#luci with his ribbon like a big gift

[makolokgneh]

so... I have some stuff waiting

I was learning about the tango being a battle for the lead... I couldn't resist... here u go

[inamagicalhallucination]

ok gift giving is a big part of atsushi’s love language 

this wasn’t meant to be long but-

whether its becuz the tiger’s cat-desire to hunt for the agency translated to something more human (along with cooking but my cooking atsushi headcanons will pop out sometime else) or just becuz atsushi has never been gifted anything pre-agency and to him its something very precious who knows

it’s not that he spends ages pouring over what to give the agency members (well not always) its more like if he goes to the store and sees a type of candy ranpo likes he’ll buy it for him

when atsushi’s new at wanting to give his loved ones gifts, he does over think it tho cmon its atsushi

like he’ll see a nice pen, buy it for kunikida, but then he’ll feel like its such a dumb little thing and he should’ve put more effort into a gift because of that he ends up hoarding a lot of trinkets becuz he’ll see them and buy them as presents but be too shy to give them up

(and he’ll also spend ages pouring over what the perfect present for everyone would be but always finding some fault in his ideas)

it’s not until dazai’s breaking into atsushi’s apartment to teach him the joys of stealing other people’s credit cards that he notices a neat stack of containers with atsushi’s friends and stuff’s name on it and asks atsushi about it that something ever happens

dazai: don’t tell me atsushi, you were planning on chopping us all up and storing us into these containers ? u’d need bigger ones for that by the way

atsushi, horrified: WHAT?? of course not!!! these are-

atsushi, flustered: these are just things that i dont know i bought becuz i thought you’d like them. but theyre silly so i didn’t give-

dazai, already opening his own box: ATSUSHI!

atsushi, trying to pull him away: what

dazai, pulling out a tiny void eyed black cat keychain: did you buy this for me? how did you know i wanted it?

atsushi:

atsushi: you wanted it?

dazai, lying but atsushi doesn’t need to know that: yeah i wanted something like this. how cruel atsushi, buying it and storing it away~ not giving it to me :(

atsushi, pleased and happy: do you um want to look at the other stuff ?

//

so essentially dazai in his own strange way of not actually addressing the problem convinces atsushi to give his silly little gifts to the agency members

(and tho he did not want anything like the keychain before, he’s quite pleased by it and all the other things that atsushi got for him)

so atsushi in a moment of joy and happiness places all the containers in front of each members door with his name signed and bolts (kyouka’s is placed near her stuff right before he leaves since he wakes up before her) (things for non-agency members like lucy are left in places where they work/hang out a lot) (fukuzawa’s in front of his office doors)

//

the morning at work, atsushi’s shaking with nervousness 

the first one to arrive after him is kunikida (who’s usually the first to arrive)

kunikida greets atsushi politely - theres something about him that seems different, a little red on his cheeks but atsushi cant tell what; he’s too busy being relieved that kunikida isn’t upset about his gifts

when kunikida opens his book, the pen he pulls out is the one atsushi gifted him and atsushi is immediately filled with warmth and contentment (when he moves his head, atsushi notices that his hair is tied with the ribbon atsushi gave him)

kunikida doesn’t say anything but his gratitude and his appreciation for atsushi’s gifts is clear (also he may or may not ruffle atsushi’s hair more than usual that day)

//

after kunikida and dazai’s appreciation, atsushi is more excited about everyone’s reactions

junichiro is flustered and pleased and thanks him profusely, grinning the entire day - naomi tells him about each gift and why she likes it 

kenji tries to gift him a cow which is banned from the office by kunikida - who points out that atsushi wouldn’t know what to do with it, so kenji comes back with chickens, and then after the same thing happens, gives atsushi stuff from his garden

haruno and the other staff all thank atsushi with hugs or shoulder pats

ranpo doesn’t look at atsushi as he approaches him but he’s wearing the pins atsushi bought him and the fact that he’s holding out a candy for atsushi to take is telling enough

yosano thanks him fiddling with the bracelet atsushi bought

kyouka apologizes for not giving him anything and atsushi has to explain to her that he’s just getting gifts becuz he wants to not becuz he wants them to give hm something back 

fukuzawa does the old person affection thing by placing his hand on atsushi head ya know the thing

anyway

lucy is blushing when he goes down to the cafe and calls him dumb and then gives him extra cake so-

//

the only person who atsushi’s bought gifts for but hasn’t given them to is akutagawa

their relationship isn’t as hostile as before but atsushi doesn’t know what to do with it but he thinks theres a tiny chance that akutagawa might like them so he makes up his mind and ships them to him (he does not include a return address or his name)

akutagawa, climbing through atsushi’s window a few days later: it was you wasn’t it?

atsushi: stop climbing through my window asshole????

akutagawa, coughing and showing atsushi the black bracelet atsushi got him: answer me

atsushi, remembering the gifts, flushing: wh-what ? noooo-  I uh. I mean i don’t know what you’re talking about

akutagawa: it has to be you. no one else would give me something as strange as a plastic skeleton

atsushi, weakly: it fit ur aesthetic ?

akutagawa, ‘glaring’ at him: 

atsushi: ...sorry?

akutagawa, looking away, coughing, ears red: whatever. i don’t like being in debt. tell me what you want, i’ll buy it for u

atsushi: oh no no no. you don’t have to do that! honest. it was just a few silly things that reminded me of... you... r u okay ur face’s red

akutagawa, grabbing atsushi and pulling him towards the window: shut up im buying u dinner

atsushi, very confused: ok?

anyway yeah

might add a part 2 becuz i wasn’t gonna post the start of atsushi giving gifts but just him giving ppl gifts but i cant help myself

also howd akutagawa get here

[enoe-of-noen]

Apple’s Birthday

Forgot to do art for his bday soo, happy late birthday my Luci pookie <3

Mc walked back from the store happily, practically skipping their way home. The demons around them looked at them curiously, giving weird looks. Why was the human so jolly today?

Mc took out their keys and opened the doors to HOL, bolting to Lucifer’s room. Almost tripping on the stairs, they caught some of the brothers’ attention. “Mc? What’s got ya in such a hurry?” Mammon appeared. “Sup Mams, trying to get something to Luci.”

“Eh? Mc, Mc!~ Is that little gift for our dear Lucifer?~” Asmodeus sprung up behind them, draping his arms over Mc’s shoulders. “Oh yeah, it’s his birthday today.” Mammon murmured.

“Should we get him a cake?” Beelzebub walked to the trio, chips in hands. “Ah! Good idea!” Mammon grinned.

“At least make it your money this time, Mammon, lol,” Leviathan leaned against Beelzebub, playing on his switch. “I do not need to witness last year’s fiasco again,” Mc chuckled.

“Oh come on, Mc! Cut me some slack, I was low on grimm!”

“You always are,” Belphegor yawned. “Where’s Satan?” Mc raised a brow. “Outside, he found a litter of cats.” Belphegor mumbled. Leviathan looked up from his game and noticed the box in Mc’s hands. “What’s that?”

“Luci’s gift, something I bought and something I made. I’m really proud of it,” Mc grinned. “Aww, that’s so cute, Mc!” Asmodeus kissed their cheek. “Thanks, Asmo.”

“Lucifer’s really busy right now, though,” Beelzebub said through chews. “Ugh, on his birthday?” Leviathan furrowed his brows. “Huh, I thought at least Diavolo would give him a day off.” Mammon scratched his chin.

“I’ll ask him about it,” Mc pat Asmodeus off of them and continued walking to Lucifer’s room.

Arriving at the doors, Mc knocked lightly. “Who is it?” A voice came from behind. “It’s Mc, Lucifer.” Mc heard muffled steps and the doors unlock, a tired Lucifer smiling at them. They noticed the eye bags and the unkept hair instantly. They slightly frowned.

“Afternoon, Mc. Did you have a good day?”

“Yeah, I did. Can I come inside, please? I have something to show you.” They peered inside and saw the big piles of paper and visibly grimaced. Lucifer chuckled at their expression.

“I’ll make it quick if you’re too busy…” they pouted. “I’m never too busy for you, Mc. Come in.” He held the door open for them like a gentleman, slowly closing it behind them. Mc glared at the papers.

“Mc, you don’t need to worry. Diavolo simply forgot a lot of things that were due by the end of the week and I figured I could take the responsibility.”

“But on your birthday?”

“Not to worry, this was of my own choice.”

“I figured, Diavolo probably tried to give you the day, didn’t he?” Mc sighed. Lucifer rubbed the back of his neck nervously, albeit ashamed. “I know you hold yourself as the responsible one, as Diavolo’s most trusted friend and all but…” Mc kept staring at the papers. Lucifer followed their gaze and sighed himself, raking a hand through his hair.

“Forgive me, Mc. I never meant to make you worry. However-”

“Lucifer.” Mc sternly stared, interrupting his train of thought. His breath hitched. He felt himself crumble in front of them, relaxing his shoulders. The way they softly spoke to him, yet their eyes…their eyes. They have beautiful eyes.

Mc blinked and looked down at their box. Lucifer raised a brow. “This is for you.” They held it up to him. It made Lucifer’s heart race. “For…me?” His voice filled with fondness, carefully holding the box. “Can I?”

“Of course.” Mc smiled. Lucifer meticulously yet effortlessly pulled the blue ribbon off and opened to find a card, a hair clip, and a poison apple in its own little box.

“Oh, Mc. These are wonderful.” Lucifer looked in front of him and made a little noise to see no Mc.

“Psst,” Mc’s cheekily chirped. Lucifer looked down and saw Mc sitting on the ground, patting the spot in front of them. “Sit.”

“Mc, it might be easier to sit on the chairs,” Lucifer said as he sat down. “I want to show off the gifts,” Mc pointed at the box. Lucifer took the card out and opened it to see a little paper cutout of himself.

“Oh? What’s this?”

“I made a doodle of you. It’s cute, yeah?”

“You’ve been spending a little too much time with Leviathan, haven’t you?”

“Excuse you, I’ve always been artsy!” Mc feigned frustration, making Lucifer laugh. Lucifer pulled out the hair clip and raised a brow. The hair clip seemed to be handmade, the eldest born’s symbol and apples plastered the surface.

“Seriously?”

“Yes, let me put it on you,” Mc scooched next to him and carefully took the hair clip from Lucifer’s hand. They pulled some of his hair back and placed the hair clip. “Comfy?”

“Yes.” He breathlessly sighed, a red tint covering his cheeks. Mc’s gentle touch made him lean into their warmth. “Oh?” Mc caressed his hair and chuckled. Lucifer let himself rest in Mc’s arms, slowly closing his eyes.

“Thank you, Mc,” he whispered. Mc smiled as they tucked the hair behind Lucifer’s ear and kissed his forehead.

“Any day, my sweet apple.”

Ayy I’m proud of this one

[deadlypastelcutieart]

“Living in this human world is always so wonderful, bwah!”

Name: Kelly Rabbia

Nicknames: “Sugar-bun” (John), “Sweet sis” (Molly), “Dolly rabbid” (Some of the rabbids), “Madame Kelly” (Lapinbernautis), “Miss ribbons” (Dr.Mad Rabbid), “Pathetic one” (Professor Barraco 3rd), “what’s your face” (Erin)

Age: 26

Birthday: June, 18,1997

Species: Rabbid

Gender: Female

Sexuality: asexual (currently married)

Height: 2.5”

Weight: 120

Relationships: John “Pilot rabbid” (Husband), Molly (Older sister), Ricky (Son), Sunny (Daughter), Cody (Son), Denny (Son), Lucy (Daughter.)

Personality:

A very kind and gentle rabbid who loves everyday life! She takes things respectfully and wouldn’t want to barge in. She would be the one who would often give gifts as a thank you after a favor. When given a task she would do it immediately and try not to slack off. Like most rabbids, she’s fascinated by the world around her but at least she does understand human life and how it functions. Which is why she would correct other rabbids in the best way she can. If any rabbid is feeling down, she’s always there to comfort her friends and family.

However she’s mostly a shy rabbid who’s not the best at being brave. She struggles in standing up to herself due to her anxiety getting the best of her. She would sometimes freeze when she’s confronted with danger. When dealing with conflict she tries to find peace and explain politely, even if the problem is not her fault. But she gets super nervous towards very strict rabbids, for example her leader Professor Barraco the 3rd. Which she does her best to get on his best side. She can be super sensitive when threatened or yelled at, which leads her to cry. 

Bio:

Kelly was born during the time the first group rabbids started their mission to the moon. She was raised by her mother, father, and her older sister Molly in a little shed hidden in a forest away from the other rabbids. Due to all the other rabbids shaming her parents for siding with humans during the great rabbid invasion to earth from their homeworld, both her and her sister weren't allowed to go outside because of their parents' concern. However Kelly would get dragged by her rebellious sister to the outside. And with that Molly would show Kelly the wonders that the human world has to offer! Kelly became just like her sister being fascinated with human life and even learned a couple of things. Unfortunately She and Molly got caught at one point by their parents and were angry with them from going outside. At first Molly was upset, but at least Kelly was always here to comfort her big sister. Which led her to becoming more compassionate and humble towards others. 

A couple of years later after the moon mission was successful and more rabbids were becoming more accepting to stay on earth while her parents became more visible to other rabbids and accepted them very well, her parents allowed her and her sister to go outside whenever they wanted! That made the two happy and that led to her to try out learning more about human life and even decided to work with humans. She tried working at different places like a bakery and a retail shop, but no human would ever hire rabbids due to how humans despise these little animals. And of course with this discrimination she was facing really made her sad. But it wasn’t till she was found by a woman who works at a therapy animal organization and decided to hire her as a comfort animal or “therapy rabbid” who would often visit hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, and schools to comfort those who need some care. And that was what Kelly was best for. Her generosity and sweet personality was loved by the people she gave comfort to and would often try to entertain and talk to them. She loves her job, and still goes out to do therapy work everyday.

Few years later after receiving enough money thanks to her job, she decided to leave her home and move to a junkyard that was home to many rabbids who decided to recite here. She was then discovered by the leader of the rabbids, Professor Barraco the 3rd, who asked her if she was interested in being an assistant for his secret human research organization. She gladly offers to help, which she learns he knew her parents before she was born and is fascinated by her relationship with humans. But as she continued to work with him on researching human life and sometimes being his secretary.. He started to like her a bit, but still he doesn't like her heartwarming but weak personality. 

It wasn’t till one day when she was asked by Prof.Barranco to get gear from the junkyard for a secret project that some of the rabbids were working on and when she did, she met the Pilot rabbid named John. Kelly started to have feelings for John as well as him for Kelly. The two started to talk and have dates throughout the months and one year later, the two got Married and built a new home in the junkyard, and later on became a mother to five little rabbids. But besides that, John joined the secret human research organization to help his wife and leader, prof.Barraco the 3rd with a secret project that they were developing and that is a time traveling research project into history with a strange washing machine that would be a time-traveling machine that they made for both John and Kelly to travel with for their mission. Kelly would move from being an secretary of Barranco to being a time-traveler with her husband and is continuing to learn more about humans and history to this day.

Likes:

Soft sweaters

Ribbons and bows

Hearts

Spending time with her husband

Playing with her kids

Her sister Molly

Spending time with humans

Cute dresses

Cupcakes

Holidays where she gets to spend time with family and friends

Flowers

Playing with children

Hugs

Learning about earth and human life

Tea parties

Dislikes:

Being yelled at

Sharp things

Scary stuff

Falling down

Having her husband be hurt

Being kidnapped

Her friends arguing with each other

Spicy stuff

Other:

The sweater she wears is a gift from one of her human friends from the therapy organization who does sewing.

She can’t scream loudly like any rabbid, her scream is more quiet

Most rabbids would tease her and call her “Doll rabbid” but she honestly doesn't likes that

Even if she’s working as a time traveler, she stills dose her therapy job

She rarely gets mad, she has a kind heart and never wants to hurt feelings!

Her hobbies include Gardening, Cooking, and Scrapbooking

Kelly always looks to her sister as a role-model

She sometimes get afraid of dogs

When nervous she freezes and shakes

She always ends her sentences with “Bwah”

Her favorite thing to do when comforting humans during her therapy job is telling stories to children

When inviting someone over, she would always offer some tea

[lovee-infected]

Husband!Leona x Housewife!Reader: Birthday surprise

As you have your birthday today, Leona has a plan to prepare a party for his one and only beloved wife; however, uncle Ruggie and your babies almost burn the house down to ashes when you're out...

Happy birthday @jessamine-rose !♡ Now suffer-

Warning(s): None, just a review on Leona's chaotic father experiment trying to babysit his neko babies.

Note: This work is the continuation of a personal au I wrote for @jessamine-rose s/o and Leona have 3 adorable kittens (babies) in this au; The elder two are twins , a girl named Kaede and a son named Haruki while the baby gremlin is a sweet but chaotic cinnamon roll girl named Lucy (Lulu).

At last, it's here: The big day. Not only Leona seems have been expecting this day to arrive for months, or perhaps, he's been waiting ever since you had your previous birthday last year.

Not that you thought previous birthday celebrations with them lacked anything specific or was incomplete in a recognizable way; but it didn't change the fact that you didn't seem to have enjoyed them either.

Leona is the prince of the afterglow Savannah, after all. As her wife your birthday was nothing less than a national holdiday and he always tented to prepare royal celebrations ever since you married him.

But for some reason, that formal and majestic aura seemed to bother you in a way; perhaps because you preferred to be actually spending time with Leona and your family instead of having to stay in the same spot for hours with your back straightened as you greet thousands of strangers and the rest of the royal family.

Not that you ever spoke of how uncomfortabe and annoying all of those birthday ceremonies were, but you almost let out a relived sigh when Leona tells he isn't going to put out another of those extravagant celebrations.

The night before your birthday, Leona comes to you and mentions hoe it's been a while since the last time you had some time for your own, and he's right: From the day you gave birth to lulu you've been awfully busy with housework and caressing your babies; not that your life could be any sweeter than it is now but you had to admit- You somehow missed the old days when you had more time to spend on your own...

Leona recommends you take a day off, as a birthday treat! You're free to go shopping, take a short vacation to the beach or simply go to your favorite cafe and enjoy your favorite drinks and beverages in peace, meanwhile Leona would take care of the house and kittens so you can have today for your own and all~

Of course you accept his offer, you give him a small kiss on cheek and thank him, the two of you head to your bedroom and you are given the opportunity to sleep on Leona's warm chest for the rest of the night.

Thus you leave the house the next morning after, and now it's time for Leona's secret plan. He's already prepared anything, your favorite flowers, your favorite desserts and food, a very expensive perfume you had liked before, color-matching costumes for both him and the kittens, tiny cute accessories to decorate the house with and at last, tens of gifts from different things he sure knows that you'll love.

Ruggie is charge of cooking, so he gets to preparing muffins and cupcakes while Leona takes care of decorations: Designing the entire house with flower petals, baloons and colorful ribbons would've taken him hours if he were to do that by hand, but using his extraordinary magic skills, the whole house is perfectly decorated and prepared in a second *Chef's kiss.*

Just as Leona is about to let out a proud smirk and return to kitchen to see how Ruggie is doing with he cooking, he hears a sound. He turns his head to find no one but baby Lulu, chewing the decorations.

He runs to her and takes the ribbons out of her mouth, opening her mouth a second time and carefully look through it to see if she's eaten any of them or not. Oh God, he promised that he'd take care of everything when you're out, he just can't let you return home and find out that your baby has swallowed paper, what will you even think of him? Irresponsible partner? Unworthy father? No, he must make sure that baby lulu would be all same and sound until you return home.

He hugs Lulu and puts her on a corner with several baloons to play with, far from anything dangerous she could chew but then baby Lulu discovers a new hobby: popping balloons.

Her tiny fangs have just popped out and her gums often hurt, so she just wants to get her fangies on anything she could chew or bite and wow, this baby is not only totally unaffected by the loud sound of balloons popping right into her face but also finds it quite amusing. Baby begins to laugh loudly and chase after more balloons to chew as she has discovered a new hobby, and before Leona could've stopped her, she pops 5 more balloons with just one bite-

Leona picks her up immediately because if Lulu continued to chew balloons like this nothing of them would be left until you get home-

- But all of a sudden, he smells something rotten, followed by a trail of smoke coming from kitchen. He immediately puts Lulu down and runs back to the kitchen to see what in the great seven's name is happening there-

Leona jumps into the kitchen- just to find Kaede and Haruki screaming and crying as Ruggie's trying to take the black-rotten cupcakes out of the oven. Leona asks what the hell has happened and Ruggie explains he was too busy separating the twins because they couldn't stop arguing whether their mama would like caramel syrup as the topping or sprinkles, so Ruggie totally forgets about the overcooked muffins and cupcakes in the middle of their arguments.

Leona tells him to pull himself and start over- But Ruggie aruges that he won't be able to concentrate on both babysitting and cooking if that's how it's going to be. Leona growls and tell Ruggie to stop being such a wacky hyena and just get back to work without messing up again- And Ruggie explodes.

He starts shouting, Ruggie legit starts shouting in a rare, angry tune which terrified everyone even Leona. He roars that he won't be doing shit until Leona actually pays him for once, and the two start arguing. Just as the chaos is burning the kitchen down, Lulu decides uncle Ruggie's leg looks quite delicious to bite, and in a matter of second Ruggie is screaming as the baby lion's fangs literally pierced into his flesh.

The whole house is filled with smoke, Lulu has taken the entire decorations down and Leona's trying to seprate baby Lulu's fangs from Ruggie's leg. Twins are terrified, so the silently sneak out of the kitchen to call the right person to come for help...

It's past 10 pm when you're done with your day off. You've been giggling over how a day off was just what you needed after a long time, you had told Leona to call if anything went wrong, and thankfully, you didn't receive any calls from him while you were out. Leona really seems to have toughed it out as a father, huh?

You knock at the door, waiting for someone to open it. After a 3 minute delay you take a small look through the house and realize the lights are off. You just get in using your keys and suddenly, a loud "SURPRISE!" makes you jump back and the lights are back on, revealing Farena, Cheka, your kittens and very, very very tired-looking Leona and Ruggie standing in front of you. Leona gives you a weak smile as your confused gaze meets him, at last, they managed to clean the mess up before you got home.

Twins welcome you with a warm hug as they lock their tiny arms around your waist, digging their faces into soft fabrics of your clothes as if they hadn't met you in days, and of course, 12 hours of chaos without mama at home is enough to make them want to never be left alone in the house with uncle Ruggie and dad again-

Ruggie is trying his best not to be rude but he quickly approaches you, wishes you a very happy birthday and excuses himself saying he really needs to be home by this hour. You question the bandages wrapped around his leg, asking if he's alright? Ruggie just- Gulps nervously before turning his head back and stare at Leona who is holding Lulu... Ruggie nods quickly and leaves your house asap, poor boy... maybe you should call him sometime later and asking if he's doing fine?

Back to the party, Farena chuckles as he tells you how his younger brother has been DESPERATELY making plans for his beloved wife's birthday for nearly two months-! Farena explains that Leona even refused to accept Farena's help when he was firstly coming up with the plans, but Leona insisted that he wanted to manage everything on his own.

Aaaaaw Leona's face is a must-see now, his ears dropped down in mild embarrassment and frustration, feeling like a silly child in front of you. Damn- If it was on him he wouldn't have asked for Farena's help once in a thousand years even if if Ruggie and him had ended up burning the entire house; but he must admit, he's glad that twins asked for his help because- It would've been impossible to manange to do all the work on time without his help.

Aaah at least your birthday party didn't turn out to be a horrible mess, but at what cost? Great seven, he was supposed to be your one and only man tonight but right now he's nothing but a fuzzy cat wanting to pass put on his bed.

Yet he still manages to keep his eyes open, at least until you're done with the birthday party and Farena and Cheka are finally out; leaving him alone with you. Gosh, he looks so- you can't even find tje right adjective to describe this but all you can say for now is that you've never seen him this tired before.

