#my world's gonna get a lot smaller and quieter when he's no longer in it

[slippery-minghus]

augh i just can't stop thinking about itttt

[fantastic-bby]

SKZ as animal hybrid boyfriends

Pairing: Reader x Members

Word count: 2.9k

Genre: Fluff | Headcanon | Animal Hybrid/Shifter AU | Boyfriend AU

Warnings: Very brief mention of spiders

Masterlist

Chan

A husky hybrid

Has the CUTEST pair of gray and white ears that stick out of the top of his head

Also has the most gorgeous pair of pale blue eyes that glow in the dark

He has a fluffy white tail that wags like crazy whenever he’s excited because he doesn’t know how to stop it from showing

He’s also the sweetest boyfriend in. The. WORLD!

Always asks how you’re doing

Makes sure your not missing any meals and that you’re always hydrated

Every morning, he wakes you up with cute good morning texts and he always tries to send you good night texts sometimes forgets because he gets so caught up in work

He makes up for it tho

Sends flowers to your place whenever he forgets uwu

Chan’s the perfect boyfriend

The only problem is that you’re allergic to dogs

He didn’t realise why you always seemed to sneezy and stuffy whenever you would come over to his place

Until you told him

And his reaction makes you feel like you just told him the most horrific thing in the world

To him it is!!!!

Because he’s the reason that you’ve been having allergic reactions around him!!

He starts vacuuming his place more often to keep any fur away and makes sure to keep the area super clean so that you’re clear from anything that could cause a reaction

He also starts lint rolling and vacuuming his clothes before giving them to you so that you don’t take any of his fur home unless you ask him to leave his fur

Chan gets confused whenever you tell him that you don’t want him to vacuum or wash his hoodies before giving them to you

But you like them because every time you see the strands of gray and white fur sticking out of his hoodie, it reminds you of him

So instead,

Chan starts buying a crap ton of allergy meds

Puts them in every corner of his house

In the bathroom

The kitchen

The living room

The bedroom

Literally everywhere just in case you get a super bad reaction

That way he’s always prepared for anything

Minho

A maine coon hybrid

The most luscious fur ever known to man

His cat ears are so fluffy and always well groomed

He has this beautiful fluffy orange tail that he’s gotten pretty good at hiding his feelings with

Usually a hybrid’s animal features would probably give away their emotions, but Minho learned to control his ears and tails really well

It’s just that his ears are really sensitive and they flick around every few seconds whenever he’s in a crowded place

He has a pair of yellow eyes that are constantly in the shape of slits simply because he wants to intimidate everyone around him

Also always has his claws out because they intimidate strangers

Wouldn’t tell anyone, but Minho lets his pupils dilate when he’s alone with you (´∀｀)♡

He also likes to tease you a lot but you know he’s just joking because if he was serious, his tail wouldn’t be so related

You try not to tell him because then he’ll start working harder to hide his tail swishes

Is the most precious yet teasing boyfriend out there

He’ll make a joke about you eating a lot of ice cream whenever you’re sad, but he’ll always have your favourite ice cream in the freezer

If you complain about some kind of muscle pain, Min would call you weak but then also come home with muscle relief patches that he’ll stick to you himself

Minho likes to shift into cat form if you’re stressed because then it means that he wouldn’t really disturb you a lot

His footsteps are way quieter when he’s in cat form as compared to human form

So if you’re stressed or tired and you ask him to give you time

Minho would shift and hide in one of the cat towers he bought for himself until he hears you coming out of the bedroom

The moment he hears the sound of the bedroom door opening, he’ll lift his head and peek out from the top

If you sit on the floor right in front of the tower, Minho will scurry off of the tower to sit in your lap to

But if you don’t even look at the tower and you instead go to the kitchen, he’ll wait a bit longer to give you more time

Changbin

Yk I wanna say he’d be some cursed Dwaekki hybrid the skzoo dwaekki haunts me in my sleep

But I genuinely feel like he’d be something really threatening like a wild animal

So if Chan’s a husky and Minho’s a maine coon

I’m gonna throw Changbin in as a grizzly bear because he’s a tank of a man and I love him for that

His ears are dark brown and rounded, poking out from the top of his head

His eyes are super dark brown and sometimes you can’t even tell if you’re able to see the white in his eyes bcs his pupils are just that big

His hands have these huge black claws that could claw someone apart if he wanted to

Also has a cute brown tail that he often hides underneath his clothes because it’s small enough for him to sit on

He gives THE BEST CUDDLESSSS!!!!!

Sometimes shifts into bear form just to cuddle you because it’s cold and relying on the heater might make it too warm

So Binnie likes to use his own fur to warm you up if he notices you shivering

Also would not hesitate to bear his teeth at anyone who tries to hurt you

Changbin doesn’t really tell anyone this

But one of his proudest bear traits is his ability to vocalise like a bear

Which means that whenever he feels the need to protect you or whoever’s around him

He will growl like a bear

And it’s terrifying

You didn’t even know that Changbin could roar until one night when a stranger wouldn't take your ‘no’ as an answer and your boyfriend almost lost his mind

He pulled you behind him and grabbed the collar of their shirt and just roared at them

The stranger being a hybrid of a smaller bear species immediately scrambled off

But Changbin also immediately switches back into sweet, cuddly boyfriend the moment he turns back to you <3

Hyunjin

A sphynx hybrid

Very dramatic

Very loud

He has pink cat ears sticking out of the top of his head with a little black splotch on his left ear

He also has this naked pink tail that sticks out from underneath his shirt

Every minor inconvenience and Hyunjin’s meowing and whining to you about it and you think it’s funny every time he does

Like the time he misplaced his sock and was crying all over your shared home looking for it until he found it underneath the bed

His claws are retractable, so he usually hides them because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone on accident unlike Minho

He’s VERY cuddly both in human form and cat form

Hyunjin likes to do the ‘kneading the dough’ thing whenever you’re cuddling

And ends up leaving holes in your clothes because his claws would accidentally grab onto the fabric

Would also feel really bad afterwards because now he’s ruined your shirt

You reassure him that it’s fine

But Hyunjin’s dramatic also kinda wants an excuse to go shopping with you

So he cries about it and it leads to him dragging you to the mall so that he can buy you a new one

Ends up getting distracted at a cat cafe because he’s made conversation with one of the cats there

And he’s basically talking to them like he’s a middle aged wine mom talking about their weird husbands

You have to remind him what the goal is

But he’s so immersed in the conversation with the orange tabby that you can only watch in amusement

Hyunjin’s talking to it in English while the cat nods with it’s tail swishing every time he asks it a question, mewling every once in a while as a response

You watch with a smile on your face, chin resting against the palm of your hand as you listen

You can only gather that Hyunjin’s telling the cat about why you’re at the mall

And the cat turns to you with a bored expression on its face before meowing

“She says good luck on finding a new shirt”

You nod and reach out to pet the cat’s head as thanks

You and Hyunjin leave after a while

And soon, the trip to get one shirt turns into a shared shopping spree

Jisung

Kinda obvious but he’s a squirrel hybrid

He has a pair of rounded, light brown ears on the top of his head

A bushy light brown tail that bumps into everything whenever he’s in cramped spaces

And the CUTEST pair of brown eyes EVERRRRR

His squirrel trait is where he gets the habit of stuffing food into his cheeks whenever he eats

Ji’s really good at climbing

So he has this long ass piece of wood that he keeps in the living room of his home so that he can still climb something in squirrel form if he can’t go outside

He also has tiny black claws that he uses mainly for practicality when he's in human form

So stuff like cutting into plastic, through strings and to open mail

He just slides his finger across the top of the envelope and boom

Jisung’s quite clumsy

It doesn’t help that he has this huge, bushy tail behind him

He bumps you with it a lot and he’s always so apologetic over it

But it’s fine because it’s his tail and it’s soft and cute and it’s part of Jisung UwU

There were a couple of times where you would wake up and his tail would be tickling your sides

So you’d wake up giggling

And it would wake him up too

He’d turn around and immediately wrap his arms around your waist to cuddle into you

You love playing with his ears

Jisung’s really responsive whenever you pet his squirrel features

So if you touch his tail in public

He’s jolting forward like AHHH

And you like to gently rub his ears whenever you’re cuddling

Jisung usually ends up cuddling into you more because he really likes it whenever you play with his ears

He has a habit of making those squirrel squeaks whenever he’s uncomfortable

So in public, if he feels like he’s overwhelmed or wants to leave

He’ll cling onto your arm and start squeaking softly so that only you’re able to hear

And it’s an easy way for you to know that he wants to leave without him actually telling you

Felix

Horned owl hybrid

He has two sets of white and brown feathers that poke out from the top of his head and curls to the back

He does, however, have talons at his fingertips that he doesn’t really like because it gets caught on a lot of things

Has feathers running down his arms, but can’t actually fly in human form

His eyes are this beautiful amber colour

He also has a lot of hanging stuff in his house that he likes to fly back and forth to whenever he shifts into owl form

Absolutely loves doing the head spinning trick because you freaked out the first time you saw him do it as a human

Felix also has really light footsteps

So sometimes you don’t even hear him coming into a room and suddenly he’s beside you

Which scares you sometimes

Overall, Felix is just unintentionally scary.

Buuuut

Because he has really good eyesight at night

And because he’s nocturnal

He sleeps in the day

Which means that all of his work is done at night while you’re asleep

His hearing is intense which means that he could hear the smallest pin dropping in the kitchen from the bedroom

So when he hears something strange coming from the kitchen

He’s immediately crawling out of bed and peeking out of the bedroom door

That’s when he sees a spider crawling out from behind the fridge

A huge spider

Now, Felix does NOT like spiders

But he knows that if you wake up in the middle of the night to get a drink, then you’re going to be freaked out by too

But he should be able to toss it out the window in owl form

So Felix pops open one of the windows and shifts

His silent flying and sharp night vision make it a quick mission that’s executed without much hassle

He manages to grab the spider with his talons and just tosses it straight out of the window

By the time Felix has returned to the bedroom

You’ve woken up because you realised he wasn’t beside you anymore

So he climbs back into bed and lets you hold onto him while you fall back asleep

Seungmin

Labrador hybrid

Has a pair of golden ears flopping over the top of his head

Also has a golden tail that he usually hides because if he gets over excited then it’ll wag all over the place and might bump into things

Is a relatively quiet person and is also a quiet dog

He doesn’t say or bark that much

But you’ve come to learn how to read his body language

Because his posture both in human form and dog form speak his thoughts

Like whenever he’s standing tall then you’ll figure that Minnie’s probably uncomfortable or feels threatened

As quiet as he is

He’s extremely attentive to your needs as well

Seungmin’s able to catch your body language way quicker than you are at reading his

Which means that the moment you look uncomfortable, he’s immediately moving to stand beside you with an arm wrapped around you

Think of it as that TikTok trend that’s like ‘using my scary dog privilege’

In this case

Seungmin’s more than happy to be the scary dog that lets you walk around alone

He’d bark and bite at anything or anyone who would try to hurt you

Even in human form, he’d growl as a warning to other animal hybrids that are around you

Whenever you’re out in public, Seungmin tries to stay by your side just in case anything happens

But when he has to part from you to talk to another group of your friends

He keeps you in his line of sight

He’d always angle himself in conversations so that the person he’s talking to has their back facing you so that he’s able to see you

And when a cat hybrid suddenly approaches you

Seungmin’s more on the attentive side but he hasn’t gone into protective mode because you don’t look uncomfortable

But then your frame starts to shrink

He immediately changes his posture

Which scares the people around him because suddenly, Seungmin looks so scary

He waits a moment longer and the moment you start looking around the room for him, he’s shoved his drink into the hands of Hyunjin so that he can make his way over to you

He slings his arm over your shoulder and glares at the cat hybrid who’s now extremely intimidated by the presence of the labrador hybrid

Seungmin leans close to the cat and growls at them until they run off

He stays with you for the rest of the night and the way he stays in protective mode makes you feel safe

Until you get home and Seungmin’s back to this ball of cuddle fluff that you absolutely love (｡♥‿♥｡)

Jeongin

Fennec fox hybrid

Has a big pair of white fluffy ears that poke out of his head

Has a fluffy white tail that blends into a more golden colour that’s long enough to poke out from underneath his shirt

He has super insane hearing

Even if he has headphones in, he can hear the outside world

Bodes well for him because whenever you walk into his apartment, he’ll walk out immediately to greet you

He never actually feels hot or warm because his body heat radiates off of his ears

Is always cold in human form

In fox form, his fur insulates his body instead so he doesn’t feel much of a difference

Has a habit of not drinking for hours because he can get stuck in his fox form

Also has a habit of chewing on your desk plants if he deems them edible

Unfortunately for you, that means you’ll come home to your beautiful plant babies half eaten and munched away because your fox boyfriend wanted a snack

To solve this problem, you filled the fridge with berries and vegetables for whenever he feels like snacking

But sometimes he goes overboard and he pretty much eats everything he can find when he forgets to eat for a while

He’s a fox hybrid that doesn’t know how to shift on command

Usually he has this big urge to shift but he’ll be stuck in one form for a while before being able to switch

He doesn’t know any other fox hybrids

So Jeongin has to learn to control his animalistic instincts with the help of you!

His human partner

Lucky for the both of you

You have a friend who’s a red fox hybrid

She’s not a fennec fox

But she still shares similar instincts to Jeongin because they’re both fox hybrids

So now Jeongin comes to you with the biggest smile on his face whenever he’s accomplished something, gushing about how Fox Noona taught him how to shift on command

He’ll show you

And you watch as he shifts into this tiny little fennec fox with a big smile on his snout (Ｔ▽Ｔ)

[petri808]

I3+Bakudeku mutual pining idiots Actor AU @miss-lorali request. I’m an idiot cause my idea is gonna be waaaay longer then I was aiming for lol.

“Okay,” the hiring director motioned for the pair to move closer. “Mr. Midoriya, remember you’re a scientist and Bakugou’s character is here to take you to safety. But you don’t understand why just yet. So, if you are ready, please begin the reading.”

Katsuki gesturing wildly, “pack it up quick nerd, we gotta get out of here before DAV gets here!”

Izuku pretending to complete a file download. He slammed his fist on the imaginary desk. “I can’t make the computer move faster! I don’t even understand what the hell is going on!”

Katsuki, “you’re science experiments aren’t important, we—”

Izuku straightened out, walked over and placed a finger on the larger man’s chest, running it slowly down from his collarbone to his pecs, while lowering his tone and narrowing his eyes. “Oh,” his brow raised, “and what would a grunt like you know about science?”

Katsuki slapped his hand away in annoyance, though a light flush arose on his tinged cheeks. “F-Fuck off!” He gritted back. “Just hurry the fuck up!”

“Yeah, yeah...” Izuku went back to the imaginary desk and pretended to type something. “30 seconds, fast enough for you? Probably like your bedroom speed,” he mumbled the last portion.

“What?!”

“And cut!” The hiring director yelled. “That was perfect!! Midoriya you’re hired!”

“Oh hell no!” Katsuki screamed at the director. “He added lines at the end! How is that okay?!”

“Because,” the woman countered. “It was still perfectly in character, and you know very well that the Director allows actors to ad lib if it fits the scene.”

Katsuki crossed his arms, “I refuse to work with him.”

“You’ve already signed the contract,” her brow perked up, “and may I remind you of the penalty if you quit now?”

“Find someone else!”

“No. The chemistry between you two came through perfectly on camera. It’s done. He’s it. End of discussion.” The woman then ignored the raging blonde and turned to Izuku. “I’ll let your agent know so we can sign the contracts, and I’ll have the full script sent to their office by end of day along with the filming schedule. You did a great job today holding your own and not getting lost next to Bakugou. I’m glad to have you on board with this project.”

“Thank you so much, Ms. Ashido. I was quite excited when I heard about the project and look forward to being part of the team.”

“Kiss ass,” Katsuki sneered. “You’re in. No need for simpering.”

But Izuku played it cool. He wasn’t about to play into the leads temper tantrum. “You might be top as an action star, but I have my own credit successes. So, stop treating me like the hired help, or I’ll make you scream in another way.”

Katsuki’s eyes flashed wide and mouth hung agape. It’s been a long time since anyone’s stood up to him and this smaller, green-haired, freckle-faced mouse just grew a set of balls to rival his own. “H-how dare you?!”

“I dare,” Izuku grinned brightly. “See ya later Kacchan!” He waved as he walked away.

Ms. Ashido giggled. “Oooo, this is gonna be so good! I must say I’d chalked him up as iffy, but he really proved me wrong.”

“Little shit is already giving me a nickname? Who the fuck does he think he is?!”

“Your new co-star.” She patted his chest twice and walked away with a smirk.

“Fuck!” What did he just get himself into?!

That afternoon, Katsuki left the studio in a total huff. And to think, he’d gone in excited to be working with Izuku Midoriya. Their movie credits ran in different circles, but he knew exactly who the man was. Izuku was from all he’d seen a great actor, and the perfect person to play his opposite. The guy looked like a handsome office worker, lean but built well, smaller then himself, and would fit snuggly against his chest in a romantic scene. In fact, it was after one of Izuku’s very first movies as a lead that a crush bloomed for the man. He had expected a quieter guy, but oh, boy! Had he been blindsided! And if that didn’t just turn him on even more!

Hence the dilemma he now found himself in. He’d have to act side by side with a man he was extremely attracted to, but only pretended to be. Katsuki was certain that Izuku’s attitude during the read was the same as his— pretending. Because that’s how you sell a movie. If the audience buys into what you’re selling, box office sales will go up. It’s not supposed to be real emotions. Heaven help him this just might kill him!

At home, he read through the script again noting the section that would be his hardest to overcome. The love scenes. No full nudity, not even close, but there is a section near the end where in a moment of pent up emotions, and the exhilarating rush of emotions, they end up lip-locked. Granted, the more realistic it is, the better, but Katsuki felt the nerves kicking in just thinking about it. He could only pray that in the real moment, and energies are heightened, he simply runs on instinct and acting prowess.

‘Come on, dumbass! It’s not your first kiss scene!’ Katsuki growled to himself in the safety of his own home. “Stupid!” He was making himself all flustered like some virginal teenager about to kiss his first crush! Fuck that! He wasn’t about to show Izuku any weakness! The last thing he wanted was for the man to figure out he was really just an overgrown pining fool behind a mask of anger. He didn’t even know which way the man swung because Izuku kept his life private, very private. A miracle in their world of paparazzi. It meant two things, Izuku really was good at hiding, or simply wasn’t seeing anyone for them to catch. Either way, Katsuki couldn’t figure out what he desperately wanted to know. Did he have a chance?

A month later, Katsuki and Izuku found themselves on location in Europe where most of the scenes would be filmed. The premise of the movie is of a top-tier scientist in the field of chemicals played by Izuku, who is to be kidnapped. But because MI6 caught wind of the plan, they sent in one of their agents played by Katsuki to get Izuku to safety. They barely make it out of the lab in time and now they’re on the run, being hunted by a group called the DAV who want Izuku to create chemical weapons for them. Katsuki needed to somehow get Izuku safely from his home in France, back to England where the MI6 brass waited to secret him into permanent hiding.

“Stop, stop, stop!” Izuku screamed and yanked Katsuki to halt. The moment they stop moving, he collapsed onto his knees, clutching his chest trying to catch his breath from all the running. “W-what is going on?!”

“Look,” Katsuki tried to yank the man back to his feet, but Izuku slumped and played a dead weight. “Damn it, we gotta get out of here before someone sees us!”

“No! I-I can’t keep running like this! I’m not exactly athletic! Now, tell me what the hell is going on!”

Katsuki growled and ignored Izuku’s pleas. He grabbed him instead and dead lifted him up, hoisting the man onto his shoulder in a fireman carry. Izuku bucked, but Katsuki literally slapped his ass to behave. “Just shut up for now,” he snapped and took off running down the alleyway. “I’ll explain everything when I get us somewhere safe!”

“If I’m the victim, shouldn’t you be nicer to me?!” Izuku retorted.

“I’ll be nicer if you stop causing me a headache!”

As soon as they exit the alley, Katsuki quickly surveyed his options. The bad guys blew up his car, so he needed transportation. He saw a man exiting a vehicle and rushed over, pulling a gun on them.

“Gimme the keys,” he aimed at the man’s head, to which they immediately complied. “Now scram!”

Katsuki put Izuku back on his feet. “Get in!”

“Where are we go—”

“Just get in the fucking car!”

Once Izuku is inside the passenger side, Katsuki got into the drivers and hightailed it out of there, heading towards the outskirts of town.

“Trailing car... And cut! Perfect!” The director called out. “Thirty minute break to reset for the next scene.”

“Kacchan, wanna get some lunch with me?” Izuku asked as they stepped out of the car.

“No,” Katsuki replied and quickly walked away, leaving his co-actor standing there with a sad, pouting look on his face.

‘Don’t turn around!’ He screamed at himself. Just co-workers, he reminded. Don’t get too close to that cute... freckled... “Fuck!” Katsuki screamed the moment he slammed his trailer door behind him and fell back against it. ‘Why’d I slap his ass!’ He groaned and ran a hand down his face. It wasn’t in the script and apparently the director didn’t mind it. ‘You did it cause you wanted to...’ his conscience chimed back. “Fuck you.” That’s not true...

A few minutes later there was a knock at his door. “Go away!” Katsuki snapped, he didn’t want to be bothered. Then a second knock, and a shuffling sound. “Go the fuc—” He whipped the door open to find no one standing there. “What the?” That’s when his looked down and saw a wrapped sandwich and a piece of paper tucked under it. Katsuki picked it up and closed door, opening up the sandwich to eat it. He was hungry, just didn’t want to take Izuku up on his offer. As he ate he opened the note:

I just wanna be friends :) that was a taxing scene, so you must be hungry. See you back on set. -I

It had been Izuku.

“Tch.” Katsuki bit down on the sandwich. ‘Didn’t have the balls to stick around though.’ But despite his grumping, he couldn’t help the light blush filtering onto his cheeks and warmth filling his body. Izuku was just too damn nice.

