#lucy tries to write

[lucy-sky]

Homecoming (Grady Travis)

Bernthirst Movie Madness by @bernthirst-events

Wednesday: Second Chance

Well shit, my friends, looks like it's fanfiction. Yes, I didn't expect it either. I haven't written anything since December 2023, so I'll admit - this drabble or whatever it is probably sucks xD I don't think I've ever felt this rusty, it's like I forgot how to express my thoughts in words... Well, in English words in particular. The struggle is real. Posting it is also a struggle because I'm a perfectionist, but let it be.

I haven't rewatched Fury before writing, so Grady might not be quite in character.

713 words; AO3 link

The way home was long, but it has finally reached its finish line. Looking out of the window, he already recognizes the landscape - the outskirts of his little hometown. It feels strange to be here - everything is so familiar, but at the same time it's like images from another life, as it was ages ago. 

Home… something every soldier is dreaming about… It’s so close now, and Grady can hardly believe it's happening. And even though his heart is fluttering with joy and anticipation, he feels slightly anxious at the same time. He's got so used to the soldier's life, darkness and crampedness of the heavy war machine that became his home, blood, sweat and dirt, and death too - at war it's inevitable. It's becoming your routine. He's got so used to it he's not sure he remembers how to live a peaceful life again. The war is over, but it still stays within him. 

He's trying to shake off this feeling of uncertainty. He's here, he's alive after all. Free to move on, to build something new. No one says it’s going to be easy, but isn't it what they all have been fighting for? 

The train arrives at the station and he grabs his backpack. An older man who’s walking past him towards the exit pats him on the shoulder and thanks him for his service. Grady nods and mutters something under his breath - he's still unsure how to react to this. He doesn't feel like he's a hero or something. He's just one of the many. No better than any of his comrades in arms, those who survived and those who didn't.

The homecoming is bittersweet.

He steps out of the train and takes a moment to look around. Seems like nothing has changed since the day he left. His town has always been like that, stuck in time.

And then he sees her. 

He sees her, and his heart skips a beat because she looks like a dream, like a mirage in a desert - a blink and she’ll be gone. She’s wearing that yellow dress, the one that makes her look so bright and shiny, the one he used to imagine her in every time he thought of her.

Back then, in another lifetime, he was way too young and dumb. She wanted to get married, start a family, and he… Well, he simply refused to take their relationship on a more serious level. They had a fight. A really bad one. He acted like a jerk, now he admits that.

One of the things Grady regretted the most is that he didn’t say a proper goodbye to her. He thinks he saw her at the station the day he was leaving. A bright yellow spot in the crowd of mothers, sisters, wives. Or maybe his mind was just playing tricks on him.

What kind of freedom was he afraid to lose? Ridiculous. She’s clearly the best thing that happened to him. Back then he didn’t understand it, and now it might be too late… Or not? Because if it’s too late, then what is she doing here? There's no doubt that she is looking for someone, anxiously biting her lips, fingers fumbling with a little silver pendant she got from her grandma - something she always does when she is nervous. 

When she catches his glance, she freezes in place.

She just stands there as he’s making his way to her, as if she’s also afraid he’d vanish into thin air the second she looks away. 

“Hey, sunshine.”

Grady’s voice comes out hoarse. He’s got so many things to tell her, to confess, but his throat gets dry and he’s lost for words completely.

And then she suddenly hugs him. No, she practically throws herself into his arms with so much desperation, longing and relief it almost kicks the air out of his lungs. He nuzzles into her hair, inhales her scent; he feels her tears on his neck when she’s clinging to him, her heart beating so fast it’s about to jump out of her ribcage.

“I missed you so much, you idiot.”

He chuckles through sudden tears and holds her even closer, promising himself to never ever let her go.

“It’s over, baby. I’m home. I’m home.”

Thank you for reading!

[waltongoggos]

Cooper Howard/The Ghoul x Lucy Maclean (pt. 2)

It’s in the in-betweens that she sees the man that Cooper was. He’s unforgiving in parts with his commentary and all help comes with a sarcastic response or wry amusement at watching her stumble into every fuck-up, but he always steps in when he needs to.  Now that they’ve been together long enough, his constant state of giving her some sort of shit has begun to sound affectionate over snide. Like her brother, poking and prodding to rile her up. However, Cooper isn’t Norm, and the easy back and forth they’ve established feels far from the flavor of siblings.  Lucy doesn’t have a lot of experience with what it means to really like someone, to fall in love. She’s familiar with the shape of it, but outside of Chet and the beginning warmth she felt with Max, she’s never known what it means to want to just exist in someone’s space.  But she’s starting to think she’s getting there with Cooper.

[melverie]

Sometimes I'm doing well, and then other times Lucifer's level 30 intimacy phone call in Nightbringer suddenly comes back to mind, and I am once again reminded how Lucifer is so utterly desperate to connect with Satan in any way. It doesn't even have to be meaningful; just having his brother despise him a tiny bit less than before would already be more than enough

And when they finally do make the tiniest, most insignficant amount of progress imaginable, Lucifer is so overjoyed about it that he ends up celebrating with a horn of Demonus......or two, maybe three... Might as well finish the bottle. Let's open another one! And another, and another, and another! We've got to celebrate tonight, after all! Hm? No, he isn't drunk MC, what a stupid question to even ask. Here, he'll drink some more just to prove it! Then after that--!

And all that because he and Satan managed to hold a conversation for a minute longer than usual

[magical-girl-coral]

Rat Grinders D20 season idea: have all the PCs be played by people who have either never played DnD before or haven't played in years to really sale the "a bunch of teenagers wake up after a year of no control over their bodies or the memories of what they did and now they have to deal with being level twenty powerhouses without knowing how they got there" aspect of their characters.

[annesurelyblythe]

A Fourth Wing AU where Violet is a new police rookie in the Basgiath PD who’s assigned Xaden as her training officer. And her mom works in Internal Affairs and was instrumental in getting Fen Riorson kicked out of the force which ultimately led to his death.

Idk, I’ve been watching a lot of the Rookie…

[cylove]

its almost summer you know

im trying to get an ao3 account rn and once i do ill link it here. im just excited to post now because its my first proper fic :3

summary: a fraxus spin on the OVA/chapter set in Ryuzetsu Land! surprising that seemingly no one has done this. plssss let me know if theyre cringeyyy, especially laxus. and other constructive criticism i want to improve my writing!! Bickslow is here too with a special guest star appearance from Evergreen near the end! its around 7800 words, it's mature at times, but its mostly humor

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Chapter 1

After their quick impromptu warm up, Marvis deemed herself properly prepared to go swimming and without wasting any more time, cannonballed back into the water. It was embarrassing that he had to join in too. ‘First Master’s orders’ his ass, the old man just wanted to make a fool out of him, but then again he was the one who agreed with him in the first place to take her somewhere nice. What made it worse was that some of the other guild members had the same idea as them and took a night out to enjoy the resort too. He could feel Lucy staring at him from across the pool as he was stretching. Even though he didn't care about what other people thought as much as he once did before his exile, a warm tinge still found its way up his face and to the tips of his ears.

His only solace was the fact that Freed and Bickslow coincidentally decided to come too. He wasn't entirely surprised to see them, knowing that a fun attraction like this would instantly attract Bickslow and he’d drag one of their other friends along too, willing or not. He remembered it was ‘one of Fiore’s most famous summer spots’ during his grandfather’s pitch to him earlier that day. Evergreen must be here too then. He’d have to ask them about her. In any case, he was glad both of them had joined in, it eased the embarrassment. Upon hearing loud splashes of water, he looked over to Mavis and saw that she was doing short laps to and from the ends of the pool and decided she’d be fine with gramps. He was much more interested in the resort now with the arrival of his friends.

