#tbh I feel this way with most of the pairings in the fandom I silently lurk from

[prussiasqueen]

Tbh, I have a lot of squicks and squirms… but that doesn’t make want to go out there and shame people…

I’ll just violently scream in my head into the void :’)

But I promise to still love you regardless~

[noa-ciharu]

noa! heeyyy! i want to read something by clamp. what should i pick first?

also i saw a post a while back that talked about a psychological horror manga by clamp but i don't remember it now and i really wanted to check it out too

Ohh it's time to drag new people into Clamp! Now, there are plenty of good manga of theirs but not all are so "beginner friendly", so to put. Also the psychological horror you've heard about is most likely xxxholic but I won't go as far to call it "horror", more like it has that silent "unspoken" note attached to it, gothic vibes and looming sense of vacancy and emptiness in some moments. I'll talk more about it.

So before I start, honorable mentions: Chobits (bit echii but has its message), RG veda and X/1999 (plz don't start with these ones you'll get traumatized) and Clover. I'll include 3 and half recommendations. Also in all stories characters are beyond beautifully developed and three dimensional (honestly that's one of my fav things) and all relationship between the characters are magnificently developed and don't fall onto any stereotypical scale: be it platonic, family, romantic, met 5 mins ago or purely emotional bond it's always unique and fleshed out, so I won't mention that separately. Prepare for star crossed themes and people losing eyes because that's Clamp's signature (but it's like, so well done that even someone who hates amatonormativity and soulmates tropes like I do adores it when it's done by Clamp; it has narratives value as well as metaphorical). So without further ado:

Card captor Sakura

Classic one, probably the most famous Clamp manga. Simple yet powerful story of little girl named Sakura, her friends and family and her magical abilities. One, if not the best magical girl shows I've seen so far. One of the things that specifically stood out for me are the different types of love and connections between the characters and how Sakura doesn't discriminate and accepts people as they are. It's cute, nice plot, amazing characters, little to no angst. Also people usually credit it on LGBT representation back in 90's (Sakura and Shayoran are both bi, as they would fall for one another regardless of gender, Tomoyo had a crush/loves Sakura, Touya and Yukito are mlm couple ect...). Both manga and 90's anime are good, but manga is better imo slightly. Tbh a lot can be said about CCS but I have a feeling you're looking for something with more complex and darker themes.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

This is another classic one. Also to clarify: this manga is a massive crossover, Clamp took almost all characters from TRC (only notable exceptions being main characters Kurogane and Fai) from their previous works; so it's a massive slow burn AU if you'd like it in fandom terms (also found family is so strong in this one). But you can read it without reading any previous mangas as all those that appear are side characters in TRC. Also main characters Sakura and Shayoran have the same soul as ones from CCS above, but are not the same characters- to out it briefly and without complicated explanations: think of it as an AU. I've already mentioned characters and relationships development being gorgeously done but TRC deserves a mention once again since during those 233 manga chaps (28 vols) I've seen one of the most beautiful development of four main characters and complex relationships between all four of them. Plot is about following: Princess Sakura loses her memories which shattered in form of feathers into other universes, and Shayoran paired the price to travel those dimensions (with Sakura, Kurogane and Fai, those you see in pics) in search of them; but at the price of Sakura forgetting their previous relationship forever. Quite tragic and promising beginning. Story is a comedy adventure with slight drama for first 100chap, but there are questions and tensions lurking in the background as foreshadowing. Then things take on a way more serious and dark tone as conflicts, plot twists and character's past and tragedy kick in (it's like, so good). Also the subtle messages and characters backstories/ trauma, how it influences their decision and thoughts now and how they've started healing from some of it - it's A+.

Yes, tell him Kurogane. My only issue ever with this series is its complex and impossible to understand explanation of some things towards the ending. But all in all, 10/10 one of the best I've read. Also Fai is the most beautiful person I've seen like ever and kurofai best slow burn and development and - okay moving on.

xxxHolic

Okay, this one along with Tokyo Babylon is my favorite manga, like ever (they are similar in some ways). I've talked about basics before, so I'll add something new. But what I'll repeat is YUUKO!! God bless that woman and her quotes, English language isn't coherent enough to describe her. Also there's a whole philosophical thematic of wish fulfilling: to receive something, you must give up something that holds the same value to you: no more no less. According to Yuuko, " there's no coincidence, only hitsuzen (fate)" - what that means truly, I'll leave up for debate. Bonus side note: all of the clients are females (in TB all Subaru's clients are too).

Since there are many many arc stories of Yuuko's clients and their wished ("you shouldn't promise anything so lightly", "wishes come at price"), I'll retell one with a monkey's paw so you can see the glimpse of how psychologically intriguing and unique themes of this manga are:

Woman arrives at Yuuko's shop and sees monkey's paw (mystical object that grants 5 wished but at cost of misfortune) and asks Yuuko if she can have it to which she says yes. But to never open it. Woman, being overconfident in her ability to resist the temptation and curiosity, agrees. Of course, it's all doomed to failure : her first wish is to rain all night, which it does - but water is used from schools pool. Second one is to acquire that too expensive for her pocket antique mirror - mirror falls behind her from thin air, ends up shattering. Third one is to write excellent essay for her studies - which she does, but it's all plagiarized and stolen. Then one day she wakes up late for school/work and wishes for an excuse for being late - woman falls in front of her on train rails and dies thus a whole scandal and thus - an excuse. I won't go into what last one is, to leave you intrigued. So the whole point is, as Yuuko said "No one can consider themselves special enough to hold such power over fate of themselves and others". Her idea that she's better than others is wrong - she's not special and above all consequences of her wishes and actions. Monkey paw doesn't care how wishes gets fulfilled, nor does for her. Cautionary tale.

Also life messages, such as this one, this one is reoccurring theme in Clamp's manga:

I know entire xxxholic fandom jokes about Yuuko being beyond perfect but other characters are top notch as well, especially Watanuki, the protagonist. Won't spoil much, but it reminds me of following: Caterpillar in it's chrysalis, learning about world and itself, experiencing, forming connection, realizing that "human being never does entirely belong to themselves, connections to others always exists, always tangling", learning about self value and worth - and them when metamorphosis finally occurs and butterfly is ready to fly free, part of it always remains inside the chrysalis.

I read it for about 10 days or so (23 volumes I think) and it's better to prolong it rather than binge since there are a lot of implications, subtext by words/ panel presenting/ linear not sophisticated background/ symbolism, hidden meanings and life lessons as well as karma. So it's better to read it slowly and carefully to let the message sink and to think properly about it. I think even after 10 rereads I'd still miss something, bless you Clamp on being so detailed with everything.

Tokyo Babylon

Almost didn't add it but there's one thing to keep in mind when discussing this manga: before looking at the series as romance and shonen ai, at its core Tokyo Babylon is tragedy social criticisms drama with philosophical elements. One more note: I've never seen a series so spoiled on tumblr so don't search it up (to be fair, manga ended in '93). Deconstruction of typical coming of age mangas, as ugly sides of reality are always present. Also, this is type of manga that you read twice - once when you dont know, and second time when you do know. I'll never see cherry blossom in same way again, thanks Clamp.

Plot is about young medium exorcist, Subaru, dealing with cases of spirits lingering on Earth being unable to move on due to their pain which is more often than not caused by society, isolation and indifference of a big city (in this case Tokyo). Focus is on emotional, psychological and social themes and that itself (along with characters and their complexity in terms of being human) is what separates this manga from the rest of "exorcism case" media. To paraphrase a quote from series which sums it up really well " Why does this come as a surprise to you? Tragedies like this happen every day in Tokyo". And said tragedies and cases are portrayed not only narratively well, but realistically in terms of cognitive and emotional responses from both ghosts/people feeling isolated with problems and Subaru. For an instance:

Unlike previous two I've mentioned plot here is intriguing and has complex themes as well, but is far more straightforward and won't leave you with any questions about the plot after end (there'llbe other things tho...). Plus there are only 3 characters beside the side chapter-by-chapter ones. Since I can't talk about other two characters (his twin sister Hokuto and his friend/suitor Seishirou) spoiler free, I'll focus on Subaru. What strikes to me the most about him is his kindness, selflessness and empathy but not those traits themselves but rather how they've viewed and portrayed as self destructive trait and a flaw as he feels the pain of world around him and suffers as result where in return world around him (Tokyo) is unaffected and unmoved by his pain. He understands people, but only forms so called "temporary bonds" with them; is numb to his own heart and treats everyone the same (so everyone is special to him by design - thus noone stands out, but this changes within the series).

This manga has one of the best and most "never forgetting" endings I've ever seen in media. 7 volumes long which is not much but leaves the impression for a quite some time.

In conclusion:

So all in all, TRC was my first Clamp manga but I'd say go for xxxholic or Tokyo Babylon since in my personal opinion, as well as judging by a narrative and messages those two are the best. The difference is that xxxholic has that slow slow pacing that kinda lures you into that emptiness of reality and depression like state, kinda like the tarots hanged man card - slow burn waiting for your own metamorphosis, stuck in a loop unable to move on until something within changes. Tokyo Babylon experience is full tarot tower one - you walk down the street and it starts storming and raining and it never crossed your mind that you might be struck by the lighting and next thing you know you're hit by one.

Hope I was helpful :D

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 308: VIBE: CHECKED

Previously on BnHA: Lots and lots of Shindou idk what else to tell you.

Today on BnHA: Tired Nomad Deku rescues Shindou from Muscular, and us from Shindou. Muscular is all “OH BOY I SURE CAN’T WAIT TO FIGHT DEKU AGAIN AFTER HE TOTALLY KICKED MY ASS THE LAST TIME!! I’M SURE THIS TIME WILL GO DIFFERENTLY SEEING AS HE’S HAD ALMOST AN ENTIRE YEAR’S WORTH OF ADDITIONAL TRAINING, AND ALSO HAS SIX FOURQUIRKS NOW, IN ADDITION TO THE CONFIDENCE THAT COMES WITH HAVING EIGHT OTHER PEOPLE’S SOULS CHILLING OUT INSIDE HIM OFFERING MORAL SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT.” Deku is all, “[kicks Muscular’s ass effortlessly].” Muscular is all, “[gets his ass totally kicked].” I for one am very satisfied with this, and with respect to all, I would like to hereby declare this post a discourse-free zone. I’m just happy to see my son out here making good use of his FOURQUIRKS, and more importantly beating Muscular in less than seventeen pages so we can all go on with our lives lol.

damn Deku since when were you allowed to look this cool

from this perspective and with the smoke, cape, backpack, and mask more or less obscuring his actual profile, he looks less like a sixteen-year-old boy and more like a grownass man

OH SNAP

we got a glimpse of this in the cleaned-up scan of 307, but seeing both of his eyes looking so distinctively All Might-esque here is... whoa. I mean we know that his face still looks pretty normal underneath the mask and he doesn’t actually have the black sclera, but still, this is an awesome look. mini-Might

lol Muscular

you and me both. I mean no offense, but yeah

so Deku is just standing there silently

typical Deku. tight-lipped and expressionless. mum’s the word. quiet as a mouse. silent as a grave

okay no but seriously this is so weird and creepy though you guys. Deku please say something or else I’m just gonna mindlessly say whatever stupid things come into my head in an effort to make things less awkward

so Muscular is all “I should probably make a cool speech about revenge but Horikoshi couldn’t think of anything good so I’m just going to stand here clenching my fist real slowly”

“I’m not here to go on a monologue” he says, as he monologues about not monologuing

okay you guys I confess I have only read through/watched the Deku VS Muscular fight once because the arm-breaking is just way too uncomfortable for me to revisit. and so as a result, I have completely forgotten Whatever The Deal Is with Muscular’s eye lmao so let me go look it up real quick

okay so it’s a prosthetic, obviously, and he changes it out according to his mood. that part does sound familiar. I just can’t remember which eye is supposed to indicate which mood. don’t tell me I actually have to go back and reread this shit

lol I’m skimming through chapter 75 now and remembering/realizing that I hardly paid any attention to this the first time around because as soon as I found out the villains were after Kacchan my brain was like “TIME TO FOCUS ON THIS AND ONLY THIS NOW AND FOREVER” and yeah. ah memories

anyway so he started out with the flower-looking eye, and then later on he was all

which begs the question, how on earth could I have ever forgotten the most ridiculous panel I’ve ever read lmao

anyway, but so after all of that, I'm only just now realizing that this isn't one of his previous eye prosthetics in the current chapter; this is an ACTUAL FUCKING ROCK that he's just randomly shoved into his eye socket fkdsjlk

so basically (1) I did all of that painstaking research for nothing, five whole minutes of my life wasted THANKS A LOT, and (2) what, and I have never meant this more emphatically, THE FUCK

anyway so now he's leaping at the building that Deku is standing on top of. but he’s not aiming anywhere near Deku though, wtf

(ETA: HAHA YOU BROKE ALL YOUR MUSCLES YOU LOSER.)

...huh

lmao okay then. I hope those annoying citizens in the building next door are watching this go down and rethinking their life choices

dlkdkljk

just keep standing there pressed right up against the window, why don’t you. “WHAT’S GOING ON THIS SUPER CLOSE COLLAPSING BUILDING IS BLOCKING OUR VIEW.” well, folks, we’ve long since known there’s a critical shortage of hero and villain brain cells, but what we’re learning now is that civilian brain cells are also in short supply

OH THANK GOD DEKU IS FINALLY TALKING THAT WAS ACTUALLY UNSETTLING AS FUCK

SO HE’S STILL OUR GOOD, POLITE, WORRIED, CONSIDERATE DEKU UNDERNEATH THAT COOL AND MYSTERIOUS VENEER. for real, thank fuck, because I swear to god if he suddenly started acting like the Dekus in all of the vigilante AUs my interest in this series would have dropped something like 50% lol. just because he dropped out of school and ran away from home and is currently dressed like the physical manifestation of a Linkin Park playlist doesn’t mean he’s not still the WORLD’S BIGGEST DORK okay

I MEAN, THIS RIGHT HERE. THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. HE’S APOLOGIZING FOR THE DELAY

PLEASE FIND THE ATTACHED SHINDOU YOU REQUESTED. BEST REGARDS!!!

OH MY GOD WHY IS HE SUCH A BADASS

something about making bold, confident statements while obscured in smoke?? idk but damn it fucking works

ffjkkl

more importantly, should you tell him you actually need your copy of Shindou in excel format and not pdf?? on the one hand you don’t want to sound ungrateful, but on the other hand what are you even supposed to do with this

this chapter so far consists of like 50% smoke, but on the other hand Deku VS Kacchan 2 had a lot of cinematic smoke too so who am I to complain

OMG IS IT HIS ARMS

IDK DID YOU?! TELL ME YOUR SECRETS. PLEASE, AT SOME POINT THIS FIGHT HAS GOT TO ACTUALLY ADVANCE THE PLOT

OHHHHHHH

IT’S EN’S QUIRK!! OH MY GOD OKAY THAT’S ACTUALLY AWESOME

I CAN HEAR THE SOUND OF DISCOURSE RUMBLING IN THE BACKGROUND BUT I DON’T CARE LOL. WON’T CATCH ME EVER SAYING NO TO ANOTHER SIXQUIRK. GO AHEAD, BRING THEM ON, I WANT TO SEE THEM ALL but take it easy though Deku. don’t want to give yourself lung cancer or anything

also it’s good to see that in a very real sense he’s not fighting alone. the Vestiges really did mean it when they said they could appear more easily now. this is on a whole other level

so is this whole next page still En talking, or someone else? because whoever it is sure is chatty

okay, several things

pretty sure it is En, because he keeps saying “I suppose.” for someone who never said two words until one page ago, this guy sure never shuts up. we can’t all follow Muscular’s lead I suppose. oh my god now I’m doing it too

really like the suggestion of Deku using the SIXQUIRKS like tools in an arsenal, because that’s what he’s good at! it’s almost like he’s been training for this his entire life. “you value quirks too much” LOOK HE JUST THINKS THEY’RE COOL OKAY IS THAT A CRIME

where the fuck did all this rope come from

not gonna ask what the fuck that thing is sticking out from the back of his utility belt. Horikoshi will surely explain this

is that a fucking jetpack. I’m sorry Deku were six fucking quirks not enough for you. you can fucking float??? but JUST TO BE SAFE, LET’S STRAP A PAIR OF ROCKETS TO OUR SHOULDERS IDK

-- or wait, is this all supposed to be like a visual representation of En’s metaphor?? OH MY GOD AM I JUST STUPID LOL, DON’T ANSWER THAT. NEVER MIND. NEW LIST!!

rope = blackwhip

jetpack = float

radio = danger sense

and so I’m guessing that this ridiculously phallic thing is supposed to be a flare or something?? and that = the new quirk, smokescreen. well that was a fucking ride lmao we now return you to our regularly scheduled chapter

so now Deku is floating to his heart’s content and thinking that he’ll just sneak up on Muscular and vibe check his ass or whatever

WOOOOOOOO DANGER SENSE YESSSS I LOVE THIS FOR HIM

okay guys, I'm gonna press pause here for a sec to make a serious note, because I am loving the shit out of this, but tbh I'm having trouble enjoying it as much as I want to because I keep getting anxious thinking about the discourse. I know that a lot of the fandom has very strong opinions on Deku's character development one way or the other, and I want to respect that. but I also really have no spoons to debate this topic at all beyond what I’ve already weighed in on. so if it’s all the same to everyone, I plan on staying out of this discussion, at least this week

anyway! that said, YEAH BOI GET HIS ASS

VIBE: CHECKED. CURB: STOMPED. HOTEL: TRIVAGO

-- OF COURSE HE’S STILL FUCKING FINE LOL HE CRASHES INTO BUILDINGS FOR FUN IDK WHAT I WAS EXPECTING

dammit Muscular. how many fucking quirks does it take to beat you?! the annoying thing is that even with all of his cool new powers, Deku is still something of a mismatch against him. anyway r.i.p. to all these poor buildings

OOOOOHHHHH

you guys have no idea how intrigued I am at the prospect of watching Deku try to play both good cop and bad cop here lmao

anyway so Muscular says he doesn’t know, go figure

“I’m not here to make small talk or anything” he says as he small talks about not small talking

OH MY GOD DEKU

are you really gonna talk no jutsu all of these villains from now on?? that last battle really did have a profound impact on you, huh! interesting

you guys he’s really doing it omg

Deku this guy tried to murder a five-year-old literally just for fun. I mean more power to you, but holy shit you’re really gonna try to defeat Muscular with anger management therapy huh

I MEAN

WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THAT RESPONSE COMING dlkjslkjk

FUCK’S SAKE DEKU, I KNOW YOU MEAN WELL BUT THEY CAN’T ALL HAVE TRAGIC PASTS KIDDO

but. I have to admit, I do still like that he tried. probably knew just as well as we did what the end result was going to be, but still. he made the effort in good faith and I respect that

uh oh

why do I get the feeling Muscular just got a whole lot deader

oh my god oh my god he’s doing the “powering up” stance ffff don’t fucking tell me you can still use your fucking arms here, Deku

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY WHAT’S THIS??

okay so basically he’s saying that whatever it was he sensed in Tomura, he doesn’t sense from Muscular. which, yeah, that sounds exactly right. good judge of character here lol

AHHHHAHAHA YESS

WHOOPS, GET FUCKED I GUESS

WOOOOHOOOOOOOO

lmao so apparently this is the belated result of Shindou’s attack from chapter 307?? I’ll be damned. good for you Shindou!! I always liked you buddy. please just take my word on that and don’t fact check that statement

okay lol the one tiny bit of discourse I will allow is that it’s bullshit that he just did that with his right arm. like, I’ll fully acknowledge that. that makes no fucking sense, and I demand an explanation from the Great Plot Hole Filler himself. he’s never let us down before when it comes to continuity so I’m trusting him not to suddenly start now

that said, we love to see a rematch against a boring guy settled quickly and decisively within the span of a single chapter. THANK YOU

I like that Deku implies that his power is being a smart nerd who battles villains using the power of ANALYTICS. he basically didn’t do anything except restrain Muscular and wait for Shindou’s attack to take effect while halfheartedly checking to see if he regretted any of that murder and stuff

(ETA: and almost forgot to mention, he made excellent use of all four of his active SIXQUIRKS. it’s like the chapter title said; this is basically him fighting all-out, and it’s a sight to see.)

also, as cool as the mask was, this just feels right. like, we had our fun, now let us see his face, yes good

anyway, I think this was a good start towards establishing What’s Up With Deku Right Now! so if it’s all the same to Horikoshi, I would next like to take some time to explore Why’s Up With Deku. that, and What’s Up With Everyone Else, Especially Kacchan. por favor

[slowpoke-fics]

Migraine

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Dean x reader, platonic Sam x Reader

Summary: reader is scared to let the boys in and tell them about the chronic migraines she suffers from, after a hunt the truth comes out and you're shocked with how they respond

Warnings: smut, no a too whole lot, two paragraphs on 3000 words, nothing too triggering I think, medicine, as always, I might have missed something read at your o w n risk

A/N: It might be a little long, tbh I dont know what a long/short fic looks like but it's def one I could've split and didn't. I really enjoyed writing this one, am having a little bit of a block after writing six fics in a day. shout out to my first smut in at least five years.

