't have you running around blindly everywhere while I'm trying to figure it out. You understand that I hope, and if I'm going to help you then you can help me."......He gave a softer look. "I don't mean to sound rude. But I can't have freeloaders taking up space here you know." Actually it was because he needed her to be busy, if he didn't he'd have no problem with just letting her stay here laying about all day if that's what she wanted to do. But he couldn't. He needed her and the kids occupied for a while and the plan he's been cooking up for the past hour and a half was just the ticket to do it.

Poppy nodded understandably thank goodness. "I understand. Where I'm from you had to earn your keep where ever you were stayin', and it's only fair after you're going through all that trouble." Her hands rested to her hips as she gave a smile.

He huffed a chuckle and gave a smile back of his own. Oh he could almost hear her say 'Hey, Princey!' like back in the old days with the same smile. But he smiled at her and pointed a hand to the cleaning supplies scattered at her feet. "Well, since I thought you did an excellent job here and you obviously have had previous experience, I thought we'd do something easy on your first day on the job! I want you to go around cleaning the entirety of this rusty space craft!"

....Her smile dropped a little as she stared at him and blinked. "...Wait a gosh darn pecking second." She pointed a hand at him. "You want ME to clean the entire ship?" She asked pointing to herself.

He smiled. "You didn't hear me wrong. But to answer you. Yes."

"HA! You gotta be kiddin' me! You want me to clean the entire place? By myself?"

He nodded calmly as if they were just talking about books or something like that. "Yep! Every room, hall, nook and cranny, mop, sweep, dust-...The whole work! I don't doubt you could do it. And you wouldn't be doing it yourself. Those two are more than capable of helping you out if I tell them too. "

She stared at him flabbergasted. Opening her mouth to speak but nothing came out so she closed it and shook her head before frowning and seeming to find her words. "Are you just having me do a maid's work because I'm a woman?"

He frowned back with an honest voice. "No. I'm asking you to do this because I'd like any kids of mine to have a clean place to live. And like I said, It's going to be hard to manage them and my forest while I'm going out of my way to help you. This isn't exactly a-an easy thing for me to do for someone like you you know." The sincerity in his voice as she stared at him for a little while longer made most of that scowl melt away from her face. "Besides. It'd be more of a win for you won't it? You get to navigate the place, keep yourself occupied while I'm stressing over planning for YOU might I add, and it's a chance to get to know your host family." He shrugged. "Everyone wins. You get help. I get help. Kids get a clean place. There's no downsides.....Unless you spill more of that soap stuff."

She snorted on that last bit shaking her head with a smile. "Trust me. I think I'll stay away from that stuff for a while." She turned and began walking towards one of the large dressers near the far side of the room with the small pile of books stacked ontop of it. Next to the books was a pile of photos, drawn pictures, and a teddy bear. "Just give me a second to grab a few things."

"Sure. Take your time with that. By the way..." Those yellow eyes glanced down towards her hand, the soreness long gone by now and only a light bruise remaining on it. "How's your hand? From what I've heard it was hard for you to manage yesterday. And while I'm at it I suppose I should know what the kid's robot was doing up here, she had quite the small panic attack."

"That's a bunch of questions thrown at me at once don't ya think?"

"Hey. Im returning the favor for what happened to me earlier."

"Those girls?" He hummed a yes behind her and she smiled. Children could throw a lot of questions at you if they were curious enough. So to answer one on his questions, she held up the wrist with the very light bruise as she stopped in front of the dresser and began to grab the many photos and pictures. Slipping them into her leather apron's bigger pocket, she had slipped it on last night to help carry around the smaller things she brought around to clean. "It feels much better thank you. I guess I just needed to let my arm rest a while, and ..well...I figured I'd use the little fella to sweep up the dust from the thing since that's what he was for..R-Right?"

He glanced back down to the orange carpet as she grabbed the small teddy bear, and had to admit it did look a much lighter orange when it wasn't covered in dust. "Alright. But next time be sure to notify the kid. She sees that thing as a beloved pet and I don't think she appreciates him disappearing without a trace...What's all that?" He gestured to the toy she was holding.

"Oh. I found this and a few things in the ward robe over there and thought she might've lost them." She gave a small shiver, "B-But I don't think the skulls in there were a very nice find."

"Hey! I gave those as a mushy Winter Solstice Token to them! They should be grateful! It's not every person in space owns they're own cursed skulls to ward off harmful spirits! The attic was a great place to put them to keep ghosts out! Most love to haunt creepy dusty attics so I was doing them both a huge favor!"

"Wow. I guess you really are an expert huh?," she asked as she made her way towards the lift just as it started to rise up again towards them.

"Hey. It takes one to know one don't you think? And who better than the most powerful spirit on this measly planet?"

She still smiled and rolled her eyes at him. For some reason she was getting an aura of bragging child. "Ok. I guess you're right. But It's best I return these to her."

The her she was referring to was obviously Hattie cuz who else would have the idea to leave photos and pictures in a haunted ward robe he supposed...That or her face was in some of the pictures she was holding so it was a dead give away. She stepped onto the platform as soon as it came up and he floated behind as she did so, wobbling a little as she started to descend but managed to push herself back up into a standing position as Snatcher just fazed through the attic floor and popped through the control room ceiling and wouldn't you know it. He found the girls exactly where he thought they'd been for the past hour and a half. Watching cartoons early in the morning waiting for that cat's cooking show to come on, Right now sait orange calico was talking about something involving how to properly cook spices for a veggie burrito or something. I dunno. He wasn't exactly an expert in cooking and outside of reading a thin cooking book like once a long time ago out of sheer boredom he had no experience in that stuff. But both girls looked up when a flash of messy red caught their attention (obviously Poppy's hair) and smiled when they looked up and saw the two standing there. Rumbi happily sweeping past them back down the ramp towards the tv before the platform touched the ground and Poppy stepped off it. Giving off a shaky sigh and looking back up towards it as it ascended, she never would get used to that was she?

"Hi, Ms. Poppy. Good morning!" Bow happily waved from her pillow on the floor as Hattie turned back to the tv with a smile. "Why do you have a teddy bear?"

She waved back to the small child smiling. "It's just something I found in the attic I thought might belong to someone. And you don't have to call me Miss. Just Poppy will be fine." She made her way down the small ramp as Snatcher flew over the railing. Stopping by the tv she stared at Hattie who looked up at her feeling the eyes on her and Poppy kneeled down to her level to hold out the teddy bear. "Hey. I think this belongs to you."

"Yeah!" Hattie reached out a hand smiling and grabbed the toy from the older woman. "Thanks!"

"Uh huh. I think I found some other things of yours." Tilting her head Hattie watched as Poppy began pulling the pictures and drawn pictures of hers from her apron's pocket and she happily started grabbing them from her as well. "Did you do these?"

She nodded looking through all of them and still grabbing them one after another as she handed them out and looked at them all. "I took them on my first space adventure. She held up one picture with what looked like her outside a ship in space. "This is me!"

Poppy of course smiled at her happiness. "I'm really happy for you, but maybe don't leave all your things in random spots. Ok?"

He nodded not really paying attention to what she said but she sure did look up when Snatcher cleared his throat and caught the attention of both the children. "Now that I have you attention. Guess what you two are doing today?"

"Going exploring."

