#lots of pinks and purples recently huh

[stormz369]

☕💖 Can I Get Your Number? ☕💖 Ch 28

Jason Todd x (f)Chubby!Reader

written with a female reader in mind, first person pov, no use of Y/N, NSFW, MDNI, let me know if there's anything else I should tag this with!

warnings/labels: brief description of vigilante medical procedures, fluff, smut, oral sex (female receiving), vaguely femdom vibes, Jason has a mommy kink, female orgasm

wc: 3.5k

Chapter Selection

My last day at the diner came and went. I hadn't expected much, but leaving like it was any other day felt so anticlimactic. The manager barely nodded to me on my way out. I dropped my uniform off in the office, headed out, and hopped on the bus.

Jason: Hey doll, what time will you be home?

4:30pm

Me: 20 minutes or so. Why?

4:33pm

Jason: Got a surprise for you, to celebrate!

4:34pm

Me: Aww, babe! :) You didn't have to!

4:35pm

Jason: Course I did! 😚

4:37pm

Me: 😘

4:38pm

I got off the bus at my stop; Steph grinned when she saw me and hopped off the bus bench to hug me. “There you are! Congrats on your last day!”

I laughed, leading the way to my apartment. “Thanks! You know about this surprise then?”

“Of course I do! I'm here to help you get ready.” She beamed, following me into my building.

“Ok … so what kind of surprise is this? Should I eat before we go, or will there be food there?” We trudged up the stairs to my floor, and I opened the door.

“There will be food. You've got time for a quick shower if you want one, and then it's time to get ready!”

I nodded, tossing my purse on the couch. “Great, and I'm assuming you'll want to pick an outfit for me?”

“Yep! Bedroom's through here?” She walked into my room and threw my closet open.

“Make yourself at home I guess.” I chuckled; “I think I will shower. There's some juice in the fridge if you want a drink. Glasses are above the microwave.”

“Thanks!” She called out, going through my clothes while I tucked into the bathroom to shower. “... You don't own enough red!”

I laughed harder at that; “oh I don't, huh? … I take it Jace likes seeing me in his color?”

“Of course he does! It marks his … territory … oohhhh~” she giggled, popping her arm into the bathroom. In her hand was a red and black lace lingerie set I'd bought recently; “is this for a particular occasion, or can I insist you wear it tonight?”

I coughed, trying to sound casual; “I ... I just liked it I guess?”

“Uh-huh … Jay's gonna lose his mind when he sees it~”

I chuckled softly; “Steph, do you really want to talk about this?”

“Why not?”

“... He's your brother?? Isn't that weird for you?”

“Hun, you know we're not really related, right? Besides, I'm an honorary member of the family at best.” She giggled. 

“... Ok.” I shrugged.

 “Yeah. So, … this set; yes to wearing it tonight?”

I slowly nodded; “yeah, that's fine.”

“Excellent. Now shower.” She waved me off, and I closed the door before hopping in the shower.

When I got out, she had selected a red silky top and a pair of black pants for me to wear, and had changed into a nice purple dress of her own. I got dressed, and we did our hair and makeup before heading down to the parking lot where she pulled me along to a black car.

“Are you going to tell me where we're going yet?”

“Nope!” She giggled, turning the radio up; “just sit back and enjoy the ride!”

I shrugged, texting Jason to let him know we were leaving the apartment. He sent back a thumbs up, and Steph drove through the city. We crossed the train tracks, heading into a nicer part of town, and eventually she parked in a shopping district. She led me down a walking path and into a Chinese restaurant, where the hostess took us back to a private room.

I felt my cheeks turning pink when the hostess opened the door; our friends were all around a table, laughing and talking. Stella’s head shot up as the door opened. She beamed, jumping up to pull me into a hug; “there she is! I was starting to think you'd never show up!”

Dick grinned from his seat; “hey! How's your last day in the service industry feelin’?”

“Woah!” I grinned, hugging Stella back. “Hey Stell! It’s a bit unreal, honestly.”

There were several hugs and chattered congratulations until Damian grabbed ahold of my arm and pulled me into the seat between him and Jason. “Let her breathe, everyone.”

His hand lingered on mine for a moment and I gently squeezed it. “Hey kiddo! Did you have a good day?”

He nodded once, squeezing back before releasing me. Jason gently rubbed my back, smiling softly. “Good surprise?”

I smiled brightly, kissing his cheek; “very good surprise! Thank you, Jay~”

Servers began bringing several large family style plates, and everyone started taking what they wanted. We ate and talked, basking in the joy of being together. Stella became fast friends with Steph and Duke; they were almost in their own world on the other side of the table. Once we were mostly done with dinner, Babs wheeled over to offer me a small box.

“Gift time!” She smiled brightly.

“You guys got me gifts too?” I blushed a bit, grinning.

“You’re going into medical school, of course we got you gifts!” Steph grinned.

“Just a few things, to help with school.” Jason smiled softly. I opened the box, grinning.

“That's the newest WayneTech phone - most secure system with the fastest processor on the market!” Babs smiled brightly. Her meaning was clear to me; Bruce had promised me a secured device for everyone to get in contact with me when they needed medical assistance. Clearly Babs had set something up in this new phone.

“Thanks Babs!” I grinned, hugging her.

She hugged back, whispering; “we'll go over everything later.”

Tim and Dick pushed a box into my hands next; a brand new laptop. They assured me it would be perfect for my school needs, and Tim started rambling about its many top of the line selling points. I chuckled, giving them both a quick hug and thanking them. Stella offered me a gift bag next, beaming. She'd bought me a pair of safety toe nurses shoes; comfortable and professional, but still cute! Stephanie and Duke gave me a gorgeous leather messenger bag. Damian and Cass gave me an electronic notebook that would transfer my handwritten notes to a file on my new laptop. Finally, Jason offered me a jewelry box. I kissed him softly before opening it. Inside was a gold necklace with a garnet pendant.

I gasped softly, looking up at him; “Jay, it's beautiful! Thank you~”

Dick chuckled playfully; “oh, I see. The rest of us are told ‘bring practical gifts' all so you can show off with something pretty.”

Jason smirked a bit. “Tim got you jewelry for the gala. It was about time I get you something beautiful too.” I held my hair out of the way while he helped me put the necklace on, kissing my shoulder when he was done.

Stella cooed at that, making me blush a bit. “Awww, that's so cute~”

“Did you ever get that jewelry back, by the way?” Dick frowned a bit. I nodded, admiring the way the pendant sparkled between my breasts.

“Yep. Like … a month later.”

Jason chuckled, stroking my hair gently; “now you've got a necklace to match.”

Tim hesitantly smiled; “so … you're not still mad about that?”

“Don't push your luck.” Jason instantly shot a sharp look in his direction. I shushed him gently, squeezing his hand. I kissed his knuckles, delighting in the pink flush that spread across his cheeks. After a sigh, he leaned against me, smiling softly.

“You all have been so wonderful to me, thank you!” I smiled brightly at the group. Everyone grinned, each assuring me that it was nothing. Dessert and tea was brought out for us, Jason paid the bill when it came, and I got more hugs and congratulations as we all made our way to the parking lot. I saw Stephanie and Stella exchange phone numbers before going their separate ways. I followed Jay to his car, hugging his arm. Damian helped us carry my gifts, giving me a quick hug before running off to hop in the car with Duke and Cass.

“Tonight was wonderful. … You're amazing, baby, you know that?” I grinned, leaning against Jason happily.

He chuckled softly, opening my door for me; “what was it you said at the gala? … 'the bar is on the floor'?”

I chuckled, sliding into my seat. “You gonna fix that for me?”

He smirked softly, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to my lips. He pulled back ever so slightly, whispering; “that’s a promise~”

Jason got in the car, driving back to my apartment. After a while, his hand slid from the steering wheel to my knee.

“I do have two more gift ideas to discuss with you, now that we're alone.”

I chuckled softly; “oh my. What kind of gifts would require a discussion?”

“Well, these are kinda … bigger. But I think it's a good time for them, if you're interested.”

“Ok, I'm listening?” I gently squeezed his hand on my knee. He squeezed back, smiling a bit.

“Well, first I was thinking ‘how are you going to get to GU? It's on the other side of the city.’ And while I would be happy to take you to school every day, something tells me you're going to insist on taking the bus most of the time.”

I nodded. “The bus works just fine; there's no reason for you to spend that much time driving me around after patrolling all night when we have a perfectly good bus system.”

“Right. But I checked - it's an hour ride each way. And you're the primary contact for Damian's school now. His school isn't near a bus stop. What if you need to pick him up? And how are you gonna get to those PTA meetings?”

I frowned. “I know. It's a bit of a walk, but it's not terrible. I'll make it work.”

“Well, if you're interested, I could teach you how to drive. And when you've got your license I'll get you a bike or a car, whatever you prefer. That way you don't have to ‘make it work', you can just do what you need to do.”

I blinked a bit. “... Woah. … Jay, that's … a lot.”

“I know. That's why I didn't bring it up with the others. It's just something for you to consider. You don't have to decide right now.” He squeezed my hand, bringing it to his lips; “I just want you to have the option.”

I nodded, smiling softly. “Thank you, Jason. I'll think about it. … You said there were two gifts we had to discuss?”

He nodded. “Right. The other is a bit more complicated. … I … don't like when I have to go home alone anymore. I like spending the night at your place, or having you at mine. I like waking up with you in my arms, and making breakfast, and watching TV together in the evenings, and knowing you're safe cause you're right there in the room with me…”

I blinked a bit, grinning. “Are you … asking to move in with me?”

“Well, yes and no … if you want to stay where you are, then yes. But Damian also comes over most weekends, and … frankly, I don't love sharing the bed with him all the time. I wanna cuddle my girl, or … you know, other stuff, and I can't cause the fricken demon child is right there…” he frowned a bit, “so, if you're open to it, maybe we could look at new places? Bigger places.”

I grinned, squeezing his hand tighter. “Y- yeah, that sounds nice! … We'd probably need a minimum of three bedrooms…”

He grinned and nodded. “Three?”

“One for us, one for Damian, and one for the clinic. If I have to dig bullets out of someone's body, or set a broken bone, or who knows what else, I’d probably want them spending the night so I can monitor them.”

He nodded. “Good call, so three or four bedrooms, maybe we should be looking at houses? It'll be a lot easier to hide random visitors popping in and out at odd hours in a house rather than try to justify them climbing through an apartment fire escape.”

I nodded, grinning. “Yeah, definitely. Unless someone looks too close, it'll just look like we're college kids constantly having friends over. Plus, having a garage would be nice.”

Jason nodded, parking at my apartment. He cupped my cheek, grinning. “You're really interested?”

I nodded, kissing him gently. “Of course I am, baby~ I don't like sleeping without you next to me anymore either.”

He beamed, kissing back. “Thank god for that…”

I giggled, rubbing the tips of our noses together. “You were worried?”

“Just … it's a big step, and we hadn't discussed anything like this yet.”

I smiled softly, kissing him again. “I choose you, forever. Of course I want to live with you~ If you want, you can stay at mine until we have a place that's ours, or I can come live with you. It doesn't matter to me, as long as it's us.”

Jason grinned, kissing back before getting out of the car. I gathered my presents from the trunk and he scooped me up, carrying me up the stairs to the apartment. I wrapped my arms around his neck, giggling softly. Inside, he let me down in the bedroom, nuzzling my neck.

I set the boxes on my bedside table and turned back to him, kissing him softly; “... Think you can help me out of this?”

He tilted his head, blinking a bit. Nothing about my outfit required assistance to remove, and he definitely knew it, but he slowly nodded anyway. “Um ... Sure?”

His hands slid down my sides to the hem of my shirt, sliding under it to pull the shirt over my head. “Why am I …. Ohhhhh…”

He grinned, cheeks turning bright pink as he stared at my red lace bra. His eyes flickered between mine and my chest, dropping the shirt in an unceremonious heap on the floor. His hands shook as he pulled my hips against his. “... Fuck, ma~ … God, you’re stunning … Red is such a great color on you.”

I grinned, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. “Glad you approve~ but you're not done, pretty boy~”

“... Huh?” He didn’t seem to be fully aware of anything anymore. He was just staring at my chest, a little grin on his face.

 I giggled softly. Pressing two fingertips to the underside of his chin, I slowly tilted his face up to meet my eyes; “the pants too, please?~”

In an instant they were pooling around my feet, and Jason was on his knees in front of me. He groaned softly, eyes wide as he stared up at me in awe. “... Th- they match…”

I giggled, running my fingers through his hair. His eyes fluttered shut for a moment as he tilted his head against my hand.

“Thank you, sweetie~” I purred, stepping out of my pants and turning toward my dresser. The distraught whine that followed made me giggle more. I turned back, raising an eyebrow as Jason stared up at me. “... Is something wrong, my love?~”

“... Y- you're not gonna cover that up, are ya?” He almost looked like he was gonna pout about it.

I chuckled, sitting on the bed. “Do you not want me to?”

He surged forward grabbing my knees. “No! No I do not!”

“Oh! Well alright then~” I tried to sound surprised, shrugging. “That's all you had to say, darling~”

He groaned softly, kissing my knee. “Fuck … ya can't tease me like this, doll~ … gonna kill me…”

“Well I certainly don't want that … maybe I should put some pj's on…”

“Don't you dare.” An almost feral growl ripped through him as he stared up at me. “You just sit right there, and don't move.”

I shivered, chewing on my lower lip, purring softly; “ah~ o- ok, baby~ whatever you want~”

He grinned, kissing up my thigh. “... you did this on purpose … right? Gettin' me all riled up … can't tease me like this… fuck…”

I giggled, stroking his hair softly. “N- not trying to tease you, Jay~”

“Bullshit.” He smirked up at me, pulling me closer to the edge of the bed; “wearing my colors, looking so damn sexy, having me undress you like a fuckin’ present on Christmas morning, you're being a tease~ you want something from me, don't ya?”

I grinned, biting my lower lip. “... Maybe~ … if you wanna …”

He grinned, wrapping his arms under my legs so they slid onto his shoulders. “Oh, I wanna~”

He pressed gentle kisses to my inner thigh, slowly inching closer and closer to my panties. I groaned softly, laying back on the bed. Finally, he was hovering above my clothed core, looking up at me. He whispered huskily; “... This is ok?” 

I whimpered softly, nodding. “Oh yes~ please, baby~”

He slowly pressed a kiss to my clothed folds. I moaned softly, shivering as he hooked a thumb under my panties, sliding them to the side. “... Fuck, you look incredible~ can … can I have a taste?”

I groaned, nodding quickly. “Dear god, yes! Jay please!”

He leaned forward, slowly sliding his tongue between my folds. My legs tensed around him, instinctually trying to bring him in closer, and I felt him chuckle against me. The tip of his tongue flicked against my clit, making me gasp as he began licking up the slickness that was already coating my folds. He groaned appreciatively, pressing his tongue in deeper.

My hand shot out to grasp his hair, gripping him tight as he explored my entrance. His fingers dug into my thighs, holding my legs firmly in place. I panted and whimpered, clinging to him desperately as he slowly coaxed my orgasm closer and closer. Everything was so hot, and I could barely gasp for breath. My muscles tensed up, silently demanding more, and my core throbbed needily with every groan and moan that Jason poured into me.

“Oh fuck, baby girl~ tastes amazing~” he pulled me closer, pressing his tongue in deep. My back arched as I cried out, gripping the sheets desperately for something to ground myself.

