#normal gets three colors and giants sweaters/hoodies

[koszmarnybudyn]

Yay i finished it, everyone here is yassified because i cannot pass up cute outfits.

[jiminrings]

umm maybe this is me projecting bc i am messaging you during my break but for a drabble request, yoongi in a retail setting???? 😐😐😐😐 oc could either be a co-worker or a regular customer who asks too many questions 😔😌

retail-type beat

drabble week: day three

drabble week masterlist

pairing: customer!yoongi x retail worker!reader

wordcount: 3k

glimpse: "hi! almost thought you were hiding from me for a second. anyways, is this sweater wool or cotton?"

feedback + support mean the world to me!!

the last time you checked, work doesn’t start until nine

you kNEW it doesn’t start until 9 in the morning, so clearly that’s why you’re just wearing slides instead of your sneakers

the company uniform is either black or purple (it has to be from what the store is selling though so you can get to choose) with of course!!!! a lanyard!!!!

and you know this, because you’re still wearing your slides from home because it isn’t opening time yet

“goddamn it, i forgot to bring my slippers,” jin moans the moment he walks to see you, looking down on your feet that only reminds him he’d be stuck in his cool yet painfully uncomfy sneakers

he’s probably the only co-worker that you’re truly close with, not feeling the urge to sell him just to get a free day

“i told you to get the sneakers that nurses use!!”

hands-down one of the best purchases you’ve ever made

retail’s hard and it’s not exactly the best-paying job!!! thankfully the franchise owner is a bit more generous so that’s why you get slightly-higher hourly pay

“i would if they looked a little more seasoned,” jin snorts and stubbornly crosses his arms, “i might sacrifice my pride and buy some compression socks.”

OOOOOH THOSE ARE GOOD TOO

makes you feel like ur walking on air

but lol no seokjin isn’t ready to buy those just yet

he’ll settle on some blisters and putting salonpas patches because they look cooler that way, thank u very much <3

jin yawns, talking about finding a steam iron somewhere to replace a blowdryer so he could break in his shoes

“you wipe the glass this time.”

oh right he absolutely hates wiping down the glass — even before opening!!! even when there aren’t any grubby kids that would soil it instantly with their equally as grubby hands

you don’t mind it honestly

you might honestly like it

you prefer wiping the glass a hundred times over than steaming clothes

there is nOT a single thought in your head when you spray on the solution to the glass, rag and squeegee tucked between your fingers when-

maybe you should’ve hOLY FUCKING SHIT

it’s not opening!!!! it is nOT nine o’clock in the morning!!!!

you know that the shop you’re working in is pretty fucking famous and it’s located on one of the most populated streets ever BUT THERE’S ALREADY SOMEONE

although the bucket hat seems familiar from a distance and-

oh it’s just yoongi

yoongi?

yoongi’s already here????

:O

yoongi, the guy in question, is an always customer!!

no, not a regular customer — an always customer

he comes every week and maybe even twice within that period

he’s a nice talkative customer who likes asking questions and even occasionally guides the other customers on what to buy and where to find it

he’s yoongi!!! of course that’s expected of him

he’s been going here long since you ever started working here, and jin keeps iNSISTING that he’s been here more frequently since you started like a year ago

but doesn’t he come at eleven in the morning?

“woah, yoongi’s already here? — doesn’t he come at eleven in the morning?”

?!!?!!

“i was just thinking the exact same thing.”

jin bangs the glass with his fist and you automatically wince and frown

you dO like cleaning the glass panes!! you didn’t say you liked cleaning them a second time :(

“YOONGI!”

“YES??”

you push jin’s fist away to wipe at the smudge his hand left

“IT’S NOT OPENING YET!”

“I KNOW!!”

wow they’re uh

they’re really loud

sometimes you forget how seokjin could be since it’s been awhile since you heard him yell

lol no one’s been shoplifting recently so you haven’t been hearing him

a mind-blowing idea is for jin to come outside and talk to him in a normal talking voice, so your ears would stop ringing

“HEY! WHAT IF YOU JUST ENTER EARLY IN?”

“REALLY? IS THAT EVEN ALLOWED??”

"YOONGI, EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR KNOWS YOUR NAME. NAMJOON EVEN GAVE YOU A CUSTOMARY BIRTHDAY GIFT, AND WE DON'T GIVE CUSTOMARY BIRTHDAY GIFTS TO ANY OTHER CUSTOMER!!"

namjoon, who technically should be called mr. kim because no one really thinks to call the franchise owner with their government first name, is actually pretty cool

but he's too busy these days and haven't been visiting because he's too busy tending to his newly-opened coffee shop

as if the money he earns from opening his franchise in a day alone isn’t enough :0

"IF YOU SAY SO?"

you’re the one who hikes up the roll-up door in the slightest, enough for only yoongi to enter and not encourage anyone else to nOT enter when it’s still not opening time!!!!

he only has to crouch a little but he still has to dust his thousand-dollar pants as if he crawled through mud

his cream-colored slacks with a large black hoodie that has a giant bear embroidered on the middle of it and mules

... you don't hate his outfits

pretty cute, actually

it's yoongi!!

you'd never catch him lacking!!!

you don't even have to envision him rocking the shit out a paper bag

one time, he came in the store wearing the WRINKLIEST brown linen jumpsuit that no iron could possibly fix and he still pulled it off

toon-teen-ten!

oh god that’s the sound of the intercom

and the sound of the intercom equates to jungkook

... as in jeon jungkook who’s the floor manager and his constant top one goal for every month is to endearingly annoy seokjin

he’s young and mischievous!! but if you were to ask him, only you and jungkook are the people in this floor he’d actually get drinks with outside the shop

“seokjin come to the lingerie department right now, please.”

you see the thing is :D

“now this is just funny

there’s walkie-talkies for everyone here!! jungkook likes intercoms, and seokjin like yelling!!

“WHY ME AGAIN?? I’VE ALREADY FOLDED-“

“there’s a literal rat and i need yOU to catch it!! you know that i hate rodents!!”

him and jungkook are forever gonna be on this eldest-youngest brother dynamic and while jungkook pouts and shared the extras that he gets, jin is the one who kills the bugs :D

10/10 totally fair

fine then!! he’ll catch that goddamn rat

that leaves you and yoongi. alone.

“why did you come so early this time?”

you ask out of courtesy, genuinely baffled too because you know that yoongi’s a creature of habit

yoongi’s eyes pop out, head fervently shaking no

“i’m typically not the type to do that, no.”

???

is he-

are you-

are you both talking about the same thing

yoongi’s face flushes in embarrassment, his mind just then registering what you were actually saying

“o-oh! it’s because last night, i dreamt of the sweater i saw here last week!!"

oh right

typical :D

"need me to find it for you or do you already know the aisle?"

you align the folded shirts by the corners as you pass, looking at yoongi briefly while he trails behind yoh

“not unless you pulled it out already."

he's hoping that dear god you haven't

the black sweater with the moon aND buildings on it and when you turn on the flash, the windows of said building reflect it right back???

he SHUDDERS just by thinking about it

it’s gonna go with everything!!! an instant boost of serotonin every time he sees it

"for you, yoongi?" you shake your head, a small smile on your face that he only sees every once in a while, "i'd comb through the entire stock room."

wait

that’s sweet :((

“i’ll hold you to that.”

you know what??? you're less cranky when it's only him, and a couple of hundred people less

your smiles aren't for customer-service and you don't have misplaced clothes hanging from your shoulders and your walkie-talkie isn't talking in latin

or when no one’s asking you to reach something from the top shelf

or when you’re on the way to the intercom because a kid got separated from their mother

or when someone’s approaching for a refund for a shirt who has a stain that’s 100% no doubt customer error

his feet immediately move on its own because he’s memorized the outline of this too many times

there it is!!!

the sweater he’s dreamt about is already on his hands, only a handful few left

the piece is considerably more expensive than majority of the items here, so that’s why they’re all spaced-out instead of being clustered altogether

yoongi rarely goes to the dressing room, regardless if it's a full-house or not!!

he could just look at an item and immediately tell that it’s made for him ta know

he's beyond sure that this sweater fits him perfectly, but he may want to be here a little longer

yoongi may have say inside one of the fitting rooms and spent a little time in it just to sit on the chair inside, not fitting the sweater at all

he's gotten his item SO quick and he wished he could've just walked slower or pretended to not know where it was!!!

he wants to spend a little more time here

you don't hate yoongi!!! but sometimes he could just be... yoongi

he's quite talkative and strikes it whenever, making you unguarded

he could be overbearing but like an overbearing kind of nice

yoongi’s nice!! he’s the type to ask a lot of questions sure, but he’s also the type that would point the other customers what to buy and where to find it

he’s the type to find an obvious faulty stitch on a shirt, but he’d just quietly exchange it instead of asking for the manager

he’s the type you wouldn’t want to stand behind in line because it would take a long time for him to finish, but he’s also the same one who buys giftcards with generous amounts for family and friends

yoongi’s kind of cool and that’s cemented on your mind

"what do you got for me?"

he materializes out of nowhere, spooked because you thought he already ringed up and was out of the store already

it just happens to be ten minutes before opening and you’re doing last-minute arrangements on a new spread

well, yoongi most certainly is still here and his attention’s piqued

“we have... a new collection."

you clear your theory, awkwardly gesturing because you’re more than aware that yoongi hasn’t seen this either

“yeah, i know that. but like, what's going on??" he gestures to the displays and racks, squinting his eyes, "what's the theme? what's the material?"

:O

uhm you haven't read the brief about this

you aren't even sURE if there is one!!

doesn't everyone make up something on the spot in retail

or atleast that’s what seokjin tells you

“the theme," you clear your throat, scratching your temple before gesturing towards the full rack, "is everything."

“everything?

yoongi’s eyebrow is raised, not expecting that answer at all

you look back to the new feature, and nOW that you think about it,, there's no cohesion at all

“y-yes. the shop was going for the theme of uhm, everything... all at once — yeah, that's it. everything all at once."

it’s a nice way to put it when not one bit of the new collection goes together

“hmmmm. i like it,” yoongi nods solemnly and tilts his head, “and the material?"

"the material?"

you repeat, eyesight not the best so you can’t really tell anything off the bat or uh aNYTHING really

"t-the material is shirt."

they're all shirts!!! that’s it

yoongi grimaces in disgust, the first time you’ve seen of it

“what?? you can't say that.”

he outsretches his hand to the nearest article, holding it up by the hanger

"this, right here, is satin. see how it shines like silk, but doesn't feel like silk?"

uhm yes

you have a gist of what he’s saying but yes

yoongi picks up a pink button shirt this time, flipping it inside out

"this, is silk charmeuse. look at the inside, is it smooth?"

okay where is he going with this

he urges you to put your hand on the fabric and uhhh you didn't sign up for this???

it looks smooth, sure!! end of discussion

"yea-..."

“it's not. it's rough. it is smooth, but it's dull. silk charmeuse is still silk, but the backing it has is different from the lustrous part."

okay yoongi

you’re starting to feel uncomfortable and it has to do something with the tone he’s using on you

“can't believe you didn't know that!! how about this," he plucks out a shirt with a tiny print at the middle of it, "cotton or polyester and rayon?"

"i don't-"

there’s an itch in your neck that you want to scratch, a tell-tale sign that you just wANT to remove yourself from this situation

“come on!! it's a dead giveaway!!"

:((

why is he being like this?

toon-teen-ten!

“y/n, panty section please. jin almost got bit by a mouse and he needs comforting. two minutes until opening, people!!"

jungkook speaks at the right moment, and jin’s little incident is enough of a reason for you to bolt

yoongi's still looking at you but you can't afford to embarrass yourself further

“bye. happy shopping."

huh?

yoongi’s face falls when you leave as cold as that!! typically when you were going to show him out (when it’s regular shop hours), there’d be a smile :((

there's not even a customer service smile :(((

yoongi goes to the only cashier that's open so far and it happens to be far away from you and a teary seokjin

seokjin's fine he didn't even get bit!! that much he could say

but are you okay? uhhh you kinda went cold on him by the end and he thought he started on a good note

yoongi doesn't visit for another week and you don't find yourself counting the days until you meet him again

you did not have a devil wears prada moment where anne hathaway has an epiphany for fashion knowledge

you just felt belittled at a job that isn’t exactly what you wanted anyways

needed, yes. but wanted? not exactly

you know that basic knowledge about clothes is required in a retail job like this and you have it!! you do!!!!

you’d know more if only there were actual available resources for employees to know!!! nobody besides yoongi asks anyways

you’d know if you have time to yourself and aren’t working two jobs trying to make ends meet and tHEN you could pull up a book or something!!!

you’d know if your life is as lax as yoongi’s and could have the budget to buy new things for yourself every single week

“jin, i need to ask you something.”

he hums as called, looking at you briefly until you get on with it

“do you know the difference between silk and silk charmeuse?"

he shrugs casually while you're sitting inside one of the closed-off fitting rooms to catch a break, sharing a burger because the store’s packed-packed

why did you ask him? it’s too easy

“one's made by worms, and the other's a pokémon."

that,.,., could not possibly be righti* it brings you a laugh and you honestly don’t even try to correct him

it’s 11:15 and you kNOW it’s time to resume your shift, straightening your shirt because atleast one (1) person would hound you when they see a familiar red lanyard

oh you’re hounded alright

“hi! almost thought you were hiding from me for a second.”

yoongi????

oh

you haven’t seen him for a week and you don’t know what to feel in all honesty

"anyways, is this sweater wool or cotton?"

wow

you're quite speechless as he holds up the item

really?

this thing all over again???

why are you even surprised

the only thing that yoongi gets your customer service smile, fishing your hand from inside the sweater to show him

“70% wool."

that's it???

NO GOOD MORNING????

you're mad at him, aren't you?

he knew it :((

he knew something was wrong but he just didn’t know what

he’s gonna fix this!! he will

which is why the very next day, he takes the day off from his work and comes to the store at a time he knows you’d surely be there

you're on cashier duty and you like it actually :D

you have an option to sit and the way you’re just gonna scan pricetags (and occasionally enter the code if it doesn’t work) is really appealing

“good morning!"

you’re about to grab the items from the basket laid on the counter and your eyes could only see the very familiar hand

the same one you’ve seen go through racks and racks

yoongi??

he sets his items one by one, buying himself more time

the first one is the same exact sweater he came to wait for before opening

“you already bought this."

you tell him even before you could hold it back, looking back at him briefly before you scan the tag

“i know. i just wanted to see you."

oh

oh

yoongi threw a bunch of other items (individually) so it would be a longer talk, but you scan each item quickly that he’s grabbing things from the counter

hand sanitizer!!! hair ties!!! keychains!!!! yeah he needs them

“i'm sorry that i tend to spring shit on you most of the time. you don't need to know the difference between silk and silk charmeuse."

you only chuckle then, a meek smile on your face

"it's okay, yoongi.”

“it's not."

... it’s not?

yoongi fidgets, opening and closing his mouth like he’s nervous!!! he’s never had his credit card cancelled but he could only feel that this type of jitterness is more than the former

“can i make it up to you? no lanyards, no baskets, no customer service?? i don't wanna fuck things up with you."

“don't feel obligated-"

“i know i could be a condescending ass who expects people to automatically know fabric and whatnot, but i wanna make it up to you."

alright yoongi’s a really good apology-maker

you mIGHT be even flustered a little

“you're holding the line, yoongi.”

“i cleared my schedule."

“i haven’t!!!!!” - guy in the back

“dinner at my place at 8. i-i promise to make your hard-earned break after your shift worthwhile!!!"

hmmm

maybe that wouldn’t hurt

“okay. just because you're holding the line."

“fine by me."

:))

yoongi transfers all the items he bought, all but one, to his tote bag

he hands back the paper bag to you, scribbling his address on the back of the receipt before he does

he lingers a little while at the counter, the people behind him ALREADY switching lanes to the one seokjin’s just opened beside you

it's the sweater that he has too

yoongi scratches the back of his head, this time being the meek one

“what? m-matching sweaters for our first date. s'cute."

[anothertimdrakestan]

Stealing Clothes From The Batboys/YJ Boys HC!

i wrote this on my phone due to immediate inspiration from a lovely anon!

"can i get a headcanon with the batboys and more if you can of how they react when their girlfriend steals theirs clothes? i love you're writing so so so much!"

Dick Grayson:

- you always steal his sweatpants even if they're like 4 sizes too big

- they're always a little worn and soft and smell like him

- you'll have to pull them up every 60 seconds but that's why you love them

- slipping them on when you wake up and starting to make breakfast, dick will come out of your bedroom and his heart will melt on sight

- he'll come up behind you and pull the waistband back effectively pulling you into his chest

- he'll toy with the drawstrings and waistband, feathery fingers dancing around your waist while you move around the kitchen

- he's the boyfriend that lovessss when you steal his clothes, eventually you'll run him out of sweatpants and he'll just go buy more, no questions asked. it warms his heart seeing you engulfed in his clothes

Wally West:

- Wally is a jacket king, he's constantly in different colors and sizes and types of jackets but he is very attached to them and often won't let you steal them

- but there's a secret to the jacket lifestyle, the t-shirt he wears under said jackets

- the t-shirts are slightly worn and unbelievably soft and they smell so strongly of your lovely boyfriend theyre your all time favorite steal

- often they might have a little hole or stain so you'll wear them around casually or sleep in them

- he makes fun of you when you both go to bed because you walk straight to his closet to pick out a shirt

- it makes his heart melt seeing you wear his t-shirts while he's away on missions, and having his warm and comforting smell on you 24/7 makes you miss him a little bit less

- he will steal the t-shirts back and wear them around to make sure his cologne is still there, for certain favorite t-shirts there will be all out wars for who gets to wear them, usually they end in tickle fights and him giving in calling you a thief even though he loves it

Jason Todd:

- jason's hoodies hit different i swear

- they're ginormous, soft, and beautiful

- the sleeves are way to long and when he sees you standing in one of his hoodies waiting for him after patrol he can't help but laugh

- "babe i know you love my hoodies but i'm scared it's going to eat you"

- he likes to pull the huge hood over your head laughing while you flail the hoodie sleeves

- when you're cuddling he likes to toy with the drawstrings and make little bows like the giant softie he is

- he will spend a whole day looking for the hoodie to complete his outfit then see you in it, he can never be mad when he sees the giddy look you get from how huge his clothes are on you, he's convinced you're the cutest thing in the entire world and no one can prove him wrong

Gar Logan:

- you're dork boyfriend unashamedly has hundreds of graphic t-shirts with terrible science puns or sarcastic logos and he'll beg you to wear them

- like any normal girlfriend you try to steal his hoodies or even will try on his beast boy suit as a joke but this boy will beg you to twin in punny t-shirts with him

- you're trending on social media like 24/7 from candid pictures of you and gar wearing t-shirts that say "i'm stupid in love with ->" or "i love her more than joker loves the batman" and other terrible graphics

- you like to style his band concert t-shirts into edgier outfits and it'll always blow him away

- "damn babe i need to go to more concerts if you're gonna look like that!"

- gar's love languages are affection and giving so you always let him shower you in his clothes and cuddles

- it always puts a dorky love-struck smile on his face when you steal his t-shirts and make epic outfits out of them and you'd do anything for your lover boy, who doesn't want to rep their boy???

