#someone big got it mixed up somewhere along the way

[therealandian]

it will never not be funny to me that, almost universally, no one can get the magnus institute’s little catchphrase thing in the right order

i’ve seen “vigilo, opperior, audio” so many times, but if you actually go back and listen to that teaser, it’s clearly “vigilo, audio, opperior”

i’m not even mad, it just makes me giggle every time i see it lmao

[peachhcs]

mint rocky road

hughes!sister x will smith au (samy + will)

will decides he wants to try and reconcile with samy during the family vacation

2.7k words

i'm trying to sort of post these in order of the timeline, but i like to jump around a little so it's a bit more fun :) this was like lowkey sad at first, but then it got somewhat happier 🤗

au masterlist

it only took will three days before deciding he should try talking to samy. the two had been avoiding one another since his family got to the lakehouse because obviously what else were they supposed to say to one another? avoiding each just seemed like the next best option. although, the boy kept thinking about what his mom and sister said a few weeks ago. it wouldn’t hurt to try and talk. 

if it went horribly then at least they were pretty good at dodging one another. the big lakehouse finally had its perks. 

everyone was wiped out from the long day in town. there was someone in every room either asleep or close to it, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to talk. will wandered the house in search of the brunette knowing she liked to hide herself in rooms no one ever looked in, but when he searched in all the hiding spots he could remember, he didn’t find any trace of the youngest hughes. it wasn’t until will wandered outside when he saw a faint figure all the way down on the dock. bingo. 

the walk down the yard had will running through every way this conversation could go. she could walk away before he even got there. she’d start bitching at him. she’d tell him she doesn’t want to talk to him ever again. the possibilities were looking a little endless, but the hockey player couldn’t be afraid. 

once upon a time, samy knew him like the back of her hand and vice versa. she was his best friend, so somewhere in there, will knew she wanted to at least hear him out. 

he would hear her out if it were the other way around, so will took his chances. the closer he got, the harder his heart beat against his chest in a rapid rhythm similar to the panic attack he had back at the combine. everything in will wanted to turn around and just continue avoiding samy, but the small part in him that included ryan and gabe’s nagging words kept his feet moving towards the girl now just inches away. 

words weren’t coming to him right now, so the hockey player slowly sat down beside her in an open spot almost as if she knew he was coming out here, so she left the space there. samy didn’t look his way, but she knew he was there. her own heart was now beating a bruise against her chest with will’s close proximity. 

the silence quickly filled in around them with both of their eyes glued to the lake. it was almost funny how they didn’t know what to say because if it were any other circumstance, the two could never shut up around one another. as soon as the smith’s were in the driveway, samy would pounce on the siblings with excitement in her bones to tell them about everything they missed since last summer. none of that happened this year which made this summer already feel a lot different than the previous ones. and maybe it was also a mix of growing up and childhood excitement escaping everyone now that they were all adults. 

“hey stranger,” samy finally broke their deafening silence. her gaze found will’s whose eyes were already on hers as soon as her mouth opened. a crinkle of a smile found its way to her lips sending a little buzz through the blonde. 

“hey,” will whispered like he was too afraid to speak any louder. 

“i didn't think you were coming this year,” the girl hummed, removing her gaze from will’s. the little frown replacing the smile on her lips hurt will more than he liked to admit. 

“i’d never miss the family vacation,” the boy said, but the brunette shrugged. 

“i just thought you’d skip because..you know,” she didn’t need to say it for will to know what she was talking about. her frown deepened along with his at her words. 

“i was actually hoping we could um..um talk about that. this. us,” he stumbled over his words making his cheeks flush in embarrassment. 

“i don’t really know if there’s much to talk about,” samy said all she could to will a month ago and he just pushed her away, so she didn’t know what else could really be said. 

will’s silence made her look back over at him. his gaze wasn’t on hers, but she could see the way his brain was turning, running through all the things he could say to her. his face was set, eyes sunken in as the sadness clouded over him and eventually her too. 

but god, did he look good. despite avoiding him, samy caught glimpses of him with her brothers in the last few days. his curls were grown back out around his ears and whatever he was doing in the offseason was really paying off. he’d grown a lot—arms and legs muscling up and his abs showing a lot more than usual. will was always fit, but for some reason he looked extra good and samy couldn’t really stop staring. 

“will you at least hear me out?” the blonde spoke again and samy snapped out of her little daze of him. 

his look was a bit pleading making it hard to say no, but she wouldn’t ever say no anyway, “i’m giving you five minutes to say something good.” 

“ten?” will negotiated knowing he wouldn’t be able to explain everything in just five minutes. 

his little pleading look continued and shit, he was hard to say no to even when they weren’t on speaking terms. “okay, fine. ten minutes, start talking.” 

“i know i really fucked up and i know i should’ve talked to you more. i-i don’t really know why i didn’t. there was a lot going on in my mind which i know isn’t an excuse, but i thought i could just figure everything out myself which was another dumb mistake. when we got back from worlds everything was going to happen so fast, it kind of freaked me out and i started making stupid decisions,” will began, eyes on anything but samy as he talked. 

“you pushed me away,” the girl stated. 

“i know and i shouldn’t have done that. i thought i was making the right choice by doing that and i realize now that it was the very, very wrong choice,” the blonde shook his head. 

“why didn’t you just talk to me? you know you can always talk to me,” samy’s tone softened at the last part creating this pinch in will’s heart hearing her talk to him like that. 

he finally met her eyes and it took everything in him to not break down. her expression was a mix of hurt and betrayal which was something will never wanted to see, especially when he was the cause of it all,. 

“i know. i-i got scared, i guess. i was scared i was going to lose you or something once i went to california. it was so hard for us to talk during the school year, i started imagining the worse if i was in california. i mean, come on, samy. you’re this amazing, popular person who’s awesome at soccer. you know you have guys at your feet lined up to talk to you. i thought letting you go would be better so i wasn’t holding you back and you could find someone who could actually be there for you. i thought i couldn’t be the boyfriend you wanted all the way across the country,” the tears couldn’t be stopped as will continued talking. his eyes glossed over, desperately trying to hold them in and samy didn’t look any better. 

she looked away hoping he wouldn’t see her own tears, but they both knew she was crying if he was crying. “you weren’t ever gonna lose me, will. i told you, i’m with you wherever you go. i don’t care about those other guys who are in my dms because you’re the one i chose,” her voice broke, sending will’s tears down his cheeks. 

“i know that now. i’m really, really sorry i didn’t get that until now. i never should’ve pushed you away. i got in my own head and i thought i was helping both of us,” the blonde frowned, quickly wiping the tears away. 

“you really hurt me, will. like a lot.” 

“i know,” the boy squeaked out. 

“i don’t really know if things can ever really be the same between us,” the admission hurt, but will knew it was coming. 

“can we at least try? at least the friends part?” not being together was fine, but will couldn’t not be her friend. 

“i don’t know..maybe it would be best for us to just..keep things how they are?” samy sighed, breaking will’s heart even further even though he deserved most of this. 

the silence engulfed them again, but neither of them moved from their spot on the dock. will’s gaze drifted down to where samy toyed with her charm bracelet. he noticed all the charms still there, even the ones he got her, so he took that as his comfort in knowing that somewhere in the back of samy’s mind, he was still there. 

not knowing what else could be said, will finally pushed himself to his feet. he watched the brunette for a moment, wondering if she’d turn around and tell him to stay or something, but she didn’t even move a muscle. 

that pinch in will’s heart grew larger as he forced himself to walk away back to the house. at least he tried. 

samy listened to his retreating footsteps, waiting until he was out of earshot to fully break down. her head sunk into her hands where the sobs quickly escaped her lips in little bursts between the pants. 

she wanted to take him back so bad. just looking at his broken expression made her wanna lunge at him, but she needed to hold some self-respect for herself. words alone weren’t going to fix all the broken things between them. she feared their relationship would never be the same anymore and that was scary because will was all samy’s ever known. 

a few minutes passed when the younger girl heard another pair of footsteps on the dock behind her. she expected it to be her mom or one of her brothers, so when long locks of blonde hair appeared beside her and a gentle hand belonging to grace, samy was very surprised. 

she hadn’t spoken to the oldest smith sibling since the breakup. she didn’t know if grace hated her now, so she sort of avoided her too, but the gentle look on the older girl’s face told samy that was far from the case. 

“are you okay?” grace wondered, taking the spot her brother was just in. 

“i don’t really know,” samy admitted because her heart and head kept telling her two very different things. 

“sorry, that was a bad question. i-i know we haven’t really talked a lot since…but i’m here to talk if you want. i thought my brother was really stupid for doing what he did. we all thought so. i just came down to check on you because i saw him come in,” the older girl continued a bit shyly. 

“we were just talking. he-he was..apologizing,” the younger brunette explained briefly. 

“he was?” 

“yeah. i didn’t really..forgive him. i just don’t know if i can…or if i even should. it’s so confusing in my mind right now,” samy frowned. 

“that’s okay. you don’t have to know all the answers right now. he hurt you and you’re hesitant. that’s perfectly okay,” grace reassured, rubbing her hand across samy’s arm. 

“he was my best friend and i don’t know anything but him.” 

“well, do you want him back in your life in any way?” grace hummed. 

“like a small part of me does, but i don’t even know where i’d start with that,” obviously, her and will wouldn’t just jump back into another like nothing happened. 

“you don’t have to know. starting back as friends is easy if that’s something you want. relearn him as friends and if your heart is still pulling you to him, then i’d say that’s your sign that you want him back as something more than that,” the older blonde gave her best advice based on what she’s learned when it came to this kind of thing. 

“i’m just scared i’ll get hurt again and i can’t do that.” 

“i get that, trust me, i do. it’s really scary, but i know my brother is really sorry and he really wants to be your friend again if you’ll have him. that’s not to excuse what happened and what he did, but i don’t think he could ever dream of hurting you again based on how much he’s hurt.” 

grace’s words sat in samy’s head for the entire rest of the time they were outside until they went back in. it was late. grace retreated to bed, but the younger brunette needed some sort of sweet treat, so she ventured into the kitchen before stopping in her tracks when she saw will sitting at the counter. 

his back was to her and samy considered turning around so she didn’t have to talk to him again, but something in her put one foot in front of the other until she was right beside him, 

“late night snack?” the girl spoke quietly because she didn’t want to wake up the sleeping house. 

her voice startled the boy as he jumped, quickly whipping his head in her direction. “oh, yeah. i couldn’t really sleep,” the blonde flushed. 

“we think alike,” samy mumbled as she walked around to dig through the freezer for any ice cream. 

will watched her from where he sat, heart racing still. being in her presence so close after not seeing one another for a month set his body on fire because if only she knew how much he missed her and hoped that a small part of her missed him too. 

“want any?” samy turned around once she found the carton she wanted. it was mint rocky road which was one of their favorites they always shared together. will wondered if she did that on purpose or not. 

“sure,” the boy said, so samy handed him his own spoon and popped the cover off. 

they took turns awkwardly digging their spoons into the ice cream without speaking. the only sound was someone’s snores in one of the rooms downstairs that was most definitely mr. smith because he snored loud. 

“i-i’m sorry for being kind of harsh earlier. i-i..there’s been a lot on my mind. it’s been weird seeing you after..everything..” the brunette began while will’s eyes glued to her own. “i’m still trying to figure out how i feel because honestly, i don’t really know. i’m really hurt still, yet i can’t ever be mad at you because you’re..you were my best friend and you’re family.” samy shook her head. 

will stayed silent, not sure where she was going with all of this. 

“i do want to try and be friends with you again. we were..inseparable once upon a time and as much as i don’t want to believe it, history is hard to forget about. you’re still someone i think about a lot and i don’t think that’s something that can be thrown away just like that,” her gaze found will’s. 

everything in his system practically exploded hearing her say that because god, he hoped she would. 

“really?” was all he could manage. 

“yeah, really. if..if we ever wanted to go back to..i think we need to start at the beginning first, you know?” samy’s eyes dropped from his back to the ice cream. 

“right, i totally agree. i’m really glad you said that,” a little smile found its way to his lips and so did samy’s. 

“we watched each other throw up everywhere, break bones, face plant on the ice..i think it would be impossible if we stopped being friends,” samy giggled, something will hadn't heard in a long time. 

“plus, i don’t think we could avoid one another forever with our parents being best friends,” will added and the girl nodded in agreement. 

“i still am hurt by everything, but i’m willing to start back as friends.” 

the two exchanged a smile and they spent the rest of the night eating all of the mint rocky road as if they were kids 

[theycalledhimastar]

Can't get the idea of dog hybrid 141 out of my head, especially not dog!Soap.

☄. *.

I'm thinking a mutt, because it seems fitting for the little guy. Just based off of appearances and personality alone, I think a Rhodesian Ridgeback/ Belgian Malinois mix would suit him pretty damn good. (Ridgeback just because I know some of them have like a mohawk in their fur running down their back and I think I'm funny)

The Malinois because they're smaller than shepherds but louder and more energetic (in my experience anyways). And that feels like Soap to me, loud, energetic, but super smart and loyal as well.

I imagine like a werewolf type situation where he can change back and forth at will, except you aren't aware of his human side and he prefers to keep it that way. The attention you're giving what you think is a cute little pup from the sidewalk is absolutely unbridled to anything he could get in his human form.

He was likely just relaxing somewhere in a park, enjoying the attention and occasional pets he got from ladies passing by. When you came along and absolutely stole his attention entirely!!

He was smitten with you on first sight, going up to you and knocking his big head into the side of your leg as if to say "pet me!". Insisting on sticking his snoot in the palm of your hand with so much gusto, you questioned if you accidentally had some sort of food on you that he liked.

Acquainted himself with you freely, sticking his nose where it very much did not belong, as dogs tend to do. To which you shoved his head out from between your legs with an awkward laugh and a playful scolding. He just continued to look up at you with so much love in his eyes, you almost felt bad for leaving him behind.

You didn't see a collar or any indicators of tags on him, simply a happy little guy, wagging his tail and hanging around the parks. Although surely he couldn't just be a stray, you thought. He was far too friendly to be stray. Someone had to be looking for him, you would simply have to hope that whoever it was, found him.

He tried to get you to stay and play with him using absolutely every trick in the book. He even tried standing on your feet so you couldn't leave, but you didn't seem to like that one very much. He gently took your hand in his mouth, simply holding it there with his teeth as if to hold your hand and keep you with him. But, you had places to go and you simply couldn't take home some stray dog from the park, so you pulled your hand out of his slobbery mouth and went on your way...

Right after a few more pets on his soft fluffy head.

[oleander-nin]

Sugar Cookies(Rise!Donnie x Reader)

A/n: Repost because I originally wrote this on a reblog and it bothered me. Any criticism is welcome, constructive or not. This is supposed to be a gender neutral reader, so if I screwed up somewhere, please tell me.

Content Warnings: Fluff, Christmas themed

Words: 1047

Summary: You make Christmas cookies w/ the ROTTMNT guys, and you model your sugar cookie after your purple lover.

The lairs' kitchen smelled absolutely amazing and that was probably attributed to the cookies you and Michelangelo have been working on for the past half hour. Mikey smiled at you as he pulled the last batch of cookies out of the oven, they all looked perfect(except for the one dinosaur one Raph tried to make, it kind of spread out too much, but it wasn’t Christmas-y, so it doesn’t count). You quickly mix the rest of the frosting with their respective colors so everyone could start decorating, and you pull out the rest of the sprinkle containers. “You ready?” You look to Mikey who's putting the fresh cookies out on a wire rack to cool and he nods back at you.

“Let's get this party started!”

As you put the frosting into piping bags, Mikey calls everyone over, handing them paper plates as they walk into the kitchen so they can all start decorating. You take your own plate and grab one of the sugar cookies that’s shaped like a gingerbread man cutout. Donnie taps the table a couple of times to get your attention, and you both lock eyes. He grins and nods to the seat next to him. You roll your eyes at his nonverbal question, and make your way over to sit down next to him.

“Soo, what are you planning on doing?” You ask Donnie, looking down at the ornament shaped cookie he had on his plate. Donnie grins wide at your question and starts to ramble on about how he plans to perfectly decorate his cookie. You hum along as he talks, listening to his explanation as you collect the colors you want. Ready to start working on your own Christmas treat, you take a toothpick from the box in the center of the table and start spreading the green color all over the body of your gingerbread-shaped cookie.

Donnie glances over at your design choice and stops his monologue about his chosen colors to stare down at your cookie in disgust.

“Why, pray tell, are you using green to color your cookie?” His scowl makes you snort and you use the back of your hand to cover your mouth before you start laughing out loud.

“For your information, I have a plan. So boo hoo, I’m using green to color my tiny gingerbread man.” You stick your tongue out at Donnie and continue to spread the green throughout the cookie, trying to keep it as even as possible.

“I, for one, think it looks great,” Raph says, smiling over at you two, “and while it is a strange choice to color your Christmas cookie fully green, I do support you.”

“Thank you Raph, glad to hear someone appreciates my creative abilities.”

Donnie scoffs at you both before he gets distracted by Leo who, like you, is painting his entire cookie one color. Unlike you however, is the fact that his cookie is one, a snowflake, and two, bright pink. You have no idea where he got said color, as you have no recollection of making it when you and Mikey were working on the frosting.

The light conversation being made around you was comfortable background noise for you to work with, but now you purposefully hunched over your cookie a bit to try and hide it from your purple-cladded boyfriend. Mikey looks up at you when you reach across the table to grab the purple. Realizing what you're doing, a big grin comes across his face, and he slides the color over to you. Thanking him, you start on the mask and little accessories of your cookie Donnie.

Mikey kicks you from under the table and you look up at him.

“What?” You mouth to him, trying to draw as little attention to yourself from Donnie. Thankfully Leo was keeping him busy by trying to put some of the pink frosting on Donnie’s cookie and Donnie was attempting to fend him off.

“Goggles?” Mikey mouths back. He understood your want to keep it on the downlow, and you appreciated his compliance.

You shake your head yes and subtly nod over to the jar of rainbow sprinkles. “Two whites together.”

Mikey’s grin widens at your idea and nods thoughtfully. Donnie and Leo had finally stopped their petty fight, so you went back to hiding your cookie from your boyfriend's view. You could tell he noticed with the way he stared at you, but you just grinned innocently at him.

“What are you doing?” Donnie asks, trying to glance over at your cookie. “What, were you so embarrassed about your green cookie that you have to hide it now?”

“Mhmm, yup. Absolutely devastated and completely humiliated that you saw my cookie, so now I must hide it from the world.” You say, sarcasm dripping with every word. Donnie looks unimpressed with your words and rolls his eyes at you.

