#or Ace actually asked him to do wo

[lulu-the-bugaboo]

Seeing how neat Ace's handwriting is as a child (especially compared to Luffy lol) just makes me imagine how patient Sabo must have been with teaching him

He probably had to correct him several times, and when Ace eventually got frustrated and lost his patience, he would encourage him and compliment his progress

They make so soft

[catreginae]

This Ring is a Shield

As far as the others knew, Warriors' ring was just something he wore to make sure other people didn't flirt with him to much. What they don't know is that Warriors technically married and that the platonic nature of his marriage actually works great for both him and his wife. It should have been easy to explain the nature of his marriage but in truth, he's just tired. He's tired of the comments, tired of the advice he didn't asked for, and tired of the pity. AKA the "Warriors and his wife are both aroace but Warriors takes his sweet time telling the chain" fic. I wrote a one-shot! A long one but it's a one shot and I finished it just in time for the aro and ace prompts for the @queering-the-chain event. You can also find this fic on AO3!

When Warriors saw the collection of buildings ahead of them signifying civilization, he pulled his ring out of one of his many pouches and slipped it onto his ring finger. The ring was slightly too big when he didn’t have his gloves on but seeing as he only really wore it in uniform, he didn’t have any reason to complain about it. Getting it sized down a notch wouldn’t be difficult but the thought only ever crossed his mind when he happened to be somewhere he couldn’t get it done.

“Why do you only put the ring on when we’re around other people?” Wind asked as he sped up to keep up with Warriors.

“Because he wants people to think he’s married,” Legend answered with a shrug. “It lets people know that they don’t have a chance with him. It helps when you’re in an era that isn’t your own and you don’t want to complicate whatever this is even further. The timeline is fragile enough without becoming your own great-grandfather or something stupid like that.”

Warriors hummed, wondering if it was wise to correct Legend. The veteran was definitely correct about one thing – he didn’t want people to be interested in him. However, he was technically married. He didn’t blame the others for thinking he was single, seeing as he called Time’s wedding ring a shackle and he didn’t treat his own ring as a symbol of love and devotion. Warriors didn’t think that the others would give him a hard time if he told him that he was married and why but in his experience, trying to explain his feelings on romance and intimacy was an exercise in frustration.

“You’re on the right track,” he said after a moment of hesitation. He didn’t have to explain it all now. Warriors could just give them something to think about and leave it at that.

“Right track?” Legend huffed. “Where am I wrong?”

Warriors chuckled and ruffled Legend’s hair, dislodging his hat from where he usually kept it on his head. Legend responded with a growl as he swatted the captain’s hands away and readjusted his hat.

Thankfully, they went the rest of the day without anybody asking about the ring on his finger.

-

“Thanks for coming, Link,” Zelda greeted as Link dropped the salute and she motioned for him to sit in the chair across from hers. “I have a big favour to ask of you and you’re going to hate it.”

Link didn’t say anything, electing to let Zelda continue speaking.

“I’ve been negotiating with the Arlet family for more support in the court,” she started. Link nodded along. From what he knew of the court, a lot of the nobles were giving her some trouble regarding how she was getting and allocating funds for the ongoing reconstruction effort, which was further behind than Zelda wanted. Getting the support of any of the noble families for this issue, and any future concerns, would be a massive relief for her. The less people she had to argue with, the better. “They are willing to support me and fund some of the reconstruction themselves... in exchange for your hand in marriage with one of their daughters.”

He gulped. Oh, she was definitely right when she said he was going to hate it. Zelda knew he wasn’t interested in marriage but he supposed that when he pledged allegiance to Zelda and Hyrule, that was out of his hands. She said it would be a favour but Link knew there wasn’t actually a choice in the matter. After all, she didn’t actually ask him.

“Do I at least get to meet her?”

“That can be arranged. Link... look, I know you don’t want to be married but...”

“It’s politics. I know.”

-

“Gah! Where is it?” No matter how many times Warriors looked through all of his bags and pouches, he couldn’t find his ring. It wouldn’t be missed or hard to replace thanks to the fact that he married into nobility but he didn’t want to have to admit to his in-laws that ever lost it in the first place. His wife wouldn’t care because she wasn’t all attached to the rings whatsoever and she only wore hers when she had to leave the villa. He couldn’t afford to be an embarrassment to Athena though.

Maybe it was on the ground? He swore he had it before they set up camp, so it couldn’t have gone too far away.

“What are you looking for?” Four asked. Warriors was so engrossed in his search that he jumped slightly when he heard Four.

“My ring. I can’t find it in any of my bags.”

Without question, Four got down on his hands and knees and started patting the ground for it. As far as the rest of them knew, it was a cheap ring he used to prevent people from flirting with him too much, but it was kind of Four to help him find it regardless of what he might have thought it was.

“Oh, here it is!” Four announced as he held up the ring. “Huh, this is good quality gold and I think I see engraving... Are you sure that this is just-”

“Thanks for finding it!” Warriors said as he plucked the ring out of Four’s fingers and put it back in his satchel where it usually stayed when he wasn’t wearing it on his finger. He really ought to find a better place for it. Maybe he should use it for its intended purpose more often and just wear it on his finger, even if he didn’t care for the symbolism behind it.

“Maybe you should have a small pocket for it in your satchel. Maybe with some sort of button. It would suck if you lost it in another era.”

“That’s not a bad idea...” It wouldn’t be hard to make a pocket inside of this satchel. He just needed some more material for it. Why didn’t he think of that before?

-

Link sat in one of Zelda’s meeting rooms with his heart drumming in the pit of stomach. He was sitting at a small, rounded table with a pot of tea and some biscuits in the middle. He already poured himself a cup and ate one of the biscuits in an effort to calm his nerves a bit. It didn’t help. He found himself wishing he was outside fighting something big – at least he was confident in his swordsmanship.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Link shifted so that his back was straight. A guard in full uniform opened the door and walked in, followed by a tall yet slim woman with chestnut coloured hair pinned into a bun. Her dress was plain, yet well-made from what Link could see, and the green and brown colour scheme matched her green eyes. When she approached the table, Link realized she would be taller than he was if he stood up. She took the seat opposite of his.

“I take it you’re Captain Link?”

“Yes. Just Link is fine.”

“You can call me Vivienne,” she said as she held her hand out. “Nice to meet you.”

Link took it. “Likewise...” he said as the guard walked out. Once the door was closed, Link let her hand go. “Before we start talking, I just wanted to say that I’m not actually... interested in couple things. I don’t really like romance and I never had the desire for intimacy and no offense, but I don’t think that will change any time soon. If I had a choice, I would probably never get married or hook up with anybody.”

He was the man who stared death in the face several times in his life so far but telling a stranger who was going to be his wife how he actually felt about being married was one of the most nerve-wracking things he had ever done. He was less nervous when the fate of Hyrule was resting on his shoulders.

“I just didn’t want you to get your hopes up...” he added slowly when she didn’t respond at first.

“Link, it’s... it’s fine. In fact... I was trying to figure out how I would say the same thing to you. I’m glad you said it first,” she said with an awkward chuckle but she also had an easy smile that actually made Link relax a little.

“So... we want the same thing. Am I hearing that right?”

“Yes. It seems as though we make a good match, though not for the typical reasons noble families arrange marriages for their children. We can make this work, I’m sure. After all, I doubt either one of us would get this opportunity to marry like minded people again.” She relaxed her shoulders as reached for one of the biscuits. That was when it finally sunk in for Link – he had nothing to fear. Zelda wouldn’t know it but her favour was actually a blessing.

“No kidding. Just to think I was so scared,” he said with a deep sigh, putting a hand on his chest. “If nothing else, I know how to put on a show.”

-

Spending time at the ranch was sometimes a bit of an odd affair for Warriors. It wasn’t that he hated doing hard work that often involved him getting dirty somehow, as much as the others like to make assumptions about his current life that happened to be close to the city. He didn’t mind any of the work Time gave them just to keep them busy and tire them out because collectively, they needed to burn some energy. None of them were really good at just sitting still.

He just felt awkward around Malon and Time sometimes. It wasn’t anything they did together or even separately – he loved them both. He was happy for both of them because they truly seemed to fit well together. Time deserved to be happy after everything he went through.

The problem was that he couldn’t get his brain to shut up. Sometimes, it was hard to watch Time and Malon enjoy their marriage without all the ‘life advice’ and the persistent questioning about his nonexistent dating life racing through his head and weighing him down. He could imagine all of those people pointing at Time and Malon, setting them up as the prime example of everything he was supposedly missing out on.

Aren’t you lonely without a partner? You just have to find the right person, then you’ll fall in love. You’ll settle down later in life, you’re just busy right now. Won’t you regret it if you don’t have any kids?

Those weren’t even the worst. The worst was the pity, the way they looked like they were sorry for him.

Like he was broken.

“Warriors?”

“Hm?” It took him a second to realize that somebody was trying to talk to him. It also took him a second to realize that his wrist was sore from holding his head up as he lounged against the horse fence. How long did he zone out for? His brain, his current worst enemy, helpfully reminded him that getting distracted like that in the battlefield would have gotten him or somebody else killed. Thanks, brain, he really needed that.

“Wow, you really are distracted,” Legend mumbled. “What’s going on? You look upset.”

Legend was good at teasing and poking fun but he was also good at knowing when it wasn’t welcomed. He must have zoned out for longer than he thought if Legend was frowning at him like that.

“It’s nothing.”

“Nothing? You’re all tense. I know the ranch will never be completely safe but you can relax a little bit.”

“I... yeah.” Legend was right, though not for the reason he might have thought. He shouldn’t let a bunch of people he could barely remember ruin his time at the ranch. How often do people get to travel through time and visit their now giant little brother’s home? Time and Malon did absolutely nothing but be welcoming and kind to him. It wasn’t them who tried to give him advice he never asked for. “I think I’ll just head inside.”

He heard Legend huff as pushed himself off the fence and walked inside the house.

-

Link woke up with the sun as he always did but it still took him a moment to remember just where he was waking up. He wasn’t used to the soft bed sheets, he wasn’t used to sleeping with more pillows than anybody actually needed to sleep, and he wasn’t used to being vaguely aware of another body in the same bed he was in. Luckily, his bed and sheets were so large that he had yet to really feel Vivienne moving around, but that didn’t stop him from being aware that she was there.

This morning though, she wasn’t there and if his head didn’t pound so much, he would have gotten up to go look for her. He always woke up before she did.

No, he should get up anyway. He had to go to the training grounds. The army had a lot of new recruits and he was one of the captains responsible for training the recruits who started to show some promise with a sword or at least seemed interested in learning how to use one. He sat up and a wave of dizziness struck him, forcing him to settle his head into his hands with his elbows digging into his thighs. His head was still pounding. His stomach felt like it was going to betray him.

Suddenly, the door opened. Link didn’t lift his head up to see who it was but only Vivienne would be around at the moment. The only other person who spent a lot of time in the villa, a women they hired named Clarissa who helped them maintain the villa, didn’t come in until much later in the morning. Usually, Link only saw her when he returned home and she was just getting ready to leave.

“Go back to sleep, Link,” Vivienne said as she guided him back down to the mattress. “I’ve already pulled a couple of strings to make sure that anybody who was expecting you knows you’re not available for the foreseeable future. You have quite the fever there.”

Oh, yeah, that would explain things.

However, it was also putting it mildly.

He was barely able to keep anything down except for some plain toast and water and even then, sometimes the toast was too much. His head never stopped aching or spinning so he had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. Vivienne was concerned enough to call for a doctor, who was constantly trying new medicine or new dosages. Sometimes he could keep the medicine down, sometimes he couldn’t. The doctor came daily to check for any signs for change for better or for worse. He supposed that was a perk to being married into a noble family – they had the extra rupees to pay for a doctor’s full attention.

No matter how bad it got though, Vivienne and Proxi, who dropped into their home at some point and declared that she was staying until he felt better, were always around for him. Proxi helped with encouraging words or translating his mumbled speech to Vivienne or the doctor. Vivienne was always there to help him feel more comfortable, like washing his face and back, changing the sheets, or holding his hair back when something upset his stomach too much. Sometimes, she even rubbed small circles into his back until he drifted off to sleep for as long as his body would allow.

All in all, it took nearly three weeks before Link was well enough to return to the barracks. They weren’t married for that long and once he was well, Link found himself a little embarrassed that one of her first impressions of him was him being violently ill.

Vivienne simply smiled when he said as much. “Link, we might be stuck together but I consider you to be a friend nonetheless and when one of my friends is suffering, I try my best to make it better. I’m glad you’re alright now and I’m glad I didn’t catch whatever that was.”

“You should be. It was awful.”

-

“I didn’t know you liked cats,” Twilight said with a grin as squatted down to scratch one of them behind the ears while Warriors was busy petting one down the length of its back. It was a creamy-white colour with long, fluffy fur that seemed pretty well taken care of if it was truly a stray. All the cats he saw had soft and shiny coats, seemed to be of a healthy weight, and he didn’t see any signs of illness. Maybe somebody did take care of them all. There were a few people in his own Castletown who took it upon themselves to make sure the strays were doing well.

He felt like he ought to be doing more, since they were in a large city and not every era had a big city to explore. Twilight’s Castletown felt much like his own, busy and bursting with life, including the very many cats he found in one of the residential side streets. However, he was busy petting cats and he didn’t think the cats weren’t going to let him go anytime soon even if he did want to leave. The cats were the perfect distraction for his very busy mind and they seemed to sense that he needed a distraction because they surrounded him in an instant. He was petting one or two at a time but the rest were doing their own thing, simply content to bless him with their presence. How could he possibly leave them to go do errands?

“Oh, I love them! I have one of my own, actually.”

Warriors always did enjoy cats but his parents never allowed one in their home, since it was attached to their store and well, his parents didn’t want fur all over the clothes they were trying to sell. He didn’t like it but his parents had a point. It wasn’t until he moved in with Vivienne that a pet was feasible – they had the room and she spent most of her time indoors, so Penelope was never alone for too long.

“Really? You have a pet? Aren’t you busy being a big shot in the army?” Twilight asked with the grin that always accompanied his playful jabs to Warriors’ career choice.

“Well, I don’t live alone. I have a roommate who takes care of her when I’m not around. That’s why we picked her out together from a neighbour’s litter. She looks kind of like this one,” Warriors said, gesturing to the cat he was petting, “but she’s all white and her name is Penelope.”

“Penelope!” Twilight was practically squealing. “Fucking adorable.”

Thankfully, Twilight didn’t ask about his roommate. He didn’t feel like explaining that his roommate was actually his wife and Penelope was regarded as their child and she was even introduced to his in-laws as such. Link inquired about putting Penelope in their will to inherit their estate should they both die suddenly and tragically young but her parents only begrudgingly called Penelope ‘the furry grandchild’, so they wouldn’t find it as funny as they did. Unless they adopted a Hylian child or brought more cats into the house, Penelope was the only ‘grandchild’ her parents were getting from them. Maybe they won’t care – Vivienne wasn’t their only child to get grandchildren from and she wasn’t inheriting the main estate anyway.

“I hope you know that if we’re ever in your neck of the woods, we’re going to see her. You’re not allowed to hide a cat from me.”

Warriors found himself laughing. “Twilight, I know better than to get between you and an animal.”

-

Link was grateful that his in-laws didn’t try to parade them around or throw extravagant parties on their behalf that often. Their wedding was mostly just friends and family from both sides and it took place in the Arlet estate garden, so it was out of the view of the public. Vivienne said something about how they were glad she got married at all, so maybe they were afraid to rock the boat too much. Maybe that’s why they didn’t argue when Penelope was introduced as their child.

For their first anniversary, her parents decided once again to forgo something fancy and just gifted the two a bunch of wine that they definitely drank too much of that night because he couldn’t really remember what they did besides drink a lot. He did remember waking up on the bedroom floor with Penelope sleeping on his back. Her parents didn’t leave Penelope out of the celebration either, giving her a bed that she went on to use a lot.

But Link knew that one day, his in-laws would drag him to some sort of function where they would show him off. He was the hero and a noble now.

He couldn’t say he was surprised when his father-in-law showed up at his door unannounced, thankfully when he was actually home, and told him and Vivienne that he was hosting a party and he expected the two of them to be there. Luckily, he already had clothes for the occasion that Vivienne said were nice enough – a gift from his tailoring family when he got married – and he went to fancy dinner parties before as a bodyguard, so at least he wasn’t going in blind.

“Vivienne and Link!” They spent maybe all of five seconds at her father’s before he found them near the entrance. Link wouldn’t have been surprised if he was waiting for them. His father-in-law gestured towards the rest of his estate with a grin on his face. “Link, let me show you around. This is your first time inside the main estate, yes?”

Link looked back at Vivienne. She simply shook her head. They were stuck following his father-in-law around his estate. Link couldn’t tell if it was because he was proud of his estate and actually liked showing it off to people or if it was some clever way to show off Link himself to the guests that were already there. He was certainly recognized as the hero even though his scarf was missing. At least he was used to getting looks from strangers all the time.

But it was made tolerable with Vivienne being close by, offering some sort of comment about what trouble she got into as a kid when her father introduced them to a new wing of the estate. Apparently, she was quite the fan of climbing when she was a child and he could see it in her father’s face that he wasn’t sure if he should have been amused or exasperated by the memories. When her father let them go to hang out and eat in the dining room, the two of them stuck together in a lonely corner of the room, watching and making quiet comments about the other guests. Vivienne knew most of them and had some juicy details to share.

If Link had to summarize the party, he would call it two friends suffering together. He had a decent time but it wasn’t because of anything that was offered at the party – it was spending time with a friend and engaging in gossip.

It made him think of all the people he could have been stuck with, all the people who would want more than he was comfortable with offering or just couldn’t offer at all. He couldn’t reciprocate romantic feelings as he didn’t feel them and the thought of being intimate made him deeply uncomfortable.

But being friends and sharing a space with Vivienne was easy. They were two friends who had to pretend to be more sometimes, but the important part was that they both knew that it was a game.

-

Warriors frequented taverns and pubs, not just to have a drink or two with those he was close to but because drunk people were a fountain of information. It was less helpful in his own era since people knew who he was and were more guarded around him, but in other eras where people had no idea who he was? They saw no reason to filter their words and they told him all sorts of things. Sometimes it was useful but sometimes he just got sucked into whatever gossip there was and he didn’t learn anything that would help them.

Today, he was at a pub with Sky and Twilight. He didn’t drink with them often, just once or twice in Time’s era when Time dragged them to Castletown. Time was his usual drinking buddy but he seemed pretty tired so he declined his invitation. It was times like those where he truly lived up to his ‘old man’ nickname.

Alcohol didn’t change Twilight that much. His accent was definitely coming out more and he was a bit louder but otherwise, Twilight was acting mostly the same. Sky was quieter after a couple of drinks, like he was contemplating matters of existence. The chosen hero wasn’t the chattiest to begin with but after a few drinks, he didn’t start conversations anymore. He needed to be roped into it.

They were only a few drinks in when a woman slid into the seat beside him with a wide grin on her face. Great, he knew exactly where this was going. Before she could say anything, Warriors held up his hand with his ring on it. “Before you say anything, just know that I’m already taken.”

“Oh, are they here right now?” she asked, her eyes scanning the crowd before her gaze settled on him again. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“I’m not a cheater,” Warriors snapped back. “I’m happy with my wife.”

“Is she happy with you? You’ve got the look of a military man. When’s the last time you’ve gone home to see her? Are you sure she’s been as loyal to you as you are to her?”

