#meant to post this earlier but i was too busy with family festivities

[ditzybat]

Had a thought about Mexican Jason Todd while setting up my family’s Ofrenda with my mom this year. So basically, it’s agreed that Jason died at the end of April, and was resurrected 6 months later at the end of October (and in this HC the VERY beginning of November). So what if, every year after his mom died, Jason would set up his Ofrenda with Bruce. Honoring Catherine, even Martha and Thomas along with other deceased loved ones like John and Mary Grayson for Dick. And after Jason’s death, Bruce pulls himself together to put his son on the family Ofrenda. His Pan de Muertos not as nice as Jason’s family recipe, the Cempazuchitl is arranged around the alter, but not as aesthetically appealing as the way Jason would arrange it, and the candles not quite the correct brand that they would normally pick up from Crime Alley. But it’s personal, and sweet, and he knows that in spirit Jason would join him along with other loved ones. However, what if, on midnight of November 1, when the veil between the living and the dead is weakest, Jason crawls out of his coffin disoriented and confused as to how, exactly, he’s alive.

[akutasoda]

songbirds

synopsis - sunday can't help but form a slight crush on a beautiful voice from among the reveries halls

includes - sunday ft robin

warnings - gn!reader, reader is a halovian, fluff, slight angst, sunday listens to reder without them knowing?, wc - 1k

a/n: as mentioned before in a post on my blog, i don't write male reader. but this idea was too good to pass up so i just made it gn! additionally this anon made a second request with some aventurine ideas so expect that tommorow! this is a screenshot of the original request as i don't want to spoil the next idea :)

surprisingly to some, sunday did roam the halls and lobbies of the reverie quite often. he was apart of the family and so he liked to know what was happening outside of the dreamscape aswell as inside - especially if soecial guests were due to arrive. he was also often accompanied by robin but today she had her own business to attend to smooth out details about her performance in the upcoming charmony festival. and so he doubted his presence was needed.

on some various occasions he had heard visitors checking out or current visitors talk word about a lovely melody heard from some parts of the hotel. at first he assumed the reverie now offered a greater range of music and this was the current favourite. and so he didn't think much when he heard a similar melody gracing his ears.

it was a tune he could only compare to his sisters own lovely song. he practically became entranced the more he listened and so he stopped and listened to the entire song. he only broke free from this trance when the melody stopped and he heard footsteps grow more distant. this meant that the melody belonged to a person no?

sunday must admit that over the very short time he had stopped to listen to the melody he had become rather addicted. he wanted to hear more but unfortunately he hadn't caught who it was so he was at a wits end. his best hope was to return tommorow in search of the person who produced such a sweet melody.

you were a halovian that used to work amongst the dreamscape and helped with various affairs. however the family had requested you change your space of work into the reverie and instead help manage affairs their - so now most of your day included wandering around the various halls of the reverie.

you had built a hobby for yourself of humming or singing when doing daily tasks alone. you weren't fond of doing so infront of others however. the halls of the reverie were often empty as most visitors spent their time asleep in the dreampools and so you often could be heard singing among them as you never thought anybody would hear you.

sunday had finally managed to find time to exit the dreamscape and search for the owner of the melody he heard the other day. he wandered the halls of the reverie after not finding the owner where he found them previously and eventually he heard a very faint but familiar voice, he followed the voice until it was as clear as anything.

over multiple days and eventually weeks, sunday had made a routine of tracking down the voice that enchanted him. he had figured you worked at the reverie as he had heard the bellboy, misha, call for you multiple times - which was how he learned your name - and it seemed highly unlikely that somebody would stay for this long at the reverie.

but something was different today, instead of one melodic voice he heard two. one of which he recognised instantly as his sisters. robin approached you earlier that day and embarrassingly told you that she heard from others about a beautiful singing voice heard within the reverie. this made you terribly embarrassed as you never thought the guests of the hotel could hear you.

she eased your worries slightly by instead complimenting your voice and natural talent for singing. however you only became more embarrassed when she asked to hear it herself,even though she offered to sing alongside you. your worries eased when you finally decided to sing alongside her.

sunday really couldn't help the pang of jealousy that consumed him. how come his sister got to hear you sing comfortably around her? he knows he hasn't exactly been forward with his habit of listening to you, unbeknownst to you - sometimes he did think he was being kind of creepy. but still, all he could feel was jealousy and a longing that maybe you'd sing around him like this.

robin knew her brother was hiding something. he disappeared frequently and told her he was 'running errands in the reverie', she knew he was lying. but she never brought him up on it until she saw him retreating from your direction when she bid farewell from you. oh now she knew. and oh how she couldn't help but tease her brother about it.

he felt as if he had been caught doing a heinous crime when his sister asked him about you. he felt even more embarrassed when she figured out that you had no idea he was listening and as creepy as that sounded she unfortunately knew why he had no choice. but it was a difficult situation because there was no way either of them could tell you that sunday would regularly listen to you.

instead robin decided to lend her dear brother a hand and offered to atleast introduce him to you officially without letting you know that he had listened to you multiple times. but meeting you only made his admiration for you increase as now he had developed sort of a major crush on you. robin could only stare at her brother in awe at his awkwardness.

sunday would then come to toil day in and day out over you. your singing was a blessing to his ears that would replay over and over in his head until he listened to you in person. slowly but surely he would come to realise that he truly couldn't get his feelings across to you in person and so instead he wrote a letter.

a letter that he would then come to leave for you in your room at the reverie. and as your eyes landed on the letter on the table in your room, a letter accompanied with a familiar greyish feather, you knew immediately who it was from. and as you read it, a smile would grace your lips as you placed it carefully back upon the table and rush to find the man you'd happily take as your lover.

[ingravinoveritas]

Hi! need some reassurance here. Am i the only one who is sad because we don’t know if we are gonna to see Michael and David working together again? Between the strike (which I totally support) and amazon not renewing GO, nothing is certain right now. I just miss them, i miss the interviews and i need new content. Note aside, I really don’t like the personal content that GT is posting on IG, like the video of David at the festival. Maybe it’s because I’m still new to the fandom and I’m not British, so i’ve a very different kind of humor, but her content somehow irk me… I don’t know. And don’t let me start talking about AL: she seems so phony and rude and i get nothing but bad vibes from her. Why does she always mock Michael’s appearance? I know, it’s none of my business 😅 So yeah… sorry about the rant!

Hi there! Grouping these together, since I'm a bit overdue in addressing some of this.

So as of this writing, the WGA strike has been resolved (hooray!) and the writers are back to work (including Neil, whom I believe is returning to writing GO season 3). SAG-AFTRA (of which Michael and David are both members) is continuing its strike, however, but hopefully it will also be resolved soon.

That said, I am definitely with you in feeling sad about not knowing when Michael and David will work together again. I believe the renewal for S3 is still pending, so it is indeed a time of uncertainty. My hope is that if/when the SAG strike is resolved, we might perhaps get some interviews with Michael and David that we otherwise were unable to get when GO 2 first came out. It may be too late to promote the season, of course, but we have to remember that earlier this year, Michael was popping up on nearly all of David's TV appearances (The Last Leg, Have I Got News For You), so even if a formal project isn't currently in the works, it hopefully won't be too long before we have the chance to see them together again.

To the rest of your Ask and @phantomstars24's, I've had multiple people asking me about what happened with Anna and her being called out, so for those who might've missed it, what occurred was that two weeks ago, someone left a comment on one of AL's Insta posts (the one with the photos from the "family holiday" in Sweden the weekend prior) calling her out for her repeated comments about Michael's appearance over the last few years:

Several comments from people defending AL/attacking the commenter followed these, and the next morning, she responded with this comment (not on the chain of already existing comments, but separately):

My initial impression was to be surprised that she responded at all. If the callout commenter's words truly meant nothing and weren't worth responding to, why say anything? But AL chose to reply, and that was her decision, so here we are. What is strange to me, though, is that she also chose to flat-out lie about something easily provable, given that her comments about Michael's appearance have all been well-documented on her Insta and Twitter over the past three years.

The second thought that came to mind is that this seemed like another attempt on her part at being Georgia--i.e., wanting/trying to give a witty "clapback" to a criticism. Instead, her comment comes across as insecure and insincere, with "magnificent hair growth" being a particularly egregious example of laying it on thick (who even talks like that? No one talks like that.). I was truly surprised to realize this comment was written by an almost 30-year-old woman, as it reads more like a teenager having a fit--though in fairness, there are plenty of teenagers who are far more mature than this.

There is also the notion that we are or somehow should be jealous of the "banter" in her and Michael's relationship, except that this misses two key points. One, that it's one thing for Michael to be self-deprecating about his looks--and that even if he is, it doesn't mean he doesn't feel hurt and is therefore possibly making those comments as a deflection--but it's something else entirely for her to make them. It speaks volumes about her character that she would see/hear him saying these things about himself and instead of wondering if he is okay, decides that it gives her the go-ahead to add to it and snark about his appearance. So many of us have felt self-conscious about our looks at one time or another, but without any response from him, it comes across less like "mutual banter" and more like "one person progressively making passive-aggressive cutting comments over time about the other." Which brings us to the second key point, which is that "in-jokes" are only funny to the people who are in on them, and similarly, banter is only mutual if we are able to see his end of it. The problem is, we never do. Michael does not interact with her on social media (even from his "private account," which many of us have known about for years, as he used to use it to interact with Kate, Sarah, and Lily all the time, yet he doesn't use it to interact with AL, for some reason).

Curiously, this would have been a perfect moment for Michael to do exactly that, or to say something on Twitter in her defense. Of course it is entirely possible that he felt he didn't need to say anything--which is his prerogative, just as it was AL's prerogative to respond. But it's quite interesting to realize that at the same exact time AL wrote that comment, Michael was on Twitter talking about touching David's chest and referring to him as the Thin Dark Duke, and then kept tweeting about GO fandom stuff for the next three hours. Choices.

All this to say that, in my opinion, there was nothing genuine or graceful about AL's comment. And again, you could say well sure, she felt attacked, so there was no obligation to stand on ceremony or mince words. It's just interesting that her comment went in the direction of defensive and sarcastic instead of saying something like, "Michael and I love each other and can handle a bit of teasing." And I truly do hope Michael's fans who rushed to her defense take a step back and realize that she is not a nice person. This is not how a nice person, regardless of who they are dating, talks to other human beings. And she will never reply to them or thank them for doing so because to her, they are a means to an end.

In any case, there was a recap of the callout/clapback situation with AL, for anyone who missed it. To your comments @nightingalecottage, please do not apologize for ranting. As I've said before, I want my blog to be somewhere folks can have these discussions calmly and civilly, and I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to message me with your thoughts. And as always, I'm very aware that I could be wrong about all of this, so I urge folks to read what is here and decide for themselves. Thanks for writing in! x

[chudleycanonficfest]

Cold Feet

Day 24, Post #2 by @adenei

Title: Cold Feet

Author: adenei

Pairing: Bill/Fleur

Prompt: Wedding/Proposal

Rating: K+

TW: mentions of war

*********

The air inside the Burrow is stuffy and still as the sound of frogs croaking in the nearby pond cuts through the quiet night. Despite the warmth radiating throughout the upper levels of the home, Fleur wraps her dressing gown tight around her waist and escapes the confines of her room without a sound. The last thing she wants to do is wake her younger sister as she pursues a late-night cup of tea to calm the growing nerves.

It is the eve of her wedding, or more accurately, the early hours of her wedding day, as she takes soft, careful steps down the Burrow’s creaky staircase. She’s lived at the Burrow long enough to know which steps make the loudest noises and how to avoid them given her many late-night trysts to Bill’s room for much needed alone time over the past year.

She will always be grateful for her future in-laws’ willingness to take them in and allow them to live at the Burrow rent-free, despite Bill’s established career. They could have lived together in a flat in London, which Fleur would have preferred, but she could sense Bill’s guilt after living abroad for years and knew he wanted to spend his time at home. Pair that with Molly’s insistence on tradition, and Fleur decided it wasn’t a battle she was willing to fight.

Plus, it was probably safer this way, with the war becoming worse by the day. A shiver runs up her spine as she hopes the festivities will go off without a hitch. The climate is becoming worse outside the wards, as indicated by the Battle of the Seven Potters. She is aware that Harry’s presence will cause more safety measures than are necessary for the day, but it’s a small consolation she’s willing to make for him to be there.

When Fleur enters the kitchen, it becomes apparent that she’s not alone in her venture for a cup of tea. The odds are against her in hoping that the occupant is the only person she’s hoping to see, and the lights are too low to tell. She turns to head back up the stairs when a familiar voice calls out to her.

“You aren’t getting cold feet, I hope.”

Her heart swells at the warm baritone voice that fills the room, even if she doesn’t understand the meaning. Fleur feels more relaxed by the sheer proximity of the love of her life.

“Cold feet?”

“You’ve never heard of the expression?” 

Bill emerges from behind the counter with two cups of tea and motions toward the sitting room. Fleur shakes her head and follows her soon-to-be husband to the sofa, where he sits and places their mugs on the coffee table in front of them.

“It’s what people say when they make a joke about someone backing out of a big event, most often weddings, at the last minute.”

“Oh.” 

A hollow laugh escapes Fleur at how absurd the thought is. Perhaps some people may question their decisions at the last hour, but there’s no doubt in her mind that Bill is the person she’s meant to spend her life with. She’s already gone through the painstaking process of proving to Mrs. Weasley that she isn’t interested in Bill solely for his looks. And while she would have preferred he hadn’t been mauled by Greyback—because who would wish that on anyone, let alone their significant other—the aftermath of the attack was never a dealbreaker. 

No, the question that replays over and over in her mind is whether they are doing the right thing. Not about getting married, but whether they should be going through with the celebrations. She has already come to terms with the fact that the wedding will be far from the elaborate event she dreamed about as a little girl, but her initial resentment about the restrictions have now turned to worry over the safety of her friends and family.

Bill’s nervous laughter distracts her from her thoughts as she looks to her right, and he takes a sip of tea before breaking the silence.

“Wait, you aren’t actually getting cold feet, are you?” Bill repeats, though his tone is more serious the second time.

Fleur realizes how her reaction may have evoked his worry and reaches out to take his hand in reassurance.

“No, never! I was just thinking, that’s all.”

“About?”

Mimicking Bill’s actions, Fleur drinks from her cup before responding. “Are you sure we’re doing the right thing?”

“Er, Fleur, you’re not putting my mind at ease here over the cold feet thing…”

“I mean about the celebration, not the wedding itself!” 

Fleur squeezes his hand and gives him a loving smile. She loves this vulnerable side of her cool, confident fiance. The side that he doesn’t share with everyone else. Bill pulls his hand away so that he can place his arm around her, pulling her close to his side.

“Fleur, you’ve been dreaming of this day for years. I heard our mums discussing it earlier—”

“Yes, but that isn’t what’s important to me anymore. I do not want to risk the safety of our guests.”

“We’ve got the strongest wards out there, and the majority of the Order will be here. I think things will be okay.”

Fleur sighs. “Should we have waited?”

“Probably. But I’m glad we aren’t.”

“You think so?”

“Well, yeah. There’s no telling how long this war is going to last, and if we decided to wait, then wouldn’t we be letting them win?”

“I never thought about it that way, but you’re right.”

“I know,” Bill smirks.

Fleur nudges him with her shoulder, and they sit in comfortable silence, enjoying each other’s company while sipping their tea in the darkness.

“I wish it was time for the ceremony already,” Fleur whispers.

She knows that as soon as she wakes, Mrs. Weasley and her mum will do everything in their power to keep her busy and distracted, but she hates the thought of being kept from Bill for the sake of tradition.

“Me too, but you know how our mums will be,” agrees Bill, as if reading her mind.

“I’m glad I ran into you down here tonight. Maybe it will make the next sixteen hours more bearable.”

Chuckling, Bill nods. “Yeah, but we should probably head back upstairs. I’d hate for Mum to come down and catch us together. All that ‘you shouldn’t see the bride before the wedding’ nonsense.”

“What is one more night of sneaking around?”

Bill leans in and laughs into her hair before kissing the top of her head. “Try and get some sleep, okay? I wouldn’t want you falling asleep during the consummation.”

He flashes a devilish grin as Fleur swats his arm before standing. “The same goes for you, Monsieur Weasley. Goodnight, love.”

“Goodnight, Madame Weasley.” 

She loves the way her married name sounds on his lips. Bill reaches out to pull Fleur in for a kiss, but she whisks herself toward the stairs, preventing Bill from stealing a goodnight kiss. They need to keep some traditions intact, after all.

[pleasereadmeok]

A Goode Year? Review of 2020

Can’t believe it’s that time again.  What a weird year.  Despite Covid and Lockdowns we have actually seen quite a lot of Matthew Goode this year - so this is a long post to save for when you are bored of eating over the holidays!    I’m not adding links to vids, etc. like previous years because tumblr doesn’t like them anymore [Grr] but all of them are still available and I’ll signpost them. 

In January Matthew was finishing filming A Discovery of Witches Season 2 in Turin and we had some glimpses of his leather clad bod in some Teresa Palmer instastories - 

...and in Sky’s ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ Excellent sneak peek. 

... and Joshua’s uncle Lee gave us a few gorgeous pics ...

In February we saw Matthew and Sophie having fun at the Pre - BAFTA party 

[Pics - Dave Benett] 

The rest of that month was all about Leap Year’s 10 year anniversary and we drooled over Declan all over again ....

In March Matthew was finishing filming Silent Night with Keira Knightley when the world changed.  We were introduced to ‘social distancing’.    We had to keep a full Matthew Goode length away from other people - a handy reference is below to remind you -

[Pic - Ellen Von Unwerth]   On the upside the news broke that Matthew would be playing Keira’s husband in Silent Night (as we suspected) and that they had finished filming before lockdown in the UK.  