You had been hunting with Sam and Dean for a couple of months, finally feeling like you had earned your place. You didn't feel comfortable letting them know your weaknesses, which is why you didn't tell them you had migraines. You were able to cover for the most part, hiding it from the family you've come to know quite well. Most of the time. Sometimes you just couldn't, the pain overbearing and you just had to stay in bed all day, "It's just cramps." You lied to the boys, who assumed that you were covering your face and curled up like a child because of your embarrassment and pain. Sooner or later they will find out, and that's just what happened on this witch hunt.

You were the first one back into the motel, just wanting to lie down, Sam and Dean following suit. Dean slammed the door, causing you to jump with a jolt of pain to your head, reminding you of the already particularly bad headache you had. Thank god you'd be home soon. You went into the bathroom, wanting to shower after a long day of hunting the witch down, turning the lights off as you shut the door, you sighed, the pain growing. You turned the shower on, making it just a little warm, undressing and sitting down, putting your knees close to yourself, held together by your crossed arms with your head on your knees just enjoying the relief the water brings you.

You must've lost track of time because the next thing you hear is Dean, pounding on the bathroom door, basically screaming, "Y/n, damn, we want hot water!" You groaned, "Fuck off Dean! I'll be out in a minute," you shouted, much harsher than you wanted. You heard Dean grumble but couldn't understand it. Ignoring him, you finished washing your body, head already hurting bad enough it was too much to have to stand and wash, worried you might puke if you moved around more than you needed.

You came out of the shower, laying on the bed, closing your eyes, waiting to leave when you heard Sam speak up. "Did you get hurt and not tell us?" You rolled your eyes, then rose up and looked at Sam. "What?" You were confused, why would you not tell them if you got hurt? You looked over your body for any marks as Dean spoke, "Why else would you take so damn long?" You glared at him, "Sorry, I guess I won't enjoy my showers anymore." You laid back down, Dean looked at you with a pang of guilt you didn't see. He was just, in his own way, trying to check on you.

When both Sam and Dean had showered, you packed up your stuff, not caring if you left anything behind, you led out the door, crawling into the backseat of the impala. As you started rolling out, you realized it was going to be a long trip when the first wave of nausea hit you. Leaning into the window, enjoying the cold, you closed your eyes, knowing sleep would not come.

About two hours into the trip back to the bunker, after not saying a single word, you finally spoke up. "Dean," he looked at you through the rearview mirror, "pull the car over, Sam you gotta let me out." Dean was a little shocked, "What," he said quickly. "Pull the car over, before I hurl in your baby." At that, the car near immediately stopped, Sam quickly allowing you to get out. Almost as soon as your foot hit the ground, before you were even all the way out of the car, vomit spewed from your mouth. Sam was rubbing your back, not sure why you were sick, as you'd never gotten car sick.

Dean got out of the car, circling it to come to your side, worry written all over his face. Dean replaced Sam, Dean whispering something to him that you couldn't hear over the splashing on the road. You heard the car door shut, and felt Dean pull your hair back. Once you were done, Dean, helping you raise up, asked, "What's going on?" You looked at him, worry still plastered on his face.

"Nothing, I just got car sick," still feeling like you could throw up, you took a deep breath. The pain of your headache intensified by the fit. Dean laughed a little, "You've never gotten car sick in your life," shaking his head and adding, "I mean," down to a whisper, "are you pregnant?" You had to laugh a little, regretting as pain soared through your head, "No, Dean, why would you even ask that?"

"Well, in the same night you take an hour longer showering than you usually do and vomit on the side of the road." He smirked, reminiscing, "I mean after our encounter a couple of months ago-" You had to interrupt him, "We fucked once, I also recall telling you I was on birth control." Dean chuckled, "What can I say? I've got strong swimmers." Smug son of a bitch. "I'm not, can we please just go home? I got car sick, it happens."

Dean got very serious, "Not until you tell me what's going on, I'm worried now." Silently panicking, afraid that if you told them you had chronic migraines they'd think you couldn't go on hunts and you'd be alone again, but really not wanting him to worry, you finally spoke up, "It's just a migraine." Dean's face contorted in confusion, "A migraine? Since when do you get migraines?" You looked away from him, toward the trees lining the side of the road, "They're chronic, I've had them for years." Deans face softened, he reached for his passenger door and opened it for you, allowing you to crawl in.

"You all right?" Sam spoke from the backseat, thankful you didn't have to crawl back there again. You just nodded, bringing your knees to your chest and lying back against the window with your eyes closed. Dean started the car and after a few minutes he couldn't keep his mouth shut, "Why didn't you just tell us?" Sam didn't say anything, also wanting to know why this was such a big deal for you to keep a secret.

You took a sharp breath in, not moving a muscle, not even looking at them, "I was afraid you'd tell me I couldn't hunt with you guys anymore." Dean looks at sam through the rearview, the guilt on Sams face matching his own, "We would never-" Dean gripped the wheel a little tighter, "We would have worked around them, so you can be home when they're this bad. It wouldn't be puking on the side of the road horrible." Dean shook his head, reaching across to you to rub your arm, you looked at him, and he jerked his head in a come here motion. You did as you were told, starting to scoot over, he redirected your movements so your head was in his lap. His fingers running through your hair, his hand finding the back of your neck apply just a tiny bit of pressure right at the base of your skull, rubbing up and down softly, alleviating some of the pain, somehow letting you sleep the remaining trip.

When you woke up Sam was already out of the car, Dean opening your door you sleepily sat at the edge of the seat, head throbbing. Putting your hand on your forehead, elbow on the back of his bench seat, eyes still closed, you felt Dean pull your hands to his neck. "No," you jerked back, eyes filled with tears at how bad the morning light was making you feel, "I can walk." Dean huffed, "Shut up and let me carry you." You resigned and put your arms around his neck, laying your head in the crook of his neck, loving how he smelled.

You noticed as he carried you in, every single light that could be out, was. Sam must've done that for you. Opening the door to his room, you started to protest, "Shhh," he gently laid you on the bed and pulled the covers up for you, "just let me." Dean left the room, you're not sure where, but there was a pang of sadness in your chest, wanting to be near him. He came back and placed a cool rag on the back of your neck and one on your forehead, he touched your lips, slowly dragging his thumb over your lips, speaking softly, "Open up, let this pill dissolve on your tongue okay? It might be a little nasty, but it'll help." You took the pill, as it started to dissolve you scrunched up your face at the nasty taste, causing Dean to chuckle.

Dean headed to he door, it was now or never, "Will-" you started and your voice broke a little, you're not sure out of embarrassment or pain, "will you stay?" Dean smiled at you, coming to the side of the bed, crawling under the covers with you, "As long as you want me." You rolled over to him, laying your head on his chest as he put his arm around you. He started playing with your hair, running his fingers up and down your arm.

You wanted to be able to properly enjoy this, but your head hurt so bad. After about fifteen minutes you couldn't help but cry, silently, wanting the headache to go away. Dean noticed, feeling his damp shirt, he didn't say anything, just kissed your head. "They're not normally this bad," you sniffled, "I can usually push through them." Dean started rubbing your back, knowing how nervous you were to tell them, not really understanding why you'd believe they would say you couldn't hunt with them. "Y/n," he contemplated on what to say.

"You don't have to hide anything from us, you don't have to push through them, if you're in pain it's okay, we all have our faults, you don't ever have to be afraid that we'd tell you to leave. You're our family now, we need you. I need you." Your heart skipped a beat, did he really need you? In what way does he need you? "What do you mean?" Dean had to admit it, had to come clean, now or never.

"I don't mean just hunts," you looked up at him, shocked, tear stained eyes which broke his heart. He gently cupped your face, leaning forward and bringing his lips to yours, you instantly responded, pressing into the kiss, letting him slip his tongue into your mouth, he pulled back, "God you taste better than ever." You laughed, laying your head back down, "Okay, I understand." He couldn't do chick flic, it was hard enough for him to say he needed you, but he needed you to know.

Sam came in, replacing your rags, "You want some more medicine?" You nodded, pushing your hand on Dean's chest so he knew he couldn't get up. "Sammy, she'd love that but doesn't want me to get up." Sam laughed, your cheeks flushing, "No problem, Y/n." Dean placed his hand on yours, "I feel like a bath might help, I can run you one." You shrugged, "lotta work." Dean copied your shrug, "Not really, just gotta start the water and put the bubbles in." You instantly responded, talking over him, "Not you, me," you pause and lifted your head to looked at him, eyebrow cocked, "bubbles? I don't have bubbles?" Dean laughed heartily, "Not you, me. My bubbles and my work, I'll do it all, nothing I ain't seen before." He winked at you, smug bastard. You laid your head back down on his chest, shrugging again.

Sam came back, Dean lifting his hand up to take the medicine from Sam as you lifted yourself up and grabbed the cup from him, "It's coffee, it might help." You couldn't turn to face him, didn't want to, "Thank you so much." Sam smiled, but you couldn't see, "Of course, anything." You heard the door close softly as you took your place back on Dean, resting the cup on his chest.

After a few minutes after you had taken the medicine, Dean slid from underneath you, taking the coffee cup, causing you to groan in displeasure. Dean chuckled, and headed toward the bathroom. Once in there he lit a singular candle, started the water, and put the bubbles in. Coming back to you he wrapped his arms around your waist, letting you move your limbs to where they needed to be.

He sat you down on the bathroom sink, while he took his shirt off you removed your own. He reached behind you, unclasping your bra and pulling it off you. Dean wanted to tell you how gorgeous you were, wanted to touch you, but he knew you were more than not up for it. He knows when to be respectful and when to be downright filthy. You slid off the counter, you pushed your pants down, just enough so they could effortlessly fall off of you.

Dean stepped into the tub first, holding his hand out to you. You happily took it, just wanting to lie back down. Dean put your back to him, wrapping an arm around you he slunk to the ground, water splashing lightly. He pulled you back to him, allowing you to lay your head back on him. His fingers found their way to your scalp, applying a small amount of pressure, taking some of your pain. You had no idea that the Dean Winchester could be this, soft.

You just laid there with Dean, letting the water sooth you, letting Dean make this better. You couldn't think, just lay. You don't know how long you laid there, laid in complete silence with Dean taking care of you. "Do you want me to touch you?" Dean spoke, barely loud enough that you could hear him, you hummed, wordlessly asking what he meant. "I did some research while we were in the bed, lots of women have said that masturbating can seriously help." Still speaking softly, making sure that you weren't going to get overstimulated. You thought for a minute, all the times that you had touched yourself in hopes for the pain to lessen-all the times it worked. "Mhmm." Dean just continued rubbing your scalp, "Say it." A twinge of need pooled inside you, "Touch me Dean, I want it."

Dean needed no further encouragement, he needed to know this is what you wanted, needed you to admit it. He wasted no time, slowly working his hands to your nipples, fingers teasing, tickling their way to touch you. He twirled your nipples between his thumb and index finer, gently pulling them up, eliciting a whimper from you. "Don't worry good girl, I'm gonna make you feel better." Deans hands trailed to your waist, pulling you up a couple of inches, giving him better access.

Dean's right hand tiptoed to your clit, gently rubbing your bundle of nerves, rubbing circles until your hips bucked forward, wanting more. Dean's left hand moving to your lower stomach, resting lazily. You opened your eyes and stared into his eyes, a soft moan falling from your lips, "More." Dean smirked, quickly raising his left hand to push your head back, nonverbally communicating for you to rest, just enjoy this, then returning his hand to it's home.

Dean's thick fingers slid inside you with a thrilling stretch, you gasped, forgetting how good he filled you up. "Good girl, I know you can take it," Dean started to pump his fingers slowly, curling them upwards to hit just the right spot. "Mmmm," you hummed, almost singing, "please." Dean sped up, his fingers hitting your g-spot, palm rubbing your clit, you clenched tightly around him, slowing him down but making him damn near growl. You bucked your hips forward, panting, squeezing his wrist with one hand and grabbing the side of the tub with the other. "Gonna make you cum," Dean nipped your earlobe, a whimper. "Gonna show you that you need me," moved to your neck, a moan. "Gonna remind you what it feels like to gush around me," another nibble, another kiss. A desperate desire pooled in your belly, pussy clenching, clit throbbing. "You gonna cum for me? Cum on my fingers like a good girl?" Dean pressed his left hand down, the pressure sending you over the edge, you spasmed around his fingers, legs shaking, juices leaking out of you and into the tub. He let you ride it out, until your legs had calmed and you had stopped pulsating around his fingers. He moved his hands back to your scalp, continuing the previous scalp massage.

You tried to catch your breath, his thick cock resting between your legs, you could almost see it throb. You reached in-between your legs, starting to pump his cock but he moved your hand. "No," he kissed your lips, then your forehead, "once you're feeling better we can discuss it." You moved your hand to rest on his thigh, "can we just lay here a minute?" He hummed in approval, letting you close your eyes and enjoy the moment of bliss.

After awhile, you had almost fallen asleep, Dean started to get up, slowly dragging himself out of the tub careful not to disturb you too much. Once Dean had found the towel in the under lit room he reached his hand to you, helping you stand up. You stepped out of the tub, reaching for the towel but he pulls it just out of your reach. Dean sighs, "You may feel a little better but I still want to take care of you," starting to pat you dry, making sure to get the dripping tips of your beautiful hair, "I want to, please let me." You let him finish drying you off, let him slip his own shirt and boxers on you, wondering when he'd have gotten them. You even let him carry you back to his bed. Once he laid down, you were immediately beside him, filling the perfect spot next to him. "Sleep." He commanded, it was not a suggestion, and you did.

When you woke up, your back was facing Dean, his chest pressed to you, arm wrapped tightly around you like you'd run. You turned a little to look at his sleeping form, surprised when his eyes fluttered open, "Mornin', any better?" You turned towards him, placing your leg between his, your own arm underneath his and wrapped around him, "Manageable." You laid there, for how long you weren't sure. Eventually Dean spoke up, "We should go get some breakfast." You nodded, reluctantly rolling to the side of his bed, swinging your legs over.

You and Dean walked to the kitchen, Sam already cooking, hearing you cross the threshold into the kitchen he spun around. Upon realizing you guys had gotten up he immediately grabbed the coffee pot and filled up the cup sitting next to a few pills on the counter and creamer. You gently chuckled, "What a saint," you slapped Deans arm. "I told you," Dean started as you sat down and he moved to get his own cup of coffee, "we could've helped you manage."

You started fiddling your thumbs, not able to look at the boys, "I know-sigh-I was afraid, I'm sorry, I know it's dumb but-" looking to Dean, "I was afraid I'd be too much, lose the family I've come to love. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." Sam turned to you, pausing from the breakfast. "It's not dumb, Y/n. If you're hurting, if you're struggling, if you're afraid, we face it together, all three of us. Because you're right, we're family, and you belong here. Your problems are ours." Dean beside you now, hand placed on your back, thumb drawing small figure eight's, "We can help you, face anything this hellhole throws at us, stick together and say fuck it together," a kiss placed on your lips, pressing into you with loving force, "you just have to let me."

[mysaldate]

AFK Arena's letter to the players and my guesses

So yesterday, AFK Arena released a letter to the players for a happy new year. And honestly, it was really uplifting! No corporate babbling, not even a single mention about resources or budgeting, just a nice letter to the fanbase about what's to come – speaking of which!

According to the letter, we are going to be getting many MANY more awakened heroes! Older hero reworks are now gonna be done in this way. There should be one awakened hero every 2-3 months and when there's an awakened hero, there won't be a new hero coming out around that time period. But the best part about this is that AFK Arena is going to shift its focus from pure grind and mechanical aspects, from churning out new op chapters and floors in towers, to storytelling. Each and every awakened hero will get their own story-based event at the end of which, we'll see their awakened version – and there will be another event to obtain one copy of the awakened version without spending in-game resources!

There was more but this is mostly what I wanted to talk about. The Talene event we're getting right now is just a little taste of things to come, and I for one am ECSTATIC! AFK Arena's storytelling is what pulled me into it in the first place. It just grabbed me and didn't let go, which sadly can't be said about most of my other fandoms (looking at you, Twst, pull yourself together). The fact that they started releasing several webcomics and now want to focus on story-based events with animated trailers and new theme songs, all that to rework old heroes we all know and love... I am so SO glad to see this!

But now to my guesses. I want to make a quick little list of which character from each faction I think will get their awakened versions first. I will probably be wrong but I wanna share my guesses. Feel free to rb and add your own, let's see if we can figure Lilith out!

Zolrath – For Hypogeans, my first guess would be Zolrath. Lilith really likes to put Zolrath in story-focused content, and for a good reason. His breaking of the fourth wall as he manipulates even us players outside of the fame is incredibly fun to go through and immersive. Whether the story tackles a clash with Orthros or eliminating a particularly powerful enemy, I'm on board!

Khazard – At the same time, if we're talking storytelling potential, no Hypogean can match what Khazard has. Seeing more details about his battle with Respen, and possibly even getting some inner monologue and see what more of Khazard's personality would just be cool.