Tim Drake:

- Tim has an eccentric style, and the two of you will often share clothes like jackets, maybe even pants, or hats (zendaya and tom holland vibes)

- he's always asking you for style advice and color combos that will look good, he's the first to tell anyone how amazing you always look and how talented your eye is for clothes - he tells everyone how you constantly take his breath away

- while you're day time style is amazing, it's in your own home that you give Tim a real show

- the best way to take his breath away is to slip on one of his button down dress shirts after a night of passion

- seeing you dressed in only his shirt, many of the buttons undone will physically knock the air out of his lungs

- feigning innocence you'll toy with the buttons and casually flirt until he's ripping the shirt off telling you he'll buy a new one

- occasionally you'll style outfits with his dress shirts, tucking them in pairing it with your favorite blazers, it feels like you've got a little piece of Tim rooting for you all day, the perfect pick me up during a rough day

Bart Allen:

- Bart is convinced you are the cutest thing to walk the planet and will actually vibrate through the floor with excitement when you steal his clothes

- your (and his) personal favorite is one of his many baseball tees

- this kid has at least 20 different colored shirts and you're pretty sure he wasn't even a baseball player, while he looks undeniably handsome you like to steal the shirts because of how soft they are

- he loves how the shoulders are too big and a little droopy, the sleeves are a little too long making you roll them up to your fore arm to get anything done, and he can feel his heart flutter noticing how you're always bunching up the material or trying to tuck it into your waistband

- seeing you in his shirts makes him all warm and fuzzy, he physically cannot keep his hands off of you if he tried

- when you cuddle he'll cling to the soft fabric with one hand, the other securing you to his chest, whispering something about how perfect you are before he devulges into light snores, keeping you secure and warm, his cologne intoxicatingly warm and comforting, automatically lulling you to sleep with him in minutes

Damian Wayne:

- Dami doesn't love you stealing his clothes, he likes it when you slip on his t-shirt or sweater after a long day and he'll usually expect it back

- but the best thing to steal from your cute boyfriend are his adorable turtleneck sweaters

- these knitted black sweaters are the softest material known to man but stealing them is so difficult because Damian doesn't like parting with them

- the face he gives you when you meet up in public while wearing one of his turtlenecks is too cute, a mixture of pride that you're engulfed in his property and also some mild amusement that you successfully snatched one of his turtlenecks out from under his nose

- "mhm beloved i like your shirt, tell me where did you get it?" his snark is always unmatched

- one of his favorite things to do when you're wearing his turtlenecks is pull the material up and over your mouth, effectively quieting you with your own shirt

- the playful glint in his eyes while he toys with the collar makes you smile like a child, loving how his inner goofy side comes out when he's with you

Jaime Reyes:

- there is no better clothing item to steal from Jaime than the iconic gray drawstring zip up hoodie

- this boy really goes through at least three a month if not more so he doesn't mind you snatching a few for your own closet

- he likes to grab on either side of the unzipped jacket and tug you into his embrace, his lips meeting yours while he toys with the fabric

- you take his jackets everywhere, he loves that you're rarely caught without one - he thinks it's adorable that you don't like to be without him

- his scarab genuinely thinks you're safer wearing his jacket and will throw a bit of a fit if "mate is unsafe! protections protocols active!" so you've taken to tying them around your waist, slinging them over your shoulder, and have even tried to crop or bedazzle a few to make a bomb outfit if thats you're style!

- the jackets are always worn and well loved, sometimes they'll have tears or burn marks from his scarab getting upset but you never mind the imperfections, they're what makes each jacket special

hope you enjoyed let me know who your fav was!

[devinescribe]

Innocence

Niragi Suguru × Reader

So, this is something I was very excited to receive a request about!

(Yall... please, the most adorable thing I've ever been requested to write-)

I absolutely loved the idea, as it's something I go through, and a few of my friends go through, although it might be a little different. (My friends as well as I  (ooh, exposing myself) have a little space(different from a sub space. It's age regression and not at all sexual or wrong. It's totally OK to do this) , and I usually take care of them and they take care of me through it, so I get the panic attacks and drops! What this person requested is probably quite different from that, so It's not the exact same thing. Also, keep in mind, everyone expiriences panic attacks differently, I'm going off of my personal experience with them.

Warnings: past trauma, panic attacks, swearing, mentions of death, blood, let me know if I missed any!

You had been put into this world. A desolate one. It looked like your home of Tokyo, but it wasn't. There weren't  any people, and it was empty. It was like a giant prison... except bigger. In your opinion, it was a prison, and no one was around to judge you, so it was. You had been quite scared waking up, not knowing what was going on. Wandering around the new Tokyo, you felt a feeling of dread. You were alone. How you hated being alone.

At night, however, things changed. One of the advertisement boards in the middle of Tokyo lit up, pointing towards a place and the words 'way to the game arena' sprawled across it. You just followed the light up sign, and ended up at a skating rink.

Your eyes lit up at the sight. There were pretty colors, flashing lights, and popular music was playing in the background. You swayed on your heels, back and forth, unsure of what to do next before seeing a table with phones. On the same table was a sign that read 'One for each player.' What did they mean by player? You didn't know. You picked up a phone, and it turned on. The screen read something about facial recognition. You stared in awe at it, thinking it was cool. You were so immersed with the phone, you didn't notice other people come in. When you did, you were a bit intimidated. You didn't know why you were here. It dawned on you in a moment, and you started to fidget with the edge of your skirt. You saw two people who looked nicer than the rest, and decided to aproach them.

"Hi! Um... I'm sorry to bother you,  but do you know what's going on? I just woke up here..." you explained, looking at them. It was a boy and a girl. The girl had short, dark hair, and was wearing black spandex with a colorful pullover that was unzipped a bit to where you could see the black sports bra under. She was so pretty in your eyes. The boy had dark hair, his bangs falling into his face. He was wearing a t-shirt, and shorts. They looked at each other, and back to you. "It's a game," the girl said. You smiled. "A game? I like games what kind of game?" You asked. "It's not... it's not normal games. They're more difficult... and dangerous," the boy explained. You were confused. "My name is (Y/N). What's your's?" You asked. "I'm Arisu and this is Usagi," he introduced. "I like your names," you said cheerfully. The phone pinged, and you jumped slightly.

'Registration closed. 8 players. Difficulty 4 of spades. Game 'Roll Away'. All players will put on the roller skates. They can't be taken off once put on. There will be different challenges in the rink. It might be dodging something, getting chased by something, or other obstacles. Clear Condition: You can not take off the roller skates through the duration of the game. Doing that will result in immediate death. The way to win is to dodge the object or things and pass the challenges. Game start in 10 minutes' (this is the dumbest game concept I've come up with, I apologize in advance)

"Here, stick with us, and we'll try to make sure you don't get hurt, alright?" Usagi said, placing her hand on your shoulder. "Ok! Thank you Usagi-Chan! Thank you Arisu-Kun!" You chirped, bowing your head in gratitude. They smiled to eachother, one thought clear and present in their heads. They had to protect you. Something they didn't say about a lot of people, but something was different about you.

That's how they took you to the beach. At first, you were scared. You didn't know anyone there, there was people staring at you, and there were some that had weapons. Your eyes had so much to focus on, and it was so overwhelming. Your first thought was to focus on something shiny. You liked shiny things. The problem was, there was to many shiny things to focus on. The windows, guns, swords, accents on the wall, hell, everything might as well been shiny. You stayed still, sitting up as straight as you could, playing with the sleeves of the sweatshirt you had on. "So she's basically useless?" One of the people there said. You frowned at the words. "No, no, she's very capable. I think she'd do well in club games. And she doesn't require a high rank right now. Just for a her to be safe," Arisu said, protecting your from their words. "Alright. Just inform her of everything. Niragi, why don't you take her to get a wristband and to her room?" The man, who you had learned to be Hatter suggested, although he knew it was a command. Usagi gripped onto your shoulder softly. "I'll go with. Just because I feel she is my responsibility as well," Usagi said. In reality, she was worried of what he'd do to you. She didn't trust Niragi, and from the short amount of time she had known you, noticed you to be more trusting and innocent than most. You smiled widely, and looked up at Usagi. "Let's go then."

You walked in the middle of both people. Usagi, looking forward most of the time, holding your hand to guide you around, and Niragi. That's what Hatter had called him anyways. He was rather tall, longish hair with half tied back. He had piercing on his nose and brow. Shiny pieces of metal which you found yourself staring at constantly. There was a gun slung over his shoulder, which scared you. "Here we are," he said, opening the door to what you assumed to be a storage room. He handed you a bracelet. You played with the stretchy cord, stretching out and back in, being entertained by it. Usagi grabbed your hand, and gently slid it on. "Don't take it off, ok?" She said softly. You nodded. "What is she? A damn kid?" Niragi scoffed. "No. Be nice. People have different situations, and you have no right to judge," Usagi repremanded him, her tone strong. He rolled his eyes. "Ok, there's three rules at the Beach. 1, you have to wear a bathing suit, 2 all card go to Hatter, 3 death to the traitors," he said. "Mmm... death? What do you mean by that?" You asked. You knew what death was, you just wanted to make sure he wasn't threatening you. "Death means death. We catch you planning to leave, or keeping your cards, you die. Simple as that," Niragi stated. "Ah... oki! Usagi-Chan, I think I'll be ok with out you for now. Thank you!" You chirped. Usagi shook her head. "I'm not leaving you alone with him," she stated, glaring at him. You felt hands grab your waist, and pull you back. It was Niragi. For whatever reason, you felt safe. He was bigger than you, and most likely stronger, and it made you feel safe. You shrunk into him, liking the feeling. "Yeah, Usagi-Chan... Let her have fun," he mocked, sticking out his tongue. Usagi could hear the hidden meaning behind his words. But, to her surprise, you didn't. Were you that innocent? "I'll be fine. Tell Arisu-Kun thank you again for me though... You guys really helped me through that game," you smiled. Usagi nodded her head, and against her better judgement, left. "Ok, just you and me now sweetheart," Niragi sighed, leading you around. You rushed to catch up with him, and grabbed his hand. He flinched, pulling his hand away. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He asked, scrunching his face in disgust at the contact. " 'M sorry... Didn't want to get lost. I don't like being alone," you apologized, looking down, and swinging your leg back and forth. 'Damn it... She's cute... NOnononono, backtrack, hold up, not cute. She's fucking annoying. There we go. That sounds better. Not at all cute. Annoying.' He sighed, remembering the way Usagi had spoken to you, "It's fine. Just don't go doing that, ok?"  You nodded excitedly, walking besides him.

"Ok, and this room is the one Hatter told me to take you to. The two people you were with live on the next floor up. No I don't know what room, neither do I care. They'll tell you, most likely. Bye," he said after leading you to your room door. "Niragi... thank you!" You said, smiling. "What?" He questioned, turning around to face you. "Thank you. Really, I would have gotten lost without you. I hope to see you soon!" You repeated, skipping into your room. He stared at the spot you just stood in, in shock. 'She's odd. But interesting. Is her innocence an act? Or is she just like that?' He thought as he walked off. You hadn't made any sort of shy or disgusted expressions when he talked to you. Especially when he used more risqué remarks. You just smiled or laughed as if you didn't understand the meaning behind his words. You were definitely interesting to say the least.

"We're really sorry we couldn't find another one for you... It's just the rules here, ok?" Arisu apologized. They had to find a swimsuit for you to wear, and they had found a white one. It wasn't horrible, just showed a lot. "You're allowed to wear a cover up though. Or like a sweater," Usage suggested. You nodded, rushing to the bathroom where you had changed. You grabbed the fluffy zip up hoodie you had on before you changed. You slipped it on over your body, and smiled. "Much better," you chirped. They laughed slightly. Arisu couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy when you were around. Not in a romantic way, but more in a protective way. He didn't want anyone to harm you. Usagi felt the same. "Can I go walk around?" You asked, playing with your hair. They nodded. " You don't have to ask for permission. You can do what you want," Usagi said. You nodded, saying goodbye, and leaving the room.

You hummed as you walked around, looking at all the people walking around. You nodded your head to whatever rythym was going on in your head. There were so many things to focus on, it felt like your head was going to explode. You shut your eyes for a bit and kept walking. Bad idea.

"Oi, you damn brat! Watch where you're going!" Someone shouted at you. You had bumped into them, falling to the ground. " 'M sorry! Didn't mean to!" You squeaked out. You heard them laugh, and you opened your eyes. "Whatever. And stop talking like that. What are you? A ba-" they were cut off by a snicker. "Really? You have the right to say that?" You recognized the voice from earlier. It was Niragi. You looked up to see Niragi pointing his gun at the people bothering you. "What? She talks like a fucking baby. And acts like one. Is she your little play thing?" The person taunted. Niragi scowled. "I'm only letting you go right now because Aguni doesn't let us kill in front of others. Be glad I'm letting you off right now," Niragi threatened. They all rushed away, seeing as their bravery was only for show. Niragi looked down to you on the floor. "You good?" He asked. You nodded, getting yourself off the floor. "Thank you once again, Niragi," you said, your attention on the floor. He couldn't help but notice your nature. You were innocent, childish, and playful. So different from all the other girls here. It was annoying, but also... cute. He was so lost in thought, he almost didn't feel you standing next to him and grabbing his arm. "What are you doing? We talked about this," he stated, trying to pull his arm away, watching as you nuzzled into him. "You're warm... and I like this feeling... I don't know what it is, but it's nice," you muttered. He pulled you around, back to his room, ignoring the stares he was getting.

He opened the door, and walked in, shutting it behind you two. "Where are we?" You asked, looking up at him. "Guess," were his only words. You basically beamed up at him. "Ooh, like a game! Umm... I don't know... tell me?" You chirped, placing a finger on your lip. He sighed, basically throwing himself on his bed. "You're annoying, you know that right?" He said. You frowned, twiddling your fingers. "Don't get offended by that. I have questions I want answered, come here," he stated, the commanding tone in his voice obvious. You stood straighter, and walked over by him. He looked up st you, confused. "Sit,'' was the only word that left his lips. You did so, sitting up straight. "So... is this an act? Your whole innocence thing?" He questioned, motioning to you. You tilted your head in confusion. "No? It's just... me," you responded. He hummed to acknowledge he heard you. Your hands kept looking for something to do, and you impulsively put one of your hands on his head. He moved away, grabbing your wrists, putting them to your body. "Hands to yourself princess," he said, a bored tone present. You shook your head, your hair swaying and bouncing with you. He laughed at the sight as you pouted. "Don't wanna. I like the feeling I get when I touch you or when you touch me," you said, your fingers being able to lightly touch his hand. "What feeling?" He asked. "I don't know what it's called... I just like it," you responded. "Well explain it," he said. "Mm... I feel really warm and protected. And... safe..." you responded, feeling his hands leave your wrists. After feeling his hands leave your wrist, you looked up at him. You crawled next to him squirming from happiness. "Oi, stop it," he scolded, grabbing your shoulders to keep you still. You pouted, looking up at him. "Then can I pet you?" You asked. "What am I? A damn dog?" He spat. "I like dogs. Dogs are cute. You're cute. But you're not a dog. Good boys deserve pets. You're a good boy, so... you deserve pets," you rambled, patting the top of his head softly. He look at you as you did so. He dropped back onto his bed. "I'm tired, so I'm going to sleep before tonight's patrol. Don't kill me," he yawned, closing his eyes, falling asleep almost immediately.

When he woke up, he heard humming. He opened his eyes slowly, and saw you curled up on the end of his bed, humming. "Hello?" He questioned. You turned so fast, he swears you gave yourself whiplash. "Niragi you're up!" You chirped. He sighed. 'Who gave her the right to be so damn cute... this isn't fair on me right now.' He nodded, and got up. He looked into the mirror on the dresser, noticing his hair was tied back. He went to take it out, but soon saw it was braided. "Did you... braid my hair?" He questioned. Now, he wasn't mad, and he didn't hate it. He just wanted to know why. "Yeah. Sorry," you said, looking down. "I- forget it. Why?" He asked. Your eyes lost their spark for a second. "um... uh... I... I just wanted to," you said shakily. "Tell me why. I can see through that lie," he stated, taking his hair out of the braid. "Umm... I... I don't think you'd care, it's nothing," you deflected. "Look, if I'm asking, it means I want to know. So say it," he said, turning to face you. "Ok... I was just alone in my thoughts, and I decided to braid your hair. It made me feel less... anxious. My sister used to always ask for me to braid her hair. So she could look just like our mom... and she did look just like out mom," you explained, tears filling your eyes.

You didn't like talking about your sister because of what had happened to her. Your mother had died when you were 9, your sister was just a baby. She looked exactly like your mom. And due to circumstances, you were never able to be a kid. You had to be an adult at a young age. You never got to be childish. So, you did it more when you grew up. Your sister... Your sister didn't really care all that much. She acted like a kid, and got to be a kid. You made sure of it. Some things just couldn't be helped though. She had died after a car accident. You all went to get some groceries. It had been a great night, and you three had gotten ice cream. On the way back, a drunk driver had hit the car. Your father lived and yourself lived, but he blamed himself for it. He tried, he really really tried to be a good father to you, but it wasn't enough. Somehow, you could never seem to win.

"I'm sorry, I don't really like talking about her, can I talk about something else?" you said, quickly wiping the tears away. He could tell you didn't want to talk about. It made him want know more, but for whatever reason, he left it. "My patrol starts I'm a few minutes. So you'll have to find someone else to bother," he said, fixing his hair again. "But I don't wanna go around anyone else. Wanna be around you," you pouted, walking to his side. He stared down in shock. No one has ever wanted to around him out of their own free will. "Look, just... go to your room, and if I remember to go, I'll go and visit for a bit."

That's how it started. You would constantly be around him, rambling about your newest topic. He didn't respond a lot, just listened, throwing the occasional sigh of you being annoying. It didn't bother you anymore, because something told you if he actually found you annoying, you wouldn't be alive right now.

"Hey hey hey (N/N)!" Kuina greeted with a smile. "Kuina! You're back!" You giggled, running over. She hugged you, spinning you around. "How's my favorite human?" She asked, setting you down. "I'm ok... How was your game?" You asked, walking around with her. She led you down to where all the cars came in. "Hatter put me in charge of checking to make sure no one keeps their cards today. Help me out?" She asked as soon as you got there. You nodded, and stood by her.

All was fine, till one of the last groups came in, speeding. You watched nervously, hoping nothing bad happened. You felt the world around you move in slowmotion, and the air in your lungs get shorter everytime you breathed. You heard the tires screech, and Kuina's voice was somewhere in the background. You felt like you couldn't breath, you felt the cold stone wall behind you and you slid down it. Tears rolled down your face, and you scratched at your arms unknowingly. You felt people trying to touch you, and you kicked or hit them away.

"Someone get help! Arisu, Usagi!" Kuina yelled at them. They had come outside, hearing a commotion. They tried to touch you, or get closer, but you wouldn't let them. Blood came out of the scratches you had made on yourself. "Who else can help her?! Think quick, please!" Arisu panicked. You were crying and scratching at yourself. They could hear you muttering 'no' and 'can't lose them again' over and over under your breath. Anytime someone tried to get close to you, you would kick or hit them. "Get Niragi," Usagi said. "What no I'm not going to-" Kuina started to argue. "Do you have any other ideas?! Go get Niragi before she hurts herself more! Now!" Usagi shouted. The panicky feeling was in everyone. Kuina quickly looked over at you, and nodded. This wasn't about who she did and didn't like. It was about making sure you were ok. Kuina ran off, going to look for Niragi. "Usagi, you go look for him as well. You're faster than me, I'll kept on eye on her," Arisu said. Usagi nodded, running off.