In April Matthew had his 42nd birthday.  Check out all of the fabulous birthday tributes posted on here around 3rd April.  As a special birthday present Sky released ‘Four Kids and It’ on their cinema channel on the same day with Matthew playing the role of slightly harassed parent David.  It was a goode family movie and just what we needed in lockdown. 

[Pics - Sky Cinema] 

In May we got our first glimpse of Matthew in lockdown when he made a poignant contribution to Bletchley Park’s VE Day celebrations - 

[Vid available on Bletchley Park You Tube] 

It was perfectly judged - just Matthew filming himself on his phone, in his garden, complete with birdsong.  

“This is your finest hour.”

According to James Purefoy and Joe Fattorini Matthew shaved off his hair with the dog clippers in lockdown so he looked a bit different the next time we saw him in June!  

Matthew appeared via zoom on ‘Dan Nicholls Really Likes Wine’ show - ‘Drinking the Goode Stuff’.  It was great seeing these old friends bantering away and drinking wine.  Of course Goode fans immediately campaigned to get Matthew on The Wine Show @ Home and we got our wish a few weeks later when Joe and Matthew had a virtual wine tasting on zoom - 

The whole session was hilarious.  Matthew was completely adorable and funny as usual.  Amongst other things Matthew told us that Sophie had gone off pork (not a euphemism) and we got another peek at his beautiful home with Sophie’s interior design skills on show.   This is also still available on The Wine Show @Home You Tube. 

June also gave us the new trailer for ‘The King’s Man’.  We heard Matthew’s unmistakable voice as the Scots bad guy and there were some tantalising peeks of his character’s mysterious alter ego ‘Shepherd’ - 

In July we finally got to see one of Matthew’s Q & A sessions for actors in training at Bow Street Academy in Dublin that he had recorded in May - 

Matthew gave frank, funny and very practical advice on auditions, preparation for roles and demonstrated how to be scary with a knife! 

August was a bit quiet - we got news that A Discovery of Witches Season 2 would now be aired in January 2021 but a new promo image helped soften the blow of that delay. - 

[Pic - Sky]

Kingsman was delayed yet again....  but at least we got some new promo images of Matthew’s character - Captain Maximillian Morton.  (Morton? Hmm - someone on here (not me!)  spotted the relation to Roxy!]

[Pics - Total Film/Empire]

In September Matthew’s new movie ‘The Duke’ received glowing reviews at the Venice Film Festival and we got confirmation of my speculation that he would play barrister Jeremy Hutchinson.  

Tantalisingly goode info about Matthew’s up coming movie Silent Night came from Baz Bamigboye from the Daily Mail as he called it ‘the most astonishing Christmas movie ever made’ - hopefully he meant it in a goode way!  We had fun spotting Matthew’s body parts in the pictures accompanying the article ...  

[Pic Daily Mail] 

Production on A Discovery of Witches season 3 started under strict Covid rules and Matthew was seen filming for ADOW Season 3 in Bristol - 

[Anthony Ward]

October was a very goode month!  

It kicked off with The Wine Show Season 3 teaser - 

Matthew ‘sub-section’ Goode joined in with the ADOW cast Q & A.  He was a funny and engaging as ever including an unforgettable impression of a ‘wafter’ and a hasty exit at the end!  

We had the official ‘first look’ trailer for season 2 of A Discovery of Witches - 

[pic - my edit]

The Wine Show season 3 landed on Amazon Prime in the UK and it is SO goode even tho’ there is less Matthew than usual due to filming clashes with ADOW.  Matthew was still his adorably goofy self and gave us the usual interesting fashion choices and jokes.  

[My Edit] 

October also brought us a new tie in cover for Shadow of Night - 

[Pic - Deborah Harkness Twitter]

And as if that wasn’t enough excitement for October we got the official news that there will be another Downton Abbey movie - starting to film in March 2021. Hopefully we will see more of him in this one! 

[Pic - Carnival]

Matthew usually keeps his charity projects private but in November we saw him donating his ADOW ‘wedding day’ boots to be auctioned for the Small Steps Project ....

...complete with on mud from the set.  Some lucky person is probably stroking that suede as I write this! 

[Pics - Small Steps project] 

Matthew also recorded some charming contributions to the #SaveJenny campaign.  He evicted the dog from her favourite chair by the radiator in the kitchen and sat there to read the opening chapter of Wind in the Willows - 

and later ‘The Night before Christmas’ poem complete with music! 

You can still see these contributions and most importantly DONATE  - links are listed below - 

December has been all about A Discovery of Witches season 2 - with a stunning second trailer and plenty of teasers and pictures from Sky and Bad Wolf - there are too many to include but here’s a few - 

[Pics my edit / sky/badwolf]

So what of next year?  So many goode things to look forward to.  I’ll do ‘Goode Things coming in 2021′ a bit earlier next year because January is gonna be BUSY for Goode fans!   

Thank you SO MUCH for making time to read this blog.  And a big thank you to Goode fans who create content to share with others on here and on matthew-goode.net.  We really appreciate the effort that everyone puts in to sharing the Goode Stuff.  

Lastly I have to thank Matthew Goode who patiently tolerates the fan nonsense while he tries to pretend that he doesn’t actually have any fans anyway!  

Cheers Matthew! 

[tundrainafrica]

Title: Bite

Summary: To say the least, Hange's last month of pregnancy turned out a little bumpier than what Levi would would have liked it to be.

A New Year's piece of Levihan Domestic Fluff. Happy New Year everyone!

Link to cross-postings: AO3

Notes:  I know I've been writing a lot of fluff lately but yeah, just me coping with this being my first ever New Year's stuck at home with our family not together this year. Sorry for my French but Fuck Covid.

The house was quiet.

But that's how Levi wanted it. Hange was eight months pregnant after all. When she was carrying a fragile growing mini person inside her, he would rather she stayed quiet anyway. The peace and calm of the household was an improvement from the clack of rock to wood and her humming. It was a sign at least that Hange was finally getting the well needed rest that came with carrying an extra human.

But it was just a little too quiet. Too quiet for it to ever be comfortable for Levi. Levi had to note that it was past noon and Hange should have been up, playing around with whatever rocks she had on the workbench or at least sitting on the sofa reading a random book from the bookshelf in the dining room.

She probably stayed up late last night. Levi thought to himself. That thought was quickly shot down when Levi recalled that she had actually slept much earlier than him.

Of course, she's eight months pregnant. Levi attempted to scramble for other reasons for that silence as he started to give in to the nagging worry. When Hange was home, she was always making noise. Levi found it almost eerie that the noise levels were down to when Hange was out for work. All he could hear were the clatter of pans as he placed them on the sink and the simmer of the fire as he started to prepare lunch.

After I finish making lunch I'll check on her. Levi promised himself.

Levi had been up since five and had not entered the room again since then. It was for good reason. Hanger was notably crankier than usual, particularly in the mornings. Carrying an extra human to term had her having rough days every day and Levi just wanted to be a little more careful with his cards.

He turned on the radio by the kitchen window. Having an extra voice at least even if it wasn't Hange worked to alleviate some of that discomfort. He had started on reorganizing one of the cupboards when the radio whirred to life.

Hearing the man on the radio was oddly comforting. He never did leave the house as often as Hange so the radio had been his anchor to real life. With Hange home more often, he never needed to turn it on, Hange always had her own personal talkshow going on when she wasn’t asleep. Either that or he was too busy worrying about her to even have time to focus on the happenings that day.

For the first time in so long, he had the time. Enjoy it while you can. Levi told himself as he started to ponder what the news of the day would be. Having lived a long life constantly being chased in the underground that eventually evolved into a life killing man eaten giants, Levi found listening to the societal problems that plagued Paradis almost calming.

He had been dubbed ‘humanity’s strongest soldier’ and had been fighting man eating beasts and preventing the fall of humanity for a huge part of his life. Yet at present, most problems that made their way to Paradis were at least solvable by the average conscripted soldier or the average office worker. More than half the time, no one was actually in danger of dying. A significant improvement from the Paradis he grew up in.

Listening to the happenings on the radio, he was reminded of the joys of retirement. He indulged himself by listening to the last few parts of a radio drama and news on preparations for the fireworks festival that night.

The world is so peaceful. Levi had been daring enough to think that statement to himself.

“Breaking news!” It was as if the radio had sentience and read his mind, wanting to prove Levi wrong as if to say ‘the world will never be completely peaceful.’ “We just received word of a hostage situation in one of the warehouses in the Southern port.”

A wave of panic ended up running through him. It could have been from the tone of the reporter or Levi’s own instincts. Calm down. You’re not a soldier anymore. This isn’t your problem. It wasn’t at all new for Levi to react like that internally. He had an unnaturally strong sense of urgency having lived a life of danger for too long. He willfully brushed it off and attempted to focus instead on cutting the vegetables for the soup he was making for lunch.

“More information is coming in…”

Having spent most of his days alone in the house with nothing but a radio for a companion, Levi had mastered the art of multitasking, being able to pick up all the details of the radio article over the sound of the pots and pans, the sound of plates being stacked or the whistle of the kettle.

A gang car jacked one of the buses on the way out of the Southern port.

Gang holds hostage in the port fireworks which were slated to be sent to the capital for Paradis’ first ever New Years Celebration...

The fireworks were ordered more than a year ago…

Levi knew enough at least to understand what would have pushed people to steal them. Hange had mentioned it once during one of her rambles. She had been the one who had suggested they buy fireworks from Marley and celebrate New Years more than a year ago. It was apparently a highly anticipated festivity every year in Marley and having been so excited at the idea of celebrating it in Paradis, Hange went overboard with the organization. They had sent people to Marley to train with handling fireworks and had gone over multiple displays before deciding on one, which ended up being one of the more expensive options.

But it will be beautiful. Those words echoed once again in Levi’s head. He recalled seeing stars in her eyes as she said it.

Eventually Armin had taken over and with Hange’s hand out of the project, Levi had forgotten about it until he heard the details of the hostage situation over the radio. I wonder what Armin’s doing about it. A food for thought he reflected on while he prepared the ingredients for boiling.

“The police are assessing the situation as we speak.” Levi was aware they couldn’t give the exact details, the hostage takers could be listening in.

Another report came in a few seconds later. "The escaped hostages have confirmed the hostage takers do not have a radio on site. No chance of them listening in." 

Levi found himself silently commending the escaped hostages for noting such a small detail. He hadn’t expected civilians to be that sharp especially in such a stressful situation.

“We escaped through the vents with one brave woman’s help but she had to stay behind.”

“How many are left inside the warehouse?”

“Just her.”

“Couldn’t she escape with you?”

“No sir. She doesn’t fit.”

“Doesn’t fit?"

“She looked like she was at least eight months pregnant.”

A pregnant woman in a hostage situation? Levi’s ears perked up at that. His thoughts flew to whoever that woman’s poor husband could have been. He had his own pregnant wife after all so he was quick to sympathize. Despite not believing in a god, he found himself sending prayers to that phantom husband. I hope someone at least informed him.

Levi kept his attention on the radio news as he mixed the ingredients and the spices for the soup.

“We have to get her out soon then.”

“She said she’d be fine. She even called the hostage takers amateurs.”

Levi was familiar with hostage situations though to know it was in their interest to keep their hostages alive. When taking the risk though, losing meant losing a life and Levi found himself sympathizing with whoever was left. Maybe I should call Armin? After I wake up Hange.

“But she could end up dead.”

“She said they wouldn’t.. On the off chance they did, she could defend herself.” Despite having just come out of a hostage situation and seeming concerned about a pregnant companion they had left behind, the woman talking on the radio seemed convinced that the pregnant woman could take care of herself.

How can an eight month pregnant woman defend herself though? Levi was starting to get a little more interested in the identity of the pregnant woman. There were two possibilities, she was a pregnant woman with a screw loose in her brain or she was an actual genius, Maybe he could ask Hange to ask Armin about it and they could learn a thing or two from her.

“She used to be in the military… And apparently had dealt with worse situations before."

So she was from the military? The military was a small community and Levi was sure he should know who it was. Was anyone pregnant though… Other than Hange?

Levi had racked his brain for a few seconds considering all the possibilities. Except one.

He did not know how many minutes he had spent considering the other possibilities before moving on to the exception. Yet that possibility was just outrageous. So outrageous that Levi had to ask Hange even if it meant waking her up from her nap.

Sorry for interrupting your sleep Hange, I just heard about an eight month pregnant woman who used to be part of the military and got taken hostage in a warehouse by the port. Just wanted to make sure it wasn’t you. Levi rehearsed his lines quickly as he made his way to the bedroom. It sounded ridiculous the second time he repeated it to himself. At that point though, it seemed worth it.

Levi’s heart started to beat faster as he entered the room, he could almost hear it. It could have been from the fear of waking up that lump on the other side of the bed or the fear of finding out it was just a pillow.

He never found out where that fear came from. It turned out the pillow was just a lump. Before Levi could even process his bodies’ reaction to the suspense and that harsh realization, his body went into survival mode. It came as a torrent of unintelligible emotions reminiscent of his fights against the beast titan and the invasion of Marley.

Just like it did then, his survival mode switched on and his instincts took over. Levi’s body was moving much faster than his brain. He called a taxi to take him to the port.

It was an option ten times more expensive than the shuttle but the price was the last thing on his mind.

                                          Bite

The crowds on the port were large and Levi was disappointed to find out that many of the people there were uniformed policemen. He pushed his way through the crowd clutching one of the men in the front by their collar. “Why the hell are you not moving? You probably outnumber the hostage takers at this rate!”

“But sir… we don’t have orders. And there’s one more civilian inside.” The uniformed policeman who had answered Levi seemed a little too unsure and inexperienced that just listening to him made Levi miss his comrades in the survey corps all the more. That man looked like he had never fought in his life.

“Fuck this, I’m going in.”

“Sir are you sure? I think those men inside are armed with some very high end guns. We can never be too careful.”

Armed with what? Levi had been pitted against guns, thunder spears, man-eating giants and the king of all these founding titans. Despite the big ham the policeman was making those weapons out to be, Levi was not nervous at all.

He ran towards the building and in that few seconds vacillated between breaking through the window and bursting through the door. He had to act fast. Behind him, he could hear soldiers and policemen screaming at him to stay back and if he allowed himself a brief moment to stop and consider the situation, they might actually catch up.

Levi took a glance at one of the windows as he ran. The guns were on the table. Their guard was down. Levi found himself all the more disappointment at the policemen as he did. How the fuck is anybody not noticing that.

He crashed through the window where he had seen the guns on the table.

He never gave them time to pick up the guns. Even during that small moment Levi had allowed them as he took stock of the situation, they did not even attempt to dive for a weapon.

Levi and Hange did not have many things that could have served as a weapon in the house. Having only allowed himself a few seconds to get ready, Levi used the time to turn off the stove and cover the pot he had used to cook the soup. The only thing that he had managed to grab then was the vegetable knife that sat on the board he had used to cut vegetables that morning.

Levi though had worked with knives for years. He had also mastered the art of looking menacing even with the most mundane household objects as weapons. Even if he didn’t look menacing and the five hostage takers weren’t frozen on the spot, Levi was sure he still had enough agility left inside him to slit all their throats before they could shoot the gun. Preserving life had always been part of his principles though and he found himself giving the men the luxury to talk.

“Please! Don’t kill us!” One of the men begged as he fell to his knees. The others soon followed suit.

“You take hostages and you expect us not to attack?”

“We just needed money. Just give us money for the fireworks and we’ll be off your backs.” The first man who had kneeled explained. He looked to be their leader.

Levi kept his eye on the weapons on the table as he listened to the men. “This is a crime. I should be turning you in.” He had expected that to at least provoke the men. Alas, he had expected too much from them. All they did was kneel on the floor in defeat, their eyes downcast.

He approached the guns on the table and he could hear the men whimper as he did.

“The guns are broken,” one man said nervously. “We couldn’t get them to shoot.”

Of course you won’t get them to shoot. They need to be loaded first. Levi knew those guns too well. They were the guns Kenny and his police used after all. He had been at the end of that muzzle enough times to last a lifetime.

These hostage takers are amateurs. Levi had to admit, Hange probably would have been fine in this situation even if he didn’t show up.

“Where are your hostages?” Levi did not need to focus on the guns. Even if the men dove for them, Levi was sure they wouldn’t be able to shoot them.

Levi heard a kick behind him and one of the men nervously made his way beside Levi. “Over here… er sir.”

He was led to a dark room at the end of the hall. He kicked the door open, not bothering to wait for the man next to him to get the key.

The door opened to a room with many empty chairs lined up, one of them occupied by someone, someone Levi recognized almost instantly by the large belly and the fact that he had been seeing that face everyday for the past five years of his life.

Hange was there, sitting on a chair her hands tied behind her. As she looked up at them, Levi could see she had a face of overexaggerated terror for a while. For that split second, she was faking it. Levi had known her enough to know that. Within that second, it had twisted into something else, guilt and possibly actual terror.

“Levi… it’s nice to see you here,” She said. Levi had been with her enough to see that was the terror she exuded when she knew she had done something wrong.

“Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be at home?” Levi kept his voice cool, calm, feigning an expression of fake surprise. He was sure Hange would see through it. In fact, he wanted her to see through it.

“I would have been home by noon.”

“Answer the fucking question.”

Hange avoided his gaze. “The fireworks. I wanted to make sure they got to the capital safely.”

“You are an eight month pregnant woman on fucking leave. Why the fuck can’t you leave this to Armin.” He asked in the form of a statement. A statement he very much wanted her to reflect on.

“Armin and Mikasa are on a business trip to Marley. Besides, these are the expensive fireworks I ordered,” Hange explained. A shitty explanation which Levi refused to buy.