Lucius – From Lightbearers, I have two main guesses for their very own reasons. Lucius is here because of how much attention has been focused on him lately with all the VoWs. From his lost friendships, to his failing faith in the CoL, to his doubt when it comes to the divine light itself. Him coming to terms with all of this and finding a way to overcome it would make for a tense but ultimately amazing story.

Thane – Thane is one of the characters who need a rework most desperately. That paired up with Silent Blade and the fact that Lilith did tease Thaden meeting in their first anniversary quest makes me hopeful that we might see some of Thane's brilliance once more.

Warek – I wasn't sure who to pick with the Maulers tbh. Most of their stories are pretty finished and while there could potentially be more to add, it would just feel disconnected. Warek though, I think would be an excellent exception. He fights for honor to restore the pride of his clan – so what is he going to do once it's restored? Or maybe he gets nearly beaten and has to gather all his strength to keep going? Either way would be exciting to watch!

Lyca – Unlike the Maulers, there's a TON of Wilders who could benefit from expansions to their stories. But I'm placing my chips on Lyca. Lilith likes Lyca, there's no doubt about it. They even called her the incarnation of the game itself – mediocre at first but through preserverence and hard work, she became someone well-known and respected. It would be interesting to see what more they will do with her now that her arc is practically over.

Shemira – The earliest carry in the game, Shemira is another character with a desperate need of a buff. That and I saw some leaked art from Chinese servers with Shemira without her eyemask. I don't know if that has anything to do with awakenings but it could. That's mainly it for my reasoning.

Baden – Meanwhile, I have actual reasoning for Baden. For one, there's the Silent Blade comic again which is as much Baden's story as it is Thane's. And just like Thane, Baden could benefit from a solid buff. But unlike Thane, Baden has a clear direction of where to go next. Fighting off his spectral lich for a second time, Baden might be able to finally break free and show us his own attack power!

[cali-holland]

Nightmares- Tom Holland One Shot

Pairing: Tom Holland X Reader

Prompt: After watching The Devil All the Time with Tom and the boys, you have a nightmare and Tom comforts you.

Word Count: 1300

Warnings: The Devil All the Time spoilers (nothing explicitly graphic though); swearing; lots of talk about Tom’s ass in those jeans; slight discussion of abuse

A/N: This is a part of @hollandsrecs ‘s 1k fic bingo for the trope “Slice of Life”... Also, at the time I wrote this, I had not seen the film.

Masterlist   Tom Holland Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

~~~

“Popcorn’s ready.” Tom announced, coming into the living room with a few bowls of the favored snack food, handing them out to Tuwaine, Harrison, Harry, and Sam who were all scattered about the couches, before he sat down on the loveseat with you. He wrapped an arm around your shoulders, and you snuggled into his side, stealing a couple pieces of popcorn from the bowl. 

“And now to watch you run around and kill people for two and a half hours.” Harrison laughed as he picked up the remote to start the movie.

“That’s not all I do.” He rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, you smoke cigarettes too. Can’t forget that.” Harry teased. “It’s like Peter Parker joined the dark side.”

Tom grabbed a few pieces of popcorn, throwing them across the room at his brother, who opened his mouth and managed to catch one of the pieces. Calling his attention away from Harry, you pressed a kiss to Tom’s cheek as the movie began.

“I can’t wait to see your ass in those jeans.” You whispered to him playfully, making him chuckle.

“Darling, you see that ass in jeans all the time.” He joked, and you turned away from him to face the movie.

“Maybe I just can’t get enough of it.” You teased. You didn’t even have to look at him to know he was smirking proudly.

When you had agreed to watch Tom’s newest film, The Devil All the Time, with him and the rest of the boys, you thought it was a good idea. You had even been on set with Tom for a majority of the film, so you thought you had a good understanding of the violence in the film. Key word: thought.

It was a cinematically beautiful film, no doubt, and, of course, you loved your boyfriend’s performance in it, but some scenes were intense. While you felt comforted in Tom’s warm embrace, there was still an uneasy pit in your stomach as the movie played on.

“So, thoughts?” Tom asked, almost nervously while the credits rolled.

“Very badass.” Harrison acknowledged.

“Still can’t believe you killed Edward Cullen.” Tuwaine commented, and Harry nodded his head in agreement.

“And Bucky.” Sam added. Tom rolled his eyes at them and turned to look at you in his arms.

“I always knew you were secretly team Jacob.” Harrison teased.

“What’d you think of it?” While Tom genuinely cared what the others thought of his movie, your opinion mattered the most to him.

“It was great.” You reassured him, biting back your discomfort, “Your accent was pretty hot in it, too.”

“Why, thank you, darling.” Tom said, switching into his southern accent with ease and making you roll your eyes at his cheesiness.

The film talk continued for another hour with the boys argued over characters and themes and accents, just everything. Meanwhile, you sat there, cuddled up to Tom, as your mind silently played over a few select scenes, unable to get the unspeakable images out of your head. You reasoned that it was all fake; hell, you’d even seen most of those scenes be filmed.

That night, your mind kept returning to the film, replaying the scenes over and over in an even more dramatic and gruesome way. You weren’t sure how long you laid there, trying to focus on Tom’s soft snores and steady breaths to calm your mind, but, when sleep finally overcame you, it did little to help your mental battle.

Tom woke up with a start when he heard you let out a yelp. He was about to jump into action and (very blearily) fight off whoever was harming you, but he softened as he realized you were asleep right beside him. Not only was your yelp alerting, but you were also clutching onto the pillow for your dear life, not peacefully cuddled up to Tom. As he looked at your face, twisted up in distress, he felt his heart sting with worry.

“It’s not real, it’s not real.” You kept mumbling to yourself over and over in despair.

“Y/N, baby, wake up.” Tom started to shake your shoulder gently, trying to pull you from your nightmare. After a moment, your eyes fluttered open. As soon as you registered that you were awake and that Tom was in front of you, you let go of the pillow and hugged him tightly. Rubbing your back soothingly as you cried into his bare chest, Tom comforted you, “It was just a nightmare. I’ve got you. I’m right here.”

He kept repeating his words until he felt you begin to breathe steadily again. Feeling the slightest bit calmer, you pulled away from him and slid out of the bed. Tom watched as you maneuvered around the dark room, the only light coming from the alarm clock on his bedside table. You went straight for the box of tissues to wipe your eyes. Leaning over to turn on the table lamp that sat upon the nightstand beside him, he asked, “Do you want to talk about?”

“Not really.” You answered quietly as you climbed back into the bed. “I’m fine, just go back to bed.”

Refusing to believe your words, Tom softly took your hands in his, his thumbs grazing over your skin mindlessly. 

He didn’t particularly want to ask his next question, but he was far too concerned about you to care, “Was it the movie? Was it me?”

“It wasn’t you.” You reassured him, but when you saw the worried frown still etched on his lips, you let go of his hands and shuffled into his lap, wrapping your legs around his waist. His hands rested on your hips, pulling you closer to him. “Tom, I promise I didn’t have a nightmare about Arvin murdering me.”

“Why’d you put that thought in my head?” He asked in disbelief and you laughed lightly, shaking your head at him.

“I don’t particularly remember what my dream was, but it wasn’t you. I was already on edge because of the Carl and Sandy scenes and then Lenora—“ You shivered a little, trailing off, and his thumbs began tracing soft circles on your hips through the thin material of your sleep shirt.

“If you didn’t like the movie, why didn’t you say?”

“No, I did like the movie.” You moved a hand up to push his loose curls off his forehead, running your fingers through his hair, “It’s a really good movie, and you should be proud of yourself because you were phenomenal. It was just too intense for me, and my subconscious got the better of me while I was sleeping.”

“You know I’d never hurt you, right? Never.” Tom said, seeking his own comfort now as he still pondered on your previous comment about his character.

“I know.” You smiled at him, leaning in to kiss him. As your lips moved against his, it took him a minute to actually kiss you back.

“We should probably get back to sleep.” He mumbled, groaning a little as he pulled his lips away from yours. He looked over at the clock to see it blindingly tell him it was nearly 1:30 in the morning.

“I’m still a bit shaken up. I don’t know if I can fall back asleep now.” You answered truthfully. Tom’s hands made their way down to the hem of your sleep shirt.

“I can think of something to distract you.” He smirked, and you playfully rolled your eyes at his cheekiness, “You spent two and a half hours ogling my ass in jeans.” He switched into his southern accent again, “Don’t you wanna see this ass in person?”

“You’re so weird.” You laughed, cupping his cheeks to bring him in for another kiss.

~~~

Tag List: @viagracex @theamazingtomholland @Hellomoveonby @heyitsshrez @harrisonosterfieldhazmyheart @joyleenl @t-o-m-hollands @lonikje @sleepybesson @sunkisseddreamer @hollandsamor @in-a-lot-of-fandoms-tbh @gorrillaglue23 @petersoftboyparker @musicalkeys @duskholland @biebsmylife95 @dummiesshort @perspectiveparker​

Tom Tag List: @quaksonhehe @tomkindholland​

[thefairyletters]

✨ Spooky Recs✨

I read a lot of fanfictions... More than I am proud of. I thought I should recommend as I go before I lose sight of their existence among the sea of my favorites.

Since past few days I have been craving for some creepy, unnerving fanfics that will keep me restless and awake at night. I remembered my favorites and wanted to read more of the kind so I looked up, patiently going through each story that sounded compelling. I also revisited old stories for nostalgia's sake.

Of course, rare as they are, in Naruto fandom no less, it's even harder to find a horror and mystery fic that is well written, not dropped under 2 chapters, and really keeps your attention.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Comedy

I've rated 4 aspects of the work -

Writing – I don't judge writing based solely on the grammar and vocabulary. I also consider how the author expands upon a subject, if they are consistent with the facts, if they are able to keep the attention of the readers regardless of their creative writing skills.

Characters – If the characters are well-developed, in their given character, if OCs have any real significance to the story.

Plot – How gripping is the storyline, if the story sticks to its original plot, the structure of the story, plot holes.

Flow – Mother-of-slow-burn, slow-but-steady, steady, fast, I-am-speed

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When the flowers cry : TCOOKIES777 || M || AO3/FFN || SasuSaku || Goth Horror || Post-Canon, set during Blank Period || Ongoing

When one of the greatest medical-nin in the world goes missing in what should have been a simple delivery to the Land of Spring’s Hidden Snow Village, the rest of Team 7 must reunite to find her. But even the most powerful team of shinobi will find themselves challenged in a battle against the supernatural. With Sasuke's return, vengeful ghosts of the past will test him and his love.

My thoughts : One of the best stories I've read in a while, and top tier SS stories. I read this in one sitting. I never listen to music while reading, preferring silence, but for this one, I suggest you do as the author says. Also, keep some tissues and food with you. This story is major in mystery and minor in horror but otherwise full of SS fluff.

Writing: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Plot: 9/10

Flow: Steady, if a bit confusing (but that's why it's mystery)

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Kyuro : silver_shot || T || AO3 || SasuSaku || Mystery || Post-Canon || Complete

“Oh,” says Naruto, “well, its sort of like that. Except in this village, the story has a way more darker ending – it basically goes like this: the girl and the guy plan to run away together. The guy steals a bunch of treasure, and stashes it away. But then, when he goes to get the girl at her village, he kills her and decides to run away with all that money. But then he is killed by the guards of the girls village and now they're both dead and the treasure is hidden away somewhere”. Sasuke stares blankly at the blond, “that story makes no sense”.

My thoughts : I know you must be thinking the same thing as Sasuke – "makes no sense". I did too, but it's a pretty cool short story. It lies on the funny, creepy side that slowly starts to lose its funny touch. SS makes stupid mistakes later on but it could be because they are MCs. The ending is very ambiguous. It's not my favorite mystery but it is something. Enjoyable read but not something I will pick again.

Writing: 8/10

Characters: 8/10

Plot: 8/10

Flow: Fast

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Moon stuttering in the sky : xfrinz || T || AO3 || Gen || Mystery || Pre-Shippuden || One-shot

Kakashi is suspicious of many things about Haruno Sakura. Too many things about her don't make sense, with too many incongruous explanations.

My thoughts : Author of this story just summarised Pre-Shippuden in less than 4k words and made some tiny changes to it. Not much though. One of my favorite gen fics yet. Read it if you haven't yet. You'll feel more sad than thrilled tbh. But worth it.

Writing: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Plot: 10/10

Flow: I-am-Speed

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Breath mints : silver_shot || T || AO3 || SasuSaku || Comedy-Mystery || Post-Canon || Ongoing (maybe)

Their home no longer exists with the life it once had – in fact no settlement thrives anymore; they exist only in a snapshot that contradicts time itself. Families within their own homes sleep in a slumber that they cannot wake from. Those that were chatting on the street prior to the event simply drop their heads and remain unresponsive.

My thoughts : I picked it up for Mystery but I stayed for Comedy. But of course that's not to say supernatural elements in this story is not it, but it sure pales in comparison to effortless humor in this story. Lee and Kiba pair is something you don't see often but they get along too well here. Charactisation is on point as well. SS angst! + NS angst (but it's downplayed)

Writing: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Plot: 9/10

Flow: Steady

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The Curse : sincerelyLen || T || FFN || SasuSaku || Horror || Post-Canon || Ongoing

Team 7 is unexpectedly assigned an S-Ranked Mission involving an unsolved mystery of 10 years. An eerie adventure that will test their teamwork, strengths, and greatest fears. Do you believe in Curses?

My thoughts : My all-time favourite horror Naruto fanfiction. To me, this sets the standard of how mystery and horror elements should be handled. I have never been able to get this story out of my mind even it's been years. Perfect charactisation of Team 7 with Smart-yet-Stupid!Sakura, I-can-fight-aliens-and-reanimated-corpses-but-keep-ghosts-away-from-me!Naruto and I-dont-get-paid-enough-for-this!Sasuke. I especially love OCs here. They kinda reminds me of Pillars from KnY. You must read this story, loosely based on Zombie apocalypse + curse concept.

Writing: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Plot: 10/10

Flow: Slow-but-Steady

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Silent High : Istoria || T || FFN || Gen || Mystery || Post-Canon || Complete

A bit of the Silent Hill series mixed in with Naruto. Trapped in an illusion whose rules are unknown, they struggle to find answers before darkness consumes them.

My thoughts : One of the best mystery fanfictions I've read. I especially loved how this story handled Genjutsu in the best possible way it could without it turning into some cliche, ghost story. Though really, this story has shown what my greatest fear actually is. I will never be able to leave my back open to a wheelchair. This story has simple writing yet it gives you creeps with the twists and turns. A must read one because it is unlike any other in this list.

Writing: 9/10

Characters: 10/10

Plot: 10/10

Flow: Steady

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Silence of the Damned : Daystar Clarion || T || FFN || Gen || Psychological Horror, Mystery(?) || Pre-Shippuden || One-Shot

When Naruto wakes up to a dead body in his bathroom, he begins a quick spiral into madness.

My thoughts : Listen to Halsey's Control while reading this. Quite chilling, deals with mental issues and morbid but in a fascinating way. It gives a new meaning to Dark!Naruto, but one that actually makes sense. I never saw the ending coming... I had something else in mind and I was convinced it would be, but nope. Here's a sequel to this One-Shot (Uzumaki's War) which I never picked up.

Writing: 10/10

Characters: 9/10

Plot: 9/10

Flow: Slow-but-steady

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To the Victor : Letta || T || FFN || NaruSaku || Psychological Horror || Shippuden || One-Shot

Naruto loses the fight and Sakura is a trophy of war.

My thoughts : A very twisted NS, if you squint. It's not horror but it might as well be... it is still a disturbing story to see from the eyes of Sakura. Quite chilling to be in Sakura's shoes. But I love this because it is one shot and I loved the ending.

Writing: 9/10

Characters: 10/10

Plot: 8/10

Flow: Steady

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Under the Skin : BukkakeNoJutsu || T || FFN || Team 8 || Body Horror || Pre-Shippuden || One-Shot

Your actions don't make you a monster. Your reasons do.

My thoughts : There's a reason why Shino is my favourite team 8 member. In my opinion, Shino is also one of the strongest Shinobi of his generation. His clan techniques are just that horrifying. This story is testament to that. He is so terrible.

Writing: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Plot: 10/10

Flow: Slow-but-steady

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Instant Message : Keelah || T || FFN || SasuSaku || Murder mystery || Modern AU || Incomplete

She gave him names to kill, in order not to be killed herself. But having blood on her hands was turning out to be much worse than dying. "…There's still round 2…3…4…" When does this game end? She asked. "Don't you see, Sakura?" He said, "It never does."

My thoughts : I read this story a long time ago and have read this twice. Personally, it has the most interesting concept of all stories in the list. It reminds me of Vocaloid series, "Bookmark of the end". Kind of. To those who are thinking of picking this up, go ahead! It's a great book and has one of the best suspense I've read in Fandom. BUT, it has been stopped in mother-of-all-cliffhangers and Author is MIA for 4 years now. But, all things considered, it remains to be one of the best stories I've read.

Writing: 10/10

Characters: 9/10

Plot: 10/10

Flow: Steady

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Monomoth : Ohtze || M || FFN/AO3 || SasuSaku || Horror || AU || Incomplete

Everything ends, eventually. Eight years after the war, Sakura's unhinged and Sasuke's obsessed. The fields are filled with corpses.

My thoughts : I read this story right after "The Curse", my favourite. From what I remember, Sakura and Sasuke are both mentally deranged, in different ways. Lots of death and gore to stomach, so not for weak readers. There's no speak of fluff in this one. Zero, Zilch, Nada. I wouldn't call it your classic 'Horror', but it is very disturbing, so psychological horror is more like it. Don't eat food while reading this one. Did I mention how Sakura is mentally disturbed beyond help in this one? And Sasuke is obsessed. If these suit your tastes, go ahead.

Writing: 10/10

Characters: 9/10

Plot: 10/10

Flow: Slow

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I hope you enjoy this list. Let me know your opinion in comments.

[chloelucia13]

Chapter 14: Suzie, Do you Copy?

Pairing: none for the moment (currently Jonathan Byers x (kinda) Platonic!Henderson!reader)

Prompt:  You always thought Hawkins was the most boring town of all, stuck in a vacuum void of excitement and entertainment. Well, it seems that way until the world decided to flip upside down, literally.

Chapter Summary: Dustin’s return to Hawkins had overjoyed you, but other than that, there was no change to the normal routine of your summer. At least, that’s what you thought.

Warnings: Mostly fluff, spoilers (obvi), language, mentions of violence, injuries, pretty chill tbh

Word Count: 2764

A/N: AHHHH, I’m back finally! I’m so sorry I took so long to update this story! Hopefully I’ll be able to get back onto this series and update it regularly like I used to, but I can’t make any promises. For the time being, I hope you enjoy and make sure to keep an eye out for any updates! As always, my taglist and ask box is open! 

Tags: @just-my-fandom​, @nightbu-g​

You couldn’t recall a time you had woken up earlier than nine a.m. in the past month.

In all honesty, you had considered just sleeping in until the very last minute scramble to get dressed, rush out the door, and get back before Dustin got home.

