#teach us something pleeeeease

[ataliagold]

Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here

For @astrangersummer week 10 prompt ' "I'm a great driver!" ' Title from Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here by 65daysofstatic.

Pairing: Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, very background Robin Buckley/Nancy Wheeler

Rating: T

W/C: 1227

Tags: Post-Vecna, everyone lives, established Steddie, Robin and Steve are soulmates, learning to drive, mild angst, Eddie is a little shit, heart to heart in the ruins of Starcourt

Summary: During his last summer in Hawkins, Steve teaches Robin how to drive.

___

“Ready, Steve?”

Robin’s got the keys to his beemer in her hands, jiggling them as she stands by the door.

“Got your crash helmet, Stevie?” Eddie teases as Steve peels himself off the couch, mournfully now out of reach of the mildly-refreshing airflow of the fan on the coffee table.

“Hey!” Robin retorts, “I’m a great driver!”

“Mmm hmm,” Eddie hums, eyebrow raised.

Steve leans over, plants a kiss to Eddie’s mouth, briefly shutting him up.

“I’ll pray for your safe return, my love,” Eddie says dramatically, flopping himself across the now-free space on the couch.

Steve smirks, Robin rolling her eyes as she stomps out the door towards the car.

Steve had been teaching Robin to drive over the summer, Robin begging him to after the first few lessons with her mom had gone…well, terribly, involving a near-miss with a traffic light and her mom gripping the seat with white knuckles and shaking whenever she got in the car with her.

“Pleeeeease Stevie, I want to be able to visit Nancy when she goes to college and I can’t afford to fly back and forth all the time,” she’d implored him, and Steve had caved within moments.

It couldn’t be as bad as that time with Max after all, right?

It was evening now but it was still far too fucking hot, Steve sweating in his t-shirt – one of Eddie’s, soft and worn - and shorts even as he cranks the car AC as high as it can go.

“Ok so just…remember to take your foot off the clutch slowly,” Steve reminds her.

Robin nods, determined. “Ok. Gotcha. Slowly.”

The beemer lurches, stalls in the driveway.

“Slowly!” Steve barks, slapping a hand on the dash in surprise.

“I was slow!” Robin snaps back, turning the key in the ignition again.

A cackle of laughter from behind them - Eddie in the doorway, having ventured over to watch the show.

Robin winds down the window, sticks her hand out, flips him off.

A little flustered now, she gently places her foot on the accelerator. The engine whirrs, louder and louder.

Steve places his head in his hands.

“Why are we not moving?” Robin asks quietly.

“You’re not in first,” Steve says, pointing at the gear box.

“Right,” Robin nods, “first.”

She slams the clutch in again, Steve watching as she successfully maneuvers to first gear, then lets the clutch out painfully slowly, the car starting to roll forward.

“There you go,” Steve says, fighting the urge to grip his seat like Robin’s mom used to.

He glances in the wingmirror. Eddie’s waving his bandana in a delicate hand like a woman seeing her husband off for war.

Steve shakes his head, scoffs a little under his breath, and keeps his eyes on the road as Robin pulls out into the flow of traffic.

“Where should we go?” Robin asks, gripping the wheel tight with both hands.

“Wherever you like. Preferably somewhere without many hazards.”

Robin scowls at him, and Steve laughs.

“I’m kidding, Robs. You’re a lot better than when you first started.”

That was an understatement.

Eddie had joined them for one of Robin’s first lessons, sitting in the back seat and crying with laughter as they’d bunny-hopped down the road, Steve trying to keep calm and give Robin advice while she’d shrieked that there was something wrong with the car.

Eventually, they’d had to let Eddie out of the car to relieve himself after he’d almost laughed hard enough to piss his pants, Steve cursing at him and swearing he’d make him scrub the upholstery if he couldn’t control himself.

After that, Steve was the only one to accompany Robin for her lessons.

They end up in the old empty lot where Starcourt once stood.

Robin brings the beemer to a stop and kills the engine.

Steve glances over at her. Notices the way Robin’s hands tremble a little where they’re still resting on the wheel, the way her breathing has picked up slightly.

“You ok?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Robin replies, her voice tight.

Steve senses there’s more she wants to say. He waits with his window wound down, warm breeze stirring his hair, darkness starting to fall. They’re the only ones here – that was no surprise, what with the invisible heavy cloud that always seemed to hang over this place. Even those who didn’t know the truth about the Upside Down knew that something bad happened here, something unnatural that took the lives of many.

The scorch marks in the concrete were still here. Steve can see them in the low light, the concrete gouged out and charred even more than two years after the mall had burned down.

“Do you think about it, still?” Robin asks quietly, “this place, what happened here, how we nearly…died?”

Steve nods. “Sometimes.”

“I know everything that happened after with Vecna sort of…overshadowed everything else, but whenever I have nightmares it’s about this place still. I’m stuck underground, I can hear you getting hurt but I can’t get to you, and sometimes they drag your body in and I’m just tied up in a room with you lying there…”

Steve squeezes her knee as Robin trails off, choking up.

“Hey,” he murmurs, “we did it. We beat it, Robs, we survived.”

“I know,” Robin replies, bringing her hand down to rest on his larger one. “I just…sometimes I feel like everyone’s moving on. Nancy’s going off to college, the kids are getting older, you and Eddie are moving to Chicago in a few weeks…and I’m still here.” She flaps a hand out the window, gestures at the empty lot around them.

“You can come visit us whenever you like. Hell, what do you think we got a two-bedroom place in Chicago for?” Steve smiles, tries to cheer her up.

Robin huffs out a small laugh. “I will definitely be taking you up on that offer, dingus. Just…do you ever feel like…like everything that happened is just stuck with us now, that it’s a part of us and we’ll never…we’ll never be normal?”

Steve clutches her hand. “Have you ever been normal?” he teases gently.

She slaps his shoulder with her free hand. “Shut up. You know what I mean.”

Steve’s smile fades. “I do. And I think…yeah, it’ll always be part of us. S’not like any of us are ever going to forget it. But I think about all the shit that wouldn’t have happened without the Upside Down, as terrible as it all was. I met the kids, Eddie, you…my life changed completely and a lot of it was honestly for the better. Unfortunately we just gotta…find a way to deal with everything that came with it.”

Robin nods, sits in silence for a few moments before speaking again. “You ever think about those two dumb kids who slung ice cream for a summer and thought that was the worst thing that could happen to them?”

Steve had known even back then there were a few things far worse things than a minimum-wage customer service job, but he understood the sentiment.

He grins. “Yeah, I think about them sometimes. I think they turned out ok, right?”

Robin laughs. Reaches for the key again, turns the engine back on. “Yeah, I think so. Anyway, shall we get out of here?”

“Sure. But remember, slowly.”

“You got it, dingus.”

___

[stergeon]

25 rejected edeleth fluff ideas

here are some edeleth stories i thought a lot about but did not write. if anybody wants to actually write one of these, be my guest (and also pleeeeease send me a link, i'm desperate for content about Them Girls™)

byleth takes edelgard on a fishing trip and she has an absolutely abysmal time

edelgard makes a valiant attempt to corral byleth's atrocious fashion sense ahead of a formal event

byleth teaches edelgard swear words

edelgard tries some of those weird herbs rhea used to give students to relax; byleth is more than happy to babysit

byleth does edelgard's taxes. she's wearing her goofy professor glasses. it does something weird for edelgard

edelgard takes byleth on a date to the opera and byleth cries the whole time

byleth reads a work of fiction for the first time ever. it's a horror story. she did not like it. edelgard reads her something nicer.

edelgard gets byleth to pose for a portrait and shows it to her

byleth has to give a speech at a big event and is a nervous wreck. edelgard has been waiting all her life for this coaching opportunity

edelgard tries to teach byleth how to draw (she is very bad at it)

byleth cannot for the life of her figure out which fork is used for what purpose at this fancy dinner. edelgard covers for her

edelgard goes all out to celebrate byleth's birthday on the day byleth thought was (read: randomly chose as) her birthday, not her actual birthday; byleth doesn't have the heart to tell her

byleth brings edelgard various souvenirs from her travels around the country. edelgard tries not to be so soft over it, even though they're… not all hits

edelgard attempts to make dinner and botches it beyond salvation. they get takeout.

byleth will not shut up about this cute house she saw when she was out on a mission and how nice it would be for them to "have something like it one day." edelgard arranges to buy the place

edelgard sees byleth in a dress uniform and cannot stop swooning

byleth is being relentlessly pursued by a suitor who won't take a hint and edelgard challenges the idiot to a duel

edelgard decides she will learn to swim. it goes poorly, to say the least, but she manages in the end. as it turns out, getting to see byleth in a swimsuit is a good motivator

byleth gets caught kissing edelgard by hubert. the resulting conversation is unpleasant for everyone. ferdinand, meanwhile, is overjoyed

edelgard is having a terrible, horrible, no-good very bad day. she chews byleth out over nothing and immediately feels awful about it. byleth forces her to take the rest of the day off to chill

byleth is going away for a month-long mission. both girls are inconsolable. they write each other letters literally every day.

edelgard really puts somebody on blast in a council meeting. byleth gets stars in her eyes

byleth concocts a very, very elaborate story about some kind of summit in faerghus; she and edelgard leave enbarr for two weeks to attend. surprise: there's no summit, it's a spa retreat

edelgard arranges a "normal date" where they go out in town in disguise and do very boring things like run errands, look at furniture, buy socks, etc.

doropetra-edeleth double date

[murmel-malt]

Pleeeeease tell us more about Rowans relationship with her husband and her children. How was the pregnancy and what does her life look like in general. 🤗

There’s nothing I would love more <3 thank you, anon!

Okay so, Rowan and her hubby’s relationship is very wholesome. They love each other very much, complement and ultimately help each other in becoming a better version of themselves. Steffon’s softness tempers Rowan’s toughness and gets her to be softer herself (something she never allowed herself to be for various reasons) while Rowan’s confidence and her love for him gives Steffon a boost of his own confidence and self-worth to get over his perceived short-comings, aka failing in all aspects compared to Daemon Targaryen (because obviously the Rogue Prince would not approve of him and neither would Rowan because with Daemon as her father her standards must be very high). Except what Steffon thinks is a huge point against him, is actually a point in his favor to Rowan and pretty much every Royce.

They end up having five kids together - Yohn, their eldest and Rowan’s heir, the twins Rhea & Ryella, little Luceon, and baby Aelinor - and Rowan would kill and die for all of them. Her pregnancies mostly went pretty well, Rhea and Ryella’s was a bit taxing because twins and because it had only been two years since Yohn’s birth, but the most dangerous pregnancy/birth was that of Aelinor. There were complications and she was born early and everyone was worried for Rowan and the baby’s survival for some time. Fortunately both of them pulled through but it was enough of a scare to put the baby-making on hold for a while to make sure Rowan fully recovered - they had a bunch of kids at that point so there wasn’t much pressure to have even more anyway.

And despite her many obligations as Lady of Runestone, Rowan makes sure to spend time with all of those kids whenever possible and also take peepaw Vermithor out for regular exercise. It helps that she had a pretty good reference on how to balance being a mother and running Runestone thanks to her own mother, plus she has a husband that loves and supports her, and an army of people to take things off her hands if necessary. So she finds plenty of time to do outdoor activities (hunting, hawking, riding, you name it) with Yohn, Rhea and Ryella, or to teach Luceon, who has taken more after his father and prefers to read and study as a bonding activity, High Valyrian.

She is living the dream of a stable, loving, happy family life - now if only her father’s side of the family could stop being such a chaotic mess everything would be perfect.

[blueskywater-happiness]

So I will dance with Cinderella ( Papa Ozymandias and Gudako)

Author's note: This idea struck me while I was listening to Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman and coincidentally remember a small fandom in Pixiv, making Ozymandias a father figure to Gudako. These characters are from Fate Grand Order.

-----

When did the time go? Ah it is really a hassle for such a radiant being such as I, the King of Kings and the incarnation of the Sun god Ra, the shining God King Ozymandias. Time is a fickle being that eludes even I. Yet that little girl, the Chaldean master, whose golden eyes glows nearly similar to such I, seem to be content lazing her days away although she does show potential.

Yet when did she became as dear to him, as what his beloved and younger brother is to him?

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays Without a care in the world And I'm sitting here wearing The weight of the world on my shoulders

She got better at fighting, ever since I first lay my eyes on her, her bravery, her foolishness, her courage...

Silly child. She leads her servants with such determination, even as the world and the universe itself began to test her mettle.

She is still a child at the end of the day, her youth and her charisma. I do not know why but I often wish she could have enjoyed her years like her peers.

Instead she acts as a hero, therapist, a king (such a title befitting such as her), master, and other terms that best describe this child.

I have no idea why we began to spend time together, of course the other servants make such remarks about us being seen often. Ha, romantic partners? No one can beat his beloved Queen in that category.

That child just makes his heart clench.

It's been a long day and there's still work to do She's pulling at me saying, "Dad, I need you There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited And I need to practice my dancin' Oh, please, daddy, please"

"Pleeeeease Pharaoh!" Gudako puts her hands together in a begging position. "Can you please teach me?? The others are busy and you're a Pharaoh once, surely you can teach me!?" she looks up pitifully. I laugh loudly "Ho! You ask for my assistance little mage? Very well!" I then pat her head "I expect I shall be rewarded me more of your current age's technology, Gold one and I need more games to compete!"

"Yes yes yes! And thank you! I don't know why Marie wanted a ball." Gudako sighs "Oh shoot I better get the Cu group to the training room, I'll see you later Pa-" she froze and turns red. "S-sorry!" Pa...?

...hahaha...

I cover my eyes as I laugh. Of course, that is the answer, how could I, the Great Pharaoh of Egypt, forget?

"I permit you to address me such, Gudako." I pat her head as she gape at me. She then smiles wide.

So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms 'Cause I know something the prince never knew Oh, I will dance with Cinderella I don't want to miss even one song 'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight And she'll be gone

Ah the ball, granted what he usually held back then is different from what the Queen of France is doing. It is unseemly for I to not attend. The King of Knights, the male one, and Golden One are beside me, we the Kings should observe how the children are to act. (King of Knight enough of those potato dishes, you act no different from your counterparts).

"Papa!" Golden one stare at me incredulously "She address you as a father?" his red eyes scan me. "Ho, are you envious that a child of her ability address me such? Such a worthy child as well." I slyly raise my wine. He snort "Hardly, Sun King. She is still a mongrel though worthy in my older self's eyes. I make exceptions to that." he sips his wine. I turn around to see Gudako-- I could not breathe. She looks beautiful, like a goddess, a princess-- Princess... his little princess... "What do you think papa?" she smiles at me "I ho--" "Radiant." I whisper to her "You are as radiant as the stars in the sky, little one." I extend my hand to her "Are you not going to dance with your father, little one?" I smiled softly to her. (I shall ignore those annoying light flashes from those cameras, honestly back in his days memories are more precious, living the moment than trying to capture a moment you are not in.)

Gudako giggles at me as she accepts my hand. "Of course I will dance with you papa!" I spun her slowly as our feet moves with the rhythm, as the minutes pass, those horrendous thoughts resurface... She's mortal, she could be attack at anytime... but for now, a dance will preserve their time together.

I held her hand a bit tightly, squeezing it a bit but not too hard.

For now, she is in my arms, dancing as her laughter echoes.

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed She wants to know if I approve of the dress She says, "Dad, the prom is just one week away And I need to practice my dancin' Oh, please, daddy, please"

"What in Ra's name is prom..?" I look at Gudako as she and I went to the market-- mall. "All I see is a dance event similar to balls except with more alcohol for underage children like you." I mumbled

"It is like a rite of passage, Edison told me those around my age do this when they are in school." she tug me "Everyone is holding a Chaldean version of it. They say in America parents take their children to go shopping for the clothes~" she giggles.

Honestly those dresses do not fit her at all. "Such folly, little one." Although it is to be expected, I am use to her antics after all these years. "I can host events just for you."

Ah brother... my beloved Nefertari, you would adore her.

"Eh the point is it'll be among my age." she then grins "Buuuut--" I laugh "Ah you have yet to master dancing? Even when I started to mentor you for a few years? Perhaps you should cut back your habit playing with the sphinxes and stop skipping those lessons." I tease.

"Ah but papa!" she whines "You gave them to me!" she pouts. "Also I though you like--" "As a peer but not as a suitor to a child of mine." grumbling, an idea struck me "Honestly must you entertain his courtship? You, who I adopt and love as my own, shall be a Queen of her own Kingdom and lead legions of worthy servants, why, I can create a magnificent pyramid for you!"

Why do you even need to go away? You're still a child- my child.

"Papa! He's a nice guy and he helps me!"

"Well Golden One is not so nice but he helps, King of Knights is nice but a glutton--"

"Uncle Gilgil and Uncle Arthur are different!"

So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms 'Cause I know something the prince never knew Oh-oh-oh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella I don't want to miss even one song 'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight And she'll be gone

Her smiles eventually crack, her eyes dull, the world is so cruel. She collapses into my arms, another lostbelt. More blood on her hands.

I raise my staff to erect some sort of barrier, to not disturb her respite.

I want to take you away from here.

I gently run my hand through her hair, I suddenly heard someone entering. "You dare intrude my--" oh.. it is THAT boy. That--

He held his weapon tightly, eyes glowing with determination. "I am here for her, Pharaoh. Do what you must but you can't control what I want."

Insolent! Foppish, foolish, arrogant, wretched--

"Papa please..." she tugs my cape.

Why...?

She will be gone

If I left you go to him, then...

"Papa!" an echo of her younger voice rings in my head, I tried not to think.

I...

My little princess, where did you go..?

But she came home today with a ring on her hand Just glowing and telling us all they had planned She says, "Dad, the wedding's still six months away But I need to practice my dancin' Oh, please, daddy, please"

Golden one stares at me, a brow raise as he slides in a glass of wine for me. "Sun King, years already passed." he began.

I grumbled.

He scoffs "That boy, as much I regret saying such thing about mongrels, has proven himself. Did he not risk his life for her?"

"And so did the rest of us! And he is a servant! Can he truly give her the life she deserves!?"

Can I?

Pity flash across his eyes, oh perhaps my noble phantasm can erase his--

"Sun King, not everything stays the same nor shall anyone can escape the passage of time." he then gestures to where my princess is.

I froze, the white dress on her, the veil. She looks just as radiant, his little princess.

Soon a Queen to her King.

"Papa!" Gudako waves at me, a familiar twinkle in her eyes. Ah, even after all these years?

"She is still your princess, Sun King." a hand on my shoulder. "Ever the foolish inside even as she grows. Now go, your sulking is distasteful and frankly sickening."

I walk towards her, this time, it is my hand that is accepting hers. She grins up at me.

The wedding will be held six months from now...

When did the time go? Such a hassle for such a radiant being such as I, the King of Kings and the incarnation of the Sun god Ra, the shining God King Ozymandias. Time is kind yet cruel, it gives and takes.

So for now... as I dance and sway with her.

For now she is still my princess until the day I will lead her to the altar. For now I am her dance partner until that day.

"Thank you for dancing with me, papa." Gudako said to me in a lowly voice. "I love you papa."