“The expensive fireworks Paradis ordered. We’re going home.” He approached Hange, ready to cut up the ropes behind her only to see there was nothing tying her to the chair. Of course. The others had gotten away. And the only person who could have helped them was Hange.

He noticed their means of escape in the form of a vent. It was closed yet, somehow Levi could tell it had been disturbed by its relative cleanliness when compared to the room that was covered in a layer of dust.

For a second, he had considered going out through there. The layer of dust and the large belly of Hange only made it a not too appealing option. “We’re going out through the front door and----”

And we’re leaving the rest to the police. They should be competent enough to arrest them at least. Levi would have wanted to say. That was until he heard the sound of gunshots.

Not the gunshots from the old military police guns. Those are the police guns.

“We surrender!”

The next thing he heard was an explosion then unfamiliar pops.

“The fireworks!” It was Hange who had answered that question of what that popping was. From seeing her crestfallen face, Levi was sure she had not intended to answer his question.

“We’re going out through the vent then.” He pulled Hange from her seat, making a silent apology to the baby inside her. “Can you hold your stomach in?” A dumb question to ask his pregnant wife but Levi was desperate.

It turned out though she didn’t need to squeeze her way through. The vent had been big enough for her to fit through without having to hold her stomach in.

And Hange should have known that. Hange wasn’t an idiot. In fact, Levi was sure she had better spatial reasoning skills than him, seeing as she had been in charge of the recent infrastructural developments over the years.

When he had carried her far away enough from the fire and the consequent blast, he had started to understand why she had been so adamant not to leave in the first place.

“The fireworks!” Hange was kneeling on the grass, a safe distance away from the blast and sobbing. “We paid so much for this Levi… This was supposed to be our first New Years celebration…” The intelligible words devolved into babble and Levi wondered whether that kind of emotional stress would be good for the baby.

At least, the hostage takers had gotten out safely. Levi thought, a desperate attempt to see light in the situation.

                                           Bite

“So let me get this straight. You stayed behind on purpose?” It had been a good few hours since the incident and it still took Levi some effort to talk to her calmly. Levi understood at least that he had a duty not to cause her any more stress especially right after what had happened.

She had shut herself in the room for a good hour or so as soon as they had gotten back. Levi had made sure to check on her a few times since then since she was almost as quiet as that pillow that had pretended to be Hange that morning. By evening, her face was still red and her eyes swollen.

To Levi’s relief, she had replied, a significant improvement from her catatonic state. “We were looking forward to some grand festivities and those fireworks were expensive.…” Hange mentioned the cost of the fireworks and Levi was sure that amount was the fund of the survey corps for one year.

With the price of the fireworks, he was somehow starting to sympathize at least. “You sure we don’t need to go to the hospital?” He asked, his voice a little gentler.

“No, it’s okay I’m fine.”

Levi did believe her. She had little to no scratches on her and she was still walking normally at least. It was her almost catatonic state which troubled him. He could give that until the next day. “We still have next year for fireworks,” he said, an attempt to comfort her.

A moment later, he started to hear the familiar popping. “Is that fireworks? I thought they got destroyed?”

“Yeah, those are the normal fireworks. The ones I wanted to see were the expensive ones I ordered last year.”

So we had fireworks already? Levi found himself moving to the kitchen mechanically, with the one goal of making himself a cup of tea. If he allowed himself any emotion then, he probably could have strangled Hange at that moment. “If you wanna see the fireworks, you can go down.” Just another precaution, he set for himself so at least he was a safe distance from her

The kitchen was near the window and although they were in one of the upper floors, he should be able to hear Hange’s footsteps as long as the windows were open and he concentrated enough.

The tea was calming and it kept him more alert to Hange’s footsteps. Just in case she did something else stupid. He wasn’t at all feeling trusting that particular night.

He had expected to hear footsteps, leather on wood or cement. For a few minutes, that was what he was hearing.

A few minutes later, he heard something he hadn’t expected to hear at all. In fact it was something he probably wouldn’t have had to listen closely to hear.

A loud squeak then a surprised scream from Hange.

                                          Bite

The last place Levi would have expected to spend New Years was in the hospital.

He had expected Hange to have done things during her pregnancy which would have ended up with a hospital visit. Never in his life would he have thought that it would have been from a rat bite and it would have been eight months into her pregnancy during New Years day.

“I tried to sit on the dumpster because it had the best view and there was a rat there...” Hange explained to the doctor from her bed in the emergency room.

Levi had stayed silent as Hange went into detail. He tried to tune it out himself, knowing ‘bitten by a rat’ was all he needed to hear for his whole body to shudder. Being drenched in titan’s blood seemed like a better alternative.

“I recommend you stay overnight. We’re uhh… going to have to talk to some doctors in Marley about this. I don’t think we’ve ever had a case of a woman getting bitten by a rat in her third term. We’ll have the nurse set you up with a room.” With that, the doctor left and it was just Hange and Levi together in that little corner of the emergency room.

Hange lay back on the hospital bed, her belly making a giant hill on top of her. It was so unnaturally large that Levi realized he wouldn’t be too surprised if the baby came out at any moment.

“You know Levi, I think he enjoyed today. He was kicking my belly back in the warehouse,” Hange quipped playfully as she rubbed her belly. Levi noted that the line that connected to Hange’s hand must have been some sort of painkiller or sleep drought. Hange’s smiling face was a brief respite from her crying face that afternoon, even if it was medicine-induced.

“Or maybe he thought you were a complete idiot.”

“You know… When I heard the window crash, the baby kicked harder… I think he knew daddy was coming to save us.”

“Or maybe he knew mommy didn’t need saving after all.” Levi returned her playful smile with a glare.

“Hey, you had fun. It was just like the old days...”

Fun?  Levi wouldn’t have used that word at all. Getting shot at and being almost eaten on a regular basis wasn’t fun. Not knowing when you would die wasn’t fun. As Hange had mentioned the word ‘old days,’ Levi did start to realize he had been a little disappointed to see the men hadn’t shot at him.

He put a hand to his forehead. “Do I actually miss fighting?” He pressed harder into his forehead as if that action was enough to push some sanity back into his brain. No one should be missing a war. “Hey Hange, do you miss it?” He wanted to search for some assurance at least that he wasn’t the only one slightly insane.

He looked back at Hange to see the latter had dozed off, her face fixed into a warm comfortable smile, her hand resting on her belly.

He didn’t know how long he had been staring. It could have been minutes or hours. His trance though had been broken by one greeting of “Happy New Year!” then a few soft cheers and some light clapping. Levi wasn’t too worried that Hange would wake up. She looked to be in a deep sleep.

Levi put his hand on hers, and even with one hand beneath his and the belly, he still felt it, a light small kick. He’s coming out soon.

He leaned close to her ear, taking in the rare sounds of her relaxed breathing before he whispered his own greeting. “Happy New Year… Next year we’ll see the fireworks together, all three of us.”

It was a promise only he would have remembered. But it was a promise he vowed to keep.

[thebestofoneshots]

Christmas Times

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Prompt: In which you and Bucky have to get the Christmas tree for the compound and decorate it afterwards. Set on an AU whee Bucky joins the team before civil war happens.

Notes: Some Christmas fluff because I’m getting festive. Also Sebs new IG post inspired me I couldn’t stop myself.

Warnings: I mean reader does bump into her very mean aunt but she gets put on her place so it’s nothing you can’t handle.

You stood outside the door only a few seconds before knocking on the door.

“Yes?” You heard his husky voice from the inside of the room. So he was sleeping. He had a late mission last night you recalled, it made sense that he would still be sleeping.

You opened the door “hey! Sorry to wake you, But we need to get the Christmas tree for the common room.”

He was lying on the bed, covers on top of him but arms over them, the silver arm shinning with the small rays of sunset that slipped from the window, you could see his muscular frame. His now short hair a little messy on the pillow. “A Christmas tree? Doesn’t Tony have like a bunch of people that decorate and stuff?”

“Yes... he does. But apparently is a tradition that someone from the team buys the tree and decorates it. Said it was our turn.”

He drew a deep breath “Ok, then. I’m coming,” he smiled and stood from the bed. He was only wearing a pair of tight boxers and he turned quickly to grab his jeans so you couldn’t see much more than his muscular back, and obviously his ass, but you blushed anyway. You’d develop a small crush on the Winter Soldier since you joined the team.

“I’ll uh... wait outside,” you said and started going out.

“No, it’s fine I’m ready,” He said turning around. Still shirtless and walking to his closet to put on a shirt quickly. You turned to the side to hide your blush. Is not like you hadn’t seen him shirtless before, he went for a swim every other day. But his environment was different, it felt homier? Perhaps... “You ok?”

“What?” You asked turning your face back to him.

“You seemed... lost in thought.”

“Did I?... I didn’t notice. Shall we go?” You said skillfully changing the subject and started walking outside. “You know? I’m lucky I got paired with you to get the tree,” you spoke, a small smile appeared on his face as you did. He enjoyed spending time with you as well. “Your super soldier strength will come in super handy...”

“Is that the only reason you’re lucky? I was hoping it was because of my magnetic personality,” he joked.

“Oh, curse is not the only reason Buck,” you smiled as you playfully punched his arm.

The two of you got to the parking lot by then and grabbed the truck. You took the driver's seat since you knew the modern New York better than he did.

“Do we need to get ornaments as well?” He asked as you passed a few Christmas stores.

“Tony said he had some saved but we could buy anything we liked, every avenger has added their own special thing to the tree of something like that, that’s what makes it special,” you explained.

“When did you even talk to Tony about this? I thought he was in Europe.”

“Oh, he left a video recording and told FRIDAY to help me with whatever else.”

“There!” He said pointing outside “over there there was a very beautiful one,” he explained. You had to continue for a bit to be able to get to the other side of the road and then a bit more to find a parking spot but after a while, you finally stopped.

“I’ll follow you,” you said as you got out of the car and closed it by pressing the small button on the key. A few minutes later Bucky and you were looking at the many different trees in the garden.

“(Y/N)?” He called as you absently looked at one of the trees.

“Mhm?”

“Wouldn’t it be better if we got a plastic tree? Reuse it every year? To avoid climate change and deforestation?”

“You’ve been watching way to much Discovery channel,” you giggled “but actually, I was wondering the same thing and I googled it, apparently a plastic tree is worse unless you reuse it for more than 5 years, and it’s wasteful either way because I’ll end up on a landfill. But Tony promised he’d plant 10 pine trees for every Christmas tree used in the tower so that’s even better!”

“We should buy two then,” he said with a smile.

All right, let’s take a picture, you said as you took out your phone and posted him in front of a Christmas tree. As you were taking the picture you saw someone that made you quickly lower your head and fast walk towards Bucky to use him as a hiding spot.

“What?” He said looking around alert.

“Nothing, just. My aunt is there! I haven’t seen her in a while, and she’s just going to continue nagging me about getting a boyfriend “ you explained “so I’m just gonna, go hide for a while,” you said and quickly walked behind some trees leaving Bucky in that same spot.

As you hid in between a few trees and turned your back pretending to be really distraught by a random tree when someone taped on your shoulder. You frowned and cursed under your breath before turning with a smile.

“(Y/N)!” She smiled pulling you into a hug “I thought it was you back there.

“Aunt Linda! How’s it been?” You asked her smiling.

“Oh just fine, that’s what. I wanted to come here with your cousins but they were too busy to come. So I had to come to get the tree all by myself. What about you? Did you come alone too? I know you don’t have many friends anyway but maybe you convinced someone to help you...” she smiled.

“I... ugh—“

“—doll! I finally find you! I lost you a few trees back, I was about to tell you I found the perfect tree for home.”

“Bucky I...“

“Home?” Your aunt asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Aunt Linda this is—“

“—Her boyfriend,” Bucky answered pulling one of his charming gentleman smiles from the ’40s, “you can call me James,” he stretched his arm “it’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she smiled “such a handsome man! Never thought my niece would get a man like you. You’re out of her ligue.” Yes, that was Aunt Linda, poisonous words and all. And people wondered why you were hiding from her. “And to be honest, I was starting to think she was lesbian. 25 years and you’re the first one.” She finished.

You smiled “And there would be nothing wrong with me being a lesbian, would it?” you frowned. Bucky pulled you closer to him, with his flesh arm on your waist.

“Oh, of course not honey but you know, you’re already the family’s black sheep. You wouldn’t wanna make it even more evident. People would talk.”

“People like you I suppose,” spit Bucky from the side. He seemed to be getting rather angry at her. He clearly hadn’t had the brilliant opportunity to spend a whole Christmas with her and her vicious words or he’d understand she was actually being polite.

“Oh no darling, I would never, but some people on the family can be very creative, in a negative way if you know what I mean. So... how did you two meet?”

“At work.” You answered quickly, wanted to get away from there as soon as possible.

“Oh... at work...” she replied viciously, “well it’s not a surprise since you’re always working.”

“Yes, the minute she walked into the office for the first time she caught my eye. She wore a black suit and was walking alongside our boss looking like an angel. But it wasn’t until we got our first assignment together that I fell completely and utterly in love with her. With her mind and her voice and her everything. She has this way of analyzing situations and finding solutions, it’s incredible.”

You looked back at Bucky and then to your aunt who stood there with her mouth agape. You looked back at Bucky again and thought to yourself ‘damn he was a good actor. Little did you know he hadn’t been acting.

But then a busy woman walked passed really fast, pushing Bucky and casing his glove to fall on the floor. The glove that covered his metal arm.

She pulled his hand towards hers to look at it as you leaned to pick the glove up. Bucky seemed uncomfortable.

“Oh, you don’t have a hand.”

“It’s my whole arm actually,” Bucky corrected. You’d think no one would dare to say something offensive in a situation like this but there was Aunt Linda for you.

“Oh, that explains it.”

“Explains what?” You questioned.

“How such a handsome man would fall I love with you. He’s not complete. He IS on your ligue...”

And that was all it took. “You stop right there! First of all, him lacking an arm does not make him any less of a man or any less attractive. Second, he is one of the sweetest, nicest, bravest humans I know. And third of all, he is a veteran and lost his arm fighting for your country so you should show some respect!”

Your aunt looked at you perplexed. And blinked a bunch of times. “I didn’t mean to... I...”

“Aunt Linda, I didn’t—“

“—I’ll talk to your mother about this.” She said before turning around and leaving.

You and Bucky shared a look and started laughing at her offended frame as she was liked away. At first, you tried to hold it, but once she was far away enough the two of you were almost crying.

“That’s a character.”

“See why I was hiding?” You told him after taking a deep breath. Once the two of you finally cooled down, you noticed that you still had his glove on your hand. You looked at it and a free taking a deep breath you handed it to him. “I’m really sorry about that,” you said as you handed him the glove “but also thanks for stepping in and pretending to be my boyfriend. Although now the whole family is going to ask me about the mysterious James...”

“I’ll be happy to assist as your boyfriend whenever any other family member shows up,” He smiled.

“For what’s worth, I truly meant everything I said earlier. Your metal arm does not take away any of your worth Bucky,” you told him as you rubbed his flesh arm a little. There was nothing else you could do to comfort him, even knowing how delicate the subject was for him, especially it being originally made by hydra. “Anyway... did you really find a tree or were you just making that up?”

“I did!” He smiled. “Come!” He grabbed your hand to pull you through the made of trees towards the one you wanted. Once you got it, between the two of you you manage to load the tree on the truck and after a short drive stopped by a small Christmas market.

You walked along with Bucky through the beautiful Market but separated from each other when you stopped to look at some of the ornaments. You’d found a small shop that would vinyl cut whatever you wanted on a beautiful golden orb. “Hey (Y/N),” you heard as you stared at the machine from that small shop. You turned to find Bucky with a small bag in his hand. “I found the perfect ornament for you,” he said as he opened the bag and pulled a small crystal mermaid from it.

“She’s beautiful,” you said staring at it with awe. “How did you find her?”

“She was on a small store somewhere over there,” he said pointing to the right, trying to stop you from noticing he had maybe spent too much money on her because he couldn’t stop himself after seeing how perfectly fitting it would be.

“Thank you, Buck. I can’t believe you remembered I love mermaids so much...” you smiled. “Either way, I actually found something that would be perfect for you.”

“You did?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Yes! just you wait,” you winked and walked towards the small shop you’d found and ordered a little special thing. They said it would take around 20 minutes so you went back to Bucky.

“Let’s get an ice-cream,” you said as you pulled Bucky to a small ice-cream shop and ordered a few cones.

“You have plum taste?” You asked as the small lady nodded. “Two balls of plum in one and the other chocolate and blueberry please,” you ordered with a smile.

They gave you your ice creams in just a few seconds. And you walked back to the earlier shop alongside Bucky, the ornament was ready. You paid for it and held it behind your hands to show Bucky with a surprise. “All right close your eyes.”

He did as told. And you placed the ornament on his right hand and gave it a small squeeze to indicate he could open it. He stated at it for a while. The golden ornament had a shield on it. Like Steve’s original shield but with silver and red in the center. The cold slopes through the cracks between his shield, making it look just like his new arm. “You don’t like it...” you said since he hadn’t said anything.

“Like it?” He asked in disbelieve “I love it!”

You finally let out the breath you were holding. The shopping time was finished and the two of you hoped back on the truck to drive back to the compound.

Once there, the two of you brought the tree down and place it in the center of the common room. “FRIDAY? Where are all the decorations for the tree you told me about?”

“The box is behind the counter,” Explained FRIDAY.

“Yes, it is!” Said Bucky while pulling a very big plastic box from behind the counter.

He brought the box next to the tree and the two of you started looking through the box. Finding small ornaments and guessing which one was chosen by who from the team.

The first thing you did was add all of the lights, you choose the colourful ones and started filling the tree with them. After you started placing all the different ornaments. Leaving the two new ones you had purchased for the end, just like FRIDAY had advised you too.

