#so a tall tower they could fly around was perfect

[thesirencult]

PAC READING : WHO HAS A CRUSH ON YOU?

1---2

3---4

PILE 1

The Tower, The Fool

This is someone you would never expect to have feelings for you. You view them as distant, private an cold towards you and others. There is something magnetic to them and, at times, they let their cold façade go. Then, you get to experience a different side of them. They may have played with children in front of you or taken care of an elderly person, assisting them to cross the street. This person loves animals and has a soft spot for them. This reminds me of a strong, tall man who build a sanctuary for chihuahuas after his wife left him. Now he takes care of them and encourages other men to break the stereotype and adopt a smaller dog.

So, this person could also be tall and either lanky or lean-muscular. Others see them as intimidating and may try to avoid them in social situations (like coworkers not inviting them out for a drink after work).

I don't think they'll express themselves. They feel very ashamed of their feelings for you and believe that you see them as "not good enough". This has nothing to do with the way you treat them and has everything to do about their own perception of themselves.

They are very innocent at heart and get hurt when people exclude them. This tells me that you must have treated them like your "chihuahua". You are the one who encourages them and offers help or a few kind words. They love your kind and sweet nature but it's hard for them to show their true emotions. You will notice them get shy and anxious around you, like a little kid. Give them a chance by letting them get closer to you.

PILE 2

Judgement, The Magician, 5 Of Wands

This person is very fair and just. They will love every single inch of you and they won't shy away from telling you that. You see yourself as "not being good enough" and the person who has a crush on you will pick up on how you feel immediately. They will try to get you to see your beauty and will get sad when you talk bad about yourself. They just don't understand how someone as perfect and beautiful as you doesn't realise their own strength and beauty.

This person is a master manifestor. They just know how to alchemize energy and change their physical reality. They will see that you have this ability too and they will admire how you are trying to forge your own path. They have probably manifested you into their lives and they'll idolize you a lot.

If there is an age gap (5+), this person will try to hold back and act as a mentor towards you but, they are very competitive with others and possessive. Their feelings will shine through when they sense someone else trying to get with you. You'll notice their absurd behaviour, call them out and they will just kiss you.

"I'll show you why I'm acting this way." And then smooch 💋.

PILE 3

Queen Of Cups, 7 Of Pentacles, 5 Of Pentacles

Okey-dokey! My sweet Pile 3, if you are not into girls or feminines, I would advise you to choose another pile. Otherwise, if you choose to stay, this energy could resonate with your personal journey towards love and abundance.

I'm seeing a very sweet soul waiting for you. This energy is very light and free-flowing. You may not have met this person yet, because of divine timing. I'm getting that when you meet them it will be "love at first sight". You'll catch them doing something random, like picking up a dumbbell at the gym or petting a dog, or even voting (?).

This "exchange" from afar will drive you crazy cause you will know nothing about this person and you'll think you will never see them again. I see that fate has other plans for you.

This feminine is your future spouse and she is very into personal development at the moment. They will be preoccupied with finances and they are trying to clear up "abundance blocks".

At first, they will seem reserved and preoccupied with other things. You'll exchange a few looks and sparks will be flying, so this is a case of a reciprocated crush.

They are quite happy with being by themselves and working on their coins and foundations for their future. I bet you'll hear them talk about that and you'll think "Baby don't worry, I'm your future 💋."

Slowly you'll start talking and I hope you make the next step otherwise they'll never ever let you in.

But, after you get closer to them, you'll realize that they are a very deep and wise person and not just sunny all the time. Actually you'll think of them as darker and lunar. You will love their passion and mysterious disposition. Be their fearless protector and their rock to climb up to and watch the sunrise.

PILE 4

The Hierophant, 9 Of Cups, Queen Of Pentacles

Right now you are going through a "level up" phase. I don't even know why you are waisting your time here. Lol. You are quite independent, fierce and unstoppable. You are also trying to manifest someone like you.

The person who will soon come towards and confess their crush on you is not someone overly "hard". They are quite dreamy and soft. They like ice-cream and long walks. They will take you on romantic dates and worry that you don't like the scenery because you are not talking that much.

This person sees you as a boos b*tch. They admire you and have put you in a pedestal. I'm hearing "Let me service you Queen.". They like "ice-cream" ! Oh my! This person really wants you and they would jump through hoops to get to you.

They'll pass all your tests with flying colours and you will keep wondering how they are such a good match for you. Let them feel like you are in control and they'll submit to you.

[noodle-is-unstable]

The JJK Characters as cryptids

(Drabbles)

Ft ~ Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, Kento Nanami, Toji Fushiguro, Ryoumen Sukuna, Choso, Takuma Ino, Shiu Kong, Uraume, Yuki Tsukumo, Shoko Ieiri, Mahito

Synopsis ~ The JJK Characters if they were cryptids. Could be Kinktober because if you squint hard enough it looks a little like monster fucking

Content Warning ~ 18+, spooky cryptid folklore things, Idk adult stuff

Gojo ~

Á Bao A Qu

the A Bao A Qu lives on the steps of the Tower of Victory in Chitor, from the top of which one can see "the loveliest landscape in the world". The A Bao A Qu waits on the first step for a man brave enough to try to climb up. Until that point, it lies sleeping, shapeless and translucent, until someone passes. Then, when a man starts climbing, the creature wakes, and follows close behind. As it progresses further and further up, it begins to become clearer and more colorful. It gives off a blue light which increases as it ascends. But it only reaches perfection when the climber reaches the top, and achieves Nirvana, so his acts don't cast any shadows. But almost all the time, the climber cannot reach the top, for they are not perfect. When the A Bao A Qu realizes this, it hangs back, losing color and visibility, and tumbles back down the staircase until it reaches the bottom, once more dormant and shapeless. In doing so, it gives a small cry, so soft that it sounds similar to the rustling of silk. When touched, it feels like the fuzz on the skin of a peach. Only once in its everlasting life has the A Bao A Qu reached its destination at the top of the tower.

This reminds me of Gojo because he was always living up to other people's expectations while never picking his own path. He wanted his students to surpass him so he would follow and watch to see if they could do it. Following his students lead him to fight Sukuna, freeing him and allowing him to achieve his true nirvana

Geto ~

Atmospheric Beasts

Atmospheric Beasts are the strangest of the flying monsters from ufology, cryptozoology and astrobiology. According to eyewitness reports, these beings are, apparently, living creatures, but they break all the usual rules that the biologists apply to living organisms. They appear to be able to levitate without any need for wings; as well as their bodies are even depicted in a semi-solid, often partially invisible, state.

I like the idea that these Atmospheric Beasts were actually just Geto flying around with his curses. He too was floating and flying above everyone. Breaking the laws of physics by simply existing

Nanami ~

Domovoy

The Domovoy a Slavic household Guardian shape-shifter spirit of a given ancestry a spirit who lives in the fireplace or behind stoves. Root word Dom meaning house is from Slavic folklore that lives in the home and protects the family from harm in all ways especially the children and animals. They have a troll-like appearance they have the power to shape-shift into anything but most likely cats, dogs, bears and horses. The Domovoy is said to be able to predict the future, however if enraged the Domovoy will lash out or in sometimes even leave the kin. The Domovoy even has a female counterpart called the Domania. The domovoy is believed to be coexisting with the house. The kin of the domovoy can give gifts and offerings to him.

Nanami would absolutely protect his house and everyone in it with all his power. He is very protective of those younger than him already. I dunno, he just gave me the vibes

Toji ~

Fear Liath Moor

Am Fear Liath Mór, or Big Grey Man or The Grey Man of Ben MacDhui is known to stalk the people who climb the mountain Ben Macdhui, the second highest peak in Scotland. Because of the high levels of fog there, not many people have seen it. Some believe the Grey Man to be a guardian of the mountain, but others believe him to be the guardian of a gate to other dimensions. The grey man is reported to be very tall humanoid, at least 8 feet high (Although sometimes as high as 30 feet). It is covered in short, gray hair, hence the name. Many times the witnesses didn't even see it, but still could hear it due to the loud footsteps. Many believe the Gray Man is a relative to sasquatch/bigfoot. It normally stalks its victims until they realize that it is following them, and then it chases them. This is a common pattern. It walks on two legs, and walks (and runs) like a normal person.

Toji feels like the gateway between the normal and curse knowing world so it seems fitting he would guard it. It is also an interesting parallel because it was of great note when Gojo perceived Toji. It was the first time he said someone actually saw him and he didn't like it

Sukuna ~

Achiyalabopa

Achiyalabopa was a huge bird god of the Pueblo people. He is described as being of extraordinary size and having rainbow-colored feathers as sharp as knives. It was considered a celestial creature and may have once been attributed to the whole of creation.

Sukuna is almost a pseudo god with his reputation and skill. Wings as sharp as knives paralleling his technique. Obviously not attributed for creation but could be argued he was the best showing of what sorcery could truly be and therefor the creator of true curse prowess

Choso ~

Horned Cat

Horned demon cats or Horned cats are the phenomenon of felines with various kinds of "horns" on their head or on their body. These cats or mostly of an occult origin however there are accounts of biological animals and mutations.

The idea the Horned Cat is from occult origins and Choso was born from curse, human experimentation. A creation that was never meant to be of this world but was still created. He also gives cat vibes

Ino ~

Manitou

Manitou is a term used to designate spirit beings among many Algonquian groups of Native Americans. It refers to the concept of one aspect of the interconnection and balance of nature/life, similar to the East Asian concept of qi or the Hindu concept of Brahman; in simpler terms it can refer to a spirit (compare to the Japanese concept of kami). This spirit is seen as a (contactable) person as well as a concept. Everything has its own manitou - every plant, every stone, even every machine.

Ino's technique being Auspicious Beasts Summon allowing him to be a spititual medium it feels fitting. He connects to beast souls and embodies them for his technique, living as a balance between human and spirit beast

Shiu ~

Pale Crawlers

Pale Crawlers are a phenomenon, usually enigmatic entities that appear at night. They are humanoid creatures described as thin and pale, with long limbs with claws and large black eyes. They are known to be incredibly fast, stealthy, and smart. While unconfirmed it is likely that pale crawlers are hyper aggressive.

Shiu is someone that works from the shadows, smart, stealthy and doesn't do his own dirty work. Though unconfirmed it's most likely when backed into a corner Shiu would have no problem being aggressive and even kill

Uraume ~

Abatwa

The Abatwa of Africa are a legendary race of minuscule hunters originally told of by the Zulus as being a menace in their territories; but in the past few decades the tales told of these beings in English language media has greatly changed.

Uraume is the definition of small but deadly. Tiny and likely to go unnoticed but an absolute menace. Uraume could take out people ten times their size and decimate populations

Yuki ~

Siren

In Greek mythology, sirens are female humanlike beings with alluring voices. They are always around locations surrounded by cliffs and rocks. Sirens continued to be used as a symbol for the dangerous temptation embodied by women. "Siren" can also be used as a slang term for a woman considered both very attractive and dangerous.

Yuki will always ask "What's your type?" hoping the answer is her. She has been shown to get agitated when not answered. Her words have often left people in danger or injured. (Leading Geto to become a curse user, leading Todo in training that left him scarred)

Shoko ~

Akkorokamui

According to Shinto mythology, the creature is human-like and contains a bright red color. The Akkorokamui is also characteristically described with the ability to self-amputate, like several octopus species, and regenerate limbs. This characteristic manifests in the belief in Shinto that Akkorokamui has healing powers. Consequently, it is believed among followers that giving offerings to Akkorokamui will heal ailments of the body, in particular, disfigurements and broken limbs.

Shoko's reverse curse technique parallels the healing ability of the Akkorokamui. Though she isn't as destructive she is willing to help those close to her

Mahito ~

Nixie

The Nixie, are humanoid, and often shapeshifting water-spirits in Germanic mythology and folklore. The enthralling music of the Nøkk was most dangerous to women and children, especially pregnant women and unbaptised children. He was thought to be most active during Midsummer's Night, on Christmas Eve, and on Thursdays. However, these superstitions do not necessarily relate to all the versions listed here. Many, if not all of them, developed after the Christianizing of the northern countries, as was the case with similar stories of faeries and other entities in other areas. When malicious Nøkker attempted to carry people off, they could be defeated by calling their name; this was believed to cause their death.

Mahito is known to be a shapeshifter of sorts. Very whimsical and joyful, almost childlike. Dancing, playing, general glee but very dangerous. He lured Junpei to the sewers and is still a curse after all. Though whimsical he would take, torture, experiment and kill people

[isaacswhy]

mine

isaacwhy x gn!reader (sfw) summary: you're out shopping with your boyfriend, isaac, when you find some initial necklaces. just in time for your six-month anniversary, you buy two, one for him and one for you. requested?: no, inspired by @ficblogmoni's!

It was quite unexpected, but in this relationship you'd had going with Isaac, you'd become quite the shopaholic. It was mostly spurred on by the fact that Isaac loved to shower you in gifts and take you shopping for whatever you wanted. Either way, you'd been shopping more times in the last few months than you had in years.

You'd gotten together with Isaac around six months ago, being friends with him for some time beforehand. When you'd finally gotten the guts to ask him out, he was overjoyed. After a few dates, he'd confessed that he'd been totally head over heels and trying to plan how to ask you out. Seeing him so flustered about it was simply the most endearing thing in the world.

Once you were officially a couple, then came the onslaught of gifts. Every day, your drink order from the local coffee shop was waiting for you once you were awake. Your favorite meals were ordered on DoorDash the second you mentioned you were having a craving. You hardly had to raise a finger, and your needs were being met.

You didn't quite have his YouTube income, but you tried to return the favor. Little gifts and trinkets from his favorite shows and souvenirs from wherever you'd go. He'd always blush bright, grinning like an idiot and telling you it wasn't necessary. All of your gifts would end up somewhere in his room or office, and he'd amassed quite the collection.

Your six month anniversary was right around the corner, and you thought it was the perfect time to buy something. He loved the sentimentality of anniversaries and you needed to show him you did, too. So, you popped over to his room with a smile on your face and asked to go out for a little shopping trip.

"Yeah! Let's do it!" Isaac was laid out on his bed, but on top of his blankets and almost fully dressed.

As he rolled out of bed and began to slip his shoes on, you walked up to him and began to mess with his hair. "Your curls are growing out, you know."

"Do you think I need to get them cut?" He looked up at you, and the way he looked like a puppy nearly melted you into the carpet.

You laughed and shook your head. "No, no, I like them a little longer. But, if you want to cut it, that's fine."

He shrugged as he finished tying his shoes, standing up and sufficiently towering over you. "Eh, I like it a little longer. Looks cooler that way, anyways."

"I'm just sad your mega Christian conservative family never taught you how to take care of them," You snickered, "Learning from Nick of all people.."

"Oh, shut up," He lightly smacked your arm as the two of you began to walk to his door, "You ready to go?"

You nodded and flashed a thumbs-up, "Ready."

Walking through the house didn't take long, but you did have to dodge a flying slipper from Blake, who was on the couch watching anime. You flipped him off as Isaac lightly scolded him for it, but you made it to the front door in one piece.

The two of you hopped into Isaac's car. You got settled into the passenger seat as Isaac turned on the car, pulling out of the driveway. You turned on your music, at Isaac's request, as you made the commute to the shopping mall area.

Pulling into the parking lot, you and Isaac got out of the car and you walked with your hand in his towards the first store. His eyes flitted around, and you gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "You're faceless, Isaac. They don't know."

"I know, it's just a little weird sometimes," He laments, "Even if there's almost no chance anybody could recognize me, I still get.. anxious about it. Doesn't help I'm so tall."

"They won't," You looked at him with a smile, "Plus, there's a lot of tall dudes. None as hot as you, though."

Isaac shook his head and snickered, but seemed a little more relaxed as you walked in the store together. It was more of a beauty store, and you broke away from Isaac to look at the necklaces. Isaac headed towards the watches.

As you sifted through the necklaces, your eye caught onto one section. It was a bunch of beautiful silver necklaces with initials on them. Your eyes darted back over to Isaac to make sure he wasn't looking as you slipped two into your hand. You found a store employee who was happy enough to box them up in small gift boxes.

You walked back over after making sure there wasn't anything else you wanted, seeing Isaac with a watch in his hand. It was beautiful, slightly minimalist but also with enough flare that you know Isaac would like. He looked to you with a smile. "You think it would look good?"

"I think it's great," You looked a little closer, a little in awe of its quality, "Thing looks expensive. But, you'd look good in it."

"I think so, too," Isaac nodded as he called over a worker and had them box one up for him. His eyes looked to the boxes in your hands with an intrigued look on his face. "What do you have there?"

"Nothing you get to know about yet," You said with a small grin.

He shook his head as he brought the boxes over to the register, paying for them and handing your boxes back to you. "Fine. Keep secrets from me, then. What's next? Do you watch Chainsaw Man with Tanner or something?"

"Worse," You laughed, "It's a watch party. Tanner, Nick, Blake, Larry, we even have Grunk on discord with us. We're literally only leaving you out."

"How dare you.." He scoffed, but his feigned anger turned into a big smile when he saw a store, "Wait, can we go get some shoes?"

"You have an addiction, Isaac."

You were quite lucky, by the time you had left the shoe store Isaac only had three new pairs. One of which he had picked out for you, and bought it before you had a chance to tell him no. That was one of the downsides of him knowing your measurements for everything: he bought shit for you even if you wanted to tell him no. Of course, if you genuinely hated something, he wouldn't.

Only a few stores later, the two of you called it a day on the shopping. You had a few new outfit components, one pair of shoes from Isaac, and the necklaces. They'd make for a great anniversary present.

You did your best to act as normally as you could as you got everything out of the car and into the house. It was a lot easier when Tanner came over and pestered the two of you, asking if you had gotten anything for him. He was dismayed when you had to let him down.

The rest of the night went smoothly, chilling in Isaac's room watching anime, cuddled up under the covers. He eventually had to work on a video, but told you that he had his schedule completely cleared for the next day. He never would miss an anniversary.

Unfortunately, you couldn't find the willpower to stay up until he came back to bed. Although you fell asleep alone, you woke up to being held by Isaac when the morning sun was fully up. Isaac smiled at you as you turned to him, resting you head on his chest.

"Happy anniversary, baby," You heard him say in his morning voice.

You looked up at him, doing your damnedest to keep your eyes open. "Happy anniversary, Isaac."

He sat up just slightly so he could look down and see your face, and you saw his tired smile. "Do you want to grab breakfast? I could pick up your drink order and get us some food."

"Usually I'd stay home, but," You stretched out your arms and sat up fully, "I've got something for us to wear out."

He raised a brow, a small smirk on his lips. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Not yet," You pulled yourself from his bed and shook your head, "Get dressed."

He nodded, following you out of bed and over to his dresser. "Any specific dress code for picking up some breakfast?"

"For our six-month anniversary? If I get to pick, put on one of your slutty tank tops."

"They're not slutty!"

"Sure."

He shook his head, finding a black tank top and pulling it on. He slipped into a pair of light-gray, if not off-white, sweatpants. You got dressed for the casual occasion, making some looks over at your boyfriend and admiring the way his arms looked in the tank top. They were drool worthy.

Once the two of you were ready to leave, Isaac looked to you expectantly. "Well then, I'm all dressed. What are you adding to the outfit?"

You grinned. "Well.." You reached into the bedside table and pulled out the two boxes you had picked up the day before. They held the necklaces you bought, but you quickly peeked in them to figure out which one was yours before holding your hand out with his necklace box in it. "Find out."

He picked the box out of your hand, which looked even tinier in his giant palm. He slowly opened the box and his expression was generally unreadable for a few seconds before a big smile spread across his face. "Is this.."

"My initial," You finished his sentence as you put on the "I" necklace, "And I got one with yours."

He took a few more seconds in shocked silence before he slowly put it on, fidgeting with the letter a bit. "Was this what you bought us yesterday?"

"Yeah," You flushed a little, "I wanted to be able to tell the world you're mine, and I'm yours. A little anniversary gift."

Isaac approached you slowly, the smile never leaving his face. "You're mine, and I'm yours," He repeated, "I like that."

"I know you do," You wrapped your arms around his waist, pulling him in close, "That's why I love you."

He grinned as he leaned down to you, pressing a kiss to your lips softly. "I love you too. Happy anniversary, baby."

You buried your face in his chest, taking in his scent. "Can we get out of here? I'm hungry as hell."

He snickered as he took your hand, leading you out of the room just as he did the day before. Your fingers laced together, feeling warm and content in his presence. "Of course. Anything for you."

[redfoxwritesstuff]

For Eternity, Chapter 4

Alastor x Angel!Wife Oc (Isabel) Rated: Adult - this fic contains content inappropriate for minors. Chapter Warnings: Discussions around consent in relation to the porn industry

@impulsivethoughtsat2am Was darling enough to beta <3 Many thanks, Dearheart.