A...ah... This child makes his heart clench.

"I love you too, my princess..."

I held her hand a bit tightly, squeezing it a bit but not too hard, just as before but this time a tear escape from my eye.

For now, she is in my arms, dancing as her laughter echoes.

So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms 'Cause I know something the prince never knew Oh-oh-oh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella I don't want to miss even one song 'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight And she'll be gone

[zoasart]

hogGY hOGgy hoggyhoggy hoGWARtss

[roxannarambles]

title: second chances (chapter five)

ship: goldenlight (luz x hunter)

notes: takes place sometime after ‘reaching out’ but before ‘hollow mind.’ (set in my standard canon-divergent AU where everything’s the same except no L*mity)

other chapters: chapter one chapter two  chapter three  chapter four

The next day, it seemed that Hunter’s lunch break had rarely coincided with a reasonable hour for lunchtime, because Luz sent him a photo of what she was eating that day. (It appeared to be a mud grub sandwich, which she didn’t look especially thrilled about eating.) He sent back a photo of his cafeteria food. She responded with some emoji.

Luzura_Warrior:

... 🤢🤢🤢

Rulerzreachf4n:

what do those even mean

Luzura_Warrior:

whatdo you mean? theyre sick faces

Luzura_Warrior:

can't you tell? they're green

Rulerzreachf4n:

why does green mean they're sick?

Rulerzreachf4n:

the only thing I think of that turns you colors when you're sick is the rainbow fever but that's all the colors

Luzura_Warrior:

no it. it's metaphorical, not literal.although. rainbow fever sounds kinda fun ngl

Rulerzreachf4n:

it's not, trust me. you spend most of your time violently expelling fluids from both ends

Rulerzreachf4n:

the fluids are also rainbow colored

Luzura_Warrior:

okay, yeah, nevermind, I don't wanna catch that.

Rulerzreachf4n:

yeah.

Rulerzreachf4n:

what's this one mean by the way? 🥺 I see it sometimes

Luzura_Warrior:

that's supposed to be puppydog eyes, you know, when you're begging somebody for something

Luzura_Warrior:

pleeeeease hunter come visit me sometime so we can make pancakes 🥺🥺

Luzura_Warrior:

like that!

Rulerzreachf4n:

oh

Luzura_Warrior:

I promise my real puppydog eyes are way more effective then the emoji, though

Hunter began to type a reply out, feeling unsure of what exactly to say, but another message came through before he could finish.

Luzura_Warrior:

any other emojis you want me to translate?

Ah. All right. That subject was a little easier to deal with. He scrolled through the list of little faces.

Rulerzreachf4n:

what about this? 😑

Luzura_Warrior:

uhh . . . hm. I dunno I never use that one, I guess it's like ... dead?

Luzura_Warrior:

oh wait, I think I've seen some people use it to mean annoyed. like really fed up with something.

Rulerzreachf4n:

ok. I guess that makes sense.

Rulerzreachf4n:

what about this one? 😤

Luzura_Warrior:

that one's like 'determined.' stubborn.

Luzura_Warrior:

oh but it also can mean really angry. depends on the situation.

Rulerzreachf4n:

oh, I was way off, I thought it was maybe a sneeze?

Luzura_Warrior:

lolol no this is the sneeze emoji 🤧

Rulerzreachf4n:

... 🤔

Luzura_Warrior:

that's for when you're thinking

Rulerzreachf4n:

... 🧐

Luzura_Warrior:

that's for when you're thinking but you're also FANCY

Rulerzreachf4n:

okay there are WAY too many of these

Luzura_Warrior:

lol, don't worry, you'll learn them eventually

Rulerzreachf4n:

I'm not so sure. I feel like this is an entire language.

Rulerzreachf4n:

and like what even is this one??? 🥴

Luzura_Warrior:

I...have no idea actually. I never understood that one.

Luzura_Warrior:

I guess it's . . . uhhh . . .

Luzura_Warrior:

god I don't have a clue. let's invent a new emotion for it

Rulerzreachf4n:

what

Luzura_Warrior:

hey hunter, just finished my lunch and I'm feeling so snorflimppet 🥴

Luzura_Warrior:

you know TFW you're hella gasterplastecked 🥴

Rulerzreachf4n:

no.

Rulerzreachf4n:

stop.

Luzura_Warrior:

yknow we should teach you about memes too if you're gonna be on penstagram

Rulerzreachf4n:

oh, yeah. willow and gus have shown me a few of those. I think I saved one. hold on . . .

Luzura_Warrior:

I . . .

Luzura_Warrior:

I've become a MEME??

Rulerzreachf4n:

is that . . . bad?

Rulerzreachf4n:

I thought it was a good thing

Luzura_Warrior:

it's . . .uhh well I don't know if I'd call it good or bad, really, it's just . . .

Luzura_Warrior:

hmm, honestly I'm not sure how to feel about it. guess I feel 🥴🥴

Rulerzreachf4n:

well if you don't like it, I can delete it

Luzura_Warrior:

nah, it's fine, no need

Luzura_Warrior:

tbh it's kinda neat.

Luzura_Warrior:

so the meme you have saved to your scroll was the one that had me in it . . . interesting 😏

What was that one? They hadn't discussed that emoji yet. This texting thing was stressful sometimes.

Rulerzreachf4n:

I saved it because it was about flyer derby

Rulerzreachf4n:

it just happened to have you in it

Luzura_Warrior:

mmm ok. if you say so.

Luzura_Warrior:

oh hey, before I forget, you wanna help me start a new meme on penstagram?

Rulerzreachf4n:

how?

Luzura_Warrior:

it's easy! just choose a basic format first . . .

Luzura_Warrior:

like, say, mmm, the old bait-n-switch . . .

Luzura_Warrior:

choose a video . . .

Luzura_Warrior:

and voila!

A link popped up. Hunter followed it to see it led to Luz's Penstagram page, to her newest public post. 

You know, it’s not often that I’m impressed by speeches, but the statements that one of the Coven’s top officials has recently released are really worth checking out. Find it here:

It was a link that led away from Penstagram. When Hunter clicked on it, it brought him to the video of Kikimora falling flat on her face and then wriggling around to dance music. Hunter had already seen this video many, many times, but he laughed again anyway.

Rulerzreachf4n:

ok, if that’s how you make a meme, then I’m a fan

Luzura_Warrior:

great! so all you need to do is post something on your penstagram that claims you’re linking a particular thing . . . but link to this video instead

Rulerzreachf4n:

that’s honestly kind of childish

He paused on his Penstagram page, thinking about it.

Rulerzreachf4n:

…but, she acts very childish anyway, so turnabout’s fair play

Luzura_Warrior:

haha, there ya go.

 Late afternoon, Hunter was in the middle of his usual patrol through Bonesborough, keeping an eye out for troublemakers or any civil unrest. It was a very slow day, though, and hardly anyone was around. He’d gone out to one of the massive demonic appendanges that existed in the town (this one was called ‘Dead Hand’ because it was unusually still compared to the other, twitchier hands). There had been a minor complaint lodged that somebody was trying to paint graffiti on the huge, scaly hand. When he got there, though, he found it was just a couple of kids that looked hardly older than toddlers, and they didn’t even know how to operate a spray paint can. He chased the kids away and then was left standing there in the silent streets of Bonesborough, sighing. Sometimes he felt like most of the duties he did for the Coven was just busywork.

Pulling out his scroll, he logged onto Penstagram and scrolled idly. Luz had ‘shared’ his Kikimora meme post and so it had a fair number of ‘likes’ and a few replies. This kept him amused for a few minutes, but eventually he grew bored. 

His scroll buzzed with a new message.

Luzura_Warrior:

look at themmmmm 😍

A picture was included, and it had King curled up on the couch, with the Owl Lady’s palisman snuggled into his fur, both fast asleep.

Rulerzreachf4n:

nice

Rulerzreachf4n:

this is what I’m doing

He pointed the scroll at the Dead Hand and took a photo to send to Luz.

Luzura_Warrior:

on patrol? cool, I’ve never actually gotten that close to that thing before

Luzura_Warrior:

eda, uh, told me they grab people sometimes, so I’m a little careful

Rulerzreachf4n:

they can sometimes but only when they’re cranky. dead hand doesn’t though, it’s very docile.

Luzura_Warrior:

huh. good to know!

Luzura_Warrior:

hey, I have a question, how come you never send any selfies? I don’t think I’ve seen a single one from you yet

Luzura_Warrior:

you even changed your pfp, it used to be you and now it’s flapjack. 

Luzura_Warrior:

obviously I ADORE flapjack but, well. I dunno, I guess I’m just curious if there’s a reason

Luzura_Warrior:

sorry if that’s prying too much

He thought about when he first made his Penstagram account and all the time he spent trying to get a photo to use for his profile. He probably spent over an hour doing it, only to later decide it looked awful anyway and took it down.

Rulerzreachf4n:

not sure if there’s really a reason

Rulerzreachf4n:

I just don’t feel the desire to, I guess.

Rulerzreachf4n:

I..don’t really like how I look.

Luzura_Warrior:

wait, really? 

He hesitated as he read her message, but she didn’t seem to be teasing him. He decided to take a chance and tell her the truth.

Rulerzreachf4n:

yeah. that’s part of why I like my mask. better to cover it up when people would rather not see it anyway, you know?

He waited as the dots on the scroll indicated Luz was typing.

Luzura_Warrior:

okay, so, I guess it kind of makes sense you wouldn’t realize this, since you probably don’t talk to a lot of people. 

He frowned, confused.

Rulerzreachf4n:

realize what?

Luzura_Warrior:

that you’re actually really cute

He froze, his heart leaping at the blunt reply. Staring at the message in shock, he tried to make sense of it. What? She really thought-- she--

Wait, no. That couldn’t be right. His skepticism returning fast, he typed,

Rulerzreachf4n:

that’s not a nice thing to joke about

At the same moment he’d entered that text,  Luz entered one as well;

Luzura_Warrior:

I mean, objectively speaking. you know?

He narrowed his eyes, confused. She quickly followed up with more texts.

Luzura_Warrior:

what? I wouldn’t joke about that. I’m serious.

Luzura_Warrior:

did somebody tell you that you weren’t?

Luzura_Warrior:

because that’s wrong, you’re definitely. yknow, teenage heartthrob material. 

Luzura_Warrior:

honestly I’m surprised you don’t know this? when I first met you, you were so confident, it seemed like you were all ,’i’m sexy and I know it’

Luzura_Warrior:

uh I, mean, you know. like. objectively! haha.

In an intensely short amount of time Hunter felt like his head was going to possibly explode, the phrase ‘teenage heartthrob’ on repeat in his mind. Flustered, he tried to type out a reply.

Rulerzreachf4n:

you’re really serious? I. but. 

This didn’t make sense. But it really did seem like she was being sincere.

Luzura_Warrior:

ok, you gotta tell me who told you all this BS about how you look, because they’re not only a jerk, theyre apparently blind

Starting to feel a bit warm, he confessed,

Rulerzreachf4n:

nobody really told me that, I just. it’s what I’ve always kinda thought.

Luzura_Warrior:

oh.

Rulerzreachf4n:

but. now that I have your perspective, I. 

He struggled to figure out how to reply.

Rulerzreachf4n:

well it’s.

Rulerzreachf4n:

 good to know

Luzura_Warrior:

okay well great glad i could clarify that!

Luzura_Warrior:

annnnyway

Luzura_Warrior:

anythgig  ecxiti ng ever happen onyour patrols???

Hunter glanced up as he caught motion out of the corner of his eye. It turned out to be a Coven scout, carrying a spear, also out on patrol. Not really a surprise; it seemed the only people out today were Coven members.

The scout waved as he approached. 

“Hello, sir! Run into any problems today?”

Ah, it was Steve. There were a great many coven scouts in their ranks, and Hunter admittedly didn’t recognize them all by name, but he recognized Steve. He had a rather decent . . . well, “friendship” was not the word. He had a rather decent acquaintanceship with him. It mostly consisted of Steve sitting next to him sometimes during lunch and rambling about whatever random things were rattling about in his head, while Steve in turn would listen to Hunter rant about Kikimora. It hadn’t ever gone beyond that, but still, it made Hunter feel slightly more at ease to be around a semi-familiar face. Well. A semi-familiar voice. He’d never actually seen any of the scouts maskless. 

“Nah. Just told a couple of kids to go home before their mothers worry about them. Truly a test of my skills and training, I know, but somehow I prevailed.”

Steve laughed. It was strangely nice to have another person actually laugh at his snarky comments.

“Hey, at least it wasn’t one of those days where we had to clear out a sligguth infestation, right? I’d relish a little boredom in comparison.”

Hunter frowned.

“I guess so.”

The coven scout leaned casually against the Dead Hand’s wrist as he began to ramble idly.

“This job’s not quite what I expected, I’ll tell you that, but it does give me a lot of time to think, you know? It’s kind of nice on these slow days when nobody’s around to bother me and I can just do my own thing.”

Hunter raised a brow, even though his face was covered by his mask.

“You mean goof off?”

Steve chuckled again.

“I know I’m not the only one, weren’t you just looking at your scroll?”

Hunter jolted a little, even though he still had the scroll in his hand and it wasn’t a surprise the scout had seen. Accepting that he’d been caught out, he lifted the scroll back up and glanced at it. He answered wryly,

“As far as you’re concerned I was just monitoring social media for any potential rabblerousers.”

The scout nodded.

“Of course, sir.”

Hunter looked at his scroll thoughtfully for a few moments, considering the human he’d just been conversing with. He was struck with a sudden impulse. It was pretty out of character for him, but there was something about the human that seemed to make him do strange things. And in the moment, he didn’t really care.

“Hey, um, Steve? You wanna help me take, uh . . . a ‘selfie’?”

He handed his scroll to Steve. The scout shrugged.

“Sure. Although I don’t think it’s technically a selfie unless you take it yourself.”

Hunter hopped on his artificial staff and quickly flew up to the top of Dead Hand.

“All right, well whatever it’s called.”

He landed on the open palm of the giant hand and set his staff down. After a moment of hesitation, he reached up and pulled his Golden Guard mask off.

From below, Steve was pointing the scroll at him, fiddling with settings.

“Hmm, why don’t you try something a little more dynamic, sir?”

Hesitantly, he asked, 

“Dynamic?” 

“Yeah! Pose or something.”

He thought about that a moment, his mind casting back to when he’d first met Luz on the airship. Oh. Sure, he could do that.

He got down and sprawled casually on his side, leaning his chin into a palm, propping it up with an elbow. He held his mask in his other hand loosely against his waist and fixed the scroll with a steady gaze.

“Oh, that’s perfect, sir! Hold that. Hmm, the angle is a bit weird down here. Maybe if I backed up a little. . .”

Hunter had a better idea. He grabbed his staff and sent it down to the ground.

“Here, just ride that.”

“Oh, that’s genius, sir.”

Steve seemed unperturbed about this taking a little work, and he rode the staff up around Hunter’s hight and carefully adjusted his position.

“All right, good, now smile for the camera?”

Ugh, this felt kinda weird. He really did hate pictures. But he was determined to do it.

All right, just imagine it was Luz floating there. She wanted a selfie, he’d give her one.

He quirked his brow a little and slipped into a cheeky grin, gazing intensely into the scroll as if she was right there in front of him. He heard the scroll snap a few pictures.

“Wow, you’re a natural, sir. I feel like this would make a great recruitment poster! The old one is a little plain, you know?”

Hunter stood back up and shook his head as Steve returned the scroll to him.

“Nah, this is only for friends.”

He sat down on the hand, his feet dangling off the edge as he fiddled with his scroll. Steve landed and sat down beside him, humming,

“Of course, you need to keep the mystery of the original poster. People respect and fear the mask.”

Hunter nodded.

“Exactly.”

He hesitated as he looked at his picture. Did it look stupid? Should he actually send it, or maybe retake it? Was it too weird? Too . . . much? Maybe he should–

Oh, screw it.

He sent the photo to Luz before he could question it any further and chicken out. After that was a tense wait, but it didn’t last for very long.

Luzura_Warrior:

ohmygod 

Luzura_Warrior:

asafdjh;lgfju

Luzura_Warrior:

what have I done, I never should have told you the truth 

It was unclear what exactly that meant, but Hunter had hoped it was positive. He answered cautiously. 

Rulerzreachf4n:

you said you wanted a selfie

Luzura_Warrior:

hahaha I did, it’s true

Luzura_Warrior:

but boy, you REALLY delivered 

Rulerzreachf4n:

is that a good thing?

Luzura_Warrior:

yeah uhh 

Luzura_Warrior:

definitely a good thing.

Luzura_Warrior:

it 

Luzura_Warrior:

it’s really good, haha.

He started to type out a reply, but she followed up with more texts before he could.

Luzura_Warrior:

jeez, that look you’re giving is smokin’

Luzura_Warrior:

do you practice that in the mirror or

Luzura_Warrior:

hey wait, who took the picture?

Rulerzreachf4n:

thats not important

Luzura_Warrior:

you actually enlisted somebody’s help to take this for me?

Luzura_Warrior:

I feel so special :3 Rulerzreachf4n:

yeah, yeah, just don’t show it to anyone else alright

Luzura_Warrior:

whuh wait

Luzura_Warrior:

this really was just for me??

Luzura_Warrior:

 so i really AM special :3c

Growing uncomfortable with how perceptive Luz was being, he tried to derail.

Rulerzreachf4n:

I don’t know what that emoji means

Luzura_Warrior:

oh sorry. it’s like…. a kittycat smile? there isn’t really a good official emoji for it.

Rulerzreachf4n:

a cat smile?

He wasn’t sure how a cat could smile and what the heck that would even indicate.

Luzura_Warrior:

yeah it’s like . . .

Luzura_Warrior:

hold on a sec

Luzura_Warrior:

Luzura_Warrior:

like that!

Hunter studied the picture, which you’d think would help clarify things, but really all it did was confuse the issue even further.

Rulerzreachf4n:

what exactly is that look supposed to mean though

Luzura_Warrior:

:3c hehehehehe

Rulerzreachf4n:

luz that doesnt help

“So does your friend like the picture?”

Hunter jumped in surprise, having entirely forgotten that Steve was even sitting there.

“Uhh.”

His scroll buzzed and spammed him with indecipherable emoji.

Luzura_Warrior:

😏😏 😼😼🦦🦦😈😇

“. . . I think so? Yeah.”

 The rest of patrol was just as stunningly uneventful, so Hunter spent the rest of it walking his route and talking with Steve. Honestly, it wasn’t so terrible a way to finish out the afternoon, which mostly was just letting Steve ramble on about his little brother and his newfound interest in Illusion magic. When Hunter returned to the castle, he had some very boring tasks that included taking stock of some new supplies (again, he found himself wondering if Belos just assigned him duties as mere busywork, but it wasn’t his place to question things). It took him several hours to complete and then he had a cold, unpleasant dinner at the cafeteria, but for some reason, none of it fazed him much, and he spent the whole time humming to himself, a little smile on his face.