Filming an action movie was a lot more taxing then the consumers might realize. Thankfully, stunt doubles did the hardest scenes for the pair, but close ups and cardio elements were all them, and to see Izuku keeping up with him left Katsuki pleasantly surprised. Too pleasant. Moments in close confines, of him holding or dragging the man around left his libido in agony by end of day only to be relieved by a hand it didn’t want. Almost four months of agony had left Katsuki’s mind a buzz, trapped in a cycle of false realities and wishful thinking.

It was the last day of filming, and the scene Katsuki had dreaded had finally arrived. So much so, that he’d convinced the producer to hold off on filming it till the very end despite it taking place two-thirds of the way through the movie itself. Screw it, they can edit and splice it in. For a lot of actors, the intimately romantic parts were the hardest to accomplish, because conveying such raw emotions and making it believably real for the audience took great finesse.

They were holed up for the night in a small run down inn Katsuki managed to find after crossing the French border into Belgium. They were both exhausted, Izuku’s character more so, unused to such physical demands. DAV always managed to catch up to them within a day or two, so it left them little time to breathe, and Izuku was at his breaking point.

The smaller male pounded on Katsuki’s chest while tears streamed down his face. “I can’t keep doing this! Why can’t they just leave me alone?!”

Katsuki grabbed Izuku’s flailing arms gently to stop him. “I don’t know why.” He pulled the man towards the bed to sit down, taking a place beside him as he did his best to console. “But I promise I’ll keep you safe. We’ll get to safety soon and it will all be over with.”

Izuku sobbed harder, burying his face in Katsuki’s shoulder. His fingers gripped tightly to the man’s torn shirt. “You can’t promise me that,” he mumbled. “I’ve caused you so much trouble, maybe it’s best if I gave myself up to them.”

Katsuki pushed the man back and forced Izuku to look up at him. “Don’t you do that! Don’t you dare! You think I’m gonna just let them take you?!” His voice cracked as he channeled real emotions of the fear of losing this man. “You... I’m not letting them take you away from me Hitomu!”

Izuku looked up when he heard the pain behind Katsuki’s words to find tears pooling and clouded ruby red eyes. He held the man’s gaze for several seconds, staring, lip quivering. “I don’t want to leave you either, Takeo.” Izuku’s fingers slowly uncurl, smoothing out and lowering to Katsuki’s firm abdomen where it came to rest just above the waistline and pressed in firmly. “I feel safe with you.”

Katsuki’s breathing slowed as his eyes widened. Shit! He’s not ready for this scene! He thought he was, oh how he wanted to just rush in and steal Izuku’s lips! But his mind froze as glistening emerald eyes held it hostage. What was his lines? Are there any lines? Fuck! He couldn’t think straight!

“Cut!” The director yelled. “Bakugou, what’s the problem? You hold the gaze for a second then kiss him. Do you need a break?”

This was the first time since making it big that Katsuki’s messed up a scene like this. He took a moment to snap out of his trance, then yelled back. “No! Let’s just get this over with.”

“Alright. Places people, let’s take it from the last line Midoriya. Action!”

Izuku repeated the last line, “I feel safe with you,” adding a deeper grip to the waist band of Katsuki’s pants.

Katsuki’s eyes lower, half-lidded as he reached out and caressed Izuku’s face gently, cupping the man’s cheek before leaning in and landing a solid kiss. His mind was barely holding it together to keep his actions gentle.

Izuku reacted accordingly, once again his fingers gripping to the fabric of Katsuki’s clothes as the kiss was deepened considerably.

Katsuki’s hand trailed up and behind, tangling into his co-actors green curls. He let go of any control and lost himself in their embrace, in the feel of Izuku’s supple lips against his own. In that moment, they were no longer filming a movie scene, but transported into the blonde’s fantasy, of so much more that he’d love to do this man’s body. His eyes rolled back and fluttered as Izuku trailed heated kisses down to the nape of his neck, pressing firm nibbles and light mewling whines.

“Kacchan...” Izuku huskily whispered too low for the microphone to pick up.

But Katsuki heard it loud and clear, and he responded with a rumbling groan that went straight to his groin. Izuku had used his nickname... Not the characters name! His nickname! And damn did it sound sweet to his ears! Katsuki’s too far gone and doesn’t stop the decent, even as the smaller male applied pressure, allowing Izuku to guide them deeper onto the bed. Hands followed curves and groped flesh as they moved under the confines of shirts in the makings of a sex scene. Izuku truly felt wonderful against him, moving in time with his movements like a perfect dance. It was only once on his back, with their bodies semi-entwined, that the director finally yelled cut, and Katsuki’s fantasy came to a screeching halt.

“Brilliant work guys!” The director congratulated his two stars as they made their way off the bed. “I think we can call it a wrap!”

Applause rang out on the set as everyone was high-fiving or shaking hands, patting the two men on the back and adding to the job well done message. Izuku was blushed and beaming, but Katsuki still flustered from the scene, ignored the jovial repartee and beelined it to his trailer for some privacy. It was a miracle no one noticed the slight pitch in his pants, because now he was fucking horny! If the director hadn’t stopped them, who knows how far things would have gone. The sound of Izuku’s voice whispering his name continued to repeat in Katsuki’s mind like a siren, but he couldn’t give into it.

“This was just acting!” Katsuki screamed in the safety of his trailer as he punched the wall as hard as he could. It’s a fantasy! A goddamn fantasy world! And it’s over! “Stop thinking about him!” At that moment, there’s a knock on his trailer door followed by his name being called out.

“Kacchan? What was that loud bang?”

Fuck! It was Izuku again!

“Kacchan?” More determined pounding on the doror. “Kacchan, c-can we talk, please, I need to talk to you.”

“I’m fine, go away!”

“I’m not going away, we need to talk about what just happened!”

Katsuki growled and slammed the door wide open, ignoring the throb of his hand. “No, we don’t! It was just a scene Izuku!” But after shouting his piece-of-mind, he’s taken slightly aback at the teary-eyed man who looked like he was on the verge of crying.

“It wasn’t just a scene for me, Kacchan.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Katsuki questioned, though again his whispered nickname sprang back to the forefront. Had Izuku said it on purpose?!

“Did you feel nothing between us?” Izuku’s lip quivered as he spoke. “Was the passion that came out on set just acting?” His voice cracked. “If you say yes, I-I’ll leave you alone. It’s just— I took this job because... I like you, Kacchan. I’ve liked you for a long time and thought maybe... but— that’s okay, just forget it,” he turned to walk away unwilling to take the rejection face-forward. “Thank you for the opportunity to work with you.”

Katsuki stood in his spot completely stunned by the confession. But the further Izuku moved away from his trailer, he quickly realized he was about to lose the very thing he’d come to desire. He raced after the man and grabbed him by the shoulder, spinning him around, and slammed his lips into the stunned Izuku. It was filled with an even more heightened passion then before, now that there was no audience watching them. He nibbled at the man’s bottom lip, eliciting a groan, while Izuku’s hands grabbed desperately onto his shirt, holding tight.

“Fucking nerd,” Katsuki mumbled with a smile while threading his fingers through Izuku’s hair. “How could I not want you too after you’d riled me up since the day we met.”

Izuku blushed in embarrassment. “S-sorry for coming on so strong. I just got in my head that I needed to look cool and not a pining mess. I really wanted to work with you.”

“Tch, I guess I can’t really talk, because I acted like an asshole, so I didn’t look like a pining idiot.” Katsuki laughed. “Guess we’re both pining idiots.” He kissed Izuku again and lowered his voice to a sultry tone. “Wanna finish what we started?”

Izuku giggled as his hands tugged at the man’s waistband. “Most definitely.”

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

Silly Bonus: from a chat with a friend lol

As they start to walk back towards Katsuki’s trailer, Izuku takes hold of the man’s hand. But now that the adrenaline had worn off, Katsuki immediately flinched from the pain. Izuku stopped and lifted it up for inspection, seeing the slight swell of the man’s knuckles and drying blood. “Oh my goodness, Kacchan was that noise from you punching the wall?”

“What? No!” He pulled his hand back and hid it behind his back.

“You’re bleeding, we should get the medics.”

“I’m fine, it’s fine, it’s just ketchup.”

“Ketchup?” Izuku’s brow raised. “Really?”

“Really.”

Izuku:

[octalove]

XI: Suffer Love

(Batgirl/Red Hood)

Description: Jason figures it out.

Note: this is the final chapter of the menu series! i tried to wrap it all up in bow for you, and i hope you loved reading it as much as i loved writing it. the support and feedback has been amazing & i love u all!💓✨send more requests if u please, kiss kiss and enjoy

I guess when I died, it was less about the dying. Less about the way my teeth jarred when the crowbar cracked against my skull, or the heat on my skin when the building went up. Joker’s face when I realized I wasn’t getting out. It was more about the idea, my very last idea, that I was no longer gonna get to live. Little, stupid things. Maybe I wanted a dog, or a pint of ice cream.

I didn’t like to wrestle with the idea that my story was over. Not with a bang, but a whimper. Maybe I wanted to write something better than T.S. Eliot’s dull take on his boring little 19th century world.

Contrary to anything I ever said to Bruce when I was pissed about having to wear a school uniform, I liked my life. I could picture the way the city looked from my window, or Alfred’s hand on my shoulder when we posed for a family picture. Waking up to the sound of rain. A beach day or something. Coffee in the morning, even though I didn’t like it.

And somewhere, deeply, tucked away, I could even picture myself in the manor. Hiding behind a shelf in the library, letting my favorite leather bound copy of Much Ado swallow me whole.

Suffer love! A good epithet. I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will.

Humanity wasn’t out of the question for me. Not even close. It was dangerously within reach- hell, it felt inevitable. Like one day, things were bound to go back to normal, and that was out of my control.

But when I died, it was less about the dying. And even when I hauled myself, gasping and fighting, out of ice cold dirt packed like cement over my body, I still felt like I hadn’t been allowed to live. I could’ve crawled out of the grave and gotten myself a dog and a pint of ice cream, called it a day. Patched all that up.

But this wasn’t a continuation of my life. I didn’t pick up where I left off. It was a new life entirely; it was shitty and full of blood and ghosts and other shit I couldn’t get rid of, but I was terrified- terrified of losing it.

Dick missed the kid I was. Sure, I did too. I bet Adriano Cliffs fuckin’ missed him, too. He was easier to kill.

The weaker you are, the easier you are to kill. The stronger you are, the harder you are to love. Life’s a trade off, and I was striking a deal.

But maybe that wasn’t how it worked- maybe it wasn’t a trade off at all. That implied I had any sort of control over the way my lives spiraled and tossed me like the tides. In reality, I had about as much control of my life as I did over the crowbar that took it. No, it wasn’t a trade. Just a cycle. I had a shitty childhood. Then things got better, for while. Then they got worse. I died. And then I got better. And then things got shitty again.

Suffer love.

Suffer, love, suffer, love. Rinse, repeat.

I’d been doing a lot of suffering lately.

*

Darkness had seeped into the city, exalting the magnificent Gotham lights to heights that even dazzled the locals. The manor was less enchanting, but more daunting. I lit a cigarette, letting the early January night mix with the smoke in my chest. I stared at the wrought iron for a while, thinking about how it felt to be on the other side of it.

“Jesus,” A voice chided at the gate. “You look like bad news.”

I took a long drag, leaned against the metal, and let my eyes drag up and down her face. She looked smaller, standing there in a big knitted sweater. Even in the dark, with that glaring scar on her cheek that was my fault, she looked pretty. Relaxed, and safe, and pretty. One of those little, stupid things.

“Don’t mean to.” I offered quietly.

She leaned against the gate, just opposite me, so that we were touching, but still separated by ten feet of skyward metal. “Just come to brood, then?”

I didn’t say anything. Jaded enough by my sleepless night, conversation seemed equally as offensive as it was formidable. Especially with her. But standing there like stunned puppy at the gate of Wayne fucking manor seemed unbecoming of someone like myself- though I had no idea who that was anymore.

Her eyes glinted faintly by grace of the nearby glow of a lamp post, and I could’ve killed her for that. She looked like the view from the terrace in Little Italy. She looked like the whole of damn Gotham City.

“So what’d I get out of bed for?” She tried again, quieter this time, gaze falling askance to a car parked nearby that ricocheted lit windows from the houses around. Somewhere, in a yard, a dog barked. I let the silence weigh on us. Let the wind take drags of my cigarette and tug on my hair. I dipped my head under this cold, bitter, beautiful reckoning before dropping the cigarette on the ground, and putting in out with my shoe.

“Darlin’,” I said, suddenly very conscious of what I did with my hands, so I put them in my pockets. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t. I shouldn’t have put you in that position. I shouldn’t have made you make that choice, and I shouldn’t have treated you like- I just...”

A breeze was roaring in from the sea.

“I don’t understand you. Why you stayed with me.”

The silence was alright with me. I felt relieved to know that she wasn’t going to try and ask me why or break me open. She was good at that; letting things lie. But there was still that wrought iron fence between us.

“Jason,” She said. “You stayed with me, too.”

She leaned against the fence, her head nearly resting against the bars. She was close, so I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, thanking the same God that killed me for the way a little smile danced along her lips.

You’re a lucky motherfucker, Jason Todd.

There was a long pause, then she added. “Why don’t we go somewhere? We’ll talk it about it, okay?”

I nodded. “Anywhere you wanna go, little bird.”

“Let’s go to Twin Sharks.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“I guess I should go change.” She sighed, inspecting her shorts, which were high and thin.

“Wear whatever you want. I’m in the mood to break a jaw.” I flashed her a grin. “You’re off the fuckin’ menu.”

[labelleofbelfastcity]

fig and gorgug’s excellent adventure

word count: 1.7k

read on ao3 here!

“Bill, my most esteemed colleague…”

Fig looks over at a quietly snoring Gorgug, his face softly lit by the shadows of Bill and Ted on her crystal. Even after a year of knowing each other, a few months of which were spent in a cramped cell together, she hadn’t known he snores. It had never been quiet enough, she had never been quiet enough, to notice that about him.

If Fig focuses, she can feel the rumble of the tour bus against her back, and, if she leans her head against the metal wall by her shoulder, the vibrations of tires over asphalt rattle around in her skull. They’ve only been on the road for a week, with just two concerts under their belts, and Fig is already kind of exhausted.

It’s a lot. The managers and the calls home and the makeup assignments for missed schoolwork. She probably wouldn’t even be doing the latter, but Gorgug spends his allotted midmorning time sitting at their extremely tiny table, with papers of Barbarian Theory and Engineering 1 scattered around him, and she’d feel like an asshole to just watch.

Fig hasn’t been sleeping well, either. The little bunk seems to press in around her, shoving her into an even smaller version of herself. Which feels stupid to complain about, because Gorgug is over a foot taller than her, since his growth spurt over the summer, and he’s sleeping just fine.

As if to prove her point, Gorgug shifts in his sleep, curling closer into Fig’s side. It’s just past one in the morning, and they have a gig tomorrow so Fig should really be sleeping too, but she’d felt like crying, for some reason, alone in her bunk. She’d crawled into Gorgug’s, instead, and pulled up Bill and Ted while he blinked blearily at her. It didn’t take him much longer to fall back asleep—now with his arm tucked around Fig’s shoulders—and Fig continues to hide from her emotions by watching Ted philosophize.

“Hey, Gorgug,” Fig hisses, burrowing her head into his chest in a way she knows will stick him with her horns. “Gorgug.”

“Hrmgh,” he grumbles, shifting more so that Fig can’t really poke him anymore. “Go to sleep.”

“No. Gorgug, hey. Come on, dude, I have an idea.” She doesn’t, really, more the idea of an idea, just like how Bill and Ted only operate on negative brian power and a pretty homoerotic bromance.

Homoerotic. She must’ve texted Kristen too much yesterday.

“Sleep is my idea,” Gorgug says, but it’s more of a sigh and a yawn wrapped up together and stretched like a yawning cat.

Fig’s brain unhelpfully supplies an image of sleepy Riz—ears cocked all funny and pupils absolutely giant. She shoves it back into the little chest lovingly marked “Bad Kids” that she’d constructed the second they drove away from Elmville because Fig is great at compartmentalizing and hiding her feelings. Totally.

“I’m bored, I want to do my idea.”

“You’re watching Bill and Ted.”

“No, I’m not. I’m talking to you.”

“Then stop talking to me and go to sleep.”

Fig huffs, about to say something just into the realm of mean, but then she feels Gorgug smile against the top of her head, and she relaxes a little.

“What’s your idea?” He asks, still sleepy, but also endearing in that goofy and sweet Gorgug way.

There’s a pause, while Fig tries to come up with her idea. The bus trundles along and Bill and Ted continue to kidnap historical figures. Finally, she says, much quieter than is warranted, like it’s some big secret she’s been holding close to her heart, “I’m gonna find a chronomancer so we can go back in time.”

“Like Augefort?” Gorgug yawns again.

“Absolutely not, Augefort doesn’t have Rufus energy.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Maybe not a chronomancer, then, but like, someone who’s fucked with time, ya know. It would be cool to hang out with someone who’s fucked with time.”

“Like Augefort?” Gorgug says, before amending, “No. Wait. Rufus.”

“Yeah, Rufus,” Fig agrees. “Except if Rufus were hot, I think it would be more fun if our Rufus was hot.”

“Rufus is already hot. He’s got… sunglasses.”

Fig giggles and Gorgug snorts too. “You need your eyes checked, dude.”

“We watched the,” he yawns, “the Matrix last month. That’s what you said about Neo.”

“Uh. Neo is Keanu Reeves so just, automatically hot. Which. Speaking of. Bill and Ted are right there, dude.”

Gorgug laughs, quietly, voice still gummy with sleep, as he pokes her gently in the side, “I thought you liked older men.”

Fig makes a face that is very scandalized and very affronted. “That doesn’t mean I like Rufus.”

Gorgug shrugs, as best he can while in cuddle-mode. “I don’t know…”

Fig huffs and whacks him on the arm. “Maybe we should go to sleep.”

“Works for me,” he says, and settles back down.

“Hey. Hey! Don’t go back to bed, Gorgug. I’m still talking.”

He grumbles and turns his head even further into hers, trying to shield his eyes from the crystal’s light. “Watch your movie.”

“This is our movie, Gorgug. It’s ours.”

“It’s too late for it to be ‘our’ anything.”

“You’re no fun, you know that? No fun.”

“I’m sorry,” Gorgug says, way too sincerely for her to continue down that line of teasing.

“Hey, no, it’s fine. You’re tired, I should let you rest.”

Gorgug’s hand moves where it’s on her shoulder, rubbing over her sleep shirt, and then pausing, “Hey, is this mine?”

“Um,” Fig says, because it is, in fact, his. He’d left one of his Owlbears t-shirts on a chair, right after they unpacked all their stuff onto the tour bus, and she’d thought about it for approximately three seconds before snatching it and chucking it at her pile of clothes.

That first night, neither her nor Gorgug had gotten any sleep, sitting on the floor of the bus between their bunks, anxiously going over lyric and style choices for the next night’s show. So the shirt had waited until after their first concert, when both of them had been too tired to do much more than change out of sweaty, smoke-filled clothes and fall into their respective beds. It had smelled comfortingly of the Thistlesprings’ homemade fabric softener, but Fig’s varying states of cleanliness have not helped the smell stick around.

Now, though, cuddled up against Gorgug’s chest, she doesn’t miss the shirt’s smell. It’s nothing compared to the real thing.

“It’s okay if you took it,” Gorgug says, cracking a small smile. “It looks better on you anyway.”

“Since when do you have an eye for fashion, Mr. Hoodies-In-Summer?”

He reaches around and pokes her on the cheek, “Hey, my hoodies are a catch for women ages thirteen to twenty-eight.”

“We did sell, like, a literal ton last night,” Fig says, snorting.

There’s a lull in the conversation. Bill and Ted shred some sick air guitar.

“...It’s a little weird,” Gorgug says, eventually, in that introspective tone of his that promises paternal questioning.

“What is?”

“That we’re sophomores in high school and have so many people, like, caring about us. Or, I mean, watching us. Like, I guess we’re famous, or something? That’s weird.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“I guess I never thought about it like that.” Fig’s been too caught up in the whole being famous thing to think about what it means for her, a fifteen year old, to be famous. She isn’t a fan of thinking about it, actually, and decides to put it off even further. This is why Gorgug’s the thoughtful, considerate one.

“That’s probably why you’re better at songwriting than I am,” Gorgug muses. “You just do what feels right.”

Fig shifts a little, so she can look at him better, his features cast in the shifting colors of the crystal. “Dude, that’s like all drumming is. Like, just playing your emotions and not overthinking it. And you’re literally the world’s best drummer.”

“Oh,” Gorgug laughs, “I wouldn’t say that.”

“You are. What other teenager gets to go on a tour while they’re still in high school?”

“Um. The Jonas Brothers?”

“I mean this in the nicest way possible, but if you compare our music to the Jonas Brothers again I will stab you with my horns.”

“I really don't think they’re poky enough to do that—”

“Stab, Gorgug. With force. You wouldn’t like it.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll take your word for it.”

“Wo-ah,” Ted says, on the crystal.

“Wicked,” Bill chimes in.

“What if we talked like them at our next concert?” Fig asks, “Just come out with full Bill and Ted voices and keep them up the whole show.”

“That sounds… hard.”

“No, it would be fun! Like, um,” Fig switches into the voice, drawing out her vowels and smiling dumbly, “we’ll totally get babes like this, dude.”

“You can get princess babes,” Gorgug says. “I’ve got Zelda. That’s basically the same thing.”

“Oh my god, you’re too cute,” Fig burrows closer to him, back in her usual voice.

She can tell Gorgug’s blushing by the bashful tone of his silence. “Um, thanks. I should probably call her tomorrow.”

“Do you mind if I join too? I really like her, she’s nice. And sick as hell.”

“Yeah, that would be fun! We can show her our set, maybe.”

“Totally! If school wasn’t on right now we could’ve brought her along.”

“I don’t know, wouldn’t that, like, Beatles us?”

“Did you seriously just mention another boy band? Also, beyond that, did you use the Beatles as a verb?”

“Er.”

“Sometimes, I wonder how you ever made it into the punk-rock scene. And then I remember that I invited you.”