Warriors wasn’t sure what her goal was. He never had anyone who wanted to sleep with him insult him and his wife in the span of a minute. Was she mad that he rejected her?

“You don’t know anything. If you’re trying to get me into bed with you, you’re failing miserably,” he said as he stood up. Sky and Twilight caught him and he spotted Twilight fishing out his wallet as Warriors found the shortest route to the exit. He didn’t look back as he headed to the one familiar spot in town and stepped into the room he was sharing with Four and Hyrule. He must have looked a mess because the two took one look at him and stayed away from him for the rest of the night. Just as well, he didn’t feel like talking.

He knew he couldn’t avoid it though. He wasn’t surprised that Sky found him in the morning as Warriors chugged down some water, hoping that the minor ache in his head would disappear if he had more water. At least, Warriors hoped that the minor headache came from alcohol and not because that woman at the bar made him so angry that he had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep.

Though, if he was honest with himself, it wasn’t just the encounter at the bar. His mind raced constantly, dredging up experiences and memories that he wanted to bury and never look at again. Ever since he was asked about his ring, he couldn’t stop thinking about all of the unhelpful and unwarranted advice he got when he was single or all the pity he got when people thought he was stuck in a sad, loveless marriage. Warriors just couldn’t stop thinking about it even when he wanted to or needed to focus on something else.

He hoped they weren’t travelling. He was pretty sure he wasn’t fit for it.

“Why did you storm out of the bar last night? Was it the woman?”

“Of course it was the woman!”

Sky smiled awkwardly and rubbed at the back of his neck. Shit, he shouldn’t have answered his question like that. He wasn’t mad at Sky.

“What did she say that set you off? Twilight and I didn’t really hear it.”

“She wanted me to cheat on my wife and when I rejected her, she start insinuating that my wife was cheating on me and before you ask, I actually do have a wife.”

“Oh, that’s what you meant when you said Legend was on the right track,” he mumbled as he titled his head slightly. “You are actually married, huh?”

“It’s a political marriage. Athena needed extra support from a noble and she got it when I married the noble’s daughter. Through marriage with the hero, that family is now closer than ever to the royal family and in return, Athena has more weight to throw against other nobles.”

“So you didn’t marry for love?” Sky asked with a slight pout on his lips that often came with confusion. Warriors could feel his frustration bubble under his skin but he took a deep breath. It wasn’t Sky’s fault that Warriors had this conversation before with a bunch of other people who didn’t understand that not everybody wants to date or be in a marriage or be intimate.

“I’m actually happy this way. I don’t care if it’s a ‘loveless’ marriage. We both knew what we were getting into before the documents were drawn up and before we were actually married. I made it clear to her the first time we met that I wasn’t interested in sex or romance. It turns out she feels the same way. We’re just roommates who occasionally have to pretend that we are more than just roommates. We share a home, we share a bed that’s so big we barely know there’s somebody else in it, and we share custody of a cat named Penelope. I’m not interested in anything more than that.”

Sky hummed for a moment, then smiled. “Well, if that’s what you want, then that arrangement sounds perfect for both of you. As long as you’re both happy, nobody should get a say about what the two of you do or don’t do together.”

For a moment, Warriors was taken aback. In his experience, it generally took a lot more convincing before somebody backed off and switched topics. He didn’t know why it was so hard to convince people that was actually happy.

“Why didn’t you say this before, though? Everybody would have understood.”

“Because it’s tiring... before I got married, everyone and their grandma would tell me that I just had to meet the right person, then I would want to date and get married and have kids. If I met the right person, I would be ‘normal’. Now that they know this marriage is political more than anything else... they fucking pity me. They think the fact that I didn’t marry for love is something to pity. Some people even tell me I’ll learn to fall in love with my wife. They just can’t fathom that somebody just... doesn’t care about any of that. It’s so tiring. I’m tired of trying to explain it and people looking at me like I’m broken or something. No matter how many times I tell them I’m happy, they just don’t believe me.”

Sky frowned. “Has... this been on your mind for a while? We all noticed that you seemed distracted lately.”

He only nodded. The thoughts probably would have started bothering him at some point, even if nobody asked about his ring. They seem to come and go, more often when he was in town and people tried to talk to him. However, the current cyclical nature of his thoughts was because he was asked about his ring and he had to think about how to answer.

“Do you ever plan on telling the others that you’re married?”

“If we end up nearby, yes.” He did tell Twilight he could meet Penelope and even if he didn’t, the villa would be a nice break for them and their wallets. They were always maintaining guest rooms that didn’t get used so it would be nice if the villa was full of people for once. It was far too large for a family of three and their hired help. “For now, I just need to collect my thoughts.”

Though... it helped that Sky took it so well. Maybe he wouldn’t have to explain it to them more than once. They would probably believe him if he said he was actually happy with his arrangement.

“Okay. Just let me know if you need any help.”

“I will. Thanks, Sky.”

-

Warriors thought there would be more time between his conversation with Sky and the conversation he knew he needed to have with the others before they set up in the villa for a few days. It was only a couple of weeks after he talked to Sky that a portal took them to a battle and it was when he was wiping the black blood off his blade that he realized that he recognized the castle in the distance. His villa was only about a half an hour from the castle.

“To the castle?” Twilight asked.

“Actually, there’s a place we should go first. Athena can wait until tomorrow.”

“Oh, so this is your era,” Legend said with a nod. “What’s this stop you plan on taking?”

“My place. It’s big enough to fit all of us comfortably.”

Wind raised an eyebrow. “How big is your place?”

“It’s...” Was this how he was going to start explaining who Vivienne was? By explaining why he can comfortably host them all? His gaze met with Sky’s, who gave him an encouraging nod. “It’s a villa. I moved in when I got married.”

There was a moment of awkward silence before Legend glared him. “Is that what you meant when you said I was on the right track? You could have just said so! It was bugging me ever since you said it.”

Warriors rolled his eyes. “I didn’t feel like explaining it back then. Even now, it’s a little difficult...” He took a deep breath. “I got married because Athena asked me to. I didn’t pick my wife but it’s pretty convenient for both of us because we are both just happy being friends. If I had to get married to somebody else, I wouldn’t be able to return any romantic feelings and being intimate would be out of the question. We have to put on a show sometimes but that’s a small price to pay to able to say I’m married and not have to do anything I’m uncomfortable with.”

He had no doubt that there were questions but the others simply nodded, except for Sky who offered two thumbs up instead. Maybe they were just saving questions for later but he wasn’t going to complain about the break. They probably cared more about having a roof over their heads than about his odd but convenient marriage.

Wind hummed for a moment before putting a hand on his chin. “So your wife won’t mind if we stay at your place then?”

“I doubt she would care. In fact, she might even be happy that we’re using the guest rooms as guest rooms for once.”

“What are they being used for now?” Time asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Decoration.”

“Wait, this means we get to meet Penelope!”

“Who?”

“His cat!” Twilight answered with a wide grin. “C’mon, butts in gear! We have a cat to meet!”

There were some grumbles but the group started moving, following Warriors as he led them to the villa. It was nearly sunset by the time they got there so he wasted no time in opening the front gate and letting everybody in. He stopped them as soon as they got into the front doors and he couldn’t immediately see her nearby. He didn’t think she would get upset about the villa being used as an inn for a few days, he wanted to give her a little bit of warning.

He found Penelope first in one of their many hallways so he scooped her up and kept looking for Vivienne until he found her in her plant room, which was the room in the villa with the most windows. She was bent over one of the pots trimming the plant inside of it. He cleared his throat to let Vivienne know he was coming in so she didn’t startle and drop the trimmers.

“Oh, you’re home.” She straightened her back and turned around to face him.

“For a bit. If there’s another lead, I’ll have to go again. I have company though!”

“Oh, those heroes you mentioned in the single letter I got?” she asked with a smirk. Warriors winced internally – they were still friends and he should really let her know more often that he was still alive and her father didn’t have to find a new husband for her. “I’m not upset, by the way. I can only imagine that time travel complicates things, to say the least.”

“Yeah. I got busy. I didn’t realize I only sent one letter,” he mumbled as he ran a hand through Penelope’s fur. “But they’re in the lobby if you want to meet them. I told them they could stay here for a few days since we have the room.”

“It would be a shame not to use it. It might be the only time we’ll fill all four guest rooms at the same time. Let’s go show them their rooms, then. My parents didn’t raise me to be a bad host.”

Warriors’ heart pounded in his chest was they walked back to the lobby. He couldn’t understand why he was so nervous. The others would be nice to Vivienne and they knew she was his wife, so there wasn’t anything to hide. Vivienne was generally pretty nice and she got along with the people he was close with before. It should go well but his nerves were still getting the best of him.

Finally, he saw the other heroes, who were all studying Vivienne.

“Wow, she’s tall!” Wind gasped. Vivienne was a bit taller than Time, as it turned out and she wasn’t even wearing shoes. Her entire family was tall – taller than he was – so he wasn’t exactly surprised that she beat them all.

“We’re just kind of short,” Time chimed in, shaking his head.

“This is Vivienne,” Warriors started, gesturing with his free arm, “and this our daughter, Penelope. Vivenne, you already know their names but they’ll introduce themselves with their nicknames sooner or later.”

“Can I hold Penelope?” Twilight asked, arms outstretched.

“Just keep her belly down, she hates being on her back,” he warned as she gently passed her over.

It was a good thing that Penelope enjoyed a lot of attention. Once she was settled in Twilight’s arms, it wasn’t just Twilight who was petting her – half the group was reaching around and crowding Twilight to get a chance to pet her. Warriors could hear her purring over the excited cooing coming from the boys.

“I hope she doesn’t expect that much attention from now on,” Vivienne mumbled before she turned to the others. “I know Penelope is amazing but I should show you to your rooms. Penelope doesn’t leave the house, she’ll be around for more petting later. She may even pick one your rooms to spend the night in later.”

“We’ll be back,” Twilight said quietly as he pet her on the head one more time and set her down on the floor. Warriors watched as everybody followed her, looking around the villa as they did so. Penelope purred and rubbed her head on his leg so he picked her up once again.

“That went well,” he mumbled as he looked down at her giant green eyes. “Especially for you.”

She meowed.

“Yeah, you are spoiled. You deserve it, though.”

Instead of following everybody to the guest rooms, he headed towards the master bedroom to change into something more comfortable. He set Penelope down on their bed – neither he nor Vivienne cared if Penelope got her fur all over it – and slowly stripped off all of his equipment and gear, dropping everything on the floor by his side of the bed to deal with later.

One loose shirt and clean pair of trousers later, he left the master bedroom to find that everybody was gathered at the kitchen table that he and Vivienne usually used for their own dinners. The only person not at the table was Wild, who was poking around in the oven to warm it up. There was a more official dining room in the villa but they only used that one when Vivienne had family over and it had one of those long dining tables that made Warriors wonder if anybody actually wanted to eat together. The table in the kitchen was a little small for the size of the group but they were all used to butting into each other’s space all the time.

Warriors decided to stay on the periphery of the conversations, joining only when their conversations were directed at him. He wanted his brothers and his wife to get along, so he wasn’t going to intrude when it seemed like they were actually bonding. Vivienne was relaxed, talking to the group in the same way she spoke to him or the few times he saw she had a couple of the neighbours over for some tea. It was also the same way she spoke to Clarissa, as the two of them became friends pretty quickly. She spoke more formally with some of her family members than she did with the other heroes.

As for the heroes, they were behaving as he expected – they were asking Vivienne for embarrassing stories about him. Oh, well. If that was the price of peace, he would let it slide. It wasn’t like she had a lot on him in particular.

Once they all had dinner and tea, the group of heroes all headed to their rooms, except for Sky. He helped himself to the last of the tea in pot and started to headed to his assigned room but he made sure that he passed Warriors.

“You did a good job today,” he said quietly, adding a small but sincere smile before leaving.

Once he was gone, Vivienne tapped him on the shoulder. “He’s right, you did a good job. I know it’s not easy to tell people we’re married,” she started before gesturing toward their own bedroom, “but we should go to get some rest too if we’re hosting this many people.”

“They can be a handful,” Warriors mumbled. “I’m sure Penelope is waiting for us anyway. Let’s go.”

[tobiasdrake]

who do you think is the best teacher in Dragonball?

That's a tough question. But I'm leaning towards Mr. Popo.

Our journey through teachers begins, of course, with the Muten-Roshi. Goku's only with Roshi for about eight months so we don't get to see a lot of his teaching, even though other Kame-senryu students are with him for longer. In that time, he's able to instill a very important philosophy in Goku that will guide him through his life.

It's the Muten-Roshi who imparts Dragon Ball's central theme of never being satisfied with yourself and always striving for self-improvement. He went to great lengths to instill that in his pupils - lengths so great that even Roshi questions whether they were truly necessary.

And he does have other good things to teach. Most notably, he's the one who teaches Goku the value of mental discipline and rest.

This well-balanced approach to self-improvement is something Goku carries with him. Part of what makes him so exceptional as a martial artist is that he understands that training and technique honing is only part of the process.

One of the things that makes Goku a great martial artist is that he understands your body needs time to recover and grow after exertion. That is the turtle master way.

But for all his benefits as a mentor, what the Muten-Roshi sucks at is fucking teaching martial arts. In terms of philosophy, he has much to impart. But when they ask him, the Muten-Roshi, the Old Heavenly Master of Martial Arts, to teach them martial arts?

He just gives them bodybuilding instruction. Roshi tells them that this is all the Kame-senryu is: Extensive strength training to become so physically tough that you can knock out a foe with one punch. He is, however, full of shit.

Despite claiming that martial arts is just being really strong, his fight against Goku in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai sees him pull out all kinds of esoteric techniques and skills to level the playing field against Goku's insurmountable might and analytical brilliance. The Muten-Roshi knows a ton of practical martial arts technique. He's just not sharing.

I'm half-convinced he held all this stuff back on purpose just so he'd have a few aces up his sleeve in the tournament proper. Which even Roshi isn't sure was actually necessary.

His next teacher is Karin, the God of Martial Arts. Karin has some useful wisdom to impart with regard to anticipation.

And he introduces one of the most important items in the Dragon Ball series.

Thank you Viz for the redundant translation of "Holy Hermit Bean Bean". I don't get enough migraines from the dub constantly calling them Senzu Beans. This is the Chai Tea of Dragon Ball.

Goku is with Karin for about three days, and it goes pretty well. Karin presents Goku with a challenging test to overcome, which he must do by getting lighter on his footwork and learning to anticipate Karin's moves.

But for the most part....

It's still just strength training. Tenshinhan's out there learning secret Tsuru-senryu techniques to levitate in the air and nobody's willing to do more for Goku but bulk up his muscles. Speaking of which.

This guy tried to murder his own students because they wouldn't do an assassination for him. Fuck this guy. He sucks. Get out of here!

When you get to the moon, tell Toninjinka that his mochi needs wo-- Oh, wait, the moon's gone. Uh. Have fun in space.

Goku's next teacher would be God. Or at least he would be if God ever bothered to teach him. Which he didn't. Goku has never studied under God.

He made Goku stay at his Temple for three years to prepare for his rematch with Piccolo. But he gave up on that after deciding Goku didn't have what it takes to do what he felt must be done: Kill Piccolo and let God die with him. Goku's soft heart wouldn't allow him to do it.

So he dumped Goku on Popo and went, "You deal with this, I'm busy," and then went off to pursue the Mafuba/Evil Containment Wave instead. Goku's training was a scrapped project for him.

Nonetheless, Goku grew substantially during his time in Heaven. (Look at him! He's so much taller-- No, I jest.) Popo is the first teacher to offer Goku something that isn't strength training.

It's almost like he's never had a master teach him spirit or skills before. It's almost like.

Mr. Popo doesn't offer Goku more strength training. Instead, for the first time, Goku has someone who wants to teach him technique.

This is some of the most game-changing instruction Goku ever receives in his career. Over the next three years, Popo sharpens Goku not just physically but spiritually.

He technically doesn't learn to sense ki here; He gained a rough comprehension of it from drinking rat poison earlier that day. But as Popo demonstrates here, there's a world of difference between "Oh cool I can sense your ki" and "I feel Yamcha's ki 700 km in that direction. He's sitting in his home eating breakfast Wheaties and scratching his butt. Puar's preparing to make eggs aaaaaand now he's a frying pan."

This is where Goku makes the transition from martial artist to Heavenly Martial Artist, and the difference is stark. When he shows up to the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, he's on a whole different playing field.

He no longer experiences reality the same way as everyone else. He's ascended to a higher plane of understanding. All because of Popo, since God abandoned this project and ran off to do his own thing instead. Goku is literally the "Dr. Gero's computer kept working and completed Cell anyways" of martial arts.

Great work, Popo. Gold star.

Kaio is next on Goku's list of mentors. He's working on a bit of a time crunch; Goku only has six months to spend with him. Kaio's training emphasizes two things. One is, of course, more strength training though this time there's an interesting twist to it.

Planet Vegeta's gravity is at least as strong as the gravity on Kaio's world. This is where Goku's introduced to the concept of gravity training for the first time - Something that, ironically, Vegeta would cling to more heavily than Goku. Goku's been doing weight training since Roshi, but the idea of increased gravity as a substitute for (or in addition to) weight is introduced by Kaio.

Goku himself would incorporate this gravity training into his later efforts to more fully master the Kaio-ken on his way to Namek. Speaking of which, that's the other thing Kaio imparts on him. From him, Goku learns the Genki-Dama and the Kaio-ken.

Kaio pretty much became Goku's forever teacher after this point, but we rarely see him do more than supervise. Which makes sense, since Goku officially became a Master himself as of the Namek arc. Though all of Goku's teachers will always be looking out for him, his art becomes truly his own from this point onward.

That brings us to Piccolo.

Piccolo comes from the "My Daddy beat me and I turned out fine" school of shaping young minds. It's to be expected; He was literally Evil Incarnate just eight years ago.

While Piccolo's journey of redemption is heartwarming to see and he does succeed in honing Gohan into a weapon, his skills as a mentor leave something to be desired. He fails to consider Gohan's psychological needs. He builds Gohan's strength and teaches him technique, but fails to grasp that this four-year-old child does not have a warrior instinct to get out there and throw hands with planet-killers.

He throws Gohan into the deep end and Gohan sinks like a stone. Failing to develop his bond with Gohan and offer the kid the encouragement he needs to get out there and do this is a fatal error in his training.

Piccolo pays for this mistake with his life.

Finally, that leaves Goku himself.

As a Master in his own right, Goku has so much to impart onto Gohan. At least, whatever Piccolo hasn't already. As a teacher, Goku is encouraging of Gohan and offers him clear and unmistakable guidance.

He talks things over with Gohan, explaining ahead of time what their goal is and how they're going to achieve it.

Like Popo, Goku's pretty great as a teacher. There's just. One. Small. Problem: He fails to consider Gohan's psychological needs. Yeah, that's right, Goku walks face-first into the same error that Piccolo died for, which is why Piccolo freaks out on him for it.

It helps that Piccolo not only has personal experience making this exact same mistake, but also the wisdom of God now.

Like. It's important to note that it's not that Goku misunderstands Gohan. He knows, intellectually, what kind of person Gohan is. He knows Gohan's passions lie elsewhere.

Nonetheless, Goku sees too much of himself in Gohan, overlooking the reality that Gohan was so gung-ho about training with Goku because he thought he was helping his dad. Despite clearly conveying the mechanisms and goals of their training, Goku never even thought to broach this topic with him because he just. Assumed.