When the evening came and he was finally free to return to his room, he gratefully collapsed onto his bed and stuck his face into the nearest book. It was a pleasant diversion for about an hour, and then his scroll buzzed. Eagerly, he grabbed it and found that it was Luz asking if he could help her with a few questions on her Beast Keeping homework. He agreed to help. 

What had started out as just a few questions quickly grew into a much larger discussion.

Luzura_Warrior:

I just am having a hard time because I had no idea there were so many kinds of dragons

Luzura_Warrior:

in the human realm I only really heard of the basic ones

Luzura_Warrior:

not all these weird wingless dragons and the legless dragons and the dragons with only two legs and all that

Rulerzreachf4n:

well they’re not really dragons. 

Luzura_Warrior:

what?? what do you mean.

Rulerzreachf4n:

the common ancestor species is a wyrm, which eventually evolved into lindwyrms and loongs over time. the ones living at higher elevations developed into drakes. and then potentially dragons arose from the drakes. 

Rulerzreachf4n:

they’re all in the wyrm family, though, a dragon is just a kind of wyrm

Luzura_Warrior:

seriously? I thought a wyrm was just . . . a legless and wingless dragon?

Rulerzreachf4n:

no, it’s the other way around. a dragon is a wyrm with legs and wings. 

Luzura_Warrior:

man, this is weird. so what exactly is a wyrm then? 

Rulerzreachf4n:

well, wyrms branch off from the sea serpents because of their scales, regenerative abilities and pyrorespiration. sea serpents of course belonging to the larger family of serpents, which in turn of course branch off from the true worms

Luzura_Warrior:

hold on, slow down a little. not sure if I’m getting you because it seems like you’re saying that . . . dragons evolved from snakes and that snakes evolved from worms?

Rulerzreachf4n:

snakes are a smaller sub-family of serpents, really

Rulerzreachf4n:

but your statement is mostly correct, yeah.

Luzura_Warrior:

snakes evolved from worms??

Rulerzreachf4n:

yeah? didn’t they cover this already?

Rulerzreachf4n:

everything evolved from worms, they’re nature’s ideal form

Luzura_Warrior:

buhhuhuwhaaa? 

Rulerzreachf4n:

you haven’t covered the Great Ancestral Worm yet??

Luzura_Warrior:

um, well. I kind of haven’t had one of the pre-reqs for this class. I begged the teacher to let me take it anyway . . . 

Luzura_Warrior:

but please, I gotta know about anything called ‘the Great Ancestral Worm,’ because this is getting wild

Rulerzreachf4n:

okay, well. 

Rulerzreachf4n:

in the beginning, when the Titan first fell, the first creature to immerge from the decomposing muck was a worm

Rulerzreachf4n:

the Great Ancestral Worm, from which all beasts sprang. the ratworms, the trash slugs, the giraffes, the sea serpents, all that

Rulerzreachf4n:

and from the beasts, branched off the bug demons and the bipedal demons

Rulerzreachf4n:

many bug demons still retaining body forms quite close to the original ancestral worms, but developing sentience alongside the bipedal demons

Rulerzreachf4n:

bipedal demons of course ended up quite distant from the ancestral design, and needed to compensate for it, develop bile sacs for their own magic

Luzura_Warrior:

okay hold on 

Luzura_Warrior:

so you’re saying EVERYTHING is based off worms

Luzura_Warrior:

what about, uhh. echo mice?

Rulerzreachf4n:

they evolved from the ratworms.

Luzura_Warrior:

okay, how about the selkiedomuses.

Rulerzreachf4n:

sea serpents that developed fins and blubber.

Luzura_Warrior:

what about birds??

Rulerzreachf4n:

they came from the wyverns and feathered serpents.

Luzura_Warrior:

there’s feathered serpents too?? oh god

Luzura_Warrior:

this is getting a little overwhelming

Rulerzreachf4n:

let’s just focus on wyrms for now. you said you only needed to know the basic groups for now, right?

Luzura_Warrior:

yeah. yeah, ok.

Rulerzreachf4n:

So we have the Wyrms, and then the Lindwyrms which evolved front limbs to help a little with traction, but still move with a serpentine body motion. And next are the Loongs, with four limbs which can walk awkwardly on land but who mostly prefer to swim or fly. 

Luzura_Warrior:

wait. fly? I thought Loongs don’t have wings?

Rulerzreachf4n:

that’s correct, they don’t.

Luzura_Warrior:

asdgrsrjyyj

Luzura_Warrior:

THEN HOW

Rulerzreachf4n:

they fly via magic. loong’s magic is fairly potent, they also have some control over weather and can shapeshift.

Luzura_Warrior:

oh, right, magic is a thing. haha . . .

Rulerzreachf4n:

next are the drakes

Luzura_Warrior:

those are the wingless dragons! right? they first found them at the knee

Rulerzreachf4n:

well, ‘wingless dragons’ is... not very descriptive. 

Rulerzreachf4n:

but yes, the drakes evolved at higher elevations and had stockier bodies, sturdier limbs that made for good walking and climbing, and stronger fire breath.

Luzura_Warrior:

can THEY magically fly?

Rulerzreachf4n:

that’s a good question! no, the drakes lost the ability to fly, as well as their shapeshifting and weather control

Luzura_Warrior:

okay, gotcha

Rulerzreachf4n:

then we have the dragons, which fly with the help of their leathery wings. and then wyverns

Luzura_Warrior:

hold on a sec one time I heard Hooty say HE’S A WORM

Luzura_Warrior:

does that mean hooty’s a bug demon???

Rulerzreachf4n:

uh… do you mean your house demon?

Luzura_Warrior:

yeah!

Rulerzreachf4n:

yes, house demons are a type of parasitic worm. 

Luzura_Warrior:

holy crap this makes so much sense now. now that I think about it, he was saying something one time about an ancestral worm

Rulerzreachf4n:

uh yeah so, anyway

Luzura_Warrior:

wait did you say PARASITIC??

Luzura_Warrior:

he’s a parasite???

Rulerzreachf4n:

yes, house demons parasitize living houses 

Luzura_Warrior:

I thought hooty WAS the house!!! that’s not his body??

Rulerzreachf4n:

it’s technically not. once a house demon attaches to a house, they gain some control and nerve sensation, but it’s technically their host.

Luzura_Warrior:

oh my god. this is blowing my mind

Rulerzreachf4n:

ok, I think we’re getting a bit off track here

Luzura_Warrior:

right, sorry, sorry

Luzura_Warrior:

back to dragons. I mean, wyrms, back to wyrms and not house worms. I’m listening.

Hunter did his best to get Luz back on track and explain the basic wyrm families, as well as the two competing theories on whether drakes evolved into dragons, or ampitheres evolved into wyverns and then some wyverns developed into dragons. Although Luz was a bit distractable at times and prone to chit-chat, she was also very enthusiastic and seemed genuinely interested in the subject. She also seemed to pick up the information fairly quickly. When they’d finished, she thanked him profusely and said she was going to spend another hour studying to make sure it was solidified in her head for tomorrow’s quiz. He bid her a goodnight and returned to his reading.

He continued to read until it grew very late, at an hour when his mind was very fuzzy and his thoughts were disjointed. He browsed Pentsagram a little, very amused to find Darius had shared his Kikimora meme, and it seemed to be spreading rapidly. He giggled at that for a bit and then his thoughts started to turn slowly along the memories of his day, over the discussions he’d had with Luz. There was a very pleasant feeling that flickered through him as he pondered things, like the bright little embers that popped off a crackling fire. 

When his scroll buzzed, he sleepily picked it up and checked it.

Luzura_Warrior:

hunteeerrrrrr

Luzura_Warrior:

I’m booorrreddddd

He chuckled outloud and typed a response.

Rulerzreachf4n:

thought you were studying

Luzura_Warrior:

yeah it got boring

Luzura_Warrior:

whatre you doin?

Rulerzreachf4n:

well I WAS reading peacefully

Luzura_Warrior:

awhjyyhd why are you even still up it’s like almost 2am

Rulerzreachf4n:

why are YOU still up

Luzura_Warrior:

that’s evading the question, I asked u first

Rulerzreachf4n:

im always up this late

Rulerzreachf4n:

it’s the only time to myself i really get, so. thats why.

Luzura_Warrior:

that makes sense.

Rulerzreachf4n:

k so now you

Luzura_Warrior:

well I was just cramming for the quiz

Luzura_Warrior:

I am bad at time management, I admit it

Luzura_Warrior:

but I’m in bed now like a good girl, I swear

Luzura_Warrior:

see look

A picture popped up, showing a dimmed bedroom. Hunter squinted at it. Luz seemed to be on the floor, sitting inside a strange fabric . . . cocoon? 

Rulerzreachf4n:

what. the heck is that, that’s not a bed.

Luzura_Warrior:

it’s a sleeping bag. 

Rulerzreachf4n:

that doesn’t seem very comfortable.

Luzura_Warrior:

no, it’s okay! it’s not so bad. not as good as a bed, I admit, but eda didn’t have any spare mattresses, so I’ve just been using this.

Rulerzreachf4n:

huh. she should get you a bed.

Luzura_Warrior:

well moneys not exactly pouring in right now

Luzura_Warrior:

I know you probably have a nice fancy bed at the castle but not everyone can be so luxurious, ya know

Hunter frowned, considering his bed and his room.

Rulerzreachf4n:

actually my bed’s really not fancy

Rulerzreachf4n:

or my room. belos gave me quarters that are the same size and furnishings as any other scout

Rulerzreachf4n:

said that i shouldn’t grow soft or complacent

Luzura_Warrior:

oh

Luzura_Warrior:

whoa I didn’t realize that.

Luzura_Warrior:

ok now I’m curious. whats it look like?

Luzura_Warrior:

send me a picture?? 😃

Hunter aimed his scroll, trying to get a shot, then grumbled because it didn’t look like much from his angle. He got out of bed and snapped a photo so she could actually see things.

Luzura_Warrior:

oooh okay, it’s not so bad. seems cozy. that pillowcase looks pretty ratty tho lol

Luzura_Warrior:

oh my god wait, you have a PLUSHIE?? I see that lil head poking out there!

Hunter quickly re-checked the photo, and to his horror, you could in fact see the hot pink head of his goofy little frog plushie sticking out behind a pillow.

Rulerzreachf4n:

please pretend you didnt see that

Luzura_Warrior:

no way, oh my god hunter this is adorable. I love this. you like plushies too!! I wanna get a better look, send me a pic! 😃

Rulerzreachf4n:

no way you’ll just make fun of me

Luzura_Warrior:

no I won’t!! I swear. pleeeeease?? 

Luzura_Warrior:

do you actually sleep with it too? aaaaa thatd be so CUTE

Hunter grunted, dropping back down onto his bed with a defeated sigh. There was no way she was gonna drop this, he knew her well enough by now for that. Gruhhh.

He reached over and pulled the plushie out from behind the pillow. Wrapping an arm around it, he hugged it tight against his chest and aimed the scroll at himself, sticking his tongue out and snapping a photo. 

When he sent it, Luz nearly combusted.

Luzura_Warrior:

saftrrerghewyhrw

Luzura_Warrior:

aaaaaaa  hutner!!!!

Luzura_Warrior:

SO CUTE

Luzura_Warrior:

you giant dork i LOVE it

Luzura_Warrior:

look at youuuu aaaaa!! 😍

Rulerzreachf4n:

you show that to anybody and I will hunt you down

Luzura_Warrior:

hehehehehee

Luzura_Warrior:

hunt me down. cos you’re hunter

Rulerzreachf4n:

yes. you don’t want  that, trust me

Luzura_Warrior:

heeehee, but maybe I do 😉

Hunter’s thoughts halted, stalling at Luz’s text as he struggled to form a coherent response. Fortunately, Luz just continued to ramble.

Luzura_Warrior:

ughh I should get to sleep 

Luzura_Warrior:

i have a really busy day tomorrow

Luzura_Warrior:

all these quizzes and exams at once, I swear the teachers do it on purpose

He had to focus to type out a reply that sounded normal.

Rulerzreachf4n:

yeah, I should sleep too

Luzura_Warrior:

ok you might not hear from me tomorrow until real late, i got a lot going on

Luzura_Warrior:

but i’ll say bye for now!

Rulerzreachf4n:

okay

Luzura_Warrior:

so gnnnighty night for now, my goldie dork boy~~ 😘

Luzura_Warrior:

talk to you later 💖💗💜

Rulerzreachf4n:

bye

Hunter stared dumbly at the scroll for a while after she’d logged off, his fuzzy sleepy thoughts rolling about in his mind like a tangled ball of yarn. Letting the scroll drop down onto his bed, he fell asleep before even bothering to get changed for the night.

[hypmicdaydreams]

𝗟𝘂𝗰𝗸𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺

-pairing: dice arisugawa x gn!reader

-genre: fluff (?), a bit of gambling action

-summary: dice’s lucky dice have lost their charm and no longer work; however, he’s sure that you’re his one true good luck charm, though you’re skeptical about that

-word count: 6.3k

it was such a common sight that you had grown accustomed to in the past few months that you had dated dice, yet it never failed to surprise you each and every time at just how careless he could be. dice, on his hands and knees before you, was, yet again, begging you to spare him just a few more yen so that he could go to the pachinko parlor down the street and try his hand at the new machine that they had just installed. he swore that he’d get a jackpot this time, he felt it in his gut. lady luck was finally on his side. how many times has he claimed that though? surely over a hundred by now, considering that this sight happened about three or four times a week. 

“pleeeeease y/n. i just need a few yen. i just know that i’ll hit the jackpot for sure this time! i promise to pay you back.” 

a sigh escaped your lips as you heard those words again, glancing at your hopeless boyfriend. he really did have zero shame bowing down on the ground like that, begging for a few scraps of money to feed his gambling addiction. surely his debt with you racked up close to thousands of yen by now, and that was probably a generous estimate. it’s not like you minded though. you had no doubt, however, that dice would pay you back if he won big.

if.

dice’s luck wasn’t exactly the best lately, having lost everything he’s managed to save up in a matter of minutes. then again, you couldn’t quite recall when the last time his luck ever was good. it seemed to just be a string of bad luck for dice, and you couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the bad luck spell he was in. surely it must’ve taken a toll on him, right? maybe he’d stop gambling for a bit, try to save up some money first rather than betting something so obscure and irrational, like his life (you’re still astounded by the fact that he bet his life just to get a hypnosis microphone). but dice just loved proving you wrong. see, dice wasn’t a rational person, not in the slightest. logic and reason bothered him to no end, so he defied the odds. i mean, what fun would life be if everything was meticulously calculated. every day would be the same dull and lifeless routine, and dice hated the mere thought of such a lifestyle. you didn’t mind his outlook on life at all, in fact, you even supported it to a degree. you just wished he’d be more careful with his, er, hobbies.

“didn’t you say that the last time though?”

“er-” dice flinched once he realized he’d been caught red-handed, having been shoved into a corner by the very thing he hated: logic. “w-well ya, but! i really do think i’ll win big this time. it’s a gut feeling.” ugh, you grew to despise that word: gut feeling. everything was always determined by either luck or his gut when it came to dice. it was truly spectacular, really. you did love dice, you really did, but you couldn’t help but be concerned for him. his gambling tendencies were just a bit too much at times.

you had tried to ignore his pleas, tried your hardest to set your foot down and not give in to those puppy dog eyes he loved to use. it hurt to see that you were only feeding his gambling addiction rather than try to help him solve it. at that moment, however, seeing dice begging on his hands and knees and the look of desperation in his eyes overrid your sense of judgement. it hurt even more to see just how desperate he was for a couple hundred yen. he just tug on your heartstrings like that! 

“well...fine.” you couldn’t help but stifle a giggle when you saw just how quickly dice’s expression changed from desperation to one of excitement. if he had a tail, you swore it’d be wagging. deep down, you scolded yourself for once again falling for his tactics, but could you really blame yourself? dice was just too lovable to turn down. “but on one condition.” 

“hm?” 

“you take me with you.” you really couldn’t predict how dice would take this news, but you certainly weren’t expecting him to smile even wider. i mean, why would he even want you in the same vicinity when he was gambling, especially when there was a large chance he’d lose yet again, and after having begged you for money once more. yet, that sounded like quite a deal to dice, who was practically over the moon at this point. not only does he get to feel the thrill of gambling once more, but he also gets to enjoy it with his lovely partner. it was like killing two birds with one stone. maybe you’d even begin to understand his love of the thrill. ooo, this was so exciting!

“heh, is that all?” to be honest, dice was expecting a much worse condition, such as never cooking for him again if he lost or never gambling again. geez, just the thought of it sent shivers down his spine. he’d have hated if he was given an ultimatum between either you or gambling. then again, that would’ve been an exciting bet. all or nothing, huh. now that gave him goosebumps. “you don’t have to worry about a thing. we got lady luck on our side after all,” dice confidently said, taking out his good luck charms, a pair of dice, from his pocket and throwing them into the air. he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he’d win big this time.

~

“gahh! what the hell??” dice practically shouted, although the other pachinko players seemed to pay no mind to him. it was rather common to find someone bet their entire life savings then lose them all within an afternoon. sure, it was a terrible sight, but the other players found their games to be much more important. you win some you lose some, that’s just how life worked. then again, the loud noises and distracting colors probably drowned out any connection to the outside world they may have had, however weak it was in the first place. 

dice had, yet again, lost big time at the machines. standing behind him, you shook your head in disappointment. you knew that this exact scenario would play out once he had dragged you to a nearby pachinko parlor. those machines were literally designed to feed off of people’s tendency to think that they’d win big the next round. “tch, i was sure i’d win this time…” he took out his so-called lucky dice and threw them at the machine in frustration. you had been right, as much as he hated to admit. his luck had been garbage lately, which was only perpetuated by the fact that he lost his imaginary bet with you that he’d win. his good luck charms now brought on bad luck instead, and dice couldn’t help but get irritated. this entire time, they never let him down! but now...now they were just dead weight. the pair of dice had lost their touch. they were no longer good luck charms but rather just plain old dice.

“i knew this would happen,” he heard you mumble, which only irritated him further. dice just couldn’t seem to win a single bet, no matter how lousy or small. he never was one to let a spell of bad luck discourage him, but he couldn’t possibly be confident all the time. everything was finally catching up to him, and what made it worse was the fact that you didn’t seem to believe in him. it was the icing on the cake. “let’s head back home-”

“w-wait, just one more time! please, i’m sure we’ll get it this time.”

“you’ve said that the past four matches.”