You gently take Lulu, who has already fallen asleep in his arms and take her to her bed, asking Leona if babysitting her was difficult by any means. Leona tiredly shakes his head in a no, saying how much of a wonderful girl she was when you were away, and you can tell how much of an awful liar he is.

When the kids are asleep, you come to sit next to a lifeless Leona on couch, damn, just what happened to this household when you weren't around?

Leona's too tired to explain, he just sighs and apologizes for your birthday not being even *close to the best it could be, just to meet your laughter.

Oh lord, he is being quite desperate at the moment ha? Leona was always the dominative and demanding one, to have him serve ypu on your birthday... Oh dear, isn't that already the best birthday gift possible?

You excitedly start to tell him how this birthday was just the best you could've ever asked for: Freedom, A golden time to be spent for your own desires and not anyone else, and aside all of these, you return home just to face a secret party waiting for you!

But most importantly: He had gone through all of these... for you, to make you happy.

You tightly hug him, wrapping your arms around his neck and bringing his face closer to yours. Aaaa he looks so cute like this, just like a tired pouty can wanting you to spoil him and to be honest, he's going to need you spoil him for a week at least for him to recovers from that 12 hours of chaos.

It's been a long day, for both you and him. So he just kisses your forehead and bridal carries you to your bedroom afterwards; wrapping his strong arms and thighs around you and jailing you in his embrace. You gasp at the warmth, truth be told having your face burried in Leona's firm chest like this was something you never got used to even after being married to him for years. Damn lion knew how to leave a flushed mess out of you, huh? You chuckle as you struggle to release yourself but hell, the jerk simply pretends that he's already fallen asleep.

Just as Leona's arms are jailing you into his embrace he wonders, today probably didn't turn out to be as good as he'd planmed but well... at least you're happy. That's what he wanted when he whet out of his way planning for today, after all. But he can tell the experiment made him come to appreciate you even more, thinking that you've been caressing all three of your babies for years all on your own while Leona wouldn't have even made it for half a day if Farena hadn't saved him...

[superfreakerz]

TDDUP 31

AN: Idk  who’s still active considering I haven’t uploaded this story in almost 2 years but hopefully someone will enjoy it! :)

Chapter 31

Under the Mistletoe

Natsu grinned to himself as he tacked the decoration just underneath the door frame to the bedroom. With its white berries, beautiful green leaves, and the red ribbon tied around the stems, he was sure it was going to bring a smile to Lucy’s face when she saw it. And if she somehow missed it, then he was more than happy to point it out to her since it meant stealing a kiss from her.

“Natsu? What’s that?” Lucy’s voice called out.

Turning around to face the girl, he gave her a grin. Grabbing her hand, he quickly pulled her close to him. 

“Look up,” he said, planting his hands on her hips.

Lucy glanced up, her eyes landing on the mistletoe that hung over them. Her lips curled into a small smile, her cheeks tinted pink having been caught off-guard. 

“Mistletoe? Where’d you get that?” she asked with a laugh.

“Borrowed it from Cana,” he answered, peering down at her with a toothy grin. “In her words, it was going to ‘get me laid.’ Figured I would test her theory out. So? Whatcha think?”

Lucy playfully rolled her eyes. “I think that we still have a lot more decorating to do before the others get here. But…” Leaning towards him, she pressed her lips against his in a chaste kiss. Pulling away, she smiled up at him. “It’d be breaking tradition if we didn’t kiss.”

Natsu watched as Lucy headed back to the living room to continue decorating for the Christmas party they were throwing. Lucy, wanting to be festive for the holiday, wore a skimpy Santa suit that Natsu couldn’t tear his eyes away from. Not only did it show a nice amount of cleavage, the dress was so short that it barely covered her bum. Another nice touch that spurred his desire was the white fluff that hemmed the edges, giving it a real Christmas vibe. She also wore white knee-high socks, which always brought his attention to her creamy legs. To top it all off, she wore a Santa hat. 

Natsu’s pants felt tight just looking at her.

Following her out into the living room, he wrapped his arms around her from behind. He could tell that she felt him hard against her from the way she jumped.

“Can’t we just take a lil’ break and do something else?” Natsu asked. He brushed Lucy’s hair out of the way and softly nuzzled the shell of her ear. Her body melted into his as he ran his hands up her sides and over her breasts. He was about to slip his hands underneath the cloth when she jumped away from him.

“No, Natsu,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him. Her face was flushed with heat as she continued, “We can do that later but for now, we have to finish decorating. They’ll be here soon.”

Natsu huffed, crossing his arms with a pout. “Why are we celebrating over here anyways? It’d be easier to just meet them there. They already have a bunch of decorations up.”

“I don’t want to intrude during the holidays.”

“What do you mean? You aren’t intruding. You’ve been there tons of times by now!”

“I’ve only been there a few times, for your information. And I just don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable.”

“Who would feel uncomfortable with you coming?” Natsu asked, arching a brow.

“Well, Mira for one,” Lucy answered, her lips tugged into a small frown. 

Natsu immediately understood, rubbing the back of his head. “Look, don’t take it personally. Mira’s just… different. It doesn’t have to do with you. She can’t really handle bein’ around mortals much. That’s why she’s the only one who turns down her chances of going to the outside world.”

“I know it’s nothing personal,” Lucy replied. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m not offended or anything by it. It’s just that she deserves to feel comfortable in her own home on Christmas. I’m okay with just having you guys over. And I’m okay with you going over there to celebrate too.”

Natsu frowned, uncomfortable with the thought of leaving Lucy alone for even a minute on Christmas. He promised her months ago that he would spend the day with her, how could he just leave?

“You know I don’t hafta go,” he said. “The others can go back without me. I’ll stay here with you.”

Lucy smiled and shook her head. “Thank you, Natsu. I appreciate that you’d do that for me, but you should go back later with them. I’m not the only person who wants to spend Christmas with you, and I’m not going to be that girlfriend who keeps her boyfriend away from his friends. It’ll just be for a couple of hours, so you’re going. And when you get back, we can exchange presents.”

Before he could argue, she grabbed some more decorations from the box, gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and went to hang  them up.

About ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door. 

“Merry Christmas, Lucy!” the rest of the gang shouted the moment she opened the door. 

Lucy beamed at them. “Merry Christmas, you guys! Thanks for coming over!”

As everyone headed inside, Lucy noticed that she wasn’t the only one dressed for the holidays. Juvia adorned a beautiful blue dress covered in snowflakes and sparkles, a little tiara resting on her head. 

“Juvia is an ice princess,” the girl said when she noticed Lucy staring.

“You look beautiful, Juvia!” she replied. And it was true. The blue complimented her hair and fair skin perfectly. Her eyes moved over to Gray. He wore a top hat and some black jeans. As usual, he was without a shirt. “What’s up with the hat?”

“The guild always makes me dress as Frosty the Snowman on Christmas,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“So you wore a hat? Or was there more of the costume that you stripped away?”

“There was more, but they’re long gone by now.”

Lucy nodded, moving her gaze over to Erza and Jellal. While they weren’t fully dressed up like Juvia and herself, they wore cute reindeer headbands. 

Levy, on the other hand, wore an adorable elf costume. It was red and green, which although contrasted her hair greatly, still managed to look amazing on her. Her leggings were striped in the same green and red, and her hat had a bell at the tip. 

“You look so cute, Levy-chan!” Lucy gushed, wrapping the petite girl in a hug. 

“You too, Lu-chan!” the girl replied. 

Gajeel pushed past the two girls, allowing Lucy to see his costume. He was dressed in a Santa costume, his hair spray-dyed white. A scowl was plastered to his face as he grumbled, “Damn Shrimp, makin’ me dress up like this.” 

As soon as he was out of earshot, Levy cupped her hand around her mouth and whispered to Lucy, “I didn’t make him dress up like that. He woke up hours before everyone else so that he could get ready.”

Lucy covered her mouth with her hands, trying to stifle her laughter. Just the thought of Gajeel happily getting ready to dress up as Santa Claus had her nearly hunched over in laughter.

“Your apartment is so festive, Lucy,” Erza’s voice called out to her. 

“Thanks!” she replied, her smile as bright as the lit-up Christmas tree she had Natsu put in the corner of the living room. Lights were strewn across the ceiling, decorations were tacked to the wall, and she even woke up early in the morning to bake Christmas cupcakes. To say she loved Christmas was an understatement. She hadn’t been able to really celebrate the holiday in a long time, so now she was going all out.

“Can we open presents already!?” Natsu asked, bouncing excitedly in his seat.

“We just got here, idiot,” Gray said, rolling his eyes. 

Erza chimed in, “I agree with Natsu. We should open presents now.” Even though she kept a straight face and was still in her seat unlike Natsu, the twinkle in her eye made it obvious she was looking forward to presents just as much as he was. 

“Presents it is then,” Lucy said with a laugh. Everyone sat in the living room, presents sitting in their laps. With how big their group was, they decided to do a secret Santa exchange to save money. “Who goes first?”

“I will!” Erza exclaimed, a bright grin settling over her face. “Whoever got me, step forward!”

Lucy stood from the couch. “That would be me!” Handing Erza the gift, she watched as the redhead tore away the wrapping paper in an instant, revealing a rectangular box. Lucy watched anxiously as Erza removed the tape from the box’s sides. She may not have known Erza long, but she thought she knew her well enough. Though the redhead tried to hide it, there was a girly side to her. 

Erza opened the box, pulling out a violet dress. It was made of silk and was long enough to reach the floor. The sides were slit to reveal her legs, giving it a sexier feel.

“This dress is gorgeous, Lucy!” Erza said in awe. She grabbed the tag, her eyes bugging out of her head as she read the label. “HK!? This must’ve cost a fortune!”

“It wasn’t too bad,” Lucy replied, waving her off. Though in truth, that dress alone cost most of her allowance. Still, it was worth it to see her friend smile. 

Erza stood from the couch, holding her arms out in front of her for a hug. Lucy winced, knowing how rough the redhead could be. Knowing it was rude to turn it down, Lucy went in for a hug, praying that she wouldn’t bruise from it. Sure enough, Erza smashed her head down on her chest in what only she would call a hug. 

“Thank you, Lucy!” Erza said.

“D-Don’t mention it,” she replied. She sat back down on the couch, her head dizzy.

“Her hugs hurt, huh?” Natsu whispered in her ear.

“So badly,” Lucy replied with a nod. She then watched as Erza handed Juvia a small box. The wrapping paper was crinkled, and looking closely, Lucy could see that there were some extra scraps taped on, probably because she ripped the bottom layer. 

Gently tearing the wrapping paper away, Juvia opened the box to find four slips of paper. Confused, she picked them up and read the words printed on them. Immediately, a bright smile graced her face. 

“Oh, thank you, Erza!” she exclaimed.

“Wait, what is it?” Levy asked, unable to see what they were from where she sat. 

Juvia held up the slips of paper. “They’re two train tickets to Crocus and to the Crocus Garden!” 

“No way!” Lucy shouted. “I heard that they have a rainbow sakura tree over there! I’ve always wanted to go!”

“Well, the extra ticket was meant for Gray, but I suppose you could bring Lucy instead,” Erza said with a shrug.

Lucy laughed at the panic that washed over Juvia’s face. “Don’t worry, Juvia. You don’t have to bring me. It sounds like a fun date for you and Gray!”

The blue-headed girl heaved a sigh of relief. 

Natsu nudged her lightly. 

“I didn’t know you wanted to go there,” he said.

Lucy smiled at him. “Yeah. I’ve never been to Crocus before. I would love to see the rainbow sakura tree someday.”

“Then I’ll take ya there!”

“The train ride is over six hours long. I don’t think you’d last, Natsu.”

The boy glared at her, crossing his arms with a huff. “If you wanna go there, then I don’t care how long the train ride is. We’re going!”

Lucy giggled at his pouty face, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Natsu. I’m looking forward to it.”

Turning her attention back on Juvia, she watched the girl hand Gajeel his gift. It was kept in a tiny gift bag, small enough to make Lucy wonder what could possibly fit in it. Reaching inside, Gajeel pulled out what looked like a receipt. His eyes scanned the printed words before his eyes grew wide.

“No fucking way,” he said, whipping his head towards Juvia.

The girl nodded quickly, her smile wide. “Yep! Juvia bought you an electric guitar! Juvia left it back home though because it was too hard to wrap.”

Lucy’s jaw dropped on its hinges. An electric guitar? That blew the cost of the designer dress she bought Erza out of the water! How Juvia could afford to even buy it, she didn’t know. 

She watched as Gajeel- the boy who was usually a snarky hardass- turned into a weeping mess as he thanked Juvia and showed Levy the receipt. 

Lucy was surprised that Juvia would spend so much money for someone that wasn’t Gray, but after hearing from Natsu that the two were best friends since before even joining Fairy Tail, she couldn’t say she was too surprised. They must’ve known each other for decades- hell, depending on how old they were, maybe even centuries. He always stood up for her when people made fun of her for speaking in third person, and she was the one that dragged him from heading down a dark path and into Fairy Tail. Their friendship was strong, and Lucy admired that.

Lucy was brought from her thoughts when she heard Gajeel and Natsu arguing. Apparently Natsu was teasing Gajeel for crying. Before a fight could break out, Lucy and Levy forced their boyfriends to sit down by pulling on their ears.

Gajeel grumbled to himself before handing Jellal his present. 

Jellal’s brows rose. “You didn’t have to buy me a Christmas present. You just bought me a birthday present a few weeks ago.”

“Yeah, yeah. You say that every year. You should know by now that people are still gonna get you a Christmas present,” Gajeel replied, rolling his eyes.

Jellal smiled before ripping away the wrapping paper. Inside was a leatherback journal along with a calligraphy set. 

“I know Erza retrieved your old research journal from a museum or whatever, but I figured you could use a new one. And Shrimp here told me that you like to do calligraphy too.”

“I do. Thank you, Gajeel. It’s very thoughtful.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Lucy chuckled. “What a tsundere.”

Gajeel turned red in the face. “Shut up!”

Jellal grabbed a perfectly wrapped gift- much different than the gift his wife had wrapped- and handed it to Natsu. The pink-haired boy lit up like the Christmas tree, snatching it with a quick word of thanks before ripping into it like his life had depended on it. He uncovered a box full of different snacks, hot sauces from all over the world, and gift cards to fast food chains. 

“I truly did not know what else to get you besides food,” Jellal admitted. “After you caught the basement on fire with the pyrotechnics kit I bought you, I was prohibited from making that mistake again.”

Natsu grinned, grabbing a bag of chips and tearing into it. “Hey, this works for me!” Grabbing the wrapped gift at his ankle, he tossed it to Levy. “Oi, catch!”

Levy squealed, fumbling as she just barely caught the present. “I’m assuming this isn’t fragile.”

“Nope. But it did cost an arm and a leg to get it, so you better be glad!”

Levy perked a brow before opening the present. Inside the box was a stack of papers, stapled at the top. Her eyes scanned the words, confused as to what it could’ve been. 

“What is it?” she asked. It appeared to be a story, though there was no covering to it. 

“It’s a Heartfilia original!”

Levy’s eyes nearly burst out of their sockets. She whipped her head between Natsu and Lucy, the latter blushing. 

“Lu-chan wrote this?”

The blonde nodded. “It’s the very first story I’ve written. I started that way back during my first lifetime and I recently finished it. When I told Natsu about it, he said that he wanted to give it to you for Christmas. You’ll officially be my first reader, just like I promised!”

Levy burst into a fit of tears before tackling Natsu and Lucy to the ground. “I’ve been waiting for this day for forever! Thanks, you guys!”

Natsu laughed. “Don’t mention it!”

“And don’t show it to people either! It’s embarrassing!” Lucy added. 

Levy nodded, eager to read the story when Gajeel reminded her they were still in the process of Secret Santa. 

“Oh, right. Here you go, Gray!”

The boy thanked her as he accepted the gift. It was in a small gift bag. Reaching his hand in, he pulled out two slips of paper. 

“H-Holy shit!” he shouted. “These are concert tickets to see Lyra! They’re my favorite band!”

Natsu stood up, grabbing a ticket to see it himself. “No way! You gotta give me the extra ticket!”

“Why the hell would I wanna see a concert with you!?”

“Not like I wanna see one with you either, but I love Lyra too!”

“You can give the extra ticket to whoever you want,” Levy said with a shrug. Truthfully she wanted Secret Santa to end as quickly as possible so she could hurry up and read Lucy’s story. “Anyways, you’re next, Gray!”

   Gray handed Juvia the tickets for safekeeping- mainly to make sure Natsu didn’t steal one. He stood up and headed towards Lucy, the last person left in Secret Santa. 

“I got you, Lucy,” he said, his lips curled into a small smile.

She mirrored his expression, accepting the gift. She assumed he wasn’t good at wrapping since it was in a bag. When she reached inside the bag, she realized that he didn’t even use tissue paper to hide the present. 

Her fingers brushed against something smooth. Grabbing the object carefully, she pulled it out of the bag. It was a beautiful wooden box, its edges intricately carved. The top was painted a stunning starry landscape. She went to open the box, only to find a heart-shaped lock keeping it shut.

“The key is in the bag too,” Gray said, noticing her confusion.

She fished inside the gift bag for the key, inserting it into the lock and opening the box. The inside was lined with velvet, and the top had a small mirror glued to it. Lined pads were in the box, clueing Lucy into what the box was.

“It’s a jewelry box,” Gray said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I made it myself.” Smiling over at his girlfriend, he added, “Juvia painted the top though.”

“Thank you, Gray!” Lucy exclaimed, jumping up from the couch and hugging the boy. “It’s beautiful! I can’t believe you made it yourself!”

“Don’t mention it. I figured it’d be better than leaving your locket in a tampon box. That’s what the lock is for. Now you can keep it somewhere clean and safe.”

Tears pricked Lucy’s eyes. He made it so that she can hide her locket? Throwing her arms around the boy, she thanked him again, all the while wondering how she managed to find such great friends. She also made sure to thank Juvia for the beautiful painting she did on the box. 

         As the group split up into pairs to gush over their presents, Lucy excused herself to go to the restroom. When she was finished, she was surprised to find Natsu waiting outside the door. 

  “What are you doing?” the girl asked. She had known him long enough to recognize that mischievous glint in his eyes. 

   Instead of replying, the boy simply pointed up. Following his finger, Lucy found mistletoe taped in the doorway of the bathroom, hanging above them. Natsu’s hand slid up her thigh below her skirt. 

   “Are you crazy?” Lucy whispered, peering over his shoulder to make sure nobody was coming. “Everyone is here right now! We could get caught!”

   “Good luck being quiet then,” Natsu replied with an evil grin. He slid his hand up to her rear, giving it a squeeze. Pushing her hair out of the way, he sank his lips over her neck. 

   Lucy gnawed on her lower lip in hopes of staying quiet. “You know, a mistletoe is just for a quick kiss on the lips, not this.”

   Natsu shrugged, continuing his exploration of her neck. His hands slowly grazed her curves until brushing against the side of her breasts. Before he could grab them, Lucy reluctantly pulled away from him with a glare. 

   “Not while our friends are here!” she said, smoothing out her dress. She lightly smacked his hand away when he tried to reach out to her again. Sticking her tongue out at him playfully, she scurried off to join the rest of their friends back in the living room. Natsu chuckled before following after her. 

   Eventually, the group cleaned up the apartment as it was time to head back to Fairy Tail for the next Christmas party. 

   “Are you sure you don’t wanna join us, Lucy?” Gray asked. 

   Lucy nodded, faking a yawn. “Yeah, I’m a bit tired now. But I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” The only person she told about the real reason she didn’t want to go to Fairy Tail was Natsu. She didn’t want the others to worry and try to reassure her. She was fine with them going to celebrate with the rest of the immortals. She was happy enough with the time she got to spend with them. 

   The group nodded, saying their last goodbyes before heading out the door. Natsu stayed behind. 

   “Are you really sure about this?” he asked. He still hated the thought of leaving her by herself on Christmas.

   Lucy smiled. “Yes, Natsu. I’m fine, I promise.”

   “We can just stay in my room the whole time if you’re that worried about Mira!”

   “No. I want you to be able to celebrate with everyone. And I’m sure they’re looking forward to celebrating with you too. I’m fine, Natsu. Now shoo.”

   Natsu sighed in defeat. “Alright, but I’m coming right back here later tonight, okay? And if you change your mind, let me know and I’ll come walk you to Fairy Tail. Or if you get lonely I can come here.”

   “Yeah, yeah, I understand. Now go. You’re already late enough as it is.”

   Natsu gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll see you later.” 

   Before he could change his mind, Lucy waved and quickly shut the door, locking it so he knew she was serious about wanting him to have fun with everyone else. Staring at her empty apartment, admittedly the girl did feel a pinch of loneliness. Regardless, this was the best Christmas she’d had since her first life, she could deal with a couple of hours on her own. Grabbing a cup of hot chocolate, she curled up in a thick blanket and turned on a Christmas movie. The loneliness she felt quickly faded away. 

   Natsu cheered with the rest of the immortals, clinking his glass of spiked eggnog with everyone else. They had just finished the annual Fairy Tail Secret Santa. For this Secret Santa, he was assigned Cana, who was by far one of the easiest people to shop for. Give the girl a bottle of booze and she’s indebted to you for life. 

   He had also gotten a gift from Juvia, who was his Secret Santa. It was a hoodie from his favorite band, along with their newest CD. He still had to give Lucy her gifts later, and was eager to see what she got him as well. This year was shaping up to be the best Christmas ever. 

   When the party died down and people started heading to their rooms, Natsu decided that it was time to head back to Lucy’s. He went to his room to grab the gift he kept stashed away so that she wouldn’t find it. 

   “You heading over to Lucy’s now?” Gray asked after entering their room. 

   “Yep. Just had to get her present first.”

   “So, what’s the real reason she didn’t want to come over here? She wasn’t really tired, right? Is she still feeling nervous around everyone?” 

   “Kinda,” Natsu answered, rubbing the back of his head. “Truthfully it’s just Mira.”

   Gray winced. “Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.” 

   Mira was a nice girl, one of the nicest he had ever known. Unfortunately, her past with the mortals was the most traumatizing story he had ever heard. It was one that everyone knew not to ever bring up, for they knew the girl was haunted by it everyday. Nobody could blame her for keeping her guard up around Lucy, nor could they blame her for being the only immortal to turn down a chance at seeing the outside world. 

   “Yeah. I told Lucy that it wasn’t personal and that Mira was a bit different than the rest of us, but she still decided to stay home. She didn’t want Mira feeling uncomfortable on Christmas.”

   Gray smiled. “Lucy’s a really nice girl, huh.”

   “Yep,” Natsu replied with a grin of his own. “Anyways, I’m out of here.” 

   With hurried steps, the boy rushed up the stairs of the basement and out the door. He made sure to lock the doors to the pub behind him since the immortals were free to roam the top floor on Christmas. 

   Excited to see Lucy and still feeling guilty for leaving her, Natsu wasted no time in unlocking the door and closing it behind him. What he saw when he turned around made his jaw drop to the floor. 

There in the living room stood Lucy, practically naked. She still adorned the Santa hat she wore earlier, but she had discarded the dress. Instead, she had a Christmas bow taped to the middle of her collarbone, the ends flowing and covering her nipples. She also wore red underwear with white trimming on the edges. 

   “Welcome back,” Lucy said, her hands behind her back. 

   “How long were you waiting there like that?” Natsu asked, nearly choking on his tongue while he ogled her. 

   “Not too long.” Lucy lifted her arm above her head, revealing a mistletoe in her hand. “Well? Are you going to join me?”

   Natsu nodded his head so fast it felt like it was going to fall off. He ripped off his pants and rushed towards her, nearly tripping in his haste. Grabbing her by the hips, he crashed his lips upon hers. 

   “I take it this is my Christmas present?” he asked with a grin, lightly tugging the end of the bow that was taped to her. 

