#so for the mutuals that have been keeping up with the cute little tidbits i’ve been posting about my life—

[rosesradio]

🧍

[readyplayerhobi]

Jung Hoseok and the Magic to Happiness | 05

; Hufflepuff Teacher!Hoseok x Reader

; Genre: Fluff, angst, future smut

; Word Count: 3.5k

; Synopsis: An unexpected issue with your Ministry of Magic job leads to you taking the role of Transfiguration Professor at Hogwarts. It’s here that you meet your best friend’s younger brother for the first time in years, the Hufflepuff Head of House, Jung Hoseok. While you contend with seeing him once again, Hoseok tries to show you that he’s very much a man and no longer the gangly teenager you once knew.

; A/N: Not as much of an ‘interesting’ chapter as the last one, but hopefully you’ll enjoy it all the same! I know some of you have been hoping to see this character and what their thoughts are all about what’s going on. This chapter is more of one that’s just self-assessing!

Last Chapter ; Next Chapter

-

You don’t go to breakfast the next morning. Not because you’re trying to avoid Hoseok or anything, but because you didn’t fall asleep until the early hours of the morning and so slept through the morning meal. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had kept your mind occupied instead of letting you drift off.

Thankfully, no one questions your absence. It might be because most of the castle is likely sleeping in today or is packing for the Hogwarts Express. You don’t have to be present when the students begin their journey back to London and you feel that’s probably a good thing at the moment. 

The awkwardness between Hoseok and you would be excruciating for anyone to be around, particularly yourself. So you’d burrowed into your duvet when the usual alarm went off and only woke up properly around noon. 

You’re still in bed though, the covers pulled up to your chin and helping you to feel snug and warm against the constant coolness of your stone room. Which means that you’re staring up at the ceiling of your bedroom intently, brows furrowed as you think over the night before once more.

As if you haven’t already replayed every moment in excruciating detail, latching onto the most ridiculous things. For instance, you couldn’t stop thinking of what Hoseok’s lips looked like up close or the heady scent of him that no longer inspired only safety and friendship in you. How hot his hands had felt against you.

It was embarrassing how often that thought morphed into you imagining the same scenario but minus any clothes. Would his hands be warmer? Would they be as gentle as they’d been on your back last night? Would his hands feel soft on your bare skin or would you be able to feel the subtle callouses formed from years of caring for magical animals?

Groaning out loud, you roll onto your side and bury your face into your pillow. How are you meant to face him when all you can think about is the taste of him on your lips? 

A delicate chiming causes you to peek at your bedside cabinet, eyes narrowing as the noise repeats itself. You don’t even need to check to see who it is; you know already. So you reach out and blindly grasp for the magic mirror, eventually feeling your fingertips pressing against the smooth, reflective surface.

Now your grimace is more because you know that you’ve just smeared fingerprints all over. But you don’t get a chance to clean it because as soon as you look at the hand-sized surface, it activates with a gentle tinkling. The silver mirror shimmers slightly and you’re left looking at the image of Jisoo’s pretty face, smiling at you.

For a moment, you forget that you’ve not even bothered to get out of bed yet. You’ve not been able to shower, and the crustiness of your eyes tells you that your makeup wasn’t removed either. You’d obviously been in more of a fugue state than you’d realised when you’d gotten back to your quarters.

Normally it wouldn’t bother you as Jisoo has seen you in much worse states. But this had been caused by Hoseok, her brother. Her little brother. Her little brother who was incredibly attractive, a great kisser and had looked at you like you’d hung the stars when you’d pulled away from him.

As you think that, you immediately remember his annoyance at any topic relating to age and feel like hitting your forehead. Chaeyoung was right; he did like you. Merlin, how stupid were you to miss all those obvious signs he’d been giving? The poor guy had been practically shouting it from the rooftop for weeks now.

“I’m so stupid!” You curse, spitting out a few more severe swear words after that to the surprise of Jisoo. It’s not helped when you notice how similar they look, maturity making the familial genes even more prominent between the two. Just your luck.

“Hi...are you okay?” She asks, her brow furrowing in concern and you sigh deeply. Ignoring her question for a few seconds, you take the time to push yourself up the bed and fluff up the pillows, letting them act as a backrest for you to prop yourself up. A quick spell cleans your face and mouth, studiously ignoring the fact that it’s considered lazy to use magic for these kinds of tasks.

Still, you feel a little more refreshed and not like one of those zombies from muggle television shows.

Taking a deep breath, alongside a few swallows of water from the glass you always keep by your bed, you pick up the mirror once more and smile at Jisoo. It’s pretty obvious that she doesn’t buy it though and you didn’t expect her to. She’s known you too long to let you get away with pretending, so you drop it quickly.

“I’m...okay, I promise. I just...I’m a little confused about something.” You’re not entirely sure that you want to admit the fact that you might fancy her little brother just yet. Jisoo is very open-minded and she’d always thought Hoseok’s obvious feelings when he was younger had been cute. But the unrequited emotions of your teenage brother are very different from the mutual attraction between your adult brother and your adult best friend.

“Oh? Did something happen last night? Hoseok was acting a little strange as well when I talked to him earlier.” The urge to sink under the covers is very strong when you hear that, but you use pure will to remain in place.

Of course, they’d already talked. 

Scanning Jisoo’s face closely, you try to use your own best friend's sixth sense to see if she already knows that you’d kissed him last night. But she’s either a master of acting or she has no idea because there’s only genuine concern in her expression.

You feel the need to talk though and you want to do that with your best friend, even if she is Hoseok’s sister. The feelings you have are confused and you just want to try to sort through them all. 

“I kissed Hoseok last night.” The words rush out in a breath, almost mumbling with how quiet they are. Still, Jisoo hears them perfectly thanks to the spell on the mirror. From the way her eyes widen in shock, you know that Hoseok hasn’t revealed that little tidbit to her. Part of you wonder if that’s to protect your privacy, but you don’t get a chance to consider it further.

“Merlin...so that’s why you’re both being odd! What happened? It was the Winter Solstice Ball, right?” Relaxing back, you nod and make an affirmative noise while chewing on your lips.

“Yeah, it was. It was all going fine, the students were having a good time and all that but then Hoseok finally arrived and-” Pausing, you frown before groaning out and running a hand across your face. “You don’t want to hear this! This is your brother.”

“Ignore that. As long as you don’t give me...descriptive details then it’s fine. This is one time that I have no interest in hearing about how well he kisses or what he’s like in bed, so keep that to yourself. Otherwise, keep talking.” Mortification runs through you at Jisoo’s mischievous smile and she laughs in delight.

“We didn’t do that! I swear.” Muttering, you reach for your glass and take another swig in an attempt to give yourself time to get yourself under control. Partially because you’re embarrassed about Jisoo thinking you’d slept with her brother so quickly but also because you’re feeling a little warm at the thought of sex with him.

A thought that you’d likely come back to at a later time but isn’t something to consider right now.

“I didn’t think you had. Firstly, you’ve never been the kind of person to shag someone on the first date. Or before the first date, I guess, as you’ve not even had a date. Secondly, neither is Hoseok. Don’t ask how I know, I’m surprised he didn’t blurt this news out this morning.” One of your eyes narrows in contemplation at that and you realise that you don’t want to ask.

The idea of Hoseok sleeping with someone else causes an unpleasant sensation to bubble in your stomach. Something else you don’t feel like analysing at the moment.

“Okay...well...firstly, I hate the word ‘shag’ and you know it. Secondly, I’m really confused right now. I mean, objectively I’ve known Hoseok is hot. Like, I’m not stupid. I have eyes and he’s well...yeah. But I think I’d always managed to have some kind of barrier between us, you know? Like...he was your little brother and he was just my friend here. But then last night he came into the hall and Merlin. It was like something switched in my mind, and I finally realised that he’s not just attractive, but he’s...he’s my kind of attractive.” You realise halfway through talking that you’re just telling Jisoo your thought process as you go through it.

She doesn’t respond though, just gives a considerate look with her lips slightly pursed before taking a sip of her drink. You don’t know what she’s drinking as it’s a mug, the image on the front just a generic cat. The fact it’s not moving gives away that it’s a muggle creation.

“And then we just kept talking, all night. Even when we had duties, we kept meeting back up and it felt so natural and normal. It’s like I’ve known him for all my life or something, our conversation is so easy and I don’t feel uncomfortable around him. You ever have that with someone?”

“Once or twice. It’s a good sign though. I know you’ve become pretty good friends over the last few months so maybe that’s why it’s all clicking now. Relationships that start from a solid friendship usually end up being some of the best. Maybe that’s why it’s all feeling a little more natural than normal. You’ve found someone that makes you feel comfortable and safe.” You wonder how many times you’d told Jisoo that her brother inspired those feelings within you since being here at Hogwarts.

As that runs through your mind, you suddenly become distracted with an entirely different thought.

“Hang on, did you suspect that I might like him? You’ve always been very accepting of my friendship with him and if I remember right, you’ve been the one encouraging me to spend time with him. Is that why you’re not surprised at this?” Jisoo’s cheeks blush a pretty pink, so like her brother that you can’t help but smile.

“I may have suspected something. I am your best friend, after all. And his sister. When you’re close to both sides, you notice things.” Her voice is teasing and you wonder if other people have been suspecting this as well. 

Suddenly, all the times your fellow professors had arranged for events and Hoseok had happened to just be attending as well began running through your mind. Was everyone scheming?!

You’d never considered yourself a suspicious person before but you certainly were now. Seokjin and Chaeyoung, in particular, were going to be at the end of a very serious set of questions whenever you next saw them.

“In all seriousness, I didn’t think that you might like him. I just thought you were enjoying having a good friend at Hogwarts as Hoseok is someone you already know, so you at least had a link with him. You finding him nice to look at was expected; I’m not stupid, I know he’s pretty. He’s my brother and I’m gorgeous,” There’s a slight smirk to her smile, and you roll your eyes at her ego, fully recognising that she’s trying to cheer you up. “But you never really gave the inclination that you wanted anything romantic with him, so I didn’t suspect too much with you.”

Humming, your nose wrinkles as you look away from the mirror and contemplate her words. She’s not wrong, mainly because you hadn’t considered that with him until last night. Hoseok had been firmly in the friend box in your mind. It’s only now that you realise he’d been subtly creeping into the romantic box without you noticing.

“That’s because I didn’t realise I wanted that. I feel like I missed something really obvious, and everyone around me knew. I’m pretty sure Chaeyoung and Seokjin knew; there’s no way that they wouldn’t try to interfere. They’re those kinds of people, you know?” Jisoo giggles lightly, running her hand through long, silky black hair.

“Sounds like my kinda folk. Seriously though, don’t stress over it. All you’re going to do by over analysing things is get yourself tied up into knots. I know you and you’ll just talk yourself out of anything that could potentially happen. There’s nothing wrong with going for what you want if it’s going to be good for you. As his big sister, I can safely say that Hoseok will be very good for you and to you. He’s a good guy and I don’t want you to throw away a chance at happiness.” 

You groan yet again, pulling one of your spare pillows to stuff your face into. Even if you’re feeling completely confused about what to think or do, you’re glad that you get to talk it through with Jisoo. She always knows just what to say and how to help you come to decisions that felt right.

Shifting, you sit up straight and look at Jisoo’s image in the mirror, feeling even more thankful that she’s willing to talk about this particular subject. At that thought you frown, knowing that she’s close with her brother.

“Did you suspect anything with Hoseok? You said that you got to notice things from both sides…” Trailing off, your eyes narrow as you watch the way she bites her lip in an almost coy way. It wouldn’t surprise you as she knows her brother far better than she knows you.

“Yes, I did with him. He fancied you so much when he was a teenager and I thought he’d just...grown out of it, you know? Neither of you saw each other for ages so I just assumed his hormones had finally settled down. But then he practically jumped at the chance to help you apply for the job and...well, he’s being very obvious lately. I swear, every conversation has to include you in some way and he gets this look on his face.” Jisoo says, brow creasing as she thinks back.

“What look? Does he get a look? What kind of look?” The questions pepper her but she doesn’t look annoyed by them. Instead, she just smiles before laughing lightly, taking another sip from her mug before taking her time nibbling on a milk chocolate covered digestive biscuit. It makes you scowl, realising you’d given yourself away once more.

“Yes, he gets a look. I don’t know how to describe it to you but it’s like...he gets this smile and I swear his eyes get all shiny. He’d be appalled to know I’d noticed this as he’s never come out and said anything but I know what he looks like when he likes something. Hoseok talks about you the same way he talks about anything else he loves.” The last word makes your eyes widen and you’re thankful Jisoo doesn’t comment on it.

She’s noticed though, you know that she has. 

“Oh, okay. Well...I haven’t noticed.” What a stupid thing to say, but you don’t have anything else.

“Obviously.” Jisoo gives you a droll look, causing you to glare at her. It’s probably not as effective as you’d like given the two of you are hundreds of miles away and only visible through a reflective surface. Still, it makes her laugh at least.

Not the reaction you wanted but you’ll take it.

The conversation between you both falls into a lull, the silence of your room almost deafening. It lets you start to think once more and you don’t think that’s a good idea. Jisoo is right in that you tend to talk yourself out of things that might have a big impact on your life.

You’d taken a whole month to finally apply for the job here at Hogwarts and even then, you’d had to have Jisoo convince you that you should accept the offer when they made it. A good choice now, but you had a constant fear that big change might have negative effects on you.

The possibility of beginning something romantic with Hoseok was perhaps the biggest change you could do and it had the potential for so many repercussions if it went wrong. He was your work colleague, your friend and your best friend’s brother. It wasn’t like if you tried dating him then you could just never see him again.

Hoseok was likely to always be a part of your life in some way.

But he was such a good person and he could be something positive in your life, too. You found him to be charming and kind, funny and thoughtful, intelligent and attractive. There were a lot of reasons against trying a relationship with him, but there were so many more reasons for it.

“Would it not bother you? If anything happened then you’d be stuck between us, and he’s your brother so you’d have to take his side.” Your words are quiet, almost reluctant. Jisoo doesn’t respond immediately though, giving you the benefit of thinking seriously about your question before shaking her head.

“I would be stuck between you both if it ended badly. But I don’t either of you are the kinds of people to make me choose something like that. More importantly, I have high hopes that kind of scenario won’t even happen. I have a good feeling about this, for both of you. You both have to decide what’s right for you but...I don’t have any issue with it. If anything, it’d be great. My best friend and my brother getting together? If you married him then you’d be my sister-in-law and your kids would be my nieces and nephews!” There’s palpable excitement in her voice now, matched by the way she almost vibrates as her imagination runs wild.

You, on the other hand, feel your cheeks going warm with embarrassment as you try to follow where her mind is running. It feels a little overwhelming if you’re being honest, but you just push those thoughts away.

The last thing you needed was to start fantasising about marriage when you’d only kissed the man once.

“Jisoo!” You scold.

“What? I don’t get to live this life of romance so let me have my dreams. I’d rather you marry him than anyone else. Your babies would be so cute.” She wriggles in her seat, hands clapping and you’re reminded once more how similar the siblings are.

“Jisoo,” Whining, you pout at her before rubbing at your temple. “Don’t marry us off before we’ve even talked after last night.”

“Fine, fine, spoilsport. Anyway, it’s your decision. Yours and his. But just know that I think you’d both be good together. Don’t push him away because you’re scared, he’s a good guy. Not saying that just because he’s my brother, either. If you decide no, then don’t be afraid of that either. I know him, he’ll be a gentleman and will accept it.” You know she’s right and it makes you feel a little better as you take a deep breath.

Nodding slowly, you give her a weak smile before wincing when your stomach gurgles almost painfully. A glance at the clock shows that it’s been a very, very long time since you last ate and your stomach is not happy with that. 

“I’ll think it through, I promise. I won’t make any rash decisions. For now, I need to just analyse my feelings and thoughts regarding him before thinking about anything else. But I’ll admit that I’m not opposed to the idea. As much as I’d like to continue this conversation though, I need to go get something to eat or my stomach might eat itself. I’ll talk to you again later, okay?” It’s only a few minutes later before you’re ending the spell on the mirror, watching as it turns into a reflective surface once more.

Placing it onto your bedside table carefully, you let yourself fall back onto the mound of pillows and simply stare up at the ceiling. 

Of all the decisions you’ve made in your life, this one seemed to be the most daunting. Yet just the thought of his bright smile makes your lips quirk automatically, causing you to let out a breathy laugh.

Yes, he’d be good for you.

[daily-dose-of-sweets]

Hello!! We have not interacted in while!! But I love you and I check your blog religiously!!<3 can I request some more lance sweets fluff? Or angst/fluff? Honestly whatever you’re willing to write I’ll be giddy to read. Ty! I love you so much!! I hope you’re doing well!!<3<3

@doctorsteeb

Hi!!! Just let me say I absolutely adore you and it makes me so happy to know someone likes my writing this much! I will totally try and write anything you request! I’ve got a few stories in the works for Sweets now, but here is a little late Christmas story for you! 

Christmas Greetings

Lance Sweets X Reader

Summary: After a year of being in a relationship with Sweets, you’re finally getting the chance to meet his family, or the people at the Jeffersonian in other words. Oh, and it’s at a Christmas party, for some holiday cheer this season.

Words: 2573

---

“Are you sure they’ll like me?” You ask nervously, fingers shifting against the porcelain crockpot in your hands.

Sweets slips an arm around your waist and gives your side a gentle squeeze, “Trust me, they’ll love you.”

You take a deep breath and nod. It doesn’t really ease the nerves buzzing in your chest, but at least he is right there beside you. You and Lance had been in a relationship for a full year now, and you had yet to meet his colleagues somehow. It already feels like you know them though, from all the stories he’s told you, especially his partner Booth, and his wife Doctor Brennan. You’ve wanted to meet them for so long (which lead to quite consistent pestering on your part) but now that you’re finally standing here, your stomach is tying itself in a knot.

Christmas dinner is a huge deal, after all, and so are first impressions. What if they don’t like you? You weren’t in the science profession, so what will you even talk about? Sometimes you struggle to even understand some of the things Lance talks about, so how are you going to talk to the country’s foremost anthropologist?!

“Stop worrying, everything will be okay.”

You jump when you feel Sweets press a soft kiss to your forehead. His touch lingers, sending a soothing warmth flooding through you, finally easing the tension in your shoulders. Your eyes flutter closed as you lean into him, head resting against his shoulder for just a moment. When the two of you draw away, you tilt your chin up and let a smile capture your lips.

“Okay, I’m ready!”

Sweets chuckles and raps his knuckles against the door. Moments later, it swings wide open, letting the glow from inside cascade over you.

“Sweets!” You’re greeted by a man that towers over you, making you slightly shy away, but Lance keeps a steady hand pressed against the small of your back. The man gives your partner a side hug, clapping him on the back before turning to you with a wide smile, “And you must be (Y/n)! We’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh really?” You glance over at Lance, who’s looking down with a bashful smile. His cheeks are glowing the softest rose color, which sends your heart thrumming. How can he be so cute?

“Is that Sweets and (Y/n)?” A woman comes rushing up behind the man. She offers you a sweet smile, just as vibrant as his.

