#something terrible is going down through the entire town etc etc

[lesbianfakir]

If you think about it the song discord from my little pony fame is a perfect princess tutu song. You know who else is not a fan of puppeteers. You know who else has a nagging fear someone else is pulling the strings. Where is my amv

[fandxmslxt69]

Terrible Liar

Avenger!Loki x Avenger!f!reader

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of injury (reader has a nasty ass wound), mentions of blood and medical supplies, Loki and reader are both assholes to each other but its FUNNY. Rushed plot bc this came to me in a fever dream. Maybe some bad grammar, run on sentences etc. Ignore those ahaha. this is NOT edited or reviewed AT ALL. she's as raw as they come.

A/N: This came to be in a fever dream. Btw. Like God sent it to me. I'm sorry if it feels rushed I was so desperate to get it all down I blacked out. IT'S 5K OKAY MY BAD AHAHAH i'm kind of a slut for this kind of trope so MY BAD. anyway this is for THE @sarahscribbles 's Christmas Celebration!! Sorry I'm a little late, these two wouldn't shut the fuck up so I got carried away. ANYWAY I HOPE YOU ENJOY SARAH I LOVE YOU <3

Synopsis: What could possibly go wrong with spending a night sharing a room with Loki? (aka: enemies to lovers + one bed trope)

Word count: 5K

Oh man. You watched Loki bang the hood of the car in anger. That can’t be good. 

You rested your head against the window of the stolen car, taking deep breaths. You could feel your whole body shaking from the adrenaline. You hadn’t calmed down a single bit since the ride out here. How long has it been? Probably less than an hour. You had no idea how far out you were from the nearest town and it absolutely was not the right time for this car to stop. Your entire body hurt from getting kicked in the ass repeatedly during the fight, and your head spun. Your left side throbbed and your shoulder screamed in agony. Not to mention, you are completely separated from the rest of the group, and you have no means of communication. Somewhere along the way, you had lost your comm, and your spare was of no use. Loki said the lines were down anyway, so it wasn’t much help to begin with. 

Speaking of the devil, he threw the door of the car open, letting in the chill winter air, and huffed as he got back in, slamming the door behind him. “Stupid, useless vehicle. What is the point of transportation if it fails so easily?” He grumbled.

“It’s out of gas, genius,” “Well it’s not making for a very efficient getaway car,” He ran a hand through his hair. “Well?” You looked at him expectantly, but he only looked back with an expression of confusion. You sat up straighter to face him, but your vision blurred and your head swam. It took you a minute to collect yourself. “We can;t just sit here, we’ll freeze to death,” Loki scoffed. “No I won’t,” You clenched your jaw. “Okay, I’ll freeze to death,” “Tragedy,” His tone was dead as he pulled out his phone to mess with. “I’ll let them know it was a heroic death,” “You’re such an asshole,” “How original,” You nearly growled. “Laufeyson,” “Agent,” He replied smoothly, looking up at you with one of those disarming grins. You were not falling for it. You may be delirious and crashing soon, but you were not falling for Loki’s charms. 

“We need to figure something out,” “You mean I need to figure it out,” “Oh my fucking god. I’m not gonna sit here like some passenger princess-” “Agent, you are trembling so hard you couldn’t even walk a foot much less help out in this little dilemma,” Loki interrupted. “I have no desire to starve out here, and horrifyingly, I can’t find it in my heart to let you die out here either. I’ll figure it out,” 

You grumbled under your breath, and you were certain he heard you because he grinned wider and went back to messing with his phone. 

He was right though, you were shaking really hard- both from the adrenaline and now, the cold. Whenever you exhaled, a puff of white air formed in front of you, and the tip of your nose was starting to go numb. The idea of leaving your fate at the moment in the hands of Loki was an absolutely horrifying idea, since you knew how reckless this guy tended to be. But you didn’t have much of a choice, and as much as it physically pained you to sit quietly and wait, you did just that. It was made another fifteen minutes before Loki peeled his eyes away from the phone pad. He opened the door to the car, and stepped out. 

“Hey!” You yelled. “Where the hell are you going? Close the goddamn door!” But of course, he didn’t bother answering or listening. He looked around, staring at his phone occasionally before surveying the area again. And just when you thought he couldn’;t get more insane, he started walking away from the car. Your heart squeezed in your chest. Was he going to leave you here? Like hell he was. You kicked open your door, shakingly getting out of the car. You were vaguely aware of the stab of pain at your side that nearly had you doubled over as black spots danced in your vision, but you willed yourself to push it aside. You slammed the door shut as you walked out after Loki. 

“Hey!” You yelled out to him. You had no idea if he could even hear you with the way the wind howled and snow whipped at your face. It was freezing cold, snow biting your cheeks and your teeth chattering after being out here for less than a few minutes. “Laufeyson!” You yelled louder, arm clutching your side and limping in the direction he walked in. No answer. You were positive a storm was kicking up. 

“Loki!” You screamed this time, as loud as your voice let you. Your chest heaved, your throat hurt, and the air you gulped stung so bad you were so close to never breathing it again. 

“Loki! God help me, Loki, when I find you!” You looked around slowly, yet all you saw was the outline of your stolen car in the winds, and white. So much white. “I’ll haunt you, you know!” You shouted into the wind. “If I die here, I’ll haunt you forever!” You had to shield your eyes from the harsh snow as you yelled. You knew he couldn’t hear you, but you also knew that he couldn’t have gotten too far. How long could he even last out here? Damn it, he could probably last a while. 

Stupid, horrible, arrogant Loki. You contemplated going back to the car, but decided that if you were going to imagine a million and one ways to kill and haunt Loki for eternity, you might as well do it while freezing out here. You were only at number fifteen of your haunting possibilities when you heard his stupidly smooth voice. “What in the Nine Realms do you think you’re doing out here?”

You whirled around to find him standing there, absolutely unaffected by the weather or your situation. His cheeks were rosy and his pretty hair was up in a bun (that was more falling apart than anything) and pretty snowflakes hung in the curls. 

He looked….well. He looked heavenly, to say the least. 

“I was out here looking for you,” You shot back as harshly as you could, but with the way your teeth chattered and the small smirk that tugged at his lips, it didn’t seem to be working. “You should have stayed in the car,” He sounded almost…angry. Why the hell would he be angry when he left you behind? Although, the frown and furrowed brows were a little cute. “You shouldn’t have wandered off and left me behind,” “I was coming to get you,” “Like hell you were,” “I was,” He stepped closer to you, and you had to hold back everything to not huddle up closer to him like a goddamn penguin. He snapped his fingers and you felt something warm and heavy fall on your shoulders. “Put that on. We’re leaving,” 

“Leaving?! Where the hell are we leaving?! Do I need to remind you that we are stranded in the middle of a storm?!” 

Loki grumbled as he forcefully got you into the jacket he conjured. You didn’t bother saying thank you, which was fine because he only kept glaring at you before marching ahead. 

“Where are you going?!” He didn’t bother answering. “Loki!” Assshit. You grumbled and huffed the entire time as you hurried after him, trying to block off the tingling ache at your side. You knew you didn’t get stabbed. Maybe it’s a big cut. You were certain you’d know if a knife had lodged itself into your side. 

You had no idea where Loki was taking you but you kept your mouth shut in hopes that it was someplace warm and safe. 

“Your hair looks like shit,” You blurted out. Okay, maybe not always keeping your mouth shut.

He looked at you from the corner of his eye. “You don’t look much better,” “Yeah but I said it first,” “Maybe I should have left you in the car,” “I would’ve still found you,” “Yes, haunting me forever,” “You heard that?!” He shrugged. “I was heading back to the car. You weren’t exactly quiet,” You stared at him with wide eyes. “And you didn’t even say anything,” “I found it too amusing to interrupt,” You frowned, shoving him with your shoulder. Wrong move apparently, because your vision started spinning and your knees nearly buckled. Loki wrapped an arm around you ever so gently, as if scared you’d shatter otherwise. “Stop talking,” He snapped. “And stop being so damn aggressive. I would like to make this journey without you collapsing on me,” “I’m not going to collapse,” You mumbled. “You always were a terrible liar,” He muttered under his breath, and more or less carried you to your destination. At first, you didn’t let him, but he won eventually, like he always did, and you leaned the rest of your weight onto him. 

You had no idea where you were until you reached the smack middle of a small town. A picture perfect fantasy, almost. Little houses and small shops lined with lights and trees and covered in snow. It was like stepping into a Hallmark movie. Each house was so full of light, and even through the howling wind, you could hear the sounds of laughter and shrieking children. 

How the hell did Loki find this place? “There’s a motel here. We’ll book rooms, spend the night. I’m sure there’s Wi-Fi too,” Loki sounded like he was talking more to himself than you. 

“Freaking out?” You asked. 

“Yes. I’m thinking of which way Stark will kill me if you die,” “Pfft. Tony wouldn’t kill you,” Loki raised his eyebrows but stayed quiet as he walked you both through the town. The storm was clearly picking up, and you were thankful that he had all those genes to keep him alive in this weather, and that he was able to find this place. 

When you reached the motel- which appeared to be the only one in town- you couldn’t help smiling (even if you couldn’t feel your face at all anymore). It was a cute little building, rustic and heartwarming. Little snowmen lined the front, and a bed jingled as you and Loki entered. The inside was even better, with burgundy and gold designs and wallpaper that looked like it came straight out of a Victorian novel. It was cozy, and more importantly, warm. 

You almost sobbed in relief as you practically collapsed onto an armchair by the counter. Your body sank into it, your nerves singing in joy as you slowly felt your fingertips again. 

“Are you alright?” Loki asked. 

You nodded. “Yup,” He made a sound of disapproval. “You need to lie better,” “Go shove your head through the wall,” You muttered back. He only grinned. Loki didn’t even appear fazed or relieved at the warmth, and simply marched up to the counter. There was no one there, and he rang the bell at least five times. 

“Would you stop that?” You snapped after the sixth time.

“It’s a bell. It’s meant to be used,” “Not like that,” “It’s how you call for attention,” “Well I’m sure whoever runs this place will be here shortly,” He lasted a whole two minutes before he hit the bell again. 

“Loki,” You hissed. 

“Just a minute!” You heard a cheery voice call from the back, and a short old lady appeared, seemingly out of breath. “Sorry about that, all those damn stairs,” She chuckled to herself.

Loki flashed her a smile. “It’s not a problem at all,” “Oh my,” The old woman smiled back but this time you swore up and down she blushed a little. 

Loki and his stupid, disarming smile. 

“My…friend and I are a little caught in this storm,” He started, gesturing to you. You waved weakly at the lady and mustered up a smile. She probably thought you were crazy. You had no idea how you looked, but you knew it wasn’t how a normal person should. 

“We were wondering if you had any available rooms for the night. Just two is fine,” He turned back to the lady with an even bigger smile. 

“Well,” She smiled wider at Loki. “I’ll see what I can do,” He nodded, “Thank you…” he squinted at her name tag. “Lucy. Thank you very much, Lucy,” And there Lucy went, blushing and grinning at him again. 

Horrible, absolutely tragic. The poor woman had no idea how insufferable Loki was. 

Lucy rummaged through her desk, seemingly looking for keys to the rooms. She pulled out one, placing it on the counter, before going back to look for the other. You waited, tagging your foot on the wood floor, staring at the cute fireplace. Your whole body hummed in gratitude, and your feet tingle, feeling back in them. 

“Oh dear,” Lucy muttered to herself. 

“Everything alright Lucy?” Loki asked. 

“It seems that I only have a single room available. This storm has the place booked fully,” She explained. 

Hell no. 

Loki sighed. “Very well-” “Are you sure?” You interrupted him. “Can you check again?” You probably sounded desperate, but you couldn’t stop yourself. 

You can’t share a room with Loki. You’d go crazy. You’d do something disastrous- like give in to the urge to cuddle into his chest! Or God forbid, tangle your hand in his hair. 

“I did, hon. I’m afraid this is all I’ve got,” She said apologetically. 

Fuuuuck. 

“It’s quite alright, Lucy. There’s two beds in the room, correct? I’m sure we can manage to share a room for a night,” Loki said hastily before you could interrupt again. 

Lucy opened her mouth, as if to say something else, before she stopped. “Alright,” “How much is it for the night, darling?” Oh okay, he was really laying it on thick then. 

“Oh- oh um…” Lucy chuckled nervously. “This room….it’s 150$ for the night. You can pay in the morning, if you prefer,” “Nonsense,” Loki smiled, pulling out cash from the pocket in his top armour, counting the bills. “Here you go, Lucy,” He handed her the money. “Thank you so very much for your help,” She nodded wordlessly as she handed him the key. Loki took it and turned back to you, arms on his hips. “Are you coming, or must I carry you?” “I wouldn’t mind being carried…” You started jokingly. Apparently, Loki couldn’t read the room, because he frowned, shrugged and then walked over, picking you up effortlessly. 

“Hey-!” You started to protest, but a sudden wave of pain shot through you, shutting you up. “I was joking,” You muttered.

“Mhm,” He said, shooting Lucy another smile before heading upstairs to your room. The stairs were cute too, you noticed, lined with a soft matt and cute lamps lined the walls. And Loki’s chest was really warm, and- that had nothing to do with the motel. 

Before your thoughts could get any more dangerous, Loki stopped in front of a room, hand rummaging through his back pocket to get the key. “You can put me down now,” “I’ll put you down when I feel like it,” Shithead. 

He unlocked the door and stepped in, closing it behind him with his foot. All businesslike, he walked over to the big bed and placed you down on it. It was comfy, and you had to control yourself from not falling back and getting it dirty in all your blood and gore. Loki looked you over. “Fine?” You nodded. “Fine,” He smiled and you were certain he was going to call you a liar but you stopped him. “Laufeyson?” “What?” “Where’s the other bed?” Loki froze, looking around the room slowly. “Oh,” “Oh?” He looked back at you. “It seems, darling, that there is no other bed,” “No fucking shit! You’re sleeping on the floor,” He looked at you in disbelief. “Absolutely not. We can share the bed like civilised people,” “Everyone always says that! And then it never works out!” You threw your hands up. You winced, immediately dropping your hands to hold your side. “Everyone? Who the hell is everyone?” “The movies, duh,” He stared at you. “You’re serious,” “Dead,” He ran a hand down his face. “Alright. We’ll split the bed or something. I truly don’t care enough. I simply want to sleep,” You shrugged. “Fine. Go shower first, then I’ll go in,” “I don’t have clothes to change out of, genius,” “You’re a god genius,” You replied mockingly. “I’m pretty sure you can snap your fingers and get us some clothes,” He stared at you, like he hadn’t had that thought at all. “Right.” And indeed, with a snap of his fingers, a pile of clothes appeared on the bed, and one in his hands. “Try not to get yourself killed,” “I hope you drown in the shower,” He smiled at you before heading into the washroom. You were finally alone, even for a few minutes. You breathed a sigh of relief. Being around Loki always ended with one of you flustered. Tragically, it tended to be you. You looked through the pile of clothes Loki summoned- a plain shirt that appeared way too large, and some plaid pants. They weren’t outrageous. You just had to make sure you hadn’t lost any limbs. 

You slowly peeled off the layers of your top- the jacket, weapons, cash, your useless comms and phone- and then unzipped your equally-useless-in-the-cold vest. You laid all your things on the floor, not wanting to get the bed dirty. Then, slowly, you lifted your top just under your chest, sucking in a deep breath.

Fuck. 

There was a nasty looking cut, starting from right under your ribs and nearly crossing the other side. You didn’t think it looked terrible, but you are almost certain it needed stitches. It wasn’t bleeding too much, but that might have to do with being out in the cold for too long than anything else- even your top was more or less soaked in blood. 

You didn’t even have a first aid kit. You traced around the cut slowly, wincing when it hurt. You prayed it wasn’t infected. 

“Alright, hm?” Your head snapped up to see Loki freshly showered and changed, his now useless mission suit nowhere in sight. “Um, yeah, I’m fine,” His jaw ticked. “You’re hurt,” “Yeah but I’m fine,” “You are bleeding,” He sounded ...angry. Was he mad at you? “It’s not like I did it on purpose,” You snapped. 

He clenched and unclenched his fists. He opened his mouth to say something, before he shook his head and stormed out of the room. 

“What the fuck? You called out after him. He didn’t answer as the door slammed behind him. 

You had no clue why he had to be so mad. It’s not like you chose to get hurt, and you certainly weren’t going to ask him for anything, so why’d he get so pissy? You grumbled to yourself as you grabbed the clothes, heading into the bathroom to scrub off the day. 

It took you a solid twenty minutes to wash everything out. You were very careful to not open your cut further, taking warm water to wash off the dried blood around it. 

You tugged on the plain shirt as you stepped out of the bathroom. You winced when you reached up to tie your hair, deciding to just leave it down to dry. You had thrown your old clothes on the pile of Loki’s in the bathroom, and used a spare towel to press against your wound. 

“Welcome back,” You said sarcastically when you found Loki sitting on the bed. 

“Come here,” He said curtly. 

“You can’t just order me around after you walk out you know? And you can’t get bitchy with me for no fucking reason-” “Will you please come sit down so you can look at your wound,” Loki snapped, but it didn’t sound harsh. It was almost…pleading. You froze in your spot, blinking slowly at him. His voice sounded devastated and in your daze, you nodded, slowly walking over to sit on the bed beside him. 

“May I?” He gestured to your shirt and you nodded again. He lifted it over your head, and suddenly you were thankful for putting on the sports bra Loki brought with your clothes.. “You didn’t say anything,” He whispered. 

You swallowed. This was too freaky. You never got this close with Loki. “We-...we had other things to worry about,” You swore his hands trembled as he reached into the first aid kit beside him. Where did he get that? Did he run out to buy one? Damn it. You and Loki didn’t do fluffy shit. The one day you needed him to be an asshole….

He took his time cleaning the wound, and you tried your best to keep your yelps of pain down. 

“Do you want stitches?” Loki asked in a soft tone. He looked ...frightened. And why too pale. Did he get squirm-ish at this stuff?

“Are you a medical professional?” You asked. 

“Farthest thing from it,” You hummed. “Just wrap it up,”

He nodded, grabbing some cotton pads and the gauze. He carefully placed the pads onto the wound, and began wrapping the gauze around your waist. His fingers brushed against your skin, and you shivered at the touch. 

“There,” He exhaled, pulling his hands away. “You can put your shirt back on,” “Yeah,” You nodded. You should definitely grab it now. You should probably put it on. But you didn’t move a muscle, not with the way Loki stared at you, and the way his eyes dipped lower occasionally. He looked away, appearing flustered, his fists clenched on his thighs. “Loki?” “What?” He snapped. 

“Why are you so angry?” “You could have died,” His voice died down to nothing but a desperate whisper. “You could have died,” You opened your mouth to protest, to say that you had it under control and that everything was fine, but he shook his head. 

“Don’t you dare say everything was ‘fine’. You’re still such a terrible liar,” You weren’t. He just had that freaky ability to tell when you lied every damn time. 

“You could have died. Human life is so horribly fragile, you could have died at any second. What was I to do then, hm? Stare at your lifeless body?” “I thought you’d rejoice at my death,” You joked, trying to break the tension. His eyes snapped to look at yours, his jaw clenched and his eyes wide with fear. You thought he’d say something, but instead he just leaned in, crushing his lips harshly against yours. Before you could even react, he pulled away, breathing heavily. 

“I would have died too. In the simplest terms, my heart would have stopped working the minute yours did too,” You froze in shock, staring at him with wide eyes. What just happened? Your lips tingled from the kiss. You wanted him to do it again. “What the hell are you saying, Loki?” “I’m saying that you are incredibly stupid and idiotic and completely selfish. And that I would rather die than live a life without you in it,” He started, his tone angry and desperate. Your head was spinning. Maybe there was drugs in the linen of this bed. Or maybe Loki hit his head. 

“Say something,” Loki pleaded now, the fight gone from him. “I’m sorry if I offended you. I’m sorry I’ve been such an ass. I can’t help myself. I go crazy every time you’re around. I can’t think straight and I….I don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve never done this before. I thought perhaps if I annoyed you enough, I’d get you out of my head. But Norns, every time you shot some clever remark back, it only egged me on more,” He was rambling at this point. 

You felt confused, but at the same time a sense of relief washed over you. It wasn’t like you were in love with Loki- but you definitely didi entertain the idea of occasionally making out with him or spending the day shopping together. 

So maybe it was a little crush. 

And fuck, it was a relief to hear him blurt out how helpless he was with you. 

