#okay like either he or both are meant to be marrying other people eventually so they can't publicly be out together so they sneak around

[madlori]

Facebook Official

whoops my hand slipped and I banged out 1800 words of fix-it fic in like an hour. btw i think the Abby connection is dumb but I'm making it work.

Three years after reconciling with Buck, newly engaged to him, Tommy gets a phone call from a certain former dispatcher...who's just seen some interesting news via a Facebook Relationship Status post.

*****

(also on AO3)

To say that the phone call blindsided him would have been the understatement of the century.

He was just sitting at home watching the game, having a beer, minding his own business. Evan was on shift — must be a busy one, he’d only gotten two text messages all evening, one bitching about not having had time to eat dinner and the other about idiots who texted while driving.

His phone rang. Unknown number. Normally he wouldn’t have picked up, but with all the wedding preparations, a lot of vendors were calling. It was a little late to be making business calls, just after 8 pm, but he’d quickly learned that business norms meant little in the wedding planning business. “Hello?”

“Tommy?”

“Yes?” A woman’s voice. Familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

Pause “You’re marrying Buck??” A slightly hysterical note of disbelief entered the woman’s voice as she said the name.

And all at once, he knew who it was. Shit fuck motherfucker why didn’t we get ahead of this one.

“Abby. Um…”

“Evan Buckley? My ex-fiancé and my ex-boyfriend are marrying each other?”

“Small world, huh?” he said, going for levity.

“Buck’s not even gay!”

“No, he’s not. He’s bisexual.”

“I’m…okay. I’m sorry, it’s just…this is a lot of information to get all at once.”

“How did you even find out? Don’t you live in Phoenix?”

“Buck posted one of those relationship status things on Facebook.”

“Oh. I barely use Facebook.”

“Me either, but Buck does, and I hadn’t been on there in awhile, but I logged on and that was like the third post I saw!”

Tommy remembered the day Buck had made the post. They hadn’t really put their relationship on social media much - Buck posted photos of them on Instagram sometimes - and he hadn’t done one of those stupid relationship status things for them until they got engaged. They’d trawled their phones for the right pic, eventually settling on one taken at a 118 barbecue of them together, smiling, arms slung around waists. He hadn’t said so, but he’d gotten a little emotional over what Evan wrote on the post:

Evan Buckley is engaged to Tommy Kinard.

“It’s been a long road, but we made it. Can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with this man. He’s the best person I’ve ever known. I love you!”

“Well…I’m sorry that was an unpleasant surprise for you,” Tommy said, carefully.

She sighed. “I don’t know that it was…unpleasant. But a surprise, for sure. How do you even know Buck? How did you meet?”

“We’re both firefighters, it’s not that surprising that we could have met, is it?”

“No, I guess not.”

“And he was at my old firehouse. The one you refused to ever come to. But I guess you went when you were with him, didn’t you?”

“You never wanted me to meet your friends. I guess I found out why when you broke off our engagement.”

“I’m sorry, Abby. I know I said it then, but I’ll say it again now. I lied to myself, I lied to a lot of people. It took me almost trapping you in my lie, when you did not deserve that, to break me out of it.”

“I forgave you ages ago. We don’t have to go over all that again.”

“I met Evan…I guess it’s four years ago? We started dating not long after. I, um…was the first man he dated. I guess I made him realize some things about himself.”

“Just transforming lives everywhere you go, huh?” she said, a teasing note entering her voice. Tommy was happy to hear it.

“Yeah, well, I almost screwed it up. I broke up with him six months later. He was diving in headfirst, too fast, just all in and wanting to move in with me.”

“That sounds just like Buck.”

“I panicked and ended it before I could get in any deeper with him.”

“It was too late, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. I was already in love with him.”

“He’s easy to love. Too easy,” she said, quietly. “But you got back together, obviously.”

“Took a little while. Almost a year. I dated a few guys, he dated a few people, but nothing stuck for either of us - I know now it’s because we were still hung up on each other. We have a friend in common and we’d hear about each other through him…but I didn’t really see him until we ended up on a major incident call together. I sustained a minor injury - just a scrape, really - and Hen from his house patched me up. I was sitting there on the ambulance deck, more or less left to myself, and he came waltzing up with that eyebrow raised like he knew all my secrets.” Abby chuckled, like she knew the exact expression he was describing. “He just said, are you done being fucking stupid yet?”

“And you were.”

“Yep. I was. He took me home that night and we’ve barely been apart since. Got engaged a year later.”

“You sound happy.”

“I am. I’m ecstatic. I can’t believe I got a second chance with him. I kicked myself for ending it like that, I don’t know what came over me.”

“I do. You thought you weren’t enough for him to want to keep you.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“That’s dumb.”

“That’s what he says.”

They sat there not speaking for what felt like a long time.

“Well…” Abby said. “I feel like I just unloaded on you out of the blue.”

“You kinda did,” he said, smiling.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have called.”

“I’m glad you did. You know…Evan and I didn’t realize we had you in common until our six month anniversary dinner. In fact, it was that revelation that sort of started us on the way to breaking up for awhile. But that’s been so long now and it hasn’t come up in a few years. I almost forgot about it.”

“Gee, thanks,” she said, her grin audible. “I’m glad you’re both happy. I have a lot of regret over Buck, how I left things with him. I assume he’s told you.”

“He has. If it helps, he doesn’t have any bad feelings towards you.”

“It does help. Thank you for that.” She sighed. “I’ll let you go. I just saw that Facebook post and spiralled a little bit.”

“Understandable.”

“Please tell Buck I say hello. And I wish you both so much happiness, Tommy.”

“Thank you. And I will.”

She hung up. Tommy stared at the phone for a moment, then opened his text message thread with Evan.

You’re not gonna believe what just happened.

*****

When Evan got home at 7 am, they had their usual two hours to share breakfast and maybe a quick fuck before Tommy had to be on shift himself. They tried to sync their schedules so their off days coincided, but it didn’t always work.

“Holy shit, why didn’t we get ahead of that one?” Evan said as he burst in the door, not even bothering with “hello.” His shoes and duffel went flying and he bustled into the kitchen where Tommy was mixing the pancake batter.

“Yeah, I had the same thought,” he said, leaning over to kiss him hello.

Evan went to the coffee pot. “I didn’t even think about it, that she might see.”

“Neither did I.”

“How’d she sound?”

“Really surprised at first. Incredulous, even? Like in the what-are-the-odds way.”

“Kinda like when I found out we’d both dated her.”

“Yeah, but you’re my himbo now,” Tommy said, smirking. “No, she was just shocked. I gave her the quick rundown, and she ended up congratulating us.”

“Did you tell her it’s her fault we broke up for a year?” Evan said, popping a strawberry into his mouth.

“I think the proper person to bear the fault is me.”

“And also me. Who asks someone to move in after six months? Before even saying ‘I love you?’ And when you had a house!”

“I say we blame Josh. He got you all juiced up with that damn Glee speech.” After they’d reconciled, Evan had given him chapter and verse on his mind-boggling thought processes on that last fateful day.

“He got me feeling guilty, is what he did. That I judged you for lying to Abby. Overcorrecting is one of my special gifts.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Well, while I’m overcorrecting…why don’t we invite her?”

Tommy looked up. “To our wedding?”

“Sure, why not? She can flip a coin whose side she sits on,” Evan said, grinning like the mischievous imp that he was.

“Evan, darling, love of my life, we are not inviting our ex to our wedding.”

He scrunched up his face. “Ew. ‘Our’ ex? Makes it sound like we were in a throuple.”

“Ew, indeed.”

He cocked his head. “I dunno, though. The thought’s kinda sexy.”

“Not to me! No vaginas anywhere near my bedroom. Kinsey 6, remember?”

“Of course, my apologies.”

Tommy looked at his innocent wide-eyed face for a few beats. “You’re still thinking about it, aren’t you?”

“Can I help it if the thought of two people I have found intensely attractive doing sexy things is appealing?”

“Can I help it if the thought of Chris Hemsworth going down on you has gotten me through some lonely nights?”

“Okay, I get the point. Shutting up now.” 

Tommy put a plate of pancakes in front of him. “Your shift okay?”

“Fine. Busy. I’m a bit wired. Do we have time for me to bounce on your dick for a bit before you have to head out?”

“For that, I’ll make time.” He sat down at the table at Evan’s side with his own pancakes. Evan slid a hand over and squeezed his thigh.

“Missed you, though,” he said, chewing.

“I always miss you when you’re on shift,” Tommy said.

Evan looked up at that, meeting his eyes. “Tommy, sometimes I miss you when you get up to get a beer.”

The simplicity, the sincerity of it made his chest tighten a little. He leaned forward, put his fingers under Evan’s chin and pulled him into a soft kiss, just like the first time. “I love you,” he whispered. 

“I love you, too.”

“And we are not inviting my ex-fiancee who is also your ex-girlfriend to our wedding.”

Evan grinned. “Deal.”

[persephonyed]

closed starter for @musingmixtape from conrad !

plot: simply this.

they'd grown up together, naturally orbiting in and out of each other's social circles, as if their relationship was the finish line at the end of a prolonged mouse chase. there had always been a naturally pull between the two, and it was only a matter of time before conrad had pulled her to the nearest hideaway and they'd finally indulged in all their fantasies. that was months ago, and they were still attempting to hide things — it wasn't like they weren't both intended for another's hand or something, of course not. but it may have also been the key reason for their secret meetups and hidden affairs. and this wasn't a problem until the rumor mill ran it's course, and foul whispers had gotten back to conrad's ears. because, as it usually is, the gossip was wicked and a wounded heart never acted rationally. "is he why we couldn't meet last night?" the boy finally came out and questioned her. "is he the reason why you cancelled our plans?"

[geekgirles]

"I would've preferred it if Amalia were our Queen instead."

"Like many others, sweetie, but you can't say that right now."

"Where did Amalia go, Mum?"

"She's gone explore the world, like she usually does."

Okay, but this little piece of dialogue is crucial to understand so many things about the Sadida and their opinion on their royal family.

And we stan that little girl. Yes, baby, I, too, wish Amalia was queen instead. I don't trust Armand and Aurora as far as I can throw them.

It's already been established Armand resents his sister not only because of her wanderlust or the fact that their father seemed to favour her, but because so does their people.

The fact that there are apparently many who support Amalia, the younger princess, over her brother, the Crown Prince, comes to show that for the Sadida actions speak louder than words.

There is no denying that both royal siblings care immensely about their kingdom. Armand was in the front lines when Nox attacked alongside King Oakheart and many of Amalia's best, most mature moments were in relation to her wanting to protect and serve her people. Like when she decided to stand up against Armand and inform their father of Nox's attacks back in season one, or how she was more than willing to forego her chance to marry for love and marry Harebourg instead if that meant her kingdom would survive Ogrest's Chaos in the OVA.

The difference between the two of them, however, especially in the eyes of their people, is their actions or, more accurately, the consequences of said actions.

Armand is the Crown Prince, and he remains in their kingdom carrying out his duties while Amalia went off to explore the world and have fun, away from her duties. At first glance, that should make Armand the better choice in the eyes of the Sadida, except that also means they've probably been far more subjected to his less pleasant moments.

Having to watch your tongue out of fear of severe punishment or even death just because the prince is sensitive over his bad breath is overkill, plain and simple.

Not to mention, every time Amalia left her kingdom, her adventuring evolved into a life-or-death mission to save the world.

With Nox, the fact that she ran away allowed her to gain the intel needed to go back home and warn them of the upcoming attack. Something Armand refused to do anything about until King Oakheart entered the picture and took matters into his own hands, all because he couldn't believe his sister would ever be more than a spoiled brat trying to run away from her responsibilities.

With Quilby, what at first was a simple, humanitarian mission to retrieve his dofus and welcome the Eliatrope children eventually turned into a desperate battle for the survival of their world.

Again, in the OVAs, the entirety of the Sadida kingdom was aware and celebrated Amalia's sense of responsibility and selfless decision to enter an arranged marriage for their sake. I haven't watched beyond the Throne of Ice, so I don't know if the Sadida ever found out Harebourg's true plans for their forest, but if they did, all the more reason to respect Amalia for refusing to put her people in jeopardy.

Finally, people talk. In season 3, it's made apparent that since Aurora entered the picture (at the very least), the royal siblings' relationship has strained practically to the point of no return. And while Amalia isolated herself and mourned her father's deteriorating health, it's very likely the castle guards and servants bore witness to how the prince's treatment of his sister worsened each day. So I wouldn't be surprised if word got out and the rest of the kingdom sympathised with Amalia either.

Now, it is true that while Amalia does have a sense of responsibility and duty to her kingdom and a deep love for her people, despite her royal upbringing, she is not really made for the stifling life of royalty. Hence, her constant wanderlust. In that regard, Armand is indeed the most reliable of the two.

It just so happens that when it comes to personal flaws and his treatment of others he is wholly unreliable. It's his way or the highway. And that is a very terrifying quality for a king to have, to be unable to compromise.

But most importantly, what really sets these two apart in the way their people perceive them is that while Armand is a prince, Amalia is a hero. And she has proven time and time again that she will do everything in her power to assure everyone's safety and well-being.

And that alone speaks volumes of a ruler's true character.

[kurithedweeb]

As it turns out I have a LOT more to say about veils! So now I will inflict these discord rambles I did for @irenes-journal on y'all too.

OKAY SO veils are very commonly seen in worshippers of Irene and the Church of the Matron. The standard devotee veils their eyes to protect them from her divine radiance when looking up to her in worship, which is said to allow her to hear your prayer above that of others because she can get closer to you thanks to how you don't have to shy away from her. These are the most common and the only ones that can be taken off outside worship but some people like those employed by the church or living in church housing don't take theirs off. Members of the church such as priests and nuns cover the lower half of their faces because in the eyes of the public, their word mingles with the goddess's, they are the messengers of her word and middlemen between her and the masses and are never ever to be seen in public without one - they show a seamless united front and it's very scandalous in the church for someone to be stripped of their veil. The High Priest himself is to cover his entire face, for anyone outside his immediate family and lover to see his face is equal to seeing the face of Irene herself, he is her vassal and it's said that should she come down to the mortal realm he might even be her vessel, he has different veils and masks for different ceremonies and tones he wants to convey because you can't read his expression the way you're still able to with other kinds of worshipping veils. Zane is so lucky that he can't show his face because he can so sweetly talk circles around absolutely everyone but there's always something a little too sharp about his smile.

Followers of the Destroyer (illegal divinity :( so they're mostly considered cults) also sometimes use veils that very closely resemble the ones the Church of the Matron use except the eyes are always covered. Whenever we see Shad when was human, there's always a sort of shadow over his eyes, right? Their veils are meant to resemble that, and since it's very similar to worshippers of Irene it also helps them hide in plain sight in cities. They have to be very careful with their ornamentation already, but it's also just a little bit to twist something of their lord's enemy's worshippers into something of their own. Ask me about ornamentation in the Divine Faith sometime.

Veils do sometimes come up in the other Divine Warriors' divisions of the Faith because they're seen as a group under the leadership of Irene. Like, if you're a follower of Esmund or Xavier you might not wear a veil over your face but have a veil that goes over your hands and weapon during certain ceremonies or holiday-specific worshippings. Graduations at the guard academy usually involve the headmaster veiling the graduate's arms while they kneel with their sword to swear their oaths, after which the veil is wrapped around their shoulders or clipped to their pauldrons like a cape. You can tell when someone graduated from their oath veil.