“Scoff, fine. If you don’t want to show me your hideous cookie, then I shall leave it be. I wouldn’t want to scar myself by looking at such a monstrosity anyways.”

You use the sprinkles to make his face and goggles, adding the finishing touches and cleaning up any wayward frosting. Happy with the result, you start cleaning up your mess. Sliding your cookie back into Donnie’s view, you wait for him to notice. Donnie must’ve sensed your staring, as he glances over at you before looking down at the cookie you made.

“Like my monstrosity?” You tease, throwing the words he used to describe you cookie back at him. You watch as Donnie gently takes the plate it’s sitting on and rotates it so he can see the cookie better.

“It’s me,” He remarks, looking down at the decorated cookie with stars in his eyes. “You made your cookie look like me.”

“Dibs on eating it.” Leo says nonchalantly. You're not sure he’s even seen it yet, as his face is still looking down at his cookie in concentration while he covers it in blue frosting to match the pink.

Donnie picks up a tube of frosting and squeezes it onto Leo’s head in retaliation, calmly wiping the frosting he got on his hands on a napkin before going back to admiring your cookie. You can’t wait to do this again next year.

[rippersz]

𝖰𝗎𝖾 𝖲𝖾𝗋𝖺, 𝖲𝖾𝗋𝖺

───※ ·❆· ※───

───※ ·❆· ※───

(An OC/Named Reader x Larissa Weems one-shot) (Bittersweet/angsty. Possible part 2 depending on feedback.)

Summary: Odette sends a letter and it ends up in the wrong hands.

───※ ·❆· ※───

‘January 11th, 2023

Odette,

I am terribly sorry to inform you that the letter you sent to a woman named Mirabelle did not end up in her hands. I believe the mail carriers fell short along the way and got it mixed up within my pile of documents; thus my wayward response to you. Considering the nature of your words (I must admit I read them - my actions were caused by split curiosity and confusion), I suggest you re-envelope and reseal your letter before sending it again. I have slipped it in with this one. And if you choose to listen to me, then we shall both hope your sentiments arrive to Mirabelle in a timely fashion with no surprise stops along the way. Until then, someone must tell her that she is a very lucky woman.

And that I am very sorry she broke your heart.

Happy New Year Odette. Be well, Larissa W.’

‘January 18th, 2023

Larissa,

Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness. I am far sorrier than you are. Obviously if I knew that was going to happen, I would not have let it. Okay that doesn’t make much sense, but I’m sure you know what I mean. I think. Hopefully? Anyway, thank you very much for sending the letter back. I gave myself some time to think it over and did as you suggested. New envelope, new seal, new everything. Except the perfume on the letter was different. Are you wearing Jean Paul Gaultier? It’s very nice. Mirabelle may appreciate the mix of scents (I’m wearing Marc Jacobs - Daisy), so at least she’ll get something out of it. The words, on the other hand, I’m not so sure. That ship sailed a long time ago - I’m just not the type to give up easily. That’s a big flaw, I think. Oh well. I guess rambling’s a flaw too. And here I am. Forgive me?

Thank you again. Happy New Year. Odette’

‘January 23rd, 2023

Dear Odette,

Please don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault, as you know. And if I knew the letter did not concern me at all, I would not have read it. But, I’m sort of glad that I did. It was perhaps one of the best letters I’ve ever read in my entire life. Are you a writer, by any chance? If not, you should consider becoming one. The rambling could add a nice personal touch - it’s not as big a flaw as you think it is. It certainly introduced me to your keen sense of smell. Speaking of which, Daisy is wonderful. I may have a roll-on tube of that somewhere. Otherwise, you’re correct. La Belle was released in 2019, it has become my new personal favorite. Are you a perfume collector? Or perhaps a bloodhound? I jest, I jest. Though I do appreciate the follow-up. If Mirabelle doesn’t appreciate your love, I may have to send her a letter myself. That being said, please let me know what she says? If it isn’t too much of an inconvenience.

Be well, Larissa W.’

‘January 29th, 2023

To Larissa,

You are far too kind. I write in my free time, yes, but I’m not sure I’m good enough to become a writer. However, your support still means a lot - even from all the way in California. Quite a long way, right? Crazy how paths cross. Anyway, I’m not a perfume collector, no. But my friend, Cassie, wears the same kind. I know for certain that she’d say you have good taste. And I’d agree. That bloodhound comment was funny. I know you can’t hear my giggling, but trust me when I say I am. I wish I could be as witty, but I don’t know what to say. My humor is typically made up of making fun of people. Do you have a guilty pleasure I can harp on? An embarrassing secret? I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours. And as soon as I get something back, I’ll let you know. Don’t start writing just yet.

Best, Odette’

‘February 5th, 2023,

Odette,

Telling you my secrets already? My, I believe we’ve skipped a few steps. What happened to a favorite color? A favorite memory? An age or profession, perhaps? If you couldn’t tell by now, I am still jesting. One of my guiltiest pleasures, though you may find it juvenile and silly, is the fact that I am a huge chocolate fiend. Many of my coworkers are aware that the best drink to buy me is a hot chocolate - hold the whipped cream. I am watching my figure after all. And because I pity your lack of matched wit, I’ll tell you that my biggest secret is the fact that I quite enjoy Taylor Swift’s music. Don’t ask me about my favorite song, I don’t think I could choose just one. Oh is that- is that the sound of your giggling? Maybe I can hear it from here, Ms. California. Now it’s your turn to hear mine. In the meantime, enlighten me on what you write about. I’m thinking poetry and free-form, with a focus on romance. I do a bit of writing myself from time to time, but it’s always in a diary. Never further. Perhaps you can do both of us justice and contemplate publishing? I’ll be the first to run to the shelves.

I hope you are well, Larissa W.’

‘February 13th, 2023

Dear chocolate fiend,

White. My first trip to New York City after Mirabelle. I arrived in the afternoon, went to see a movie, grabbed dinner and headache pills on the way back to my hotel room, and couldn’t sleep for the entire night. So I went out at 3 AM to see Times Square. It was only a block away and let me tell you, Larissa, it was beautiful. It was unlike anything. I felt safe for the first time in a while - beneath all of those lights. I was invincible. Not even loneliness could touch me. 27 and counting. Secretary. And potential writer. Someone I met recently has been trying to push me further into my hobby- to really adopt the lifestyle. You wouldn’t know them, though. Them? They/them? Please correct me if I’m wrong, Larissa. These letters wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable if I was calling you something you weren’t. As for me, I go by she/her. Mirabelle did as well. Does? Did? I’m not sure - I haven’t heard anything back yet. But that may be for the best. Horrid segue here (shame on little writer Odette), but Taylor Swift? Wow, I must be giggling quite loudly. HA HA HA HA HA!! HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE!! I swear that one day I’ll get a laugh out of you as well. In the meantime, as you say, I’ll happily inform you that you’re a psychic of some sort. Yes, I write poetry and free-form romance. Novels have never been my thing though. But if I did write any, I’d have to say psychological horror is a favorite. I may give it a crack if you’d edit for me? Unless you’re terribly busy, Ms. Vermont. Then please don’t worry your pretty little head.

I hope you’re ‘weller’ than I am, Odette

(P.S. Happy Valentines Day)’

‘February 19th, 2023

Dear sweet poet,

Do forgive the late response. Work has been keeping me busy; but if you’re serious about editing, I’m sure I can set some time apart for you. That memory of yours does sound quite glorious - nearly heavenly. Such freedom is a dream for many people, myself somewhat included, so I admit I’m the tiniest bit jealous. However, I could always visit the city in the summer. Times Square is already calling my name… maybe I’ll even see a certain 27 year old stranger there. Maybe we could even grab hot chocolate. But I suppose you’d rather enjoy your independence. That being said, you are quite correct - they/them is one of my preferred pronouns. Much like yourself and the mysterious Mirabelle, she/her is another. And I’m glad we both agree that these letters are quite a treat. I have not had a pen-pal in quite a long time. My old roommate and I used to talk after we graduated, but times change. Much like they did for you and Mirabelle. I believe I may have loved my roommate in that way, too… but it’s as I said. Then again, she was always more of a psychic than me. I just got lucky. As for the answers to my questions, I’m quite sure none of those were secrets. Unless, of course, your favorite color is known only by myself. In which case, I’d consider myself lucky again. But either way, come to the table please Odette. Tell me yours - but only if you wish to.

Weller is not a word, Best, Larissa W.’

‘February 23rd, 2023

Dear Larissa,

Weller is a word if I want it to be. That is my secret. No, but in all seriousness, you’re correct. Fair is fair. So I’ll grant you this: I’m a redhead. Ugh I know! I know! It’s terrible. Horrible. I’m sorry. If you find that you can’t stand me anymore, I understand. A writer, secretary, AND a redhead? What’s next? An FBI agent? I can’t disclose that information. Speaking of which, you have yet to answer your own questions. All is fair in love and pen-paling, am I right or am I right Larissa? It’s okay. You can admit it. I’m right. Just like I’m right in saying that your roommate made a big mistake if she’s not with you now. Speaking from experience, love like that is not something one finds often. I’d say I’m glad you experienced it, for it has its good moments, but I know that the ache can be bad. Quite bad. Not to worry, though! If you figure you want to send her a letter, you may get a pen-pal out of it. Kind of neat, huh?

I’m sorry she broke your heart, too. What a foolish woman. Tsk tsk.

Best, Odette’

‘February 28th, 2023

To the resident redhead,

How could you betray me like this? A redhead? On the other side of these pages? I feel scorned. Scorned and touched. Very much like a writer to offer comfort for an offhand comment. I appreciate the sentiment more than you know. And just for your information, Ms. I’m-Always-Right: Silver. Getting my teachers certification and celebrating with a few friends before life pulled us in different directions. It was a wonderful night. I haven’t laughed so much since - and that was quite a while ago. 32 next year. Principal. I do hope that was enough to sate your burning curiosity; I’m sure you can be at ease now. And since I do so enjoy meeting you halfway, I’ll tell you that I’m very fair-haired. Very. Perhaps one day you’ll see. Until then, don’t let the curiosity kill you little cat.

Best, Larissa W.’

‘March 5th, 2023’

‘March 12th, 2023’

‘March 16th, 2023’

‘April 14th, 2023’

‘May 21st, 2023’

‘June 9th, 2023’

...

And the months went on.

And on.

And on.

And every few days, another letter came. Another letter went. Another letter was written. Another letter was sealed. Another letter was received. Another letter was cherished. Kept. Forever a lovely memory. Larissa and Odette went and went and went- on and on and on- exchanging and smiling as each paragraph grew in length. From this to that and whatever else they could find to think about; they formed a banter and connection like no other. Poking fun, making jokes, referencing previous letters, gossiping until their hearts were content. Purring within their chests, eagerly awaiting another letter. It kept their days moving. It kept their souls dancing. From miles away, they cheered each time they saw the thin familiar scrawl of Larissa’s writing and the loopy tilted words of Odette’s penmanship. At one point, they even tried copying each other’s style. It was hilarious. It had both of them laughing at the same time - and later doing it purely to mock. Such things, little but large, were frequent and lovely. One time, Odette mailed a perfume scent strip of her new favorite; and Larissa, never one to be outdone, sent a roll-on tube of La Belle. Odette got so ticked off she made her promise that they stick to letters and paper only. Larissa, usually a stubborn soul, agreed. That was their dynamic. Their push and pull. Their agree to disagree. Never did they fight; rarely did they not see eye to eye; and constantly did they playfully argue. It was small things- small insignificant little things- but they moved the conversation along. And it made them smile. It made them laugh. And during the hardest parts, the parts in which life pinched at their skin and dragged at their souls, it made them cry. It made them weep. It made them open up. It led to Odette confessing that Mirabelle had left her and it led to Larissa confessing that Morticia had left her as well. Two women, two ships in the night, both of which got away. And not gently, not two slow drifts into the night, but a harsh yank. Morticia left school with a man on her arm and Mirabelle returned to California one day from a business trip in France with a ring on her finger. The two of them agreed that it was funny how life likes to slap lovers in the face. That it was funny how life likes to get in the way. And enjoys ending good things and ruining them. Taking them away too quickly. With no warning at all. Without a single goodbye.

The last letter Odette sent was on October 28th, 2024.

Larissa hadn’t responded to her previous one. Or the one before that. And eventually, after much contemplation, she gave up. It wasn’t healthy- worrying so much. Odette figured that perhaps, finally, her worst fear came true and that Larissa realized their little arrangement was more odd than she thought. That she knew virtually nothing about Odette, not even her last name. And that she didn’t find her amusing anymore and didn’t want to associate with her anymore and didn’t want to even say hello. Or goodbye. Or anything in between.

It broke her heart a little bit.

Okay it broke her heart a lot a bit.

The radio silence left Odette living on autopilot for weeks. Months. Nearly half a year. She’d get up, check her mailbox, and go to work - only to come home, check her mailbox, and go to bed - just to do the same thing over and over and over again. Day and night. Night and day. It was worse than Mirabelle. It was worse than anything. No amount of teenage angst or familial grief could get over the deep void left within her soul once those letters stopped coming. Once the friend she found by accident, the kindred spirit she stumbled upon, the woman she lov-…. well. Once that one person decided never to write again.

Though like most difficult things that left her raw, Odette’s heart began scabbing over. She cleared her desk, packed away the special pens she used, put the paper neatly into a box, and tucked the leftover Larissa letters away right along with those sweet memories. Then she put them into the back of a closet she rarely rifled through… and tried to forget it was all there. The La Belle, which she rarely touched, was hidden in her pajama drawer at the very back- wrapped up in old T-shirts she no longer wore. And every other thing that existed around her, that reminded her of Larissa, was pushed out of sight. Out of sight and out of mind. Out of sight, out of mind. Out of sight, out of mind. Out of sight… out of mind.

The company was celebrating her 5 year anniversary. They wanted to fly her out to Vermont. Jericho, Vermont. To have a little vacation there. To enjoy life. To fucking torture her.

She almost didn’t go. She almost canceled entirely. She almost quit her goddamn job because that was the same job she had when she first met Lar-…..

But she went anyway. Vermont was large enough. She’d be fine.

And she was, much to her surprise. She was entirely fine. It was a beautiful change of season; the air was crisp, the trees were changing color- morphing back into sunny greens. The world enjoyed its rain as April introduced May to Jericho and as the year of 2025 blossomed into being. Odette spent her days reading, taking walks, basking in the beauty of the log cabin the company rented for her. It was truly lovely. Truly a dream come true. And she didn’t even think- didn’t even wonder- about the other ship that got away from her. That barely even brushed past her, or lingered, before parting the water and skating away into the night all those months ago.

It was blissful. It reminded her of New York. Of that freedom- that independence- that song within her soul, dredged up from the depths.

But there was one thing.

One tiny little thing.

One little reminder that never left her. That she didn’t let go of.

“Hot chocolate, no whip, for Odette?”

A small smile grew on her lips as she slid out of the booth and made her way up to the counter. The young man met her eyes, returned the smile, and gestured to the warm cup on the counter with a nod of his head.

“Thank you lots.” And with that, she retreated to her booth.

Hot chocolate.

She wasn’t going to give up hot chocolate, let alone any chocolate at all, just because a distant soul enjoyed it. The whipped cream was something she wanted, but… old habits did always die hard, didn’t they? Oh most definitely. And as Odette reclined against the comfortable seat, eyes tracking the screen of her work laptop, hot chocolate firmly placed on the coaster to her right, she lived up to that sentiment with no room to spare. Leaving work at home was hard. She dove into it some time ago; dedicating more time, thinking, and hours into the well-oiled machine of her job just to distract her from everything outside of it. When she was there, responding, taking calls, managing dates and meetings and this, that, and the other, the world fell silent. Into a distant buzzy din. Into a land of muffled sounds and unimportant chatter - like her head was dunked under water as soon as she opened her emails. To a certain extent, it was calming. Repetitive and not at all that difficult after she figured out a proper routine; the worst part was dealing with those who couldn’t write properly. And in the professional world, that was rare. Well- if a person wanted to keep their job of course. And she definitely wanted to keep hers. It was fulfilling. Enriching. She made some friends, she shook some hands, she reassured her bosses. They knew she was reliable. Friendly. Odette never faltered. And they counted on that. Counted on her. Gave her the time of day. Responded when they could. Cherished her like a human. Like a friend. Unlike-

“Larissa? Hot chocolate, no whip?”

Odette blinked.

The muffled bubble popped. The world flooded back. She looked up from her screen.

Was she going mad? Crazy? Bonkers, finally? After all that time? Had she misheard? Maybe the young man said Patricia. Or Melissa. Or-

“Larissa! Hey, long time no see!”

Larissa.

Odette turned around in her seat so fast, she nearly broke her neck. She shuffled to the end of the booth, peered around the side, eyes wide and hands gripping the edge of the table… only to feel her excitement die as soon as it existed.

Of course. Foolish her. She didn’t know what Larissa looked like. She never got a proper description. Never got a photograph. Or a phone number. Or anything at all. Just a P.O. Box and a state. Just… nothing.

“Hello Jerry, it has been a while, hasn’t it? How are you?”

No, she- well she did get something. She got little things. Details. Odette’s brow furrowed as her eyes, hazel and starry and glazed over with apprehension and fear and admiration and horror, ran up and down the woman’s body. She was tall. Larissa never mentioned tall. She was curvy. Larissa never mentioned curvy.

‘I am watching my figure after all.’

…She was stylish. Larissa never mentioned style and fashion.

“Oh I’m good, I’m good. What about you? How’s the semester going?”

“I’m well, thank you. It’s… well it’s definitely going, Jerry.” They shared a laugh.

She was English. Larissa never mentioned being English. She wore gloves. Larissa never mentioned gloves. She-

Wait. Semester?

‘Getting my teachers certification…’ ‘Principal.’

Odette felt her heart drop.

But-

“I’m sure it is! I- oh shoot. More customers. Sorry, Larissa. Can we catch up later?”

“Of course Jerry. You know where to find me. Until next time.”

Hazel eyes watched the stranger wave. Then turn around.

Oh.

Dear lord…

She didn’t recognize her- not really- but the fair hair, which only registered then… and the silver jewelry. And the… the…

Odette watched as the woman walked past. She watched and she felt her heart in her ears- pounding, clawing, dancing- as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. So deeply. So deeply it made her lungs ache. So deeply it made her soul tear in two.

La Belle.

