#still rusty after only picking writing back up this year after so many years of not working my writing muscles ok

[johnslittlespoon]

hahahaaaaa i scrapped 9k words of tas ch4. I KNOW I SAID I WOULDN'T AND THAT I'D END THE SLOWBURN IN THIS CHAPTER BUT. you're gonna have to trust me ok i promise you my neurons just fired off so fucking hard and this chapter is gonna bang so much harder, the E rating is probs just gonna be pushed off for One more chapter. it will be worth it okay. this one's for the fellow miscommunication and hurt/comfort whores 🤝

i might still be able to use the 9k i scrapped when i have the first kiss scene happen, it depends how much this new route for ch4 changes that, but if i can't use it, i'll just post it here as a drabble bc i put my whole ass into that kiss scene lmfao i don't wanna just let it rot in a doc </3 okay thx as always for the patience comrades i need to stop posting anything ab fics other than progress so i don't have to walk back on my own shit LOL but i get impatient trying to stay quiet while i'm writing so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ my bad g

[nahoney22]

Hi! i love your writing and was wondering if you could do the tbb (or just tech if you dont wanna do all of them) reaction to their gender neutral S/O pulling out their old instrument or color guard equipment from their marching band days and practicing what they remember (i dont even know if star wars has an equivalent to marching band/color guard lol but i picked an old practice flag up for the first time since high school earlier and the thought popped into my head for this request..) feel free to disregard this if it’s not something you wanna write, keep up the amazing work!!

Colour Guard Memories

The Bad Batch Boys X GN!Reader

How The Bad Batch react to you pulling out your old instrument or colour guard equipment.

warnings: none, gender neutral reader, can be read as platonic or romantic, Batchers admiring/encouraging reader.

authors note: this is a really cute idea and sorry it has took so long to do anon. In the UK we don’t really have marching bands/ colour guards aside from royal parades from what I know so I’ve relied on Google to help me out 😅 enjoy!

Echo

"Think we've got everything?" Echo asks, sealing the final box of your belongings.

As you survey the sea of packed boxes, you're struck by the realisation of just how many possessions you've gathered over the years. It's only now, in the process of moving out of your family home, that the extent of it hits you. After what feels like an eternity of packing and stacking, you're finally done and you couldn’t be any more grateful for Echo's helping hand.

"I hope so," you reply, wiping your brow and straightening up, hands on your hips. "Now, all that's left is to get it onto the ship." The prospect of lugging boxes onto the ship isn't exactly thrilling, but you're itching to kick back and relax.

Echo chuckles and reaches for one of the sealed boxes, but disaster strikes as the bottom gives way, sending its contents tumbling to the floor. "Well, that's just great," he says wryly.

Letting out a sigh, you join him in gathering up the scattered items. Amidst the chaos, something catches your eye: an old, familiar object. "No way!"

Startled by your sudden excitement, Echo turns to you. "What is it?"

"It's my Sabre!" you exclaim, holding up the cherished item for him to see.

He blinks in surprise. "Uh, your lightsaber?"

You playfully roll your eyes at Echo, a mischievous glint in your eyes, as you take the equipment into your hands and wave it at him. "You've known me long enough to know I'm not a Jedi, Echo," you tease, giving the Sabre a quick twirl. "It's from when I used to be be a colour guard for a marching band."

Echo chuckles, shaking his head in amusement. "I didn't know you did that."

"Yeah! I loved it. Want to see what I can still do?" you ask, a hint of excitement in your voice.

"The floor's all yours," he says, stepping back to give you space.

You take a moment to steady yourself, feeling the weight of the stainless steel Sabre in your hands. With a deep breath, you begin your routine, the familiar movements flooding back to you. As you twirl the Sabre with practiced precision, you can't help but feel a surge of nostalgia. However, in the midst of your performance, disaster strikes as the Sabre slips from your grip, narrowly missing a nearby window.

"Okay, okay, I'm a little rusty. Give me a second," you laugh sheepishly, quickly retrieving the saber and regaining your composure but Echo was still smiling and impressed throughout.

Determined to redeem yourself, you focus on each movement, executing smooth transitions and intricate spins. With each flourish, you feel a sense of satisfaction, the familiar rhythm of the routine bringing back fond memories. As you finally come to a graceful finish, you can't help but feel a sense of pride wash over you.

Echo applauds, a smile playing on his lips. "That was really impressive. You should've told me you could do that before."

"We all have our hidden talents," you grin, a twinkle in your eye as you admire the old memory in your hand before carefully tucking it back into the box. "Anyway, we should probably get going before I get distracted again."

“Well,” he says, resting a hand on your shoulder, “you should perform for me again sometime. If you want to that is.”

There’s a shine in his eyes, genuinely in awe of you and your talent. “I’ll definitely think about it.”

Hunter

Low on credits and desperate for some food to fill your stomachs, you and Hunter venture into a bustling market on a remote planet, hoping to find some opportunity to earn a bit of cash.

"See anything?" Hunter asks, strolling alongside you as you take in the sights and sounds of the market.

"Not really," you reply with a frown. The market is dimly lit, offering little in the way of useful materials, and the locals don't seem particularly welcoming. It's no wonder Hunter insisted on accompanying you.

But then, something does catch your eye. "Hey, that looks like one of my old flags," you remark, pointing to a colorful flag tucked away at the back of a small pop-up stall.

Hunter stops beside you, his interest piqued. "You used to spin those, didn't you?"

You chuckle at his phrasing, yet surprised that he remembers since it was just something you mentioned in passing once. "Yeah, I did. Not sure if I still have the touch, though."

A smirk spreads across Hunter's face as he holds up a finger, indicating for you to wait a moment. A bit embarrassed, you watch as he approaches the seller and strikes up a conversation. After a brief exchange, Hunter returns, flag in hand. "Let's put that theory to the test, shall we?" he suggests with a grin.

"Hunter! Did you just pay for that?" you exclaim incredulously as he shoves the pole into your hand.

"No," he says with a mischievous grin, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "But they said if you can impress them, you can keep it."

You narrow your eyes at him, a mixture of amusement and disbelief dancing in your gaze. "Fine. But I'm warning you," you declare, stepping into a clearing and scanning the area to ensure there's enough space before attempting to recreate a routine you haven't performed in years. "I'm not as good as I used to be."

Taking a deep breath, you grip the pole firmly and let muscle memory take over as you start spinning the flag with practiced precision. The fabric unfurls in vibrant arcs, catching the sunlight and casting colorful patterns across the ground. With each twirl and flourish, you feel a surge of nostalgia as memories of your days in the colour guard come flooding back.

As you continue your impromptu performance, you can't help but lose yourself in the rhythm of the routine, the flag becoming an extension of your body as you spin and swirl with grace.

Hunter is watching you silently and appears to be actually enamoured by your performance. His eyes are wide in surprise.

When you finally come to a graceful finish, you turn to Hunter with a triumphant smile, the flag held aloft in your hand. "How's that for impressing them?" you ask, a hint of pride in your voice.

“That was… wow.” Is all he says, a proud smile on his face. He takes one look to the seller who just gives a brief nod. “And the flag is yours it seems.”

Hunter comes up beside you once more but you feel a tug on your top, turning to face a young child who was holding out credits to you. Bashfully, you accept and the credits swiftly came flooding in.

“Heh, seems like you still got it.” He nudges your side playfully.

This could be a pretty safe way to earn some extra credits it seems.

Wrecker

"Wrecker, come look at this!" you call out excitedly, beckoning your companion over.

With Wrecker's assistance in tidying up the Marauder and transferring some items to the Remora, you stumble upon an unexpected treasure: an old snare drum tucked away amidst the clutter.

"Woah, what's tha’?" Wrecker asks, intrigued, as he joins you on the floor, his eyes fixed on the instrument in your hands.

"I used to play it in a marching band. Forgot I even had it," you reply with a wistful smile, the memories of your band days flooding back, tinged with nostalgia and a touch of sadness for times gone by.

Wrecker notices the flicker of emotion on your face and decides to lift your spirits. "Well, go on then. Give us a beat," he encourages, nudging the drum closer to you and offering a drumstick.

You smile gratefully, feeling a rush of anticipation as you accept the drumstick from his outstretched hand and pick up the matching one from the ground. "Just so you know," you say with a playful glint in your eye, "it sounds much better in a chorus rather than individually."

With a deep breath, you position the drumsticks in your hands, feeling the familiar weight and texture of the material. Closing your eyes, you let muscle memory guide your movements as you begin to play. The rhythmic tapping of the drum reverberates through the air.

As you lose yourself in the music, your fingers move effortlessly across the drum's surface, producing a lively beat that echoes off the walls of the ship. With each stroke, super fast and then skilfully slow, you feel a sense of liberation.

Wrecker watches in awe, a grin spreading cross his face as he listens to the infectious rhythm you create. For a moment, all worries and cares fade away, replaced by the joy of listening to you play. Flourishing a finish, your cheeks warm to Wrecker applauding enthusiastically.

"Tha’ was amazing!" he exclaims, his voice filled with genuine admiration. "You've still got it."

You grin, feeling a surge of pride at his words. "Thanks, Wrecker," you reply, a sense of contentment washing over you. "Maybe we should start our own band."

“Definitely!”

Tech

"Is this yours?" Omega's voice interrupts your thoughts, drawing your attention to the slim case she's holding. As you approach, a wave of nostalgia washes over you at the sight of the familiar case.

"I haven't seen this for a long time," you smile warmly, taking the case into your hands. Kneeling down, you blow the dust off and flip open the lid, revealing your old clarinet nestled inside.

Omega's eyes widen with curiosity as she peers at the instrument. "Wow, that's cool! Did you play it?"

You nod, a fond smile on your face. "Yeah, I used to. In a colour guard and in parades."

"Can you play something now?" she asks eagerly.

Before you can respond, Omega suddenly calls out, "TECH! COME HERE!"

Tech, engrossed in his data pad, looks up in surprise and heads your way. "What is the nature of my presence this time, Omega?"

Omega launches into an exaggerated explanation of your discovery and her request. "Listen to them play."

Tech adjusts his goggles and looks down at you with curious eyes. "I was not aware you could play any instrument."

"I haven't in a long time," you admit sheepishly, wiping the mouthpiece and adjusting the bridge keys. "But I can give it a try."

With a deep breath, you bring the clarinet to your lips and begin to play a soft, melancholic tune. The notes fill the air, weaving a gentle melody that seems to resonate with the quiet stillness of the surroundings. It was a gentle tune, a stark difference to the ones you played in parades.

As you play, you notice Tech glancing up from his data pad, his expression softening as he listens intently to the music. It's a rare sight to see him so engrossed in something other than his work, and you can't help but feel a sense of satisfaction knowing that your music has captured his attention.

By the time you finish the piece, Tech is still watching you, a thoughtful look on his face.

Omega bursts into a loud applause meanwhile Tech smiled at you. “I would not mind you playing that whilst I do some repairs... it’s rather relaxing.”

Crosshair

“What are you doing?” Crosshair's voice breaks your concentration mid-performance, and you freeze as your arms flail, causing the wooden rifle to slip from your grasp and clatter onto the grass.

You spin to face the clone, feeling a flush of embarrassment creeping up your neck. "I found my old rifle from when I used to perform," you explain quickly, bending down to retrieve the prop. With a flick of your foot, you send it spinning into the air, catching it effortlessly as it falls back down. "Want to see?"

Crosshair eyes the rifle with a hint of intrigue, his skepticism giving way to mild interest. "Perform? Rifles are for shooting. Not messing around with.”

“It’s wood, idiot.” You knock on the equipment before you then shrug, a sheepish grin tugging at your lips. "Anyway, it’s called rifle spinning. I used to do it as part of a routine in a performance group. It's more about coordination and showmanship than anything else. Wanna see?” You ask again.

Crosshair nods slowly, his gaze lingering on the rifle as you twirl it expertly in your hands. He stands back as you shows off your moves and he couldn’t hide the small impressed smirk forming on his lips. "You’re quite impressive I’ll give you that. But don't let it distract you from our mission." The compliment was rare but not one you were going to refuse as you give him a smile of thanks. But, he was right. There were more pressing matters at large.

You chuckle, nodding in agreement as you secure the rifle back in its holster. "Of course not. Just a little trip down memory lane."

Masterlist

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[sunnysidewrites]

Demon prince!Seungcheol

Inspired by this prompt: “I’m a demon, not a hot water bottle. Stop cuddling me.” “But you’re so warm.” “Like hell. Fire, brimstone, eternal burning.” It had absolutely no effect whatsoever, and the demon sighed, wrapping one arm around the other. This is my re-debut (although not sure if this counts as a re-debut or if it's just a one-time thing) after nearly a 6-year hiatus and needless to say I am extremely nervous and excited!!! (talking in idol terms luv that) I am hoping that also means my writing quality has matured as well (I think??? or not but guess we will find out)! This is for everyone who knew me back then and is still around to see this play out! sorry if it's not the best i am EXTREMELY rusty but hope you enjoy lovelies <3333

wow omg it’s great to dive into writing after so long im getting emotional

you know the drill folks let’s get to it!!

Humans and demons have lived in co-existence for centuries and it’s more or less a chaotic neutral environment given the unique circumstances of these 2 different… races?

It can be difficult to distinguish the demons with the humans since they try to blend in seamlessly for their own sense of peace and security

Despite a big chunk of demons integrating with humans, there are still parts around the world, albeit small, where they have their own territory to control

They usually operate in more traditional political systems, such as still maintaining kings and queens

Humans can live there as well, but it is predominantly demons who are seen as the norm and the former as commoners/lower class

You happen to be one of the lowly commoners who have been working as a maid in the castle since you were young

you and Seungcheol, the Crown Prince, were actually kinda close as kids!!

you could tell all he wanted to do was let loose and have fun but was forced to follow the rules and take everything seriously 24/7

even as a 5 y/o you could see how much he yearned to be a regular kid but duty calls :”((

there were many times you hung out together in secrecy since you as a lowly maid could not be caught DEAD associating yourself with someone of such a high status

and add being human on top of that!! <3

But Seungcheol didn’t care you were literally his first and only friend at the time

Any time a guard looked for him, he and you would duck somewhere to hide together, stifling your smol little giggles im dead

As he grew up and more burdens were placed on his shoulders, you could no longer keep the same innocent, playful friendship between the two of you

Your interactions with him went from running around in the garden to stealing quick looks at each other when you passed by him in the hallways

He went from a happy lil child to a very assertive, stoic man who always picked his kingdom over anything

Despite his new persona, he would occasionally still show you very rare displays of fondness??

You would sometimes randomly find gifts on your bed with a note and well it doesn’t take a genius to know who it’s from

“I swiped the last cookie for you before Penny stole it and I know you would become a demon yourself if someone took your sweets”

“I noticed your uniform was ragged and a little ripped so here’s a new set. be more careful or our next encounter won’t be as pleasant”

“Here’s an extra blanket loser don’t freeze to death on me”

Your heart feels warm knowing that he still shows you his softer side to you while he’s practically a statue to everyone else

Now you were both in your mid-twenties and he’s been busier than ever with political meetings and social gatherings

You were his main maid since out of all of the staff, you were the only one who could really put up with his absurd requests and got along with him in a manner no other maid could, even the older ladies

There were times he summoned you to his headquarters for the sole reason of wanting some company

He would bring up some dumb question and you would be like no offense but this is kinda useless

But little did you know he would do that intentionally to see you crack a little smile, maybe even a laugh in there since he’s been seeing you look more despondent lately

“Even though we can’t run around the palace like how we did as kids, I’m still here. I’m the same Seungcheol – well, actually not really but I still look out for your wellbeing”

“Thanks, not-the-same-Seungcheol”

It’s rumored that the Crown Prince is coming of age to take over the throne soon, but before doing so he needs to find a bride yes it’s one of those tropes ok deal with it

You’re cleaning the hallways one day with some other maids and you can’t help but overhear their gossip

“Did you hear Prince Seungcheol is now engaged??? I think it was just last week”

Your ears perk up and your scrubbing slows down slightly so you can focus on their conversation

“Yeah, I heard the woman is a princess from some neighboring kingdom… It’s really hitting soon that he’ll be the new king”

“I don’t know how long she is going to last… he’s so cold and doesn’t seem to care about anyone. but what can you expect from a demon?” 