"Not even close." He pointed at them with a stern face. "You two are going to help her clean up this dump!" Instantly the girls went to whine but he shot that down real quick as he had to multiple times before. "Hey! You two live here too! So you ARE going to pitch in and lend her a hand! I won't hear any excuses! Besides, don't you think it's unfair if SHE did all the work while you two goofed off." Hattie stuck her tongue out at him and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Ok wise guy. I know you're perfectly capable of beating a maniac blondie who gained control of all time and space for a couple hours, so you're MORE than capable of cleaning the place-"

"How about we play a game first?," Poppy suggested with a smile and all three looked to her.

"A game?!" Hattie's smile came back at the prospect of playing instead of doing any boring cleaning.

"Playtime? Now? Are you sure you're feeling ok?," Snatcher asked doubtful but Poppy held up a hand.

"Cookie told me yesterday about how helpful you two are," she answered truthfully, "But I was wondering if she was telling me the truth about you two being able to help anyone."

"Of course we can!" Hattie puffed put in pride and Bow nodded eargerly beside her. "We're the best helpers in the world!"

Faking curiousity hummed and rubbed her chin, "Oh really?...Hm. I don't think I believe you."

"What?!" The hatted child stomped her boot down and scowled. "Yes we are! We can do anything!"

"Oh really?"

"YEAH!! And we'll prove it too!" Bow again nodded with the same scowl.

Poppy smiled and nodded her head. "Ok. If you two really want to prove yourselves and make me believe you I guess I have no choice but letting you help me play my game."

"That's right! You don't have any choice!.......Uh. What game?"

Poppy's smile widened as she stood up. "Why the helping game of course. I use to play it all the time when I was little. I challenge you two to a competition. If you can help me real good, then I'll believe you and you get a nice reward from your daddy."

"A reward!?," Bow asked lighting up immediately and snatcher's eyes widened.

"Hey! Whoa! I never agreed to thi-"

"YES! A nice reward from him! But you two have to win the game and beat me or else I'll get that nice big reward from him instead. And you don't want to lose do you?," her sly smile sent a challenging feeling run through the children. "Deal?"

"DEAL!! BUT WHEN WE WIN I WANT A MOUNTAIN OF COOKIES AS A REWARD!!," Hattie demanded. "ILL BE THE BEST HELPER EVER!!"

"ME TOO!! I WANNA HELP!!......Um..How do we help?"

Poppy smiled again waiting for this to happen. "You both can help by proving to me you really can clean a few TINY things for me. We'll make it a challenge. You two both get one room, I'll get one, and then your daddy can be the judge and pick which one's the best."

"Like with Conductor and DJ Grooves movies!," Bow exclaimed excitedly. "I'm gonna win!"

"NO! IM GONNA WIN!," Hattie shot back and Bow frowned at her.

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Fine by me. Tell you what. "Poppy gently pried the girls apart. "Why don't you each pick a different room instead of doing the same one? It'll be faster and that way you each can be judged fairly." She looked to Hattie still clutching all the pictures close to her. "Since Im guessing you might want to put those away, why don't you go do your bed room?"

"Fine! But I get Rumbi!" Her head snapped to the small robot sweeping past her. "COME ON RUMBI!! I'M GONNA WIN!!" The small machine beeped and fastly swept after the young girl as she ran towards the entrance to her bedroom somehow NOT dropping the multiple things she was carrying at the moment.

"FINE! I want the Metro Room!"

Snatcher's jaw had affectedly dropped by then and could only watch as bow ran off in the direction of the storage room and Poppy smiled, stood, wiped her hands together, before placing them on her hips and giving the ghost a winner's grin as he continued to stare off in the direction of the two children....Before looking to her jaw snapping shut as she chuckled at his face and he sputtered before demanding something of her.

"How the PECK did you do that!? And so EASILY!?"

She shrugged. "Well. Instead of fighting and making them do it, why not make it into a game they could enjoy. Hope you can get that reward ready."

"Oh ha ha! Very funny! Don't you think I'll be sticking around for this. I got business to attend yo you know."

"I thought you might say that. And I understand. Just be sure to have it when you come back." She snorted again at his surprised expression and he frowned more.

"Well don't you forget your job for now either!," he demanded crossing his arms.

"I didn't forget nothin', yo purple onion."

"Oh really?" She nodded and he smirked. Before pointing a claw straight up. "Hate to catch you in a lie, Princess, but didn't you already forget the things you need to do the job up there?"

Poppy stared at him for a moment be fore blinking and snapped back up towards the attic. Oh gosh golly she forgot all the stuff up there! She hurried off up the ramp to catch the platform before it could rise back up without her and Snatcher snickered to himself. It was a shame he couldn't stay and watch how this went down, he'd absolutely would SO watch but unfortunately he had to get back and work. As someone had to direct those chumps on how to work things. But he was sure of one thing. This would absolutely keep her busy for a while. Which is EXACTLY what he planned on.

[jungshookz]

For the Christmas drabbles! Can you do a Drabble with demon yoongi and yn now that we know Yoongi’s feeling on Christmas. With Yoongi being an absolute grinch because it’s CHRISTmas? Alll I want for christmassssss~~~~ is that Drabble! Thank you!!!

🎄 pairing: min yoongi x reader

🎄 genre: demon!yoongi, angel!jimin, yoongi isn’t the biggest fan of christmas, yoongi is very vERy jealous of jimin, this gets a little spicy so nsFW, fluff of course

🎄 wordcount: 4.1k oof

🎄 notes: this was supposed to be a drabble but obviously i got carried away!! also a lot of u fell in love with angel!jimin (same) so he’s bACK!! 

(gif isn’t mine!)

(((and the read more function iS there but most of the time it doesn’t work on mobile :// i am sorry don’t attack me by sending passive-aggressive anon messages)))

yoongi’s always been a bit of a pessimist

it’s not his fault though!!!!!

he’s a demon

naturally he shines a more negative light on pretty much anything

and sometimes he doesn’t realise it but he takes it a little bit too far when he’s joking around and poking fun at your ‘dumb human traditions’

it’s just that he’s never really celebrated christmas before so he doesn’t take it as seriously as you do!!

“look at this poor, mangled tree. you should’ve left it in the forest where it belongs.” yoongi shakes his head as you hand him another bauble to put up

you suppress a sigh and roll your eyes as you bend down to pick up an ornament for yourself

it’s almost christmas which is your favourite time of the year!!!!

being surrounded by loved ones while enjoying sugar cookies and hot chocolate and opening up gifts is just!! it’s so wonderful and you take christmas very veRy seriously

and this is yoongi’s first christmas so you decided you wanted to make it extra special so you decided to put up the tree today even though you were going to save it for next week

also you’re a little tired from lectures today and your bones ache but sTILL you were like NopE today is the day that the christmas decorations are going to go up and it’s going to be great

you always have a lotta fun putting up christmas decorations

usually kook is here to help but you decided that this was just going to be a special you and yoongi thing this year

plus you’ll see him at your annual christmas party anyway so

anyways

it’s a little difficult to have fun when you have a literal demon next to you yapping your ear off talking about how stupid these decorations are and how dumb christmas is and ‘why would i want to spend my own hard-earned money on other people??’

you’ve been doing fine for the past two hours

tuning yoongi’s nonstop complaining out as you wrapped some sparkly tinsel around the stair railings

bit down on your tongue to keep yourself from yelling at yoongi as you shoved the pre-made sugar cookies into the oven

you even ignored his comments about your ‘childish’ reindeer antler headband and your ‘flashy’ snowflake earrings

but uh

now you’re 500% irritated and you don’t want to hear another complaint come out of yoongi’s mouth otherwise you’re literally going to explode out of anger