   “Yep. Wanna unwrap me?” 

   Natsu’s hands eagerly ripped the bow off of her before carrying her to the bed. Dropping her on the bed, he quickly tore off his shirt. Lucy squirmed below him, anticipation filling her fingertips as she tugged on his boxers. Without wasting another second, he took them off along with hers. 

   “You are so hot, Lucy,” Natsu said as he pressed his face between her breasts. He always enjoyed the feeling of being between them. 

   “Oh yeah?” Lucy replied with a smile. His praise always managed to turn her on. 

   “Mhmm. I mean, you were practically naked when I got here.”

   “Because I’ve been looking forward to this all day. Now, are you going to get me off or am I going to have to do it myself?”

   Natsu grinned before grabbing her breast in one hand while nuzzling the other. He could feel Lucy moving below him, trying to guide his cock to her folds. In his haze, he remembered the last time they had sex. 

   “That’s right, I have to repay you for last time,” Natsu said.

   “Hmm?” Lucy absentmindedly hummed out, too focused on the work he was doing on her breasts. 

   Instead of using his words to explain, Natsu trailed kisses from her breasts down to her navel, then to her thighs. He left feather-light kisses over right thigh, hovering over her folds before moving to her left. He stifled a laugh as he could feel Lucy getting impatient every time he neared her folds. Unable to hold himself back for too long, he pressed his lips against her flesh, slowly sucking on her skin. 

   Lucy nearly screamed at the sudden pleasure that raked her body the moment Natsu’s lips touched her sensitive skin. Her breaths grew louder as his lips worked over her. When his tongue suddenly grazed her clitoris, she let out a harsh breath. 

   “Fuck,” she said, covering her mouth with one hand while the other gripped the sheets. 

   Natsu glanced up at her with a proud grin. Grabbing her wrist, he pinned it to her side. 

   “I wanna hear you,” he said before returning his lips to her flesh. His tongue circled around her entrance before delving into her. Since he stopped her from covering her mouth, she opted for grabbing his hair instead, finding that she had to do something with her hands. His mouth was driving her crazy. 

   “N-Natsu,” she breathed out. “I’m not going to last long at this rate.”

   “That’s fine,” he replied, his breath warm against her flesh. It sent a shiver down her spine. “I want to make you cum like this anyways.”

   Not bothering to wait for her reply, he dragged his tongue over her clitoris before giving it a hard kiss. Lucy screamed out in pleasure, thrusting her hips and grinding his face. Switching from kissing and licking, he knew that Lucy was about to break, judging from her quick breaths and the way her legs shook around his neck. In seconds, she shuddered against him, her grip tightening on his hair as she moaned out his name. 

   When it was clear she was done, Natsu laid beside her with a grin. 

   “Well? How was it?” he asked. Though, he could tell from her flushed cheeks that it was more than good.

   Lucy tried to regain her breath as she replied, “We’re definitely doing that again sometime.”

   “Sounds good to me.”

   “Well, it’s your turn now!” Lucy exclaimed, sitting up. She positioned herself between his legs, stroking his hot shaft. 

   Taking a quick peek at him, she found his eyes squeezed shut as he enjoyed himself. Not wanting to keep him waiting, Lucy dragged her tongue against his cock before shoving it in her mouth. She started slow, still not used to this yet. When she started to feel more comfortable, she pushed herself further, allowing his whole shaft into her mouth. 

   “Fuck, Lucy,” Natsu ground out. 

   Knowing that he enjoyed it, Lucy picked up the pace while still going as far as she could. Tears pricked her eyes, but she ignored it in favor of pleasuring him the way he did for her.  

   Natsu tried to control his breathing, but the way Lucy’s hot mouth tugged on his cock had him nearing sweet release. 

   “L-Lucy, I’m about to cum,” he warned. 

   The blonde only nodded. That only made the fire in Natsu burn hotter. 

   Lucy, feeling adventurous, decided she wanted to try something new. Something that she had read about in a mature book once. 

   Instead of shoving his cock as far as she could in her mouth, she went halfway down his shaft. Using her hand, she pumped the lower half while sucking the top. 

   In seconds, Lucy felt something hot shoot into her mouth as Natsu shook beneath her with a groan. She allowed him to ride out his orgasm before eventually withdrawing. Not knowing what to do with the liquid in her mouth, she quickly gulped it down. 

   Natsu winced. “Sorry, was it gross?”

   Lucy shook her head. “Not at all, no need to apologize. I wanted to do it.” 

   Natsu smiled. The two laid there in a content silence, their bodies tired. When they finally regained their energy, Lucy stood up from the bed and grabbed something from the closet. Turning around, she smiled while holding a neatly wrapped gift. 

   “You got me a gift?” Natsu asked, his voice laced with childlike excitement. 

   “Duh! You didn’t really think sex was your only gift, right?” Handing him the gift, she watched as he tore off the wrapping paper and quickly opened the box to reveal a painting of him and Igneel. 

   Natsu looked up at Lucy with watery eyes. “W-What… How did you do this?”

   “I commissioned an artist to paint it for me,” she answered. “I noticed that the picture you have of you and Igneel was old and a little torn, probably because of how much time had passed since it was printed. I didn’t want it to get ruined since it’s your only picture with Igneel, so I had someone recreate it. A canvas is more durable than a picture, so hopefully it’ll-!”

   Lucy’s words were cut short as Natsu pulled her in for a tight hug. She could feel the light tremors of his body. Smiling, she wrapped her arms around him and allowed him to cry onto her shoulder. 

   “Do you like it?” she asked. 

   Natsu pulled away, wiping his eyes before smiling at her. “I love it. Thanks, Lucy. Oh, I got you a gift too.” Grabbing his previously discarded sweater, he pulled out a long, velvet box from the pocket. “Sorry, I didn’t have time to wrap it. And it’s not as good as the gift you gave me…”

   Lucy lifted his chin to meet his gaze. “I’ll love it. Don’t worry. Can I see what it is?”

   Natsu nodded, handing her the box and watching as she opened it. Upon doing so, Lucy gasped, one of her hands flying up to her mouth. Inside the box was a beautiful necklace with dangling diamond charms of constellations. 

   “Natsu, it’s beautiful!” she exclaimed. She gave him a worried look. “This must have cost a fortune!”

   The boy shrugged with a laugh. “Don’t worry about that. My housing and tuition is free, so I have a good amount of money saved up. You like it?”

   Lucy nodded, wiping a tear from her eye. She had never received a Christmas gift from a boyfriend before, and his knocked it out of the park. 

   “Of course I do! It’s beautiful! Thank you so much, Natsu!” 

   “I’m sorry mine isn’t as sentimental as yours. I probably should’ve put more thought into it. I just know you really like stars, so I wanted to get you something related to that.”

   Lucy grabbed his hand with a smile. “Do you know why I love the stars?” After he shook his head, she continued, “It’s because of my first mother. We used to stargaze every night, and she taught me about a bunch of constellations, all of them being on this necklace. This necklace is plenty sentimental. Thank you, Natsu. I love it so much.”

   They hugged again. 

   “Merry Christmas, Lucy.”

   “Merry Christmas, Natsu.”

[undead-merman]

this is the yan monster luci and satan requester, not a poly relationship, but just like a mutual agreement that they don't want any low life demon going near their s/o

Okay I’ve got Lucifer as a Manticore and Satan as a Sphinx. I love writing these, its a shame I can’t write these faster.

🦁Manticore Lucifer🦁 🦁Sphinx Satan🦁 as Yanderes GN- Reader SFW

Lucifer

Appearance

As a manticore his appearance is fearsome and even his presence is enough to make most others turn tail and run. His mouth is full of too big teeth, some of the long canines poking past his stern frown.

He has small hands that are more paw-like, with razor sharp claws at the end of them. He has paw pads on the tips of each of his fingers, and 3 small pads on his palms. Unlike normal paws, he does have a thumb and surprising dexterity with them.

Along his forehead and temple he has small black horns, they’re perfectly symmetrical which is unusual for a chaotic creature like himself. On top of his head, past his horns are two lion ears that twitch and turn to even the softest noises.

On the back of his neck, down his spine, are small quills tipped with a viscous venom. He is able to flatten them against his body to make them flat for his clothes many of his kind have spots open in their clothing for their spines to poke out, but Lucifer does not have have that in his clothing, He only has a spot open for his large, slightly torn bat like wings.

His tail is long and ends with a red tipped scorpion stinger, quills randomly set along it. It normally hangs low and curls up to avoid knocking things over.

His true form is like that or a normal manticore but with piercing yet silky and shiny black fur and bright glowing blood red eyes.

The Undefeatable Beast

Manticores have a reputation of being mighty beasts unable to be slain by any man, but there are rumors of some being slain. Lucifer, one of the oldest and most powerful has never been bested. Every opponent he’s ever faced has perished and only the surviving onlookers have been able to tell the tale.

His viciousness is renown all over the devildom; while he acts like a gentleman whose temper is always under wraps, he’s quiet vengeful and easy to anger. He doesn’t like to show it, he lets it simmer until he can get his revenge.

His appetite is ravenous and loves to have barely cooked meat served elegantly. He doesn’t like it raw as it feels barbaric and he enjoys the finery of life, but if he needs to he doesn’t mind eating anyone until not even the blood is left.

He does have a vulnerable side however, as since he’s that of lion and Scorpion he needs to sunbathe in order to be in top condition if he doesn’t he’s sluggish, but more brutal. Since there's no sun in the devildom he uses a light to warm himself as he lays on his sides. He looks surprisingly peaceful when warming up.

Spending Time with You

The one thing he can’t defeat, is you. He has such a soft spot for you that he is willing to do anything you ask. Giving him your big doe eyed look makes his monstrous face scrunch up and flush at you. He really can’t say no to you.

His favorite thing in the world is to lay down with you in the warm light, looking up at you as the light engulfs you and all he can see is your smiling face. He loves it when you go to run your finger through his hair or pet him. His wings shiver when you do that and his spines do as well before tightly flatting against his skin allowing you to touch him without getting poked at all,

He is fiercely protective over you. He snaps at anyone who touches you and stands behind you as someone talks to you, his icy glare focused intensely on the person you're talking with.

He loves to take you to enjoy elegant food, sights and sounds. His favorite place to take you is the opera, he loves to listen to the soft gentle melodies as he takes your hand into his.

His Dark Tendencies

Lucifer does not like others interacting with you. Should you defend another person from him too much he’ll start to get insecure. He’ll think you're forgetting about him and falling in love with someone else, and he hates that. He’ll take you even if you struggle and lock you up and keep you to himself until he feels you’ve forgotten about the other. Of course his opponent would be dealt with swiftly, and painfully.

He loves seeing you locked up, it makes the dark monster instincts churr in delight. Completely at his whims, of course he’d never hurt you too much. Should you make him angry or god forbid you try to escape, he’ll punish you by applying constant pain without actually hurting you. Painfully clamping your skin more and more until you go mad and beg him to stop. But if you made him truly angry you’ll be lashed and whipped until he feels better making you count each one out loud.

After Punishments he’s overly sweet, he’ll kiss every bruise and cut, and look at it so tenderly as he whispers about how good you are for him and how much he loves you. But he’ll graze his razor sharp teeth over your sensitive bruises just to remind you to never do it again.

Misc Stuff

When he’s extremely relaxed around you, he will let out a purr though, it’s a deep inhumane noise so deep that it shakes your chest if you’re near. He gets embarrassed if you mention it to him.

He greets those he’s close to by pressing his forehead against theirs. He does this with you, cupping your cheeks and smiling as he does it; with his Brothers and Diavolo it’s a simple tap, but with others he only nods his head. If he doesn’t like someone he simply just stares at them without blinking, glaring into them with fury.

He wants you to smell like him all the time but he gets a bit flustered about doing it. He’ll scent you by rubbing his palms, wrist and cheeks on you while you sleep or aren’t paying attention while cuddling. He feels like a tomcat when he does it but he can’t help it.

Satan

Appearance

His body is more centaur like, with the lower body of a giant winged lion. His fur is a lustrous blonde and gold color and his lower abdomen is large and bulky with thick skin and muscle.

His wings spread wide and are tipped in shimmering gold that shines in any light. The wings which are just under his humanoid hip have a blonde and gold fur, thick and volumes. While most of his mane is centered on his hips, it does have a trail of it going up his spine and shoulder blades.

Two lion ears sit on his scalp of much longer hair then normal, tied loose with a lime green ribbon. His ears constantly moving back and forth betraying his hidden emotions. They flick at nearby noise, or something that interests him, and lay flat when angry or embarrassed.

A Guardian Creature

Sphinx are mostly known for their stories of guarding treasures and tombs. A protective species and loyal to a fault. Satan is just like others of his kind, He focuses his attention to his collection of books and scrolls. Very solemnly does he allow anyone to come near his collection let alone trusts them to borrow from it.

He’ll never admit to it, but he has a lot of the same habits that Lucifer does. He enjoys lazing under a bright warm light, and your gentle strokes on him. He even purrs just like Lucifer too.

He seeks out riddles he cannot solve, he’s said to befriend those who tell him a riddle he can’t solve. He craves to expand his knowledge and find truly intelligent and wise creatures.

Spending Time with You

You had thrown him through a loop when you were given the quest to find a riddle he couldn’t solve and gave him a cheesy dad joke. Never has someone even attempted anything like that. It fascinated him and he quickly became obsessed with you.

He enjoys seeing your point of view on all kinds of topics. He’ll bring you a gift and ask for a discussion on it. He loves hearing your voice talk about the gift he got you and your thoughts on the history behind it. It stimulates such a deep part of his brain that he’s become addicted to it and he nearly brings you one everyday.

He also enjoys stupid fun. Stuff that he doesn’t have to think about too much, he finds it deeply relaxing, though he dares not let anyone but you see it.

If you ask he’ll let you pet his soft feline pads, he’ll get all flustered and squirmy with you rubbing and massaging them. They’re so soft and pink, but while you're doing that he gets to feel your hands in his paws and to him they’re the softest thing he’s ever felt.

His Dark Tendencies

Satan is so deeply infatuated with you, he simply wants to be around you constantly, never letting you out of his grasp. He, of course, loves to bring you small, cute gifts so he can see your face heat up and you look so happy, but a dark sadistic side of him loves to see you scared. The tears dripping down your face and your eyes shoot open with terror behind it. He’ll always be there to comfort you right after but a sick part of him loves to see you like that.

If you ever tried to hide from him or try to run, he would quickly catch you with a dead, unloving, and dark face. He’d carry you back, tie you up and humiliate you, force you to eat out of a cat bowl, and spank you till your rear is black and blue. He always grins from ear to ear when he sees you limping after.

He loves chaining you up and listening to you read to him. He likes playing with the chain as you read and he always complements how it looks on you.

Misc Stuff

Ashamedly he is much like a cat at heart. He finds himself a lot of time chasing bugs and chattering at birds in class. He’s so embarrassed by it that he threatens anyone who brings it up, if not clawing them in half on the spot.

He sits like a cat does, his lower body having its paws tucked in on themselves as he reads. He often falls asleep like this too, his humanoid body frozen while the bottom one is all curled up in a tight ball.

Unlike Lucifer’s more refined palette Satan can eat whatever it is put in front of him, fresh or dressed, it does matter at all, but he doesn’t eat a lot for someone his size.

Dealing with Interferences Together

Dealing with each other was nearly unbearable, but having another one in on the fear competition was unacceptable to both of them. With the two of them they could control the scenarios you were in, keep you at least near them. But having an unknown contestant was dangerous. What if They tried to touch you? Kiss you? So what they’ve done to keep you around them, the carnage they’ve left behind to scare you away from them.

Whenever someone threatened that, they agreed to quickly and quietly deal with this before you even noticed They were gone. Stalking them and finding the perfect time to strike, when together it was deathly quiet, none of them talked and the tension was so thick you’d need a chainsaw to cut through it. They would get into fights fairly often due to them bragging about the time spent with you.

They hate working together, but they do work terribly well together as well. They get everything done quickly and without a trace. Their go-to is to kidnap the offender and bring them to a private room and take any frustration they got while working together and take it out on them. Those who go into that room never come back out. After everything is taken care of they’re right back to fighting with each other for you.

[jimlingss]

Moirai [5]

Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6

➜ Words: 5k

➜ Genres: 60% Fluff, 40% Angst, Isekai!AU

➜ Summary: Death is supposed to be the end. Or at least that's what you assumed when you're hit by a TRUCK. But the moment you open your eyes again, instead of being sent to the afterlife, you've become a baby. And not just any baby. You're the female villain of a video game.

“Thank you for inviting me, Lady Anastasia.”   Lucienne sits across the rounded table from you, oblivious to the blossom petals that have drifted down and tangled itself into her hair. The tea party invitation rests beside her teacup, neat and crisp like she held and opened it with the utmost care.    “Yes, thank you.” The other lady beside her pipes up. “It’s an absolute honour.”   “The Royal gardens are lovely this season,” another adds. “I’m glad I can enjoy it like this.”   “It’s not a problem, everyone.” A friendly smile stretches across your face. “It can get quite lonely being the only lady in the castle, so your company is welcome.”   More like Lady Devon and your other tutors was pretty damn insistent that you build a good reputation and inner circle, but whatever. What they don’t know, won’t hurt them.   But you do remember that in the original game, Anastasia used this opportunity to shame the heroine. She invited her to a tea party and made snide remarks about how she danced with the Prince. Of course it seems petty now but it’s understandable that Anastasia resented the heroine so much. Even if she didn’t intend it, she humiliated Anastasia by stealing her fiancé.   And the fact of the matter is that you’ll also become the laughingstock for what she’ll do.   “If I may ask, have you started the wedding arrangements yet, Lady Anastasia?”   You nearly choke on your tea, sputtering for a moment until you’re able to set the cup down on the saucer and cough into your napkin. The ladies around the table appear concerned, but you plaster on another smile. “Well, there’s been no discussion yet. The Royal family and the Devereux house are in no rush. There’s still quite a bit of time, so who knows what could happen.”   “What could happen?” One of them catches on quick and you cordially nod.   “The engagement was made when both Prince Jungkook and I were very young, but now that we are older, we can voice our own opinions on the matter.” You choose your words carefully and your smile widens. “I am not opposed if changes are made. If the leaders of the empire cannot exercise their own freedoms, then how can the people?”    They nod in agreeance, a few in awe at your deep thought process. “That is very mature of you, Lady Anastasia.”   You laugh stiffly and lift your tea cup for another sip.   “Oh, but the Crown Prince is so wonderful.”   You choke. Again. You wonder if you’re going to die at this tea party from the warm liquid constantly going down the wrong pipe.    “I am sure he wouldn’t change his mind with how lovely you are, Lady Anastasia.” The girl beside you smiles, laying it on thick to win your favour. “You two are a very fitting couple.”   “I agree.” Lucy smiles softly. “Prince Jungkook is very courteous.”   “And very majestic.”   You remember when you dueled with Jungkook, he lost within a minute. He threw a tantrum in the following days and gave you the silent treatment. Or that time you went horseback riding, you decided to race each other and he fell off his own horse into mud and started crying.   Uh-huh. Majestic indeed.   You chalk up your wheeze to nothing and dab the corner of your mouth with the tablecloth napkin. “Yes, well, Jungkook will make a fine King someday.”   “And you’ll make a fine Queen,” a soft-spoken voice pipes up and your eyes connect to Lucy’s. Unlike the others surrounding you, you know her words are genuinely spoken and you shift uncomfortably in your seat.   “I’m not so sure about that,” you honestly admit as you fidget with the edge of the porcelain saucer. “A queen must be kind and generous and know the suffering of the people. I’m afraid I have a lot left to learn.”   Your gaze meets Lucy’s again.   Her smile is all too gentle for high society and its naturally cunning, heartless nature. She’s awfully naive, but that aside, you know her benevolence will make her beloved in the empire.   //   Once the tea party is over, you’re able to breathe a sigh of relief. Christ, thank god that’s over.   You escort most of the ladies towards their carriages, bidding them goodbye with polite waves as the palace servants clear the dishes, chairs and table away from the garden. And you turn around to head back to your room to sneak in a break, but your name is frantically called—   “Lady Anastasia!”   You turn and a girl in her purple, simple gown comes barrelling down the open hall. Her chest rises and falls, completely out of breath even when she only ran two meters. It makes you laugh unabashedly. “Is everything okay? You don’t need to run.”   She hunches over, lungs probably burning, but she fixes her posture a moment later. “S-Sorry, my lady.”   “Anastasia is fine.”   Lucy nods. “I...just wanted to thank you again. I was very excited when I received your invitation. It’s an honour….Anastasia.”   “There’s no reason to thank me so much.” You walk alongside her. Your hat with pinned pink peonies, matching your gown, shields the sun away from your face.   “It’s just that I don’t get invited to these sort of events often considering….considering I’m just a baron’s daughter and adopted one at that.”   She doesn’t need to tell you — you know her backstory well. You’ve played through it from her perspective. Her father abandoned her mother who died of illness when she was five and she was picked up on the streets by the sympathetic baron. It seems like every character in this game has some tragic backstory. They are defining moments that make that person.   But you suppose life itself is like that.   “Can I give you some advice, Lucy?” you ask after a quiet moment and she nods. You stop walking and the girl halts beside you. “Your humility makes you likeable, but be careful not to self-deprecate yourself. Your worth is more than what you consider yourself to have.”   Her eyes widen and you add, “Plus, it’s not good to thank a host more than once like they’ve done you a big favour because they’ll start to think you owe them for it.”   Lucy nods and you smile, resuming your stroll. “I’ll be inviting you to more tea parties in the future.”   “Thank—” She catches herself. “Yes, I will be looking forward to that.”   A grin spreads into your cheeks. “On a different note, I never got to ask you how your dance was with Jungkook at the debutante ball.”   “Oh, yes, the Prince was very kind. But I’m sorry if it was inappropriate, I know he’s your fiancé—”   This time, your laugh is unrestrained. She looks up at you in surprise. “Do you think I’m getting jealous?” Lucy opens her mouth and then closes it, not sure what to say and you bat the air with your hand. “Jungkook is like a little brother to me.”   If she was surprised before, now she looks entirely off guard. “It thought the Prince and you were the same age.”   You laugh stiffly. “Yes, we are, but I guess that’s what childhood friends are like.”   “Oh, I’ve never had a childhood friend.”   “Have you ever had a friend?” Your eyes meet her’s and you smile. “Because I’d be happy to be your first.”   The conversation soon ends and as Lucy walks away, you breathe another sigh of relief and pat yourself on the back at the positive interaction. Even if she’s just a countryside girl, it’s nerve-racking when you’re supposed to be the villainess. You like her and you even offered your friendship, but with each interaction, your demise is always lingering at the back of your head.   “I didn’t take you for being such a mentor.”   You whirl around, nearly startled to death by the voice and you discover a tall, dark-haired man leaning against the marble pillar with a sly smile.   “How long have you been there?”   Taehyung grins. “Not long. I was just passing by. It was a coincidence.” He turns in the direction where Lucy went. “I heard you had a tea party, how did it go?”   “It was exhausting.” You stretch your arms over your head and walk over to lean against the stone ledge next to him. “I don’t think I’m quite fit for the palace life.”   Taehyung smiles and you look up at him. “Are you going to the garden again?”   He nods and there’s a strong urge to ask him if you can come along. Just for a small break before they find you and you’re swept up in another lesson. But you’re not sure if you should—   “Would you like to come?”    Taehyung asks the question for you and your eyes meet one another’s.   There’s no one around. Not a soul in sight who could stop you from going or leaving.   You know you should keep your distance from him. You know. But…   “Okay.”   You take him up on the offer, following after him, just for a moment of indulgence.