Unfortunately that plan could not be executed as your mother woke you up, knowing you well enough that she could predict your plans.

And that was why you were at the mall at 10 a.m., your gaze focused on the floor as you made the trek over to Scoops Ahoy. Surprisingly, there was a small line in the shop, considering it wasn’t even lunchtime yet.

As you finally stood at the counter and lifted your head, Steve visibly relaxed, his “customer service” persona fading. “Oh thank god, it’s just you,” he sighed, leaning against the counter.

“Just little ol’ me,” you hummed, absentmindedly rubbing at your eye. “God, has the day already gone to shit for you, Steve?”

“Well, he’s already struck out twice if that’s any indication,” Robin piped up, peeking through the window that peered into the back area.

“Twice? Didn’t you guys open just an hour ago?” 

“Don’t rub it in,” Steve huffed, a frown sinking onto his features.

“Fine, fine.”

You and Steve had grown close in the past six months, sharing a special bond that you honestly needed. Though you couldn’t decide if the bond grew from him literally saving your life, or from your significant others (well, for Steve at least) dating each other rather than you two. Both, probably.

“Are you here to order something or just to bully me?” he spoke finally, pulling his ice cream scooper from his makeshift-holster. 

“Right, right. Just a pint of cookie dough and a pint of strawberry,” you instructed, pulling a ten out of your pocket.

He nodded and began scooping the two pints of ice cream. “Who’s the cookie dough for?”

“Dustin.”

He looked up at you, his brows furrowed in confusion. “He’s coming back today?”

“Yeah!”

He sealed the lid of the cookie dough pint. “No one tells me anything!”

You rolled your eyes. “Steve, I told you this two days ago.”

You heard Robin let out a laugh in the back room and Steve pressed his lips into a line. “Do you want ice cream or not?!”

You laughed. “Come on, you know you’d never deprive your two favorite people of ice cream.”

He rolled his eyes and finished up the second pint, sliding both of them over to you as you handed him the $10 bill. “Do you work today?”

“Unfortunately. I’m just hoping I’ll be home before dark tonight because they’ve been fucking keeping me for hours after closing.”

“Doesn’t the pool close at like five?”

“Yup,” you huffed, popping the ‘p.’ “And, to top it all off, I’m stuck with Heather  and Billy today.”

The two of you cringed simultaneously. “Can’t say I’d rather be you.”

“Thanks for the support.” You took the change from Steve and stuffed it into your pocket before cradling both pints of ice cream in your arms. “Well, I gotta drop these off at home and then sit in the sun for a few miserable hours. I’ll call you when I get home.”

***

Your soul nearly left your body when a chorus of screams erupted in the kitchen as soon as you stepped in the front door. They fell silent a moment later, though, and a voice echoed out, “Oh, it’s just you.”

With a hand clutched over your chest, you rolled your eyes. “Sorry to disappoint you guys with my presence, but can we avoid killing me the next time you see me?” you huffed, still struggling to take in a proper breath.

We thought you were Dustin,” Lucas explained, a party blower between his teeth.

“Yeah, I figured.” You brushed past the group and put the ice cream in the freezer. “Can someone make sure that Dustin gets his ice cream? I won’t be able to see him until later tonight.”

“I can,” Will spoke up, raising his hand in the air.

“Finally, someone I can count on.” You grabbed the drawstring bag that held all of your items and slung it over your shoulder. “How’s Jonathan enjoying his job at the newspaper?”

There was a small silence. “You haven’t talked to him about it?” Mike spoke up, and Max swatted his arm.

You shook your head, the healing scratch on your eye beginning to burn slightly. “No, not yet. We’ve, uh... We’ve both been too busy. We haven’t talked in a couple of weeks.” More like a month.

There was another silence before Will spoke. “He likes it. He has the dark room all to himself,” he explained, his voice gentle and hesitant.

“Good. That’s good. Tell him I said hi, or something.” You cleared your throat before turning to the group and giving them a smile. “I gotta head to work. You guys have fun, okay?”

***

God, you felt like vomiting.

Everything seemed to be going wrong today, like you forgetting to bring your sunscreen and sunglasses, Billy and Heather’s constant pestering and gossiping, Billy ignoring his job so he could flirt with Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Wheeler completely ignoring you so she could flirt with Billy, the dozens of kids that had coined multiple nicknames for you and your scar, and the 101 degree temperature that was unrelenting.

Luckily, though, the day was close to coming to an end. Most of the crowd had thinned, excluding a couple of kids who spent the whole day there anyways and adults who insisted on lingering until they absolutely had to leave. 

The shriek of a whistle startled you from your thoughts, your head slipping from your hand and making you lurch forward slightly. A group of muffled cackles sounded to your right, and you rolled your eyes. “Can I help you, or are you just here to make my life a living hell,” you grumbled, snapping your gaze over to Billy and Heather.

“Well, I was gonna ask if you wanted a water, but I guess not,” Heather huffed, stubbornly crossing her arms over your chest.

You gave her a doubtful glance. “Were you really?”

She laughed. “No. Now get up, It’s my turn on deck.”

With a huff you stepped down the ladder and tucked your book and raft under your arm. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Billy step closer. “Billy, if you push me in the pool you’re gonna wake up with no fucking mullet tomorrow.”

The pair just laughed behind you condescendingly, and you stomped away with a scowl etched on your face.

Ever since the... altercation that occurred months ago, Billy had kept his distance from you. It was a relief, knowing that he wouldn’t test your limits for the sake of his own health. But that didn’t stop him from sprinkling in some teasing every single time he spoke to you.

The hot concrete stung the soles of your feet, and you picked up your pace so you could get to the office before your feet blistered.

“Hey, no running!”  You froze at the voice, your eyebrows knitting together in confusion. Slowly, you turned on your heel to face the source. 

Jonathan stood behind the fence, his hands in his pockets and a shy smile on his face.

“Jonathan?” you whispered, tilting your head slightly as if you were a dog. 

“Hey Y/N,” he hummed, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot.

A small smile settled on your face and you walked over to the fence, a silent sigh of relief leaving your lips when your feet settled on the grass that bordered the fence. “Hey! W-What are you doing here? I thought you got out the same time that I did?”

“I do, I just uh... I wanted to go on a walk.”

You nodded. “Oh, okay.”

“And I uh, I wanted to see you. Just see how you were doing, I mean.”

You let out a small chuckle, hooking your fingers through one of the chain links in the fence. “I’m doing good. I mean, as good as I can be sitting in the heat for five hours straight with no sunglasses. How have you been?”

“I-I’m good. Isn’t Dustin back in town?”

“He is, he just got back today. I haven’t seen him yet, though. How’s your job at the paper going?”

“It’s good, really good. I’m enjoying it a lot.”

“That’s good to hear.”

The two of you stood silently, avoiding each other’s gaze except for the spare glances you’d risk. 

“I should get going,” Jonathan spoke finally, a hint of reluctance in his voice. 

“Right, yeah,” you hummed, clearing your throat. “It was good to see you, Johnny.”

“You too.” His mouth opened as if he wanted to say more, but he decided against it, giving you an awkward wave before walking away.

You lingered there for a moment, an all-too-familiar ache in your chest as you watched him walk away from you.

***

After rinsing off, getting changed, and making a final check of the area, you were finally off for the night. You could feel your shoulders nearly weighing your entire body down and your eyelids were extremely close to falling shut at any moment. Silently, you made the trek through the parking lot and over to your car. 

You hopped in the driver’s seat and fished your key out of your bag before putting it in the ignition and twisting.

And twisting again.

And one more time.

Shit.

You slammed your hands against the wheel and let out a groan, throwing your head back against the headrest. “Of course. Of fucking course,” you grumbled.

Then you began to weigh your options. The first idea that came to your mind was walking home, but you quickly decided against it as you were too exhausted and it was too far. 

Your next idea was to walk over to The Hawkins Post and see if you could catch a ride with Jonathan. But you knew that wherever Jonathan was, Nancy would also be. For a moment, you contemplated swallowing your embarrassment and fear and just do it, but again, you decided against that option.

Then you thought about using the phone in the office to call Steve, but you had no idea if he was even home.

And after running through all of the ideas in your mind, you last ditch plan walked past your peripheral.

You shoved all of your disgust down and hopped out of your car, rushing to try and catch up.

“Billy!” you shouted, trying to stuff your keys back in your bag as you jogged over to him.

He stopped and turned to look at you, part-confusion and part-annoyance wrinkling his features. “What?” he huffed.

“Can you, um...” You shifted awkwardly, the reality of the moment catching up to you. “Would you mind giving me a ride home? My car won’t start.”

He rolled his eyes, fishing a pack of cigarettes out from his leather jacket. “Y’know, any other night I’d love to, but I’ve actually got plans tonight. Call a tow truck or something.”

“Billy, please.” Your shoulders slumped. “I don’t live that far from you.”

“Who said I was going home?” 

Your jaw tightened and you pulled your bag higher up on your shoulder. “I’ll pay you $20. Just please.”

“Why don’t you ask your boyfriend to do it? I saw you talking to him earlier.”

“He’s not my boyfriend! Goddammit-” You cut yourself off, taking a deep breath and scrubbing a hand over your face. “$50.”

He stood there a moment, placing a cigarette between his teeth as he silently debated it. “Fine. But you’re paying me upfront.”

You bit your tongue and refrained from snapping at him, instead pulling your wallet from your bag and handing him a $50 bill. He snatched it from your fingers and shoved it in his back pocket before nodding his head over to his car and heading that way. 

Though the anxiety from asking him was gone, it was replaced with the anxiety of being in a vehicle with a man who very clearly hated your guts. Your brain was nagging you to just walk home, but you pushed the annoying warnings away and got in the passenger seat.

Billy had exited the parking lot before you even had a chance to put on your seatbelt, the engine roaring as he tore down the empty streets. The ride was silent other than that annoying engine, his godawful music, and your heart racing so loudly and harshly that you felt as if you were about to have a heart attack.

Whether it was your panic or your swarming thoughts, you had zoned out for the first few minutes of the ride. When you finally came to, you realized that you were nowhere near your house. “Did you take a wrong turn?” you mumbled, brows furrowing confusedly.

He scoffed, pulling his lower lip between his teeth. “No, I have an errand to run,” he explained as if you were stupid, as if you were already aware of his plans.

Oh my god, he’s gonna kill me.

You gulped, gripping onto your drawstring bag. “What errand?”

“Well, I had already made plans with Karen before you decided to ask for my help, so you’re tagging along.”

Your jaw dropped and you turned in your seat to face him. “You’re making me sit in the car while you hook up with Mrs. Wheeler? You said you were gonna take me home!”

“I did, but I didn’t specify when.” He was grinning from ear to ear, and you had to move your hands under your thighs so you didn’t smack that look off of his face.

“You motherfucker. Literally.”

He rolled his eyes. “Shut up and get in the back seat. I don't want her seeing you.”

It was your turn to scoff. “Excuse me?” 

“I said-”

His words were cut off by a large object hitting the windshield, making both of you jump and causing him to lose control of the vehicle. The car spun off of the road and collided into a tree on your side, making Billy’s head collide into his door and crushing your door into your body.

A slew of curses and grunts fell from your mouth as you worked your way out of the seat, feeling your ribs ache with each breath as you finally got out from between the door and the center console. You sat down on the center console and gripped onto the back of the seat for balance.

“Oh, no,” Billy grumbled from beside you, eyes wide as he took in the damage. The stereo still spat out a distorted and garbled sound that resembled the music that were playing earlier as Billy tried to restart the car, to no avail. “Piece of shit.”

You finally glanced over at him. “You’re bleeding,” you wheezed out, watching the blood drip down his forehead and into his eye.

He reached up and touched the wound, pulling away and glancing down at his fingers with disdain. “Shit.” He slammed his hand against the steering wheel before shoving his door open and crawling out. You followed behind him, collapsing to the ground beside his feet. You gripped onto his arm and heaved yourself up.

Billy left your side to attempt to pry the passenger door open, only for a spew of expletives to fall from his mouth. “Yeah, I’m good, thanks for asking,” you huffed, leaning against the car and clutching your right side as he stomped past you and over to the front of the car.

“Shut up,” he grumbled, leaning close to the windshield and gliding his finger along the spiderwebbed glass. “What the hell?”

A strange ooze clung to his finger, stretching between his hand and the windshield with a strong elasticity. “Fuck.”

A rustling in the shrubs near the building you stood by attracted both of your attention, your heart leaping to your throat.

“Who’s there!” Billy shouted, his body standing straight up.

“I don’t think it’s a who,” you grumbled, reaching for your pocket knife in your back pocket.  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

As you opened your mouth to explain, Billy fell to the ground and was lugged away by a snaking vine. You screamed, but before you could move onto the car and off of the ground, a similar vine wrapped around your legs and dragged you through the dirt

[evermoreholland]

More Than Enough | Peter Parker

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Warnings: Angst + fluff

Word Count: 1,820

A/n: This is part 2 to a fic a wrote a while ago called All Alone. This could be read on it’s own, though. I’m really proud of this so feedback is much appreciate. I hope you all enjoy! 

*Italics indicate flashbacks

--

You had never thought that you could feel so heartbroken. You just never thought you would be so broken by your best friend. You remember all of your amazing moments when you were kids, and you remember growing up together. You were Peter’s best friend, until he ruined it. He personally attacked you. The worst thing was, he didn’t care. It was up until the point where you told him to leave that he cared. You weren’t even sure that his love for you was true. How could he possibly say those words after our big blowout? Did he really even mean that or what he was just trying to get me to forgive him?

~

“Pick up, Y/n. Please,” Peter whispered as he tried calling your number for the tenth time that day. Peter felt extremely guilty for how he treated you. There were no excuses for his awful behavior. He didn’t know what had gotten into him today. He was upset about his breakup with MJ but that wasn’t an excuse for how he treated you. After the line went to voicemail, Peter dialed Ned’s number. Ned always had decent advice and maybe he could help Peter figure out a plan as to how to get his best friend back, maybe there was a way to fix the problem that he caused. 

“Hello?” Ned responded on the other line. Ned knew that Peter went to your house to tell you about the breakup, but he had no idea how it went over. 

“Ned, I fucked it up,” Peter said as he ran his fingers through his curls, a habit he did when he was stressed and upset. 

“What do you mean you fucked it up?” Ned asked, confused. He didn’t see how a simple conversation could end up so badly. You were always supportive of Peter, sometimes more than others, and Ned didn’t think that your conversation with him could end up that bad.

“I ruined our friendship,” Peter said and broke down. Tears began to flow from his brown eyes and he broke down on the phone with Ned. He cried for around ten minutes and then he finally calmed down a bit.

“Have you tried calling her since you got home?” Ned asked Peter. To be honest, Ned knew that you needed your space. You had been overwhelmed by Peter lately but he didn’t think it would go this far. 

“Around ten times,” Peter said. He sat on his bed and began fidgeting with a stuffed animal that you had given him in the sixth grade. He turned the teddy bear over to see the back. You had stitched a heart with both of your initials in the middle. He lightly smiled at the memory.

You had got home from school and you went to your desk to finish Peter’s bear for his twelfth birthday. You knew that giving your boy best friend a teddy bear would have been weird, but you couldn’t afford much and you’d known Peter would love it. You put your initials on the back of the bear to symbolize your forever friendship. 

You needed to finish the bear soon, Peter would be coming over anytime soon. Just as you finished stitching, someone knocked on your bedroom door.

“Y/n!” Peter exclaimed.

“Coming!” You shouted back and opened the door for your best friend. “Happy birthday, Peter!”

“Thank you, Y/n.” Peter said as he pulled you in for a hug. 

“I have a present for you,” you said and then Peter sat on the beanbag by your bed.

“You didn’t have to get me anything.”

“I wanted to,” you said and then handed him the teddy bear. Peter takes a look at it and turns around to see the pink heart with his and your initials on it.

“I love it, Y/n. I’m never letting it go.” He never wanted to let you go either. That was a promise he made for himself.

Ned sighed and said, “Peter, she probably needs her space. Just give her some time.”

“I don’t want to listen to you, but I know that you’re right,” Peter admitted.

“I always am,” Ned teased.

“Shut up.”

~

It had been a week since your fight with your best friend. You were hesitant about going to school after your fight. You didn’t want to face Peter yet. He had hurt you and you didn’t want to risk breaking down in front of him. You had most of your classes together, and you couldn’t bear to face him. Your parents forced you to go to school anyway. Your walk to school was weird without Peter by your side. You felt alone, but he was the one to make you feel that way in the first place. 

You got to school and then you went to your locker like usual. You got your books for chemistry, which you would usually walk to with Peter. You heard footsteps coming towards you and you immediately knew who it was. Peter.

“Y/n,” he said gently. You turned to face him and you were met with a very depressed looking Peter Parker. Dark circles were underneath his eyes and his eyes were bloodshot. A part of you felt bad for Peter but the other part of you chose not to forgive him that easily.

“Not now, Peter,” you said and started walking to class. Peter sighed, got his books and made his way to class.

~

Chemistry was absolutely boring. You were really glad that you chose Betty as your lab partner in the beginning of the year, though. 

“Y/n, can we please be lab partners? They’re finally letting us choose this year!” Peter exclaimed on your first day of chemistry class after the teacher said to pick your partners.

“Pete, you know when we’re partners we don’t get anything done, right?” You replied. You loved Peter and he was an absolute genius, but when you two were paired together it was hard to get anything done.

“But you’re so fun,” Peter protested.

“I’m going with Betty, but I’ll sit with you in every other class, alright?” You asked and then Peter nodded in defeat. You gave Peter a quick side hug and made your way to sit with Betty.

The next two classes after chemistry were boring. You had geometry with Ned and MJ, and then you had English with Peter. You kept looking at Peter when he wasn’t looking, wondering what you did wrong in the first place. Why was Peter so hurt by ending the friendship that he didn’t want anymore? Or did he want it?

You made your way to lunch and you were conflicted. Do you sit with your friends and have tension with Peter or do you just sit alone? Peter saw you standing and silently contemplating your decision.

“I can sit alone,” Peter said when he saw you.

“They’re your friends too,” you replied. You started walking to the table and Peter stayed still. You turned behind you and saw him. He looked awful. A part of you wanted to keep walking and not care, but you love him.

You grabbed Peter’s hand and said, “Sit with me.” You both made your way to your group’s lunch table and sat down next to each other, like usual. For the past week you ate outside by the football field so it was definitely weird sitting with everyone again, but at the same time, sitting with Peter felt normal. 

No one acknowledged the fight going on between Peter and you. You all ate lunch in silence with Betty occasionally talking to Ned. It was weird but you didn’t expect anything less.

~

After school, you went to stop by Delmar’s to get a sandwich. Your mother had texted you that she wouldn’t be home for dinner tonight so you went to get some food. After you picked up your sandwich, you made your way home. Once you entered your apartment, you were met with a sad Peter sitting on your bed. It wasn’t the first time you saw him like this.

“Y/n, I have something to tell you,” a nervous 15-year-old Peter Parker said as he made his way into your apartment.

“Petey, you look sad. What’s going on?” you asked as you sat down on your bed with him.