“J- Jay~ s- so close~”

He grinned against me, licking and sucking more, and soon the tightening spring in my stomach gave way to an overwhelming wave of warmth and pleasure. I gasped sharply, letting out a high pitched whine as I collapsed against the mattress, trembling. Jason moaned softly, slowly pulling back.

He licked his lips, grinning up at me; “damn~ that was incredible~”

I giggled breathlessly; “that's my line.”

“You'll have to share it with me then.” He kissed my inner thigh, stroking my hips.

“Mhh~ if you insist, cutie~” I chuckled softly. “Your turn?”

“My turn?” He tilted his head.

I slowly sat up, groaning softly. “Yeah? Do you want me to reciprocate?”

He blinked a bit, blushing. “Uh … d- do you want to?”

“If you're interested.” I grinned, holding out a hand. He leaned against it so my fingers ended up in his hair, and he awkwardly chewed on his lower lip.

“I … I dunno …”

“We don't have to if you don't want.” I stroked his hair, smiling gently. “We never have to do anything.”

He nodded slowly. “... M- maybe next time?”

I nodded. “Maybe next time. What do you want to do right now?”

“... Is it entirely stupid if I say I just want to hold you?” He blushed a bit, kissing my palm.

I giggled and slid off the bed, into his lap. “No, it's not stupid. You can hold me all you want~”

He smiled brightly, shifting so he was leaning against the bed with me in his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck, snuggling against him happily.

“Love you~”

He kissed my jaw, purring softly; “love you more, lil’ mama~”

I sighed happily, lazily playing with his hair. His hands slowly trailed from my hips to my shoulders and back down my spine. The world melted away, and sweet exhaustion took over my body.

Ding! Jason sighed, fishing his phone out of his pocket; “God, what now-...”

I frowned, looking up at him as he trailed off. His entire body was tense, and he was staring at his phone like it had just turned into a two headed snake. “... Baby?”

He pulled me closer, frowning deeply. “We're not going to the manor for training this week. I'll take you to the gym instead.”

“What? Jace, we've been over this, I -”

“No.” He snapped; “this is important. We're not going anywhere near the manor until I say otherwise. Got it?”

I flinched a bit at his harsh tone, frowning. “... Ok. … Why?”

“... Damian's mother is in town.”

Next ->

Divider by: @saradika-graphics

Taglist (open): @jawdropforkpop @krys0210 @snowy-violet @superthoughts @wordsfromshona @mystic60 @iwannabealocalcryptid @morstuavitamea-a @frosty--giants @arisa191 @prized-jules @phoenix666stuff @dinonuggysandhuggus @anuttellaa @whore-of-many-hot-men @cottage-worm @v1ckycheesue @roastyyytoastyyy @sarakmec @thestarcatcher7297 @stupidlyunhinged @mishkapi @mermaidgirl-11

[wrencatte]

Hi! I’m really trying not to come off as pushy or demanding so I’m sorry if I am, and I know muses and hyper fixations will do as they will, but I was wondering if you have plans to write any Batfam soonish? I really love the way you write Jason and love rereading your Batfam fics. In any case, I hope you have a good day!

Wrote this just now for you (sorry for the whump):

"'m fine," Jason slurs. His mouth tastes like blood. Why does his mouth taste like blood? He runs his tongue over his teeth and grimaces.

"I would believe that you're fine, but you have a goddamn knife sticking out of your leg, so...."

He glances down and - huh, yeah, that's a knife. Perfectly wedged between two reinforced plates of armor. Jason pokes it curiously before anyone can stop him. Dick smacks his hand away.

"Hey!" Jason protests. "My leg, my knife. I can poke it if I wanna," completely unaware half his words are an unintelligible mush.

Dick lets out a gusty sigh. Jason furrows his brows at the man's extended hands. It looks like he's waiting to catch something. Who would he be catching?

His knees finally buckle.

Oh.

Jason is too heavy for Dick to take his full, boneless weight, but he at least eases the fall, guiding Jason until he's laid out in the ground and staring at the dingy ceiling of a Gotham warehouse.

He loves warehouses despite what some people would think. So many lovely shadows to hide in. And bad guys just love them, makes it easier to narrow down where to find them and bust their stupid little operations. His best safe house is a warehouse. Well, half of one. He's got a lot of helmets in it. Even that one Arty commissioned to make fun of him. It has a mouth. Who puts mouth on helmets, that's just creepy....

" - son. Jason!" Finger taptaptapping in his cheek. He wrinkles his nose and glances up, over, no wait over this way, nooo this way.

Dick's sways in his vision, refusing to stand still. He never stands still. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

He has to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth to say, "Nothin hurts," in a genuinely confused, entirely too young sounding voice. Dick presses fingers to his neck, feeling his too fast pulse. There's more accurate ways to check, Jason wants to say, you could just ask me. But no one ever believes him.

Really though, nothing hurts. It's nice.

"Hey, stay awake," Dick orders. Jason groans, blinking his eyes open, not really knowing when he closed them. "Did you breathe in anything?"

Air. Oxygen. Something purple. Hmmm, one of those doesn't seem right.

"Purple," Jason mumbles because he might be half way to completely out of it, but he's been trained too well to not make sure he gets the relevant information out. "Glitter. Sweet." It tasted sweet. Like...the the taffy Ms. Litwinowicz used to hand out. That taffy wasn't purple though. It was pink.

Dick swears loudly. Jason hums questioningly even as his eyes slip back close. He's missing stuff, but that's fine. Someone will fill him in later.

Small, short, but I haven't forgotten about the batfam at all. I do still have a lot of wips in my folder and at least 2...3? Incomplete posted fics. I usually end up bouncing between the same interests, there's just more bounce points when a new one gets added. I've been thinking about finishing up go for the throat recently (I saw ambrose's art again and I was like !! I gotta finish that)

[twstbookclub]

Inked Blossoms

Summary: Jamil didn't think much of you when he received a flower basket. You were his new neighbor running a flower shop—nothing more, nothing less. So, why can't he stop coming by after visiting you once? POV: 2nd Person Pronouns: Gender-neutral Admin/Writer: Cressa🦋 Tags: Tattoo Artist x Florist AU, Tattoo Artist!Jamil, Florist!Reader, Fluff, Romance, Angst, No happy ending, sorry folks, Mentions of Blood and Self-harm, Use of Flower Language, Jamil's POV Word Count: 4, 025 Main Reference for Flower Meanings: Boeckmann, C. (2023, November 17). What does each flower symbolize? The Old Farmer's Almanac.

And I thought the Riddle fic I wrote is my longest one 💀 I actually had this plot in mind in the same month as I thought of the Riddle fic, which was back in April of last year. I only put in one link here, but I fact-checked every flower I used in this fic with other sources. Admittedly, when I wrote this, I received some heartbreaking news that morning and I cried my eyes out. I may or may not have projected those feelings into this and incorporated my previous experiences here. To all the Jamil stans, I'm so sorry that my first fic of this guy is long and angsty. I hope you all enjoy, though 💕

Jamil stared at the flowers on his parlor’s doorstep. Pink peonies and coral roses filled the twine basket, along with a purple flower that he didn’t know the name of. The arrangement emphasized the purple flowers, while there were a few peonies mixed in with the roses. What piqued Jamil’s curiosity were the leaves that lined the edges of the basket. He squinted, subconsciously leaning down to peer at the blooms at his feet.

“... Is that basil?” He mumbled, confused about the inclusion of a familiar herb. It was something he often used in his cooking, particularly when he was roommates with Kalim back in high school. That boy’s palate was too refined for anything bland and ready-made, so Jamil always had to cook with spices and herbs. It came to the point that the smell stuck to his clothes, even after a thorough wash in the laundry. Not just his clothes—even his hair. He already had a meticulous process with his hair care and bejeweled braids, so it was a nuisance.

He shook his head, before he took the flower basket in his hands. The blooms jostled a little, and a gentle hand pushed a peony back in place. Something nagged at Jamil to look to the left, for some reason. When he turned his head, the sign of the shop next door caught his attention.

“A flower shop, huh.” That was new. Jamil vaguely remembered this lot being sold recently, but he never thought it’d be turned into a store like that. It used to be an antique store owned by an elderly woman. She minded her own business, despite the weird and judgmental looks he received for the henna tattoos that decorated Jamil’s tan hands and arms.

Jamil’s eyes darted from the cursive letters of the sign to the flowers and plants displayed behind the glass walls. The name of the shop was painted on one of the walls in gold—above some of the artful arrangements of red roses, white carnations, and calla lilies. There was a shift of color behind them, and he narrowed his eyes again for a better look.

Someone was tending to the flowers. He could vaguely make out the color of their hair and the verdant apron over a white polo shirt. With the large bouquets in the way, Jamil couldn’t see a face. Sighing and shaking his head, he walked into his tattoo parlor with the flower basket in his arms.

If all his time in the city taught him anything, it was that nothing in this world was free.

Still, Jamil couldn’t help but wonder what the purple flowers were. They reminded him of tulips, but the petals were thinner and pointed at the tips. The stamen was visible, too. It was a stark contrast to the blooming tulips he knew: blunt-tipped and oval petals without the stamen being visible. He made a mental note to search about them once he went home.

Jamil found out that the purple blooms were called crocuses, and he wound up finding a website detailing the meanings of every flower imaginable. The flowers replaced the lamp that used to be on the table next to his bed. Every morning, he’d wake up to the colorful arrangement in a vase with his mind stuck on the meaning of each flower.

Maybe he should see what the florist was like. If they were like the antique shop owner from before, then Jamil would just remain polite and ignore them whenever he could.

On a slow and quiet day in the parlor, Jamil flipped the sign and locked the door. He shoved the key in his pocket, while his eyes drifted to the flower displays and bouquets through the glass walls. A blur of white and green moved behind them, but he still couldn’t put a face to the florist.

Jamil would have to see if he was curious enough to put a name to that face, too.

A chime echoed in the store once he stepped inside, and an onslaught of fragrance hit him. He noted that it wasn’t as powerful as the smell of spices, ones that he can taste from the scent alone. Still, it was strong enough to leave him a little lightheaded.

“Ah, welcome!” A voice rang through the back, behind an open door that led to what Jamil assumed was a small greenhouse. Sacks of fertilizer and clay pots filled with flowers peeked out of the metal shelves. The sight was obscured by a green apron, stitched with the same cursive letters of the store sign.

Charcoal gray eyes met lively, cheerful ones. The gloved hands that gripped the door frame were smeared with soil, maybe even fertilizer. Dirt smudged your cheek, but his gaze drifted to your lips. Your smile—too bright to be natural—was difficult to look away from. Something churned in his chest the longer he looked at it.

“Oh,” you mumbled, which made Jamil look back into your eyes again, “you’re my next-door neighbor. Hi! I hope you like the flowers. I’m, uh…”

A sheepish chuckle left your lips, making Jamil’s heart lurch. He resisted the urge to scowl at the feeling. He just met you, and he’d rather not make a bad impression. The tattoo artist came to your store to meet you like a proper neighbor, not to antagonize you.

“I came by to say hi, and you weren’t there. I had to get the shop ready and all, so I decided to leave the basket and hope that it stays there—” You sighed, took off one of your gloves, and ran a hand through your hair— “and I’m rambling. Sorry about that.”

Jamil watched you, anxious and fidgety, and he suppressed a smile. There was something amusing about how you acted like a mouse: squeaking and retreating at any sign of danger. Although, he highly doubted that you saw him as a threat.

You were just… shy. You talked a lot, but you were shy.

“It’s fine,” Jamil raised a hand and smiled, practiced and polite, “and I appreciate the flowers. Thank you. It’s a beautiful arrangement—you have a way with bringing out their natural beauty.”

He probably laid it on too thick. It was a habit at this point: butter up people to ease them, to let their guard down. Jamil merely planned to meet this florist to satisfy his curiosity. He never considered the option of befriending this person, much less engaging in a long conversation with you.

Your face lit up, as if something dawned on you in that moment. Chuckling, you stretched out the hand without the glove and gave him your name. It was followed with a cheerful, “It’s nice to meet you! I hope we can get along, um…”

“Jamil,” he shook your hand with that same, practiced smile, “Jamil Viper. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He noticed your eyes dart towards his hand and arm, inked with the traditional motifs and patterns of his homeland. Under the sunlight that streamed through the glass, your eyes seemed to sparkle. Your mouth parted in a silent, “Oh.”

“That’s so pretty,” you blurted out and continued to stare at the henna tattoos. Jamil simply watched you with wide eyes, but the surprise disappeared in that same instant. Your voice, loud and happy, filled the silence of the room.

“The amount of detail here is amazing, and—Oh, there’s even more tiny patterns inside another pattern. That’s so cool!”

Even though this much praise usually annoyed Jamil (it reminded him too much of Kalim), he found himself flustered. A faint warmth spread across his cheeks as he watched you marvel at the tattoos. You raised a hand, probably to trace the design with a finger, when you paused.

Your smile was frozen on your face, as if you caught yourself doing something embarrassing. Your own cheeks flushed in shame, before you pulled away with a nervous giggle. Jamil almost laughed at how ridiculous you looked at the moment.

He ignored the small voice in the back of his mind that called you cute.

It was supposed to be a one-time encounter. Jamil only visited your flower shop to see the person who opened a new business next to his tattoo parlor. He wanted to see whether this new neighbor of his was going to be tolerable or otherwise. One meeting was enough to deem you tolerable; someone that Jamil could politely wave to if you two happened to pass by each other.

So, why was he looking at a bouquet of irises and white jasmines right now? Why was he standing in your store on a Sunday morning?

“You’ve been coming a lot here lately.” Your voice rang from the back, much like how Jamil first met you. He looked over his shoulder to see you admiring the other flowers with a small smile.

“I don’t mind, really, and it’s nice to have you here. I just didn’t expect you to come here almost every day,” you clarified with a chuckle as you approached him. The telltale flush of your cheeks already told Jamil about how embarrassed you were to confess that. He watched you caress one of the petals of a hydrangea with a gentle look.

For a weekend, it was surprisingly quiet here. People flocked to your store during its first week, and Jamil observed all this in the comfort of his parlor. The window provided a clear view of what was going on, so he didn’t need to go outside. You became frazzled in a matter of moments—running around and arranging the flowers yourself—and that amused Jamil. Just a bit.

Still, you smiled throughout that hectic week.

Me neither, Jamil wanted to say. Instead, he answered, “It’s another slow day in my shop, so I decided to visit. I suppose it’s become a habit whenever I have nothing else to do.”

You chuckled, and Jamil pretended his heart didn’t skip a beat. He ignored the twitch of his lips, curling into a small smile. Oblivious to the look the tattoo artist gave you, you continued to admire the flowers.

“That’s fine with me. Besides, I like your company.”

Your shameless honesty was going to be the death of Jamil. The tips of his ears grew warm, and he tugged his hood over them. He already concluded that you were a thoughtful and considerate person after spending some time with you. You prepared tea and cookies, ones you yourself baked, every time he visited. Careful hands arranged the flowers by meaning and color, which already said enough about you. Being a florist sounded just right for someone like you.

Jamil briefly wondered what flowers you’d give him if you wanted to give him a bouquet.

He cleared his throat, mimicking a cough, before he shifted his attention to the irises and jasmines again. Ever since he searched the meanings of the flowers in that basket, he couldn’t help but be curious.

“Can you tell me what these mean in flower language?” He asked, glancing at you from behind his hood. Whether you found this action odd or not, you didn’t comment on it.

