#she’ll literally refer to me as ‘girl’ instead of my fucking name

[remma-demma]

Going to thanksgiving at my grandparents this week, let’s see how many times my grandma needlessly misgenders me even though I have facial hair now.

[blackwolfstabs]

EVERYTHING HAS YOUR MEMORY

"Sunday rain, Texas plates, silver cross on a chain, cloud of dust leaving me - everything has your memory." inspired by: Everything Has Your Memory | Wade Bowen

fandom: Abigail (2024) characters: Ana Lucia Cruz (Joey), Caleb Cruz, Kristof Lazar, & Abigail Lazar dedicated to my abigail: @evildarliing

Every day.

Every damn day.

It was relentless. She was relentless. Just like that night.

That night... 

The night Joey left her in the shadow, the clutches, the reign of Kristof Lazar—covered in blood with eyes so blue they overpowered such a majestic vibrancy that complimented vampires so well. But not her. 

Not Abigail.

That she-devil who was as quick as a pistol, as smart as a whip, and was perhaps the cruelest, most vile little girl that had ever lived. But every devil was once an angel, weren’t they?

This was a question Joey had been contemplating for weeks. Ever since she left the mansion, ever since she walked away, ever since she traded one name for the other, anyone would think her reset—her second chance—would’ve been the only road to go down. She’d gotten Caleb back, she’d stayed clean, and she’d started a new life. Everything was different. Or at least… it was supposed to be. There was one thing she couldn’t let go of.

Abigail.

Abigail was literally haunting her. She was everywhere and in everything. Even with Caleb back in her life, blue eyes and soft caramel hair always managed to get between her and him. This wasn’t to mistake that she couldn’t love him like she wanted, because she did. But there was an empty space that she was struggling to fill. An vacant void that left her feeling cold and guilty, like she’d felt after shooting up morphine in the field. It kept her up at night and disrupted her in her sleep. It woke her up in the morning and left her always looking over her shoulder during the day. And every time she’d look, her heart stopped.

Abigail was in every crowd, slipping in and out of view among walking people. She was perched on every balcony, surveying the freedom she’ll never have. She was by Caleb’s side every morning when his mother would send him off to school and every night when she’d kiss him goodnight. She was in every mirror and in every window reflection, just staring at her with that same small smile that she’d given when she’d said,

“See you around, Joey.”

That same sad smile that Joey wasn’t able to shake. Fuck, she wasn’t even able to shake her code name. Joey had grown on her, and had definitely given her some definition between the life she’d had before meeting Abigail and the life she’d made after. If anything, she’d choose to refer to herself as Joey rather than Ana Lucia Cruz. But above everything, that was because all she could hear when she thought of her name or when someone said it was Abigail’s voice and the way her name came off her venomous tongue—how it had destroyed her.

How she had destroyed her…

And to this day, it was so painful. Not the embarrassing or guilty kind, it was the regretful kind—the inability to console the side of her that knew something was missing.

Caleb would wave to her. “See you later, Mom!”

Abigail would echo in her ear. “See you around, Joey.”

Caleb would hug her. “I love you, Mama.”

Abigail would remind her. “You promised, Joey.”

She’d relive Frank dropping her from 3 stories high in dreams only to shoot up in the dark solitude of her room, never reaching the ground, but instead, missing being caught by Abigail. 

That nightmare haunted her like the mansion Abigail stalked. Her panting reminded her of the adrenaline that fueled her for hours during the race. Her loneliness reminded her of her inexhaustible will to survive out of the 6 criminals they started out as. And her inability to fall asleep cursed her with the memory of that bloodied pinky that was held out to her in the desperate hold of a promise that was slipping through a lattice of selfishness.

But promises weren’t intended to come and go within a time-frame—they weren’t intended to be made one night and then gone the next. They weren’t supposed to be something you willed to keep temporary peace or a fake truth in the belly of the beast.

A promise was a promise. It was meant to be set on forever—a symbol of trust and bond. And as a mother, Joey knew better than to mistake the meaning of one for something else. Because paying the price for doing so was Hell.

Everywhere she went, she saw Abigail’s face. Even if there was nowhere to make out a face, she was in Joey’s head. It wouldn’t leave her alone. She wouldn’t leave her alone.

And the worst part was that she was only a drive away.

It was around 11:00 at night when Joey locked up the front door and hit a dirt road in an old Chevrolet. She’d promised Caleb she’d be home before dawn. She trusted him enough to leave him alone overnight, and he trusted her enough to be okay with it. It wasn’t the first time he’d been left alone after all, and while that made her feel even more guilty, she knew for a fact she’d be back. 

She just needed to see her. That was the only solution that seemed to haunt her more than Abigail’s memory.

The same forest. The same night sky. The same anticipation. The same racing mind.

It was Deja Vu. And that was what kept her from turning back.

In front of the mansion she once walked out of with no intentions of ever returning, she forced the gear stick in park. Her heart hadn’t stopped pounding since she left her house, and now, it seemed to double. But on the outside, she remained composed. She got out, slammed the door, and locked it behind her as she stalked towards the door, where everything began…

Where Abigail began…

Joey didn’t even bother to knock, testing the locks first and foremost, which was wise in not wanting to be caught by the wrong vampire. Kristof Lazar wouldn’t dare leave a front door locked to keep out any lost toy that might wander into the wrong shelter. She held her breath in the shadows, seeming to relive that night alongside the rest of the former Rat Pack’s presence. Maybe they were still here, haunting an already-haunted mansion. 

Nothing had changed since she’d been there, with the exception of all the bloodshed that had been cleaned up. Possibly licked up… 

She shuddered at that thought and continued into the library. Abigail had recalled quote-unquote painful memories having taken place there. One of the most painful was probably when her own father turned her into a bloodlusting killer. Joey could now say the same about that room carrying a lot of pain, trauma, and hate.

“I never thought you’d dare return here… Ana Lucia Cruz…”

The cold, heartless voice of Kristof Lazar sounded behind her, sending her fight-or-flight into motion. She forced it down. She wasn’t going to run, no matter how bad she wanted to. She couldn’t explain it, but he put the fear of God in her. That was something that she wasn’t able to shake alongside his daughter.

But Abigail was more important than he was. She knew that more than anything.

Joey turned around to meet glowing eyes and a venomous smirk, just like the first night. “Where is she?” she asked coldly. “I need to see her.”

Lazar tilted his head ever-so-slightly. “What for?”

“Not your concern.”

A deep growl rumbled in his throat as he moved closer to her in one fluid motion. His hand moved to hold her jaw, forcing her to look up at him. He felt her muscles immediately tense up, hard enough to know she was clenching her teeth, all while her black eyes bore into him with a mixture of rage, caution, and defiance. “Hmmm…”

It took everything in her being not to yank away from his touch, for picking and choosing her battles were extremely imperative while in this man’s realm.

Lazar bowed at the interest in the sound of her pounding heartbeat. He could smell the blood pumping rapidly, healthily, heartily through her, which also became visible in the light flush of her complexion. “Bold of you to come at night alone,” he mused. “Oh, yes… so very bold, you are.” Then he lowered himself to hiss into her ear, “But also very stupid.”

“Joey?”

Joey didn’t think as she pulled away from Lazar and whipped around to the voice she’d only heard in her head for weeks. It was like second-nature, an involuntary response to a stimulus that was impossible to ignore.

The soft caramel hair, the blue eyes, the fair skin, and most elegant disposition. Where it all began hadn’t changed. And who it all began with hadn’t changed either. If anything, Abigail looked more alive than she’d been beforehand.

For a moment, Joey was speechless as Abigail came off the last step to meet level ground.

So, the girl’s father spoke for her. “She desires to see you, Abigail,” he spoke.

The young vampire never took her eyes away from the newcomer. She almost looked relieved, like she’d anticipated false hope, just to be ironically mistaken. And she smiled. It was small and subtle, but Joey could see it. Then, she raised her face to acknowledge her father. “Can we be alone?”

Objection to this request was expected, but it took the only human by surprise when Lazar’s footsteps started to distance from her.

“Very well,” he granted and disappeared into the shadows of another room.

There was a small silence that strayed between the two left alone. There was a heavy tension of words unsaid and words wanting to be said. It hadn’t been very long, especially to a vampire, but it wasn’t exaggerated when they both silently deemed their separation to be a lifetime. 

Joey was caught up in a million words, thoughts, and feelings, wanting to ask a million things and apologize for a thousand reasons. They both weren’t what the average person would call an angel. They were devils, demons, monsters, and entirely tragic mysteries. But maybe there was something beautiful in that. “I—”

She hadn’t even noticed that Abigail had moved, but she wasn’t able to get anything out before she felt arms wrap around her, followed by a head on her chest. It silenced her, even though she didn’t know what to say in the first place. 

The girl’s embrace was tight, like she’d harbored so much pent up love that was only real for the woman before her. And it was the first time in centuries that she could let it free. “I missed you,” was the only thing she said.

Even though her voice was just above a whisper, there was such a strong sense of warmth that came with those words. It seemed to fill the cold void that had followed Joey around for weeks, like she wasn’t being hugged by a vampire, but a normal 12-year-old girl. The vampire made it sincere.

Joey held her close. Maybe it wasn’t strictly guilt that haunted her. Maybe it wasn’t fear. Maybe it wasn’t what-could-bes and what-could’ve-beens. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing. Maybe it was simple, just like Abigail had said.

Maybe she just felt the same way.

“I missed you, too.”

───────────────────────────

i don't like the way this came out.. i feel like i could've done so much better and drug it out more, but then i know that i wouldn't have been able to stop. it would've gone on for a while..

i'm sorry @evildarliing that i couldn't do something better for you 🩶

[yourdeepestfathoms]

Ok we have headcanons for all of them. Now we need constance!!

THE SWEETEST GIRL!!!!

Co-Mom Friend beside Mischa

Drives a minivan (both as a reference to that line in What The World Needs and because it’s big enough to fit the whole choir)

Also drives Ocean to school almost every day

Always seems to have Literally Everything in her bag

Tampons or pads? She’s got those! Painkillers? She’s has you covered! A pencil? Yup!

Noel was once like “damn i forgot my socks :/” and Constance was like “oh, here!” and he was like “????”

CEO of cute, fuzzy socks

Really Good at roller skating

Constantly sends her friends’ cute animal pictures

Also will send funny animal videos

CONSTANTLY reminds the other choir members to drink water (especially Ocean)

Ties the straps of a frock around the waist but to the front instead of the back

Will stop to pet EVERY ANIMAL she encounters

A fucking BEAST at Every Single Just Dance game

Always smells really nice! (she’s the duality to Ocean smelling like weed and incense)

Can play the piano and violin

Also the recorder! But she’s actually Super Good at it

Gently touches to get someone’s attention. Like, if she needs them looking at her, she’ll give them a little touch on their arm that’s light enough for them to shrug off

LOVES Christmas!

Also LOVES to give gifts!

Gave Ocean her first pair of Crocs for Christmas when they were twelve, and Ocean has never wore another pair of shoes (aside from the flats that are apart of their uniform) since

She created a MONSTER

I feel like she listens to Vocaloid (she’s me fr)

Her favorite is Gumi, but she also Really Likes Anon and Kanon, the Kagamine twins (because YES, they’re twins to her), and all the V-Singers, ESPECIALLY Qingxian and YanHe!

She also really likes Solaria!! But Solaria TECHNICALLY isn’t a Vocaloid, she’s a SynthV. Still though!! She loves that sun goddess!!

And the queen herself, Hatsune Miku ofc

In Minecraft one time, she jokingly named her wolf “Hatsune Miku.” Cut to a little while later in the game, where she’s fighting some mobs and accidentally kills the wolf. “Constance Killed Hatsune Miku” appeared on the screen, and the rest of the choir all heard the most agonized, dismayed scream of, “MIKU, NO!!!!!”

The others were HOWLING with laughter

(Based on something I did in Minecraft 😔 rip Hatsune Miku, I’m so sorry bby)

[mattelektras]

Dont know if you answered this yet, but whats your opinion of MCU Yelena?

i haven’t seen the movie but i’ve read spoilers/seen/promos/gifs/other people’s recollections of it so make of that what u will.

first off i think the casting is great so no complaints there

and that’s where my no complaints policy kind of stops because there’s really not much that’s very yelena about her at all??

her relationship with nat is very watered down and simplified and really that does both of them an injustice because they’re grown adult women and they have a relationship that’s a lot more complicated than grew up together sisters besties like this is the mcu so i can’t say i expected much but it’s frustrating

616’s yelena has this huge overarching theme of like. identity. ie who and what the black widow name means, what it means to her specifically and the difference between being THE black widow and being a girl raised in the red room trained to be a “black widow”

like. yelena is nat’s “equal or better” wrt skill but the point is it isn’t JUST about skill, and yelena was still young and abrasive and hard headed and couldn’t understand why she couldn’t beat nat but there’s also a line from nat about how “a spy is very difficult to stop once she’s found what makes her unique” and THAT is what yelena’s arc is about

but mcu yelena has none of that??? they’re not bothered about defining who yelena is as opposed to nat, or who she is to the black widow name but they’ve never done that with nat either like. they rarely refer to her as the black widow, we don’t know where the name came from, we don’t know how nat was deemed worthy of it so how are they gonna deal with it in regards to yelena?

if they do her taking the name to homage her dead sister then that’s just. a completely different fucking character??? yelena was primarily an antagonist to begin with, meant to reflect natasha’s character in a black mirror kind of way with yelena caught up in the Literals and origins of the black widow as opposed to herself as the black widow so idk it’d be meaningless to me for that to happen because the conflict and turmoil would come from the very predictable place of Am I Good Enough instead of i KNOW i’m good enough and i’m going to prove it. prime example of the mcu just not having the range

yelena doesn’t WANT to be free of where she came from or what’s been done to her. she’s proud of it in a way and as much as she begrudgingly admires nat in a lot of ways, she’s disappointed in what she’s become ie spy to avenger and that’s what makes her and their relationship so unique from a character perspective because nat’s TRYING to save her and do something we all objectively know is better for her but she doesn’t see that she has any problems because she’s so caught up in it

where IS that in the mcu??? she’s so soft and empty of any real uniqueness or anything that separates her from natasha. i saw someone say she reads more like the oc from that black widow teen novel or whatever it was and they were RIGHT they’ve made her so much more palatable for a big screen audience n it’s just not her. she’s just seems like a shallow nat 2.0. there’s none of her begrudgingly learning that she is in fact a person with inherent value not just valuable to her country as a spy

the revelation that she’s a victim and has been abused by this organisation comes very simply to her and then that’s just. that. it doesn’t change the trajectory of her character or make her rethink things

one thing i will say is that they kind of captured her personality??? yelena is a lot more matter of fact and biting in her responses. she doesn’t use theatrics or her sexuality like nat does and i can kind of see that in the ‘that’s disgusting’ bit w the pose??? its just in that stupid ass humour way they’ve have to do everything in the mcu

idk there was just no nuance to her imo. and it didn’t leave her w much room to grow or change other than maybe she’ll be the black widow to honour nat one day which comics yelena would absolutely never do

[luminescencefics]

you feel like home - part three

He’s smiling then, and Jackson takes that as his cue to continue snuggling Luna into his lap. Ryan’s eyes shift from her new small friend to his father leaning against his doorframe wearing slouchy grey joggers and a graphic t-shirt that shows off his decorated toned arms that she can’t seem to stop looking at.

“Is this our new thing? Meeting up in hallways?” Harry asks, and Ryan can feel the butterflies take flight in her stomach, stretching their wings along her ribcage and floating up through her body, leaving her feeling far too many things all at once.

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***

Luna’s Great Escape

It’s been two days since Ryan last saw Harry in her doorway, and she’s grateful for the rainstorm that’s been plaguing north central London ever since he left her heart racing that afternoon. The rain hasn’t stopped roaring, presumably ruining Jackson’s playtime in the park, allowing Ryan a short period of time to catch her breath.

She’s spent the past two days in a bit of a drunken stupor. After Harry uttered those words to her in the hallway before entering his own flat, Ryan ripped open the parcel and finished her work for the day, sending over her inspections and adjustments to her supervisor in a daze before the clock struck five. Afterward, she tore off her flannel pajama bottoms and shoved them into the depths of her drawer to hopefully never be seen again, traipsing into her bathroom to turn the tub on, a few bottles of Carlsberg nestled tightly under her armpit.

It’s not that Ryan was avoiding her feelings, because she truly didn’t understand them. After two beers, she came to the conclusion that the bubbling in her gut and the warmth on her cheeks, the fluttering of her heart and the pinch in her breath—was all due to the fact that she found Harry annoyingly attractive.

Ryan’s no stranger to attractive men. Her awkwardness practically disappears after a few shots of tequila have settled into her bloodstream, allowing her to hold a conversation with a handsome man without the overwhelming urge to stutter over her words or shift in her heeled boots from nervousness. Most times, in her debilitated state, she’s gotten lucky with a quick shag and a fumbling exit hidden under the darkness of the night. But now, as she sits in her bathtub nursing her fourth beer, a Kiehl’s face mask hardened over her skin, she’s not sure how much alcohol she would need to consume in order to appear seemingly normal in front of Harry.

That was last night. Now, as her hangover starts to settle in, Ryan’s decided that she needs advice. The brutally honest kind that usually fell unapologetically from the lips of her best mate Fiona. 

“So let me get this straight, your new neighbor just so happens to be fit as all hell, and you’ve had a handful of conversations with him without making a complete fool of yourself, and you still haven’t shagged him? What am I missing here, Ry?” Fiona’s voice calls out from Ryan’s mobile that’s leaning against her porcelain fruit bowl, the camera angle allowing her to be able to see Fiona while attempting to cook some sort of pasta dish to cure the throbbing in her head.

“Fee, I got fucking rug burn on my knee from tripping over my own bloody feet the first time I met him!” Ryan recalls, the memory causing her head to shake aggressively, trying her hardest to expel it from her brain.

“Well, I did say complete fool,” Fiona retorts, causing Ryan to roll her eyes as she tries her hardest to follow the vodka sauce recipe she found on Pinterest. She’s eyeing the heavy cream she just added to the saucepan, wondering if the color should be pinker.

“I think it’s for the best if I just continue avoiding him for the rest of my life,” Ryan says, opening the box of ziti and throwing it into the boiling pot on the back left burner. 

She can hear Fiona laugh over the hiss of the water. “Stop with the dramatics! You’re starting to sound like me.”

Ryan just ignores her friend, stirring the sauce that’s starting to smell. She instantly reaches for the parmesan cheese, adding more aimlessly to change the viscosity into something that doesn’t resemble broth. 

“This could be great for you, Ry,” Fiona says through the screen once Ryan’s reappeared in front of her.

“Yeah? Why’s that?” Ryan asks, a bit distracted with the way the saucepan on the hob begins to gurgle inconspicuously.

“Because he’s fit. And he literally lives right next door. This is fantastic news! You can get laid without even leaving your building! Especially during quarantine with the entire city on lockdown!” While Ryan loves her friend, she hates the way Fiona says certain words, her voice level rising with each stressed syllable. She’s speaking so loudly that Ryan thinks back to how Harry referred to hearing Mrs. Bingsley banging about in the kitchen when she used to live in this unit, and immediately Ryan lowers the volume on her mobile, grabbing it from its spot against the fruit bowl and turning into her living room to be as far away from the thin walls as possible.

“I’m not sleeping with him, Fiona. I literally just met him,” Ryan says, sitting on the arm rail of her couch, watching Luna in her periphery continue sleeping soundly against the throw pillows. 

“But you want to.”

Ryan stays silent, wondering if that’s what the bubbling and fluttering and pinching of all her insides means. Wondering if all of these feelings can simply be associated to sexual attraction.

“Why don’t you knock on his door and ask for a plunger or something?” Fiona says, breaking the silence. Ryan instantly disagrees, her eyes widening in fear.

“No, that’s a terrible idea! I don’t want him to think I’ve clogged up my fucking toilet,” Ryan shrieks, knowing that move would definitely work on a girl like Fiona—confident, unrelenting, and fearless. But for a girl like Ryan, whose cheeks turn red whenever a boy like Harry even looks in her direction, she knows there’s no way she can handle that.

Fiona sighs. “You’re probably right.” 

Before Ryan can respond, the blaring sound of the smoke detector going off from the kitchen interrupts her thoughts. “Shit!” she screeches, jumping up from her seated position and running into the kitchen, her mobile clutched in her fist as she approaches the stovetop. The saucepan with the once pinkish-red sauce has now turned black, the edges burnt to a crisp, smoke rising from the top because Ryan forgot to lower the heat to a simmer. The pot with the pasta has boiled over, water falling onto the burner with a loud fizzle. “Fuck!”

“Christ, Ryan! Only you can burn fucking pasta!” Fiona shouts through her mobile, and Ryan immediately discards the device on the countertop, flicking the burners off. She reaches for the dishtowel near the sink, waving it under the smoke detector to make the incessant noise cease.

“It won’t fucking stop!” Ryan bellows, switching the towel to her left arm. If Harry didn’t hear her before, he definitely heard her now, and the thought is enough to make her wave her arms frantically, praying for the smoke detector to shut off.

“Open the front door, get some airflow in the flat, you twit! Twenty-seven and still can’t cook a bloody meal, it’s a shock how you’ve survived this long on your own—”

Ryan doesn’t stay in the kitchen long enough to hear the rest of Fiona’s comment. Instead, she’s spinning on her heels towards her front door, opening it up partly in hope to get the smell of burnt food out of her flat.

Just as she walks back into the kitchen, the beeping finally stops, and Ryan feels as if she can finally breathe again. Her cheeks are stained red from the exertion of flailing her arms about, the stray hairs from her low ponytail sticking to the nape of her neck uncomfortably. She takes in the state of her kitchen, annoyed with herself that she got too preoccupied with Fiona’s ramblings instead of focusing on cooking her pathetic meal.

“Have you died?” The sound echoes from the countertop where Ryan left her mobile, and for a moment Ryan forgets that Fiona was waiting for her. She saunters over slowly, leaning her mobile on the toaster oven so that she can rest her bent elbows on the countertop, her hands falling over her cheeks in embarrassment. 

“Knew I should’ve gone with the boxed mac and cheese,” Ryan mumbles, catching her breath.

Fiona laughs. “I appreciate the attempt, Jamie Oliver. You’ve probably scared Luna half to death, poor thing.” 

At the mention of her kitten’s name, Ryan immediately swivels her head around to the living room, eyes falling to the spot on the couch her white British Shorthair was just occupying. But when she looks closer, she realizes that Luna is gone.

She quickly stands up straight, telling Fiona she’ll call her back before ending the FaceTime call, entering the living room to search every nook and cranny for her kitten. Luna’s small body is nowhere near the couch or armchairs, her cat tree is empty, and when Ryan takes a look in her bedroom and finds absolutely nothing, she’s suddenly filled with fear at the fact that her kitten has disappeared.

Before Ryan can have a full-blown meltdown at the loss of her meal and kitten in the span of ten minutes, she hears the faint echo of a meow from the other side of her front door. A tiny giggle follows after, and suddenly Ryan’s head is peering out into the hallway, falling on the sight of Luna laying on the carpet with her tummy up in the air, and Jackson’s small hands rubbing soothing circles in her fur.

“What would your dad say about you leaving the flat without him?” Ryan calls out from her doorframe, watching the way Jackson’s face lights up when he realizes it is her speaking to him.

“Daddy will probably be mad. But I heard the kitty outside when I was playing! I didn’t know you had one!” He’s smiling so wide it causes Ryan to immediately do the same, despite her borderline breakdown a few moments prior. She trots over towards the pair, crouching down in front of them and balancing on the heels of her socked-clad heels, watching the way Luna purrs at Jackson’s soft strokes.

“I do. This is Luna,” Ryan answers, grinning when Jackson begins cooing at the tiny animal.

“Hi Luna, I’m Jackson. You’re so soft.” He’s whispering to her and Ryan isn’t quite sure why, and when Luna suddenly flips over and sits on Jackson’s lap, Ryan feels her heart swell at the sight of two tiny things cuddling up to one another.

The silence is broken by a gruff, frustrated voice. “Jackson! You can’t keep runnin’ off—oh.”

Three pairs of different colored eyes look up at the intrusion, and suddenly Harry’s anger dissipates at the sight of his son holding a cute kitten in his lap. A cute kitten that just so happens to belong to his even cuter neighbor who he seemingly can’t stop thinking about.

He’s smiling then, and Jackson takes that as his cue to continue snuggling Luna into his lap. Ryan’s eyes shift from her new small friend to his father leaning against his doorframe wearing slouchy grey joggers and a graphic t-shirt that shows off his decorated toned arms that she can’t seem to stop looking at. 

“Is this our new thing? Meeting up in hallways?” Harry asks, and Ryan can feel the butterflies take flight in her stomach, stretching their wings along her ribcage and floating up through her body, leaving her feeling far too many things all at once.

Ryan just smiles shyly, swallowing harshly when Harry crosses his arms over his broad chest, his large palms cupping his bulging biceps under the thin material of his shirt. She coughs into her fist, realizing now that she probably should stand up from her crouched position so that she’s no longer staring up at him underneath the cover of her eyelashes.

“Daddy look! Ryan has a kitty!” Jackson squeals, his cheek squished against Luna’s tiny face as he pets behind her ears, causing her whole body to vibrate with a deep purr.