“It looks nice,” you said as you smiled to yourself feeling accomplished. The shiny tree looks as beautiful as ever, the lights bouncing around from one place to another.

“We still have these,” pointed Bucky out taking the ornaments that the two of you got at the market.

“You’re right!” You said as you carefully took the mermaid from his hand and stared at the tree for a place to put it in. After a few seconds, the two of you started moving but neither noticed until your hands collided. The two of you were trying to place the ornament in the same place.

“Are you imitating me?”

“No. It was just the empty branch,” he pointed “the no es empty branch.”

“Well yes, it is the emptiest spot,” you agreed “all right, this is what we’re going to do, I’ll place mine over here,” you pointed at one spot “and yours can be here,” you pointed at another one, right next to yours.

“Deal,” he said as he placed his ornament. You placed your small mermaid later and it appeared as if the mermaid was looking at Bucky’s shield. Just like in the real world, you thought to yourself. Little did you notice Bucky was the one staring at you right then and there.

“We still need to add the star,” you said getting the delicate Swarovski star from the small box, of course, Tony would have a Swarovski star.

“Oh I’m not touching that, I don’t want to break it,” he said stepping out. “Tony doesn’t have much tolerance for me anyway.”

“Don’t be silly, I can’t reach the top anyway. The tree is too tall.”

“I’m not touching it.”

“Bucky!”

“I’m not. But I can carry you,” he shrugged.

“That would be less stable than just placing it in the top,” you reasoned.

“I’ve made my mind.”

“FRIDAY, do we have a ladder?”

“No, but you could use that chair over there.”

Bucky went for the chair and brought it to you. Placing eight on the side of the tree. You tried to step on it “this is so unstable...”

“Don’t worry I’ll watch your back,” he said as he tried to keep the chair shady with his hands.

“This is ridiculous James, you could’ve just placed it without an issue.” You mumbled as you slowly placed the star on the top. But your shoelace caught onto the side of the chair and you tripped and fell.

Luckily for you, Bucky was paying attention and he quickly grabbed you from the waist to stop You from falling face-first on the floor, instead, you fell on top of him since your weight had grown the both of you on the floor.

First thing you did as soon as you gathered everything that was happening is that you removed your weight from his chest by sitting in his stomach with one leg on either side of his torso, “Can you breathe?” You asked placing your hands on his face to look for any signs of trauma.

He smiled when he noticed how concerned you were “yes I Can breathe doll, I’ve been thrown from higher placed bc way bigger men.”

“But it was a hard fall, and my weight. Could have pulled all the sir from your lungs.”

“I didn’t... no need to worry,” he smiled again.

You drew a relieved breath and smiled too. After that, you rolled off him and instead of standing up you laid on the floor next to him as well.

The tree stood majestic and tall in front of the two of you. “We did an amazing job,” you mumbled.

“It’s because we’re an amazing team,” he responded. A smile appeared on your face when you heard those words.

“We should decorate Christmas trees more often,” you giggled. “But next time you’re placing the start!”

“And miss the opportunity of having you on top of me again? No way!” He joked. The two of you laughed again.

“Thank you, Bucky!” You said then as you gave him a quick fast hug, the two of you still lying on the floor.

“What for?”

“You always make my days brighter,” you said, trying to sound casual.

He turned his whole body towards you, his steel-blue eyes staring directly into yours. “I could say the same thing, doll.”

Find more Bucky fluff over here 👈

Feedback is always appreciated ✨

[r0botarmsapts]

Title: Diverge. Cross-posted to Ao3 and Fanfiction.net. Characters/Pairings: Yuuka. Everything else is one-sided, including the cousin incest of Kouta/Yuuka. Words: 1k+ Disclaimer: I own this fanfiction but not the characters or game they’re from. Notes: This is for Whumptober 2021. Manga time-line, hurt no comfort. Warning: Two lines of light nsfw & one-sided cousin incest. Summary: Intimately familiar intrusive thoughts swarmed Yuuka’s mind, reminding the young woman of all of her insecurities with force that made her question if her heart or head hurt more.

It was so easy to get lost in the busy day-to-day of the Maple Inn; their ragtag group having grown, with Yuuka embracing a matriarchal role while Kouta, in her mind, was her husband and they were looking after their family. It was in those times, when she smiled small and warm, like when Kouta gave Wanta attention when Mayu was busy, and other times trying to help Nyu expand her vocabulary in his own clumsy way.

She bit her lip, shaking, trying and hold onto to what little composure remained.

Kouta, Nyu...

The pair were why she holed herself up in her room, storming off. Yuuka Slapping Kouta first after catching him and Nyu in another compromising position. Tears blurred her sight. Intimately familiar intrusive thoughts swarmed Yuuka’s mind, reminding the young woman of all of her insecurities with force that made her question if her heart or head hurt more.

Those moments like earlier were brutal reminders of her knowing this was a fantasy life she let herself get lost in. In the mirror, she saw all the cracks; compared to Nyu she was plain. Nyu was beautiful, had bright pink hair that stood out and horns(ones like Kouta was so taken by and drew often when they were children). The other woman looked good no matter what clothes of Yuuka’s she wore, and being in her difficult position, Nyu always had a smile on her face, wanting to make sure everyone else in their little family was happy too.

Her throat tightened.

It was no wonder Kouta was attracted to her, Nyu was Nyu and she could not bring herself to be mad at the other girl, not when it was Kouta being unfair, forgetting what a treasured night they shared that was cemented in her heart, her mind. Yuuka had no horns, plain brown hair and eyes. A glance to the side showed a few new fashion and style magazines she had taken private time to study. It was so much harder than it looked to try and keep a stylish appearance- look good, stand out in her own way... To catch Kouta’s eyes more.

His eyes went to Nyu’s more than her.

In her desperation to keep in the fight for his heart, whenever Kouta discussed Nyu, Yuuka had to know if Kouta would do the same for her. Sometimes more.

A light flush stood out on her face, she shut her eyes, embarrassed having those thoughts even now.

Years. Years she had dreamt of Kouta touching her in ways only meant for a lover to do. A hand groping her breasts, his other in her panties while she held onto him and they kissed with open passion of lovers reunited. Some nights the dreams felt so real(how many times had she had awoken to soiled panties? Even in waking times, Yuuka felt shamed on how easily she got wet. It was unbecoming and a problem she did not know how to fix).

Those dreams would not stop and Yuuka knew she would not let them go just yet, not after what was on her mind. Adding them to the fantasy she was becoming conflicted on holding onto with everything or leaving it all behind.

Did she truly belong here anymore?

Mayu was young, yet very independent, could cook and Nyu had made progress, being able to prepare simple rice dishes. Kouta was not a graceful man, but could cook as well. They really did not need her to help prepare their dinners, make sure they had warm baths. They were also capable of keeping the inn tidy without her supervision. If Kouta were on his own, her presence would be more effective but then there was Nyu who would be there cleaning along with a smile on her face and a cheerful hum.

A painful realization struck, taking the young woman’s breath away, her legs weak.

Without seeing it, her fantasy was slowly becoming Nyu’s reality. Yuuka, who wasn’t sure if she was being truly fashionable, who was plain compared to Nyu, who struggled to keep her true loves eyes on her, who gave up so much to be with him, who had lived her life based on a memory so special she felt it too cruel that Kouta forgot, that his amnesia was so strong it took away their precious shared festival night. The insecurity burned too hot, taking it out on Kouta for doing that to her, causing her this pain when he should know how she felt.

He would wait for her to come out of her room first, she knew this, knew him too well.

Yuuka had no intention of leaving her room that night, appearing a mess with red eyes, flushed face and tears that had not stopped. Nyu would try and make her feel better not knowing seeing the other woman now would make her feel worse, comparing herself to her and knowing in her heart, that she was fighting a losing battle with Nyu over Kouta.

It was unfair.

Nyu, with her own carefree ways did not know she was also competition in Yuuka’s eyes. Yuuka did not fault Nyu. Yuuka was hopelessly in love and dedicated to Kouta, the life she dreamt they would have, all the plans she had involving it. Involving both of them together, eventually having a child of their own. Unlike her own father, who worked so many long hours there were some days she would be lucky to catch a glimpse of his face, Kouta would come home to her, their child and they would be happy together.

Would be.

Already this life was falling through her grasp, watching her dreams shatter before her eyes. All brought on by them in a position she would have given so much to trade places with Nyu for. Kouta was not pushing Nyu away, not turning down the other girls advance. His eyes were not one of someone unhappy, focused entirely on her, certain his thoughts went to places like Yuuka’s did for him. That was all she needed to see to know.

Fruitlessly she wiped away tears that had continued to fall fat and heavy, seeing cracks in a mirror only visible to her but all too real.

It was time for her to leave.

Her fantasy was broken.

[babygirlbenji]

Christmas With The Hollands

A/N This has been in my drafts since around September as I LOVE CHRISTMAS, it’s my favourite holiday of the year. I was going to wait until closer to The Big Day to post this, but I wanted to get some original content out there to make up for my abhorrent lack of original posts. Enjoy! Also - I cannot be the only one who thinks that Christmas with the Hollands would be the best time EVER?

Warnings: none!

Word count: 2.4k - more under the cut! (I’m so sorry this is so long)

You and Tom had been dating for just over a year, and you were now part of the Holland family. As such, you were top of the guest list at the exclusive Holland family Christmas lunch every Christmas Day.

This Christmas was no exception.

Once you had put the finishing touches on the magnificent chocolate roulade you had made, and Tom had given Tessa a lengthy walk so she wouldn’t be too energetic while you guys were enjoying your Christmas lunch, the three of you dashed out into the frigid suburban air and into the warmth of Tom’s Range Rover.

‘Have you got everyone’s presents?’ You checked. He nodded, laughing.

‘Yes, love, for the third time today, I have everyone’s presents.’

‘Just checking! We don’t want a repeat of Christmas 2017.’ You both winced at the memory; due to a calamitous miscommunication, both of you had forgotten to bring the presents for the entire family, and were unable to retrieve them from your apartment as the traffic was so busy.

‘Don’t worry, love, I have definitely got them. I just hope Tessa doesn’t eat them.’ You thumped his arm, rolling your eyes.

The car cruised along the M25 towards London, the traffic piling up rapidly. Tom took the exit for his parents’ house, and before you knew it, you were parked outside the semi-detached townhouse.

‘I’ll take Tess and the roulade, you can take the presents!’ You immediately hopped out and carried Tessa out of her crate in the boot of the car. Tom just chuckled and obliged, carrying the two gift bags full of Christmas goodies for the Holland family.

Walking with Tess up the short driveway, you knocked on the door.

‘Y/N! How lovely to see you, my darling, Merry Christmas!’ Nikki opened the door, a festive apron tied around her waist and partially covering a cosy Christmas jumper. The delicious smell of Christmas lunch immediately wafted over you, and the sound of Michael Bublé’s Christmas album flowed softly from the speakers in the living room. The Holland house was one of your favourite places, made even better by the people who lived in it.

‘Hi, Nikki! Merry Christmas!’ You exchanged hugs and kisses.

‘That pudding looks incredible! Come in, come in!’ Nikki took the roulade, leaving a hand free to allow you to take your shoes off, before you led Tessa inside. Dom, Harry, Sam and Paddy were in the kitchen. ‘Hey, Hollands, Merry Christmas!’ you cheered, going round and giving everyone hugs.

‘Where’s your boy, Y/N?’ Dom asked as you broke apart from your hug.

‘He’s probably putting the presents under the tree! Ah, there he is!’ As if on cue, Tom came hurrying in.

‘Hi, dad, hey, guys!’ You looked on as he hugged his family, a small smile on your face. Nikki busied herself with the preparation of the lunch.

‘Nikki, can I do anything to help?’ You offered, feeling guilty about sitting around and doing nothing.

‘Oh, you’re such a darling! If you could start peeling potatoes, that would be amazing! Harry, help Y/N peel potatoes, Sam and Paddy, peel the carrots and parsnips and Tom, you can sit there and look pretty.’ You all laughed; Tom was notoriously bad in the kitchen, and you mostly did the cooking. Harry joined you at the sink as you peeled potato after potato, taking part in the conversation and just taking in the Christmas atmosphere. Christmas at the Hollands was truly something special.

‘So, Y/N, any hint on what my present is?’ Harry asked cheekily. You poked him gently with the peeler.

‘No, you silly goose, that’ll ruin the surprise!’

‘What about mine, Y/N?’ Paddy protested from across the counter.

‘Okay, Pads, all I’m going to say is that you’re going to need a lot of time set aside these holidays to do it. I shall reveal no further information at this time!’ Tom smiled, loving the sight of you getting along so well with his family, the ones who meant the most to him along with you.

Nikki had completely fallen for you the first time she’d met you, as did Dom. Your nerves of meeting his parents quickly dissipated as soon as they welcomed you with open arms into their home, and Paddy absolutely adored having an unofficial big sister.

‘Hey, Tom, where’s Haz?’ Sam asked.

‘He’s with his family in Suffolk, mate, he has got other family other than us,’ Tom replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice; if there was anything Tom did better than acting, it was sarcasm. You giggled.

‘Alright, Nikki, that’s it for the potatoes! Anything else you want me to do? I lay a fine table, how about I lay the table?’ Nikki nodded enthusiastically, showing you where the Christmas crackers and festive napkins were kept. You busied yourself by laying the table in its full festive gear, missing Nikki whisper “keep her!” to Tom, and him reply to her “don’t worry, I’m planning on it”.

*

The family was at last sitting round the table, plates piled high with a delicious turkey, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, stuffing and all the trimmings of a traditional Christmas lunch.

‘Alright guys, before we tuck in to this delicious meal, I would like to make a toast!’ Tom stood up and raised his glass. ‘As you all know, I introduced you to my wonderful girlfriend Y/N earlier this year, and I would like to make a toast to her for making me the happiest I have ever been. This year has not been easy, with all the Marvel and Disney and Sony drama and then the movie and reshoots and everything. Yet, through all of that, Y/N has been right there by my side, never wavering with her wise words of wisdom and funny jokes and puns. Having her along for the press tour for Far From Home was the best decision of my life, and I am so grateful to have her in my life. I think we can all say that she brings joy to all of our lives.’

‘Hear, hear!’ Dom hollered.

‘Can you hurry up? I’m starving,’ Paddy whined.

‘Alright, pal, I’m done. To Y/N, and many more Christmases with her!’ Everyone raised their glasses in your direction, leaving you blushing beetroot red, before tucking in to their meals.

‘Thanks, babe, but you didn’t need to do that,’ you muttered in a low voice to Tom, who was sat next to you.

‘All of it is true. You are phenomenal.’ You leant in and kissed him gently.

*

Lunch was closely followed by a couple slices of your roulade, which went down a treat with everyone.

Everyone was extremely full, but Paddy (and Sam and Harry, although they didn’t want to admit it) were eager to open their presents, so you all adjourned to the living room, you and Tom on one sofa, Nikki and Dom on a chair each and Sam, Paddy and Harry on the other sofa.

As always, the presents were handed out, and once everyone had all their presents, you all dived in and opened your presents.

‘Oh, Nikki, this is wonderful!’

‘Wow, Paddy, this is great!’

‘Haha, Sam. Very funny!’

You looked down at your lap, all but one of your presents opened; you had received some very nice Chanel perfume from Nikki, a framed picture of you and Tom from Harry that he’d taken, a new book by your favourite author from Dom, a new PS4 game from Paddy (you were a big gamer, all thanks to Tom) and a pair of earrings from Sam (you had assumed that Elysia had helped him picked them out).

‘Go on, babe, open that one!’ Tom encouraged, keeping his voice low. ‘It’s from me.’ You looked at him, a look that said nothing but “no shit!” on your face.

It was a medium-sized rectangular box. You ripped the paper off, opened the box and your jaw dropped.

‘Oh, Tom!’ It was an incredibly expensive and fancy Michael Kors watch, the one you’d seen in Harrods a few weeks prior and immediately swooned over it, but persuaded yourself that you wouldn’t make any extravagant purchases in the weeks leading up to Christmas. ‘Oh, honey, you didn’t!’

‘Oh, but I did. I saw how much you liked it and knew it would be a perfect first Christmas present. Go on, try it on!’ You were acutely aware of the whole family’s attention on the two of you, but as you carefully prised the watch out of its case, it was as if you were the only people in the room. Tom helped you put it on, as the clasp was a bit fiddly, but once it was on, it twinkled slightly in the lights from the Christmas tree opposite you.

‘Oh, Tom, it’s perfect. Thank you so much. And thank you for all of your gifts, they’re wonderful!’ A chorus of “thank yous” and “you’re welcomes” ensued, and you saw Paddy lean in and whisper something in his mother’s ear. She smiled at him and gently pushed him towards you, your gift of an Avengers LEGO in his hands.

‘Hey, Y/N?’ It was the first time you’d seen the young boy, usually so confident and outgoing, this shy and quiet.

‘Yes, Padster?’ Again, Tom found himself gazing at you in adoration. He knew you were always good with kids, but it meant a lot to him that you were so fond of his youngest brother, who was admittedly your favourite Holland brother.

‘Do you think you’d be able to help me with this?’ Your lips curled into a fond smile.

‘That sounds like the perfect Boxing Day activity, little man! We can tackle it tomorrow, what do you say?’ He nodded enthusiastically, and hugged you tightly. ‘Aww, you’re the best, Paddy. Thank you for your gift, it’s just what I needed to spend the rest of the holidays doing!’

After everyone had finished opening their gifts, you and Tom helped Nikki and Dom tidy away all the wrapping paper.

‘Babe, I’m just going into the kitchen to text some of the guys and send them our Christmas wishes, okay?’ Tom murmured in your ear, one arm winding its way around your waist.