“i would rather go back to hell than put up another ornament.” yoongi mutters and looks at the candy cane ornament in his hand

that’s it

“you know what yoongi, if you don’t wanna do this, i’m not going to force you to, okay?” you snap and snatch the ornament away from yoongi and he’s like damn okay fine

he furrows his brows and watches as you aggressively hang the ornament up

“i was just kidd-“

“you’re always just kidding!!!”

oof

someone’s grouchy

yoongi doesn’t say anything (which is a smart move) but he bends down to grab a bauble from the box of christmas tree decorations

he jumps when you kick the box out of the way gently

“why don’t you go and check on the cookies or something?” you give him a pointed look before letting out a huff

yoongi purses his lips before raising his hands in defence

he turns to look at you over his shoulder as he steps over the boxes and heads to the kitchen

you’re not paying attention to him at all

now that yoongi has a moment of silence to think

..,,okay

he can admit that maybe he’s been a bit of a scrooge the entire day and you’ve done nothing but try to make christmas as fun as possible

and it’s not fair for him to bag on these christmas traditions just because he doesn’t typically celebrate christmas down in hell

but like jesus christ is his enemy after all

big yikes energy

he feels the guilt eating at him as he watches the cookies bake in the oven

okay okay okay

what can he do to cheer you up

finish decorating the rest of the house??

no he can’t do that because you’ve pretty much decorated the entire house alone while he stood there and complained

make more cookies???

no he can’t because those cookies are pre-made and you only bought one box of them

what use is an incubus when it comes to christmas

christmas sex by the fireplace??

no he can’t because it’s noT EVEN CHRISTMAS YET and you’ve taught him that also sex doesn’t solve everything (unfortunately)

yoongi freezes when he hears something

something that makes his heart drop to his stomach

a bead of sweat roll down the side of his forehead

okay he’s being a little dramatic but-

his eyes flicker up when he hears a twinkly little laugh

oh god

he knows that laugh

yoongi buRSts out of the kitchen and nearly trips over his feet

oh for fuCK’s SAKE

“yoongi! there you are! i was wondering why the usual stench of sulphur wasn’t present in the room.” jimin grins and giggles when you whack his arm playfully “kidding!”

“what are you doing here?” yoongi huffs and crosses his arms

he bites down on the inside of his cheek when jimin bends down and plucks a bauble out of the box of decorations

you didn’t kick the box away like you did with him

“i finished my duties early so i figured i’d stop by!” jimin hums and looks at the fully decorated tree

the two of you take a step back to look at the tree

“something’s missing…” jimin furrows his brows and strokes his chin

“yoongi broke like three baubles so the bald spots are kind of unavoidable” you shrug and turn to glare and yoongi and he’s like wha- i didN’T KNOW THEY Were so deLICATE

“oh! i know!” jimin gasps and snaps his fingers and you watch in amazement as he starts levitating off the ground until he’s at the top of the tree

jimin rubs his fingers together and you squeal in excitement when a mixture of silver and white glitter starts sprinkling down from his fingers onto the tree

“oh jimin that’s perfect!!!!! i love that!!!” you gasp and jimin nods excitedly as he continues dusting the tree and adding the final touches

yoongi scoffs and rolls his eyes

what a show off  

yoongi could totally do that too

he looks down at his hands

yoongi rubs his fingers together and winces when smokey ashes start sprinkling down from his fingers

whoops

not quite the same

“anyways - what was i talking about?” jimin lands on the ground and dusts off his hands

yoongi gives him an unimpressed look and crosses his arm again before tapping his foot on the ground impatiently

“you were in the middle of telling us why you’re here in the first place”

“he already told us it’s because he finished his duties early so he figured he’d stop by - if you were even listening.” you raise a brow and yoongi resists the urge to roll his eyes

he plops down on the couch and winces when the box of decorations fall off the couch from the bounce

he picks it up quickly

luckily it was just full of tinsel

“and it looks like i stopped by at just the right time because-“ jimin pauses and sticks his finger in the air

yoongi’s like wtf r u doing u loser

and suddenly the timer from the oven goes off “-the cookies are ready!”

“ooh, let me go get those!” you grin “you’re gonna loVe them jimin they’re all shaped like angels” you clap your hands together before scurrying off to the kitchen

“oh, yoongi. yoongi yoongi yoongi.” jimin sighs and shakes his head mockingly once you disappear into the kitchen

yoongi glares up at jimin “what.”

“you messed up big time, didn’t you?”

“i did no such thing”

“then why is y/n so mad at you?”

“she’s not mad at me and it’s none of your business”

“is it because you were being your usual grouchy self?” jimin tilts his head and yoongi’s like u already knOW it’s because i was being my usual grouchy self u dick

“you might be wondering why i came when i did” jimin starts cleaning up loose glitter and tinsel on the floor

“you already said it’s because you finished your-“

“one of my most important duties is making sure y/n is happy, you know.” jimin stands up quickly and holds up a finger

and yoongi’s like ? no it’s not

“…what do u mean”

“oh, haven’t you heard? i’m her guardian angel now. no longer just an angel - i’ve been promoted to guardian angel and they assigned me to y/n which means you’ll be seeing me around a lot more often. did she not tell you?”

yoongi can feel himself growing red from anger

“now now - no need to start a fire” jimin pats the top of yoongi’s head because it’s literally starting to sizzle and smoke up “so i’m going to need you to stay out of the way for a couple of hours so that i can improve y/n’s mood. i’ve already increased it significantly but i’d like for it to be at 100% before i leave.”

“are you implying that i don’t make her happy?” yoongi stands up and towers over jimin and jimin purses his lips before shrugging  

“i mean i’m not not implying that.”

that’s it

yoongi’s going to RIP jimin’s wings right off his back

“jiminie!!!!! i brought a cookie for you they’rE so good” you pop out of the kitchen before yoongi can luRch forward and strangle jiminiE

“they smell very good!”

you break off a piece of the cookie and hold it up to feed jimin and he takes it happily

yoongi automatically assumes that the other half is for him and he opens his mouth expectantly

you raise a brow at him before popping the other half into your own mouth

you chew

you swallow

and yoongi’s still standing there with an open mouth

“you can help yourself to a cookie. now - where were we?” you turn and wander back to jimin and jimin gives yoongi a knowing smirk

yoongi clenches his fist before letting out a huff and crossing his arms

“oh! the star! how could i forget about the most important part of the tree??” you take the glimmering gold star out of the box and hold it up “jimin, do you wanna put it up?”

wait but u said that yOONgi could put it up

this is supposed to be his thing!!

in fact this whole decorating thing was supposed to be your guys’ thing!!!!!!!!!

like yA he was being a dick but u made a promise and u can’t break ur promise like thIS

“wait but-“ yoongi pauses when you and jimin turn to look at him

he clears his throat

“i, uh, i thought you said that i could put up the star?” he scratches the back of his neck and avoids your gaze

“yeah. and?” you blink at yoongi and put a hand on your hip

yeah and

that’s your response

the two of you are having this silent veRy very intense stare down and jimin’s like [sweat] because you’re obviously not scared of yoongi even though you’re well aware of his capabilities as a literal demon