“Remember when I got bitten by a spider the other week?”

“Yeah…” you trailed on. Why was he mentioning this anyway?

“This may sound crazy, but I started sticking to stuff and now my body is changing... and I t-think I need to do something about this,” Peter said. It was obvious that he was scared about all of the changes in his life and you had to be there for him.

“I’ll be here for you, Peter. We’ll get through this together. I promise.”

You did make a promise to your best friend. 

“Peter.”

“Y/n,” Peter said, getting up from your bed to make his way towards you.

“I’m sorry. There is really no excuse for how I treated you. I haven’t been a good friend to you and I know you probably never want to speak to me again but I wanted to let you know that you have always been there for me and I can’t thank you enough. I haven’t thanked you enough. I’m really sorry.” As soon as Peter finished speaking, he broke down and fell into your arms. His sobs filled the room and tears began rolling down your eyes as well.

“Pete,” you said gently. He looked up at you with his bloodshot eyes and you saw his wet cheeks and began to pat them dried with your sleeve out of habit.

“Y-yeah?” He whispered. He was scared that you were going to tell him to leave. He was scared to lose you. 

“I love you, you know?” You said and Peter stood up and pulled you into him. You cried into his chest for a while. You listened to his rapid heartbeat and managed to calm down after a few minutes.

“I love you too, Y/n. I hate seeing you like this, especially knowing that I caused it,” Peter said as he cupped your cheeks, his thumbs stopping your tears from falling. 

“I felt so alone,” you mumbled. 

“And I’m so sorry for making you feel that way. I miss being your friend, and I haven’t been a good one lately,” Peter admitted. 

“I forgive you, because I know this was not like you at all.”

“I really love you, Y/n,” he said.

“I love you more, Peter. Just come and talk to me whenever something is wrong, okay? Please try not to lash out on me.”

“You have my word,” Peter promised, and you knew that was enough. He was more than enough. He was Peter, and you were lucky to have him in your life.

-- 

Tagging people who wanted this to happen/might be interested: @in-a-lot-of-fandoms-tbh @starlight-starks @bookwormmusiclover15 @awesomehritz @quxxnxfhxll @spidey-reids-2003 @namoreno @adriannajackson @nerdy-collector-festival @musicalkeys @osterfieldnholland

[aerielz]

come and untangle me one of these days

- a dream. a mistake. company, to make it better.

This is for and because of everyone in the original Flower Shop!AU post notes, specially @claudiasjeancregg and @stars-on-the-cuffs-of-her-jeans. You guys went waaaay too fast and I’m still trying to put Donna in here let alone everyone else, but I do hope everyone enjoys this! Title from Come and Find Me, by Josh Ritter. I feel like everything I’ll ever write for this AU will be somehow based off this song, tbh.

fandom: the west wing pairings: JD, CJ/Toby wc: 2453 rating: gen tag: flowershop au

He wakes up at the crack of dawn, stirred by some weird dream he can’t quite remember — some bittersweet memory. The coffee he takes washes away the sweetness and he’s left with only the bitter of it, stuck to the back of his throat.

He leaves the house, then. The streets are still somewhat deserted, but, much like his hometown, DC never really sleeps. Toby walks the five minutes from his house to the shop, and watches as the sun comes up behind the Capitol dome.

Walking into the storefront proves itself a bigger hazard than his own mood, though, as he is almost run over by a flurry of blonde as soon as he steps through the threshold— “Wow.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!,” Donna is already there, crossing quickly towards a table under the wall-to-wall window with a spray bottle in hand and talking into a phone she holds with her shoulder. “Oh— no, no, don’t worry, that was just Mr. Ziegler. Yes, of course. Yeah. Yeah, I’ll let him know, don’t— tomorrow? That should be hard, how about Saturday? Okay. Okay, thank you so much, Dr. Bartlett.”

“Donna,” he says when she hangs up.

“Shouldn’t we receive a shipment of sunflowers this weekend?” She sprays a mist over an arrangement of daisies.

It's too early for this. Too early for and her energy and her incessant talking, but somehow Toby can never be mad at Donna. Even when she sends congratulatory arrangements to funerals by accident. Even when she turns around still spraying, causing him to find himself inside a cloud.

“Donna—”

“We’ll sure need them, Dr. Bartlett just called saying that Liz will be home for the weekend.”

"How many times I have to tell you to never call me Mr. Ziegler?"

"Should I call you Mr. Grumpy, then?"

"It's Mr. nothing, Donna."

"Oh, c'mon. Don’t be so harsh on yourself,” she jokes. But her quip lacks the bite and the sparkle, and Toby finally notices it — she was here before sunup, too.

He barely has time to register the conversation and that last fact when the bell above the door rings behind him. His heart skips a beat.

Donna looks up to check and her eyes widen, just a little bit. Just enough.

“Oh, God, no, not him,” he mutters to himself.

“Can anyone tell me what magnolias are supposed to stand for?”

Toby sighs, closing his eyes.

“This is a flower shop,” he says, turning around, “can’t say much about trees.”

Josh Lyman, arrogant extraordinaire, flashes a smirk, shrugging apologetically. "Maybe you should start thinking about expanding."

He swagger his way further into the shop, stopping just beside him.

“I—,” she says, putting a strand of hair behind her ear, “Well, actually flowers from magnolias are very common in bridal bouquets. They’re these beautiful, delicate, things, they’re supposed to be all about purity and nobility.”

This is why he keeps her here, Toby thinks. For every fact about flowers that he doesn’t know, Donna knows five he’s pretty sure no one but her knows about. But she looks down to the floor, and Toby thinks she sounds sad, somehow.

“Well, that..." Josh’s smirk quickly turns into a grimace. "That makes sense."

“The more you know,” he says, clapping his hands against his legs. "Well, you got your answer, then."

"Yeah, maybe... maybe we should focus on some other flower," Josh says.

Toby is more than ready to focus on showing Josh the door when—

The bell rings again.

Sam walks in, saying, "Oh. And here I was thinking I was gonna be the first."

Toby runs a hand over his face and takes a glance at his wristwatch. It’s barely seven. "Why are you all even up?"

"No reason," Josh answers. It's way too quick, but he's not about to question him.

"The magnolias, they..." Donna looks up directly at Josh, "Why you ask?"

"I— uh."

"Magnolias!," chimes in Sam, leaving his shoulder bag in a corner and sitting on top of the sales counter, right beside Donna, "Such pretty flowers! We're doing bridal bouquets, now? We should, the marriage stuff really is great business."

"Oh, God, no," Josh mutters.

"It really is!,” Sam continues, “There’s definitely money in the sector, and it’s not like it’s an unpleasant job. Donna here, for example, would love it. Anyone with a knack for romance would, really.”

“You work the afternoon shift,” Toby tells Sam, exasperated and already so, so, tired. “On weekends. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I have no idea, Josh was the one who called me.”

“And you came?”

"Absolutely," says Sam, almost triumphant. “I mean why not?”

“I can think of at least, I don’t know, twenty reasons.”

“Well, I like to help my friends when I can, Toby. For the same reasons I think we should really start doing weddings.”

“Unbelievable,” he cries out, “How did we even get to this point of the conversation, we are not doing weddings, what’s wrong with you?”

“I’m a romantic—”

“Yeah, that explains it.”

“—and you know what, I think you are one, too. I think most, if not all, of us here are. Or you're gonna tell me you wouldn't like the sight of the love of your life, surrounded by blooms and blossoms, walking her way towards you? Or, or— maybe doing that walk yourself, that would probably be quite an experience, right? C’mon, Donna, you look like someone who dreams about a big wedding, tell ‘em."

"I... really rather not."

"God, kill me. Right now," Josh mutters a bit too loud, "Just kill me."

Toby notices, strangely enough, that Donna seems to second that thought, but the impression barely has time to settle in because at that exact moment the door opens again. But instead of the light, almost quiet, chime of the bell, they hear a sharp shrill and a loud thud, from the door connecting violently with the wall.

"Joshua Lyman, I will have you hanged," a familiar voice booms.

"I didn’t mean literally," Josh whispers to no one.

"What the actual f— I mean, really, I am never leaving you in charge of the schedule again. Amy just called me asking for your head and I’m pretty sure Joey wants your nuts served on sterling silver — why the hell did you think it was a good idea to have everyone here at like six in the morning, Joshua?"

“Look—”

“Choose your next words carefully because in order for you to keep your internal organs on the inside of your body this will have to be really good.”

His answer ends up not coming in words at all, but in a pleading look — the wide eyes of a man who needs help.

The room awaits silently for Josh's defense, but Toby is looking at CJ, who, for some reason, seems to have a monopoly on his attention whenever she's in the room. And so he catches the moment when her gazes subtly travel to Donna's face. He follows just as carefully, to find her sniffling quietly, cleaning her eyes with the sleeves of her cardigan.

CJ swallows and tracks her eyes back to Josh. Something passes between the two, some understanding, that Toby is not privy to.

“Well." She sighs, rage completely gone. Everyone looks at her. "Since we’re here... maybe... we could all just have something nice to eat...? My treat.”

Josh is visibly relieved.

"I'll take you up on that," Sam says, "I haven't eaten a thing yet."

"You left home without eating?," Donna asks.

"I'm not used to waking up this early."

"Well, let's put some kind of food inside you then," CJ says.

"And coffee," he completes.

They all walk to the nearest café together, finding Bonnie on her bike on her way to work. She unmounts and joins them. Ginger arrives later, when they're all making a fuss over latte flavours, chipping in too. Seasonal spices are seasonal, that's why they're special!, cries out Donna. Nonsense, says Josh, what if I want pumpkin spice all year round, what's wrong with that?

Toby is equal parts impressed and not at all by Josh having an elaborate coffee order. He's hanging back behind the group, watching them have fun with nothing but their own friendship, when CJ finds him.

"What about you, Tobus, gonna drown yourself in cinnamon and allspice, too?," she asks.

He lets himself laugh, "I don't think I have it in me to drink something that complicated."

"A simple man, huh."

"You could say that," he tries and fails to hide a smile.

"I have just the thing."

She enters the line and comes back two minutes later, shoving a blueberry muffin into his hands.

"You didn't have to."

She's the one smiling, then. "I know."

CJ looks up ahead at the rest of their party and her gaze falls on Donna, going soft when she watches how openly the woman laughs while trying to argue some sense into Josh about something as innocuous as coffee.

“Why do I have the impression you know something about my own employee that I don’t...?," Toby asks, then takes a bite from his muffin. It's a bit too sweet for him, but it tastes good. It feels good, like replenishing something inside him.

“I... might.”

“CJ.”

“I’m not supposed to say anything.”

“Those flower arrangements, you like them a lot, right.”

“You don’t play fair.”

“It’s why I’ll never be a professional baseball player.”

“Could've had a chance with the Red Socks team of nineteen—”

“You don’t know anything about baseball, stop obfuscating.”

She sighs, sagging.

“She was supposed to be getting married today.”

Toby chokes on a piece of his muffin. CJ gives him a slap on the back.

“Married?”, he all but yells, between coughs.

“Keep your voice down!”

“What do you mean married?,” he whisper-yells, “You’re telling me she was supposed to marry that asshole?”

“We all make mistakes.”

“Voice of experience?”

“I’m a tattoo artist, Tobias, I have seen things.”

"Married," he repeats. "Married! She's, what, twenty-five? And she's supposed to be getting married to— to a guy who wanted her to throw her entire life away to—"

"I shouldn't have told you anything."

"—what, pay his bills?!"

He breathes in deeply and takes a big bite out of his muffin, knowing the sugar will help him cool down.

It must be quite a picture, his beard covered in crumbs while he munches angrily, because CJ looks at him like she’s about to burst into laughter.

“What?”

"I swear to god between you and Josh the girl’s got more protection than a mafia daughter.”

"Josh knows?," that explains a lot, he thinks. "You're not very good at keeping secrets are you."

"Listen pal, I am very good at it, I just... She needed help, okay?"

"And you think we’re the right people to help her?"

He's not being skeptical, he really isn't. But Donna’s far away from home, and she’s bound to be missing more substantial support. It is true that CJ has a way of making him feel better by just being there, though, and to be fair it is a general talent of hers. Regardless of his protests both her and Josh, they do this, somehow. They arrive, arguing over something tiny, and he forgets he’s worried about anything.

"Yeah, I mean," she shrugs, "isn’t that what friends are for?"

Toby looks up ahead at the people who came around the shop, and all the way here, too, just to keep each other company.

“I think it might work,” CJ concludes.

Between their party and the sugar in his system, he can’t remember what was it that upset him so much that morning.

They all sit on a big table outside the shop, still discussing seasonal lattes. Sam remembers some of his favorites, recalling one or two that never came back another year. Ginger and Bonnie share hot chocolate recipes, and Donna makes notes.

The sun settles itself in the sky and shines down warmly. The District starts moving faster, getting into the gears of the day.

Their regular opening hour approaches.

CJ rises from her place beside Toby and motions with her head for Josh to follow her.

“It's been nice to be robbed blind by a coffee shop chain for your benefit, but we better get to work.”

“Thanks for coming around,” Donna tells her, “I've been having a couple of rough days and…this helped.”

“You should come up to the shop, if it happens again,” CJ says. “Just to hang around. There's always someone there to keep you company.”

“Come today, even,” Josh completes, “I think Amy might not murder me if there’s witnesses.”

“Today's probably not gonna happen,” Donna answers, “We'll be doing some new arrangements, for a while, Dr. Bartlett called.”

“MD or PhD?”

“It’s a lot of work anyway, so does it really matter?”

Josh smiles, shaking his head, “I guess not.”

Is there someone he didn't call?, Toby thinks.

Josh and CJ bid the rest of the table goodbye and head in the direction of their shop. The conversation around them resumes, but Donna is chewing on her lips instead of jumping in to refute Sam's argumentation over croissants.

She steals a glance to watch their backs retreat on the sidewalk, but, before they can get too far, Donna bolts from her seat and stops Josh with a hand on his forearm.

“Josh.”

He stops and looks back. “Yeah?”

She hesitates. When she speaks, it is just loud enough for him to hear.

"Why did you ask about the magnolias?"

She notices she’s still holding him by his shirt and lets go of it, but Josh slides his hand into hers. "Someone came into the shop yesterday to get them done. They reminded me of you.”

He gives her hand a squeeze, that she returns. They share a smile.

“Maybe I could come around tomorrow?,” she says.

“Yeah,” he nods, “Yeah, I think I’d like that. See you tomorrow, then.”

A few steps behind Josh, CJ is watching them, too.

She finds Toby's gaze, when Josh releases Donna's hand to join her. And gives him a wink.

He laughs at the ridiculousness of it, at how warm it makes him feel. But something in the gesture between him makes him believe that there are better days ahead. For all of them.

He turns back to the table around him and when Donna sits down he finally gives in— “You’re all delusional, black forest is just chocolate and cherry, it tastes the same anywhere.”

—starting another round of protests that leads to laughter and lively conversation that lasts the rest of the day.

[non-sequitura]

Sequitura’s guide to Kpop if for some reason you want to get into it

(Not recommended, the fandom culture is insane, though there are some nice songs)

These are songs that I really liked on the first listen and continue to like. Some songs take a while to grow on me, like “TT” by Twice. Those aren’t on this list.

They're not my top 100 - those would be too particular to my tastes and I tried to cover a range of musical styles.

* means that the song is a b-side (not the primary promoted song in an album) and thus probably doesn’t have a music video.

Oh My Girl (cheerful group with KILLER catchy melodies)  -Windy Day -Dolphin -Coloring Book -Closer -(optional listening) Secret Garden if you really liked Closer -(optional listening) Nonstop if you like catchy dance tunes, but after some of their really good stuff it'll pale in comparison. It's good gateway Oh My Girl, though.

Blackpink (they do a lot of hype songs; cool vocal colors; actually not bad rapping for kpop) -As If It's Your Last -Playing With Fire -Lovesick Girls

f(x) (experimental girl pop) -Rum Pum Pum -Nu Abo

KARA (exhilarating dance tunes) -Step

Brown-Eyed Girls (they've covered pretty much every genre at this point, but boundary-pushing is their main theme) -Kill Bill -(optional listening) Abracadabra (not personally my thing, but the EDM bassline was super fresh at the time and still is) -(optional listening) Warm Hole (really catchy 60s-esque bop)

Taeyeon (former main singer in Girl’s Generation) -4 Seasons -(optional listening) Spark (not the greatest song in the world, but the lead-in to the chorus is great.)

T-ara (ridiculously cheesy dance tunes) -Roly Poly -Sugar Free -(optional listening) Lovey Dovey (if you loved Roly Poly)

Mamamoo (originally jazz, now... something else) -Piano Man -Um Oh Ah Yeah -(optional listening) Woo Hoo (the harmonies will blow your mind) -(optional listening) Decalcomanie (GREAT for early 2000s rock Amy Winehouse-esque fans. I'm only mildly a fan of that style, but even I can admit the vocal pyrotechnics are incredible.) -(optional listening) Pride of 1cm (a rap diss track about each other’s heights) -(optional listening) Girl Crush (HEY YOUUUU)

Spica (sadly short-lived group that was *really* musical; did jazz authentically and well) -You Don’t Love Me

IU (soloist whose style has run the gamut, but she mostly writes her own music, now.) -Eight -The Red Shoes -Blueming -23

AOA (originally a band concept who came back with uh... sexy, which isn’t a genre, but they still have good songs) -Heart Attack -(optional listening) Like a Cat -(optional listening) Elvis

Wonder Girls (retro who came back with a band concept) -Why So Lonely

Sunmi (her stuff can take a while to get under your skin. It’s quite dark under the surface, which I like.) -Heroine -Pporippipam -(optional listening) 24 Hours -(optional viewing) Noir, for the music video mainly

Yubin (former rapper for Wonder Girls) -Lady -Thank U Soooo Much

Girl’s Generation AKA SNSD (one of the original icons. You won’t find a more polished group anywhere.) -Paparazzi -(optional listening) Lion Heart (for those who love the 60s sound)

BoA (original soloist icon. Watch her dance and sing live.) -Mannish Chocolat -(optional listening) Woman

Itzy (currently conquering the “teen rebels” genre) -Wannabe -Don’t Give a What -(optional listening) Icy (it’s divisive, but personally I find the attitude super charming and the instrumental fresh and unique rather than irritating.)