“er-well...” dice had to think of some excuse fast if he wanted to stay here. sure, he may have lost everything he had begged you for, but maybe you’d be willing to lend him a few more yen? dice did doubt it, but he just couldn’t leave the parlor, not yet, not when he hasn’t won anything at all. maybe, just maybe, his luck will turn around this time. he was holding on to the last bit of optimism he had. “t-then, how about you play for a change?” even if he couldn’t play, maybe you would win big for the both of them. after all, you’ve never gambled before, or at least not that he knew of, so you must have some sort of beginner’s luck, right? well, this was his only chance, and dice was going to bet on it. 

you, on the other hand, were quite taken aback at this sudden development. you, gambling? it didn’t really sound right. besides, you’ve taken a look around the place, and uh, needless to say, you felt a deep pit form in your stomach once you saw the desperation on some faces. you didn’t want to go through that same feeling as them. casinos weren’t fair, after all. they were rigged to make more money for the house, and you really didn’t want to play into their scheme. yet, you didn’t have the heart to explain that to dice who seemed so eager. “um, i don’t think that’s a good idea. i don’t even know how to play-”

“it’s simple, i’ll teach you.” you internally groaned. just great. now you were wrapped up in his plan to make you guys stay longer at the parlor. you mentally cursed yourself for being so oblivious to it all, and now you had no choice but to play along. once again, you’d fallen into his trap. “you just gotta put some money in here, pull the lever, and aim for that place right there,” dice pointed out, nudging you into the seat as he simultaneously explained the rules. if this works out just as planned, dice could see himself leaving this place with a couple thousand yen in his pocket. gosh, he was getting excited just thinking about it. you, however, seemed a bit hesitant at first, so dice tried to massage and pat your shoulders, you know, for reassurance. it’s just a quick, simple game of pachinko, what could possibly go wrong?

“like this?” you asked, pushing down on the lever which sent a ball flying into one corner of the screen. with its landing, the machine lights started flashing (it was enough to induce a headache), and a rather good sum of metal balls came spilling out of the machine. 

“woah, you just won a couple thousand yen!!” dice practically screamed, which didn’t help when you had just been blinded by many colorful bands of light. he couldn’t contain his excitement and was quite literally visibly shaking from all the adrenaline that just flowed through his body. you just stared at the screen, dumbfounded at what had just happened. did you really just win? on your first try?? there was absolutely no way that was possible, right? a few of the other players stopped and quickly glanced at all the commotion, although that didn’t last long as they were soon back to staring at their own screens and attempting to earn some cash. “hey, hey, pull the lever again!”

“um, ok?” once more, you pulled the lever, and the lights started flashing once again as a few more metal balls came spilling out of the machine. 

“holy shit—talk about some beginner’s luck!! you just won a few ten thousand yen! gah, you must be so lucky y/n!!” dice didn’t even attempt to hide his shouting at this point, though you truly wished he’d stop shaking you, especially when the entire world was still spinning. honestly, you couldn’t quite comprehend what was happening right now. the blinding lights were nothing but a haze, and the loud machine noises introduced a sharp ringing in your ears. “press it again! you still have metal balls left.” you couldn’t quite remember the last time dice was this ecstatic; well, that time dice was practically starving and the look on his face when he saw the feast you had cooked for him did come close, but this one took the cake. 

“uhh, i think i’ve had enough excitement for today,” you groaned, holding your head which hadn’t stopped spinning from the first time the lights went off. this whole thing was a bit much with all the colors and loud noises and whatnot. how dice was able to keep up with this environment you didn’t know. honestly, you sorta respected him now. not just anyone could stomach this type of atmosphere.“why don’t you take over and complete it for me?” 

“don’t have to ask me twice, heh.” immediately after getting up, dice took your seat and began pressing the lever in no time at all, concentrating immensely on the tiny balls and aiming them at what you hypothesized to be the center for the jackpot. ball after ball kept landing on a few spots, which resulted in another couple thousand metal balls, though dice seemed to pay no mind to them and instead kept smacking the lever. now, this scene was stirring up quite a commotion, and you were pretty sure everyone’s eyes in the parlor were on you. there were even a few murmurs here and there from the employees which, needless to say, didn’t help your growing uneasiness. 

“what’s even going on?” you asked aloud, though you weren’t really expecting an answer, at least not from dice who seemed to be on a roll. his eyes were only on the pachinko machine now. damn, you wished dice looked at you the same way he looked at that machine at this instant. that was the largest grin you’d ever seen. and finally, at the very last ball, dice hit a jackpot. 

instantly, dice’s eyes widened, and a loud “YESS!!” echoed throughout the parlor. the lights and noises increased in intensity, and everyone now was practically circling around dice, pushing you out of the group and onto the floor. you were certainly much more flabbergasted than anything else at this moment. dice, your dice, finally won the jackpot? this certainly couldn’t be a dream. hell, that’d be some dream in the first place. the world never stopped spinning, and all of the voices and cheers and shouts were incoherent and merged together. what the hell would even happen from here on out? you never imagined dice winning the jackpot, and on the day you decided to attend of all times. 

“y/n, y/n!!” you heard dice shout, and in a flash, someone had grabbed your arm, hoisted you up from the ground, and the next thing you knew, you were snuggling into dice’s chest. “can you believe it? we won haha!” as much as you wanted to congratulate dice on his huge win, it was difficult to say anything. for one, you were way too nauseous, and the bright spots that clouded your vision, as well as the consistent annoying ringing in your ears, didn’t help. secondly, dice was clinging on to you way too tightly. you were pretty sure that he was cutting off your airway, but he seemed to not be aware of that. “damn! you really are my lucky charm.”

~

after that entire incident, dice had started calling you by a new nickname: his good luck charm. you weren’t even entirely sure why, assuming that everything that occurred back in the parlor was nothing more than a mere coincidence. it was just a coincidence that you were there, and it was just a coincidence that he had managed to hit the jackpot that same night too. to be honest, you didn’t really believe much in luck. sure, there was a few good luck or bad luck spells here and there, but you attributed that to nothing more than a series of coincidences. i mean, luck was such a complex subject when one pondered on it for far too long, and it just didn’t seem highly plausible that a person could have a series of good or bad things happening to them all at once. was that even statistically possible? well, if it was, there was no doubt that the chances were very slim.

as aforementioned, however, dice despised logic. it was just too boring, so he truly believed in luck. there really was a being such as lady luck that toyed with him and determined whether he’d win or lose. and that entire pachinko incident was his good luck finally making a comeback. perhaps you were even luck in disguise! i mean, he’d been in such a bad luck spell that he couldn’t even win on simple bets such as a coin toss (yes, he was that desperate), but when you were right by his side, all of a sudden, he was swimming in cash. there was only one plausible explanation for such a phenomenon, and to dice, it was luck. this entire situation was just so rivoting!

and today again, dice had managed to bet off and proceed to lose all of his winnings from that day. honestly, that was a rather huge accomplishment in and of itself. dice truly didn’t know the definition of self control. you sighed to yourself as you felt a massive headache coming on as you sat in your home, wondering to yourself where your boyfriend could possibly be at such a time. it was nearing ten at night, and although you’d naturally assume that he was at a casino betting away anything he had on hand, you hadn’t seen him all day. he hadn’t been answering his calls from you either, which you did find a bit odd and concerning since that was one of the things he always managed to do without fail. just where could he possibly be? 

as the saying goes, speak of the devil and he’ll appear. just as you were getting more and more concerned about the whereabouts of your boyfriend, your phone suddenly rung, and to your relief, the contact id was that of dice. relief immediately flooded you, although anger followed soon after. he’d disappeared for the entire day, with no urge to contact and inform you at all, yet he was finally calling now, when you were about to retire for the day? you really tried not to get angry, especially since you were much more worried than anything, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to contain your anger. 

that all dissipated, however, when you heard dice’s voice over the call. “y/n!!” for some odd reason, dice sounded relieved and also a bit terrified? well, that was new. dice never backed down from a challenge, and he always managed to face them head on with total confidence in himself, even if the chances of winning were slim. sure, he’s had his fair share of disappointment and lack of confidence in himself when it came to gambling, but he never sounded fearful. you quickly became much more concerned than beforehand.

“dice?? where are you? and why haven’t you been picking up?!”

“uh haha...you see, about that-” 

you really did love dice, you truly did. despite his obsessive gambling tendencies and airheadedness, dice had a heart of gold and stood up for what he deemed was right. he was quite admirable at times, really. but god, this incident made you believe otherwise. you knew that dice was quite foolish and spontaneous at times, especially when money was involved, but you couldn’t help but still be baffled when he explained that he was stuck in some sorta underground gambling ring (you had no idea how he even found out about all of these schemes) since he’d gambled all of his current earnings away. of course, you knew that dice would gamble away any spare penny he had on hand. that in and of itself wasn’t a new or surprising fact (though he always did manage to pay you back if he did win). but an underground gambling ring? really? you couldn’t help but question why he even chose to go to one instead of heading on over to the usual casino where practices were, at the very least, legal. it surely would’ve spared the two of you a headache. 

despite the fact that every single rational cell in your body was insisting that it was too dangerous to go to an illegal gambling scene, you threw all that logic out the window. sure you were quite a bit irritated with dice at the moment, but you knew that you had to go save him. he was still the man that you loved after all, even if he did make less than smart decisions at times. certainly you were one of his only chances he had to be saved, unless he did call upon his teammates, though you assumed that they were quite busy at the moment or asleep. 

“alright, where are you at?”

“gahh, you’re such a blessing y/n! thankyouthankyou-”

you could practically picture his enthusiasm over the phone once you heard how relieved he sounded. just imagining a grinning dice waiting for you made you smile. he was just too adorable. you couldn’t possibly stay mad at him for too long. god, you really were a lovesick fool. 

~

when you arrived at the scene, the first thing you couldn’t help but notice was just how musty and humid the entire atmosphere was, though it wasn’t that much different from your usual casino. the only difference was that this place was rather bleak and lifeless in comparison to the bright and migraine-inducing colorful and bright mess of the casino. plus, the people that surrounded this place were rather unsettling. you couldn’t pinpoint whether it was because of their malicious smiles or gruff appearance, but all you knew was that you couldn’t wait to get outta here as soon as possible. hell, if it weren’t for the fact that dice was located deep inside, your instincts would’ve kicked in, and you would’ve been sprinting to the other side by now. but alas, you had to suck it up and go inside, if only to get to see your man again. 

down the creaky and unsafe stairs you went (you were positive that they were going to cave in on you at any moment) and right past the dark hallway, you were finally able to see dice, laying on the ground in nothing but his underwear. you sighed once more, something you realized that you’ve been doing a lot of lately. of course dice had bet his clothes again. you weren’t even exactly sure why you had expected anything else. in front of him sat one large table filled to the brim with all sorts of cards and dice, and behind that were a group of rather large men that you assumed to be the ones who ran this entire operation. geez, you really couldn’t wait to get outta here. 

“y/nnn!!” dice called out a bit too loud as he motioned you to come forward before practically throwing himself on you. “gah, thank heavens you actually came!!” you were just as excited as him to finally see each other again and to see him safe and alive, but it wasn’t exactly the best place to have a heartwarming reunion, not with all of the other guys staring at the two of you embracing. things were just way too awkward, especially since these guys had basically won over all of dice’s savings and whatnot. 

“alright then, now that i’ve found you, let’s go back home,” you quickly muttered, taking dice’s hands in yours as you started on your way back. as much as you would’ve loved to stay and have a quick chat with the others or even attempt to win back dice’s clothes, every instinct in your body was telling you to run outta there while you had the chance. sure, it was a shame that dice had to lose his iconic coat and overworn clothes, but frankly, you thought that the value of both of your lives was much higher than some ripped pants. you’d be more than happy to go buy some new clothes for dice just as soon as the two of you were outta this underground room that gave you goosebumps. you weren’t exactly sure whether or not these guys posed a threat, but it was better to not take any chances. 

“uhh, about that…” 

oh no, it was those dreaded words again. of course there was some kinda setback. there was always a setback in these situations where a person was trying to go back to the comfort of their own home. you quickly snapped towards dice, only to be met with his sheepish smile, which only deepend once he saw the glare in your eyes. honestly, this entire situation was just getting more and more frustrating with each passing minute. all you desperately wanted was to get back home safe with dice in your arms, but of course, there were obstacles (there has to be some sorta plot to this entire story after all). geez, you felt another headache coming on.

“ya see, um, you gotta win your right to leave…” 

for a good few seconds, all you could do was stare dumbfoundly at the man you loved, trying to process what he had just said. surely this was all one big joke, right? “what?! then why did you even come here in the first place?!”

“i didn’t even know about the rules until after i had started! forgive me y/n!!” just as this story started, dice was now on his knees, this time begging for your mercy. gosh, he genuinely does seem sorry for putting the both of you through this entire situation. besides, you knew that he meant well. dice was just a bit naïve and airheaded at times, always getting caught up in the excitement of it all rather than to stop and think about what exactly was going on. it was one of the qualities that you loved oh so dearly about him. dice never really intended to put himself or you in harm’s way; rather, he was just chasing excitement and the adrenaline rush. gahh, you couldn’t stay mad at him for long. plus, the sight of him begging for your forgiveness and the sincerity in his voice broke you, and you even began to feel a bit guilty for him. god, you really did love this fool. 

“it’s alright,” you mumbled, helping dice up from the floor while patting him on the back for reassurance. you weren’t mad, at least not right now. you’d have plenty of time to air any grievances once the two of you were back home safe and sound, but right now, you had to focus on the problem at hand. dice, on the other hand, seemed rather relieved that you decided to help him. deep down, he knew that he was in for it the moment the two of you got back to your place, but of course, he was determined to make it up to you. dice really felt so blessed to have someone as kind and understanding as you as his lover. “soo, what do i have to do in order for us to go back home?” 

the next thing you knew, you sat in front of a roulette table with a couple of the ring leaders on either side of you as well as on at the head of the table. roulette was a game that you were quite familiar with, although that was only because you had seen dice play it a number of times at the casino. as for actual experience with it, well, you’d hardly played any games with it before. the rules did seem fairly simple, though the terminology was a bit difficult to get used to, and the odds didn’t seem to be making much sense in the back of your brain, which at the moment was overrun by adrenaline and fear. it was hard to even think straight, much less make proper decisions that’d ensure the safety of both you and dice. 

“alright, place your bets,” the dealer announced once he’d distributed all of the colored chips. soon enough, the people around you started placing their own chips on different tiled squares and even between them. all of this was foreign to you. i mean, what exactly was the difference between placing a chip at an intersection of four boxes, placing it in a large box, or placing it in one single box? you had no idea about the different types of strategies or the different types of bets, so you decided that your best bet was to go along with your gut. i mean, gambling was all about luck after all, right? it shouldn’t matter whether or not you decided to utilize a strategy since there was no possible way to accurately predict the route the metal ball would take. so, you decided to move all your chips to one square: three. 

“oo, a straight bet, how exciting!” dice commented, though you had absolutely no idea what that even meant. just like back at the pachinko parlor, the entire atmosphere was making you quite queasy, and it was quite difficult to pay attention to anything that was going on. taking notice of the rather puzzled look on your face, dice then proceeded to explain. “well, it means that you’re betting on just one number! it’s really difficult to win, but the payout is huge if you do!” ah yes, you should’ve known that it was quite the risky move if dice approved of it. geez, all you wanted to do was get outta here as soon as possible, but it seemed like it would take much longer than that if you kept making risky bets like this. 

before you could even change your mind about the placement of your bets, the ball was released, and you were quickly hypnotized by its spinning movement. it was another thing to add on to your nausea and quickly rising anxiety. before you could dwell on it too much, however, as luck would have it, the ball landed on three. 

“gahh, y/nn!! you really are my lucky charm!” dice once again shouted, embracing you in a rather tight squeeze. what just happened? was this all a replay of the pachinko parlor incident? surely this was nothing but a mere coincidence, right? luck didn’t exist, or at the very least, you didn’t have extraordinarily good luck. you couldn’t have. the rest of the table quickly turned their eyes to the two of you, glaring at you in particular for having won your first time through. 

“i’m sure it was all a coincidence,” you mumbled, trying to ease all of the tension in the room as well as get the others off your back. you weren’t exactly content on making anyone’s hitlist tonight, which didn’t work out the moment the dealer gave you your chips that you had won. wow, it was way more than what you had originally bet too. 

for the next game, you decided to once more place most of your chips on a single space, this time the zero one. you knew this time around that this was quite a risky move, especially since if it didn’t land there, then all of the money you had won would’ve been gone. so you decided that your best bet was to keep a small pile of chips and save them for later in case you did lose any. after all, you wanted to ensure that you were able to win back your escape for both you and dice. 

and since this is a fanfiction, the ball, once again, landed on your exact spot: zero. dice’s cheer this time was much louder, and the glares from the others were much more cutthroat and icy (you were absolutely sure that you were murdered over a hundred times over just by the intensity of those glares alone). well, that was some coincidence, huh. two times in a row. must be beginner’s luck, exactly like back at the pachinko parlor. yep, that’s all it was, beginner’s luck or just an even stranger coincidence. 

“see y/n? i told you that you were my good luck charm,” dice cheekily commented, massaging your shoulders as you got prepared for the next game. “if this keeps up, then we’ll win back everything i lost, and we’ll be outta here in no time!!” it was quite easy to tell that dice was way too ecstatic and high on adrenaline right now, with the way he was bouncing up and down and the fact that he didn’t seem like he could even sit still or contain his excitement. his unchecked enthusiasm really didn’t help ease your growing anxiety or pounding headache. in fact, it made it worse, because he had expectations for you. it would absolutely devastate him if you managed to lose everything in one sitting, and that would have a chain reaction and devastate you as well. gosh, you prayed that this entire situation ended soon and without anyone getting hurt. 

and just like that, your prayers were soon answered as you kept on hitting the jackpot again and again the next few rounds. dice wasn’t even attempting to hide his high right now, and the others also weren’t attempting to hide their aggression and resort to violence. there were even shouts that you had cheated, to which dice argued with them while you remained seated, rooted in both silence and fear. your anxiety and nausea were starting to take over, and it took everything in you to stop yourself from projectile vomiting onto the table and ruining the entire game. the others surely would’ve beat you and dice to a pulp if that happened. this entire chain of coincidences was becoming way too much. perhaps this was the luck dice had talked about. perhaps you truly were his good luck charm. well, you were quickly taken out of your thoughts by the dealer, who had confirmed that there was no possible way that you could’ve cheated given that he released the ball and it was all up to chance. 

it was on to the final round now, and with this round, you’d finally be able to go back home with dice with all the money he lost and then some. and courtesy of dice’s suggestion, you decided to bet your stacks and stacks of chips on just one square: twenty-seven. you knew that this was risky, hell, you knew that you’d most likely lose everything. but you couldn’t think straight right now. hell, you couldn’t even think at all! everything was becoming way too confusing, and similar to the time at the pachinko parlor, your world was spinning and you couldn’t differentiate between anything anymore. it had all become way too much, so dice had taken over for you. yes, it wasn’t the smartest decision, but you basically had no choice right now. 

and with that, the ball was released once more, and within a few seconds the results came out: twenty-seven. you couldn’t help but stare at disbelief as your boyfriend then hoisted you up and started chanting about how you were his luckiest charm, proceeding to then plant one giant sloppy kiss on your lips before going on to receive all of the prize money and his clothing. at this point, you had gotten used to the dirty glares the others have given you. quite frankly, you were just relieved to be outta there, which did happen as the moment dice got all of your winnings, you grabbed his hand and bolted out of that place, never wanting to see that place again. that in and of itself was an adventure of a lifetime, and you weren’t sure if you could take anymore excitement for at least a good few years, all thanks to your adventurous and carefree boyfriend. 

the walk back home through the crisp night air was quiet on your part, though dice couldn’t stop going on and on about how you won big and saved his ass, reiterating that you were his lucky charm, luckier than any dumb ol’ dice he had used beforehand. while dice went on his whole spiel about just how exciting all of that was, you were deep in thought about the events that had just went down. there was no way that this series of events was nothing but a coincidence. coincidences don’t just happen back to back! at least, the odds of that were slim to none. guess the only reasonable explanation was just as dice said, you were lucky. but you were quite skeptical about luck! luck was unreasonable, luck wasn’t logical. luck was just that, it was luck. how could you place your hopes on something as strange as that? but how could you possibly dismiss everything that happened both tonight and back at the parlor? no matter how skeptical you were, the proof was right there! geez, now your head hurt too much from thinking about it. sighing, you stared at your boyfriend who was nonchalantly talking about how you were so cool back there, smiling as you intertwined your hands with his and embraced his warmth. you were just happy that he came back safe and sound. you were, after all, his good luck charm, and he was yours too.