Join us at VoxTek for a Vox themed Hazbin Discord. And my friend runs a Hazbin Fic Community

Masterlist AO3 KoFi

~~~~~<3

Trusting Vox had been a mistake. 

Isabel sat, head in her hands as she cried softly. Her throat was raw from the sobs that had ripped through her the day before. The price of Vox’s help was far more than she could pay and yet, what choice did she have? 

“Isabel!” Vox’s booming voice filled the small apartment he had presented her with. “Doll, why such the long face? I’ve brought you some guests! You wouldn’t want to be rude to our guests?”

Our guests. 

Vox had this whole fantasy constructed in his head where she sold her soul to him in exchange for knowing the fate of her dear Husband. He was confident that she wouldn’t regret selling her soul for the information. He was even more confident that she would grow to love him in her husband’s place, just as soon as she realized her darling husband didn’t want her. 

She knew he knew. He teased it all the time. He hinted at a man who’s love for his wife in life had long since died, hinted at a monster that would rather remove her from existence than see her again. Much to his dismay, regardless of what he would say to her, she would not yeld. 

“This, my dear, is my partner!” Vox held his hand out to the tall purple man dressed in a strange cape and looking what could only be described as tacky. “Valentino.” 

The man held the same look on his face when he looked at her, eyes roaming over curves and features, as Adam did. Just another body to put under him, not seeing the person for who they were and the heart they had. 

“Angel,” The man thing folded, taking her hand from where it rested in her lap and kissing it softly before licking a pink trail up her forearm, “An absolute delight.” 

“My name is Isabel,” she tried to sound braver than she felt. 

“You see,” Vox pulled her up from the couch by her elbow as she tried to wipe off the pink saliva, “Isn’t she just perfect?”

As Vox spun her, she tripped over her feet. The ends of her wings brushed what random assortment of items Vox had decorated the coffee table with off, clattering to the floor in a mess as they flared out in an attempt to right her balance. 

“She could make us a lot of money,” Valentino sang the last word as his eyes ran up and down her body again. “And she is unspoiled?” 

Vox shrugged, “I haven’t touched her yet.” 

They were talking about her as if she was an object. There was nothing more she wanted to do than yank herself from Vox’s too large hands and run for the window. Leaping, she would fly through the sky and be free again, cuts from the broken glass a small price to pay. 

But it wasn’t any use. 

The windows did not open and she had spent much of the night trying to break them without causing so much as a scratch to the surface. The only way she was going to get out of the tower was if they let her walk out. 

“She was married in life?” Valentino looked like he was appraising meat as he looked at her. “So she’s not totally untouched. She could have taken lovers in Heaven too, no?” 

“That’s the kicker, she’s utterly devoted to her husband! She’s been waiting for him like a good little wife but he never joined her.” Vox laughed, enjoying every moment of her torture as his fingers danced over the plush feathers of her wings. He pulled her back to his chest, holding her to him with a arm around her shoulders, slotting his torso between her wings. 

“Did you take lovers while you waited, Little Bird?” Valentino’s eyes seemed to glow from behind the ugly heart shaped glasses he wore. 

“No,” Struggling against Vox’s grip got her nothing but a tighter press against him, 

“So devoted, she came all the way to hell to find her husband.” Again, Vox laughed as if he was in on some secret joke. 

“And who is her husband?” 

“Alastor!” 

“Alastor had a wife?” Valentino blinked in shock, leaning back from her for a moment as if she would sting him if he got too close.

“One that made it into Heaven!” 

“Surely it’s not the same-”

“How many Alastors do you know?” Vox was having the time of his afterlife, grabbing her hand and forcing her to dance with him, back pressed tight to his chest. 

Closing her eyes, Isabel tried to focus on what she’d learned. They knew an Alastor and only one. It wasn’t a common name, in all her years both alive and dead, she had never encountered another. That wasn’t to say it was impossible but she had to cling to the hope that they were right, that it was her Alastor. 

If they had reason to have such negative feelings toward her husband, surely they would brag about what they had acquired. Arrogance and bragging seemed to be their style. 

Perhaps Alastor would find out. Maybe he would come for her. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe they were lying. 

If she was going to get through this, she needed to cling to that hope. It would all be worth it if it meant that she could be with her Alastor again, even for just a moment. It had to be worth it.

~~~~~<3

“Charlie?” Vaggie called from the couch she sat on, “Come take a look at this?”

“What’s up?” Charlie plopped down next to her girlfriend who angled the phone for her to see the screen better. 

They had been busy since the Extermination battle. Every waking moment was spent rebuilding and healing. Only now, after a week did they have a chance to slip back into normalcy and do something as mundane as looking at the news they had missed. 

“That’s an angel.” Vaggie whispered as Charlie took in the picture of a woman, large white wings and long dress being lead into Vee Tower by Vox himself. “Why does Vox have an angel?” 

“That’s not good.” Charlie recognized her in an instant, “Ohhh that’s not good.”

“I feel like that’s a bit more of a ‘not good’ than appropriate, what do you know?” 

“I could be wrong,” Charlie didn’t think she was but she certainly wanted to be, “But that looks like the woman we met in Heaven.”

“Alastor’s-”

“My what?” The man materialized in front of them, grin spreading at how they jumped, sending the phone in the air only to clatter to the ground, face down. He spared it a glance, eyebrow raised before directing his attention to the two woman he had caught speaking of him in hushed voices. 

“Your… jambalaya! Would be really good to have for dinner!” Charlie answered with a wide grin of her own. 

Not telling Alastor wasn’t an option but they needed to be sure. They needed to know for sure. They couldn’t see her face in the picture. There was no need to start a war if it wasn’t even her. 

But really, would Alastor care? He had swept aside the idea of being reunited with her as a reward for redemption as if it was unimportant. 

~~~~~<3

The door to her prison apartment opened, startling Isabel out of her daze. She’d been alone for the last two days and was torn between wanting Vox to return in order to have some sort of interaction or never seeing him or the man he had brought with him again. 

Scrambling to her feet, she peered across the living space, unsure of what to expect. Vox had what seemed to be volatile moods that set the tone for his visits. It wasn’t Vox who walked through the door however. 

Valentino had returned, the last person she had wanted to see. Along with him was a tall pink man with four arms and covered in fluff. He wore a pink blazer that almost matched his fur color and the smallest pair of black shorts she had ever seen. The short shorts contrasted with the tall black boots he wore, making him look somehow both covered up and exposed at the same time. .

The kindness in his eyes contrasted with the sharp hunger in Valentino’s. 

“I brought you a friend, little bird. I figured you’d be getting lonely, Vox being so busy,” Valentino presented the pink man- was it a man?- as if they were a prize. 

“Heya, Toots,” he said and you were sure then that he was a he, at least in the conventional sense. 

“This is Angel Dust, It’s best that you get to know eachother. You’ll be working closely together soon, after all!” Valentino laughed, “Very closely indeed.”

She didn’t expect to be left alone with the strange new man. Fear surged through her as her eyes bounced between him and the closing door as it latched shut behind Valentino. Holding her breath, she waited for the new man to make some sort of move, to say something to set the tone of their interaction. 

“You can relax, I’m not going to hurt you.” Angel said, walking around the space like he owned the place. “Got any drugs? Drinks?”

“No?” She hesitated as he made himself comfortable on the couch. 

“You’re like a damn deer in the headlights! Do you even know what’s going down? Damn.” “No, they haven’t told me anything.” 

“Well, fuck me.” Angel Dust ran a hand down his pink face, “You’re going to want to sit down.” 

She did, perched on the edge of the couch to allow her wings room to breath behind her. While he gathered whatever thoughts he needed to gather, she waited, watching his face morph with the thoughts in his head. He seemed nice enough at least but Vox had seemed nice at first too. Trusting her first judgements was what got her into this situation. 

“I’m a porn star,” Angel Dust started and her eyebrows shot up toward her hair at the interesting choice in leading statement. “A pretty famous one, if I do say so myself. And I do.” 

“Oh, okay…” Isabel wasn’t sure what the appropriate response to that declaration was. 

“Valentino is king of the porn district,” Angel Dust really wanted her to figure it out herself. He didn’t want to have to tell her this but she just blinked those amber eyes at him. 

“His outfit makes so much more sense now.” 

“That’s what you’re taking from this?” Angel Dust ran a hand through his fluffy pink hair. “Look, I’m going to just say it. Vox is giving Val permission to use you in his productions. I don’t know why, he usually keeps his toys separate.”

“Use me in one of his productions? What does that mean, exactly?” She didn’t think it would mean holding the mic or adjusting lights but it surely couldn’t mean... 

“You’re going to star in a production, at least one, maybe more.” Angel Dust hated how dirty this was all making him feel, “With me.”

“With you?” She shot up off the couch, “A pornographic film?” 

“Hey, I’m in demand, I’ll have you know!” Angel Dust tried to joke but it fell flat. “Look, you can either agree to do it and do it willingly or Val will force us. I don’t- That’s not my thing. I don’t want to be a part of that. Hell, I’m not even into women or being the top for that matter-” He was starting to ramble.

“I can’t,” She ran her fingers through her hair.

“You are not going to have a choice,” Angel Dust stood, wanting to offer comfort but not sure how. “I will do everything I can to not hurt you but unless you know how to change Vox’s mind, we’re going to do it.” 

“I can’t,” She repeated, pacing the space. “I’m married, I can’t. Even if I wanted to, I can’t.” 

“You’re married?” Angel Dust was taken aback, “Why’s everyone married all of a sudden? That’s some antique shit. Come on, sit down and let’s talk this shit out. I’ve been here awhile. What’s your name?”

~~~~~<3

Angel Dust felt like the dirtiest sinner in all of Hell as he dragged his ass through the hotel doors and he hadn’t even done anything yet. He had gotten to spend an hour with the angel Isabel and made no progress toward obtaining anything remotely close to her consent, let alone agreement for willing participation in the planned production. 

That was part of what Val wanted though. That sick fucker didn’t care if she was willing. Hell, if she wasn’t the film would sell for even more. He wasn’t sure there were enough drugs in all of Hell for him to bury the guilt if he was forced to-

“Angel!” Charlie had been waiting for his return. 

Her eagerness caught him by surprise. She wasn’t one to wait up for him though it wasn’t uncommon for her to be in the lobby. Maybe it was his own guilty mind but he had hoped to slip to the bar, get a drink and hide away.

“Heya,” He side stepped to try and make it to the bar but Charlie was hot on his heels. 

“I just have a feeew questions for you,” Charlie reached out, grabbing one of his hands to pull him to a halt. 

Knowing this wasn’t something he was going to get out of, he sighed and said, “What’s up?”

“A far as you recaall,” This was off to a great start, “If any of the Vee’s have any new, shall we say, winged-”

“Yeah, Vox has a pet angel. Can I please drink now? Today was kind of shit.” 

“Oh, Good!” Charlie clapped her hands before reconsidering her reaction, “Not that that’s good good, just that that’s what I wanted to hear. Not that I WANTED to hear that-”

“Find the point and get to it,” He was far too sober to be dealing with this shit right now. 

“What do you know about her?” Vaggie stepped in, saving them both from the rambling. 

“Big amber doll eyes and totally devoted to her husband. It’s gonna make shit hard for her, she’s not playing ball for Vox or Valentino.” 

“What’s her name?” Charlie asked.

“Isabel, she said. Isabel Dupont. Why?”

