#sometimes it's fun. sometimes i feel like thinking what each char would take on their pizza that doesn't exist.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Mentally putting Eilis on every OC interaction tag.

"They wouldn't."

[kmenkea]

Bloodlust - Part 4 "A night of passion"

Summary: For the first time in days, Astarion and Leeith have an evening free from any burden; an evening they'll spend in each other's cold embrace, laying on a pretty clearing in the forest.

Content: NSFW chapter. (finally) pretty tame sex and a bit of orgasm denial/teasing (the real kinky stuff will come later, dw, I just think their relationship needs to develop more for that). Blood sucking because, you know, hot.

Please comment and tell me what you think or if you have any critiques.

Word Count: 5.5k

Read on AO3

Leeith was in charge of cooking that evening at camp. A few pans were in front of her, frying fresh water fish with a side of mushrooms and carrots. A few times already, someone had jokingly asked if poison was her people's special spice or if she could serve antidotes instead of wine and beer. She really wanted to throw some broken glass in the dinner, since that could kill everyone without it being technically poison, but she still needed her companions. No mass killings today, unfortunately. 

Besides, she wanted to enjoy eating the food she prepared: in the underdark she only had two choices, either go to a tavern where no one had ever heard of her - pretty hard since she led a group of criminals - or learn how to cook. Any other food was probably laced with poisons and it was better to starve and be safe. 

After sunset, everyone got round the campfire for dinner. They inspected their dishes and smelt them conspicuously, except for Karlach and Lae’zel, who ate without a fuss. The drow kept smiling at her companions, explaining the properties of different poisonous mushrooms they had in the underdark, but a certain sense of resentment and loneliness flared up her bile, turning into anger. Sure, she did play into the stereotypes of her people sometimes, especially against her enemies, but not once she had laid a finger against her party, except for Gale, who really only got threatened. If this was going to last much longer, filling up the food of whoever crossed her with poison would be the least she was going to do. 

She glanced at each and everyone of her companions, studying them as they drank and laughed. Few had done nothing to cross her, but it was probably just a matter of time before they too, would betray her trust in some way. It was better to be ready to act and free herself of dead weight before they’d try to cut her in half or make her head explode… or place a dagger in her throat. Astarion was staring at her from behind the fire with a knowing smirk. He wasn’t eating for obvious reasons, but still partook in conversation. 

He wasn’t trustworthy either. His personality would have fit well in the underdark, so sly and agile, the perfect backstabber. Leeith smiled back at him. He was fun though, so he would get a pass for the time being. 

The first to leave the gathering was Lae’zel, who wanted to be ready for the morning, then Shadowheart, after finishing a last cup of wine. Gale, Wyll and at last Karlach went away to take care of things in their tents. Leeith remained in front of the fire pit, readying her small alchemy set. Along with her was the vampire, who was lost with his eyes pointed up, stargazing. For a while, she ignored him, getting ingredients ready in different little pots, glancing between the notes and a small scale to weigh the right amount of herbs and oils. Only when everything was put over coals to heat up gently, did she sit beside the vampire. He noticed her presence getting closer and twisted his head to look at her. There wasn't an expression on his face, neither happiness nor rage. 

"How are you feeling, Astarion?" She crossed her legs, showing him a gentle smile. 

"I'm brooding. Nights like this are made for reliving the best moments of your life." If he was sad or genuine, she couldn't tell. 

"Don't you get enough of that in your trance?" She giggled a bit to ease the atmosphere.

"You see, my memories are not what you could call… charming, darling. But they are quite striking." He didn't seem to pay much mind to what he said, waving his hands in the air like a drama actor. Leeith shrugged: telling him to just remember other things while trancing probably wasn't the greatest advice she could give, so she was left with the next best solution after ignoring the problem.

"Want to get drunk again tonight? Properly this time. And then you can try to beat me at a knife throwing competition." She made the knife spin in the air, the blade still stained in green from some alchemy ingredient. Before she could catch it again, Astarion snatched it by the blade, pointing its handle towards her. 

"I had something better in mind." He sat up to get closer to her. His voice was lower both in tone and volume.

"And what might that be?" She returned a coy little grin, leaning towards him. 

"It's a quiet evening for once. Perfect for two people who want to take some time for themselves, if you catch my meaning." He caressed her jaw with just one finger, lingering for a few seconds on the soft flesh connecting her head and neck. "And I do mean sex, to be clear. We've been waiting long enough." He laughed, letting go of her. Leeith smirked: if it was up to her, she would have already jumped, pin him to the ground and taken her pleasures. A glance around the camp changed her mind.

"Alright, but where will we go?" She held his hand, feeling his cold skin under her thumb.

"Let's find our own little place of nowhere. Somewhere we can lose ourselves and forget all this madness." He motioned at the camp and their heads, trapping her gaze in his. The vampire reached for her shoulder, pulling her closer as if to share a secret. His lips barely grazed on her ear. "There's a secluded place nearby that should do nicely. Wait until the others are asleep, then come find me there."

"I'll see you there." She purred in his ear, tightening her grasp on his hand.

"Indeed you will, my love. I can't wait." They let go of one another, and after one last glance, they both went in different directions. Leeith returned to brew her potions, biting her lips in anticipation and daydreaming about the night to come. 

One by one, candles and torches were snuffed out, plunging the little camp they had in darkness; all shades of grey and black for the drow, but all perfectly visible up to the edges of the hill. Even her campfire had mostly died down, but she didn't care to fix it since she would be going away shortly. The drow was thinking of what they would be doing together, but had very little knowledge of what the vampire actually liked or wanted, except her blood. Even though she had many partners in her life, she was never good at reading what they wanted or preferred. Long term relationships were better for that, but those came with a long list of other problems, ones much harder to deal with. 

Even whilst laying down, she saw Astarion quietly sneak away, in a flash of white. A burst of energy ran down her spine, telling her to jump up and follow him… but it would have been funnier to let him wait, get a bit desperate and arrive just as he realised this might have all been a fluke. And so she waited, getting herself ready for him, fixing her eye liner in the mirror he used, wearing delicate jewellery and a light perfume. If she wasn't camping out in the forest, she would have worn her best underwear, something lacey and silky. The softest thing she had here was her bare skin. 

After making sure everyone was truly asleep, she went for the forest, throwing a long cloak over her shoulders. She didn't really know where this place was, but it couldn't have been too far. The drow paid close attention to any nook and cranny for a silver flash or anything alerting her of the vampire's presence, but even with that knowledge, she was surprised when he appeared right in front of her, wearing only a smile and his trousers. His slim body stood out from the darkness of the trees, almost shining as bright as the moon. He opened his arms, getting closer.

Leeith took a deep breath, letting go of all her worries and grievances for tonight. She wasn't going to let anything spoil her fun: only the gods knew when another moment of respite was going to come and she didn't want to ruin what could have very well been her last one. She bit her lip, feeling a certain tingling sensation build up in her lower abdomen. 

"There you are, I've been waiting. Waiting since the moment I set eyes on you." With each word he took one small step closer, filling her vision with his presence. "Waiting to have you." He smelled of citrus and rosemary cologne.

"Mhh, you don't have me yet." She smirked, taking one small step backwards. His words were so inviting for the occasion: picture perfect, as if he knew exactly what everyone wanted to hear. He was going to need a bit more effort than that. 

"Don't I? You're here. And, I don't think you want to talk." He lifted his eyebrow in a knowing gaze. "I think you want to be known, to be tasted." His voice turned low and silky, while a hand reached up for her chin, raising it to have a better look. 

"And what do you want?" She reached up to intertwine their fingers, feeling the skin of his hand, every little scar and wrinkle. It was cold like the night, but as soft as autumn air.

"What does everyone want? Pleasure. Yours. Mine. Our collective ecstasy." In a rush, he grabbed both of her hands, placing a kiss on each of them, and then on the wrist, running his lips upwards the inner part of the forearm. Leeith was pleasantly surprised by all this fanfare: she was expecting a much more… detached approach to the night: lay on the ground, have fun for some time and be on their way. She wasn't expecting the vampire to still court her.

"Isn't that what you want? To lose yourself in me?" He tensed up as if he was afraid of something, maybe being rejected again, thought the drow. Leeith rolled her eyes at all this cloying sweetness and, with a smirk, unclasped the pin holding her cape. The woollen cloth fell at her feet with a soft thud, revealing her naked body, covered only in a few golden chains. 

The vampire raised an eyebrow, looking at her from head to toe and back: he was surprised, but certainly content with how things were going. Without another moment lost to talk, he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. Leeith shivered when their naked chests met: she expected heat, what any partner had offered her, but this was closer to hugging a soft marble column. Not that it mattered now, as she crossed her arms above his shoulders, pulling him down towards her. 

His lips were soft and the drow could feel his fangs pressing on her. She grabbed his face, pushing herself closer, so that he'd open his mouth. The taste of his tongue, of his teeth, it was so metallic, like iron and copper. She liked it, and went ahead to twist their tongues together. 

The vampire wasn't going to stand there and take it passively. His hands ran down to her hips, feeling the curve of her bottom, his fingers sank into the soft flesh of her thighs and then swiftly he lifted her high. The drow gasped when she suddenly lost the ground from below her feet, looking down with a smile. The elf pushed her against a tree; The bark was rough against her back, but she had worse in the past; a few scratches weren’t going to intimidate her. 

Astarion kissed her again, but it was just a small peck, enough to have all of the attention back to him. “I’ve got more cards up my sleeve.” He caught her gaze and went for her mouth, clinging to her warm body, pushing himself ever closer. Leeith locked her legs tighter, not because she was afraid to slip, but to feel all of him. His hard muscles, tensed from lifting her, the little scars all over his back, from ancient battles or… something worse probably. No reason to think about that now and bring down the mood. 

No, what she was concentrating on was much more appealing, firing her mind with images and possibilities. With her legs so tight around his hips, she could feel his hard length pressing on her core. It must have been painful to have it so constricted, but it was even more painful for her to feel it rub against her clit, sparking a faint pleasure that inflamed her, rising so slowly it almost annoyed her. She was greedy and already wanted a lot more than just some kisses and his hands groping her ass. 

She planted both her feet on the tree behind her and pushed them. Astarion lost his balance, stumbled back a few steps, and fell down on the cold grass. The drow lunged on top of him like a feral beast, placing her hands at either side of his head. Her short hair cascaded in front of her face, wild like the look on her eyes. She grinned and bit her lip, admiring Astarion below her. His curls were a bit less perfect and his face had a tinge of shock. It disappeared in an instant, as he grabbed her hips and forced her to sit down on him. She tasted iron and copper again, as they both claimed each other’s mouth. 

And then the vampire raised his hips, rubbing his length on her and earning a small moan. Leeith felt so turned on: she didn’t know if it was the fact she hadn’t fucked in so long or if she just wanted him that much, but she was sure her pussy had started to throb and claim more. She sat up, panting and licking her lips. If it was any normal man, the drow would have already tied his hands up, slashed his trousers and pants and taken her pleasures. Any male drow would have been more than fine with that and she wouldn’t care about a surface dweller, but the vampire was another problem: whips and ropes or any other fun tool were probably out of the picture. She took one deep breath to calm herself, then grabbed his right hand, gently raising it up. 

“Is there anything you don’t like, Astarion? What is it that you don’t want me to do?” Her thumb again went to feel his skin, slowing the pace of their act. 

“Darling, if I’m bedding a drow it is because I want it wild and risky. Where’s all the energy from earlier, mh?” He tightened his grip on her hips and tried to push her to the side, but she stood her ground and smiled gently. Leeith broke eye contact to look at her finger following the wrinkles of his palm, caressing them gently. 

“I don’t want you to pull out any dagger or weapon - except the ones in your pants and mouth, to be clear - nor cast any spells without asking.” She locked her eyes on his again. His expression had mellowed out, from a cocky and pompous one, to serious and huffed. “Show a blade anywhere near the vicinity of me, and I’ll be the one to blast your body against a tree.” He took a few seconds to answer, his hand following the line of her thigh down to the ground. 

“I- I don’t want you to pose as my mistress or owner.” There was pain in his voice, but an instant later his defences were up again and all the sorrow was hidden behind a snarky smirk. “Like asking a fish not to swim, I know. Woe is you, little drow.” He chuckled and, this time with more force, managed to get back up on top of her. Leeith laughed, letting him take control. 

Astarion was gently following the curves of her body, avoiding the many little scars that punctuated it. His soft touch made her shiver when he reached the waist, yet his fingers kept creeping downwards, past her navel, threatening to give her pleasure at any moment. She needed that, but she wanted something else before, something that could make the whole night a lot more magical.

The drow raised his head by the chin, and with just a smile, freed her neck from any hair, exposing the puncture scars. 

“Why don’t you take something? A little boost of energy for the night.” He stopped dead in his tracks, travelling back up with both his eyes and head, up to her face. He pressed his cock back between her legs, making her just imagine what would await. Without a second thought, Leeith crossed her limbs behind his back, pulling him even closer to grind on him. The faint pleasure made her pussy drool and protest, growing more and more uncomfortable. 

“You’re such a delectable little pet.” He huffed, ravaging her neck with kisses and tiny little bites. Astarion lifted her head up to give himself more space and, an instant later, the bite arrived, along the mind twirling, ravishing pain that came with it. The drow loudly moaned, arching her back as her blood flew in his mouth. She grasped at his locks and shoulders, needing something to keep her stable while he sucked on her skin. 

God it felt so good! The blood turned him on fire, it seemed like it would give him the energy to do all that he wanted the whole night. He felt his trousers grow way too tight and uncomfortable, so much so that, while still attached to her neck like a tick, he had to kick them off. Their souls were meeting and just as he grew more and more excited, she followed, no doubt feeding on each other's desire. The vampire’s hand cupped one of her breasts, twisting and squeezing her nipple harshly. She whined and moaned, sinking her nails in his back and raising her hips, rubbing her wetness on his now uncovered boner, almost able to catch the tip, slide it deep inside them and finally free them. She already wanted to give in, to pierce her wet cunt and fill her with his cum by the end.

He never had a woman be that needy below him: desperately clinging to him for any amount of pleasure, wetting his cock so much, without it even being inside, and above all, pushing his head on her neck to suck more. For a moment it felt… nice. But it was fleeting. 

The connection broke and her body went limp, tired. Dizziness overtook him and he knew he had his fill. It was the time to respect his part of the deal. 

His tongue ran up on her neck, still bloodied and red, trying to clean as much as possible. Leeith was more than burning. She needed to get her legs spread and cunt filled instantly. She cupped his cheeks, not caring about the blood running down her shoulders and breasts, and forced their lips together. She had to agree, as their tongues danced together, fresh blood was delicious, but like a savoury broth, not honeyed wine. 

His hands were running everywhere on her, sometimes caressing her, giving her shivers, others clenching and twisting, holding her down by the waist or pinching her thighs and ass. His tongue trailed down from her lips back to her neck, following the droplets of blood past her collarbones and on her breasts. The drow bit her lips as he started to play with her nipples, twisting it around his tongue and suckling the blood that had run off. She stared at him half lidded, running her nails on his back, feeling his bumps and scars. Her hands went down to his crotch, feeling the lower part of his abdomen with her thumbs. She tried to get closer to his manhood, but the vampire stopped her, pinning her wrist to the ground. 

“Just relax and let me take over, darling.” He whispered in between kisses and soft bites. “My debts are way overdue.” 

Astarion’s fingers began caressing her inner thighs, up and down, each time getting closer to her core. They traced the outside of her lips, making Leeith squirm and moan in anticipation. But every time he’d get near, he would remain just shy of her clit, instead biting harder on her nipple, so that she’d feel his fangs leaning on her flesh. 

“Stop- teasing me, elf.” She said, annoyed at how long it was taking to get to the main course. The elf lifted his head and stared at her smirking. At once, his fingers went deep, down to the knuckle, and then out, swiping upwards and flicking her clit on the way. She yelped in surprise, melting under his touch. All the displeasure though returned, when he stared at his shining fingers against the moonlight. 

“But I enjoy teasing so much. How else would I be able to get you this wet?” He kissed her jaw, then started whispering. “Gods, how can you be so aroused? Is it all because of me, mh, pet?” He fingered her again, this time taking his time to explore all of her folds, putting only the softest of pressures. Her pussy was so slick, as he went up and down it, circling her clit, then inserting just the tip of his fingers, enough to coat the rest of her in juices. Leeith tried to ease her muscles, to relax and drown in the pleasure. She shut her eyes, concentrating on his motions. With every circle he went just a bit deeper, a bit faster, until one of his slender fingers was deep in her, touching the sensitive mound inside of her. She moaned when he added another finger, all the while still taking care of her breasts. His fingers curled and cut, feeding the flames. 

“Astarion.” She whimpered. Her hands were shaking, but she grabbed his head all the same, to look in his eyes. “I want more. I want you to- fuck me properly.” She tried to keep her voice steady and assertive, but it was hard while the vampire fingered her so frantically and her skin was covered in goosebumps. Astarion just smiled, and added another finger to the mix. The drow threw her head back and tried clenching her thighs, but Astarion was firmly in the middle. 

“You squirm so gorgeously, darling. But I am an understanding man.” He took away all of his fingers, leaving her cunt to clench around nothing. “You just have to say the magic little word.” His hands went back to roam about her skin, while he better positioned himself between her legs. Gods, she could feel his hard cock swipe up and down her slit, barely pressing in her entrance, just to move up again. She couldn’t help but grind her hips a little. She felt her pride torn to shreds for being in this position under not only a man, but a surface elf at that. Lolth would have not looked at her kindly. But he was a vampire, so maybe he had to get a pass. 

“Ugh… Please.” She bit her lips and furrowed her brow, but her reddened cheeks still gave away her arousal and loosening conviction. 

“Mh? What did you say?” The vampire pushed her hips down to the ground, so that she couldn’t move anymore, removing even the little bit of respite that came from grinding on him.

“Please, I would like to get fucked now, blood sucker.” She huffed, pulling him closer by the waist.

“Tks, still a bit too feisty, but I can work on that.” Astarion spread her legs apart, sliding his cock on her wet folds, stirring small shivers of pleasure in the drow. The tip of his dick tested her entrance. There was some resistance, as the tight walls of her cunt adjusted to him. Leeith whimpered against his ear: She knew he was big and she hadn’t had any fun in a while, but didn’t expect it to feel so… shattering, almost unable to fit. He slowed down, moaning for how tightly his girth was being swallowed. 

“You’re not a virgin, are you?” The question puzzled the drow. 

“Uh? I mean, I can act as one. I’ve heard virgin blood tastes better.” She chuckled, crossing her legs above his back and arms behind his nape. 

He closed the gap between their faces and bit her lower lip, enough to draw blood with his fangs. “You’re already delicious enough” He purred. 

With all doubts cast aside, he slammed himself down on her. She saw stars and arched her back, yelping in surprise. That didn’t stop the vampire, who simply bit her lip again, the taste of blood reinvigorating his cock. He pulled out slowly, making her feel every inch of his dick leaving her body. And then she had to endure as he pushed his length back in her, down to the hilt. A few tears left from the side of her eyes, as she bit her hand, the pleasure coursing through her. But he was still toying with her, probably enjoying how her thighs clenched around him and her walls pulsed around his girth. The drow raised her hips to meet him and pushed him inside with her legs. Astarion grinned and pressed his thumb on her clit. 