Their excitement is so infectious, it fills you to the brim with a fresh energy, and now your own smile is wholly genuine. You weren’t expecting such a warm welcome! Why were you so worried about all of it, these people seem so wonderful.

“(Y/n), this is Booth, my partner at the FBI, and Doctor Brennan, the lead anthropologist at the Jeffersonian,” Sweets introduces you.

The woman, Doctor Brennan, is quick to shake your hand and say, “Please, call me Temperance, and come in. We are almost ready to eat, we have ham, and I also made a tofurkey.”

“Really?!” You gasp excitedly, darting in to follow her to the kitchen and leaving Sweets at the door, “I’ve been looking for a good seasonal tofu recipe for years! Could I possibly, maybe get it from you after dinner?”

You plop down your contribution to the meal and fall into an excited conversation with the scientist. You had no clue she was a vegetarian like you, and it’s not every day you get to talk to another! Sweets and Booth watch the two of you from the entrance, both sporting fond glints in their eyes.

“Thanks for inviting us, Booth,” Sweets hums as he shucks off his winter jacket, “(Y/n)’s been eager to meet the team, especially you and Doctor Brennan.”

The older man shrugs, though he has a pleased smile on his face, “Anytime Sweets! Bones will take any chance to make her ‘meat substitutes’. Remember how excited she got when you told her about it?”

Sweets nods, it is always memorable when Doctor Brennan shows such strong emotions, which wasn’t always often around him. He had even gotten the chance to help her plan the dinner, not that you knew about that. It filled him with warmth to watch you excitedly flutter around the kitchen, and to see how your eyes practically sparkled as you helped the anthropologist set up the dishes.

“You really love her, huh?”

A sigh escapes Sweets as he nods again, “I do. She’s amazing…”

Booth can’t help but feel a small swell of pride in his chest. He’d never admit it, but Sweets was like a little brother to him, and seeing the young psychologist so happy just put a cherry on top of the night he was having.

“Lance!” Sweets looks up at you, a wide grin spreading across his face when he sees you aggressively gesturing him over, all the while bouncing on the balls of your feet, “Come here! You have to check this out!!”

You know it must seem childish to some, but you can’t help but get thrilled over a good meal, especially when it’s vegetarian. You can’t wait for the day that you can make Christmas dinner for your family, spending the whole day cooking and then just being able to enjoy a nice night and some Christmas carols. Sweets would be right there beside you, and maybe a kid or two across the table. A boy and a girl…

“What is it?”

You jump, a fierce blush splashing across your cheeks when you whip around and come face to face with Lance. He’s standing so close, your noses are practically brushing. Your breath catches in your chest, and you spin back around, hoping he doesn’t notice just how red you’ve gotten. Stupid daydreaming, you totally forgot you called him over.

“Mrs. Temperance has this amazing recipe fo-” Your voice breaks when Sweets presses in close behind you, arms snaking around your waist. You clear your throat nervously, “-for um, for vegetarian casserole. She says it’s really good, so I was thinking I could, I could try making it sometimes!”

“That sounds wonderful,” Sweets hums, the words vibrating through his chest and against your back.

It feels like your entire face is on fire now, to the point where you feel like you need to call the fire department. There was more you were going to say, but it’s like all your thoughts have been put in a mixer and are now scattered throughout your mind.

“Stop torturing the poor girl, Sweets,” a smooth voice scolds from a few feet away.

You glance up to see a beautiful brunette with tanned skin, and right beside her stands a slightly shorter man with some of the curliest hair you’ve ever seen. You swat at Lance’s hands and twist away from his grip, embarrassment flaring deep in your chest. Nothing you could say would help the situation, so you just wave at them weakly.

“Angela, Hodgins, this is (Y/n),” Sweets says as he pulls you back to his side with a cheeky grin, “(Y/n), this is Angela Montenegro, our forensic artist. And this is Jack Hodgins, our entomologist.”

“And botanist, mineralogist, palynologist, chemist, among other things,” Hodgins continues with a casual shrug.

Angela elbows him in the ribs sharply, not letting her glittering expression fall for even a second. “Excuse my husband, he’s just really passionate about his work,” she chirps, “It’s really a pleasure to meet you. We’ve heard a lot about you from our dear Sweets here.”

“So I’ve heard,” you muse softly with a giggle, “It's nice to meet you too, by the way! Lance tells me you're also a traditional artist?”

You spend the night making conversation with all of Lance’s friends. You meet Cam and her partner, Arastoo, who are so lovely and gentle to you. You ask Arastoo all about his beliefs and how he came to work in forensics, and you even talk to Cam about her daughter. You also get to talk to some of the interns at the Jeffersonian. Each conversation just pulls you in, even if you don’t understand everything they’re saying. You’re literally talking to the leaders of forensic sciences, who wouldn’t take the chance to ask them all the questions and praise them for their work! Even through dinner, you share a quiet conversation with one intern, Finn, about his time before coming to Washington DC. Afterwards, you all take to lounging in the living room to enjoy some eggnog and story telling.

“So how did you and Sweets meet, huh?” Angela asks as she plops down next to you and Sweets on the couch.

The entire team falls quiet, all eyes immediately set intently on you. You shy back into Lance's embrace, which makes him chuckle and hold you tighter. Was your story really that interesting to all these people? Really?

“Do you want me to tell them?” Sweets asks you quietly, fingers brushing against the skin of your shoulder.

“Yeah, your memory’s better anyways.”

“He has to learn all that psychobabble somehow,” Booth jests from across the room, earning a disapproving look from his wife but some amused chuckles from the rest of the guests.

Sweets just rolls his eyes, easily brushing the jab off as he starts your story, “So, we actually met at a christmas party, just like this one. A mutual friend invited us and we started talking, and things just kind of...took off from there.”

You can’t help the snort of laughter that breaks from your lips when Lance trails off. He perks an eyebrow up, peering down at you in confusion, which only serves to send you into a bigger fit of giggles.

“What?” He asks, voice pitching up.

“Nothing, nothing,” you chortle, pressing a hand to your mouth to muffle your laughter, “You just left out a small tidbit. A pretty important tidbit.”

“Oh, did he?”

The room waits for you to calm down, but when you do, you just stare intently at Sweets with a raised eyebrow. Did he actually forget the beginning of the story? And right after you praised him for his memory! You wait for just a moment longer, the words perched on your tongue, waiting to see if he gets there on his own. It’s only when you see his eyes blow wide and his entire face flush red that you let the words tumble from your lips.

“What he failed to mention, is that we didn’t just meet and start talking. No, no.” Now it’s your turn to grin cheekily, “We met under the mistletoe, by chance, and you all know how the tradition goes. We started talking after that and found that we actually had a bit in common. It was about a month later that our mutual friend decided to share with me what actually happened that night.”

It begins to dawn on some people what you’re alluding to. You can hear some giggles ring out behind you from who you’re sure is Angela and the other women. Sweets is getting darker by the second, even his ears are tinged with that appealing rosy glow. This is totally payback for his teasing earlier.

“So, this is how the story actually goes, according to our friend,” you finally continue, “Apparently, I caught Lance’s eye when I got to the party. Back then though, he was a bit shier, and didn’t want to talk to me without a reason, sooo….he and our friend came up with a plan to have us meet under the mistletoe ‘accidentally’.” You break out some air quotes for the last word to stress just how silly the story is.

“Sweets, you dog,” Hodgins laughs.

“I never thought Sweets would come up with such a devious plan,” Temperance states amusedly.

“Alright, alright,” Sweets waves his hands in the air, looking thoroughly flustered much to your pleasure, “In my defense, she looked absolutely beautiful that night. Anyone would have been intimidated.”

Something warm and fuzzy fills your chest as you tuck yourself back into Lance’s side. To think, you almost didn’t go to that party last year. If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have met the most amazing person in your life.

“I can’t say I mind too much,” you chirp, eyes closing as you rest your head on his chest like a content cat, “I think I’m pretty lucky to be the one who caught his eye.”

“You guys are disgustingly adorable,” Angela giggles next to you.

Maybe you are. You had never felt such a deep sense of affection for anyone, that is, until you met Lance. Now that you know what it feels like, you can’t help but return it full force, with every ounce of your being. He’s just been so good to you and has lifted you up in dark times over the past year. You couldn’t ask for anyone better, because you’re absolutely sure such a person doesn’t exist.

The rest of the night is spent telling stories and sharing sentiments. You stay tucked in Lance’s side the entire time, just enjoying the jovial tone and the sound of his laughter. When midnight rolls around, the party begins to wind down, filled with yawns and mumbled goodbyes as people take their leave. You and Sweets are some of the last to go, with Seeley and Temperance trailing you to the door.

“Thank you so much, again, for inviting us,” you murmur as you give the older woman a tight hug.

“Of course! You are welcome here anytime, and if you ever need anything, do not be afraid to call.”

“Yah, we’re always here to help. Though I’m sure Sweets here would do about anything for you,” Booth chuckles as he pulls away from giving Lance a hug.

Sweets gives his head a little shake and takes up his place next to you, “Thanks you guys, we really appreciate it.”

“Don’t mention it.” Booth gives a little wave, “You two have a good night. Oh, and you might want to take a look up,” he chimes right before closing the door.

Your eyes dart straight up at that, landing on a small plant hanging from the doorway. Breathless laughter shakes your chest, pale clouds lifting from your lips in the cold night air. It’s mistletoe.

“Did you do this?” You look at Lance, who has one of the smuggest smiles that you’ve ever seen on him.

He gives you a shrug and draws you closer by a hand on your hip, “Maybe…”

You shake your head at his antics, but you can’t ignore the butterflies that swirl around in your chest. Even after a year, he still makes your heart race.

“Well then, don’t leave me hanging.”

Lance doesn’t hesitate to cup your face, tilting your chin up so he can capture your lips in a sweet kiss. For just a moment, you forget the cold, you forget how late it is and how tired you are. All you can feel is the warmth of his body next to yours, the thrumming of his heart under your palm. Even when the kiss comes to an end, the two of you stay close, foreheads barely touching.

“I love you, (Y/n),” he murmurs oh so softly, for only you to hear.

“I love you too, Lance. Merry Christmas.”

Again, I love you all so much, and I hope your Christmas was absolutely amazing! Send in a request and I’ll be sure to try and write it!

[lexpressobean]

Parent/Teacher Night: Ch 2, Remember When

In which Shino recalls some thens and compares them to the nows, and gets inspired to change some things with Kiba's encouragement.

*Modern AU, Swearing

**You can find this on AO3 now too, along with the first chapter. Let's gooooooooo!!!

•••

"He asked to trade numbers?" Kiba repeated, pausing all motion, chopsticks mid snatch for a gyoza.

"Yes. Is that... Weird?"

"Well, no."

Kiba reached over and chose his specimen, a plump piece just asking to be dipped. Shino continued eat his steamed rice. It was okay if Kiba wanted the last of the gyoza. Shino thought he might enjoy a serving of the restaurant's ice-cream after he finished his meat instead.

"But even I don't have Shikamaru's number. Least not his current one."

"You don't?"

"Nah," Kiba took in the gyoza whole and spoke as he chewed, "but ah neber bothered doo update it, I hab 'im on my socials anyway."

"Oh."

He swallowed, "But you didn't even have any kind of social media until later in college. You were late to the game!"

"I didn't see the point then..."

"And that's fine. He probably doesn't even know you have them now. But you know he's been pretty absent from social media too. Figures."

"According to Ino, he's been back in town since April."

"Well of course Ino would know, she's always been in everyone else's business. Especially Shikamaru's, and Choji's too!"

Shino silently made a face, distorting the corner of his mouth as if reluctant to agree, but Kiba barked out a laugh when he caught him.

"It's true though, isn't it!? You would know, Shino!"

Shino didn't plan to be seen, but oh well, "I think it's just her way of showing she cares. Those three are practically family, aren't they?"

Kiba sighed and rolled his eyes, "Listen, dude, just cause you 'dated' her for a couple of years back in college doesn't mean you have to be nice after the fact. It's okay! She has her manipulative bitchy side too. How else could she make it as a therapist."

"Psychiatrist."

"That."

Kiba emphasized the word "dated" in such a way that caused Shino to scowl. Geez, if Ino didn't insist on sharing pictures online...

"Don't invalidate my opinions just because you think they're biased, Kiba. Also, people grow from high school, don't be stuck in the past either."

"I'm not saying it's invalid, geez, but ever since you've always been soft on her..."

"Jealous?"

Kiba immediately threw a dirtied, crumpled up napkin at Shino's head as he blew raspberries in disbelief. Of course Shino dodged it.

"And that!" Kiba almost yelled, though he had a huge smile on his face, "You're sass meter has been off the charts since then!"

"I thought I was just asking a question," Shino simply replied, though he smiled too.

"Fucking jerk," he crossed his arms and closed his eyes, sighing dreamily, "Why would I be jealous when I'm with Tamaki now?"

Shino suppressed the urge to crinkle up his nose, "I remember back in high schoo-"

"THAT WAS HIGH SCHOOL!!" Kiba interrupted, not upset but voice almost breaking in both embarrassment and amusement simultaneously, "Now who's the one stuck in the past!"

"Well anyway, I was just curious if you had heard from him recently, because this was the first time I had seen him since he was an undergrad. That was a while ago."

"Same here, bud. But then here's a thought, if he's just working these days, and he's giving out his number to old friends, maybe we should all get together sometime! So why don't you also friend him on socials while you're at it?"

Shino paused and considered the suggestion.

Shino could do that. Actually, Shino could have done so a long time ago if he had wanted to. But for all the times he had seen Shikamaru's obvious username and cloud icon, he never sent friend request himself. He created his socials for the sole purpose of studygroup based messaging and had planned to delete his social media after school ended for good. But two months in and Kiba somehow found him, and then shortly after Hinata did too. Then Naruto also found Shino and from there he actually aquired a few more friend requests, including from Lee and Sai. Even Ino sent him a friend request, though Ino and Shino had actually attended the same University in the beginning. And then she called him out on it the next time she saw him in person, because how could Shino friend nearly all their mutuals and NOT Ino? He even friended Sakura before Ino! Though, Shino had a suspicion Sakura's request may had been a result of clumsy typing. Shino definately hadn't meant anything by it, but that started a series of... interesting talks between the two. But all and all, Shino suspected that's why he saw Shikamaru's icon so often, among others he didn't quite recognize himself.

Of course Shino knew he didn't have to accept the requests at all. He could've delete them even. But... it didn't seem right to ignore them either. And maybe it felt... kinda nice being reached out to...

"I mean, shit, maybe I should shoot him a message too..." Kiba mused.

"... I was under the impression it was for Mirai's sake."

Kiba perked up, "Huh?"

"That's because a cellphone number is a personal and direct line. If Mirai is currently under my care as a student, wouldn't it make sense to have multiple contacts in case of an emergency?"

Kiba sighed. Typical Shino, "Did Shikamaru say it was strictly for emergencies only?"

"... No."

"So, Dude, maybe... just maybe, Shikamaru simply isn't aware that you have socials? I know I know... social media is meant to be for socializing, but so are direct lines! Why does a direct line have to be so off limits? You're not a stranger to Shikamaru either, Shino. I mean, if anything, he probably trusts you a lot, knowing the kind of person you've ways been. It's a personal line after all, right?"

Not a stranger, but definitely not the person closest the Shikamaru either... It didn't quite make sense beyond Mirai's safety... but, maybe that was Shino's own opinion...

"... I'm over thinking it again."

"Yup."

"... Maybe I will. I'm already friends with Ino and Choji..."

"Yeah! Just complete the trio! Here let's see..." Kiba took out his phone and started to review something, "... I think the only people you're not friends with besides Shikamaru are... Sasuke, who simply deleted everything at one point, Neji, but he really only followed me because of Hinata," Kiba added wearily, "aaand a lot of... other people... but, like, you're better off that way. I have a lot of those assholes blocked or didn't bother. Even Sasuke had been more better of an option than them!"

"Like who?"

"Like I had to block Shikamaru's psycho ex-girlfriend Tayuya. Fucking nightmare that girl was..."

"Ah... the flute player," Shino wasn't all that to date back in the day either, but even he knew about Tayuya...

"Sure that was YEARS ago, and maybe she's different now? But she was... not okay then. To be fair, Shikamaru wasn't blameless, but cripes... After the break-up she was constantly stalking him online... I've just kept her blocked for good measure, I don't know if she's still even there."

Another reason Shino didn't want social media at the time... It made it too easy to let people in. In all honesty the idea had felt overwhelming, and sometimes still does...

"So you're good there."

"Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji..."

"... Anyone else?"

"... I think those are the last few people from back then I'd actually tolerate. Shikamaru had been your friend, and Sasuke... wasn't always so aloof before he disappeared... And then Neji is Hinata's cousin..."

"Ha! Perfect! So then why not friend Neji too, just for the hell of it? You two had some kind of bro pact, I do remember that."

"He just worried about Hinata, Kiba. Between you and Naruto, I could see why."

"Sue me Shino, it's not my fault the school was full of cute girls!" Kiba nearly whined, but with a ridiculously dopey smile on his face.

It made Shino think. Shikamaru was one of the only people he more regularly saw who didn't reach out to him. But of course Shikamaru had a problem with a stalker at one point. That would make anyone weary of social media. Kiba had even stated he wasn't on much. Shino couldn't fault him for that.

Sasuke apparently deleted his, but it wasn't like they were the closet to begin with, despite humble beginnings. Shino had his fair share of complaints when it came to Sasuke, but when he transferred to a different school before senior year started, even Shino felt his absence.

And recalling high school, Neji did once ask for Shino's socials before. But it was obviously for the same reason of wanting to keep extra tabs on his little cousin and her "new friends" in Environmental Club. Shino had already explained he didn't have any, and he wasn't sure Neji believed him, but had agreed to be very careful with Hinata, who had started to hang out with he and Kiba more after they returned her book she had left in the club classroom. Shino kept it as Kiba was terribly tempted to take a peek, but once it had been returned, and Kiba expressed his curiosity, Hinata shyly presented them with page after page of pressed flowers, all marked with name, date, and little tidbits of info. She became even more bashful at Kiba's amazement and Shino's praise. It was just very well organized and aesthetically pleasing, something she and Ino would bond over later into their friendships.

So then, it was very surprising to know that such a timid girl had an incredible amount of skill in Martial Arts, but had opted to join Environment Club instead of Martial Arts Club. It was less of a shock to find out she and the school's Number One MAC member were related, first cousins even. They had a strong resemblance to each other.

As for Shino and Neji, their mutual fondness for Hinata became a source of camaraderie at some point. Despite expectations and Neji's sterness, all he really wanted was for Hinata to simply have fun during school, and he very much appreciated Shino looking out for her. So Kiba wasn't wrong. And in current time, Hinata had ultimately decided she was gonna live out of town due to... many reasons, but mainly because of her job as a pastry chef in a very successful and family owned cafe and bakery. Of course cinnamon rolls were her specialty, but Shino's feed always had some of the most delightful pictures of various decorated confections, most made by her too. He wasn't the biggest fan of sweets in general, but he was very fond of her handy work. You could tell she loved her job with every detail.

"Crap! Hey Shino, did you wanna order anything to go?"

"Uh, no. I think that was enough."