Harry looks between Luna and Ryan, that slow smirk grazing his lips that causes Ryan’s cheeks to burn with a deep blush. “I can see that, Bubs.” His voice is so deep Ryan can feel it settle into her bones, and suddenly she wishes her hair wasn’t tied behind her head in a ponytail so that she could hide her reddened cheeks under the deep brown tendrils. 

Before she can speak, a loud whistle from Harry’s flat breaks the silence. His upper body shifts away from the doorframe so that he’s standing straight, arms falling back to his sides as he peers behind the entranceway to ensure that the steam is blowing from the spout of the kettle on the hob.

“Fancy some tea, Ryan?” Harry asks once he’s turned back in her direction. 

Ryan quickly stumbles to stand upright, wiping her sweaty palms on her cotton biker shorts. An oversized band tee she stole from her ex-boyfriend swishes with her hasty movements, and she can feel her head shaking before her mouth can say no.

“Uh, I’m okay. Don’t want to impose or anything,” she stutters, the sound of her thick woolen mid-calf socks scuffling against the carpeting with her incessant shuffling due to the influx of nerves that begin creeping up her spine.

“Please, Ryan? I can play with Luna! I’m a great sitter,” Jackson proclaims loudly from his seated position behind her. Once again, Ryan finds herself struggling to say no to her new friend with just one look into his beady green eyes. With nothing but a small smile, Ryan’s nodding in Jackson’s direction, her grin growing larger when he scoops up Luna in his little arms, ducking past his father and entering the flat.

Harry chuckles, holding the door open a bit wider so that Ryan can follow him inside.

She’s watching as he ducks into the kitchen, shutting off the burner so that the whistling kettle can quiet down. Ryan watches Jackson plop Luna on the soft emerald rug, laying on his stomach so that he can observe her every move. After guaranteeing that her kitten is in good hands, Ryan enters the kitchen, settling on one of the dark leather barstools and watching Harry grab two tea mugs from the cabinet above the sink.

As his arm extends to reach the top shelf, Ryan can’t help but take note of the contrast between his right and left arm. His left arm was ornamented with various black etchings, flowing across his skin in a strange way that somehow looked beautiful. When Ryan watches his right arm reach out to grab the tea bags, the untouched skin practically blinding against the harsh overhead lights, she feels her throat suddenly dry up—and she’s left wondering if she should add this to her growing list of symptoms she feels whenever she’s around Harry.

“Sugar? Milk?” Harry asks, his back still to her as he rummages around the drawers to prepare their tea. 

“Sure.” She’s distracted by the way his thin t-shirt practically hides nothing, the ebb and flow of his back muscles constricting with each gentle movement he makes as he grasps the sugar from the counter and grips the milk from the fridge.

When he turns to meet her at the kitchen island, he clutches both mugs in one hand, the other holding both the sugar jar and milk carton. Ryan’s forced to look away, her mind completely fogging over at the site.

The sound of the ceramic mugs clinking against the granite counter causes Ryan to look up, smiling softly when he pushes the tea in her direction. Just before her hands can clasp around the handle, she regards the black script tattoo above the crook of his elbow, the words Jackson in lowercase lettering make her breath hitch in her throat.

“How have you been, all right?” Harry asks from across the island, reaching for the milk and adding a generous amount to the murky tea. His eyes are busy focusing on the task at hand, and Ryan can finally feel herself calm down a bit.

“Yeah, been okay. You?” she responds, blowing a bit on her tea before bringing the mug to her lips, swallowing deeply and reveling in the taste of the brew. Harry’s eyebrows arch when he notices that she takes her tea black, but he doesn’t make a comment about it, choosing instead to rest his forearms on the counter, pushing his mug a bit closer towards Ryan’s as he leans against the island, infiltrating her personal space just the tiniest bit.

“Yeah, okay. Bit shit with the weather, though. Jackson’s been going crazy,” he comments, his mouth far too distracting when he licks the spilled over tea on his lower lip. Ryan flicks her head over in Jackson’s direction, thankful that she can look at something other than Harry’s stupidly good-looking face.

Ryan hums in agreement, bringing the tea back to her lips as she swivels back in her stool, her eyes back on Harry’s. 

“That cat of yours will give him another reason to talk about you for hours,” Harry says with a grin.

“If it weren’t for his knack of sneaking out of your flat, Luna probably would have ended up on the seventh floor. Guess I owe him a proper thank you,” Ryan counters, smiling at the fact that she made Harry laugh.

“Little shit never listens to me,” Harry says lightly, and Ryan suddenly wonders if he has any help looking after Jackson.

She starts to look around the kitchen for any hints of a feminine touch. The state of his flat is disgustingly clean, and when she observes the fridge to see if there are any photographs of Jackson’s mum, she’s found that there’s nothing but artwork most likely done by the hands of a four-year-old.

When she shifts her head to the other side of the room, where the kitchen flows into the living room, she doesn’t really find anything new. The walls are still filled with records, the instruments are still lining the walls, the couch is still void of throw pillows. Ryan tries to visualize the entranceway, trying her hardest to remember if she noticed any heeled boots or women’s jackets on the coat rack.

She hasn’t known Harry long, barely a month at this point, and in that short period of time she’s never heard him speak about a woman before. Ryan’s not stupid—she knows that both sexes are needed to produce a child—but she’s truly never seen a woman enter or exit Harry’s flat.

Granted, it’s only been a month. And she isn’t really sure if she can call him her friend yet, therefore she feels a bit odd in asking. Ryan’s come to the conclusion that maybe Jackson’s mum is an essential worker, a nurse perhaps, a profession in which she has the luxury of leaving her home to go to work.

“Ryan?” Harry’s oaky voice breaks Ryan out of her headspace, and suddenly she’s blinking in Harry’s direction, embarrassed at the fact that she wasn’t listening to anything he had just said to her in the last few minutes.

“Sorry, what were you saying?” she responds lamely, bringing the mug to her lips with the goal of hiding the lower half of her flushed cheeks.

Harry just laughs, cocking his head to the side to observe her intently. “Doesn’t matter. Lost you for a minute in there.”

“Right. Sorry about that,” Ryan responds, wishing Harry would stop looking at her as if she were the most fascinating creature on the planet. 

“Does that happen a lot?” Harry asks quietly, suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to know every little thing about her.

Ryan’s eyes squint in confusion. “Does what happen?”

“That,” Harry starts, taking a sip of his tea without tearing his eyes away from Ryan’s. “You getting lost in your own head.”

Ryan quietly contemplates Harry’s comment, watching the way he watches her with intrigue. As a serial overthinker, Ryan knows that she retreats sometimes, mulling over her words intensely before speaking. Unlike Fiona who blurts every thought that runs through her head, Ryan’s always been more critical, obsessing over every detail before verbalizing. It’s the only thing that helps subdue her social anxiety.

But she’s found that whenever she’s around Harry, she can’t bring herself to think about anything, really. It’s as if her mind is blank, encouraging her to speak what she truly feels, without all the thinking that usually comes along with it.

She’s not quite sure what that all means.

So she just shrugs, sipping softly. “Sometimes, yeah.”

Harry nods before changing the subject, which makes Ryan feel relieved. “So, my quiet, reclusive neighbor is also a cat lady? It’s far too fitting, Ryan.” He’s teasing her a bit and it’s enough to make Ryan giggle, the sound practically causing Harry to splutter his tea over the rim of his mug. 

“I’m all about clichés, clearly,” Ryan responds, her eyes zeroing in on the hollow dimples that appear around his mouth whenever he laughs. She finds herself enjoying the sight very much.

“She’s cute,” Harry says, his eyes shifting from Luna to the woman sitting across from him. Ryan assumes he’s talking about her kitten, and she smiles, swiveling around in her chair to watch Jackson giggle whenever Luna’s paws graze his arms. But when she feels Harry’s gaze on her cheek, she’s wondering if he’s talking about something else, too.

“He’s good with her,” Ryan acknowledges, impressed with how gentle Jackson was with Luna. Most toddlers his age were too handsy with her, scaring her off before she even got the chance to get used to them. But Jackson is proving to be a natural, allowing Luna to grow comfortable around him before he started playing with her.

Harry finally looks over to his son, smiling at the sight in the living room. “Yeah, he’s a good kid.”

Ryan turns round to face Harry again. “He really is. Guess he has you to thank for that. And his mum, I suppose.”

Harry’s face suddenly loses its grin, and Ryan’s wondering if she’s said too much. His eyes have lost their shine, and the granite countertop seems to be more interesting than Ryan’s face. Before she can say anything, an apology or some version of one, the computer in the corner of the living room begins to ring loudly, causing Harry to stand upright and peer at the clock on the microwave screen.

“Shit. Forgot I had a four o’clock meeting,” he says quickly, gathering his mug in one hand and crossing the threshold so that he’s entering the living room space. Ryan stands up, frowning down at her half-emptied cup of tea, wondering what blend Harry uses because it’s just that good, and she’s a bit sad to leave it unfinished.

Harry turns around, catching the frown on Ryan’s face. “You can finish it at yours if you’d like,” he offers with a small smile. 

“Oh, no it’s okay, I wouldn’t want to—”

“—Ryan,” Harry says, cutting her off and walking towards her so that he’s fully in her line of vision, “It’s fine. ‘S not like I don’t know where you live.” The smirk is back on his face and the blush is back coating Ryan’s cheeks, and suddenly the balance has been restored in their small universe.

Ryan nods, clutching the mug tightly in her hands and side-stepping Harry in order to reach Jackson and Luna on the living room floor. “‘M sorry, champ, but Luna and I have got to go.”

“Really?” Jackson says, tearing his eyes away from Luna and onto the two adults standing in front of him. He’s frowning and Ryan instantly feels bad.

“Yeah, Bubs, daddy’s got work to do. I’m sure you can see Luna again very soon, if Ryan’s okay with it,” Harry says, causing two pairs of green eyes to fall onto her frame.

She nods quickly, crouching down in front of her small friend and grabbing Luna in her unoccupied hand. “Of course, champ. We’ll schedule a playdate.”

Jackson grins enthusiastically, wiggling on the floor with excitement. Before Ryan can respond, Harry appears in front of her, a small smile on his face.

“I’ll see you later, Ryan,” he mutters in a low timbre.

“Bye, Harry. Thanks again for the tea,” she responds, heading towards the doorway in her socks and leaving the confines of his flat, trying her hardest to catch her breath in the silence of the empty hallway.

It’s only once she’s back in her own flat, her sad attempt of dinner disposed of in the bin and in its place an oversized bowl of cereal in one hand, with Harry’s mug in the other, Ryan comes to a startling realization.

Harry’s tea mug was a far better alternative than the fucking plunger.

*** A/N: Hi guys, here’s part three of you feel like home! I hope you enjoyed it. Part four will be posted on Thursday November 19, so feel free to chat with me in the meantime! This was a submission for the 1DFF Quarantine Challenge, which has other amazing writers participating as well, so feel free to check out the page! x

taglist: @stylishmuser @vikki1220 @greatestview @verorax @cronias13 @adoremp3 @ilovegolden @taintedwonder @stepping-into-the-light​ @onlyphysicallypresent​ @dontwanttobealone​ @justsaying20​ @elemayox​ @awomanindeniall​ @ihearthemcallingforyou​ @halloweenniall @live-at-the-forum​ @kakayam​ @harryinsweatersandbandanas​ @hopelessly-harry​ @ficnarry​ @morethanamelodyy​ @niallgolden​ @harryswinterberries​ @caramello-styles

[vlueyellow]

Number 7

(This is @lumosinlove‘s version of the HP characters and definitely just MY personal take on James Potter in Sweater Weather. You can read the original fanfic here)

(Also, Haz, I really hope I don’t offend you with this, I just needed to write it down because it WOULDN’T LEAVE MY DUMBASS HEAD, I’m sorry, if you want me to delete, tell me<3)

James had heard the stories. Heard the rumours and whispers about the Black family. He didn’t know what made the situation itch him the wrong way. If it was the obvious tension and fake family bond. Or the way everyone just kind of knew that something wasn’t right but nobody wanted to acknowledge it. It wasn’t until he actually met Sirius Black that he figured out what made him so uneasy with the whole thing.

Sirius was a fortress at first. The lines between his eyebrows created wrinkles that weren’t supposed to become permanent before he turned 40. The way he pressed his lips together whenever he shot the puck was something James had only ever seen on injured players who had too much pride to admit they were out of the game. His teeth were seen once in a blue moon and the rest of the time they were hidden behind his lips where James could see them clenching together by the state of his jaw. 

Sirius looked like a injured veteran on the egde of retiring when he only just started his career.

What the hell happened to you? James thought as he had watched Sirius for the third time shy away from a celly when Dumo skated over to throw an arm over his shoulder.

It made more sense after the shift. The shift of course being Sirius deciding to hell with his family and finally accepted being a Lion. James could feel the shackles of Sirius’ family shake off him, hitting the ice and freeing his limbs as he lifted his stick and scored with the perfect slapshot and for the first time accepted Dumo’s arms sliding around him, knocking him into the glass with a laugh. It was the match James would privatly refer to as the beginning of the Lions. Because there was no Lions without Sirius Black.

But even as Sirius finally relaxed himself something was off. Even as the lines on his forehead disappeared and his lips stretched into a smile instead of a frown when he easily glided the puck into the net. Even as the whole team got to know Sirius slightly crooked tooth that could only be seen when he smiled the brightest and the pain on his face vanished, James still felt like Sirius was hiding. It was different. Like Sirius had finally accepted them as his team and best friends but the privacy of his feelings were still hiding behind the emtionally injured player James had gotten so used to seeing.

He knew he didn’t know everything there was to know about Sirius’ family, but he knew enough to know that Sirius’ walls wouldn’t come down probably ever. But it was okay because Sirius was happy and James could understand that trauma wasn’t something you wanted to share or even think about. 

But Sirius’ happiness didn’t make the uncomfortable look he had on his face when the team went out for drinks go away. James would still watch from the bar as his best friend curled his hand around another puck bunny’s nape, pulling her into a kiss as the wrinkles between his eyebrows returned. 

He didn’t think much of it because James knew that it was an image thing. A lot of guys in the league made it their ‘thing’ to gain popularity and even though James could tell Sirius’ heart wasn’t in it he wouldn’t interfere because Sirius was an adult and James knew he didn’t need anyone to tell him how to live his life when he had gotten enough of that from his family. 

But then Sirius stopped picking up bunnies. He stopped frowning when Finn suggested to go celebrate at The Three Hockey Sticks after an important win and instead became one of the first to hype up the idea. He came up with new fun cellys for the rookies to pick up on and once Thomas swore he had heard him sing in the showers after practice. It was as if Sirius’ entire being had let out a huge sigh and James couldn’t understand what had changed.

Until he saw the necklace, of course. 

He felt like a genius as he explained his theory to Lily who smiled at him with a shake of her head. 

Sirius Black had gotten himself a girlfriend James thought to himself as he saw Sirius carefully dry his neck with a towel as if he was afraid the necklace would snap in half. James could barely stop himself from smiling.

After reaching the conclusion James started to notice all the little signs he had missed before.

Sirius phone went off literally every time he wasn’t at practice or at a game. James could hardly ever get him to come to movie night anymore and when he finally decided to show up his phone was pinging left and right, and every time Sirius face would relax into a slow smile James was sure he didn’t even know he was making. 

James was so happy for him that he couldn’t even be the tiniest bit mad at Sirius for keeping it a secret. All he wanted for his boy was to be happy and Sirius clearly was so James couldn’t care less. 

But it didn’t stop him from being absolutely annoyingly curious. Remus, who Sirius seemed to had gotten close with, hadn’t noticed anything and James was starting to go out of his mind. All he wanted was for Sirius to bring his girlfriend to family skate and show her off. 

He didn’t understand why he was hiding. It wasn’t anything wild whenever a player in the league got a girlfriend. Of course, because Sirius was captain he might hold the spotlight for a bit longer but it would still blow over fairly quickly. 

It filled James’ head for weeks and when it finally made sense he cursed himself for ever being so blind.

Alarm bells went off in his head as Sirius stopped in his tracks. As always, his phone was in his hands but from behind James saw his shoulders tense up. His first instinct was to ask what was wrong but then Finn spoke up. He was also looking at his phone. James took his own from his back pocket instantly.

The hashtag was already trending in the US, probably close to trending globaly, too. At the top was an article from The Prophet with three photos attached. The headline read: “Lion Captain’s gay love affair: Another miss for the Playoffs?”

James throat tightened as he clicked on the photos attached. It was Sirius’ car and there in the backseat of it was Sirius with Remus in his lap. They were in the middle of an intense kiss. In the next Remus was kissing his neck. 

In panic James looked up at Sirius. He hadn’t moved but as Pascal lifted a hand to his shoulder he flinched back and before James could react his was gone. 

A pain had settled in his stomach as he thought back to all the questions he had asked Remus, all the theories he had shared with Lily, all the times he had thought about just asking Sirius what her name was. He had worried about the wrong thing. God, he was an idiot. 

He wished Lily would’ve stopped him from being such an asshole to assume Sirius was dating a girl but he mentally slapped himself. It wasn’t Lily’s job to make him stop assuming everyone was straight. He had set a trap up for himself and it was time for damage control.

His eyes darted to Remus who was staring at the door Sirius had stormed out of just seconds ago. He was pale and James could see his hands shaking where he was gripping his neck. He slowly made his way over.

He wanted to apologies a million times, to Sirius, to Remus, to every non-straight hockey player who held up a facade. But right now this wasn’t about him.

James placed a hand on Remus’ shoulder.

“Can I drive you home?“ He asked, eyes never leaving his face. 

Remus’ hand seemed to tighten, both around his neck and his grip on his phone. James slowly took it from his hands and placed it in his back pocket next to his own.

“Come on, Re. Let me—let me be here for you.” He tried again. 

He could see the shine in Remus’ eyes and James wasn’t even sure if he was aware of it. 

Remus voice shook as he choked out “He needs you.”

James tightened his grip on Remus’ shoulder, ignoring the urge to pull him into a hug and let the tears in his eyes fall together with his own that were stuck somewhere in his throat.

“I’m going there next. Lily’s going to you. She’ll meet you at your apartment, okay?” He said as calmly as he could.

Forever seemed to go by before Remus agreed, the wetness finally falling from his eyes as James began to walk him out of the airport.

All the little things that James seemed to be the only one to notice began to replay in his head, and the pain in his chest suddenly doubled when he wondered for a brief moment if Sirius had been silent because he was afraid James would be the one to write #NotMyCaptain. 

It was then he knew that he would fight with everything he had to make sure no one touched a hair on Sirius’ and Remus’ head. He would sacrifice his career if he had to. Fuck the NHL, fuck the Prophet, fuck the fans, fuck everyone who ever dared to suggest Sirius was anything but a great captain and player.

He had a feeling a war had started against the entire League and he was ready to pick a side, sacrifices be damned.

(Sorry for grammar, English isn’t my first language and I also wrote this after midnight)

(Hope you didn’t hate it, Haz @lumosinlove, I love your story so much and I’m a big hockey fan so thank you for the masterpiece)

(Also, Go Maple Leafs, number 31)

[daydream-believin]

Recipe For Disaster 2: Electric Boogaloo

Summary: Jim is NOT happy about his sister’s boyfie. (not a part two despite the confusing name)

Warnings: swearing, a gilmore girls reference, divorce kids got daddy issues

Word Count: 5560, my longest yet woohoo

A/N: here it is im finally done with this. i- im tired. i love jim he was my favorite until doux came along but he can be a little bitch boy sometimes. and the word of the day is giggle im so sorry

tags: @alovesongshewrote​ hope i can deliver now that you have expectations lmao

It was a good Saturday. The trollhunters trio had gotten an early start on training, and thus Blinky had released them for an early lunch. It was a particularly successful day, with Claire really getting the hang of the shadow staff, so they decided to not make poor Jim cook for once and go out for a treat. And Toby really wanted a sandwich from Benoit’s.

They opted to walk to downtown instead of biking, as a way to cool down. Plus, it would give them time to digest their food on the walk back, before they returned to training once again. Although that was more of a problem for Jim and Toby, since Blinky wanted Claire to start reading a certain book this afternoon. She’d be in the library, quietly sitting while the boys go back to running around and fighting. The spring flowers had just started returning to Arcadia Oaks. The flowerbeds that decorated town added a cheery air to the day. Happily, Jim ran up in front to kick a pebble as they came up towards the bistro around the corner. He stopped in his tracks.

“Is Y/n’s boss flirting with her?”

The other two teens came around Jim to see. Y/n laughed at Douxie’s dumb joke and put her hand on his shoulder.

“And is she flirting back?” Jim asked incredulously.

Claire didn’t take this the same way Jim did. “Aww, that’s so cute.”

“No it’s not. It’s weird. And wrong.” Jim asserted.

“What are you talking about,” Claire lowered her brows with an annoyed tone.

“No, no. he’s right. Y/n doesn’t flirt. Or date. I’m not even sure she crushes.”

Claire shook her head, “That can’t be true, TP. She’s like, old. You two just didn’t notice it.”

“Oh, no, we noticed it. She went to every school dance alone, even senior prom.” Toby added. “It was kind of sad to be honest.”

“Remember that time that big movie star came into town? He was the prettiest guy I’d ever seen, and Y/n was just like ‘eh he’s okay, I guess’. We literally had a fight over that one.” Jim chuckled.

“I literally can’t imagine Y/n in a relationship. She’s just too all over the place.”

Claire rolled her eyes and gestured her hands towards the scene in front of them. “Well, she seems to be doing just fine now.”

Jim didn’t know why, but this made him a little huffy. “Whatever. It’s just a crush, anyways. She’ll get over it soon enough.”

Douxie leaned over to give Y/n a quick peck goodbye before he headed into Mr. Benoit’s to start his shift. He had swapped shifts with one of his coworkers for the day, so he could have the evening off. Y/n headed back to the bookstore. She tucked her hair behind her ear as she left, smiling to herself. The three trollhunters still stood right where they were, staring.

“I don’t think it’s just a crush, Jimbo.”

Jim was outraged. How. How was this happening. He could understand her not telling her family, their mother could be a bit nosy sometimes when it came to her daughter’s personal affairs. But his sister had often said she didn’t have enough time to pursue a love life whenever their mother probed her. There was no way she just started having said time. Right? It was curious, too, that out of all the people she could have chosen in Arcadia, she chose Douchey. That guy had girls fawning over him wherever he went. There was no way Y/n was into that.

Come to think of it, Y/n had been acting really strange ever since she had gotten that job at the bookstore. It was so easy to make her laugh now. She was actually wearing her hair in different styles instead of her signature. She actually enjoyed Barbara’s cooking. Or at least complimented it a lot now. Still a baffling action nonetheless. It was if she was experiencing the side effects of something. And that bookstore reeked of magic. Magic had the power to drive people out of their minds. He’d had plenty of first-hand experience with that. This whole situation was fishy.

“Well, I think it’s so cute they’re together now.” Claire said cheerily. He loved her but she wasn’t exactly the best when it came to making judgement calls. Hell, the fact that she was dating him after all he’s put her through was enough proof of that.

“Well, I think its magic.” Jim deadpanned.

“What.” Claire snapped.

“He’s got a spell on her! Some sort of enchantment. A charm!”

Toby was too tired from training today to deal with this. “I’ll agree, he does have charm, have you had him as a waiter? But not the kind of charm you’re implying here, Jim.”

“Douxie is my magic teacher, Jim. I promise, he’s a really nice guy.”

“Nope. There’s no way my sister would be into a guy, let alone a guy like,” He tried to find the right words but just sputtered, “Like that!” he motioned to poor Doux, who was changing the specials sign out front. Douxie was one of those bistro employees who always got asked to draw up the sign because his calligraphy was so good. Doux had to admit, his handwriting was messy compared to Merlin’s standards, but to Mr. Benoit’s he was a calligraphy god.

Toby looked Doux up and down. “I don’t know man, Y/n is kind of alternative.”

“Yeah, who do you think helps me dye my hair all the time? And sneaks me into concerts?” Claire added.

“Okay. I get that. But he’s just not good enough for her.” Jim said through gritted teeth.

Toby sighed. “Then who is?” he asked wearily.

Jim got defensive. “I don’t know! A prince, maybe. One that’s in line to be king. Not one of those waiting-for-a-brother-to-die ones, but a real one.” He nodded his head like any of that was realistic. “Definitely not just some wizard who works in a bookstore.”

“She’s just some wizard who works in a bookstore, though.”

There was no getting through to Jim. “Think about it guys, my sister, suddenly getting cozy with a magic man? Bushigal. She’s under a spell. I’m going to fight him.”

“No, no you’re not,” Claire asserted, “You’re going to have lunch like we planned AND you’re going to be civil.” Claire and Toby both grabbed one of his arms and dragged him towards the bistro.

***

The hostess guided them to the table. Claire sat across from Jim and Toby. They were handed the menus. Claire showed interest in the lunch specials while Toby flipped to the sandwiches. Jim just brooded while he stared unblinking into the first page. And by chance, and by the fact that this scene would be boring and or pointless if not, Douxie was the waiter for said table. After handing off the check to one of his other tables, he waltzed over to the trio, happy to see his protégé.

“Ello lads, how’s it going? How’d that test go today, Claire?” Douxie ruffled her hair. Jim narrowed his eyes at the sight.

“Horrible! I bombed it for sure!”

Toby rolled his eyes, “You say that about every test, Claire, and then it turns out you aced them.”