“Alright alright. I’ll quit the games. Just don’t start crying when it gets too much.” His voice dropped to a husky tone, whilst his free hand pinned her wrist on the ground. 

“Be glad I’m not the one riding you.” She moaned back, urging him to move. Without a second thought, he began thrusting in and out of her, one hand at the side of her head for support, the other pleasuring her clit in tempo with his motions. She moaned and grappled him closer, raising her hips to give him a better angle. Judging by all the noises her pussy was making, she must have been a wet mess, drooling all over his thick, long cock. It was reaching deep in her, stretching her walls and filling every sensitive crevice. His pace was constant and steady, fast enough to pleasure the both of them without getting overwhelming. The pace of an expert, who had done this again and again. His thumb circled around her clit, never giving it a moment to rest, keeping Leeith's entire body locked in pleasure.

Her voice grew higher and her hands went everywhere on his body, now slightly warm thanks to the fresh blood coursing through. His cock felt the warmest, still pumping relentlessly, pushing further and further, breaking each and every barrier. The drow trebled in pleasure, feeling a weight raising in her core. It was very hard to keep herself from digging her nails into his flesh.

She opened her eyes and playfully bit his neck, wanting to also leave a purple bruise on his perfect ivory skin and hear a moan or groan escape from his closed lips. Astarion didn't react, his eyes lost somewhere deep in his mind. Leeith cupped his cheek, gently caressing his smooth face . 

"Are you alright?" She whispered. Maybe he was just concentrating on his thrusts. The vampire looked down, dumbfounded at first, then smirking. 

"How could I not be, darling?" He sat up, trailing his hands on her thighs, down to the ankles. "I think we both just need a little bit more excitement." with that he lifted both her legs on his shoulders and tugged her closer, hitting his thighs with her buttocks. 

“Gods, I love where this is goin- ahh!” she was interrupted by him plunging his cock back inside of her, thumb back on her clit and ramming in her like nothing had ever happened. Her cunt was quick to fire up again, clenching around his boner even harder than before. The sensation of being full, the pleasure stemming from her insides and coating her brain in a soft, fluffy glaze. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and her blood rush through her ears. The vampire’s hands were rough on her, one relentlessly pleasuring her, the other sinking in her flesh, reddening it. Her noises were uncontrollable, no matter how hard she bit her lip or covered her mouth with her hands; she decided not to even care, moaning and calling for gods like her life depended on it.

The pleasure was so deep, always shy of touching her cervix and hurting her, but pounding her sweet spot again and again. With each thrust, some juices left her, drooling down her ass. With each thrust, the weight in her core built up, as if more and more chains were locking it.

She admired Astarion, who was looking down at her legs, preoccupied with his motion. Even him though, no matter how hard he was trying, judging by his furrowed brow, couldn't contain his moans and groans much longer. The more her pussy squeezed his cock, the less thin his lips became, until they finally parted and a moan escaped them, followed by a sigh of relief. His thumb pressed harder on her clit, circling and flicking it vigorously, not a second to rest and let her come down from the high. 

Leeith was trying to meet his thrusts, while she held his hands, just gently following them. The closer she got to her orgasm, the harder it was to concentrate and move at the same pace, her hips rolling quicker, in an effort to release sooner. Astarion steadied them, but even he was getting more sensitive. The chains in Leeith’s core grew and grew, but the lock was finally getting undone. Her pussy throbbed and squeezed hard around his cock, wanting to keep him in. It was amazing he still managed to move inside of that clamp. 

“Astarion-” She breathed out at last, clenching his forearm. “Keep going… I- I’m about to come.” She loosened her muscles, ready to let herself reach her peak. 

“Oh, I don’t fucking think so.” He almost growled. He grabbed both of her wrists, pushing them above her head. He leaned in on her, bringing her legs down with him. “You’re holding on until I am ready.” He spanked her ass before squeezing it. “And then I’ll want to hear you beg.” The drow chuckled and held his head with her free hand. 

“Now it’s getting good, blood-sucker!” She forced his mouth open, crashing their faces together. His hips were completely lost, the urge to come making them erratic and brutal. He was ramming her without any care in the world, plunging his cock balls deep. If a few minutes ago he was trying to carefully pick her locks, now his desire was just that of smashing the door down. She was dangerously close to coming, but so was him for how much his cock throbbed. 

“Ast-arion… may I?” She whispered directly in his ear, breathy and low. It sent shivers down his spine, his cock hardening and ready to burst. 

“Come for me, pet.” He groaned. He glanced at her neck, still crimson with blood. He couldn’t resist. 

Leiiths felt his fags sink deep. The pain overwhelmed her just as much as the pleasure did, all in one moment. She shut her eyes, blood rushing to her ears and to her shoulder. Someone called his name right in his ear. An overwhelming pleasure consumed him as the drow tensed and squirmed under him. He could feel her come around his aching length, squeezing the life out of him like a succubus. The blood spilled into his mouth, coating it like a syrup, breathing life into his long dead lungs and heart. For just an instant, he felt his heart flutter alive. An instant later, he moaned: bliss, the most he had ever felt in two hundred years, finally saturated his body, making his muscles shake and tremble. He sank both his fangs and his cock more in her, as he came, filling her with his thick, warm cum, just as he was drinking her scarlet, sanguine liquor. Their brains were fuzzy and inebriated. Their pleasure mixing and multiplying against each other.  At the end, his muscles gave in, falling on her, cock still throbbing gently. She was warm and soft. 

The drow panted, her fingers caressing Astarion’s back gracefully. It seemed like he didn’t want to move away from her. The drow tapped his shoulder, wanting to shift to the side: now that it was calm, she discovered soreness in her back and the weight wasn't helping. Fortunately the elf rolled to the ground, extending his arms to the sides like a snow angel. Without asking, she rested her head on his forearm, gaining a weird glace from the vampire. In all answer, she extended her own arm, sliding it behind his head. 

Her cheeks were still flushed, giving them a purplish hue when mixed with her blue skin. 

"It's much better than bare earth, no?" She smiled.

[sentience-if]

I love being able to play a gremlin MC with no sense of danger or self-preservation but I also love playing a sweet lost little bird MC.

How would the chars privately feel about each type? Who is getting amused, exasperated, protective, attracted?

val: obviously vibes so well with chaotic impulsive MC. partners in crime, taught Io everything they know. however, Val is also constantly worried about this type of Io and has a pervasive guilt about teaching them to live so dangerously. // finds a sweet, naive Io very adorable, almost in an admiring way. Io's clearly had something bad happen to them and could have easily become reclusive and bitter. val definitely pushes this type of Io to be more adventurous and a little stupid sometimes

ira: slightly overwhelmed by gremlin Io but in an exciting way, like riding a rollercoaster. worries about them and is determined to drill a little sense into them. but also.... Ira may or may not be twirling their hair watching this disaster unfold // a gentler Io is a refreshing change of pace. it's nice to have someone around who's as calm and peaceful as Ira is. though if this Io is also fairly naive, I can see Ira gently taking them by the face and begging them to have some sense. u can be cute and smart, too

connie: I think we know what Connie thinks of gremlin Io lmfao... that's just Val 2.0 and Connie either wants them exiled or in their bed (and is pissed about it). They're endlessly frustrating and Connie wishes they would just calm tf down // in a similar/opposite way, thinks a sweet and naive Io is an absolute enigma. why the hell do they tolerate Val. how did they get here. what the fuck is their deal and what are they hiding; there's no way they're real

klaus: u know that Marina meme where she's like 😳😏 chaos gremlin Io is entertaining AND edible. wind it up and watch it go. on a less destructive level, klaus also appreciates someone who can be careless and free, even if it's in an arguably stupid way // klaus would see a little lost lamb Io as a bit of a blank canvas. He doesn't encounter a lot of people in his day-to-day life who don't have some kind of agenda, so it's like an interesting experiment to have this Io around. temptingly corruptible, though he'd lean more towards wanting to keep them that way

kat: does not understand Chaotic Beyblade Io even a little bit, but fuck are they fun. she can get down with the intensity and impulsiveness, though their ability to simply not think anything through is fascinating and almost impressive. I can see her getting exasperated, though, if Io gets in the way of things she needs to do // thoroughly enjoys sweet innocent Io. She's already friends with Ira, so she's sort of just adding another to her little cherub collection. finds them enchanting, deliciously different, and honestly relaxing to be around.

[neorice]

Hero oh Hero Blog #1

Three Protagonists:  As many of my followers probably know, I run a pixelart webcomic by the name “Hero oh Hero” (read here). Just to throw my thoughts into the ether, I’d like to share a few of the writing choices I’ve made throughout the production of my comic & why I decided to make those. Not sure if they’re useful and/or interesting to anyone, but it’s fun for me to reflect. As of the writing of this post I’m at 2757 published pages & 3453 pages total if we include buffer, quite some content!  The first thing I’d like to talk about is the general structure of the comic, I run three separate stories that feel relatively disconnected, despite taking place in the same world.

Burk, a heroic character who goes around trying to defeat villains who do evil deeds. As he travels from city to city he meets various friends who join him.

Noah, a bookish introvert who’s favorite hobby is being left alone & avoiding social situations at all costs. He’s also a magic child-soldier being forced to perform missions for a totalitarian government.

Tobi, an adventurous inventor-girl who comes from a world that operates by video-game logic, she gets flung into another world at some point & is trying to find her way back home.  Comic Structure So the big question here is: why tell three stories rather than just putting all focus on a single one? I think the biggest underlying reason for me is that a lot of games I played & series I watched had what I’d describe as a “protagonist-centric world”.  It’s obvious that the story itself will focus on the protagonist, they have that role for a reason, but it goes much further than a character being important/central to the narrative. In a lot of series I felt that the worldbuilding itself, the magic system, the legends and myths, all of it was often designed to accentuate the protagonists’ importance, or somehow add something to “why” the protagonist in particular was worth following. Very often this’d result in stuff like worlds where, if there were 4-types of magic power a person could have, the protagonist would be the one special person with access to 2, 3 or even 4 of those abilities.  I don’t necessarily think this is bad writing in itself, but I did sometimes find, especially in series with interesting side characters/extended casts, that the way the universe seemed to revolve around the hero and their abilities often made the world itself seem less interesting or less real to me.  What got me interested in multiple perspectives & multiple protagonists back in the day were games like Seiken Densetsu 3/Secret of Mana 2 where you had 6 main characters of equal importance & you could basically decide for yourself which of the 6 was your playthrough’s “protagonist” & which 2 out of the remaining chars would join you on the team. Similarly games like Treasure of the Rudras played around with multiple different heroes rather than a “true” chosen one hero of more significance than everyone else.  I noticed that a lot of these games that either split up the roles, or provided multiple canonical characters who technically could’ve done the job, aleviated a lot of the annoyances I had with singular-protagonist series, but also added the fascinating element of how different narratives/perspectives could intersect and affect each other. Designing the Heroes. So from the early onset I’ve decided that I really wanted to tell a story where rather than just a single central protagonist, I wanted several protagonists of “equal importance”. The next question that follows is: If I’m going to have multiple heroes, what characters am I going to choose? Burk came relatively easy as he’s a character I made up for an old English class story back in highschool, though I did tweak him quite a bit from his original design. What I did want to try and do is contrast the other two characters from him, but not *just* in terms of “This one’s strong, this one’s smart, this one’s ... hot” or something, but also more on their role within the story. This is where I got the idea to try and really try to put a notable difference between the main characters & why they’re even in “their story”.  Burk’s a highly active protagonist who goes out of his way to look for adventure, Noah in contrast is absolutely reactive and is thrown into a plot entirely against his will. Tobi is hard to discuss without major spoilers, but I’m thinking that observant readers who are up to date probably know where she falls in this regard. Once I figured out the biggest area of contrast between the three, it was pretty straightforward what setting would best accentuate that aspect of them. Burk & his narrative very closely follow a D&D-type of “let’s find an adventure for the sake of it!” plot, whereas I intentionally threw Noah in a dystopian Empire that has little interest in things such as “personal agency” and “Freedom”. 

[bronanlynch]

once again I've watched more anime than done anything else this week but I promise I also have other stuff to talk abt

listening (podcast):

Great Gundam Project: almost done with their 0079 episodes and it's so funny to hear how confused and surprised they are that Newtypes don't get mentioned until the last 10 episodes. also, once again, hearing them talk about Char reminds me that I miss seeing Char on my television screen :/

Palisade: once again it was crazy good this week. shout out to fucked up dream sequences/visions of alternate futures, gotta genuinely be one of my favorite storytelling devices

listening (music): MakeDamnSure by Taking Back Sunday, which is going on my Partizan/Palisade playlist for Balence reasons

reading:

Imperial Uncle: got to more fun reveals that make the main relationship a lot tastier and more fun. still having a good time with this one

The Death I Gave Him: part of the appeal of this book for me (other than that I love Hamlet & Hamlet retellings) is the romance with the sentient lab AI. this should shock absolutely no one (at least no one who knows me as the Sokrates/Integrity guy lol) but I'm real into stuff that explores like, how intimacy works when you don't each have your own separate bodies

A Power Unbound: also started & finished something I've been looking forward to, A Power Unbound by Freya Marske, the third book in a romance/historical fantasy trilogy (different main characters for each) set mostly in Edwardian England. I've enjoyed the other books in the series, and I enjoyed this one too (though I think I prefer the other two for reasons that probably don't have to do with the actual quality of this book and have more to do with what I like & don't like in a main relationship, and actually it's a testament to how strong the writing was that the relationship worked for me anyway, because it did feel earned in terms of both characterization & themes, even though it's the sort of relationship dynamic that I tend to be hesitant about because I often see it done very badly in fanfic in ways that do a disservice to the personalities of both characters involved). anyway. my actual review is that I love fucked up magic houses and there are several of those in this book so shout out to that, and one of the main characters is extremely my type (short, angry, hates the aristocracy, etc)

watching:

I'm in Love with the Villainess: we're caught up now, and I do love class conflict even if I'm sure it's going to be incredibly simplistic and silly because that's the show this is (which I am fine with, to be clear, this is a romance anime based on lovingly parodying otome games, I am treating it with the same kind of seriousness that I would treat something like Scum Villain)

Bakeoff: I'm glad that this year they seem to be better about not putting way too much weight on the showstopper and sometimes deciding star baker based on other challenges like. finally some respect for people who do really well in the signature!!

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: I mean. I've been posting through it about this one so I don't think I have any new insights here just. man. I love it when a major character death is done really well. what a show (positive)

Gundam Seed: you may, at this point, be asking why Seed is our next Gundam after finishing ZZ, especially when every week I talk about pining for Char. the answer is because my roommate watched some of it a while ago and wanted to revisit it, and also because we're saving Char's Counterattack for when we get really desperate for Gundam that isn't Seed. anyway. Seed is fun so far!

the above description of Gundam Seed was written a few days ago when we first started but before we got to the info dump about what's up with Coordinators & Naturals so I'm editing this to say: oof. it really is like what if someone took all of the parts of the original Newtype stuff that I was most skeptical about, took out all of the metaphorical stuff from Zeta that redeemed the concept for me, and then explicitly added literal eugenics. don't like that!

the other thing about Seed is the misogyny which like. god. at least the misogyny in Zeta felt more interesting to think about. at least it felt like Tomino was saying things about gender even if I didn't always like it. this is just peak early 2000s misogyny where everyone including the writers hates women so much that every man comes across as incredibly gay because their relationships with other men are treated so much more seriously

at this point you might be asking what I actually like about this show since I've been complaining for several paragraphs and the answer is I love it when childhood friends end up on the opposite sides of a war. also, a lot of Seed feels like it's trying very hard to Be A Gundam Show (for better or worse tbh, I can feel myself being marketed to, I can practically hear Bandai being like, hey remember how cool it is when a blue-and-white mobile suit fights a pinkish-red mobile suit, don't you want to buy some models), and I am not immune to classic Gundam shit like "oops these kids are involved in a war now because the military was developing a top-secret superweapon right next to where they live" and "your lives are at risk and/or you might get arrested for trying to protect your friends because the higher-ups are incompetent/selfish/do not care about you." I am also not immune to squads of edgy anime boys, or giant robots that each have their own special weapon/power, or whatever the fuck Le Creuset's got going on. I love him. I still miss Char and he's not quite filling that void but I do love him

playing:

another session of my Blades in the Dark campaign, based on the image below (from here). the crew was asked to get the sea serpent to go away and leave ships alone, and absolutely no one was surprised that the secret actual mission was to protect the sea serpent (a baby one) from the coast guard who were going to try to make it leave but more violently because we're playing Blades like it's a game about befriending creatures (see also: Missy is currently trying to resocialize a former fighting goat and Xiao Yun collects extremely fucked up birds)

Ace Attorney 5: not very far into the trial but man. sorry for falling for the trilogy nostalgia but I love to have Edgeworth as a prosecutor, I love the energy that he and Phoenix have, I'm such a sucker for defense attorney & prosecutor working together to find the truth and also they're in love

making: vaguely spanakopita-inspired stuffed pastry wreath. we made it once before and put too much extra vegetable in that released too much water while it was baking so the dough just straight up did not cook. we did it better this time! the dough is actually baked! (it's store-bought crescent rolls, we did not make the dough). anyway. there's spinach and mushroom and herbed goat cheese in there, and it's tasty

drinking: the grocery store had peppermint bark creme liqueur, and it's pretty good in hot chocolate

writing: continued to pick away at a zine fic, figured out what I want to write for my Nirvana in Fire exchange fic, and also did a little bit more on the Integrity fic that I've been working on. it has been a minute since I've written an action scene huh

The Principality knows how to contain divines, to leash them, to defang them and bend their powers to its will. And Integrity is an old divine, and never among the most awe-inspiring. Integrity is a small, quiet thing, precise and intimate and not suited for flashy displays of power like many of its fellows. But it is a divine nonetheless, and when it fights, it brings death. Orbit-and-Integrity steps into the corridor where the Princept fled. Orbit bares their remaining teeth, blood pooling in their mouth and seeping through the seams that begin to open in Integrity’s armor where it no longer has the focus to keep them closed.

[bustyasianbeautiespod]

The Them taking out the Horsemen narratively and thematically important for GO’s view on humanity and love and community… but I do always find it a little underwhelming tbh. This is also true for me in the book, but the book makes the visual parallels between each of the Them and their respective Horseman clearer so it made more sense. In the book we also have the Them gathering play versions of the Horsemen’s summoning items.

And no for sure “cheek” was about the “gentlemen” comment. You bring in Brian Cox for the absolute gravitas and you make him do that, smh.

Speaking of the ladies, to your point about Pepper being a feminist but her hold on what that means is unclear… do they kind of write Anathema like that as well? Is it ok because basically everyone except Adam is an idiot, so the women should be silly as well? Like even our main ethereal girlies are wildly incompetent and that’s what spurs the whole story (but hot, important to remember they’re both insanely hot and in love, and so they are forgiven because I have principles).

