#right now i'm finding out that my husband is doing the exact opposite of what i swore i heard he was doing today

[donnerpartyofone]

This week during my annual checkup, I will be asking my GP for a referral to a psychiatrist. In anticipation of this, I have been keeping a diary cataloging all the screwy, dysfunctional things I do during the course of a normal day. I'm afraid that if I simply go and tell a doctor what generally happens with me, they won't believe me. They'll tell me that I don't have any real problems, that all my alleged mistakes are the imaginary products of low self-esteem, like so many friends and family members and bad therapists have done. I need a record.

As I've been documenting my days and seeing the patterns in my dysfunction, more historical issues are beginning to surface. It's fascinating, it's like an archeological dig. I cleared a plot for a new building, and I've found all these esoteric items under the surface. How many times have I tried to learn something new, with great diligence and care, and somehow adopted the exact opposite practice of what I was taught, without even realizing it until it was too late?

When I decided to sign up for a karate class, I went to a demo and studied it intensely. I practiced what I had observed in the basement during the week before my first class, determined not to be embarrassed by what a slow (especially physical) learner I am. Then when I got to my first class, I realized that I had been doing the exact opposite of what the students in the demo were told to do with their feet.

When I was forced to take an after-school tap dance class, I could barely get through it because for some reason I picked up the exact opposite of the basic toe-heel pattern we were taught. I wasn't able to correct my perception at any time during the whole battery of rehearsals we had for our dumb little first performance; I only realized later, when I was randomly prompted to reflect on what we were shown (and which was repeated like a chant throughout every session). At least I didn't have to keep learning tap.

When I got my first barista job, I was very concerned about screwing up and listened intently to all of the training, trying to burn it into my brain. Weeks later, my boss gently pointed out that I had been very consistently putting the lid on the cup the exact opposite way he told me to do it, with the mouth hole incorrectly lined up with the cup seam.

When I met my future best friend in college--someone who immediately impressed me, and who I wanted to like me--I somehow convinced myself that her unusual last name was pronounced the exact opposite way from what she had told me. Embarrassingly, I went around valiantly correcting people like I was doing her a big favor, until she reminded me of what she had actually said.

Each time I think of an example of this, another one appears. How does this happen? On no occasion did I just blithely tune out, assuming I'd figure things out by myself and everything would be fine. On no occasion did I interrupt or ignore someone, assuming that what they were telling me didn't really matter. I'm not embarrassed to ask questions or to make someone repeat themselves. I have always been a studious person and a tragic people-pleaser. I want to do a good job. I believe in making an effort. I care. I was listening hard.

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

🔥unpopular charles opinion

The thing is, it’s not an opinion, really. The question isn’t meant to be a complaint or a rebuttal or anything. I just genuinely don’t get it! The question goes something like this.

So Charles/Klinger seems to be the one actively disliked ship in the fandom, discounting the h*nn*hawk vs p*erc*ntyre gang war and that one rabidly anti-hawnk person (lol). Most nobody has any love for the ship, because it’s stupid and OOC, of course, but mostly because it’s egregiously obviously racist and gross, which is the critique that seems most common, and to be of most importance to people.

And to be clear, for the purposes of this post I am wholly agreeing with all that! It’s distasteful and immoral and people who are into it are insane, including me. I’m not arguing against this line of thinking, I just wanted to look at its inner logic. Because when I first heard people saying this, I thought, “Yeah, makes sense, Charles is truthfully a terrible person with abhorrent opinions. Nobody watching this already unfortunately bigotry-riddled show is obligated to try and look past that! It is Always valid to hate Charles’ guts.”

But it turns out most of the fandom (I assume it must be most, given how shockingly few people here have blocked me) actually don’t hate Charles, in general. It’s the specific ship, not the character, that’s distasteful. (Not to say any Charles ship is anything resembling popular, but like with most ships, that’s just a result of the general population’s Hawkeye BJ Laser Focus Gaze. I’ve never seen anybody actively dislike these ships when they’re brought up.) And the more I think about it, the more I wonder why, because well. to put it bluntly. It’s not like someone stops being racist when they’re not actively interacting with a nonwhite person.

You know what I mean? I feel like Charles’ bigotry would be a turn off for all of our generally morally sound protagonists, not just one who happens to be personally affected by it. But it only becomes an issue when it involves Klinger. I’ve heard people say that any Charles/Klinger ship fic would obviously have to go out of its way to address Charles’ racism, but I’ve read a few Charles/Hawkeye and Charles/Donna (and Charles / other strange and varied choices too, because of course I have) fics–really, REALLY good fics, that captured the characters very nicely and are very beautifully written–and I’ve yet to find one that discusses The Bigotry In The Room with any degree of seriousness.

(Pssst this is everyone’s chance to absolutely dunk on me by sending me fics that do this if there actually are a bunch and I’ve just never read them because I would in fact LOVE to read some fics with that topic regardless of ship!)

And to be clear, that’s fine with me! I truly do not care. When I read Charles running away to Maine or romancing Ms. Parker and I don’t see his love interests stop to ask “Hey, um, so any updates on the fact that you and your whole family are eugenicists?”, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest, because I just assume that Charles has already gone through the cult deprogramming step of his character development at some point prior to this, and either the love interest in question has already confirmed this off-page, or they are making the same assumption I am. After all, at least in Hawkeye’s case, the mere act of admitting romantic interest in a Democrat from the back of beyond would necessarily imply a shift in values, right?

(Admittedly, for all we canonically know Donna could be a fashy scumlord herself, so this reasoning doesn’t wholly apply there, but it obviously does to her fanon background/personality.) (Which is adorable, by the way. Everyone go check out the collective oeuvre of AO3 user onekisstotakewithme.)

So that’s all cool! It’s just that the same thing applies for me when it comes to Charles/Klinger. If anything, it applies even more, because you can have a fic where Charles’ whole family attend his and Donna’s 2nd wedding (Everyone go check out the collective oeuvre of AO3 user onekisstotakewithme!!!) but if Charles gets with Maxwell in any capacity, his father is at the very LEAST never going to speak to him again, ever. And personally I think that is SO fun and sexy, because Charles’ father is a white supremacist and I want him to die painfully forever and ever amen. <3

I got sidetracked a few times here and I just realized I never actually asked the question, which is, TL;DR: If it’s immoral–or at least gross and nonsensical–to ship Charles/Klinger, because Charles is bigoted, shouldn’t the same also apply to shipping Charles with many other characters too, given that they should logically also have a problem with his bigotry?

For what it’s worth, I have a bit of a theory about the answer to this, all to do with the incompetent way Charles’ bigotry (and other characters’ reactions to it) are portrayed in canon and the deeper Doylist factors that I think forced the showrunners into writing it like that, but I wanted to stay strictly on the topic of fandom attitudes for now, because it may be niche and silly, but I find it interesting. And I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on it!

[echantedtoon]

SEDUCTION: UPPER/LOWER MOONS

You try to seduce your demon husband/wife as a means to get outside or distract him enough to get what you want.. However it does the exact opposite of what you aim for.

Warnings for Douma/Karaku/Enmu being their own warnings, possibly some innuendos.

Daki and Zohakutan are mentioned but only PLATONICALLY!!

I'm having a lot of fun writing these scenarios.

You were tired of this now

A you wanted was to go outside for a few hours enjoy the sun or the beautiful night sky full of stars for a little while. But every single time you asked it was always variations of the same answer.

"No. It's too dangerous during these times. You're much safer with me." or "What if a slayer finds out your husband/wife happens to be a demon?! You think they'd spare your life?! They'd kill you on the spot without hesitation!" or "Alright but I'm going with you. It's not up for debate."

This you were never truly able to get a moment to yoursel. Don't get you wrong. You loved your husband/wife to death and would do anything for them! You knew what you signed up for when marrying a demon and right now was a tense time for their kind. But you just wanted FIVE MINUTES ALONE WITHOUT HIM/HER HOVERING OVER YOUR SHOULDER OR CHECKING ON YOU EVERY FIVE MINUTES!!

Although maybe you'd have a solution-

"Try seducing him/her!"

You choked on the green tea and coughed a few times staring at your cousin like she was crazy. Currently you sat in your family home wanting to visit them. Of course your husband/wife insisted on coming too and thus dawned a human disguise to visit his/her in-laws. Right now he/she was having a pleasant conversation with your father discussing the more efficient ways to hunt between a bow and Arrow and a new invention called a gun. They seemed actually interested in the conversation so they didn't notice the talk you had with your cousin venting to her about your husband's/wife's overprotective nature. However you weren't planning on those words to come tumbling outta her mouth with a cheeky smirk.

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me. How do you think I got a rich husband who spoils me?"

"My husband/wife isn't that shallow. A-And that'll never work!"

"Look. You tried everything from bargaining to fighting right? Why not give it a shot? Flattery will sometimes get you somewhere despite what they say."

...Well she did have a point. Nothing you had tried so far had worked, maybe a little bit of flirtation and flattery would work. And your cousin's right. There really wasn't anything to lose since at most he/she would just be amused or annoyed at your actions and spouses flirted with each other all the time. So next time your husband/wife left for 'work' you decided to kick it into over drive.

When your husband/wife returned later two days at night. The home was unusually quiet and dark but he/she detecting no one else around and senses that you were still moving around inside so they assumed you were probably in the middle of going to sleep. They just let themselves in as always sliding the door open but paused eyes widening. The house was completely spotless, not that it was dirty in the first place, but it seemed as if Even the ceiling was polished. A trail of red and pink petals leading away from the door and towards the kitchen where he/she already found a table of fresh raw steak waiting for them lit by candlights.

Needless to say his/her brow rose. Ok. You definitely wanted something because it wasn't your anniversary or any special occasion.

"Y/n, I'm home!", he/she called from the kitchen doorway.

They await hearing your footsteps but are surprised when you turn the corner and are dressed up to the nines. A beautiful patterned flowing Kimono and make up to match as you stand there nervously before attempting to look sultry at them..but it just makes you look nervous.

"O-Oh. I didn't hear y-you come in." They hear the stutter in your nervous look as you attempt to strut, tripping over the kimonos folds and falling on your front, only to quickly scramble back up onto your feet and place a hand on the wall next to him/her with a seductive(hilarious looking and nervous-) grin. "But I-Im glad y-y -you're back! Do you like the surprise? I w-worked solo ha-hard on it just for YOU."

Eyes slowly blink at your already sweating face looking you up and down. Slowly blinking and then your finally get their answer-

KOKUSHIBO:

Six eyes slowly blink one after another at you looking you up and down ... before he sighs briefly closing his eyes and shaking his head. Your smile disappears as he just continues shaking his head no at you.

"This ..will not work on me. You should know better than that..However."

You let out an adorable squeak as a finger and his thumb tilts your head up towards his leaning form.

"I can not complain about the gesture. Go change into something you won't trip over and we'll have dinner together."

DOUMA:

He waits until your smile disappears completely after you get nothing but one of his famous Big eyed stares from him. It's only then that he giggles and a second later you're snatched up into his arms with a squeal.

"Oh my. Is this for me?~ How generous of my little wife to surprise me with such a beautiful display. You wouldn't mind if I just jump straight to desert would you?~"

You gulp when he leans in to affectionately rub his forehead into yours with a growl sounding an awful lot like a purr.

You had a feeling this backfired-

AKAZA:

"...PFFT- HAHAHA!"

You're taken off guard when Akaza just doubles over in loud laughter ringing off the walls and filling the house. He can't help it. When you fell over your dress and then got back up to try and seduce him was the funniest thing he's ever seen! Your cute pout was also not very convincing to him.

"I-Im sorry! Hehehehe! It's just when you tried acting like an oiran-..HAHAHA! I swear I love this Bu-But you looked so cute trying to se-seduce me! *snort*"

"Well then you can clean up all the petals yourself and sleep in the basement!"

He wheezed as you cutely stomp away as he holds up a hand.

"N-No! Wait! You are adorable I promise!"

HANTENGU+CLONES:

You're surrounded by your husbands all giving you mixed reactions to your display..it was not what you expected. The first one to speak out was Urami who immediately pointed towards your bedroom.

"Go change into something decent, Woman! What are you thinking dressing up like that?!"

Sekido and Aizetsu are speechless. Staring at you wide eyed and red faced because you looked so pretty but Sekido eventually yanked you away from Karaku. Urogi just sat on the floor laughing loudly when you fell and Hantengu sneakily went into the kitchen to eat all the food before anyone noticed. Only Karaku really reacted by growling out and pulling you into a hug as Zohakutan mentally gags in disgust inside Sekido.

"Why waste such a once in a life time opportunity such as this?~ And after she went through all the trouble.~"

You proceeded to get yanked away by Sekido who lectured you with Urami on proper wear.

GYOKKO:

He doesn't respond to you at first only continuing to stare at you from his pot before his entire face scrunched up scrutinizing your outfit.

"What are you WEARING?!" He asked in such a way that made it like he stepped in goop.

"Um...A oiran's attire?"

"Well first of all that is definitely not your color! Secondly it's too large for you! An oiran's beautiful gown is supposed to flow behind them on the breeze of their footsteps. NOT MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A TODDLER PLAYING DRESS UP WITH HER MOTHER'S ROBES!! And that hairstyle is totally wrong-...You know what? Cancel dinner! I'm going to teach you the proper art of dressing like the beautious women."

Turns out he's more offended by the fact that your wardrobe is a mess than you actually trying to reduce him and it got you a six hour half lecture half dress up session from the demon.

NAKIME:

Her eyebrow raises looking you up and down for a moment before glancing back at how much effort you put into everything before sighing.

"You could just ask me instead of going through all the trouble."

"You don't like it?"

"I do but just dinner would have been fine. Seeing you make a mess of our flower garden is just irritating."

Her hand motions to the flower petals on the floor and you feel embarrassed how she knew you practically destroyed your garden.

GYUTARO(+PLATONIC DAKI MENTIONED):

Gyutaro.exe has stopped working. His eyes go wide open, jaw slacked, and his entire face turns the deepest red. Meanwhile Daki is giving you a thumbs up from around the corner. Nothing like bribing your sister-in-law to help you dress up to impress her brother.

"What D-Do you think? Pretty huh?.....Gyutaro?"

"P-Pretty."

"Thank you. N-Now about dinner-"

"Pretty."

"Yes. I-"

"Pretty."

"Hun-"

"Pretty-"

Turns out you completely broke his brain seeing his already pretty wife dress up so attractively.

KAIGAKU:

His mind honestly blue screens for a long moment looking you over and over...A pink hue covers his face as his pointed ears pin back to his head. He has to forcibly turn his head away and pretend interest in the food to avoid you seeing the fluster on his face. His voice sputters and he quickly covers it by shoving the raw steak into his maw...but the pink tips of his ears aren't fooling you. Although maybe you did go too far because he doesn't communicate with you until you change back because he won't allow you to see his face.

HAIROU:

He doesn't say anything about it for a long time only looking at you up and down as you nervously still smile awkwardly up at him... Before he clears his throat and calmly takes off his cape before plopping it over your shoulders.

"The surprise is-...I-I-Its nice bu-bu-but you shouldn't have."

He really likes it however and the blush on his face is not helping him to hide how he really feels.

KYOGAI:

He asks you if you're ok from falling over and once you confirm that you are ok he just silently staring at you for a long while before he slowly turns inhumanly slowly towards the candlelight dinner before back to the rose petals on the floor. Before his bottom lip wobbled and honest tears start falling from his eyes as a sob escaped his throat.

"I-I lov-v-ve you so much!"

He's overwhelmed by the fact you'd do something so romantic just for him and he's crying out of happiness. Give him a second. He'll kiss you after but first he needs a second to blabber about how much he loves you.

ENMU:

You don't get time to react before he was upon you. Giggling like a mad man before wrapping his arms around you and pulling your squeaking form against his chest and leaning so close that you can feel the warmth of his breath on your face.

"Oh darling.~ You could've just told me you felt lonely.~ Going through all this trouble..But I admit, I find you rather ravishing.~"

Maybe you should've just stuck to dinner-

[lythevoidwitch]

I am a simple woman.

If I see SVSSS content, I will like, I will follow, and I will open another tab to read every fanfiction recommendation. (Even though I shouldn't with my 64 open tabs right now. 27 of which are ongoing ff as I patiently wait for more chapters to be released.)

That's not all though.

I'm considering getting back into writing some fanfiction for my current addiction. I have a few ideas, but I would love to hear your favorite ship, crackship, headcanons and so forth!

I'm heavily debating on a few fic ideas:

SY and SJ shenanigans : Disciples? Estranged Siblings? (LBH Sobbing in the bg)

SY as a rogue cultivator, successfully avoiding LBH for most of the plot. (Switch between LBH and SY pov?)

Modern SVSSS, College!! (SJ the prettiest and pettiest of college professors, he doesn't get paid enough for this. Why is his student flirting with him? Why is his student flirting with his brother? SJ might consider homicide as justifiable.)

Modern SVSSS, SY and SQH wake up from their strange dream. Find out Cucumber and Airplane know each other in rl. Ensue chaotic best friend behavior. (In the bg cue, MBJ and LBH handling this with nothing but poise and grace. I'm lying. They're doing the exact opposite. Don't worry, I'm not a monster. LBH and MBJ find their wives, eventually, probably.)

Modern Cultivators! SY and SJ didn't think they would ever run into an actual demon, demons are rare these days. They often face ghosts and spirits. Cue SY accidently waking up a good old Blackened/Sealed Lou Bing-ge. Cue (dun dun duhhh) chaos.

Demon SY? Cultivator SY? Dunno yet, SY in the Abyss. (I read an unfinished fic about SY in the abyss, and I'm obsessed with the idea of SY just absolutely trying to get LBG to speedrun the Abyss, and LBG deciding "Nuh. I'm staying here, with you". I was also considering entire Abyss ancient civilizations because I'm unhinged, and the idea of what used to be sprawling demonic kingdoms in the abyss is beautiful.)

Have you ever accidently married the emperor of the 3 realms? SY did. Now, SJ has to ask YQ for help to save his brother. (Subsequently: You ever accidently end up with a husband? LBG was surprised, too, but he has a system, a way these things work. Just because SY is a man doesn't change anything. LBH now has to make sure his frail husband doesn't die and doesn't get kidnapped by pesky cultivators.) Three povs???? SJ (trying to save his brother and getting pettier by the minute), LBG (thwarting SJ's plans, spying on his husband, general court affiar), SY (fangirling over everything, getting himself into trouble, falling into every wife plot under the sun).

These are just some ideas, some of my favorites that I've been clinging to. Free game, take em, write em if you want. The more fanfiction and content we have, the better!

I've rambled. Oh god. Lemme know your favorite, I'll probably boost it to the front of my list.

[vidavalor]

More Ineffable Husbands Speak translations? Please?

Sure.💕 Thanks to @kayleefansposts who helped me find the first bit of this in the book when I thought I was losing it & couldn't remember if it actually existed or not. 😂 I needed part of it for a different post but here's more of it here.

From the book:

A: What are we going to do now?

C: Try and get some sleep.

A: You don't need sleep. I don't need sleep. Evil never sleeps and Virtue is ever-vigilant.

"Evil never sleeps"-- phrase meaning that one needs to always be on alert because The Devil never takes a break and temptation is always potentially right around the corner.

"Virtue"-- of high moral character but also refers to chastity; also: is the seventh-highest level of the angel hierarchy.

"Principality"-- the fifth-highest level of the angel hierarchy and what Aziraphale is; he is above Virtue, which is literally beneath him in the angel hierarchy pecking order and "beneath him", as in not enough for him for his life by his measure, as he does not seek a celibate life, unlike some other angels.

"Ever-vigilant"-- to remain ever-watchful and awake.

Aziraphale's comments taken as a whole: They say that you don't need sleep and I don't need sleep... No food, no sex, no good books and music, no romance, no fun... You're supposed to be out being Evil all day and night and I'm supposed to be nothing but righteous and chaste-- neither of us with any individual personalities or wants or desires, just soulless cogs in the machine that is Heaven and Hell. When, in reality, for us, I think that the closest we get to that is that Evil never sleeps in the sense that you are endlessly attractive and "Virtue" (ha) remains ever-vigilant as I've never been able to take my eyes off you.

C: Evil, in general, maybe. This specific part of it has gotten into the habit of getting its head down occasionally.

"habit"-- a regular activity that is difficult to give up; also: specific clothes worn by a religious order. Crowley's response to Aziraphale's "virtue" joke about chastity-- which evokes nuns, who take vows of celibacy and who wear habits.

"to get your head down"-- the exact fucking opposite of "to lay your head down"/"to go to sleep"😂 ; means to eliminate other distractions and devote yourself wholeheartedly with a single-minded focus on a task; also: as innuendo, a mashup of...

"to get/give head" and "to go down on"-- euphemisms for oral sex.

Yeah, that sure sounds like an offer to blow Aziraphale with a single-minded focus and the fervent worship of a nun's devotion to God...

Obligatory Mrs. Cheng gif on that note:

Sleep. A recurring condition involving physical relaxation and an altered state of brain activity and consciousness for the purpose of rest and restoration of the mind and body.

Sleep (in Ineffable Husbands Speak). Surface layer: Sleep. Hidden layer: Sex-- oral sex, in particular.

Also from the book:

Evil, in general, does not sleep, and therefore doesn't see why anyone else should. Crowley likes sleep, it was one of the pleasures of the world. Especially after a heavy meal. He'd slept right through most of the nineteenth century, for example. Not because he needed to, simply because he enjoyed it.

I bet he did. 😉😂

[myafterlifeisbetterthenyours]

Can i request Yandere Moxxie and Millie (polyamorous) x male reader. Maybe the reader is the newest employee of IMP and the two imp do everything in their power to get him to join them. whether he wants to or not

this is my first time requesting so i hope im doing this right anyway have an great day or night

Ours~

The morning was no real different then any other.

Moxxie had made his darling wife a cup of coffee, bringing it to her in the conference room, giving his beloved Impet a tender kiss.

Millie smiled up at her husband, the girl taking his hand into her own, the man sitting down beside her, both of them sipping there coffee in silent bliss.

They'd sit like that for a while, only occasionally sharing a little smile, before Blitzø showed up.

He'd parade into the conference room as he often did, the man telling them. "Alright gang, big news! Big news!" He practically cheered.

The pair would look at their boss, The pair having the exact opposite in reaction.

Millie eager. Moxxie... not eager.

But much to their surprise, Blitzø told them bluntly. "Welcome our newest member to the I.M.P family... (Y/N)!"

Youd step into the office, giving a pleasant, if slightly awkward smile, waving at them. "Hello everyone. Im uh, happy to be here."

Blitzø smacked you on the back, eagerly welcoming you.

"This is my baby girl, Loona." He told you, gesturing to the Hellhound. The Hellhound didn't actually look at you, giving you a dull 'hey' with a little wave as she stared at her phone.

You just gave an awkward chuckle before turning to Millie and Moxxie but before he actually make introductions Moxxie popped up, standing before you, taking your hand into his as he eagerly greeted you.

"I'm Moxxie, it's very nice to meet you!" he told you, practically beaming.

Youd greet him just as eager, happy to meet someone else that seemed hospitable.

Youd give some minor small talk before Millie but in, greeting you with an abundance of Wratgern charm, laying it on thick as you spoke, you instantly warming up to her, your new conversation eclipsing your old one.

Millie and Moxxie would glance at the other, a silent tension freezing the two for several moments before they turned back to you.

Youd speak to the pair, quickly warming up to the pair, though they'd both try and be the one that was talking to you.

Youd get to talking, both as eager as the other, and it wouldn't be for several minutes of talking that you'd actually find out that they were married.

A little surprised with how they acted with the other.

Youd talk with the pair through much of the day. Each seemingly hedging over each other, upstaging the other to get closer to you, Millie literally throwing an arm over your shoulder as a happy 'welcome'.

The two would eventually get pulled into a job, the air thick with tension the entire time, constantly giving the other a side eye.

This would continue over the next few days, the pair silently at each other's throat throughout those days, the pair taking every chance to get closer to you while always undercutting the other, the pair absolutely adoring you while ignoring the other.

Millie using her charm while Moxxie acted smart, doing kind little acts for you.

Their silent feuding came to ahead with the pair at home, the pair glaring at each before asking what the others problem was, the both claiming you as theirs.

...

There were several moments of silence before they began making out, the both of them preceding to have very vigorous sex, the both eagerly agreeing that you were their's, they could share~

After that, the two would eagerly coordinated their efforts, fully intending to bring you into the fold, it feeling even easier now that they weren't fighting the other for you.

Now without all the hostility, the pair could cooperate on you, both of them warmly approaching you day after day.

They had a well thought out and well planned approach to you, as while they both wanted you, they agreed that they'd have to ease you into the relationship, not wanting to force you... though that was an unspoken option for the pair.

The two would steadily get closer to you, watching and monitoring you and with the pair working together, they'd be able to work off each other's energy making it significantly easier.

Youd quickly warm up to the pair, especially since they acted as a pair, feeling a whole lot more comfortable with their positive energy bouncing off each other.