“We were wondering where the master took you.” Freed said.

“‘Took me?’ Uh, who told you guys that?” Laxus questioned. How vague and slightly ominous, not like his grandfather would do anything nefarious to him though. 

“Erza told everybody you guys went somewhere. Everyone looked so surprised, little do they know you two go on little lunch dates!” Bickslow teased, projecting his voice as he too must have seen Erza and Lucy while warming up.

“Hey! Not too loud!” Laxus hushed out, whipping his head to see if the two women were still around to hear as his friends laughed lightly at his reaction. They got such a kick out of embarrassing him, and it was barely even funny! His relationship with his grandfather is, was, complicated to say the least, but they were in a considerably better spot now. From an outsider’s point of view it looked like a nagging grandfather with his gruff grandson and Laxus preferred it that way. Although anyone who grew up with him knew he held a lot of love for him, still, he didn't need people to know about their afternoon lunches, it broke a certain image he built up.

“It’s pretty nice of you to do though.” Bickslow said, calming down. “Yeah. I guess.” Laxus murmured, choosing to stare at the nothing at his feet. Whenever any redeeming quality of Laxus came up, he got a little awkward, as though he didn't believe it to be true even after all this time. It was then when Bickslow had a brilliant idea on how to wipe that look on his face. He grew a large grin that gave away exactly his master plan and it was too late for Laxus to do anything about it. Bickslow soon launched himself at Laxus, throwing his arms out to push him into the pool’s deep end. In that split second, he was glad that no one was behind him, he was pretty heavy as told multiple times by Evergreen and Bickslow, in a less savory yet playful way. His surprise added a few extra seconds of struggle but he eventually came back up to the surface with a scowl on his face. 

“‘You're fucking dead!’ right?” Bickslow mocked in a voice that was so far off from Laxus' own he wondered if that was even an attempt at an impression. Freed had once said stuff like this was a sort of exposure therapy, getting him into situations he didn't enjoy but at the very least had a friend around to support him, which was complete bullshit because what does Freed know about therapy? His friends were really laughing at him now and more people were turning their heads at them. He really hated them sometimes. He noticed they were pretty close to the ledge of the pool themselves and realized he had a perfect opportunity for himself. He quickly grabbed both of their ankles and gave them a hard yank, taking them both into the water with him.

Laxus got himself stuck in a two-against-one as he was trying to wrestle them under the water, causing large waves to crash about. At that point he didn't have a care in the world who was staring, he was much too focused on getting petty revenge on his friends. In moments like these, Laxus realized his friends could really bring out an immature side of him and let him fully enjoy himself. This small introspection contrasted nicely with the fact he was trying to choke out Bickslow. While he was preoccupied sending Bickslow to the bottom of the pool, never to return, Freed managed to sneak up behind him. Freed had a competitive side which made him refuse to lose, even in stupid things like this which led him to gripping the back of Laxus’ head to plunge him backwards into the water. “Fuck!” he yelped out, that was rougher than he expected. He didn't have time to consider what the pang of arousal he felt meant as he went beneath the surface. He let go of Bickslow and he threw his hands up in victory. Just like that the battle at sea was over. It left all three of them panting by the end of it.

“I’m surprised no one came out to yell at us!” Freed gasped out. “You dicks!” Laxus splashed water on both of them as a feeble attempt of a punishment for pushing him into the pool. As expected, they did not care whatsoever and Bickslow splashed him back in return. “I'm pretty sure you were dry before this so you weren't even enjoying the water. I was just helping you get wet baby!” He raised his hands in surrender as if that flimsy excuse absolved him of all crimes. He had a cheeky smirk on, that little innuendo of his was definitely on purpose. He was about to yell at him again but he suddenly realized where he was again. His eyes searched for where Mavis and his grandfather was and he saw that the loud commotion didn't stop Mavis one bit as she was still swimming in her own section of the pool. His grandfather was a different story, he had a knowing look on his face as if to say ‘I'm happy you have them in your life’ which made him want to gag even though he completely agreed with the statement. As much as he had fun, the snap back to reality made him want to leave the vicinity as soon as possible and do something else, with his friends of course.

“Hey! You can watch her by yourself?” He yelled to his old man, he was going to leave no matter what he said, but having the decency to ask was one of the latest changes to Laxus’ behavior. Once again, he stared kindly which was a rare sight to see directed at him. “Yes boy, go have fun with your friends” was all he said. He frowned at him, he made it sound like he was a teen going off to the market on the weekend, but he didn't dwell on it. “Fine. Let’s head out,” motioning his head off into a random direction, he just wanted to be anywhere but here. 

He was in the deepest part of the pool so he watched as his friends left first. He couldn't help but focus on the droplets of water traveling down the length of Freed’s body, in the depths of his mind he wondered how it would feel for his hands to follow the same path down the gentle hills of his back. He drew eyes up further to appreciate how his wet hair glistened under the resort’s artificial sunlight and how his muscles flexed as he pulled himself up. It left him frozen in place and he had to snap himself out of it so he could start wading through the water. Thankfully Bickslow didn't bother waiting for them and was walking ahead of them, trying to find the next thing to do. He knew he would have noticed his staring and made fun of him. He was remarked to have a ‘serious staring problem’ and it was a valid observation since it was slightly unnerving when he bore holes into things that weren't looking at him with his slitted eyes. The ‘thing’ being Freed most of the time, which he was fully aware of but didn't decide to make fun of because selfishly, he enjoyed the attention, despite how creepy it was. Laxus would have definitely stopped if he thought it made him uncomfortable and Freed didn't want him to adjust what was admittedly harmless behavior for him.

Once he and Freed were out and caught up to Bickslow, he spoke up again “So if you guys are here, where is Ever?” 

“Oh you're gonna love this” Bickslow drawled on the word ‘love’. “She’s with Elfman.” He ended in a sings-songy voice. 

“Shut up, really? Where?” That likely meant he couldn't say hi or make himself known, which was a bit of a let down. Oh well, he saw her every other day so he guessed Elfman could take up some of her time, they were dating after all, despite her protests that they were ‘so not!’. Still, he wanted to see her. 

“Actually we saw them a while ago, so I don't think they’d still be there if we went all the way back.” Freed said disappointingly. 

A shame really, but that reminded him of something. “Wait, we all saw Erza and Lucy, right? Why do I feel like the entire guild is here?” 

“Because they pretty much are.” Bickslow answered plainly. 

“What?!” God, he had a feeling this night was going to be ruined for him one way or another. Imagining from his old man’s point of view, it was probably going to be costly too. He hoped something like that wouldn't happen, but if he was being real it was just a matter of time. 

“Yeah that's why Erza was talking about where you two went, because they all wanted to sneak out and have some fun.” Bickslow joked.

“That includes you guys.” He said in an accusing tone.

“Yeah but you aren't going to let anything bad happen to us right babe?” 

“Actually, I just might for earlier.” He won't.

“Brave of you to say that when we’re still next to the pools.” He would. Laxus was getting riled up again and he tilted forward, looking ready to chase Bickslow, but Freed put an end to that.

“Do you guys have anything you'd like to do while we’re here?” Freed interrupted, not wanting to go back in the water so soon. 

“Hmm I was thinking we could get a late night snack” Bickslow walked a few paces ahead of them to turn around and continued to speak while walking backwards. “I'm thinking ice cream. What do my babies think?” Sometimes, Laxus wondered if the people around them thought he and his friends were in some sort of ‘arrangement’ when Bickslow would go around confidently calling them ‘his babies’. He didn't remember when exactly he started to feel comfortable enough to be fine with it but he guessed this was one of the things he grew to not be self conscious over. He didn't think he could ever use it as a term of endearment for his own use though without having Bickslow in his mind. As much as he liked him, he didn't want to think of them during moments like that.

