#technically a warm up peice

[foobars-cool-car]

god's goofiest soldier or something (reference from @wombatmd)

[stirthewaters]

Hoodie

Summary: You steal Wednesday's favorite hoodie

Warnings: Pissed off Wednesday, nothing else 🤷‍♀️

It was missing. Wednesday's favorite hoodie, her heavy white and black zip hoodie, was missing. And for the life of her, she couldn't figure out where it was.

Of course, her first assumption was that she misplaced it; although it was unlikely, she didn't rule it out entirely, therefore going on a search through the places where it could possibly be; she investigated the library, the quad, the dining hall, and by now she was running out of places to search, as her suspicions started to turn from herself to her peers.

The first person she asked was, naturally, Enid. Although the werewolf wasn't the type to steal one of Wednesday's items of clothing without warning, she was the first person she turned to, and was promptly refused.

She didn't really suspect anyone else to have taken her hoodie; nobody else seemed as if they'd want her hoodie, which on its own would be an odd concept by itself, but she asked nonetheless.

Her patience was wearing thin, as she sat stiffly at her typewriter, without her comfortable hoodie, for the third night in a row. Normally she'd never get too upset over such a trivial thing as a missing hoodie; it could easily be replaced. But now, in the days of late fall, the shared dorm room was becoming increasingly cold, and though she had other warm pieces of clothing, none did the job as well as her hoodie had.

As for you... well...

You hadn't intended to take her hoodie, but it was too good for you to resist.

You were always a sucker for oversized peices of clothing; you were just a naturally cold person so you'd always enjoy bundling yourself up in a big warm hoodie or jacket; and your eyes had been hooked on the large, oversized black zip hoodie that you had seen Wednesday wear on more than one occasion.

She's my girlfriend - you had reasoned to yourself, when you had entered her and Enid's dorm in search of her and you had found your eyes caught on the hoodie neatly layed out on her bed, no doubt waiting to be slipped on later - technically we share things, right?

You had snuck over silently, and fought an internal battle before reaching out and impulsively slipping the hoodie on over your t shirt.

And oh, was it just as glorious as you had imagined; the fabric was soft (surprisingly soft for Wednesday), and though your girlfriend did have a smaller frame than you, there was still a satisfactory amount of bagginess to the item of clothing, as well as the overwhelmingly heavenly scent of Wednesday - one that reminded you of crackling dead leaves and things that hunted in the night.

And you had left without a word.

As the days wore on you were especially cautious not to wear the hoodie around Wednesday; from the second she had started looking for it you did feel a little bit guilty, but surely not enough to give it back, and of course, you knew that if she found out you took one of her favorite items of clothing without asking, she'd murder you on the spot.

But as the urgency of her quest started to fade, you became less careful, and one night you slipped up.

It was the weekend, and you were seated in the dining hall, a cup of coffee in your hand that you sipped absentmindedly as you read for a botany assignment later that week.

And you were most definitely not paying attention to the faint scuttling and the perching of a disembodied hand on the fireplace that observed your every move, particularly the item of clothing you had your face buried in while you read.

It was approximately five minutes later when Wednesday came storming in, her eyebrows furrowed in a display of annoyance, eyes darting around in search of what she'd been looking for.

The second she saw you, sitting on a cozy chair, all wrapped up in her hoodie with a peaceful expression on your face, she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyebrows shot up with irritation.

So, that was why you had ducked away whenever she brought up the subject of her missing hoodie, excusing yourself with the mention of a project you needed to work on.

She should have recognized your pathetic attempt at a poker face from the start.

Wednesday walked up to you briskly, boots clomping through the peaceful silence as she stopped right in front of you, arms folded over her chest, brows furrowed with annoyance.

"Hand it over."

Your head shot up with a look of alarm that'd be almost comical if she didn't feel like she could stab you right at that moment.

"B-but-"

"Y/N, I assure you I am not in the mood for 'buts'. My hoodie. Now." Her tone now carried a hint of warning, but you were not one to give up your treasure as you looked up at her, eyebrows furrowed in stubbornness, your lips pulled down in a frown.

"If you loved me you'd let me wear it."

Wednesday's nostrils flared and her lips pulled into a frown of her own as she closed her eyes, summoning her patience.

"Y/N..."

"Please?" You begged, tilting your head to the side in what you hoped was a persuasive puppy-dog eye look.

She glared at you, eyes burning into yours, her mind torn. Of course, she was mad at you. You had lied to her, and somehow managed to hide the fact that you were the culprit all along.

Yet...she couldn't help but admire you for it.

Not to mention that you looked as if you were experiencing a moment of pure bliss as you sat there in her hoodie.

Not wanting to seem as if she was backing down, she sighed sharply and looked down at your own hoodie, draped over the back of the chair to be worn later, and she abruptly grabbed it.

"Seeing as you won't be willing to return my property, yours will be in my possession for the time being," she said with eyes that held no room for discussion.

And with that, she turned, and walked right out of the dining hall, returning to what she had been doing before.

And you watched her leave with the biggest grin on your face.

[chimneyz]

bucktommy + 2. …goodnight

The stars hung above in the night sky, it was quiet, peaceful, a prefect night for a goodnight's sleep. Unfortunately, Buck was still awake, his eyes moving along with one of the ceiling fan blades as it slowly circled around. Last he checked his phone it was 2:43 in the morning. He wasn't sure as to why he couldn't get any shut eye, but his mind raced. Maybe it was the upcoming wedding, they still had so much to do in such a little amound of time. Maybe it wasn't so much that he had quite a bit on his plate, maybe it was the butterflies in his stomach flapping around with excitement that kept him up.

Buck wrapped his arms around Tommy a little tighter as Tommy peacefully rested on his chest. He sniffed in the teak wood shampoo that forever cemented it's self in Tommy's soft waves of hair. He still couldn't believe that it was happening, that they were actually getting married. It all felt as of it were a dream. It it was he wanted to stay there forever and ever.

There was a sudden shift in the air, Buck could feel Tommy’s body tense under his arms, his hands gripping Buck will a dull sense of pain from the hold Tommy had on Buck. He could feel the rise and fall of Tommy’s chest becoming quicker more erratic.

A nightmare.

They weren't often but it was distressing to witness none the less. First time Tommy had a nightmare with Buck in bed scared the living daylights out of him. He usually is able to sooth Tommy down but there were times it just didn't work. Buck went to work bring Tommy in a bit closer peppering kisses ontop of Tommy’s head rubbing his sweaty back.

“Tommy it's alright, I’m right here. It's just a nightmare hon’ you are safe and sound,” Buck softly whisper.

Tommy started mumbling incoherently into Buck's chest. He could feel his tears tarting to soak through his tee shirt.

“Tommy, baby, you're safe with me ok?”

His mumbling became louder, his chest heaving. Quickly, Tommy’s eyes snapped open, pushing himself away from Buck eyes darting around the room, wide with fear.

“Hey, hey,” Buck hesitantly reached out still not touching Tommy but aching to do so, “You are ok, you're home.”

“Home,” Tommy muttered. His breathing slowed, his body relaxing.

Buck always wondered what Tommy’s nightmares ever were, he wonders if Tommy wonders. Tommy never remembered his nightmares. It was rare for him to even remember peices of it, vauge ideas really. Buck shifted a little closer as Tommy's body relaxed piecing together he was safe in his own bed. The tears were becoming sluggish, less frequent. Buck finally reached out to place his hand on Tommy’s back, anchoring him to reality.

“It's been a while huh?” Buck tilted his head, rubbing circles on Tommy’s back. His still felt so warm to Buck’s touch.

“Yeah,” Tommy finally croaked, “Shit I am so sorry Evan.”

“Tommy, husband of mine, you never have to apologize to me. Ever.” Buck smiled reassuringly.

Tommy tilted his head towards Buck, eyebrows knitted together with confusion. “We aren't married yet.”

“Technicalities,” Buck gleamed “Besides you will be my husband in a couple of weeks, and I will be yours. Forever and ever.”

“Forever and ever,” Tommy sighed with a smile of fondness.

“Now I'm going to kiss those nightmares away.” Buck grabbed on to Tommy’s cheeks pulling him closer peppering kisses along Tommy’s face.

“Evan,” Tommy giggled.

Buck pulled himself away looking into Tommy's stormy eyes. He could stare into those eyes for as long as he was alive “There, no more nightmares.”

“No more nightmares.”

Buck leaned in for a soft gentle kiss taking as much of Tommy in as he could. He could feel the pads of Tommy’s fingers running through his curls as he kissed Buck back. He press his forehead against Tommy’s, “Goodnight, husband.”

Tommy huffed out a tender laugh, “Goodnight, husband.”

send me a number and a ship

[zealousfandoms]

Flore'gez The Methonasian

@sweetpeaches666 @simply02artists

(Warning:Mentions of child abuse, abduction, trauma and heavy mentions of things here be warned.)

•Flore'gez is one of Ben's Donor's of his Methonasian transformation (aka Swampfire.) And making Flor one of Ben's dads he's about 29-30 years old so about his prime he's very young. Unlike his other dad's tho he didn't willingly give his DNA to Myaxx it was Bad Myaxx still insisted which nearly got her head cut off,burned and probably impaled on a tree

•He didn't willingly gave his DNA up well he did technically he was just convinced by Myaxx who is about 1 inches to be cut off in half by Flor 😅 but eventually he gave in. But with clarification from Myaxx and her praying she won't die too early he let her go on the condition if anything happened with his DNA or whatever they used on it he will come after her and destroy what was used to his DNA. In fear she immediately bolted with his DNA and Flor just going back to business.

•Flor adores children very much.. seeing them frollic and play warmed his heart and such innocence they pose.. he gets aggressive and so overprotective of any children if harmed.. he's like a beast who guards his own kits even if they weren't his own. He never hated any children not even if let's say Albedo was turned into a 5 year old child of Ben he would take him in with no question. (Picture Albedo would be confused and terrified with the whole situation, in Flor's eyes child is child plural.)

•Ben's other dad's would have mixed feelings with Flor. On the other hand they saw him a monster but also some felt bad. They have never seen such a being so broken and brought back together it was like finding peices of a mentally sane person in a black ocean. Galapagus tried to help him but you can see he wasn't successful. he he's beyond his own mind now. the only thing that makes him move is if he's out "Hunting" or when he's near people he loved which is Ben.

•He never hurts Ben's other dad's the good ones atleast (he liked Galapagus, Prisoner 775, Tetrax and a few others because they have either went through the same as him or felt bad. Galapagus wanted to help him) for just being people who understand him or try to help him the evil ones.. well let's just say he once nearly tied Transyl at a tree and waited for the sun to rise. Dissapointingly Transyl still lived because Ben didn't want that and also because Ben and his human family is there.. he doesn't want them to witness someone dying. Maybe one day he could chuck Transyl in the sun.

•Flor hates Royal people or Prideful aliens in a way.. (they also were like "Him") because when the war happened before Flor was left alone an orphan he roamed the desolate place of what was once Flor's home. Flor basically roamed around the universe fleeing from his home after seeing such devastation until he was taken in by some not so good crowd. Flor thought he had found someone he can depend on.. what a mistake he thought.

•Flor wasn't initially bad or did what he does out of just because he wanted too back then he has normal life, two loving parents and he's actually technically royalty in a sense back home in Methanos his father was a Cheif, sadly that was when War was still raging through the galaxies. Flor's parents were the unfortunate cost of this fight both dying in eachothers embrace to save there species. And hopefully for there son to survive.. Flor's Parents are both males (yeah they gay :D) one of his dad's is Gladious he got his intimidating face from him also his beauty. And his name is based on the flower Gladiolus flowers, they represent a lot of things and ones of those they can mean strength and perseverance, while other times, the long flowers symbolize remembrance and the honoring of passed loved ones. And his other dad is Bellis which is a nod to the daisy flower that represents purity, innocence, new beginnings, joy and cheerfulness. He's a little silly and Ben might have got that sillyness and joking attitude Swampfire actually resembled him.