They both giggle and move to another room to continue cleaning and you can’t help but feel fired up from the way they were talking about him as if they knew anything about him

Sure, he was not really the friendliest and was very brutally honest with his curt words but it didn’t make him a bad person

Your heart aches after hearing the news and you recall a past talk you had with Seungcheol when you were younger

“Do you believe in love?” you asked him, the both of you lying down on the grass while looking up at the vibrantly blue sky

“Pshh, not really. Father always said marriage is for the people, not for love”

“But shouldn’t you love someone in order to marry them? you will be spending the rest of your life with them”

“I don’t think that is what he wants from me. I would be letting him down”

“Is that what you really want, though? to be stuck with someone you have no feelings for?”

he sighs deeply and looks down. “Well, I guess not… I do care a lot for someone”

your heart dropped. guess he already has his eyes set on someone else. “o-oh, well that wouldn’t be fair to you or to them right?”

he shakes his head, quickly glancing at you before looking away. “but it wouldn’t work out anyway. I wouldn’t want to drag them into the mess of my world. I want them to be free of what I go through. I just hope they know I’ll always care for them from afar.”

You shake your head out of a daze, painfully reminded of how raw that moment still feels

I wonder if he still cares for that person he mentioned, you think to yourself as you continue scrubbing the tiles. But what does it matter now that his future is sealed with someone else?

Shortly after that day, it was formally announced to the kingdom that the Crown Prince and the soon-to-be Crown Princess will be holding a wedding ceremony in just a short few weeks

On the outside, you smile politely and clap your hands but it takes every fiber of your being to not want to fling the door to your cramped bedroom and collapse on your bed and spill the tears you were desperately attempting to hold in 

As you stared at him and his fiancee out the balcony waving to everyone, you swear you thought you saw him give you a forlorn look that lasted for a millisecond before he returned to his usual expressionless state

From that moment on, you barely saw Seungcheol at all

This man was constantly getting pulled in all different directions, especially with the royal wedding around the corner

The night before his big day, he summons you to his room again and your mind is buzzing with loads of thoughts of what he could possibly want to talk to you about

You cautiously enter and close the door slowly before turning back towards him

He looks more disheveled than usual, his hair tousled, his usual prince attire crinkled and slightly unbuttoned

“You look stressed, what's wrong??”

He closes his eyes and sighs for a moment before slowly opening them again and says while still not making eye contact with you, “I… I feel like I’ll have so many regrets once tomorrow comes”

You’re like why is that??

“Do you remember me mentioning I cared a lot about someone back then?”

Your heart drops to your stomach. “Yes… why?” thanks for the reminder

“I keep thinking about them… and all of these what-ifs. I know I can’t do anything about it, but–”

“Of course you can do something about it! I know you’re a stickler for the rules, but if the cost is your happiness, is it really well worth it?”

He shakes his head, looking even more troubled than before. “I can’t risk putting them in that position. Yet I… I want to,” he articulates slowly, as if it’s only dawning on him now that he’s finally learned what he truly feels

You feel as if the waves of heartache and anguish are drowning you but you try to be strong for him and present a smile if not for him, then for yourself

“I think you know what you need to do, Seungcheol”

And with those words, you quietly bow out and make your way to your room

The next morning, you wake up with puffy eyes from crying all night and begrudgingly get out of bed to get ready for the busy day ahead

After a hectic morning and afternoon, the ceremony finally begins

The moment we’re all waiting for is “Speak now or forever hold your peace”

And the most baffling thing happens because it’s not you who speaks up, not some secret lover, not some random citizen in the audience

but it’s Seungcheol himself

“Wait – I don’t think I can go through with this”

SCANDALOUSSSS

That’s right, he causes a whole uproar and everyone is like what tf is he talking about?!?!?

You are unfazed to a certain degree due to the conversation you had with him last night but you’re still confused on where this is going to go

Never in a million years would you have imagined for him to say his next words

“I’m in love with someone else: Y/N”

And all the maids around you gasp like WHAT. IS. HE. TALKING. ABOUT.

You aren’t sure whether to feel mortified or happy but whatever it is, all eyes are now on you

The current King is like MISTER?? WITH A H U M A N????

“I know it’s never been done before, having a demon and a human marry each other. but I’m tired of always having to do the right thing and for once, I want to do something that is right but for myself”

You’re looking at him in complete bewilderment and disbelief like you were talking about me this whole time??!!

“If we can prove that humans and demons can come together, it’ll be a huge stepping stone politically for everyone involved. I can’t change how I feel about her but I can change our worlds with her by my side”

He makes his way towards you and grabs your hand and this time he does not break eye contact even once

“I want to be with y/n, and no one else”

You’re melting like putty in his arms it’s honestly really sweet!!!

The King eventually caves in although he’s obviously not happy with all of their efforts wasted but he’s cool enough to welcome in this new change

Everyone’s reactions are pretty mixed understandably but they don’t seem like they hate it which is probably the best reaction you’re gonna get

“You’re not asking for my hand in marriage are you?? bc that’s a little too quick on a first date”

He shrugs and nonchalantly says, “Not until you’re ready” JESUSLFSJDS

The rest of the day is a whirlwind of crazy events that you get caught up in as the Crown Prince’s new lover now 

By the time it’s time for bed, he summons you for the last time as you being a maid and not as a Girlfriend

Well turns out he’s actually a big baby and the whole time he tried to conceal his feelings for you all he wanted was for you to be by his side pshh lame amiright

“You sure move fast with wanting me to be in your bed already and we haven’t even gone on an actual date yet”

“Shut up and just lay beside me”

After you turn off the lights and get under the covers, you can’t help but notice he’s extremely hot (literally and physically) and considering it’s 20 degrees you’re taking all of that warmth

Of course, Seungcheol tries to make it a big deal and get you off of him even tho he secretly enjoys it

“I’m a demon, not a hot water bottle. Stop cuddling me.”

“But you’re so warm.”

“Like hell. Fire, brimstone, eternal burning” 

Like that was gonna stop you who does he think he is for putting you through all of this and at the very least not giving you some cuddles???

He sighs and wraps one arm around the other after he notices your breathing slowing down

“I don’t have to care about you from afar anymore,” he murmurs, brushing your hair out of your face before also slowly losing consciousness

[the-s1lly-corner]

Shut In (Eyeless Jack x reader oneshot!)

Basic plot: its really cold outside, and you urge Jack to stay in your home with you... he decides to stay despite knowing full well that he will be fine out in the freezing temperatures. You both decide to do things to pass the time and stay warm! Turns out Jack can make a mean cup of hot coco, too

Extra notes: I dont usually write fanfics, and the last one I've written was a personal one from late August... so to say I'm rusty and underexperienced is an understatement! I feel this one ended up a little.. weirdly paced imo but I think I'm still happy with the end result! Dialogue I feel I could have done better on but I'm going to be nice to myself since I mostly write hc posts so this is way out of my comfort zone.. Drafted on Tumblr then sent through google docs to pick up on some mistakes I missed, briefly reread no proper proof reading imo... lets hope this isnt a train wreck + it copied back to tumblr okay!! LMAO

Brief joke about pregnancy/making a pregnancy but its like one small snippet but I know that can make people uncomfortable + implies at least one of the characters is AFAB

Word Count: 2915

Extra Admin's note: I want to say again that I am so so happy about this blog hitting 1k followers, when I first started this blog I was originally going to use it to burn time and have something to do on the side, as well as having a place to put out my cringe ideas and hcs. I never thought this many people would be interested in my dumb thoughts, but here we are! I intend to keep writing this year, and perhaps even make more non-celebratory one shots this year? Maybe? I don't know I guess we'll see the reception on this fic!

It was the middle of the night, around the middle of January. Your boyfriend and you were holed up inside your apartment, you having locked the man up with you after seeing that it was below freezing out, as well as raining. You had to practically beg your boyfriend to stay with you for the night.

Your boyfriend, who also just so happened to be a man eating demon with tar dripping out of his hollowed out eye sockets. Your boyfriend, who was currently sitting still and staring forward, the only sound in the apartment coming from the dripping of your faucet. You had asked him to come visit you, it'd been a while... and he would never ever let you go to his cabin when it's this cold out. So here you both were now.

You pat the palms of your hands on your knees, sucking in one of your cheeks and working the flesh through your jaws for a moment. You were both technically stuck in the apartment now; you didn't want Jack to go out and risk getting sick, and Jack more than likely wouldn't want you to step out for the same reasons. So, you were both confined to what you already had within the space. You were about to open your mouth to speak but Jack broke the silence first. "You're shivering, do you want me to get some blankets?", blunt and almost robotic. He was never that expressive. "Or would you like to go to your room?" He added after a brief pause, his fangs poking just over his lip before he readjusted his mouth. You were both in the living room, sitting together on the couch; the front door to your left and a view of the kitchen to the right. You thought for a minute as your eyes lingered on the kitchen for a moment. You'd already eaten, before your partner arrived... but..

"That's fine, I'm probably going to make some hot coco," You pulled yourself up, stretching up. "Powdered stuff ooor..?" Jack mimicked you. You only shook your head, earning a disapproving look from him. "What?" You questioned, but he only dismissed you. "Why don't you get some blankets, I'll handle it," and he turned on his heel to make his way to the kitchen. "Maybe put on a movie, too, your choice." He added as his voice carried off. "Are you saying I can't cook?" You called back, following after him. No answer as he tugged out a pot. "I'll have you know-" you started once more

"Do you have half and half?" He was already opening your pantry to grab things.

"No, I don't,"

"Heavy cream? Whipping cream? Whatever it's called..." He mumbled as he placed various ingredients on the counter. Cocoa powder, vanilla, salt and sugar. You only nodded, and as he was about to begin working he paused. "Do you want anything else in it? Cinnamon? Nutmeg?" He paused and through gritted teeth, "Coffee?"

It was almost midnight, of course he would be opposed to you having caffeine so late.

"Cinnamon is fine," You watched him get to work. He measured everything out; even mixing the heavy cream with some milk to make a substitute for half and half.... was that really all it was? You weren't sure what you expected it to be, if it weren't..

He pulled his head up and stared at you. It was then that you noticed he had actually taken his mask off and set it at the end of the counter and out of the way. The black ooze dripping from his eyes was slow and posed little threat to dripping into your drink. He had a fistful of napkins on standby to dap his face dry should the flow quicken. "Aren't you going to get the blankets?"

You pat your hands on your thighs, pausing... watching him. His body had a warm glow on him from the old light bulb in the ceiling; it flickered every now and then. Under the yellowed light he almost looked healthy and alive, though there was no glint where his eyes should have been. His sharp nail tapping on the counter brought you back to the moment, blinking a few times. "Yeah.." you mumbled, defeated at the chance of making a drink for yourself stolen from you. But was that so bad?

You backed out of the kitchen, dragging your feet across the floor. Your apartment was.. a little on the smaller side so within a few steps you were in front of your bedroom door. You didn't really pay much attention to your surroundings as you shuffled through the blankets on the bed.. eventually you settled on just grabbing an arm full and waddling back to the living room, dumping everything you had grabbed onto the couch.

The house smelled of cinnamon and chocolate.. with a hint of vanilla.

Turning your gaze to the tv, your eyes scanned across the DVDs you had stacked messily. Nothing sounded good. "Is there anything you want specifically?" You called out as you settled yourself down criss cross in front of the tv and pulling all the cases onto the floor next to you. "Movie wise," You added as you pulled the first case into your hands. The DVD collection for Child's Play.. you had gotten it a few weeks ago, finding it on sale at your local store. You still hadn't popped it in to watch..

"I have.. Chucky, uhm..." You shuffled for the next case. "All the movies by the way.. I have that and.. most of the Friday the 13th movies," You called out. No answer, the only sound coming from the kitchen was the noise of a whisk gently being stirred. "I don't have Jason goes to hell... But!" You pulled out a third case with the Nightmare on Elm Street DVDs. "I DO have Freddy vs Jason," You mumbled and spread the three disks on the floor in front of you. Most of the disks you had, you noticed, were mostly older slasher movies. Still, Jack hadn't answered you. You pull yourself to your feet and trudge back into the kitchen. His back was to you, too preoccupied with the stove... He hadn't noticed you, not yet. An idea blossomed in your head, a smirk pulling itself across your lips. You steeled yourself, trying to force yourself to stop shivering.. Jack was always paying attention to his surroundings, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

You take a step forward and he still doesn't notice your approach.

Another step.

And another.

Jack wasn't the tallest, in fact if you wanted to you could rest your chin on his shoulder... and that's what you ended up doing, while wrapping your arms around his thick waist. You could feel his body seize up just a little bit against you, before relaxing. "You didn't answer, what sounds good?" You pulled your eyes down to look at the pot. Your drink was nearly finished. You view rocked as your boyfriend shrugged, still silent but the twitching of his pointed ears let you know he was listening.

"Anything's fine," Another shrug as he cuts the heat. "You're the one cooking for me, you get to pick the movie," You insisted. He paused mid-whisk, letting out a soft huff. Suddenly he spun around, his face just a few inches from yours. In the dimmed light his eye sockets seemed deeper, it's black ooze lazily dripping down his cheeks. You noticed the smudges on his face, from wiping the streaks. You briefly wondered what it was like to sleep with them, but your thoughts were cut short as he pulled a blackened and clawed hand to your hair; tucking a lock behind your ear. "How does...." He paused, sucking in his teeth. He looked almost embarrassed. "Bride of Chucky sound?"

"What? Want to study the characters again so we can dress up again this year for Halloween?" You tease. You had convinced him a few months ago to dress up with you. With him as Chucky, and you as Tiffany... It had taken some begging and convincing but you ultimately got him to agree. Although you didn't go out to get candy, you were both fine with staying inside watching movies together in costume. It was also that night you got him to watch the movies..

His ears darkened, before he scoffed. "No... actually this year I was thinking of..." He took a long pause, visibly scraping his brain for names of characters, before seemingly giving up. "Look I don't watch many movies I don't know any.. characters.." He grimaced, before gently pushing you off of him so he could turn his attention back to the hot cocoa. "We've still got nine months, more than enough time to come up with something..." You shrugged, then smirked. "Not enough time to make a Glen... or Glenda," You teased before turning on your heel. You held back a snicker as you heard Jack splutter, finally processing what you had just said to him.

"W-"

"I'm gonna go ahead and put in the disc, I'll leave it paused for you," You cut him off, still grinning to yourself as you kneeled down to do as you had said.

Soon enough Jack walked into the room with a mug, as well as a platter of cookies. "You didn't have to," You mumbled as you eyed the treats, but he only waved you off as he placed the plate and mug onto the coffee table. "You don't have to eat them, but I figured you might want a snack while watching the movie," He mumbled. You took the mug, and swirled the drink inside of it. "I hope I didn't put in too much cinnamon," Jack added as he watched you. He leaned over and started the movie.

You took a sip, smiling a little as the warmness crept in. "You did good, probably the best hot cocoa I've ever had." You offered a grin to him. "That has got to be the fakest compliment I've ever heard," Jack shot back, though you could see the corners of his mouth turning up just slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry! I believe this is the most decadent and satisfying beverage I've had ever been graced with in my life, and-" You began, only for Jack to hush you. "I'd rather you throw it on me, don't... say words like that again," He grumbled as readjusted himself into the couch. You took a sip and shrugged, "It's just absolutely immaculate," and he lightly smacked you on the arm. "I'm never making anything for you again," He snorted, before turning his attention to the movie.

You weren't going to lie, you felt a little bad treating yourself to the cookies, knowing Jack was unable to eat them without upsetting his stomach. Being a man-eating monster must really be hard. You purse your lips, and shoot a look at him from the corner of your eye. He must have been doing the same, because he turned his head to look at you. "Do you want to do something else?" He asked lightly, his grin from a few minutes ago already faded. "Do you ever miss eating.. food?" You asked before you could stop yourself. He didn't bother pausing the movie, instead he just fell silent and stared down, into the space between the two of you on the couch.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up, I know it's a touchy subject for you," You mumbled and put the mug on the table. You sucked in the air between your teeth, flicking your eyes up to the movie, before bringing them back down to your lap. It stayed like that for a minute before Jack broke the silence. "I mean... yeah, I do. But at least I don't have to eat every day like you do, means I can have more time to do what I want," He said. Clearly, he was still bothered, tip-toeing around the big.. thing about him. The air was still tense and thick, all of the previous joking gone now. It was nearly unbearable. Nearly.

"You know," Jack began after a few more seconds of silence when you didn't reply. "I've never tried cinnamon in hot cocoa, I didn't know that was a thing people did," He was changing the subject. "You haven't?" You asked, raising a brow. He eyed your mug, but you both knew there was no way he was going to take a sip.