With the arrival of Spring also comes the Hunt. It’s a rather eventful time in the castle considering it's generally symbolic of the harvests of this year, thought to prevent famine if those attending can bring back large game. An irony that isn’t lost on you. But it’s an undoubtedly lively time and one that you don’t mind.   “You better bring back a whole moose,” you mumble as you tie the blue ribbon on the belt of Jungkook’s armour, making sure it’s tight and secure. The ribbon is a gift of good luck and one of affection. You’re obligated to tie one for Jungkook considering you’re his fiancée.    “I’ll bring back a dragon,” he declares brazingly and you lightly scoff.   This is his second time participating after winning last year, but you remember he was practically shaking back then out of fear and pressure.   “Okay then. Just make sure you don’t fall off your horse this time.”    “That was only once!”   You take a step back when you’re done tying the ribbon. “I should be the one going on the hunt instead of staying back for idle chit chat. I’m pretty sure I would be able to catch something bigger than you.”   “Probably.” Jungkook grins. “You’re good enough with your sword to be a knight.”   “They’d never let me.” You sigh. God knows your mother would be mortified and probably faint and die.    But while staying back and waiting for the men to return with their kill is boring as hell, at least you’re removed from the pressure of having to hunt large prey in the first place. It’s a competition after all and one that can get quite competitive from your knowledge.   You follow Jungkook to his prized white horse and watch him caress its muzzle.    “If you win, you should give the prize to Lucy.”   His brows furrow and he turns his head to you. “Lucienne? The girl I danced with at the ball? Why?”   You shrug half-heartedly. “Because she has no one and I feel bad for her. I already have a few knights who are going to dedicate their game to me.”   Jungkook hums, not thinking much about it. “Fine by me.”   He puts his foot on the stirrup and swings himself over, sitting on top of the majestic horse.   Preparations almost complete, you turn to the King who’s seated at the top of the stands in a throne-like chair. He looks across the field with an approving expression.   Your parents are beside the King and you spare them a mere glance before turning away. You haven’t spoken to them since the end of the debutante ball and you don’t plan to. It might be childish to give them the silent treatment, but you wonder to what end they’ll try to force you.   The attendant steps up. “Is everyone ready?”   At that exact same moment, as if he was called upon, a familiar dark-haired man with eyes the hue of deep honey enters your peripheral vision. Taehyung emerges onto the field filled with knights on horses and soldiers in armour. His navy cape draped over his left shoulder sways with each movement, twinkling in the sunlight as if there were stars sewn into the fabric. He’s grasping onto a steel pole, a magical staff and his presence garners whispers from all.   “Isn’t he the bastard son?” — “The first son of the King.” — “The one born from the maid.”   They’re all startled to see him — the nobles sitting in the stands, women murmuring underneath their breaths, men watching with their eyes wide, knights and guards. And most of all, you’re stuck at a standstill.   Heart thunderous in your ears — blood drained from your face — you can’t look away when all Taehyung is looking at is you.    He comes close and his expression melts into a tender smile, a softened gaze when he reads your eyes’ fixation on him.    Jungkook, on the other hand, grins and mounts off his horse. “Taehyung?!” The Prince welcomes his brother warmly — an action not unnoticed by the crowds watching. He hugs him and lets go a moment later. “What are you doing here?”   “What can I say? I’m here to steal your victory.”   The younger laughs and you can tell he’s genuinely excited. Jungkook’s cheeks are practically pink and bulging, and his eyes have brightened. “Do you want to put a bet on that?”   “How much are you willing to wager?” Taehyung quips back.   “My pride and dignity.”   He scoffs playfully. “How about your private library collection?”   “Deal. And if I win, I want you to come to the feast tonight.”   Taehyung grins. “Looks like this year’s going to be difficult for you, Your Highness.”   “I’ll keep up.” Jungkook laughs again and gets back on his horse.   A stable-boy comes rushing over with a horse for Taehyung and before the King can utter a single word or you have a chance to speak to him, the games have begun. Taehyung glances over his shoulder at you for a single beat and then he’s off into the woods with the rest.    In the original game, Taehyung never participated in the Hunt.   He looked on from the window of his tower and even sabotaged Jungkook.    In the original game, Jungkook became injured but still conscious enough that before he fated, he declared he would give his prize to the heroine since Anastasia was so overbearing. It sparked the girl’s jealousy and was the reason why she decided to conspire with Taehyung. It was the first domino in the chain — the beginning of the villains working hand in hand.   But none of that is happening.   You wonder how far your choices will continue to deviate from the story. How many more mistakes—   “Are you alright, Anastasia?”   You jolt, torn out of your deep trance by a worried gaze. Lucy has leaned in towards you, her brows knitted together and you smile. “I’m fine. I was just thinking about something.” You quickly change the subject. “Have you given your ribbon to anyone yet?”   The pair of you are walking down the castle hall, heading towards the dining hall where you know the noble women will be having tea and making small talk while waiting for their sons and husbands.   Lucy shakes her head and unties the blue ribbon she had around her wrist.    “Why not?”   She stares at the soft satin for a second and then looks up at you, mustering a small smile. “I wouldn’t know who to give it to.”   “Well, you still have time to decide. You can give it to someone when they get back.” You hum to yourself. “How about giving it the Crown Prince?”   Lucy’s eyes are as large as saucers and she blinks thrice.   You’re a bit endeared with how surprised she seems at your suggestion. “Don’t you admire Prince Jungkook?”   “I...I do,” she admits quietly and peeks at you again. “But I wouldn’t want to overstep—”    “Not at all!” You reassure her. “Prince Jungkook likes the admiration. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind whatsoever. He might actually appreciate it.”   The girl smiles to herself and nods.   Evening sets in after meaningless conversations, cordial expressions and polite responses. The only interruptions are the horns that ring as each participant in the Hunt slowly arrives back.   Jungkook returns sweaty and out of breath, but with a whole moose like he promised. There are cheers and applauses, but more importantly, silent gasps when he beelines straight to Lucy to give her the prize. She blushes, a stuttering mess full of ‘thank yous’ and ‘it’s an honour’, and you discover Jungkook’s bashful behaviour at her sincere gratitude.    He scratches the back of his neck, diverts his vision, mutters ‘it’s fine’. It’s fascinating to watch considering he’s always been arrogant and bratty to you since the day you met him.   But you don’t get to observe their moment for long.   Not when the horns ring again and a figure appears over the horizon.    This time, no one moves. Truly stunned. Breaths hitched. Holy shit. Taehyung arrives back with a bear and he doesn’t even look like he’s broken a sweat.   “Wow!” Jungkook is the first to react, moving out of the crowd to his brother. He’s genuinely amazed and impressed, jaw dropped and brows shot to his hairline. “You did this?!”   “Didn’t I say I would win?” Taehyung grins languidly.   “This...is incredible!” Jungkook’s admiration for his brother causes the unsettled crowd to finally calm. It starts off slow, a clap here or there and then it’s applause, cheering and murmurs of acknowledgment.   “Has anyone ever brought a bear back before?” — “Did he use magic?” — “Why didn’t the eldest son participate in the Hunt before?”   And you know that it’s the first time people have clapped for Taehyung.   The attendant rushes forward, sputtering on his words. “T-The winner for this year’s Hunt is His Highness, Prince Taehyung!”   Taehyung wins a chest of gold, worth more than fifty commoner’s lifetimes and you watch as he bows his head as he receives it. You watch as he holds it and strides towards you. You watch until his arms have extended and a smile draws upon his features.   “What are you doing?” you ask, a whisper that’s befallen off your lips, spilled past the astonishment.    His gaze and smile never wavers. “I’m giving my prize to you.”   The crowd’s stirred to silence, watching the two of you, and you receive the wooden chest.   The attendant quickly announces the feast in the hall and servants begin ushering the people inside. But you continue watching Taehyung, your eyes connected to his, both grounded in the private bubble.   No one notices the King sitting on top of the stands, his brows tightly knitted.    //   The dining hall has shifted.   No longer are there laced tablecloths, towers of pastries and teapots from the afternoon. It’s large plates that have stretched along the surface, meats and cheese, breads and butters that have begun the feast. There are grandiose chairs all around three different tables, arranged based on importance and connections, conversations that have filled the enormous room.   The darkness of the night is casted away by the chandeliers overhead, illuminating the room in a golden hue. Yet, while each is high on the atmosphere, drunk by the wine, you can’t swallow the food down.    The tapping of utensils on glass has you looking over. The room simmers down.    By the coaxing of Jungkook beside him, Taehyung rises from his chair and clears his throat. It’s customary for the victor of the Hunt to give a speech and you’re guessing this is it.   “Thank you all for coming.” Taehyung appears unfamiliar and awkward addressing the crowd, quickly rushing over his words as if to get it done and over with. “I have never participated in the Hunt before this year and it was only because of beginners luck that I won. That—”    Suddenly, Taehyung looks right at you. “—and the support of those most important to me.”    Then, as quick as he stole his glance, he turns away. “I hope the harvests of Ashea will prosper this year.”   There’s thunderous applause and the feast resumes.   You’re overwhelmed, dizzy, the celebrations of the room getting to your head — laughter, questions, comments louder by ten decibels until it feels earsplitting.   You look over at Jungkook, finding that he has two blue ribbons pinned on his left side. He’s smiling widely, oblivious. Then, your head whirls over to your parents sitting down the table. They might have friendly smiles plastered on their features, but you can tell through their eyes that there’s seething anger. They’re unhappy, most likely with you, most likely with what happened earlier.   “Anastasia.” Lady Devon, who sits beside you, calls you out of your thoughts, disapproving at how your listening skills could be so poor.   You blink, pretending you were in deep thought about her discussion of silver forks and the corner of your mouth tugs. “If you’ll excuse me…”   After a delayed moment, she nods and you push your chair back, blurring into the massive paintings on the wall as you slip out to the terrace.   The night is cold.    Each exhale of yours is visible and you tug the soft pink shawl around your shoulders closer to your body for some warmth as you lean against the railings. You look up at the star-filled sky, finally able to calm yourself from the noise inside. You’ve always been glad that no matter where you are, what universe it is, there’s always the same sun, stars and moon. A constant.   One thing you don’t have to worry about.   “Is there something wrong?”   You know who it is before you’ve even turned around.    It’s a relief. You’ve waited all day to be able to speak to him, to be away from prying eyes and in a private moment. It’s easing. Your nerves take comfort in the familiarity, somehow finding his very presence soothing. Yet it’s unsettling at the same time. You have too many questions, too many suspicions and you don’t know if you want to uncover the truth.   But you gather your strength and face Taehyung. “I’m just thinking.”   “About what?”   Taehyung approaches your side. The warm light from inside the palace spills out and your shadows cast onto the grass beneath the terrace. There is not a soul in the hall when they’re all inside the dining hall, celebrations and conversations muffled through the many walls.   You inhale a breath. “Why?”   Taehyung frowns.   You ask again, “Why did you give me your prize?”   “Should I not have?”   Half of his face is illuminated, the slope of his nose and dip of his cupid’s bow sharp against the glow of the chandeliers, reminiscent of the chiaroscuro of a painting.   “That’s not it. Just…..” Why does he treat you so kindly, why does he want to go out of his way to talk to you, why does he look at you like that— “Why?”   In the original game, Anastasia was Taehyung’s chess piece and nothing more.   “Does there need to be a reason?” The corner of his mouth tugs gingerly. “I wanted to, so I did.”   “But there’s so many eligible bachelorettes you could’ve them them to, like Lady Myoi or Lady Paxton—”   “None of them matter,” he injects without needing to blink or think twice. “Not like you do.”   Your head snaps up and your eyes meet. Taehyung gazes at you tenderly, searching your irises with a small smile and he swallows hard. His voice lowers when he asks, “Are you cold?”    Oddly enough, even with the chilly wind whisking through the branches and swaying the leaves, you aren’t cold if he’s here.    Yet suddenly, Taehyung snaps his fingers and you’re engulfed with the warmth of an embrace. It’s the heat of a winter fire crackling underneath the mantle, the Summer sun casting down on your cheeks, and it travels from your toes to your head, and you can’t help the giggle that spills from you.    “What did you just do?”   He grins and leans closer to you. “It’s a simple warmth spell.”   Your brow cocks. “How much magic do you exactly know?”    He even managed to get that bear without looking like he had to fight. Your efforts to get him not to tap into magic all those years ago were in vain, but you have to admit it’s pretty cool.   Taehyung looks away, smile easing. “It doesn’t matter how much magic I have. It’s not enough for what I really want.”    Your breath hitches in your throat. The implications of his words welcomes the tension back into the air that had snuck itself away for a simple moment. But it isn’t uncomfortable. It isn’t the kind of tension that comes when you’re speaking to the Duke and Duchess, not the stiffness that arrived when you were being scolded by Edith. No. It’s different. It’s….intimate.    Especially when he sneaks a glance at you and you hold it, eyes fixated into his.   None of you speak, breathe, bat a lash. Not when Taehyung starts to lean in close. Not when you begin to feel the heat of his cheeks on your skin, when you can hear the thunderous noise of his heartbeat bruising his rib cage. His lash tickles yours. But before your lips can brush—   You push him away.   Taehyung stumbles back, nearly falling over, but he grasps the railings.   Your breath heaves and you stare at him in shock, in horror with what was about to happen. And before anything can be said or done, you turn away.   “Wait! Anastasia!” Taehyung calls after you. “I’m sorry!”   “I….I need to leave.”   You can’t deviate from the story more than you already have. This is a mistake.   In the midst of your panic, you return to the dining hall and cut through the room. It’s the quickest way back to your chambers, so you don’t hesitate to move your steps, never once looking behind your shoulder. Luckily, Taehyung doesn’t follow after you. He can’t.    But while each is celebrating and distracted with their company, a certain girl notices your distraught and frantic form beelining to the massive doors.   Something doesn’t sit right in her, so she immediately stands and bows her head to the woman she was speaking to. “If you can excuse me, thank you, I’ll be right back.”   Lucy follows after you, eyes pinned on your backside.   The only people who pay any mind is your mother, the Duchess of Devereux. Her senses are sharp and she taps your father on the shoulder until he follows her line of sight to the girl.   The castle grounds are dark, the moon waxing but not yet full enough to provide a bright light. But enough is shed for you to see. It’s enough for shadows to cast along the stone walls. You would never walk outside at this time of night, but you need air. More of it. Something you can breathe in and hope will clear the cloudiness inside your mind, the noise that’s earsplitting.   A gentle tap on your shoulder has you screaming.   “It’s me!” Lucy puts her hands out, her eyes wide. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you.”   You catch your breath, steadying it and you swallow hard. “W-What are you doing outside? I thought you were still celebrating the feast.”   “I saw you walking by and I thought something was wrong and I got worried, I’m sorry.” She looks at you when the silence is ongoing. The concern is evident through her knitted brows. “Are you alright, Anastasia?”   It seems like everyone is asking you that question today.   A question you don’t know how to respond to yourself.   But you manage a nod and a smile. “I’m fine. I was just tired. I was thinking of retiring to my room early.”   “Oh, okay.”   You step towards her and grasp her hands within your own. “Can you do me a favour, Lucy, and keep Jungkook company tonight? He might be looking for me too and I don’t want him to be worried.”   “I will.” She nods. “But do you want me to escort you to your room? I could call someone—”   “No, it’s quite alright. I’ll be fine.” You smile and let go of her. “You should go back now before someone goes looking for you.”   Lucy nods for a second time and she bids you a goodnight as she walks back.   You’re left by yourself and you turn to tread your own way. The weight of so many decisions lie upon your shoulders and slow down your steps. You wonder why you have to bear the heavy burden of knowing your future, of knowing all of theirs while trying to escape your own fate.    It feels like you’re a pawn trying to control the whole chess board.   You exhale a breath, watching the cloud dissipate and unbeknownst to you, there’s a rustle in the garden’s bushes.   “That’s her, isn't it?”   Two shadows emerge from the darkness and before your ears can pick up on the noise, before you can turn around and meet the figures, a cloth is clamped over your mouth. Your shout is muffled and arms begin to drag you in the opposite direction of the castle.   What the fuc—    Immediately, your elbow juts out and the man behind you sputters, cowering over with a curse. You manage to slip out of his loosened grip, about to sprint and yell. Until another overtakes you and grabs hold of your wrists, yanking you back.   “Wench!” A cold blade sits at the juncture of your throat and you freeze, breaths tearing out of your throat frantically. You can fight him. Years of swordsmanship didn’t render you useless after all. But his threat delays you— “Shut your mouth if you don’t want Baron of Liza dead too.”   What?   Your mouth is stuffed with cloth and you’re roughly ripped into the darkness.   At the same time, Taehyung, still at the terrace and about to leave, turns around.

[dwellordream]

“For whatever reasons—the difficulty of predicting the moving target that was age at menarche, the reluctance to discuss it, the desire to fend off precociousness, the unwillingness to lower the boom on free-spirited daughters— parents and advisers did not agree on when girls were grown, and marked the coming-to-womanhood at a range of different ages, through different social rites of passage.

The English writer Charlotte Yonge marked one end of the continuum. In 1876 she encouraged great freedom for young girls—‘‘a wholesome delight in rushing about at full speed, playing at active games, climbing trees, rowing boats, making dirt-pies and the like’’—which she declared must end at age twelve. Most parents granted girls status as children for considerably longer. The literary figure of the tomboy, which some scholars have seen as ‘‘disruptive to rigid taxonomies of gender identity,’’ in fact reflected a reality in Victorian child rearing, freedoms granted to girls whose parents had yet to rein them in.

The end of youth arrived conclusively with the leaving of school, mandating a new way of allocating girls’ time. Between twelve and twenty, there were harbingers ranging from putting up hair and lengthening dresses on one hand to the prodding toward religious commitment on the other. Different families chose different ages to signify maturity, suggesting a continuum which would not be named until G. Stanley Hall published his stage-constructing treatise Adolescence in 1904.

At the time, contemporaries vacillated between the languages of childhood and adulthood to define the teenage years. The elite children’s magazine St. Nicholas claimed readers up until the age of twenty, and conventional wisdom encouraged the consignment of youth to childhood as long as possible. At the same time, Louisa May Alcott’s famous girls’ book Little Women advanced the premise repeated in endless moralist literature that girls should learn early the self-discipline and control demanded of adult women. Small wonder that actual girls were confused.

The markers of impending adulthood arrived unheralded in the surprising denials or demands of adults. At the age of eleven, Mary Boit, as she always had, wrote to Santa Claus. ‘‘Papa thinks I am too old but I do not,’’ she reported. The next day she repeated the exercise. ‘‘I had supper and wrote a letter to Santa Clause as papa burned up the other.’’ The strength of her father’s denial was matched only by the daring insistence of Mary Boit on her rights to childhood.

Two years later, however, the generational roles in the Boit family were reversed. It was thirteen-year-old Mary who was insisting on the marks of adulthood and her stepmother who was holding her back. ‘‘I think it is just as mean as it can be that I can not have my dresses longer as they are nearly up to my knees and all the girls of my age wear there dresses longer.’’ The gradual transition to adulthood was marked by these regular games of tug-of-war.

Dress length was an interesting issue both for advisers and the mothers who attempted to comply with them. On the one hand, long dresses signified adult status and therefore should be resisted as long as possible. On the other hand, long dresses covered girls’ legs and therefore should be adopted as soon as such legs might invite unseemly attention. Lillian Boit took the former position, the writers of Ladies’ Home Journal the latter. Isabel Mallon, writing under her own name rather than her famous pseudonym Ruth Ashmore, noted that she could ‘‘hear the dress reformers objecting to this’’ but declared that ‘‘keeping our girls modest is of very much more importance.’’

Emma Hooper’s descriptions of ‘‘A Schoolgirl’s Outfit’’ in 1894 recommended that skirts hit the leg halfway between knee and ankle at age ten. At age eight, they should be from one to two inches shorter. Several advisers agreed that at age thirteen a girl’s skirts should reach her ankles, while at fourteen through six- teen they should go just below her ankles. Seventeen marked full adulthood for purposes of dress length, for a girl should wear her dresses ‘‘the length that any lady does.’’ In essence, fashion advisers on hem length were gradual- ists, suggesting that hems travel steadily down a girl’s leg in accord with her increasing years.

According to the Ladies’ Home Journal, hair had its own separate clock; with no implications for modesty, hair should be kept off the top of the head throughout most of the teen years, the Journal urged. At separate times advisers staved off readers’ suggestions that fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen might be appropriate times for a girl to begin wearing her hair up. At fifteen, it might be worn ‘‘braided, looped and tied with black ribbon’’ for novelty, one writer suggested. Only at nineteen might a girl earn the right to arrange her hair ‘‘in any way she wished.’’ As in the Journal ’s recommendations for other kinds of conduct, though, it seems likely that few readers actually complied.

Margaret Tileston, who was brought up conservatively, noted her gradual adaptations to more adult pre- sentation, beginning in 1881, when she was thirteen, with the decision that she and her older sister would begin to wear ‘‘corset waists.’’ (The same year, Agnes Garrison at fifteen noted her astonishment that a new acquaintance wore ‘‘corsets.’’) The next year, at the age of fourteen, Tileston noted, ‘‘I did my hair up myself behind for the first time.’’

A month later, wearing her hair up and behind had evolved from noteworthy event to planned habit. ‘‘I intend to generally now,’’ she reported. At the age of seventeen, after her graduation from high school, she began wearing a bustle, another contested arena of maturity. As with dress length, bustles came calibrated for age and sophistication, with the progression left to family decision. ‘‘Misses’’ bustles had two or three coils, while those allowed to older girls had four, and bustles for fancy wear sometimes had six.

In the incremental adoption of the marks of adulthood, some ages were more resonant than others. In Louisa May Alcott’s novels the age when childish high spirits must be put aside for young adulthood was fifteen. On the eve of Julia Newberry’s sixteenth birthday, she imagined herself saying farewell to childhood, for ‘‘when once a person is sixteen, though they are still very young, they can never be called, ‘child.’’’ Fond parents might grant girls freedom to ‘‘run wild’’ longer.

Frances Willard’s parents chose her seventeenth birthday as ‘‘the day of her martyrdom,’’ as she recorded it in her diary. ‘‘My ‘back’ hair is twisted up like a corkscrew; I carry eighteen hair-pins; my head aches miserably; my feet are entangled in the skirt of my hateful new gown. As for chasing sheep . . . it’s out of the question.’’ Altogether, Willard felt she had lost her ‘‘occupation’’ as a free-spirited and adventurous child. Emily Eliot was allowed to hold on longer, announcing on her nineteenth birthday, ‘‘It is so horrid to get out of your teens and when you are 20 you must leave girlhood behind you and become a woman. I like teens ever so much.’’

The age of eighteen seems to have borne the most cultural freight, though, indicating the time when a girl simultaneously came into possession of herself and became eligible for possession by someone else. If her parents martyred her at seventeen, at eighteen Frances Willard claimed her own destiny, if only in choosing her reading material, declaring: ‘‘I am eighteen—I am of age— I am now to do what I think is right.’’

In elite society, as well, eighteen was a common age for a girl to ‘‘come out’’ into society, and become eligible for courtship and marriage. Birthday gifts of money to serve as a dowry and of tokens befitting young ladyhood suggested these implications. A Paterson, New Jersey, manufacturer gave his daughter yellow roses and pinks ‘‘36 in all,’’ and Lucy Breckinridge’s father gave her $200. Margaret Tileston received a $1,000 savings bond from her grandfather, as well as the news that she would have a regular allowance, a privilege enjoyed earlier by some of her class. The age of eighteen in fact was often thought to be the conclusion of a process of growing up which had commenced years earlier.

Some fond—or negligent—parents demonstrated little relish even then for moving girls from carefree childhood to responsible adulthood. Such girls were lucky. Annie Cooper grew up the youngest daughter of a retired boat builder in what she described as a near-idyllic rural setting in eastern Long Island. When she turned eighteen in 1882, she still found herself enjoying exuberant girlhood. ‘‘I am still spared, well and happy, no care yet hath been put upon me, I am still a happy, joyous, merry, hearty, and healthy, school girl, girl of 16 in feeling, but eighteen in years.’’ In reflection, she imagined the consequences of her new age.