“Did you black out?” Loki asked. He cursed under his breath, getting up to give you some space. “I apologise, I shouldn’t have said anything. I came off too strong,” He fumbled as he stood up, running a hand through his hair. “I just…I panicked. I apologise-” “Loki,” You stopped him from spiralling further, even if it was cute to see his usually composed self dissolve. You shuffled over to him on your knees. Even while on the bed, he was still fucking giant. You cupped his face and pulled him down, pressing a kiss to his lips. 

You pulled away after a second, dizzy from the feel of his lips on yours. It was better than you could have ever imagined. He stared at you in shock, lifting his fingers up to press them to his lips. You nearly died right there. 

“What was that for?” he asked, shocked. 

You laughed, kissing him again. He leaned into it this time, wrapping his arms carefully around your waist, his lips pressing against yours. 

You kissed him again and again and again, until you were both breathless and his lips were swollen and you were sure yours were too. 

“You’re really fucking insufferable, by the way,” You muttered against his lips. He hummed, chasing after yours as you pulled away. “You drive me insane. You’re in my head all the damn time, I can’t get rid of you,” “Don’t get rid of me, then,” He captured your lips in another bruising kiss. “I don’t plan to,” You sighed happily as you shuffled back onto the bed, pushing aside bandages and gauze wrap and wipes. Loki was a lot neater, taking his time to put them away onto the night table. He crawled into bed with you, his body hovering over yours, hands on either side of your head, caging you in. He leaned down, pressing another kiss to your lips. One kiss turned into two, into three, and then you were making out lazily, your lips crushed together, heavy pants and heated breaths for god knows how long. Tragically, Loki rolled off of you, laying down beside you. You took deep breaths, trying to calm your racing heart. 

Loki shifted, laying now on his side to look at you. You did the same, smiling softly. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?” 

“If you couldn’t tell, I’m not quite a people person,” You chuckled. “No, I guess not,” He could be your person though.

Maybe that’s too early to say. You kept your mouth shut. 

“Did I come off too strong?” “Nah,” You shook your head, reaching out to wrap your finger around a lock of his hair. “It was a Hallmark-worthy confession,” “What in the Norns is this Hallmark?” You laughed. “It’s a company. It makes lots of cheesy rom coms, all of which have some sort of frustratingly handsome male lead and big confessions,” “So you’re saying I’m handsome,” He grinned devilishly.  

“Can’t deny it,” 

He leaned in and kissed you again. You kissed him back but then pushed him off. “Stop it. I’ll become addicted,” He leaned back in. “Not a problem. I have no plans to go anywhere,” You ducked away from him, laughing. “If you keep making out with me Loki Laufeyson, we will be having sex,” His brows furrowed. “Absolutely not. Not while you’re injured,” Damn. 

“Fine, then stop kissing me,” “Well that’s unfair. I just got started!” You shrugged. “It’s not my call,” He huffed, pulling you closer, your back flat against his chest. His arm wrapped carefully around your waist, the hand coming to rest just under your wound. “Go to bed then. Before I do something crazy,” “I like crazy. I’m quite fond of crazy,” “Yes, crazy seems to follow you everywhere. It might be your whole identity, really,” “Is that an insult?” A pause. “I don’t think so,” 

You fell silent for a minute. “I think Lucy has a crush on you,” Loki laughed. “What makes you say that?” “Um, the way she blushed when you smiled at her? You laid it on so thick,” You could hear the shiteating grin as he spoke. “I have no idea what you mean, darling. I spoke to her like a normal person,” “Hm,” You wiggled closer to him. “Nah, you definitely were charming her,” His hand squeezed your hip. 

“Stop that,” “What?” You feigned innocence. 

“Stop moving,” You wiggled your ass again, just for a bit of emphasis. “What? This?” 

You swore the sound he made then was some growl. “You find new ways to annoy me every day,” “It’s my talent,” “And you excel at it,” You truly did. No one ever got under his skin like you did. And now with this new layer of your relationship, you have an infinite number of possibilities. 

You knew you guys should probably talk. Figure out where you stand. A plan for tomorrow morning. Try to communicate with the team. You couldn’t find it in yourself to care right now though. Loki was warm, and as he peppered kisses across your shoulder, you felt like maybe tomorrow would be a good day too. 

“I still think you’re an ass,” You mumbled, your eyes half closed. 

He laughed, the sound vibrating in his chest. “Truly a terrible liar,” He pressed a kiss under your ear. “I still think you are the bane of my existence,” “The only one?” “The only one,” You hummed, content with the answer. You could figure things out tomorrow. Tonight, you just wanted to lay in this haze of sunshine. To sleep and wake up to get drunk on Loki again.

Tags: I'm gonna tag a few people because I think I'm silly and this is my second little christmas-y fic so what the hell i dont care LMAO. DONT FEEL OBLIGED TO READ <3 @sarahscribbles @divine-knight-hand @holdmytesseract @joyful-enchantress @saturn-rings-writes

[inuhalfdemon]

Alastor asks Rosie to be his fake girlfriend to convince Lucifer that he is a good boyfriend but it backfires when Rosie critiques his courting abilities. (didn't open the car door, no flowers, etc.)

-CrackRodent

Ok, I feel like I gotta go OOC for this one because my personal headcannon is Alastor would treat Rosie as a fucking QUEEN when or where ever they went out - platonic relationship or otherwise. BUT, for the sake of this prompt:

Alastor had it all figured out.

He had been pining for Lucifer for weeks now...and was ready to make his move.

Not in revealing his "true feelings" or in swallowing his Pride and actually approaching The King with his proposal of "something more".

No, no, no.

That just wasn't his way. He needed The King to come to him.

His way, was studying Lucifer from afar, doing a bit of light stalking and narrowing down the places that The King frequented and when. He did it so dedicatedly that he knew exactly when Lucifer would be passing by the food court, just on the edge of Cannibal Town, on his way to a donut shop named *Duck Donuts...

[Owned and franchised through LuLu World, it became so popular that there are shops found throughout all The Rings]

Alastor knew he had to win not only The King's attention but, his favor. Alastor needed Lucifer to see that he was a desirable partner and to do that he enlisted Rosie's help. Alastor asked her to pretend with him that she was his fake girlfriend, they would go out on a "date" about the food court and Lucifer would see what Alastor had to offer.

It went perfectly. The timing couldn't have been better and Lucifer kept throwing looks their way...sneaking passing glances, double taking over the shoulder once or twice, even openly staring at one point. Alastor watched him walk away, heading into the donut shop and wondered at just how long it would take before The King was throwing himself at The Radio Demon's feet.

"Alastor...THAT WAS THE WORST DATE I COULD HAVE EVER IMAGINED!" Rosie was stewing.

"Huh, what? What do you mean? He couldn't take his eyes off of us the entire time!"

"Because you never once had your eyes on me for a single moment! My God...Where to begin!? No flowers, no hand or arm-holding, not even a peck on the cheek!? You didn't open the car door, you nearly slammed a store door in my face and have you even noticed that I've broken a heel and have been gimping along here beside you now for 20 MINUTES!?" Rosie was telling him loudly, exasperated.

"Come now, it surely wasn't all that ba-"

Alastor stopped what he was saying, seeing that Lucifer was heading straight for him now, carrying a large box of donuts.

This was it.

He hurriedly straightened his suit jacket and smiled widely.

"Why, good afternoon, your majesty. To what do I owe the pleasure of-?"

"Oh, shut it you absolute arse." Lucifer snapped and Alastor's smile tightened.

Lucifer turned to Rosie.

"I know it's none of my business, but you look like you've had a terrible time. I got fresh donuts...and it's been an eon since I've had a Butterfinger McFleshy... would you care to join me?" Lucifer smiled at Rosie, offering her his arm.

Rosie sniffed, walking past Alastor without sparing him a glance and taking Lucifer's. "That sounds just lovely, your grace. Thank you!"

"Step aside, cretin." Lucifer narrowed his gaze on Alastor and the deer quickly side-stepped himself out of the way.

He watched Lucifer and Rosie leave, listening to Lucifer telling her: "You know, Rosie, you are a treasure. You deserve to be treasured. Don't let guys like that waste your time, you know, I've always had the hots for cannibalistic women..."

Alastor watched them another moment before thinking...that may have backfired.

*Duck Donuts is based off of a real donut shop in Idaho Falls, Idaho!!! My wife @whatswrongwithblue asked me to take her there one day when we were passing it "because Lucifer would LOVE it!". 😆

[usernamesarehard1]

I feel like we don't talk enough about Call's backstory. I mean, it was really tragic and set the stage for all of his emotional turmoil throughout the series.

He lives in a town where his dad is considered crazy/insane/etc, and so everyone assumes that Call is crazy too or that Alastair is causing some kind of harm to him.

Adults and children alike hate him solely because they don't understand him. He is literally physically and verbally attacked and beaten constantly by his classmates for being disabled and for being "weird", and the teachers do nothing about it. Like he actually canoncially experiences constant abuse

And then he gets home and he can't even really open up to his dad, the ONLY person in his life, because Alastair is so emotionally closed off due to his own traumas. And then he has to worry about Alastair instead of worrying about himself.

Like, Call was literally traumatized and thought that he was an awful person because everyone told him he was and physically punished him for his existence.

And I am in no way an expert on any psychological disorders but when I have read about the basics of certain ones, it would not surprise me if Call would be diagnosed with some of them irl. Like when I was researching "quiet bpd" at one point it sounded just like Call to me. He has no sense of person identity and tears himself down inside thinking he is a terrible person, while simultaneously going back and forth between putting his friends on a pedestal and distrusting them entirely. And we see in the books how he is very clingy to Aaron and Tamara, especially Aaron, and has to use them as a safety net for himself. And how he is just constantly terrified of abandonment, especially by Aaron and Tamara. And how he isolated himself so much and struggles to process or express his emotions.

And when I read a bit about ODD (oppositional defiance disorder) I sounded similar to Call. Like, Call does seem to have a distrust for and rejection of authority in the beginning of the series, which makes sense because the authority in his life (teachers, etc) only put him down for struggling. It isn't until he realizes Rufus has his best interests at heart (most of the time) that be begins to trust him, but he is still very wary of the other Masters and Assembly members. And from what I have read ODD tends to primarily affect children and becomes easier to move past as they get older so Call slowly becoming more trusting of authority over the course of the books makes sense.

(Sorry if I didn't explain those things well, it's very indepth in my brain but hard to put into words)

Obviously these two diagnoses are very broad spectrums but it would not surprise me if Call feel somewhere on them.

And then of course Call obviously has social anxiety and depression in the books. And it would not surprise me if he had some sort of PTSD going into the Magisterium based on his upbringing. And I have seen a few people say that his Evil Overlord List could be a sign of a specific type of OCD.

Like, Call was a KID. This was the only world he ever knew. In his most impressionable years he knew nothing but hate from people outside his family and very limited emotional support or connection inside his family.

Again, I'm no expert on any of these things. I just have basic info, but when I did learn immediately made me think of Call. Tbh I feel anxious about posting this because I'm terrified I have something wrong here or that i am misremembering something. I just wanted to share the connections my brain made.

I really wish the books had more about Call's friendship with Aaron and Tamara helping all of them to start heal through each other's comfort since none of them ever really had that emotional support prior to each other.

And tbh I'm kinda surprised Rufus didn't notice a lot of what was going on with Call. I really wish the books had delved into that more rather than having Rufus get mad at Call for his trauma responses.

Also, what happens when Call goes home during the summer (especially when Aaron wasn't there)? Was he attacked again? Was he verbally harassed again? Did he return to the Magisterium with bruises or anything? The books did say that he would often have injures from the attacks by his classmates (I remember them mentioning a black eye, split lip, and bandaged arm in one flashback).

I have just been thinking about it a lot recently.

[fanciestghost]

i tried to fall asleep after staying up all night so I was listening to Discord, right. Okay so hear me out, Discord is alt gabriel and the guy/pony singing is adam murray.

"I cant sit idly, no I can't move at all" - Adam in his room becoming his alternate self

"Are we your prey alone, or are we just a stepping stone for taking back the throne" - alt gabriel using adam, dave, thatcher, etc. for his plan. Overthrone, taking back the throne

"I'm not a fan of puppeteer, but I have a nagging fear someome else is pulling at the strings" - Adam suddenly going from "the nicest guy" (quote Evelin) to him being mean and "it twisting [his] words"

"Something terrible is going down through the entire town" - fucking mandela with the alternates

"I'm howling at the moon, and sleeping in the middle of a summer afternoon" - okay a bit of a stretch for this one, but Adam's screams in catalyst, the sleeping could be him there too or Thatcher (shut up i know it was night time...)

"A tragedy played by a symphony, what a terrible work of art" - bit of a stretch here too? But Gabriel masking himself as the real angel Gabriel

[free-for-all-fics]

Prompts for Roberto aka Beto, Tenoch’s character from Madres. He’s so husband and so soft, I love him. Pls tag me if you’re inspired by any of these and write something, I’d love to read it! ��

1. You’re a farmer’s daughter, tending to your daily chores. As you’re sewing up a hole on your scarecrow, Beto, a neighbor and farmer, notices a note attached to his own scarecrow while walking around his field. The handwriting is unfamiliar to him, but it’s a sweet note welcoming him to the neighborhood, signed off “your secret friend”. These friendly notes keep getting sent to him, always attached to the scarecrow. But his secret friend is very sneaky and stealthy. Beto never sees who writes the notes, nor does he notice anyone around his house at night. Even after he befriends you, he never sees your handwriting so he still has no idea you’re the one behind it. When he does finally realize you’re his secret friend/admirer, he doesn’t confront you directly. Instead he leaves a cute little love note pinned to your scarecrow, which lets you know he feels the same.

2. You, A small town farmer living with your grandparents as they struggle with farm work, decide to take on the role of caring for the entire farm. It’s quite difficult until your neighbor, Beto, starts helping you and you’re very grateful. You're just a normal young woman who lives in the California countryside with a slow, quiet life. But something unexpected finally happens when you’re in the barn, and Beto falls through the roof while trying to repair it. As far as entrances go, Beto’s was quite unique. He’s not terribly hurt, but you still take him to the doctor and then personally look after him at home. The least you could do is provide the best bedside manner after all the work he’s done for you and your family. When you fall in love, you forgive his terrible jokes of “I fell head over heels for you.”

3. Animals go missing nearly every night- A cow there, a dozen pigs there; Yet your farm has been completely untouched by the 'curse'. Assuming foul play, many of the townfolk begin to suspect you of sabotaging their land. You've even overheard whispers that they plan to do something tonight. In your attempt to get away, you drive for miles and miles until you stumble upon a farm in the middle of nowhere. The farmer, Beto, – who is genuinely nice – welcomes you in, gives you food, prepares a bath, and even offers a warm bed for you to sleep in. You – a paranoid introvert that you are – cautiously agree since you got nowhere else to go.

4. All your life, you’ve lived in a small-town farming community with no chance of leaving. Your dad’s farm makes a modest living, but you’ve always dreamed of doing more. You’ve always wanted to pursue your passion, but your family never had the means. You’ve been working hard, managing multiple jobs to save up the funds for college. When Beto moves into your neighborhood, you befriend him and he shows you the beauty of the small things in life. Thanks to him, you learn to appreciate what you have and make the best of it while also never giving up on your dreams or ambitions. You grow to love each other and settle down. One day, a package arrives, with a paid scholarship to the university of your choice. An anniversary gift from your husband that he’s been secretly saving towards for years, wanting to surprise you.

5. You've led a simple, unimpressive farm life. Nothing big has ever happened. You were homeschooled because the nearest town was too far away. You barely know anybody besides your family. Every night, a stray dog always followed you ever since you were little. Doesn't matter what you were doing, the dog would always be there. You never really thought much of it, thinking it’d get bored and wander off eventually. Spoiler alert: The dog chose you and refused to leave. It’s a typical morning on the farm. You’ve had your coffee and breakfast, and head out to do your usual chores; feed the animals, clean their stalls, etc, when your farm dog runs up to you with a cowboy hat in his/her mouth. Your neighbor, Beto, is nearly out of breath. He must’ve been chasing your dog for a few miles. Oh no, your dog has been committing theft! Again. You’ve tried to get your mutt to stop doing that, but that doesn’t mean he/she listens to you. One day, you come home late at night and you don't see your dog. But you do hear Beto’s surprised yelling from next door, followed by happy and excited barking. Oh no. Your dog got the zoomies and committed breaking and entering! Again. Your dog’s love language is crime and chaos. You don’t know how many times you’ve apologized to Beto on behalf of your overly friendly dog. You never would’ve thought this would be your “How I met your father” story.

6. In the will of your grandparent, you were given ownership of an egg farm in the distant countryside. Despite not knowing how to work on an egg farm, you take it. When you get to the farm, you understand why this was given to you when you’re introduced to Beto, a very handsome farmer who’s single. He’ll be acting as manager and assisting you with your farm until you can handle raising and managing chickens on your own. Even when your grandparent is laid to rest, they’re still trying to play matchmaker for you and find you a husband.

7. You’re an ordinary farmer, and this year’s crop has been completely wiped out by freak weather. To make ends meet, you're taking a job at a vegetable farm that’s faring much better. The ad said "must love animals, must be good with children." You weren’t sure why until you meet Beto, who placed the ad. He has a dog and a baby.

8. Your parents never approved of Beto but you married him anyway because you love him. After your marriage, your parents begrudgingly acted civil when Beto was around, but when he was out of earshot you’d fight with them about Beto or your decision to move to the countryside. You’re so tired and can’t fight with them anymore about how thrilled they are for having paid all that money for your college degree only for you to become a poor farmer’s wife. They think you deserve better and have hoped you and Beto would eventually divorce and you’d move back to the city. But when you become pregnant, your parents stop talking to you. Your sister assured you this is just temporary silent treatment and your folks will come around.

9. You're a local farmer’s daughter in a little town out in the countryside of California. After your parents’ deaths, you’re just trying to manage the land, doing your best to grow some crops to sell so you can make enough money to pay off debts and keep your family’s farm. One day, you see your crop field has withered completely. All the plants you try to grow in your garden, fail. Seedlings do not sprout and fully grown plants placed into the soil die within days. Thanks to Beto, whom you’ve hired as a farmhand, you have now discovered the reason why. He brings your crops to life and nurtures them until they’re flourishing. You appreciate his green thumb and fall in love with him as you work the land together.

10. You’re pregnant and craving weird things like pickles and peanut butter or fish and ice cream. You told Beto to go to the store and do whatever it takes to get whatever it is you’re craving. It’s the middle of the night, but Beto still gets out of bed and runs to the nearest 24-hour store to appease you. He’s far more scared of you, his beloved hormonal wife, than wild animals like coyotes. Cooking together used to be a cute couples’ activity for you both, but now Beto is just very concerned about your…experimental cooking. "Alright, we're gonna cook. But first, I need you to go to the store and buy me a bag of sugar, a jar of peanut butter, three eggs, a goose, grass fed beef, a bouquet of dandelions, a bucket of live fish, and two bags of sunflower seeds.” Maybe it’s best if you let him do all the cooking for now so neither of you get food poisoning.

11. You’re pregnant and dealing with cravings like Slim Jim's and cherry slushies, brownies with hot sauce, Oreos and pickles. Perfectly normal cravings for a hungry woman going through such a unique and stressful event. Your husband, Beto, is worried "only a little bit". Sometimes in your home town, an ice cream truck can be heard roaming the streets. You got a craving for vanilla ice cream with soy sauce or olive oil, but the wind and the rain is picking up. He loves you so much that he’ll walk outside during any kind of weather to make you happy and get your precious ice cream from the truck. Your moods are a much more volatile storm than anything mother nature can throw at him.

12. Dead of night, back road, you’re a pregnant woman who’s going into labor. The father is out of the picture, so it’s just you. You were driving yourself to the hospital but accidentally ran into a ditch because of contractions. You get out of your stuck car, unhurt, and walk down the road to find help. You don’t make it very far when a truck’s headlights blind you. It’s your neighbor and best friend, Beto. He immediately helps you into his truck and drives you to the nearest hospital. He comforts you, even stays with you during the birth when you ask him to. He lets you hold and squeeze his hand. After the baby is born, he lets you move in with him since, as a father himself, he knows being alone with a baby can be scary. He looks after you, giving you whatever you need. He cares for the baby and helps you raise him/her alongside his son, José. This arrangement was supposed to be temporary, only until you could get back up on your feet. But whoops you and Beto caught feelings. Too early to say if it’s love, but since Beto is divorced and you’re single, both of you decide it’s for the best if you get married so both your child and José can have much needed support. It’s not a big wedding, just a small court ceremony in front of a judge and signing a certificate. He knows you’ll need time to adjust and recover both mentally and physically, but perhaps love comes later and you grow into a happy family.