“No I mean it this time, TP. I didn’t even finish the last three questions. It was so bad!”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Douxie chuckled. Oh to have the problems of these youngsters. Claire and Toby got into some sort of glare match where they both just made more and more aggressive funny faces at each other. Both finally conceded and they fell into giggles. Douxie was glad to see Claire having so much fun, but he noticed someone else at the table who was not having said fun. His apprentice Claire’s boyfriend, his master’s champion, and his darling Y/n’s brother, looking like his dog ate his homework, or whatever teenagers got angry about these days.

“Cheer up, lad.” Doux grinned at Jim, “Hangry? I get that. You look like you could use a good meal.”

“Well strangely I am in a cafe”

Claire kicked Jim under the table. He tried his best to stifle the grunt of pain. “Don’t mind Jim, he’s a tad grumpy from a bad training session. And we’ll take waters all around.” She smiled. Doux hurried off to go get their glasses.

In the end, Toby couldn’t pick a sandwich. He had three favorites and couldn’t decide between them yet. Jim and Claire had his back. They both got one of them and he got the third. Then they would all share the halves. A good plan. And it was a delicious one. Toby was thankful for his partners.

***

After finishing up training and walking Claire home, Jim and Toby went their separate ways. Toby had promised his Nana he’d go with her and her boyfriend to see a play in the next town over. Jim had promised his mother he’d be home for a family dinner. He wasn’t able to be home in time to cook, so this was going to be a roulette wheel when it came to food. He was betting on Y/n. As he came to the front door, he cracked it first and smelled the air before going inside as to make sure his candid reaction wouldn’t be bad. The aroma coming from the house was heavenly. Alright, Y/n. Jackpot.

Jim swung the door open wide as he strutted in. Everyone was in the kitchen, it looked like. He put his bag up and called to his family that he was home. Which was met with the two voices he had expected, but one he hadn’t. And it was a voice he didn’t want to hear right now. Douxie. Hisirdoux fucking Casperan. In his house. In his kitchen. In his territory.

Jim immediately felt his muscles tense up. He took a deep breath and put on his best fake smile before heading into the kitchen. Y/n was sautéing something over the stove. Barbara was stirring something which meant that she had insisted on helping and Y/n had done the equivalent of giving your younger sibling a game controller that wasn’t plugged in. The offending wizard was leaning over the bar counter from the other side, chatting away as if he had any reason to be here.

Once Y/n caught sight of Jim, she bubbled. “Jim! How was hiking? You three have fun?” she knew where he actually spent his Saturdays but they had to keep up the rouse for their mom. While Y/n particularly didn’t care for the lying, she also agreed with Jim that some things are best kept from worrisome mothers. Barbara gave her enough shit already for her frequent homecomings from bars and shows in the wee hours of the morning with scrapes and bruises. If their mother knew about Jim’s marginally more dangerous late-night escapades, she might actually have a nervous breakdown.

“Oh yeah, it was great. We saw a deer. It had a baby with it.”

“Majestic.” She turned and gestured to the man at the counter, “You remember Douxie, right?”

“Of course,” Jim said through gritted teeth forced into a smile. “In fact we just saw each other at the bistro earlier today.”

A timer went off. Y/n expressed her delight that something in the oven was done. Barb got some plates out of the cabinet, while Y/n pulled the main course out of the oven. She handed Jim the plates and silverware and sent him to go set the table. Jim supposed this was better than having to talk to Douxie. Until Douxie insisted on helping him. Great.

“So, Jim, I’ve heard a lot about you-”

“I’m sure you have.” Jim cut him off. Douxie was a bit confused, but figured he was still grumpy like he was earlier at the bistro. He’d leave the moody teen alone then. Perhaps he be in a better mood after getting some food in him and spending time with his family. Doux would try for conversation again then.

Jim did not get any less grumpy, to Douxie’s dismay. And Y/n’s. Y/n really needed both her family members to like her boyfriend. They were all each other had, and any strife would put a strain on their tiny closely-knit family unit. Y/n loved Douxie, and she wanted Jim and Barbara to love him to. To accept him. It would help put a validity to her feelings. If they liked him then she had made the right choice. She could never be with someone her loved ones hated. And as a bonus, it would be nice if she could give Douxie the family he never had. He deserved as much.

Luckily, Barbara had taken quite a liking to Arcadia’s most charming waiter. Jim however, was subtly hostile. Or at least he thought he was being subtle. It was very apparent to the other three at the table. As Douxie was animatedly telling Barb some story that she was laughing very hard at, Y/n turned to glare at her brother. Jim tried to feign innocence. Y/n rolled her eyes and put some more salad on her plate. Jim noticed the bracelet on her wrist. Funny, she had never been one for jewelry before. But she started wearing this one everyday right around the time she started working at the bookstore. Interesting.

Douxie finished up his story and turned his attention to Jim. He’d try once again to engage the trollhunter. He knew how important this was to Y/n. Douxie was going to make this little man like him if it was the last thing he did.

“I saw the school play you were in a couple weeks ago, Jim. You were quite the actor, and I know Shakespeare’s tough. Have you ever thought of going into it professionally? Claire’s told me she wants to. You two could be one of those celebrity power couples.”

Jim just offered a short thanks that was less hostile but not exactly enthusiastic either. Well, at least Doux was getting somewhere. It’s a start. Y/n was content with this. Jim would warm up to Douxie eventually. It didn’t have to be right away, even if she would have liked that.

After the dinner conversation had died down and the food long gone, Y/n set out to clear the table and clean the kitchen. Barbara also went to help her, but Douxie assured her he’d take care of it. He was a world class waiter after all. He stacked up the plates as Y/n grabbed the dinner dishes. And so the two set off to the world behind the wall, to clean or canoodle or whatever. Jim wasn’t too keen on thinking about it. His mother pulled him into the living room to sit on the couch and preceded to ask him twenty questions about Claire. He was almost happy when the lovebirds came back.

And then his mother made them all play some card game for three hours straight. All while the lovebirds flirted away right in front of them. It was like they had no shame. This guy just had to have Y/n under a spell or something, Jim was sure of it. There was no other explanation. As she giggled at another one of Douxie’s stupid jokes that weren’t even funny, Jim felt sick.

Finally it came time for that douchebag to leave. Jim rolled his eyes at his mother and sister fawning over Doux as he made his way to the door. He slinked over behind them to watch the guy leave and make sure that he left. As Douxie went through the door he gave Y/n a quick peck and said the stupidest line Jim had ever heard. Who does this guy think he is. Once the door was shut and Doux had indeed walked away, Jim scoffed.

“Bet that guy has a bank of pickup lines he’s memorized. There’s no way he came up with that on the fly.”

***

Jim was furious. He fought like a madman during training. Draal was just making it worse by encouraging it; he really liked the kid’s fire today. Draal had no idea what was up with him right now, but Jim was giving it his all. The trollhunter was rarely this aggressive. Blinky looked on as Jim growled and shouted with every strike. He hadn’t seen his son frothing at the mouth like this before. It was glorious. Keep this up and Angor Rot won’t know what hit him.

Claire and Toby were also training, with Arrggh, albeit with not even half as much gusto as Jimbo. They were also a wee bit distracted, trying to wind Jim down from said gusto. He came over to where they were to get some water. Taking this opportunity, Toby tried appealing to him once again.

“Dude, give it a rest, this is just like how you got all pissy about your mom dating Strickler.” Toby was exasperated.

“Y/n can’t date guys, my mother can’t date guys, no men should be frequently invited into our household! No boys allowed! Me and Toby are the only boys allowed!” Jim growled. He stormed off across the keep to go land another hit on Draal.

Blinky blinked. He was taken aback at the hostility from his charge. “So, do either of you have any idea as to what that was about.”

“Right now the winning theory is that this is like, about how heartbroken his mother was when his dad left, so now he doesn’t want that to happen again or something,” Claire sighed. Her teacher really was a good guy. Lonely too. Just like Y/n. They were going to be good for each other. Her boyfriend should be happy for them. Jim took a particularly dirty swipe at Draal. Toby grunted in sympathy. “Or maybe Douxie just poked Arcadia’s most possessive bear.”

***

Jim and Toby were walking downtown, enjoying their free time after a trollhunting mission on this fine Sunday afternoon. That is, until they came in sight of the bookstore. Jim felt that bitter feeling in his stomach again. He knew Y/n wasn’t working today. Douchey would be all alone. Now was his chance to confront this and end it before it got any worse. Toby noticed the malice in his eyes as he stomped towards the bookstore.

“Woah dude, what’re you doing?”

“I’m just going to have a little chat with Mr. Casperan that’s all.”

Toby threw his head back in exasperation. “There no talking you out of this is there?”

“Nope”

The bell jingled as they walked in. The bookshop smelled like Christmas. And Jim was about to try and talk politics with his racist uncle at the dinner table. Douxie came over and greeted them cheerily.

“Good afternoon, lads. Looking for any book in particular?”

“I’m not a part of this. I just happen to be with him physically.” Toby quickly asserted. Douxie quirked a brow at the odd statement. Jim pushed forward aggressively. Doux had the sense to back away from the boy.

“I’m onto you, wizard. Just what did you do to my sister? Did you slip her a love potion? Is that bracelet she’s been wearing charmed?” Jim growled. Toby cringed on the sidelines.

Douxie blinked. “Excuse me?”

“There’s no other explanation for your ‘relationship’. You’ve got to be magicking her. And I won’t just sit here and let it happen. That’s my sister and it’s my job to protect her from creeps like you.”

Douxie took in the boys words, and a deep breath. He tried his best not to sound too defensive and provoke the kid further, “Okay, wow. That’s quite an accusation there, friend.” He moved away from where the boy had backed him into a bookshelf. “You know, out of all that you just implied, the part I think I’m most offended by is the fact that you’d think I’d mess with Y/n’s free will like that.”

Douxie straightened some books on a nearby display. “You know Jim, when it comes to love-” Jim stormed out of the bookstore before Doux could take his lecture any further, grabbing Toby by the arm so he’d follow. Toby mouthed a big ‘I’m sorry’ to Doux as he was pulled out of the store.

***

Jim’s pencil felt abused. He was furiously scribbling the answers to his homework with a heavy hand. He still had a lot of pent up rage, even after accosting poor Doux. After snapping his lead for the seventh time in the hour, Jim decided that switching subjects to Spanish instead of math for a bit might help him calm down. He moved to his bed to start the assigned reading. He laid on his stomach, propping up his head in his hands to see his textbook. His blue eyes perused the paragraphs punctuated by cheesy cartoons. He was halfway through the third page when a knock came at his door. Taking a deep breath, he called for whoever it was to let themselves in. His sister stepped into view.

Jim ran a hand through his dark hair. Here comes the scolding. He didn’t even have to ask if Y/n had heard about what he’d done today. If Douxie himself hadn’t told her then Tobes certainly did. Jim wasn’t proud of it, now that it was all said and done. He knew he deserved whatever Y/n was about to dish out. He sat up and crisscrossed his legs. She pulled his desk chair over and sat backwards in it so that she was facing him on the bed.

That’s it. No scolding came. She just sat and looked at him, neutral faced. He squirmed at the nothing. She lifted up the coffee mug in her hands and took a slow sip, not breaking eye contact with him. Jim began to sweat. He tried to avoid her gaze by looking down at the floor, but he could still feel her eyes upon him. Sighing, he had to admit defeat.

“Okay, so I do feel bad about what I said to Douxie today.” He looked back up to meet Y/n’s eyes. She raised a brow. “It was wrong of me to jump to conclusions like that, I’m sorry.”

Y/n appeared to be satisfied by that. A smile spread across her face and she nodded to him. She stood up, and ruffled his hair on her way out. Still refusing to break her silence, she motioned for him to follow her downstairs.

***

Y/n set her coffee cup down on the table. She pulled another mug out of the cabinet for Jim. Grabbing the coffee pot from its nest under the coffeemaker, she filled Jim’s mug and topped off her own. Sliding the mug across the table to Jim, she sat down. Jim could smell the aromas of the several colorful dishes baking that he could see through the screen of the oven door. Strange, it was already half past nine. There was cinnamon in the air, so at least one of those dishes contained dessert. Jim’s stomach growled at the thought.

“You know I’m not the one you should have to apologize to, Jimbo.”

“I know, I know,” He looked at the ground, “I’ll go talk to him tomorrow after school.”

Silence filled the kitchen again. Y/n took a sip of coffee. This conversation was going to be hard. She wasn’t particularly looking forward to it. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped. She took yet another long sip of coffee to figure out a good enough way to word this. She took a breath.

“So, uh- listen Jimbo. I- I know it’s tough, ya know, with it just being us. And our family’s tight because of it. But you can’t get so protective that new people can’t join it. Or even try.”

Jim took a breath, “I know it’s just, I-, what happens when we, when you, get so attached to him, and he decides that he doesn’t care for you anymore. When he turns out to be bad. When he just disappears. Like- like they do.”

“Oh, Jim,” She reached across the table for his hand. “That’s my risk to take, Jim. I fully recognize that what I’m doing is hazardous and I could get hurt really bad. But I still chose to do it. I choose it every day. We all do, when we fall in love.”

Jim took a sip and lingered, staring into his cup. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” He chuckled, “I know I’d be devastated if Claire ever wizened up and left me.”

“Look, you gotta trust me okay? Douxie isn’t dad or Strickler. I promise. He’s kind. I trust him. After you apologize, I think you really should start to make an effort to get to know him. If not for me, for Claire dude. And I think you’ll really like him. Promise you’ll give him a chance?”

Jim sighed in defeat. “Alright. I promise.”

She stood up and stretched out her back, making those stretching noises that people do. She checked the food in the oven. The buns were ready, but the quiche still needed a few minutes. She took out the pans and put them on the cooling rack. After fanning them for a few seconds, she turned to Jim, “So you want a spinach bun or a cinnamon bun?”

“How is that a question?” Jim laughed.

“Spinach bun it is then,” She teased as she tossed him the cinnamon one.

“What’s all this for anyway?” He gestured to the oven and the buns.

“Oh, uh, its actually for a date tonight?” She looked warry of how he’d react.

“Okay,” He guessed now would be as good a time as ever to start letting this go, “You crazy kids have fun.” Y/n laughed, relived.

Douxie had just finished up the sweeping and was ready to close up. As he headed to towards the front doors, he took one last look around the place to make sure he didn’t miss anything. All clean and tidy. Whoever opened tomorrow would appreciate it. He flipped the neon sign from open to nope and started locking up. Which is when his girlfriend pounced on him and almost gave him a heart attack. She just appeared out of thin air to tackle him into a hug. Scared the living daylights out of him. Y/n apologized profusely when she noticed him freak out but was still snickering between sorries so she probably didn’t mean it. He asked her just what the hell she was doing here and she picked up a picnic basket that was on the ground to show him.

“I just knew a certain wizard hadn’t eaten yet tonight.”

***

Y/n felt the ground beneath her back through the picnic blanket. The new spring growth had made them a cushion of sorts. Her head rested in the crook of Douxie’s shoulder as his arm was wrapped around her. It was nice here. Comfy. She could smell his hair and feel his chest move as he breathed. Their heartbeats made a nice rhythm to accompany the cricket song and the noise of the trees swaying. The stars were so lovely tonight. Stellar.

Douxie broke the quiet. “So I brushed up on my astrology.”

“Oh yeah?” Y/n quirked her brow. Astrology was one of her biggest interests. She’d loved it since her grandmother had given her a book about it when she was small. It was a well-worn, well-loved book. Her grandmother had handwritten things in the margins too. She’d been talking Douxie’s ears off about it during work earlier that week. Something was just so fascinating about how there were gorgeous balls of light in the sky that could tell you the future. There really was magic embedded in the fabric of the universe. It was sweet that he would care enough to learn about her interests. Very sweet indeed. The fact that he went out of his way just so he could talk to her about something she loved? Tooth-rotting. She wasn’t sure if her heart sped up because she was excited to talk about astrology or because of the sugar rush he just gave her.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve needed to look at constellations, we do have GPS now, but I think I remember enough,” He pointed to the sky, “That’s Pisces, right?”

“Yes!” Y/n couldn’t stop herself from smiling so wide her cheeks hurt.

“And that’s Aries, which marks the beginning of spring,” He looked back at Y/n who nodded to him, “oh, and look! We can see Venus tonight.”

“Hey Douxie, I love you. And You’re really making me want to kiss you right now.”

He chuckled and wiggled his eyes brows teasingly, “Ah, yes, I am aware of the effect I have.” She rolled her eyes and put her hand on his face to push him away. If he saw the blush creeping up on her, he’d just get flirtier. She wasn’t sure she could handle that. Something caught her eye and instantly stole her attention.

“Look! A shooting star! Make a wish Doux.” She pointed to the streak of light that flashed.

“I don’t need wishes when I’m here with you, Love.” If her face was pink before it was bright red now.

Y/n hid her face in her hands, “No! You were supposed to say something silly,” She came back up to look him in the eyes, “not something that makes me want to kiss you even more.”

He leaned his head in closer, “Well, what’s stopping you, Y/n”

Well, that was obviously a dare. She couldn’t not kiss him now. So she did. They melted into it instantly. At first it was sweet and slow, but they got a bit hungrier, and the kiss got a bit sloppier. Douxie smelled like the bookstore, Y/n loved the smell of the bookstore. It was everything safe in her life. He was everything safe in her life. Her best friend. He brought his hand up to cup her cheek. He loved how her lips just fit together with his perfectly. Y/n Lake was everything he’d been waiting for all these years. Soft and kind, with such a beautiful heart. Not to mention, a badass. Yet, even with all his ancient baggage, she still cared for him. Made him feel like new again. Out of all the wizards of Arcadia Oaks, she chose him. He still couldn’t believe it. They pulled apart way sooner than either of them wanted, but they did have to breathe, so it had to be done. Locked in Douxie’s gaze, Y/n broke the intensity to giggle.

“But really, I was setting you up for a joke. You know what you could have done with that, Doux?” She teased.

“I’ll remember that for next time, Love.”

“Ah, they’re super rare. This is the first time I’ve ever seen one in all my stargazing years.”

“Well, we’ve got plenty of time to see the next one. And the next one. All the shooting stars you want. Only seeing them every few decades could make them a special little thing for us.” He said so nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just implied that he expected their love to last for countless decades. As if it were a given. Suddenly it hit her. She could live thousands of years by his side. She would live thousands of years by his side. This was it. She wasn’t even sure humans could turn this vivid a shade of red. Y/n’s heart was gonna pop if it beat any harder.

“Stars, are you just hellbent on making me combust tonight? It too hot out here for this.” Douxie just laughed, a twinkle in his eye. She focused on her beloved stars to calm her down. She sighed, “The stars really are beautiful tonight.”

“You know what else is beautiful?”

“Me?”

“You- aww, you’ve heard that one.”

Y/n’s snort rung in the air. So, he does just have a bank of pick-up lines he’s pulling from. Interesting. Guess it must be tough having to be Arcadia’s most charming waiter. They stilled again. The comfortable silence embraced them. And they could have basked in it all night, if Douxie had not a burning question he had been waiting to ask his beloved.

“So- uh,” She looked to him expectedly, “Do you think there’s life out there?”

Y/n tried not to laugh too hard with Douxie’s very serious tone, “Yeah, yeah I do.”

Now it was Douxie’s turn to smile so wide his cheeks hurt. “Really?”

“Yeah,” She said, “I think it’d be kinda arrogant to assume that with all that vastness up there that we’re the only ones who exist.”

“That’s a really good point.” Douxie said excitedly. He pulled her tighter into his embrace and snuggled. “I think I’m going to use that on Zoe next time she tries to tell me that I’m crazy and aliens aren’t real.”

“Yeah Babe! Win that argument!” Y/n encouraged.

She peppered his face with kisses. That big smile stayed on his face as he closed his eyes in delight. He repaid her with a nose kiss. And she repaid that by starting another snogging session.

***

Little did they know that shoot star was really aliens akiriddion spaceship crash 3below wait shit the akiriddions landed in like season two and ive set this in one ugh just pretend like this makes sense hfhadhiufs

[justcallmenikki7]

The art of Cheating

Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x Reader - Soulmate Au

Summary: Soulmate au where you get marks on where your soulmate has written on your body.    ~    One of the downfalls of this is your name, phone number, or address will not appear on your soulmates skin.

Warnings: fluff, literal fluff, angsty-ish?

Notes: I apologize for my lack of updates. A lot of stuff has happened in my life and it has made it to where I have a really bad writers block. I am going to try my hardest the next two, or one and half weeks to get good updates going. 

Soulmate Au Masterlist

The first time you woke up to the feeling of someone writing on your skin, you were freaked out because no one, physically, was in your room. You were very confused and very scared to find out that out. This is when you had no knowledge of soulmates. So, at fifteen years of age, you ran crying to your parents at three a.m., demanding to know why a ghost was writing on you in a different language. Your assumption of a ghost writing on you had both of your parents laughing, making you irritated about how they are not taking this situation serious. Once they were calmed down, they explained to you how this was your soulmate writing on their skin, not knowing that they are writing on their soulmate, too.

Shocked, you gaped at your wrist, watching the beautiful symbols appear on your skin in messy scribbling.

“I have a soulmate?” You asked aloud, not believing your parents words.

“Yes, sweetie. It appears to be that they are Korea,” your mother responded, smiling at the thought.

“Am I able to write back to them?” You asked, getting excited at the thought of knowing (in a sense) your soulmate at this age.

Instead of responding, your mother handed you a pen, an encouraging smile on her face. Taking the pen from her, you clicked on the pen, and began to write back.

--

Across the world in his bedroom sat Jungkook in his desk chair, determinedly scribbling down answers for his Chemistry exam. It was six a.m. and Jungkook was not ready to fail a stupid chemistry exam that he does not even care about. Does that make sense? To Jungkook it does, but his hyungs think differently. So, the moment when Jungkook saw a foreign language being written on his other arm, he almost flew out of his chair.

“What the fuck?” He questioned, bizarre apparent in his tone. Grabbing his phone quickly, he went to his translator app, snapping a picture of the letters, and he waited for the app to load the translation. What felt like hours, which was only seconds, the translation loaded;

Hi, my name is Y/N, and I am your soulmate.

“Soulmate?” He questioned aloud, “I have a soulmate?” And after that astonishment, Jungkook went to his contacts and called the only hyung that he would know would have the answers – Namjoon.

--

Ever since that night, both you and Jungkook started your journey of learning about one another. Currently, you are 21 while Jungkook is 23. It is a struggle by talking to one another without knowing their name. That is why, six years ago, you both suggested on giving one another a ‘name,’ which yours is fluffy and Jungkooks is bunny. Jungkook was the one who picked your nickname out because of how you were telling him about your collection of fluffy blankets. You came up with his nickname, ‘bunny’ by his love for bunnies.

You decided that you wanted to move to South Korea to study economics. You told Jungkook about this, something that he was ecstatic for, but also upset because he wanted to move to the United States to try and find you. The both of you knew that this was impossible because you the soulmate that you both have restricts you both from writing down each other’s name, location, and anything that basically gives you away. But you knew that Jungkook (bunny) was Korean, making it easy for you to track him down basically. The thing is, too, you do not know where in South Korea he lives.

That is why you applied for Seoul National University – the capital of Korea.

--

Jungkook knew that you moved to Korea by how you mentioned that Kimichi was weird, but kind of good. The excitement that Jungkook felt was unimaginable. The thought of meeting you and being able to find his soulmate was something that he only could understand. His friends make fun of him for this, but he only laughs them off. He knew that one of these days they will be able to understand his excitement, the emotions that he is feeling.

What he hates is that you both cannot tell each other what part of Korea the both of you are in. the soulmate bond limiting your ability to find one another is getting to Jungkook. He really wants to find you, and you him.

--

Your Korean is very broken. Having to use your phone to help translate paragraphs and certain sentences is helpful but talking to someone who has the mother tongue of Korean is very hard. So, finding someone to help you study for economics was hard. Choosing the route to stick with yourself to study instead of finding a partner was not the right plan.

As you were reading your economics book, you began to feel the all too familiar scribbles on your wrist. Looking down, you recognize a phrase from your book that your studying.

“No. Fucking. Shit.” You paused on each word, not believing what you are currently reading. Tears pricked your eyes, the tear falling onto your wrist, making it to where one of the words blurry. Grabbing a pen, you began to write a phrase that your teacher always says, hoping that your soulmate gets what you are implying.

When Jungkook saw the familiar phrase, he freaked. Jumping up from his chair, he began to run to the living room of the dorm, yelling at his hyungs. “MY SOULMATE IS IN THE SAME CLASS AS ME. SHE’S HERE!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, tears of happiness welling up in his eyes.

Taehyung jumped up from the couch, equally excited as his best friend, “YOU HAVE CLASS TOMORROW! SHE’LL BE THERE!”

--

Where the hell are you, soulmate, both you and Jungkook thought, scanning the classroom.

You bit your lip, trying to think of how to make it easier for both you and your soulmate to find one another. Tapping your pen against your chin, you thought of an idea – looking beside you, you saw that the person next to you has gauges in their ear.

Gauges, you wrote down on your wrist.

Jungkook looked down at his wrist, seeing the word. Looking up, he began to scan the classroom for anyone with gauges. Maybe this is the person next to them? Jungkook thought. Doing the same thing, he wrote down spikey, referring to the guy sitting next to him that has spikey hair. He saw a girl sitting next to a guy with gauges in the front row looked down at their wrist, making something spark in his chest.

It’s her, I know it’s her.