“I beg your pardon?” Static violently tore through the room as lights flickered and shadows deepened, growing and spreading like spilled ink.

~~~~~<3

Tag list: @preciousbabypeter, @catticora, @alastor-simp, @alastorthirsty

[archangelarch]

Love Potion

Arthur is depressed and frustrated with yearning and Merlin is fed up with it being taken out on him. So, he decides to use a spell to bring Arthur perfect bliss—which works all too well.

Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (& background Gwen/Arthur Pendragon) || Wordcount: 7,034 || Contains: Fluff and Angst, Enchanted Arthur Pendragon, Sexual tension, Unresolved sexual tension, Unhealthy coping mechanisms, Pining, Set in series 2

(Part 1 of Tryst)

———

Merlin’s supper was very cold by the time he slugged his way through Gaius’ door. With one look up from his work bench, the physician could guess what had kept him. Merlin was covered head-to-toe in dark soot, his hair sticking up in wild spires and his eyes half-closed. He looked like he might fall dead as he shuffled his way past his cooled stew over to the wash basin. 

“Rough day at work?” Gaius inquired, continuing to pluck dried leaves from a small herb bushel and place them into his mortar. 

Merlin hummed a half-groan in response. He stopped at the basin, and with a beat of pause preceding, he fell forward like a rag-doll into the water with a splash, dunking his entire head. Gaius startled, hopping to his feet with fear he may have to save the boy from drowning, but Merlin quickly shocked and shivered upright, his hair now plastered flat to his head and his top-half dripping wet all over the floor.

“Oh, Merlin, really—” Gaius began to scold, but Merlin barely seemed to notice. He just shook as much water from himself back into the basin with his hands, an ill-achieved target, and huffed in great breaths, no doubt brought a little back to life by the chill. Gaius pursed his lips as Merlin braced himself on the edges of the tub and stared at his own warbling reflection in the now-blackened water. “You look like you’ve had a run in with an angry dragon,” Gaius commented. He set his ingredients down and slowly rounded the table. “Or a forest fire.”

Merlin turned to glance over his shoulder, still not meeting Gaius’ eye, but looking for the first time like he really registered his presence. “I feel it as well,” he croaked.

“Are you alright?”

“Arthur had me sweep out the flue and chimney in his chambers,” Merlin reported sourly instead of answering the question. “He’s never had me do that before, ever. The castle has a chimney sweep.”

“I know, I’ve met him. I had to help unstuck him from one of the flues on his first day.” Gaius leaned to half-sit on the closer edge of the table, watching Merlin's attempts to wash off his face and neck. “Your supper’s on the table.”

“I’m not hungry,” Merlin said in an empty voice, and still leaving a small trail of drips, he sulked off to his room. 

Gaius decided to allow him some space, and with a heave of a sigh, he left his unground herbs as they were and collected up the final medicine deliveries he had for that day, which he had originally intended to have Merlin distribute. Luckily, the walk around the castle and the night air in the courtyard was pleasant and mild, and despite the hour the sun still hadn’t fully nestled below the horizon, its last light drawing tall blue shadows across Camelot. It was then that Gaius realized just how long Merlin had been working that day—dusk til dawn was a lot more substantial in late summer. When Gaius set back to the tower it was with a bit of pity in his heart for his son. 

When he was alone in his room, Merlin kicked out of his boots and shucked off his soot-stained clothes, internally grumbling over how long they would take to clean and how his struggle with his shirt re-smeared his cheeks with ash. Slender as he was, he was far too big and tall to be cleaning a chimney of the size in Arthur’s antechamber, a task made maddeningly more frustrating by constant critique and badgering by the prince, who seemed miraculously to have nothing better to do. He had been buzzing around Merlin like an incessant fly for shy over two weeks by that point, finding plentiful more and worse work to pile onto Merlin’s usual unpleasant load. Worst of all, he never seemed to get any sort of fill from his spectating—normally if Arthur had some particularly unagreeable task for him, whether that simply needed doing or that he had fashioned as some sort of punishment for being annoyed, he would stay by for a round of gloating and then be on his amused way. Merlin hadn’t heard Arthur stifle a chuckle, hadn’t seen his arrogant prattish smile, hadn’t even caught him grinning ever since they’d returned Gwen home safe from Hengist’s capture. Nothing at all seemed to lighten his perpetual rotten mood, and Merlin bore the exhausting, unrelenting brunt of it. 

Giving up with trying to get clean and simply throwing on his nightclothes, Merlin seethed his way over to the loose floorboard by his bedside and pried it violently off, plucking from it the spellbook Gaius had given him. He thumped himself down on the edge of the bed, tempted for only just a second by its soft give to collapse all the way and be done with the day, but fuelled enough by indignance to keep on task. He creaked the heavy cover open and began to leaf through the myriad pages, resolving to hold the book in both hands and magically flip through as with a gust of wind, eyes quickly flitting over each one. He incanted the flutter to a stop when he found the page he was looking for, and began poring over its every detail. 

There were two illustrations on the top of the page: one of a glass vial full of an orangey liquid drawn glowing with gilded radiating lines, and the other of a man dressed in finery carrying a woman in a peasant dress in his arms, both wearing great big smiles and flushed cheeks. The page read: Elixir of bliss. Enchants a subject with feelings of perfect happiness and contentment. It required a few ingredients be distilled in water, most of which he recognized from Gaius’ stores of herbs and medicinal plants, and an enchantment via incantation. Merlin began mumbling the incantation to himself, mouth learning its sounds, as he tried to memorize the list of ingredients. Holy basil, saffron, klamath weed—

Gaius pushed into the room without knocking, making Merlin jump. He was holding the bowl of stew from the table on a tray next to a chunk of bread.

“I know you’re probably tired, Merlin, but you must eat something,” Gaius insisted, pausing once he had steadied himself and the tray enough in the opened door. Merlin had hastily tucked the book behind him on the bed, poorly hidden from Gaius’ keen eye. “What’re you reading?” He noticed the pried up floorboard just after his words left him.

“Nothing,” Merlin replied quickly. “Thank you, Gaius, you can just set the tray there.”

The physician obliged and placed the tray down on the foot of Merlin’s bed as instructed, using the proximity to get an angle on the book. “Learning a spell?”

“No,” Merlin said automatically, then, taking up the book into his lap again in a better attempt to shield it, doubled back. “I mean, yes. Not a particular one, though. Just going through them all, you know, learning in general.”

“That would be awfully studious of you, Merlin,” Gaius offered suspiciously, hovering closer still, and as Merlin tried to discreetly flip to a new page, he quickly shot out a finger to hold the one he’d had open to before, another of his surprising bits of spryness for a man of his age. Gaius shot Merlin a warning look, and defeated, Merlin didn’t fight as Gaius flipped the pages back and scanned the one that he’d been on. 

“A love spell?” Gaius gawked, brows shooting up and then quickly back down into a disappointed furrow. “Oh, Merlin—”

“It isn’t a love spell, it’s a happiness spell,” Merlin countered. “See? ‘Elixir of bliss—’”

“Love spells go by many names, Merlin, and all of them are very bad news. They have nothing to do with real love or genuine emotion—they turn people into pleasant puppets who are too far from their right mind to know better. You have as little right as anybody to use magic to tamper with people’s emotions. Not only is it a completely unnecessary use of magic, it’s entirely inhumane—”

“You have no idea what it’s like with him!” Merlin snapped suddenly, shocked to pause by his own volume and the near sob in his voice. His eyelids fluttered as he gazed into the emptiness of the missing floorboard, and he saw Gaius’ sympathetic exhale in his posture from the corner of his eye more than heard it. The physician clasped his hands in front of him, plucking his words carefully.

“I know your situation with Arthur is difficult in ways I can’t imagine,” Gaius said, a balance of softness and firmness in his tone. “To be underappreciated” —Merlin snorted a bitter laugh at that— “and unseen... it must be torturous at times. But magic is not a tool for moulding others to one’s liking, nor is it fair to Arthur to try and manipulate his feelings. Being his protector comes with—”

“I’m trying to help him!” Merlin insisted, finding his voice again and breaking into a ramble. “He’s been so depressed since he found out about Gwen and Lancelot, and he’s been neglecting himself and his duties and taking out his frustration on everyone else, especially me. He’s been completely ignoring Gwen, which is entirely cruel if you ask me, he nearly got himself killed twice in training with the other knights because he’s been so distracted, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to cover for him to Uther so he can continue moping in his chambers—and despite everything I do for him, the extra lengths I’ve taken to try to cheer him up and be there for him, he’s treated me like a dog! I’m tired of it, Gaius, I’m exhausted, and I’ve tried everything else to lift his spirits. He deserves some relief from his torment as much as I do. I mean—you brew draughts to help Morgana sleep and to help Uther with his shoulder pain, right? How is this really any different?”

Gaius looked very displeased, but he listened patiently before he spoke again. “This is plenty different, and I highly suspect you’re aware of it, despite how you may be trying to convince yourself otherwise. Merlin, I gave you that spell book because I trusted that you would be responsible with it, that you would only use your powers when absolutely necessary and only for the right reasons. Now, while I do trust you have a good heart, you have shown me more than once that you require some guidance, and I am telling you, this is not the way to handle things. I understand you’re feeling frustrated and desperate, but I know how strong you are, and I know you can overcome any challenge without enacting such enchantments on people you care about.” Gaius paused for a few beats, looking down at his feet, before peering up to add, “Have you tried talking with Arthur about his feelings?” 

“Only a thousand times,” Merlin muttered bitterly. “He’s never been exactly forthright with his feelings but now it’s a hundred times worse. Each time I’ve tried he’s shut me down and had me re-wash his laundry or scrub his floors. It seems all he wants is to stare out his bedroom window and think up some new chore for me to do so he can stand by and insult me while I do it.” 

Gaius thought for a moment. “Sounds to me like he’s looking for any excuse to keep your close company.”

Merlin scoffed. “He loathes my company, he tells me that all the time.” 

“If that were really true, Merlin, I think you would have been relieved of your position long ago,” Gaius shifted the supper tray out of the way so he could sit on Merlin’s bed beside him, joining him in staring down into the hole in the floor. “I know Arthur can be prickly with you, but I believe that’s precisely because he feels comfortable with you in a way he feels with no one else. He feels vulnerable with you, and maybe that makes him a bit more hostile on the surface, but he needs someone like that, someone he can be truly emotional with. He needs you, Merlin.”

“He certainly has a funny way of showing it,” Merlin mumbled, setting the spell book aside and pulling his knees up to his chest. Gaius gingerly pushed the book closed and stole a glance at Merlin, seeing plain the great well of jumbled emotions written on his face. In that instant, he perhaps understood why a person would be driven to the use of magic to ease the mental anguish of a loved one in such a way, but still he held fast in his position. 

“If you keep showing Arthur the care you do, one day he will feel secure enough to accept it, and he will be able to see it for what it is,” Gaius said vaguely. Merlin rolled his gaze slowly towards him, brow furrowed, but didn’t say anything. “He’s had his heart broken. Like any injury, it needs time to heal. This irritability of his will pass, and he will be thankful he had a friend at his side as he recovered.” Gaius rested a palm atop the spell book’s cover. “Promise me you won’t use any spell in this book to tamper with anyone’s feelings,” he instructed with a tip of his head and a serious look.

Merlin took a long breath through his nose. “...I promise.” 

“Good.” Gaius patted Merlin affectionately on the shoulder before standing up. “Now eat your supper before it gets cold again.” 

With that, the physician left, and Merlin stayed curled up in a ball of knotted feelings on his bed. When the door was closed between, Merlin incanted to open the book again, directly to the page with the Elixir of Bliss. After a moment of pondering, he went to close the book by hand, only to have his eye caught by his pile of ash-crusted clothes that he would have to wash before he could go to bed. Then, before he closed it, he very swiftly and carefully tore the page out.

“No spell in the book...” he whispered to himself, then returned the volume to its place under the floor, replaced the board, and folded the torn page to tuck it into his sock, once again leaving his food untouched.

The next day was as gruelling as the last. Merlin, despite his bone-tiredness, reported early to Arthur, and even though he was there and already laying out his clothes and re-polishing his chainmail when Arthur woke up, he immediately bit into him about his sword not being sharpened, despite having not used it since Merlin had done so the week prior. He did his best to grin and bear it through two meals, lots of Arthur moping about his chambers with brief breaks to wander the castle halls like a ghost, during one of which he had to lie to Sir Leon when he came to fetch him for training, and countless poison-soaked jabs. 

Merlin had found a spare moment to sneak the last few ingredients for the elixir from the kitchens and waited until suppertime to deploy it, knowing he would need wine to mask the taste and colour of it in order to get Arthur to drink it. He thanked the kitchen maid who came to deliver Arthur’s supper to his chambers, taking it and serving it at Arthur’s dining table by the fire. One glance at the flue had him more decided than ever about his plan as he felt the weight of the vial hidden in his pocket. 

“Oh, surprise surprise, chicken again,” Arthur fussed, peering at the food with narrowed eyes, having roused himself from his window-gazing stupor. “Bet it’s as dry as ever as well.” 

“I can go ask the kitchen for something else, if you like, sire,” Merlin offered, his chipperness coming more easily as his plan came together, standing attentively by. Arthur waved off the suggestion as he trudged over to the table and deposited himself in the chair, head hung. He looked over the contents of the plate, eyes glazed. His cheeks held a bit of golden scruff that shone amber in the candlelight, shaving a neglected one of his daily tasks that Arthur had never allowed Merlin to take up, citing his clumsiness. It was remarkable to Merlin how much older a bit of beard made him look, and how it might’ve even made him look more distinguished, if the rest of him wasn’t so rumpled and miserable. 

“Are you going to pour me a glass of wine, or would you rather have me choke on this brittle excuse for meat?” Arthur asked venomously, glaring up at Merlin without picking up his head.

“Of course, sire,” Merlin chimed, reaching for Arthur’s goblet, only to have it slip from his grasp just when it crossed the boundary of the table, clattering loudly on the floor. “Oops,” Merlin feigned, and stooped down to retrieve it.

“Good Lord, Merlin, I’d say you’d be fit to be a horse for all your frequent dropping, but at least a horse is good for something.” Arthur chided, and as he did, Merlin discreetly took out the vial from his pocket.

“I don’t think I have the legs to be a horse, my lord,” Merlin replied, swirling the vial a little. Then, as discreetly as he could, he whispered the incantation. He had to shield the vial with his hand as it began to glow orange like the setting sun, praying Arthur wouldn’t notice.

“No, you don’t. I’ve seen foals steadier on their feet than you. And what the hell are you doing down there?” 

Quickly Merlin poured the elixir, marvelling a little at how the glow left it and the liquid returned to clear as it filled the bottom of the goblet. He rose hastily back to his feet before Arthur could duck his head below the table, goblet in hand. “Sorry.” 

Arthur grumbled wordlessly and set to squashing his peas and potatoes into a grey-green slurry as Merlin took up the decanter and poured the gobletful of wine. He slid it across the table to Arthur with a little bow of the head, which the prince met with a sneer. Merlin watched intently as he went to take a sip, only to pause with the cup held in mid-air.

“Perhaps I’ll go hunting tomorrow. Bring home something better to eat than chicken.” 

Merlin was genuinely taken aback, lips stuck parted. That was the first bit of motivated talk he had spoken in weeks, and something genuine returned to the fever of despondency that had settled over him like cobwebs. Merlin felt a hopeful chord struck in his heart at that, and right next to it a guilty one. A sinking feeling came over him like the pitch of looking down a great height, and the memory of hedges and a cold beach and Arthur holding a very similar cup squeezed all the air out of him. As Arthur brought the drink to his lips, Merlin began to panic, and nearly lunged across the table to swat the goblet from his hand, but was stopped at a mere flinch when Arthur drew it away again to speak. 

“Then again, perhaps not. Toting a clumsy idiot like you, I doubt we’d catch a thing. Honestly, Merlin, sometimes I believe you’d die if left to your own devices without my help.” 

Your help? Merlin scorned behind pressed lips, wishing by a very quick heel turn for the relief of shouted outrage, but held his tongue. Because of that, the conflict drained from him, and he continued holding it while Arthur drank deep of his wine. After a moment, the prince smacked his lips, narrowing his gaze as he inspected the drink.

“This wine tastes different,” he commented, swirling it around some and giving it a sniff, peering around into nothing as he considered it.

“It’s from a new batch,” Merlin bluffed, barely keeping his temper, but managing in his curiosity as he watched Arthur’s every move carefully. With an exaggerated frown and another deep sniff, Arthur took a very short sip, keeping it in his mouth. Merlin held his breath. Arthur swallowed.

“It’s quite good,” Arthur said, following with another long sip, humming his satisfaction into the cup. 

Merlin blinked. “You think so?” 

Arthur made a loud refreshed gasp. “Very much so.” When he turned his gaze again on his servant, his posture was looser, no longer hunched, facing him fully, and he even smiled at Merlin, pleasant as sunlight. “You should try some,” Arthur encouraged, and then further to Merlin’s surprise, he held his goblet out towards him with a little nod.

Merlin hiccuped a nervous laugh and held up his hands, a little warm in his surprise. “Oh, no, sire, I—I couldn’t. Please, drink up.” 

Arthur gave a small shrug and brought the cup back to drain it, again letting out a little contented moan and grinning. Merlin grinned along with him, relief and pride in himself opening like a flower. It had been so long since he had seen Arthur smile. 

“You know, on second thought, maybe I will go hunting tomorrow,” Arthur said, taking up his fork and digging into his supper, taking a hearty chunk of chicken along with his slurry and stuffing his mouth full. “The knights always love a good hunt. And some of the smaller forest boars are slow and dumb, we should have a decent chance to haul one in.”

Merlin waited for the inevitable comparison as the invocation of dumb, but none came. Arthur continued chewing, digging up another bite, without any complaints about the food or the temperature of the room or Merlin’s idle presence at all. It was a genuine marvel, and Merlin couldn’t help but stare. When Arthur noticed him he slowed his chew, raising his eyebrows and cocking his head a bit to the side. 

“What?” he inquired. “Do I have something on my face?” 

“No,” Merlin huffed through a smile. “No, it’s just... well, you seem in better spirits all of a sudden.” 

“I feel in better spirits,” Arthur replied, eyelids fluttering a little with a look as satisfaction passed over his face as savoured another bite. “You’ll have to give my highest compliments to the cooks, because this is just delightful.”

Merlin couldn’t recall Arthur ever enjoying food beyond simple approval, or ever describing something as delightful, but his tone sounded to Merlin’s ear entirely sincere. 

“I’ll be sure to,” Merlin assured. 

The difference was like night and day. To everyone else, it seemed the next day that Arthur had just woken up on the right side of the bed, and they were all too relieved to question his sudden change of heart. Despite Merlin’s valiant attempts to cover for him, Uther had taken notice of Arthur’s gloom, and none were happier than he to see the prince invigorated and back to his usual duties. Merlin even watched Arthur say good morning to Gwen, who looked for a moment like she was seeing a ghost, but managed a pleasant return before they passed each other in the corridor. Catching Gwen’s smile was nearly better than having Arthur perfectly content, and Merlin grinned back at her with a little thumbs up. The only regret he carried was not thinking to use the spell sooner. 

While Merlin still would rather be doing nearly anything but hunting, it was like a vacation compared to the last weeks. Arthur joked with the knights, and while they only managed to snare a few rabbits, the prince’s mood was dampened none. And through it all, not a single insult or bully or tease to amuse himself or the knights. In Merlin’s wildest dreams, he never imagined hunting with Arthur could be pleasant.

He was so caught up in this euphoria that he barely noticed Arthur fall off his horse until one of the knights gave a shout. He hopped off his own with Sir Leon and rushed to his side, immediately dreading he’d been struck by some unseen archer, but when they reached him, Arthur was chuckling, half crushing a shrub. 

“I fell,” he laughed. Leon had reached him first and helped him back to his feet. 

Merlin sighed his relief. “Seems you did. Are you alright?” 

“Right as rain,” chimed Arthur. Before Leon let go of his arm, he frowned and reached up a gloved hand to Arthur’s shoulder, pulling his hand back to inspect it.

“You’re bleeding, sire,” informed Leon. 

“Let me see,” said Merlin, drawing close and all but pushing Leon out of the way. Arthur moved pliantly as Merlin angled him towards the sunlight to inspect his shoulder. There were some thin limbs from the crushed shrub stuck into his chainmail and pauldron, and as Merlin picked them out in search of a wound, one of them offered resistance. Arthur hissed in sharp pain before dissolving back to giggles. 

“I think that one’s in me,” he said, grinning. Merlin frowned, worry chewing on him. 

“I should get him back to Gaius,” insisted Merlin, glancing at Leon. 

“I feel fine,” said Arthur, but there was no argument in his words, just a simple fact.

“He may have hit his head on the way down,” continued Merlin, guiding Arthur back to his horse. Leon nodded and assured he’d finish up with the party and Merlin helped Arthur mount and instructed him to follow back to the citadel, which Arthur did without a word of protest. 

Merlin stood nervously by while Gaius performed some tests on the patched-up prince. The limb that had stabbed into his shoulder luckily hadn’t gone deep, just at a tricky angle, but Gaius warned that it could have just as easily pierced his neck, as Merlin already well knew. Arthur seemed entirely unbothered by the whole ordeal, following instructions and meeting Merlin’s every worried glance with a cheerful grin. 

Though he didn’t show it, Merlin knew Gaius knew practically from the moment they walked in the door. 

Gaius could find no evidence of a head injury, and though he told him to take it easy on the shoulder for a few days while his injury healed, gave him a clean bill of health. Arthur thanked him and hopped up from his stool and made his way towards the door out of Gaius’ chambers. Merlin tried to discreetly follow him, but Gaius stopped him with a look that made Merlin’s heave in a breath. 

“He’s very lucky,” Gaius told Merlin in a low voice. “It’s a small but painful wound, no doubt. And still, he seems rather blissful about the whole ordeal.” 

Merlin shrugged. “Arthur’s a tough guy.” 

“He could have been much more seriously hurt. He’s been riding since he was a child—he isn’t the type to just fall off his horse. There’s nothing medically wrong with him, but—” 

“Guess we’ll have to count our blessings then,” Merlin cut in. Gaius looked utterly disappointed, and his small sigh was like a sack of flour on each of Merlin’s shoulders. Before either of them could say another word, a singsong voice drifted down the corridor. 

“Mer-lin!” called Arthur, filling the syllables with more delight than the warlock had ever heard him put into them. With a sheepish smile, Merlin sidled past Gaius and hurried after the prince. 

Merlin couldn’t help but indulge in Arthur’s good mood, despite his lingering guilt. The next days were like a dream, one that was interrupted by the tension when he came home in the evening. Gaius barely spoke to him, and that alone was enough to keep Merlin awake at night, near sick with doubt. But the time the sun rose and Arthur bid him good morning, though, all of that was washed from him, and he found an unmatched solace basking in Arthur’s happiness. 

When Merlin was drawing a bath, Arthur was lingering by his chamber window, quieter than he had been all day. Merlin spied him curiously.

“Something on your mind, sire?” 

Arthur turned to him, arms crossed and stance wide. “There is, now that you mention it.” 

“Anything you’d like to talk about?” asked Merlin.

“Alright,” said Arthur, without a scrap of hesitation. “I’ve been thinking about Guinevere.” 

Merlin couldn’t suppress his smile. “What about her?” 

“She’s just so dreamy.” Hearing Arthur use the word dreamy was as jarring as hearing him say delightful and sublime , all words Merlin hadn’t known were in Arthur’s vocabulary, but Merlin refused to let that distract him. “She’s sweet, and brilliant, and she smells wonderful, and she might very well be the most gorgeous woman in all of Camelot.” 

Arthur had never been so forthcoming with his feelings about Gwen, and Merlin was nearly beaming with excitement as he finished filling the bath and checked the temperature. “You think so?” he encouraged.

“Indeed I do,” Arthur said, cocking his head to the side. 

Merlin took a bolder step. “Do you think you’ll tell her that?” 

Arthur considered for a short pause. “Yes, I think I will.” 

“Wait, Arthur—” Merlin started, then cleared his throat as Arthur turned back from his path to the door, catching himself and reining in his surprise. “Sire, perhaps you should bathe before going to talk with Gwen.” 

Arthur nodded and smiled. “Good thinking, Merlin,” he said, and Merlin melted at the praise—another of the recent treats Merlin had become a glutton for. 

While he was basking, he hardly noticed Arthur beginning to strip for his bath right where he stood, not bothering with his changing screen, and only just looked away before Arthur pulled his breeches off, sweet warmth boiling to abashed heat. He went so far as to shield his face with a hand to avoid stealing a glance at the prince. Arthur had allowed a lot of little things he wouldn’t have before over the past few days—letting Merlin take breaks throughout the day, carrying his own pack, even giving him an evening off—but Arthur had always been strict with bathing etiquette, and Merlin dared not approach the crossing of that line. 

Merlin kept his gaze on the floor as Arthur strode uncovered over to the bath and settled into it, not a lick of discomfort or shame about him, standing and bowing a little.

“Sire,” he dismissed, then hastily turned to take up his place in Arthur’s antechamber and wait for him to be done washing to dress him and empty the bath, as he always did. 

He froze when Arthur called him back.

“Merlin,” he beckoned, as easy and natural as a scrap of birdsong. As he relaxed in the warm bath waters, his voice was looser, and his name came out almost like a moan on Arthur’s breath. Merlin could feel all the heat in his body rushing to a single point and felt a little dizzy. 

“Yes, my lord?” Merlin asked, suddenly shy, without turning around. He reprimanded himself for the way the grunt of pain he heard accompanying a stir of the bathwater behind him made his heart flutter with something other than concern. “Is it your shoulder?” 

“I’m not sure,” said Arthur, sounding puzzled as he shifted again with a melody of little splashes. “I know this may sound strange, but that part of me feels... not entirely good. Is that mad?” 

Guilt prickled in Merlin’s belly. “You’re injured, sire. It’s normal for it to hurt.” Arthur didn’t respond, and Merlin grew worried. “Can... may I inspect it for you, to ensure it’s healing properly?” 

“Of course, Merlin.” 

Trying not to think about how Arthur had never sounded so compliant and how he was nude in the bath and seemingly unfazed by either thing, Merlin knelt at the side of the bath. He was careful to stay positioned just so at Arthur’s back to keep his eyes and his intimate areas blocked, which was hard with how Arthur was lounging with his arms and knees wide.

“Sit up,” said Merlin, a thoughtless instruction, but was taken aback again by how quickly Arthur followed his order. He looked over the series of small scratches and bruises mottling Arthur’s left shoulder, all scabbed by that point, even the nastier centrepiece where he had been pierced. 

“Nothing looks infected and it’s healing well,” mumbled Merlin, his gaze slipping a little down the hard swells and curves of Arthur’s back, connecting the other marks on his skin, old and fresh scars, like constellations. “You should be back to training in a few more days.” 

“Lovely,” Arthur said happily. “Thank you, Merlin.” 

That turned Merlin to a statue in place. All the confused feelings in him were swirled around as he was flooded with something that made his whole body feel impossibly light and heavy all at once. He swallowed hard.

“You’re welcome, Arthur.”  

When Arthur said nothing further, Merlin got unsteadily to his feet and hurried out of the room with a bow Arthur didn’t see. In the antechamber, he held his burning face in his hands and tried to calm down the various excited parts of his body. 

It wasn’t just falling off the horse. Merlin had kept a closer eye on Arthur after that, and though he convinced himself it was just the run-of-the-mill saving of Arthur’s life he always did, there were undoubtedly more close calls. When Arthur was nearly trampled by a runaway horse and cart while he and Merlin were passing through the Lower Towns, waving it off with a chuckle, Merlin’s worry began to tip his internal scales. He’d been sure to learn the counter-spell to undo the effects of the Elixir of Bliss, but he had continually convinced himself to allow just one more day before he used it, just a few more moments of this pleasant dream of an Arthur who never yelled or insulted him and even thanked him. But this Arthur felt increasingly like a stranger to him, and Merlin knew more and more surely that Gaius had been right. As sweet as it was, all dreams had to end. 

It was after Gwen had pulled Merlin aside to ask if he’d noticed Arthur acting off that he made the decision to undo the spell. She was more than a little worried, but she was also clearly uncomfortable, and confided in Merlin that while she appreciated that Arthur had stopped giving her the cold shoulder, his bold compliments and little gifts (which she had assumed were meant as compensation) were becoming too much, and when she tried to explain to him why he had to stop, he just didn’t seem to understand. 

“It’s like he’s forgotten he’s the prince of Camelot,” she had told him, chewing on her lip. “He was never like this before—he was always so respectful and careful. He knows why we can’t be together, not like that, but now... he just smiles and tells me that there’s nothing to worry about. I’m afraid he’s going to try something really stupid. Please, Merlin, can you try to talk some sense into him?” 

Merlin assured her he would and got to work right away on the potion for the counter-spell. 

That night at dinner, it was entirely too easy to distract Arthur by telling him there was an interesting bird on the windowsill for Merlin’s liking, and he was resigned to the fact that it was good he was the one sneaking something into Arthur’s wine and not someone who actually wanted to do him harm. As he mumbled the incantation and discreetly poured the counter-elixir while Arthur was still leaning and staring at the window, he marinated in his guilt. In the back of his mind, he thought about how he would have to find some way to make it up to Gaius for being right from the start.

“I don’t see it,” said Arthur, squinting hard and beginning to rise from his chair. “It’s really purple?”

“It, uh, might’ve been a trick of the light,” fibbed Merlin, settling Arthur back down into his chair. “Either way, it must’ve flown off. Here, sire—drink up.” 

Arthur shrugged and did as he was told, taking up the goblet. Merlin was going to miss that obedience, but he knew it was a purely selfish indulgence. Their fingers brushed as Arthur took the cup from him and Merlin shivered, rising a tint warmer. Arthur tipped the goblet and his head to Merlin with a big smile that showed off his teeth—a feature Merlin had also selfishly taken to admiring as Arthur had shown them off more.

“Cheers,” he said, and put the goblet to his lips.

Merlin sighed a heavy breath, allowing a moment to wallow in his disappointment, but was interrupted by Arthur drawing the cup away again to speak.

“You know, Merlin,” he started, drumming his fingers once on the table and holding the warlock fast in with his calm blue gaze. “You’re unlike anyone I’ve ever known before. While I can’t imagine my life being anything other than perfect, I think you’re one of the things that makes it as good as it is.” Arthur blinked slowly, eyes crinkled with a fond grin as he pored over Merlin’s face. “I’ve always thought very highly of you. I’m glad to have a friend like you.” 

As Arthur went to take a sip, Merlin shot out a hand and covered the top of the goblet, and his lips connected with Merlin’s knuckle. Unbothered but curious, Arthur looked back up as his servant, whose shoulders were heaving and who was flushed down into his neckerchief. 

“What is it?” asked Arthur with no alarm at all. Merlin felt like he was tumbling down a hill, unable to stop himself as the feeling of Arthur’s lips lingered on his skin like a hot iron brand. “What is it, Merlin?” 

With throat suddenly dry, Merlin could barely speak, his words creaking out of him. “Is... there... anything else?” 

“What do you mean?”

Merlin bit down hard on the inside of his cheek. He knew it was selfish. He knew it wasn’t right. He couldn’t be sure they were even Arthur’s words, they could well be nothing more than the enchantment talking, but they had sounded so genuine. Merlin couldn’t bear the thought of the opportunity slipping through his hands if there was any chance that Arthur might be offering him some as yet unspoken truth. 

“Is there anything else you want to say to me?” asked Merlin, almost whispering. 

Arthur slowly set his goblet down on the table and Merlin withdrew his hand. The prince narrowed his eyes. “Are you alright?” he asked, confused but not sounding worried. “You don’t look happy.” 

That nearly took Merlin’s knees out. He wanted so badly to tell him he wasn’t and all of the reasons why, unburden every tremendous pain and secret he toted each and every day as he followed Arthur around, but he knew he couldn’t. 

“Yeah, I’m alright,” assured Merlin, forcing a smile to cover up the quiet sob in his tone. “Sorry. It’s nothing—I’m fine. Eat your dinner.” 

Arthur watched him for a moment longer, shrugged, and dug into his food. Merlin watched him, standing dutifully at his side as he always did, and blinked away a mist of tears. Arthur washed down a large and rather unprincely bite with a big swig of wine, and once he had he blinked a little, going back for another sip. He tilted his jaw from side to side as he held it in his mouth, considering. 

“Is this another new batch of wine?” he asked.

“Yeah,” muttered Merlin, and then remembering himself and standing up straighter, amended, “yes, sire.” 

Arthur’s face slowly twisted and he wrinkled his nose. “A real step down from the last one. And why’s the wine being changed so much? I like our usual stuff.” 

Merlin made himself take a deep breath before answering. “I don’t know, my lord.” 

“Well, next time, Merlin, be sure to get the good wine, alright?” 

Merlin nodded and Arthur went on eating without further comment. When he picked up his drumstick, he took a glance Merlin’s way, but didn’t linger. “You can go.” 

Merlin faltered. “I... can?” 

“We’ll you’ve finished all of today’s work, haven’t you?” said Arthur, the draw of his brow pulling tighter as he rolled his neck and rubbed at his shoulder with a little wince. 

“Don’t touch it,” Merlin reprimanded lightly, a reflex. “It’s still healing.”

“I know that, Mer lin, I’m not a child,” snapped Arthur. The pain seemed to have crept back into his awareness, and as he tried to hide it he looked much more like himself than he had before. That gave Merlin a strange sort of relief, and all he could do for a moment was watch Arthur settle back into himself. Without looking up again as he picked at his food, Arthur added, “If you’re so eager to stick around, though, you can clean my boots—seems you’ve been slacking on that this week.”  

Merlin pressed his lips for a moment and piped up when Arthur looked at him again with eyebrows raised and mouth curled in a little confused sneer. “Sire, about these past few days...”

“What about them?” 

Merlin looked into Arthur’s eyes and saw the countless layers there, the reservation and poise in his little movements, the emotion he could never fully hide from anyone (least of all from Merlin), and his question was answered without him having to ask it. “Nothing. Nevermind.” 

Arthur frowned before returning to his dinner. “You’re acting very strange, Merlin. Are you sure you’re alright?” 

There was just a touch of worry there, a single leaf upsetting a rippled through a pond of other things, one that Arthur hadn’t shown in weeks in both his hazes of sulk or bliss—concern for Merlin. That made him smile ever-so-gently. 

“Yeah. Everything’s alright.” 

[assistant-of-drama]

Assistant Noah's World Tour!

After France...

Alejandro made sure to treat Owen decently this time.

It wasn't enough to make Noah stop giving him the silent treatment, but it was enough to make Noah stop glaring at him.

After the Amazons win the challenge, the plane apparently needs a few hours for repairs before taking off... it was the perfect opportunity to make up with Noah.

"Hey Noah, since we have some time, would you like to get some sweets and see the Eifel Tower with me?" Alejandro asked, his voice smooth as honey.

Noah hesitated for a moment, taken aback by the sudden request. He glanced at Alejandro, noticing the genuine excitement in his green eyes. But Noah only said yes, cause he was hungry and curious to try some fancy desserts.

Noah nods, embarrassed to hear a small growl from his stomach. "Fine, I could use the break from everything. But you're paying."

They find a small, but fancy bakery and eat some cupcakes with icing flowers with coffee.

As they eat, Alejandro can't stop looking at the small, pleased smile on Noah's face. It was working. He was winning Noah over.

When they finished eating, they stayed in their seats for a bit, asking questions and getting to know each other. Alejandro talked about his love of dinosaurs and puppets, while Noah confessed about his secret fondness of planes and rockets and fluffy animals. Alejandro couldn't help, but genuinely laugh at the irony, considering how much Noah hates the giant and unstable plane they were forced to fly in.

Then they walked towards the Eifel Tower. As they approached, Noah couldn't help but feel a surge of awe. The tower loomed over them, impossibly tall and elegant. Even though he'd seen pictures of it before, nothing could prepare him for the sheer scale of it in real life.

When Alejandro wrapped an arm around Noah, the assistant allowed it while gazing at the tower. But then Alejandro wrapped his other arm around Noah, practically giving him a hug. Noah turned around, while still trapped in the taller man's arms.

"Alejandro, what are you doing? I keep telling you that flirting with me isn't gonna give you benefits. What could you possibly hope to gain?" Noah asks with a tired yet firm voice. He feels a blush creeping onto his cheeks, though, as he's pressed so close against the taller man.

Alejandro smirks, despite having a light blush of his own. "Maybe what I want to gain is your attention."

"What?" Noah's eyes widened at this, so many conflicting emotions swirling inside them.

That's when the Eifel Tower lights up, surrounding the area in a beautiful romantic light.

Noah and Alejandro silently gaze into each other's eyes, lost in the haze of the city of love. Not even they are immune to it's great power. Their faces relax as they stare blankly at each other. It feels as if time has slowed down, the world around them fading away into nothing but the two of them. The romantic light making their bodies and minds feel pleasantly warm.

Alejandro then begins to lean in for a kiss. Noah somewhat wakes up from his daze to lean away from the charming spanish man's lips. But the taller man follows his lips, while still holding Noah close. It almost looked like Alejandro was dipping him. The book-loving assistant had to think fast, before their lips make contact.

Noah grabs the charm on Alejandro's necklace and presses it against the charmer's puckered lips.

Alejandro opens his eyes in dazed confusion.

Noah smiles and uses his other hand to playfully rub his captor's cheek. "Did you really think it was gonna be that easy, eel?"

Alejandro removes his lips from the charm and smiles back. "Why no, of course not. But I do love a challenge, my little porpoise.~"

Noah gets a kiss on his nose, before he could stop it.

Alejandro got kicked in the stomach, as a result.

The taller man considers it progress, that it wasn't the kiwis that Noah hit instead.

At least the diablo is talking to him again.

[where-dreamers-go]

"Summertime" - Part 4/finale - Leon Kennedy x Reader

(A/N: Part one, two, and three are up. Here is the finale of Summertime! Thank you so much to everyone reading this little series and giving it love.

Warnings: very minor angst, fluff, romance, and use of (Y/N) for your name.

Word Count:  2,883 words)