Even though he knew Gohan longed for academia, he assumed Gohan also had the spirit of a martial artist in him. That Gohan was still driven by the same fire that he is, compelled to push his limits and test himself against mighty foes. He makes that fatal mistake that so many parents make, of projecting himself onto his child.

Goku pays for this mistake with his life.

Android 16 is able to salvage Goku's mistakes and make this work, much as Goku once salvaged Piccolo's. And to his credit, Goku learns and is able to offer Gohan the emotional support and direct coaching he needs to finish the job.

I particularly love "Show me the power that we made together" because it puts the emphasis on his and Gohan's bond, rather than Gohan's fighting. It demonstrates the expansion of his understanding of Gohan's motives.

Nonetheless, this was a pretty significant error too make as a teacher so I can't give Goku full marks.

With that in mind... I gotta give it to Popo. Popo took God's castoff dumpster-project, poured himself into it, and gave Goku some of the greatest instruction of his entire career. A+

[oraclekleo]

BHS Tarot Reading - Hyunjin (Stray Kids)

BHS Game stands for Blindfold - Handcuff - Spank and it’s a more spicy variant of the Kiss - Marry - Kill game. This passive version of the BHS Tarot Game describes idols’ reactions to them being on the receiving and giving side of these activities. Depending on your preferences, you can read only the parts you personally feel drawn to or you can read it all out of curiosity. This version describes the situation from the idol’s perspective but can include some details about you, if the cards indicate it.

Disclaimer:

All celebrity readings have purely entertainment nature

I don’t know any of the celebrities personally

Don’t base life decisions purely on tarot readings

I can never guarantee any of what’s said in the reading

Feedback: Feedback is very important for content creators and for me it’s even more important. Please, let me know whether the tarot readings resonate. If there’s anything you dislike or find off about my readings (like wording, topics, focus), just tell me. I don’t want you to write 1000-word feedback, very simple comments will do for me to stay motivated. I don’t know why I have to keep repeating this but this is something I do for you, guys, and when I don’t feel motivated to do tarot readings, I have many other things to do. The more motivation I get, the more readings you will get to read. The logic is very simple but it’s two sided.

Reading Info:

Rating: 18+

Reading Type: Single - Couple

Requested: Yes - No

Requester: /

Deck(s): Erotic Fantasy Tarot, Tarot of Sexual Magic, Tarot of Casanova

Spread: BHS

Questions:

Blindfolded by you

Handcuffed by you

Spanked by you

Blindfolds you

Handcuffs you

Spanks you

Celebrity Info:

Full Name: Hwang Hyun Jin

Stage Name: Hyunjin

Group: Stray Kids

DOB: 20.03.2000

Blood Type: B

MBTI: INFP

Sun Sign: Pisces

Chinese Sign: Metal Dragon

Life Path Number: 7

Masterpost: Stray Kids

Hyunjin (Stray Kids) - Sub

Blindfolded by you (VI The Lovers, Page of Wands, Ace of Cups - Erotic Fantasy Tarot):

Being blindfolded by you is an act of utter trust on Hyunjin’s side. He puts his entire being into your hands, trusting you that you will handle him gently. Hyunjin expresses his love and devotion in letting you take control. He’s vulnerable only for you and you have to keep in mind that if you break that trust, it’s forever and can’t be mended. There’s a sin hinted in the cards which might suggest that for Hyunjin, being blindfolded by his lover is in a way a sinful, yet pleasurable experience. It might allow him to drop any restraints he might have, speak freely, ask you to do things he would never spell out without the blindfold. With the ace of cups, he might actually love to blindly go down on you and drink you up like a fountain of youth.

Handcuffed by you (3 of Pentacles, 7 of Pentacles, 4 of Pentacles - Tarot of Sexual Magic):

It looks like for Hyunjin, handcuffing him is exactly in his comfort zone. He likes to be at your service and in your mercy. The restriction of his hands allow him to better bask in your warmth, in anything you are willing to give him. He might truly become rather passive once you tie his hands (possibly ankles) up. He’s likely to lie back, relax and only encourage your plans further. Hyunjin wants to be (wo)manhandled with care and gentleness, though. He wants to feel you whole, your limbs entwined, skin to skin. He’s into all soft, though, so make sure to use non-harmful materials. Thick velvet yarn for knitting will do and it will also appeal to Hyunjin’s aesthetic taste as you can turn him into a sort of a beautiful tapestry tying him up shibari style with soft yarn. Be sure he will insist on you taking a picture of him being an art piece. Handcuffs allow Hyunjin to pull and feel the physical restraint instead of the mental boundaries. While he’s physically limited wearing the handcuffs, his fantasy and lust can be free of any prejudice or shame. It looks like Hyunjin has some internal issues with what’s considered acceptable and it causes friction in his life. He might enjoy submitting to someone as it somewhat frees him of the responsibility. While he might be into some things, he feels guilty for those fantasies. However, if his mistress or master brings those up, he’s more than happy to participate.

Spanked by you (7 of Swords, King of Cups, 6 of Wands - Tarot of Casanova):

Once again there’s the motive of forbidden pleasure for Hyunjin. He’s likely to crave spanking once in a while but it has to be done secretly and only with a person he fully trusts. He needs to feel a deep emotional and spiritual connection with you first before he consents to a physical punishment. It’s not likely for him to act up, though, you might need to somewhat invent the misbehaviour as he’s not really bratty. The swords could indicate Hyunjin becoming quite vocal during spanking, be it moaning, begging or even encouraging you. Again, I suggest a lighter touch here as Hyunjin’s pain threshold isn’t high and he’s more of a gentle soul. He might actually prefer a little warm up before the spanking; stroking his thighs, massaging his back, kneading his but. Hyunjin is more likely to enjoy the touch of your hand rather than being spanked with a tool.

Hyunjin (Stray Kids) - Dom

Blindfolds you (Queen of Wands, 8 of Pentacles, XVI The Tower - Erotic Fantasy Tarot):

For Hyunjin, sex is all about appreciating beauty and the mutual bond. He might want to blindfold you not only with a regular blindfold but with a beautiful silken scarf. He’s likely to turn you into an artistic masterpiece. Hyunjin is a gentle and caring lover. He’s not trying to gain power over you by taking one of your senses away, he’s merely guiding you towards empowerment of your other senses. Hyunjin is likely to treat you with kindness even and especially when you are at his mercy. He’s likely to actually ask you what it is you want him to do. While he has no problem doing whatever feels comfortable for you, he’s not that much of a dom to actually decide himself. He’s not the type to surprise and shock you, he always suggests or simply asks about your preferences. His own taste knows no limits as he’s simply in love with you and you are the very epitome of beauty for him, the deity he worships. If you ask him to blindfold you but then just hold you in his arms, he will do so with pleasure.

Handcuffs you (III The Empress, Page of Pentacles, 3 of Cups - Tarot of Sexual Magic):

Once again, it’s more likely to be you, who suggests to Hyunjin to handcuff you. He’s not much likely to pitch the idea himself. He might imagine it frequently but he’s not the type to share, unless you open the topic. And again, Hyunjin is likely to be super gentle and soft when it comes to handcuffing you. Don’t expect him to put metal or hard plastic handcuffs, those could harm the wrists of your which he worships so dearly. He’s likely to use the plush handcuffs or to tie your wrists with a silken or satin scarf. Hyunjin is not likely to spend much time with it either. Hyunjin likes the soft materials as we have mentioned and he will be more than happy to tie you up with colourful velvet yarns. He’s not a full shibari enthusiast, though he might copy the patterns with softer material; he will use as little material to restrain you as possible. You might actually struggle more to stop yourself from tearing the ties than with freeing yourself. And again, Hyunjin will keep asking and approach this as a teamwork. Nothing happens without your consent. His ideas might even be a little conservative at the beginning and you might need to help him open up about the more daring fantasies. On the other hand, he might actually want to take pictures of you in the vulnerable position and make paintings later on just to depict you as a real art piece. Don’t be surprised if Hyunjin has a secret locked up gallery of paintings depicting his exes in erotic poses.

Spanks you (XIV Temperance, 2 of Swords, 8 of Pentacles - Tarot of Casanova):

Hyunjin might actually be pretty hesitant when it comes to spanking you. He’s surely not the one to come up with the idea. You might need to persuade him to go for it and even so he’s really gentle because he believes he’s supposed to pleasure you, not punish you. Nothing you can do is worth a punishment in his eyes. You might really need to convince him that the spanking is for your pleasure, too. It’s likely to be more of an enlightening experience, with Hyunjin starting off with nearly featherlike touches and you begging him to put some force into it. The cards suggest, Hyunjin is not a great fan of this one in particular. While he might enjoy you spanking him, he’s not really ready to actually return the favour as the fear of harming is greater than anything else. He’s likely to opt for massaging you, kissing your but cheeks and even fingering you to make it up for you.

I have done this same type of tarot reading for Bang Chan already and it can be purchased on my ko-fi shop.

You can have a sneak peek of the cards here.

And yes, the plan is to do the readings for all of the members. Hyunjin's reading is here for free but the rest will follow the Bang Chan's example and they will be available in my shop.

Do you feel uncomfortable reblogging my content and you don't have the funds to support me financially through ko-fi? You can still show you appreciate my works and Czech and Slovakian shelter dogs. Click on the link bellow and the button. It's free! You can click every day! Your clicks will transform into Brit dog food every month and go to doggies in need.

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[hoshibatake]

Sunflower Live - Chapter 5

Previous chapter

Rooftop

Makoto: (Whoa, there isn’t a cloud in the sky today…☆)

Makoto: (The sun is pretty bright, but the nice breeze makes it so that it doesn’t feel too hot. Coming to the rooftop was probably a good choice.)

Makoto: (Heheh. The AC was blasting in the AV room, so instead of just cool it was almost cold in there. Outside is the perfect place to warm up a little〜♪)

Makoto: (Let’s see… There’s a bench in the shade over there. I bet I’ll be able to look at my phone there without worrying about screen reflections.)

Makoto: (Since the Sunflower Live will be held at the coast, it’ll probably resemble a summer festival. I’ll just do some research about that type of event!)

Makoto: 〜♪

Izumi: Yuu-kun!♪

Makoto: Gaah!?

Izumi: Ufufu, such a cute scream. You don’t need to be so alarmed. I just wanted to look at your face for a bit.

Makoto: No, no. Anyone would be alarmed if someone suddenly just grabbed their face at point blank range like that!

Makoto: What are you even doing here, Izumi-san…? I hope you didn’t come all the way up here because you saw me from below.

Izumi: I sure did♪ I was just about to go home, but then I saw you on the rooftop, so I came running as fast as I could.

Izumi: It must be fate that we’re meeting here like this. You don’t seem to be doing anything important, so let’s go home together♪

Makoto: Hey! Why does lying to me come as easy to you as breathing*? It wasn’t even a coincidence, because you intentionally came here!

(TN: Not 100% sure about this translation. The Japanese said “iki wo suru you ni uso wo tsuku”, which sounds like some kind of proverb or expression, but I couldn’t find more info about it, so I kept it literal.)

Makoto: I’m busy with the preparations for our next concert, so I don’t have time to go with you right now. If that’s all you wanted, could you go get lost or something?

Izumi: You’re probably in a bad mood because of this heat, which is why you’re being this rude to me, right?

Izumi: People say “good manners make for good relationships”, but I’m a kind onii-chan, so I’ll overlook your rudeness♪

Makoto: Well, you’re not my older brother*.

(TN: While Izumi uses “onii-chan”, Makoto uses the word “ani” here. It’s a pretty neutral way of saying “older brother”)

Makoto: I’m sorry for being rude, though. But I am actually busy with the preparations for a concert, so I don’t have time to entertain you.

Izumi: You say that, but you’re just playing with your phone. What are you even looking at?

Makoto: I’m looking for information on what kind of merchandise sells well at a summer festival.

Izumi: Summer festival? Hmm? Are you planning to attend a summer festival with your clique?

Makoto: Hm〜 They’re holding an event called the Sunflower Live on the local beach at the end of the month. Trickstar is going to participate.

Makoto: We’re going to set up a booth and sell merchandise while we’re at it, too… And after dividing the tasks among ourselves, Subaru and I ended up taking on the responsibility for coming up with ideas for merch to sell.

Izumi: Hmm. My adorable little brother is in a pickle, so as his onii-chan, I can’t very well leave him to his own devices. Alright, I’ll help you♪

Makoto: No, thanks, I’m fine on my own! If I accept your help, I’m afraid of what you’ll be expecting in return!

Izumi: I won’t expect anything in return, don’t worry. I simply want to help you out of the kindness of my heart.

Makoto: Urgh〜 You might say that, but I don’t trust you at all. Although I feel like you would actually be helpful, because you seem like the kind of person who’s up to date on trends.

Makoto: …Do you promise not to ask anything in return?

Makoto: You won’t demand that I call you “onii-chan” or that I say “I love you”, or something?

Izumi: I-I won’t. I felt my conviction waver for just a second there, but I said I wouldn’t ask for anything in return, so I actually won’t.

Makoto: Alright. In that case… Izumi-san, could you take a look at this? I’ve narrowed it down to three options. Which one do you think would sell the best?

Izumi: A drink bottle, a smartphone case or a mug… They’re all safe bets, so I don’t think any of them won’t sell well, but…

Izumi: …the Sunflower Live is something akin to a summer festival, right?

Izumi: Aren’t T-shirts and towels the kinds of things they usually sell at summer festivals?

Makoto: Oh, I see. …Hmm, yes. We could order custom T-shirts.

Makoto: Still, even if we decide to order custom T-shirts, there’s various printing methods. Which do we pick? I guess it’d be nice if it’s a cheap method.

Makoto: All we’d be doing is putting a print on a T-shirt, so I doubt it makes much of a difference anyway.

Izumi: Yuu-kun, you know what they say: “You get what you pay for.” A cheap method may not agree with the type of fabric being used, and the colors might end up looking completely different from what you were expecting.

Izumi: You should read the instructions properly.

Izumi: Plus, if you buy cheap T-shirts, the fabric might be so thin the shirts end up being translucent. You need to know the minimum thickness you want.

Makoto: Oh, right. I was just thinking about keeping the costs down, but it’s better to invest a little bit in a higher quality product.

Makoto: Oh, this looks a bit better. The fabric’s durability and the printing method are better, so the price is a bit higher as well, but if you order a whole bunch, you get a discount.

Makoto: I guess I’ll just ask for a quote from this company for this fabric type and this printing method. Should I use the same approach when I’m looking at the towels?

Makoto: Izumi-san, it’d help me out a bunch if you’d be willing to give advice about those as well♪

Next chapter

[asknarashikari]

[assuming only Ikki and Ace & Sakura and Neon really met each other after the Desire Royale and bonded)

Yukimi: So we’re going on a trip,

Kagerou: I would actually suggest doing against that.

Kagerou: Your trips have all ended in disasters.

Daiji: And who do you think was at fault for the first one?

Kagerou: Guilty as charged.

Daiji: But Kagerou’s right.

Genta: Its not a vacation.

Yukimi: Papa-san and I are the only ones going to that trip about new safety regulations in bathhouses.

Sakura: Eh? There are conferences like those?

Yukimi: It’s always been updated.

Yukimi: We usually have the Ushijimas around to babysit you three.

Yukimi: Or you were at school that babysitting isn’t an issue.

Ikki: But we have Koshiro.

Yukimi: I am not bringing Koushiro on the off chance that something untoward happens again.

Ikki: Don’t wo-

Yukimi: You’re out as well, Ikki.

Ikki: Huh, but why?

Genta: You’ve done so much for the family already.

Yukimi: Sakura has a group study with her friends.

Yukimi: Daiji and Hiromi are busy with blue bird.

Yukimi: Didn’t you have some soccer practice?

Ikki: I’m sure I ca-

Yukimi: No.

Sakura: if Ikki-nii’s out…

Sakura: Then who?

Daiji: There’s Hikaru and Tama-

Sakura: Ikki-nii might as well look after Koshiro if we’re leaving it to those two.

Yukimi: I can trust Hikaru.

Yukimi: I am not comfortable with Tamaki holding the baby.

Daiji: And Hana is busy with Blue Bird as well.

Daiji: What about Keiwa?

Ikki: The Tanuki Rider?

Daiji: Last I heard he was still studying to graduate.

Ikki: I’ve heard he’s good with kids.

Sakura: Neon-chan does say that the volunteered at an orphanage from time to time.

Yukimi: Is it alright if we can take some of his time to watch Koshiro for us?

Daiji: Even if he does… how do we contact him?

Sakura: Ah! I have Neon-chan’s number, we can ask her to deliver us a message.

Ikki: Good idea!

I'm sure Keiwa won't mind hanging out with the Igarashi sibs for a few days :)) I think Ikki and the others can mostly manage on their own tbh, like making their meals, taking care of the bathhouse and cleaning up and such, but yeah with Koushiro being a baby he'd need a lot of attention.

Plus Yukimi's going to pay for his services which will go toward his and Sara's expenses for the month- so it's a win-win for Keiwa.

[starrysoftie]

 — interrupted | p.p

“five times he almost kissed you and the one time he finally did” 

includes: tasm! Peter Parker

notes: i dont think i’ve seen anybody do this for andrew garfields peter parker and i absolutely love this trope and him so why not write it!

also i still need to edit this but im too lazy 

SPOILER ABOUT TASM (if you haven’t seen it yet or sum idk LOLS): I know uncle ben dies but I literally physically and emotionally cannot accept that fact, so he is perfectly well and alive in this :)

i. when the ac broke

“Why. Is. It. So. Hot.” 

You dramatically collapse on the bed next to Peter, sprawling your limbs out in every direction humanly possible. “I feel... so gross. And sticky.”

“Give me a second to finish this and then I’ll fix the air conditioning.” 

There’s an amused expression on his face as he jokingly pushes your legs off of his stomach, causing you to clumsily fall off and on the floor with a light ‘thump’. 

Groaning, you accept the lopsided position you’ve been subjected to on the ground, too lazy to move and undeniably enjoying the cool sensation of the wood flooring against your warm skin.

“You know the heat’s really not that bad.”

“I never asked.” 

“I think you should be more like me.” He retorts.

“No offense, but gross.”

He gasps dramatically, amusedly watching you lay motionless on his bedroom floor. “Excuse me?”

“You’re excused.”

He smiles.

“Stop smiling. My suffering is not funny Parker.” You grumble, barely audible as you’re talking with your face literally smack on the ground.

“I’m not smiling.”

“Bullshit.”

Finally, he unsurprisingly successfully fixes the air conditioning as cold air circulates throughout the room, revitalizing your immobile body as you eventually peel your face off his bedroom floor to feel the breeze.

“Peter?”

He turns to face you. “Yes?”

Slowly, you stand up and waddle over to him, tackling him in a big sweaty and sticky bear hug that he’s happy to return. “You’re literally my hero.”

“I thought you said you hated me like… what was it? Like three minutes ago?” Wrapping his arms around your waist and tightening his hold, color flushes on his cheeks at close contact between you two. You snuggled your head into the crook of his frame, taking a whiff of his cologne.

“Not anymore.”

“Aw, how kind.”

You pull back after a moment and it takes everything within him to not whine at the loss of your touch, but the big smile on your face makes all his disappointment fade within nanoseconds.

Beaming, you look into his eyes as he raises a hand to brush away a stray hair that’s covering the corner of your eye. There’s a particular look in his eyes that you just can’t label, but it’s... different. A good different. He hooks a gentle hand on your cheek, thumb tilting your head up slightly—

“Peter? Are you home?”