With a curious hum, you leaned over to look at what Jamil referred to and smiled wider. You replied, “Ah, irises can mean wisdom, faith, trust, valor, and hope. As for white jasmines…”

You raised an eyebrow at Jamil with a mischievous grin. He didn’t dare entertain the thought that you were being adorable from the action alone. He didn’t dare hope that the gesture actually meant something.

“They can mean sweet love, and the person who receives them is seen as friendly and pleasant.” You paused, before you suddenly left Jamil’s side and reached for the adjacent wall of flowers. Before Jamil could say anything, you already extended a white bloom under his nose.

Wide-eyed and bewildered, he stared at the flower in your hand. It somewhat resembled a rose in full bloom, but the petals were shaped differently. Another amused laugh echoed in the room. You took his hand, inked with intricate patterns that crawled his skin like vines, and placed the flower in it.

Jamil realized that it was a gardenia. This species of flora grew in some part of the botanical garden of his high school. He was only familiar with it because he used to pass by the area to relax, preferably alone.

“I think this suits you, though.” You hummed and returned to the counter with a spin of your heel. Jamil watched you wordlessly as you disappeared into the greenhouse. From where he stood, the tattoo artist saw pink and white camellias peeking through one of the shelves. He nearly jumped when your head popped out of the door frame.

“Oh, and can you help me carry some of these pots around? They’re pretty heavy, thanks!”

It was only until Jamil got home that he searched for the meaning of the gardenia. The bright laptop screen glared at him as he entered the keywords in the search bar. He clicked on the first result and—

Jamil stared at the words with darkening cheeks. His mouth became dry, and his tongue was tied into knots. His hand slammed the monitor shut, before he abruptly stood up and left for the kitchen. He needed some water. He needed to not think too much into things. You were going to be the death of him, Jamil swore to that.

Still, the words were already seared into his memory: you’re lovely.

Jamil found himself visiting you whenever he could. You always asked for his help whenever heavy labor was involved. If it was anyone else, he would’ve felt annoyed. With you, it was just an excuse for Jamil to stay longer.

Fleeting touches, subtle glances, and shy smiles—it was like your own language. Not a single word was exchanged, yet it felt like you said more than Jamil could comprehend. He didn’t miss the moments when your hands lingered too long over his. He would be a fool not to notice that a cookie jar and a box of teabags sat on the counter each time he visited.

For the past year, you’d give him a single flower every day without fail. One time, after the usual tea, it was a morning glory. Another time, when you were particularly homesick and Jamil stayed to chat, you gave him a hydrangea. When he visited your house and took care of you when you became sick, you gave him a yellow lily the next day. He always brought them home, but it came to the point that a mishmash of flowers in a vase brought color and life to his workspace. It sat under the window, where it bathed under a patch of sunlight. He even considered buying another vase due to the sheer amount.

You gave him all kinds of flowers, but he’d never forget the first gardenia he received from you.

“That looks out of place,” one customer pointed out while Jamil prepared the needle. He already knew what he was talking about, but the tattoo artist still followed his line of sight. A soft smile stretched from one ear to the other, and he didn’t bother hiding it.

Without looking away from the flowers, he answered, “They’re gifts from a friend. It’s the only place I can think of where they can be cared for.”

He ignored the sly, knowing grin on the customer’s face. Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Jamil gestured towards the chair and continued to prepare everything he needed for this job.

One sunny day, your storefront was crowded more than usual. Jamil paid no mind to the crowd as he pulled his hood over his head. Inked hands grabbed a bundle of flowers, tied with twine, from the table. They were placed far from the vases that decorated the parlor; just to avoid confusion. His eyes fell on the gardenia he drew on the back of his hand. Jamil added that some time ago, maybe around the past month. Still, it made him smile.

Jamil locked the door, then he instinctively looked at the flower shop. His heart stuttered at the sight of the flowers amongst the crowd. The vibrant and lively blossoms were like a splash of color against the dull tones of the city. What used to be gray pavement and monochrome buildings seemed to come to life with just a few flowers.

He blinked his surprise away, before he gripped the bouquet in his hands. The thrum of his heart and the sweat on his palms weren’t something foreign to Jamil. He always felt like this at the thought of you, even Kalim noticed the change in his friend when he visited once. Your smile flashed in his mind, and his own lips curled into a small one. His feet led him to where he knew you were.

Past the flower shop; past the crowd that lingered at the storefront; past the fresh flowers that gathered against the glass walls. Jamil’s feet grew heavier with each step, as if lead hit the concrete and left faint cracks behind. He stepped through the iron-wrought gates with a soft exhale. His grip on the flowers tightened. He considered going back to the tattoo parlor.

In the end, he thought he’d regret it if he backed out now. Blades of grass grazed his sneakers as he walked through rows of stones. Names were etched into each one, a reminder of who they were to the loved ones left behind. Charcoal gray eyes looked straight ahead. He didn’t bother looking at any of them.

It had been a year since that day, but he still remembered where you were.

Grass crunched under his feet as he stopped in front of an unassuming headstone. Engraved in the stone was your name—funny how he never knew your surname until the funeral. You never told him when you introduced yourself, and he didn’t pry. He even imagined you with his surname at some point, but…

Jamil swallowed the lump in his throat. He crouched on one knee and laid the bundle of flowers on your grave. The tattoo artist made the effort of arranging the colorful blooms in a way that you would. At least, how he remembered that you would.

He stood with his hands in his pockets, and he stared at your gravestone with that same lump in his throat. A sigh rang in the empty cemetery. A cool breeze carried the hustle and bustle of the city. The laugh that used to plague Jamil’s everyday life here was missing. It was gone for months now, but he could still hear it clearly in his head.

“Hey,” Jamil mumbled, clenching his hands into fists, “it’s been a while. I’m sorry I only visited today. It… took me some time to come to terms with what happened. Regardless, you deserved an earlier visit.”

No answer, Of course, there was no answer. You’ve been dead for quite some time now. That was an understatement, considering that a year has already passed.

Jamil’s stomach churned, and an insufferable heat filled his chest. His eyes stung. His nails pierced into the skin of his palms. The lump in his throat seemed to grow bigger, and he found it hard to breathe. Memories of your smile, your laugh, and the time he spent with you and your flowers overlapped in his mind.

He dug his heels into the dirt as he gritted his teeth. The sting behind his eyes grew worse. It was hard to breathe, and he found it harder to speak. He somehow forced the words out with a broken heart, pieces scattered along the ashes of what was left of you.

“You idiot,” Jamil choked out as his vision blurred with tears, “you could’ve called me to help you. How was I supposed to know you were still sick? How was I supposed to know you needed to carry that ridiculously huge flower display across the street? How was I supposed to know that car would lose control and—”

Jamil looked up to the sky with a clenched jaw, teeth clacking and shaking his skull from the force. He wanted to scream. He wanted to curse whatever deity existed in this world. He wanted to forget how you looked, pale and bleeding on the street, that day. He wanted to erase that memory of you until his heart bled out and his voice croaked its last scream.

“—they haven’t found the driver. Everyone who knew you petitioned to keep the shop in your memory. Someone else took over, too. You don’t have to worry about your flowers anymore.”

Since that day, whenever Jamil looked at the ink that adorned his hands and arms, all he remembered was your loud voice and bright smile. Your praise and astonishment echoed in his head like a broken record player. He couldn’t count the amount of times he tried to scrub them clean from his skin. If that didn’t work, he scratched at them until he bled and the patterns were hidden under that shade of red.

In hindsight, Jamil thought that was idiotic of him. Love turned anyone into idiots, anyway.

Sighing, Jamil forced the tears back and looked down at your gravestone. If he tried hard enough, he could imagine you smiling and laughing again. The image of you, lifeless and still on the road, would become a scar that faded with time. He hoped it would be.

“I thought of giving you baby’s breath,” Jamil began as the lump in his throat returned, “along with forget-me-nots, and blue salvia. It would be a horrible contrast, but I also thought of adding pink carnations.”

He paused, before bitterly chuckling to himself. “I don’t have your skills, though. You were always amazing with flower arrangements. I couldn’t hold a candle to you, and I rarely tell anyone that. I didn’t want to give you something that was less than perfect—you deserve more than that, so I settled with sweet peas.”

Jamil knew he was talking to himself. He always found it ridiculous how anyone talked to the dead, even if he understood the necessity to respect the ones who passed. This one time, he understood why people did this. Jamil just couldn’t bring himself to accept the circumstances that led to that revelation.

“They mean goodbye in flower language, but I prefer the other meaning. Maybe, in another life, I would’ve bought you flowers for a date. I was thinking of asking you on a date before. Did you know that?”

Another bitter chuckle. Another shaky breath.

“I was supposed to ask you that day. I finally found the courage to try, and what did I see? You…” The words were stuck in Jamil’s throat. He couldn’t force the words out this time. The clamor outside and the harsh slam of his parlor door echoed in his memories. He didn’t want his last memory of you to be your dying breath. He’d rather not remember that at all.

Jamil shook his head and continued, “I apologize for that. What you need to know is that I like you. I may even go so far as to say I love you, and I’m sorry I never told you earlier. I hope you can forgive me for that.”

The tattoo artist sat down in front of your headstone. He didn’t care if dirt and grass stained his jeans this time. He reached out to trace the name etched into the stone, with the same hand where the inked gardenia peeked out of his sleeve.

“I like your flowers. I like all of them. I still keep them with me. I wish I told you that sooner,” Jamil mumbled, voice cracking at the end. A tear rolled down his left cheek and dripped into the soil. His shoulders shook in a silent sob as he breathed his last words to you.

“Thank you for a lovely time. I’ll never forget you.”

[pengugu09]

Credits to: Official_ALNST on twt!

Huh,, this looks interesting

Before you read this, these are just my thoughts or opinions on the recent official art of alien stage, if some things that I've said matches to some users then that is purely a coincidence as I do NOT have any intention to copy them without permission or credits!!

(plz take your time to read)

START‼️

First of all, Till looks...uh...very stressed unlike Luka. I just noticed that there is a hand grabbing or gripping his hair. I don't know if that's a human hand or an alien one tho, but if it's an alien one I am technically concerned about what kind of shenanigans those aliens could possibly do to him, it's like they are forcing him to fight even though he's not mentally stable yet.

Also Till is sweating allat (idk if you'll consider it "a lot" mb;_;) since he's sweating from his forehead down to his chin which could possibly mean that he is tired from a physical activity, he's in a hot temperature area, or some other things.

Second, Luka. He looks calm outside but then, we don't know what is in his mind right now. He doesn't look like he's tired or stressed physically but we don't know if he's mental state has something going on.

Plus, is he looking down on Till? I mean- that is what has been expressed on the art.

Or maybe he is just looking the same level at Till and I'm just tweaking out

Lastly, the choice of color at the art seems..hmmm .. interesting too I guess.. it reminds me of some scenes at round 5

Blue, pink, and purple

These aliens really looks excited once Luka is on stage, with multiple aliens supporting him. Does that mean Luka has the chance to win(?)

Or maybe the next stage that they'll perform would have these 3 colors presented on stage, I don't know man🧍

Alsoooo the lightning between them.. usually lightning appears in an unexpected time, even in real life too, right? Then what if something came unexpected between their performance????

Uhhh that's all thank you for cooperating at my yapping session

I'm not usually into analyzing things but here we go I guess

[tabletopsystem]

Date Night! A JRWI Riptide fanfic.

A short fic where Chip helps Rufus prepare for a night out with his wife. Takes place on a secret extra day between when Chip went to the Dark Port and episode 63.

It's my first time writing fanfic so be nice.

Words: a lot, maybe 4k+? Idk, I wrote it all on Tumblr on my phone and I can't copy paste between paragraphs for some reason so it's hard to check the actual count.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chip walked through the rustic door of the Divine Barcanist, a bell chiming as it opened.

"Rufus you here?" He called out to the empty store.

"Oh goo-ood you're here." He heard coming from the room behind the counter, the drawn out sound confirming it was Rufus, "Flip the open sign on the window would ya? We're clo-osed for the night."

Chip turned to flip the sign but saw it was already flipped to "closed".

"What'd you need my help with Rufus?" Chip started walking through the displays of magic items, stopping to marvel at a particularly ornate and slightly glowing scimitar. "It's getting pretty late and I don't know how much I trust that Price can't send more of his goons after my crew, no offense to your wife's work, of course."

"Oh don't wo-o-orry my friend, I've got a tight schedule to keep too," He reassured Chip, "now could you come back here and help an old dog pick out an outfit for his date?"

"Date?" Chip walked into the hallway behind the counter, "Why'd you ask for *my* help getting ready for a date?"

He opened the door into Rufus's bedroom, it was quite big, there was a large bed with purple satin sheets, covered in small orange and brown hairs against the back wall of the room, a large vanity made of mahogany with a gold-framed mirror on one side of it with tons of different kinds of makeup that Chip had never seen before. On the other side was a smaller bedside locker, with an intricately designed lamp made to look like a sakura tree with pink and white petals, a framed picture of the Black Rose's jolly rodger next to it. A large tapestry of a town made of huts on stilts just above the water with different colours flowing through the air which Chip assumed was supposed to represent magic covered an entire wall of the room. Rufus sat on the side of the bed, his face and floppy dog ears drooping as he looked into his open wardrobe where he had two well kept suits, one a deep purple, the other a sleek black. Next to the wardrobe was a bamboo changing screen with the scene of a large island with a cherry blossom tree big enough to cover the whole place under its canopy, raining its leaves down and into the ocean around it.

"Woah!" Chip looked around the room in awe, "You're fuckin loaded!"

"Weellll selling mag-ical objects has it's perks," Rufus said sheepishly, "They're all quite unique and, as a result, *quite* valuable."

"Suddenly I don't feel as bad about the discount you gave me on Ollie's belt." Chip couldn't take his eyes off the tapestry, which he assumed must've taken months if not years to make. "I mean shit man you could probably afford to buy some of the islands we passed through. Why the fuck are you-"

"Chip can we focus on my date please?" Rufus cut him off, "Amber should be home in a few minutes and I'm trying to make su-ure this night is veery special for her."

"Ohhh it's that kinda date huh?" Chip smirked, "Rufus you sly dog."

"Chip it's no-ot like that!" Rufus scolded, "I just want to ma-ake sure that she enjoys the night. She's been working reeally hard recently and it's been stressful for her, especially with the who-ole... situation with Captain Price last night." He let out a deep sigh, "I just want to make sure she has a nice night because it's starting to feel harder and harder to doo-o-o."

Chip looked down at Rufus and saw he was quite tense and his eyebrows were furrowed still looking straight ahead at his two suits. "Hey man, make sure you're enjoying the night too y'know?" He put a hand on his shoulder. "Now, what do you think Amber's gonna be wearing?"

"Well I to-old her to go out early and buy herself something nice while I get re-eady." Rufus explained, "She was wearing her favourite pu-urple dress, it really brings out the colour of her fur, yoou should see her in it, she looks be-e-eautiful." He visibly relaxed while talking about her, and Chip thought to himself how nice it must be to be in love like that.

"Well, if you want to match with her you gotta go with the purple." He started inspecting the suits closer, noticing a faint glitter on the purple one, as well as golden buttons on the cuffs, "but if you really want to give her all the attention you should go with the black so she stands out more."

"When did you-ou learn so much about fashion?" Rufus chuckled a bit as he said it.

"Well you pick up on some things when you make disguises to get into snobbier places than you're supposed to be." Chip sized up both suits and began to suspect they might not fit Rufus anymore, though kept quiet about it. "You definitely made the right choice asking for my help and not Lizzie's though."

"She's never really see-eemed the type for romance, even as a youngster on the Midnight Ro-ose." Rufus smiled, "half of Captain Rose's crew was taking bets on whether the two of you would get together when you got older."