~~~

Birds chirped outside and the morning light made its way into the bedroom. Another day of a more than wonderful vacation.

Stretching, you smiled to yourself. Before your thoughts could ponder about breakfast they jumped to new memories. Dizzyingly fantastic memories you had made with Leon.

From shy smiles shared across the sand to dates that made your heart flutter. It was like a wonderful dream. Better than that, all the time you spent with Leon was real and sweet.

He’s sweet, you thought, and caring and wow.

Your smiling continued until a sudden realization:

This is our last full day here.

You sat up abruptly.

If there was one thing you needed to do, you had to tell Leon.

***

White fluffy clouds decorated the sky with hungry birds flying around the beach. Umbrellas had all ready been set up along the sand. Beachgoers had an early start.

Your sights were on something else.

Standing tall and usually unregarded by visitors, the Lifeguard Tower sat securely with an overview of the shoreline. The lifeguard chair looked small in comparison.

“Leon?” You called as you hurried across the soft sand.

A familiar figure poked his head out of the door at the Tower.

“Leon.”

The lifeguard on your mind rushed down the ramp upon hearing the strain in your voice.

“(Y/N), are you okay?” Leon met you by the railing and his gaze did a quick once over your form. A crease between his eyebrows was noticeable.

“Yeah. Well, physically.”

His shoulders, however covered by a white shirt, lowered drastically.

“I’ll just say it,” you huffed, “I forgot that I’m leaving tomorrow and I’m so sorry for not telling you sooner. It’s such a jerk move.”

A small smile framed his lips. His fingers brushed over your arm.

Why’s he smiling? You thought anxiously.

Leon’s expression softened.

“I know you never stay for very long. Last year you were here less than a week.”

“Oh.” You replied, more unsure.

He leaned against the railing, empathic and gentle. “Distance doesn’t have to end anything. I’d rather it didn’t.” Blue eyes gazed at you, unguarded.

“Yeah?”

Leon gave you one of his bright and hopeful smiles.

“Okay,” you said almost to yourself. “Would it… Would it be all right if I gave you my address?”

He perked up.

“For just in case you want to send something,” you said quickly, “like a letter or rock or… I have no idea what I’m saying.”

Chuckling, Leon stepped closer to you and took your hands into his own.

“I’ll have to check if sending shark teeth through the mail is allowed.” He teased. “But I have ideas all ready in mind.”

Relieved you hadn’t ruined anything, you laughed lightly along with him.

“And for the record, you’re not a jerk for forgetting something. I mean,” he smirked, “I forgot how late it was last night when I was with you. Would I be considered a jerk for that?”

“No.”

“Glad we’re on the same page.” He gave your hands a squeeze before taking a brief glance away. “I have to get back to work, but… Can we meet up tonight? Right here?”

“Sure—yes.”

“Perfect.” Leon released your hands, but gave your side a light squeeze. “There’s nothing to stress about. Enjoy your vacation, (Y/N).”

So you did.

***

Daylight hours were spent goofing off in warm water, eating fresh food, and sharing it all with your friend. The last day of vacation did not disappoint in appearance either. Weather without thunderstorms kept you both returning outdoors most of the afternoon.

It was only a matter of time before the sun set and most of your belongings were packed once more.

Butterflies raged in your stomach as you stepped down into the sand. You navigated by the outdoor lighting to reach the Lifeguard Tower as agreed upon.

Be yourself. Have fun. Breathe. You thought and caught sight of a moving beam of light. A flashlight?

To your relief and entertainment, you saw Leon first. It appeared to be a moment of Leon double checking a bundle under his arm.

Before you were nearly ten feet away, Leon spotted you. A smile evident on his face even in semidarkness.

“Hey,” Leon greeted you. Pushing off from the leg of the Tower to reach you, he planted a chaste kiss to your forehead. “Ready?” He pointed the light to the sand ahead of you.

“Yeah.” You gingerly held his bicep, much to both his and your delight.

Then across the cool sand you went together on the unpopulated beach. Stars shone from above, slow waves rolled to shore, and a slight breeze cooled the humid air.

About a minute or so of walking lead the pair of you to the destination. A relatively smooth part of the beach without dug-out sections and trash. Not typically where late night walkers roamed because the water was more than ten feet away.

No walking the beach then? You wondered.

“Just a second.” He said and handed you the flashlight. Leon stepped ahead of you, away from your touch, and shook out the bundle. In another shake, the blanket settled onto the sand. “I thought we could��watch the stars and talk. Or check for shark teeth. Whichever,” Leon offered.

It felt as if your heart doubled in size.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to stargaze yet.” You looked to Leon. Both excitedly nervous and without a doubt happy, you smiled.

“Glad I had the idea.”

Being mindful not to track sand all over the blanket, the two of you clamored onto the fabric unceremoniously. The flashlight was turned off in favor of the stars. Nothing else needed attention.

All of nature’s mysterious night surrounded you. Not in ill will, but as a calm setting for whatever you wished.

Right then, you hoped Leon shared your wish for togetherness. Something sweet and kind and everlasting.

Definitely a sweet idea, you thought as you observed Leon sitting to your left smoothing the blanket from any lumps.

“I think it’s fine.” You criss-crossed your legs. “Unless you’re sitting on a hole.”

Stopping thoughtfully, he pursed his lips and scooted once backward then to the right. Hands patted the space to his left and nodded. Leon peered to you, close enough to see his eyelashes.

“You’re right.”

“Oh?” You raised an eyebrow.

“It’s fine.”

Grinning, you bumped your arm to his.

Leon chuckled like a warm melody to your ears. Keeping close to you, he radiated that warmth and caused butterflies to fly in your stomach for precious seconds until that warmth reached your chest.

What delightful feelings anchored into your being. The beginnings of even more.

Waves crashed against the shore. Their sounds were a rhythm to soothe any minuscule nerves. Even if your thoughts started running away from you.

Do we hold hands? What do we talk about? Not about leaving. Not that. You thought while twisting your fingers and watching stars twinkle in the night sky. I could lean closer or… Oh.

Perhaps you were not the only one flipping through options for the date.

From behind you, you could sense movement. Closer and silent, Leon rested his weight on his right hand that laid flat on the blanket unseen by you. Like putting an arm on the back of the couch or leaning against a wall to be closer.

“I wish I knew more about constellations to point them out,” murmured Leon by your shoulder.

“We can still appreciate them.” You said. “I don’t know every shark species by heart and I still like looking at them and thinking they’re one of the coolest fish.”

He chuckled, “I know. But I think you secretly know them all.”

“I don’t.”

You turned your face and caught his playful smile.

“So secret…you don’t fully know. Not consciously.” Leon added and gave a quick kiss to your forehead.

Surely, you completely melted on the spot. A mass of happy human in the night next to a man you could foresee yourself falling for.

The knowledge of an upcoming distance dampened some future date ideas, but that’s all it was.

That we can handle, you thought confidently. I don’t live in another timezone or anything. And we have phones.

Looking down to your hands on your lap, you wondered how long you’d been smiling.

Enough to be noticed by the handsome Leon.

“Can I ask you something?” He brushed his left hand over yours.

“Sure.”

Your short reply hid the excited, impatience of your heart. A yearning to know Leon’s.

“Is it too soon to ask if we can be exclusive? Steady?”

You were not ready for the sight of bashfulness on his face, but it was endearing to another level.

Steady?

Before you could filter out your words, they slipped out in question. “How long have we been crushing on each other?”

Eyes widening for a second, Leon ducked his head.

“Too long,” Leon answered and gave your hand a squeeze. “All these people at the beach and my mind keeps going back to you. To what you could be doing or when I’ll see you again.” He lifted his head up. “It’s always good to see you.”

“Then we can see each other more than just during summertime.”

“Yeah.” Leon’s grin made a grand appearance.

Happy bubbles of warmth felt as if they’d surface from your body. Pleasant and very welcomed.

“Exclusively,” you added with a delighted laugh.

Meeting and muffling your laugh, Leon kissed you. His lips were soft as happiness seeped from him with a hint of mint. You let your fingers run through his hair. He hummed contently.

You practically giggled, “How’s my boyfriend?”

One last generous peck to your lips and Leon rested his chin on your shoulder.

“This is the best summer I’ve ever had.” Leon confessed with stars in his eyes and fingers intertwined with yours.

The best summer and start of something wonderful.

***

Home. Such odd feelings ran through you being in your personal sanctuary and a habit of walking through hot sand. You were happy to be back home nevertheless. Back to your schedule, your own bed, and familiarity around every corner.

But that was one heck of a vacation, you thought as you tossed clothes from your luggage into a hamper.

Thinking back on the fun and unexpected romance brought a smile to your lips even while preforming a mundane task.

Leon kissed me. We kissed. He bought me little Finn!

How fantastic and unbelievably wonderful your time at the beach and aquarium had been. And, better than early daydreams, it would not stop there. The pair of you wanted a relationship—not some fling or short-lived fantasy.

Leon and yourself had eyes for each other. Smiles too.

It was only a matter of time when you two would find a comfortable routine between learning more of each other’s schedules. There was no bother or annoyance.

In fact, Leon asked you to call when you arrived home, anxious to know you were safe.

He’s very thoughtful. You peered over to Finn, your great white shark plushie, and your face warmed with another smile. And we can do this. Even with changes…we can make it work. I want it to.

***

Cloudy skies and summer heat kept the beach area busy well into the season.

Seas of umbrellas, sunscreen, volleyballs, people, and towels traveled to the sand every day. Rain or shine. Hot or heatwave.

All of those things were present, but not the reason why Leon had a light warmth from his chest down to his toes.

He sighed, “You have it bad.”

Sinking into the driver’s seat, Leon glanced around the interior of his vehicle. One of the cup holders had turned into a small storage. Inside it sat a shark tooth from his first date with you, loose change from the day you helped him find his inner pinball professional, and a folded up pamphlet from the aquarium.

Leon still smiled at how happy you were to gather as many shark teeth as possible. A lucky man indeed to find someone who made him feel like he was enough. He didn’t need to do anything uncomfortable or as other’s expected. Leon could be himself with you. Silliness, knowledgeable, passionate, and all that followed.

The future could be fun to think about.

Blue eyes peered further to the passenger’s seat. A mental image, a memory, of you smiling and singing along with him to a song on the radio.

Having an empty seat beside him was the norm. Pizza box not included. Leon was used to it.

Sure, he could be alone, but he found that he preferred being in your company. To have someone to care for and to care for him in return. To talk about everything and nothing while living; not just going from day to day.

We could do anything. Us against the world.

***

Weeks passed from the end of vacation and your daily routines and schedules were in full swing. Days were still hot, but you had cool air condition to diffuse any flush. Whether a flush was from temperature or speaking with a certain lifeguard, you’d never admit.

It was a comfortable bliss to have ‘phone dates’ with your boyfriend. Perhaps also humorous and a little unpredictable at times. His jokes were something else.

Yet, you did miss him. It wasn’t wrong to want to see him. But alas, Leon was busy.

At least you had a day off. A nice Thursday at home in your apartment. No shoes and a marathon of marine documentaries playing on the television.

I could get an early start on laundry, you thought, not moving an inch from the couch. Your eyes refocused on the underwater scene and thought against productivity for the day.

You definitely needed a day without the push to go straight from one task to another. To go your own pace. To do as you pleased. To relax with your favorite interests all day.

Exhaling slowly, you sank further into the cushions.

The position wasn’t to last.

A short set of knocks sounded on your apartment door.

Fully alert and confused, you tried to remember if you had been expecting any packages. Nothing came to mind.

So, as anyone home alone would, you tiptoed to the door and had a look through the peephole.

You gasped in delightful surprise and unlocked the door as quick as your fingers could.

Door wide open and light trickling through the hall, the doormat had a figure standing in front of you. Leon Kennedy grinned and lifted up a hammerhead shark plushie.

“You wouldn’t believe the cost to ship a shark,” he said.

Joy flooded through you and overloaded your systems. You nearly doubled over from laughter and lingering surprise.

Leon was at your apartment!

“Hi.” You giggled. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“Surprise.” Leon sang and stepped forward to wrap his arms around you.

Having your head tucked next to his and being within his embrace struck you with familiarity you’d been longing for. Your fingers’ grip bunched up the fabric of his white button up shirt, but he probably didn’t mind.

“May I come it?” He chuckled next to your ear.

“Yeah,” you didn’t release your hold on him. “Just close it.”

Thump

Door shut and privacy acquired, the pair of you continued hugging to your hearts’ content.

“I thought you were busy. Work or something.”

“Nah. Got the day off and wanted to surprise you.” Leon pressed a kiss to your head. “Hope you don’t mind.”

Leaning back a little to see him better, you moved your hands to cradle his fair face. “Never in a million years would I mind you surprising me with a visit.”

Leon’s face lit up in a wide grin. “So…a year after a million?”

“No.” You kissed his lips briefly, having to lean back as he went for more. “I still wouldn’t mind, but it’d be harder to surprise me.” Again, you kissed him, savoring the pressure of his lips on yours and his arms around your middle.

“I’ll try harder,” Leon murmured, “because I think this is real.”

Your heart skipped a beat.

Kisses were exchanged for attention, loving gazes.

“I meant what I said at the beach.” Leon confessed softly. “Distance doesn’t have to end us. And I’ll do everything I can to commit to us.”

Smiling, you could hardly keep your wits as tears built up in your eyes.

Blue eyes shone with bottomless wealth of hope.

“Distance, who? We waited this long… I’m not giving up now,” you declared. “I care about you too much. This is different than what I’ve ever had or imagined and it feels…right.”

Leon pulled you in close by your waist and kissed your nose.

“Us against the world.”

“Us, Finn, and this little guy,” you added, pointing to your side.

“Our growing school of sharks.”

“I like that.”

“Yeah?”

You pecked his lips, “Thank you. For everything.”

“We’re just getting started.”

Leon’s grin gave you a confidence and spirit-lifting joy, a promise of a bright and fun future. You, your two shark plushies, and loving Leon Kennedy. And each little shark every summertime that would follow.

~~~

Best wishes and happy reading.)

(If you love my writings and want to support me, I have a Ko-Fi where you can buy me a coffee. I would be eternally grateful.

coffee

~~~~~

DreamerDragon Tags: @cubedtriangle

Leon Scott Kennedy Tags: @bumblebeesfromvenus @

**Let me know if you would like to be tagged in insert readers, either through replies, ask, or message.**

[agaypanic]

ethan morgan with a short reader hc???? (gn or fem pls!)

Ethan Morgan With a Short Reader Headcanons

Masterlist

Request Something!

***

I think Ethan would love having a short s/o

He’s the shortest guy in the group 

I headcanon somewhere ranging from 5’6 to 5’8

Yea that feels right

But anyway, both of you being short makes you fit together so well

You were used to the boys towering over you all the time. Rory may have been just a few inches taller than you, but his tendency to float or fly made him seem larger. And Benny had always been a lanky giant.

But Ethan was the perfect height, at least in your opinion. He was the shortest boy in the group but was still a few inches taller than you, which you liked. You didn’t have to crane your neck to look at him, and he never had to bend down to hug or kiss you.

“Aw, you guys are like little dolls or something.” Benny teased as you and Ethan met with the group, hand in hand.

You looked at each other, both confused and slightly amused. “We’re not that small, Benny.”

“I don’t know.” Rory egged on. “I think Debbie Dazzle was bigger than you guys.” The blonde sighed, starting to look reminiscent. “I miss Debbie Dazzle.”

Everyone stared at Rory, but you were the one to speak. “You miss the doll that was brought to life, and then tried to suck out all of our energy and turn us into dolls so she could stay alive?”

“What can I say? I like complicated women.”

Sharing clothes with Ethan works out well

Bc even tho he’s scrawny, most of his clothes seem pretty loose

But half the time, his shirts are a bit long, so since you’d be shorter than him, you might still drown in his clothes a bit

Still comfy tho

“Damn.” You muttered, going through your backpack before looking up at Ethan. “I think I forgot my pajamas.”

“Wanna borrow some of my stuff?” He asked, already moving towards his closet. You nodded, and soon, your boyfriend tossed you a shirt and some basketball shorts before leaving his room to let you get changed.

After changing and setting your old clothes by your bag, you looked into the mirror by Ethan’s bed and laughed. You were somewhat drowning in the fabric of his shirt, and his shorts ended at your knees. As you bounded down the stairs to the living room, you wondered how you’d look if Ethan was as tall as Rory or Benny.

Hearing your nearing footsteps, Ethan looked away from the TV and grinned at the sight of you. Even though you’ve worn his clothes before, a blush always appeared on his cheeks. “Comfy?”

“Very.” You responded before settling down next to him on the couch and accepting the remote that he was handing to you.

You know how sometimes with short reader headcanons, the character reaches for stuff on high shelves for the reader?

Or purposefully puts stuff up there?

Ethan kind of does that.. But since he’s only a few inches taller than you, his help isn’t very effective sometimes

Ethan kept waving his hand around and lifting onto his toes, trying to reach the top shelf of a bookcase. You and your friends were at a mall, and you practically dragged your boyfriend to the bookstore to grab some books for your TBR list. You found a book that you’d been wanting for ages, but it was on the highest shelf.

You had already attempted to grab it a few times, and now it was Ethan’s turn. 

“Babe, should we just go get someone?” You asked, watching him struggle.

“No, I’m almost there.” He said adamantly, but you both knew he wasn’t.

Suddenly, there was someone laughing behind you. You and Ethan turned around to see an amused Benny.

“Need help?” He asked before sipping the smoothie he had gotten from the food court.

“Shut up.”

“Yes, please.”

Benny walked up to stand between you and Ethan. He raised his hand, grabbing the book you were after with extreme ease and handing it to you. “By the way, we’re gonna go to Applebee’s for lunch in, like, an hour.” Then he walked away, presumably to the comic section. 