Red Velvet (have some great RnB songs, as well as some lovely summer ones, as well as some “lol wut” ones) -Psycho -You Better Know* -Body Talk* -(optional listening) Russian Roulette (slightly off-kilter pop song and catchy af) -(optional listening) Look* (AMAZING 80s throwback) -(optional listening) Swimming Pool* (one of those super cheesy pop songs that becomes transdescent in the chorus) -(optional listening) Sassy Me* (this song is crazy) -(optional listening) Mr. E* (if you loved You Better Know) -(optional listening) Sunny Side Up* (if you loved Body Talk and Psycho)

2NE1 (one of the first “badass”-themed girl groups.) -I Am the Best -Fire -(optional listening) I Don’t Care (tackling slow/emotional)

Hyuna (a great performer who sells any song she’s in) -Trouble Maker -365 Fresh -Bubble Pop

CLC (they’ve unfortunately probably broken up now. Super talented group who’s bounced from genre to genre trying to get something to stick, leaving bops along the way.) -Pepe -Show* -No

Weki Meki (they’re slowly finding their niche, which is likely to be smooth club stuff) -Crush -(optional listening) Cool (I recommend watching their relay dance/dance practices and giving Lua some attention)

BOL4 (“indie”-ish band; not a big fan of most of their stuff) -Travel (but they did strike addictive gold when they went more rock)

Gfriend (Strings, guitar, and some of the best/most consistent vocalists in kpop right now) -Navillera -Mago

Dreamcatcher (a very unique, metal-influenced sound. Amazing dancing. Probably supported by the most humane company in kpop right now.) -Scream -Over the Sky* -Black or White* -(optional listening) And There Was No One Left* (idk why but this one hits me. It’s so sparse and yet makes you feel so disconcerted.) -(optional listening) Silent Night* (if you like the musical aesthetics of the song “Everytime We Touch”) -(optional listening) Can’t Get You Out of My Mind* (if you liked Silent Night)

Twice (“The Nation’s Girl Group”) -Fancy (kind of the only song of theirs that I adore; ask me for more recs if you really like them.)

Ailee (known as the Beyonce of Korea) -I Will Show You (an unironic “yasss” song) -Heaven (gee, this song is sad but never lets up with the power vocals as well, which I think works better than a straight-up slow ballad)

Loona (I don’t really click with them, but a few songs have hit me first listen) -Voice* (it sounds like a beautiful, brisk skate across a mile-long lake) -New (by Yves – it’s super flowy) -ViViD (by Heejin – I love sassy swing tunes what can I say) -(optional listening) Heart Attack primarily for the music video

EXID (power vocals + brass + hip-hop? I don’t really get it tbh but good singing can sell me anything.) -Ah Yeah

After School (I don’t know this group but this song is a bop. Might be one of my top 20 favorites of all time and I only heard it yesterday.) -Bang!

Sunny Hill (very unique social commentary music) -Pray (warning: one of the most disturbing music videos I’ve ever seen, but definitely worth a watch if you have a strong stomach) -The Grasshopper Song (music video is nicer)

(now we move into territory with guys in it. I personally think male artists in Korea release fewer great songs than female artists, beccause the general trend is to be “dark” or “moody” compared to the more melodic trends in female groups. If you like strong choreography or braggadocio vibes, though, you’ll probably like them better.)

AKMU (singer-songwriter sibling pair and probably my favorite composers in Korea right now.) -Dinosaur -How People Move -(optional listening) Happening (somehow gives coffee shop music a driving rhythm) -(optional listening) Like Ga Na Da (this is a song about the alphabet. It is still insanely catchy.) -(optional listening) Melted (sad ballad)

TXT (this group has other songs, but I don’t like any of them nearly as much.) -Runaway (like the classic boy group sound set on fire. A really nice pre-chorus of all things. Love the guitar.)

Ateez (they might become the next BTS; not sure.) -Wonderland (like... pirate hip hop/rock. Watch with choreography.) -Wave (a surprisingly potent summer song) -(optional listening) Say My Name

Shinee (some of the most talented dudes in kpop) -Lucifer (probably the only kpop song to pull off a one-note chorus well. Sounds like it was produced by people who evolved in a different universe.) -View (super smooth, groovy deep house song.)

Oneus (their good stuff goes hard) -A Song Written Easily -Valkyrie

Stray Kids (don’t know the group; song is great) -Miroh

A.C.E. (one of the only kpop groups doing hardstyle and surprisingly enough, I like it.) -Goblin -Cactus

Seventeen (don’t really know the group; song is great) -Mansae

-1/6/21

[heart-of-tempered-steel]

𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 // {fred weasley x ofc} preview

As soon as his gaze slid down from her slender shoulders to her neatly folded hands, he saw it.

Her hands, he mused, were small and delicate looking and usually when they were at rest when she sits, are folded neatly one atop of the other. Like bird wings.

Now, her hands were anything but resting. They were slightly fluttering.

As if something ruffled their feathers.

Summary: Fred starts to see through the cracks on the mask she wears and realizes that it wasn’t just a mask... but a full suit of armor as well.

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Seri Waldren (OFC)

**Additional Note**: Face claim for Seri is Lee Ji Eun as Jang Man Wol

Warnings: Almost none except for a bit of slightly one-sided angst with a hint of enemies to friends to lovers as well as an ofc (but PLEASE give this a chance before scrolling past!!! I really worked so hard to get everything in place here! 🥺)

His eyes are a deep hazel like his twin.

However, Seri thinks to herself, staring at his side profile as he faced the fireplace, the flames casting a warm glow over his features, that in this light at least, they held a hint of mahogany in them. With the way that the light was catching in his eyes, she can see that it brought out the dark red undertone in them. She gives him a once over—steady gaze tracing his features from his hair to his eyes.

Orange.

Red.

Brown.

Like the fallen leaves that drift with the autumn breeze.

And before she thinks better of it, she is pulled into a memory.

Like the forest floor at that time when the sun was setting and its dying rays peeked through the canopy to shade everything a warm copper and bronze—the earthy smell of dirt with a hint of petrichor from last week’s rainfall; laughter echoing through flying swirls of leaves, recently scattered from a pile.

Mug of hot cider, freshly made, warming you up inside and out. Its warmth spreading from your fingertips to your head as its heady aroma of apple and cinnamon wafts up to your nose and fills you.

Pairs of strong yet gentle arms holding you—comforting you. A melody, sweet and tender as the arms you’re held by, drifts into your ears and lulls you with its lullaby.

Soft wool tickling your cheek as you nestle yourself further into the warm embrace, letting the song carry you over into a peaceful slumber. Here, you are content.

You are safe.

You are not alone.

You are loved.

And just like that, she is consumed. The sudden onslaught of the memory hurtling towards her like a tornado of broken glass, pieces of what was once a precious and tender reminiscence, now in shatters. Jagged, sharp edges were simultaneously slashing, ripping, and embedding themselves into her heart; threatening to shred through every soft layer of tissue to raw and bloody scraps.

She nearly recoils from the emotions that was all at once churning and burning her from within, fighting to keep the tempest within her contained. If she does not get a hold of herself…  

She. Will. Fall. Apart.

Seri instantly turns away from Fred and lets her hair fall to the side of her face like a black curtain between them as she attempts to silently reign in her tumultuous emotions.

Her companion hears a barely suppressed, sharp intake of breath and turns his attention to her. He finds her face turned away, seemingly focusing on a spot just off to the side of the fireplace. Or at least he assumes she was staring at a spot. Her long black hair effectively blocking off his view of her face.

Her figure was stock still except for the slow and methodical breaths he can see her quietly forcing herself to take. She still held the same posture on the carpet as when he came by the fireplace to sit next to her. Back straight, legs tidily folded underneath to accommodate for the sleeping gown she was wearing underneath her silk robe, and hands resting on top of her lap.

That was where Fred found the slight difference in the way she was holding herself. As soon as his gaze slid down from her slender shoulders to her neatly folded hands, he saw it. 

Her hands, he mused, were small and delicate looking and usually when they were at rest when she sits, are folded neatly one atop of the other. Like bird wings.

Now, her hands were anything but resting. 

They were slightly fluttering.

As if something ruffled their feathers. 

One hand still lay on top of the other but the other hand beneath was tightly curled into a fist. Its tightened grip causing her hands to faintly tremble. He had an inkling that if the other hand on top was removed, he would see the white knuckles she was making as she dug her manicured nails into the palm of her hand.

It lasted for only a moment and it was gone as soon as he saw it. As if she could feel his gaze on her, she took in a last deep breath and slowly unfurled her hand back to how it was. But it only took that one passing moment for Fred to know... that something was wrong.

“You alright, princess?”, he let out in a soft voice, his tone laced with concern.

She felt it.

Yes, she could tell he was worried over her. And not just because she was a born empath. No. She didn’t need to rely on that part of her to know that. His voice was—so gentle and soothing. Yet, it held such an intriguing blend of both boldness and apprehension to it that it didn’t want to make her pin the person who was asking under a glare of disdain. Usually, with the kind of rumors and reputation that garnered around her, there were mostly only two types of people in her life who would ask about her well-being with feigned compassion: reporters and suitors from highborn pure-blood families like hers.

One wanted to use her to stamp their name on the cover page of every magazine and newspaper.

The other wanted her hand in marriage for her wealth and, out of their archaic and medieval beliefs, to secure the continuation of their family’s pure-blood lineage.             

But both were attracted to her by their uninhibited ambition.

Both wanted a piece of her to claim for themselves.

The empath part of her can sense an oily power-hungry leech like that from a mile away, eyes closed.

Although now, the empath in her was sensing something entirely different from the red head beside her.

There was concern, yes. But there was also sincerity… genuine sincerity for her and—

Oh.

There it was. Buried beneath a bundle of his nervousness and the abrupt need to reach out to her...

Kindness.

It was kindness…

 And no. It wasn’t the pitiful kind of kindness that would be offered to her with condolences every time her parents’ deaths were brought up in every one of her mandatory but rare social outings. This kindness that she was sensing from him was pure and so unrestrained that it took her aback. Maybe even perturbed her a bit.

She was sensing this from the young man. The very same young man, who, along with his twin, would set off pranks to soak up the chaos they ensued. Resulting disruptive inconvenience and bodily harm to others be damned. Unapologetic and destructive, the two laid waste with their antics on and off the school grounds. Fred Weasley, one of the loud, cocky, and rambunctious devil duo pranksters of Hogwarts…

Was sitting next to her worrying about her well-being.

And Morrigan knows, with the kind of tempestuous and vitriolic relationship that they started off with—almost a week after she transferred from Ilvermorny, she’d never thought that he’d show her, let alone be capable to have this side of him. Perhaps, it was a good thing that she was already sitting down because reconciling these two sides of him was leaving her a tad disoriented.

Despite that… she lets herself welcome the feeling. She lowers her defenses a bit, letting its tendrils wrap around her senses in a warm cocoon. His earnest need to ease her out of whatever unsettled her—so honest and guileless, centers her while it melts away and soothes any residual pain that the painful memory left in her heart.

So different.

A/N: *tenatively pokes her head into the fandom* hey there! 👋 I hoped you enjoyed this “little” preview of my upcoming fred weasley drabble! I’m a newly minted fan so I wasn’t sure how my fic would fare among you older and OG fans so I decided to just post a snippet of it and see how many of you would be interested in my little project. tbh I wasn’t that into the harry potter fandom for most of my life. I did ofc watched the films when I was younger and ended up with a Daniel Radcliffe crush tht lasted up until I became a Hiddlestoner.

But other than tht I didn’t really consider myself as a potterhead.... until one rerun marathon film series drew me back into its clutches and not only got me to start reading the books but also gave me a newfound appreciation and love for the Weasley twins (especially Fred 😉). the twins deserved a better ending than tht btw. heck. almost half of the characters were done dirty by the end of the series 👀

Anyway, I didn’t expect to fall so hard for the twins considering the massive crush my 9 year old self had w/ harry potter lol. those sneaky twins really have a way of worming themselves into your heart without you ever noticing it! Now, it’s been almost two months since watching the movies and I’m still overwhelmed with all the feels about those two 😩. so this fic/drabble was sort of a cathartic release of all my pent up emotions for them. tbh this just started off with me just wanting to describe the aesthetics Fred was giving me but well... all my feelings spilled out. oops 😬

the title is based on a great song that I stumbled on YouTube called “It Takes A Lot to Know a Man” by Damien Rice and I think it fits the dilemma of Fred and Seri finding out that there’s more than what the eye can see with each other. but that’s enough of my rambling for now 😅. If u made it all the way here, congratulations! And thank you for checking out my fic! I really do appreciate the time you spend reading this as well as any feedback you can give 🙏 (the more detailed the better!) Please reblog/like if you enjoyed this as well! I really appreciate it if you could share this with some of ur friends/mutuals it really makes all the sleepless nights working on this worth it!

Also let me know if there are any grammar errors too (bc I’m def sure there are some floating up there) I’m more of a fanfic reader than a writer so this was a BEAST to get out for me!

P.S. I’m also planning to have a self-insert/reader imagine version of this and any future drabbles of this series in the future since I know how some people feel about ocs 👀

Taglist: @firewhisky-kisses @yourssuccubus (who expressed great support in helping me write this! Thanks, u two ❤️ I hope it was worth the wait!

[onereallygoodlambonastick]

1, 2, 7, 8, 9 and 10 please

finally some good fucking food, thanks anon;

1. What themes would you like to write about that you feel don’t get explored very often?

Generally speaking, I think the in-betweens, the casual time-skips, and the quick intermissions are the things that get glossed over the most. The “missing scenes”, if you will--the hours after a squabble between a team, the morning before the battle, the months where a child sat idle, the dreams that turned into prophecy. 

I also think the theme of re-connection is not often explored--its always “love on first sight” kind of deal, but what about the enduring kind of love, the kind that stays like an ache in your bones? the one you remember and miss? the one you long for like a phantom limb?

2. What are some common elements of stories you are tired of seeing? What would you avoid writing about? 

This varies wildly between fandoms, but probably the thing they all have in common is: mindless smut. Just straight up down and dirty fucking, with no motive or prompting or characterization. Just the author smashing two guys (usually) at the hips and being done with it. 

That’s fine; we all love to see it. It’s just so dull sometimes. 

I need some intricacy, some intimacy, some ache, some angst, some destructive lines and some ruthless gut-punches, you know? Not a guy coming for the fifth time. 

For the AFTG fandom: I’m tired of seeing people being fine with the way Sakavic treated her characters and coddling Neil & Andrew in the face of it. I don’t hate Andreil, I feel like I should say, but so much of it relies on one or the other sticking people with their knives or fists and that’s such a toxic love, a misconception of what a “good” relationship should be. Now, there are some brilliant fics I’ve read that are just gorgeous with the concept of Andreil--that was what I wished Sakavic had the ability to achieve in her series, while giving dignity to Kevin Day and the rest of the characters that were there and LIVED despite the romance. 

So, obviously, I would avoid doing any of the above I just mentioned, and pray that you will too. Just let these ppl breathe, alright?

For the AoT fandom (yeah i dabbled cuz the manga is just. depressing man): same issue---too much fucking, not enough talking and emoting. Why are there so many goddamned high school AUs? My god. I need a fic that gets down and dirty with the shit going down in the manga and take me through it so I can stand to continue. What about the grief and mourning and the betrayal of it all? Can I get me some of that? Lord, don’t go near the Levi/Eren tag. Y’all just don’t even knock it. Go to Levi/Erwin or something. Or just don’t. Don’t.

For the BNHA fandom (lol. a staple): actually, there’s quite a bit of diversity here so I geniunely can’t complain about much. The sheer magnitude of the English-speaking fandom helps on that end, I suppose. I do think there should be more fics looking at the Shit n Grit of Hero’s society tho, Stain-style. The people the heroes couldn’t save or didn’t want to, the forgotten bodies and the cooling hands, the victims that never got closure, the heroes who got maimed and multilated and couldn’t get back on their feet once the limelight left em. Those sorts of things. I think the fact we see thru the rosy-eyed worldviews of a bunch of green-eared kids deludes people to the fact that People Are Fucking Bad and Disgusting almost all the time. So exploring that, I think, is far more worthwhile. 

But I will also take injury aftermath. I’m not a monster.

For the KNY fandom: EYYY we talk about grief and suffering a lot which if you haven’t noticed, is kind of my Jam! Actually, this fandom prob hits a lot of my sweet spots: role reversals, grief/mourning aftermath, SabiGiyuu, Sabito Lives, the usual! Can’t really say much abt this. Except, there’s a lot of Demon Sex and Rape and, uh. Guys? Can we go back for a hot sec?

For the Code Geass fandom (*rubs hands in glee*): SO this is the fandom I’m most active in aside from AFTG at this precise moment. It’s pretty dead, tbh. My favorite two fics in the AO3 archive was published in 2014 and the author hasn’t written for my fav pairing (Suzaku/Lelouch) since. So. There’s that. There’s also a lot of fucking here! And gross cishet dynamics, but, uh, whatever. I think the Emperor Lelouch/Knight of Zero Suzaku has been overused and abused for rough sex and just general Angst-ing it out. I wanna see how their dynamic plays out like that for sure, but what about when they still had secrets between them a mile wide and had to tell each other half-lies and half-truths? How about them coping with the fact of their betrayals and the death of their loved ones at the hands of each other? Where’s the hardcore shit? 

Think this fandom doesn’t want to dig their fingers in too deep. Shame. 

Another thing: CC is not an immortal seductress. My god give her pizza and some fucking DEPTH. She’s a walking encyclopedia, not some mysterious slut machine! Get your stereotypes and fetishes outta here!

Final thing: TALK ABOUT THE SHIT SUZAKU HAS BEEN THROUGH! He’s not just Lelouch’s boytoy or knight! Stop that! Examine his abuse, his time with the military, his span as a pawn! Look at his motivations and his internalized disgust for himself as a Japanese that was ingrained in him by an oppressive fucking system! Why does he bow? Why is he silent? Speak for him!

7. Favorite description in your wip? (If asked more than once, respond with a new piece each time)

Suzaku watched him watch the discoloring, and Suzaku watched the stillness change into the bare bones of animosity. It was almost kind, the way Lelouch turned his face away and shifted his grip to snatch up the antiseptic.

Neither of them spoke as sharp hands dabbed at the slightly split skin and wet bruising. It stung, but only a little. Long minutes passed like this, Lelouch exchanging swabs for cloths, Suzaku sitting still and watching him work.

Neither of them mentioned the scatter of old deadened skin, puckered across Suzaku’s build like a migration of mutilated fish.

8. Favorite dialogue in your wip? (If asked more than once, respond with a new piece each time)

"You know I can't be seen with you two."

"And I just warned you to not be a coward." Lelouch's eyes gleamed. Again, the challenge was there, and like a fool only Lellouch could make of him, Suzaku took it, open-mouthed and open-palmed.

"Fine," Suzaku said, not knowing what he'd promised himself to: a dinner or a duel. Even though the last time Lelouch picked up a sword it was wooden and he was tiny and cute and clumsy. But Lelouch didn’t need blades to cut. "I'll be there. Does Nunnally still enjoy a good scone?"

"Bring the blueberry ones," Lelouch said, extending the comment like a plank between them, and leapt off the wall, into the white sun. "One for the bastardly son and one for the disowned daughter."

Suzaku followed him out into the blaze of heat, feeling the crude perch of his laughter at the base of his throat. He was so fucking dramatic. "Which one of us do you mean?"

9. What scene was the hardest to write for you and why?

From the same wip fic from above--I’m stuck on the “light” kind-of crackish scene where Suzaku is literally just exasperated with Rivalz and his porn mags. Like I just can’t write it. It’s too.....friendly. And “nice”.