Both men shared mutters of agreement that yes, they could go for ice cream, which wasn't as enthusiastic as Bickslow had hoped but didn't do anything to dim his mood. He slowed down again so he could walk side by side with his teammates once more. Laxus didn't actually get a good look at the entire resort, originally content with just sitting by the pool watching over Mavis with his old man. For it being nighttime, the place was still packed with visitors. Their journey ended when they eventually found themselves at a food stall that was selling ice cream. 

“You guys know what you want? If not, I'm gonna go first” Bickslow announced. 

“Go ahead, I’m going to look a little” Freed said, but Bickslow didn't wait for a reply as he was already speaking to the stall attendant, giving his order.

Laxus stayed behind with him, also not knowing what to get. “Hm.” He let out quietly. 

“What? See anything good?” 

“No, I was considering not getting anything actually.” Freed replied. 

“Huh? Why?” Wasn't that the point of the whole walk?

“It’s rather late and I don't think desert would do me any good. Besides, look at how much they put in a scoop” He said, pointing to what the stall attendant was handing over to Bickslow. He had some good points. “Hey! I heard you! Don't make me the only one eating!” Bickslow said, holding his impressive stack of scoops in a cone. 

Being a little daring, Laxus offered a solution that could benefit them both “Uhm, we could share if you want? So you have just a little bit. I didn't want to eat a lot anyways.” That wasn't true, he saw they were selling pistachio ice cream and would’ve eaten a whole tub if there was no bodily repercussions, but didn't say anything more. Sharing food wasn't a new concept for the Raijinshuu, without fail they would order different dishes at restaurants just to try it amongst themselves, but it felt intimate when Laxus initiated first. 

“Oh! Sure, that works out nicely. Just one scoop and since you're going to be eating most of it, you choose what you’d like and I'll order.” Freed was accommodating in the sense that he knew Laxus didn't particularly like talking to people, even for simple things like ordering. If he had the option to not interact, he would take it. While none of his friends allowed him to become completely anti-social, for small things like this, they didn't mind doing the talking for him. 

“Could you get that one?” He jutted out his finger to the board and Freed followed the direction of it until he spotted what he knew he wanted. Freed was honestly expecting an embarrassingly long name that Laxus didn't want to utter, but it turned out that it was just his favorite flavor. His hair coincidentally matching colors did not go unnoticed and he found it a little cute. Perhaps it was self-absorbed of him to assume that had anything to do with it. Although he wished that fondness of his extended towards vegetables, he ate them of course, Laxus wasn't five, but he definitely leaned towards a more carnivorous diet. Although considering he was a dragon slayer, it might be healthier for him to consume more meat than not. He had even noticed Laxus enjoyed meat dangerously raw and never had stomach problems afterwards. He questioned all the ways the magic affected him but the other resident dragon slayers in the guild weren't exactly the best teachers on the subject. Would it be weird to ask a 12 year old her thoughts on the matter? 

“Okay then” with that he hopped in line and waited to order. It wasn't long before he walked back to his awaiting friends. “Places like these always inflate their prices,” he complained. “Here, have a try” Freed held up the cone closer to Laxus. “No, no, you first” he was quick to reply back. Freed didn't question it, finding it senseless to pick a fight over this, although he found it a little odd considering this was Laxus’ favorite. He took it back and gave it a small lick to test out the flavor. “It’s good, now try some.” he said all too firmly considering this was just about eating ice cream. He brought it back to Laxus again and he held his hand holding the cone but rather than taking it from his grasp, he simply raised his hand toward his mouth and bit into the ice cream, right where Freed licked it. Would Freed say he was surprised by this? Unfortunately no, Laxus had a tendency to eat from the same spot Freed had eaten from whenever they were sharing food, which he didn't do with his other two friends. Similar scenes had happened numerous times before, but today it felt different. Freed stopped looking at Laxus’ lips to move up to his face and found that Laxus also looked up at the same time. They shared eye contact and it made a blush appear on his face that lasted after Laxus had finished his turn. “Mm, it’s pretty good. I thought it’d be average since we’re at a water park.” He finished off the statement with a quick swipe of his tongue over his lips, appreciating the remaining flavor. 

“Uhm, yes it was good. How about I eat some until I don't want it anymore, and you can have the rest?” For the sake of everyone here, he decided not to make a scene out of what just happened. Bickslow seemed to be in agreement as he said nothing either. “Sounds good to me.” His self-awareness had lapses and this was one of the times it seemed. 

“You guys want to go to the aquarium? Saw it while we were looking.” Bickslow prompted, saving both of them. 

“Sure, since we can't go back in the pool for a while.” Freed said and Laxus was quick to nod in agreement, being fine with most activities as long as his friends were there. They walked back to where Bickslow said he saw the entrance to the aquarium and entered inside. As they went down the stairs, they noted how impressive it was, much like the rest of the resort, they didn't slack around with the interior. There were numerous tanks lining the walls with a colorful assortment of marine animals and tanks that stood in the middle of rooms that were all glass which stretched from floor to ceiling that you could walk around. All of the tanks gave off a serene blue light that illuminated the otherwise dark rooms. There was relaxing music playing on the speakers that added to the entire ambiance. In the midst of looking, Freed eventually passed off their shared ice cream to Laxus to finish it off.

They wound up in a relatively empty part of the building when the silence was broken. “Ohhh hey! Look! They've got tanks where you can touch some of them!” Bickslow exclaimed, spotting a sign that directed to a room where he could do exactly that. Laxus made a face at the idea. He wasn't in the mood to touch anything wet or slimy, as if he was ever in the mood at all. Freed took note of that and thought it’d be best if they split for a second. “You go ahead, we’ll keep looking around.”

“Alright, I hope they've got starfish! No! Manta rays!” Bickslow was riling himself up and excitedly ran off in the direction the sign was pointing. Shoot, Freed should’ve told him a meeting point. He reasoned they would all reconvene eventually somehow.

“Laxus, do you want to go under the tunnel?” Freed asked, now left alone with him.

“That sounds nice.” He said softly, happy that he’d have a moment alone with Freed. He let Freed guide him through the aquarium, knowing that Laxus was notoriously bad at directions, even when there were maps involved. They entered the beginning of the tunnel and were astonished with what they saw. There was not an inch of darkness now that the tunnel surrounded all the walls, save the floor. Some of the biggest sea creatures the aquarium housed were here and they were on display for all to see. Laxus was disappointed to see that they wouldn't be completely alone, but he understood why so many guests would want to be here.

Freed realized rather quickly in their visit that activities like this were good for Laxus. They required less talking and the talking that did happen was mainly from Freed making comments here and there about facts he knew about some of the animals. It was rare to indulge themselves like this back then, and even now it wasn't common, so Freed enjoyed every second of it. He looked up at Laxus’ face and he saw how his eyes were taking in as much as he could. He had a small smile on his face, not some cocky grin, a real smile that showed just how content he was in that moment. They had walked through most of the tunnel by now and as they were reaching the end, Freed had realized they were both caught up observing the marine life that Laxus had forgotten the cone in his hand that was now slightly melting. 

“Your hand is a little…” He didn't finish his sentence, letting Laxus look down to his hand and seeing some of the ice cream had melted. “Oh. Thanks.” He said, not waiting another second, he raised his arm up to drag his tongue to clean it up. Now that they were in a room again, it was slightly dark once more to help conceal his actions. It also helped to hide the blush that was rising on his cheeks. On one hand he wished he had a tissue to just wipe it off but on the other hand he really liked watching him lick off the mess off his hand and wrist. Thankfully, Laxus didn't look up at him this time, opting instead to close his eyes. He tried to focus on the fact that Laxus was comfortable enough to do things like this without fear of being judged. Totally grateful. 