You looked up from your wrist, turning around in your seat to see if anyone has spikey hair, that is until your eyes landed on a boy looking directly at you. That moment when both your eyes met, you knew that it was him. You knew that you found your soulmate. The feeling of your stomach doing a summersault, heart feeling as if it was exploding, and the urge to go and be right next to him overwhelmed you.

The both of you knew that neither of you could sit for an hour and fifteen minutes, not being able to talk or be right next to each other would be possible. Following your soulmates lead, you grabbed your back pack and phone before standing up and basically running out of the lecture room. Once you made it to the hall, you began searching for him. Not seeing him anywhere caused a wave of panic take over your body, that is until you felt a hand on your shoulder.

Turning around, you were met with him, your soulmate, your happy ever after. One feature you noticed was his bunny like smile.

“Bunny.” You gasped, tears welling up in your eyes.

“Fluffy.” He whispered back.

[alinaastarkov]

Are there any specific Jonrya Quotes that doesn't mean sibling love? If so which ones?

Yes! Loads! Thanks for this ask.

She [Ygritte] is no older than I am. Something about her made him think of Arya, though they looked nothing at all alike. "Will you yield?" he asked, giving the dirk a half turn. And if she doesn't? - Jon VI ACOK

I don’t know about you guys, but it’s not often I’m romantically attracted to someone who immediately reminds me of my sibling. But hey, maybe that’s just me.

Ygritte watched and said nothing. She was older than he'd thought at first, Jon realized; maybe as old as twenty, but short for her age, bandy-legged, with a round face, small hands, and a pug nose. Her shaggy mop of red hair stuck out in all directions. She looked plump as she crouched there, but most of that was layers of fur and wool and leather. Underneath all that she could be as skinny as Arya. - Jon VI ACOK

Once again, I tend not to imagine my (future) romantic partner’s naked body and think of my sibling. I’m starting to sense a pattern 🤔

"NO!" Arya and Gendry both said, at the exact same instant. Hot Pie quailed a little. Arya gave Gendry a sideways look. He said it with me, like Jon used to do, back in Winterfell. She missed Jon Snow the most of all her brothers. - Arya I ASOS

Even Arya is comparing her (future potential) love interest to Jon. It’s an epidemic!

She reminded him a little of his sister Arya, though Arya was younger and probably skinnier. It was hard to tell how plump or thin Ygritte might be, with all the furs and skins she wore. - Jon II ASOS

Yet another instance of Jon thinking of Ygritte’s body beneath her clothes and thinking of Arya. Hmm, suspicious 👀

"If you kill a man, and never mean t', he's just as dead," Ygritte said stubbornly. Jon had never met anyone so stubborn, except maybe for his little sister Arya. Is she still my sister? he wondered. Was she ever? - Jon III ASOS

Kind of strange to question his relationship to Arya, especially after all of those inappropriate thoughts regarding Ygritte. And to question only Arya? Seems like someone really wishes they weren’t blood related so it wouldn’t feel wrong to think of her that way...

"It wasn't Longspear, then?" Jon was relieved. He liked Longspear, with his homely face and friendly ways. She punched him. "That's vile. Would you bed your sister?" "Longspear's not your brother." - Jon III ASOS

Real smooth, Jon. Real smooth. Notice how he totally dodges the question? How we never get an answer on if he would bed his sister? Perhaps because the answer is yes?? Notice how this sounds a lot like it might tie in to “their passion will continue to torment them until the secret of Jon’s parentage is revealed in the last book”? Very suspicious.

"He's with the Night's Watch on the Wall." Maybe I should go to the Wall instead of Riverrun. Jon wouldn't care who I killed or whether I brushed my hair . . . "Jon looks like me, even though he's bastard-born. He used to muss my hair and call me 'little sister.'" Arya missed Jon most of all. Just saying his name made her sad. - Arya VIII ASOS

“I know where we could go," Arya said. She still had one brother left. Jon will want me, even if no one else does. He'll call me "little sister" and muss my hair. - Arya XII ASOS

Maybe not explicitly romantic per se, but it is telling that she genuinely believes her own mother and brother would not want her for superficial reasons and because of the people she killed in self-defense, but her belief in Jon doesn’t waver for a single second.

Jon has a mother. Wylla, her name is Wylla. She would need to remember so she could tell him, the next time she saw him. She wondered if he would still call her "little sister." I'm not so little anymore. He'd have to call me something else. - Arya VIII ASOS

Arya’s questioning her relationship with him too?! To distance herself from him and subconsciously make it easier to deal with romantic feelings in the future?! Will it ever end?!

"It's just a sword," she said, aloud this time . . . . . . but it wasn't.  Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell's grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan's stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow's smile. He used to mess my hair and call me "little sister," she remembered, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes. - Arya II AFFC

This is so sweet and the specificity of his smile over the more general descriptions of the rest of her family mark it out as different in some way.

She had never cared if she was pretty, even when she was stupid Arya Stark. Only her father had ever called her that. Him, and Jon Snow, sometimes. Her mother used to say she could be pretty if she would just wash and brush her hair and take more care with her dress, the way her sister did. To her sister and sister's friends and all the rest, she had just been Arya Horseface. But they were all dead now, even Arya, everyone but her half-brother, Jon. Some nights she heard talk of him, in the taverns and brothels of the Ragman's Harbor. The Black Bastard of the Wall, one man had called him. Even Jon would never know Blind Beth, I bet. That made her sad. - The Blind Girl ADWD

Arya loves Jon so much she wishes he could meet her alter-egos too. Ugh, the romantic angst is too much.

"He's to marry Arya Stark. My little sister." Jon could almost see her in that moment, long-faced and gawky, all knobby knees and sharp elbows, with her dirty face and tangled hair. They would wash the one and comb the other, he did not doubt, but he could not imagine Arya in a wedding gown, nor Ramsay Bolton's bed. No matter how afraid she is, she will not show it. If he tries to lay a hand on her, she'll fight him. "Your sister," Iron Emmett said, "how old is …" By now she'd be eleven, Jon thought. Still a child. "I have no sister. Only brothers. Only you." Lady Catelyn would have rejoiced to hear those words, he knew. That did not make them easier to say. His fingers closed around the parchment. Would that they could crush Ramsay Bolton's throat as easily. - Jon VI ADWD

Once again, Jon thinks of Arya in a way that a brother really shouldn’t think of a sister. Funny how he specifically says “Ramsay Bolton’s bed”, and not just any man’s bed? Maybe because he can imagine her in someone’s (his)? Either way, weird thing to think about, Jon. And a very violent reaction to your sister’s marriage. Way more than his reaction to another sister’s marriage. Definitely intense feeling that goes beyond sibling bond.

"I have no sister." The words were knives. What do you know of my heart, priestess? What do you know of my sister? Melisandre seemed amused. "What is her name, this little sister that you do not have?" "Arya." His voice was hoarse. "My half-sister, truly …" - Jon VI ADWD

Need I say more?

Jon felt fifteen years old again. Little sister. - Jon IX ADWD

This is not so big in terms of non-sibling feelings but it is a very intense reaction and also I love Jon being such an emo little shit here cause... Jon, bby, you’re sixteen. Calm down.

The girl smiled in a way that reminded Jon so much of his little sister that it almost broke his heart. "Let him be scared of me." The snowflakes were melting on her cheeks, but her hair was wrapped in a swirl of lace that Satin had found somewhere, and the snow had begun to collect there, giving her a frosty crown. Her cheeks were flushed and red, and her eyes sparkled. "Winter's lady." Jon squeezed her hand. - Jon X ADWD

This is such a romanticised scene and the fact that it mentions Arya at the same time, and Jon’s intense feeling again, gives me pause and made me put it on this list.

It had been so long since he had last seen Arya. What would she look like now? Would he even know her? Arya Underfoot. Her face was always dirty. Would she still have that little sword he'd had Mikken forge for her? Stick them with the pointy end, he'd told her. Wisdom for her wedding night if half of what he heard of Ramsay Snow was true. Bring her home, Mance. I saved your son from Melisandre, and now I am about to save four thousand of your free folk. You owe me this one little girl. - Jon XI ADWD

Again, veeeerrry intense feelings, the mention of her wedding night again, and the fact that he once more questions his relationship with her. It’s too repetitive and obvious not to mean something.

You know nothing, Jon Snow. He thought of Arya, her hair as tangled as a bird's nest. I made him a warm cloak from the skins of the six whores who came with him to Winterfell … I want my bride back … I want my bride back … I want my bride back … "I think we had best change the plan," Jon Snow said. - Jon XIII ADWD

So, Jon thinks of his former lover and Arya right after, repeats the phrase “I want my bride back” specifically in reference to Arya, and imo “bride” is not what you call someone you have only platonic/ familial feelings for. That would be very weird. Then he abandons all his vows, something he had the opportunity to do and didn’t at least 3 separate times, for and only for Arya, and if that ain’t just the most romantic shit you ever heard. And then of course he literally dies with her as his last thought. Romantic. As. Fuck!

There is more than this, but you asked for things that don’t also mean sibling love, so here you go! 🤗

[toddtakefive]

Can I Have a Ride Home? I’m at a Party and I Don’t Know Any1

fandom(s): Gravity Falls, Over The Garden Wall

pairing(s): Pinescone , Mabcifica (mentioned)

words: 5314

rating: M (reasons listed in trigger warnings + swearing)

work type: One-shot , AU

tw(s): homophobia , use of slurs , violence and references to past violence

Also on AO3!!

Wirt wasn’t entirely sure how Sara had managed to drag him along with her to Senior Prom, hell he wasn’t even sure how she had managed to get a suit for him when he’d refused to go in for a fitting, but now he was standing in a crowded gym full of high-schoolers and he already wanted to leave. In his defense, they’d already been there an hour and that was an hour longer than he was at most parties.

If he was going to be completely honest, the party wasn’t that bad. Sure the music would cut off whenever there was a swear - everyone would still sing it anyways -, and sure the punch tasted weird, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad party as most parties go. The reason it was a bad party is because it was a party full of nothing but high-schoolers, and high-schoolers are scary. At least to Wirt.

He lost Sara twenty minutes ago -he’s honestly starting to think she’s underneath the bleachers flirting with the girl from her Chem class- and he’s getting bored so he pulls out his phone and starts typing a quick text to Dipper.

‘Bored. Wish you were here :/’.

The reply is immediate, 

‘Lol r u a postcard??’ ‘Wish I wre ther too <3 drving rigt now txt you lter′. 

The next text he receives is a picture taken by the person in the passenger seat, likely Mabel, with a peace sign while Dipper attempts to get his phone back without taking his eyes off the road. The caption for the photo is ‘road safety laws are bogus B)’. He laughs to himself. Yup, definitely Mabel.

He looks up at the sound of steps approaching, expecting it to be Sara but instead seeing evil incarnate. He takes in a deep breath before plastering on a fake smile.

“Hello, Trevor.” he says. 

Trevor Martin. No offense to the British actor Trevor Martin, of course, but Wirt fucking hates this guy. He’s book smart, Wirt’ll give him that, but that’s his only redeeming quality. Not only is he a totally fuckwad, but he has the audacity to say he’s not and try to date Sara, a very loud and proud lesbian. Like, dude, at least Jason Funderberker had the decency to back off when she came out. Plus, never trust a guy with a first name for a last name.

Trevor, wearing his slimy little smirk like he always does, doesn’t even meet Wirt’s eyes. “So, where’s Sara? I figured she’d be with you, you know, since you’re like her fucking boyfriend or whatever.”

Wirt scrunches his nose just slightly, he doesn’t want this situation to escalate more than it has to. “I’ve told you this a thousand times, Trevor. She is not my girlfriend.”

Trevor rolls his eyes, “Sure. You get pissed off that I’m trying to date her because you aren’t her boyfriend. Got it.”

Wirt shakes his head, “I get pissed off that you’re trying to date her because she’s a lesbian. Which is literally common knowledge, by the way.” he throws away his plastic cup and walks out into the hallway. Trevor, being an idiot in everything but school subjects, follows him into the hallway.

“She’s not a lesbian, she’s just saying that to get me to leave her alone.” Trevor explains, causing Wirt to roll his eyes as he walks.

“That’s not how that fucking works, Trevor. Besides, if a girl is literally resorting to faking being a lesbian to get you to leave her alone, maybe you just don’t know how to take a hint.”

He hears Trevor scoff, “Well she’s dating you, so she isn’t a lesbian.”

“She isn’t dating me! And you do know people can be bi, right?”

“If she isn’t dating you then why are you always talking about your relationship in World Civ?”

Wirt, just wanting this idiot to leave him alone already, stops walking abruptly and turns around. Trevor runs into him and falls back a little bit, he has a look on his face that Wirt thinks is his ‘gotcha’ face, but he’s really had enough of the whole ‘Wirt and Sara are dating in secret’ thing when they’re both very out homosexuals.

“Because I have a boyfriend, Trevor.” he deadpans, and sees that smug look fall off of Trevor’s face. God he loves the look of confusion that floods his features, it’s pure poetry.

“What?” Trevor asks, with all of his genius.

“The reason you hear me talking about my relationship -in conversations that didn’t involve you, by the way- is because I have a boyfriend. He lives in California.”

Trevor looks as though his entire world view just got re-shaped. He’s between wanting to believe and wanting to think it’s a prank, but, to Trevor, Wirt isn’t cool enough to pull a prank like this with a straight face.

The long minutes of silence is starting to get awkward, but just as Wirt is about to walk away Trevor speaks up again, “Wait so,” he pauses, “you’re a faggot?”

Wirt tenses immediately. That word. God he hates that word. The first time he heard it was when he came out to his biological dad when he and Dipper started dating back in Sophomore year. It wasn’t a great conversation, and Wirt vividly remembers the bloody nose he got out of it.

“I- uhm. Y-yeah. I- yeah.” Wirt stammers out. Trevor’s entire demeanor changes.

“Wait, what the fuck?” he says, distancing himself from Wirt by a couple inches. This causes Wirt to snap out of whatever funk he was in. He raises an eyebrow.

“Me having a boyfriend isn’t new information, Trevor. You’ve heard me get teased for talking about him before.”

“Yeah, but I thought they were joking! I didn’t think you were actually. You know.” he makes a wild hand gesture in Wirt’s direction.

“Gay?” Wirt asks with a furrowed brow.

“That! That. I didn’t think you were that.” Okay, now Wirt’s getting pissed. Obviously the use of the slur pissed him off, but not even being able to say the word gay? Come on, dude.

“Is there a problem with that?” He asks, crossing his arms. He’s not entirely sure where this newfound courage is coming from, but he can think about it later.

“No it’s just, dude have you been checking me out in the locker rooms and shit this whole time!” Trevor asks, his stance becoming defensive.

Wirt flinches back a bit at the question. “No. Why would I do that?”

“Because you’re.” Another wild hand gesture. Dude, just say the word.

Wirt sighs, “Gay. Right, yeah. We’ve established that. But I don’t go around creeping on the guys in the locker room. That would be fucking weird. And, again, I have a boyfriend, and you also aren’t my type so we’re covering all the bases of ‘I’d never do that’.”

Trevor takes a step forward that causes Wirt to take a step back, “I don’t believe you.” he says, voice lined with anger.

Wirt, quickly realizing he should have just walked away while Trevor was confused, holds his hands up in defense, “Good for you, but I don’t really care.” he glances over Trevor’s shoulder to see if he could make a break for the door. That idea is quickly thrown out the window when Trevor grabs Wirt by the collar. Wirt laughs a bit to himself, “You know, this looks kinda gay.”

Trevor’s hold on the front of his shirt tightens, he brings his hands up higher to make sure he isn’t touching the other boy anywhere, “Okay! Okay, okay, okay! Okay. Look, honestly man, never watched you while you were changing! I don’t think we’ve ever even had a P.E class together, if I’m being honest. And besides, I don’t think watching sweaty teenage boys change is that appealing. Especially not you, cause no offense you’re not really anyone’s type. At least not any gay persons type I mean! I’m sure some girl at the college you attend will think you’re hot, she’ll probably have kinda low standards but a girlfriend’s a girlfriend, right? And she’ll marry you right outta college, and you’ll become a fucking accountant or something else just as soul sucking, and you’ll have two kids, and a dog, and feel free to cut me off whenever you like.”

There’s a crunch and a massive amount of pain that makes Wirt stop talking. His head is spinning faster than a tornado, but he knows the feeling of hitting the school floor well enough to know it happens somewhere within the time he gets punched in the face a second time and kicked in the stomach the first.

He’s not entirely sure how long he’s on the floor, but he does know that when he finally opens his eyes Trevor is standing above him, heaving, staring at his own hands like they’re covered in blood- oh they are. That is blood. That is definitely blood. That’s a lot of blood. Wow.

Wirt pushes himself off of the ground, there’s an ache in every fiber of his being but the floor is cold and dirty and he’d rather not be down there right now. As he rises, slowly, he can see a steady drip of blood coming down from his face. That’s not good.

By the time he’s fully standing, Trevor looks ready to burst. “Wirt! Oh my god, dude. I am so fucking sorry, I didn’t. I don’t know why I. I never. Fuck I didn’t, I just, shit are you fucking okay?” the questions are rapid fire. Wirt’s a little too out of it to be able to tell if they’re genuine or not, and he doesn’t really care if they are at this point. This guy eats paste.

“Trevor.” Wirt finally says, “Shut the fuck up.” his words are slurred, and it’s obvious he’s still scared if the tremor in his voice is anything to go by, but he really just needs it to be quiet right now. To his credit, Trevor does shut up, but he just stands there.

There they are, two guys standing in a hallway, five feet apart cause one just beat the shit out of the other for being gay. Prom night is great. In his delirious state, Wirt can faintly hear ‘Lover Is a Day’ by Cuco playing from the gym. The beats pulse under his feet, and it’s just adding onto the pain right now.

After maybe five minutes, Trevor speaks up again. “Wirt I really am sorry, dude. I don’t know why I did that. I was pissed and you wouldn’t shut up and I didn’t what else to do! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Trevor hits the locker to his right with the side of his fist. The sound rings through the otherwise empty hall, and Wirt just stares at the first still on metal.

Wirt runs a hand through his hair, “That’s great and everything, but was the getting on top of me and repeatedly punching me in the nose necessary? Or, you know, any of it? You just fucking committed a hate crime dude, do you even realize that?” he’s talking slowly, his voice is tired and he would rather be anywhere else.

“I know! I know it was! But it honestly didn’t have anything to do with you being,” he pauses, and Wirt is about to finish for him before he continues on his own, “Gay. It didn’t have to do with you being gay, okay. I just. I have like severe anger issues. It’s some fucking long ass name, but the shortened thing is IED. It’s not really something I have any control over, and it’s been a while since I’ve had an episode that bad, and I promise it has nothing to do with you being gay or anything! That fucking chill, man! This stuff literally just happens, I swear on my motherfucking yeezys!” Wirt, who is finally coming back down to Earth and is able to process English language again, raises his brow, “ Okay, I don’t own yeezys, but you know what I mean.” He looks down to the floor, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Wirt sighs, wiping under his nose with his suit sleeve. It doesn’t help, the blood keeps flowing and now his suit is ruined. Fuck Prom night, dude. “Look, Trevor. If you actually have a genuine mental illness that does that, you get a fucking pass on the beating the shit out of me part.” Trevor flinches at that, “But you’re still kinda homophobic dude.”

Trevor looks up from the ground, “What? How?”

Wirt shrugs, crossing his arms again. “Assuming someone isn’t a lesbian when they say they are is pretty high on the list. Actually, assuming a gay guy is checking people out while they’re changing is also pretty high on the list. Both of the things you said are pretty high on the list, actually.”

This time it’s Trevor who furrows his brow, “But she isn’t a lesbian. I asked her why she thought she was a lesbian a couple weeks ago and she said it’s because she thinks girls are hot and that she wouldn’t mind kissing them, but that’s normal. Like, I know a couple guys in my classes that I wouldn’t mind kissing or like fucking or something and I’m not gay or whatever. Everyone thinks like that.”

Wirt’s mind just fucking imploded on itself. He’s joking. He has to be joking. Oh fuck he is not joking. Oh dear. Wirt cringes to himself, “Oh Jesus.” he whispers, “Trevor, you do know that isn’t a universal thing, right? Like, you know not every guy would be fine with fucking another guy, right?”

“Wait, really?” Trevor asks, his voice quiet. Wirt simply nods and watches as Trevor seems to contemplate his whole existence in front of him. “But I’m not. My mom told me that I couldn’t be gay, I just needed to find the right girl and it would be fine. I don’t like guys like that, I’m not.”

Fuck, why does Wirt have empathy. If he was a dick he could just walk away from this situation and not feel a thing, but he can’t leave this guy in a crisis. Even if he did just beat his ass.

“Trevor, why do you like Sara?”

“She’s funny, and kinda cool, I guess. I just want to hang out with her more, plus my friends kept saying I should go for it, so I figured why not.”

“Dude, you just want to be her fucking friend. That’s, what you want is a friendship. Jesus dude, you don’t even actually like her do you?”

Trevor shrugs, “I don’t know. I mean, she’s cool and everything.”

“Would you kiss her.” Wirt asks.

“What?” 

“Would you kiss Sara. Or any girl for that matter.” He asks again, slower this time.

Trevor rolls his eyes, giving Wirt a look that suggest the answer should be obvious, but when he opens his mouth, no words come out. It stays open for about ten seconds before he frowns. “No I. I wouldn’t” he lets out a dry laugh void of humor. “Holy shit, I fucking wouldn’t. What the fuck.”

Wirt sighs taking a few steps over to Trevor, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Go home, Trevor. You have had more than enough action tonight.” his hand slides off and he turns around to find the nearest bathroom, he about to round a corner when he remembers something and looks over at Trevor, who hasn’t moved an inch, “Try to refrain from using the f-slur before you figure out your whole mess, maybe?” He gives the other boy a quick smile before walking away.

The nearest bathroom is way too fucking far away, in Wirt’s humble opinion. And why are half of the lights off in these hallways? God, he feels like the character about to die in a horror movie. Thankfully, the light switch in the bathroom was easy to find so he isn’t completely in the dark.

He grabs some paper towels and wets them, and then he finally looks in the mirror. Jesus fucking Christ.

Trevor did a number on him, and if it were any other situation that required less brain power he would be kinda impressed. His nose is definitely broken, if the aching and gushing blood are any indicator, he’s got a black eye, a busted lip, bruises across his face and collarbone -and if the amount of times he was kicked in the stomach is as many as it felt, he’s got them there too- and, the cherry on fucking top, his suit jacket ripped a little bit.

His phone buzzes in his pocket as he finishes wiping the blood from his face, but his nose is still bleeding. Pulling his phone out of his back pocket he finds two new messages. One from Sara, saying she scored with the girl from her chem class and that she has a date next Saturday, and one from Dipper saying they’ve finally stopped driving.

Wirt texts Sara back congratulating her on her suaveness that she most definitely didn’t have (see: nearly puked on a cute girl for complimenting her shoes once) before opening up his texts with Dipper and taking a picture in the mirror holding up a peace sign. He masterfully captions the photo: ‘babys first hate crime <3′. 

His phone rings immediately.

He picks up right away, and is greeted with a very frantic, “Where are you?” there’s faint music in the background, they must be at their dance right now.

“Uhm. The bathroom in hallway E, I think. Why?” Wirt asks, throwing away the bloody paper towels.

“We’re on our way.” Is all he gets in response.

“What? You’re in California how are you supposed to. Did he fucking hang up on me?” Wirt pulls his phone away from his ear, “Wow, okay.” He pockets his phone and stares at himself in the mirror for a few seconds. It’s gonna suck having to explain this to anybody, and he knows his mom will go full Godzilla mode on the school board if he tells the truth, but he can’t just out someone. Fuck, man.

The door to the bathroom swings open and two rapid sets of footsteps approach him, he’s almost expecting to be beaten up again until he’s turned around and hugged tightly. His confusion only lasts for a second when his land on Mabel, but then it flares up again because what the fuck that’s Mabel.

He pushes away from the person hugging him and is met with a person he both did and did not expect to see.

“Dipper.” He not shocked that Dipper did actually find hallway E, they broke in last summer to investigate if the place is actually haunted (it is), so he learned the layout pretty well in that instance, but he’s shocked that he’s even in the room. “Wait. Am I concussed? Is this a hallucination?”

“Er, wrong!” Mabel says, pushing Dipper out of the way and hugging Wirt tighter than a strait jacket. He lets out a sound of pain and she lets him go immediately. “Sorry! I forgot you’re like, dying right now.”

“Not dying, per se, but getting there if my nose doesn’t stop bleeding soon. I didn’t even know I had this much blood, if I’m being honest.” Mabel laughs a bit and wow did he miss that sound. He missed them, really. It’s always better when they’re around.

“What happened?” Dipper’s voice finally enters the conversation, and it makes his heart flutter but also reminds him the situation in which they’ve been reunited. Especially if the pissed off tone is anything to go by.

Wirt shrugs, “I got into a fight?”

Dipper gives him a look, “You called it a hate crime, before.”

Wirt laughs, “Yeah, I know. But it wasn’t, technically? I don’t know I’m still having trouble processing the whole ordeal. But I just got into an argument with Trevor, you know who I’m talking about, and he got really mad so he fucking beat the shit out of me and,” Dipper turns to walk out the door but Wirt pulls him back by the arm, “don’t walk away, I’m not done yet. He has a thing called IED, or something? He didn’t know the full medical name for it, but he said it had to do with like uncontrollable anger? Like it just happens or something.”

Dipper nods, “Intermittent Explosive Disorder.”