“Thanks for doing that,” Gorgug says, wrapping his other arm around Fig’s shoulders. “I never really said it before, but, thank you. This has, um, it’s meant a lot to me.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, dude.”

“It’s, like, kind of everything right now, Fig.”

“Oh.”

“So, I guess, um, thank you. For inviting me to join a band with you and taking me on tour.”

“I, uh… Of course. Thanks for being my drummer, Gorgug. I’ll always take you on my adventures.”

“And I’ll always go with you.”

Bill says, “Excellent,” on the crystal screen, smiling at Ted with big eyes.

Yeah, Fig thinks, as Gorgug sighs and smiles into the top of her head. Excellent.

[hisan-miren]

Redacted File

The First Date Pt 3

The two ate their meal in relative silence- although Mina did see fit to steal one of his sweet potatoes and quickly snatched it up before he could do anything.  He stared at her for a few seconds, completely flabbergasted (which was a hilarious look on him) before he snatched up her umeboshi (since she’d eaten all of her tempura.)  It quickly devolved into the two trying to steal even more of each other’s food and general tomfoolery and laughter after that.  They made sure to pick up anything they dropped or spilled in the chaos, knowing full well that Raios’ mother would thoroughly chew them out if they didn’t.  When the food (and cleanup) was finished, Raios loaded their tableware back on the tray to be taken away later, and the two moved to sit out on the walkway facing the garden.

“So, what comes after this?” Raios asked, half-grumbling.

“Well, I think it generally goes that you propose, I accept, and then we get married and live happily ever after,” Mina replied.

“I didn’t mean our relationship, you idiot!” Raios snapped, his face turning bright red.  “I meant this date!  I’m not exactly a fountain of knowledge when it comes to this!”

“Well-…”  Mina flopped over on her side, laying across Raios’ lap and causing him to panic very briefly, “we could always go to your roo-”

“Rejected,” Raios spat, a cold and angry demeanor taking back over.  “What is with you and my room anyways?  If you try to recommend it one more time, I’m seriously going to smack you.”

“Got it.  Won’t do it again,” she replied, a bit shocked by how genuinely angry he seemed to be at the mere idea of it.  Shocked, but not perturbed.  She’d try again next time.

“Pick something else.”  He still seemed pretty pissed, but his tone had lost a bit of its edge.

“… Isn’t this fine?”

“Huh?”

“Being like this,” she replied, motioning to their position.  “Or did you want to the one using my lap?” she teased.

“Hu- wh- No!  That’s not what I meant at all!” Raios spluttered, cheeks turning dark again. “And this isn’t what I meant! Aren’t people supposed to do things?!”

“This is doing something though,” Mina replied calmly. “And I am plenty satisfied to just stay like this and chat for a few hours.”

“My legs will fall asleep,” Raios complained.

“Then we can switch!  In an hour you can use my lap.”

“Somehow I get the sense that this isn’t exactly what usually happens on a first date.”

“Well yeah,” Mina replied.  “Usually, the boyfriend isn’t grounded.  We made the most of what we could, and it was fine.  I mean, we’re not breaking any records, but I don’t want to set our relationship to the pace of others’.”  Mina made herself comfortable again on his lap and stared up at him, starting yet another staring contest.  She was content to keep going too until Raios eventually sighed and leaned over.  She was so confused about what was going on that she didn’t realize what had happened until the sensation left her lips. She just stared up at him wide-eyed and quietly covered her mouth.  There was a silence and then she raised a finger.  “One more time.”

“Huh?”

“Do it again.  I wasn’t ready.”

“No,” he replied, seeming pretty adamant this time.

“Oh come on!”  She covered her face as she felt her cheeks start to actually physically burn. She kicked her feet against the wood floor and started to roll around in Raios’ lap, trying to remember not to let herself fall.  “Just one more!  Come on, please?!”

“I know you, it definitely won’t be ‘just one more’,” Raios replied flatly.

“You’re so mean!” Mina whined.

“Yup, I’m mean, horrible, awful- feel free to call me all the names you want, you’re not getting another one.”  Mina gave one last futile, dying groan of disappointment and laid flat on Raios’ lap again.

“I didn’t think you’d do it.”

“You underestimated me.”

“Clearly.”  Raios watched, slightly amused, as her face began to turn red again and she quickly tried to re-cover her face.  “Ughhhhh… Let’s just end it here for today. I don’t think I can function after that.”

“You sure?”

“Not at all, but I think I’m going to be completely useless the rest of the day.  Also my self-control just went in the garbage.”

“Huh?!  Your self-control?!” Raios asked.

“I’m gonna die.  I’m legitimately going to die.”

“You’re not gonna die from a kiss,” Raios ground out.

“I am so gonna die.”

“I didn’t realize you were such a drama queen.”

“And I didn’t realize you were such a tease!”

“Well there’s a lot more where that came from,” he replied, grinning smugly.  She looked up at him only to cover her face again.

“Okay, now I’m gonna die.”

“I’m not playing this game.”

“GREAT!  Because I’m already losing!”  Raios just sighed and leaned back while his girlfriend silently freaked out in his lap. “Ugh…  It should be illegal to be that hot…” Mina grumbled to herself.

“I’d be a lot more legal if you took off your rose-tinted glasses.”

“No thanks, I’m happy where they are.”

“You are just-…”  Raios gave a sigh that was somewhere between ‘annoyed’ and ‘exasperated’.

“I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘incorrigible’,” Mina replied cheekily.

“That’s definitely the word I was looking for.”

“Ready to switch yet?”

“We’re not switching,” Raios replied flatly. “You’ll just use it to kiss me.”

“You saw through it…” Mina grumbled, clicking her tongue and crossing her arms in irritation.  “Then at least give me your hand.  That’s the least you can do.”  She huffed and pouted until Raios eventually felt he had no other recourse but to give into her demands.  He sighed and picked one of his hands off the wooden floor and offered it to her. Mina’s demeanor immediately turned from sullen and dour to gleeful and bright.  Her two smaller hands immediately latched on, and her cheek quickly found its way into her palm.

“What in reverse world is so fun about this?” Raios grumbled. Mina’s thought process was completely beyond him most of the time, but he found this sort of behavior especially weird.  It wasn’t like this was the first time.  She’d done stuff like this to flirt with him even before they started going out, but he didn’t really understand this need for closeness she seemed to have.  He understood wanting to hold hands and be close, but hers seemed to border on outright cuddling.  He didn’t mind, but he didn’t quite get it either.  They sat in silence like that for a while; she spent time feeling out the callouses on his fingers and tracing the wrinkled creases of his palm like she was trying to memorize every inch of it.  A while passed like that without speaking, and eventually Mina sat up and chose to latch herself to Raios’ arm instead.  “I’ve been meaning to ask for a bit, but you’re the type that likes cuddling, aren’t you?”

“If I say ‘yes’, can we cuddle?” she asked hopefully.

“Absolutely not,” Raios replied flatly.  “What if one of my family walked by?  We’re in the garden.  At least pretend to have a bit of shame.”

“But if we weren’t somewhere with other people around?” she asked, eyes glinting with mischief.  

“…I’d think about it…” he replied quietly.

“Alright!” Mina cheered, pumping her fist.

“I didn’t say ‘yes’!” Raios snapped, a bit flustered.

“It’s just as good,” Mina replied.

They sat there and chatted for a while longer, continuing their game of pushing and pulling every now and then until the sun was halfway to the horizon. Raios looked up and judged that it was probably around 5:00pm.  Mina probably had to get home soon.

“Come on, get up,” Raios said, shrugging the arm that she was still very much latched onto.

“Don’t wanna,” Mina pouted.

“Get up,” Raios ground out.  “I gotta take you home.”

“I thought you were grounded,” Mina replied skeptically.

“You honestly think the old hag would allow me to not walk you home?”

“… Fair point.”  Mina reluctantly released him and stood up to stretch.  “We can work out the details of our next date on the way. I wonder where we should go~”

“Ever the opportunist,” Raios sighed, slowly getting up and working the pins and needles out.  The couple made their way over to the entryway, making sure to stop by the kitchen where Raios’ mother would be.  He popped his head in and got his mother’s attention.  She put down the dish she was using to taste the soup, a little surprised that her son had come to find her.

“What seems to be the problem?”

“I’m taking Mina home,” Raios said.

“You know you can’t leave the house, correct?”

“You would really have me not accompany her to ensure she gets home safely?” Raios growled.  Mina was a force of nature.  No one messed with her if they were trying to have a good and decent day.  But it was the principle of the matter.  Mrs. Minori’s placid face slowly morphed into a sly smile, and she turned back to the soup in front of her.

“If you’re not back in 30 minutes, I’m sending your sister after you.”

“I’ll come right back,” he replied quickly.  That was the last thing he wanted.  His sister would interrogate him the entire way back and drive him insane.  Dinner was already going to be bad enough, he didn’t need it to happen without the distraction of food (and he was sure their parents would conveniently ignore her jabs in an attempt to satiate their own curiosity.)  

“D’you get permission?” Mina asked.

“Yup, but I gotta be kinda quick otherwise aneki will be sent for me.  Being alone with her would be the most obnoxious thing in the world.”

“I’m not envious.”

“Must be nice being an only child.”  Mina just shrugged and started slipping her geta on.  Raios quickly followed, suit and the two left to go to her place.

“So, where should we go next time?” Mina asked.  

“A date on the mainland is a bit hard since it’d take most of the day to get there,” Raios mused, “but we might be able to get on a ferry to one of the nearby islands that has more to do.”  He looked over to find Mina pouting which completely bewildered him.  “What? Why are you making that face?”

“Those’re fine ‘n all, but I want something quieter,” she grumbled.

“So what, you just wanna hang out on the beach on the quiet side of the island or something?”  Her eyes lit up, and Raios once again came to the conclusion that there was no understanding his girlfriend.  He sighed in resignation.  “I guess that’s what we’ll be doing then.”  Mina clapped her hands and giggled in glee before once again latching onto his arm.  Raios didn’t even bother trying to get her off this time.  If someone saw them, then they saw them.  

It didn’t take long to arrive at Mina’s house, even with the awkward way she was hanging off him, and Raios stopped at the door.

“Alright, let go.  It’s time for you to go home.”  Mina grumbled under her breath and stubbornly clung to his sleeve.  “Come on, I’ll see you on Monday.”

“It’s too long…”

“It’s the day after tomorrow!” Raios snapped.

“I wish we could just skip to being married already,” Mina pouted, moving to grip the collar of his yukata.

“That’s gonna be a bit,” Raios replied, feeling a bit sheepish. “We’re not even old enough.”  Mina pouted, feeling disheartened when faced with the truth.  “Quit that. You’re being ridiculous.  At least consider for a moment the idea that you may be happier with someone else.”

“Not happening,” Mina growled at him.  “It’s definitely gotta be you.”  Then, Mina violently tugged on him pulling him downwards and caught him completely off guard.  The one Raios had given her had been soft and fleeting.  One of his many ways of gently telling her he loved her and appreciated her. The kiss Mina gave Raios was longer and firmer, and she didn’t even give him a chance to try and lead it.  When she finally let go of him, he covered his mouth with his arm and stumbled back, a violent blush covering his entire face and creeping down his neck.  Mina was almost sure she saw steam coming out of his ears too.

“YOU-!!”  Mina just flashed him a smug smile and stuck her tongue out at him.

“See you Monday~” Mina said, waving to him as she went inside, feeling like she’d set off a whole warehouse’s worth of fireworks.

[impassiveesper]

give me ALL the multiples of 5 of the ship meme for Shigeo and Teru >:)

ship headcanon meme

YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH CUTE BOYS WITH CUTE CRUSHES

[ Cut for length ]

5. Who says ‘I love you’ first?

Teru. These two are not even on the same fucking planet, it’s possible Shigeo has been responding positively to flirting and the prospect of intimacy for MONTHS and he doesn’t even realize what they’ve been doing counts as “gay romantic shit” before the L word comes into play.  It’s not a problem he just doesn’t think decisively in the emotional realm and many of his feelings go unlabeled.

10. What two songs, two books and two luxury items do they take to a desert island?

Man idk. Is this a vacation or are they stuck there? 

Uh don’t put any stock into my answer bc I really dont like questions like this but here goes. If it’s not a vacation they probably both bring some books on survival skills, but let’s pretend it’s a vacation.

Songs:   Shige brings Daysleeper by Dirty Art Club Teru brings idk maybe Step??? or some upbeat top 40 pop. Teru probably likes all the best niche music and all the worst overplayed music at the same time he contains multitudes.

Books: Depends on how old they are, they deadass both might bring comic books.  Otherwise idk Teru brings Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones. Shige brings??? Warrior cats?? Idk he’s not a huge reader imo. He likes YA books well into adulthood that’s for certain.

The luxury items are probably both something of Teru’s bc I’m not convinced the Kageyama household has much in the way of luxury items. Maybe grooming products.

15. When they watch a film what do they choose and why? Who gets the final vote?

Teru chooses most of the time.  This isn’t to say that Teru doesn’t immediately yield to whatever Shige asks for because I think he often does, but it’s mostly because Shige rarely asks for anything in particular. It’s an entire Situation when Shigeo feels inclined to have an opinion on something. He goes with the flow on most things and tends not to feel strongly about what they watch.  Teru likes a good romcom. Teru has almost certainly also put on a horror film to see if he could get free hugs out of it, though I’m not sure he’s super into horror. Shigeo likes anything with a feel good ending. He’s more into overly dramatic / emotional films than you’d expect the least emotional person alive to be. Shigeo also likes animation.

20. Where do they go on holiday?

Teru probably wants to go all over the place and visit big cities and attractions, but Shige is more of a homebody and doesn’t like all the noise. Where they end up probably depends on the length of the trip. If it’s a shorter holiday they’ll go somewhere bustling. They’ll visit a city or go to a crowded attraction, but if it’s longer they’ll visit somewhere quieter. Go be in nature or visit the countryside or something. Or they just stay home and enjoy some time in, maybe visiting a park or cafe or their favorite local spots if they feel like it. 

25. Why do they fight?

I think they have a lot more fights early in the relationship than later on. For one, Shigeo is genuinely just kind of a frustrating person to deal with sometimes. He doesn’t really explain himself well and he can be very sensitive and not give good emotional feedback, which can easily lead a partner to feeling underappreciated or unheard, like their emotional needs aren’t being met, or like they just can’t do the right thing with him. Shigeo will struggle to be outwardly loving in a lot cases.  It’s hard for him to feel connected to other people after a lifetime of isolating himself and shackling his own feelings. Romance does not come naturally to him. When it comes to emotion or affection, it’s very hard for him to want or give the “right” amount of things.  Like, he either understands completely or not at all. He either wants a lot of physicality or none at all.  There’s not a ton of middle ground with him. The lack of obvious emotional cues makes Shigeo somebody who takes a lot longer than usual to learn and understand, especially when he doesn’t have the words for what he’s experiencing. In addition, Shigeo doesn’t always read social cues well or know what’s socially appropriate, which makes him somebody you can’t really give “hints” to.  His lack of opinion and lack of social skills can make him somebody who is frustrating to cooperate with during mundane, daily situations. He doesn’t read subtlety all that well. Communication can be a challenge which can lead to fights. They have their fair share of little spats over minor daily things that just aren’t going right because they haven’t learned how to function as a unit yet.

Teru also has a lot of self hatred to work through which I think contributes heavily to arguments. Early in the relationship I think Teru has a habit of putting Shigeo on a pedestal. We know from canon that Teru is trying very hard to reinvent himself and still has some not-so-nice tendencies in him.  To him it’s frustrating that he can’t just have nothing but patient, gentle thoughts the way he thinks Shigeo does. And it’s very easy for Teru to get pissy and be manipulative and unfair when they argue because Shigeo just struggles to keep up with anything that’s vague, but doing that doesn’t make him feel good even if it can win him a few fights.  There is definitely a period of time where Shigeo will try to voice that he doesn’t like Teru acting like he’s perfect because in his eyes they’re both commoners and not special, and Teru will have the wit to argue that Shigeo has it easy because he’s “naturally a good person” or whatever. And of course if Shigeo manages to notice that Teru’s arguing tactics are a little unfair and tries to point out, that’s just gonna make Teru double down on “fine I’m a shit person” kind of talk. If things get particular nasty I could even see Teru guilting Shigeo once or twice because “we can’t actually argue about this, you need to calm down bc of your powers”. I think Teru in particular has led a very rough life that’s caused him to develop a very dirty set of tools for winning arguments. He’s good at being manipulative which, if left unchecked over time, could cause more arguments than it solves.

30. Why does it work (or not work) between them?

Despite all the rough shit I just said, I think it can absolute work out really well between them if only because they have already canonically had the worst interaction they can possibly ever have and they are both powerfully aware of how much they don’t want to do that again. It doesn’t take much to remind that of what really matters because they both have that strong reminder. It’s easy for them to let go of smaller things when they are reminded of those large things they are moving away from.

Because ultimately, that very first fight in canon is what defines the most important part of both of them. They are both people who are working very hard to change for the better. When they get into unhealthy habits or difficult conversations, their shared history is something that reminds them both of who they want to be and why they decided to know one another. I mentioned that Teru wants to be a better person, and that includes learning the hard way that it’s up to him to recognize when he’s being unfair or manipulative. It’s gonna mean accepting Shigeo as a human with faults rather than this infallible figure who has only patience and virtue.  

And for Shigeo changing means managing and voicing his feelings so that he can maintain control. It’s gonna mean having conversations he’d rather avoid. It’s gonna mean standing up for himself a little more and working harder at being honest with other people about how he feels. It’s gonna mean trying harder to understand what other people need from him.

Like as cliché as it is to say, these two have had an experience together that represents each of their core motivations as characters.  That’s why I really think things can work between them even if they have some rough patches early on.  Shigeo is so patient and he can help Teruki learn to find patience too. He can help Teruki learn to love himself and to take a different mindset to into the world.  Meanwhile Teru’s boundless charisma can help Shigeo learn to try new things and be more outgoing.  He can learn to recognize Shigeo’s needs and emotions and help him put them into words. He can help Shigeo to be more honest about his feelings and to appreciate himself despite all his shortcomings.  I think they’re different in a lot of ways that can really help each of them be a good influence on one another.

[furryandfearless]

So I wrote a thing

The World According to my Cactus

I was a gift from the old one to a younger one I had never seen before. The way they talked for hours it seemed like they’ve known each other for many months, probably much longer than I’ve been growing. Is that even possible? What was before I was? I know I’m not then only plant around, there are others around with me. The prickly one that never speaks (can they speak? Am I the only one?). The one that looks like royalty, with big, flat ruby red leaves. There are some infants, small and fat and scared (aren’t I scared as well?), will they make it? Will we make it?

The younger one planted us at his home (our home?) and spoke to us. They seemed kind, though we’d have to see if they cared.

Its been nearly a week, and they can’t seem to leave us alone. They keep watering us, little by little. They must be worried were gonna dry out, but we won’t. At least I won’t.

The infants drank too much, too fast, and they turned orange and died. The younger one was upset. Why? We are just plants, aren’t we? They can speak and touch and we cannot, so why does this make them feel so? I’m content to just get whatever sun I can, and slowly push my roots though the cool soil,

The prickly one seems to be doing okay. His head has dried a bit, and he tried to grow a pup but that dried out too. The younger one got worried they were giving us too much water and didn’t give enough. Is this what its like to be forgotten? Do we exist at their whim? I haven’t seen the royal one in a while; they didn’t do too well at the start. Maybe they died as well. Still, the sun is nice, and the shade is appreciated.

The younger one decided we were big enough to move to a different pot. I got a lovely little yellow pot with sand and soil and gravel, just right for my roots. The prickly one got a tin can with the same. It didn’t look too nice, but I didn’t hear them complaining. The younger one decided it was best to water us just once a week, which is fine by me. I don’t need a lot of attention, and while the doting is appreciated, I’m happy to go a bit longer between wettings.

The royal one is back. It seems they had been having problems putting down roots, maybe because the younger one kept disturbing them, but now they’ve calmed down and been left to do what they want. They were planted in my pot in my shade, roots on the surface under a protective rock. The young one checks every day to make sure the royal one is putting down roots. Are they worried the royal one will die too? We are not patients. You need to be patient. We’ll do what we need to in time.

The prickly one got a new pot with sand and soil and gravel, just like mine, and they got a smaller, pricklier one in the pot as well. I’m starting to feel happier, warmer, and taller than before. The younger one seems happy as well. Do they feel what I feel? Does the sun make them tingle and grow as well? I hope it does, they make sure we are wetted and sunned, and I only hope they’re doing the same for themselves.

I’ve decided to grow outwards as well as upwards. The prickly one seems to have had the same idea. We both start growing little ones on our sides, and when the younger one sees that they seem so… proud. It’s not hard for us to do but they congratulate us. It feels good. We’re doing good.

 The royal one seems to have put down strong roots, finally. The younger one seems just as proud of it as it was of me and the prickly one, even though it’s behind us. It seems that progress makes the younger one happy, and the more we progress, the less he dotes on us. Even so, I feel like he cares more every day. It makes me want to grow my roots stronger and grow bigger than ever before.

The younger one is leaving us. A lot of people are leaving, and it’s getting quieter around my pot every day. They seem worried, but its not about me or the royal one or the prickly one or the even the smaller, pricklier one. What could make them worry? What else exists out there that can cause their face to wilt and wrinkle like that? Even though they’re worried, I feel like they still care for us. We were introduced to another, taller one. Are they gonna care for us? I don’t want to exchange hands again, once was enough for me. Will the younger one be back? Will they still care for us when they do? I don’t like these feelings. Not one bit.

[momracha-blog]

my heart breathed  ― kim seungmin

word count : 5.1k summary : it takes several years, a camera and an entire exhibit, curated by one kim seungmin to finally understand what a SOULMATE was. pairing : photography student!kim seungmin / gender neutral!reader note : it’s been a while since i’ve written anything so long so have mercy on me. i’ve tried my best but would appreciate some feedback ?? it’s also heavily unedited so i apologize for weird grammar. yikes.  and i discovered i can’t write endings for life, so even more apologies.