Happy that you now had the book you wanted, you took Ethan’s hand and walked through other sections. 

“I almost had it,” Ethan grumbled, but you both knew better.

“I know, baby.”

[jaimebluesq]

I wish you would write a fic where...

As his brothers condition is going downhill, Nie Huaisang finds an array/ritual to bolster Nie Mingjue's core at the expense of his own.

This was so intriguing! I hope this satisfied you, dear anon, but be warned - I teared up a little writing this, so it may prompt waterworks in the reader.

~ ~ ~

It was spring, and the peonies around Koi Tower were in full bloom, filling the air with the scents and colours of the season. Anyone walking around the gardens should be feeling relaxed and at ease, perhaps even inspired by the beauty around them.

Nie Huaisang was none of that. He walked around the beauty and tried to ignore the emotions churning at his gut.

His brother had been getting worse. This time, instead of simply yelling at him to go to saber practice, Nie Mingjue had grabbed his arm and physically dragged him across the sect in front of every disciple and a pair of visiting merchants that had come to strike a deal on new metal alloys for their weapons. That night, Nie Huaisang had removed his robes before going to bed only to find bruises on his arm shaped in a perfect imprint of his brother’s hand. Deep inside, he knew what this meant, that Da-ge would spiral out of control until he went the same way their father did. If he were a good brother, he would be in the Unclean Realm, spending as much time with his brother as he could before the end.

But Nie Huaisang was a coward, and instead had run off for Lanling where he could cower and ignore reality for a little while longer.

Jin Guangyao was in meetings all afternoon but would meet him for dinner later, and until then, Nie Huaisang had free reign of Koi Tower. He had all of the sect available to him, and yet he could take no pleasure in any of it. He reached into his sleeve for his favourite fan, only to find it missing. He furrowed his brow – had he forgotten it in Jin Guangyao’s room that morning when they’d had breakfast together? Rather than waiting until dinner, Nie Huaisang decided to fetch it immediately.

At least it gave him something tangible to do rather than simply trying to escape from himself.

He found his fan quickly, exactly where he had expected it to be. He grabbed it and turned swiftly to leave, but his long sleeve caught on the corner of a tea service placed carefully on a nearby sideboard. The set went flying, sending pieces scattering and crashing to the floor.

All except for a single spoon that flew toward the tall mirror in the corner, and then vanished.

Ignoring the mess all around him, he stepped over to the mirror and reached out to touch it, only to watch as his finger ‘disappeared’ as well. He put his hand further inside the mirror and wiggled his fingers, and he was able to feel them moving. If he had any sense, he would appreciate that this was some sort of spiritual or magical item that should not be messed with, and he would take his fan, clean up the mess, and leave Jin Guangyao’s rooms.

Instead, he bit his bottom lip and stepped through the mirror.

He was in a lavishly appointed room with treasures on every shelf. San-ge had a treasure room, and he’d never shown Nie Huaisang! He hated being left out of a secret, particularly one that could be so useful. Imagine, having such a secret place to run to if things reached terrible proportions at home. He wandered around, tracing his finger along various items and deducing where each had come from, though there were a handful that were beyond his comprehension.

And then he spotted a familiar sheathed sword. He approached it and reached out with trembling fingers. “Suibian? What is Wei-xiong’s sword doing here? Does Jiang Cheng know?” Sadly, the sword was nothing like a Nie saber and could not answer his inquiry. He noticed a set of shelves beneath the sword with spaces for various papers and texts, and out of curiosity, he pulled out a pile. Some of it was in Wei Wuxian’s handwriting, descriptions of talismans and theories on reanimating fierce corpses with their consciousness intact. He instinctively shuddered at the thought and set those papers down.

But the other papers were in another person’s hand, and after only reading a few words, Nie Huaisang felt a compulsion to continue looking through them all. They were written by the doctor, Wen Qing, and outlined various thoughts and theories regarding the nature of cultivators’ golden cores. She described the process of transferring a core from one person to another in such detail that he could imagine her having performed such a procedure. And then she proposed theories about further ways that one cultivator’s core could work on another. Such as stabilizing unstable cores.

One page carried both her and Wei Wuxian’s handwriting, each contributing to create an array that would allow a cultivator to use their core to stabilize another.

He stuffed the paper in his robes and quickly put away the rest. He returned to Jin Guangyao’s rooms and cleaned the mess he’d made of the tea service. And he waited impatiently until that night to tell San-ge that he would be returning to the Unclean Realm the next day.

For the first time in many, many months, he felt the glow of hope in his chest.

~ ~ ~

For the first time in many, many months, Nie Mingjue woke feeling well-rested and optimistic for the day ahead. Usually he awoke angry or with a headache, as if he’d overindulged in wine the night before even though he hadn’t touched the stuff since the last cultivation conference. But that morning, he awoke feeling really, really good, and even the confusion it caused him did not hinder the glow of health that left him feeling like he could take on the world.

With a smile, he stretched his arms over his head, listening as his shoulder joints popped. Then with a deep breath, he sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed.

What the hell had happened?!

The floor next to his bed had been painted, streaks of white and yellow forming a large, round array that covered most of the room’s floor like a strange sort of rug. And lying unconscious in the middle of it was his brother.

“Huaisang?” There was no answer. “Didi? Wake up!” The only movement was the slight lifting of Nie Huaisang’s chest as he breathed.

Nie Mingjue swallowed around the growing feeling of panic rising up his throat.

He leapt off the bed and reached out for his brother, shaking his shoulder and checking to see if he was injured in some way. But his brother appeared fine, simply unconscious – except for one thing. When Nie Mingjue placed his fingers over his brother’s meridian to check his qi, he felt nothing.

“Huaisang, what happened to you?” he asked, lifting his brother into his arms and cradling his limp body in his lap.

There was a light groan. “Da-ge?”

“I’m here,” he replied, unable to keep the worry from his voice. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I’m just... tired,” Nie Huaisang muttered sleepily.

“No, don’t you dare go back to sleep, not until you tell me what happened.”

Nie Huaisang’s eyes fluttered open and looked up into Nie Mingjue’s face. “I had to make you feel better, Da-ge. It’s okay... I wasn’t using my core anyway.”

Nie Mingjue didn’t understand the array painted onto the floor, but he didn’t have to in order to realize just what his brother was implying. He clutched his brother harder in his arms, ignoring the press of Nie Huaisang’s nose into his neck even as his own tears began to spill over onto his brother’s braided hair.

“How could you have done something so stupid?” he hissed. “I’m supposed to protect you.”

“You can’t protect me if you’re dead like Baba,” his brother replied weakly.

He sniffed and closed his eyes. Whatever Nie Huaisang had done was done, but he would be damned if he wasted the second chance his brother had given him. And though his brother had now denied himself the long life of a cultivator, at least he might now live longer than most Nie.

And Nie Mingjue would protect every day of that life for as long as he lived.

[nostalgiachan]

I totally didn't realize I didn't post these guys after they were done almost a year ago, but we're back on the 100 OC Challenge train!

As always, new designs up top, old below, and character info below the cut.

#61: Sirno Idea: Queen of the BONE ZONE Story: Dragon Tavern

Sirno is easily the least developed of the Seekers, and quite possibly the least developed out of all of the Dragon Tavern characters period. Seriously, I never got her beyond "She's a Bone Lord," even with the 2016 redesigns. Luckily, the Idea Machine got chugging while I was working on this sketch.

Growing up, Sirno was a military brat; both of her parents were enlisted in the Deadlands military, and her father became a recruiter after his first tour through the swamps. Thanks to them moving between garrisons every few years, Sirno was frequently a new kid in town, so it was difficult for her to make friends and nearly impossible to keep them. On top of that, thanks to her permanent new-kid status, her offbeat looks, her imposing height even at a young age and her quiet nature, she was frequently the target of bullying; she particularly remembers kids either asking her out or trying to set up their friends with her as a joke. Eventually, once she reached adolescence, if anyone approached and asked her to "say something funny" or if she wanted to go to the ball that weekend, she'd cut the bullshit herself and whip the asker's ass.

Of course, all this did was turn the direct bullying into exclusion and get her kicked out of more than a few academies. But at the time, it made her feel a little better that she could kick the ass of anyone and anything.

By the time she was sixteen, she decided school was for losers and she wanted to join the military like her parents; she enlisted and soon went on a few tours through the swamps. About five years into service, it was determined she'd be a perfect candidate for Bone Lord training.

Bone Lords pilot ten-or-so foot tall constructs of bone and alchemically-treated gore, their bodies ensconced in the torso and connected to the construct via magical wire. This connection allows the pilot to control the construct through conscious thought alone, as though they are one organism.

Sirno took to the program with flying colors; when she was first interred into her armor, she felt as though she had finally become what she was always meant to be. When she wore her armor, she was no longer some lanky, awkward walking target for people to start shit with, a fragile creature of blood and meat and feeling; she was a towering, terrifying monstrosity, and any dumb enough not to treat her with the respect she was due would feel her might. The more time she spent in the suit, the more she wished she never had to take it off.

When the search for the Champions kicked into high gear, she jumped at the opportunity to see the world outside of the Deadlands and show new people she was not to be fucked with.

#62: Vermire Idea: Transing Your Gender Through Superior Alchemy™ Story: Dragon Tavern

19yo Nost wanted her own version of Gren from Cowboy Bebop and had no notion of transgender issues, so cut her a little slack on this one.

Vermire is the first of the Seekers of the Steel Empire, and was built around the fact that I accidentally set his gender to "female" when I meant to make him "male". Vermire is a sanctioned alchemist - in short, he can craft potions without getting branded as a heretic and put to the sword because what he's doing is definitely not magic, it's science. One day, he was trying to craft a potion to improve his eyesight so that he wouldn't need glasses anymore. He succeeded, but there was a serious side effect - the potion acted as a massive dose of estrogen and gave him curves. He was already a fairly androgynous looking man, and he didn't want to have to explain his downstairs mix-up, so he started presenting as sexually ambiguous, female leaning.

Over the years, as the Dragon Tavern characters sat in the box, I kept revisiting his character; in his first major revision, I got rid of the silly "comedic gender bender" aspects and turned his story into more of a commentary on male privilege and sexism. Vermire adopted a female presentation to protect himself while he searched for a cure, taking on the role of his own sister as his sudden development of a more feminine form would very likely be seen as heretical magic. However, while the quality of his alchemical work didn't change, the perception from his peers absolutely did; colleagues were far more harsh to his "sister", critiquing "her" work far more than they ever did his and overall treating "her" with much less respect.

Between his work being severely hamstringed by his sexist colleagues and the danger of his physical situation being potentially found out, Vermire was quite eager to take up the hunt for the Champions of the Steel Empire; it would be much easier to hide his body with heavy coats and field wear, and besides that, even in the rare chance some foreigner was to see his body, they probably wouldn't try to immediately execute him for it...right?

Overall, the gender story will need quite a bit more workshopping, especially to make it interesting, but not exploitative.

#63: Maer Idea: a very big steam powered giraffe what smokes The Steamest Punk Story: Dragon Tavern

Maer only slightly ranks above Sirno as least developed of the Seekers, and the worst part is I didn't have the big flash of inspiration to retool him like I did her. Thus, poor Maer's stuck in development hell at the moment.

What I do know about the fellow is he's a Steam Crafter, an engineer that builds steam-powered machinery. Steamworks are seen as the more reliable scientific field in the Steel Empire compared to Vermire's sanctioned alchemy and the "mad science" of the Outcast Engineers, being responsible for the Empire's rapid industrialization. In recent years, the reach of steam power has expanded to the military, and a subsect of crafters have gone to work building various walking suits and automata in the hopes of supplementing - and possibly replacing - the likes of the Cavaliers as defenders of the homeland.

Maer is part of that subsect, having been inspired to take up the sciences after learning about Paz's success as a young teen, though he wasn't fast-tracked to academy like she was. When he learns about the reward for Paz's capture, though he's still enrolled at the time, he packs up his primary automaton, Twiggy, and heads into the field, hoping to meet her for the first time and learn what the hell she's been up to.

And unfortunately, that's all I know about the man at present. We'll get there.

#NINTENDO64: Terinelle Idea: Badass old knight woman Story: Dragon Tavern

Terinelle, much like Arlein, was the subject of a massive overhaul back when I first redesigned these characters back in 2017; she was originally a much younger woman, like most of the other characters. But during the redesigns, I became much more interested in representing older characters, and in particular, older women; badass old men, after all, are pretty common, but badass old women, much less so. She also underwent an ethnic update, being changed from vague "anime" ethnicity to specifically inspired by Armenian women.

Terinelle is a Cavalier, the classic knight in shining armor atop a noble steed. When she first began her career fifty years prior, she was the lone knighted woman, fighting doubly hard as her compatriots to rise in the ranks; now, she stands among the upper echelon, and has inspired other young women to join the knighthood. Unfortunately, even now, she and those who joined in her wake still face discrimination from their male peers and superiors, and on top of that, younger knights tend to question her competency due to her age.

Of course, those brazen enough to attempt to duel her to increase their prestige or "put her in her place" quickly learn their lessons. See, among Cavaliers, rather than displaying their rank and prestige through medals or armor decoration, they display it through their hair; a Cavalier only cuts their hair if they are defeated in battle, with the cut-off locks becoming a trophy for the winner.

Terinelle has not cut her hair in fifty years.

After putting her boots to another whippersnapper's throat and it still doing little to shut up her detractors, Terinelle had finally had enough of Imperial society. She had pretty much everything she could possibly want - a rich estate, a loving husband, children she adored and a litter of grandchildren on the way - but she wanted to seek glory in new lands. So, when the call went out for people to seek out the Champions of the Steel Empire, she jumped at the opportunity. Sure, she would miss her family dearly, but surely, she wouldn't be gone for that long. There were only so many places those kids could be, right?

[justagingerwithredhair]

The Blue Moon Ball: Dancing (Part II)

I double check my clothes to make sure I'm still presentable after my blunder. Heni... what a friendly fellow! Looks like this socialization thing isn't too hard after all. I mean, if I can become highly proficient in ice elemental and divination magics, maybe I was selling my capabilities short. With renewed confidence, I make my way towards the banister when, lo and behold, to my horror, it is on the opposite side of the ballroom. The music is the loudest its been, and the dance floor packed. Oooooooh boy... this is going to be fun. Maybe I could fly over the crowd? The room seems big enough to do that safely so-- oh no. I look up and see couples dancing in the air, balanced on translucent disks of golden light, happily spinning above the crowd as the platform floats in tandem with their steps. Not only is the floor full, but the air too? I pinch the bridge of my nose and push up my glasses. Well, it seems the only way to high ground, is through all of this. I suppose I'll just have to pray to whatever deities look favorably upon me that I don't make a mockery of myself. It's alright. It's okay. Take a breath: 1... 2... 3... GO! My feet enter the fry.

A beautiful waltz fills the air as dancers step in time. I try to keep up with the rhythm and navigate through the crowd. I have quite a bit of ground to cover before I make it to the steps. Tragically, I end up bumping into another dancer. I can tell my prayers have gone unanswered because we end up locking hands and trying to go with the beat. This caster looks to be another feline fellow (@thattabaxiwizard)! Though it doesn't seem being related to cats guarantees dexterity as she and I both struggle to move our bodies in a way that isn't awkward. I try to reassure her that I am no better than she is, but by the end of our exchange, we both spin away beet red from embarrassment.

Well, that could have gone better... but look! The banister is closer than it was a few minutes ago! Progress is progress. I get back into the rhythm of the music and step around the others. That is until I stupidly find myself in another unexpected collision. I must have it them in the back, as the tall figure is without a face at a glance. I profusely apologize to the caster towering above me in a trench coat. They turn around to reveal... a goose (@a-goose-in-a-trenchcoat)? Well it's not the most bizarre thing I've ever laid eyes on. But, oh dear, they were holding a drink and I spilled it all over them! Ivory and I quickly cast prestidigitation, cleaning the mess up like it never happened. I bashfully excuse myself afterwards.

After freeing myself from that ordeal, my eyes catch a golden disk floating towards the ballroom floor. A couple steps off and makes their way to a buffet. This presents a perfect opportunity! If I'm able to hop on, I can pilot the platform to the stairs without having to risk another dance! I squirm my way through the crowd and step up onto the plate. Light ripples through the shape as my feet hit the surface. Once soundly on, the platform begins to levitate higher and take flight. My legs wobble and buckle. Soon I find myself on all fours staring though the golden light at a sea of people below. It would appear these manifestations handle nothing like my staff. Though, the platform seems to move whenever I apply my weight to any side. I suppose I'll have to control this thing like a Dance Dance Revolution pad. Jamming and jigging my way through the ballroom, all seems to be going well! The banister is growing closer and closer. I'll be there soon so long as I--my eyes grow wide in horror--DON'T HIT THE CHANDELIER!!! I throw my weight to one side, barley scraping by the crystal fixture. However I fail to stop my own momentum and end up rolling off the side. I manage to cling on to the edge with all my puny strength. I am unable to determine if it's fortunate or unlucky that no one seemed to notice the predicament I'm in (or at least no one that I know of). Kicking my legs is enough to exert a modicum of control back over the disk, so I frantically flail my way over to the steps. So... close... just a little further...

With the last of my energy, I fling myself onto the marble railing and flop over the other side. Exasperated, I sit up, taking quick and shallow breaths. My eyes meet the piercing judgemental stare of two witches who witnessed the entire thing. Between gasps, I apologetically offer the plate that almost took my life to them in which they happily step on and seamlessly float off above the crowd. Red from embarrassment and sweat, I take a well needed breather on the steps. Once I regain my composure, I climb to the top of the stairs and begin to look for Lurien.

(So much for not making a mockery of myself...)

[sibillascribbles08]

@hotmothsummer tumblr continues to hate your main : ( but I got u

28.Teaching the other something new (I decided hey I just posted them flying around, why not Donnie teaching Jase how to do that)

“This is absolutely the worst idea you've ever had, Donnie.”

“Nonsense, you and I both know I’ve had far worse.”

Jason wanted to argue with that as he stared down at the street below. Why did they have to do this from such a tall building to start? He was going to be sick. 

“Come on, it’ll be easy.” Donnie smiled at him as his hover shell opened up and he practically walked through the air to stand in front of him. “You’ve already made yourself hover during training.”

“Yeah. Hover. Not fly!” Jason gestured at the grey, night sky above them. “There is no guarantee I can stay attached to my dragon for that long. Or whatever it is that does it.”

“If you fall I will be right here to catch you.” 

Jason tried to glare at him, as if he wasn’t buying it, but Donnie only gave him a soft smile in return. 

“This is so stupid.” He let out a shaky breath. 

“Jase, you flew with this thing when you first got it.”

“You think I remember how I did that?” Sometimes he tried to forget that whole ordeal. He’d been scared out of his mind. When he first got ninpo, when he first summoned this dragon, he acted without really thinking about anything other than the fact he had to save Donnie. He had to save him no matter what. 

Since then, the Hamatos had been doing everything they could to help him figure out how it works. By now he could reliably summon it, he could control it, but having the thing lift him into the air? Far more difficult.

He looked down at how far the street was again. “You couldn’t have picked a shorter building?”

Donnie shrugged. “A shorter fall means I have less time to catch you. Come on, summon it and at least try to float up. Then we can focus on moving outward.” 

Jason let out a tired sigh. He wasn’t winning this argument it seemed. Even if he could just head back to the stairs and walk away, he really did need to get more in the habit of facing his fears. 

He took a few deep breaths, feeling the mystic energy center in his chest before it moved outward. The dragon, like a creature made of light, twirled into the air and grew and grew until it towered behind Jase. 

He lined his back up with its chest, feeling the energy sink into his skin. Bit by bit his feet left the ground.

His anxiety spiked. The dragon’s grip on him faltered, but it thankfully didn’t drop him. 

“Yes, perfect.” Donnie shook his hands a few times before moving up to float at eye level. “Feel the lack of gravity? The freedom of it?”

“Freedom is not how I would describe this.” Jason focused on keeping his breathing steady. 

“I’m sure it’ll feel better if you move around.” Donnie flew backwards, doing a twirl as he did. A faint trail was left behind by the propellers on his shell. “Come on, try to reach me.” 

Jason took one more deep breath. Moving the dragon did become second nature recently. Raph taught him how, since the creature was so similar to the turtle’s projections. Think of it as an extension of yourself. 

So he stepped forward, feeling it linger at his back. It definitely didn’t feel like he stepped onto anything solid, but he didn’t fall either.

He did, however, make the foolish mistake of glancing down. Seeing his legs over the open air made his heart stop.

“Jase.” Donnie snapped his fingers. “Just look at me.” 

His gaze snapped back up, trying to focus on Donnie. Focus on how the light from his dragon faintly reflected on his scales.

His boyfriend held out his hand. Jason reached for it as he kept steadily moving forward, but he could feel the presence on his back slipping away. Deep breaths. Just a bit closer.

His fingers brushed against Donatello’s and then gravity ripped him free from his dragon’s grasp.

Jason screamed the moment he fell. He tried to not panic, to pull his dragon back, but seeing the street getting closer and closer made it impossible to do so. 

Then arms wrapped around his middle and he jerked to a stop. The air flew out of his lungs and his glasses even slipped off his face. His hand shot out to catch them before they got very far. 

He put them back on, ready to turn and look at Donnie, but the turtle tossed him into the air again. Jason shouted as he flipped over, now landing on his back. 

Donnie smiled at him. “Told you I’d catch you. Also, maybe we should take your glasses off for this.” 

“I have spares. You know this.” Jason rolled his eyes. He used the snarky comeback to pretend he wasn’t shaking. “Are lessons done for the day? Can we go home?”

“Don’t give up so easily. Try and summon your dragon again.” 

Jason gave a tired sigh and let his head drop against Donnie’s shoulder. “I don’t think this is going to work.” 

“You only tried once.”

“Donnie.” He hardened his tone. “I am stressed, freaked out, and feel like I’m about to throw up.” 