“Yeah, probably. But he felt really bad after, and I can’t blame him for having something he can’t control, dude. That would be a dick move. But yeah, we talked it out I guess. I think I just made him question the entire universe.”

Dipper sighs, still tense but loosening now, “So you called it a hate crime, because?”

“Well, I mean, okay. At first I thought he did it because I was gay, but from our little conversation we had after, it was definitely not that.” 

Both twins raise eyebrow, “Are you gonna give us any more info, or?” Mabel asks and Wirt just shrugs. Dipper lets out another, deeper sigh. He’s known Wirt long enough to know that little shrug means ‘never in a million years ever’. 

“What are you guys doing here, anyways? I mean, I’m happy you’re here, but I live in Arizona? It’s like an eleven hour drive.”

Dipper shrugs, taking Wirt’s hand. “Guess I missed the ‘Team Roping Capital of the World’.” he teases and Wirt groans.

“Shut up! You know I think that’s stupid as shit.” He says, and as the twins laugh at him he takes a second to admire his boyfriends face. Dipper always laughs freely, and Wirt thinks that’s one of the reasons he fell in love with the younger (”by two days!”) boy at summer camp. His hair isn’t in his usual baseball cap with a pine tree on it, and is styled just the right way to cover his birthmark. He looks happy, if not still tense about the fact that Wirt got his ass beat. An easy smile finds it’s way onto Wirt’s face as Dipper calms down.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Dipper says, leading him towards the door. Mabel follows quickly behind, flicking off the light. She runs ahead of them, twirling around the hallway and nearly falling over herself in the process.

“So, I know Wirt is gonna wanna bounce because he’s covered in human juice.”

“Stop calling blood human juice.”

“Don’t interrupt me, Dipper. But what are we gonna do when we skedaddle out of here?”

Both twins look to the brunette for an answer, he huffs as he tries to think of something. “We could get burgers and shakes at McDonald's? And then head home, probably. Greg’s gonna be super excited to see you guys.”

“Oh! I can’t wait to see him! We’re here for the next four days, by the way, god I can’t wait!” She pushes open the doors to the gym and the music floods over them. Jesus, was it always that loud? How long had Wirt been away from the party?”

“What time is it?” He asks Dipper, trying to ignore all of the strange looks that are being sent his way. He can’t blame them, it looks like he got mauled by a pack of wild dogs.

“It is, nine forty-eight.” The other boy responds, Wirt nods as they exit the gym into the parking lot. Dipper’s car is still as messy as it was the year before, if not more, but Wirt thinks that just adds to the charm.

Sara, who had apparently been in front of the gym the whole night, drops her punch at the sight of Wirt. “Oh my god! Wirt!” she rushes over.

“I’m fine, Sare. Really. It’s all good.” He gives her a smile, but she doesn’t stop giving him a look.

“Trevor did this, didn’t he? You know he came out here like thirty minutes ago fucking covered in blood and looked like he pissed himself when he saw me. So don’t cover for him.”

“I’m not covering for Trevor! There were circumstances that I don’t know if I’m allowed to share.” Wirt says, gesturing wildly with his hands, thankfully Dipper doesn’t seem to mind.

“Wirt, if he’s blackmailing you just tell me. I can fix it!”

“Sare, I appreciate the thought, but this is really something that should be left alone, alright? I might tell you on a different day, but right now it is confidential. No I’m not being blackmailed, if anything the information I got out of him after everything could be considered blackmail, just. Not tonight, okay?” He can tell she doesn’t want to give up but he really can’t explain all of this right now, “Please?”

She sighs, “Alright. Fine. But I expect a detailed report of what happened tomorrow morning.” Wirt nods and it’s then Sara finally notices the twins, “Oh. You found him. Cool, see you guys.” The twins giver he simultaneous ‘later’s’ and she walks back to the girl from her chem class.

Mabel moves to get in the front seat before she’s stopped by Dipper, “Ah ah ah!” he says, gaining her attention. He passes her the keys and she whines but moves to the other side anyways.

“You fucking suck, Dip-stick.”

“Sorry that I want to be able to comfort my boyfriend in the backseat of my own car and can’t do that when I’m driving.” he opens the back door and motions for Wirt to get in, and once they’re all set they drive to the nearest McDonald's.

Ordering food had thus been the easier part of Wirt’s night, but he’s hoping things will start going up from here.

The food sits in the passengers seat in the quiet car before Mabel presses play on the car stereo. Wirt immediately looks up from where his head was buried in Dipper’s shoulder, a smile crossing his face.

“Isn’t this the mixtape I made you?” He turns back to Dipper, absolutely beaming.

Dipper’s face is red, but he nods. “Yeah. I listen to it sometimes.”

“Liar! He listens to it all the fucking time. I have it memorized by now.” Mabel calls from the front. Dipper kicks the back of her seat, “Shut up! At least I don’t have an entire folder dedicated to pictures of him on my phone!”

“My Pacifica picture collection is none of your business! And you have like eight hundred Polaroids on him on your wall, don’t even try that shit with me!” 

Dipper’s rebuttal is cut off when Wirt presses a kiss to his cheek. The younger boy turns and immediately presses their lips together in a kiss. It’s soft because of Wirt’s busted lip, but it’s still incredible. It’s never not incredible when it’s the two of them.

Mabel makes fake barfing noises, causing Dipper to flip her off, causing Wirt to laugh. They pull up to the drive way, walk through the front door, and are immediately greeted by Greg. He rushes into Wirt, giving him a tight hug. Even at ten years old, Greg still has as much energy as he did at six.

“Welcome home, brother o’ mine. How was, whoa what happened to your face?”

Wirt ruffles his little brothers hair, “I got into a fight with a dragon, dude. I won, obviously, but my jacket didn’t make it out alive.”

“I can fix that for you.” Mabel says taking his suit jacket, she’s almost knocked over when Greg charges into her next which makes her laugh. “Hey there, space cowboy. I missed you too!” She pulls him into a tight hug twirling him around the foyer before setting him back down. Dipper gives him a hug as well, just as tight but without all the spinning, and then Greg’s attention is back on Wirt.

“Okay. Why was this dragon mad at you?” He asks. This had become their thing ever since The Unknown. They would talk as if they were still there, or at least like they were in a fantasy world, and explain things to each other that way. Wirt thinks it helps them cope, but it’s probably just a result of being some weird kids.

“Anger issues.” Wirt says. That’s way too simple a phrase for it, and he knows that, but Greg is nine. He can explain it another day, but this is now and it’s ten o’clock.

Greg gives him a goofy grin, “Alright!” he says, skipping into the kitchen. The three teenagers follow him, Dipper once again takes Wirt’s hand.

“What were you doing in here little man?” Dipper asks, noticing that all of the chairs at the edge of the kitchen.

Greg picks up Jason Funderburker, the frog, and smiles again. “Well, Wirt was at his dance, and I wasn’t allowed to go with, so I made my own! Mom and dad are out tonight, too so I can play is as loud as I want!”

Greg being allowed to stay home alone tonight was a big decision. Not because no one trusted him but... okay yeah no one trusted him. Plus, it was dangerous! But, tonight was their mom and Johnathan's ten year anniversary and his mom didn’t want him to miss out on his Senior prom -no matter how much he assured her he could live without having gone- so it was the only option. No one was available to babysit, again prom night, and they couldn’t exactly take their nine year old to a bar. It doesn’t look like anything is on fire or broken yet, so Wirt can say it’s been a success so far.

“Alright then,space cowboy, lets get this party started!” Mabel says as she turns up the music. The song is ‘You Really Got Me’ by The Kinks, how Greg knows this song Wirt has no clue, and it bounces off the walls echoing up the stairs.

Greg does his weird jump step thing that he’s been doing since he could walk. It’s literally just jumping side to side to music, with the occasional dangerously fast spin, but it’s not a bad move. Jason Funderburker looks sick from all of the motion and Greg stops his movement just to let the frog go.

Mabel has always been a crazy dancer, just jumping around, arms flailing, hair going everywhere from her shaking her head. She’s probably going to poke someone’s eye out one of these days, but at least she’s having fun. Or, maybe she’s trying to poke someone’s eye out. Either way, she’s having a good time.

Dipper makes sure his arm movements hit every beat, spinning around for the parts where there are no hard beats to hit but smiling nonetheless. He looks like an idiot, and he knows he looks like an idiot, but what’s the point in being around all of your favorite people if you can’t look like an idiot in front of them?

Wirt, not much a dancer in normal circumstances, is going all out right now. He’s much more graceful than Mabel is being, but other than that they’ve got practically the same vibe. Except that Wirt actually did hit Dipper in the eye on accident earlier, but that’s in the past now.

The song ends and another begins and that cycle repeats for an hour until they’re all too tired for it anymore. Wirt sits down in one of the chairs, looking out over the kitchen. Greg is sitting on the floor with Jason Funderburker while the twins argue over what terrible movie to watch simply to make fun of it.

They both turn, “Wirt,” Dipper says, “What do you think?”

Wirt smiles. Maybe Prom night isn’t so bad after all. 

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 68 Rundown

Code Geass: Lelouch gets Rolo to Za Warudo Suzaku so he can talk to Nunally for a bit before pretending he doesn’t know her. Then they decide to go hijack Nunally’s airship and “rescue” her before she can become the new viceroy. Kallen gets a flying upgrade to the Guren that matches Suzaku’s “Lancelot but with bigger gun” model and now she can fly too which is enough to take out all of Britannia’s airforce apparently. Still Nunally sees Zero!Lelouch and is like “you’re running around murdering people, that’s not cool” and Lelouch is like “I’m murdering people for you damnit” and turns out Nunally asked to go become viceroy so she can continue Euphy’s “Let’s just all get along” plan which was basically pacification by the higher ups anyway so it’s not like she’s NOT being used but she at least has the illusion of agency and Nunally rejecting Zero kind of breaks Lelouch. Also Suzaku flies in and adbucts Nunally and instead of moving the Lancelot’s arm like one foot and fucking punting Zero into a wall to end this whole thing once and for all, he uses the safety triangle go save Nunally.

Inuyasha: It’s filler time again! This time we do have an admittedly adorable version of Inuyasha being duped into household chores for Totosai while taking care of a young lynx demon that reminds him of Shippo, being nicer to Bunza than he ever was to Shippo for some reason. Still Inuyasha breaks the Mantis Demon (it’s always Mantis Demons wtf) barrier and saves the day before Totosai has to come clean and we get way to much information about his hygiene habits but Inuyasha finally gets the real lead on how to break barriers because the Tessaiga is a swiss army knife of stolen techniques.

Yu Yu Hakusho: We’re up to the third Saint Beast and Hiei is not about to stand for some Ice asshole killing someone for being weak which taps into his tragic backstory gland and leaves everyone else puzzled as to why the most stoic person of their group is so triggered by betrayal he definitely would have done himself. Seiryu and Hiei do the ice tango for a bit before Hiei does ninja shit and no-sells the ice to slash him up like it’s nothing. Meanwhile Suzaku gets his info and is like “Oh boy, Yusuke has a childhood friend to exploit” like all the other villains find out sooner or later. Despite the stupid name he gives the song and the corny one-liners from the zombie teachers chasing Keiko, hearing the haunting melody of the Makai Whistle/Flute (seriously that’s not a whistle it’s a fucking flute) while seeing Keiko go about her day before being hunted down by zombies is pretty striking.

Fate Zero: So Kirei’s like “Oh no, Gilgamesh killed my only servant, better hide out in the church till this is all over” only to have like 39 other servants to fuck around with that are gonna try and get some stealth kills based on the fact no one knows they exist. Also Iskander is walking around Waver’s place in booty shorts trying to reenact Citizen Kang on President Clin-ton and fetishizing bombers and jets. Kiritsugu’s got his guns and shit, ready to do his Homura thing but is worried about having feels now and being a dad may make him only able to kill 999 people without breaking a sweat instead of the full 1000. And lastly we catch up with Saber and Iris who definitely knows she’s being thrown into this to die as Saber’s fake master so Saber takes her out for a night on the town to enjoy herself and possibly question her sexuality. Doesn’t last too long though as their lesbian outing is interrupted by Lancer, seems like the Lancers are just the starter bosses in Fate for some reason since UBW started with a Lancer fight too.

Konosuba: So the last member of Kazuma’s party is revealed, Darkness the Masochist Saber has arrived. I mean I really don’t know what to say about these bits because everyone already knows the premise of Konosuba and going too much into it is probably just explaining the joke. Kazuma gets his steal ability and can only steal panties because his luck is so good and haha irony. Cabbage hunting also happens and Darkness has the Dead or Alive 2 jiggle physics on her tits turned up to Age 102 (god I’m dating myself with that reference). But it’s funny, Kazuma doesn’t seem happy about it but everyone’s just kinda having a good time fucking around and being insane. Like I get the joke is none of this is practically useful but I kinda wish Kazuma would stop being such a wet blanket and just enjoy being friends with everybody while he can, the girls seem to get along well enough together and they even give him praise when he does cool stuff, like really this just seems like a pretty positive (if insane) friend group and I wish he was more down for it.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So our third Sailor Guardian is a priestess fresh off of preparing for the Cotton Drifting festival (wait, wrong anime, thank goodness, Usagi just plain would not survive Higurashi). But I love how Ami convinces Usagi to go with her just by saying there’s a pretty girl there, like it’s so ridiculously gay and Usagi’s just all for it. Rei’s probably the most complicated character so far and gives the most thought to why she’s doing this out of the first three, like Rei literally asks Usagi what she’s fighting for and she badly mangles a Spider-man quote. That being said we’re starting to see that group dynamic come together which is fun and other than weird teleportation shenanigans and teleporting right into the boss’s lair and then just leaving making me scratch my head, this was a fun episode.

Durarara!!: This episode kind of reminds me of a pre-school cartoon show, but in a good way. Like they just pick a theme, in this case “lost things” and have all the characters have a small plot around that and kinda navelgaze on it for a while. Obviously the main plot is Celty’s continuing existential crisis over losing her head and Shinra’s insistence that she doesn’t need it despite him being tied to the pharmaceuticals company that almost certainly has it and he probably knows where it is at this point. It’s an interesting philosophical point that the show keeps bringing up, that Celty has made a life in Ikebukuro and the real disembodied head was the friends she made along the way. In other anime that would probably be the answer but it’s more complicated than that because Celty does feel incomplete without it, hundreds of years of her life and something deeply personal to her is just missing. Shinra’s terrified that the person she’ll become once she’s “complete” won’t be the same woman he loves and will leave him behind and Celty wants to balance enjoying the time she has spent in this town with being complete in a metaphysical sense. She should be able to take solace in the life she’s made but you also understand her yearning and that makes some really good moral quandaries right there.

[darkpoisonouslove]

Winx Club Season 3 Thoughts (4kids) Part 1

(This began about half a year ago and I have only picked it back up recently. I haven’t changed anything from the thoughts I had back then. Also this covers the episodes up to 3x13.)

Okay... I have finally reached this point. I’ve been dying to watch season 3 for the last, like, 4 months and I had to put so much willpower into restraining myself so that I could rewatch the whole series properly. And now that I am finally here, I am nearly shaking with excitement because yessssss! It’s finally time for Enchantix and Valtor. I am filled with glorious anticipation (though, also a bit wary since I do not like the resolution of this season’s arc from what I remember) and so ready to dive in. Here we go:

3x01:

- Oh, damn! Summer vacation hasn’t even started yet? Wow, um, okay, I guess. I need to update my timeline a little bit.

- Seriously, there is Bloom and Sky drama and they won’t even tell us what it’s about? You’re just gonna shoehorn more stupidity in this just for the sake of it? Why am I even surprised?

- Damn, Layla absolutely killed those moves! Well, before Kiko fell on her and they all fell to the ground but that’s another thing. That was some next level coordination and acrobatic skills. I can only watch in awe and wish I had even a tenth of that.

- Why did Stella think she wouldn’t have a Princess Ball? I hope she doesn’t think that her parents think she’s a failure as a princess. And aww, poor baby. She’ll be so sad when she learns that her father is getting married to Cassandra instead of getting back with her mother.

- Seriously, what idiot looked at the Trix and went “Ah, yes! Let’s send Icy, the witch of ice, in a dimension of ice. She’ll be all contained there. Absolutely guaranteed. 100%.” Will you people wake the fuck up, wake your brains and start thinking for real ‘cause you’re definitely not doing that now. Also, let me just say that that was a big leap from Lightrock monastery (or whatever the hell it was) to the Omega dimension. I guess going after the ultimate power is much worse than the Army of Decay. That or the writers have no concept of how to make the punishment fit the crime.

- Poor Darcy and Stormy. They don’t seem to be handling the cold very well. Also, something about Stormy’s line that they’re probably talked about at Cloud Tower is really clawing at my mind but I can’t quite put my finger on it yet. It just sounds like... like she’s not really doing that for the power rather than for the attention and recognition which just starts all sorts of thoughts in my head and none of them lead to anything good, They all make me feel bad for the Trix, though.

- I’ve been dreading the whole thing with Chimera but that scene in the pizza place wasn’t so bad. And Winx tried to be friendly. But Tecna’s “Snap” was hilarious. The girl isn’t taking shit from anyone. I like. XD

- I am not really a fan of the dresses they were trying on but I like the idea of a magical thingy that changes the clothes for you instead of you having to do it manually. Can we get those, please? (Chimera’s “Later, losers” really reminded me of Mandy from Totally Spies btw.)

- Stormy and Darcy aren’t quite handling the ice skating. Also, damn, that snake froze Stormy’s magical beam. That is... freaky... and scary. It looks like they’re in a bit of a pickle.

- And here is where the timeline doesn’t make sense. If Marion and Oritel trapped Valtor in Omega before they proceeded to battle the Ancestral Witches, then how does he have a plaque with his name and sentence on it? That doesn’t make sense. Who had time to sentence him? Unless I got something wrong, then this is not legit.

(- Let’s make one thing perfectly clear. I will never refer to Valtor as “Baltor” or to Marion as “Miriam”. It is just not going to happen.)

- “Frozen dude” I can’t. XD That was kinda a good plan the Trix had there, though if Valtor weren’t so powerful, it wouldn’t have worked because the snakes would’ve killed him and then them as well. But hey, they’re in luck because...

- Holy shit, look at those powers! He totally destroyed the snakes before even working out the kinks from his shoulders. I love the blue color of his magic. I think it makes sense. I am so done with the show not addressing how shitty it must be to be trapped and completely still AND frozen for seventeen years. Instead they just threw in a line about it that only made him look more evil and I will be forever mad about this, thanks. (Can I at least hope that the Trix learned a bit from the whole Darkar experience? Probably not but Icy’s line about Valtor not giving them orders is still giving me hope that will only disappoint me later. (Also, Valtor seems very contained here considering all the rage he has later on. At least he starts out looking more normal.))

- Awww, those puppies were really cute! And Stella and Bloom were so quick to the rescue! That was really sweet! (What the hell was up with Chimera’s powers, though?)

- Oh, I loved Icy’s idea with the snake. It was so clever. And Valtor is already at it with the possession of mermaids. A true demon indeed. I love him.

- I actually like Stella’s pink dress more than the red one. Also, I like Musa’s long hair but it is very weird to me after I just saw her with the short hair, like, five minutes ago.

- Yeah, Sky’s there. Great! Moving on. Brandon was really trying to mess up Stella’s hair, huh? XD Oh, and Musa and Riven are still dancing around each other. (I’m so sorry for this.)

- That rescue was cool. And Layla with the little girl. But why didn’t she just fly to the shore and felt the need to surf instead? That has always puzzled me greatly. She is such a responsible princess, though. She immediately went when she was called upon. Precious!

- Okay, but that looks like Valtor is literally sucking out their souls, wtf! This is so cool/freaky and I am so here for it.

- Um, I don’t like the way the Trix are looking at Valtor. I know he’s powerful and everything but can they just not crush on the weird guy they’re teaming up with every time? Their flirting is just so awkward. Also, can we see them teaming up with a woman for once?

- That moment when you take over a fucking planet (well, not quite but he’s going for it) and you’re like “Damn, I hate being so weak. I need to take my power back”. How much more power? What the hell? I mean, of course I love him but they’re making him so overpowered and they will have to tear him apart later in order for Winx to be able to defeat him and just... can you not? Tone it down a little now so that you don’t have to ruin this actual perfection later gdi! Also, why the fuck would we get a normal motive when we can just have “Power!!!! MORE POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Give me a good fucking motive dammit! Or at least explain why the fuck he wants that power!

3x02:

- Awww! Can we talk about the fact that Radius is so open and welcoming to Bloom? And he knows how much she means to Stella! That is so adorable, I’m gonna cry now.

- Stella is such a supportive friend! She let Bloom into the hall of the universe (that is the coolest thing ever btw) and she was quick to reassure her that Oritel and Marion are alive. And she should know how this thing works so... I love how “it showed them standing” means “they’re still standing” as in “they’re still alive”. That was cool.

- Ahh, he straight up walks through walls. Creep. XD (seriously, that is the least troubling bit about him tbh)

- Did Chimera know who Stella was back at Magix? That would be weird because why would she do anything that would leave her in a position where she needs to kiss up to Stella?

- Stella woke up at dawn? She’s serious about this thing. And she totally dumped Bloom out of bed. Brandon should watch out in the future. Stella can get you out of bed whether you like it or not.

- Chimera was “finger-painting with food”? Umm... Am I the only one who thinks this sounds weird? And perhaps like Cassandra should’ve paid more attention to her as a child?

- Okay, Valtor is smooth. Of course, he simply wants to make their desires come true. I mean, an obvious lie but at the same time it isn’t because he really did give them power. So... nice move there! Also, I love that Cassandra was smart enough to ask what their end of the deal would be (it’s obvious enough but you never know when some idiot will forget to ask about that) and that she didn’t take Valtor’s hand. It could be read as her being a snob (which is probably at least partially the reason behind it) but it can also be read as her being mindful of him despite their “alliance” and refusing to trust him completely which is a smart move.

- Did Cassandra have magic before Valtor? Her ring seemed to be magical but did she have powers herself? So according to Wiki, “Valtor gave her more potent powers” so I’m assuming that means she had some before that. I was leaning towards that but now I am accepting it as canon.

- Is Valtor’s messing with the second sun what caused the shift in atmosphere and the rain? Damn, very symbolic you guys. It never rains on Solaria but Valtor shows up and boom! It’s raining. Both literally and metaphorically.

- I can’t help but notice how Valtor is only surrounding himself with women. Calm down there with the harem, will you? But on a serious note, I think it does make sense. He most certainly grew up surrounded by women and I would imagine his ego and his quest to be the most powerful wizard kind of get in the way of any male partnership. (Proof a - Griffin, proof b - the Trix. I think you get the idea.)

- Poor Stella. So I get why she’s upset but she’s also being a little selfish here and not taking into account her father’s feelings. I really want to see what happened there, though. If Cassandra didn’t have any good qualities, then why did he decide to marry her? That would make him a complete fool and, let’s be real, he’s not. But it could be that she deceived him. Her facade was holding up well when she was giving Stella the necklace the previous day.

- I can’t with Brandon, though. I see it is time for Sky to be the wingman now, closing Brandon’s jaw and urging him to give Stella the gift. Nice! (Also, poor Flora. Stuck there without Helia XD (But didn’t Tecna say that Helia confirmed he was going in the previous episode? Why isn’t he there?)) Why are Brandon and Sky in their Specialist uniforms, though?

- I really liked the fact that Radius said “My princess and yours.” I think it was cute. And the dance! And his worry for Stella! He is a great father.

- How old is Chimera? Bc she called Stella “big sister”. Damn, long nails, though! And that was some magic!

- Okay, Radius was spelled but what about the guards? “Our princess could never look that hideous”? Oh, so it is just Stella’s looks that matter to you. That’s great to know... Assholes.

- Aaaaand... she fell out the window. (What was that magic Flora sent at Bloom, though? Was it to help her speed so that she can catch Stella?)

3x03:

- The rain is anti magic? Valtor really pulled some shit there.

- “All boys are like that”, really? If you really believe that, then why are you all over Riven, Musa? I get why Stella is worried that Brandon won’t like her like that but Musa’s point is just... no.

- Yeah, let the boys handle it because we’re useless without our powers. Feminism at its finest. And a great message to send to all the little girls watching this show who DON’T have magic. Just fucking splendid!

- Aww, at least the dogs recognized Stella. Dogs are great!

- Stella sneaked out to go to parties? Nice. XD Also, anyone else notice the sparkles? Her outfits were always sparkly. At least the royal ones. Idk why I’m saying this. It just struck me.

- Rocks, then spiders. Amazing! They’re in all the trouble. But Tecna is handling this with some wits and gadgets, and just the tiniest bit of magic that you could literally replace with a knife or something. See? Not useless without magic.

- Aww, Stella saved them from the leeches. (But what was up with that? I don’t think leeches make you unconscious. Unless they were some magical leeches that were draining their magic.)

- Okay, I am not quite sure what is happening with the Trix. They were making digs at Valtor but then they start looking at him like that. It’s obviously just because of the power but still. I’m not a fan. Also, didn’t the Trix learn that they can’t beat Bloom?

- Put an illusion spell on Brandon? Shouldn’t that be a no-no? Like, no spelling the boo?

- Weather spirit? That’s proving to be a real problem.

- Okay, I cannot stress this enough but that last part was sooooo stupid. You have fucking instruments in the ship but why the fuck would you check that and get it back up when you reach the lowest possible point when you can instead go blindly into it and rely on Bloom’s gut? Use the fucking tech gdi! Yeah, now you remember the instruments, after the deed. Instead of doing it while you were performing the maneuver.