‘‘I can’t bear to think how fast my happy youth and childhood is slipping from me, that I soon will be too big to climb trees and ride horse back straddling, etc. yes, that in fact I am too big already, it makes me feel badly, for although I love the deeper and more sound stuff, yet too I love nature, in all its phases, I love the woods the air, the birds, the storms, the water, the animals of every description, and I love nature’s sports, and I feel that in advancing age I am getting too big to do with propriety all the sports which belong to nature.’’

Her concerns for propriety encouraged her to imagine cutting back her activity, but she felt reassured that some activities were still left to her. ‘‘Thank God who has given them to me, that I still can ride horse back and go boating as much as I please, with propriety, if I can not climb trees (in the front yard.)’’ Of course there was always the back yard, where it was clear that Annie Cooper would continue to retain the entitlements of a girlhood that she remembered in later days as being ‘‘full and rich and innocent and happy.’’

Yet for every such memory of girlhood seized and held, there were other memories of entrapment, of moments when the meaning of maturing was frozen in claustrophobic anxiety. One such memory was recorded by Elizabeth Coffin, writing about her girlhood in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in the 1890s:

I can never forget my first long dress. It had an overskirt, too, which was insult added to injury. I felt ‘tied and bound’ with it, and it seemed as if, on account of it, my old life with its care-free associations had come to an end. . . . When I found myself robed in it, with my pet dog Koko I went to the garden and told my story of woe to the great cornstalks, who I felt understood me as nothing else in nature did. It seemed to me that the cornstalks waved and bowed their heads in sympathy. . . . There would be no more boiling of corn in the old kettle, climbing trees, coasting with other girls and boys, hitching my sled to the backs of sleighs or romp- ing with the dogs. I was grown up now and serious duties were expected of me.

The donning of a long dress was only the beginning of more profound changes accompanying the arrival of adulthood. Girls used available explanatory systems to describe and acknowledge their metamorphosis into adulthood, often slipping into alternating romantic, social, familial, and spiritual narratives. In the early and midcentury, girls’ diaries strove for an appropriately spiritual analysis for such changes. Later in the century, girls were less reliably successful in finding religious justification for their states of mind in an environment of increasing religious skepticism. Whether successful or failed, however, girls’ spiritual quests encouraged them to scrutinize their emotional lives and provided them with the vocabulary to do so. Unlike the keeping of diaries, however, religious commitment often required a public profession, which brought private feeling into public display.

Agnes Lee’s 1850s journal described an intense malaise which evolved through several rhetorics of understanding until resting in a religious crisis. She first considered the possibility that she was homesick, and then wondered whether her longing was ‘‘to be loved, to be worshipped by something or someone?’’ Once out, this thought provided the occasion for a final resting point for the evening’s reveries. ‘‘No—that is sinful, silly and impossible. I hope, I pray my yearnings . . . may be for something holier higher than I have yet felt. . . . I am told and I know I can, I must find it in the bosom of my Saviour and only there. I have tried, but my heart seems shut up, it is so hard! . . . Some- times the awful thought comes to me, I am one of those who are never to be good—one of the doomed.’’ Agnes Lee’s progression, all documented in the pages of her journal, ended by dropping her in the center of a traditional and appropriate script for a girl her age, especially in the early to midcentury: the quest for a conversion experience.

By midcentury and beyond, the expectation of a moment of sudden epiphany had been muted a bit; it was no longer necessary to have a moment of mystical communion to signify an indwelling Christ. Nonetheless, the anticipation of a mature coming-to-God pervaded and sometimes shaped the experience of youth. Sometimes the signs were overt.

Emma Hidden got a severe case of chicken pox during her teenage years and nearly died. On January 28, 1869, she noted the anniversary of her illness. ‘‘One year ago today I was taken sick with chicken-pox—What changes has that year brought to me. One year ago I was so silly and thoughtless—and now I have a sweet hope of a change.’’ Several weeks later she gave thanks to God ‘‘that he has made me pass thro’ the fire to purify me.’’ The loss of ‘‘silly’’ girlhood through spiritual ‘‘change’’ was a clear formula which was applied in anticipation and description of religious commitment.

Ideally, a religious quest had institutional consequences. A religious experience was formalized by joining a church. Parents were centrally involved in encouraging, promoting, and celebrating this process as a critical part of their responsibilities. Sally Dana’s letters from seminary in the late 1850s made it clear that under her father’s oversight she was to have established a connection with a local minister, an acquaintance of her father’s, to facilitate her confirmation.

She wrote, ‘‘Has Mr. Wilmer said anything about me, I have not seen him to talk to for two weeks and that on Sunday a little while after church (he has been here to see me two or three times, since I have been here) but I feel as if I wanted to see him, or his wife more but, perhaps I expect too much of a minister.’’ Dana went on to ask ‘‘God my Father, Friend’’ ‘‘to give me strength that I may continue my efforts and not disappoint my very dear parent and friends.’’ Obligation and succor were reciprocal, with Sally Dana asking God for help so as not to disappoint her father, just as her father asked her to seek help from her local minister so as not to disappoint her God.

Perhaps as early as several weeks later (the year of this letter is not noted), Dana wrote about greater resolution to this crisis. Her letter commenced with a description of a calm joy and serenity. ‘‘Father, I cannot tell you what a pleasant day last Sunday was to me, particularly after church, and after talking with Mr. Wilmer a little while. I felt so quiet and calm and peaceful, I had my Bible lesson early and I had time to read a little and then. I really loved that Sunday I wish I could have others like it.’’

Dana’s description of her state of mind had particular significance, because it accompanied a moment of commitment: ‘‘I am so glad I can be confirmed, I look forward to it with pleasure, I think of it (if I can express my self right) as being a kind of shield and defense from the world and its lusts, as if I should be nearer my Saviour friend.’’ Sally Dana’s confession of religious calm and commitment to her father represented her fulfillment of youthful obligation to both earthly and heavenly father, even without a moment of spiritual epiphany.

If girls sought commitment at parental directive, they often experienced conversion within a youth cohort. Agnes Lee wrote lengthy journal entries about her personal and spiritual journey to God, seemingly an individual in- ternal odyssey out from under ‘‘an angry black cloud that [was] ever over me,’’ which left her feeling and acting ‘‘so strange.’’ This intensely spiritual experience did not happen in isolation, however, for ‘‘Annie, Mary, Ada and Annette took the same step.’’

Individual quests under parental guidance often took place in company—sometimes of family members, sometimes of school- mates, even sometimes in classes. When Sally Dana was attempting to pro- cess her confirmation, she noted that she ‘‘was not in any class yet,’’ an acknowledgment by the churches themselves that routes to salvation might run through education and preparation, rather than through the spontaneity of random epiphany.

…Professing faith, like being good, was emotional work which required the acquisition of appropriate feelings. Unlike the quiet display of pleasantness, though, loving God required girls to verbalize their feelings to parents, ministers, and congregations. Evangelical culture encouraged a language of feeling often embarrassing to girls still trying to get their emotional bearings. Annie Cooper had delayed until what she seemed to think was the last acceptable moment—the week of her twentieth birthday—perhaps partly because she found public acknowledgment of her faith to be excruciating.

When a minister asked Annie Cooper to help with a female prayer meeting, she was thrown into a panic. ‘‘Oh! my God! how can I? I do wish I could but have not the gift of ‘gab,’ I don’t see how I can. I, who can not even, to save my life, say a single word at home, how can I brake through the barriers of timidity and natural diffidence to such an extent as that?’’

Annie Cooper’s worries about her ability to articulate religious feeling came allied with worries of all kinds about her emotional depth, especially her ability to be the kind of understanding, helpful daughter who could assist her parents in their old age. Speaking about religion meant speaking sincerely about feelings; speaking about either constituted a substantial challenge to late-Victorian girls still trying to manage complex emotional protocols.

…By its very nature, the experience of religious conversion, or even the reconfirming of religious commitment, depended on private, personal feeling. What was at issue was not what or how much you knew, or how you acted, but instead what you felt. However, unlike most other circumstances, in which private feeling was appropriately closeted in one’s heart, religious profession meant speaking of that feeling in a compelling way. Just when girlhood’s lessons had been learned, religious profession required that they be overturned in a potentially embarrassing confession of religious enthusiasm. Coming in the context of a life defined by being good and subordinating selfish desires, such public self-revelation was anathema.

…To the extent that Victorian parents and advisers demanded religious profession, they were asking that girls look deep inside themselves and come up with something profound, sincere, pure, and winning. This, of course, was what girls brought to romantic relationships as well, an alliance that brought possibility as well as danger. One mother explained to her constrained daughter the relationship between religious and romantic spontaneity, suggesting that the expression of religious feeling might itself lead to more genuine communion with those around—perhaps even a more direct route into the hearts of men.

Though they may be ‘‘apparently thoughtless young men,’’ Ella Lyman wrote, a woman’s ‘‘carrying into life the life-giving idea’’ might lead men to ‘‘show their best deepest side and one immediately establishes real trust and friendship.’’ With a young woman’s expression of religious sensibility might come the realization of oneness, ‘‘that we are God’s own children with one aim one hope one aspiration.’’

But this experience of spiritual and romantic oneness was just what Annie Winsor’s mother feared. Ann Winsor put off the matter of her daughter’s soul until just a few weeks before Annie’s twentieth birthday. At that point she sent a letter of gentle inquiry to her daughter at college, revealing her sticking point: a need to reassure herself about the role of feeling in her daughter’s life.

Although she urged Annie to express religious enthusiasm, she feared feelings of other kinds, warning about the lamentable career of George Eliot, another intellectual daughter. George Eliot’s extramarital affair with George Lewes gave Ann pause. Without ‘‘clear sight to guide it, and strict ‘puritan’ principle to strengthen it,’’ such feeling could lead a girl directly into the biggest kind of moral trouble.

The cultural critic Nancy Armstrong has argued that the development of a specifically feminine identity in nineteenth-century England rested on the construction of a psychologized, feminine protagonist in the romantic novel. According to Armstrong, the drama of the domestic heroine lay in the richness and the interest of her feelings and her sensibility, not in the interplay of bold actions on a large stage.

What Armstrong’s theory overlooks, which was especially significant in the United States, is the central role that the search for a religious self played in the development of a feeling and romantic self of any kind. Not all advisers agreed about the need for girls to demonstrate engaged spirituality. Some moralists feared excessive piety in the same way that they feared sensational fiction: it might divert girls from their little duties at home.

…The expectation that girls speak about religion, like the expectation that girls like or dislike books, was a cultural demand that girls have and then be able to communicate an interior, private being. When girls like Ellen Regal, daughter of an itinerant minister in Michigan added ‘‘secret divotion’’ to her attendance at family worship and her memorizing of the Bible, she was exercising a private, personalized religion which would pay dividends in the development of an enriched sense of self. Girls’ reservations in speaking about such a private subject as religion revealed their discomfort in speaking about, or perhaps even in having, feelings they could trust and report on. Once mastered, though, religious profession might lead to emotional assertions of other kinds.”

- Jane H. Hunter, “Interiors: Bodies, Souls, Moods.” in How Young Ladies Became Girls: The Victorian Origins of American Girlhood

[alj4890]

12 Days of Ficmas

Day 9

(Bryce Lahela x F!MC*Chris Valentine) in a Choices Open Heart one shot.

A/N Bryce’s plans don’t seem to be going like he wanted for Christmas with Chris. 

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Masterlist

Song Inspiration: Christmas Without You by Ava Max

Going Home

December 19th...

Bryce finished stacking his luggage by the door. He looked around at all the Christmas decorations he had talked Chris into buying with a touch of bitter irony.

This was supposed to be their Christmas.

Leave it to his family to find a way to mess up yet another part of his life.

"You forgot to pack this." Chris walked in with a small box wrapped in green paper. The red ribbon on top had been hastily tied into a lopsided bow.

He chuckled while pointing it out. "Sloppy stitch work Dr. Valentine."

"This is why I don't operate." She slipped her arms around his waist. "I leave that up to you."

He pressed a lingering kiss to her lips. "I really don't want to go."

She hugged him tight. "I know."

He set the gift on top of his bags, while keeping her in his arms. "I wish you were able to come with me."

"Me too." She murmured.

He pressed his forehead against hers, for once unable to think of something humorous to say to break the tension.

If his little sister had not called two weeks ago with an outrageous request, he would be able to stay in Boston and enjoy Christmas for once. He could follow through with all the plans he had made with the very reason he had gotten excited again for the holiday.

His Chris.

He knew how lucky he was. The love of his life had survived being poisoned six months ago and he had been given another chance to show her just how much she meant to him.

And Bryce had held nothing back.

All the special dates he made after her recovery had led to a proposal on Thanksgiving Day.

Sienna had nearly choked on a piece of turkey she had popped in her mouth when he dropped down on a knee in front of all their friends.

Chris had said yes, making that a day Bryce knew would always hold a special sort of thankfulness in his heart.

Plans were made for Christmas and New Year's Eve that night. Schedules were studied while the couple began to think of ways to balance everything.

Which was why Keiki's phone call had been unexpected. Like her older brother, she had decided that she needed space from their parents. She had not been in any rush to return home to Hawaii and was happily settled in the bordering school Bryce had found for her.

He and Chris visited her often and she in turn came for the occasional weekend here and there.

Bryce had been floored when she asked him to go with her back to Hawaii for Christmas.

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

Two weeks ago...

"You want me to do what?!" He asked, ignoring the stares from other doctors sitting in the lounge.

"Mom and Dad have been calling me for a few weeks now." Keiki explained. "They really want us to try and be a family again."

"No." He didn't bother to hide his bitterness. "I have nothing to say to them."

"Please Bryce." She pleaded. "I--after running away...I can't face them on my own."

Bryce ran a hand through his hair, gripping a handful in frustration. "Keiki, I haven't seen them in ten years. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is going to be for all of us if I'm there?"

"But they want to try." She said again. "Couldn't you try too?"

"I probably can't get time off." Bryce clutched on to that excuse. "I'm still a--"

"I asked Chris to check before I called." Keiki admitted.

"You did what?" He demanded. "Why would you--"

"Because I thought you wouldn't bother checking until the last minute then say you weren't able to take off work." She grumbled.

Bryce blinked in surprise. His little sister knew him too well.

"Anyway," Keiki huffed, "since it is kinda a family emergency, they are giving you a week off. The nineteenth until the twenty-sixth."

Bryce dropped his head back. Seeing no way out of this, he groaned into the phone.

"Please do it for me." Her voice had softened, worried he might not go.

Unable to resist when she dropped her typical teenage attitude, he promised to pick her up on the nineteenth from school.

Keiki whooped and began to say thank you over and over again. "You're the best!"

"Remember that when you buy me a present." He added before telling her he needed to go.

Bryce decided to find his helpful fiancée and thank her for this.

After searching the diagnostic floor with little success, he found Chris in the cafeteria.

She was reading a medical journal while picking at a salad.

She jumped when he swooped in from behind and kissed her cheek. Her delight at seeing him disappeared when he sat down without a word or smile across from her.

"What's wrong?" She asked, reaching for his hand. "Did something happen with Mr. Wallace's bladder cystectomy?"

"No, that went well." He laced his fingers with hers. His eyes dropped down to the princess cut diamond engagement ring he had given her, sparkling under the florescent lights. "Keiki called."

"Oh?" Chris pretended a new interest in her salad. "How is she?"

"Thrilled that someone I know and love happened to do the impossible and got a third year surgical resident off for Christmas."

Her cheeks colored. "I wonder who could do such a miracle?"

"Chris." He sighed her name. "You know I have no desire to see my parents."

"Yeah, but after you talked to your mom about Keiki's bordering school--"

"That was brief compared to spending a week with them." Bryce countered, slouching in his seat. "At least you'll be there as a buffer."

The woman he adored began to squirm in her chair.

"Oh no, no no." He gripped her hand. "Come on, Chris! You're not making me do this alone?"

"I wasn't able to take off. Dr. Ramsey always goes to his Dad's place for Christmas. Since June left, it's just me and Baz working the diagnostic department." Chris pushed her tray to the side. "I'll be working Christmas Eve so that Baz can be with Zaid and their parents. Apparently there is some kind of twin holiday tradition they have involving Santa and his elves."

Bryce softly cursed under his breath. "I'm not spending Christmas away from you. This is our first one as a couple." He reminded her. "I'll tell Keiki she has to face Mom and Dad on her own."

"No!" Chris reached for his other hand. "I love that you want to spend it with me as much as I do with you, but your sister needs you right now." She then shrugged as if it was no big deal. "I'll be working and sleeping the holiday away."

She swallowed against that lie, knowing all her own holiday plans she had dreamed of with him were destroyed. Having Christmas Day off would be incredibly lonely. Their friends were either working a different shift or finding a way home to see their loved ones. Her own parents were leaving for their yearly trip to Switzerland in a few days.

She would be completely alone this holiday season.

"I really don't want to do this without you." Bryce tugged her out of her chair and into his lap.

Ignoring her frantic whispers that there were people around, he cupped her cheek and kissed her.

"I don't want you to either." She whispered, giving in to the need to kiss him once more. "I'll be just a phone call away."

"Not good enough." He grumbled before giving her a half-hearted smile. "But it seems I have no choice since the two bossy women in my life are guilt tripping me." He squeezed her close before letting her get up. "I'll see you this evening after your rounds."

Chris smiled warmly at him. "Can't wait."

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

December 19th...

"Cheer up!" Chris shook him a little. "You'll be in Hawaii. Warm, sandy beaches--"

"That would be more inviting if you were there." His lips curved into a suggestive smile. "I'm picturing all kinds of bikinis--" he jumped when she swatted his backside.

She cleared her throat to continue. "As I was saying. You'll get to surf. See old friends--"

"Enemies. Exes. People who hope every Lahela dies some horrific death." He muttered.

"Why would you be seeing exes?!" Chris jerked back, eyes narrowing on his face. "Is there something I should know about, Lahela?"

He snorted in his laughter. "Nothing at all. I was only trying to think of the worst things I could see on this trip."

"Better be the worst." She grumbled, allowing him to once again pull her close. "Or else you will encounter a fiancée colder than the winters here in Boston."

He shook with laughter as he kissed her again. "I love you so much, Chris."

She gently caressed his cheek, giving that somewhat special, secretive smile she had just for him. "I love you too."

He checked the time and reluctantly let her go. "I better get going before Keiki calls again." He gathered up his bags, insisting Chris remain inside where it was warm. "I won't be able to leave if I see you standing out there alone."

She bit back her tears. "Be careful and call me when you get a chance."

"I will." He slung the last piece of luggage over his shoulder. "I want you to actually rest and sleep on your days off. None of that study fest you try and sneak in."

"I promise." She reached over and pulled his coat closed for him.

Bryce ducked down and stole one last tender kiss before slipping out the door. He flashed that same charming smile that still made her feel butterflies. "Later, Valentine."

Chris knew she couldn't say goodbye back without choking up. She merely waved with a smile, eyes blurring with the tears that were threatening to spill over.

She closed the door, pressed her head against it, and finally allowed herself to cry.

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

Later that night...

"I'm here." Bryce stepped out on the balcony of his old bedroom. "We just finished dinner."

"How did it go?" Chris asked, readjusting her phone as she finished doing the dishes.

"Great. Just great." He replied. "We said hello. Awkward pauses. Questions about school. Awkward pauses. The hospital. Even longer pauses with avoiding eye contact. Then Kiki decided to break the tension by telling them about our engagement. Blah, blah, blah. They want to meet you. Hope I actually invite them to the wedding--"

"Of course we will invite them!" Chris dropped the pan she was scrubbing. "You told them that, right?"

Bryce hesitated. "No. I indicated that we were still up in the air on the guest list."

"BRYCE!" Chris shouted. "Get in there and tell them that I want them at our wedding! They're your parents!"

"See, this is why I needed you to come." He snapped. "I don't want to be here. I don't want to talk to them. I have nothing in common with these people!"

"They're YOUR parents!" She snapped back. "Get over this crap and try and develop some type of relationship with them. Do it for yourself, Kiki, me, and any children we might one day have!"

A couple of beats of silence went by.

"Children, huh?" Bryce teased.

"Well, yeah." Chris mumbled. "One of you in the world is clearly not enough for me."

He couldn't stop the goofy smile forming at that. "I know the world needs more of you, Valentine."

Bryce loved hearing her stutter at his compliment.

"Anyway," she said in a softer tone, "Try and find a way to be around your family."

"I guess I do owe it to all the little Lahela's we will have." He leaned against the railing. "We're having six, right?"

"Six? Why not eight?." Chris joked, calling his bluff.

"How about two?" He countered as he quickly did the math for putting eight people through college.

"It's a deal." She checked the time and sighed. "I need to head to the hospital."

"Okay." He told her again that he loved her before ending the call. Taking one last glance at the ocean, he walked inside to speak to his parents.

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

A couple of days went by with everyone in the Lahela household walking on egg shells. Each person seemed to keep the conversation impersonal. Generalizations were made on the weather, possible activities were suggested, and uncomfortable silences were falling at alarming rates.

The only time Bryce felt a little like his normal self was when he was either talking to Chris or alone with Keiki.

One morning, it all came to an end.

After taking his little sister out for a sunrise surf, Keiki had suggested they surprise their parents with breakfast.

"We can make it ourselves!"

"I hope you mean bowls of cereal." He teased. "Because even those are pretty much a hit and miss for me."

Keiki rolled her eyes. "You're a surgeon! Surely between the two of us we can come up with something."

"I'm not cooking while in the operating room." He added. "Edenbrook frowns on that."

She elbowed him in the ribs.

"And I'm out." He snickered at annoying her. "I can't handle a skillet with bruised ribs." He dodged her next attack. "Much less crack an egg."

Keiki chased him into the Lahela mansion, threatening to crack an egg over his big head. Their laughter caused their parents to look up from their morning coffee.

"Good morning." Their mother called out.

The two stopped in their tracks.

"Morning." Keiki greeted.

She and Bryce stood in the foyer, making sure they weren't tracking sand in.

"Did you have a good time?" Their father asked.

"Yeah." Bryce rubbed the back of his neck. "Smooth waves all morning."

His mother chuckled fondly. "There were so many mornings when you were little that I couldn't find you. Your father kept me from freaking out by showing me your favorite surfing spot."

"I suggested getting a houseboat to live in so we could see you more often." Their father teased. "But your mom had this weird fixation that home meant one on land."

Keiki glanced back and forth between her parents and brother. This was the first time anyone mentioned something from the past.

Bryce hated that he felt that familiar tug to his heart when it came to childhood memories. He had a good life for the most part. His parents might have committed crimes, but they had treated him well in their own way.

They had always been busy, flittering to one event or planning one to show off the Lahela fortune. But in between those moments, they had tried to be parents. They weren't perfect, especially when compared to stories his friends shared about holidays with family and such.

But maybe, maybe they weren't that horrible.

"Keiki and I were going to try our hand at making breakfast for all of us." He found himself saying. "We'll try not to burn the house down."

Tears came to his mother's eyes. With a choked laugh, she nodded. "That--that is very thoughtful of you."

"Thank you." His father's voice was raspy with emotion. "We promise to eat whatever you serve." He tried to joke. "Good thing we have a son who's a doctor."

Keiki pulled on Bryce's arm. "Let's do this."

Feeling a little guilty that an offer to cook had affected his parents to such an extent, Bryce decided to give it his all and make this a breakfast none of them would forget.

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

Edenbrook, Dec. 23...

"And don't forget to test--"

"Ethan, shouldn't you be on the road by now?" Chris interrupted. "The weather is only going to get worse."

"Is this your way of trying to keep me from repeating the lab work I want done?" He countered.

She held up a readout. "Did it last night."

An expression of approval appeared on his face. "Well done, Rookie."

"A compliment? It really is Christmas." She teased.

He snorted while gathering his things. "Enjoy. It only happens once a year."