•Flor owns a trench coat. Which wasn't his. The trench coat used to belong to an owner and leader of the not so good crowd mentioned he was at the top highest of wanted criminals for Child kidnappings, illegal market, Poaching of Alien species and many more this person owned a lot of people for his bidding an empire. His group went to Methanos after seeing the devestation they were there to steal loot but they found something even better. A Methonasian Child.. from then on they used this child as new game Flor realizing he was used as a pawn after so long snapped and proceeded to kill him and everyone he never left one unscathed.. those who did survive bow down before him in fear. He ruined the trench coat and remade it in his own style ereasing every part of that man especially his smell. Flor's own wax fragrant skills play here now. but it still stays as a testimony for his acheivement.

•He has many scars and bruises from his past that he refused to show even to others like Ben so he wore large and long sleeved clothes he looked more like a typical dad would but he doesn't always liked wearing others that aren't his trench coat because he never liked how he looked. In Methanos he's considered beautiful not just for his colors but his eyes and his body which is feminine despite him being male. His eyes were beautiful Amber and below is a mixed of purple which made it look like his eyes were the setting dawn of the morning.. a rare exotic beauty.

•Flor was manipulated, bred and born to fight that is his purpose the purpose those people ingrained in his head.. "doesn't matter if you live or not, as long as you get the job done.. you are useful"

•they used Flor's greif and anger against his better judgement and turned a child into a killing machine. Other than being a teen at a young age.. the kicker would have been that they made him do other stuff. Other than stealing, killing, drug dealing and other stuff. He was used as entertainment for sick people in clubs.. and Flor didn't even had a choice if he wanted too he only obeyed. And he came back the next day with those aliens paying with grins.. he only looked down and said nothing.

This is also part of that scenario where he does so we'll undercover in Clubs and in the night. It's basically second nature.. even if that didn't stop the trauma he had endured in a young age. He also felt grief for all those children he has neglected in his care when he was still that man's pawn. He always reassured and played with those children they called him there "big brother" because he's the only thing they had to one maybe even slipped to "Dad" frankly he didn't knew either and he was a victim of manipulation when he found out what happened to those children who went through the door and never came back.. he lost his mind that day and his greatest failure.

•Flor has Trauma and Insomnia in some cases he also has Hallucination hearing and seeing things his mind is warped in every way of reality.

•He owned a giant Tetramand Pole Axe he got it after ambushing a female Tetramand in Methanos. But he claimed it as his own now and as his new favorite weapon amongst a few others.

•He does love Ben even if Ben hadn't met him yet but when he found out he has a son he immediately tracked him and when he found out who his son is.. and what his life is.. he is set to protect him. In the shadows. Until Ben met him one night after getting news that some bad guys are up to no good only to find Flor covered in blood and the start of there meeting.

Flor up close.

(Originally he is gonna be in Sweeetpeaches666 au of Shapeshifter Ben AU but I got hooked with my character and now he's officially my oc other than the Shapeshifter Ben AU there is a lot more I wanted to add about Flor and a few wrong grammar's 😅 and more about Flor but maybe some other time.. and it's also near Christmas so merry Christmas 🎄🎁!)

[bigoleglory]

Well. The sun was in sync…

I just so happen to have a medicated (not weed) back pain patch still in the box unopened.! A hoodie that belongs to be in someone else’s home.! Ya know to keep warm on the 1000 degree days lol.

HOLLLLLY SHIT. That’s how you see me…..???? That list?? 😭

Wow. Magical don’t cut it,

Ahhhhhhh this he lion rides anddd lion king, GET OUT AUNTIE CAROL!!! 😏 you by far are an incredible human being for filling up allll the buckets especially YOUR OWN.!

Ooooooooh okay okay, home it is.! Nice.!

The slightest peice of you. Is what makes the days have a million fucking silver linings, and the best part I get to keep this, what we have here, allll to myself as a universe treat!! How sick is that, life is so good . Blessed,! Sometimes stressed , put on my Sunday behhh essssstttt!

NO WAY.. really.? My heart just like twitched reading that… of all people and things to notice. 8:18 it is huh……🤍♾️🖤

The only reason I scramble the numbers or take videos of all the license plates I see , IS DIRECTLY BECAUSE OF YOU.

817 but there’s a one , so 818 MEANING IN EVERYTHING LOL! Goshhhh I giggle at that memory! The 🧠🌸 is such an unreal place, I’m so happy there are lit sidewalks inside my brain so when I’m inside it, there’s’more light and less darkness. Learned that.

Don’t even, you know damn well I’ll pull up with the toast French styled a back pain patch and ya hoodie…. Well, yours now.

Mmmmmmm, I mean.

209-420-2902 works most of the day.

Zackerysmith2020@gmail.com is another route I use for ordering, but ifff all else fails,

I’d post your order here, hashtag it #3amFrenchies

Honestly, my brain and heart are going wild as fuck with just the simple thought of touching your door leaving food at it. Knowing something I created, will again make you happy on the internal as well as the external. Like 🤯🙋🏼‍♂️🖤

So technically both hearts would be beating out of our chests…

If you had a literal heart attack, I’d give you mine to use…. While yours rested. 🖤🤍💛🩶

Possibly leave you a blizzard to so you felt better, mom bowls are great, but sky high and no pain while you sleeep with a full tummy , might help.

Heard Postmates is on standby.

🏀

[your-local-grubdog]

Pikmin Fandom Monthly - March 2023

Welcome to the March edition of Pikmin Fandom Monthly! For anyone new here, this is just a little monthly series where on the first day of each month, I share neat fan projects from the pikmin fandom made in the previous month! Today's is a day late and shorter than ideal unfortunately; I had some technical hiccups this past month that resulted in most of my saved posts being lost :( so I spent yesterday trying to find some more to make up for my lost notes. This time, I was able to get some feedback as well so I got some suggestions here not from me!

On that note, please feel free to leave suggestions in the comments about what April 2023 works should be included in the next edition! Any creative pikmin fan work is welcome, so long as it was made during this April.

Just like last time, this was cross-posted to the Pikmin Park community on dream width!

Now, lets get onto the art! Fanart and One-Panel Comics

First up is a very cute drawing of a hairy bulborb staring up at the stars by Louivi on Tumblr! It's such a soft and pretty peice with an almost dreamy feel to it, I love it!

Piper on Tumblr drew this ADORABLE art of the pikmin with Oatchi and oh my god I love this so much, Oatchi's eyes are so big and cute and I adore this so much!!!

Pikmin OCs need more love! So here's a really cute doodle of two different yellow pikmin OCs by Spr1ngPeach! I don't know much about either character, but the drawing is very cute. I like it a lot!Pikmin are chaotic little beasts. Feral toddlers, if you will. So clearly, we should arm them all with knives (/sar). In all seriousness though, ikol-art on tumblr drew this adorable little red pikmin with a very large knife. I love it so much, it's great.

Pizza pikmin? Pizza pikmin! By extremelylost360 on tumblr. What more need I say? It's pizza pikmin!

This one is a bit different! Most art here is 2D, but this is an entire 3D render of the Forest of Hope by kinpraw on Twitter! I love the style, it looks like something out of a stop motion movie.

Cece on twitter drew us some more Oatchi cuteness, showing him with an adorable little ice pikmin on his back! The icemin's face is precious - you can say it's melting my heart! ... yeah okay I'll see myself out for that one -

But not before sharing this cute project! Heronin on Twitter is adding to a huge doodle page every day until pikmin 4 comes out! Here's the update for March 31st! I'll see about featuring it every month as an update, but I'll certainly share the final product come July! 

Hey!Pikmin also deserves some love, no? Well I say it does! And this fireflap bulborb was drawn by Taylor C on Twitter! I just really like the soft lines and warm colors. Other Works Firstly, we have this mixed media sculpture (mostly clay) of some pikmin growing in a pot by Tete's DIY! The link is to a video, so you can see how they made it as well! Last but certainly not least is Bikmin 269, a rom-hack of the second game (link is to the trailer). Honestly, I don't know much about it! It was recommended to me by a trusted friend, and I've yet to had the time to play it for myself. Most I can say is to check it out - and know that the creators say that it is best enjoyed as blind as possible!And with that, these are the April works that I wanted to feature (and that I was able to find again after the tech stuff -w- ). I'll hopefully see you at the start of May with April's works, assuming that my finals don't eat me alive! Seriously, though, while I'll try to get it out May 1st don't be surprised if it's delayed by a whole week on account of finals season! ^^;

[hidiingplace]

TODD HEADCANON + FOX VIGILANTE OUTFIT

general. okay i’ve been wanting to do this HC for AWHILE now but I’ve only recently found the perfect recourses for his fox-suit revamp. I’m going to break this post down by each picture/equipment and talk about the properties of each peice and then I’m going to talk about the functionality of the suit overall. HERE WE GOOO.

mask. okay so there are TWO fox mask pictures, but thats because one appeals the the shading aspect and the other refers to the shape of the mask. The first (far left) mask is a perfect example of the colour and shading on the mask. Distinct black ears, white trim, darkened eye holes. however the second mask (far right) is a more accurate shape. Because The Fox’s abilities are rooted in speed, it’s important that his ears are not massive and able to catch wind. even though he’s magical and it doesn’t really make a huge difference, it would be a nuisance to constantly have your head pulled at by the wind catching the ears of your mask.

logo. the middle picture at the top is the Fox’s logo. Originally he didn’t have a logo at all, but when people in NYC started showing their support by slapping a specific fox tag everywhere with his slogan ‘I ain’t no hero’ all over the place, he kind of leaned into it. The logo sits in the centre of his back.

claws. the Fox has very sharp claws, which are technically his only TRUE weapon. The Fox does not use knives or batons or anything, but it doesn’t make him any less deadly. The claws are sharp enough that he can cut glass enough to weaken it, slice through thinner metal, and definitely slice through flesh. it’s important to note that the Fox HAS killed people before, whether it was accidental or purposeful the public doesn’t really know 👀

necklace. The Fox’s necklace is the ONLY thing that Todd and the Fox share entirely. Tehy share aspects of one another, but the necklace is really the only thing that does not change AT ALL from his life as the Fox and his life as Todd. This necklace is the beacon through which The Fox and Zipp’s magic resides –– similar to that of a genie and it’s lamp. The Necklace is the only thing that Zipp’s illusion magic cannot affect, and thus it is something that if you are up close with The Fox, you may recognize. However, the Fox does an excellent job of wearing high collared suits that help hide the necklace pendant from view. but every hero makes mistakes from time to time. 

shoes. meant to look like your average wear, these shoes are actually more custom than they look. The laces are tight and unable to be untied while in the suit. In addition, the bottom of the shoe is INCREDIBLY sticky. This helps for both free-running, climbing, and also just straight up speed. Having good traction means having the ability to be far more agile and quick on his feet.

suits. The Fox has two suits, one for summer and one for winter weather. these suits are both designed from the same material, and give the Fox adequet protection. I’m going to explain each suit’s properties now.