"Alright cause it's about time I go meet Tamaki," Kiba grinned, "Here's my part!"

Kiba slammed a twenty dollar bill down onto the table and hurriedly put his jacket back on. When Shino looked at the time it was nearly half past six. Oh, the reservation was made for seven. Maybe he talked too much.

"We might've pushed it, Kiba."

"No way, it's fine! I mean I don't mind going if that's where she wants to go, but you know how fancy places are! I need food Shino, actual food!"

Shino was glad that his friend was putting in so much effort for this girl. It seemed like he really liked her, and she was pretty cute, and also... nice. But when it came to things like this, Shino wasn't sure how long this was really gonna last. But it probably wasn't his place to comment.

"Make sure Akamaru takes his medicine, he'll definitely down it if you give him the peanut butter too."

"Sure, no problem."

"Also, Shino."

"Yes?"

"Seriously, don't be so shy! Just friend them!"

"Stop dawdling, you're gonna be late."

Kiba laughed as he waved and nearly jogged out of the restaurant. After paying and boxing the rest of Kibas plate for later (Shino was sure his idiot friend was gonna be hungry again) Shino headed out to Kiba's apartment. He already had a key, ever since he had come back to town. They had always been close like that, though with these new developments Shino always made it a point to give Kiba space and a heads up.

Akamaru was getting old. This medicine was supposed to help him in his old age, and just as Kiba said, Akamaru took the medication with no problem. Shino also made sure that the bowls were full of water and food. Because there was now also Akemaru, a younger dog of the same breed that Kiba had come across one day at the shelter. After only a few weeks and no adoptions, Kiba couldn't resist and ended up adopting him, and he and Akamaru became very close. As a favor to their otherwise absent owner, Shino got the younger and more energetic dog ready for a walk. When Shino offered to take Akamaru, the old boy wagged his tail and came to lick Shino's hand, but then retreated back to his bed and laid down. Looks like that was gonna be a pass, but he was thankful for the offer.

...

Shit.

Okay. Okay, that was it. Actually, this was perfect. Before Shino really started the walk, he pulled out his phone. He scrolled through he recommended friends list of his most commonly used social and easily found the cloud icon that belonged to Shikamaru. It was the same app he even had people like Kurenai and his father on. Just being able to keep anyone of relevance to his social circles on the same app was fine. It kept them close, but not too close either. Available, but at a distance. The only other people who had Shino's personal line were Kiba, Hinata, Kurenai, his father Shibi, Torune and Neji.

Shino hadn't mentioned that to Kiba, but in reality, they hadn't kept much contact anyway. So Shino hoped Kiba didn't snoop his friends list later, but he decidedly sent Shikamaru a friend request and put his phone away into a pocket. Then after switching out his glasses, as to see better in the evening, he left the apartment and began his walk with Akemaru. This would definitely keep him from getting too anxious about it. Shino didn't really know why he was like this, but it was done and now it was up the Shikamaru if he really wanted to catch up. Not that there was a whole lot to catch up on. He was more Kiba's friend after all, always had been, but Shino was sure Kiba didn't really think about that kind if thing too deeply.

Thankfully there was a park a couple blocks down, which even in the evening looked easy to navigate. The air was fresh and chilly, but tolerable with his coat on. Akemaru was good on a leash, and so Shino was able to keep a steady but not rushed pace. He followed a predetermined path, one Shino was actually familiar with too and so he was able to relax as his body went into coast mode.

...

It was nice. Just focusing on the walk. But Shino couldn't help thinking back to his high school days too. Seeing Shikamaru hadn't really been a shock so much as a surprise. He definitely... grew. His voice was deeper. His hair seemed more or less the same length, but maybe looked longer as now he styled it differently. Instead of the low and rather disheveled ponytail he used to wear, he now kept it only half up it looked like. Shino didn't think it looked bad at all, but with some loose strands in his face and the more casual clothes he had been wearing, Shino really wondered if Shikamaru wasn't more or less dragged last minute to PTN. But maybe he was thinking of the Shikamaru from before. Because this Shikamaru was actually... really approachable. And very kind with his words. Maybe that's what growing up some did to people.

Because the one from before was always annoyed, and grumpy, and quiet unless spoken to, yet Naruto and his shenanigans always put a mischievous smirk on his face. Shino had found him a little intimidating. But it wasn't until Kiba and Naruto decided to drag Shino AND Hinata out to a lunchtime hangout and pretty much threw them into the mix of different friends they shared that Shino met Shikamaru, as well as most everyone else. Shino had recognized Ino, and Ino did too after he mentioned Torune, seeing as Torune and Foo both graduated the year before.

"Torune? Like, short black hair, really thick glasses?"

"He has green eyes too."

"Hey, yeah! You're my cousin's boyfriend's cousin! What a small world!"

It was pretty lame introduction.

"And... you're Ino, right?"

"Wow, Ino, he remembered you!" a pink haired girl chastised.

"Oh, shut up, Forehead, it's not like we ever really hung out before. I think we met, like, once at one of Foo's birthdays?"

"That's true," Shino agreed, "I just went for the drive to drop off his present since that day he couldn't stay. You're mom insisted on giving us goodie bags anyway before we left."

"Ugh, good, our parents always go over the top with the decorations and stuff, believe me!"

"Ino, you are over the top."

"Shikamaru, no one was talking to you!"

"Wait, wait wait, your cousin Foo has a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, what of it," Ino immediately scowled at Kiba.

It made Kiba shut up immediately, but then he turned to Shino and whispered, "Hey, is your cousin gay?"

Shino shrugged, "I didn't ask, but it's none of my business." He was. Shino had known but Torune never outright told him they were officially dating. So as far as he was concerned it was a mystery.

"What about you, Hinata, I don't think we've met before. I'm Sakura."

"Um, hello-"

"Actually! We're in Home Ec together!" another boy munching on chips said, "She made the best cinnamon rolls in class the other day!"

Hinata blushed, "Ah, thank-you, Choji..."

"Cinnoman rolls!? I saw that that roll! Hinata, that was yours!?" Naruto asked, super impressed.

She only blushed even harder, "It might've been...!?"

"It was!" Choji confirmed.

"Naruto stop crowding already!" Sakura scolded, poking him against the side of his forehead, "You can be so loud!"

"Augh, alright, Sakura stop!"

It had actually been a relatively friction free integration. Hinata and the girls got along faster than he would've guessed, and later Shino and Sasuke would meet again, with Naruto giving Shino a suspicious stink-eye.

"We've been in the same classes since elementary school," Shino commented, "You have to really go out of your way to ignore someone for that long..."

"Hn..." As friendly as always...

...

From then on, Kiba always insisted on Shino and Hinata joining them at lunch, which Shino did. But Shino couldn't quite fathom the idea of sacrificing his after school time to go to out and do... well, who even knew? Back then, he had a routine, he had things to tend to back home. His terrariums that his father put him in charge of, his guitar practice because he wasn't about to let those lessons go to waste, his study time, and planning for EC activities as he was a more involved member, he was already a busy guy. At least that's what he used to think. But he would be a sad ass liar if he didn't appreciate the invitations. Towards the end he broke a few time at his father's insistence. He was mentally drained each time, but he did have fun, and Kiba always seemed excited to recall the events with Shino after.

Once he had attended collage, Shino really wished he would have taken more time to simply enjoy a more decent social life with the people he called friends at school outside of school. Was he too shy? Was he too selective? Was he socially inept? It didn't matter now. It wasn't until Shino's very first job that he felt like he got to a level he wished he could've reached sooner. Being a cashier at a fast food chain really taught you how to handle and tolerate people, and definitely brought Shino out if his shell more than he would've ever thought. College in general did a lot for him in that respect.

... Kiba was right. If old friends were reaching out, why couldn't Shino do the same?

Well, apparently the universe was glad he agreed, because the second he did, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Shino stopped in place and Akemaru whined. When he checked his phone, he saw not only a "Request Accepted" message but also a simple text message as well, also from Shikamaru.

-----

Hey, can you talk? Call me if you can.

-----

Oh what the fuck.

Shino felt his nerves stand at attention with the prospect of a sudden conversation. What... What did Shikamaru even want right now? Did he really want to talk now?

... No. No, dammit, no! Not this time. Shino took a deep breath and continued to walk, much to Akemaru's delight. And as he got a steady rhythm, Shino highlighted Shikamaru's number and pressed "Call".

It was settled. If he was gonna start making up for lost time, it was now or never, awkward interactions be damned!

[ficsforeren]

I’m sure you’ve heard this a hundred times already but chapter 4 was so bittersweet and you’re so talented. Your writing is amazing. I love reading all the little tidbits of what Eren is thinking and how strong he feels about you. And the way you set up the mutual pining. Just pure perfection.

Oh my god it just pisses me off how so many things could be resolved with communication! But it’s like that in real life too and my poor baby Eren has just been royally fucked over so many times that being vulnerable is just so terrifying of an option.

Ok just a few questions… to start off, where’s Armin? Are we going to see him later on? Is this where the chapter later on jealous sex comes in?

Also, it’s so cute how you included Moblit. He is so underappreciated. Sigh, I miss that bitch. We all need a friend like Moblit that reminds us to be careful and not do stupid shit. I mean, I guess after putting it like that… he’s basically the mom friend???

Two, girl the way you included Carla in this. It’s interesting to see a fic where Carla actually abandon Eren in a modern au! Fic. Is she still alive? Will we see her later on as part of Eren’s journey to learning how to express himself more freely and learning how to stop putting up walls?

Three, I FUCKING SAW ZEKE FRITZ IN THERE. Oh my god, does Grisha even know he has another son? Is that why Carla left? Because she found out that her husband had another family? Will we get a happy, non-toxic reunion between these two brothers? Who is Zeke married to? 🤭👀👀

Four, not really a question but Jean and Reiner even if they weren’t mentioned in this character. Oh Jean, you always break my heart you handsome, floozy son of a bitch. You too Reiner. Just in a different way. Such a good son wanting to make his mom proud and take care of her.

Five, my god Levi why haven’t you ever forced all three members of Empire into therapy? Low key feel like that would be a super funny crack chapter. Like Jean or something flirts with the reader and Eren gets PISSED to the point where he kicks the mf shit out of Jean. And the agency is like “ok anger management counseling time.”

Therapist: “can you tell me why you’re all here today.

Reiner: this isn’t fair! I didn’t do jackshit

Jean: you didn’t step in at all when eren was kicking the crap out of me

Reiner: it wouldn’t have helped you if Eren started beating the shit out of me too.

Eren to therapist: I’m here because of these two. if I wasn’t surrounded by idiots, you would be enjoying your afternoon.

Sorry for the rambling. I’m really loving your Last Song Series. Thanks for sharing your talent with us!!💕

OKAY FIRST OF ALL lemme just tell you how GIDDY I am to receive such long message from you. i don't know who you are or where you're from but

second, and I think I speak for all the writers here when I say that it doesn't matter if I have received similar messages in the past that complimented my writings because BRO???? THIS IS WHAT KEEPS ME GOING!!! I love writing fics, but every time I have to put my stuff on my blog I get so worried like I have to re-check my stuff at least three times (so that's like reading 45k every week lol). even when I'm about to publish my story, I will always go to @justasketch so she can wish me good luck cause that's just how worried I am. So whenever I get this kind of message, these positive feedbacks from you all, it gets me so pumped up and I can write like 10k in one sitting no kidding. and also, please don't apologize for rambling or sending me long messages I LOVE IT AND I LOVE YOU FOR SENDING THIS TO ME BLESS YOU AND YOUR BEAUTIFUL SOUL GODDAMN I'M IN LOVE

okay to answer your questions (jfc how cute can you be, i can feel your enthusiasm for my fic and i'm crying thank you so much for loving my story 😭😭😭)

Armin will show up in chapter 8 or 9 (I haven't finished writing chapter 5 yet but I've made a draft so he'll probably appear around that chapter). Mikasa will appear in the same chapter too, I think, and that's near the end because these two are going to start so many conflicts in eren and y/n's relationship lol. as for the jealous sex? hmmm, maybe 😏

dude I LOVE moblit. i think he's so adorable like we all need a friend like moblit honestly. he's one of y/n's co-workers and he likes her a lot but he's too shy to approach her. he's precious.

carla is still alive but... well, you'll see later in the story. just a heads up though, i love her, i think she's beautiful and she's so pure but in this fic, she's a terrible, terrible mother figure. And it's sad because eren loves her so much. she'll appear in the story when eren opens up about his past.

zeke is not related to eren or grisha, that's why i'm using Fritz as his last name. he's just a random person I use to be Pieck's love interest lol. he's not gonna have anything to do with the story, unfortunately.

there will be a few fun scenes with jean and reiner in chapter 5 and 6, i'm having so much fun writing their banters

DUDE THESE BOYS REALLY NEED THERAPY I SWEAR BUT HAHAHAHHAHAHA OMG I'M LAUGHING AT THE SCENARIO YOU PUT THERE I LOVE EREN'S LINE i think jean tries to avoid getting into fight with eren 'cause he got pretty scared when eren threatened him back then in chapter 3. also if he pisses him off so much and Eren decides to leave the band, he's gonna be so fucking screwed.

i'm surprised that you didn't mention anything about pieck or porco but you noticed zeke and moblit haha cute

[aelia-likes-monsters]

“Praise” - Lizardman Boyfriend

This was one of the "Kinktober" prompts that I intended to have done last month, but which didn't get finished in time. Patreon backers got to see it a week early, though as of 2021 my Patreon is closed. ♥

Characters: Male Lizardman, Female Reader Content: NSFW/Grapefruit(?), Femdom, Gentle Domination, Masturbation, Praise Kink Wordcount: ~2300

You’re new to the restaurant. Not new to the industry; you’ve been doing this in some form for close to a decade now, and you’ve earned your title as Manager honestly. When you’d butted heads with the Chef at Grassland one too many times, you’d decided to see who else was hiring. It had taken all of your self control to quit ‘properly’ by training your replacement, but you’d done it.

Now you were here at Moss Landing, one of the top new restaurants, working with the hottest new Chef, Rixli Greentail. He’s young, handsome, and skilled as hell. He runs his kitchen with a tight fist; he’s precise, and demanding, but he’s never an ass, unlike many of the chefs you’ve worked around.

After a particularly rough night with too many things going wrong, you duck into the kitchen to thank them for their hard work. They’d kept up with the flow, and it was thanks to them that things hadn’t been much worse.

“Is Chef around?” you ask one of the linecooks.

She gestures to the office with a nod of her head.

“Thanks.” You say. You head back there, and find Rixli taking a breather and plotting the next day’s menu. There’s a moment where you’re able to study him, the way his scaly green skin contrasts with his white chef’s coat. The vibrancy of his golden eyes. The shape of his jaw and the line of his brows. He’s a handsome lizardman indeed, and you know you could stare at him all day. But you shouldn’t.

You tap on the door jamb.

“Come in,” he grunts, not even glancing up to see who it is.

“Hey,” you say, and he glances up in surprise. There’s a flicker of something in his eyes as he takes in your appearance. You’re dressed in a slightly more upscale version of the all-black outfit your servers wear. A black dress that clings in the right places and flatters, cute boots, and a bit of jewelry. You’re pretty sure he likes the look. You file that knowledge away for later. “I just wanted to say that the kitchen did great tonight, and I hoped you could pass that along. You’re great at this.”

He shivers slightly. You file that knowledge away for later, too. You’re learning a lot about Rixli tonight, it seems.

“Thank you.” He says. He smiles, showing sharp teeth. “You’ve done a lot of good with the waitstaff. They’re better than they were.”

He gestures to the other chair, across the desk from him, and grabs the bottle of wine he’s already opened for himself.

“Join me?”

You think about it for a moment. Rationally, you know you should say no. There’s a lot of reasons that workplace relationships are considered a bad idea.

You sit down.

He passes you a glass of the red wine he’s drinking. You savor it carefully, and the two of you chat about how things are going with the restaurant. The conversation is light, and dances carefully around the attraction you’re increasingly sure you both feel. It’s in the way he glances at you, and the way he shivers when you compliment him. You’re not going to press the issue unless you’re certain he’s willing to take the step with you, but you enjoy knowing he thinks you’re attractive.

“It’s been a pleasure,” you say, placing your empty wine glass on the desk, some time later. “But I don’t want to keep you all night.”

“I’ve enjoyed our talk,” he says, and you notice the way his gaze seems to catch at the hem of your skirt. Another interesting tidbit for later. He drags his eyes up to meet yours, and he smiles, unashamed. You know he’s as aware of the mutual attraction as you are. “Have a good night.”

You think for a moment about asking him to walk you home, about all the things you could get up to. But whatever this is simmering between you is too new for that, you think. So you head out without saying anything more. Though when you glance over your shoulder, you catch him watching you go.

It goes on like that for a few weeks.

You tease him at work. A smile here or there, a carefully worded compliment that makes him shiver, a dozen small flirtations. There are more late nights when you sit in the office and drink wine and talk about everything except what’s growing between you.

Finally, you ask him to walk you home.

Rixli is a perfect gentleman, keeping his hands to himself as the two of you traverse the quiet streets between the restaurant and your apartment. He hesitates at the front stoop, and looks at you for a long moment before he speaks.

“Are you sure?” He asks.

“Are you?” You reply. You step closer to him, so he can hear you, but nobody passing on the street can pick up your words. “There are a lot of things I like about you, Rixli. I see the way you look at me, and the way you respond when I tell you how good you’ve done.” He shivers, as if on cue. “I think you and I are very compatible, but I only want you to follow me upstairs if you’re sure this is something you want.”

“If either of us changes our mind?” He’s still uncertain, and you’re not sure why.

“Then we stop.”

It’s simple enough, but sometimes these things have to be put into words. He nods, and you see him relax by increments. You wonder who made him this nervous, and you want to get your hands on them and shake them.

“Do you still want to come up?” You ask, taking a step back toward your door. “It’s okay to say no.”

He thinks for a moment, and you’re glad that he does.

“Yeah.”

You wrap your fingers around his, and lead him into your home. It’s a bit messy, a bit small, but it’s comfortable. Your furniture is a bit worn, but it’s comfortable. You guide him to the couch, and settle onto a nearby chair.

“Would you like something to drink? I’ve got wine, beer, or tea?”

“No, thank you.” He watches you carefully.

“Let me know if that changes.” You say. You lean back in your chair. “You may have figured out that I’m a domme?”

“I noticed,” he says with a wry smile that twists his lips in a way you like. “You’ve figured me out too, I think.”

“I suspect there’s more to you than what I’ve seen so far.” You say. “But we can explore that together. As un-sexy as it can be, I want to spend a little time talking about boundaries and expectations first.”

He nods, and seems to relax.

The two of you talk for a while, and as he seems more comfortable with it, and the ‘business’ part of your conversation winds to a close, you move to sit beside him. He lets you, shifting so you can settle in against him. You reach up and cup his cheek, turning him to face you, and kiss him carefully. He sighs, and seems to melt into it.

“Rixli,” you say, pulling back. “What’s the safeword?”

“Mutton,” he murmurs. “Or Red.”

“And if you want me to slow down?” You ask.

“Yellow.” He answers. He opens his eyes and looks at you. He’s a little dazed already, but he’s still focused enough that you know he’s okay.