"Tell your dad, I said Merry Christmas." She yelled out as he left.

He waved in acknowledgement without looking back.

Chris dropped her head on the table, softly groaning in misery.

"And then there was one." She sat up and focused once more on her research of skin irritations, frowning at this being her holiday treat.

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

Lahela Mansion...

"Our Bryce is not only one of the top surgeons, he is also engaged to a brilliant doctor."

Bryce forced a smile as his mother continued to pull him from one group to another. Lucky for him, he was only meant to stand there and appear delighted with life.

He wasn't really in the mood to socialize.

He glanced across the room and saw that his dad was doing the same with Keiki. The siblings shared a mutual glance of resignation.

After that one breakfast, their parents were ready to show the world that the Lahela's were still a prominent family that deserved awe and respect.

He hated being paraded like this. The only reason he still smiled was he felt a little guilty still over keeping them out of his life for so long. It surprised him that their parents had practically become recluses when Keiki also left. Having both their children move across the country to try and escape the Lahela name had been the wakeup call they needed.

Things still weren't what they once were, yet there was no denying the effort his parents were putting forth in the hopes of finding a new normal.

The only thing was, Bryce wanted to go home.

And home meant anywhere Chris was.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and excused himself.

Opening up the image Chris had sent made his brow furrow in confusion. It was some type of weird skin rash.

He then burst into laughter when he read the words she had typed under it.

This could be the eggnog talking, but does this guy's rash look like a fat reindeer to you?

He set his drink down and began to text back.

This is why I love you.

He smiled in anticipation as he waited for her response.

Who knew skin rashes had this kind of effect on you?

And? He sent back.

And I love you too.

Keiki sneaked over and peeked at his phone.

"Is that a reindeer?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Maybe." He put his phone back in his pocket.

He leaned against the doorframe, quietly observing the party.

"You don't have to stay." Keiki whispered.

"I know." He ran a hand through his hair. "But it won't kill me to hang out another hour at this party."

"I mean, you don't have to stay here for Christmas." She corrected.

"I thought you wanted me to."

"I did. Or do. But now that things have been talked about, I don't mind being alone here with Mom and Dad." Keiki explained. "I know you must miss Chris."

"I do." His mind began to whirl with possibly leaving. "You don't think it would upset our parents if I up and left?"

"Not if you tell them why."

He slung his arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "You know, for little sisters, you aren't that bad?"

She rolled her eyes while fighting a grin. "I guess you aren't the worst either."

He squeezed her close, grinning when she hugged him back. "I'll talk to them after the party."

"This means I get to open my gift from you early, right?" Keiki asked.

"Gift? From me?" He placed his hand to his head. "Was I supppsed to get you something?"

Bryce grunted when she punched his bicep.

"I take everything nice back I ever said about you." She sniped back.

"Easy there, Ms. MMA. Some of us need our arms for work." He nodded toward the tree. "Your gift is wrapped in the candy cane paper."

She stood on her tiptoes to see over the crowd. "Is it anything from my list?"

"Of course it is. Do you honestly think I have any clue what a fifteen year old girl likes?" He reminded her. "Plus Chris made sure we got exactly what you wanted."

Keiki hugged him again. "I'm so glad you came with me."

He gently patted her back. "Me too, kid."

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

Dec. 23rd, a few hours later, Honolulu International Airport...

"I understand that what I'm asking is the impossible." Bryce took a deep breath. "If you can get me as close to the east coast, I'll pay extra and drive the rest of the way if needed."

"Sir, we are having to cancel a number of flights due to weather." The ticket agent explained. "Your flight is for the twenty-sixth."

"I know. But I need to be home tomorrow." He repeated. "I'll fly anywhere. It doesn't have to be a direct flight to Boston."

The agent began to type while the line of people behind Bryce grumbled at the hold up.

"The closest I can get you is a five hour layover in Dallas." She typed some more. "You can then be on standby for a flight to Grand Rapids or I can book you in our economy class to Chicago which has a two hour layover in San Diego and another two hour layover in Houston."

"Chicago." He decided.

She printed out his new ticket. "Departs from Gate B-9 in one hour."

"Thank you." He hurried over to security.

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

Dec. 24th, around four a.m. Chicago...

"I need something with four wheel drive." Bryce added.

"Yeah, you and everyone else." The car rental rep snickered. "It's Christmas Eve in the Midwest. You'll be lucky to leave here with a car that isn't a convertible with the top down."

Bryce ran his hand through his hair. "Just give me whatever you got."

"Huh." The rep's eyes widened. "Must be your lucky day. We have one SUV left."

Bryce felt the first glimmer of hope since his last three turbulent flights. "I'll take it."

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

Dec. 24th, Boston...

It is going to be a white Christmas for Boston. Snow has been falling and will continue with a possible accumulation of eighteen inches. Some areas of the country are expecting up to twenty-

Chris changed the channel while getting ready for a long night at work. Her mood had been less than cheerful the more she thought about being alone tomorrow.

That and she had not heard from Bryce at all.

He's probably at another party, she thought. Maybe his family planned something special.

"Get your head right, Valentine." She told her reflection. "Nobody wants a depressed doctor missing her fiancé."

She searched her closet for something more festive to wear, hoping it would brighten her mood and her patients'. After choosing a red knit dress, she snagged a gingerbread cookie and headed out into the snow.

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

Somewhere in the snow...

"A cup of coffee, please." Bryce checked the time again and softly groaned.

He had been driving since around five in the morning. With all the snow, the fifteen hour drive seemed to be growing longer and longer. He still had another five hours at the very least until he made it to Boston.

His phone chimed with a message from Chris.

Merry Christmas Eve! I miss you and hope you're having a good time.

He took a sip of the coffee and debated on whether or not to tell her what he was really doing. Typing out that he missed her too, he decided to remain quiet on how he was spending the night before Christmas.

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

Dec. 25th, 8:00 a.m., Boston...

Chris trudged through the snow, playfully kicking up some of it. The night shift had thankfully been quiet for the most part. She had been able to go to the children's ward and play some Christmas themed games with them and their families.

Seeing their excited faces went a long way in helping lift her spirits.

Some of the staff had brought in some holiday treats and even Dr. Banerji brought in some homemade wassail in a crockpot to help stay warm in the snow.

Chris found a Secret Santa gift on her desk when her shift ended. Smiling, she opened it up to find a green cashmere scarf. Wrapping the soft material around her neck, she pulled on her snow boots and left in a much better mood than she had arrived in.

Humming Christmas carols, she continued to her apartment. She decided that this Christmas on her own would be spent in pajamas and dozing on the couch with A Christmas Story on continuous loop.

She was on the third verse to We Wish You a Merry Christmas when she unlocked the door.

"We won't go until we get some," she sang as she tossed her keys on a side table. "We won't--"

"Well, if you insist." Bryce said suggestively.

She stopped in her tracks. Her jaw dropped as she stared at him.

"Should we exchange presents before we get some or after?" He laughed when she launched herself into his arms, squeezing him tight.

"What are you--how--" she sighed into his kiss, snuggling closer.

"I wanted to spend Christmas at home." He told her.

"But you were home." She reminded him. "With your family."

"That's not home anymore." Bryce backed her to the sofa.

"So you're saying Boston has become your new home?" She laughed when they fell onto the cushions.

He gazed down at her, thinking of all the emotions she made him feel. His voice turned sincere as he smoothed her hair out of her eyes.

"Funny thing is, it isn't the place so much as the reason why this is now home." He pressed a sweet kiss to her cheek before brushing his lips against hers as he spoke. "Wherever we are, as long as you're there, then that is where I will call home."

[animezing-fandoms]

Hoppy White Day!

Masterlist

Warnings: A couple of puns.

Relationships: Nalu with background Gajevy, Gruvia and Albis.

Summary: Natsu needs help finding a gift at the last minute for Lucy on White Day! But once he runs into a little friend that points him in the right direction, everything falls into place.

A/N: Here’s a one-shot I wrote based on the new art! I hope you enjoy!

----------

When Natsu walked into the guild hall that morning he noticed that something was off. All of the girls had different presents and were either standing next to the guys that they hung out with the most or they were in little groups. He notices Gray and Gajeel talking in the corner and decides to go ask them what's up.

"Hey guys what's going on around here?" He asks with a cheerful grin.

"Nothing much, the girls are just enjoying their White Day presents and showing them off to each other." Gray explains.

"Their what?" Natsu asks.

Gray and Gajeel look at each other and then start laughing so hard that they have to hold their stomachs.

"Hey guys, whoever bet on Natsu remembering better pay up!" Gajeel shouts and a few of the guys in the guild grumble.

"Seriously Macao, you thought seriously thought Natsu would remember White Day?" Wakaba asks.

"Well Lucy gave him chocolates for Valentine's Day so I thought that meant he'd remember. Guess I was wrong." Macao sighs and hands some jewel over to Wakaba.

"What the heck is White Day?" Natsu asks Gray and Gajeel.

"It's the second part of Valentine's Day." Gray explains "It's when the guys give the girls that gave them chocolate presents."

"I think I really nailed my present." Gajeel says, pun intended as he watches Levy show off the bookcase that Gajeel made her out of iron.

Gray chuckles from the pun and decides to make one of his own.

"Yeah well mine's pretty chill." He says and looks at Juvia who was proudly showing off a necklace similar to his own.

"Those are some awesome gifts!" Natsu says. "So what did Lucy get?"

Gray and Gajeel snicker.

"You tell me Salamander." Gajeel says.

Natsu looks confused so Gray has to clarify.

"You were supposed to get her a gift Natsu." Gray says.

"Wait what!?" Natsu exclaims. "Why do I have to do that?"

"Because she got you chocolate on Valentine's Day dumbass!" Gajeel says. "Now she's gonna be the only girl in the guild who didn't get a gift for White Day."

Natsu looks over to where Lucy was talking to Levy and Juvia. She wasn't smiling and the girls were patting Lucy's shoulders comfortingly. She gave both girls a smile and held their hands to reassure them that she was alright but Natsu knew Lucy better than that.

"I-I'll be right back!" Natsu says and quickly runs out of the guildhall.

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

"Dammit I have no idea what to get Lucy." Natsu grumbles as he walks down the street. "I don't even know the right place to look! What can I get her that she doesn't already have aside from rent money?"

Natsu's original plan was to get her rent money. It was a practical gift and he was sure she'd appreciate it, but then Erza ran into him, heard about his plan and slapped him in the face and screamed "You can't just give a girl cash on White Day! That tells her that you know nothing about her and that you don't appreciate her! You know Lucy well enough by now that you should be able to give her a real present! Put in some more effort!"

So now here he was with a handprint on his cheek and at a loss for what to do. He perks his head up when he smells someone familiar. Little Asuka was just ahead of him on the side walk, skipping towards him, licking a big heart-shaped lollipop with a teddy bear under her arm with a pink present bow on it. Natsu smiles and realizes he just found the perfect person to ask for help.

"Hey there Asuka, where'd you get those?" He asks and squats so he can be at her level.

"Hey Natsu! My daddy gave them to me since I made him chocolates with mommy for Valentine's Day last month. I got a teddy bear and a lollipop and mommy got a really pretty necklace. She was so happy when daddy gave it to her! She kissed him all over his face!" Asuka giggles.

"That sounds awesome. You know I'm looking for a present for Lucy. Would you happen to know where I can get one?" Natsu asks.

"Oh I know the perfect place!" Asuka exclaims and bounces on her feet excitedly.

"Great, can you tell me where?" Natsu asks eagerly.

"I can..." Asuka says then gets a mischievous look on her face. "But it's gonna cost you!"

"Since when have you started charging for advice? What do you need money for!" Natsu exclaims angrily.

"It's not money that I want." Asuka says. "It's something else."

Natsu frowns at her, not liking this arrangement. But he was desperate so he didn't have a choice.

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

The next thing he knew, he was in a toy store with Asuka.

"Wow I haven't been in here since I was the same size as you." Natsu says. "You sure Lucy would want something from here, this stuff's all for little kids." Natsu says.

"Trust me! Daddy gets mommy stuffed animals from here as presents! And you break into Lucy's house all of the time you've probably seen stuffed animals in there haven't you?" Asuka asks.

Natsu rubs his chin in thought. He did remember seeing one or two stuffed animals in there so that route was probably a safe bet.

He goes over to the shelf and his jaw drops when he sees all of the options that were there.

"Why the heck are there so many different animals and so many different colors! How am I supposed to pick one!" Natsu whines.

He arches his eyebrow when he notices a blue bunny that had a bow on it that looked just like the one Lucy wore in her hair. Then everything else came together when he remembered something that happened on their way back to the guild from their last job...

-----------

"Natsu I'm hungry." Happy whined and laid across Natsu's growling stomach.

"I know, I am too. But Lucy had to go take a leak and you know she refuses to do that anywhere near us. Pranked her by lighting her skirt on fire one time-" Natsu complained before he heard Lucy scream.

He got up so fast that Happy faceplanted into the dirt. He charged towards the sound of Lucy's scream and soon he saw her standing in a clearing overlooking a meadow and he lit up his fist, ready to burn down anything that was threatening her.

"Natsu what are you-whoa!" Lucy exclaimed as she was suddenly pulled into Natsu's chest with one of his arms while the other one was ignited and surveying the landscape for danger.

"Lucy what happened I heard you scream, did something hurt you?" Natsu asks.

Lucy was blushing furiously and stammering.

"N-no, everything's fine." She squeaked out and untangled herself from his arm.

"Then why'd you scream?" Natsu asked.

"Because I saw something cute." Lucy said and smiled.

"Cute?" Natsu asked.

Lucy nodded then pointed to the rabbit that was hopping in the field.

"Alright!" Happy exclaimed, flying next to Natsu's head. "You found lunch!"

"Yep, I'm starving and that rabbit's gonna tast really good grilled up-" Natsu said.

"No don't!" Lucy exclaimed and put her hand over his fist as she ran in front of him.

Natsu felt his chest tighten when she looked at him with those pleading eyes.

"Rabbits are precious and adorable! Why would you want to hurt one?" Lucy asked.

"Sorry Luce, I didn't know you liked rabbits so much." Natsu said softly, worried that he'd made her upset with him. "I'm just so hungry."

"Then we'll go get you some food that's not the most adorable animal to exist." Lucy said and took his hand to lead him towards a river to find some fish.

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

Natsu smiles and picks the bunny up off of the shelf and looks at it, trying to imagine the look of pure joy that would be on Lucy's face when he gave this to her.

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

"Lucy are you feeling okay?" Juvia asks as she fiddles with the pendent on her new necklace.

"I'm fine." Lucy says with a small smile.

"Don't lie to Juvia. It's clear you're upset that Natsu didn't get you anything for White Day." Juvia says.

"Well I am a little upset but to be honest I wasn't really expecting him to get me anything." Lucy admits. "He's not interested in romance. When I gave him his Valentine's Day chocolate he just assumed I was giving it to him to be nice, he didn't know what it really meant..."

"Lucy!" Asuka shouts as she runs into the guild hall.

The blonde turns around to see Asuka running towards her.

"Hey Asuka what's up?" She asks.

"Natsu's got something for you!" She says cheerfully.

Lucy blushes before looking up when she senses a shadow over her and sees Natsu blushing with both hands behind his back.

"You got me something?" Lucy asks, her heart pounding as she stands up in front of him.

"Yeah. The guys told me I'm supposed to give you a present today and I ran into Asuka and she showed me a place to get a gift for you!" Natsu explains.

"You did?" Lucy asks.

Asuka giggles and nods.

"Yeah she was a big help." Natsu says. "And here's your gift!"

Lucy held her hands up under her chin and let out a delighted gasp when Natsu presented her with a blue bunny.

"Oh Natsu..." she says as she takes it from his hands.

"Awww..." a few of the guild members watching say when they see Lucy hug the toy close to her chest.

"It's perfect Natsu I love it so much!" Lucy says.

"Aw it was nothing." Natsu says and scratches the back of his head.

"Alright Natsu, time to pay up!" Asuka says and tugs on his pant leg.

"Pay? For what?" Lucy asks Natsu.

"Since she showed me where the store was to get you that bunny I owe her a favor." Natsu explains. "Alright kiddo what do you want? Candy? Cake?"

"Oooo cake sounds super yummy!" Asuka exclaims and claps her hands.

Lucy giggles at how cute she was and smiles at the bunny in her arms. He remembered that she liked them...and her favorite color being blue, and the ribbon on the bunny even matched the one in her hair!...How thoughtful...

"But I want you to give Lucy a kiss on the lips!" Asuka declares.

The whole guild gasps. They all start muttering on if Natsu's really gonna do it or not. Lucy and Natsu's faces were bright red. Lucy hides hers behind her bunny and Natsu sinks into his scarf a bit.

"No no no no!" Happy shouts and flies away. "I know how this goes and I'm not letting it happen again!"

"You're asking for that again?" Natsu asks.

"Yep!" Asuka says. "The last time with Happy was cheating! I want you to kiss her for real this time."

"Alright then, sorry Luce, that bunny was supposed to be a gift but it looks like it's gonna cost ya." Natsu apologizes then gasps when he sees her standing right in front of him.

"Seems like more of a bonus gift to me." Lucy says and blushes as the whole guild gasps and Cana of all people almost chokes on her liquor when she hears what Lucy said.

"Luce..." Natsu asks softly.

"Kiss me Natsu." Lucy begs.

He was quick to grant her request and with one sharp intake as he cups her cheek and leans in, their lips met.

Cana's vodka bottle slips from her hand and shatters on the floor at the same time the entire guild gasps again as they bear witness to Natsu and Lucy's first ever kiss. Then it was quickly followed by wolf whistles from the men and applause as well as praises for Natsu and Lucy. Makarov was sniffling and crying as he watched their embrace.

"I saw him take his first job, win his first fight, and now I get to see his first kiss." Makarov broke down crying. "He's a grown man now!" he blows his nose in his cape.

“Yeah I wouldn’t go as far as to say that just yet.” Laxus tells his grandpa.

When they finally part they're both grinning and blushing horribly. Lucy kept herself close to Natsu, feeling slightly uncomfortable with all of this attention on her.

"Luce, can I kiss you again?" Natsu asks softly.

"Of course but Natsu everyone's staring at us." Lucy blushes and buries her face in his neck which only earned more cheers, which causes her to giggle.

"I don't care about them, the only person I'm acknowledging in this room right now is you. But if they want to watch, might as well give 'em a show." Natsu says and smirks.

Lucy gasps in surprise as Natsu suddenly dips her. One of her arms quickly wraps around his neck to hold onto him while he wraps one arm around her lower back to support her as he holds her up and the other hand is supporting her neck as he kisses her and the guild erupts into another frenzy.

"It looks like Natsu's the one who nailed the gift this year boys." Panther Lily says and Gajeel laughs heartily while Gray gives a small smile.

"Yeah Salamander sure did top me this year if he got Lucy to make out with him in front of the guild. Thankfully no one was betting on him to give the best gift so none of us lose any jewel. But I also didn't win any so that kind of pisses me off. I'll beat him up for it tomorrow though, as his friend I should let him enjoy this moment today, gihee." Gajeel says.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to sour Natsu's mood by freezing his lips off just when he figured out what to do with them." Gray jokes.

Happy flies back inside after hearing the commotion in the guild hall.

"Hey what's going on in here? Is it safe to- WAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Happy screams at the sight of his two best friends making out. "How long was I gone what year is it?" He stammers before floating to the ground and fainting.

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

A/N: Hoppy White Day!

[chilling-seavey]

Okay for some reason I took ages to think of an idea. I don't know if you've written this for ABM but their first Christmas? This can apply to other universes of course ;) OH WAIT IF IT IS FOR ABM IMAGINE IF THE GIRLS MADE A LIL GIFT FOR THEIR PARENTS AAAAAHHHH

Yess lets get in that Christmas Spirit! ABM first Christmas as a family of five…

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

As usual, Christmas break was spent in Vancouver with the entire Seavey family and this was only made extra special when it was Lucy’s very first Christmas. Everyone absolutely fell in love with six-month-old Lucy the moment they met her and she was almost like the missing piece for their family.

Christmas Eve was always a relaxing day with no plans except for Christmas Mass after dinner. The whole family got dressed up and went to church together, the three little girls in their red velvet dresses and white stockings and red hair ribbons. They were an absolute joy to the strangers around them as they were all so cute and well behaved (it certainly helped that Daniel and Florence brought little soft toys to keep the girls busy) and Clementine’s obvious pride about her new baby sister made everyone nearly swoon.

When church was over, the family headed back to the cars to drive home, the night sky snowing lightly and Clementine and Penelope jumped through the fresh fallen snow as they walked across the parking lot holding Christian’s hands. Daniel buckled Lucy into her car seat in the back of his family’s car and once everyone was in their various cars, they headed back home.

Christian was the last to arrive home with the eldest two girls and they came back in with a small bag of McDonald’s each, the girls beaming with pride at their individual small fries to snack on before bed. They sat on the living room rug with their fries, the Christmas tree lit up behind them as the rest of the family sat around the couches and the quiet world outside snowed peacefully. Daniel set restless Lucy onto the ground with her sisters and she reached out for a French fry from Clementine. The cheeky nearly-six-year-old glanced up at her distracted parents as they grabbed three small wrapped boxes from under the tree before holding out a fry to her baby sister. Lucy grinned and stuck out her tongue to lick the salt from the fry, her lips pursing with the unique taste and the girls giggled together.

Florence and Daniel and his siblings sat around on the floor with the girls, his parents staying on the couch to take pictures as the tradition of one Christmas Eve present started. Each of the girls were handed equal size boxes, donned with a silver ribbon that Lucy pulled at the string curiously. Penelope handed her box of fries to Christian to hold for her so she could open her present, her dimpled smile on her face as she ripped open the paper. Clementine was close behind her, tossing the ripped paper at Daniel beside her to get to the thin white box underneath. Florence helped Lucy get into hers, the baby more than intrigued with the concept of presents, her blue eyes wide as the box was opened.

“More pj’s!” Clementine cheered, pulling out the red plaid nightgown and matching slippers.

“Pretty.” Penelope grinned, hugging her matching set against her chest.

“You like them?” Daniel asked, twirling his finger in Clementine’s curly pigtail.

“Yeah!”

“Those are so cute.” Anna said, leaning closer to see the white lacy trim around the long sleeves and neckline.

“Can we wear them tonight?” Clementine asked, jumping up to her feet.

“Of course.”

Daniel took the older two girls upstairs to get a bath and get into their new pyjamas as the rest of the adults downstairs made hot chocolate and got settled for the rest of the evening. Lucy was changed into her new pyjamas on the living room floor and she was more than pleased to be matching her big sisters in a red plaid nightgown with white bloomers underneath. Anna scooped her up to admire the sparkling Christmas tree, the six-month-old staring up in awe at all the twinkling lights and colourful ornaments.

Soon, Penelope and Clementine came stomping back downstairs in their new pyjama’s and their brushed hair falling damp over their heads, Daniel following close behind.

“My turn!” Clementine shouted as she jumped off the last step and came running into the living room.

“Your turn for what?” Florence laughed as her eldest threw herself onto her lap.

“To give you your present!” Clementine said.

“We’re doing presents tomorrow, Clemmy.” Florence smiled softly, petting her wet hair back from her face.

“No, I want to give you yours now.” Clementine demanded.

“I didn’t even know you got me a present.” Florence said.

“You and Daddy together!” Clementine nodded, holding out her hand for Daniel to join them on the carpet.

Anna sat back on the couch with the baby on her lap and Penelope joined Christian on the other side. Daniel had taken his suit jacket off to bathe the girls so he was left in his slacks and his button up and red tie, tucked up close on the carpet beside Florence in her dark green dress and he draped his arm around her waist. Clementine pulled out a piece of paper from under the tree, so well hidden in the pile of presents that no one even noticed it was there, and she thrust it out to her parents with a proud smile.

“I made this for you in school.” she said proudly.