13. You’re pregnant, which would be great if not for the fact that the child isn’t from your husband, but from your childhood friend/past lover, Beto, whom you recently reunited with after his move to the California countryside. When your husband asked you to bring over food to welcome your new neighbor, you didn’t expect it to be Beto. You didn't plan on sleeping with him. It just sort of happened. So whoops, looks like your feelings for each other still lingered and young love was just waiting to be rekindled. Your sexual tension may have been resolved, but the matter regarding your precarious marriage and unplanned pregnancy sure hasn’t. What do you do now?

14. You're standing in line at the gas station with your husband, Beto, when some guy in a mask comes in to rob the place. A pregnant woman starts freaking out and he points the gun at her. Beto jumps in the way and he fires, hitting your husband in the shoulder. The robber's eyes nearly bug out of his head and he flees, while an ambulance is called. You keep pressure on the wound to slow the bleeding and Beto is able to stay conscious and talking, making jokes the whole time to keep you calm until the ambulance arrives. When you get to hospital, he comes out of surgery just fine. It was a flesh wound, so he’ll recover with some rest and physical therapy. He loves you so much he’d gladly take a bullet for you to keep you out of harm’s way.

15. From your point of view, you're walking down your old street at night, and the lights in your old house are on. You knock on the door, and the new owner answers. Based on his attire, It looks like he was about to go to bed. You apologize for the intrusion, but ask to see your old room upstairs. You left something important in there and need to get it. You describe what your room looks like so he’ll believe you. From Beto’s point of view, he rushes to answer the pounding at his door. He opens it to find a woman frantically requesting to go to her room upstairs. Upon further questioning, she perfectly describes the room he’s just finished turning into a nursery. He lets her in. You walk into your old bedroom, now a nursery for Beto’s newborn. You kneel down to feel the carpet. It's still there. You can feel it.

16. Fried Green Tomatoes inspired: You’re a tomboy who hates wearing skirts and dresses. You like to go fishing, hunting, gambling, etc. Beto is a farmer and your new neighbor, so you welcome him to the neighborhood by giving him a jar of fresh honey. Later, you invite Beto to join you for a blanket picnic in the middle of a field. Nearby, there’s a large tree where bees are nesting. You grab an empty jar and he watches from a safe distance as you reach into the beehive. He’s terrified that you collect the fresh honey by hand, bees surrounding you and clinging to your clothing and skin. “Why would you do that? You could’ve been killed.”

“Don’t you want the honey? I got it just for you. It’s all right, I do it all the time. I never get stung, honest.” After that, Beto starts calling you a bee charmer and it becomes his cute little nickname for you. When you fall in love, you leave him cute little notes and sign them off with,

‘I’ll always love you, the bee charmer’

17. You stand up from a long day working in the field. Your crops are finally all planted. You walk back to the house to grab a drink. You live a peaceful life alone in the countryside, tending to your sheep and apple orchards. Your afternoon is disrupted when you hear distressed bleating. The sheep are gone. Oh no, they’ve escaped out of their pen. Again. You’re not so worried about the sheep because you know your neighbor, Beto, will help you herd them back into their pen. Again. But he’s going to tease you about it and call you Mary or Bo Peep. Again. Ugh. He’s lucky he’s cute.

18. James and the Giant Peach inspired: You’re an organic farmer that uses organic manure, delivered fresh every morning. However, something must have been off with this batch, as you notice something strange happening to the growth of your crops. Inexplicably, the largest apple ever known has grown overnight in your orchard. You aren't sure why you are so scared of it.

19. They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. You just inherited a 3,000 acre lemon orchard. So you put it to good use and make fresh, homemade lemonade for your neighbors, including Beto, the newest arrival. You can’t help but admire him whenever you see him. He’s so handsome, even when he’s hard at work and covered in dirt and sweat. Whenever you bring out the glasses of lemonade for Beto and the other workers, you can’t help but flirt with him. You wonder if he’s teasing you when he starts commenting about the heat and taking off his shirt every time he notices you looking.

20. The abandoned house behind the orchard always had your curiosity. You get dared to go inside. In an upstairs room you find a small bed with several stuffed animals and a storybook laying open to a page with pictures of what looks to be a fairytale. Turns out the abandoned house isn’t so abandoned. Beto, a single dad, has just moved in today with his baby. He wonders what you’re doing in his house. To diffuse the awkwardness, you make up an excuse that you wanted to come by and offer assistance in fixing up the place. You could help with the painting, furniture, etc.

21. The orchard had a bumper crop of apples. Unfortunately, it also had a bumper crop of poison ivy. What was supposed to be a fun day of apple picking goes wrong when you fall into the poison ivy. Beto looks after you while you’re suffering unbearable itchiness and redness as your skin feels so gross. He’s your personal doctor and after you’ve fully recovered, he surprises you with a wonderful dinner he made all by himself, topped off with a delicious apple pie he baked for dessert, made special just for you.

22. You've lived a relatively normal life as a farmer. It’s the first farmer's market of the new year and you’re selling your crops at town today. Everyone is staring, glancing between you and Beto. You’re rival farmers and have clashed across the aisle about who has the best crops every year. Will this year be any different?

[vault-heck]

foolishness in progress Friday

This week I was tagged in WIP Wednesday by @atomitron and @wishing4nuclearwinter! Thank you!

I'm going to tag @x-sapphicpirate-x and @twosides--samecoin to participate if and whenever you feel like it, today, next wednesday, etc. :3 no pressure as always.

This is a scene I've had brainworms about for months. Originally intended to be a chapter in part II of What God Doesn't Give You, I'm considering releasing it as a one shot in the meantime. Read on for canon-divergence, nonbinary Gnat Wright, and surprised pikachu Nick Valentine.

Valentine couldn’t blame Piper for being worried. This was the kind of job that people brought him all the time, though by the time most folks were desperate to ask an old synth for help, it was too late. At least Piper had the sense to catch things early, to talk to the loved one in question when strange behavior cropped up. Unsurprising for their age, Gnat didn’t give her much to go on.

They had always been an ornery one, though. In retrospect, it was a miracle he hadn’t been tasked with tracking them sooner, especially with the example Piper set for them. What he hadn’t expected was for Gnat to lead him straight into the Boston Common.

What a foolish shortcut for them to take; they should know better. To their credit, plenty of adults made the same mistake and learned lessons the hard way. Even Piper had been here recently, albeit with a team. Too many folks got overly comfortable with the route and ultimately met their end in this part of town. 

Good thing Nick was there today. He just hoped there would be enough time to pull Gnat out of there if things went south.

They were an angular thing, alert and light on their feet and seeming taller for their age with each day that passed. That day, they had dressed in muted tones of brown and red, they stood out in the Common like they had a neon sign that said ‘City Dweller!’ hanging above them. It was only their attire that gave them away, though– they maneuvered the streets of downtown Boston as a seasoned caravan guard might, kept close to walls and swept each open area before proceeding. 

Nick wondered if Piper knew her sibling carried a pipe pistol. He wouldn’t mention it unless it became a problem; she might not like it, but Gnat was safer for it considering the places they apparently frequented.

Gnat’s posture went loose when they entered the Common proper, as if the old iron fencing beamed some sort of protective field around them. Something must have caught their attention, or maybe their curiosity had marked the Common as a destination of interest to begin with.

This can’t be right. They ought to know better– does the kid have a deathwish? 

Nick picked up his pace, but didn’t sprint– too risky to attract attention around here. He needed to get close enough to Gnat to grab them if things went badly, and before they noticed he had followed. 

Gnat stretched, shoving shoulder blades down as their fingers locked and pressed towards the sky. They then dug through their ratty backpack to pull out a slab of radstag meat.

“Swan!” They called softly, but loud enough for their voice to carry to Nick’s position less than a block away.

Swan? Surely not–

Yes, that Swan. The behemoth unfolded from the pond in the Common, terrible and slow. In all the years he had lived in Diamond City, Nick managed to keep his distance from the beast. The best look he’d ever gotten was a glimpse of Swan’s mangled face as he disappeared down an alley, and now he gazed upon the entire hulking body of the thing. It was hard to tell where the grayed, bubbling skin ended and the evolutionary camouflage of the thing began. The boat on its arm had all but fused with the muscle mass, and much of its lips had eroded to permanently expose rotting teeth.

Nick froze at the edge of the Common and crouched behind the frame of an old bus stop. Gnat was well within the giant’s reach, and he couldn’t afford to startle either of them. He only hoped it hadn’t seen him already, and peered from cover.

“I got you something– it’s not a lot, but it is the good stuff.” Gnat unwrapped the meat from its butcher paper, still bloody and cool from the miniature cellar built into Polly’s stand in the market. 

Swan sloshed forward in the pond by just a step, but his hulking frame sent ripples and waves throughout. His free hand plucked the steak from Gnat’s extended hands like Nick might pick up a snack cake. Gingerly, but with ease. He dropped it into his mouth and nearly swallowed it whole.

“Good stuff. More.”

Swan’s voice was like a train that had pulled into an empty, echoing station for much-needed maintenance. If Valentine hadn’t witnessed the interaction between these two with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have recognized or understood the creature’s words.

“Sorry, bud, maybe for Christmas. I’m not made of bottlecaps.”

“Caps,” Swan roared. It was the only way he could speak, Valentine surmised. His body language hadn’t changed.

“People had a chance to do away with all that, after the bombs fell. But no, they had to go and invent another money.” 

“Stupid…. Humans…”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Gnat sprawled on the concrete by the pond where weeds had taken over and tucked their hands behind their head. “Tell me what’s new around here.”

Swan sat. There was an earth-shaking thud, then another, and filthy water escaped the edges of the pond. It occurred to Nick that the Common didn’t smell as bad as it probably should have. It smelled horrible, to be sure, but not like excrement.

“Bird fire. Swan play dead.”

“Bird fire?” Gnat looked puzzled, and broke their gaze at the mid-afternoon sky. “Watchers?”

Swan grunted, that wasn’t it. “Sky gun.”

Gnat’s brows furrowed. They didn’t know what he meant, but Valentine had a suspicion.

“Sooo…” Swan made another noise like frustration, moving his head back and forth. “Soool– jur.”

“Soldiers?” Gnat sat the rest of the way up and crossed their arms. “The Brotherhood of Steel?”

A hum came from the giant, then, and after a moment Nick realized he was slowly moving his head up and down along with his neck, nodding as he could with limited mobility.

“Those assholes. I’ve never met one in person, but I just know they’ll shoot anything that doesn’t look like them. I’m sorry, buddy.” Gnat picked at their glove and glared in Valentine’s general direction. He ducked back behind the metal panel.

“Normal… to Swan.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t make it right.”

[propaneandrevelations]

I had a taste of homelessness my senior year of high school, but thanks to the grace of my best friend and his wonderful family I was accepted into the household as one of their own, and while I did sleep on the couch it really did feel like home

For backstory, my folks split when I was 9 and the person my mom got with afterwards (I’m talking we met this guy like a week or two after the split) was and still is a serious douchebag. He was medically kicked out of the marine corps a few weeks into boot camp (catastrophic ankle injury) and is still mad about it.

How does he take that out on us? I’m so glad you asked! He treated us like recruits that he didn’t have to actually keep in good health. He started punishing us with “IT sessions,” basically high-intensity calisthenics for anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. And oh boy he enjoyed it, or at least did a damn good job making us think so. I’ll link a video underneath, my brother who is an actual Marine said that the boot camp IT sessions were actually nowhere near as bad as the ones we went through, and he only got IT’ed twice throughout his entire stay at MCRD San Diego. It was about every month or two that we’d get IT’ed, so yeah my siblings and i were being treated worse than Marine Corps recruits as children. At a certain point I was forced into doing hundreds of push-ups a week for minor infractions (i.e. being a fucking kid). At a certain point he stopped having the courtesy of giving a set number and just said “start pushing.”

Eventually that stopped after much protest from my siblings and I. He decided that an appropriate replacement was what he called grounding, but is more akin to solitary confinement. No human contact whatsoever, no books, devices, nothing. Sit in your room for weeks at a time without being allowed to speak to anyone at all, with nothing to occupy the time than stare at the wall.

My mom was never very present before the split and became even less so afterwards. She called her parenting style laissez-faire, while I call it neglect. She spent all day, every day in her room and almost never came out. We did all the cooking, all the cleaning, taking care of animals, etc. I was raised by my two older brothers and books.

When I was 17, I had enough. I lost my shit at him when he was screaming at my sisters for something stupid. I yelled that I had been waiting for him to leave or die since I met him, and to my surprise, leave he did! One problem: my mother did not take too kindly to that. She spent days laying into me about how horrible I was, about how I never even gave him a chance, all that happy crappy.

I got fed up, packed a bag and left. No idea where I would go or what would happen to me, but anything was better than living there. She took the SIM card out of my phone and sent me on my merry fucking way. I went to the Dairy Queen in the next town over where my best friend worked, and sat there for the rest of his shift until the place closed, went home with him, and lived there on and off for the rest of my senior year.

Eventually I extended the olive branch and moved back in with my mom, offered my forgiveness to the both of them and mended ties. It hurt too much to live with all of that pain and resentment which I’m still fighting, but bottom line I love my mom and she deserves to be forgiven as much as any other person who did terrible things.

Our relationship has improved drastically since then, and even though my stepdad is still around, his behavior has gotten better. I’m not happy that he’s still in our lives but I’ll take my wins where I can get them. Love wins every time, and the best punishment I can deliver is to live well despite how hard he tried to tear me down.

Me: I guess I was technically homeless for awhile as a kid, but we weren't, like, really homeless? After we got evicted from our rental house, we had to stay in a small industrial warehouse that was being rented for storage by some family friends. Like, it sucked, and I wasn't allowed to go outside, and it was a huge secret I had to keep from everyone at school because my parents were terrified I'd be taken away by CPS, and if the cops or property owner had found us we definitely would have been in trouble, but, like. We had a roof over our heads. Does that count as homeless? I dunno.

My friends who have genuinely never been homeless, ever: ....that is not normal, holy shit!?!?!?!?!

Me: ...okay so I guess I was homeless, then.

Anyway, this is a reminder that homelessness encompasses more than just "lives in a box under an overpass." Like, yes, that is definitely a real experience with homelessness, but it isn't the only one. Homelessness can look like couch surfing, living in your car, living illegally in a rented storage unit, living in a tent at a campground, living in a motel room, or any number of other things.

(Also, impostor syndrome around homelessness is just about the weirdest feeling in the world, tbh. The "was I suffering enough to say I was suffering?" thoughts are eternal.)

[age-of-flower-power]

The Art of it All (series)

The Beginning (Part 1)

Pairing: Josh Kiszka x female!Reader

Word Count: 7.1k (okay get it I guess)

Summary: Through the many stages of your life there had always been one constant. Here’s a story of your progression through time with that constant, and the internal battle with yourself to get things just right. After all, life imitates art, right?

Warnings: underage drinking, mentions of high school, mentions of drug usage. Part one takes place in high school incase that can be triggering for anyone, but it’s purely fluff in this part. 

Authors Note: Hey! So i’ve been around for a minute, but never thought to post any of my writings for this fanbase yet... so here it is! The first fic for gvf, from me to you! This is purely fictional, I clearly do not know the boys and this work is just out of pure enjoyment of the art of storytelling. This will be a series of chapters/parts posted through the eyes of one of Josh’s closest friends. This part, The Beginning, takes place in high school.

Not everyone has a hobby, some aren’t too sure what they really want to do with their spare time outside of whatever else surrounds them, but you were lucky enough that from a young age, one thing had always made sense to you. Your mother had introduced you to the world of theatre as a young child, and from then on, you seemed to grow fonder of the whole “acting” charade. 

Seemingly enough, theatre is an art form like any other, such as dance, music, and sometimes even crew work. The thing is, when it came to theatre, everyone involved always had at least something to do. From lights, costumes, acting, dancing, etc etc. It was a department that you found often included the likes of everyone no matter how they fit into the mismatched puzzle that the world of theatre presented.

So, it was no surprise to you that when you had moved to Frankenmuth during middle school, you had joined the town's community of theatre shortly after. It wasn’t really anything special, not what you had been used to in your old city of living, but when it came to theatre the same personalities could usually be found no matter what city or state you resided in. The theatre you first joined was more community oriented, seeing that high school was the only truly private theatre group in small towns like this.

Although theatre had always been something that you relied quite heavily on within the more pre-stage years of life, high school had brought an entirely different side to the art itself. Transitioning from a pubescent to a full on teenager brought a lot of terrible quirks. Acne, hormone filled drama, stupid boy and girl crushes, and stress about grades did not help the rough adjustments from middle school to high school, and to top it all off… high school was a battlefield shaped to eat and tear apart even the toughest of kids. 

Well, it wasn’t all bad. When you first came to Frankenmuth, you hadn’t been anything older than thirteen. They say the hardest year for middle schoolers will be the seventh year, and with your luck, you had also been the new kid in a town where everybody knew everybody. That being said, it meant that when you had arrived in the midst of the first semester, anxious and tired from your move, it was of little shock to see that no one was interested in talking with you on your first day. 

You remembered sitting down at your desk after being escorted to your first class, shuffling in awkwardly as you interrupted whatever lecture the teacher had been going on about, and immediately wished your parents hadn’t moved away from home at all. That, maybe if things had been different, you would’ve been at your old school where you knew everyone; maybe if things had been different, you would’ve actually made a friend on your first day. 

That is, middle school was tragic, but as always, you had found your voice through a local community theatre production of The Sound of Music. You had already been at Frankenmuth for about a month when your mother had walked into your school and set a flyer down on your bed and asked if you felt like auditioning. She had explained that she knew the move had been hard, but she wanted to see you act again on stage, even if you were unsure about knowing anybody and a little nervous about putting yourself out there to a town that (at the time) had deemed you unwelcome. 

That production had actually changed the course of your year. Through the time of casting and actually broadening your horizons in a new town, you had met Hayley. Who in turn, later turned out to be one of your closest friends, and probably the reason you had survived middle school in the first place. She was the complete opposite of whatever you had going on, which warranted a lot of attention for the two of you when you had inevitably become best friends after the production. She was tall, but not in a way that seemed lanky and awkward, and had a smile that could’ve probably melted the hearts of thousands. Her bright and cheery looks directly acquainted her quick sarcastic way of speaking. She had stunning hazel eyes, and although she was probably the epitome of beauty, you never felt as though she was shallow or vain. It was nice, you had thought at the time, to know someone who could flaunt her looks but yet be void of any arrogance. 

From then on, you two had stuck together like glue. She helped you through middle school, you had starred in two other musicals as ensemble members and a play together as background characters for the remainder of middle school, and by the time you were freshmen in high school, the only logical option for you two seemed to be joining the drama club… that was when you met, him. Josh Kiszka. 

Not only had you seemingly neglected the idea of boys when in middle school, but you had never been directly affected in any way upon the years up to this point by any boy. Sure, you had occasionally seen a cute boy in class, or passed one in town and let your eyes linger for longer than you probably should have, but never like this. 

It sort of went like this: your first week of high school. Hayley and you had signed up for your classes that summer, opting to take a few of them together, and the first week you both had also opted to do theatre together. On the first day of the club itself meeting, Hayley had wound up sick meaning you went alone. It was alright, you tried never to rely on her too heavily in social situations, but of course when you spend that much time with someone you feel a little lost without them around to guide you further. 

Well, anyway, you had sat down in the old theatre of the high school after saying ‘hello’ to some other freshmen you knew, but alone to that you wouldn’t interrupt whatever conversations some groups were already having as they made their way into their own seats. In the back, alone and ready to fill in Hayley on the details later, you sat and watched as the meeting started. The officers of the club introduced themselves, droning on about policies they valued in their club, and just as you were zoning out to the information they were feeding you about the different requirements for members of the club, a voice had whispered behind you into your ear. 

“Am I super late?” The voice had asked. You couldn’t help but jump as the words had been spoken, then immediately heard a follow up of, “Oh geez! Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” You were just about to turn and face whoever was speaking when suddenly you came face to face with the owner of the voice as another young freshman, around your age, plopped down in the dusted seat next to you and flashed a beautiful grin. “I'm Josh. Can I sit here? Sorry I kinda already did-” He was whispering but he already sort of talked a mile a minute and you steeled yourself to shake out of whatever funk you had put yourself under as you flashed a smile back and replied. 