Laxus finished and ate the rest of the cone so as to not worry about it anymore. He didn't like how his hand was a little sticky and that the best thing he could do was wipe it across his swim trunks. He looked up at Freed and saw his slightly dazed expression. He decided he really liked tonight. Coming back to the guild and almost immediately joining the biggest event of the year for the magic community was draining to say the least. He loved that some of the strongest wizards in Fiore were gathered in one place and he had a chance to challenge himself, but the setting took a toll on him. All the loud cheering was annoying and after an entire day of it he had to dorm with Team B. They weren't terrible roommates, but he wasn't used to sharing a space with anyone but the Raijinshuu nowadays, he just couldn't feel like he could truly unwind. Not to mention the way Raven Tail behaved towards his family and the appearance of his father. It trudged up feeling he had tried to bury in the deepest depths of heart. Just thinking about it now had emotions bubblings up. He casted those feelings aside, he didn't want his mood to bring down the moment he was having with Freed. He needed to focus on what was in front of him. He stepped closer to Freed, not really knowing why, but he never needed to get closer to him anyways. Freed stared at him closely, wondering what his intent was. He hadn’t had a clue either, but he’d let his instincts take the wheel for him.

He slowly leaned forward, feeling their breaths mingle together. As quick as it began, the spell they were in was interrupted by the faint sounds of screaming, muffled by the walls of water surrounding them. With Laxus’ heightened senses, he could make out that it was bolts for brains, Levy, and the cats.

“What’s going on?” Laxus took another step closer to Freed, this time trying to shield him as though something was going to jump out at them. He watched their surroundings with caution, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary other than the noise.

“Not our screaming, not our problem” Freed harshly let out.

That made Laxus whip his face back to Freed with wide eyes before he broke out in loud laughter. “You're funny tonight!” He continued to laugh.

“I'm just not in the mood to deal with any kind of shenanigans.” He remarked. 

“You're so cold.” He said in a tone that didn't indicate that was a negative trait at all. Before, this made Freed entirely detached from the world, allowing him to follow some of the more morally grey orders Laxus had made. If he was being honest with himself some of those weren't even morally grey, they were straight up malicious, but that was the past. He had liked the trait before and he continued to like it in the present. Freed was much more outwardly caring to his fellow guidmates, so his callous personality manifested like this, deadpan jokes which always managed to catch Laxus off guard and make him laugh. He wouldn't deny though that his coldness didn't come out in full force when they were on a mission or faced with a criminal. Freed could be sinister when he wanted to, he didn't gain the name Freed the Dark for nothing and maintain that title.

Freed smirked hearing the comment, satisfied at making the other laugh and pleased he could be as heartless as ever. Not something to be proud of, but that didn't stop him, he wasn't looking to become too soft anytime soon. “I think we’ve seen enough of this place, let’s head back up. I really don't want to find out where that yelling came from” He lightly chuckled.

Laxus let his own laughter die out before nodding and letting himself be led out of the aquarium. When they left the building, their eyes had to readjust to the bright lights of the resort. Their brains had tricked them to believe it would be dark out, considering the time. “Makes you think time didn't pass at all.” Laxus observed.

“That's how they get you to stay here longer and spend more money.” Freed replied and Laxus laughed at his joke. He laughed so freely when he was around him. 

“We didn't end up seeing Bickslow on our way out.” He noted. “That’s okay, he can handle himself.” Freed replied and hoped Laxus couldn't sense that he simply wanted more time with just the two of them.

“Yeah you're right. Do you want to do anything else?” Laxus was relieved Freed didn't want to go back to search for him, he belatedly felt sorry that he had that thought but Bickslow would get it.

“Not particularly. I don't feel like swimming this late, maybe we could go on the lazy river? Or we can just keep walking to see what interests us.” 

“Okay, let’s just head over there, but if anything else looks good, we’ll just do that.” With their vague idea to spend the rest of the night in mind, they continued down the stone path. They grew quiet as they walked, neither of them finding the need to fill the silence with talking. Laxus noticed the amount of presumed couples going past them, seeing how they'd hold hands or one would rest their arm over the shoulders’ of the other. He looked back down to Freed and felt the urge to do the same. He cursed himself in his head for having such thoughts. It didn't fly over his head that all the couples they walked by consisted of a man and woman. It was just like earlier when he was staring at Freed in the pool. He was thinking such random thoughts that he shouldn't be having, couldn't. He started to get a little angry with himself and Freed took note of this quickly.

“Laxus? Is there something wrong?” Great, now he had Freed worried and he didn't know what to say to ease it. If he lied, Freed would try to find a solution and he didn't want him to go through the trouble of solving a nonexistent problem he fumbled to make up on the spot. He was supposed to be rough, stoic, but Freed always managed to see past that. Damn him and his great observational skills. They had stopped by some pillars that were supporting one of the park’s extensive water slides. He offhandedly thought Bickslow would have enjoyed going on one of them, but he refocused his attention on Freed. He was rushing to think of what to say until he heard something.

Freed wasn't allowed to dwell on whatever was bothering Laxus when he suddenly saw him tense up. Seriously, what was wrong with him? His question was quickly answered when he heard yelling for the second time of the day, which was two too many cries of distress at a place meant for fun. As soon as he heard it, Laxus was crowding over him to cover him from whatever was getting closer to them. The speed at which the noise was coming from didn't allow them to dodge out of the way and before they knew it a purple heart crashed into them both, pushing them into a water slide.

Laxus hadn’t realized when he had closed his eyes, but when he opened them he was met with a face of green hair. Regaining his surroundings his senses finally registered who was the source of the screaming, that being none other than Natsu. An immense anger rose up in his chest.

“Natsu! What the fuck you doing?!” He shouted in the midst of rushing water. He was staring daggers into Natsu’s slumped form over the heart decoration.

“Not… my… fault…” Natsu struggled to get out. 

“Like hell it isn't!” He continued to badger at him. He felt movement and suddenly remembered that two people were here. Freed had lifted his head up and the blush on his face made Laxus realize the position they were in. Freed was laid out on top of him, with nearly the entire length of their bodies in contact with one another. Freed’s head was lined up with his chest and he was wrapping his arms around his waist while Freed had his arms thrown around his shoulders. Without thinking he clutched Freed harder into his body and he got to feel every inch brush against him. “Laxus,” Freed said headily, surprised by the action and not entirely hating it. He decided then and there he liked hearing his name called out like that, but before he could do it again his body caught up to the fact he was in a sort of vehicle. The nausea immediately consumed any and all thoughts and he held onto Freed tighter since he couldn't hug his stomach directly. 

Freed was well acquainted with Laxus’ ‘motion sickness face’ and was scrambling to think of a way to stop him from hurling today’s contents right into his face. Laxus didn't appreciate the squirming Freed was doing out of stress and he let out a pained groan. Freed could both feel and hear the gurgling in the stomach snug against him. He frantically looked around as if the solution was in the sky, at least in that case if, no when Laxus barfed it wouldn't be in his face. It turns out staring at the open area gave Freed just the revelation he needed. “Oh. Of course.” He blurted out and removed his hands from Laxus’ shoulders and began to write near his chest. The answer was so obvious, he felt stupid taking as long as he did and prolonging Laxus’ torture.

“Dark Écriture: Wings!” he casted and dark purple wings sprouted from his back. He lowered his arms to wrap around where Laxus’ thighs met his bottom and began to lift him up. Laxus fought through the nausea to help out Freed by wrapping his arms around his neck, similar to what Freed was doing a minute ago. 

Finally free, Laxus began to feel his motion sickness dissipate from his body. As much as he hates to admit it, he and Natsu shared the same sentiment that ‘friends were not vehicles’. Having his head clear up, he saw that he had a great view of all the chaos that was going on below. Turns out we weren't the only ones then.