What I’m saying here is thank you for making a 3+ hour ep that I am 1/3 of the way through lol

HI!! agreed on the underwhelmingness in both show and book. it's more disappointing for it to be eh in the book bc you'd think that gaiman - who has written a lot of quite good children's books - would be able to capture the whole power of belief/fairytale logic idea behind that scene while imbuing it w actual intrigue, but ig that's just not rlly the tone the book was going for? and i like that they braided a crown out of grass and got a stick sword and everything! and that wensley swung the play scales around like a weapon it's a fun visual!

THANKS FOR THE CONFIRMATION. he literally made death sexist. he made DEATH sexist. that wasn't even in the book he just wanted to make death sexist. DEATH!!!!!!!!!! spn-ass writing (i don't even know if death is sexist in spn but uriel feels sexist sometimes and it's like. that is an entire angel who hates humanity and the earth so so much that he actually wouldn't develop an understanding of gender or the patriarchy imo)

yeah, i do think anathema is written similarly to pepper regarding her beliefs- she feels them very strongly but some are misguided or based on misinfo. it does make sense that everyone's incompetent bc i think gomens is about how it's not the best of humanity who save the world, it's some cringefail weirdos with a passion for something and who are trying, which is quite nice! but it does feel different when wensley's quirk is saying "actually" a lot and pepper's is... being a feminist? like everything is political but anathema and pepper's things are more directly political. and it is perfectly fine to make fun of feminists/lefties who don't rlly know their shit through specific instances of character writing if the show at large still values feminism and leftism, but given how the women are written (also HE MADE DEATH SEXIST????) and the things grey and i mentioned about the use of north africa in ep 2, gomens also falls short there. it's all a mixed bag though - obv pepper's "i do not endorse everyday sexism" is part of her Hero Moment, so we are supposed to admire her for her beliefs there, but we're clearly supposed to laugh at "another deluded victim of the patriarchy" and the did-you-just-assume-my-gender-esque exchange during the bike convo in ep 1. and obv you don't have to Make An Unambiguous Statement through clapping and cheering every time one specific char says things, but when you make one character The Feminism Character, it does feel like you're making a statement even in places you aren't. but again, this rlly would all be fine and forgotten if the women were written better

damn that got long but i loveee that you called aziraphale and crowley "our main ethereal girlies." they rlly rlly are. and thank YOU for this ask!!! it was a joy to answer <3

- Crystal :)

[sunfish-studies]

Celebration

✄・・・ Feathery Ink [Karasuno Manager Series]

➜ Pairing: Karasuno x Manager! Reader

➜ Warning: none

➜ Notes: This is a separate series from Crisp Leaves. Similar to Crisp Leaves, manager in this story will be portrayed as a girl. She will be tall. This is just my appreciation towards tall girls, you guys are amazing.

Previous:  ‹ Cogs › | Next:  ‹ Let The Games Begin! ›

↷ SUMMARY ↶

Last day of training calls for celebration for everyone’s hard work, so it’s barbeque time!

“All right, meat!”

“I’m starving!”

While the boys freshened up after practice matches, the managers were already on the move to prepare for the barbeque. Since there were quite a lot of people, the coaches decided to held it on the backyard of the gym, where the sharp hill stood just beside it. The coaches helped setting up the grills while the managers divided to cater different things.

Yachi decided she would get the utensils they needed; paper plates, chopsticks, paper cups, trays for rice balls, and other things. Shimizu would cover for the rice ball making, Yukie and Eri were in charge on cutting the vegetables in bite-size, Kaori and Mako would clean the vegetables before it was cut.

Meanwhile, you’re in charge of preparing the condiments and sauces, unwrapping the meat cuts, and arranged them on a bigger plate. Aside from that you had to make sure the meats searing on the grills weren’t charred.

“[Name]-chan, please replace me for cutting the onions,” Eri sobbed, reaching out to you with grabby hands.

“Alright, senpai,” you giggled in reply because Eri was clearly needing a break and watching the meats seared was a great break for her. Quickly, you stood on her place and started slicing the tear-induced-menaces after washing your hands.

It didn’t take long for you to suffer the same fate as the Ubugawa’s manager–the first seven slices went through without a hitch, but when you reached the tenth your eyes started to sting and blurry from the pain. Then tears began trailing down your cheeks, and you wiped it you’re your shirt sleeve.

“D-Don’t cry, [Name]-san!!” you looked up, seeing Hinata with his place face quivering on his feet. “W-what should I do!?”

“It’s fine, Shoyo-kun, it’s just the onions,” you sniffled pointed towards the bowl full of it. “It hurts my eyes.”

“I can take your place, Otohaku-chan!” Lev popped up beside Hinata.

“Instead of cutting the onions, you’ll chop your fingers off,” Yaku deadpanned before offering. “Here, let me do it.”

“No, it’s alright, Yaku-san,” you shook your head. “It’s time for you to have a break, not working.”

Being persistent sometimes has it’s perks, it took numbers of rejection to finally have Yaku gave up. You knew he was just trying to help, but you didn’t want to rob his time relaxing. When all the preparations were done, the boys were already surrounding the grills with hungry faces. Coach Nekomata gave them a light speech along with praises for their hard work over the week, and they dived to grab on the meat straight from the grill.

“THANKS FOR THE FOOD!”

Just like Kaori, you brought a plate of rice balls to offer and managed to witnessed Yukie’s enormous appetite. She practically inhaled four rice balls in one go and you’re not the only who was dumbfounded from it.

.

.

Konoha and Komi almost had their souls went to heaven from the frightening circle Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Taketora made. Well, they did elbow each other to encourage one another getting close or at least having a talk with Shimizu. The girl walked pass them holding a paper plate with food–looking extremely gorgeous and she didn’t even try.

“That was scary,” Konoha muttered underneath his breath. The three finally stopped because of Karasuno and Nekoma’s captain scolded them–the three immediately shrunk.

“They really had their guard up, huh,” Komi added, feeling his energy drained from such a scary encounter.

“Uhm, excuse me,” the two turned to look over their shoulder and that’s when they noticed–Karasuno’s other first year manager who’s Bokuto constantly talking about. The owl captain wouldn’t shut up about her much to their annoyance and now they knew why.

“Would you like some rice ball?”

“Sure,” Konoha replied dumbly.

“I’ll take two,” Komi followed with a daze. You placed one on Konoha’s empty paper plate and two for Komi upon his request. Smiling at them, you proceeded to excuse yourself so you could offer to someone else.

Following your figure dazedly, they noticed how the light shone even brighter and basked you in a beautiful glow. That’s when they thought of a conclusion.

A goddess just graces us mere mortals! They screamed in their head.

.

.

You tried to calm Yachi down from her traumatizing experience being surrounded by absurdly tall boys (“Titans, [Name]-chan! Titans!”). Thankfully, all of them were nice enough to made room so your friend could reach for some meat. Yachi almost cried in happiness from the real taste of meat.

From the sidelines, Shimizu and the other managers were watching the two of you while talking about the boys sometimes.

“How much are you going to eat?” Kaori questioned because Yukie was having a ridiculous amount of food towering on her plate and she just kept munching away without care.

“The third-years in Karasuno all seems pretty mature,” Mako commented.

“Our ace is weak-willed, though,” Shimizu smiled sheepishly.

“What? Really?” Eri replied in surprise. “Even though he looks that scary?”

“Though, I think that’s still better than our simpleton ace,” Kaori commented. “Still,”

Their eyes were directed towards where the said simpleton ace was standing and placing meat until it towered on your empty plate.

“Eat more, [Name]-chan! Or you won’t get even taller!” he stated.

“And eat more vegetables!” Kuroo added, placing cabbages and carrots to your plate, adding even more food.

“Have some rice balls, too.” Somehow, even Akaashi participated in this whole fiasco and put a rice ball onto your plate. Now, there’s a ridiculous amount of food on your plate.

“…I can’t eat this much,” you commented, staring at the food filling your plate.

“Nonsense, I don’t see you eat anything even when the others are,” Akaashi stated. “You’re too busy handling other things nonstop.”

“Have a break will you,” Kuroo patted your back. “Everyone’s having fun and you should too.”

“Have more meat, [Name]-san!” Hinata said.

“You can have my share, Otohaku-chan!” Lev followed and you immediately shook your head.

“At least he and Akaashi took care of our baby manager well,” Kaori sighed in relief.

“[Name]-chan is close with Fukurodani’s captain and setter, huh? Even Nekoma’s captain,” Mako giggled. “She’s drawing everyone in.”

“Well, it’s rare for a first-year to be as tall as her,” Eri grinned. “The boys are especially poles so it’s probably great not to strain their neck once in a while from looking down.”

“Karasuno’s pretty lucky to have her, huh?” Yukie said after swallowing her food.

“Yeah, we are,” Shimizu smiled.

.

.

“Did you have fun?” Sawamura asked you when you’re helping other managers to clean up the remaining plates left behind on the table along with other scraps littering around. He picked up a few paper cups and placed it into the trash bin.

“Definitely,” you answered without hesitation. “Everyone’s so nice, it’s probably the most fun I’ve had.”

“Thank goodness, then,” he gave you a smile.

“I’m really glad I joined the volleyball club,” you commented, grinning.

“And we glad to have you here,” the captain chuckled and replied.

Everything was over by the time the sun started to sink into the horizon–time truly flew by when you enjoyed it. Since Miyagi was quite a distance from Saitama, they needed to depart first or they would be back extremely late at night. Yukie and Eri were fake-crying and joking about refusing to let you go–in the end, you’re all exchanging numbers so you could keep in touch.

“Did you have fun, Otohaku-san?”

“Coincidentally, you asked the same question as my captain, Akaashi-san.” The Fukurodani setter, like before, helping you on carrying the extra luggage in hand although you did tell him it’s only until you reached the stairs. “And to answer, I am. These one week of training camp is fun. Somehow, I don’t want this to be over.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll meet again,” Akaashi replied. “At the Spring Interhigh.”

“I’m sure we will, Akaashi-san.” you smiled. “And thank you for helping me with luggage.”

“[Name]-chan!!” Bokuto bounded over with a grin plastered on his face. “We’ll be waiting at the nationals!”

“Karasuno, Bokuto-san. Otohaku-san doesn’t play volleyball.” Akaashi deadpanned.

“Just agree with me once, Akaashi!”

“Well, whatever he said,” Kuroo piped up, approaching the three of you. “Made sure your team go to the nationals so we could meet again and make the battle came true.”

“I’ll do my best, Kuroo-san.” Then Kuroo reached out to ruffle your hair, it’s been a while since he did that and you weren’t even going to lie about enjoying it. The cat captain was similar to an older brother now.

“Off you go then, [Name],” he removed his hand from your head. “And don’t miss me.”

“How could I when I have your phone number, Kuroo-san?” you snickered. “You’re probably going to bombard me with chemistry puns at 10pm.”

“Then, I’m gonna call you every day so you won’t have to deal with Kuroo!” Bokuto declared before laughing victoriously.

“Please block his number immediately, Otohaku-san,” Akaashi stated. “Or you won’t be getting any sleep. His talking is endless.”

“Why, Akaashi!?” the said boy whined.

“Aside from that, be careful on your way home,” Akaashi decided to ignore the captain and gave you a small smile.

You returned his smile. “Will do, Akaashi-san.”

With that, the whole week of summer training camps has come to an end. The whole team watched you guys drove away into the other way back to Miyagi.

.

.

“You have a match tomorrow, don’t you?” former Coach Ukai questioned, brows creased from the insistence of your combi. “That’s probably enough, then!”

“One more! Just one more!” Hinata pleaded.

“We’ll finish after this one!” Kageyama added.

Two days of practicing to prepare for the preliminaries, just a day before the match Sawamura dismissed them early to get some rest. Since it would be impossible to use the gym unless getting an earful from him, Kageyama and Hinata needed to look for another place. Former Coach Ukai lent them the court only for a bit, just until the others who wants to practice comes.

And you were there to hold a leash if they’re being stubborn or something.

“This is the last, alright?” you scolded the two. “We shouldn’t bother the others who wants to practice here. And you should rest before the match.”

Thankfully the older man letting them had the court just one more time and you couldn’t help but feeling grateful of it. You sighed before turning to face former Coach Ukai and bowed down. “On their behalf, I apologize.”

“It’s fine.” Former Coach Ukai dismissed it. “Their eagerness is a great thing, but even eagerness isn’t going to magically give them energy. It would be bad if they burnt out even before the game started.”

“[Name]-san! Can you throw us the ball?” Hinata called out.

In the end, the two managed to successfully killed the quick–and sure enough, it also impressed former Coach Ukai which added more reassurance that your team would be more than okay to face the entire preliminaries and became champions.

[charcubed]

hey char, mind to share your fave stevebucky headcanons? 👀

Oh I LOVE that you asked me this :’)  Thank you!

I honestly have so many if I really think about it because I love them so much and I think about their dynamic so much that I have so many favorite things... but here is what I think of off the top of my head:

• Steve was color blind before the serum, according to canon. I have a headcanon that Bucky used to try to describe colors to him. I wrote a mini fic about that here.

• Bucky was drafted for the war, but didn’t tell Steve. Steve sort of assumed that Bucky enlisted, and Bucky never wanted to correct him. How could he? Steve wanted to enlist so badly, and Bucky didn’t ever feel like he could admit that he didn’t have the same drive to want to ~fight for the country~ like Steve did. He didn’t want to disappoint him and he was afraid Steve would think he was a coward. So Bucky just... never told him that he was forced into war. It was never his choice to fight for the country. If it was up to him, they would’ve stayed home together and stayed safe and never fought at all.

• They were always physically rough with each other, in the sense that they'd wrestle as boys all the time, and Steve loved that Bucky never treated him as fragile. Buck knew he could take it. Even after the serum, they'd still scuffle a bit like kids, finding a bright spot in a war-torn world. They’d be awake in the trenches on lookout, having soft conversations in the night, and shoving each other after one says something stupid or makes a bad joke.

• Steve is bi, and Bucky is gay. Bucky was consciously aware of his feelings for Steve way, way before Steve was aware of his for Bucky. In the 30s, Bucky has a bit of a reputation for ~dating around,~ but not in a rude ladies’ man kind of way but rather his reputation is “Bucky Barnes is a real charmer. He’ll show you a good time and he’s really sweet, but he never pushes your boundaries.” Some women wishes he’d push their boundaries, but he doesn’t. He’s taken so many women out on dates because he never lets it get super serious, since they’re not who he wants and it’s mostly for appearances’ sake, especially since he and Steve live together. He definitely enjoys hanging out with women, and treating them nice, but most of the time his motivation is to try to set up double dates–half because Steve deserves to find a great girl to date, and half because a double date means Bucky can selfishly do a date activity “with” Steve and not have it mean anything. Meanwhile though, Steve gets jealous as hell and testy about Bucky dating all the time, but he’s oblivious to the fact that it’s because Steve wishes Bucky would be with him instead.

• Their first kiss was when Steve was 16 and Bucky was 17. I’m not necessarily saying that’s when they actually got together, but something significant happened between them at those ages... maybe they kissed because they were drunk, or it was so Steve’s “first kiss” would be someone he knew and it was for “practice.” And then they both never talked about it again, because they’re idiots and were afraid to ~ruin things~ between each other. That’s why Steve says “Rumlow said ‘Bucky’ and all of a sudden I was a 16-year-old kid again, in Brooklyn.” That’s why “seventeen” is one of Bucky’s trigger words as the Winter Soldier. It checks out, because Bucky is a little bit older than Steve.

• Steve doesn’t fully admit the depth of his own feelings for Bucky to himself until he finds out Bucky’s been captured by HYDRA. And then he tears Europe apart to get him back. He’d have done that anyway, obviously, but... the prospect of losing Bucky forever is really what makes him realize how much he can’t handle that concept. Because he’s in love with him.

• After Bucky “dies,” Steve gets more reckless, and that’s part of the reason he put the plane in the ice and didn’t try to survive: he didn’t want to live in a world without Bucky in it. This is supported by canon. And so I headcanon that, after Steve finds out about the Winter Soldier, one day he abruptly realizes that he could’ve died in that plane crash and never known Bucky was alive and brainwashed and suffering. He thought Bucky was dead and he wanted to follow him, and he could’ve left Bucky even more alone in the world without knowing it. When Steve realizes how close he came to leaving Bucky behind like that, he throws up. It horrifies him to think about it.

• They each have a pair of dog tags where one says “Steve Rogers” and one says “Bucky Barnes.” They swapped one tag each, so that they’d have a matching set, because while they couldn’t list each other as “next of kin,” they wanted tangible evidence that would show other people how important they are to each other. So people would know: tell him if something happens to me.

• Their Brooklyn accents come out / get heavier around each other, especially if they’re bitching about things or arguing.

• Bucky is a complete sci-fi and fantasy nerd–which is now confirmed canon, and I love it. In particular, I like to headcanon that he loves to read paperback sci-fi novels, and discount romance novels. He unironically enjoys them, and he leaves them allllll over the place. One of the things they love to do is Bucky will sit around and read while Steve will sit around and draw/paint, and half the time Steve gets distracted sketching Bucky’s facial expression he makes while he’s reading.

• Bucky is also a pop culture gremlin. He will try and often get interested in pretty much anything and everything, without rhyme or reason. In modern day, he and Nat will watch trashy reality TV together–sometimes to make fun of it, sometimes to get invested. Steve thinks they’re insane for that. And sometimes Bucky will like one niche thing but then for very specific reasons he dislikes another similar thing. It makes sense to him, even if Steve doesn’t get it.

• Steve tends to be pickier with the kind of stuff he enjoys. He’s always had Strong Opinions™️ on everything, including and especially art. Put him in a museum and he’ll have a lot of thoughts on all of it. He doesn’t judge things or hate on other people for liking things he doesn’t like at all, but he won’t get hooked on a movie/show quite as easily. The one exception is animation, which he absolutely adores, and he goes on a wild binge of all kinds of animated content for awhile–shows and movies–because the various art styles and uses of the medium to tell crazy stories just fascinates him.

• Easy access to so much music is one of their mutual favorite things about the 21st century. Bucky often gets into individual artists’ entire discographies and becomes a fan, whereas Steve often gets into a handful of specific songs from a wide range of various people. Like... Bucky will often love an entire album, and Steve will often love 2 songs specifically more than others. But even with that, Steve loves collecting vinyl records–both old and new ones.

• Bucky has a fantastic singing voice even though he’s shy about it, and he tends to hum along to music when distracted or working on something else–especially while making something in the kitchen. 

• Bucky likes technology more than Steve; Steve likes physical stuff more than Bucky. Bucky loves to take photos and videos of things all the time, hoarding digital memories in a way that’s precious to him, knowing that they’re “safe” and accessible anywhere. They lost so much of the objects that they loved a century ago, and photos were scarce, but now... there are endless ways to have pictures. When Bucky was recovering in Wakanda and Steve was on the run, Bucky would often text Steve photos–sometimes without captions–to wordlessly share bits of his days with him. He’s got a good eye for photography, except for when he takes the photo equivalent of shitposts to make Steve laugh. Regardless, Steve gets his favorites printed–some of Bucky’s photos, some of his, some of their selfies–so they also always have something tangible to hold onto.

• Bucky calls Steve “sweetheart” sometimes, just to be a little shit–and he means it. It makes Steve turn red every time, without fail, but he secretly doesn’t mind it.