“No, uhm, it’s okay! Really.” You said simply, snorting as he made a quizzical face as if he was unsure whether or not you were saying that for his comfort or to just be polite, but either way he nodded and turned for a fraction of a second to look towards the stage as the meeting rolled on while you had become quietly acquainted. He turned back to you after a moment. 

“Did I miss anything important or have they just been lecturing this entire time?” He whispered, leaning in slightly like he didn’t want to get caught by those around. You snorted and shook your head, glancing around the cramped theatre before leaning in after him. 

“To be honest, I think this entire meeting could have been in an email or on a sheet of paper, so not really. They literally are just going over the club rules.” Your response to his question had gotten a light chuckle out of him. 

“Really? That’s unfortunate. I think I skipped my brother’s soccer practice for this, but I really probably could have just hunted down someone tomorrow to quiz them on whatever they’re going over, huh?” That raised a lot of questions for you in your head, but for later, you had reminded yourself. Later, because for some odd reason, you felt like the person sitting next to you in this dusty old theatre was going to be heavily involved in your life.

After the meeting was over as you two had basically whispered back and forth the entire time, you had made your way to leave, slinging your backpack over one shoulder and thanking Josh for his company, you were stopped by his hand gripping your bag. 

“Wait, I didn't catch your name!” He exclaimed, worrying his brows as you turned back to him to laugh, holding a hand out as a more formal way of greeting your newly acquired friend. 

“It’s (Y/N).” You told him. He had muttered the name under his breath as a way of taking in the information and you watched as his face lit up bright in that heart throbbing-ly beautiful smile you were just now getting used to. 

From that day on, Josh was at your side almost as often as Hayley had been all those years prior. Well, your small world was expanding rapidly and you were quite certain that the change was more than welcome. 

- - - - - - - -

For the years that followed, your friendship with Josh had bloomed into a wholesome constant in your life. Of course, Hayley had been there the entire time, the three of you making quite the staple in your high school. By the time Junior year rolled around and fall was settling into the small town in Michigan, you were antsy to start the newest production your high school was putting on. It was a week into school, your classes already taking off into directions that busied you with a workload fit for a college kid , but you still found time to hang around with your best friends after school.

Today was no different. Josh (establishing Freshman year that he was not going to leave your side after that fateful day you two met anytime soon) walked with you to your house afterschool alongside Hayley. The two had been joking about something, but you paid them no mind as your thoughts filled with ideas for monologues to recite for the upcoming auditions. 

See, the thing is, from Freshman year to now, you had pretty much spent most of your time with those two when you could. They were your closest friends. Everyday after class you all would walk each other home, or on school vacations you would find whatever free-time you all had to roam the best hiking spots near town, drive hours away to listen to music and look at the beautiful scenery Michigan had to offer. However, because of this, you also had spent quite a lot of time at the Kiszka household too. 

Your parents were often busy with work, leaving you to your own devices most days. Hayley’s parents were around a bit more, but even still she seemed to enjoy being in your company more than the comfort of her own home. It was easy to say you two were attached at the hip, Josh being a welcome third-party starting Freshman year. You remembered introducing Hayley and Josh the week after you had met him all about two years ago, the two hitting it off as well as any two extroverts could.

“(Y/n)? Hello?” You were called back to the present upon hearing Hayley’s soft voice, stopping your stride to turn and face them from where you had apparently walked far ahead. “Were you listening to me?” She asked with a quirk in her brow, her manicured hand resting on her hip from where she stood. 

Hayley was like that. Her and Josh were eyesores to look at, both in radiance and in sheer unadulterated god-like beauty. It was quite refreshing for others to probably see you next to them, you said to yourself. You came off as rather plain compared to Hayley’s Hollywood-worthy beauty and Josh’s front-man personality and looks.

You steeled yourself, taking in your surroundings now. You realized after glancing around that you were standing on the sidewalk just outside her quaint home. When did you get here? You wondered to yourself, watching as Josh smirked at you from beside her, backpack slung over both shoulders, his hands looped through the straps lazily. 

“Uhm, yes…?” You said with a sheepish smile, replying to her earlier remarks. She rolled her eyes with a huff, Josh chuckling after her quietly. As serious as she could be, Josh always broke the tension with the playful air about him. While she could scold you in all her glory, Josh could ground you with a joke or a smile.

“She’s probably just considering the fall play or something- You know how she gets into her head and then immediately forgets the rest of us exist.” He said, ever knowing of your habits. He was easy like that, quick to figure people out like he just understood everyone and everything. Maybe it was because he was always so grounded into the earth and the world around him, but as carefree as he came off, he had never actually figured out half of your grade’s crush on him. Foolish boy, you thought. 

“Look, (Y/n),” Hayley started, her manicured hand reaching for your own calloused hand that had been resting at your side, “You should really worry less about the play that’s a week away,” she rolled her eyes, “and focus more on the now.” She swung your hands together, taking one of Josh’s hands in her other hand, “Like how Josh’s party is tonight, which is important to you, like now.” Hayley’s nose crinkled as she smiled at you, it was probably cute to all the boys in your grade, but you knew that smile. It meant mischief, and considering the information she just told you, it meant no good as well.

You stared at them for a second, pausing to really take in the information. “Huh?” Was all that had come out of your mouth, backtracking your thoughts yet again as your mind raced to catch up with what she just spewed at you. Hayley rolled her eyes again, a habit she really needed to fix, and Josh snorted beside you both.

“See! She’s got her mind in the clouds!” Josh exclaimed, dramatic as ever. He released Hayley’s hand to drape it delicately over his forehead, all woe is me. “(Y/n), I’ve been talking about the party the entire walk home from school!” You would’ve flinched at his volume if you weren’t used to it by now. 

“Well I kept tuning in and out, I'm sorry-” 

“Babe, don’t be sorry just be better.” Hayley joked lovingly as ever. She gave you a knowing look when you just stared back at her all confused. Before you could defend yourself further she seemed bored already of your antics, poking your shoulder as she turned to walk about the steps to her house. 

Hayley turned to wave you both off. “I’ll pick you up at 7 o’clock, mkay?” And just like that she left you both, leaving you standing on the sidewalk alone with Josh. You turned to Josh after Hayley entered her house, waiting for her front door to close before you dared to utter another word. When you looked at him with a raised brow he looked back, unbothered.

“Okay, fill me in on the details and I promise this time I won’t space off.” You sighed out. He shrugged non-committal and started walking with you again, side-by-side, routine as always. 

You couldn’t remember really when the three of you started walking home together from school, well you could remember Hayley tagging along in middle school, but Josh had always gone home with his twin brother. Sometime during Freshman year he really just started to show up around you a lot more, and you figured from then and there he had made himself home with the idea that you needed a buddy to be with after he realized Hayley’s stop was much closer to the school than your own. 

“Well for starters,” He began, taking your hand which in turn caused a slight flush to briefly appear, “I invited like half the grade.” You immediately gaped at his words, nearly tripping over a crack in the cement under your worn out sneakers. 

“You did not!” You squawked. He smiled. 

“I did! But don’t worry, it’s not going to be anything crazy! Just a little way to kickoff the year and celebrate how cool I am.” He wiggled his brows at you. He was always like this. Josh knew everyone and anyone and vice versa. He was one of those kids that would begin to speak and others could shut up and listen, hence why he was probably so good on stage as he was off. It also didn’t help that his brother, Jake, was the epitome of ‘I'm also super cool and ladies love me, but I'd rather play guitar than look their way’ kinda stuff. You shook your head at Josh, biting your cheek. 

“How did your parents even agree to something like this?” You pondered aloud. He swung your hands back and forth with each step, humming. Usually when Josh spoke, he always seemed to make direct eye-contact with the person he was talking to. Well, more like, talking at. That was okay, you said in your head, because Josh filled the space between the pauses you never spoke in.

“Well, the thing is, they didn’t.” He said it casually, with a click of his tongue to the roof of his mouth. You stared at him from the side of your eye, your walking pace still steady along-side him. “But they’re at a lake house this weekend, and they aren’t coming back for a few days so, of course they left Jake and I in charge.” 

“A grand idea.” You rasped out sarcastically. He glanced over at you with a smirk but you deflected by looking away before his gaze could make you flush further. 

“Well, as long as we clean up after ourselves, there shouldn’t be a problem.” You supposed that was true, but teenagers are almost always disrespectful to spaces that aren’t their own, even in a small town like Frankenmuth. This caused some mild anxiety to creep up from your belly to your head. You could say you were nervous for the party, only ever having been to one actual large party so far in your high school career. Of course, it had been with Hayley and Josh, but this was different. You hadn’t known anyone there, and it was over the summer a town or two away… but now? You would practically know everyone. Maybe that should’ve made you feel safe, but it uneased your gut.

“Hey,” Josh brought you back from your thoughts gently, squeezing your hand in his own, “I won’t leave your side tonight, you can trust me.” Josh, oh sweet Josh, you said in your head. He could faintly look at you and tell something was up. How was that even possible? Maybe he had a third eye, you considered. Anyway, he promised this to you. “Plus, you’ll have Hayley too. She’s pretty good at staying by your side, right?” He squeezed your hand again as a way to ground you further into the conversation. 

You nodded, remembering the party from over the summer. Drunk teens dancing around a fire outside some kid’s lake house, Hayley laughing with Jake about something he had said. She had technically stayed with you the entire night, and even if you ended up being the DD that night, she was at least kind enough to not leave your side. 

So you replied, “I know, I just-” You shrugged then, pausing your steps. He stopped alongside you, turning to gauge your reaction. You heaved a sigh, concluding it was a terrible habit in yourself as you had concluded a terrible habit in Hayley earlier. “I dunno why it’s making me nervous.” You chewed your cheek again, dropping your hand from his to scratch at your wrist, suddenly uncomfortable with this conversation. “You kinda are too cool for me sometimes.” You admitted, and although it was a joke when you had said it, it was hard not to believe it.

Now, Josh usually kept a positive and fun air about him, never being too serious or ever being too up-front whenever he would speak, however now he seemed to shift slightly in character. His usual smile fell and he straightened up a tad, staring at you like he was staring at the most important art piece the world had ever seen. It was unnerving to say the least.

“(Y/n).” He said, no longer playful. “You have got to be one of the coolest chicks out here. You realize that, right?” He waited a beat for you to reply. “Right?” He repeated, to which to shake your head, chuckling at the new-found seriousness about him to ease the nerves building up. “No because- I'm not kidding listen-” He took your hand as he always seemed to do, stopping the incessant scratching you had been doing out of anxiety, and brought the hand to his heart for you to feel. Your mouth gaped, the flush furious upon your cheeks. When you tried to pull your hand back out of shock from the touch, he kept it in place. Sturdy just like how sturdy his gaze was upon you in this moment.

“You’re smart,” He stared into your eyes, making you shrink under the intensity of the gaze itself, “You’re talented,” You assumed your cheeks were turning red as the trees were turning, “And you are so unbelievably kind, (Y/n).” He dropped your hand from his chest, running his own hands through his curls as he fidgeted while he tried to come up with more honest words to speak to you. 

“I will never, ever, be too cool for the coolest girl in school.” And alright, that was a pretty cheesy line, but your heart soared at his honesty anyway, because by looking at him you could tell he meant all of it. 

Even after knowing Josh for a couple years now, you were always still surprised that he could make you feel like no one else could. Wasn’t it silly, to walk into a room or rehearsal and know he still only had eyes for you? Seeing him now, all bothered by you believing deep down he was way too good for you, you still found yourself thankful to have a friend like him in your life. Afterall, he was like the sun, and everyone in this town orbited around him.

“Josh, you have to save a speech like that for a girlfriend or lover, seriously.” You broke the tension in the air with a mild joke, deflecting with humor was safe. He smiled at you again, flashing those terribly beautiful pearly whites at you. 

“I guess I'll just have to repeat them to her when the time is right.”

The rest of the walk home was easy, you both decided to take the long way to your house through town for a little more time together. By the time he dropped you off at your own home, neither of you wanted to utter goodbye. It always seemed to get like that when both of you had to depart, even if it was only a few hours till you’d see each other again. Maybe it was the autumn air setting in, or the way Josh looked against the fading autumn sun, but you could’ve sworn he seemed different when he dropped you off today. 

Whatever was going on in his mind during your walk home, you thought, it would have to wait till later. 

---------------- 

The thing about going to high school in a small town was, there was never anything crazy to go out and do on a Friday night, which meant that if there was a party to be had, anyone and everyone would likely be in attendance. Well, especially with the amount of people Josh Kiszka knew- scratch that- invited personally. You would definitely have to fight for dominance if you wanted his attention tonight, you concluded to yourself. 

Hayley pulled up to your house around 7 pm like she had promised and you had walked out to her beat up Camry, sliding into the passenger’s seat. She was wearing some old band t-shirt with a flannel and jeans to bring it all together, her outrageous blonde curls pulled into a bun on top of her head. She was effortless, making you shrink a little in the seat when you noticed you two had similar tastes in outfit choice. You had thrown on some high waisted pants, tucking in a band shirt as well, your white shoes piecing together something casual about the way you dressed. It was just a high school party, you concluded, knowing you hadn’t the means to wear anything nicer for the occasion. 

As you two drove to Josh’s house you listened along to some classic rock station on the radio, both singing along to whatever played, Hayley laughing as you faked a terrible air guitar.  When you had arrived, you both had to park a significant block away, cars already piling up outside the road to the Kiszka house. You seriously began to hope no one from the neighborhood would dare say anything later to Mama and Papa Kiszka, knowing how awful of a scolding the oldest brothers would get.

By the time both of you had gotten out of the car and walked up the front steps of the house, your anxiety eased by Hayley taking your hand as a guide once the door flew open. Immediately you recoiled at the sheer amount of people from your school littering the interior of the house, having to dodge and weave bodies to even make it to the living room area. 

Outside, the house had seemed quiet enough, but now inside it was hard to hear anything over the talking, singing, dancing, and drunk teens having the time of their lives. You made a mental note to offer to help Josh clean up once everyone had left. 

Hayley only dropped your hand once you came to a beaten up couch in the living room, seeing Josh standing behind it talking to his twin Jake about something, a cup of liquor in his hand as he dramatically flailed the other as he spoke. Hayley patted your shoulder as she left to go make a drink for the both of you. 

“I’ll be back, just stay here for a sec, kay?” She muttered into your ear, sauntering off. You stood awkwardly for a moment before finally grabbing Josh’s attention from the other side of the living room. His face, already smiling, seemed to light up even more if possible. Wait- was that possible? Well Josh always did seem to surprise you, you said internally. He said something to Jake who turned to you as well with a relaxed smile on his face. Josh eased over some other part of their conversation they had been having, leaving Jake’s side to walk over to you, arms outstretched to greet you with a hug. 

You knew Josh was a physical person, and growing up with a family like his, it made sense. However, that never meant you were ever prepared for when he actually did pull you into his arms on occasion.

“You made it!” He exclaimed, releasing you from the hug to face you now. You pushed a loose strand of hair behind your ear, smiling back at him. 

“Yeah, great turnout, right?” You replied, watching from the corner of your eye all the people flooding in from the kitchen to dance in the living room. You unconsciously took a step closer to Josh, and if he noticed he didn’t say anything. 

“Yeah, a little more than I was expecting to be honest, but great nonetheless!” Josh always flourished in social situations, which you admired. No matter where Josh was, the mall, school, a funeral, he seemed to always be so sure of the room and the environment he was in. 

He took your hand, grounding you from your thoughts once again. He placed his cup down after he took a final swig of whatever liquid and liquor he had mixed before. “C’mon, I have something to show you!” You didn’t protest as he took your hand to lead you out of the room and through the carpeted halls of his house to a much quieter hallway. It was blocked off from the rest of the party with tape and a shitty ‘do not enter’ sign made from paper and sharpie taped over it. He had to drop your hand to bob and weave through the tape with you, leading you back to the door to Jake and his shared room. 

“Aren’t you missing your party for this, mister host?” You teased as you both stepped through the door to his space. He shrugged at you, walking over to a desk in the corner of the room. You had only ever been in his room a handful of times, usually when you two would smoke or share a pre-roll. It was messier now than you were used to, clothes and papers littering the floor. It was much quieter here than the other rooms of his packed house, but you appreciated the escape. 

“Aha!” You heard him mutter. You looked over his space as he rummaged around the desk looking for something. Looking out at the sheer mess of everything on that desk, you were surprised he was able to find absolutely anything, but he looked determined so you watched his efforts as he turned to you, a book in his hands. 

You raised a brow as he passed it over, your hands brushing subtly as your eyes raked over the cover. The book was hardcover and made from a worn red leather, the title stamped into the front in gold being titled, ‘Monologues for the Aspiring Actor’. You fingered over the imprint of the lettering, looking up at Josh in confusion. He seemed excited rather than nervous about his gift, waiting for you to look through it. 

“What is this?” You pondered, flipping it open to see pages upon pages of famous monologues littering the inside. The manila paper was soft against your fingertips with every page you turned. He was sheepishly smiling now, scratching his chin as you thumbed through the majority of the book.

“I got it a while ago, for you.” Josh waited for you to finish looking through it before he spoke again. “My brothers and I were out thrifting and I kinda, sorta, stumbled upon it- and since you are always looking for more material to use, I got it!” It was a sweet gesture, actually really sweet. Not only had you gotten a gift from Josh, but you were touched because you had actually never received anything from a boy before, especially not to this magnitude. 

To know, even out and about with his family, he was thinking of you. It was the small things that always stuck with you, and at this party here and now, you were soulfully touched. You let a loud and mean blush rush to your cheeks now, looking back up at Josh. 

“Josh that’s… so sweet, actually. Thank you.” He looked beyond pleased with himself, it meant everything to him to see you liked his gift. “I love it.” You told him, pulling him into a hug as thanks. He squeezes you tight now, only pulling away when the hug seemed a little too long to be friendly. 

“Yeah of course!” He cleared his throat. “Well uhm, do you want to get back to the party? I know Jake can handle himself, but I probably should make a few more appearances throughout the night, right?” He chided, making you remember that, right, you and Josh weren’t the only ones in the world and that you had definitely not stayed where Hayley had told you to. 

You set the book down on his bed, delicately, staring at it for a second longer like it could vanish at any point in time. Josh was… considerate. It made your stomach do something weird, but you pushed the thought off. He was a good friend, and he thought highly of you. That was all.

After a beat you both shuffled out of his room and back to the party, Josh not leaving your side until you reached the living room. You noticed Hayley, two drinks in her hand, talking to some tall boy in denim as you approached. She noticed you almost immediately, ditching the conversation she was in the middle of to saunter over and hand you a drink, the boy forgotten about as she wiggled her perfect eyebrows at you. 

“What?” You inquired, taking a sip from what tasted like sheer gasoline, to study her features. She rolled her eyes, then turned to Josh who was still at your side. 

“Where did you two run off to?” She asked, pursing her lips, ever knowing of something you seemed unaware of. Josh just smiled at her. 

“I don’t kiss and tell.” He remarking, dramatically turning away and starting up a conversation with someone random and close enough to his proximity to torture. You mourned his leave mentally but kept your focus on Hayley beside you. 

“He just had to show me something in the back, nothing happened.” You told her, gulping down another drink of the awful liquid in your cup. She seemed unfazed by your hesitance but all was quickly forgotten after a song she liked began to play over the speakers in the house, taking your hand and dragging you to dance. Whatever Hayley and Josh knew together that they always seemed to telepathically connect on, you had no idea. 

- - - - - - - -

The rest of the night was honestly pretty fun. It was good to know that your fears and doubts of how the night could’ve gone seemed so far away now. Josh and Hayley were social creatures, sure, but they made sure to stick by your side. It meant a lot, and because of how dedicated they seemed to be to the idea of you having fun as well, you were glad you came.

 It was around one in the morning when the other teens began to grow tired and people started to filter out. You and Hayley stayed to help Josh and Jake clean up, doing a good job at cleaning up the big messes like cups, cans, and trash. It was the smaller details you all regretfully saved for later, such as cigarette butts in the front lawn, or things the boy’s parents would clearly notice like a moved table, etc. 

When you inquired later about their siblings being away Jake mentioned that their younger brother Samuel was off at his friend Danny’s house, and that their sister Ronnie was also away with a friend. By the time everyone was gone and a majority of the house was cleaned, you were mentally checked out. 