“fine. let jimin put your stupid star up.” yoongi snarls and you see his eyes flicker to black before he disappears into a cloud of smoke

if you let jimin put the damn star up you might as well start DAtinG Him tOO

he’s already your stupid guardian angel so taking it to a romantic level wouldn’t be out of the ordinary!! much more normal than a human willingly being in a romantic relationship with an incubus

frick

he hAtes this

he’s always been a little insecure about himself being a demon and all

and when jimin comes around with all his perfectness and his twinkles and glitter and warmth it makes yoongi feel like shit even tho it’s not jimin’s fault like yeah he’s an angel he’s supposed to be a figure of perfection

and now you and jimin are decorating the tree together which was supposed to be your guys’ thing but apparently not anymore!!!!!!

yoongi wants to live in purgatory for the rest of his life

you jump in surprise when yoongi disappears so suddenly

oh

he hasn’t done that in a while

he only goes into purgatory when something’s really really bugging him

okay

maybe u took it a little too far

u were a little rough on him

but to be fair hE started it- okAy but you should’ve taken the high road even tho u were frustrated you’re well aware that yoongi’s personality is just naturally like that and he’s been trained to think of jesus christ as his enemy so u can see why he keeps poking fun at all the traditions

you let out a sigh and toss the star onto the couch before turning to look at jimin who’s currently twirling a sprig of mistletoe between his fingers

hm

“yoongi?” you poke your head into the bedroom

you’ve checked everywhere else in the house but yoongi’s nowhere to be found

you thought that maybe he was just chilling in a room somewhere but obviously not

jimin left a while ago but u sent him off with some cookies and a kiss on the cheek (which probably wasn’t the best thing to do lol)

he told u about the whole guardian angel thing a while ago and yEs of course you were ecstatic about it but then u could see why yoongi would be upset about you not talking to him about that

you shut the bedroom door behind you

“look, i don’t know if you’re listening to me right now or not - i sure hope you are otherwise i look like an idiot talking to myself. i’m sorry, alright? i shouldn’t have broken my promise and i know i was being a little too petty, i admit it. can you come back now? i miss u” you murmur that last part and scratch the back of your neck when you’re met with silence

how come you didn’t tell me about jimin becoming your guardian angel?

you jump when you hear yoongi’s voice

ugh

he’s still in purgatory

“if you come back i’ll tell you”

no

you roll your eyes

don’t roll your eyes at me

“i didn’t tell you because i didn’t think it’d be a big deal. so what if jimin’s my guardian angel?? who cares??” you sigh exasperatedly “i don’t think i even need a guardian angel because i already have yoU but it’s always good to have extra protection. don’t you want me to be safe?”

i’m perfectly capable of keeping you safe

“i know you are, yoongs. but you know what the difference is?”

he has wings and i don’t? he’s an angel and i’m not? everyone celebrates him but everyone fears me??-

“i like jimin but i love you”

you’re met with nothing but silence and understandably you start getting a little nervous

you’re about to say something along the lines of ‘i meaN when i say love i mean like i really reALLy like u’ but all of a sudden yoongi poofs up and appears sitting on the edge of the bed

he clears his throat and avoids your gaze but you can see that his cheeks are a little flushed

yoongi??? blushing???????? the world must be ENDING

“ʸᵒᵘ ˡᵒᵛᵉ ᵐᵉˀ” he squeaks out and you can’t fight the FAT grin on your face

AW

HE’S,,, HE’S BEING SHY

“of course i love u” you rock back and forth on your heels and offer him a cute smile and his heart exploDes “don’t you love me?”

yoongi coughs into his fist and his eyes flicker toward the door

he physically cannot look you in the eye other wise he’s going to melt into a puddle of goop

“ᵒᶠ ᶜᵒᵘʳˢᵉ ᶦ ˡᵒᵛᵉ ᵘ ᵗᵒᵒ”

he coughs again and finally looks up at you

“of course i love you too.”

“so,, am i forgiven?” you purse your lips and take a little step closer to him

yoongi gives you an unimpressed look “did you just tell me you loved me so that it’d be easier for me to forgive you?”

“i’m realising that’s how it seems buT i have a peace offering for you too” you reach into your back pocket and pull out the sprig of mistletoe that jimin was playing with earlier

you hold it above your head and smile and yoongi expectantly and he’s like ?

“.,.,,is that a weed”

“it’s mistletoe! i’m holding it over my head so u have to kiss me and thaT’s the rule.”

ah

another silly christmas tradition

yoongi scoffs and leans back against his palms

you pout and look up at the mistletoe you’re holding above your head “you can’t not kiss me. that’s not how mistletoe works”

yoongi let out a sigh before shaking his head and gesturing for you to come closer

the holiday season is about forgiveness after all

“c’mere, you dummy” yoongi murmurs and you immediately swoops down to plant your lips against his

“see, i can get into the christmas spirit” yoongi purrs and pulls you down so that you’re straddling him

you giggle and give him another kiss

“do you, um, do you forgive me too?” yoongi asks sheepishly and reaches up to scratch the back of his neck

“mm, i dunno…” you tease “you were being a real dick today” you sigh “and you were being super immature around jimin-“

“sTop talking about jimin” yoongi whines and grabs your hips before pushing you down on the bed

you giggle as your head flops against the mattress

“just tell me u foRgive meEe” yoongi hovers over you and rubs his nose against yours

he already knows you’ve forgiven him but he needs to hear it otherwise he’ll feel bad

u know how earlier yoongi said that you taught him sex doesn’t solve everything

he’s about to prove that that is nOt entirely true

“forgive me now?” yoongi sighs against your neck and rolls his hips against yours

haH

you’re not thAt weak you’re not giving in that easily

“nope” you tsk and let out a bored sigh

you feel yoongi’s hand slither down and whOops your jeans have just been undone

“forgive me… now?” yoongi’s hand slides into your panties and he smirks against your neck because it definitely feELs like you’ve forgiven him

o h

maybe you’re a lot weaker than u originally thought

you feel a thrill down your spine when yoongi eases a finger into you without warning

“n-no..” you gasp and arch your back against the mattress and yoongi’s other hand comes up and he intertwines his fingers with yours

he presses a kiss behind your jaw and hums as you rock your hips into his hand

you whine when another finger slips into you alongside the other very easily

“you take my fingers so well, baby” yoongi praises and your hips twitch up from the bed

yoongi pulls away from you and leans back on his heels but he keeps his eyes glued on you

you look like you just stepped out of his wildest wet dream

your lips are slick and swollen from his kisses and you’ve got small blooms of blues and purples on your neck and your chest

your chest is rising up and down rapidly and soft whimpers and moans tumble from your lips as your fingers dig into the plush pillow behind you

fuck

he wants nothing more than to push into you and fuck you like there’s no tomorrow but he’ll start off with making you cum with his fingers before he gets to that

yoongi tilts his head and watches your eyelashes flutter when his thumb starts rubbing quick circles over your clit

“jimin could never make you feel this good, could he?”

oh god

you can barely breathe because your head is spinning with pleasure

“answer me, baby” yoongi grunts when your walls clench tighter around his fingers

he leans back down and starts pressing warm kisses to the spot under your ear

“no, n-no, he could never make me feel as good as you do” you manage to get out and yoongi smirks against your skin before he starts to double his efforts and concentration on that spot

“and you forgive me now?” his thumb starts rubbing quickEr circles over your clit and he pushes your hips down when they buck up

“yes, yesyesyEs i forgive y-you-!”