Okay I’ll stop hahaha. Those are the main ones that come to mind for me all the time when I think of them! 

Thank you again for asking :D  This was so fun to write all in one place!

[issaxcharlie]

Owen hosts Couple tag

Pairing: Charlie Gillespie x Artist Fem Reader

Summary: We play pretend world guys✨ (I missed them, I’m SoRryyyy.) So, Charlie wants some reassurance after starting to prepare his proposal to Y/N and makes this “genius” plan with Owen to find her answers without being suspicious. (She totally knows tho) also a lot of friendship fighting between Owen and Y/N because I had to, I made myself laugh a lot so I’ll hope at least makes you smile🤧🤣Anyways, have fun!

This is also my weird and nonsense way of doing sweet @marvel-ousnesss request of the we play pretend couple to do a couple buzzfeed quiz 💖

The blonde takes a deep breath before picking up his phone and heading to the living room, where his couple of friends and roommates are on the couch. Charlie is lying down watching television and Y/N is lying on top of him with her face snuggled into his neck, he hugging her around the waist while gently running his fingers down her skin.

The plan was simple, to help Charlie plan the perfect proposal and give him an idea of what she expects from her wedding, they were doing a “Couple tag” video. That way the questions wouldn’t be as suspicious. Of course, there are easier ways but we are talking about Charlie. They convinced Kenny to call her and tell her that it was to promote the second season that is currently being filmed, and she agreed.

Charlie mentioned many times that someone else had to ask her the questions because she reads her boyfriend like an open book, so his improvisation had to be perfect to keep his best friend’s clever girlfriend out of the hook.

He decided to start the live from his room so as not to give the singer the opportunity to think much about it, so he sits in the living room and focuses the image on his friends who are not affected in the least by their positions. After all, everyone already knows that they are a couple and that they live together.

“Hello, I’m Y/N Y/L! And yes, that sexy, beautiful, adorable and talented man is my boyfriend, Charlie Gillespie.” He blushes as the memory of their first night back as a couple invades the mind of the Canadian, who had his girlfriend in exactly this position when she was, as she said, 'practicing' her introduction. Sadly, this time it will not end like that night because his best friend and about 500,000 people are watching.

“Welcome to my first edition of the Couple tag everyone! Here's my first guest couple, I know it’s not much, but I promise to find someone worthwhile next time, this is just for practice." Charlie laughs but looks nervous. Instead, his girlfriend sits down and rolls her eyes.

"I can't believe you chose him over a puppy or a hamster." The girl says to her boyfriend while laughing at her friend's offended reaction.

“I'm going to write that down in my long enemies list, but for now I have a live to lead. Okay guys, so basically I will ask them questions and I will also choose who answers them because I’m the only one hot enough to call the shots here."

She laughs and sticks out her tongue. Charlie sits down too and she takes his hand to fiddle with it. She keeps arguing for a few minutes with Owen but shows no signs of not wanting to play the game so he starts before she regrets it.

“Okay, first one is for Charlie. How did you guys met? This is actually a good one because a lot of the fans think you met on set and are like this really intense couple who started to date the very first week without even knowing each other’s last names.”

They both start laughing at the comment. The truth is that they have seen multiple posts and comments online from people judging their relationship and how fast they were going, especially when they did that last interview together and Y/N said that Charlie was taking his sweet time to ask for marriage, since for the fans they only have one year and months of knowing each other.

“We have known each other since forever. Our moms were best friends and we were born only a few weeks apart so we've always been together. We grew up as best friends and were dating before Y/N moved to New York to play Daniela on Stardust." Charlie tries to shake off the memory of the last tearful kiss before Y/N got on the plane. Hopefully he’ll never have to part from her for so long again. Sometimes he can't even understand how he managed to get through those 5 years.

"So no, we don't know each other for just one year, but 22." She adds, kissing his nose.

"Y/N, honey. I didn't ask you, don't be rude and wait for your turn." Owen says teasingly, the girl laughs and throws a pillow at him.

“Okay, rude again. Y/N, What is the first thing that he ever gave you?”

“Oh my, this beautiful valentines card! We were like eight I think. The paper is red, and it is filled with gold and silver glitter stars. Inside is a big star that has written in the middle, “My bright star, happy valentine’s day. I love you. And a lot of doodles of my favorite things, like my guitar, a microphone, chocolate, and a little Charlie. Just adorable, I still have it and to date it is one of my favorite gifts.”

The emotion with which she responds makes Charlie's heart melt. That was the first time he called her bright star, and he kept saying it to her during every audition, every performance, every practice. The exact reason not even she knows, but maybe one of these days he'll tell her.

“Rude and a liar. The 22-year-old Charlie's handwriting is horrible, the 8-year-old Charlie handwriting could only be close to a squiggle, nothing more. Oh, and probably only you had the ability to read it. I very much doubt that was beautiful."

She opens her mouth in surprise and wrinkles her nose, feigning annoyance. “I liked you more when you had a crush on me. You were nicer.”

Owen's eyes widen and he turns to see Charlie looking for help but he just starts laughing. “Wh- What are you talking about, mean girl?”

“Oh c’mon, you totally did, Ohio.” She smiles at the camara while showing a superiority face.

“Really? I already told you a thousand times, I'm from Oklahoma. But hey, how funny, forget about Stardust and audition for Funny Girl!”

“Jokes on you, I would nail Fanny Brice.”

“Man, defend my honor!”

“Bro, I can’t. You totally did, I even got worried for a second there.” It is incredible to think about how their friendship has grown and matured over time. They went from Owen fangirling every time he saw her to being really good friends. All these fights are more of a show than anything else, the truth is that when nobody is recording they tend to be very cool around each other and the three of them have quite a pleasant dynamic now that they are living together for the show.

“I won, Idaho. Now, please continue.”

“Well, my friends embarrassed me on my own live. I can already imagine the headlines tomorrow. Anyways, Charlie, Would you let yourself in danger to save her?”

Charlie starts laughing as he drops his head on the girl's shoulder. "I think she's not going to let me lie, I always have and will continue to do so. For me it's always her safety first."

"Which has given me more than a scare but he's so freakin stubborn." She adds while looking stressed and Owen can't help but imagine all the situations Charlie must have put himself in before.

“I prefer you scared than in danger, beautiful.” He grins and kiss her lips, her facial expresions relaxing at his touch.

“Gross. Y/N, do you prefer a small wedding or a big wedding?” She can feel Charlie tense at the question, so she leans her body back to support it against him and give him a lowkey reassurance.

“I hadn't really thought about it, but I know that my almost mother-in-law has been planning it all her life so you should check with her.”

His mom. Y/N is right, as always. His mom is their biggest shipper and the wedding is probably something she’ll want to be an importart part of, maybe way more than with his brothers since she adores the girl as much as her own kids, and the fact that his girlfriend is even more aware of that fact than him makes him smile.

“Do you love it when someone refers you as ‘her boyfriend’?”

“Always. Especially if it's her. She has that little knack of saying it whenever she can and it’s the most adorable thing in the world.”

“Oh I thought she was just showing it off to me because she was intimidated by our chemistry. I don't feel so special anymore.” Charlie chuckles and sends a secret air kiss to his friend, who just smirks and fakes to blush.

“How would you handle it if you thought another man was hitting on her?” Owen asks the guitarist raising an eyebrow.

“She usually takes care of that situations, her method is to take me by the shirt and kiss me hard on the lips. I’m never going to complain about that.” Charlie says smirking and blushing.

“We are a celebrity couple, for better or for worse. I’m not having him in a fight when I can just kiss that beautiful lips and solve the problem.” Charlie smiles as he wraps his girlfriend in his arms, so she can't see his face with the next question.

“What do you dream of your marriage? Mmm, let’s go with Y/N.”

“Anything will be perfect if I spend it with the man of my life. My Char is my everything and my biggest dream is to live my whole life laughing by his side.” Owen pretends to vomit as Charlie fills her with kisses under the ear, clearly moved by her answer.

“Let’s get to someting less cheesy because I really can’t with you both anymore. Has anyone ever tried to break your relationship?”

Charlie rolls his eyes and thinks for a moment. “Yes. We were like seventeen, and this guy from hockey had this big crush on her, so he tried to flirt with her many times even though everyone knew she was my girlfriend, until one day that he made her too uncomfortable and things escalated between him and me. Luckily my brothers intervened before something else happened because he was much bigger than me. I would have totally lost.” He chuckles while his girlfriend turns to see his face and gives him another sweet kiss on the corner of his lips.

“Yes guys, they are this annoying all the time. How do I survive? A lot of yoga. Next question, If three guys are standing, and you have been blindfolded, then how would you recognize him? Guys we actually did this like three days ago on set.”

“It was awesome! We put my bandana on her eyes and since it had my smell she couldn't be guided by that to choose.” Charlie explains excited.

“We got the three of us, first Jeremy then Charlie and then me in front of her, then she began to lightly touch Jer's hand. Then she went to Charlie's, it didn't take her a minute to recognize him and she took him from the hair and draw him to her lips, it was actually a pretty smooth and risky move, I’ll give you a point for that, prodigy brat.”

“Char's body inadvertently reacts to mine. It was pretty easy to tell the difference, especially after touching Jeremy's hand.” She turns her head to give Charlie a soft kiss on the lips and then Owen starts laughing like crazy and telling her to come see a specific comment.

She gets up and goes to sit next to him, Owen changes the camera so that now they are the ones in the image and she begins to read aloud. “Charlie I could give you my... Oh my god!” Owen continues laughing, resting his head on his friend who simply watches the screen in shock.

“Thank god Charlie doesn’t know how to read.” Owen, who was just recovering from his giggling fit, laughs again as Charlie giggles and sticks his tongue out at his girlfriend.

"Who needs to read when you look this hot with sleeveless shirts." He jokes while winking at his partner, which seems to melt in front of the camera that is still pointing directly at her.

“The man has a point. Okay, Y/N move your ass back there I’m still in charge of this show. Would you prefer a silver or gold ring?”

She makes sure to move off the screen and sticks her middlefinger at Owen before heading back to her place with her boyfriend. “Good and really random question.” She smirks, not making contact with her boyfriend. “I don't have a preference, but I would love Char to design it. Obviously with the correct guidance, but yeah he choosing every detail and then explaining to me why he choose it would be the dream.”

Charlie smiles. He was already imagining something like this after so many years of gifting and has already been visiting the jewelry store several times to make sure he designed the perfect ring for his girl, a slight feeling of pride filling him.

“Which series does she thinks resembles your relationship?”

“She loves Boy Meets World and see a lot of us in Cory and Topanga. I can totally see it too, after all they too have known each other their whole lives and have a bond as strong as ours.”

“Well that explains why she’s always telling me ‘Life is though, get a helmet’ instead of actually help me.” She grins at the memory of Charlie’s last prank on Owen a couple of days ago, it was really good since she secretly helped him plan it.

“Man, It wasn’t personal. I do the same with Char. I’m not going to be known for being the one ruining prank war. Take it to the end of the road, if you need me to take you idiots out of jail I totally will... eventually.”

“My girl, everyone. Isn’t she awesome?” He watches her adoringly and she blushes in response, buring her head on his neck.

“She always has this enormous energy and personality but all it takes is for you to see her for her to melt, that’s... kind of cute actually. Okay next question Stardust, What about If Charlie tells you to marry him tomorrow?”

For the thousandth time that night Y/N can feel Charlie stressing out. The fact that he planned together with Owen and Kenny all of this just to make sure he was on the same page with her is the most adorable thing in the world.

“I’m pretty sure he knows I would always say yes. He could have gotten on a plane when we were 18 and told me ‘I don't want to be without you, let's get married.’ And I would have said yes. He’s my person, I have nothing to think about, I have always known it’s him."

Now it's Charlie's turn to melt, and Owen himself can't help but smile.

Charlie's confidence in what he has planned is higher than ever, and the day when he can finally make it official is near. He has been dreaming of this day with his Y/N for years and he will finally get it.

“Well guys, that was it, give it up to my favorite couple of dumbasses and please stop asking obvious questions. Will I be Y/N’s maid of honor? Of course I will. Oh, and tune in next week to see me becoming Kenny’s new favorite after I challenge Y/N in a dance duel with I got the music. Golden star is GOING DOWN."

Thank you for reading✨

NEXT PART HERE

Taglist: @writerinlearning, @ghostofmgg @strangerthanfanfiction713, @thebloodthirstyvampress @kinda-really-lost, @kcd15, @magnet-girl, @aliandthephantoms, @stxrkspidey, @pinkrockstar19, @s0uz4s, @shycupcakealissa @cookiebuba, @fangirlangioma, @sageellsworth05, @twist3dtinkerbell, @sunsetcurvenotsunsetswerve, @caitsymichelle13 , @ifilwtmfc, @luckylouiebug, @bibliophilewednesday, @totomoshi, @siennanoelle01, @lunashadow6955, @bookfrog247, @morganayennefertyrell, @kiss-themoongoodbye, @rachelle3musicals, @imsydneywalker, @really-dont-forget-it @agentstarkid @talksoprettyjjx @kaitieskidmore1 @lukeys-giggle @katie-navarro @crybabyddl @cocopuffs0211 @marvel-ousnesss @blackhood5sos @dpaccione @tuttigunner

[migilini]

Can I request an imagine with Charlie and like a typical day in their lives? Like they show their YouTube viewers their casual (Charlie chaos included) day? 💕

Typical - Charlie Gillespie

a/n: Sorry it took me a bit, had to take my wisdom teeth out... Anyways, I hope you like it :)) - Momo

words: 1.3k

warnings: fluffy like the clouds

requests are open :)

My MASTERLIST

----------------------------

“Hello hello and welcome back!” you told the camera propped up on one of your kitchen counters. The shot showing your tired face and loose pyjamas. A yawn escaped your slightly chapped lips as you tried to stretch the sleep away. Your eyes were heavy, your hair standing up in every possible direction, your body not fully awake yet.

“A lot of people asked for a little day to day vlog with the Gillespies,” you muttered as you made yourself a cup of coffee, the sparkling ring on your left ring finger very prominent in the shot.

“So we try to deliver! I just woke up a couple of minutes ago so excuse the light grogginess and don't know where my fiance is. Seems like you guys have to put up with only me for a bit.” you chuckled and poured milk into the steaming hot beverage.

“Sadly, we really don't have a lot to do today, well not much is planned…” you referred to the normal chaos a day with Charlie entailed. “We just need to run some errands, but I have a gut feeling that today will be a good one.”

You ended the clip and moved into your living room to turn up the radio. Ever since you were little, there was always some sort of music softly playing and therefore you hated a quiet house. It wasn't like you paid attention to the songs dancing through the air but the constant rumbling of background noise calms you down.

A little yellow piece of paper on the coffee table catches your eye. With furrowed eyebrows, you made your way over. Your eyes grew as you recognized Charlie's messy handwriting. Once again, you started a clip on your camera.

“I just found a secret message from Charlie on our coffee table.” you cleared your throat and started reading the note dramatically “‘Good morning Toots! I’m on a run and didn't want to wake you up. You looked so peaceful. I'll bring coffee from Allie’s. I love you, C Swizzle’” you grinned at the note, your heart beating faster with the love you have for him. “Hereby I declare the mystery where C Swizzle aka Char is as solved! I’m so hyped for the coffee. Allie’s is our favourite place in the whole city! Seriously if you're close by go and try it. So worth it. Now, until he’s back I’m gonna answer some emails and do our dishes from yesterday evening. You’re welcome to join me while I jam out to music.”

You propped the camera up on a shelf, filming yourself working for a bit. Then you went to the kitchen and turned up the music blaring out of the speakers you set up mere moments before. “Whenever I walk in the room. All the focus on me. The way I talk, the way I move. They all want on my team. Not tryin' to brag, brag, but I'm flawless.” screaming on the top of your lungs, you swayed your hips while the water from your tap filled the sink, the soap starting to bubble up.

“I'm taking over your playlist. Ain't perfect, but I can't miss, yeah. The party don't start 'til I walk in. I'm stealing all the attention. Don't get me started on mentions, yeah” A poor spoon had to be a placeholder microphone as you jumped through the small kitchen. Genuinely engulfed in the music, you didn't even hear the front door open and close. You didn't hear the footsteps walking towards you or the light chuckle that escaped the person's lips.

Sweaty arms wrapped themselves around your waist, making you scream and drop the cup you’ve been washing. The ceramic dish exploded on the floor, covering it in tiny splinters and shards. Charlie laughed at your reaction and pressed a loving kiss to your shoulder. “Sorry, Toots didn't want to scare you. I thought you heard me come in. Good morning by the way.” At the sound of his voice, you immediately relaxed. You weren't being murdered by an intruder. Turning around in his arms, you faced your boyfriend, your back pressed against the sink.

“I thought this was my last minute on earth. You really want to kill me before you even have the chance to marry me.” you chuckled and kissed his nose. “Where would be the fun in that? I do want to inherit some of your stuff.”

You lightly shoved him away but his arms stayed looking around your smaller frame. Looking down at the cup you frowned. “That was my favourite.”

“I'll get you another one. One that's even better than this one. Again I’m sorry.”

“I'll remember that. How was the run?” absentmindedly your hand brushed away some stray hairs that flew into Charlie's face. “Good.” he murmured “I don't like running with a mask on but it was all worth it because…” he turned around and got a little bag from the counter behind him. “I got us some coffee and that cream bagel you like so much.” you beamed up at him.

“Really?”

The next time you vlogged was at the grocery store several hours later. Charlie was pushing the shopping cart, while still holding your hand as you tried to deceiver your own grocery list. The camera sat comfortably at the front of the cart, framing you perfectly.

“Why did you think it was funny to write most of this in french?” you asked the boy next to you. He gave your hand a squeeze “Because you sometimes write stuff in german as well. It's only fair.”

You only rolled your eyes at that. “Yeah because I forgot the English word.” you huffed “Okay so we need d'oeufs. Eggs? And some milk. Right?”

“Mais oui mademoiselle.” He said amused.

“If you continue I will start to speak german,” you warned your boyfriend and you could bet that he was smiling under that mask.

“Threatening me in the grocery store? That's mean but the game is on honey.”

“You're gonna lose my dear. I had some french at school.” you let go of his hand and crossed your arms, raising one of your eyebrows at him while both of you grabbed some items you needed.

It wasn't the first time that the two of you suddenly challenged each other. One time, a couple of months ago, Charlie just randomly started to run and yelled back at you “Whoever is the last at the restaurant has to pay!” and with these words, he triggered your ambition. You struggled to get rid of your heels, hoping for the majority of the way as the two of you raced, reaching the restaurant sweaty and out of breath, earning some stares from other couples. Or another time where you suddenly claimed that you would be able to eat more pizza than him. A bet that you lost terribly.

Situations like this were normal for you, both really competitive and hardheaded. It was one of the things that spiced up daily life.

He raised both of his eyebrows, sparking a fire behind his eyes. “Essaie-moi, baby (Try me, baby)”

“In Ordnung, ab jetzt werde ich nur noch deutsch mit dir sprechen. (Alright, from now on I will only talk in german to you)”

Let’s just say the grocery shopping was a huge mess and took twice as long. You told Charlie to go and get the toothpaste and he came back with some pears which earned a laugh from you. Charlie tried to explain to you what he wanted to cook for you tomorrow evening, ingredients and everything but you only stared at him confused, occasionally nodding your head so he knew you were still listening. The dinner was gonna be a full surprise.