I  -- soulmates, who ??

         you grew up with seungmin, there were no secrets between the two of you. everything was SHARED amongst the two of you -- if one had it, the other must also have it. it wasn’t a surprise for your parents to find items belonging to the other at their home...seungmin and you were each other’s family’s honorary member ( if that made any sense ). you two embodied what’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours in perfect harmony...sharing is caring is what you’d say but only if it was with seungmin.          when boys teased you about having cooties, seungmin still grasped your hand tightly and stuck his tongue out at the other boys, “only dumb-dumbs like you would get cooties !! y/n !! don’t go near them, you’ll catch their dumb-dumb germs !!”. he always came to your rescue, always stood right by your side ( even if you may be in the wrong ) and defended you.          when girls bullied seungmin for having more crayons or drawing better, you didn’t HESITATE to yank some pigtails, “leave minnie alone !!” you would demand, “you’re just jealous because your picture sucks and the teacher will never put it up !!” you continue, sticking out your tongue then go right back to helping seungmin pick up dropped crayons or smooth out crumpled papers...          you relied on seungmin as he relied on you ; you kissed each other’s wounds better, protected one another and clung to one another.          everyone knew you two came and went as pairs ; if there was ONE of you, the other wasn’t far behind. you two always knew where each other was and would be, as if your minds are connected. your parents said it was probably because seungmin was your SOULMATE, your friends say that maybe seungmin was your long lost twin some long time ago -- both incredulous explanations.          whatever the explanation was for how the two of you fit together like pieces of a puzzle, it didn’t matter to you ; what mattered was that you hoped you got to spend the rest of your life with on KIM SEUNGMIN.          your parents never failed to remind the two of you about the one time the two of you pledged to marry one another once you two were old enough and that he would take care of you and make you the happiest person on earth...          at the time, you’d scoff because seungmin was your best friend, your brother from another mother...you can’t marry your own family !! if only you knew that life had something else for you.

II -- cliches, niches and cliques

         entering high school, another milestone in your life, was both exhilarating and scary but you knew you can handle it if you had seungmin. the first few days were hectic, rushing from one class to another, getting lost in the hallway, making new friends, losing connections with old ones.          losing...that was a terrifying word, yet somehow, a few months into the school year, you found a new group of friends and you know seungmin has also found his own niche to meld into, his own CLIQUE to be with. he always invited you to sit with him during lunch, any outings with his new friends, he’d invite you along...he never forgot about you because you were his other half but you always felt like you were intruding.          “hey, y/n !! jeongin and the others wants to go karaoke after school. wanna come ?? it’ll be fun, c’mon !! it’s been a while since we hung out !!”          “sorry, minnie....i have a lot of homework to do tonight,” -- a lie          “c’mon !! we can do homework together later !! i just wanna hang out with my best friend !!” -- it’s different, you think...it’s not just the TWO of you. it’s you and THEM. you feel like you’re fighting a losing battle because seungmin has found other people he wanted to be with.          “i really can’t, seungmin. i seriously need a headstart on all this work.” -- you left it at that, not another chance to convince you to go, you just turned to leave.          you always knew about seungmin’s love for PHOTOGRAPHY so hearing that he joined the club was no surprise to you. when he first discovered his love of photography, he was always so EAGER to show you the photos he had taken, and that made you feel special. but now, he shows them to anyone that wanted to see, you were no longer FIRST in his list anymore.          you tried to find something that interested, something to distract you from the forming loneliness in your heart -- maybe this is your fault, you were pushing him away after all -- but never found any, so you spent many afternoons walking home alone.          that was the FIRST time you come to realize that you two were so DIFFERENT, the thought struck you hard. the two of you always thought you were halves of a WHOLE, but high school changed that thought -- you two were as different as two sides of the moon...sociable and fun-loving kim seungmin with quiet, timid you.

III --- puberty hit too HARD

         puberty hit like a truck...or at least, you thought it hit seungmin like a truck while you remained the same old ( blegh ) you. he got handsomer as days wore on, you swore each time you see him, your heart skips a beat. you have always loved the way he smiles and laughs, the way his eyes twinkle with mischief...but as he got older, more features filled in and accentuated his visage perfectly. god, how can someone be so DORKY and so handsome at the same time ?!          BE STILL, MY HEART !! seungmin is your best friend !! your brother !! your half to a whole. don’t ruin it with your gross imagery. but you will always admit and proudly so, that your best friend was one of the HANDSOMEST in the school, yet you could never work up the confidence in yourself so you resigned yourself to the fact that you’ll never be as beautiful as seungmin.          “our seungminnie is growing up !!” your mother’s coo at the male.          “eomma, please....we’re trying to do our homework !!”          “it’s so odd to hear my voice like this...” seungmin frowns, the way his voice was unsteady and cracks every few sentences. sometimes it was DEEP, sometimes it was a bit higher pitched...         “you’re gonna be a heartthrob once everything settle down,” your dad chuckles, hand reaching out to ruffle seungmin’s hair.          “appa !! enough !! out !! we’ve got homework to do !!” you screeched, was it because you were JEALOUS over what your father said ?? that seungmin is going to get handsomer and handsomer, while you’re just stuck where you are ?? not getting any taller or prettier or whatever that was supposed to happen during puberty ??          insecurity grew in your heart as people flocked to seungmin -- people were starting to notice your best friend more and more, you became an extra in his life. you withdrew more and more...anxiety and upset ate at your mind -- you’re not perfect, not BEAUTIFUL like the photographs seungmin always excitedly showed you. you were a black stain in the perfect world seungmin captures through his viewfinder.          you wished the world would forget you, so you got quieter and quieter...you made yourself smaller and smaller. but there was a problem -- SEUNGMIN never forgets you, you were the half to his WHOLE, you were his ‘special’ someone.

IV -- running away ?!

         graduation was approaching and that meant it was time to DECIDE on a career, a school to go to. you knew that seungmin was definitely going to a school where he can further his photography career...maybe this was your chance to RUN, hide from him and the stormy emotions in your heart.          problem ?? your life was so TIED with seungmin, you couldn’t imagine a day without seeing him ( god, you sound like you have separation anxiety ). you thought you’d always be with seungmin that you never really THOUGHT about what you wanted to do, what interested you. now that sounds pathetic -- you just totted behind seungmin like a lost child, doing god knows what and now you’re stuck.          “do you know what you wanna do when you graduate ??”          “no....i just, i’m not sure yet.” you admit, this was probably something you should have tried to figure out earlier, not just a few weeks before applications and testings were supposed to happen. “do you ??” you returned the question, not that you needed an answer, you knew what he was going to say.         “yeah, i’m applying for photography. i’m hoping i get in but i hear it’s super competitive.” he frowns ( you hate it when he frowns...it doesn’t look good on his face ).          “have faith, minnie....you’re the best photographer anyone knows, you’ll get in, believe me.” you declare, despite the bubbling anxiety ( and maybe a slight dislike ), you still wanted to be SUPPORTIVE of him.          “you’re right !! who could deny entry to the great kim seungmin anyways ??” he states. god, you wished you had his confidence sometimes....you wished you had a lot of things seungmin had but settled on imagining. that was the last you two spoke about post-secondary school...a part of you was glad he didn’t continue to pry, yet another part of you was BITTER that he didn’t follow up or tried to support you in seeking out your life goals.          graduation came and went, and you ended up in the SAME school as seungmin, again -- much to his DELIGHT and your slight resentment.          you wanted to get away but you couldn’t  -- that night, you come to realize why...in the midst of your storming mind, the pounding of your heart, you realize that you have FALLEN for your best friend ; the how and why, you had no clue but your mother always said LOVE worked in mysterious ways. you blamed the fact that you two grew up together ; that you were mistaking familial love for romantic love.          as you fell asleep, you ponder -- does seungmin remember the childhood pledge ??

V -- conceal, don’t feel

         good thing about post-secondary ?? the school is SO freaking huge, you never had to worry about not being able to avoid seungmin.          bad thing about knowing kim seungmin for so long ?? he knew you well...which meant, he knew just how to always catch you outside of lecture halls when your class ended. he knew where you liked to have lunch ( and always came prepared with your favorites ).          even worse ?? you two were ROOMMATES...expected but not welcomed, you had no idea how to avoid seungmin around the flat and you couldn’t say NO to your best friend whenever he wanted to crash in your room to study together.          “okay, so we both know that we’re TERRIBLE at keeping on track when we’re studying, so !!” seungmin declares, barging into the room with his laptop in hand and his backpack slung over his shoulder.          “you mean you have a terrible track record of procrastinating and slacking off,” you retort.         “y/n ~~” he whines unhappily as he promptly settles on the floor next to your bed, “humor me and help me out !! i really need to study, it’s 25% of my marks !!”          “okay, okay. fine. but why my room ?? we can just study in the living room....” you huff, watching him make himself comfortable in your room.          “your room is bigger and this reminds me of back when we were in high school,” he responds, and you fall silent....a bitter taste forms on your tongue -- high school, the beginning of your agony over your feelings for and about seungmin.          you managed to work up a way to cope, to hide EVERYTHING beneath a thinly veiled facade -- saying enough but not everything whenever seungmin asked questions. you know he’s catching on -- the look he gives you ( you almost cracked and told him ), the concerned gestures he takes ( was he pitying you ?? you can’t tell if he pities you or actually cared anymore -- your mind was a dangerous place ).          the answer was -- seungmin never forgot the pledge because he never forgets about you and he wants nothing more than to fulfill it ; you weren’t just his best friend but his SOULMATE.

VI -- the crack

         were you prepared for the stress that came with school ?? yeah, of course !! it was expected, your parents warned you about it...so did your high school alums.          were you ready to deal with that stress, along with your mind and feelings for seungmin that was bubbling forth ?? hell, no. it was just so much, TOO much. you had no idea what to do except CRY.          seungmin had a late class that day and you saw it as a CHANCE to finally let loose. you barely held yourself together, seams ready to burst. you gave a hurried good bye to your friends and rushed home, ignoring the looks of concern and surprise on their faces as you grabbed your things and you rushed out the door.          the moment you were through the door, you don’t make it to your room and you were on the ground of the living room as the tears began to POUR. sobs shook your tired body, you didn’t bother holding back your cries. as you bawled, you felt as if a WEIGHT was lifted from your shoulders, if you knew that was the case...maybe you should have cried more instead of holding it back.          in your bout of crying and sobbing, choked babbling about how sorry you were and how terrible you felt to absolutely no one....you hadn’t received the text from seungmin that his class had ended early and asked if you wanted to grab something to eat...in your incoherent litany of apologies and insecurities, you didn’t hear the front door open and shut and worried steps heading into the room.          “y/n, oh my god !! are you okay ?!” seungmin asks, arms immediately finding hold around your shaking frame...worry etched in his handsome face. it hurt to see you cry, how long had you been crying ?? why were you apologizing ??           your heart clenched at the sight of upset on seungmin’s face -- you did this, you made him frown, you made him sad. you don’t notice how your frame fits snugly against his, how he holds you so tenderly as if you’d break but just tight enough to hold you together as you did. all you could do was babble apologies to seungmin about how you were ruining the friendship and how you felt like you were ruining his picture perfect world because you weren’t pretty enough.          you don’t notice the way his frown gets continually deeper as you released all your stress and anxiety out to your best friend...he did this. he was a terrible friend, how could he call himself your SOULMATE when he didn’t even realize you were suffering so much ?? how long did you feel this way ?? cursing his own blindness, he never meant to make you cry...of all the times he’s been with you when you needed a shoulder to cry on, this time hurt the MOST.          fatigue finally hits you and your sobs diminish to whimpers before your breathing evens out to signal you had fallen asleep, but seungmin never lets you go, he holds you to his chest as he rocks the two of you gently, humming the nonsensical tune the two of you made as children to calm you.          “you were ALWAYS pretty enough, y/n. no, you’re beyond pretty...if i didn’t want to keep you to myself, you’d always be the subject of my photos.”

VII -- project discovery

         you and seungmin never spoke about your crying spell...you had woke up, still cradled in seungmin’s arms. guilt had washed over you as the boy had slept in an awkward position to make sure you slept peacefully and COMFORTABLY. you left him some salonpas for the aching muscles and treated him to breakfast as a thank you but not a WORD was spoken about what happened.          “sorry....you should have just woke me up,” you mumble over your food, having been pushing the tofu around in your bowl.          “and risk waking a sleeping bear ?? i know how you’re like when you’re disturbed from your beauty sleep,” he retorts, then he REGRETS. how could he say something so inconsiderate to you after you having told him you felt terrible about yourself ?? he stuffs his mouth full of rice and side dishes to stop himself from saying anything more.          “then don’t complain to me later when you’re sore,” you huff, slight annoyance taking to your tone as your attention returned to your food. you wanted to LEAVE as soon as possible, you don’t think you can stand being around seungmin any longer...at least, for the day, you couldn’t stand it if you had to listen to another uttering of harsh words from the photographer. you didn’t notice the look of guilt hanging on seungmin’s features as you barely finished your food before excusing yourself.          the two of you continued on with your respective lives ; perhaps after the entire thing, seungmin was finally realizing he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with you...he was finally discovering that you were UGLY and didn’t fit his aesthetics. relief and sadness washed over your heart -- relief because it meant you no longer had to avoid him, he’d avoid you, yet sadness because you were going to lose the person that meant the most to you ( your special someone ).          it’s okay, you’ll come to terms with it...you did this to yourself, this was your endgame. it’ll be painful but hey, it couldn’t be more painful that that time you broke your arm falling out of a tree as a kid, right ?? ( you recall, seungmin cried HARDER than you did and you ended up comforting him and awkwardly patting his back as you nursed your injured arm in the emergency room  ).          but, boy...were you WRONG about everything. after hearing how you felt about yourself and ( he hopes he wasn’t misinterpreting ) the feelings you had for him, he was on a MISSION. a mission he had with renewed vigor, he was beginning to lose MUSE because you had become so distant and disinterested, but now, he’s found his inspiration again. he knows what he wants to do for his FINAL presentation at the end of his program.

VIII -- why do you always have a camera ??

         much to your dismay, things return to normal...seungmin still sought you out, brought you lunch, made sure you were taken care of. and it seemed that he was doing it more...intensely if you must give it a word.          his gestures made your heart skip a beat -- bringing you lunch, buying you coffee...waiting outside your lecture hall to walk you to the next one, if you had a late class, he’d wait until you were done to walk home together.          your friends swear that the two of you seem like you were DATING but you denied all claims ( you swore you saw seungmin’s face drop when you said it was impossible for him to like you beyond a sister ).          “seungmin’s here again...are you SURE you two aren’t dating ?? this sort of dedication isn’t just sibling love...my own brother wouldn’t even do this.”          “we are NOT dating, for the last time !! we grew up super close and we’re tight with one another,” you huff, walking towards seungmin slowly.          “ugh, but damn, you’re so lucky...where do i get me a boy like kim seungmin, who’d wait for me outside of class and bring me food or coffee or walk me home late at night ??” she dramatically sighs, irritation floods your heart.          “we live together...” you point out.          “valid point but he still doesn’t have to wait. if you’re sure you two aren’t dating, mind if i go for him ??” she teases, wiggling her eyebrows. “OW !! WHAT WAS THAT FOR ?!” she screeches when you sock her in the shoulder ( okay, so you were jealous ).          “he’d never go for someone as dramatic as you,” you call back, waving dismissively as you bound towards the male.          well, if he wasn’t going to abandon you ( thank god ), maybe the two of you can reconcile...patch things up as you slowly put away your feelings. you were willing to try because you knew...it was better to have SEUNGMIN in your life as a friend than not at all. you were going to try, even if it means pretending.          you began to notice that whenever you two were together, he always had his camera...and not so subtly training it on you. “what are you doing ?! stop taking ugly photos of me !!” you complain, shoving your hand into his lens to block out your image.          “can’t i try to document some memories ?? be nice, i send them to the ‘rents !!” he argues, a valid argument. one he always used whenever you caught him taking photos of you, that or he gives you the excuse that he’s trying to buff up his portfolio with some huge photography word you can’t understand so you’d just ignore him.

IX -- it’s the final countdown !!

         last year, senior year....things were starting to get really busy, the two of you barely saw one another. but you two always tried to make time for one another....tried being the KEYWORD.          canceled dates, being stood up...it was infuriating and frustrating but what can you do when kim seungmin became the star pupil of his program ?? you were still a NOBODY while seungmin was reaching fame somehow. the thought you had all those years ago strikes you again...the one you had when you were a senior in high school.          shoving those thoughts away, you remind yourself that he had PRIORITIES to take care of and you just didn’t happen to be one of them -- that’s fine. you’re supposed to be an understanding, supportive friend, after all.          you don’t fail to notice how secretive seungmin has gotten...it’s almost as if he’s trying to keep you out of the loop for some reason. was this it ?? was he finally cutting you out of his life ?? you choke up, you weren’t ready for this ; you convinced yourself that you were but in reality, you can’t part with seungmin...after all...your life was infinitely better with seungmin IN it than out of it.          your phone buzzes -- seungmin was calling. shoving aside your uncertainty, you respond with a cheery tone, “i hope you have some expensive chocolates and ice cream to make up for ditching me,” you greet, watching your breath form smoke in the space in front of you and disappear into the sky.          “sorry !! i got really caught up with setting up the exhibit, it has to be perfect because the prof said --”          “i’m just joking, calm down, dandy boy. i get it. do you want me to get you anything for dinner ??”          “uhh...well, i was hoping you’d swing by and give the set up a look-see and give me some feedback. and then maybe we can grab food ??”          “are you sure ??”          “yeah, but bring me something to drink ?? i think i’m gonna die of dehydration.”          “so dramatic. i’ll be there in 15 minutes.”          “thanks. love you. bye.” and a beep to signal the end. your heart skips a beat when he said love you. no, he means as a FRIEND, as your BROTHER.          thank god, no one was around to see or hear that...because he only just realized what he said when he hung up and his face FLUSHES. did he really just blurt out LOVE YOU as he was hanging up ?? so casually ?? so nonchalantly ?? god, he was EMBARRASSING.

X -- and my heart breathed....

         standing in the studio, you felt so SPECIAL...seungmin was letting you see his final project before anyone else. you haven’t gone any further in, waiting for seungmin to come meet you and maybe walk you through it...until you got a text that said he had been called away to deal with some questions his professor had. no issue...that didn’t mean you couldn’t wander the exhibit.          you chose a random photo to stop by, your eyes dart to the small caption then to the photo...it was a familiar scenery -- was that the park the two of you first met ?? you two had fought over who got to go on the slide first and ended up going together in an odd tangle of limbs. must be a coincidence...but it was a beautifully taken photo.          continuing to walk, you come to realize there was a NARRATIVE with the photos -- wow, seungmin really went ALL OUT with this. a few more photos, you pause in front of a photo with a girl...unsuspecting, smiling...that’s YOU. you feel your breath catch as you looked the the next one. then the next....and the next.          YOU were the subject of his photographs, YOU were the narrative. every photo had you in it, whether you were looking at the camera or not and it seemed there were more CANDID photos of you than not -- save for one, the one you had shoved your hand into his camera to stop him from taking photos ( captioned : i could never stop picturing you ).          your phone buzzed almost as if seungmin’s realized you were just moving around, all it was was you need to READ the caption, dumbdumb...          just before the photo of you, you spot a picture of the living room of your flat, a complete mess...why would seungmin even take a picture of that ?? you read the caption -- jealousy leads to agony, and i’m sorry.          you didn’t understand so you continued on. starting with the very first one you had spotted yourself in -- the viewfinder can never do you justice. what does that even mean ?? was it supposed to be sarcastic ??          moving slowly through the gallery, you read the captions...it confused you more and more. just what was the boy trying to get at ?? was your heart clouding your mind by eliciting some sort of HOPE ?? the hope you had locked away after the ‘incident’ ??          turning the corner to the last one, you stare at the blank canvas and empty caption...was it unfinished or not a part of the exhibit ?? but seungmin was never the type to leave things unfinished...almost on cue, you see seungmin walk towards you -- camera in hand -- before he stops a few steps in front of you.          “before you say anything. i just...want to know the answer to this question.” seungmin starts, shifting nervously from foot to foot, “you....uhm...remember....” he struggles.          “out with it, seungmin, the suspense is killing me !!” you jest, maybe if you lighten the atmosphere...it would be better ?? or maybe you just wanted him to tear off the bandage quickly so you can go home and have another cry.          “you really aren’t the romantic type, huh ??fine, i want to ask you if you...would still like to honor the pledge we made when we were kids,” he said, spoken so quickly it sounded like a RUSH of air.          “what ?? the pledge ?? you mean the one when we said we’d marry each other, get a house together and you’d make me the happiest person on earth ??”          “yeah, that one and you missed the one where i said i was gonna take care of you...though, i kinda already failed, considering i made you cry a while ago...”          “you didn’t make me cry. i made myself cry.”          “no, i made you make yourself cry. shut up, i’m tryna confess here.” he shushes, and so you do. lips pulling taut as you wait, anxiously...but you know what he’s going to ask, and you know what you’re answer is going to be.          “would you allow me....to renew that pledge, honor it and maybe...uhm...let me...stay by your side ?? forever ?? and let me show the world just how BEAUTIFUL you are ??” he scratches the back of his neck, “no, wait. that wasn’t...i had something better,”           you didn’t wait for him to amend his question or confession or whatever it was because you knew what he was going to ask. you knew him like the back of your hand, you knew him so well that he never had to VOICE his thoughts and you’d know what he’s thinking. you closed the space between the two of you, practically throwing yourself at the boy...stumbling with him when he tries to balance himself from the force of your tackle.          “i can’t believe...even after all these years and a crying spell, you still had to ASK, kim seungmin,” you murmur, your heart was pounding so loudly, you were sure he could hear it too.          “well, i’d like to be SURE, you know ?? you’re a little hard to read these days and that’s probably because i’ve been a terrible person and i just...” you cut him off mid-ramble.          “yes. yes....please. there’s no place else i want to be than right beside you,” you mumble against his shoulder as one arm came to wrap around your waist as the other cradled the camera,           “thank god. i was gonna die if you said NO and that i misinterpreted everything because you told your friends that there was no chance we were dating and you were really distant and you just --” you remembered that when seungmin was nervous and anxious, he tended to talk TOO much.          your first kiss, your first love, your first photo exhibit....seungmin’s your FIRST, ALWAYS, and FOREVER. it may have taken a lot of pain and struggling but in the end it was worth it because you were right where you needed to be, fate had your place saved right next to kim seungmin, world famous photographer to be.

the final photo in the exhibit, a favorite amongst romantics, was the FIRST hug you had with seungmin in years, the first one you two had as your relationship began ; you didn’t quite like it because of how CLOSE it was ( how did he even manage to sneak that photo ?? he never told you but you didn’t care...he’ll tell you eventually, he was terrible at hiding secrets from you ) but you also loved how he managed to capture a moment of JOY and happiness in just one photo -- AND MY HEART BREATHED, FINALLY.