Veils were a thing in Irene's time but they weren't popular until the rise of the Divine Warriors; Irene herself only got married after their ascension to what's basically sainthood and she wore a veil when she and Shad were married so it really got popular after that and eventually became standard practice in Ru'aun to be married with a veil. The tradition of both spouses eventually dies out and sheer veils become fashionable about the time of MyS but really devoted followers of Irene or Shad will still follow the old MCD traditions.

Wedding veils have a ton of variety, they are made special for the wedding day by either the elders of the family or a specialized tailor/seamstress. You can have layered ones, colored ones, shiny, silken, whatever you want, it's your day! The only real rules about the wedding veil are that people should not be able to see your face through it, you need to be able to get your arms out so sometimes the veil is sectioned/has slits cut for the arms, and there is usually a dictated length based on how religious your settlement is. Both people being married wear veils, not just the bride, and different lengths are chosen depending on gender: a man's wedding veil will usually fall in the range of his shoulders to his elbows, a lady's will usually fall in the range of the knees to the ankles, and if you're neither then between the elbows and knees is usually a happy medium. Both parties are veiled because the first person who should see your face when you're married is your spouse. After you're pronounced married, you and your spouse lift each other's veils and that's when you kiss.

Since you don't pass on your veil and you likely aren't getting rid of it, it's usually repurposed into something for the family. Maybe you'll stitch it into a blanket or something to keep it as a record of your personal history. Very commonly, your child's first swaddling will be made from your wedding veils!

[5iyoomi]

When Henry and Jasper were kids, they made a promise that if they were both still single when they turned thirty they’d marry each other. Henry remembers that day like it was yesterday, back before they’d even met Charlotte and started to hang out as a group. 

Jasper had brought up some hypothetical about the future while he swung back and forth on a tire swing, jumping off to meet Henry at the end of the big red slide and saying that he didn’t wanna end up alone one day. 

The two had done everything together, had the oddest of conversations on the daily that mostly ended with Henry dismissively agreeing to whatever Jasper suggested, so the question he’d thrown at him in itself wasn’t all that weird. At least in comparison.

Henry had half-heartedly interlocked their pinkies, thinking the boy would forget about it at some point later, but he didn’t understand what the warmth that spread through his chest like a wildfire at the sight of that all too familiar toothy grin meant. 

Jasper only grasped the blond's hand in his own when Henry didn’t make a move to pull away, repeating something that Henry had likely been too spaced out to hear the first time. 

You promised, okay? Jasper whispered, both of them still knee to knee as people rushed by them in a flurry of laughs, playing tag from what either of them could tell. 

Henry blinked once, then twice, wondering for a moment if two guys could even get married, before the expectant glare of blue eyes urges him to look anywhere else. He pretends he’s more interested in the floor, giving a small nod in response and kicking up some bark dust beneath his feet.

Alright. He reiterates.

Henry realizes he’s not the only one who hasn’t forgotten when he’s shoulders deep in a tank full of water and Jasper calls himself his best friend and soulmate, holding his hand up to the others as if he was showing off a shiny silver band. 

A ring of all things, something Henry would never admit he’s spent countless hours looking into. Picking and choosing designs based on Jasper’s favorite color, wincing at the prices of pairs that were pretty but not too flashy. 

None of the stories the group told to try to scare him were working, but the realization paired with having Jasper that close to him; even if he couldn’t see him, was enough to get his heart racing. 

The bet wasn’t even on his mind anymore, Ray’s taunts about the steak and Schwoz’s comments on his levels going through one ear and out the other.

All he could think about was what he was gonna do. He sat with it for a few weeks after that, tossing and turning at night and fidgeting during missions whenever he had to talk to his friend. 

It took some prodding from Charlotte and Piper to get him to stop avoiding Jasper altogether, and it came out eventually considering he wasn’t exactly Swellview’s best liar, a series of back and forths of ‘are you sure you really like me?’s driving everyone else crazy before they finally settled on calling each other their boyfriends.

Despite some of the ugly feelings that word stirred up in Henry, some of the irrational fears that drew him away from confessing in the first place, he couldn’t help but feel happy. He knew he had a place in the man cave if the worst came down to the worst.

Now, he’s sitting with his back against his headboard with Jasper hovering over him when he realizes, again, he might really, truly be in love with him. 

His bed dips with both of their weight, Jasper’s knee right in between Henry’s thighs with his hands lingering awkwardly at his sides. 

Henry can smell the shampoo Jasper uses like this, a faint tea tree scent that he gave him some time ago. Jasper slowly leans in, watching for any sign of hesitation, and he stops the second Henry tenses up.

“Uhm-”

“Do you not want to?” Jasper asks softly. “We can do something else, I don’t mind.”

And that’s why he just doesn’t get Jasper. How could he be this calm when Henry was freaking out so bad? His bottom lip quivers in a mix of nervousness and anticipation, his palms uncomfortably sweaty and his tongue sitting uselessly in his mouth. 

Their faces are mere inches apart, but he can hardly speak, his brain struggling to come up with something mildly coherent.

Henry quickly grabs the cuff of Jasper’s shirt just as he’s about to scoot back. Jasper looks at him, one of his eyebrows quirked in question. “No, no, I do- it’s just-” he starts, subconsciously messing with the piece of fabric held tight in his hand. “I’m nervous, I guess. I’ve never done this before.”

“Haven’t you kissed like….” Jasper makes a show of counting on his fingers, chuckling at the embarrassed blush on Henry’s face. “Four girls before? Besides, you’ve known me since we were five.”

“Oh shut up, dude. You know that’s different.”

“Okay, dude.” Jasper smiles and closes back in with Henry following his lead. It goes about as well as Henry expects, both of them somehow knocking their foreheads into each other’s and muttering under their breath about how much it hurts. 

If it weren’t for his sister being out for the night, and for the fact he triple checked he locked his door anyways, he knows she’d come bugging them about something dumb right about now, her phone glued to her hand as she runs back downstairs while she calls them gross.

Henry laughs at the thought, rubbing circles against his head. “Sorry.”

“Nah, don’t worry. That was me.” Jasper says.

He tries again, this time being careful not to hit Henry. They both tilt their heads at an angle, noses brushing against each other’s. Henry can feel his heart ready to beat out of his chest, those bright eyes he’s dreamed about on more than one occasion burning. 

Jasper presses his mouth against his, and Henry jumps. He feels dizzy, tasting vanilla on his lips, and Jasper’s gentle but insistent, moving as if he’s waited his entire life for this.

Jasper cups Henry’s cheek and he feels him relax, his thumb tracing soothing shapes into his skin and his other hand resting on his hip. He pulls the boy closer to him, sighing as Henry combs his fingers through his hair. 

It lasts for a few minutes, or maybe a few hours; Henry’s lost count, but he hesitantly pushes at Jasper’s chest when he needs a break. Jasper doesn’t want to part from him, either, evident in the way he peppers a few more kisses to his cheek and the tip of his nose.

Both of their chests heave, Henry’s eyes blown wide and his lips slightly red and swollen, still tingling a bit from the kiss. Jasper’s the same but even more disheveled, his once smooth hair messy and cowlick sticking up in odd places. 

They stare at each other in awe for a few minutes before bursting into laughter, Jasper taking the opportunity to lace their fingers together. Henry thinks he might be floating on cloud nine.

“Another one?” Jasper breaks the silence, squeezing Henry’s hand.

“Y-yeah,” Henry stutters, almost breathless. “Yeah.”

[midnightsslut]

the whole cardigan/Peter parallels are messing my head can u explain

okay so peter is actually one of my favorite songs on the album for this reason! I think it has parallels to a lot of other songs, not just cardigan. the first thing to get out of the way is the cardigan lyric about peter and wendy: ‘tried to change the ending, peter losing wendy.’ now, that line doesn’t make a ton of sense because peter losing wendy is the ending of peter pan (idk I’ve never seen it and never thought I’d spend this long thinking about them), but I think what she’s saying is that he tried to change the ending of *their* story to peter losing wendy. peter loses her because she outgrows him, while he remains a ‘lost boy’ forever. the cardigan demo has an alternate lyric where peter actually *leaves* wendy. this does not happen in the original story, and to me, it reads like betty (eh, I don’t think those characters existed when she wrote that song, but bear with me) is accusing him of trying to change their fate by leaving her. peter is meant to always come back to wendy. *she* is the one who eventually leaves him. either way, cardigan ends with them together. yay for betty and/or taylor.

now, peter was written 3-4 years later, and it is the conclusion of a story about outgrowing someone despite truly wanting them back. the ending was not, in fact, changed. she did outgrow him. very sad. I actually want to go lyric by lyric, but I’ll put a cut just in case.

Forgive me Peter

My lost fearless leader

In closets like cedar

Preserved from when we were just kids

Is it something I did

the song starts with taylor trying to figure out what went wrong. did she do something wrong to crush these dreams of theirs? she kept him in a closet of cedar (where unmarried women kept their belongings that they would want to take with them after getting married) in her mind, but things didn’t work out anyway. the first line being ‘forgive me, peter’ indicates that she is the one who pulled the plug, and she’s apologizing for it. again, she isn’t entirely sure what went wrong, which, to me, is a clear parallel to how did it end.

The goddess of timing

Once found us beguiling

She said she was trying

Peter was she lying

My ribs get the feeling she did

when they first met, the timing seemed to be perfect for their relationship (‘the goddess of timing *once* found us beguiling’), but that didn’t last. the goddess of timing claimed that she tried, but nothing could save them. taylor even wonders if she lied, which suggests a lack of faith in higher powers like fate or deities. this verse introduces timing as a major conflict in the story. ‘are you really gonna talk about timing in times like these?’

Said you were gonna grow up

Then you were gonna come find me

Words from the mouths of babes

Promises, oceans deep

But never to keep

peter went away, but he promised to come down once he was ready for a relationship. yes, this kind of applies to both of the main storylines on the album. you could take this to mean that they actually broke up a decade ago but promised to get back together, or you could assume there was some sort of break to their relationship, which she and joe did have. i kind of took it to mean that he wasn’t fully committed to the relationship, but he promised to be eventually. again, the renegade lyric, but also ‘i’m a fire, and i’ll keep your brittle heart warm if your cascade ocean wave blues come’ and ‘I’d hold you as the water rushes in,’ both of which are grand promises that neither party could keep.

Are you still a mind reader?

A natural scene stealer

I've heard great things Peter

But life was always easier on you

Than it was on me

he is charismatic. his magnetic field is a little too strong. he can read people. but he’s also fragile and inexperienced (‘he was a hothouse flower to my outdoorsman’). he may be able to read people, but things have been way too easy for him to ever understand a truly hurt person fully.

And sometimes it gets me

When crossing your jet stream

We both did the best we could do underneath the same moon

In different galaxies

And I didn't want to hang around

We said it was just goodbye for now

this is the thesis statement of their relationship to me. obviously, there’s the call it what you want parallel, but more importantly, it shows that the two people really wanted this to work. they just came from completely different places in their lives and perhaps the entire universe. this verse seems to reference the epilogue (‘resentment rotting away galaxies we created’ / ‘some stars never align’). they learned the right steps to different dances, if you will. she knew he needed time, so she left temporarily.

And I won't confess that I waited

But I let the lamp burn

As the men masqueraded

I hoped you'd return

With your feet on the ground

Tell me all that you'd learned

Cause love's never lost when perspective is earned

she does get with other men, but she keeps longing for him. she wishes that he would return with a grasp on reality and be the man she needs. if anything, the time away would give him the perspective he needs to ground himself. interesting parallel to ‘I said I don’t mind / it takes time’ in loml.

And you said you'd come and get me but you were 25

And the shelf life of those fantasies has expired

Lost to the lost boys chapter of your life

Forgive me Peter, please know that I tried

To hold onto the days when you were mine

But the woman who sits by the window has turned out the light

this is just devastating to me. well, first of all, both matty and joe were 25 when they first met her, which, lol. the dreams they had together have expired now. it’s been too long. she cannot keep holding onto a love from almost a decade ago. he took too long to return. he lost his lifelong dreams to what was only supposed to be a chapter of his life. she tried to hold onto the days when he was hers, and everything was right, but she had to turn out the light at some point. this is the moment when she gives up on their relationship. she apologizes for abandoning the ship, but she must do it.

overall, I think peter is a story about two people who genuinely did everything they could to be together, but their needs and their growth no longer aligned. there’s a sense of acceptance and lingering fondness here. she did everything she could not to bolt, but the ending was the same.

[ohwell-itsme-but-danganronpa]

[NSFW AU prompt] Bunny Prince Ouma and His Guard Saihara

Apollo: Thought of two more royal aus Either Prince Shuichi x Personal Assistant (or really any servant) Kokichi Or Bratty Prince Kokichi x Personal Guard fed up with his shit Shuichi

[I asked about the first one, but literally everyone else picked the second, and I am glad we went with it]

Apollo: I read a story for a different fandom ages ago where the guard got so fed up that in the middle of the night, they dragged the prince to the empty throne room and fucked him on his throne so whenever he had to sit in there, all he'd be able to think of is the time he got fucked by his secret boyfriend I think they were planning to marry once he became King or something

Bunny: see the thing is kokichi is not actually even close to a spoilt, utterly out-of-touch, silver spoon little princeling. but i am not thinking with my first head here okay put him in ruffles

Apollo: He's not out of touch but sometimes he acts like it and Shuichi has to put him back in his place because how the fuck are you meant to run a kingdom when you're acting like that?

Bunny: consider: he keeps running away to Shenanigan in the village near the castle and shuuichi has to chase him down i love when shuuichi grows enough of a spine to be someone's rock

Dra: Help he pretends to be a commoner,,

Bunny: he wears the silly vampire cloak all hooded and creeping thru the commoner alleyways

Apollo: He tries to act all innocent after running off so when they're alone in Kokichi's room, Shuichi spanks him as punishment before walking out to stand guard because he's not fucking Kokichi as part of the punishment

Hina: Is he out of touch or acting?

Bunny: see i think it would be interesting if he THOUGHT he wasn't out of touch he could also be adopted by the king and queen as a pr move, if you want to give him a more canon-adjacent backstory

Apollo: Yes. He's just some kid they adopted and he KNOWS it was nothing more than a PR stunt so screw it. He's gonna be a dick when possible then get dicked down by his sassy guard boyfriend

Bunny: adopt him as a pr move?? he'll be nice long enough to cement his place and then become a pr nightmare better get a personal guard to reign him in and keep him from shenaniganizing… sure that'll work……

Hina: What if they caught him stealing from the castle or SMTH? And they were just so generous and recognized a “soul in need” that they took him under their wing themselves

Bunny: i need shuuichi to say "your highness" in the most disrespectful way possible points if he's in front of the king and queen and saying it ostensibly respectfully but all kokichi can hear is the way he said it last night he knows he doesn't mean it squirming in his lil throne

Apollo: They ask if he's okay and he has to lie. Shuichi is just smirking because no one is looking at him anymore other than Kokichi. The only other people who know about them is DICE and the other staff. Kokichi is actively destroying any hope of his parents hooking him up with someone from another kingdom

Hina: Are they trying to marry him off

Bunny: how sex-positive is this kingdom? is kokichi's virginity cared about

Apollo: I mean a lot of kingdoms try to marry off their kids for stronger connections and shit so I think it'd be funny if Kokichi's ruining all of their attempts to he can stay with the hot guard I find both options hilarious. Either they want him 'pure' for when he eventually gets married or they don't care he's slept around as long as he behaves damn it!