summer suit –– this is the far left suit (i’d recommend clicking to see the full suit). it is made of thinner lyrca material with leather at key impact points such as the chest, his knees, and his hands/wrists. The longer glove on the right hand is there because when he does his free running and climbing, he often will use his elbow/forearm differently (either for support or to hoist himself up) so it acts as extra protection. This suit is sleeveless, and as I’ve covered before, the illusion magic The Fox has makes Todd’s tattoo’s disappear and make him look tattooless. As mentioned above, the leather vest if so extra protection against his most vulnerable section of his body. The x across his left bicep is actually as way to add additional support from a pervious injury, plus it just looks cool. his suit has multiple mesh components, and this is to help breathability in the hot months. If you’re a runner at all, you know that a lot of running pants have ventilation through mesh or other lighter materials. The mesh around the Fox’s upper thighs act in this way, ventilating his body so he doesn’t over heat. The mesh on his right arm is there for the same purpose, seeing as that is his dominate arm and he will likely use it more and create more energy/heat in that arm. both suits have the circular orange bit on the back, and this is where his logo sits. 

winter suit –– this suit is esstentially the exact same as his summer suit with some minor adjustments. There is no more mesh or exposed skin, and instead the full length sleves are made of plyable leather to keep him warm in winter months. There is an additional leather jacket that sits over his vest that clips in the middle to keep it from flying open and being annoying while he’s doing vigilante things. the pant portion of his suit is made of warmer material, but not leather as it would be next to impossible to run in leather pants for any length of time. the opening from the end of his rib cage and the beginning of his pant line at his hip is purposeful for better movements like twisting, bending, and contorting which he does a lot of in his fighting style and free-running movements. in the winter he trades his shoes for some clean, ankle height boots so as to allow for extra warmth and traction in the snow while also allowing him free movement in his ankles while running.

extra notes –– the Fox does not have any strap on weapon holders, and his design is sleak. The throwing knife/weapon holds at the knees in the middle and right photo are not of the Fox’s suit as it would do him a disservice while running, fighting, or even trying to slide into places he shouldn’t. The Fox also has complete control and creative freedom with his suit. His suit looks this way because it’s how he chose it to be. As a result, The Fox can easily switch from winter to summer and vice verse in the blink of an eye.

functions. as as I’ve discussed in other HCs, The Fox is a magical super hero. think sailor moon without the flamboyance. his magic comes from Zipp, the celestial spirit fox who has protected Todd since he was about 10 years old. Zipp’s magic is contained outside of his body in the fox necklace that Todd and Zipp share. When Todd transforms into the Fox, Zipp needs to be inside the necklace on Todd’s body. The first thing that appears is the mask, and then magic spins outwards from the necklace, coating his body with it. The suit allows healing in all the ares where the suit covers him. It’s not instant, but it’s mild enough to generally keep broken bones and internal bleeding from becoming a huge problem. In order to change out of the suit, The Fox must remove his necklace or his mask –– the Fox generally removes the mask as it’s far easier than removing the necklace from his suit. 

illusion. The Fox only has the ability to use illusion magic when he is fully covered in his suit. meaning that Todd’s identifying features, like his tattoos and piercings, will not disappear until his suit is fully formed. the whole process doesn’t take very long (between 1-2 seconds) but it’s long enough that if someone saw him do it, they could likely identify him later. in addition, Todd’s eyes go from their bright blue, to absolutely glowing and slitted like that of a fox. in addition, Todd’s filed down canines go from noticeably a different, pointed shape to a much longer and sharper point to resemble that of a fox.

[noxxy-boxxy]

Hetabang time!

So, it’s finally te time to upload this! I’ve been waiting for this moment lmao

I wrote this and my amazing partner did a drawing of the last scene, but they haven’t posted it yet so imma wait till they do and tag them! 

Edit: Here is the artwork! 

https://aph-florida-shitposts.tumblr.com/post/616694960857710592/they-my-peice-for-the-hetabang-art-thing It’s made by @aph-florida-shitposts The artis amazing and everyone should go and check it out, period.

The meeting ended sooner that day. Thank God. 

Gilbert grabbed his laptop and his briefcase, stretching his neck until it popped. It was Friday, finally, and that meant a lot of things. It meant beer, a nice dinner, some of that leftover cake, and the best part:

"Gilbert! Buongiorno!" 

He could invite him for dinner. He could finally invite Italy for dinner and ask him that thing. 

"Hey, little Italy! Guten morgen!" He smiled, his heart almost doing a cartwheel when Feliciano kissed his cheeks. "What are you doing here? You're going to miss your flight." Even after saying that, Feliciano sat on the table, and Gilbert did the same, not interested If he missed his own. 

"I was looking for you." Said the Italian, and God, if he didn't die at that moment, he really had to be a tough one. His pale face took a very slight shade of pink, invisible to Italy. 

"Oh, so you were searching for me?" Gilbert said, his speech still perfect, his tone normal, but his face warming. Slow but steady. 

"Yes, I wanted to ask you something." Gilbert arched an eyebrow, blinking once or twice. 

«Keep it cool.» He thought, panicking internally. "Oh, yeah, whatever you want, little Italy. I'm all ears." And, to be honest, he didn't expect that much, but surely he didn't see that one coming.

"Can you help me with my paperwork?" 

Oh God, Italy was lucky he liked him. He wouldn't waste his weekend explaining paperwork to anybody, but him. He was the only exception. 

But now, he surely was going to be talking about boring numbers, when they could be having a delicious dinner and a delicious dessert. Amazing. 

Unless. 

"Come with me. We can stay together at my house and I can explain to you how I do my paperwork." He smiled, petting the Italian's head. "Then, we can have dinner together. I'll make some homemade pasta for you and we can have cake at the end." And that was the exact way to convince Italy. Gilbert smiled softly, seeing Italy jump from one place to another while he sang some song. "Okay, okay. Chill, Kleine. Don't hurt yourself." Italy stopped and grabbed his hand, tangling his fingers with his own. 

"I would love that, Gilbert!" He smiled widely, so beautifully. "Oh, Gil, you're red. Is something wrong?" 

"Uh, nothing..."

They were kneading the dough, and Gilbert was amazed at the way Italy did it. His movements were perfectly fluent, his voice hummed a soft song, his eyes half-open. He stopped for a second, pinching the dough slightly. 

"It's ready to stretch and cut." Prussia nodded, and then, they began to stretch the dough, making it thinner. Over, and over, and over again, until Feliciano felt like it was perfect. Then, they passed it through the cutter, making perfect spaghetti. 

"Perfect." Said Prussia, bringing a tray with flour. "It's ready to cook." Italy nodded, looking incredibly happy. They both went to the kitchen, where the water in the pot was already boiling. Italy added some salt, and then, the pasta. 

"It should be ready in two or three minutes. Could you check the sauce?" Gilbert nodded, and went to another pot, opening it and grabbing some sauce with a spoon. He tasted it, the flavor lingering in his mouth. It was absolutely... 

"Delicious." He said, smiling widely. "It's delicious." Feliciano smiled, looking at him, small little face so adorable. He wanted to take a picture, no jokes. Gilbert covered the pot, seeing how his hand trembled, feeling his throat tightening. «Everything is going to be okay.» He had to say to himself. 

And he really hoped it would be. 

"Well, I think it's ready to drain." He nodded, getting closer. Italy was holding a fork, where one string of pasta sat. "Could you taste it, Gil?" And he extended his hand, offering him not the fork, but the food. He had to stop a second, trying to gain control of his face, to avoid that God damned red. He got even closer, eating the spaghetti from his hand. 

"It's ready." He said, tasting it. It had the right amount of salt, and it wasn't incredibly soft, but a little bit chewy. It was perfect.

Italy drained it and put it in the same pot with the sauce. he moved it around with a pair of tweezers, and then, it was perfectly ready to eat. 

"Let's go. I'm hungry." Italy smiled, grabbing a bottle of wine and a bottle of beer. Prussia nodded, grabbing the pot. 

"So, did you understand that thing about your paperwork?" Italy nodded, smiling and grabbing his glass of wine. 

"Yes, thanks." He smiled, taking a sip of wine. "You're a very good teacher, Gil." 

"Oh, ask West or America, they'll probably have something else to say." He laughed. "I am a good teacher, indeed," he started, grabbing his bottle. "but I am not going soft on anyone. You're just a special case. Usually, I would be more strict and rude with any other. Only for you." And Gilbert smiled softly, booping the Italian's nose, making him laugh.

"I like you a lot, Gil!" He smiled, and Gilbert definitely felt something jump in his chest. 

"Ah, yea, ja." He mumbled, looking away. "Actually, little Italy... Feliciano" He whispered, taking a big breath. "I like you too. I like you a lot." And Italy didn't even flinch. 

"Yeah! Me too, Gil! You're an amazing friend!" Oh, no. 

"No, dearest. I mean, uh, I like you, like, more than a friend. I like you a lot more." 

"Like a best friend, then! You're my best friend!" And Gilbert rolled his eyes, but Italy kept talking before he could explain himself. "I wouldn't change you as my best friend for anything in the world! You'll always be the best friend I could ever have, and I hope nothing ruins our friendship!" For God's sake, Gilbert thought, almost speaking again. 

Unless... 

"You... Wouldn't want me to be anything more than... Your best friend? Only... That?" He said, his voice normal, but something was cracking. "Not even-"

"Always friends!" Italy interrupted him. 

Then, he understood. Italy was understanding what he really wanted to say, but he surely didn't want to reject him. He just wanted him to... Catch the cue. He only wanted him as a friend. 

He only wanted him as a friend. 

"O-oh, yeah. Always... F-friends." He whispered, forcing that painful sensation at the back of his throat. Not yet. "I should take you to the airport so you can go back, Italy. You're going to miss your flight." He said, getting up and grabbing his keys and his helmet. He went to the garage, putting the key at the contact on his motorcycle. "Move, Italy! We don't have all the time in the world!" His words sounded a lot ruder and mean, like if he was tired or angry. Obviously, Italy got scared, and just followed the orders. The garage door opened with the controller, and they went out. Suddenly, Italy had to hold himself again Gilbert, because hell, they were going 100 kph, and it was just rising. They arrived at the airport in 3 minutes, when usually it would take 15. 

"Let’s go." And as soon as they were on the ground they were running. Or well, he was almost running. Gilbert was just walking. Incredibly quickly. Gilbert had to buy the tickets for him because obviously, the people spoke German.

"Here. Have this." Italy grabbed the tickets with one hand, while he grabbed his document and passport from his briefcase with the other. 

"Is everything alright, Gil?" He literally had to take a step back when Prussia looked at him. His eyes were glowing. 

"I don't allow my own brother to call me by my name, Italy. You don't have that privilege either." He deadpanned. 

But... Italy wasn't dumb. At least, not when it came to feelings. Even if Prussia was "angry", he saw sadness. In his face, those eyes were not glowing, they were shining.

"Gilbert..." He whispered, trying to put a hand on his shoulder, but at that second, his flight was announced. Prussia didn't even say goodbye, he just left. 

His eyes were shining, yes. And he swore, he saw a tear leaving his left eye. 

«Is he sad?"

Gilbert went back to his house calmly. He entered and started washing the dishes. The leftover spaghetti was poured in a container and stored in the fridge, with the forgotten cake. Then, he went to the table, grabbing his bottle of beer. It was half full, but in a second, he drank the rest. The wine was stored in the fridge, and the glass... He literally spent half an hour looking at it, trying to go back in time, when he bought that glassware, the moment when he grabbed it from the counter, just some hours ago. That moment, when they were still friends. 

His knuckles turned white, and in a quick movement, he threw the glass against the floor, turning it to just useless shards. Panting, he kneeled at its side, slowly picking up the pieces, just hissing when one of them cut his finger. 

Wine stung, but the tears falling were even more painful. 

The meeting was in Berlin that day. Ironically.