[fairy-spring]

Take to the Skies - 7/?

~.*.~.*.~

I’m sorry this has taken so long to update. I’ve just moved in with my boyfriend, and I’m finally trying to dip my toe back into writing.

~.*.~.*.~

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… She was staring again. The little girl with auburn hair and lime green eyes. Link was fairly sure he’d caught her staring quite a few times before. She was the daughter of the city’s top healer, from what he’d heard, which meant she’d pass through here every single day. Normally she’d be here with her father, or at least with a small group of friends. Why was she alone today, of all days?

“Oh, don’t pay her any mind,” Silas scoffed. “No need to be so embarrassed. She likes to watch everyone when they’re training.”

“Why’s that?” Orville questioned, his head tilted to one side. Silas merely rolled his eyes, as if the answer was the simplest thing in the world.

“Because,” he stressed, “we nobles always watch the page boys and the squires while they’re training!”  

Link squinted his eyes as he took in Silas’ words. He wasn’t blind to the goings-on around him, and neither was Orville. They perfectly understood that such things did happen. After all, random members of nobility poked their heads in to observe their shenanigans, well, every day. At least, that was how it felt.

“But why?” he repeated for his friend. “Why do they watch us all the time?”

“Because it’s entertaining to them.” Silas sighed as he shook his head. “Honestly, don’t you bumpkins understand anything?”

Link gritted his teeth, his grip tightening on his wooden sword. The nerve of this kid! They were the exact same age, and here he was acting like he was so much mightier and holier than the both of them! Link was pretty sure pride was a sin; perhaps even the cardinal sin, if memory served him correctly. The blond smirked at the thought, and he opened his mouth to speak.

“Ya know, Si-”

“Hey, can I play too?”

A small dust cloud picked up behind the young lady as she bolted her way over to the trio of boys, catching Link completely off-guard. It was the same little girl who was watching them earlier; auburn hair, big green eyes... She was bouncing up and down on the balls of her little feet, and she hummed to herself as she held her balled-up little fists over either side of her head. Evidently, the girl’s excitement could barely be contained.  

“Huh?!” Orville exclaimed, obviously perplexed by the situation. “L-Little girl, you can’t-!”

“Why, young lady,” Silas interrupted, suddenly bent over in a courteous bow to the redhead. “I’m afraid this isn’t mere play, my dear. This is serious training for knights-to-be, such as myself.”

Link glared daggers at the raven-haired boy, and he scoffed as he crossed his arms. The nerve of this guy, pulling a complete one-eighty like that. He shared a glance with Orville, who could only roll his eyes as Silas continued attempting to sate the little girl’s curiosity and shoo her away. The more he talked, however, the more she pouted, her brow creased and her lips pressed in a firm line.

“But, but, but, but...” She slowly lowered her arms and placed her hands behind her, and she shifted her weight between her feet.

“Besides, don’t you have other young ladies you could play with instead?” Silas smiled warmly, a stark contrast to his usual smarmy smirk. “I’m sure they’re all dying to spend time with you, young lady.”

“They’re all in the chapel with Mother Aleesha,” she whined as she slumped over. “And I can’t go till later!”

“I’m very sorry to hear that... Well, you can always watch, but I’m afraid I can’t let such a fragile young lady get into harm’s way.” Upon saying this, he gestured to Link and Orville, and he let out a soft chuckle. “I fear what would happen if you were to roughhouse with blacksmiths’ sons.”

“Hey!”  

Link thrust his wooden sword towards Silas, in defiance of his backhanded niceties. Silas easily sidestepped the boy and tripped his right leg, sending him spiraling to the ground. With a sigh, the dark-haired boy addressed the little girl again, as if Link was a mere annoyance. Orville scrambled to help his friend off the ground, silently asking if he was alright. The blond could only nod in reply, wiping the dirt off his tunic as he glared once again at the little bastard before them.

“You see what I mean, lady Celine?” Silas shook his head again and reached out his hand for the girl to take. “These boys are so hotheaded, I fear what they’d do to someone so gentle!”

Celine didn’t grab for Silas’ hand, however. Instead, she was staring directly at Link. Almost reflexively, the boy turned his head away. She was about to say something too, huh? No doubt, she was going to scoff or snicker or say something in agreement with Silas, and he’d have to deal with ridicule not just from them, but from the entire circle of nobles in the fortress! The redhead stepped towards him and Orville, and he flinched at the thought of what she’d do.  

However, no ridicule came. No mockery or shame reached his ears. Instead, the girl eyed him sympathetically, and she asked, “Are you okay?”

Link’s eyes widened at her words. Though it was such a simple question, he never would have expected it to come out of a noble; especially after the way Silas had treated the both of them...

“I...” Suddenly, he was lost for words, and he could only bring himself to nod once again, pale blond hair bouncing as he did. Celine was beaming upon seeing his response, and she giggled as she grabbed his abandoned training sword and hopped next to Orville.  

“Then, will you guys play with me?”

Orville was just as baffled as Link, his mouth hung open for a solid couple seconds before he could speak.  

“W... Why are you asking us?” He motioned between himself and his friend, eyes squinted at the little redhead. Clearly, something was up with this girl. “I thought bumpkins were dangerous.”

“Yeah, well, you guys seem like fun!” Her lime-green eyes shined in the light as she beamed at the pair. With an impish giggle, she held the sword out to Link for him to take. “Come on, Forge, don’t you want to play?”

The blond raised his brow in questioning, and he hesitantly accepted the training sword.

“... Forge?”

“Yeah, Forge!” Another giggle from Celine. “You know, because you’re a blacksmith’s son!” She then pointed to Orville, taking the boy aback as he gawked in confusion. “And you’re Smithy!”

“S-Smithy?!”

Orville could barely voice his displeasure with the new nickname, as Celine merely snickered and snatched his own wooden sword from its sheath. The brunet hollered and gave chase to the little girl, fruitlessly swiping his hand out in a poor attempt to take it back. All the while, Celine was gazing intently at Link.

“Come on, Forge, pleeeeease?”  

“I told you, it isn’t play!” Silas suddenly butted in, stepping between her and Orville. He held out a hand to the girl, this time with the expectation for her to return the stolen glorified stick. “My lady, I can’t allow you to get hurt. Please, give it back.”

“Then, will you guys teach me?”

“Absolutely not,” the boy sighed in reply. “A young lady is fair and pure, just like the white goddess. She has no need to get her hands dirty.”

Link rolled his eyes once again. Was this the only reason Silas was so against this? This was for religious reasons?

“Ya know,” the blond started, “ladies around the ranches and the smiths outside the wall have to help their husbands, whether it’s by protecting cattle or firing the coals. Why can’t the lady learn swordplay?”

That alone was enough to get Silas fuming, and Link couldn’t help but smirk at the effect his words had. It looked like the poor noble boy was about ready to burst! It seemed that Celine’s presence was the only thing keeping him from blowing up on Link. Orville was baffled by Link’s remark, his mouth hung open and his hands held in front of him as if asking, “Why?!” The young lady, however, was grinning from ear to ear, clutching Orville’s sword tightly to her chest.

“So, you’ll teach me, Forge?!”

Link looked Silas dead in the eye as he answered Celine.  

“Sure, why not?”

[starsfic]

(Wolf House AU) Lilith was always a fan of magic. Ever has been since she stared reading Azura the Good Witch books. Her sister Eda was also a fan of magic. Sure she made fun of Azura for being "a bunch of flowery garbage", but a love of magic was something they both shared. So when they found the portal leading to the Boiling Isles and meeting Luz the Wolf Lady. Well they couldn't pass up the change to learn real magic, could they?

A/N: Wolf House AU created by @aweirdlatina!

“Pleeeeease teach us magic, Ms. Wolf Lady!”

Lily stifled giggles as she watched Eda, the known tough girl of the Clawthorne twins, hold onto Luz Noceda’s ankle as she pleaded with puppy eyes. Sure, this world was weird and scary...but Ms. Noceda had been kind enough to give them shelter.

And she could teach them magic!

“Have you no dignity, kid?” Luz said, not even looking away from the mug she was stirring.

“You don’t need dignity when you have magic.” Lily could argue with Eda on that point later. Right now, she was cheering her on to break Luz. There was a groan from the grey-haired woman.

“...fine.”

“Yay!” Eda hopped off Luz’s ankle to instead grab Lily’s hands, twirling her twin around. “We’re gonna learn magic!”

Luz muffled a groan into her mug.

[randomdarksidersblog27]

'Sly,stay here and don't come out till I tell you alright?' Conner told his young son. Sly whimpered,reaching for his father.

'B-but Daddy! They'll hurt you!' The small raccoon cried,trying to grab the adult and pull him to safety. Conner just smiled knowingly,hugging his son. Possibly for the last time.

'I'm willing to risk that if it means keeping you safe Sly.....I love you.'  Conner said before he closed the closet door. He faced the intruders and prepared himself. He just hoped they didn't find his son.......Last he heard was Sly crying and calling him.

'Daddy!'

'Daddy-Daddy! Daddy! ' Conner woke with a start,staring at -

"Sly!" The four year old beamed at him,giggling.

"Daddy! You were talking in your sleep again silly head!" The gray raccoon chirped,nuzzling his father. Conner held Sly close to his chest,heart racing. It had all been a dream? No....no....a memory. Somehow he managed to survive the attack and the Fiendish Five were beaten and arrested. Conner had gone to the hospital and stayed for a good few months,causing Sly to be put in the Happy Places Orphanage until his father was released. That had been the hardest thing Conner ever had to go through. His poor baby boy,alone in that slum of a place. This was the first week that he had Sly back,and like hell Conner was gonna let go.

"Sorry 'bout that pumpkin. Daddy was just......remembering things. How are you this morning,are you hungry? What do you want to do today?" Conner asked as he sat up,Sly fitting in his lap like a puzzle piece.

"Can I go see Murray and Bentley? Pleeeeease?' Sly begged,big brown eyes pleading.

"Who?" Conner asked,raising a brow.

"Bentley and Murray! They're my friends I made in the orphananage!" The young raccoon happily chimed,beaming brighter than the sun.

"Oh? I'm happy you made friends,but.....I don't think we can go see them? Not unless we make an appointment." Sly frowned.

"Why?" The older raccoon shifted,sighing.

"Because. That's how they get adopted." He explained. That wasn't the right thing to say,as Sly's whole face lit up and he started to bounce like he had eaten mounds of sugar.

"CAN WE ADOPT THEM? CANWECANWECANWECANWE?" He yelled. Conner groaned,his head starting to ache.

"Sly,sweetie,no.....I can't adopt them. Its a long process,and I don't think they'd like me anyway." He tries to reason. His son looked disappointed and sadly slinked off his lap,disappearing into the hallway. Conner thunked his head against the bedframe. Why did he feel like this would bite him in the ass?

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The next few weeks were full of Sly not so subtly leaving notes and hints of adoption around the house. Pamphlets in the cereal,single sheets of 'why adoption is the answer' on the coffee machine,even cute little drawn family portraits of Conner,Sly,and who he assumed were Bentley and Murray holding hands left by his computer,the toilet,just.....anywhere. This was NOT something Sly was going to drop was he?

It came to a head one night,as Conner finished cooking and went to the table,only to find it set for four. Conner sighed and put the meal in the middle of the table,calling for his son.

"Sly Thatcher Cooper! Get down here now!" He called upstairs. He heard the small boy coming down the stairs and waited for him,arms crossed. Sly saw the table,then looked at his father with hope.

"Uh....surprise?" He said shyly. Conner sighed again,rubbing his temples.

"Sly,sweetheart......You need to understand,we can't adopt. We can't invite more people to our lives,they might not be able to catch up. We are THIEVES Sly. We can't AFFORD to have a hippo and a turtle with us,they can't do what we do. I'm so sorry honey,I truly am." He said,kneeling beside his son and laying a hand on his shoulder. Sly looked at his dad,heartbroken. He began to breathe irratically,eyes welling up with tears. His hands curled into fists and his lower lip wobbled. It was at this moment Conner knew,he fucked up.

Piercing wails filled the house,possibly heard for miles. The paintings on the walls shook,glasses rattled,cats on the streets hid! Sly was throwing his first ever true tantrum. And what a glorious tantrum it was. Crying,wailing,screaming at the top of his tiny lungs. He threw himself around on the floor,rolling around and just LOSING HIS ABSOLUTE COLLECTIVE MARBLES. Conner couldn't believe it. His perfect son,the most well behaved toddler he had EVER known,was losing his shit right in front of him. All because he wanted two orphans to join their family............he was so going to regret this wasn't he?

"-and that's how I convinced Dad to adopt you guys! I may say,it has been my finest work to date." Sly said as he sat cross legged on the rug,beaming at his audience. Bentley,shaking his head,patted Sly on the back.

"Sly.....I'm not sure that's true. Your finest work is when you seduced that one weird fellow at school into giving you the answers for the chemistry test." He said. Sly blushed,covering Bentley's mouth.

"Shhh! Don't let Dad hear you!"

"Don't let Dad hear what?" Conner said as he came into the room. Sly removed his hand,smiling innocently.

"U-uh,that Murray is hungry again!" He lied. Murray looked up from his magazine.

"I'm not hungry,I'm STARVING!" The hippo complained. Conner chuckled.

"Well,I was JUST about to come get you rascals for pizza. Care to join?" He asked,laughing hard when the three preteens scrambled to get out the door first. Sly was last,but he turned to his dad and hugged him suddenly. Conner hugged back,confused before Sly spoke.

"I just wanted to say thanks Dad........I have brothers now,and they're essential to the team.....thank you for adopting them and teaching them......I love you." Sly said. Conner chuckled and kissed his son's head.

"I'll admit,they've grown on me.....just promise me no more tantrums. People thought we had an earthquake from how hard you kicked the ground." The older raccoon joked. Sly blushed and stuck his tongue out before joining his father and brother's at the table. It was a mismatched family. A little broken,but still good.

Yeah. Still good.

@cooperific-aus I loved your AU of Conner rasing them.

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-yigas]

Could we get another Miphlink/Yiga Husbands double date?? I can't get over how much I love the way you write them! 😅

Thank you! I do in fact, love writing them all, including Mipha, who is JUST precious! (also yes to that one anon, you’re getting that smut of them you wanted, I’m getting there. 20 asks don’t get responded to overnight).

“Mipha, lil’ red, how’ve you been?!”

Kohga and Sooga were invited to come over for another double date. It was Mipha’s turn to pick what to do, and she had a rather interesting idea; learning how to make drinks. That was it. Kohga might have thought something like clothes making, maybe even searching for seashells or watching Link do his training. Not that Kohga was complaining, he loved an excuse to drink. Mipha accepted his offer for a hug, just delighted to see him.

“Kohga, Sooga! My dear friends! How are you both?”

Mipha parted from the hug, and offered Sooga her hand. She learned a long time ago that he didn’t exactly enjoy touching women, so she always offered her hand, in case he didn’t want to be touched. He refused it this time around, lightly bowing his head in apology.

“I’m quite well, Lady Mipha. Didn’t think I’d be carrying so much alcohol on my back though.”

Kohga scoffed, arms folded across his chest.

“What? You expect ME to carry it?”

“No Master Kogha, I just-”

“Anyhow, he’s just whiny because it’s an indoor date. I’m SO ready to teach you how to make some drinks! Where’s your little boyfriend anyway?”

“He’s inside, helping me set out the snacks.”

Sooga cocked his head to the side.

“Should...you have left HIM near the food?”

She thought about it for a moment, and realized her mistake.

“Er...pardon me for a moment.”

She dashed back inside, and Kohga chuckled. Sooga looked down at Kohga, and he could NOT stop smiling. Kohga noticed it, and scowled.

“What’s so funny?”

“You call ME such a lovesick sap. Yet here you are, fawning over their love. You’re such a hypocrite.”

“You know what, get your ass inside, I’m not listening to you.”

Sooga chuckled as Kohga nagged him into talking inside. Mipha had her own room in Zora’s domain, but quite frankly, it was like a mini mansion. A giant bedroom, a kitchen, and a living room, all to herself. No doubt it was built for her purely because everyone LOVED her, not that she needed such space. Kohga liked it here though, it was DAMN pretty in here, even though red was his personal favorite color. Kohga closed the door behind them as he dipped his head into the kitchen. Mipha was scolding Link (if you would call her gentle ‘please save food for the guests’ scolding), when she seemed to just now notice them, smiling as she brought over bowls of snacks to the living room.

“Sorry, Link ate most of the fried salmon skins. He really does enjoy my cooking.”

Sooga gave a shake of his head.

“It’s alright, he may have them. Kohga always makes me shower after I eat fish.”

“Because that smell just does NOT go away! How am I supposed to cop a feel when you smell like a doc?”

Link didn’t have any complaints, grabbing the bowl and helping himself to the rest of the salmon skins, nodding at them both in a hello. Mipha chuckled, slightly shaking her head.

“So long as that isn’t an issue for anyone, I would’ve gladly made some more for you, Sooga.”

“Kind, but not needed Mipha, thank you. If I may though, can I put this bag down? I’d hate to accidentally break any bottles.”

“Oh yes, please, on the coffee table!”

Sooga nodded, going to the living room and putting the rather big back of alcohol down onto the table. Mipha brought a little cart full of snacks (including sauteed nuts, honey candies, meaty rice balls, bread and butter, tabantha bakes, and banana chips), pushing it right by the table before she sat down next to Link on one of the couches. Kohga whistled at the rather cute array of treats she had.

“You didn’t have to make so much, Mipha! That’s sweet of you, but I wouldn’t want you putting so much work into this.”

“You agreed to teach us all about making drinks, providing you food is the least I can do! I also have some cake in the fridge, in case we need something else sweet.”

“Ugh, you’re precious Mipha, you really are. Blondie, don’t lose this one, she’s a good one.”

Link nodded in determination, and in a way, Mipha found it adorable. Kohga started to take out the bottles from the pack, setting it all down. Now Kohga wasn’t an alcoholic by any means, but he did like having variety in his drinks, hence why he had QUITE the stock. Mipha leaned over to the tray of snacks, helping herself to a meaty rice ball. Even as she was stuffing her little face, she was being so neat about it, just as the princess she was. Sooga meanwhile, sat up straight and to attention, as usual, not letting himself relax.