Hina: Do they care about homosexual couples or nah?

Apollo: Nah they're chill with that if they weren't Kokichi would ruin them

Bunny: 'kokichi' and 'purity' in the same sentence are already so fucking funny but yeah i can go for some good Defilement™ just be SUBTLE about being a whore jesus christ STOP EYEING UP THAT DUKE YOU'RE EMBARRASSING US

Apollo: "Now honey we know you're…Exploring yourself but please try to behave." "Uh huh sure…Anyway, you reckon he'd be down to fuck?" "Kokichi!" "What? I'm just asking!"

Dra: Are we allowed to angst in here/hj

Bunny: chanting ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, ASS-

Dra: I can't believe I'm bringing Islam here again but Fun fact when they tried to kill the prophet someone else slept in his bed and they almost cut his head off Saioucoded methinks

Bunny: maybe someone's a royal purist and mad he got adopted?

Apollo: Maki is the assassin which hurts because both Kokichi and Shuichi knew her growing up. Kokichi from the orphanage and Shuichi via Kaito. So now Shuichi is forced to fight one of his friends

Bunny: why did shuuichi get hired. how did he gain a reputation as a brat tamer

Hina: Remember how he wrestled an alligator?

Apollo: NEW IDEA: Kokichi's parents are Nagito and Hajime who are just pretending they don't know that their son is a fucking whore for his guard. They're supportive but are still trying to figure out a way to bring it up.

Bunny: awww but i wanted them to suck nagito and hajime would be actually decent parents how am i meant to cheer for their banishment like this the idea of them just. trying to figure out how to breach the subject is SO funny though

Hina: You see. I love the idea of Hajime fucking hating Shuichi in this context, so.

Apollo: Hajime being the dad to rant about Shuichi not getting permission to date let alone have sex with their son while Nagito is just sitting there like Isn't young love adorable?

Mauri: something something kokichi watching shuichi train and getting horny bc of how easily he could throw him across the room (but wouldn’t bc shuichi is a sweetheart) Apollo: YES! Kokichi keeps sneaking away from his lessons because god DAMN his boyfriend is hot and can do whatever the fuck he wants to him

Mauri: “your parents will have my head if anything happens to you, especially with your own guard-“ “shuichi beloved shut up and let me give YOU head”

Dra: How petty do we want Shu in this

Bunny: extremely wait, toward who?

Apollo: OKAY BUT NAGITO IS THE ROYAL BORN WHO DATED THE 'COMMONER' WHICH PISSED OFF HIS PARENTS AND THEY KEEP TRYING TO PRESSURE THE PAIR TO AT LEAST MARRY KOKICHI OFF TO SOMEONE OF 'DECENT' BLOOD AND THEY KEEP GOING TO HIM WITH PHOTOS OF PRINCESSES AND (EVENTUALLY) PRINCES BUT KOKICHI IS TURNING THEM ALL DOWN BECAUSE FUCK HIS HOMOPHOBIC CLASSEST GRANDPARENTS!

Mauri: ,,,can fantasy elements be introduced bc i want kokichi helping tenko woo the royal mage himiko [I cut out a portion when an arranged marriage was suggested between him and Tenko]

Dra: Can we creature the characters [pleading face emoji] just slightly Maybe not straight up critters but some small traits sjfjd

Apollo: Himiko is Kokichi's magic teacher and he spends the whole time trying to hook her up with Tenko

Bunny: THAT DOESN;T SPECIFY WHETHER I CAN PULL OUT THE BUNKICHI PARTY POPPER YET DRA /SILLY his ears flattened under the cloak hood,, shuuichi yanks it off and they just ! straight up

[ideas for Shuichi] Sini: Half elf? Dra: Pointy ears,,,, Sini: To match bf in a way Apollo: Kokichi keeps poking his ears so Shuichi just gently tugs on his Lulu: Shu high elf. Intense parental pressure to be confident and proper. <- doesn’t know what the conversation is about Dra: That or he should get a tail that can also drag Kokichi when wrapped around him/hj

Bunny: aww shuuichi can't drag kokichi around by his ear like this huh…sacrifices must be made for bnuy i suppose did we ever decide what DICE are to him?

Apollo: Ooooo what if Nagito brought all of them back with him after learning they knew Kokichi before he was adopted and brings them all to Hajime like Babe can we keep them? Look at them! They're adorable and Kichi's friends! [pleading face emoji]

Bunny: (hajime vc) YOU ALREADY GAVE ALL OUR ROOMS TO THOSE LITTLE CANDY-COLORED HEATHENS JUST BECAUSE WE LIVE IN A CASTLE DOESN'T MEAN WE HAVE INFINITE ORPHAN SPACE

Sini:Nagito stop adopting strays challenge

Apollo: Hajime loves his stupid husband but damn does he wish he had more impulse control

Bunny: the castle was so cold and quiet when he was young. never again it's full of laughing children now. if they steal all his food then that price must be paid sndsbjfgsf the kitchens are TERRORIZED they could just ask but they like theft. it's funny

Apollo: Kokichi hugs his parents and mumbles a thank you before running off to play with his friends (when they're not working at least the ones old enough. The only catch was they needed to work which none of them minded because it's easy and fun work)

Hina: Nagito’s parents like. “Y’all need an heir” and Nagito is like, “I’ve got twenty.”

Bunny: "they'll just bite each other for the crown. it's fine" "togami's parents did that i'm pretty sure" "they'll prove the strength of their hope" ok so that's the Lore established. what's the third act conflict and why is it grandpa and grandma hiring an assassin

Apollo: Can't deal with all the poors 'dirting' the castle and it started with the purple brat. If it weren't for him, they might have been able to convince Nagito to dump Hajime and find someone else (it wouldn't have worked) so now they want the twink gone

Bunny: psssst shuuichi i found a way for you to endear urself to the parents you may or may not have to get stabbed

Apollo: Want to know how to get the Kings to approve of you constantly fucking the Prince? Just get stabbed!

Bunny: okay but for real kokichi not moving an inch from his bedside,,,

Apollo: He starts arguing with whoever tries to get him leave and says they'll have to drag him kicking and screaming from the damn room if they want him out

Bunny: shuuichi's gonna drag him kicking and screaming when he wakes up cracks an eye open like hm i sense poor self care kokichi's fucked in more ways than one! he ties kokichi down and it's NOT EVEN SEXY. the BETRAYAL it's the best nap he's had in years though

Mauri: consider: shuichi gets stabbed and its the first time he's seen kokichi genuinely cry everyones worrying over kokichi bc assassination attempt and hes just screaming at everyone to help shuichi, dammit

Apollo: Nagito tries to pick him up to take him to safety but Kokichi is struggling and screaming that Shuichi needs help. Shuichi's the one in danger not him

Bunny: shuuichi would be [uno reverse emoji] were he not mostly unconscious at this point kokichi feels Cripplingly guilty for every time he's ever bothered shuuichi. if he weren't such a brat shuuichi wouldn't even have to be here

Mauri: hajime sends a reluctant kokichi out to talk w shuichi alone and shuichi is Panickign n then hajime gives him the most awkward blessing to court his son in history

Beez: kokichi not leaving shuichis side until he recovers. . .. . . augh

Bunny: bunny ears drooped all the way down :(((

Mauri: someone tries to get kokichi to leave and he does the thump

Bunny: you can't see his face bc it's buried in shuuichi's torso but if you even suggest leaving you hear a muffled thump

Apollo: He starts crying because he wants to hug Shuichi but he doesn't know how to without hurting him and what's worse is that Shuichi got hurt because of him

Mauri: the first thing shuichi does when he wakes up and is lucid is ask if kokichi is unhurt and kokichi just starts Sobbing

Bunny: SADDEST BNUY OF ALL TIME shuuichi gently scooting over so kokichi can wiggle into the hospital bed

Mauri: shuichi uses all his strength to provide ear scritches so kokichi will forgive him (kokichi forgave him a while ago hes just sad and needs physical comfort)

Bunny: back on the thumping. mikan is flashing back to every time she's heard a distant DON'T YOU THUMP AT ME from down the hall and Understanding YES!!! pet the boy tender kissies except shuuichi tastes SO FUCKING BAD from not brushing his teeth for several days oops

Mauri: baby bunkichi where hajime tries to give him carrots and nagito just does the most offended horrified gasp bc THOSE ARENT GOOD FOR THE BABY

Bunny: baby bunkichi seeing some bright colorful candy, eating it immediately, and getting sick bc it turned out to have gelatin in it

Hina: How did Kokichi become bunny

Bunny: beastfolk just Exist in this world and he's adopted remember

Apollo: Hajime being clueless is so hilarious. He wasn't prepared for kids and now he has a hybrid for one. He's so confused but he's trying

Bunny: nagito bans all non-vegetarian candy from the castle FOREVER tiny kokichi wailing like he's DYING from a tummyache nagito is this close to making gelatin ILLEGAL FOREVER it's less that he has an allergy and more than he literally can't digest it bc. yknow. herbivore

Mauri: derailing back to horny bc i just think tail scritches during sex

Bunny: kokichi doing these jerky excited little bunny thrusts that are not satisfying at All. shuuichi thinks he's adorable but he does grab his hips and make him slow down still

Beez: will never be over the fact that bunny tails r lengthy shuichi gives it a lil tug n it just stretches out n he goes [eyes but fast emoji]

Apollo: Okay but I adore when Shuichi has to slow Kokichi down and remind him that they have all the time in the world so there's no need to rush through anything

Mauri: kokichi bottoming and he gets too excited and starts thumping except hes basically just kicking shuichis back really hard

Bunny: counterpoint: shuuichi forcing him to go slow and steady and getting little angry thumps if he's edging his prince in the name of royal virtues like restraint and patience that's his business

Apollo: Hajime tells Kokichi he has to learn patience and Shuichi's like Bet

Bunny: the funniest part is that it works shuuichi gives him the Look and he gets so polite and patient all of a sudden

Apollo: Hajime just dies inside when he realises the guard he hired to protect Kokichi, basically trained him to be kind and obedient and there's only one way that could have happened

Bunny: shuuichi walks by with kokichi slung over his shoulder and hajime is just what have i done

Apollo: Nagito is just trying not to laugh because now that Hajime has given Shuichi the go ahead to court their son, everything is about to get worse

Bunny: a couple nights after shuuichi is hired as a guard, kokichi gives him the slip and runs down into the city. he's far from the first guard hajime has hired to keep him under control; he's confident shuuichi will either quit or be fired like all the rest. shuuichi tracks him down with ease, sneaks up behind him, and yanks his hood off, bc i still think his ears doing the ! is adorable. kokichi nervous-laughs - none of the guards have actually caught him before - and tries to charm his way out of it. shuuichi tells him firmly that he's going home, NOW. (kokichi discovers he may have a bit of a thing for authority). kokichi runs for it, and shuuichi gives chase. they're evenly matched at least in brains, and the race goes on for quite a while. (kokichi discovers he may have a bit of a thing for predator/prey). shuuichi slings him over his shoulder (kokichi discovers he may have a bit of a thing for strength) and carries him back to his rooms. (kokichi discovers he needs to lay the fuck down). (shuuichi discovers that Brat Prince Cute Oh Fuck) he is laying flat on his back on his big round prince bed trying to breathe normally

Hina: Is it just bunny ears and a tail he’s got or anything else?

Bunny: just ears and a tail, physically well that's not quite true i suppose a herbivorous digestive system counts as does a mildly rabbity brain/instincts but he hasn't got any other externally physical traits

Mauri: twitchy nose but that can be a regular human thing tbh

Apollo: He's just a flustered mess because holy shit not only did this guard catch him, he's hot as fuck and now Kokichi knows a lot more about himself than he thought he ever would Wait Don't rabbits go into heat or something?

Mauri: quietly holds up breeding kink

Me: yeag, finally something catering to me

Apollo: Hajime awkwardly warns Shuichi that during his heat, there's a chance Kokichi will try to run again but this time to find a partner…He's unaware that the two are already are fucking. Nagito already knows that the two got together. He hasn't told anyone. He just picked up on the looks so he tells his husband that he won't have to worry about him finding a stranger to fuck Shuichi didn't know he had a thing for breeding until a horny ass Kokichi begged him to

Mauri: would condoms have been invented in this time period

Me: irrelevant <3 cream pie time

Mauri: bc i can see nagito lecturing kokichi and shuichi on safe sex bc he wants to be a good responsible parent shuichi is Slowly Dying

Apollo: Nagito is explaining safe sex while Shuichi is sitting there pretending he didn't fuck his son that morning Kokichi, mid heat: Breed me damn it Shuichi: Oh fuck why am I so into that?

Bunny: shuuichi doesn't even have a dick (and wouldn't be able to impregnate kokichi if he did) but kokichi is. a lil stupid rn he's heatdrunk no one tell him that's a strap

Me: fuck it, this is a fantasy au with creatures, there are potions for it (probably ones that would have to be regularly consumed like how taking hormones works, but for Everything and Instant bc it's Magic)

Beez: himiko casts whatever the opposite of penis explosion is on him

Apollo: Himiko finding out Shuichi is trans: Skidaddle skidoodle your pussy is now a noodle!

Me: or that

Bunny: damn i LIKED the pussy /lh she magics his strap into connecting with his nerves, best of both worlds Me: we've all thought of detachable boobs before, now get ready for the sequel: detachable schlong, you know you want it, call now for a discount-

Apollo: Shuichi: Awkwardly trying to explain what happened Kokichi: So you have both now? Cool! Hajime: I saw Saihara down herre ealier…Everything okay? Himiko: Yeah he just wanted a spell to help with his junk when he fucks Kokichi Hajime: WHAT? Himiko: I mean he wanted a cleaning spell for when Kokichi drops something and fucks it up!!! Nagito just smiles because so helpful! while Hajime is trying not to cry because he did NOT need to hear that

Bunny: hajime is also trans nagito is having Scheming Thoughts

Apollo: Okay but Kokichi knows he can talk to Nagito about anything so when he's asked if the spell works, he says yes (naturally he doesn't go into detail about it) so Nagito now knows what he's getting Hajime for his birthday! Okay but Nagito's parents show up and at some point see Kokichi kissing Shuichi on the cheek (who lightly hit his ass for it) and rush of to report it to their son and Hajime just stares at them blankly and says Be glad that's all you saw. I walked in on them making out yesterday. He just doesn't care anymore As long as they don't fuck where he can see/hear it, he'll turn a blind eye

Kai: dexterous tails are underutilized in saiouma porn

Apollo: Kokichi would enjoy that a lot tbh

Me: Would he be demon-ish and leathery or furry like Kokichi? But tbh I just jump to tentacles when it comes to extra dexterous limbs Tail is good but they're more bunny prince and his bodyguard switch

Bunny: OKAY IM LISTENING

Me: https://www.tumblr.com/vespertin-y/730446928861626368?source=share you put the post on my dash

Bunny: I WASN'T THINKING ABOUT THEM

Me: and you're going to be held responisble we have to cook now

Bunny: shuuichi deserves to be taken care of too,,,, a relaxation day BY ROYAL DECREE [knife emoji]

Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B5NkVqfIVo getting in the top Ouma mindset [LIZ - When I Rule the World] but also the post got me by thinking about devotion so I am not sure what direction to take it like I said, I love service-y, worship level devotion vibes, but in a service top Shu & demanding pillow princess Ko but with the whole vibe of this, I want to up this to 11, have a staright up dominant Kokichi? with the twist that I added the song for, it's a switch making a threat out of explaining what they'll do when they will "rule the world" (aka dominate)

Bunny: EITHER IS SO GOOD thinking about the first time shuuichi is healed enough for sex n kokichi taking care of him,,

Me: omg, like after the assassination attempt right? they go gentle for once nice and slow

Bunny: shuuichi goes to dominate him like usual and kokichi is just NO >:( LAY DOWN UR GETTING A MASSAGE YESSS…scar worship <333

Me: Kokichi can deal with a role reversal and pamper him a little, he earned it

Bunny: both of them did it just slowly devolves into lazy cuddlefucking,,

Me: Kokichi discovers that he actually enjoys being on the other side of servicing quite a lot, providing and caring tickles the same itch in his brain as the breeding kink bossy but in a "It's my turn to take care of you"

Bunny: it starts as just repayment but then he realizes he Likes it and it's nice to see shuuichi fall apart for once. he didn't realize he'd get so flustered sndsdsjbf local stoic guard melts into a puddle of goo over neck kisses

Me: (cw corny)"It's a ruler's responsibility to care for his people. Now let me give you your reward for serving the country" you know what would make this better? pregnancy (just kidding.. unless?)