You were still crying, your nails tearing into your skin, crescent marks left behind, and trails of crimson dripping down. People were still trying to help, but we're crowded all around you. You couldn't breath, air couldn't get into your lungs. The people all around you looked like they were closing in around you. A flashback of the moment the other car hit you flooded your brain. Your sister's cut off scream. Her blood soaked shirt, the pieces of glass embedded into her skin. The pain you felt when you called out for her, but she didn't answer.

"Chishiya! Chishiya! Have you seen Niragi?" Kuina yelled after the short boy. He turned around. "Why would I care ab-" Chishiya started. "Chishiya, not now. It's (Y/N). Please, just- do you know or not?" Kuina interrupted, taking in shaky breaths. He shook his head. "Last Boss might know he's over there. If not Aguni," Chishiya said. Kuina nodded, running over to the aforementioned man.

Eventually, she found him on the roof. 'He's always on the damn roof' Kuina thought. "Niragi! Don't ask questions, just come with me!" Kuina yelled at him. He turned with a face that read 'no'. "Why should I-" he started. "It's (Y/N), please just- she- come with me," Kuina stumbled over her words. It had been at least 6 minutes. He tried not to show any emotion, but looked around and nodded. He walked quickly besides her as they made their way back.

"Found him!" Kuina shouted. Arisu turned to them and nodded. "Just go over to her," Arisu said. Niragi walked over, and everyone around you, immediately parted. "Go away," he threatened. Everyone left, and he was able to see what was happening. Your previously white swimsuit was now stained with red. Your arms were marked up with scratches and crescent shaped wounds. "Hey, (Y/N), it's me... calm down... breath," he whispered, so only you could hear. He kneeled in front of you, and got gradually closer. You didn't push him away, nor did you pit up a fight against him. The feeling of being safe and protected that you only got around Niragi appeared. The warm feeling spread over you, making you calm down a bit. You were able to breath a bit now, and you whimpered about something he didn't quite hear. Arisu and Kuina sighed in relief, seeing as he was able to get close to you. He grabbed your hands, taking them away from your arms. You took a shaky breath. "N-niragi?" You questioned. "Mhm... just calm down for now," he said. Arisu and Kuina looked at eachother and nodded, deciding to leave. Niragi had it under control.

You grabbed onto Niragi, and held onto him tightly. He heard you sniffle and say an apology into his neck. "Don't apologize for that. Are you ok-ish now?" He asked. He felt you nod. "Ok, well, we need to clean you up. And you can tell me what happened later, ok?"

He had carried you up to his room, cleaning up the blood on your body. "Sorry... I'm sorry," you apologized again, as he bandaged up your arms. "Stop apologizing, it's pissing me off," he stated. You frowned with a shaky sigh. "I... I didn't mean that. I'm sorry," he apologized, sitting besides you. You snuggled up into him. He was going to scold you, but decided against it, seeing as he rather liked the feeling. He always had. "Niragi... you forgot to do something," you muttered. "And what's that princess?" He asked. "Kiss it better?" You asked, looking at him with the puppy dog eyes. He felt his face get hot, and cursed himself. He rolled his eyes giving in, "Fine." You gave him your arm, and he kissed over the bandages. You giggled slightly. "Tickles," you laughed. He couldn't help but laugh. You smiled, "Niragi... Can I help you feel better?" You asked. "What? I'm not hurt though," he said, confused by your words. "Ok, fine... maybe it's not to make you feel better... just wanna give you a kiss. I really really really like you," you admitted, blushing slightly. He froze up for a second, before smirking. "Go ahead then. I really really really really like you too."

So... how was that? Um...bi may have gone overboard, but I am all for soft Niragi hours even if he's OOC, it's called 'I'm sad, he's my comfort character.' Umm... yeah... cool!

[ohkiyo]

pairing: Goshiki Tsutomu x Reader

warnings: none

word count: 2, 863

a/n: I got sidetracked so many times while writing this XD.

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shiratorizawa navigation || main navigation

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Rest days were very rare for members of any sports clubs, especially when a very important tournament is just right around the corner, and just as practices are good, taking a break and resting those tired muscles is very important as well. 

That is why, when Coach Washijou announce yesterday that they’d have the weekend off, members of Shiratorizawa’s boys’ volleyball club use it as an opportunity to finally do the plans they have been holding on for a while now.

Therefore, when Goshiki called you last night to tell you he’d be taking you on a date the next day, you were ecstatic. Letting out an excited squeal, startling your roommate in the process who was watching a movie while you jump around in your room, still talking to your boyfriend about your plans for your date. 

Your roommate was definitely looking at you funny, watching as you were talking so fast she couldn’t even understand what you were saying, so she just shook her head and continued watching her movie.

The two of you didn’t really plan anything extravagant, just a stroll around the mall or anything mundane, you don’t really care, you’re just glad you can finally have your boyfriend all by yourself for the whole day. Currently, the two of you were in your favorite clothes shop in one of Sendai’s malls, going through the various assortments of apparel they offer.

Browsing through the rack of sweaters and jacket, a certain clothing item caught your attention; you took it from the rack and giving it a closer look. It was a black colored hoodie, with a little animated bread with a smiley face and the words peanut butter printed just below it was the design, situated on the upper left part of the chest area. It was big, but you have always preferred clothes that were twice your size, they were more comfortable.

Going through the rack again, you saw another one, similar in color, a similar animated bread with the smiley face but this one says jelly, the position of the design was the same but it was smaller, closer to your size than the one you are currently holding.

Realizing that it was a couple hoodie, you walk up to your boyfriend and showed it to him.

“Tsutomu, look!” you said, holding up the two hoodies for him to see. He examines it, the cute design definitely catching his attention.

“Can we buy this?”

“Sure!”

After paying for your items, the two of you went to the mall’s rooftop where restaurants with open areas were operating. It was mostly the go-to place for most shoppers since the tables were placed in an open space, surrounded by many potted plants and a beautiful fountain in the middle, not only that, the fresh air is a good addition as well if anyone wants to get away from the stuffy smell the mall’s air conditioners were usually giving.

“It looks so good” Goshiki said, as the server place your food on the table, you could feel your mouth watering just by the sight of it. Immediately digging into the plates of food, once everything you’ve ordered was served.

“(Y/n)-chan, have you tried this one yet?” Goshiki pointed at the plate of chicken in front of him, you shook your head, swallowing your food.

“It’s really good” he took a piece of chicken with his fork and feeding it to you, watching as you slowly chew on the piece of meat. Your eyes went wide, a little hum leaving your lips at the various flavors exploding in your mouth. 

It was just fried chicken, but it was a lot different from the ones you have had, probably because of the spices the cooks put during preparation.

“Tasty, right?” you nodded your head as he fed you another piece chuckling at how your cheeks were bulging with so much food.

Unbeknownst to the two of you, on a table, a few feet away were three pairs of eyes watching the exchange like a hawk.

“I didn’t know he has a girlfriend” Yamagata leaned forward as he squints his eyes, trying to have a closer look at the girl to see if he recognize her.

“She’s probably just a classmate” Reon said watching as his other three companions decided to ignore their food and focus more on the cute display of affection happening in front of them. 

It’s not even considered PDA, they were just sharing their food something people normally do, but for them, who had been around the first year far too long would know that this was new, even they were surprised. 

They know Goshiki is not good at talking to girls, they could clearly remember how he chokes on his own spit the other day when he was talking to one of the members of the girls’ volleyball team. 

“She’s probably more than just a classmate” Tendou wiggled his finger at them, sliding his plate towards Ushijima and telling him to finish it.

“A friend maybe? They look close” Semi offered, as both he and Yamagata followed Tendou’s action, Reon sweatdrop watching as the third-year captain silently accept all the foods being given to him. 

“What? No!” Tendou objected, an offended look on his face as if they had just insulted his favorite manga “You’re all clearly underestimating Tsutomu, he’s tall, he’s cute, he’s smart and good at sports. He’s like a mini Wakatoshi-kun if you ask me!”

“So, you think Wakatoshi is cute?” Yamagata raises an eyebrow at him, crossing his arms over his chest as Semi’s mouth formed into the widest grin Tendou has ever seen.

“You know he’s right over there, you could tell him that you have a crush-“ 

Tendou clamp a hand over Semi’s mouth as he sneaks a glance towards Ushijima who seemed to have not heard what any of them was saying, and was more invested in his food than pay them attention. He let out a sigh, before turning his head to the two.

“We don’t talk about that here”

Semi remove his hand a smirk on his face “Alright, but we’re going to have a discussion about it later”

“They’re leaving” 

They watch as the duo walk away, hand in hand, something that did not go unnoticed from their prying eyes.

“Guess they really were a couple”

"Told ya!”

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"Hmm, what to watch" you tap your chin as you look at the various movie posters that were showing that day. The movie options weren't even that interesting to begin with, half of it was romance dramas while the others were just poor adaptations of movies from other countries. 

Goshiki let out a sigh, about to suggest that you do something else when another poster, all alone in the far corner of the wall, caught his eye.

"(Y/n)-chan look" he tugs at your blouse as you turn to look where he was pointing, you squint your eyes reading the details written on it. It was a promotional poster to this year's Eigasai [1], the list of movies to be shown were listed in bullet forms and the selected malls where it would be showing printed at the bottom.

"That's today" you look at your boyfriend who nodded his head and the two of you went back to the rooftop, walking towards the area where the screening for the Eigasai selected films were being held.

"Their movie line up this year is good" you muttered, as you read the titles of the multi-awarded films.  Recognizing how most of them were movies directed by famous directors.

"Let’s watch this one" Goshiki pointed at the poster, the title The Boy and The Beast catching your interest, you nodded your head as the both of you stood in line to get your tickets.

Once that was done, you made a quick purchase for your snacks before going inside the cinema, sitting in your designated area as you waited for the movie to start.

The projector was playing an ad as people slowly fill in the empty seats. You adjusted yourself in your seat, leaning back as the lights start to go dim, grabbing a few pieces of popcorn as the movie's intro starts playing.

Among many villages of beast in the world, the busiest is here, called Jutengai. The number of beast living here is about a hundred thousand.

“This is a very good way to start a movie” Goshiki commented eyes never leaving the screen as he took a sip of his drink. You nodded your head in agreement.

“I know, right?”

A long time leader among them proclaimed he shall retire and become a god. While pondering which god he shall be, since a new leader must be named should he decide, he ordered everyone to prepare a candidate.

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"That was probably the worst horror movie I've ever seen in my life" Semi grumbled stomping out of the cinema as he let out a huff “People were hyping it up so bad on social media, that I thought it was going to be exciting or something"

"That was definitely a flop" Tendou added shaking his head in disappointment.

"I demand a refund"

"I don't think that's possible Eita" Reon could only offer a pat on the back, before casting a glance at the second years who they had bumped into while waiting in line for their ticket "I think I saw Kenjirou fell asleep somewhere in the middle"

Shirabu shrugs his shoulders, moving his bangs away from his eyes to have a proper look at his upperclassman "It was boring"

"We should have just went to Eigasai instead" Kawanishi patted the giant poster displayed beside him. Popping a popcorn in his mouth as he watches Semi grab Tendou by the collar of his shirt and shaking him.

"You made me pay ¥1,800 [2] for a movie where I could've just watch it for free!"

"Now, now Eita-kun it was an honest mistake. We didn't know the film festival was today"

Tendou tries to explain but Semi just shook him harder, while an oddly pale-looking Yamagata stood beside Ushijima, not saying a single word since they had exited the cinema.

"Are you okay Hayato?" Ushijima asks, looking at him.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine" he answered before a thought went through his head 'What the fuck you mean that movie was boring?! It was terrifying!' He had to resist the shiver running down his spine as he could still remember some scenes from the movie.

He was definitely having nightmares tonight.

“By the way. Have you seen Tsutomu today?” Tendou asks pulling Semi off of him “He’s on a date!”

The two second years raise an eyebrow “A date?”

“Yeah- look there he is!” the redhead stretch his hand and pointed to Goshiki and his date walking towards the escalator. Laughing amongst each other.

“C’mon let’s go!” he gathered them all and started pushing them towards the direction the two have gone, completely ignoring their protest.

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"I didn't know there was a park here" Goshiki mumbled a stunned look on his face as his eyes surveyed the area. It was big, a lot bigger than the ones near the neighborhood areas, there were gazebos, a picnic area where tables were already set up overlooking a wide lake with wild ducks swimming around. A playground at the far corner complete with a seesaw, a slide, a sandbox, and a jungle gym.

"Me neither" you added taking a seat in one of the many benches as a sudden realization hit you "Gosh we need to go out more. How long has it been since we went off campus?"

Goshiki thought for a moment before answering "2 months"

"2 months?!" you gaped at him, as he tried to recount the days but it stayed the same "How?"

"High school happened" the both of you let out a heavy exhale, pulling you closer to him as the two of you watch the rest of the park goers enjoying their afternoon.

“I had fun today Tsutomu-kun. Thank you” you said squeezing your boyfriend’s hand as you rest your head on his shoulder.

“Really? I’m glad” he smiled down at you, planting a kiss on the crown of your head as he adjusted himself, resting his head on top of yours. 

“Achoo!” 

“Tissue! Tissue!” 

“We don’t have any more tissues!”

Kawanishi sniffled, a pained groan leaving his lips as he sneezes once more. The itchy feeling in his nose irritating him as he took Shirabu’s offered handkerchief. 

“Taichi-nii?” 

Kawanishi raises his hand in a small wave as you frown, walking up to him while rummaging your bag for the tissue you had packed earlier.

“What are you doing standing near the flower beds? You know you’re allergic to them” you took hold of his wrist as you pulled him towards the picnic area where there were only grasses and trees present, the other following after you two.

“Sorry” he blew on his nose, as you gave him his antihistamine pill and a bottle of water. Semi doesn't even question why you're carrying an anti-allergy pill with you, he's just glad Kawanishi was immediately given some medication.

“You know her Taichi?” Tendou tilts his head to the side, eyes blinking in question.

Kawanishi nodded his head “She’s my younger cousin” he answered as he turned you to them, telling you to introduce yourself.

“Hello, my name’s (L/n) (Y/n) nice to meet you” you bowed as they introduce themselves to you one by one.

“You’re Tsutomu’s girlfriend, right? We saw you two earlier” you nodded your head, smiling at Yamagata as he started patting Goshiki on the back, while Tendou keeps on ruffling his hair until it was messy, saying something how he didn’t tell them that he has a cute girlfriend and why he didn't introduce you to them earlier.

You chuckled, turning your attention back to your cousin who's sniffles had finally calmed down. You gave him another piece of tissue, stepping to the side as a couple walks past your group. You scrunch up your nose as the familiar smell of strong perfume went up to your nostril, before a sneeze finally left your lips.

"You too?" Semi asks, growing worried by the second as a barrage of sneezes left your lips. Goshiki sitting you down beside your older cousin and offering you the almost empty tissue pack.

"It was the perfume" you wave your hand at the couple that was already a few feet away, but the smell of their perfume still lingering in the air.

Tendou and Shirabu had to pinch their nose, trying to prevent themselves from accidentally inhaling the scent as Yamagata tries to stop himself from gagging "I don't know what it was but it stinks"

Reon nodded as he tried to wave away the awful smell, while Ushijima doesn't even look affected in the slightest. You let out another sneeze rubbing your temple as you start to feel yourself getting a headache, Kawanishi doing the same.

Looks like it’s going to be a miserable weekend for the both of you.

«──────────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ────────────»

You stood beside the two coaches, a smile on your face, and a notebook in hand, as your eyes scanned the face of the new team you will be managing from now on. You had just finished introducing yourself to the team, waiting for Coach Washijou and Coach Saito to finish their pre-practice reminders.

“Starting today she will be your new manager so don't screw it up!" 

"Yes sir!" was their collective reply as Coach Washijou nodded his head, satisfied at the energy they seem to possess.

"Good, now start warming up. We're starting with spiking drills today"

With that, they disperse and walk over to their own area and started stretching. Thoroughly preparing their body for the strenuous exercise they will be doing today.

"It's funny how we just met (Y/n) a few days ago and now she's our manager" Reon mused, as he twists his body to the side.

"I offered the position to her" Ushijima said as they look at him "Shirabu mentioned that she's an outstanding student and I think she would be a good addition to the team. Someone reliable to help take care of everyone"

"You're fast"

"It would be a shame if she were to manage a different a club, and also..." he pauses meeting their eyes as his lips twitch into one of those rare smiles they have seen "... She would be an excellent motivator for Goshiki"

He motioned his head to where the two first years were talking to each other, Goshiki was sporting a very wide smile on his face, visibly vibrating on the spot as the girl wrap his fingers with some tape. Which was odd, he doesn’t even tape his fingers.

Probably an excuse to talk to her more.

"They're cute together aren't they?" Semi commented, watching as Goshiki sneakily gave his girlfriend a peck on the forehead before jogging towards the court.

"Yes they are" Tendou nodded his head, as silence enveloped the both of them before Semi spoke up again.

"So... about your crush on Wakatoshi"

"Eita-kun, shh!"

«──────────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ────────────»

[1] Eigasai is a Japanese film festival held every August, I think. They would have screenings of the best Japanese films animated or not, and the best thing about it, it’s free! You just have to make the effort to wait in line. I search up google and unfortunately, it’s an event only available in my country, at least that’s what it said, but just for the sake of this story, I decided to include Japan as well. hehehe

[2] According to Google, that’s the actual price for movie tickets in Japan.

[tval]

Lexi: 5, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 63. Anyone else: 1, 2, 4, 9, 10.

1) What is/are your OC’s nickname(s) and how did it come about?

‘Kid’, ‘Kiddo’, “Sunshine’, ‘Sunflower.’

2) What is the color of your OC’s eyes/hair/skin?

Green-grey, sandy blonde, very fair (“extra” pale ivory).

4) What is a noticeable physical attribute of your OC?

Expressive eyes. Ear piercings (three in her left, two in her right). Looks like her older brother (more than she’d like to admit).

5) What does your OC normally wear? What would your OC wear on a special night?

Mostly casual clothes; jeans, hoodies/sweatshirts, short and long sleeved shirts. Flannel and big sweaters, too. Casual doesn’t equal frumpy, as she likes things to fit properly (jeans? they better be fitted), have a wide range of variety in colour and style, etc. Boots and sneakers (converse, don’t judge) are her go to for shoes.

It really depends on the occasion. She wouldn’t wear the same thing to a wedding as she would to a business event or on a date. But for the sake of simplicity, special occasions would entail flowing skirts, feminine blouses, lace and chiffon dresses, those women’s suits that come in really cool colours, and sweater dresses and tights for the colder months.

9) What does your OC’s bedroom look like? His/her living area?