“So, what drinks ARE we making today, Master Kohga?”

“Let’s start with Mipha’s. Ladies first and all of that. I know which one you like, I NEVER forget a drink order. Don’t think you’ve ever seen me make drinks actually, so this should be fun.”

Kohga was always fast when it came to making drinks of food. It took him pretty much only a minute to cut fruit, salt the rim (of course he brought his own glasses), pour the ice, juice, vodka and stir. Sure it was a simple drink, but the speed was nonetheless impressive. He handed her the glass, and she gladly accepted it, handing the rest of her rice ball to Link. She took a sip, and although she tried to hide it, he could tell she enjoyed it, based on the way her lips curled into a little bit of a smile.

“I always thought it was so much more complicated than that, quite frankly.”

“Honestly, ANY drink is easy, once you know what you’re doing. Sooga, your turn big guy.”

“I don’t think we packed wine.”

“We didn’t, because that’s boring. That, and I like the fact that you watch my hands when I make these.”

Kohga nudged him with his shoulder, trying and failing not to grin. Sooga knew he was right, he LOVED watching him make things. Be it food, drinks, or...well, anything really. Kohga dug into the bag, pulling out a bunch of stuff. Sooga cocked his head to the side, curious.

“Wait, what are you making-”

“Shh, you’ll like it, trust me.”

In a tall glass, Kohga poured a container of some kind of syrup, adding some wild berries right after. He mashed them up, added a bit of some red liquid, and topped it off with ice cream, and a dash of soda. Sooga picked up the glass, inspecting the rather colorful drink.

“What...is this?”

“It’s a float, just try it. I even made it low alcohol, because you’re a pansy.”

Sooga gave it a sip, and slowly nodded, finding himself rather liking it.

“That’s quite nice, actually. Sweet, but bitter. How did you get the ice cream to stay-”

“Don’t ask questions, and just enjoy. Meanwhile, let’s get to refilling your glass Mipha, you’re all ice over there.”

Mipha looked down at her glass, lightly shaking her head.

“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly. One is more than enough.”

“Come on, you ain’t swimmin’ anywhere. Just one more?”

Mipha hesitated, but chuckled in defeat, handing him her glass.

“Alright. But just one more, then that’s it.”

“Atta girl!”

He chuckled, gladly setting her up with another drink. He had to at this point, who wouldn’t make a drink for their hostess? Especially with the way the snacks seemed to slowly be disappearing. Kohga rested his chin on his hand as he looked at Link.

“Now...what would YOU like, I wonder. Don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink, Goldilocks.”

Link gave a shake of his head, stuffing his face full of buttered bread. Kohga thought about it, before snapping his fingers.

“Wait, I got just the thing for you!”

Link had only just recently become of drinking age, so he wasn’t exactly a booze hound. Not a problem, Kohga catered to anyone and everyone, experience be damned. Kohga started to two different kinds of rum, some vodka, lemonade, and some black currant cordial. He mixed it all together, and slid it over to Link.

“Like it? It’s a ‘pink fairy’. Seems like something you’d like. Bit on the strong for some, but hey go big or big home. Now drink, drink!"

Link took a sip, lightly shaking his head after his sip. Kohga chuckled, leaning over and patting him on his pretty blonde head.

"You'll get used to it, blondie. Just-"

"Link, drink swap."

Mipha traded their drinks (with hers definitely having a lot less), and Link more or less accepted the swap. Mipha chuckled after taking a sip, leaning over to pinch Link's cheek.

"It's adorable, your first drink! You're just. So cute, Link."

Link's face erupted in blush, and he rubbed the back of his head, shy boy he was. Sooga pulled out his Sheikah slate as Kohga made his own drink (banana hammock, obviously), and started to play a song, playing it at a reasonable volume. Mipha seemed pleased as the music played, and she squealed, grabbing onto Link’s arm and flailing her legs wildly.

“Link! Oh I LOVE this music! You HAVE to dance with me! Please please pleeeeease!”

Drunk Mipha was a TOTAL dance bunny, and paired without the usual shyness, it was adorable, honestly. Link finished whatever was left of the drink, and nodded. Link was never one to tell his girl no, and it showed. They both got off of the couch, choosing to get up and dance together. The music wasn’t quick, wasn’t slow, but it enough to give a relaxed party vibe to the room, and Kohga couldn’t help but chuckle, nursing his drink as he watched his drunk little fishy get her groove on.

“You did that on purpose didn’t you?”

“I have no idea what you mean. I just like a little postmodern music. Nice tune.”

“Sap.”

“Enabler.”

They both had a chuckle at that, sitting back and watching these two idiots. Drunk Mipha had a little swagger to her, and Link knew fairly well how to dance. Enough so, he managed to dip her, just to kiss her on her forehead.

“That’s bullshit cute. Can’t say I blame her, boys got moves. He-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as Mipha started to tug at his arm, chuckling and swaying in place.

“Come on you two! Can’t just be me and Link up here! Dance with me Kohga!”

“Hey, if you wanna look bad, your funeral, fishy!”

Kohga tossed back the rest of the drink, before trading Link, and getting his chance to dance with Mipha. Link watched Mipha nearly giggle herself half to death, before he offered his hand to Sooga. He rolled his eyes, taking another sip of his drink.

“I suppose Kohga would just scold me if I refused. Alright.”

He accepted his hand, and joined him right next to Mipha and Kohga. It was half hearted, not very well done dancing, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they were having fun, chuckles and giggles moving around the room, just as much as their feet were. Even Sooga had to admit; he was having fun. He swapped partners with Kohga, now dancing with a very enthusiastic Mipha. Thankfully, he wasn’t scared enough to NOT twirl the little princess in place, catching her before her dizziness nearly made her fall to the floor. She cared not at all, laughing it off rather loudly.

“Ha! You’re just like Link! Ever the sweetheart, Sooga.”

“I’d say he’s a lot more like Kohga, quite frankly.”

He chuckled, glancing over at Kohga and Link, who were having just WAY too much fun together. Mipha giggled, getting herself to stand back up.

“You love Kohga SO much, oh my GOD its so sweet. I cry thinking about you guys sometimes, it’s SO sweet. You guys NEED to get married. I wanna see it, so bad.”

“Kohga WOULD look good in a dress, I agree.”

“Thought that’d be you. You have the tits for it.”

“...pardon-”

“Oh switch time!”

Their partners swapped, and suddenly Kohga was in his arms. Not that he had any complaints. Kohga laughed as he held onto Sooga, still keeping in tune to the song.

“Good call on the swap, any longer and I might’ve stolen her mans. I’m telling you, he’s into me.”

“Not anymore than me, Master Kohga.”

“Is that a fact?”

“Absolutely. I can prove it too.”

Sooga leaned down, parted their masks a bit, and pressed his lips against Kohga’s. It was a sweet, tender moment between them, and even though it wasn’t an outdoorsy date, Sooga wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“Link!-”

They both turned to watch Link trip over himself, sending himself falling on top of Mipha, who fell backwards onto the couch. They both shared a laugh, and it was tender, watching Mipha hold onto Link’s face as she did.

“Oh...you’re a big, silly man, Link. I love you. You and your soft face, and your big elephant ears.”

They both snorted at that, forehead pressed together. Sooga looked down at Kohga, who was clearly amused at them both.

“Kohga?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you...think it would end up like this?”

“Well yeah, they’re nuts for each other-”

“No. I mean...everything. Us being together, the world being as perfect as it is now. Did you see that coming?”

“...no. But you know, I’m really glad things ended up how they did. All of it.”

Kohga put his hand into Sooga’s, chuckling. There was a sweet, blissful moment of tenderness between them, before Sooga spoke again.

“You want to grab everything in the fridge and leave them be?”

“Absolutely, been thinking about the cake this whole time.”

[shadow--writer]

Tell me why I get This Feeling, That you Really Wanna Make me Yours

hmm once again on my bullshit (title!). This is all self indulgent lmao, just fluff and setting the stage 

Maeve x Lucas. Playing fairies and catching magic. 4k (lol WHOOPS)

TW: none!

@dela-png 

She sighed, leaning against the counter. “This isn’t working,” she sighed. “You guys feel it too?”

She was teaching a small group today. Will, Andrew, Amanda, Lilith and little Emmie. None of which were paying attention to their spelling lessons.

Granted, neither was she.

“What say we stop the lessons here and go out to do something?” She stretched her arms above her head, adjusting her handkerchief. A lone butterfly fluttered in her stomach as she brushed the embroidered flowers. 

“Do what?” Amanda asked, getting to her feet. Amanda liked to pretend to be hesitant but she was the one abandoning her studies the fastest. 

Even so, Amanda was a bright young lady and Maeve was honoured to teach her.

“Yeah! What are we gonna do?” Lilith chimed in, shoving the papers away from her. 

“Hmmm what if we go on a picnic? We can spend the afternoon in the fields.”

Emmie held her hands up, giggling. “Can we have a tea party?” she asked, her voice a high pitched squeak filled with laughter.

Maeve grinned, pushing herself off the counter. “Why of course milady! All the tea parties you want,” she said with a curtsy. It made the little girl clap her hands together. 

Emmie was only five but her imagination was vivid and her excitement infectious.

“Can we play princess?”

“Well, aren’t you already a princess?” Maeve asked with a wink making the little girl giggle. 

Lilith smiled. “We could put flowers in our hair,” she said to Emmie.

“Flowers?” The five year old’s eyes lit up. “Like what Ms. Maeve has! Will we get flowers like Ms. Maeve’s?”

Flowers like...oh. 

Maeve chuckled, squatting down to ruffle the girl’s hair. “We’ll find even prettier flowers for you.”

Lilith smirked from where she stood with Amanda, picking at dirt under her nails. “Yeah but Maeve yours are better since they’re gifts from a certain someone~”

Maeve felt the tips of her ears go red. “Lucas is only a friend.”

Lilith’s smirk grew more catlike as she looked from her nails back to Maeve. “Mmhmm. But I never said his name.”

…shit she wasn’t wrong. Was she that easy to read?

“Lil Lil, don’t be mean,” Amanda said, bumping her shoulders against Lilith’s. “We all know it’s true, but you shouldn’t say it.”

Lilith’s cheeks were pink as she sulked. “Yeah yeah whatever. She makes it too easy.”

Maeve paused. Did she...make it too easy? They were only friends. Nothing else, but every time his name was mentioned she was…

Up like a dog. 

Her cheeks burned. Okay so maybe the dog comparison wasn’t as off as she would’ve wanted it to be. 

“Well, why don’t we invite him to come with us anyways? Lucas usually brings us something to eat as well when we go on lunch break.”

See? Maeve wasn’t so special. She needed to stop getting in a twist about the little gifts he brought her. 

Especially the flowers. 

“I don’t know...he has work you know. Not all of us can drop everything to go play.”

“Well I’m sure he’d like to go if you’re there,” Lilith muttered. Amanda elbowed her in the side, making her let out a small yelp. 

“I can go see if he can,” Amanda offered. “Lil Lil and I could go.”

“But-”

“Lucas is coming?” Will asked, his eyes lighting up. “I wanna go with! I wanna go with!” He looked at Lilith, tugging on the skirt of her dress. “Can I go with you guys? Pleeeeease?”

Lilith and Amanda shared a look before nodding. 

Maeve rubbed her temples, smiling. Oh this was going to be a mess. “Okay. You three go see if he wants to come along. I’ll take Emmie and Andrew to find a spot and get something sweet along the way. Don’t get your hopes up, he might not come.”

Lilith snorted, but it was Amanda who spoke. “Oh I’m sure he’ll come.”

Maeve pursed her lips, smiling a little. “Tell him...if he does...from me.” They nodded. She leaned in closer, mischief shining in her eyes. “Race ya.”

~~

They ran into the field, tripping and falling. They rolled through the tall grass, laughing.

She made it there first, she noted with a hint of pride. She had made a stop to get something sweet to bring along, so she bought chocolate covered strawberries and little flakey pastries. 

She kept walking, and stopped at the flatter part of the field, fluffing the blanket out. There was a small patch of trees and brush a little ways to their left, a patch of wildflowers in front of them. 

Emmie rolled into the blanket, laughing loudly as she stared up at the sky. 

Maeve put down the basket, sitting beside the giggling girl as she soaked up the sun. 

“Ms. Maeve! Can I do your hair?” Emmie asked. Andrew was eating one of the pastries she brought, picking at the wheat. 

Maeve blinked her eyes open. “Well I mean, of course.”

Emmie grinned, getting up and behind her. She knew her hair was going to be a mess. But it would be a cute mess. 

A few moments later she could hear the chatter of Lilith and Amanda. Will’s laughter was loud above it all. 

She looked over her shoulder to see Lilith running at her, telling Emmie about something or other. 

And there was Lucas. He had Will up on his shoulders and a small basket with him. 

She smiled. When he was close enough, she hummed a victory tune. “I win.”

He pretended to pout, but he was smiling. “I did make lunch.”

“I stopped to get something else to eat as well,” she hummed, her hair being tugged into a braid. “And yet I still won.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” Lucas said, setting Will down. 

“Emmie! Go get some flowers! We can pin them in the braids!” Lilith called, now taking over the mess that was Maeve’s hair. 

“Flowers! Right!”

“I thought I was only getting my hair braided!”

Lilith peeked over her shoulder, smiling. “Yeah. But now we’re putting flowers in it!”

Maeve laughed, looking over at Lucas. He chuckled. “Flowers huh?” 

She looked at his hair, it was a mess of soft looking curls. If she was getting all done up, so was he. 

“Why don’t I do your hair?” she asked. “I brought some aloe just in case, and I can use it…” she reached out to touch a stray curl by his cheek. She brought her hand back quickly, like she’d been burned. “I-If you want to of course!”

“Sure!” he blurted out. “You can. I don’t mind. Just as long as the aloe comes out.”

“It will! I assure you.” She moved to get the basket, ignoring Lilith’s protests. She grabbed one of the aloe leaves, sitting back. She cracked the leaf open, ignoring the gel for a moment. 

She looked up at Lucas, lips twisting as she thought for a moment. She ran her hands through his hair, untangling some of the knots she found and letting it rest in a more slicked back style. One curl was stubborn and kept falling into his eyes. 

She leaned up onto her knees, Lilith moving with her to keep fixing the braids in her hair as Emmie brought back an armful of flowers. 

Lucas watched her work, scooping a little bit of aloe onto her fingers and working it into his curls. It slowly started to slick back, that one stubborn curl still not working with her. She sulked, twisting it around one of her fingers and trying to pull it back.

No luck.

She combed her fingers back through his hair, watching it slick back into place. She gave up on the one curl falling between his eyes. 

Lilith poked her with a flower stem. She let out a low hiss, sitting back down onto her legs. “There,” Maeve said with a smile. “All done.”

He blinked out of his shock, touching his hair with a hand. “That easy?”

“Well I’m sure you’ll mess up all my hard work later, but yes.”

He snorted, bumping their shoulders together. “So little faith in me.”

“You tend to roughhouse with Will. And get people bitten by eels.”

“Low blow, Thumbelina. Very low blow.”

She giggled, turning away from him as they settled into a comfortable silence. 

Will and Andrew were sword fighting with sticks, tackling one another off to the side. Amanda was looking through the food Lucas had brought. 

“All done!” Lilith said, pride seeping into her voice. Maeve touched the back of her head, her hair gathered into one long braid snaking down her back. Now with flowers tucked into it.

Lilith moved in front of her, tugging a few strands of Maeve’s bangs out of the braid to hand around her cheeks. “Perfect!”

Emmie clapped, tugging on Lilith’s hand pleading her to do her hair next. Maeve watched them, amused, as they moved towards Amanda. 

Maeve watched Amanda kneel before Lilith, both of them laughing. Amanda’s cheeks were pink as she kissed Lilith’s knuckles. 

Oh oh ho. 

“Looks like we have a case of first love on our hands,” Maeve whispered to Lucas. 

“What?”

She pointed at the two teenagers, who were laughing and blushing. Definitely first love. 

He watched them. “I...what?”

...he could not be serious. 

“Can’t you see it? The way they look at one another. How red their faces are. The sweetness in their expressions!” Maeve said with a smile. She knew Lilith liked Amanda due to an off hand remark followed by threats to keep it a secret. 

“Oh, I see it now,” he whispered as Lilith helped Amanda to her feet. They started chasing Emmie around, both of them laughing and looking at one another when the other wasn’t. 

“I remember my first love,” Maeve said with a soft smile. “He was my first kiss as well, it’s a riveting experience. Do you remember yours?”

“I uh...no.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a first love before. Well, at least not in a person.” 

“Never...had one?”

“Didn’t have the time to.”

“Not all first loves are romantic, you know. But the ones most people have are.”

“I don’t think I’ve been in love romantically before then.”

“Never?!”

“I was...I couldn’t be.” He looked over at her. His shirt looked like a tunic, with laces down the front. She fought the urge to pull on the drawstrings. “What’s it like?”

“Love?”

“Yeah.”

She looked up at the sky, pursing her lips. “Well it’s different for everyone. To me it’s about the passion you feel when you think of them. The swell in your heart when you see them. The comfort you feel in their presence. How they make you want to be better, do better. The way they can make you smile with just a look. The inside jokes, the little gifts. Being able to wake up in their arms every single day and never tire of it.”

“That’s...beautiful.”

“Of course love is a fucking bitch.” He blinked in surprise at the low snarl in her voice. Ah experience. 

“It’s a double edged sword. One loving and sweet, the other dark and biting. Love can easily be sweet and kind, but just as cruel. Broken hearts are no joke,” she said with a smile. “But that’s life I guess.”

He shuddered. “That side of love seems awful.”

“Two sides to the same coin I suppose.”

“It shouldn’t be cruel though.”

“What...do you mean?”

“Well from what I gather broken hearts are normal, but love shouldn’t turn cruel and sharp, you know?”

“I’ve...never thought of it that way.”

He prodded her side. “What kind of love have you been feeling then?”

She paused. She hadn’t thought about it much since she left… “The cruel one I suppose.”

His eyes softened. “Well I hope you feel the sweet kind again.”

“I hope so too.”

They smiled at one another, being interrupted by Will jumping into their laps, trying to escape Lilith’s threats to tickle him. 

Lucas grinned wickedly. “You just jumped into a pit of vipers little man,” he said, prodding at Will’s sides. Will let out a squeal, trying to get away. 

“Lucas!” Will screamed, Lucas prodding his sides as he squirmed. 

Maeve laughed. “Magic word and I help you,” she whispered to Will. 

His eyes were pleading. “P-P-P-Please,” he begged. 

She smiled, turning to Lucas who was none the wiser. Her smile grew wicked.

She poked him in the side once and he let out a wheeze, shifting away from her. Then she poked him again. 

He turned to look at her with a huff. She motioned Will away before turning back to Lucas who was slowly catching on to her plan. 

“Don’t-”

She tackled him, laughing. He let out a small ‘oof’, falling flat on his back as she straddled his hips and prodded at his sides. 

He squirmed underneath her, arms flailing as he tried to get her off. But she was relentless. 

“M-M-Maeve!” he wheezed, reaching out to get her off of him. And to possibly turn the tides. “Thumbelina!” 