Hina: How would you add that

Me: via cream pie?

Bunny: oh they're gonna be in so much trouble

Dra: Didn't they say Shu was afab dkfjd

Me: yeah, when it's Kokichi bottoming breeding is just a kink, when Shuichi is bottoming it's an option

Bunny: they wouldn't do it on PURPOSE at this point imo but. birth control fails sometimes! hinata trying to breach why kokichi's fave guard looks suspiciously round

Me: they keep it a secret?! not again what, is he matching with a horse? [inside joke, I might explain one day] just get quickly married so the child isn't born a bastard smh

Bunny: they're not SUPPOSED to get married class differences remember they'd have to fight for it

Me: love wins, the assassination was foiled, they can do what they want

Bunny: OHHHH yeah i forgot who hired the assassin oops SHOTGUN WEDDING TIME I GUESS shuuichi getting his suit tailored in an extremely suspicious way

Me: one day tho, one day the kid is going to do the math

Bunny: sorry ur parents are whores allister. it happens

Me: he's like: you said you wanted me [face holding back tears emoji] and one of them replies: planned and wanted is not the same

Bunny: does shuuichi stay as his guard after marriage?? he probably can't huh the other guards call him when they need someone to actually go get kokichi sndhbkshfg hello mr your majesty sir can you go get your husband he's bothering the kitchen again

Dra: Help they just mix words in there

Bunny: they're new okay theyre a lil nervous the other guards may be hazing them a little bit. it's fine

Me: Thinking of komahina reactions too They announce the engagement And Nagito is like "why so sudden?" Knowingly They say it's because of the assassination, their enemies are gone, something about realizing they could lose each other

Bunny: knowingly [sob emoji] i mean, that's not a lie

Dra: Yknow how the "I should've left you on that street corner where you were standing"

Bunny: butcha didn't BD and hinata just sighs

Dra: He did not and now they have a heir djfjd

Apollo: Kokichi 100% skips out on his duties to watch Shu train and then they make out and/or fuck in a hidden corner because Kokichi gets so turned on

Bunny: little bunny face peeking up over the training ground barriers [sob emoji] i need him to have a bunny nose. for my own mental health

Apollo: People quickly figure out he's there but never say anything because well he is the prince. Plus it makes Shu work harder to impress him

Bunny: kokichi, after seeing shuuichi decapitate a training dummy: CAN YOU DO THAT TO ME shuuichi's showing off now

Apollo: Kokichi's internally whispering Don't jerk off don't jerk off because he's gotten too horny

Bunny: just absolutely Dying seeing shuuichi's back muscles flex NSJDNSJFH

Apollo: It's a pain to his poor teachers because he skips out on his lessons to watch Shuichi then get fucked. They end up rescheduling to make sure he has the time free

Bunny: they've gotta reschedule around him being able to walk shuuichi's training opponent seeing bunny ears out of the corner of their eye and immediately knowing they're gonna Die

Apollo: They see him limping and sigh

Bunny: he fake cries until shuuichi agrees to carry him

Apollo: The idea of moving Kokichi's lessons to his room is quickly shut down because no one wants to go in there knowing the prince is either getting railed or is railing his boyfriend practically every night

Bunny: bold of them to think they can find a room where they haven;t fucked

Apollo: Exactly. They just like to pretend there's untouched areas Love how Kokichi's og disappearances were to escape his guard to go fuck around in town but now his disappearances are so he can fuck his guard

Bunny: he still disappears into town but it's partially so his guard will find him and fuck him

Apollo: "You can just ask" "I'm a bunny. I like the chase." "No you're just a whore." "Only for you babe."

Apollo: Once again thinking of Prince Kokichi and Guard Shuichi.

Imagine getting assigned to the Prince (nerve wracking enough) who's known to run away and piss off all his guards until they quit or do something that ends up getting them fired (or Kokichi might actually lies).

You're nervous, you chase him down when he escapes and all of a sudden, he starts trying to seduce you.

Is this a test? Is he trying to get you fired?

What are you meant to do? You accidently flirt back once and you get pulled aside by one of the Kings.

You think you're about to be fired. You failed somehow and now you're gonna be fired…But the King just says you're a good fit for his son and sends you on your way.

Like Kokichi is known to fuck with people and give them little 'tests' and has also flirted with his guards in the past so poor Shuichi is just screaming inside because he doesn't want to lose his job but Kokichi just wants to kiss him and maybe get fucked

Dra: Is that one of the reasons Shu was kinda cold/stoic at first djfjd

Apollo: Yeah. It's an important job to watch the Prince and others keep failing but god damn Kokichi is cute and flirting with him??? What's he meant to do?

He accidently calls him cute once and freaks out because Ko just bluescreens Kokichi meanwhile is annoyed because the hell is he meant to do? Just kiss him? Without consent? He tries to get it through Shu's thick skull by like feeling his arms and stuff and telling him how strong he is It's not working

He trips like a dumbass or something and Shuichi asks if he's okay only to get a I'd feel better with a kiss from you handsome and just doesn't know how to react He's trying his best and it's just not working

springbug: stoic/quiet guy getting flustered by little shit sunshine is my favorite trope and reading this au makes my heart happy

Me: I was thinking about them too, but the time period around when Allister is born, people in the castle start thinking it was a good thing, Kokichi seems to have mellowed out, became responsible and careful, but after a few months the fresh-baby phase that lowers horny hormones ends and the newfound mutuality of protectiveness saiou have now turns from a blessing to a boost effect on the nightmare that they returned to being they thought Kokichi was bad when all he thought about was getting fucked

he just enters a phase when he's so over-protective it's downright possessive, Shuichi has to make him calm down, tone it down, it was nice getting a little spoilt, but he can take care of himself he just got carried away with the whole thing, but Shuichi put his foot down and put Kokichi back in his place

it was escalating for a while tho, he was letting him at first, thinking that Kokichi can just get that anxious energy out, but he was only getting more intense about it, nearly losing Shuichi, and then the pregnancy, and then planning a wedding, and then birth (he was holding Shuichi's hand through it, and it's a shock he hasn't fainted, he was horrified), and it sinking in that they're parents, taking more responsibility, he just sinks really deep into the Protecting & Caring mindset, it's hard for him to let Shuichi do something on his own without hovering

and it gets bad enough for Shuichi to stop it at that point, because sex is a huge outlet for this & Kokichi latched onto that right away, but in their sex life this far Shuichi has been mostly dominant so he gets tired of this pretty quickly he doesn't mind Kokichi being clingy but being treated like glass in bed is where he draws the line

Ves: kokichi being anxiously overprotective is Good Stuff this saiou r just constantly bullying the other into selfcare huh kokichi bullied Too Hard and had to be bullied himself kokichi almost fainting during the birth [sob emoji] he was more scared than shuuichi fr

[days later] Me: art corner reminded me of the bunny prince au because Shuichi's easy temporary transitions with potions, and Kokichi's breeding kink bc he's a hybrid, and the genuine confusion just got me like Shuichi believed they could both be pregnant, and you know what? I want to believe too [it was a joke comic, Kokichi tried to tell Shuichi he's pregnant, and Shuichi went "I'm pregnant?"] tired: getting pregnant at the same time as your friend so the kids will become friends too wired: getting pregnant at the same time as your husband so you're experiencing everything together something something equal distribution of responsibilities in a relationship this is after Allister and their shotgun wedding and the whole mess is sorted out, they healed from the assassination attempt Shallot and Scallion time they talked about wanting a second kid & Kokichi maybe half-joked about it being his turn (he is into the idea. but doing it for real is… intimidating), so they have more in-depth conversation about pregnancy & when Shuichi talks about it, he doesn't omit how overbearing Kokichi became (he needs to keep on reminding him, it won't happen again) and basically after going over how different their experience & perspective on that time is brings them to the conclusion that it'd be best for them to experience it together this time, instead of just switching roles

Bunny: god help the castle servants there's Two Of Them now

Me: most of them are veterans atp, but imagine being new and not expecting anything like this on your new job cleaning the castle they're def more careful about privacy than when they were younger tho, cause Allister is running around

Bunny: how old is allister?

Me: a toddler ig? circa 3-4?

Bunny: and is it old enough to understand his dads' feet are too swollen to play with him - OH NO ye that's gonna result in some growing pains poor kiddo

Me: I just had him in mind little enough not to be too used to being a single child, just big enough to be running and not crawling so older than that is a no, bc 6yo is a mental only child apparently, and I want to avoid giving kid the angst about it as widely as possible

Bunny: i was two when my first brother was born and i asked my parents to send him back but allister's sweet, i think he'd get over the jealousy bump fast enough he's the type of kid to spend a really long time peering over the edge of the crib i think hes curious

Me: yeah, he's just ["many thought, head full" creature reaction image] his dads both think "he has it after me" he's looking with those big eyes it's a family trait (it's autism)

Bunny: they show him how to hold a bottle and he feels like it's Magic

Me: wait I just had the best idea I had in weeks the babies are going to inherit some of Kokichi's bunny traits

Bunny: INCREDIBLE BEAUTIFUL POWERFUL SHOWSTOPPING AMAZING- TINY ITTY BITTY BUNNY BABIES. IM GONNA EXPLODE AND DIE they're gonna be fucking terrors they can get away with anything-

Dra: Poor palace workers,, Saiou's pda was already horrible for them and now there are more of them

Bunny: god bless the kitchen workers

Dra: Are the kids picky [sob emoji]

Bunny: i imagine they're obligate vegetarians like their dad, so kinda - but i meant they're gonna be raiding the kitchen constantly do yall remember the triplets from brave

Beez: instead of bears theyre bnnuys

Dra: They get byunnier when given greens/silly

Apollo: Thinking again of Kings Hajime and Nagito being disappointed because instead of focusing on his lessons, their stupid bunny son is too busy fucking his personal guard.

Shuichi just feels awkward because yeah they're dating and all but please babe I think your dad is ready to explode because you skipped a math exam to suck my dick

Kokichi like always, does not care

springbug: nagito just sighs and tells them to be safe meanwhile hajime is staring off into space, questioning his entire existence

Apollo: He adopted this kid, hired his gremlin friends, finally found a guard said adopted brat hasn't scared off and that's because he wants to get into his pants and actually managed to succeed in that goal I mean…He is a rabbit hybrid though so they can't really blame him for wanting to fuck his guard a lot…That's the only reason. It's pure instincts. Totally nothing else

Bunny: when they realize shuuichi is the in, kokichi is DOOMED they just have to mention the exam being important and shuuichi will give kokichi the Eyes hes the chink in the armor that is kokichi being a shithead Apollo: Basically he's the ticket to get Kokichi to actually do shit because of how whipped the prince is His dads? Kokichi whines and complains, dragging his feet to do the task Shuichi? Well, he might whine and stuff but with a look (and possibly like a finger snap or something) he's off to do it

Bunny: shuuichi holds both carrot and stick tremble before his power Flaire: Oh Shuichi has a 'carrot' and 'stick' alright Bunny: kokichi does enjoy the rewards of getting good scores i mean he is trans here so he probably does have multiple dicks laying around, actually… kokichi tries to name them shuuichi wants to die Flaire: Kokichi does name them The only question is, is one colored like a carrot and is it Kokichi's favorite? Bunny: YES he pretends to be offended at first won't use it he is genuinely a little mad when it turns out to be Very Good Flaire: He gets back at Shuichi by incredibly Playing It Up once he gets over it and making Shuichi the embarrassed and cringing one Bunny: the dirty talk is actually fucking insufferable shuuichi wants to throw the thing out a window after a while Flaire: …but it is a little bit hot And Kokichi's clearly having a great time So Shuichi can… tolerate it

Me: anyway, the side of Kokichi being distracted by Shuichi was covered before, yeah, he ogles him training, whatever but what about the side of Kokichi being a brat testing Shuichi's limits in the early days, he's figuring out what can he still get away with and how exactly he can get away with it, now that he knows Shuichi can chase him down He Is Going To Find Those Buttons And He Will Push Them Can he distract Shuichi by acting sexy? Can he bribe him? Can he get the punishment that's actually a treat to him if he plays his cards right? Apollo: He messes with Shuichi's room hoping to get punished for not only breaking in but for messing with his stuff springbug: he can and he will Me: I think it takes at most a few weeks for Shuichi to figure out the punishment thing and start punishing him by blueballing him instead, telling him that he has to earn a reward, but he remains the master of being distracting as for bribery… Sometimes Shuichi is willing to be bribed, it doesn't hurt, he can entertain him, but other times it only gets him in more trouble, because if it's serious Shuichi is going to be pissed off

can't solve all his problems by being submissive and breedable, sometimes has to do his job [pensive emoji]

Also. The very beginning. When Kokichi was teasing and hinting. Back when Shuichi was nervous about the job. Everything to me. Yeah, he can chase him down and put him in his place, but why can't he get in the place where he should be, between Kokichi's legs? Why so shy, mr. bodyguard? I just think. The thing where he points a finger at Shuichi's chest and runs it in a little pattern while flirting, is that anything? Bunny: it is not anything it is Everything Me: Lots of cringe attention grabs like bending over & various stretching while Shuichi is looking And you know Ouma's flirting is corny af Flaire: It sure is, Source: I can write it Me: full of puns, he's making insinuations about how Shuichi should be under him because of status Flaire: Oh god Shuichi thinks Kokichi is just insulting him at first doesn't he Me: sure, why not Flaire: Kokichi says one(1) thing about Shuichi being beneath him and Shuichi immediately internalizes it as proof Me: but can't have this Saihara be too dense, he's already been catching on the other hints Kokichi's been giving, but the bad flirting throws him off for a bit, because it slots into reaffirming the worries he had, seeing it as the reason why he shouldn't pursue anything with Kokichi so Kokichi shot himself in the knee with this but it's okay, Nagito's "accidental" meddling will fix it, it's just a small comment from him, but being told he's good for Kokichi means a lot to shu he totally thought they were already together, he didn't mean to meddle, he would never Bunny: of course not!! Apollo: He would never meddle in the love life of the weird gremlin he's grown attached to!