Odette had never packed up her things so quickly. She never slammed her laptop closed so fast, never slid it into her bag so messily, never threw the bag over her shoulder or shoved her wallet into her pocket or grabbed the hot chocolate with such vigor ever before. Not once in her life. And rarely did she act so impulsively- not after Larissa. But seeing her then, somehow knowing deep within her soul that it was her… it broke- snapped- the thin resolve of Odette’s sanity and sent her flying out of the Weathervane like a bat out of Hell. She was burning up inside. Electric. Her eyes held fire and ice and so much warmth, so much desperation, that she nearly toppled over herself in her hurry.

The woman- Larissa- was a fast walker. Her long legs took her far as she distractedly typed on her phone with one hand and held the cup of hot chocolate in the other. Odette, being short and clumsy, was red and out of breath by the time she got close enough to call out her name. And call, she did. Call, cry, silently plead, she did.

“LARISSA!”

It was loud. Like a roar. Like a harrowing yell. Like something that held months and months and months of pain and sorrow and grief behind it. It instantly made her throat hurt, running it raw in only a second, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care at all. Not when her voice got Larissa to stop in her tracks and turn around, eyes searching and confused.

Of course, as to be expected, she had no clue who she was. Not even an inkling. Larissa got no description either - not even a photo. All she knew was that Odette had red hair. And that a woman with red hair was storming toward her, all fucks thrown to the wind, sneakers smacking the pavement hard as she stomped down the sidewalk. Larissa looked utterly puzzled, slightly mortified, entirely put off by the sight of such a determined stranger. Like she wasn’t sure if she had done something wrong and if she had, she wasn’t sure how to fix it. But Odette would tell her. Odette would make it known.

“What the fuck?” was the first thing out of her mouth.

A rather harsh introduction, but necessary nonetheless. She didn’t even really mean to say it, but the surprised widening of Larissa’s eyes had a twisted spark of satisfaction spiraling up within her soul.

And her outburst, naturally, meant many things. Not just ‘What the fuck?’ but ‘What the fuck? Why did you disappear? What did I do? Did I hurt you? Did I say something? Did something happen to you? Do you feel sorry? Do you miss me? Do you wish you responded? Do you hope to never hear from me again? Did you always know this would happen? Did you ever even bother to think that you should tell me you’re that beautiful? What the fuck, why are your eyes so blue? And why are they piercing? Staring at me? Heavenly and deep and never-ending? Like.. oceans… and why are your lips so soft looking and plump and red? Where did that scar come from? Do you hate it? Do you know that I like it even though I’m only seeing it now for the first time ever? Did you always wear your hair like that? How long does it take you to get it like that? How does it feel to take it out after a long day? Did you know your makeup is flawless? And that your jawline is magnificent? And that you’re so tall… and you look so strong… inside and out… and why the fuck did you not mention you were British? English? What does it matter? Just what the fuck? Why the fuck? How the fuck? What the fuckity fuck?!’

But overall, it only meant ‘What the fuck? Why didn’t you say goodbye?’

“I beg your pardon?”

Unfortunately, Larissa could never read minds. Or hearts. So the vague pangs of longing, like old rusted blood, only ached harder as the taller woman blinked and frowned.

A blush painted Odette’s cheeks. Right. Somehow, along the way of admiring, she’d forgotten. Larissa had no idea who she was.

“Um.” Clearing her throat, she adjusted the bag on her shoulder. Suddenly, things were very awkward. Terribly awkward. So horribly bloody awkward. It was a wonder if Larissa could feel the odd lull in conversation, the sudden dousing of Odette’s flames, but it didn’t really matter. If she wanted to, Odette was sure that if she chose to walk away, if she chose to take one last look before turning around and never coming back, then Larissa would never know. Then she’d just be another story. Another odd memory to tell her children one day, if she ever wished to have them. In her letters, the taller woman admitted that she didn’t think she ever would. But Odette always had a feeling that she’d be an amazing mother. Looking at her then, taking in the perfect posture and the crisp seams of her clothing, the feeling became fact. Larissa would be the best mom.

Funny that… there was a time, long ago, where Odette fantasized about making sandwiches for picnics and uprooting her entire life. Just to see the proud smile on her pen-pal’s face as her child grew and grew and grew and flourished. And maybe even ended up calling her ‘mom’ one day too.

But as Larissa wrote once upon a time, things changed. Time went on. And that was how it was.

So she could turn around. She could very well wrench herself from her spot and drag herself back the way she came. She could apologize, tell her she was mistaken, and that she was sorry - and then she could walk off into the sunset and pretend nothing ever happened. She could burn the letters. She could burn the very memory of her. She could forget the name ‘Larissa’ entirely and all would be left to rest. And that would be that. Que sera, sera.

But Odette was never the type to give up easily. Mirabelle, wherever she was, could attest.

So instead of abandoning ship, she powered through.

“It’s Odette,” came her firm tone. She straightened her back and tilted her head to look up properly, trying to stand tall in the face of heartache.

But heartache didn’t recognize her.

“Have we… met before?” Larissa blinked, turning to present her full attention.

Odette flushed red. Angry. Sad. Liberated.

“Have- have we met before?” She repeated, scoffed, outraged by her old friend’s obliviousness. “Just how many Odettes do you know?!” Her hands ran to her hips, firmly rooting themselves there as she began tapping her foot and glowering.

Such a display had Larissa scanning her from head to toe, desperately scrambling for understanding and recognition. The loose T-shirt, the black leggings, the sneakers, the hazel eyes, the pretty features, the freckles, the plump cheeks and curved body, the bag on her shoulder, the hair on her head. Red. Fiery. Standing out against the blue of the sky like a stain on white fabric. Messy curls and natural red red red.

Red… red…

Odette watched as Larissa froze. Her lips fell open, her eyes widened, she could practically see the way her heart stopped in her chest.

She remembered.

She remembered.

“…Odette?”

The shorter woman nodded, slowly feeling the anger and excitement drain from her body. It was fun being anonymous for just a moment. It was fun being the only one that remembered - having the chance to feel properly scorned and betrayed. But that didn’t last very long. The come down was harsh. Quick. A fall from immense grace. Especially when she saw the tears. They welled up in Larissa’s eyes, glossy and wet, making those sapphires shine. So swift they were. So rapid. As if sparked by Odette’s very existence.

Though maybe Larissa wasn’t the one that was tearing up. Maybe it was just her. Maybe the haze of the world, growing slightly blurry, was caused by the water that threatened to fall over her own lashes.

“Yeah.” It was all she could think to say.

For even with all of her passion, even with her love of words and her many discarded story drafts (all coincidentally started in the year 2023), even with whatever eloquence she was naturally born with, Odette couldn’t come up with a single meaningful thing to say. There was much, of course. But none of it fit. None of it made sense. Everything that lingered on her tongue, finally unlodging itself from the stickiness of her throat, was too heavy. Too heavy for the moment. Too heavy for the sidewalk. Too heavy for the side of the street. Too heavy for Jericho. Out in the open. Vermont. Miles away from home. Too close too close too close. Too much all at once. Maybe running after her was a bad idea. Maybe taking the vacation was even worse. Maybe sending that letter to Mirabelle in the first place was the poignant moment in which she should have changed her mind and threw it away when she considered it.

But she hadn’t.

And so there she was, staring up at Larissa, suddenly helpless. That ship that passed her in the night all those months ago had come back around; except that time she had stumbled upon it herself. And she wasn’t entirely sure if she was grateful- or terrified. Maybe the ship hated her. Maybe the ship would crash into her and ruin her and maybe the ship would begin shooting cannons. Maybe the ship would continue right past her. Maybe the ship would-

-hug her?

Odette blinked, very much unsure of what was happening as soon as she felt the comforting weight of long arms pushing themselves under her biceps and interlocking behind her back. La Belle and the soft clean smell of faded shampoo filled her senses. Her nose. Her lungs. Her eyes. Her heart. And soul. Part of her was so confused it wanted to grasp Larissa’s shoulders and shove her off. And the other part of her, the part of her that had dreams about receiving another letter from the one that broke her heart, wanted to give in.

‘That ship sailed a long time ago - I’m just not the type to give up easily.’

Odette’s arms pressed against Larissa’s waist. Their holds were odd, skewed by the cups of hot chocolate they held and the other items in their grasps. But nonetheless, it was… it was unlike anything. Each breath died on Odette’s tongue. She felt the atoms in her brain disappear. Like they never existed at all.

“I’m sorry.” It was said so softly, she was near certain it wasn’t uttered at all. But then Larissa was pulling back, hands shaking as she brought them to her lips. “I’m sorry.”

There was grief in her eyes. A sadness that not even the most haunted of poets could explore, nor understand, nor emulate. It gleamed. It cut Odette in half. It had her taking steps back, suddenly unsure. Suddenly disoriented.

“What-… what happened?” She was breathless, bewildered at the sight of regret swimming in Larissa’s eyes.

The taller woman opened her mouth… then hesitated. Her gaze burned through her old friend- then twitched away and ran over the world around them. The sidewalk, the street, the shops, the Weathervane, the town itself. They were out in the open. And their… reunion… was too good for that. Too painful for that. Odette watched as Larissa’s lower lip quivered; as the thoughts ran through her mind at the speed of light. And before she even spoke, she knew what she was going to say.

“Please, come with me,” her voice was soft. Silken. Heavy with guilt. Pouring with unspoken words.

It was Odette’s turn to hesitate. Years… nearly. However much time. She didn’t really know. She stopped keeping track once she realized she was losing sleep over it. Hours upon hours of sleep. It affected her work - it affected her body. It slit the throat of her life and dragged it through dirt. ‘It’ being the silence. ‘It’ being the goodbye that never came. ‘It’ being Larissa, Larissa, Larissa.

The same Larissa who held an apology wound up in her lungs. The same Larissa who looked down at her as if she couldn’t quite believe she was real, standing before her, breathing and living. The same Larissa whose shaking hands held a cellphone and a cup of hot chocolate that was swiftly running cold. The same Larissa with the same shining eyes that glistened with tears and crackling memories and affection, warmth, that seemed so out of place. Years without the comfort of that dove-like soul… years without the… the love? Love? Is that what they had? Perhaps it was too little too late to wonder. Perhaps Odette was just dipping into wishful thinking. Giving into the dreams she repeated over the years. With every word, every breath, every letter - she found herself begging. Pleading. ‘Please. Please please please invite me to Vermont. See me. Know me. These pages are killing me.’ All of it secretly scrawled between her slanting lines. Running in circles behind her hazel eyes. Displayed for Larissa, even though Larissa did not exist before her at the time.

Not like she did in that moment. In Jericho. In tears.

“Let me explain, Odette. I meant- I… just- give me a chance.” Larissa blinked her tears away and straightened her shoulders, tone growing desperate, body growing tense.

Never before did she sound like that in their letters. But never before did she leave Odette for so long. Interesting circumstances… Funny how life ended things so quickly. Funny how life brought out the truth in a person when they felt themselves tugged at a loss. Pushed to their knees. Though she said she had an explanation… and her old friend had never been a liar.

“Okay,” Odette breathed, clearing her throat. “Okay.”

“Really?”

‘Yes of course, really,’ Odette thought, looking at her with a mix of surprise and anger and devotion. ‘What are you, mad? I’d never just walk away. I’d never just give up. I can’t help myself. I never could. You know this. You know me.’

───※ ·❆· ※───

I quite enjoyed writing this. Might take a break from writing 'Heat' and 'To People Watch One Person' for a bit- same with requests. For the foreseeable future, whatever comes to mind will be written. I've started watching GOT again... and a certain Ser of Tarth has strummed the strings of my heart {as always} so maybe expect something with her? Dunno. Either way, thank you for staying with me. You mean the moon and stars, believe me. - Ripley x

───※ ·❆· ※───

[fandomfluffandfuck]

I’m thinking about subby Steve and sweet dom Bucky and denial mixed with virginity kink…

Bucky knows when he lays Steve out on the bed that his boy is desperate tonight. His slim hips are already grinding up and down, seeking any stimulation at all. Last time Steve was this way, Bucky got him opened up on his fist and thanked the lord for the serum letting Steve cum as many times as Bucky wants him to. He’d been a big, gorgeous overstimulated wreck and it takes a lot for Bucky not to just repeat that, with those sweet little baby blues looking up at him.

But he goes a different route. He gets Steve undressed slowly, shushing and murmuring in response to Steve’s whines and breathless complaints. When the lube gets uncapped, Bucky sees Steve’s grin stretch across his already flushed face, almost vibrating in excitement. Imagine his surprise when Bucky tucks only his pinky finger into Steve’s pink hole.

“M-more…” Steve sounds pitiful, something he’s perfected through years of practice so he can get Bucky’s cock in him as fast as superhumanly possible.

“Ohhhh, no, sweetheart.” Bucky clicks his tongue and moves his pinky back and forth tiny amount by tiny amount. “I don’t wanna hurt this sweet little thing. You know you can’t take more than this without practice?”

Steve’s baffled face peers down at his boyfriend before he processes Bucky’s tone, his soft touches and whispers, and then groans as his dick twitches against his stomach. Bucky takes Steve’s realization of this particular game in stride, petting down Steve’s thigh while still only using his pinky.

“You’re so good, wanting to take it all at once, but I don’t wanna scare you off, honey. Just relax, I know it feels big.” Bucky’s shoulders keep Steve’s thighs apart and the back and forth shallowness of the finger is already making Steve feel insane.

“No, no, no, please, I know I can take more, I know it.” Steve’s already getting a little misty-eyed, the very prospect of being denied for god knows how long is too awful. Bucky just smiles sweetly and pushes in a tiny bit harder.

“Why would you think that, baby? You fooled around with someone before me?”

Steve’s head shakes back and forth against the pillow, “No, Buck, I swear.”

“Good boy, shhhh, shhh, I believe you.” Bucky teases the tip of his ring finger then pulls back and a tear rolls down Steve’s temple. “So what is it? You been getting your own fingers up in this pussy? You got a toy hiding somewhere around here you haven’t told me about? You been thinking about me at night?”

“Yeah, yeah, mm-hmm.” Steve plays along, sure that he’s found an in and he’ll get stuffed full like he deserves real soon. “I’m good at taking it, I really am, please please please, I need more fingers, Buck, please.”

“That’s different though, sweetheart. I’m a little thicker, too, and my fingers are wider. Just relax, let me get you ready like you deserve. It’ll only take a little while, then we’ll see if your pussy’s wet enough to take me.” Bucky smiles wide, gleeful at having his boy melting for him like this, desperate and denied but still clamping down around his pinky like his life depends on it. Steve whines, high and long, music to Bucky’s ears.

(I just couldn’t get this out of my head and think you’d appreciate it hehe)

I do appreciate this

The idea of Steve being so fucking slutty--all but literally slavering for cock all the time, getting fisted, fucked hard, and being too experienced, he's had Bucky so many ways and taken toys and fantasized about stuff that should not turn him on but it does, it does so bad--only for Bucky to turn that around on him and start treating him like some fragile, inexperienced boy is... 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

Steve wouldn't know what's hit him at first, but then when Bucky's words hit him and his mushy brain processes them, oh, lord, it's over for him. Having Bucky treat him like he's never had it before makes it feel so new. It makes him even more desperate to have it. Tears in his eyes, an arch in his back, trembling muscles, working himself into a fit--begging for it as he loses his head.

Oof.

Yeah. That's a great fucking idea 😮‍💨🥴

Thank you so much for this filth <3

[reworldeverlight]

WARNING! 18+ [blood, mutilation, injury]

I was very sad and bored. And as a result, I wanted to write a short excerpt on the bad ending of my story. I'm sorry, I don't speak English, so I used a translator to translate, as always. I am not sure that I have managed to correctly convey what I have written in my own language. Besides that, please don't beat me up for my poor writing skills. It's been a long time since I've tried to write my own stories. 👉👈

Lying behind the concrete floor, surrounded by the rubble of the building, his trembling gaze was directed somewhere through the walls. Pain gripped his entire body, and a piece of rebar in his chest prevented the much-desired scream from escaping. He tried to make at least some movements, but his body treacherously refused to respond to the signals of his fading mind. Looking down, in the murky purple flicker of his broken mechanisms, he could see the large fragments of the ceiling, which, having collapsed, crushed his legs. His senses were racing in a frenzy of chaos. Fear and pain mixed together and forcefully squeezed his chest, instantly bringing him out of a state of shock. Through the tears that made everything swim in his eyes, he could only see the wreckage of a building with fittings dangerously sticking out of them. What was left of his staff lay nearby, slightly sparkling. Long moans of pain mixed with wheezing echoed hollowly through the small space. Right now, he would rather be unconscious than feel all this pain. He could not attempt to send a distress signal... Not only because he could barely move his limbs by a couple of centimeters, but also because only fragments of his mechanisms remained.

The battle shell was torn to shreds, and from under it, one could see its bleeding, cut soft shell. A large sticky pool of blood spread rapidly, staining the concrete in a dirty burgundy color. His strength was leaving his body with a parallel growing pain consuming his entire body. It hurt to breathe, all the wounds ached with pain, and my back felt like it was on fire. As soon as he took a breath, he immediately coughed up blood, which once again caused him terrible pain.

He could always find a variety of ways out of any critical situations, but alas, this time was not one of those. The hope of being saved by one of the family members faded along with the blurred vision from rapid blood loss. The groan was replaced by a cough with blood again and he was even more twisted from pain.

"And where is this life of yours flying before your eyes?" He thought mockingly, feeling himself sinking into darkness.

This pathetic attempt to keep his mind in his body, and himself in consciousness, was useless and tears began to flow in large streams to the floor, mixing with the pool of blood under his head.

"It hurts so much... Don't close your eyes, Don! Don't you dare sleep!"

He hoped to the last that someone would show up at the last moment and save him. But still... He couldn't keep his heavy eyelids open and his eyes closed.

.

.

.

•

°

●

o

"De?"

"My son..."

"Don?"

"Hey, Dad! Da-ad!"

"Donnie..." He felt a light touch and opened his eyes.

Everything was so bright that he winced for a moment. But when his eyes got used to the bright light, he immediately met her gaze. She was sitting over him, holding his hand with a sad smile and tears in her eyes. Behind her, he could see the silhouettes of some of his family members. His chest tightened with sadness, he got up from the ground and immediately hugged the girl sitting in front of him.

"I failed..." His voice faltered.

"It's okay, Donnie." She pulled away from him and put her hand on his cheek.

"You handled yourself well, brother." A heavy big hand landed on his shoulder.