The two of you jump back, a little frightened by the sudden intrusion. You take a look at the door, watching Uncle Ben slowly walking away while erupting into a loud fit of giggles.

Peter sighs. “Oh my god.”

“You really got to get that stupid lock fixed.” You comment.

“I know.”

ii. coffee date

“What’d you get?” He questions as he glances at the video you’re watching, piquing his curiosity. “And more importantly, what are you watching?”

“Shhh.” You hold a finger up to his lips, shushing him.

He sits up a little higher, trying to get a better view of your phone screen. “No actually, what are you doing?”

“Do you see this?”

“Uh yeah? That video of Spiderman is literally all over youtube right now.” He grabs your drink. “Can I try some?”

You nod.

He sips the beverage, giving a hum of approval. “What’s so special about that video anyways? It’s just him beating some dude up.”

“I’m not talking about that.” You zoom in. “I’m talking about this.”

Peter chokes on your drink.

“Did you just zoom in on his ass???”

“Uh yes, obviously.”

He quirks his eyebrows in curiosity, genuinely confused as to what the actual hell you were thinking right now.

“But why?”

“Why not?? Dude, that ass is just... woah.”

He chokes on the beverage once again, but this time some spurts out his nose in a cartoonish manner. Your eyes widen, immediately grabbing some nearby napkins and wiping the coffee off his face.

“Are you okay??”

He nods, rubbing his nose as he tries to ease the pain.

“Yup.” He half-heartedly hums, “Feeling better already.”

You frown. “Are you sure??”

“Yeah.”

“Here, wait... you have some still on your face.” Grabbing the left side of his face, you pulled his face closer to wipe off the rest of the coffee. The two of you lock eyes at the exact same moment, breath hitching in your chest.

Suddenly you’re speechless.

The strange look in his eyes return once more, pupils dilating as he glances down to your lips and back up to meet your gaze. He ever so slightly leans in, seemingly asking for permission.

You lean in slightly as well.

A barista walks up to Peter and taps him on the shoulder, offering the drink that he ordered. He looks sideways before pulling away and grabbing the beverage, offering a kind smile to mask the disappointment etched on his features.

Did we almost... just kiss?

iii. when you found out he was spiderman

You gasped.

No fucking way.

“YOU’RE SPIDERMAN?!”

Peter’s standing in his room, back facing you with his mask off and in his skin-tight spandex suit. Instinctively he raises his hands in defeat, mouth agape yet speechless.

“I-I can explain.” He croaks, dropping the mask on the floor.

“So you’re telling me, that you.” You point an accusing finger at him. “You’re Spiderman?? Like THE Spiderman??”

His eyes narrow, hands slowly falling back down to his sides once he realizes you weren’t as pissed as he expected you to be. “Uh, well— yes.”

“And...” A deep breath. “You never even thought about telling me?”

“Well I mean I did but like—”

“I absolutely cannot believe you right now. I mean yeah I’m pissed that you didn’t tell me but like I’m so worried for you now too! What kinda bullshit is this??? So you’re a normal highschool teenager by day and at night you go out and fight all these damn monsters without even mentioning it to anybody?? Not even me??? I knew you were a dumbass but I didn’t think you were this dumb.”

Never mind. He thinks to himself. She’s mad.

In retrospect though, Peter does understand that if the roles were reversed, he would be equally, if not more, angry and concerned.

“What do you do when you get beat up and shit huh?? Do you just swing yourself home without any proper medical care or even needing to rant about it to anybody??”

“Yeah.” He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. “Sorry ‘bout keeping it a secret and uh—stuff.”

You grumble as you massage your eyes with the palm of your hands with deep breaths. “I hate you right now.”

“That's fine with me.” A small smirk arises on his face, glad that your temper was finally cooling off. “I swear I’ll explain everything... and— I’m genuinely sorry I didn’t tell you. I was just scared that you knowing that if I was Spiderman the people I fight would target you rather than me personally.”

A dramatic gasp escapes your lips once more.

“Oh my god...”

“Did I do something?” Peter questions as he sits down next to you, placing a comforting hand on your back. “Was my apology that bad??”

“Oh my god...” You repeat once more.

“What?? Is it something I said?”

“No!” You exclaim. “It’s something I said!”

“I’m not mad at you for what you said. You know if I was you in this situation I would be pissed too, I totally get—”

“I COMPLIMENTED YOUR ASS! Like a week ago at that coffee shop! What the hell was I thinking??

There was a small moment of silence until he burst into laughter, falling back onto the bed as he held his stomach in pure bliss, cackling at your misfortune.

“Peter!” There was a small grin on your face as you jokingly smacked him on the arm, the overwhelming mixture of emotions slowly fading away. “Come on, it’s not that funny.”

He shoots back upright, still holding onto his stomach and wiping away a few tears that formed at the corners of his eyes from his fit of giggles. “Oh my god that is ABSOLUTELY hilarious, you have no idea. This is your karma.”

That piqued your interest. “Karma for what?”

“Revenge for you thinking I was gay for Spiderman like a week ago.”

“Oh my god I totally forgot about that.”

“Now you get why your… uh, compliments threw me off guard.”

“Yeah.”

There was a real smile that finally graced your features as you blankly stared at the mask that lay on the bedroom floor.

“Hey Pete?”

“Yeah?”

You look back up at him to meet his gaze. “You promise now that since I know that you’re Spiderman that you’ll come to me for help with that superhero shit if you ever need it?”

“I promise.” He agrees. “I’m genuinely sorry about not telling you though.”

“I know.”

“Is... there a way I can make it up to you?”

You try to bite the inside of your cheek to hide the smile at the suggestion. Within seconds his hand is cupping your cheek once more, the now familiar sheen glazing his eyes as he scoots clos—

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Peter?” Uncle Ben’s voice booms through the door. “Are you in there?”

Irritatedly, he groans. “Again??!?”

iv. when he fulfilled his promise to you

Outside, the pitiless rain fell with a fierce malignity that was all too inhumanly powerful. Raw rain battered the window like hail, trickling in a rhythmic fashion along with the frantic pounding on the window.

Wait what?

You instinctively turned towards your bedroom window, met with the one and only Spiderman tapping on the fragile glass. Briskly, you walk over to open the hatch to let him into your room.

“Finally about time you noticed.” Peter sighed, taking off the mask and throwing it in one swift motion. You eyed him curiously, confused and highly concerned when you noticed the bloody lacerations on his chest

“Oh my god.”

You grab him by the arm and place him on your bed, rummaging through your wardrobe to find a spare pair of pants you’ve stolen from him.

“Change out of that dirty suit and wear this.” You toss sweatpants at him as you dig through your closet once more, looking for your handy first aid kit.

Finally you feel the familiar cold, plastic casing of the kit against your fingers, grabbing it while you make your way over to the injured teen. Tenderly, you place a hand on his back, slowly guiding him to lay down.

“What happened?”

He winced as you gently dabbed a cold cloth to clean up some blood. “I got beat up pretty bad.”

“Clearly.” You gruff. “How much pain are you in??”

“I rate my pain a solid 6 and a half out of ten, but now that I’m with you I’m feeling a whole lot better.”

His words make a heat creep on your cheeks that you quickly brush off, too concerned with his current condition rather than his flirting. “Peter, I'm being serious right now, what actually happened?”

He sighs. “There was this guy who threw me down an entire highway.”

“No kidding geez.”

“Yeah.” He winces at the feeling of pressure on the cut. “Do you need to do that?”

“Yeah, I gotta wipe all the dirt away before I can put some antibiotic cream on so It doesn’t get infected.”

“It hurts like a bitch.”

You offer the most comforting look you could muster. “I know, just a little bit longer and then you’ll be done.”

A comforting silence washes over the two of you as you finish debriding the cut and apply Neosporin, finally placing some gauze and properly wrapping his torso with the adhesive bandages.

“Anddd.... done!” You gleam, proud of your effort. “Do you feel any better?”

He nods. “Yeah. I actually do.”

“Good!”

“Thank you. So much.”

Peter looks at you with gleaming eyes, placing his arms and pulling you in his comforting embrace you’re eager to return. He was warm, and his big, toned arms wrapped around your body as if to ask you to never let go.

And you don’t.

His hand slowly creeps up your back, making its way to settle on your cheek with his thumb rubbing gentle circles on your skin.

You gulp.

Is it finally happening?? You think.

Almost as if he could read your mind, he and you both lean in, mere centimeters away from each others lips until—

“OH MY GOODNESS PETER PARKER ARE YOU OKAY??”

A shrill shriek escapes from your mom’s mouth followed by a dramatic gasp as she motions towards the bandages on his chest. The door slowly creeks open to reveal her figure standing right in the middle of the hallway, seemingly oblivious to what was going on moments before.

With a deep and irritated breath, you both pull away once more, giving her a firm yet reassuring nod.

“Yeah, I uh— accidentally tripped when we were at the skatepark earlier and I just got patched up.”

“Oh good.” Your mom sighs, flicking off the nonexistent sweat on her forehead. “That looks like a pretty nasty cut. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Yeah, thank god you know how to patch somebody up right?” He playfully shoves your shoulder a little as he falls into a conversation with your mom, catching up as if they hadn't seen each other in years.

You deadpan.

The last time they talked to each other was yesterday.

v. christmas

“Okay, here.” He places the beautifully wrapped present on your lap, anxiously bouncing his leg. “You open yours first.”

“You sure?” You question, not so subtly glancing towards your gift for him.

“Yes. Come on, open it. I wanna see your reaction.”

You smile, amused at his eager nature. “Okay fine.”

Gently, you take the edge of the wrapping paper and slowly unravel it at an annoyingly slow pace, a grin etching your features as you steal quick glances at him impatiently sitting on the edge of his seat.

“Come on, you’re being annoying.”

“That’s the point, dumbass.”

In one swift move, you remove the wrapping paper and reveal a slightly squashed book. Within it were countless pictures of you and him. Some were from when you guys were younger, such as your twelfth birthday to some more candid photos where you both were just laughing at some dumb shit you guys said. All memories you hold deep to your heart.

“Oh my god...” Tears of joy formed in your eyes as you flipped through the book with the most beautiful smile he’s ever seen painted on your face. “I love this so much.”

“Really? Are you sure? You can be honest you know, I-It’s not like it’s like anything special or anythi—”

A gasp of surprise escapes his mouth when you tackle him on the bed, wrapping your arms around him and holding him so tight that you could’ve sworn his eyes were bulging out of his head a little bit.

“Shut up, this is the best gift I could, no— will ever receive.”

Giggles bubble from his throat as you wipe a stray tear in the corner of your eye, silently laughing at how the emotions you both were having were strikingly different. He smiles, rubbing a soothing hand on your back as you reach down near his feet and hand him your gift for him.

“Now you open your gift.”

“Okay.” Unlike you, he messily claws open the wrapping paper and mindlessly throws it somewhere in the room, extremely eager to discover what’s inside. He gasps, eyes widening in realization when the box is fully unwrapped.

“Is that—”

“Yup!” You hum.

“—You did not.” He stares at the camera in his hands, mouth agape but only stammers and small murmurs spoken instead of actual sentences and words.

There’s a moment of denial until he shoves the box back in your grasp, defensively holding up his hands. “I-I simply cannot accept this.”

“The hell? Why not?”

“This camera’s like a thousand dollars!” He sputters dramatically. “A THOUSAND DOLLARS SPENT ON A CAMERA?? For me?!”

You shrug with a small smile, amused at his theatrical movements. “You said your camera was broken and you needed a new one.”

“Yeah, I was gonna get myself one that was like a couple hundred bucks!”

“You deserve the best camera out there Peter, not some camera that's been god-knows where.” You practically shove the gift back at his face. “This is for you and there is absolutely no way I’m gonna let you give that back.”

“I-I...”

He’s at a complete loss for words.

“I-I could kiss you right now.”

oh.

OH

OH MY GOD

“PETER???” Uncle Ben bangs on his door, interrupting yet another moment for the millionth time. “AUNT MAY JUST MADE DINNER, BOTH OF YOU COME DOWN TO EAT!”

You’re fed up with all the ruined moments.

It’s time to take matters into your own hands.

“Peter?”

He turns back around to face you.

“Do it.”

+i. christmas

“Do it.”

He blinks. “What?”

“Kiss me.”

Within seconds his lips are on yours, closing the gap between him and you without any hesitation. Your hands find peace resting around his neck, leaning deeper into him with every passing moment and kissing him back like he was your lifeline.

It was an innocent, yet meaningful kiss that needed no words to be spoken to convey you both were making up for all the missed time.

masterlist

tag list: @scandalous-chaos​

[volleychumps]

« Insecure S/O Reacting to a Confession 2

part 1 here 

format: scenarios

genre: fluff

- includes: Iwaizumi, Tendou, and Matsukawa

---------------------------------------------------

Iwaizumi Hajime

The sun wasn’t helping his flared cheeks in any way. 

“Stop interfering.” 

“Stop stalling then.” Oikawa grins, rubbing his best friend’s shoulders as if he were about to enter a boxing ring. The dark haired ace rubs his eyes in irritation with one hand, ignoring the flare against his cheeks as Iwaizumi attempts to shake his childhood friend off. The sight of you kneeled down in the school garden, hair pinned back away from your face as you tended to the flowers, made the heat surge through Iwa’s cheeks even more. 

“I’m not.” 

“Really? Because every day you approach her creepily from some distance, and then disappear. C’mooon, I already owe Hiro like fifteen bucks-” 

“You’re betting on this, shithead?”

“Nope.” The answer comes out a little too quickly as Oikawa dodges a second swat. “She’s so pretty I might have to approach her myself-” 

“Not another word.” Iwa grits out, Oikawa slightly smirking at the tick in his jaw and the way his onyx eyes harden. “I just...don’t wanna mess this up.” 

“There’s nothing to mess up until you confess. Ah, young love.” Oikawa sighs dreamily, Iwaizumi ignoring his dramatic friend’s swoon before making a decision. Today was the day. 

You wipe sweat from your forehead, attempting to ignore the beating sun down on your face as you tried to hurry the process a long, ensuring the flowers were getting just enough water. The touch of an icy can of tea against your cheek startles you, almost making you drop the watering pot before you hold a hand up against the bright sun rays, tilting your head in confusion at the broad-shouldered man in front of you. 

“Iwaizumi?” You smile in greeting as Iwaizumi shuffles his feet, breath catching in his throat at the sight. He was so screwed. 

You laugh a bit awkwardly, the cold touch of the can beginning to numb. “Um, is this for me?” 

“Yes.” He curses himself at how stern it comes out, but you gently take the can from his grasp, nodding in thanks. “I-I know you like this one.” 

“You do?” 

“No.” He didn’t want to sound creepy, yet somehow made it worse. 

“Oh.” 

Iwaizumi was ready to kick himself. He was hoping you would understand, the day you shyly maneuvered your way through Oikawa’s fanclub to get to him to offer him an ice cold drink was the reason he became so infatuated in the first place. 

“Well, thanks for the tea-” 

“I like you.” 

This time, you do drop the watering pot, eyes widening like a deer caught in the headlights as Iwa’s heart sinks at your reaction. 

“I get it, alright?” You mumble, sadness swimming in your stomach as Iwaizumi fought the need to dart off. “You’re the handsome volleyball ace all the girls want, and they put you up to ask me out as a joke again. It’s getting old.” 

Ah. 

Iwaizumi sighs, knowing that the other girls preyed on you for your beauty and soft heart, finding ways to hurt you in the most immature ways possible. 

“Oi.” His heart tightens at the look of sorrow on your face, making him click his tongue before reaching a hand out before he can stop himself, smudging his thumb along the streak of dirt on your cheek. You look up at him in a doe-like manner, and your wet eyes are enough to make the ace want to hurt anyone who ever made you feel this way. 

“I’m not kidding.” 

“Iwa-” 

“Hajime.” He cuts you off, hiding a smirk when he feels the heat rush to your cheeks. “You can call me Hajime. Only you.” 

“Hajime.” you try it out, clapping your hand over your mouth once in shyness as Iwaizumi smiles a genuine grin, elated when you shy away into his touch. 

“Then...please take care of me.” You manage, condensation running down to your other hand holding the can as Iwaizumi slips it out of your grasp, taking a heavy sip of it before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 

“I finished this one. Can I take you to a cafe?” 

“I’d love that.” You slip your gardening gloves off, Iwa slipping his hand into yours casually as you trail behind him, smiling when his grip tightens ever so slightly.

Surprisingly, the sun suddenly didn’t feel too hot today. 

Tendou Satori

“Today’s the day fellas!” 

“Oh, is it?” Shirabu mocks his surprise. “It’s not like you put ‘ask y/n’ out in huge block letters on our team calendar or anything.” 

“Bingo!” Tendou points finger guns at his teammate as Semi shrugs at a disgruntled Shirabu. “I’m about to get myself a Miss Tendou Satori-” 

“That’s not how that works-” 

“Hush, Ushijima. Your logic won’t ruin my day today.” Tendou bounces on the balls of his feet, waiting for practice to let out as he tugs his last shoe on, his other teammates still in the process of changing. 

“Is she waiting for you?” Semi tugs his shirt overhead as Tendou hums happily in answer, Shirabu snarkily making a remark from the other side of the locker room. 

“She’s out of your league.” 

“I know she is! Which is why I’m going to treat her like the queen she is, since I myself am but a lowly peasant beneath her-” Tendou perks up at the time. “Gotta go, I’ll text you the outcome boys.” 

“Please don’t.”

“Tendou-senpai-” But the redhead had already darted through the door as Ushijima glances at his worried kouhai, tilting his head in question. 

“What, Goshiki?” 

“Isn’t Y/N L/N the one who had that mean prank pulled on her last year?”

You bit the inside of your cheek as you rocked on the balls of your feet, fidgeting with the ends of your skirt as you wait for the rambunctious redhead on the volleyball team. No way a cute guy like him was actually- 

“Did I make ya wait long?” A pair of sneakers appear in your view, making you lift your head as Tendou Satori casts you a wide grin, school shoes hanging in his other hand. You tilt your head, wondering if he rushed here.

“Did you need something from me, senpai?” You blink, swinging your legs lightly on the bench you were sitting on, fearing the worst. Tendou clears his throat, suddenly feeling the nervousness he had been outrunning catch up to him. He can’t mess this up. Ever since you had adorably asked him to reach something for you at the snack shop for the school, he hasn’t been able to get you off his mind. He made sure to wait around during the same time during lunch hour, your usual snack already in hand and plucked off the highest shelf. 

“Go out with me.” 

You flinch. There it was. 

His smile fades slowly with every beat of silence that soaks in the atmosphere between the two of you, and you swallow back a sob. 

“How much are they giving you to do this?” 

Tendou’s shoes hit the floor, his eyes blinking rapidly in confusion as you refuse to meet his questioning gaze. 

“What?” 

“I um, can help you if you want. Go out with you for a few days so they really believe-” 

“Hey, hey!” Tendou’s arms begin to flail around as he shakes his head no. “I mean it Y/N, you’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever met. I really wanna date you for real-” 

“You do?” 

Tendou’s chest felt heavier at the crack in your voice and insecurity swirling in your eyes, and he nods his head, kneeling in front of you carefully before asking to take your hands with his eyes. 

“I 100% do. You can strip me of my honor if I’m lying.” 

This makes you crack a smile, making Tendou breathe out a sigh of relief through his nose. He thumps his forehead against yours, making your eyes glint in a way they haven’t in awhile.