Her bedroom’s pretty small, but comfortably so. Traditional Japanese living area with modern furniture and touches. Aside from the bed (which takes up quite a bit of space), there’s not much furniture; a little bedside table, desk, and dresser. But there’s clutter, picture frames, stacks of books and magazines…but it’s like, clean clutter? I apologize, I’m not doing a very good job at describing this. It’s so easy to visualize in my head, but writing it down? Nah. I’m going to make this easier and just provide a few links to images that sort of come close to what I’m thinking. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

10) What does your OC keep in a special drawer?

For Lexi: her first real camera, a book of Scottish fairytales, the invitation from her brother’s wedding, an egg-sized crystal that’s definitely timely totally normal (not), and a raven feather.

For the other one: an old photograph from long past days, a violet hair ribbon that’s faded and fraying at the edges, a silver pendant decorated with the Japanese kanji for ‘sunflower’.

11) What is your OC’s relationship with his/her mother?

Lexi has a very close and loving relationship with her mom. Her mom has always encouraged Lexi to be herself and to carve out a life that’s uniquely her own. There’s a lot of love and support there. Regarding certain life choices and independent decisions Lexi has made, she’s been wary but otherwise supportive.

12) What is your OC’s relationship with his/her father?

Lexi’s relationship with her dad is very much one of a tough guy with a hard exterior having a soft spot for his little girl. He’s a tad overprotective, despite Lexi no longer being a child. They have, and still do, occasionally butt heads over certain choices and aspects of Lexi’s life, but there’s never been any permanent fallout or love lost.

15) What was your OC’s childhood like?

Lexi’s childhood was pretty good, but also pretty messy. Her family as a whole moved around the country quite a bit, and every time they did it took Lexi longer and longer to adjust. Which, really, would’ve been okay since she had her parents and brothers to help her along, but she started to experience the supernatural/paranormal at a pretty young age.

Aside from all the abnormal crap she had to deal with, Lexi’s childhood was pretty good. You wouldn’t think so with the spooky shit, but you’d be wrong. Loving, encouraging parents. Two older brothers she fought with only 25% of the time (what a low percentage!), an extended family numbering in the dozens; happy, but not perfect. Good, but not without the bad.

16) What is your OC’s strongest childhood memory? Why and how as that impacted him/her?

When Lexi was around 11 years old and living in Louisiana, she had her first physical encounter with the supernatural. One summer, a few kids started to go missing in the nearby bayou (they lived in a rural part of the state). Through a series of complicated and convoluted events that would take way to long to write, Lexi has a bad encounter with something that is definitely not normal. Creepy giant reptile creature. Dead kid remains are involved. Lexi gets some trauma, killer monster get injured and leaves the area. Cops wrap everything up, deciding an alligator was behind the deaths.

How did this impact Lexi? Pretty simply. She educated herself about all this crazy shit, which eventually prompts her to become a supernatural/monster hunter.

63) How does your OC display love?

Did you want me to go on a long winded rant? Because you’re about to get a long winded rant.

Anyways.It actually depends on the person and the type of love! You know, platonic, familial, romantic, etc. But for this one, I’m going to go with how she shows ~romantic~ love.

Lexi is a very caring and loving person in general. So when it comes to the person she loves, the person she’s in love with, all she really wants is to be with them. Grandiose displays of love and overly romantic gestures? Not really Lexi’s thing. She shows her affection through little gestures; soft caresses, gentle hand holding (lacing her fingers with her significant others; rubbing small circles against her s/o’s palm), pressing herself close to her s/o’s side for the briefest of moments.

Another way that Lexi shows her love is face touching. It’s a little bit strange, but Lexi really likes to touch her s/o’s face. Cupping their cheeks, running her knuckles along their jawline; it might come off as weird or even creepy, but it’s really very soft and sweet.

And yes, most of these displays of love so far has been physical. But Lexi’s a very physically affectionate person. She likes to touch and to be touched. She’s not bad with words, but there’s so much more that can be said with actions. And sometimes words can be difficult. Certain things are hard to say, to admit, and so Lexi would rather show than tell. It’s easier for her.

I said it earlier, that Lexi doesn’t do over the top displays. But she enjoys going on dates and things like that. Going for a walk in the park, spending a quiet evening in; it doesn’t have to be super exciting or special, as long as they can be comfortable and happy in each other’s company is enough. Being together is enough. She wants her s/o to know she loves them with smothering them. Lexi sometimes worries that she is smothering, since she’s more action than words. Those worries are part of the reason a lot of her gestures are quick and brief; show the love, but show it in short bursts. Lexi’s weird in that way. Weird, but loving.

[wait-there-was-a-plan]

𝐃•𝐎•𝐋•𝐋•𝐇•𝐎•𝐔•𝐒•𝐄

p•r•o•l•o•g•u•e

Words: 1686

Trigger Warning: Dolls, terrifying situations, missing people, kidnapping[kinda??? Could be read as such]

If I need to add more let me know, but note this is an attempt at some spooky horror

S•T��O•R•Y

It was supposed to be a joke. 

Just a fun trip to a spooky shop on Halloween. It wasn’t supposed to end up like this. 

Virgil had always loved the fall season. Perfect hoodie season, and of course the spooks. So when his best friend Remus suggested they get Janus and investigate a creepy looking shack that was parading as a toy shop. Janus loved the idea, but mostly cause it to let the 15-year-old sneak out of his house when it was dark. What his fascination was with sneaking away from his older sister’s care, Virgil would never know. 

Virgil was of course incredibly anxious. So he left a note on his bed in case anything did happen. 

Remus was standing with his hands on his hips looking extremely proud. Janus was the oldest but somehow Remus tended to take the lead. Virgil was never sure why, but he never really cared. It was just always like that. Remus would lead them all into adventure, Virgil got them out of trouble, and Janus made up any excuse they needed. They had a good thing going on. Things were always exciting with them.  

Remus was spouting ideas about how to break into the small shop while Janus was telling Remus that there was absolutely no way they were using fire. Virgil was looking at the shop window as the two behind him went back and forth. 

“Guys. The store is open.” The emo spoke up, pointing to an old-fashioned sign that read ‘Come in! We’re open!’ in bright colors. 

The other teenagers paused and turned to look at the front of the door. 

“Its midnight,” Janus said with a confused look. “What kinda toy store is open three am?”

“The Dollhouse apparently,” Virgil replied, looking up at the wooden letters above the door.

“Maybe it’s too lure in children so they can make toys out of them!” Remus chirped, all two happily. Virgil shuddered at the thought. 

“Oh, that must be it.” The snake-like teen said rolling his eyes. “Are we going in or what?”

Before the others could answer Janus moved forward, opening the door and holding it open for Remus who skipped inside, but when the emo hesitated the eldest paused for a second. 

“You okay?” He asked. “You don’t have to come with us. We can walk you home.”

“I’m fine,”  Virgil told him with a dismissive shrug, and when the other gave him a questioning look the emo rolled his eyes. Janus was always protective of him. Remus too, but the human rat didn’t seem to ‘need’ protection as much, at least by the eldest’s standards. Thus Virgil got the most ‘babying’ from him. Not that the emo always minded. It was nice to be reminded that he didn’t need to do something, or to be assured it was fine. Still, it wasn’t always needed. 

“Really. I’m fine. Let’s go.”

“Alright, if you say so.” Janus gave him a nod before going into the shop. 

Virgil followed behind, looking around the shop. It was almost like stepping through a portal back in time. He didn’t know the exact time period the shop reminded him of, but it was definitely something he could imagine seeing it in a black and white photo if that made sense. Shelves lined the walls, all filled with dolls to the point quite a few of them looked ready to fall off. Everything was made out of wood that looked extremely old and strangely enough, despite the unlocked door and opened sign no one was in sight. Remus was already behind the only counter in the room messing with the old metal til. 

“Remus! Quit playing with that!” Virgil told him, as Janus disapprovingly shook his head. 

“Remus! You’re going to trip the alarm or something!” The snake told him. “They’ll think we’re trying to rob them.” 

“I’m just looking!” The rat whined, rolling his eyes at the other’s worry. “Besides, no one’s here to see anything and this place doesn’t look like it has any alarms.” 

“You don’t usually see alarms, Rem.” Janus frowned. 

“If no one’s here, maybe we should go.” Virgil mumbled, mostly to himself. 

Remus’s head tilted to the side a bit and he smiled mischievously at the anxious boy. 

“Awwwww, Virgin.” He said. “Got a bad fweeling?”

Despite the mocking tone, Virgil knew if he really wanted to, they wouldn’t keep going, no matter how much fun Remus was having breaking into tils. 

So the emo rolled his eyes. 

“No. We just..came. Saw the shop. So we’re done here right?” He asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. 

“Awwww, you don’t have to put on a big brave face for us! If you’re feeling like a pussy-”

“Remus.” Janus warned. 

“Whoops.” The rat shrugged slightly. “My bad.” 

The two mature teens sighed heavily. 

“Okay, what else do you want to do here?” Virgil spoke up looking between them, earning a wicked smirk from Remus. 

Oh dear. 

“Let’s go back here!” He said turning and gesturing to a doorway with those hippy string bead things in place of the door. Virgil didn’t know what they were called, but he did know that the sign above the door said ‘staff only’.

Janus paused looking at Virgil, who sighed and shrugged. 

“...Alright, remus. Just for a minute or two.” He told him. “Then we need to-”

Remus was already off exploring the back of the store. 

“Remember, Verge.” Janus spoke up before they went in after him. “You can leave whenever you want. We won’t get mad.” 

Virgil just nodded softly and followed him before Remus could break anything. 

The room was much larger than the store front. With a lot more shelves and on bookcases but various doll parts and supplies substituted the books. A small desk littered with tools was in the back corner. Running along the walls about waist level there was a long shelf built into the wall, with various completed dolls that must have been waiting to be put out front and be sold. Out of the corner of his eye, Virgil could see Janus move to a large human sized doll near one corner and Remus move to the back of the room. 

Virgil’s attention was caught by a completed doll. While there were many different types of dolls in the shop, porcelain, wooden, a few marinate dolls and barbies here or there, this was seemingly the only stuffed one. Or at least the only stuffed one Virgil could see. It had yellow yarn for hair and two blue beads for eyes. A small sweater around it’s blue shirt while the bottom of the doll was just black to infer it was wearing pants. 

The emo picked it up looking at the eyes. Why this one had caught his attention, Virgil wasn’t even sure. He normally liked the gothic things, and this was for sure not gothic. It looked like something you would give a three year old. Though, there was just something unnerving about them, like the doll was watching him somehow. Which was just absolutely crazy. Dolls couldn’t watch him. Dolls couldn’t watch anything!

“You’re kind of a creepy fucker, aren’t ya?” He asked with a nervous chuckle. Why was he talking to the doll? And why was the watching feeling replaced with disappointment? Was the teen going crazy? 

Virgil swallowed his own spit, setting down the doll. 

“Ooooookkaaay.” He mumbled. “That’s enough dolls for me. Hey, Rem-”

Just as the emo started to say his name, Remus let out a scream worthy to be in horror movies. 

Virgil turned around quickly seeing the human rat holding onto one of the sculpting tools that was laying on the desk, very tightly from the looks of it. But it was hard to tell with a bright light coming from the desk. Remus’s screams got louder and more horrified as his hand seemed to shrink and start wrinkling. It became stiff and shrank slightly, cracking before smoothing out into a pale color that could only look real on a doll-

Wait, no…

His hands were turning into glass! 

Virgil froze. Janus ran over to their screaming friend trying to pull him away from the light before it just got brighter and suddenly Janus was starting to scream too. 

The emo didn’t know what to do, the only thing running through his head was his friends’ terror and pain filled screams. It was only when something wrapped it’s hands around Virgil’s arm did he realize he needed to move. He spun to see who had grabbed him, horrified to find nothing but dolls there, one with its hand somehow holding onto his sleeve. He stepped back, feeling his chest grow tight, and his breathing quicken. 

“VIRGIL-”

Janus’ scream made him turn again, this time met with the large doll the screaming friend had been looking at before right in front of him. Virgil looked past him, locking eyes with Janus, where Remus was he wasn’t sure anymore. The teen couldn’t be seen anymore. But Janus...Janus looked terrified. The emo had never seen him so scared. 

Virgil could hear another scream leave his remaining friends, words,but he couldn’t make them out. The next thing Virgil even knew was he was running through the shop, hearing loud heavy footsteps behind him. 

The teen literally jumped out of the building, landing on the pavement hard. He turned himself over, scurrying back as he looked at the giant doll in the doorway. Frozen. Just staring at Virgil. 

Virgil didn’t really remember making his way home. But he woke the next day to his mom waking him up for school. So he went, hoping it was just a dream.  

But when he got to school, Janus and Remus weren’t there. They weren’t there the next day. 

The last time Virgil saw their faces was on the news as the news anchor talked about two missing kids, and asked anyone with any information to please speak up and go to their families or the authorities. 

Virgil never did. 

…….

And he never will.

[fire-the-headcanons]

What's WeaponsEx?" Raven asked.

"There's a big weapons convention every summer in Vale. Tons of businesses show off new stuff. Dust companies, arms manufacturers, defense engineers—" he said.

"And there's an entire wing of the hall for comics!"

"You mean recruiting."

"Yeah, same difference. There's costume contests, artists answer questions and sign autographs—"

"And they get a few famous Huntsmen to come too," he finished.

Qrow listened with an intensity usually saved for forging class. "Whoa, cool."

Raven rolled her eyes. "You're drooling."

Follow the Beacon Taiyang—COSTumes

[Link to Masterpost]

[Hey, look! A normal-length chapter!]

"Ramparts! For all of your cosplay needs!" Summer declared, throwing the door open dramatically. The Taupes followed her in, looking around in confusion.

"This is a costume store?" Raven asked, brushing through a rack of sweaters.

"Thrift store," Tai corrected. "People donate old clothes, they sell 'em cheap, and the money goes to charity. Summer likes to find stuff and make alterations."

"Come on, let's look at suits!" She grabbed Qrow's wrist and hauled him off toward the men’s section. Amused, Tai and Raven followed.

"Okay, we want to find a green suit and vest for Ozpin, and a red suit for Pete," Summer said, already digging through the racks for anything near the right colors. "Preferably double-breasted, but we probably won't find one. We can sew a little gold ribbon around the edges to make it look like him. I've got a scarf we could tie like his ascot. What about shoes? Should we get shoes?"

He accepted the hideous maroon suit she was holding out.  "Our uniform shoes will be fine, Summer."

"Yeah, you're right." She was in her natural habitat now, comparing every dark green suit in the store to one of their photos from Ozpin's file. It only took a few minutes for her to pop back out of the racks with a three-piece that looked to be about Qrow's size. "Try it on!"

"Uh…" He eyed it warily, holding it in front of his face.

"We are not spending four thousand lien on something you're only going to wear once," Raven said, glaring at the tag.

She had a point. Tai glanced over Summer's shoulder at the photo on the scroll, searching for another solution. "Y'know, Ozpin's suit is really dark—the uniform jacket and pants would probably work fine if we got a green turtleneck to put under it."

"I was thinking just a scarf for that bit, actually," Summer said, running to the end of the aisle and grabbing one with horrible stringy fringe. "We'll tuck the ends in under the jacket. Cardboard will work for his tie-pin-thing, and then all we need are some glasses."

The bin was right next to Tai, and he started rifling through. "None of these look like Ozpin's."

"Those weird bendy parts on the sides are probably custom. Just grab some small round ones."

He held up a pair he’d seen almost immediately, and Qrow gingerly took them.

"How does he see though them?" he muttered, squinting. "These are tiny."

"They're also only thirty lien 'cause the lens is cracked, but we can take them out back at school."

"What should we get for the Carmine costume?" Tai asked. "I don't think we're going to find a leather apron here. Or for less than fifty thousand lien."

"What? No, I'm wearing the one I didn't finish in time for WeaponsEx!"

"Come on, you can wear it next year. We've gotta match. Nobody will be able to see the detail on it in the dark anyway!" 

"Fine," she sighed, grabbing maybe the ugliest brown dress in existence off the rack behind her. It looked about six sizes too big for her, layered with thick ruffles in multiple shades. "I'll cut patches of the darker lining for the embossing Carmine has around the edges. There should be plenty of fabric."

She just couldn’t do a sewing project halfway. "That's still way more effort than you need to put into this."

"What's WeaponsEx?" Raven asked.

"There's a big weapons convention every summer in Vale. Tons of businesses show off new stuff. Dust companies, arms manufacturers, defense engineers—" he said.

"And there's an entire wing of the hall for comics!"

"You mean recruiting."

"Yeah, same difference. There's costume contests, artists answer questions and sign autographs—"

"And they get a few famous Huntsmen to come too," he finished.

Qrow listened with an intensity usually saved for forging class. "Whoa, cool."

Raven rolled her eyes. "You're drooling."

"Yeah, it's where the SDC unveiled the Guillotine last year." Summer said, still thumbing through the suits. "The easiest way to do Professor Mesánychta's suit would be to splatter-paint stars onto the school uniform, but anything that would show up might not wash out…"

"Flour." Tai pointed out.

"Ooooh! Yeah!" 

Raven frowned. "It'll just fall off."

"Not while you're wearing it! Your aura kinda holds it in place—I speak from experience. We can make her headband out of cardboard too. Lucky so many of the staff wear dark suits."

They brought their things up to the registers, the twins looking much more at ease with their two hundred lien price tag.

"So, where should we eat?" Summer chirped.

"…We're not going back to the school?" Qrow and Raven shared an anxious look.

"Well… we could, but it'd take like two hours to fly there and back," she said. "Besides, don't you want to go somewhere other than the cafeteria?"

"Maybe, uh, we'll just meet up with you again after, then…" Qrow stammered. 

"What? Come on, that'll take ages," Summer said with a wave. "Come with us to Goldenrod's! We go every time we’re in Vale, they have these giant noodle bowls, it's great—”

"We'll meet you there in a half hour," Raven said. "There's a comic store Qrow wanted to look at."

Why were they—oh. They hadn't been worried about the cost of the suit just because it was frivolous. Tai's ears burned with secondhand embarrassment. "Uh, Sum—"

Summer tilted her head. "You know I love comics… Why don't we all go after lunch?"

Qrow straightened up, bracing himself. "Because we don't have any money."

Raven shot him a panicked glare as Summer wilted. "…Oh." She fiddled with her hands for a second before shoving them into the pockets of her hoodie. "Sorry, I…"

"I—I mean, it's been nice looking around with you two—"

"We'll buy today," Tai said quickly. Anything to make the awkward stop.

"You don't have to—" Raven began.

"No, come on, it's team bonding time! We've got you. And next time we come to town we'll just pack a lunch."

* * *

"So, have you ever visited Mistral?" Summer asked, errantly drumming on the table as they waited. "I guess you said you were from southern Anima, that'd be a long trip…"

"It was. We went twice."

Her eyes widened. "Really? What's it like? I don't really remember Anima that well." 

"It's…more dangerous than Vale," he said, glancing out of the window at the end of their booth. "Unless you're rich. We mostly kept our heads down. …What about your home? What's Patch like?"

Summer shrugged. "Not much to say. It's just a little port town on an island outside Vale. Forest on the west side has some Grimm, nothing big enough to be a real threat."

"It's the most boring place in existence," Tai sighed.

"At least you'd have ships to look at," Raven said. "There is nothing on Remnant less interesting than a farm." Everyone stared at her for a half-second, she'd been her usual withdrawn self all day. She flinched at the sudden attention. "…I've always liked boats."