"It's really good," You mumbled, and took the drink, "The combo, I mean," You added. He hummed, patting his knees lightly. You swirled the drink again, watching the... what was it called? Those lighter swirls in the drink.. Did that have a name?

"You've had hot cocoa before, right?" You asked. He hummed again, nodding his head. "Well.. the cinnamon makes it warm. Taste wise.. It makes it.." You took a sip and thought for a minute. "Richer, I guess? It's hard to explain," You muttered, then looked back at him. You tore your eyes back down when you saw he was looking right at you, totally hooked onto your words. "I hear nutmeg goes good in it, too.. but I've only tried nutmeg and chocolate together in baked goods," You shrugged. "You did really good with this, you know... not too much cinnamon.. not spicy, at least." You smiled. He nodded, before turning back to the movie.

"Woody, I hear people describe cinnamon like that," He leaned back into the couch, a dull pop came from his back.

"Woody," You repeated, then took a large sip of the hot cocoa. You put the mug down onto the table, and leaned into your boyfriend as the warmth crept and settled into your bones. You weren't even paying attention to the movie, your mind was now occupied with how tired you were. Your eyes slipped up to the clock on the wall, It was nearly one in the morning. Had it only been an hour since Jack walked himself into the kitchen?

You lean deeper into Jack, not caring about his body's natural chill. His clothing still smelled a little like the cocoa from earlier.. "Gotta invest in some cologne, you smell nice like this," You mumbled into his arm. "The cinnamon?" He asked, not looking down at you. "No.. the cocoa, I mean cinnamon would be a nice touch... but you don't seem like a sweet smelling guy, do you?" You muttered. "Are you already getting tired?" Jack asked, and he leaned over you to grab the remote, pausing the movie. You muttered, the heat of the hot cocoa doing way more than you expected on the tiredness you didn't notice you had. "A little," You shrugged, "But we can still try to finish the movie," You offered, but he shook his head. Of course he would, as much of a hard ass or party pooper he came off as, he was going to make sure you were going to get your rest.

You put your hand in his, the one that had the remote.. you unpaused the movie. He paused it, and you unpaused it again. It kind of kept up like this before Jack conceited and kept it playing, although he did lower the volume.. The subtitles were already on, though. "I win," You smirked up at him, before crawling into his lap. You placed your head on his chest, pausing when you felt him stiffen before relaxing against you. His heart beat for a moment before settling to its barely there rhythm. For a minute you thought about asking about his heart, as far as you knew he explained himself like he was becoming a walking corpse... how does that work?

You decided against it, you already asked about him earlier.. and besides, your mind was already beginning to blank as Jack reached to the side of the couch, and turned the lamp off.. It was dark now. It was still raining, you could more clearly hear the drops outside now that the movie was turned down. Plus, Jack was running his fingers through your hair, lightly massaging your scalp. It wouldn't be long until you finally gave in and fell asleep.

"Are you going to still be here in the morning?" You asked, melting into his chest as he hummed in response. "Plan on it, I still need to clean up the kitchen," He added as he curled your hair around his hand. "It'll still be cold in the morning," He added, "I need to make sure you bundle up before you go out for work," He added. "I'm not that dumb," You muttered and lightly slapped his arm. You swear, if he still had his eyes he would have rolled them.

"How do you see? I know you're not.. a normal person, but," You blurted out, lifting your head. He pushed your face back down, shushing you. "Sleep," He ordered, before loosening his hold on you a bit so you could get comfortable. It wasn't an order but it may as well have been with how your body started to loosen into him within the next few minutes, quickly snuffling out your curiosity and questions.

He'd still be here in the morning, you could pester him then. After all, it's what he signed up for when the two of you started to date one another..

[perhaps-sunlight]

Self-rec time! What are your favorite five fics that you've written and why? After replying to this ask, feel free pass on to five other writers to spread the love. 💗

Hi, thank you for the ask 💗 It's difficult to pick, not because I think all of my fics are amazing, but because writing takes a lot of effort so I only make time to write the ideas that I love. Right now, as a survival technique, my favorite fics are my three WIPs (one in each of my fandoms).

Focusing on my completed fics, in descending order:

5 -- In Your Image (Harry Potter, Tomarry):

It's rare for me to finish writing a fic and look back upon it with the feeling that I accomplished everything I intended from the outset. This is one of the exceptions. Aside from phrasing and word choices that can always be improved, I am satisfied with my Tomarry take on The Picture of Dorian Gray, and I'm especially proud of the climax and ending.

4 -- Inventing Paradoxes (Harry Potter, Tomarry)

This is a sentimental favorite. I came back to the Harry Potter fandom during the pandemic as a coping mechanism, so I wanted to write something lighthearted and happy (though one could argue I should've picked a different ship). With the Paradoxes series, I regained confidence in writing, a skill that had grown rusty, and I also got a lot of support from my readers, which made me feel like part of a community during a difficult period.

3 -- Perhaps Love (Digimon, Takari)

Another sentimental favorite: I first started planning / writing this fic when I was a teenager, upset with the non-canonical ending to my first ship. The heydays of the fandom have long past by the time I posted, but I was able to find readers who felt similarly disappointed and appreciated the ending that I provided. As with many of my stories, Perhaps was written around three pivotal scenes, and when I reread them years later, I can still appreciate the emotional impact that I was aiming for.

2 -- (never) let me go (Harry Potter, Tomarry)

I've always been and am still fascinated by the concept of death. As a teenager, I wanted to write a story where Harry struggles with the concept of immortality as the Master of Death because it means leaving his loved ones behind, but I didn't have the life experience to pull the story together. After discovering Tomarry, I reframed my original idea into a story about the acceptance of death: both from Harry, who doesn't want to lose someone he loves, and from Tom, who's afraid of moving on.

It's sort of a strange story, and I still find things I'd like to improve when I reread it. However, I was happy that it found readers who enjoyed its strangeness and super flattered that it was bound into a little book!

1 -- Once Upon a Fairy Tale (Digimon, Takari)

Like In Your Image, this is one of the few stories where I feel that I satisfactorily translated my complete vision to paper (and more). I enjoyed exploring how two characters can fall in love and yet still not be together, a theme that I revisit in other works, whether consciously or subconsciously. And when I reread the story, I can discern the hopes and dreams of a person who has yet to experience the ups and downs of real life, which fills me with bittersweet nostalgia for the innocence I once had.

Thanks for reading my rambling!

I'll tag @moonytear, @isalisewrites, and @kippipies (but no pressure at all!).

[karasuno-writings]

SOULMATES - SUGAWARA KOUSHI

So I'm coming back with one of my favorite tropes and one of my favorite boys! Hopefully it does not read as rusty as I feel. Also, let us ignore any inconsistencies on the actual Haikyuu plot, so let's imagine it's a parallel timeline, oops.

Whenever you sleep you get flashes of your soulmate’s day, when you wake up only a vague memory remains. Once the day you meet them comes, you see yourself in the dream, re-living the day before, remembering it vividly. 

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

Stretching your feet, you roll over with your eyes closed, protecting you eyes from the stray rays of sunlight filtering through the curtains. A consciousness slowly seeps in, a flash of silver, adrenaline pumping through your veins, cheering voices, friendly handshakes, and a refreshing smile wake you up. You sit down to take it all in, trying to remember any faces, places, any clues at all; but the images went as quickly as they came and all you were left with was a fulfilled feeling blossoming in your chest. You are glad your soulmate had a good day yesterday.

………………………………………………………………………

Lost in thought, you walk with fast-paced steps towards your class in the Nekoma highschool. This past week most of your dreams have been frustrating; and while you do not remember exactly the events that unfold on them, they always leave this lingering ache. 

Huffing,  you sit down on your desk, unloading the contents of your bag absentmindedly; searching for pain meds to calm the constraint buzz rattling your head. Your notebook now open on a summary from yesterday, that you do not even remember writing, as you scribble nonsense on the corner of the page.¿How does everyone else go about their day with so many complex feelings that are not even their own? 

While you had not met your soulmate yet, you had become familiar with him on a certain way. After years of getting snippets of his life you had managed to gather some information to go by: He is most definitely smart and plays some kind of sport, his smile is like none other, he seems to be well liked; and that, most days as soon as you get up, he manages to bring you an immense feeling of comfort. 

“Y/N!” 

Your eyes widen, as you were rattled out of your thoughts abruptly. “Y/N” the teacher repeated. “Can you or can you not give us the answer?” 

Fuck. You sigh, blushing, and shook your head “May you please repeat the question?” 

Tapping her finger against her desk the teacher huffed. “Pay attention, next time you are out of my class”

………………………………………………

It was the second day of practice for the Volleyball Interhigh Nationals and Suga had only played once, and he felt as though he fell short on the time he should have been proving himself. Granted, the main focus was on their starting lineup, and Kageyama seemed to be on his prime, however, he had hoped to at least feel more helpful than…this. 

After splashing his face with water, he rubbed his eyes and rested his head against the wall, a second was all he needed. He had spent most of the night studying the teams on Tokyo, in order to strategize and pick his pace up; thus, his eyes feet heavier than usual. A deep breath…and back to the game, after all, while he was not on the court his roomates still counted on him. 

Jogging towards the bench he waved his arms and smiled; “Let’s do this! We have a long day ahead of us”

………………………………………………

“Come on Y/N! Come with us! I’m sure it will help you loosen up!” Lev exclaimed, running up to you with a slight spring in his step. You rolled your eyes with a slight smile, the new guy had managed to win your friendship over. “You will love it! Maybe I’ll even get to play!”

“Fine, lets go” You shook your head as the tall boy sprung up ahead of you, already on his way to the central court. 

Once you arrived and opened up the door of the gym you noticed just how important this event was, the place was bustling with sound and everyone seemed to be busy with one thing or another, still practicing before the matches. Lev waved to you once and ran towards his teammates. Smiling, you greeted them from afar and left towards the benches in order to watch them play.

As you walked towards the benches a flash of silver, black and orange, caught your eye; and before you knew it you had been yanked from your feet, away from a speeding stray volleyball. 

“Careful Hinata! Watch your aim!” The boy next to you exclaimed. You stared at him, wide eyed, still processing what had just happened. “Are you okay?” He turned towards you, flashing you a soft smile that covered the heavy eyes that hid behind it. 

“Yes…thank you so much” You smiled, and before you could ask his name he ran back towards his team, clearly busy at the moment, yout gaze following his every move as your face flushed slightly. 

“It’s nothing!” He said swiftly and you noticed the name on the back of his jersey…Sugawara. 

…………………………………………………………

Once in the benches you had learned that the silver-haired boy was from the Karasuno Team of the Miyagi Prefecture; and while you were cheering on your friends that played on the court right in front of where you sat, your eyes more often than not strayed towards the loud team of your new acquaintance. 

Sugawara was called into the court, Kageyama was getting frustrated towards Hinata and the tall blocker from the opponent team, getting him fired up and the rest of the team stressed. Smiling, he balled up his fists, it was his moment to pick up the pace and help build up encouragement. With a single, firm pat, to Kgeyama’s back, he jogged towards the court. 

“We cannot let one player bring us all down can we!?” He high fived an ecstatic NIshinoya and shook Hinata by the shoulders. Determined, the new set beggan and his focus went entirely on exploiting his teammates best assets. 

You squint your eyes, head crooked to the side, as you watch them play, a totally different pace than the one they carried with the black-haired setter, albeit a more stable one. 

After Karasuno scored two points, the opponent team started to get the gist to how Suga played, and their streak was cut short when they noticed a second too soon, that Asahi was about to spike to the left. Suga bit his bottom lip and huffed right before standing upright “Nevermind!” He shouted towards Asahi, who nodded determinedly, knowing that the play was risky, as they had barely come up with it a week ago. Another serve, and back to the game, still, his set was cut short again, and, seeing that Kageyama had cooled off and Hinata was once more fired up, decided to call Suga out of the court. 

With a sharp breath he nodded, and gave everyone a thumbs up before sitting down on the bench. And while everyone resumed the game, you noticed his lips pursing as he looked quickly to the side, before puffing his chest and clenching his fists, cheering on his team as if nothing had happened. 

You frowned and with a sight you looked towards the Nekoma team, and as you noticed they were on time-out you stood up, wanting to get something to drink. And as you cracked the can of soda open, you paced back and forth on the hallway, wondering why you were so affected by that boy's behavior. 

“Why can’t I seem to get it right…we have practiced so much…unbelievable” Right as you were about to leave you heard someone right around the corner, muttering to themselves. You stopped on your tracks, watching Sugawara stomping to the corner of the hallway, scrunching up a bottle of water and slamming it towards the trashcan that stood there. 

Suga shut up as soon as he noticed you standing there, eyes opening wide before standing upright and smiling weakly. “Sorry you had to see that” 

You raised an eyebrow up, looling your head to the side; “You know you don’t always have to smile right? It’s fine to be frustrated… however, that poor bottle of water was probably not gulty of anything” You laughed, shooting him an apologetic smile. 

He laughed slightly, a cute dimple appearing on his cheek “Do not get me started on the crimes that water had committed before I stopped it”. You giggled a bit and walked closer to where he stood. 

“You seem bothered; let me help! After all, I owe you one after you saved me from getting decapitated by that little redhead” You smiled softly at him “Im Y/N, nice to meet you” 

“Hmmm I don’t know if you can help me out…” He sighed, resting his back against the wall before sliding down and sitting on the floor. “It’s just that I cannot seem to get anything right these days…and it is my chance to prove my worth” 

“Well, I can see your team believes in you” You exclaimed, sitting next to him. “They really seem to have raised spirits after your contribution, you know?…but it is just what I saw right now. Don’t be so hard on yourself, everyone has those days. And while you are allowed to feel bad about it, don’t just give up!” 

He closed his eyes and nodded, relaxing his shoulders before looking back at you; “Im usually the one with the pick-me-up speeches, nice to receive one for a change” His smile was now genuine, soft; “I’m Sugawara, by the way” He stared at you for a few seconds, his gaze lingering on you. Now that his mind was not bustling, he wondered how he didn’t notice before how beautiful you truly were. Shaking his head he clapped his hands together, you were right and he was not about to give up, he still had a week to practice, and wether or not he was in the court, the thought of having the chance to practice, play and watch his team was enough to raise his spirits up. 

“See you around then?” He stood up quicky and offered his hand to lift you up, which you gladly accepted. 

“See you around!” You smiled, and as soon as he got his answer he ran back towards the court. 

That night both of you went to bed with a warm feeling on your chest, wonder why that was.

………………………………………..

Sweating, you sat upright, eyes open wide as you looked around your dimly-lit room. You pinched yourself in order to make sure that you were not dreaming anymore, flinching.

Your mouth opened ajar before smiling wide as you remembered every detail of your dream, how he helped you, your introduction, and how you helped him in return. His stunning smile, the cute dimple on his cheek, everything matched perfectly, and you could not wait to see him again on the court. 

…………………………………………………………

“You are not listening to me are you?” Lev exclaimed, annoyed, as the two of you walked inside the gym towards the courts, looking around frantically in the hopes of seeing Suga there. 

“Didn’t you hear me out Lev!? I met my soulmate here, I need to talk to him!” You hit your friend’s arm as he frowned, crossing his arms.

“Yeah! But now you are not telling me anything about him! Am I just supposed to be left with the doubt?” He whined 

“I’ll tell you when I see him!” Shushing him you leaned over to see the room better, and he rolled his eyes, defeated. 

The door of the room opened behind you, and before you could turn to look at whoever had some in you heard a familiar, soothing voice

“Y/N?” Suga smiled, skipping towards you with a smug smile, leaving his teammates wondering where he had learned your name. Right before he could reach you, you held him by the shoulders, squinting your eyes at him and shaking your head in disapproval, but with a slight chuckle that seemed to give away your true feelings. 

“So it is you that has been giving me headaches these past days! At least now I know why you have been feeling like that!” You exclaimed

Sugawara laughed, flushing. “Yeah…I’m sorry about that” 

Shooting him a smile you let go of his arms “Don’t be sorry…I’m just glad to finally meet you” 

“How about we go for a coffee when you’re free? That way you can help me out” He winked playfully at you, handing you a piece of paper before walking towards his team, leaving you and a wide-eyed Lev behind. 

“So you were not lying!?” Lev took the little paper from your hands, looking in awe at the phone number written in neat handwriting. 

“Why would I! Now, give that back before you lose it!” You snatch it from his hands, eyes still lingering on Sugawara who, noticing your stare, flushed and waved at you once more. 