Florence took the cardstock with a grin, staring down at the green painted handprints that were messily printed on the paper to mimic the shape of a Christmas tree and it was decorated with a yellow star sticker at the top and scribbles of various ornaments across it and signed by Clementine herself at the bottom.

“It’s beautiful, angel. Thank you.” Daniel smiled, holding out his arm so the five-year-old could drop herself onto his lap for a hug.

“You made all these ornaments yourself?” Florence tisked playfully as Clementine wiggled her way between them and slung her arms over each of their shoulders. “You’re so talented.”

“The star is pretend.” Clementine said, “But those are my hands!”

“They are!” Florence beamed up at her daughter and Daniel caught her gaze and they shared loving smiles.

“I wanna show everyone else too.” Clementine snatched the artwork from Florence’s hand and rushed up to the side of the couch to shove it into her grandparents’ hands. “See it?!”

Florence leaned her head on Daniel’s shoulder and he did the same back, “Who told her we needed a gift?”

“No one.” Daniel whispered, both of them watching Clementine go from family member to family member to show off her artwork. Christian held the paper up towards the real tree as if to compare them and Penelope and Clementine laughed gleefully at him. Lucy was fading away in Anna’s arms, her blue eyes falling heavy over her chubby cheeks, and Daniel turned to press a kiss to Florence’s head. “We just have the sweetest girls ever.”

Florence smiled softly, admiring their chaotic and happy little family on their first of many more Christmas Eves.

[bastsoldtrollblog]

Hera would make Sevenn breakfast early in the evening and spend at least a few hours chilling with him. She’d also get him a big cat plushy, which she no doubt had a very hard time hiding in the hive (it was probably up on the roof with eaglemom, and Hera had a hard time getting her mom to relinquish it) @uprising-trolls​

Hera would then bring Alvaro out for lunch and then go back to his hive (or hers, if she knew Sevenn wouldn’t be around) for some wine and chocolate and, Yknow 😏 (She’s his gift, lol) @stickertrolls

Therus would be aware of quadrants’ day and make a gift for Bonnie, but ultimately would not be aware of what day it actually was until she gave him a gift/told him. He’d make her a little wooden carving of a deer with some birds, along with a bundle of dried rosemary and lavender tied with a red ribbon.  @reverietrolls

Cheran would plan to confess to Ashe with a box of heart-shaped chocolates. Whether or not he actually manages it is a different story @raitrolling

Aki would plan on confessing to Cheran, realize he’s planning on confessing to Ashe, get depressed, and spend Valentine’s Day drinking. He doesn’t know how Vi feels about quads/him in general so he wouldn’t consider confessing to her. @celestialtrolls

Ionine wouldn’t have a gift for Hana, but if they’re around they might bother her and be like ‘It’s Quadrants’ day, don’t tell me you don’t have a quad, you should be with them rather than working here’

Ani probably wouldn’t be around on Quadrants’ day, since, yknow, Lucy isn’t their quad, but they’d have a couple of handwritten recipes for Lucy as well as a braided leather bracelet with handmade beads, sort of like their own bracelets.

Kairne’s terrible with gifts but would give Tiem a wavy, ceremonial type dagger with a jade ribbon tied around the hilt.

Mikail once again doesn’t get a gift for Blythe since they’re not a Thing 😔

Suhari (Post-psionic breakdown) would cook a nice dinner for himself and Lana with Akidis’ help.

Nari would avoid Eli and would be grumpy/sullen about it.

Lyn would send Raluka a little box of fine chocolate truffles. @stuckstucktrolls

Rotavh would send Atroxx a fine bottle of red wine along with a card describing the symptoms of various types of poisons.

Kairos would cook something themselves for Annabel (And also probably give her a nice ring or s/t)

[whereisthefood123]

With all my love, a letter for me and a gift for you

Pairing: Gajevy - Fairy Tail

Word count: 2.8k

A03//Ffnet

Gajevy week 2020 day 1 prompt: Letters

A/N: This is set during the GMG arc but has some time-skips to the past. Should be clear enough though. Everything between two hyphen (-) and italics is a letter. Things in italics are thoughts.

Welcome to gajevy week 2020! This is for the first day prompt: Letters! As usual, thanks so much to @ranunculusfox for beta my fic and being the best person I could ever wish to have as a friend ❤ Enjoy!

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Why did I do that?!

Levy's hand tangled in her unruly blue hair while the other one held for dear life to the doorknob of her room. As soon as the door clicked shut, she started pacing around the small space between her bed and bounced around her head while her heart pounded its way out of her chest.

I'm just making a big deal out of this. Nothing else. It's just silly. I'm being silly.

Right?

She stopped as she eyed the leftover red ribbon that sat on top of her desk. Earlier that morning, she had been so sure, so confident while preparing her special gift. Her cheeks were still sore from how widely she had been smiling just picturing the scene, the words her mouth would utter, the cheeky grin with a sharp fang that would surely be thrown her way after opening the package. And now…

"Ugh! How could I be so stupid?!" she flopped down onto her bed on her back, rubbing her palms over her eyes and down her face, trying to erase the memory, erase the flick of red eyes meeting hers, erase the lack of a grin, erase the echo of heavy footsteps getting farther away from her and leaving her hollow in a lonesome hallway.

She huffed defeatedly. Nothing she did was helping her feel any better. It only helped to make her feel worse. Levy looked back to the desk and next to the annoying little reminder of her impromptu gift, sat a blank piece of paper and an ink pen. She frowned but still got up from her bed. She sat down heavily on the desk, pushing away the red ribbon and getting a firm grab on her pen.

She started writing.

-Dear Levy,

What did you expect?! You knew this could happen! So stop sulking around like a schoolgirl with a crush!-

"I'm not sulking," she said out loud while puffing her cheeks.

Okay, yes, I'm sulking.

And though the reader might think that our lovely bookworm has officially lost her mind, this is not the case. No, Levy is just using one of Lucy's tricks when the celestial mage can't wrap her head around something in particular: she writes letters. To whom? Well, it varies from time to time. Sometimes, Lucy writes letters to her late parents, sometimes to her guildmates, and sometimes even to herself. Whether she ever keeps her letters or burns them, depends entirely on the timely visit of a particular hyperactive fire dragon-slayer.

But let's not get sidetracked, shall we?

Lucy's advice had come in handy for Levy as she had written several letters in the past year (not considering Tenrou's time skip) and it had proven to be a healing process for the solid-script mage. Maybe due to the nature of her magic, Levy's thoughts would always clear out once written on paper. No matter how turbulent her emotions were, she always found an answer on what to think or how to act after reading over her newest letter, tracing each scrip with ink-stained fingers, sometimes marvelling at how accurate her letters were able to give a physical form to her feelings and thoughts.

Her first letter had been written right after two new members had joined Fairy Tail. Same two mages who had waged a war against the same guild they were being welcomed to.

-Why would Master Makarov let them join Fairy Tail?! I mean, I'm not doubting Master, but… why? He knows what they did to us, what he did to me, Jet and Droy… so why?

And…

Why did he jump in front of Laxus lightning? To protect me? It couldn't be… he could have… pushed me aside for that.

But he was also holding back from Jet and Droy's attacks. What was all that about? What is he trying to accomplish?

Can he be… different? From the monster in the alley from back then?

No, that's just silly, right? Levy, you're being silly… There's no way Gajeel Redfox, iron dragon-slayer had a sudden change of heart, right?

Right…?

Then, why did he save me from Laxus...?-

Another one had been written after the announcement of the participants for the S-class trials.

-You go girl!

I'm so excited I got chosen to be on the s-class trials this year! Yay!

And even Cana and Lucy are going to be there! This is going to be amazing!

If I'm honest, I'm pretty nervous hehe. I don't know how well I'll be able to fight my way through the trials… I'm small and my magic is not... the strongest…

…

…

But it doesn't matter!

With Gajeel as my partner, I'm sure we'll do great! Well, that's what he said. He'll make me big, so I cannot give up without a fight!

Though it's pretty weird he volunteered to be my partner… It's probably just because he still holds a rivalry with Natsu. Such a dummy… but well, if he can help me get to S-class, I won't complain of him picking a fight with anyone else in Tenrou Island!

This time, I'll prove I can be strong as well!-

All of Levy's letters shared two characteristics. One, they were always addressed to herself. And two, she only wrote one when a certain iron dragon-slayer was involved. Though at the start Levy was oblivious to this last characteristic, she became aware that all her letters included him in some way or another, much to her embarrassment. And today was no different.

This morning, Levy had been eager to meet up with the iron dragon-slayer. She had managed to steal a moment with him right after the rambunctious dinner the guild had at the local bar.

It was day 3 of the Grand Magic Games and Levy had gathered the courage to approach Gajeel right before he headed back to his room. She stood straight meeting ruby eyes but soon she fidgeted under such strong gaze. She would have wrung her hands if they weren't occupied by the small gift that she hid behind her back.

"Ehm… Gajeel… uhm…"

"Oi, what is it, Shrimp?" His strong voice made her snap back to action and she shoved her gift forward.

"This is for you." She felt the blush form on her cheeks and heat up her entire body but she refused to flee. Still, this was too much for her and averted her eyes from his.

She felt the roughness of his fingertips when he grabbed the package, an involuntary shiver travelled down her spine. After some rustling of paper, she heard a sharp breath intake.

Are you surprised? Do you like it?

"Uhm…" Levy's voice returned to her but she kept her eyes fixed on her shoes. Her hands played with the edge of her sleeves now that they were free from the intense weight of the surprisingly light package. "I noticed that your hair kept falling on your eyes...d-during the race... So maybe this can help you. It's something small but I-" the words died on her mouth as she finally looked up.

Gajeel was looking at her with wide eyes and an unreadable expression settled on his face. His shoulders were tense as if he had been given an incredible burden he couldn't seem to wrap his head around, the headband Levy had just given him rested on his hand in a gentle grasp. The air around him crackled with anxiety. His eyes were piercing through her, observing her every move, every breath she took, as if he was gauging the moment with intense scrutiny. He looked like a cornered beast, instincts flaring to decide whether to run or fight. The presence of his breath was almost entirely concealed and the absence of his words was too loud to take any longer.

"Uhm… Gajeel, a-are you o-?"

"Ah." He averted his eyes for a second and when he looked back at her, there was a sudden firmness to his eyes. Cold as steel and impenetrable to any question that rested on Levy's tongue. An iron wall had been raised between them both, as high as the sky and as wide as the length of Earthland itself. And the foundation of the new impenetrable barrier was the silly headband that Levy had gifted him.

A gift that was supposed to bound his hair out of his face had severed the thread of their rare friendship instead. A gift that was soft and light had been the sharpest weapon that pulled them apart. Not the night terrors, not the remorse… a simple headband had been enough.

For all that Levy is a solid-script mage, she couldn't find her mind or mouth to form any words.

After another silent second, Gajeel nodded, all firm and distant. He turned around and resumed his walk back to his room, leaving Levy confused and, for some reason, cold in the empty hallway.

Yearning twisted her heart with every step he took until she couldn't take it anymore. But as much as her soul cried to follow him, to ask him what was wrong, to apologize if she had done something wrong, her feet refused to do so. Her entire body was all too aware of the iron wall that kept them at a distance. And no matter how bad it hurt, she tore her eyes from his retreating back. Step by step, she moved down the opposite side of the hallway until she found herself running in a mad sprint until she reached her room. Confusion and dejection muddled her mind and a gaping hole expanded in her chest where her heart used to be. Nothing made sense.

Absolutely nothing.

Did I fuck up somehow? It was a friendly gift, wasn't it? Did I offend him somehow?

Nothing of that interaction made sense, and if she knew Gajeel any less, she would have said that he looked… a little bit… scared.

But why?

Hence, Levy sat down at her desk to write herself a letter. To try to stitch back together the ravelling edges of her heart.

-Dear Levy,

What did you expect?! You knew this could happen! So stop sulking around like a schoolgirl with a crush! Not that you have one on him, right?

He's weird. And you know that. Better than anyone. Well, maybe not better than Juvia but you definitely know he's a bit weird and awkward.

But this? This is just… I don't know. I didn't expect this. I thought he would make fun of me, or maybe just give back the gift (wow that would have hurt more, huh?) or maybe say 'Thank you' (yeah, right, Gajeel Redfox saying 'thank you', don't think so).

Then, why does it hurt so much? Why does it hurt that he just… left and didn't say anything?

It was just a gift. As a friend! It didn't mean anything else… right?

Then, why do I feel like this? Could it be… Were you… Was I… expecting something else?

Why does everything always get so complicated when it's about Gajeel Redfox?! Why do I feel this way?!

Why?!-

Levy's pen lifted from its canvas just when the first tear threatened to spill from the mage's eye, but she refused to acknowledge it. She gritted her teeth and held her pen in a death-grip, close to crushing pressure.

"I- I…" she choked on a stubborn sob that escaped her lips. "I-" she tried again, growling in frustration at how her voice cracked. "He's an idiot and teases me nonstop. He's always looking for a fight and a big big dummy!"

"But I-," she heaved a breath, "I…" Her pen resumed her place on the parchment of paper.

-I love him.-

And somehow, those three words grounded her and made her soar to the higher skies. They felt so heavy she thought her tongue incapable of pronouncing them, yet she felt lighter reading them over and over again. Butterflies fluttered in her chest, filling the gaping hole that had formed in a hallway. New colours painted each memory with Gajeel and though she could still see the iron wall that separated them, built new not even an hour ago, she now had the strength and the courage to carve three words into the cool metal.

I love you.

As a solid-script mage, Levy knew how three words could transform into a powerful spell. But not these. Never these. Because she would never wield them to inflict harm, never use them to destroy the barrier in her way. No, Levy knew the carving of three words will not bring the wall between them down or even make it thinner. And she was fine with that. She was fine with the carving only existing on her side. Because, even if it was a one-sided love, for the first time in so long, Levy felt that everything was right. This love she held for him, so strong and sturdy, yet gentle and warm, filled her with peace.

I love you.

Her muddled thoughts and feelings finally cleared out. The ends of her heart pulled back together with stronger threads that mesh together with the absolute peace offered only by a love declaration letter.

She was in love with Gajeel Redfox. And she had been for some time now. That's why she always sought him out at the guild. Why she felt so at ease during the S-class trials with him as her partner. Why she worried each time he came back with a new set of scars.

He was the reason why she often wrote herself a new letter.

"I love him," she uttered in the quiet of the night and the loneliness of her room. The tears had finally fallen down her cheeks like thin slivers of a new-born creak.

A gentle smile spread over her face as Levy put her pen down. With a flick of her hands and a small script spell, her letter was stored with the rest of her letters, safely tucked away from prying eyes. She made her way to her bed and got under the covers. With another flick of her hand, the lights in the room switched off.

As she closed her eyes, only one thought crossed her mind.

She was in love with Gajeel Redfox. She was in love with a stupid big lug dragon-slayer, who always picks a fight with Natsu and acts so silly with Lily, who teases Levy non-stop about her height and then says she's amazing for decyphering some runes. This love, so strong yet so well-concealed behind a rare friendship, made her feel at ease for once in so long.

And though he might not feel the same way for her as he had no obligation to reciprocate her love, Levy decided that she could live with that. She could live with a one-sided love carved in metal. Because somehow, some way, this feeling, loving him, felt so right. As if her heart had been waiting so long to beat at the rhythm of those words. So, she will not stop. She will not run away from her own feelings anymore. She will face them head-on. She will welcome the pace her heart had set for herself, with all the bumps and hardships that it might bring. She will embrace it with open arms and paint the grey of the iron wall with the colours his presence has brought to her life.

Levy's breath evened out and she finally allowed sleep to take over her, the gentle smile never easing from her lips.

What she didn't expect but the avid reader must have guessed by now, is that the next night, Levy would be grabbing her ink pen again along with a new sheet of paper. Because on the morning of day 4 of the Grand Magic Games, Levy had been fully prepared to deal with her one-sided love, with the taste of bitter rejection in her mouth. But she had no strategy on how to think, feel or act when Gajeel Redfox came into the battle arena wearing the same headband she had given him the night before.

Her heart thudded loudly in her chest, deafening every sound around her. Electricity coursed through her veins at the meaning behind this scene. Her mind ran a mile a minute while her tongue rested unmoving in her drying mouth.

And right before the battle started, Levy's entire being froze when red eyes locked onto her hazel ones. Where coldness and harshness had been present the night before, the ruby of his eyes now held a new warmth and determination. An acknowledgement was settled in those eyes, a recognition of the meaning behind a simple piece of cloth, and, strangely, an apology entwined with a promise of something else, a promise that had nothing to do with the current battle, but everything to do with the future.

And well, let's just say that Levy's newest letter will not be too long as it would hold the exact length of three words.

-Could it be?-

Cracks had formed in the iron wall, letting a bright light shine through.

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A/N: Hope you enjoy the story! Leave your comments :) I'm also on twitter (@wtf123) and on the gajevy discord :) Happy gajevy week 2020 to everyone!

[shark-myths]

@alienfuckeronmain tagged me to deep-search my soul with these questions, and it is the exact distraction I was looking for! no pressure to do this one, pals, but i tag @carbonbased000 @leyley09 @shoeboxofphotographs12 @glitterandrocketfuel @allkindsofplatinumandpercocet @setting-in-a-honeymoon @toorational and anyone i’ve forgotten!

1. Do you prefer writing with a black pen or blue pen? does anyone like blue pens? who is this product made for

2. Would you prefer to live in the country or city? the city, cuz i spent 7 consecutive years very broke in rural areas with homophobia neighbors and having things to do is so thrilling. but i imagine one day retreating into the desert and living far from my nearest neighbors

3. If you could learn a new skill what would it be? I have learned all the skills I am interested in right now, because learning new things is an a+ quarantine activity. maybe the ability to do physics? i would like to be proficient in physics and i am deeply not

4. Do you drink your tea/coffee with sugar? Never

5. What was your favourite book as a child? all of them! I have always read like i’m running out of time and often get stressed when i think about how few books i will be able to read in my lifetime. as a child I reread Lord of the Rings and Robin McKinley and the Holly Black Tithe series the most, and i was OBSESSED with those gold-paged books with ribbon bookmarks that were diaries of girls from different historical periods, and i have never been able to read historical fiction since.

6. Do you prefer baths or showers? I hated baths passionately until my chronic pain reached a tipping point, and since then i have learned to really enjoy the long hot soak with a drink and a book. (i didn’t like showers either until very recently. life support tasks felt like a huge waste of time until i got a partner who helped me figure out how to enjoy them)

7. If you could be a mythical creature, which one would it be? i have always wanted to be one of tolkien’s elves! I want a long life filled with learning languages and reading books and existing in green peaceful spaces, and then i want to be able to die when i am done.

8. Paper or electronic books? I like paper better--I’ve been building a library slowly my whole life--but my kindle has been life-saving during the pandemic when i couldn’t go to the library.

9. What is your favourite item of clothing? right now i’m doing all my work remotely and clothes feel meaningless, but i have a plain black tank top that i feel really comfortable in

10. Do you like your name or would you like to change it? I don’t like my name at all--it’s Kaylie--because it is so aggressively peppy and feminine. it doesn’t sounds like an adult’s name; it evokes exclamation points and pigtails. i have always wished for a severe, no-nonsense name like joan, or a pretty but to-the-point name like eva.

11. Who is a mentor to you? Leslie Knope

12. Would you like to be famous and if so, what for? I used to fantasize about being a famous writer, and now in my field i do wish i had a name that mattered or was considered esteemed or expert in something in some way. I would love to have a research job where i had paid time to publish! but i don’t want it enough to work on it outside of my capitalist mandatory labor hours, because i don’t have enough time for my loved ones as it is

13. Are you a restless sleeper? lately yes, since my cat died in january i have slept like absolute hell

14. Do you consider yourself a romantic person? not really, but i am a thoughtful one

15. Which element best represents you? earth

16. Who do you want to be closer to? physically i want to be closer to my long-distance pals like @alienfuckeronmain @newleafover @time-less @immoral-crow @leyley09 (leyna let’s have a movie night when i’m done moving???)

17. Do you miss someone at the moment? pretty much all my friends i used to regularly hang out with, sam who moved to seattle, sam who lives in madison, all the people i listed above

18. Tell us about an early childhood memory. I used to play going to work. i’d pack up a backgammon case as a briefcase, grab my stuffed gorilla, and go write in notebooks and move pieces of paper around

19. What is the strangest thing you have eaten? I am an extremely boring person and all I eat is popcorn and bread

20. What are you most thankful for? having an able body that works to support me and keep me whole, having a partner who makes me feel truly cared for 

21. Do you like spicy food? yep!

22. Have you ever met someone famous? once at c2e2 i met george r.r. martin and no one else cared he existed because got wasn’t a show yet, so i awkwardly went up to him and proclaimed my love for his work, and then he trapped me in a long conversation about vampires

23. Do you do you keep a diary or journal? a journal! i have since i was pretty small, they take up a full shelf of a bookcase

24. Do you prefer to use a pen or a pencil? pen, and i have lots of Special Pens that i only use for a particular purpose or project, because i am a huge raging...

25. What is your star sign? virgo

26. Do you like your cereal soggy or crunchy? crunchy and without milk

27. What would you want your legacy to be? personally, that I wrote things that meant something to the people who read them; professionally, that i removed barriers to accessing healthcare for trans and gender expansive people

28. Do you like reading, what was the last book you read? see above--I completely adore reading. last book was Sisters of the Vast Black and currently i’m reading The House in the Cerulean Sea and it’s totally charming. I’ve been reading really quality science and nonfiction writing too, please send me your recommendations

29. How do you show someone you love them? I make them breakfast, I tell them so constantly, I send them things in the mail, I bring them small interesting gifts, and I say every nice thought I have about them out loud 

30. Do you like ice in your drinks? not especially, but it’s fun to chew on 

31. What are you afraid of? surgery

32. What is your favourite scent? smoke from blown-out candles, lavender, laundry detergent my loved ones use

33. Do you address older people by their name or surname? whatever they’ve told me to call them? this seems like common courtesy

34. If money was not a factor, how would you live your life? I do so much less clinical work and work fewer hours in general, I would run for office so I could influence policy and stop wasting my fucking time on the ground level, I would spend more time writing, I would spend so much more time with my family, I would devote the time to running longer distances again in a way that doesn’t aggravate my busted knee

35. Do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean? the ocean!

36. What would you do if you found £50 on the ground? oh i would definitely spend that on something stupid and self-indulgent i wanted, like a pete wentz hoodie

37. Have you ever seen a shooting star? YES! when i was kid every summer i’d be sent to jesus camp, which thank god because that’s what got me into fanfiction, and it was in the middle of nowhere, wisconsin, and you could see the entire milky way and shooting stars blaze across that thing ALL THE TIME, and it shook me to my foundation every summer and for a time i mistook that feeling for faith in god instead of wonder at the infinite being and possibility that is our generous universe

38. What is the one thing you would want to teach your children? i have none of my own but my partner has a 5 year old, so quite against my intention i have become a parent-adjacent person. i try to teach him about emotional accountability for the effect of his actions on others

39. If you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? the next tattoo i want is a big snake crawling up my mostly bare left arm

40. What can you hear now? my laptop fan

41. Where do you feel the safest? when i’m protecting someone else

42. What is the one thing you want to overcome/conquer? my relationship with my body

43. Of you could travel back to any era, what would it be? i’d really like to be a gentleman of leisure in a jane austen novel

44. What is your most used emoji? the purple heart

45. Describe yourself using one word. earnest

46. What do you regret the most? not going to a 4-year university and having a #college experience. it’s one of my most stinging regrets because it was not a decision i got to make for myself

47. Last movie you saw? what is a movie theater? what does it feel like to be in one? the last movie i watched is charlie’s angels from the early 2000s because that was an unexamined sexual awakening for me--lucy liu being efficient in leather has never left me, efficiency is the single trait i most attracted to--and i wanted my boyfriend to see how bad it is

48. Last tv show you watched? either Kipo and the age of the wonderbeasts or star trek tng!

49. Invent a word and its meaning. instead i will say that i think the most beautiful english word is ache. my favorite way of creating things is transforming and remixing what already exists, which makes writing with words someone else invented the ideal challenge and pastime 

(i really loved doing this! it was nice to talk about myself at the end of a workweek. thank you @alienfuckeronmain !)