"Me too," Summer admitted. "But, sailing boats. With sails. You know, the old-fashioned windy kind, not the new big loud cargo ships."

Nobody liked the giant—usually Atlesian—monsters that would barge into the harbor at all hours. Tai gestured with his chopsticks. "Ugh, and that one asshole that always runs too close to the north side of the island and wakes everyone up in the middle of the night!"

"Well, hey, why don't we go to the docks after the comic store? We could take pictures and stuff!"

"Because your camera’s broken. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Her face fell a little. "Well, we can still look around."

"There's not actually a comic store," Raven admitted. "We were trying to buy time."

Summer reached across the table, taking her hand in both of hers. "Raven. You're not getting out of going to the comic shop with me and Qrow just because you made it all up."

Raven rolled her eyes, the ghost of a real smile playing around her mouth. "Fine."

Next Chapter: Summer—Mission Critical

[Yet another chapter of Qrow is a Nerd. ‘Suave flirt’ is a valid interpretation of the text, it’s just not my interpretation]

[fernwehbookworm]

Woke the F*ck Up- Chapter 3

August 8th, 2017

Elena was right. The address she sent Kara was at a giant building that contained all different kinds of companies. Kara couldn't even begin to guess where Elena would be. Kara stands outside and checks her phone again, she realizes Elena never sent a floor or a room. Kara decides to call her.

“Miss Danvers?” Kara turns to see a woman in a plaid skirt and white shirt and holding a tablet. A blue tooth is tucked in her ear.

“Yes?”

“Hello, I'm Miss L...Elena’s assistant, Jessica. She sent me to get you when you arrived.”

“Assistant?”

“Yes, Miss Danvers. Now follow me and I'll take you up to her.”

They walk into the large marble foyer of the building. Different signs point towards stairs and elevators with different companies on each floor. It's a lot to take in as Kara follows Jessica. They get in the elevator and Jessica presses the floor button. The doors slide shut. Kara sees Jessica each up and touches a button on the Bluetooth.

“Yes? Yes, her interview is tomorrow at one. No, she doesn't want to add any more. Why? Because this is the first time she has had time off in over a year? No, I don't need to ask her. Because I don't work for you.” Jessica hangs up without a goodbye. What had Kara gotten herself into?

“Sorry about that. Sometimes being cross with people is the only way for them to listen.”

“Was that about Elena?” Jess looks a little sheepish.

“Yes. It will probably make more sense in about two minutes.” Kara nods.

The elevator slows to a stop and Kara follows Jessica out. They walk past a receptionist desk and down a hallway. The hallway is lined with various signed posters. Kara thought that was odd. Big named stars hung on either side. Before Kara can ask Jessica about it, Jessica opens a door and music pours out.

“Miss Danvers. I know it's not really my place and Elena is my boss, but thank you. Whatever meeting you did, whatever it means, this is the happiest I have seen her in a long time.”

“I… I can see that she is hurting from something. But I don't know, I like her. And…” Kara struggles to respond.

“I'm glad you do. Now follow me.”

Kara follows her in and is in what appears to be a sound booth. Bass thrums through the speakers overlaid with various sounds.

I sold my soul to a three-piece And he told me I was holy He's got me down on both knees But it's the devil that's tryna Hold me down, hold me down Sneaking out the back door, make no sound Knock me out, knock me out Saying that I want more, this is what I live for Hold me down, hold me down Throw me in the deep end, watch me drown Knock me out, knock me out Saying that I want more, this is what I live for

Kara's mouth falls open as she looks through the glass to the other room. Standing in the center of the room, was Elena. Headphones on her ears, eyes closed as she sang into the mic hanging from above. But it isn't Elena. The woman in front of her is clean-cut, so much more put together than the messy bunned, sweatshirt wearing, girl Kara spent the last two days with. She looked more like the girl who showed up for dinner but without the glasses obscuring her face. This was Lena Luthor.

Kara stood staring until the song ends. Lena looks into the booth as the guy sitting at the soundboard gives her a thumbs up. Lena's eyes flick to Kara and she clears her throat.

“Jess, Tony, can you give us a minute?” Lena takes off the headphones and walks towards the door that leads into the booth.

“Hey, Kara.” Lena looks really unsure of herself which is startling compared to the composed person just singing.

“You lied to me.”

Lena's face falls immediately from Kara’s statement.

“You can sing.” A grin splits Kara's face. Lena looks up at her and laughs.

“Kara, you do know who I am don't you?”

“Yeah, I think I've figured it out. The woman who I hit on in a coffee shop is the same woman my sister and I saw in concert.”

“And all your focused on is the fact that I lied about being able to sing?”

“No.” Kara steps closer and cups Lena's cheek with a hand.

“I am also really focused on the fact that your eyes are by far the most beautiful green I have ever seen.” Kara feels Lena's cheek heat under her palm.

“I-I wear colored contacts when I go out. It helps with the whole not wanting to be noticed thing. My eyes are pretty recognizable.”

“I'll say. So anything else I need to know before I hug you?”

“Hug me?”

“I told you I just wanted to give Lena Luthor a hug.” Lena laughs at that.

“I mean nothing too important no…” Lena is cut off by Kara pulling her into a tight hug. It takes a second for Lena's arms to follow suit.

“So how did you come up with that name, Elena Colby?’ Kara asks, still not letting go.

“It was my birth name. When I was adopted the Luthor’s legally changed it, dropping the 'E’ and making me Lena Luthor.”

“Well, it's nice to meet you Lena Luthor.” Kara pulls away and smiles at her again.

“It's nice to meet you too, Kara Danvers.”

Kara laughs and Lena is sure it's magic.

“So this is work? What are you working on? A new album?”

“Well, technically I have this week and next off before we go over to Europe. But I have some stuff and I'm doing rough cuts on for my new producer. She's supposed to be meeting me when we land in France. Tony just came with the rental space.”

“This is really amazing. Never would I have ever thought that the girl wearing a faded MIT sweatshirt with glasses would turn out to be Lena Luthor.”

“Don't tell anyone. It may ruin my badass reputation and also my ability to go out in public.”

“Secret’s safe with me. Umm…. Except… my sister is a really big fan…” Lena rolls her eyes.

“Yes, you can tell her. And I suppose I can't stop you from telling Winn and James now can I?” Kara squeals and kisses her cheek.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Your welcome. Okay, I only have the studio for another hour and a half and I have a couple more things I need to do. You can stay if you want.”

“Oh, I want.”

“Great. We can go get dinner after.”

“Even better.”

Lena calls Jess and Tony back in and gets to work. It's amazing. She jumps from piano to guitar to the drums, recording different tracks and then having Tony play them back to sing over them. She only does what Kara thinks are choruses to a couple more songs before they run out of studio time. Jessica sits next to Kara on the couch in the sound booth. Jessica is constantly either on the phone or emailing, all of it about Lena's life. Lena comes back into the booth and offers Kara a water out of the mini-fridge, which she takes.

“Okay. We will just have to take the car to my hotel so I can change into something a little less… me. Then we can go wherever you want.”

Jess hangs up the phone she was on.

“Problem. Paparazzi found out you were here. They are all crowded outside.”

“How do they even know I'm still in National City? Just yesterday they were saying I was in Mexico.”

“We don't know. Must have been leaked by someone who saw us come up this morning.”

“Okay. Kara trust me. You don't want them to get a picture of your face. Jess, find the lost and found. Hopefully, there is a hoodie or something.” Jess nods and leaves.

“Is this a normal thing for you?”

“Kind of. But I usually don't give a shit about the pretty girl they catch me with. You, on the other hand, will not be exposed to those vultures with cameras.” Lena’s seriousness leaves Kara dumbfounded.

Jessica returns with a much too big sweatshirt and sunglasses that take up half of Kara's face.

“Perfect. Now my bodyguards will meet us by the elevator. Just stay close to me and keep the hood up. The guys will cut a path. Don't say anything.” Kara nods.

The elevator ride down is crowded as four large men squeeze in with Kara, Lena, and Jess. No one pays them any mind in the lobby but Kara can see security outside holding back a mob of people. All with cameras.

As soon as the doors open to the outside cameras start flashing. Lena pulls Kara along by her hand while Kara keeps her face ducked. Even when she was competing, though there was the occasional person bombarding her, it was never this bad. She is very grateful for Lena hiding who she is because this would probably blow up big and she knew the first person to call would be Cat Grant.

One of the guards opens the door to the black car. Lena slides in, quickly pulling Kara after her. Kara can hear, she assumes is Jessica, climb up front with the driver but there is a partition in the way. The inside is very dark despite the bright daylight of late afternoon outside. The windows have been tinted so heavily that no one could see in. Still, Kara doesn't pull back the hood and remove the sunglasses until the car is moving.

“Oh, God Kara. I'm so sorry about that.” Lena puts her face in her hands. Kara reaches out and tugs until Lena looks at her.

“It's okay. I can handle myself. I guess it's good to know what I'm getting into now.”

“Are you sure you want to? This is my daily life Kara. Especially if I stay somewhere longer than a couple of days. If I'm not staying then I'm jumping from city to city.”

“Lena. I really like you. I'm willing to try. But you have to be too.” Kara is so close, so serious. Her eyes shine in the darkness of the car, conveying all the hope she has. It's enough to break Lena.

“Yes.”

Kara kisses her then, and, god, it feels like she's floating. Still, she feels a part of herself retreat back. Afraid of what real emotions will do. But the rest of her is already falling for this amazing blonde who has been tearing down her walls since she sat down at Noonan's.

All the oxygen feels like it's left the car and Lena is sure the only way to breathe is to keep kissing Kara. All the pent-up sexual tension is rising even more as Kara's hand tangles in her hair and the other starts to trail lower. Lena moans into Kara's mouth as Kara's tongue darts in. Lena is playing with the hem of Kara's shirt, just thinking about removing the bulky sweater when the car rolls to a stop. Lena breaks away from Kara.

“We should stop before Jessica finds us like this.” Kara makes a non-committal noise as she turns her focus on Lena’s neck.

“Kara…” Lena hisses and Kara softly bites down.

“Literally five minutes and we can be in my hotel room. But we have to get there first.”

Kara pulls away and Lena is just able to fix her hair as the door to the car is opened by the driver. Jessica stands in front of the hotel door, taping away on her tablet, waiting for them.

“Miss Luthor, would you like dinner reservations somewhere?”

“No Jess. I think we might just order room service later. After the whole paparazzi thing, I think it's safer for me to stay inside tonight.” Jess looks up and raises an eyebrow if she noticed both their flushed cheeks then she didn't say anything.

“Of course Miss. Luthor. I'll email you your schedule for tomorrow. Have a good night.”Jess turns and walks through the doors that the hotel doorman opens. Lena and Kara follow but Jess stops at the front desk and they continue to the elevator. The wait is excruciating. Then they don't get the elevator to themselves. Kara though continues to rub her thumb over Lena's knuckles and whispers in her ear. Telling her she's beautiful and how wonderful she is. Lena hasn't heard any of that from a true partner since Jack and it sends shivers down her spine, straight to the burning between her legs.

“God, I should have just told you the first night,” Lena whispers back.

“No, waiting is what makes it worth it. It gave me so much time to imagine. To think about trailing my fingers down your body my tongue licking circles around…”

“Shhh, Kara. I get it. Oh God, I get it.”

“I don't know if you do yet.” Kara's free hand trails lightly over Lena's ass.

Lena leans back into it, covering up her moan with a cough. She still got a couple side-eye glances from a few of the people sharing the elevator. Luckily the elevator had music, and not that stereotypical kind, actual modern music that covered their whispered exchange. They left the elevator with just a couple men in suits heading to higher floors.

Kara's strong arms wrap around Lena friend behind, kissing her neck and pressing into her body. Lena tries to lead them down the hallway to her room, she does so with much stumbling and laughter. Lena feels like she's high, but she knows full well she hasn't even had a drink for two days. With a little more trouble she manages to unlock the door. Kara is already untucking her shirt As the door swings shut.

Lena turns in Kara's arms and begins to pull the much too big sweatshirt off her, the shirt underneath with it. Once that's gone, Kara's lips attach to Lena's neck and suck hard. Lena moans as Kara bites down softly. Lena continues to back towards the bed and is now regretting the larger suite because the bed is just so damn far away. Kara bites down again.

“Fuck.” Lena exhales. Kara chuckles into her neck.

“That's exactly what I'm trying to do.”

“I am too horny to be annoyed right now. I'm just going to ignore that.” Finally, Lena feels the bed hit the back of her legs and she pulls Kara down on top of her.

Lena purposefully brings Kara's lips back to her own. It was something she never did, but Kara had already broken all her rules. Lena licks Kara's bottom lip, silently asking for entry. Kara eagerly complies while her own hands find the hem of Lena’s shirt and slide under it. Lena tangles both hands in Kara's hair and pulls her closer. Lena feels Kara's knee between her legs and then it presses against her center, causing Lena to moan into Kara's mouth.

Kara pulls away so she can tug Lena's shirt over her head, exposing Lena's bra. Lena brings her own knee up to press against Kara’s core. Finally, she earns a moan in return, but it only seems to hasten Kara's movements. Without even returning to kiss Lena, Kara begins to unbutton Lena's pants. Lena lifts her ass so Kara can remove them. The whole time Kara's eyes never leave Lena’s. Once Kara has removed the garment, she returns to Lena's lips as Lena's hands fumble to unbutton Kara's own pants. She manages to push both pants and underwear down at the same time and Kara kicks them off before returning to Lena's neck.

Lena brings her knee back up to meet Kara and they both moan, Kara at the contact and Lena at feeling how ready Kara was. Kara slides her arms around Lena to unhook her bra with surprising ease. Once free of that, Kara bends her head to take one of Lena's already sensitive nipples in her mouth. Lena gasps. She grabs onto the sheets next to her and presses her knee harder into Kara's center. Kara moans into Lena’s breast but rocks back into her leg. Kara returns to kissing Lena and then trails her fingers down her stomach, brushing just over Lena's mound. Lena's hips buck up into Kara's hand. Kara complies eagerly but slowly. One finger slides into Lena's lower lips, frustratingly in the middle of her core and clit. Lena growls her frustration into Kara's mouth and she feels Kara grin.

“You are so wet. It's beautiful how much you want me. But I want you to tell me how much you want this.” Kara whispers in a husky voice right into Lena's ear.

“Oh God Kara. I want you. I need you to be inside me.” Lena doesn't care how desperate she sounds. All she knows is that her legs are already starting to shake in anticipation.

Kara’s finger slides lower before going back up and brushing the sensitive bundle of nerves that makes a small cry escape Lena's lips. Kara is slow, savoring every moment, as she circles, not quite applying enough pressure but enough to make Lena need more. On particular touch makes Lena jerk, pressing her leg hard against Kara's own exposed heat. Kara groans. The movement is all it takes for Kara to start moving against Lena's leg. Then she finally relents and trails her finger down, teasing Lena's entrance.

“Kara please…” Lena begs, a bit breathless.

Kara finally relents, sliding not one but two fingers inside. She gives Lena a moment to adjust to the feeling before she begins a steady pace. Soft cries begin to escape Lena's lips with each thrust. It wasn't helping that her thigh was now slick with Kara's own arousal as she rubbed herself against it, seeking friction to relieve the heat of watching Lena come undone.

Kara reaches up to touch Lena's cheek with her free hand and green eyes meet blue. The raw emotion is enough to send Lena over the edge or it's the way that Kara curls her fingers at the same time, brushing just the right spot. Either way, Kara's name is all Lena can say as she feels herself fall over the edge into the best orgasm she's had in years. Kara slows her thrusts as Lena's body quivers until she finally can open her eyes again. Slowly Kara pulls her fingers out of Lena and leans up to kiss her.

“God Kara…” is all she can say. Kara slowly kisses her neck but Lena isn't going to let Kara start in on her again.

With a quick movement, she manages to surprise Kara enough to get her on her back, Lena now hovering over her. Lena is already kissing her way down Kara's neck and across her collarbone. Making her way down and pulling Kara's bra out of the way to get to her nipple. She doesn't bother to try to remove it, just pulling it out if the way. Her hand finds the other breast and begins to roll the nipple while she sucks on the first.

“Lena…” Kara whines.

“God I love it when you say my name.” Lena breaks away just enough to say, then switches her mouth to the other nipple.

“Oh, Lena…” Kara repeats and it sparks desire back in Lena's stomach despite her release just a few minutes before.

Lena moves to begin kissing her way down Kara's taut stomach, trailing her fingers down the raised muscles that Lena is sure she could fuck herself on, she files that thought away for later. Soon Lena reaches the soft tuft of hair that means she's finally found her goal. Lena feels Kara reach for her head, fingers sliding into her hair. It encourages Lena even more. Slowly she slides her tongue into Kara, feeling the swollen clit almost instantly. Lena moans at how wet Kara is, this causes Kara to wrap her legs around Lena, giving Lena better leverage.

Lena grabs Kara's hip with one hand and uses the other to tease her entrance while her tongue makes lazy strokes at Kara's clit.

“Fuck, Lena, fuck. Oh, I'm so close already. Oh fuck, Lena.” Kara is saying over and over.

Lena slides a finger into her and can already feel the muscles fluttering around it. She pauses with her tongue and slowly thrusts into Kara. Kara raises her head to look down at the maddening woman. Lena kisses the inside of Kara's thigh before looking into her eyes and lowering her head again. Lena decides that for their first time she won't prolong Kara's release, but she is curious about how long the fighter could last if she tried. Lena picks up the speed of her strokes of both tongue and fingers and feels Kara's legs tighten around her.

Lena feels the muscles inside Kara tighten and she helps the woman ride out her orgasm with slower strokes. Kara's fingers tightening in Lena's hair in a good kind of pain. As limbs stop shaking, Lena slowly crawls back up Kara's body to kiss her. Kara can taste herself on Lena's lips.

“Now I think I have tasted heaven.” Lena whispers. Kara laughs.

“Who knew that Lena Luthor, tortured artist, was a corny romantic?”

“Well, I certainly didn't. I think you bring it out in me.”

Kara wraps an arm around Lena as she lays on Kara's chest. A finger traces Lena’s spine up and down.  Lena begins to think then. She can't help but compare Kara to her past relationships. Not the seemingly faceless stream of one night stands after copious amounts of alcohol and or drugs. But first, there was Veronica. Heat. Passion. Sex. It was so hot that Lena was left burned and scared even though she knew it would happen before she reached her hand into that fire.

Then there was Jack. He had happened one night when she tried to reconcile with the Luthor's, it was right after her first album dropped. They were introduced at a family gala for one thing or another. He was sweet and steady. But he wanted a wife and a mother to children that she didn't even know if she wanted that. He wanted someone to cook dinner and kiss him goodnight. The night he proposed she said no and got the hell out. She never went back because leaving Jack was the last straw for Lillian and then Lionel went mad.

After losing the only family she knew, Lena accepted she would be alone. Accepted her only human connection would be Jessica. That's why Lena kept raising Jess’ salary if she was honest. She didn't want to lose her too.