“And if I ask how you’re doing, and you’re good?”

“Green.”

“Perfect.” You lean in close to his ear-holes. “You’re such a good boy.”

He shivers. You slide your hands gently over his torso, feel the ridges of his abdomen, the way the fabric of his shirt catches on his scales when you drag it up. He’s holding still, letting you do what you want, and you can feel the tension in his body.

“Rixli, take off your shirt.”

It’s thin cotton, just a basic undershirt, something he changes into for his trips to and from the restaurant. It’s the work of a moment for him to pull it off over his head, and toss it aside.

“Good boy.” You say. He shivers again. It’s such a lovely reaction.

You shift so you’re straddling him, and lean in to kiss him again. He whimpers into your mouth when you do, but he keeps his hands to himself. You kiss your way along his jaw, and down his neck, where his scales are the softest. There you nip a bit, and you can tell by the hitch in his breathing and the tiny moans that he’s enjoying it.

“You’re doing so good,” you say. “Holding still and let me enjoy you.”

“Thank you,” he answers.

“What do you want?” You ask, before going back to nibbling your way down his shoulder. He’s well-built, and the muscles here are defined. You quite like the shape of him, and the way he responds every time your teeth scrape against his scales is delightful. He’s panting hard, and you can feel his erection tenting his pants and pressing against your core.

“Whatever you want to do.”

“Tsk.” You sit back, and roll your hips so there’s friction between your bodies. He clenches his fists. “That’s not what I asked. What do you want?”

“You” he replies. “I want you to touch me.”

You smile, and reward him with another kiss. You drag your fingernails along his scalp, something he’s told you he enjoys, and you’re rewarded with a moan. Your tongue tangles with his, and you feel one of his arms come around you.

Seems you’ve found the limit of his self control. You smile to yourself.

“What a naughty boy,” you say. He looks ashamed. “I’ll let you make it up to me.”

You roll your hips against him, and are gratified to feel that he’s still rock-hard in his pants. You imagine he’s getting desperate for release.

“If you’d been good, I would have touched you,” you tell him, sliding off his lap. “But since you touched me first, I think I need you to show me how you touch you instead.”

“I can do that.” If he’s disappointed, he hides it well, though you’re confident in this “punishment” so to speak. It’s light enough for a first session, but since he’s not getting what he asked for, it will work.

He keeps his eyes on your face as he unzips his pants and slides them down his hips, releasing a rather impressive erection. It juts out from a slit, and you can see from the way it glistens that it’s already lubricating itself. The shaft is lightly ridged, and shifts from almost white near his body to a pinkish color closer to the tip. The head is somewhat bulbous, and a much deeper red.

“Mmm.” You look him over, letting your gaze drift slowly. “You’re so gorgeous.”

He shivers, and reaches for himself. You watch as his big hand wraps around his cock, the way his hand moves slowly at first, then faster. His breath comes in short pants, and he can’t stop the small gasps and groans of pleasure from escaping his lips.

“Very good,” you purr.

He groans, and his hand speeds up. He changes his angle a bit, his hand focusing more on the tip as he pumps himself.

“Stop.” You say, when you can tell he’s getting close.

He does, though you can tell it takes every ounce of control he has.

“Very well done,” you say.

He whimpers, and you smile. You lean in, kiss him gently, and lightly brush your fingers over the tip of his cock. He makes another desperate noise.

“Do you want something?” You ask.

“Let me come, please.” He says.

“Will you remember to do what I ask next time?”

“Yes.” He licks his lips, and you love the sight of his tongue flicking out like that. At some point you’ll need to put him to work eating you out. “I’ll do my best.”

“Gods but you’re gorgeous when you’re desperate,” you say. His eyes fall closed, and you see him fighting for control. “Yes, I want to see you come for me.”

“Thank you,” he breathes, and then his hand is moving again, furiously fast.

“Does that feel good?” You ask. He nods.

“So good.” He pants.

You lean in close, press your breasts against his arm, and nibble on his neck. He groans.

“You like that?” You ask.

“Yes,” His voice is barely more than a groan.

“Good.” You say. You lick where you’ve been teasing him with your teeth. “You’re doing so well. Keep going. Come for me.”

On cue, you feel his muscles tighten further and he grunts as he climaxes. He spills all over his belly, making a small mess that you’ll help him clean in a moment.

He sags. You kiss his temple gently, and lean in close.

“That was perfect.” You say, before giving him another kiss. He sighs into your mouth.

“Thank you,” Rixli says, when he’s finally gathered himself enough to speak.

“I enjoyed that quite a bit,” You say, giving him more careful kisses. “You’re a delight.”

You feel him leaning into you, and you know he’s basking in your praise. He’s in-charge, and so precise and demanding at work, but you like that he’s letting you see another side of him here. There’s more to do tonight. You need to help him clean up, maybe get a meal or snack into him, and make sure he’s in a good place before you send him home.

Rixli wraps his arms around you and pulls you close, snuggling up to you. You melt into his embrace. You hope once he’s gone home and had time to think about this, he’s still interested in more. He’s gorgeous, and sweet, and you’d like to do so much more with him.

There’s time to think about all that later.

For now, you enjoy Rixli’s company. Tomorrow can wait.

You can find all my writing on my Masterlist. Love what I do? Tip me with a Ko-Fi. I also truly appreciate reblogs, likes, and comments. They keep me going. ♥

Thank you to @doomfisthero​ for sending in the original “kinktober” prompt that inspired this piece. 

[haberdashing]

A Bundle Of Questions (5/?)

Crowley suddenly loses his memory, which would be trouble enough if what he’d forgotten hadn’t happened to include a number of very pertinent tidbits about his current lifestyle and state of existence.

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5

on AO3

“But then, I suppose this isn’t the first time you’ve comforted me, is it?”

Aziraphale hesitated to reply for a moment. It was true, certainly, but given the circumstances, it was also something of a non-sequitur.

“What makes you say that?”

Raphael’s shoulders straightened a little, his posture improving ever so slightly. “I mean, it’s obvious, really. Clearly, we’ve been fraternizing.”

Aziraphale might have objected to the way that Raphael said fraternizing if he didn’t know well enough that less than two centuries ago he himself had bandied the word about like an obscenity, despite having significantly more context regarding his and Crowley’s situation than Raphael did right now, and frankly Aziraphale’s tone had probably been the harsher of the two.

The angel felt his face heat up as he considered what to say in response. He certainly wasn’t going to deny it, of course, but how much could he admit to, how much was he willing to say out loud, how much “fraternizing” had Raphael surmised the two had committed by analyzing Aziraphale’s words and body language alone-

“Yeah, that’s about how I thought you’d react.” Was that a hint of humor in Raphael’s tone of voice?

“I- what do you mean by fraternizing?”

“Funny you should ask, since really I should be the one asking you. I don’t know, of course--I don’t remember. But if you’re telling the truth, and we’re both not exactly in the good graces of our respective head offices--and we’re living together, to boot? Some kind of fraternizing between the two of us is the only thing that makes sense.”

Aziraphale let out a long sigh before admitting, “Well, you’re not wrong.”

“’Course not.” Raphael’s tone wasn’t quite as self-confident as his words suggested, though the front he was putting up probably would’ve fooled most people; Aziraphale, on the other hand, after over six thousand years of dealing with Crowley, liked to think he knew the demon a little better than most, at least. “Now, would you care to elaborate on that a bit?”

“Well...” Where to start? The Garden of Eden? The Apocalypse that wasn’t? The literal thousands of years in between the two, in which Aziraphale and Crowley had gotten to know and... appreciate one another better, bit by bit? Their relationship, their... fraternizing... “It’s kind of a long story.”

Raphael nodded and raised an eyebrow and, while staying silent, managed to convey that Aziraphale hadn’t wriggled out of giving a fuller explanation quite that easily.

“I mean, it, it’s literally as long as a story can be, or one that takes place on Earth, at any rate, given that we met just outside the Garden of Eden-”

“It started that early, huh?” Raphael let out a little snort of amusement. “Good to know. And that means- that’s not long after the War, at that point, and we’re an angel and a demon chatting each other up already?”

Aziraphale considered protesting that the two of them hadn’t been “chatting each other up,” that it hadn’t been a mutual thing, that Crowley had chatted him up and he had just made a few token responses in return, because really, what was he going to do, ignore the demon’s words entirely? But Aziraphale was willing to recognize that if he was to have that argument at all, it had better be with a Crowley who actually remembered the events in question, and therefore would have some chance of both comprehending the argument being presented and being able to rebut it with his own perspective on how it had all gone down.

Still, as Aziraphale deliberately averted his gaze, looking back at the bathtub and the handful of ants that had unexpectedly decided to make it their home, he couldn’t help but mutter, “Well, you started it.”

“Oh? Did I tempt you into it?”

Raphael laughed a little at his own joke, but Aziraphale couldn’t help but wonder--was that all it was, at first? Trying to tempt an angel into conversing with a demon, into seeing Hell’s side of things?

But no, that didn’t seem right. Even back then, even in the very first of their many, many conversations over the years, Crowley had seemed interested in Aziraphale not as just another angel but as, well, himself, curious about what he had to say for himself, how he saw the world before him.

Had Crowley been... interested in Aziraphale in the way they were only just beginning to understand and accept, way back then?

(That was a question that Raphael definitely couldn’t answer for him, another discussion that would have to wait for a more able fellow participant.)

“But really, that was an awfully big move to make, especially way back then, when we’d just stopped being at each others’ throats... I mean, metaphorically, you know, during the War and all-”

Aziraphale nodded in perhaps an overly energetic gesture. He knew, he remembered those years well enough even now, all the lives lost in a battle that ultimately changed little, and he would very much like to stop remembering them and change the subject as soon as possible.

Though as it turned out, Raphael didn’t need prompting to move on to a different subject entirely.

“So why? Why did we speak to each other? Why you and me, specifically, speaking to one another? I mean, you’re cute and all-”

Aziraphale’s heart fluttered when he heard that, and while he wasn’t sure if he was going to tease Crowley about those words, exactly, when all this was said and done, they were definitely going into the “to be remembered” pile just the same.

“-but that’s not really enough to go and betray all the forces of Hell for, now, is it? So why you? What makes you so special?”

Aziraphale gulped, and while he could feel Raphael’s gaze upon him, he didn’t dare return it.

“I... I wish I knew.”

His hands were shaking a little, now, but he couldn’t help it--and Raphael wasn’t the only one of them allowed to have emotions, after all, wasn’t the only one entitled to have feelings of his own...

...and there was a decent chance that Crowley wouldn’t even remember all this in the end, wasn’t there? Granted, memory loss was uncharted territory for them, but that seemed to happen in books as often as not, at any rate.

So Aziraphale continued.

“I’ve... wondered myself, sometimes, even in so many words. Why me? Am- am I special in some way? Or was it just because I happened to be the one sent to Earth, was it bound to happen to whatever angel you hung around with for long enough, and I just- just happened to be the lucky one?”

Aziraphale tried to laugh, there, but it didn’t quite come out right.

“But I know it wouldn’t have worked the other way around, at least. I wouldn’t have been able to put up with any other demon like that, certainly not to the point of- of-”

Aziraphale seriously considered using a certain four-letter word to describe their relationship, but decided against it. Crowley always railed against four-letter words, anyways; perhaps this one would be no different.

“-of such close companionship, being best friends- only friends, really, for a bit there... I’m rambling, aren’t I? Sorry about that. But the point is, I don’t know if it had to be me, but it had to be you.”

“Really?”

Aziraphale chanced a glance over at Raphael, who had stood up and moved closer to Aziraphale, wide-eyed and staring right at him, clearly intrigued by what he had to say.

“So, let’s turn the question around, then. What makes me so special?”

Aziraphale laughed, for real this time, though it was soft and a little shaky. “Where do I start?”

The question had been meant as rhetorical, but Raphael answered it anyway. “Wherever you like, I suppose.”

“Well--back in ancient Mesopotamia, before the Flood, you hated the idea of it, not because it was part of the Divine Plan, but because it was- well, was so cruel to so much of humanity. You’re a demon, and yet the thought of so many people dying, so many children not getting a chance to grow up--you didn’t relish the pain it would cause, you despised it.”

Aziraphale paused for a moment before adding, in a quieter tone, “You don’t happen to remember that now, do you?”

Raphael wordlessly shook his head.

“That’s fine, I mean, that’s just one bit, there’s got to be a million of them--you saved me back in Paris, during the Revolution, when I’d gone to get some crepes and was about to get my head chopped off for it, you came in and miracled me right out of it!”

Raphael’s eyes narrowed a bit as he said, “I don’t think ‘miracle’ is quite the right word there.”

“Well--whatever your lot call it, then!” Aziraphale took a breath before continuing. “And that wasn’t the only time you saved me, either. You- you walked on consecrated ground just to stop me from getting killed and making a fool of myself, and you saved my books, too, saved them from utter annihilation in the blink of an eye!”

“Is that all?” Raphael was clearly smiling, now, a strange sort of smile that Aziraphale couldn’t fully interpret.

“’Is that all?” No, that’s not all, after six thousand years- you- you even made Hamlet a success for me, just because you knew I liked it when I saw it! Don’t try to deny it, either-”

“I mean, I don’t remember doing it-”

“I know you don’t, of course you don’t, that’s not the point-”

Raphael started laughing at his own joke again.

“I could keep going, you know-”

“Oh?”

“But I think I’ve rather made my point clear already.”

Raphael looked a little disappointed at that, but nodded understandingly. “Yeah, I think I get where you’re going here, rambling on about how amazing I am...”

Aziraphale could feel his cheeks go hot and warm at that statement, but, well, Raphael wasn’t wrong.

“...and actually, I’ve learned a few things about you now, too.”

“Did you remember-”

“No, I don’t remember any of that, but-” Raphael let out a sigh. “Look. Let me just- just rephrase what I heard you saying just now--not the bits about me, but the bits about you--and maybe you’ll see what I mean.”

Aziraphale wasn’t sure where Raphael was going with all of this, but he was curious enough to want to hear the demon out. “Alright.”

Raphael held up one finger in a manner that looked somewhat accusatory. “You liked Hamlet. You saw a play made by a human--and not one with a clear moral, or even a comedy, but a tragedy, a depiction of humans suffering at one another’s hands with the only clear moral at the end being ‘be glad you aren’t any of those guys’--and you liked it, enough that you were glad to see it become a success.”

“That’s not fair, you can learn things from Hamlet if you try, schoolkids still are today as a matter of fact-���

“You sound as impressed that I saved a bunch of your books from getting destroyed as you are that I saved you.”

“They were first editions, all of them, exceptionally rare and incredibly valuable, and- I mean, you can get bodies-”

“You went to France, in the middle of the Revolution, because you wanted to eat some crepes.”

“That- well- there’s really nothing like a true Parisian crepe-”

“And in ancient Mesopotamia, as you were watching another bit of the Divine Plan slide into place, not only did you hear out the ramblings of some demon who didn’t like the idea of it, you listened well enough to remember the details of his- er, my argument, thousands of years later.”

That one Aziraphale didn’t have a comeback ready for, but he opened his mouth anyway, perhaps hoping that once his mouth was open, the words would come naturally.

They did not.

“You don’t need to defend yourself like that, you know.”

“What?”

“I’m not listing these off to- to accuse you of some grave misdeeds, or something-”

Aziraphale laughed, shakily, a laugh partially of confusion and partially of relief, as he realized that he had been trying to defend himself, as if the one listing off what he noticed in Aziraphale’s speech had been Gabriel instead of Crowley Raphael.

“Then why list them at all?”

“They’re just... different, not what you’d expect of a proper angel, I suppose. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I bet the me who remembers it all wouldn’t think of any of them as bad things. Though I don’t know if he- I? Know what even counts as a bad thing, really...”

Aziraphale couldn’t help but be reminded of the first time he had ever talked to Crowley--or Crawley, it had been back then--outside the Garden of Eden. How Crowley/Crawley had suggested that perhaps what he had done by convincing Eve to eat the forbidden fruit wasn’t bad at all, that maybe he’d been good and Aziraphale had been bad and wouldn’t that be funny, if they’d played each others’ roles right there-

“Actually, I do remember something else now, I think.”

Aziraphale looked over Raphael’s face. He wasn’t crying, wasn’t even close to it, and in fact his mouth was quickly forming a wide grin. Whatever he remembered, it wasn’t traumatizing like his Fall had evidently been.

“What do you remember?”

“You-” Raphael laughed a little before starting over. “You gave away your flaming sword? Am I remembering that right?”

Aziraphale covered his face with his hands and turned away. If eating the forbidden fruit had been humanity’s original sin, giving away his flaming sword had been Aziraphale’s, proof that he wasn’t a real angel, a proper angel, that he was really very bad at his job and very bad at advancing the cause of Heaven and no matter how much work he put into hiding that, it would never be enough-

“Hey, look at me.”

Aziraphale turned back towards Raphael, but kept his hands in front of his face, peeking out only through thin lines between his fingers.

Raphael laughed a little. “Stop that, you look ridiculous right now... just look at me, angel.”

The way Raphael said “angel” this time didn’t have the anger and sharpness it had had before; it was softer, sweeter, closer to how Crowley would normally have said the word.

Perhaps that was why Aziraphale acquiesced, letting his arms rest at his side once more.

“You saw people who were struggling, and you did what you could to help them, without asking permission or worrying about how it would affect you... maybe Heaven would consider that bad, but I sure don’t.”

Raphael shot Aziraphale a grin as he added, “I think I’m starting to see what makes you so special.”

[sustraiii]

TEAM ZRCN ARC 2 - CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2 is here and we’re catching up with Wisteria following her mission. Not much happening in this chapter, but we do get some more information on the people Wisteria is really working for. Keep your eyes peeled for more information on the family in the coming chapters!

Some credit/thanks to @jaguar-knight for letting me briefly reference one of his characters in this chapter too!

WISTERIA

After just over a week of laying low, Wisteria was beginning to go a little stir crazy; it didn’t help matters that the apartment she had rented out was small enough without the presence of two other people. Wisteria had now wished she’d made more of a case to borrow one of the residences her employers owned, at least they were of a more comfortable size, with plenty of room for three people to hold up. On the other hand, she couldn’t exactly use any of the many residences the Rossi’s owned - they were strongly against the idea of letting anyone outside of the ‘business’ being allowed to enter them.

Luckily, they were not opposed to coming out to buildings they didn’t own, as the three of them were soon graced by the presence of two members of the family or at least people who worked for them anyway.

Laurel and Sparrow were merely two of many spies the Rossi’s had working under them, a role which Wisteria and Nieve had found themselves in originally until they decided Wisteria had better uses elsewhere and managed to form a deal to get Nieve promoted as well. Wisteria didn’t even know if Laurel and Sparrow were their real names. For the sake of anonymity, anyone who worked as a spy for them was given a codename of sorts. Wisteria had memorised their names a long time ago - Laurel, Sparrow, Biggs, Twinkle, Fletcher, Razzle and Dazzle, Cosmos, Hurricane, and Fudge.

It had only been a brief visit, mostly for the two of them to confirm that they had successfully retrieved the asset. A fact which made Wisteria scoff rather loudly after they had left, shaking her head at the audacity of that family.