The two of you kept the act up all the way back to your apartment. You unpacked the food and had a camera recording somewhere. For the second time that day, arms wrapped around your waist, his head nuzzled in the crook of the neck.

“Do you have anything else planned for today?” he mumbled into your skin, his hot breath on your skin giving you goosebumps. A smile spread over your face. Wiggling out of his grip you sat on the tabletop and Charlie immediately stood between your legs, his arms around your neck. He leaned in to kiss you but before his lips touched yours you whispered “I won.”

His eyes grew wide and he pulled away slightly. He huffed and shook his head “Man I totally forgot about that. What is your prize, my lady?”

You traced his jaw with your index finger whilst your eyes never left his. “I demand… a thousand kisses!”

“A thousand?!” he exclaimed “My lady that's too many. You're going to starve the whole town.”

“Well then the town shouldn't have lost.” you teased back.

A smile was prominent on his face as he leaned in closer again “I must say you're a demanding ruler. But it seems like I must comply…”

The two of you stayed in bed for the rest of the day, only moving over to the couch to zap through Netflix. Naturally one of you already placed the camera on the shelf next to you.

Charlie tapped you on the shoulder, looking up from his spot half between your legs and on top of you.

“Yes, bubbs?”

“Play with my hair please.” he nearly whispered and made himself comfortable once again. Tiny hands finding their place in his dark hair.

At first, it was really weird to vlog all the time especially on a day where you and Charlie were just fooling around and being lovey-dovey. Luckily, you could still decide how much you wanted to cut out for the final video.

----------------------------

Taglist: @alluringworld

[pascalpanic]

At Last (Frankie Morales x gn!Reader)

Summary: you, Frankie, and your fur baby go camping! Little does Frankie know what you have planned.

W/C: 2.1k

Warnings: flirting, innuendo, alcohol, food, language, otherwise, this is toothaching fluff!

A/N: SAMMY MY BELOVED @sanchosammy GAVE ME THIS IDEA! I hope it’s as cute as I think it is :) also, Charlie (Frankie’s pup) isn’t involved in this fic but she is still part of the fam :)

Pine trees surround you on either side, tall and majestic. You can see the blue-gray sky patching through the canopy; the clouds are leaving, but some linger a little longer to clog up the sky. The air is warm and slightly humid, but a wonderful breeze rustles through the trees and rushes across your bare arms. Your trail shoes squelch underfoot in the damp ground. You sigh, totally content with this moment. 

Frankie’s flannel is tied around his waist, leaving him in his khaki cargo pants and t-shirt. A couple of curls peek out from under his ball cap, turning into little ringlets at the nape of his neck. He walks in front of you on the trail, his boots pressing prints into the soft ground. His back profile is beautiful, even with the large camping pack, and you can’t help but grin. 

Foxtrot embodies her name- Frankie is holding her leash, and the auburn and white dog trots up ahead of him, sniffing along the mulched and muddied path. The air smells of humidity that’s just passed over and that wonderful accompanying petrichor. Fox’s white paws are surely getting dirtied, but that’s only to be expected. You don’t care, too excited to watch your boyfriend and dog walk ahead of you. 

Frowning at the bend of Frankie’s back, you catch up and take his free hand. “Let me carry something, baby.”

“No,” he shakes his head, lacing his fingers through yours. “You have important cargo,” he teases and pats your back lightly. 

Strapped to your back, in a backpack-style blue case, is your ukulele. One hand carries the cooler, slung over your shoulder, filled with food and drinks for tonight. Frankie carries the heavy-duty stuff- the tent, stakes, more essential supplies. “At least let me take Fox.”

Her red ears perk up at her name and she stops, turning and growing excited, as if she forgot you were there. “Yeah, hi Foxy!” You coo as she runs towards you, jumping with her front paws in the air in excitement. “Yeah, you love it out here, don’t you?” You ask her in a baby voice, scratching behind her ears as she circles around your legs and prevents you from moving. Frankie drops her leash in order to prevent your legs from being tourniqueted by it, and it drags behind her in the mud. 

When you pick up the leash, it’s sludgy and damp, but you don’t mind too much. You continue the hike forward and Frankie and Fox follow at your sides, both beaming ear to ear and enjoying the serenity of the woods. 

Frankie picked the campsite, so he’s technically leading the way, but the trail is fairly straightforward, meaning you don’t need to be led. Frankie points out wildlife here and there: chipmunks, rabbits, cardinals and chickadees flitting through the pine-needled canopy. He’s in his element, and you’re in yours: with him. 

The mud gives way to drier ground ahead, and luckily enough Frankie pulls off to the side. It’s the perfect spot, with a beautiful little field of wildflowers. “Welcome to your five-star hotel for the night, babe,” he assures you and kisses you softly, making you giggle and kiss him back with excitement and a pinch of nerves in your stomach.

There’s a routine the two of you have silently adopted. Frankie sets up the small tent, just big enough for the two of you and Fox. You gather kindling, set up a fire, arrange the chairs and all-around make the outdoor area of your campsite ideal.

Frankie is a man of patience, truly, but sometimes the little portable tent proves to be a challenge. You allow Fox off of her leash, knowing she’s well-trained enough to stick around the site, and find your way to the mess of fabric and stakes covering the man. “Baby. For the love of God, we do this all the time,” you tease.

“Well, something must’ve fucking changed,” he grumbles as he fiddles with the parts. You get on your knees on the soft bed of dried pine needles and help him out. With your help, the tent takes no time at all to put up, and you stand and brush off your hands. Frankie gives you a sheepish smile and you give him a kiss. 

The two of you don’t need to converse while you set things up. You enjoy the woods, the rustling of the wind and chirping of birds. Fox curls up on the blanket you set out for her, and when everything is done, you unzip the cooler and hand Frankie a beer. “Well, now we’re all set.”

“Let the fun begin,” he chuckles and twists the top open, clinking his glass bottle to yours. 

“So, Francisco,” you smile over at him. “What do you have planned for this trip? I know you have some sort of plan laid out up there,” you tease and rap on his head softly, through the trucker cap resting there.

He blushes a little and looks away. “I don’t always have a plan.”

“Hey.” You turn his face back to yours by the chin. “You do and I absolutely love it. Now tell me about it, please, baby.”

Frankie removes his hat and runs a hand through his curls. “Well, I figured we could start the fire soon, cook dinner over it. It’ll get dark pretty quick. Then hang around the campfire, maybe play some of the games I packed.”

“Is a quiet tumble in the tent on the cards?” You ask him with a teasing grin, nudging his side. 

He shrugs, jokingly, as if he’s considering it. “I don’t see why we couldn’t squeeze that in. We only have, oh… three hours of time in between these plans.”

“Then we’ll use all three of those hours,” you shrug and steal a kiss, smiling into his lips. “I love you. And I love it out here.” You were never a nature person before Frankie, usually preferring indoors adventures to hiking or camping. Frankie looks like he belongs out here, and he probably thinks he does. Even if you didn’t enjoy the fun of outdoors adventuring, you’d have at least one thing to enjoy: Frankie’s excitement and enthusiasm over it. “Thank you.”

Fox is curled at Frankie’s feet, and he bends over to scratch her ears, running his fingers through her scruffy fur. “Thank you, baby. For coming out here with me and putting up with all of this. I couldn’t ask for a better adventure partner.”

-

You do, indeed, cook dinner over the fire. You’d prepped all kinds of chopped vegetables to be grilled over an open flame, and had additionally packed pre-cooked hot dogs as well as s’mores ingredients. Frankie is a firm believer that it’s not camping if it doesn’t include graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows.

Luckily, your Frankie is a skilled griller. He always is, always has been. He takes care of the cooking part, since you prepared everything else, though he lets you hold the hot dogs over the fire to roast. “I feel like I’m at camp again,” you laugh as you slowly rotate the food over the fire.

Frankie is taking charge of the vegetables, expertly. They’re getting a beautiful char, you notice. “It’s much better, because you don’t have to sneak around to make out with your boyfriend at night, huh?” He teases and tosses you a grin. 

“But I get my boyfriend all to myself,” you nod and confirm. “And I have my baby girl with me,” you coo as you rub Foxtrot’s head, where she’s resting at your side.

The meal is delicious, of course, when the two of you work together and each used your strong skills. Frankie slips bites to Fox when he thinks you’re not looking, of course, but it’s endearing, the way the dog’s big brown eyes mirror those looking down at her.

There’s not much conversation while you eat, mouths occupied with food rather than speaking. That’s alright. There’s plenty of time for that tonight and tomorrow.

The sun starts sinking lower when Frankie brings the marshmallows from the tent. “Guess what time it is!” He exclaims as he rips open the bag, skewering two marshmallows and holding them over the fire.

Like he’s a skilled griller, he’s also a wonderful marshmallow-toaster. Frankie toasts yours to perfection, just the way you like it, and you do your part as the s’more-sandwicher, shoving the marshmallow between the graham crackers and chocolate.

There’s no signal out here, and you agreed neither of you would use your phones unless an emergency happened. Frankie frowns as he sees your phone. “Hey. Put that away. Don’t use that.”

“There’s an emergency, Frankie,” you whine, opening the camera app with one hand and eating the sugary dessert with the other.

“And what’s that?” He asks, taking a bite of his s’more. 

Strings of gooey marshmallow connect the sandwich to his lips, making him laugh, and you snap a picture at the perfect moment: Frankie’s closed-lipped smile as his s’more falls apart on him. “You’re too damn cute, that’s the emergency,” you laugh and set the photo as your lock screen, tossing it away.

Frankie’s schedule actually worked itself naturally. After the s’mores and a wet-wipe hand-washing to remove the endless marshmallow from Frankie’s hands, you find yourself sitting around the fire, no light left in the sky. When you look up, all you can see is inky blue and pine trees, the stars yet to make their nightly rise. 

“I have a song request,” Frankie asks and raises his hand like a child in a classroom.

“Yes, Francisco?” You tease as you walk to the tent, grabbing your ukulele and returning with it, sitting back in your lawn chair with it. “Hit me.”

“Only The Good Die Young by Billy Joel. No, wait- Country Roads.”

Laughing, you noodle around with the strings for a moment. You knew this moment would come, and here’s the opportunity. “I can play all of those and more, Frankie. We’ll do the Billy Joel first,” you nod decisively.

Frankie sounds like the forest wolves at night when he sings along. He absolutely howls, taken away by the song, taken to a place where his voice isn’t just a little on the rougher end of good. He belts the words and dances along in his seat, like you do.

Then Country Roads. You thought the last one was bad before you hear Frankie’s booming voice echoing the ballad of West Virginia through seemingly the entire preserve. But you don’t care in the slightest. You sing along proudly, strumming your ukulele harder and harder until you’re sure you can’t add any more volume before snapping a string. 

After the song, you pause and rest your ukulele flat on your lap. “Frankie, baby. Can I ask you something?”

He nods, smiling over at you. “Any time. What’s up, buttercup?” He asks, taking one of your hands and kissing the knuckles.

“Will you marry me?” You ask. The question is straight and to the point, blunt and honest. Your face conveys your hope, and the grandiose speech follows. “I love you beyond belief, Frankie. I love you almost as much as you love these woods. I know you love me too. I just… think it’s time. We’ll be perfect for it. What do you say?”

You can feel Frankie’s slightly-chapped lips curve into a smile against your hand. He’s grinning and then he’s crying, soft water droplets forming in the corners of his eyes. “Of course I’ll marry you,” he grins, grabbing your ukulele and setting it aside.

Once the ukulele is on the ground, Frankie stands in front of your chair and lifts you to your feet, kissing you with such fervor you can’t help but gasp. When he breaks away, you smile, eyes watering too. “I know it wasn’t the most elegant of proposals, but-”

“It was the most us,” Frankie cuts you off with a teary grin. “I would be honored to be your husband, my love. You really want me enough to do that?”

“Frankie,” you coo, cupping his face in your hand. “You are the best husband I could ever want, could ever dream for,” you assure him and kiss his nose gently.

The man laughs, wiping his tears away. “Then let’s get married,” he whoops excitedly, then lets out an excited shout to the woods. “We’re getting married!”

You laugh at his loud and booming declaration, but nothing can detract you for the love and joy in your heart.

When you and Frankie settle down in your chairs again, you pick up the ukulele and finish off with one last beautiful song that you and Frankie have always adored, with a title that truly fits: At Last.

-

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[deanandthephantoms]

We're a Perfect Harmony PT.5 - Reader x Charlie

Summary: In the last chapter we saw Charlie run off. Why? What happened there? and what will this whole thing mean for Charlie and Emma? And even more important? What will it do for Charlie and Y/N? read this chapter to find out :).

Wordcount: 6997 - it's a long one oopsss.

Other Chapters: 1 / 2 / 3/ 4

It’s gonna be okay..

Our entire group just looked at each other. What just happened? Whatever Charlie’s phone call had been about.. it could not have been good. I wonder if I should go after him.. Then again, Emma is here too shouldn’t she go after him to make sure if he’s okay? Or should we just leave him alone for a second? No one really says anything and I’m guessing we’re all wondering the same thing.. “So.. eh. Should someone go check on him or..?” I then ask. They all just look at me. “What? Was that dumb question or something?” Emma speaks up “No Y/N, it isn’t.. I think we all think you should go check on him..” “Are you sure? I don’t..” I begin but Emma cuts me off “Yeah I’m sure. For some reason I think I would only make things worse right now.” “Right.. and he’ll accept a whole lot more from you than from the rest of us.” Madi then adds “ehh okay..” I say while sharing a look with Emma just to make sure it is really okay if I go. When she gives me a quick nod I get up and walk in the direction Charlie stormed of too..

I try giving him a call to maybe see if he’ll pick up and tell me where he is but he doesn’t answer. I go to check his bedroom but there’s no sign of him there, after checking the entire campground without any success I’m suddenly remembered of the lake Jeremy brought us to last year maybe he went there? When I make my way out of the tiny forest I see Charlie sitting there looking out over the water. I stop in my tracks for a second, debating whether I should go up to him or not. My heart tells me I should go up to him to at least give him a good hug and I decide to listen to that. I silently make my way over to him. “Just leave me alone. please..” he says, the sad sound of his voice breaking my heart. I turn around to walk away but something is stopping me, I can’t walk away from him not when he’s feeling like this.. so even though I know I may regret it, I turn back around and sit down next to him. As soon as I sit down I notice the fact that tears had been rolling over his cheeks, making my heart break even more for him and I instantly pull him into a very tight hug. “Sorry Charlie. I can’t..” I just tell him softly. The fact that he puts his arms around me and hugs me back so tight I can barely breath tells me it’s okay that I’m there. I can feel Charlie begin to shake and as he buries his face into my neck I soon feel my neck and shoulder getting wet with tears. “hey , hey .. it’s okay.. I don’t know what’s going but it’s gonna be okay.. I got you.” I calmly talk to him slowly running one hand up and down his back to comfort him while the other arm holds him tight. We just sit there like that for what seems to be hours and that’s completely fine I’ll sit here with him, like this, until he calms down enough to get back to camp with me. I don’t care if it take days, I’m not letting him go. After a while he seems to calm down and I slowly try to move back a bit to look at him but Charlie tightens his grip on me and just mumble whispers a: “no.” without any hesitation i just hug him tightly again “I’m not going anywhere Charlie don’t worry.. We can stay here as long as you want okay?”

What has gotten this boy so upset? Who had called him and what did they say? I was so used to Charlie always being happy, cheerful and positive through everything. I never even imagined I would ever see him like this.. I found myself getting sad just by how sad he was and the fact that I desperately wanted to make him feel better but I had no clue how was making me feel frustrated.. Charlie must have felt me tense up cause now it’s him running his hand up and down my back to calm me down. “It’s okay y/n” he whispers. “No it isn’t Charlie.. What’s wrong? What just happened..” I say softly while still sitting there hugging each other tightly. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about me nugget.” I can tell he tries his best to make me believe it. I let out a deep sigh “Charlie please just talk to me..” I feel him shake his head in the crook of my neck. “Charlie, please.” I say more firm this time. “You can’t keep this all to yourself.. let me be there for you..” I then say in the same soft tone as before.

Another long silence and just sitting there holding each other follows before eventually Charlie speaks up. “It’s my parents..” I wait for him to continue but he doesn’t. “What about them? Are they okay?” I ask him. He sighs and then let’s go of me so he can look at me, the look on his face breaks my heart all over again. “They uh.. they haven’t had the best relationship over the last few years.. me and my siblings were well aware of that you know but every fight always got made up again and then things would be okay for a little while before it got bad again.. but like I said it has been like that for years.. we we’re used to it. In a strange way it was all sort of okay? but now..” He falls silent as I see a few more tears forming in his eyes, I reach out to touch his arm in a sort of comforting manner and give him an empathetic look. “Now that’s all gonna change.. they’re getting a divorce.. and I.. I’m gonna have to live with my mom.. cause you know my dad is gone for work a lot.. but my mom wants to find a completely new place somewhere else .. And I just..” his voice breaks as during all that the tears started falling again. I pull him close to me just hugging him not sure what to say, I felt so bad for him. His entire life had changed in the span of one phone call.. “I’m so sorry.. I.. I don’t really know what to say.. thank you for telling me though, you shouldn’t go trough things like this alone Chewie. I mean obviously you have your siblings but you gotta let people in sometimes.. it’s okay to not be okay and share that..” he lets out the smallest laugh “Did you just call me Chewie?” “yeah.. I’ve been nugget for a year now and I’ve been thinking about a nickname for you.. this one just came out? Sorry?” I can feel myself starting to blush, but the fact it gave him a reason to let out a small laugh makes me happy. He slowly makes his way out of my arms and looks at me with a serious face “No don’t apologize, Chewie Charlie.. it has a nice ring to it. And thank you for making me tell you Nugget.. I really tend to keep things for myself, I don’t want to bother anyone else with my struggles or sadness I’d rather be happy and positive you know. but it’s gonna be nice to have someone to talk to about this..” “Please know you can always talk to me.. You’re not bothering me by telling me you’re not feeling okay. We’re friends, right Char? to me that means having fun but also and maybe even more so being there when things aren’t so fun..” “Yeah no. to me too. And I am that friend to others, I just..” he sighs and falls silent. “You just don’t want to use that part of friendship from others?” I finish his sentence for him. “yeah exactly..” I nod at that “I get that you know.. I feel the same way.. Shall we make a deal? A deal to use each other’s part of that friendship?” “Yeah.. I like that deal.. I’ll make that deal with you Nugget.” I smile at him “Good. It’s settled then Chewie.” He laughs at that. “There’s that laugh I know and love. Hey do you think you’re ready to get back to the rest? Or do you want to stay here a little longer?” I ask him.