“Can this lowly senpai please take you out on a date this weekend?” 

“No, my lowly senpai cannot.” You say, turning your palms over so he can hold them properly. Tendou quirks an eyebrow, but he’s slightly smirking as you offer a shy smile. 

“But my boyfriend can.” 

Matsukawa Issei

“You’re staring again, ya creep.” 

“I think the term you’re looking for is skillful admiring-” 

“Just ask her out.” Hanamaki yawns, getting comfy on his best friend’s desk as Matsukawa leans into his palm, eyeing the way you pout when your friends steal your snacks. So cute. “What’s the worst she’s gonna do, say no?” 

“Yes.” Matsukawa sighs, hanging his head slightly as Hanamaki arches a brow, crossing his arms in pure amusement. 

“Wow, Matsukawa Issei hung up over a girl?” 

“Who the hell is hung up-” 

Hanamaki arches a brow when his friend visibly tenses up, looking over only to smirk when he sees another boy in class shyly offer up his pocky to you, you gladly accepting and smiling widely in thanks. Issei rests his head on the desk, stubbornly looking out the window as Hanamaki withholds a laugh over the hold you have over your classmate. 

“Oh just ask her out.” Hanamaki uncaps his drink. “You’re so into her dude, it’s making me sick.” 

Issei shifts in his seat. Maybe his adoration for you wouldn’t have begun if it hadn’t been for the way your much shorter legs pumped to catch up to his figure, who had pretty much reached his home.

“Matsukawa-san!” You had gasped for breath, the messy-haired boy guiltily slipping his headphones off at how tired you seemed. Before he could profusely apologize, you shoved his notes in his hand, bright hue to his cheeks at the act of kindness. 

“Um, you left this in the library!” you manage out, Matsukawa seeming to freeze in the moment. “I added some notes in there, I hope you don’t mind. It seemed kinda empty-” 

“You wrote notes for me?” He finds his voice again, cursing himself at that being the first thing that came out. 

“I was bored during free time anyways.” You scratched the back of your head before turning on your heel again. “Anyways, bye!”

And then you darted off again as Matsukawa Issei stayed still in his spot, wondering just why the hell his heart was beating at the pace it was going, colorful notes hanging from his grasp. 

“I’m gonna do it.” Hanamaki almost falls off the desk at Matsukawa’s revelation and the way he suddenly stood up. “I could kiss you right now, Makki.” 

“I’m praying to god, please don’t.” 

You lean against the shoe lockers, humming to yourself as you wonder just what your classmate would need from you, figuring he wanted to properly thank you for the notes. You would accept it and go, knowing that Matsukawa Issei was favored among the girls- 

“You’re here.” 

“This.” You smile softly, holding up a folded note between your fingers as Matsukawa shoves his hand in his slack pockets, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “This made it hard for me not to be, you know?” 

You eye him carefully, stomach sinking at the familiar situation in front of you. 

“You might have already guessed,” Issei breathes, trying to steady the pounding in his ears. “Or Makki might have already told you because he’s a shithead like that-” 

You tilt your head.

“-but I’ve got this killer crush on you. And if you could help me out, I would thoroughly appreciate it.” It comes out business-like, and you almost laugh if it hadn’t been for the weight in your throat. 

“Help you out how?” He doesn’t notice the crack in your voice as he pulls his sleeves up to his forearms, swallowing tightly. 

“I think a date would begin to ease the pain.” 

You really do laugh this time, but it’s not the kind of laugh of amusement. It’s forced, awkward, and makes Issei falter in his smile and movements. 

“Do they ever get bored?” 

All playfulness drains from the middle blocker’s face as his tone hardens. “What are you talking about?” 

“Sure, get the hot guy from the volleyball team to try and ask Y/N out, are you getting it on video?” 

“Y/N-” 

“I’ve gotta go.” you try to step away, eyes widening when he stops you with his much bigger frame. His lidded eyes widen at the tears prodding the corner of your eyes, carefully lifting a hand to swipe at them before looking at you seriously.

“You think I’m hot?” 

You can’t withhold the giggle that escpaes you, sniffling slightly as Matsukawa smiles gently, wrapping his arm around you to touch the small of your back. You yelp a little when you find yourself crushed against his chest, your upper back touching the lockers. 

“I don’t know what the hell happened to you in the past, but-” you look up at the handsome tall boy you had hand-written notes for, hoping your crush on him wasn’t too noticeable. “I can tell you right now that you’re really fuckin’ pretty, and I want to brag to my friends about how hot my girlfriend is-”

“Do you ever stop talking?” You cup his cheek in question as his grin widens. 

“Make me your boyfriend and I’ll show you.” He winks, and you raise both eyebrows in amusement before practically speaking against his lips. 

“I think we can arrange that.” 

---------------------------

General Taglist: @ebiharachan @purplefangirl2001 @ssuna @saffyspirals @baes-x @nabisonyeo94 @celestialuffy @uh-what-day-is-it-again @genesisrose74 @takemetovalhalla @thathoneybee3 @animebae100 @jesssobs @tsukkikeiibabe

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Deity AU Trivia Facts - Part 2

Hello again everyone~! I hope everyone’s doing okay today and remembering to take care of themselves. UvU

I come bearing more trivia facts for the deity AU! As well as working on asks, I am also hard at work designing each of the characters for visual reference. So far I have Cater and I have Grim sketched out, and a concept for Rook, though I’m still developing a lot of them and finding designs that are both easy to draw and fitting for their characters so keep an eye out~ >wO

Kalim will rarely—if ever—refer to mortals as “mortals”, as he feels it creates a barrier that would prevent him from forming friendships and bonds. This can get confusing at times as he talks about his mortal friends the same way he does his deity friends.

While not able to traverse through different realities or dimensions, Lilia is very much aware of them and can even see past the barrier to peer at them. This ability, however, allows him to see past the fourth wall—which can lead to quite a few confusing instances of him seemingly talking to thin air to referring to things that he should have no knowledge of.

Compared to his Twisted Wonderland counterpart, Sebek’s voice is thunderous to the point that it can damage one’s hearing if one doesn’t take preventative measures. For other deities, this can cause a mild headache. For mortals, however, it would sound like thunder exploding near them. Each of the other deities carry at least one or two pairs of earplugs on them at all times that adjust loud noises to more acceptable levels, which does help when Lilia or Malleus aren’t around to ask him to keep the volume down.

Despite how he may behave towards mortals most times and may even scoff at their insistence that he lower his voice, he will acknowledge those who genuinely have panic or anxiety attacks or sensory issues during storms and make an effort to speak softer. It may still be loud to a minor degree, but at least he’s trying!

In this universe, Grim is a chimera—or at least, that’s what the deities call him anyway. Sporting a tiny pair of goat horns, small bat-like wings, and scales here and there, Grim does share quite a few characteristics with the mythological chimera, which have seemingly vanished from our world and left no trace but these mysterious and life-like statues left behind by an unknown artist. Who could have designed such monstrous amalgamations of mixed creatures, and how did they manage to scatter them across the globe in ancient times...?

Despite having wings, Grim can only glide and hover in place. He struggles to take off from a standing position, so he requires a high perch to get any lift. It’s become quite common to hear Ace commenting on Grim eating too much tuna to take off, which more often than not results in the two having a brawl that ends in them getting collared by Riddle’s thorns.

To disguise himself as an ordinary house cat, Grim has had to consume magical crystals left behind at the Stardust Pools, which in turn sustains his power as a chimera and extends his lifespan. Unlike normal chimera, however, Grim can actually drain magic from items or even plants and animals depending on the amount of magical particles stored in them. Before he met the Reader/Yuu, he struggled to get more of these crystals (let alone pebbles) before the protectors of the pools would chase him away and would be constantly hungry. Once he was able to get access to the Stardust River and an ample supply of stones, he didn’t need to feed as often and can just enjoy mortal and deity food as he pleases!

[alex-nicole42]

Grape Juice

I thought about it and yeah.. I can’t not write out Harrys house content (It won't all be Eddie Munson flavored though) 

She hadn’t ever been so elated to hear the last bell of the day. The slight butterflies in her stomach fluttered as she walked to her locker. She probably should have known way back when that she would fall for her best friend, given the butterflies that had yet to leave since their first encounter. Nevertheless, she and Eddie weren’t the type to over analyze their relationship, she was comfortable in this gray area. Her usual flock of friends came by her locker, attempting to win her over with the promise of a truly groundbreaking party that night.

“No thanks,” she replied cheerily.

“But it’s supposed to be the best one this year!” Christine said, eyes big as saucers as she pleaded with the other girl.

“You said that last time.”

“And you always say you’ll go next time and you never do,” Christine pouted, Katie was draped over Christine’s arm, pulling her towards the larger group of girls coordinating for the “best party of the year”.

“Next time.” She smiled and shrugged as she shut her locker and headed for the parking lot.

By the time she’d reached Eddie’s car, a gaggle of freshmen were surrounding him in complete delight of his energy.

“This campaign will surely be the most daring and dreadful yet, we’re all going to start from scratch, a level playing field,” He continued, his voice booming over the sounds of car engines and the general noise of teenagers flooding from school on a friday. “Princess!” He called, seeing her messy bun and ripped jeans (from actual wear and tear she was very proud to have not bought them that way).

“Hey Eddie, are you done breaking their hearts yet so you can get to the good stuff?”

The party whipped their heads in his direction again.

“Must you spoil every surprise?” he grinned, jumping from the perch he’d been standing on.

“Only when you’re the one planning them, sir knight,” She grinned. She threw her back into the back of his van before finding her favorite place, by his side. With his arm thrown over her shoulder, he addressed his following yet again, “Our dear princess has decided to join us for this campaign.”

There were mixed reactions, something they’d both expected. Lucas, Mike, and Dustin seemed thrilled; they adored spending time with the two older teens. While the older members of the party grumbled slightly, they didn’t mind having her around, but they felt she distracted Eddie from his “true greatness”.

“See you losers on Monday night!” Eddie called, opening the door for his best friend and making sure she buckled in. She rolled her eyes as he pranced to the driver’s side and slid in. As the old van came to life, she opened the glove box and dug around his cassettes not entirely sure what she was looking for yet. “I have a surprise for you actually”

“Something I don’t know about already?” She asked in surprise, he was usually horrible at actually waiting until the surprise was ready and blabbed the second he had the idea. He laughed sarcastically as he put a tape in.

“Just listen dork.”

She did as she was told and melted into the seat as the intro to Hells Bells filled her ears.

“You didn’t! You told me you hate AC/DC.”

“Yeah, but you love them, and I love you so I will allow them to play in this car only when you’re around, and if I’m in a good mood. But literally any other time there’s an AC/DC ban in my van.”

“Haha ban van” She giggled, listening to the rhythm of the song pick up.

“This is much too slow for me.” Eddie hummed with a mock frown.

“But the lyrics, they’re so edgy, I thought that would at least make you happy.” She poked him in the arm playfully.

“Lyrics shmyrics, I care about the guitar,” He pretended he hadn’t just been tapping his fingers on the wheel to the beat. As the small guitar riff began she straightened her posture and readied her infamous air guitar, she had only ever held Eddies guitar and that had been under careful supervision. “Wow you are truly the best guitar player I’ve ever seen,” He laughed, watching her small fingers move erratically in the air as she sang the tune of the guitar with an uncanny twang.

“You’re just jealous,” She stuck her tongue out.

The album played on as they reached the backroads that would take them home, her favorite part of their drive. Eddie sped through the winding roads, jerking the van in the ways he knew would bring out the hardest laughter from his companion. The windows were down as they flew over the road, Eddie spat out pieces of his curly mop as she screamed the lyrics she knew by heart. He felt like the sun was shining only on him, filling up at the feeling of real true joy. He only felt that with her.

As they pulled in front of Eddie’s trailer he jerked the keys out and hustled over to open the door for her. Again she rolled her eyes, scooping up her bag and opening the trailer door with the comfort of opening her own. He sighed in relief at another week of school over and the promise of greasy chinese, joints, and his… her. Eddie had spent many days deep in thought over his relationship with her, he knew she was content with their unlabeled love. He, however, was not. He wanted to feel secure in what he was to her, he wanted to know that she wanted him and only him. He knew she felt for him the exact same way he felt for her, he also knew he’d make her uncomfortable by bringing it up. It was a hard line to balance on, he wouldn’t risk making her uncomfortable, but he wouldn’t risk someone taking advantage of her appeared singleness. He shook his head, making his way to the bathroom to let loose the piss he’d been holding since fourth period as no teacher trusted him to just use the bathroom during class.

She was brushing her hair on his bed, wearing one of his old band t shirts and a pair of cotton shorts she always kept at his place. He swore she had more clothes in his room than he did at this point. His heart melted at the sight. He kicked off his black jeans dramatically, placing them gently on top of her head and snickering when she gagged and threw them across the room. She didn’t gag, however, when he peeled his shirt off. He let her stare at his back and the artwork he’d paid to have etched there. He rummaged around his drawer, looking for the shirt he knew was in his closet, just so he could give her a show of his front too. She laughed, her cheeks bright red as he turned, giving a strong-man pose as his biceps flexed. He was a noodle of a man, but still defined. His stomach was soft but the outline of ab muscles was clear, his back was toned, the tattoos moving with every twitch of his shoulder. He really was beautiful. She sighed as she stood and grabbed the shirt she knew he was looking for, motioning for him to sit on the bed and lift his arms. She smiled as she pulled the over washed shirt over his arms and chest. They stared at each other with matching grins as she pressed a kiss to his nose. Eddie grabbed the back of her legs with his palms, enjoying the skin on skin as she pressed his head to her chest and she carded her fingers through his hair.

“Where are we ordering food and how fast can you stick a joint in my mouth?” She asked, his ears picking up her voice and the muffled vibrations through her shirt.

“Jus’ a little while longer,” He mumbled, soaking in her warmth and scent. She laughed lightly and continued her ministrations through his hair.

“Eds my legs hurt,” She complained as she pushed him back onto the bed and landed on top.

“This is just how I pictured going out, smothered by your boobs,”  His voice was muffled and she barked out a rough laugh before rolling them over.

“Too bad, I revoke your boob privilege.”

“No! That’s something I’ll never recover from, like nat 20 level damage.”

“You still have to teach me how to play,” She laughed again, her bright eyes making contact with his soft brown ones. He leaned down to kiss her nose with his arms propping himself up by her head. After she felt the soft skin of lips on her nose, heat rose to her cheeks. He watched the cogs in her head turn a few moments before she suddenly lunged her head towards him. His instincts told him to jerk back, but he caught himself just in time for her chapped lips to touch his. His ears burned and his stomach flipped at the feeling. She bashfully returned to her spot in his bed, waiting for his gobsmacked expression to change.

“Eddie?” She asked nervously, concerned she’d made a mistake. He shook his head and leaned down with the most caring smile, giving her the most gentle kiss she’d ever felt in her life. It was soft and slow, she could taste him for the first time, mint and cigarettes painted her tongue as it swirled over his. They both let out groans at the burning in their stomachs, he pressed another sweet peck to her lips before standing off his bed sporting a very impressive semi.

“Nice penis,” she joked, sitting up crossed legged on the bed, smoothing her hair.

“Nice lips,” he chuckled, stepping into a pair of torn sweatpants.

“Which pair?” She winked as he choked on his spit.

“Calm down you, we still haven’t decided on food yet, and I thought you wanted to smoke?”

“I do! And I want chinese,” She grinned.

“Anything else?”

She stood up, grabbing the tackle box he used as a stache box from his hands, the old evergreen chinese menu they always got takeout from, and gave him another long kiss. It sucked the breath from his lungs and put stars in his eyes.

“Just you eds, don’t want to go anywhere without you.”

“You have me sweet heart, wherever you go.”

[saveourskinship]

What Happens When I’m Asked To Write A Tomione Seven Gins Deep

This is dedicated to @highgaarden for issuing me a challenge to complete a Tomione/Hogwarts Professors/HEA while intoxicated. It is also dedicated to @akorah for putting up with both of us. (Minimal edits have been applied for grammar mostly.)

Warning: Below lies crackfic insanity and more ineptitude than I generally aspire to emulate.

“Professor Granger.”

He said it brusquely as if propriety were the only thing keeping it afloat in the sea of students between them.

But that was Tom’s way.

No, Professor Riddle’s. 

“Professor Mystery. Professor Enigma. Pro-hic-fessor goddamn fucking Crux-Whore.”

“Girl, you wasted,” McGonagall slurred, brandishing more wine as Hermione swung from the portrait of Headmaster Snape, blowing raspberries at him.

“It’s always like this,” Hermione pouted.

“It be like that,” McGonagall corrected. “Psssh, Granger, get with the times.”

“The times? The times? It always is times Minnie-ervy-erva!” Hermione yelled, sounding angry but really it was just righteous. Righteousness always sounded angry because it was so often spoken through a bullhorn.

“Grangerrrr-bo-beaver-fo-fever-wo-weaver,” McGonagall said seriously.

Hermione stilled, “You sound serious,��� she told her mentor.

“I am always serious,” McGonagall replied with a very serious tongue-waggle. “But right now I seriously suggest you visit Professor Conundrum and give him what for.”

“What for?” Hermione asked, confused. “What for?”

Clarifyingly this time.

“You need to ask him what his tone means and what it’s for,” McGonagall nodded, sincerity bleeding out of her eyes. Which was vaguely alarming, but rather normal since the war a hundred bajillion years ago.

McGonagall and Hermione stormed to Professor Dilemma’s private quarters.

They hopped off their rainclouds and banged on the door.

“Thomasthomasthomasthomasthomasthomas,” Hermione shouted. Which, incidentally is much closer to indignation than righteousness if one had to categorise it.

“It’s just Tom, actually,” a weary voice sighed behind them.

“No, it’s not,” McGonagall scoffed.

“Um, no, it is,” Tom Riddle, fit as a fiddle, bashfully admitted. If he could be bashful. (’Every bashful person is LYING, just be shy or not, geez...’ thought Hermione.)

“No one is just called Tom,” McGonagall insisted, fingers itching with fanciful insistingness.

Hermione pointed a rancorous and accusatory finger at him. She dressed it like Ace Attorney for the occasion and it’s little suit looked rather lovely in the dungeon light.

“You! Professor Quandary!” she pontificated (let’s not get into what THAT was close to. It’s really, really not worth it).

“Quirrell?” McGonagall queried.

“Not quite,” Hermione sniffed. “A long time ago.”

“Oh, times have changed,” Minerva bobbled. Hermione goggled at her with all the shock of someone who had been chastised for something similarly time-based not too long ago. I.e. A lot.

“Jesus Christ,” Plain Old Tom pleaded to the heavens.

“He won’t help you,” Hermione pouted, “I’ve tried. Told me he’s more into the ‘grand scheme of things’ rather than some ‘silly little witch’s problems’.”

“I think we’d get on,” Tom shrugged.

“What for, Tom!” McGonagall shrieked, limbs akimbo before coming together in a Wonder Woman pose. 

Hermione copied her, naturally.

“If that even is his name,” Minerva edged out the side of her mouth.

“I highly doubt it,” Hermione replied, sensibly.

“Look, before you ask, I can answer. So will you let me?” So-Called-Tom raised placating hands at them.

“Fucking Riddles, always knowing the answers and posing questions anyway,” Hermione grumbled with rising arousal.

“I’ll let you for a club sandwich and a pint of strawberry bourbon,” McGonagall bargained. Rather reasonably, Hermione believed with an impressed nod of her head.