Since then the three of them had been left alone, waiting to hear news on if they were okay to finally meet back up with Farron in Shizukana. They had watched the daily news reports, but there was barely anything mentioned about the raid, besides a small segment the day after the raid had occurred. That was until today, when Farron finally reached out to them, informing them they were due a visit from Nightlock regarding the situation.

Wisteria had turned the bedroom into a makeshift office for the occasion, setting the briefcase on a fold-out table as if to show it off, and generally going around the apartment ensuring it looked reasonably neat and tidy.

She and Nieve had been talking in the bedroom when Ulysses peaked his head in, and let them know he had arrived. Whilst he went to let the man in, Wisteria hurried to get comfortable behind the desk.

“What do you think he’s like?” Nieve asked, scratching her chin as though in deep thought.

“If he’s anything like the rest of Farron's friends, then I’d say he’s about as smart as a bag of rocks,” Wisteria replied.

Nieve chuckled at that, and then the two were interrupted by a knock on the door, and Ulysses informing them that Nightlock was here.

“Let him in,” Wisteria instructed. The door clicked open a moment later, with Ulysses holding it open for Nightlock to step inside, and for Nieve to step out of the room.

Nightlock paused in front of her, his gaze travelling over her, before a smirk formed on his lips. “So you’re the one responsible for the attack on the lab?” He shook his head in amusement. “Colour me surprised.”

“Careful!” Nieve suddenly warned from behind him. He turned to see her paused in the doorway, practically glaring at him. Despite her expression, she spoke in a fairly light-hearted tone. “You’re playing with fire.”

And with that, she finally left the room. When the door shut behind her, Nightlock turned back to face Wisteria. “Cute guard dogs.” He commented.

Wisteria moved her lips as if laughing sarcastically, but no sound came out. “Very funny.” She made a habit to follow this with an exaggerated yawn. “Farron told me you had news for us.”

“Straight to business, ay? I like it.” He nodded his head in approval. Upon getting little to no reaction from Wisteria, he cleared his throat awkwardly, before continuing. “You’ll be happy to know the company is dropping the case! Considering there’s no video footage, and only the testimony of a somewhat confused guard, it’s doubtful they would have had much of a case anyway. I’m presuming you wiped the footage when you took the security systems down?”

Wisteria breathed a sigh of relief at the news, visibly relaxing in her chair. ”Well, I didn’t personally, but yes, we wiped the footage when we hacked your system,” Wisteria told him. “We’re not amateurs you know.”

“Clearly,” He was quick to say, indigo eyes meeting her own. She held his gaze unflinchingly. “You’re not the usual sort Farron has working for him. Besides Lunick, the rest barely have two brain cells to rub together between the lot of them.”

Wisteria laughed a that. “Couldn’t agree more.” She then tilted her head, shooting him a mock sympathetic glance. “You must think pretty lowly of yourself to imply you barely have two brain cells.”

“Oh, well there’s a key difference between me and them,” Nightlock said with a clear tone. Despite his tone of voice, his expression suggested he had been ruffled by her comment. “Do you know what that is?”

“Enlighten me.”

“I don’t work for Farron. I work with him. He is not the sole person I’ve made mutual understandings within the past, nor will he be the last. It’s wise not to keep your eggs all in one basket don’t you know.”

Wisteria nodded her head in mock understanding. “So, now that you’ve shared your information with us, do you need to be here any longer?” She asked, making a gesture towards him. “I do hate to cut this short and all, but we do have places to be.”

Nightlock stared at her for a long moment. “Someone with your talent should not be working for someone like Farron. He will only drag you down I am sure of it.”

“Let me guess,” Wisteria cut in, tapping a finger against her chin, “you have a better offer for me? A “mutual understanding” as you put it?”

“Well, not me personally, but I do know someone, who could put your talents to some use.” He explained, watching Wisteria to see if she was following. “I know of someone who could truly utilise your skills. He’s a wealthy man, with connections high up in Atlas, and would no doubt pay you handsomely for work. From what I hear, he’s quite the threat himself - to his enemies at least. The two of you together would make quite the team. You know, you’ve probably heard of him before, his name is-”

“Pass.” Wisteria simply said, raising a hand to cut him off.

“You’re not going to let me finish what I was saying?”

Wisteria arched a brow. “What part of pass do you not understand, Crocus?”

That threw him. The man took a step back, clearly thrown by the fact she knew his first name. A hand went to his tie, nervously adjusting it, before he spoke again, “How do you know my name?”

“I did my research,” Wisteria told him flatly. “There were two people working for the lab named Nightlock, and as one of you was a woman, I made the logical deduction.”

Nightlock seemed oddly offended at this. “So you’ve been snooping on a friend? I doubt Farron would be happy if he knew.”

“Don’t flatter yourself by calling us ‘friends’. I hardly know you.” Wisteria said, rolling her eyes as she did. She stood up from her chair, slowly striding towards him. She stopped in front of him, and rested a hand on his chest; his heart was beating fast deep inside of him, a fact which made her smirk. “Next time I would advise that if you don’t want your real identity to be known, you choose a codename that isn’t your fucking surname. Now, I’ll ask again, are we done?”

He hesitated a moment before moving his head in a slight nod. He made a step towards the door, gripping the handle, before turning to address Wisteria once more. “Since you declined my offer, I take it you’re happy working for Farron, even though we both know he’ll only end up dragging you down?”

“More or less,” Wisteria admitted with a shrug. She stepped back and propped herself against the fold-out table. “Besides, who says I’m working for just Farron? As you said yourself, it isn’t wise to keep all your eggs in one basket.” Wisteria gave him a wink.

Following that tidbit of information, they left it that, and Nightlock finally made his departure. Wisteria didn’t usually like to imply that she worked for someone else when on jobs like these, but to hell with it. Besides, she doubted Nightlock would tell anyone about this, at least not Farron anyways. They had a far more tenuous relationship than she had anticipated, with Farron clearly valuing their partnership more than Nightlock did, if Nightlock’s general lack of faith in Farron was anything to go by. If anything, he would probably be chuckling away to himself, that someone Farron valued dearly had been double-crossing him this whole time.

Shortly after Nightlock had left, Wisteria packed the fold-out table away into a wardrobe and then grabbed the briefcase and stepped out into the living room. Now that they had the all clear, they could finally carry on with the mission and meet up with Farron in Shizukana. Luckily, Wisteria had had a boat on call for the past three days, so she only needed to make one small call before they could head on out.

Nieve and Ulysses were waiting patiently on the sofa, though their ruffled clothing suggested they had not been sat so far apart a few minutes ago.

Resting a hand on her hip, she gave them a playful smile and said, “Pack your things ladies, we’ve got a boat to catch.”

[diverdaddy]

Set It Up: The Christmas Rush Part 2

Pairing(s): KanaDiaMari, NozoNicoEli Word Count:   12 770 Chapter : 2/2(?)

The 2nd chapter of the christmas collab with @nozoroomie is up! 

The halls of the mall are semi empty as Eli Ayase enters the mall. She arrives early that morning to get the store open and running for the day. It’s another busy day for the christmas season and she cannot afford to be unprepared. Thanks to the other manager’s specific and wonderful closing routine, Eli knows that the store will be in tip top shape. All she and Kanan will have to do is a walk around of the store and setting up the tills and they’ll be set to open the doors for the business day.

As she’s walking down the halls on her way to Chacci’s she finds said co-worker is an early bird today too, thankfully. She smiles a bit grateful for that- her last part timer that worked opens with her was a late riser and was almost always late for their shift. Kanan’s the perfect opposite of them and it adds to her list of “reasons I enjoy working with Kanan Matsuura.”

Kanan stands in front of the store with a friend, and as Eli walks closer she can tell it’s the blonde girl from the chocolate store. What was her name again? Mar- Mariah? No, that’s the one that sings the christmas song, what was Kanan’s girlfriend named again- Mari! The one Dia says she’s dating!

Eli feels sheepishly embarrassed for forgetting that little tidbit for a hot minute.

“Kanan, and uh, Mari, good morning!” Eli smiles as she walks up to the couple who turns around to greet her in return.

“Good morning, Eli!” Kanan returns the smile, and Mari seems to beam at the sound of her name.

“Buongiorno!"

Eli gives herself a small mental pat on the back for remembering Mari’s name correctly. While they aren’t exactly friends, they’ve made small talk a couple times in the past and Eli doesn’t want to seem rude to someone she considers an acquaintance at least.

She notices Mari’s dressed up in the familiar purple uniform of Oharrero’s and takes note that she’s probably waiting for her coworker before opening up the shop. With that she glances over Kanan’s outfit and sure enough, it’s another keeper for sure. The green and red horizontal stripes of her overalls? pajamaralls? They looked so comfortable, and combined with a tiny hint of tree lights and that tight fitting white t-shirt underneath its a deadly holiday combination of both sexy and cute. Eli really needs to steal some fashion tips- this girl? You've heard of elf on the shelf, now get ready for Kanan's passion for fashion. She could probably rock a paper bag if she added some kind of festive decoration to it.

“Ready to open in a short moment?” Eli asks with her polite smile.

“Oh yeah! Gimme a sec.” Kanan grins and turns to Mari to say her goodbyes before they both get to work.

She busies herself with unlocking the sliding glass panes to open the store up for her and Kanan. As she does, she ends up a little closer to them and can overhear some words being said. Mari laughs a bit with Kanan and pulls away.

“Okay, I’ll invite Nozomi and Nico today and I’ll let you know if they’re gunna come, okay~? See if you can get Dia on board. Love you babe~” Mari gives her girlfriend a small wave before walking to the chocolate shop.

Eli hears those names mentioned and her curiosity goes from zero to a hundred in an instant. Inviting Nozomi and Nico? Get Dia on board? What could they be doing that involved her crushes and her other coworker?

Well she guesses it could be a lot considering Kanan and Mari are Dia’s best friends. It’s probably nothing more than a get together with friends. Deciding it’s not worth lingering on the thought, Eli pushes it to the back of her mind and gets into the workplace mindset.

She and Kanan enter and commence their walk around- they have fifteen minutes until the mall is officially open and so it’s up to them to make sure the store is presentable and ready for the rush of customers purchasing things for christmas. She realizes it hasn’t been that often that she’s got to work on shifts with Kanan and her alone, especially since most of the time Kanan was scheduled to join her and Dia on shifts. Today it’s the other way around, since Dia asked to come in later thanks to a planned brunch with her little sister and her girlfriends.

Eli decides to form a bit of small talk and get to know Kanan a bit more.

“So,” She starts, catching Kanan’s attention from the wall of expensive zip up sweaters, “How long have you known Dia?”

Kanan has a small hint of surprise in her eyes as her smile widens from the question.

“Grade school! We grew up together alongside our mutual friend-- my girlfriend, Mari.”

Kanan says it as if it’s one of the best things in the world and it warms Eli’s heart.

“I see.” Eli smiles warmly as she begins to count the till, making sure the change matches up with the required $150 that is meant to be left inside of it at the end of the night.

Kanan fixes up a couple of sweaters on the hangers and decides to keep speaking, wanting to confide more to her elder coworker.

“Dia is our best friend. To be honest, we’ve kinda been crushing on her for a long time now. Even when we started dating- we’ve always thought it’d be great if she could be apart of it too.”

Eli pauses her counting and her gaze immediately goes to the navy haired girl. Did she hear that correctly? The both of them have a crush on her?! Now this is some good, juicy love triangle gossip if she’d ever seen it. And Eli had seen a lot, on the big screen that is. Except it’s more like the triangle is Kanan and Mari mutually loving each other but also really loving someone else- So it’s less of a standard love triangle and more of an amazing polyamorous one. Like the ones she can’t watch on the big screen.

Eli decides that this is the perfect opportunity to pry.

“Have you guys thought about.. If she’s into dating two people?” Eli has to think about her question and Kanan seems a little. Disheartened.

“Sorta. Well, Mari made a lot of jokes about it in the beginning to the point where Dia doesn’t exactly believe us when we try to talk more about it, you know? She tries to joke less and be more serious these days, but because she’s so aloof and funny, Dia doesn’t really take it seriously.” Kanan laughs sheepishly and Eli nods, kinda understanding.

“Well, what about you?” Eli asks curiously, “Have you tired asking her out too?”

Kanan side steps a little and rubs the back of her neck, blushing.

“I uh. I try sometimes. When I show off- she gets reallll flustered around me cause she thinks I’m hot. But it’s like-” She pauses and laughs again, “I guess I’m not as brave as Mari and can’t really say it outloud like she can. I want to-- I want to a lot. I can say it to Mari but when i try to say the words “I like you” To Dia I just-”

That’s when Eli sees it. The look of a lovesick puppy. Kanan’s cheeks heat up in a way Eli’s never seen outside of interactions with her girlfriend every now and again. It makes her heart grow at least three sizes bigger. She’s rooting for these three! She can’t help it- she might not know Mari but if what Kanan says is true she can only imagine she wears the same lovestruck gaze Kanan does when talking about Dia.

“If it means anything, I think hearing it from you might make Dia take it a little more seriously.” Eli finishes up counting the cash and smiles reassuringly at Kanan, “She’s very fond of you, despite your fashion choices.”

Kanan laughs heartily at Eli’s teasing.

“One day, she’ll join us. And we’ll get that photo proof and Mari will have it blown up and framed inside of our cottage by the sea.”

Eli laughs. Damn- this girl really thought her future out with them. It’s literally the cutest thing she’s heard all day.

“What about you, Eli?”

“Hm? What about me?”

Kanan walks to the counter and leans on it, grinning up at her cheekily.

“So, anyone special you got your eye on?”

Kanan looks super mischievous and Eli hopes her cheeks haven’t tinted pink(they totally have.)

“Not- no, not exactly.” She replies, glancing away from her to the accessories rack.

Kanan waggles her eyebrows. Eli closes her eyes, feeling her gazes bore through her. She’s starting to understand what Dia means about Kanan being a handful in her own charming way.

“There’s some- well, a couple people who I’ve been interested in but.. Well, I have no time for it, really, and I don’t think it’d get further than acquaintanceship anyway.”

Excuses. All of them are excuses. Eli’s just a coward who can’t approach attractive possibly lesbian ladies. Unsurprisingly, Kanan can see through all of them like Elle Woods in the court, Eli is gay and European. She pushes herself off the counter and walks over to a display closer to Eli’s line of sight.

“What makes you think that? Have you ever tried to hangout with them or get their phone numbers?”

Eli can feel the air sucked out of her lungs at the idea. Kanan assumes too much of her- she couldn’t do that until they were at least a level 5 acquaintanceship and to get there would require Eli to actually take up Nozomi on her offer and visit the shop while she’s working (which, she has admittedly, not tried yet.) She laughs dryly.

“The only time I’m ever social is when I’m at work here with you girls. And well, I guess with my little sister.” She mumbles under her breath, “and sometimes my little sisters girlfriend..”

Kanan kinda pities her. Slightly. Eli looked like a functional lesbian when they first met, but now that she thinks about it? Disaster lesbian. The Eli peg on her mental chart of lesbians has moved and been solidly placed in that category.

“I’m kinda surprised! You look like the type of girl who would be a social butterfly, or at least someone involved in social activities.”

Eli shrugs a little.

“Looks can be deceiving. I was sorta cold and distant in school as a kid, and by the time I got to college I just sort of. Had no idea how to communicate informally around my peers. I’d get invited to go out to parties and stuff but the one time I went back in high school, it just felt awful. Super overwhelming and scary. I hadn’t really been to a party outside of family get togethers and it was all so different.”

There’s a twitch to Kanan’s eyebrow as she listens intently to Eli.

“But I don’t really mind. Parties aren’t my scene, I’m okay with that.”

It’s only five minutes until they’re open for business when Eli takes a quick look at her watch, so she decides that’s a good spot to end their conversation. Saved by the bell-- just in time.

“Five minutes left, let’s get ready to open the doors.”

“Ah, yes of course! I’m gonna turn on the radio, do you want AM or FM?”

Kanan walks behind the counter and picks up the small portable radio, watching as Eli goes to open the doors for the christmas rush that was coming their way. This plan could be a little harder than expected.

Eli folds some new sweaters that came in when Dia walks into the store ready for her shift. It’s just as she predicted- Dia walks straight up to Kanan with disgust plastered all over her face when she sees the girls attire for the day.

“Kanan Matsuura, what in the world are you wearing!? This is Chacci’s, not Santa’s workshop!”

Eli just can’t help it. With the new information she got this morning she has to see this through. She’s made it a personal goal to try to witness any and all growing feelings Dia could potentially have for her childhood friends. She folds the next sweater a bit slower to keep up with their small conversation.

“Oh come on, I’m wearing a normal t-shirt today!” Kanan laughs as Dia’s face grows more red.

“You know very well that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Despite how much Dia protests Eli can tell that she’s never really genuinely upset. It was amusing watching the two of them before, but now? Even more so, and the blush that dusts over Dia’s cheeks when Kanan is being her adorable self in those outfits makes Eli smile from ear to ear behind the stack of sweaters she’s folding where no one can see. Kanan and Mari were going to have another girlfriend in like, no time at all. Eli is already betting herself $10 that the two of them will succeed before the new year.

Eli folds the last sweater, and once she’s done a customer grabs her attention. A young woman, only a few years older than herself needs help with finding a couple christmas gifts. So Eli takes her to a couple different sections before they both land on the ‘Merry Chaccimas’ one. They have some of their bestsellers in that section, and Eli puts on her best customer service voice as she recommends the different fits to the woman.

The woman leaves the store happy with two of the higher quality blouses they sell in cute christmas designs and Eli surveys the store again to see Kanan and Dia had taken their conversation closer to the back of the store, sorting new products and pricing them. But what was this? Eli squints to see them better and-- oh my. They were standing much closer to each other all of a sudden.

She sadly can’t hear what they’re talking about all the way in the back of the store, so she decides to ignore it for now while she checks up on the counter. There’s some assorted clutter there and it’s a nice thing to focus on. She’s in the middle of tidying up the wrapping paper and ribbon when Kanan’s voice travels far enough to reach her ears.

“Is the Kurosawa Dia really going to turn down a challenge? I thought she could do pretty much anything.”

Did Eli just hear that right? What was this? Her ears perk up and she looks over to the two of them again. Her eyes as big as silver plates and ears tuned in like a radio for that juicy hot gossip.

They’ve moved a bit closer to where Eli was standing. Dia looks more than personally offended by Kanan’s statement, and then there’s Kanan with a smug confident grin on her face like she just won something. What was going down between them? Eli can only make blind guesses. Maybe Kanan finally confessed? Maybe she was going to confess? Wait Dia just finished putting away a pair of pants before turning her whole body completely towards Kanan, stepping completely into her personal space. Eli screams in silence as Dia lifts her hand closer to Kanan’s face. The tension, the suspense and finally the kiss-

Dia’s hand stops at Kanan’s shoulder before she jabs her very pointedly in the shoulder with her finger. It must’ve been pretty hard to, even Kanan who’s shoulders looks like they’re hard as marble winces slightly at that attack.

“How DARE you make such an assumption. Do you even know who I am!?”

“I just said your name a mome-”

“Then you know better than ANYBODY that I’m not going to back down. I’m going to do this-- and I’m going to win. Understood, Kanan?”