“Well.. as much as I love sitting here with you. We should probably get back I bet they’re wondering where we are.. Oh god I bet Emma is freaking out about us sneaking off..” he let’s out a sigh at that realization. “Uhm. Yeah, about that.. I don’t think so.. It was actually her idea that I would go after you and the others agreed so.. We’re not being sneaky if that’s what you think.” He seems surprised about that. “She what? Really? I did not expect that.. still we should go back though I don’t want them to get worried.. but can we keep this whole thing between us for now?” I grab his hand and stand up “Of course. I’m not gonna tell anyone. Come on Chewie.” He gets up and still holding my hand we walk back to the campground it’s only when we get there that I realize we’re still holding hands and I quickly let go of it. Not that it meant anything but that’s obviously not what others would think. Once we get back to our group Emma is the first one to fly over to Charlie to embrace him in a hug and kiss his cheek. I pick up on a quick are you okay from her side and a yeah thank you from Charlie’s side. The others then soon stand up to give Charlie a big hug as well. It turns into a group hug with Charlie in the middle and I just stand there taking it all in, that is until I get pulled into that hug as well by Owen. “You should be a part of this too” he just simply states. The rest of the day goes by somewhat normally. Charlie went back to his ‘I’m-always-happy-self’ which I know isn’t how he’s actually feeling but maybe the him just going along with everything is actually a nice distraction of the whole situation.

Later that night I’m chilling with the boys while Charlie and Emma are spending some time together she was now getting the news of what’s going on.. “soo.. Is Charlie okay?” Jeremy asks me. “He seemed to be okay when you two came back” Owen says. “Well.. I think he will be okay. you know what he’s like.. finding a way to turn everything into something positive..” I tell them. “yeah you’re right.. You we’re gone for quite a while though? Was it that bad? Was he mad at you for coming after him?” Owen asks. I sigh, I’m glad they’re not asking super specific questions Charlies story isn’t mine to tell at all “Well.. He wasn’t mad although he told me to leave him alone at first. In the end it was all good though. We talked and laughed and that’s how he got ready to come back to the group.” “Did he tell you what was going on?” Jer then asks me. “Yeah he did..” I simply state not going any further into detail. I see Owen and Jeremy share a look before looking at me with a smile. “What?” I ask. “You, really are something special aren’t you?” Owen states. When I just give then a confused look Owen explains “Charlie is not a talker. I mean he is a talker, but when it’s very personal, when It’s something that comes close to his own feelings? He doesn’t talk. He’ll pretend everything is fine. We’ve been his friend for like 7 years but he always refused to talk. And then you come in and suddenly he’s a real talker..” for some reason that makes me blush.. “Well .. I don’t know. I may have pushed him a bit, I don’t think.. “ Jer interrupts me “You don’t think we’ve tried pushing him? This is all you Y/N. You apparently have this thing Charlie needs to really truly open up.” “Well. IF that’s true. Then I’m glad. No one should walk around keeping everything to themselves. Anyway.. I’m actually pretty tired so I’m gonna go to bed okay? Wish Emma and Charlie a goodnight for me?” I say while getting up and hugging Jer and Owen goodnight. “We will! Goodnight Y/N!”

When I’m in bed I hear my phone buzz shortly, I pick it up and see Charlie messaged me. “Are you okay Nugget? Going to bed that early doesn’t seem very youuu.” Reading that makes me smile “Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry I was really tired, it was a bit of an intense day I guess? Are you okay?” “Yeah I’m pretty tired too actually.” That answers my question.. Him not answering my question tells me enough. “Are you still up?” I ask him. “ “Yeah, I’m on my way to our sleeping building though. why?” I don’t even hesitate for a second and silently get out of my bed again I make my way out of our room to the entrance of the building we sleep in. When I spot Charlie I literally run towards him he opens his arms for me and I run into them pulling him into a hug. “What are you doing up, you dork?” “You didn’t answer my question Charlie. Which told me you needed a hug.” He lets out a small laugh “Wow. You’re getting good at this whole REALLY knowing me thing.” He says while letting go of me a smile growing on his face when he notices my Rush t-shirt. “Weeeell, SOMEONE decided to let me in today. The thing is Charlie, once you let me in it’s very hard to get rid of me and very hard to hide things from me. “ “Good. Cause I don’t want you to go anywhere Nugget.” I smile at him. “So do you want to talk about it or?” “Nahh not now anyway, we should go to bed. Thanks for coming out to hug me though. I did need that.” “You’re very welcome Chewie, going to bed without a hug felt wrong anyway. Now we’re all good.” I say jokingly while actually being totally serious. That hug before bed did genuinely make a difference it made me feel safe and peaceful before going to bed. I loved it. But he didn’t need to know that though.

The next day everything seems to be back to normal. Well.. Emma isn’t sitting next to Charlie that’s different.. but I’m sure that means nothing right? they don’t have to be stuck together all the time.. plus they both seem to be in pretty okay moods so I’m guessing everything is fine. I can’t let my thoughts dive into that situation too much though because the head camp councilors are trying to get our attention. They tell us that today we’ll be cycling through the neighborhood playing some games and at the end will be doing a survival run. I’m not gonna lie, the survival run gets me nervous.. I’m not the best at sports. Now that in itself has never been a problem at least not with this group.. but at school, sports was basically the time where I felt most insecure, I would always get picked last, people we’re annoyed if I had to be on their team and for some reason I was afraid that would happen today. That I would hold my group back big time, that I would be clumsy and not be able to do half of the things afraid that I would feel like I was dying after one obstacle.. and through all that afraid I would just annoy my group of friends. I find myself starting to think about different excuses as to why I would not be able to do the survival run. Maybe I’ll just pretend to fall and hurt my ankle? My mind keeps running in full speed panic mode for a while until Charlie snaps me out of it.

“Hey, you okay?” he asks me sort of quietly “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Why?” That obviously was a total lie and Charlie knew that too. He gives me a really? Kind of look and just says “Remember our deal?.” I sigh he wasn’t gonna give this up and I knew that. “I remember. Trust me, I’m okay. I’ll tell you what’s up later okay?” He agrees and as soon as we’re on our bikes I find Charlie and tell him honestly about the thoughts I had that morning and about where those thoughts are coming from. He never says a word and just hums every now and then to let me know he’s listening and understands what I’m saying. When I fall silent Charlie speaks up “You do realize we would never do that you right? I would never let anyone do that to you.” “yeah I know that. But it still get’s me nervous. Not that I think you’ll be mean but maybe just that I can’t do it. And that you’ll all fly through it super easily.. “ Charlie just shakes his head “Y/N! stop that. Stop thinking like that. You can totally do it! and we’re supposed to be a team so that means helping each other out! It’s gonna be fun. Trust me. Get out of that pretty head of yours and just enjoy today. “ Totally missing the fact that he called me pretty I instantly have my defense ready “but..” that’s all I can say before he cuts me off again “No. no buts. We’re gonna enjoy this, you can do this. I’m happy to have you on my team and I promise to not leave you behind I’m gonna help you out if that’s needed okay? Just calm down.. Please.” I let out a deep sigh, “Fine. Trusting you on this one Gillespie.” He let’s out a laugh. “That’s better.”

So far the whole day actually is fun but when the obstacle run comes up I noticeably take a deep breath. Charlie comes up to me, looks me in my eyes and just says ; “ You got this Nugget.” Some obstacles end up being insanely high and while Charlie basically flies over them he always comes back for me, the entire group is ready to help me out and we actually end up having a lot of fun. I felt like I was dying, I was totally out of breath, I felt incredibly clumsy but it was good. All my fears had been for nothing, sure I wasn’t good at this but the way my friends dealt with this , the way Charlie dealt with this made it all okay. When we get to the finish I just fall down in the grass, totally feeling dead after giving it my all. My entire group just follows my lead, Charlie falling down next to me. “see. Told you, you could do it. You gave it your all and did so good! You can be proud of yourself.” Madison picks up on that and adds “Yessss. You totally killed it! Well doneee Y/N!” I cant help but smile “Thanks guys. Really. I would not have gotten here if it wasn’t for you.” And I wasn’t just talking about making it to this finish. Those people had each in their own way had such a positive impact on my life, I would not be where I am now if it wasn’t for them.. On the way back to camp I find myself next to Sacha we’re just talking about what he thinks of the camp so far and end up playing a weird game whoever can get the most people to say hi back to them. The fact that we’re riding next to each other and with that greeting the same people and with that getting the same Hi’s doesn’t seem to matter. We’re having a bit of fun and having some bonding time which maybe helps others sort of believe that I’m actually liking Sacha even though I’ve been spending a crazy amount of time with Charlie.. I was just 100% lost in Charlies world and basically forgot about the fact I was supposed to not be doing that, almost forgot I had planned on hiding my feelings from everyone somewhere way down deep. But how could I if he was being so cute and sweet and supporting and incredibly good looking? He was just not making it THAT easy..

When it became late in the evening me and the girls were just chilling on our beds all pretty tired from the long and active day we had. “Soo.. You and Sacha seem to be getting along pretty well.” Sav hints at me. “I mean.. Yeah he’s nice, talented and just overall an easy going person. What’s there not to like or not to get along with?” “Yeah I can see that. He’s a cool guy!” Jadah agrees with me. “Sooo, will you be asking him out on a date then?” Emma asks me. I for some reason did not see that one coming. “I ehh.. I.. I don’t know? I mean I’m just getting to know him I don’t think I should ask him something like that just yet you know?” Mads who also sleeps in a top bunkbed just gives me a look not buying this whole ‘I like Sacha-thing’ for one bit. “Really? I think you should give it a try, seems to me like he’s having a good time with you!” Emma encourages me. “I don’t know Em.. I really don’t think we’re quite ready for that yet.” “No I think Emma is right y/n! Maybe just ask him to hang out at the end of the week!” Jadah says. “I think you should go for it Y/N” Savannah adds to that. “I mean yeah, maybe at the end of the week I’ll ask him to just hang out. I can do that.” Just that earns me a few cheers from the girls. It’s lovely that they’re rooting for me and encouraging me to go for it especially since they think I like him, and I do as a friend but I don’t want to go out dating him.. that would not be fair to Sacha at all. Thankfully the topic of boys is dropped pretty quickly only to move on to talking about our celebrity crushes.. I was missing my late nights with Charlie.. but I wasn’t gonna lie just a night like this with the girls was actually very fun as well. I fell asleep as a very happy girl that night.

Waking up the next morning I’m actually well rested and in a good mood, instead of my sort of grumpy still half dead morning self. It’s quite early and everyone still seems to be asleep, I get out of my bed, freshen up and make my way outside. The sun is shining and I’m greeted by birds singing their morning songs, while taking a deep breath I just sit down and take in the peaceful scene. Not long after I hear some footsteps behind me which is soon followed by two arms being thrown around me from behind. Without even actually seeing who it was I just know it’s him.. “Good morning Charlie.” “Morning Nugget! You sound incredibly awake for this hour of day.” he jokes in his morning voice as he sits down next to me. “Right?! A certain someone did not keep me up till 4 am last night. look at the difference that makes!” I tease him right back. his face now showing an over acted offended look “Hey! No need to get all mean about it. I thought you loved those Late nights with Gillespie.” I let out a laugh “Late nights with Gillespie? You’re gonna have to work on that name dude..” “Oof. You really have it out for me today ey?” “Sorry. In all seriousness though. you are gonna have to work on that name, it sounds..questionable. But I do love those late nights yeah and I may or may not have missed spending that time with you..” I softly bump into him after saying that. “Sooo…. Late nights with Gillespie is on again for tonight?” he asks in a playful tone. I just look at him for a second “IF you stop calling it that. Then yes.” I laugh. “ Coool. Team no sleep is back! but first, join me for breakfast?” He says as he gets up and holds out his hand for me. I had not noticed the fact that now the entire camp had woken up and were all making their way to breakfast.. I smile up at Charlie and take his hand to let him help me up.

When we get to breakfast our group is already there as Charlie makes his way over to Emma to give her a good morning kiss Emma quickly turns her head so the kiss lands on her cheek. They share a quick look but don’t say anything. Something wasn’t right between them I was sure about that now, there’s a hint of pain and confusion in Charlie’s eyes and sadness in Emma’s.. I know it’s their problem, I know I should stay out of it, I know it’s none of my business but I couldn’t help feeling like I should fix it. Feeling like I should help them out in some way.. so after breakfast I go up to Emma, not sure of what I actually want to do or say..

“Hey Em.. Can we talk for a second?” I just ask her and she agrees following me to the spot where we had been talking earlier that week. “What’s up Y/N?” she asks as soon as we sat down. “I eh.. I guess I just wanted to make sure you we’re doing okay?” She sighs and is silent for a second , it looks as if she’s debating on what to say so I just give her the time and space to think. “Well.. I was gonna say yes but I have the feeling you know that is not true so.. no not really.” I nod “Yeah I uhh couldn’t help pick up on a few signs.. Want to talk to me about what’s wrong?” “I don’t even really know..” she sounds sad when saying that. “What is it that you don’t know? would I be wrong if I said there might be something going on with you and Charlie?” she lets out a small laugh “of course you picked up on that..” I decide to ignore that comment and stay silent in hopes that she will continue and luckily she does “listen before I get into this. I know I’m handling it all wrong okay? So you know the whole situation Charlie is dealing with right? I knew his parents were fighting every now and then but not as much as they apparently were he never talked to me about those things and that kind of annoys me? Why is he keeping all those things from me? I’m his girlfriend shouldn’t I know everything? I just want to be there for him.. but it’s like he won’t let me? And the fact he’s gonna move and neither of us know where makes me scared I will end up losing him and I think that fear is making me push him away already? And I don’t want to do that but I do? But he’s also just letting that happen?” I take a deep breath trying to collect my thoughts. I can see why she’s scared of losing him and I can understand that she wants to know what he’s going through but at the same time I want to yell at her all angry for only making Charlie hurt more than he already is in his current situation.. I try to calmly get my point across “Have you tried just talking to him about everything yet? You can’t expect him to understand what you want and need if you don’t tell him.. just denying some kisses is not gonna tell him anything ems.. and yes. You’re his girlfriend so even though you may be scared, he’s the one that needs your support right now. Give that to him. Don’t make this harder on him than it already is..” I see her swallow “I don’t.. “ she begins but I stop her. “You do know how. Talk to him. TODAY.” She shakes her head “I’m leaving later today and I still have to pack and..” I once again interrupt her. “Stop that. You’re talking to him now. I’m gonna go look for Charlie. I will send him here, and you will talk to him.” I see a glance of panic in her eyes. “Calm down you got this. Just be honest with him.” I walk off and quickly find Charlie “Hey nugget..” before saying anything I pull him in for a quick hug. “Hey, uhh you should go talk to Emma..” I see his eyes widen a bit, making me realize he’s probably expecting the worst now.. “No don’t worry. It’s gonna be okay. she just has to let you in on a few things.. You’ll be okay I promise.” I give him one last hug before sending him off in Emma’s direction. I just hoped this conversation would go well and Charlie would feel a bit better soon..

There’s no sign of either of them for several hours and even though I wanted to go look for Charlie, making sure he’s okay I didn’t. They needed this time together and I had to give it to them. To distract myself from it all I found the rest of the group that were just playing some games and jamming out to some music and that helped. They really were the best kind of distraction. Late in the afternoon Charlie and Emma find us again both looking a lot happier, they’re holding hands and Charlie is holding some of Emma’s bags in his other hand. When they reach us Charlie tells Emma he’ll bring her bags to the car giving Emma some space to say goodbye to all of us. As soon as I stand up she pulls me in for a hug. “Thank you Y/N. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much you’ve just helped me. You’re a good friend. I’ll be missing you. “ I smile at the big difference between this moment now and this moment last year. “No problem ems. I’m glad we got to know each other and actually became friends. And hey, I’m only a face time call away!” I let go of her and she says goodbye to the rest of the group too. Then I see her and Charlie sharing a good goodbye kiss. That view makes me smile, it’s not that I liked seeing him kiss her, not at all.. but I loved seeing him more happy. That’s all I wanted, I wanted him to be happy.

Once it became ‘late night with Gillespie’ o’clock, Charlie and me found ourselves in the middle of that same field as a few nights before. At first we just sit there but Charlie soon decides to lie down. “Come here?” he asks holding his hand out for me, I take it and he pulls me closer to him into a hug. “I don’t know what you did today. I don’t know what you did to Emma, but thank you. You’re a lifesaver Nugget.” He says softly. “I didn’t do anything Charlie.. I just kind of pushed her into talking to you.. I hated seeing you both be sad..” I just lie there Charlie’s arm around me, my head on his chest hearing his steady heartbeat. Usually that sound creeps me out, but now it’s the most calming thing in the world. Out of nowhere I feel a quick and soft kiss on the top of my head. “I wouldn’t call that nothing. Thank you, just please accept me being thankful.” I’m speechless for a second, overwhelmed by the amount of butterflies in my stomach. Suddenly I’m very aware of how we’re laying there and suddenly I feel like we shouldn’t be.. I wiggle my way out of his grip only to lie my head back down on his stomach. That for some reason feels less wrong and still gives me the chance to be close to him. “Fine then. You’re welcome.” I say. He let’s out a laugh and starts to, what feels like braid my hair. After a comfortable silence Charlie speaks up again “Soo, how are things with you and Sacha?” Well I’m here trying to get as close to you as possible without it being wrong.. how do you think it’s going? Is what I would like to say to him but instead I say: “Oh eh, I don’t know? He’s nice, we’re able to have fun he’s incredibly talented..” “But you don’t like him like that?” that answer makes me choke on my own breath. “What? What makes you say that?” he laughs “You okay there nugget? I just think you deserve better than someone who’s nice and talented and I think you would sound a whole lot different if you really liked him like that. I’ve heard you fangirl, I know what you sound like when you love someone..” “oh. Right. well I think you may have a point there. The girls were all telling me I should ask him out on a date but I feel like that wouldn’t be fair to him.” “If you don’t like him don’t do it. You deserve the absolute best in this world Y/N. Don’t ever go for anything that wouldn’t make you a 100% happy.” “Thanks Chewie. That’s actually some good advice.” He gasps “Actually some good advice?! You make me sound like I’m the worst.” I laugh “You know that’s not what I meant! You know I think you’re far from that..” “oh? I don’t know nugget I think you need to remind me again” He teases. “You sure about that? We could be here a while you know.” “I mean I would like to be here a while but you don’t have to remind me. I know.” “Well. Actually. I do still have to thank you for that whole survival thing. You literally got me through that Charlie. You’ve been getting me through a whole lot.. I actually may have to admit that I think you’re the best..” “Ahh thanks Nugget. I don’t want to ruin this braid I’m making but I would have hugged you otherwise..” I laugh “You enjoying braiding my hair Gillespie?” “Actually yes, there’s something strangely calming about it. I can’t promise you it will look good though..” “That’s fine by me.” We lie there a little longer just talking about all kinds of things until Charlie runs out of hair to braid and we agree on calling it a night.