So, with only a few empty bottles and some trash bags lining the kitchen floor, the four decided to migrate and sit on the living room, spread out amongst yourselves, all of you drunk enough to not want to clean anymore but awake enough that you didn’t feel like going to sleep just yet. Josh offered before all of you sat down that it would probably be smartest for you and Hayley to stay the night, so no one had to drive home. You agreed, knowing that even if you were pretty drunk, Hayley was worse off than you. 

While you all sat, chatting about the night and whatever fun stories transpired around the house, you noticed how Jake would lull his head occasionally to the side from where he sat. You, Hayley, and Josh had taken up the space beside each other on the living room couch, Jake awkwardly lounging in a recliner near the three of you. Josh snickered about something Hayley had said, but you focused on the air conditioner across the room as it buzzed loudly, filling the silence left between your best friends speaking. 

You only came back to your thoughts when Hayley yawned dramatically, taking her curls out of the near-ruined bun to fix it sloppily. 

“Yeah, I think I'm ready to call it a night.” Jake muttered after her yawn, smirking when Hayley frowned at him, even if he sunk deeper into the corner of the recliner, elbow resting on the arm, his cheek lazily resting against his palm.

“Aw, so soon? Didn’t you have fun?” She asked, but her body language betrayed how awake she tried to sound. Jake stood up from his chair, reaching his arms up to stretch. 

“Uh-huh, totally.” He muttered. Josh sat up a bit straighter from beside you, ready to wish Jake goodnight, but your body felt hyper aware as he shifted closer and your knees brushed ever so slightly. He was on the other end of the couch, opposite from Hayley, leaving you in the middle between your two friends. Somehow you always ended up in the middle.

Hayley waved Jake off as he left the room and you watched as he muttered a ‘goodnight’, nodding to Josh before he bounded down the hall to the comfort of his bed in their shared room. 

Hayley turned to you two now, grabbing a throw blanket from the back of the couch and throwing it over her lean legs. She snuggled up rather fast, making herself at home on the sticky leather material the old couch was made of. 

“Okay so, I'm super tired… so I might pass out.” She said into her hand, yawning dramatically again to get her point across further. Josh raised a brow at her, leaning forward from his sitting position. 

“Aw, so soon?” He mimicked her earlier comment at Jake. She simply flipped him off, snuggling deeper into the arm of the couch. 

“Duh,” she huffed, “I couldn’t act all tired in front of your cool brother. It’s a power move.” 

“That makes no sense.” Josh said. He shifted back to a resting position now that it seemed the life of the party and his brother were mellowed out. You felt his knees leave from where they had been faintly touching and you mourned the loss of Josh for a second time that night. Josh shifted his body again, this time facing you, legs thrown over your lap. You rested your hands over them, fiddling with the material his pant legs were made out of, the denim stiff.

“I say we sleep in Sam’s room after she falls asleep.” Josh jutted his chin when he talked about Hayley, you flicked your gaze over at her. She was pretty much already out cold, her breathing evening out. You giggled to yourself at how sleepy she was, looking back over at Josh again.

“Why don’t you just sleep with Jake in your guy’s room? I can stay here with her incase she needs me.” You said it to be polite but that didn’t stop you from catching the way Josh slightly frowned, however he shrugged it off quickly, leaning back into the arm of the couch. 

“(Y/n),” he said, “We are the only two people left awake in my house, after throwing a high school party, and you don’t want to cuddle?” He teased to which you replied with rolling your eyes. 

“First of all, you threw a high school party. Second of all, how do I know you aren’t too drunk to remember in the morning?” You inquired. Josh crossed his arms over his chest, pouting slightly. He was always smiling, but the pout seemed to suit his features a little too much. 

“I'm practically sober right now,” that was a lie, “and plus, the couch can barely hold two people sleeping comfortably. Can you blame me for looking out for you?” Ever the gentleman he was, you remarked to yourself internally. 

It was a lot for your inebriated brain to take in however. You had never actually stayed over at Josh’s place before, one because he was a boy and girls didn't sleep over at guy’s houses, right? And two, because he had never made a big deal of asking. The three of you were always together anyway, like how most days at midnight the three of you would make an effort to sneak out and drive around doing whatever shenanigans you could, but Josh would always be outside next morning to pick you up from your house and walk to school with you… 

So sleeping over wasn’t something you ever thought about, because you were together every hour of the day anyway it seemed. 

As your thoughts came and went, you concluded your internal monolog and got off the couch with Josh to walk to Sam’s unused room. It definitely smelled like incense and axe body spray in there, but Josh explained that Sam wouldn’t mind the both of you using his room as he cracked a window open to air the place out. 

“He won’t be back till after dinner, Danny’s family will feed and water him.” He joked.

The both of you hardly wanted time, tired selves sinking into the bed next to each other, suddenly realizing just actually how tired and fuzzy you were feeling. Maybe all those drinks, dancing, and socializing truly did take a toll on you. You hardly noticed as Josh pulled you close, eyes too heavy and body too tired. You hardly thought anything of it when his breath ghosted over your neck, letting yourselves rest together in the tranquil peace that always surrounded the both of you in your moments. Could you call them moments? You didn’t let yourself think any harder of it.

 You were content to slip into your dream cycle with him there, close. You surmised you had never been this comfortable before. 

The party had been a success, sure, and you had a lot of fun with Hayley, sure, but something about Josh had changed in your stupid hormonal teenage brain.

**** End of Part 1 ****

Taglist (ask if you want to be added!): @feeeeeettttt​

[imagineyouandharry]

Gypsophila (H.S)

Summary: Prince Harry has been under great pressure to find a wife, and he finds his Queen in a way far more unconventional than he could’ve imagined. 

Words: 5,730

Warnings: It’s a bit strange I guess? Idk lol.

A/N: Someone requested a Prince!Harry au forever ago, and then I didn’t really have an opportunity to write for a while, and then this idea sprung up on me and I’ve been lost in this little au for the past few days. It’s like a little twisted fairytale, taking inspiration from Snow White and Sleeping Beauty mostly. Part two is already a work in progress. If people are interested I’ll even put out a little sort of world building lore post with a map of the kingdom etc (I’ve been in DEEP). This part is a bit choppy and barely edited because I was just so eager to write it and get something out, but I would really appreciate any constructive criticism and editing notes! TYSM!! Long story short, enjoy!!!

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Harry Edward Styles did not believe in true love, in fact, he thought it was the most ridiculous idea ever. Harry’s certain he’s laid eyes upon every eligible young lady, from his kingdom and the ones surrounding, and he hadn’t felt a single thing when looking at any of them. He prayed every night that he would find his love the next day, and finally be able to put his parents out of their misery and ascend to the throne. At the age of 27, Harry’s the oldest person in his family to not be married, no one every waited this long in the royal family. He would’ve had an arranged marriage at 21, though when his parents suggested that he ran away on a sailing ship for two months. One thing was clear to him: though he may not have experienced love yet, he wasn’t going to ruin his chances at true by being forced into a loveless marriage. It wasn’t only Harry’s parents, but the entire kingdom that woke each day hoping to hear that their Prince had found his Queen. They referred to Harry as the Good Prince, his subjects adored him, and lived for his acts of charity and selflessness, and they only hoped he would find a Queen that would treat them the same.

Harry’s outlook on love changed however, after his most recent hunting trip. Sundays are for family and hunting, that’s what Harry was always told. No day was for Harry, he’d come to learn that. Living under a microscope meant for very little alone time, and almost no guilt-free alone time. He and his hunting party rode across the fields and out to the dense forest surrounding the kingdom, and over the two hour journey Harry found himself agitated with the topics of conversation going on around him. He wanted a break, tired of everyone only ever speaking about royal duties or politics. Harry had discovered a fresh water lake if he went off the trail, and when he realised they were edging closer to his favourite place he decided to excuse himself with the excuse of needing to fill his canteen.

The natural spring was a hidden treasure indeed. Harry’s entire kingdom was cut off from the rest of the world due to the thick forestland surrounding it. There was only one trail in, and one trail out, and even then only experienced riders were able to make the journey. The end of the trail, in the deep of the forest, was also often lined with thieves and outcasts making it not the safest journey. This spring wasn’t necessarily hard to find, however thick trees that lined the main trail hid the spring, the gorgeous wild flowers, and clearing of soft grass either side. Harry tied his horse to his usual tree, softly parting the bushes careful to not cause any permanent damage, and stepped his way through. His kingdom was full of hidden treasures like this, tucked away in places only to be found by those adventurous enough.

The sound of the running water was most prominent, however the closer he walked to the spring, the more he could hear a faint, delicate singing voice. Harry couldn’t recognise the song, but it was one he’d never forget now. It felt as though his heart dropped in his stomach, and he had to lightly scratch his arm on a branch to double check he hasn’t died and was hearing an angel of heaven sing to him. He walked closer, with quiet footsteps so not to disturb the singing. He knelt down to the edge of the spring and began to fill his canteen, looking around his eyes eventually focused on the source of his siren, standing in the clearing over the other side of the spring as she picked a bouquet of dainty flowers. Lavender, daisies, bellflowers, poppies. Her body was dressed in sage green, the simple dress showed she definitely was not from a wealthy family, but it was simple and beautiful in its own way. Perhaps she sewed it herself, it did look as if it were made for her. He could see her hair shine from here, and the features of her side profile were striking him even from a distance. She didn’t look real. The strange girl across the spring looked ethereal, like her beauty was too surreal for this planet. Had he hit his head? Was he seeing a forest fairy? He hadn’t even realised the staggering increase in his heart rate as he watched the girl, and listened.

He lost track of how long he had been watching her for, snapped out of his daydream when he heard a “Your Royal Highness! We must be getting on!” Harry heard shouting at him from a distance, most likely back where he had tied his horse. The girl had heard the faint noise and her eyes shot in Harry’s direction. His cheeks flushed with heat as their eyes met only for a brief second, before she ran away. The eye contact brought a slight curve to his lips, although she was leaving, at least he got another good look at her.

“Wait!” He called as he stood up, his hand and canteen dripping wet. His eyes softened as she simply left, looking back briefly in her stride, but he’d blown it. “God fucking damn it.” He cursed under his breath as he began to trudge back to his horse, his feet weighing heavy on the ground.

That was the most he’d ever felt, looking at the stranger across the lake singing as if it were for him, and he couldn’t help but feel like he’d just lost his future Queen. Half of him wanted to wade through the water and run after her, but Harry wasn’t a often disobedient Prince, when one of his parents or advisors told him to jump, his usual response would be “how high?” It’s ironic how for someone who’s whole life depends on finding his future Queen is given so little time to actually explore a social life, or love life himself. He was always set up with suitors who his parents found best. In the rare times he’s able to sneak away he’d gotten around, and most definitely wasn’t a virgin, but he’d never found a girl who had made him feel the way he wanted to feel about his future queen. He only wanted to please his family, and his realm, but this was the one thing where he refused to compromise.

Y/N was as far away from a future queen as it could come, or at least that’s what her step-mother wanted everyone to think. The entire town hoped to marry their daughters off to the elusive Good Prince Harry, however her step-mother only wanted her biological daughters to have that chance. When Y/N’s father passed away her step-mother sent her out to live as a recluse in a tiny cottage in the woods, she had always feared that her beauty would distract future husbands away from her actual daughters, and didn’t want to ruin their chance of being married. Each Sunday she drops Y/N off the supplies she needs, but that was the only human contact she was given. It wasn’t too bad, she managed to keep herself busy with sewing, baking, or whatever other art or craft she could think of and had the materials for. It was lonely though, and she was ultimately alone.

Well, if you don’t count forest fairies. Y/N hated being outcast into the forest, and spent most of her early months in the cottage crying to whatever wild animal she could find that day that would stick around long enough. Eventually, these wild animals started bringing their fairy friends along with them. They would spend their days with Y/N tending to fruit and vegetable gardens, watering plants, having picnics, and making daisy chains. Her life was simple, and although not one she asked, it was one she was growing fond of. Male company was something she could only imagine and long for, or read about in story books. There were dozens of fairies living in the forest, but she’d become particularly close to a group of some of the female fairies.

Each Sunday before her step mother visits, Y/N will pick her step mother a bouquet of flowers in attempt to win her over, in hopes maybe one day her sweetness will earn her way back into town. Y/N had total obliviousness towards her step mother’s plan, and towards what was going on in the city. This year, any woman over the age of 21 was to present herself to the Prince. Y/N’s 21st birthday fell on the day she was scheduled to be presented to the Prince. The letter had been delivered shortly before she was sent away to the forest, Y/N never laid her eyes upon it though. The letter outlined the royal guard would be coming to collect anyone who failed to present themselves on the day, and to Y/N’s step mother that meant the only option was to make it so Y/N never turned 21, or made it to her birthday for that matter.

Seeing the Prince most definitely did spook Y/N during that day in the field, if her step mother ever found out she’d had contact with a male there was no chance she’d ever be allowed to move back home. She did all she could think to do. She ran. She ran so fast that the petals of the flowers she had picked were ruined in her haste, quickly shutting herself inside the cottage to gather herself before her routine afternoon visit from her step mother. Sure she knew of men to be dangerous and terrible, but she feared her step-mother’s wrath more than anything any man could put her through.

Like any other Sunday, she scrubbed the house and dressed herself in whatever new garment she had stitched herself this week. The fairies had been busy this week and she’d had a great deal of time to herself, embroidering colourful flowers into the soft white linen of the new dress she had made. Her step-mother would bring her fabric and thread to sew dresses for her step sisters. It was something to be proud of, but most likely would be over looked. Little was said upon her step-mother’s arrival, but her character seemed off. Her step-mother’s eyes darted around, checking windows as she insisted on making the two of them tea. Y/N sat down at the small dining table, recounting tales of her week, ensuring to leave out anything about fairies or a boy. She watched a small bunny outside the window, forgetting to speak as awe overwhelmed her whilst she watched its tiny nose twitch. Her daydream came to an end when the sound of the ceramic mug hit the hard wood of the coffee table. “Drink while it’s warm, my love.” Her step-mother told her, sitting down in the seat at the head of the table beside Y/N. It wasn’t long after that that Y/N hit the floor, and her step-mother was shrouding herself in a hooded coat and sneaking out of the tiny cabin.

Elsie, a fairy most close to Y/N, who specialises in healing, came to the conclusion that she was only out for about six hours before the fairies found her. They did all they could over the following weeks to bring her back to life, trying as many possible rituals, potions, and spells to give life to her body once more. Nothing was of use though, and instead they decided to preserve her in a glass case in the clearing amongst the wildflowers. She had professed to them that the clearing by the spring had been her favourite place, so they saw this fit. Preserving her in the glass case was simply because the idea of her beauty decaying away made any of the fairies shriek. Fairies never communicated with humans, however Y/N was different. Elsie had always theorised that Y/N had magic in her blood. Amongst the many spells and rituals they tried to bring Y/N back, they threw in a spell that would hopefully bring her back with true love’s kiss. It was like a safety net, or a ‘what if?’ But they eventually tired and wore out, preserving her was well enough for now. They kept her dressed in the new dress she had crafted for herself, it was so beautiful after all. They had placed tiny baby’s breath flowers throughout her hair, and made sure everything was perfect. They even went as far to adorn her in delicate gold jewellery, with beautiful crystals of all colours. Her body rested upon a large rectangular slab of rose quartz.

****

Harry was dreading sitting in the throne room, while all the eligible females from the town were presented to him like livestock. It made him sick, and left a terrible taste in his mouth. All he could think of was the girl from the clearing. Is she a sign? Is he his ticket out of here? Was seeing her fate? Questions like that simmered over his mind and kept him awake at night, he had been sleeping little and finding it hard to focus on his duties. His best friend Niall was he closest confidant, the only one he had told about the beautiful girl in the clearing that day. Niall cared more for Harry than anyone, really. He didn’t just care about his fame or power or wealth, Harry was his best friend and he hated seeing his best mate so down about his love life and the pressure to marry a woman he doesn’t love. He made it his mission to find the woman, and his detective work lead him down a path he didn’t expect at all. First he went to the clearing where Harry filled his water in the spring, that was where he first noticed something over the other side of the spring that he couldn’t quite make out. He followed the spring and found an area narrow enough to cross, making his way to the structure he’d seen earlier. He didn’t know what to make of this discover, a dead girl in a glass coffin. ‘Forever at rest, only to be woken by true love’s kiss’ read an inscription on a gold plaque. He really didn’t know what to make of this. He didn’t know what to tell Harry.

Sweat lingered Niall’s brow as he made his way back to the castle to find Harry, to tell him of his discovery. “Look… I just need you to come with me and tell me what you think when we’re there.” Niall tells him, his voice somewhat breathless. Niall himself was still in disbelief, shock, his eyes wide as he shook his head. “I just- I don’t know what to tell you. You need to see it for yourself.” He adds.

Harry nods. “I’ll come immediately.” Harry tells him, his trust for Niall outweighing anything else going on in his head. Together they rode to the forest, crossed the narrow part of the spring, and towards where Niall had discovered Y/N.

“Is this the girl you were talking about?” Niall asks, however when he looks from the girl to Harry, he knows the answer. Harry couldn’t help but fall to his knees, pressing his palms against the glass as he looked inside. He noticed how long her eyelashes looked, and the freckles on her nose. His nose was almost touching the glass as he leant here on his knees at the side of her, taking her in up close.

“What happened to you?” He whispers, his eyebrows knitting together. Niall gives him a moment before he decides to mention the plaque at the foot of the structure.

“It uh, says something weird about being awoken by true love’s kiss. I don’t know if it’s true, and it’s revolting to think you would kiss a dead body for nothing, but someone has put her here. Someone made this. My grandmother in her old age would mutter stories about forest fairies and their magic… It just makes you wonder, you know?” He ponders, his eyes wandering away. It felt silly to bring up magic, it was something very commonly dismissed.

“Help me get this off.” Harry said as he brought himself from the ground, the soft grass had left green stains on his tan riding pants. He pushed the sleeves of his white linen button down up past his elbows, and the two men carefully lift the heavy glass case up off of the rose quartz Y/N had been resting on. It wasn’t easy, and the glass at the bottom dug into Harry’s fingers before they set the glass piece of the structure down on to the grass. “Alright. Here we go.” Harry said, in attempt to psych himself up for kissing a dead girl. She didn’t look dead though, just sleeping, you could only tell she was dead due to the missing rising and fall in her chest with her breath. “I might start walking back to the horses, give you some privacy.” Niall said, giving him a slight smile. He also didn’t really want to witness someone kiss a dead person, if she didn’t end up waking up.

“Good luck. Take your time.” He adds, part of him had no doubt it was going to work though. The stories his grandmother would tell him of the forest fairies were something he’d always held on to, those stories were amongst his most treasured memories. He’d always had some hope.

Harry waited until he could no longer hear Niall’s footsteps before he leant down close to Y/N, brushing a strand of hair back behind her ear. He took a moment, if this never worked it was going to be the last time he’d ever see her. He couldn’t fathom coming back to this spot if this didn’t work. His heart began to ache at the thought, it made his chest feel tight, and gave him the urge to rub at the spot.

“I really hope you’re who I think you are.” He whispers as he looks down at her. “This might seem like absolute madness. I don’t even know your name, but if you wake up for me, I swear to you I will be yours forever.” He began, to Harry this almost did feel like a ritual, it felt special, and the words he was speaking were amongst the most genuine he’d ever given life to. “I promise, I will protect you. I will provide for you. I will love you. I will never, ever harm you. I will love you until my very last breath, I just need you to do this one thing for me.” His voice was barely a whisper now, and breaking as hot tears welled in his eyes. He very carefully leant down, pressing his warm, puffy lips against her cold, smooth ones. He didn’t know how long to wait, but it didn’t feel wrong. It was a sweet, tender kiss. His eyes closed, and he felt at peace. It felt more than at peace. The long grass, wildflowers, and tree branches that surrounded them began to stir with wind, petals floating up into the gusts that took them. This girl had a tendency to make him feel like he’s dead and in heaven. Her lips slowly began to warm, and skin began to glow with heat. It felt like they were floating, as if the universe was made up of just the two of them. The flowers beneath him began to grow taller and more dense, and it began to feel like his heart was pulling towards hers. It felt like a tether had been formed, connecting their energy, he could feel as her heart began to pump blood again, and her energy radiate from her skin. It felt too surreal.