Kara walked into her life and was a ray of sunshine in the darkness Lena had surrounded herself with. She wasn't fire, though she warmed Lena's skin. The heat of some moments was intense. But then there was Kara excited about karaoke, or breaking into CatCo just to show Lena the view. Kara was fun but she had this steady presence that comforted Lena like nothing had before. Not booze or pot or even the bed warmers.

“I can hear you thinking. What's up in that tortured artist of a brain of yours?” Kara asks. Using her free hand to left Lena's chin.

“It's nothing. Really.”

“Lena? Are you okay? Was this too fast? God, this was too fast. We shouldn't have done this. Should I go? I should…” Kara was cut off by Lena kissing her and pinning her back to the mattress as Kara tried to get up.

“No Kara. Stay.” Lena says, looking into Kara’s eyes until she relaxes back into the pillow. Lena lays back on her chest.

“You need to stop freaking yourself out. I was just thinking about you.”

“About me?” Kara resumes trailing her finger along Lena's back. Lena sighs.

“Yes. About how you came into my life after I decided I was going to be alone.”

“You did?” Lena sighs and props her chin up on a hand to look up at Kara.

“Yes. After everything with my family and my only two exes and then my career. I just figured I was better off alone. Hell, I pay the only person I consider a friend.”

“For the record, I think Jess would be your friend either way. And not to kill the mood or anything, but I would like to hear about your family sometime. All I know are the news articles and even at that point you seemed to be distanced from them and…”

“Kara. Dear, will you stop talking if I promise to tell you later?”

“Only if that promise comes with another kiss.”

“You are insatiable.” Lena grins and leans up to kiss Kara anyway.

Lena straddles Kara's waist to do so. She tangles their fingers beside Kara's head, her nose brushing Kara's as Lena kisses her slowly, savoring it as long as she can. Then Kara's stomach growls. Lena laughs and pulls away, Kara attempting to chase her lips.

“Kara. I think your body may want something else at the moment.”

“I don't know what you’re talking about.” Kara's stomach growls again and she has the decency to look sheepish.

“Come on, we can order room service.” Lena says, getting up to get the menu on the coffee table. Kara props herself up on both elbows to watch Lena. Lena can practically feel the heat from Kara's gaze looking over her naked flesh.

“I can multitask.” Kara tries. Lena laughs as she crawls back into the bed.

“How about we save that for a little later. I can't believe I'm going to say this but how about we order some food and watch a movie? It's been kind of an emotional day for me. I've been stressing about telling you everything and then the paparazzi and then, well, you. And now I have an interview tomorrow.” Kara only looks slightly disappointed, eclipsed by her eager anticipation for food.

“Yeah of course.” Kara takes the menu and begins looking.

Lena calls to place her order for poached salmon and rice pilaf, then she begins rattling off things Kara points out. Stuffed mushrooms, steak, potato au gratin, chocolate lava cake and a slice of strawberry cheesecake. Lena raises an eyebrow at two desserts Kara just shrugs and kisses her cheek before heading to the bathroom. Once she hangs up, Lena grabs a t-shirt and shorts from where she put them in the dresser and heads out to the balcony where she left her cigarettes and lights one like she usually does after sex. She leans over the railing, looking at the city far below. Lena is halfway through her cigarette when Kara appears on the balcony, wearing the ridiculous sweatshirt and nothing else.  

“I didn't know you smoked.” Kara wrinkles her nose slightly and Lena realizes for the first time that some of the things she does may not be exactly Kara's speed. Lena clears her throat.

“Umm kind of. It's just sort of something I've always done after sex.”

“Is it so they won't kiss you goodbye afterward. Because now I definitely don't want to.” Lena laughs a little harshly.

“Yeah, it could be. I never really thought about it. I've just done it since college.”

“Well brush your teeth before you kiss me again. I'm going to go order a movie on your TV before the food gets here.”

Lena finishes her cigarette and places the butt in the ashtray. She heads straight to the bathroom to brush, not caring that it will ruin the salmon but wanting to have the option to kiss Kara open. Kara smiles at her as they both settle into the couch, Kara had dragged the comforter from the bed over.

“Really? You want to watch a children's movie after what we just did?” Kara looks indignant.

“Harry Potter is not a children's movie.”

“Kara, children are the stars.”

“It is a cinematic masterpiece that has been wonderfully adapted from the books.”

“Oh no, you're a nerd.”

“I'm a Hufflepuff.” Lena groans.

“You are a nerd.”

“Yup.” Kara pops the 'p’ with a smile.

A knock at the door prompts Lena to stand and find some cash in her purse. She takes the trolley from the bellhop and tips him well, all without letting him see in. You could never be too careful of who would tip off the press that Lena Luthor had a gorgeous blonde in her room. Lena unloads Kara's food on the coffee table in front of her then sits down with her own plate.

When the food is gone and Kara has finally settled back into the couch, Lena tangles herself into the woman. Legs thrown over Kara's propped up on the table, one arm behind Kara the other reaching in front to hold her hand. Kara's arm thrown around her shoulders and Lena's head nestled in the crook of her neck  Somehow it feels more intimate than sex. At some point, Lena must have dozed off because she wakes up to Kara carrying her to the bed.

“I should probably go,” Kara whispers as he sets Lena down, realizing her eyes are open.

“Stay. I… I never let anyone stay before. And you aren't just anyone.”

“Okay. I'll stay.” Kara kisses Lena's forehead and Lena feels her crawl in on the other side, automatically wrapping herself protectively around Lena.

***The song is Hold Me Down by Halsey

[serenlyss]

Petrichor

Rating: G Pairings: Ritshou (can be viewed as romantic or platonic) Summary:  Shou and Ritsu have a heart-to-heart concerning the events of the World Domination arc. Crossposted to AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18465340

Eyy I'm back with another post-WD arc drabble, this time with Ritshou. I've never written any shippy MP100 stuff before so hopefully they come across as still being in character. It's not explicitly romantic though, so you can interpret it as being platonic if you want too. Anyway, hope you all like it!

The morning after Mob defeats Suzuki Touichiro is… interesting. None of them really know what to do now that it’s over. They don’t breach the subject aside from figuring out where they’re going to stay and how they’re going to get out of their battered clothing, and it seems as though they’re determined not to talk about it yet. Even Mob, who would normally be oblivious to moods like these, has his lips tightly sealed, apparently just as loathe to bring it up as the rest.

Reigen brings them back to his apartment and lets them sleep in his living room. He gives away his leftover food, his pillows and spare blankets. Shou comes along, despite having a house to go back to, and no one questions it. Maybe he appreciates his new friends. Maybe he wants to make sure they would be okay. He keeps the mood light with quips and sarcasm and a rambunctiousness that’s somehow endearing instead of annoying, and the others appreciate him for it. It keeps them from focusing too much on the weight of what had just happened.

He’s the first to fall asleep when all is said and done.

Ritsu wakes early the morning after despite not going to sleep until well past three in the morning, uncurling himself from the fetal position he finds himself defaulting to and untucking the blankets from around his shoulders. He shivers as the mild air of Reigen’s apartment tickles his warm shoulders, and debates going back to sleep for a minute before reluctantly slipping off the fold-out futon couch and padding barefoot to the kitchen for a drink.

Mob and Teru are still fast asleep, the blond boy having shown up at some point during the night after Ritsu had passed out. As he reaches for a plastic cup sitting on a shelf, however, he notices that Shou isn’t on the ground where he’d fallen asleep the night before. In fact, he’s not in the living room at all. Ritsu’s brow furrows in confusion as he sips at his water, setting the cup aside on the kitchen counter for the time being.

He can’t have gone far, Ritsu rationalizes, glancing around again to make sure he hasn’t just been moved or something. He wanders the little apartment, peeking around corners and into closets. Where had he gone off to? The bathroom is empty, and everyone else is still sleeping.

Had he left the apartment on his own? If he had, he hadn’t left any sort of note saying where he’d be going. Perhaps he’d wanted to get some fresh air, and figured everyone else would be sleeping in anyway?

Ritsu makes his way back into the kitchen, poking his head into the laundry room. The washer is empty, and the dryer filled with clothes Teru had brought from his wrecked apartment to share with the rest of the group. With a start, Ritsu realizes that he’s still wearing his torn-up jeans and bright yellow hoodie from the day before. There are blood stains and patches of dirt all over it, and one of the sleeves has been ripped off entirely. Apparently whatever magic had healed his wounds hadn’t extended to his favorite sweatshirt. What a shame. He crouches down in front of the dryer and sifts through the pile of clothes, wrinkling his nose at the selections. As expected, Teru’s wardrobe consists of bright, gaudy colors and patterns, all of them far too busy for Ritsu’s liking, but he doesn’t really have another choice. After a moment of deliberation he selects a pair of light gray sweatpants and a red tee-shirt with a more subdued pattern to swap his old clothes out for.

He slips out of his ruined clothes and into Teru’s fresh ones, sighing in relief. He hasn’t showered yet since the ordeal of the day before, but just having clean clothes to wear makes him feel much better already. Maybe he can jump in the shower before Reigen wakes up, and avoid having to ask him for additional favors.

He leaves his old clothes on top of the washer for now, unsure of where else to put them, and walks out of the laundry room. Teru and Mob remain fast asleep, and there’s no noise from Reigen’s bedroom. He wanders back over to the bed, observing his sleeping older brother. Mob looks much better than he had the previous night, the color returning to his face after the stress of using so much power had sapped away his energy, and he’s drooling on Reigen’s pillow. Ritsu suppresses a chuckle, a smirk growing on his face. Well, at least he’s getting plenty of rest, he tells himself.

Movement at the corner of his eye catches Ritsu’s attention, and he turns his gaze to a door he hadn’t noticed before at the back of the small dining area by the kitchen. It’s a sliding glass door, and beyond it he can see the city. A balcony? It seems like a fancy addition to such a small and cramped apartment, but in a big city like Seasoning, he supposes it makes sense.

He approaches the door, lifting a hand to turn the handle and go outside, then pauses. Shou is leaning on the balcony’s iron railing, his bright red hair easy to spot among the city's gray and brown hues, but it’s not his colorful appearance that catches Ritsu’s attention. His expression is soft, a slight frown on his face, and his eyes stare at something far into the distance. Or maybe he’s not looking at anything at all. He doesn’t look sad, exactly, but it’s a far cry from his enthusiasm and cheerfulness from the night before, and Ritsu finds himself experiencing a sort of mental whiplash.

He’s only known Shou for a day, but he’s already seen so many sides of him. His fierce determination, his strong wit and cunning mind, his magnetic charisma and endearing optimism. This Shou, though, the melancholic boy too caught up in his own thoughts to even notice what’s going on right behind him, is unfamiliar. A weight settles in Ritsu’s stomach and stays there as he turns the handle and pushes open the door.

Shou blinks at the gentle noise of the door latch clicking open and turns to see who’s approaching, an easy smile coming to his face when he sees that it’s Ritsu. The smile is only half there, however, lacking its usual confidence and snark. “Ah, Ritsu. You’re up early,” he says, voice still soft from sleep and quiet to match the serenity of the still-sleeping city below.

“You’re one to talk,” Ritsu shoots back without a second thought, crossing the few steps to the railing. He turns around and leans his back against the cold metal, letting his hands hold him up. It’s slightly colder outside than it is inside, and the balcony is damp from rain that must have fallen overnight. The air smells wet and earthy, and the cold ground sucks the warmth out of the soles of Ritsu’s feet. It’s comforting, somehow, like the rain will wash away the damage that’s been done, even though he knows that isn’t how rain works. “Geez, it really is quiet, huh? I guess no one’s gonna be going to work today.” He glances down at the empty streets below. Usually they would be filled with bumper-to-bumper traffic, sleep-deprived commuters honking at each other to speed up as they make their way to work, but instead there’s not a soul to be seen. They’re all too afraid of another catastrophe to risk getting too close to the giant broccoli in the middle of town.

Shou hums noncommittally in reply to Ritsu’s words, an oddly dismissive move from someone as talkative as him.

He falls quiet for a moment, and Ritsu watches him. He gauges his expressions, his movements, whatever he can use to determine what he’s thinking and how to respond. It’s a habit he’s picked up from years of pacifying Mob, trying to keep his stress levels as low as possible to avoid an explosion.

“Are the others still asleep?” Shou asks after a few long moments of quiet, turning his gaze back to Ritsu momentarily.

Ritsu nods his head. “Out like lights. Reigen, too. They’ll probably sleep for a while longer, and I don’t want to wake them. I guess my body’s still on autopilot from school, and it wouldn’t let me sleep in.” He shrugs his shoulders casually. “What about you? Couldn’t sleep?”

“Something like that,” Shou replies with a soft chuckle. He doesn’t elaborate any further, just falls into that melancholic quiet once more.

Ritsu gnaws on his lower lip for a moment. He’s well aware of how all of them had been avoiding talking about what had happened last night, and he doesn’t blame Shou for being tight-lipped around someone he literally only met the day before, but he still finds himself bothered by Shou’s silence, in an inexplicable way. Maybe it’s the obvious way Shou is avoiding talking about what’s on his mind. Maybe it’s the wistful look in his eye, the way he stares into the distance without looking at anything. Or maybe it’s just Ritsu prying into business that isn’t his. He blinks suddenly, a thought coming to mind.

He’s worried about Shou.

“Are you alright?” he murmurs, the question thick on his tongue. It’s a question with a lot of weight, he knows, and while he doesn’t want to overstep his bounds, he can’t deny that he’s genuinely concerned.

Shou doesn’t react to the question in any meaningful way, just shoots him another empty smile. “Yeah, dude. Whatever your brother did with all that energy yesterday, it healed all my wounds. Shame it couldn’t fix up my clothes, though, but I borrowed some of Teru’s.” He tugs on the edge of the bright pink sweater he’d snagged, grinning. “I could go for a shower, and maybe some ramen or something, but, y’know, I’m not dead, so that’s a plus.”

This only serves to make Ritsu’s frown deepen. “You know that’s not what I was asking,” he insists. “I mean, like… how are you feeling? After what happened. You seem… sad.”

Shou’s smile falters, his lips quivering as though he wants to speak but doesn’t have any words. He glances away. “Ah, you got me,” he says with a brief laugh, but there’s little humor in it. “I was thinking about my old man. They’ve already hauled him off to prison for the whole world domination thing. I knew it would probably happen eventually, but I guess I never thought about what comes next.” He sighs softly, crossing his arms and leaning further on the railing in front of him. “He may be a pretty shitty guy, but he’s still my dad, you know?”

Ritsu doesn’t know. His own father has always been a stringent rule-follower, strict but kind, and he knows he would never turn on his own son the way Shou’s father had. He doesn’t answer; the question is rhetorical, anyway. “What’s gonna happen to you now?” he asks instead.

“Dunno, at least not yet,” Shou admits, glancing away. “I can’t exactly go back to my dad’s place now that he’s not there. I’ll probably go try to live with my mom for a while instead. It’s been a long time since we were able to spend more than a few hours together.”

Ritsu nods. It makes sense. “I’m glad you have someone else you can rely on,” he says, turning around so he’s facing the streets like Shou is, instead of staring through the sliding glass door into Reigen’s kitchen.

Shou hums absent-mindedly in reply, but Ritsu can see that the gears in his head are still turning. His brow is furrowed in a thoughtful way, eyes staring at nothing in particular. Ritsu waits, giving him time to collect his thoughts.

“Ritsu, you’re a smart guy, right?” he says eventually, question piercing the silence.

Ritsu turns to him in surprise. He swallows, hand moving to rub the back if his neck in a somewhat embarrassed manner. “Er, yeah, I guess so,” he replies modestly, not so comfortable with the idea of singing his own praises. “Why do you ask?”

“Do you think my dad will ever really change?”

Ritsu feels his breath catch in his throat. His mouth opens, but no words come out. Shou doesn’t look at him, but his voice cracks at the end of his question, and he looks as though he’s barely holding himself together. Ritsu quickly closes his mouth and glances down, staring at the empty sidewalk below.

“I don’t know,” he admits softly, unsure how else to reply. Do people like Touichiro ever truly change? The old Claw thugs seemed to have turned over a new leaf, at least, so maybe there was hope. “Honestly, you’d be better off asking my brother. Shigeo’s the kind of guy to give anyone a second chance. It’s never a lost cause until he says it is.” He cracks a fond smile at this. “He’s been like that since he was a kid. I couldn’t tell you where he got it from, though.” The back of his mind tells him that it’s actually Reigen who taught him the important of being a good person and giving others second chances, but he doesn’t say it aloud. He isn’t exactly inclined to give a scam artist the benefit of the doubt, as much as Mob seems to enjoy hanging around him.

“Ah, I guess you’re right.”

A moment of silence goes by as the two of them stare off the balcony and toward the destroyed city in the distance. Then Shou sniffles, his grip on the railing tightening. Ritsu blinks, confused, and when he turns to look at the boy again, a tear rolls down his cheek. “Shou?” he says, not sure how to respond to this. His hand twitches instinctively, wanting to do something, anything, but he has no idea how to approach comforting someone he’s only just met. It’s been less than twenty-four hours, even if it felt like much longer, and Ritsu never has been good with feelings and emotions.

Shou reaches up to scrub at his eyes with the long sleeve of Teru’s borrowed sweater, and he sniffles again, making a confused noise as it comes away wet. “Ah, now I’ve done it,” he says, and he sounds miserable. He grimaces, shaky and vulnerable, and glances away, hiding his face from Ritsu. He continues to grip the railing tightly, knuckles white, as though it was the only thing keeping him standing. He muffles the sobs that try to escape his mouth.

Ritsu feels the weight in his stomach grow heavier, his chest tightening. In some ways, Shou had taken the heaviest blow of everyone. How long had he lived with a father who only wanted him for his power? How many times had he cried like this in private, with no one he could turn to for comfort? The thoughts make Ritsu feel sick.

He shifts closer to Shou, shoulder-to shoulder, and moves his hand to wrap around the other boy’s back. He rests his hand on Shou’s opposite shoulder, quietly offering some semblance of comfort. He squeezes gently, hearing Shou’s breath hitch at the contact. “It’s alright if you want to cry,” he says softly. “I won’t tell anyone.” He hopes his words come as some comfort to the grieving boy, though he half expects Shou to withdraw immediately. He doesn’t seem like a very emotional kid, and it wasn’t like they were close friends, either. After going through what they had together, however, Ritsu feels as though there are certain thresholds they’ve already long passes despite their short time knowing each other.

To his surprise, Shou doesn’t hesitate, immediately turning and pulling him into a tight hug. Ritsu’s caught off-guard at first; no one has hugged him like this since he was much smaller. Still, he doesn’t pull away, gently laying his hands against Shou’s back to reciprocate.

Shou’s a quiet crier, the only noises escaping him being sharp breaths and hiccups, but he clings to Ritsu like a lifeline, gripping the back of his borrowed shirt as though he’ll fall through the floor if he doesn’t. Ritsu doesn’t know what to say to make him feel better, so he doesn’t say anything, just rubs small circles into his back.

It only takes a few minutes for Shou to calm back down, but even after his tears have stopped and his quivering has gone away, he doesn’t remove himself from Ritsu’s grasp. He leans his forehead against Ritsu’s shoulder, taking a deep breath. “Sorry,” he says, his voice uncharacteristically soft. “I didn’t think I’d be getting emotional about this… not so quickly, anyway.”