After a short 3 hours of sleep the last full day of camp has arrived. I was not gonna lie that realization made me a bit sad, I was not ready to let go of all those people again. I just lie in my bed smiling at the sight of Mads, Sav and Jadah waking up. “What are you smiling about Y/L/N?” Jadah asks me. “I’m guessing it’s Charlie.” Mads just blurts out. This girl really had been waiting for the second Emma left so she could be real with me again huh? “Nooooo. Actually it’s not. Not Charlie or Sacha either. I just was enjoying the not waking up alone for that last time.” As I get up the girls burst out in laughter. “Oof your hair.. Looking gooood Y/N” Sav jokes. I’m confused for a second only to then remember what Charlie had done.. “Oooh. Yes.. Right forgot about that..” “See. Called it. It was Charlie.” Mads teases. I groan at her while taking the braids out of my hair not that doing that made my hair look any better. I guess today I was gonna go for lion mane instead normal human hair.. When arriving to breakfast I sit down next to Charlie. “Morning Y/N. I like your hair today.” He jokes “Oh shut up Gillespie. This is all your fault.” That fact only makes him laugh. I try to keep a straight face but how can I when he’s laughing like that? I can’t help but smile with him and just embrace the hair.

The rest of the day was mainly focused on playing games that would decide who the best group on camp was that week but since our group had no chance of winning that title anyway we just chilled. We watched the other groups play their games while we we’re singing them random songs. At some point Charlie sat down behind me and told me to lean back against his legs once I did that I felt his hands on my shoulders and the back of neck, this boy casually decided on giving me a massage. I don’t know why he did it. He didn’t say anything and neither did I. We just sat there like that for a good while still singing some songs as I felt myself relax more and more under Charlie’s touch, I apparently had been super tense without even realizing it.. When i locked eyes with Madison for a second she just shoots me a ‘I KNEW IT!” kind of look. I smile at her, deciding to ignore it and close my eyes purely focusing on the things Charlie was doing and let me tell you, I fully enjoyed all those things and I found myself thinking about how he could totally do this more often if he wanted to..

But then Charlie’s phone rings, he gently pushes me forward a tiny bit so he can get up and take this call. Not long after he returns, his face tells me it wasn’t the best phone call he had ever gotten. “You alright?” I ask when he’s sat down beside me. “Yeah.. eh the moving thing is just happening a lot sooner than I thought.. I’ll be on your bus tomorrow we’re staying with my grandma for a while and she lives somewhat close to you..” “oh.. That’s unexpected.. I’m sorry it’s all happening so fast now Charlie..” he sighs “yeah me too..” from that moment on we all silently agreed on basically just ignoring that fact for now. Charlie and Sacha spent some more time jamming Owen joins them drumming on random things, Jer joins in on me and the girls conversation and this how we spend our time until dinner.

After dinner the tradition of staying up all night begins. We end up playing 30 seconds again this time though we’re playing with mixed teams I’m in a team with Madi, Savannah and Charlie playing against Jadah, Sacha , Owen and Jeremy. I, already being tired, am cuddled up against Charlie which he seems to be fine with and no one else seems to question either. Owen and Savannah are once again screaming at each other over every little thing and the rest of us are just having fun with it. The night flies by like that until it’s time to go and watch the sunrise we agreed to make that our own little group tradition. The entire night I never left Charlie’s side and now sitting here on by the little lake that does not change he actually just hugs me closer to him and when he feels me shiver from the cold he takes of his hoodie and offers it to me. “are you sure?” I ask him. “Yes nugget. you’re cold. put it on.” I gladly obey to that order, as soon as I’m wearing the hoodie he pulls me close again. “You know what. It looks good on you nugget.” By the way he whispers that to me I can tell he’s incredibly tired as well. And I can’t blame him for that he’s had a crazy week.. “Might be keeping it then Gillespie.” I tease him. “Ha. In your dreams Y/L/N. It’s my favorite. I’ll make sure to pack it again next year though. I promise.” We then fall silent again just enjoying each other’s company in this beautiful piece of nature watching the world slowly come to life again.

We then quickly pack our bags and say our goodbyes, we agree on figuring out a way to all meet up some time during the year so we won’t have to miss everyone for THAT long. After giving everyone a last hug and wave Charlie and me get on the bus. “I guess this is one positive to me living with my grandma.. maybe we can now actually hang out sometime instead of always face timing?” He sounds hopeful. “Yeah I would like that. I promised you everything would be okay.. I’ll do what I can to make that come true. The occasional real life hug might help?” “Thanks nugget. You’re the best.” without even thinking about it I rest my head on his shoulder. “Anytime.” I tell him while closing my eyes. I feel him resting his head on top of mine and within minutes we both fall asleep like that..

Continue reading part six here :)

[official-weasley]

Bill's Secret - (The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley AU)

Warnings: Fluff 💙

Word count: 3,825

Characters: Charlie Weasley and my OC Nova from TICW which you can find here

Nova

“Okay, okay, let's try this again.” I heard Charlie say as I came back from getting our mail.

“You won't give up, will you?” I giggled.

He was kneeling in front of the sofa, helping Aoede to sit. She is almost six months old now and showed some interest in doing it and now Charlie has been giving it his all to be the first one to see her sit properly.

He missed her first smile and her first giggle. And the first time she rolled over on her own and the first time she crawled all due to work. Each time he came home and I told him about something new she did, he was sad and upset that he was missing on so many firsts.

Since we were planning to go to England for the first time since we moved into our new home, Charlie took a few more days off because he was determined to be the first one to see her do something new.

“Never,” Charlie said, clapping his hands to encourage Aoede.

“You do have to help her a little, you know?” I pressed my lips together, observing the scene.

“I know, but we keep falling to the side, don't we.” He booped Aoede's nose, pretending to be disappointed. “But daddy won't give up on you. No, he won't. He believes in his baby girl!” He said in a baby voice.

Charlie was making fun out of me and my mum whenever we talked to Aoede using a baby voice. He couldn't stop laughing when Bill did it the last time he came to visit us and he said that he would never talk to our children in such a funny voice but who's laughing now!

“Nice voice, Charles.” I laughed and sat down at the kitchen table and went through the envelopes.

“Oh, shush! You do it all the time.” Charlie tried defending himself, standing up.

“You said you will never talk in this voice.” I teased.

Aoede apparently found our conversation funny because she started giggling, looking up at Charlie.

“What you laughing for, huh?” Charlie kneeled back to her with the biggest grin on his face – Aoede's giggles were his favorite sound now.

While Charlie started clapping again, hoping this will be the day Aoede sits I give the letters in front of me my full attention.

There was one from my mum telling us how excited she is to see us again and that she got a whole week off to be with us. There was one from Molly asking when exactly we are coming and that our room is already ready. One was from Ginny as she told us all about the adventures she and Aoede will have as this will be the first time Charlie's younger siblings will see their niece and due to the number of letters we got from them all, we couldn't decide who was the most excited to spend time with her.

The last letter was from Bill and I looked to see what Charlie was doing before opening it. Bill had a secret which he only told me about 8 months ago and only because I cornered him, knowing something was going on and I knew he wanted to talk about it but was too shy.

He made me promise that I won't tell anyone – not ever Charlie – and now he sends me a letter here and there about it so I have to be careful not to let Charlie see anything.

“What? What is it?”

I read through Bill's letter and the news he shared with me shocked and excited me so much that I let out a loud gasp which alarmed Charlie.

“Oh, nothing.” I quickly folded the letter. “Let's just say, we are going to make one more stop when we come to England.” I couldn't stop a big smile from spreading all over my lips.

“That face doesn't say nothing.” Charlie picked up Aoede, his eyes narrowed.

“Who's the letter from? Is Penny finally pregnant?” He walked to me, trying to peek at what the letter says.

“No, it's not about Penny.” I sighed.

Penny and Andre have been trying to have another baby for a few years now but it just wasn't happening for them. They visited doctors all over Europe to find out what could be wrong since they didn't have any problems getting pregnant with Joanna. All had the same answer – just keep trying. So now, every time we get a letter from her we hope she brings good news.

“The letter is from Bill!” Charlie took the letter from me and tried opening it with one hand while holding Aoede with his other.

“Charlie, give it back!” I stood up, taking a deep breath.

If he reads that letter he is going to be so confused.

“Why don't you want me to read it?” He looked at me bemused, once I snatched the letter from him. “Are you sharing juicy secrets? Are you talking about feelings and his love life?” Charlie said dramatically.

“For a matter of fact, yes,” I said nonchalantly, waiting for his reaction.

“Hold up. Really?” Charlie forgot how to close his mouth, giving Aoede to me.

“For a while now.” I decided to tell him as slowly as possible.

“What's a while for you?” He eyed me suspiciously.

“A year.”

“A YEAR?!” Charlie's voice was so high-pitched that it made Aoede laugh. “He is in a relationship for a year? He was in a relationship when we got married?”

“They were just acquaintances back then, they started dating at the end of August but he told me when he was here for New Year's,” I explained.

“You have known for so long and you didn't tell me?” Charlie sounded offended. “Why not?”

“Because Bill asked me to.”

“Why?”

“Because he really likes this girl and he didn't want to jinx anything by telling too many people. I wouldn't know either if I didn't know him so well and figured it out on my own.” “How did you know?” Charlie pursed his lips, sitting down next to me, fully invested in Bill's little secret.

“It was written all over his face.” I giggled reminiscing on the moment.

We invited Bill to spend the New Year with us and as we were sitting outside – Charlie setting up the fireworks with Andrei that Fred and George left us from the wedding – Bill couldn't stop smiling and I knew something was up at once. At first, he was too shy to say anything but once he started talking about a girl he met at work he couldn't shut up about her.

I, of course, couldn't be happier. I always knew that he will find the right girl to settle down with, it was only a matter of time. And since he told Charlie about all the girls he dated through the years and kept this one a secret from everyone, I knew she was someone special.

“But I'm his brother. How did I not see it?” Charlie furrowed his brows. “Char, during my pregnancy a dragon could fly right above your head and you would miss it that's how excited you were for us to have a baby.” I giggled.

“True.” He finally gave up with a big smile over his lips. “So how's it going? Is he happy with this girl?”

“Since he wrote that he bought a wedding ring, I think so. What'd you reckon?”

“He did what?! Don't you think that's a little too fast? Where's the rush? They should get to know each other better. How does he know that she's the right one for him?” Charlie's voice was high-pitched again making it good entertainment for our daughter.

“Char, your Molly is showing,” I said with a smug expression on my face.

Charlie and his mum might not agree on many things – especially when it comes to Aoede – but sometimes when he's not thinking clearly he says the things Molly would usually say.

“Right, sorry.” He looked at me apologetically.

“It's alright. Get it all out now, because you are not saying those things in front of Bill.”

“You know I just don't want to see him get hurt again.” Charlie sighed.

“I know.”

I stood up, gave him Aoede, and walked to the hallway to the drawer where we kept letters. I put those from Bill talking about his girlfriend on a special pile and hid them behind the letters from my mum, knowing that Charlie would never look there if he got suspicious of me hiding something.

I put the letters on the table, took Aoede from him again, and nodded for him to start reading.

“Are you sure he wouldn't mind?” Charlie asked, already holding the first letter.

“In the letter he sent me today he said to tell you so that you won't be completely shocked when we go and visit them.” I giggled, getting comfy on the sofa with Aoede.

“Don't you dare make her sit,” Charlie observed what I was doing.

“I won't. I promise you'll be the first to see her sit properly.” I put my hand on my chest.

I played with Aoede, trying to make her giggle as many times as possible while Charlie was reading the letters.

“He sounds really happy with her.” Charlie finally spoke.

“I told you not to judge too quickly.” I motioned for him to join us.

“And he's dating Fleur Delacour!” He exclaimed. “She was nice at the tournament and the way she handled that dragon was amazing!”

“So do you approve?” I teased.

“I'll have to meet her but what I've read so far, I approve.” Charlie tried having a strict and serious voice.

—

“Alright, let's go through it again.” I opened the bag we had ready for Aoede.

“Her bottle?” Charlie started counting on his fingers.

“Check.”

“Her pacifier?”

“Check.”

“Her other pacifier because she keeps making the first one disappear?”

“Check.”

“The blanket she can't fall asleep without?”

“Check!”

“Baby wipes, diapers, tissues?”

“Check, check and...check!”

“Baby food?”

“I have a few bottles but we'll buy more in London.”

“Okay, then I think we have everything. Do you think we have everything, Aoede?” Charlie picked her up from the sofa next to the bag and tickled her belly, making Aoede reply to him with giggles.

We are both proud of how well we were handling parenthood. I am not going to lie, we were a bit sleep-deprived the first two months but after that, we have been doing pretty good. Charlie has been of immense help ever since Aoede has been born, making it easier for me and I am proud to say that we are quite a team when it comes to handling the baby.

Aoede has been an angel so far. Giggling and making bubbles more than crying which, I am sure, made things easier on us, and from what we have heard from other parents we are doing just fine for our first time.

Due to everyone in the Sanctuary being over the roof that someone had a baby, we can find someone to babysit whenever needed. Andrei is always the first in line when we ask and loves spending time with her, saying that they have the best conversations.

My mum likes to come and visit us whenever she gets a chance – which is at least once per week now as she would make any excuse to be with her granddaughter.

With so many people fighting over who will take care of her, Charlie and I can have some quality alone time – going on a date once a week and just enjoy being a married couple in love.

We took a plane ride for the first time in our lives. Neither Charlie and I wanted to apparate or use a Portkey with Aoede so flying with a plane was the next best thing. Charlie was already preparing himself to answer all the questions Arthur is going to ask him about our experience.

We had a pleasant flight. Both of us agree that we should do it more often. It might take longer than any magical transport but it was much safer for our daughter. My mum picked us up at the airport and we spend a week with her so that she could be with her granddaughter as much as possible.

Then we headed to the Burrow where Charlie's younger siblings took Aoede from us the second we said that they could play with her. Charlie was freaking out at first, running after them, following their every move making sure they are taking proper care of Aoede. But once he saw how gentle they were and that they mostly just sat around her and tickled her to hear her giggle and see her smile he calmed down.

As he predicted he had to tell Arthur about our flight in excruciating detail while I helped Molly in the kitchen and answered all the baby questions Ginny had. I loved how excited all of them were to be with their niece and for some reason it made Fred and George behave more.

Molly got the letter from Bill that he is coming in a few days and bringing someone with him and she desperately tried to get it out of me who it is. I knew that Bill wanted to tell them on his own so I stayed quiet, leaving Molly disappointed.

After a week at the Burrow, it was time for us to make one final stop before we would return to Romania. We needed 2 hours to say goodbye to Charlie's family as the twins hid Aoede from us to prevent us from leaving. Ginny tried her best to make her sweet, puppy eyes but she was too old now to make it work while Molly tried bribing us with cookies.

I understood that they missed us so much – us living so far away – and it warmed my heart to see how attached all of them got to Aoede. I wish we could stay longer but Charlie has to go back to work in a few days and he would never let us stay back in England – he was too protective of us to do so.

—

“Are you nervous?” I asked as we stepped out of the car my mum lent us.

“To meet Fleur or to ask him what we're here to ask him?” Charlie pressed his lips together.

“Both.” I chuckled.

“No,” Charlie shook his head, “I can't wait to see him cry though.” He giggled and knocked on the door.

“Here's my beautiful niece!” Bill exclaimed the second he opened the door.

“We are happy you are so delighted to see me and Nova,” Charlie said sarcastically.

“It's good to see you both too, but you can't beat Aoede's cuteness.” Bill hugged us both before giving me the biggest smile that let me know he wanted to hold Aoede.

He motioned with his hand to invite us inside and closed the door behind us.

“Nova, did you tell Charlie about...”

“I did.” I grinned, making Bill sigh in relief.

“She's in the living room,” Bill whispered, pointing with his finger.

“'ello. I am Fleur. So nice to finally meet you.” Fleur who was sitting on the sofa got up the second she saw us.

“Hi! My name is Nova and it's nice to finally meet you too. I have heard so much about you!” I smiled at her, making her blush.

I extended my hand for her to shake but she walked toward me with her arms opened and pulled me in a hug.

“And I remember you, Charlie. From the tournament.” She turned around, shaking his hand, not sure if he would return her hug as I did.

“Nice to see you again, Fleur.” Charlie bestowed her with a soft smile, his gaze switching between her and Bill.

“And zis must be your lovely daughter, Ayedee,” Fleur exclaimed, stepping closer to Bill to see her.

“Aoede.” Charlie corrected her, clearing his throat.

“Oh, I am zo zorry. My English iz not ze best yet.” Fleur smiled sheepishly, admiring Aoede.

“It's okay, you're not the first one to get her name wrong.” I chuckled.

I followed Fleur into the kitchen to help her prepare dinner, while Charlie stayed in the living room with Bill and our little girl.

The more I talked to Fleur the more I liked her. She was really sweet, just as Bill described her to me in his letters. She was kind and family-oriented just like Bill was, making them a perfect match. She kept asking me everything about us and Romania and Aoede and our experience with buying a house as they were looking to do the same once they marry.

It was useless to beat around the bush, pretending I don't know they got engaged since Bill told me and she told me how he proposed to her and how pleasantly surprised she was even though she wanted to marry Bill after their first date.

There was not a single doubt in my mind that she was the right girl for him as she showed just with the way she spoke about him just how much she not only loves but admires him.

“Need any help here?” Charlie leaned in the doorway with what looked like tears in his eyes, interrupting our conversation.

“Zank you, Charlie. We are managing just fine.” Fleur replied shyly.

»I zink Bill asked 'im to be 'is best man.« Fleur turned back to me as she saw my concerned and puzzled face why Charlie was on the verge of tears.

»Of course.« I giggled.

I knew what an honor that was for Charlie and since he only found out about Fleur a few weeks ago this must've been a pleasant surprise.

“You don't have to be intimidated by him, he's a big teddy bear,” I whispered to her after seeing she was nervously biting her lip.

“Bill said ze same zing,” Fleur sighed, “but it iz important to me for 'im and you to like me because you are William's best friends and closest family.”

“If it helps, I already like you.” I gave her a reassuring smile.

“Look at you sit all by yourself! You're such a big girl! Nova, I didn't know she could do this already!”

Before Fleur could say anything to my comment, Bill's baby voice made us look toward the living room.

“No, no, no! You did not!” Charlie rushed past us from the bathroom, pretty sure he forgot to flush, and went to the living room to see what was going on.

“Aoede,” he cried, “this is unbelievable. We have been trying for the past month and I just leave you alone with uncle Bill for one minute and you do it.”

“What is going on?” Fleur and I joined them.

“Look, Nova! She's sitting!” Charlie said with a shaky voice, extending both of his hands at Aoede.

“Oh, look at you! You are such a good girl!” I exclaimed, leaning to my daughter and gently brushing her cheek with my finger.

“Did I do something wrong?” Bill asked puzzled.

“Charlie is upset because he missed a lot of firsts due to being at work and he has been trying to get Aoede to sit on her own since his vacation and couldn't manage to do it and now he missed it,” I explained, feeling bad for Charlie.

“This was her first time?” Bill said in a whisper, tears in his eyes, proud that he was a part of this moment.

“Yeah, rub it in, why don't you.” Charlie scoffed, crossing his arms on his chest.

“Char, you'll get other firsts, I promise,” I said gently, hugging him from behind. “Don't be sad. Just look at how cute she is sitting.”

“She's adorable.” Charlie sniffed and kneeled next to Aoede to admire her new accomplishment.

After dinner and us celebrating their engagement, Charlie and I sat on the sofa, while Fleur and Bill were playing with Aoede on her blanket on the floor. We couldn't stop staring at them, they were so good with her. After about 15 minutes of Aoede's constant giggling, her eyes switching from Bill and Fleur as they played Peek-a-boo with her, Charlie and I exchanged looks and knew it was time to what Charlie called 'make Bill cry'.