3x04:

- Those griffins? Damn! Those things are huge. And those were the little ones. Griffin is named after one hell of a creature. Also, I couldn’t help but notice the parallel there between the mother griffin trying to protect its chicks and Griffin trying to protect her students and getting extremely mad when the Trix attacked them. She totally is a mama bear.

- Poor Stella, feeling useless. Okay, but if Brandon thinks she still looks like she did before, then what does he think the spell did to her? Why does he think she can’t turn into a fairy? Also, didn’t he see what she turned into back at the ball? None of this makes sense.

- And Brandon is ready to jump off the ship for Stella. She definitely doesn’t need the spell because this guy is so in love.

- I’m not a fan of the “girls only” thing. Come on, guys! Brandon is clearly here to stay.

- Look at Brandon being all supportive boyfriend (and understanding, too, since he isn’t mad about getting spelled). And the others’ words... I’m tearing up. Oh, and poor Stella who thought everyone only liked her because she was pretty. (And judging by the Solarian guards’ words, for a good reason too (I’m just about ready to go on a killing spree on her behalf).)

- I love that Brandon only gave her the gift (hey, that’s a mirror, right?) when they thought it hadn’t worked. He was there no matter what happened and I just love that!

- First day of school? Bruh, how short was that vacation? Wtf?

- Omg, Stella and Musa’s teasing. Also, plants that write books? Damn, okay.

- Oh, hey! Musa and Stella have new friends. Poor Nova, though. She was scared to tell Stella what was up on Solaria. And it looks like the situation is very bad. Though, they were just letting Stella be serious and responsible and then they had to bring in the “being jealous of Chimera” thing. Nice one, you guys.

- Griselda is rooting for less school work? That is kinda out of character. And so is Faragonda’s idea about the Enchantix too. (Also, don’t come at me with this bullshit that earning Charmix was the goal of the second year. They didn’t even know what the fuck a Charmix was halfway through the year.) And this is further supported by what she said next that the Enchantix will find them when they’re ready. And what if they aren’t ready yet? What if they’ll be ready two years from now? Also, wtf do you mean that they’ll stay exactly as they are if they fail? Who put an expiration date over when you can earn your Enchantix?

- Stella’s reaction about Chimera, though. I mean, I understand, I wouldn’t want to save her either, but still.

- I’m not trying to be a bitch and it is probably the translation that is stupid but the way Bloom’s thoughts went she was pretty much saying “Why did everyone from Sparx disappear before I could save someone and earn my Enchantix?” Again, this is probably just the translation since the imagery of the destruction of Sparx suggested that she was mourning the tragedy but it did sound wrong.

- So does the Council do anything at all? Because the way Layla is telling it it sounds like they’re there like “Well, too bad for Tides. Also, sucks to be whoever he’ll attack next.” Also, if Valtor was defeated seventeen years ago, why wasn’t there a fucking reaction by someone? Layla’s parents must have already been rulers of Tides at the time so they must have known what was going on politically speaking (especially considering that there’s a portal from Omega to Tides). None of this makes sense... Again. (”Creature named Valtor”? Interesting. This isn’t a mistake since he isn’t quite human so... the writers are dropping some hints.)

3x05:

- Why does Omega have an exit? What, you go and collect the convicts after they’ve served their sentence? No, I really can’t comprehend what’s the point of an exit portal. Isn’t the idea of a prison dimension for the prisoners to be... trapped?

- Hey, don’t dis Stella just because she’s worried about her own planet. (We really didn’t need that flashback but it wasn’t so long so whatever.) At least Layla is being understanding and supportive despite everything she’s going through herself.

Cassandra is really using the magic from Valtor, though, isn’t she? Poor Radius. And all the people who are loyal to him. And Stella for having everything taken away from her, including her father. - This part is in the wrong place but it’s true regardless.

- Just teleporting in the middle of a palace. Damn, those things are so easy to invade. They all have to invest in security. Seriously, some teenagers are breaking in with tech they invented themselves (and yeah, Tecna is the fairy of technology but still). You need a better security system, trust me. If they had it, Valtor wouldn’t have been able to sneak around the Solaria palace. Or the Isis palace, for that matter (but I’m getting ahead of myself.) Also, given the problems they faced on Solaria and those they’ll face on Eraklyon, I’d say it is a lot harder to break out of the palaces than it is to break in, which is still important but if getting in was harder, there would’ve been no reason to work so hard on keeping people from getting out, is all I’m saying.

- I am pretty sure those frames where Icy is twirling her hair were in a previous episode too. Recycling animation, I see. I would cut them some slack on account that that was 2006(?) but no, people were actually drawing good animation in 2006. The first episodes of Tom & Jerry had better quality animation back in the early 1940s for heaven’s sake. They’re just not trying.

- It’s Magic Winx time! I am really trying to make the most of those last moments we’re seeing their initial transformations. I’m thrilled about Enchantix but I’ll also miss their Magic Winx forms.

- “Fairies. They’re always trying to help others. And what’s funnier is that they actually believe it is the right thing to do.” This, right here? Giving me some major feels. I am probably reading too much into it (can’t help wishful thinking now, can I?) but this could very well be about Faragonda helping Griffin escape the Coven and saving her from the Ancestral Witches and Valtor’s wrath. He probably just meant it in general, but I now have a new headcanon (sort of).

- Aww, look at Griselda. So caring, so worried about them. They almost blew their cover there. But why use Kiko when there are five pixies even without Piff? Also, how the hell did Griselda buy that? But aww, at Kiko and Stella, too!

- Can I ask why in hell did they just turn around when they saw the wave and tried to outfly it when they should’ve just risen higher in the air and they would’ve been out of reach, the wave passing underneath them? But no, they can just do that other thing instead and take their chances with the possibility of drowning. Epic levels of stupidity again.

- “That wave was kinda refreshing.” I wonder if you would’ve thought that if someone had died.

- Was releasing the other prisoners Valtor’s plan? I don’t think he was planning on doing that. I mean, as a consequence of his actions, yeah, but I don’t think he was deliberately trying to do that.

- Bloom is getting visions now. Why couldn’t she sense that Valtor was there when he could sense her? I mean, didn’t she feel something through the Dragon Fire even when Layla wasn’t talking about him?

- That shot of Icy and Darcy facing each other while a current is waving their hair is absolutely fucking aesthetic. Can I get it printed?

- Oh, he only gave Icy powers? And I am not sure how to react to that scene. She was talking as if she was looking at a relationship with him. Also, why are they there when they know that this isn’t going to end well? This scene is on some other plane of logic that isn’t even anywhere near the one I’m on.

- Why are they so surprised that the Trix are there? Layla already told them that the possibility of them being with Valtor is big. They should’ve known. But damn, that bolt of magic just went straight through Flora’s chest. How is she not seriously injured?

- Why do the Trix suddenly turn very stupid when it is convenient for Winx? Darcy and Stormy are smarter than that. Maybe it could be considered their pride clouding their judgment but still. It didn’t feel right.

- “Does it look like I’m out of the way?” XDDD

- Why didn’t he just let Bloom drown? Problem solved. But no, he’s gotta have his “moment”, his “villain speech”, his “villain honor”. Bullshit. And in the end when she became too strong for him to defeat, he was doing anything but being honorable. The hypocrisy.

- Okay, but to be fair it wasn’t Icy’s fault that they decided they’d won and Bloom turned her back on the battle.

- Holy shit, he just exploded like that! I still can’t understand how he’s so powerful and keeps getting more power. Really, how did they even defeat him? Oh, that’s right, the writers completely tore him down. Jeez, almost makes sense.

- Oh, no, poor Layla! I think that is one of the cruelest things anyone has ever done in the series. And it is, of course, directed at Layla. (Yes, I am looking at the fact that Ogron stole her chance to save Nabu and saved a flower with that magic instead.) (Damn, they’re all so short compared to Valtor.)

3x06:

- Stella somehow got away with using the pixies again. I don’t know how she keeps doing it but damn. That should qualify as skills.

- It is very sweet of them to hold Layla and help her but I think they should’ve offered a more... extensive hold on her. What I mean here is... Story time. We did some exercises in Cognitive Psychology since our teacher said that there’s a high chance we’ll be working with people with sensory disability. So she separated us into pairs and made one of us close our eyes and trust the other to lead them through a course of obstacles. And I have to tell you that I did not feel secure at all when I was only being held by the hand. Our teacher did something similar with us but it was her who was leading us and she had an arm around my shoulders PLUS holding my hand and it felt much better and safer. So what I’m saying with this is that Layla is most certainly freaking out here and she is very brave for not showing it (probably because she doesn’t want to be a burden) and also making steps on her own in her attempt to reach Tressa. That is absolutely impressive and we should all be proud of her. And she’s also ready to fight. She deserves all the hugs and love, and support in the world.

- I’m pretty sure that spell for breathing underwater undermines the whole Sirenix thing in some way but I don’t really remember what was up with that so I won’t be putting that in the plot holes column just yet.

- Flora is swimming like a little froggie. XD And Musa is swimming like a mermaid. Btw why do all the mermaids have this unnatural angle in their tales as if they have legs and have only put on a mermaid costume over them?

- And Stella finally fucked up. I am really curious what the hell she thought she could do. Go to Solaria and what? Get arrested? Not to mention that she was alone. Stella, honey, use those brain cells. They’re there for a reason. I know you want to help but this isn’t the way.

- Since when do corals grow so fast? Calcium carbonate can’t just multiply like that. Get your facts straight, writers. I guess you could explain this with magic but the way it is animated makes the coral look like it’s seaweeds. It looks soft and fabricy instead of solid as it actually should be.

- Aaand Layla is kidnapped. She’s probably terrified at this point. Poor baby needs a hug and months of therapy.

- I don’t understand why you need bravery to cut through the bars of a cell but okay. Attacking a kraken does, in fact, require bravery, though.

- Let’s cause a cave in, kids! It will be fun. And the chance of dying is just about, oh, I don’t know, BIG!

- Why didn’t Bloom make the stupid shortcut sooner? It would’ve been useful when they were running from the kraken.

- Omg, Imma cry. It’s Enchantix time! Despite everything she’s been through, Layla chose to use the healing magic on the queen. Question though, couldn’t they just... wait until the next sunset to heal her too? Or was it a one-time thing. I think the Bulgarian dub (so RAI) said it was a special sunset that only happened once a year or something like that. Which made more sense tbh.

- That line in the end kills me, though. Layla sounds like she’s lost all hope. Poor baby! You can’t really blame her. But did her parents learn about this? Why didn’t they try to get someone on Tides to heal her? Surely her mom or someone else should’ve known about the fairy powder.

3x07:

- Another realm that will have to get acquainted with clouds. But damn, what a team they make. (Also, all the realms that are designed after Asian cultures are always so... harmonic... At least they were before Valtor.)

- The moment when Layla heals herself with her fairy dust is so powerful! And Griselda was so happy!

- Eraklyon is 1000 years old? I feel like that is little, but at the same time a lot. Idk.

- Icy was so mad. Is that some jealousy I’m detecting here? (Also, Stormy’s face at Darcy’s suggestion that Valtor may be crushing on Bloom, I can’t. She even had sort of a shudder run through her, lol.) But still, brave to yell at him like that considering how much more powerful than her he is. The Trix are the epitome of “I do what I want” and I love it.

- It’s the defense system! Idk why I like it so much but I do.

- Why do I feel like Stella and Griselda have sass matches in every class Griselda teaches? Lol, I want to witness those. They’re bound to be epic. But also, why store so many important and powerful spells in a school full of inexperienced students and risk all their well-being? This just doesn’t make any fucking sense. Again.

- Why do I have a feeling that it isn’t a good idea to let students arrange the tomes in the restricted vault?

- You see, this is why you don’t let them organize those books. Because they accidentally release a monster in the library. And of course they’re gonna send Layla, who is currently their strongest member, on lookout duty instead of having her deal with the monster with her Enchantix. At least they were smart enough to protect the books. Well, at least they learned that books can hurt you. In more than one way.

- Here comes the bullshit with Diaspro. Just let her move on from Sky gdi! Also, I love how she wasn’t really bothered by the fact that Valtor just walked into her room like that. Yeah, she was raging at him to get out but did she even blink at the fact that he managed to get in there at all? No? Why would that surprise her, right? She’s all busy being bitchy so that doesn’t even register.

- Stella and Layla have a tough case on their hands. Poor Tune. She looks like she can’t handle this anymore. But I think Bloom is the one at the biggest disadvantage (though, walking with a single book on your head isn’t actually that hard, come on). But she actually managed to master enough stuff in such a short time. And they’re going to the party. (Not that that will end well but regardless.)

- I love how Bloom didn’t even react to the fact that Faragonda knew her parents and hadn’t told her all this time. I would’ve at least asked why. But again, details just don’t register for these guys.

3x08:

- Why is it that in Bloom’s dreams it is always her friends who are taunting her. Your friends taunting you or abandoning you every time you dream about them is not really normal. (They do draw a lot of dream sequences, though, and I gotta say that they are pretty straightforward, very direct and less symbolic which... fair enough, but dreams aren’t always like that. Also, all the dreams they’ve drawn are logical meaning that everyone is doing things they could realistically do in real life and transitions from places are also smooth and physically possible. Most dreams aren’t like that because the part of the brain that is responsible for logic isn’t active during sleep. Which is why I’ve been in a different town and then walked straight into my room at home without any transition whatsoever. And yes, I get how more simplistic dreams would make sense considering it is a kids show but dreams are of special interest to me so you get this psychological/writer rant-y tangent. This may also be due to the fact that I recently watched a killer dream sequence (not quite dream, it was a hallucination but a “guided” one and it was essentially following dream logic so...) and I am still hung up on that.)

(- A sidenote here: I think that the reason Layla wasn’t in the dream is that her planet is also facing the possibility of destruction currently and that makes Bloom feel like Layla understands her even if she already got her Enchantix. And that was why she was both sleeping on Layla’s lap and not seeing her in the dream.)

- Bloom already met Sky’s parents. I mean, I get how she’d be worried around those two but they already liked her in season 2. So why is that here?

- Stella is so done. You know, I would’ve preferred it if they’d let her focus on the fact that her father is under a spell rather than on her title being given to Chimera. They’re making her more worried about that rather than about her father. (At least Layla is showing off her dress. She didn’t get to do it last time.)

- Oh, god, it’s drama o’clock. Seriously, he was just dancing with you and telling you he loves you. Who changes their mind like that? He’s been with her for over a year now. Why would he just do this out of nowhere without any warning signs? All of this is just so stupid.

- Yes, thank you, Stella. Please do go ask for an explanation. And Layla being angry for her friend too. Good.

- Finally someone realized he’s spelled. Of course he is. Why would he call them witches otherwise?

- Valtor has an interesting way of spying on people. I don’t agree that Diaspro will fit in with the Trix and they shouldn’t have reversed her season 2 character development like that. When will they learn, really?

- Layla’s morphix barrier is so powerful.

- “Even if you are spelled”? What is that if doing there? Of course he is spelled! He’s acting like a rabid dog and I think for two years now you would’ve noticed if that was his personality.

- Poor Flora. They had to get the dragons. But aww, Brandon is so ready to do what only a responsible best friend can and smack some sense into Sky.

- Why did the pilot listen to Cassandra? I know she’s acting like she’s queen but she’s not. You can’t just abandon your king like that no matter who else is giving you orders, what?

- When exactly did the spell on Radius break? When Cassandra abandoned him or when he saw Stella lying unconscious?

- That was so brave of her, just standing against the dragon and not caring about the danger, only about her father. And now she’s got her Enchantix. I always loved Stella’s Enchantix. It’s so pretty. Look at her! (Where’s my Enchantix song, though? Now I am absolutely certain that they’re showing RAI dub in Bulgaria. I want my song back. :/ I love it so much and I want it back!)

- (Okay, picking back up where I left off about half a year ago.)

3x09:

- I liked that they showed Bloom laughing at Kiko’s antics despite her being upset. It makes it more realistic than her just being sad all the time and not showing any other emotion.

- Why is it that what happened on Sparx seems to not be general knowledge? I mean, the whole planet died! There must have been a public statement out of the Council explaining what the hell happened and that the threat has been contained. Why does no one seem to know anything about that?

- I like the fact that there are bigger consequences of what happened on Eraklyon than just relationship drama. Makes this a lot more interesting.

- Look, I am not a fan of Bloom at all but I wouldn’t have wanted her removed from the school. I mean, Alfea is Valtor’s target with or without her anyway to give a logical argument at the very least. And she also deserves to be protected if Valtor is after her and not kicked out to deal with it as best as she can. It’s not fair to want her out of there just because there is someone out there to get her. They should be concerned with protecting her along with all the other students instead of trying to feed her to the wolves. Not to mention that if they want Bloom out, they should also want Faragonda out of there since she is a target of Valtor’s as well. But no one dares say that, right? I am just so over this!

- Why are we doing the voice over again?

- Vanessa and Mike are the most precious parents ever and I love them so much! (Pls, don’t ruin this with the live action series.) And also, when will Bloom stop acting like Sky has any control of his behavior? I am glad that Vanessa brought up that time Darkar brainwashed Bloom. A good way to slap her in the face with the truth delicately.

- Aww, Brandon is being such a great friend! And Stella is doing her best to be a supportive BFF as well.

- I agree with Riven on changing the operation’s name. And he was being a bit of a jerk there. Especially considering that he has been in Sky’s shoes as a brainwashed puppy for Darcy. Though, that might actually be what is driving his words. Maybe he doesn’t want to admit that he was outsmarted and spelled by Darcy and that is why he is maintaining that Sky might be choosing all of that of his own volition. (Though, that might be a bit too deep for the writers.) And he did agree to drive them, after all, so he must be saying the truth about not wanting Bloom to get disappointed.

- Why did they have to reverse every last bit of Diaspro’s character development?!

- “Is this a ‘no parking’ zone?” XDDDD

- Brandon truly is the best bf and BFF and I cannot stress this enough. I love him!

- Well, took you awfully long to put two and two together. But at least this drama is about to close. Thankfully, since I don’t think I could have taken much more of this.

- Of course, they get caught. Did that punishment ever happen? I mean, considering what is coming in the next episode, I don’t think we ever saw any consequences for that.

- I get why the news of an arranged marriage can be distressing but I think that Layla was a bit too quick with that “my life will be ruined” evaluation. She could’ve tried meeting Nabu at least before deciding it wasn’t going to work out. Especially considering that it was working out (until they fucking killed him off).

3x10

- (I will probably be talking a lot more about Griffin and Valtor than is necessary. What can I say? When your OTP only gets about five scenes together, you have to make the most of it.)

- Aww, poor Stella, feeling so worried for Brandon! But seriously, why didn’t they think of checking the intergalactic news or whatever? Shouldn’t that be... idk, their first move? Even I thought of that and I don’t even live in that universe. Come on, guys! Use those brain cells!

- Valtor is such a primadonna, I can’t even. Yeah, how dare this place he has completely taken over and pushed to the verge of destruction be so lame and not entertaining? Lol at the line about the spell protecting Cloud Tower from dark magic, though. It will never not be funny.

- Sidenote: Is Griffin the only person in the universe who’s named Griffin? I know that the fact that it’s Cloud Tower would make him think it was her but it could still be another witch named Griffin. You’d think that in the whole universe there would be another witch sharing that name.

- Okay, but that scene made the witches look kinda incompetent. I know they are just students still but they must know that shapeshifting is possible and in that case you shouldn’t invite animals inside either because they could turn out to be the menacing wizard that’s threatening the entire magical dimension. Just saying.

- God, I really hate it when they do things like that. Can we have magic users actually sensing magic and not being caught completely by surprise when someone teleports in their room? Especially if they are the headmistress of the most prestigious school for witches? I mean, she is supposed to be powerful. She should have sensed him or something. I am not saying that that should have given her more of a fighting chance but she should have at least felt his magic. Considering that they used to be partners.

- How do Ediltrude and Zarathustra know Valtor? I’m just curious for more backstory.

- This show has a dreadful way of including flashbacks. I mean, Griffin should know damn well what the hell Valtor’s talking about but they couldn’t find a better way to segue the flashback into the episode so we get that super cringy line instead. I would’ve also really appreciated it if those flashbacks were less stylized. Although - and now I am going on a Griffin x Valtor rant despite having said this before - the way it is animated it looks like they did convergence. And Valtor saying that they were unstoppable when they combined their powers supports that. And all of that, in turn, supports the idea that they were together. Especially since Griffin changed her mind about the whole thing which would mean that their interests in a magical plan weren’t all that aligned and you need sync for a convergence. (And who would prefer the idea of them being just work partners when you can have the moral dilemma of love vs conscience instead?) Anyway, yeah, really not a fan of that part with the snakes because it doesn’t tell you shit about what actually happened and I highly doubt that the Ancestral Witches conjured serpents to chase her. It could have been a good way to show once again how horrible they were but they just wanted to cop out of actually putting any effort into any of this.

- Now that I am done with that rant, I just want to say again how in love I am with young Griffin’s design and especially her hair. It is so long and purple and I just can’t! Also, headcanon that that flower hairpin was a gift from Faragonda. Also also, Darcy could be a spitting image of young Griffin. Just an observation.

- Of course, the magical barrier also protects from rain.

- Oh, boy, here comes another rant. “Why are they attacking us?” Seriously?!?!?! And that coming from Winx who were on Tides and have had two of their closest people brainwashed by Valtor? I mean, are you really that fucking stupid?!?!?!?!?! How hard can it be to put two and two together?!?!?! Honestly, I am so done with all of this!

- Well, that barrier didn’t hold up even for a minute. I know Valtor had all the witches brainwashed but how powerful can they be? Isn’t that barrier supposed to protect them from big threats? It gave way as if it were a house of cards.

- I love the way Faragonda just blasted Valtor through all of those trees although I wish they would have done more with that battle. They could have shown some more advanced spells instead of Valtor and Faragonda just blasting each other. Yeah, he turned her into a tree but we never actually saw how any of that happened. That could have been an epic battle if they had decided to show more of it.

- Yeah, this makes perfect sense. The barrier that all the teachers made together with an ancient spell didn’t hold up but the one Palladium put up with SOME of the fairies is stronger. How does that have any logic? The teachers are supposed to be a lot more powerful and therefore create a stronger barrier. I am so done with all of this nonsense.

- Poor Galatea. Though, I must agree with Icy that she is obviously new since she thought she could defeat the Trix by herself. But her idea to send a message to Musa was good! The one to run instead of fly out of there - less so.

- Yeah, Tecna just stopped a convergence between Icy and Stormy on her own. How does that make any sense?! Winx are way too powerful for the Trix to defeat them even without their Enchantix and none of this helps the tension of the season. I mean, can we have some proportional powers in order to actually have any stakes? They were so much better at that in season 1.

- Darcy, I love you, baby, but how could you set a library on fire? I am in pain. And also amazed by the stupidity once again. Why would a fire on fire attack put out the fucking fire, Bloom?! How does that make any sense?! Oh, and Galatea’s decision to rush back for the books was absolutely fucking idiotic. I get that she wasn’t rational at the moment and probably felt guilty for the whole thing but come on! This is a whole room of books! How did she think she could save them all?!

- Musa’s Enchantix is beautiful but I am not sure it was worth all the bullshit they did just to let her have it. Not to mention that there was absolutely no damage from the fire at all. And, of course, fairy dust can just generate new wings. Yes, that makes perfect sense, why are you asking? (Okay, I am actually going to give that a pass because fairy dust and fairy wings are both magic (and the dust comes from the Enchantix wings).)

3x11:

- I am actually kinda amused by the choice to start off the episode with that shot of the grounds of Alfea smoking after the battle.

- “Lucy, why did you attack us?” REALLY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! How much more stupid manufactured drama are they gonna shove in this?!?!?!... Oh, wait. That is so that we can have Mirta go to Cloud Tower bc that’s a plot device. Nvm it doesn’t make any fucking sense for any of the fairies not to know why the attack happened, especially since Faragonda is missing so they must all know about her battle with Valtor and that he’s behind everything. And then she even asks if Valtor made the witches do it? Well, of course he did, you absolute moron! I cannot with this anymore.

- Lol, Valtor just feeding the Trix’s fight and giving them stupid assignments to keep them off his back is kinda hilarious but it would have been better if they weren’t so ready to fall for it. Come on, they can do better and everyone knows it!

- Yeah, “an unbelievable battle” (Valtor vs Faragonda)... that we saw nothing of. Thanks, writers!

- I swear, the only reason Locket is less annoying than Bloom is that she’s actually smaller in size (and the writers don’t hyperfocus on her).

- Flora’s powers are really cool but why was there so much wind during that spell? It looked a bit too violent for Flora with the way all the trees were bending so intensely. And the trees were scared? Aww, that’s... a lot of things, actually. But anyway.

- If Mirta was going in Cloud Tower, why was she walking away from it? The positioning in this scene makes no sense.

- They literally just wasted almost an entire minute on the pixies that were doing nothing of importance. They could have used that time for something actually meaningful and interesting.

- Okay, I always thought that the green (bluish) and purple monsters were Ediltrude and Zarathustra but I don’t think I have seen anyone else catch on to that. I mean, it would make sense because Valtor’s mark turned the mermaids on Tides into monsters as well. But on the other hand, the witches of Cloud Tower were also marked and didn’t turn into monsters. Though, I bet that was just so we could have the drama of “why are they attacking us?” when the fairies recognized them because they might not have if the witches had been turned into monsters.