“Hey, there's Ever!” He held onto Freed’s neck tighter with one arm to use his other free hand to point where he was looking. Thankfully she wasn't completely behind Freed or else he would have to twist both of them around to see. He tilted his head and watched how flustered Evergreen was as she was draped over Elfman’s stone body, that was definitely her doing. 

“She has wings too, I don't see why she didn't come to the same idea. Unless,” Freed started to grin “she didn't want to get off him.” 

“Heh, that's probably it. Who is she fooling?” He teased fondly. “Man, look at all the people stuck, Natsu really fucked up now.” He had a grin rivaling that of Freed, imagining all the people that would be mad at him and how he’d get in trouble with the resort staff for breaking their property. “Actually, uhm… there's a lot of people down there.” If any resort guest were to turn their head up, they would see just how close he was to Freed. He was grateful that at least he wasn't wrapping his legs around Freed’s midsection, simply having them dangle in the air. “Yes, uh, we should get down now.” Freed caught on to Laxus’ discomfort and found an area of the park that was less sparsely populated. He slowly descended and as they got closer to the ground, he loosened his hold on Laxus and allowed him to slide down. They landed amongst some palm trees to grant them cover. Under the shade, Laxus was staring at him intently. His mind was going back to the scene they had moments ago on the slide, he wanted to be in the same position again, he wanted Freed to say his name in that voice he wouldn't mind hearing a hundred more times, and any other sounds he could get out of him. None of these were good thoughts to have when his shorts were currently drenched and the man he was fantasizing about was right in front of him, but he couldn't stop himself. 

“Freed…” He breathed out, only to be interrupted once again. “Freeze!” “You freeze!” Damn it all! He knew his day was going to be ruined! It was getting chillingly cold by the second and he watched as all of the water at the resort had turned into ice. “You fucking idiots!” “You idiots!” Shit, was that? No! “Don't freeze the damn pool!” Everything was happening so fast, first Gray and that white haired mage from Lamia Scale froze the whole place and now Natsu was jumping off a slide, fist enveloped in flames, about to burn it all up. Laxus transformed his body into lightning and tried to reach Natsu before his fist connected with the ground, but he made contact and an explosion enveloped the resort. He was sent back by the force of it and had to adjust his senses to the sudden amount of smoke and debris. He was going to kill them! First, he needed to find his victims, he converted himself into lightning once more and searched through the wreckage. 

He heard Natsu laughing in the distance and immediately shot himself over to the sound. “You have some fucking balls to be laughing right now!” He didn't give Natsu a chance to react as he threw a fist to his head, knocking the boy out cold. He grabbed him from his shorts, that’s one out of two, now for the other one. Unlike Natsu, Gray wasn't giving himself away by being obnoxiously loud but he eventually weeded out his smell amongst the smoke. He was already out of it, unable to detach from the white haired mage. Whatever. He still hit his head just to be sure and to get some much needed anger out. And just because he can, he gave a sharp kick to the other one. He wasn't his problem, he would leave that for Lamia Scale to deal with, but he still wanted to hurt him. Besides, damn near everyone could barely get up, so it's not like anybody would see what he was doing. He rationed that he needed to get the guy’s body off of Juvia, yeah that was a good person deed. He picked up Gray from his shorts as well to maximize humiliation. He walked over to where the authorities were gathered and saw his grandfather and the first master were already speaking to them, or well sobbing. 

“Oi, gramps, caught the perps for ya, made it so they can't run away.” That too was what an upstanding citizen did. As much as he wanted to smirk at that line, his frustration outweighed that. “I'm… sorry…” He heard Gray and Natsu muster out on either side of him. Damn, he should've hit ‘em harder.

“I assume we can send the repair bill to Fairy Tail?” God, you couldn't take these guys anywhere without some shit like this happening. How he ever thought he’d become guild master over such a costly group of mages was absurd. Well, now that he thought about it, he would have probably kicked out the ones that were causing the guild debt. He should probably drop this line of thought altogether, as if he ever wanted to spend his days dealing with paperwork relating to all the damages their guild caused on a daily basis. He let go of both boys, letting them drop to the ground and delighted himself in the satisfying thump of limp bodies against concrete. Ah, that was his good deed of the day, second good deed of the day if you considered kicking a guy to be good, which Laxus did. He wiped his hands off of dust and hopped down the rubble he was standing on before realizing how he had left Freed alone. “Shit!” He frantically went back to the spot he last left him in the form of lightning. They were originally in a secluded area of the park and he saw that it wasn't as affected as the center of destruction. 

“Freed!” he grasped onto the side of Freed’s arms as though he was the one caught up in the explosion. “Laxus! Are you alright?!” Freed’s eyes were traveling down Laxus’ body in search of any injuries, glad to have found none and considerably relaxed. “Yeah, I am. Couldn't stop them.” Freed let out a heavy sigh at that and let his head drop down. Laxus got worried at the sudden movement and tried to follow his head down, still unable to see due to Freed’s long hair. His worry was replaced with confusion as he both heard and felt Freed shake with laughter. 

“It's just so! Hahaha! So stupid! Hahaha!” Of course it was Fairy Tail’s fault! Of course it was caused by Natsu crashing into people and sending them on a water slide! All of it was so absurd he had to laugh. Instead of remaining in a state of confusion, Laxus decided that why the hell not, he should join Freed in laughing, which made Freed double over, clutching his stomach. “Fuck! It hurts! Hahaha!” Freed was about to fall over if it weren't for the fact that Laxus was still holding onto him. “Laxus! Stop!” He wasn't even doing anything to him. “Ohhh Freed. Haha. Hey, let’s go find,” he tried to stifle his giggles, “Bicks and Ever. Okay?” He let go of Freed so he could stand up straighter and moved to his side, letting arm drop around his waist.

“Heh! Let’s!” Freed smiled directly at him and all the residual anger he had drained out of him, leaving only the joy he felt. He pulled him closer to him as they walked towards the rubble on a search to find the rest of their friends. If they both blushed at the action, neither pointed it out. 

Chapter 2 

“Look at who I finally get to see after this entire night. Wish it didn't have to be like this though.” He teased putting his hands on his hips, enjoying the scene in front of him and Freed. Evergreen was under the weight of Elfman’s stone body, maintaining eye contact with Laxus with fire behind her eyes. There was some deep meaning he could derive from the sight. Something like ‘Oh Ever, under the stress of… man’ He was never good at words, that was Freed’s job, but he could chuckle at his crappy attempt at some surface level social commentary. “Bitch, stopping fucking around or else you're getting turned to stone next and I’m pushing you over and letting you crack into a million pieces!” Man, he loved his friends, they were fucking hilarious. “Okay, okay! Heh.” He leaned down and gently this time, because he actually didn't want to break Evergreen’s one-day husband, rolled him off Evergreen’s body. She was more resilient than she looked, he paid attention to how she threw death threats at him with not a hint of pain in her voice. He honestly believed she could have gotten out herself, but she was just playing along with the bit. She promptly got up and brushed off the bits of dirt that were remaining on his skin and threw her hair back. “Hmpf! The brute! Trying to crush a lady!” She said with not a care in the world if Elfman was okay or not, although the worried look she tossed him said otherwise.

“Hey… is someone there? Can you… help me?” Who was that? Troy or Jed? Laxus was making an attempt to remember everyone at the guild’s names and was making great progress! But he couldn't quite place his finger on who was speaking to him now and didn't feel all too motivated to turn around and look. Could you blame him? He never realized how many people were a part of the guild! Funnily enough Evergreen was making no move to help out either and she was a better person than him. If she deemed whoever was speaking fine enough then that was enough for him too. Freed was a better person than the both of them though and walked over to help up… Tro-jed. 