Youd quickly warm up to the pair, especially with the both of them using their Wrathern charm on you, as well as their inherently intimate and friendly relationship, the two eagerly welcoming you to every activity.

Many of which would be chosen specifically to entice you.

Youd quickly warm up to the pair, eagerly joining them with every activity in no time. The pair always happily following on with every activity you loved, the two following on like the love obsessed puppies they were, loving it whenever you took the lead, melting in your hands.

Youd join the pair on many activities spending time with them and spending time at their place regularly to the point you had emergency clothes at theirs. The pair never shying away the ideas of embellishing their love lives, though careful never to freak you out with it.

Youd of course, love the pair, utterly adoring their relationship. Finding their Romance utterly adorable, unconsciously moving closer to them, getting as close as you could to the pair of Imps.

Youd adore the pair, telling them as much and the two would use that to further your emotional development. With them.

Now, they'd never act overtly on the whole thing, but they'd carefully lead you to what they wanted.

And it'd be one night they'd invite you over. It only taking a few hours of the two of them to get you liquored up, you eagerly joining them when they asked if you like to "spend time with them."

Though you'd only, actually 'spend time', with them, the pair careful not to force anything on you.

It'd be one day after work, the pair utterly ignoring Blitzø as they'd invite you to dinner, the pair taking you on a very romantic dinner date where the both of them would confess that they cared for you greatly, more so then just a close friend.

But they didn't want to force anything on you, something youd greatly appreciate from them, as simply Put, everyone wanted something.

Youd initially ask for some time to think, the pair of course giving you some space, letting you think it over.

Of course, they'd be watching you every second they could, as they were before the proposition, the pair putting Blitzø to shame in there level of operation.

They'd have cameras everywhere, watching your every move.

And really there'd be two options for you.

Firstly, you could just happily join the pair, becoming a third member of their little family.

They'd utterly pamper you, tending to your every Need and want. Your comfort and care beaming their purpose in life.

The pair would be insanely protective and territorial of you, I mean like, if someone even glanced at you, they'd glare them into submission and even then, they'd likely despise this person till the day they die.

And Hoo-Wee! If you were actually threatened.

Well, don't fuck with professional assassins.

But if you said no... the couple would... well, they wouldn't really know what to do.

They'd spent so long grooming and preparing you for their inevitable joining their relationship, they hadn't planned for if you said no.

And the pair would... snap.

They wouldn't do anything initially, just festering in their obsessions, unable to comprehend what had happened, before they'd reassert their goal, and preparing everything before... they'd snatch you.

One day youd just wake up somewhere else.

And upon searching the place, youd find the pair, the two welcoming you, telling you you were in a safe house with them.

And with rather deranged smile, the two would tell you simply you were theirs and you wouldn't be allowed to leave until you accepted it.

Your life with them would be... complicated.

The pair would treat you well. Always warm and welcoming. They fed you, spent time with you, they were always sweet and considerate, letting you do whatever you'd like.

Whatever you'd like Except... leave.

There was always one of them with you at all times, the other leaving to get food or do jobs.

Youd try and fight, resist, eventually just playing along till you could figure out how to escape.

But even then, when you tried... youd fail. The pair expecting such an act.

And as they surrounded you, you'd break down, asking them what they wanted?!

Only for them to coo, pulling you into actual hig, telling you sweetly all they ever wanted... was you~ and even as you snapped yelling, swearing, insulting them.

The pair treated you as sweetly as ever. Hugging you close, telling you they understood.

You were just confused.

It'd take a long time, likely years and likely a few break downs, but you'd eventually become theirs.

Youd come to love them every part that they loved you, completely obedient and relient on them. As much a part of your relationship as either Millie or Moxxie.

Eventually the pair could even trust you out in public, the pair testing you time and time again, but every time, you stayed loyal.

And for that theyd reward you every chance they got.

With supervision of course.

Youd eventually marry the pair, the three of you entering a more open relationship, as in, they'd let you have actual windows and allow you out in the free world.

The three of you seeming like nothing more than a particularly loving and caring trio of demons in a polygamous relationship.

It's highly likely that they could have kept their job at I.M.P, however difficult with only one of them working at a time. But if they still did work there, you'd likely return as well, the pair wanting to keep you close 24/7.

You'd make up some story as to why you suddenly left, but your sudden inclusion in M&Ms trio would raise some brows, which youd have to make up another story.

And by that i mean the pair would make it up for you.

But afrer some time, getting used to it again, you'd fall back into office life.

It's possible Loona or Blitzø could figure out what happened, especially depending on how dependent you were on the pair.

All it would take would be one bad breakdown before Loona and Blitzø would begin asking questions.

Questions you couldnt really answer.

And as soon as they figured out what happened, they'd try and save you.

That... wouldn't end well.

Both Millie and Moxxie would kill either Blitzø or Loona if they stood between them and you.

And if their grip on you was even slightly shaken, you'd go right into the safehouse, breaking you back down until you were theirs again.

The pair utterly assured in their possession, completely worshipping you, making sure you knew they loved you. And that you loved them~

[nyxielovespythons]

Why NejiTen should be canon

Before I say anything, I can recognise that NejiTen is not canon, although I want it to be lol. Everyone has a right to their own opinion, so I ask that you respect mine, and if you want to challenge it, you can *politely* do that in the comments.

The major countering ships to NejiTen are: NejiHina and LeeTen, so I will talk you through why these ships don't work out.

First with LeeTen (because I don't want you quitting after the drama of NejiHina). Lee and Tenten are seen as very close throughout the series, though Tenten makes it clear that she finds Lee annoying and hot-blooded. This is the opposite to Neji, who Tenten seems to admire a lot, since she liked to train with him, and even put on lipstick in the manga for his chūnin exam finals. They seem like the perfect best friend duo, in my opinion. Romance doesn't need to be involved in every since best friend duo, there are enough of them already. In the Boruto series, Lee is seen with his son, Metal Lee. Many think that Tenten is the mother, due to the eye shape, and I think she could easily be. I mean, she's the only kunoichi in Konoha in the same age group as Lee (I think, I haven't fact checked yet), and the girl in his team. Tenten is probably the easiest choice for Lee's wife that Kishimoto could've made. However, if they were to be married and have had a son together, they would now be divorced. This therefore means, that if they had got married, then the relationship would not have worked out, and LeeTen would've failed. If they had not got together, then Lee would've married a different woman, and even if Lee then divorced that mystery woman, they clearly do not have mutual feelings for each other any more. They might have had feelings for each other, at different stages of their lives, but they either both grew out of their crushes or it was only one-sided to begin with.

Second. The NejiHina incident. I'm sorry, but I will have to go on for even longer than LeeTen, because some people don't understand that this ship is incest, and I'll tell you why. Excluding the fact that Neji had strong resentment towards Hinata for quite a period of time, they still wouldn't work out. Their relationship only evolved into *family* love, as confirmed by Kishimoto, just as Boruto loves Himawari, or Temari loves Gaara. What's wrong with a "big brother-little sister love"? Why must everyone make everything romantic? Neji cares deeply for his cousin, as does Hinata. She calls him 'Big Brother Neji', showing that she only sees him as her older brother. Besides, Hinata was so deeply in love with Naruto, she would've never agreed to the marriage. Moving on, a lot of people, from a range of cultures, some of which invite cousin relationships, think that Neji and Hinata getting married and producing heirs is okay. Some of them (purposely?) forget that the reason you don't have kids with your sibling is because it increases the chance of genetic defects dramatically. Although having kids with your cousin is legal (at least where I am), it still has quite a high risk. These people try and back it up by saying that the Hyūga clan would've wanted a pure Hyūga-blooded heir. Hm... Uchiha clan, anyone? Sure, this was common, but there are plenty Uchihas that are so distantly related that it would be fine to have offspring (such as Itachi and Izumi). The same could be said about the Hyūgas. Maybe Neji would've been their best option for a pure blood husband, but there would've been other choices, more people that were much further distanced in relation. I've got this far, and I haven't even mentioned another key fact: you know that Hiashi and Hizashi are twin brothers, right? Identical twins, to be exact. Lemme show you something: "Identical (i.e., monozygotic, or MZ) twins share 100 percent of their genes". You see that? It means that Hiashi and Hizashi share the same DNA. And this means that Neji and Hinata are genetically closer than cousins. They're actually genetically half-siblings. Hm. The Hyūgas are smart enough to figure out that it probably isn't the best idea to inbreed them, right? Well. That doesn't matter, because even if they overlooked all this incestuous evidence, there's this. Hinata isn't even the current heiress. If Neji survived the war, he would not have married Hinata in Boruto. If the Hyūga clan forced him to marry the heiress, and have children to keep a pure bloodline, he would've married Hanabi. Hanabi is the current heiress, so she would be the one married to Neji. Got it yet? Neji and Hinata would never have happened.

The last reason NejiTen should be canon: their chemistry. Tenten is shown to greatly admire and respect Neji, constantly calling him a genius, and she has blushed because of him in the manga several times. He believed in her abilities enough to sit under the practice dummy she was hitting with kunai. Neji comments that her fight would be interesting, showing that he thinks she is a good fighter. He is also shocked at her defeat, further proving that. In the first databook, Kishimoto confirms that Neji and Tenten trained every day for a month in preparation for Neji's chūnin match against Naruto. During this training, Neji reverse engineered and perfected the moves only reserved for the main branch of the Hyūga clan, mainly the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and the Eight Trigrams Palms: Revolving Heaven. You should also note that while all the other contestants trained with jōnin, Neji chose to train with Tenten. "During one of their training sessions, birds are shown flying in the sky and Tenten tells him that she is exhausted and can't keep going. Neji responds that he thinks he used too much of his chakra and faints. Tenten is seen running to him and asks him if he's alright." Tenten wore a different outfit to watch Neji's match, and as I said, in the manga she also wore lipstick. After his fight with Kidomaru, Neji remembers seeing Lady Tsunade with Tenten. In the Shippuden, during Team Gai's fight with Kisame, Neji rushes to Tenten's side when she seems to struggle in the Water Prison.

In the image above, it shows the two finishing each other's sentences. They can communicate with little dialogue and know what the other is thinking with only one word. Tenten winks at Neji and invites him to go to the bathhouse with her, both in the anime and the manga. Later, after Neji's death, in the manga, she expresses anger, thinks about Neji and asks why he left her. In her memory, Neji doing the "nice guy pose," which has been performed in the past by Gai, Naruto and Lee. The pose signifies that one will keep their promise until death, as Lee states to Sakura during the beginning of the Sasuke retrieval arc after Naruto does the pose and promises to her that he will get Sasuke back. Neji doing this pose before Tenten implies that he promised her something that he intended to fulfill until his death. In the anime, Tenten holds her hands in a prayer and asks why he left her as she remembers Neji doing this "nice guy pose" to her, then she walks away crying and says that she's never going to forgive him. The implied promise that Neji made to her is not known, but it was significant enough for Neji, who tends to be stoic and serious, to use the cheerful and significant pose his "hot-blooded" sensei and teammate have used in the past. When caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Tenten dreams of more mature versions of Lee and Gai as well as Neji being alive and by her side. She's the only person whose Tsukuyomi dream involves not only Neji being alive, but being with him.

They are shown constantly beside one another throughout the entire story, similar to the couples Asuma and Kurenai, and Shikamaru and Temari. While Neji is very formal and strict, he is shown to be comfortable around Tenten. He isn't shown to mind when she teases him or winks at him. He is also rarely portrayed as a character who apologizes to anyone, but he is shown apologizing to Tenten. In both the manga and anime, birds are present during the scenes where Neji and Tenten are shown alone together. In the manga, the only male character Tenten is shown alone with is Neji.

Other Trivia include:

Tenten's name and Neji's themes compliment each other. "Tenten" literally translates to "heaven heaven" in Chinese, while "Hyūga" translates to "place in heaven." In the new Chūnin Exams arc, Neji is shown holding two heaven scrolls with the characters 天天

Tenten's weapons shop in Boruto is named 忍具転転転, which directly translates to "Ninja Tools Turn Turn Turn." Furthermore, the characters "具転転" in the name translate to "revolving." Thus, the name of Tenten's weapons shop can be a reference to one of Neji's primary moves, Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven.

During the blank period, Tenten wears a uniform that includes a dress with a flame pattern similar to the flame in the Hyūga clan's emblem.

Neji and Tenten are depicted as compatible: the Databooks reveal that Neji is a Cancer and Tenten is a Pisces. In Western astrology, Cancer and Pisces are considered a compatible and harmonious pairing. The Databooks list Neji's blood type as O and Tenten's blood type as B. The blood type personality theory popular in Japan considers O and B blood types romantically compatible.

Neji, during his death, is portrayed as a Phoenix on fire. In the anime, Tenten utilizes the moves "Twin Rising Dragons" and "Exploding Dragon Strike." In Chinese folklore, the Phoenix and Dragon pair symbolize perfect harmony and balance between yin (Phoenix) and yang (Dragon).

Among the Konoha 11, Neji and Tenten were the only ones who were 18 years old during the Shinobi war, whereas Naruto and Hinata were 16 years old and the rest were 17.

Neji and Tenten share the same hairstyles as Hashirama Senju and his wife Mito Uzumaki.

[hannahhook7744]

Where Are You Now? (Cause I'm Thinking Of You);

Cover:

Summary: The family wakes up thirteen years after Bruno returned to the family to find him gone yet again. They naturally freak out. Trigger Warnings: disappearances, premature labor, near death experiences, mention of homelessness, overworking of a pregnant woman, minor violence, guilt, fear for a loved one, etc. Encantober 2024: Return. Co-written with @igetthedisneybox .

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

Bruno was gone—gone without a note. 

Again.

“Oje. Has anybody seen Bruno?” Alma asked a small handful of the family. The others were out in town, but according to Dolores, she hadn’t heard him out there either.

Everyone present either shook their heads, or couldn’t hear her over the chattering of the family. Casita was getting awfully crowded these days.

Squeak. 

Alma looked to her left and saw one of Dolores’ four-year-old twins, Elmira, standing there, looking wide-eyed. She definitely took after her mother.

Her and her twin’s skin was lighter than their mother's, but darker than their grandmother's and just a shade darker than their father’s. But where Princesa had teal eyes and blonde hair, Elmira had her mother’s dark brown eyes and curly light brown hair. 

“Chiquita,” Alma called. “Do you know where Tío Abuelo Bruno is?”

She looked down at her feet guiltily, before quietly answering—always the more mindful twin when it came to her mother’s hearing—“No.”

Alma saddled over to the four year old. Her bones creaked with each step, and she muttered curses under her breath, glad that Elmira didn’t have any superhearing like Dolores. 

“Elli, If you know something about Tío Abuelo Bruno, can you tell me please?” She looked at her great-granddaughter kindly.

“He saids he'd be back.”

“Did he say where he was going?” Panic spiked in Alma’s heart. She couldn’t lose her Brunito again.

Elmira shook her head. “He saws somethin’ bad.”

Alma felt her hands begin to shake, but she clenched them into fists. Elmira didn’t need to see her panic like this. “Thank you for telling me, Elmira.”

“De nada, abuela.” Elmira fidgeted with her skirt, looking over at her mother. “Mamá, I'm hungry.” 

Dolores had heard her from the other side of the room, of course, and came over to pick her daughter up. “I think Tío will be fine, Abuela.” She whispered to her.

“I hope you're right, Nieta.” Alma sighed. 

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

Word got around the Encanto fast that the Madrigal’s beloved seer was once again missing and, before an hour was even up, the entire family was back at the Casita.

Panicking. 

The exact opposite of what Alma wanted. 

“My padres, Félix’s Papá, and the Guzmáns are keeping an eye out for him as we speak.” Agustín said, trying to soothe a crying Julieta. 

“Mi vida, your hermanito will be fine, I promise.” Félix claimed, circling around a pacing Pepa who was murmuring ‘clear skies’ for the first time in eleven years. 

Luisa was also having a hard time staying calm, gently cradling one of her own twins—Emilia and Tito—while her husband, Ryder, held the other and tried to comfort her. 

“You don’t th-think he left the Encanto for good, do you?” She asked, addressing the elephant in the room; the question no one wanted to ask.

“What? No, of course not. Tío Bruno wouldn't do that—he loves the family.” Mirabel protested immediately. “Elmira said he saw something right?” 

“He also saw something when he left the first time.” Camilo mentioned. His own wife, Yanamaria, was standing several feet away from him, sipping on a drink. Camilo had adopted her twin daughters, Amelia and Sofia, after marrying her three months ago when the pair were only two months old. 

Alma wasn't sure she liked the young lady. But maybe her judgment was being clouded by his past two lackluster relationships and the fact that she privately thought Camilo’s best friend, Mina, would be a much better (and kinder) wife  for him.  Not that she would ever voice these thoughts to him. She had learned her lesson after Agustín, thank you very much. 

Dolores elbowed Camilo, hissing. “Camilo.”

“What? I can't tell the truth? He did!”

“What I'm saying is that he probably just ran off to prevent whatever he saw from happening and once he does that, he'll be back. Because he knows he can trust us now.” Mirabel continued looking very confidently, wrangling her hands together, acting as if she hadn't heard her 'mellizo’. 

Isabela nodded along. “Mira’s right. We need to trust Tío Bruno. It’s the least we can do.”

“And besides, Señor Bruno promised Elmira he'd walk her to her door. He wouldn't break his promise.” Bubo chimed in from the doorway, startling everyone because he and Miguel had left with Antonio to watch the rest of the children before the conversation had started. 

Julieta sniffed and whipped at her eyes. “Dios mío, look at me. Sitting here crying like a bebé. You all are right.”

“That’s the spirit, Mi esposa.” Agustín hummed, resting a hand on her shoulder; Alma couldn’t help but be surprised by how much calmer he was being than the rest of them. That wasn't to say that he didn't care, however, because she could still see the nervousness in his eyes—unlike with Yanamaria, who seemed like she couldn't care less. At least Raimi and Rosa were acting serious, for once.

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

“Mamá!” Arlo whined, immediately reaching out to her the moment Isabela stepped into the room. 

Zoey was snoring in the crib next to him and Miguel Jr—who they'd named after Mirabel’s husband, Miguel Rivera, after he'd delivered them when he and Isabela had gotten lost in a storm while out in the forest—was laughing at something. 

Isabela hadn't been thrilled to have triplets at first. Far from it in fact, but the older they got the more the florist grew to love them. Arlo especially.

“Hey, nene. Mamá’s here.” She scooped her baby into her arms, gently brushing his black hair from his forehead. He had his father's nose but everyone could already tell that he was going to grow up to be a mama’s boy. 

“Missed you.” Arlo declared, resting his tiny head on her shoulder. His tiny fist clenched tightly around the flower plushie Mirabel had made for Zoey. Somehow, the bear plushie Mirabel had made for him and the one she'd made for Zoey kept getting mixed up—no matter how many times they'd switched them back. 

If she didn't know better, Isabela would almost say that they were doing it on purpose. The fact that Migeul Jr’s wolf plushie never got mixed up with them only made her more sure of her suspicions. But it wasn't as if she could get confirmation from her children—they didn't even speak in full coherent sentences yet. 

“I missed you too, mi flor. And your hermanos, obviously.”

Zoey snored louder. Chubby hands squeezing the colorful bear plushie that she was chewing on. 

And Miguel Jr laughed innocently once again, clapping. Completely oblivious to the mild panic his tías, primos, and padres were feeling over his favorite great uncle’s second disappearance. 

Isabela could only hope that Mirabel's suspicions over why it had happened were correct. She didn't know if she could handle losing her uncle for another decade.

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

Mariano was not fond of discourse.

But when one joins a familia like the Madrigals, bad things happen sometimes.

As of now, Mariano could only hold his wife and children close, and hope that everything would turn out okay.

Oscar seemed to be able to tell that something was going on and was crying quietly—which had been very concerning in the first couple of months after he was born a year ago before it had been confirmed that he was for sure healthy. 

Princesa was oblivious and looking at herself in her madre’s favorite golden hand held mirror that Mariano had gifted Dolores on their first date. Striking a pose she had seen her favorite character on the strange box that Auradon called a television do numerous times. 

Elmira, on the other hand, was sitting quietly in his arms. Looking thoughtful.

Dolores had dozed off at some point. 

“Oscar, are you alright?” Mariano asked his son softly.

The bebé shook his head, causing his brown curls to fall into his eyes. Causing him to frown as he clung to his madre (who thankfully had her earplugs in). “Mamá sad.” 

Oscar had definitely inherited Mariano’s big heart. “I know, mijo. But she will get better, I promise.”

In truth, Mariano had no idea if Bruno would come back.

He was the head of a small ensemble of men and women who’d decided to watch over the town’s entrance, and make sure that there were no civil disputes between its citizens. Handling the few crimes that came up every now and then in whatever capacity he could. He probably should have noticed Bruno leaving, but he’d been trying to settle an argument turned physical between Abraham Cerebro de Burro and his very own brother-in-law, Ryder Nattura, over the donkey farmer’s new fence and lock. Or lack therefore of. 

Which had been very hard to handle considering that an hour into the argument, Mariano had been about ready to throttle the man himself. Señora Alma had demanded a hundred times that he replace the damn lock on his estúpido fence but the cheap bastardo still refused to replace it—even when his own children pleaded with him to do it. 

Mariano had lost count of just how many times Luisa had had to chase after the man’s donkeys because of the farmer’s stinginess. 

The man was lucky that Luisa was even still willing to help him chase after the donkeys after the stress he had caused her during her pregnancy. Luisa and Ryder’s twins weren't even supposed to be born yet but had been anyway the last time the donkeys had got out a month ago. After which the farmer had promised he'd really replace the lock that was older than Mariano was for real this time. 

Or maybe the fool was just lucky because of how apologetic his children were whenever Luisa had to fix his mess. 

He was starting to get angry again just remembering the encounters, but Elmira snuggled against him, which jerked him back to the present.

“Papá?” 

He pulled his full attention to his daughter. “Si, mi corazón?”

“Lo lamento...” She bit her lip, eyes welling up. 

“What? Elli, you have nothing to be sorry for!” Mariano pulled her even closer, gently running his hands through her curls.

“But I saws Tío Bruno go.” The brunette sniffled. “Ands Abuela Pepa cryin’.” 

“That wasn’t your fault.” He stated firmly, well aware of the fact that it was something his younger Prima-en-ley had needed to hear twenty three years ago but never had: the last time señor Bruno had left. 

“¿Promesa?” Her big brown eyes met his own as she stuck her thumb in her mouth. A nervous habit they hadn't gotten her to shake yet. 

“Promesa.” Mariano kissed her on the forehead.

“I'm tired.” She yawned quietly, resting her head on his chest. 

“Then why don’t we all go and take a siesta? Maybe Tío will be back when we wake up.” He got up from his chair, still holding Elmira. 

Princesa didn't pay either of them any mind. 

“Okay papa.”

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

“Any word on Bruno?” Ryder asked his cuñado, worrying his lip as he replaced the ice pack he'd been holding to his black eye. 

His suegra had offered to cook him something to heal up his injuries that morning when she saw him (after she had found out where and why he'd gotten them) but the reindeer herder had refused. If she healed his minor injuries, then the donkey farmer would find out and demand she heal his minor injuries which could very well spiral into the town once again taking advantage of Julieta's kindness. Something Ryder refused to allow to happen.

And no, it wasn't just because he wanted the donkey farmer to suffer for as long as possible for harassing his wife into doing the very job that could have cost them their children. 

….

Okay maybe part of his reasoning did have to do with that. But given the situation Ryder thought he was allowed to be petty.

“Socorro thought she saw him…but it turned out to be a homeless guy.” Miguel Sr sighed as he plucked on the strings of his guitar.

“Honeymaren hasn't seen anything either but Kristoff said that if Bruno isn't back soon, he'd be willing to ask Grand Pabbie for help.” Ryder offered, uncharacteristically frustrated.

He hated seeing his wife cry—she’d been stressed enough with the early arrival of the twins and the more…stubborn and selfish… townspeople (the number of which had thankfully dwindled over the years) who still asked her for help with every little thing. She hadn't needed this. 

Miguel rolled his eyes. “You mean the pile of rocks?”

“The trolls, yes.” Ryder didn't blame Miguel for his reaction—he didn't trust Kristoff's family very much either. 

Miguel wasn’t in the mood to poke Ryder further, so he let the subject of the ‘trolls’ drop. “Anyway, how far do you think Bruno could have gotten? He’s what, pushing sixty?”

“He’s closer to pushing seventy.” Ryder snorted. “And I honestly don't have a clue. I don't think he's ever left the Encanto alone before—and well, the Madrigal family genes are crazy. I mean his bisabuela is still alive.” 

Despite falling off a cliff on her wedding day, getting near drowned by an octopus, being bitten by a venomous snake, getting electrocuted after sticking a fork in the socket, and having her parachute fail after going skydiving. 

Pedro and Benito's mother sure was something.

“True.” Miguel huffed and placed his guitar away, unable to focus. He was worried about the familia, especially his Mirabel. She claimed she was fine, but he could see right through her.