[kaibuntsu]

The Dragon of No Words - #1

Word count: 6102

A/N: Still just an introduction of Emrys and Avi. This series may or may not be slow burn-y, so I hope y’all have patience.

Also available on: My website | Wattpad

Divider credit: Freepik

     Give contacts, get contacted. Offer deals, haggle, make profit.

     Rinse and repeat…. For the next ten years….

     Emrys was eighteen when he took over the arms dealing department of his father’s large illegal sales empire. It was the most sought after of all the departments; firearms is and always will be popular, especially among people hungry for power. The buyers were hardly ever vary, but the goods he got his hands on and had the pleasure to sell, in the last three years at least, was always changing. The traditional firearms were starting to lose demands as the market’s interest shifted to a new, more mysterious weapons not of this world, or of the galaxy, for that matter.

     This day was an especially intriguing day. For the first time since the rise of its existence over a decade ago, his father finally got his hands on one of the latest weapon trends. He wasn’t even sure if calling it a weapon was appropriate. He had told Emrys to raise the price, “make them bid,” he’d told him. Emrys could only obey.

     His father brought the weapon himself, carrying it with one of his less distinct ships, but one of his fastest. The old coot was a modern pirate; his swashbuckling includes a lot of shooting rather than the more fantasized swordplay as depicted in films, but the loss of the fantasy charm made him more formidable in the eyes of both criminal syndicates and authorities alike. Emrys chose to stay away from sea life, claiming not having the strength to withstand seasickness, that’s why he stayed with the on-land arms dealing.

     “So where did you get it this time?” he asked his father, a ragged seventy-year-old that somehow was still standing straight. Despite being a foot shorter, the old man was more stocked than the lean musculature Emrys has.

     “An American cargo ship, authorized by the government!” he chortled, eyes gleaming as he watched the stolen cargo picked up by the crane. “But that’s not the best part! Look at this log.” He shoved a clear folder to his son’s chest with enough strength to make him grunt at the blunt impact to his chest.

     Emrys studied the folder briefly; it was almost filled to the brim, save for five empty slots. While waiting for the crane to lower the steel cargo, he scanned the files page by page. The first few pages were just permission slips and the like. The rest were the same: shipment logs with multiple entries, meaning whatever the weapon is had been shipped to multiple places before. Immediately, on the first file, he was dumbstruck. The first entry of shipment was almost eight years ago! Not only that, but the origin was not even from Earth!

     “Ainon Deis?! That’s—that’s not even from the same star system! Dad, how the fuck did you get your hands on this?”

     “Not easy, but I was just really lucky I got someone from the inside to help me.” Then he wrapped his wrinkly but muscled arm around his son. “My informant told me, boy, that this is apparently one of the special cases. And by ‘special’, I mean it’s wild, stubborn, hard to control, but the strength is promising. That’s why it keeps moving to different hands. ‘Cuz nobody wants it!”

     “Then why do you?” Emrys asked, now stricken with worry.

     “Because this guy can save my business. Look, kid,” this time he turned to look Emrys in the face, “I’ve lost millions of Euros because of these damn monsters keep popping up wherever my ‘shop’ is! You lost hundreds of thousands because your customers got eaten alive by those motherfuckers, didn’t you? We need a safety measure, kid! And this is it!”

     The cargo landed with a heavy metallic thud, sending violent rattles to Emrys’ bones. It was a regular-sized cargo, but judging from how it sounded when landed, it seemed like less than half of it was filled. The odd sound only increased his curiosity; he had only heard about it, he never expected it to be legit. He had never seen one before, not even his richest business rivals got their hands on one of these. At least, not that he was aware of.

     The subordinates unlocked and heaved the door open wide, the darkness inviting them to step inside. It was not completely dark inside, one lonely blue light shimmered in the middle of the cargo, coming through the glass of a smaller container. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be bolted tight to the bottom of the cargo. Emrys, his father—Eamon—and a few armed guards inched closer to the glowing container. The armed guards walked in first, flashlight pointed ahead, while the boss and his son followed closely behind. The older looked more excited than the younger.

     “Look at that, Emrys!” he wheezed, bubbling with glee. Eamon zoomed in on the glowing container, nodding to an unarmed subordinate who hurried to the console next to it. Emrys hesitantly followed his father’s footsteps, but his eyes could not help to marvel at the spectacle in front of him.

     The container was at least nine feet tall, standing upright. Tubes of some chemicals locked securely behind it with small hoses connected to the glowing container, presumably pumping the chemicals into mist sprays that occasionally spritzed out inside the tube every other few minutes. The most curious thing was what inside. It looked like a dragon—a dragon that was covered in black armor plating, with four swirling horn attachments on its head. Emrys wasn’t sure if that was just a really ornate helmet or actually a head. The teeth that slipped between the crevices on the long snout-like part of the head looked quite real. Even more questions rolling inside Emrys’ curly head; why hire a monster to fight off more monsters? That sounds very counterproductive.

     “Dad, I’m not so sure about this…” Emrys muttered. He wasn’t sure if giving him a monster would be such a great idea.

     “Psh, you’re worrying too much!” He then turned to the operator at the console. “Wake the thing up. Let’s welcome him to our company.”

      Emrys knew there was no arguing with his father. His best move was to step back as far away as possible from the glowing container as it creaked, squeaked, and hissed from the pressure loosening from its tight locks. The dragon-like creature started to stir and move its head, and the operator injected another chemical compound from a different tube into the container. He didn’t know what the other chemical was, but whatever it was, he could see that it made the monster even more awake. 

     “Dad, you do know how to contain this thing back, don’t you?” he called over, his concerned look growing worse and worse with every movement the monster made inside.

     “You’re gonna be fine!” Eamon shrugged off the blatant fear from his son, clearly he was more excited to see the monster awaken. He heard the rumbling growl emanating from inside the container, followed by loud metallic banging. The container started to dent, much to Emrys’ growing concern, and it soon was tore open by a pair of clawed hands. The dragon emerged out of its captivity.

     The all black creature panted, it had been sealed inside that blasted metal cage for god knows how long. Now that it was out of its captive, Eamon and his men inched closer surrounding it, and realized that the container wasn’t just huge for the sake of being huge; the creature it contained itself was massive too. Despite its glossy armor-like scales, big horns, long snout, spike-riddled back, and a long, wide tail that almost looked like that of a lobster, the figure of this creature was near humanoid from the way it stood upright on two strong legs. Its hands had four fingers instead of five and its tips were sharp and pointy, the polish quality on them slightly more doff than the glossy rest of the body.

     Eamon approached the monster closer, eyes continued to gleam over the majesty of its intimidating dark figure. “Emrys! What are you doing over there? Come and take a closer—” his sentence was cut as a large black hand gripped around his neck, its sharp claws digging dangerously deep into his skin, but not enough to suffocate the seventy-year-old modern pirate. Tension spiked high inside the cargo, Emrys took out a hand gun and the other men pointed their rifles at the monster choking their boss. Eamon himself fought in his captor’s hand, pulling a knife from the back of his belt and stabbed it right to the dragon’s face, only for the knife to break upon impact with its skin. While the knife did no harm to the dragon, it still agitated the creature, as bright, thin white lights flashed around the edges of its body and on its face, forming somewhat like a pair of ethereal unblinking eyes.

     “Let him go!” Emrys warned the monster, even though he saw no point in doing so. This beast probably had no idea of the human language. “Let him go, and I promise, we will not harm you!”

     “Just shoot already!” Eamon yelled, stirring startled reactions from his men.

     “No! It took your knife like it was nothing, bullets will just ricochet!”

     The dragon’s growling subdued to a quieter level than it was before, seemingly contemplating what Emrys had said, but still held Eamon on the neck with an iron grip. Whatever was running inside its head, Emrys certainly no longer felt a killing intent wafting off of its aura. In fact, it never seemed to feel like it wanted to kill. Just threaten and stir panic.

     This was a crazy idea, but the young arms dealer put his hand gun down on the floor and raised his hands next to his head. “Look, there, I won’t attack you.” He quickly motioned to the guardsmen surrounding the monster. “Guys, you too! Come on!”

      The others hesitated, but with more urging glare from Emrys, they finally obeyed. They slowly knelt down and put their rifles down, albeit apprehensively. However, their actions were interrupted with the sound of the sea gushing and crashing the harbor, even though this particular section of the harbor was protected from the sea current. Whatever made the waters wave could have only been a boat. It would have been an awfully quiet boat.

     The metal doors of the cargo groaned deafeningly as it was pulled and snapped apart from the body. Huge, slick, salamander-like bodies climbed out of the water and huddled around the cargo like flies to a carcass. They climbed and gnawed at the metal walls, trying to make new openings, until they noticed there was an easy entrance on the front. The people and the dragon were cornered.

     The first monster pulled itself forward and with its wet and slick body, it easily slid on the metal surface, making its way straight towards Emrys, its mouth opened wide to swallow him whole. Emrys bolted to the only way he could go, counting on his best survival assets: his legs. But even his speed could not outmatch a waterborne monster sliding on metallic surface. He didn’t want to look behind him. He didn’t want to look at how death appears before him.

      The dragon tossed its captive to the closest human in its throwing direction and long jumped towards Emrys and the monster chasing him, claws bared and ready to latch onto its next prey. It headed straight towards Emrys, he thought even the odd monster they freed wanted him dead, but his survival instinct still kicked in and forced him to slide underneath the black dragon. He watched the dragon pass above him, seeing its glowing edges becoming brighter as it opened its terrifying mouth. With a heavy screech, the dragon blew a long breath of cold air as if it kept dry ice in the back of its throat, causing the salamander monster to shriek and tried to slap away the cold. Closing its mouth, the dragon gave its opponent a roundhouse kick that sent it backwards, out of the cargo container. It took a deep breath and once more sprayed its opponent in intense cold air, freezing the water layers that coated the salamander monster instantly before freezing the skin and its insides.

     The opponent frozen solid, the dragon grabbed its mouth with both hands. It roared, unleashing its full arm power to rip the opponent monster into two uneven halves. One down, still a few more to go. The dragon looked around and roared and snapped its jaws at them, taunting them to come at it. The salamanders looked at it with confusion in their beady eyes and wide gaping mouth, but the more vicious ones soon avenged their largest one, hauling their bodies onto the dragon to squash and overwhelm it. The dragon was quick to move, however, catching one and then wrestle-throw the slimy monster onto its friends. He delivered boulder-breaking punches and kicks, sprayed ice breath, and other defensive moves without moving from his position. Soon, the salamanders realized that they could not win against this smaller but stronger dragon. It has elemental attack when they do not. One by one, they retreated into the sea from whence they came. The dragon huffed, cold misty breath puffed from the edge of its mouth. Good to see that these beasts know who’s the boss.

      With the threats gone, the tall black creature was finally able to let down its guard. Then, it realized, its knees wobbled, its muscles felt like rubber, and it collapsed to its knees. It panted heavily; the glowing around its edges disappeared, including its ethereal misty eyes, giving its face the blank eyeless look again. Watching it collapse in exhaustion, Emrys found himself courage to approach the creature. No longer did he feel threatened by its presence, and he was quite confident it will understand him.

     Emrys offered the black dragon a hand. “I owe you one,” he said, a wry smile on his face.

     The dragon took his arm, its claws retracted, becoming very similar to human hands except that they only had four fingers. It tried to push itself standing, but was interrupted with a loud, grumbling sound coming from its stomach. Both it and Emrys froze, the latter stared dumbfounded. The dragon whimpered as it stood upright, its other hand rubbed its toned stomach, trying to comfort the inner dragon in agony. Emrys found it hilarious, but he refrained from laughing.

     “If there’s a particular thing you want to eat, I can probably make it,” he said with a smirk on his face, his arms crossed.

     “What are you doing, cozying up with the thing? It doesn’t eat human food, does it?” Eamon groaned. He held the small punctures made when the dragon choked him earlier with a handkerchief. Behind him, the guardsmen followed with their rifles pointed once again towards the dragon. He yelped when he earned a snarl from the dragon, his hands quickly covering his neck to protect it, but he was saved by Emrys who stepped between his father and the dragon.

     “How do you know? This is the first time we’ve seen one of this guy’s kind,” Emrys argued. While he defended the dragon, his eyes studied its behavior.

     “These fucking monsters always eat people! The other one wanted to eat you, didn’t it? The only difference with this thing is that it listens to orders!”

     Eamon received another vicious snarl from the dragon, this time Emrys made less effort to intervene as he was more interested in studying the dragon. “Don’t think he appreciates being called a ‘thing’ or an ‘it’, Dad. You know, if the difference between this guy and the ones that almost ate me is that his kind can listen to orders, that means he’s intelligent. Which means, there’s a likelihood he won’t obey every order given to him.”

     The dragon pointed at Emrys and nodded. He said everything he wanted to say. Emrys understood him.

     And Eamon couldn’t believe it. “Are you kidding me?! I need someone who will listen and do what they’re told, no matter what. I don’t need a thing that thinks just like people!”

     Hearing the word ‘thing’ again, the dragon growled louder and loomed menacingly before the senior modern pirate, not afraid to bare his sharp teeth to emphasize the point that he could bite his head off as easily as biting cake pops. Once again, Emrys stepped between them, placing an assertive hand on the dragon’s shoulder. His look to his father was that of sass, his other hand tucked inside the pocket of his jeans.

     “See? He doesn’t like the word ‘thing’. Besides, what do you have to moan about? You said I needed a bodyguard, since I lost profits from losing my clients to monster buffet. Hell, you even stole him from an American government-owned ship for little ol’ me! This is the first time you’ve ever given me a present that’s actually pretty thoughtful.”

     Emrys glanced to his father, whose face was growing annoyed the longer he talked, and he relished it. He couldn’t help but continue grating his father’s ego, so he continued, “You know what? I actually owe you an apology, Dad. I thought having a monster as a bodyguard was a terrible idea, but now? It’s not that bad.” Emrys’ smirk continued to grow, much to his father’s further annoyance. He turned to look back at the dragon, whose face was unreadable due to his lack of normal eyes. “I said all that, but I forgot to even ask how you feel about it. What do you say? Work for me and I’ll take care of you.”

     The dragon crossed his arms and walked a few steps back to contemplate. Nobody could tell what sort of expression he might be putting, they can only guess from his gestures and the way his tail flapped and swished as he was thinking. Emrys thought maybe he needed to be more detailed with his proposal.

     “You’ll get paid handsomely,” he added. He meant to joke—because there is no way a monster needs money—but to everybody’s surprise, the dragon’s head perked up and he zipped back to shake Emrys’ hands in gratitude. The hand shake was no joke either; it was firm and full of energy, and his large maw was opened, displaying his terrifying rows of teeth, in what appeared like a gleeful smile. Old Irish tales his grandmother told him as a child spoke about dragons hoarding treasures, he never thought it would apply to real life humanoid dragons. “Well, looks like we have a deal.”

     “And then what are you going to do with…him?” Eamon spoke the pronoun with difficulty, as if swallowing an urchin whole, but it earned no hostility from the dragon, to his relief. “He’s homeless. He’s a, I don’t know, two-meter-tall ice-breathing dragon, how will you get him back?”

     Emrys scoffed. “I’ve smuggled a rocket launcher into my apartment before! I had to carry it alone! This guy can carry himself. It’s gonna be fine!”

     The elderly man could only sigh heavily and pinched his nose bridge. He groaned, “Keep him if you want. Just keep up with your work. And don’t pamper him too much.”

     “Oh, Pappy, you worry too much.” Emrys wrapped his arm around his father’s stocky shoulders, a shit-eating grin on his face.

     He probably shouldn’t have sassed his father.

     True, the dragon was able to have the awareness that he needed to sneak, but the problem lied outside of that. The creature was too damn big. Emrys’ apartment building was not the shabby, poor sort—quite the opposite, in fact—but it was an old building refurbished. The ceilings were still below eight feet high, so the dragon had to crouch slightly to accommodate his massive stature. It was like bringing a Clydesdale horse into the apartment. They were lucky it was nighttime and the street where this building was situated was still the old school district where shops close at seven, so the two could use the elevator without getting spotted. Emrys couldn’t do this during the day; the hall to the elevator faced the main entrance of the building. Next time, Emrys made a mental note, they should take the fire exit stairs on the back.

     Once arrived in his flat, the dragon finally could stretch to his full height. He sighed, the sound came out like a big dog’s whimper, relieved that he could finally relax in a safer environment. He walked around, mindful of his tail, exploring the new environment he will be spending his days in while Emrys was doing some housekeeping. The demanding rumble of the dragon’s stomach returned, interrupting his exploration. The dragon whimpered a little once more; if he didn’t eat soon, his body could cannibalize itself.

     Emrys chuckled and beckoned the dragon to follow him to the kitchen, where he proceeded to open the refrigerator. “I don’t know what you like, but I’m currently defrosting this ground beef. Do you eat raw?” he asked, rummaging through the refrigerator.

     The dragon shook his head and grunted an “uh-uh” in his growly dragon voice. He bent down slightly behind Emrys, he wanted to see for himself what the lord of the house has. Surprisingly, his fridge was brimming with ingredients, both meat and plant-based.

     “Alright, great. I was worried I will have to do a lot of cleaning to get the smell of raw meat off.” He poked the ground beef he had left to see if it had thawed enough, then took it out, along with some vegetables. “I’m planning to make meatloaf tonight, but it might take another hour.”

     The dragon grumbled; he couldn’t wait that long! He squatted next to Emrys, a bit too close as the human had to move aside slightly so as not to get poked by the spikes on his shoulder. He scanned the contents of the fridge, his nose helping as well, and he spotted a carton box in the back. It smelled like meat too. He pointed at the box, silently asking if Emrys could tell him what it was.

     “Oh, this?” he grabbed the box and opened it for the dragon to see. It was a bunch of fried chicken leftovers. Emrys paused to think; he didn’t remember ever making this—or buying this, for that matter. He never needed to buy this many fried chicken. “Yeah, you can have ’em if you want. I don’t even remember who put these in my fridge.” He handed the box to the dragon, who licked his rows of sharp teeth in anticipation. The dragon immediately picked one piece and stuff it into his mouth, loud crunching of bones being shattered and meat being ground echoing from inside his long black maw. “Probably from one of the guys…”

     The dragon ignored the host’s mumbling and continued to chow down the fried chicken. They were a bit hard from the days it was forgotten in the back of the fridge, but the dragon had a method. His biolights pulsed red, starting from his chest and dissipating in a wave, ending on his snout. Soft puff of steam misted through his teeth before he started to chew and crunch. The heat culminating in his mouth warmed up the stale chicken to a soft and easy to munch consistency, like a mini oven toaster. Emrys watched the continuous process with interest. It clicked to him.

     “Oh, so you can breathe fire!” he exclaimed. He found a new appreciation to this creature he just hired.

     While the dragon ate standing near the dining table, Emrys used the time to prepare for his meatloaf. He was immersed in his cooking, not even once paying attention to the dragon who was watching him. Two cutting boards were set, one for the meat and the other for the onion and herbs. Emrys worked on the onion quickly, demonstrating his knife play by chopping one big onion in mere seconds, fast enough that he was unaffected by the plant’s tear-inducing properties. The dragon finished his appetizer and could now watch Emrys preparing his meal like a professional chef. He walked over to him as the man slid the tin of meatloaf into the oven, spooking him in the process. Emrys had been so caught up with his meal preparation he failed to notice the eight feet tall monster looming next to him.

     “Y-you done with your food?” he asked, pretending like he wasn’t embarrassed at all to be spooked so easily. He was a professional illegal dealer, he should have more sense of caution. What would his father think of him, seeing him not noticing someone so large? He looked to the fast food container in the dragon’s hands and then pointed to the trash bin next to the sink. “Throw it over there. No littering in my home.”

      The dragon nodded and followed the host’s instruction, disposing the container to its final home. While he was preoccupied with bending half of his body down to crush the trash to the bottom of the bin, Emrys had the time to compose himself and think of other things to say to him. He was never the starter of a conversation; he normally relied on other people to start it for him. And while the dragon was able to understand what he says, he couldn’t exactly speak to hold a conversation with him. Yet, if this large being was to live in his apartment and work as his bodyguard, he needed to be able to establish a way to communicate with him.

     Speaking of which, he didn’t even have a way to address him. He didn’t intend to call him ‘dragon’ all the time. “Hey,” he called, turning to face him, “I don’t want to keep calling you ‘You’ or ‘Dragon’, so I’m wondering if you have a name I can call you or should I start browsing all of my novels for a good name to give you?”

     The spikes on the dragon’s back fluttered when Emrys asked for his name and his body language started to shuffle. His hands then started moving in a series of patterns, and it took a few seconds for Emrys to realize that the dragon was signing to him. Immediately, Emrys held his hands out.

     “Whoa! Hold on! You—you know sign language?”

     The dragon nodded and then gestured towards the human. Emrys quickly shook his head.

     “N-no, I can’t do that at all. Uh…try something else?” he suggested. Now he felt stupid; this creature—seemingly originated from outer space—could use sign language when he could not.

     The dragon turned around, like he was looking for something. He made a gesture with his hand, folding his fingers a certain way that was almost a closed fist except the tip of his thumb pressed against the next two fingers—just like how people would hold a pen or pencil. Understanding what he wanted, Emrys scrambled along, rushing next to his home phone to grab a piece of scrap paper and a pencil. The dragon took the items from Emrys and set them on the kitchen counter nearest to him.