“mm, good girl” yoongi tuts and slams his fingers in before curling them upwards and oH fuCk you’re gonna cum like really reaLLY sOOn-

a sharp cry leaves your throat when the tension finally snaps and you cum a loT harder than ever before

you’re pretty sure your soul leaves your body for like a split second

yoongi hisses because your walls tighten significantly around his fingers and he takes his bottom lip in between his teeth as he fucks you through your orgasm

your thighs are trembling and your body is twitching slightly and you know what yoongi could stop there and let you relax for a bit but

he is a devil of a boy

which is how he ends up making you have anoTher orgasm right after this first one

except this time he makes you cum with his mouth because he wanted to spice it up a little

“you did so good for me, baby” yoongi wiggles you into a pair of clean panties before leaning down and pressing a kiss against your mouth and flopping down next to you

“i hate you” you pant softly and yoongi grins and turns to look at you and your flushed cheeks

“that’s not what u said when my face was buried in between your legs”

yoongi now knows what his favourite christmas tradition is

it starts with a mistle and ends with a toe

MISTLeTOE

HE LOVES MISTLETOE

now thAT’s the good kush

hold up a tiny little weed above someone’s head and the person has to kiss you??? genius

but uh

you have to admit

yoongi’s having a little too much fun with mistletoe

but you can’t get mad at him because he’s finally interested in a christmas tradition

you’ve been giving him kisses all day which is not what you’re complaining about because you loVe kissing your boyfriend

but like

u have so much to do to prepare for christmas and yoongi is being very distracting

at one point you ended up making out on the couch for like ten minutes and when you were like ok i have to go buy more baubles for the tree yoongi whIPPed the mistletoe out from his back pocket and held it over you and was like!!! u have to kiss me!!! u said those were the rules!!!

“oh y/n~” yoongi sing-songs and you let out a sigh as you pull the cookies out of the oven

“yes, yoongi?” you set the cookies down before turning to face him and peeling the oven mitts off

“come n give me another kiss” yoongi wiggles his brows as he holds the mistletoe above his crotch

…classic

🎄the twelve drabbles of christmas! 🎄

❄️do you have a special christmas request? ❄️

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time p17

Lemons.

The first thing that he noticed upon fazing through the floor into the kiddo's space ship today was the strong smell of lemons coming from the kitchen. If he had a nose it'd be wrinkled up from the amount of lemon in the air and making him cough if he had lungs still. But instead he just found it annoying as the smell wafted in through the kitchen and the hole in the kid's ceiling. Was someone making a lemon merange pie or too much lemonade? Well he wasn't the only one who found it annoying when the little ankle biters commented on it as well snorting and giving a few coughs as they inhaled the strong smell. This wasn't what he was expecting when he popped in from the forest. He just wanted to see her for a moment and make sure she was ok-.....And totally not because he was worried about her adjusting or that her hand was hurt by any means keeping his mind a float with worry. NOPE! Absolutely not. Strictly business relationship as a boss coming in to see how his newest employee was adjusting to the whole new serving a powerful ghost king. ....And maybe because he wanted to make sure she was actually there and everything that had happened in the last two days was actually real and not a hallucination from hitting his head hard doing that ridiculous crawl. He shivered. That was still an experience he did NOT want to remember or repeat. He would've gotten here sooner but he was a little busy with some very important business last night. He had to reset the trap Poppy triggered, combed through his forest for anyone else lurking around(took a while it was a big forest), making his minions get back to work, looking over the limited plants that actually grew around his forest to make a garden......

Yes. You read that right.

The idea had come to him in that moment during their talk yesterday. What did Poppy love more than anything else in the world? ...Sadly not him- FLOWERS!! She loved plants and growing things, so what better way than to help a new employee settle in than a small welcome to the new 'company'? That and he didn't want to see her anymore upset than needed. SO long after he dropped her off at the kid's ship he went plant hunting. .....Not too surprising that in a dead cursed forest not a lot of things grew there, but he was making due with what was availible. So ordering his minions to dig up some of the small bushes and multicolored mushrooms of all sizes he went. I mean, technically he knew mushrooms weren't a plant, but you try finding something else in a forest where everything else is dead. Needless to say his minions were extremely confused as to why they were running around carefully digging up fungus and what little plants they could find around there.

"Be pecking careful with that! You think stealing shovels was easy?," he yelled at another minion dropping their shovel again. "For peck's sack! I made sure they're small for a reason!''

The minion who dropped their shovel apologised before quickly picking up the mini shovel again before going over to help two other minions of his pushing a large blue mushroom up from the ground. Roots becoming visible as they heave-hoed the large thing up.

"And careful with the roots! They need those to live!''

"Uh, Boss." One free handed minion looked up at the giant ghost who stared down at him just as another one of his comrades ran by holding a small red mushroom towards some unknown location. "Would you remind me why we're digging up all these plants?"

The ghost huffed. "Because I said so and felt like it that's why! Why aren't you getting one of those ridiculously too huge apple bush things like I told you?!"

They looked suddenly nervous. "U-Uh....B-Because you told Two Hundred Four that boss. I'm Eighteen. "

".....Oh. Well you go grab another one!"

"Y-Yes, Sir. Mr. Boss!"

Snatcher scowled as he ran off and sighed shaking his head, but raised his head back over when he heard one of the minions yelp. The minion helping to push up the big blue mushroom was hanging off one edge of it as it teetered and hanging onto it for dear life despite only being three feet in the air. The other two were hopelessly jumping and reaching for him to pull him down.....And Snatcher brought a claw up to facepalm himself just as an explosion went off behind him and another minion went flying before tumbling head over heals in the dirt before face planting a few feet away from the tree. ...They were fine as they sat up and shook the dirt off them as yet another comrade of theirs rushed over to check on them, scolding and yelling something about 'I told you carrying the apple by the wormy guy was a bad idea' or something like that. It was going to take a while to put this thing together with this lot.  Which is why he needed to buy himself more time to put this thing together and to keep those kids out before they went blabbing off spoiling his idea to her, he was already a little paranoid about a certain hatted child keeping her mouth shut about a certain little secret of someone's identity. Another reason why he came up here. Maybe he could make some excuse about Poppy needing space from the terrible haunted forest for a while and to just relax. He thought it'd be a good excuse considering how freaked out she looked from the whole exploring adventure, but when he popped up he wasn't expecting lemon to sucker punch him in the face.

"What's with the strong smell?," he asked as the kids yawned and came trudging in through the door that lead to the bedroom but they were a little busy trying not to gag on the smell.

"It wasn't me!," Hattie protested before anyone could ask her.

"I never said it was." He eyed the two for a moment. Bow yawned and wiped at her face tiredly and Hattie looked slightly nervous as if Snatcher would decide it was her spraying whatever powerful perfume this was around, both still in their pjs. "What are you doing up this early?"

"The smell woke us up," Bow yawned as she spoke before giving a few coughs to it. "We thought you were messing with us again."

"Trust me. If I was it'd be something much better tactful than some smell...Wait. You could smell that all the way through your sleeping? You sleep worse than the dead." Hattie blew one of her famous raspberries at him and gave a small pout to his remark, to which he rolled his yellow eyes and turned his attention to the kitchen where it seemed to be coming from directly, and with a zip away from the children the giant ghost went up and over to the double doors of the kitchen area and being a ghost he easily stuck his head straight through the doors without opening it and raised a brow. Nothing out of the ordinary other than a nice clean kitchen, but the lemon smell was there though. As if someone had JUST finished cleaning the place-

"Rumbi?"