“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault,” Ritsu assures, and Shou finally pulls back, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. He doesn’t meet Ritsu’s gaze, well aware of his red nose and bloodshot eyes. After a beat, Ritsu adds, “Crying always makes me feel better when I’m feeling stressed out, and I think it’s safe to say that we’re all feeling pretty stressed.”

Shou chuckles softly, straightening the edge of his borrowed shirt. “Yeah,” he agrees, and lifts a hand to run his fingers through his slicked-back hair. “Thanks for understanding. You’re a good friend, Ritsu.”

Friend. Ritsu hasn’t really thought of that before, but he supposes they are friends. “Any time,” he replies with a small smile, and he means it. Normally he keeps his friends at somewhat of a distance, even at school. With his classmates, there’s always an unspoken reputation to uphold, but he doesn’t feel that way around Shou or Teru. Even Shigeo has begun bleeding from one category into the other as Ritsu relates more and more to his brother’s struggles with his psychic powers.

He opens his mouth to say something else, but before he can he hears the sound of the sliding glass door cracking open.

“There you are! Sheesh, you two gave me a heart attack, waking up so early and coming out here. I thought you’d left, or been kidnapped or something!”

Reigen is standing in the doorway, still in his pajamas. His hair is sticking up in all directions, uncombed, and there’s short stubble on his face that has grown in overnight. Ritsu tries not to laugh.

“Ah, sorry! We were just getting some fresh air,” Shou says smoothly. His voice is devoid of the shakiness and uncertainty it had held just a few minutes prior, and aside from a slight redness to his face and eyes, it would be impossible to tell he’d just been crying. “Still, you’re up earlier than I thought you’d be. I was sure you’d all be asleep a few hours longer.”

Reigen relaxes at this, though he still looks annoyed at the perceived trouble the two had caused him. “Well, it doesn’t really matter, in any case,” he brushes off. “Come back inside, it’s freezing. I need to go to the store and pick up some more food for the next few days, but for now you can eat whatever’s around. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. Teru’s already up, too, but Mob’s still sleeping, so keep it down for now, alright?”

“Sure, whatever you say,” Ritsu sighs in a less-than-enthusiastic manner. It’s hardly freezing, he thinks, but doesn’t bother to say it out loud. Reigen doesn’t bother calling him out on his poor attitude as he nods and disappears from the doorway to get cleaned up.

Shou flashes him a grin, his regular confidence and optimism coming back. There’s a softness to it now, though, a quiet acknowledgement that something had changed for the better. “Guess we should go help Hanazawa hunt for breakfast, huh?” he says.

Ritsu nods. “Yeah. If we hurry, we can have it done by the time Shigeo wakes up,” he adds, slipping his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants and stepping back into the apartment. “Guess we’re about to see who’s the best cook out of all of us, huh?”

Shou snorts, clasping his hands behind his head as he follows behind. “I’ll just knock myself out of the ranking right now by saying it’s definitely not me.”

“Good morning!” Teru calls from the kitchen as they come back inside. He’s pulling bowls and cups out of Reigen’s cupboards, and it seems he’s already raided the fridge and pantry, revealing a carton of eggs and some boxed rice. “I’ve already got breakfast going, but I could use your help. Someone come put some water on the stove for me?”

“Now that, I can handle,” Shou says with some confidence, striding over to where Teru’s set aside a pot for the rice. He moves to the sink and begins running the tap, waiting for it to turn hot.

Ritsu watches him as he moves across the kitchen, thoughtful, before finally following him into the kitchen. Teru commands him to start cracking eggs while he measures enough rice for all five of them, and he gets to it with minor grumbling. It’s becoming clear that Teru’s the one with the most cooking experience of all of them, to Ritsu’s chagrin. Well, there was still plenty of time to learn. So he gets to cracking eggs, falling into an easy rhythm with his new friends.

Later, when they’re all crowded around Reigen’s tiny kitchen table eating rice and scrambled eggs out of bowls, the morning is calm again. Once or twice, Ritsu meets Shou’s gaze across the table, and gets a little smile in return. It’s different from the big grins and smirks he typically wears, and Ritsu takes an odd sense of pride in being the one who gets to see them. The little glances and smiles and friendly jabs Shou tosses his way makes him feel light in a way he’s never really felt before, but for the time being he brushes those thoughts away and carries on like nothing’s changed.

There would be plenty of time to think about it later.

[am-i-invisible777]

The Dragon Egg

Here’s just something I wrote for creative writing that I decided to share here. The story is about a middle-schooler named Drake who is convinced he’s found a dragon egg. 

“I have a baby dragon,” Drake whispered to the boy next to him. The boy in return scrunched his face up, refusing to look away from the equation he was struggling to complete. Drake scooted in his seat, leaning toward the boy while keeping his eyes on the preoccupied teacher. “It’s technically still in its egg…but it’s bound to hatch any day now.”

“Leave me alone,” the boy mumbled under his breath, tapping the numbers of the old calculator provided by the school. 

“You wanna know where I found it? Wanna know how I’ve been able to keep a dragon egg hidden away from my parents and the government?” Drake continued, his half-completed math assignment completely forgotten as he looked at the uninterested classmate.  

“No. Shut up.” The boy said, glaring as he wrote down the wrong answer to the equation.

“My dad and I were finally going on this hike he promised me a while back by this trail that’s near Mr. Greenshire’s farms. When I stopped to tie my shoe, I looked over and there’s this big blue egg just chillin by this thorny bush. The second I saw it, I knew it must’ve belonged to a dragon. A real dragon, not those domestic ones.” Drake whispered excitedly, moving his hands along as he recounted the story.

“Dragons don’t exist.” He harshly whispered.

“And so I went over to it and put the egg in my bag before dad could even notice. It was lighter than it looked though. I thought it would be around five pounds max but that thing barely weighed a pound. And so when I got home—"

“Drake. This is an independent assignment. Please focus on your own work and stop talking to Alex.” The teacher called out, causing a few students to look at the two boys.

“Finally,” Alex sighed, writing down another wrong answer. Drake sunk back into his seat, a deep frown forming across his face. With a low sigh, he picked up his chewed pencil with no eraser and began drawing dragons in the margins.

 The last bell of the day rung at exactly 2:18 p.m. and Drake never reached the school bus before 2:20 p.m., except for the two times his class was held in the downstairs library. The school bus was old, with torn seats with dull writing on the backside and gum stuck to the sides and underneath. It was always too hot, the only fan being right next to the bus driver. The yellow bus smelled of mothballs and twenty-eight sweaty students. Sometimes it’d smell like the food someone had snuck in, given the fact it wasn’t allowed on the bus, even though the driver never cared. It wasn’t uncommon for some to have to sit three to a seat, four if someone was bringing their friends over, but Drake never had to worry about that. This time, he sat alone near the front of the bus in the seat right underneath the part of the bus that leaked when it rained. He preferred to be alone anyways.

Despite living in the same neighborhood for nearly his entire life, Drake barely knew any of his neighbors or the kids who always rode the bus with him for the past nine years. He tried to make friends, tried to meet and talk to new people, but it never went well. More often than not nowadays he mostly avoided his classmates, wanting to be by himself or with his close friend and next-door neighbor, Kai.

The bus jerked and squeaked as it came to a stop, its doors whining as the driver forced them open. Drake quipped a quick ‘thank you’ in an octave higher than his normal voice, he jumped down the steps and ran to his house.

He had to check on the egg, the dragon egg. His dragon egg. Upon arriving in his driveway, he noticed the absence of two vehicles, meaning that neither parent was home at the moment. Also meaning that his father was either seeing his new girlfriend or buying something for said girlfriend with the money his mother made since she was the only one in the house who actually worked. It also meant he was stuck going to Kai’s house since he left his key inside as he rushed to make it to the bus on time this morning.

He rung the doorbell twice before stepping back, adjusting the straps on his backpack and taking a moment to glare at the large, ugly sign in the front of the yard, the red letters spelling ‘SOLD’ seeming to mock him. Exactly fifteen seconds later, Kai’s older sister answered the door, letting Drake in as they exchanged a small greeting. Maneuvering around the boxes scattered everywhere and running up the carpet steps, he reached Kai’s door, the first one on the right, and knocked on it twice.

“Come in” Kai’s muffled voice called from just beyond the closed door. Drake swung the door open, not bothering to close it again, and gave his friend a smile.

“Hey Kai. How was the dentist?”

“Meh. They always tell me the same stuff. Floss more, drink less soda, yadda yadda. My wisdom teeth are apparently coming in soon. Weird right? Hope I don’t have to get them removed,” they shrugged, laying on the bed with a history book and highlighter beside them.

“I think it’d be funny,” Drake commented, taking his bag off and sitting on the floor. “Like when Hannah got her teeth pulled and she—”

“Was crying by the slushie machine at the gas station while hugging a puppy keychain? Yeah, no thanks,” Kai chuckled, remembering how their sister had behaved after the anesthetics. “So what’d I miss in Howl’s class?”

“Oh, basically nothing. We just started a new unit. Everyone’s confused,” Drake said.

“Good.”

The two were silent for a few moments, Kai preoccupied with highlighting paragraphs and Drake with staring at his phone, waiting for one of his parents to answer his texts.

“…do you think my dragon misses me?”

Kai sighed loudly, rolling their eyes. “Here we go again…”

“No, seriously. At this point it already knows and recognizes my voice. Also! What if it hatches? And I’m not there? I’ve been thinking about taking a few days off of school to tend to it after it comes into our world. I’ll need to train it,” Drake started rambling, fidgeting with his phone and he shifted uncomfortably on the floor.

“Drake, we’ve had this conversation about a million times before,”

“No, you’ve never paid attention when I talk about it!”

“Well, can you blame me?!” Kai sighed and rolled over onto their back, staring at the ceiling. “For the past, like, five weeks, that damn egg has been the only thing you want to talk about. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of telling you something that a ten-year-old already knows!” Kai turned back over to stare at Drake. “Buddy. Listen to me,” they pointed to their mouth. “Dragons. Don’t. Exist.”

“But—”

“No, no buts. What middle schooler still believes in dragons? Fire-breathing, flying, mythical dragons?” Kai asked, frustrated.

Drake remained silent, looking down at the floor as his hands trembled slightly. Although Kai didn’t raise their voice, Drake still felt like he was being yelled at and wanted to crawl away. “…maybe if the dragon could fly…and grew to be the size of a tree…I could come visit you in California…” he mumbled, his voice weak as he tried to keep it from trembling. Everyone hated it when his voice trembled.

Kai breathed deeply, facial features softening as they watched Drake struggle to keep still. “…I’m sorry, but that’s just…impossible.” They whispered. “I’m tired of talking about dragons…I just wanna have a normal conversation with you before I leave…that’s it.”

“…I gotta go home now,” Drake softly said, standing up with his bag. “…I’ll see you tomorrow.” He dragged his feet to the door and exited before Kai could say, ‘yeah, see you tomorrow.’

After leaving, Drake sat at the front steps of his house, still staring at his phone and periodically texting his parents to see when they were going to be home. He reviewed his list of dragon names while he waited, the notes organized by categories such as gender, color, element, and the presence of wings or not. He decided to erase the name ‘Kai’ from the list.

Precisely nineteen minutes later, he received a text from his father saying he’ll be there in five minutes. Thirty-seven minutes after that, his red Subaru rolled up to the driveway. The first thing he did was yell at Drake for forgetting his key. Once his father let him in, he ran upstairs, ignoring the comments made behind him and threw open his bedroom door. Right on top of his bed, wrapped up in twenty-two different blankets, underneath two lamps, was his baby dragon egg. He walked up to it, slowly and tossing his bag to the floor.

“Hey there little guy, didja miss me?” he asked softly, as if he were speaking to a baby. The egg, of course, didn’t answer. He patted the egg gently. “Yeah, I missed you too, buddy. The day sucks until you’re there.” He carefully moved to sit on the bed. “You can hatch now, you know. I read that you guys stay in your eggs for two months, and I’ve had you for a little over six weeks now.” He started fiddling with his thumbs. “Of course, you can come out at any time you want little friend. I’d just really really like it if you did.”  

Drake looked over to his desk, a large water tank sitting on top of it. “Is it because you don’t like the tank? I found it at a garage sale for real cheap. I kinda assumed you’d be some kind of water dragon since your egg is blue. Do you need a cage? Or a giant hot rock? My bed? I’ll give it to you!” He thought for a few seconds. “Are you not warm enough? Here, you can have my sweater.” He took off his large green hoodie and wrapped it around the already completely covered egg. “…please hatch soon.”

After talking with the egg for a couple of minutes, the front door opened and closed loudly, meaning that his mother was home. Not even three seconds later did both parents get into an argument about Drake not being able to get inside. He groaned and covered his ears, a futile attempt at blocking them out.

“Why, why, why, why…” Drake grumbled. He stared apologetically at the egg. “I’m sorry about them…again.” He sighed. “Dad says Mom’s just “upset” cause of his new girlfriend and Mom says Dad’s upset cause she’s “winning the legal battle” but I don’t care.” He laid down next to the egg. “Here’s another life tip I forgot to mention lil friend. Never take sides when your parents are fighting…you just end up hurt by both of them, no matter what you do and there aren’t any right answers either.” He hugged one of his pillows to keep his hands preoccupied. “…least you’ll never have to know what that’s like.”

Squeak

“What?!” Drake bolted upright quickly, almost knocking one of the lamps down. A small tap taptap tap could be heard coming from the egg, along with tiny squeaks. “Oh, oh…oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, you’re hatching!” A mix of panic and excitement bubbled up from his gut as he moved the lamps away. Pulling out his phone and going into the open page he found about early dragon care, he reread the passage he had looked over dozens of times. “Okay, okay, okay, uhh…”

Drake bounced up, sprinting to the corner of his room where a box had been placed. He lifted it up, retrieving one of the hamburgers from underneath. “Okay, so “The Life of a Dragon” s-says you’re gonna be really hungry when you hatch, so I got your first meal right here,” he said, placing the wrapped burger next to the squeaking egg as he carefully unwrapped the blankets. “It’s okay friend, it’s okay. I’m here. I won’t’ abandon you…I won’t hurt you, I swear, I’m not gonna leave you.” He cooed softly. Large cracks were already forming on one spot of the large blue dragon egg. With every tap tap heard, Drake could see the cracks expand and rise. “You can do it!”

“Drake! Come down here, now!”

Drake froze. In all his excitement, he temporarily forgot the verbal abuse that was taking place in the background.

“Uh, j-just a sec Mom!” he called out, rubbing the egg with his thumbs. “C’mon, buddy, come on…”

“Now!” Her demanding voice called out, louder and angry. Drake was too afraid to move for a second, looking from his door to his egg. With a sad sigh, he gave the egg a quick kiss before running out of his door and down the stairs, just in time to see his father stomp away and slam the door, the house shaking slightly from the force. Ten seconds later, a car engine roared.

Drake looked over to his mother, his fingers trembling and foot tapping against the floor. She sat at the kitchen table, rubbing her temples.

“Drake, would you do mommy a favor and call your father. Tell him he’s not allowed back into this house until he starts paying bills and stops eating all our food.” She wearily said, shaking her head. Drake looked up the stairs.

“…Is…um, is that all, ma’am?” he asked, attempting to keep his voice normal.

“Not yet, where has your father hidden the aspirin this time?” she stood up and looked at him, bags under her red eyes.

“Uh…it’s the…s-second cabinet on the left,” he said, pointing in the correct direction. She nodded her head and turned to the cabinet. Drake took this as his opportunity to run back upstairs.

“Drake, sweetie, before you go upstairs,” she called out as Drake was only four steps away from the top. “Please remember to slow down when you speak and talk clearly, we don’t want to have to send you back to speech therapy. And stop shaking around so much.” He looked down at his twitching hands.

“…Yes Mom!” he tried to say as clearly as possible before leaping up and past the four steps.

Afraid that the egg has already hatched and he’s not there for his new baby dragon, Drake practically fell over himself as he tried to hurry into his room. His phone rang—a call from his father—but he ignored it as he threw his bedroom door open, stumbling inside and looking at his bed. There, right where it was supposed to be, were the remains of the hatched egg. A few inches beside the blue egg shells, sitting down and now staring directly at him, was a goddamn Emu.    

[havingonlydreams]

i am never going to use this tumblr for posts again

alright so since i finally got out of testing today and i learned how to scroll frame by frame through youtube videos, i am going to reward myself by doing an unnecessarily thorough breakdown of the quanzhigaoshou live action trailer imagery(watch cn fanbase beat me by a country mile)

nighttime cityscape/highway scene fades out

team happy walks into one side of an arena, wearing competition uniform (i will explain this later)

we switch to team excellent era, coming in through the opposite side of the same arena, also in competition uniform. their side of the arena is lit in red, not blue. are they playing at the same time? is this happy vs ee? :shrug:

also, why tf is a backpack part of all these uniforms? how much stuff do esport players need to carry anyway? did a backpack company sponsor the production??

panning shot of signs, looks like they’re for huang shaotian or blue rain

that’s cruel, br-fen. why does captain get no love :cry:

shot continues moving, now the signs are for han wenqing

based on lighting, i don’t think they’re the same shot

fade out to scene of arena packed with fans and players

if I’m getting these signs right, looks like it’s (right to left, moving with the camera):

team void, tiny herb, tyranny, blue rain, excellent era

so, all stars

honestly, the scale’s kinda small. thumbs down to location scouting – the weird lighting polyhedrons confirm that it’s the same arena as the one from the happy/ee shots in the beginning, so expect ~location weirdness/ambiguity~

unnecessarily synchronized card insertion

based on the card logo, i wanna say tiny herb?

ee responds in kind!

tyranny puts headphones on in unison. the headphones are white. also, i think this is their casual uniform. based on the giant maple leaf in the background, i would say that this is an away game with ee, but the worn metal and circle room in the background look more like tyranny’s supervillain clubhouse

now ee is playing. this shot looks like ee turf – they’ve got white-backed seats, and that weird angular lighting motif. also they’re wearing black and blue headphones because ~product placement~

i say turf, not arena, because there don’t appear to be any actual player booths in these two shots, the set design looks like what we’ve seen for the clubhouse pics (this is because the production couldn’t afford to film all of the games in actual arenas, isn’t it)

also, ee is wearing competition uniforms.

now tiny herb is playing on what looks like the same set, but with the background lit in red, not blue. maybe they’re playing against ee? also from this angle I can clearly see that they are *headsets*, not headphones, which means that vc is not banned by this version’s alliance. some dude in blue is hanging out in the background, probably an official of some sort. I am not sure whether this is their casual/competitive uniform

a guy in ee uniform sweeps his hands across a keyboard with unnecessarily colorful backlighting

~product placement~

ye xiu (yang yang) stands in front of ‘glory pro league’ hologram thing with his back turned, wearing the happy casual uniform

mouse shots! keyboard shots!