[advernia]

fic: with my lips engraved on every cup

— seven days, four seasons. just enough time to find a place to call home. - seasonal snippets on the dormouse & alice the second.

1: luci's b-day gift ft. diplomouse content! disclaimer: it's totally not farming-sim inspired lmao ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

winter He was there when Blanc handed the papers over to her, all of them checked, signed, and safely nestled within a long white folder. Behind them, standing tall but worn, was a cottage with a chipped black roof, musty stone walls, plywood barred windows, and piles of snow hiding a yard of dried grass.

All that a modest property enclosed by a picket fence with fading paint.

It’s a sore thumb among the many rows of homes and establishments around the Central Quarter; but still she accepted the deed with her shaking fingers and ecstatic grin. He watched quietly as she turned the folder back and forth, those blue eyes running over her own name written on the folder's front a few times; until she lowered her head and pulled the folder oh-so close to her chest.

The folder didn’t bend in her tight embrace, nor did its edges crumple in her firm grasp.

monday || spring 5 The yard has a touch of color now, meek greens that are far more pleasing to the eye than drab yellows and parched browns. She figures that flowers would make the yard look more lively, but the ground needed a little more care before she could get around to planting anything decent.

Advice from an expert gardener, she tells him.

Honestly speaking though, the yard wasn’t the only area of the property that achieved a new level of decency - cleaned and somewhat refurbished, she made the cottage look pretty, look more like a dwelling place rather than some long abandoned lot. Inside the cottage her belongings are little and decorations are sparse, but the simplicity has its charm and he’s sure she’d get by - long months of working under Cradle’s best confectionery allowed her to save up enough Lin to buy a house in Central, after all.

When she offers him a fresh batch of Earl Grey in what she mentioned to be her first ever tea set in Cradle (purchased with her own Lin, managed to coax a fifteen percent off to boot), he accepts it in a heartbeat.

tuesday || spring 13 The walls of the second floor mirror those of the first floor, that being the upper cement halves painted over with a calming cream color to contrast its dark brown wooden lower halves. It looked like coffee and cream that someone couldn’t bear to mix, something that brought about a sense of calm and warmth and also drowsiness. Then again, that might be his fault and also, it’s midday.

She serves him a cup of coffee along with something she called a calzone, a snack from the Land of Reason - the circular flaky pastry had been filled with bacon, egg, and more importantly cheese, and that ingredient alone made the whole thing absolutely delicious in his book. It paired surprisingly well with the rich coffee too, so maybe it’s no surprise that both his food and drink are gone after just a few minutes.

Maybe I should start a cafe, she says with a laugh, eyes dancing with mirth.

He dabs at the edges of his mouth with a napkin, pondering her suggestion. He tries to picture the first floor - a rectangular space that was much wider than it appeared to be - filled with tables and a wide glass display for assorted pastries and shelves storing canisters of tea leaves and coffee beans. Then there in the center of it all would be her, golden hair neatly tied up with a ribbon and blue eyes brimming with a kind warmth.

Welcome, she would say with a smile that reached her eyes, and he decides that it wasn’t a bad idea at all.

Maybe you should, he nods, tone completely serious.

wednesday || spring 21 It was his first time stepping into her kitchen, so he took his time to look around while she was still busy baking. He could’ve waited in the living room, but instead he sat on a stool near the windows and fought the urge to take a nap.

First of all, the place was at optimal temperature - a light breeze was flowing through the open windows to soothe the heat brought about by a running oven, relaxing the body in an environment that was currently a perfect balance of hot and cold.

Second, the scent wafting about the whole room was comforting - he’s not so sure how to describe it himself, but the warm aroma of baking bread along with the lingering touches of tea brewing in the air was more... soothing than appetizing at the moment.

And third, she was there and in the small space she truly looked like she was at home - feet smoothly going to and fro the counters to the oven, swift and steady hands prepping ingredients laid out on the counter, body upright and eyes lost in a state of focus. A practiced confidence exudes from her every action, and the longer he observed her the more he’s reminded that before she fell into Cradle, she was a confectioner from a place called London.

She hummed a tune as she worked, an unfamiliar melody to him that went up and down and up and down. It sounded cute and cheery and it’s something he could associate to her disposition, but all its chipper timbre couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer.

So instead of struggling, he gives in - his eyelids flutter shut and he couldn’t see her anymore, but he could still hear the soft patter of her shoes tapping against the floor, the humming from her throat. He could still breathe in the scents coming from her fruits of labor, a hefty cheese loaf sure taking its time to be ready for consumption and notes of floral - maybe jasmine - tea.

... He’d been meaning to ask her if she truly resigned from the confectionery, but perhaps that would have to wait.

thursday || spring 29 There’s a pretty windchime attached to the thatched door now, made out of magic crystals and ringing out a light tune in response to the door drawing open. She sees him standing by the doorway and urges him to come in, three letters in one hand and each bearing a different seal on them.

One had a dark color, could be easily mistaken for a big blot of ink but was actually the clay seal known to be used by the Black Army. The other one had an excellent reddish shade, easily identifying itself as the crimson wax seal of the regal Red Army. The last one was a shining bronze, and that color was exclusive to the charm seal bearing the insignia of the Civic Center.

The letters are stuffed away in some drawer, so he assumes that asking about their contents would be impolite.

Once he’s seated on the sofa she disappears into the kitchen to prepare some snacks, so he’s left alone in a... strangely bare home. There’s little furniture, the flowery decorations she hung up here and there have vanished, the picture frames containing assorted pictures of her and the two Armies of Cradle aren’t displayed on fireplace’s mantel, and the row of tall shelves she lined with books ranging from the history and culture of Cradle to Glazed Sweets, and How to Perfect Them weren't around either. Even the fluffy fur rug that he often contemplated taking a nap on was gone!

Spring cleaning, maybe?

They’re halfway through their Assam tea and custard cake when he brings this up - the innocent question renders her quiet for a second then she chuckles, setting her cup back down on its saucer.

Maybe it is spring cleaning - I promised myself to get this place ready in time, she says.

Ready for what? he prompts, head tilting to the side.

A smile blooms on her face, eyes crinkling at the corners.

For... a ‘grand’ opening, I hope!

friday || summer 6 Through the long unbarred and new stained-glass-pane windows shines a bright light - it’s pretty late but still he knocks on her door, standing on the cobblestone path and staring at the neatly trimmed grass of her lawn. She opens the door seconds later, still dressed in her casual skirts and staring at him and his suitcase curiously - nevertheless, she lets him in without any questions asked.

It’s funny how the first floor now looked similar to how he imagined it to be on that one spring day - the room was now filled with at least eight tables paired with cherrywood chairs, looking tasteful and comfortable with plaid blue cushions attached to each seat. Near the far end of the room and close to the door that led to the kitchen was a wide glass display case right beside a clean long counter, surface empty save for a cupcake stand set one end. The tall shelves where her books used to be were relocated to stand against the wall near the display case, hosting an array of tea tins and coffee packs with a toss of assorted accessories and knick-knacks in between.

The dark wooden walls were repainted with an easy mint color, the whole room much brighter with the addition of the iron hanging lanterns secured on the ceiling. Curtains and decors such as paintings and flower vases were simple yet bursting nicely with summer-feel colors, and one corner of the room even had a neat display of potted plants.

The whole space seemed to be well-distributed, not too bare and not too cramped either - there were adequate spaces between tables, ample moving room on the floor for people to roam about. It was a nice place and definitely looking like a good place to nap in, but...

... I won’t be here for your opening day, he blurts out once they’re seated.

He doesn't miss the quick blink of her eyes, the glance to his suitcase, her slow nodding and the brief purse of her lips.

Oh, she says after a while, voice something small.

There’s nothing much to say after that, and he couldn’t find a good reason for her to stay when she stands up and excuses herself. He stares blankly at his hands that have curled themselves into fists on his lap, something sour and unpleasant brewing in his stomach making him feel all the more uncomfortable and -

- then there’s the soft clink of something tapping against wood.

He looks up to see a glass of water and beside it, a fork laid out on a napkin and piece of cake laid out nicely on a saucer.

A slice of triple coffee cheesecake for a busy diplomat, she announces.

His eyes count four layers of brown though, all of different shades and textures.

... Triple layer? he repeats.

That’s right, she nods, then points to each section of the cake according to her narration. The crust below is made out of chocolate graham crackers and set above it is the first layer, a traditional-style cheescake made with a combination of two cheeses. The second layer is lighter since it’s a mousse, the portion of cheese mixed in making it semi-sweet. And finally, the top or third layer is a whipped cream finish, soft and airy with just the right amount of cream cheese mixed in. All three layers also have varying amounts of coffee in them, that’s why -

- it’s a triple coffee cheesecake, he finishes, raising his head fully to meet her eyes.

She holds his gaze for a moment before her open palm gestures to the saucer.

I hope it’s to your liking... dear first customer, she says, the makings of a smile on her lips.

saturday || summer 14 It was only on the strangest of occasions that he had full appreciation for his past of being a former soldier, namely for that one phase in his life where he had undergone rigorous stealth training. The ability to be inconspicuous at will was a ridiculous skill for a diplomat to have, but in the country of Cradle and on this very special day, he’d beg to differ.

So he jumps over the white picket fence, making himself as small as possible by lowering his head and keeping his body close to the ground. As he crept across the yard he caught whiffs of a rich velvety aroma wafting in the air, slipping past that partially opened door just a few steps within his reach now.

When he rises up to his full height to push the door open, she turns around to the sound of creaking wood and the sudden rush of night air flowing into the kitchen, hands still wrist-deep in soapy sink water along with an array of saucers and tea cups.

They just stare at each other for a few seconds: he glances at her slightly mussed ponytail, blinks at the dark brown stains on the apron worn over her dress. She studies his disheveled clothing, takes in what looked like exhaustion written over the entirety of his face.

Tough Valentine’s Day? she decides to ask, voice kind.

He lets out a sigh, closing the kitchen’s back door behind him.

... I wasn’t even able to take a midday nap, he mumbles.

She laughs a bit at the sight of his sullen expression before raising a soapy finger, pointing at the teapot set on the stove.

How about we both take a break, then? she grins. There’s some leftover chocolate cake we can eat, too!

The prospect of seeing chocolate again was slightly unnerving but he nods anyway, if only to see that sweet smile of hers once more.

sunday || summer 15 Behind her there’s a laundry basket filled with a neat pile of various cloths, stains on them ranging from a spectrum of playfully colorful to borderline suspicious.

Behind him is an open back door that led to the outside where the sun is high in the sky, round and bright and beckoning.

Neither of them budge, though - her folded arms are set on the table and her head rests on them sideways, eyes closed and breathing steady. Seated across from her, his elbow is propped up on the table with his chin resting on his hand.

In between them, his cup of coffee and her cup of fruit tea have probably gone cold.

There’s a thick lock of her hair splaying itself on the table, just within his reach. After some period of thought, his free hand reaches out to curl the strands in between his fingers.

Lift, spin, fall - slip in, slip out. Rinse, repeat.

As he idly toyed with her hair, his eyes traced the parts of her face that were visible to his point of view: they follow the curve of her eyelid, assessed the length of her eyelashes, studied those light dark imprints under her eye.

Her laundry can wait, he muses, letting the tranquil silence carry on a little further. It’s all so strange and new, really - the weather conditions, temperature, point in time, and location were all so ideal, but yet...

... with her sleeping face just right in front of him, the only thing he could possibly think of was staying awake.

monday || fall 3 The cafe’s pastel yellows and calm blues have been traded for warm oranges and homely browns, sweet scents of vanilla and sandalwood replaced with spicy notes of cinnamon and gingerbread.

The chalkboard menu doesn’t feature iced teas and fruit cakes anymore, but filling in for them was a selection of hot drinks and club sandwiches. The cupcake stand on the counter was now a wicker basket filled with an assortment of cookies, each one in a small bag secured by patterned ribbons.

There are the little things that stay the same though, like how the wooden sign outside the cafe already spells ‘open’ come six o’clock sharp in the mornings. The windchime attached to the door still rings out a clear tune that echoed throughout the whole room, and in response to that her swift welcome would follow, voice happily loud and smile reaching her eyes.

He stands up to leave when the clock strikes nine, the agenda of a general assembly still fresh in his mind. She’s attending to other customers so he decides to leave his payment on the table, right next to his empty mug of hot cocoa.

The windchime rings again when he pulls the door open, and before he’s able to take his first step outside, he feels something pull lightly at his arm.

When looks over his shoulder, she’s slipping a small bag with a striped green ribbon into his hand.

Have a good day, she beams, then she turns on her heel and bounds off to table three.

tuesday || fall 11 It’s only when she pours some more tea in his cup that he realizes that there were no other customers left in sight, and that from madding reds and oranges; the sky had already taken on dark hues of blues and purples.

I have to admit - I’m not so sure what other work a diplomat does asides from... communicating, she says with a laugh, taking the seat across from him. Do you do paperwork often, too?

He closes the folder in his hands, setting it on top of the other folders he had finished reading and set aside earlier.

It’s a case-to-case basis, he hums. But if you ask me... Establishing foreign policies, contracts, treaties, trade agreements, and the like usually end up with more talks than actual paperwork if there's already a relationship between countries present. New connections start up with more paperwork as a formality - I mediate and negotiate any meeting or summit, survey and study any paperwork concerned, but in the end it’s the Civic Center that makes the final decision and action.

... I see, she nods a couple of times, then she taps a finger on her chin. Um... I know I��ve been living here for a while now so this sounds silly of me to ask just now, but I’ve only studied the map of Cradle, and I was wondering... how wide exactly is this world?

No sooner than the question had left her lips, she finds his hands clutching her very own and his face just a handspan away.

His breath, smelling faintly of apple cider tea, fans her cheeks when he speaks.

Do you want to know? he asks, voice adapting a deep tone she’s never heard him use before.

Mouth going dry, her eyes try to skitter away from the intensity of his gaze but they’re hopelessly drawn to every facial feature of his that she hadn’t quite noticed before instead: the defined lines of his cheekbones, the sharp bridge of his nose, unusually long yet dainty eyelashes, the curve of his li -

Warmth pools even further in her cheeks, words a pathetic squeak stuck in her throat.

wednesday || fall 19 On the second shelf, he spots three tea tins and five coffee packs with different designs and packaging. He blinks and proceeds to go over the contents of the other shelves too, and in total he counts eight new tea tins and twelve unusual coffee packs.

When he picks out a coffee pack in gold and silver wrapping with a familiar sigil drawn on its center, he hears a hum of approval.

That has a strong smoky aroma but a sweet delicate flavor, someone says.

He turns around to see her standing not so far away, a serving tray in her hands and feet pointed elsewhere.

This coffee pack has the sigil of Tenniel, he points out. Their fine woodcarvings and colorful handicrafts are gaining popularity in Cradle, but there’s a general lack of appreciation for the extreme bitter flavors that all Tenniel food products seem to have.

Is that so? Then maybe more people should try tasting that coffee, she shrugs. I think that blend tastes rather lovely - not a tad bitter at all.

You also have coffee packs and tea tins from Gernsheim, Pleasance, Lionel, Ludovic, and Dalziel - Tenniel included, they’re small countries that Cradle formed trade agreements with. Those negotiations were recently made, so it’s natural that most of their products aren’t familiar and don’t have much of a reputation in Cradle’s markets yet. But why did you...

His voice began to trail off, as if the question on the tip of his tongue was slowly being answered the longer he stared at the soft smile on her face.

Someone recently taught me that the key to good diplomacy, she paused as she moved forward to pluck the coffee pack from his hands, ... is the effort to start with even the smallest of steps.

She winks at him before making a beeline for the kitchen.

thursday || fall 27 He picks off one glittery bag from the wicker basket on the counter, peering at the gingerbread cookie inside. It’s person-shaped, and there’s something about how its clothes are snow-white and the dot-buttons on it are gold.

Oh, he mouths after a few minutes.

He trades glitter for a star-patterned bag this time, and inside was another gingerbread cookie. Lo and behold, there it was: a person-shaped treat dressed in black clothes with silver accents.

Here’s your order, a cup of Dalziel’s triple berry te... what are you doing? she asks, setting the tea cup down gently on the counter.

In response to that he retrieves the glitter bag from the basket, then he turns around to wave the two bags in his hands.

You make Red and Black Army gingerbread men? he inquires. Her lips quirk upwards.

Children like those a lot, she explains. They find it really cute - and tasty!

He’d like to point out that while the Black Army as a whole would probably find this hilarious, it’s perhaps the majority of the ever-so proud Red Army that might find offense in seeing miniature versions of themselves being called cute and eaten by children.

He doesn’t, though.

What he settles for is putting the cookies back on the basket then leaning his body forwards, peering at her face instead. She stays in place but her head draws back a bit, eyes blinking a bit faster.

... What is it? she mutters after seconds of silence and scrutiny.

He goes over her features again; starting from the ends of her braided blonde hair, up to the center of her forehead, going to the blue of her eyes, passing the tip of her nose then down to those full lips.

I want a gingerbread cookie, he says.

The tension in her brow relaxes, her expression almost relieved.

Oh. Oh, that’s fine! Then you can have one -

... Of you.

- of those in the... wait, what?

friday || winter 4 There’s a long coat draped over her shoulders and a scarf around her neck, offering better protection from the cold than her nightgown could ever provide. Long socks cover her legs and fluffy slippers adorn her feet, and for a moment he ponders over how warm and comfortable that must feel.

Meanwhile, she’s going over the current situation - it’s just an hour before midnight, she’s about to go to bed but then she heard a couple of knocks on her door, so she decides to crack the door open just enough to take a peek. She ends up opening the door anyway because she sees him standing outside her snow-piled doorway, a lone suitcase his companion on the cobblestone path.

Well - this is familiar, she chuckled as she stepped aside and motioned him to enter. He accepts her invitation, pulling his suitcase along with him.

Another season meant that the silvery stripes and royal blues of winter would now take over the cafe’s warm oranges and homely browns, and the spice that used to linger in the air was cleared by the crisp smell of pine with touches of wood smoke from the fireplace.

The subdued colors weren’t so lively, but the cafe still felt so cozy.

When they’re seated and two steaming cups of fresh milk are in their hands, he pointedly stares at the large decoration set at the very center of the room.

Where did you get the tree? he asks, drawn to the shiny green leaves.

It’s... a generous donation from the Queen of Hearts, she grins. It came with a lot of decorations, too! I'll be putting them up tomorrow night, though.

I see. I’m sorry that I can’t help you with the decorating.

It’s fine, don’t worry about it! More importantly, where are you going this time?

... Ludovic. I’ll be there for five days.

Five days, hm? she hums for a bit, then later wrinkles her nose. Oh, didn’t you say that Ludovic is surrounded by mountain ranges? It must be way colder there right now since it’s winter! Are you sure you brought enough clothes?

I did. Ludovic’s winter has a lot more bite than Cradle’s, but I’ll be alright - I’ve grown used to it over time.

She pins him down with her narrowed eyes and pursed lips - he doesn’t shy away from her gaze though, choosing to meet her leering head on.

... Really? she mutters, a stern edge lowering her tone. How cute.

Really, he smiles.

He takes the sigh that follows seconds later as her sign of defeat, but he’s unsure on why she’s suddenly unraveling the layers of her scarf. She tugs at the cloth once and it lets go of her neck, yarn embellishments on each end falling loosely.

A couple of folds later and her outstretched arms offer him the scarf, a neat bundle of knitted beige cloth in her hands.

You can give it back once you’ve come home, she says.

saturday || winter 12 The papers spread out on the table are promptly ignored, just like how her intention of getting some accounting done was overthrown by a sudden interest in watching him brew coffee.

The blend was a gift to him given by a farmer’s village in Ludovic - the coffee beans were round in shape and black in color, earthy in smell and rather tiny. He opens the packet and scoops a spoonful of beans to put in the mortar, along with some...

Are those... beans? she asks from where she sat.

Ludovic’s cardamom, he replies casually.

Her brow furrows a bit, and it grows deeper by just watching him throw in some amounts of another unusual ingredient - star anise, she recognizes, and something in her shivered at the sight.

One of the locals taught me one of their favorite recipes, he says. They showed me how to make the coffee from start to finish, and when I took a sip of the finished product, it reminded me of you.

Hm? It reminded you... of me?

Yeah. The whole time I was drinking the coffee, I was thinking about how much I wanted to make it for you... and how’d you react once you had a taste of the coffee I made.

He isn’t facing her so she couldn’t see his expression properly, but there’s a solemnity to his confession that warms the tips of her ears.

... O-oh, she manages to spit out.

The pestle’s in his hand now, and the other one moves to hold the mortar. Grip tight and eyes focused, he began to crush the mortar’s contents. Crunching sounds accompany each grind of the pestle, catching both her eyes and her attention again.

Freed from their silk glove confines, she finds herself drawn to the bare skin of his hands, the curves of his knuckles, the bend of his fingers and the shape of his fingertips. They’re all so new sides to him that fascinate her, and after some prolonged staring she realizes two things -

One: his hands were larger than they looked, and they definitely belonged to a former soldier - some were faint and most were old, but her eyes could still pinpoint where some scars began and where they ended across his skin.

The second one, no matter how trivial it seemed, made her feel bubbly enough for her to vocalize that -

... This is first time someone’s ever made me coffee, she murmurs.

sunday || winter 13 A full moon’s blooming brightly in the night sky - the moonlight it trickles down on the stained glass windows makes each mosaic design shine, resulting in colorful shadows gracing the wooden floor.

Fifteen minutes had passed, but he still showed no sign of waking up like he had promised her earlier. Not like she had the heart to wake him herself, considering that he’d been in Tenniel’s grand court from dawn to midday solving a miscommunication, returned to Cradle just in time for a meeting in the Gardens, was afterwards ordered to mediate a growing village dispute somewhere around the closer outskirts of Cradle’s borders, then was hauled away immediately to act as an interpreter for the Gernsheim envoys having difficulty expressing their wish to pass through Cradle’s seas.

All that jumping in and out of Cradle in one day, made possible by magic - he surprised her when he suddenly appeared in her living room too, looking worse for wear than she’d ever seen him before.

Gently, she picks up the tea cup and saucer on the table - maybe it was pushy of her, forcing him to eat and drink something when his eyes could barely keep themselves open. Still, he drained the tea cup and left little traces of the cheesecake on the saucer without a single word of complaint.

Then he passed out on her couch.

... Five more minutes, she muses. Before heading back downstairs, her eyes go over his sleeping profile one more time: head laying sideways on a pillow, brown hair going about all sorts of directions across his face, jacket loose and vest unbuttoned, legs curled up near to the chest, one arm dangling off the couch.

One beige scarf around the neck, a hand keeping the fabric close to his lips.

Her face eases into a kind smile, her gaze as equally warm.

Welcome home, she says, a gentle whisper in the silent night.

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2: oh man.... going back to writing dialogue with no quotation marks is an experience™.... and tbh i still can't settle on a temporary 'footing' for mousse's character┗(･ω･;)┛it's nice to know that he's pretty passionate about his job though! altho rly cybird... why isn't this diplomat fixing the diplomatic trainwreck that is cradle itself lolol 3: alice living in and owning a cafe in central is one of my personal headcanons - i was allowed to be self-indulgent, lol! ( ᐛ )و and the names of the countries on fall 19 btw are actually names of people that are one way or another related to the making / publishing of alice in wonderland! idk if cradle really has... uh, small neighboring countries... but i'd like to think there are??????? probably??? (゜▽゜;)