[dutchessofcaladan]

Ghostbusters: Soul Resurgence

My first fic! I recently got really hyperfixated of Ghostbusters (thanks Frozen Empire) and decided to write a fic. This story will feature plot points from Ghostbusters 2 and characters from Afterlife onward (minus Lucky, Melody, and Podcast). This fic is set a few years after Frozen Empire. Also, a big thank you to @phantomoftheparadise0002 for beta-reading this. Lisa, you're amazing!

Summary: When the spirit of Sumerian sorceress Ahassunu, daughter of Vigo, possesses Alexis, the Ghostbusters must band together to determine the fate of the world

Translation for Sumerian: I will raise up the dead here to consume the living. Gatekeeper, open the gate for me. Such are rites of the mistress of the Netherworld.

Ray felt a smile come across his face as he heard the roar of Alex's bike quiet as she parked in front of the occult shop. Closing the book of ancient Sumerian history, his smile grew as the door opened.

“Hey.” Alex smiled, closing the door behind her. “What'd you need help with?”

“How's your Sumerian?” Ray asked, reopening the book.

“Considering you taught me it when I was 10 and I minored in it, I would say I’m pretty decent. Why do you ask?” Pushing her glasses back up on her nose, she rounded the counter.

“I'm trying to decipher this legend but I'm afraid I'm a bit rusty.” Ray smiled as he slid the book over to her.

“Let's see.” She pulled the stool closer to the counter, focusing intently on the book. “Looks like it's about the sorceress Ahassunu.”

“Ahassunu.” Ray whispered, slightly perplexed.

“Isn't that Vigo's daughter?” Alex asked, intrigued.

“I believe it is.” A smile lit up his face.

Turning back to the book, Alex read aloud, “After the death of her father, Vigo the Unholy, she took the throne by force, slaughtering the armies that tried in vain to keep her from it.”

Ray's eyes widened as she continued.

"The longer she sat upon the throne, the more her power grew. It was said that her power grew so great that runes burned themselves upon her skin as the demons imbued her with their power. It's also said that her eyes turned a deep black, akin to those of the devil himself.”

Ray sat back, releasing a breath.

“Something doesn't make sense here.” She said, leaning closer to the book.

“What do you mean?” Ray asked, looking back at the book.

“Ahassunu was Vigo's daughter, meaning she was Carpathian. Why is she regarded as a Sumerian sorceress?”

Ray's eyes narrowed. “Maybe the story was passed down so many times, her ethnicity was misheard. Like what happens in a game of telephone.”

“That's a possibility, but this book had to have been fact checked by several historians before it was published. That many people missing this large of an error? Doesn't seem plausible to me.”

“Even those who are the most skilled at their craft make mistakes. God knows I did.” Sighing, Ray dropped his gaze from the book.

“Ray, accidentally thinking of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man wasn't a mistake. You thought of the most harmless thing you could. And you helped defeat it. You're a hero.” Placing a hand on his shoulder, she gave him a soft smile.

“Tell that to every person who sued us after.” Ray chuckled.

“You know I would.” Alex's smile grew.

Standing up, Ray closed the book and returned it to its shelf as Alex's phone began to ring.

“Hey, Janine.” She answered. “Can't one of the other guys take care of it? I'm off the clock.”

Ray chuckled, hearing her exasperated sigh.

“Alright. Fine. Just send me the address and I'll come by to pick up my pack. Alright. Bye.” Hanging up, she turned back to Ray. “I gotta go. The Spengler's are still out and apparently I'm the only one capable of being a Ghostbuster tonight.”

“I could come help.” He offered, returning to the counter.

“No. It's fine. I can handle it.” Opening the door, she added over her shoulder, “If you find anything else out about that Carpathian/Sumerian sorceress, let me know.”

“Will do.” Ray chuckled.

As Alex dismounted the bike, she felt her knees nearly give way as she stood. “Been doing this for nearly 20 years now. You think I would be used to the weight.” She muttered to herself.

Walking towards the front of the museum, she was met with the nervous smile of Dr. Janosz Poha. “Dr. Poha.” She said, holding out her hand. “It's a pleasure to meet you.”

Timidly shaking her hand, he gave her a confused look. “The, the lady said Dr. Venkman would be here to take care of the, the thing.” He stuttered, pointing to the building.

Alex sighed. “I apologize for the confusion. My name is Dr. Alexis Venkman. You must've been expecting my father, Dr. Peter Venkman.”

Janosz let out a chuckle. “Oh! Silly me.” He smiled.

“It's quite alright, Dr. Poha.” She smiled.

“Please. Janosz.” He insisted.

Alex nodded as he led her inside the museum.

Stopping just inside the doors, he directed her, “It's, uh, down to the end hall and to the left.”

She watched as his hand shook as he gave directions, thinking of the long term effects his encounter with Vigo must've had on him.

“Good luck!” He shouted as she headed down the hall.

As she moved further down the hall, she began to hear a woman's voice, chanting.

Usella mituti ikkalu baltuti. Ati me peta babka. Sa belet ersetim ki'am parasusa.

As she rounded the corner, she saw a woman on her knees, wearing a security guard's outfit.

Taking a deep breath, Alex turned on her pack.

With one final chant, the guard's body fell limp to the ground as a gust of air flew towards Alex, knocking her over as her world went dark.

Passers-by on the street screamed in fear as the side of the Museum of Natural History blew apart, sending chunks of concrete flying into the busy roadway. Slowly standing up as the commotion seemed to have calmed, they watched as Alex walked to the opening and simply floated away.

[scoutaloos-rp-hub]

So..

After getting my bearings again for a bit.. damn this site has changed a LOT from what I remember back in the day.

For anyone interested: Ever since I left I lost my Grandpa, dropped out of Uni, got an apprenticeship which I've just recently had my written finals for so I can get a proper job in the future (how the system works in my home country), picked up fandoms, kinda dropped from the 101 Fandom as the show has pretty much been killed off by Disney and no matter how much you enjoy something, everything fades away eventually. I started writing a full long term fanfiction for a character I created for World of Warcraft and became obsessed with different things at different times. (Very random recollection of the last couple of years I know)

I did miss my time here and recently have been craving getting back into Roleplay as I have had a lot of fun with it over the years, so...

I am back!

(and honestly.. I'm surprised there are still so many people on my follower list, asumption being i wasn't the only one just going dormant...)

While I do wanna get back into RP I don't think I will be reviving my old blogs as I don't really have the muse for either of these Characters anymore... its just been to long, maybe one day they'll pop back into place but for the time being I'll leave them to rest.

HOWEVER:

The WoW character I mentioned, well... I may or may not have had inspiration for her a lot recently so..

Meet my Vulpera OC, Vayreena, a world traveling alchemist and adventurer (who's usually not THAT good at the latter) and because my brain obsesses over thing WAAAY to quickly and WAAAY to much... After seeing a certain recent movie, I couldn't resist going for seconds...

(Still a WIP tho, and I'm still not 100% sure how I'll do the design but its there and it's up)

Yes I know she's received.. mixed results.. but I just couldn't help myself. (I'm also not going to be having any icons for her for the time being since the movie isn't gonna be avaiable digitally for like another month for me

Both are avaiable for interacting, but bear with me.. I'm very rusty and work a full time job now so replies will likely be a lot slower than they were in my past.

[enchantedtomeet-giselle]

Saturday, November 16 — Crack!ship AU: Write a crack!ship au. This should be a one shot of any characters in the roleplay, yours or someone else’s! Definition of a crackship: seriously this shit can’t happen but in an alternate universe. Add 10 applicable aO3 tags (enemies to lovers, modern au, etc.) This year, you can either write this as a one-shot, or plot a thread! 

Title: Me-owch Featuring: Hathor (of @thesorceress-hera) , Morgan (of @madmagicmim ) Warnings: Mild cat injury, incorrect use of Warriors naming conventions, general incorrect use of Warriors lore sorry I only read book one and I'm rusty at best Tags: General Audiences, AU - Warrior Cats, F/F, forbidden romance, hurt/comfort, crushing on the medicine cat, ficlet, grumpy/sunshine, mutual pining, childhood friends

"Would you hold still?" hissed Hathorleaf, pressing the salve to Morgantail's paw. "You really need to stop getting yourself into these scrapes. How many hours have you spent in my den?"

"A lot," Morgantail admitted, blinking slowly.

"Well, you need to be more careful."

"Mm-hm."

Morgantail really didn't think she would.

The thing was, Morgantail wasn't entirely stupid. She knew she never had a chance with Hathorleaf. Her best friend since they were kits had changed ever since the last medicine cat had gone away to Starclan, and now Hathorleaf had much more responsibility on her shoulders. And she'd never disobey the clan's rules and break her vow.

Anyway, Hathorleaf probably didn't see Morgantail as anything more than a friend. If even that. At this point, she probably saw Morgantail as more of a nuisance.

But Morgantail still missed the old Hathorpaw. The kit who would trot back to the kit den with her mouth full of leaves, babbling about all the new things she'd learned that day. Her eyes had been so bright, they could light up the moon. Now it was rare even to get a smile from Hathorpaw.

Morgantail was known as the clan's clown, anyway. The one no one took seriously, the one always getting into ridiculous situations. Morgan was fine being known that way. It made other cats smile.

Sometimes it even made Hathorleaf smile, though Morgantail wasn't getting her hopes up.

"How did this happen, anyway?" Hathorleaf asked, turning to consult her stores. She glanced over her shoulder before she continued searching.

"Patrolling. Got into a real nasty fight with a tumbleweed. But don't worry, I protected our clan fiercely," Morgantail smirked. This actually earned a chuckle from Hathorleaf, which she quickly tried to correct. But Morgantail could see her tail flick the way it always did when she was amused.

Morgantail knew what every little flick, every little twitch of her paws meant. Of course she did. Hathorpaw had been her best friend once. And Morgantail had been hopelessly, ill-advisedly in love with her since then.

"You're unbelievable," Hathorleaf muttered, returning with a root of some sort between her teeth. She set it down on the ground in front of Morgantail. "Chew that. It'll help with the pain."

"The pain really isn't that bad," Morgantail protested.

Hathorleaf's expression softened. And Morgantail realized— it wasn't just about the pain. Morgantail could read every one of Hathorleaf's expressions, all of her body language, but she hadn't picked up this simple truth— Hathorleaf cared for her too. Maybe more than she was supposed to.

There was a reason, after all, medicine cats weren't supposed to take a mate. They were supposed to treat all of the clan equally, with no favoritism.

They weren't supposed to set aside special medicines for certain cats.

"Hathorleaf..."

"Morgantail. Take it," Hathorleaf hissed, though there was a strange tenderness to her tone. "There. You should be all set. Now, don't get into anymore fights with tumbleweeds."

"I'll try my best."

"Your best is-"

"Well, it's my best," Morgantail said with a teasing smile. And there it was, a smile from Hathorleaf, too. One that could light up the moon.

And that was all Morgantail could really hope for. It was unfortunate, falling for the medicine cat, but Morgantail knew Hathorleaf loved this work, and she wasn't going to give it up for anything.

For now, a smile was enough.

[justahopelessssromantic]

Who did that to you?

A/N: I'm still figuring out getting back into this writing thing. I've missed it so I thought I might try sharing some random pieces. Here's just a little something for Happy Lowman and one of many OC's Evelyn. I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think ☺️

Warnings: Nothing really I can think of. It's been a while so please forgive me I'm a little rusty. Happy being protective and just some sweet fluff.

Pairings: Happy Lowman/ OC Evelyn

Happy stepped into the house kicking his boots off and hanging his kutte up by the door. He was quickly met with Bruno and Ellie barking to announce his arrival. Once they assessed the threat was only him they were all tail wags and smiles as they excitedly waited for him to give each of them some attention.

After the joyful greetings he made his way down the hallway to the bedroom discarding his shirt as he went as the two followed behind him before rushing past him and into the bedroom. By now it was very much routine when he'd get in late after a long ride.

It had been a while since he last saw her. Way longer than any of them liked. They talked on the phone as much as they could though with both their busy schedules.

The tv was on, lighting up the bedroom as it quietly played some sitcom reruns. That's when he saw Ruby, the sweet pitbull he had brought home to her a few months ago curled up on the bed. She lifted her head up for a pet before plopping it back down and resuming her nap.

"In here," Evelyn's voice called out from the bathroom. The door was shut all but a crack allowing just a little light to spill through.

Happy stepped into the room just as she was patting her face dry.

"I missed you."

She smiled as he pulled her close. "I missed you too."

His own smile was quick to fall, his rage taking over as he took in the black and blue bruising around her eye. "Who did that to you?" He growled.

She could almost see his demeanor change before it even happened instantly picking up on his change in mood. She had become somewhat of an expert on Happy. She quickly tried to reassure him and turn the situation back around.

"Happy, baby, look at me." She spoke calmly, patiently waiting for his gaze to move from the bruise and meet her eyes. It took some coaxing but eventually his murderous stare met her soft hazel eyes.

"It was an accident." She explained.

"I don’t care. I'm going to kill whoever did that to you. Just give me a name."

"You're not going to kill anyone. It was just an accident.” She grabbed his hand in hers. “One of my patients, he just got confused was all. He didn't mean to and he felt horrible once he realized what he had done."

His body was still tense as he looked down at her and she knew he was still running through a million different ways to make the one responsible suffer. It was in his wiring to protect those he loved. She wouldn't ever want to change that about him but she also wasn't going to let him jump into every fight, especially when there was no need for one.

"You're not going to go beat up an eighty four year old." She reasoned with him.

He huffed. He didn't care how old he was.

"Promise me." She didn't think he'd actually do it but just in case she had to hear him say it.

It only took a few moments of her intense stare down before he gave in. "Fine.”

“Good,” Satisfied she stretched up to give him a kiss before taking his hand and leading him to the bed. He followed close behind her. "I mean I think it kind of looks badass don’t you?”

“Totally badass." He grinned playing along. "My little killer.”

[merinsedai]

Happy November!

Actually, I don’t really like November, usually. So many dark and gloomy days where I live; and so long until the weather will improve!

October roundup:

An up and down month. Started off with covid, so felt dreadful and just lived in my bedroom for the best part of a week whilst husbae did the full time job and all the parenting/meals etc etc. what a star he is.

Missed the wedding I was meant to attend as though I’d recovered enough to go, Mr 4 was ill and so I had to stay and look after him. Too late to cancel my hotel booking as well. Right bugger. In 2023, I have had three arrangements to meet actual friends in the flesh and I’ve managed 1 of those. The universe is set on me not having even a modicum of a social life.

I had to cancel my work that I’d booked, then there was no more work until the 30th. Some of that was half term, the rest… well there probably would have been work to pick up if I’d asked but I didn’t so… not a great month in the earnings department. Currently three days into a three week booking and that’s going ok.

Managed the birthday and the party without incident. Thank God for soft play and paying other people to basically do the whole thing for you. Don’t think I could’ve coped with running an old fashioned party at my house. All those 4/5 year olds… no thanks.

Made it to the caravan in Wales for the half term holiday. Mostly fine, as fine as holidays with small Chn can get. Miss 7 developed an appalling cold which she has subsequently passed to me. It is currently sitting in my chest and making me sound like a 40 a day smoker. Nice.

All that nice self care stuff I set up in September (the make up and body care stuff) was derailed when covid hit and hasn’t really picked up again. Turns out losing habits is far easier than maintaining. A bit of mascara here and there to stop me looking truly horrendous but not much else. Must get back to it. Still closing my rings, probably should up the goal to make it more challenging.

Actually managed to complete my October challenge- the sandtober daily drawing prompts. It was good. I did almost all of them the night they were ‘due’ c10pm, since inspiration never struck until then. It seems I still require the impetus of a deadline to actually get my arse in gear and do something. Did I improve over the month? Mm perhaps. I was exceptionally rusty, the only things I’d drawn in the past decade or so were shit renditions of Peppa Pig or the Octonauts for the toddlers. Toddlers are easily pleased, luckily. Also learned (no… confirmed. I already knew it) that I lack any creativity, because if there isn’t something to copy then I can’t do it. If there *is* something to copy, I can produce vague facsimiles (as long as no one is looking for shading or whatever) with varying degrees of success.

For November’s “thing”, I’ve signed to to a writing challenge. I don’t know why really, see above about the lack of creativity I possess. I just… came out a heart scan at the hospital and thought ‘fuck it’ and signed up. I’m even less practised in writing than I am in drawing (though I read voraciously and everyone knows that’s ‘so helpful for building vocabulary etc’ 😅) but… we shall see how it progresses.

OH and storm Babet blew down a massive bough from one of the old ash trees in my garden. It’s currently sitting and destroying the lawn, just waiting for the tree surgeons to come and take care of it and check that the rest of the tree is still ok.