With tears in his eyes and a lost smile, he looked at everyone who stood in front of him. It took him a little while to put all his thoughts together and realize everything that had happened.

"Dad! They are already waiting for us!" The voice of the young boy standing next to him was as perky as he remembered it, and for a moment it brought back pleasant memories.

"Let's go. We have to go." The soft voice seemed to echo in his head, making his heart in his chest shudder.

Big Brother helped him up, and he, without letting go of her hand, followed them. The bright, pleasant, warm light ahead grew brighter, smoothly dissolving the echoes of his pain, and with the pain, fear also dissolved.

And soon their silhouettes disappeared in a bright pleasant light.

"You're home again.."

[corgiplays]

I'll talk about Lenore's specter and my thoughts on the Deans in another post, but we got to talk about everyone's favorite girlfail, Ada.

Okay listen up kiddos because I love my messed up girly pop (Annabel is first but Ada's second)

-First things first Ada's backstory, now I'm not sure what story she is based off of, but it's definitely old west becoming new west times, Ada was probably some lower middle class woman who fell in love with a rich man. She thought it was love, but he most likely had a wife or a fiancé and when she found out she was pregnant (with his kid) she was probably overjoyed, and was quick to tell him. He told her to meet him somewhere in the woods to talk privately and ended up killing her. First going for her stomach (to kill the kid) and then dismembering Ada and leaving her remains in a marsh/bog

-Ada grabbed her abdomen instinctively once Prospero started to yell? degrade her? Which could be either since it was where she was hit first or because she's trying to protect a child that's not there?

-Also her torso is completely gone, only her bones and dirt with moss is left, and her legs seem to be fully dismembered while her arms are only from her shoulder and hands which I think is weird since normally you would dismember from the elbow and shoulder.

-My big question is how is one defined as being malevolent, neutral or benevolent? Because Ada doesn't seem like someone who's really out for someone? Like in her living time, unless she knew the rich man was married or engaged and she thought having his kid would change his mind (it clearly didn't)

-Also, Ada is like hella powerful, her power are probably correlated to how she died (which is a theory of mine that the powers their specters have is based on their death) so she was probably dismembered limb from limb, screaming while it happened before passing out and eventually died from blood loss. Because screaming and banshee's always mix and Ada was probably scared shitless while being killed.

-Also if Ada was pregnant when she died, what happened to the kid? She probably wasn't too far along, or she could have even lied about being pregnant, but is she didn't did the kid have a soul? Did they just not get picked for reincarnation because they hadn't lived?

Either way, I love my messed in the head girly pop. Not her taste in romantic partners, but it's okay (maybe). Ada has so much potential in a storytelling way, like I feel like if I took a bite out of her it would be spiky.

I think that once Ada realizes Montresor is just going to use her in the end she'll probably be the one to kill him (or maybe Duke or Pluto or anyone of the Misfits will)

Anyway the next post will probably be about the deans and Lenore. So stay tuned if you want and no spoilers please, it's hard enough to not spoil it for myself.

[pebblethestone]

Flowers in the wind

Halsin x Drow Reader

Summary - sitting in a field filled with flowers and how you meet the poeple that you have made friends within months especially a druid

Masterlist

Words - 1091

A/n - no more writers block and its grate is all I have to say :) don't know if I should make more parts to this but I'll see.

⚠️Blood warning

─────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹─────────

You walk in an open field, the grass and flowers dancing in the wind, swaying back and forth as you pluck flowers near you of all colours, putting them into a woven basket that you hold in your hand.

Being a drow and living in the under dark did have its fall at times but it was your home, but one you will never go back to after being free of the darkness that it had held.

Oh, how lovely it was to feel the sun hitting your cold skin and the fresh air, looking down at your basket to see that you had enough flowers to make what you needed you look around looking for somewhere to sit as your eyes land on a big rock laying on the ground.

Walking over to it you take a sea, setting the basket next to you as you watch the clouds move in the blue sky as they fly by.

'You had been taken by the mind fayers unknown why or how you do not remember as much as you think you should but had escaped with a githyanki called Lae'zel and a half-elf called Shadowheart after getting to the control part of the ship, not remembering what had happened after that as well.

Expected falling and being caught by some sort of magic?, after that, the rest is a blur finding Shadowheart then Lae'zel, Astarion, Gale, wyll and Karlach as you became a party. When meeting Wyll you meet people in a druid's grove, a tiefling called Zevlor had asked you to find a druid called Halsin who had been captured by the goblins.

After finding him as a bear trapped and then working with him to kill the ones leading the goblins, after that, there was a tiefling party, and being you, you decide to take a chance at talking to the wood elf to know him better.

Over time you too got closer and closer but only as friends, you wish for more but you don't want to crush the friendship that you already have.'

Looking back down from the sky to look at the basket filled with a bunch of colourful and bright flowers as you pick one up and sniff it a little It gives off a fresh smell.

Deciding to make what you were planning to as you bring the flower down to where you can see it as you take some more from the basket and then start to weave the flowers together slowly making sure not to make any mistakes along the way as you carry on.

After a while, you finish making the flower crown, looking at its thick with different colours of flowers mixed with green as you lift it to your head realizing that it's a tad too big for your head, putting it into the basket now which only holds now a few flowers left.

Moving off the rock onto the soft grass and sitting down you think about what happened when 'you had decided to go and someone caused you to be stabbed in the leg, coming back to the camp it was late, but didn't want to wake anyone up at the time.

But Halsin was already there waiting for you as he was at the campfire, he had turned his head hearing your food steps as well as your limp that you had.

“Y/n you hurt, what did you do this time?” he asked you as he took a look at your leg seeing that your trousers had blood all over them. You look down at your leg and see it.

“I've had an encounter with someone and helped them some a man who was going to harm them in return I may have been stabbed,” you say to the elf.

“Come here and let me have a look at your wound,” he says as he pats the log next to him where he is sitting, walking over to where he is and taking a seat next to him.

“May I?” he asks as you nod your head as his hand covers your wound, feeling warmth as he does his work as the wound fixes itself.

“be careful with that wound as it can still tear open if you do too much moving,” he says to you as look back up at him.

“thank you Halsin,” you say with a smile looking at the hole in your trousers that you probably fix later on, feeling the elf looking at you.'

Your ears twitch as you hear footsteps coming towards you as you look up you see the druid as he comes over to you.

“I thought I would find you here Y/n” he says as he takes a seat next to you his warm eyes watching you as you fiddle with your hands.

“Halsin, how are you on this sunny day?” you ask him.

“am doing well Y/n, and what about you?” he asks in return.

“am doing good, I have a surprise for you though, close your eyes” you say to him as you grab the flower crown from your basket and lean over to him you where tall but not as tall as he was, moving on to your knees next to him as you place the flower crown onto his head his eyes still closed.

“you can open them now” you say as you move back sitting back where you were before he opens his eyes his eyes moving you to see what you had put on his head as he looks back at you.

“May I ask what it is?” he asks curiously as he watches your smile making him smile a little.

“It's a simple flower crown, you can take it off if you don't like it,” you say as he takes the crown off and takes a look at it his smile grows and he puts it back onto his head.

“no, no I think I shall keep it on for a while, it's Beautifully made,” he says with his warm eyes meeting yours.

“Thank you, am about to head back to the camp would you like to come back with me?” you ask as Halsin stands up and holds his hand out for you.

“Yes I came here to make sure you did not get into any trouble while you were by yourself again” he says as you take his hand and he helps you up.

As the both of you start walking off to camp talking along the way.

[lolokouhm]

FUSHIGOVER pt. III [THE PUPPET]

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 This ff is a fix, we’re living post 235 chapter. And this time - I've decided to REALLY fix what GEGE DESTROYED so plz bare with me

"Please, don't die. You can't die."

Honestly, Megumi had thought he'd been through enough shit in his life, especially in the past few months. But apparently - no. There was always more pain to come.

If he could chuckle, he would. If he had known how to unalive himself right there, in that moment, he would. It hurt. His whole soul was in agony. He wanted to sleep. Forever. He was tired.

He, his body, whatever - killed Tsumiki. And he, it - was about to kill his teacher, big brother, father figure - God knows what Gojo actually had been to him. He had thought about a few times before, but he hadn't come up with anything. It didn't matter anymore.

Nothing mattered.

The shadows were nice. In normal circumstances he would love to stay there, hugged tightly by them, but there was nothing normal about the situation he'd found himself in. It couldn't possibly get worse.

"Please, don't leave me. You can't leave me."

The voice was quiet, but it popped up in his head, suddenly mixing up the fog that had been covering his mind for the past... week? Month? He had no idea how much time had passed. He could recognise the words, but they didn't make much sense. Was there someone else who could be left alone? Was there someone else who he cared about?

Someone else who he could hurt?

"IF YOU DIE, I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF!"

He shivered. The voice became awfully clear and irritatingly loud. Without any warning, the fog disappeared in an instant and Megumi groaned in pain. The numb feeling covering his whole being had its advantages - it didn't hurt that much. He made a mental life update.

It got worse. What a surprise.

He looked around.

At least he still had the shadows.

***

"You can't die. You can't die. You can't die."

The bathroom floor was cold - so cold, it was actually surprising that the insane amount of my tears spilling on it didn't cause the whole room to mist up. My cheeks were burning, but I couldn't stop. I couldn't.

It'd been over ten minutes since I saw Fushiguro. Over five since I'd found myself in the common bathroom on the ground floor of the dorms. Over four since I couldn't catch a breath.

It happened. From time to time. Even before that whole insanity, I'd had my... moments. Moments where I felt as if the world was somewhere else entirely, and I was just a spectator. Like watching a football match happening in some foreign country. Moments where I felt as if I were about to die - for no particular reason. Moments where I just lay on the floor and cried for something I didn't feel I had.

But all those became irrelevant after that fight. As if all my problems and insecurities suddenly stopped existing, and something bigger, way more terrifying stepped into their place, ready to fight me with its bare hands, an idea, really. An idea of losing Megumi Fushiguro.

He was there. He stood next to me. He was alive.

So why couldn't I stop crying?

Gojo was right. He was so right. My cursed energy was definitely leaking. Even though I had little to no idea what exactly he meant by "getting him out", I suspected that it had to be somehow connected to my cursed technique. A technique I've never actually found.

Not only me - not Gojo, Shoko, the principals. In this case, me and Yuuji were somehow similar, but my cursed energy was way more aggressive and overflowing. I had some trouble controlling it when I was starting school, but it really did get better with time, even though I'd had some slip-ups along the way. But this? Now, I could create potential curses. And I had no idea which exact feeling was making me feel that way.

"Y/N?"

Oh.

No.

"What happened?" Fushiguro's soft voice broke the silence. I lifted my head up just to see his awfully perfect frame in a really awful lightning. It was already dark outside, and the only dim light came from the hallway, so I couldn't really see his expression, but then he turned on the light in the room. He was a freaking painting.

A very worried one.

Megumi hesitated for a short moment, then he closed the door. He came up to me and got on one knee, visibly upset.

"Are you hurt?" he asked nervously, his gaze running up and down my body, looking for any signs of injury.

"Um... No." I said, but apparently that didn't sound very convincing to Fushiguro. Well, he saw me ten minutes ago and I was fine - and now I looked like a depressed mess. "I just... Ugh." I groaned. What was I supposed to say? "I'm having a meltdown." Somehow, this time his appearance put me back together instead of ripping me apart. The tears were starting to dry up on my cheeks. "I..."

Oh, stop it.

"I've just missed you like crazy."

He didn't lit up instantly, but something in his eyes sparkled, and his natural stiffness disappeared - well, not completely, but at least a bit. A shadow of a smile ran through his face, followed by a slight blush on his cheeks.

"I..." He frowned, visibly thinking about something. "I've missed you too." He added quietly. "It's actually a very nice place to have a meltdown at."

"It is." I tried not to stare at him, I swear. But how was I supposed to do that? I'd have to have some twisted cursed technique for that.

Fushiguro sighed and sat on the floor, next to me, leaning his back towards the wall.

"How was Kioto?" I asked, not really sure, what to say. We had a lot to unpack, but majority of the things I wanted to ask him about was just pure gore. Kioto seemed like the safest option.

Megumi sighed.

"Good."

"Talkative as always."

"I know you've got better questions".

He wasn't wrong.

"How are you feeling then?"

Silence.

"How should I feel?" His voice wasn't sad, rather tired. "I'm... I'm trying not to think about it." Megumi's gaze turned to his hands. A few scars were left here and there - Sukuna's reversed curse technique effects. "I've made my mind on one thing though. That's for sure."

"What's that?"

"I won't hate myself for not being strong enough. But I will hate myself for giving up too easily." He was somehow scary. It's not like I had never seen it before, but this time, it felt different.

"Don't hate-"

"There's always a reason not to give up. And if there isn't, then you can find one." He looked at me with an expression I wasn't able to recognize. What was that? Determination? "When Gojo striked Sukuna with that last purple, I woke up. I... I think I know what happened. Why he left my body. And why he might have wanted me in the first place." He took a deep breath. "When I manifested Chimera Shadow Garden during the Culling Games, it was... different. It had.. like a heart. Or rather, a vertebrae." I really liked talking with him, but this conversation didn't remind me of anything we'd had before. "And the nerves. I didn't think about it at first, but when I woke up, I managed to enter Sukuna's inner domain. Just for a second."

I froze.

"What do you mean?"

"Itadori told me about it later on." Fushiguro frowned, slowly dipping his fingertips in his own shadow. "That Sukuna's inner domain had ribs. Huge ribs. And for a moment, I... I could move them, (Y/N)."

I didn't think I was able to open my eyes that wide.

"You moved Sukuna's inner domain?"

"I think it had to be perfectly timed with the Purple, otherwise it wouldn't have worked." He added. "But I did it. I could move them, for a second, as if..." Megumi's hand dipped even deeper into the shadow. "Like a puppet on a string. Sort of. That's why we went to Kioto."

I had to look incredibly funny being as confused as I was, because Megumi chuckled.

"(Y/N), have you ever heard about Gashadokuro?"

[x-birdsong-x]

overly specific house dog au headcanons? spill some?

I can try and fit in one post everyone I've settled completely on so far, and also be obnoxious about dog breeds. fun

I've also bothered @greghatecrimes with a lot of these so very big thanks to them for helping me settle on breeds for everyone <3

It's when I've settled on a "base breed" with dogs that sometimes things just go crazy and go from there

Start with the most overly unnecessarily detailed one here you go:

Adams is the oddest most fantasy mixed breed of ALL fucking time her parents are one Belgian Tervuren and one Borzoi x Ibizan Hound and she appeared so much Tervuren that it’s just possible to miss that she’s got any sighthound(s) in her.

Editing to go even more in-detail with this one because my girl deserves it: She ends up looking somewhere between these two:

She’s very pointy and very leggy but she is very long-furred and that's where the mistakes come from. She moves mostly with the gaits of her sighthound sides which the others find is an easy way to make her bristle. She’s prancing across the room and Chase says you move like a sighthound and she says no I don’t (yes she does)

Park is a Silken Windsprite:

Probably struggles in snow and sometimes has to jump and jump to get through it when it's really deep but Adams mumbles that it’s cute and that's Fight invitation. Park brings up that Adams gets snowballs stuck on her and that it takes hours to melt out of her fur. ("Fuck you!" - "Do it yourself!") It's probably fair to say she has some little dog syndrome.

Chase is an Australian Shepherd. House probably used to make comments about he and Cameron both being Merle:

Cameron is this specific Border Collie (but with blue eyes, ofc):

Probably does the Collie Crouch sometimes. Absolutely does the Collie Stare, and that would come into House's "you can't actually pierce me with your eyes" moments.

Foreman is a Central Asian Shepherd:

For a slight visual similarity to how I imagine post-Lockdown Angst Cameron might feel meeting Masters, Masters is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever:

Probably has what I call in the groomers "Smart Breed Anxiety" along with her autism swag. Dogs who listen to and seem to understand every word you say and if you're telling someone or another pet off for anything, they assume they're the one you're talking to and give all their guilty looks. Also using my Bluebear as reference with that visual.

Thirteen is this Utonagan!!! No other visual!!! Have such a canine visual of The Dig it's insane.

Wilson of course took Golden Retriever. Definitely one of the larger/silkier ones. Show-type. He'd definitely be a dark gold but this is the best pic I have for how I picture him -color:

House is a Scottish Deerhound, mixed with what? He doesn't know. Wants to know. Very easy to miss that he's a cross:

(Little Rachel rode on his back for a bit once.)

Speaking of, Rachel is a little pupper Sheltie (Natalie) x English Shepherd (Simon) but she barely shows any Shep traits when it comes to looks:

Rachel's a mini-me of her mama, Cuddy took Rough Collie:

Kutner is a Springer Spaniel x Large Münsterländer, leaning more looks-wise toward the latter and leaning energy-level toward the former:

Taub is a Beagle, Chihuahuas are just too small for one of the main characters in my little visual I'm afraid (and I forgot Smooth Fox Terriers existed):

Rachel is a long-haired Dachshund, and Ruby is a show-type English Cocker Spaniel, so Sophie and Sophia are those crosses respectively. Click on the Spaniel to see the full pic.

Amber takes (Red) Siberian Husky:

She's quite thick-coated but she doesn't fall under "Woolly Husky" coat type.