‘Sure, babe, say hi to Chris for me, and tell Seb and Anthony I miss them!’ He grinned, kissing your temple.

‘Will do, darling!’ He hurried out of the living room, phone in hand, leaving you to finish putting the last of the wrapping paper into a bin bag with Nikki.

‘It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him this happy and relaxed,’ she remarked. You smiled shyly.

‘He really needed this break. The whole debacle with Marvel and Sony had him incredibly stressed. His face when he got the news that he was back in the game made me cry.’

‘I bet! He wouldn’t have gotten through it if it weren’t for you, I daresay.’ Her comment made you stop and look at her. ‘Believe me, he said it himself. He said something like you keep him saner than anyone he knows. He has Harrison, of course, but having you, someone who isn’t in the industry, offer him a place of solace where he can take his mind off the pressures of being Spider-Man and the “next Robert Downey Jr”, as the internet has called him, is a real gift. We have so much to thank you for, Y/N, really. You’re so special.’ You didn’t quite know what to say, so you just stepped forward to hug her.

‘Thank you, Nikki. You have an incredibly special son, too. He is one of a kind.’ She started laughing.

‘Isn’t that the truth!’

A comfortable silence arose between you, but it was quickly interrupted by Paddy, who came rushing in, begging his mum to put a Christmas movie on. ‘Alright, guys, let’s watch a Christmas movie! Home Alone?’ You and Paddy cheered.

‘I’ll go see where Tom is, he loves Home Alone!’ You excused yourself and went into the kitchen, where you saw Tom on the phone to someone. You felt bad for listening in, but you were curious.

‘…Yeah, she’s fantastic, Rob, she really is. She helped me so much through all this manic stuff with Marvel and Sony … absolutely, the way things are going, she’s the one for me … alright, mate, I’ll let you go and enjoy the day, see you soon, bud … you too, bye!’ Your heart was practically singing.

‘So, you’re on first name terms with Downey, huh?’ You smirked as you strolled into the kitchen. Tom whirled around, surprised, then smiled when he saw it was you.

‘Yep, we go way back, me and him!’ You both laughed, and you wound your arms around his torso as you came close to him.

‘Thank you for bringing me today, I’ve had such a lovely time. Christmas was never really… fun back home, with my stepdad and stuff, so I really appreciate having you guys as my second family.’ He smiled, thinking how he ever got so lucky.

‘I think I speak for the entirety of my family when I say that you are always welcome here, and if things ever go south at home, my bed can always fit two.’ He winked.

‘Is that so?’ Your eyes met his, and as your lips met in a sweet kiss, you heard a camera click. Breaking apart, you saw Harry in the doorway, face bright red as his arms fell to his sides.

‘Sorry, guys, I just wanted to try out my new lens! As you were…’ Both you and Tom started laughing as he backed away sheepishly.

‘Hey, Harry!’ You called out.

‘Yeah?!’

‘Send me that pic?’ Tom laughed harder, resting his head on your shoulder.

‘Will do.’ You turned back to face Tom, who was gazing at you in complete adoration.

‘The family are watching Home Alone in the living room, let’s go watch!’ You tried to walk away, but Tom grabbed you and pulled you close.

‘I just want us to be alone for just a few minutes more…’ His arms pulled you into his chest, and you breathed in his warm, earthy scent. ‘I love you, Y/N. You make me so happy.’ Your heart swelled.

‘And I love you too, Tommy. Come on, let’s go watch the movie.’ You took his hand and led him into the living room, where you sat on his lap as you and the rest of the family watched the movie in comfortable silence.

By the time Kevin was reunited with his family, your extended family was all asleep, sleeping away another magical Christmas Day.

[ilovefanfics2019]

Her Own Path

Part 5: A dream and a wish

Warnings: Bad dream, A sort of arguement, lots of fluff, erazermic, cute nicknames, soft Shinsou, soft Aizawa, soft Mic, gay Shinsou, fathers and daughter moments.

Characters: Aizawa, Mic, Shinsou, Eri and mention of Denki.

Description: At dinner Eri has something on her mind and at bedtime she wishes for something and her parents have a talk about it together alone.

Side notes: For Eri Daddy= Aizawa and Papa= Mic. Finally a chapter on the Erazermic family. Sorry having been posting recently I've been dealing with family drama left and right, also have fallen sick over the last couple of weeks but I'm back and hopefully will start to post regularly as I can. Hope you enjoy it 🥰

Third person pov

It was a nice quite evening in the Erasermic family househol-

"Shota I can't wait untill tomorrow" screamed aloud voice though the house startling poor Shota Aizawa who was cooking dinner. Aizawa sighed before turning around to look at his loud blond husband.

"Mic do you have to shout I'm right here" exhausted a tired looking Aizawa.

(And don't forget interrupt me the author/narrator of this story).

"Sorry Shota I didn't mean to shout" replied Mic without shouting.

(Ahem).

(And I'm sorry for inturupting you misses author/narrator).

(Thank you anyway carrying on).

"I know your excited for the festival tomorrow you have told me about a hundred times already" informed Aizawa contining to cook dinner. Mic looked at Aizawa lovingly before going to the cuboard and taking out the plates and helping Aizawa dish up dinner before setting the plates on the table.

"Dinner ready" Mic yelled out before it fell quite. Then the sound of two sets of footsteps heading towards the kitchen could be heard. One rushing and the other walking very slowly. The person of the rushing footsteps appeared in the doorway before stopping and turning around to tell at the other person to hurry up.

"I'm here now okay" a tired male voice belonging to the other set of footsteps replied out before also halting in the doorway as well. Aizawa could help smile at the sight before him whilst Mic bursted out laughing at it.

There before them was their adopted violet hair son Shinsou in a purple princess dress and a face full of make up. Whilst their young 7 year old adopted pale blue-gray hair daughter Eri stood there looking proud of what she had done to her older brother.

"Daddy, Papa do you like what I did to sou-sou?" Announced an enthusiastic Eri.

"I love it" laughted Mic whilst taking a picture so he could remember the scene before him forever.

"Purple suits Shinsou well" answered a smiling Aizawa. Eri's face lit up with a smile at the praise she got from the two adults whilst Shinsou just stood there with red cheeks from embarrassed, or is from the blush? I'll let you decide. After Shinsou came back from cleaning his face and changing out of the dress the family started their dinner.

The family made small talk about their day. Shota and Mic about UA and hero related stuff, Shinsou about how his training was going and Eri about her day with Mirio.

Aizawa's pov

I notice Eri was awfully quiet whilst eating her dinner whilst normally she be talking our ears off about random things. But she is as quiet as she was when she first had dinner with us after we rescue her from Overhaul. She seemed like she had something on her mind, so I gestured with my eyes to Mic and Shinsou to look at Eri and they both caught on to what I was think.

"Hey sis did you have fun playing princess with me?" Shinsou asked Eri with a smile. Eri just look up at Shinsou with a smile nodding her head before her smile fade as she looked back down at her plate poking at the food. Mic then tried talking with Eri.

"Is the food okay hunny-bunch?" Mic questioned Eri whilt motioning to her plate of half eaten food.

"Yeah it fine" Eri muttered not looking up this time but continuing to poke at her food. Me, Mic and Shinso all looked at each other worried.

"Princess are sure your okay, you not sick are you?" I asked worried that she might be really ill and we didn't notice earlier. She set her fork down before looking at us with a distant look.

"It's just I've had a lot on my mind recently" she sighed.

"Like what?" Shinso asked kindly.

"W-w-well I had this werid dr-dr-dream re-recently" she stuttered.

"Like a nightmares" questioned Mic gently.

"I don't know it was a werid sort of dream" she replied.

"What was it about" I asked confused to how a dream could be werid.

"This girl in some sort of pain and it looks like she lives in a dark place but is older than me and I don't know what she looks like as the dream is blurry" answered Eri. Me, Mic and Shisou all look at each other confused to why she may be having that dream as none of the girls in class 1A, who Eri knows live in a dark place and we have had no villain attacks recently so no one should be in pain, so who could it be.

"We don't know anything that may have caused you to have that dream hunny-bunch but let's not think to much about it for now" advise Mic.

"Okay" Eri replied a bit more happily this time.

Third person pov

The family continued to finish their dinner before going off and doing their own nightly routines. Shinsou having a shower before going to his room to play video games for a while, then talking to his pikachu of a boyfriend before bed. Mic also having a shower, then finish marking off some English work before settling down on the couch to watch tv. Aizawa helping Eri in the bath before helping her get ready for bed, then leaving her to settle down on the couch with Mic before having his own shower before joining the two on the couch.

Eri left the two adult to go to her room like she normally did, but didn't pick a book to read this time. Tonight she decided to settled herself in her window seat to look at the dark clear night sky which the bright and silvery stars lit up.

Aizawa and Mic both went up the stairs then started to head towards Eri's room to read to Eri like they normally did before going to bed. But the two were supprise when they got to her room to see a empty bed with no book to read and no excited Eri to read to. Instead they saw the young one horned girl sitting in her window seat looking at the starry night sky. They both came up and sat next to her, all of them were silent for a few minutes before Mic broke it.

"I think it time for bed now hunny-bunch" Mic spoke softly whilst Aizawa just nodded his head gently to signal he agreed with what his husband said.

"Okay" Eri quietly said. Eri was about to turn around so she could get down of the seat, but before she did something shooting across the sky caught her attention as well as the two adults.

"A shooting star" sang Eri excited, the two adult chuckling softly at the excited little girl.

"Do you know what to do when you see one princess?" asked a happy but sleepy Aizawa.

"Yes Mirio taught me about it, when you see a shooting star you meant to wish on it and then the wish may come true one day" answered a happy Eri.

"Are you going to wish for something hunny-bunch?" Mic asked with a smile. Eri nodded her head at him before turning back to face the window, then she took a deep breath before closing her eyes.

"I wish for an older sister but not a old as Shinsou to join our family" wished Eri happily unaware of the shocked glance shared between her two parents, which soon disappeared as Eri opened her eyes to look at the two. Eri turned to climb down before turning to speak to her parents.

"Okay I'm ready for bed now" Eri sighed happily before turning to make her way to bed along with her two parent who keep their shocked feelings to themselves not wanting to upset the small girl. They both kissed her on the head before muttering a quite "goodnight" to her, in which Eri returned the kisses and yawned a "goodnight" back before setting down to go to sleep. Aizawa closed Eri's door quietly before him and Mic made their way down the hall to their room.

Mic entered the room first before Aizawa followed closing the door to the room behind him. They both made their way to their bed before sliding under the sheets, both were quite for a while before Mic spoke out.

"So what are we going to do?" Mic asked Aizawa quietly turning to face him.

"What do you mean?" Aizawa answered confused looking at Mic with confusion.

"You know about our daughter's wish for a older sister" exclaimed Mic.

"What about it, is a just a wish and wish do not always come true" Aizawa announced.

"But we could make it come true" countered Mic with determination in his voice.

"Look I would love to make our daughter's wish come true but it just not possible many adoption shelters these days don't have a lot of older children and plus we are already very busy with raising our two adopted children, also watching over the UA kids who are sort of like our kids as well" argued Aizawa nicely.

Mic sighed a quite "I guess your right". Before Aizawa announced softly with "maybe when we are less busy we can talk about it again and involved Eri and Shinsou in the conversation next time".

Mic replied with a soft "okay".

The Aizawa and Mic exchange their goodnights with a kiss before cuddling up and settling down for the night.

Shinsou who had heard both conversations was now sat on his bed thinking about what had been said. If he was being honest he wouldn't mind having another little sister as that means he didn't have to play princesses with Eri alone anymore and he would have someone else to love and care dearly for. Yeah he wouldn't mind having another sister at all. He sighed before texting his electric blond boyfriend a goodnight as he too settle down for the night.

That night the small family of four (not including the amazing amount of cat that the family have) all fell asleep with the same dream. The dream of having another daughter, another younger sister and a older sister. All wondering if it would ever come true?

But little do they know that it would come true sooner than they think and that the girl from Eri's dream would be the one to make it come true.

[themousefromfantasyland]

The Yule Man (3/7)

As told by ME

This was meant to be a short story, but it became too big, so I separated it in seven parts. I want to turn my blog in a space where I can share my writting every once and a while.

This is the first time I post one of my stories on a public space. This is the first time anyone besides my sister will be able to read, so I'm pretty exciting and anxious. I want honest criticism. I hope you all enjoy it.

In the next year, Chris opened his bag earlier, near the old bridge. News came that the Yule Man had already arrived in Arnsberg. Mia stepped into her carriage and ordered the coachman to lead her to him.

She found him sitting in a wooden bench next to the clocktower. He hadn't changed a thing. The same dirty clothes. The same enormous fur coat. The same shaggy red beard. The same tender boyish face.

His whole mood lighted up pretty quick as soon as he caught her in his sight. She waved to him, and not containing himself with excitement, he waved back to her.

They stopped the carriage near him, and she opened the door to him.

He grinned with all the mischievousness of a boy:

"You changed."

She nudged his shoulder.

"It passed only a year. How can I have changed?" She played with his beard.

"Everyone always changes." He spoke.

During the course to the Hayek Mansion, everything felt different. The coachman looked tired and in a bad state of mind. Even Mia herself seamed exhausted, yet they tried their best to stay the same. The way to Hayek home had changed too. Less trees, more buildings, the town expanded itself again.

"How is your father?"

The coachman looked behind his shoulder.

She grew quiet. Chris would not dare to ask more questions; he knew that feeling all too well.

At the Hayek Mansion things continued to change. The Yule Log had been launched in the fireplace far later than it should. The decorations this year looked poorer and simpler, as if something had sucked all joy and life out of them. The living room was a shell of what it once was. No Yule Goats this year. Silver bells now accompanied the typical decks of holly hanged by the walls. He saw statues of the Silver God near the Yule Tree in the living room.

"I didn't know you were religious." Chris said surprised.

Mrs. Hayek stormed in the room.

Mia expressed defeat.

"Oh, you brought him again." She said with more resentment in her voice than usual. "Without telling me anything."

Mia closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Mother, please..."

"Oh, shut up." She snarled. "I believe we already ran out of things to say to each other."

There was only one table this year, set more by a sense of duty than by any real intent. Less charm, less sweets, less delights. The feeling in the house was way different. The Yule Festival now felt more like an accessory, a decoration, than anything real.

The Solstice Eve ball felt different too, less guests, less presents, and less joy. A sense of uneasy filled the air, with the townspeople unsure if they were welcome there. St. Nicholas was now exactly as how the holiday cards portrayed him.

The gigantic Yule Tree has disappeared this year. Along with many Yule things, it had been brought along with Mr. Hayek when he went to his final destination.

Mia stood in a corner, trying to stay out of sight, what Chris thought as a shame. She dressed even more beautiful than in the last year. She wore a sleeveless ivy-green gown with a bright red sash around her waist.

He went to talk with her, still carrying a plate full of cookies and other sweets, all those he could find.

"Are you alright? Can I do something to help?" He asked with a deep fear of invading someone else's business. He tested the ground to know if it was safe to step on it.

She saw how he carried the plate.

"Thanks."

She picked one. He released a quick nervous laughter.

"Oh, they were not for you... "

She gave him a judgmental stare.

"I mean, you can get them if you..."

She laughed.

"I missed you, silly." She hugged him and rested her face on his shoulder.

"What happened here?" He asked.

"My relationship with my mother is worse than ever." She placed a huge emphasis on the word "ever".

Mrs. Hayek approached them with as kindness as it was possible from her.

"Mia, I wanted to talk with you." She began saying by putting her best "mother voice". "Remember Mr. Evans. Well, he has a son your age. He has been having troubles finding a bride for his son. I agreed to talk about marriage proposals tomorrow. The old man is unsure with you as a good bride for his soon, so I want you to go there..."

Mia had enough. That was the final stroke that broke the camel's back.

"Mother, I'm sorry, but no!"

"What?"

Mrs. Hayek had trouble digesting that word. "No" wasn't a term she was familiarized with.

"I thought the problem was you not getting any suitors."

Mia tried her best to be diplomatic on that moment.

"Mother, I'm very thankful for what you're doing, but I'm not want to be married. Not like that."

"So, what do you want Mia." She raised her voice.

Everyone stopped and stared at them. Chris saw the sparks starting to fly between the two.

"The money of your father will not last forever. I'm trying my best to hold this family together, but you're refusing to help."

Mia kept her best poker face.

"His partners are almost taking over the company. We are almost losing our income." She continued.

Mia exhaled.

"Mother, I know, and I don't want to bring you any more trouble, but please..."

"You have been useless." She yelled.

Mia raised her voice.

"You can say that to my face."

"I can't?" She smiled with disdain. "At your age I was already married, because that's why women of our class do, we help our family." She paused to breathe. "I didn't like your father at first, he was very older than me, but this is real life." She lowered her tone. "We don't have much time."

Mia shouted back.

"What do you know about love?"

Not even Chris recognized her when she said that. She got careless. Mia spilled a kind of bitterness that she didn't know she had. Whatever that thing was, it came from way within her.

"A gold-digging shrew. Nothing is never good enough. Not even my father was good enough. You only married him because of his money. You yourself told how the fact he been black turned you off at first."

By the look of Mrs. Hayek’s expression, it was as if she had been hit in the face. A sure slap that hurt nothing more than her ego.

"I want you out." She went straight to kill.

Mrs. Hayek stopped looking into her daughter's face.

"Mother, please." Mia tried to fix the whole situation, to salvage their relationship. Mia implored for all reason she hoped still lasted in her.

Everyone continued watching.

"I will not send you away because it would be a sin against my god. You can spend Yule with us, but after that I want you out." Her mother growled

She walked away. Mia tried to reach her.

"Mother."

She immediately shot her down.

"You father already left half of his inheritance to you. This house is mine and from your siblings. It's ours."