“All we can hope is that he'll return safely and that our in-laws don't kill him when he does.” Ryder couldn't help but smile at the thought, though he knew it wasn't exactly an appropriate thought to have at the moment.

It was true though, Bruno would be lucky if he made it past Pepa and Isabela alive.

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

“Clear skies, clear skies, clear skies.” Antonio muttered to himself as he anxiously paced, two nervous habits he'd picked up from his mother and was trying to shake. 

It wasn't often the wild child got stressed out enough to use the mantra or pace but considering the situation, the eighteen year old wasn't sure anyone would be able to blame him for it. Tío Bruno was missing again and no one knew where he'd gone. 

He wasn't in the walls. 

Antonio had checked six times and Casita said he wasn't. 

No one in the Encanto other than his little violín had seen him go. 

“Clear skies, clear skies, clear sk—”

“You okay, Tonito?” Camilo had been walking by, when Casita had gotten his attention, and showed him Antonio, about to have a panic attack.

Antonio nearly leapt across the room, not having heard his brother approaching. Which, at any other time, might have been amusing. But given the situation, it was only all the more worrying. “‘Milo, ay dios mío, don't scare me like that!” 

“You better watch your mouth, or Mamá’s gonna zap you.” The barest hint of a smile crossed Camilo’s face.

The animal whisperer rolled his eyes, waving him off—heart still racing. “Don't be a Soplón.”

“I won’t…for a price.” His eyes glinted with familiar mischief.

“Oye! Blackmail? After all I've done for you? I should let Parce eat you.” He wouldn't. He knew it and Camilo knew that it was an empty threat, but it was still a fun one to use. 

Camilo snorted. “I’d love to see Parce try.” His smile vanished. “But seriously, hermanito. Are you okay?”

Antonio thought about it for a moment. Thought about whether or not the little thing he had noticed was enough to worry his brother about. Then, he remembered what Mirabel had always told him ‘If it's big enough to worry or upset you, then say something.’ He bit his lip to give him courage and looked around before biting the bullet and answering. “I can't find Tío Bruno's rats.”

Camilo raised an eyebrow. “Did Parce finally eat them?”

“No, I asked around. Nobody is fessing up and I haven't seen them since he left.” He wrangled his hands, trying to reduce some of his panic. 

“So, you think Tío brought them with him?”

“Sí.” He ran a hand through his hair. “But I don't understand why he'd take them if his leaving is temporary.”

At Camilo's silence, Antonio’s nerves only grew. “I know, I know. It's a pequeño thing but it's just—it’s big enough for me to worry about whether Mirabel is right or not.”

“She’s right. When has Miraboo ever been wrong?” Camilo placed a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder. “And look, whatever reason Tío had to bring the rats, I’m sure it’s a good one. Está bien?”

“Está bien.” Antonio let out a shaky breath. “Gracias, hermano.”

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

Mirabel had said what she’d said. And she believed it.

Sort of.

She could lie to her family, but she couldn’t lie to herself. She was worried about Tío Bruno. Very afraid, in fact.

There was a tug on her skirt. 

She looked down, and saw Dolores’ oldest, Princesa. “Hey, ‘Cesa. What’s up?”

“No sad.” The little blonde glared, clutching something behind her back. Something that looked very familiar.

“I’m not sad.” Mirabel immediately deflected. Then she remembered she was talking to a four year old. “Whatcha got there?”

“¡Mentir!” The four year old wasn't fooled and was not amused as she held out one of Bruno's vision tablets. Just where had she gotten that?

She grabs the vision from Princesa. “Wha–where did you find this?!”

“Da Wall. Tío Parce showed me.”

“You went into the walls without adult supervision? Miércoles, Dolores is gonna kill me!”

Princesa shook her head, stubbornly. “No, Tío Parce is a adult. And he went in da wall.”

“Parce is a jaguar!” Mirabel stopped herself before she could argue semantics with a toddler. “Nevermind.” 

She looked at the vision tablet, and immediately blanched at the sight: there was a little girl, around Princesa and Elmira’s age, cowering in a closet filled with crosses on one side in one part of the vision.

On another, there was a little boy standing in front of a younger girl and a baby as a giant of a man towered over them. 

In a third, there was a boy covering his eyes and  screaming as an older boy tried to calm him. 

And in the last part of the vision, there was a boy bruised and bloody holding a rosary. 

So, in short, it was a horrifying vision that a four year old should not have been able to get her hands on. 

“Mierda.” She whispered. “Princesa, go find your Mamí. I need to talk to your Bisabuela right now.” Tucking the vision tablet under her arm, Mirabel tapped her foot on the tile floor. Casita responded, and moved her downstairs to Abuela Alma, who was with Julieta, Pepa, and their husbands.

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

“Abuela!” 

Alma looked up from where she was comforting Julieta, and saw Mirabel speeding towards them with the help of Casita. “Mirabel, what–”

“Princesa found the vision that caused Bruno to leave.” Mirabel held the vision in question close to her chest with one arm, clutching her skirt in the other—it didn't look much different from the one she made shortly before Bruno came back. It was a similar teal color with the family’s different symbols on it, but symbols representing the new spouses and children had been added as well. 

There was a reindeer to represent Luisa’s husband, Ryder Nattura, and a skeletal guitar to represent Mirabel’s own husband, Miguel Rivera. There was a bear costume to represent Isabela’s husband, Bubo. There was a mamabear with a baby bear to represent Camilo's wife and a quill to represent Dolores’ husband, Mariano. There was a violin to represent Elmira and A mirror to represent Princesa, and she had the names of all the ones who were too little to show any clear personality traits sewn into the skirt too. 

Just another not so little detail that showed just how much Mirabel loved their family. 

“What?” Alma stood up. “Let me see.”

“Clear skies clear skies clear skies CLEAR SKIES!”

Thunder rumbled.

Mirabel handed the glass tablet over. 

“Dios mio…” Was all Alma could say when she saw the vision.

“Who are those poor ninos?” Julieta had her hand held over her mouth as she took in the grisly sight.

Augustín pointed. “They’re wherever Bruno is now, I’m sure of it.”

“You think he went to find them?” Félix was clutching Pepa, who was starting to hyperventilate.

Alma let out a shaky sigh. “Knowing my Brunito…most likely.”

“Tío Bruno will likely return when he gets them somewhere safe.” Mirabel would have smiled or sighed in relief at the not quite confirmation that she was right about Bruno not being gone permanently if the vision wasn't so horrifying.

“You think he’ll run into trouble?!” Pepa squeaked. “That man in the vision…Brunito can’t fight! He is too skinny!”

“I don't know.” The seamstress could only hope that her Tío wouldn't do anything too risky….but, seeing how often everyone compared the two of them, she knew that that hope was a fruitless effort. 

Que Dios tenga misericordia de él.

Félix tried to calm Pepa down again. “Bruno is smarter than he seems, eh? He’ll stay out of trouble, especially when there’s children involved.”

Pepa kept taking deep breaths, as Julieta chimed in. “Félix is right. Bruno…he wouldn’t risk the children.”

“What do we tell the others?”

Alma cleared her throat. “We tell them that Bruno is off doing a heroic act. That he is saving children. But, ah—let’s not mention the state of the children.”

“That's probably for the best.”

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

“Tío Bruno’s back!” Antonio whooped as ran back into the Casita, a couple of his animals on his shoulders. 

“What?” Everyone in the sitting room leapt to their feet.

“Cecila said she saw him enter not that long ago! She says he got’s a few people with him.”

Alma and her daughters looked at each other. More people?

“Anyone my son brings into the Encanto is most welcome.” Alma said, albeit hesitantly.

“But what do these people have to do with the children?” Mariano asked, tilting his head. Oscar, in his lap, mimicked him.

“Children?” Antonio looked at his cousins, their partners, his Padres, his tíos, and just basically everyone older than him in confusion before something clicked. “Wait is this about that vision Bruno had that you all refused to show me?”

“Sí.” Alma nodded. “And we did not show you because its contents were much too disturbing for a young man like yourself.”

Antonio did not pout. He did not. But he did shoot Mirabel a betrayal look because honestly, he would have thought his favorite prima would know better than to still treat him as a bebé by now—before Pace tugged on his pants’ leg. Trying to drag him outside, to remind him why he came rushing back to Casita in the first place. 

“Is he close, Tonito?” Camilo asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He’ll admit, he missed his Tío and his telanovas.

Antonio looked at Parce questioningly, getting a growl in return. “Si. He's outside.”

Alma rushed the door. She needed to see her son.

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

Alma stared. 

And stared.

And stared.

And the rest of the family stared with her. None of them quite sure whether or not what they were seeing was real. 

"A little help would be nice." Bruno chuckled awkwardly, a blonde haired toddler in one arm and an even blonder baby in the other. A little red toddler covered in rats clinging to one of his legs anxiously and a grumpy boy with black hair who couldn’t be any older than four or five on the other. 

A teenager and two boys not much younger behind him—arms full of pugs and bags and one boy—one with horrible burns around his milky white, pupiless eyes—even had a frog in his pocket. 

It was quite the sight. 

And that wasn't even covering the fact that the baby was wearing a bag as a diaper and the littlest of the children burlap sacks (or a box, in the boy's case), as clothing. 

“...Bruno Pedro Madrigal Botero where THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?! ” Was the first thing out of Alma’s mouth.

“...Uh, well, you see—remember that place the Auradon folk tried to send me before you set ‘em straight?” Bruno smiled nervously, well aware of the fact all of the kids were cowering behind him. 

“Si?” She shifted nervously, as she continued to take in the state of the children.

“Imayormaynothavebeenthere.”

“YOU WHAT?!”

[niuniente]

So I have just read your response about how to approach story telling, or at least how you do it specifically. And I just want to thank you for point eight, about 'It's not that deep - unless you wish it.'

I've always been ashamed that I made ocs but couldn't produce plot points for their personal stories. Like people talk about breaking their characters to make them develop, but I could never do that. Because I struggle so often, I didn't want my characters to. I just wanted my characters to live the life that I can't. But I also wanted to overcompensate because I felt like I wasn't doing them justice.

While it's not the popular opinion to have that be the way I approach creation, I do appreciate that you don't say it's a bad thing to not want things to be deep. So thank you, really.

You're welcomed!

I think the people who are very interested in character development typically either enjoy it tremendously or are (intentionally or unintentionally) using their art as a self-therapy. Both valid ways of doing art, as well as not being interested in character development or therapy art.

Sometimes the character development is and can be small and it's OK. People tend to call just finding new things about the character also a character development. Put them in new situations and see how they react and act.

Some characters are iconic for what they are and you don't even expect deep character development from them. Terminator is Terminator and you know with 100% certainty what to expect when you deal with Terminator - sure, he can be programmed differently for different needs but it's not exactly character development on its own if you ask me. Dracula is Dracula, Rambo is Rambo, Predator is Predator and Morticia Adams is Morticia Adams.

It's nothing unheard of that trying to develop the character because you should makes the character unrecognizable or OOC regarding what has been going on until now within the story.

In Nemesis the Warlock comic, the protagonist Nemesis is pictured as a good willed man, who does his best to resist racist humans and save other alien species. He doesn't really care about humans per se but is fine with a human being his right hand helper. His intentions are to save alien species from humans and bring peace to the universe. He's a liked friend and a loved husband and trying his best as a father.

This is about the half way of the series until creator(s) decide to develop Nemesis more. Turns out that Nemesis is actually just a bored demi-God who loves to play hide and seek with his human enemy. That he doesn't care about anyone or anything else but his own joy and boredom. He isn't interested in saving anyone and he literally manipulates his human friend, too, for his own benefit. This is explained as "Well, I'm just a chaos's being, deal with it, I never said I was good".

See what I mean? Go to far, try to force the development (and explain everything) and you can, without wanting it, break your character or the story - or both! If you make a character go a complete opposite of themselves, there has to be a reason for it. Not like in Nemesis "Well, I'm just like this". No, dude, you were literally the exact opposite for years and still just a second ago. What happened? Well, nothing, creator(s) just decided to add a shock value and develop the character because?????

You want your character to live the life you'd want? Wonderful, that's enough! That's how Sailor Moon was born and is all about. The creator was lonely, so she drew a comic of girls being friends, that kind of friends she wished she'd also have.

It's a valid reason to make a comic. Or anything! Nothing needs to be deep but it can be if wanted.

[countrymusiclover]

83 - Heretics in Mystic Falls

Part 84

Gemini Runaway

@icefrye19 @secretdreamlandmentality

It had only been a few weeks since we released the Heretics and Lily. And to my surprise everything was still going pretty well. Klaus’s siblings were double their own thing. While Klaus and I were busy raising our daughters. Klaus and I were laying on the couch in his old mansion with my head laying in his lap. "I don't think we have had this much peace in a long while, love."

“That’s true and I am honestly in love with it.” I giggled when he started running his fingers through my hair smiling up at him brightly.

Three sets of footsteps came down the stairs all jumping on us. “Mommy. Daddy!” All three of them giggled when they tackled us in hugs and smiles.

“What are you three rascals up to?” Klaus sat up putting Missy on his lap looking between the three of them.

Hope smiled at him. “Can you play hide and seek with us?”

“We played it with your siblings but we want to play with you.” Alina moved onto my lap where I wrapped my arms around her.

He tapped his knees lightly before he picked up Missy in his arms throwing her into the air shortly and catching her afterwards. "Right. Since your mother knows every inch of the house she should seek. And the four of us will hide."

"Sounds good to me." Turning my back to them I whipping my head around. "Oh and this time no using your powers."

Alina and Hope nodded, running their separate ways. Klaus and Missy did the same leaving me to count to 100. Once I finished I slowly walked upstairs using my vampire hearing searching for their heartbeats. Entering one of the spare rooms I couldn't hear anything going on but I paused outside the closet door flinging it opened finding Hope. "Hi mommy."

"Hi baby." I smiled, helping her to her feet.

We both kept searching through the house for the others. Hope went and looked underneath the bunk beds but they weren't there. Vamping down the hall I entered the art studio looking through the pieces. Until someone accidentally sneezed meaning I had found Alina. "Gotcha!"

"Dang. It would be harder if we could use our powers." She hit the ground with her fists getting to her feet.

Now it was onto Klaus and Missy. Hope and Alina went on their own search for their sister. Scratching my head I had checked almost all the rooms so I went in search of my husband. Because there was one room we told them to stay out of which was our bedroom. "Klaus, what are you doing in here?" I asked when I opened the door seeing that he wasn't even hiding.

"Shut the door. Hurry Rae." He waved his hand in the air putting his hands behind his head smiling at me.

Shutting the door slowly and quietly as possible I walked over sitting down by his feet. "Are you going to answer my question now of why you are in here?"

"I'm hiding from my beautiful seeker obviously." He gave me a cheeky grin.

I sent him a glare. "Nik…"

He quickly grabbed me by my hips flipping me onto my back on the soft mattress. He crawled back up so he was hovering above me. "I couldn't help myself, Raelyn. After all, being back in this room reminded me that this is the exact house I took your virginity from you."

"You're ridiculous, Nik. Come on, we promised the kids we would play with them.” I attempted to get up from the bed but he snagged my wrist holding me still in my place.

He spun me back down onto the bed holding my wrists above my head. “They would never dare to come looking for us here, Rae. Now I do believe we should test out this bed again shall we. It’s been so long.”

“It’s only been a few weeks. Surely you will get tired of me.” I teased him with a smirk even though I already knew his answer would be the opposite.

Klaus leans down, capturing my lips with his in a deep hungry kiss. I kissed him back gently before he started moving kisses down my face. “I could never tire of you, Raelyn. Even after another thousand years has passed I shall never tire of you…” He kissed down, nuzzling his nose into my neck as he went.

“Ohh Klaus!” I moaned, throwing my head back against the pillows. One hand was bawling the fabric of his shirt in my fingers.

He moaned, crashing his lips onto mine again where I wrapped my arms around his neck. “See you don’t want to leave this bed just as much as I do. Hmm…you can’t….help…yourself either.”

“Stop talking, Niklaus. And kiss me.” I demand that he holding his face in my hands. My fingers tracing over the brown stubble on his chin.

Klaus sat up on his knees shrugging his gray Henley over his head tossing it somewhere across the room. He moved his hands down to my shirt, tearing it in half. “Gentle or dominant, love?” He questioned throwing my torn shirt off the edge of the bed.

“Either way I don’t care. Just make love to me.” I told him, taking his face in my hands, I drew him in for another kiss.

He smiled into the kiss moving one hand through my hair deepening the kiss. Our hands were moving everywhere across each other. We both began to moan when he fisted the other's hair. “God I love you woman.” My husband breathed out holding himself up by his hands on either side.

Vamping him onto his back I started undoing the belt of his pants until we heard Hope hollering outside the door. "Mom. Dad, we found her and she was making the bed float up in the air!"

"So she was cheating!" Alina yelled back to us. "Oh and Caroline called saying the Heretics were in town setting things on fire."

Missy finally added on so oblivious to the danger that really meant. "Maybe they were just hungry."

“We should just stay in bed. They’ll get bored of standing outside the door after a while.” He whispered huskily in my ear, his fingers running up my bare back.

Glancing over my shoulder back at the shut door there was a huge part of me that wanted to. But heretics setting stuff on fire wasn’t good either. “Klaus, come on be serious. We released them. At least we can make sure they don’t destroy the town.”

“I already have three children. I do not wish to babysit the residence of a one pony town.” He grumbled sitting upright until I was sitting on his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and unclasped my bra.

Turning my head around to him I met his eyes staring down at me longingly. “Nik, all we have to do is check it out and then we will be right back here.”

“Isn’t this more temping, Rae…ugh fine.” He began kissing my neck once again until I tugged on his hair making him look me in the eye again. We got out of the bed and threw on some new clothes heading into the main part of town with our daughters in toe.

Caroline was on the ground with a dead body in front of her with fire roaring around. “Oh, my God! Unh! Agh!” She grabbed her head in pain where we saw three women standing behind her.

One hand dark skin and brunette curly hair. Another had straight blonde hair. Finally the last girl had light orange hair with all three holding their hands up using magic on her. “Hello, neighbor.” The curly brunette smirked.

“Girls stay right here.” Klaus instructed them before he vamped forward, throwing one of the boy heretics off of a girl that was screaming while he fed on her harshly.

I vamped forward seeing the blonde heretic biting into one man that was on fire. “Urgh, get off him!” I grunted, snapping her neck where she collapsed onto the ground.

Then Klaus and I both went after the other two girls that were feeding, launching them away from the dying people. The girl with orange hair raised her hand causing me to hold my head in agony. “You have a funny way of showing you saved us from our prison world.”

“Raelyn!” Klaus hollered trying to vamp to me but he held his head too when the blonde heretic had woken up. Stefan tackled the other guy heretic but he managed to overpower him holding a stake over his heart.

Our daughters all held hands and put the fire out with their own magic. “Adiatuur.”

“Enough!” Caroline stopped groaning once everyone saw Lily standing there at the scene. “I fought tirelessly to reunite us, found ways to coexist in this new world, sacrificed everything to make us a family again. How dare you jeopardize that? All of you...The bloodshed ends now.”

Removing my hands from my head I sighed in relief getting to my feet. Klaus did the same coming over to me and our daughters embraced us both. Lily slowly left with her heretics in toe. “What just happened?” Caroline asked, looking around at the dead bodies and blood seeing that Matt was the only human left alive.

“I don't know.” Stefan shook his head.

She threw her hands up into her hair raising her voice in shock towards her vampire friend. “I thought we blew them up! How did they survive that?”

“Wait a minute. You attempted to blow them up. What the hell is wrong with you two!” I raised my voice towards the pair, offended that we had come and helped.

Caroline whipped her blonde curls in her face at me. “Raelyn, you have to understand. They took over Stefan and Damon’s house. We didn’t know how dangerous they were going to be so-“

“So you thought you could kill them with a bomb. Unbelievable, you know Klaus was right that this one pony town will end up getting itself killed one day by you all!” I cut her off showing my vampire fangs and veins.

Klaus called my name watching me leave. “Rae?”

“I’m leaving Klaus. Alina, Missy, Hope come on, we're going back to the mansion!” I grumbled, taking their hands vamping them onto the doorstep. The triplets went up the stairs tired from a hard day of playing.

It was nightfall by the time I plopped down on the couch in front of the main burning fireplace. Reaching over I popped open a bottle of bourbon downing a lot before my husband entered the room. “Bourbon hmm you must have had a rough day, dear.”

“Don’t mock me Klaus.” I grumbled when he came to sit down beside me on the couch. “I just can’t believe that we left the house with the girls to learn that the former save Elena gang caused the reason for the heretics to fly off the handle.”

He draped his arm over my shoulder where I laid my head against his chest. “Sssh Raelyn. They may be dumb but we don’t have to get involved unless the heretics attack them-“

“No actually never. We shouldn’t have to get involved unless Lily and her odd family come after ours!” I snarled, turning my head so we were staring at one another intensely.

Klaus ran his fingers through my hair tilting his head. “Rae, did you turn your switch again because you always care about their safety.”

“Nope. I still have my emotions honey. I just don’t see the point in making our lives chaotic if we don’t have to. Now back to where we were earlier…” I smirked, vamping my husband upstairs and onto our bed.

He smiled up at me with my hair falling in front of our faces with me kissing him slowly. “Have I told you how much I love you, Raelyn Mikaelson?”

“Only a thousand times, Niklaus Mikaelson ..” I giggled when he flipped me onto my back removing my shirt and his in the process.

He picked me up sitting me down on his lap where I smacked my arms around his neck smirking. “Then here’s to a thousand more times.” He said in a husky tone that made shivers run down my spine by the beautiful sound of his accent.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[lightlycareless]

happy belated halloween!! for another fluffy ask to fill the void- what would naoya, naoaki, and y/n would have dressed up as for halloween as kids?? (pretending as if the zenins wouldn't have been awful spoil-sports and actually LET either of them celebrate,,)

Hello!!!! And happy Halloween to you too!!!

First of all, thank you so much for your patience! This one-shot certainly took more than what I expected to finish it, but in my defense, allot of things happened hahahaha Also, I received it just when I was going through a very hard personal time, so reading your fluff request arrived just in the right time. Thank you 🥺❤

But now that I'm on a small holiday from work, I'll be able to do a lil bit more of writing :> Starting with this request that I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED writing. Let's say that I filled some very needed fluffy needs that the main fic deprived me of 😳

Now, without further ado, here are the warnings of this chapter:

Overprotective!Eiichi (a.k.a Y/N's dad) Delusional!Naoya, Oblivious!Naoaki, and Protective!Ren and Hinata lol. Minako and Tomoko want a normal day out. Y/N is just living her life, happy as it always should. Also, I took this oneshot as the perfect excuse to develop a bit more of Eiichi (although it's more about him lol), Minako (Y/N's mom) and... well, have what we probably wont have on the angsty shitshow I created on the other story haha.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy!! Super long oneshot under the cut.

When Minako, your mother, told Eiichi, your father, that she intended to celebrate Halloween with Tomoko and her family, he… was hesitant to agree.

No, scratch that. He wasn’t hesitant, he was in absolute defiance. 

And it’s not because of personal animosity towards Tomoko—far from that. He’d actually met the woman on a previous occasion and they got along quite well. She was generous and funny, the kind of person that made you feel welcomed, seen. 

And all of this is without taking into account Minako's undying admiration for her: Because when it came to incorporating new people into their social circle—or, more specifically, his family—his spouse's opinion was highly regarded.

Both knew that if Tomoko came along, their kids would be in good hands.

In other words, he did not hold any negative remarks about her.

It was her husband that he disliked very much.

Eiichi had no idea how a much older man like Naobito could have gotten together with a much younger woman like Tomoko, much less marry her and subsequently have six children together!

«Oh, that poor woman» he muses, reminiscing back on the many times where Eiichi would find himself silently conmenming Naobito’s actions. 

Starting from Minako dropping everything on the spot and rushing to her friend's side as soon as she learned that her pregnancy was one of high risk—the one that introduced Naofumi into the world. Tomoko’s world was slowly turning into one of chaos and concern, and Naobito was seemingly nowhere to be found, limiting himself to subsidizing her with any medical attention she and their son would need, as if emotional support didn’t matter.

Or when he did the exact opposite when their youngest child was born. From the stoic, distant father he was with their previous 5 children, he was now all over her when it came to their 6th. All because he was to be the heir. And although that was an agreement that was struck many years later… Eiichi suspected Naobito already had a hunch.

Nonetheless, your father knew very well that prying in their business would do more harm than good, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t harbor a certain degree of distaste towards Tomoko’s husband, the consistent reason of why he’s always so averse towards Minako and their children visiting the Zen’in estate—why did they even need to maintain amicable relationships with their competitors?! Aren’t the Gojo’s and the Kamo’s sufficient enough??— or subsequently inviting him to these gatherings.

To make matters worse, Naobito wasn’t just careless towards his wife, he was also inconsiderate of his children’s fun. Once he starts feeling bored, he’d hurry them to leave every few seconds until one of them budges, like the aggravating buzz of a mosquito he just couldn’t wait to get rid of.