Red (Irish) Setter Stacy:

Plott Hound Mark:

Dominika... So This dog is obviously a Belgian Malinois maybe crossed with something fluffier (unless the listing change from Mali to Terv is accurate, then she's just Small) but she looks exactly like this:

Saluki Lydia:

Belgian Malinois Alvie:

Lucas is just straight-up a Coyote. It just fits him too well. He gets a Coyote-themed name in the WC AU, and gets to be a Coyote when I think about canines:

Beauceron Nolan. Can't see him as something as round and soft as Newfies but also can't see him as a bully-type:

[skishie]

omga i love your airphone gijinkas

anyways i uave no idea if youve already said this somewhere ,my memory sucks ,but how do you reckon airy and mephone met. what is ur perosnal headcanon. grabby hands i must know (i love airphon

UUWAAAA THANK YOU !!! im really glad you do... looks up at you so politely and with a big smile.. i want to draw them again but better and more like a ref so hopefully soon! :D aaaatehee heeee i have not spoken about it publicly so im more than open to go into it now... cracks my knuckles(its actually not that intense but i jsut have a lot of thoughts)

OKAY, so personally i like to think about it starting after airy dies the second time(the end of ONE). its nice for him to still have gone through everything hes done and experienced because its what makes him him. he needs to be the airy we know and love. this also allows for bonding and growth and other such things. anyways, he uses the radio and ends up in the world of inanimate insanity! this would also take place after season 3 has wrapped up, either before or after the library is built. this means he can meet mephone and they can start bonding over being hosts of game shows but as airy talks mephone starts to understand "wow he just like me, but i got better, and now i want to help him" so mephone feels this need to help airy out with the same growth that mephone jsut went through. but also anyone whos been through the isolation that airy has been through along with dying who knows how many times. mephone just wants to help him and help his mental state and get him resocialized and to a point where he understands why he should be a bit more thoughtful or so on and whatever. airy would still be his old self but a bit more caring/understanding to a degree. i think hes just got some mental problems going on and hes just kind of an odd guy. mephone lets him hang around and either they could MAYBE? co host together, but at first hes just watching mephone do a show first before anything like that. which he watches from afar. hes not so used to being upclose or even being around people anymore so he likes to watch from a distance. as time goes on yada yada mephone would develop feelings first, and airy would much later. mephone would develop feelings while helping airy and such, airy takes a lot longer because he is readjusting and just, getting some basic social skills back. i like them in part because i just see mephone having gone through the growth he went through because he was similar to airy, and then meeting airy after this and realizing "wow i should help him too because this is just how i was and id hate to see someone else suffer the way i did" kind of thing and blah blah idk sorry i yapped and i hope any of this makes sense/is readable period. i ramble a lot and my thoughts kind of get lost oops. im not great with words or wording things well. not everything is thought out but those are my thoughts :] ps: airy still has the cracked head because thats just how i personally like to see him and draw him. i also think that if he died and came back that after all hes done, thats more akin to who he is now. hes a broken individual who needs help/fixing. if that makes sense(also a bit of self projecting) pps: my boyfriend wanted to add his two cents for what he knows of mephone as well(hes not finished season 3 yet) and yknow,,, hes right i think its a mix of what i said and mix of what he said... which is: "wow he just like me for real, not anymore though, also this guy's committed some major fucked up stuff and that's just not right, if i fix this guy maybe it'll look really good for me"

[bringingourrealitys2life]

Raising A Tello - Year Three

There was a time when Mikey never knew what it was like to have someone who listened eagerly to his every story, or trusted his word like it was law.

And yet, when Donnie was cuddled in his lap requesting a 'night-night 'venture' or bursting into tears when he thought Mikey was upset with him, he found it hard to remember the time before he was the big brother.

Donnie learned to walk before he found really found his voice, and even now that it was found and his speech was immaculate, he was always more than happy to let Mikey do all the talking. Raph insisted that once Donnie felt he knew everything, then they'd have a hard time shutting him up.

None of them doubted it.

Mikey can’t name the exact moment that he became the smart brother, but he guessed it was the moment Donnie forgot everything he knew. Leo was smart in ninja ways and Raph had his street smarts, but Mikey was smart in only the way that the previously youngest brother could be.

He knew what it felt like to be confused by the smallest curiosities, to feel left out, or like there couldn't be as much bad in the world as everyone said. He knew what it was like to be pushed to the side, or looked down on for childish interests that others had outgrown.

He never wanted Donnie to know what that was like.

So every question and and request was answered to the very best of his ability. Every fairytale book was read, every block-town civilization was built, and every imagination world was explored, complete with costumes, superpowers, giggles, and funny looks from their brothers.

The brothers knew exactly how to handle Donnie because they’d grown up together. They had rough estimates of how things happened, but if they followed them, then Donnie would grow up like before. It was so simple.

Then something flipped.

Donnie no longer wanted the blocks that he adored until he was almost five; he wanted to decorate his walls with messy sketches of impossible creations. He didn’t want to be read storybooks about heros and villains like he gushed over until he was twelve; he wanted to know how subways and cars worked. He didn’t want to create somewhere fake like they all did for their entire childhood; he wanted to study what was real.

He wasn’t much for watching their kiddie shows, but he was always happy to take advantage of his pitiful brown eyes and talk his way into one of their laps, cuddling close to a lucky brother and studying the less kid-friendly, but still very child-safe show that they strategically put in when he was around.

He requested books about hockey. He carried his teddy the way that Karai and April held Yoshi. He mimicked Leo in the dojo. He memorized tool names so Raph would let him ‘help’ with repairs. He mixed batter and decorated pizzas with Mikey the kitchen.

Donnie was still Donnie, but also not. Donnie was so small, but he wanted to do everything they could. It was like some part of Donnie knew that he wasn’t supposed to be that little, like he knew he should be grown up right along with the three.

Leo and Raph gave Mikey tired looks when he said as much. So maybe not.

They all knew Donnie got confused sometimes, about his place and his origin, and they always did their best to explain, but telling a three-year-old that he used to be an adult and evil alien’s science goo turned him into a kid isn't exactly the easiest thing for even a genius toddler to wrap his head around.

The only thing that never seemed to change was the stories.

Telling of their adventures was the perfect mix. Unbelievable enough to capture his attention, and every word was a piece of their history, so Donnie absorbed the information like sponge.

They wanted to keep him innocent, not naive, so Mikey was free to tell him stories of their adventures on Earth and in space, explaining that the great galaxy is exactly where Mona came from. He got to watch his eyes light up when he told Donnie about how they traveled through time and dimensions and hold him close when he told lighter versions of events with The Triceratons and Shredder.

Still, there were many stories that hadn't been explained to the young mind starving for knowledge. Stories that Mikey preferred to keep in the back of his mind, hoping to never have to tell, because to tell is to relive, and reliving certain events is hard.

So maybe it was his fault that he came home from a kinda-date with Renet to find Donnie sobbing quietly in his room, tucked away in a corner. Mikey wasted no time in collecting his baby brother in his arms, not even bothering to seek out the root of the problem as he pulled him to his chest, rocking and shushing him so he’d know he wasn’t alone.

Donnie hid away in his embrace the way he always did, but the sobs didn’t stop. So Mikey rocked and hummed and reassured in the room filled with trinkets and toys, a mix of the old Donnie and the new Donnie that they couldn't bear to erase.

It was only when Donnie began to calm down that Mikey allowed his gaze to stray from the distraught form, and he spotted the picture frame lying facedown on the floor. With a worried frown, he steadied an arm around the small shell as he reached for it, feeling Donnie smush himself into his hold as he turned the picture over and glanced at the photo.

A lump formed in his throat, and he looked away.

"Dee?" He whispered as he set it to the side. "Where did you get this?”

“Dojo.” Donnie sniffled. “Off the shelf.”

Mikey guessed he’d find a chair dragged through later. “Why?”

“No.” Donnie squeezed his eyes shut. “No, no, no, no.”

“I’m not mad.” Mikey soothed as he ran fingers over his carapace. “But I do need to know what happened, lil’ bro. Lay it out for me.” 

“I-I- just-!” Donnie pushed his fist in the way of his mouth to stop the words and Mikey nuzzled the top of his head, letting him know that whatever it is, he won't be upset. Donnie whimpered. 

Mikey kept his voice light. "Safe zone. Not mad."

Donnie lowered the fist. “Sorry.” 

“Thank you.” Mikey acknowledged. “But it doesn’t really work until I know what to forgive you for. Help me out, will you?”

“I-I made Momma and Raphie mad. They’re gone."

Donnie only ever used the nicknames when he was really upset or scared, and a million emotions cycle through at once. Variations of confusion and sympathy and worry hit him first. 

Then Mikey's eyes widened in shock and understanding because they basically made a silent pact to never leave Donnie alone under any circumstances.

Finally, a surge of fury was kept under wraps as he carefully asked, "Oh, yeah? What'd you do?"

Teary eyes shied away. "He keeps making you sad. Wanted- wanted to know why."

Mikey closed his eyes for a brief moment. 

"You asked, huh?"

"Yeah." Donnie trembled. "Raphie was quiet. M-Mama said no. I-I just wanted ' know but-but then Mama got m-mad and Raphie got sad-angry a-and g-ot loud-"

Another guilty sob broke him off and Mikey pulled him back into the tight hug, shushing him and listening as he let the fear and guilt loose. He knows that Donnie isn't to blame, not with the anniversary being so close and him being too young to remember or understand those visits to the farmhouse. They hadn't even tried to explain it before.

But maybe it's time they did.

"We're sad because he's gone, Dee."

"So tell him to come back!" A bitter remark stirred, but he buried it quickly, holding his tongue to keep from saying anything that he might regret. "Make him come back so you don't have to be sad!"

"Donnie..." The little brother stared back, round eyes scanning his face for answers that he was not ready to give, and Mikey exhaled shakily, forcing a watery smile. 

"How 'bout I tell you a story?” 

For More Content

[strlstlvr]

ERASE, a yang jungwon smau ♡

CHAPTER EIGHT. tread carefully (mostly written)

⋆·˚ ༘ * alcohol, drugs (weed), suggestive

◃◃ ⅠⅠ ▹▹

You decided if you were gonna go to this party, you were gonna get hammered and thankfully, Keeho always loved a little pregame session.

While you got ready, the boy prepared the shots along side Jiung, who was carefully rolling another blunt after the three of you had already finished the first one.

Wether or not you considered yourself a lightweight, you were already starting to feel your worries slip away and with a deep breath in you finally relaxed.

Eventually you finished getting ready and you felt amazing and they boys could tell you did as well, they smiled at each other feeling like the proud best friends of yours that they were.

When you arrived at the party, you and Keeho split ways with Jiung as you two made your way straight to a table full of different bottles of alcohol.

Instead of shots Keeho decided to just make a mixed drink for the two of you, he was the only one you could trust to get you drunk.

He knew what you liked and what you could handle plus you knew he wouldn’t drug you or anything so you had complete faith in him.

“I think i’m good with just this drink Keeho, thank you”, you gave him a kiss on the cheek and turned around to find any other people that you knew.

Almost immediately after you walked out of the kitchen you bumped into Jake, “I knew i’d find you in here, already made yourself a drink too! I hope you’re enjoying yourself so far.”

You never noticed it before but Jake really was handsome up close, the friendly smile he had on his face and his Australian accent truly made him seem like a dream.

You giggled, “Yeah it’s a Keeho special, he always makes my drinks, he’s the best at it.”

“Well I guess i’ll go find him and try it out for myself”, he said but he didn’t seem like he wanted to leave anytime soon.

“You can take a sip of mine if you’d like, he filled my cup to the brim there’s no way i’ll drink the whole thing”, you offer and he happily accepts.

You watched as he brought the cup up to his lips and when you looked up to his eyes you could see the mischievous glint in them.

You throw your head back and laugh and he swallows the sip he took, “Holy shit you were right, this is amazing!”

“You don’t need to go that far, Keeho’s ego is big enough”, you guys share a laugh again.

There’s a moment of silence as you two just stand and smile at each other until Jake speaks up again, “Man we’re both so gone”

You take another sip of your drink, “Yeah well I think I should go share some of this with some others”

“Yeah of course! Sunoo and the rest of our friends are around here somewhere, I hope you enjoy the rest of your night”, he says as he surprisingly pulled you in for a hug.

‘Yeah he’s so high right now’, you laughed to yourself and hugged him back.

“Thanks Jakey, you too”, you replied and wandered off to find Sunoo.

Somehow you found yourself outside and found Sunoo, as you creeped up behind him you jumped to hug him.

“Sunoooooo!! I’ve been looking forever for you”, he relaxed after being scared once he heard your voice and he turns around.

“Hi Y/nnie”, he giggles and throws his arms around you returning the embrace.

“You smell like weed”, you said and he laughs again, “Yeah well I think you don’t smell enough like weed”, he says back.

“I don’t know Sunoo I-“, you lost your train of thought as you notice someone behind him, you recognized him.

“On second thought, let’s go get fucked up”, you pulled him back inside to the kitchen without giving another glance to Jungwon who was staring at you two leaving.

Unlike before, Keeho was nowhere to be found in the kitchen, “Well I guess it’s about time I made my own drinks”.

You and Sunoo picked up different bottles putting them together to see if they’d sound good together or not.

Eventually you two gave up and just mixed whatever together, you two clinked your cups and cheersed downing the drink.

Immediately you two coughed, “Holy fuck i said fucked up not black out, that’s straight alcohol Sunoo!”

You two laughed and continued to attempt in chugging down the drink, “Fuck yeah, we’re not remembering tonight”.

You wiped your mouth and looked down at your drink, “No we are not, I finished mine already”

As you threw your cup away, you felt eyes on you causing you to look around and that’s when you saw him again.

Jungwon was staring so intensely so you decided to just walk up to him.

“Hey Sunoo, i’ll be right back okay?”, You turn back around to him and see him already making conversation with a new person.

You shake your head and make your way towards Jungwon, he was high and you could tell as it took him a moment to realize you were approaching him.

When he realized his eyes went wide, well as wide as they could, and he looked as if he wanted to run away as his eyes darted around looking for an escape.

“You spent all this time staring at me but now you wanna run away?”, You asked as you approached him, he looked tense.

He stayed quiet as you stared at him, You know what, you seem like you’re way too high to talk right now i’ll just le-“

“NO!”, he interrupted, “Uhm I mean, no I want to talk to you”, He said as he held onto your arm trying to keep you with him.

You looked down and he immediately released his hold on you, “Well if you wanna talk so bad then maybe you should say something instead of just staring at me”

“Yeah right, i’m sorry i’m just…”, He stares at you again for a moment, “I think i’m just super high right now and uh it’s not helping that you look really good and-“

“Yah, Jungwon I get it, you look good too”, You give him a small smile and he lets out a sigh and relaxed.

“You know, you’ve been around a lot lately, you stalking me or something?”, You watch as his face goes back to a panicked look.

“No definitely not, I promise! I guess we just have more mutual friends then we thought”, He says and points towards Sunoo who sends a wink your guys’ way.

You laugh, “You know Sunoo?”, He nods, “Mhm, him and Jake are the reason I even went to that event and this party.”

“Yeah I was actually really surprised to see you there, seeing as all you want to do is study”, You grab the drink he was holding and take a sip of it as he stares at you.

“You know i’m really sorry Y/n, I wish I could go back and undo everything I did and said”, The look in his eyes seemed genuine but you laughed it off.

“Jungwon, we’re both intoxicated you don’t know what you’re saying”, You look away from him but he softly grabs your chin and turns your face back towards his.

“Y/n, I sobered up the minute you told me I looked good! I mean it, I really am truly sorry about everything I sa-“, You cut him off by placing a kiss on his lips.

You sighed into the kiss as he relaxed at your touch, his lips were as soft as you remembered.

Suddenly the kiss deepened and it became more heated but before it could go any further you softly pushed him off.

His face was pink and he was breathing heavily just as you were, “We shouldn’t be doing this in front of everyone”

“You’re right”, He grabs your hand and takes you into one of the rooms.

“Jungwon, I don’t think we should hook up in a random room in Jake’s house”, The last thing you wanted to do was disrespect one of the few people you really enjoyed.

“Y/n this isn’t just Jake’s house”, finally you take a look around the room and your eyes land on a picture frame on the desk.

“Oh”, you said, the photo was of you and Jungwon, “Why do you still have this up?”.

He steps closer to you and scoffs which catches you off guard, “You still don’t understand? Y/n L/n, i’m still in love with you and I haven’t stopped.”

You search his eyes for any sign of a bluff but you can read his expression clearly, he was telling the truth.

He cups your face in his hands and his lips land on yours once again.

This time the kiss had more passion than any kiss you’d ever had before and before you knew it, your clothes were already on the floor.

A/N ! someone teach me how to make a read more button PLEASE this fic was longer than usual and i hate making people scroll past this long as thing😭😭

TAGLIST ! @fadedluvv @ifearjwn @yyumiii1 @woncheecks @astrae4 @kpopstanmeg

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

Diamond In The Rough Ch10 A New Life- College Life That Is P3

Gordie looked about ready to give his siblings an Earful but everyone froze when the lights were switched back on and everyone froze as Melony stood there with Gordie third little brother next to her. And she stood there staring completely bewildered at the scene before her. Staring at all of you and the strange setting you all were in.

"....Can someone tell me what's going on here?"

Gordie just sunk down defeated in his seat and covering his face. "P-Please just get me out of this situation, Ma."

From there things seemed to be going alright. Dinner was less awkward, and when Melony found out what the siblings had pulled, she scolded them and made the four of them apologize to the both of you before continuing on with Dinner. Gordie seemed less tense only when the two of you were able to get out of there and finish walking you all the way back to the hotel where he kept apologizing for everything that had happened today but you reassured him it wasn't his fault and you had a fun time. Poor guy seemed so stressed over it. From there things went back to normal. He did swing by about two days later on Sunday when he knocked at your door but when it opened he was met with a BIG surprise. A thrum sound of question answered the door and he came face to face when your new scolipede poked her head out of the door and spooked him enough to fall backwards as the thing looked down at him. You arrived pushing her out of the way, upon hearing his yelp.

From the ground he pointed up at her. "W-W-What the heck is that thing doing in here?!"

"You mean, Venom? She likes to sleep on the floor. Isn't she just the sweetest bug type?"

He could only stare as you cooed and patted her happily thrumming head. "...*sigh* I think we need ta have a talk."

Despite his warnings you still let the large pokemon along with your knew Glaceon, which you affectionately named Rena, out along with all your other pokemon. With it came new challenges. You can to go out more in order to make sure they all got exercise, you got more strange looks from people walking so many strange pokemon around, and you had to buy more expensive pokemon food. Considering Scolipede's only existed on other regions and on the Isle of Armor, you had to make sure Venom had special food and it had to be specialized food. You had to buy separate bags of poison and bug type food and mix them together for her as well as buy them more frequently considering she was much more larger than your other pokemon. Sigh. Hard but nothing you couldn't manage. Gordie did let Officer Jenny know the scolipede was caught and in good custody but other than that it didn't seem much of the investigation was known to you...until much, MUCH later. It was months later actually. You had gone back to work on Monday morning and it seemed the shouting Gordie did at your bosses shook them up enough to be super apologetic and more accommodating to both you and Sapphire, which was a better change of pace. You weren't planning on staying anyways. Only until the school year started back up again then you'd quite to move back into the dorms and take your second year of the standard course. Gordie continued to come in and like usually would greet you and Sapphire before ordering and chatting with you, once and a while apologize again for the date you two had, but other than that things were mostly back to normal. Until one day Gordie came in seeming somewhere between really happy and really miffed. About two months later in Early March. As usual the doorbell rang, you looked up smiling expectantly, and Gordie walked on up to you silently. You noticed his look and blinked.

"Hey. Are you ok?"