“But...” Tom floundered. “Gamp’s Laws!”

“So?” Minerva sassed her head and raised her hands in a ‘Who’s your momma’ kind of way.

Tom sighed again and summoned the requested items.

“Score!” McGongall fist-pumped and wandered away.

“Thank God,” Tom exhaled. He turned to address her, “Hermione.”

It was said with caramel.

Wait, no, with sweetness.

Hermione blinked and shook her drunken head.

“Why were you mean to me?” she stuck her lip out. Then bit it as she thought maybe she looked a bit like a puckering mongoose in the first instance.

“It’s the first of the month.”

Tom took her shoulders in his hands which were slight and droopy with overwork.

“Which means,” he continued with the stretch of infinity pulled like gum between teeth and a finger. Or perhaps something more romantic. “That you will get off your gourd with McGonagall and I have to stake out her office to make sure you get back to your room safely. And hopefully not stumble into Myrtle’s bathroom to try her next batch of toilet wine like last time.”

“Oh,” Hermione contemplated him like a 3-Michelin star prize dish. “How come we didn’t see you then!”

“I mentioned you are off your gourd right?” he reminded her. “Why do you  think I was right behind you?”

“Oh yeah... Is this interest?” Hermione pointed between them.

“I suppose... No. Yes. Yes, it is.” Tom stated.

“Good, invite me in then. Let’s sleep together,” Hermione wafted him away to open the door.

Unlike malleable and friendly smoke though, he stayed. The bastard.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said.

“Probably not,” Hermione retorted, “But you shouldn’t go trying new things this far into your many lives. It’s bad for your back.”

“What?” he flexed in a perplexed fashion.

“For!” Hermione cheered with a clap of her hands. “Come on, then. We’ll make it a competition. I bet I can sleep so much better than you-u-u,” she ended it on a yawn to prove her point.

Tom looked at her like a puppy looks at a tennis ball in the hand of its best friend. “Oh, Hermione. Okay, sure. I’ll take that bet.”

And he opened the door.

[unchartedthelostlegacy]

Chlodineweek Day 3: Reunion

It was good that Windows XP somehow didn’t notice that she had already failed at entering the correct password five times. 

Chloe gritted her teeth and glared back down at the keys, and began to peck at them one at a time like they were the platforms she’d jumped across in the axe fortress.

Tommyiscute2003.

Wrong.

TommyIhateyou03.

Wrong.

“How important is this?” Nadine called from Chloe’s childhood bed. She was flipping through an ancient Shonen Jump.

“Oh, don’t even start.”

“Why can’t you access it on your phone?”

Chloe touched her lips. “I think I wrote it...in my diary.”

“Frazer, let’s look at the Neopets on your phone and be done with it. You know they’re all dead anyway.”

Her casual tone made Chloe bristle all over again. She didn’t even remember what had started the argument. It had to have been something about Nathan Drake. Their entire trip back home to Chloe’s mum’s house in Australia’s capital had been peppered with back-and-forth character assassination focused on which of them had neglected and starved her Neopets more.

“You’re going to be dead before my Neopets are,” Chloe retorted, pushing back her hair, and noticing Nadine had slid off the twin bed and was rooting around in the drawers. “Excuse me, I didn’t give you permission to--”

“Find this?” Nadine tossed a book at her.

Chloe recognized it the moment it hit her hands. A pink-and-blue diary with a cute lock on the cover.

“I’m assuming you still have the key, Frazer?”

“Oh give me all of three seconds,” Chloe said with a chuckle, sitting and pulling the lockpick from her hair. “These are never--” click. “Here we go. Ah, it’ll be on the last page...I think.”

Nadine had rested her arm across the chair and around Chloe’s shoulders. “What’s that drawing?”

“That is me.”

Nadine’s laughter was scoffing. “And--and the hair?”

“That’s what I looked like,” Chloe paged away from the emo self portrait. “Makeup and all.”

“Oh, that hasn’t changed.”

“Very funny.”

Nadine leaned forward. “Who’s this Tommy you mention on every page?”

“You can actually read that? I’m impressed. I definitely have better handwriting now--”

“Chloe?’

Somehow, they hadn’t noticed footsteps on the stairs and down the hallway, but the click of the door made them both jump.

Chloe’s mother walked in, holding some mail, and blinked. Why would they have a guilty conscience now? Why did it feel like they’d been interrupted in something important and bad?

They were only two grown adults trying to break into an ancient computer because Neopets wasn’t mobile-optimized, after all. Chloe wanted to hiss to Nadine that her job was the lookout, but Nadine looked more terrified than Chloe had ever seen her; she had just about hopped back from the chair.

“Something came for you,” Leah Frazer said.

“I...see that,” Chloe said, hand going to her hair. “You can leave it, mummy.”

“Think it’s from your school.”

“From...which school?”

Leah shrugged her shoulders. “The uni you never went to? It’s from Tim M. Pierce High.”

And she wonders why I never visit. Chloe stood, pushing her hand through her loose, damp hair one last time, reaching out for the envelope with the familiar emblem in the corner.

She’d worn it on her silly skirt-and-polo uniform all those years ago, fighting its conformity with home-dyed streaks in her sharply cut hair and her eyeliner even more intense than she wore now. She might have switched it up with novelty contact lenses sometimes too--she wasn’t proud of that--but she could stop a black-pentagon-bedecked ball with one black-nailed hand and aced all her history tests.

Yes, Chloe remembered Tim M. Pierce, and she also remembered opting out of another few years of being treated like she was weird and dumb.

“Are they...asking for donations? Or something?”

“I think it’s an invitation,” Chloe’s mother said. “Might be having the reunion soon.”

“The reunion,” Chloe said, as if the word was foreign to her.

“Nice timing, isn’t it? You being back for the first time in forever. You could go.”

Chloe breathed out sharply through her nose as her mother closed the door and her footsteps paced back down the hall.

Nadine leapt in front of her. “Let’s go to a hotel, ja?”

“Are you scared of her, love? She’s not going to kill us.”

Nadine shook her head so emphatically Chloe actually had to look up from turning the envelope around in her hand. “She doesn’t like me. She doesn’t like me here.”

It took a long, embarrassing moment for Chloe to even pick up on what she meant.

“Oh. No, no,” Chloe laughed, waving her hand and turning back. “No, she’s mad at me, honey. Because I haven’t been in awhile and--”

“Frazer--”

“Nadine this is my mother. She doesn’t even know--no. She had--you’ve misjudged her.”

Nadine said, flatly, “I’ll find one myself.”

“Nadine, she’s not like that. She’s just snappy. I--I get it from her,” Chloe said, sitting back down. “Where were we? Oh yes, let’s find the password.”

“You didn’t even call ahead to tell her we were coming?”

Chloe felt the nerves in Nadine’s voice, but she also felt sick that her mother had inadvertently upset her. “I’ll talk to her, Nadine. I’ll tell her to--”

“No, no, no!” Nadine was really losing it, wasn’t she, wandering around the emo-band-poster-walled fortress with her face in her hands. “Don’t say it. Don’t say I told you to--that she--”

“Was making my partner uncomfortable?”

“Ja, that’s what you don’t tell her. Do not tell her that.”

“Oh relax,” Chloe said. “Between you and Nate, she’d throw him out of the house first.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That she judges character. Well. About that. You wanted to know about Tommy?” Chloe held out the open journal, showing a double-page spread of a crude drawing of a boy and her very impractically dressed self, holding hands. “He was my widdle baby crush. Mum didn’t like him.”

“Was he the psychopath type you always go for?”

Chloe laughed. “He was a good student. Squeaky-clean. She still hated the sight of him.”

“Ja, your drawing doesn’t really sell him either.”

Chloe returned fire by throwing the entire journal back at Nadine, who snatched it out of the air and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, glancing back at the door. Chloe turned back to the keyboard and typed the password that had been scrawled beneath the drawing:

ChloeAndTom4ever.

“Open sesame,” she said, as the startup noise pinged and the cursor did its loading animation.

“You think he’ll be at the reunion?” Nadine said.

“Oh, who goes to those? Did you go to yours?”

“My schools didn’t have them.”

“Well,” Chloe chuckled, but it was flat, nervous, “I didn’t enjoy my time at school, and I don’t see why I would want to be reminded.”

“Maybe he’s still single.”

“I doubt it. He’s balding and divorced, Nadine, one hundred percent. Crushes in your teen years do not hold up. Ah, here. Just...click on internet explorer...”

“God this is ancient,” Nadine muttered, having come over to hover at Chloe’s shoulder again. “Does it even have an antivirus?”

Chloe hovered the mouse over the taskbar. “McAfee.”

“Oh,” Nadine said. “Then, no.”

“I used the same password for Neopets! Let’s see. Oh. Well, the map is different. Didn’t it use to have Mcdonalds?”

Nadine bumped her arm. “I thought you called it Maccas or something here?”

Chloe squinted at her and said, “‘Didn’t it use to have Maccas?’”

Nadine’s laugh was worth it, even as Chloe reached up and gave her a poke in her stomach. Nadine held her stomach and flopped back on the bed. Chloe loved Nadine’s laugh to pieces, loved how it completely overcame her.

“See? My Neopets are all here. Nadine, pull yourself together!”

Nadine did, eventually, and came over to peer at the screen, at Chloe’s five Kaus and two Kougras of varying shades. “Starving. Starving. Starving,” Nadine recited, hovering the mouse over all of them. “Great parenting, Frazer.”

“All right, but they’re not dead, are they? I’ll just go get a free omelet and feed them now,” Chloe said.

“They’re not even wearing any clothes.”

“They’re animals, silly. They don’t wear clothes.”

Nadine snapped, “Let me log in.”

And Chloe had to stare at four perfectly dressed Mynci. Skirts, hats, entire outfits. And they were all fed.

“Someone,” Chloe said darkly, standing and grabbing Nadine’s shoulders, “Waited for me to fall asleep on the plane and logged into her account on the sly--”

“Or maybe I’m just proper at Neopets, Frazer?”

Nadine grappled her back, and they fell onto the twin mattress, giggling and slapping at each other.

“You didn’t even know they could wear clothes. All of them can wear any clothes--” Nadine was saying, as Chloe shook her by the shoulders, “not like those MMO’s that gender-lock everything--oh shit it’s your mum again--”

Nadine said the last few words lightning-fast, trying to separate from Chloe, who only grabbed her tighter, and they both tumbled to the carpet as Leah Frazer walked in.

“What are you doing. Chloe, I swear to God,” the woman said, setting a pitcher of lemonade down by the computer with two glasses. “Stop hitting Ms. Ross. You never grew up.”

“We weren’t fighting.”

“Oh come off it,” she said. “And get these posters off the walls. It feels like these freaks are about to stab me every time I walk in here.”

“You could have taken them off,” Chloe said, struggling to keep Nadine pinned to the fluffy floor. “Could have made it a nice guest room, chucked all my stuff in the bin--”

“So dramatic,” Leah said, taking her elbow and forcefully pulling her off Nadine. “And immature. Where did you get these cuts?”

She looked at Nadine too, taking her wrist, searching for the scabs that hadn’t quite healed off in the week or two since the end of their adventure in India. Nadine had treated hers, but Chloe’s definitely had worsened. “What were you doing there?”

“Mum, you remember how it was, the mosquitos--” Chloe said.

“Tree branches,” Nadine said tightly.

“--hiking is a--a contact sport--”

“You’re both lying,” Chloe’s mum said. “And to think you brushed it off when I told you about that insurrection. I was watching the news getting worse and worse and you didn’t even call to let me know you were all right, Chloe Frazer.”

The woman headed back to the door, but remembered something, as parents will after having already scolded you, and turned back. “Maybe you can show those photos at the reunion. They’re gorgeous.”

“Mum, I told you, nobody there was on my wavelength.”

Nadine burst out laughing.

A very rare smile came to Leah Frazer’s face. “Well, they usually allow a plus-one...”

[adorable-deku]

For the ask game!

Purple and.... indefatigable!

the behemoth au! we all love giant monsters right? right

when inko is pregnant, she notices herself getting heavier. a lot heavier. so much so that she cant actually support the weight of her child. she realizes she never asked her childs father what his quirk was. she only knew that he could breathe fire. maybe there was more to it

when he kicks, it hurts. like real horrible pain. she realizes he might already have a quirk and prepares herself for the worst, asking her best friend to raise her child just in case of the worst (the kids father? fucked off to who knows where not long after he was conceived

it is a miracle she lives through the childbirth at all to see her black iridescent scaled son so heavy that is she not allowed to hold him and so large that she wasnt even able to give birth normally. she dies not long after from a variety of reasons

izuku is taken in by mitsuki bakugou who now has to deal with not only her extremely fussy son, but her dead best friends literal monster(?) son.

she suspects hes a dragon bc she knows hisashi could breathe fire but, looking at izuku, she cant be entirely sure.

he is sharp, angular, craggy, and is covered head to to with glossy scales that shine hummingbird green in the sun. green reptilian eyes that seem to glow in the dark

and he grows. he grows so much that he practically eats the bakugous out of their bank account

he seems to understand japanese but, much like katsuki, does not seem particularly inclined to listen

it is very awkward when people who dont know the bakugous thing that izuku is their weird reptilian pet

izuku gets very angry whenever it happens. hes a member of the family too goddamnit

by the time he is four he is the size of the house and it is getting difficult to maintain him. luckily, this is the year he gains the ability to be human sized. the relief upon seeing a four year old sized human izuku is palpable

(in case youre wondering, no, he didnt go to the daycare before he was able to transform. with his size there were just too many risks)

even in human form, his dragon(?) characteristics do not fade. he still has reptilian eyes and even if his size has changed, his weight has not and he still requires the same amount of food.

izuku is a fucking juggernaut in human form. hes a four year old who can wield an amount of force equivalent to throwing a house at someone

suffice it to say that nobody fucks with him, and hes also very close to katsuki, the other kid that nobody wants to fuck with

that being said, people (especially those who have seen his true form) fear him in a way that they do not fear katsuki

i kinda want him to be friends w spinner tbh. an older lizard friend mentor. i dont think hes that much older than izuku so i guess hed be like an older brother friend

maybe izuku posts on a board for kids with mutant quirks and asks for advice on how to make his classmates less scared and thats how they become friends

izuku thinks heroes are super cool still, but he idolizes ryukyu more than all might (for obvious reasons)

now this can go one of two ways

something forces him to use his true form which, by the age of ten, is the size of a five story building and extremely strong. he wreaks destruction. (idk maybe hes injected w trigger wo his consent or smth) and then has to deal w the consequences while still trying to be a hero

OR

that doesnt happen. he goes to the hero exam. fuckin aces it because hes just so much stronger than the robots

The Izuku Issue™ : the more emotional he becomes, the more of his true form he regains, and if he doesnt control it, it is very very easy to hurt someone on accident

thats it for now folks

[aclosetfan]

Hey don’t worry! You’re a really talented writer and I don’t doubt you’re gonna come up with something awesome. I’ve been a fan of Another Buttercrush from the beginning and I can honestly say that its a gem and I’m so glad I stumbled upon it. Fan fiction is supposed to be fun so if you’re not feeling it maybe start a whole new story. And whatever that next story is, I’m sure it will be kick ass!

Anon, I really can't even begin to tell you how much that meant to me to read. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. It really means a lot. I don't think I'm totally done with Another Buttercrush. I have two really stupid jokes that are really pushing me to do the rewrite and re-find my spark for the story.

Thank you again for being so kind and understanding :) As a thank you, below the cut I have a scene from the story that was suppose to go in chapter 7. I like it a lot and it's really fluffy.

Hopefully, you enjoy it :)

EXCERPT FROM CHT 7

Butch was the first to admit that he had never been patient enough for all the first-aid bullshit, as he, once again, tried to tear at some ace bandages with his teeth. He would have just rather let the skin on his hands fester and blister, until, finally, they healed right back to “normal.” But because everyone was always insisting he learn to “better cope with his anger” so he wouldn’t end up “lashing out,” and “destroying everything he saw,” Butch had decided that he had needed the distraction.

He couldn’t explain why that meant he needed to torture his already damaged hands, but at the very least the stinging pain of it had calmed him down enough so he wasn’t completely seeing red anymore; just a little around the edges and that’s what his therapist called progress.

Butch snarled and spit out the ruined bandage, and as he reached for a fresh roll, a new first aid kit plopped down in front of him, along with a certain dark-haired girl.

“Hey.” Buttercup muttered.

He looked up from his hands to glare. She met his gaze for a second before her eyes darted off in another direction. He continued to glare, as his mind worked up the best insult to spew—something about butter fingers and cowardice—when she chanced another look at him.

“Uh, how are your hands?” She asked.

He snorted, “My hands?” He lifted them up so she could examine his botched bandage job, “They fucking hurt. How are your hands, Butterfingers?”

Certainly not his best insult, but he was working through a few things internally at the moment, so he didn’t care. The insult was effective enough to make a dark look flash across her face. After a moment, though, she relaxed and took a deep breath. With a weak sigh, she apologized, “Look, I’m—” she paused, “—sorry.”

“What was that?” He spat, rolling his eyes and concentrating on the ground. He had a major fucking headache and she wasn’t helping with it, especially because she was, once again, for the one zillionth time since creation, the root of all his problems. It took all his willpower not to throw the bandages to the side and knock her to the ground. It was all he wanted to do; to fight her. But he didn’t actually want to. That was the anger talking. And the anger didn’t make him a bad person. And—goddammit—another hit to his fucking pride; his therapist had actually gone and taught him something.

What was the point of being good, if he couldn’t even act on his bouts of rage? He didn’t get it.

“I said,” She snapped, “that I’m sorry.”

“Not that! Back there.” There was a hint of hysteria in his voice and it made him cringe. “What was with you? What was that?”

“Oh,” She bowed her head and started chewing on her lips, “uh, I don’t know.”

“What did you think it was back there? Fucking amateur hour? A goddamn fucking cake walk?” He sneered, focusing on his hands once more, completely fed-up with her little meek act.

“Oh, I make one damn mistake—” she threw her hands up, “—it was a fast, heavy, miss—”

“—Oh, please do not give me that bullshit!” He yelled over her, “I’ve seen worse thrown at you because I was the one throwing it.” He emphasized with a hiss. “Piss off, Buttercup.”

She had to be fucking messing with him or something. He had known her his whole damn life. Yeah sure, whatever, maybe they hadn’t gotten along for most of it, but she had never played the little damsel in distress bullshit before. He continued huffing under his breath about stupid girls and stupid hands, when a stupid girl put her stupid hands on his own.

“What don’t you get about pissing off?” He snapped, and this time she met his glare with her own.

“Just shut up and let me help.”

“I don’t need help!” He huffed pulling his hands away and turning quickly to hide his stupid, fucking, annoying twitch.

“Bull!” She argued back, pulling his hands back towards her, “Who even taught you first aid? This is shit.”

“Oh, I’m sorry! How fuckin’ dumb of me—”

“—Butch!” She yelled, shutting him up. She shook her head with a jutted chin and looked off in the distance. After a moment, she looked back at him and relaxed her features. “Just—jjust please let me help. Okay, please? I’m sorry,” She ended up sighing again.

He continued to glare at her for a few moments, but the throbbing in his hands wasn’t going away and he knew he’d only end up making it worse. He shifted his glare away from her face as he resigned his hands to her. She popped open the kit that was laying on the ground and firmly grasped his right hand first. Quietly, she unwrapped the dirty bandages that he had already placed there and he did his best to hide the flinch when she pulled it away from a particularly painful area. He wasn’t about to let her think the explosion had actually affected him in anyway. No, he definitely wasn’t going to allow her that pleasure.