"What is happening here" Sophia asked, followed close by her brothers.

"Nothing." Mrs. Hayek smiled as perfectly as a china doll.

Mia rushed back inside. Chris followed her.

In her anger she threw a the statue of the Silver God over the stairs and broke down in tears. She sat upon the staircase and kept crying. When Chris entered the room, she made sure to wipe her tears away. Too late.

"Father loved the Yule Festival. Mother not so much." She started. "He never liked the Church. He always told how the church appropriate the Winter Solstice festival to themselves. How they plastered their stupid god everywhere to make the holiday theirs."

She smiled, trying her hardest to lighten the mood. "Now that he's gone, mother did the same, and things are worse than ever." She hid her face in her hands.

Chris stepped up the stairs and sat by her side, remaining quiet.

"You don't know what to say!"

He nodded in shame. She gave him a half-smile.

"During this year I couldn't stop thinking about you. You never change, you never ages. I wish to be like you sometimes."

"You don't." He broke the silence.

The way he said that surprised her.

"You have an immortal lifetime."

He raised his voice.

"You have a lifetime." His lips trembled "I got only moments."

"You don't die." She was quick to point out.

"What's the point of not dying, if you never lived?" He shook his arms in frustration.

He lowered his head and his tone.

"During most of the year I cease to be, and just to think about it makes me terrified." His lips quivered. He struggled not to spill any tears. "For all the purposes I'm dead. There's no such thing as an afterlife for me. I just disappear. Boom. Nothing."

He failed. He got emotional.

"I wished I could exist. I wish I could form real relationships with people. People remember me the same way their remember a snowy day."

She closed her eyes.

"For how has it been like that."

"For as much as I can remember." He said in deep mournful tone. "I'm part of the landscape, not of the people who go through it."

"Father was the only one who understood me." She continued.

"My mother raised me to sit still and be pretty. My father raised me to be a tomboy. I'm scared. I'm a woman now, and I don't have talents or skills. I don't know what to do now, where to go. I just don't want to be like my mother. My mother comes from those types who married earlier and with much older men. I don't want to be like her."

She caught him gazing at her with care.

"You don't need to be"

She pulled his hands.

"You either."

She continued.

"Let's live the moment, here and now. As my mother said, we don't have much time."

"I really want that, but..."

"Why are you always so afraid?" She shook her head.

He stayed quiet for a couple of seconds.

"The North Wind, for as far as I remember has been one of few things that acknowledges me. He doesn't like that I'm too close to mortals. He can't punish me. He isn't my boss. But he cares, really cares. He fears for me."

Mia drew his hands to her lap.

"Promise me you won't be afraid anymore. You can be yourself. I will not punish you. I will not run away."

He smirked.

"But you have to promise me you will try to write. You told me you wanted to be a writer last year.

She raised up.

"Were you really listening?"

He got up near her.

"It's one of the few things I can do in this world." He continued. "I want to see if you are good on that. I don't change, but I think I can change you."

He realized how that sentence could be interpreted. "I mean, I don't want you to change, I mean..."

She took off his fur hood and kissed his cheek, and for a moment the whole world changed for him.

[until-theend-oftheline]

Her Happiness

Pairing: Sebastian Stan x Reader

Squares Filled: Happily ever after (Fandom - MCU RPF) for @goodthingshappenbingo​ and bed sharing for @marvelfluffbingo​

Warnings: none      

Word Count: 1000ish

A/N: This is thought as part of my LLL universe but as always it can also be read as a stand-alone. This takes place summer 2019

Betaed by: @jewels2876​ - thanks hun

***My fics are not to be saved nor posted on any other sites without my express written permission.***

It was always hard being away from home, even when it was only for shorter periods of time. You hadn’t been away from home for more than a few days. Given Rach and Chris’ baby Rosie was still so little Rach hadn’t wanted a summer tour and you had been quick to agree. Sebastian had a movie and a new TV show to work on which meant a tour would be hard to schedule in. Instead, you had settled for a few festivals, while you had started working on a solo album. You could write music anywhere and your first choice was wherever Sebastian was to keep your family together as much as possible.

You had been away to attend a festival with This is Us the past three days, while Sebastian and the kids had stayed back home in New York. It wasn’t the first time Sebastian had been alone with the kids. He was a great dad and you hadn’t been the slightest bit worried about leaving them. That didn’t mean you didn’t miss the hell out of your kids and their dad while you had been gone.

You weren’t supposed to be home until the morning but you had gotten an earlier flight. You wanted to wake up with your family. You hadn’t told Sebastian since you knew he would have insisted on coming to pick you up, leaving the kids with his mom. You didn’t want that, but more than that you had really wanted to surprise him tonight, before surprising the kids tomorrow morning.

You breathe a sigh of relief when you walked through your front door. It felt so good to be home, even if you hadn’t expected the little sleepy girl strutting out of the guest bathroom a few seconds after you closed the door.

Isabella’s eyes widened when she saw you and her entire face lit up in a huge smile as she ran straight into your arms as you squatted down to greet her.

“Mommy!”

“What are you doing out here Miss Stan?” you asked with a laugh as your daughter clung to you.

“I had to pee,” she deadpanned, as she pulled back a little and you playfully rolled your eyes at her.

“Well, that part I guessed. Why not your own bathroom?” you asked, raising your eyebrows when Isabella seemed to remember something and she shushed you.

“Alex and Daddy are sleeping,” she whispered and you smiled.

“They can’t hear us from the other side of the apartment honey.”

“They are in the living room,” she shook her head, before grinning at you reaching out for your hand, “we’re camping.”

“You’re what now?” you blinked, taking your daughter’s hand, letting her drag you along into the living room. You covered your mouth with your free hand when you saw your living room. A makeshift tent stood in the middle of the floor. Outside was a pretend fireplace with pillows all the way around it and empty pizza boxes and soda cans scattered around. It was a mess but you weren’t the slightest bit mad. This mess told a story of how great a night your three favorite people had tonight.

“Come on,” Isa whispered tugging your hand. You quickly shrugged off your jacket and followed your daughter into the tent. Alexander was sound asleep in the middle of the tent, that on the inside was covered by pillows, blankets, and storybooks. Sebastian was lying on the left side of the tent and stirred the moment he felt movement. He blinked a few times, before he seemed to comprehend what was happening. Isabella, on the other hand just crawled to the right side of her brother, cuddling up to him with a yawn.

“Hi,” Sebastian whispered, reaching out to you, helping you crawl past your children, to lie in between himself and Alexander. “What are you doing home? I would have picked you up.”

“I know you would,” you smiled, gently stroking your sleeping son’s hair and giving your almost asleep daughter a kiss on the cheek, before turning to Sebastian.

“I wanted to surprise you,” you wiggled your eyebrows, sending him a cheeky smile. Sebastian chuckled, wrapping his arms around you and pulled you close against his chest.

“Damn. I guess I ruined that huh?” he winked, giving you a squeeze. You giggled and snuggled closer.

“Sorry about the mess,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of your hair. You shook your head, resting it against his heart.

“Don’t worry about it. Did you guys have fun?” you tilted your head, looking up at him and Sebastian smiled widely.

“So much. We had played hide and seek, had pizza and made up stories, played board games and read books,” Sebastian listed making you laugh.

“Whoa. You guys were busy. Too busy to miss me,” you playfully sighed and Sebastian instantly leaned forward, kissing you deeply.

“Not true,” Sebastian insisted as he pulled back, leaving you breathless from the kiss. You had no idea how he still had that effect on you after all these years, but you weren’t complaining.

“I always miss you,” Sebastian kissed the tip of your nose and you smiled.

“You’re a great dad and I love you so much Seba,” you leaned up to kiss him again before resting your head back against his chest, closing your eyes and smiling when he whispered his affections back to you. You were home with your family, living your happily ever after with your two perfect kids and the man of your dreams.

Please reblog; help me spread my work - Leave a comment. Feedback is fuel

Sebastian Stan Tag Team

@feelmyroarrrr​ @sleepretreat​ @roxyspearing​ @jewels2876​  @hellaqueerangelofthelord​ @danijimenezv​ @rumoured-whispers​ @becs-bunker​ @smoothdogsgirl​ @blacktithe7​ @grace-for-sale​ @averyrogers83​ @sebs-potato​ @sorenmarie87​ @docharleythegeekqueen​ @erosbellarke​ @the-wayward-robot​ @super100012​ @myfanficlibrarium​ @winchesters-favorite-girl​ @awkwardfangirl2014​ @igotkatiepowers​ @dottirose​ @deathofmissjackson​

[wiiishofdeath]

Muttering a Confession (Midoriya x Shinso)

Summary-  Midoriya find himself crushing on Shinso but he doesn't know how to ask him on a date, but luckily Uraraka and Iida help him conceive a plan.

Fluffy fic, good for all audiences

Originally posted to AO3 on 7/25/2020

“Deku, what’re you staring at?” Uraraka leaned against Midoriya and followed his gaze to Shinso, “Oh, so you’ve got a crush?” Uraraka giggled and glanced at Iida. Midoriya frowned and felt his face go beet red, “N-no! I don't! I was just daydreaming and happened to be looking at Shinso…” He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and then glanced at Shinso again. “Uraraka! You shouldn’t embarrass Midoriya like that! Just because his emotions are obvious and hard to ignore it’s not polite to bring them up!” Iida scolded Uraraka but this caused Midoriya to get even redder as he tried to hide in his school jacket. “Is it really that obvious?” He glanced at Uraraka and frowned, he never thought he was being that obvious about his crush but maybe he was just oblivious to his own actions. “Yea, earlier in class I caught you mumbling about him and his quirk before it turned into you mumbling about the best way to ask him out. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone and I don’t think anyone else was paying attention!” Uraraka chuckled and gave Midoriya a playful push. Midoriya whined and laid his head down on the table and gently gripped his hair with his hands, “I don’t even know when this happened.” Uraraka smiled and patted Midoriya on the back, “Hey, it’s fine. Maybe we can get you a date with him! Iida and I can be your wingmen!” Uraraka seemed to get excited while she whipped out a notebook, “Let’s brainstorm!” Iida looked at the notebook and then at Midoriya, “Maybe Midoriya can give Shinso a note! That way Midoriya won’t stutter too much!” Uraraka nodded and scribbled that down, “Great idea Iida! Who knew you’d know how to be a wingman! Oh! What about asking him to study with you? Then during your study session you guys can build some chemistry together!” Uraraka squealed and scribbled down her own idea, writing a few more down too. “Add inviting Shinso for coffee! He’ll need the caffeine so he won’t say no!” “Perfect Iida!” Midoriya watched in horror as his friends brainstormed ideas to help him ask Shinso out. He just shook his head and hid in his arms, he didn’t expect his lunch break to end up like this. “Don’t I get a say in this?” Uraraka looked at Midoriya and shook her head, “You didn’t even want to admit to having a crush! Just trust your wingmen, okay?” She giggled again and continued to brainstorm with Iida, who was having a surprisingly good time. Midoriya just sighed and then glanced back at Shinso. Shinso was sitting by himself at lunch and seemed to be reading a book. Midoriya knew that Shinso had started doing some training outside of school since he had seen Shinso with Aizawa training together. He was excited for Shinso to finally get some proper hero training. Midoriya had been keeping track of Shinso and he already knew that Shinso was far stronger than he had been when Midoriya had fought him at the sports festival. At some point Midoriya had developed a crush on the other and he had no idea when. Midoriya just noticed that when he would think about Shinso his face would go red and his heart would flutter. He was slightly embarrassed, he hadn’t ever really thought about crushes or relationships, he was only focused on becoming the best hero he could be. “Midoriya! We have the perfect plan for you!” Uraraka shoved the notebook to Midoriya and grinned, “First,” she pointed at the notebook where it was labeled ‘step one’, “you’re going to go over to him and ask him to spar with you, then you’ll ask him to get a coffee afterwards, finally you’ll ask him if he’ll study with you. Eventually you guys will study together all the time and then feelings will blossom between you and then Iida and I will be at your wedding!” Midoriya sighed and gave Uraraka an awkward smile, “I’ll try that plan.” Before he could say anything else Uraraka shoved him out of his seat and squealed in excitement. “Go! Go ask him to! I can already hear the wedding bells!” Uraraka gave Midoriya an encouraging smile and Iida just nodded at Midoriya. Midoriya sighed and nodded, walking over to Shinso while repeating the plan in his head. Once He got to Shinso he froze and cleared his throat, “Hey Shinso, um.” Midoriya heard his voice crack and he instantly felt his face redden a bit before he made eye contact with shinso. Shinso seemed bored and just generally emotionless. “I was wondering-” “No.” “What?” Midoriya’s eyes went wide and he looked at Shinso in a panic, was he being rejected before he could even ask Shinso out? “No, I don’t want to spar with you, but I'll go on that coffee date.” Shinso’s voice was still emotionless and he wasn’t even looking at Midoriya but instead was reading his book. “How did you know I was going to ask you that? How did you know about the coffee idea?” Midoriya was panicked and confused, but he was happy that he had technically gotten a date with Shinso. “You were muttering your plan the whole way here, plus I noticed you staring at me earlier so my attention was on you for the past fifteen minutes. I saw Iida and Uraraka brainstorming or whatever.” Shinso smirked and leaned back in his seat before looking up at Midoriya, “So I’ll wait for you outside your classroom after class and we can go get coffee.” Midoriya just nodded, “O-okay.” He smiled nervously before turning away and walking back to his table, hitting himself in the forehead and groaning, he couldn’t believe that he had been muttering his plan that entire time! He felt so stupid, but at least that shortened the plan a little. Midoriya’s face went red when he realized that this also meant that Shinso must’ve returned his feelings since he went right for a date, and he called it a date as well. Midoriya sat down at his table with Uraraka and Iida before glancing at them and giving them a thumbs up, which caused Uraraka to cheer excitedly and Iida simply clapped in a robotic way.

Midoriya was watching the clock intently, waiting for the bell to ring and for him to go on his date with Shinso. He felt so weird about the fact that he was going on a date with someone who didn’t even seem to acknowledge his existence since the sports festival. Maybe they had shared a few greetings since then but no real conversation, and now they were going on a date! Midoriya’s eyes never left the clock for more than a few seconds at a time while he watched the seconds hand tick closer and closer to the end of the hour. Midoriya started to rock in his seat a little before excitedly getting up once the bell rang throughout the school. He got his things together and then went to the door, waiting for Shinso in the hallway and making sure that he wasn’t in anyone's way. He watched people walk by him until finally Shinso walked up to him. “Hey, are you ready to go now or do you need to stop by the dorms?” Shinso’s voice was emotionless as usual and his face was blank. This caused Midoriya to get extremely nervous since he couldn’t tell if Shinso was actually interested in going on this date with him. “I’m good to go right now, unless you need anything?” Midoriya fidgeted with his tie as he thought about the date he was about to go on. “No, i’m fine.” Shinso stretched and then started to walk, “I know a nice cafe that we can go to, also, you aren’t allergic to cats are you?” Shinso looked at Midoriya and put his hands in his pockets while he waited for an answer. Midoriya shook his head and smiled, “No, I'm okay to be around cats, why do you have one?” He tilted his head in curiosity, he never took Shinso as an animal person. “Yea, I have two cats at home, I wasn’t able to bring them to the dorms though.” He sighed and watched his feet while he walked down the stairs, opening the front doors for Midoriya. Midoriya smiled and walked out, pausing so that Shinso could walk by his side again, “That’s unfortunate, I never took you for someone who likes animals.” “I love cats.” Shinso said the statement in the most emotionless way Midoriya had ever heard, he didn’t know it was possible to proclaim your love for something in such a disinterested way. “Cats are pretty cute.” Midoriya smiled and found himself sneaking a few looks at Shinso, from watching his hair flow as he walked or simply glazing at Shinso’s eyes every once in a while. Their walk to the cafe was short as the cafe was just down the hill that the school was one. It was a smaller cafe that was clearly a more family owned business versus a chain cafe. Midoriya couldn’t help but notice that the cafe was a cat cafe, which put Shinso’s earlier question about allergies into a clearer perspective. They walked in and immediately Midoriya noticed that they were the only ones there except the barista. He looked around and noticed a few cats sleeping in their cat beds and a few others running and playing around. Shinso led them to a table that was near the cat towers. Midoriya sat down and glanced at the counter, looking at the menu that was written on a chalkboard, “So, do you come here a lot?” Shinso nodded, “Yea, I come here at least four times a week after school, usually there are more people around but it must just be a slow day.” Midoriya watched as Shinso smiled as a cat brushed against his leg. Midoriya smiled and watched as Shinso pet the cat and praised it for being such a good boy. Soon he moved his attention to a cat who sat next to Midoriya’s chair and was looking up at him, when he made eye contact with the cat the cat simply meowed at him and swooshed it’s tail. Midoriya smiled and petted the cat, scratching its chin and giggling as the cat started to purr loudly. He noticed the collar on the cat and looked at it. The collar had the cat's name, which was Kuro, which made sense since the cat was a pure black cat. The collar also had the word adoptable next to the cat's name which made Midoriya happy, he liked that the cafe was helping cat’s get adopted. Midoriya looked back at Shinso, who was playing with two cats now and then cleared his throat, “Do you want me to get you a drink?” Shinso blinked and nodded, “Uh, yea, just get me a black coffee, i’ll pay you back later.” Midoriya smiled and shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, it’s a date.” He blushed and then went to get him and Shinso a drink, he hoped that him trying to be flirty would work, he also hoped that he wouldn’t be ignored for the cats in the cafe, though he would understand Shinso for being more interested in the cats than he was in him. Midoriya brought their drinks to the table and slid the black coffee over to Shinso before leaning back and watching the cats play with each other. He sipped his coffee and then found his gaze landing on Shinso who had taken a sip of his coffee and then went back to petting the cats for a second before meeting Midoriya’s gaze. “Are you having fun?” Midoriya thought he heard a bit of nervousness in Shinso’s tone, but he didn’t take Shinso as the nervous type. “Yea, I really like cats so this is fun, it’s far more fun than what Uraraka and Iida had come up with.” He smiled and sipped his coffee again, watching as Shinso blushed a little at Midoriya’s praise of the date location. “That’s a relief, I didn’t think you’d end up liking it, you seem like a dog guy.” Shinso smiled and closed his eyes for a second while he took a drink of his coffee. Midoriya felt himself blush at Shinso’s smile, “Well I do like dogs but I don’t think I favor one over the other.” “I favor cats, dogs are just too much energy…” Midoriya chuckled at Shinso’s comment but didn’t say anything more. The rest of their coffee date was peaceful and Midoriya really enjoyed it, he was just happy to be spending time with Shinso. As their date ended they walked with each other up the hill to the dorms. “Would you wanna go on another date again sometime?” Shinso glanced at Midoriya and waited for his answer, feeling nervous and hoping Midoriya didn’t just reject him. “I would like that a lot.” Midoriya smiled and Shinso seemed to relax immediately upon seeing Midoriya’s smile. “Well, you should probably get to your dorm now, but I’ll text you.” Shinso rubbed his neck out of embarrassment, he wasn’t used to this and his confidence wasn’t as high as it had been at lunch. “Okay.” Midoriya beamed and then watched Shinso nod and then start to walk away, “Oh! And Shinso.” “Hm?” Shinso looked back at Midoriya and wondered what else Midoriya would say. “You can call me Izuku if you want.” Midoriya blushed a little but his smile never wavered. Shinso felt his face heat up and he quickly looked away, nodding and looking away from Midoriya, “Then you can call me Hitoshi If you want.” “Okay, thank you for the nice date Hitoshi.” “Of course, Izuku.”