Slowly, Harry removed his lips to allow Y/N to breathe. He let a hand lay gently resting on her cheek as he watched her gasp for her first new breath, eyes shooting open as she looked up at him. It wasn’t shock she was met with when her eyes met Harry’s, but peace. The luminous green eyes that were gazing down upon her were like lighthouses, guiding her towards safety. So many questions began to race her mind as she came to reality, unable to decide which one to ask first. As if based on intuition, Harry decided to speak. “I uh- I’m not too sure what happened to you but my friend found you here today and brought me to you. I believe I saw you a few weeks ago, in the same spot. I’m not sure how long you’ve been out here, but there was this little plaque at the end of this thing here, that said something about a kiss to wake you up… I’m sorry for kissing you without your consent, but I couldn’t risk not taking this chance.” He didn’t mean to ramble or to overwhelm her with his spiel, but he was overwhelmed himself with everything that had just gone on. True love’s kiss. His queen. His true love. The other half of his soul, in human form. Y/N’s lips parted as if to speak, but nothing came out. She closed them once more as she sat up and looked around, swinging her legs off the side of the marble before looking back up to Harry. Her movement had disconnected his hand from her face, and they both longed for each other’s touch once more already. Her eyes began to well with tears as she began to think about how she got here, her last memories.

“I can only assume how overwhelming this must all be for you… We can stay here as long as you need, it’s just us. When you feel ready for it, I can take you back to my home and we can get you showered and fed. I don’t mean you any harm.” Harry doesn’t even need to add that last sentence though, because she can feel it. She can feel his love for her, she could almost hear it if she listened closely enough, as if his heart was now beating a song for her.

Harry stood back, as if to give the doe eyed girl some space. She looked at him as if he was the most precious treasure on Earth, he’d never felt so overwhelmed with love. This was followed by her delicate hands reaching out, taking ahold of his as she brought herself to stand in front of him. “Is it alright if you hold me for a second?” She asked softly, needing time to process things.

It had been so long since she had been touched affectionately, she couldn’t really remember it. Her father was never affectionate, nor her step mother or step sisters or anyone else she’d met. She felt comfortable with the stranger in front of her though, and didn’t have the energy to resist the magnet like force pulling her towards him.

“Of course.” He responds, his voice soft as he wraps his arms gently around her frame, pulling her into his warm figure. Harry was like the perfect, giant teddy bear… but he wasn’t really that soft. Pressed against him she could feel how chiseled his features are. Her arms wrapped around his waist as she relaxed into him, cheek against the skin of his chest kindly revealed by the first few buttons of his shirt being undone. “What’s your name?” He asks, tangling his fingers in her hair to lightly rub his fingertips against the tender skin at the back of her neck.

“Y/N Y/L/N. Yours?” She asks, looking up to the tall, broad man.

“Harry.” He decides on leaving out his royal title or last name.

“Just Harry?” She asks, her eyebrows raising.

“For now. We have plenty of time to talk about me later.” He notes, removing the same rogue strand of hair as before from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. It was almost as if her hair had a life of its own, breathing, like the other flora growing in the forest. He had noticed the baby’s breath in her hair, though her hair moved, they remained in the same places, as if growing out of their place on the strand of hair. “What do you last remember?” He asks, needing to know if whatever put her in eternal sleep had been by accident, or as an act of malice. She looks back away from his face, resting her cheek once more against his chest.

“My step-mother, Styephania came over, she made me tea. That’s all I can really remember.” She said, unable to stop the disappointed sigh from escaping her lips. Maybe she’d had a freak health accident, like a stroke. Just because she’d been mistreated by her step mother her whole life, didn’t mean she was capable of murder. She knew her step mother didn’t put her out here though, this was the work of fairies. They were looking on, hiding in the bushes as they stood witness to young love blossom in front of them, not wanting to disturb the two of them. “I look crazy, and it sounds crazier saying this, but I’m certain the forest fairies are responsible for looking after me and putting me here. The day she came over was the day I think you saw me here, and I’m not sure how I’m meant to feel but I don’t feel like I’ve been a dead body since then. I feel like no time has passed at all.” Harry avidly listened to her speak, her voice like caramel, seeping in his ears and warming his whole body. Harry wasn’t phased by her mentioning fairies, Niall had suspecting this being their work earlier. It was the only explanation Harry could think of. He couldn’t understand why her step mother would leave her here, why she wouldn’t find her help.

He didn’t want to worry his sweet girl now, he wanted to make sure she felt alright, safe, and cared for. His grip on her wasn’t too tight, but firm in a comforting way. “The plaque… It mentioned how you’d only be woken by true love’s kiss.” He figured the longer he waited to tell her the stranger it would be. His cheeks were red, as if embarrassed or ashamed to tell her about the plaque, how strange it all was. Her eyes met his, and the connection gave him whiplash. He couldn’t peel his eyes away, getting lost in the little pools. He wanted to know everything about her, what she liked, disliked, what she ate for breakfast, her favourite songs, flowers, secrets. Everything.

“I don’t know if I know what love feels like. The only men I’ve spoken to are all twice my age. I wasn’t really allowed to see boys. You’re definitely much, much more beautiful than I would’ve imagined a man to be, and I’m certain that my heart is literally beating for you now, since you woke me.” She tells him, the descriptions of heroes in stories she would read, or how she would imagine the older men to look when they were younger, were incomparable to Harry. The compliment made his cheeks flush. With each beat of her heart, it was as if it was pulling her closer to Harry, calling out for him, begging for him to love on her and soothe the ache in her chest.

“How has God made something so sweet?” He mumbles, he hadn’t even realised he’d said it out loud at first. “You’re breath taking. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes upon, and trust me when I say I’ve seen a lot of them. Even from far away, the first time I saw you… You make me nervous. You make my heart race, and my palms sweat, and I get butterflies in my stomach and nervous when I think about saying the wrong thing or not having you like me. It’s as if you’ve been carved by God himself, like he was showing off when he made you so beautiful. I wish I’d met you sooner.” Those last words burn his throat, how easier the last few years would have been if he had just been able to find her sooner.

*****

Harry sent Niall back to the castle first, having him instruct everyone to clear out the path that the Prince and his soon to be queen would take to his suite, he didn’t want to spook her with people around. The guards had to stay though, non-negotiable. He also had Niall ensure the doctor was on standby, just to check on Y/N and stay in the castle over the upcoming weeks in case anything else happened. Security was going to be increased, and tightened, and a warrant put out for her step mother.

The two hour horseback ride to the castle would give them well enough time to get to know each other, Harry and Niall had also switched horses, Niall’s being the slower of the two. “I don’t want to startle you when we get there. I also don’t know how to really tell you this. I’m in the royal family, so the guards and whatnot are something to just be ignored. They’re for your protection. I don’t know if you heard much of what I was telling Niall earlier, but you’re going to be very safe here, and we’ll find out what happened. I’ll look after you, I promise.” His eyes are ahead as he speaks, looking over the vast green fields ahead of them once they eventually emerged from the forest.

“Still just Harry, to me.” She reassured, sensing his nerves about revealing this information to her. His shoulders relaxed at her reaction, and a smile formed on his lips when his mind began to wander into what their future may be like. His queen.

“Hey, one day that’ll be King Harry to you.” He joked, thankful that it was received with a laugh. Her laughter was almost as sweet as her songs, and for the rest of the journey he made it his mission to mine as many possible laughs out of her as he could, like little nuggets of treasure. After making their way through the fields that lined the forest, they went down a long road that served as a divide between two of the castle’s towns, and at the end of that road just past a small valley of mountains was a sight far more glorious than Y/N had imagined. Her village was a small village that contained mostly candlemakers and dressmakers, and it sat further to the east, people only ever going out there to purchase fine candles and clothing. It was niche though, and not many could afford the fineries the master crafters in her village would create. Y/N hadn’t even really seen a home larger than a cottage, Harry’s castle looked large enough as if it could contain its own little world, a complete wilderness of towers surrounded by fine gardens, protected by a large moat with a standalone drawbridge. Harry didn’t even need to announce himself, the drawbridge was already in the process of being lowered for him.

“I had Niall clear our path, I don’t want to overwhelm you. I’ll introduce you to everyone when you’re ready.” Harry reassures her, she hadn’t even thought of anyone else though, too in awe of the sights around her. Flowers she’d never seen before laced these gardens, with fine marble sculptures and fountains protruding from them.

“I can’t believe this is your home.” Y/N whispers, unable to think of anything else to say.

“Your home too, if you’d like.” Harry replies, though his words immediately shrouded him with nerves about rushing Y/N into anything. It was stupid, they were each other’s true love’s, but it felt wrong being strangers, so Harry tried his best to conceal things. He’d never been in a conventional relationship before, never mind whatever this arrangement is or was going to be. He just knew he wasn’t meant to rush things, so he tried to refrain from expressing his feelings as best as he could. Her arms around his waist tightened, Y/N needing to feel as close to Harry as possible. He held the reins in one hand, the other arm resting over hers around his stomach, holding on to her arm to make sure she couldn’t let go.

“I’d like that.” Y/N reassures, gently rubbing his side to soothe him. Harry was too caught up in his own feelings to pay attention to how calm Y/N was. She could feel his anxiety though, and continued to try to soothe him as best she could. Y/N knew very little about Harry so far, but what she did know was that he was kind, caring, and had a lot of worries. She’d never been a worrisome person, and if anything would even refer to herself as naive, it was something she’d always been almost ashamed of but in this moment felt like maybe she’d been made to be by Harry’s side. Y/N liked the idea of spending her days being Harry’s rock, a voice of reason. She’d rather a man like this than one who had no emotions, that was for sure. It could’ve been whatever was now eternally bonding them, but she swears she was feeling his emotions, able to see his aura if she really studied hard enough. She sunk into him some more, her arms around his waist, cheek resting against his back. Harry made sure to take it extra slow, giving his love enough time to appreciate the flowers. She seemed to like flowers, and his mother took pride in this being the most beautiful garden amongst all of the kingdoms. He couldn’t wait to show her all the fineries that came with his life.

[planet4546b]

this is an extremely bizarre question i just thought of but. thoughts on the s/n cast being in a lighthearted (??) au a la hs/college/coffee shop au but still forced to meet (group project members, reluctant coworkers, etc.). i have no idea if this makes sense fksjks

ohohoho this is very fun. time to normalify my favorite weirdos!!!!

lighthearted au of choice is 'everyone works in the same shitty mall' because its the one i can make make sense in my head the best. dont ask why jdhslkag

sam is the long suffering assistant manager for a best buy. eric is the actual manager and the rest of the spire network folks are the other employees here. darcy has stolen at least 2 entire xboxes. indrani, grace, and sam walk to the food court together every day to have lunch together and shittalk everyone else.

sam has a ham radio hobby and uses her store discount to buy parts (i havent been to a best buy in forever idk if they have those. bear with me here). she is a radio nerd in every universe and i love her <3

mel works in the new escape room (cy also works here) and is weirdly serious about it?? emily works in a trader joes. jackie is in the weird little board game store you know the kind.

jackie steals pokemon cards from behind the counter for mel. mvp

i could literally just have said they know each other from working in the same store but instead im about to build the weirdest relationship map ever because #ilovecomplexity. ok here we go

mel, em, and sam have lived in this town and known each other since they were kids. mel and sam were closer in high school, but then mel left town to go to college for a few years (before dropping out), and sam and em started hanging out a lot more. jackie just recently moved to town to go to the state school nearby (fun fact: in a previous version of this story it took place in suburban illinois, and emily went to university of illinois urbana-champaign so lets say its there for funsies). emily is also taking classes there so she and jackie ended up in a class together (em is a math major and jackie is the worlds most pathetic physics major so they probably took like calc 3 together or something) and thats how jackie got dragged into the group!!!

sam has the worst little awful apartment youve ever seen (its literally the r/malelivingspaces i dont deserve a bedframe post) and jackie is somehow always hanging out there (jackie lives with 3 roommates and is always in a fight with one of them). sam frankly does not mind. the two of them get a long a LOT better without an impending apocalypse. physics student jackie + radio enthusiast sam spend a lot of time discussing like, the electromagnetic spectrum and also jackie is making sam watch breaking bad and sometimes they play minecraft.

emily: im gonna ask sam to have dinner at the california pizza kitchen with me

mel: what the fuck. thats a terrible idea. why would you take her to the fucking california pizza kitchen in the mall we literally work at. what??

emily: ...... should i do the cheesecake factory??

jackie is the ultimate 'lie to your boss. leave work for no reason. just walk out. fuck it ✌️' guy and is constantly trying to get the other three to spend work hours just sort of fucking around and hanging out with them. like theyll tell their manager theyre taking a bathroom break and then walk down to the escape room and talk to mel for 30 minutes. mel, who takes her work in this universe as seriously as in canon, absolutely HATES this and is like no im not skipping work with you. stop it. but caves eventually and spends a lot of time just sort of wandering through the weird field behind the mall with jackie and getting high. its great

chaos and absolute tragedy when the sbarros in the food court is replaced by a fancy health food place and its the only topic of discusion for months. no survivors

emily and mel are on a much better path towards actually mending their relationships in this world. i think they both still live at home, and having their other siblings leo and addie around (as well as their mom and grandma) makes them WAYYYY less likely to want to tear out each others throats. sam loves going to dinner at em and mels because it reminds her a lot of her own family (and because shes known them so long shes been going over there forever. helped addie with her math homework when addie was in hs kinda vibe. its nice)

also while sam is still estranged from her family in this version, the paternal relationship between her and eric is also much more clear, which is also nice. sam PEOPLE LOVE YOU.

luna this is bad. im actually kind of very invested in this au now. im kind of going to keep thinking about it all week. uh oh. anyways this is very scattered but thank you for the very fun question MUAH

[peachscribe]

peach’s summer book list

i had a lot of fun compiling the list of books i read during the 20-21 winter, so i decided i would do a summer one as well! i still have a lot of books i own but haven’t read, so im definitely not lacking in material

if you didn’t see my winter list, how my book list works is basically like this: i read a book that i own but have not previously read, write a short summary immediately after finishing the book, write down my thoughts on the book, and then provide a rating for the book. i also might include background info on why i read this particular book/feelings about the author, but that depends on the book. that’s how each entry works

without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

okay so i absolutely adore another book by andrew smith (written after grasshopper jungle) called the alex crow. it’s one of my favorite books of all time, so naturally i wanted to see if grasshopper jungle would make me feel similarly. just like the alex crow, grasshopper jungle’s plot is. so fucking weird. it stars austin szerba, a teenage polish kid who lives in ealing, iowa, and is often sexually confused regarding his girlfriend shann and his best friend robby. and in ealing, iowa, austin and robby accidentally and unknowingly unleash an unstoppable army of huge six-foot-tall praying mantis bugs that only want to do two things: fuck and eat. and i just have to say: andrew smith’s got an absolutely dynamo writing style. alex crow is similar, where it’s a book about kind of everything all at once, framed in a moment centering around teenage boys. it’s fantastic, and it’s more than a little gross, and i love it. this book made me feel so many things, and i thought austin was such an amazing narrator and main character to identify with. this book has it all: shitty teenage boy humor, fucked up science experiments, and poetic imagery that will make you want to cry. and explicit lgbt characters.

412/10 andrew smith what do you put in your water i just want to know

2. Burn by Patrick Ness

patrick ness has written a plethora of some of my favorite books (such as a monster calls, the chaos walking trilogy, and the rest of us just live here) so when i saw this one in the store i knew it would be a great one. burn is an alternate history fantasy that takes place in 1957 frome, washington, during the height of the cold war, and it begins with a girl named sarah and her father hiring a dragon to help out on their farm. but there’s not just dragons, farm living, and cold war tensions; there’s also a really shitty small town cop, a cult of dragon worshippers and their deadly teenage assassin, a pair of fbi agents, and a prophecy that sarah’s newly hired dragon claims she’s a part of. i think eoin colfer’s highfire was on my winter list, which also featured a story that included dragons and shitty cops, so when i first began burn i thought it was funny to have two books that had both things. you know, if you had a nickel etc etc. but that’s really where the similarities end because burn is entirely it’s own monster (dragon). burn is entirely invested in its world, and its fascinating. not only that, i had no clue where the book would take me next. there were so many surprises and amazing twists that honestly just blew me away. this book also includes beautifully written complicated discussions on family, race, and love - it features interracial and queer romances as the two most prominent romance plots which was such a nice surprise from a book i wasn’t expecting to have that kind of representation. this book is witty, fast-paced, and a very heartening read - i absolutely adored it.

9/10 dragons and becoming motivated by the power of love and friendship are so fucking cool

3. As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann

i hate this book! as meat loves salt is a historical fiction novel which takes place in seventeenth century england, which is going through a grisly civil war. the protagonist, jacob cullen, is a servant for a wealthy household and is engaged to another servant in the house. but due to certain events that are almost entirely jacob’s fault, he flees the house and is separated from his wife. from there, he joins the royal army and meets a kind soldier, ferris, and the two become fast friends. jacob and ferris’s relationship begins to bridge past friendly, and jacob struggles with his homoerotic feelings as well as the growing obsession and violence inside him. also, they try to start a colony. listen, i don’t know how to describe the book because so much happens, but it basically just follows jacob and all the terrible decisions he makes because he is, truly, a terrible person. ferris is kind and good, and jacob is scum of the earth. he sucks so bad. the entire time i was reading this book (which took absolutely so long), all i wanted was for jacob to just get his ass handed to him. i wanted to see him suffer. and it’s not like i just personally don’t like him - i believe the book purposefully depicts him as unsympathetic even though he is the narrator. i did enjoy the very in depth and accurate portrayal of what life would’ve been like in seventeenth century england, and i think it was interesting to read a character that is just the absolute worst person you’ve ever encountered and see him try and justify his actions, so if you enjoy that kind of thorough writing, then this book would be perfect for you. however, i did not see that bitch ass motherfucker jacob cullen suffer enough. i’d kill him with my bare hands.

2/10 diversity win! the worst man on earth is mlm!

4. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

i know ive had a friend tell me how great one of schwab’s other book series is, but truthfully i bought this book because the cover is sick as hell and it was on a table in the store that advertised for buy two get one free, i think. something like that. anyway, this savage song takes place in a future in which monsters, for whatever reason, suddenly became real and out for blood in a mysterious event nicknamed the phenomenon. august flynn is one of these monsters, but he takes no pride in that fact and only wants to feel human. kate harker is the daughter of a ruthless man and is trying her hardest to be ruthless, too, but deep down she knows it’s just an act. their city, verity, stands divided, and kate and august stand on either side - but when august is sent on a mission to befriend kate in the hopes of stopping an all out war, the lines begin to blur. this book rules. august and kate are such interesting and dynamic characters, and the narrative is familiar while still being capable of twisting the story around and taking the feet out from under you in really compelling ways. this savage song is part of the monsters of verity duology, and i can’t wait to dive into how the story continues and finishes.

11/10 sometimes you can judge a book by it’s cover

4a. Our Dark Duet by Victorian Schwab

this is the sequel and finale for this savage song and i’d figure i’d update everyone: fantastic ending, beautiful, showstopping, painful.

12/10 loved it and will definitely be keeping an eye out for schwab’s other books

5. White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

oh boy. okay. white is for witching is about a house, and it is about the women who have lived inside of it. when her mother dies abroad, miranda silver begins to act strangely, and there’s nothing her father or her twin brother seem to be able to do about it. she develops an eating disorder and begins to hear voices in the silver family house, converted to a bed and breakfast by miranda’s dad; and she begins to lose herself in the house and the persistent presence of her family legacy. white is for witching switches perspective dizzingly and disorientingly between miranda, her twin eliot, miranda’s friend from school named ore, and the house itself. this story is a horror story as much as it as a tragedy as much as it is a romance as much as it is a bunch of other things. oyeyemi brings race, sexuality, nationality, and family into this story and forces you not to look away. this book is poetry.

(like i mentioned briefly, this book heavily deals with topics of race and closely follows miranda’s eating disorder. read responsibly, and take care of yourselves)

15/10 this book consumed me and i think i’ll have to read it another 10 more times to feel it properly

6. These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

okay. okay. strap in for a ride. these violent delights is a romeo and juliet style story, taking place in glittering 1920’s shanghai. the city stands divided - not only between the foreign powers encroaching on chinese land, but also between the scarlet gang and the white flowers, who are at the height of a generations-long blood feud. juliette cai, heir to the scarlets, has recently returned from four years abroad and is determined to prove herself ruthless enough to lead. roma montagov, heir to the white flowers, is standing strenuously on his place as next in line due to a slip up four years prior and is desperate to keep hold of his title. and in the midst of juliette and roma’s burning history with each other threatening to combust, an unnatural monster lurks in the waters of shanghai, loosing a madness on scarlets and white flowers alike. this book has it all - scorned ex lovers, political intrigue, deadly monsters, and all set on a glamorous backdrop of the roaring twenties. i absolutely was enraptured by this book and the way it plays around the story of romeo and juliet so well that it easily became it’s own monster, but with the punches and embraces of something classically shakespearan. gong does just an absolutely breathtaking job of fitting this fantastical story amid the larger world of shanghai and the real life historical events that had shaken the city to its core. completely immersive and outstandingly heart racing.