“Jet, are you alright?” Woah, Jet? Laxus didn't know where the ‘d’ came from. That made sense, his magic was speed related if he remembered correctly. “Yo! Guys!” That voice caused his head to turn instantly, seeing Bickslow slide down a pile of rubble holding something. As he got closer he made out what it was, it was a shark, no, a whale, or maybe both? Animals weren't his strong suit either. Actually that was the biggest thing Bickslow was holding, his arms were filled with smaller items. “Look what I got!” drawing out the ‘o’ sound. 

“Did you steal all that?!” Evergreen exclaimed. 

“Yup.” popping out his ‘p’. “Hey, don't get your bikini bottoms in a twist, check this out. I thought of you baby when I saw it.” He sensually said. He was spinning on his finger a little keychain, which he slowed so Evergreen could examine the offering to her. 

“Is that a jellyfish? It’s so cute! You know… we’re about to pay for all of their repairs and I bet they can't even sell this damaged merchandise, so we're doing them a favor by taking them off their hands!” She took the keychain off his finger with a cheeky smile and dangled it in front of her face, letting the lights of the resort shine through its small beads.

“Exactly!” Freed had long since helped Jed to stand back up on his feet and was by Laxus’ side watching the antics unfold. “You are housing criminals” He chuckled out. “Yeah, some real kleptos, you included. You stole that book that one time and pretended you couldn't recover it.” 

“I…! Okay… well.” Freed had nothing to say as a rebuttal. In his defense, he appreciated the book way more than the client ever would! Or so he believes, since he’d never know how the client would react because said book was on one of the many shelves in the Raijinshuu household.

Quickly moving on from the minor offense he just admitted to, Bickslow announced to the group “Guys, I had the most eye opening, revolutionary conversation with a 10 year old when I was at the touch pool. Unfortunately I pissed him off too much when I kept calling the turtles ‘tortoises’.” 

“Messing around like that gets a child crying and an angry parent in your face.” Freed scolded lightly. 

“Bet you'd be the type to get mad at ‘turtles’ and ‘tortoises’” Laxus remarked smartly. 

“Well because one will die in water if left stranded…” 

“Oh yeah. You care.”  He shot back.

“Laxus! Laxus! Where are- there you are boy” The master had climbed up the top of some debris with Mavis to survey the area to find him. “Why on earth did you just drop Natsu and Gray like that?! They rolled off all the way down and stopped at our feet!” Laxus heard snickering beside and behind him, causing him to smile at this inappropriate moment. 

Their non discrete giggling made Makarov realize it was not just Laxus that was there and he acknowledged the other three mages present.

“I'm glad the four of you are alright… this means I have more help.”

“Huh? To do what?” Laxus said and their collective laughing ceased at the prospect of labor. 

“Don't be daft! Help me rangle up the rest of these brats! And make them clean up this mess! They made it and they will get themselves out of it! They're gonna be here till the sun rises!” He shouted and turned to leave with the first master.

They all turned to look at each other before slowly staring out at the once-beautiful resort turned demolition area they were standing on. There was smoke everywhere and unconscious guildmates scattered about. 

“Fuck me” Laxus groaned, drawing his hand down his face.

“Agreed” came his resounding chorus of friends and the four began their search through the wreckage for their fellow guildmates.

[halucynator]

hi babes! may I request theo + party 💋

party | theo nott ☆

yes you may mwah <3 ive also never written headcanons before so i prolly got it wrong lmao i was also supposed to post this yesterday but i have shit memory :((

• theo HATES parties, but he still goes when you ask him to bc he'd do anything for you (and soft spot)

• "another party? what's the point of these parties?" he'd question shocked at you telling him (and practically forcing him) to come to the 3rd party of the week with you.

• "the point is to loosen up and have fun theo! come on, dont be boring!"

• "okay fine, but this is the last time" he'd lie.

• another reason he'd go to parties is because you'd look absolutely stunning + he'd get to see you more.

• and it makes you happy.

• he always makes sure to tell you how good you look.

• he drinks at the party but only 1 or 2 bc he needs to be sober enough to take care of you if you get too drunk.

• if you get too drunk he takes you up to your dorm and tucks you in.

• if he sees someone trying to flirt with you/take advantage of you when your wasted he drags you away.

• he's probably the 'mom' of the group when it comes to parties.

• he usually just stays in the corner of the room away from the dancing floor.

• as much as he wants to leave, he never does if you're still there bc he takes care of you.

• he's even more overprotective than he usually is at parties bc he knows the dangers.

• whenever you have more than a set amount of drink he usually tries to stop you so you don't have a hangover the next day and bc if he doesn't he'd never hear the end of it.

• "theo" you'd whine "why didn't you stop me from having all those drinks"

• he'd sigh and shake his head.

• "i tried to"

[happilychee]

thinking about aromantic lucy

I saw a terf saying aspec people aren't actually queer so fuck them here's aromantic lucy heartfilia

cw: a few mentions of internalized arophobia

lucy who doesn't know that the word love exists until she reads it in one of the few fairytale books in her father's extensive library. lucy who doesn't quite get the kissing and the physicality and the fiery proclamations, but thinks that it's an okay price to pay for someone to be so passionate for her. to choose her and care about her, like her mother did before she passed.

lucy, who's eight years old and crying after another argument with her father, who summons aquarius and asks "do you love me?" aquarius feels her blood pressure rise, but seeing the broken look in her wielder's watery eyes, she decides to drop the snark. "I do, kid." "does that mean you wanna kiss me?" aquarius almost smacks lucy over the head.

lucy who doesn't quite understand the difference between how she cares for her spirits and how she felt about her mom. lucy who cares deeply for everyone who's important to her, who thinks that aquarius could just as easily be her knight in shining armor as the storybook prince. lucy who reads romance books because she wants someone like that in her life. lucy who's never had any friends besides aquarius. lucy who thinks it must be nice to have someone choose you, care about you, protect you. lucy decides that that's what love is.

lucy who's old enough to know she doesn't like her father. lucy who's so confused when she hates him but still cares about him. lucy who's old enough to run away from home but too young, too young.

lucy who joins fairy tail and has no idea what to expect. lucy who's startled by her new friends' openness and easy acceptance of her. lucy who blushes when natsu throws an arm around her, who feels warm and fuzzy when gray guides her by the small of her back, who has a lopsided grin on her face when erza links arms with her as they walk. lucy who suddenly thinks that she's in love with three people at once and panics (her storybooks never mentioned that!!).

lucy who turns to who she can confidently call her best friend, levy mcgarden, for help. levy sits her down with a cup of hot chocolate and cookies. they talk for hours about sexuality and attraction; lucy sleeps over that night. the word that sticks out the most in her mind is aromantic.

lucy who gets drunk at a party and gets a little too close to cana, and suddenly they're in cana's apartment, making out like there's no tomorrow. lucy who feels guilt creep up in the morning because she knows cana and gray and loke have something going, and she might've just ruined it. lucy who tears up when cana laughs because she's so, so confused. cana's expression morphs into concern and she wipes away her friend's tears, warm skin on skin. cana who tells lucy that what she does with gray and what she does with loke doesn't restrict her from what she does with other people. "we talked about it, I promise." cana reassures her. then, leaning in with a sexy smirk on her face, she whispers, "besides, they're probably jealous I took you home first~" the rush of heat is enough to make lucy's mind go blank with joy.

lucy who shyly asks cana about her relationships and learns so much she feels like her head is going to explode. lucy who has a crisis about her storybooks and her ideal romances. she's never going to have that, she realizes. it feels like someone's scooped out her chest.

lucy whose feelings ebb and flow like the tide. she's not used to this. being so... different. her storybooks are scattered across the floor, thrown in an angry fit. her door is locked, but her window isn't, and that's how natsu gets in. "you okay, luce? we haven’t seen you in a while."

the dam breaks. lucy sobs in natsu's arms, and all she can think is that this is the exact type of hurt/comfort scene she loves in her stories. she wishes she were normal, so she could love normally, so she could love natsu the normal way and be done with it. she doesn't realize she's talking out loud.

natsu cups her face, onyx eyes boring into chocolate ones. he squishes her cheeks together, the way he does when he thinks she's overthinking something. and then, natsu breaks through her entire crisis with three little words.