"Ew" Chip interjected. Rufus laughed.

"The half that knew the two of you better was taking bets on whether she'd throw you overboard."

"Yeah that makes more sense." Chip laughed a little too. "Now come on, we haven't got all night here."

"Oh alright," he stopped and thought for another whole minute, "I suppo-o-ose I'll go with the black suit."

He took the suit from the wardrobe and moved behind the screen to change.

Chip sat down on the bed, and then, being uncomfortable in the silence began to chat with Roofus after a few moments, "Y'know Roofus, I've got a wife too." He said, almost surprising himself that he remembered her.

"Oh well that's great Chip," Roofus responded, almost as if he expected it, "It's no surprise a young man like you has found someone already, yo-ou should bring her around to the shop some day." He paused for a moment, "I might see if Amber can make something special as a gift for her."

"Oh, no it's uh, not like that." Chip stuttered out, "I was like, really drunk and don't even remember the wedding." He felt embarrassed admitting it to Roofus. "And like, I didn't really like her like that, but she really liked me, and Gillion officiated the wedding with some weird Undersea stuff so we couldn't just break up so I kept trying to fake my death cuz like, "'til death do us part" and all that, but she kept saving me and this one time she like, caught me as I was falling and it made me realise how strong she was and I can't really tell if I started getting feelings for her or if it was just nice to be held but I didn't really wanna think about it cuz we were already planning four other ways to fake my death and I was starting to have fun with it so I just pushed down the feelings like I do with everything else until we were leaving the island-"

"Chip I'm gonna need you to slow-ow down there because I didn't get a word of what you just said." Roofus cut him off, "What's her name?"

Chip took a breath, "Amanda Rinn."

"And what's she like?"

"I honestly don't really know?" He thought about it for a second. "I mean I spent most of the time I knew her just avoiding her and uh, trying to die in front of her."

"Well that's just a shame." He sighed, "You married this lovely woman who-o saved your life and you don't even kno-ow why you fell in love with her."

"Woah I wouldn't say I fell in love with her, we just got drunk, like, black-out drunk." Chip couldn't stop feeling more and more embarrassed, "She probably doesn't even like me that much anymore."

"Well from what I'm hearing, she kept saving yo-ou from danger every time you were in it. It takes a loot of courage, and a lot of love for the person you're saving to keep risking your own life like that."

"Well the danger wasn't real!" Chip knew he was running out of excuses, and the ones he did have didn't mean much.

"Do you think she knew-ew that Chip?" Chip could hear the smile in Roofus' voice. "I think at the very least, she deserves to kno-ow how you reeally feel."

"Fine." Chip conceded, frustrated, "I'll write her a fuckin letter or something... Eventually."

"And mayybe when you're writing it you-ou'll accept your own feelings for her too-oo." Roofus chuckled.

"Roofus I don't- I told you it's not like that!" He was getting annoyed now, "I shouldn't have brought it up in the first place."

"Oh alright," Roofus sighed, "Could you give me hand closing up my jacket, it's been a little while and I'm uh, not quite as fit as I u-used to be."

Chip got up and walked behind the screen to see that Roofus had just about managed to close the button on his pants, though it looked like it could pop open at any second, and though the suit's shirt managed to just about fit snuggly over his big belly, the jacket was straining to get buttoned below the chest.

"Alright you big old dog," Chip grabbed both sides of the jacket, "On three, you pull your stomach in and I'll get a button through, and then you'll be able to get the rest through yourself."

Roofus nodded.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

Chip ripped the button and the hole together as Roofus breathed in, and then ripped the button right off as he breathed out.

"Shit!" Chip ran after the button which was rolling across the floor. "I am so, so sorry Roofus I really didn't mean to."

"Oh it's alright Chip." Roofus took off the jacket and hung it back up in his wardrobe. "I think I've just been a little bit too lenient on the treats." He looked over to his purple suit and sighed, "I don't suppo-ose this one would fit me either."

"Yeah probably not," Chip picked up the button and walked over to Roofus, "look man, I can get some money somewhere and pay you back for this."

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that Chip." Roofus took the button off him and placed it gently on his bedside locker, "I'm sure Amber can sew back on. She's quite the skilled craftswoman."

"You sure?" Chip asked, "Cuz I can get a little gold for it if you need, I don't wanna keep costing you so much money."

"Don't worry about it my friend." Roofus reassured, "I just don't know what to wear tonight now, and I'm sure Amber will be home aaany minute."

Chip thought for a few seconds, then an idea popped into his head. "Here," he took off his red and yellow magical bandana and held it out to Roofus, who recoiled as Chip's facial features shifted just slightly and a few of his uglier scars reappeared. "What?" Chip exaggerated a look of hurt.

"I'd just forgotten about how this magical bandana works is all." Roofus was clearly unnerved by Chip's face shifting.

"Whatever, point is, you can take this and wear anything you want with it, just make sure to get it back to me tomorrow, and make sure you wear something under it, the clothes are *not* real and you *will* get cold, trust me." Chip stopped waiting for him to take the bandana and tied it around his head.

"Thank you Chip." Roofus put a hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes, "I really do appreciate the help, old friend." He looked down at his much too small suit and before Chip's eyes the outfit seemed to magically loosen itself and close up around Roofus' body, a small silver watch appeared on one of his wrists, and a thin silver bracelet appeared on the other.

"Oh dude you don't get it, you can make literally *any* clothes you can imagine," Chip took the bandana back from Roofus and held it against his forehead, and immediately a glittering suit made of solid gold appeared in place of his tattered shirt and pants. "Like anything dude." He handed the bandana back to Roofus.

"Oh I understand how it works Chip, I just rather like my suit." He chuckled, "Wouldn't have had it tailored if I didn't."

"Your choice man, but I'd be going with the golden blazer if I were you." Chip started heading for the door, "Where are you going tonight anyways?"

Roofus took his pyjamas out and went behind the changing screen again, "There's a lo-ovely restaurant here in the Golden Circle Market called "The Shining Supper." They have some veery special dishes that you can't find anywhere else in the world anymore."

"Dang, you're really going all out tonight old man." Chip remembered walking past the restaurant and thinking it was way too gaudy for him to ever eat there, it had gold and crystal chandeliers and that was enough for him to hate it, though he thought it might've been nice to bring Ollie there if he could ever afford it.

"We-ell my Amber is worth every last copper." Roofus sighed, "I'm so lucky to have her in my life. After the Black Rose-"

"Roofus I'd love to reminisce some more but it is gonna be dark out soon and I am not in the mood to get jumped by more of Price's goons so can we wrap this up." Chip interjected rather abruptly, "Not that it's not been nice hanging out with you again, I just wanna make sure we can do it again after tonight."

"Ooh alright, drop by tomorrow whenever you can and I'll ma-ake sure to have your bandana in pe-erfect condition." Roofus walked out of the room with Chip and then walked him to the front door to say goodbye.

Chip was greeted on the other side of the door by a kitsune woman whose fur was orange with white stripes, she wore a deep purple eyeshadow with gold glitter, which matched the colours of her slim fitting sleeveless dress. She had numerous detailed golden bracelets covering the length of both of her forearms, she had a small ankle bracelet around one of her legs, which ended in sparkling purple high heels. "What are *you* doing here?" She sounded disgusted at Chip's presence, "*Please* tell me you're not going to ask me to curse another powerful artefact."

"Oh, I'm just on my way out." Chip slipped past her and then bowed a little more sarcastically than he actually wanted to, "Enjoy your date, Roofus is lucky to have you, and uhh, thanks for looking out for the old man."

Amber was surprised by his sincerity, and he started running back to the Albatross before she could respond, feeling way too awkward to have a conversation with her.

[acalamity]

author's note

I don't usually post for bigger audiences but I'm testing writing for him so let me know if this feels off :,D I'm sorry in advance. drabble is set in the future

synopsis: in front of an old friend's grave, sentiments arise

tokyo revengers! matsuno chifuyu x reader!

more under the wubbaboo!!

The colours of the sky twinkled overhead, orange and pinks and purples melting into each other upon the presence of the setting sun. You followed Chifuyu and Kazutora through the desolate graveyard under the soothing sky, standing by Chifuyu as he knelt down before a stone tablet— one with the name of the first person he admired engraved upon it.

He took out a packet of peyoung yakisoba and placed it by the stone, hands gentle and slow, "Baji-san, I'm back and I brought a [Name] with me today."

For a moment, he paused before he continued with a little smile. The years have been kinder to him recently, with less fights and biker gang activity and more cherished moments with those closest to him, "If you were here, I think you'd really like [Name]."

Kazutora knelt down next to Chifuyu, grinning wildly as he easily placed the flowers you insisted on getting— "I bet [Name] would like Baji too."

"Huh?" You blinked, mulling over their friend from the stories and photos they've shared with you. However, Chifuyu seemed to be contemplating something, closing his eyes and placing his hand on his chin in thought.

". . . Yeah, I'm sure Baji-san would like you and you'd like him." He eventually responded, opening his eyes to look at you— he wonders if you realised how much you affected him, if you know that in his heart you are special beyond all he understands.

"But [Name] is my partner, my best partner." Chifuyu huffed, eyebrows knotted together and eyes as clear as the skies after a storm— in the moment, there was nothing but the truth, "So I won't ever let [Name] like Baji-san more than me!"

Kazutora let out a laugh, black hair whipping around as he glanced at you, "You sure do charm people, [Name]."

You held the cuffs of your sleeves, pulling it forwards to hide your hands a bit more, opting to ignore the heat behind your cheeks. You're certain Baji Keisuke was great, and that he'll always shine— but the person who walked by your side and held your hand was not him, "Um. . . Well. . . but I'm sure that I'll always like Chifuyu too."

"Baji gave us hope and lit the path for us and the three of us did a lot of things together. . . but Chifuyu showed me all of him and changed me in ways I didn't think was possible." You stared at the grave, bending down and tidying the flowers upon it's bed with a tender smile, "So. . . as grateful as I am, Chifuyu will always be special to me."

"[Name]. . ." Chifuyu, eyes wide and cheeks flushed with pink, couldn't hide the gigantic grin upon his face, "Yeah, you'll always be special to me."

"Oh, what's with the sentiment now." Kazutora manuevered between the two of you, sending Chifuyu a shove with cheeky grin. Chifuyu huffed once more as he fell to the ground, giving Kazutora a nudge which in turn collided into you, "H-hey!"

"Kazutora, you pushed [Name]!"

"Me?!"

Baji Keisuke, the person Chifuyu admired, is long gone and that will never change— but you, who's eyes twinkle with gentle resolution, so long as you desire, he'll write your story so the world may remember you forever.

[yuespropagandablog]

Da pride flags discourse, that I put on an unofficial Glee spin-off Discord channel, and also the reason I was late for grocery shopping with @beef-smell.

[11:12][barges in] ARE WE READY FOR SOME QUEER FLAG DISCOURSE?

[11:12]Like.... ugh... this has just been on my mind a lot lately and I always feel a bit iffy bitching about the pride flags because I am also of the belief that we as a community have bigger fish to fry than debating on, idk, what shade of purple we like best, but I have sort of realised that there seems to be a trend of queer history being erased and I am just not liking it at all

[11:14]And I also feel iffy about bitching cause I am also fully aware that newer flags like the mlm flag and aroace flag mean a lot to some people and I don't want to discredit that either but a while ago I went to an info night about the bi umberella and it was neat and all that, but the discussion of bi vs. pan arose and transphobia in bi/pan spaces and what not, and someone (who is bi) said that they didn't like that the bi flag did feel inheritely transphobic because the pink stands for attraction to women and the blue for attraction to men and I just sat there like "no it fucking doesn't?"

[11:15]I explained that there are things to criticise about the original definition of the colours since pink stands for homosexuality (due to triangle yada yada) aka attraction to same sex and blue for heterosexuality aka attraction to opposite sex and the overlap of purple is bisexuality where whatever sex/gender doesn't matter, cause it implies that bisexuality is half-heterosexuality

[11:16]But they said that they heard the pink = girls, blue = boys from the host of the monthly bi meet-ups in town and I did have a moment of "how.... are you going all in for bi liberation, bi visibility, bi representation and bi rights and then not know your bi history????"

[11:17]And these are just things I keep thinking about, same with the progress flag. I love the idea of the progress flag, but not the execution cause it kind of feels less inclusive now? Yay I love the addition of the intersex flag, but also, now you can wonder "but where is the ace/bi/pan/lesbian/poly/etc. flag HUH, don't they belong too??" whereas the original rainbow flag (8 or 6 stripes)(edited)

[11:18]was always meant to be for everyone. EVERYONE. And it kind of feels disrespectful towards Gilbert Baker (and in the bi flag, Michael Page and Lia Narnia) to just completely disregard the work and meanings that went into making the flag?

[11:18]"Listen to queer elders/queer history" my ass, apparently?

[11:19]And not to say that things cannot change, cause the point of learning from history is also to know how to move on from that, but I feel like the changes that are implemented, sometimes at rapid pace, do it without even thinking about history?

[11:20]Same with that toothpaste MLM flag, that was created because people thought that the rainbow flag was only for gay men at one point. No?

[11:20]It never was?

[11:20]Again, it is for EVERYONE.

[11:21]And I get why people may have started believing that, but instead of working hard to correct that misconception, this other flag just arose and I'm like of like "sure, if gay men also want their own flag, that's fine", but genuinely a lot of people who use that seem to be younger kids who do believe it stems from a need to separate themselves from the rainbow flag. I mean there are probably more reasons and I also don't want to discredit the people who made the MLM flag either, cause I assume they put thought in it too, but when I hear the argument from some people that the MLM flag was needed since before that "there was only the rainbow flag for gay men" my eyes roll so hard.(edited)

[11:21](Also, welcome to the queer community, where gay men wear blue and gay women wear pink I guess)

[11:22]Which, with the lesbian flag... My organisation recently made stickers with the design and my first question that came to my mind was "did we pay Emily Gwen?" but I am pretty certain most of us don't even know who Emily Gwen is

[11:23]To go back to the progress flag: Gilbert Baker even updated the 8 stripe flag with a 9th stripe that stands for diversity. To be honest I find that flag so much better in so many ways compared to the progress flag where we keep tacking stuff on, but no one seems to know it (and I've heard stories of his estate being weird af too about the usage of his designs, which, ya know, is not what he wanted).

[11:24]I mean, don't get me wrong, I like the idea of the progress flag and if someone starts bitching about "ugh everyone needs to be included these days" I become the progress flag's biggest lover in the world, but I do find it a bit troubling that there's this pressure to move away from the rainbow flag since it's "not inclusive".

[11:28]Flags change. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's honestly also interesting to see. I have an artwork that I made in 2016 with flags and the nb flag, lesbian flag, aroace flag, MLM flag and progress flag aren't even on it, because they weren't used in the current iteration or they didn't even exist that much back then, but the genderqueer flag IS there, since that was more often used than the nb flag. But knowing where those changes came from and why they happened feels so much more productive and constructive than just going "ya it was bad for X, Y, Z" with X, Y, Z sometimes not even being true.

[11:29]Especially since spreading falsehoods even prevents us as a community from reflecting on our history in a critical way (i.e. the history of the bi flag). The purity idea of "it was always bad so we need to discard it and never look back" is just not a great idea.

[desired-deity]

No More Interferences

DACAPO x Gn! READER

Genre: Fluff

Summary: You and Dacapo get to have a few hours together napping without his brothers bugging him (for a bit)!