Well, there’s no use to dwell on things he can’t change, more so when Tomoko insisted that Naobito was a rather good husband and father when no one was around to see, he was just too busy as the head of one of the biggest companies in Japan, and too shy to demonstrate otherwise on the public (he has an image to uphold, after all, one that suits well with old money)

«Shy» Eiichi scoffed at the label Tomoko would use one day. An adjective that he never thought could be used to describe Naobito, an obnoxious, crude man.

But if she’s content with their relationship… they’ll support it.

However, once he was informed that only Tomoko and her children would be the ones assisting, none of these things continued to matter.

An announcement that cleanses him with relief as he could finally focus on what really matters. On the actual significance of this occasion!

And what made it so special, you ask?

Well… it's nothing short of his baby's first Halloween spent trick-or-treating!!

Oh, it was a moment both he and his wife had looked forward to for a long time now! 

… To much of their unexpected surprise.

Halloween is generally regarded as an appropriate activity for children thanks to all the activities that take place: such as dressing up, going out to get candy, and even pumpkin carving! It goes without saying that a fun night was certainly guaranteed if any of these were involved.

So, one could only imagine the shock your parents were received with when you, who had just become old enough to participate in such a celebration, stood heavily against it.

But that didn’t deter them. In fact, they tried to convince you by going into heavy detail of the previously listed activities, sweetening the deal by how fun it would be if you’d participated with your siblings and friends!

… To no avail.

Thus, a different approach was to be taken.

Eiichi, knowing your sweet tooth, attempted to bribe you with candies that were exclusive to the season, flavors that would not appear again, that is, until next year. 

And it seemed to work judging by the way your chubby hands snatched the offering out of his grasp as soon as you locked eyes on it. 

You’d then hum along to his words, giving them the impression you were actually considering their invitation…

Only to go behind their backs and grant them a dose of reality by rejecting them once you ate all of the candies.

Minako, startled by your enigmatic answer, began to search for the reason behind your rejection. Was it because you’ve unwittingly stumbled onto the scary side of Halloween?

If that were the case, then she couldn’t blame you.

There were certain participants that leaned into the dark aspect of this time. Defined from gruesome to frightening, classifications that were solely made with the intention of provoking unsettlement, something hardly appropriate or desirable for children your age.

And that didn’t limit to imagery, of course… There were also people who breathed life into these depictions through costumes, transforming themselves into a walking nightmare.

If somehow these turned out to be the factors that pushed you away from enjoying Halloween, then Minako feared no reasoning could help you see differently. Not when you’ve rejected them so many times already.

That was not the case, however— At least not entirely.

Turns out that the biggest reason behind your lack of participation was because of large crowds.

Up until now, the only instances you've ever seen of Halloween being celebrated was via the unruly, overcrowded parties that took place in the sleepless streets of Ikebukuro through broadcasted segments you’ve stumbled upon when watching T.V. alongside your older brother, Ren. 

And you, prone to growing anxious before large groups of strangers, needed no other justification to stay as far away from it as possible. You’ve seen enough of it, in full color and in high quality (as good as it can be with a television dating from ‘97) to not believe in your parents' contrasting words.

So that’s the whole truth of what you believed Halloween to be in the early years of your life: heavily crowded parties with ugly costumes.

But now that the problem was out in broad daylight, your parents could decisively assess an efficient solution. Thus, they came up with a secure and tranquil version of a halloween festivity: Trick-or-treating in a nearby familiar village, owned by none other than your clan.

For the influential leaders of the L/N clan, creating a safe space with the support of the inhabitants of said village (after providing the enough financing to do so) was an easy task, as well as the bare minimum when it came to their children's comfort and happiness. Nothing was out of their reach if it pertained to Ren, Hinata, and you.

Besides, Minako wanted to indulge in something private for once, especially after she began to feel the mental fatigue of having to roam through large crowds. So she wasn’t very disappointed when this change of plans occurred.

This could also be beneficial for the village’s kids, to motivate a sense of closeness inside the community as well as provide distraction from mundane everyday tasks to remember what life is all about. 

And while at it, this also worked as a good excuse to see Tomoko again. They've been wanting to catch up for the longest time, and now that their schedules finally match… it's the perfect opportunity! 

So, after arranging a meeting with the representative of the village, Minako and Eiichi managed to form an agreement with the inhabitants to organize a small version of a festival with all expenses accounted for, in exchange of borrowing their facilities to create an area where everyone is invited to have fun.

Fast forward to Halloween night, children and parents alike partake in a hurried frenzy to oversee the last details of their perfect trick-or-treating outing before departure.

“I still wish Y/N would’ve dressed up as something scary… like Sadako from the ring!” Eiichi laments, for he’d always been an avid fan of horror and there’s nothing he would’ve liked more than to share this with his family.

He genuinely believes it would’ve been hilarious to see his adorable young daughter dressed up as a popular horror icon, more so if he taught you how to deliver a convincing portrayal of the well-dwelling ghost in hopes of scaring at least an unsuspecting passerby.

“That’s too scary for a kid her age, dear” Minako’s soft voice interrupts his thoughts and grounds him back to reality by reminding him as to why that was a bad idea. “Besides, this is her first time dressing up. It’s only fair that she chooses what she wants to wear"

Maybe once you’re a few years older, she would support his suggestion. 

After all, she held the same opinion when it came to dressing you, the youngest of their kids, as something that frightened many, and continued to do so years after the novel and movie were released. 

It would certainly be amusing to see how an adorable girl like you could pull off something as scary as Sadako. But just as they discussed before, you were too young to be consuming any horror material, and adding that this night was your first time going out for candy (after much insisting, that is) they had to be careful to not do anything that might push you to reject them again. 

So, doing what any good parent would do, they kept off limits any media that was unsuitable for your age whilst supporting your decision when it came to your costume.

However, being married for over a decade, and known each other for far longer, Eiichi had grown to distinguish each of your mother's tones, mannerisms, and even subtle facial expressions to understand that sometimes what she says, doesn’t actually reflect what she intends.

And that’s exactly what’s happening: Minako hid an underlying aim behind her words, and once he was sure of this, a grin parted his lips before proceeding to retaliate with this newfound fulfillment.

“But that's not what you really think, do you?"

Minako shoots him a quick glance, an expression so stern that makes Eiichi feel he might’ve misjudged her circumstances, to which he’s more than ready to apologize for… that is, until his wife sighs dramatically, the facade falling off her face and revealing the true nature of her emotions.

“Oh, of course not!” She cries, placing her hands over Eiichi’s shoulders and rattling him gently to emphasize her frustration “We finally got the 3 of them to go out on Halloween! It was the perfect time to dress them up in matching costumes!!"

To say that your mother had been dreaming of this moment since she started a family with your father, would be an understatement. 

She always loved the idea of forming a family of her own, having kids, raising them, watching them grow and become successful on their own… overall, she yearned for a domestic life.

There was one thing that she looked forward to particularly the most, however, and that was partaking in celebrations together, such as Halloween.

It wouldn’t be the first time she'd seen either of her children in costumes, of course. She’d dressed Ren, Hinata, and you before on each 31’st of October for as long as she can remember.

But this was the first time her 3 kids would be actively going out together, so it was only natural that she wanted to show them off! Thus, she prepared herself accordingly for their costumes, taking inspiration from none other than one of her favorite artists.

For your older brother Ren, she'd gotten a custom made black tuxedo with a white undershirt, black bowtie, black dress shoes, and of course, the iconic baggy crystal socks that would pull the whole look together— although your mother knew that Ren's charming smile would be the one to do the job.

Moving onto Hinata, Minako would go a bit bold and get the head-to-toe leather outfit, decorated with a wide array of belts and buckles that would jingle whenever she moved, all while making sure it remained both stylish and comfortable enough for her courageous daughter to keep on adventuring— but even if the seamstress didn't manage to mix these two factors, Minako knew that this wouldn’t stop Hinata from doing what she wanted.

And finally, you. Your mother had gone for another two piece suit, but contrary to Ren's, yours was to be white. You'd also wear a black shirt for contrast, but matching a black belt. A golden handkerchief tucked in the coat's pocket to accessorize, and lastly, but not least, a plushie tiger that would serve as the figurative cherry on top to complete the reference she intended to portray.

Everything was perfectly set in her mind. With clothes and styling ready to go, all that she needed to do was organize a photography session to immortalize this precious moment, which she was already a few steps ahead due to ongoing talks with a photographer she’d found through a friend’s recommendation.

But even with all this preparation, it was never meant to be, for her children had other plans. And always the supportive parent, she decided to put her wishes to the side and make the three happy. 

"I can always do so another day" she reassures to herself "And we could also do something just for the 5 of us. On a day you don’t have to work"

"Ah, don't even remind me." Eiichi groans, forehead furrowed as he reflects on his unlucky night that’s yet to start. 

He’d already set in stone that he was going to accompany his family for trick-or-treating, more than ready to put everything on the line to be there, but an unexpected emergency at work would put a screeching halt to his plans. 

Your father tried getting out of this predicament by appointing someone else to take care of this problem, but since the corporate world doesn’t really care about western celebrations, as well as him being the main head of the company, he had to set an example and oversee the issue personally.

Sometimes, he just can’t help but feel that life is playing a twisted game with him—but all things considered, that’s only your father being dramatic as usual.

"You don't know how awful it feels to be away from my family on this important night” he deplored, looking down to the ground.

"I can imagine… but don't fret, dear. I’ve already prepared myself with the best available camera to take pictures!” Miano exults, eyes sparkling with unparalleled enthusiasm. “Leave it all to me!...”

She then takes his hand, giving him a coy smile.

“And who knows, maybe I’ll give you a consolation prize”

Eiichi blushes. Even after all these years together, she still manages to fluster him.

“I—I’d like that” he sheepishly admits, and Minako can’t hold herself from pecking his lips, a gesture that she would’ve prolonged had they not started to run late by now. 

“But for now we have to check if the kids are ready! I told Tomoko-san that we would be meeting up at the village and I don’t want to make her wait!” Minako points out.

“Ah, yes, of course” Eiichi nods as he lifts his wrist to look over to his watch, relief washing over him upon realizing they’re still over an hour and a half away before their meeting time. But if he considered ETA to the village, which was around 20 minutes, and if the kids weren’t ready… “Looks like we still have time, but we gotta hurry the kids if we wanna be there before her at least”

“Let’s go then”

Minako and Eiichi rush through the familiar path leading to the living quarters as they greet the many servants that saluted them back, without relenting their speed.

After a few minutes, the couple finds themselves only a few yards away from the area where they know their children are getting ready. They slow down to regain their breath, and Eiichi takes this moment to voice one of his many, many concerns for tonight.

"I'm glad Naobito isn’t coming" Eiichi begins “Can’t imagine the way he’d ruin this night for us”

“I know, I know” Minako attempts to soothe his unjustified anxiety, for he already knew it would only be Tomoko and her boys. 

However, just as he’s capable of uncovering her hidden intentions through her words, she’s competent enough to do the same. And by the way he decided to bring up this topic seemingly out of nowhere while unwittingly tensing his shoulders, she knows he’s been holding back something possibly out of fear, and it’s in her duties to ease him by reminding him that he can trust her, and everything will be fine.

“Just think about the kids and their fun. Besides, you know Tomoko-san would never put our children in harm's way”

“...I know. I'd trust her with my life, but you know Tomoko has never been my concern… I… I just don’t like the fact that a bunch of boys are going to be around my baby girls! And when I'm not there!!”

And there it is. The other reason as to why he'd been so on edge about this whole ordeal once it was revealed the Zen'in kids would attend. 

Sure, he disliked Naobito and worried non-stop when the prospect of his presence was up to debate, but now that that matter was settled, his mind couldn't wait to jump onto another topic to torture himself with—it was just his nature.

Or was it always the main factor behind his initial reluctance…?

Eiichi never held back when it came to voicing just how overprotective he was when it came to his children, a sentiment that he'd carried ever since Minako revealed to be pregnant for the first time.

A feeling that grew when Ren was born.

Worsening when Satoru began to lurk around the estate whenever he apparently didn’t have anything better to do—unwanted attempts from the elders to cultivate better relationships with other influential clans.

Reaching an all time high when you, the youngest of the family and the last one to leave the nest, started going to school.

Growing in a society where men were not expected to contribute in the domestic part of marriage, Minako was glad that Eiichi was very involved and protective of his family, even going as far as to perceive it as cute. 

But having gone through this ordeal many times without anything major happening, she’s starting to believe that perhaps his concerns are leaning more into the irrational side of things.

Eitherway, your mother assumes she can’t be too harsh on him, considering that the Zen’in kids were boys in their totality, a fact that led Eiichi to hyperfocus on you and your sister. 

Had they been girls, Ren would be the recipient of his attention—same story, different protagonists.

“I only agreed to this because you wanted and… well, Ren is also going and I trust him to keep them away from our daughters!” he goes on.

“They’re not going to do anything, Eiichi" Minako reiterates, feeling guilty that her husband was unfairly dumping a non-corresponding responsibility on his oldest son on a night that was supposed to be fun. One that he should take to relax as well! "They’re going to be fine, besides, they’re too young to be thinking about girls or boys! Look at our babies, the only thing they’re looking forward to is getting candy!”

Finding no point to debate, Eiichi concedes with a soft “I guess so…” 

Because if there was one thing that always helped him calm down when stress was eating him alive, was his wife’s candid nature.

Minako was never one to lie… At least of important matters, because he's caught her one too many times engaging in late night snacking when she was supposed to be sleeping, or binging through the tapes of recorded episodes from the shows they were supposed to watch together, but that's a topic for another time.

So, without anything else to bring to the table, the conversation arrives at a swift end. And just as they arrived at the room their children were in, quickly identified as Hinata’s room thanks to the sunflower stickers placed around the frame

Eiichi steps forward and steadily grasps the shoji door open, revealing the following sight:

Just by the vanity table on the far right of the room, a readied Hinata was looming over you with the intention of helping you into your clothes, asking you to place your hands on her shoulders as she extended the bottom part of your attire for you to slide your feet in. 

You tried to fight her off, reminding her that you were more than capable of dressing up yourself, but Hinata heard no reasoning, not when she wanted you to look as perfect as possible. Demonstrating just how excited she was for going out with you on halloween for the first time ever.

Across from the girls, on the other side of the room, sat Ren by the edge of the futon, already in costume, patiently waiting for his sisters to finish.

He actually tried to help you too, but Hinata, being the type of person who liked to do everything herself, ended up pushing him aside.

Not wanting to waste his energy on something he knows he won’t be able to change, Ren decides to let this go and instead focus on distracting himself by playing with the edges of his sleeves until it was time for their parents to pick them up—all while keeping an attentive eye on his sisters if anything rises to the occasion.

Too engrossed in their respective activities, neither of the kids failed to acknowledge the presence of their parents, who were already inside the room. That is, until Minako closes the door a bit too loud which causes them to snap their heads in their direction.

“Mom! Dad!” With a toothy grin adorning her lips, Hinata is the first one to greet “We’re almost done!! I just need to get Y/N-chan ready, get my hat, and we’re ready!”

“And a jacket" Minako says upon noticing her daughter to be wearing a basic light blue colored dress t-shirt underneath a navy blue vest; to make matters more surprising, the shirt is not even the one she got custom made for her, the one with long sleeves and thermal fabric to provide warmth during a cold autumn evening. 

Where did Hinata even get this?

«I'm 100% sure it was Sumire's mom» Minako rightfully assumes. «And I can already see how it happened. Hina-chan probably used her puppy eyes to get her this shirt instead… I really have to tell them to stop pampering my kids!»

"But mom… nobody is going to get what I'm dressed as if I’m wearing the other one" Hinata whines, but Minako is stronger than Sumire's mother when it comes to resisting her adorable pouts and thus, does not relent.

"No. You're going to get sick, besides, the jacket is also in the official uniform so I assure you everyone is going to know what you’re dressed as" 

“Justice will keep me warm!” Hinata retaliates, and Minako just laughs.

“Alright, officer” Eiichi chuckles, going ahead to retrieve the jacket hanging from the nearby closet and handing it over to her  “You still have to wear it”

“...Fine” Hinata sighs, taking the jacket from her dad’s hands and wearing it once and for all. Once ready, your sister immediately springs back to aiding you, but before she’s able to grasp the slider from your zipper, your father steps in.

“I’ll take it from here, Hinata. Go help mom get the rest of the things instead” he gestures over to Minako and Hinata nods.

“...Ok dad!” Ren concludes that the only people capable of swaying Hinata away from her determination are their parents, wondering if that’s a skill that could be harbored one day as he’s being pulled towards their mom by her younger sister.

Once by their side, Minako places her hands behind their backs and gently guides them out of the room, giving one last glance back to her husband before stepping out.

“See you at the entrance, dear” She says, and with that, she closes the door.

No longer hearing their distant footsteps, Eiichi glimpses back at you to immediately notice something… peculiar.

“Why are you making that face?” he asks, proceeding to kneel down to your eye-level. At this height, he’s able to take a better look at your curious face and he can’t stop a chuckle from bubbling past his lips: brows pressed together, eyes shut tight and lips pressed into a thin line, all whilst standing perfectly still, you were the epitome of concentration that undeniably contrived from Hinata’s influence.

“Hina-chan told me to not move or I would ruin my costume” You disclose “Don’t talk to me papa, I don’t want to mess my costume!”

“That’s not really necessary” He corrects, moving a strand of hair away from your forehead and threading it behind your right ear “Breathe, Y/N. You’re turning blue”

And as if by command, you deflate before him with a deep exhale, a reaction that earns you a warm smile and a pat on the head from him.

Now that you’re comfortable, he goes ahead and performs the last adjustment on your costume by pulling your zipper all the way to the top.

“There, it’s done” Eiichi informs, standing up in hopes of getting a better look at you and catch any details he might’ve missed. “How do you feel? Comfortable? Cold? Itchy? Or do you maybe want to wear something else? Mama has another—”

“No!” Your cry, shaking your head and putting an abrupt halt to his redundant barrage of questions. Because just as your parents and siblings were excited to have this night out with you, you too wanted it to be as perfect as possible, under your own terms!  “I want to wear this one!” 

“Alright, alright” he concedes, raising his hands as a sign of surrender “I just want to make sure you’re not cold on your first night trick-or-treating”

“I’m not cold” You confess, in fact, you don’t even think it possible considering you were wearing the two long-sleeved shirts mom had given you to wear underneath your onesie, as if the latter wasn’t made of polar fleece already.

A preemptive strategy Minako was astute to take, for she was all too familiar with your tendency of running cold throughout the night. And she couldn’t call herself a good mother if she let you go out underdressed, could she?

But how about overdressing? 

Eiichi didn’t need to pry further beyond your red cheeks to understand he’d asked the wrong question.

“Are you running hot?”

You press your lips together once more and hum, permission enough for him to ease from you cotton constraints.

“Is that better?”

“Yes” you nod, and now that you’re free of the shackles of warmth, you’re finally able to focus on what’s keeping you filled with emotion “I want candy!! Candy! Candy! Candy!”

“Someone’s excited to go trick-or-treating” He smiled, holding you carefully before lifting you up to his chest “If there’s nothing more I need to do, let’s go meet mama and your siblings”

“Trick-or-teething!” you cheered again, wiggling your arms in the air.

“Treating” He corrected.

“Teething”

“Treating”

“Teething”

You frown out of confusion, failing to understand why your father was correcting you for saying the world correctly—or so you perceived.

He’d continue to insist a few more times, stopping only at the sight of his wife and children by the car. 

It’s only then that he realized this was a fruitless endeavor, for even after all his attempts, you’d continue to pronounce treating as you could.

However, he didn’t let this fact place much weight in his mind, for he knew that this was an issue that would resolve itself with time. Nothing more than a pet peeve of the moment that he wouldn’t allow to distract him from his beloved family any longer.

So once everything is accounted for and the group is safely secured inside the car, Eiichi turns on the engine and drives onto their next destination.

“We’re here!” Minako sang once the bright lights of the village became clear on the horizon. It’s a tune that efficiently snaps the children’s attention to her, prompting the same energy she presented once their eyes fell on the same view.

“Are you excited Y/N-chan?!” Hinata turns over to you, securely seated between your siblings. Any big family would understand the unspoken agreement of the youngest sitting in the middle, and while it never usually lingered in your attention, there were times you’d want to switch sides with your siblings just so you could see what’s outside—like today.

“Yes!!” You say, wiggling your short legs in the air as you stretch your neck to see past Hinata and outside the window, only to be disappointed when all that received you was the astounding darkness of the countryside. “Mama, how much longer until we get there?”

“Just a few minutes” Eiichi answers instead, occasionally glancing into the rearview mirror to awe at the excitement of his children, only to frown upon sensing  a growing commotion behind him thanks to the thumping on the back of his seat, courtesy of a cheeky Ren.  “Hold on to your seats until we park, kids. Or I won’t let you get off the car”

The warning he issues is enough to calm them down into the manageable level of stifled giggles and hushed whispers. He wanted them to be enthusiastic, of course, but not at the expense of his driving.

And just as he forecasted, it wouldn’t take long before the paved road transformed into one of dirt, noticeable by the change in sound coming from the tires, signaling their arrival to the village.

Eiichi drove deeper and deeper into the village, wanting to get them as close as possible to the meeting point, a small grocery store located on the main street, just between a pharmacy and a coffee shop. 

Eventually finding a parking spot, your father parks and turns off the engine.

The noise of the motor quieting down is the only cue the children needed to unfasten their seatbelts, with Hinata helping you to unbuckle yours and subsequently getting out of the car, before sprinting towards the trunk. All this with such an impressionable speed that didn’t even allow their parents to formally announce their arrival.

“Daaaaad, open the trunk!!” Hinata says while perilously pressing the button placed on the trunk’s handle, further denoting her desperation, much to Eiichi’s agony “daaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!”

“Hold on, sunflower. You know papa doesn’t like it when you do that to his car” Minako reminds as she walks towards them, to which Hinata immediately retracts her hand, shame on her face as she pouts a muted “I’m sorry”

“Just be careful” Eiichi echoed as he unlocked the trunk and pulled the hatch open “I know how excited you are to go out with your sister and brother, but just remember to be a bit more… calm, when Tomoko-san is here with her kids, alright?”

He knows it’s a running joke between him and his wife to announce how much he dislikes Naobito and what not… but he’s still competent enough to understand that his children are a separate identity from him. They were also Tomoko's children, and he wouldn’t like it if his children added more to her already full plate by being rude.

That doesn’t mean he’s not going to encourage her to raise hell if any of them decides to do something funny towards them, he’s just asking her to be a bit more… considerate when they’re around.

“Ok…?” Hinata and Ren confusedly look at each other, finding his warning to be a bit unnecessary… for they had no issues with Tomoko, whom they’d grown to admire due to her amazing storytelling, cooking, and kindness, so they wouldn’t even dream of insulting her!!

Her children, however, they’re something else. In fact, there’s one kid in particular your siblings are desperately hoping he wouldn’t be able to attend… but that’s an answer that will only reveal itself once they’re here.

For now, they’ll focus on getting their baskets out of the trunk.

“Thank you, Ren-nii” You smile as you take the basket from his grasp. Being too short to reach into the compartment, less when most of the items were located on the far side of the same, left you in an unwanted predicament of needing help. Thankfully, your older brother being the taller of the 3, was able to jump into your aid, just like he always did when things were out of reach for either.

“You’re welcome, sis” he says, giving you a smile of his own, making your grin grow even wider.

“Where did you tell Tomoko to meet up again?” Eiichi asks as he looks at their surroundings, realizing there’s nobody there yet. A fear of having mistaken her directions begins to creep in the back of his mind.

“Just outside this store” Minako gestures to the convenience store as she takes out her phone. She didn't want to voice it out loud, but seeing her husband’s worried reaction has caused her to feel the same, forcing herself to alleviate this uncertainty by reviewing their past messages, or checking if she’d received any new ones.

Her shoulders relax upon realizing there are no new unread messages on her notification center that might imply they’re in the wrong location, however, the clock did inform that Tomoko was running late, and these two factors often led the sender to imagine the worst possible scenarios.

“I’ll just text her we’re here then” Minako informs, unlocking her cell phone and typing a quick, straightforward we're here, before sending it.  “Done. Let’s wait over here in the meanwhile”

“Alright” Eiichi gathers the children and leads them away from the store’s entrance, so as to avoid blocking the path of oncoming traffic, which really didn’t complain much about, too focused on greeted the people they quickly recognized as the leaders of the L/N clan, as well as complimenting their children’s costumes.

“I wonder what kind of candy we’re getting this year” Hinata ponders, looking back to last year's successful harvest, which she’d naturally shared with you. “I wouldn’t mind getting more lemon gum so I can give them to Satoru and see his ugly face twist” she darkly chuckles.

“That’s weird, Hinata” Ren twists his mouth in disapproval, why did Hinata have to be so weird with Satoru? “Anyways, what about you, sis? What kind of candy do you want to get on your first Halloween out?”