     He took a moment to hold the pencil properly, he seemed to be marveling at how small and thin the pencil was, probably. With that eyeless face of his, Emrys could not be sure. His hand was shaking very slightly, but Emrys’ observant eyes were able to notice it. He looked from his hand and up to the dragon’s eyeless face. “Are you…okay?” he asked.

     It appeared like the dragon felt Emrys was getting concerned for him, so he nodded. He had been locked inside a small container, neither awake nor asleep, and unable to do anything but see blurry images outside the glass and hear muffled noises. Holding a pencil was the last thing his body remembered how to do without breaking the wood and graphite into pieces. Fighting his shaky hand, he lowered the pencil and started awkwardly scribbling letters.

     At first, Emrys was in awe that this ice-and-fire-breathing monster knew the Latin alphabet as he watched him scribbling a letter A. He refrained from commenting, waiting for him to finish writing. But with each letter written, it became less and less discernible. Even following his hand movement Emrys still couldn’t figure out the fourth letter and onward. It took him a solid ten minutes just trying to decipher the ancient runes given to him, which confused the dragon.

     “I’m sorry, but I don’t know any other foreign alphabets except those used in writing English, Gaelic, French, and German,” he sighed. The dragon huffed and put his hands on his hips, somewhat offended by the implication that he didn’t know how to write in Latin alphabets despite the the first three letters being clear enough for Emrys to understand. “Look, your handwriting is shitty, okay? I’m sorry. All I can read is Avi, and the rest is like Mandarin to me. I can tell you have a long name, but for the love of St. Patrick, I can’t decipher them.”

     The dragon, or Avi, according to the first three letters Emrys could read, grumbled and folded his arms. He didn’t stay grumpy long; he was aware of his initial problems when he held that pencil. He was just a little annoyed that he now had to find other ways to spell his full name. He left to the living room, looking for said other method, leaving Emrys free to make his salad while the meatloaf was cooking. A few minutes later, Avi returned with an old magazine and a paper glue that he found lying around on the coffee table in the living room. He made a V with his index and the odd middle-and-maybe-also-ring finger, then moved them in a snipping-like motion. Emrys simply paused from cutting a carrot and grabbed a pair of scissors from a drawer near him.

     By the time Avi was done with his arts and craft, Emrys had already finished dressing his salad and sat down on the chair next to the hulking dragon monster. He was impressed with his precision using the scissors; so much better than his use of pencil. He handed the same paper that he wrote his name on over to Emrys, showing him the new and more readable spelling of his name. During the time Emrys was busy preparing dinner, Avi had been cutting letters from different headlines in the magazine he took and arranged the letters to make his name. He set them in two rows: the first row was a long eight-lettered word ‘Avinashi’, while the second row was shorter—six letters—saying ���Shirmi’.

     Emrys’ memory juggled back to the harbor, when Eamon handed him a shipment log for Avi’s container. The first entry was dated almost eight years ago, and its point of origin was from a planet called Ainon Deis. He met one or two people from that planet and none looked remotely close to his new bodyguard here. Unfortunately, his extraterrestrial knowledge was poor; he hardly ever had non-human clients, and those he saw were assistants or underlings of his clients. He didn’t even know if the people of Ainon Deis has a name for their species, like how Earth has humans.

     “So…Avinashi…Shirmi?” he pronounced the name carefully, looking up to its bearer for confirmation. “Did I say it right?”

     The dragon now identified as Avinashi gestured for him to say it one more time and quite satisfied with the man’s effort, Avinashi nodded, his wide tail flapped against the wooden flooring. His posture loosened, he slouched slightly, he looked more relieved. Maybe hearing someone saying his name after so long locked in that container made him happy.

     “It’s still quite a mouthful, though. Can I just call you ‘Avi’?” Emrys asked. Avinashi took a moment to reply, instead he just sat, seemingly frozen, while his eyeless face directed straight at Emrys’. He didn’t know if he will ever get used to this unreadable face. “Uh…is that too familiar? Are you the type who says everyone’s first name completely in your first year at work? I mean, nothing wrong with your name, it’s just…since we’ll be spending our time together a lot—what with you being my bodyguard—I prefer to have something short and quick to say. Y’know, in case of emergencies and I need to call you in a split second, all that jazz? You get it?”

     Avinashi exhaled, a low hum coming along with his breath. At last, he nodded and shrugged. It’s better than constantly being called ‘the thing’ all the time. Plus, his reasoning made sense. He was willing to accept his work condition.

     “Great! Looking forward to work with you, Avi.” The oven dinged just as he placed a welcoming pat on a scale plating on his shoulder, calling Emrys that the meatloaf was ready to serve. The smell of freshly cooked beef wafted throughout the kitchen and on to the dining room, making Avi’s mouth water. Watching Avi’s restrained excitement for a big meal made Emrys’ face glow, he couldn’t help but let his giddy smile get through his restraints a little. “Take this as your down payment until I strike a deal with my next client, alright?”

     “I hope you’re not allergic to dust, I didn’t have time to prepare and clean up the guest bedroom. I didn’t expect to have a roommate today, you see.” Emrys unlocked an ivory-colored door, leading into a room with a single bed, a desk, and small wardrobe. Avi entered while Emrys stayed by the door, watching the black-scaled monster studying his new living space. There was a decent sized window, with a simple white blinds currently rolled up.

     Avi turned to his new employer and nodded approvingly. Emrys placed the key of his room on the desk, entrusting it to his new flatmate. “My room is just across yours. My room has its own bathroom, but yours is at the end of the hallway. Hopefully, you’re not a scaredy cat who’s afraid of dark long hallways, because I turn every light off before I go to bed.”

     Avi nodded again, not minding the rules of his new home. He personally likes it dark, anyway, but he could not express that through words. Pleased that Avi had no qualms against his rules, Emrys departed for his own bedroom, leaving the dragon monster to his own devices and thoughts. He turned around to once again marvel at his new living space.

     His first room in years. A spacious place where he could easily spread his arms and legs. Even the bed looked decent, with sturdy iron frames. A light kick on the steely foot convinced Avi it was strong enough to carry his weight for about six hours or so every day. He finally could have a real sleep, not the limbo-like situation he was trapped in for almost eight years. However, before he lay down, he wanted to do one last thing he did not have a chance to do before.

     He inhaled deeply, relaxing himself, and then started to concentrate…really hard. So hard that his head throbbed, his body hunched, his bones tremble, and his growl crescendoed in intensity. The intense concentrated nerve pushing went on for a long five minutes. Tired of pushing out, he dropped to his knees, panting. He quickly brought his hands to his view. How was it?

     His hands were still the same black and scaly ones, complete with the retractable claws. With a snarl, he punched the floor, but not hard enough to break a plank. There were more pent up frustration in his chest, but in respect of his new home provided by his employer, he struggled not to vocalize said frustration. He let it flow slightly from the way the spikes on his back drooped and staring at the ceiling.

     At least, he got himself somewhere safe to sleep…

     At least, he can eat again…

     At least, he is free…

[djmayday]

S.p’s Shocking Tale!

(look man, i had too, the pun was waiting for me asdfg)

Words: 4258-ish  hh-

ok, for once, i had genuine fun writing something, its not my best, but its good practice asdfghgfddfgh

also fair warning, its not horribly graphic but like,,, action scene (a single one asdfgh) that mentions some weird/bloody, idk lol, i need to practice more asdf

enjoy?

It was nice day.

S.p was soaring through the spring air, her wings spread out wide and her hair flowing in the breeze as she flew over the city. Today was a good day she thought.

In between the big jobs Timara gives her, S.p helps out her aunt’s package delivery service. Right now she’s got only two to do for today, but it was far out away from where she’s used to.

‘Uuughhhh, this is gonna take forrreverrrr,’ S.p groaned to herself, she looked back down on the label on the smaller box, hoping that maybe it magically moved where she needed to be closer. Nope, instead all she saw was the dark iridescent boxes shine in the sun, the name of the business in light pink/purple cursive and a M.p signature near it.

The label read ‘Madame Pink’s Delivery service.’  S.p couldn’t help but smile a little as she remembered who she was helping. It was short lived though as she realized she wasn’t flying over buildings anymore, just a field. She quickly stopped and did a double take. Then took out a little compasses on a string out of her pocket and got a good look at it.

“No, I’m still going north,” She mumbled, taking another glance around before shoving the compass in her pocket. She quickly took off her necklace that was tucked into her shirt, it had a rather large pearl looking piece on it. Holding it out by that pearl, it glowed purple for a moment, before creating a holograph revealing someone with their back turned.

“Uh, hi auntie,” S.p said, the figure gasped and turned around.  

It was the mysterious Madame Pink. She held her fan so it covered most of her face, except for the eyes.

“Why, my little angel!”  Madame joyfully exclaimed, “Have you already delivered those packages? That was rather fast,”

“Uh, noo,” S.p admitted, looking a little flustered, “I think I’m like, very lost,”

Madame’s eyes widened a little,“Oh my, that's quite the predicament-,”  She closed her third eye for a moment, then continued, “Pray tell, can you describe to me where you are?”

S.p looked around again, “Uhhhhh, not a place with buildings,”  S.p stopped when she heard her aunt giggle,” Hey, what’s funny?!”

“Oh do you not remember?  You’re on the path to the edge of the mountains, it’s the right way my dear,”

S.p blinked, “Oh-” then her face scrunched a little in annoyance, “Oh, the mountains? But that’s like, soooo farr aunite!!”

“Now now child,”  She said as she tapped her forehead, “I know you have ways to get there faster than anyone else I know, you’ll be fine, just be sure to protect the boxes when you do it,”

S.p’s ear drooped a little and she sighed, “Ok…”

“Excellent, now if you excuse me, I have to be on somewhere, as you do as well,”

S.p perked up, “Okie, bye auntie! Love you!” She said with a big grin while holding up a peace sign.

“Take care, my little star, ta-ta~!”  Madame said as she waved, the holograph faded, and so did the glow on the pearl, ending the call. S.p put the necklace back on, tucking the pearl back in her shirt.

‘Alright, a faster way, huh?’ S.p thought as she looked back down at the packages, they both went to the same place, but to different people, ‘Guess that means it’s time to break another record for fastest travel eva!’ She said as her hands glowed a soft yellow, which passed over to the boxes, covering them in a magical coating before fading, making the boxes look normal again. She flew down to the ground, and got into a flight-ready stance.

Focusing all of her thoughts on what she wanted to do next, she started to be filled with energy. Little flicks of lightning shot off of her as she stored more energy, her hair floofing up a little as well. Then…

BOOM!

A huge explosion of energy sent her flying up into the air as a lightning bolt. Her wings straight out, letting her glide through the air. The world rushed past her in a colorful blur of greens, yellows, and the occasional blue. S.p made a mental note to get a gopro with her pay after the trip for when she flies.

‘Or maybe just beg Molly for it…’ S.p thought to herself.

Despite her speed, she could still faintly see the plains below, and there’s no building in sight, not even a road. Just… grass. There wasn’t even any trees.

‘Who even moves out this far?’ S.p thinks.

After a long while of flying, she eventually felt her energy falter, and she begins to slow down, she had to start flapping her wings again to keep from crashing, which isn’t an easy transition.

“Yipe! This never lasts long enough!” She exclaims, she held the gifts closer to her chest, making sure she didn’t drop them. Soon enough she got back into balance, and could glide a bit more, but it wasn’t nearly as fast.

“I gotta ask T how to make that last longer,” She mutters.

Luckily for her, she could see a dirt road below. S.p looked forward and finally saw a humongous mountain that stretched and faded into the clouds. And at the bottom was two dark blobs.

“Finally freakin build...ings,”  S.p slowed down to a halt and squinted. When in focus, one blob as definitely a building, a bit creepy but it had a roof and all. The other though… well… S.p’s eyes couldn’t focus on it for some reason, and everytime she could get a clear glance at it, it was... something else, something just as menacing thing as the last.

“Welp, not that one, I ain’t that dumb,” S.p says as she flies to the other building. Which wasn’t that better than the blob, if she was being honest. The building was worn down, as if it hadn’t been used in years; Nature was reclaiming it with vines everywhere.

She lands in front of two big metal doors, both rusted to hell and back. With a nervous gulp, S.p knocks on one of the doors with a nice loud thunk. The doors partially opened when she did.  S.p stood there for a few moments wondering if she should pull a ‘person in a horror movie’ move and go in.

S.p thought for a second,  ‘Auntie would kill me if I came back full handed-’ She sighs, ’- and I can't just waste that stupid long trip,’ she thinks as she pushes the doors open and steps inside. On the inside, it looked ransacked and barren; Boxes were emptied, barrels pushed over, etc.

Making sure not to stand far away from the door, S.p calls out, "Uhh, hello?"

No answer.

"Helloooo?" S.p calls out again, walking deeper into the warehouse. Something wasn't right, it seemed a lot smaller on the inside.

She stood in what she thought was the middle of the warehouse, when she heard a crash behind her, making her jump and her wings spread out instinctively.

It was the doors.

They slammed shut.

Breathing heavily, she looked all around her, trying to find what or who shut the doors.

Nothing. This place was empty.

Was.

Cause the next thing S.p heard was a gun cock.

"Freeze!" Yelled the stranger.

S.p froze, and slowly turned around to see the person. It was a young man in a basketball tank top, with blond hair that faded to dark brown, he also had raccoon ears that were also blond. He had two different colored eyes. To S.p his left eye was red, and his right eye green. He also had bandages wrapped all around his arms down to his hands boxing style.

There was a moment of silence between the two, both of them were scared, you could see it on their faces, but neither were backing out.

“Who the heck are you??” S.p finally said, slightly cringing at how loud she was. To be fair, she couldn’t quite hear herself over her thudding heartbeat.

The boy looked confused and lowered his gun slightly, “Who the heck are you?”

“Um, I asked first?”

The man sighed and his ears went back in annoyance, “...Toby,” He raised the gun again, “Now it’s your turn,”

“M-my name’s S.p!” She exclaimed, forcing back as much stuttering as she could.

Toby put his gun down and into his holster, “The hell are you doing out here?”

“I could ask the same to you, but I’m just a delivery person!” S.p exclaimed, sounding more enthusiastic than she felt.

“Well, I’m here on a search for a friend that went missing,” Toby said, looking around as he talked,  “You didn’t happen to see to douche-y lookin’ dude around, have you?” Toby asked sarcastically.

S.p shrugged, “Just you so far,”

“Fuck you,”

“Hey! That wasn’t an insult!” S.p said, finally calming down a bit, she thought for a moment, “Hey, maybe we can help each other,”

Toby’s ears perk up and he tilts his head, “How so?”

“Well, we’re both looking for someone, and I have a feeling that they’re both in the same place,”

Toby hesitates, “I- well… Fine, it’d be better than searchin’ this hell hole alone, I guess,”

S.p grinned, “Cool cool! Let’s get movin’ then-” There was a small crash, making both of them flinch horribly. Toby got his gun back out, which was still cocked. S.p listened very carefully for what made the noise

There was nothing but silence.

Toby ears twitched and moved, also trying to find any sign of something weird.

Soon enough they heard another quiet bang.

“That way,” Toby whispered, as he walked in the direction of the noise, S.p following close behind, clutching the boxes close so they wouldn’t make a lot of noise.

The two found themselves at the back wall of that room, carefully approaching a door that was slightly open. Toby hesitated, but reached out for the door handle.

A crunch made him stop.

S.p had stepped on something, slightly panic-y she lifted up her foot to see what it was, it was just bag. The both of them sighed in relief. S.p quickly picked up the bag and put the boxes in it, ‘It’ll be quieter, and safer for the boxes!’ she thought to herself.

Toby rolled his eyes, before opening the door slightly and looked inside, “No one’s in there,” He whispered, before motioning for S.p to follow as he went in.

Both of them couldn’t help it but stand still for a moment, surveying the room.

It was a long hallway at a slight angle going down. It was looked as if someone had looted it; Bookshelves looked like they were thrown, paper, bags, and all sorts of stuff scattered on the floor, and there was a random stove flipped over and scratches all around it, yet nothing seemed missing. The chaos of the hallway went until it was too dark to see tdown the hallway.

Once they got a good look, they continued onward.

“It’s like someone was looking for something,” S.p whispered.

Toby’s ear twitched, “They still might be,” he said as he pushed a button that was on top of his gun, it turned on a flashlight that was built into it, it gave off pretty decent light.

But it revealed that there were smears of bright color on the walls, that and a ton of scratches. S.p gulped and wishfully assumed it was paint.

The farther they walked the more narrow the hallway got, and the more empty it was too, except for the constant scratches and color. It couldn’t even be called a hallway anymore.

“What… is this?” Toby said, “Why would a warehouse have this?”

“It’s a hide-away tunnel,” S.p said as she got nervous, she recognized this sorta thing from her mom, and things involving her didn’t always end well. The familiar concrete walls made her breath catch in her throat.

“How do you know?”

“I-... just do,” S.p said, doing a little fake shrug.

Not really satisfied with the answer, Toby looked back forward. S.p could feel the tension in the air, neither of them really trusted each other, but Toby seemed a lot worse.

So why not break the ice a little?

“What’s your friend like? Apart from being a douche,” S.p asks.

Toby thought for a moment, his ear twitching, “He… was very full of himself, although I’ve always thought of that as a better than when he lacked self esteem,”

“Call that ‘growth’ where I’m at,” S.p said light heartly.

Toby had a sliver of a smile on his face, that is until he stepped into a pile of something, with a unsatisfying ‘glorp!’, “Ugh! Gross!” He cursed as he quickly stepped out of it, “The fuck is this??”

S.p looked at the pile, it wasn’t shit, it was the same rainbow stuff they had seen on the walls, “It kinda looks like, puke almost…” She mumbles to herself.

He grunts before pointing ahead at more puddles/piles, “Lookat this, there’s tons of it! What sick freak pukes rainbow till their lungs go out??”

“W-whatever lives there, probably,” S.p whispered in horror. The two of them reached the end of the tunnel, it led to a large, empty room. They stood at the entrance in awe, it was massive!

Slowly, Toby put himself in a battle ready stance and walked into the room, S.p reluctantly following behind. Their steps echoed off the walls, if there even was any, the room was pitch black, except for Toby’s light, which basically only revealed more puddles of colors on the floor.

Breathing began to get harder for S.p, her heart was racing so hard that if you listened close enough, you could hear it clear as day.

They heard a slither behind them, Toby pointed his gun in that direction, but saw nothing.

“What are you doing here?” A voice called out, it sounded cold and unwelcoming, it’s voice boomed and echoed off the walls.

Another slither went behind them, they stood back to back to each other this time.Toby was aiming his gun at basically everything and S.p was scared stiff.

“Have you come to take my prey?” It called out again, in a more mocking tone. Now the slither sounded like it was rounding them.

“Show yourself!” Toby yells out. His, light caught the end of something.

A tail?

Not just any tail, a snake tail.

S,p was already shaking horribly, but even Toby started to buckle under the stress. They felt a presence loom over them in the dark.

With shaking hands, Toby followed the tail up, and soon met a menacing face, glaring down the two.

S.p couldn’t help but gasp and hide behind Toby, making the figure laugh.

“My my~ What are two children doing here?”  They asked, leaning down to get a better look at them. Their face was half human, half reptile, with scales decorating their face. Their eyes looked just wrong enough to send chills down Toby’s spine.

“You know, it’s rude to enter my home without permission,” They continued, getting closer. Now their eyes were in the light, which reflected off their pupils in dozens of colors. You could see color dripping from their mouth onto their chin.

“In fact,” Their tail shuffled, revealing that the part of the tail that was still hidden in the dark was holding two people who were tied up, “I was in the middle of something~”

Toby looked at one of the people and gasped, “Jake!” He looked back up at the creature while it laughed, “Give. Him. Back.” He growled.

“Or what? You’ll kill me?” They said as their laugh became maniacal.

Suddenly they slammed the people hard into the two, sending all four of them flying. Toby’s gun went flying too, leaving them all in the dark.

As quickly as she landed, S.p got up panting, “T-Toby?!?!” She called out breathlessly.

Slithers and echos of laughs from all around made her head spin. In a panic, she focused her energy into her right hand, and shot a lightning bolt into the dark. It lit up the room for a moment, and it was enough to see Toby’s gun.

Instinctively, she started to dash for it. Just as she grabbed it she was pulled back by her feet, making her chin collide and drag on the floor. Then she was held up in the air, the creature’s tail wrapping itself around her and letting the blood drip onto her face, she couldn’t even shoot the gun if she wanted to. They laughed as she struggled.

She couldn’t breathe.

She was panicking.

Then, animal instinct took over.

Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out.

That’s all her brain told her.

She sank her teeth as best she could into their tail. And refused to let go, even after they had basically dropped her.

Then she held onto their tail with all her might and released all that energy and electricity with a powerful scream. You could see their shadows on the walls from the light it emitted. The creature screamed in pain and convulsed, which knocked S.p off and onto the floor. Practically knocked out from the drain

The creature twitched and convulsed still, struggling to catch its breath. When they heard the footsteps of the others, they growled and skittered away.

In the corner of S.p’s eye, she could’ve sworn she had saw natural light, but at this point the world was spinning, so she couldn’t really be sure.

Toby came running up to her first yelling, “Fuckin’ hell, dude! Are you alright?!” S.p only whimpered in response, before passing out completely, “Shit!” Toby exclaimed, “Hey, Jake, other dude! Help me out here!”

Running up came two dudes; Jake, a young man who looked about Toby’s age, he always wore his signature red hat, even in dark times like this. The other without a name was a rather old fella, in a now ruined cleaning suit, he had a badge on him that said ‘Finoe’ on it, so that must be his name

Jake quickly got to work, helping Toby carry her on their shoulders, they struggled, though, carrying someone knocked out is harder than you think.

The other dude ‘Finoe’ was clearly in shock; shaking knees and wide eyes, but he spoke up in a whisper, “Do you… know her?”