A/n: I’m sooooo sorry for not getting out any orders lately but I gotta get SOMETHING out for you guys! Love you all!

COLOR CODE!

Dacapo - yellow

Baabel - Blue

Schneider - Purple

You - Pink

“Dacapo! Me and Baabel are gonna run some errands! It’ll only take us a couple of hours so we’ll be back soon!” Schneider hollered before closing the door to the front of the house, little did he know you and Dacapo were upstairs together.

“I’m tired.” You state out of the blue, looking at Dacapo with weary eyes. He looked at you and cupped your face with his hands, you noticed how soft they were, you softened into his touch.

Dacapo led you to his lap, he wrapped his arms around you and held you tight “Then rest, it’s been a long day. Plus, my brothers won’t be here to wake you up so it works in our favor.”

Dacapo was right, no one was there except for you two. It was like time stopped and nothing could get in the way of you guys. Dacapo laid down just to make you fall asleep quicker.

~ 2 hours later ~

“We’re back!” Baabel yelled as he went up stairs. He and Schneider were a bit confused because they didn’t anything for Dacapo, so they went into his room to see if he was there.

“I-is that…Y/n?”

“You bet that is,” Schneider went up to you and Dacapo, “didn’t know that he was dating them though.” 

“Me neither, but we should probably let them rest. Dacapo’s been staying up a lot later recently.”

“Huh…why the hell are you guys here?” Dacapo woke up, confused af about why his two brothers were in his room. Baabel was on sitting on the edge of his bed while Schneider was next to Baabel, standing.

“..ughh…stop talking so loud..” Everyone in the room could tell that you were tired and just a little angy, you had a long day and you were ready to kill someone if they woke you up (in which they did BUT THAT’S BESIDE THE POINT) 

“Sorry Y/n, we’ll leave you guys alone now.” Schneider said before leaving the room, Baabel following close behind him as he closed the door.

“You can rest now, no one will be in the way of your slumber anymore.”

[engbergsinfinland]

Happy Valentine's Day!

Greetings to everyone! I fully meant to post yesterday but this week got away from me totally! In Finland, today is Ystävänpäivä-- or Friends Day! Isn't that nice! All week at the kids' school there were theme days: twins day, pajama day, pink/red/purple day, and -ER day (farmER, footballER, etc.). Cece dresses as a farmer!

This week was incredibly busy for me work-wise. I worked most of the time at home and was seriously sitting at my desk for hours and hours on end each day, which felt like I was really wasting some clear blue sky days without even getting out for a dog walk. I learned that one of the projects I have underway requires ethical review from UNM (I thought complying with Finnish ethical mandates was enough; live and learn!) and in order to complete that I have to do my once-every-5-years CITI training. I won't go into what all of this means, but suffice to say, it's a huge time commitment that I didn't know I was going to have to outlay this week. Otherwise, I prepped for teaching, taught my class and my students once again knocked it out of the park (to use a US baseball metaphor; did you know Finland had its own baseball? Pesäpallo), and lead a remote workshop for English department graduate students at UNM, and guest-taught a class for my Biology department TA, which was fun and went well. I also had a million meetings and even went to a department meeting for my university department here, which was mostly in Finnish, so that was an adventure for my Google Translate and me.

Otherwise, the kids had their usual activities and I even got to go to ballet two nights this week! Tonight, Friday, I went to the advanced class taught by Sari, who is the teacher who is on medical leave from the actual ballet school, but teaches an independent advanced class once a week, now that she is mostly convalesced. She was on leave for hip replacement. She will go back to teaching Rowan's class in April. The advances class is so hard and I am so old 😆 The floor in the small studio is hard as can be, too, so that doesn't help these old joints. But I loved being in class, especially adagio.

Ok, we have a new Finnish hot-take we'd like to share. It is a speaking phenomenon in which people breathe in while saying "Joo" (yes, pronounced "yo," with the "o" extended for a while) or "Niin"--which is basically "yeah" or "uh-huh." I can't even explain it. Can you say any words while you're breathing in? Give it a try!

In other news, we got our dishwasher replaced this week. The Electrolux dishwasher that had been in here, from the looks of it, for quite some time, just totally pooped out. So, rather than coming to try to repair it, the landlords decided to just bring a brand new dishwasher. It is by a brand called UPO, which we've never seen, but appears to be a finish brand. It's not the quietest dishwasher in the world, but it it's doing the trick.

Tomorrow night, we are going over to the house of the kids' two classmates Hertta and Joaquim, for dinner. And I'm going to use some of the apples from the €5 apple and orange bucket that I mentioned in a recent post to make three apple cakes tomorrow, and I will take one with us to dinner. The other two cakes will be for us, since they're such a hit with my family. If you're looking for a tried and true apple cake recipe then I've got just the right one for you 🍎

Eric did a lot of cross-country skiing this week and has been studying the art of cross-country skiing through ample YouTube research.

Hopefully in my next post I will be back on usual form. I seriously spent so much time working this week that I can't even remember what happened other than that and thus I don't have any good stories to tell or tidbits to share beyond the little tiny ones I already wrote above. More soon. Happy Valentine's Day to all!! 💜

[symphopan]

A Build-a-Babe Birthday

Chapter 2/3: This is my Dream Babe?!

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“Build-a-Babe Workshop? What kind of place is this?” Noah asked.

“Well it's uh… A Plushie making place! Yeah!” She stammered, “You can make really cool life-size plushies here, and I know how much you like plushies.”

“Really?” He said, perking up a bit.

“Yeah I saw this girl come out of here a few months ago and she had a plushie that was her size.” She explained.

“Well alright then, let's go inside.” He said walking in.

Abby let out a sigh of relief.

That was close. Can’t let her find out what this place is just yet. She thought.

As they walked up to the desk, Noah saw many cases full of very realistic looking plushies of different women. They all were different in style and looks, but all very beautiful. They even had mannequins wearing different clothes and dresses.

Must be for the life-size plushies. He thought.

When they went to the desk, they were greeted by a woman with long purple hair. She was wearing a pink and white uniform.

“Hi, welcome to Build-a-Babe Workshop. My name is Melody. How can I help you?” She said.

“Oh uh…” Abby hesitated, “Well it’s my friend’s Birthday and taking ‘him’ to make a life-size plushie.”

“I’m sorry ma’am, there seems to be a mistake you see-” Melody started.

“No trust me, ‘HE’ really needs this plushie.”

The worker’s eyes widened, as she understood what Abby was getting at.

“Oh! Well then, if you’d just wait in the workshop, while me and her sort of the payment.” Melody said while looking at Noah.

He looked at the 2 of them and then shrugged. Once he was in the next room, Melody turned back to Abby.

“So how hard is her shell?” She asked.

“OH super tough, but I don’t think she’s hardboiled.” Abby Replied.

“Huh… Also you can totally see what I really look like, can’t you?”

“You mean that you’re a rad panda, then yes. I've been seeing people like you a lot recently.”

“From what I’m told, you’ve pierced the Veil. Also that will be $65”

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

Noah looked around the place as he waited for them to come in. It was both interesting and odd. They seemed to have a lot of things for making plushies like a stuffing station, however there were things like the tubs on one side of the room.

So do they just make life-size plushies? Is that their gimmick? He thought.

Just then, Abby and the worker walked into the room.

“Right then, please follow me over to the Wall of Babes.” Melody said.

She guided the two over a huge wall of boxes.

“Please select a Babe and then we can get started.” She said with a smile.

Noah walked up closer to the wall. Now having a better look, all of the boxes were filled with figures of women. Although, from what he could tell they seemed to be the same woman, just various different styles. Scanning the wall, there were many that he liked but there was one that really caught his eye.

This one was wearing a dark blue spaghetti strap tank top with a white text that said “hackerwoman” on it underneath a gary cropped jacket. She had a black and blue plaid skirt on with gray thigh highs and black fluffy boots. Her hair was shoulder length and was styled in a bob that was curled inward at the ends and short bangs. There was a giant blue bow clipped to the back as well. She also had black gloves that stopped at her palm.

“This one.” He said. 

“Why that one?” Abby asked.

“I don’t know, it just feels right.” He said, staring at the figure. He just noticed the name at the bottom of the box.

“Nora… I like that name.” He trailed off.

“Excellent choice, and a great name.” Melody said, “Now just follow me and we can start making you Babe come to life.”

They began to walk over to the area where the tubs were. He still had no idea how this was going to help him with the plushie but he decided to thrush the worker. She stopped and turned to face him.

“Now if you please step behind the screen and undress.” She smiled.

His eyes went wide.

“WHAT! Why do I need to do that!?” He exclaimed. 

“Please, this is all for your life-sized plushie, trust me.” She said, her smile not wavering.

“Come now, I promise this is worth it.” Abby reassures. 

He looks a little hesitant but decides to go ahead and do as told. As he's getting undressed behind the screen, Abby leans over to the worker.

“You can drop the pretense now, I don’t think we need it anymore.” She whispers.

“That I will.” she replies.

She moves over to the tub and turns the water on, As it’s filling up she pours a bit of glowing pink soap into the water, and mixes it around a little.

After that, Noah steps out from behind the screen and front of the tub.

“Ok I’m undressed. I still see how this is supposed to help with the plushie.” He says.

“Well Ma'am. That’s because the life-sized plushie is YOU.” Melody says, having gotten closer to him.

“Wait wh-”

SPLASH!!

He hadn’t even finished his thought when she’d pushed him into the tub.

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Prev Next

The fun stuff happens next chapter. Time to crack this egg. Original Concept By: The Transformistress

[zelkams-art]

finally time for another sketch vs final

original posts: [1] [2] [3]

[mari-the-bimbo]

hi so i just read your recent dorm mate sukuna where it was super angsty and thee reader left (i think it was like storm is coming something like that!) i was wondering if there is a chance to have like a part two where sukuna looks for reader and they talk and eventually he express his feelings for reader :)

Dorm mate Sukuna: storming brewing pt.2

A/N: my brain is still fried from partying so pls ignore any gaps in the plot or spelling mistakes 😭

You trudge sadly across the busy roads. The raining poured down at you and you curse yourself for not bringing an umbrella. It was usually Sukuna who would remind you to get your umbr-

Fuck. You hated how you couldn’t get him off your mind. He was the only thing you could ever think of, but it’s a shame right now you could only think of the argument.

And as you thought of him, you see a familiar black car pull up in front of you, and you scoff as the window rolls down to reveal your dorm mate.

“Get in, you’re gonna catch a cold” his deep voice said.

“No” you reply stubbornly.

You hear him sigh as his car slowly follows you from the side. “Y/n come on, I just want to talk”

“There’s nothing left to say”

“There is. There’s a lot I need to say”

You side glance at the pink haired man at his statement. Maybe he was willing to fix things? The soft spot you had for him in your heart really hoped so, and damn it, this rain was getting heavier too.

“Fine, but only because I’m feeling cold” you lied as you enter the car that you had sat in many times before.

Silence followed as you sat down in the warm passenger seat, and he helps you with your seat belt, but you face away from him as you felt his breath on your neck and his piercing gaze on you.

Once he leaned back, he wordlessly passes you a bouquet of flowers, an apology gift you assume, you accept it nonetheless.

You notice purple hycacinths in the bouquet. You remember telling Sukuna once about how it’s represents sorrow and apologies. You wonder if it was a coincidence or he actually remembered.

Once the car was parked in the dorm’s empty car park, you watched the usually confident and scary dorm mate sigh sadly before his large tatted hand reached out for your smaller ones.

“I .. wanted to apologise” he says, his red gaze softening as it meets yours. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you y/n” he attempts to say softly in his gruff tone.

And you were almost stupidly swayed. Key word, almost. You cross your eyebrows in annoyance. “Is that all you’re sorry for?”

Now it was Sukuna’s turn to furrow his brows. “What else would I be apologising for?”

“For beating up my friend Sukuna”

The man cringes as he hears you address him by his full name instead of the usual sweet ‘kuna’. It annoyed him how you were yelling at him over some random guy but he was smart enough not to dig a deeper hole.

He sighs as he looks out the window. “Ok fine, yeah.. I didn’t have a good reason to beat him up sorry” he grumbles.

You scoff annoyed, “you don’t even mean it”

He doesn’t reply to your comment, indicating you were right. “Sukuna-“

“What else do you want me to do? Go apologise to your little boyfriend?” He says rudely, as he leans in close to your face angrily, his nose almost touching yours.

“What do you mean ‘boyfriend’? just because I’m defending an innocent person doesn’t mean I’m with them!” You snap, you felt frustration tears build up in your eyes but you refused to let him see it. You hated this, you hated arguing with him, you hated this feeling.

“You know what, I should’ve never got in this car” you say as you open the car door and shut it behind you.

“If he’s not your boyfriend, then why are you getting so defensive huh?!” Sukuna yells as he quickly leaves the car too and starts following you.

“Because I have morals and values and I care about other people unlike you!” You yell back, but you stop in your tracks when you detect the hurt on his face. Too late.

Red eyes look at you in shock and disappointment at your words, which quickly turned into anger as he furrowed his brows.

He was always like that, quick to conceal real emotions and transfer it into anger instead.

“Sukuna I’m sorry didn’t mea-“

But your sentence is replaced with a yelp as the bigger dorm mate shoves you against his car and traps you in between the car and his sturdy, heaving body.

“I don’t care?! You think I don’t care?! You think I just beat up that fuckboy because I felt like it and not because I care about you?!”

His grip on your waist tightens as you look up at him with teary angry eyes. “Then why did you do it? Why are you being like this?” You sob pathetically.

He stares at you without a word, he looks taken aback. He doesn’t answer your question, he can’t. The truth struggles to be expressed.

You try to walk away but he grabs you by the elbows to pull you back.

“I’m sorry”

“Why did you do it ‘kuna?” You whisper.

He feels his resolve melting at the nickname, at the big dreamy eyes that stares up at him, at your smaller hands grabbing his collar in desperation. You had him wrapped around your finger and you didn’t even know it.

“Because I like you y/n, I always have”

You freeze at his confession, and you’re left stunned, but before you could even process it, he smiles sadly before walking away, grabbing a cigarette from his pocket as he does.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to like me back, I wasn’t expecting you to”

“Yuuji’s waiting inside for you, you should head back in before you catch a cold” he adds as he walks away from you and opens his car door.

A tear escapes your eye as he watch him drive off. Driving away, running away from his feelings. You feel like slapping yourself for being too shocked to tell him how your heart yearned for him too.

You stare down at the flower bouquet he gave you. You hug it to your chest, as your teary eyes take in every single beautiful petal.

You notice the dicentra flowers hanging from the sides.

Dicentra flowers (/aka./ the bleeding heart flower) represents passionate, romantic love, but a broken heart, and unrequited love..

[marvelsage]

Wednesday & Wick

FOUR

“Wick! Hey Wick! Open up!” Pounding at your door disturbed you latest read. Annoyed you lay the book down and approach the door. Opening the slot in the door to see the Sheriff.

“What?”

“I need your statement-”

“I already gave my statement. Now what do you really want?”

“It would be better to discuss more in person.”

“You have a warrant?”

“No-”

*slam*

Leaning away from the door you listened as he gave up and returned to your book. Though your mind just read over the same line and after the sixth you gave up. You noted that you were late for your club meeting.

BEEP

On the way to the hive you notice Wednesday and ‘Rowan’ talking by Ms.Thorhills car. Approaching as they were about to drive away you step in front of the car.

“Oh my- Wick!” You smile and approach ‘Rowans’ window as it rolls down slowly, leaning down some.