"He didn't come today..." Whispered Italy, looking at the German's seat, unoccupied. In his place, Germany entered, even when he was, technically, on vacation. Apparently, though, he was not there for the meeting, because he wore just civilian clothes. 

"Italy." He said, looking at him. "Can we talk? Please?" Italy nodded, concerned. He looked slightly sad but he looked mad too. Something surely had to be going around the Germanic countries. "What happened last Sunday, Italy? When I came back, Prussia was devastated. And I mean, really, sad."

"I knew he was sad. We were just talking, and in a second he was suddenly really mad but really sad. I swear I saw him crying."

"What were you two talking about? Do you remember what you said or what he said the moment when he changed?" 

"We were talking about our friendship! I told him I liked him, and he told me he liked me too, but, like, more than a friend! Then I thought, well he wants to be my best friend, and then it went down really quick and he was like that in a second." 

Germany observed him for a second, and then he arched an eyebrow. 

I mean. He thought he was the clueless one, but even he would have understood that. 

"So. Let's set things clear. You said something like 'I like you', then he said 'I like you too.' Then you started talking about friends, but he said 'I like you more than a friend.' Then you started talking about best friends. Then, he was suddenly angry. Is that what happened?”

"¡Si Capitano!" Said Italy, smiling widely. And oh God, he thought he was the clueless one. 

"Italy, my dear friend." He started, taking a deep breath. He needed France. "Let's say, a man and a woman are together. And he says 'I like you more than a friend.' What would you think he's meaning?"

"He loves her!" Italy said, smiling. And he smiled and smiled until he didn't. "He... He loves... Her." Slowly, he whispered. 

"And what if he does things for her he wouldn't do in normal situations? Like, cooking for her, or allowing her to call him by his name, or taking the time to explain to her something slowly, when everyone would say he's a devil when he's teaching. Or calling her with endearments, when he doesn't do that. What would you think? Does he want to be her friend?" And Italy slowly came into realization. 

"Oh my God, I messed it up. I ruined everything. I wasted his time. I fell really low. I-" And Germany had to touch his arm, to prevent him from missing the line. "I have to go and talk to him." And he almost ran away, just in the for Ludwig to grab him and bring him back. 

"Do you have any idea of what you’re going to say, at least?" Italy arched his eyebrow, opening his mouth, but Ludwig spoke first. "He liked you even when we were dating, but he never said anything. He liked you since the beginning. And I can't risk you going there and messing it up even more because I haven't seen him this sad since 1945. He doesn't deserve so much pain, and I won't let you go there unless you know exactly what to say." He took a deep breath. "Do you like him? Not like a friend. Not like a best friend." And Italy, slowly, nodded, making him smile. "Give me a pen. I have to give you the address. He's not in Berlin, so you'll have to go now unless you want to miss the train that goes to Hamburg." Italy grabbed a pen, and Germany didn't even waste time on paper, writing it directly onto his skin. "Do you understand it?" Italy nodded, and flew, running to the train station, buying a ticket to Hamburg, and getting on the train in record time. He just hoped that there was still time for him.

He made it to Hamburg, and then, he started going around, trying to remember each street. He reached a big building of apartments and looked at the key in his hand. The door opened, incredibly, and then he started walking, trying to reach the apartment number 19. The door made a little sound when unlocked, and then he went in. 

«It has to be Ludwig's private department.» He thought to himself. Some books were easy to recognize for him because he saw them in his library. A jacket was on the sofa, he recognized it as Gilbert's. And there was a bed for a dog on the floor. 

He walked to the bedroom, and entered, finding him sleeping peacefully. 

«He's here...» He thought, slowly getting closer to him. He sat down on the bed, and at that moment, he woke up.

"What the fuck, Italy?" He almost screamed, going back. "What are you doing here? Get out!" Now he was screaming. 

"No!" Italy responded, but Gilbert didn't listen. He grabbed his arm, dragging him to the door, without paying attention to anything he would say. And when they were almost out, he stopped for a second. 

"What did you said?" 

"I'm sorry," Italy whispered, squirming in his place. "Prussia, my hand hurts..." And he left him to go. He dragged some tears left In his eyes, saying that again. "I'm sorry. I didn't know, I didn't understand at that moment. Please, forgive me." And his face was suddenly red, his eyes shiny again. 

"It's not fair, I try to get out, and you drag me back, you probably don't even mean what I think you're meaning. And I thought West was bad when it came to feelings." Italy grabbed his hand, pressing it. 

"I like you too." He said, feeling Prussia's hand tremble. "I like you. Not like a friend. Not like a best friend. I like you a lot. I just thought you weren't meaning it like that, or I was just a little tipsy and I wasn't thinking, but I'm sorry. For making you cry and for hurting you." And when he looked at his face, he was crying. "I'm sorry..." He whispered one last time, slowly touching his nose, and kissing him. 

It was something slow. Almost as if he was afraid of scaring him. He was suddenly so weak, so small. For a second he was a child again.

His hands just hung at his sides at the beginning, but then he slid them, right to his shoulders. They separated, looking at each other for a second. Then, Gilbert spoke. 

"I like you, Feliciano." 

"Me too, Prussia." Italy smiled. 

"Call me by my name. Please." But Italy didn't, because, of course, he had to kiss him again.

[su-angelvicioso]

Does Maria excel in something besides starting wars? Does she have special features? How about in the opinion of others - what would she excel in?

Technically she never started any wars. She was, unfortunately, forced into them due to her circumstances.

María excels in a lot of other things generally. But she mostly keeps them hidden. Not wanting anyone to know of her other hobbies and not expecting anyone to really care anyway. She has a knack for building things. She once built a tiny little tin robot that talks and it’s eyes glow with tiny little light bulbs. It couldn’t say much but when it spoke it had a bit of a raspy voice. María loved that little thing and she still has somewhere in her stash.

She also has a thing for puzzles. She loves solving puzzles, and even creating her own puzzles. She once built a really huge maze that had lots of twists and turns and even smaller puzzles inside and challenged a few people she knew to get through it. She likes to search for really elaborate puzzles and equations and things that just make you think. She likes the victorious feeling she gets when she solves them.

María is an extremely fast learner. She can learn anything she sets her mind to and she usually gets it down pretty easily. Her vampire parents first noticed this when she was a newborn. Her strong will and determination always set her apart. Anything she saw them do, she attempted and copied right after. If anything piqued her interest, she was all over it trying to learn all about it. The girl is fast and never rests. She excels in things that require quick thinking.

María is an amazing cook? Like that’s just a thing? Of course having learned from her parents and grandmother as a human, she always loved dancing around the kitchen with them while they made some of her favorite, and not so favorite foods. The aromas that always floated around the house. The warm home-y feeling from the heat source. The satisfaction at knowing you’d prepared the meal perfectly and the reassurance from family as you feed them. She never really had much food around growing up and so when she did she always savored it. Always greatful. She used to cook for her older sister a lot. Always pushing her to try her next “greatest creation”. As a child she adored sweets, and still sometimes wishes she could have just one more cookie, one more peice of candy. It always made her happy and she looks back on it fondly. There was a time when she watched a street vendor preparing food while she hunted and all those memories came flooding back. She thought that maybe she could try cooking again. She knew there was no need for it as she couldn’t actually eat the food anyway; but she wanted to and almost needed to do it, as a way of reassuring herself, and so she did. Once she got into the swing of things it’s as if she’d never stopped. She busied herself into it until she’d made so much food and so many different kinds of food it looked like a dinner table on thanksgiving. What else was she to do with it besides give it away? Give it to someone who would gladly appreciate it, and savor it as she did when she was younger and human. It brought those feelings back for her. That satisfying feeling of feeding someone and having them enjoy your food. That warmth of cooking. It’s a hobby that benefits her and others that are hungry. She knows what it’s like to starve, never knowing where you next meal is coming from and so maybe theres a part of her inside, a part that she sees in other people that she does this for. It was fun, it was satisfying, and so she did it more and more.

Jasper thinks she’s really good at games. As I’ve mentioned before I take María as a very playful type, sometimes playfully devious. She likes to play games, any kind of games. Mind games, board games, tactile games, old games, new games. The girl can turn practically anything into a game. When Jasper discovered the game of Chess María was the first person he thought of. It seemed right up her alley and he wanted to play with her. He hasn’t yet. Not really having the chance to but he does wait for the day he will finally go against her. He knows it’ll be good with both their military, calculative minds battling it out. The thought excites him, he knows she’d like something like that. Emmett just wants to intoruce her to video games wanting to see if she’s any good at those kinds of games as she is others. María loves games for some of the same reasons she loves puzzles. They make her think. She loves the satisfaction of winning or doing the thing right, but she also loves the challenge of losing and becoming that much more determined to keep trying again and agin until she wins. It’s the challenge of it all that excites her.

P.s. I’m not sure what you meant by “special features” but as far as physically? I’d say there were her green-brown eyes as a human. There’s also her freckles, and the lil dimple she has. Another special feature would be her scar that runs along her forearm.

[raphavarrane]

say anything (kepa arrizabalaga)

PARINGS: kepa arrizabalaga x OC (chloe)

WARNINGS: slight angst!

complete and utter silence. multiple pairs of eyes were on the couple in anticipation for what was about to happen. but little did they know, that it was not as it seems.

when kepa had moved to england, he didn’t know anyone that wasn’t associated with his football team. however, on a rainy day at the indian takeaway outside his apartment, he met the love of his life. none of the girls back in spain could measure up to chloe’s laugh or her smile. the way she floated through life like a cloud and that nothing else mattered but the happiness of those around her.

whenever kepa was by her side, he felt untouchable. even as in outsider who had just made his home in england, chloe made him feel at home. her homemade meals are to die for, even when they didn’t look as appetising. kepa couldn’t imagine anything better than being with chloe.

which is why 10 months later at chloe’s annual spring family barbecue, kepa was on one knee and chloe was looking back at him with wide eyes. her hair blew in the cooling summer breeze and she looked even more whimsically beautiful than usual. kepa was waiting for his fairytale ending; for chloe to put that ring on her finger and to ride off into the sunset. but then, everything went to shit.

he didn’t want to hide the creeping feeling of disappointment. kepa was shocked but he didn’t want to make that known, so he continued flashing his million dollar smile. but chloe was a wavering mess. she didn’t really understand what was going on until the small diamond on the ring started sparking. small droplets of tears fell down her face and kepa couldn’t keep his act up any longer.

kepa’s smile quickly turned into a hurt frown as he took chloe’s hand in his own. he felt no embarrassment as her entire family stood and watched with mouth wide open. kepa pulled her into a hug, hiding her face from the onlooking eyes.

“mi sol, please say something. you’re scaring me.” he whispered, smoothing down her hair.

all chloe did was stay still in his arms, remembering how she earned the nickname kepa bestowed upon her.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

chloe had a rough day at work; self-centred customers, annoying children and to put the cherry on top; her boss blamed her for all of it. when she walked through her flat door, exhausted from everything that had gone on, she didn’t expect kepa to be in her kitchen, wearing a ridiculous chef hat.

after eating a slightly burnt lasagna, the couple sat on the couch, watching reruns of how i met your mother with sweets and ice cream for dessert. chloe laid on top of kepa, her smaller frame fitting perfectly against kepa’s chest. chloe’s head rested against his chest, kepa’s slow breathing calming down chloe’s frantic head.

“thank you kepa. you didn’t have to do all of this.” chloe murmured, wiping away the stragglers of tears on her face.

“i love you mi sol. this was no problem whatsoever.”

she stayed silent, trying to figure out what ‘mi sol’ meant. kepa had been trying to teach her spanish ever since they met, but never before had he said that word.