This is a fooking big branch. We have a decent sized garden and it’s taking up most of it. The satellite branches we’ve removed already are six ft long. And they’re like twigs compared to the main thing.

[silverbastardgoldenfool]

Okay so, since you may be able to tell my RotE fever has returned I thought it might be time for a little Realm of the Quarantine update/thot dump. May be a little scattered and it gets personal but here we go!

1. Yes, it has been a fucking full year between finishing Mad Ship and finally cracking open Ship of Destiny, but yes, we are still going! Again, I have been following my sister's pace with this read, and she is chronically ill and a parent of a wild 4 year old (who I essentially co-parent just btw) so her capacity to read at all can fluctuate wildly. She was maybe a quarter through Ship of Destiny when she fell into a severe slump and so I just never started it after finishing Mad Ship. She picked up the book every so often but I wasn't confident she would keep it up and I preferred to be stuck between books than between chapters. Anyway, she finally hit her stride in December and finished Liveship, and now she is almost finished Fool's Errand!! She was literally sobbing today and I was like oh shit it's happened... Nope it's only the bit where Fitz and Dutiful go through the skill pillar leaving the Fool and Nighteyes behind 🙃 honey, you got a big storm comin (I'm sorry)

2. Realm of the Quarantine? Still? Yeah, for the sake of tagging it doesn't make sense to change the name, but also my brother just got covid 🙃 first one in our family (he's okay!!) so the legacy lives on I guess. Anyway I think the name will always fit because it's a good way of tying it to the when and why of its beginnings. Literally insane that this will be the third year of this reread lol huh??

3. On that note, I cannot WAIT for the day I get to inhale this series again at my own (supremely unhealthy) pace. I was so looking forward to picking up on all the nitty gritty details and through lines because this is my first time reading chronologically and yeah I still can to an extent but it's now once again been years since I read the first books so ya know, the cohesion just isn't there.

4. On THAT note, I have definitely been pretty rusty getting back into the series. I'm engaged and enjoying it while I'm reading but you should see the amount of tabs compared to the others lol, and the amount of notes. I think it's just taking a while for my feelings about the story to kick back in all the way, but that is definitely happening more and more as I go on (almost halfway through now)! There are also just a lot of dropped threads, things I was keeping track of in my notes before which I don't have a clear enough memory of to keep following now, so it's honestly just kind of hard to know what kinds of things I should be noting? But again that's getting better. I might actually read my notes from the previous books tomorrow cos that would help, I'm sure. All this is linked with the fact that my sister, neice and I have just moved into our own place together, out from an extremely unhealthy situation. The move was really sudden, and although an incredible opportunity it was also inhumanly stressful and exhausting. I became severely dissociated and I'm still finding my way back to myself. But honestly getting back to RotE has been a big help with that!! It's just that yeah, there are so many disconnects whether it's my memory, the flow of the story being interrupted by a long break or my ability to feel much. It's all getting better. But I just wanted to put that out there in case my Ship of Destiny write up ends up being a bit of a skinny legend :( I know it doesn't actually matter I just am kinda sad about it because this trilogy is so dense and I was connecting so many dots and now it's like someone came and cut all the strings on my serial killer corkboard and I'm starting from scratch. But oh well!!

5. There is no greater motivator for reading than to know your sister is experiencing some absolute fucking PEAK Fitz and the Fool content without you

6. Speaking of which, you may notice a contradiction between my stated disconnect from Liveship and claiming my RotE madness is back. Well, this is actually not an entirely new phenomenon. Last time I was reading Liveship I wasn't disconnected from it, but it did still ignite my Fitz/Fool rabies. I'd be reading Liveship all day, perhaps without so much as a mention of Amber popping up, yet spend all night dreaming about Fitz and the Fool? Honestly just takes the most flimsy of threads for those two to hijack my brain. But I'm not complaining about it.

7. Sadly have not been struck with inspiration for memes yet, but hopefully Sa will bless me soon.

8. Long story short, I'm back and becoming more and more obsessed every day which strangely is a sign I'm doing much better lol. It sounds strange but if my sister keeps this going and I can make it through Tawny Man without any major interruptions I think it'll genuinely be really good for my mental health. The ability to get excited about something, be unapologetically passionate, think critically, experience a masterpiece which might inspire me to do some writing of my own and just generally spend time on something I love are all things that have been missing from my life. Returning to RotE is far from the most important change in my life right now but it is intrinsically tied to those changes. A friend to accompany me on this new road. Sorry to be cheesy I just honestly have worked so relentlessly and hopelessly hard to get here all while never really believing I would arrive. I still don't really believe it but I want to. The fact I even have the mental clarity or will to put this post together is remarkable on its own. So I'm taking stock. I've missed talking shit with you guys, I hope we all have a beautiful year 💫

[willsimpforazula]

Sokkla Sat 2022 Week 2: Assassin Azula ends up saving Sokka's life

yes ik issa sunday, hush child.

anyways...i think i understood the assignment correctly (?)

if not, well there's always the sokkla smut, plus i am as rusty as can be when it comes to writing.

ain't life's a biatch. but anyways you aint here to read my bitching so on with the story

************

Sokkla Saturday 2022 Week 2: Assassin Azula saves Sokka's life

Bedroom,

Safehouse

Agna Q'ela

Watching his chest rise and fall, Azula wondered if bringing him to her place was a mistake. Especially when just three days prior, she bought a ticket to Agna Q'ela for the express purpose of claiming his life and cashing in a fourteen million dollar paycheck. Nothing personal, just business. And yet, here she was, sheltering someone who had committed the cardinal sin of performing business on Continental grounds, for which there was only one method of atonement: death.

The fact that he had made it this far without incident (that she knew of) spoke volumes to the fact that he still was not someone to take lightly despite having been supposedly retired from the scene for the past ten years. Ten long years in which his moniker of the Ijiraq was spoken off in hushed whispers around private tables at many a Sankan establishment, his deeds taking on mythical status as he too became myth.

Yet now, the Ijiraq was here in the flesh, no longer words on paper but a real physical being and she found herself hopelessly taken by him, even if his already battered body now sported more scars and scrapes, the largest of which ran across his abs after some amateur decided to toss their hat in the ring and attempted to blow up Sokka and claim the reward for themselves. Deciding that sleeping on the bed was much more comfortable than on the chair or sofa, she threw caution to the wind and crawled up next to him, letting sleep wash over her after expending countless hours fixing every gash and scrape on his body.

The first thought that hit Sokka as he slowly came to was the fact that one of his hands was bandaged, whilst the other was definitely tangled up in some female's hair. Steadying himself with deep breaths, he slowly looked around before settling on where his other hand was entangled in said female's hair. 

"Su-Suki?" he whispered hoarsely. In response, the head on his chest stirred slightly, to which Sokka realised that it was not, in fact Suki laying her head on his chest but rather someone else. Taking a few more deep breaths to calm himself down, he tried to recall what had happened yesterday, only to find that he could only remember bits and pieces.

Shaking his head, he opted to kick that particular can down the road and instead figure out who the mystery girl was and how to extricate himself from under her. Clearly, she wasn't of Water Tribe stock, which left either Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation that much he was certain. Gingerly, he lifted the hand that was slung over his chest when he noticed the beginnings of a tattoo on her wrist. Flipping it over, he saw that it was a red and blue dragon intertwined around twin lightning bolts.

Why does this tattoo look so familiar?

Where have I seen it before?

Caldera? Fire Fountain? Ugh my head hurts.

Placing the arm back down, he took in his surroundings, looking for something that could conceivably be used as a shank. 

Just in case. 

Soon enough, the mass of hair rose from his chest to reveal two amber eyes staring back at him.

"Good morning?" he ventured.

"Mmm..seems like it. You sleep well last night?"

"I…my head hurts. Wait…why am I naked?"

"A bit too late to be bashful now, isn't it?" the mystery girl smiled and Sokka felt his heart skip a beat at how incredibly beautiful she looked, the way the soft streams of sunlight made her face glow much like a princess. Immediately, a wave of guilt hit him like a freight train as he felt he was disrespecting Suki's memory, a small frown appearing on his face that she immediately picked up on.

"What's wrong?"

"No-nothing…just…never mind. Did-did we do anything last night?"

"Chivalrous aren't you? Nothing happened between us last night, if that's what you're concerned about."

"Your sheer nightgown seems to suggest otherwise."

"Like what you see?"

"Perhaps, though as it stands my heart already belongs to someone else."

"Then we'll just have to keep it a secret."

"The only way to keep a secret between two people is if-"

"- One of us is dead. Heard it a million times before."

"You're not from the Continental, are you?"

"The Continental? What's that?" she feigned, praying he didn't ask further

"Nothing-just..I don't want someone as pretty to get caught up in my problems. It never ends well."

"I can take care of myself, you know. I'm not just a pretty bimbo."

"Clearly, you aren't. After all, I doubt some airhead knows how to perform field surgery." he replied, pointing to the neat row of stitches that ran across his abs.

"Whoops, guess you caught me. Whatever shall you do?" she teased.

"Whatever shall I do, huh? Spirits, you have no idea…."

"What's the matter, did my beauty break your brain hmm?" she teased, snuggling closer to him as Sokka felt her hand wander dangerously close to his groin area.

Throwing caution to the wind, Sokka murmured a private apology to Suki and cupped her face with his good hand, bringing her in for a searing hot kiss as she cupped his member and began to stroke, making him groan in pleasure. Breaking their kiss, he slipped a hand through her nightgown and returned the favour, finding her already wet for him.

"Someone's been a very naughty girl."

"You're no goody two shoes yourself…" she panted, as Sokka's fingers moved from teasing her clit to entering her. With each searing kiss, more of their clothing ended up on the floor till all that was left was their birthday suit. Sitting in between his legs, Azula drank in his body, starting from his rugged looks down to his lean physique, culminating in his rather large member that she knew would definitely have her waddling like a newly hatched turtleduck by the end. 

"Like what you see?"

"I could ask the same about you."

Cautiously, she climbed on top and began to tease him with each snap of her hips, the entrance of her folds teasing his head. 

"Mmm, just like that princess, just like that." he moaned, hands caressing her hips as he let her find a comfortable pace. 

"My eyes are up here, Sokka." she panted, as she tracked his deep blue eyes that settled on her breasts, which swayed back and forth as she rocked her folds across his member.

"I suppose it can't be helped, the way your tits move is just…hypnotizing."

"Bet you can't wait to see them bounce when I ride you into the ground, don't you?"

"It's that obvious?"

"Mmm hmm."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"Just the words I was waiting to hear."

Wrapping her hand around his cock, she positioned her entrance and slowly took him, a satisfied purr escaping her as Sokka filled up every inch of her, hitting all the right spots that made roll her eyes when she finally sank down to his hilt.

"Agni you're big." she breathed. "Need…a moment."

"Take your time, princess, whenever you're ready. We've got all the time in the world to do this right."

If only you knew Sokka, if only you knew. Azula thought to herself, as she rocked back and forth in a steady trot, every moan and gasp that escaped her lips a sign telling her just how fucked she was. Clasping her hand in his, he guided her to her left breast, giving it a rough squeeze and a tease that only served to reinforce that inconvenient fact.

"Oh Sokka…soo good..you're going to make me cum…Hnnnggggh.." she whispered sultrily, as her muscles tightened and she soaked his member in her love juices. While she was recovering her breath, he moved her hand from its perch on her breasts down to her sex, where he toyed and rubbed her clit while he bucked into her, seeking to give her a back to back orgasm.

"So tight and wet, just for me." 

"Y-y-yes…. oh Sokka there, right there-" she moaned, her back arching once again as he catapulted her into another wave of orgasmic pleasure, leaving her only capable of fragmented speech and soft pants. Sitting up against the headboard, he pulled her in close and peppered her face with tender kisses that left her wanting more.

"You close?"

"Mm hmm."

"Me too, princess, me too." he breathed into her ear, giving it a small nibble that set off tingles down her spine. 

"Cum for me Sokka, cum for me…..please…"

"Wh-where?"

"Do you really have to ask?" she huffed, as she wrapped her legs tightly around him.

"I don't want to-"

"Shhhh, not now. Don't ruin the moment, please." Azula replied, before capturing his lips in hers, their tongues exploring each others' mouths as Sokka responded to her needs by pulling her in close and wrapping his arms around her back, locking her in position.

With one last thrust, Sokka went in as deep as he could before releasing his seed in her and setting off her orgasm, her muscles greedily milking him dry as she too smothered his cock in her own wetness. Holding each other in their arms, both of them buried their heads in the crook of the other's neck as the post coital haze descended over them.

"You know, I never really got your name, princess."

"Do I really need to when you can call me princess?"

"It's only fair, you did ask for mine after all."

"If you insist, you can call me Sakura."

"Sakura huh… a pretty name for a pretty little dragon like you."

"Thank you." she blushed.

"You're not too bad yourself." 

"Just you wait."

"Is that a promise?"

"That's a guarantee, Sakura. I swear."

"You best bet I'll take you up on that." she replied, laying her head on his chest. Turning her head, she looked at the clock and sighed, the time telling them that they had more or less spent almost half the day in bed.

"Am I making you late for work?" he asked with a tinge of concern in his voice.

"No, it's fine, don't worry."

"If you say so."

Gingerly, she lifted herself off Sokka, a gasp escaping her lips as she missed having him in her already, a small white trickle running down the inside of her thigh.

Seeing her stagger to the door, Sokka was about to get out of bed when she responded "I-I'm fine."

"Shaky legs?" he smirked as he leaned back.

"Cocky aren't you?"

"I'm not the one who almost stumbled into the cupboard is all I'm saying." he shrugged. Finding no retort, she instead replied "Just…stay where you are. I'll uh..clean you up."

"Sure."

*********

Standing in the shower, Azula let the hot water splash over her as she cursed herself for falling head over heels with her target. Not only did she start copping feelings while reading his dossier, she had to go and make love to him.

Agni Azula, what the fuck where you thinking opening up your legs like some slattern?

Not everyone can say they fucked the Ijiraq and lived to tell the tale though. Besides, what's wrong with having a little fun on the job?

Everything!

"Fuck." she cursed, pounding the bathroom wall with her fist. At this rate, you might as well dig another grave for yourself, it's only a matter of time before they find out and put a bounty on your pretty little head.

"Agni Sokka, what have you done to me, you little shit?" she huffed, before slumping down on the floor, letting the shower rain on her. With a deep sigh, she turned off the shower and stepped out. Wrapping a towel around herself, she grabbed a small basin and filled it up with some hot water and grabbed a washcloth, before heading back to her room.

Stepping in, she saw him muttering something while staring at the locket that he wore around him.

"What's that?" she asked, as she sat beside the bed and wiped him down with the washcloth.

"Something from a long time ago in another life."

"Sorry."

"For what? You weren't the one who-never mind. Point is, it's not your fault." 

With that, she continued to work in silence, cleaning him up. When she brushed against his cock, she saw Sokka wince slightly.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just….well…having a pretty girl like you half naked is…well, rather arousing and um…"

"What's the longest you've gone back to back?"

"Sakura! You can't ask questions like that out of the blue!"

"Why can't I? Besides, we already had sex once, it's not like we have anything to hide."

Lies, you definitely have something to hide. He may not but you sure as hell do. When are you going to come clean to him?

Shut up self. Not now.

Dropping the towel, she once again swung herself on top of him.

"Guess we're going to find out together huh?"

"Spirits Sakura, you're going to fuck me to death aren't you?"

"Well…if that's what you want, that can certainly be arranged." she purred while stroking him in her hands, feeling Sokka grow turgid in her hands before she once again sank down on his length. 

********

"Sakura?"

"Hmm?" she stirred in his arms.

"I wasn't too rough, was I?" he asked, placing a kiss on her forehead. 

Shaking her head, Sokka continued "I wish we could just stay in this bed forever."

"Me too."

"I think…I might, no, I've definitely fallen ass over kneecaps for you."

"Must be the sex talking. After all, we did how many rounds?" she smiled, poking him in the nose.

"Don't ask me, I didn't keep track. And no, I don't think it's just the sex talking, though it certainly got the point across."

"I suppose I too, am falling for you." she whispered back, the words leaving her mouth before her brain realised what she just said.

"Well that makes two of us." Sokka replied, caressing her face.

"Should we get cleaned up?"

"We should. I feel sticky and sweaty all over. Oh, and we definitely need to change the sheets."

"Yeah."