“Leaving without saying goodbye. I’m hurt and here I thought we were friends, Ro.” Looking deep within his eyes as he tries to look away.

“I-I um sor-bye”

“Alls well, Rowan. Do keep in touch hmm.”

“Apologies, Ms. Thornhill, didn’t mean to scare you.” Standing straight, tapping the top of the car stepping back. As it drives off, Wednesday steps up beside you.

“What do you know?”

“I know what I know.” Stepping close to seem more ‘intimidating’ your demons hum in bliss at being so close to her aura.

“Care to share.”

“I’d have to care in order to share, wouldn’t I”

“I find you infuriating.”

“Never said I was nice.” Side stepping her, you set off.

GREEN HOUSE

Entering class last you scan the room for an open seat. There was a seat in the back corner you were going to sit in until Bianca called you over.

“You can sit over here.” You shrug and detour to her table.

“Wick, haven’t seen you very often lately.”

“You would if you took your eyes off Xavier.” A few snickers were heard before Xavier stole the show with his drawings. You look over as he tries to impress Wednesday with his ability. Silently laughing when all she does is slam her hand on it.

Class goes on as Wednesday and Bianca compete to see who knew the ghost orchid more. Spacing out as recent events circle your head repeatedly. Suddenly everyone’s standing and leaving the class.

“Wick, please stay back for a moment.” Reluctantly you sit back down, and wait for everyone to leave.

“You’ve been spacing out a lot, Wick. Is there anything you’d like to talk about? You know I’m always here.”

“No I’m alright.”

“Does it have to do with Rowan leaving? I know you two were pretty close. You must miss him very much.”

“I guess so but I’ll always have a piece of him with me.” You smirk internally as you pat the chest pocket of your vest. The conversation ended shortly and she dismissed you soon after.

BEEHIVE

You had just finished checking the last of your assigned section when Wednesday and Enid had appeared. You entered the shed after giving them a few minutes. Swinging the door open, you were met with Enid in a bee suit, Eugene showcasing a honey jar, and Wednesday with a knife raised.

“Relax, Chucky it’s just me. What the hell are you doing now?” Letting the door slam shut as you pull off the net from your head. Unzipping the jumper halfway and letting the rest hang off your waist.

Turning around, you lean back against a one of the tables with your arms crossed. Taking note of Enids slight blush and Wednesday discreetly checking you out.

“It’s none of your concern. Shouldn’t you be putting hearts into dolls.”

“Shouldn’t you be taking hearts out of dolls.” Smiling sarcastically back as she goes over her plan with Enid and Eugene.

“Wait. Enid is supposed to decoy you? Huh”

“What.”

“I’m sorry but if Principle Weems can’t see the blonde with pink and purple highlights through the net I’d be more impressed.” Glaring at you as you stand to change in the hidden closet of the shed.

“Nobody asked.”

“You quiet literally did 30 seconds ago.” Strutting out the closet, making sure your uniform was straightened out. You decided on the ‘boys’ version of the uniform today, with a customized corset to go with.

“Let’s go.” It took Wednesday a moment to follow as she caught up on the fact that you had invited yourself along.

“What are you doing?”

“Coming along. I’m not letting you go alone after what happened that night.” Stepping over certain parts of the ground to lessen the amount of noise.

“I don’t need-”

“My help, we’re not friends, blah blah blah yeah I got it, darling. Watch your head.” Holding a branch high enough for her to walk under which didn’t take much.

You hear him before you see him as suddenly Wednesdays yanked out of sight. Leaping up into the tree next to you, masking your scent as the sheriff walks pass. Sniffing the air to make sure that was it you step off from the branch you were on and land gracefully between Wednesday and Tyler.

“Whoa, Wick.”

“Tyler.” Tilting your head in greeting before turning around to Wednesday. Checking her over unknowingly stepping closer to her to make sure she was unharmed.

“I’m fine.” You hold her gaze and see truth until Tyler clears his throat. Snarling ‘unintentionally’ at him, he raises his hands in show of no harm.

“Sorry force of habit.” Moving on from the situation you let them have their talk and tune them out as the whispers start up again. The same ones that happened the night of the festival and they seemed to be coming from a certain area. You spot something on the ground at the same time Wednesday does.

“I was right.” She goes to pick up the glasses- Rowan’s glasses when she’s snapped into a vision. Tyler rushed forward to hold her up as you stumble back from the force of something unknown that caused your nose to bleed a little.

‘what the f*ck’

DORM

Finishing up getting everything ready for tonight a knock on your door stops you. Opening it you saw no one but heard little thuds, you look down and smirk.

“Hello, Thing. It’s been quiet a while since I’ve seen you.” Letting him in you wait as he climbs up your work table and let’s you in on the plan Wednesday had in mind for the Poe cup.

“Hmmm nice I like it.” You both brainstorm on ideas like old times and catch up briefly before you decided to end the night.

POE CUP

“What’s wrong?” Wednesday asked as Enid has another panic attack right before the game.

“We’re down another person!And now we’re going to have to forfeit! Oh my gosh!”

“How is that possible?” Rapid thudding caught their attention as Thing motioned to the entrance of their tent. Right on time for you to strut out of it with the matching uniform, though yours didn’t have long sleeves, filling it out nicely.

“Hope you don’t mind, Enid but I need full range of my arms for today.” Coming up beside them as Enid squeals of happiness and jumps on you thanking you repeatedly. She set off to the boat after, leaving you with Wednesday who had yet to say anything.

“What did you do?”

“Well you look lovely as well, darling.” Her glare doesn’t waver and you inch your head to thing.

“That’s for me and thing to worry about.”

“Didn’t know you two were friends.” Nudging her chin lightly with your knuckle to meet her gaze.

“Don’t worry, you’re still my number one.”

“I didn’t know you had tattoos.” Shifting your arm to fully show it.

“Oh yeah family heirlooms and stuff like that. Come one we got a race to win.”

BANG!

And your off, your enhanced strength along with Enids helped to speed up the rowing. Dodging the others tactics easily and making it across. Wednesday went ahead to get the flag as the rest of you stayed to make sure nothing happened to the boat.

“Hey thing, now.” Thing distracts the other team and you motion to Enid to claw their boat. By the time Wednesday came back the others had started to leave already.

“Your alright?”

“Fine. Let’s go.” This time you were at the back of the boat and used a bit more of your strength to catch up to Bianca’s team. Passing the jokers as they sink, waving to Xavier on the way and laugh.

“Thing! I think flounder needs a hand.” With the help of thing and your last use of reinforcements, your team made it to the finish line in first place.

“We did it!” High fiving a few people along the way as everyone celebrated.

THE QUAD

You were tired from todays events as Principle Weems went on about your teams victory. Drifting away from the group you come across the Wednesday sitting at the foot of one of the many statues.

“You alright?”

“Why do you always insist on checking on me?” Sitting down beside her you sigh.

“Cause whether you like it or not, I’d like to think we’ve come to be partners in crime. Don’t you think?”

“I don’t” She tilts her head up the slightest bit once again lessening the distance between one another.

“What are you guys doing down here?” She backs away as Enid appears at the entrance of the hall. Wednesday explains how she didn’t like how everyone was staring at her.

“Leaving. I’m tired, I’ll see you guys later.”

“Oh well good night, Wick. Thanks for stepping up today.” Sparing Wednesday a glance between her and the statue.

“No problem, Enid.” Saluting her just before you turn the corner.

Wednesday

“So what was that about?”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh come on everyone can totally see the romantic tension between you too.” Wiggling her fingers at tension and at that Wednesdays face twitch just the slightest.

“Romantic? Never. Tension? Quiet irritably. Mention this to anyone and your pig stuffy is getting decapitated.”

“Got it…”

sorry if your tag didn’t work out. also for taking a while I decided to make this part just a bit more lengthy. hope you all enjoy:)

@official-clint-barton @smolgayhooman @elduster @dreifhraniquo29 @lonelylesbian @coralbirdstudent @marice23top @dragonfly358@n0p35 @1-800-depressedlesbian @darlingtwice @e-dollly @gengen64 @mrchiipchrome @frogtits1 @bubbabobabubbles

[cozyenigma]

Among the Stars

This one turned out pretty cute!

Word Count- 775

Request?- Yes!

Summary- You liked to think you were close to your crew. Well, close as a captain should be anyway. You were responsible for their well-being and you were determined to see it done right. Two of your crew though hoped for a something a bit more personal.

Tag List- @cookielover0001010​ , @swag-droid , @watchoutforfrostbite​

Warnings- None

"Captain, you're going to catch a chill like that."

The light scolding was accompanied by something warm settling over your shoulders. You blinked, looking up from the display to see Celci, putting a coat on you.

"Huh? Celcion-"

"Just Celci, please, captain," she makes a face as she says it, "the only person who calls me Celcionna is my grandma."

"Right..."

You were still left confused as she reached down, taking your wrist and maneuvering your arm into the sleeve. Despite her hand being gloved she was surprisingly warm.

"Where did you even get this?" You asked, knowing better than to try and argue you're not actually all that cold.

The coat was more similar to hers than the standard issue ones she insisted everyone wear. It had soft, poofy fur around the collar. It was even in one of your favorite colors.

Celci merely shrugs, stepping away and putting her hands behind her back.

"Just something I picked up on the last station," she smiled, "better than those flimsy uniforms anyway, right? Do you like it?"

It was much better. You very much doubted it was something you could just pick up off the rack. It was definitely something you shouldn't accept as the captain but...

You nodded, feeling warm all the way up to your cheeks.

Celci brightened, the same sort of gleam in her eye as when she talked about the intricacies of the cryo system.

"Say Captain, I was thinking-"

Whatever she was going to say next was drowned out by the hiss of the door sliding open. The both of you jumped as your head engineer rolled in.

"Oh, there you are, captain!" He gave you a winning smile that immediately soured as soon as he saw who you were with.

"Something break again?" Celci asked, following him with narrowed eyes.

Mark raised a hand, vicious denial with pointing included at the ready, when he paused. Frozen, glancing between you and her.

"No!" He snapped back a bit too loudly. "I was just- wanting to give the captain some updates. My ship is called the Invincible for a reason."

She rolled her eyes, correcting, "Invincible two."

"Alright!"

You're not given much chance to ask any questions before Mark had you by the wrist, dragging you out of cryo. His hand was warm too. Instead of Celci's smooth, soft gloves, his were worn down. And from the feel of it he'd been elbow deep in the bowels of the ship just recently.

"What kind of updates did you have for me?" You asked, concentrating on that as opposed to... everything else.

Mark jumped a bit, like he had forgotten, and you're abruptly tugged in a new direction. He shot you a sheepish grin.

"Well, not so much of an update in the traditional sense but," he drew the word out, pulling you along a bit faster.

The bridge was deserted. Displays shined back at you but their light was easily dwarfed by what was outside the window.

"Woah..."

The nebula before you wasn't one you were familiar with. It stretched as far as you could see across the inky black in a sea of purples, blues and pinks. Dotted with more stars than you could ever hope to count. In your career you'd seen plenty of space but it still managed to take your breath away.

"Thought it'd be a shame if I was the only one to see it."

When you turned to Make his eyes were on you instead. He looked back out the window quickly, hurrying to continue.

"See? I keep telling people that windows are a must have when you're in freaking space but does anybody believe me? No. You get it though captain."

You simply smiled and nodded, enjoying the moment. It was true that they weren't the most practical additions to a spaceship. Safety issues aside, it took a lot of effort to get materials that would stand up to the elements in space. But what was the point in travelling with your eyes closed?

"Thank you," you said, smiling a bit more at Mark's curious look, "for showing me. It's amazing."

He waved you off with a nervous little laugh, saying something about his duties and getting all embarrassed.

Holding your new coat a bit closer, you looked back out the window. You couldn't ask for a better crew. They strengthened your resolve to get everyone to their destination everyday. You made a mental note to pay both Mark and Celci back at some point. Maybe you could even be lucky enough to count them among your friends at the end of the journey.

[myherowritings]

PART 5. THE INHERENT EROTICISM OF BUTTONING SOMEONE’S CLOTHES

SUMMARY. Todoroki Shouto was a wealthy, young CEO who inherited his father’s enterprise. You were a barista at a local cafe who wouldn’t mind some extra cash. One day, Shouto came in during an early morning shift and tipped you such a large sum of money, you were certain it had to have been an accident. To your surprise and complete pleasure: It was not.

PAIRING. ceo!todoroki shouto x barista!reader

WORD COUNT. 3.0k

GENRE. ceo/barista au, fluff, eventual smut

WARNINGS. sexual tension !! and umm sexual frustration ;p, not explicit but prob rated 16+, just read the title of this chapter BAHAHA

A/N. sorry this is coming a little later than planned ! :( but i hope the dressing room scene can make up for it u.u tysm for reading and for all the feedback! enjoy :3 xx sof

SERIES MASTERLIST

© myherowritings — all rights reserved. reposting, modifying, copying, or translating of any kind is not allowed. do not read my writing as asmr. do not plagiarize.

What were you supposed to wear to a shopping date? you asked yourself. Not that today was a date or anything. Though maybe you sort of wished it were… 

The Naruhata Charity Gala was in a little over a week and Shouto would be coming over to pick you up in less than one hour and you still sat in your room with nothing but a towel on feeling more and more hopeless. 

It was a strange dilemma. He met you in your work apron wearing an unflattering work shirt and work pants. And when you met up over the weekend previously, you never paid too much mind on what you would wear. In fact, you were positive he wouldn’t even care how you looked. So why was it such a big deal to you now? 

Probably because of your recent admission of your growing feelings towards him, you thought crossly. 

In your defense, it wasn’t like it was your fault! Right? Seeing someone everyday… Wanting to see someone everyday… Texting regularly about the most random things, having the most banal objects you saw throughout the day remind you of something Shouto did or said… With all those occurrences it would’ve been practically impossible to not start crushing on him! 

Time passed as you stared at your ceiling blankly. If you kept this up, he was bound to show up in your house and find you half-naked. (Now that you mentioned it, that didn’t sound like the worst idea. But it wasn’t something you’d randomly spring upon someone.)

“Get up, Y/N!” you scolded yourself, rolling off your bed and heading towards your closet. 

In the end, you ended up settling for another variation of your usual go-to outfit and called it a day. It happened to be perfect timing since, by the time you finished getting ready, you got a new message on your phone. 

Shouto: Parked in front of your place

Shouto: Sorry I’m a little early. You can take your time getting ready :)

Y/N: it’s okay i’m ready now!! 

After hitting send, you put your shoes on, gathering your belongings you wanted to bring with you, and headed out the door. Excited to hang out with Shouto again, you walked with a skip in your step down the path until you reached his car. 

“Hi!” You waved through his half-opened, tinted window. To no one’s surprise, his car was a sleek black color with dark, tinted windows, and gold details along the sides. If it didn’t look so oddly sexy you would’ve laughed at how cutely dorky he was for matching his car with his credit card. “This is one hot car.”

He turned his head to the side when you entered the passenger’s seat. “Should I turn the AC higher?” 

“Huh— Oh!” You stifled a giggle when you processed the pun he made. “You’re funny, Shouto.” 

He only looked a little confused. “Thank you.” 

The interior of his car was no less—for lack of better term—sexy than the outside. Leather seats, a large screen for the radio and carplay, and the dashboard and side doors lit up a nice blue color. 

“Pretty!” you complimented, poking at the colorful light.

“Want to pick a color?” 

Your eyes widened. “It can change colors?!” 

Shouto nodded.

“Can it be pink?” you asked intently. 

“Light pink or hot pink?”