That’s when it falls into a more logical place, Eli’s seen the competitive side of Dia before but this is a whole new level. What’s Dia so determined to win? The small smile on Kanan’s lips looks like more of an uneasy one now, but it still has that hint of smugness that Eli can’t quite place. Its like Kanan agreed that Dia would win, but she wasn’t the one losing either way.

“Understood! I get it! You’re down for it!” Kanan tries to laugh it off but when Dia takes her hand away and goes back to the clothes, she see’s Kanan reach up to rub the spot she jabbed. Today’s the day Eli witnessed Dia Kurosawa dent a small bulk in the marble statue that is Kanan Matsuura. Whatever competition they have going on has to lead up to Dia getting together with Kanan and Mari. She’s betting on it.

“Anyway, Mari and I will fill you in later. I’ll be going to see her on my break to see if she got Nico and Nozomi to come so we’ll go from there.”

Eli hears that name again- Nozomi. That was the name of the pretty girl working at Oharrero’s. The really pretty one who dropped off chocolates Dia left at the store. Good god Eli really is a gay mess. She truly feels like a disaster lesbian. First she was daydreaming and cheering on her co-workers soon to be romance, and now she was back to thinking about that girl again, Nozomi...

Eli’s always known she’s been gay, but she never really acted on it. She’d delve into the depths of the internet and try to meet more girls online but being anti-social made it difficult for her to hold conversations with many of them. She had tried it all.. tinder, plentyoffish, match.com, but she rarely got past making a profile. She’d even tried going to a gay event at the college campus cafe once, but she couldn’t even bring herself to enter the door to the shop.

So she stuck with admiring pretty girls from afar, and it worked. For a while. Until she saw them working across the way. It started with the black haired girl- who Eli wants to say is Nico, given conversations she’s heard, but she has no confirmation on that- and it wasn’t long after before Nozomi joined the staff.

God it’s hard for her not to admire them on her shifts. She fantasizes about buying snacks from there just to get a closer look at their beautiful features. How pathetic- fantasizing about buying sweets to marvel cute girls instead of actually going to do it.

Sadly, Eli Ayase is a cowardly gay and could never. Besides they’re probably not gay. Even though she saw them holding hands leaving work one day and they totally blow kisses at each other. She’s seen it. But they’re definitely not gay. Or into her. They’re just gals being pals. Do they even know she exists? (a stupid thought- at least Nozomi knows she exists).

She pushes her gay crisis thoughts down with a small sigh and remembers work and her important task of managing the store.

She turns around to put away the gift wrapping supplies when she realizes Dia has come behind the counter to sort hangers from the changing rooms and such on the table behind her. (How long did she daydream for?).

Eli takes a quick look around and the store, not failing to notice it’s dead right now. Perfect. Eli decides to strike up conversation. A small distraction from the girls across the hall.

“What do you think of Kanan’s outfit today?” She starts, watching as Dia almost snaps the plastic hanger in her hands. She looks at Eli with a pointed stare.

Eli stares back at Dia with that knowing smile, and Dia literally wishes she could say something. Anything. But she respects her too much and Eli knows it.

“We will not comment on That.” Dia states flatly.

Before Eli can tease Dia a little more Kanan approaches the counter.

“Is it okay if I take my break now?”

Eli takes a quick glance to Oharrero’s and sees that it’s the shorter black haired girl working there today.

“Sounds good, give me a second to get you some cash-”

“Don’t worry about it today Eli, I got you covered,” Kanan beams and leans onto the counter closer to Eli and continues in a quieter voice, “Mari promised a bunch of free samples for us today.”

Eli blinks and smiles.

“I’ll have to thank her later on then.”

Before Kanan leaves she makes brief eye contact with Dia. She gives her a small wink and cheeky smile and then she’s out the door and on her way across the hall. Dia glowered a little bit and Eli’s curiosity comes back, but she says nothing.

There’s not a lot do in the store now. Eli and Dia sort out the rest of the hangers on the table together when Dia decides to speak up.

“You know, there is a place you could thank Mari personally.” Dia starts, bringing them into a topic of conversation.

“When she’s working..?” Eli says with the hint of a question

“Well if you’re going to be a smart then yes, that’s one way to.” Dia almost rolls her eyes and Eli can’t help but feel like she’s a part of Dia’s inner circle. She’s gotten a reaction like that from her! She’s succeeded!

Eli laughs and smiles.

“What were you really going to say?” She prods.

Dia waits a moment, examining Eli for any further teasing.

“Mari is going to be hosting a christmas party at her place. She hosts a holiday party around christmas and she’s decided to do a big christmas party this year. Don’t worry, it’s not on the actual day. A couple days before hand actually.” Dia says it as if she’s remembering all the small details, but looks at Eli with a soft smile.

“I think you’d like it- There won’t be too many others there and Mari tends to have a lot of fun...events.”

Dia looks as if she’s holding back saying some juicy details- maybe from past party experiences. She just has this face that says she wants to elaborate on what they consist of. On one hand, Eli wants to ask her what kind of events they are, but on the other hand she’s surprised- she didn’t expect to be invited to hang out with Dia at her friends party and- well, it is a little coincidental that she explained how parties aren’t exactly her thing to Kanan only hours before hand.

She feels a little sad that she’s probably going to decline.

“Events huh...” Eli decides to at least pretend she’s pondering going to the party. For Dia’s sake at least.

“Oh yes! Nobody is required to bring a gift and yet Mari likes making sure everyone gets a little something? She calls them wrapped party favours. Last year she gave my little sister the exact plush toy she had been eyeing in the window of the toy store here. I couldn’t believe it- Ruby hadn’t mentioned it to anyone and yet... And yet!”

Eli smiles to herself because the way Dia talks about her friend is so wholesome and sweet. It seems kinda like she likes them as more than a friend. Actually, Eli is completely sure about it. Or she’s putting way too much thought into this ever since Kanan mentioned it (she’s definitely put a lot more thought into ever since Kanan mentioned it.)

“Your little sister gets invited too?” She asks curiously.

“Oh well-- yes. She’s friends with Mari as well. She has a small circle of friends outside of us, and they happen to be friends Kanan lived near as a kid. It’s weird, but we’re all connected somehow and we’re all very good friends.”

Dia has such a soft smile and Eli understands why Kanan and Mari love it so much. Dia is a very, very cute girl.

“But anyways, the party-” she goes back to the most important footnote of the conversation. “Would you be interested in coming along?”

“Ah- I will, uh.” Eli’s trying to find the best excuse. What can she even say? ‘Sorry, I can’t because I have plans to stay at home and watch christmas movies alone and eat a whole tub of icecream all by myself while my little sister goes on her christmas date at her girlfriend's family’s christmas party?’ That is literally an excuse for Dia to pressure Eli into going to the party even more.

She swallows. She literally has nothing to do instead and she’s not a confident liar. Secret keeper? Sure. Liar? Well.

Saving her from actually answering, Kanan comes back with a bag of chocolates and a huge grin.

“Here you go Eli! And Dia, guess what!” She looks ecstatic- the definition of a happy little working elf.

“Hm? What is it?” Dia asks.

“Nico said yes! She messaged Nozomi and Nozomi’s down for it too! This year’s party is going to be great!” Kanan beams even more.

“It will be fun to have some new faces around for christmas!” Dia smiles delighted. Finally, some good fucking news.

“Right!? Mari’s hyped it up a lot to them and the moment she said this year there was going to be karaoke, Nico seemed to instantly agree. Apparently-” Kanan’s voice becomes background music.

Dia said the parties weren’t really that big, and they were fun. If it was only a few select friends and the cute girls that Eli’s been ogling  were going to be there. There really couldn’t be any harm in going, right?

Kanan and Dia discuss things a bit more before a customer walks over to them and asks if she could use the changing room. Kanan happily heads over to the changing station with them.

Now that Dia and Eli are alone again Eli decides to voice her decision.

“So... what day is the party? And could I have the address?”

“This saturday the 22nd, at the Ohara Mansion at 17 Cherry Tree Lane.”

Sure enough, after a long internal debate about going to a mansion christmas party, Eli finds herself on the front steps of the giant building. Mansion. She shouldn’t have agreed to going to a mansion of all places for a small christmas party.

But she did. And she’s here. In the nicest festive wear she could find (she does wish she had a more Kanan-like outfit, but the moment Dia’s lips said ‘Mansion’ Eli instantly went into presentable mode.) A simple long sleeve shirt with a cute snowflake pattern in a cute, light blue shade (her green one was in the wash and everything else she had didn’t quite scream christmas) followed by a cute and simple plaid skirt. If plaid doesn’t tell anyone at this party she’s here and she’s queer then she doesn’t know what will.

She’s perfectly on time, as one should be when going to a party (she assumes, she’s really guessing from her chick flicks). She isn’t sure whether to knock or ring the doorbell, but she imagines that knocking on the door when nobody is near it might be a bit useless. She locates the doorbell immediately and presses it.

Within moments Mari’s at the door and her eyes practically sparkle as she stares down at Eli. Wait- stares down? Eli blinks up rather surprised to see Mari is at least half a foot taller than she was before. A quick glance over shows Mari in a somewhat. Well. If Kanan’s fashion was bad according to Dia, Eli can only imagine how she feels about the voluptuous snowman and it’s “sexy and I snow it” caption beside it. Glancing downward she sees the dangerous looking christmas shoes Mari wears and suddenly her height change makes complete sense.

She really hopes Mari doesn’t break her ankle when she trips.

“Ayase-san! Welcome! Come right in, you’re one of the first few guests to arrive!” Mari steps to the side to let Eli into the colossal household. Before Eli can take a step further though, Mari stops her.

“Hold up! You’re under the mistletoe~”

Eli’s eyes widen in surprise and she looks around helplessly until she sees it- right on Mari Ohara herself. Directly inside the little loop of blonde hair she likes to wear. It looks like its solidly tied in and Eli can feel a nervous sweat beginning to form. She barely knows her and she has to kiss her?!

“E-erm.” Eli mumbles.

Mari breaks and laughs.

“It’s joke! Don’t worry, I won’t force you to give me a smooch if you’re not comfortable with it Ayase-san. You’re one of the three newer guests to the party so if you don’t want to, you don’t have to!”

“T-Thank you.” She smiles a bit awkwardly as she continues past Mari, slipping off her boots, “Thank you for the invite as well.”

Mari beams as Eli decides to take in her environment. She can tell they take the holidays very seriously in the Ohara household. On every door frame and banister were decorations galore- some were a variety of christmas lights, some were fancy garlands with decorative little ornaments hanging from them. In almost every corner was a fancy christmas themed object of sorts- the most visible things were the miniature christmas trees and their themed ornaments (Eli swears she saw one that just had a bunch of ornaments that were photos of Mari and her family. It’s actually very cute.)

And then there was the giant golden statue in the middle of the room that looked like, no. It was a Mari statue, decorated in a christmas sweater and reindeer antlers on its head, and it even had a red nose attached somehow too. What exactly had she walked into?

Mari leads her into the house after she takes off her boots and directs her to where the party will be held- the main living room. Elis eyes widen and she gasps in wonder at the delightful decorations. There’s a long table by the window filled with punch and snacks of all sorts, a gigantic christmas tree with a star on the top (and another image in the star- a photo of Mari? good lord.) the ornaments are a decorative red, green, gold and silver and the lights aren’t super bright leds, but beautiful dim and golden. Honestly, Eli can’t believe how wonderful the place is- she feels like this isn’t just somebody's house.

A voice pulls her from her thoughts and she turns to find Dia sitting on a sofa with a shorter, red haired girl next to her. She seems a little startled by Dia’s greeting but her eyes are all on her. It only takes one glance at those wide green iris’ for Eli to make the connection between her and Dia- that’s Ruby! Eli smiles and decides to head over to that spot.

“You made it Ayase-san!” Dia says happily, “On time too! That says more than the other guests.”

Eli would object but it does seem a little odd nobody has arrived at the correct time. Then again, parties seem to be a casual get together so Mari might not be a stickler for guests being a little later than the planned time. Mari comments on how she’s going to see if Kanan’s ready and that she’ll be back in a few minutes, and that clears up where her other coworker is. She’s happy to know they’re both here and she wouldn’t be alone in a strangers house waiting for them.

She and Dia fall into small conversation. Dia properly introduces her to Ruby, and while Ruby seems a little shy, she’s a delight to be around. She loves to knit and has a huge interest in sweets, particularly hard candies. She makes a mental note of that.

Mari returns shortly after, taking a seat with the group and commenting that Kanan’s just finishing getting ready and will be down soon. Dia and Ruby decide to grab a couple snacks from the table and that leaves Eli alone with the Oharrero’s employee.

Eli decides to dive right into interrogation.

“Ohara-san?” Eli says, turning her body to face her. Mari is attentive and smiles.

“Call me Mari~” she responds with a grin, “What’s up? Did you need anything?”

“Please call me Eli then!” She responds in kind, continuing to speak, “I don’t really need anything in particular. I just kinda wanted to ask about your relationship with Dia.” She glances to the refreshments to make sure Dia is preoccupied. “Kanan’s told me a brief history, but I was just curious about how you feel.”

Mari is surprised by the question, but if there’s a blush on her face it’s practically invisible.

“I’ll give you the longer version another time, but all I can really say about it right now is I plan to change our relationship somehow tonight. Hopefully for the better.” She flashes Eli a playful wink and it brings out the first of what she hopes is many laughs.

“Is that Eli?! You made it!” A new voice comes in and before Eli can even identify the speaker, there’s a loud shriek.

“KANAN MATSUURA WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS.”

On the staircase on the other side of the room, Kanan wears a red and white themed christmas suit of sorts? It’s definitely a suit, it’s a proper suit jacket but with short sleeves, and instead of having pants it’s a pair of matching shorts. She wears almost knee length red and white striped socks matched by converse with a red backdrop followed by snowflake patterns. The little christmas trees on the fabric of the clothes add more of a colour pop, even the tie matches the suits fabric, and honestly its. Well, it’s a lot. Eli appreciates Kanan’s sense of style (or lack thereof) but she wonders if there’s more to the outfit choice than its christmas spirit and stylish accessorising.

Eli watches as Dia goes through the seven stages of grief almost instantly. Ruby looks concerned but there’s a slightly amused smile threatening to show itself. Kanan can’t help but laugh as she adjusts her santa hat.

“Awh, come on Dia! It’s christmas! Mari gave me special permission to adorn this outfit tonight~”

“Kanan Matsuura you are going to be the death of me.” Dia says exasperatedly before turning to Mari with a pleading gaze. “Mari Ohara, tell me you didn’t.”

Mari, immovable as she is, flashes her a peace sign.

“It was all Kanan wanted for christmas this year! I couldn’t say no!”

Eli wishes she was filming Dia’s face as her lips formed a tight line and her gaze burned into Mari’s. She turns to Ruby and Ruby looks up at her, wondering what her choice will be. Eli’s tempted to visit the popcorn bowl just to snack and watch the younger girl as she decides whether she’ll spend the night here or not.

Her decision is made for her when the doorbell rings, signalling the arrival of other guests.

Eli sort of loses track of time. She’s aware two people have arrived together- two more unfamiliar faces. They greet Mari with cheek kisses as if it were an everyday thing before moving like magnets towards Ruby. Eli learns from Dia that they’re her younger sisters friends and companions (A fact that surprises Eli a little bit- her little sister has two girlfriends before her? Eli almost pities Dia.) The shorter, chubbier girl is named Hanamaru while the taller, lankier and goth looking one calls herself Yohane (a self given nickname, according to Dia.)

Shortly after them is a group of three girls, two who were Kanan’s other childhood friends. Chika and You grew up on the same street as her and Chika and Kanan’s families have been friends since before they were born. Their other friend, Riko, has only been attending the christmas parties for a few years now, but as used to it as she should be she’s still pleasantly surprised by the size of the mansion like Eli is.

Which, somehow, with all these new people arriving, makes the huge building so much smaller. Eli’s beginning to feel the onset of that familiar anxiety she feels when being in large groups. She moves to the refreshments table, pretending to eye all the goodies as a tactic to keep her mind off of socializing with the unfamiliar girls. Dia’s gotten lost in a conversation with the the girl named Riko and somehow Kanan has ended up chatting it up with Dia’s little sister and her girlfriends. Eli’s only other option is Mari, but she doesn’t seem to be around at the moment?

As she has that thought she realizes why that is.

“Okay everyone! Looks like all our guests have arrived!” Mari calls from the entrance of the room and Eli’s eyes land on the guests she’s been nervous and excited to see all night.

Mari’s coworkers have arrived, both together and Eli is almost floored by their appearance. No christmas party is truly complete without everyone enjoying the festive sweaters and Nozomi and Nico are no strangers to it. Nico wears a sweater with the body of an elf starting at the collar of the sweater. It makes it look as if she herself is the elf and its humorous and adorable all at the same time. Eli notices the scrunchies in her hair have holly and little jingle bells tied to it and god. Waiting awkwardly in that odd span of time just to see how this girl could rock the ugliest of christmas sweaters was worth it. She wonders if its her makeup that helps complete the look- it looks so simple and yet so elegant- Nico definitely knows what she’s doing to make those eyeliner wings look on fleek and Eli doesn’t even know if her contour is makeup or natural- in this lighting it’s really hard to tell.

That’s only Nico though-- Nozomi on the other hand has taken a page from Mari’s book. Her hair is tied in a beautiful long braid with little holly decorations weaved through the strands to match Nico’s, but the sweater is something else entirely. The chest part of the fabric is covered by mittens and the text reads in bright red ‘Tit’s the season.’ It’s awful. It’s a seriously corny joke. Eli might not even be fond of it if it wasn’t for the fact one of the cutest girls here was wearing it.

She has no idea how she’s going to make it out of this party alive. She reaches for the punch, pours herself a cup and throws it back, drinking it all in one gulp before pouring herself another cup. When did she get this thirsty?

In her haze of admiring her crushes and drinking punch, Eli finds herself back in the spot she’d been sitting in before. She idly watches the two of them out of the corner of her eye and she see’s Mari share a laugh with the both of them. Nozomi’s eyes crinkle adorably as she giggles and Nico’s match and god- agreeing to this party is either the best idea she’s had in months or it will kill her on sight (much like Kanan’s outfits for Dia.) In her staring she fails to notice that the two have started walking over towards the couchs where she sits and she hasn’t even looked away.

At this point Eli really wishes she would be taken out, in a date way or a sniper way, she wasn’t very picky right now. She definitely just got caught staring. She brings her attention downward and decides hey, her punch is probably a much better topic to focus on at the moment. She looks down and peers into the cup and its.. empty? When did she drink her second glass?! She vaguely remembers bringing the cup up to her lips as she was watching the Oharrero employees and- well. She realizes she probably took another one big gulp in that moment. This is embarrassing.

The spot next to her sinks and Dia has taken the spot next to Eli. She looks a little defeated- or exhausted? It’s hard to tell at the moment. She smiles a bit sympathetically at her and Dia only sighs. She’s aware other people have decided to sit near them and Dia’s defeated gaze only perks up, a fire igniting inside them as she smiles politely.