And so, you begin to think: first remembering the pumpkin lollipop your father gave you, before moving onto your mother’s pumpkin and chocolate candy, back when they were trying to bribe you into going out tonight.

But as much as the seasonal flavors were delectable to your tongue and wouldn’t mind getting more… none stood a chance against your all time favorite.

“I want mo—”

“Oh, look who it is!” Minako’s shrills as a familiar black car passes before them, the noise pausing your and your siblings' conversation in favor of seeking their mother “It’s Tomoko-san, she’s finally here!”

“Wait a…” Eiichi whispers upon catching two peculiar observations: first, the size of the car which he considers to be unsuitable for a family of 8. Second, the person sitting on the driver’s seat, a foreign face that would later have him boiling with anger once recognized.  «Seriously? Naobito couldn’t even bother dropping them off himself?»

His worries would eventually switch recipients when the luxurious car comes to a full stop just a few feet away from them, with the door swinging open to reveal the first attendant of the night, the eldest of her children— 14 year old Naoaki.

“Naoaki-kun! Over here!” your mother sang as she waved at the teenager, who grinned in turn before turning back and helping his mom and his youngest brother, a 7 year old Naoya, out of the car. 

The small boy wasn’t too keen on this action though, evident by the way he sulked past his brother’s offering hand and darted straight to his mother’s side.

“Come on, let’s receive them!” Minako urges towards her family.

“Uh, honey… are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Eiichi says, taking the lead and guiding the children right behind her.

“Eiichi, don’t start now”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I hope I didn’t make you wait that long…” Tomoko breathes as she rushes towards your group while pulling the hand of her youngest. “I had to make a few stops, but we’re finally here!”

“It’s nice to see you again, Tomoko-san. But… aren’t you missing half of your entourage?” Eiichi acknowledges the elephant in the room, glancing over to her two out six children, and while it’s nothing more than an innocent, genuine question from his part, it’s his wording that has Minako swiftly elbowing him as a form of reprimanding. “Ow!”

“Oh, that’s fine” Tomoko chuckles, dismissing her friend’s worry by following up Eiichi’s statement “I wasn’t counting on you two to not notice I’m missing 4 boys for tonight”

“You were thinking it too, Minako” Eiichi jests back, and she rolls her eyes while smirking.

“Yeah, but I would’ve said it differently” Minako says  “Anyways, is everything ok?”

“I wish” Tomoko sighs “Naofumi wasn’t feeling that well for the past few days, so it’s only right that I didn’t bring him along. As for the rest… well, you know how siblings are, if one of them says no, it’s more than likely that the others will mirror them”

“Tell me about it” Your mother agrees with a chuckle “But that’s awful, what does he have? Is he ok?”

“Do you need medicine? We can help you with that” Eiichi offers. Your parents could only imagine what poor Naofumi is going through, always the feeble one… it’s terrible that of  nights, he had to get sick on this one.

“Oh, thank you, but it’s fine. Naobito already covered everything. Still, I wish I could’ve stayed behind to take care of him… but I don’t think it would be fair for those that wanted to come” Tomoko responds, nudging towards the small boy beside her, whom she smiles warmly at once he glances up at her “Junko-san insisted on helping me out, to which I rejected profusely since she’s pregnant and I didn’t want her to get any more stress than necessary… but that’s stubborn Junko-san to you…”

“How could I forget that!” Your mother gasps, clasping her hands together “That’s wonderful! And after all that she had to struggle… She deserves this happiness. Tomoko-san, you need to tell me everything!”

“Umm…as much as I would’ve liked the two of you to keep talking… I think there’s some small matters to tend to” He says, referring to the pairs of eyes that were tensely looking at them, as if telling them to hurry up so they can get candy.

He hated playing devil’s advocate and having to rush the two good friends who were only catching up after not seeing each other for a while, but if they wanted to participate in all the activities planned for that evening, they would have to adhere to the schedule.

Besides, he too had to leave in a matter of moments if he was to get to work on time as well.

“I also have to leave in a bit” Eiichi eventually reveals, much to Tomoko’s surprise.

“What? You’re not staying?” She gasps, a noise that pushes the already settled seeds of guilt deeper into his chest.

A statement he was genuinely afraid to communicate, for it meant finally informing his children that he would be absent. Eiichi wanted to keep this fact a secret for as long as he could, in hopes of avoiding a sourful reaction from appearing on his kid’s faces, but that was nothing more than wishful thinking.

However, he didn’t count on the shattering of his heart, that is, until he heard your soft voice speaking up in the representation of your and your sibling's thoughts.

It’s time to face the lights.

“You’re not staying… papa?”

“No, little one, I gotta go to work” he says crouching down to your level “Something came up and I gotta go fix it”

“…Can’t someone else go?” you debate. “I don’t want you to leave”

“No, it’s something that I have to do personally” He apologizes, but his words do nothing to alleviate the overwhelming feeling both are feeling for his departure. And upon noticing this, Minako steps in.

“Papa is very important in his job, so there are things that only he can do” Your mother explained. “That’s why he has to be there”

You give her words a few seconds of thought, doing your best to process what it meant to be the only person who would do a certain job; or your father’s importance at his company. But it still didn’t make sense to you. Couldn’t someone else’s dad go instead of yours?

“…I guess” you eventually relent, feeling the hopelessness of nothing changing even if you tried. You would come to understand this situation with time, but it wouldn’t make it any less upsetting. “But don’t take too long! Or you won’t get candy!” 

“I certainly won’t give you candy” Hinata says as she crosses her arms. She’s acting indifferently, but Eiichi knows that deep inside, it’s only a facade to hide how hurt she truly felt.

“I’ll think about it” Ren shrugs, and just like his daughter, it’s an act to hide the fact that they’re going to miss him.

“Well, how about you save some for me, hmm?” He asks, gently tapping your nose with his index finger, a gesture that has you scrunching your face, but immediately folding to his request.

“Ok, but I’ll only give you the ones I don’t like” You compromise, extending your little finger “Pinky promise!!”

“Fair trade” he agrees, intertwining his finger with yours, an adequate exchange for having to miss out on spending time with his kids, or so he assumes. “But promise me something, that you’ll have fun even if I’m not here—and that you’ll let your mother take pictures!” Eiichi says, now referring to all of his children.

You, Hinata and Ren nod in agreement. Eiichi was about to stand up to get ready for his departure, but your tackle of a hug stops him from doing so. A sight that causes Tomoko and Minako to awe in adoration.

Eiichi melts into your hug as long as he can before having to regretfully pull himself away from your short arms and onto the rest of his kids, who were seemingly hesitant to accept his hugs, but didn’t move away until he did.

He’d then approach his wife to give her a kiss on the lips and a hug as well. A gesture to show his overwhelming love for her, of course… but accompanied by ulterior motives.

“Pleasepleaseplease take lots of pictures, until you run out of film if necessary!—but don’t take any of the boys! I don’t want them in the family album with our babies” He whispers against her ear, low enough to avoid Tomoko’s ears, but clear enough for Minako to roll her eyes in incredulity—Eiichi being dramatic, yet again “Please”

“Eiichi, relax. Just go do your work and let me worry about the photos” she kisses again, placing her hand over his cheek and caress him in reassurement “Good luck, dear”

“Goodbye Tomoko-san. Please be sure to let Minako know if you need anything” Eiichi offers, before looking to her kids “...Naoya, Naoaki”

“Goodbye, L/N-san” Naoaki responds with a nod “And please don’t stress. I’ll be here to help okaa-san and Minako-san with the kids” 

Eiichi blinks.

He knows it’s not right to have opinions of… kids in general. They’re just children after all, they have yet to grow and mature into capable adults… but he just can’t help it! More so when he’s taken aback by Naoaki’s seemingly reassuring words… 

Which unsurprisingly leads him to misinterpret his intentions to be nothing more than a mockery of his unwanted predicament. And could anyone blame him? He went into this situation already holding preconceived notions about their intentions.

Eiichi was secretly glad that only two of them were able to assist, for it meant that his adorable daughters were out of danger from any unwanted prospects (delusions of a worrisome father), one less burden to carry… at least partially.

Oh, but Naoaki was on another level of concern, far from the realm of his daughters, and onto one of the horrors fellow parents have warned him about: his teens!

Naoaki… well, from a distance, he’s a kid that Eiichi has been able to observe as somewhat calm, even helpful when it comes to supporting his mother… but then, he remembers the quarrels he often has with his brothers, and this overruled whatever was previously stated.

More so because his oldest son is already 10 years old! Meaning that he could start looking up to Naoaki for inspiration!! And if that happened… Oh no… he wouldn’t like for Ren to start having issues with his sisters! Not when they got along so well with one another!! It would literally break his heart to see his family breaking apart…

With that in mind, could anyone blame him for not liking Naoaki either? (Does Eiichi like any of the Zen’in kids?)

Oh, but at this moment in time, all that he can do is hope that his dear Ren is strong enough to look away from the enticing defiance that comes with their teens… and stay on the path of righteousness he and his wife have set before him.

And with nothing else to worry about, and no pending farewells to carry out, Eiich gets into the car and leaves.

With his car out of sight, and the chauffeur retiring for the night, the mother’s are able to move on with their itinerary… but not without doing proper introductions between the groups, 3 of which have already started to attack each other with silly faces to kill time and show their disdain for one another, discreetly enough to avoid getting the attention of the adults, but still holding the same damaging intent.

“Good evening everyone!” Tomoko says, completely unaware of the battle going on between one of her kids and your siblings, for her voice served as a warning for them to put on their best demeanor—an act  that still doesn’t stop Naoya from silently cursing them.

Her beautiful golden eyes—the same ones as Naoya’s and Naoaki’s— proceed to scan each and every face before her, admiring their cute chubby cheeks to the point where she wants to go ahead and pinch them, but stops herself as to not make them uncomfortable, besides, she already has an lovable 7 year old to dote on, so she isn’t sacrificing much.

So instead, she moves on to admire similarities to their parents, to which Minako is king.

“Aren’t you all adorable? It’s been a while since I’ve last seen you, you’re all so grown up…” she notes, moving closer to the children.

“Thank you, Tomoko-san! It’s nice to see you again, I’ve actually grown 3 inches since we last saw each other!” Hinata boasts, standing up proudly as to show off her height.

“I think I’ve remained the same, officer” Tomoko chuckles, a playful jab to Hinata’s costume “I definitely feel safer with you around”

“At your service” She bows. Naoaki holds back a stifled chuckle, amused by your sister's commitment to her role.

Fortunately, his gesture remains overtly neglected in preference to Naoya's eye-rolling response, which she managed to catch just at the last second through the corner of her eye. It’s only when Tomoko moves onto Ren that your sister retaliates by sticking her tongue out, much to Naoya’s offense.

“Now, you’re definitely taller than what I remember” She says, placing her hand above his head and shuffling his hair. Ren remains quiet. “And you’re… a skeleton, right? It’s pretty cool… and surprisingly accurate! Your makeup is amazing as well!”

“Thank you, Tomoko-san.” he nods, feeling appreciative of her compliment of his handiwork in the makeup department “And yes, I’m a skeleton that glows in the dark, but you can’t see it right now because of the light” 

“No way!” She gasps, inching closer to admire the fluorescent paint “And you had all this custom made, Minako-chan?!”

“I told you, the seamstress I found is impressive” she grins proudly “Maybe we can get something fitted for ourselves in the future”

“I’ll hold you to that!”

Naoaki can’t help but cringe at his mother’s implication of wanting to participate in Halloween—was she really considering dressing up? Wasn’t that like… a kids thing? Oh, but knowing her… she just might.

Anyways, wanting to maintain his sanity, he doesn’t pry any further.

And finally, it’s Tomoko’s time to move on to you.

“And you, little Y/N. You’re growing too fast!” she exclaims “You were like what… 4 years old when I last saw you? Stop growing already!”

You don’t respond outside of a whine when Tomoko decides to finally indulge in her desire and pinch your cheeks.

“Now, what are you dressed up as?” she asks, raising an eyebrow as she fails to recognize the pair of red eyes and shining white grin printed on the hood of your onesie.

“Gengar!” you exclaim, but Tomoko remains clueless as ever, causing you to frown and press your lips together in disappointment. 

She’d be the nth person that night that doesn’t get what you’re dressing up as… but not to her oldest son, who steps in prompted by familiarity.

“Oh, from Pokemon, right?” Naoaki observes, and the disappointment you were reeling in flies out the window when you realize there’s actually someone out there who finally understands what you’re dressed up as!

“Yes!” you say with the biggest grin your lips permits you to do, a picture worthy smile that makes Minako regret not having her camera out and ready “You like pokemon too??”

“A little” he responds “Cool costume by the way, all of you really”

Hinata and Ren silently thank him for his unforeseen compliment, wanting to limit their interaction with him as much as possible due to his relation to Naoya, contrasting your decision of sticking to his side for the rest of the night to partake in more conversations of your favorite videogame.

“I don’t know who Gengar is, but you sure look scary!” Tomoko says, giving one last pinch to your cheeks before walking back to her children’s side “Good work, everyone. You all have really good costumes, and I’m sure you’ll get lots of candy!”

“I’m sure your boys will get lots of candy too, more so if we tell them that it’s Naoya’s first trick-or-treating as well” Minako recalls and Tomoko gasps.

“Oh, right! It’s Y/N’s first trick-or-treating as well!” Tomoko excitedly responds “And in that note… I don’t think either of you have met yet”

It’s time for Hinata and Ren to object… at least in their minds.

They want to step in and clarify that their introduction won’t be necessary for Y/N is never to meet him again, but knowing they held no power over your mother’s decisions, they resentfully limit themselves to stand on the sidelines as they observed their mother guiding you by the hand towards their mortal enemy, the youngest of the Zen’in brothers.

You, on the other side… well, haven’t really given any attention to either of the boys in front of you, outside of Naoaki of course, who you’ve solely become interested in thanks to his apparent knowledge in Pokemon—since both your siblings had other interests, and Satoru, your other friend, was fan of another franchise. A bit too fond perhaps, to the point he’d criticize your preference whenever he could, pushing you to avoid the subject with him all together.

Either way, Naoya had remained under the radar for you, meaning that you were more than fine with greeting him, even open to establishing a friendship, contrary to your fuming siblings who wanted nothing more than to keep him away from you.

But in Naoya’s eyes… you were far from under the radar.

In fact, you two have yet to meet (formally at least, since the first time they met you were nothing more than a toddler, and him being a year older didn’t mean much) but he already knows that he’s going to dislike you.

He hated the reality of becoming acquainted with another L/N kid who was only going to torment him, an assumption he founded due to his broken relation with the insufferable Hinata and mundane Ren.

It wasn’t always like that, of course, they actually got quite well at the beginning.

But when he started to feel comfortable with them, that’s when things got complicated: out of nowhere, Naoya started to show off by belittling them for having better toys than them, nicer shoes, sharper pencils, or even a cooler face. Whatever that might be…

From there, it was a constant battle between the three of who’s better—a fight that Naoya believed to be winning, had he not forgotten that he was going against 2 children, meaning that Ren and Hinata could simply pluck him out of their social circle and keep having fun.

An unexpected change that had him suddenly feeling ignored, much to his surprise, something that he already endured in a household of 6 children, and wasn’t to accept so easily, so he retaliated even harder.

Well, it’s not his fault that your family is too poor to give them the latest toy on the store shelves, or that they have to earn things instead of just asking for them. In his eyes, it was obvious that your siblings were calling him nasty nicknames because they were jealous of him and his status.

And he expects you to be the same.

Thus, when you approach him in a seemingly shy manner, he can’t help but remain unaffected towards you. 

He believes your reaction to be nothing more than an act to appease the adults around them, to fool them with your innocent demeanor and get them to lower their guards, so that when they turn around you’d begin to insult him, just like how Hinata and Ren did as soon as he got out of the car, they even went as far as to mouth how ugly his costume was as soon as they laid eyes on him! 

So what’s taking you so long to do the same?!

He continues to stare at you, hoping to pry the answer out of your face. 

Even when you finally glance up to see him, with those big round mesmerizing stupid eyes of yours, he doesn’t relent in attempting to be intimidating.

The silence between the two kids urges one of the mothers to step in and rush introductions.

“Say hi, Naoya” Tomoko says, nudging her kid closer to you before hissing “don’t be rude”

Naoya frowns.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Naoya Zen’in” He bows, enunciating his last name in a particular way as if to show off the prestige that his family carries.

He briefly glances over to your sister and brother upon seeing the disgust on their faces, which only serves to irk him even further, leading you to be the victim of his reprieve.

Oblivious of the fight between him and your siblings, you blink, remaining silent as you analyze his costume from head to toe. There’s something familiar about his costume but you can’t put your finger on it quite yet… so you just continue to stare at him, unknowingly rubbing Naoya the wrong way.

With your hood partially covering your face, he’s wide open for you to give him one of those typical nasty scowls from Hinata, or uninterested pouts from Ren. So, why are you taking so long?! Finding a way to insult him differently from your siblings maybe?! 

And he’s not the only one to notice your silence, prompting Minako to give you a gentle nudge to speak up, but just as she’s leaning closer to you, something finally dawns on you to talk, giving Naoya an unexpected answer, doubling down with your wide grin and chirping words.

“Wow!! Cool costume!!”

And the world seemed to stop, or that’s how Naoya felt when this happened.

To say that he fumbled his subsequent actions would be an understatement. 

He was straight up speechless when you finally granted him a response—and not any response, a compliment—one outside of his carefully procured script of nasty remarks, leaving him to drench in the feeling he could only describe as the main villain from an anime revealing to the protagonist that he’s only been using a small percentage of his power!—with you being the villain and he the protagonist, of course.

“That’s not your name, Y/N” Minako giggles and you blush out of embarrassment.

“Oh—yeah. I’m Y/N, nice to meet you!” you add nonchalantly before turning back to your mom “Mama, can we get candy now?!” you jump excitedly, a sight that only adds to your unexpected intentions, which Naoya cannot find himself to accept so easily.

He tries to find any deceit behind your words, behind your actions, a follow up to the deceitful play you were putting before the adults to lower their guards.

But by the way you’re so…. Unaware of him, focused entirely on something else, he fails to do so.

But—but how could this be?! You’re related to that arrogant Hinata and gullible Ren, how could you be so different to them if you have the same blood?!

…

…

…

Oh.

Oh.

Like clouds dispersing after a rainy day, he suddenly understands why.

It’s because they’re so insufferable that you’re so different from them! 

There’s no way someone who genuinely appreciated his attire would actually get along with your ignorant siblings. 

Yes, that had to be it. It was only a matter of time before someone from their own family noted how aggravating they were, which means that you and Naoya are more similar than he initially perceived.

This was your way of seeking help, wasn’t it? That’s why you approached him! You resonated with him, ever before getting to know each other. Different from your siblings, you managed to avoid their brainwashing because you just knew he wasn’t as bad as they might’ve hinted!

It’s like that manga… the one that said that powerful users are naturally drawn to each other…? Or however it went. All that Naoya knew was that this was a fated reunion, meant to happen tonight of all nights!! Now that he thinks about it… there was something that was pushing him to go with his mom, and oh, how glad he was to have come!

It doesn’t take much longer for him to declare that he wants to stick by your side for the rest of the night with the intentions of getting to know more of your mysterious nature, completely ignoring any other possibilities, more so the one that had you reacting that way simply because you eventually recognized his costume from one of the shows you watched alongside Ren on Saturday mornings before breakfast, what was it called… Super Sentai?

Naoya was dressed up as the black one, the one that was often considered cooler amongst viewers, just behind the red one. He even had the helmet! And it wasn’t just any kind of costume that a parent might find at a retail store, the amount of detail dictated that it must’ve been a replica of the original. 

Certainly, his commitment (as well as his parent’s willingness to spend that much money on a one-day attire) to the show was to be appreciated.

And that was it. Nothing more, nothing less. 

A compliment brought from genuine fondness, as well as recognition, for the show and what it represented for your brother and you.

But how would 7 year old Naoya come to understand this? Not even Minako’s compliments of her own were enough to make him realize that it was just… that, a compliment. 

Or when you repeated the same phrase onto Naoaki, who kindly informed you that he wasn’t dressed up, he was simply wearing a civilian attire—an black and white tartan shirt, underneath an oversized varsity jacket, and some denim pants to go alongside his white sneakers—much to Minako’s disappointed, who still remembered that curious boy who dressed up as a mummy many, many years ago…

No, not even that would help. 

He’d remain as oblivious as ever as the world went on without him, leaving him behind to be stuck in his mind the echoing sound of your appreciation, believing it to be something else than what it really was.

Maybe after the kids—who started to replicate your sentiment to pressure them forward—were sated, would Naoya come to this conclusion on his own. One could only hope.

“Oh, before we start, let’s take a picture!” Minako suggests, quickly taking out her camera and gesturing to the group to come together so as to fit into the frame “The youngest on the front, please!”

Naoya is quick to glance over to you, the perfect opportunity to stand by your side is enough to fill him with motivation, but just as he was to scurry to your side, your sister is faster, bumping into him and completely blocking you away from him.

Had she been any harsher, she would’ve sent him stumbling down, labeled an accident from an eager sister who wants to be with her youngest sibling.

But Hinata was too cautious to do anything by accident, as evidenced by the devilish grin appearing on her lips as she looked back at Naoya.

“Better luck next time, chump”

Naoya, offended beyond belief, resentfully accepts defeat as he stands besides Hinata instead. He wanted to go over to your other side, but your brother was there instead.

It seems that your siblings had caught wind of Naoya’s new intentions as soon as they became clear in his eyes, and wanting to keep his grubby hands away from you as long as possible, have also set a new mission for them to perform through the rest of the night.

The youngest of the Zen’in children eventually focuses to the front and onto the camera lens, with the straightest, most serious face Tomoko has ever seen that causes her to gesture at him to smile by doing so herself.

He tries his hardest to obey by pulling the edges of his lips up, but his defeat only allows him to give a side smirk—opting to place all his efforts on plotting his revenge instead.

“1… 2… Cheese!” Minako declared, and within seconds, the camera flash beams onto the party.

She has yet to reveal the picture, but she knows that it’ll be one that she’ll look back with fondness, even though Eiichi will probably be more than not upset with her for going against their agreement, but she really couldn’t care! She’s just happy to see her friend again and to be spending time with her family as well as her’s. A fun, exciting night, just as the parents always intended it to be—he had nothing to worry.

Completely ignorant to the fact that Eiichi’s fear of one of the Zen’in kids catching interest on one of their daughters is slowly becoming a reality.

Up to that point, Halloween had been the greatest night of your life—and that wasn’t an exaggeration.

Let’s start by breaking down why.

First, and perhaps the most obvious reason why, the candy. 

Although a bit apprehensive in the very beginning when realizing you actually needed to go up to different doors and request the candy, which only made your timidity skyrocket to the heavens, soon became an inconsequential obstacle once you saw the sweets deposited on your basket.

From there, it was all smooth sailing, to the point you became comfortable enough to be the one to sing the customary trick-or-treat chant— the magical words that summoned the candy guardians to the front gates of their impressively decorated fortress and granting your party a hefty amount of their treasure— which up to that point, had been Naoya’s responsibility, but solely because he wanted to impress you with his “confidence and maturity”, not because he wanted to do so.

The second reason was your company. Naoaki, to be precise. Sure, you enjoyed being with your siblings, even meeting a new friend! But while this could be considered a separate occurrence from Halloween itself, in your mind it made no difference. 

The teenager unwillingly tagged along thanks to his mother's insistence. He attempted to skip this all together by reminding her that he was too old to indulge in these activities and that he also didn’t even bring a costume, so what was the point? 

But Tomoko, having raised 6 rowdy boys, wasn't one to be swayed so easily, so she firmly put her foot down and demanded him to have fun by shoving an extra basket onto his chest.

So, he’s here, much to your conversational delight, and Naoya’s jealous demise.

To your delight, because it meant you could spend more time talking to him about Pokemon! 

Or more like interrogating, for he was the only other person you knew that liked the same thing as you did, and he was much older, so it meant that he must’ve done much more, right? No one in their right mind would pass an opportunity like this!

It gave you the perfect justification to gravitate more towards him, bombarding him with thousands of questions regarding his favorite pokemon, his favorite moment on the T.V. show, or if he’d managed to get one of those evolutions that can only happen via trade.

“I haven’t” you confess “Because I have no one else to play with”

Naoaki didn’t know whether to feel bad for you, or chuckle for how blunt you were being. Well, guilt ended up overwhelming him at the end, prompting him to engage deeper into conversation with you—as well as forcing Naoya to make a mental note to demand his father to buy him a gameboy as soon as he came back home.

This is where Naoya’s demise would step into the picture. 

While you were overtly happy for being able to go out, get candy and meet someone who liked your favorite videogame, Naoya was suffering a hell of his own.

One that pushed him to see your interaction with his brother as some kind of competition: to steal your attention from his idiot older brother, who was completely oblivious of Naoya’s internal conflict, and get it all for himself!