[intimidating-fettuccine]

If it's okay I'd like to request some angst (with a happy ending) with teenage slender and ghost s/o perhaps with the line "I love you, but you're not mine" if that's way to specific then maybe just some regular angst, thank you and have a wonderful time zone Intimiccini

-Gummy Worm Anon

I hope you enjoy~! And I hope you also have a wonderful time zone! :)

You loved him. you loved him so, so much, and he loved you too, more than he ever thought it possible to love someone, but sometimes... Sometimes you just felt so out of place. Slender had a place to belong, a large (mostly) loving family, a path already set out for him in life, a place of high standing in the Underworld since the day he was born, but you... All you had was death. You weren't born into the Underworld like him, no, you'd just died and ended up here. You couldn't compete with the other people in his life constantly trying to get his attention. At least, that's what you told yourself.

Slender had started noticing changes in you. The more you spent time with his family, the more you spent time around the other upper-class teens and adults he was made to be around, the more you began to withdraw from him. It started off small, with you going home a little earlier, but it began to escalate to you outright refusing to go to his house at all, and then you not even wanting to spend time with him, always saying you had other things to do. Of course, this was incredibly upsetting to Slender, and he could tell it was upsetting you as well, so eventually, he cornered you and asked what was going on. If you even still loved him and wanted to be with him. That's when you'd said it. "I love you, but you're not mine." You'd said it so tearfully, in so much pain. You'd gone on to say that he doesn't belong to you, he belongs to his family, and those other higher-up demons, that he was never meant to be with someone like you in the first place, someone so low down on the hierarchy of the Underworld, a nobody, someone that has no place or purpose. "You do have a place. It's right next to me." Slender responds to you after a few moments of silence. 

You can hear the pain in his voice as well, and when you look up at him, he's shaking before you in pain and sadness. Slender scolds you like a child, telling you that you should have just come to him with this in the first place instead of making the two of you suffer for the last few months. He tells you that he doesn't even like being such a high-ranking eldritch being, and that he wishes he could just be like you, someone that has freedom and can make their own choices. He tells you that he believes he does belong to you, that he is yours. Since meeting you his life has changed in such a positive direction, and he can't bear the thought of having to live without you. By that point, you're both hugging and crying, and Slender offers to take you to your favorite ice cream place, and you agree. You both sit side by side, sniffling as you eat your sweet treats, his arm wrapped around you. He tells you to never do that again, to just come to him and let him soothe your worries, and you quietly agree. Slender swears to himself that he'll never let you feel like that again, that he'll never let you feel like you don't belong with him, that you're not good enough. You're the only person that Slender has ever felt like he belongs with, after all, and he's not going to let anxiety get to you and let you run away from him. He loves you too much for that, and he knows you love him too much for that too. Status has never mattered to him, and he'll make sure you remember that fact. Besides... If he marries you, like he'd like to in the future, you'd both be of equal status anyway. Not that either of you have had that talk yet, but someday... Someday you will.

[sword-and-lance]

so I wound up having a whole Thought Process in replying to a fic comment and just

okay fair warning this probably leans heavily on my own interpretations of Cazador and also Astarion and a bunch of the Cazador backstory in particular is pure headcanon

also fair warning there's discussion of abuse and sexual assault in here

BUT

man these two actually have quite a bit in common--the "my Master is an abusive asshole" thing being the big obvious one

also neither of 'em seem to have a great relationship with their families: Astarion never even mentions his in the slightest, ever, so I remain unconvinced that there was anything good there, and Cazador uh

well

Amanita's notes imply that there were only a grand total of like four remaining living Szarrs despite having multiple estates and a huge fuckoff castle smack in the middle of the city and yeah I absolutely headcanon that Cazador had most of them merc'd because none of them did a damn thing while Vellioth--who only married in and who Donnela picked for vampire-ing over her own grandkid because she held Cazador responsible for his dad (her son) going AWOL as a vampire hunter, it's a whole Thing I should really write it down at some point--basically ran the family reputation into the ground with his insistence on indulging his own brutal assholery over anything else (instead of balancing it with blackmail/politics so they don't get Found Out)

so yeah he is fairly obsessed with his family but in the sense that it's his and belongs to him and he gets to own it and shape it and bring it back to how it was when he was a kid and they owned damn near the entire Upper City in one capacity or another

so really no he isn't fond of his family but more the idea of it and being able to control it which is. uh. quite different!

and that kinda leads into my next point that they are both fucking Obsessed with power, "over people" specifically to quote Astarion in-game

I mean after all on Cazador's side of things: that was how Vellioth got to be where he was, that was what Vellioth wielded over him and all the other spawn whenever he decided to torture/sexually assault/etc them as he pleased, and that was how Cazador himself finally got Vellioth killed, too, and turned himself into a full vampire finally--it wasn't dry politics it wasn't law it was just interpersonal trickery wielding Vellioth's personal desires against him, and Cazador not only wanted his own abuser dead but wanted to make damn sure that it never happened again, that no one would ever be able to hurt him like he did

even when it meant hurting other people--LOTS OF THEM in all sorts of horrifying new ways!--to do it

and that's why he really just is not fuckin redeemable by the time we see him: he's molded his entire fucking existence around that notion, he cannot will not trust anyone but himself, he tried over and over with that as a spawn and always got punished for it--his family was not kind, his lone friend died for his kindness, and considering that his general social circle was a bunch of rich people, I'm willing to fuckin wager he probably didn't get any notion of it outside, either, and in fact it probably made it even easier to just think of people in general like things--cattle, even

so all that's left for him is (what has to look to him) like stone-cold objective knowledge that everything sucks, the world is vicious and cruel and the only good things you can have you have to TAKE by force or trickery from someone else and they don't matter, they'll only take from you the second they get a chance

and yeah Astarion clearly had a bit of a similar problem over the past 200-something years, considering--he was also tortured quite extensively for years, despite Cazador genuinely thinking he's being nice about it in an I HAD IT WORSE SUCK IT UP sort of way; he got faced with an utterly impossible task to constantly hunt down prey for his Master while fuckin starving the whole time, and eventually in sheer desperation resorted to literal prostitution only to be met with a very blase okay that works I guess keep it up from Cazador since it wasn't like Cazador really thought Astarion had much in the way of other talents to lure people in and all he cared about was having people lured in

shit, Astarion's entire approval set damn near until the last act of the damn game are just reflecting that mindset--the world is vicious and cruel and the only good things you can have you have to TAKE by force or trickery from someone else

...thing is, Cazador was basically surrounded by enablers and even outside of that is also hellishly stubborn and molded his entire existence around the pursuit of power because he thought that was literally all there was to anything, even to the point of making deals with not just a devil but one of THE devils, one of the Big Boys and one who's pretty damn tricky at that

he was not and is not going to give up on any of his plans, even if someone SOMEHOW gave him a chance to, and if we ignore the whole VAMPIRES EVIL LOL thing for a sec--far as Cazador's concerned, the kind are weak and murdered and tortured by the strong, and that is just how it is. that was how it always was and always would be and he's been surrounded by it literally all his life, personal and political, with basically no evidence to the contrary that doesn't immediately get ruined, whether at his hand or someone else's

if this isn't what he should do in life, then what else is there? just being a horribly broken person for literally eternity or until someone up and stakes him? he can't afford to let this go because it would obliterate his whole fucking identity in the process

...Astarion though at least has the benefit of running around with people who do not in fact enable his FUCK EVERYONE ELSE BUT ME! bullshit, and in fact (can be, anyway) relentlessly kind to him and show him that yes, actually, there is a life beyond what happened to him

there's a whole lotta life beyond it, actually! even while he's trying to "just" be manipulative, because the kind are weak and he can't afford to be weak when his Master HAS to be hunting for him by now, he fuckin fails at that and actually gets attached to the people trying to get him to knock off his assholery--they treat him like an actual person and he actually gets pretty into that despite himself, even though it clearly scares the hell out of him to have to make his own identity over again beyond just...being the flirty vampire

but thing is

he's at least brave enough to try doing it (presuming the non-ascended route--the ascended route he just refuses and falls right into Cazador's own neuroses), and when he's given the chance he takes it despite being terrified of it

he's seen more, he wants more and he's willing to risk himself to get it because it was worth it

Cazador though

lol nah

ultimately he's a coward about doing that exact thing

he's petrified of having nothing left of him if he gives up on what he's doing so he just never even tries and would pretty violently refuse any attempt to make him, for that matter--to him, it can't possibly be worth it

Astarion at least believes a small selection of people would be worth trying for

but Cazador's got none of that because he gave the fuck up on ever finding that and split the world into people he owned and people he would eventually own when he got what he deserved in Ascending after so many years of pure shit--and after his existence had turned into a meaningless morass of violence and horror that he inflicted on literally everyone around him like the walking nuclear fallout of a man that he is

part of being better is wanting to BE better, and (non-ascended) Astarion at least eventually wants to

but Cazador would very literally rather die instead

tl;dr yeah one of these two is a "small pathetic little boy who never amounted to anything"

but it ain't Astarion

[prongsfish]

FISH YOU ARE OBLIGATED TO TELL ME EVERYTHING EVERY FUCKING THING TBAT YOU HAVE RL SAY ABOUT THEM BECAUSE I HABE A LOT AND OH MY.GOD FISH SPILL THE FUCKING BEANS

MARRY ME (PLATONICALLY)!!!!!!

okay this has been sitting in my drafts for TOO LONG but i am finally here to talk about petemary / marypeter / whatever it’s called…

i don’t often do a lot with peter because i’ve never been able to quite cement his character in my mind, but very early on in my ‘getting into marauders’ journey i started to consider petemary, before i realised it was a lot less popular than i would’ve assumed.

i just like to imagine them being friends, not particularly close but known to each other, not until all their friends start pairing off. suddenly they’re the only two not dating someone else in the group and they start spending more time together, joking about being left out. not that they’re entirely inexperienced—mary to me is definitely not, she’s at least had a couple boyfriends, even if all they’ve ever done is kiss. maybe even a girlfriend or two. she’s gorgeous and social, of course she’s dated before. i can imagine peter either being experienced or not, i like both the dynamics possible. but at that moment, they’re both single.

eventually, they start joking about getting together, things about how they might as well given everyone else has already paired off. i think mary would’ve started it, peter being a bit too reserved to initiate that sort of thing, but it became mutual very quickly. and of course it’s all just jokes until it’s not really jokes and they start sleeping together in secret. no strings attached, just for convenience, etc etc… yeah sure.

that continues for a while, and they keep spending more and more time together. it’s becoming that even when their friends are around they go off together instead, just talking, gossiping, playing chess. at the beginning they only hung out when everyone else was with their partners, but now they hang out because they want to, and it barely even has anything to do with the sex they’re having. that’s just a bonus. the ‘no strings attached, just for convenience’ starts feeling very strings attached. their feelings develop incredibly naturally, and it doesn’t feel sudden because they’ve just been growing gradually over time until they eventually became too big to ignore.

they start acting more affectionate, and they don’t talk much about it in explicit words, but they start acting more like a couple in front of others and the words of endearment expand out past only the bedroom. their friends start to pick up on it and when they ask, there’s only a moment of hesitation before they say they’re together. they never meant for it to happen that way, but it did and they’re certainly not unhappy about it.

a lot of onlookers would be surprised by their relationship, i think, because from the outside they appear very different. mary is confident, unapologetic, and highly extroverted. she’s well liked by most and similarly admired by many. peter, on the other hand, is the least notable marauder, much more of a follower than a leader. he isn’t antisocial by any means, but when stood next to james and sirius, he’s just more reserved. even remus, who IS antisocial, has his intelligence and his height which set him apart. peter is a people-pleaser, and a born sidekick, but him and mary simply get each other. they’re a lot more similar than they appear, which even they didn’t realise until they started to talk more, but once they got closer, it was practically inevitable for them to start dating. they were each exactly what the other needed in their life.

so yeah that’s them to me <3 i wish they more popular because i think they could have such an interesting dynamic but i never see them in fics. one of these days i’ll write them, at least as a background pairing… ty @saintrequlus for giving me the chance to ramble about them 🙂‍↕️

[messedupfan]

When I Look At You | Chapter 12

Summary: While at a wedding, Y/n reflects on their life with Leigh and their kids.

A/N: This is the end!

Masterlist | All Chapters | All Stories Taglist ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many, Many Years Later

You fidget with your tie once again and Leigh pats your hand to get you to stop. “You’re making me nervous, cut it out. We’re supposed to be the ones with a level head here. Stevie is already losing her mind.” She speaks in a low tone to keep her words between you and her. 

“Leigh, our first born is about to get married. I’m freaking out!” You say a little too loud. “He is not good enough for our baby girl. I don't care what anyone has to say.” You continue, causing your wife to push you into an empty room so you’re not being a lunatic in the hallway. 

“I know that today is hard for you, but she loves him and they’ve been pretty great parents to Maisy. When she came to us four years ago and told us she was pregnant, I was ready for you to kill the both of them–” 

You make a face, “Just me? What were you going to do?” 

“The twins were fifteen, someone had to stay out of prison,” she teases, making you feel a little bit lighter. However, you still remained very tense about the event today. “Look, they have more than proven themselves. They have provided for our granddaughter, who you love dearly. They have stayed in school and plan to graduate. They love each other completely. We can’t stop this from happening anymore, it’s what they want.” 

You frown as you hear your wife out and sigh. “Why couldn’t they wait until after college. I would have been more supportive.” 

The corner of her mouth lifts up as she shakes her head, “No, you wouldn’t have been. It’s hard to let go of them. To trust them to be on their own.” 

You nod, agreeing with what she says instead of arguing otherwise. “How are you so okay with this?” 

“I’m not, I’m just better at hiding it than you are,”she pats your shoulder and you let out a breathy laugh. Her phone pings with a notification and she takes a deep breath. “Now we need to do this for our daughter, together okay? No getting a getaway car ready.” 

Your shoulders deflate and you drop your head as you promise to behave before allowing your wife to guide you to the bride’s room. Looking at you so nervous reminds her of when you finally fulfilled your best friend’s dying wish and immortalized them in a book series. It wasn’t exactly a biography, it was a great mix of fiction and non-fiction that made people feel connected to the person you knew. But you were so anxious about releasing it to the world. That had to have been the most anxious she had ever seen you and it took sometime for either of you to realize that it was like letting go of Stevie again. 

But one day, in a way you never expected, you got a Stevie back in your life. When your daughter had first seen the name on the title, she thought that the series was meant to be about her. She refused to hear otherwise for years, but she was a little kid so you found it adorable. Eventually, you and Leigh told her about your best friend and explained that was where she got her middle name. It was hard to explain why she had never met them, especially since you and Leigh never settled on a concept to teach the kids what happens after death, but the “better place” line did come in handy. Then, as she got older, she started reading the books and she would ask you questions about the person she shared a name with. One day, when she was seventeen or eighteen, somewhere around there, she asked that everyone call her Stevie from then on. 