“I don’t get it. You let me fly you around all the time.”

“Because you know what you’re doing. I trust you. I don’t trust myself, not yet.” He crossed his arms, practically pouting in his boyfriend’s arms. At least being this close helped slow his heart down. 

“Then let’s try a different approach.” Donnie had to shatter that peace by jostling Jason once again, turning him upright. His arms wrapped around his chest. 

Jason wanted to flail about in protest, but decided against that when they were still so high up. “Donnie, what are you doing?”

“We’re going to fly. Hold your arms out.”

“No, that’s stupid.” 

“Put a hand out then, I don’t care. Just focus on the sensation, okay? Close your eyes if it helps.” 

“Donnie can we just—”

No arguing about this either it seems. Donatello took off, rocketing straight up before twirling around. 

Jason didn’t feel that frightened. Donnie had flown him around in so many different ways before. Holding him upright, sideways, and three times upside down due to catching him wrong. It took some getting used to at first, but at this point his boyfriend could plummet them both towards the ground and Jase wouldn’t even flinch.

He still thought this was stupid, but the air rushing through his hair and past his face lulled those thoughts away. He watched the city lights rush past them, then caught a brief glimpse of the sky as Donnie flew into a loop. 

“Come on,” Donnie shouted over the roaring wind. “At least have your dragon fly with us.” 

Jason sighed but once again gave in. He summoned the creature once more, letting it weave through the sky next to them. He thought way too much about what the people in the city would think about it if they saw it. Hopefully they’d assume it’s some kind of drone trick and not ask too many questions. 

Jason shut his eyes. Might as well try to practice seeing through his dragon’s eyes instead while Donnie kept flying them around. Just how long did he plan to do this anyway? 

Shifting his vision was something he still barely got the hang of. Even if he managed to access it, it came out so blurry. He hoped he didn’t need to give his dragon glasses too. 

Even with the blurriness, he caught the flash of purple. Then it shot across the sky again. 

“See?” Donnie’s laughter sounded farther away than it should. “You’re a natural at this.” 

Jason opened his eyes. 

Donnie flew in front of him now, just underneath the head of the dragon. 

Jason stopped flying in an instant. His dragon did as well. His breath caught in his throat as he felt the weightlessness around him. He hadn’t even noticed when Donnie let go of him. Once again his dragon held him in the air instead, and this time it felt far sturdier. 

“Stop overthinking it.” Donnie flew around him in a few circles. “Your dragon is an extension of yourself, yes? Just the image of both of you flying should do the trick.” 

Jason crossed his arms, his dragon mimicking the motion. “You’re one to lecture me about overthinking.” 

Donnie shrugged and flew higher. “Now try to catch me if you can, hm?” 

Jason watched his boyfriend take off at such a speed, the only way to track him was by the trail of light he left behind. 

So he narrowed his eyes, took one more deep breath, and flew after him. 

Funny how normal it suddenly felt. Just as easy as letting Donnie glide him around in the sky. His gaze followed the softshell as he zipped through the air. His dragon would follow along his trail, like being pulled by an invisible string. Bit by bit Jason was catching up. He had the dragon open its jaws, trying to grab hold of Donnie, but the turtle would twist to the side to avoid it. 

Jason found himself laughing as they both spiraled upwards, spinning around each other like a strand on DNA. 

Finally within range, Jason’s dragon reached out with its claws and grabbed Donnie right out of the air. 

“Hah.” Jason tried to shout, but took a moment to catch his breath from all the exhilaration and the laughter. “I won this round, Von Ryan.” 

Jason brought his boyfriend closer, and Donnie stayed rigid as a poll, gently pressed between the dragon’s massive paws. His eyes were wide, was he frightened? No, with the way his mouth slightly hung open it was more like he was in awe.

Jason still worked on catching his breath. “What?”

“Ah, nothing.” The faintest of smiles crossed his face as he kept on staring. “Just looking at you. Backlit with all that purple light, your hair wild from the wind, and smiling so wide you can’t help but laugh.” 

Heat rushed to his cheeks. His dragon immediately let go of Donnie who fell for a second before catching himself and hovering back up, though he still floated lower than Jason did. 

“W-whatever.” Jason stuttered. “Are we done for the day now or—”

Donnie obviously wasn’t as he reached up, hands brushing against Jason’s cheeks. “You’re so beautiful, you know that?” 

Jason grabbed his wrists and tugged them away. “Ugh, Donnie, I told you to quit saying that.” 

Despite saying this, his dragon immediately betrayed him. The beast leaned its head down to brush its whiskers against Donnie’s cheek, then gently nuzzled his face.

The softshell laughed, scratching it under the chin. “Well, I think someone appreciates the compliment more than he cares to admit.” 

“S-shut up.” Jason grumbled. “And you, knock that off.” He pointed at the dragon which didn’t listen to him in the slightest. It wrapped its neck around Donnie, tugging him closer. The entire time a low rumble hummed through the air. “Ugh, if I wasn’t flying above the city right now you’d be gone in an instant.” 

“Well, maybe you should be the one hugging me instead.” Donnie smirked. 

Jason rolled his eyes, but reached out to grab hold of Donnie’s face. His dragon finally let go in the process. 

“I am not that pretty.” He insisted. 

Donnie just kept on smiling, the lids of his eyes slowly falling. “Oh great deity of the sky, what a privilege it is to even be in your presence.”

“Okay, now you’re getting way too corny with it.” 

Donnie laughed and Jason chose to cut it off with a kiss. 

Huh, smooching his boyfriend while steadily floating above him felt kinda nice.

Maybe they could spend a few more minutes up here.

[pinkpoweredpunk]

———

Slipping her way down from the tree branches, Snivy landed effortlessly back onto the solid ground, where she was soon to turn her gaze up to the towering formation of rock and dirt looming just ahead of her.

It looked about half as tall as a house, covered top to bottom in small Patrat-sized holes. Currently, those burrowed out crevices were stuffed with twigs and dry grass, serving as homes for individual Pidove couples currently nestled snugly inside.

The little gray birds looked innocent enough, but Snivy narrowed her eyes up at them, knowing full well that was all but the case.

During one of her previous… excursions outside the lab, she’d stumbled across this former nest of Patrat, who at the time offered her shelter from a rainstorm. When she came back the next day to offer them food she’d nabbed from Juniper’s kitchen as thanks, she was shocked to find the colony had been chased from their homes by the very dastardly flock she saw inhabiting the mound now.

Looking further up, she noticed the particular one she’d been tailing before soaring over, diving in and settling into its nest for the night. Lucky for her, today just so happened to present her with the perfect opportunity to get back at the fowl little menaces.

Sneaking away from that glasses kid had been easy enough. She wasn’t expecting to stumble into the mouthy pink-haired one, but she doubted there was anything they could do to get in her way. The nest was all hers.

Lowering herself into the grass, she crept forwards, silent on her feet and her eyes trained on mound. The unsuspecting Pidove couples continued to coo and preen each other obliviously, painting the perfect chance for a seamless ambush.

Once she was close enough, she sprung into action- bounding up the side of the mound, using her tiny claws to propel herself across the dirt wall. She leapt from nest to nest, smacking each Pidove out with a hard slap of her tail one by one. The scene erupted into chaos, feathers and straw flying about as the Normal-type birds clumsily fled from the attacker and into the skies.

Soon enough, she made her way to the top, where she perched and looked down upon the mayhem of her creation with a smirk of pride and no shred of remorse. The Pidove fluttered about wildly like a swarm of angered Combee, screeching and squawking wildly.

Some of them tried to return to the nests, but Snivy put a stop to that quick- shooting vines out from the sides of her neck and whipping them at the birds to shoo them away.

Meanwhile, back on the ground, Blake came stumbling out from the treeline, panting quite heavily. Leaning on a nearby trunk for support as they caught their breath, they looked up, only for their mouth to drop open in shock when they saw the chaos unfolding before them. A giant flock of Pidove swarming frantically around a mound of dirt, and Snivy in the middle of it all, furiously defending herself with nothing but her vines.

“Oh shit-” they cursed, rushing to the grass type’s aid. “Snivy!”

Their rescue attempt was cut short, though, when a group of Pidove broke apart from the flock to swoop down and start pecking relentlessly at them. “Gah!” They yell out, waving their arms up over their head to shoo the little attackers away.

Fighting their way through a cloud of angered feathery little beasts, they eventually make it to the side of the dirt mound, and quickly begin to climb their way up to Snivy’s perch.

Despite the onslaught of pecks and talons on their back, they make it up to the top in a matter of seconds. They hiss in pain when one of Snivy’s vines accidentally slash across their face, leaving a thin line of red over their nose, but they endure the hit and quickly throw themself protectively over the grass type.

Surprised by the sudden weight over her, Snivy yells out in protest and begins to wildly thrash about.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” They try to calm her, scooping the flailing creature up into their arms. Realizing it’s them, Snivy stops, gawking up at them in pure bewilderment. Even as they get bombarded repeatedly by the swarm of Pidove above them, they manage to give her a reassuring smile through a pained wince. “You’re okay, I’ve got you!”

What are they doing? she thought, finding this change in the trainer so strange and so sudden. She felt she should’ve been more frustrated than she was with them interrupting her fight, but she only found herself baffled at this human’s abrupt act of selflessness. They were shielding her, a Pokémon that had given them nothing but grief up until now, like a mother Liepard would for its cubs.

Why-?

With Snivy secured, Blake starts to carefully slide back down the side of the mound, continuing to act as a human shield between her the furious Pidove. She doesn’t have time to question it anymore, and clings tightly to their jacket’s collar fluff as they begin the descent down.

At one point during their slow retreat, a Pidove manages to swoop past Blake’s face, leaving a scratch across their cheek with its talon and causing them to lose their balance. Feeling the pull of gravity tug them backwards, Blake hugs Snivy close to their chest and squeezes their eyes shut, bracing themself for impact.

They hit the ground with a hard thump, rolling over onto their side. Snivy tumbles out of their arms in the process, but Blake quickly throws themself over her again just as one bird instantly tries to dive bomb her.

Hand flying to their belt, they instinctively reach for a Pokéball, only to grasp at empty air and let out a muttered curse under their breath when they remember their current lack of Pokémon. Quickly switching to plan B, they instead plunge their hand into their bag and snatch one of the empty Pokeballs the professor had lend them prior to the test.

With a hard swing of their arm, they send the capsule rocketing up into the air, where it manages to hit one of the incoming Pidove and absorb it in a red flash of light. The ball lands in the grass, shaking three times before clicking to signal a successful capture.

Blake doesn’t have time to celebrate, though, and is swiftly reaching for another one. Just as they reel their arm back to throw it, though, they pause once they realize the sheer amount of what they’re up against. Pidove have practically blocked out the sky, forming something that looks straight out of a doomsday movie.

There’s no way I have enough to catch them all, Blake thinks, gritting their teeth as a pair of talons tugs harshly at their hair.

They throw the Pokéball, anyway, but the Pidove seem to have learned this time and narrowly fly out of the way of its path. Blake takes their brief millisecond of distraction to jump back onto their feet, making a beeline for the trees, where- hopefully- the flock will have a harder time keeping up with them.

Just as they’re about to breach the treeline, though, something snatches them by the back of their collar- something they immediately realize is too strong to be a Pidove, as it actually manages enough force to jerk them back a little.

They manage to turn their head just enough to see the broader wing of what they recognize as a Tranquill, yanking viciously at the wool hood with its talons as it shrieks right into their ear. Blake throws a hand back to try and smack the larger bird away, but the damned thing doesn’t budge, and only pulls harder.

“Get- off- you fucking-” they grunt through their teeth, finding it harder to move their arms with the way the denim is pulling tightly against them. They turn and thrash about with the force of a Bewear, but nothing’s enough to shake the bird off.

Next thing they know, there’s green blocking out their vision as Snivy suddenly jumps up from their chest and scrambles over their face to reach their head. Her feet kick at their eyes and their cheeks looking for a foothold while her tail swishes violently back and forth, unintentionally thwacking them a couple times.

They don’t even realize they’re on the ground until Snivy’s weight is suddenly absent from the top of their head, and they finally manage to open their eyes and see her dangling in mid air, hanging from her vines that are currently entangled around the Tranquill’s feet and torso.

“Snivy!” They shout, unable to do anything as she’s lifted far out of their reach, swinging wildly in the air as the Tranquill flails to get her off.

Snivy gives a hiss, the pull on her vines starting to elicit pain. She hears Blake’s cry, and glances back for a moment to see their shape growing smaller as her opponent only carries her further from the safety of the ground.

I need to do something, quick, she thinks, her battle instincts kicking into overdrive. Closing her eyes, she lets the strategy formulate in her head, all of her prior battle experience rushing back to give her the solution to emerge victorious.

She starts to swing, but more calculated this time, using the momentum to fix her movement into a straight back and forth line. With each push and pull of gravity, she twists her body and uses her tail as a fan to propel herself higher up each time.

It isn’t long before she’s eye to eye with the Tranquill. Once she’s level with it, she releases her hold on it, but doesn’t withdraw her vines completely- moving too fast for the Flying-type to react, she lashes them across either side of its face with a loud thwap!

The Tranquill cries out, and starts to plummet from the sky. It isn’t long before Snivy joins it in its fall, but she doesn’t panic- instead, she turns herself in the air, stretching her leafy arms out towards Blake.

They’re on it in an instant, springing up onto their feet as quick as a Scorbunny and jumping up just in time to catch her seconds before she makes contact with the ground. Blake doesn’t stop there, though, and skids through the dirt on their knees to provide a safe landing for Tranquill as well.

Snivy bounces out of their arms to let them do their thing, and Blake quickly reaches to grabs another Pokéball from their bag. They press it to the fainted bird’s face, and it’s sucked inside by the same red light as before. A few vibrations, and a click.

With the enemy successfully subdued, the pair practically deflate in relief, Blake’s shoulders slumping forward and Snivy sprawling out exhausted onto the grass.

The sound of wing beats draws Blake’s attention upwards, and they see the Pidove dispersing, retreating to the cover of the trees now that their leader was gone. Blake felt a twinge bad, but knew they could just come back and release the two captured ‘mons back to their flock later.

“That was…” they heave out, mind still reeling to process everything that just happened. Snivy looks up at them as they draw out the silence for a moment, only to flinch back a bit when they whirl to her with starstruck eyes. “Incredible! Holy fuck, where did you learn to fight like that?!”

Snivy simply blinks up at them in a bit of a daze, both from the adrenaline of the battle wearing off and confusion at the human’s continued strange shift in demeanor towards her. At first it had been one of annoyance and exasperation, then protective when they saw her outnumbered by the Pidove, and now they were starry-eyed and giddy like a little kid meeting their favorite champion for the first time?

What’s their deal? She wondered, scrunching her nose a bit at them. So strange.

“I never would’ve thought of that swinging thing in a million years,” they continue to ramble on, excitedly flapping their hands about in an unique way Snivy hadn’t seen humans express their excitement in before. “That was like, champion level strategy! And your reaction time- it takes years to master something like that!”

Taking a deep breath, they reel themself in a little, but that ear-to-ear grin of amazement remains as they crouch down in front of Snivy. “You are something else,” they chuckle, giving her a little head scratch. “You may be a rascal, sure, but you’ve got guts and the skills to back it up. Cheren’s lucky to have you. With a Pokémon like you by his side, you guys are bound to go far.”

As they pull their hand away, it takes Snivy a minute to process their words. No one had ever really… acknowledged her skills like that before. Granted, she never had much of a chance to show them off- but it wasn’t like people often gave her one. The weak and flimsy grass type, they would never say out loud, but she could always see it in their eyes when they skimmed over her to go fawn over Oshawott or Tepig.

It filled her with this… strange feeling. Pride, but different. She was a very proud creature, she hardly ever cared what others thought of her- let alone humans. But this time, hearing the praise from someone else brought with it this odd, uplifting feeling she couldn’t describe. Whatever it was, it was nice.

Blake rose to their feet, walking away to retrieve the Pokéball of the Pidove they captured earlier while clipping Tranquill’s to their belt. As they did, Snivy watched them, her usual sharp and calculating eyes now softer with fascination she didn’t usually have towards humans. This trainer was strange, but they piqued her interest. Abrasive, stubborn, and loud-mouthed were here first impressions. Reckless and impulsive were her second ones.

Yet, they showed a more endearing side, someone who was kind and selfless whose eyes seemed to burn with the passion for battle. Not the kind of spark she saw in naive, newbie trainers that looked like it could be snuffed out with a single loss, but a fire that had been aged and fed to keep burning throughout multiple years.

She couldn’t help but step closer, her curiosity getting the better of her. Something told her they were more than just some spunky, full of themself rookie, like the ones she’d seen come in and out of Juniper’s lab countless times before. They carried themself with this air, this confidence that one only gained with experience.

“Alright,” Blake began, placing a hand on their hip as they looked down at Snivy, unperturbed by her unusual interest to get closer. “I guess this basically counts as completing Juniper’s test, so let’s start making our way ba-”

Snivy suddenly pounced, and they flinched- but relaxed again when they felt her climb up the length of their arm and perch herself onto their shoulder, pushing her pointed snout past their face to make room for herself.

"Eh?" They quirked a brow at her as she relaxed her tail across the back of their neck. Their perplexed frown shifted into a bemused half-smirk, and they snorted as the grass snake found a comfy place to rest in their collar fluff. "Oh, so I'm your ride back, huh?"

"Sniii."

"You probably are tired from saving our skins back there," Blake huffed, but it was clear they held no actual annoyance. "Alright, I'll allow it just this once, muffin thief. Let's go."

With that, the pair are off, heading back in the direction of the forest- and hopefully the lab, as well.

"Say, Cheren give you a name yet?"

"Sniiivy."

"Guess you couldn't tell me even if he did, huh..."

As they take their leave, Snivy can't help but cast one look back towards the dirt mound- where she immediately notices the scruffy brown heads of Patrat beginning to poke out of the grass. The little rodents scamper up to their newly reclaimed den site, sniffing it up and down. Some have even already started the process of removing the Pidove nests from the tunnels.

Near the main entrance, Snivy notices a darker brown figure towering over the rest. The elderly, scarred Watchog helps inspect the mound, visible relief in its tired old eyes. It turns, just in time to catch her gaze. She sees its wrinkled snout curl up in a smile of gratitude, and she returns the expression, a silent promise that she'd return to celebrate with them soon.

----

[themculibrary]

AO3 Fics Masterlist 5

Links Last Checked: April 13th, 2024

part one, part two, part three, part four, part six

Ain't No Rest for the Wicked (ao3) - Kellyscams steve/bucky E, 305k

Summary: Steve's just moved back to Brooklyn after spending ten years in California trying to make a life for himself as an artist right after high school. Having escaped to the other side of the country following the sudden death of his mother, Steve feels guilty about abruptly leaving all his friends for so long, unfulfilled, scared and nervous about started college at his age, and unbelievably lonely. So when he meets Bucky Barnes, a young sex-worker, at a bar the night before his first day of classes, temptations might be too high to resist.

One night paying for sex with the most sinfully gorgeous guy is nothing to brag to the papers about, huh?

S'not like he'll ever see him again anyway...

...Right?

Anew. (ao3) - IViv tony/stephen M, 130k

Summary: In death, there was no glory, no redemption, no salvation.

Only darkness and ice—or that was what Tony thought. He closed his eyes in a Siberian bunker and opened them again on his 41st birthday, with War Machine flying into the distance.

A Soft Place to Land (ao3) - Ink_Vault betty/ned, peter/flash N/R, 98k

Summary: "With great power comes great responsibility." Yeah, right. More like, with great power comes stab wounds and bloody sheets and a hero complex that could take down even the strongest of men. And Peter, well, he isn't the strongest of men. Not to mention that Peter's hero complex doesn't exactly extend to himself.

May still doesn’t know that he’s Spiderman. Because of this, she also doesn’t know about his increased metabolism, hunger, strength, sensitivity, everything. He didn’t really notice, for the first few weeks, until he hears May on the phone with one of her work friends discussing how she didn’t realize how much teenage boys eat. Peter immediately stopped eating.

Flash knows something is up. He knows the signs, or at least he thinks he does. And he's going to get to the bottom of things, one way or another.

Bend Around the Wind (ao3) - Scyllaya loki/tony E, 403k

Summary: A few months after the battle of New York the God Loki appears back on Stark Tower under chaotic circumstances. This time however he is on the run. Tony Stark gets caught up in the crossfire and is taken along with the Aesir. Can the two of them ever make truce in order to get away? And even if they do, how does one escape from such a dark corner of the universe, when they are so very far away from the Nine Realms, that not even Loki knows the way back home. But first, they need to survive.

Call Boy (ao3) - L1av steve/bucky E, 149k

Summary: Bucky Barnes was skyrocketing through promotions at his advertising firm. Now, a partnership position is opening and if Bucky wants to see his name on the building, he needs to impress not only Mr. Tony Stark, but his wife Pepper. To do this, it takes a team, a couple to be exact. Bucky asks his ex-wife Natasha to set him up with the perfect girl, blonde, tall, thick thighs and huge tits, but with the personality that’ll get Pepper all smiles.

What Bucky gets? Tall, blonde, thick thighs…and a penis. Can this male escort pretend to not only be Bucky’s fiance but also impress Pepper enough to win Bucky the promotion? Is he going to impress Bucky enough to get him to sleep with him?

Steve loves working for his tip.

Circling Back (ao3) - chaya steve/bucky E, 59k

Summary: Steve looks for Bucky, Bucky finds Steve, Steve tries desperately to put Bucky back together. Bucky tries desperately to let him. (Spoilers for Winter Soldier.)

Clint Barton's Super Secret Snipers' Club (ao3) - sara_holmes clint/bucky, steve/tony T, 67k

Summary: Clint Barton's Super Secret Snipers' Club. (Invitation and pending mental health evaluation required.)

"When Steve brings Bucky back to the tower for the first time, Clint’s first thought is that Tony Stark’s pride and joy is quickly becoming a less of a very tall and expensive ‘fuck you’ in the faces of investors who don’t believe in self-sustaining energy, and more of a superhero rehabilitation center."