AO3 Account

[misssunflowersandsangria]

This is my Idea

Chapter 6:  Shift 

Hello my lovely deers!  Happy 6th day of @shikatemaweek can’t believe that it’s over!  :(  Let’s have this week last the rest of the year, I think we all need it!  So I tried to make any of today’s prompt works but meh, it’s okay lol 

This is the final chapter.  I have links to the previous chapters listed below in case you missed one of them:

Chapter 1: Trust

Chapter 2:  Marriage

Chapter 3:  Anniversary

Chapter 4: House Exchange

Chapter 5: Beach

Prompt:  Shapeshifting (but not really)

Ages:

Shika:  20

Temari:  22

Summary:  A shift 

*

**

This Summer together was special.  It was the Nara clan's annual celebration that they typically held once in a decade.  Shikamaru had told Temari before coming that the festival was happening that year, and she looked forward to the event.  She donned one of her best yukatas, a deep purple with embroidered gold flowers and fans, an elaborate hair ornament crowning her head.  She wanted to look her best, now it seemed even more important.  This was something of their first introduction to the clan as a couple.  She hoped that they would all approve.  They had been tucked away at his house for a few days just together in their own little world.  But the village and the clan couldn’t wait any longer. 

“Ready to go Shikamaru?”

Temari walked out to the living room finding the Nara family standing there.  “Oh, Yoshino, Shikaku, hello.”

Yoshino’s eyes shot wide open.  “I knew it!  How dare you hide that Temari is here! How did you not know?”  She demanded an answer from her husband.  

“In my defense, I’ve been really busy with planning the festival.”  Shikaku tried to defend himself. 

“Hush, no excuses. Oh, Temari you look, beautiful sweet girl.”  That soft tone changed when she turned to her son.  

“This whole time you kept telling me that she wouldn’t be here in time for the festival.  I almost went to Suna to ask her myself.”

“I apologize, Yoshino, I wanted to come earlier and just have some time before having to get to work.  I had always intended to come and assumed that would have been how you would have found out.”  Temari came to his defense.  

“See mom, not my fault.”  Yoshino glared at him but accepted the explanation.  

“Fine.  Is there anything else I should know?”  She asked with a grin at how her son had gravitated to Temari’s side.

Shikamaru rubbed a hand across his tired eyes.  “Ugh, what a drag.  We’re together okay, you were right.”

“Yes!  I knew it!  Oh Shikaku, the grandbabies are going to be adorable!”

“Mom!”

“I can just see it now, a whole bunch of them just running around.”

“Mom!”  Yoshino was no longer listening. Instead, she was floating away on her cloud dreaming of being a doting grandmother. 

“Anyways let’s go, my dear.  We will see you kids at the festival.”  

They just stared as she continued to imagine a future filled with weddings and grandchildren.  

“I’m sorry about that.”  He should have known that she was going to barrel her way into his house.  He’d made up every excuse not to help with the clan’s celebration and to avoid seeing her.  He knew that once it was known that Temari was staying with him she would have become completely involved.  

“No, it’s okay.  She was bound to find out anyway.  I’m surprised that we kept it a secret even just a few days.

He took her hand with a grin. “Still love me?”

Her lips met his before responding.  “Always.”

*

**

The evening was warm with clear starry skies. The clans’ forest was transformed with various activities, games, food, and drink stands.  Nara clan banners heralding their strength and pride. 

They watched while Shikaku delivered the opening address and Temari felt pretty proud that one day she’d really be a Nara.  

All the clan members that they passed by looked at them with interested and knowing eyes.  Shikamaru held her proudly while in the presence of his family and friends.  

“Well, it seems like everyone knows.”

He grinned placing a soft kiss on her hand.  “Come on Tem, they knew years ago.  We needed to catch up.”  

“You’re probably right.”

After playing various games and eating delicious food they stopped by a coffee stand. It was run by one of his Aunts that was all too excited and happy to see the couple there together. 

They sat together watching everyone enjoy the festivities.  The love and camaraderie shared by all the people present.  Her eyes were drawn to the families.  Parents chasing around small children. 

“So where do we go from here?”

He looked at her confused.  “What do you mean?”

“I’ll only be here for a few more weeks.  What happens when I go back to Suna?”

He paused a thoughtful look crossing his face.  “It will be hard for sure but whether you’re here or there, I want us.  I’m going to go back with you to Suna at the end of Summer.  We are going to tell your mom and brothers about us.  Then I’m going to tell the Council that they can fuck right off with this suitor bullshit.  We’ll make it work Tem.”

“How can you be so sure?”  He kissed away the uncertain look on her face.  

“Because we are both difficult and stubborn people.  If we want to be together, nothing is going to stop us.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at his reasoning, maybe it was as simple as that.  “I do want to be with you.”

“That’s the first time you’ve ever admitted that.”  He teased her with a smile.

“We’ve come a long way from me running away from you.  Although that could be fun…”  Her eyes sparkled with mischief.  

“Temari?  No, you’re not seriously thinking about-”  She cut off his thoughts with a deep kiss.  Her lips were warm and he could taste the coffee on her tongue.  Her hand traveled under his yukata to rub against his chest reminding him of their earlier activities. 

“Tem…”

“Come catch me.”  She grinned and before he could react she was off and running.  He watched her for a second and smiled remembering how their story began.  He broke out into a run ready to chase new adventures. 

Flashforward

It was a warm Summer day when they made their way to the Nara forest.  Temari held Shikamaru’s hand tightly while she fell into the beauty and serenity of it all.  She requested to go to the anniversary grove even though the cherry blossom trees weren’t in their full bloom. She still loved the bright green canopy that hung above them. 

He walked them past their familiar spot and up a small slope.  It was such a picture-perfect day that had nothing to do with the weather, but more about the company.  Having a long-distance relationship for the last few years was difficult but they would do anything to be together. 

Shikamaru held her closely. Having her back here gave him a sense of completion that he was missing.  She always took a part of his heart with her when she was gone.  “Today is a special day.”  

 She gazed up at him confused.  “And why is that?”

He kissed her softly, a warm hand cradling her face.  “Well today, ten years ago I got assigned to escort around a bratty Princess.  At the time it felt like a death sentence. What I didn’t know then was that it was going to change my life in the best way possible.”

She grinned floored that he knew the exact date.  “I hated you so much.”

“Right back at you.”  He winked before drawing her into a kiss.  

“Here.”  Surprising her he handed her a potted tree. 

“What is this?”

“An anniversary tree.  We’re going to add it to your other ones.”  Tears immediately appeared in her eyes.  He shifted her and she saw a small plot of land planted with tiny trees.

“These are your trees. There’s nine there now, when we add this one there will be 10.  One for each year that I’ve loved you.”  He kissed away the small tears that fell feeling slightly overwhelmed himself.

“We do need to figure something out.”  She looked up at him waiting for him to continue.  

“In the future, do we plant another tree on this same date or on our wedding anniversary?”

She reached a hand to cover her mouth.  “What?”  She just stared as he got on one knee in front of her.

“Princess Temari, I’ve loved you for most of my life.  I fell in love with you before I even knew what that meant.  You’re demanding and headstrong.  I’m lazy and complain a lot but you make me a better person.  I just want to make you as happy as you’ve made me.  I love you, will you marry me?”

She fell to her knees in front of him to pull him into a kiss with tears running down her cheeks.  

“When I was younger my mom would tell me bedtime stories about how one day a handsome and charming prince would sweep me off my feet.  Then we would live happily ever after.  Who knew that it would be a pineapple head ninja, that cries and smokes too much.  I love you so much Shikamaru.  I can’t wait to marry you.” 

They held onto one another a lifetime of memories and dreams of the future running through them.  This was their idea of love.

The End 

*

**

So ‘shapeshifting’ in the sense that their relationship has shifted hahaha I tried!  This is technically the end of this story.  I really hope that you all liked it!  I had alot of fun writing it.  Thank you for all your love and support!   I appreciate everyone being so kind.  

A million thank yous to everyone who made this week so fantastic!  

So...I do have another chapter...a director cut if you will lol.  It’s smutty so I’m not attaching it to this story.  I will post it as a separate story, rating, tags, and all.  I can’t post it here because of the content but I will post a link to AO3. So check it out if you’d like :D

Love you my sweet deers! Thank you for celebrating this week with me! 

[isolaween]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

At 7 PM, all guests are waiting anxiously. Some are excited, others are nervous, but everyone wonders what will happen now. It's only been a few minutes since the lights went off, but it feels like an eternity.

And then... Golden butterflies, just like those idly flying around, begin to amass at the top of the staircase leading to the second floor. They form a true cloud, which dissolves to reveal none other than the silhouettes of tonight's noble hosts. They wear costumes inspired by 1980's fashion, just fitting for their own temporal origin. And as expected, they start the festivities with the most iconic sentence:

<"HAAAAAPPYYYYYY HALLOWEEEEEEN!!!! AAAAAAAND TRIIIIICK OOOOR TREEEEEEEEAT!!!!">

The lights turn on once again in a burst, as several magical figures, servants of the Ushiromiya family, pop into existence either on the staircase or floating above it, as they bright forth a wave of applause. The spotlights highlight the Golden Witch and the Endless Sorcerer the most, as the latter grabs a microphone to start their presentation.

"Good evening, Spirale City! I hope you folks are ready for a truly spooooky night, where the world of humans and the world of witches comes into contact with each other!"

Then, Beato took the microphone. "There is no need to be afraid, however. This is an once-a-year moment, where the grotesque, the weird, the supernatural, can exist freely, without being afraid of the limitations humans bring to them. This is a night of joy, after all."

"And speaking of limitations, that includes the temporal restrictions fashion imposes to us on a daily basis. This year's theme for our guests' costumes is a Chrono Celebration! No matter whether you came from ancient times or the most distant future, show off your time period's culture and style with pride! I hope to see many people joining this fun. Ihihi!"

"Of course, we wouldn't be so cruel to expel you if you choose to go for another path in your fun. But if you have even the tiiiiniest change of heart about it, check the rooms to the hall's right, where a costume room can be found. Alternatively, you could ask the makeup crew's assistance to make you look like a monstrous being straight from Hell! *Cackle**cackle**cackle*!!"

“Beato, please, we have children here.” He whispers to her ear, before coughing and returning his attention to the audience. “A-Anyway, that is not our only attraction! To your left, you’ll find the parlor, where a karaoke system is set up on the TV. Just ask Hieda no Akyuu (@ninthmiare), who is overseeing it, to help set you up and go have fun singing your lungs out with friends!”

A spotlight shone upon Akyuu over this mention of her, as it would do for any other person mentioned during their speech. “Of course, if you feel like that is too cheerful for a Halloween Party, you can just wait a bit later. Once we hit 11 PM, Akyuu will move to the dinner room, where a ghost story sharing session will start! Bring on your scariest tales, or read some of the material provided to us by a partner of ours-” Beatrice summons business cards for Owl’s Books to everyone’s hands, much like the cards present at the gift baskets, with info about all the partner businesses that collaborated with the party. “-for maximum fright!”

“Those who’d rather partake in a more physical activity can go up the second floor, where Emma (@gracefieldorphan) and Jon K. are responsible for carrying out a hide-and-seek game! It’s open for all ages, so don’t be afraid to join!”

“And for people who’d rather enjoy tonight in a more intellectual manner, we’ll ask you to go all the way up to the third floor. A escape room game shall await those who dare take the challenge. I hope none of you will bore our dear Piper Elenmin (@shadowedstep) with boring reasonings!”

“Lastly, we shall have an ample selection of musical attractions throughout the whole party! Starting at 19:20, we have Ultimate Pianist Kaede Akamatsu (@pureryudo) and famous idol Rise Kujiwawa (@wavesang)! Next, at 20:10, we have the idol duo of Sayo Hikawa (@heroicadvents) and Aya Maruyama (@ayasashi)!!”

“Check in at 21:00 for the spetacular presentation of fellow cute blondes, Rin Kagamine (@rightreflection) and Klavier Gavin (@rockstarprosecutor)! By 21:50, it’ll be time for yet another idol to join us, the versatile GUMI (@mozeik)!!”

“If you’d rather listen to other sorts of music besides singing, just wait until 22:40. First, we’ll have Ecaterina Ciobanu (@unulales) bringing some creepy tunes with her violin! Next, it’ll be the time for Midvalley (@midvalley-the-hornfreak) to captivate us with a saxophone show at 23:30!”

“Music shall accompany us until the end of this magical night. After the stroke of midnight, Dorothea Arnault (@chanteuser) will bring us to a night in the opera, exactly at 00:20! And to end the service, we shall have I-no (@sinfoniette) going feral with her guitar! Huh huh, I can’t wait to have all of you relieving my boredom with your sweet tunes!!”

“Ihihihihi! I think we all will, dear!” Battler says amused, before pulling a more serious face. “....Before we end it for tonight, though, I need to give you folks a general warning. This is meant to be a funny evening, with nothing but positive vibes here. Light hearted pranks are fine, but violence of any sort will not be tolerated. See these?” He points to a golden butterfly flying around. “They’re directly linked to Beato and I’s minds. If any of you try pulling anything ‘funny’ that would disrupt the party, we will know.”

“And the consequences for such violations of our hospitality will be dire.” Beato adds. “We have a strong security team. We trust them to be able of handling most rumbuctious folks. If you insist on offering resistance, however, goat butlers will appear around you and immobilize you. If that doesn’t suffice, we have our higher ranked furniture, such as the Seven Stakes of Purgatory or the Chiester Sisters, to deal with such elements.”

“And if even after all that, you insist on spoiling people’s fun...” Battler raises his hand, where a small glass-like Fragment appears. “You will be sent to this Time-Out Fragment until the end of the party. It’s pretty much a pocket dimension, so don’t think you can escape if it gets to this.”

As soon as he finished that, Battler broke into a happy smile and clapped his hands. “So, I hope everyone enjoys the party! Thank you to everyone who came, and to everyone that helped and is helping us right now! Oh, and a last thing. If any of you gets hurt or feels ill, check the medical room, where you’ll receive due treatment. That is it for now!”

With that, Battler and Beatrice teleported away from the staircase, freeing the way up. They must be somewhere in the crowd now, as they wish to enjoy the party as everyone else...

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(Hello, everybody! This is Battler-mun talking. Welcome to the first edition of Isolaween! Following the tradition of C*ttaween, this party will last ICly from October 4h, 7 PM, to October 5th, 2 AM. These are very special dates for the Umineko fandom, which is why the party happens this early.

OOCly, the party will last from this post’s bublishing time, which should be midnight of October 4th (Isola time) to midnight of October 11th (Isola time), unless the mods request us to end it earlier. You can obviously continue threads related to the party until then, but make sure to publish your starters and opens before end time! And remember: use the tag #isolaween2k19 so we and everyone else can see your interactions at the party!

Below are maps of the mansion, so you folks have an spacial reference on where each room is in relation to the others:

As mentioned in the text, there will be musical presentations during this period, which will consist of drabbles written by the collaborative muns. The OOC dates for each presentation is below, so keep a look at these blogs at the corresponding day:

- Kaede and Rise: 10/4

- Sayo and Aya: 10/5

- Rin and Klavier: 10/6

- GUMI: 10/7

- Ecaterina: 10/8

- Midvalley: 10/9

- Dorothea: 10/10 (Around midday)

- I-no: 10/10 (Evening)

The rules of the festivities have already been well laid ICly, so I won’t repeat myself here. Just let’s try keeping things positive during the party, ok? Any doubt just ask either me (@ingoldentent) or Beato-mun (@goldenless) And above all, let’s have fun! Now excuse me while I go download Ciconia…)

[giranswife]

Busy Holiday

Summary: It’s that time of year again, and Ashley is helping Marielle and the others get ready for another week of holiday fun. This is causing her schedule to be a little full, which means her and Shiroe haven’t been exactly able to enjoy the holidays together as they should.