“So,” Charlie cleared his throat, “we wanted to ask you both something.”

I looked at Charlie with my eyebrows raised as he said both.

“She's really nice, okay. You were right and I was wrong.” He playfully rolled his eyes at me.

“I told you you'll like her.” I giggled. “So, we're going with the both of them?”

“If you still want to. It was your idea.” Charlie planted a kiss on my forehead.

“I do and I am glad you agree with me.” I bestowed him with a soft smile before turning back to the trio on the floor.

“Sorry, did you say something to us?” Bill finally tore his eyes off his niece.

“Charlie said that we have to ask you something.” I chuckled.

“Okay.” Bill picked Aoede up, placing her in a sitting position on his lap, while she had her hand wrapped around Fleur's finger.

“We were wondering if you'll be Aoede's godparents?” Charlie asked softly.

“What?” Fleur gasped, her mouth open. “You mean Bill being 'er godfazer?”

“No, we want both of you.” I smiled at her.

“But you 'ave just met me,” Fleur said in shock.

“Not really,” I said, winking at Bill who told me more than enough about her in his letters for me to know that we are making the right decision and what I have seen tonight and her being so great with our baby girl, only made me more sure that she should be her godmother.

“I-” Bill didn't know what to say. “Really?” He breathed.

“Oh, come on. Are you really that surprised?” Charlie chuckled. “Who else would we trust her with if not you?”

“Are you sure?” Fleur asked.

“Yes.” Charlie and I said in unison.

“Oh, Charlie, Nova, we would be delighted!” Bill said with a shaky voice.

“Zis is such an 'onor. I don't know what to zay.” Fleur blinked fast a few times to stop her eyes from watering.

We stood up to join them on the floor and hugged them both, Aoede observing us, making a bubble with her mouth.

“Thank you for trusting Fleur so much,” He whispered to me as we hugged.

“She's perfect for you, Bill,” I whispered back, bestowing him with a smile.

“Wow...this...I...I can't believe I'm her godfather!” Bill stuttered after a few seconds of silence, a tear running down his cheek.

“I told you he will cry.” Charlie leaned to me, giggling, happy that his prediction came true.

[suncrayon]

what i think tma chars would smell like

an exercise in procrastination by me

- martin doesn't use any perfumes or anything so he just smells Clean like his detergent :)) 

- basira also doesn't use perfumes on work days, only for special occasions, but she does use scented body lotion so she usually smells faintly like that (lemongrass often i think) 

- jon has been using the same perfume since he was 15 and it just smells like lavender. it's supposed to be calming i think 

- tim and sasha live in eachother's pockets bc i said so and they’re constantly stealing each other's stuff, but the ones that were originally tim's are fun fruit scents like just strawberry or smth ! he loves the nostalgia of a stupid fake smelling fruit spray, though he also has like. A Cologne if he HAS to use it (primarily for Dates For Information)

 - and sasha's were incense or cedarwood-y ! but now she sometimes will smell like lemons if she's stayed over w tim :DD 

 - similarly he now sometimes smells like incense : ) 

- melanie uses some kind of pine body spray i think and yes georgie does buy a little bottle so she can smell Melanie Smell when they're first crushing/getting to dating and she is a Mushy Fool 

- georgie herself smells like oranges and maybe basil <3

- daisy either smells like dirt and sweat or rosewater but never both at once

and now for the angst ! :))

- tim now has a collection of perfumes in his flat that he doesn't use and doesn't know why he owns

 - post buried daisy NEVER smells like dirt but she thinks she does and she can't get the damp sour smell out of her nose, no matter how often she showers or how many perfumes she uses. she takes to lighting scented candles, which only help a little, but they at least give her something to focus on when she feels overwhelmed 

- the smell of lavender makes 22 y/o georgie cry no she will not explain herself 

- (even years later it always makes her heart ache bc jon just Dropped out of her life. he could be dead and she'd never even know. obvs they broke up for reasons but she's over them and always a little bit wonders what he's up to and hopes he's okay)

- s4 martin smells like dust and cold air : /

- basira uses a new vanilla body lotion one day and jon has a panic attack

- jon also has to stop using lavender spray bc nik noticed it on him and found some lavender face cream ‘as a special treat because i’m a Good Friend !!’

- slaughter melanie sometimes catches the scent of something like hot metal for no apparent reason which pisses her OFF

- daisy absolutely catches scents on the wind too when she's hunting and post buried this still happens at random, like the hunt is trying to draw her back in...

[dalamjisung]

shave it all ❋ bambam

word count: 1613

genre: slice of life, fluff, established relationship!bambam

member: bambam x reader

description: it’s crazy to think that he can do whatever he wants, now; you two have gotten so used to the limitations that came with his old job that once they are gone it’s a bit disorienting. Especially for Bam. But you make sure to let him know that no matter what, you’re right there, by his side. All of you. 

“No.”

“Oh, come on, babe,” He whines, stomping his feet like a little child. “Why not?”

“Because you could get in trouble, Bam!”

The words that leave your mouth are automatic– you’ve been saying them for so long, and so often, that now that you don’t have to worry about that anymore, if feels almost illegal to forget them.

“Oh really?!” The comedic sarcasm in his voice is clear and when Bambam throws his head back to laugh, you really want to slap that smug grin from his face. “We’ll get in trouble? How?”

“I hate you,” You mumble, eyeing the machine in his hands.

“Come on, Y/N,” He whines again, shoving it towards you. “It’s really starting to bother me.”

“Bam, you know I support you in everything you do,” You sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose. “And even when I know it is a bad idea I follow through, but this is… too much.”

“Why?”

“Because your whole career is based on your incredible talent and cursed good looks,” You shriek, trying to hide your smile as he laughs once again, arms encircling your ways and bringing you close. “How can you rely on the last one if you shave your head?!”

“Hm,” He hums, eyes squinting as he looks down at you. Bambam can feel your fingers playing with the hair on the back of his neck, a habit of yours– be it when you two are cuddling and about to fall asleep, or when you are watching a movie, or even talking, sometimes– and he wonders if there is another reason as to why you don’t want to help him shave his head. “Are you sure it is because of that?”

Your fingers still.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you sure you’re worried about my career?” His voice is low and teasing, and when he kisses you, you can feel the playfulness in his actions. “Because I think, you like me with longer hair.”

“I like you anyways–“

“Why the fuck you lyin’” Bambam sings, pulling away. “Think of this as… an adventure. It’ll be fun!”

“Then shave my hair too, why don’t you?” You mumble, frowning as you watch him pull a chair from the kitchen into the bathroom, wet hair framing his handsome face and you feel like crying at the thought of not seeing him with wet, long hair.

“Can I?!” He turns around excitedly. “Babe, you would rock a bald head like no one else, I swear to–“

“Oh my god, definitely not,” You chuckle, pushing him down on the char in front of you. “At least, not yet.”

“One day?” Bambam’s eyes are hopeful, and you absolutely love the look on him– one full of jovial glee and youth, and you are not even sure if you remember seeing him this light and carefree in all the years you’ve been together. He was always worried about something, be it image, or music, or schedule, and to see him finally act his age and look his age makes your heart beat faster.

“One day,” You sigh, knowing you have to do this. For him. “Now sit down– we’re shaving your head.”

“You’ll do it?” He questions, excited, and you nod, plugging the razor on the socket by the sink. Looking back at him, you know this is your last chance; you sit in his lap in a beat, legs on each side of him and you kiss him– hard and fast, hands grabbing his hair to pull him close. “Uh… maybe I shouldn’t–“

“No way,” You giggle, breathing a bit to hard. “We’re shaving your head.”

“Give me another one of those then,” Bam’s hands pull you closer, and this time he takes a bit more time to enjoy you two, mouth moving on your languidly, needy. When you move back to grab the machine, your boyfriend grabs your hand, and you can practically feel his nervousness.

“Are you okay?” You ask, softly brushing his hair back and away from his eyes. “Bam…”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” He smiles, looking down at his hands in his lap. “It’s just a bit weird being able to actually do these things, you know? No manager breathing down my neck, no company complaining about the things I say… no hyungs.”

“What do you mean, ‘no hyungs’?” You scoff, frowning a bit. You know he’s been having a hard time adjusting; although they were all pretty young when they first debuted, Bambam and Yugyeom were kids. They grew up under the care of the older boys and now, not having them so close like they used to be in the dorms, they have been feeling a bit alone.

At night Bambam cuddles closer to you and you notice how hard it is for him to sleep, or how he’s always in the GOT7 group chat, be it talking to the members or just sending random pictures and memes. It has been a big change for him; doing things, all the things he wanted to do before, and not having the other six guys to hype him up, or warn him, or care for him. So you try and compensate– you hug him closer when he feels restless at night, or you google funny memes of him on Twitter to send him, or even, sometimes, when he looks particularly lost, you sit with him on the couch, caressing his hair as you watch Youtube compilations of concerts and interviews. You know he’s having a particular difficult day when he plays videos from the tours on the TV, laughing at his own spastic behavior.

“I have an idea,” You say when he doesn’t answer you. You pull your cellphone out, and go into the group chat with the other six boys and the girls, hitting the video call button.

It’s funny how quick they are to pick up a call when it comes from you, worried faces popping up on your screen and a cacophony of voices asking about their friend.

“Y/N?” JB frowns. “Is everything okay? Is Bam okay?!”

“What happened?” Yugyeom shouts, eyes wide and crazy looking for his best friend on the tiny screen.

“Is the kid okay?” Jackson screeches and you laugh at his pained expression.

“Everything is okay,” You shout, trying to make your voice louder than all of theirs together. “We are all alive!”

“Oh thank god,” Youngjae mutters.

“What’s this about then?” Jinyoung is the first to ask, and you move away to show your boyfriend sitting on the chair with wet hair and a towel around his neck. “Oh god, what the hell are you kids doing now?”

“We’re going to shave his head,” You announce, and ignoring the mixture of laughter and shocked gasps, you continue. “And because this is a very important moment of rebellion and freedom for the youngster, we wanted you all to be present, even if only by video.”

“Ah, waking up for this was definitely worth it,” Mark groans, humor lacing his voice as he turns on the light in his room. “You’re going to look ridiculous, Bam. I love it.”

“Hey, everyone,” Just the tone of his voice is enough to tell you that he’s back to his usual self. “I miss you all…”

“We miss you too, Bam!” Yugyeom whines, and you chuckle at the duo dabbing together. “Wanna hang out next week?”

“Absolutely,” Bambam grabs your hand just as you move behind him with the machine, ready to say goodbye to his precious hair.

“Ready?” You mutter, just for him to hear.

“I love you,” Is his answer, and the whole bathroom quiets as soon as the buzzing starts, and it takes only a few seconds to shave a strip from the center of his forehead to the back of his head.

Silence reigns for a beat before everyone is laughing– you included. Having your share of fun, you start shaping his hair in odd cuts, always making sure to not pull or accidentally nip his scalp. Bambam had set the electric razor to leave him with a buzzcut, and you’d never admit it to his face because the teasing would be endless, but the more that you shave off, the more you start liking this style. It’s soft, and although it doesn’t leave you much to play with, it shows so much of Bambam’s face that you can’t complain.

“You look like an egg!” Jackson cries out, laughing. “This is so good.”

“Shut up, he looks great!” You chuckle, watching Jackson’s girlfriend slap him behind the head and offer you and Bam a thumbs up. You make a mental note to thank her and Jacks for the Team Wang gifts, after all of this is done.

It’s only when the buzzing stops that everyone inches closer to their cameras, taking a proper look at your boyfriend. Honestly, there is not much room for mistakes with an electric razor, but you still pat your self on the back once you notice just how hot Bambam looks running his hand over his buzzed hair, muscles bulging and a smirk once his eyes meet your. He can read you like a book and just the possibility of him knowing what’s running through your mind makes you blush.

“How do you feel?” You ask, hopefully easing the growing tension in the room.

“Sexy,” He says, and all the boys laugh, girls hyping him up. “I kind of like this.”

“I like it too,” You kiss his cheek. “I like you.”

“Like?”

“Love.”

“Love,” He nods. “Love you.”

He pecks your mouth, and just as he deepens the kiss, you can hear Jackson’s voice in the background.

“He does look like an egg, though– OW!”

—————————————

Not gonna lie, this one made me 😢  Baby Bam missing his hyungs is just too much for my poor heart to handle 😚 What do you think of this one? Let me know! If you liked this story, please please please share, comment, like, or anything you feel comfortable doing ❤️ thank you for your endless support, lovelies💕

[goldenlaquer]

Hi ! Can I request you a rival to lovers short story/ One shot with Sougo please 🥺 ?

In which boys tease the girls they like by setting them on fire. 

AHHH SORRY FOR THE WAIT.

Who Runs the World? Sadists. (Okita Sougo One-shot): 

He is handsome, that much you can admit.

But you also think appreciating aesthetic beauty can be compartmentalized. It is something you can notice, and store in a box to shove in the darkest recesses of your mind, and then think nothing further about the person other than how much you’d like to run over him with an eighteen-wheeler.

So, here is how it is:

Out of context, he is handsome.

In context, he is the most trying, insensitive, sadistic, arrogant, lying dickwad to haunt the face of the Earth and your general vicinity.

You say the second part of this to him whilst kicking the back of his knees (something he very much deserved after slicing the top of your ice cream right off the cone), and he effortlessly dodges and grabs your hair to plant your face against the nearest streetlamp.

When you peel your face off with blood and vengeance dripping off your face, there is a smug smile on his face.

And you are further angered by how, even against the orange-yellow lights of the streetlamp and the darkness of the fading sky, that ugly, infuriating smile does not diminish the prettiness of his face.

And then you are even angrier for even noticing this.

Aesthetic beauty can be compartmentalized. You just aren’t very good at it.

—

You tell him that you wish that he’d fuck off. But only after reimbursing your ice cream.

He tells you to stop thinking about fucking him. And also that you should be thanking him for saving you the trouble of having to buy another gym subscription that you’ll never use again after the first visit.

Again, he dodges the kick, this time aimed at his balls.

—

You sometimes forget that he is in the police force. A fact that makes you shudder for society.

After long moments of name-calling and low blows to genital areas, he tucks his hands into the pockets of his uniform and strides away, no doubt bored of making fun of your existence.

Stop being a nuisance and get off the streets at night, he calls over his shoulder in monotone. He’d have nothing to do if you scared off all the thieves and rapists with your nasty breath smogging up the air.

You are left behind with a soggy waffle cone in your grip. If you didn’t know better, it sounded as if he cared.

—

The universe is playing a cruel and extremely hilarious joke on you.

Because everywhere you go, he is there.

You take a discreet whiff of yourself. Is there something in your perfume that attracts cockroaches?

He is there at the grocery store. Reaching for the last carton of milk at the same time as you do. He refuses to let go, silently staring at you with his red eyes to give up. You sure as hell won’t. You hold on tight and tug. He tugs back. You use two hands and heave. He lets go of the carton and you fly.

At the library. Perusing a manga when you stumble across him. And you would have turned right back around, but the seat across from him just so happens to be the only open one in the entire building. So you mentally curse the other people for educating themselves and suck it up, gingerly placing your tush on the edge of the chair, afraid of the very possible reality of him placing something there that could send you to the hospital. For the most part, the interaction is harmless, the both of you ignore each other until he yawns, loudly, and you glare at him for the rudeness, and he smirks (a warning sign) and proceeds to full-on whine your name out in a high-pitched voice, in the middle of studying students. You and him are kicked out by a buff onee-san with a month-long ban for public indecency despite your many attempts to tell her that you did not touch him, especially like that. Hot blood pools in your cheeks. For two reasons.

Even at the little goldmine of a ramen eatery you have miraculously discovered by sheer luck. Its location is isolated from the usual Edo traffic, hidden in a tiny dingy alley, but their bowls are little pieces of heaven: charred chashu slices that melt across the tongue in smokey savoriness, thin hand-made noodles that have just the right give and firmness, a golden broth that does not taste greasy or heavy and sucker-punches you across the face with umami. This eatery you have found is a safe haven, or so you think until you walk in and see Okita Sougo, schlurping up the last of his noodles and holding up his bowl to ask for seconds.

How is it that you can barely step out the front door of your home without seeing him? Doesn't he have a job? How can one person have so much free time?

(Somewhere, Hijikata is howling his first name.)

—

Once again, the universe makes sure that the only available seat is next to him.

You sit. He comments about how he’s flattered but he’s going to get a restraining order if this continues. You say bullshit, bullcrap, bulldiarrhea— if anyone’s stalking anyone it would be him, creep. He says that he’s not stalking you, he’s making sure that you don’t commit any crimes, and you say, quietly:

So you are following me?

He replaces his reply with an obnoxious noodle slurp. It is all the answer you need.

—

He is not there for two weeks. Two weeks. Two weeks of no sadists. Two weeks of no arguments and fighting. Two weeks of jumping for joy. Two weeks of jumping at shadows. Two weeks of silence. Two weeks of looking at ramen and thinking ‘ah, he’s not here’. Two whole weeks of no Okita Sougo.

You feel… awkward.

Except, awkward is not the word. Ridiculous. Absolutely preposterous. The word is alleviated, instead.

You are alleviated.

You think about the reason for this sudden change. You wonder if he is avoiding you. If so, It must have been back at the ramen place where you last saw him. Something he had said and something you had said.

Something revelatory.

Or he had become truly bored with you and moved on to another toy to play with.

You’re not sure which one leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

—

You see him again in the middle of the third week.

You are walking late at night, when you hear,

What did I tell you? Stop walking so late at night. You’re infecting everyone with your dumb braincells, moron.

You like to think that the only emotion on your face when you slowly turn to him is cool indifference, and you tell him that you don’t speak to stalkers.

Without missing a beat, he says, who would want to stalk such an ugly woman like you?

He pushes off the streetlamp he is leaning against and stalks towards you, long legs carrying him swiftly to stand in front of you. The orange- yellow lights reflect off brown, and long lashes lowers down on red as he looks at you with an expression that kinda makes you lose your breath.

You skin itches and something bubbles up inside you that wants to break free from your mouth.

Shut up. You tell yourself. Don’t say anything.

Where were you for the last two weeks?

Damn it.

Long lashes blink and pink lips slowly curve. Miss me?

No. Not. At. All. You were doing fantastic without him there to ruin everything. You just wanted to know so that you could send condolence flowers to the person he’s bothering now.

Well, you’re out of luck, he says, there was never anyone else.

Your toes curl.

So that means, he continues, I’ll be making your life miserable for a while longer.

You disguise your smile with a glare. Stalker.

Like I said, who would stalk such an ugly woman?

You start walking in the direction of your home. He follows next to you, shoulder and forearms of his jacket brushing against yours. You, idiot.

You’re the idiot.

No, you.

If I’m an idiot, then you are super idiot.

You’re mega idiot.

You’re infinite idiot.

That doesn’t make sense, idiot.

Only because you’re an idiot, idiot. 

----

Little note: Sougo was gone for two weeks, because surprise surprise, he was on a mission for Shinsengumi and I just couldn’t really slide this tidbit in. Not that it’s really important in the grand scheme of things.