"Yeah...I got some news but not all of it's good," he said sighing.

"What happened?" Did something happened between himself and his mum again? Did his siblings do something?

"Remember when I told ya about those pokemon poachers sneaking other regional pokemon into Galar?" You were surprised he suddenly brought that up, but you slowly nodded and he groaned, a hand rubbing his temples. "Well, it turns out the investigation finally turned them all up."

Your eyes widened. "You're kidding."

"Nope! They found the main ring leaders through some informants and undercover cops. The reason it took so long was cause o' all the problems the new Chairwoman's been havin' ta fix. Turns out there was a decent sized poaching team smuggling in other regional pokemon and shinies of all kinds and then sellin' them ta the highest bidder. They were able to put a stop to it and recovered most of the pokemon to be relocated, but they're still crackin' down on the buyers and any other pokemon that was lost in the shuffle."

"What do you mean 'lost in the shuffle'?"

"Well, turns out in order to smuggle 'em in, some of them would pay some other guys of theirs to catch pokemon from other region and return to Galar pretendin' ta be breeders, the problem was sometimes the pokemon would actually be accidentally shipped to different pokemon daycares and nurseries for other breeders to study. That's why the guy Officer Jenny apprehended a few months back broke into Circhester's Pokemon Nursery. He was after the scolipede that escaped from there." He tilted his head with a hum towards you. "...In fact I think that might've been how your Zangoose ended up in that claw game somehow too."

That...Actually explained so much. It wasn't really a surprise or shock to you really that this would be the case, but that still begged the question. "So what happens now?"

He shrugged. "Most of the problem has been taken cared o' and the ring's shut down, although they're still after some of the buyers and confiscating any pokemon who were given to bad owners. Some people's come forward and given the pokemon over but other than that, Officer Jenny n' her best team's gonna handle it from here. As far as I know, any involvement of mine's no longer needed unless something happens here again."

"And....what about my pokemon?" You frowned. "Will I have to give them up too?''

"Absolutely not," he assured you softly, "The pokemon in your care care about ya a lot, and you take really good care of them. There's no reason for me to think otherwise so you don't have ta worry 'bout anything."

You let out a sigh of relief smile back on your face. "Thank goodness. ....*ahem* S-So anyways, did you want your regular?"

He nodded. "Sure! Although I-...U-Um..W-W-Wanted to ask y-y-you somethin' in return."

"What?"

"D-Do ya wanna watch another movie with me t-t-this Sunday?"

And life continued on as normal. You worked. Gordie kept coming around. You worked and even got all your major assignments done! ...well Most of them. There was still two others you needed to do. One required you to have a partner so you had to wait until you got to college, and your quest to capture a third pokemon. You did try, but you barely had time between your job, taking care of your pokemon, and your other assignments you did. Along with going on a few more dates with Gordie. Until the fated month was almost there. August. When you'd have to go back. So the month before in May you decided to resend in your application remembering what Sonia did so you could do it again. It was finally time to fill out the form including your Birth Region, current address, name, which course you were applying for (Standard Course, 2nd Year), etc. You still remembered the 'hometown' you said you were from. Vaniville Town. To this day you still had no idea what compelled you to say it, but you chalked it up to your brain just blurting out a random town to not raise suspicion. Now was the easy part. You had to select five or six of the ten classes you took last year, and you knew EXACTLY what classes you'd be picking. You wouldn't pick all ten again like last year. With the new responsibilities of your pokemon and focusing on other things, it'd be too big of a burden to take on. They had all the same classes as last year as well- Science and Culture, History, Languages and Writing, Arts, Home Ec, Math, P.E., Battle Studies, Health and Medical, and Pokemon Care.

You chose science and culture, Pokemon Care, Battle Studies, Home Ec, health and medical, and languages and writing.

Six classes sounded like a decent amount and since you had most of the tough assignments concerning those classes out of the way, it should help a little bit. So you sent it all in and waited for a reply back, which you received the first day of August. An email, stating that they had accepted your application along with a date for the first day of the new school year. You were expecting you'd be accepted and you made sure to give a call to Leon to make sure the scholarship the Chairwoman gave you also covered your second year and thank ARCEUS it did! You should be able to pick up your new books and be able to just focus on your studies which as a relief. You gave your bosses your two weeks notice and informed the hotel of your eventual departure and packed up most of your essentials to be ready to go at the beginning of the new year. You were expecting everything, but what you weren't expecting was the sudden visit of Gordie's. The Sunday before the school year started, there was a knock at your door and when you answered it, Gordie was there which wouldn't be surprising as he sometimes visited you but there was something...different about his stance that made you pause in your smile to greet him. There was something more...serious. Stoney about the way he stood there, hands in his pockets and mouth pressed in a thin line when you opened the door to greet him.

"Gordie?"

"Hey, Y/n," he greeted in a monotone, almost tired voice, "Can I come in? There's somethin' real important I need to talk to ya about." You stood blinking for a moment before you nodded and stood aside to let him in. "Thank you."

"So what brings you here?" You slowly closed the door behind him as he calmly stood there and turned to you. "Did something bad happen?"

To your relief he shook his head no, but still had that serious face. "Sorry if I came in the middle of anything. I actually just wanted to talk to you, but it's about something serious so I figured I'd do it in person when you had time. I know the new college year's comin' up and with all the new people comin' in I-..." You blinked when you noticed the shaky breath he took. "I-It made me realize I had ta ask somethin'."

Well he wasn't wrong. The hotel was overcrowding with the sudden arrival of so many new people coming in the bundles and more and more were arriving every day for the new upcoming school year. Which meant you were going to be going back there too soon. But what about that could've prompted Gordie to come here to you?

Slowly you nodded your head yes. "Ok. What is it?"

He shakily again took a breath and his hand reached up to rub his head, the serious melting away instantly and replaced with a sheepish. "I-...I-I know these last few months we've been..." he gestured at nothing. "Seein' each other, but w-w-we never directly defined what we were. I-I know it's somethin' more than just friends but I mean-..D-Do you want it to be more? I-I mean more than friends! Do you wanna remain friends? Which I'm totally fine with staying! B-But what I-I'm tryin' to ask is that-..W-Well that being-...D-Do you wanna-..." He sucked in a breath. "Y-Y/n, d-do you wanna be m-my...girlfriend? I -I mean...Is that what we are to each other?"

And you went silent. Surprised at what he was asking. He came all the way here to ask you if you wanted to be...his girlfriend?

"Y-Ya don't have ta give me an answer now!," he assured you holding up his hands, "I-I get i-if m-m-me bein' in the limelight so much sounds off puttin' o-o-or if you wanna keep things casually n' not serious! O-Or you don't think of me that way at all! Or- I-....UUuuhh-"

His voice trailed off as one of your hands grabbed his and he looked wide eyed from your hand to your smiling face. "Aw, Gordie. You were worried about something like this? It's sweet." His face boomed a red as you just laughed at his reaction. "But to answer your question, yes. I wouldn't mind being considered your girlfriend despite everything."

He stared at you silently. "....my girlfriend?..."

You chuckled. "That's right. If you really want me to be." He didn't answer and you blinked. "Gordie?"

Gordie's face was somewhere between pale 'I saw a ghost' like and flustered 'I just got my first kiss' pink. He stood there for a few more seconds as you tried to figure out what to do, before leaning sideways and falling to the floor with a thud.

"Gordie!?" You shouted as the rock type gym leader tilted sideways to the right and with a loud thud sound collided with the floor. You immediately dropped to your knees next to the dazed man sprawled on the ground blankly staring at the ceiling. Your hands immediately went under his head and chest pulling his shocked form up towards your concerned face. "Are you ok!? Speak to me!"

He continued staring up at the ceiling in a daze, sunglasses crooked on his nose. "...You're...g-gonna be my...g-g-girlfriend?"

"I-..Y-Yeah." You blinked. "But are you ok? GAH!?"

You were sat up really quickly by a blur and Gordie was all of a sudden sat up clutching your arms looking serious and lost at the same time, sunglasses falling off in the process. "Did ya mean it!?" He looked at you wide eyed. "You wanna be with me? A-And ya don't mind? Y-You.." His hands slowly let go of your arms staring like he didn't believe you. "You said you w-wouldn't mind goin' with me?..Really?" You slowly nodded. "....Why?"

"Because I like you-like you back?", you tried raising a brow at him before you reached your hands up to gently patted his shocked shoulder with a smile. "And because I think your dorky attitude's really cute and you treat me with respect. And I really, really like you."

Gordie could only stare at you before a dopey smile crossed his face and he sighed. "Oh thank bloody Arceus. I thought for a moment you'd say no. ..I put way too much pressure on myself don't I?"

"Oh yeah. You do."

And thus..you had gained a new relationship. And it felt so casual. So normal. So....natural. Is this what a real relationship was like? You were sure you had feelings for Gordie now. It was hard not to when your heart fluttered in your chest and he made you smile so much. So it was official now. You had a boyfriend. A boyfriend who happened to be a very famous, popular gym leader. ...The thought made your head spin. Being friends with someone like Leon felt like a dream enough, but dating someone like that? That was a whole new level. But...You were ok with this. Gordie made it feel so smoothly, and he was probably the best guy you could've ended up in a relationship with. Kind, caring, attentive, understanding on a another that you two could understand each other with your similar pasts- The list goes on. But soon enough you did have something else more important to worry about when the day came. The first day of school. You woke up bright and early, and with all your pokemon and things packed up, you began walking back towards to the school. And you weren't the only one.

Lots of young people around your age or slightly older walked around you. They went back past you back towards the town and back up the pathway in the same direction you were headed, LOTS of them carried various forms of backpacks, boxes, books, papers, and a slew of other things. Sometimes even having a pokemon with them helping to carry more boxes, books, etc for them. You all started coming around the GIANT snow covered hill behind the rock type gym, down the cobblestone road, and was met with familiar sight. A GIANT building almost thrice the size of the Rose of Rhondelands Hotel was standing there proud and tall, and you did mean tall, it was taller than Rose Tower even as you still stood there staring up at it. And it..was in the odd shape of a castle-ish like design a lot like Hammerlocke's gym. The cobble stone pathway lead up to the giant building's giant double doors and split off between two other large (but not AS large as the school) buildings that was in front of it on either side of the pathway. What must've been HUNDREDS of people and their pokemon walking around all three big buildings and the pathways.

"Ah. Well it's good to see this again. *sigh* C'mon guys. Let's go get this over with."

It all took a while. You had to have Venom and most of your other pokemon wait in front of the main school building as you went in with Zen and just like last year, you went through the entire process of standing in the line in the front hall/library and waited until you got up to the front where the same two people were handing out papers. And you went through the same thing you did last year-

"Here's a map of the university," he spoke handing you a folded piece of paper he pulled from the desk. "And here's your room key." He then held out a small metal key which you also took. "Hold onto it. You only get one and you'll be paying for a replacement if you lose it. You're room's in Dorm B Room 35 on the second floor and you'll be sharing the space with two room mates." He then held out stapled papers. "This is a list of all your class schedules with the times marked as well as your teachers' names and the calander of what days classes are out, holidays, and when the college year ends next year. As well as all the rules of C.U.." He then squinted his eyes. "Read. Them. Thoroughly. Any rulebreakers will be expelled as consequence." He then pointed towards the double doors. "Before you get your package you need to report to the cafeteria for your Student ID card. According to your file with us, you also have a pre-ordered book package. Be sure to pick it up from the Dean's office."

Well it was easy enough getting your new student ID card, and then going back to Mr. Snow Flake's office to retrieve your new books for the year. It was still heavy which was why you brought along Zen to help carry it. The Director seemed 'happy' to see you again though he did express 'how sad' he was for you not choosing all the classes again. Ugh! After that it was only one last other stop before meeting back up with your team, and that was the school's supply store! You still had some leftover school supplies from last year but it wouldn't be enough to last the whole year, so it was off to the store to get all stocked up and then back to meet up with your team who seemed happier seeing you there and were even MORE happy when you said you all would be going back inside now. You knew exactly where this dorm room was because this was the same room you had last year, you just wondered who your new roommates were. It couldn't be Stacy or Emerald (Thank Arceus-) again. Both graduated last year. You just hoped it wasn't another room mate from heck situation. Never the less, you all headed over to the same dorm room, people of all kinds giving you strange looks especially since a GIANT scolipede was being walked through the halls. You ended up going over to Dorm B Room 35 on the second floor and stopped in front of the wooden door with all your things as people continued to walk around you and go in and out of other rooms around you. Hello again old home. You didn't even bother knocking this time. You just went ahead and used your key to go instead, and the inside was completely the same. A small common area/kitchen area was there just stuck in one space with a sink and such and across from that was a small carpeted area with a sofa and small coffee table. Across from that was three random doors and inside the room was another girl around your age. Not Emerald or Stacy. This girl looked to have been in the middle of moving in stopping in the doorway that was once Emerald's room, box in her hands. She had the lightest blue hair you'd ever seen, in fact it was such a pale blue it looked almost white, with dark purple eyes that almost looked black in coloring in a short ponytail. And a pair of glasses were sat right on her face. And she stared at you like you'd suddenly walked in with a whole circus behind you horns blaring..Well you guessed she must've been surprised when a slew of pokemon came shuffling in behind you.

"Uh...H-Hi!," you greeted with an awkward smile and wave. "Um...I'm Y/n! You must be the new room mate huh? Miss-..."

She ever so slowly...blinked..before shaking her head. "Uh. Y-Yeah." And she rose a brow. "Uh...Why are you parading so many pokemon out?"

"Well the school's rules said we can have our pokemon out as long as they're not huge like an onix or damage the walls. And my pokemon are all well behaved, so as long as they don't so anything it's fine right."

To your surprise she seemed to think for a moment before slowly nodding. "Hm...Well that's fair enough." She again shook her head before looking at you. "My name's Topaz. I assume you're one of my roommates for the year?"

"Yeah! That's me!" You smiled. "It's so nice to meet you! Are you in the standard course too?"

She shook her head. "Third Year Historian Major on the Ultra Course. I'm here to gain more knowledge on the history of the Galar Region and preserve it for future generations." Oh! Kinda like Sonia's science research. That sounded really interesting. "Are you a first or second year Standard Course student?"

"Second! It's gonna be my last year here." You then gestured to what used to be Stacy's room last year. "Is our other room mate in there?"

At this Topaz rolled her eyes and scoffed making you blink. "You mean my cousin? Yes and no. She made me move all her things in here for her, but she's insisting on spending the first two months living in the hotel back in town."

You...blinked. "..She's what?"

"Yes. Something about 'needing to be alone for her sanity' or something ridiculous like that," Topaz scoffed before rolling her eyes again, "Honestly I think my aunt spoilers her too much, but you should see her here soon enough." She then looked at you. "But if I were you, I'd avoid her as much as possible. She can be super annoying."

So..Another Emerald. ..Great.

You groaned. "Well..thanks for the warning. Are you sure my pokemon being out won't bother you?"

"As long as they don't disturb my sleeping or studying time, go into my room, or tear up they place, then you can have an snorlax in here for all I care. I don't really stick my nose in other people's lives anyways."

Ok. So Topaz was blunt, and doesn't seem like the socializing type, but you'd still take her compared to Emerald any day. She seemed respectful enough at least, and didn't seem to care about you having all your pokemon out in the room. Which was good enough for you! You got to move in and make yourself at home, setting up your room again and letting your team make themselves at home. And that was it. Your whole set up was..well set up! And you were ready for the next year to begin. Most of the hardest assignments were already done awaiting you to turn them in, and all you had to do was take the classes between that time! The first month seemed to go by completely normally. You went to classes with Zen, took notes, did any work assigned- The works. Nothing really happened. It was all mundane to be honest. The only thing different was that different was it was less stressful now that you weren't taking so many classes. Topaz was really chill as well. As you thought, she didn't REALLY interact with you a lot. Most of the time she didn't even talk to you when she was around. Not out of rudeness, but because she seemed always swamped with studying and constantly surrounded by books and papers despite the year just beginning. But sometimes she'd say hi or ask how your day was if she had some time to spare, which was nice. And most importantly-

SHE WAS QUIET!! YOU GOT TO SLEEP IN PEACE!!!

There wasn't any constant jabbering on the phone from the other side of the walls, or loud complaining at two in the morning, or music blaring when you were trying to sleep. IT WAS FREAKING FANTASTIC!! The most noise Topaz would make was every once and a while listen quietly to recorded lectures or some notes she recorded on her phone speaker. It was like a roommate from heaven! THANK YOU ARCEUS!! August passed by peacefully and then September was starting. And again nothing really, really out of the ordinary happened. Classes got a little harder now but still nothing you couldn't handle. Although you still saw no sign of this mysterious third roommate that was still M.I.A. You did try asking Topaz about it once to which she only groaned and said-

"She's still coming to classes surprisingly, but she's still refusing to come liver here."

"Isn't it expensive to pay for both the dorm room AND a hotel room? Why doesn't she just stay in one?"

She shrugged. "My aunt can spare the money, so really she doesn't have to worry about it. But I think she's just using it as an excuse to try and meet the gym leader."

"...Melony?"

"Gordie. But unfortunately she's forced to attend classes because of the school's strict policies which doesn't give her a lot of time to look for him. If she skips classes she'll be expelled. My aunt only agreed to pay as long as she attends college. She's also the one who's paying for everything. So no classes equals no money and that equals to her being unable to stay and look for 'Prince Charming."

And that made you pause. "....She's a giant fangirl of Gordie's?"

"That's one way of putting it. *sigh* I feel so bad for the guy. I just hope she grows out of these ridiculous fantasies."

That stirred a little bit of annoyance in you, hearing the fact someone was fangirling and had a crush on YOUR boyfriend. Maybe a bit of jealousy there, but you had to remember. Gordie was a popular gym leader with a large following almost as big as Raihan's. Of course he'd have fangirls/boys like any other celebrity, so you couldn't really get mad at anything. But other than that you still didn't hear much about this 'fangirl roommate' from Topaz other than one or two phone calls you accidentally overheard. The first time it was Topaz talking on her phone to someone with an irritated tone in the kitchen-

"Are you even going to come unpack all the stuff you made me drag here for you?....WHAT!? No I'm not going to unpack everything for you! Are you nuts!?....BECAUSE I'M NOT YOUR BUTLER!! THAT'S WHY!! I'm not going to unpack everything just for you to not ever use the room and then just leave me to repack everything at the end of the year! I'm already stuck holding onto your room key! Wha-....UGH!! Fine! Just make sure you at least remember to get your things because I won't be carrying them back for you!"