She hissed though, in sympathy, at the state of his hand. It was blistered, gouged, and incredibly raw. “Shit,” she muttered quietly.

“What’d you expect?” He snapped and redirected his stare to her, but when he saw the actual, genuine, concern on her face he felt the bite in his voice die down. Her eyes were wide with worry and Butch knew if he looked for too long his anger would fizzle out completely—which was something he had planned on holding onto despite what any therapist said.

“It’s no big deal. It’ll heal.” He sniffed.

She frowned, but didn’t argue. Her grip on his hand loosened and gently she laid it palm up in her own. Stroking one of her fingers from his wrist to the top of his middle finger, she asked, “Can you feel this?”

“Huh?” He asked.

“Can you feel this?” She stroked his wrist and hand again, but this time slower.

“Uh, yeah.”

“How ‘bout this?” She stroked another finger.

“Yeah.”

“This?”

“Yep.” He answered, his voice getting weaker.

“Okay, this one?”

He swallowed and nodded. He could also definitely begin to feel his stomach tying itself into the same knot it always did whenever they touched for a prolonged period of time. She was being gentle, and each question was followed with a concerned glance that made him feel like mush.

“Good. Hopefully, that means there’s no nerve damage.”

“Hopefully.” He snorted, but just like he had predicted, the anger wasn’t there anymore. His anger had always been more easily directed at Butters when he was able to forget that she wasn’t all spice—that sugar and everything nice (whatever the hell that meant) had definitely been mixed in too. She cradled his hand with feather like touches and smiled up at him, as she rummaged around the kit. He watched her with a gross intensity, as she lined up the cream and disinfectant.

“Hey wait. Doesn’t that shit hurt?”

“Hurts less than an explosion. Hold still.”

“Wai—” He hissed, as she applied the ointment, “fuck!”

“I know. Sorry.” She offered sympathetically and blew on his hands to cool the pain, “You’ve got to clean it before it heals though.” She told him looking up through her eyelashes and his heart rate kicked up a notch.

“I know that.” He grunted as she moved to the next hand, repeating the same careful process. “You could have warned me.”

“Oh what? A wittle disinfectant hurted the big bad Butch?” She mocked.

“Shut it.” He warned, but the threat was empty.

She readjusted her position on the asphalt, scooting closer to him until their knees bumped into each other, and his eyes quickly travelled up her thighs until they met the edge of her shorts. Briefly, he wondered where her detachable skirt had wound up, probably somewhere buried under the wreckage, but he became more quickly occupied with the idea that her thighs were probably soft like her hands. The thought made him swallow and he stole a glance at her face to see if he had been caught staring. Thankfully she was too busy fiddling around with the first aid kit to notice.

He debated whether to open his mouth and say something—something smooth or suave, but he wasn’t Boomer. He wasn’t keen on charming. He was the one who punched things and harassed small animals (which was a rumor that had come pretty much out of left field when he was younger, since, on top of the fact that one of his dads was a monkey, it had been Boomer who had hoarded a small collection of slugs). So, instead of being smooth and suave, he chickened out and kept his attention on their hands.

He watched as she carefully wrapped them. None of the bandages folded, twisted, or got stuck to the softer gauze that she had placed down first. Since she could pack a fucking punch, he had never figured her hands could have been that tiny. Compared to his, everyone’s hands were pretty small, but it always came as a surprise when he remembered his counterpart could be thrown in with everyone else. Her bitchy, tough personality was big enough to trick people.

He liked her bitchy, tough personality though, so he wasn’t complaining.

“There.” She announced examining her handy work, “Done with your hands. Next, up,” she paused and frowned, looking him over, “I guess that ugly mug, huh?”

He half-heartedly mocked offense, glad there was still some semblance of normalcy coming from her, “What? You’re blind now too?”

She smiled and snorted, “Just hold still. Let me get a look at that gash.”

Even though it had been dripping blood earlier, he had completely forgot about the injury. It was a little odd that he even still had it. Gashes, typically, healed pretty fast, but most of his Chemical-X was probably being concentrated into his hands. It also didn’t help that he was so tired a headache pounded behind his eyes.

“Yeah, alright.” He shrugged and tilted his head to give her a better angle, but his help didn’t matter. Lightly, she grabbed onto his chin and positioned him the way she wanted. And well, if they had been close before, this was something, well, closer then close. Butch couldn’t think of any words right then to describe it. In fact, right then, he couldn’t think of much at all.

Buttercup cupped his cheek and he tried his best not to lean into it. His eyes flitted over her face trying to absorb every little detail without actually staring. His stare strayed to her eyes first, which were still slightly glowing from the Chemical-X use, before flinting up to her hair that had unpinned itself, letting frizzy baby hairs frame her face. He watched her eyebrows knit in concentration and followed the sweat tracks that had streaked their way through dirt, soot, and makeup down her face. Frankly, she was a mess, but shit, somehow, she still managed to be striking. Torn clothes, a busted lip, and those soft feather-like touches simultaneously knotted and unknotted the tension in his shoulders.

Awkwardly, he shifted a bit away to give her more space, but she only ended up scooting back over towards him with a scowl, “I said no moving.”

Despite the command, he fidgeted around for something to do and shifted his focus back down to his hands, and then, back to her thighs. And then he thought about her shorts, and then, what was underneath her shorts, and then he tried his best to think about anything else, like his brothers, or Mojo, or that one horrible time he had accidentally walked in on one of HIMS “special” baths, but nothing was working.

She was just really, really, close.

“Butch. Still.” She huffed, and held his chin in place forcing him to look forward into her face. He couldn’t figure out if she had realized it or not, but softly her thumb ran along the bottom of his lip and he sucked in a deep breath.

“Did that sting?” She asked pulling away, and, quickly, he shook his head no. “Well, hold up, it looks like you cut your lip too. Hang on.” She positioned herself so she sat up on her knees, looking down at him, and tilted his chin up as she dabbed at the wound. He tried to keep his breathing shallow, so much so, he was basically holding it. She took her eyes off his mouth for a moment and met his eyes, offering a half smile, “Good?”

“Yeah.” He mumbled against her thumb, her gaze making his heart thump along even faster. “Yeah.” He then repeated, like an idiot, but also because she was just so fucking pretty, he still couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“I—" She hummed, and then paused for a moment looking him up and down before continuing, “I think that’s it.” Buttercup muttered.

“I think I hit the other side of my head too.” He lied, words coming back to him quickly, because his touched-starved ass didn’t know how much he had needed this until that exact moment. It was a concept he figured someone of authority would make him “explore” later on, but like Brick often said, it was probably rooted in their fucked-up childhoods. Apparently, kids who didn’t have fucked up childhoods weren’t this desperate for attention. It was why Boomer fell in love with a new stranger every other day.

“Oh?” Her eyebrows furrowed together, but nonetheless she tilted his head carefully to the other side and rubbed away some dirt. He let his eyes close for a moment, as she carefully brushed through his hair.

“I don’t se—”

“Probably just a bruise then.” He swallowed thickly. “See anything else Dr. Utonium?” He joked, opening his eyes to look back at her.

Again, she offered him that small, pretty smile, “Well, let’s see, besides that gash, there’s your lip, but that’s about it.” Her fingers fell from his face and he seriously, actually, wished that explosion had teared him up just a little bit more, “I mean, you’ll probably want to see a plastic surgeon about whatever the hell else you’ve got going on, but I did what I could do.”

He snorted and couldn’t stop the grin that pulled on the corners of his mouth, “I’ll keep the advice in mind, but give it to me straight doc, can this face still get me laid?”

He watched as one of her eyebrows quirked up in amusement, “In my professional opinion, sir, you have a face only a mother could love.”

He pressed a bandage hand to his heart, feigning heartbreak, “Oof, harsh.”

“It’s not all bad news.” She continued, “You could always win them over with that personality of yours.”

This time he actually laughed, “Oh yeah. That’ll work out realwell for me.”

She laughed with him for a moment before going quiet. With a tilt of her head, she smiled at him, “You know you could though, right?”

Her tone made the knot in his stomach all the more tighter, and he snorted again in disbelief, looking away. “Yeah?” He asked his smile fading slightly as he examined her from his peripheral, “You know somebody?”

She stared at him before opening her mouth, “May—”

“—Buttercup!” Blossom yelled, ice creeping into her tone, from across the blacktop, “You’re helping with clean-up! Get over here!”

Buttercup’s shoulders slumped as she sighed, “I guess I deserve that.”

“Probably.”

She stood and offered him a hand, grasping him by the elbow to help him up. They stood together for a moment, with her looking past him towards her sister and him staring at the way she chewed on her bottom lip.

“Well,” He nodded, clearing his throat, “I guess I’ll see ya.”

“Hey wait.” Buttercup spoke up, stopping him from turning away. She looked up at him with a sheepish expression, “Listen, I’m like, ya know—” She gestured between them trying to find the words, and for whatever reason his heartbeat started to kick back up.

“Uh, yeah?” He asked, clearing his throat for a second time.

“Well, like…” She trailed off, pressing her lips into a thin line before she shook her head and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing tight against him. His heart jumped into his throat and he froze.

“I’m sorry, seriously.” She muttered into the crook of his neck, her breath warm and her tone low, as his brain slowly began to process the hug. When he eventually had enough sense to return the gesture, she pulled away slightly and floated up so they were again face to face.

“We’re cool, right?” She asked, tilting her head in concern as she looked him in the eyes. Her arms hung loosely over his shoulders, while his hands rested on her waist, and their mouths were about three inches—just three tiny pathetic inches—away from each other. He tried to covertly lick his dry lips without it being weird. “You don’t hate me? Not enemies again?”

“No,” He swallowed, “Its—we’re cool.”

She smiled, her eyes crinkling around the corners as she encircled him in another tight hug. “Good.” She hummed close to his ear, squeezing him before letting go, “Would have sucked if you’d had said yeah. I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah.” He nodded dumbly, “Yeah.”

“See ya then.” She gave him a lazy salute before taking off back over to ground zero, leaving him alone.

“Holy—” He breathed when she was far enough away, his heart still pounding away like a jack hammer in his chest, “—shit.”

He had it bad for her.

[impala666]

The One With The Candy Hearts Part Two (Bryan)

Bryan may or may not be loosely based off of Jared Padalecki, sorry not sorry. But that is who I am imagining, you are free to imagine anyone. We are here to have fun and enjoy ourselves! 

Last Part (Part One), Series Masterlist

It was later in the evening; Ross was off doing his own thing, Chandler was with Joey on his stupid date, and you were over at Monica and Rachel’s with Phoebe and instead of going out the four of you decided that it would be more fun if you all cooked, so as Monica and Rachel got the salad ready you were over at the stove stirring so the delicious smelling meal that you had wouldn’t burn while Phoebe set the table. As you four got everything ready, some how to topic of horrible ex-boyfriends came up. “Okay, okay, Roger was creepy but he was nothing compared to Pete Carney.” Rachel said to all of you.

“Which one was Pete Carney?” Monica asked her as you made your way back over to the table to take a sip of your beer. 

“Pete the weeper. Remember the guy that used to cry every time we had sex? ‘Was it good for yooou.’” Rachel played back as she pretended to be Pete Carney, which made you cringe. You could not even imagine how awkward that would be. 

“Yeah, well I would take a little crying any day over Howard the “I Win” guy.” Monica told her as she thought of her own awkward experience. “I win! I win!” Monica threw up her arms as she deepened her voice to mock the man of her own. “I went out with the guy for two months. I didn’t get to win once.” She complained as she turned to get something. You were never one to share what went on when you were in the bedroom but you didn’t find yourself caring if Rachel, Phoebe, or Monica knew. The four of you were just that close. 

“You know, Joey never really had any issue when it came to that kind of stuff. Actually, he was amazing.” You told them as you smiled at the many many memories of Joey and you in his bed, you bit on your bottom lip but immediately shook it out of your head when you remembered what happened in the coffee house that morning. “But then he has the audacity to go out with another girl not even a week after he broke up with me because he “wanted to do the right thing.” You quoted but found yourself rolling your eyes as the girls scoffed and shook their heads along with you. “I mean give me a break.” You scoffed as well. 

“But he did treat you really well,” Phoebe tried to get you to look on the bright side when you looked back on how much of a jerk he was today, which you found yourself agreeing with her on that one. 

“How do we end up with these jerks!? I mean we’re good people.” Rachel woed as she shaved the carrot into the salad bowl. 

“I don’t know, maybe we’re like some kind of magnets.” Monica joked as she joined the three of you back at the table as she shook and opened the salad dressing. You and Rachel nodded with her, acknowledging her joke. 

“I know I am. That’s why I can’t wear a digital watch.” Phoebe ended up speaking literally, even though it still made no sense. Which was why Monica, Rachel, and you found yourselves just staring down at her in confusion. 

“There’s more beer, right?” Monica asked, realizing that she wasn’t drunk enough to take on Phoebe. 

“God, I hope so.” You spoke as you walked back over to the pot and deemed what was in it good enough to be done, so you turned off the flame. You and Rachel looked at each other as she started to wash her hands in the sink, smiling and shaking your heads at your dear friend Phoebe. 

“Oh! You know my friend Abby who shaves her head?” Phoebe asked as she had gotten an idea. The three of you nodded. “She says that if you want to break the bad boyfriend cycle you can do, like, a cleansing ritual.”

“Pheebs, this woman is voluntarily bald.” Rachel told Phoebe, as her way to tell her friend that she was still skeptical. 

“Yeah,” She nodded and smiled up at Rachel. “So, we can do it tomorrow night, guys. It’s Valentine’s Day. It’s perfect.” 

“Okay. Well, what kind of ritual?” Monica hesitantly asked, hoping that it wasn’t going to be too crazy. 

“Okay.” Phoebe stood up. “We can burn the stuff they gave us.”

“Or?” Rachel asked, since it seemed like Phoebe had more to offer. 

“Or...or we can chant and dance around naked. You know, with sticks.” You looked up at Phoebe with fear of that one wondering where it came from.

“Burnings good.” Monica, Rachel, and you agreed. 

“Wait a second guys,” you started before they all went back to their small tasks for dinner. “Joey wasn’t that bad was he?” You asked, because you didn’t think Joey was that bad of a boyfriend, sure there were stuff about him that got on your nerves but he wasn’t bad.

“No,” they all said. “Just the way that he’s dealing with the break up in front of you is left to be desired.” Monica said for all of them, which was good. At least you weren’t the only one who thought that he had moved on very quickly considering how much Joey said that he was in love with you.

*********

It was a little bit later and you had left Monica and Rachel’s, and Phoebe was at the coffee house with you but she was off in the bathroom, so for now it was just you sitting at the table since the couch area was taken. Your butt was uncomfortable, but hey a seat was a seat you guessed. While Phoebe had been in the restroom you had been going through your books and studying for your exam that you had at the end of the week. You were studying, but knew you were probably going to be fine because you had aced the other ones you had taken, who knew that you would do well in this. Well you did of course.

“Excuse me?” You heard a deep masculine voice ask from right next to you. So you went to look up at who walked up to you, but all words were immediately lost when you saw the tall and very, very handsome man standing above you and smiling at you with the most beautiful hazel eyes. “Is this seat taken?” The man asked, gesturing to the seat across from your own. Phoebe’s stuff was still there, and you even saw her come back out of the corner of your eye. But it seemed your lady parts was doing all the talking here, (why did I just think that?). You shook your head at yourself at how lame you sounded, but the man just looked confused at you.

“Sorry, no it’s not taken.” You told him and he sat down. You didn’t notice Phoebe’s jaw dropping in surprise, but then she decided that she would let you have this one so she just went over to the counter for now. “But you can take a seat.” You smiled sweetly up at him.

“Thank you, I’m Bryan, by the way.” The man introduced himself as he sat down across from you. His legs were so long that he couldn’t fit them comfortably under the table. Which made you smile to yourself and cast your eyes down for a second.

“I’m Y/N,” you introduced yourself and took the hand that he held out for you to shake. 

“So, I was sitting over there with my friends,” he nodded over to where he and his friends were sitting and you looked over as he did an adorable thing where he smiled and chuckled a little when he saw you look over to see if it was true, which checked out.

“Uh huh?” You questioned with an eyebrow raised as you looked back over at him waiting for him to continue.

“And they saw me looking over at you so they kept hounding me to come over here and talk to you,”

“Which is going very well, I must say.” You chuckled and rested your hand on your chin. He smiled so brightly at you, you swore you got lost. 

“So, would you like to get dinner or something some time?” He asked you.

“Wait a minute, this isn’t like some Valentine’s Day thing where you hit on some girl to get her to go out with her when she’s feeling her most lonely day and then never call her again?” You asked jokingly, but you were serious about it in the back of your mind. 

“What? Of course not?” His face dropped, totally serious. “But if it makes you feel better we could do it on not Valentine’s Day.”

“I think we can definitely do that, thank you.” You smiled at him, but then he started to get up.

“Awesome, I’ll see you then, Y/N.” Has he like never asked a girl out before. 

“Uh, Bryan?” You called and he turned around to look down at you and put his hands in his jean pockets. “You might need to actually call me, so we know where we’re going and stuff, you know?” You told him as you lifted a piece of paper with your phone number on it. 

“Right, sorry!” His hand shook as he took the paper from you. “Just really nervous.” Bryan told you under his breath which made you chuckle. “I’ll call you then?” 

“Okay,” you nodded.

“Have a good night, Y/N.” He smiled at you.

“You too,” you told him and he walked away to join his friends once more as Phoebe came back over to sit by you.

“Ooh, who was that?” Phoebe asked as she couldn’t help but check him out herself. 

“Bryan.” You told since that was all you knew.

“He asked you out, for Valentine’s Day, can’t believe him.” Phoebe already thought what you were trying to prevent that. 

“Oh, no. I already said no Valentine’s Day. Plus we have that burning ritual thing tomorrow.” You told her as she nodded her head at you and your smartness. 

“I don’t think Joey’s going to like it.” Phoebe muttered trying to get to worked up, she wanted to help you move on.

“I don’t care, he wanted me to get to know New York, and you know what. I’m going to get to know it, I am SO going to get to know it!” You yelled. “Oh, but not like that.” You told her not wanting to look like slut.

“Not that there would be anything wrong with that,” Phoebe spoke even though she agreed with you. 

“I’ll drink to that.” You nodded as you and Phoebe clinked your coffee mugs against the others.

Taglist:

@vampiregirl1797​

@kellysimagines​

[cherripeach]

Chapter 7

Little Match Maker

Summary: Your life motto is “I have the power of god and anime on my side, don’t mess with me,” and you stand by that with your life. No human, magician, or random creature could ever stop your firm belief in it.

However, getting transported to this world that seemed to turn your already bad luck worse was not what you wanted to be in your life story, but you made the most of it. Making friends, enemies, and disasters, you were in your prime in this world, and so you decided to help as many people as you could flourish, at least what you believed to be.

Prologue 14-18: i have the power of god and anime on my side

Chapter Summary: So a normal anime battle, right?

Warnings: Curse words, kinda jokes about death

Words: 3.4k

Relationships: developing but future twstxreader

Walking through the mirror portal was like walking through a fever dream on drugs: directions weren’t a thing and every color was being blasted through your eyelids into your eyes and once you opened them because the colors calmed down, you think you saw a talking cat who smiled and waved at you in there.