“Light.”

He swiftly obliged and with a hit of a touchscreen button, the interior lighting changed from blue to pastel pink. 

“Green!”

It turned green.

“Orange!”

Cue the orange. 

“Purple?” 

Purple. 

Once you were thoroughly satisfied with Shouto showing you the whole color selection (you were almost embarrassed to admit it kept you entertained for a good ten minutes), you settled on a bright turquoise that reminded you of the color of his left eye. 

“Ooh, this color! My favorite,” you said simply, giving him a wide smile. 

A faint blush dusted his cheeks as he developed a sudden interest in adjusting his rearview mirror. “Hm.”

Shouto drove the rest of the way in a comfortable silence, occasionally asking how your week was outside of work and what type of outfit you wanted to wear so he could have a better idea on where to take you. 

“Did you eat?” he suddenly asked when he hit the next stoplight, one hand holding the wheel and the other resting comfortably on the gear shift. 

His hands looked nice and slender and soft to the touch. Pretty hands, you thought but shook yourself out of it because you could go down a rabbit hole of examining his hands and going into detail about them. 

You remembered the single, measly granola bar you had due to your rush getting ready. “I didn’t really eat yet, no. Did you?”

He shook his head and pulled into a food plaza with lots of stores to choose from. The two of you agreed on a noodle restaurant that apparently had some of the best cold soba (once you learned it was his favorite food, you wanted to be able to have some with him and today was the perfect opportunity to do just that) and promptly headed to the location. 

In the shop, a waiter sat the two of you down at a dimly lit booth with the perfect amount of ambience that if someone were to casually look over, they might even mistake this outing as a date. 

You grinned at the thought. 

“Excited for the soba?” asked Shouto, examining the smile on your face thoughtfully. 

That’s not why you were smiling, but it was close enough. “Mhm. And the udon. You can never go wrong with noodles!” 

Yes, you got both udon and soba. But in your defense, where else would the fun in life be if not in sugary sweets and carbs? 

As the two of you waited for your main dishes, you ate some fish cakes and edamame while talking about the ways in which capitalism could be dismantled. Rather sexy of him, if you did say so yourself. 

Before you knew it, you were done with your meal and headed back into his car to go fancy-people shopping. On the remainder of the ride, you asked yourself what color you should pick that would match well with both you and Shouto. After all, nothing said a cute couple who totally liked each other going on a totally real date to a gala like color-coordinated outfits, right?

He parked in front of a street of buildings with a dark glass reaching from ceiling to floor with security guards at the door. Just standing near it made you feel fancy. 

“This is a place my sister told me she liked,” he said, leading you to the store front with his hand on the small of your back to guide you. “I hope you’ll find something to your liking.”

You tried your best not to pay too much attention to the warmth you felt both on your back and your stomach from the fuzzy feelings that spread. 

“Hello, welcome!” the both of you were greeted as you walked through the doors. The interior of the store was lined with designer dresses, some long, some short, and all incredibly stunning. There were only a few other patrons in the store, but all of them looked so elegant as they tried on their dresses. “It’s so lovely to see you again Mr. Todoroki.”

Shouto nodded subtly. “Hello. This is Y/N, my date to the gala who’ll need your assistance today.”

“Hi!” you chimed in at his cue. “Nice to meet you.” 

The worker smiled and made her way over to you. “And you as well. I’m Masuda and I’ll do my best to make sure you leave the store satisfied with your purchase! Did you have a particular style or perhaps color in mind?”

“Umm,” you said sheepishly, looking around the wide variety of clothings and unsure where to start. “I’m not too sure. It’s my first time going to one of these things so maybe something comfortable, but also still...fancy?” You scratched the back of your neck. “Does that even exist?”

“Of course— Just have to find something that feels comfortable to you.” She told you to hold on one moment as she disappear into the rows of fabric. 

As Masuda collected some starter dresses for you to try on, a customer walked by with bags of clothes in her hands, her gaze lingering on Shouto, though neither of you paid her much mind. 

“In this setting, you look almost fit to be a sugar daddy,” you said jokingly, looking around in awe at the sophisticated yet lavish dresses. “You take all your sugar babies here?”

“Only the ones I really like,” he teased back. His voice was deadpan but there was the telltale hints of a smirk on his face to let you know he was only messing with you.

The door chimed to signal that a customer left and by then Masuda had returned with bundles of fabric draped on her arm. She led you away in a hurry and you hesitantly looked back at Shouto who followed in a safe distance. Seeing your moment of panic, he gave you an encouraging smile that somehow was enough to ease a significant fraction of your nerves. This may be new and confusing territory, but at least he was here to help you through it. 

Masuda set a dressing room up for you—it was one of those rooms in the middle of the store with curtains that reached the ceiling and mirrors all around—and placed a bunch of outfits she thought would suit your taste. It reminded you of when a bride would go wedding dress shopping with their family. When you had enough outfits for the first round, she told Shouto to sit down on a leather seat in front of your dressing room while he waited for you to try the different dresses on. 

In a way, it felt oddly intimate: Shouto sitting just a few feet in front of you as you undressed, only separated by the veil of a curtain. Would he offer to help button the back of your dress up, fingers brushing against your bare skin? The thought made you feel almost hot inside as you changed out of your street clothes and into the first dress. 

Unfortunately for you, this dress had no such difficult buttons to reach. 

“How’s it look?” you asked shyly as you emerged from the dressing room. 

The dress was pretty and didn’t feel uncomfortable to walk in, but there wasn’t any sort of attachment you felt towards it. In other words, it was simply...meh. 

Shouto looked up from his phone to take in the sight of you. He smiled. “You look amazing as always.” 

“You think so?” You spun around and curtseyed jokingly and he chuckled. “I don’t think it’s bad, but I’m not sure if it’s the right one.” 

“We’ll be here until you find the right one you want, then. Take your time, Y/N.” 

His voice was normally on the deeper side, but it sounded even more sensual and gravelly at this very moment. You felt goosebumps on your arms and it wasn’t just because of the sleeveless dress you currently had on. 

“T-Thanks, Shouto,” you murmured, turning around and walking back into the changing room to hide the look on your face. You didn’t even know what kind of look you had on your face, but you knew it was one that might give too much away. 

It wasn’t fair that he had to be so sweet and caring and thoughtful and handsome and rich… Most guys you met barely fit into one of those criteria, let alone all five. (Sure, the last two weren’t necessary in your opinion, but you couldn’t deny they were a nice bonus.) It was too bad you had no clue how he felt about you. 

There were moments where he felt flirty and teasing, like maybe he viewed you in a more-than-friends way. But other times he was so polite and proper and you couldn’t help but wonder if he was just being nice because that’s simply the sort of person he was to everyone. 

While you were trying to sort through all your thoughts, you completely forgot to change into a new dress the whole time you were in here. 

You saw a shadow at the floor of the curtain before a voice said, “Y/N? Are you okay in there?” 

Jumping at the sound, you scurried to put the next dress on, a blue one with almost translucent fabric and a delicate neckline. Judging from the proximity of Shouto’s voice and the shadow of his shoes, he was right next to you as you changed. 

“I’m okay!” you managed, hoping you didn’t sound as wobbly as you felt. You held the dress closed at the back, fumbling with the fastens. “I just, ah, needed help buttoning this one up.” 

A light ruffle on the curtain then a pause. “Should I...come in and help?” 

Your eyes widened, not expecting him to actually offer to button it up like you fantasized earlier. You fully thought he might called the worker to aide you just so he wouldn’t risk making you uncomfortable. (Not that he would’ve. At all.) 

“I apologize,” he said somewhat tensely after you didn’t respond. “That was indecent of me—”

“No, no!” you said profusely, poking your head out of the curtain while holding the fabric at the front of your dress to your chest. You tilted your chin to meet his gaze with a determined one of your own. “I’d love your help, Shouto.” 

With a dusting of pink coloring his cheeks, he nodded and entered your dressing room. “This dress is a nice color on you.” His voice was loud against the silence. 

Shouto ran his hand down the length of your spine and then up to unfold the column of buttons on your dress that curved inwards at your movement, his knuckles grazing against your skin like lightning striking water. You jolted at the sudden feeling but he didn’t remove his touch when he felt it.

“Sorry.” His voice was low, almost like a whisper. “Was just getting the buttons out.”

“N-No worries!”

His fingers began working on the bottom-most button at your lower back as he applied a steady pressure on the base of your spine to control the motion. Shouto slowly began his way up, fingertips cold to the touch. But you knew that wasn’t the only reason you felt yourself shiver. As he fastened the dainty buttons with immense concentration (much more concentration than was actually needed to fasten buttons, you were sure), you felt the heat of his breath tickling the back of your neck. You almost couldn’t keep yourself from arching your back in a mixture of anticipation and delight at his constant touch. 

When he finished the last button, Shouto let one hand rest on your hip, grasping the fabric between his fingertips to examine its silken texture. Your breath caught in your throat as you stepped back and bumped into his chest, but he was already there to steady you. 

With his arm on your waist and your back leaning against his chest, you made eye contact through the mirror in front of you. You weren’t sure if the pounding you felt was from your heart or his or a combination of both. 

There was something almost erotic about holding each others’ gaze in the mirror after Shouto just helped you dress, the two of you still not letting the other go despite the task being complete. 

“The dress… You look gorgeous,” he said, not taking his eyes off you for one moment. 

You nodded slowly. It did look amazing on you. And it was breathable and soft. (Plus, Shouto liked it, which made you happier than you’d care to admit.) “The only downside would be I need help getting into it.”

“We could get ready together so it’s no issue.” 

“I’d...also need help getting out of it.” 

You held your breath as his eyes darkened, his grip on your waist tightening ever so slightly in a way that made you curve your back before you remembered you were flush against Shouto and he could feel even the most subtle of movements coming from your body. But by the time you stopped yourself, it was too late. He already felt it and you wanted more.

His voice was hoarse. “I could help you with that too.”

Instead of beginning to unbutton the dress like part of you thought he would, he surprised you by spinning you around to face him, your shoulder blades pressed against the cool glass of the mirror and your palms lingering on the muscles of his warm chest. The contrast of the cold glass and Shouto’s body heat left a shiver down your spine.

“And how do you plan to help take off my dress when you can’t even see the buttons?” you said challengingly, a smirk on your face despite knowing full well your body was showcasing just how affected you were by this situation. By Shouto.

He tilted his head to the side in response to your daring tone, hands swiftly finding their way to your back and unbuttoning the top five buttons. It wasn’t enough to completely expose your breasts, but it was enough to loosen the fabric at the neckline in a way that made you gasp. 

“Seems doable to me,” he commented. 

You tugged him down slightly by the collar of his shirt. “I don’t quite believe you. Maybe you should prove it.” 

A guttural noise sounded from the back of his throat as he cupped your jaw and leaned in closer. You inched forward, eager to meet his lips. But before they could touch, a knock came from the wall next to the curtain, causing the two of you to freeze in your spots, bodies pressed against each other in an intimate flush.

“Hello, Y/N?” said Masuda cheerfully, blissfully ignorant about what was about to happen in a public dressing room in the middle of the store. “How are the dresses coming along? Did you like any?”

“Ah, actually…” you trailed off, exchanging frustrated but amused glances with Shouto. “I think we’ll take this one.”

a/n: so...mirror sex/sex in a dressing room as a bonus chapter? u.u why yes of course. i’m one step ahead; did u even have to ask? LMAO and hm i wonder if y/n’s fEeLiNGs~ are reciprocated skfkfkdg ALSO THEY WERE SO CLOSE TO KISSING BUT DIDN’T I CRY hopefully the wait will be worth it ;3

what to expect in the next part:

GALA TIMEEEE

yes y/n finally gets the fancy candy they so desired

we get to see shouto’s sexy penthouse

shouto says eat the rich >:c

[mais-nerdy-corner]

❝𝕲𝖑𝖆𝖉𝖎𝖔𝖑𝖚𝖘❞ | 𝕶𝖔𝖐𝖔𝖒𝖎 𝖝 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗

Synopsis: The flower that symbolises strength, victory and pride was securely held in her hands as she stood there in front of your grave. Once known as a childhood friend, the closest confidant and a fellow comrade of the Divine Priestess of Watatsumi Island, she retold the tales where one mistake eventually led you to your death.

Pairing: Kokomi x Reader

Genre: Angst

Note: I highly recommend to listen to 'The Sound of Rain' by BigRicePiano as you read through the story, man I literally cried when I thought about the scenarios while listening to it :')

Soft sounds of thunder rumbling can be heard in the distance as the clouds began to gather in the sky, with small droplets of rain starting to fall back to the world of Teyvat. The sky seems a lot more gloomy, a rather rare atmosphere for Watatsumi Island. Well maybe, that's what the Divine Priestess of Watatsumi Island is currently feeling.

As she walks through the forest of purple trees, Kokomi holds a bouquet full of gladiolus flowers in her hands. The colors ranges from white to yellow, orange, pink and purple, creating a sunset sort of gradient. She continued walking until she spotted a larger tree on a hill, with a stone monument under the tree.

"Hi Y/n, it's been a while since I last visited you. So sorry, my duty as the Divine Priestess has been getting in the way...and recently we had a Victory Feast to celebrate our victory. Wish you could have been there, you would love the lively and spirited atmosphere there hehe," Kokomi said as she walked over to your grave.

Kokomi soon noticed the amount of fallen leaves scattered around the tree and your grave.

"It's rare for anyone to visit you other than me huh? Goodness, look how dirty your grave is. Let me clean it up for you," Kokomi sighed.

She then summoned her bake-kurage jellyfish from the ground, carrying the stacks of leaves on its' bell/hood and moving it elsewhere. After it's cleaned, she placed the bouquet of gladiolus on your grave and kneeled down beside it.

"I got you your favorite flowers, they're gladiolus as per usual. Reminds me of the ones you used to have in your backyard and around your house..."

Kokomi stayed there slowly caressing the stone monument until she heard a familiar voice calling out to her.

"Kokomi, where are you? We're here just like you asked."

Kokomi got up from the ground and approached the two people coming from the opposite direction, Paimon and the Traveler. The Traveler was holding a navy blue colored wagasa as Paimon floats around them.

"You didn't bring an parasol with you? Here, we can share the wagasa I brought. I'm sure Paimon wouldn't mind," the Traveler offered.

"Yeah, otherwise we would be scolded by the shrine maidens if they knew that we kept you in the rain and got sick because of that," Paimon said.

"No, it's alright. It's just drizzling, something not too extreme won't make me sick," Kokomi responded.

Paimon and the Traveler simply nodded before Paimon asked, "So what are we going to do here? Ooh, please tell Paimon that we're going to have picnic or something!"

Kokomi let out a small giggle while the Traveler faceplamed in disbelief and embarrassment. Paimon then looked at the both of them in confusion and asked, "Uhh... did Paimon said something wrong? Paimon was just asking."

Kokomi patted the small floating companion's head as she replied, "No worries, there's absolutely nothing wrong with what you said earlier. I just want to show you a place that I cherish dearly, a place that I often visit in my spare time."

Kokomi turned around and stepped aside, showing the grave under the tree on the hill. Paimon and the Traveler stared at it in surprise, 'Is this a grave of one of her ancestors?' they thought.

"Whose grave is this Kokomi? Is it one of your ancestors'?" Paimon asked.

Kokomi shook her head as she signals to come closer. She sat back down where she was before while the Traveler and Paimon sat on the opposite side of your grave.

"Let me tell you a tale about a friend of mine."