She had cut the call short when she noticed you standing there and just acted like none of that ever happened, and frankly you just minded your own business. It didn't really concern you or bothered your life so you decided to stay out of this one. More days passed and that was when the second phone call happened just a few days before October started. You were just writing down a small essay for your writing class when a loud angry voice could be heard from the living room area-

"NO!! I don't care if you're 'busy'! What do you think I'm doing with my time!?" The loud voice of Topaz made you jump and blink at your door. "I can't just drop everything and do stuff for you whenever you want! Let alone THIS!! Why would you think it was ok to ask me to do your homework!?.....WHAT!? NO!! Why would I?!... Don't use 'but we're family' as an excuse!! I've already gone out of my way to help you by watching over your room but I absolutely REFUSE to help you CHEAT!! No wonder you have to retake your final year! Don't call me again unless it's for your room key or to apologize! I don't want to hear from you until then!!"

And then you heard her stomp off to her own room, slamming the door behind her and leaving you in silence once again. ....YIKES!! It sounded like Topaz was having a hard time dealing with her cousin, and you didn't blame her. She sounded like a pain to deal with, and you hadn't even MET her yet! Hopefully when (or even if she ever did-) show up, you could just avoid her and she'd leave you alone. The last thing you wanted was ANOTHER Emerald around here. But for now you'd just keep your nose to your own business and focus on school. You couldn't afford to get into any drama right now nor did you want to after that year. Well September ended without a hitch and then October started up. The spooky month. One week passed and then came the middle of the second week. You had just turned in one of the major assignments of one of the classes you prepared for! For your writing and language class you had to interview someone of your choice and then actually take notes of what they said similar to what a journalist would do, and you chose a unique subject to interview. Why your own pokemon of course! Using Sparky to translate what he said to answer your questions. Certainly was the most convenient one to do. Hopefully the Language teacher will like it enough to give it a passing grade. Now you only had to worry about your regular classes. But you'd soon get an unexpected visitor. And that visitor turned out to be someone who you wanted to really see! It all started one Saturday when there was a knock at your dorm door, and you went to go answer it, but when you pulled open the door you were met with a surprise. A surprise that came with white-blonde hair and sunglasses. You recognized the man in an instant.

"Gordie!" You practically threw the door open startling Topaz who was studying on the sofa.

"Hey, sweetie- OOF!"

He barely had time to react before you hugged him, arms thrown around his neck almost knocking him over but he managed to remain upright due to his sturdier build. ''I missed you so much! Where have you been!?"

He chuckled before reaching up to pat your back. "Helping my lil sibs with school, tryin' ta help Circhester with the backed up crowds o' people here- Y'know. The usual. M' so sorry I couldn't contact ya sooner-"

"Don't apologize." You finally let go of him smiling. "I've been pretty busy too lately, so it's ok." You took a moment to look back at Topaz staring back at the two of you surprised still. "Oh. Uh right. Gordie, this is my roommate." You gestured at Topaz. "Topaz, this is my boyfriend."

He nodded. "'Ey! How ya doin'?"

She still stared wide eyed at him, then at you, then back at Gordie. Before pointing. "Gordie? As in like...the Rock Type Gym Leader of Circhester Gordie? THAT Gordie???"

"Same one!"

She pointed at you. "And SHE'S your girlfriend?"

"Yep!"

"....Do you mean girlfriend as in you're romantically involved with each other, or 'girl friend' as in she's just a friend who happens to be a girl?"

At this Gordie gave her a look. "Um...The first one? Tho I don't see why that'd be any of your business."

Topaz stared at you for a long moment before groaning and flopping her head into her hands. "Great....She's going to flip out once she figures out her crush's girlfriend is her dorm mate. I'm too old to be dealing with these things."

"What is she talking about?"

"Nevermind. I'll tell you later." And you'd deal with that later too. You looked back to him. "Anyways what are you doing here?"

"Tch. Other than the fact that I missed ya?" he smiled wider. "I finally got a day off an' I wanted ta ask if you wanted to spend it with me?"

"Uh, yes! absolutely! I need to take my team out and buy some more food anyways. I'm starting to run low."

He smiled. "Great! Then we can watch a movie at my place?"

"Sounds good! Let's do that."

With that you and your team left with Gordie, grabbing your coat and bidding the now tired looking Topaz good bye before you all took off. You knew you were in yet another soon to be mess probably, but you didn't want to get into all of that right now. UGH! Like every other day, it was cold and chilly outside with only your coat and scared being the protection between you and said cold. Your first step outside and hearing the snow crunching under your feet was a strange peaceful sound as was the atmosphere which smelt clean and of pine trees and whatever food stands were out this time of day. Peaceful. Serene. A few other people were out today too, not as many as there was on the weekdays when classes were going on, but still a lot. Circhestor was right around the giant hill you walked back around past the rock type gym. The small town was hustling and bustling full of college students and possible buyers to be wooed into spending money from all the stands and open stores advertising their wares to the masses. However you were busy talking away with Gordie, arm wrapped around his, and smiling a lot more than you remembered for a long time. He asked you some questions about your classes, how they were going, what you were doing and you both caught up with what each other was doing. The first thing you both did was stop by a small open place where you could just let your pokemon run around for the next two hours freely while just sitting and talking to Gordie. It was all peaceful.

....Maybe too peaceful as you'd soon find out.

After two hours Gordie suggested watching some movies together and you agreed but first you really did need to stop by the general store and buy some more pokemon food. With the rate these guys were eating (especially Venom-) you'd be needing it. So it was agreed. You'd stop by the store and buy the food before hanging out at his house. Shouldn't be a problem since you coaxed Venom into letting you use her back to help carry the heavy bags. So the both of you stopped by the store but you didn't think the store owner would allow you to bring all your pokemon inside, so Gordie being the sweetheart he was offered to stay outside to watch the rest of your team while you got the pokemon food you needed with Zen. Sounded good to you so with Zen you entered the store and went straight towards the pet supplies-...Uh..Poke Supplies aisle. And there Zen helped you out as you loaded his arms with food bags for different pokemon-types. Dark and fire for Cerberus, Normal for Zen, Bug and Poison for Venom, Ice for Rena, Water for Silver, and of course a twenty four pack of batteries for Sparky. You couldn't forget about the little Rotom in your phone. It took a moment to get all the heavy bags to the counter to be paid for and checked out and....YIKES!! You knew the high quality stuff was better for them but if they kept being this expensive, you'd run out of funds. Soon it was paid for and with both yours and Zen's arms full, you both made your way to the front of the store and through the automatic doors. But-....Something made you stop instantly in your tracks. Smile instantly wiped off your face. Because as soon as you stepped out you noticed it-

...Noticed HER.

She had her back to you at first but it looked to be a girl around your height and age talking to Gordie, hands behind her back and rocking on her heels. By the way she was acting, you'd think she was talking to her crush. Gordie seemed to be very, very, VERY offputted because he just looked at her with a deadpanned look behind him Cerberus seemed to be growling for no reason and hiding behind a confused Venom's legs. You probably would've stopped either way but that wasn't what really made you stop...It was the green colored hair that was attached to the back of the head of the girl who spoke to Gordie. She spoke too softly for you to hear other than mumbles where you stood but you caught a few words-

"...sometime-....know....handsome.~"

Well whatever she said it seemed Gordie was very displeased because he held up a hand. "M' sorry. I'm very...flattered that a fan of mine would think highly enough o' me to ask for a date, but I already have a girlfriend."

The reaction was instant-

"WHAT!?," the woman shrieked loud enough to finally be heard by you...hey...Did that voice sound familiar to you? "WHO!? Honestly who could be better than me!?"

This time he scowled and looked about to say something but stopped, and looked up towards you.......And then smiled. Naturally upon seeing him smile away from her, the woman whipped around to look at what he was looking at. You looked at her. She looked at you. Both of your eyes made contact....And INSTANTLY your stomach dropped as you recognized who it was.

"Emerald!?"

[echantedtoon]

Diamond In The Rough Ch10 A New Life- College Life That Is P3

Gordie looked about ready to give his siblings an Earful but everyone froze when the lights were switched back on and everyone froze as Melony stood there with Gordie third little brother next to her. And she stood there staring completely bewildered at the scene before her. Staring at all of you and the strange setting you all were in.

"....Can someone tell me what's going on here?"

Gordie just sunk down defeated in his seat and covering his face. "P-Please just get me out of this situation, Ma."

From there things seemed to be going alright. Dinner was less awkward, and when Melony found out what the siblings had pulled, she scolded them and made the four of them apologize to the both of you before continuing on with Dinner. Gordie seemed less tense only when the two of you were able to get out of there and finish walking you all the way back to the hotel where he kept apologizing for everything that had happened today but you reassured him it wasn't his fault and you had a fun time. Poor guy seemed so stressed over it. From there things went back to normal. He did swing by about two days later on Sunday when he knocked at your door but when it opened he was met with a BIG surprise. A thrum sound of question answered the door and he came face to face when your new scolipede poked her head out of the door and spooked him enough to fall backwards as the thing looked down at him. You arrived pushing her out of the way, upon hearing his yelp.

From the ground he pointed up at her. "W-W-What the heck is that thing doing in here?!"

"You mean, Venom? She likes to sleep on the floor. Isn't she just the sweetest bug type?"

He could only stare as you cooed and patted her happily thrumming head. "...*sigh* I think we need ta have a talk."

Despite his warnings you still let the large pokemon along with your knew Glaceon, which you affectionately named Rena, out along with all your other pokemon. With it came new challenges. You can to go out more in order to make sure they all got exercise, you got more strange looks from people walking so many strange pokemon around, and you had to buy more expensive pokemon food. Considering Scolipede's only existed on other regions and on the Isle of Armor, you had to make sure Venom had special food and it had to be specialized food. You had to buy separate bags of poison and bug type food and mix them together for her as well as buy them more frequently considering she was much more larger than your other pokemon. Sigh. Hard but nothing you couldn't manage. Gordie did let Officer Jenny know the scolipede was caught and in good custody but other than that it didn't seem much of the investigation was known to you...until much, MUCH later. It was months later actually. You had gone back to work on Monday morning and it seemed the shouting Gordie did at your bosses shook them up enough to be super apologetic and more accommodating to both you and Sapphire, which was a better change of pace. You weren't planning on staying anyways. Only until the school year started back up again then you'd quite to move back into the dorms and take your second year of the standard course. Gordie continued to come in and like usually would greet you and Sapphire before ordering and chatting with you, once and a while apologize again for the date you two had, but other than that things were mostly back to normal. Until one day Gordie came in seeming somewhere between really happy and really miffed. About two months later in Early March. As usual the doorbell rang, you looked up smiling expectantly, and Gordie walked on up to you silently. You noticed his look and blinked.

"Hey. Are you ok?"

"Yeah...I got some news but not all of it's good," he said sighing.

"What happened?" Did something happened between himself and his mum again? Did his siblings do something?

"Remember when I told ya about those pokemon poachers sneaking other regional pokemon into Galar?" You were surprised he suddenly brought that up, but you slowly nodded and he groaned, a hand rubbing his temples. "Well, it turns out the investigation finally turned them all up."

Your eyes widened. "You're kidding."

"Nope! They found the main ring leaders through some informants and undercover cops. The reason it took so long was cause o' all the problems the new Chairwoman's been havin' ta fix. Turns out there was a decent sized poaching team smuggling in other regional pokemon and shinies of all kinds and then sellin' them ta the highest bidder. They were able to put a stop to it and recovered most of the pokemon to be relocated, but they're still crackin' down on the buyers and any other pokemon that was lost in the shuffle."

"What do you mean 'lost in the shuffle'?"

"Well, turns out in order to smuggle 'em in, some of them would pay some other guys of theirs to catch pokemon from other region and return to Galar pretendin' ta be breeders, the problem was sometimes the pokemon would actually be accidentally shipped to different pokemon daycares and nurseries for other breeders to study. That's why the guy Officer Jenny apprehended a few months back broke into Circhester's Pokemon Nursery. He was after the scolipede that escaped from there." He tilted his head with a hum towards you. "...In fact I think that might've been how your Zangoose ended up in that claw game somehow too."

That...Actually explained so much. It wasn't really a surprise or shock to you really that this would be the case, but that still begged the question. "So what happens now?"

He shrugged. "Most of the problem has been taken cared o' and the ring's shut down, although they're still after some of the buyers and confiscating any pokemon who were given to bad owners. Some people's come forward and given the pokemon over but other than that, Officer Jenny n' her best team's gonna handle it from here. As far as I know, any involvement of mine's no longer needed unless something happens here again."

"And....what about my pokemon?" You frowned. "Will I have to give them up too?''

"Absolutely not," he assured you softly, "The pokemon in your care care about ya a lot, and you take really good care of them. There's no reason for me to think otherwise so you don't have ta worry 'bout anything."

You let out a sigh of relief smile back on your face. "Thank goodness. ....*ahem* S-So anyways, did you want your regular?"

He nodded. "Sure! Although I-...U-Um..W-W-Wanted to ask y-y-you somethin' in return."

"What?"

"D-Do ya wanna watch another movie with me t-t-this Sunday?"

And life continued on as normal. You worked. Gordie kept coming around. You worked and even got all your major assignments done! ...well Most of them. There was still two others you needed to do. One required you to have a partner so you had to wait until you got to college, and your quest to capture a third pokemon. You did try, but you barely had time between your job, taking care of your pokemon, and your other assignments you did. Along with going on a few more dates with Gordie. Until the fated month was almost there. August. When you'd have to go back. So the month before in May you decided to resend in your application remembering what Sonia did so you could do it again.  It was finally time to fill out the form including your Birth Region, current address, name, which course you were applying for (Standard Course, 2nd Year), etc. You still remembered the 'hometown' you said you were from. Vaniville Town. To this day you still had no idea what compelled you to say it, but you chalked it up to your brain just blurting out a random town to not raise suspicion. Now was the easy part. You had to select five or six of the ten classes you took last year, and you knew EXACTLY what classes you'd be picking. You wouldn't pick all ten again like last year. With the new responsibilities of your pokemon and focusing on other things, it'd be too big of a burden to take on. They had all the same classes as last year as well- Science and Culture, History, Languages and Writing, Arts, Home Ec, Math, P.E., Battle Studies, Health and Medical, and Pokemon Care.

You chose science and culture, Pokemon Care, Battle Studies, Home Ec, health and medical, and languages and writing. 

Six classes sounded like a decent amount and since you had most of the tough assignments concerning those classes out of the way, it should help a little bit. So you sent it all in and waited for a reply back, which you received the first day of August. An email, stating that they had accepted your application along with a date for the first day of the new school year. You were expecting you'd be accepted and you made sure to give a call to Leon to make sure the scholarship the Chairwoman gave you also covered your second year and thank ARCEUS it did! You should be able to pick up your new books and be able to just focus on your studies which as a relief. You gave your bosses your two weeks notice and informed the hotel of your eventual departure and packed up most of your essentials to be ready to go at the beginning of the new year. You were expecting everything, but what you weren't expecting was the sudden visit of Gordie's. The Sunday before the school year started, there was a knock at your door and when you answered it, Gordie was there which wouldn't be surprising as he sometimes visited you but there was something...different about his stance that made you pause in your smile to greet him. There was something more...serious. Stoney about the way he stood there, hands in his pockets and mouth pressed in a thin line when you opened the door to greet him.

"Gordie?"

"Hey, Y/n," he greeted in a monotone, almost tired voice, "Can I come in? There's somethin' real important I need to talk to ya about." You stood blinking for a moment before you nodded and stood aside to let him in. "Thank you."

"So what brings you here?" You slowly closed the door behind him as he calmly stood there and turned to you. "Did something bad happen?"

To your relief he shook his head no, but still had that serious face. "Sorry if I came in the middle of anything. I actually just wanted to talk to you, but it's about something serious so I figured I'd do it in person when you had time. I know the new college year's comin' up and with all the new people comin' in I-..." You blinked when you noticed the shaky breath he took. "I-It made me realize I had ta ask somethin'."

Well he wasn't wrong. The hotel was overcrowding with the sudden arrival of so many new people coming in the bundles and more and more were arriving every day for the new upcoming school year. Which meant you were going to be going back there too soon. But what about that could've prompted Gordie to come here to you?

Slowly you nodded your head yes. "Ok. What is it?"

He shakily again took a breath and his hand reached up to rub his head, the serious melting away instantly and replaced with a sheepish. "I-...I-I know these last few months we've been..." he gestured at nothing. "Seein' each other, but w-w-we never directly defined what we were. I-I know it's somethin' more than just friends but I mean-..D-Do you want it to be more? I-I mean more than friends! Do you wanna remain friends? Which I'm totally fine with staying! B-But what I-I'm tryin' to ask is that-..W-Well that being-...D-Do you wanna-..." He sucked in a breath. "Y-Y/n, d-do you wanna be m-my...girlfriend? I -I mean...Is that what we are to each other?"

And you went silent. Surprised at what he was asking. He came all the way here to ask you if you wanted to be...his girlfriend?

"Y-Ya don't have ta give me an answer now!," he assured you holding up his hands, "I-I get i-if m-m-me bein' in the limelight so much sounds off puttin' o-o-or if you wanna keep things casually n' not serious! O-Or you don't think of me that way at all! Or- I-....UUuuhh-"

His voice trailed off as one of your hands grabbed his and he looked wide eyed from your hand to your smiling face. "Aw, Gordie. You were worried about something like this? It's sweet." His face boomed a red as you just laughed at his reaction. "But to answer your question, yes. I wouldn't mind being considered your girlfriend despite everything."

He stared at you silently. "....my girlfriend?..."

You chuckled. "That's right. If you really want me to be." He didn't answer and you blinked. "Gordie?"

Gordie's face was somewhere between pale 'I saw a ghost' like and flustered 'I just got my first kiss' pink. He stood there for a few more seconds as you tried to figure out what to do, before leaning sideways and falling to the floor with a thud.

"Gordie!?" You shouted as the rock type gym leader tilted sideways to the right and with a loud thud sound collided with the floor. You immediately dropped to your knees next to the dazed man sprawled on the ground blankly staring at the ceiling. Your hands immediately went under his head and chest pulling his shocked form up towards your concerned face. "Are you ok!? Speak to me!"

He continued staring up at the ceiling in a daze, sunglasses crooked on his nose. "...You're...g-gonna be my...g-g-girlfriend?"

"I-..Y-Yeah." You blinked. "But are you ok? GAH!?"