Oh no that wouldn’t do. 

She leaned forward, taking his hands in hers and pinning them to the ground above his head as she leaned over him victorious. 

“Pinned ya!” she said with a large grin. Soft laughter snuck into her tone.  

Lucas rolled his eyes, wiggling his arms. “Alright alright, you win. Lemme up.” She giggled, letting go of his hands. He sat up, making her slide down into his lap. 

Then he grinned, tackling her into the wheat. She let out a shriek as one of his hands darted along her sides and the other held down her wrists. 

She squirmed, kicking at open air.

Fighting a huff, she kneed him softly in the thigh. Surprise flicked over his features and she took the opportunity to shove him off of her, the two of them rolling down the small slope and into the grass and patch of wildflowers. 

Emmie let out a whine of protest as they rolled over some flowers. They were laughing the entire time and when they stopped she had him pinned again. 

She smirked, tossing her now messy braid over her shoulder. Flowers dangled out of the strands, falling onto his chest. 

“Pinned ya again.”

She sat up, letting go of her hold on his shoulders. He just stared at her as she moved off of him and ran up the slope again.

Her heart was fluttering too much. 

“Well you two looked like you were having fun,” Lilith said, a tease clear in her voice. 

Maeve glowered at her. “Mmmhm. And you and Amanda?”

Lilith’s face went red. “Well! She...we- um…”

“I thought so,” she teased. 

Lilith pouted. “Not like you can say anything.”

“Like I’ve said, we’re only friends.” Her tone was firm but even she almost didn’t believe what she was saying. 

Lilith only rolled her eyes, the other running back to join them. Emmie was waving flower crowns in the air, Amanda following close behind. 

Will glared at Lucas, who was now climbing back up the slope.

The boy looked back at Maeve. “What are you supposed to be? I’m a knight!”

“A knight! How chivalrous,” she said with a sweet smile. “I’m just a handmaiden.”

“No!” Emmie pouted, stomping her foot. “Princess!”

“Well a Princess then I guess.”

“Wait…” Amanda said, holding up a flower crown she and Emmie had made. “You’re too old to be a Princess.”

Well...ouch. 

Lilith caught on. “A queen!”

Maeve paused. Okay that stung less. “But-”

Lilith and Amanda ran over, dropping the flower crown onto her head, singing a song and laughing. “A queen! A queen!” Emmie cheered. 

“And what am I the queen of?” Maeve asked, adjusting her new crown. Fine she could roll with this.

“Fairies,” Lucas said, an affectionate smile growing across his face. “Queen Thumbelina Maeve of the fairies.”

“Ugh you suck,” she said, shoving him to the side as he laughed. 

“And what am I?” Lucas asked with a grin. “A knight or a prince?”

“The evil villain!” Will said, sticking his tongue out. “You tickled me!”

Lucas stopped. “The villain?”

Oh no.

He was slow to look at her. A wicked grin crept across his face, replacing the excited one.

Oh. Gods. No. 

He scooped her up, protests rising to her lips in a high pitched scream as she was tossed over his shoulder. “If you want me to play the villain I will! Muahaha! I have kidnapped your beloved Fairy Queen!” Lucas said, his voice filled with such...cheesy fake acting. 

The kind you could only find in make believe. 

She kicked her legs, he held a hand to her thigh. “Let me go you ruffian!” she yelled, tipping down farther against his back. She was laughing too hard. “Oh my fair knights!” She pretended to swoon as Lucas spun them around avoiding Will’s stick. 

He started jogging off with her over his shoulder. She gripped the fabric of his shirt, laughing so hard her hands shook. He adjusted her so she wasn’t falling off of his shoulder. 

He was holding her like a sack of flour. 

The ruffian. 

Amanda and Lilith were bent next to one another, their laughter sweet. Will chased after Lucas with a yell, Andrew following close behind. 

“I’m going to take all the Fairy Queen’s magic and use it for my own evil plan!” Lucas called after them.

“Oh help me my knights, we mustn’t let our magic be stolen!” she said, trying to fight her smile. 

Lucas stopped by the brush, setting her down on the ground and grabbing a stick. “I challenge you to a duel!” he said, holding the stick up to Will. 

“I accept!” Will boasted, smacking Lucas’ stick. Andrew started hitting Lucas on the back of the legs. 

“Ow hey that’s not fair,” Lucas whined, making her laugh. 

“You kidnapped me, all's fair in rescuing your queen!” She clapped her hands, her skirt fluffing out around her seated form. “Get him!” she cheered. 

“You’re mean,” Lucas said, his smile lighting up his eyes. 

“Mmm you like it,” she replied with a wink. 

Will smacked his stick out of his hand, jabbing at Lucas’ chest. “Ooh!” Lucas moaned in fake pain, grabbing the stick and sticking it under his arm. “You got me! I’m dying.” He swooned, falling to the ground. 

Will poked him. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Lucas cracked an eye open. “This is the part where you take your Queen into the woods for safety.”

“Oh!” Will looked at Maeve, she got to her feet. He grabbed her hand, tugging her into the brush. She picked up her skirts, giggling. 

“Oh Sir Will, you are so brave,” she said, ducking into the bushes. 

Will curled up, looking around. “So what now?” he asked. 

“Well, this is the part where your fair lady thanks you,” she said with a smile. 

He blinked. “You’re welcome?”

She snorted. “How would you like a kiss?”

“A kiss from the fairy queen?”

“Why yes! A magic kiss. It’ll grant you protection and safety from any threat!” 

His face twisted as he thought about it. “A magic kiss?” She nodded. He smiled at her, tilting his face closer to hers. 

Laughing, she pulled him closer to her, hugging him and planting a scrunched up kiss on his cheek. “You were very brave.”

He squealed out a giggle, wiggling out of her arms. They could hear Amanda and Lilith’s laughter, and Lucas yelp as little Andrew hit him with a stick again.

They walked out of the brush, Andrew dropping the stick to follow Will back to the blanket.

Maeve laughed, squatting down the “dead” Lucas. “You okay there?”

“Sticks are no joke,” he groaned, sitting up. “Andrew got me pretty good.”

She giggled, pressing the back of her hand to her lips. “Now you’ll have more bruises for me to treat.”

“Great.”

“Oh don’t be so dramatic,” she giggled, helping him to his feet. They walked back to the kids who were eating the sandwiches he brought. His shirt now had grass and dirt stains. 

“We can split the lunch you brought me,” she said, swaying her hips a little. 

“What? You don’t have to do that.”

She bumped their hips together, grinning up at him. She felt light around him. Like a cloud. “Well I want to!”

He smiled, brushing a leaf from her hair. “...okay.”

Humming, she ran ahead, spinning around and laughing. “Catch me if you can, vile villain!” She stuck her tongue out at him as she ran backwards. 

He grinned, chasing after her. She let out a squeal, turning and bolting.

Of course he caught up to her, wrapping her up in a hug and spinning her around. She let out a squeal, throwing her head back as she laughed and they spun. 

He set her down after a moment, letting her right herself. 

They just stared at one another for a moment, heat flooding her cheeks as her heart fluttered violently. 

Oh.

Oh no.

The two of them looked away from one another as they blushed. Oh no indeed. When she turned to look at him she was hit with a wave of...a desire to kiss him.

Going straight as a rod her cheeks warmed. She was sure she was glowing now too. “I’mgoingtogetsomethingtoeat,” she blurted out, rushing over to the blanket, trying to ignore her red face. 

She did not want to kiss her friend. No sir. 

She was not wanting to kiss Lucas at all. She had already been through this! It never ended well. Friendship was better anyways. He wouldn’t want her that way anyways. 

He stayed behind for a moment, only watching her go. 

She turned around, trying to stamp down the butterflies in her stomach. Just friends. 

“Come on!” she said, holding out her hand.

He blinked, before smiling and jogging over to her to take her hand. He squeezed her hand once, making her heart skip a beat. Just friends.

His smile was affectionate and his voice was soft. “Okay.”

Just...friends. 

~~

They started walking back when the sun started to set. She swung her arms, baskets in hand. 

“That was fun, thank you for letting me tag along,” Lucas said. 

“Of course! I’m glad we got out today, it really was fun,” she replied, spinning around to look at him, walking backwards now as she swayed. “Thank you for coming.”

“I’m...glad I did.”

“Me too.”

They smiled at one another. 

“I can take the kids back,” he said.

She nodded. “You know where they hang out better than I do. I should...clean up. We kinda left a mess behind.”

He chuckled, dropping her off at the stoop of her clinic. There was an awkward silence for a heart beat. 

Then another. 

He broke it with a dorky smile. “Well...see you later then,” he started, sweeping into a bow with an invisible hat. She pressed her fingers to her mouth as she laughed. “Queen Thumbelina.” He took her hand, gently kissing her knuckles before letting her hand drop.

He moved to leave. “Wait!” she said, pulling the flower crown off of her head. He stopped, turning around from the lower step. She stretched onto her tiptoes, placing the crown (very crookedly) on his head with a light kiss brushed against his cheek. “Thank you. The kids really like having you around,” she whispered. 

She turned to go inside, trying to ignore the heat in her face. 

He stood there, watching her go inside. She waved, closing the door softly. 

Through the window she watched him touch the crown and tap his cheek once. His smile never faded, but it looked uncertain. 

She watched him walk down the street, the kids running around him as they were bathed in the sunset. 

Her heart raced in her chest. 

She sank to the floor, heart racing and cheeks warming. Lilith was right. Maeve was easy to read.  

She liked him. 

She liked him...a lot, didn’t she?

She buried her face in her hands. She knew the answer, she didn’t like the answer. It was still her answer nonetheless. 

Yes.

She did. 

And she didn’t know what she was going to do. 

[mattie-writes-nonprofit]

The Past Always Rises

Aloy is exploring Plainsong when she comes across a familiar face. Her fa- ...the man who raised her.

Aloy didn't expect anything about what she saw when she guided the gaggle of children back to the town. At first, it consisted of disbelief and denial, but... the longer she stood there the more she realized it was real. Rost, her fath- the man who raised her, had left for Utaru land and settled down. Without telling her. Perhaps at first, she felt a bit replaced and pushed aside. It didn't last though.

She was desperate. But she knew it wouldn't turn out well. He wanted to have this family.

So she pulled up her mask and tried walking away. However, it didn't last. With her luck, of course it didn't.

"Wait, Miss Machine Tamer!" the little girl who was clutching Rost's legs just a moment ago exclaimed. "My dad says you should stay for supper."

She paused. There was no way she would be able to say no. Her hair was covered in enough ash and mud that the red wasn't all that noticeable, so she would be alright. As long as she was careful. So, she crouched down and smiled under the mask. "Oh, really? I guess it'd be rude if I said no?"

"Yep!"

Aloy sighed gently, patting the fellow redhead on the top of the head. "I'll stay. But just for dinner."

"Okay!" the girl, who Aloy found out was named Ame, exclaimed. She rushed away back to Rost. Aloy finally noticed that his face was partially wiped clean, his former face paint faded. A few parts of it had streaked across his forehead.

Aloy slapped herself on her cheeks to snap herself out of it. "Let's just... get through dinner." She made sure her Focus was hidden as she followed them. It was helpful, but a dead giveaway.

The dinner was a feast. Less meat than Nora festivals, but still huge. There were bowls full of hardened grain that tasted a bit like honey and at least a dozen types of bread. Fruits and vegetables decorated the tables. While few, some meat-filled plates were sparsely scattered about. There was a prayer thanking the dead before the feast truly started, which Aloy found sweet. It was only once the eating began that she realized how absolutely ravenous she was.

She ate more than she had in weeks and felt as though she was about to burst once she was done.

Ame had sidled up to her side over the course of the meal to begin chatting her ear off. Mostly about what her dads were teaching her and the different machines in the area. Aloy did her part in asking whatever questions she could think of and simply listening.

The kid was cute and... she was Rost's daughter. There was no way Aloy could tell her no.

"You should stay! Just for tonight?"

The disguised redhead tapped the table. "I really should get going..."

"Pleeeeease?" the girl asked pleadingly.

Aloy didn't want to leave even though she knew she had to. But... what would one night do? "Okay. Just tonight!"

The kid cheered as she ran off to Rost once again. This time his mate was with him. An Utaru. She was happy for him despite all the heartache she went through. He deserved to have something to go home to. Aloy rose from the table, carefully walking over to the trio. When Rost noticed her, he had the smallest of smiles.

"I never got to thank you. Thank you for bringing my daughter home, Death Seeker."

She had completely forgotten about the paint on her face. "It was nothing."

"Nonsense," his mate replied. "The little one says you're staying the night? Let us use that as thanks."

Aloy was caught completely off guard. "There's no need."

"Well, Miss Machine Tamer," Rost's mate said. "We insist. My name is Okni, this is Rost. And our daughter, Ame."

She fell asleep faster than she thought she could. But despite that, a nightmare was still lurking. This time it was Rost's supposed death. It burned into her mind that he was gone. With each repeat of the stabbing and explosion, she cried out for him. Desperate to have him stay. She just wanted him to go with her. Unknown to Aloy, she was mumbling his name and reaching out to the open air.

And she was woken up by Rost. But she thought she was still dreaming. So she reached forward and hugged him. "Dad... don't leave again. Please..."

Aloy fully woke up about an hour later and realized what she had done. Rost was sleeping against what she was on and she wanted to reach out and make sure it was real. But she didn't. Instead, she just sat up and gathered her things. She was going to leave and never return, letting him have his happy family without her interfering. She was going to make sure he was happy. Even if it was without her.

However, he woke up before she could.

"Aloy, wait!"

His voice was so desperate that she had to stop in her tracks. She turned slowly, eyes tearing up as Rost stood and hugged her. It had been so long since that had happened. It made her break down to the point of sobs. She held him so tight to make sure he couldn't disappear. Her tears soaked his shirt and his crashed to the floor. They sat like that for a few minutes, just basking in the fact they found each other.

After that... it was catching up.

She told him about everything that had happened before she came to Plainsong. The worry on his face was evident even though she was in front of him safe and sound. All of her endeavors were dangerous, but she wanted him to know. He missed out on far too much. Then she was interrogated about her face paint. The panic was obvious. He was a Death Seeker and knew how breaking it could be.

"The Matriarchs made me a Seeker," she replied gently. "I wanted to... have something of yours. So I copied the paint."

The relieved sigh even made her feel comfortable. "Thank the Goddess."

Once the other two awoke, proper introductions were in place. And when he introduced her as his daughter, she almost cried some more. Ame was ecstatic to have an older sister (who was a machine tamer at that!) and Okni was just glad to have more family. Rost and Aloy were glad to have each other back. She didn't want to leave, not at first, but they all knew she had more things to discover. But Rost made sure that she knew...

"You always have a home here, Aloy."

(p.s. if you like HZD, join the scream room! https://discord.gg/rb6GuFYMcP)

[mantra4ia]

Desires: Lucifer season 5 on Netflix

Created: August 21, 2020. Last Modified: August 22, 2020.

Preface: Alright my Lucis, here’s the sitch: it’s been a minute. Life got a bit chaotic I wasn’t able to start season five quite on time when it premiered on August 21st because I haven’t finished the great 2020 Lucifer rewatch. I’m nearly done however and should be able to jump into it either later today or tomorrow, which is why beforehand I want to — as I’ve traditionally done for a few seasons — create a desires list and keep a tally throughout the season to see how many are met. I am going to try to pace myself, not binge, and watch a single episode a day so don’t spoil me. Likewise I will tag my spoilers. Here we go... #21DaysofLucifer

Season 3 and 4 Roundout - Desires Fulfilled / Questions Answered

✔We’ve seen other demons “like Maze” and a bit of what havoc they can reek. Well sort of. To be quite frank, although it was cool to see them possess the recently deceased, it wasn’t as impending doom as I was expecting. They didn’t seem nearly as disciplined or intimidating as Mazikeen, even Dromos, more bored and desperate.

✔ We’ve seen a little more or the heavenly host in Remiel. Remi was cool, if a bit intense. Her character, and her affinity to Amenadiel was a nice foil to see how far his character has come in evolution. But again like Uriel was for Lucifer, she kind of became a driving force character device to push Amenadiel’s growth. So I wonder if we’ll get to see more of her or not.

✔ (s3) The backstory of Lucifer’s arrival in LA, finding LUX, and making a deal with Amenadiel.

✔ (s3) Cain finally went to hell, YES! Not that I didn’t like Marcus Pierce/Tom Welling, there were some great interactions there, but I just think he was a wishy-washy antagonist based on how he was written and I can’t wait to trade up for Michael.

✔ Maze finally had some happiness and attachment to this silly mortal coil and it slipped away! Why Eve why? I love Maze’s bonding with humans, Linda, Trixie, Chloe. But I love that after a Millennia of serving, and then watching Amenadiel and Linda be happy in a family unit, that she might actually make her own and my hopes were dashed. 

Things we got that we didn’t even know we wanted. SO GOOD:

Season 4 ep 8: Amenadiel bonding with Caleb and confronting community violence, police brutality, and systemic racism. It was a rough episode to be sure, but absolutely needed,

Chloe talking Lucifer down and out of a self-hatred spiral and his transformation into full-fledged devil and back again.

Lucifer playing Creep on repeat while missing the detective (even after insisting in a therapy session that “he’s not a teenager playing Adele on repeat) and Mr. Said Out B**** trying to rob Lucifer and gun point and ultimately get rich. What a fun twist.

The Dan and Maze Los X’s fight. They are wicked good at laying down the  hurt on the criminal element and I was wondering when they’d pair up again after dispatching Warden Perry.

The devil in a bar fight! I mean, it’s only fair since the ladies had their brawl. I love how this fight sequence was filmed in bursts of slo-mo from various angles, involved everything from fists, to tasers, knives, bottles, and the infamous pool cue, and they picked the perfect song for pacing (Jake Bugg, Lightning Bolt, could listen to it all day on repeat.)

Time for all good demons to go home / Enough, you will bow down to your king. Go home! (aka appropriate use of Devilish intimidation face)

Amenadiel vs Remi 

A Rocky montage with Lucifer and Amenadiel / Amenadiel’s face the first time Lucifer drives the Corvette

Lucifer at the roller derby

Chloe the YA fangirl

Maze teaching Trixie about knives, with each handle decorated in a different toy.

Amenadiel and Chloe catching up: your father is so proud of you. Like and angel BOSS!

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:

★ (s3) Amenadiel taking Charlotte home

★ Dan being comforted in his grief by Amenadiel

★ Amenadiel’s wrath and the brotherly duo tag team to lay the hurt on the drug dealer that got Charlie killed. It’s been a while since we’ve seen warrior angel ready to dispatch anyone in his way. And it was glorious!

★ (s3) Lucifer’s almost driving lesson with Trixie “Morningstar”

★ (s3) Maze torturing Lucifer by making him think he’s the Angel of San Bernadino

★ (s3) Amenadiel and Lina helping to dispose of Lucifer’s wings

★  Lucifer kicking Julian, Tiernan’s son, through a glass pane window

★ The goodbye kiss between Lucifer and Chloe

 DIDN’T LIKE:

☒ (s3) Cain playing guitar and singing. What is he, a crime lord, a top cop, or an act that the improv club wouldn’t take? 