"does it matter?" he furrows his brow. "you're lucy, and I'm natsu, and I care about you." "but- I don't feel romantic attraction-" natsu huffs, frustrated that lucy's not getting something that's apparently obvious to him. "luce. I care about you, and I trust you, and I want to take care of you and protect you. who cares about anything else?" lucy blinks once, twice, and then she's sobbing again. natsu panics, because he knows he can be blunt and dismissive sometimes, but lucy barrels into him, clutching onto his scarf tightly.

"you care about me?" she whispers in a child's voice. that's more important to her than anything. romantic, platonic, the gray area in between, none of it matters as long as natsu cares.

natsu tightens his grip, wondering who he has to pummel for making his girl feel that way. "course I care about you, dummy. I'd burn down the world for you. and so would erza and gray and cana and everyone else."

lucy who has a really hard time moping when natsu's there every step of the way, trying to cheer her up. erza and gray show up, too, and it's hard to stay sad when she's being tickled by erza while gray cooks dinner and kicks natsu out of her kitchenette.

lucy who feels the hollow fill with something warm and gooey when erza gives her a hug, confessing that she often has trouble figuring out how she feels about anything. lucy laughs when erza tells her about the shenanigans that have happened when she doesn't pick up on someone flirting with her but gray and natsu do. she feels all fuzzy when gray leans against her, telling her that he feels the same way. his hand plays with hers, and she thinks it's nice how well they slot together.

lucy realizes when natsu falls asleep in her lap, arms wrapped protectively around her waist. lucy realizes when gray falls asleep at her side, erza tucked to his chest. lucy realizes that her friends make her feel like she's on top of the world, and she doesn't need a fairytale prince when she's got fairy tail.

[maryasmorevna]

why are you, as an adult in 2024, still hung up on reylo. why are you still mocking the shippers. why do you believe yourself to be superior only because you dislike a stupid ship from a fucking space fairytale. girl (gnc) get a grip

[eternalera]

So like yeah I know you just said requests are chill and all but I just wanna double check before I really ask just cause :p

But yeah I do have a few ideas for eoe fics that I've had but I've gotten no time to write cause of life T-T

(plus I just love ur writing)

((tho if u don't want requests or don't like my ideas then you obvs don't gotta do it just like ignore me cause otherwise it would be a bit embarrassing T-T))

But yeah like I've had a few ideas for this one idea just thinking of the best way for it to go and like just a fic where Lucy and Blu see Acedia and like see that Mole knows Acedia n whatnot

Maybe angst where they think it's betrayal?

Maybe Mole gives himself up to save the others?

Maybe they have to save him and comfort him?

Maybe something else?

Who knows cause I definitely don't lolol :P

Just a loose thought I've had tumbling round my head for a few days but didn't exactly know what to do with cause its a bit more speculative then I normally write

Anyways even if ya don't do it I just wanted to drop by and say have a nice day (!)

- 💫

OMG I HAVE NOT HAD TIME TO ANSWER THIS ANON IM SO SORRY-

here's a short little fic about your idea!!! nothing too major as im a bit burnt out rn but i hope this works and once again im so sorry-

He doesn't want to talk about it. Talk about what you ask? Nothing, that's the whole point he's not talking about it, not talking about anything because it's nothing. There's a chill throughout his entire body and a soft but thundering pounding in his head, slowly pushing in and digging into... something because something's there.

Without a doubt there's something there.

Ignore it.

It'll go away soon.

It'll fade away...

fade huh?

...

"Where's Mole?" Lucy followed behind Blu, although there was no response from him and she knows that he heard her this time because he straightened up a little at her voice. But he seemed focused on ignoring her instead of just answering her question.

She didn't get why it was such a hard thing to answer.

"Blu where did Mole go?" She asked a little louder this time.

"Oh, somewhere, he'll be back soon. Don't worry," Blu said with a wave of his hand before pointing to CG. "You and CG should go get some firewood, it's gettin' late don't you think?" he asked.

Lucy looked up at the sky, despite not having a sun it wasn't like night and day suddenly disappeared, night came a lot sooner. Without the sun actually in tact there wasn't as much light.

She looked past their sun and to the other stars, they were suns too. Her mom taught her that, she wondered for a moment if they also would crack one day.

"Yeah... come on CG,"

She didn't pry into it, instead she held her tongue and picked up CG taking him with her as she picked up a few dry sticks. She must've been out longer than usual as Blu came looking for her with Mole still gone.

"He's not back," she remarked, she looked over to Blu who nodded, he glanced around before looking back at Lucy.

"Yeah- uh, I'm gonna go look for him. You," he pointed to her, "wait here,"

"What?" She hissed, she was already moving towards him. "Why do I have to wait? I'm worried too! And besides isn't it safer if we go together? That's what you always say," she hissed pointing back at him.

"Well- uh-" Blu paused for a moment before looking back at her and sighing. "Fine, but stay behind me,"

She walked in front of him.

She heard an audible sigh behind her but giggled instead pushing forward and soon enough Blu fell by her side as they turned down a corner.

"He was over here last time I checked..." Blu trailed off and there was clearly no Mole there, just dust and wind.

"Why isn't he there?" Lucy blurted out.

"Well he obviously moved-"

"Yeah I can see that,"

"Then why did you just ask?"

"IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION!" She hissed loudly, glaring at Blu. Mole was officially missing great, the day couldn't get any better-

There was a soft crash and Blu was the first one to react dragging Lucy with him as they turned another corner, this time seeing Mole leaning against the side of the building.

Lucy could see something next to him. It almost reminded her of a moth, but there were thousands of eyes along its body and it took her out of the experience. But the same moment it was there it was gone and suddenly Mole seemed passed out.

"Is he okay?" Lucy asked.

Blu didn't answer.

Instead he walked over and kneeled down beside Mole shaking him a little causing him to blink his eyes open. For a moment Lucy thought they were purple.

"Hey, you feeling good?" Blu asked softly. Mole nodded and moved to get up but quickly stumbled with Blu catching him. "Easy there, come on let's get back now,"

The walk back was quiet to say the least, well at least to Lucy. Every now and then she could hear Blu whisper a question to Mole and Mole answering with an 'I don't know' or an 'I'm sorry' to which Blu would say he didn't need to be sorry and it's fine.

They sat down by the fire and Blu had Mole lean against him and soon enough Mole was asleep.

"Blu..."

"Yeah?"

"What was that?"

"... I don't know,"

[darethshirl]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Fallout (TV 2024) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Cooper Howard | The Ghoul/Lucy MacLean Characters: Cooper Howard | The Ghoul, Lucy MacLean Additional Tags: Humor, Light Angst, Character Study, Bickering, Team Bonding, Crying, Guilt, Late Night Conversations, Daddy Issues, daughter issues, Season 1 Finale Spoilers, cooper howard being a dick, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, not as shippy as i would have liked but i Tried Summary:

Whatever gland was responsible for empathy had long since dried up in Cooper’s heart. He watched Lucy cry, his hand unconsciously petting the dog back and forth, back and forth.