You had great relationships with all three kids, of course, but you and your daughter had a special bond. Leigh wonders if you’re feeling anxious about losing your best friend again. She was there to remind you however many times you needed to be reminded that this wasn’t the case. Your daughter is currently renting the house that once belonged to Stevie from you and Leigh, so it wasn’t like she didn’t still need help from her parents. She wasn’t gone yet and she needed to convince you that everything will be fine. Prepare you for when or if the time comes that Stevie only visits for the holidays. 

With careful steps, you and Leigh enter the dressing room cautious of what you’re walking into. Stevie is in the corner of the room, still in her robe, with her face in her hands. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“The flowers,” she says in a small voice that reminds you of the day she tripped trying to keep up with Bandit in the backyard. She scraped her knee and she was crying and you “cured” her with a magical kiss and an adhesive bandage. Leigh asks what’s wrong with the flowers and your daughter looks up with tears in her eyes that bring some to your own. “They’re the wrong amount. There’s supposed to be thirteen exactly!” She whines. 

“Okay, and how many are there?” You ask carefully. 

“Fourteen!” She waves around the bouquet and you and Leigh exchange a look with each other. Knowing exactly what the real problem was. 

“Honey,” Leigh looks at you one more time and you nod to encourage her to continue. “When was your last period?” The girl in front of you shrugs as she mumbles her answer, knowing what the two of you are getting at. “When were you going to tell us?” Leigh asks softly. 

Stevie dabs the corners of her eyes, careful with her makeup. “When we came back from the honeymoon. We didn’t want anyone to think this was a shotgun wedding,” she starts to get emotional and you rub circles on her back. Leigh smiles lovingly towards you as she fondly remembers you comforting her the same way. “I’m so sorry you guys. I know I’m such a disappointment.” 

“Hey, hey, hey. Who said that? We’re so proud of you sweetheart, we love you so much.” You say as you pull her into your arms, Leigh matches you as she hugs Stevie from the otherside. “Everything is going to be okay. Now hand me that bouquet.” You hold your hand out for the flowers and she does as you asked. You gingerly remove the extra flower and you grab something to cut the stem and place the flower in your wife’s hair. “See? Now you have thirteen flowers, and mom looks even more stunning than before.” Leigh takes your hand and kisses your knuckles, she has to rub the lipstick off of them with her thumb and the feel of the action makes your heart swell. 

Stevie perks up and thanks you and Leigh for cheering her up. “I really think I’ve found something like you and mom. He makes me really happy,” she says cheerfully, to reassure you that she is still making the right decision in marrying Carlos, her fiance. 

He wasn’t a bad guy, he was a great kid that grew and proved to be a great young man. Most important of all he was a wonderful father and hopelessly in love with your daughter. But, he was also the idiot that got your daughter pregnant in high school. You’re not quite sure when you’ll get over that. Leigh rubs your shoulder as she watches your body grow tense again. You stiffly nod which your daughter notices and finds amusing, she knows that you’re trying your best. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?” You say with a tight smile making your two girls laugh. 

After you and Leigh walk Stevie down the aisle and, reluctantly on your part, give her to Carlos, you sit on the bride's side of the church. Your shoulders shook slightly as you remember that you’re inside a church. It was important to Carlos’ family that the wedding be held in a church so you agreed. Making plenty of jokes about the ceiling caving in because you don’t have a faith and neither does Leigh. The kids were free to explore whatever they wanted but at the end of the day, they chose to stay away from them and instead admire from afar. You laugh behind your hand as you watch your youngest yawn as the priest drones on and on. Leigh smacks your shoulder and tells you to show some respect, but she even has to yawn. 

She glares at you before you can point it out. Deciding that you don’t want to be scolded further, you focus on your family standing in front of everyone instead of what is being said. Stevie wanted both of her brothers to be standing beside her for this moment, it made you and Leigh happy that though they were extremely difficult at times and even claimed to have hated each other, all three of the kids were close. When you look at your kids, you feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. They have made it this far and they will make it further. There’s no doubt in your mind. They have so much potential and so much life to live. You’re not worried about them one bit. 

As the vows are being said, you look over at Leigh and think about how different your life would have been without her and take a moment to appreciate her. You nudge your shoulder against hers and smile at her, she mirrors your expression before turning her attention back to the wedding. You put your arm around her shoulders and she slides closer to you and takes your other hand in hers, pulling it on her lap. You place a kiss on the side of her head and look back up to your little girl. 

Watching her up there reminded you of when she was just a toddler, running around in a white dress and getting married to her stuffed animals or even Bandit a few times. Her and Leigh took it the hardest when he passed that it took several years before they let you bring another dog into the house. Of course though, you weren’t able to find a dog quite like Bandit ever again. 

Then you look over to your boys, the older one was going to college in the fall on an academic scholarship which wasn’t something anyone expected. Before he was in high school he was always struggling with his grades. He was more focused on playing basketball. All day, everyday. Then when his grades were slipping and his coach had the talk with him that you and Leigh tried over and over to have with him that his education was just as important as the sport and that if he wanted to be the star he was striving to be, he had to commit to his studies. The coach threatened to take away his position on the team if he didn’t get his act together. That fear motivated him into becoming a better student than his older sister who was always a fantastic student. 

Your eyes land on your youngest, who was aspiring to become a doctor or a lawyer or a politician. He hasn’t settled on one thing yet but going through his transition he was inspired to want to contribute to his community. He wants to make it more accessible for people to become who they truly are. He isn’t sure if the best way is through medicine or through law. But you and Leigh assured him that he will find his way in life and to not put so much pressure on himself. To enjoy being a young college student and to make mistakes that he’ll learn from. Although, you and Leigh knew he was going to change the world someday. He didn’t need to strive for that yet. There was plenty of time for that later. 

“Do you think we would have gotten along?” Stevie asks as you sway with her while the two of you share a dance. The two of you have been practicing for this moment since she was little. 

“What are you talking about?” You spin her under your arm when it feels right because of the song that is playing. 

“Allison and I,” she clarifies and your eyes begin to burn as you think about how to answer her. You thought about what her life would have looked like had she gotten to grow up. Especially if she got to be with her siblings. Although, that life might have been filled with other complications. You wouldn’t wish for Allison to be alive without her mother but you also wouldn’t give up Leigh and the life you built with her. Which is why when the kids got old enough to understand what you were saying, you stopped telling them those stories so that they wouldn’t ask questions and you wouldn’t have to tell them about what happened. 

You still haven’t talked about Allison in a long time. Especially not with any of your kids. “Where is this coming from?” You ask instead. 

“I was reading the first book that you wrote with mom and I asked her about it. She told me about the family you lost and I just…” she starts getting choked up and you take out your handkerchief so she doesn’t ruin her makeup. She has a long night of photos ahead of her. “I’m sorry, I just can’t imagine what that was like. And gosh, the hell the three of us must’ve put you through.” You help her keep her makeup together by gently dabbing her tears away. 

You laugh a little at the small mention of the things that had you and Leigh screaming at the kids so they can learn to be safer and smarter. “Oh you kids didn’t put me through hell. You and your brothers simply lived your lives and we did our jobs as parents to guide you when we needed to. You’re learning how to do that with Maisy and the little one growing inside of you.” The two of you resume dancing as the tears stop. “I never wanted any of you to carry that with you while growing up. It’s a lot to hold on your shoulders. But yeah, I think you and Ali would have gotten along. Eventually,” you tease, making her smile. “The two of you might have fought a lot, much like you did with your brothers. But when it came down to it, the two of you would be there for each other.” 

Stevie looks past your shoulder to her husband dancing with her daughter. She takes the moment to appreciate what she has. Then she looks at you, and sees the strength that she has admired from you and from her mom. Everyday she hopes that she can represent that to her kids. “I wish I had gotten to know all of them. You make them all sound so great.” 

“They were pretty great,”  you confirm and the song ends and you catch Leigh’s eye across the room. She mouths something to you and though you can’t really read them from her lips, you know exactly what she was trying to say. You look back to your daughter and grin at her. “I’m so proud of you, Stevie. You’re going to have a great life. Don’t forget about your mom and I, okay? Make time to give us a call from time to time.” 

She rolls her eyes, “I’m not leaving, you know? I’m just married now.” 

“I know, I just had to say it. Life gets in the way sometimes. You never know what will keep you from your people if you stop paying attention.” You give her a short embrace and then take your granddaughter off of the dance floor to get her some food, allowing her parents to share another dance. 

The party continues on to be a memorable night and at the end of it, you and Leigh take Maisy and the boys home. The boys say their goodnights before heading to bed. You and Leigh tuck Maisy in her mothers’ old bed and she reminds you so much of when your daughter was this little. She had fallen asleep in the car on the drive home so it wasn’t difficult to get her in bed. Which was a rare thing because she had a lot of energy and she usually refused sleep at all costs. 

Crawling into bed with Leigh after getting ready for bed, you give her a sweet kiss on the lips. “I love you,” you start, “Thank you for talking me down earlier.”

She returns your kiss, “I’ve been talking you down for years, my love. There’s no need to thank me for today.” 

You move on top of her, “Mmm, well, there might not be a need for it. But I definitely want to thank you. For today, all of the days before, and all of the days after.” You kiss her again, this time slower, deeper. 

“Oh, I won’t say no to that,” she says as she moves her hands on your body. 

“Thank you,” you kiss her neck. “Thank you,” you kiss her collarbone. “Thank you for believing in me,” you kiss the top of her breasts and slip your hand down her pajama pants and tease her through her underwear. “Thank you for loving me,” you bring your lips back to hers. “Thank you for being my partner,” you move her underwear to the side and slip your fingers inside of her. “Thank you for everything, love.”  

“You’re welcome,” she whispers.

You only got to enjoy that life with Leigh and your family a few more years after that. 

It was a late night. You were in another city doing press for another book. Leigh wasn’t able to join you because she was needed at home. Her mom needed a lot of assistance by then and neither of you felt right about putting her in a home. So she hired a nurse and the two of you helped Amy in any way you could. 

You decided to take a stroll around the city. Many of the bars and clubs were still open but you didn’t want to go inside of any. You just wanted to watch the people as you passed them. Hopefully collect ideas for another story. Although you still had more than enough stories to tell, it wasn’t bad to find more within strangers. 

There was a group of guys trying to cheer up one of their friends. He had lost a big job opportunity and his friends told you all about how much of a workaholic he was. That he needed the night out. A loud gathering of girls celebrating a bachelorette party caught your attention next. The bride-to-be was chatting with everyone she could, telling them how in love she is and how enchanting the wedding is going to be. You wished her a long and healthy marriage and she asked about your life. She cried when you showed her pictures of your family. Next were couples on dates, some were on their first with each other. You could tell by the awkward stances and the nervous smiles. You found it quite sweet. The city was alive and the night was young. Everywhere you looked, there seemed to be a story waiting to be told.

The next thing you knew, it was all over. A person, who should not have been driving, drove onto the sidewalk where you were walking. Several people were injured badly and two people died. Including you.

Taglist: @madamevirgo @wqndanat @thisischaismagic @artisannat @olsensnpm @evenbeingcrazy1998 @bentleywolf29 @awkwardmandalorian @agaymilflover @sayah13 @princessprudy  @wandsmxmff @wandavisionmoot @angryraisin @likefirenrain @tearsofglitter @feltlikethat @piningismymiddlename @the-writer-arcane @rightwereyouleftme @abimess @diaryoflife @natashasilverfox @karsonromanoff @maximofflover @lovelyy-moonlight @red1culous @jovialsublimecomputer @natasha-maximoff @iliketozoneout @doudouneverte

[tortoisebore]

Fluffy prompt- how would wolfstar propose to eachother?

hmmmmm okay okay

big ole disclaimer before we begin: i got a similar ask a few weeks ago that i’ve been ruminating over for so long bc i have my own biases and opinions about marriage that aren’t always positive. so i tried to work around that with this because 1. i don’t want to write something negative and cynical when someone sends a prompt that’s meant to be sweet and heartwarming, and 2. marriage can be beautiful and wonderful and it means a lot to people that do value it. so like….,that’s where i’m coming from and my cynicism might come through in this a bit even though i’ve tried to look at it from a better, less biased perspective. it turned out pretty long and kind of all over the place, but i hope that it hit somewhere close to where you wanted it 🫶🫶🫶

so part of me thinks they’d either get engaged & married after three months of dating or like…..ten years. no in between. but in this case let’s make it easier on ourselves so we don’t have to get into lots of plot and say they’ve been together-together for……three years. like properly real-relationship-in-love-living-together kind of together for three years.

obviously their histories and past experiences play a part in both their relationship and their desire to get married, so i think they’d be coming at it from different places and do a lot of existential late-night working through how their views and hang-ups are different and how they’re the same and how they can make it work for them

remus grew up with parents that loved each other in a reserved way—they got married young and had to work through a lot together, like raising a kid and financial struggles and points of tension within their families over the years. but there was never any doubt that they loved each other and they always treated each other with this kindness and gentleness and care that remus admired. so he has this view of marriage that’s like “life is hard but we’re in it together, we’re a team and we’ll get through anything that might come up.” there’s some lingering fear that maybe he’s not enough to be someone that anyone wants to spend the rest of their life with, especially sirius, but their relationship is good and stable and healthy and they genuinely enjoy each other’s company beneath all of it. they love each other and they have a good foundation, and to him it feels like the right next step for them to take together

but sirius did not grow up with that kind of stability at home, he did not have that practical, positive view of marriage because his entire family tree was riddled with arranged marriages and affairs and and resentment for spouses. his parents were indifferent towards each other at best and spiteful at worst, they barely interacted except to fight with each other or with him, and it was clear very early on that he’d be expected to marry some second cousin and have kids and carry on the bloodline. so he grew up with this fear of what marriage was going to mean for him—something based on convenience and not love, that he’d be trapped with someone he resented—and it wasn’t until he’d left and had time to process and start to heal from all of it that he even considered the idea that he could marry whoever he wanted, now.

so he’s in this great relationship and he loves remus, and remus loves him, and it’s more than he ever thought he would be allowed to have. and sometime after their first anniversary they’re at home and remus is like “would you ever want to get married?” and sirius is like “……👁️👄👁️ would i WHAT??::?:?” and remus is like “no no wait i’m not proposing sirius i’m just asking.” and it’s a task get it out of him, but eventually sirius tells remus all about what getting married means to him, how he learned to be afraid of it early on and still struggles to see it as something good. and internally remus is kind of like “oh,” because he’d really love to marry sirius and have a life together that goes beyond sirius just being his boyfriend. and somewhere deep down he’s worried that this means sirius doesn’t want to fully commit to him, that he loves sirius more than sirius loves him and they’re not on the same page as far as the whole ‘i want to spend my life with you’ thing goes, but sirius shuts that down fast.

they end that first conversation in a better place, where remus trusts that sirius’ aversion to marriage comes from his past and not anything to do with their relationship, and sirius believes remus when he says that he understands and that he’s content with the way things are

so over the next year they keep on as usual, things are still good and they’re still obsessively into each other and sickeningly in love. but sirius has been thinking about it in the back of his mind for a long time, and remus is nice and doesn’t pressure him to talk about it but sirius has got this idea in his head that getting married means security. it means that remus won’t leave him, that they’ll be together forever, and that sounds more like what he wants. and the more he thinks about it the more he starts to get panicky that remus will leave if they don’t get married, because he obviously wants to, so he brings it up again.