“what’s does mi sol mean?” she asked, resting her chin on kepa’s chest.

kepa smiled, before taking ahold of her face and planting kisses everywhere; from her cheek to her neck to her nose. he had so much adoration for chloe that she didn’t mind him showing that, even when she wasn’t in the mood.

“it means my sunshine.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

chloe pulled away, finding it hard not to put that ring on her finger. technically, she didn’t have a reason not to put that ring on her finger. she loves kepa and could imagine spending the rest of her life with him. but seeing that ring, her future in one small peice of jewellery, made her more scared for what’s to come.

“I never thought I’d be so lucky, especially not in this lifetime to love someone like you chloe. so if you want to wait another lifetime mi sol, i’ll wait.” kepa whispered, kissing the top of her forehead.

she sighed once again before grabbing the small black box with the beautiful engagement ring. chloe didn’t know exactly what she was scared of; kepa had always treated her right and she never felt in danger when she was around. in fact she felt the opposite around kepa, in his arms, was the definition of safety.

without saying a word, chloe slid the ring onto her finger. chloe’s warm smile spread along her face as more tears fell down her face. but this time, they were not because she was scared; they were because she was excited for what was to come. her future with kepa. kepa picked her up by her waist and span her around in pure joy. in the whirlwind of blurry images, the thing that stayed in focus was kepa. which was all she needed to know.

the kiss was passionate but still gentle, neither wanting to step away and breathe. eventually when they did, forehead’s touching and breath’s mingled together in a heat filled exchange, nothing else mattered. they were one body, one mind and one spirit.

[fireemblemryan]

Day 15: Older version @ephraimswife

“Hello, I’m Kana of Nohr. I’m always happy to assist where necessary.”

Bonus Content:

His clothing is a mix of Niles, his younger self, and his mother. Because I didn’t want to make a Vallite Kana, I went with my favorite nation. 

His necklace is part of a dragonstone that he found. He fell into the bottomless canyon on a trip to Hoshido to help rebuild some farmland. He blacked out and when he awoke, we was back on the edge, with the peice nearby. The light feels warm and reminds him of his family, making him wonder if his missing Aunt Azura saved him or if maybe the spirits of Lilith and Mikoto were watching over him.

Castle Lines:

Sometimes, Queen Hinoka looks at my mother with heartbroken eyes. I don’t think she ever forgave her but part of her wants to.

My mother refused her claim to the throne unless all the rest of her family falls, so I’m technically not a prince of Nohr.

My older cousins are nice but a bit too serious for me. I prefer freedom to castle life.

I remember the war. It took the lives of many and left even more heartbroken.

Tap:

Uh, hiya?

You know, this is how you start a tickle war!

I’m no prince but I’m okay with that.

I’ll help you with anything. Just ask!

40 v1:

Summoner, may we talk? I know my mother’s whole story. The stolen princess who sided with Nohr. But there’s more than that. There always is. Growing up, I watched her break her own heart over and over. When I was younger, I wanted to be just like her, much to her chagrin. But now I know why she didn’t want that. Her life was painful and full of sorrow, partially due to her own actions. Forced to grow up as fast as possible. I still want to be like her though. Strong and kind. And I want to thank you for helping me with that.

40 v2:

Hm? Oh, hello, Summoner! Huh? I’m a mess? Oh, I’m not a prince, so being covered in mud isn’t an issue. Besides, there were a group of kids who wanted to play! I had to help! Huh? I’m...childish sometimes? Well, yeah. My entire family had to grow up in such a short time. Having someone around who was still childlike seemed to give them hope. Besides, it’s more fun than some stuffy princely like. But don’t worry. I know when to be serious. I am the child of Corrin. Being a warrior is in my blood!

[twxntrash]

So anyone remember that Lapidot fluffy/angst peice I wrote a while back, Handful of Kisses?

I’ve updated it and kinda changed it a bit to use for a Mixed Media project in one of my classes. Of course I had to remove the names and shit and cut some stuff out, but here’s the version I’ve made for my class.

The number of kisses that we had shared could be counted on hand, and that was okay.

From the start, from when I had first set eyes on her, there had been something about her that I wanted to know. She was beautiful, she was absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.

I saw her for the first time at lunch on the first day of school. She had been sitting with her own group of friends as I lurked at a table in the corner with my own friend. She was a rather short woman with untamable, fluffy blonde hair, and would nod, shake her head or giggle at what her friends said. When she spoke, she was loud and full of gestures and movements equally as loud, as though she put everything she had behind her every word.

I watched her the whole time. I watched her for weeks after that, unable to bring myself to approach her.

Eventually, with enough prodding and encouragement from my own friend, I came to the table, to her. She greeted me with a smile and someone asked if I wanted to join them. I returned the greeting with a smile, shaking my head at the offer and wordlessly held out a piece of paper with my number on it. The pink tone her cheeks took assured me that she was like me, and she stammered a string of incoherent words in her flustered state. I had smiled, she was so cute and I turned on my heels to walk away.

That night, she called. I hadn’t expected her too, but was immensely happy that she had. We spoke, held a conversation for the first time and I found myself enjoying the rather sarcastic humor this girl had. We talked and agreed to meet up for brunch that weekend.

When I had come that morning at ten, I saw that she was already there, sitting at a booth by the window. As soon as those green eyes locked onto my own blue ones, she practically jumped from her seat, waving me down and drawing far too much attention to herself in her excited and loud mannerism. It was adorable. I could feel something warm erupting inside my chest and spreading across my whole body.

I took a seat across from her and we got some coffee. I had mine black and she dumped enough sugar and cream to kill a horse in hers. I had learned that she didn’t like bitter flavors, though she was highly addicted to caffeine. I myself wasn’t much of a coffee person, and just stirred the cup quietly, not drinking it, but finding the warmth of the cup in my hands and the smell of the brew to be soothing.

We talked. I found out her name, something I hadn’t actually known until then. She had a lovely name.

For the rest of our high school year, we had a light, almost innocent relationship. We never did much in terms of physicality, besides hand holding, hugs and cuddling on the couch while we watched movies and cheesy TV shows. Most people were surprised that we were together, because we weren’t as intimate as the relationships they were familiar with. But, that was fine. We weren’t an intimate pair, neither comfortable with it, and we were perfectly content with what we already had.

For all of high school, we never once kissed.

Our first kiss was on graduation day. We threw our caps in the air out on the large football field outside of the school, everyone was cheering and everyone was happy. I saw her through the mass of students between us. Our eyes locked and we began moving towards each other, meeting in the middle of the crowd. My arms were around her waist, hers around my shoulders.

Our lips met for the first time in the three years of being together. We were in love.

Summer came, we were busy with work, but still found time to be with each other. We were always by one another when we were free from work. Summer came. Summer passed. She moved on to college and I began to seriously pursue art. I began doing commissions online, putting up paintings to local art shows and selling them when I could. Eventually I moved out of my parent’s house and followed her to her new city where she attended college, got an apartment close to campus.

She moved in during her second year, though she practically lived with me her entire first year, college regulations wouldn’t let her move off campus as a freshman. I did what I could to support her. I stayed up with her during the stressful all-nighters and helped her with review sessions, anything I could do to help her out. She in return would offer me support during my years of art, sometimes coming home with new paints or brushes to surprise me with.

Years passed and I still remembered that day fondly. The day that we graduated high school and the day that we shared our first kiss. I still loved her, loved her more and more with each passing day, more than words could ever hope to describe. We didn’t need to kiss every chance we got to show just how madly in love we were. We showed it through the simple but meaningful words we exchanged, the looks gave and actions we took. We didn’t need a kiss to prove love existed between us. We knew we were in love, that’s what mattered.

She graduated from college and got herself a job working with computers and programs. Technical stuff I could never understand, and I gained more traction as a professional artist, gaining more buyers and more followers. We made friends in town, maintained a few of our friends from school. Though we would lose contact with some of them, it was okay. So long as we had each other. We would always have each other.

We were twenty-six when I proposed and she accepted. There were tears shed, laughter shared and we held onto one another the entire night, not daring to let go lest the dream shatter and reality return. We shared our second kiss under the blanket of a starry night sky.

Her mother insisted on paying for most of the wedding, we had a period tension with her on who would wear a dress. We settled for both wearing one. The engagement lasted a year and a half, we took our time finding the perfect location, the perfect theme, the perfect everything, and if it wasn’t perfect, that was fine. We weren’t in a rush, and the engagement could have lasted much longer if our family hadn’t kept us on track.

We settled for a wedding on a beach. I always wanted to get married by the ocean and she was happy to oblige.

We were married, the day was beautiful and everything had gone right. As we stared into each other’s eyes, we could tell the love between us was as strong as ever. We shared a kiss when we were cued to do so and sparks danced between us like our very first kiss. I butted my head against her, laughing and feeling as weightless as I held her close, feeling her warmth against me. I loved her so much, we loved each other so much that the entire world had vanished and it just her and me.

Years rolled by, we eventually moved out of the city and bought a nice little house outside of the city. It was peaceful, quiet, and away from the noise and distraction of the city, offering us a privacy to be who we were without the prying eyes of the rest of the world. Our friends grew up, got married and had children of their own. They’d ask when we’d have our own children, if we’d adopt, if we’d do a donor. But we were content without one. We had a dog named Pumpkin and we loved him as though he were our own child.

We never kissed, we never touched one another in the same way that other couples always did. We never felt the need to, never felt the desire to. We were happy how things were, satisfied with what our relationship gave and offered.

Our next kiss didn’t come for many years, not until she was on her death bed. I was at her side, her hands held in my own and watched as the woman soundly slept. Her face, once round and smooth, had become a home for wrinkles, and her blonde hair had greyed. Her hands, wrinkly, boney, were always shaking. Even though she was sick, was dying, she was as breathtakingly beautiful as the day I had first seen her. Through teary eyes, I still saw her beauty and warmth, still saw all of what had made me fall in love with her.  My heart still swelled with love for her.

Slowly, she stirred. She saw me and she smiled, her face full of warmth, joy and a pure, innocent light of untainted love. She pushed herself up slightly, wheezing as she tried to breathe. Her lungs were failing, her body failing. The doctors said there was nothing they could do, that if she had been younger then there could have been a chance, but she was too old now.

It was fine. We got to have a long and happy life together, almost sixty years since we first fell in love. We were fine if our story was coming to an end.

Looking into her eyes, they still shined and sparkled. She didn’t say anything and neither did I as I smiled back. I leaned down and gently, lovingly, kissed her goodbye.

It was our last kiss. She died just a few days later. Peacefully and smiling.

All our time together, all the memories we had made, to me, they were as pure as light and brought warmth even on the coldest days. I regarded all our time together fondly as I laid on my own death bed just two years later. My friends and family surrounding me, telling me how much they loved me and how much I meant to them all.  I smiled and nodded, though my mind was full of thoughts of the love of my life. I thought of her vivid green eyes and bright smile. I thought of how soft she felt and how well she fit in my arms whenever I held her.

My eyes grew heavy; my breathing grew slower. It was getting harder to hear those around me. But, I could hear her laughter instead, more clearly than ever before. A light, beautiful laughter, my name being called. A genuine joy in the voice that I had always loved.

I thought of her lips on my own that day as I closed my eyes and went to join her, to give her one more kiss.

[the-dead-skwad]

First Encounter Part 1 X The Riddler X Reader

So first Riddler Gotham story. Let me know what you think. Includes smut and multiple personality disorder. More parts to come 😊

You pulled your car up away from the gates behind a large bush so they didn’t see you. Driving all this way with no head lights was the worst, but you made do. You crouched behind a low wall to see your “target�� get out his fancy car and walk through the gates along with 2 men. You guessed you were killing more people than you thought. God knows how many people were in the house as well.