He turned around and stuck his head back out through the doors just in time to see the little girl peek under the control panel. "What's got you so up tight now?"

"Rumbi's gone!," she replied worriedly. Hattie leaned back up and went to the other side of the control pamel looking under the buttons and levers but still no tiny robot in sight. The poor girl worriedly looked up to the ghost still halfway through the kitchen doors. "He was right here!" She pointed to the carpeted floors. "He's always right here! Where could he have gone?!" She gave a slightly more worried look and grabbed at her hair. "Did he get stuck in the kitchen again?!"

"Wasn't there when I looked." The small child made a distressed noise and he held up his hands. "Wait up, Kid. Don't say good bye to that head of yours just because the annoying machine is playing a magic trick. He's probably stuck somewhere waiting for someone to help him."

"YEAH!! BUT WHERE?! WHAT IF HE FELL DOWN AND CAN'T GET UP!?"

"That's literally just what I suggested,'' he grumpily muttered to himself but sighed. He didn't like seeing the kiddo any more stressed than the next person so he guessed discussing the plan to secretly busy her with Poppy would have to be put on hold for the time being-....Oh wait. He looked back to the distressed and confused kids and made a clearing his throat noise to get their attention back on him. "As much as I like dramatic fear in the morning, where's Red?"

"Ms. Poppy?" After Snatcher nodded with a grunt, Bow pointed her hand up towards the attic entrance. "In there."

"Why is she in your cruddy attic?"

"She said she wanted to sleep somewhere her size."

Ah. That made sense. He almost forgot how tiny the some of the ship's areas were actually. Of course he could get around no problem getting around ghosting through walls, but he guessed Poppy would have a harder time having to crawl through the child sized tunnels to get anywhere on this blasted ship. Ignoring whatever Hattie was yapping about Rumbi to them, he gave the attic a suspicious look and slowly made his way towards it. It certainly was quiet up there, besides a rather peculiar noise he rose a brow too. With a hum he floated his way over towards it and just popped his head right on in and......Oh...OH! Well at least he found the source of the lemon scented cleaning products, and ..Huh. Was it just him or did the attic look less dusty that it  usually was? Hoisting himself the rest of the way up through the whole he managed to spy two small pink glowing objects in the dark, those said objects turned back around away from him as the small vacum cleaning turned away from him to start sweeping back up the long orange carpet stuck up here making that light sweeping sound as he went. Well at least he knew what was making the strange sound up here, but it was the sight of the lightly snoring woman on the floor that really caught his attention as his brows rose. The redhead was laying on the floor snoring away obviously passed out, but was surrounded by cleaning supplies. A small broom, mop here, a bucket there, and a few things of soap. Well.....This explained a whole bunch of things actually, Poppy must've cleaned up a little bit. He thought he remembered her saying something about being a light sleeper when he was still alive. The ghost floated over her and stared down at her current state of being. Body lightly going up and down in her sleep. Her body curled up to her right side and holding a pillow to her chest. Poppy looked rather peaceful in her sleeping state which made him not want to disturb her at all...Which what he was exactly going to do.

A claw gently moved the messy hair of flames away from her soft face and paused when she lightly hummed and stirred, but not too much as she relaxed back into the same position just a second later. She didn't wake to see the fanged smile or the softened eyes of the spirit watching her or hear him give a small huff of a chuckle at the dare say cute sight before turning his attention back towards the exit just as a small vacum cleaner was starting to slowly go by. The small robot beeped in surprise when he was just picked up by a giant purple hand and carried through the air towards the exit by the ghostly figure giving off a few curious beeps to it all. A moment later the ghost's head shoved itself outside the hole in the roof just as the platform elevatoring between the levels went down and out came most of his body. Being a large ghost he easily was able to go near the floor but still have some of his body stuck partially through the ceiling as he held up the robot with a questioning look.

"Looking for this, Kiddo?," he asked holding the blinking robot.

"RUMBI!!" A feeling of releif washed over the child as she raced up and over to the ramp towards him as he held him out to her. The corner of his mouth in a semi smile as he watched her smile and grab Rumbi from him, hugging the sweeper to herself in a hug and sighing. "I missed you! What were you doing up there?"

"PLeaSE clEAN OuT Dirt filterS. MASS capaSITY MaKeS it UNCoMFORTABLE fOr mE," was his only answer in that robotic voice of his.

"I think he's saying to dump out the dirt he swept up," Snatcher clarified gazing at her as Hattie happily nodded and looked happily at the robot in her arms practically skipping to the kitchen to presumably dump out his filters into the kitchen trashcan.

"Actually that's a good question." Bow was gazing up to where the platform was rising fazing through his body and such with curiousity on her face. "How did he get in the attic? Did he accidentally ride up there?" She asked gesturing to the platform. "And where is Ms. Poppy? Is she still asleep?"

"Yeesh. So many questions and it's only been fifthteen minutes since I got here." He rolled his yellow eyes at the curly haired girl's light frown. "She's still asleep. Just leave her alone until she wakes on her own. I think she deserves it after dealing with everything don't you think?"

Bow shrugged and walked off in the same direction towards the kitchen as well presumably for breakfast he guessed or to see what her friend was doing in there. Fine by him. He could wait for as much as he needed. There was books up there to keep him occupied for a while.

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

Someone stirred.

Probably shouldn't have fallen asleep on the cold hard floor but she was so tired by the end of her little adventure between the two rooms that she zoned out almost immediately afterwards. Not a good idea to stay up so late just to clean up but she couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard she tried and she wasn't about to go sleeping in some dark room that looked and smelled like an old closet no one used for like ten years, so it gave her one job to do anyways. She doubted the children would mind or notice one or two rooms cleaned anyways. Children in her experience didn't usually didn't. But something felt oddly unsettling somehow. A shiver running up the spine and odd feeling settling in the stomach kind of deal. The one watching her saw the shiver along with the stirring and had looked up from his book right above her, his full attention right on her now. ......Poppy gave off a cough. Probably due to the strong-ish smell still in the air. It had lessened a lot during the hour and a half she remained asleep while everyone else was awake but it was still enough to be noticable. Her face noticably cringed before groaning and slowly pushing her aching muscles to sit her top half of her body up, pillow she was previously holding onto flopping to the ground as the hand that held it made it's way up to rub at her face as she yawned and stretched out her back.

"Hey, you." Poppy literally jumped falling back onto her with a gasp of surprise. Knocking over the metal bucket close to her foot which tumbled over with a few metal clangs and those bright blue eyes of hers snapped open blinking into the darkness and her brain trying to register the dark figure of the ghost floating and giving her a neutral look. When in reality he was chuckling internally. "So you're finally awake."

It took a while for the still tired woman to really recognize who exactly the blurry black figure was talking to her. Which involved more yawning, more blinking, more rubbing at her face, and more silently staring at him before the idea of who he is finally came to her in the form of the the dark purple ghost.

"......Snatcher?"

"The one and only. Took you long enough to wake up."

"Wait. Were you watching me sleep?," she asked awake-ness finally starting to slowly over come her body.