Sliding off the bed, they both supported each other to the bathroom. Taking a seat on the edge of the tub, Sokka ran some hot water while she rummaged for some waterproof dressings. Removing the old dressings, she gently wiped it down before applying the new ones, making sure it was wrapped tightly around him. Satisfied, both of them slipped into said tub, where they immediately started to lather soaps and shampoos on the other before rinsing.

Draining out the now filthy bathwater, Sokka ran a second round, letting it rise up to his knees before shutting it off. Letting the hot water soothe their tired muscles, both of them savoured the feeling of being securely wrapped in each other's arms. As the water finally grew cold, both of them reluctantly released each other from their respective embraces and stepped out from the tub. Grabbing a towel, they both dried each other off, before slipping on a bathrobe and exiting. Making their way to the living room, Sokka heard a growl come from her.

"Hungry?"

"I wonder who's fault it was, hmmm?"

"Now now Sokka. you were just as eager if I recall correctly."

"Guilty as charged."

Clearing out the table turned operating space, Azula put back the medical supplies and cleaned off any blood stains in addition to making sure that Sokka didn't catch anything that would lead him to believe that 'Sakura' was anything but what she said she was.

"Anything in particular you're wanting ?"

"Surprise me."

*******

Half an hour later, Azula was beginning to seriously consider dragging him off to the nearest priest and making him her husband, consequences be damned. After all, not only had he shown to be far and away the best sexual partner she could ever ask for or want in bed, he was also talented in the kitchen as her tastebuds exploded with flavours in every bite she took of his food. Even so, in the back of her mind a veritable war raged between her rational and emotional selves. 

Agni Azula, are you really going to let yourself be swayed by some Water Tribesman with a big cock and chef grade cooking skills?

I'm so fucked aren't I ?

You still have time to salvage this.

But what I don't want to? 

This man is going to be the death of you.

"Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"You're spacing out again. Is something on your mind?"

Shit, he noticed. 

Gotta make a choice now. 

"No. Yes. I mean…it's complicated."

"Clearly." 

Walking over to the drinks cabinet, she grabbed a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass, downing half of it before coming back to the table.

"Are you okay? Th-"

"I'm not-my name isn't actually Sakura."

"I figured as much."

"And you're the Ijiraq." Instantly, she saw his deep blue eyes turn from an inviting cerulean to a dark angry blue.

"Congratulations, you found me." he snarked, placing his utensils on the table as he knew there was no point in trying to fight. Not when she could immediately electrocute him before he even got anywhere close to her. 

"I suppose you got the telegram from the Continental?" he asked, to which she merely nodded.

"Fourteen million dollars is a lot of money. So why-" 

"-did I save you? I've been asking myself the same damn question ever since I hauled your bleeding ass into my safehouse."

"Why even save me if you're going to kill me anyways?"

"I told you I don't know!"

"Then answer me this….do you have feelings for me?"

"Yes."

"Please don't lie to me."

"I can't, Sokka. I can't. Not about this." she choked, as tears started to form in the corner of her eyes.

"What is your real name?"

"Az-Azula."

"Tell me Azula, do you have feelings for me? Or is that all Sakura and the real you wants nothing more than to claim that bounty?"

"I told you already."

"But I want you to say it as Azula, not as Sakura."

"I do Sokka, I do. Fuck I'm so lost and confused and gah!" she screamed, hurling her glass against the wall before breaking down in tears, the waterworks coming out in force.

"This was supposed to be my last job,but you-you had to just go and make this complicated!" she sobbed.

"I don't want to kill anymore Sokka, I'm done."

"Then you don't have to."

"If-if they found out I-they'll kill my baby sister if I don't kill you. You know the rules."

"How old is your sister?"

"'Sh-she turns twenty two in two months."

"Do you love her?"

"Are you asking me to choose?"

Kneeling in front of her, he placed her hand on his chest and replied "The world would be a better place, a more peaceful place if someone like me were removed from it. But family, you hold on to that for dear life, no matter the cost." 

"I've already come to terms with my past. If I die, I'll see her again. But if I live, I'll only cause more pain and misery. You pulled me out of that bomb blast didn't you? I remember now. How many innocent people died just so some piece of trash gets a payday?"

"Sokka-"

"Azula, please, if-if you feel anything for me-no, if you love me you'll listen to me and do what I tell you to. Sacrificing your sister to spend the rest of your life with a dead man walking is pointless. There's plenty of fish out there in the sea."

"But none of them are the Ijiraq. You are one of a kind."

"As is your sister."

"There has to be another way Sokka, there has to be. I don't care how high the cost."

"I-fine. I know one last method. But first, we need to escape the city. Okay?" Getting back up on his feet, Sokka pulled her close and kissed her forehead.

"We'll make sure your sister is safe, I promise."

******

Two weeks later

Agna Q'ela International Airport

Ticket Booth

"Good morning, how may I help you?"

"We'd like to purchase two tickets to Ember Island please. First Class, if possible."

"Can I see your passports?"

Pulling out two passports from under the coat, the man handed it over to the clerk. Glancing at the couple and the passports, she asked "Sir, could you take off your sunglasses?"

Obliging the clerk, the man took it off briefly, squinting as he did before putting it back on.

"He has sensitive eyes."

"I see." the clerk replied, the scepticism evident in her voice.

"That'll be six hundred talents please."

Slipping a gold coin across the counter, the woman replied "Keep the change."

"S-sure." Hastily printing their tickets, she sent them off on their way, not wishing to draw too much trouble to herself.

******

One hour later

First Class Cabin

Airship 'Soaring Phoenix'

"Well that was a breeze. I almost thought she was going to call security on us." Sokka sighed in relief as he arranged their baggage in the spacious cabin, which afforded them not only an en suite bathroom but also a spectacular view of the outside, the former of which was paramount on their list as they wished to avoid socializing with the passengers as much as possible. After all, there was no telling if there were Continental people on board said craft.

"Now, dear husband…what shall we do to pass the time?" she teased, her deft fingers working their way into the hem of his pants.

Turning around, he tilted her chin up and replied "Indeed, my dear, whatever shall we do?", before capturing her lips in his.

[mywritingonlyfans]

Cornerstone (Yeah, that Arctic Monkeys song) - Fic with Damiano David.

prompt: Damiano used to date your sister, but now that she's dead you're the only thing that can keep her alive for him, making him not worried that he might forget her face.

warnings: none, just pure sadness. Oh, and tysm Evie for the lovely help on this one!!

You remembered well the first time you saw Damiano. It was on the first of many parties you would go in your life, it was the night of your 18th birthday and considering how introverted and reserved you were, your sister, who although looks a lot like you, appearance wise, your personalities were complete opposites, decided that you needed to celebrate in a dignified way. Well, you were two years apart, but her behavior at parties made her seem older than her age, she appeared more experienced, she tolerated drinks well and her charisma was perfect, just right for the party. As much as you always imagined she would be like that, given you were used to seeing her come home late at night on weekends, it was fascinating, even a little intimidating to see for yourself. Basically, Parrot’s Beak was made for her. After 45 minutes of partying, your eyes had noticed Damiano drinking with some friends, his cheekbones were prominent cute, his eyes were striking, and the drink was starting to take effect on his cheeks making them become a lovely, flushed pink - almost like his skin was begging to be kissed. You could replay that moment in your head whenever you wanted, you didn’t even have to close your eyes. Over time, you’ve forced yourself to smile at him, pull your hair out of your eyes between shy glances, trying your hardest to make yourself good-looking for him. It didn’t take long for him to walk towards you, making your nervous and hopeful smile in the process turn into disappointment. You soon realized his glances in between swigs of beer were not for you, but for your sister. He hadn’t even noticed you there, and the sensation that filled your body was painful. That night you accepted you were left out as they walked to the bathroom, and the best to do was to keep your first impressions of Damiano to yourself. It would be the best thing to do; even after the 4-year anniversary of them being together, and of you still finding Damiano stunning.

“You need to stop callin’ me,” you sighed, brushing the back of your hand over your eyes. It was dawn, if she had been there, she would have already made you get up, would have taken the phone from your hands and lay on top of you, making you laugh until you’d fall asleep together. “It’s been almost a year now; you need to stop calling me.”

“But you always make it better,” his drunk voice echoed in your ear. Strange, but you liked listening to him, he spent so many years making her happy that listening to him was like feeling her smiling widely at you after buying chocolate cake at the coffee bar around the corner that you now worked for.

“What do I make better, Damiano?” You asked, prolonging something that didn’t feel right.

“Me,” he sighed deeply, making you do the same. “I like your voice, even more after you’ve woken up, it’s so calm and crystal clear,” He kept talking until your voice broke into a sharp sob as you tried to bite your lip to contain yourself, if she was there she would’ve calmed him down with just a word; but she wasn’t, and he was like that because he didn’t have her anymore.

“I like you Dami, I truly wish you nothing but the best, but I can’t do this anymore,” you verbalized, knowing there were chances of him being oblivious to the fact that he was looking for you because you reminded him of her. “I miss her too, and it’s being too painful.”

With that being said you hung up the phone, pressing it against your chest knowing he would call again next night and then you would pick up, exchange a few words with him, feeling miserable right after for letting him do it again; but the truth was, on the next day you would feel good, not in a healthy way, but in a nostalgic way that would leave you trapped in a cheery image of your sister; whenever she had the opportunity to describe how amazing a date with Damiano was would make you bear through the day.

As you soaked your pillow, the loud music from The Rusty Room along with dancing people made Damiano wet his lips in a dirty smile, his night would be like any other since she was gone, he would get drunk enough to see her face on someone else and would be able to snuggle between the legs of his new salvation or get kicked out for being too much and have no choice but to call you. On nights when his feelings are stronger than before, he would do both. He would call you in hopes that when you answered, you would miraculously become her, then he would tell you about his day and how no one in the band seems to put up with him anymore, and then would wait until you told him it would be okay. Clearly, nothing worked like that in your mind, you were as tough as she was, which was good for him to feel in her presence, but not what he needed at the moment; not least because you had never spoken for more than 5 minutes. That way, he had no choice but to keep looking for her.

Still digesting your dry words, he caught sight of her golden hair and pale skin being bathed in the strong red light, she smiled at him, huddled up in a wicker chair, her eyes was in the same level with his as he wandered up for a closer look, and it felt like it was for the first time, so he came close and kissed her, taking all the air out of her lungs to himself; the random girl wouldn’t mind having another name tonight.

Damiano returned home the next morning in his car, swearing he could still smell her scent on his coat, transmitting it to his seatbelt while he lengthened his trip to the next coffee bar just to be able to feel her presence for longer.

“He’s all yours today!” Your manager said in mock animation.

His eyes were lazy, his lips rosier than usual trapped in a perfect pout, stubble on his face and yet he looked like an angel; but smelling of booze and sleep deprived.

“What do you want?” You asked, observing him up and down; putting on your best character to try to fool him, or yourself. “You need to stop killin’ yourself like that, Dami.” You let your eyes dip into his, and what a regret, now your whole body tingled.

“I just wanna a nice coffee, I need to be alive to work,” he raised his hands in redemption, giving you a cute half smile. His voice as melody and sweet as on the phone. “I just need to calm my mind down, buttercup.”

His whisper ran down your spine, making drops of coffee from the machine splash onto your hand instead of into the cup, your body knew it was wrong, but your mind had liked being called that.

“How’s life?! How’s things goin’, huh, after all that, y’know…” He went on while you gave him his usual hot coffee.

In response, you shook your head, looking around you, cursing the place for not being so busy so that you could have more customers.

“Fine, no more talk, buttercup.” He sounded low and careful this time. You had to take your eyes off him because you felt like you were going to cry.

No more smiles on his tired face, he straightened his clothing, handing you a crumpled currency. Avoiding his eyes, you took it in your hand, taking his change and writing it out in Letraset for him.

“Thank you,” he said, this time without repeating the pet name, since both you and him were now being watched by your manager. Even in front of others, his eyes filled with tears as he looked at your writing; so similar to hers in form, yet so cruel.

“You shouldn’t let him call you the same way he sweet called her.” The manager warned you when he saw the boy leave. Your sister was always around with Damiano, they were completely in love with each other and never hid it from anyone, it was obvious he had noticed.

“He just needs to heal.”

“So do you.”

‘No, you can’t call me the way you used to call her’ were marked on his change.

Battleship, next night.

Rum was already a necessary substance to oxygenate his blood, it was the 4th shot, he had a dizzy mind with you on it, from the tip of your nose that seemed to follow him when he was speaking, to your contradictory voice that sounds just like hers when you say that you don’t want him around. He needed you.

He glanced around the room, searching for his daily fix of sex for the night but soon changed his mind, taking his cell phone in his hands and punching in your number that he already knew by heart.

“I’m sorry, you’re by yourself?” A serene voice awakened him from his trance, the blond hair and lips drawn in a perfect heart shape similar to hers made him forget about his cell phone.

“Yes, I am.” He confirmed, his throat going dry. Every night the same thing, but he still got carried away by a vision trick; given that the reality was way too difficult to face. “All by myself and free for the night.”

She laughed at his despair, and even though the sound wasn’t similar to hers, he decided he could play pretend in his mind. The girl’s laugh fell silent, feeding his head with the image of her as he closed his eyes tight, for a second he swore not to feel his feet anymore, wondering if it might be the effect of being close to be her ghost but when he said it out loud, calling the random girl by her name, all he felt was a pair of hands pushing him back while cursing him in as many ways as possible. Had the girl said her name to him? He couldn’t tell, it wasn’t like he cared.

“I need you,” you had tears running down your chin, your voice was nothing but sobs.

His smile widened, scratching the affected spot, feeling his body becoming more relaxed as he heard your voice filling the phone call. You needed him, so you called him. Just like in every other night.

“A nightmare again?” He asked cautiously, not even needing to ask what it had been about; he already knew.

“Yes,” you looked tired, as much as he did. “I need you, Dami, I can’t stop thinking about her.”

“I’m on my way, buttercup.”

The shared room still smelled of her, he knew it was because of you spreading the rest of her perfume across the bed she slept in. The atmosphere was different without her there, you both felt it, but somehow it felt good to be there and feel a bit of her false presence.

“You’re drunk again,” you sighed as he brought his fingers to your cheekbone, pulling some tears away. “She wouldn’t like that.”

He nodded, “she really wouldn’t.” Damiano smiled, seeing a shy smile spread across your lips.

Your movements were quick as silence filled the room, your arms went around his waist, making him have no choice but to snuggle you into his grip, a relieved sigh left his lips and he felt good knowing you no longer cried. The lack of voices made everything more comfortable, it cleared his mind, making his muscles relax. And when he felt you dig your face deeper into his shirt, he let his chin rest on your head as you found comfort in the scent that had often been used to be on her clothes.

The weather was grey, sad. Similar with your mood. Staying motivated to work was not what you wanted today, or any other day.

“What are you doing outside? You weren’t supposed to be working?” Damiano said, tucking you under his umbrella, his eyebrow puckered into a cute pout.

“I can’t work, I’m very sad and sleepless.” You imitated your manager’s voice, showing pure irritation.

“Not a good day, I see,” he remained in high spirits, even seeing your angry face as your request for Uber was denied on the screen in your hands.

“Wouldn’t you go get a coffee?” You deposited your disappointment in him. His face still in a smile, he was never one to be shaken by so little; just like her, in fact so alike to her that it was quite annoying at times. She wouldn’t be giving the hate for her bad day to anyone.

“There’s no point, I only come here for you.” Your mind knew well, it was already used to his tricks, but you still couldn’t help but smile.

His words softened your body and you allowed yourself to look at him, he didn’t seem to have had a rough night, his eyes were still as intense as she had described the night she met him. “Cornerstone doesn’t make any sense without me, I agree with you.” His lips spread; you were happy to make him smile.

The comfortable silence seemed to wrap you around each other, he brushed your hair back from your eyes, getting so close he thought you would might understand. “Can I get much closer?”

You nodded, feeling the tears blurring your vision. You knew he saw in you a way not to forget her face, but letting him go would hurt more. “Look, I’m really not supposed to — but yes, you can call me anything you want.”

--

Tagging: @pingpongchamps @oro-e-diamanti @marriedwithmarktuan @user0126 @its-afucking-mess @dont-let-me-drown-in-you

[merakiaes]

Hate You, Hate You Not - Armitage Hux

Pairing: General Armitage Hux x reader

Requested: By anon. 

Prompts: #1 & #58 from the fluff-list. 