It was hard to silently creep around in the bushes as this person had a gravel drive way. By some shear luck no one had seen you or heard you. The way they struck the lock told you they weren’t wanted guests at this ridiculous mansion.

You followed silently through the door making sure you stuck to the shadows that trailed down the dimly lit corridor. As the three men approached what seemed to be the doors to the main room of the house they drew their unimpressive pistols from their jacket pockets. ‘It’s Showtime’ you thought to yourself, as you pulled your beautiful Desert Eagle .50 from the holster on your leg.

“Please fellas do come in!” you heard a familiar voice call. ------ Penguin sat in his great arm chair swilling wine round a glass with his lips pulled into a smirk at one corner.

“I don’t think this is the time to be smiling Oswald. You have no gun and men are here to kill you.” Edward exclaimed to his friend.

Oswald turned his head to look at Ed “Maybe so good friend. But I do have a plan.” his smirk had grew larger.

Ed sighed again “Very well but care to let me know?” As soon as he had finished his sentence a loud noise came from the hall way.

Oswald stood from his chair and placed his wine on the table. “Oh good. They’re here.”

Two minutes later and three men came bursting through the doors. “Please fellas. Do come in!” The three men raised their guns at Oswald and Ed. Then the noise of three gun shots filled the air. After a second Ed realised he was not hot and moved his hand away from his face.

There at the doors stood the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She stood proud, dressed all in black except a green pair of gloves. On the floor in front of her lay the three men, brains leaking out the gun shot would in their heads. She wiped the blood from her face and smiled at them both.

“Oswald!” She shouted. -----

As soon at the 3 men were lying there dead at your feet you looked up to great your client. For a second you didn’t even notice as you were taken a back by this tall, slim dark hair figure standing smiling at you. Then you realised who he was with. “

Oswald!” you shouted. Louder than you meant to. “Oh I haven’t seen you since Arkham!” you stepped over the bodies to greet him.

He wrapped his small arms around you “Hello old friend. It’s so nice to see you again and I must say you look amazing now you’re out of those stripes.”

You smiled, so happy to see him “I’d say the same for you. You really are living like a king now.” You nodded towards the severed head displayed proudly on the side “I love the decor.”

The tall man coughed slightly making Oswald jump “How rude of me. Y/N this is Edward, Edward this is Y/N.”

He stuck his hand out and smiled at you “It’s nice to meet you Y/N.”

You shook his hand “And you Edward."

You both still held hands for a second “Please call me Ed”

“Drinks!” Oswalds voice made you both pull away from each other. Os stood there with a bottle of old wine, 3 glasses and a smiled stretched across his face.

You smiled back “Perfect!” ----

After a few drink the conversation was flowing beautifully. It felt like you three were just old friends, well technically you and Os had met in Arkham Asylum a wile back. You all sat there on a carpet which clearly cost more than your apartment in front of a warm crackling fire. “So” Ed looked at you “A hit man?”

You shrugged “Yeah, after I escaped that bus full of crazy mutants I only had two skills and one was being a very successful murderer. I think hit man / woman is just a fancy way to say murders for money.”

You had notice that every time he looked at you a devilish smile crept across his face making your stomach flip. “And the second skill?” he asked hoping it was what he thought it was.

“Let’s just say one person was dragged to Hugo Stranges lab and three people left.” You look down at your nearly empty wine glass and smiled to yourself. You didn’t know but Ed understood your problem more than anyone. You could here the other yous arguing in your head.

“We need more wine!” Oswald said pulling you from your thoughts.

You smiled at him and nodded. Os stood and hobbled out the room. Ed smiled at you again but you pushed your feelings down, you were good at that. He moved closer to you “I know what it’s like.” You furrowed your brows “What?”

He took your hand in his “I have two of me. One shy, nerdy, a loser and the one you see, confident, cocky and devilishly handsome.”

“Oh..” before you could say anymore your and Eds lips crashed into a passionate, powerful kiss. He pulled back to look into your eyes for a second. “But Oswald.” Even though he had basically took your breath away with that kiss you had to say.

“What about him?” he asked tucking a loose peice of hair behind your ear.

You sighed as you knew feelings would take over soon. Sensitive you had feelings. Not this strong powerful hit man that you were. “I see the way he looks at you. The way he spoke about you in Arkham. He loves you.”

Ed smiled “Maybe so.” You turned your head slightly but he placed his hand on your cheek and turned you back to him. “But I see exactly what I want right in front of me. He’s a good friend is all.” He caressed your cheek making you melt inside. “Shared between two, Most often to woo, Some times hot and sometimes cold, The beginning of us all, Young and old?”

You grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him towards you kissing him with love and passion. Things you didn’t know you could even feel. You pulled back and smiled “A kiss.”

Ed turned his head as the incoming noise of Oswalds stick grew louder. “Later.” He whispered on your lips and shuffled back to where he was sat. He spoke again but louder like you were like this the whole time “The more you take the more you leave behind?”

You lay back on the resting your head on a plump cushion on the floor. “Hhmmm, footsteps!” “Damn, got me again.”

“Having fun?” Oswald asked as he re-entered the room. Ed winked at you “Of course.”

“I hate to be rude” Os started “But we have 3 Arkham starved criminals sat here and 3 large over fed men starting to stink up the place. What are we gona do with them?”

They both turned to you “I create the bodies, I don’t erase the bodies!”

All of you stood, a glass of wine in hand. “If I drink I die, If I eat I’m fine. What am I?” you said causing Ed to bite his lip at you.

“Fire!” Ed replied.

“I have a furnace down stairs.” Oswald added “But how do we get them down there? And I swear, one more riddle and I’m never inviting either of you round again!”

“We make them smaller.” An evil grin spread across all of your cheeks. A voice spoke over the usual chaos in your head ‘It’s my time to shine.’ A feeling of pure evil spread through your whole body as you tried to push her back. “Excuse me a second. Bathroom?”

“Down the hall”

You ran out the door till you reached the bathroom. You looked in the mirror and pushed your hair out of your face.

“Come on.” Your reflection spoke to you “You’ve been drinking. Let me take this one. I’ll give you your body back as soon as the jobs done.”

“No!” you argued back “I know you won’t. I can handle this. I’ve killed more people than you have!”

“You’re a pathetic bitch! You know he’d prefer me to you anyway.”

“Go away! You’re a psychopath, you murder for fun with no knowledge of how to cover your tracks. I kill for money!”

“But the idea of you chopping up those bodies. You know that smile, that warm feeling, the blood splashing across your skin, I know you love it as much as I do.”

“Exactly so I’m more than capable of doing this! Good bye!” you splashed some water across your face and took a deep breath in. You raised your head in hope of seeing just you.

“We could just leave.” Your reflection spoke in a whimper this time.

“Oh for fuck sake. Not you!” you sighed.

“Say your sick, you drank too much, ooh you could climb out the window!”

“No. These are my friends! Also Ed is perfect for all three of us. “

“He’s bad news. I can see it”

“Will you just go away.”

“Okay, I’ll speak to you soon.” You reflection sniffled, wiped a tear away and changed.

Finally you were stood facing your actual face. A knock in the door made you jump.

“Y/N?” it was Ed “You all ok in there?”

You opened the door and looked up his tall figure. “Just fine.”

“This is you from earlier right?” he looked you up and down to check any posture change or anything.

“Yep normal Y/N”

“Good!” all of a sudden he smashed his lips into yours making your heart jump. The kiss was so powerful you both started to moan and pull at each others clothes. You knew in that second you needed him.

He lifted you on to the side next to the sink. He started to suck and bite on your neck. Moans escaped your lips. “We don’t have long. Os has gone to find some tools to chop up the bodies.” He whispered into your neck. He quickly pulled your black jeans and your lace underwear down and off your legs.

He kissed you again rubbing his hands on your thighs “You ready for me?” he asked breathlessly.

“Oh fuck yeah!” you moaned.

He pulled down his trousers and his dick sprung up from the top of his boxers. With out anymore waiting he started to push himself into you. Slowly at first so you could get used to him. But in no time at all he was pounding into you making you want to scream. You bit your lip hard so Oswald would not hear you.

“I knew I wanted you.” Ed said against your lips.

“Oh... yeah”

“As soon... as I... saw you. Holy shit! You feel amazing!”

Your legs were wrapped tightly around his waist, your foreheads pressed together. Sweat started to collect on your skin as he pounded the hell out of you.

“Jesus Ed! I’m gonna cum!” you nearly screamed. “Come for me” he somehow picked up his pace even more.

You clung onto the back of his shirt as you felt a wave of pleasure surge through your body. You couldn’t help but call his name. As soon as you said it he came with you. He slowed down as his body shook slightly. He pulled out and smiled. “That was something else.”

You wiped the hair from your face and kissed him “You’re telling me.”

He stepped back to pull his trousers up and you jumped off the side and pulled yours back on. You opened the door to check Oswald wasn’t around “I think it’s clear”

You felt his lips on the back of your neck. He wrapped his arms around your waist and kissed your ear “Later when Oswald goes to bed, I’m going to show you how a man properly fucks his lady.”

[darksideaskblog]

Drensi couldn’t help but chuckle at her when she said she didn’t see him as the techy type and gave her a smile, “What do you mean you didn’t see me as being the ‘techy type,’” he asked as he got up from the table, he then added something else as he helped himself to another piece of cake, “I was a massive nerd in school,” he blushed a bit, even though she couldn’t really see it thanks to his dark skin, “I was in robotics club, uh...Well since you already know I’m Black Cat, I was in a computer building class too, my school also had an intro to hacking,” he took a quick glance at her and gave her a smile and a shrug, “And I took it up very quickly, I was really good at it.”

The Drensi paused for a second to pop a piece of that delicious cake into his mouth then continued, “And honestly, I actually didn’t see you as being a thief either, I just saw your cool looking machines and thought you liked inventing things too,” he smiled and got another piece of the cake on his plate and tried to keep his mouth closed to say the next part, “I do actually invent and make things for fun too, just so you know,” he made a face like he was trying not to laugh, “I’ll show you my Black Cat lair later.”

When she told him she actually didn’t like all music he had almost choked on his piece of cake again then looked up at her with a wince as he swallowed the cake in his mouth already, “Oh...Well...Do you at least like rock,” he asked as he started giving examples, “Like Metallica, Poets Of the Fall? Well Poets isn’t really a rock band, more of a pop rock band I think...Or Journey, or Battle Tapes, or even Genises, well that’s technically Phil Collins but anyway, or Kiss? Or, and you’ll find me weird, Marilyn Manson, or Korn, or uh...” he trailed off. Had he given her too many examples? He felt like he’d given her his entire iPod playlist in one go. He blushed again and started patting both of his hands against the table as he stared into space with wide eyes and a wince on his face.

He felt as if he was showing how much of a nerd he actually was, he knew a lot about bands, and knew a lot of bands, hell, he pretty much had to learn everything about those bands and their chosen songs because his band was a cover band, and very rarely would they sneak one of their own songs into their concerts, mainly because Drensi kinda sucked at writing lyrics to a song, his buddy Jay, the drummer, was way better at that than he was.

As the conversation changed to cake, he gave her a little chuckle, “Aww, you bought it? Well you are right about them having great cake,” he popped another forkful of cake into his mouth, putting a hand in front of his face to keep his mouth covered as he talked, “But I do like homemade cakes, but this really good,” he dusted a few crumbs off his chest and chuckled, “I’ve already had like three pieces, I should stop and get ready before the guys get angry at me for forgetting again.”