W: self-insert x canon, fluff

(( I know I haven’t posted in a while, but I wrote this last night and it was super cute. writing these holiday fics is helping me get kinda back into the writing groove, but also helping me feel better bc I’m kinda not rly feeling good physically right now. But here’s a fic with my husband who I miss terribly. I might make a part two to this for the feast! because I miss my lh family so much ))

The holidays are probably my favorite time of year. Especially coming right off of fall which is my favorite season, my mood just grows and grows as the months pass. And with my favorite holiday here, you could say happiness was it it’s highest. Even today with only a couple more days away, I was running around and trying to get everything situated given Marielle was putting together another festival. Being her sister meant I had a lot of grunt work.

Eventually I ended up feeling pretty tired, having ran around all morning taken care of errands for Henrietta on top of everything Marielle needed me to do. Not to mention the kids in both guilds wanted me to help them decorate for both guild halls, and I had to pick one to do today and then one to do tomorrow morning. Log Horizon won today, mainly because this is my guild now and because once I arrived here tonight I wasn’t getting back out.

The idea of settling down with friends and doing something fun like decorating just seemed like the relaxation I needed. Not to mention Minori seemed excited since I’d been pretty busy and hadn’t gotten a chance to really be around much. Last night while I was helping clean up after dinner, she was rattling off to me about how funny it was seeing me so busy.

“Usually it’s Master Shiroe who’s never around. Has he started rubbing off on you or something?” She asked with a little giggle at the end.

I rolled my eyes a little and bumped my hip into hers playfully.

“Yeah, yeah. Very funny. But you’re not wrong. I don’t think we’ve really seen much of each other lately. Marielle has us both really busy.”

I started drying off a couple dishes, remembering the past couple nights that we’ve tried to see each other and it just fell short. The only moment that I had for a break was to eat a quick lunch and that was conveniently the same time he was leaving for a round table meeting. I smiled remembering the small kiss that he gave me on the forehead, quickly apologizing and promising to see me afterwards.

But at that point I had to rush back to Crescent Moon to discuss feast plans with Henrietta. That involved list making and recipe exchanges, running back and forth making sure both chefs at both guilds were on the same pages. Which meant by the time I got back, I had to eat my dinner alone in the kitchen with Serera to keep me company.

Which I had no complaints about. She is an absolute angel, and we got to talking about all the different things she wanted to help me do this year. Taking as much load off my back that she could do, mainly wanting to be in the kitchen with Nyanta as much as possible. Which I had already planned for, but just hearing her go on and on was a real treat.

She and Minori are the biggest reasons why I realized I desperately wanted children of my own. They were both older, of course, but they still gave me that sense of mothering just by how I naturally am with them. Well, with Minori I’m more of a sister to, but there’s still moments where the inner future mom in me comes out. It’s just a hope that I have that one day I can have that opportunity.

Serera, though, I would adopt her if I could. She’s just this ball of energy and an angel that I adore more than words. I definitely love her just like she was one of my own, and I definitely consider her to be family probably more than anyone. I would die for her a thousand fucking times, and before I left for the night I squeezed my arms around her and told her to never change. Stay as innocent like this for as long as she freaking can.

By the time I got to bed, Shiroe was still working, and I didn’t have the energy to bring him to bed. The only time we got to see each other was in the morning before we both ran off to finish what we had to do that day. It’s amazing that the two of us are hard working, but it definitely reminds me why it would be better if just one of us was.

We’d never get to see each other if that were the case. I knew that it was likely just the business of the season and everything going on, but I knew that the two of us were upset about it. After all, this was supposed to be a time for us to be together. It was our first holiday celebrating prior to our engagement, and we should be spending more time together. Being able to enjoy it is the whole point, and so far that hasn’t really been the case.

But I was also enjoying being able to help ease Marielle’s stress, and help both guilds have a fun time that I had completely forgotten about my own wishes. And Shiroe’s, for that matter. Because he mattered too, and I didn’t want him to forget about that. Or feel like I was forgetting about him.

Which is why I had hoped that the two of us could eventually do something together, once we found the time.

I was in the kitchen after a long day, talking with Nyanta as Serera assisted him with some baked goods for the feast tomorrow night. Henrietta wanted to put together a little something between just the two guilds to get together and have a little fun. It’s been a while since we’ve done something like that, and she promised that she had everything else taken care of so I could sleep in tomorrow. I was definitely looking forward to that, having felt just how tired I was the second I walked in and smelled the delicious aromas.

“Oh that smells amazing,” I mumbled, feeling my mouth water.

“Hey Ashley! Finished everything?”

Serera was checking on something in the oven, putting down her mitts and running over to give me a hug. I smiled, patting her back and giving a small nod of response.

“Thankfully. Everything is pretty much done, which means I can relax until tomorrow evening.”

“They finally gave you a break, hmm?”

I nodded, letting out a little sigh of relief.

“I love them both, but they have had me running around like freaking crazy. I swear my feet are starting to swell. Can’t remember when the last time was that I even sat down.”

“Want me to get you a stool to sit on?”

“That’s fine, Serera, baby. I’m about to go help finish up with the decorations in a few minutes. Anybody know where Shiroe is?”

“Last I heard of him he was still cooped up with more paperwork. No surprise there,” Naotsugu’s voice chimed in as he sauntered in.

He reached to grab one of the pastries on the counter, just as Serera swatted it from his hands. My eyes widened, and I watched him glance after her as she shoved the plate away from him as quickly as possible. It took everything out of me not to burst out laughing, but I was mainly afraid that once I started I wouldn’t stop. Given that I was so completely exhausted.

“Those are for tomorrow!”

“Okay, okay! Geez!”

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Sayeko anyway?” I asked with a lift of my brows.

But the look that he gave me in response was equally as questionable.

“Should I kinda say the same to you? When’s the last time you guys have even seen each other since Marielle started ordering you around.”

“First off, I voluntarily am doing this. Second off--”

I started to say something sarcastic, but I quickly realized I really didn’t have a leg to stand on. He was kind of right, and normally I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction but tonight I wasn’t really in the mood. With a deep sigh, my shoulders slumped forward and I pressed my hand against my forehead.

“To be honest… we’ve barely said a word to each other these past couple of days. We’re both just so busy, and it sucks.”

“Just tell Marielle that you need a break. Sure she’ll understand. She’s your sister for god’s sake.”

“Yeah… You’re right. I’m just really guilty.”

“I mean, this is kinda Shiroe’s thing. Just makes it worse when you’re always constantly working too.”

I nodded, knowing that he was actually speaking a lot of truth. Something that Naotsugu tends to do at times. But I wasn't about to tease him for it, again. Not really being in the mood and mainly wanting to keep things on good terms. After all, I was in the holiday mood which meant not a lot of attitude coming out of me.

He told me a bit about his plans with Sayeko as the two of us walked back into the main hall where the rest of the kids already were having tea that Nyanta had prepared earlier. It seemed they were all waiting for me pretty patiently, which I thought was incredibly sweet and adorable. I couldn’t wait to relax and finally get off my feet.

“There she is!”

“We were afraid that you passed out on us.”

Letting out a laugh, I ruffled most of their heads and leaned back on the back of the couch to watch Isuzu strum a bit. She wasn’t playing very loudly, and it was clear that she was just trying to pass the time. But I always loved listening to her regardless. Listening a little longer might have lulled me to sleep had I not been standing up.

“You sure you’re feeling okay, Ashley?” Tohya asked me with a concerned look on his face.

I nodded, letting out a small yawn as my tails ruffled.

“Yeah, Tohya, I’m fine. A little tired, but I’ll be okay.”

I smiled to try to help them relax, but it didn’t seem to help much. It must have been clear on my face just how tired I was. But I wasn’t going to let them push me out of the room whenever I had made the decision to do this. Plus, I really wanted to be here! No amount of tired could stop me, but I did spend a couple seconds looking around the room.

“If you’re looking for Master Shiroe, he’s still busy,” Minori responded, setting down a box of decorations that she started rummaging through.

“Oh… right…”

Naotsugu noticed the disappointment on my face, nudging me forward a bit with a smile.

With a soft sigh, I nodded in silent understanding and softly gave my cheeks a slap to wake myself up. “Alright, well, let’s go ahead and get started before I actually fall asleep on y’all,” I said with a laugh.

Everyone was curious about how I was able to do all of this, seeing as I never really seemed to work this hard before. It was pretty easy to explain, considering this was one of my favorite holiday’s and I honestly felt like Shiroe might be influencing me a bit. Whether that was good or bad, I wasn’t really all that sure.

It wasn’t that long into the conversation that I heard everyone speak up and greet him. I couldn’t have turned around fast enough, extremely happy to see his face after the rather long day that I had. It was kinda hard to hide too from the way my tails swayed, having all of them out just because they mainly looked cute in the outfit I had on. And Shiroe had made me feel less embarrassed about having all nine of my tails.

“Hey love,” I said with the biggest smile I’ve had all day.

He smiled tiredly, but it was obvious that he was happy to see me too.

He looked adorable too and definitely not like he had been working all day. Wearing his nice sweater and was in the middle of putting on his coat whenever I had turned around. Almost like he was about to go somewhere, and that kind of had me a little disappointed. Where could he be going this late at night? Unless he had some last minute meeting that I forgot about.

“Hey Ashley-”

“You look… nice.”

I still kept smiling, but there was a hint of confusion in my voice. A reaction that he didn’t seem to see coming, and it was quite clear on his face. It was definitely obvious that there was something I was missing here. Even everyone else around us seemed to notice it, the collection of voices slowly falling until there was mild silence.

“Everything… okay?” I asked, getting a little nervous.

“Yeah, uhm… you forgot didn’t you?”

Tilting my head curious, I looked at him with my thoughts cycling through, trying to understand what he meant. Shiroe and I really hadn’t got much chance to talk over the past couple of days, so I couldn’t exactly pinpoint when we had time to make plans. It wasn’t until I remembered yesterday whenever I had stopped to see him before the meeting.

I remembered when he kissed my forehead and went towards the door, he promised me that tomorrow night he would take me out to make up for this. It was very quick, and I did hear him and register it, but I must have just forgotten in between every task I had to do. The second that I realized it, I knew that I had messed up.

“Oh god, I did! I’m so sorry baby!”

Naotsugu made a low ‘ooo’ sound and slowly backed away, which definitely didn’t help the situation. I rolled my eyes so hard that they could have flew out of my head, and I turned my attention back to Shiroe. It looked like he was trying really hard not to let me see how disappointed he was, which honestly I didn’t blame him. I felt extremely shitty in that moment.

“It’s okay, Sweetheart. I know you’ve been busy. We both have.”

“Yeah, but… You obviously went through the trouble to get dressed up, and I… I forgot.”

“It’s okay, really. I mean it.”

He took my hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze. Trying to reassure me knowing that I was stressed out, but it still made me feel bad. Especially since I really wanted to spend time with him, but I knew that I also made a promise to the kids as well.

My heart sank, and I didn’t know what to do. And Shiroe was too sweet to make it a thing, which I was partially grateful for given that the kids were around. All I could do was stand there and squeezed his hand, taking in how amazing it felt in my own. I’ve missed his touch that I had started to crave it, even though it really hasn’t been that long. My body just needed it so badly.

He kissed my forehead, giving me a soft smile.

“I’ll go make some fresh tea,” He said, walking off towards the kitchen.

Pursing my lips together, I watched him walk away with my eyes stinging. This was the first time I actually felt like I disappointed him like this. It wasn’t a good feeling, and I understood exactly how he felt whenever he was really busy and forgot something that we had planned.

I turned around towards the others, feeling my ears dropping a little. There was a decision that I had to make here. Knowing that either way I was going to disappoint people, and that’s not something that I really like to do. It was clear on my face that I felt terrible, and before I even opened my mouth Minori spoke up.

“Say no more! You guys go!”

“Huh?”

“Yeah! We can take care of the rest.”

“You two deserve a break, after all.”

A soft smile spread onto my face, and I saw Naotsugu give me a little nod. He patted Tohya on the shoulder, holding a thumbs up. “Don’t worry, I’ll hold the fort here until Sayeko gets here,” He said.

I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling my heart calming down a little. It made me feel good knowing that they were all so sweet and understanding. They really were all amazing, and I felt a little better about the whole thing. And it also meant that I could see Shiroe, who I desperately needed to give my time and attention.

“Thank you guys. I love you so much. I’ll see y’all tomorrow at the party, okay?”

They waved me off, turning their attention back to their own conversation and clearly not at all bothered with me dipping out.

I trotted into the kitchen, seeing Shiroe idly chatting with Nyanta. He barely noticed me walk in, and I took the opportunity to wrap my arms around his middle from behind and squeeze him tight. He jumped a little in surprise, glancing over to see my smile.

“I’m really sorry,” I said softly, kissing his shoulder, “But you’re important to me. And you should feel important to me.”

“I know, Sweetheart. But I really don’t mind-”

“Stop, it’s okay to be upset! I know that you’re upset, but I’m gonna make it up to you. So whatever you want to do tonight, I’m there.”

“What about the others?”

“Naotsugu’s got it covered, and they’re actually very cool and understanding.”

I giggled a little, feeling his shoulders starting to relax. There was even a bigger smile on his face that appeared which made my heart skip a beat. He turned around and wrapped his arms around me, pressing a kiss to my cheek. There was a loud giggle that escaped my lips, and my cheeks brightened.

“That sounds amazing,” He said, touching his nose to mine and leaving me breathless.

This. This is what I had been missing. The second that he put his arms around me, I felt entirely at home. I was relaxed and I was comfortable. Nothing else mattered in this world but being with him. Feeling his arms around me and breathing in his scent. He really was my safe place and my comfort space.

Nyanta cleared his throat, and it was at that moment we realized we weren’t alone. Shiroe slowly pulled away, chuckling nervously and pulling at his collar.

“Uh… I’ll leave the tea out for the others.”

He nodded, and there was clearly a smirk that both of us completely ignored.

Shiroe took my hand, lacing his fingers with my own and the two of us talked about what we were going to do that night. Turns out Shiroe had a couple things planned, mainly just to walk around town since it was actually really pretty out and I hadn’t gotten to just enjoy it. Honestly, anything with him sounded like a wonderful idea.

It was pretty chilly, and every time I spoke I could see the cloud of my breath. But honestly, I loved this weather a lot. I’ve always enjoyed the cold more, being someone who feels more relaxed whenever it’s cold out. But with all of the lights it seemed to feel a bit warmer whenever we were passing by a few shops were still open.

“So do you have much to do tomorrow?” Shiroe asked.

I shook my head, leaning against his shoulder.

“Thankfully. Henrietta knew that I needed a break, so she told me that I am completely free to sleep in and enjoy the dinner tomorrow.”

“That’s great.”

Nodding in response, I breathed in his scent and squeezed his hand rather tight.

“What about you?”

“I finished up a lot today, so it seems like I’m going to be free too.”

“Really?”

He nodded, shifting hair from my face and watching my smile form. It meant the world to me to know that tomorrow we’d be with each other all day. This was the first time in a while that this has happened, and I knew that he had made sure of that. It was just the one thing that I needed to fully relax and enjoy the day.

We passed by someone that we knew selling some hot beverages, and we stopped by to grab some. Shiroe chatted a little bit with them while I just stared at his face, seeing the way that he smiled and looked like he was genuinely enjoying himself. Maybe it was just an excuse to look at his cute face, either way I was completely lost.

When he turned back around, I still wasn’t looking away and the pink on his cheeks was definitely not just from the cold. I let out a giggle, taking a sip of my drink and giving his hand a tug. We continued walking just to talk, stopping at one shop just to see a gift that I could possibly grab for Akatsuki. She was the only person I hadn’t gotten anything for yet, mainly because I couldn’t find anything that she doesn’t already have.

“Is there anything that you want?” I asked, “Not that I haven’t got the perfect gift I’m just asking.”

Shiroe chuckled, stopping near a tree and watching me take a small sip of my drink.

“I’m looking right at it.”

My lips curled into a smile, and I gave him a rather teasing look.

“You already have me, besides that’s not really an option.”

“Why not?” He asked, wrapping his arms around my middle and pulling me closer, “All I want is just to be with you.”

A giggle escaped my lips, and it was loud enough for me to shove my face back into the cup in front of me. I knew that people were probably staring, but at this point I wasn’t even paying much attention. Not to mention most people know us anyway and wouldn’t really pay us any mind at all.

Shiroe was definitely a lot bolder now than he used to me. I would never have imagined him holding me like this. PDA was not really his thing before, and it still isn’t entirely, but he’ll hold my hand and hug me a bit no problem. He is still the flustered man I fell in love with, but he’s getting a lot bolder. Which I’m not going to complain about.

“Baaaby-”

“It’s true. I miss you,” He said, “We’ve both been working a lot, and I think that we need to give ourselves a bit of a break.”

“I agree… I miss you too. I guess I got a little wrapped up in helping Marielle that I forgot that we deserve to have fun too.”

He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, smiling warmly in such a way that made my heart feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Shiroe gave me a soft kiss on the lips, before taking my hand and pulling me back towards the guild hall. The two of us were feeling pretty tired and just wanted to go back and climb into bed. Since we had tomorrow off, I’m sure that we planned to rest and relax. The idea sounded like the perfect way to end this hectic week.

“Hey, wait-” I spoke up, seeing him lift his brows.

There was a small silence between us before I grinned.

“Did you just actually say that we need to take a break? As in you need to take a break?”

He let out a loud sigh, rolling his eyes and trying to get me to keep walking. But I wasn’t having it. I kept teasing him and teasing him over and over again. Just because I knew that he was going to have that exact reaction.

I was sure that was the most that I’ve laughed in days, and part of it had to be because I was extremely tired. There was no way that anyone was getting me out of that bed tomorrow until at least two in the afternoon.