10. What scene was the most fun to write for you and why?

Out of the same fic as above: probably the scene from #8. It was fun to see how coy and rough-mouthed Suzaku could get once he’s together with Lelouch. Just to see them fool around with each other whilst keeping secrets but also somehow be honest was very satisfying and interesting to write out. They are just boys, there. Just boys. In love.

[vanosslirious]

Fic: Eight Days.

Requested by @slenderiscoming

Fandom: Banana Bus Squad.

Ch(s): VanossGaming. H2ODelirious. IAMWILDCAT. Moo Snuckel. Fourzer0seven. Daithi De Nogla. BasicallyIDoWrk. The Gaming Terroriser. BigJigglyPanda.

Pairing: H2OVanoss. (Mild scenes.)

WC: 4.3k

Disclaimer: Among Us AU. Friendship. Murder. Mild Blood. Mild descriptions of deaths. Betrayal. Kissing. Manipulation. Heart broken. Violence. Swearing. Somewhat edited. This was not meant to be this long tbh. LOL. I hope you enjoy this fic. :D (Somewhat inspired by Vanoss’ first Among Us video, but mixed in with the others.)

. . .

“I don’t want to start pointing fingers,” Wildcat said into the comm.

The sound had scared Vanoss who was on his way to Reactor, and he was now leaned against the wall, staring at different colors of each of his friends who were with him on this floating pile of metal somewhere in space.

“Alright, just say it then,” Terroriser said.

“Say what?” Vanoss whispered into his comm.

“Nogla is dead.”

That is not something Vanoss wanted to hear while a light was blinking over top of him as he stood in a lone corridor.

“What do you mean...by dead?” Basically asked.

“He’s dead, Marcel, he’s fucking dead,” Delirious said with a deep sigh. “I found his body.”

Oh, this was wonderful. He had the strong urge to ask where Delirious was and comfort him. Death was not something they were used to, and the fact that he found the body in the first place sent a shiver up Vanoss’ spine.

“You’re indicating that one of us killed him, right?” Terroriser asked Wildcat.

Vanoss gritted his teeth at the insinuation. Would one of them actually do such a thing? Kill Nogla, then accuse the others? He moved his way to Reactor to fix whatever the hell was going on there.

The others were arguing then there was a static noise interfering with their comms.

Basically’s voice was the last to be heard, “Comm...is...down...fix...it.”

Shit. Vanoss did not want to go down there while this was going on. He tried getting a hold of the others, even Delirious, but everyone was silent, and all he could hear was static. Someone should be trying to fix comms. It’s not like anyone wants to die, but someone had killed Nogla.

“I don’t like this,” he said under his breath as he stayed near the wall and moved down the corridor away from the Reactor after finishing the task. He made it to the Lower Engine when he found Moo knelt down against the wall, hugging himself.

“Brock…” Vanoss said, trying not to be too loud as he made his way over to Moo. 

He couldn't ignore the fact that one of the others murdered Nogla. There could be a killer anywhere, and that meant Moo was a suspect, and vice versa.

Moo was shivering on the ground, his eyes wet, and he was biting his lower lip. “Evan…”

“Yeah?” Vanoss asked, slowly walking over to him.

“Scotty’s dead.”

Vanoss stopped. The room hummed, and Moo was wiping away tears from his face. “What do you mean...how do you know?” he asked.

Moo sucked in a trembled breath. “I saw him. He’s dead in Electrical...sitting in the corner. Dead. The comms went out, and I was heading to—”

“Why were you coming this way?” Vanoss asked. This wasn’t right, why was Moo coming this way when he should’ve been at Comms.

He looked at Vanoss, then slowly stood up. “It wasn’t me, Evan. I didn’t kill him.”

Would he be reacting this way if he did?

“Where were you before you found Scotty?” His name on his tongue felt odd now that he knew he was dead.

“Admin,” Moo answered. “I heard him...right before the comms went out, I wanted to check if he was okay. Then they were out, and...he was dead.”

“Did you see anyone else?” Vanoss asked.

The second he asked, the lights above them started to flicker, then the room fell into darkness.

“Evan…” Moo whispered uncertainly. “Did you kill Scotty?”

Vanoss shuddered at the idea of ever killing anyone in this damn place. “I just came back from Reactor, why would I kill him?”

“You would’ve come this way…” His voice was growing quieter, or maybe farther away. “You could’ve easily killed him if you wanted too.”

Vanoss took a step forward and heard the echoes of Moo running down the hall. Shit. You have to be kidding me. He didn’t have much light to go on and hoped someone would fix the comms and the lights already, who knew what else was going on and who was dying in the dark. That thought did not help Vanoss since he was now navigating on his own.

The lights sometimes did this whenever they weren’t careful. The tasks set before them were replayed each day. Although, one or two of them had different hours than the others. It always had to remain like that in case something happened while everyone else was asleep. Wildcat made sure these plans were set in place, if they weren’t, the ship could lose energy and power, including oxygen.

The entire team was essential.

And yet, one of them was killing the others. He tried thinking of anyone who had an outside plan, and yet nothing came to mind. They were all trusted friends, but that didn’t seem as likely anymore.

Vanoss closed in on Electrical, and went completely still in front of the threshold. There wasn’t a door, it was simply open for the rest of them to wander in and fix the...lights.

Why didn’t anyone go into the room? Why didn’t Moo? Right. Scotty was dead inside. Right before he could gather the courage to walk inside to look for the electrical box, he heard someone coming closer to the room. Their approach freaked him out and Vanoss backed up as he hid behind the wall, even though it was dark, and they both couldn’t see each other, he was still afraid.

His heart was racing, then he heard a familiar curse and accent.

“Delirious?” Vanoss whispered, coming out from the corner.

“Vanoss!" His voice echoed in the hall. "You’re okay.”

Vanoss smiled, “I should be the one saying that!” He reached his hands out to look for Delirious until their fingertips met. He was pulled into a tight embrace as they stood in the center of the hall.

Delirious moved back, and his hands slid down Vanoss’ back to his waist. “I’m so happy you’re okay.”

Vanoss was mildly surprised to feel Delirious’ mouth against his. The familiar feeling of his lips on his was welcoming as he closed his eyes, tugging Delirious so much closer as he turned his head, deepening the kiss.

He had been so afraid, and now that he was with Delirious, everything seemed to fall into place...well, at least until the questions started popping up into his head.

“Have you seen Moo?” Vanoss asked when he pulled away, panting against Delirious’ mouth, a subtle urge to lean forward to kiss him again.

“No, why, have you?” Delirious asked.

Yeah...he ran off in this direction…

“We should fix the lights,” Vanoss said, pulling away.

“Okay, I hate being in the dark like this,” said Delirious as he stepped past the threshold, his hand clasped with Vanoss who was okay being led into the room with no idea where he was going.

“There should be a flashlight around here,” Delirious said.

“A flashlight?” Vanoss asked.

“Safety measures in case something like this happens, it’s usually to the—” Delirious fell silent which did not help Vanoss who was no longer holding his hand.

“Delirious?”

“I stepped in something...sticky.”

Vanoss gritted his teeth. Where was Moo? “Delirious, have you seen Moo when you were coming this way?”

“No?” Delirious said, then cursed under his breath. “What the fuck…”

Vanoss touched the walls, looking for the flashlight. “I saw Moo,” he says.

Delirious was silent for a second. “Did you, when?”

“A few minutes ago.” He touched something metal on the wall and moved his hand alongside it until he found the lever that opened the case. He might’ve noticed this before, but he hadn’t realized what it was until now. He opened it slowly, reached his hand inside, and grasped for a handle.

“I found the electrical box,” Delirious said from somewhere to Vanoss’ far left.

“Oh, really? Finally…” Vanoss said, twisting the flashlight.

“Hold up, I’ll get this thing turned on.”

“Uh huh,” Vanoss took a step back, then he pressed a button on the side, and the light revealed the dark room, including dark red footprints leading to Delirious who had turned around, squinting at him.

“Hey, you found—”

Vanoss breathed heavily, staring at where the footprints were coming from, and he gasped, staring at Scotty’s dead body lying slumped against the wall like some kind of discarded doll.

“What the fuck?” Vanoss said, turning the light back to Delirious, and he shuddered at the look he was being given by the one person who Vanoss wanted to trust the most. Delirious didn’t seem in the least shocked that Scotty was dead, but there was also the flicks of blood on his face and on the front of his blue jacket.

“Vanoss…” Delirious said.

Vanoss shook his head. “Oh fuck, no, you can’t be!” And before he could gain an answer of any kind, not like he would want too, Vanoss twisted around and sprinted from Electrical.

“Vanoss!” Delirious called after him.

Vanoss didn’t listen, he couldn’t, not when Delirious was covered in blood. His heart raced both in fear and pain as he tried to think of anything that was reasonable that could tell him that Delirious hadn’t killed Scotty.

At least until those flimsy ideas fell apart when he came upon a slumped over person in a turquoise colored uniform. The red was stark on the front, but the person wearing almost made Vanoss crumple at the sight of him.

Moo.

Shit. So, Delirious killed him, right? That’s right or was this all messed up, and Vanoss was hallucinating. He didn’t know. Right now, he had to find the others, make sure that what he was seeing was not some kind of joke. His friends weren’t this cruel, not when the electricity was out, and comms. It wasn’t fixed, and no one was trying to contact him.

If no one will, then he’ll have too.

Vanoss sprinted through Storage, ignoring the way Delirious had gone quiet after he found Moo’s body. He was no longer calling out his name. If Delirious killed Moo and Scotty, then that also meant he killed Nogla. He’s the one who found the body.

Vanoss gritted his teeth at the thought he kissed him not too long ago, that he was completely thrilled to see him. Yet, he was the one who had blood covering—

“Shit, shit, shit.” Vanoss slowed in the hall and turned the flashlight to the front of his jacket. Yep, there’s the blood. That’s fucking great.

He continued walking, lowering the strength of the light on the flashlight while checking behind him. Delirious wasn’t there, but the darkness was frightening.

“I don’t like this…” he said, voice coming out almost whiny if it weren’t for his own fears overwhelming him. This is exactly why he didn’t like being alone.

On his way to Communications, Vanoss heard a voice up ahead. He slowed and turned off the light. Pressing himself against the wall, Vanoss listened and heard a familiar voice.

“Well, it’s not like you were going to get anywhere,” said Wildcat, his tone clipped.

“Shit,” Vanoss whispered, peeking around the corner. Wildcat had a flashlight pointed down at his feet, and there was another lying on the floor directly at Basically who was on the ground.

“We don’t need eight crewmates anyways, and by the time we reach our destination, it won’t matter by then.” He sounded bitter, but his expression was pained as he stared at Basically’s dead body.

From what Vanoss was understanding, Wildcat and Delirious were killing off their friends. Why? Four of them were now dead. Unless there were others who were killing off the remaining, or maybe it was only Vanoss who was the sane one. This was really confusing.

Right before he could figure out what else to do, two hands grasped his shoulders from behind and yanked him back, a hand placed over his mouth to stop him from yelling, then he was dragged into the darkness.

Vanoss struggled with the flashlight, and when he managed to press the button to turn the light on, it was swatted out of his hand and hit the floor. The sound made an echo, but he was still being dragged, then shoved against the wall on the other side of the corridor.

“Deli—”

“Shut up,” Delirious said, covering Vanoss’ mouth again as he leaned close, keeping him pinned to the wall. “I was trying to make sure you stayed out of this, but you’re making this worse, Evan.”

Worse? What the fuck was he talking about? He and Wildcat were fucking killing their friends, and somehow I was making this worse!

Vanoss tried getting Delirious off of him, but he wasn’t budging, and all he could do was glare at the man who killed three of their friends, and...who Vanoss loved.

“Let go,” he said, words muffled.

Delirious growled, then he slid his hand away and covered his mouth with his own.

Vanoss’ eyes widened, fingers curling into Delirious’ coat and trying to get him off. I’m kissing a killer, what the fuck! This would probably be the last time he did kiss Delirious, and the thought of it made his stomach drop, and everything fall apart. Delirious took this moment to deepen the kiss, to moan quietly.

When they parted, he whispered, “I love you.”

Fuck! “I have the blood of my friends on me because of you!” Vanoss shoved Delirious back and did his best to trip him until he was lying on the ground, and he punched him in the face. Ignoring the grunt coming from Delirious, Vanoss quickly got up and sprinted away into the darkness of the corridor.

He didn’t stop until he was in the same hallway where he had first heard his friends voices before half were cut down. He panted, trembling against the wall as he slid down, bringing his legs to his chest.

Fuck, why did it have to be you?

“Vanoss?”

He glanced up, but it was way too dark to see anyone. “Brian?” he whispered, uncertain if Terroriser was also another killer like Wildcat and Delirious.

“Hey...uh...you don’t have a light, do you?” he asked from somewhere down the hall from Vanoss.

“No, I dropped it,” he said, sniffling. “Terroriser...Moo, Fourzer0seven, and Basically are dead.”

“What? No...that can’t be right, are you serious?” he asked, sounding distraught.

Vanoss pushed himself up. “Yes. I’m serious. Delirious and Wildcat are the ones who killed them…” Oh fuck, the way that they died. Stab wounds, two of them died quick thanks to Delirious, while Wildcat stood before Basically's dead body.

“Where are they?” he asked, drawing closer to Vanoss.

“I left Delirious at Electrical…” His eyes burned. “Wildcat killed Basically.

“Tyler killed Marcel?” Terroriser said, he breathed heavily. “Fucking asshole, I’ll kill him for that. And what about Delirious, did he…”

“He killed Brock and Scotty.”

Terroriser cursed. “Where is Panda?”

“I don’t know,” Vanoss said. “I haven’t checked the other side of the ship, but Delirious...he’s quiet, if he catches us, we’ll be dead.”

“He might keep you alive.”

“I don’t think so,” said Vanoss. Why keep him alive after finding out what he had done. Vanoss couldn’t accept him even if he loved him, it wasn’t enough, not after what he did.

“We have to find Panda, he might be hiding out somewhere, making sure someone else turns the lights on, but what you said about Wildcat and Delirious, I don’t think the lights will turn on...they’ll probably make sure we’re all dead,” Terroriser said, now standing in front of Vanoss, tapping a finger on Vanoss’ shoulder to indicate where he was.

He nodded in the dark. “Okay.”

What they did have was Security, but without Electrical, none of the equipment in that room will work correctly. There’s the Upper Engine and Cafeteria going up, then Weapons, O2, and Navigation on the other side of the ship.

They moved quick through the dark, pressing their hands on the walls to make sure they were going in the right direction.

“Did you see their bodies?” he asked.

“Yes,” Vanoss said. He wouldn’t be able to get that out of his head. No. It would remain there for awhile. Even the sight of Scotty’s body, and Marcel.

“Do you know...why?”

“Wildcat said there were too many of us…”

Terroriser scoffed. “As if. They need a full crew to operate the entire ship, they can’t do it with just two people. Fucking idiots.”

“Unless they know something we don’t.”

“There must be or they wouldn’t be on a killing spree.”

“I wonder who came up with the idea…” Vanoss said. He didn’t believe Delirious could come up with it, so he guessed Wildcat must’ve convinced him somehow.

“Well, we’ll have to get the drop on them and ask,” Terroriser said.

Vanoss wouldn’t lie, he felt a lot safer with Terroriser now that Vanoss was away from the others. Although, he couldn’t ignore the pain in his chest about Delirious’ involvement. Maybe he should’ve asked why he would do such a thing, but Vanoss was too occupied at the thought that Delirious could kill him.

Would he have killed him?

“I’m sorry...about Delirious,” Terroriser said softly.

Vanoss nodded. “Me too.”

They walked through the Upper Engine, and down the corridor toward Cafeteria. It was so dark that Vanoss wanted another flashlight to help them guide their way, but unfortunately, he dropped it when he escaped.

“Do you see anything?” Vanoss asked.

“A blinking light to the far left,” Terroriser answered.

The light seemed to be the same one that was reminding them to fix Communications and Electrical. He was surprised that it was still going, but it could be from a second generator that was slowly going out, but he wasn’t sure. He barely listened to anyone’s explanation when they tried to tell him more about the mechanics of the Skeld.

There was a low hum coming from around them, and Vanoss flinched as the lights flickered on. Bright enough that it made him wince. Vanoss could hardly feel anything as he stood before Terroriser who had a gun to his head, Wildcat on the other end of it.

“No!” Vanoss cried out as it went off, and he sucked in a trembling breath at the sound of Terroriser’s body hitting the ground. No. This can’t be right, why was this happening! Why? Why? Why! “Why are you killing them off!”

His ear twitched at the sound of feet hitting the ground, and before Vanoss could turn around, Delirious grabbed him from behind, kicking his leg hard and shoving him to his knees.

He gasped, trying to fight against Delirious who had a good hold on him.

Wildcat tsked in a disappointed way. “If only you stayed on one side of the ship.”

“I would’ve found out one way or another, asshole.”

Wildcat scoffed. “The second last, and I’m sure Panda is somewhere around here,” he said, looking around contemplatively.

“Why are you doing this?” Vanoss asked, trying to remain calm. Panda was alive. Holy shit. What the hell was going to happen if these two killed him now?

Wildcat smiled as he knelt down, keeping the gun loose in his hand. “Did you know that Terroriser, Moo, and Basically were in on the take over?”

Vanoss blinked at that. He glanced at the blood seeping from around Terroriser’s body. “No. What?”

“Until we found out,” Delirious said into Vanoss’ ear.

“Security doesn’t need to be watched, but I’m one of the people who ends up in that room, and let me tell you when I was going to relieve Moo from his post, guess what I heard,” Wildcat chuckled.

Oh, shit, this wasn’t good.

“Mutiny,” Delirious answered, chuckling against Vanoss. The feeling of him so close had once been welcome, but now Vanoss could only feel the cracks falling out of place. Everything was wrong, the blood on his hands that was now smeared on the front of his own coat. Why?

“We were going to get you and Panda on board.” Wildcat sighed. “But we weren’t sure who was in on it.”

“Well, I’m not…”

“But you’re also against what we did,” said Wildcat.

“If they were going to kill us...then why should I care?” Vanoss asked. He was shaking as he tried to sound firm. He didn’t know what the others would’ve done, or all of this could be a lie to get Vanoss on their side.

“If you listened, then maybe we could’ve trusted you,” Delirious said.

Vanoss rolled his eyes. “And you don’t trust me?”

“I did, but it’s difficult—”

“You killed Moo and Fourzer0seven, and you...” he glared at Wildcat. “You’re my best friend, and you killed Basically and Terroriser. What was I supposed to feel after seeing all of that?” He ignored the way his voice was slightly high pitched, his control on his emotions was slipping, the desperation making him panic. Oh shit, he had to get away from them and find Panda, but there was no way he was going to…

Vanoss gasped as a gun went off. Wildcat hit the floor, then another sound pierced the air, and Delirious yelled out in pain.

“Evan!” Panda was standing by the hall that led to Admin, including Security. He was holding one of the guns in weapons to Vanoss’ far left. 

He got to his feet, sprinting past a groaning Wildcat as Vanoss kicked the gun he was trying to get too. It spun away and he ignored Wildcat’s curse as he bled from his leg.

“V-Vanoss, wait!” Delirious calls.