face shot! (of ye xiu, wearing casual uniform (puma!) and headset (white))

group shot of happy walking down arena hallway, wearing competition uniform. this is where I explain this bit. so as far as I can tell, every team has (2) uniforms: a casual uniform, which looks like a tracksuit and those enormous thick sweatpants had an ugly, ugly, baby, and a competition uniform, which looks dorky as hell. all of the female characters manage to elevate the terrible costuming by being beautiful, but are dragged down by the fact that apparently the alliance uniform for women mandates a miniskirt, because apparently no one has gotten cold legs in an arena, ever. (to be fair to the costume department, its not that they did a terrible job, its that their job was to replicate esport uniforms, which are a hot mess)

the main difference between happy’s casual and competitive uniform, btw, is that the casual one has a high collar and the puma branding, and the competitive has this funky sweater? not-collar thing

idk fashion words

also, ye xiu is wearing a mask because Reasons

(the reason is that judging by chen guo, this is from the challenger league arc, and the producer/director/writer/whoever decided to move around certain things)

boom! ee vs happy in the big arena, baby~~~

one dude from each team is standing under the spotlights, probably sx and yx by process of elimination

presumably!yx is NOT wearing a mask. maybe it gave him acne

pan across team happy getting ready to play in their booth? idk where this is

i see at least three types of headsets in this shot, and wei chen, who is not wearing his. maybe he got knocked out early?

now it’s the weird circle room that was in that early shot with tyranny! advertising on the ceiling lights, nice

I … have no idea what’s going on here. giant ee leaf on the sides, bunch of logos I can’t make out in the back, there are just *way* more people in here than any match would call for

like I think the dudes in the middle are wearing ee casual uniforms, but everyone else seems to be wearing black tracksuits? i don’t even know

ye xiu, geared up in full hobo gear (long coat&hoodie), storms out of the ee club set that was previewed in earlier set pics.

keyboard and mouse action!

ye xiu playing in the ‘storage room’ on a gaming laptop. also, he’s changed into a *different* hoodie

I have no clue what brand the laptop is; it’s the same as some of the monitors in a couple of earlier shots, might be Chinese?

yu wenzhou cameo

ye xiu hobowalking sadly in the snow (ngl, the hoodie make me laugh a little)

excellent era (w/su mucheng) walking into some stadium wearing casual uniforms. they are piss ugly

(the uniforms, that is. also ee minus mucheng, but who’s counting?)

happy coming from the opposite direction, also in casuals

and they pass each other! dramatically!

probably!yx taking a glory badge out of a box. can’t make out the details, but it says ‘1’ at the bottom, so these are probably the drama replacement for championship rings

tang rou focus shot! also, if that’s her line in the vo, I am *very* pleased

“turn all of the ‘can’t be done’s into ‘can do’”

yu wenzhou shot in casual uniform

ye xiu on The Motorcyle (pfft)

chen guo prepping for a celebration at Happy! she is Very Excited about that champagne tower. not sure who the two messing around with balloons in the bg are

tang rou in a cab looking upwards –

-to su mucheng, walking inside a stadium while wearing ee competition uniform

huang shaotian smiling at yu wenzhou while the rest of br preps. also, the blue rain competition uniform is an Abomination, which you will not appreciate until seen face on

ye xiu, whispering ominously ‘this is the last match’ as happy leans in around him

wei chen and… steamed bun? who is making a weird face, thumbs up

‘good luck’ whispers wang jiexi

and steamed bun *grabs* the challenger’s league cup, lifting it to wild cheers

chen guo and the crowd are ecstatic

partayyyyyyy

‘I will NOT give up’ says han wenqing, man who nobody, ever, has thought would give up

han wenqing and huang shaotian fistbump as tyranny and blue rain walk down a hallway, both dressed in their competition uniforms. zhang xinjie is confused. yu wenzhou is smilingly tolerant of the fact that hst is fistbumping right across his chest (huang shao is going to DIE, later)

okay so,

uniforms

tyranny’s looks fine! maybe the best competition uniform in the alliance (the bar is not high)

they’ve got a pretty normal chevron pattern across the front, some stripes. about the only problems are that the pants are a *little* too tight, and that some tyranny members are absolute maniacs who zip their jackets up all the way so it looks like they’re wearing the worlds weirdest collared shirt

blue rain …

so the closure is not that bad! pretty unconventional, an asymmetric zip with two fasteners across the top and some kinda … shawl collar? idk. I actually like it

but the pattern … i feel like someone said to the costume department, ‘you know, all of these uniforms have too many straight lines in their designs. we should add some curved lines. give the curves to blue rain! they’ve got no girls, so it’s the only way they’ll get any!’ and then they doubled down by adding raised piping for emphasis

that, and the way that uniform material looks like some kinda spandex-velour mix … it reminds me of the star trek:the next generation uniform! also, the casual uniform does the same curved line thing except in the opposite direction, and as a cutout, so its even worse

chen guo cheering in crowd

maybe a projection screen? tyranny and ee logos up on the wall

and happy logo SLAMS shut

ye xiu with his hoodie looking sad and pathetic in the snow up at happy

happy in competition uniforms coming downstairs (chen guo, so challenger’s league)

also damn, happy internet café is *swanky*

I mean, my eyes would hurt from the glare after a while, but it’d be pretty

EXCELLENT ERA

trophies. looks like seasons 1,2,3 going down to the left

sun xiang at the whiteboard lecturing ee. he is the only one not wearing the casual uniform. where is your piss ugly uniform, xiang xiang? this is a team endeavor, you’re not allowed to not wear it. it builds morale

BLUE RAIN

yu wenzou smiles

huang shaotian … fake guitars? with … something that’s been bundled up

TINY HERB

i guess this is why they redesigned the logo, so it would match the aesthetic and could be slammed shut like this, but i still don’t like it

honestly, tiny herb training room aesthetic is incredibly beautiful and soothing

but still way too much white, what the hell ppl, don’t you know about eyestrain?

‘today we’re training how to put our headsets on, synchonizedly’ sponsored by hp

also apparently that *was* the tiny herb competition uniform earlier, since this is the casual one. hmm. a bit too olive drab. tyranny’s still winning

signature wang jiexi EYES shot

TYRANNY

tyranny training room looks a lot less like a supervillain lair when brightly lit! go figure

now it looks like an overexposed supervillain lair *set*. progress!

captain han is ANGRY

hands clasp in front of happy members in the bg. tang rou is def not paying attention

is ye xiu wearing a mask AND a hat??? dude, chill

happy walking into crowd of fans&paps … somewhere. why is steamed bun kneeling next to the door? :it is a mystery:

group cheer! no ladies

group … orange juice! with su mucheng! damn, qiao yifan’s tall.

confetti in the stadium, and reporters charge forward

judging by teams and signs, this is all stars, so reaction to ye xiu’s dragon raising its head?

‘beautiful!’ ejaculated ye xiu

key and mouse action ~~

and the crowdteam happy goes wild!

team fist pump! someone has put their phone on their chair. I hope they don’t sit on it

ye xiu putting on headset in happy internet café. cant tell if this is hobo!hoodie or hoodie no.3

ye xiu :eyes:

key press. wtf program starts up with ‘s’

cgi is cgi

everything looks super gloomy and overcast ~ i hope they do more varied environments

and we see lord grim! they’ve gone for a really…tarnished metal? look for the MMU

like, I would not mistake it for an umbrella.

yang yang face

THE KINGS AVATAR

  Okay, so if you were looking for anything of actual substance in this, looks like they’re doing ch.1 - 1052 at least, probably 1-1060, so the end of the challenger league arc.

[lolbtsaus]

Werewolf!Namjoon (Boyfriend)

And now it is time for the first half of Vmon, my lowkey spirit animal, an amazing leader who !!! is !!! looking !!! so !!! good !!! like he always looks great but we’ve got brown haired!joon back what a gem I’m so happy, I will support all the hair colors he has bc he deserves lots of support, Kim Namjoon aka Rap Monster aka joon

I’ve written three things for werewolf!joon so far, there’s the description of him as a werewolf in general, which is part one (here) part two is him falling in love with a human (here) and of course, werewolf!joon as a father (all of the father related posts are here)

Since one of the requests was for human!reader, I’ll be using that to start off with

Goofy sweetheart with a heart of gold what a good boyfriend

Just think about this for a moment

You’d have unlimited access to joon’s closet and he’s super okay with you wearing his clothes bc he thinks they look 100/10 on you

They always smell like his cologne or the laundry detergent he uses and his hoodies are the best to wear bc he wears them the most frequent around the house so they smell the most like him and they’re always really warm and soft and he always gives your head a lil kiss when you wear them bc he thinks you look really cute

The weather starts getting colder right and it’s snowing one day and you’re turning the heater on and getting in all the comfy sweaters 

That’s when you first see him in his wolfy state

It’s pretty hard to get him cold bc werewolf, he’s like a personal heater which comes in handy on days like this, but even he gets cold that day bc it’s just freezing outside, neither of you even wanna think about leaving the house anymore

So joon has to go into his wolf form bc it’s just that cold and as a wolf, he’s more built for the cold bc fur helps out a lot

He gets all under the blanket while you take a shower to heat up and he let Rapmon snuggle with him bc two heat sources are better than one and soon it’ll be three once you get out of the shower

He kinda assumes you’ll be okay with it, you already know he’s a werewolf so surely this will be okay right??

But he forgets about the fact that you haven’t seen him like that yet

You don’t notice until you actually get into the bed bc he’s tucked under all of the blankets so you’re a bit ?? when you feel fur against your legs

You assume it’s Rapmon until you see his lil paw sticking out from the blanket, too far away from you for it to be him

You look under the blanket to see this giant ass wolf and you don’t really know how to react

You know in the back of your mind that it’s most likely Namjoon bc he is  a werewolf after all, it wouldn’t be that weird if he could become a wolf but that part of your brain doesn’t get acknowledged at first bc there’s a fucking wolf in your bed how does one react to this

You kinda just stare at each other for a few seconds and he’s trying to judge your reaction while being half asleep and you’re trying to figure out what your reaction should be

It isn’t until you see Rapmon cuddled up to the wolf that you figure it’s safe bc surely rapmon wouldn’t do that to a wild wolf plus Namjoon wouldn’t just casually let a wolf into the house and not tell you about it

It’s actually kinda cute to see him like that bc he’s got these really long legs and he’s h u g e like he’s the second biggest in the pack and he’s got this long dark brown fur that’s s o soft but then his eyes are still the same as his human eyes, they’re still so bright and you can see the happiness in them when you pet him and you can just imagine the smile that would be on his face

Giant wolf but an even bigger puppy

You weren’t scared of him to begin with but any chance of a fear is long gone the minute you’re rubbing his belly and cooing at him and playing with his ears

So he’s the alpha of the pack right

Full moons are always something he needs to be there for bc he likes to make sure everything is going okay for everyone, no one needs any help controlling any urges, no one’s playing too roughly, the humans are safe, etc.

He would get a bit protective over you with the other wolves just bc he knows that sometimes they don’t realize their own strength

And while another wolf can take that too-rough bite and shake it off, a human can’t so joon does hover around you when he sees another wolf with you

He knows they would never intentionally hurt you but he also has that wolf side of him that’s just like gotta protect gotta protect gotta protect

But that’s nothing compared to if it was a serious threat

With the other wolves, it’s more of a warning growl here and there if they start playing too rough, it’s keeping an eye on them

But if it’s serious, that’s an entirely different story, if there’s one thing you never wanna do, it’s threaten an alpha or their love bc then you have the entire pack chasing you down and BTS has a hu g e pack, it’s the boys, their parents, their siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, family friends, it’s not a pack you wanna try to challenge

Regardless of whether it’s the alpha or not, they’re gonna defend their own but if it is the alpha, it’s like trying to poke a crocodile with a stick, they just get even more protective bc the alpha is like the glue of the pack, it’s up to Namjoon to keep everyone happy and healthy and make sure no one’s pissed off at each other for too long, he keeps everything running smoothly

So the last thing anyone wants is to see him upset bc they’re all v v grateful for him and appreciate him a lot so his love is gonna be protected, not only that, but you also have Namjoon that isn’t about to let that happen

He’s normally really humane despite being part wolf so if he’s growling (and it isn’t just a lil warning type of growl, like the one he gives the younger wolves when they bite at his ankles or bite down too hard) you know shit’s about to go down

As I’ve mentioned in the other posts, jealousy isn’t the same for a werewolf as it is with a human bc werewolves mate for life, once they love you, they love you, that’s it, there is no chance of them falling for someone else or cheating or even thinking about anyone else in that way

He does jealous but it’s in a “hey I want your attention” type of way so if you’re spending too much time with one of the other pack members, he’s gonna try to get you attention back on him, hugging you, giving your cheek a kiss or two, dances around you, anything like that

But if you were to get jealous, since you are human, he’s gotta laugh at the fact that you think anyone could even come close to taking him from you

“I’ve got my love, why would I wanna give that up for someone I don’t know??”

If you were genuinely upset over it, he would of course take it much more seriously and not giggle about it but if it was just a bit of light jealousy bc someone hit on him or was too touchy with him, he’s just gonna think you’re really cute

But he does take insecurities about being human more seriously

His father is human so he’s grown up hearing the stories of how it’d taken his father a while to get used to being a human in a pack of werewolves and how he used to wonder if his mother would’ve rather been with a werewolf bc they’d understand everything about being a werewolf that a human can’t fully understand

And you feel that same way bc you’ll never know what it really feels like on a full moon, you can’t relate to that side of him on a personal level, whereas another werewolf could, very easily

But he reassures you that he doesn’t care that you’re human, especially since he was raised with a human parent

He’s totally open for having a serious conversation about it, if that what it takes to make sure you know he really genuinely 100% doesn’t care that you aren’t a werewolf

“You know me a l o t better than any other werewolf ever could, I’m good with my words aren’t I?? I can just describe how it feels”

Werewolf!Namjoon as a boyfriend is just really cute, always up for cuddles and always okay with belly rubs

[doctortdesigns]

I was snooping around the various Burda sites hoping to get a peek at the August issue, when, surprise surprise, I found that the German Burda site had posted the Fall/Winter Catalog patterns!  Burda only produces new envelope patterns twice a year – once for spring/summer, and once for fall/winter.  Being a hardcore Burda fangirl, these announcements are something akin to being like a major holiday for me.  Usually I find myself wanting to purchase a good 30 some-odd patterns after these announcements.  Perhaps it is my burgeoning pattern stash, my ongoing efforts to define (and achieve) a core style for myself (updates on this to come soon – skating season is almost over!), or the fact that we seem to be slipping into 90s revival territory, but this time I haven’t found quite as many must-buys.  I have probably three patterns I’m really excited about, with about a dozen I’m likely to get when they go on sale ($2.49 for Burda is hard to pass up!), and a lot of “maybe” patterns on my list.  Which to me says that this release has a lot of good stuff, but not that much amazing stuff.  Perhaps a closer inspection will help me solidify my impressions.  Let’s take a look:

Definitely the stand outs for me in this release are the dresses.  While I’m not that into the giant floral prints, I’d love to make the color blocked versions of either 6450 or 6454.  6452 has lots of great style lines for fitting, and I’m oddly obsessed with 6453.  It’s one of those patterns that looks stupidly easy to sew, yet has this dramatic understated ease about it.

I’m a bit less impressed with the Burda Young dresses – the 90s is coming back hard and  I’m so not excited.  I mean, actually, the style lines on 6474 and 6473 aren’t bad, but I’m silently screaming over the hideous crushed velvets and drab floral prints.  It looks like my youth, and I wish it would stay there.

Burda usually has quite a few formal dresses, but there isn’t much this time around.  I do love the fitted 6483, but I’m less impressed with the other options.  6455 has a bit much of that 90s vibe going on, especially with the fabrication.  Can we go back to having a ruffle on everything?

Lots of blouse options in this release.  I’m sort of looking forward to this because I’m really wanting to add more tops that aren’t t-shirts to my wardrobe.  I’m not sure that I’m overly excited about any of these styles in particular, but I like the direction the silhouettes are going.  You can see things transitioning away from the ruffles (minimally present in the sleeves and yoke details) towards simpler designs with subtler details.

Kind of loving nearly all the skirts.  I really like the asymmetric yoke on 6468, and the side zip detail on 6467.  I’m not really needing the mini from the Burda Young set, but I can see it being popular if the younger crowd is going to have a 90s revival.

Lots of relaxed pants options, plus a really slick looking wide trouser.  I actually recently listened to Unravel podcast’s series on the history of women and pants, which had an interesting discussion about Marlene Dietrich.  Kind of makes me really excited about all of Burda’s Marlene pants.  Not that I didn’t love them before, but, well, I’m even more excited now.  I’m liking the additions of subtle details to most of these styles.

Normally I’m all about the Burda jackets, but I’m oddly not really obsessed with any of these looks.  The unfitted 80s boxiness is so not my thing, and I feel like I’ve got similar Burda patterns for the other two styles.  Ah well.  Plenty of other goodies in this release.

I am liking the Burda Young releases.  The oversized sweater is a look I can get behind, and I’m far too excited by the bomber hoodie mashup.  I’m predicting that this will be the trend of fall 2017, because it’s all over this release, and starting to show up in other pattern company styles as well.  I’m sort of selfishly excited because I’ve been wanting to make one (or five) bombers for myself, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.  If it continues to be a thing, I’ll feel better about making a bunch of them after nationals.

Ah, now these coats are more like it!  I wasn’t totally sold on 6462 at first, but it is growing on me.  I can see the loose fit being entirely practical for layering, and the detachable second collar is pretty cool.  I’m really loving the long version of 6461 too – very classic and elegant, and the high collar is great for windy days.

I’m a bit jealous that these are Petite looks!  I love the waist detail on the dress, and the detachable zipped hood is a feature I franken-patterned onto my blue raincoat several years ago, so that is obviously a super cool feature which I highly endorse.

The Burda Plus releases are super trendy.  The pants are great and I’m excited to see that the plus crowd also gets a hooded bomber!  The draped cardigan isn’t anything new, but still looks great, and the fancy dress is really pretty, especially in the lace.

Kids stuff.  Cool if you got kids?  Actually, the little hoodie is kinda cute.

Loving the little coats.

Hoodie bombers for everyone!

Burda crafts, as always, are kinda meh.  But I’ve been following Cation Designs epic unicorn adventure, so I’m kind of excited to see a unicorn pattern.

And that’s it!  While I’m not as obsessed with these patterns as I have been with past releases, I know I’m going to add a healthy number of these looks to my pattern stash (and, hopefully, my wardrobe).  I’m really liking the minimization of the ruffles, as well as the overall silhouettes that seem to be coming out.  The only thing I’m really not excited about is the apparent revival of early 90s styling.  Least you think that maybe it’s just some weird German European styling thing, I assure you, as we shall see when I get my McCall’s preview up, it is not.  Sadly.  Ah well.  I suppose that is why my awesome stash has gotten so epically large – so I can’t be the dowdy old lady stuck in styles from 2006 (oh man I’m old) and avoid sewing with crushed velvet like it will give me the plague.  (And, yes, I do hear you saying, “Wait, don’t you sew with velvet all the time for skating costumes?”  To which I respond, yes, and velvet is great, but not this 90s revival crushed velvet which looks nasty and gross under all circumstances.)  Anyway, what do you all think?  See any fall looks that have you itching to sew?  Or are you as turned off by the 90s as I am?  Feel free to discuss the Burda patterns or my oddly prejudiced dislike of 90s fashion in the comments!

Burda Fall/Winter 2017 Catalog Patterns #Burda #patterns #sewing #obsession I was snooping around the various Burda sites hoping to get a peek at the August issue, when, surprise surprise, I found that the German Burda site had posted the…