Jake looked over at Toby and tilted his head, Toby sighs, “Not really,”

“Then who the heck is she?” Jake asks.

“A delivery person, and your hero,” Toby stated blankly, “In fact I saw the bag right about there,” He says as he points his flashlight-gun at the ground, showing the two boxes in perfect condition.

Finoe quickly ran over to it and scooped the boxes up carefully, “This… This is what that thing was after,”

“Well what is it?”

“It’s... A form of magic dust, that thing made order some for it,”

Jake blinked, “Oooooh, that’s the stuff that powers your gun, right B?” Toby simply nodded, then Jake continued, “But why would it need it so bad it made you order it?”

Finoe visibly shivered, “It has drug like properties when consumed, it’s why you can only order one at a time, I had to use two names,” He sighs, “I’ve never wanted anything to do with this damn powder in my life-”

“Well,” Jake interrupted, “Like I said, we use that stuff for our own things, it’s our job, we could take it off your hands!”

Finoe thought for a moment, “When we leave, I’ll give it to ya,”

And with that, they off up the tunnel, to safety.

…

…

…

S.p woke up to soft sunlight and back pain, as soon as she tried to get up, someone pushed on her forehead gently and kept her down.

“You’re hurt, stay down,” S.p quickly realized who it was, it was Toby! A wave of relief washed over her, and she calmed down a little, that is until Jake popped up right by her.

“Hey, you’re not dead!” Jake exclaimed, making S.p flinch, “Hey so ummmm, the dude over there - His names’ Finoe- he’s cools, said that he knew someone who’d come pick us up and help us, so he had to borrow your necklace thingy, sowwy,”

“Normally I’d say if someone said that, it’s a scam, but he’s proven himself, I guess,” Toby added on. S.p couldn’t help but giggle at that, Toby seems so much different when he’s not serious. S.p eyes trailed to the floor though, and saw that Toby’s leg was wrapped up too, she also noticed he had a raccoon tail that was blond with dark brown rings, dang, how’d she miss that?

She went to speak but her throat was practically killing her, she had to hold it as she spoke, and the only thing she could really get out was a simple, “Wha-?”

Jake shook his head, “Yea no, I don’t think you’ll be talkin’ for a while, you screamed SUPER loud when you were shockin’ the fuck outta that snake beast thing-”  he got super close to her face, “By the way- that was epic, how the hell did ya do that??”

“She’s just got the witch’s blessin’,” Finoe said, walking over to the group, “Anyone in that family is bound to have some strange power,” He holds out S.p’s necklace, “Here, I had to borrow it to make a call,” S.p nods and puts the necklace back on, tucking it into her shirt once again.

Then there was awkward silence between the four of them.

“So, Finoe, what exactly is this place?” Toby finally asked, breaking the silence.

“Hm? Oh! This was my lil personal research area, that place next door was what I was observin’,” Finoe said happily, “Also, there’s no need for formalities, call me Fin,”

“Wait, the area next door? That...blob?” Jake asks and tilts his head.

“Exactly! It’s an anomaly, and Ms. Timara asked me to observe, at a safe distance of course,”

“Heh, overshare much? How do you know we’re not some enemy to her?” Jake snarks, Toby hits him on the back of the head.

“Well,” Fin points at the badge that Toby was wearing, “All fetchers wear that sorta badge, and I know it’s not the most fashionable, so no one’s wearing it willingly,” Toby looked away sheepishly. Fin then pointed to S.p, “And this lovely lady is quiet well known considering she’s paired with Timara’s A-rank, Molly-”

“WHAT?!” Both the boys yelled out, it made Fin jump and S.p covered her ears at the sudden noise.

“So that’s why she could do that, holy shit!?” Jake jumps up and really gets in S.p’s face, she’s visibly uncomfortable, “That’s sick as fuck!” Toby tugs on his shirt, forcing him back a few steps.

Holding her throat again, S.p speaks up, “I’m just…..C-ra...rank” she croaks. Her ears drooped a little at the sound of her voice.

Jake had sparkles in his eyes at this point, “Um and?? You’re being trained by The T and her almost top class, like yo! That’s epic!”

“It’s definitely quite a high place to be at your rank,” Toby adds on, Jake nods furiously.

Fin playfully nods as well, “Yes ind-” He’s interrupted by the fwoom of smoke, and the overwhelming smell of lavender. The four of them turned to where the smoke is coming from. Out from the shadows of smoke came the one, the only,

Madame Pink. With her fan in hand over mouth, she gracefully glided from the smoke.

And her ghost ferret-like familiar came from the smoke as well, looking alert until it finally saw S.p. Then it rushed over and tackled her like a puppy would, licking her face in excitement. S.p giggled and pet the lil ferret, soon it decided to just wrap itself around her like a scarf, back legs on one shoulder, front on the other.

“Hi, aunt,” S.p manages to say, putting a grin on her face.

Madame looked over at S.p and gasped, looking dreadfully worried, she quickly rushed closer to S.p, kneeling to get a better look at her, “Goodness dear! I knew you weren’t in best of shape but...” She quickly shook her head and sighed, “It can be fixed,”  She gets back up and turns to Fin, “Thank you for letting me know of this Fin,”

Fin nods, “Thank ya’ kindly dear, although you must thank these boys though, they were the ones that got her out,”

Madame looked over at them with a harsh but not mean stare, “Is this true?” They both nod, Jake keeps glancing back at the ferret, which is eyeing him down. You can’t see her mouth, but you can tell that Madame is smiling,” Well then, it would be rude to not heal you all as well,” She walks towards the exits, and motions for them to follow, “Come along now~”

Like little kids, Jake, Toby, and S.p followed close behind like little ducks, talking about how cool Madame is and talking more about themselves, (Well, S.p tried to anyways…) and Fin walked at a decent pace behind them.

In a fwoof of smoke, Madame sends everyone to her home to be healed.

This was the start of a pretty weird B-team, but no one was complaining, so we’ll just have to see what adventures they get into next.

The end!

WOWZA THATS A LOTTA WORDS

AND A LOTTA LORE

WOOP I TRIED, TANKS FOR READING

uwu

[teacupfulofstarshine]

pattonella!au pt. 3: the under-budget sequel

(aaaaaAAAAAAH 201 FOLLOWERS! Y’ALL HAVE BEEN SO SUPPORTIVE I AM INSPIRED TO WRITE MORE! also thanks to the ever-amazing scotch for listening to my senseless ramblings while i try to plan out this story) 

tw: mild anxiety attack 

roman and logan have successfully made it back to the castle, accompanied by virgil and patton, and patton thought that the sanders manor was big but it’s absolutely nothing compared to the castle. it’s just - it’s so big. patton tips his head back trying to look at the whole thing as it looms against the sky, overbalances, and falls over. roman runs over to help him up, but patton doesn’t seem fazed at all. 

(logan: is he alright? 

virgil: he’s my brother and i love him but he’s so fucking clumsy it’s a miracle he’s still alive

logan: roman’s gonna have a field day with that, i can already tell)   

they make it into the castle, and roman flags down the nearest servant and asks where his brother is. she tells him that the eldest prince is currently occupied, but she can bring him a message if it’s urgent? 

roman is tempted to tell her that yes, it’s urgent, it’s the most important thing in the world. realistically, though, he knows that thomas has had to take on more and more of actually running the kingdom since their father fell ill. (frankly, he doesn’t understand why thomas hasn’t been named king yet, forget crown prince, but he’s also secretly pleased - after all, if thomas had been crown prince already, he never would have met patton.) 

he tells her that it’s not urgent, it can wait, and then he realizes that he can use this time to show patton around and quickly stops caring. patton gets the most adorable starry-eyed, wonderstruck look on his face when he sees something new for the first time and roman is so very very gay. 

“it appears we’ve got the entire afternoon to ourselves, my love,” he says, turning to patton. “what would you like to see?” 

“there are gardens, right? can we go back there?” patton has always loved gardens and flowers. he remembers bringing his mother flowers, because they always made her smile, and they’re always so bright and cheerful that even when he isn’t they make him happy. 

roman offers patton his arm (ever the dashing gentleman) and escorts him outside, and logan turns to virgil to find him breathing a bit too heavily, eyes just a bit too wide, hand shaking ever so slightly in logan’s, and logan has never experienced it himself but he thinks this might be what the beginning of an anxiety attack looks like. 

carefully, slowly, so as not to startle virgil, logan squeezes his hand to get his attention. “would you like to see my room? it’s a good deal quieter than here, and much less busy.” virgil nods, and it’s a little bit jerky, a little bit hesitant. logan leads him not towards the main staircase, full of life and chatter, but to a smaller door, almost unnoticeable amongst the tapestries adorning the walls. he’d memorized the castle’s structural layout when he was small, and he knows where all the secret passages and servant’s staircases are. they reach his room in a matter of minutes.

logan’s room is next to the library. it’s spacious, with multiple large windows to let in as much natural light as possible, multiple overflowing bookshelves (even though he is, again, right next to the library), and a door next to the bed (it’s the biggest bed virgil has ever seen) that leads to roman’s rooms, with his crest painted on it in bright red.

logan sits on the bed, lets virgil sit next to him. virgil’s shaking a little more obviously now, and there are purple sparks dancing in his irises, and logan wonders if maybe he should let go of virgil’s hand. when he tries, virgil just grips it more tightly, so he doesn’t. 

“are you . . . alright, virgil?” virgil doesn’t really know how to respond, because he’s never been asked this before. patton’s never seen him anxious like this (read: he’s never let patton see him anxious like this), and he’s used to working through things on his own. but now logan is here, watching him carefully, like he wants to help but isn’t sure how, and virgil doesn’t see the point in lying. 

“it’s just - a lot. i get anxious, sometimes, i get - overwhelmed.” his heart is racing. is logan going to regret the choice he made? “and it’s kinda dumb, cause you live in a castle and it’s always like this, but -”

“i assure you that your feelings are not dumb, virgil. if it makes you feel more at ease, i, too, am sometimes overwhelmed by the inner machinations of the castle.” virgil’s breathing starts to become less erratic, and he tips forward to lean his head on logan’s shoulder. logan carefully wraps his free arm around virgil, rests his chin on virgil’s head. virgil taps his fingers against logan’s hand, steadily counting off a rhythm that logan recognizes as his own heartbeat. he takes deep, slow, steadying breaths that he doesn’t need until he hears virgil start to mimic him. 

they stay like that for a few minutes, until virgil’s breathing has settled back to normal. “thanks, lo,” he mutters, and he sits up when he feels logan stiffen. “are you - did i say something wrong?” logan is flushed red, deliberately not letting their eyes meet, and virgil realizes that he has not said something wrong, but perhaps something very, very right. 

“no, it’s just - the nickname. i find it cute.” virgil blushes, too, and logan kisses his forehead again. (virgil doesn’t know why logan likes that spot so much, but logan’s mouth is soft and his eyes are warm and virgil is hopelessly gay doesn’t care all that much.)

“patton and roman went to the gardens, right? i wanna see them too, if you don’t mind.” logan stands, pulls virgil to his feet and squeezes their hands lightly together. 

“of course, virgil.” 

MEANWHILE, IN THE ROYAL GARDENS

roman leans against a tree, watching patton admire the gardens. he’s sprinting from one plant to the next, skimming his fingertips along the petals, burying his nose in the flowers, laughing when he touches a bush and a kaleidoscope of brightly-colored butterflies explodes out all around him. 

roman watches patton spin around, sunshine reflecting off the iridescent blue fabric of his suit and warming the soft brown of his hair and soaking into his skin. he watches the way it illuminates patton’s dark brown irises, showing the glowing golden ring around his pupils, and he watches the smile on patton’s face, pure and bright and probably the realest one to grace his face in years, and he is so, so, stupidly in love with this man. 

“and you make fun of me,” someone says, and roman’s a soldier, his reflexes kick in and he spins around with one hand throwing a blind punch and the other one reaching for his sword. logan is not a soldier, but he is a prince, and trained in self-defense, so he catches the punch and deflects it. “nice to see you, too, little brother.” 

roman rolls his eyes, because logan only calls him “little brother” when he’s teasing or legitimately pissed off, and his body language says “teasing” as he leans next to roman, watching virgil crouch in front of a cluster of brilliant purple irises. “like you’re any better, logan. how long did it take you to stop stuttering after he kissed your cheek this morning?” 

logan elbows roman, who elbows him back, but they’re both grinning. patton, meanwhile, has found a truly massive pair of rosebushes, absolutely coated with flowers of all colors on thornless stems. patton pulls a pale pink rose off easily, not noticing that his sleeve has torn on the branches. patton sniffs it, tucks it behind his ear, and follows the hedges, lost in the splendor and beauty of everything and the warmth of the sunshine on his skin. 

“did you mention the rose maze to patton?” logan asks, realizing that they can no longer see him. virgil has stopped looking at the irises, instead looking around in confusion for his brother. “did you mention how easy it is to get lost in that maze? how large that maze is? how he should not, under any circumstances, go in there by himself?” 

roman pales. “no i did not.” 

logan rolls his eyes, but he also squeezes roman’s hand in comfort. “worry not, roman, we will find him.” sure enough, the two of them (and virgil) find the piece of patton’s sleeve stuck in the bushes, and virgil inhales sharply. 

“the maze isn’t dangerous,” logan reassures him, “it’s just very, very large.” 

“but not so large that the three of us can’t cover it in a day,” roman interjects, shooting a pointed glance at his brother. “we will find patton, don’t worry.” logan realizes his mistake, but virgil is already pushing off into the maze. they catch up with him at the first two-way fork. 

“i’ll take the left, you guys take the right,” virgil says. 

“what if you get lost?” roman asks. “logan has memorized the plans, but if you go off by yourself, we’ll have to find both of you.” virgil snaps his fingers and incants a spell in a language that even logan, who is fluent in close to ten languages, does not recognize. purple light spirals from his feet to his knees and then fizzles out. he takes three more steps, leaving shimmering purple footprints on the grass, footprints that vanish in front of the princes. when virgil makes eye contact, his irises have a distinctive purple sheen. 

“i’ll just retrace my footsteps,” he says, and logan still looks hesitant so he adds, “if it makes you feel better, i’ll  cast the spell on logan, too. if i find patton or get hopelessly lost, i’ll retrace them and find you two. i promise.” logan nods, and virgil lifts his hand towards logan. he casts another spell, and purple light wraps around logan’s legs as well. it feels prickly and strange but not bad, and even after the light fades logan’s legs tingle with pins and needles as though his legs had fallen asleep and are still waking up. 

logan takes a few steps, doesn’t see anything, but virgil smiles. “yours are blue,” he comments. “dark blue. it’s a pretty color.” logan turns his head away, towards the right fork, trying to hide the blush already seeping into his face. (he’d forgotten how pale he is, how easily he blushes, how obvious it is when he’s embarrassed. roman will never let him hear the end of this - he blushes just as much as logan does, but he’s tanned from his adventures and far less obvious about his blushing.) 

“i’ll catch up with you guys later, ok?” logan turns back to virgil, only to find that he’s also blushing deeply and obviously. he gives logan a small, shy wave before fleeing into the maze. 

“he’s exactly as lovestruck as you are,” roman comments. 

“do you have a plan for finding patton?” logan asks. he’s deliberately ignoring roman’s taunts, and judging by the disgusted sigh his brother gives, he realizes this. 

“it’d probably be easier if we had a bird’s-eye view,” roman comments. logan rolls his eyes, but he’s also rolling his shoulders, stretching his arms and legs out as he approaches the least-flowered hedge in the vicinity. roman may be a soldier and a knight and an adventurer, but logan is a voracious climber. he scaled the hedge deftly in a matter of seconds, peering over the entire hedge maze. 

“i fail to see anything useful,” he calls, dropping nimbly down next to roman. “i suggest we start with the most common wrong turns.” roman has spent his life playing in the maze, but he doesn’t know it nearly as well as logan, so he follows his brother’s lead. 

virgil, meanwhile, is combing through the maze, looking for his brother. he’s keeping his cool, making sure that he doesn’t accidentally set the hedge maze on fire or blow something up or lose control of his magic in some other equally problematic way. the further he gets into the maze without encountering patton, the more he panics, and then he hears something - a faint humming noise. virgil recognizes the tune from long hours helping patton in the garden, so he follows it, and then he rounds a corner and patton is sitting on the ground with a pink rose in his hair and a hand-woven crown of multicolored roses in his hands. 

“virgil!” he says, happily. he stands up, lets virgil hug him, puts the crown on virgil’s head. it’s the perfect size, and even though virgil knows it’ll probably attract bees to his head (and he is terrified of bees the way patton is terrified of spiders), he wears it anyway, to make patton happy. 

“patton, is this where you’ve been?” 

“yeah, i got lost, so i decided the best thing to do would be to pick a place and wait to be rescued,” patton says. virgil sighs, relieved that patton is okay, and when he turns around the purple of his footsteps shines behind him. “aren’t you lost too, now, virgil?” 

“nah, we’re gonna retrace my steps and find logan and roman.” virgil follows his path, leads patton along until he finds the soft blue glow of logan’s footsteps, and they find the princes quickly. logan is halfway up one of the hedges when he hears roman sigh, “patton!” and when he turns, virgil is peering up at him. 

"nice view from down here,” he jokes. logan is so shocked he falls off the hedge. (luckily, he isn’t up that high.) 

later that evening, with patton and virgil exploring the library, logan turns to roman and asks, “how does one plan a . . . romantic outing?” 

roman’s resounding squeal of excitement echoes through the corridors. 

“not so loud!” logan hisses. “i just . . . virgil didn’t believe that i was going to romance him. i wanted to show him that he deserves to be romanced.” roman knocks his shoulder into logan’s, smiling; despite his older brother’s flaws, it’s clear that he cares for virgil and wants to make the occasion as memorable as possible. 

“well, i would suggest that you find out the things that virgil likes. then, once you know what they are, arrange a day that accounts for as many of his likes as possible while minimizing things that make him uncomfortable.” 

“that’s . . . surprisingly astute, actually,” logan murmurs. roman scoffs. “thank you, roman. i mean it.” 

roman smiles. “any time, logan.” 

NEXT TIME: virgil and patton meet thomas (for real this time, i promise); virgil shows off his magic; roman shows off his swordsmanship; logan and patton are hopelessly gay 

i hope you enjoyed it!! i’m going to try to update this about once a week or so!! if you wanna be added to the taglist, have questions about the au, want more sanders sides headcanons, or just wanna say hi, drop me an ask!!!

taglist below! 

@romaning-daydreams @bunny222 @phlying-squirrel @scorching-scotch @accio-hufflepuff-power @apersonwhoisafander @toujours-fidele @ironwoman359 @ab-artist @a-lexicon-of-words @samathekittycat @confinesofpersonalknowledge @backatthebein @princeanxious @serious-ppl-wear-neckties @charmingsides @ascreamingstrawberry @um-yes-hi-hello @thekeytohappiness-is-you @smartestowlgirl @vsmol-changling @silverrhayn @221b-quote @gatlily @generalfandomfabulousness @deverick-racoma @dkg-racoma @crystrifoglio @starryfirefliesbloggo @fabkatxiety @justanotherpurplebutterfly @minshinxx @hpjkfgw @pearls-of-patton @clearlyaloserandadork @couch-potato-1890 @isdisorigionalenoughforyou @notveryglittery @imantisocialgetoverit @deamondisciple

[jaebeomco]

Strawberry Ice Cream (Jackson hybrid!au) Part 2

Part 2! I hope you guys enjoy it! It’s short but it’s 2 in the morning and I’m so tired, but I’ll have another update tomorrow that’ll actually get fluffier and stuff~

part 1 / part 2

“Good morning, Jackson.” You greeted, as your drowsy steps took you into the kitchen, where he sat at the island, waiting for you.

“Good morning.”

And as odd as it was for you, his voice was nice. Something you’d like to wake up to, especially the extra gravely and deep-ness of it in the morning hours.

You quickly put together a simple breakfast of doenjang soup and rice, setting a much larger plate than yours for Jackson, as he happily started munching away on his meal. “Eat slowly so you don’t choke.” You couldn’t help but pipe up, watching the dog almost suffocate himself with the spoon and chopstick full of food.

He stopped abruptly, and his cheeks dusted a light shade of coral pink, his eyes wide. You marveled at the way he looked so innocent, how large his brown eyes made him a child, contrasting against his more manly build. He was cute. “Alright.”

You turned the TV on, setting the remote down next to Jackson, with the island having a good view of the living room where he had slept that night and the TV in front of it. “I’m gonna get ready, you and I are gonna go shopping for things you need, alright? I’ll be back in a few minutes, feel free to eat more and watch some TV while you wait.”

Jackson always seemed to stop whatever he was doing while you told him things like this, almost searching your face to see if it was all just a joke of if you truly meant he had the freedom you granted him.

You got ready quickly, slapping on very simple makeup and casual clothes, not wanting to keep Jackson waiting and you’re much too lazy to do anything more.

“Ready to go?” You spoke up as you walked into the living area, Jackson seemingly hypnotized by the moving screen, only snapping out of it to jump up to follow you as you both walked out of the door to make your way to your car.

It was summer, and you were lucky enough to have a stable job, climbing the corporate ladder, so you didn’t worry about much as far as what Jackson both needed and wanted.

The car drive there was quiet expect the songs that played from the auxiliary, occasionally you’d hum along. Jackson kept his eyes out the window, taking in everything. And unknowingly to you, he would sneak little glances to study you.

He was confused. He knew that you doubted why you did what you did, he could tell. But you were also so unconditionally kind to him, that it was confusing. It felt way too good to be true. Besides the confusing and stressful events of going from an abusive home to a shelter to a nice home, he did allow his mind to think about how pretty you were. He was quite taken aback at your appearance. From your hair, to your complexion, to your facial features. He thought you were very beautiful, like your heart.

As you pulled into the mall parking lot, Jackson stuck next to you walking in, closely, hyper aware of the large amount of people there, and the sprinkle of hybrids with their owners, some on their own as well. It wasn’t exactly common to see hybrids without an owner, living on their own terms, but it wasn’t surprising with the growingly liberal status of the community’s culture.