He’s already on a losing streak against Hinata and Ren, so he’s not about to go and lose to his brother as well, the one who had only played pokemon once in his life and immediately dropped it after he got past Misty because it was “too repetitive”!!

He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and yet, you can’t keep away from him! Can’t you see he’s lying through his teeth?!

… And your siblings don’t make it any better.

Naoya might’ve hinted at having bigger tolerance towards them—perhaps because he sees them way less compared to his family, but in reality, they were just as detestable as Naoaki. 

It all started from Hinata and Ren being unhappy at the adults for placing you as Naoya’s partner for the night, the youngest paired together, they justified when confronted by your sister, only for tonight.

An explanation that went over their heads and propelled them to follow on their insurgent mission.

The first to act was Hinata, by cutting off Naoya each time they were done with a house.

You had the tendency of running to your mom to show off what you’ve gotten. Nothing alarming on it’s on, that is, until your sister caught sight of Naoya trailing you like a shadow.

This is where Hinata would step in, imposing herself between your path and his, with a smug smirk on her face that only served to taunt him, forcing the young Zen’in heir to glance over her side, trembling with desperation as he acknowledged her.

“Move, ugly!” Naoya commands, tightening his knuckles while knitting his brows.

“Make me” she dared, and Naoya groaned. It’s surprising how nasty kids can get when determined.

Ren, on the other hand, would pull you by the hand to his and Hinata’s side whenever it was time to move onto the next house. 

His towering height covered you from the mother’s sight to the point that neither suspected you’d gone out of formation. Actions that lead for this endeavor to be successful for the first couple of houses, that is, until Minako eventually noticed Naoya alongside his solitude.

“Ren, let Y/N walk with Naoya-kun” Ren held back a grunt as he freed you from his grasp.

It’s from that point forward that Naoya decided that your mother was to be a trusted ally he could use for future plans. But as much as she’d proved herself to be a powerful piece in this conflict, her actions only granted him a temporary advantage, he had yet to win the war.

In fact, he’s yet to do so much more, for he also realized that he’s barely managed to get in a word with you—and that’s without counting the insistent actions of your siblings and his own brother.

And he doesn’t know why. He’s never struggled before. In fact, he rarely struggles in anything—his family has said so, he’s some kind of genius! 

Well, maybe with his cousin Toji, who he considered the epitome of coolness, has he stammered with his own words. But even then, he’d only done so once or twice. Toji-kun was out of everyone’s league, so it was natural many would be intimidated in his presence. Even his stupid older brother knows not to mess with him!

«Would he approve of you?» Naoya briefly wonders as he glances back at you.

You weren’t like any other of the girls he’d spoken with, or attempted to, before, that’s for sure. 

There’s something about you that constricts his throat to the point where he can only whisper and stare at you, who in turn, greet him back with a cheerful hello whenever grazes cross, only worsening his already strained condition.

Was it because you liked things different from what other girls did? You don’t strike him as the kind of kid that would bother with girly stuff, not when you recognized his Super Sentai costume and you were dressed up as a videogame character. 

You’re already way above them—his equal. Eeh, well, maybe not that far. He still thinks of himself as above everyone else, but you’re up there, just a step below him, but very close to him.

Either way, none of his previous disadvantages managed to discourage him from stopping from doing what he needed to do. 

So when Tomoko and Minako announced it was time for a short break, he knew this would be his moment to seize!

The mothers guided them through a dimly lit path and onto a nearby park which they’d previously agreed on to use to rest in, take a breather, check everyone was ok, get something to drink and/or eat, before continuing.

It’s at this moment that Tomoko would reveal why she was late in the first place: she had to pick up the bottles of water and snacks she’d promised Minako she would bring (as sign of gratitude for preparing all of this for their children) for them to consume if any got thirsty or hungry—it was tempting to just reach into their respective baskets and eat the candy they collected, but until they were safely searched through and cleared of any unwanted objects, none of the kids were permitted to eat them. 

Besides, sprinkling a bit of fruits and vegetables here and there could do no wrong if they were already going to indulge in sugar.

“Is anyone hungry? Thirsty?” Tomoko asks, unzipping her backpack and taking out various small bottles of water which she placed on the nearby table. “Or does anyone want to go to the restroom instead?” 

“I’ll take one” Naoaki says and his mother hands him the one in her grasp ‘Thanks”

Minako moves closer to her friend, intending to grab one for herself and her children, when suddenly, a current of cold air lands on his back, traveling through every centimeter of her spine, resulting in a shiver that has her freezing on the spot.

“Ugh, that was… awful” Minako complains through gritted teeth while rubbing her hands against her arms. Her desperation to warm up takes her to look back to the nearby coffee shop she’d eyed moments earlier, her face brightening up when a new suggestion crosses her mind “I know, do you guys want to get something warm?” 

“No, thank you” you shake your head, still buried in the warm layers your mother and father buried you underneath. Hinata and Ren mirror your answer with a nod of their own. Naoaki gestures as his bottle before politely rejecting her offer, and Naoya keeps quiet.

“What about you, Tomoko?” Minako now looks at her, who is currently opening a bottle of water and handing it over to Naoya.

“I think I’ll have a coffee” She responds “I’m already getting a bit sleepy and we still have the rest of the night to go through”

“Rough night, hm?” Minako jests and Tomoko blushes.

“Stop it, I’m just worried for Naofumi, that’s all”

“He’ll get back on his feet before you know it, don’t worry. Worry instead about how you want your coffee so I can go get it”

“Oh, there’s no way I’m going to let you pay for it!” Tomoko yelps, hand reaching inside her backpack and taking out her wallet “Tell me what you want and I’ll get it”

“Haha, that’s funny” Minako teased, jolting away from Tomoko’s hand, which she frequently presented to offer her card “But no, stay here with the kids, I’ll pay it”

“Minako” Tomoko warns.

“Tomoko” the other replicates.

“I swear if you don’t—”

“Mom, L/N-san, why don’t you both go? I mean, I have no issue looking after the kids for a while” Naoaki interrupts, hoping that his serene solution will bring peace to the bickering he was never fond of. 

“Are you sure, Naoaki-kun?” Minako asks with hesitation, for she doesn’t want to dump him with 4 children as much as she finds accompanying Tomoko very endearing. “I don’t want to overwhelm you”

“Don’t worry about it, I have 5 siblings, there’s nothing they can do to scare me” 

«We’ll see about that» Naoya thinks as he crumples his now empty bottle of water.

“Besides, mom hasn’t seen you in a while” Naoaki sheepishly adds, scratching the back of his head “and I… like seeing her happy”

Tomoko’s lips part into a heart warming smile at her son’s gentleness. Always the attentive one, she’s proud to have raised a good natured kid like him.

So, after the women and Naoaki go through all the things they’ve brought in case of an emergency—which they doubt will happen, since they’re only going a few yards away, but a mother can never be too sure!—and asking for a second time if any of them want something (to which they reject once more) they depart.

Tomoko was still somewhat hesitant of leaving them behind, worried that someone might attempt to do something against’ them, a natural concern to have in a village she’s yet to become acquainted with, but Minako squashes her burdens by reassuring her there was nothing to worry about, for she’d chosen this neighborhood specifically for how safe and calm it was known to be.

“Maybe we should worry about our kids disobeying Naoaki” the two joked instead as they kept walking towards the store.

And once out of sight, Naoaki makes haste to turn around and start tending the group.

“So… how’s the night treating all of you?” he asks awkwardly, unsure how to start to distract them.  “Do you want something to eat? Drink…?”

Sure, he’s had plenty of experience dealing with children… who coincidentally were his siblings… 

He doesn’t presume he can treat Minako’s children the same as he’d done with his siblings, but … well, it must count for some kind of experience, right? And he did make a promise he intended to keep.

However, it's safe to say that he’s never been this intimidated before. Certainly not by a child whos unimpressed face made him question why he even agreed to this: Hinata being the subject in question

It’s almost as if she’s sensing his fear by the way she’s intently staring at him with a piercing gaze that tells him he’s performing a terrible job and that he should let a professional handle this, like her, unless he wants to make a fool out of himself.

So, after a few seconds of intense critiquing and intimidation, Hinata steps in.

“Alright, baskets on the table” Hinata asserts, acting as the first example before starting to dig through her mountain of sweets “This is our moment to switch candies if there’s something we don’t like before our mother’s come back, so we have to be quick about”

Taking this as an opportunity to finally socialize with you, Naoya makes haste to move onto your side, but just as he’s stepping closer to you, Ren abruptly cuts him off, again, by placing his own basket on the spot next to yours.

The young Zen’in shoots him a dangerous glare, but the oldest of the L/N family pays him no mind as he digs through his own candy, as if this had been nothing more than an innocent coincidence, which makes Naoya scoff as he now moves onto his side.

“Someone gave me a sweet potato” Ren confides, pulling the culprit out of his basket and placing it on the middle of the table, subsequently causing all of the group to quizzically stare at it.

“Hahaha, what the hell??” Naoaki is the first to react to the bizarre sight. It’s so comical, he can’t believe someone actually gave kids a goddamn vegetable instead of candy! “That’s worse than raisins—might as well given you nothing”

Unfortunately none of the kids respond to his comment, and the silence between the group and him only pushes him deeper into the ocean solitude he’d been drowning in since he was left in charge of them.

Well, it’s expected. The only one of the group that seemed to like him was you and that was solely for your shared interest in pokemon, which if he had to be completely honest… he didn’t like that much. But he wasn’t to go and break your heart like that. So he’d just remain quiet and let you enjoy your sweets.

“Anyways” Ren circles back everyone's attention to him “You seem to have gotten a lot of the candies you wanted, Hinata”

“Yesssss” She cheered, grabbing a handful of the lemon candies beginning to envision herself torturing Satoru “But I also got a lot of these” She says, now referring to the different colored bunches of hi-chew’s she placed alongside her weapon “Didn’t you like them, Y/N-chan?”

“Nope” you shake your head, hand still stuck in your basket as you search for a candy wrapper that caught your attention just moments ago “I like chocolate more, and mochi too!” you inform, finally pulling out the candy you were looking for with a grin… only to realize it wasn’t what you believed. “But I didn’t get any mochi at all” 

Maybe mochi isn’t traditionally given during these seasons?

And like clockwork, a Naoya that has been desperate for an opportunity to portray himself a charming prince of sorts and charm you with his generosity, takes this moment to finally, once and for all!! To step in and get the spotlight on him.

“What kind of chocolate do you like, Y/N?” Naoya asks confidently (or so he believes his voice to have sounded), looking straight at you. You blink, diving into deep thought as you pouted, debating which out of all the chocolates you tasted were the best. There’s too many that you like, but if there’s one that you like the most, it would have to be—

“Well! If there’s something you don’t like, you can give them to me” Hinata yelps, pulling out a bag of the colorful candy and placing it in the middle, just beside Ren’s tragic sweet potato. “I trade you these hello kitty strawberry marshmallows for those lemon candies”

Naoya groans at another interrupted attempt, loud enough for Naoaki to glance at him and ask him if there was anything wrong, to which the youngest simply scoffed as a response. 

And you, too focused on the exchange before you, didn’t notice anything at all.

“Deal!” You grin. They might not be chocolate, but they’re still pretty good, so you don’t hesitate to switch them from the middle of the table with help of your older brother, and place them into your basket.

The conversation between your siblings seems to go on for a while, from exchanging sweets to rumors of the streets that are hinted to give bigger and better candies. Undeniably, the people that were often considered to be on the rich side of socioeconomic standards, and subsequently, able to afford the good brands.

All this pushes Naoya further and further away from you whenever he tries to chime in, that at one point, he just stops trying.

“Maybe we can convince mom to go there, get a king sized kit kat bar!” Hinata hypes, gently nudging you by the shoulder. A revelation that Naoya takes note to remember well, for if it wasn’t of any relevance, why bring it up? “It’s like the size of 3 bars! Can you imagine that, Y/N-chan??”

…

…

…

Silence.

“Y/N?” Hinata tries again, and once more, you don’t respond to her enthusiasm, at least not the way she expects. Instead, she’s received by a pout and a frown on your chubby face, portraying distress.

“Are… you ok?” She cautioned. Words that are quick to set off  alarms in everyone’s mind.

You lean into Hinata’s ear to whisper.

“Where is mama?”

“She’s still at the coffee shop” Naoaki, who had kept an attentive ear after this upsetting question, finds it appropriate to step in and responds in her stead. “I don’t think she’ll take longer though, is there something you need?”

“No…” you look away, cheeks burning out of embarrassment for having him respond to the question you intended only to be heard by your sister. A gesture that Naoya takes unkindly, for his mind believes Naoaki did so with the intention to shame you, and after all you gave him…

This might’ve just been his desperation trying to fill the blanks though, for he’s the only one that thinks that. 

Ren and Hinata are on the same page as Naoaki when it comes to worrying for you. They fear that you’re too embarrassed to tell them what you need in the presence of strangers, leaving them stranded in a position of uselessness—something that the teenager was not going to let happen.

“It’s ok, you can tell me” Naoaki reassures you, and it’s only after you see his genuine concern as well as your siblings' comfort, that you finally confess.

“I need to go to the restroom”

“Oh” Naoaki blinks, taken aback by this unexpected revelation. “Uh… I—”

“Why didn’t you tell mom you wanted to go before??” Hinata huffs.

“Don’t talk to her like that, Hinata” Ren disputed.

“Because I didn’t want to go!” your whine back “Where is mama??”

“She’s not going to be here for a while��” Hinata mutters as the frustration to solve this matter plunges her into urgency. Sure, you knew how to handle these types of situations on your own, and when you needed help, mom was always there to step how.

However, she wasn’t there, and to make matters worse, all of them were in a relatively unknown public location, details that only made you feel more uneasy.

But after considering all of this, there’s no way Hinata was going to let you overcome this on your own, or wait for someone else to do so instead… If your older sister allowed it, she would not be living up to the role of the one she’s dressed up as. Or her role in the family!

“I’ll take you” she asserts, glancing over to Ren for approval, which he grants with a nod.

And after getting all the help she needed, retrieving the paper and soap Tomoko had brought along to use just in case, granted by Naoaki, Hinata intertwines her fingers with yours and begins to head over towards the building she guesses to be the nearest public restroom. 

Naoaki offered to take them as close as possible, but your sister, not wanting you to feel any more embarrassed than you already were, asked him to keep a lookout from the table and inform their mom of their location if she was to return first.

The oldest Zen’in never imagined someone so authoritarian could exist in the small body of an 8 year old, but here he was, dumbfounded once more by reality. 

But that observation falls to irrelevancy when it comes to keeping a close eye on the walking girls.

As much as unexpected your little trip to the bathroom had appeared to be, it didn’t really affect much of your enjoyment of Halloween. Sure, it's somewhat inconvenient, more so because you didn’t have your mom by your side in a strange place like this, but you had your courageous sister, and your brave brother looking out for you, instead. 

So you know that once this is dealt with you’ll be on your way to more fun, and more candy too.

Unfortunately, your trip to the restroom was not destined to be as smooth as both would’ve wanted.

Because just as Halloween is a special occasion for children to go out and have fun, there was also another demographic group that intended to do the same. The kind of people that often went above the limits to get a good laugh for themselves through the expense of others.

But that was something that you didn’t register, less when you were having a good time yourself with your family and new friends, which eased you deeper into lowering your guard as you’d continued to walk besides her, hand in hand, towards the nearest public restroom.

In your mind, There was nothing to worry about, nothing to observe, nothing to beware..

Not even the rustling bushes or the reticent whispers coming from the shadows behind it swayed you otherwise. 

A compromise that you were not aware that you needed to take, but would regret ignoring when the concealed figures established their outrageous appearance as soon as you and your sister were within grasp.

“AAAAH!!”

It all happened in a blur, too fast to recount with detail. Where the girls once enjoyed their peaceful yet essential stroll, now stood petrified at the ghastly presence of the different horror figures appearing just from the darkness and out of the bushes:

A pale ambiguous creature with long dark hair and bloodied lips, a red skinned demon with black horns and long fangs ending just beneath it’s chin, and lastly but not least, another pale skinned woman with a gory smile that stretched from ear-to-ear—arms stretched to the sky to enlarge their presence onto their victims whilst releasing a deafening growl that pushed the girls to wail even more.

It’s only then that the teenage perpetrators realized the immeasurable mistake they committed.

“Oh no, nononononono” One of them would lament, quickly retracting their arms back to their side as they frantically look to one another “This wasn’t supposed to happen! We weren’t supposed to scare them!”

But it was too late, for both your sister’s and your cheeks were drenched in tears, evident by the light reflecting against their skin.

“Why didn’t you say something?!” The horned devil snapped back, giving the one in charge of lookouts a sharp smack on the arm “I thought you said it was safe!”

“I—I thought” the wide-smile woman, popularly known as kuchisake-onna, stammered. “I thought I heard footsteps! Like adult footsteps, you know?! How would I know they would be different?!”

“You idiot!!” The first one chastises one last time before glancing back at the sobbing young girls who were now hugging each other as tightly as they could, and softening their voice “H—Hey, kiddo, I’m—I’m sorry we didn’t—”

“Get away from her!” Hinata interrupts with a shrill as she jumps between you and the regretful group, who have now removed their masks to increase the veracity of their apology, show they were just another bunch of stupid teenagers doing a stupid innocent prank, revealing their identities to be of two men and one woman—but it was all for naught for Hinata was never interested in their intentions, she just wanted to protect you, even if she was scared beyond belief herself.

Hoping to appeal to their sorority, the female wrongdoer moves closer to the girls, but the intimidating gaze of a protective older sister squashes their intention before it can even come to full fruition.

Or so that’s what Hinata believes—a wave of confidence engulfing her spirit as she moves you further behind her back and away from their danger, utterly oblivious to the real reason behind their cowering figures, an angered teenager briskly closing the distance between the two.

“You need to leave, now” The infuriated male demanded. Hinata turns to face the voice behind her, and soon realizes who was the one that intimidated them all along: Naoaki, holding the most angered face she’d ever seen a man carry before, accompanied with a  resentful Ren and a slightly startled Naoya. 

The group had seen everything from afar with utter disbelief at the audacity of these unruly teenagers for doing such a prank on young children. Had they really been that insensitive?!

But where the kids remained somewhat uneasy to voice their disapproval, Naoaki did not hesitate to bring out his confrontational nature.

“We didn’t know, we didn’t mean to—”

“I’m not fond of repeating myself twice. Less to people as shameless as you” Naoaki raged “Leave, now!”

The teenagers need no other reminder to understand their presence to be unwanted, hence they expeditiously begin to gather their belongings: objects that ranged from toilet paper, cans of string foam, and even eggs, presenting unbelievably sight to Naoaki which only deepened his exasperation for them before ultimately leaving.

He keeps a hardened gaze on their backs, as if to prevent them from doing another stupidity, and once he considers them no longer a hazard, he flickers his attention back to the sniffing children.

The sight is enough to squeeze his heart with guilt, gaze softening as he kneels down to their level.

Hinata, although she still cried, had actually started to calm down once realizing the monsters that scared them were nothing more than idiots inside costumes, whose possibilities of returning now that Naoaki confronted them were slim to none, giving her a sense of confidence that allowed her beating heart to begin slowing down.

This gives her time to reflect on what happened, and she can’t stop herself from feeling so naive for having fallen for something so silly, something that Satoru had done in previous occasions… but before she could go on resenting her lack of action, she settled for worrying over your unresolved emotions.

You unfortunately continued to be affected by this whole incident. As the youngest of the group, you still have yet to earn enough discernment to understand that this was nothing more than a prank, a seemingly victimless act… but even if it was nothing more than a joke, it felt real to you, enough to keep you wailing, heart painfully beating against your chest as you attempted to wrap your head around this whole incident, but failing to do so.

So, the only thing you could do was rub your tears away with the fabric of your sleeves as you wailed for your mother, a sight that caused your companions to murmur soothing words of encouragement in hope to make up for her absence and calm you down, at least until she’s back.

"It's ok, Y/N-chan. They're gone now" Hinata would attempt to comfort you by taking you into her arms and pushing you close to her before patting your back. Ren joined his sisters by wrapping his arms around them.

“You don’t have to cry anymore” Naoaki joined, but you’re barely able to respond with anything else outside a whimper or a sniff, muffled by your sister’s chest.

There are no words to describe just how frustrated he feels for allowing this to happen, and subsequently, failing to provide you a remedy. 

In fact, he feels regretful for permitting the teenagers to leave, but there really wasn’t much he could’ve done at that point that wasn’t to shout reprimands at them, which half of them would’ve been obscenities. 

Very tempting indeed, but that would just be to alleviate his frustration, no help to you or your sister.

His mind progresses to other realms of solutions, going through countless alternatives until he reaches one one that makes his eyes widen with fulfillment and determination, as well as hope for it to work.

Naoaki jumps back on his feet and rushes back to the table where their things have remained behind, intending to reach for his basket, earnestly digging through the candy whilst isolating a particular confection.

Once done, he makes way back to the group, but not without bringing your basket as well as his carefully selected lineup.

“These are your favorite, right?” he asks, kneeling down to your level once more and extending his hands for you to see what he’s referring to.

You slowly raise your gaze from your sister’s hug and over to Naoaki’s hands, blurry eyes widening in surprise once he begins to pour the countless chocolates onto your basket.

“You can have them all, Y/N. Just don’t cry anymore, ok?” Naoaki smiles softly, proceeding to pet your head  “Your sister and brother are very worried for you, Naoya and me as well”

You first glance over to Hinata and her concerned puffy face with glossy, reddened eyes, the visible aftermath of the panic she was put through alongside you.

You then look at Ren, who although managed to avoid being directly affected by this incident, was just as distressed as Hinata, evident by his creased forehead and the frown on his lips—further proving the truth behind Naoaki’s words.

Naoaki is giving you a warm smile, as if to assure you that everything is truly indeed, even if you felt your heart telling you the opposite. He even went as far to attempt to comfort you by giving you all of his chocolates…

And Naoya… even if he barely speaks to you, to see him so concerned for you, you can’t help but feel thankful. As well as guilty, for you don’t think he wanted to see anyone crying tonight.

Overwhelmed by the much needed presence of your mother, as well as your companions unshakable support, you can't help but break into tears once more.

"Y/N!" Minako’s unexpected voice snaps you out of trance, causing you to swirl your head over to her direction and squint your warm eyes to make out the appearance of the approaching figure. 

Once recognizing your mother, you immediately peel away from your sister’s and brother’s arms and run towards her, arms stretched to allow yourself to be pulled up by her as you break out in tears once more.

“It’s ok, little one, it’s ok. I’m here now” she croones, kissing the top of your head as you push your face deeper into her neck, inevitably wetting her skin, but it doesn’t bother her at all. 

She then moves closer to Hinata, pulling her closer to her figure and hugging her with her free arm. She might’ve stopped crying, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t in need for her mother as well.

It’s only after a while of basking in the comforting presence of your mother that your sniffles begin to quiet down, which Minako takes as a cue to finally ask.

“What happened? I just saw a group of kids running away and Y/N’s cries”

“Somebody scared Y/N-chan” Hinata says through a runny nose and a strained throat, which causes Minako to hold her even closer to her.

“Naoaki scared them away” Ren adds, gluing to his mother’s free side and hugging her leg.

"Oh no, that's terrible" Tomoko frets, worriedly looking over to her own children as if to check they weren’t equally affected as Minako’s children have been.

Naoaki seemed to be rather… unaffected by the incident, outside of being concerned for you and your sister. He was evidently pissed that this had even occurred in the first place, not bothering to ask the culprits the reason behind their actions—he was not interested in justifying them, not when he had bigger things to do like step in and protect the young girls. But she could also find underlying guilt behind his eyes… misplaced guilt, for how could he know there was someone planning something as unfortunate as this?

From there, she glances at Naoya. While he hadn’t been in the actual crossfire, he was still present. Present enough to be affected by this sour turn of events, made evident by the heavy shift on the atmosphere caused by the upsetting sight of the horrifying teenagers and the two crying girls. 

What transpired was also enough to perturb him to the point where he’d actually stuck to Naoaki’s side in efforts to seek comfort, eventually turning into the form of Tomoko’s hand, which he grasped almost immediately after she was within arms reach.

A gesture that has Tomoko looking down to her youngest out of concern, and through a silent understanding, she declares.

“I… think it’s better if we call it a night”

"Yeah. I think that's too much excitement for today" Minako kisses your forehead once more upon feeling you relax against her embrace, finally, calm and quiet after venting all the anguish from your heart. "I’m so sorry Tomoko-san, truly. I assured you that this was a safe place where our kids would have fun, but they did not. I don’t know how I can make it up to you”

Your mother attempts to bow with you in her arms, but Tomoko rushes to stop her.

“No, Minako-san, don’t worry about it. It was just an accident” She says “Besides, you’re not responsible for their actions. You have nothing to be held accountable for, please don’t torment yourself for this”

Minako mouths a small, but earnest, thank you, before moving on with their next trajectory of the night.