- Well, the Trix stood up to Valtor about that guard duty at least. That’s more like them.

- “she claims to be a fairy born into a witch’s body”? I never understood that. Mirta has a fairy form. So if she has a fairy form but is born in a witch’s body... What’s the difference between a fairy’s body and a witch’s one if not the fairy form? Which she obviously has?!?!?!

- Yeah, a door just opens by itself and Lucy is right behind it and Mirta falls for that. I mean, doesn’t the level of convenience tip you off that it’s a trap? Basic logic, people! Is that too much to ask for?

- Here they had to start doing the convergence before Valtor’s spell ruined it and Bloom touched Stella with no problem but later it turns out that Valtor just blocked their ability to touch. Yeah, right. I am not buying that. It wasn’t animated in support of it, sorry.

- Oh, wow. They even managed to hit Valtor with an attack! I’m amazed. However, they’re not anywhere even close to being on his level of power so, again, how did they ever beat him?

- Oh, I noticed the pentagram now! I never saw it before.

- Well, of course, Griffin is trying to escape. What did you think? That she’ll sit idly by? He knows her and he already knew she would try to escape as evidenced earlier. Why is he surprised?

- Okay, so “blocked our ability to touch each other” is actually “blocked our ability to hold hands” which is different. Just saying. And also, since when do they need to touch to do convergence? They were doing convergence without touching just fine in season 2. I maintain that this whole thing with the convergence is a load of crap because they had no idea how to put them in danger otherwise.

- What are these mummy hands and where are they coming from. And of course, Mirta shows up in a last second save. You know, I can see now how she fell for that trap earlier. Everything in this series is too convenient.

- If Valtor could do the reflective spell on Griffin’s cell door, why didn’t he just go for it the first time to eliminate the headaches she caused him with her escape attempts? Oh, my god, does anyone in this show have any brains?!

- They could have tried the fairy dust to save Griffin in this ep instead of waiting for 3x14. But again, no fucking brain cells, man.

- When will they learn that if a thing attacks them right now, there’s a big chance it was spelled by Valtor? I am really so over this. And “the old one”? Really? She’s not that old.

- Yeah, Mirta isn’t an Alfea student. Why would she care to go look for Faragonda along with Winx? We can just send her home, right? No problem.

- Hey, that’s Nabu.

(- Okay, enough about this episode. I gave it enough time and nerves.)

3x12:

- Lucy was spying on the pixies? I have never noticed that. And she turned herself into a snake? Okay, that was really cool. How have I never noticed it?

- I am so over Valtor and the Trix’s bullshit. They are all so transparent, it’s ridiculous.

- Well, that’s one of the few times we’ve seen Stella’s ring lately. She used it a lot more back in season 1 and I have started missing it.

- Yeah, Flora’s sister is not Rose. She’s Miele. Sorry, 4kids.

- Why did Flora ask her obviously-too-little-for-any-of-this sister to talk to the elders instead of her parents?!

- How did Stormy create harpies out of lightning? Was this some sort of Frankenstein thing, except she didn’t even have a body to run electricity through and just materialized the entire damn harpies out of her magic? WTF?!

- Lol, Stormy’s harpies first went for Musa? Yeah, it’s obvious they’re Stormy’s. XD (Why does that harpy look like Lucy?)

- No one can fly through the winds. 3 secs later - Stella, Layla and Musa are flying through the winds. *facepalm* They aren’t the only fairies in the whole magical dimension to have Enchantix, you know? Surely, there are also fairies with Enchantix on Lynphea, which means that there are people who can fly through the winds. Why does this show insist on contradicting itself so often?! (The talk about the Enchantix wings was cool, though.)

- Stormy really needs some anger management.

- My first thought when I saw the sage of Lynphea was “Lady Gaga” XDDD (Also, Alfea, Lynphea... chill, guys.)

- The story of the Black Willow has always been my favorite part of the lore for the Winx world! I loved it ever since I first started watching the show and it’s still holding up!

- Why is Darcy so behind on what Icy and Stormy are doing?

- Aww, Flora is so careful with her sister! And she knows her so well! She totally knew that Miele would want the ladybug to go faster. She’s a great big sis!

- Omg, a cat fight between Icy and Darcy? It’s hilariously bad but I gotta say, they probably weren’t trying to hurt each other truly since they mostly refrained from using magic. And I love the fact that they realized they are fighting over a guy and it’s stupid. Plus, Stormy really isn’t so bad at all and only needs some anger management. Out of the three of them, she always seems to value the presence of the others the most. Just... not in a “friends friends” way. XD

- Bloom was really going to just touch the water and totally forget what they were told and also turn herself back into a kid. Nice one!

- Ouch, poor Stella. She ran face first into that column. But I gotta say that I love how both Bloom’s face and intonation switch to “fuck you” even though she’s frozen to the wall.

- Hey, that thing about Griffin’s Nature Studies class kinda aligns with my headcanon that she loves plants. If you know how to make an environment thrive, you’ll also know how to ruin it. And of course, Darcy aced that. She just loves to ruin stuff and I love her. Also, loving the Trix much more now that they’re back to being a totally evil team!

- Holy shit! Flora just attacked Darcy physically! I am speechless! I did not see this coming. This episode is truly delivering on the action! It is much better than the previous one and the threat is more real. I like it!

- Oh, damn! Flora is really mad to dish out plants that are trying to swallow them! Oof, this is getting really intense and I am loving every second!

- Why are they talking underwater?

- Omg, poor Miele. She thought her big sis would die. Honestly, the Trix deserved to have their butts kicked here just for doing that to her. A sidenote, though - Why do the Enchantix transformations start up with makeup change? That is hardly a priority, seriously!

- Miele should have gotten her Enchantix, too, for taking that blow for Flora. Which btw is stupid because if the blast was supposed to “finish off” Flora, Miele should have been hurt badly but she was just fine.

- Well, of course saving Faragonda is up to Winx, THE STUDENTS! Why would any of the teachers actually try to save their boss?! That would be ludicrous.

3x13:

- Oh, so Saladin is three years older than Faragonda (and Griffin)? Also, “a social call”? Plus, the way Faragonda was talking about his past visits? Yeah, that was not a friendship when they were young. (But I just burst out laughing at Faragonda’s expression when she said she had to wake up Layla. She looked so terrified and it was just a tad over the top for her specifically.)

- Stella was dreaming Brandon had wings and they were flying together? Aww, that is so romantic!

- Aww, Layla and her dad are going to fight together! That is so precious! I love that some of the adults are finally taking action here. It was about damn time!

- The Trix look positively upset by Valtor’s idea to just let the mermaids die. It may be because in a way they are also his minions and if he has no problem leaving his minions to die, then they aren’t too safe either. Though, it seems like they want the people to live but they don’t care that the planet will die. It’s a little weird.

- Stella went to rodeo camp? Man, they really do have cowboys on Solaria, huh?

- Rescue vine? But aww, the way Flora caught Stella was really cute!

- Lol, I guess the Trix aren’t satisfied with the home cinema special “Watching your mortal enemies get obliterated” and wanted in on the action! Well, in a manner of speaking, Valtor saved them by keeping them from going to Tides (although it didn’t get destroyed but they thought it would so it kinda counts). Guess, they’re still useful to him.

- Omg, Layla and her dad teaming up is absolutely great! We needed to see more moments like that and it was totally possible considering that a half of their fathers (counting Oritel) are warriors. And I love that Teredor thought of freeing the mermaids from Valtor’s spell. I thought Winx would have thought of that by now but apparently they still can’t get used to the fact that they have fairy dust now and it can remove Valtor’s mark.

- I still don’t get the need for a portal to Omega. There is obviously another way in because the Trix weren’t dropped in through the portal on Tides. So why leave a portal? This is stupid. Also, I knew the scrolls would get sucked in. It was just too stupid for them to pass up on.

- Okay, it was sweet that Bloom and Layla were ready to sacrifice themselves but why was Tecna able to go near the portal when they weren’t? Also, why did she get her Enchantix? Faragonda said they had to sacrifice themselves for someone from their own planets. Tecna isn’t from Tides!

- Musa seemed the most upset, though. Not that the others weren’t. But Musa was the one that flew in in an attempt to help Tecna and then just banged on the ground like that. Poor babies. All of them. (At least the Trix are happy... for now.)

Part 2 is here.

[writethehousedown]

Last First Day (Lemyanka) - Zyan

A/N: Hi!! I am back back back again. I thought I’d sit out this one, but I ended up having inspiration last minute and here I am. I don’t know if I’ll be able to write one-shots for every day, but that’s what I’m striving for. All of these will be set in Argentina, because I can’t be bothered anymore to write about american schools. Hope you like it anyway! There’s a teeny tiny bit of Kyne/Kiara, because of course there is. My tumblr is @dollalpaca if you wanna hmu :)

(For reference: UPD means “last first day,” and Fernet is a typical Argentinian alcoholic drink.)

Summary: On the night of their UPD, Lemon gets sentimental about her friends and her long time crush on Priyanka.

TW - underage drinking.

“Did you actually buy your school supplies already?” Kiara asks, baffled, while Tynomi is braiding her hair. Lemon is putting away her backpack, already full of school supplies, giving the pair an eye roll. “Who are you, Rita? I barely have an old notebook and a pen left from last year, I haven’t bothered buying anything,” she comments, just as Tynomi swats her in the shoulder to keep still.

“You say it as if your girlfriend wasn’t a fucking flag-bearer, you nerd lover,” Lemon retorts, tossing the backpack on the side of the couch. Tynomi snickers, wrapping a hair tie at the end of the braid just as Kiara tries to throw the hair comb towards Lemon.

Almost right away, they hear the front door open and their friends’ voices announcing that they’re back - there’s also an argument going on, and they can clearly distinguish Kyne’s upset tone while Boa’s voice is being drowned out by Kyne’s complaints.

Lemon cocks a brow in Kiara’s direction when they hear something related to math and money, but Kiara glares at her, so she leaves it alone.

“Geez, we just sent you guys to buy the booze,” Tynomi says cheekily, finally letting go of Kiara’s hair as she wraps the last hair tie. Kiara almost instantly rises from the chair and goes to Kyne side, both because she wants to be near her girlfriend and she can’t wait to get her hands on the bottle of Tequila.

“This stupid bitch wanted to get the cheapest Vodka at the store instead of getting Nikov, which we had plenty of money for - I know, I did the math!” She complains, displaying the alcohol on the table.

Kiara coos, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “That’s nice and all, but I don’t wanna hear about math or school stuff again, it’s our UPD! Lighten up!” She tried to coax her into smiling by peppering kisses all over her face, her hand still firmly wrapped around the bottle of Tequila. Lemon rolls her eyes, taking the bottle from Kiara and heading to the kitchen to get cups for the drinks.

The stars had aligned for her to get permission to host a little party with all the girls of the class before heading to the actual party with the rest of their classmates, and really, she couldn’t be happier about it - but, dear lord, she could absolutely not stand the lovey dovey couples. Who knew all of the lesbians in their year would end up in their class? Not Lemon, at least.

Well, she could tolerate them better if she had a girlfriend of her own, but there was no way her crush would ever—

“WHAT’S MY NAME?”

Speaking of the devil.

The scream echoes around the house, and there’s soon a collective screech. Lemon jumps slightly, gripping the plastic cups a tad too tight before heading to the living room, where Priyanka, Rita, Scarlett and Ilona are greeting the rest. She holds back a sigh, puts on a frown and approaches them with faux offense.

“Go ahead, it’s not like polite people knock the door,” she scolds Priyanka, setting the cups on the table and folding her arms towards her. Priyanka just rolls her eyes and wraps her in a tight hug, Lemon tries to push her away, but ends up giving in. She always gives in when it comes to Priyanka.

“Your shirt looks good, bitch! Love what you did with the neckline,” Priyanka teases with a smile, and Lemon’s eyes dart to her own chest. The shirt is ripped, her bra - equally bedazzled - peeking through. She smiles proudly, because it took her longer than it needed to, and her neck had hurt for three days after. The fact Priyanka points it out shouldn’t make her heart race so fast, but it does, and she has to go greet the rest of the girls that just arrived before anyone picks up on it.

“Anyone knows what the fuck is Jimbo doing for her shirt? That bitch hasn’t answered in the group chat since, I dunno, like January. Who the fuck knows if she’s going to follow the theme,” Ilona asks to the group, as she sits cross legged on the ground, fetching for a bottle of Fernet and a cup, looking around to find a Coca Cola.

Scarlett shrugs besides her, scrolling through their group chat, trying to find any sign that Jimbo had read and understood the theme they were going for with the shirts - but of course the bitch deactivated her reading confirmation. Great. They roll their eyes, hoping and praying Jimbo hasn’t gone out her way to do something extra and chaotic like she tends to do - what’s so hard about distressing a pink shirt, writing your name with stones and then doing whatever you want with the stones left?

“If she ruins the group photos, I will personally kick her ass,” Scarlett grumbles, accepting the cup of Fernet Ilona is offering her.

“You and me, bitch, you and me,” Rita pipes up, “But before we kill Jimbo - don’t you have a stereo, Lem? We need music!” She exclaims, trying to light up the mood, and the rest agrees with her. Lemon quickly gets up, asking if anyone wants to help her drag the stereo from the back of the house.

It takes Rita a split second to push - quite literally - Priyanka to help Lemon, giving Lemon a shit-eating grin while Priyanka warns Rita to not do that once they’re drunk because she’ll fall flat on her face.

Once they’re out of hearing range, there’s a collective giggle around the room, as the alcohol floods and they try to keep their bickering down.

“Do we think tonight’s the night? Anyone wanna place their bets?” Boa is the one that starts the chaos, making the girls giggle as they look at each other.

“I bet Lemon’s going to try to get liquid confidence, but then will chicken out at the last second and end up crying to one of us about how pretty Pri is. That’s what I bet,” Tynomi pipes up, snickering as she quickly downs her shot of vodka.

“Y’all are being too generous - I bet she’s not going to try anything, we know she’s a coward,” Kyne says, earning a pinch on her arm from Kiara, who’s sitting across her lap.

“You’re not allowed to call anyone a coward, bitch, I was the one that made the first move!” She reminds her in an accusatory tone, making Kyne’s cheeks take a rosy tone as she frowns ever so slightly. She shifts on her lap, reaching for the shots of Tequila Scarlett is handing out. “I bet tonight’s the night - it has to be, the hoe’s been pinning for her since, what? Jimbo’s quinces?”

“Calling it a quinces is too generous,” Ilona deadpans, cocking a skeptical brow.

Lemon’s crush on Priyanka isn’t something new, in fact, it’s been a running joke on their group ever since they were in third year and Jimbo was the first one to throw a “party” in which a lot of shenanigans happened - the only thing they could recall with clarity was that Lemon admitted to Juice (already drunk and in the verge of tears) that she had a big, fat crush on Priyanka.

It wasn’t funny at the moment, since poor Juice didn’t know what to do to calm her down, but as time went by and everyone picked up on Lemon’s obvious crush, it turned into an inside joke that always earned them a glare from Lemon, and a confused stare from Priyanka.

But it’s been three years since then, and this is their last year before they have to go to college, possibly move out and leave their boring little town, get jobs and be functioning adults with little to no time to see each other - as much as they joke about Lemon being an useless lesbian, they just want her to be happy on their last year together.

“Rita, you’re the one that has an iPhone, use that notes app of yours to write down everyone’s bets before the bitches come back,” Scarlett suggests, and Rita rolls her eyes, pulling out her phone and passing it around so everyone can type out their predictions.

“Wait, we’re missing Juice, Starzy and Jimbo, we can’t close it yet,” Rita says, once she gets back her phone and realizes they’re missing some girls.

“Close what?” Lemon exclaims, dragging a stereo along with Priyanka and leaving it in a different side of the room. None of them is quick to blurt out an excuse, but luckily Lemon brushes it off and asks if someone wants to be in charge of the music. Tynomi shoots up almost immediately, hoarding the aux cord and asking if anyone has any recommendations before she plays one of her Spotify playlists of old reggaeton.

Lemon settles next to Rita, asking Ilona to prepare her another Fernet, 50/50 if possible, and Ilona half-jokingly, half-seriously asks if she wants to get shit faced early, with a brow cocked in her direction. She just shrugs, saying she wants to start the night with a bang, but promises to take things slow, at least for now.

She doesn’t say that she has the goal of not crying tonight, because she’s cried a lot through her whole high school career and just wants a night where her mascara doesn’t end up running down her cheeks - admittedly, that’s easier said than done, but there’s always a first time for everything.

And, besides, it’s her last first day of school - she’s been enduring the hell that is Argentina’s public school for six years now, wasting half of it on the afternoon shift, sitting through classes sweating in places she didn’t know she could sweat because the classrooms had just one functioning fan, and the north of the country is all but cold. But it’s almost over now, she just has to endure eight more months before she’s off to the big city for college.

Though that should make her happy - it’s what she’s been hoping for since she started high school - she can’t help but feel the tiniest bit of sadness, as her eyes dart around the room and sees her friends, sees her crush laughing and drinking and very oblivious to the way her heart races against her chest by just thinking of her.

She’d get nostalgic of things that haven’t happened yet, but Ilona’s urging her to taste the Fernet she just prepared, and she takes a big swig when there’s a knock on the door. Juice enters without waiting for someone to open, Starzy and Jimbo following her closely, and she has bags full of alcohol on each hand, a wide grin on her face as she tries to find somewhere to sit. More than one of the girls sigh in relief when they see Jimbo’s shirt is pink too - they disregard the fact her design doesn’t make much sense, as long as it’s pink, they can live with that.

She promised herself she wouldn’t cry, but half a glass of Fernet later, she gets a little teary eyed as she looks around the room and sees all of her friends chatting and laughing and having fun. Lemon can only hope senior year is good to them.

 argentina hs au

[angrylizardjacket]

Yaaasss!!! Jelous Ben was si cuteee and we love a supportive mother, her mom is fantastic and a savage. I hace a question, how did you come up with reader's character in x-men?? I legit googled it as I thought it was a real character, so welk done.

i love her mum so fuckin much, dude, she’s supportive but can still be embarrassing at times. i wrote her, not like my actual mum, but like my dad now that i think about it. dude literally told me over the phone that he’d physically fight people for shittalking me (not just in general, there’s more context, but the point still stands). idk i think it’s disingenuous to not let parental characters have certain flaws, like they’re allowed to be overprotective and spiteful, as well as caring and supportive. i love her too.

oH SHIT DUDE LEMME TALK ABT MY GIRL CASSIDY TEMPLE I LOVE HER SO FUCKING MUCH AND I”VE PUT SO MUCH THOUGHT INTO HER THAT THIS WILL HAVE A READ MORE

so cassidy’s powers are actually based off of an xmen oc i’ve already written 70k about, Aoibheal Cassidy, younger sister of Banshee, Sean Cassidy, and Cassidy Temple’s name is a reference to her, since originally I was going to essentially have Y/N playing Aoibheal (because it’s my fic and i can include an homage to my xmen oc as a treat). the powers themselves are based loosely on Multiple Man from X-Men: The Last Stand, except Cassidy’s clones can’t live a life of their own like his can. In the xmen fic, aoibheal starts off with having unlimited clones, and they can explode because i thought it was neat tbh.

From the original fic, Molotov Heart, chapter 3, rubatosis:

[Context; humans experimenting on mutants between X-Men First Class and X-Men Days Of Future Past have caught Sean and Aoibheal and they experiment on them even though Aoibheal’s powers have not manifested (she is approximately 13) and they kill her brother in front of her]:

Stunned into silence, she can feel something white-hot building inside of her, all the rage and fear and pain becoming almost tangible.

She mutates.

Copies of Aoibheal, clones, appear around them, filling up the space between the now screaming and bewildered 'doctors'. Aoibheal herself doesn't seem to notice the clones, bawling her eyes out, an action the clones themselves are mirroring, and she thinks of nothing but freedom and escape, focusing on the white-hot feeling inside of her until it overwhelmed her. With the force of a bunker-buster bomb, the clones began to combust, began to explode, first a few, and then all at once. Killing the human personel who had kept her hostage, the blast reduced the warehouse to mere cinders, freed Aoibheal and left her clothing in tatters, but she was alive damn it.

The reason Cassidy has a limited number is because i needed a way to have her powered up as a horseman, like a distinct power up, rather than just something unseen like heightened reflexes and strength. 

I would like to point out also, that it’s not stated, but Cassidy’s explosions (NOT AOIBHEAL’s) are never to do with heat, they’re always about force. the explosions themselves are never hot, never have anything to do with fire or anything like that, she builds up force inside of the clones, and lets it tear her apart from the inside out as a wave that destroys the things it comes into contact with.

The scream was originally hereditary, like Banshee, it developed as her secondary mutation.

From the Marvel Wiki:

The Secondary Mutation (or "Second Mutation") is a phenomenon in which an existing mutant undergoes another mutation, gaining additional powers, such as healing, or a change in appearance.

Secondary mutation is noted as the appearance of new powers, or an increase in existing powers.

It was stated by Beast that the secondary mutations usually occurred in the twenties of the subjects, and generally appeared in time of great stress.

From the original fic, chapter 8, nodus tollens:

The appearance of the secondary mutation:

The world falls apart in a blur of movement. The gun goes off just after Raven jumps and makes a break for the window, the bullet curves as she crashes through the glass, following her on the way down. Tackling Erik earns Hank a mean right hook to the jaw, but Aoibheal’s there, looking at Trask like a dear in the headlights, memories whipping through her head like a hurricane - the sick fuck looks pleased to see her – her mouth falls open and she screams. She and the clone scream in tandem, their voices supersonic as the surrounding people clutched their ears for dear life; struggling to keep a hold of the feeling in her chest that caused her to explode, the clone detonates like a firework, scorching the wallpaper while Trask is stumbling to the door. There’s blood leaking from his ears but Aoibheal can’t move, can only scream and relive the memory of her brother’s murder over and over again.

Hank discussing it:

"I've never seen a secondary mutation so vastly different!" No longer blue or furry, [Hank’s] smile is excited as he looks over at her. Sharing the cockpit feels almost familiar by now, with Aoibheal curled up in the passenger seat nursing a glass of water. "It makes sense though, your original mutation – the explosions – would be an extension of your temperature immunity, but your secondary mutation is hereditary."

Cassidy’s scream, however, unlike Banshee’s, only effects things with ears, not inanimate objects like glass. Of course she could learn the right pitch to get glass to shatter like an opera singer, but generally speaking, her scream only effects things that can hear. 

OKAY LETS TALK ABT THE STUFF I FABRICATED FOR THE FIC

oh GOD I WANT TO TALK ABOUT HER RELATIONSHIP WITH MAGNETO

not as in romantic, as in he is literally her character’s main inspiration in the films. i’m literally making a fake trailer right now that’s intercut with moments from his DOFP speech that was broadcast to the whole of america.

i love dofp (possibly to my detriment) but i always thought it was weird that no-one was ever like.... magneto has a point. BECAUSE HE HAS A POINT. he’s speaking directly to disenfranchised and SCARED mutants across the nation, and yet everyone’s heralding Mystique as the new face of mutant kind. YES she made a point, but like.... did no-one vibe with magneto when he promised the destruction of mankind? i would. anyways.

so i thought it would be interesting for this character, Cassidy, to have this hero-worship of Magneto, taking his words to heart like scripture, ultimately making her a foil for Phoenix, Xavier’s protege. 

it’s why i specifically included this:

“You should be,” you hissed, putting your all into the words as you spoke them, and you hear Ben inhale sharply beside you, “we shall inherit the Earth.”

“What follows is a struggle as Cassidy and the figure – revealed to be her clone – proceed to kill the man. When they’re finished, and the man’s dead on the ground, Cassidy straightens her outfit, and we hear –“ as the director reads, Michael begins to slowly clap, “a slow clap, and it’s revealed that Apocalypse, as well as Storm, Angel, and Magneto, had all witnessed the event.”

“We are the future, we are the ones who shall inherit the Earth,” Michael reads as he stops clapping.

“Magneto,” you breathe reverentially, and when you look to him, you and Michael share a sharp smile.

which is a direct quote from magneto’s speech in Days of Future Past:

You built these weapons to destroy us. Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts. Because we are different. Humanity has always feared that which is different. Well, I'm here to tell you, to tell the world, you're right to fear us. We are the future. We are the ones who will inherit this earth, and anyone who stands in our way will suffer the same fate as these men you see before you. Today was meant to be a display of your power. Instead I give you a glimpse of the devastation my race can unleash upon yours. Let this be a warning to the world. And to my mutant brothers and sisters out there, I say this; no more hiding, no more suffering. You have lived in the shadows in shame and fear for too long. Come out, join me. Fight together in the brotherhood of our kind. A new tomorrow, that starts today.

which ALSO is what turns her into the next big villain for the franchise, because she sees Magneto, the man she kind of thinks of like a god, turn on and help kill Apocalypse, the man who claimed to be an actual god, and side with the people who, ultimately, don’t want to destroy the human race like she does, and also killed the man she loved. she takes Magneto’s ideologies and turns them up to 11. he fucks off to create a mutant paradise away from prying eyes and is happy, she won’t be happy until all humans are punished.

it’s why, in the beginning, she and raven can’t still work together, because raven wants to rescue mutants, but not at the expense of unnecessary human lives, and cassidy sees all humans as complicit in the torture, and therefore deserving of punishment. 

she has deemed herself judge, jury, and executioner of human kind, and they have all been found guilty.

i’m so excited to see if i get around to writing some of the next film because i really want to explore the dichotomy of Xavier’s ‘no-one is ever really gone/there’s always hope’ and magneto’s ‘you were right to be afraid of us, we are the ones who shall inherit the earth’. Everyone has given up on Cassidy in one way or another, whether it be by betrayal or death, and so when she finds this symbiote who literally becomes a part of her, makes her stronger, and is happy to kill people with little regard for who they are, she’ll take it. 