Young Kokomi once snuck out of her studies and went to the upper-level of Bourou Village to get some fresh air. She put her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath, after running for a while from the shrine maidens that might caught her in the act.

Kokomi then noticed a butterfly that flew by in front of her, heading towards a flower box full of gladiolus flowers. She was awestruck by the sight before her eyes, the number of butterflies dancing around these flowers are unbelievable.

Without realizing, Kokomi was drawn by the scene in front of her as she slowly walked towards it. She was very surprised when someone suddenly pulled her hand from behind, almost screaming even.

"Hey hey, it's okay. We can look at the butterflies from here or we'll scare them away."

Kokomi turned to look at the person who was talking, and turns out it was a child around her age. They seem to be someone from the village judging by the clothes they're wearing. The child seems to notice Kokomi staring at them as they smiled back at her and return to look at the butterflies.

Kokomi slightly blushed out of embarrassment, shyly looked away and covered her face with her hands. The child beside her just giggled, causing Kokomi to uncover her face and stared in confusion.

"There is nothing for you to be embarrassed of, princess."

"Wha--what?!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Hehe, oh come on. Just from your clothes, I can already tell that you are the daughter of the current Divine Priestess of Watatsumi Island. Your name is Sangonomiya Kokomi, right? My name is Y/n, let's be friends!"

Over the next few years, your friendship with Kokomi grew stronger. From time to time during her free time, she would go to visit you at your house, eating snacks and drinking tea as she admired the butterflies fluttering amongst the fields of gladiolus flowers. Or sometimes you would come to her study room window and sneak her out of there. If you were very unlucky on those days, you might got caught and got scolded by the shrine maidens. Oh well, what else can you do about it?

Then, that day has arrived. The day that Kokomi is crowned the next Divine Priestess of Watatsumi Island. She was walking back and forth, nervous about what the people think of her. You noticed her behavior and decided to walked over to her, hoping to be able to provide some comfort.

"Oh, Y/n...*sigh* I don't think I'm the right person for this position. Governing is not my forte, you know that I excelled at something else. People are unfathomable...how can I know what their hearts desire?" Kokomi doubted herself.

"Come on Kokomi, you've studied for this position all your life. Surely you would rule just fine," you assured her as you fix some parts of her kimono.

You can still see the doubt in her eyes, so you added, "Well you see, during the times i snuck into your study room, I read quite a lot of the books you studied. So at least I have some knowledge about it. Then I shall rule beside you as your advisor of some sort, and guide you to the right path."

Kokomi slightly blushed at your little pledge, but smiled sincerely as you managed to calm her down. You bowed down before her and kissed her hand.

"I will always be loyal to you, princess. And I will make sure that I will keep my promise until the day of my death."

So, there you were, standing amongst the crowd smiling proudly as you watched Kokomi giving her speech to her people. From time to time, she will look at you and smiled, then returning to focus on her speech.

Later after the speech, you would bring her to a not so discreet place, your own humble abode. Just by looking at the butterflies and beautiful array of gladiolus flowers relaxed Kokomi while you water the flowers.

"So, if I remembered it correctly, you said you have something to tell me. What is it, Y/n?" Kokomi pointed out.

"Oh, right, about that..." you said in a calm tone as you walked over to Kokomi and sat down beside her. "Well, I don't really how to start this so...why don't I just show you directly."

You then pulled out something from inside your (favorite color) haori, and it was a...

"A Vision?! Y/n, this is great news! When did you get it?" Kokomi said in astonishment.

"It was quite some time ago, I don't really remember exactly when..."

"Which from the seven elements is it?" she then asked.

"It's an Anemo Vision. Hmm, I don't think it's compatible with your Hydro Vision though..."

"No, it's okay. You don't need to worry about that. I think it actually suits you very well, Y/n," Kokomi said.

"Huh? How come?"

"Well, you are quite free-spirited, calm and an amicable person. I guess that covers the nature of someone who has an Anemo Vision," she explained.

"Yeah, I guess that makes a lot of sense..."

You then laughed together as you both enjoyed the beautiful sunset sky.

Then came the day, the day you found out about the Vision Hunt Decree. A few days before it, you set out on a trip to Narukami Island. Since you were little you've always wanted to explore the outside world, and now's your chance.

"Your advisor will be gone for a days. You won't miss them while they're away, will you?"

"Well it depends, but I always know that you'll come back to me," Kokomi said.

You simply nodded and was about to turn around to board the Waverider, but Kokomi quickly grabbed your hand.

"Wait!"

"Hmm? What is it, Your Excellency?"

Kokomi suddenly draped an eggplant colored cloak on you, leaving you questioning her actions.

"What is this cloak for, Your Excellency?"

"I just thought you might need it, and...we don't know much about the weather out there either. So if you're cold, at least you have this cloak to keep you warm," Kokomi managed to come up with an excuse.

Actually, Kokomi doesn't want you to leave yet so she's trying to find a way to keep you on the island. But, then again, this is your dream since childhood and this is your chance. So like it or not, she has to let you go.

"Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Your Excellency. I shall take my leave now."

As Kokomi watched your Waverider getting further and further away from Watatsumi Island, for the first time in her life, she felt... lonely. In her early childhood, she didn't think much about friendship. But since meeting and befriending you, her thoughts have changed. Kokomi actually enjoyed having company of someone she knew so well, she can vent to you and receive comfort and advice from you, and whatever hard times she's going through, you would always be there for her.

She just sighed and went back to the Sangonomiya Shrine to finish her work.

As for you after days of long journey, you finally arrived at Narukami Island. You started by going to Ritou, where merchants from different nations hang around, trade and offer their nation's best specialties.

In Inazuma City, there were less foreigners but still crowded with people. You can enjoy the beautiful view of the falling cherry blossoms at Hanamizaka, or shop on the busiest street in all of Inazuma. It was certainly quite different from what you'd normally see in Watatsumi Island, and you felt happy to be able to experience and see it for yourself. But that happiness didn't last long, when a Tenryou Commission soldier announced something to the public.

"Attention, citizens of Inazuma! Here are the latest news from the Tenryou Commission. Please read it carefully on the bulletin board."

People began to gather in front of the bulletin board to find out the latest news, including you. Because of the amount of people and with you being in the back, you couldn't see what is written on the piece of paper that is placed on the board.

"Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me what's the news on the bulletin board?" you asked a different soldier from the one before.

"Oh, you can't see it because there are a lot of people? Here, have this. We printed out many so that we can put it on other bulletin boards in Inazuma City, or even in Ritou. Have a good day!"

When you started reading the contents of the latest news, your heart sank the moment you read one particular part of the news. Not wanting to waste any more time, you decided to head back to Watatsumi Island.

News of your sudden return spread quickly throughout the island, eventually reaching the Sangonomiya Shrine where Kokomi was doing some paperwork.

"Eh? Y/n's back already? But, what happened? Did they run into some sort of trouble on Narukami Island?" Kokomi asked question after question.

She later can hear hurried footsteps from outside her room, and suddenly the door to the room opened to reveal your breathless self.

"Apologies for barging into your room in such unworthy manner, Your Excellency."

Honestly, at that time Kokomi was very happy to see you again, but just from the look on your face it seems like something very serious has happened.

"Y/n, you came back a lot earlier than I expected. Is there something urgent that you want to inform me about?" Kokomi asked, keeping a serious expression.

"Please, have a look at this."

You handed over the piece of paper to Kokomi and she began reading the contents.

"What should we do about this situation, Your Excellency?"

"Of course we're going to fight for what's right," Kokomi said as she walked away from her desk. "From this moment forth, I say we form a resistance group opposing the Vision Hunt Decree, and declare war against the Shogunate!"

So that time has come, where many young men signed up to join the resistance. And this is where your life won't ever be the same.

As time passed, you've gained respect from your fellow soldier and have mastered the ability to use your Vision. You even made yourself acquainted with the respectful, prestigious, humble and trustful general himself, General Gorou.

You were assigned as a Gorgasia Platoon Captain, commanding a number of soldiers on the frontline. Mostly patrolling around the areas of Yashiori Island and sometimes Nazuchi Beach, this probably is where Kokomi's mistake might have started.

Well, you see, there's this person named Nathan who claims to be from Mondstadt. His reason for joining the resistance is because he's from the City of Freedom, thus didn't agree with the Shogunate's oppressive regime. In reality, he was a double agent for the Fatui who joined in hopes of sabotaging and prolonging the conflict.

Apparently, he was involved with certain Orobashi fanatics who sought to restore the 'glory' of their slain god. He researched the Shogun's wards on Yashiori Island and devised a way to break them, something the plan's members believed would restore Orobashi's 'dignity'. So on the day you were dispatched to Yashiori Island on another patrol months before the Traveler's arrival, he carried out his plan.

"From here, we will split into two groups. I'll take the first group to Nazuchi Beach, while you guys will patrol here. I trust you won't do anything unwise while I'm away, got it?"

"Yes Captain."

Right after you left, they did just the opposite. Under Nathan's direction, they started destroying the wards which unleashed the Tatarigami, causing people on the island to fall ill or go mad. It wasn't long before the effects of the Tatarigami began to show. After just a few hours of patrolling, some soldiers from the group you lead started to feel sick and collapsed. Seeing the number of soldiers who suddenly fell ill, you ordered everyone to retreat.

Arriving back at the campsite, soldiers who didn't took part in the patrol helped transporting the soldiers who fell ill to the field hospital. Unfortunately it seems that you can't escape the Tatarigami's effects either, as you suddenly collapsed minutes after arriving at the camp.

The news about you succumbing to this unknown illness makes Kokomi feel heartbroken. How could she let this happen to you? Immediately under her direct order, you were sent back home to Watatsumi Island.

Kokomi insisted that she would take care of you by herself, but you would be watched over by the shrine maidens whenever she's busy or away. She built this secret room in her secret cave hideout that can be accessed by a lever hidden behind a bookshelf. It has a circular platform in the center surrounded by a shallow pool filled with water, with a single bed on the center platform. That's where you last lay until the day you died.

As for your position in the resistance, has been handed over to your most trusted soldier. And most of your jobs and soldiers under your leadership has been handed over to Gorou.

Moments later, The Traveler arrived at Inazuma and they have helped the resistance a lot since they joined. Together, they won several battles, uncover many secrets and been there for each other during difficult times. And after months of fighting for their freedom, their war with the Shogun's Army came to an end and the Vision Hunt Decree was finally abolished.

(Recommended to listen to this song as you read this part)

"Have you heard it, Y/n? They have abolished the Vision Hunt Decree. We won, we've finally won...!" said Kokomi who felt touched as she holds your weak hand and started to tear up.

You simply nodded as you can still hear soldiers cheering from outside the cave because of your frail and weaken condition. Also can be seen a purple 'shadow' covering your forehead and purple veins creeping from your neck up to your cheek. Your labored breathing and your often half-lidded or closed eyes clearly said that you're on your last leg.

At this point, your illness is incurable. After surviving the Tatarigami for so long, all she can do is watch and wait since there were no records of someone actually recovering from the illness. Turns out those numerous treatments and medications only prolonged your life, not curing it fully. But it still gave you enough time to feel the sense of freedom again just like the one you felt before.

"I already knew you could do it, Your Excellency.... You've read many military treatises from all over Teyvat since you were young, you have a natural talent for strategy...."

"Please drop the formalities, Y/n... We've known each other for so long now and you haven't been working for me for months. Also, it's my fault for letting you got sick like this... I should have thought about my choice of assigning you to the Gorgasia Platoon more carefully, and...and--"

You interrupted Kokomi by putting both of her hands on her cheeks with your remaining strength, and shushing her as you wiped her tears away.

"Shhh....it's okay, stop blaming yourself for my illness....You know, life doesn't always go the way you want it to. So it's only natural that such things happen without us knowing it."

"Yeah...I guess you are right. Your wise words has always comforted me, Y/n. So thank you, I really appreciate it," Kokomi said smiling again.

You smiled back at her before getting interrupted by a series of coughs, alarming Kokomi in the process.

"Y/n..! H-here, let me have your pillows propped up. There's an extra pillow stored under your bed," Kokomi said.

The coughing subsided after you moved to a better position, laying slump against the pillows. To lighten up the atmosphere a little bit, Kokomi started to talk about the Traveler.

"Have you heard about the Traveler that helped us during the war?"

"The current Captain of Swordfish II? Heard some stories here and there, overall they seem to be a nice person."

"Has someone visited you recently while I was away?" Kokomi asked.

"News travels fast with the wind, Kokomi. Their heroic actions in several nations and ability to use the elements without a Vision, that's definitely something you don't see everyday. They are certainly friends who will always be with you after I'm gone...haha..."

The room went silent for a while, only the calming sound of water droplets falling can be heard. Until, you decided to break the silence with a request.

"Can you...hold me, Kokomi?"

"Eh? S-sure, I'll hold you..." Kokomi said being snapped out of her thoughts.

She nervously climbed into your bed and gently cradling you, leaning your somewhat cold body against hers.

"...Odd isn't it? We've been friends for so long and yet this is the first time we've been so close to each other..."

Seemingly out of nowhere, you felt water droplets falling on and rolling down your cheek. Your mind was cloudy but at that time, you were sure you weren't crying. Then you remembered, Kokomi was the one who was crying at that time.

"Stop crying for me, princess. Your face doesn't look as beautiful as when you smile."

Ah, there it is. 'Princess', your pet name for Kokomi when you were younger. Oh how much she misses you calling her by that name. Even when you're literally dying, you would still make those cheesy remarks you used to make.

"But--but...! You are my first friend, my advisor, my everything...How am I supposed to live without you?" she pleaded.

"You have the Traveler, Gorou and the others... It may not seem like it, but they're your friends too, Kokomi."

Even if you say that, Kokomi is still crying at the thought of letting you go. She will once again feel lonely, just like that day.

"I love you...Kokomi..."

"Wha...? Wait, Y/n--!"

And just like that, you went limp in her arms. Soon, a passing breeze can be felt in the room. Your soul has really gone with the wind.

Still holding onto your lifeless body, Kokomi pressed her forehead against yours as her tears continued to stream down her face.

"I love you too, Y/n..."

"Oh, so that's why you were so protective about that lever we found behind those bookshelf... It's okay, it's quite understandable to be honest. Paimon knows how it feels when the Traveler takes Paimon's delicious foods," Paimon commented.

The Traveler sweatdropped as they glared at Paimon, thinking it's mostly the other way around. Kokomi giggled at Paimon's remarks, relieving the Traveler and Paimon were able to make her not as upset as before.

"Sorry if I came off as rude or harsh, I didn't mean to. You know how important that room is to me," Kokomi apologized.

It was suddenly quiet for a while, with the Traveler and Paimon still processing Kokomi's story earlier.

"Speaking of food, would you like to eat something? It seems like the two of you are hungry," she suddenly brought up.

"Yeah, now that's more like it! Come on, come on~! Let's hurry back, Paimon can hardly wait!" Paimon exclaimed in a hurry, dragging the Traveler in the process.

Kokomi sighed at the sight of the two before caressing the stone monument of your grave.

"Well, it looks like I have to go now Y/n. I know it's only for a short time and I'm spent more time talking to them. But don't worry, I'll be back sooner or later," Kokomi bade farewell.

"Come on, Kokomi. The Traveler's going to make you some Bird Egg Sushi~!"

"Ah, coming!"

[Author's Note]: Guess who loss their 50/50 on Xiao's rerun banner to Qiqi recently? Ah of course, that's me :') *cries in broke*

Anyways, first fic for the year 2022! And let's start it off with an angst, yay!

Publication date: January 15th 2022