“Toujou-san! Yazawa-san! It’s great to see you could make it too.”

Oh my god Eli really has to stop spacing out- she thought the two of them were across the room still and now they’re already taking seats with them. She’s unprepared! What’s a good conversation topic? What happens if they point out she was staring? Does she have any excuses prepared? Oh god- she’s doing it again. She pushes the anxious gay baby thoughts away and makes a new goal for the party; no more spacing out. Ignore the cute girls- stay present for any and all conversations she’s included in and make it out of this alive with her pride damaged as little as possible.

She’s aware they’ve greeted her and she can feel her muscles robotically moving to wave a tiny bit. She says hello and puts her arm down. It feels like this itself is an out of body experience and she feels so awkward. She prays that they don’t notice.

Dia strikes a conversation with the three of them and Eli is. Vaguely aware of the topic. They’re talking about the mall. She can hear her replies and she’s taking in everyone’s words but it feels so forced. She feels a little uncomfortable. She can feel the walls of the mansion slowly closing in on them all and the air is getting a little harder to breath. When did the room get so small? Did everyone suddenly move closer to them? She glances around to be sure but there’s quite a distance between her and the other guests who have taken seats on other various furniture pieces surrounding them.

The sensible side of her is gone and she realizes that it took very little time for her to begin spacing out again. This is hopeless. At least Dia is here to keep conversation between the four of them going.

As she thinks that Dia suddenly pauses her conversation and stands up, glaring in the direction of Kanan.

“Ruby don’t you DARE put on Kanan’s tie! I refuse to let her cursed clothes go near you!” She’s pushed herself off the couch and over to them. Kanan and Hanamaru start to laugh while Ruby pushes herself into Yohane to make sure that Kanan’s tie really doesn’t touch her.

Eli’s eyes widen and her smile becomes a little tense as she realizes she’s been abandoned by the one person helping her power through talking to her crushes. Nico watches Dia move in amusement and Nozomi’s lips move and words come from her mouth and- oh! oh shit, she’s talking to her!

“S-sorry?” Eli mumbles a little helplessly. You’ve heard of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, now get ready for Eli Ayase the red faced lesbian. The embarrassed blush that lightly dusted her cheeks all night suddenly becoming a giant beacon of bright red.  

Nozomi only smiles that lovely soft smile and Eli feels like she could melt into the damn couch.

“Is this your first Ohara christmas party too?” She asks again.

This is her chance. She can feel it- her anxiety is screaming at her but she forces it down once again. She takes in a small breath and speaks, hoping her reply is more confident than cold.

“It is.” She says. She can feel it- her prides patting her on the back. Her brain cells kiss and cheer while her heart is beating louder and happier. She did it! She spoke to the cute girls at the party!

Now it’s time to see if she can keep the conversation going.

“This is-  i-it’s my first christmas party I’ve ever been to that didn’t include my extended family.” She feels a little embarrassed and mumbles a little quieter “Actually it’s more like the only party I’ve ever been to without my extended family.”

“Really?!?” Nico replies a little loudly but she looks very shocked- alarmed even, “Are you saying you’ve never been invited to christmas parties at all?!”

“Oh! No- no no. That’s not it. I mean-” Eli laughs a bit fumbling with her words, “I don’t really go to parties at all. I get invited to things here and there but I’ve never gone to anything until now really.”

God she hopes they don’t find that lame. Nico looks at her with a little disbelief while Nozomi hums. She nods a bit as if to understand something not spoken.

“I wondered- you seem like an introvert.” She says it a bit bluntly and Nico nudges her a bit as if she’s said something offensive.

Eli kinda laughs at that. Nozomi really hit the nail on the head with that comment. She reaches her hand up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear before looking at them with an uncertain smile.

“Is it that obvious?” She asks a little sheepishly.

“Only to Nozomi.” Nico responds immediately and reassuringly, “This girl can read anybody like the palm of their hand- Literally. She’s a fortune teller.”

A cup of something has manifested itself into her hands and Eli realizes that someone has walked over to them with a tray of drinks- wait, a server?! What kind of party is this? She thanks the waiter and realizes there’s a good amount of heat coming from the cup and the aroma of hot chocolate fills her senses and soothes her entire soul. Maybe Mari is looking out for her somehow- sending a waiter with her favourite hot beverage is definitely helping her keep this conversation alive.

She remembers the last bit of Nico’s sentence and looks at Nozomi with curiosity and a crooked smile. A fortune teller! That’s pretty neat!

“Fortune telling?!” She says with a voice that dies to ask more about it.

The violet haired girl laughs and waves her hand.

“It’s nothing impressive, just basic fortunes for questions about the future, careers, school,” She looks at her with this gaze that’s somehow very different from all the ones she’s seen before as she says the next word, ”Love,”

Love. Eli wonders what kind of love fortune she’d get if she were to ask Nozomi about it. The temptation to ask her for one is real but she knows it’d be pretty rude to ask for such a personal fortune in the middle of a party.

“That’s amazing!” Eli decides to say, conversation finally coming easier to her. She looks to Nico with bright eyes filled with wonder, “What about you? Do you have any hobbies like that?”

Nico smirks and Eli swears she can see Nozomi shake her head.

“Absolutely! You’re looking at the soon to be number one idol Ni-”

“NICO-NII~” Mari interrupts and finishes as she puts her arms around Nozomi and Nico’s shoulders and puts her head between them. “You girls having a good time~? I see you’re chatting it up with Eli!”

Nico looks offended for being interrupted and Nozomi looks like she was trying to hold back a laugh. Then Nico notices it. The little plant inside Mari’s hair loop.

“Mari, is that mistletoe in your fucking hair?!”

“You bet! Now pucker up and plant one on the cheek!” She directs her to her cheek and grins. “I’m the tallest thing here and the rule is as long as you’re under it you must smooch!”

Looks like Mari’s not shy with people she’s closer to. Eli feels a little special knowing she wasn’t forced to do it while these two are. Nico, while hating it, doesn’t protest and gives her a peck on the cheek. Mari then turns to Nozomi ready to tell her to do the same, but Nozomi has a different idea. Instead, Nozomi lifts her hand up to tilt Mari’s chin just a bit lower with her hand. Mari looks flustered for a brief moment, a little confused about what’s about to happen until Nozomi plants a short, chaste kiss directly on Mari’s lips.

The party practically freezes as everyone notices The Mari Ohara has been smooched on the lips by someone who isn’t Kanan. Conversation pauses and Eli wishes- oh how she fucking wishes- that she was Mari Ohara in that moment. Kanan whoops when Nozomi pulls away from Mari with a cheeky grin. Mari comes to and laughs, pushing herself up.

“Dang Toujou, I would’ve reapplied my lipgloss if I knew you were gunna go for the lips~”

“What can I say Marichi-” She glances over to Eli when she says this, but its brief, “I’m full of surprises~”

The small group laughs and Eli joins in, finally feeling completely relaxed in the party setting. There’s a blush dusting her cheeks and she lifts her cup up to take a sip of her hot beverage. She closes her eyes and lets the content feeling wash over her.

With that over Mari announces for everyone to get hyped because it’s time for the christmas karaoke contest! Mari will select four people to draw two names from a hat and the people who are picked will become the drawers teammates. Each group will choose a christmas song to sing and the team that gets the best score on the karaoke machine is the winner!

Dia, Yohane, Chika and Nico are selected to draw the names from the special karaoke hat. Yohane goes first, sticking her hand into the hat and drawing two pieces of paper. Chika follows suit, quickly picking her two. Dia dives in next and that leaves the last two names for Nico.

“Okay girls! Open it up, tell us who’s gunna be with who! Then we’ll take five minutes to decide our christmas carols before the competition begins~” Mari says with a grin.

“Ah! Lily! Mari! Guilty Kiss is reunited for another year!” Yohane looks over to Mari, who brings her arm around Riko’s shoulders and pulls her close. Riko, though mildly alarmed, smiles.

“HEY! YOU! RUBY! I GOT YOU GUYS!” Chika shouts and looks excitedly to her friends. Dia’s little sister jumps from surprise, but her eyes reflect nothing but excitement. You salutes.

Dia opens her papers and she looks mildly surprised.

“Oh! would you look at that. Looks like I’ve got Hanamaru and-” her tone of voice changes as she leers at the tall festively dressed girl, “Kanan.”

Kanan beams and Hanamaru claps her hands together.

“I guess that means I got you guys.” Nico turns to Nozomi and Eli with a half grin, “Don’t worry- you’re both in great hands with a karaoke star like me~”

“You say that but we won’t know until we hear the others sing now will we?” Nozomi says in a teasing tone. Nico sticks her tongue out at her and the two of them share a laugh.

Eli swallows a bit nervously as the girls disperse into their groups. Nico’s playful expression suddenly dissolves and becomes serious. She lifts her hands and gestures for both Nozomi and Eli to come in close. Nozomi gets it instantly but it takes a few more gestures towards Eli from Nico for her to realize what she’s asking.

“Ah! Sorry!” Eli moves closer to them and huddles in close. She can feel Nico’s arm come around her shoulder to bring her and Nozomi closer so that nobody could hear what they were saying and- is that a hint of honey? It smells like honey, cinnamon and maybe even a hint of vanilla? God, what festive scents were these two wearing?!

“Okay listen up- I knew this was happening and already demanded for the set list of songs to choose from. Mari gave them to me no problem but scanning these girls, it’s easy to see who will choose what song. So it’s up to us not to choose the same song and rock it, alright?” Nozomi and Eli nod once and Nico continues, “Great, so I already know Mari’s for sure.”

“My only wish?” Nozomi asks with amusement in her voice.

“My Only Wish.” Nico confirms.

Eli blinks as she thinks of what song that is.

“Oh! The Britney one!” She says, a tiny proud smile on her lips.

Nico looks almost endearingly at Eli and there’s something about it. She feels like Nico just came to a decision somehow. She blushes a bit under her gaze and avoids looking directly into her red eyes.

“Yeah, the Britney one! So, we gotta get them with something just as good and pop sounding- but not Mariah Carey.”

“Eh? Why not?” Nozomi asks kind of hushed, “How do we compete with Mari’s team if we can’t sing that?”

“Because team over there,” Nico jabs her thumb at Ruby’s group “Has the one who was talking about how it’s her favourite christmas carol so they’re definitely going to sing that. Have you seen her? She’s an adorable ball of cute and there’s no way the butch girl and the orange haired girl will say no to that.”

“Aah, I see I see.” Nozomi frowns. “Well, what song do we sing then?”

Nico and Nozomi look to Eli for a suggestion and Eli kinda blanks. What could combat a wonderful pop song by famous ladies at christmas time? Certainly not an old timey tune. What kind of christmas carols do the boy bands sing around this time?

It doesn’t take Eli long to think of an option.

“Erm.. Maybe Beautiful Christmas by Big Time Rush? It isn’t super popular, but if we use a boy band song we could have a chance.”

Nozomi’s eyebrows rise and Nico thinks about it. They ponder Eli’s choice and Nico slowly nods. She likes the idea the more she thinks about it.

“That could work. You’re right, it’s not popular, but I think we all know it, right?”

“Yup! I remember it.” Nozomi replies, “Think we can sing it better than they can?”

“Are you kidding?!” Nico says with a smirk, “We’re gunna make it more popular after this party.”

They pull out of their huddle and Eli giggles, unable to hide her amusement. She’s kind of excited to see how they do- she hasn’t sung in front of a big group since her family reunion earlier this year so she hopes it’s a great time. It’ll be her first of what she hopes is many karaoke times with these girls.

The other groups are ready and there’s a quick lottery game to decide the singing order of each group. Chika gets the longest straw, so their group will be singing first. Followed by Dia, then Mari’s and finally, them. Nico grumbles, hating her terrible luck but Nozomi pats her on the back saying the best are always saved for last. Eli smiles a bit when Nico leans into her and her chest feels warm. Their relationship is really wonderful. Part of her aches to be apart of it too, but nevertheless, she’s content to see them happy and affectionate with one another.

The competition soon begins and as Nico predicted, the first song by their group is Mariah Carey’s christmas hit. They rock it and get a pretty decent score before handing the mics off to Dia’s team. They surprise a few people with their choice of jingle bell rock, but it’s absolutely adorable watching the older girls and the younger one jam to the tune as they belt out the words. Finishing up for the other teams is Mari’s and of course, as Nozomi and Nico knew they would, they sing Britney’s christmas ballad to a perfect t. Their score is an all time high apparently and Dia looks as if she’s unhappy already knowing her team is either in a hard second or an unfortunate third place. Eli wants to laugh- that girl really does get way too into the spirit of competition a little too much.

She really hopes they don’t mind third place once her team takes the winning score.

The microphones are handed to the three of them. The other nine girls seem surprised by their song choice and that fuels the competitive rush that grows inside of Eli. She wonders if she’s just absorbing some of that energy from Nico, because this girl radiates absolute confidence for their group. Their colours are chosen for the lines and verses they’ll get to sing outside of the chorus and soon the tune begins.

Being a former ballet competition dancer had its perks in her youth- she may not have been social with peers, but she learnt at a young age how to get through stage nerves. She stands with Nico and Nozomi and before long the three of them are singing along to the words. Eli gets absorbed into the moment, focusing on the lyrics and singing loudly and proudly. Her voice echoes throughout the room and while she can’t pay attention to the audience, she adores how Nico faces her instead of the screen with the lyrics.

They get to the chorus and for a brief and wonderful moment, it feels like its just her and her crushes. Eli feels like the three of them are in some weird kind of limbo, singing a cheesy boy band christmas song and having a good time with just one another. They get really into their performance and Eli isn’t too nervous or embarrassed at the end of it when Nico and Nozomi drape their arms around her and they laugh together.

“Holy shit! How come you never told us you could sing that great?! You were fantastic!” Nico’s face is red from the exertion and their labored breaths are synchronized as the machine finishes tallying their score.

“OOH! We have a tie! We’re gunna need to pick a tie breaker song!”

The three look at the machine and sure enough, their team tied scores with Mari’s. The three of them lock eyes and as a consolation prize, the remaining six girls get to decide what the tie breaker song would be. They’re all huddled up around the machine screen while the others wait patiently. Since there’s only three microphones, the groups decide to do a tag team competition; two girls from each team will get to sing a part of the song together at the same time and swap out until the ending chorus, where they’ll all try really hard to sing together with their limited microphones.

Soon the song is chosen and both Nico and Nozomi push Eli up to sing the first verse against Riko. The two make eye contact briefly before the look to the screen and the words “Last Christmas” pop up. Eli smiles. It’s her favourite version too- Cascada’s.

The begin to sing and Eli shows Riko no mercy. She swaps with Nozomi, high fiving her and handing her the mic as she steps up to compete with Yohane. They have a little more fun with it, bringing their mics closer and singing so competitively you’d feel like they were competing on the voice. The next verse is handed off to Nico and Mari who, albeit a little dramatically, conquer the second last verse before the rest of their teams are brought up. Nico and Mari hold their mics while the teams sing and once the song ends, the room is filled with a lot of laughter and applause.

By the end of it Eli’s contently between both Nico and Nozomi as the score is calculated and she really doesn’t care. Mari’s team could keep the prizes if it meant she would continue to have this much fun alongside her crushes. She’s lost in the way it feels having them so close, the warmth that comes from the two of them and the pure happiness she has.

This is the best (first) party ever.

As a fun cool down they decide to sing a few more songs, with solo performances and different teams coming together. Somehow everyone convinces Eli to sing ‘Where are you christmas’ and Faith Hill’s version has nothing on hers. By the end of it Nico’s actually shed some tears and is desperately finding something reflective to make sure she didn’t smear her makeup too much. She looks over and see’s Kanan somehow comforting Dia over her loss, offering the girl a cookie cut into the shape of a santa hat.

Dia takes it and nibbles on it when Mari announces they have to make some space for the next activity. The guests get up and assist with pushing some of the furniture to the side and Kanan goes off into another room, bringing You for some assistance.

When they return they have what looks like two level changing posts- like something you’d find in a gym, sort of, and then a long, red and green decorated pole. Kanan and Mari begin to set it up and within seconds Eli’s put it all together- They’re all about to limbo.

There seems to be a catch when Mari comes out with a few pillows.

“Good thing we all wore sweaters we can stuff this into! otherwise Santa limbo wouldn’t be as fun!”

Oh my god. They’re going to pretend to be santa and limbo. Eli is ecstatic- this is so much better than she anticipated the game of limbo to be and she feels like this is going to be one of the funniest games she’s ever witnessed. She’s still pretty closely huddled to Nozomi and Nico and Nico wears the most sour expression Eli’s seen to date.

“That thing is gunna look hideous under my sweater. Nozomi I don’t like this.” Nico mumbles in an unamused tone.

“Aww, but you’ll look like an adorable chubby little elf! And who knows, you could win since you’re the shortest one here!” She laughs at her own joke and Nico glares.

“You know what Nozomi? For that I’m gunna kick your ass at this game.” Eli can feel Nico moving away from her and Nozomi in favour of grabbing a pillow to start the limbo.

Everyone gets a turn and the game starts out pretty great, but turns into a catastrophe the moment they set the bar lower by three levels. Mari’s heels have become her ultimate weakness as they slide out from underneath her and she lands flat on her back, her belly knocking the pole down instantly. When she gets up she trips and falls directly onto Dia, who falls right onto Kanan, who lands perfectly on the floor and cushioning the two of them from a dangerous fall. Eli makes sure to get a quick snapshot on her phone before Dia, beet red in the face, squirms out from between the laughing girls. Chika and Ruby both do the exact same thing and puff the santa belly out too much, sliding the pole off before they could bend back more. Yohane got knocked out in the first round, but she roots for her other girlfriend as she maneuvers perfectly. Kanan, Nozomi and Eli don’t last longer than the first three rounds and Eli sits in the losers section with her watching as the game slowly narrows down to its semi finalists: Hanamaru, Dia, and Nico.

The pole gets dangerously low and all eyes are on Dia. She’s significantly taller than Nico and Hanamaru and her determination to win could end up being her downfall. Hanamaru herself doesn’t look to bothered, but Nico looks. Well. She’s happy she’s gotten far but she realized partially through the game that she’s proving Nozomi is right by winning this. She pats the pillow stuffed under her sweater and turns in the direction she and Eli sit and glares at them before she goes in for another turn, clearing yet another level of the lowered pole.

When Dia goes up next, she unfortunately pulls a Mari and slips. She falls directly onto her back with a loud thud. The pole falls on top of her and she’s booted out of the game. Eli can’t hide her little giggles as Dia moves to the losers couch next to her to grumble about the game being unfair to the taller members.

“Don’t sweat it Dia, you did great!” Kanan says with a positive smile.

“Yeah! For one of the taller girls, you really lasted so much longer than we thought! We assumed you were going to lose right in the beginning.” Mari jokes and Dia glares in her direction.

“You underestimate the power of a Kurosawa. Unlike Kanan here, who doesn’t doubt my drive to win.” Kanan feels a bit of pride at that statement and Mari laughs.

“Oho! You say that but you have yet to complete the biggest challenge of the night- giving me a kiss~” Mari points to her mistletoe and smirks, “You’re like, the only one here who hasn’t given me one! It’s rude! This is an activity too you know! You gotta kiss under the mistletoe!”