He chuckled and stood up, finishing his final peice of cake before he left the plate and fork on the table not before making his way to the present on the table after Kitt playfully telling him to find out for himself what she had gotten him. Softly he stuck his forked tongue out at her, and the expression on his face was playful and happy, then he directed his attention on the present in front of him and began opening it. His eyes brightened and a smile formed on his face as he took out one of the things from the box, and wrapped it around his neck. This first thing was a scarf, and he showed his love for it by snuggling into it then pulled out the next thing and plopped it on his head, well more tried to fit it around his head. This was a hat, and at the two gifts, he smiled at Kitt, holding the scarf in both hands as he did so. He was so happy, and he couldn’t help but snuggle into the scarf again. It was so warm.

He smiled happily at her as he snuggled into his new presents, “Thank you so much Kitt!!! I love them!!”

@muppeteyes1001 summitted

Drensi had fallen asleep late last night, tinkering with one of his little inventions for his secret hacking job, which was now halfway finished and laying in plain sight on his table. He only woke up after the third knock and opened his eyes.

With a small little grumble, he got up out of bed and sleepily stumbled his way to his front door. He almost had to do a double take because his sleepy mind didn’t register it was Kitt standing in front of him, his sleepy brain wouldn’t let him see that.

He yawned and gave Kitt a very sleepy smile and invited her inside, while also helping her with one of the boxes. In all reality, he had no clue what today actually was, so he smiled and asked, “What are these for, and what’s the special occasion?”

[idekwidcfo]

chapter four

this is the longest chapter so far

apologies for any formatting weirdness caused by copy/pasting it onto tumblr 

Mar was true to her word and did not call me to come help with her groceries, so I decided to be true to mine. I lounged around watching TV until it was time to get ready for the party. Even then, I ended up ready way too soon-- I started at 6 and it simply did not take 40 minutes to shower and get dressed. I turned the TV back on for a bit so I didn’t seem like a crazy person pulling up to Mar’s a fully forty minutes early. 

Finally, finally it was time that I could leave and show up at a somewhat normal time. Since we weren’t going to a show I figured it was my turn to choose the music. After a rather long moment of indecision, I put on This Is a Long Drive For Someone With Nothing to Think About. I had recently fallen in love with Modest Mouse, and I really hoped she would like it. 

When I pulled up to her place, it was 6:56, which made me technically early but I was worried she actually had expected me at 6:52. I felt bad about the possibility that she was waiting anxiously, like she had said yesterday. It didn’t help that she was at my door the second I put my car in park. 

“Took you long enough,” she said, but her tone made it obvious that she was teasing. She hopped in the passenger seat. “Only four minutes early! Where’s the exactly-eight-minutes-early Vaughn I was expecting?” 

“That asshole took four minutes to choose what CD to play on the drive up there. You said it was somewhere in Cleveland, right?” 

We lived in Akron, which meant that Cleveland was about a 45 minute drive away. Having a good album playing was, in fact, essential. 

“Oh, I don’t get to choose this time?” she pouted playfully. 

“We can take turns. Are you up for navigating? I’m pretty sure I figured out how to get there but I wrote down the directions to be sure,” I said, handing her the peice of paper I had copied the Mapquest instructions onto. 

“Sure!” she said. “I’m glad to be useful.” 

I started driving again and she examined the directions. “This seems unnecessarily complicated. I thought it was just Route 8 up to uh, one of those big freeways that lead to Cleveland.” 

“I’m a normal person who does normal things like avoiding freeways when I drive. Although, to be fair to my totally normal self, my car is a little old and junky and it likes the back roads better.” 

She shrugged. “Sounds fun.” 

It was fun, at least more fun than driving by myself. I liked driving, so that was actually saying a lot. We stopped for gas and energy drinks but mostly we drove without speaking. I let the music of Modest Mouse wash over me as I drove. She seemed to have fun giving me directions-- it made our journey a sort of act of teamwork and I couldn’t help but feel we were bonding over it even with minimal talking. 

And then we were there. I didn’t even need her to confirm for me. It was noticeably a house party. Cars were parked on both sides of the street despite the lack of sidewalk or curb and people were pouring out of the porch onto the front yard. And this was us showing up only fifteen minutes late! I couldn’t even begin to wrap my head around what this would look like two hours from now. 

“Uh, wow, I wasn’t expecting so many people,” I said. 

“I guess I didn’t actually explain in detail how awesome Derek’s parties are,” Mar said. “Did I mention there’s a pool? And a hot tub? Although good luck getting in the hot tub, it’s usually too crowded. This is pretty much the real deal as far as house parties are concerned.” 

“This is my first time going to any party that wasn’t, at best, my friend’s parents letting us have a few Bud Lights in the other room and checking in every couple of hours,” I told her. 

“Ew, Bud Light? I’m sorry your friend’s parents did that to you,” she said. “Anyway, you’re in for a fun night if this is your first real party.” 

We approached the house and Derek greeted us. “You made it!” he said, looking at me with a big, genuine smile. 

“I did,” I said, feeling awkward about how happy he was to see me. It was nice! I appreciated it! But it was also weird. We had barely gotten to know each other, unless shoving each other in the small mosh pit last night counted. 

“Oh, so he gets a warm welcome and what do I get?” Mar asked with a smirk. 

“Nothing because I know your ass would have found a way here one way or the other!” Derek said. Shouted, really. It occured to me that Derek was possibly-- probably-- at least a little bit buzzed. 

“Where’s the beers?” Mar asked.

“In the kitchen, duh,” Derek responded. 

As Mar dragged me into the house, it sunk in that this was quite possibly the first time that I could get away with getting trashed. Not that I wanted to. Or maybe I did. I wasn’t sure. I had seen my dad trashed and it just seemed bad and embarrassing, but I was also curious about what it was like. 

I noticed that nearly everyone we passed was happy to see Mar and interested in meeting me, but Mar steered me past them. “Booze now, make friends later,” she said. “Do a shot with me.” 

“Uh, I’ve never really drank hard liquor, I’ve only ever had a few be--” 

“Shot. With me. Now,” she said, handing me a mostly-full shot glass. I watched as she gulped it down like a kid with nasty medicine and tried to do the same. It burned, and I coughed a bit, but I didn’t splutter or spit it out or anything, which I was proud of for some stupid reason. 

“Okay,” Mar said. “Cool. Now beer. Any preferences?” 

“Um. PBR?” 

She rolled her eyes at me. “Well you’ll fit right in. Let’s see if Derek has anything better than that though,” she said, opening the fridge and digging around. “Oh! Commodore Perry!” 

She handed me a can of PBR and opened her own bottle of beer, which did look a lot fancier and higher quality than my own. 

“Mmmm, let’s do one more shot before we go mingle,” Mar said, handing me the shot glass again. I held it out while she filled it up. It was a little easier with the PBR as a chaser. 

I was definitely already buzzed-- not trashed, but buzzed. I was glad. I didn’t want to be one of those people who couldn’t have more than one drink without getting embarrassingly drunk. 

She led me back into the living room, where the biggest group of people who had greeted her happily were hanging out. She introduced me as her boyfriend, which made me happy. Unfortunately, I forgot pretty much everyone’s names almost as soon as the conversation moved past introductions. 

As Mar talked to people she clearly knew already and was already friends with, I stood awkwardly to the side. A person who was also standing awkwardly to the side near me introduced themself. 

“Xavier, huh? Uh, mind me asking what pronouns you use?” I asked, realizing as I spoke that I was, in fact, drunk already. Was the PBR hitting me hard or was that just my body absorbing the shots? 

Xavier’s face lit up and I knew I had hit on something there. Maybe trans people have a ‘trans’-dar the way gay people have ‘gaydar’. “He/him! Thanks for asking!” 

“Mine are he/him, too. I asked because I’m trans,” I told him. I wasn’t normally that forthcoming about it, but it was so rare to meet someone else who was trans that I wanted him to know he wasn’t the only trans kid at the party. 

“You are? I couldn’t even tell!” 

“Well, I was lucky my dad was… passively accepting, I guess? He’s not going to get ally of the year or anything, but he did let me start hormones last year, and I was on puberty blockers before that. So I look like a man, I guess. Yay me,” I said awkwardly. I thought alcohol was supposed to help you feel less awkward but I guess I was still sober enough to feel awkward. I finished my beer. There weren’t any trash cans that I could see so I held the empty can while Xavier spoke to me. It did not help with the awkward feeling I had. 

“Wow that’s awesome,” he said. “I know a lot of people online who have transitioned or are transitioning but I’ve never met someone else in real life!” 

“You know, me neither,” I said. “Outside of a support group I went to a few times.” 

“Oh, I should probably attend one of those, huh?” Xavier said. 

I shrugged. “It didn’t help me much. I did the same thing I just did to you-- misgendered someone even though I, a transgender guy, should know better. And then I just never went back. Jeez, now you know three things about me and one of them is that I misgendered someone at a trans meeting.” 

“Ha!” he said. “No worries, really, I still slip up and misgender myself sometimes. Also I’m new to this and everything but isn’t a trans person slipping out the wrong pronouns like way different than a cis person intentionally using the wrong ones, anyway? Let’s stop talking about it, seriously. Wanna smoke some weed instead?” 

“Um, yes, I would very much like to smoke weed. I never have before! I was hoping to for the first time here at this party! But I should probably get my girlfriend, because I’m pretty sure she likes weed, too,” I said. 

I tapped Mar’s shoulder. “Damn,” I heard Xavier say under his breath. “She’s pretty, good for you!” 

I tried not to smile too big, but it was hard when I had definitely heard Xavier muttering that, and Mar’s face was so close to mine that I could see perfectly well for myself how pretty she was. “Xavier here just offered me weed, wanna come smoke with us?” 

She looked at him. “Just us three or are you up to sharing with others, too?” 

Xavier grinned. “The more the merrier!” 

Mar turned back to her group of friends and announced, “Xavier here has weed! Who wants to go smoke?” 

“I do! I do!” a few of the people said with ironic enthusiasm. Or maybe not ironic? It was hard to tell. 

“Where’s Derek?” Mar muttered to herself, looking around. She turned back to me and Xavier. “It’s good manners to offer the host of the party any weed you may smoke at the party. Let’s go find him.” 

“I knew that,” Xavier said with a facial expression that was between an eye-roll and a frown. 

“Also, the host frequently knows really well where it’s okay to smoke in his own house,” Mar said. “Just, on a more practical note.” 

“You know I’ve smoked before? This is my weed that we’re going to be smoking?” Xavier asked, quite bewildered by Mar’s helpful tone. 

“Yeah, I’m talking to Vaughn, not you,” Mar said. She actually sounded a little rude and I worried that I was in the middle of a brewing confrontation. 

“So you’re just ignoring me to my face before you smoke my weed?” Xavier asked. 

“Jeez, you’re touchy,” Mar said. “But also you’re right, that was rude of me. I should have included you. You got any tips to share with our little cannabis virgin here?” Just like that, the air of potential confrontation had vanished. 

“Cannabis?” 

“I got that from him. Isn’t it hilarious? He seriously called it cannabis the first time it came up. So nerdy, so cute.”

“That is cute. Next he’ll tell us that the tetracannahydrobanoids are what get you high.” 

“Is that a word? Is that the real word for it?” 

“I have no idea, but it sounds right, right?” 

“Hey, wait a second, now you’re ignoring me,” I said. “Maybe you just suck at focusing on more than one person at a time.” 