they’re at home on a random saturday morning and they’ve just finished breakfast and remus is reading at the table and having his third coffee of the day and sirius goes “what do you think about getting married?” and remus looks up and goes “😶….what do you mean?” because they haven’t really talked about this in a few months but he knows that sirius knows he would like to get married eventually, and sirius is acting nonchalant about it but remus knows something is off. so he’s like “where’s this coming from?” and sirius is all casual and shrugs and says “nowhere i was just wondering.” and again it takes a lot of work but remus finally gets him to crack and tell him what he’s been thinking, that he’s afraid remus isn’t satisfied or that he’s going to leave if they don’t get married. and that’s what it is, he realizes—somewhere in the time since they last talked about it, sirius has started to see marriage as the only way to keep him around long-term, as the thing that will prevent them from breaking up, and as much as he wants to say ‘love it let’s do it’ and marry sirius, it’s not going to work if he’s seeing it as the only way to make sure remus won’t leave him.

so they have a Big Talk, and remus tells him the truth—that he’s in this thing for the long haul whether they get married or not and that he doesn’t need to get married to be happy together. it takes a lot of reassurance, but eventually sirius starts to come to terms with the idea that getting married doesn't have to do with the longevity of their relationship, or this idea of an extra layer of security. over the next few months they keep it on the back burner, bring it up every once in a while and work through any hang-ups they’re having or things that maybe still don’t make sense. and eventually remus learns to trust that sirius doesn’t want to marry him just to prevent him from leaving, and sirius comes around to the idea of it being another step forward in their relationship—a big one, but one that means they love each other, and they’re committed to each other in more ways than just ‘not breaking up.’

so it’s their third anniversary, and they’ve just gotten back home from a fancy dinner at this place in the city and they’re lying in bed and being disgustingly sweet, and sirius goes “i think i’d really like to marry you.” and remus’ little heart goes 💗💞💕✨💓🤩💫💓 and he turns over to look at him and goes “really?” and sirius smiles all soft and pretty and nods, and remus is ab to pinch himself and he’s all “you’re sure?” and sirius smiles bigger and nods again, and remus is ab to pass out maybe when sirius narrows his eyes and goes “i want a ring, though. and a proper proposal—a big one.” and that’s that.

so over the next couple of months remus plans, and despite what sirius said about wanting something big, he has a better idea.

it’s just a normal thursday night and sirius is coming home, he’s a little tired but it’s takeout night and he’s really craving the moroccan place down the street. he unlocks the door and kicks off his shoes and stops in his tracks because the living room light is off but there are candles lit, and there are rose petals on the floor like a corny hallmark movie and the love of his entire life is at the kitchen table, standing when sirius shuffles into the room all silent and wide-eyed, and remus goes “i know you said you wanted something big, but i thought this was better.” and sirius loves loves loves him, loves him so much he can’t breathe because he’s right—sirius had been all talk, all he really needed and wanted was remus and the little box he’s holding, and it feels right that this is happening in their home, the place that had seen every boring weeknight and slow morning after nights out, every fight and apology and hard conversation in between, all their laughter and joy and the disgusting amount of love that existed between them.

so remus goes off on a little spiel about how sirius his best friend and his favorite person and how much he likes him, how much he loves him, how much he wants to spend the rest of his life with him. and he’s only halfway down to one creaky knee before sirius is tackling him to the ground, knocking him off balance and punching all the breath out of his lungs and kissing all over his precious little face. and sirius might be crying a little bit but he’s laughing more, saying ‘i love you i love you i love you’ over and over and over and then they’re both cry-laughing. and then sirius remembers the ring and demands to see it, and they’re still on the floor of the living room when remus opens the little box and slips this pretty, simple little silver band with tiny stars engraved on the inside on his finger and sirius’ insides are going ✨🤩💗🤭🥰😁💓💕🫶🫠💞💕

but then he’s like ‘WAIT’ and runs out of the room and leaves remus on the ground and remus is all “……..hello” and then sirius is running back with his own little box, throwing himself back to the floor and grabbing remus’ left hand and pushing a thin gold ring onto his finger, and remus is ab to cry his fucking eyes out bc sirius is smiling so big and holding their left hands up next to each other. and then he looks closer and there’s a tiny little outline of a crescent moon on the side of his ring and then he is crying, like full on snot and tears crying, and then they’re both crying and having very weepy and disgustingly sappy sex on the floor

and after, remus orders from the moroccan place down the street and sirius calls everyone they know and screams into the phone about the power of everlasting love and that they want a new toaster as a wedding gift

which is how they end up with fourteen toasters six months later

[princess-of-the-corner]

"In what sense? Of timeline? I mean each Season is going to be roughly a year?"

Sorry for not being specific.

I meant summary of what changed in each season in comparison to Canon

Okay hm so off the top of my head without going too far into my notes:

Actually side thing is I just realized that most of the Major Changes have to do with the various villains. The Trix being salvageable to the Good Side(after a bit), Darkar getting downgraded to normal, Valtor has been changed completely tbh. The Wizards of the Black Circle have been almost completely yeeted. Tritanus is more of a civil war situation than an outright coup.

Interesting tbh.

Season 1:

Same basic plot of Bloom learning about Magic and going to Alfea, learning about her actual heritage, the Trix being fucks. Some things go sideways, some plots are diverted.

Changes include

A good chunk of adjusting the whole 'Ancestral Witches' thing and the Fall of Domino because having that happen ages ago but also less than 20 years ago is ?????. Short version: A group called 'Ancestral' that wanted to take over everything invaded Domino for the Dragon Flame. Yadda yadda Daphne yeets Bloom to Earth, gets Spirited in the process, most of the population is killed, most members of Ancestral were either killed or arrested but a few escaped. This is treated as a semi-recent tragedy that most Adult characters remember

Faeries and Witches are the same thing, just using Light vs. Dark Magic. Not different species. Not good vs evil. (Light is not always 'good', Dark is not always 'evil'). The neutral word for them is Magixae. While people from all worlds(other than Earth for reasons unknown) can use base Magic, only Magixae have major powers and can transform like they do. And they only make up a small percentage of the population.

Stella actually has plans to study as both a Faerie and a Witch because stuff with Solaria and the duality and all that. She's starting with Faerie though.

Alfea/Cloud Tower/Red Fountain are colleges, not high school

Bloom actually has friends back in Gardenia, though they're all going off to college, but they appear when she goes home for breaks

Bloom is 100% aware she was adopted and they do kind of assume from the get-go that her bio parents might be from one of the other Magical Realms and she just ended up on Earth

Winx is very 'Sci-Fi disguised as Fantasy' so I'm leaning hard into the fact that they're all aliens and have non-human features and biology which will get explored!

Sky and Brandon still switch places, though it's less 'prince and the pauper' and more a legitimate thing of there's been assassination attempts on the royal family. Diaspro and the arranged marriage also still exist, but Sky is 100% adamant that he's not going to marry her no matter what their parents say.

The Riven/Darcy plot is a legit thing with like. No hypnotisim just genuinely liking each other even if Darcy did start it up just for info. Temporary breakup when the Trix go full evil but....

Kinda dragging the Trix into more 'somewhat understandable, villains with genuine goals not just' to be evil, salvageable and will be dragged to the Good Side eventually' kinda plots. Longer posts on that, but Darcy is the first to jump ship because she's like 'Look I am an ambitious, power-hungry bitch, but I draw the line at full on murder/massacres'. (Speaking of, don't. Don't question the logic re: befriending the person who tried to destroy the world last week. I'm doing some Friendship is Magic shit wtih this we only think about fucked up implications when we want to.)

Diaspro also gets some character development when she tries to take Sky out of the major battle and he decides to stay

Bloom's adoptive parents and friends from back home get dragged into this and are actually helpful in the battle.

Season 2:

Mostly the same plot re: Pixies, Darkar, adding Aisha, so on and so forth. Lot of changes to what Darkar is and the whole shadow phoenix/shadow flame thing with a touch of change to Dark Bloom.

Changes off the top of my head:

Diaspro and Darcy are now added to the main cast as well. Diaspro enrolled herself into Alfea because she wants to find something to do other than being Sky's trophy wife(he's still not into her). Darcy is serving community service. Both of them get dragged into the main plot because the adventure is underground and their powersets are great for this.

Darkar has been downgraded to 'just some guy'(which like. Having a supposed Deity be defeated in only one season and never come back? Kinda lame!). Previous member of that 'Ancestral' group that attacked Domino. Wants the Dragon Flame for the original 'let's take shit over reasons.

His plan involves the Dark Bloom thing. He learned from seeing the Trix fail that taking the Dragon Flame by force won't work, so he decides that using magic brainwashing stuff to have Bloom turn against her friends would work. So we get him posing as Avalon to get access to her.

The "Dark Bloom" thing isn't a 'Dark Faerie', but Bloom channeling the dark/negative emotions into her Magic and going Witch(remember: same species, just depends on where they draw their Magic from)

What is the 'Shadow Phoenix' thing? The opposite energy to the Dragon Flame? It's the Dragon Flame itself. Some yin and yang shit. It is everything. Creation and Destruction, Life and Death, all of it.

Oh also Riven can go Faerie and we get some of his trauma lmao.

Season 3

Final year of Alfea, earning Enchantix, etc. Some of the plots are the same. But there are many a change!

So, firstly, I switched up things for gaining new forms. Charmix was just kind of a 'natural level up progression', but Enchantix takes the new 'you have to overcome something personal'. Mostly because I think it's fucked that Enchantix is supposed to be the normal endgoal(with other forms being optional) but you have to die to get it??? Also there's too much bullshit regarding 'must save someone from your world' because hello??? How do you decide that what counts as 'their world? What do you do with Bloom other than Mary Sue her way out of it?

So everyone gets a plot relating to overcoming something, but we're also going on trips around the Realms and visiting their Homeworlds.

This is probably the most plot-heavy season as everyone has their own arcs going so I won't go into it all here.

But also know that as we're trraveling to all the worlds, we get a LOT of worldbuilding

[livingfast04]

Love love love the Monster AU!!! Something about humans and monsters living together in society and having laws be made for all to live in a (somewhat) peaceful world is just *flaps hands*.

Also love Steve's parents being together just cuz their both shapeshifters and only having him to continue the bloodline.

Maybe he talks about how he has a crush on someone that isn't a shapeshifter as a kid and they start realizing Steve might be the one to break the cycle. Maybe it freaks them out a bit because shapeshifters are always meant to be with other shapeshifters and they pull away slowly because Steve isn't following in their footsteps.

Also how in this AU there are still some species of monsters that even the most accepting don't want to acknowledge. I wonder why specifically it's shapeshifters.

My favorite part of fics is when Steve's parents aren't awful but they're not good either, true gray area indeed.

Honestly want to know if Steve never came out as non-human to the pack, would they have eventually kicked Steve out of his own home? Would they have worn him down to the point he would have wanted to Get Out of Hawkins and it's shittyness.

The possible angst for this AU is *chef's kiss*.

I don't know how to convey how much I just adore this AU in words and be Normal about it.

Thank you!!

I've been bouncing the idea around in my brain for a little while now, and finally just sucked it up and wrote out the general idea. I wouldn't say they pulled off because Steve is interested in other groupings of people. But rather out of a form of self-hate. It's a lot of Not breaking the cycle of abuse, and what comes from that. They know they are abominations but so is their son. And they don't even like themselves let alone their kid. There's always acceptations of course. They married and had a child out of necessity, both to appear normal, and to keep their families alive. and because it's safer to be with people who understand, than to stretch out. Stress themselves out, risk letting other people know things they aren't supposed to.

It's not just shapeshifters! It's a little hard to push all of that into the whole fic when it's really focused on Steve and his issues. Shifters face a lot of backlash, at least in the au, because they can be anything, could be someone else completely or a totally different person all together and no one would ever know. They are human, but they look less human than most other creatures do. They are a little more aggressive, a little more unworldly. And a lot of people don't like that.

Shifters also isolated themselves. Too many secrets, too many people who lashed out at what they didn't want to understand. So they chose hide rather than to help educate them about shifters.

I've written Steve's parents a few times now, and I wanted a different go at it. Still pretty bad human parents, hold a non-human child to human standards. But they are pretty good Shifter parents. Keep their baby safe. At least, when they finally decide to acknowledge them.

Uh, Steve probably would have starved to death before they kicked him out of his own house... Or died do to blood poisoning. Though Eddie probably wouldn't have let that happen, though he couldn't really tell past just the general smell of sick, and wasn't really doing anything about it because he was pissed off.

In a perfect world, Steve would have stayed. Probably until they had to bodily remove him from his own house, or would have lashed out physically. There was two ways that confrontation was going to do. Steve was going to bite someone, attempt to kill someone who walked into his bedroom, or the route I went with. Baby shifter reaching out to who was in charge of his group, because they could make them go away.

:D I'm happy people are liking this au this much. half has been completely pulled out of my ass tbh. But I'm having fun so it's okay.

[braveclementine]

Chapter 11

Warnings: None (anyone can read this story)

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. I do not condone any copying of this.

𝓣𝓞𝓝𝓨 greeted several people as he entered. I wasn't entirely sure what a party was supposed to be like, but it wasn't entirely what I thought it was.

By my head count, there were about a hundred and thirty people. Some had large cameras and microphones in their hands. They kept commenting on Tommy and Billy or sometimes they called them the Avenger twins or other names that I didn't understand. They were told to stay behind certain lines and could only mingle with the actual party if they left their cameras and microphones behind.

Everyone was wearing either suits or sparkly dresses.

Pepper was wearing a gorgeous green gown, greeting Tony with a kiss on both cheeks before rubbing my head a little.

Tony seemed to steer away from the bar, greeting people while staying next to Pepper. They seemed to be a tight duo, which meant that they were going to stay by each others' sides all night.

I followed behind Tony proudly, tail and head held high. Tony introduced me often and lots of people gave me either poor, adequate, or great scratches. I accepted all of them though, loving the feeling of fingers roaming through my fur, gentle scratches against my sides. It felt good, no matter the touch.

Billy and Tommy were there as well, though I didn't get to see them for the first half hour or so of the event. They had Sparky on a yellow leash around their feet. He was laying at their feet, wagging his tail excitedly, and giving small barks of thanks to the people who petted him.

When I finally made my way around to them, Billy picked me up, showing me off to the people who came up to the greet them.

From what I could tell, it was mostly made up of other, less known Avengers who didn't live in the tower and then people who called themselves SHIELD agents. Tony kept muttering something about being thankful that 'eyepatch' wasn't here because he would be a mood killer.

I wondered what kind of name was eyepatch. Or maybe it was just a nickname that Tony had given the nameless man.

I actually couldn't wait to meet him. He sounded like fun.

I wondered if he liked cats.

If not, I could always scratch his eyes out.

Steve and Bucky were late to the party and after overhearing Sam talking to Clint, I was made aware that neither of them wanted to come to the party in the first place. Apparently they hated parties.

I wasn't sure why. I was enjoying myself immensely.

Bruce was sitting at the bar, talking to Natasha. He looked rather lost in thought as he swirled his drink in his hand. He and Nat chatted casually about lots of things, although occasionally, he dipped into something sciency that she tried her hardest to follow along to.