"Like I'd do that." He held up the red book he was currently holding. The cover reading 'How Black Holes Are Formed And How To Avoid One.' "I've been sitting here reading waiting for you to finally get up," he answered truthfully. He had been reading, only looking at her every so often.

"Really? What ever for? Seems a bit rude to just spook someone like this if ya ask me." That pout he knew all too well when something annoyed her graced her face as she made herself stand to those tired legs of hers.

"I have a job for you."

"Oh really? How lovely. And what might that be?"

"I see you've been rather busy yourself." He pointed a claw down at all the cleaning tools and the open box of cleaning wipes. "And rearranging your living space quite a bit." His eyes flicked up and over towards the far side of the attic. All the crates, barrels, and chained trunks were all moved over to one corner of the room along with the globe and useless telescope. But it seemed everything was rather clean. "And I take it you're responsible for the strong smell everywhere."

......She looked sheepish for a moment, momentarily gazing at her hands. "I-I'm sorry. The soap was pretty strong s-so I orginally only used a few drops in the mop water but when I was mopping the kitchen I accidentally knocked the bottle over and spilt a lot of it everywhere. I-I'm sorry if I caused any trouble with it. I made sure to clean all of it up I promise." She then glanced behind her. "A-And if me moving everything was wrong I'll gladly put everything back. It was just so dusty I couldn't breath a single breath without sneezing from the dust bunnies-"

She stopped when Snatcher held up a hand to stop her rant. "Don't apologize. The old place never looked better. Did you really stay up all night cleaning here and that kitchen?"

She sheepishly nodded having been called out by the ghost. "Um...Y-Yeah. T-This may sound strange, b-but when I can't sleep I clean. Growing up in a house of farming folk, there was plenty of dirt scattered about so I often helped to clean it all up."

A hum came from him. Of course he already knew this but decided not to comment on it. "I see....Well I don't want you staying up so late again. Next time try my advice and read a book. I used to do it and it did wonders for me."

"Oh. Y-Yeah right. I just thought it'd be rude to leave the kitchen like that with a sink of dirty dishes from that cat's cookin."

He paused for a moment. ".....Oh. So the cat showed up again. Did you meet her?"

She nodded and smiled happily at the memory. "Yes. Cookie was so kind and she was kind enough to show me a few places. And gave me food! OH MY PECK!! Her food was to die for!....Uh n-no offense."

"None taken. But getting back to it, I said I have a job for you today." He closed the book and let go of it leaving it to float in mid air before it flew back over to the neat stack of what few books were up here. Poppy watched in slight amazement but was quick to snap back to the ghost when he spoke again. "I'm going to be very busy for the next few days. I think I found a way that might help you out even if it only brings a little piece of mind, but I'll need some time to prepare it. And I can't have you running around blindly everywhere while I'm trying to figure it out. You understand that I hope, and if I'm going to help you then you can help me."......He gave a softer look. "I don't mean to sound rude. But I can't have freeloaders taking up space here you know." Actually it was because he needed her to be busy, if he didn't he'd have no problem with just letting her stay here laying about all day if that's what she wanted to do. But he couldn't. He needed her and the kids occupied for a while and the plan he's been cooking up for the past hour and a half was just the ticket to do it.

Poppy nodded understandably thank goodness. "I understand. Where I'm from you had to earn your keep where ever you were stayin', and it's only fair after you're going through all that trouble." Her hands rested to her hips as she gave a smile.

He huffed a chuckle and gave a smile back of his own. Oh he could almost hear her say 'Hey, Princey!' like back in the old days with the same smile. But he smiled at her and pointed a hand to the cleaning supplies scattered at her feet. "Well, since I thought you did an excellent job here and you obviously have had previous experience, I thought we'd do something easy on your first day on the job! I want you to go around cleaning the entirety of this rusty space craft!"

....Her smile dropped a little as she stared at him and blinked. "...Wait a gosh darn pecking second." She pointed a hand at him. "You want ME to clean the entire ship?" She asked pointing to herself.

He smiled. "You didn't hear me wrong. But to answer you. Yes."

"HA! You gotta be kiddin' me! You want me to clean the entire place? By myself?"

He nodded calmly as if they were just talking about books or something like that. "Yep! Every room, hall, nook and cranny, mop, sweep, dust-...The whole work! I don't doubt you could do it. And you wouldn't be doing it yourself. Those two are more than capable of helping you out if I tell them too. "

She stared at him flabbergasted. Opening her mouth to speak but nothing came out so she closed it and shook her head before frowning and seeming to find her words. "Are you just having me do a maid's work because I'm a woman?"

He frowned back with an honest voice. "No. I'm asking you to do this because I'd like any kids of mine to have a clean place to live. And like I said, It's going to be hard to manage them and my forest while I'm going out of my way to help you. This isn't exactly a-an easy thing for me to do for someone like you you know." The sincerity in his voice as she stared at him for a little while longer made most of that scowl melt away from her face. "Besides. It'd be more of a win for you won't it? You get to navigate the place, keep yourself occupied while I'm stressing over planning for YOU might I add, and it's a chance to get to know your host family." He shrugged. "Everyone wins. You get help. I get help. Kids get a clean place. There's no downsides.....Unless you spill more of that soap stuff."

She snorted on that last bit shaking her head with a smile. "Trust me. I think I'll stay away from that stuff for a while." She turned and began walking towards one of the large dressers near the far side of the room with the small pile of books stacked ontop of it. Next to the books was a pile of photos, drawn pictures, and a teddy bear. "Just give me a second to grab a few things."

"Sure. Take your time with that. By the way..." Those yellow eyes glanced down towards her hand, the soreness long gone by now and only a light bruise remaining on it. "How's your hand? From what I've heard it was hard for you to manage yesterday. And while I'm at it I suppose I should know what the kid's robot was doing up here, she had quite the small panic attack."

"That's a bunch of questions thrown at me at once don't ya think?"

"Hey. Im returning the favor for what happened to me earlier."

"Those girls?" He hummed a yes behind her and she smiled. Children could throw a lot of questions at you if they were curious enough. So to answer one on his questions, she held up the wrist with the very light bruise as she stopped in front of the dresser and began to grab the many photos and pictures. Slipping them into her leather apron's bigger pocket, she had slipped it on last night to help carry around the smaller things she brought around to clean. "It feels much better thank you. I guess I just needed to let my arm rest a while, and ..well...I figured I'd use the little fella to sweep up the dust from the thing since that's what he was for..R-Right?"

He glanced back down to the orange carpet as she grabbed the small teddy bear, and had to admit it did look a much lighter orange when it wasn't covered in dust. "Alright. But next time be sure to notify the kid. She sees that thing as a beloved pet and I don't think she appreciates him disappearing without a trace...What's all that?" He gestured to the toy she was holding.

"Oh. I found this and a few things in the ward robe over there and thought she might've lost them." She gave a small shiver, "B-But I don't think the skulls in there were a very nice find."

"Hey! I gave those as a mushy Winter Solstice Token to them! They should be grateful! It's not every person in space owns they're own cursed skulls to ward off harmful spirits! The attic was a great place to put them to keep ghosts out! Most love to haunt creepy dusty attics so I was doing them both a huge favor!"

"Wow. I guess you really are an expert huh?," she asked as she made her way towards the lift just as it started to rise up again towards them.

"Hey. It takes one to know one don't you think? And who better than the most powerful spirit on this measly planet?"

She still smiled and rolled her eyes at him. For some reason she was getting an aura of bragging child. "Ok. I guess you're right. But It's best I return these to her."