Warnings/notes: (SHOULD I MAKE A PART 2 WITH MORE ROMANCE IN IT?) This ended up being much longer than I planned so it's most likely very boring and dull😭 Might be a bit, if not a lot, out of character since this is kinda my test-run for Hux and Star Wars in general. Getting the characters mannerisms in might take some practice. Not proofread so I apologize in advance for any mistakes. This is the first time ever that I write for Star Wars and the first time in like 5-6 months that I’m writing in general so I’m a bit rusty. Please reblog and leave comments to keep my motivation going and let me know if you’d like to be added to a Star Wars taglist <3 

Wordcount: 5632

Summary: One of Kylo Ren’s many tantrums results in your room being inhabitable for a night, which in turn results in you having to share a room - and bed - with the person you hate the most. 

Everyone who had ever, at some point in their lives, worked alongside Kylo Ren in his quest to bring the Order to power, knew how much of a hassle and inconvenience his temper, or lack thereof, could be.

Not much was needed for him to lose his cool and it happened on a much too frequent basis than what was considered normal for a man in his early 30s, at least according to you.

Of course, however, you couldn’t actually tell him that, nor could you think it, with the risk of him probing your mind.

So every time he came back from a failed mission and completely obliterated your hard work, you could do nothing but bite your tongue, clear your head and repair the damages like you’d done oh, so many times before.

That’s what you got for being one of the highest-ranked engineers of the Order, you supposed.

But on this day you would’ve, for the first time in your life, very much preferred to repair the damages left behind by your tantrum-prone leader like you always did. Because if that punishment had to be compared to the one you were now facing, you would’ve chosen the former without even a shadow of a doubt.

But, unfortunately, that was not an option this time around, as the room that had fallen victim to the sizzling beam of Kylo Ren’s lightsaber was your bedroom.

Well, not originally, of course, but sparks had flown from the totaled control panels and a piece of supposedly fireproof metal scrap had caught on fire before you and the other engineers reached the room for a damage-control, starting of as a small flame and then proceeding to spread like wildfire as fire did, in ways completely unbeknownst to you as, like already mentioned, the place was supposed to be safe from fires.  

The licking flames had managed to melt through several walls before you got to the scene, and one of those walls was the wall to your bedroom.

It was late when it happened, only fifteen minutes before you were supposed to end your shift, and as you were on the verge of having a mental fucking breakdown, you personally requested an audience with Kylo and were granted permission by him after a very carefully-worded explanation to start early in the morning.

But that only took care of one of your problems, and only temporarily at that. Now you were left with the issue of finding other sleeping accommodations since your room was currently not habitable. You had no choice but to ask for another room and, of course, Hux thought that to be the perfect time to crack a sarcastic joke about throwing you into one of the prisoner cells.

You had never, in all your years of being alive, glared so fiercely at another human being as you did then. And in your moment of anger, you accidentally let your walls down and let your thoughts run freely through your head – your annoyance directed at the General, but also at Kylo Ren, being exposed.

You felt it before you saw it – that little prickle in your head, that little sting of your mind being probed – and only a second later, Kylo Ren turned his masked head in your direction, walked up to you with patronizingly slow steps and spoke:

“I think you’ll find that General Hux’s quarters will suffice for the night, until repairs can be done to your own. He has more than enough space for both of you.”

He turned his head to look at the baffled man standing behind him, all of the attitude he had previously been harboring against you now completely melted away.

“Isn’t that right, General?” Kylo continued asking, giving him the time he needed to regain his composure.

The general in question had never been very good at holding his tongue, not even when receiving orders from superiors, and was quick to protest.

As anyone would’ve been able to guess, that didn’t go very well, and you weren't even gonna try hiding the satisfaction you got from seeing Hux be force-choked against a wall for speaking out of turn.

No matter how good both of you were at hiding your spiteful thoughts toward him, Kylo knew how much the two of you hated him. And more than anything, he knew how much you hated each other.

Kylo had become very predictable to you during the time you had been there and you knew his ways good enough to know that he wouldn’t have wasted petty energy in putting the two most hateful people he knew in the same room if he hadn’t been pushed to do so.

You knew that you weren’t the reason in this scenario, despite the fact that he had probably felt your spite directed towards him, which only left one option; and that option was the bitter, infuriatingly stubborn ginger currently walking by your side.

You glanced at him from the corner of your eye and glared, clenching and unclenching your fists at your sides in the same manner you had been doing ever since Kylo had ruled his decision final and dismissed you for the night.

His eyes remained trained on the metallic corridor that seemed to be stretched out for miles in front of you and your blood boiled at the sight.

You would’ve lost your shit if he’d had the nerve to even consider looking at you after putting you in this situation, but at the same time, you were also on the verge of losing your shit about him having the audacity to ignore you.

You wanted to scream at him like you’d never screamed at anyone before, but you knew that doing that would only fuel the petty grudge Kylo had against the two of you and give him more ways to cause you torment. The only thing you and the general would ever have in common was not wanting that.

But still, what harm could a tiny bit of friendly banter do?

“You just couldn’t help yourself, could you, Armitage?” The question you’d been sucking on for the past few minutes finally slipped out into the air, making your anger known.

“Don’t call me that.”

“My apologies.” You sarcastically shot back with a dry laugh. “You just couldn’t help yourself, could you, general?”

“No, it was awfully tempting.” Was all that he replied, his eyes not once flickering and neither his stone-cold scowl nor fast-paced stride faltering.

Well, you might have absolutely despised each other but in the very least, you never bothered lying to each other. That had to count for something, right? Not that either of you cared.

No more words were exchanged, and that was probably for the best. Engineers and stormtroopers all moved out of your way as the two of you marched through the corridors, side by side, knowing better at this point than to get on your bad sides when you were together and this obviously angry both with each other and in general.

Soon enough, you finally reached the corridor in which Hux’s sleeping quarters were located and once the mechanic doors slid open, you pushed yourself past him into the room before he even got the chance to react.

He fumed behind you as he watched you make yourself at home, dropping your dirty jacket on his perfectly made bed.

“You’ll take the floor, then?” You asked as you turned around, crossing your arms over your chest and shooting him a forced smile.

“Hardly.” He spat, eyes narrowing, and you scoffed, rolling your eyes in return.

“You must be a real hit with the ladies with those manners.”

At that, he stepped further into his room, allowing the sensory-triggered door to shut behind him, successfully shutting the two of you in together.

“I don’t have time for fooling around with women.” He spat out the last word with such malice that you automatically raised an eyebrow.

“Well, that explains it.” You mused, the corner of your lip tugging upwards ever so slightly.

“Explains what, exactly?” His eyes narrowed further, and this time it was his turn to cross his arms.

“That stick you have up your ass.” You wasted no time in shooting back, and before he got a chance to reply, you continued. “I know this might be news to you seeing as you’re, well, you, but gentlemen are supposed to sacrifice their comfort and offer themselves to take the floor when a lady, due to unfortunate circumstances, is forced to stay in their room.”

You sarcastically smiled at him and sank down his bed, something that he, judging by the snarl overtaking his face, didn’t appreciate.

“You, a lady? That will be the day.” He scoffed. “Even calling you a woman is a stretch with your mannerisms.”

You could only roll your eyes.

“Well, I’m not sharing a bed with you.” The glare that had temporarily been exchanged for a teasing smirk returned to your face. “I’d rather share a bed with Millicent.”

As you said that, you picked up a single strand of cat hair from his bed, held it up for further inspection and raised your lip in disgust.

He stared at you dead serious, hands clasped behind his back and eyes burning holes into the side of your face.

“You’re allergic to cats.” He pointed out, making your head whip back around to face him with a glare equally as fierce as the one you were met with.

“Yes, that’s my point.” You deadpanned. “But it would seem that said point just went right over your thick-skulled head.”

“Do you think I am any happier about this than you are?” He scowled, and you stood up, slowly approaching him and coming to a stop right in front of him.

He took a small step back, a move that made your lip tug upward ever so slightly. The fact that he was so obviously not as tough as he wanted people to believe gave you a special kind of satisfaction and he knew it, judging by the way he only turned stiffer after that.

“You should be.” You smiled sweetly at him, keeping your eyes connected to his. “Because you’re sure as hell lucky I haven’t choked the life out of you yet for getting us into this situation in the first place.”

He glared and you glared right back, challenging, no, daring him to fight back. You knew that he wanted to, you could see that he wanted to, but in the end, not even he was that stupid.

So he said nothing, and once you realized you had finally managed to successfully back him into a corner, you backed away from him again and plastered on another forced, overly sweet smile.

“Now, I need to take a shower. I reek of burnt plastic.” You stated flatly and pushed past him, making a beeline for the one extra door in the room that you could only assume was his bathroom.  

You heard the squeak of his shoes rubbing against the floor as he quickly turned around behind you, and then came the determined steps and the proximity of his body closing in on you. However, before he got the chance to object or reach you, you entered his bathroom and slammed the door shut in his face, smiling contently to yourself as you listened to the muffled string of curses that followed.

You didn’t spend any more time thinking about it, though, not wasting any time before doing what you came in there to do.

You got out of your horrid-smelling clothes, released your equally as nasty-smelling hait from its ponytail and stepped into the shower.

If there was one thing you appreciated a little extra about living at the Starkiller Base, it was that everyone used the same scented soap. Because that meant that you wouldn’t have to go around smelling specifically like Hux, but rather just like you always smelled.

Once you finished washing your hair and body, you had to stop and think for a bit.

Your clothes obviously still reeked and needed a proper wash before they could be worn again, and you obviously couldn’t go naked.

After much thought back and forth, you finally settled with your own leggings as they were the one piece of clothing from your previous attire that smelled the least of smoke, and a plain black, long-sleeved undershirt that you found in a pile of Hux’s clean laundry.

Once you vad gotten dressed, braided your hair and re-entered the bedroom accompanied by a stream of steam, you found it to be empty, Hux nowhere in sight.

You couldn’t deny that you wondered where he’d gone off to, but you shook your head free of his face pretty quickly, settling with believing that he just went to take his frustration out on some poor stormtrooper or low-rank intern like he so often did when things didn’t go his way, much like Kylo Ren beat the shit out of any control panel he could get his hands on.

While you awaited his return, you occupied yourself with going around the room and lighting the small night-lamps like you normally did in your own room before going to bed.

That obviously didn’t take long, however, so you were soon enough once again left alone with your boredom and started walking around the room, inspecting all of Hux’s belongings.

You realized pretty quickly that he was not a person to whom inanimate things had much sentimental value, as he definitely didn’t have much to his name aside from the basic interior that all of the sleeping quarters on the base had.

He had a ring on his drawer, a few books in one of his two bookshelves while the other stood empty, a small bed in a corner for his cat, clothes in his wardrobe, and that was pretty much it. He had no pictures of family, no real personal belongings that could signify any kind of emotional value.

But then again, who did in these parts?

“Is that my shirt?”

You jumped when you heard the sudden voice behind you, quickly turning around where you stood twirling the ring you had found in the light of the lamp standing beside you.

Your eyes found his form immediately, shocked meeting stern.

“Why are you wearing my shirt?” He almost instantly repeated himself when not getting a reply the first time, slowly beginning to walk in your direction with his hands clasped behind his back.

You quickly put the ring back down on the dresser and turned towards him, regaining your composure.

“Well, if you hadn’t noticed, my room and everything in it was burnt to a crisp. The smokey smell on my clothes was giving me a headache and kind of would have ruined the purpose of taking a shower so when I just so conveniently noticed a pile of clean clothes, I helped myself.” You shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, and to you, it wasn’t.

Hux, however, didn’t seem amused in the slightest.

“Yes, you seem to have a habit of thinking you’re entitled to everything you want.” He spat back at you, coming to a stop while there was still a good amount of distance between the two of you.

Any chill you had previously had melted right off and your annoyance quickly returned at the sound of his words.

“Oh, do excuse me. I just thought one headache would be enough.” You retorted and rolled your eyes, before sighing and crossing your arms over your chest. “So, how are we doing this? It’s late and I need to be up early to see to the repairs.”

“I thought that I made myself clear.” Hux was quick to scoff, his glare not faltering for as much as a second. “I’m not giving you my bed.”

Once again, all you could do was roll your eyes. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to suck it up then.” You stated flatly and sat down on the bed, wasting no time in starting to divide the pillows into two piles rather than one.

You took a few seconds to adjust the pillows to suit your needs before looking back up, eyebrow raised at the fact that he had yet to say or do anything.

Your eyes once again met his and you almost laughed out loud at the sight you were faced with, but thankfully managed to control yourself and avoid making the situation even harder than it already was.  

Long story short, Hux had never looked more horrified than he did in that moment.

He basically looked at you like you had killed his cat, and that was putting it lightly.

You took a few seconds to just enjoy watching him squirm and silently scramble to make sense of the situation, but even you knew when enough was enough and raised a questioning eyebrow at him in an attempt to get him moving.

“Well? What’s it going to be?” You asked. “It’s either this or the floor, just like it was for me.”

Hux opened his mouth, hesitated, and then closed it again. He obviously hadn’t been expecting you to actually agree on sharing his bed with him and now that you had, he was left at loss for words as he clearly hadn’t been preparing for anything other than you sleeping on the floor.

But after a good moment of just standing there and looking like an idiot, he finally picked himself back up, squared his shoulders and walked around the bed to the other side with frustrated strides and a snarling lip.

The feigned confidence melted right off, however, when he reached his destination and awkwardly shuffled into bed while simultaneously avoiding your amused and mocking stare, silently grabbing the extra blanket that was folded upon his bedside table.  

Both of you laid down on your backs and a heavy silence fell like a thick blanket over the room. The only sound you could hear for a few moments were each other’s breaths and your own heartbeats. For a moment, only for a microscopical moment, you were actually on your way to admit to yourself that it was kind of nice.

But that thought went flying out the window just as quickly as it had knocked on the door of your mind when Hux broke the silence by beginning to adjust himself to get ready to sleep, and in the process of doing so made the active choice to tug the pillows from right under your head.

The back of your head hit the mattress with a soft thump and you closed your eyes, your lips pulling into a straight, tight line and one, sharp breath being released through your nose as you attempted to keep your cool.

You took a moment to calm down, before you turned your head to his side of the bed where he now laid with his back to you and tugged the pillows back – maybe with a little too much force than necessary.

Hux had quickly rolled over to his other side to take them back and in anger and an eagerness to get to sleep, you exclaimed: “Stop stealing the pillows!”

He met you with a stare cold enough to have anyone else shaking in their boots and spat back. “They’re my pillows.”

You grumbled under your breath and let go of one of the two pillows, letting him pull it back to his side while you held on to the last one.

You stared at each other for a moment, both of you eventually coming to a silent, mutual agreement that you were too tired to fight and therefore he'd let you keep the pillow you were holding on to as if your life depended on it.

He, once again, laid down and turned his back to you, his hands holding on to the pillows under his head while you struggled to get comfortable again, this time with only one pillow.

“Why is your bed so damn hard?” You muttered under your breath as you angrily shoved your elbow into the mattress in an attempt to make it more comfortable – as if that was ever going to help.

“Stop complaining.” He only snapped back.

“How could I when I’m stuck in a bed with you?”

“You could’ve asked for other accommodations when you had the chance.”

“And what, be the next victim of Ren’s lightsaber?” You scoffed. “I’m the one in charge of the repairs that are needed every time he throws a wobbly. I’ve seen the kind of damage that thing can do and I’m not in any hurry to find myself at the receiving end of it.”

You muttered the last part under your breath as you finally managed to get relatively comfortable, plopping back down on your back and folding your hands over your stomach.

“How did you know I’m allergic to cats, anyway?” The question spilled out before you could stop yourself, and before you could even register that it was on the way.

Where did that even come from? Cats weren’t even close to being the subject at hand.

Hux didn’t seem to care much about the random change of subject, however, simply muttering back a reply. “You start sniffling and scratching your arms every time you’re in the same room as me for more than five minutes.”

He was clearly tired. Tired in general or just tired of you, you didn’t really know, but you guessed that it was a mixture of both since that was the case for you.

“Maybe I’m just allergic to you.” You muttered back with a shrug, even though he couldn’t see you, and he scoffed at that.

“Had that been the case I’m fairly certain it would go both ways and, unlike you, I don’t go around oozing snot everywhere I go.”

“I don’t go oozing snot everywhere.” You calmly protested, throwing the back of his head a disapproving glare before turning to lay on your side so that your back was now turned to his.

He didn’t say anything else and neither did you, sleep coming in and catching you completely by surprise and having you knocked out within the next two minutes.

When you woke up early that next morning, Hux was unsurprisingly already gone, Millicent instead laying in his place and looking right at you.