Mar turned around and glared at me. For a long moment. I felt bad. I also felt drunk. I was, at this point, definitely feeling the beer and those two shots. After an awfully intense moment of her staring me down, her face broke into a smile. “It’s kinda nice having you tell me I suck at something instead of going on about how pretty and cool and fashionable and funny I am,” she said. “Do it more.” 

She then turned back around leaving me a little shocked about that but also pretty much forced to immediately get over it. She led me and Xavier through the front door to the porch, where it turned out Derek still was and had been the whole time. “Derek, darling,” Mar said, melodramatically draping herself on his lap. “Our new best friend Xavier here has marijuana on offer and I knew it would be absolutely uncouth to smoke it without coming to find you first.” 

I felt that stupid spike of jealousy and being drunk did not help. Neither did Xavier. “Damn they seem real flirty. You’re okay with that?” 

“A, he’s gay, b, she’s known him longer and c, no one likes a jealous asshole, so no thank you to me being a jealous asshole,” I said. I wasn’t that drunk yet, I figured, since I could still enunciate clearly. It took some effort, but I did it. 

“Let’s go!” Derek said. “Follow me, stoner conga line.” 

I turned around and realized he was right. There was a whole damn conga line of people eagerly waiting for the promised weed. 

“I need more beer first though so detour to the kitchen,” Derek amended. 

I got another beer while they were right there, and Derek did a shot with Mar which was very okay because I was definitely not ready for a whole nother shot. We eventually made it into what was very obviously Derek’s room, with posters that looked like they had been ripped from the walls of Electric Avenue haphazardly taped to the wall and the general messiness of a teenaged boy. Or maybe he was in his early twenties. I wasn’t sure how old Derek was, now that I thought about it. He did have a very big bed, probably king sized although I couldn’t tell these types of things just by looking, and he gestured at us to go ahead and sit on it. 

He opened all the windows and turned on a fan. “I’m sure they can tell I smoke in here, but I figure it’s the thought that counts,” he said, pouring a bit of scented oil into a burner. Xavier started getting the pipe ready while I watched. 

When the entire stoner conga line situated itself into a stoner circle on the bed, Xavier spoke up. “Pip?” 

No one said anything. Xavier turned to me. “Say ‘pap’.” 

“Like a pap smear?” I asked, utterly bewildered. 

“No, like pip-pap, a silly name for ‘pipe’,” he explained. 

“Pap?” 

“Good job,” he said, handing me the pipe. “Now you get greens.” 

“What?” Mar demanded from the other side of me. 

“How do you decide who gets greens? My friends and I go ‘pip’ and whoever says ‘pap’ first gets greens. Now you all know!” Xavier explained. 

“I pack a bowl and then pass left because left is law,” Mar said. 

“But right is polite!” Xavier countered, a big cheesy grin on his face. Perhaps it was because I had drank that second beer rather quickly and therefore was already at four drinks, counting those two shots, but suddenly I realized he was really cute. 

I had sort of hoped that someone would tell me what the fuck to do, but Mar and Xavier were too busy comparing notes on their little stoner rituals and no one else was close enough to help me-- both literally and in terms of friendship. So I lit the weed in the bowl and inhaled as hard as I could. 

It hurt. I was suddenly coughing, my throat on fire. On the plus side, it got both Mar and Xavier’s attention. “Oh my god I’m so sorry I forgot it was your first time, let me go get you a drink!” Mar said. The absolute horror on her face was actually hilarious. 

“No, I’ll go, and we’ll pass to the right this time and you can have the next hit,” Xavier said, getting up. 

Mar shrugged. “Okay.” I passed the pipe to her as Xavier got up and she got ready to take the next hit. “There’s a trick to it, and I think it takes a second to learn, but you have to suck really gently like you’re trying to drink a soda out of a straw really slowly or something,” she said, then she did it. “See? Suck gently, no coughing.” 

“I got something you can suck gently,” I whispered at her. 

She had been passing it to whoever the hell it was sitting on her other side, but quickly turned back to me. “What?” she said with what I could only describe as an incredulous grin. She looked absolutely delighted but a little bit confused. It was a lot. I regretted it immediately. It had been the booze talking or something, considering we hadn’t even kissed yet. 

Why hadn’t we, though? Because I hadn’t been brave enough to initiate it yet? Fuck that. 

That was how Mar and I made out for the first time, surrounded by a bunch of people I didn’t know on her friend’s giant bed. It was during this that I felt the weed kick in, and it made the making out feel really good. Eventually Xavier came back with another PBR, which would be my fifth drink since I was still counting the shots as one drink each. It felt like it was important to keep track, but I wasn’t sure why. 

I thought about starting up another make-out session, since I was happy to spend the rest of the party right here kissing Mar, but before I could the pipe made it back to us and she told me to try again to see if I could smoke pot without wrecking my lungs and throat. 

I took the pipe and felt a tiny bit of apprehension. It was all good to joke about it but it really had been terribly painful. But I felt the need to get over it and tried again, sucking very gently. 

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I even got more smoke into my lungs, but that came with the benefit of not having coughed, so I counted it as a success. I opened the beer Xavier had brought me and sat there feeling the alcohol and the weed and trying to take it all in, since it was my first time smoking and my first time drinking to excess. I really wanted to go back to kissing Mar, but it seemed really rude to everyone else on the bed and maybe even Mar herself, since she seemed to want to do things like keep drinking and smoking and talking to her friends. 

“It’s ass,” Mar said after what felt like three hours but, checking my phone, I realized was only about five minutes. I didn’t know what ‘it’s ass’ meant, but Xavier took the pipe and put it away. 

“Anyone feel up to beer pong?” someone said, and next thing I knew Mar was dragging me back outside. 

[itzsci]

Six

I glanced at the clock, face breaking out in a grin for possibly the first time in a few months. I was sweaty, out of breath and probably red faced but honestly could not be happier now the countdown was nearing its end.

Cradling my twenty sheets of paper to my chest, I quickly walked to the photocopier, ready to leave a note for someone to do. I wasn’t going to, I didn’t have time to waste! Knowing someone would forget what to do with it, I made a note on the first page for someone to see.

Five

Oh I couldn’t wait. Nothing was going to hold me back, nothing tethered me to this world having my friends and family cut ties with me as soon as they heard of my “dealings.” I wasn’t too sad about it though, I had learnt how to be on my own plenty of times before, why was this different?

Four

Observing the commotion in the office I wondered whether they even knew what was happening. No one had asked recently, nor had said anything today on the final day. It made me question if they would even miss me when I was gone. Or would work get in the way, just like it always did?

Back in the day before the old boss left, we always had time for one another to make sure we were coping well. Of course we still did the work but we had fun, we cared about each other. Nowadays our new boss, a plump old man whom everyone hated, didn’t let silly things like emotions and caring get in the way of deadlines and work. Work equals life. This was why I was glad to be going.

Three

The sun was setting, confirming there was only a few seconds left. Wanting air, I practically sprinted out the office and down to the stairs to get some. I found myself in a back alleyway, behind the office - not the best place but air was air and I wasn’t going to complain. Just for a moment I closed my eyes, letting the sounds of New York wash over me.

“Two” I whispered knowing this was it, it was time. I couldn’t help but be giddy, bouncing up and down in excitement.

“On-“

Before I could even say it, I heard a blast in front of me. Everything felt warm and sticky, a stark contrast to the wind that was just there. Opening my eyes I noticed everything was now devoid of colour, as if the world was swept into a black and white picture. I knew I was the only one to see it.

“There you are.” A male voice said across from me, voice like ice. Normally, people would run from him, fearful and confused. Me? I strided towards him confidently, smirking. He seemed to be surprised by my actions, not used to it as of yet.

My silly, little Devil.

“I thought you weren’t coming.” I teased, knowing that he must of been impatient as I was if he didn’t even wait for the countdown to end.

“Dear, I have been waiting an lifetime for this moment, I wasn’t going to be late.” I giggled happily. I moved to kiss him but he moved backwards, offering his hand-claw instead. I laughed at his actions, not surprised he wanted to act like a gentleman but I had missed him and had been waiting for this moment forever.

He made no move to grab me, like he would of done with anybody else. He let me decide, making sure this is what I wanted and my heart burst with love because of it. He knew me well.

Before I could confirm however a sudden, unexpected blast erupted to my left shocking us both. We jumped backwards slightly from each other surprised, turning to the unwanted visitor. Ready to reprimand them, I stopped suddenly when I noticed who exactly it was.

“What are you two doing?” He asked angrily, glaring at us both. Unsure as to what I should do I just gaped at him, not really believing he was there. How could he be?

Why was God here?!

“We were. She was.” Stumbled the Devil, glancing at me unsure as if I could help him. I didn’t know what to do, what to say.

It was God!

Deciding he wasnt getting anywhere, he sighed before coming to his own conclusion; “You’re seducing another one, another one. You can’t keep doing this because you’re lonely.”

Wait. What. Coming out the shock that God was in front of us, I glared at the Devil. If there was others, then was I just another peice of meat he wanted? Just to damn to hell? He seemed to blush, looking at the ground sadly, an action I never see him do. Did that mean he was right?

“Devil?” I spoke up. “Is he right? Am I just another one?”

“No! No! Of course not! You’re special! There’s never been another one like you. He thinks you’re just another one to pull under but you-“ he sighed at this “you have a choice.”

I nodded. That was right - I had a choice. Technically, I didn’t have to go though with this though the countdown had said otherwise. I was only twenty, a prime age. But something in me, insisted to trust him, to go ahead with the plan, no matter what. Looking at my Devil now, I knew he felt guilty, that he always felt guilty knowing he was pulling me from my life into his, into damnation. But it was my choice if I was to follow him or not.

“You know, you don’t have to go with him Rachel.” God spoke up into the silence whilst I was contemplating.

“Whilst I’d rather leave you on earth, if you rather go anywhere, you can always come with me. Live your life happily, get everything you ever wanted. You’d be happier. You’d be more at peace. You don’t know what it’s like in hell.” God pushed.

I paused for a moment before finally speaking.

“But he” I pointed to the devil “wont be there.”

God shook his head. “No, he’s not allowed.”

“But what if he is the only thing I wanted?” I asked.

At the end of my statement I could tell God was surprised, shocked even. No one wanted the Devil, ever. But I did. Through all the conversations, happy and sad, he was there for me; to comfort me. He always put me first, letting me decide on things, making sure I was safe. He was good in my eyes.

I turned to the Devil then - my Devil - seeing him tense, wide eyed and surprised.

“I love you. And if God can give me everything, then he has to give me you.” I told him, knowing it was the first time I had ever said it. I heard a gasp, God most likely, but I just didn’t care for him right now.

There was silence, like we were all holding our breath waiting for the Devil’s reaction. He was staring at me, looking completely taken aback by my confession, mouth moving though he was not making a sound. I stared at him worriedly heart beating fast the more he struggled to speak. I wasn’t sure how to help him.

“I love you too.” He spoke finally, voice low that I had to strain to hear him. He swallowed nervously before trying again;

“I love you too. So much.” His face, oh god his face, broke out into a happy grin at his words and I couldn’t help but copy it. He opened his arms wide and I lunged at him. I must of had more force then I realised though when we started to tip backwards as soon as I had landed into him. I couldn’t help but squeal, him cradling my head to protect me just like he always did. We hit the ground, causing him to grunt in pain. Worried, I took a second to make sure he was okay. He laughed at my antics.

“I’m fine, are you?” He asked.

“I’m good, didn’t expect you to be a little weakling though.” I teased.

“Hey, wait one momen-“

I didn’t let him finish, grabbing his fire red face in my hands and crushing my lips to his. His protest died in my mouth and I couldn’t help but smile against him again. This. This was all I ever wanted.

Forever.