The her she was referring to was obviously Hattie cuz who else would have the idea to leave photos and pictures in a haunted ward robe he supposed...That or her face was in some of the pictures she was holding so it was a dead give away. She stepped onto the platform as soon as it came up and he floated behind as she did so, wobbling a little as she started to descend but managed to push herself back up into a standing position as Snatcher just fazed through the attic floor and popped through the control room ceiling and wouldn't you know it. He found the girls exactly where he thought they'd been for the past hour and a half. Watching cartoons early in the morning waiting for that cat's cooking show to come on, Right now sait orange calico was talking about something involving how to properly cook spices for a veggie burrito or something. I dunno. He wasn't exactly an expert in cooking and outside of reading a thin cooking book like once a long time ago out of sheer boredom he had no experience in that stuff. But both girls looked up when a flash of messy red caught their attention (obviously Poppy's hair) and smiled when they looked up and saw the two standing there. Rumbi happily sweeping past them back down the ramp towards the tv before the platform touched the ground and Poppy stepped off it. Giving off a shaky sigh and looking back up towards it as it ascended, she never would get used to that was she?

"Hi, Ms. Poppy. Good morning!" Bow happily waved from her pillow on the floor as Hattie turned back to the tv with a smile. "Why do you have a teddy bear?"

She waved back to the small child smiling. "It's just something I found in the attic I thought might belong to someone. And you don't have to call me Miss. Just Poppy will be fine." She made her way down the small ramp as Snatcher flew over the railing. Stopping by the tv she stared at Hattie who looked up at her feeling the eyes on her and Poppy kneeled down to her level to hold out the teddy bear. "Hey. I think this belongs to you."

"Yeah!" Hattie reached out a hand smiling and grabbed the toy from the older woman. "Thanks!"

"Uh huh. I think I found some other things of yours." Tilting her head Hattie watched as Poppy began pulling the pictures and drawn pictures of hers from her apron's pocket and she happily started grabbing them from her as well. "Did you do these?"

She nodded looking through all of them and still grabbing them one after another as she handed them out and looked at them all. "I took them on my first space adventure. She held up one picture with what looked like her outside a ship in space. "This is me!"

Poppy of course smiled at her happiness. "I'm really happy for you, but maybe don't leave all your things in random spots. Ok?"

He nodded not really paying attention to what she said but she sure did look up when Snatcher cleared his throat and caught the attention of both the children. "Now that I have you attention. Guess what you two are doing today?"

"Going exploring."

"Not even close." He pointed at them with a stern face. "You two are going to help her clean up this dump!" Instantly the girls went to whine but he shot that down real quick as he had to multiple times before. "Hey! You two live here too! So you ARE going to pitch in and lend her a hand! I won't hear any excuses! Besides, don't you think it's unfair if SHE did all the work while you two goofed off." Hattie stuck her tongue out at him and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Ok wise guy. I know you're perfectly capable of beating a maniac blondie who gained control of all time and space for a couple hours, so you're MORE than capable of cleaning the place-"

"How about we play a game first?," Poppy suggested with a smile and all three looked to her.

"A game?!" Hattie's smile came back at the prospect of playing instead of doing any boring cleaning.

"Playtime? Now? Are you sure you're feeling ok?," Snatcher asked doubtful but Poppy held up a hand.

"Cookie told me yesterday about how helpful you two are," she answered truthfully, "But I was wondering if she was telling me the truth about you two being able to help anyone."

"Of course we can!" Hattie puffed put in pride and Bow nodded eargerly beside her. "We're the best helpers in the world!"

Faking curiousity hummed and rubbed her chin, "Oh really?...Hm. I don't think I believe you."

"What?!" The hatted child stomped her boot down and scowled. "Yes we are! We can do anything!"

"Oh really?"

"YEAH!! And we'll prove it too!" Bow again nodded with the same scowl.

Poppy smiled and nodded her head. "Ok. If you two really want to prove yourselves and make me believe you I guess I have no choice but letting you help me play my game."

"That's right! You don't have any choice!.......Uh. What game?"

Poppy's smile widened as she stood up. "Why the helping game of course. I use to play it all the time when I was little. I challenge you two to a competition. If you can help me real good, then I'll believe you and you get a nice reward from your daddy."

"A reward!?," Bow asked lighting up immediately and snatcher's eyes widened.

"Hey! Whoa! I never agreed to thi-"

"YES! A nice reward from him! But you two have to win the game and beat me or else I'll get that nice big reward from him instead. And you don't want to lose do you?," her sly smile sent a challenging feeling run through the children. "Deal?"

"DEAL!! BUT WHEN WE WIN I WANT A MOUNTAIN OF COOKIES AS A REWARD!!," Hattie demanded. "ILL BE THE BEST HELPER EVER!!"

"ME TOO!! I WANNA HELP!!......Um..How do we help?"

Poppy smiled again waiting for this to happen. "You both can help by proving to me you really can clean a few TINY things for me. We'll make it a challenge. You two both get one room, I'll get one, and then your daddy can be the judge and pick which one's the best."

"Like with Conductor and DJ Grooves movies!," Bow exclaimed excitedly. "I'm gonna win!"

"NO! IM GONNA WIN!," Hattie shot back and Bow frowned at her.

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Fine by me. Tell you what. "Poppy gently pried the girls apart. "Why don't you each pick a different room instead of doing the same one? It'll be faster and that way you each can be judged fairly." She looked to Hattie still clutching all the pictures close to her. "Since Im guessing you might want to put those away, why don't you go do your bed room?"

"Fine! But I get Rumbi!" Her head snapped to the small robot sweeping past her. "COME ON RUMBI!! I'M GONNA WIN!!" The small machine beeped and fastly swept after the young girl as she ran towards the entrance to her bedroom somehow NOT dropping the multiple things she was carrying at the moment.

"FINE! I want the Metro Room!"

Snatcher's jaw had affectedly dropped by then and could only watch as bow ran off in the direction of the storage room and Poppy smiled, stood, wiped her hands together, before placing them on her hips and giving the ghost a winner's grin as he continued to stare off in the direction of the two children....Before looking to her jaw snapping shut as she chuckled at his face and he sputtered before demanding something of her.

"How the PECK did you do that!? And so EASILY!?"

She shrugged. "Well. Instead of fighting and making them do it, why not make it into a game they could enjoy. Hope you can get that reward ready."

"Oh ha ha! Very funny! Don't you think I'll be sticking around for this. I got business to attend yo you know."

"I thought you might say that. And I understand. Just be sure to have it when you come back." She snorted again at his surprised expression and he frowned more.

"Well don't you forget your job for now either!," he demanded crossing his arms.

"I didn't forget nothin', yo purple onion."

"Oh really?" She nodded and he smirked. Before pointing a claw straight up. "Hate to catch you in a lie, Princess, but didn't you already forget the things you need to do the job up there?"

Poppy stared at him for a moment be fore blinking and snapped back up towards the attic. Oh gosh golly she forgot all the stuff up there! She hurried off up the ramp to catch the platform before it could rise back up without her and Snatcher snickered to himself. It was a shame he couldn't stay and watch how this went down, he'd absolutely would SO watch but unfortunately he had to get back and work. As someone had to direct those chumps on how to work things. But he was sure of one thing. This would absolutely keep her busy for a while. Which is EXACTLY what he planned on.