17/10 i was chewing on my fingernails for the last thirty pages and will continue to do so until the sequel is released (our violent ends, 16 nov 21)

7. The Antiques by Kris D’Agostino

you ever heard of the american dysfunctional family story? this is most definitely that. at the same time george westfall’s cancer takes a turn for the worse, a hurricane hits the east coast, and suddenly all at once the issues of his health, the hurricane, and all three of his children’s achingly dysfunctional adult lives are crashing into each other. reunited by george’s death, the westfall siblings have to face their grief, each other, and the problems in their own lives they attempted to put on hold while planning their father’s memorial. this is a nice story about grief and loss and love and somehow finding the humor amidst it all.

(this book does include a depiction of an autistic child who does experience several pretty bad meltdowns due to ignorant people around him not understanding how to cater to his needs. im not an authority on what depictions are or are not harmful, but i do believe this depiction is ultimately loving and well-intended.)

7/10 it made me laugh and cry and was generally one of those books that somehow hit you close to home

8. Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill

fierce fairytales is a poetry anthology that reimagines classic fairytales from a modern, feminist viewpoint, acknowledging that the line between hero and villain, monster and damsel, are not as clear cut as the classics try to make you believe. this book also includes illustrations done by the author herself, which i think is really cool. my personal favorite story reimagining was the story of peter pan and captain hook, called ‘boy lost’ which looked at how peter and hook’s relationship began and rotted. all in all, i think this collection of stories had a lot of important things to say and said them in frank, easy to understand poetry and prose.

7/10 beautiful message and pretty prose, but at times a little cliche

and that’s all from the summer! my fall semester starts tomorrow, and overall i feel very good about all the reading i did this summer. i even read four other books not on this list for work! so i definitely feel like i made the most out of my time, and im really glad i was able to read so many stories that made me feel a variety of different things

thanks so much for reading this list, and let me know if you read or have read any of these books and tell me what you think of them!

happy reading<3

[kinncman]

A LIST OF PLOTLESS TOWN RP-FRIENDLY CHARACTER IDEAS & CONNECTIONS INSPIRED BY MOVIES! (PART 1)

click here for part two.

i collected a couple of plot ideas from some of the movies i thought had interesting stories or characters that i hope can help you with your applications / character connections. please note that a lot of these are, by no means, the actual plots of the films and are only inspired by them. i’ve taken the liberty of making a couple of edits for them to be ‘plotless town rp-friendly’. also, i would’ve separated them by category (platonic, romantic, familial, etc.) but tbh a lot of these can be taken in any way so feel free to put your own spin on them, too, or even make combinations!

trigger warnings: nothing too specific, but there are light mentions of death, road accident, infidelity, illness, injury, drug addiction.

now, without further ado:

BAY OF ANGELS  // muse a met muse b on a vacation several years ago, brought together because they were both from the same home country and realized that they were traveling to run away from something. muse a came to learn that this wasn’t muse b’s first rodeo, and where this was the first time that muse a had tried to run away from their problems, muse b had been running for most of their life. muse b initially wished to emulate the same free-spirited, high-risk-high-reward principles that muse a lived by. however, muse b started to display totally erratic behavior that prompted muse a to question whether they were making the right choices. eventually, they went home. jump to present day where they meet again in their home country— muse b has toned down somewhat due to a traumatic event (a hard lesson to learn for them) meanwhile, muse a’s life remains the same cycle of events they can’t seem to break free from.

CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 // muse a suspects they are sick but refuses to go to the doctor to have it checked. most of their days are plagued with this feeling of doom enshrouding them, causing them to have a general distaste for life. they meet muse b who has profoundly positive disposition towards life. their company helps muse a to come to terms with the fact that perhaps their illness is something they should deal with. with muse b’s help, muse a starts to find meaning in death.

HAPPY OLD YEAR // muse a left town / the country for college, leaving behind all their friends and family, cutting all ties in a heartbeat, only to come back several years later a completely changed person who subscribes to the idea of minimalism and wants to get rid of all the clutter in their life, material or otherwise. this brings them to reconnect with muse b (and a variety of other muses if the mun wishes) when they find their old belongings and return them in order to be ‘minimalist’ and get rid of all the garbage in their home, which means getting rid of memories, too. however, muse b, who has now moved on from muse a and is with someone else, isn’t too pleased with having muse a back in their life. muse a is desperate to find the closure that muse b isn’t giving them, primarily because muse b knows that muse a is after starting over on a clean slate only to clear their conscience and not to make amends.

YI-YI: A ONE AND A TWO // muse a and muse b were each other’s first and greatest loves but are currently married to other people. when they are reunited through a chance encounter, they decide that it’s better to have each other in their lives as friends than not at all. they realize they still do have feelings for each other but because of their spouses, know that they can never be anything else other than friends. thus begins a journey of trying to bring their old selves back into the light as new people.

MIKEY AND NICKY // muse a and muse b are best friends since childhood. muse a is neurotic, childish, and wildly impulsive, and often has to depend on muse b to get them out of trouble only to show very little gratitude for it, much to muse b’s chagrin. in fact, muse b often finds themself thrown under the bus in muse a’s favor, though it’s not entirely muse a’s fault: muse b is an enabler. however, muse b can’t quite seem to quit muse a (either because they love the feeling of being needed and there’s no one who needs them more than muse a or maybe they’ve been in love with muse a since childhood— or both) until a certain event causes muse b to question whether they are healthy for each other at all.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE // muse a and muse b are neighbors, both living with their significant others. both muse a and muse b often see each other in the hallways or share an elevator up to their apartment when they come home from work. maybe they even carpool sometimes. however, they spare very little in the way of words until one day, muse a breaks down while drunk and admits that they think their partner is cheating on them. in an attempt to comfort them, muse b reveals that they think the same thing of their own partner. desperate for answers, they conduct an investigation until they realize that their partners are cheating on them with each other. muse a and muse b become each other’s support system, as they try to coach each other through an impending breakup all the while realizing that they might be developing feelings for each other and must now choose between indulging their feelings or deny themselves the hypocrisy.

TAKE THIS WALTZ // muse a meets muse b on a trip out of town and they instantly connect. they share the same flight back home and even a cab ride from the airport. however, they soon realize that muse b is muse a’s new neighbor, which makes things plenty awkward considering how a) they’ve been borderline flirty the whole time and b) muse a is married to someone who they now consider to be far less interesting in comparison to muse b. regardless, once they’ve recognized a mutual attraction with each other, muse a demands for muse b to keep their distance, only to keep running into each other everywhere, much to muse a’s chagrin.

LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE // muse a is witness to a terrible road accident involving a pedestrian. muse a takes the pedestrian and their sibling, muse b to the hospital where muse b’s sibling is declared dead on arrival. despite being total strangers, muse a stays with muse b through the entire process. eventually, muse a takes muse b home but muse a refuses to let muse b leave, claiming they don’t want to be left alone in the house that they previously shared with their now deceased sibling. having money troubles of their own and on the brink of an eviction, muse a ends up staying with muse b not just for the night but for the week until they get comfortable enough with each other that muse b invites muse a to officially live with them to help with their financial problems, but mostly because they don’t know how to handle their grief alone.

THE FALL // muse a is in an outpatient physical rehabilitation facility after suffering from a near-fatal injury when they meet muse b. the pair are polar opposites in terms of their attitudes towards recovery: where muse a is more hopeful, muse b only throws pity parties for themself considering that this injury might prevent them from fully getting back to doing what they love. despite this, the two form an unlikely bond where muse b is completely enthralled with muse a, who tells them stories about their travels and their career and all the amazing things they’ve done, without realizing until they’re in too deep that they are all fabricated versions of the truth and muse b falls for every single one of them. what started as little white lies becomes a source of anxiety for muse a when the lies just get bigger and bigger.

COLUMBUS // muse a is a young, aspiring [insert career here] but to pursue this passion, they must leave their hometown, which they have constantly been refusing to do despite the numerous opportunities having been presented to them on account of the fear that no one else is going to take care of their mother (who, in the movie, is a recovering drug addict but it can be for any reason or relative in this case). muse b’s father is a well-known [insert career that muse a wants here] and is in town to hold a lecture/exhibit/performance/etc etc depending on the career, but then he suffers from a stroke. muse b, despite being estranged from their father for having been scrutinized by the man for most of their life, is forced to come to town and take care of him being their closest living relative. they meet muse a by chance, only to learn shortly after that they are a huge fan of muse b’s parent’s work. having spent their whole life in this town, muse a becomes muse b’s tour guide of sorts, while inadvertently helping each other come to terms with their relationship with their parents and how they can be kinder to themselves.

SECRET SUNSHINE // after their spouse’s passing, muse a moves from the big city to their spouse’s much, much smaller hometown so they can raise their child there. they meet all of the important figures of their spouse’s childhood including muse b, a local shopkeeper and an old friend of their spouse’s, who, despite muse a’s reluctance, helps them adjust to small town life. the pair eventually closer to each other and muse a to their spouse as they find out more about who they were before they met.

THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU // (originally lgbtqia+ and written about older characters with grown children, but make of this plot what u will, tbh) muse a and muse b are best friends. both married, both with grown kids. muse a’s spouse died a long time ago so they’ve had plenty of time to help muse b take care of their spouse in the couple of months leading to that spouse’s death. in the process, the pair have grown intimate (with muse b’s spouse’s knowledge— in fact, they encouraged muse a to ‘take care’ of muse b in the event of their passing and wouldn’t trust anyone else to do so) but haven’t told their families yet in fear of what they might think of them given their age and how they’re basically uncles/aunts to each other’s children.

[tarrenterror25]