All three of you with Grim on your hip stumbled out of the portal to this new forest area.

Problem with the forest was nothing was moving. No noises from birds. No wind blowing the trees. No crunch of the leaves on the ground by any animals. No footsteps. Nothing.

Your eyes surveyed the land and only found the forest deserted. Even the little cabin in front of you did not look like it had been touched in years. There were holes in the roof and cobwebs all over the house. And there were no lights on in the entire house.

You and the color duo had the same thought and locked eye contact with a cringe on each of your faces, absolutely not ready for anything.

So you began your journey with Red in front of you and Blue behind.

Blue looked around the forest, and then looked back to you and Grim, “So this is Dwarf’s Mine...It used to be prosperous, thanks to magic crystal mining but…”

Grim spoke up, “Uuuuhh.. Feels like something could jump out…” and slipped further into your arms.

You held on a little tighter to your cat and voiced your opinion, “Feels like someone died or something... “ You paused and decided to get this moment over with, “What are your names again? Like full name…”

Red just rolled his eyes and turned to face you, “Are you actually kidding me? You're such a dumbass…” He rolled his eyes and faced forward and continued to move forward to only mutter, “Ace Trappola, loser.”

Deuce pulled up by your side and sympathized with your struggles, “It’s okay. I’m Deuce Spade,” and he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, “I’m not really good with names either, and I have to ask all the time.” A small smile appeared on his face.

Ace grabbed back your attention while announcing his founding of the house you already knew about, “Oh, there's a house back there. Let's go ask them about the mine”a

You were not for this, “You sure that house isn’t haunted. I’m not okay with going into a haunted house and dying with people I’ve barely met.”

Ace was not in the mood and twisted his head to stick out his tongue at you, “Shut it, dumbass.”

You four finally got to the door of the cottage or cabin, and you realized that the cottages looked a lot like the Dwarf’s House in Snow White which you really should have put together when Deuce called the area the ‘Dwarf’s Mine.’

Once all three of you stopped at the door, Ace, the genius he is, decided to knock on the door as if anyone would answer. He even called out to those inside, “Good evening..” until he realized that no one was home, “I guess it’s abandoned …” Then, his next great idea was going inside which totally is not a crime of breaking in and entering, “It’s a mess in here.”

Grim jumped out of your arms to get into the cottage and began his exploration which landed him right in a spider web where he spit out pieces onto the floor,“ Puwah! I got a spider web in my face.. Peh! Peh!”

Ace moved over to the table, “Aren't the tables and chairs on the small side? Are they for kids? One, two... There's seven! So many!”

“I don’t know about you, but I think that dwarfs might have lived here,” You had to make a sarcastic remark at his lack of judgement.

But of course none of them heard you or acknowledged you until a light bulb flashed over Deuce’s head while he brought up something similar to you,“This was probably a lively home when Dwarfs' Mine flourished.”

Your face fell while you could only shake your head at the audacity (of this bitch), look away from him, and mutter, “Well, no shit, sherlock.”

Ace brought your attention back to the task at hand, “They did what they had to. After all, magic crystals are found inside coal. For now, let's go check it out.“

And so all three of you ventured out of the cottage into the forest. Heading through the forest, you discovered something when looking at the sky: The Neverland Star was in the sky. You had to ponder for a minute if what if you actually were in a world where all things that happened in Disney Movies existed. You pushed that aside the moment you thought of it and laughed because ‘Naw, there’s no way that could happen and certainly not to you. You weren’t some Y/N from a fanfic where their parents sold them to Harry Styles.’

The more you followed the terrible forest path the less the path could be seen; years of no use made the path basically nonexistent. But the mine was the worst: broken pieces of wood and metal were thrown about like it something happened when it was closed, grass was growing from the train tracks, and not a single forest creature was in sight.

Grim studied the vibe for a minute and freaked out, “W-we're gonna go in that pitch black cave!?” He could only cling back onto your cloak for protection as if you could protect even yourself.

“Scared? Lame.” Ace rolled his eyes and emerged first from the four of you in horror at the mine.

Grim threw your cloak back in your direction and crossed his arms, “Naaanh!? I'm not s-scared at all! I'm taking the lead! You guys, follow me!“ Grim pranced to get in front of the three of you and entered the mine.

Everything was going well until two ghosts emerged from within the mine, creating chaos from the four of you.

The ghost’s could only reply to your chaos with, “Heeee hee hee! Our first visitor in ten years!” from one and, “Make yourselves at home. For eternity!” from another.

And all three of you raced away from the ghosts.

Ace could not help but panic, “This place is haunted with ghosts, too!”

Deuce tried to handle the situation, “We don't have time to deal with them one by one. Let's go!”

But Ace is Ace, “Don't think you can just order me around. If you hadn't done something so idiotic, we wouldn't be in this mess.“

“You wanna talk about who started it? It's cause you wouldn't clean!”

“It started when that furball burned the Queen of Hearts' statue!"

Grim tried to save his dignity, “Ffgna! That's what you get for making a fool outta me!”

Deuce set the objective again to the two idiots, “All of you! Do you understand our situation right now? We're all expelled if we don't get back with a magic crystal by tomorrow morning!”

You just couldn’t stand the arguing of these boys. They were worse than children arguing over a favorite toy.

Ace flicked his hand at Deuce and voiced his attitude, “So stop patronizing me. It's really ticking me off.”

“Will you all just shut up and run? Is it that hard to comprehend in your tiny brains that this is a situation where we could all I don't know..d i e? Either get your asses out of here and follow me or I’ll leave you in here.” You grabbed Grim and put him back on your hip.

“...on’t….ive….wo....” A ghastly voice spoke from far in front of your group.

Everyone jumped.

Ace peered around the cave only stopping to lock his frantic gaze onto yours, “W-who said that...”

“St...one....sssss.....mine..” The voice murmured.

“I think it's... getting closer…” Deuce whispered-yelled at you.

“Stone.... IS MIIIIIIIIIIINNNEEEE!!” A creature with a broken glass head with tar or a substance like gasoline leaking out of the broken area. The creature had a red coat with a belt and a brown hat on top of its broken glass head.

All three of you jumped with wide eyes and open mouths and screeched, “I-It's heeeeeeeeeeeree!!!!”

You with Grim in your arms, Deuce, and Ace all scrambled to get out of the cave with the monster, pushing and shoving the others to get out of the way and get through. You ended up tripping on a rock

A new section of the cave came into view while the monster was still chasing after your group. And even after you three sprinted through the cave, you did not stop until the monster’s footsteps could not be heard from behind you.

You three came to a halt and you let Grim stand up in order for you to place your hands on your knees so that you could take a break and breathe after the run you just had. The other two boys followed your same form and let out large puffs of air.

Deuce stood back up while still exhaling air, “What the heck is that thing?!”

Grim clutched your cloak as he hid under it this time, “Ffgnaaaaaaa!!” He almost pulled your pants down, “Crowley didn't say anything about that!! Let's get outta here!” He tugged your cloak in the opposite direction of the cave.

Ace fixed himself and thought out loud, “It’s so nasty,” but he placed his hand on his chin and finished with, “But didn't it mention a 'stone'!?” He did peace signs and moved his fingers up and down to signify he was quoting the beast.

Grim’s mouth flew open wide while he voiced his opinion of the monster with a solid, “Eehh??”

He was lost in his confusion until the monster appeared behind him again, “St....one, won't....give...!” The monster seemed pretty strung up about this stone which made you pause for a minute and think. Why is this monster here in the first place? And why does this monster need this stone? Is it like its source of magic like the chandelier or something?

Deuce had a cry of “Eureka!” by proclaiming about the magic crystals, “So there really are magic crystals left!”

Grim’s response was plain, “N-n-n-n-n-nope! Nope! I'm a genius, but I can't beat that thing!” He was still clutching onto your cloak while pointing at the monster.

Deuce curled his fist up, “But we'll be expelled without it.. I'm going!” and he threw it up in the air.

Ace’s wide eyes locked with yours, “You’ve gotta be kidding!?”

“Well, if we are gonna do this and get this stone, we gotta do this right.” You threw your hands on your hips and your lips twitched up.

Deuce now had both of his hands in fists while proclaiming, “I cannot, under any circumstances, be expelled!”

The monster was not hearing any of it, “Leave! Leave!! Leeeeeaave!!!”

And so the three and the monsters began to fight. Grim had to jump out of his hiding spot, and he would spit fire at the monster every couple of steps that the monster was taking. Ace and Deuce kept hitting the monster with common attacks that they knew. But you realized something sooner than they did.

So you yelled at them, “Idiots, nothing is working. Get your butts out of here if you want to live!”

They, of course, would not listen to you and continued to fire their attacks at the monster, and even when Grim noticed the attacks weren’t working and informed the others with a “I-It's not working at all!” they still continued to fight.

It was only when you found a sparkly light at the end of the tunnel did your scream of “Dudes, there is a crystal thing here!” spurred them to listen to you.

Ace turned and found the crystal just as you did, “Behind that thing! At the end of the tunnel, something...”

Deuce nodded, “That light, is it a magic crystal!?”

And once the monster hollered at the group of you again about how he “WON’T GIVE” your group the crystal, you made the assumption that there was at least one crystal left.

Grim turned back to you and called for the others to get out of the mine as soon as possible because there was no way they were gonna win now.

You grabbed Grim once he made grabby hands at you and started to dash down the mine in the opposite direction of the creature.

You three ended up making it back to the little cottage before you stopped.

Grim panted even though he was on your hip the entire time, “Is this far enough?”

Ace was still stupefied, “Ooooww.. What in the world was that? No one said anything about that!”

Deuce was also lost in confusion, “It didn't seem like any old ghost.”

Ace sighed in defeat, “Let's give up and go home. I'd rather get expelled than fight that thing.”

Deuce looked incredulously at Ace, “Wha!? Don't screw with me! I'd rather die than face expulsion! There's a magic crystal in front of us and you wanna go home!” Deuce gripped Ace’s collar and pulled the boy in front of his face.

Ace scoffed, “Ha. You talk big for someone worse at magic than me. Go alone if you want. I'm done.” Ace pushed Deuce’s hands off of him and started walking away from the direction of the mine.

Deuce snapped, “Oooh, that right? Then stay right there cowering like a spineless coward!”

Ace’s face swiveled around, “Huuuuh?? Coward?? Who exactly are you talking about?”

Grim’s hands tigented around your shirt, “U-uuuh... Deuce. Did you switch up your character?” His head tilted to the side.

Deuce coughed, “Huh! A-ahem! My bad. I lost my composure a bit.”

You decided that if any time is good, now is the perfect time for your opinion, “Okay dudes, let’s use what we have. We know that magic can help us in this situation, but being a dumbass won’t. All three of you need to actually use your brains and remember that you don’t have to do this alone.” You placed your hand on your chin, “If one magic alone does not work with our level, maybe magic combined could work. There is always the power of friendship if we really need it.”

Ace’s eyes narrowed in either disgust or confusion, “Well, yeah we can only do small stuff that we are good at. That’s why we have schools for magic, so that we can practice a lot to use magic just as it comes to mind. You’ll screw up if you lose your cool.”

Your eyes sparkled, “So what you are saying is I’m right and that we do need to work together as you are all inexperienced magicians that can barely do anything!” This was just what you needed.

Ace continued and ignored you, “Shut up. Stuff you're good at, you can go off instinct.”

Deuce voiced his decisions, “At any rate, I'm going in there. I'll figure out how to beat that thing and come back with a magic crystal.”

Ace rolled his eyes at Deuce, “However, judging by the chandelier incident, you're a complete idiot. You couldn't land a single hit earlier, but now you'll 'figure it out'? It's going to end the same.”

Deuce’s eyes narrowed at Ace, “Come again!? You think…”

Grim tugged on your cloak to get your attention, “Here they go again. Can you stop it?”

A sigh came out of your mouth to launch you into your rant, “Will both of you put your dicks away and calm down? For Pete’s Sake, I really thought your brains would be bigger than your dick, but now I’m just assuming that your brain is nonexistent…” Your hand ran through your hair, “Please, I beg for you to listen to me for one second. Get your head out of your ass and realize that you, all of you, need to work together as a team and think with your heads to defeat this monster. Capiche?” You closed your eyes and smiled as wide as you could.

Both of the students looked at you like you just told them that the world would end, and ended up yelping after their eyes met yours.

Grim covered his ears with his paws, “Waah. Why are you shouting all of the sudden?”

You opened your eyes and obtained a resting bitch face, “Either you suck it up and realize that you can’t do anything alone or you can go try again and maybe you’ll have a good short death.” Your smile appeared back on your face.

Deuce deflated, “Guuhh... B-but... What exactly should we do?”

“We have to have a plan for this to work,” You knew you had to put your head together.

Ace still had disgust in his eyes, “Strategy? You mean get along and work together. Ha! That's cold. You have no problem saying lame things with a serious face, huh.”

Deuce bobbed his head, “Disagreed. No way I'm working with this loser.”

Grim shook his head, “But... I feel like it's way lamer to get expelled on the first day of school.”

Ace stuttered, “U-uh, that’s…”

Deuce stared at his shoes.

“So, are you finally gonna listen to me?” You smiled and ran your hand through your hair.

Ace groaned, “....haaaahh.. Fine! We just have to get it done, right! So, what's your plan?”

And all three of you then had a discussion about what you were going to do to defeat the monster. Neither of the males had any ideas, so it depended all on your ideas. Later, you three ended up at the opening of the mine with confident looks on your faces, empty stomachs, and worn out bodies.

Grim, shaking next to you and gripping the end of your cloak, gazed up into your eyes, “You... really think it'll go as planned? I'm sca... no, just nervous.”

“Hey, Grim,” You pet the top of his head right next to his ears, “Nothing bad will happen to us. You just have to believe in yourself and everyone else.”

Ace slapped you back, “Haha, you're too stiff. Just go with the flow. Let's get this over with!”

All three of you strutted into the mine as if you knew what you were doing, but you didn’t.

Grim jumped in front of you and waved his arms all around, “Hey, beasty! O-o-o-over here!”

The monster ended up sprinting at you which makes sense because before it ran at you, you cupped your mouth and yelled, “Hey, whore, bet you never passed elementary school!” And then stuck out your tongue at the monster.

Grim sprung up and went in the opposite direction you did screaming, “Gah! It’s coming!”

While you tried to doge the monster, the monster growled, “Grrr!There... thief... too. Won't give... Mine... Mine!!”

The monster’s growls and shrieks soon turned into wails and cries. You paused your run to observe the monster who was in the middle of fighting Ace and Deuce because Ace decided to punch the monster in the monster’s face of glass. (Grim ended up cheering at Ace’s punch) This monster you had now learned was not mad at you but was probably attached to the mine and especially to the crystal with how the monster’s screams turned to cries.

(‘Great character analysis!’ You thought while patting yourself on the back.)

You surveyed the outfit of the monster once more, and you learned that it was much more familiar than you thought.

A light bulb went off in your head because the outfit looks like one of the seven dwarfs outfits, and, of course, now when you need it you forgot what they all look like.

You had to get everyone’s attention, especially the monster’s, “Hey hey hey! I’m gonna steal the crystal if you don’t run after me!”

The monster stomped after you out of the mine and into a big meadow roaring, “Go away! Go away!!!”

And with a wave of your hand, the three magicians in your group did a grand attack. All of them were yelling their movies like basic anime heroes.

(‘Am I in an anime?’ flew through your mind for a second, but your slowly pushed it down)

You knew that this was your only chance because the monster was stuck in all of their attack, “I’ll go get it, don’t worry!”

The three of them high fified and talked a little bit about how just amazing their combined attack was. You were spirinting into the mine, tripping on some of the rocks and slipping on a puddle of muck from the monster. The crystal slowly came into view and you went in that direction.

Large, booming footsteps were heard from behind you causing you to circle around to the noise and find not only the monster racing toward you but your idiotic boys following after it.

Ace hollered at you, “Watch Out!”

The monster even though the boys were still attacking it ignored everything and sprinted straight for you and the crystal.

You had to jam your hands into the rocks surrounding the crystal and pull as hard as you can which honestly was not a lot. Your hands were soon donned with scraps and cuts from the rocks surrounding it, and finally after using a piece of metal from the train tracks behind you, you got out the crystal with the monster not on your ass but almost.

When the monster locked sight onto the crystal in your hand, a sickening screech flew through the air, “Hands ooooofffffffff!!”

Deuce, Ace, and Grim all began panicking and trying to find out what to do by actually asking each other.

However, your biggest priority was to get out of the monster’s range, so you had to do something that could get you killed possibly.

(At least unless you wanted to go deeper into the mine which honestly was a worse idea than facing the monster in front of you).

The monster could almost reach out and grab you now so you performed your amazing save: you kneeled to the ground as the monster was still running at you causing the monster to trip and fly right over you into a wall of rocks. Since the monster was now a little caught up, you stood up and rushed to get the boys who you pulled by their sleeves as they were still arguing and forced them to follow you out of the mine once and for all.

Grim surveyed your hand and ordered the others, “We got the magic crystal! Let’s skedaddle!”

Ace looked back at the monster, sighed, then turned to Grim, and shouted, “Roger!”

The monster ended up gaining focus quicker than you expected because it appeared right behind you as the exit to the cave came in sight.

Ace incredulously gazed at the monster, “You're kidding!? It knocked off all that stuff and came after us!”

Deuce cursed and then remarks, “Shoot, it’s gonna catch up to us!”

You noticed that the monster did not stop even when all of you were close to the cottage in the woods, and you knew that it was because the monster is dead set on getting the crystal out of your hands, “There’s no way it’s gonna let us go. Either we end this now or die trying, so let’s go.” You halted your run and faced the monster with your fists in the air.

Ace sighed, “Aaah, fine! Let's finish it! Don't let me down, Mr. Serious!”

Deuce's eyes flicked to yours and then Ace, “You too.”

Grim jumped in front of you, “I’ll show off my true power!”

All three of them ended up using their magic together to defeat the monster, and even though they all came out of the battle close to dead they still cheered and celebrated with each other with shouts and highfives.

A breath of relief passed your lips, “Now this is when you confess your love for each other?” You locked eyes with first Ace and Deuce.

“Knock it off!” Ace and Deuce yelped at you.

It seemed they have become so much in sync that they are even imitating each other.

Deuce continued with red cheeks, “...Ah. N-no. This is nothing like that!”

Ace added, rubbing the back of his neck, “Y-yeah, yeah! Could you stop saying weird things?”

Grim puffed out his chest and bloated, “W-we won, thanks to my genius!...It's not because we pooled our strength!”

You turned to Ace and shook your head causing Ace to run his hand through his hair and frown, “...I guess making excuses is pretty lame. I hate to admit it but we won thanks to your plan.”

Deuce slowly nodded, “... True. We got the magic crystal because you gave us level headed instructions. We can prevent our expulsion this way. ... I'm so relieved.”

You smiled at the two, “Everyone did their part, and now we can finally relax.”

Ace finished it off, “Yeah, yeah. We're all relieved. And seriously worn-out and battered. Let's go home.”

Grim pulled your coat and remarked how starving he was, but all you could think about was a change of clothes and a bath, so him eating a black crystal or whatever did not really bother you, not even when the other two boys were yelling at him not to.

Deuce let out a cheer of excitement and a breath of plain exhaustion, “Switching gears, let's get this magic crystal to the headmaster!”

Everything was finally going your way. For now.

~~~

It be very cute how my laptop now does not work