Boyfriends, compromises and learning to like oneself.

Dearly Beloved (ao3) - Hollyspacey darcy/steve E, 21k

Summary: Darcy has 99 problems, and her first assignment for SHIELD is, like, 98 of them.

As if going back home to deal with all of the people who made her childhood miserable wasn't bad enough, she's also stuck in holy matrimony with a surly supersoldier who can't even deal with her under normal circumstances.

Distracted by a Dime (ao3) - happyaspie steve/tony T, 56k

Summary: Peter Parker thinks he has everything figured out. Where he can eat, sleep and make a little bit of money. What he needs to do in order to continue attending Midtown High and being Queen’s friendly neighborhood Spider-man. How to keep his entire situation under wraps and most importantly, who he can trust.

Then, along comes Tony Stark with an offer he can’t refuse. The plan is to remain professional, to not get too close to the Stark-Rogers’ family. Not getting comfortable means not slipping up and saying anything that he can’t take back.

...but for Peter- things rarely go as planned...

Do I Deserve This? (ao3) - id_rather_be_reading_3 T, 72k

Summary: When the Avengers find a malnourished, traumatized, enhanced teen in a Hydra base, they manage to convince SHIELD that the kid is better off in the Compound than the SHIELD Headquarters.

Peter Parker thinks his luck might finally be changing for the better, until he hears a conversation between Captain America and Iron Man that terrifies him--if the superheroes find out that Peter was an assassin for Hydra, he feels certain they'll kick him out--or worse, send him to the Raft for a punishment he surely deserves.

Can the Spider manage to keep his bloodied past a secret from a room full of mind readers, spies and military? It'll certainly prove harder than he'd thought.

G.I. Joes and 2AM Diners (ao3) - OhCaptainMyCaptain steve/bucky E, 100k

Summary: They look nothing like what they used to. Time and life have completely changed them. But as they sit there in silence, eating two halves of one cupcake, letting Brooklyn remind there where they came from, and enjoying a sky full of stars… They are those same little boys, somewhere deep down. For just a second, you’d be able to see them again.

And Bucky thinks to himself that maybe it’s little moments like these – fleeting as they may be – that remind him why life is still worth living.

just say you do (ao3) - biblionerd07 steve/bucky T, 173k

Summary: Steve just wanted a job. He wasn't expecting a marriage proposal. And he certainly wasn't expecting to accept.

Making The Best Of It (ao3) - dentalfloss clint/phil T, 33k

Summary: “He’s not telling us everything,” Fury reached out and shut the projection off, “I’m not comfortable with this.” Coulson didn’t respond, didn’t need to. “Let Rogers know I want Barton watched; he doesn’t go anywhere alone until we understand exactly what’s going on. I’m not losing him to some egotistical mind-f***ing blade-dancer who has mentor issues and wants to take it out on our asset.”

Phil nodded efficiently. He couldn’t agree more.

Moving Home (ao3) - loves_buckybarnes layla el-faouly/steven/marc E, 38k

Summary: Layla is missing living in Cairo so she asks Steven and Marc if they want to move to Cairo, her father left her the house in her name, the house she grew up in, so they decide to go visit and see if they want to live there.

Natural Talent (ao3) - 27dragons, tisfan bucky/tony E, 47k

Summary: Bucky is Boss of the Commando territory, carved out of Hydra's territory with blood, tears, and sweat - mostly his own. He has a reputation in other territories for being hard and ruthless, but his own people know him as a generous, considerate leader. He protects his land and his people, but otherwise keeps his head down. He has no intention of getting embroiled in any of the other territories' disputes. That is, until Bucky finds himself in possession of a beautiful companion and learns that the man is far more than he appears.

Ordinary Workplace Hazards, Or SHIELD and OSHA Aren't On Speaking Terms (ao3) - scifigrl47 clint/phil, steve/tony M, 25k

Summary: Tony Stark has once again engineered something that might well lead to the downfall of Western Civilization. No one's really surprised. This time, however, it might just be the lesser of two evils.

Clint and Phil hate playing pickup, but damn, Clint loves the Roombas, and damn, Phil loves Clint, though he's not really sure why sometimes. It's time to play Hide-And-Seek with hostile robotic AIs in the SHIELD home office.

Pavlov was a Jerk (ao3) - BeneficialAddiction clint/phil E, 77k

Summary: Clint Barton: World's Greatest Marksman, submissive, high-functioning disaster.

When Clint comes in to SHIELD he's been on his own for almost four years, and he's been keeping himself level using conditioning techniques he's learned from a lifetime of abuse and neglect. Phil Coulson is the first to notice the imbalance – Clint's system seems to be all punishment, no rewards - but Phil's tastes aren't exactly average and it's none of his business anyway. Certain that what he wants is not at all congruent with what Clint deserves Phil keeps his distance, until a mission gone wrong sends the archer tumbling into an nasty case of subdrop and neither of them have any other choice but to take a chance on the other.

Such Sweet Revenge (ao3) - ali_aliska bucky/tony M, 167k

Summary: When the Rogues are back in the States after being pardoned, the New Avengers want nothing to do with them and as far as Tony is concerned, if he never speaks to them again, it'll be too soon. After all, he didn't spend the last year putting himself (and his family) back together only for his former co-workers to ruin all of his hard work.

But then he gets a hand-written letter from the Winter Soldier himself, apologizing for the events that transpired and an off-handed comment from Rhodey about Rogers failing to take care of an obviously miserable Bucky Barnes sets in motion Tony's new, oh-so-evil plan to get some payback.

After all, what better revenge than to steal the Winter Soldier away from his best friend?

The only problem: Tony sucks at being vengeful, but apparently he's an expert at inadvertently falling in love.

Urgent Care (ao3) - Jo (jmathieson) clint/phil E, 45k

Summary: When a gorgeous young paramedic named Clint Barton walks into Dr. Phil Coulson's ER, both of their lives get a lot more complicated.

Winter Undone (ao3) - DCAngst steve/bucky T, 74k

Summary: What if, after the Endgame battle, Dr. Strange used the time stone to save Tony and undo 80 years of Hydra for Bucky? In other words, 1945 Bucky ends up in 2023 and has to come to terms with…a lot.

[despairforme]

CHAPTER 5 - Turn up the heat.

[CHAPTER 4]

The Interhigh preliminaries went well. His teammates, rather than being discouraged because he was so much better than him, became inspired to rise higher. The team in general had a major step-up in their performance. There was no way for Tsukinogai to keep flying under the radar. They’d been a school nobody had heard of, but after their dominating performance in the preliminaries - they’d gotten attention. In the past, there had really only been one power-house school from the Akita prefecture. Now people were saying that Tsukinogai was ready to rise above the rest as well. They had completely annihilated the other teams in their block. People were beginning to give them nicknames, like: “the perfect defense”. Nnoitra didn’t mind that. He liked winning, but there wasn’t much pleasure in winning against teams that gave him no challenge. Nnoitra was just waiting for them to get to play Yōsen. Unfortunately, they’d been in different blocks, and wouldn’t face each other until the final league of the preliminaries.

         ❝We can’t stumble before the finish line.❞ The coach said, snapping Nnoitra back to the present. He hadn’t been paying attention (at all) to what was being said. ❝We’ve made massive steps, but we mustn’t become too sure of ourselves.❞ Nnoitra felt like this was being directed at him.

Tch.

As if he was too sure of himself. He’d worked hard for this confidence. It was well earned.

❝We still lack communication and team-spirit.❞ Now that was definitely directed at him. Shouldn’t the coach be glad they were all even here? Summer-break had just started. Everyone was so fixated on doing well for the team that nobody was skipping practice. Well - nobody except Nnoitra. “For the sake of team-building, I have arranged for us all to take a trip to Oga.” This news brought with it an excited cheer from the team - especially from the first-years.

What’cha all so excited ‘bout? Ya’ll ain’t even starters.

Nnoitra didn’t get it. So they were basically going on a training camp, huh? If the coach wanted to build the team spirit, why was he bringing them to such a boring place? Nnoitra didn’t know much about geography, but even he knew that Oga was not too far away from here.

We’re really on a budget, huh?

Well - so was his happiness. Nnoitra sighed. He didn’t want to go. It was true the mood between him and his teammates was completely different now. Hell, he’d even go as far as to say he tolerated them - and they tolerated him. He even joked around with a couple of them. The first years had stopped looking terrified whenever he spoke to them. All of this was progress, right? However, it didn’t mean he wanted to spend even more time with them. Nnoitra had planned to spend these days outdoors in the warm summer weather (they were having a very good summer so far). Laying in the shade of a tree... Eating candy. Maybe play some basketball by himself. Maybe message Murasakibara. But no - his plans were ruined now. He had half a mind not to go. If he refused to go, there would be a lot of bitching and complaining, and maybe his team would start disliking him again.

What a pain!

Life was hard. He had to go with them.

They left a few days later, early in the morning. Nnoitra looked at the bus with displeasure written all over his face.

         ❝What a sweet ride.❞ Nnoitra turned towards the voice. The sarcastic remark was coming from Tezuka Chikashi. After Nnoitra, he was the tallest on the team (though Nnoitra towered over him). He was a second year with weird bleached hair. Nnoitra didn’t mind Tezuka, since his jokes were often good, and he had a laid-back sort of attitude. Since he was rather tall, he was actually someone Nnoitra could work with on the pitch as well.

         ❝If this is ‘da ride, imagine what ‘da hotel is gonna be like.❞

         ❝What hotel? We’re obviously sleeping on the beach.❞ Nnoitra laughed a little to this, shaking his head. He wouldn’t be surprised.

Oga was a small-ish city on the coast, facing the Sea of Japan. It was located on a peninsula, so a high humidity was expected. The sun was shining when they arrived at the inn where they’d be staying. At least they weren’t actually sleeping under an open sky on the beach. Not that Nnoitra would’ve minded all that much. He brought his bag inside. The team would be sharing two rooms, and no - he wasn’t exactly looking forward to sleeping in a room full of people. He was a light sleeper.

He’d hoped they’d head straight for some sort of exercise regime, but no. The coach seemed to be in no rush to get actual training done. Instead, he let them all “hang out” and explore the inn, as well as the nearby area. Nnoitra followed his teammates. They were supposed to build their bond, right? It meant he had to stick with them. He wouldn’t say they directly excluded him. It was just that nobody spoke directly to him. Were they really that intimidated by him? Or had they just realized that he rarely said anything nice? Some of the ones who at least spoke to him were the captain, Tezuka, and two other guys whose name Nnoitra had only recently begun to remember. The first one was Okutani. He had short, spiky black hair and a darker complection than most. He was a second year, and apparently a first year on the team was his little brother. Nnoitra had been surprised to learn this, because the two didn’t look much like each other, and they were only one year apart. He’d heard some gossip that Okutani’s mother had had an affair, and that Okutani’s brother was a product of that. Another guy who spoke to Nnoitra was a third year named Sumeragi. He too had black hair, and always wore a smug expression, which put Nnoitra off.

Nnoitra looked around the group, trying to remember all the names (and failing). For a basketball team, their average height was not impressive enough. Nnoitra pulled the team up, sure, but there weren’t anyone else on the team who were truly tall. Tezuka was the second tallest, and Nnoitra was easily a head taller than him. They had a couple who Nnoitra thought were too short to play basketball, even by Japanese standards. Mah, they needed substitutes. Not everyone could play a full match, like Nnoitra could. He thought that rather than sitting around here chatting, they should all work on improving their stamina. It would help a ton if the taller guys could stay on the pitch the whole match.

He had tried his best to pay attention to the conversation that was going on, but his focus faded. 

I really am anti-social, huh?

What else should he work on while he was here? He had to keep building his stamina, sure. Another thing he should work on was his accuracy. Because he could so easily reach the hoop, he’d never been one for scoring three-pointers. He was not very good at shooting from a distance (it simply wasn’t as satisfying as dunking?). He could probably save a lot of energy if he could score from a distance. It would mean less running and less jumping. What was he sitting here for anyway? He wanted to train already!

        ❝I’m goin’ ‘fer a run.❞ He announced to the rest of the group, interrupting whatever conversation they’d been having. Everyone looked at him.

        ❝I’ll join you.❞ Tezuhika said, unexpectedly.

         ❝M-me too!❞ That was one of the smaller first-years. Nnoitra arched his brows, but

didn’t dismiss either of them. Why they wanted to go with him... He had no idea. He didn’t mind the company while he ran.

The three of them got changed into their training gear. The first year was already waiting in the lobby when Nnoitra came down (seemed like he thought they’d leave him behind).

         ❝What’s yer name anyway?❞ Nnoitra asked. He knew they’d been introduced but whatever. Not his fault he forgot names so easily.

         ❝S-sumeragi Reiji.❞

         ❝Sumeragi?❞ Nnoitra looked at him in confusion. Was this yet another pair of brothers on the team?

         ❝Y-yes! Natsuhiko is my big brother.❞

         ❝Really? Ya don’t look alike.❞ Kinda like the Okutani-brothers then.

         ❝Yes... I get that alot.❞ No wonder. While his big brother practically beamed confidence, this guy... Seemed intimidated.

         ❝hanks for waiting for me!❞ Tezuka came down into the lobby, having also changed.

         ❝Let’s go then.❞

It was still sunny out, but thankfully there was a breeze. Nnoitra had put his hair up so that it wouldn’t get in the way when he jogged. It didn’t take long for the three of them to start sweating - especially Reiji. The poor guy was a lot shorter than Nnoitra and Tezuka. Even Tezuka clearly had to jog faster than usual to keep up with Nnoitra’s long strides. While the two of them were jogging, Reiji was running. 

         ❝Are you trying to show off, or is this your actual running pace?❞ Tezuka asked with a breathless laugh. Nnoitra glanced over his shoulder. Yeah, he felt smug about being able to answer -

         ❝Nah, this is how I always run. Ya’ll just slow.❞ It wasn’t a lie.

         ❝Oh, it’s on!❞ Tezuka stepped up his speed, so that he was now jogging next to Nnoitra. 

They continued on like this for a while. Nnoitra had forgotten Reiji was even there, so when the first-year spoke, it was a bit of a surprise.

         ❝Gilga-Senpai... Tezuka-Senpai... I’m really sorry, but I can’t go on!❞ They heard him call out from behind. He sounded like he was about to pass out. Both Nnoitra and Tezuka stopped and turned around. Nnoitra almost laughed at how pathetic and half-dead the guy looked.

         ❝‘Daz yer problem. We’re leavin’ ya behind.❞ Nnoitra felt no pity.

         ❝Whaaat, you’re gonna leave the poor first-year alone? Gilga you’re heartless!❞ Tezuka said in a fake-dramatic voice and took a few steps back towards Reiji, who was wheezing, resting both hands on his thighs while he hunched over, trying not to puke. ❝Come on, I’ll walk you back.❞

         ❝Suit yerself. I’mma continue.❞ Nnoitra left them behind.

Even though they hadn’t spoken while they ran, it had still felt nice to have company. He noticed that he’d been more motivated to run when someone was with him. His mind had wandered less (which was always a good thing). He jogged down the street on his own now. It was quiet, hardly any traffic or other people. The loudest sound was his own breathing and heartbeat in his ears. Being alone... Wasn’t better, was it?

Almost like the weird (and misplaced) creeping loneliness had called out - 

         ❝Murasakibara!❞ Nnoitra exclaimed in surprise. The tall (not taller than him) figure turned around. As always, he had his hair down in his face. The chronic look of disinterest he always wore was slightly overshadowed by surprise.

         ❝Gilga, huh? What are you doing here?❞ Nnoitra was not surprised to see him carry around a bag of crisps.

         ❝They dragged me off ‘ta trainin’ camp.❞

         ❝Eh, for real? Me too.❞ They looked at each other for a moment. Nnoitra imagined they were thinking the same. This was one weird coincidence. Why did they keep running into each other? Not that he was complaining. ❝So, where is your team?❞

         ❝I went for a run by myself. Two others tried ‘ta keep up, but they failed.❞

         ❝Aren’t you impressive.❞ Murasakibara did not sound impressed. With his permanent flat, slightly sluggish tone, Nnoitra doubted he had the ability to form such an emotion.

         ❝I’m guessin’ ya didn’t outrun yer team? So where they at?❞

         ❝Back at the local gym. I told them I was going to get some water. I’m not going back yet. They’ll just make me join their practice. It’s tiring. I don’t want to.❞ He helped himself to some crisps, while watching Nnoitra for his reaction. They had similar stands on practicing with their teammates. Nnoitra didn’t like doing it because he didn’t see the point - he found it boring. Murasakibara clearly also found it boring. Nobody thought fun things were tiring after all. It wasn’t like Nnoitra thought running by himself was fun - and it sure was tiring, but it was a necessity. He had to get stronger, or he might find himself being beaten by this guy and his team. Like hell he was going to let that happen. ❝What’s with that serious look?❞ Murasakibara held out the bag of crisps for him. Nnoitra arched a brow. He didn’t think he’d be that willing to share (Nnoitra himself disliked sharing his snacks). He pushed his hand into the bag and fished out a couple of flakes.

        ❝Mah, I’m workin’ hard here ‘ta make sure I don’t lose against ya, but ya don’t give a shit.❞ It was an honest statement. He had sort of thought of Murasakibara as his rival, so it shouldn’t be such a shock that he was frustrated when he wasn’t taking it seriously.

        ❝Doesn’t that just mean you’re insecure?❞

         ❝Huh!?❞ He had never been called insecure in his entire goddamn life.

         ❝Doesn’t it mean you think you can’t beat me without improving? Aren’t you underestimating yourself?❞ He hadn’t thought of it like that. It was strange, to have someone talk so directly to him. The fact that he always intimidated people made sure nobody was ever honest with him. He wasn’t sure if he was being insulted or encouraged here. Maybe Murasakibara was doing neither. ❝Is it because you’re so skinny?❞

Don’t fuckin’ mess with me!

         ❝Shut up! Ya better watch yer fuckin’ mouth!❞ Nnoitra grabbed a forceful hold of the other’s shirt. The sudden movement caused Murasakibara to drop the bag of crisps. It fell on the ground and spilled all over the pavement. Nnoitra’s grip on the other’s collar tightened. He was expecting - as always when he showed aggression towards others - to be met with fear in the other’s eyes. That didn’t happen. Murasakibara wasn’t intimidated by him.

         ❝Are you mad?❞

         ❝Of course I’m fuckin’ mad! Ya think ya can insult me like that ‘n get away with it?❞

         ❝You think it matters to me that you’re so thin?❞ Murasakibara asked. Nnoitra had no idea where the fuck he was going with this. He had half a mind to punch him in the face for once again commenting on his weight.

         ❝What ‘da hell do ya mean?❞ Murasakibara brought his now free hands up to Nnoitra’s, to try and pry his fingers open and free himself from the hold. His fingers were cold.

         ❝I’m saying -❞ His voice had switched now, and it no longer carried that bored drag. ❝It pisses me off that you think you need to work hard to beat me. I’m looking forward to playing against you because I can finally go all-out without having to worry about hurting my opponent. So why are you pretending like you’re below me?❞ Nnoitra was so surprised by what the other was saying that his hold on him loosened, and Murasakibara was able to pull Nnoitra’s hand off him. Nnoitra’s palms were sweaty.

Had he really thought himself below Murasakibara? He had, hadn’t he? Just because the other weighed more than him. Just because of the brief 1v1 they had played, where he (for the first time in his life) had gotten some real opposition. He’d been afraid he wasn’t as good as he thought he was. His paranoia about his weight had really gotten to him.

They looked at each other for a long moment. Nnoitra didn’t know what to say. His heart was racing from the flash of anger, and though he didn’t feel all that angry anymore, his heart rate wasn’t settling. He didn’t know if he should glare at Murasakibara or not. In the end, he hadn’t insulted him. He’d called him his equal and that he shouldn’t worry so much about his weight. Exactly how he’d managed to see through him so easily was a mystery, and, frankly - unsettling. It was rare that Nnoitra felt understood. 

What ‘da fuck’s up with this guy...

         ❝Who ‘da hell thinks they’re below ya.❞ Nnoitra finally answered. His tone was lighter now. It looked like Murasakibara was a little relieved to see he wasn’t continuing the argument.

         ❝Oh, I don’t know. I sure hope it’s not the only person in Japan who’s actually taller than me.❞ He gestured from the top of his head to show the few centimeters that separated him from Nnoitra. Nnoitra breathed out a laugh.

         ❝Let’s go ‘n get some new crisps.❞

[rerairude567]

Prompt 1: Gift exchange, peaceful, decorate

Cast: Reno, Rude, Raine(Turks OC), Elena, and a small cameo of Tseng at the end, mention of Alexander(the summon of Light)

Setting: Midgar, Turks HQ, Turks Lounge, Sector 3(in this AU that includes my OC, S3 exists as the place where most of the Turks have homes, excluding Tseng who lives in the Shinra Building).

Time: Unnamed day in Winter, close to Life Day(or our Christmas/whatever winter holiday you celebrate)

@shinraholidayparty

tags:

- rated: Teen

- tw none

perfect imperfections:

Once more, winter had crept upon the city of Migdar with its chilly winds and frosty snow. However, the festive spirit was in full swing, and the city was bustling with life and joy. The streets were adorned with colorful lights and decorations, while the air was filled with the sweet aroma of hot cocoa and freshly baked cookies.

Children of all ages ran around in the snow, building snowmen, having snowball fights, and delighting in the magic of the season. Adults worked tirelessly, hoping to earn a day or two off to spend with their loved ones, while couples brimming with affection for each other eagerly awaited the perfect moment to steal a kiss or a tender gesture. Everywhere one would look, there was an atmosphere of warmth, love, and happiness, making the city of Migdar truly magical during this special time of year.

Amidst the towering facade of Shinra HQ, where every inch of the building is polished to a gleaming shine, lies a cozy haven known as the Turks Lounge. The sound of merriment fills my ears, and my eyes are immediately drawn to the festive decorations that adorn every nook and cranny of the space. The walls are bedecked with ribbons of crimson and emerald, and the air is filled with the sweet scent of evergreens.