I noticed that Clint was having a hard time keeping his eyes off Nat, though he made sure that he was never looking at her when she was looking at him. I wondered why he would marry someone that wasn't his soulmate in the first place. Eventually you would find your soulmate, right? So why risk getting married to someone that wasn't?

I sat up on the bar, drinking a bowl of milk that Sam had grabbed me when I had padded over to him and mewed several times. Originally, I had just been asking what made a party, a party. Because on TV, there were usually more people than this.

Or maybe the spaces were just smaller in the movies so it looked more crowded than if it was in a large space- like this one.

But Sam had just assumed I needed something and I hadn't turned aside the lovely bowl of milk that had come along with his words.

I saw Pepper standing by herself now and I was a bit confused about where Tony was- when he sat down next to me.

He huffed out a breath. "Hey Blizz."

"Are you okay?" I asked, batting his shoulder gently.

Tony looked down at me before scratching my head. "You know, I can't even stand by Pepper's side the entire evening. She's the owner of Stark Industries now and she's got to do some of the stuff on her own. Plus, the reactor is acting up again so it gets a little hard to breathe. But I'll be fine. I always am."

I looked between where he looked sad on the barstool, pointedly not looking towards the alcohol on the other side. His glass was filled with sprite with a few cherries and syrup in it. He called it a Shirley Temple.

He was also slightly rubbing his chest, where I knew the blue glowy thing resided. I wasn't entirely sure what it was for, or what he did, but it was making him tired. Maybe he should consider getting it out of him so he no longer hurt.

Pepper was standing roughly twenty feet away or so. She was talking to three men, all of them in business suits and had drinks of whiskey in their hands. I wasn't sure what they were doing at Tommy and Billy's party. But maybe I had misunderstood the entirety of the party.

I pawed at Tony again and when he finally looked at me, I lowered my head.

He kissed the top of my head and I licked his cheek and mewed, "I will give your love to Pepper now."

I scampered down from the barstool, trotting over quickly to where Pepper was standing, wearing her beautiful green dress.

I batted at her leg. She looked down, but didn't touch me or lift me up so I could give her Tony's kiss.

I batted her again and I frowned when she stepped away a little.

Hmm, maybe she couldn't bend down and pick me up because she was talking to the men. After all, I was sure she couldn't talk to the floor.

I decided the solution was to get up onto her shoulder. Since there was nothing around, I would just use the nice dress and climb up it carefully and settle on her shoulder. Then I would touch my forehead where Tony had kissed me to her cheek to give her Tony's kiss since he wasn't feeling well enough to do it himself.

I unsheathed my claws and started to scamper upwards, like I usually did on any other day with any of them.

"Blizzard! Blizzard no!" Pepper shouted and I suddenly felt myself being dislodged from the cloth. I suddenly hit the floor hard, sprawling across it. I laid there for a second, disoriented before I got my paws, shaking myself.

I looked up and saw that Pepper had stepped backwards, and that she had several rips in her dress. She was using one hand to hold up part of the dress so it didn't slip downwards.

"Pepper!" Tony struggled over to her, trying to present himself as though he wasn't having a hard time with breathing. "Come on, we can go on upstairs and-"

"Why would she do that!" Pepper fumed. "Look at the dress!"

She was angry with me?

I slinked backwards, hiding between the legs of the barstool. Almost the entire crowd was looking at her or at me and I hated the attention.

"Blizzard, don't make any more trouble." Tony called over his shoulder as he led Pepper out of the room.

I slunk even further back. Trouble?

Suddenly, her dress was starting to look a lot like the drapes of the curtains that I had knocked down in Mr. Peters house.

Would they. . . would they send me away too?

Billy and Tommy ran by, Sparky on their heels. They didn't even notice me cowering under the chair, running up to Wanda and Vision. Vision lifted Tommy into his arms, giving him a kiss on the forehead. Billy yawned.

Suddenly, it felt cold, like the entire world had turned against me.

I skittered around the edges, nudging open a half-open door to slip through, finding myself in a room that was made up completely of Avengers.

Bucky and Steve were sitting next to each other on the couch, wrapped in each others arms. Clint was sitting in an armchair. Bruce was sitting on the arm of a chair that Natasha occupied. A man named Stephen Strange was sitting on air. Sam was sitting on the floor next to the couch. There was also Scott, Hope, and several others that I didn't know the names to.

They had a bottle on the table, laying on its side. At the moment, it was spinning, until it landed on Bruce.

Bruce blushed, but he leaned over, kissing Nat on the lips. I was confused, but I figured it must be some sort of game.

"Alright, I think that's the last one. We can move on to truth and dare now." Road said.

I watched from the corner as they asked each other 'truth or dare'. I listened as they either answered questions and laughed if they picked 'truth' or watched as they did stupid or sexual things if they picked 'dare'.

I noticed as I went to clean myself- on habit- that my dress had small dirt stains on it and I felt sad. I guess that was stupid, but I had actually really liked my outfit.

Suddenly, there was a shrill laugh that made my ears hurt. I winced and looked up to see the same blonde lady that had almost stepped on me, went ahead and sat down on Steve's lap, kissing him.

I hissed.

I mean, yes, they had told me that they had another lady they served. But I still hated it. I hated it as much as when they were with Natasha. I was possessive of them. And I was possessive of their future soulmate.

Well. . . no. . . they wasn't entirely true.

I was possessive, I knew that. But I wasn't just hurting when I watched them. I was hurting when I saw Tony and Pepper or Wanda and Vision.

Did I want a partner? A male cat to be in love with? Did things even work like that for me? I was just barely a year old yet.

Steve and Bucky stood up and the blond wrapped her legs around Bucky's waist.

"James!" She laughed.

"Hold on Sharon, we're going to have a rough night tonight!" Bucky laughed.

"Don't forget protection!" Clint and Scott yelled after the three of them.

They didn't notice me.

I padded out of the room, realizing I hated parties.

I made my way up to an abandoned floor. I knew that they only used this floor for meetings and there would be no meetings tonight.

One of the doors to one of the conference rooms was already open. I padded inside and stood on the white carpet.

The room was rather bland. There was a long table in the middle of the room with several spin-y chairs arranged around it. There was a monitor where the robot lady projected images and other things onto it. There was a bookcase in the backroom. Three of the four corners had potted plants and there were some small plants on top of the bookcase. There was only one on the table.

There was also a computer on the table, the kind that was somewhat small. The kind that I could sit on and it would warm me up.

I didn't jump up there right away.

I suddenly felt very, very sad. I started to claw at the dress and soon, pink scraps were all that was left, scattered around my paws.

Only then did I jump on the table. I dislodged the crown from behind my ears and the small piece of metal clinked, falling onto the table, rolling across the wood, falling off the edge and rolling under the table.

I started to mewl, soft cries emitting from me. Water dripped down my cheek fur as I settled myself down on the warm laptop.

"Are you alright Blizzard?" Robot lady asked me nicely. "You seem to be sad and distressed."

"It's not like you can understand me." I cried. "No one can. I'm lonely. I'm tired."

"I will contact Mr. Stark and the others so that they are alerted of your distress." Robot lady continued.

I curled up tightly on the laptop. It was very nice and warm and I could already feel myself drifting away. My white fur was now stiff with dried tears.

I didn't even know I could cry.

I had always wondered why humans cried. But now, I felt better actually. Like I had cleansed myself internally. So. . . maybe crying had a benefit to it.

I wasn't exactly happy and I was still sad, but it felt different. It felt. . . better?

I heard heavy footsteps coming down the hallway. They weren't Steves or Buckys or Tonys.

Actually, I wasn't entirely sure whose they were. My assumption was they belonged to the owner of the laptop. I guess my warmth was short lived.

The footsteps stopped outside the door and I opened my eyes. Farther down the hallway, I could hear the elevator doors opening.

In front of me stood a tall brown man. He wore something black over his eye and he wore black clothes. Upon seeing me, he slipped a gun into his hand.

Now that the elevator doors had closed and this man had stopped walking, I could pick apart several of the different Avengers footsteps. More than just the ones Friday had alerted had come. Perhaps then, they had not come for me.

This must be eyepatch. They were here for him.

Not me.

Eyepatch lifted the gun even higher until it was level with me.

I stared back at him coolly.

I wondered what a gun did.

I knew Bucky had one so it couldn't be a bad thing.

Tony was the first one I saw again, looking both exhausted and frustrated. I watched his eyes widen at the sight in front of him.

Then eyepatch pulled the trigger.

⬅️➡️

[honeybearee]

Emotional Motion Sickness

Grief was a boulder tied around your waist, destined to be dragged uphill forever.

At first so dense and all-consuming that every motion was a slog that left your bones achy, as if you were carrying the dead on your very back, parading them along day after day as everyone tried to look around the rotting corpse that hung heavy over her shoulders.

Anna had learned that, over time whether it be through practice or sheer force of will, grief would eventually wither down into a pebble. And while that made it easier to get through each day, it also meant that it was less predictable. She was never quite sure what it was that made it snap against the ground in a new and particularly painful way until it was too late and she'd already been smacked in the skull with it.

Surprisingly lately it had been the pebble that was her Mother. These days she felt like she found her in quick flashes in the mirror, in the freckles of her aging hands, in the way she laughed - even if these days it felt more like hearing a song playing off in the distance somewhere, familiar but difficult to make out clearly. All things that made perfect sense with Jesse's wedding looming ever closer.

The hands of time never stopped moving, Mel and Beau were getting older and she dreaded to think that they'd be gone before she got married or had kids. It was bad enough she hadn't been able to give her Father any of those treasured moments before it was too late - maybe it had been selfish of her to not have simply settled into a life with Max; surely she'd be married with 2 kids running around by now, too preoccupied with a totally different set of problems to be so caught up in the daily slog of simply trying to exist from day to day like some sort of ghost floating from room to room.

Maybe she could just grow up to be the cool older lady on the block who held large holiday festivities for people who had nowhere else to go - figures even in her wildest fantasy she still amounted to someone whose sole purpose was to take care of other people. Was it really so hard to find someone who could both love that part of her personality, while still realizing how desperate she was for a break from it?

Someone who would could lift all the stress with a simple I know you can do it, but let me.

"Hm? Sorry" she smiled apologetically as she moved around in the dress, practicing some goofy dance moves and throwing some finger guns just to make sure the dress sat perfectly right, "I think it's perfect, thank you!" she said, popping off the high heels she'd brought with her, ready to switch back into her regular clothes.

"Knock, knock!" Mel's voiced chimed in its usual singsong way as she poked her head in, "just wanted to see how my girl was doing?"

Anna smiled warmly at her, "I'm great! Dress fits perfectly! I still have some stuff to finish before the luncheon - you don't think Jess will mind if I slip out a little early, right?" she asked, sliding her bag over shoulder.

"You sure you don't need any last minute help? I bet Ca-"

"Oh no, that's okay. I've got it!" she assured the woman, cutting her off as politely as she could, already knowing exactly where she was headed with that line of thinking. Mel had already blown up her phone with texts as soon as she'd heard about the two of them making up. Who could blame her though, as a Mother it made sense that she'd want all her kids getting along - and really what was Anna if not a child that they'd all but adopted, just with less paperwork involved.

Plus there was no way she was about to drag Cam into anything related to a wedding when she could only assume it was already hard enough if him and Cristina really were separating. Had he used that word, or had she just made the assumption based on how he'd phrased it? Either way, it was clear that Cristina and weddings were a raw nerve for him - at least just gauging on the way he seemed so suddenly uncomfortable when he'd stepped foot into her house last - and she wasn't about to press it.

Clearly they both still had a lot to figure out.

----------

Anna to admit she was really proud of what she'd managed to pull together. What had once been the remains of a bridal luncheon bomb that had gone off in her house, had now been transformed meticulously - at least as far as anyone was concerned, but she figured no one would be wandering around into the guest room to dig through all the boxes of crap that she'd have to end up donating.

She always had a habit of doing too much - or at least she'd been told that over the years time and again as if it were some sort of negative. It never really made sense to her, if you cared for someone then weren't you supposed to do things to make them feel seen and cared for.

It felt like most people didn't appreciate how quickly she was willing to fully immerse herself in a new person she'd met who she really liked. It was almost as if she were trying to fast-forward through the awkward getting to know stage and straight into that familiar comfort that came from years of intimately knowing each other. More than that, really, she was looking for the ease that had come so naturally with Cam, even when they were kids it never felt like she had to be anything other than her most authentic self.

Even now, when it had been 3 years of silence, it was still easier with him than it had been with anyone else.

As if on cue, her phone chimed again and she couldn't help but to smile down at it as she typed off another quick reply to him. It was nice to be making plans and laughing again, even if some small part of her still felt like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop - for him to go back and change his mind and disappear all over again.

Thankfully she didn't have much time to dwell on the thought as her door swung open, bringing with it the chaos and chatter that usually accompanied any large gathering of excited women.

It was nice being flooded by so much activity, so many different things happening that she barely had time to do much of anything except float from table to table offering assistance until she eventually relented and sat down long enough to actually participate rather than feel like it was her job to hover.

Popping a completed flower crown on her head, she headed back inside sneaking a quick peek at her phone again, a laugh that was a little too loud broke free from her gut at the stupid meme Cam had just sent her, as she shot off another quick response. She was just about to set the phone down when the familiar voice made her feel like she'd just been caught red-handed,

"Don't you look chipper," Hannah teased, leaning across the counter to study Anna, "that my idiot brother?" she asked, her head dipping toward the phone.

"Be nice! He apologized and we're on good terms..."

"Psht, yeah, what'd he do? Pull the ole grilled cheese move?" Hannah scoffed,

"... Well yeah, but when you say it like that it sounds cheap. It was nice that he remembered, okay? And he apologized and we're fine now, so...

"You don't think - "

"I think," Anna cut her off before she could get any further, "that it's nice to have my friend back after a really long time, and I think that I'd be just as happy if it were you or Jesse who suddenly came back after so long because I think we all make mistakes and deserve the chance to make up for them," she said mostly into the half-empty glass of rosé, the familiar toastiness of the alcohol settling in as she reached for her phone again, "do you think I should ask him to go to the rehearsal dinner with me?" she blurted out, reaching for her phone.

She was just about to add that it was merely an idea of convenience since they lived so close to each other and were going to the same place - why not just take one car and save on gas and mileage and...

it did't get very far before Hannah was already out of her seat, grabbing the phone out of her hands and chucking it on the couch as she dragged Anna back into the party "yeah well I think I'm cutting you off."

----------

"Are you sure you don't need any more help, sweetie?" Mel asked, bringing in the last round of dishes from outside.

"Nope! I'm all set here. You guys get going before it gets any later," she assured the woman. It was clear Hannah had been ready to go for a while by the way she kept glancing at her watch and checking her phone. Anna knew by now that Hannah liked to be home before El's bedtime to tuck him in, and they were already pushing it, especially with still having to drop Mel off.

"Oh hey, don't forget these!" she chased after the woman holding out a bag full of leftovers she'd packed away. She'd spent far too much time and energy on making so many things from scratch only to have to toss them at the end of the night. At least that's what she told herself - that it was a practical decision and not one based on the sheer hope that Cam might come across them and that they would offer him yet another reminder of how nice it really could be to be home again.

Of how nice it could be to let yourself be cared for again.