You both curved in and out of clothing stores, mostly men’s places to find him more clothes. You let him pick out nice things, and not only what he needed, but if he looked at something a little longer, you told him to get it if he liked it. You wanted to make him feel comfortable with you, like you said, he’s an equal in his household, something he isn’t used to. He was surprised every time you did anything for him.

By the time it hit three, you both had bulky bags in either hands and you were starving. “Wanna get something to eat?”

“Yeah, I’m hungry.” He said, a bit shyly, but you could tell he was kind of coming out of his comfort zone a little bit.

“Oh look that place sells strawberry ice cream! That’s my favorite!”

-

On the way home, the music was a little quieter this time, as you made sure to start pointing out things in town and telling him stories about experiences you’ve had here and there. You hoped, even if he didn’t say anything back, you’d crack a little more of his shell. You wanted to show him you, not just as some owner, but as a friend. He nodded along, humming in acknowledgment quietly when appropriate.

As you both came in the doors around six pm, you were tired. “I’ll have one of my friends come help me put up the bed tomorrow, so you’ll have your room soon.” You said, breaking the silence as you both were putting down the piles of bags.

A lot was bought for him, and a couple things for you too. You bought him countless shirts, from more dressy ones to casual ones and white sleep undershirts, pants, shorts, boxers, a dad hat and a baseball cap that he was eyeing, which you had shoved in your basket as soon as he wasn’t looking. More smaller things for him too, like shaving needs, soaps, the essentials for another man to live in your apartment that, well, wasn’t used to a man living there.

“You’re tired, let’s rest.” He said, as you were a little bit taken aback at his blunt way of showing he cared.

“Wanna watch some TV?” You plopped yourself on the couch-made-bed, patting next to you for Jackson to sit down with you. “Hmm, HGTV or Malcolm in the Middle?”

He stayed quiet, letting you choose, as he sat down next to you, leaving a little space, acting as if he moved too fast or was too close you’d break. You decided on the latter, and shifted to get comfortable as the episode began to play.

Some episodes and a documentary on meerkats later, you got sleepier and sleepier. You didn’t notice, but your head became heavy like your eyelids, unknowingly closing the distance between you and Jackson next to you, resting your now sleeping head on his shoulder. This of course spooked Jacks a little, the new skinship so out of the blue, before realizing you had fallen asleep. With this, he reached for the remote in your hand, pressing a few buttons before finding the off button, turning the table lamps switch off, and throwing the blanket over you two.

“Goodnight, (Y/N).” With your head on his shoulder and hand now wrapped around his waist, he felt comfortable enough to rest his head atop yours, following you into the world of dreams and sleep.

[ivansart]

OC BAND LINEUP

Hey i’m gonna ramble about my OCs here!!

OK so I mostly just wanted to lay out the main three bands in this world? I guess?

 So first there’s The Heathens. My main hoes! Their earliest concept was from YEARS ago and they were actually a jazz ensemble, but now they’re a super cool goth heavy metal band that does a lot of Pop covers because the leads’s BF likes that kind of music LOL. So here’s the line up....Damon-if you’ve been following me for a while you should be familiar with him lol. He’s lead vocals and plays additional instruments when needed, including guitar, piano, saxophone, and violin! Next is Phyllis Julian, she plays bass. She’s a big tall goth lesbian who is a ray of sunshine and I love her. Stacy plays guitar, and she is pretty much the creative director of the band and usually is coming up with the album art and set designs :) and finally Bunny our drummer...she’s just...HOT. Like she’s just a hottie...a lot of fans think she comes across as a bitch but she’s just..kinda shy, and a lot quieter than the others :/..a misunderstood babe..

OKAY the second group is VALHALLA...A cool Viking metal band! they aren’t AS well developed as The Heathens, those characters I’ve been drawing for much longer, and honestly these next two bands were abandoned ideas from high school that I only recently decided to revive! Anyways...Our lead vocals and lead guitar...Bjorn. God he’s just this big beefy dude who really just trying to live his best Thor life lol. He’s got this poker face thats hard to read but there’s a lot going on behind it. and idk how much I’ll get into in this post, but he’s uh secretly dating one of his rival band’s members. YEAH....TEA.. Ok so the next two members are twins but don’t have names! I’m still playing around with designs, but the tall twin plays guitar, and the short twin plays drums...and there’s the bass player, He’s problematic. Like he’s a really shitty guy and starts a lot of drama for the band, and..he’s just an asshole. Spoiler they end up kicking him out but basic design and name has yet to come.

Finally the last band in this group are The Field Mice. They Were originally the doormice I think...or maybe it was the other way around. idk, anyways for awhile I was thinking they’d be a folk metal band but now I’m leaning a little more towards prog rock? Like Rush. Okay SOO this is the group thats the least developed. SO there’s Kat who plays guitar. And Peter who’s the most developed, he plays drums and the flute, and piano, lol. YEAH so he’s dating Bjorn on the down low. From there there’s going to be three other members, who still need names, designs, personalities....LOL. But I know that the lead vocalist is going to be DRAMATIC AND FABULOUS, kind of Like Damon...maybe she’ll be a drag queen that would be fun... 

SO here are the three main groups. VALHALLA is the most well known band, and are big internationally, The Field Mice are close behind them in notoriety. This plays into their rivalry. Which all started at some battle of the bands incident, idk some of the members probably went to high school together or some shit. Peter actually joined TFM AFTER the battle of the bands incident so he does’t really GET it. which is part of the reason why he and Bjorn can look past the rivalry and just make out. The Heathens are a much smaller band, they’re very popular locally, and put on really high energy shows that are ALWAYS packed. But when it comes to the charts orr selling out huge venues they’re not as big :/ they’ve opened for VALHALLA before, buuut most of the members still have day jobs and they just play at local bars lol. 

So I’d also like to add other bands and artists, like maybe an older band that’s seen it all and are just LEGENDS. U know like big thrash metal bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden, I also want to make some pop stars, similar to early Britney cos I love that shit and it’d be fun. ALSO a big part of this, and that needs more attention is that in the middle of all the band drama is a music radio show run by two women...who need names...and their show needs a name...lol

ANYWAYS So yeah, just some more info on my ocs and bands. If you read all of this I love you and appreciate you. Maybe I’ll do another post about their personalities and shit like that. I don’t want to get TOOO deep into the drama because I do hope to make comics about this someday and I don’t want to spoil all of it :))

[randomlittleimp]

Convergence pt2

Fandom: Star Trek

Ship: McKirk

Rating: Mature

Warnings: childhood trauma, deadly accidents, bullying, homophobia, genocide, starvation, homosexuality, divorce

Tagging: @auduna-druitt @pinkamour1588 @captainsbabysitter-blog @thefanficfaerie

Description: AU where Leonard meets Jim as children and their lives converge at different years as they grow up.

Part 1

It was years before the two saw each other again. After the accident Leonard couldn’t stand to be near the starships so they went back to Georgia. It wasn’t until he was in middle school that they asked his father to return for another consulting job. They set them up in the same rental house as before, and he was in the same room. Even years later the room looked the same with the floral wallpaper. The window seat seemed a lot smaller then it had when he was little, but the view was still nice.

When he got to school and once again knew no one, this time he wasn’t as worried about it. He had already found that he was smarter than most of his classmates in Georgia and that a good portion of them resented him for that fact. He didn’t see Iowa as being any different. He wasn’t going to worry about making friends. He just wanted to get through this trip without too much incident.  So when he was confronted with a pair of the most startling blue eyes in the world as he ate his lunch the feelings that they brought up were unexpected.

The memories flooded his mind, “Jimmy?”

The blue eyes widened a bit, then squinted in thought. “Bones?”  Leonard handed over his apple as an answer and Jimmy’s smile was almost as brilliant as his eyes. “Dude, it’s great to see you. How long are you back for?”

“A couple of years probably. They have my dad consulting on the new batch of flying death machines.” Leonard grumbled before going back to his sandwich.

Jimmy flopped down next to him on the bench, “You used to like those flying death machines.”

“That was before I learned how many ways they can kill you. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds.”  He was about to go on but a laugh from Jimmy stopped him.

“Man, I have missed you! And not just because of the apples.” Jimmy took a big bite out of the apple in his hand. “I hope you’re wrong though, about the death machines, because I’m gonna be on one this summer.”

Leonard stopped eating to look at Jimmy in shock, “What? Your going out there, into space?”

“Yup, this summer I’m gonna go visit my uncle and his family on some new colony planet, Tarsus four. It’s gonna be awesome!” Jimmy was so happy, Leonard couldn’t bring himself to dampen his enthusiasm with more statistics.

The year went by fairly quickly, the two boys becoming nearly inseparable. Leonard was happy to have a friend, it made the time in Iowa bearable.  He even began to bring an extra apple and sandwich with him in his lunch for Jimmy who still never brought enough food to school with him. Jimmy was still quite popular with the girls, although he was old enough now to have some understanding as to why. Jimmy was a charmer, and those bright blue eyes of his could make the most stoic of girls blush when he turned the full force of their gaze on them. It still made Leonard a little jealous when Jimmy would be surrounded by girls and barely notice Leonard was still there. He just figured it was still because he wanted his friend to himself. Jimmy was his only real friend here.

Jimmy’s mysterious bruises were still a problem as well, but he no longer bothered to come up with reasons for them. Jimmy would just shrug and change the subject, but Leonard did notice Jimmy didn't spend much time at home. When he mentioned it to his dad, his father looked concerned. He knew that Leonard cared for his friend deeply, and said he would look into it. Unfortunately there seemed to be a lot of people aware of the situation, but no one who wanted to do anything about it. (Leonard would not learn of this for many years, and when he did it would make him physically ill.)

The summer came to quickly for Leonard’s liking, and soon he was saying goodbye to his friend, waving as Jimmy boarded the shuttle that would take him to the transport ship to Tarsus IV.  It was only meant to be for about six months, but Leonard knew it was going to be the most boring six months of his life with no one left to hang out with, and not even school to occupy him for the first half of the time.

Leonard did send communications to Jimmy, but it took weeks to get a message there and weeks to get one back. The wait was agonizing. It was in the third month that Leonard got the message from Jimmy that they were having problems with the crops, and people were worried that there wouldn’t be enough to eat. Jimmy tried to keep an upbeat tone to it but Leonard was worried all the same. He told his dad about the letter, but the elder McCoy assured his son that the local governing body there would have a plan, and thing might be a little rough but it would ultimately be fine.

The next week news broke about the total crop failure, and about the governing bodies plan to conserve food by carrying out mass killings of the settlers. Only those chosen few in charge were safe from the kill squads. Men, women and children were being massacred in the town square. Leonard started hyperventilating as the news played out in front of him. His father tried to comfort him, but was in almost as much shock at this turn in events as Leonard was. What he could say was that Jimmy was resourceful, if anyone could find a way to survive this it was Jimmy, but his words had little conviction. How could anyone escape this kind of evil.

It was another month before Starfleet was able to retake the planet. Those in charge that didn’t flee were arrested, and the area was scoured for survivors. Leonard heard stories of small families that had hidden and survived the horrors that befell the other settlers, but they were few and none of the video feed sent back included a boy with bright blue eyes.  Leonard didn’t give up on that last sliver of hope he had that his friend would be found. Then one night the story broke of a group of small children found hiding in the woods and the boy who had helped them escape even when their families did not. The tale of how he would sneak out of the hiding place at night in search of food and water to keep them alive, all why dodging the patrol and searching soldiers. It was an incredible tale, but when this heroic young boys face was shown on screen Leonard cried with joy. Dirty and much to thin, Jimmy was barely recognizable, but those blue eyes couldn’t have belonged to anyone else.

When he was brought back to Iowa he was in the hospital for months recovering. His father had been doing volunteer work there in his free time from working his consulting job, and was able to keep an eye on Jimmy’s recovery, even if he wasn’t his primary doctor and he made sure to give Leonard updates about his friend everyday that he could. Eventually when they deemed Jimmy was stable enough for visitors Leonard’s dad brought him up to the hospital.

When Leonard entered the room Jimmy was all smiles, “Hey man! Did you miss me?” Leonard stifled the sob that nearly escaped and instead went for humor. He didn’t want to get all emotional on his friend.

“Were you gone? I hadn’t noticed.” he smirked as this got quite a laugh outta Jimmy.

They sat and talked for awhile about the good things they had experienced in their months apart, trying not to think of the rest. Soon the nurse came in with Jimmy’s lunch and told Leonard he could only stay a few more minutes, but he could come back the next day. The lunch tray was sparse, only a little broth, and crackers and jello. Jimmy didn’t look to thrilled by the options. “They say the lack of food up there left my immune systems all screwed up and I’ve got a long list of allergies now. I could have eaten more, but they were all so hungry. They seemed like they needed it more than me. I’ve been hungry before.” His voice got quieter as he kept speaking, the last bit barely a whisper.

It made Leonard’s chest ache, but he knew not to dwell on it, that was not what Jimmy needed. “Well, you’ll have to get me a copy of that list. I wouldn’t wanna pack anything you couldn’t eat in my lunch when you’re back in school.”

Jimmy gave him a small smile, “Sure man, you’ll be better at remembering that stuff than I will anyhow. It will be like having one of the medieval food tasters, keeping the king away from the poisoned food.”

“If you think for one minute I’m calling you Your Majesty or something you got another thing coming.” Leonard responded. “I’ll try to come back tomorrow if you want, maybe bring some cards so we can play rummy or something.”

“Yeah that’d be great, it’s so boring here. I hate hospitals.” Jimmy smiled and waved him off, and Leonard managed to get all the way to the elevator before breaking down in tears.

It was a while before Jimmy came back to school. Once he did he was fawned over by many of the other kids who either saw him as a hero or a survivor of a terrible disaster. Leonard tried his best to treat his friend no different than he had before, and it was exactly what Jimmy needed. They became even closer than before and Leonard truly hated the idea of going back to Georgia and leaving Jimmy behind. He wished he could take him back with him, but that just wasn’t an option. His only consolation was he could keep in touch with him this time, and his dad had said he would be called back to Iowa again in a few more years.

[denbroughbill]

and i look just like buddy holly

summary: eddie’s dragged to a halloween party a/n: they are 17 in this story! this is a short story so i hope u all like it! the song richie sings is called “you’re so square” by buddy holly! based off of finn’s lip sync battle :’)

the group of friends parked a couple of houses down from their destination, due to limited spaces. this was the first of many parties eddie felt he would be dragged along to this month, and it was only the second week of october. it seemed like everyone in town was a halloween fanatic, besides eddie kaspbrak. sure, he liked sweets, but he could get those any other day of the year. he wasn't fond of the gorey slasher films his friend, richie, picked out on fridays when all the losers met up at the rental store, because they lacked an actual story line. he liked carving pumpkins, but that's because he normally did that with friends. over all, eddie couldn't exactly figure out what the hype was.

but he could appreciate the cool, autumn air that swirled around him as he walked. it wasn't long to the party, and he liked crunching the leafs under his feet with each step he took.

eddie was walking behind his friends, stan and bill, on the leaf strewn sidewalk. they were not wearing matching costumes like other couples who have walked around them, on their way to the same party, but they were holding hands like them. the party invitation was from richie, and it was last minute, like a lot of his bright ideas. bill pulled what he could find from his closet: a long sleeved striped shirt and a pair of overalls for an improved chucky from child's play (the move series eddie didn't care for), but he sadly did not have time to apply the fake costume store gashes and bloody make up they bought earlier in the day. stan wore his baseball uniform, cleets included, and bought along a bat for a realistic prop.

his friends stepped on the red plastic cups scattering the lawn, but eddie tried his best to walk around them. the boys could hear the loud duran, duran playing from outside the house, but it penetrated eddie's ears when they first opened the door. the bodies of hazey, drunk teens propped against future, conversation almost louder than the music. there were streamers, silly, simple decorations on the wall, illuminated by black lights and a dark cloud of smoke hung over the room.

the house wasn't very big but it seemed to have enough space to fill all the guests. the boys shuffled through glass bottles that clanked together and made it to the corner of the room, where there was a large arm chair and a group of girls. the girls didn't have the best costumes, eddie thought. just different face paint and animal ears, and they sat around the arm chair, criss cross apple sauce, like it was story time. their friend, mike hanlon - or tonight - officer hanlon, was sitting in the chair, beer bottle in hand has he spoke to his audience. and.. buddy holly was sitting on the arm.

"stan, bill! oh, eddie! what took you guys so long?" buddy holly look-a-like stood up from the chair, throwing his arm around eddie's shoulder. eddie had his shirt over his mouth, protecting his air supply from whatever was lingering around.

it was richie tozier; his curls slicked back, but still noticeable, in a mustard yellow cardigan and tie. and last but definitely not least, those thick rimmed glasses, completing the look perfectly.

"where's your costume?" richie grinned, leaning into the boy, almost toppling him over. richie had at least a foot on eddie, the shorter friend in the group.

stan laughed, elbowing bill. "he borrowed it from bill, you like it?"

eddie gestured to his chest, where in black, bold letters, it said "this is my halloween costume" on his orange shirt.

the three boys settled down, mingling with the group of girls that were there too. eddie was pleasantly surprised with how nice they were, and how they could manage to hold a conversation. they sat around for hours while other guests danced, watching their feet to not step on the group. a pizza box had passed over head to them, and they finished the slices that were left.

mike was busy gloating, but who could blame him? everyone thought mike was a great guy, with a great smile, too.

"wow," one of the girls began. she leaned towards mike, hands underneath her chin, and voice dripping with sweetness, "it must be such hard work living on a farm."

mike grinned, like he's being waiting to use the line all night, and said: "not when you're packing these guns!"

girls hooted and hollered while he flexed, bill and stan grinned at each other. mike was a riot.

"hey, buddy," another girl said, "you should sing for us." eddie glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, and her smile melted into his brain. he didn't know why, but he was jealous. it didn't help that she was twirling her hair around her finger.

eddie looked towards richie, thinking there was no possible way he would actually belt out peggy sue or rave on. richie's dark eyes sparkled in delight as the girl spoke, a crooked smirk plying in the corner of his mouth.

"no, i can't, i can't fucking sing," richie said, laughing.

"oh, come on!" bill egged him on, tipping a bottle in richie's direction. the girls all chattered in agreement, even mike elbowed him.

richie starched the back of his neck, laughing a bit. eddie knew he couldn't sing, but he knew he would embarrass himself for any pretty girl. when his alarm beeped on his watch, he had the perfect idea.

"actually," eddie rose from where he was sitting, grabbing richie's wrist. "he needs to come with me real quick, isn't that right, buddy?" he didn't wait for a response before pulling him from the arm chair.

while dragging him through the crowd of dancing people, all sorts of thoughts raced around in eddie's mind. did richie really invite eddie to this party for him to flirt girls flirt with him the whole time? no, the two boys were not in an established relationship. not in a relationship at all, in fact. but eddie felt threatened, or was is possessive? whatever it was, he hoped he wasn't gripping richie's wrist too hard.

when they made it to the kitchen, he unzipped his fanny pack and popped his medication into his mouth.

it was much quieter in the kitchen. "you know you can take your medication by yourself, right, eds?" the amusement in richie's voice, along with the cool glass of water he downed, calmed eddie down.

he put in the cup in the overloaded sink, and leaned back against the counter, his arms propping him up. eddie wanted to speak his mind, but all he could say was: "i like your costume," and that was the truth.

richie smiled a genuine smile. eddie was sure richie heard the compliment all day, but for some reason, coming from him made it special.

"you like it, really?" richie asked, stepping back to give him a better look at the outfit.

eddie couldn't help but giggle. "are those your church shoes?"

"yeah," richie smiled, adjusting his glasses, "don't tell my mom, alright?"

richie's smile made eddie's heart throw itself against the walls of his chest, shaking his world apart. if he was going to make a more, he knew this was the time to do so.

"so, buddy," eddie didn't glance up at richie, his face hot as he looked to the tiled floor, "you gonna sing me a song?"

richie grinned one of his shit eating grins, approaching eddie closer. "that's what you bought me in here for?" he asked, placing his hands on either side of eddie, their two faces closer now. "mary tyler moore, what could you possibly be jealous of?"

"i was not jealous-" he didn't have to pretend to deny for much longer, because richie started to sing to him. there foreheads were touching, richie leaning down just a tad. his eyes closed as he sang, but eddie's were open, scanning richie's face, but especially his lips, where the words were pouring out.

"you don't like crazy music," richie bellowed. eddie wasn't too sure if he was giggling at how bad it was, or richie's hand grazing his waist.

"you don't like rockin' bands," he continued, both hands now pulling eddie closer as he kept singing.

"you just wanna go to the movie show, and sit there holdin' hands. you're so square," richie's eyes were opening now, peering into eddie's. the two boys were smiling, and richie paused the song just long enough to move his mouth to eddie's ear and whisper the rest of the verse in his best gravelly voice, low and rough, "baby, i don't care."

eddie snickered when richie began swaying them side to side as he continued to sing. richie could tell eddie was enjoying being serenaded, this music recital between the two of them.  eddie's eyes closed  in his fit of laughter, and richie couldn't finish singing to him. he just looked too good right now, all happy and smiley under these dim lights. richie leaned in, taking a chance, going in for a kiss. and eddie's mouth is saying he made the right choice.

richie leaned into the smaller boy, and the two giggled as eddie caught himself, gripping on to the counter. richie's hands gripped on eddie's waist, exploring deeper into their kiss. eddie's mouth was a new world richie wanted to get lost in. the noises of wet lips smacking together and teeth nervously, anxiously clanking were only audible to them, in this corner of the party they were only invited. eddie stood up as tall as he could now, with his limp jaw and broken knees for the other boy. he cupped the back of richie's neck with one hand, his other in between the boys, placed on richie's chest. the only song richie was singing was breathy chorus of "more, more, more,"

eddie pulled away, pushing the other boy away slightly. "you taste like candy corn," he whispered loud enough for the two of them to hear, wiping his lips with the back of his hand.

"so, this is what was taking so long?" major league professional stan uris stole their attention. neither boy was too embarrassed, richie nuzzling his nose into eddie's hair as he pulled him closer by the waist.

"i was just showing mary tyler moore here how to swing. now ain't that right, eds?" he winked.