Both mother’s ended up calling their respective partners to inform them that they would be returning home much sooner than expected.

Your mother intended the call to be of the informative nature, notify Eiichi that they’d be grabbing a cab back to the estate so he wouldn’t have to drive down to the village, but considering the overprotectiveness nature of her husband, she anticipated him freaking out as soon as he knew of the scary incident that led to this change of plans—and he did.

There was no way Eiichi would sit at his desk, arms crossed, miles away from his family, while they needed his solace. So he miraculously pulled a few strings to temporarily get out of work and go pick them up personally.

Meanwhile, Tomoko’s husband… Well, he didn’t say much. Outside of being glad that the night had ended earlier than anticipated for he wasn’t fond of his family staying out late. She intentionally avoided reaching the subject of the “prank” for she disliked having to entertain a husband who had the habit of questioning the integrity of others whenever something goes differently to the accorded, when it was a simple unrelated accident. Not everyone had a ridiculous amount of money to spend in perfection, more so when this was a “casual” night for the kids.

As expected, Naobito was unavailable to pick them up but still reassured her that a chauffeur would be there in his presence as soon as possible. Neither her or her children were surprised by this decision, but there’s no denying that at least one of them hoped he would have done differently. Isn’t it alarming enough that they had to leave early?

Outside of this, it was safe that all the kids were disappointed that they had to leave early. 

They had yet to go to the rest of the neighborhoods, visit the ones where the rich people lived and get the good candy, as well as partake in the activities the community had set up for them, such as carving pumpkins, trying out masks, or going through a pumpkin patch.

Well, Hinata and Ren weren’t too bothered by that. Not when it comes to placing your safety first. And they were also tired from butting heads with Naoya.

But if there was one kid in particular that didn't like the whole leaving the party too soon thing more than the others, it was Naoya.

And not because he wanted more candy, he could always get that at home just by asking for it.

It's because he didn't want to leave you just yet.

Now that he’d managed to get through the mental turmoil the past succession had placed him in, he realized that he would be able to see you… god knows when. He counted with the rest of the night to make his move, but his plans were cut short because of those stupid teenagers.

But the thing that he hated the most was how they made you cry.

He never knew he could feel so sad from watching someone's teary face, that is, until he saw yours.

Naoya resented the fact that he just stood there, petrified by the horrifying noise of their screams and your frets, unable to do anything to help you because he was too startled himself, which inevitably left the road wide open for his brother to become the hero of the story, yet again.

Naoya was supposed to help you. He was supposed to be close to you and protect you. He feels confused, guilty, sad, for not being able to do anything at all throughout the night, when Naoaki did the exact opposite.

Sure, he was glad that his brother stepped in to put a stop to all this, but… he just… Well, first of all, he wasn’t expecting him to actually go above and beyond by giving you all his chocolates when that should’ve been him! Secondly, the fact that he hasn’t done anything to get to know you better is enough to have him reek with dissatisfaction.

But far from him trying to make himself the hero of the story, which don’t get me wrong, he still wanted to be…

He wanted to see you happy again. He didn’t want this night to end on a sad note for you.

So, determined to make things right, if only for one time during this night, he makes haste to take advantage of the last moment he’d have with you before leaving to make the biggest sacrifice a kid can make during Halloween night.

"Y/N" he calls, and you, now standing to your mother’s side once you begged and pleaded towards her to let you down once you began to feel a bit better, turn around.

"Hi…" you say, a yawn appearing mid way just to reflect how tired you’d ended up after all the emotional and physical exhaustion of your first trick-or-treating session, much to your dissatisfaction. “Sorry… Hi” you try again with an apology and a smile.

Naoya blinks for a moment before falling back in place by pressing his lips together as his gaze falls to the floor. This wasn’t supposed to be as nerve wracking as it was, but even then, that wouldn’t stop him, not when he already committed to the idea.

He takes a deep breath, gathering all the courage he can get to do what he wants next.

With his heart beating on his ears, ruby cheeks and brows pressed together, he stretches his arm and finally looks up to you.

"Here" he says, nudging his basket full of candy closer to you.

Now it’s your time to falter while eyeing his offering with much caution and wonder, unable to interpret the true intention behind his gesture outside of… well, what?

"Take it" Naoya feels obliged to clarify upon seeing your confused pout, carefully dangling the basket before you once more.

"Why?" you eventually ask, tilting your head to the side.

"I don't like it" Naoya lies, but he really doesn’t know what else to say to convince you. "I want you to have it"

You don’t seem to be convinced by his answer, which only makes Naoya feel more and more anxious by the second. First, because he suddenly felt the sharp gazes of your siblings stuck to his back, so he wanted you to make up your mind before they started to close in.

Secondly, because he felt like you were rejecting him—and that meant that his brother had managed to make more of a… lasting impression on you. And he dreaded to think that even when he finally gathered the courage to talk to you, it wasn’t enough.

Had he miscalculated your initial reaction towards him?

However, all of his worries were for naught, for after a few seconds of consideration, your small arms stretched to his and grabbed onto the handle of the basket, carefully taking the object away from him. 

It’s only for the briefest of moments that he’s able to brush against your fingers, but he already knows there’s nothing softer in this world that he’d rather hold.

Naoya’s anxiety has an unwanted return when he sees you silently stare at his offering, his worry lingering back to Naoaki, fearing that you might see his actions as a poor plagiarism of his… 

But his worries were for naught once again, for you’d eventually look up to him to give him another one of your loving smiles, one that cemented his first victory of the night, for it’s a reaction Naoaki hadn’t received in his moment, as well as ensuring your happiness before tonight ended.

“Thank you!” You grin, pulling the candies closer to you, seemingly overjoyed to receive an addition for your harvest.

“You’re welcome” Naoya sheepishly responds, face even redder when he catches you staring at him with that big toothy smile of yours longer than he anticipated, before turning around with the intention to return by your mom’s side.

It’s at this moment that he feels an itch on his throat, one that he has the extreme need to alleviate.

“Y/N?” he calls, and you turn around.

Curious e/c eyes falling on his face as you fathom the redness forming on his cheeks through the dimness of the street light, making you wonder if he was feeling sick.

“...Don’t cry” he murmurs, and you blink for a few moments before a frown settles on your face.

“I’m not crying” you explain and he scoffs.

“I mean” Naoya looks away, feeling more embarrassed by the second as a pout forms on his lips “Don’t cry again. I don’t like it when you’re sad”

It’s his way to say that he wants to make you happy, but you, not having the same perception as he did, limit yourself to take his words as those of comfort.

“I don’t like being sad either!” You respond, giving him another smile “But thank you, Noya-kun! And sorry for worrying you”

Naoya can’t help his heart from soaring upon hearing the adorable butchering of his name, which far from interpreting it as a mispronunciation, he takes it as a nickname. Another privilege he holds over Naoaki and possibly even your siblings.

He did it.

He won. He made you happy. And his older brother has no clue!

And he never would, because Naoaki… well, he was just in another entirely different realm when it comes to the antics of his youngest brother. 

Serves to show what the usual dynamic between the youngest and the eldest was like back in the estate—it’s no wonder the rest of the siblings had no issue sitting this one out once they heard Naoaki and Naoya would be attending, cloaking behind poor Naofumi as an excuse.

Nonetheless, Naoya would enjoy the victory his sacrifice brought him, a step closer to winning your heart. 

He knew that you’d enjoy this candy, and whenever you unwrapped one of them, you’d think of him! Now, isn’t that a bigger accomplishment than what Naoaki ever achieved in his life? (Outside of saving you, but that’s something that he’ll get to do another time)

Oh, how naive of him. If only I knew you were happy for some other reason....

It wouldn’t take long before your father arrived, and when he did, he jumped out of the car as soon as the engine shut down, not bothering to check if he’d closed the door appropriately or if he even parked correctly inside the delimited space. Traffic tickets had no weight in his mind, not when his sole focus was zeroing on his family and embracing his poor daughters followed by endlessly peppering their chubby faces with kisses as he frantically inquired.

“Are you ok Y/N?! Hinata?! Is either hurt?? Where are those damned—”

“They’re fine now, Eiichi” Minako reassures him “But that doesn’t mean you should be all over our babies”

“I’m not a baby” Hinata retorted.

“Minako! How could you say that?!” Eiichi gasps theatrically “Not after they got scared!—by the way, Hinata, you’re still my baby— I won’t stop till they get what they deserve!” 

Your mother can only shrug and sigh as a response. She knows there’s no way to talk sense into him when he’s like this, so instead, she decides to move and bid farewells to Tomoko and her family.

“And that’s our cue to leave” Minako regrets with a nervous smile.

“Outside of what happened, I had a good time” Tomoko smiles back, moving in to hug her best friend.

“Likewise. I’m glad you were able to come”

“I hope to see you at Junko’s baby shower? I’ll be sending the invitations soon!” Naoya’s eyes sparkle with anticipation at the prospect of seeing you again. This time, he’ll be equipped with all the knowledge he can get of pokemon after his father buys him all the games!

“I’ll be there” Your mother promises. She then waves goodbye to Tomoko’s kids, Naoaki being as gracious as ever by expressing how happy he was to see her again, and Naoya… well, as reserved as he always was, except for a curt nod and a wave, dignified for his only ally of the night.

The family of 5 eventually make their way back into the car, each kid waving the Zen’in’s one last time through the window as the engine started up once more, and then, disappeared, giving closure to the celebration.

Once the car was out of sight, Tomoko sighed, slumping her shoulders as she reflected back to her present children.

To say that she was glad that Naoya and Naoaki had remained somewhat… amicable throughout the whole night was an understatement. She was overjoyed as well as she was anxious.

They were known for being rowdy towards one another for the simplest of reasons, and although she guessed that could extend to the rest of her kids, these two had seemed to have a personal vendetta against each other.

Tomoko tried her best to control that aspect of their personality, but she eventually gave up after realizing that no matter what she did, no matter what incentives she gave to promote a healthy relationship, it was never enough.

So she just resigned with the assumption that they’d eventually grow out of this, mainly when Naoya is a bit older, for he was usually the prime instigator of their arguments.

Their good behavior had given her a dose of much needed tranquility, and after all that occurred, she assumes they’ll remain like that during their trip back to the estate, and for the rest of the night.

«A moment of peace and quiet» She says, giving them a small smile.

“I’m proud of how you two stepped up to help Y/N-chan and Hinata-chan. Thank you” She praised “I’ll prepare something for the two of you tomorrow, but for now, let’s just wait for the chauffeur”

Naoya smirks, feeling a shudder urge of righteousness sprouting from deep inside him as he recounts his honoring moment before you, while Naoaki mouths a simple thank you, his mind already set somewhere else. Anywhere else to kill time so he can go back home and retake his plans.

There was a horror movie that he wanted to see scheduled for broadcast at midnight, and he wasn’t about to miss it for anything in the world, mentally preparing a list of snacks he’d want to indulge whilst watching the movie, that is, until the absence of a certain… particularity catches his attention from the corner of his eye, interesting enough to prompt his inquiry.

“Naoya, where is your candy?” he asks, and as if he’d spoken the biggest offense in the world, his youngest brother retaliates.

“Wouldn’t you like to know!” Naoya snaps back, blowing a raspberry at him followed by a punch on his arm “Stupid Naoaki!”

Tomoko sighs.

«And that’s all it was, just a moment»

The first thing that Eiichi did as soon as his shift ended was head straight back home to his awaiting family, who had agreed to wait for him to compensate for their abrupt change of plans, as well as his absence.

The excitement of spending time with his children before the 31st ended, as well as the pictures his wife took for the family album, was enough to encourage him to power through the rest of his tasks, and in record time no less

Back at the L/N estate, Eiichi wasted no time to head over to the living room, where the servants had informed him his wife and children were to be.

The kids were out of their costumes and dressed up comfortably in their pajamas, surrounded by popcorn and candy baskets, as they sat before the T.V., a Halloween movie on the screen.

The first one to notice his presence was you, to which you reacted by jumping up from the pillow you were sitting on and rushing to him, hugging his leg.

“Welcome home!!”

“It’s good to be back, little one!” He says, lifting you up and kissing your right cheek “Did you miss me?”

“...A bit” you admit through giggling “we’re watching a movie!”

“I can see that” Eiichi looks at the screen, but he’s unable to identify which movie they’re watching by the frozen frame on screen—Ren would later inform him it was The nightmare before Christmas “Care to make space for me?”

“Actually, I think there’s something you’d rather do instead” Minako says with a proud grin , taking out the album covertly hidden behind her and offers it to her husband “All pictures from tonight, printed and organized by child”

Eiichi carefully places you back down to the ground and rushes his way towards his wife, adoration filling his eyes as he cheers “You’re the best!” it’s not her time to be covered with kisses “I can’t believe you already had them printed!”

“Well, we did buy the printer so we wouldn’t have to go out and wait for them to be revealed” Minako explains “It’s one of the many pros of having our own computer at—”

“Mom, can we watch the movie?” Hinata says. She’d been patient enough to let their parents talk and catch up once dad was back, but after hearing them gush about their shared interest in pictures, she grew restless. They didn’t need to be present to talk about that, right? Or pause the movie for that matter!

“Alright, alright” Minako chuckles, pulling herself up from the floor with the help of her husband and handing Ren the controller “We’ll be in the other room if you need anything, ok?”

The kids don’t respond, their attention already stuck on the glowing screen before them as soon as Ren hits the play button. 

With all the calm of the world, Eiichi can finally enjoy the recollections of his family's first trick-or-treating together through the glossy imprint of the stills before him.

He opens the album. The first section is dedicated to group photos in general, his family standing alongside Tomoko’s.

Eiichi remembers exactly what he told Minako before he left, but it didn’t mean he’d blow up if she did. After all, Tomoko is someone he considers a dear friend and was glad that his wife went ahead and took pictures for them to have as well, she always had a good eye for photography after all.

He just wouldn’t hang their pictures on the wall, though.

He’d eventually move onto the next parts, his favorite ones. The pictures exclusively  portray his family. The way their enjoyment appeared to be portrayed in each photo was enough to fill him with happiness—even considering making a postcard for his distant relatives. ..Should he do such a thing?

Nah, these are precious memories to be shared with others, he’d rather keep them for themselves. 

Now, the parts he was looking forward to the most. Starting with Ren's section.

He was rather quiet and collected, so it was natural that the camera would catch this as well. Most of his pictures portrayed him rather… serious, with the occasional smile or peace sign appearing every 3 or 4 pictures. «I guess he wanted to play into the obscure aura of the undead with his skeleton costume. Eitherway, they’re good pictures!» Eiichi would move on to the next part, Hinata’s.

The one that always followed her mother’s lead: if there was a pose that Minako wanted her to make, she’d strike immediately after and with such fluidity that had her parents thinking she’d be a good model if given the opportunity. A natural before the camera! And she really played the role of a police officer, going ahead to show off her badge and whatnot, which only made her photos even better.

And finally, you. He didn’t want to admit it out loud, for a parent isn’t supposed to show preference over any of their children, but he was secretly looking forward to your photos the most. And could anyone blame him? It was your first halloween going out trick-or-treating, it was only natural that his attention would gravitate more towards you! 

You were still shy, as expected of your age, but Minako managed to get some good pictures of you showing off your purple onesie of a character he still can’t put his finger on quite well. There were moments where you’d appeared introverted before the camera, hiding underneath the hood of your attire, and others where you seemed to dive into character, baring your teeth before the lens, intending to look intimidating.

Well, whatever the outcome, he was glad that you and your siblings had fun, and adoringly so!

Oh, he wishes he could’ve been there to see his family in person. But he could always look back to these pictures whenever he’s feeling particularly nostalgic.

Certainly, there’s nothing that could possibly ruin—

Wait.

Wait a minute.

There's …

What is that? A blemish?

Is… is he seeing things?

No. That can’t be, it’s right there before him. A detail that… Did Minako not see this?

Did she accidentally skip this picture, perhaps? 

A small detail that he doesn’t like… at all.

Whenever you appear, there's something, or more likely someone lingering close to you.  A black uniformed kid just… standing there, either a few feet away from you, if not beside you.

He analyzes the picture for a few moments before moving onto another one, and the other, and another. It's not long before he comes to the crashing realization that most of your pictures were alongside this boy!  Not even in Ren’s, or Hinata’s. Just yours.

Eiichi is at a blank state of mind when it comes to remembering who is the one behind the mask, that is, until he stumbles into a picture where the face of the uniformed kid is fully revealed. An answer that has him losing all of his breath as swirls his head over to his wife, who jolts as his sudden reaction.

"Why– why is— Is this Naoya?!" He says, taking out one of the many incriminating pictures from the album and handing them over to Minako, who could only frown in confusion.

“Yeah…? What about it?” She asks, still confused.

“What do you… Why is he next to our baby??”

“I didn't see anything wrong with it, it's a good picture, wouldn't you agree?” Minako persuades, and Eiichi groans.

"No! It has Naoya in it! I thought I told you I only wanted pictures of our kids!"

"I know, I know. But I wasn't about to ask Naoya-kun to step away from the picture! What would Tomoko-san think of that after all the ones I’ve taken of Y/N alone, hmm?"

"But is there really not a single picture without him there!

"Pfft, you’re exaggerating, dear! Minako says, glancing over his shoulder and onto the album "See? There's some of Y/N alone, I even asked her to pose so she could show off her costume"

"And I greatly appreciate you for it, but still… Why are there so many of her with him…? Not even Naoaki is here…" he murmurs, eyes glancing back down to the pictures. He scans through them quickly, counting just how many pictures Naoya photobombed.

Only to abruptly stop when a familiar sight catches his attention.

A basket. More precisely, a white colored basket.

Naoya's basket. 

The one in the picture…  there’s something intriguing about it, enough to make him stop passing through the pages. Almost as if he’d seen it before, and rather recently at that, but he doesn’t remember where…

Just where exactly did he see it? Not as his job, none of his employees brought any candy… maybe at the—

He freezes.

Oh.

Oh no.

He knows now, he saw it in his house.

In the living room

Just besides the couch.

A shiver travels through his spine as countless scenarios traverse his mind, all leaning into the worst possible outcomes.

He needs an answer, and he needs it now.

Eiichi wastes no second to barge through the door as he rushes through the living room, an alarmed Minako trailing behind him as she repeatedly asks him what’s wrong.

She eventually catches up to him to the even more confusing sight of her husband standing near you. Poor Minako has yet to understand the excruciating pain Eiichi is going through as he murmurs the following.

"Y/N… my pumpkin, my sugar cookie, my precious honey bear…” he asks, voice trembling as he leaned closer to you, his words although low, are loud enough for Hinata and Ren which reprimanded him with a sharp shh! But even then, that doesn’t stop him from moving forward. “Where did you get those candies…?" His fingers reflect the shivering state of his voice as he now points to the still full (although a bit less than when it was given to you, thanks to your efforts) incriminating bucket in front of you.

And just as if you'd remembered a misplaced secret, you mouthed a quiet "oh!" before jolting out from your cushioned seat and grabbing the container, a chocolatey grin on your lips as you proudly exclaimed.

"Noya-kun gave them to me!" You shove the basket towards him, finally revealing the reason why you were so happy to get them in the first place "They're for you, that way we won't share!"

"Oh… so that's where they came fr–" Minako murmurs from the door frame, but the rest of her words don't go past her lips thanks to the interrupting shrill of an overprotective father who just realized that his worst fear had become a reality.

"NOYA?!" he cries, flickering back to Minako, as if asking if she was aware of this "HE ALREADY HAS A NICKNAME?!!"

"Dear, quiet down, some are already asleep" Minako, now by his side, cautions him as she places her hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down before any of the sleeping staff or family members come check if everything is alright… or complain. 

“Dad! Shut up!!” Hinata groans. Having lived and grown with their father, they're no longer moved by his melodramatic antics, nurturing some kind of resistance that limits them to give him a scowl as well as a warning glance whenever he goes off on his delusions, such as the one Ren is giving him right now.

You, having yet to reach their level of expertise, all you can do is give him a confused pout in return, which still works very well with what’s happening around you.

"But–but she–" Eiichi says as he's pushed out of the room by his irked wife, who wasn’t willing to discuss in front of the children who just wanted to make the best of the only night they could stay up without worrying about school the next day "I won't allow it! It'll be the last time they're ever invited to trick or treat with us!" 

"Huh?!" She exclaimed "Tomoko-san won't like that, you know!"

"I can't allow that boy to be near our precious daughter! She's too good for him! Or anyone for that matter!!"

"You couldn't possibly be serious, Eiichi" Minako rolls her eyes. "Besides, they're just kids! Y/N doesn't really care for anything else other than her cartoons and Naoya just gave her the candy because she was sad. And apparently Naoaki did the same too."

"HE WHAT?!"

"Dear, you need to calm down" Minako suggests "Hear yourself. They were concerned because she was sad, that’s all. Also, you can't be over protective about her for all her life"

"But she… she won't stay small for too long, and before we know it, she'll get married!! Look at Ren, he's already 10!" Eiichi shrieks “And from there, a teenager, he’s going to college, he’s moving out, and then—”

"Worry about that when it happens" She comforts "You’re worrying too much about the future, that you’re missing the present! Our kids couldn’t really care less about those things. Ren just wants to listen to music all day, Hinata wants to be with the horses, and Y/N wants to play videogames. Do you really think they have time to think about girlfriends and boyfriends?”

“... I mean, if you put it that way…”

“It’s the only way, Eiichi”

"... I guess" he sighs, looking away, feeling embarrassed for his over the top reaction. "...I just got worried, I guess."

"There's nothing to fear, just… be there. To love them, to cherish them, to protect them. Y/N is too young to notice it, but if you keep on like this then she won’t trust you to tell you things. Besides, I think the real issue here is Naoya not having candy for Halloween, we can't let Y/N think that's right… I can’t believe I didn’t notice, and she didn’t tell me either!"

"I know… I know…" Eiichi grabs her hand and kisses her knuckles as an apology "I’m sorry. Thank you, Minako. You’ve always been the better half of this marriage”

“Oh, stop it Eiichi” She laughs “We compliment each other, I’ve always believed that”

“I guess I really do have to take it one day at a time. I just can't believe she's already 6"

“She is growing pretty fast…” she giggles, kissing his hand in return "How about you continue looking  through the album and select the better pictures? Or better yet, change into your pajamas and join us to see a movie. Who knows? Maybe Y/N will let you have some of her own candy instead—just promise me you’ll keep quiet, I can already see Hinata losing more and more of her patience by the second"

"Oh, I better behave then" he laughs back "Y/N can be very protective of her sweets and I wouldn’t risk angering Hinata… or Ren, did you see his face? If looks could kill!"

Minako laughs.

Thus, your mother goes back to the living room while Eiichi heads to their bedroom to change into something more comfortable and join his family.

Your mother would like to say that this conversation wasn't really brought up ever again, or that it didn't take much of space in her mind, that would be a lie however, for the mention of Naoya liking you was one that she never considered in the past, more so when Hinata and Ren already avoided him like the plague.

But now that she thinks about it… it all became obvious to her.

Naoya sure seemed comfortable whenever around you, as well as his lingering gazes he placed on you whenever she was lucky enough to catch them at the moment, or how he’d respond attentively to you whenever you referred to him, when he kept his interactions limited with your siblings or even Naoaki…

She thought of it as just socializing, getting to know each other with the hopes of becoming friends, but now that Eiichi pointed it out… she can’t wonder, had Tomoko noticed this as well?

Nonetheless, that’s something she’d keep locked behind her lips, buried deep inside her mind. 

Maybe she’ll bring it up next time she sees Tomoko, probably at Junko’s baby shower…

But if she had to give her opinion about this whole ordeal, a label for a lack of better words, then she has to admit that…

"Y/N and Naoya look cute together" 

[gettothestabbing]

Dating and Religion

Whenever I get to know someone new via a dating site, we eventually start talking about religion. That's pretty essential to get right, and it usually comes up organically since I work in a religious field that is both obscure and misunderstood. (I've tried to find a guy within my church. I'd still like to! But with a church that is both small and aging rapidly, I've had little luck there. Hence dating sites.) Invariably, the guy and I don't agree on something. Our vocabulary is often vastly different when discussing theological concepts. So even if we do agree, we might not realize it immediately. But the conversations are always interesting and a necessary part of my dating process.

I told my sister about a misunderstanding/disagreement in the current conversation, and she asked why I'm 'wasting my time with 'spiritual midgets.' The question is blatantly unfair. How can I know a man's spiritual ideas from his profile? Most men don't put anything but the most shallow or simple spiritual indicators on their profiles. I've talked to men in the same denomination who held vastly different views time and time again. I have learned not to assume from a quick label what someone thinks about religion and God. Since, as mentioned, I cannot simply find someone in my own denomination, I have to go through this process to find anyone with similar values outside of it. (She married an agnostic who shares her values and is a good guy. But when I talk to agnostics and don't immediately find someone similar, I'm wasting my time?)

It's also so annoying to be asked why I 'waste' my time getting to know the men I'm interested in dating. That's literally the point of dating. The whole point.