“Come now, sweetheart,” he drawled after a while, “no man is worth your tears.” He picked at his teeth with his free hand, his nail prising out a sliver of charred meat. “Plus, you’re wasting water.”

—

Lucy and the Ghoul negotiate the dynamics of their new alliance. Post season 1 finale.

[nonochuu]

｡･ : * : ･ﾟ ’ ☆ M o o n s t r u c k ｡･ : * : ･ﾟ * ♡

~

"I'm not flirting. I'm just being extra friendly to someone who is extra attractive."

GRAYLU WEEK 2024

day 6: UNISON RAID/FAMILY

graylu fanfic: MOONSTRUCK

Link: <story here>

Rated: T/M

Genre: Romance, Humor

Language: English

Type: One-shot

Words: 4k+

Pairing: Gray Fullbuster x Lucy Heartfilia

Animanga: Fairy Tail

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail owned by Hiro Mashima

Summary:

I never thought anyone would ever make me smile, laugh, and capture my heart as fast as you have.

Notes:

GRAYLU AU. Adult GRAYLU. Meet-cute trope. Friends to Lovers’ trope. Hunter Gray with Baker Lucy. A challenge to confess.

In this setting, Mirajane, Lisanna, and Yukino are Lucy’s adoptive sisters. Cana is her cousin with Levy as her best friend and a florist. Loke is their employee. Gray and Ultear are in one hunter team with her as their captain. So much for a background story! LOL

This prompt also serve as the inspiration for this fanfic:

[allbridgesburn]

fic: all your wasteland flowers [chapter v]

the ballad of songbirds and snakes; lucy gray baird/coriolanus snow; R, 5/?

Freedom. 

For the last few years, freedom has been nothing but a fantastical concept to her, a dream far outside her reach. A child’s tale, the kind she tells Mallory before bed.

But it is close now, so close. Almost at the tips of her fingers. Foolishly enough, Lucy Gray begins to hope again.

-

or: Lucy Gray Baird survives Coriolanus Snow. However, she's not the only one. [post-canon]

read @ ao3

[speakofthedebbie]

happy 6 month anniversary to my first ever [hazbin] fic!!! i dry-heave every time i think about you!!!

[cntarella]

Poetry Round-Up 2024, Pt. 2

It Must Be a Misunderstanding by Carol Bracho (2022) - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

A collection of poems by a celebrated Mexican poet, on the subject of her mother and her struggle with Alzheimer's disease. These poems—divided into sections, perhaps to mimic the progression of the disease—reflect her mother's mental and physical decline, as well as the gradual "stages" of loss that they both experience. For Bracho's mother, that is the loss of her memories and cognizance; for Bracho, that is the loss of her mother. It's always nice when translated collections include the original text alongside the translation, which reveal certain things about the meter, rhyme, cadence, etc. of the original poem that might not have been carried over into another language. Bracho employs a lot of dream language in her poetry, a vagueness of imagery that works especially well with the themes of loss and grief, often feeling ungraspable as her mother steadily becomes incomprehensible to her. Eventually, this vagueness becomes all consuming, broken only by all too brief snatches of introspection—"How do you?"—that seem to reveal the keen mind obfuscated by dementia.

Winter Stranger by Jackson Holbert (2023) - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A collection of poetry centered on grief, loss, and the heart of an American suburbia rife with violence, drugs, and death. Intermingling tenderness and brutality, Holbert's attempts at connection—to home, to memory, to loved ones—are constantly rebuffed by the constancy of loss, which comes like the seasons, year over year. And yet still one must cherish these moments ("A long life full of terror is still a long life.") because they are all we will ever have. This thread of sentimentality is stronger in the earlier poems of this collection, and by far my favorite; they felt personal, a microcosm of human tragedy that still manages to offer some catharsis through the sheer act of exhuming those feelings through writing. These poems are a small way of memorializing those sentimental moments against such institutional powers—drugs, mental illness, war—as one slogs, step by step, through a long and cold winter

Come the Slumberless To the Land of Nod by Traci Brimhall (2020) - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There is something about Traci Brimhall's poetry that just leaves you breathless—it is intense, dense, deeply felt, and shows a real command of language and imagery. This collection of poetry is about a constellation of different subjects, with the recurring themes of grief (seem to be reading a lot of those these days), motherhood/parenthood/childhood, and one's relationship with the divine. The state of sleep and sleeplessness functions as an incredibly important conceit within this collection: prayers, lullabies, and wishes perform their utterative work (in the sense of a speech act) in this liminal, the Land of Nod, which reflect so much of our hopes and dreams in the waking world.

Poems: The Weight of Oranges, Miner's Pond, Skin Divers by Anne Michaels (2000) - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An omnibus of three separate collections written by Anne Michaels over the course of 15 years, this book of poems was an exceptional read! A lot of these poems remind me, stylistically, of Mary Oliver: the lyricism and imagery of the poems, which use nature as an avenue by which we can understand ourselves (and vice versa). Michaels writes a lot about love and its myriad of forms—platonic, romantic, parental, etc.—as it has shaped her life, and I loved getting to track the different registers of love through the evolution of these collections which were intended to speak to one another. For Michaels, love always seems to be punctuated by grief, tenderness outlined by the inevitability of loss and perhaps more precious for it—and also perhaps why winter has such prominence, more than other seasons, in her works. Skin Divers was probably my favorite collection out of the three. Some favorites that made me feel insane: - What the Light Reaches ["Prayer is the effort of wresting words/ not from silence,/ but from the noise of other words./ To penetrate heaven, we must reach/ what breaks in us."] - Words for the Body ["You spoke of a kind of hunger/ that makes pleasure perfect./ Then you said how it was to be opened/ and tasted by a hall full of people."] - The Weight of Oranges (the poem, not the whole collection though it was also very very good holistically) ["I hear your voice now—I know,/ everyone knows promises come from fear./ People don't live past each other,/ you're always here with me."]

Stay, Illusion by Lucie Brock-Broido (2013) - ⭐️⭐️

Read on the recommendation of a trusted reviewer, but unfortunately did not work for me, which just goes to show how subjective poetry is. None of these poems are bad, per se, and some were even stylish—Lucie Brock-Broido has a good grasp of mood, and how the sound of certain words pile up on each other to feel almost suffocatingly dense ("Were I to wake, muffled through the balsam/ Woods, scent of myrrh and mineral.// Would that be tonight." & "In hospital how high the heat for amaryllis to push out from the furrow of its soil"). But that's about where my level of enjoyment of these poems ended. I did not really get on with how aphoristic some of these lines were—a collection of images that worked well in short poems but failed to connect to any bigger ideas in some of the longer ones. The menagerie of animal images in this collection (apes, egrets, doves, horses, lions, to name a few) were peppered in like curiosities but did not feel like they held any particular symbolic, thematic, or personal meaning to constitute anything "unifying" across these poems.

Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy (2006) - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ended my poetry year on a high note! Carol Ann Duffy's poetry is striking, sensual, and even playful—so many poets these days have abandoned form and rhyme in an effort to seem more serious, but Duffy shows that depth does not have to come at the expense of a little bit of whimsy. When she's not being a little silly, Duffy's poetry reads highly Romantic (in the sense of the movement rather than the adjective) with its highly symbolic use of natural imagery, its emphasis on passion and sentiment, and emotion overflowing to extreme or even excessive degrees ("Uninvited, the thought of you stayed too late in my head,/ so I went to bed, dreaming you hard, hard" & "Falling in love is glamorous hell" & "For thousands of seconds we kiss; your hair/ like treasure on the ground"). If you love Percy Shelley or John Keats or Marina Tsvetaeva, there might be something in Carol Ann Duffy's poetry for you!

[firstdegreefangirl]

There's no way it's done by next week, but by GOD I will finish this Christmas fic if it's actually the thing that kills me