He slowed, heart racing, as he twisted around and looked at Delirious’ wide blue eyes, including the knife that was in the air and struck Vanoss in the shoulder. The pain was instantaneous as he stumbled back, gasping out, then letting out a curse as he hit the ground.

“Fuck, shit, stupid Delirious!” Vanoss got to his feet and stumbled toward Panda who was telling him to hurry up. “Where were you?” he asked as he stepped over the threshold, and he watched Panda press a button, and the doors came down.

“Weapons for awhile...had no idea what was going on. I fixed the lights, then I went to Security.” Panda did not look good right now, and Vanoss knew that he had seen their bodies. “I saw you on the cameras,” he said, then gestured to the knife in Vanoss’ arm, and he had to stay still for a second as Panda wrenched it out. Vanoss swore under his breath as he took off his coat to cover the wound. “I had to do something, so I closed the doors on each side of the cafeteria. I wasn’t sure if you were alive until I got to this part of the ship.”

“And?” he asked as they headed to Security.

“I slowly turned off the air supply,” Panda said grimacing. Basically’s body was covered with a blanket.

“Did you do the same with the others?” he asked.

Panda nodded, then gestured for Vanoss to come over to the cameras. What he saw was Wildcat and Delirious banging on the doors, yelling at the cameras. Two were out thanks to Wildcat’s gun.

“They’ll be out soon, but if they do manage to find a way.” Panda pointed at three weapons sitting on a chair, including a few mags.

“Holy fuck,” Vanoss said under his breath. Panda took out a first aid and looked closer at Vanoss’ wound. 

“These fuckers killed our friends…”

“The others were going to do the same to us,” Vanoss said. This was so bad, if only he spoke to the others, asked about it. He couldn’t believe it, and the shock was stalling out any other thoughts in his head.

“I want to believe it was a misunderstanding,” said Panda. “We won’t know now that they’re dead. And we can’t let these ones out in case they try to kill us.”

He spent a bit of time sewing up the wound in Vanoss’ arm, then placing a bandage over it. Vanoss took pain killers, and tried to relax in a chair.

Vanoss stared at the cafeteria, watching as Wildcat and Delirious were realizing quite quickly they were losing air. Once they do, they’ll have to tie them up, make sure they don’t escape. Even that was frightening, Wildcat was good at planning, while Delirious was good at sneaking up others.

“How far off are we?” Vanoss asked.

Panda shrugged. “The last time I checked, we’re about eight days from our destination.”

Great. That’s wonderful.

Vanoss leaned against the chair. He kept his eyes on the camera, watching his friends fall to the floor like the others. Once they did, there was still some parts of the ship they had to maintain, so they took turns after they fixed Comms to keep in contact with one another. Vanoss went to clean up his friends' blood, their bodies, fixing Electrical, and as he walked to Reactor, all he can think about was where it all began.

He pressed his back to the wall and slid to the floor. He might’ve cried for a bit, then went to work, walked back to Security, updated Panda in Comms. Watched the cams, and his unconscious friends, then they had to head inside to tie them up. Make sure they were in a secure room, away from any weapons, at least until they reach their destination in eight days.

Eight days.

They were so close, but a lot can happen in a day, in an hour, in several minutes, and seconds. He just wished what happened, didn’t happen at all.

[cali-holland]

Craving Cuddles- Tom Holland One Shot

Pairing: Tom Holland X Reader

Prompt: Periods suck, but they’re better with Tom- even after you two breakup.

Word Count: 1000

Warnings: idk probably some swearing; lil bit angsty towards the end but overall just boyfriend!tom content bc i was on my period last week and wanted cuddles

Masterlist   Tom Holland Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

~~~

“I hate everything.” You muttered as soon as you picked up the phone.

“Well, hello to you, too.” Tom laughed in response. “That time of the month, huh?”

“Yes.” You closed your eyes, biting back a groan.

“I should’ve known. I guess my app was a day off.”

“I always forget you have that.” You laughed lightly, thinking of how your sweet boyfriend of a year had a period tracker app on his phone to make sure he was always around for you when you needed him most- well, he was readily available as much as he could be with the app being off by a few days.

“What are you craving right now? Pasta? Wine? Chocolate? Fruit? Pizza?” He asked, and you tugged your blankets up more to cover your body even more.

“I could eat an entire pizza right now.” You mumbled, before opening your eyes and adjusting the phone against your ear, “Wait, are you seriously going to bring me pizza?”

“Of course, darling. I’m not going to offer you pizza and then not deliver it.” Tom chuckled, and you could hear him shuffling on the other line, obviously getting ready to leave.

“My personal pizza delivery boy.” You smiled to yourself, looking up at the ceiling.

“Don’t forget your cuddle buddy and personal heater.” He added as he laughed to himself. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“You’re the best, Tom. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Less than an hour later, Tom was at your place with two pizza boxes- one for you, in case you did eat the whole thing, and one for him. He also brought wine and a large tub of your favorite ice cream, one big enough to last the next few days of period cravings. The TV played on as you two ate most of the pizza (calories don’t count on your period) and drank some wine.

“You know what sounds amazing right now?” You asked, laying in Tom’s arms later that night. One of his hands caressed your arm as your two hands held his free one, fingers mindlessly running over his.

“If you say Cheez-its and pickles,” He trailed off with a laugh before pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

You let out a groan, intertwining your fingers with his, “That was one time. And I was going to say that burger place we had in LA after the Oscars.”

“In-N-Out?” He chuckled, “Love, I’m sorry, but I don’t think they deliver to Kingston.”

“Well, they should.” You stated, and Tom smiled down at you as you lifted your head to look up at him.

“You feeling any better?” Tom asked, softly, and you shifted up so that your head was next to his.

“Yeah, your cuddles make everything better.” You replied, leaning in to kiss him, cuddling into his body even more.

Periods sucked, but they were better with Tom.

Everything was better with Tom, which is why it hurt so much when you two broke up. You didn’t have your personal heater, your cuddle buddy, your pizza delivery boy, your Tom anymore. Too many forgotten dates and missed phone calls later, you called it quits when he was on the other side of the world. 

And now, two weeks later, you were stuck with the worst period of your life. That might be an overdramatic statement, but you’re on your period, so every statement is justifiably overdramatic. Your emotions were already a wreck from the breakup, but this made them all intensify.

As you sat on the couch, trying to figure out what to get yourself for dinner- a.k.a. trying to decide what you were craving most, you let the TV run to fill in the background with some white noise. When you heard a small knock, you thought it was just the TV, not expecting anyone to come over, but then the doorbell rang and you knew it was definitely someone at your door. Confused, you got up. You weren’t sure who you were expecting to be standing on the other side, but you definitely weren’t expecting Tom.

Neither of you said anything, just standing across the door frame from each other with a thick awkward tension in the air. You opened your mouth to ask what he was doing here, on your doorstep on a random Tuesday, but, before you could get a word out, he spoke up.

“My app- it said that you got your period yesterday, and I know that the second day’s always the worst for you, so I brought you some things that you normally crave. I was going to get you Nando’s, but I didn’t know if you were craving that.” He held up the grocery bag in his hand. He closed his eyes and sighed, shaking his head, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have- I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.” You stayed silent, and Tom couldn’t bring himself to look at you. He slowly set the bag down on your doorstep. “I’ll just go.”

“Wait.” You said softly, just as he was about to turn around to leave.

“Yeah?” Tom replied, a sense of hopefulness in his voice. You stepped closer to him.

“I’m not craving Nando’s.” You took a deep breath, your hand finding his, “But I am craving your cuddles.”

A smile made its way to Tom’s face, and he squeezed your intertwined hand happily, “Your cuddle buddy’s here.”

Tom grabbed the grocery bag from the ground and you led him back inside. It was silent between the two of you as you turned on Netflix and Tom organized the snacks on the coffee table. He held his arms out open for you to lay beside him on the couch and cuddle close to him.

“I missed you.” You whispered, turned to face him and not the TV.

“I missed you, too.” He answered, his hand drawing circles on your lower back. “I know I was a shit boyfriend the past couple months, and I’m sorry-“

Before he could ramble anymore, you pulled him for a kiss, smiling into it as his arms tightened their embrace around you. Back in his arms, you were never going to let him go again.

~~~

Tag List: @viagracex @theamazingtomholland​ @Hellomoveonby @heyitsshrez @harrisonosterfieldhazmyheart @joyleenl​ @t-o-m-hollands​ @lonikje​ @sleepybesson​ @sunkisseddreamer​ @hollandsamor @in-a-lot-of-fandoms-tbh​

Tom Tag List: @quaksonhehe​ @tomkindholland​

[patsdrabbles]

Confessions

Title: Confessions Fandom: Jeeves and Wooster Pairing: Reginald Jeeves/Bertie Wooster Rating: Gen Word Count: 2306 Summary: It’s a dashed strange thing, love, filling the body with warmth as it does, isn’t it? Bertie comes out as ace. Fluff. A/N: Part 19 of my Daily Fanfic Chocolates calendar :D This is the first fanfic I ever wrote for this fandom, tbh, and I’m really happy to finally be able to share it with you guys! Please enjoy ❤

(links to AO3 and the DFC masterpost are in the reblogs!)

It’s a dashed strange thing, love, filling the body with warmth as it does, isn’t it?

As I agree with Jeeves that this story isn’t, unlike much of my other writing, to hit any bookshelves in the future, I am, for once, rather not feeling compelled to provide a deeper introduction to the matters that form the ‘beforehand’ of this story. There are no readers to disappoint with a lack of an introduction to one of my aunts Dahlia or Agatha, or Gussie Fink-Nottle, or my cousin Angela, nor are any introductions further than my own and that of my long-time paragon of a valet, Reginald Jeeves, required.

Jeeves had been by my side for several years already, seeing to my getting dressed, cooking, cleaning and other needs – albeit with occasional stern opinions regarding my sartorial choices and the never-abandoned wish for the young master to face the day at an earlier hour than ten ack emma. The first I had been aware of for a long time despite not often addressing it directly, unless a much loved article of clothing suddenly vanished or became an irreparable victim of ‘accidents’. The latter, however, Jeeves never told me about till some time after the following occasion. He admitted he rather liked me being up early as to be able to spend more time with me.

Jeeves does know how to get what he wants – which is one of the many reasons I love him – and I started, slowly, changing my habits soon after. We started becoming happier by the day... but I am getting ahead of myself. Instead of talking about the very satisfactory state of our relationship as it is now, many years later, I want to narrate the occasion that resulted in Reggie’s and my happiness.

How exactly it all came to be, I can’t quite remember, but through one thingummy that lead to another, we had arrived at the understanding that we were mutually fond of each other. Quite fond, you might say, and going together like salt and pepper, like the ocean and the waves.

It was at this point that it occurred to me, before an exchange of lip-pressing or anything of that kind had even happened, that it might be wise to bring up the matter that had had me worried for months by then – ever since I’d realized that I had started falling for Jeeves, in fact. I fidgeted a bit, trying to calm the old nerves. We Woosters had been present at Agincourt after all, so who was Bertram Wooster to shy from talking about matters of the heart – and body – with his valet turned beloved?

“You need to understand, Jeeves.”

I halted, unsure how to proceed. I’d never before expressed this condition of myself to anyone else before. I must admit, the old Wooster corpus was bally shaking, resulting in a concerned gaze from my man.

“I... I feel for you no different than Gussie feels about Madeline Bassett – or the other way round, I reckon. However... some of my feelings are not of that nature? That is to say, I am not acquainted with them – at all?”

I paused again and scratched my chin, trying to find the words that would explain to him a concept that made sense to myself but that I had never explained aloud before.

Jeeves, ever respectful as he is, regarded me with a patient gaze, not seeming to mind self humming and hawing about.

“Jeeves,” I began. “You are a splendid specimen of a man, no doubt, and in more than one regard. But–” I halted and looked at him more closely to see if he was already showing any signs of wanting to leave. Instead, I just found him looking at me patiently as he listened to my explanation. “I love you, Jeeves – and in a way that goes beyond the fond love one feels for one’s oldest friends. But I do not feel that...” I grasped for the first word the old bean could think of. “That ‘urge’ everyone else seems to feel?”

I looked at him expectantly, feeling the heat that had risen to my cheeks.

However, I should have known better than to underestimate Jeeves. That man is, as anyone who knows him is aware of, a paragon of a man and brilliant beyond words. My, I dare say his intelligence would even take it up with the best of them if he were to stop eating fish this very instant and never eat it again. In short, he seemed to understand where the y. m. was coming from.

Jeeves cleared his throat gently. (Can one clear one’s throat gently? I wonder, but it seemed to me like that was what he did.)

“While I can’t deny that your physical attributes are extraordinarily pleasing to myself, sir, and I won’t deny I haven’t entertained certain thoughts regarding... yourself and my person,” he paused and I saw a little smile start to form in the corners of his mouth.

“It would be an easy part of a prospective… understanding with you to give up on.”

I studied his face.

“But wouldn’t that be awfully hard on you, old thing?”

He gave me an odd gaze, tinged with something like amusement.

“From... what I understand, all of my chums are rather enthused about exchanging such kind of favours with their wives. I reckon it’s much the same between two chums, not that the sex makes much of a difference about the interest in such.”

I fell quiet, pondering the matter.

Jeeves was the one to break the silence, interrupting my train of thought which had once again arrived at my romantic feelings where chaps were concerned and my lack thereof when it came to fillies. I wished I had a word for such feelings, but at least I had found a way to express myself to the one to whom it mattered.

“I’ve... been spending time with other gentlemen I’ve had an understanding with before. That is to say, before my employment with you. I lost interest in spending time suchlike after that, not deeming it right considering... what I started to feel for you, sir.”

The ‘sir’ seemed odd to both of us, and I had the feeling that it was his way of preventing to give away too much of himself. I felt I had to reassure him and let him know that it was perfectly alright. It was one of my biggest wishes that he would come to trust me as much as I did trust him eventually.

“You can call me Bertram or Bertie if so you like, Jeeves.”

I smiled up at him and, after a visible internal struggle that I saw mirrored in the minor shifts of his expression, he seemed to relax. His shoulders seemed to relax and there was a certain whatsit in his eyes. I had not yet found evidence enough to prove that Jeeves was, in fact, a rather soft chap beneath his mask, but I feel rather confident when describing his e.s. then to have had a kind of softness to them.

“Bertie... Bertram.”

He seemed to ponder the taste of my names on his tongue for a moment and a smile made its way to my face. Hearing him call me by my given name made my heart grow warm and the old bean glow. I realize that I’m starting to sound like the earlier mentioned M. Bassett, but in that moment, I could, in fact, understand her sentiments and way of expressing herself to a certain degree.

“In my previous experience, such defined understandings were of a rather pleasant kind,” Jeeves continued. He seemed to remember those times fondly, if his tone of voice was anything to go by. I wondered if maybe, somehow, I wouldn’t feel as uncomfortable with it as I currently felt about the mere thought, were I to give it a try. “However–”

Add to that that I didn’t want to lose Jeeves, less so now that I knew he reciprocated my feelings for him. I took a deep breath.

“I could... give it a try, I reckon,” I interrupted him, mulling the whole thing over.

If it were to give Jeeves satisfaction, then I would not deny it to him. I wasn’t entirely keen on the prospect, but I valued him too much and I wanted to see him happy. Maybe the uncomfortable feeling the mere thought gave me would simply disappear once we... Well. I can’t say I was truly confident that it would, shuddering slightly, but I had a while ago realized that I loved Jeeves rather dearly, the long-lasting kind of love that no soup could stir.

And everyone around me but self seemed to consider those understandings between spouses most natural, even required. Even between chaps... I found that my gaze had turned to the floor as I had been pondering and looked up to my man again.

Instead of being on the receiving end of enthusiastic agreement, however, I found him staring at me. The face that once, many years ago, had been an undecipherable mask for me, now clearly showed me the inner turmoil he was feeling. It was all in the slightly deeper frown than he usually allowed himself and the downward tug of the corner of his lips. And I was sure that it was worry I detected shimmering behind his clever eyes.

“Bertram, I cannot allow for you to do such a thing, knowing that it wouldn’t be in your honest interest. I simply cannot–”

“Jeeves, it wouldn’t be a burden for me if I could do this one thing for you that would–”

“Sir!” It came out rather sharply and shocked the both of us jolly good.

“Bertram,” Jeeves corrected himself, running a hand over his face, the agony seeping through from behind his stuffed frog mask now visible to me as if in plain daylight. He sat down on the bed right next to me and remained silent for a moment. Then, after a moment of hesitance, he took both my hands in his and began caressing them softly.

“Bertram, I know just fine that your utmost goal, the code by which you live, is pleasing the people whose presence you grace. However, let me make this clear for you, for I don’t want you to feel like you need to offer this – ever again. This sort of understanding is not something that I require to be happy – or to be satisfied, for that matter. Bertram– Bertie – all I need to be happy and satisfied is to be allowed to be with you, bask in your delightful presence and share whatever of your life you are willing to share with me and do so in return. I..." He held onto my hands now, thumbs stilled, and looked me in the eyes, more serious than I had ever seen him before. "I love you, Bertram, and knowing that you love me in return is everything I could ever have hoped for, everything I ever silently wished for.”

He raised one of my hands to his lips, gently pressing a kiss to my knuckles. I felt the tears that had started building up in my eyes over the course of Jeeves’s speech pinch at the corners of my e.s.. I was rather at a loss of words, truth be told, and thankfully, my wonderful man could tell. He pulled me into a hug that warmed the y. m.’s soul to the core and made his heart grow a tenfold in size all at once.

"Jeeves– So... I would be enough?" I could tell that he had just told me so in an utterly moving manner, but the old uncertainty was still nagging me, making me feel like I wasn’t the best there was on offer in the market of love, so to say.

Jeeves pulled back for a mo and looked at me with a rather rummy look in his eyes, then pulled me closer again, his arms holding me steadfastly, and pressed a kiss on top of my head. I felt my worries being reduced to a crumpled pile of now unimportantness and leaned closer into the warm hug and comfort Jeeves was offering.

“I say, old thing,” I said, noticing Jeeves’s hold on my corpus tightening just the smallest of bits before I continued. “I never thought I’d ever find the real, rummy kind of love. Yet, here you are – and I know I shall never want another!”

I turned my head to see Jeeves’s face being painted by an enormous blush and a smile that he finally allowed himself to show fully unguarded. It made me feel quite giddy, knowing that it was us having got so far that made him let go of his mask at last.

“I love you, too, Bertie.”

Despite it being the second time he had told me he loved me now, it still was quite unanticipated and new and had the blood rise to my cheeks rather quickly.

I was firm in my understanding of my feelings, and my feelings were rather soppy and certain of Jeeves. I leaned in and rested my forehead against his.

“And I love you, dear one.”

I pressed a gentle kiss to his lips (I was glad to find that this was perfectly fine by the both of us – I admit I had wondered what those kisses would be like before and found that I was unable to see myself kissing anyone else) and smiled when our eyes met. I felt like I could face the future, no matter what aunts, threats of engagements and sticky situations of old school chums it might entail. For now, I had Jeeves, and Jeeves had me.