My sister had ONE boyfriend, the man who is now her husband. She never had a blind date, never was stood up, and never had to do any dating apps or sites to find someone. He pursued her and she acquiesced after getting to know him as a friend.

Although I continue to work on myself (becoming more fit, organized, put-together), I have no guarantees of being pursued in a similar fashion. I don't even hope for it anymore. I just haven't figured out how to meet men in any organic way. I'm not a hermit, but no one approaches people in public anymore, and since I can't drink I don't go to bars or nightclubs. (Plus I work evenings so doing so doesn't fit my schedule anyway.) Or maybe men do still ask women out in public places and I'm just too ugly for anyone to ask me. Who knows? The only way to meet men for me seems to be dating sites. So there's always a talking phase. It feels really unfair for someone so lucky as my sister to denigrate my attempts to connect with a man who might share my values as a waste of time.

I keep hoping that if I can be fit and pretty enough, I will meet someone a normal way and not feel like I have to be on a dating site to talk to anyone who isn't my family or a coworker. People mock the shit out of dating sites on here, so I don't talk about my experiences often. The last time I expressed frustration about them, someone I didn't even know had the gall to tell me I was dumb for being on a site at all, as if a dating site has never helped anyone and shouldn't even be an option. I would rather not be on these sites. I frequently take breaks from them or try new ones. But when you have no other way to try and find a partner, they aren't an option I can just discard. You shouldn't mock someone for trying what they feel is their only option.

As for the actual conversation, I said something, and the guy said, "Oh I agree," followed by several examples of the exact opposite of what I had said. And when I tried to explain again, assuming he had misread, he again claimed to agree with me and then demonstrated that he didn't understand what he was agreeing with. So that's frustrating.

[josephqunnies]

I'm writing this in genuine good faith, so I hope you're able to respond similarly. I've tried not to inadvertently hurt you in any way with this ask, and I'm sorry if I do despite those efforts. I often see people send you asks wondering why folks like me keep returning to your blog if we disagree with your opinions. That's a valid question. I've thought about it a lot this past year and just wanted to share my perspective. I hope that's okay.

As a bisexual person in a long-term relationship with someone of the opposite gender, what I've realised is that to me, your insistence on finding fault with most aspects of Ronen's relationship with Jessica feels like his bisexuality (and therefore my own) is more valid if he (or I) are in a same-sex relationship. I know you've probably never said those exact words, but that's how your criticism of Jessica comes across to me. I follow so many gay/lesbian celebs and I've never seen their partners (who're also celebs) be criticised in the same way. Those famous partners aren't always expected to be picture-perfect media-friendly extroverts, or to be outspoken about their support for other queer groups just because of their partner's or their own sexuality. I know you probably compare Jessica and Rafael because Ronen & Rafa are such a cute couple onscreen, so it's nice to sometimes wonder "what if they were together for real?". I wondered and hoped for that all the time too before I found out he was with Jessica. When he came out, it felt so encouraging and empowering to me personally, so now to see his relationship be criticised hurts too. It reminds me of how my partner can't seem to do anything right according to others. Both straight 'allies' and queer 'friends' are always finding fault with them, and it hurts me to see them be hurt like that.

Most days I know that validating my identity and feelings is my own responsibility, not yours. Most days I know that revisiting your blog is an exercise in self-sabotage. Most days I'm very good about staying away. But sometimes, I slip up. I used to follow you pretty religiously, here and on Twitter, before your words hurt me (in an indirect, probably unintentional way). I can't seem to fully give up the hope that you might reconsider your stance, that you might care more about the implications of your words rather than the idea of losing out on gossipy fun. I can't EXPECT you to, and I don't, not really. But a part of me can't seem to stop hoping. In a way, it hurts less to hope and be disappointed by you, a stranger on the internet, than to experience it from my own friends and family.

Okay so here's the thing, as a bi woman myself, I don't think I should be responsible to validate your feelings.

I am not expecting straight alliship from everyone I meet.

However someone with an LGBTQ+ partner should have some responsibility in uplifting our community and spreading awareness, especially someone who is an activist and has the platform to do so.

Her silence in regards to her husband's sexuality is not the concern really, it's the fact that she often celebrates his victories in the public eye but never shares any support to a community that he's proud to belong in. So thus making me, personally and others feel like, she isn't as supportive of him being his true self nor is supportive of his community. We often feel this way because we love Ronen and his coming out have alot of us, myself included, the courage and faith we didn't find for ourselves.

I'm not going to apologize for the things I feel. And I'm mot going to apologize or take responsibility for your feelings, I do not know you and you do not know me. At the end of the day, to bring yourself the peace you need, block me.

[ameliasbitvh]

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞; 𝐝.𝐦.

a/n: i think this is the last part of this series??? sike. i said the first part before i started writing and girl u are so wrong, this series isn’t done yet ppl. also if this chapter feels rushed, that’s bc it is–

library account: @ameliasbitvhlibrary !!

summary: so it starts off on how the 2nd pt. ended, because i couldn’t leave you guys hanging could i? adrian finds out about the affair, he and draco fight. draco and y/n get into an argument and break things off. (it’s better than how i’m summarizing it lmao)

wc: 2.7k (2773)

warning(s): slight smut, arguments, physical (draco & adrian) and verbal fighting, gaslighting, y/n being a bitch and draco being a bitch back, y/n having too much pride to keep draco, draco doubting y/n’s love for him, affair, cheating, break up, the use of a lot of filthy words (they need to wash their mouths out with soap smh!), miscarraige, really bad foreshadowing, not proofread and mediocre rushed writing !!

REBLOGS ARE APPRECIATED !!

MASTERLIST | | NAVIGATION | | PT.1 | | PT.2

–

Find myself at your door, just like all those times before

I’m not sure how I got there

All roads they lead me here

I imagine you are home

In your room, all alone

And you open your eyes into mine

And everything feels better

Adrian pounded on the door, his fists turning red. Draco growled at you, sneering. “What the fuck did you just call me?”

“Draco, he’s knocking on the door!” you cried. “So?” he questioned, not so sure on what you’re trying to imply.

“So? Pull out of me and put your clothes on, Idiot!” you scolded him for not understanding you the first time when you were sure you made it so clear. “Let him fucking watch.” he said sternly, his grip on your waist becoming fierce and he slammed himself back into you.

Your mouth opened in an “O” shape as a ripple of pleasure racked through your body. “You think you can tell me what to fucking do?” he barked in your ear. “N-no, but–”

“But what, Bitch? I know what you want.”

“Draco, please.” that’s when he saw the fear in your eyes, you were scared of getting caught with him. His eyes darkened, a scowl replacing the smirk of desire he once had.

Hastily, he put his clothes back on as you stood up grabbing yours, legs wobbling like jelly and a small smirk pulled on his lips at that. As quick as you could you put your clothes back on, but it was hard when you just got the fuck of your life, (that you would like to finish.) you jumped up after slipping into your skirt and opened the door to be met with a red and fuming Adrian.

“What the fuck? I knocked at least 50 times and now you decide to open the door?”

He took a look at you both, swollen lips, flushed cheeks, disheveled hair and clothes. His face contorted with confusion that turned into rage as he took you both in. His knuckles tightened and his teeth gritted, his eyes met the blonde’s careless ones. The blonde man played a jackass smirk on his lips but his eyes held no emotion, you had no clue what was running through his mind in that moment. That scared you.

Adrian stalked up to Draco, his hands immediately pushing him into the wall. “You fucking my wife?!”

“Adrian, stop – leave him alone!” But your husband didn’t listen. If anything he did the exact opposite, and pushed your secret lover again.

And right before you open your eyes, I’m breaking

No past, no reasons why

Just you and me

Draco’s eyes flickered to you in a moment, as if it were a silent way of saying ‘I'm sorry for this’. The blonde’s fist delivered a blow to Adrian and the brunette's face twisted in pain as blood leaked from his nose. He took a step back, holding his nose to suppress the pain and blood.

Draco didn’t stop, he gave him another taste of poison. Adrian stumbled onto the ground. “What if I was? Huh? What are you going to do about it? Cry to your mommy? It’s not like you fucking love, her the way I do!”

He got on top of the bruised and damaged man, and straddled him. Adrian writhed beneath him and tried to defend himself. Your eyes pooled, overflowing, hot tears burned down your face, traveling to your chin. “Please, Draco! Let him go!”

Malfoy's hand gripped the other man's collar and yet again struck him, ignoring you. “That’s for fucking her,” punch. “That’s for marrying her,” punch. “That’s for showing her off as if she were a trophy” punch. “That’s for taking what’s fucking mine.”

This is the last time I’m asking you this

Put my name at the top of your list

This is the last time I’m asking you why

You break my heart in a blink of an eye, eye, eye

“Draco stop!” you cried from the sidelines, it was like you’d become invisible to them in the moment. Your screams, shouts and cries were silenced by the anger ringing in his ears.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish, Pucey.” when he forced his bruised fist against Adrian’s face one more time, someone pulled him back, you pulled him back.

That’s when he saw your tear stricken face looking at him. Your sweet, sweet eyes. Red, puffy and full of hatred. What he saw was something different from when you weeped. This. This was resentment, hatred, guilt, anger, and fear, you were mortified of him.

Slowly, he let go of Adrian. He opened his arms out to you, until he saw how you reacted. You flinched, eyes filled with tears again. You took a step back from him, scared he might do what he just did to your husband to you too. You saw how he was saddened by this action, “Sweetheart, come here…”

You shook your head ‘no’. “I–I can’t. Draco you just–”

“What about it?” his guard was up. The one thing that he never had around you was now present, his guard. A fucking wall that blocked you from his interior, something so sweet. But things we get easily never end well do they? They say all's well ends well but you feel like you're in a new hell.

“What about it?” you repeated, manically ‘laughing’. “You just beat my husband up!” he rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth at your statement. It seemed you both just ignored the weak man laying on the floor?

“Don’t act like he doesn’t cheat on you! He doesn’t even love you!” Draco barked out roughly, on the edge.

“It doesn’t matter! He doesn’t deserve this – it’s not like his mistress beats me up for fun!”

“It wasn’t for fun, Merlin you’re stupid.”

“I’m the stupid one? You just revealed that we’ve been seeing each other! Do you know what will happen if my parents find out!? If the press finds out!?”

“Why do you care so much about what they think? I thought you wanted us to be together?!” his voice was ragged, tired, sore, angry…hurt.

“Be–Because, I just do! I love you, but I have an–” he finished for you.

“Image? Yeah me too.” he laughed bitterly.

You find yourself at my door, just like all those times before

You wear your best apologies

But i was there to watch you leave

And all the times I let you in

Just for you to go again

Disappear when you come back

Everything feels better

“Draco, don’t do this to me.” you pleaded.

“Do what?” God, he has to be playing stupid right now.

“Don’t act like you don’t know what you're doing!”

His eyes hardened at your accusation.

“Inform me, the oh, so fucking great, Y/n.”

You felt like shooting daggers into him. But unknowingly you already were, they caved into his flesh so deep he was bleeding his love out for you. He’d bleed himself dry for you. Those daggers, so sharp, piercing through him as his body forces him onto his knees for you. He would always bow down to you, praise you, look for you, believe in you, have hope in you, because you were a goddess in his eyes.

You could stab him in the back, yet you’d be the only one able to stop the pain. Your sweet tears falling onto his skin, healing him. Your delicious lips enveloping his, always so intoxicating. Your bright eyes lighting up anyroom you're in. You were you, his own personal drug.

“This! You always act like you don’t know! You always find a way to break my heart in a blink of an eye, then you come back crawling to me, saying you're sorry, expecting me to take you back? And if I don't, you turn things around and act like it’s my fault! This isn’t love–”

“Say that one more fucking time and we’re done.”

And right before your eyes I’m aching

Run fast, nowhere to hide

Just you and me

“This is the last time I’m asking you this, why do you break my heart in a blink of an eye? Because if this is love…”

“You act like you’re so fucking innocent, Y/n. As if you don’t break my heart every-fucking day you’re with him. Do you know what I think about all the time? How when I leave, he’s always going to take my spot, right next to you. He’ll always be above me, wont he? You’ll always put him above me? He’s on this fucking pedal stool that you put him on and you’ll never raise me up there. I’ll never be good enough for you? I’ll never be good enough for your parents, the press, Hell I’m not even good enough for my family! All I am is a fucking death eater to you all. Right? That’s why you don’t want to be seen with me, you don’t want to be with me? Because all they are going to see is the sweet little princess and the big bad wolf? You’re fucking pathetic, Y/n. And this whole ‘love’ thing? It’s love to me, I fucking love you! It’s been you all along! But you don’t feel the same way, do you? All you see me as is something you can’t get, a fucking chase. Once you're bored you’ll want to stop seeing me. So why don’t we just save ourselves some time and end it already.”

This is the last time i'm asking you this

Put my name at the top of your list

This is the last time i'm asking you why

You break my heart in a blink of an eye, eye, eye

Taking in a deep breath, you let your tears roll down your cheeks. You were baffled, you had nothing to say. Except for this, because he was so right: why don’t we save ourselves some time? “Fine.”

“Fine?” he questioned, not expecting you to reply like that. He expected an outburst, you screaming back at him, but all he got was one word: fine.

“Yeah, if you want to end what we have so fucking badly do it. Do it right now, look me in the eyes and tell me we’re over.”

“You’ve got it wrong.” he panicked.

“What the fuck do you mean ‘you’ve got it wrong’? Isn’t this what you want? To stop wasting time with me? Go find your soulmate, because it isn't me.”

“You really mean it? Because if I end things–”

“Just fucking do it!”

This is the last time you tell me I’ve got it wrong

This is the last time I say it’s been you all along

This is the last time I let you in my door

This is the last time, I won’t hurt you anymore

“Fine, you want us to be over? This is the last time I’m ever going to make you cry, the last time I’ll ever see you, talk to you, love you, touch you, hurt you! This is the last time I’ll say ‘you’ve got it wrong’, this is the last fucking time I’ll say ‘it’s been you all along’. Because all you’ve done is waste my fucking time. I’m done with you, Pucey.” he spat out these words like venom spewing at you. You burned from the acid as it sank into your body and you slowly digested it and in a blink of an eye you watched him leave. He took one last look at you.

you were left in the room with only one man laying. No one was standing. Your body racked with tears and you crashed onto your knees. You shivered from the cold and it wasn’t just because of the December breeze.

It was the pain in your heart, abundant. You had never felt this much before. It was like someone had driven a knife into your heart, you trembled, blood escaping you quickly and before you even got to say anything you rolled your eyes up to meet icy ones. Betrayal.The same pair of eyes that you had learned to love and his lips were so close to your ears, they ghosted over them. He whispered carelessly, knowing your knees grow weak for his husk tone. “This is the last time I’ll hurt you, Sweetheart.” with that he pulled the knife out, leaving you there to bleed dry for him. Watching him, you took your last breath, “The last time.”

You were being selfish and you knew it. You needed him to end things so that you could make sure that you’d never see each other again. You wouldn't be able to bear his presence–you heard someone cough. You quickly scrambled to your husband and muttered a few healing spells you had learned from your time at school. “I’m so sorry, please forgive me, Adrian.”

At this point you had no time to consume all that happened in the past two hours. Your mind was a battlefield, you against yourself. You against the deepest parts of yourself that your pride had blocked all roads to. You had no control over yourself.

But that’s what got you into this mess in the first place. You were gullible, weak, vulnerable, unloved and had no control over yourself. And that’s when Draco came in, swooping from the Heavens above to only show you what Hell looks like.

This. This was your own personal hell.

This is the last time i'm asking you this

Put my name at the top of your list

This is the last time i'm asking you why

You break my heart in a blink of an eye, eye, eye

You knew he was trouble the moment he walked in, yet still pursued him. All the jokes were on you now, this was your own fault. You had a chance to leave in the beginning–you had a chance to not even let this affair happen.

But things happen for a reason don’t they? Everything has a purpose and this relationship must’ve had one too. Yet, you did everything to not remember it. And you needed someone else not to remember it, but you would never obliviate him. So you talked it out with him. Of course he wasn’t okay with it because typically in a pureblood marriage, it was only acceptable when the husband had mistresses.

But he promised not to say anything about it, especially to your parents and his parents because word would spread quickly and you both didn’t need that. Especially with the baby on the way.

Draco replayed that night everyday, the way you trembled and flinched at the wretched words that flew out of his mouth. The only thing that kept him up at night was you: your skin, your smell, your smile, your voice. Merlin, everything about you was perfect.

But one thing that really kept him up at night was that you were pregnant and it was still a very hard pill to swallow. Because some part of him wanted to believe that it was his child and not Adrian’s. Merlin the kid would be ugly if the brunette was the father. Draco chortled at that.

The blonde had decided to keep his distance from you, respecting your wishes. You wanted him to end things and he did exactly what you requested, even if it was the most gut wrenching thing he ever had to do.

Speaking of gut wrenching, you awoke in the middle of the night, cramps pounding in your stomach. Your eyes immediately opened and you rushed to the bathroom. You were only 2 months pregnant. Two fucking months and you didn’t stand a chance. Tears formed in your eyes as you silently cried, sniffling you felt a hand on your shoulder. Adrian. “I–”

“Can you hold me?” he complied, his arms wrapping around your trembling frame and he caressed your hair, but you wished someone else was.

Draco found out about your miscarrige and if I’m being honest, everyone did. He wanted to do nothing more but to hold you in his arms. But he knew that wasn’t an option and he had to respect your decision of wanting him to end the affair. But in reality you wanted nothing more but for him to show up at your door with a single rose, like always.

After that night, the red flowers soon started to die, yet stood so tall not willing to decompose, you were trying to revive them. You found they resembled your so-called dead but unconditional love for him.

You just wished you could go back to December, turn around and change your own mind.

—

a/n: this chapter was very harsh–like…toxic arguments and then a miscarriage, love that 😍

OMG BYE WHEN U AND DRACO ARE ARGUING AND ADRIAN DEADASS IS ALMOST DEAD AND YOU BOTH IGNORE HIM UNTIL HE COUGHS–LMAO

also i just realized that it sounds like u obliviated yourself, u didnt. i just needed a build up to the convo with adrian lol.

—

🏷: @elysian-bxg @o-rion-sta-r @orphixc @dracoscum @marrymetheonott @l0vely-lupin @kpostedsum @malfoysmainb @drac0spersonalslut @youreso-golden @yiamalfoy @just-a-smol-spoon @dr4cking @dlmmdl @hotgirlwhoreadsff @littlemissnoname13 @f4iryluvy @itsmentalillness @pansyspet @thatsluttybitch-blog @teenwolfbitches28 @mvdbldd @squishytomatoes (hmu to be added !!)

[hearth-and-veil]

I got a DM asking my views on "intention is everything" and they said it was cool to share my answer here as well.

I fall in the middle. No, intentions aren't everything. If that were all witchcraft took, wouldn't everyone live their ideal life?

But the opposite of that, to many people, is a ton of tools and shit that I find frankly unnecessary. I hope I can adequately explain why that isn't the opposite of "intention is everything."

If you perform a sweetening spell while your intention is poison, what's going to happen? The same thing that will happen if you bake a cake while wanting to make pie. You're going to get a cake that isn't quite right, but you don't know why. It's still a cake but it isn't as good as it would have been if your heart was in it.

Similarly, if your whole heart, if your full intention, is making a delicious cake, but you use salt instead of sugar, you're going to get a cake, yes. But not a good one.

Many more 'traditional' witches -green, kitchen, hearth, etc.- do magic all the time without necessarily an intent behind it. I'm sure other witches do too, but I know what my wheelhouse is lol. I can let my mind go completely blank while cooking and end up with the greatest meal I've ever made, and it ends up having the properties I need. (Unfortunately then I can't replicate it.)

I don't have to have specific intentions while making my bed in order to get exactly the magical effect I need. On the other hand, if I'm in a foul mood, even if I do the exact same thing, well let's just say there won't be and snuggles that night. I'll have to rip everything off and do it again unless I want us to have bad, restless sleep. This time, I will have to do it with specific intent, to counter what I did carelessly.

Especially in the kitchen, I believe many things have their own intentions. Most people call those associations. For example, basil is protective and abundant. If I use basil in my cooking, I use its protective and abundant intentions regardless of my own intentions. Who wins? Who knows!

Things can also carry other people's intentions. When my husband's grandmother passed, I inherited her dutch oven. I had never used one before, but the first time I pulled it out, I just let her guide me and I created a meal that my husband now asks for several times a month. I think the ingredients I chose were guided by what she wants for us. But no matter the intention, if I had used completely different ingredients, it would've been nasty. And even though I've made a similar dish before, just tossed together, that was nothing either of us cared to repeat.

So all of this rambling to say: intention alone isn't enough, but it is often necessary. But just because you need more than intention doesn't mean you need 9000 "witchy" things and an hour long ritual for every spell.

The newer you are to witchcraft, the more you need specific intentions and specific implements. They're meant to train you. It's like when you first start using a new computer program and you go through the tutorial, and build up your skills with practice. As you become more advanced, you're still doing the things you did as a novice, but you don't even necessarily notice them anymore because it's just part of the more advanced work you do.

[khaleesiofalicante]

My mother's footsteps were so quiet I barely heard her leave. -Jonh Green, Turtles all the way down (this gave me so many Magnus' vibes)

I will divide this chapter in two because HOLY SHIT THAT LAST PART WAS SOMETHING ELSE DANI!!!

But they can find a place together. A small apartment. Alec can afford it. He is so cute and so in love🥺🥺🥺

I mean it makes sense that Magnus and Shinyun's relationship is kinda protective and intense bc they only had each other for so long!!

We cant deny Alec is a dramatic little shit

Yes to Maryse getting a divorce attorney!!! 😎

MAGNUS READING THE WHOLE FUCKING BOOK AND HIS WHOLE FUCKING THESIS!! THAT IS LOVE RIGHT THERE!! THAT WAS SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL!!

Dear Alexander,

One day, things will be easier.

Until then, I got you.

Love, Magnus.

THIS>>>

Ahhh Alec taking care of Magnus is something that can be so personal!!😭 Also I agree that Magnus crying is probably the worst sound ever!!

You cry quietly so you almost fool yourself that you are not actually crying. MOOD AF

THIS IS WHY HE DOESN’T PAINT HIS NAILS YELLOW AND NOW I'M CRYING😭

Holy shit that was a lot... and Magnus was just a child. The pain he must have felt for soo long... He deserves to be protected at all costs!!

“You are not hard to love,” Alec tells him. “Loving you is the easiest goddamn fucking thing in the world.”

"There is nothing you could ever tell me that will make me love you any less than I do right now.”

YES TO ALEC TELLING HIM HOW BEAUTIFUL AND LOVABLE HE IS!!! 💙💙

They are both dramatic idiots😂

“One day, Magnus, things will be easier,” he whispers. “Until then, I got you.” FUCK THIS WAS SO WHOLESOME💜💜

Thomas is so fucking great and he deserves all the love and appreciation and he is so amazing helping Alec through all this shit💚

Sometimes I forget how rich they both are...

He is a fucking weirdo. Alec loves him so much. Idk why this was so funny but mood😂

“Who doesn’t have a secret apartment you can run away to when you are mad at your husband, right?” Thomas looks extremely uncomfortable. “Um. Right.” OMG JDHDKDJLD

Thomas simping over Alastair>>

He climbs too fast, Alec thinks. But's fine. He'll be there to catch Rafe if he falls. THEIR LOVE AND DYNAMIC IS EVERYTHING❤️

I didn't understand anything about that conversation but good for you both I think!

“I think we just put a shirtless pic of you on Twitter and say single and ready to mingle,” She has no chill istg😂😂

What the fuck is this shit? Wish I knew...

He can be petty when isn’t getting any. I woke up my sister bc I laughed way too hard😂😂

I know the chapter where the kids find out about the divorce is going to hurt to the core but omg I cant wait!!!

Maybe he should be a fucking actor. Or a criminal – since he is already on the path to that one. Not a bad idea actually...

When it finally sinks in Max that they aren't getting back together... Just fucking hurts😭 he still is a dramatic shit tho...

He can’t see him cry again. He has seen it one too many times. Ouch💔💔

“It won’t come true just because you keep saying it,” THIS. IDK WHY THIS IS EXACTLY IT!!

"Tell me how you can just wake up one day and be like I’m done loving this person.” Holy fuck this just keeps hurting worse but also you can see all his fears so well and I want to give him a hug💔

"The math doesn’t exist.” I love that this is a parallel but of the exact opposite and I'm not fucking crying ok?!? 😭

Part three deserves an ask in its own because HOLY FUCKING SHIT I WAS SCREAMING THE WHOLE TIME!! MAVID! THE FUCK? MAVID! AHHH! MAX! DAVID! AHHH

Anyway, song rec: Memories by Conan Gray (it just got out and I loved it!) (Also I had snothe rone but I forgot jdjsisj)

Mavid gets it's own ask if gay rights.

Also I listened to this and i love love love the TLND vibes of it.

Love yoooooooou.

This is Zara and Max 😂