☒ Eve. I liked Eve, but we mostly got to see one side of her around Lucifer, and a kind of floundering an confused side when she was with Maze. The side that I would have liked to see more of was the maternal side that came out when she briefly talked about Abel or was interrogated by Trixie. That made her more layered.

☒ Father Kinley. That dude is just meh.

☒ Dan’s broken heart and rebounding with Ella. Don’t get me wrong, its a good arc, but I don’t see it lasting

☒ (s3) Abel and Reese. Those were two side stories I could have done without, although they had great moments of humor. I quite enjoyed Reese’s character, and although I didn’t like Abel Lucifer’s stick-figure comic illustration of Cain fighting with him over a rock was quite enjoyable.

WHAT I TRULY DESIRE: SINFUL SEASON 5, my BURNING QUESTIONS, and SPECULATIONS

Obviously, don’t spoil anything for me, but if any of my desires end up coming true in any of the first eight episodes maybe drop me a hint in the comments...

A big time jump. We need to see the lasting impact of Lucifer’s absence. I know that time in hell works differently per that episode where Lucifer saved Chloe and almost got stuck in a loop, but we still need enough time to elapse that the impact is felt on the mortal side. Or, we need to see the passage of time through a series of events without Lucifer, like a montage of character development. At least a year or so, if for no other reason then Trixie is growing up and I actually want to see her take driving lessons with Lucifer.

Last season Maze gave baby Charlie a gift, something she’d wished she’d had growing up, and previously had alluded to the language of demons, her many siblings, and teased her mother, the mother of all demons. Will we finally get to meet Maze’s mom Lilith (or however they address her)? And, in spite of Mazikeen’s found family, she still has restlessness and abandonment issues. Will her mom finally finally bring her peace, or will clashing with her resolidify Maze’s purpose on earth?

A Decker/Mazikeen team-up or girls night out 2.0 would always be appreciated. At this point its probably 4.0 if you count the bar fight and the bachelorette party.

Will we see tougher, scarier demons, or are they just warmup to the really scary depths of hell?

Speaking of hell, more hell. Tons of hell. I want to know the minutia of all the mechanics. If Lucifer’s gotta be down there in self-imposed exile, he may as well show us around. Pour us a drink.

Will Lucifer see Cain in Hell? Not that I’m dying to see more of “sad Cain” but it would be interesting to see a more dark or desperate or cunning side to him at least now that he’s actually neck deep in torment. Or, alternatively, I’m hedging my bets that he could be a good candidate to light the fire under Lucifer’s *** to get of hell back to the earthly realm. Even in hell, I’m betting Cain would have a soft spot for Chloe, and if news reached Lucifer that Michael were trying to abscond with his life and with Chloe, it would give Cain and Lucifer one last bit of “A-Hole brothers” common ground to bond over. Like “Brothers, am I right? Go kick, get Chloe back, I’ll still have enough guilt to torture me with in a few thousand years when you get back,”   

Will Lucifer fall into peril in hell of once again potentially getting distracted and stuck in a hell loop? Will his servants be satisfied with his return? Will Amenadiel bust him out.

Mr. Said Out Bitch needs a role reprise. He’s been in every season opener 2-4, we’ve gotten to know his undergarments very well.  Its high time we get to know his name and story. He’s put in the work!  

Amenadiel should be running LUX in Lucifer's absence. We got a tease of that in previous seasons (remember when he asked what would Lucifer do?) its time for that to come to fruition. Plus, any excuse to put DB Woodside in a suit, just because he wears them so well. It would also be interesting if, after that tragedy he’s experienced, Amenadiel will start taking after Luci. Maybe not the punishing, not yet, but wanting to seek out evil and corruption. It has been teased since s1 “fall as I did.” Perhaps he’ll start developing a taste for his bother’s line of work whereas he found it repugnant in the early days

Dan and Maze or Dan and Ella pair up. Both Dan and Maze are due for some happiness.

An Azrael reboot, when need more of her. She’s the angel of Death for pity’s sake. I don’t know if the original actress is still available or if they would have to recast, or if the character concept by Netflix would even be the same, but I need Azrael to be capable of sweet and unassuming and on a coin flip downright menacing.

More of Lucifer as a godparent, bless! And maybe a cool montage of “cousin” Trixie and Lucifer co-babysitting Charlie please.

Whilst on the subject of Lucifer and parenting, and without putting Trixie too much into harm’s way, I need to see what “I would do anything to protect that little urchin” looks like. Trixstar ride or die.

Father Frank, come back! I need a cameo or recurrent role pleeeeease.

Trixie in every episode. This is non-negotiable, much like chocolate cake. Beatrice is an all-star. In fact, I’ve decided that when Dad/God finally does show up, Trixie needs to be the one to get to know him / introduce him first. She’s been captain on the celestial cheer squad for four seasons, she’s earned this.

Who's going to see through Michael's facade first? I mean, I know that trailer shows Maze torturing it out of him, but as far as intuition goes, I've got a 50/50 split between Trixie and Linda, with an honorable mention to Dan.

If Michael is Lucifer's twin, does he have the same angelic compulsion skill set? Or something different? And will it work on Chloe or is she universally immune?

A “be like Mike” pop-culture reference. ******Spoilers: ******* all the trailers have revealed Michael already, so they owe us this for letting the steam out.

As far as pop-culture, how many movie and TV references will we get from Lucifer and ensemble this year? I expect A-game, from sci-fi to 80s action, on par with the previous likes of Parent Trap, Star Wars, Home Alone, Kim Possible, and Rocky.

Will Amenadiel’s necklace make a reappearance, even after he put it around Caleb’s neck in the morgue? Heavenly artifacts have a way of causing trouble in this show.

Will what finally learn what, if any, significance there is to Lucifer’s ring? Again, as all my fictional writings will attest, I really kind of want it to be a stolen little trinket from him Dad.

Plot twist: will we get to see Hell and the silver city all in one season, or is that too devilishly good to ask? It would be intriguing if Lucifer fell from Heaven for rebelling and now some threat like, for example, the mother of demons would pose a threat to the gates such that Lucifer was called upon to defend them. Not expecting anything Endgame level with a host of Angels popping up like sorcerers...but it is food for the imagination.

Plot twist: will Michael, duplicitous twin that he is, be revealed as the reason that Lucifer does not lie and can’t stand liars? Will be get a Michael back story? Is he perhaps the true rebellious son? see: my original fan conjecture here.

Additional links to previous recaps, roundouts and wishlists: 

Season 1: Best Moments // Season 2: Predictions, Desires, Roundout, Best Moments // Season 3: Speculations, Quick-shot summary 

[aaronpullinteeth]

I bet the conversation between IMPACT and AEW went something like:

IMPACT: "Ok, we want you guys to help us get some better exposure"

AEW: "No problem. We can do that. However, there's an exchange..."

IMPACT: "....go on."

AEW: "PLEASE TEACH US HOW TO BOOK OUR WOMEN'S DIVISION BETTER. We're nailing everything else. Help us out, please please pleeeeease."

[breaniebree]

Hey bree!! So I have a really silly request. I have seen many posts where tonks morphs into dumbledore and scares the shit out of other students. Also sometines dumbledore himself joins in and there are 2 dumbledores talking to a student. So could you maybe write a oneshot or something. ( Pleeeeease × infinity) The point is that whatever you write it always turns out amazing. You just write so well. So could you try please when you have time??

Hi, siriusblack15!  Thank you for ask, but I’m not one to take prompts because a) it takes away from what I’m writing and b) it sets me way off track from what I’m writing.

I’m that honoured you’d make a request though and I promise to think about it.  I did already write her turning her into Snape and she’s told stories of how she morphed into different professors over the years.  I will never say never, but right now we’ll say not now, does that work?

Flashback Chapter 21

“Mum mentions it whenever she gets a letter from Professor Sprout,” Tonks told him honestly.  “Nymphadora, you better not be following in your cousin’s footsteps — that boy was always in detention!”  she mimicked in a well done impression of Andromeda.

Remus laughed, drying his hair with the towel and wringing out his wet shirt.  “Are you a mischief maker, Nymphadora?”

She smiled mischievously.  “Only if I get caught.”  When Remus laughed she grinned widely.  “At the end of the year, I morphed into Professor Sprout and told our house that even though we had lost the House Cup to Slytherin, we were still having a party to celebrate our accomplishments.  Then I went to the kitchens and got food and drink and we had a grand old time.”

Remus’ eyes widened.  “You morphed into one of your professors?”

Tonks nodded, grinning widely.  “Only once or twice.  Let me tell you, Snape does not find it amusing at all when he catches you.”

“Snape?”  Remus asked in surprise, recognizing the name.

“Yeah, Professor Snape?  Was he not a teacher when you were there?  I guess he is pretty young actually, only finished school a few years back."

He remembered who Snape had once hung around with, and he suddenly had an image of him teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts (and it wasn’t a good one).  What was Dumbledore doing even employing him at Hogwarts?  Remus had suspected him to be a Death Eater before they had even left school; all of his friends had turned out to be.  But he had never heard anything or seen anything on any of his missions with the Order about Snape actually working for Voldemort.

“I do know, Snape.  Sirius and I went to school with him.  He was a greasy-haired git back then too, but we were never very nice to him.  What does he teach?”  Remus asked in interest.

"He teaches Potions and he’s Head of Slytherin House too.”  Tonks said, grabbing the peach juice that Remus had brought out with him earlier and passing two of the bottles to Remus and Harry.

“Hmm, well I find that very interesting,” Remus told her.  

Potions had always been a special subject of Snape’s.  It wasn’t the worst choice, he thought as Slughorn must have retired.

"He's crabby, but maybe that’s only to me because I sent him hair care products anonymously every week for a whole semester until he caught me packing up the basket in the Owlery one day.”

“Oh, that’s priceless!"  Remus busted into laughter.  He could picture Severus Snape opening a package of hair care products, a look of pure disdain upon his face and his greasy hair falling forward.

Tonks grinned widely, moving to help Harry dry his legs better and squeezed out the water from his trouser legs. 

“Definitely the same git.  I tripped over someone’s bag and knocked a textbook off one of the desks and he looked at me and said: ‘Ten points from Hufflepuff since Miss Tonks isn’t capable of walking into a classroom.’  Git.”

Flashback Chapter 57

(jealous Remus)

He offered her a small smile.  “Where’s your boyfriend these days?”

“Jon?  He’s visiting his grandparents in Paris this week.  But next week I’m going to stay with him and his parents for a bit,” she told him with a smile.  “I’ve missed having him around every day.”

Remus nodded; staying with her boyfriend, there was a thought he immensely didn’t like.  When Harry came back downstairs, Tonks spent the next thirty minutes regaling Harry and Remus with some of the pranks she had gotten away with at Hogwarts that year; including transforming into Filch and giving a few of her classmates detentions.  

Flashback Chapter 88

Remus ran his fingers through her hair.  The last thing he wanted to do was touch her that way after a dream like that.  The fear of hurting was still much too close to the surface.  “Tell me about some of the pranks that you got up to at school.”

She smiled against his chest.  “That could take hours.”

“Perfect then,” he said with a smile as he kissed the top of her head.

Tonks stretched her legs out, tossing one over his legs as she moved closer.  “Well, let’s start with I did to Filch.  Did I ever tell you that in my first year I kept changing my appearance to look like McGonagall and lecture Filch on proper respect towards the students?”

Remus chuckled, entwining his leg with hers.  “No, I don’t believe you did.”

Flashback Chapter 122

“Now what is this map you guys have been speaking of?”  Tonks asked, accepting the blank parchment from Harry.

“I’ll explain after, Tonks, try to get it to reveal itself first,” Sirius said with a grin.

Tonks rolled her eyes and tugged her wand out, tapping the parchment.  “Revelio!”

Cursive writing began to fill the parchment.

“Read it aloud,” Remus instructed.

“Mr Moony congratulates you on your attempt, but thinks someone as sexy as you could do better.”  She turned to grin at Remus who blushed.

“Guess it’s still connected to our magic.”

“Keep reading,” Sirius instructed.

“Mr Wormtail wonders why you bother even trying if you’re going to use ‘revelio’ to find your answer.  Mr Padfoot thanks you for your attempt but insists a smart-arse like you should prank better.  Mr Prongs offers you his smile and says: Neener neener neener.”  Tonks smirked at them.  “What is this?”

Remus tapped his wand on the parchment.  “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.”  The maroon coloured lines flowed across the parchment and Tonks’ eyes widened.

“This is Hogwarts!”

Harry grinned at her.  “It’s a map of the entire school and it’s completely brilliant!  They created it when they were at school.”

“See, it says so right here, Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs,” Remus said with a smile.  “Filch confiscated it in our last month of seventh year and Fred and George Weasley stumbled across it.”

Tonks grinned widely at Remus.  “I wish I would have had this at school.  Do you know how much fun I could have had?”

Remus rolled his eyes.  “You had enough fun impersonating Snape and other professors!”

She grinned.  “Did I ever tell you about the time I morphed into Snape and made out with a statue on a dare?”

Sirius busted into laughter.  “No, did anyone see you?”

“Oh, yes, I made sure it was quite public.  There were some interesting rumours after that.”

Harry smirked at her.  “That’s brilliant!”

Remus handed the map back to Harry after closing it again.  “Anyway, Snape does know it was us and he’s well aware that he’s being watched.  Dumbledore and McGonagall have both spoken to him about his behaviour to the students.  I’m glad to see that he’s following through.”

“If he doesn’t, Prongslet, you tell me.  I want to know and I will have words with him.”

Harry nodded at his godfather.  “Okay.”  He smiled at Tonks as he helped himself to some more of the pot roast.  “Did you ever morph into Dumbledore?”

Tonks grinned at him.  “Once.  Dumbledore told me I did a good job, but next time he was going to put me to work.  He was chill about it.”

“Who else?”

Tonks laughed.  “Professor Sprout once and I gave Hufflepuff permission to throw a massive party.”

“Did it work?”

“For a while, until Sprout showed up and shut it down and found out ‘she’ had given permission.  I spent a full month in detention, but it was worth it.”

Remus smirked and squeezed her hand.  “Troublemaker.”

Tonks merely looked at him.  “Me?  Mr I Made My Own Map of Hogwarts to Prank and Cause Mischief?”

He blushed and kissed her cheek.  “I have no idea what you’re implying.  So, Harry, what are having for dessert?”  he asked, grinning from ear to ear.  

Tonks only smirked at him.

Flashback Chapter 186

Remus woke up the next morning to the soft graze of his wife’s fingertips dancing along his spine.  He sighed in contentment, a big smile on his face as he rolled over to look at her and jolted in alarm, rolling off the bed and onto the floor as Tonks busted into hysterical laughter.

“Uncalled for!”  he declared, glowering at her.Tonks, who had decided to alter her face and hair to resemble a certain hook-nosed, greasy-haired git, slowly changed herself back as she roared in laughter.  

“Get back up here.”

Remus knelt on the floor by their bed.  “Promise me that you will never do that again.”

She grinned and leaned across the bed, kissing his lips.  “Admit it, you thought it was hilarious.”

Remus fisted his hand in her curls and kissed her deeply.  “No,” he growled.  “It sure as hell killed my morning erection.”

Tonks giggled.  “But your face, Rem!  Oh Merlin, it was priceless!”

“How long have you been plotting this, Dora?”

“Months… eons…” she said, still giggling.  “But you always wake up first and distract me.”

Remus stood up.  “First day of our marriage and you’re already giving me trust issues.”

Tonks grinned and leaned forward to kiss his limp cock, licking it softly as it trembled under her tongue.  “Let me make it up to you,” she murmured as he began to harden under her ministrations.

Remus held her in place for a moment, letting her work him over and then he tugged her away and to her feet on the bed.  He wrapped his arms around her, tugging her forward into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist.  He kissed her deeply before he headed into the kitchen, holding her in his arms and then he sat her on the barstool by the island.

“First we need sustenance.  What do you want for breakfast, Mrs Lupin?”

Tonks grinned, stretching her arms up over her head.  “Pancakes.”

Remus nipped at her bottom lip and grinned.  “I love you, Nymphadora.”

Tonks tugged him close for a long kiss.  “You’re not really mad at me, are you?”

His hand moved to cup a naked breast and he grinned.  “You are a mischief maker and I love you, but please, for the love of Zeus never make yourself look like Snape again, especially in our bed!”

She grinned.  “I promise, my husband.”

He grinned widely at her words.  “I’m going to make my sexy wife chocolate pancakes with fresh strawberries and powdered sugar for breakfast.”

“That sounds brilliant,” she told him.  “I’m going to sit right here at the counter and watch you make me breakfast.”

Remus bent his head to lick her breast.  “As long as you stay naked.”

Tonks grinned as she checked out his own naked bum as he headed to the cupboard.  “I just have a few last minute things to pack, but then I’m ready to go.  Will you tell me where we’re going yet?”

He grinned at her from over his shoulder.  “No.  It’s a surprise.  Our portkey leaves at one.”

Tonks brought her legs up and sat cross-legged on the counter.  “But it’s our honeymoon, I want to know.”

Remus only shrugged, a soft smile on his face.  “You will, at one-oh-one.”

She sighed as she watched him putter around their kitchen naked.  As far as she was concerned, they could spend the next seven days right here.  She didn’t care.  She just wanted to spend the whole time making love with her husband in every way imaginable.  Her eyes stayed on his bum, watching the sway of it, the way it clenched and moved as he bent and stretched and she licked her lips, her eyes falling to the long swaying cock between his legs.  And she definitely wanted him to stay naked, she thought.

So far this being married thing definitely had its perks.

Flashback Chapter 187

The moment that he was out of earshot, Tonks grabbed Harry’s hand in hers.  “I finally did the prank on him!”

“The one where you make yourself look like Snape?”

She nodded, snorting in laughter.  “He jumped out of the bed so fast, it was hilarious!  I’m still laughing about it and it’s been over a week.”

Harry grinned widely.  “I wish I could’ve seen it!”

“Oh, Harry, he was so traumatized!  It was brilliant!  Worth every second!”

Harry grinned and couldn’t help but laugh as Tonks doubled over in laughter herself.  The two of them were still laughing when Sirius and Remus came in almost five minutes later.

“What did we miss?”  Sirius asked, wiping his greasy hands on the grease rag he had hanging from his back jean pocket.  He was shirtless and glistening from the heat outside, his hair pulled back in a short stubby tail at his neck, the front pieces still dangling in his face.  He drank cold water from a tall glass before looking at Harry and Tonks again.

Harry grinned.  “Tonks was just telling me how she woke Uncle Moony up one morning looking like Snape and how he fell right out of bed!”

Sirius busted into laughter.  “Like how much like Snape?”

“Just her face,” Remus said in annoyance.  “But it sure as hell wasn’t the wakeup call I wanted from my new wife.”

Harry busted into laughter again as Tonks and Sirius joined in and Remus glared at them.

“It wasn’t funny!”

Tonks stood up, clutching her side as she moved to kiss her husband.  “It was hysterical, but I love you.”

Remus flicked her in the forehead.  “Minx.”