You were sat up really quickly by a blur and Gordie was all of a sudden sat up clutching your arms looking serious and lost at the same time, sunglasses falling off in the process. "Did ya mean it!?" He looked at you wide eyed. "You wanna be with me? A-And ya don't mind? Y-You.." His hands slowly let go of your arms staring like he didn't believe you. "You said you w-wouldn't mind goin' with me?..Really?" You slowly nodded. "....Why?"

"Because I like you-like you back?", you tried raising a brow at him before you reached your hands up to gently patted his shocked shoulder with a smile. "And because I think your dorky attitude's really cute and you treat me with respect. And I really, really like you."

Gordie could only stare at you before a dopey smile crossed his face and he sighed. "Oh thank bloody Arceus. I thought for a moment you'd say no. ..I put way too much pressure on myself don't I?"

"Oh yeah. You do."

And thus..you had gained a new relationship. And it felt so casual. So normal. So....natural. Is this what a real relationship was like? You were sure you had feelings for Gordie now. It was hard not to when your heart fluttered in your chest and he made you smile so much. So it was official now. You had a boyfriend. A boyfriend who happened to be a very famous, popular gym leader. ...The thought made your head spin. Being friends with someone like Leon felt like a dream enough, but dating someone like that? That was a whole new level. But...You were ok with this. Gordie made it feel so smoothly, and he was probably the best guy you could've ended up in a relationship with. Kind, caring, attentive, understanding on a another that you two could understand each other with your similar pasts- The list goes on. But soon enough you did have something else more important to worry about when the day came. The first day of school. You woke up bright and early, and with all your pokemon and things packed up, you began walking back towards to the school. And you weren't the only one.

Lots of young people around your age or slightly older walked around you. They went back past you back towards the town and back up the pathway in the same direction you were headed, LOTS of them carried various forms of backpacks, boxes, books, papers, and a slew of other things. Sometimes even having a pokemon with them helping to carry more boxes, books, etc for them. You all started coming around the GIANT snow covered hill behind the rock type gym, down the cobblestone road, and was met with familiar sight. A GIANT building almost thrice the size of the Rose of Rhondelands Hotel was standing there proud and tall, and you did mean tall, it was taller than Rose Tower even as you still stood there staring up at it. And it..was in the odd shape of a castle-ish like design a lot like Hammerlocke's gym. The cobble stone pathway lead up to the giant building's giant double doors and split off between two other large (but not AS large as the school) buildings that was in front of it on either side of the pathway. What must've been HUNDREDS of people and their pokemon walking around all three big buildings and the pathways. 

"Ah. Well it's good to see this again. *sigh* C'mon guys. Let's go get this over with."

It all took a while. You had to have Venom and most of your other pokemon wait in front of the main school building as you went in with Zen and just like last year, you went through the entire process of standing in the line in the front hall/library and waited until you got up to the front where the same two people were handing out papers. And you went through the same thing you did last year-

"Here's a map of the university," he spoke handing you a folded piece of paper he pulled from the desk. "And here's your room key." He then held out a small metal key which you also took. "Hold onto it. You only get one and you'll be paying for a replacement if you lose it. You're room's in Dorm B Room 35 on the second floor and you'll be sharing the space with two room mates." He then held out stapled papers. "This is a list of all your class schedules with the times marked as well as your teachers' names and the calander of what days classes are out, holidays, and when the college year ends next year. As well as all the rules of C.U.." He then squinted his eyes. "Read. Them. Thoroughly. Any rulebreakers will be expelled as consequence." He then pointed towards the double doors. "Before you get your package you need to report to the cafeteria for your Student ID card. According to your file with us, you also have a pre-ordered book package. Be sure to pick it up from the Dean's office."

Well it was easy enough getting your new student ID card, and then going back to Mr. Snow Flake's office to retrieve your new books for the year. It was still heavy which was why you brought along Zen to help carry it. The Director seemed 'happy' to see you again though he did express 'how sad' he was for you not choosing all the classes again. Ugh! After that it was only one last other stop before meeting back up with your team, and that was the school's supply store! You still had some leftover school supplies from last year but it wouldn't be enough to last the whole year, so it was off to the store to get all stocked up and then back to meet up with your team who seemed happier seeing you there and were even MORE happy when you said you all would be going back inside now. You knew exactly where this dorm room was because this was the same room you had last year, you just wondered who your new roommates were. It couldn't be Stacy or Emerald (Thank Arceus-) again. Both graduated last year. You just hoped it wasn't another room mate from heck situation. Never the less, you all headed over to the same dorm room, people of all kinds giving you strange looks especially since a GIANT scolipede was being walked through the halls. You ended up going over to Dorm B Room 35 on the second floor and stopped in front of the wooden door with all your things as people continued to walk around you and go in and out of other rooms around you. Hello again old home. You didn't even bother knocking this time. You just went ahead and used your key to go instead, and the inside was completely the same. A small common area/kitchen area was there just stuck in one space with a sink and such and across from that was a small carpeted area with a sofa and small coffee table. Across from that was three random doors and inside the room was another girl around your age. Not Emerald or Stacy. This girl looked to have been in the middle of moving in stopping in the doorway that was once Emerald's room, box in her hands. She had the lightest blue hair you'd ever seen, in fact it was such a pale blue it looked almost white, with dark purple eyes that almost looked black in coloring in a short ponytail. And a pair of glasses were sat right on her face. And she stared at you like you'd suddenly walked in with a whole circus behind you horns blaring..Well you guessed she must've been surprised when a slew of pokemon came shuffling in behind you.

"Uh...H-Hi!," you greeted with an awkward smile and wave. "Um...I'm Y/n! You must be the new room mate huh? Miss-..."

She ever so slowly...blinked..before shaking her head. "Uh. Y-Yeah." And she rose a brow. "Uh...Why are you parading so many pokemon out?"

"Well the school's rules said we can have our pokemon out as long as they're not huge like an onix or damage the walls. And my pokemon are all well behaved, so as long as they don't so anything it's fine right."

To your surprise she seemed to think for a moment before slowly nodding. "Hm...Well that's fair enough." She again shook her head before looking at you. "My name's Topaz. I assume you're one of my roommates for the year?"

"Yeah! That's me!" You smiled. "It's so nice to meet you! Are you in the standard course too?"

She shook her head. "Third Year Historian Major on the Ultra Course. I'm here to gain more knowledge on the history of the Galar Region and preserve it for future generations." Oh! Kinda like Sonia's science research. That sounded really interesting. "Are you a first or second year Standard Course student?"

"Second! It's gonna be my last year here." You then gestured to what used to be Stacy's room last year. "Is our other room mate in there?"

At this Topaz rolled her eyes and scoffed making you blink. "You mean my cousin? Yes and no. She made me move all her things in here for her, but she's insisting on spending the first two months living in the hotel back in town." 

You...blinked. "..She's what?"

"Yes. Something about 'needing to be alone for her sanity' or something ridiculous like that," Topaz scoffed before rolling her eyes again, "Honestly I think my aunt spoilers her too much, but you should see her here soon enough." She then looked at you. "But if I were you, I'd avoid her as much as possible. She can be super annoying."

So..Another Emerald. ..Great.

You groaned. "Well..thanks for the warning. Are you sure my pokemon being out won't bother you?"

"As long as they don't disturb my sleeping or studying time, go into my room, or tear up they place, then you can have an snorlax in here for all I care. I don't really stick my nose in other people's lives anyways."

Ok. So Topaz was blunt, and doesn't seem like the socializing type, but you'd still take her compared to Emerald any day. She seemed respectful enough at least, and didn't seem to care about you having all your pokemon out in the room. Which was good enough for you! You got to move in and make yourself at home, setting up your room again and letting your team make themselves at home. And that was it. Your whole set up was..well set up! And you were ready for the next year to begin. Most of the hardest assignments were already done awaiting you to turn them in, and all you had to do was take the classes between that time! The first month seemed to go by completely normally. You went to classes with Zen, took notes, did any work assigned- The works. Nothing really happened. It was all mundane to be honest. The only thing different was that different was it was less stressful now that you weren't taking so many classes. Topaz was really chill as well. As you thought, she didn't REALLY interact with you a lot. Most of the time she didn't even talk to you when she was around. Not out of rudeness, but because she seemed always swamped with studying and constantly surrounded by books and papers despite the year just beginning. But sometimes she'd say hi or ask how your day was if she had some time to spare, which was nice. And most importantly-

SHE WAS QUIET!! YOU GOT TO SLEEP IN PEACE!!!

There wasn't any constant jabbering on the phone from the other side of the walls, or loud complaining at two in the morning, or music blaring when you were trying to sleep. IT WAS FREAKING FANTASTIC!! The most noise Topaz would make was every once and a while listen quietly to recorded lectures or some notes she recorded on her phone speaker. It was like a roommate from heaven! THANK YOU ARCEUS!! August passed by peacefully and then September was starting. And again nothing really, really out of the ordinary happened. Classes got a little harder now but still nothing you couldn't handle. Although you still saw no sign of this mysterious third roommate that was still M.I.A. You did try asking Topaz about it once to which she only groaned and said-

"She's still coming to classes surprisingly, but she's still refusing to come liver here."

"Isn't it expensive to pay for both the dorm room AND a hotel room? Why doesn't she just stay in one?"

She shrugged. "My aunt can spare the money, so really she doesn't have to worry about it. But I think she's just using it as an excuse to try and meet the gym leader."

"...Melony?"

"Gordie. But unfortunately she's forced to attend classes because of the school's strict policies which doesn't give her a lot of time to look for him. If she skips classes she'll be expelled. My aunt only agreed to pay as long as she attends college. She's also the one who's paying for everything. So no classes equals no money and that equals to her being unable to stay and look for 'Prince Charming."

And that made you pause. "....She's a giant fangirl of Gordie's?"

"That's one way of putting it. *sigh* I feel so bad for the guy. I just hope she grows out of these ridiculous fantasies."

That stirred a little bit of annoyance in you, hearing the fact someone was fangirling and had a crush on YOUR boyfriend. Maybe a bit of jealousy there, but you had to remember. Gordie was a popular gym leader with a large following almost as big as Raihan's. Of course he'd have fangirls/boys like any other celebrity, so you couldn't really get mad at anything. But other than that you still didn't hear much about this 'fangirl roommate' from Topaz other than one or two phone calls you accidentally overheard. The first time it was Topaz talking on her phone to someone with an irritated tone in the kitchen-

"Are you even going to come unpack all the stuff you made me drag here for you?....WHAT!? No I'm not going to unpack everything for you! Are you nuts!?....BECAUSE I'M NOT YOUR BUTLER!! THAT'S WHY!! I'm not going to unpack everything just for you to not ever use the room and then just leave me to repack everything at the end of the year! I'm already stuck holding onto your room key! Wha-....UGH!! Fine! Just make sure you at least remember to get your things because I won't be carrying them back for you!"

She had cut the call short when she noticed you standing there and just acted like none of that ever happened, and frankly you just minded your own business. It didn't really concern you or bothered your life so you decided to stay out of this one. More days passed and that was when the second phone call happened just a few days before October started. You were just writing down a small essay for your writing class when a loud angry voice could be heard from the living room area-

"NO!! I don't care if you're 'busy'! What do you think I'm doing with my time!?" The loud voice of Topaz made you jump and blink at your door. "I can't just drop everything and do stuff for you whenever you want! Let alone THIS!! Why would you think it was ok to ask me to do your homework!?.....WHAT!? NO!! Why would I?!... Don't use 'but we're family' as an excuse!! I've already gone out of my way to help you by watching over your room but I absolutely REFUSE to help you CHEAT!! No wonder you have to retake your final year! Don't call me again unless it's for your room key or to apologize! I don't want to hear from you until then!!"

And then you heard her stomp off to her own room, slamming the door behind her and leaving you in silence once again. ....YIKES!! It sounded like Topaz was having a hard time dealing with her cousin, and you didn't blame her. She sounded like a pain to deal with, and you hadn't even MET her yet! Hopefully when (or even if she ever did-) show up, you could just avoid her and she'd leave you alone. The last thing you wanted was ANOTHER Emerald around here. But for now you'd just keep your nose to your own business and focus on school. You couldn't afford to get into any drama right now nor did you want to after that year. Well September ended without a hitch and then October started up. The spooky month. One week passed and then came the middle of the second week. You had just turned in one of the major assignments of one of the classes you prepared for! For your writing and language class you had to interview someone of your choice and then actually take notes of what they said similar to what a journalist would do, and you chose a unique subject to interview. Why your own pokemon of course! Using Sparky to translate what he said to answer your questions. Certainly was the most convenient one to do. Hopefully the Language teacher will like it enough to give it a passing grade. Now you only had to worry about your regular classes. But you'd soon get an unexpected visitor. And that visitor turned out to be someone who you wanted to really see! It all started one Saturday when there was a knock at your dorm door, and you went to go answer it, but when you pulled open the door you were met with a surprise. A surprise that came with white-blonde hair and sunglasses. You recognized the man in an instant.

"Gordie!" You practically threw the door open startling Topaz who was studying on the sofa. 

"Hey, sweetie- OOF!"

He barely had time to react before you hugged him, arms thrown around his neck almost knocking him over but he managed to remain upright due to his sturdier build. ''I missed you so much! Where have you been!?"

He chuckled before reaching up to pat your back. "Helping my lil sibs with school, tryin' ta help Circhester with the backed up crowds o' people here- Y'know. The usual. M' so sorry I couldn't contact ya sooner-"

"Don't apologize." You finally let go of him smiling. "I've been pretty busy too lately, so it's ok." You took a moment to look back at Topaz staring back at the two of you surprised still. "Oh. Uh right. Gordie, this is my roommate." You gestured at Topaz. "Topaz, this is my boyfriend."

He nodded. "'Ey! How ya doin'?"

She still stared wide eyed at him, then at you, then back at Gordie. Before pointing. "Gordie? As in like...the Rock Type Gym Leader of Circhester Gordie? THAT Gordie???"

"Same one!"

She pointed at you. "And SHE'S your girlfriend?"

"Yep!"

"....Do you mean girlfriend as in you're romantically involved with each other, or 'girl friend' as in she's just a friend who happens to be a girl?"

At this Gordie gave her a look. "Um...The first one? Tho I don't see why that'd be any of your business."

Topaz stared at you for a long moment before groaning and flopping her head into her hands. "Great....She's going to flip out once she figures out her crush's girlfriend is her dorm mate. I'm too old to be dealing with these things."

"What is she talking about?"

"Nevermind. I'll tell you later." And you'd deal with that later too. You looked back to him. "Anyways what are you doing here?"

"Tch. Other than the fact that I missed ya?" he smiled wider. "I finally got a day off an' I wanted ta ask if you wanted to spend it with me?"

"Uh, yes! absolutely! I need to take my team out and buy some more food anyways. I'm starting to run low."

He smiled. "Great! Then we can watch a movie at my place?"

"Sounds good! Let's do that."

 With that you and your team left with Gordie, grabbing your coat and bidding the now tired looking Topaz good bye before you all took off. You knew you were in yet another soon to be mess probably, but you didn't want to get into all of that right now. UGH! Like every other day, it was cold and chilly outside with only your coat and scared being the protection between you and said cold. Your first step outside and hearing the snow crunching under your feet was a strange peaceful sound as was the atmosphere which smelt clean and of pine trees and whatever food stands were out this time of day. Peaceful. Serene. A few other people were out today too, not as many as there was on the weekdays when classes were going on, but still a lot. Circhestor was right around the giant hill you walked back around past the rock type gym. The small town was hustling and bustling full of college students and possible buyers to be wooed into spending money from all the stands and open stores advertising their wares to the masses. However you were busy talking away with Gordie, arm wrapped around his, and smiling a lot more than you remembered for a long time. He asked you some questions about your classes, how they were going, what you were doing and you both caught up with what each other was doing. The first thing you both did was stop by a small open place where you could just let your pokemon run around for the next two hours freely while just sitting and talking to Gordie. It was all peaceful.

....Maybe too peaceful as you'd soon find out.

After two hours Gordie suggested watching some movies together and you agreed but first you really did need to stop by the general store and buy some more pokemon food. With the rate these guys were eating (especially Venom-) you'd be needing it. So it was agreed. You'd stop by the store and buy the food before hanging out at his house. Shouldn't be a problem since you coaxed Venom into letting you use her back to help carry the heavy bags. So the both of you stopped by the store but you didn't think the store owner would allow you to bring all your pokemon inside, so Gordie being the sweetheart he was offered to stay outside to watch the rest of your team while you got the pokemon food you needed with Zen. Sounded good to you so with Zen you entered the store and went straight towards the pet supplies-...Uh..Poke Supplies aisle. And there Zen helped you out as you loaded his arms with food bags for different pokemon-types. Dark and fire for Cerberus, Normal for Zen, Bug and Poison for Venom, Ice for Rena, Water for Silver, and of course a twenty four pack of batteries for Sparky. You couldn't forget about the little Rotom in your phone. It took a moment to get all the heavy bags to the counter to be paid for and checked out and....YIKES!! You knew the high quality stuff was better for them but if they kept being this expensive, you'd run out of funds. Soon it was paid for and with both yours and Zen's arms full, you both made your way to the front of the store and through the automatic doors. But-....Something made you stop instantly in your tracks. Smile instantly wiped off your face. Because as soon as you stepped out you noticed it-

...Noticed HER.

She had her back to you at first but it looked to be a girl around your height and age talking to Gordie, hands behind her back and rocking on her heels. By the way she was acting, you'd think she was talking to her crush. Gordie seemed to be very, very, VERY offputted because he just looked at her with a deadpanned look behind him Cerberus seemed to be growling for no reason and hiding behind a confused Venom's legs. You probably would've stopped either way but that wasn't what really made you stop...It was the green colored hair that was attached to the back of the head of the girl who spoke to Gordie. She spoke too softly for you to hear other than mumbles where you stood but you caught a few words-

"...sometime-....know....handsome.~"

Well whatever she said it seemed Gordie was very displeased because he held up a hand. "M' sorry. I'm very...flattered that a fan of mine would think highly enough o' me to ask for a date, but I already have a girlfriend."

The reaction was instant-

"WHAT!?," the woman shrieked loud enough to finally be heard by you...hey...Did that voice sound familiar to you? "WHO!? Honestly who could be better than me!?"

This time he scowled and looked about to say something but stopped, and looked up towards you.......And then smiled. Naturally upon seeing him smile away from her, the woman whipped around to look at what he was looking at. You looked at her. She looked at you. Both of your eyes made contact....And INSTANTLY your stomach dropped as you recognized who it was.

"Emerald!?"