The holiday season was on the horizon, and with it came a wave of festive decorations that transform homes and businesses alike into a winter wonderland. Among these decorations are the beloved holiday moogles - little white creatures that resemble flying cats - of all shapes and sizes. The adorable creatures can be found perched on shelves and windowsills, their cheery expressions bringing smiles to the faces of all who enter.

And then there are the Life Day trees - tall, majestic, and spruced up in an array of twinkling bulbs that cast a warm and inviting glow over the entire room. The trees are adorned with ornaments of all kinds, from classic glass baubles to handmade crafts. The scent of pine fills the air, and the sound of carols can be heard in the background, lending to the overall festive atmosphere.

The scene was truly a sight to behold, a testament to the joy and camaraderie that the Turks share in this special time of year. The holiday season brings people together, and the decorations serve as a visual reminder of the love and connection we share during this magical time.

The group of Turks were decorating and having a conversation.

Raine, a breathtaking young woman with sparkling emerald eyes and a fit physique, exclaimed with excitement, "This is perfect for the season! The weather, the atmosphere, everything is just flawless! We couldn't have asked for anything better!"

Elena, a young woman with long blonde hair cascading down her back and deep brown eyes that sparkled with amusement, let out a joyous giggle and nodded her head in agreement. "I couldn't agree more," she said. "It's nice to have a break from the constant chaos and turmoil that we're all too used to dealing with throughout the rest of the year."

Reno, a fiery redhead with blue eyes, sat atop Rude, a bald man wearing a suit and sunglasses with hazel eyes.

Reno declared, "I wish every day could be Life Day so I could give you guys gifts all the time!" He winked at Raine as he said this.

Raine and Elena laughed, and Rude joined in with a snicker.

Raine shook her head in amusement and replied, "Reno, you don't have to wait for Life Day to give us gifts. You can give them to us anytime you want."

“I know that, I just find it super special to do it around the holidays! It is the season of giving after all!” He waved around a hot glue gun, risking burning poor Rude’s bald head while conveying his point.

Elena chuckled heartily in response to something that was said, "Well, he does have a point." Suddenly, she noticed something alarming and quickly pointed in Rude's direction, "But, uh, Reno you may wanna watch out," she cautioned. Elena's eyes were locked on a glob of hot glue that was perilously close to touching Rude's bare head.

Reno looked down at where she was pointing and did the total opposite of what he should've done. Not only did Rude immediately get singed but Reno grabbed it and burned himself as well, causing Rude to send them both to the ground.

Rude winced and brought his hand to his head, letting out a pained cry. "Ow, Reno!" he exclaimed, his brows furrowed in discomfort.

Reno winced in sympathy, his gaze flickering over to the angry red burn on Rude's head. "I'm so sorry, buddy," he murmured, his voice laced with concern.

As soon as they heard the commotion, Raine and Elena swiftly abandoned their ongoing decorating and rushed to assist the boys without any delay.

As soon as the commotion died down, Raine was quick to act. She knelt between Reno and Rude, checking on their injuries. "Are you guys okay?!" she asked with concern, her voice filled with worry.

Reno seemed to have hurt his hand, but Rude's wound was more severe. Raine immediately directed Elena to tend to Reno while she took charge of Rude's care. She assessed his head injury carefully, making sure to apply the proper amount of healing magic.

Reno complained, grimacing in pain, "It stings a bit, but we're fine."

Elena laughed and playfully hit him on the arm, "Oh no, Reno, you're not getting away with this one. You just got burned! Let me take care of that."

She pulled out her trusty first aid kit and began to tend to his burn, making sure to clean and treat it properly to prevent infection. Despite Reno's protests, Elena was determined to make sure he was okay and wouldn't suffer any long-term damage from the burn.

Rude's expression contorted into a frown as he uttered, "It hurts far more than I had anticipated."

Raine gazed at Rude's head wound with a look of concern, “Well, you were burned by a lot of hot glue but nothing I can't heal.”

She knew it was a serious burn caused by the hot glue, but she was determined to heal it. With a wave of her hand, she summoned her healing magic and began to mend the wound. After a few moments, she applied some burn ointment to the affected area and gently wrapped a bandage around it.

Raine's smile was a sign of relief as she saw the wound slowly start to heal. “There we go, all better," she said softly. “Just keep the bandage on for a couple of days and you should be okay again soon. Plus with the holidays about, you'll have plenty of time to relax.”

Rude flashed a smile at Raine, as he reached for another pair of sunglasses from his suit jacket. The array of identical shades gleamed in the light, neatly arranged and waiting to be chosen.

With a practiced hand, he swapped out the cracked lenses of the old pair that had failed him during his last tumble. "Thank you, Raine. Appreciate it," he murmured, his voice low and smooth.

After thanking Rude for his assistance, she turned towards Elena, who finished treating the burns on Reno's skin. With a friendly smile, "How are you feeling?" Raine's eyes were filled with compassion as she looked at Reno.

Reno's complexion contorted into a slight grimace as he shrugged his shoulders, but he managed to flash a reassuring smile. "It stings a little," he admitted, "But I've dealt with worse before. I can handle it.”

“Alright, if you're sure…," Raine spoke, “Elena and I can take care of these remaining tasks, and once we're done, we can all hang out together. It'll be a fun time with all four of us.”

Elena's face lit up with excitement as she eagerly nodded in agreement, "That's a fantastic idea, Raine! We shouldn't waste any more time, let's finish up right away!"

The boys stood nearby, giving nods of approval before moving to sit next to each other and chat for a bit. Meanwhile, the girls were busy finishing up the decorating task they had taken on. Raine, in particular, was meticulously putting the finishing touches on the last Life Day tree, which was adorned with white tinsel and green bows along the pine branches. With care, she placed a star on top of the tree to complete the festive look.

As Elena decorated the room, she carefully hung different ornaments and trinkets on the walls and ceiling. Among them was a small sprig of mistletoe, which she strategically placed under the doorway. While doing so, she couldn't help but think that this would be the ideal chance for Raine and Reno to share a romantic moment.

Elena had just finished adorning the room with various decorative items. She hopped down from the ladder and faced her three friends with a bright smile on her face. "I have an excellent suggestion," she exclaimed. "What if we organize a Secret Santa among ourselves?"

She proceeded to pick up a plastic hat from a nearby container and gestured towards some white paper sheets placed on the table.

Elena received nods from Raine, Reno, and Rude, who all smiled at each other before acknowledging her.

Raine's eyes lit up with excitement as she exclaimed, "Sounds like a lot of fun!" She paused for a moment, lost in thought, before tapping her finger against her chin. "I can't help but wonder just how much we all truly know each other on a personal level..."

Rude made a teasing comment, "Well, we won't know until we try," and then gestured towards Elena, who had already taken out four pieces of paper and carefully written down everyone's names on them.

Elena took great care in shuffling the folded paper slips thoroughly in the black plastic hat before she delicately reached in and plucked out a single slip of paper. With a sense of anticipation, she moved on to Raine who eagerly took her turn and drew another slip of paper from the hat. Rude and Reno followed suit, each selecting their slips of paper from the hat, their expressions betraying their curiosity and excitement.

"Okay, make sure you don't peek at your paper slips until after work hours when everyone has gone home. We have the whole day today and tomorrow to prepare our gifts before the winter party tomorrow evening," Elena clarified to the group.

The other three nodded their heads.

After finishing up their work, Elena, Raine, Reno, and Rude carefully gathered all the leftover decorations from the table, making sure to leave the place spotless. Once they were done, they calmly and methodically packed their belongings and headed home, satisfied with a productive day's work.

Each member opened the paper slips on the way home, revealing who they'd give a gift to. Raine got Rude, Rude got Elena, Elena got Reno, and Reno got Raine.

The name forced a lump to Reno's throat. He got Raine. He had already spent three years with his Raine. And what was the issue? As for what to give her for the Secret Santa, he had no clue. For a girl who is so flawless and so considerate of everyone around her, what do you get? He was merely a young boy hopelessly in love with her, and she was everything.

On his way home, Reno fidgeted with his rod and repeatedly read the name on the paper slip. He considered bouquets, candies, and various jewelry or trinkets that Raine could find appealing, but that was the issue. Reno's mind was filled with only one person: Raine.

Raine's beauty, sensitivity, and sense of style were unmatched. The beams of the sun in the sky kissed her soul so tenderly that Reno caught a glimpse of the lifestream itself if her lips were to touch his.

Regaining consciousness after his trance, Reno dialed Elena, the only person who knew Raine quite as well as he did. Heading into Sector 3 for the night, he got on the underground train. He waited for Elena to pick up whilst seated.

He became increasingly nervous as his phone rang, hoping she would answer it quickly. "Please, please, please, hurry up!"

At last, Elena responded, "Hey Reno! What's wrong? Did you burn yourself again?”

"No, no, I'm alright. He grumbled, "I was calling because I don't know what to get for my Secret Santa." Reno answered.

"I figured you'd say that," Elena said, nodding. “Look, I'm not supposed to—”

"Elena, just do this for me, please! If it was simple to solve, I wouldn't be calling! Reno essentially begged through the phone.

"All right, let me guess," groaned Elena. “You seem nervous, so I assume you got Raine?”

"How did you know?" Reno pretended to cough in an attempt to wave it off.

"Just get her something thoughtful," Elena said, laughing and shaking her head. “Well, there must be something she enjoys. Perhaps a necklace made of flowers or something sentimental. Anything that I know Raine appreciates would likely be something that was made exclusively for her.”

Reno mentally jotted down what Elena said, and he found her advice to be quite beneficial, "You know, you're right! I'm sure I can come up with something to suggest to Raine using this idea. Thanks a bunch, Elena.”

"Not a problem! I expect to see you tomorrow, good luck!” Elena smiled.

"Bye! See you tomorrow!” After hanging up, Reno left the train and headed up the steps towards the walkway home in Sector 3, thinking of what he should prepare Raine for his Secret Santa present.

His judgment was obscured by the frigid air that entered his nostrils as he strolled through Sector 3's bleak streets.

Then it hit him, "Oh! I'll make her a bracelet! I have some thread and beads at home that I think she'll like.”

Reno's mind kept running through plans of creating the perfect bracelet for Raine, his Secret Santa recipient, as he drew nearer to his little home in Sector 3. As he entered his house, his red hair glinted in the city lights.

"Okay, Raine, get ready for some handmade charm," Reno murmured, laughing to himself. He imagined the bracelet—a fusion of vivid beads and subdued jewels—that would go well with Raine's fashion sense. After opening his door and entering, he shut it behind him and went straight to his closet's craft bin.

Reno dug through his belongings and found a variety of gemstones and beads he had accumulated over the years. With a look of uneasiness mixed with determination, he sat on the edge of his cluttered desk. He pondered as he looked over the selection, "Let's see... I'll start with these blue beads,"

For Reno, the procedure was a journey of trial and error. Occasionally murmuring to himself, he wound the rope through beads, asking, "Is this too much? Nope, Raine like a little audacity." His fingers exhibited an unexpected dexterity as they wove a pattern that gained shape over time. Reno was a little frustrated at first since he had to start over and reassemble the beads due to carelessness.

Observing the time, Reno made an effort to work quickly without jeopardizing the level of quality.

Reno was unable to resist thinking back on Raine's peculiarities and advantages among the Turks while he labored. He intertwined the beads carefully, saying, "She's got that tough exterior, but there's a softer side too." Mirroring the layers of complexity he observed in Raine, the stones gave a touch of grace.

Reno's commitment to the endeavor persisted for hours on end. He thought of Raine's face, her emerald-green eyes glimmering with gratitude. "This better be worth it," he smiled to himself.

Reno finished the bracelet and held it up to look at it with a mixture of pride and amusement. He said, "Well, not bad for a Turk, huh?" as he considered the impending gift exchange. A sincere smile spread across Reno's face as he imagined Raine opening the bracelet and realized that sometimes the most unexpected actions might mean the most.

It was a serene night as Reno wound the bracelet, the colorful stones and beads tucked between the paper's creases. He smiled to himself, picturing Raine's shocked face as she opened the homemade present. He muttered to himself, "I hope she appreciates the effort," and set the wrapped bracelet down on his bedside table.

Reno yawned after a basic dinner of takeout noodles, understanding that even Turks needed beauty sleep. After brushing his teeth, he glanced in the bathroom mirror at himself. He joked, "Gotta look sharp for the gift exchange," and subsequently fell asleep, not even remembering when his head hit the pillow.

Reno woke up to his alarm going off early the next morning. His eyes were drawn to the wrapped bracelet as he groaned and staggered out of bed. His face twisted into a smile as he thought about the coming day.

Drinking a strong cup of coffee, Reno thought about the Secret Santa exchange that was coming soon. He retrieved his suit and ironed it carefully, trying not to wrinkle it. He laughed to himself, "Turks gotta look their best." He decided to add a pop of brilliant red to his hair color to keep his signature look after seeing that his crimson locks were starting to fade a little.

Using his kit and dye brush, Reno spent the next hour dying his hair. He wrapped foil around the colored sections to let them set.

Pulling out his phone, Reno called Rude while waiting for the dye to set. "Hey, Rude! "What did ya get Elena?" With his TV on in the background, he asked.

Over the phone, Rude's deep voice could be heard, "I got her a set of old photography books. You know, she likes that artistic stuff."

Nice choice, dude. classy." Reno smiled and kept dabbing at the color. "You know what I got for Raine?"

"Some jewelry?" Rude asked Reno, his eyebrows furrowing as he considered.

"Close...a bracelet handcrafted by hand! Made it myself," Reno praised his achievement.

On the other end, Rude's deep voice laughed, "Handmade? You? That caught me off guard. Still, I'm sure she'll enjoy it."

Reno smirked, "Yeah, well, don't underestimate the Turk touch."

Their conversation flowed seamlessly, shifting from gift exchanges to work schedules. "We got that mission tomorrow, right?" Reno asked, adjusting the phone between his shoulder and ear.

"Yep. Gonna be a busy week," Rude replied.

"Tell me about it," Reno quipped, finishing up his hair. "Alright, catch you later, partner."

As the call ended, Reno admired his refreshed hair in the mirror, a sly grin playing on his lips.

Ready for the day, he slipped on his outfit. Reno departed from his house, the wrapped bracelet safely tucked into his pocket, looking forward to the camaraderie of the upcoming Secret Santa exchange.

Reno strolled briskly from his residence in Sector 3, the city sounds blending with the rhythmic tapping of his boots against the pavement. The morning sun cast a warm glow on Midgar as he approached the underground railway. Boarding the train, he navigated the familiar route to the Shinra Building.

Reno flashed his Turk ID as he checked in at the security gates with ease. He was called upon by the stoic Turk leader Tseng to help with a variety of duties. Reno spent the afternoon handling paperwork, planning future operations, and communicating with other departments to make sure the Turks ran smoothly.

Tseng gave a rare nod in acknowledgment of Reno's effectiveness. "Well done, Reno. The Turks benefit from your talent for handling these details."

Reno grinned, "Just doing my thing, boss. You know how I roll."

Following the completion of his tasks, Reno went around giving Tseng, Rufus, and even President Shinra housewarming presents. Though they were small, such behaviors provided the work environment a sense of companionship. The Turk occupied a special place in Shinra due to his ability to strike a balance between his irreverent attitude and his professional responsibilities.

Reno arrived at the main Turks area, where he was welcomed by the typical hum of activity, after finishing his responsibilities. Rude and Elena were already at their stations when he arrived. “Morning, pals," he said with a nonchalant wave.

Elena gave Reno a fleeting smile, but Rude nodded, lost in a report. “Reno, you seem pleased with yourself! All set for tonight?"

Reno, with a playful twinkle in his eye, leaned on a desk. "I think so! I've got the bracelet right here! I'm hoping Raine will love it.”

The companionship in the air increased as they joked around with each other. The three of them waited for Raine to show up for the Secret Santa trade. Shinra's business tone was punctuated by the Turks' normal banter and friendship, which created the perfect environment for a memorable and amusing discussion.

Raine entered the Turks headquarters with a self-assured posture, seeing the faces of Reno, Rude, and Elena that she knew well, "Hey, everyone!"

"Raine, you made it!" Reno said with a teasing grin. “Are you ready for some holiday fun, Turk-style?”

She chuckled, "Absolutely. What's the plan?"

"First, we got some business to take care of," Reno said, gesturing to their workstations. “Though the fun is just around the corner.”

There was a distinct hum of business and cooperation in the Turks Headquarters as they settled into their daily tasks. With his attention on an article, Rude nodded modestly to Raine's entrance.

Elena beamed, "By the way, nice dress! I adore the shade on you!"

Raine, intrigued, leaned against a desk. "Thanks Elena! What did you end up getting Reno for secret Santa?"

Elena put her pointer finger up to her mouth, “You’ll have to wait and see..”

The room filled with bits and pieces of animated conversation as the job went on. Raine and Elena laughed at a clever remark, and Rude's sardonic humor made the job at hand seem a little less serious. With his characteristic irreverence, Reno maintained the banter and made the ordinary seem less so.

The anticipation for the forthcoming present exchange lingered in the air among the tasks. Raine couldn't help but admire the Turks' unique friendship - a blend of professionalism and genuine connection. Though not overt, the festive atmosphere pervaded their interactions, making the Turks HQ feel more like a close-knit family than a job.

Reno signaled to the group that tasks were almost finished by clapping his hands. "Now, Turks, let's change course. Awaiting you is your secret Santa!"

The Turks exchanged a glance, preparing for the Christmas exchange that promised surprises, laughing, and possibly a few unexpected moments in the midst of their hectic working life.

The Turks' Lounge Room was decked out in subtle holiday decorations, ready to accommodate the Secret Santa exchange.

Rude offered Elena a beautifully wrapped surprise with a gentle manner.

Elena's eyes glowed as she unwrapped the present. "These are incredible, Rude!" You are aware of my passion for photography. "Thank you," she shouted, grateful for the kind gift.

Elena turned to Reno, a cheeky smile on her face, and handed him a wrapped parcel. "Your turn, Reno," she jokingly said.

Reno grinned as he eagerly unwrapped the present. He was ecstatic to discover a sleek new electric rod and a set of fashionable goggles. "You nailed it, Elena!" These will be useful on our next mission. "Thank you!" he said, enjoying the equipment.

The Turks took a little pause after exchanging gifts. The wrapping paper crinkled underfoot as they tossed it aside, and the room was filled with laughing and conversation. Elena advised a quick refreshment run with a joyful twinkle in her eye.

"Who's up for snacks and drinks?" She called out, already on her way to the break room.

Reno, getting into the spirit, said, "Count me in." I need to refuel before the next round of gifts."

Elena produced a batch of hot cocoa for the gathering, and the aroma floated across the air.

Reno, who was sitting close, couldn't help but remark, "Elena, you're a magician with those goggles and now hot cocoa. What's next, a holiday cookbook for Turks?"

Elena chuckled as she handed him a steamy mug. "Perhaps next year, Reno. For now, just enjoy the hot chocolate and munchies."

Elena passed out the rest of the mugs and snacked on a cracker before clearing her throat, “Raine, Reno, you guys are up next!”

"Alright! "Wait a second!" Raine retrieved a massive wrapped present from a neighboring broom closet, causing the others to laugh.

Raine approached Rude and handed him a neatly packed suitcase. "For the Turk who always keeps it sharp," she chuckled.

Rude lifted an inquisitive brow as he opened the suitcase. An assortment of identical sunglasses and elegant suits were carefully organized inside. "Raine, this is... impressive," he exclaimed, amazed. "You have style, girl. Thanks."

As Raine and Rude exchanged grateful glances, all eyes were drawn to Reno, who excitedly reached for the next gift. He handed Raine a little, beautifully wrapped present with a chuckle. "It's your turn, Raine. I hope you enjoy it."

Raine's interest piqued as she unwrapped the gift, displaying the handcrafted bracelet Reno had fashioned for her. Her eyes expanded, and a genuine smile appeared on her face. "Reno, this is stunning. "Did you make it yourself?" she said, her voice full of awe.

Reno nodded his head, faking indifference. "Yeah, I thought I'd try my hand at arts and crafts. You know, for the holidays."

Raine's thankfulness overflowed, and she smiled up at Reno. "I adore it, Reno. "It's perfect," she said, planting a delicate kiss on his cheek.

Rude nodded in approval as the other Turks teased him. "Looks like the Secret Santa game is bringing out the soft side in our favorite Turk."

With the gift exchange concluded, the Turks decided to wind down the evening with hot chocolate and a festive movie. They gathered in the Lounge Room, where a makeshift mistletoe hung from the ceiling. Before catching up to the others…

“Hey, I really do love the bracelet! It's so beautiful!” Raine cheered.

Reno smirked, “Almost as beautiful as you.” He winked at her, causing her to blush. “Hey look, mistletoe, my dear.”

Raine looked up, blushing more at the sight of the festive plant and her eyes landed on the handsome redhead in front of her. Reno stood beneath it, inching closer to her. He let his hand caress her right temple, suddenly grabbing her by the waist and spun, dipping Raine down, never letting go over her.

Raine gasped, regaining her senses to note how close their lips were to one another.

“I love you, Raine.” Reno purred, his eyes dialated and full of love.

Raine smiled smittenly, looking up at his eyes and face, “I love you, Reno.”

Within a moment, their lips collided against each other’s, savoring the moment for what seemed like eternity. Their love was eternal since the moment they met years ago, never fading and only getting stronger with distance and time. Pulling away, the lovers shared a warm embrace before heading over to rejoin Rude and Elena.

Amidst laughter and shared glances, the Turks settled in for a cozy movie night. Elena, with her usual enthusiasm, called out, "Hot chocolate, anyone?" They indulged in steaming mugs and shared banter while watching a made-up Christmas movie that only the Turks could appreciate.

The room echoed with the warmth of friendship, the joy of thoughtful gifts, and the promise of holiday cheer among the tight-knit group.

The End.