Apex Legends Fanbase Imagine

So with the trailer for Season 8 showing an audience at Fuse’s induction into the games, it got me thinking: there must be times when the legends can interact with fans or like maybe they sell merch and the proceeds go toward funding the games, etc. So this is just a fun imagine of how I think the different legends would interact with their fanbase.

~~~~~

Bangalore:

She’s professional about meet and greets, but not in an uptight kind of way. She definitely loves taking photos with the kids. She’s very easy going and is good at making light conversation with her fans. 

Wattson:

Very eager to sign autographs and talk science! Of course many probably bring her some Nessies to sign and she happily obliges. You’ll find her ecstatic to gush about electricity and her and her father’s work. She enjoys giving words of encouragement to her fans.

Bloodhound:

They’re a little bit shy. They don’t mind to sign whatever is brought to them and to take a few photos, but at times they’ll take a break and simply exchange a few words with their fans. Fairly closed off during conversation, but cordial.

Mirage:

Oh, he’s having a great time! His merch table not only has t-shirts, but it’s got prints/photos of him, mini Mirage trophies, etc. He’s very charismatic and fun. Low-key trying to outdo Octane in the fanbase department. Occasionally joins in for vocals in any jam sesh.

Octane:

Very energetic! He’s doing it all! He’s signing the butts and the chests. He’s doing all sorts of crazy poses and getting selfies with his fans. A few probably get matching tattoos like his and he’s over the moon. This is his natural habitat.

Caustic:

Well, his side of town may be a bit quiet as he isn’t one for crowds. He is the type that will sit at the table and sign the merch then take photos from his seat. He also talks about science with anyone else that shows a shared interest.

Wraith:

She does her best to enjoy herself, but she may not always be interested in interactions with the fans. After all, she has other concerns. You’ll catch her blushing a bit though when fans do come  up to her and bring her things. She’s a little awkward and doesn’t always know how to say thank you.

Horizon:

Again, great with the kids and again, loves talking science. She’s happy to sign anything and take photos. When the crowds die down, you can catch a glimpse of melancholy on her face, but other than she’s very cheerful and welcoming.

Crypto:

He’s another one on the stoic side. He doesn’t do photos. Hard no. He’ll sign merch though. He hangs back and isn’t terribly good at conversation with his fans. He and Mirage will exchange jabs when there’s a lull in the crowds.

Gibraltar:

He’s having a great time as well. He’s very friendly with everyone. He’ll sign just about anything and take as many photos as you ask. Catch him playing some tunes while he’s waiting for his next fan to come up and talk to him.

Fuse:

He and Gibraltar have jam sessions when the crowd thins. He loves interacting with the fans who often bring him drinks much to his delight. And he’s quite the flirt, but very playful about it.

Lifeline:

Another one who enjoys the kids. She and Horizon make smalltalk over their drones. She also jams with Gibraltar and Fuse on occasion. Lifeline is very generous and empathetic with her fans.

Loba:

A huge flirt. Major. She likes getting some of her fans flustered, but generally she’s very nice. Her own trauma does not make her a suitable candidate around children. She seems wary of them through her composure. She will glare daggers where Revenant is if fans interact with him. If you visit him and then her, she will have a passive aggressive comment to say.

Pathfinder:

Sweet, boy. He’s just having a good time even if he doesn’t understand all the social cues or jokes. Revenant gives him a hard time about it occasionally and Mirage chimes in to the rescue. He has a zipline set up and is generous enough to take people for a quick ride.

Rampart:

Very laid back and chill. She and her fans talk mods. Caustic will eyeroll at these conversations. Rampart enjoys the meet and greets and uses them as a way to grow her business.

Revenant:

Absolutely no kids. Not after he scared the life out of the first and only one. There’s probably a little sign with a word of caution. Revenant doesn’t entirely understand the concept of the meet and greets and he sort of goes through the motions. He doesn’t do photos. Hard no. If he signs something he just scribbles an R haphazardly onto the surface. He’ll crack morbid jokes here and there.

Valkyrie:

Very laid back and casual about the whole thing. If you’re lucky she’ll give you a quick ride in the sky. Catch her and Loba mildly flirting in between the crowds. 

[butwhatifidothis]

I have thought it would have been a hella better game if Sothis had been the protagonist too! Here’s how I imagine it would be like:

Byleth is the actual reincarnation of Sothis and the child-Sothis we see at the start of the game is actually her subconsciousness. Sothis/Byleth is still the emotionless mercenary with no social skills when the game starts, but she does become more and more emotional and expressive as she begins interacting with specifically Rhea, Flayn and Seteth, her old family. They do form a bond with the lords and the students though (I think the dynamic in AM as a close friend is nice) and most of Byleth’s thoughts are shown through child-Sothis’ commentary.

They can still have the “protagonist being ignorant about Fodlan” thing going on, but with a little twist that it is actually because Sothis keeps confusing the old Fodlan of her era with modern Fodlan and gets blinding headache all the time but actually that is her getting flashbacks. Because of this Jeralt took them away to Morfis (which didn’t exist in her time yet) and they only returned recently after being hired by Rodrigue who had them take care of some bandits in the Kingdom (that is why she has heard of the Tragedy but doesn’t know the details of it).

For example, when she leads the class to the Red Canyon, she mistakenly thinks it is a big, prosperous city that is supposed to be the capital of Fodlan and the lords and Rhea have to explain to her the legend of Zanado. Then she faints and gets a flashback of a beautiful city called Zanado with many humans and dragons living together in peace and unimaginably sophisticated technology located in the exact same valley. She confuses a lot of places with old Fodlan too. To her, Arianrhod is still a small fishing village, Fhirdiad is a food paradise and tourist’s attraction, Goneril is the capital of Agartha, a neighbouring belligerent nation, Enbarr is an ordinary small town where she landed when she first crashed into Fodlan, the Valley of Torment is a fertile valley with a large population focused on agriculture, the Church of Seiros is supposed to be called the Church of Sothis instead and she doesn’t know what the knights are because such concepts did not exist in her time nor Morfis, etc.

Of course, because she often gets so confused by the current Fodlan, the lords and Rhea still have a lot of explaining to do every time they have to travel somewhere like they do in the game. Claude becomes very suspicious of her too.

When she gets attacked by Solon, child-Sothis merges with Sothis, now reincarnated as Byleth, and regains her memories and power as the goddess and from now on her emotions and stuff are back. Then a cutscene showing Sothis’ memory of how and why she came to Fodlan as an alien, how she created the Nabateans and passed her knowledge to the humans in Fodlan, how Fodlan thrived as a nation of Nabateans and humans living together, how Agartha rose as a highly technologically advanced belligerent neighbouring country in the east and how Fodlan and Agartha fought in a war that devastated the entire world so much that she spent centuries healing it until it finally began prospering again and she went to sleep. In her memory we are also shown that the Nabateans all had symbols like the current crests of the 12 Elites and we are misled into thinking those with the crests are the descendants of the Nabateans. The cutscene then ends abruptly when Sothis is jolted from her sleep and the last thing she sees is a wicked man (Nemesis) raising an axe on her and a young girl’s screams that she knows it’s her daughter Seiros.

She is very confused right now because apparently the world she knew is just completely forgotten by the people, and apparently five of her children founded an empire called Adrestia with a human an entire thousand years ago. She knows they can live longer than 1000years and realises they must still be alive now and wants to find them. She also doesn’t know how she died too and is rather panicked that she will be killed again if word gets out she is Sothis. Ah, and she is very curious of the true identities of the 12 Elites as their first names were not recorded and shared the same crests with some of her children. Sothis worries if they were her children who adopted a different surname because that would mean her children fought amongst each other and may be they destroyed each other to the point that Fodlan was in such a ruin that no one remembers the old Fodlan now.

After this cutscene showing the old Fodlan under Sothis’ guidance ends, Byleth who has now remembered her life as Sothis and regained her full power, wakes to Rhea singing a lullaby very popular in old Fodlan so Sothis thinks Rhea may know something about the old Fodlan, but she is paranoid because she thinks there are parts of her memory missing and does not know for sure if Rhea is trustworthy. As a result, she doesn’t immediately tell Rhea she is Sothis and Rhea is not aware that her mother has already come back.

Rhea suggests having Sothis sit on the Holy Throne to jolt her memory and she accepts, hoping to remember what happened to her after the man with the axe showed up. However, before she can sit on the actual throne, Edelgard comes in with her soldiers and battle begins. Then the Imperial army attacks the Monastery before Sothis gets a chance to investigate and talk to Rhea/Seteth/Flayn. Sothis is completely stunned when Rhea turns into a dragon to protect the people because she finally realises Rhea is Seiros all along. She goes back immediately to protect Seiros when she is in danger but gets hit by Thales’ magic energy balls and falls down the cliff. She manages to tell Seiros she is Sothis before falling down the cliff though.

From this point, the route differs into the three non-CF routes.

SS will be a more personal story about Sothis trying to recover her memory and finding out what happened to her family. Sothis will also slowly realise Seteth and Flayn are her family and Macuil and Indech will also join them on this route to help rescue their little sister. Unfortunately, none of them can tell Sothis what exactly happened on the day of the Red Canyon Tragedy because Seiros was the only survivor and the four of them weren’t present in Zanado at the time. They can only tell Sothis that the five of them banded together with Wilhelm, a human and later Seiros’ husband and fought with Nemesis and his 12 Elites who tried to conquer the southern half of the continent and subjugate them to his tyranny. They can confirm the 12 elites were not their siblings and just magically got the crests of their family via unknown means. In the end Sothis rescues her daughter and storms Shambhala. The family are happily reunited and strive to rebuild Fodlan together after Rhea explains what she did to Sothis in her infant state.

VW will be a story about Sothis and Claude learning about what happened to old Fodlan and Agartha. Claude notices that Sothis has been reading up on the founding of the empire/church and the legends about the 12 Elites/saints too. He suggests they team up because he is also doing the same thing. Sothis tells him about the truth of her identity, her missing memory and the old Fodlan she remembers. This clarifies things up for Claude so Claude actually opens up to Sothis and begins trusting her as a friend and the rest follows canon. Rhea will explain what happened in the Tragedy and the fates of their family. Sothis and Claude take down Nemesis to avenge herself and her family. They also learn that Agartha is why Almyra and Fodlan fight all the time.

AM will still focus on Dimitri and the Kingdom but this is how I would frame the story: Sothis thinks the Kingdom nobles descended from the 12 Elites are the descendants of the Nabateans and may know something about her children and what happened to them. Sothis asks Dimitri if he has heard of the Nabateans. Dimitri doesn’t know anything but promises he will help Sothis investigate into this. Everything follows canon until Cornelia’s death, who not only taunts Dimitri about his stepmother but also mocks Byleth that she is assisting the descendants of the 12 elites who slaughtered her entire family 1000 years ago in a war against the descendants of her own children. Sothis in the end comes to term with the possibility that Dimitri’s ancestors might have killed her and her family and continues to support Dimitri as she believes he will make a good king while Edelgard is currently a terrible ruler who has caused the suffering of thousands of people.

CF, on the other hand, will be a much darker story. After Sothis wakes up to Rhea singing to her, she gets to choose between “ask Rhea” and “ask Edelgard” about the saints and the elites. If “ask Edelgard” is chosen, Edelgard will ask why and you can choose “tell Edelgard the truth”. She will lie and convince Sothis into helping her by telling her that Seiros and the four faints did a major cover-up and they were the ones who killed sothis and turned their blades against the rest of their siblings for power. The man Sothis saw in her memory was a bandit hired by the five saints to kill sothis and the other children, known as the 12 elites now, banded together to resist Seiros around a heroic mortal that is Nemesis. When they lost, Seiros hunted down the 12 elites, crafted weapons from their bones and gave their blood to her own allies. The church then lied to the people again that the 12 elites were helping her because one of the five saints didn’t want people to remember their siblings as villains forever. Her own ancestor wilhelm helped Seiros in her unjust war for power and she intends to make things right now and asks if Sothis wants to be a part of that. If Sothis refuses her offer and expresses her scepticism of Edelgard’s claims, the game will immediately end because Edelgard will kill her.

If chooses “yes” then you enter the CF route. Edelgard tells Sothis she intends to declare war on the church to take down Rhea and take back the lands occupied by the evil descendants of the people who slaughtered Sothis’ children, aka Faerghus and Leicester. Edelgard, however, tells Sothis she intends to capture Rhea so Sothis will be able to ask Rhea the same questions to prove her claim. They do not return to the Monastery for the Holy Throne ritual and the coronation scene and war declaration scene play instead. When Sothis returns to the Monastery, she is with the Imperial army intended to conquer the Monastery. Sothis confronts an infuriated Rhea, who is extremely mad about her betrayal, and asks why Rhea/Seiros sent the assassin on her and killed her siblings. Seiros quickly realises Byleth/Sothis is in fact the reincarnation of her mother, but Edelgard notices that and has Thales attack Sothis from behind to prevent Seiros from telling Sothis the truth and swaying her to their side. Sothis falls off the cliff and Seiros tries to kill Edelgard for turning her mother against her and killing her again before she retreats to the Kingdom.

Five years later, Sothis wakes up and rejoins Edelgard’s army only to find out the Empire is on the brink of collapse against the combined might of the Kingdom-Church-Alliance with only Garreg Mach, Gronder, Fort Merceus and Enbarr left in their control. Not all of the Black Eagle students are fighting on their side either - Ferdinand, Dorothea, Petra and Caspar have abandoned the Empire and are fighting for the Kingdom-Church-Alliance army while Linhardt and Bernadetta simply refused to join the war. Instead, Ladislava, Fleche, Randolph, Count Bergliez, Arundel and Jeritza have become your new units.

Sothis continues to help Edelgard in the war and they quickly reclaim the territories lost to the allied powers. As they continue to push forward, Sothis encounters Seteth and the other three saints too (Indech and Macuil joined Rhea after learning of what Edelgard did to Sothis) on the battlefield. They will try to tell Sothis the truth and you have an option between “question Edelgard’s claims and spare them” and “believe in Edelgard’s words and kill them”. If the former is chosen, the game will end immediately as Edelgard will backstab Sothis instantly if she knows Sothis has turned against her. The rest follows canon, but Seiros will try to tell Sothis the truth again on Tailtean. Sothis will be killed if she believes Seiros instead of Edelgard here too. Heartbroken and traumatised by the fact that her mother has killed all of her only remaining family members and has already tried to kill her twice and is about to come and kill her again, Seiros transforms into a dragon in Fhirdiad and sets the city to fire once the citizens have been evacuated, hoping to bring down all of her enemies including her mother with the fire in order to avenge her friends and family.

In the end, Sothis kills Seiros as canon but loses her power and immortality as a goddess because it was Seiros’ magic that kept the creststone alive, and without the protection magic on the stone it would just be an ordinary stone and couldn’t function as a heart. Sothis almost dies without a working heart but the Agarthans save her by a heart replacement surgery on her using Seiros’ heart on the condition that she will give them the Crest of Flames creststone and the sword and share her blood with them regularly. Everything else continues as canon and the route can end with a realistic dark ending (everything crashes and burns) or a fake happy ending (the one in the game).

YOOOO dude this is great! Byleth as a character is so uninteresting, at least to me, because the only actually interesting thing about them is something that was done to them, not something they did. Byleth was born without a heart and was given the heart of a long-dead Goddess to let them live - neat! Intriguing! But nothing else catches your eye like that about them. They live on as a mercenary who apparently only wanted to ever ask questions about anything ever at all once they get to the monastery. The biggest thing they’ve done is make a name for themselves for how well they fight in battle. 

Now, we pivot the idea of Sothis being the protagonist, that’s where things start getting interesting. She fell from the stars and created new life? She helped humans prosper in knowledge only to have that knowledge be used for evil? She healed all of Fodlan from the devastation caused by the war humans enacted and fell into a sleep because of it? Those are all things she does that are worth getting to know more about. Her being murdered during her rest by another greedy human and was reduced to nothing but a dormant consciousness for a thousand years being coupled with the “being given the heart of a long-dead Goddess” being what was done to her isn’t the only interesting thing about them anymore. That’s all stuff that offers so much to the player to want to delve into, especially with a character who is gradually more and more vocal about their want to learn about themselves, with thoughts and feelings about what happened to them, what happened to their family, what they did in the past they can’t remember. 

I especially like all the ways you can just get a game over in CF - in a way that reminds me of that one mission in Sacred Stones where if you beat the boss you get an insta-game over since he was your only way to progress the story lmao, except this is turnt up to 11, and instead of punishing you for being a dingus and fucking up the plot, in a way it’s trying to save you from becoming a kin-killing pawn to a tyrant.

About the only thing I might have a bit of a ehhh with is Agartha being why Almyra and Fodlan feud, just because I find them feuding due to themselves and not a third party to be more interesting to me (personally! That’s just for me lol, it’s not an inherently bad notion!), but thanks you so much for sending this!! 

[sadachmesarthim]

yes this is a rewrite, feel free to fry my ass on anon about it.

content: starker being mean to each other, peter parker has Supportive Friends™, tony has daddy and mommy issues, quentin beck is a Mean Boss™, smoking, secondhand smoke.

word count: 3.0k

square filled: coffee shop au  -> link to playlist here

part two is here!

a little vocab lesson before continuing: mobster = really high up in the chain of command for this group of coffee shops. they go around training new hirees, and often decide who gets to move up the line of command. they get to travel on company money, and are very well respected in the workplace. mobsters usually come in groups - siblings, hires from the same groups, etc. 

Tony didn't like Richland.

Sure, okay, it was a serious step up from Federal Way. He was free from his parents, he could do whatever he wanted in a house all to himself, no one knew who he was - it was a refreshing change, one he definitely needed now that he was graduated, all grown up.

He'd moved back east about two months ago. He'd wanted to get as far away from home as possible, stretch his legs - he went under the guise of missing his grandma, wanting to go to school. He wasn't a terrible liar, either. Howard and Maria'd eaten it up, encouraging him to go as soon as he could.

"If you go now, you could get there in time for summer classes. Maybe even get a job before they stop hiring seasonally. You never know, but you might as well try!"

So here he was. Still jobless, still not yet enrolled in school. Enjoying his time in the (now autumn) sunshine, biding his time before he ran out of money. He'd planned well - he had enough cash to keep him covered for a while, as long as he didn't go blowing it.

He'd blown it.

He was a sucker for good coffee, though, and he missed Outback. He'd worked at one back home for almost a year before he left, and now... now, it was like an itch he couldn't scratch - he needed the interaction, needed to go make friends. He was too much of a social butterfly.

Yet again, he found himself in his truck, on the way to the nearest stand. He was pathetic, really. Here he was, wasting more money on coffee, when he could be out hiking or climbing or... literally doing anything else.

He knew it was worth it the second he pulled in. The cutest kid was running lines that day - shorts hugging his tight ass deliciously, in a way Tony knew his operator would get in trouble for if a Mobster or Coach saw.  Christ, they lettin' just anyone work here now, that it?

He had to keep his thoughts to himself, though - the kid had just finished the cars in front of him, and was headed straight for Tony, iPad in hand. He took a breath, putting on his best poker face. He needed a fucking cigarette.

"Hey handsome! Welcome to Outback, what're we drinkin' today?" Shit, he's cute. All bright and cheery - it might be fake, sure, customer service voice and all - but boy, did he play the part well. All big eyes and wide smile. He looked up at Tony expectantly, right hand hovering over the screen of the runner iPad. Shit, he still has to order something.

"Hi, just a small iced white vanilla breve please." Tony watched as the kid pressed a few spaces on the tablet, shocked at how fluidly he moved. Tony'd never seen him at this location before, but he obviously knew what he was doing. Location transfer, maybe? Mobster? He wasn't sure.

"Perfect! I've got you in - anything else, love?" God, he was too much. There's no way this was just the sickly facade Outback enforced - no, this was all him. "Nah, I'm okay. I'm paying card today, too." He reached his hand out for the tablet, wanting to tip this kid specifically.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, this card reader's broken. The one up at the window's working though! My girl Maia'll be up there waiting for you!" He turned with a smile, skipping off to the next car.

Jesus, who was this kid? And what did Tony have to do to see him again?

•|||•

Return an application, apparently.

Maia, the girl at the window, had let him know that they were hiring. He didn't have to feign interest - he had relevant experience, could work his way up if he needed to - and he'd get to see the mystery boy again. She'd ran and grabbed a small stack of papers for him, which he dutifully filled out and brought back a couple of hours later.

The closing shift lead had briefly interviewed him, practically giving him the job on the spot. Apparently she'd met his sister on a Mob trip, before - it paid to have connections, but damn... someone in town already knew who he was. Oh well. Not a big deal. These were still new people, fresh faces - he could make a clean reputation for himself, a fresh start...

It was exactly what he needed. And if he needed to use a bit of his influence with his sister to get it... so be it.

•|||•

"Emma, please, just... don't be a dick when he calls you. I need this job, it'll be good for m-"

"Save it, Tony. I don't want your excuses. If I say I'll do it, will you leave me alone?" She was being unusually short with him. Fuck. She and Rhodey were fighting again.

"Yes, yes, anything. Thank you so much." He was met with a bored sigh.

"Whatever, dude. I'll put in a good word. Talk to you later." She hung up before he could say anything else. Whatever - it wasn't the worst conversation he'd had with his sister, but it left a lot to be desired.

They hadn't been doing well since she & Rhodey got together. It was on-again-off-again... and they were honestly both to blame. Neither one of them was good at commitment, and it showed.

It put strain on both of their relationships with Tony, and didn't do much to help keep him in Federal Way. He sought comfort in the isolation of a new town, but it didn't seem to be helping anything.

Leaving never did, but it was really all he knew how to do.

•|||•

Peter hadn’t been at Outback long, but he’d enjoyed every minute of it.

He’d gotten hired almost immediately after graduation, not wanting to waste a second of his summer not making money. It was a bit of a difficult transition - he wasn’t a big fan of Beck, his boss, and training was really overwhelming. But after he’d hit that twelve week mark... it’s like something just clicked.

He was a whiz on bar, he was making friends right and left. He and Maia’d even gone to get tattoos together a couple weeks ago during a flash sale. He was getting faster and faster at running cars, he knew almost all of his regular customers. He genuinely felt like part of the family.

That didn’t really change when Beck hired a new group, either. There weren’t too many of them, helping keep their group small. They’d been spending a bit of time in the stand here and there, going over the rules, the ins and outs of making coffee, taking their menu test.

The three he was introducing today seemed okay enough. He just barely caught the tail end of Beck's “congrats on becoming a full employee” monologue before the man set the fresh meat loose. Not that they could really go far - it was maybe a good spit's distance from corner to corner. But, if it helped them get their bearings...

He was pulled from his thoughts before they could take off too far. “Hey, Parker! Come say hi to the green beans!”

•|||•

The red haired girl was nice enough. They'd introduced themselves, exchanged snap usernames, gushed over Peter's tattoos, and bonded over the typical new job anxiety. He'd forged a sweet new friendship with Bri, and was hopeful she'd stick around. He'd seen people like her get chewed up and spit out in this industry, and he liked her.

The tall guy... was pretty boring, actually. He stayed on his phone for the majority of the introduction, opting to ignore Peter entirely. It was fine - he'd probably be gone by the end of the month. Not like they’d miss him - he barely passed his menu test, from what Peter’d overheard.

Then came Mr. Short, Dark, and Brooding - Tony, apparently - Peter remembered him from a few weeks ago. He’d given Peter a poorly concealed once-over, tried to take the runner iPad from right out of his hands... if he wasn’t so attractive, Peter’d pin him for a fuckboy.

Despite how much he looked like he’d wanted to back then, when given the opportunity, he didn’t really engage with Peter. He apparently wasn’t the type to keep eye contact, go in for a hug, make small talk. 0 for 2. Disappointing. Oh well. That’s fine - Peter was perfectly content as the only guy at this location (sans Beck, of couse). Too much testosterone didn’t foster a healthy working environment, and they all knew it.

The girls, especially. They all gushed over Peter - apparently being the token gay guy in the stand somehow made him exempt from the targetted harassment. Nearly every guy they’d hired had left within 9 months - coffee was definitely a female-dominated field.

Peter was excited to see how these two fared.

•|||•

The tall guy was gone within a week. Didn’t even leave notice, just up and stopped showing up to his shifts. Not that it was the end of the world - he was still in his probationary period, so he wasn’t even making tips. No sweat off Peter’s back.

Bri did really well, in comparison. Beck was unusually strict with her - lashing out during her initial first shifts, generally being a hardass. It was unnecessary, and everyone knew it - Peter often found himself having fridge or bathroom meetings with her to help calm her down. But she kept showing up, kept trying, and after a few weeks she was doing just as well as Peter and the rest of them.

Tony was even better. Peter’d heard through the grapevine that he’d worked at a different location when he was still in school. Why he had to go through training again was lost on Peter - Beck tended to be thorough when it came to these kinds of things, but Tony was arguably more experienced than some of Peter’s coworkers...

Apparently, it’s because he wasn’t one to play nice.

•|||•

It took them quite a while to work together. Peter’d found himself getting the shit end of the schedule, working 7-1s religiously. It was by far his least favorite shift - dealing with the morning and lunch rushes were nothing, if not exhausting. But he pushed through, and finally got a say in what he worked - a very comfortable 5 - close.

Tony seemed to fill the between-shift gap - 2-8 was his jam. He liked working later, but still getting home before dark. Apparently being a newbie meant drawing the short straw sometimes -

And the short straw just so happened to be barring with the twink from a few weeks ago.

He hadn’t been... avoiding him. Tony just... didn’t like the way he worked. Peter was flighty, always moving. It irked him... he was just so much, it made Tony’s head hurt. If he wasn’t so engaging he might actually piss Tony off - but he knew the kid had nothing but good intentions, and that made it bearable.

It didn’t translate to the bar, though.

It seemed nearly impossible for them to work well together. Tony’d been assigned the milk station for the last three hours of his shift - a long stretch, but nothing he hadn’t done before. Peter was on shots almost the entire time. Poor kid.

Tony’s sympathy ran dry when they actually began working. They were almost always on top of each other - Peter crowding his space and trying to do too much. It grated on Tony’s every nerve, made it difficult to function. Peter didn’t seem to notice at all - or if he did, he didn’t care.

It came to a head when Peter went for the fridge. 

It was a pretty well-known rule that the person on shots doesn’t reach for the fridge. Not only was it too far away from their position on machine, it requires them to go behind their bar partner, which is dangerous in a shop this small. Hot liquids, ice, sugar... they can cause spills, burns, falls... 

So of course this dumbass goes for the fridge. Opens the door. Grabs a can of cold brew with his bare hands before turning back around. 

And running into Tony face first. 

This would have been fine if it were literally anything other than a cold brew. This would have been fine if Tony wasn’t holding a fresh drink! But no - the universe lined things up just right, laid out the most well-planned disaster. 

As they made contact, Peter’s hands flew up in shock, dropping the very pressurized can. It exploded as it hit the concrete, spraying nitrogen and foam-y coffee all over them. This caused Tony to let go of the drink in his hand, coating both of their lower halves in hot, sticky milk. 

It was picturesque, the mess they made. 

Tony looked up at Peter in absolute shock. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?! Why were you in the fridge?!” 

“I was just trying to help! You were busy, I figured I could-” Tony cut him off before he filled the stand with more hot air. Not in the mood for his bullshit excuses. 

“I don’t care how busy you think I am - you ask before doing something outside of your station. Do you understand me?” The look in his eye was one Peter’d never seen before - it probably should have scared him, but frankly, it just made him angrier. 

“Who do you think you are to be giving me orders?” He was huffy, he could feel his cheeks burning red. He was an angry crier, and knew he was struggling to control his face. 

“My sister’s a Mobster. I think I know what I’m doing.” Oh. That explained it - his experience, his proficiency on bar... why he was such a dick. Peter’d never met a Mobster he liked, and if this guy was related to one... shit just made sense. 

•|||•

He spent the remaining few hours of Tony’s shift hiding in the back. They were better off separated, and neither complained. Tony could handle himself up front, and Peter was productive enough. He had chores to do, dishes to finish, the closing list to start... Getting an early start benefitted everyone. 

By the time 8 rolled around, the atmosphere in the stand had relaxed. They’d both had a chance to clean up, the girls on window had helped ease the tension with casual conversation. Bri had been running, and Peter spent plenty of time in the back with her, hushed enough to avoid the ears a few feet away. 

“I don’t see why he gets to walk all over us. You’ve been here longer, and the attitude isn’t necessary.” She was sitting on the edge of the sink, goldfish making their way to her mouth between words. “You know I don’t like him. I don’t see why you keep trying to be nice.”

Peter sighed. He knew she was right. “I just... I don’t want anyone here to feel left out, or like I did at the beginning. Beck can be mean... I want all of you to feel welcome.” It wasn’t a lie, either - he’d made a point to make everyone feel at home, to make this stand a family. Until Tony showed up, he’d been doing a great job. 

“I know buttercup. Just... don’t go bending over backward for someone that won’t even look you in the eye.” With that she hopped down, ready to clock out. 

Tony shuffled past them both, excited to do the same. Maia’d taken over the bar for him, alleviating him just before the four minute window was up. He didn’t even excuse himself, just inserting himself in their personal space without concern. 

Bri shot Peter a look before she left. Talk to him! 

He opted for bravery. He deserved an apology for Tony’s harsh words earlier today, and he was going to get it. 

He checked the cameras before walking back, making sure Maia wasn’t gonna wind up swamped if this took longer than necessary. Tony was collecting his things - he had to do this fast. 

“Hey, listen.” Tony looked up, unamused. “I know we didn’t exactly have a good shift, and yeah I’m partly to blame for that... but Beck doesn’t really vibe with hostility, and the girls...” 

Tony cut him off halfway through. “What, it makes them uncomfortable? They don’t like it when a man takes charge, has a little outburst? Sheesh, y’all really are a mess.” What the fuck?

“Okay, seriously. I tried to be nice. You owe me, and the rest of us, a serious apology for today, or I’m going to Quentin about it. It’s not that hard to say you’re sorry, Tony.” Good job Parker, firm boundaries. 

“I’m sorry? Sorry for what, doing my job? Fuck that, man. I’m out of here.” He opened the door and left, skipping past an oncoming car and heading toward his own. 

Peter followed him. It was stupid, sure - but he needed to assert himself here. This was his stand, his home - and he was damned if he was going to let some... some asshole trample all over his home like this.

He caught up to Tony quickly, stopping him before he could open the driver’s door. “Why are you such an asshole? The girls are obsessed with you, you clearly have a leg up against everyone else in your group. There’s no reason for you to be acting like this, dude. You’ve been here all of what, a month?” 

Tony took a long drag from his cigarette before answering. “I don’t have to explain myself to you. Now be a good little closer, and run inside. Finish your shift.” He exhaled the smoke into Peter’s face, getting into his car and driving away without another word. 

What a douchebag.