With a disgusted snarl and hesitant movements, you reached over to the other side of the bed and awkwardly patted her head twice, probably very much in the incorrect manner as you had no experience whatsoever with animals.

You got out of bed after that, put on your jacket and shoes, and wasted no time in getting to work once you’d gotten some food into your system, your team joining you in the damage-inflicted area to start on repairs like you’d done so many times before.

Everything was going fine and dandy, just a light-reckon day that started off like any other – if you didn’t count waking up in Hux’s bed with his cat – but a few hours into your workday, the unmistakable sound of Kylo Ren’s heavy steps could be heard echoing through the entire corridor you found yourself working in.

A big share of the Order’s pilots had been either killed or badly hurt a few days prior in an ambush. No one had expected any pilots to be needed for at least a few days but Kylo had gotten a sudden lead on the map that would take him to Luke Skywalker and was now walking around the base recruiting anyone capable of helping him get what he wanted.

Unfortunately for you, you were not only a highly-ranked engineer, but also a pretty decent pilot, and couldn’t say anything in protest when you were whisked away to a ship.

As anyone who wasn’t driven by an unhealthy obsession would have been able to guess, the lead was just too good to be true with a way too simple access.

Just like the last lead, this one fell through when it was revealed to be another ambush. You weren’t completely sure what happened, but over the comms, you had heard something about Leia Organa and some scavenger. 

You didn’t have time to think about retired war heroes though, no matter how much you’d love to pry and the get in on the gossip, as you had to shoot yourself through a big fleet of Resistance starfighter corps, barely getting through with your ship intact.

Your fellow pilots were shot down one by one, only a small amount of you managing to get out of there. And even then, you were met by more starfighter corps just as quickly as you’d gotten away from the last line.

Everything was just a mess after that. You weren’t able to get through to anyone over the comms, only barely being able to make out a “pull back!” before your comm system was blown to pieces along with one of your main engines.

Along with several other ships, you were forced to crash-land on a small planet filled with thick woods and when your ship collided with the ground, your head slammed into the controls, rendering you unconscious for who knows how long.

By the time you came back to it, you were hanging upside down, the only thing preventing you from falling down being the seatbelt keeping you strapped in.

You struggled to get out of there but you managed, and had to take a moment to get your surroundings to stop spinning before moving forward to look for survivors as well as a ship that wasn’t completely beyond salvation.  

You weren’t sure who you’d find, but the person you’d shared a bed with the previous night was definitely the last person you’d expect to have crashed in the same place as you. 

And still, you recognized his ship immediately. After all, you were the one who had personalized it to fit his liking.

Lucky for you, his ship seemed to have gotten a pretty soft landing. As you circled around it, you were able to determine that no major engines had been blown out. Damaged? Definitely. But they looked intact enough to at least be able to put some more distance between you and the Resistance pilots and get you to a safer place. Hopefully, the inside would be as untouched as the outside.

The ramp was lowered to the ground but didn’t look broken, so you wasted no time in jogging inside.

The lights were out completely in the entrance area, and just flickering in the ceiling when you came further in.

The first thing you noticed when you entered the piloting pit was that the pilot was not breathing. How could you tell from that far a distance? Well, let’s just say that something that was not supposed to be stuck in his eye, was stuck in his eye.

Upon further inspection, you noticed another body on the floor. However, this one was very much alive.

You would’ve expected to be met by a desperate “help me”, maybe even some begging and pleading or in the very least a “please”, but instead, even when in the process of bleeding out on the floor, Hux narrowed his eyes at you as you approached him and asked you with ragged breaths:

“Is that my shirt?”

You panted as you dropped to your knees at his side, still pretty shaken up from your own crash. “What? No.” You replied in a breath, and you wasted no time in starting to inspect his injuries.

“Yes, it is.”

“Why would I be wearing your shirt?” You asked simply, struggling to see in the dark as the flickering lights weren’t providing much assistance by means of light.

“That’s my shirt.” He kept insisting, and flinched when your hand made contact with his lower abdomen.

Only then did your eyes register the glimmering piece of metal through your blurred and disoriented vision, sticking out of his side.

You flinched at the sight, not needing any more light than you had to know that it was really bad. 

Your heart suddenly picked up in speed in your chest, and your hands began shaking as they became covered in his blood.

You had never been in the middle of the action before now, you’d always just been surrounded by metal and electricity. The most exciting thing you’d ever experienced was when a new engineer circuited a control panel the wrong way, resulting in it blowing up right by your workplace.

But it wasn’t the action in itself that had your heart about ready to burst through your chest, nor was it the blood in general, but rather the fact that it was his blood covering your hands.

His life was completely dependent on you at this moment and you had absolutely no idea how to behave accordingly.

But if there was something you knew, it was that the last thing you were supposed to do was to show a dying man your panic, so you took a deep breath and tried your hardest to steady your racing heart, going back to the conversation at hand.

“How could you tell the difference, really?” You asked. “All of our shirts look the same. All black, all equally as sufficient when used to stop blood flows.”

As you said that last part, you released another breath and ripped off a big chunk of the lower part of the shirt you were wearing.

A shirt that was, in fact, Hux's.

The man in question let his head fall back against the wall that he was propped against and his eyes squeezed shut when feeling your hands return to his side.

“Do you always wear shirts several sizes too big?” He managed to get out through clenched teeth and you replied without missing a beat.

“There was a mix-up in the laundry room.”

“So it isn’t your shirt?” He continued to be persistent and despite the seriousness of the situation, you couldn’t help but to let a small smile slip.

“Do you want to keep fighting about whether or not this shirt is mine or would you rather maybe, oh, I don’t know, focus on getting the hell out of here?” You asked him lightly and at that, he raised his head to meet your eyes with a distrusting glare.

“Why are you helping me?”

You raised your eyebrow at him, sparing just a second to meet his eyes. “You have a piece of metal stuck in your side, why the hell would I not help you?” You asked and as quickly as you had looked up, you looked back down at your hands to see what you were doing.

“You hate me, and I hate you.” He deadpanned, and you couldn’t deny you felt your heart tug in your chest.

“Who told you I hated you?” You asked, and listened as he let out a dry, struggling laugh.

“You did. On countless occasions.”

He hissed when you accidentally bumped your hand against the piece of metal. You quietly apologized but didn’t stop, knowing you didn’t have much time before the enemy would catch up with you.

“Thinking that I’m entitled to everything I want isn’t the only bad habit I have. I also have a tendency to overexaggerate.” You joked with a smile. “I do find you insufferably infuriating, though.”                                              

Another chuckle left his lips. “Likewise.” He said and dropped his head back against the wall.

You said nothing more, ripping another two pieces off of the shirt, tying them together and wrapping it around his waist like you had the first piece. You tightened this knot significantly more than the first one, though, right above the piece of metal, and just as quickly as he had relaxed, he jerked back forward with a yell.

“I need to stop the bleeding, you need to keep still.” You hurriedly scolded and sternly pushed him back down by his chest.

He muttered bitterly in return, but didn’t protest.

“I bet you’re enjoying this.” He seethed, and you raised an eyebrow, a small smile playing on your lips.

“Whenever I’m feeling down, I just think back to the multiple times I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing you being force-thrown across a room by Ren. Puts a smile on my face every time. But that doesn’t automatically mean I want you to die. So stop wallowing in your internalized self-hatred and put your hand over mine.” You told him, trying your hardest to keep a lighthearted attitude, more so for your own sake than his at this point as you were literally about to pass out.

But he did as told, contributing with the strength he had left when you got to your feet and started pulling him up and into one of the seats that were still intact.

He put a trembling hand over yours and in turn, you put your other one over his and pushed down. He hissed and you gave him a moment to adjust, and when you were sure he was pressing hard enough with his own hand, you slowly removed both of yours and fastened his seatbelt.

“Keep pressure and hold on tight. This is most likely going to be a rough ride.” You warned him, and he slowly looked up at you through a mess of ginger hair.

“It can’t be any worse than the ride here.” He retorted and you nodded, taking that as a “go ahead”.

You wasted no time in getting into the pilot’s seat after pulling the previous pilot out, as well as the thick tree branch on which his head had been impaled, and started up the controls. It took a few tries to get out of the hole the ship hade gotten stuck in when crashing, but soon enough you were up in the sky.

With a bit of dumb luck, you eventually reached your destination and got brought back in to the base by your team of fellow engineers, all ready to repair the wrecked ship.

Hux was immediately taken to the medical bay while you stayed behind to help with the ships, and from two ends of the base, the two of you silently and separately came to realize that maybe, just maybe, you didn’t hate each other as much as you thought, after all.

[imhereformr]

“This is stupid--I’m stupid.”

As a request for Rivusa;;

The sound of piano keys clanged through the apartment. Riven closed the front door behind him and went to put the grocery bag in the kitchen, finding himself thankful that the walls in this building were thick. When he’d left half an hour earlier, Musa had been at her piano trying to write. It was the first time she’d sat at the piano since her father had passed five months earlier. Riven could have cried tears of joy. She’d been so broken after losing her dad that she’d barely sung, much less written or played a single note (apart from one song at his funeral that she’d broken down halfway through and barely been able to carry on). To hear her say I think I want to get some writing done tonight had been like hearing her say I love you for the first time all over again. Absolute bliss.  

Now, though, he wasn’t so sure. He’d never heard her smash at the keys before and it concerned him.  

Torn or balled up pieces of paper littered the floor of the spare room they used as a music room. He kicked a few pieces together as he entered, eyeing his now stone-still girlfriend with concern. Her back was to him, but he could see in the way that her fingers trembled as they brushed over the keys that something was off.  “Muse? Everything okay?” 

“Mhm” came her response, short and strained. She was trying not to cry. At 18 he never would have figured that out. Hell, at 22 he would have had an inkling but doubted himself into thinking he was imagining it. One breakup, some therapy, and 3 years back together had done them so much good. This time around, they had taken the time to really get to know each other and break down the walls that both of them had built up so tall. Riven was sure he knew every single one of Musa’s mannerisms and tones better than his own.  

He took a seat on the piano bench, back to the piano, and reached for her hand. It fit perfectly in his – all of her did – and the trembles subsided a bit. He caressed the back of her hand with his thumb, letting silence settle around them as he tried to find the words to lull her into a calmness and get her to open up. Therapy – both individual and as a couple – had done them wonders, but vulnerability was still a weak point for them; that ease and peace needed to be there before either of them spilled their hearts.  

“This is so fucking stupid. I’m… I’m so fucking stupid” she whispered, her voice breaking near the end, before he could fully formulate his calming speech. His eyes found their way to her, but she didn’t meet them. Her head was down, staring at her feet on the pedals. He could see the tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes, slowly dripping onto her cheeks.  

“What?” His question was left unanswered as Musa pulled her hand from his and slammed the piano lid shut. She turned away from him and walked out of the room. He debated letting her go, but his gut told him he should follow. Of the many ways they were alike, their handling of negative emotions was the most similar. Musa would want to wallow in her frustrations in silence until she was ready to talk or move on, so he would sit in silence with her. He would wait hours with her in slow, agonising silence in hopes that his presence gave her some peace to cling onto.  

She’d barricaded herself in the master bathroom, the very one that they’d lost the only remaining key to a month earlier. It took him a bit longer than it should have – he was rusty – but he managed to pick his way in. Musa was sitting on the floor against the wall, curled up into herself. Quietly, he sat beside her and waited patiently until she rested her head on his shoulder. He didn’t ask what was wrong; didn’t push her to talk about it. He’d started far too many accidental fights trying to pull information out of her before she was ready; it had taken years, but he finally learned not to do that.  

His cheek found a resting spot against the top of her head, pulling her legs over his so she could curl herself into him. Feeling her nuzzle closer into his neck, silent tears dropping onto his exposed neck and t-shirt collar, he wrapped his arms around her, locking her in his embrace. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the building: the dripping of the bathroom faucet, the footsteps of their upstairs neighbour, the rushing water in the pipes as someone in another apartment flushed the toilet.  

“I can’t get it” she mumbled into his neck. He might have missed it if it weren’t for the feeling of her breath against his skin. He lifted his head and turned it to look at her, prompting her to please keep talking. Her head stayed on his shoulder, eyes looking down at their entangled legs. “I keep trying to write something – anything – but it’s shit. The words are wrong, the melody is off, the beat is unnatural. It’s like I just can’t do it.” 

The idea that Musa could ever lose her musical ability was ridiculous to him. Music was her raison d’être. It was such an integral part of who she was that separating her from music would be like trying to pry a rusted door open with a single pinky. It just wasn’t possible. “I’m sure that’s not true.”  

“No?” she scoffed. “Go look at the crap I wrote and tell me any of it is halfway decent.”  

“I don’t think I’m the best judge for that.” On more than one occasion, Riven had peaked over her shoulder while she was writing and told her he liked what she was working on only for her to say that it wasn’t turning out as well as she’d hoped and that she might scrap the whole thing. It always made Riven sad to watch her throw out pages she’d worked so hard on. She was so critical of her writing when she didn’t need to be; words had always seemed to come easy to her – at least when it came to songs. “It's been a while since you wrote anything, maybe you’re just rusty?”  

“It’s not riding a bike, Riven. You don’t just forget how to write a song.”  

“Then maybe you’re overthinking it?” 

She glared at him through her eyelashes, so he backed off, opting instead to choose another approach. A foolproof one if his experiences were to be trusted: ask her what she was writing about. Life and enthusiasm coursed through her when she spoke about music, and her love for it became palpable. It was beautiful; he loved watching her come to life. Maybe he could bring that out.  

“I was trying to write a love song.” 

“... A love song?” That wasn’t the answer he’d expected. Given her mood these last few months, he had thought she’d be writing something in memory of her father. Or, at the very least, something depressing.  

“Stupid, right?” she sniffled as she pushed herself upright and finally met his gaze. Her face was red and splotchy, watery eyes reflecting the bathroom light.  

“Not stupid.” He wrapped his arm around her neck and kissed her forehead. “Just not what I thought you’d be writing about.” Something about the way she looked at him prompted him to start rambling an elaboration– a leftover nervous habit. Apparently, therapy didn’t fix everything.  

“I don’t... I don’t want to think about him. Every time I do, I feel like a part of me is missing.” 

“Muse...” Riven said softly. He repositioned himself closer to her, moving to brush away the tear that had fallen.  

“Ridiculous, I know.” 

“It’s not.” Musa didn’t reply but leaned into the hand he’d left caressing her cheek. He kissed her forehead once again before pulling his hand away and getting to his feet. Tear-flecked and confused blue eyes looked up at him from the bathroom floor, brows above them furrowing in further confusion when he extended his hand to help her up. Musa accepted his hand and followed as he led her out of the bathroom, through their bedroom and back into the music room.  

“Riven” she grumbled, trying to pull her hand free to very little success. “I don’t - “ 

“Do you remember when we first started dating – the first time around – and I was in the Alfea music room reading while you wrote?” 

“No?” 

He remembered the day clearly. It was the first time she’d let him sit with her while she wrote. Her hair was still short then, done up in her signature pigtails. It was the last day on campus, but Musa had wanted to write so instead of going into the city with their friends like they’d planned, they stayed behind. He’d been looking forward to laser tag, but he was much happier to stay behind and have her all to himself anyways. “I was asking you about why you’d taken to music so strongly. You skirted around the answer a bit, giving me the same answers you give everyone: I’m from Melody, I was raised in a musical family, that kind of shit. I wasn’t going to push but then you got kind of quiet and you started telling me about how your mom had taught you to play piano, and that you would play together all the time; that after she died, you played to feel close to her.” 

“You remember that?” 

“Of course I do” he shrugged, taking a seat on the piano bench. He tried to pull her down to sit beside him, but she resisted. “Anyways, I know it’s not the same, but you and your dad were both writers, right?” 

“Yeah.” 

“So maybe by opening yourself up and writing about him is how you remember him.” 

“I...”  

“It’s gonna hurt, I know. And it’ll make you sad, I know that too. If you need to cry, I’ll be right here to hold you while you do, but I really think you need to let yourself feel it.” 

Musa’s gaze lowered, and she fixated on the bench feet for a few minutes. Finally, she looked up at him with a sad smile, and moved forwards to sit with him. As she opened the piano lid, she glanced at him. “You’re gonna sit there the whole time I’m writing?” 

“If that’s what you want” he assured her, knowing full well that that was exactly what she wanted. Relief washed over him when she smiled – a real, genuine smile, the first in months. It made him so happy to see her smile that he might have cried. He returned her smile, a thought occurring to him. “It might mean supper has to be take out, though.”