Dia opens her mouth to object and then closes it. Then opens it again and blushes. Eli’s eyes are glued to the scene next to her and she practically forgets about Nico and Hanamaru dueling it out under the limbo pole as she watches Dia figure out what to do with the situation. She watches Dia take in her scenery, noticing Mari is behind the couch and draped between her and Kanan. Eli see’s the look of an idea come to her and an even bigger blush forming on her cheeks and watches as Dia reaches past Mari to grab Kanan by her christmas tie, pull her in closer and plant a small kiss directly on her lips.

Mari practically falls backward, losing her footing from the imbalance of her reeling backward off the couch and not catching herself in time. She lands on her butt for a third time and she almost screams in delight. Eli beats her to it, gasping only loud enough for Kanan and Dia to hear her. She covers her mouth to refrain from making anymore noises but Nozomi and a couple others look over to see Dia pulling away from Kanan, both of their faces bright red. The corner of Kanan’s lip quirks upward is disbelief and Mari pulls herself up from the ground to look at Dia in disbelief and awe.

“Excuse me!? Did I just see what I think I did?!” Mari practically shouts, catching the attention of everyone now.

Nico, who is under the limbo pole, drops to the ground from the surprise of it all and ends up losing the game (something she intends to argue about later, when the commotion has died down.) Ruby’s eyes sparkle with almost as much excitement as Eli’s do while the others look on mildly surprised and a little confused.

“You bet you did. The rules of the mistletoe is you have to kiss someone under it. There was only Kanan under it, because you’re wearing it. Challenge won. Now excuse me.” Is all Dia says as she stands up and decides now, of all times, is the best time to use the restroom real quick (but Eli knows a gay panic when she sees one and Dia’s going to give herself a brief moment alone to do just that).

The commotion seems to fade into the background as everyone celebrates Hanamaru’s win from the limbo game. Kanan, still stunned, sits on the couch with her hand going to her lips while Mari decides to grab Hanamaru her prize before scampering off to find Dia and question her some more on those loopholes. Eli can’t stop the smile on her face. It’s huge. This is literally everything she could have wanted from a party and she feels absolutely blessed. Nozomi seems to notice and she nudges her a bit.

“How long have you been waiting for that to happen?” She grins as she asks the question.

“Since the day I got invited to this party,” Eli admits a little sheepishly, “Kanan filled me in on a lot of things and I’ve sort of been rooting for them ever since. Dia’s very inexperienced and you can tell she’s always wanted to be some kind of thing with them. It’s not evident, but it’s there, you know?”

Nozomi nods because she knows. She knows all too well about someone being very inexperienced and wanting to be some kind of thing with someone. She looks at Eli with a stare that says she knows a lot more than what Eli might think when it comes to inexperienced gays pinning for people. Eli continues speaking, not really thinking about her words.

“Makes me kind of envious, you know? I’ve always wanted a girlfriend and suddenly my coworker has two potential ones who want nothing more than her to be with them too.”

Great! Eli just practically outed herself to this girl in more ways than one. Her eyes widen and she can feel the colour draining from her face as she watches Nozomi’s eyes illuminate and make all the connections she really, truly hoped wouldn’t happen for months after this party. The colour comes back in a full, bright santa suit red and Eli wishes she could fade into nothingness as Nozomi gazes at her. Nozomi leans closer and Eli finds herself wanting to lean back a bit, but she’s frozen. She has no idea what to do.

“She doesn’t have to be the only one getting two girlfriends at once.” she says in a voice like a whisper, pulling back only to wink and causing Eli’s face to ignite into even more brighter shade of red.

She blinks once. Twice. Her mouth opens and she gapes for a moment. Was that correct? She heard that correctly right? She can’t confirm it because everyone around them isn’t paying attention to the two of them and Eli’s mind is spinning with thoughts.

“What.” Is all she manages to squeak out, not even in a questioning tone.

Nozomi laughs and stands up, holding her hand out for Eli’s. Eli hesitates before reaching up and taking it. Nozomi glances over to see Nico is distracted with the other kids, wanting to get a retry out of them. She pulls Eli along towards the glass doors by the refreshment table, deciding their conversation should be a little more private. For Eli’s sake, really. Eli lets herself be pulled away and as they reach the glass doors she notices Mari has returned, hand in hand with Dia and a big bright grin on her face- Something tells her that Mari got exactly what she’s been wishing for this christmas in that time alone with Dia.

It’s chilly outside, but not bad. Her face is so hot Eli can’t even really tell that it’s cold at all. They stay a few feet away from the door, standing on the stone patio together. Nozomi lets go of her hand and turns to face her, smiling affectionately.

“I’ve been trying to pin you somewhere on my gaydar- I knew you were either bi or a lesbian, but I think you just confirmed it for me.” She says it in a playful tone and Eli wishes she could just stick her head into the ground.

She feels both intimidated and relieved. Thank god her gay ass is obvious- it’s helpful for her to know this as she does try to show and express it. She does wish she had a gaydar like Nozomi’s- it’d be easier to find other lesbians and get into the gay scene.

“I wish I could read people as well as you could.” She laments with an awkward smile, “It would’ve saved me a lot of unwanted conversations and maybe given me the courage to try a few more things.”

“Like the ones you want to have where you come visit me or Nicocchi at work?” she can’t stop her teasing and Eli almost puts her face into her hands.

“God was I that obvious to you two?!” She almost cries and Nozomi can’t stop her laughs.

“We ended up creating a game over how many times we caught you looking over at us! I’m in a five point lead right now~”

Eli wants to shrivel up and die. She hates this. She came to the party to have fun with her crushes, not accidentally out herself only to learn that they could tell she felt something for them the whole time.

“God I’m so embarrassed.” She mumbles, shyly pulling at a strand of hair that frames her face. “If I wasn’t so socially awkward I probably wouldn’t have embarrassed myself this badly.”

Nozomi’s laughs have died down and she wears that warm smile again.

“Well, if you ever want more social practice, you know you can always come find me. I wouldn’t mind spending a day with you helping you with social cues and how to not stare too much at girls you’re crushing on. Maybe some time after christmas when we’re both free? We could even try to rope Nicocchi into it.”

Eli laughs this time, her blush dwindling down a bit. Her embarrassment is gone seeing Nozomi is completely comfortable with this and is in fact flirting with her. She wonders what that may mean for them. Maybe she would get two girlfriends tonight too? It’s hard to tell- Nozomi definitely seems to want to have something more with her, and whether its a friendship or a relationship, Eli really doesn’t mind.

“I think I’d like that a lot.”

Nozomi’s smile only grows as she closes her eyes and laughs. She looks relieved- kinda like she was putting herself out there asking that question. Eli’s heart beats harder, playing with the idea that Nozomi may have been nervous asking her that. She opens her eyes and Eli can’t tell if it’s the cold or just embarrassment that brings the rosy pink colour to the other girls cheeks.

“It’s a date then!” She says, leaning up to plant a small kiss on her cheek.

There’s a loud slam on the glass door and Eli doesn’t even get the opportunity to enjoy the kiss as they hear a muffled shout of “I WIN” coming from inside that sounds like Dia? They look over, their faces still close to see they have ten spectators watching them from the inside. Dia’s practically glowing with pride and has earned a few laughs from the others. Nico watches on with a smug look, raising her eyebrow at the two of them (which somehow makes Eli feel a little more embarrassed than being watched by the other girls.It’s a mystery.)

She begins to wonder if that could be the reason why Eli was invited in the first place. If Nozomi and Nico could easily read her, then there’s no doubt that Dia could as well. Was she really invited to celebrate the christmas cheer with everyone here, or did they set it up? Was it all just one big set up to get Eli to actually talk to her crushes? As she wonders about this with a fond smile on her features, something cold and wet lands on Eli’s hand and she looks away from the window and instead upward. Was that..?

“Was that a snowflake?” Nozomi asks aloud, also looking up.

It catches the attention of everyone inside of the building enough to get them to open the door and peer outside. Sure enough, the snowfall begins to grow and grow by the second and soon Eli and Nozomi begin to get covered in a thin layer of snowflakes. There are gasps of delight at the surprise weather change and Mari cheers excitedly, announcing that it might just be a white christmas after all. Dia, having more sense tells Nozomi and Eli to hurry inside before they become soaked.

They do so immediately, Nozomi taking Eli’s hand and bringing her back inside, where they enjoy the rest of the party at the Ohara mansion together with their coworkers, new friends and new found loves.

[bigbrothernetflix-st]

EPISODE TWO

“I'm starting to feel more comfortable with my position in the game.” - dem

HOH: Josh C UPSIDE DOWN: Nick & Joshua NOMINEES: Emma & Nash POV: N/A FINAL NOMINEES: N/A EVICTED: Dem (Expelled)

EMMA

I been struggling in this game which is sad i want to have fun but yesterday made me feel like maybe having a meltdown and leaving 90 percent of servers was a good idea for me i really hope not i just really want to have fun and win for some reasons i always have trouble prejury in games trying to find my footing but at jury and late prejury i always know how to rise ASDFGH the people i really like rn are Jakey loml jev loml aria queen saira queen and also joshua is easy to talk too!!! nathan is also great

DEM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSgjyUhGTng

NASH

i simply think men should stop winning hoh and trying to nom me. its week 2 go target someone else j*sh. jev and i are cool now though <3 love him

DEM

I'm starting to feel more comfortable with my position in the game. I think I'm not in anyone's bad graces so far, which is good. But I really need to win one of these next HoH's so secure my social relationships. My plan moving forward is to see win HoH's. I want to win the next to HoH's I'm eligible in back to back. I also want to try to secure my relationships with Gina, Jev, and Jake. Those are three people I want to be close with in this game. Also maybe Joshua? He's pretty cool and chill.

SAIRA

I'm still getting a sense of how the game works but I feel pretty good, there are some people that are much easier to talk to than others but everyone is still so nice! i feel good about josh c as hoh! we get along pretty well and I don't THINK im in any danger but you never know! imma be honest, I don't have an actual plan, i'm mostly playing this by ear, just talking to people, bullying beck when the chance arises, and being myself! 

JOSH C

HELLO GIRLIES!

well, we won HOH and that's really EXCITING. i probably didn't need to win this week but i figured that i'd get a win under my belt while nominating people would still be EASY. i can establish trust with some people and get a "i didn't nom you, please don't nom me" situation going on. i also feel like the two people i'm going to nominate would have NOMMED me anyways because we just haven't talked..

who those people are? nash & emma. (vl don't hate me for only nominating women i didn't want it to come to this either)

but i just.. both of them have really only put in any effort to talk to me now that i'm HOH and i don't really LOVE that tbh. i've already told a few people that's who i'm thinking so i kind of accidentally locked myself in on these noms because there isn't any sense in throwing out more names than i have to!!

i have an alliance with kiki, brianna, jacob, jake, and aria. (i think that's the people in it? i wanna say that's right. LKFMSDG love this game for me) and i feel pretty good in that because i like all of them enough and they're people that will watch out for ME and each other. but i know my social connections go beyond that so i'm feeling pretty good with my spot in the game? i have a solid relationship with almost everyone in the game and i think i should be able to play a cute lil utr game for a few weeks. i don't think that i'll get targeted first if my alliance gets outed and if so.. i have ENOUGH faith in my comp strength and relationships to save me against MOST of the cast.

people kind of want me to nominate DEM because apparently he starts drama with people and has been a bit inactive. he's talked with me more than other people so im not super keen on throwing him on the block RIGHT AWAY but i'm thinking he's a good replacement nom because if people think he's MIA then no one other than him will be upset with me. maybe a backdoor? could be spicy..

i don't really know what else to say here so.. i hope this is enough! love u guys <3

BRIANNA

https://youtu.be/mJw3qxsZ-Bg

JEV

Okay so I feel like pretty comfortable this week because me and Josh have gotten pretty close and bonded over our mutual love of Lucas HOWEVER he's just let me know he's gonna be nominating Nash and Emma which isn't GREAT since I'm in alliances with both of them and they're the only 2 alliances I have so I really wouldn't want to see either of them go home this week, this SUCKS ASS

JAKE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2xRQqqax8

ARIA

how is it ONLY week 2 i feel so hecking exhausted fhsabfd, but that might also be the fact that is 2 am so,,,oop. Um okay recap time!!!! Recaps are so hard because theres minor details that i still want to note without seeming super annoying so heres a minor list of things im noticing 

-Dem wants to "start playing the game" I told this to Jake (wish i could bold names ugh)

-Gina & dem told me they were gunning hard for hoh- i told nathan/monty/nick/,,,,and someone else this

-emma feels unconnected from cast

-Jake doesnt like Gina

-Josh likes Me Jev Kiki (told joshua)

-emma knows alliances are starting to form

-joey can get pwr hungry and chaotic + good comp ability

-told gnia my thoughts on the sides being "connected v unconnected" and other tidbits of info

-GIna (potentially joshua) doesnt like nash

-Nathan/Nash ARE CLOSE!!!!! WEE FUCKING WOO!!!!

-Told Jake that Jacob has the power (and the bs excuse he told gina pretending he doesnt have it,,,sure jan)

-jake is GREAT at lowering his threat lvl im sick

-Jev-Josh-Nathan-Nash all bonded p well on vc potentially an alliance

-jake tried to get gina nominated

-Emma Nash noms

-Jake doesnt want emma to leave

So,,,thats what you missed on GLEE! Honestly glee sucks but yeah thats all my info i would weave everything together with cute transitions but im TIRED and lots of this information doesnt really connect well so,,,have a bullet list! 

okok nvm heres some general thoughts bc JUST a bullet point list is so boringgg im honestly not too sure what i want to do this week bc i think emma doesnt have a lot of people (although she has jake apparently,,,she might just be putting up a front of being unconnected ffs) so i would rather keep her around based on our relationship alone esp compared to nash whose been busy w/ irl things to reply i think (nash would prob do gr8 in old school bb,,,but new school is a whole other beast) HOWEVER!!! I need to protect gina who isn't the best conversationalist (sorry bb ily but its true <3) and keeping nash around ensures people have another "inact" target besides her but also nash is such a god connection for people like nathan and jacob and i would rather get her out sooner than later before we have another renee on our hands ...

Also i havent talked to the pasio peeps (omg if we ever make an alliance,,,that should be the name hehe) in a while and idk if theyre distancing themselves or if theyre just busy fndsjafd god im too paranoid for this game its awful. Also i think i mentioned the alliance with josh kiki bri jake jacob last time and it still isnt made and im PRAYINGGG it never gets made bc i have SUCH an awful feeling like SIX FUCKING PEOPLE??? S I X?? THAT IS GOING TO FAIL AND BLOW UP!!!! but i cant say no to an alliance so here i fucking am :/ also im trying to think of my longevity in this game and like,,, idk im nervous. I mean ive mentioned going to the end with multiple people but i have such a bad feeling im gonna go out 9/10 as a big move and i REFUSE to let that shit happen, not on my fucking watch no sir!! Not sure what to do about it yet but i feel like monty in particular doesnt trust me and i need his ass OUT! or maybe not if he comes around but like??? sir pls talk to me- i mean this phase of the game is early im setting up the pawns for later, but before later theres gonna be a couple explosions of my game which i'll have to deal with,,, or maybe not actually i mean in my first org i did a really well mastermind game with it- nvm it did explode on me once FDBSHFDS yeah so theres gonna be an explosion period but i think im getting good at dealing w/ the backlash from it and reintegrating myself..

oh also yeah im safe this week lol

anyway sorry for rambling so much LMAO have a trust ranking!

1.Gina (MY QUEEN!!!!!!!! i LOVE her!)

-BIG BIG FUCKING GAP-

2.Jake (listen,,,my thoughts go back and forth but he did tell me the noms so,,,have some rights)

3.Saira (we never talk game but i dont think she talks with anyone about game beyond maybe nick and also shes nice and im a sucker for nice girls)

4.Emma (if this isnt all just a front shes gonna make a great number for me,, might need to fact check some of her statements tho)

5.Joshua (honestly? i love him hes so funny and i think he has my back although he could be more act)

6.Nathan (literally havent talked in 3 days but also i have a soft spot for him <3)

-GAP-

sorry the Js are just kinda scary lmao JFNSDKF

7.Nick (!! we gotta an actual connection folks!! heck yeah!)

8.Josh c (im safe! but he D E F trusts others more than me such as Joshua and Jacob)

9.Jev (honestly a king but hes a little quiet although his reccs are the BOMB)

10.Jacob (i know youre being sneaky,,,idk what youre being sneaky with but im getting the vibes)

11.Dem (might be weird but i think he trusts me? at least a little bc he ranted about losing to me so O.0)

12.Brianna (youre adorable and deserve the world but everyone likes you,,,is this how people view me omg fhsabfhds)

13.Kiki (youre SO hecking sweet and actually u probs have a connections to nash but we havent talked ANY game yet)

14.Nash (p,,p-please talk to me uwu)

15.Joey (i dont trust you at ALL! Why? good question-)

was that mean? sorry in advance ilyall but also its 3 am brain empty no filter

NASH

i think jev and nathan might end up being good allies of mine (inb4 betrayal)! despite the mistake he made nomming me, talking to jev has been lovely so far he's getting me into loona LMFAO. and i just love nathan's energy & i feel like as the season goes on i can see him winning comps. i'm excited :3 hope josh c does not end my existence this week

JOEY

I feel FANTASTIC about Josh being HoH. I’m making sure that others are coming to me about gameplans, and I’m making sure I don’t come off as too pushy or aggressive in PMs. With most of the players, I’m trying to give them all the same energy and hype. It seems kinda weird to say this, but I’m not concerned about being nominated at this point. What I need to ensure is building my social relationships with people outside the “Crackhouse”, and yes that big ol friend group moved to Discord in 20 minutes like 6 months ago. 

This is the first major game I’ve ever played with Skinny Nick(yes, I’m absolutely confused as to what to call them, I’m so used to calling Nick “Eve” that its going to take time to adjust.) Speaking of Nick, my social relationship with him is actually surprisingly similar. In the past, I felt as though it would be as “on-sight” as Tom & Jerry, and it actually isn’t turning out that way, which is surprisingly refreshing. Every day, I’m making sure I send Nick something different to diversify my social game with them. Yesterday, I asked Nick about his preferred streaming services for music and TV, and I discovered we have the same music service(Apple Music).

I’ve played one game with Monty before, but it was a disaster. We were in pairs, and it felt like we were on different planets. I did tell him to not worry about personal feelings when it comes to this game, because I compared the relationship of BB Netflix and the Crackhouse to the separation of church and state. I made that comparison because the two entities of church and state should never cross, but when they do it becomes disastrous, and I feel as though that same principle applies to this game.

Overall, I feel good, Emma may be going up on the block, but it shouldn’t affect me that much. We’re in the early stage, I want to make sure I’m good with everyone.

ARIA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFeox7LM1-E

JAKE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLkZ-BIIjTU

HOUSE MEETING

https://youtu.be/BZMorvWvyKY

HOST WEEKLY CAST ASSESSMENT WEEK 1 & 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc-iMpkfrdw&list=PLFEwPPy8j010XXwntq80VSU0qLNTNpSIN&index=3&t=0s