EDIT: here’s the first 26 seconds of the fake trailer (Y/N here is played by Jurnee Smollett, aka Black Canary from Birds of Prey)

ANGEL & RIOT

i wanted y/n to kiss ben hardy that’s literally it. 

actually no that’s not it 100%, i think it’s super amusing in a kind of bleak way that he got fridged for her, like his death, both in the “””comics””” (as in the comic universe for the fics) and in the film, causes her to seek out a force that would help bring him back to life. in the “””comics””” she originally seeks out a mutant, but when the mutant who can bring people back refuses to help her, she’s told of experiments at The Life Foundation, who are working on engineering the next step in human evolution, and she’s thinking that they’re experimenting on mutants again, like trask, and goes in guns blazing, but instead finds symbiotes. she bonds with a symbiote, thus becoming Riot Control, and the symbiote initially promises her all these things, including being able to find a way to ressurect angel, but eventually (in the “””comics”””) the power he gives her overtakes her need to ressurect her love, and riot ends up using her to try and build a ship to bring more symbiotes to take over earth.

IN THE FILM

okay OKAY okay OKAY so she’s looking for a way to ressurect angel at first, but riot’s in her ear while he’s seeing all her memories, and is convincing her to get revenge on the people who are responsible for his death (nightcrawler, jean, and Magneto specifically) so its not that the xmen are just in the plot by happenstance there’s like actual beef, love it. 

I also love that Cassidy’s powers are handicapped when she’s got Riot, since her scream would injure or even possibly kill him. Yes i specifically paired her with a symbiote for that reason, which is also the reason why her clone explosions aren’t heat based. 

but anyway, can i spoil the ending? i wanna spoil the ending;

so there’s this big showdown between riot control and the xmen, and jean confronts cassidy, trying to talk her down like ‘what would angel think if he saw you? What you’ve become?’ and Cassidy’s furious, thinking that jean’s trying to guilt her, like, angel would be so ashamed

“Keep his name out of your fucking mouth, you have no idea what he’d think-”

“He’d be terrified of you.” And it’s so fucking like, cruel and cold coming from Jean.

“Shut up.”

“You have become a monster; you have maimed your idol-” [we cut to a shot of magneto looking all fucked up and bloody, watching with anger in his eyes] “and you have left Angel for dead. If you’d really cared about him, you would have already gotten him back. Instead, you come for revenge against the people who could have helped you -”

or something like that, and riot control has a whole breakdown, lashing out, snarling that no-one could help her, and when they tried, they ended up dead (angel, apocalypse) and she starts losing control, and her voice starts to distort in and out of riot’s, making it clear he’s taking control of her completely. 

there’s this big, final fight, which culminates with jean grabbing cassidy’s face and trying to burn riot out of her.

“No-one is beyond help.” And Jean’s like, got tears in her eyes, desperate to save this girl who’s caused so much pain, but who sees herself as so wretched and beyond help, and we see the symbiote burning away and screaming, but also the physical signs of cassidy’s mutation as like, peeling away in embers, like the black scales around her eyes, and the way her whole eyes are seen as black is now clearing away, and she takes both of Jean’s hands and forces her to keep holding on, to keep looking in her natural fucking eyes for the first and last time as she burns out too.

“You can’t save everyone.” and then Cassidy’s just ash in the wind.

also this ending, in a meta-sense, makes sense, because after this Disney buys Fox and there’s no more this-universe X-Men films, so they had to do a self-contained story, there couldn’t be things left super unresolved.

OR maybe she’s fine, maybe she gets saved and riot burns out of her (spoilers, he fucks off and doesn’t die, hence, Venom (2018); it takes him about 20 years to recuperate) i haven’t decided.

[dreamsafterhours]

college boyfriend!markhyuk au series: III (donghyuk's pathway)

a universe in which roommates!markhyuk meet each other's s/o in class

markhyuk are roommates, my/n and dy/n are roommates, mark and dy/n take classes together and so do donghyuk and my/n — how will their fates intertwine?

genre: fluff pairings: mark+my/n (fem), donghyuk+dy/n (fem), platonic!mark+dy/n, platonic!donghyuk+my/n format: dotpoint AU universe: non idol, college bf warning: some swearing

masterlist

or click here to meet your soulmate, eng lit!mark!

II ⇤ | III | ⇥ IV

III: 별빛이 내린다 샤라랄라랄라라 (2+2=4)

the meeting of two souls: donghyuk & dy/n

welcome! back and to the next part

in which things actually happen! yay

so. up until this point

it’s been quite obvious i hope

that this is the one where The Soulmates Meet™

and this one right here is the one where donghyuk meets his future wifenew best (not) friend

dammit this is a set plot with SET relationships

yeah

major spoilers for future parts but hey :) y’all know it i know it let’s just.

let’s get to it!!

that day you accidentally sleep in after a late night and walk into your lecture looking pretty trashier than you would normally a few weeks into the first sem and you’re already tired it’s okay bby aww

and mark suggests skipping the next lecture and going for coffee instead

you’re like ok lmfao free coffee for me yay thanks marcus i owe you one

and to make up for the lecture he suggests he join you and your roommate with his own roommate in the library later that day to study the material you’d missed out on

so you’re like sweet study group hell yeah and apparently his roommate is also in biomed like your roommate? hey they might get along pretty well it’d be nice to have roommates in the same faculty hey

little do you know you little cutie you uwu

mark takes you to a cafe to buy you your favourite drink and a croissant bc you skipped breakfast again and he cares about his friends ok plus he was eyeing that donut next to the savoury menu in the glass cabinet and he would have felt bad if he got something to eat and you didn’t

you sit down, sipping your drink at the window seats and wishing your fatigue away

laughing with mark about what you slept so late for

my/n had been ranting about her love life again or perhaps lack thereof,,

don’t worry tho

after you’d gotten her to sleep, you’d gotten major feels for an essay question that you’d been tasked with due in a week but you hadn’t touched it until last night

staring at the prompt for at least half an hour trying to get your head around it and wondering what the hell you’d write about

but like they say

starting is half of it

so when you start spinning your words and getting into the writing mood

you accidentally wrote an entire draft without realising

albeit being full of loose ends and points you need to refine, etc., it was a decent body of work that you’d tackle for a few more nights before turning in

a skeleton, you’d called it

“a skeleton?”

“yeah. next thing i need to do is.. flesh it out”

“.. literally”

cue mark’s small pause

/inhale/

/MANIACAL LAUGHTER/

you know how mark’s laugh is very how do i put this into words hm dictated

you can HEAR each HA and they’re separate syllables yet sometimes they can vary in tone and length right it’s usually the more consistent HAs before he kinda loses it and starts throwing himself around

it was that laugh

honestly man finds everything funny his laughing threshold seems so low

and no matter how unfunny you are he WILL laugh at anything you say

and you’ve been doing it a lot lately

you could say literally any random thing and he’d already be ready to laugh (see Figure 1.1)

Figure 1.1

you: /snort/

mark, already giggling: “what”

you, still sniggering: /touches his elbow/ “arm knee”

mark: /inhale/ gotta live and breathe that oxygen

mark: HAHAHAHAhahAhaHAHAhahAhHa (decrescendo.. cRESCENDO)

^ that but looped, with intermittent slaps to your arm

anyways you never fail to make him fall out of his chair in laughter

but enough of that. dy/n is donghyuk’s y/n for a REASON ahEM

so after you finish up your breakfast at the cafe you go back to your dorm to take a power nap and recharge before your library session you were going to stay awake but mark forces you to take a nap and you’re like bro you just fed me caffeine now you want me to sleep??

then he tells you he ordered your drink decaf

you turn to him real slow

“.. you sick traitor. how dare you besmirch my name so. you scorn my forefathers and our dependence on the holy bean’s juices. betrayal runs rampant in your soul and mine stands at the mercy of your choices, them informed by the devil himself”

mark: /shrug/ “placebo effect yeet. hey, it worked for a bit. now you should really go home and get your sleep”

and he drags you back to your dorm and waves you off before going to his next class

you’re lowkey grateful for it tho when you take a shower and collapse onto your bed, falling asleep in what you think could be half the time you usually take

dreaming about losing your airpods and mark yelling at you to be more careful and then you two fighting bc you’d just lost your $300 bean sprouts but you could have sworn he took them

then police sirens went off out of nowhere and both of you were being arrested for assault and thievery

why you were the one being arrested, you had no idea but it’s a dream nothing follows the guidelines of hard reality anyway

just as you’re about to be handcuffed, you think to yourself, nope. i have a library session to attend. ain’t nobody got time for this shit

and you just

wake up

but the sirens are still continuing?? so you’re like ? is my building surrounded

they’ve come for me

even though you haven’t exactly broken any laws or have you

and you realise it was the alarm you’d set in time to get ready for your library session

so you grab your stuff and leave for the library, double checking with your roommate over text to make sure she was on her way

her lab class was taking longer than usual so she tells you she’ll be 10 or so minutes late

so you tell her you’ll be saving a seat for her and call mark to let him know you’re on your way to the library

“oh i’m already here lol. alright, i’m waiting for you outside”

and sure enough, you see him leaning on the wall of the entrance, eyes on his phone

you consider calling out to him but before you actually do, he glances up and spots you walking over tf do you have psychic spatial awareness mark

smiles and takes his corded earphones out

“you seriously need to upgrade those”

“they work fine”

“nop i’m getting you airpods for your birthday”

“dUdE thEy’RE tOo ExPEnSiVe. nO dUDE NoO”

“nOP. i’m GOING to buy you EXPENSIVE BEAN SPROUTS for your LIFE DEBUT ANNIVERSARY and you CAN’T STOP ME”

at this point i should just put /MANIACAL LAUGHTER/ and you should know what laugh i’m referring to

/MARK LEE’S MANIACAL LAUGHTER/

/MLML/ for short

nvm it’s fine it’s kinda fun to type /MANIACAL LAUGHTER/

literally mark laughs in bolded italics i’m just sad i can’t underline it on tumblr unless it’s a link lmfao

n e ways

i digress

you shush him because you’re about to walk into the library

“qUIET DOWN marcus” turn that sh down for quiet new dawn

the library is almost full for the day but after a minute or two scouring the building you find an empty four seater in the middle of nowhere it’s CRAZY you can NEVER find a MIRACLE like this life couldn’t get better

i’m sorry

you speed walk to claim it even though there was no one else in your vicinity to threaten your territory

mark laughs at you trying to get to the table as fast as you could without all out running

getting out your things, you send a photo of your seat to your roommate and tell mark to send it to his roommate as well so they know where to find you

you start watching the lecture online while taking notes and since you’re not in the lecture theatre you can talk more audibly with mark not that you don’t talk in the actual lecture too,,

maybe you do text a lot,,, during class

mark usually says things like “.. implications of what now?? interpretation of huh?” to which you reply “i want cheese when i get home”

and he has to stifle his laughter while you keep your straight face and continue writing your notes he admires this ability ngl

and so while you’re watching it on your computer

you can say things like “fuck. i want pickles”

and mark will /throw himself back/ and cackle and probably say some shit like “DIDN’T YOU HATE PICKLES??” between his giggles

and you’re like “yeah. fuck pickles but like. fuck. pickles”

he almost falls off his chair at this point

but when he balances himself again he spots someone down the corridor and wave them over

“oii! over here dude”

you turn to glance at them to expect his roommate, but you see your own roommate talking to someone and wave her over as well

“heYY my/n”

you see the other person turn to your roommate and tell her something, , then she says something back

which is apparently shocking to them, because he glances over at mark and then at you

and then he looks again when your roommate points straight at you

to which you’re like ?? hi? y u look me

and then they both start laughing

you wonder if they were laughing at you or smth until mark’s like “tf is that idiot doing”

and u look at him like ? what idiot

“that idiot. the idiot roommate i told u about. the one who called u a homewrecker”

and you’re like

wait

[info clog]

wait

[error]

“wait”

“what”

“that’s your roommate?” u point at the boy next to my/n, who r both still laughing at something going all “wOW r u KIDDING” he has a loud voice

and mark’s like “? yeah”

and you go

“.. the girl next to him is my roommate”

mark: “wait what”

that’s what she said

at that point they’ve made their way over to the table, still trying to hold in their laughter

you start to introduce your roommate to mark, who’s still confused by the situation

you: “mark, this is my/n, my/n this is mark”

my/n: “nice to see you again mark”

you: “wait. again?”

mark: “yeah we’ve met. hi my/n”

you: “what”

mark: “yeah”

my/n: “yeah”

his roommate: “yeah”

you:

you: “i feeling like i’m missing something here”

turns out

surprise surprise

that one friend that my/n had made in her biology class was mark’s roommate oh my god they were roommates

whose name, you are told, is lee donghyuk

magical moment

us watching: heh 🤤

u can’t help but do a lil body scan from head to toe bc he a fine piece of cake we all know that

honey skin, oversized white t shirt, black pants, sneakers and lighter brown hair that looks fluffy the type of fluffy that makes u wanna touch it

yes he’s good looking. yes

yaaaaas

then mark tells him your name

“she’s the one i said reminded me of you”

“r u talking abt me behind my back marcus??”

donghyuk laughs and holds out a hand for you to shake

“what kinda coincidence is this?? i adopt your roommate, you’re dealing with mine”

“oh you’re gonna have to get in line to adopt her, i’m her legal guardian, sorry donghyuk”

to which he goes

“lmfao then we’ll both be her parents”

“k but i’ll keep her on the weekends. you see her on the weekdays”

then he wipes his smile off his face and he’s like “who said we’re split”

mark and my/n are doing the /MANIACAL LAUGHTER/ at this point

mark: “so ,, seriously what are the chances”

you: “this quartet,, it’s fate guys it’s fate there’s no way about it”

yes it is. yes. it is

even that four seater table was free because of fate

donghyuk: “this calls for drinks later. we all free? no 9am classes tmr?”

my/n: “we have a physics prac at 8:30 dingus”

donghyuk: “ah shit”

you barely got any notes for that lecture for at least an hour because you end up talking altogether throughout the session but once you remember you’re in a library to study you request a ceasefire and agree to study for a bit which,, you gotta admit ,, isn’t really productive because you’re so excited to meet someone new

but the best part about the day was when you notice how many times mark is glancing at your roommate while she’s reviewing her notes, completely oblivious

donghyuk complains that he’s hungry after another hour or two and you suggest you all have dinner together

donghyuk leans back in his chair in a stretch, his jumper lifting up a little over his jeans and showing a bit of his belly “ah i’m craving chinese”

you perk up, “mE TOO”

so you all go to your favourite chinese place just outside campus where you find out that mark and my/n have the same taste and so do you and donghyuk

he points and u and goes “oH?”

“jjAMPPONG? U TOO?”

“the ONLY DISH EVER”

mark and my/n: jjajang is fine : )

you and donghyuk: “JJAMPPONG IS SUPERIOR”

give him a bro five with the shoulder bump and everything

the boys walk you and my/n back to your dorm afterwards

donghyuk and my/n end up walking in a pair and mark walks alongside you

mark mentions how it’d be fun if you made a group chat together

you: “do it”

“i don’t have your roommate’s number tho”

you’re smiling wickedly at his reaction “?? ASK HER FOR IT”

“dude what?? no u make one and i’ll add donghyuk to it”

“bRO JUST ASK”

“wHAT NO U DO IT THEN”

so u go

bet

and you call out the two biomed kids walking in front of you

“hey donghyuk! give me your number i’ll make a group chat”

“sure lol” and you open up a new contact to let him type his number into your phone

he saves his name as hot boi hyuk ✌🏻

which you just leave bc you’re busy making the group chat

mark is still astounded that you asked donghyuk for his number so easily

you: hi hello good day

my/n 🌸: yeetus meetus

hot boi hyuk ✌🏻: bow before me

you: here before me lie the beginnings of a new era

you: one born from blood and stone

my/n 🌸: tf is she saying

hot boi hyuk ✌🏻: idk but lets go with it

you: together we rise from the rubble and sort through the debris

hot boi hyuk ✌🏻: yas queen

my/n 🌸: i hate this gc already

you: and we WILL REBUILD THIS EMPIRE

read by marcus the fool 🤡 at 8:21 pm

safe to say you stay up for a good while talking on that group chat while mark just sits idle,,

you honestly don’t know if he’s consciously reading or not maybe he just left his phone on the chat

and thus our quartet is complete,,

and they all lived

happily ever after

but this isn’t the ending tho is it

wink wonk /waggles eyebrows/

this is but the epilogue to the prologue

that doesn’t make sense but n e ways

our quartet has not yet become two pairings

y’all just don’t know what the future has in store for you :)

click here to meet your soulmate, eng lit!mark!

II ⇤ | III | ⇥ IV

taglist: @lavellanfriendliness​ 

shoot me an ask if you’d like to be tagged in future parts!

[spaceskam]

Follow up to this

"Liz is dragging me to Alex's concert tonight. You wanna come with so I'm not dying?"

Michael frowned as he looked up to where to Max was sitting at the counter. He had picked up an extra shift at the Crashdown since he had nothing to do after finishing his physics test in 30 minutes. He worked until 7 and then he was going to go home, pick up where he was at in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and blow up Alex's phone with reactions like he usually did when they couldn't hang.

But now he was being propositioned by Max who had clearly been put up to it.

"Uh, yeah, sorry man, I have work," Michael said. He wasn't sure who put Max up to it, but he could make assumptions and he wasn't exactly eager to go against Alex's wishes. The guy was one of his best friends, he wasn't about to piss him off by doing what he said not to.

Besides, if it was indeed Maria and Liz like he thought, then he really didn't want to fall for it.

"You get off at 7, concerts at 7:30, sounds perfect," he said. Michael stared at him.

"Alex doesn't want me to go," he said and it was the truth. Max still looked confused.

"Why? I thought you two were friends," he said. Michael nodded.

"We are, but he's embarrassed," Michael lied. If there was one thing in the world that Alex Manes was not embarrassed about, it was his music. Michael had never met someone so confident in their talents and it was unbearably attractive.

Alex, in general, was unbearably attractive. Michael was just blessed enough to be his friend that could fuck him.

Max didn’t buy the lie and he sighed. “Dude, please? Liz said if I get you to come then she’ll... do a thing I like.” Michael scrunched up his nose. “Please!”

“Why am I apart of your sex favors?”

“It’s not a sex thing!” Max argued, but the high-pitched voice he used said otherwise. Michael just shook his head. “Please? I-I’ll do anything. Just come to this fucking concert.”

Michael eyed him. “You’ll pay my part of the rent this month?” Max opened and closed his mouth a few times before sinking a little bit.

“Fine, I’ll do it, just come,” he said. Michael snorted.

“Damn, I don’t know what Liz has in store for you, but I hope she knows how much power she holds,” he joked. Max didn’t find it that funny and it told Michael that she knew exactly how much power she held. “Fine, fine, I’ll come, but I’m leaving as soon as it’s over. I don’t want Alex to know I’m there.” Max nodded and sulked back to the table where both Maria and Liz were waiting.

Michael pulled out his phone and opened his long-ass text chain between him and Alex. He started to type out a message about how his friends were medalling a bit too hard, but erased it before he could send. He did want to hear Alex sing. Well, he’d already heard him sing, including the solo he had tonight that was in Gaelic, but he was eager to hear it again. He wanted to see him perform.

He put his phone away and just promised to be out of there before Alex saw.

-

“Oh, Michael, you came.”

Michael stuck his tongue out at Maria who just gave him a knowing smile as if she wasn’t the one who directly forced him to come. He fidgeted at the edge of the pew in the church the concert was being held at, settling in beside Max who just smiled at him. Michael sighed.

It didn’t take too much longer for the choir to begin processing in, the men in their black slacks, bowties, and white button-ups, and the women in long black dresses. He recalled hearing them be referred to as trash bags from the times he spent in the music building. Michael smiled but kept his head bowed until everyone was firmly on stage to do his best not to get spotted by Alex.

The setlist was... admittedly batshit. Which he was expecting since he’d only heard Alex sing in English once within the few weeks they’d been hanging out. Alex would occasionally send him voice messages of him singing some random part of some random song and ask if it was good, leaving Michael’s only reply option to be ‘yeah, what the fuck is it’.

The women’s choir had a few very beautiful songs with more than a few extremely high sopranos being impressive as hell. That section was followed by the mix of both the men and women, who sang a few songs in a language Michael didn’t recognize but found so stunning that he had chills. He could pick out Alex’s voice when he tried and stared at him and, at one point, he thought he made eye contact and quickly looked away to make sure he didn’t. Whenever the women exited the stage and left the men to perform their songs, Michael’s knee was bouncing and he couldn’t hide the smile on his face.

There were two relatively slow songs that Michael had heard Alex do only a couple times and they were nice. Once Alex stepped forward and the rest of the men formed a semi-circle behind him, though, Michael was on the edge of his seat. Alex had told him the song was called Dúlamán and it never failed to be impressive as hell. It was so fast-paced and complex, but Alex performed it with ease. There was just this air of confidence around him that seemed to put the rest of the men behind him on their toes as they sang, each one of them continuously getting more and more passionate as Alex led them through it.

Michael had to stand up and clap for him whenever they finished. He didn’t really care that Liz and Maria were staring at him as he whistled and clapped. Alex was his friend too, he was allowed to be impressed. It didn’t mean anything more than that just because they were sleeping together, that was just a double standard that he didn’t accept.

He tried not to feel bad when he left as soon as it was over.

-

“Michael!”

Michael groaned as he pulled himself off the bed in his room. He had almost fallen asleep waiting for a text from Alex that said he was home and the last thing he wanted to do was to get up and probably kill a bug. That’s usually the only time Isobel called his name.

Instead, though, when he walked into the living room, he saw Alex standing there with a very motherly look on his face and his arms crossed over his chest still in his suit. Isobel slipped past them.

“Busted,” she sang softly, hip bumping him before disappearing into his room.

“I thought I told you not to come,” Alex said and he looked so serious that Michael had to bow his head, “This whole arrangement isn’t going to fucking work if you just deliberately go behind my back. I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but if you’re just going to ignore me on something stupid like this, then what else will you ignore me about?”

Michael sighed and looked back up at him. “I’m sorry. Max begged me to go because he didn’t want to be stuck with Liz and Maria and I tried to tell him no, but he was so desperate he’s literally going to be paying my rent.”

“Michael, I don’t need Maria and Liz knowing about us. They are constantly on my ass about getting a boyfriend and I want them to stop. Fuck, I’ve tried to get them to stop and they don’t and that’s annoying as it is. I don’t need them misunderstanding this or, worse, never shutting up about it and ruining it. I just want to be able to do what I want without being questioned, that was the whole reason I even moved out to go to college,” Alex explained. Michael nodded because he knew. He’d heard the girls grill him and he saw whenever it crossed a line for Alex. He knew going didn’t help.

“I’m sorry,” Michael said, “I’ll keep my distance or something. I didn’t mean to completely go against what you asked.”

Alex rubbed his tired eyes. “I know, I know you try not to do that. I’m just... I’m tired of it. I’m tired of not being able to have male friends and I’m tired of not being able to do what I want with my body without it being the main topic of discussion every day. I’m sorry that affects you and our friendship.”

“No, I get it!” Michael insisted, eyes wide as he tried to wrack his mind for ways to prove to Alex that he really did understand. “I hate my relationship status being the most interesting thing about me too.”

“I’m more than who I’m fucking or dating, you know?” Alex said. Michael nodded.

“You are, dude,” he agreed, “And, I know me being there didn’t help whatever Liz and Maria were thinking, but you owned that stage tonight. Like that Gaelic shit was hot as hell. You deserve to be on stage all the time.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Alex chuckled, seeming a little more relaxed, “I was singing about seaweed, so.”

“Good,” Michael laughed, shoving his hands in his pockets, “Are we good? I won’t just show up at your shows again. And, well, if I do, I’ll make sure I make fun of you so they’ll think we’re just bros being bros.”

Alex bubbled with laughter, “Bros being bros?”

“Yeah,” Michael assured, “I will make sure they know that there is no banging to be had.”

“None what’s so ever,” Alex agreed, taking a step closer. Michael smiled and slowly started nearing him.

“Literally why would they ever think we could sustain a relationship?” Michael asked, “We are far too opposite.”

“And you smell like a fucking junkyard,” Alex judged, placing his arms around Michael’s neck, “I don’t want people thinking I’m dating you.”

“And you are way too fucking full of yourself,” Michael shot back, hoping he hid just how well he actually loved that aspect of him, “Why would I want people thinking I like someone like that?”

“Exactly,” Alex whispered, resting his head on Michael’s and nudging their noses together, “Like I could ever, ever, ever like someone like you.”

“Never,” Michael agreed, his smile slowly falling as he let himself get lost in the feeling of his skin, “Falling in love is for people like Max and Liz.”

“Mhm, fuck that,” Alex said, moving his head to Michael’s shoulder and nuzzling his nose against his neck. He let out a soft whine. “These pants are so itchy, get them away from me.”

Michael laughed and rubbed Alex’s back, breathing him in slowly as she began pulling him towards his room. Alex went willingly.

“I think I can help with that.”