#that will keep me from starting over from scratch again yanno?

[touchmycoat]

deaged!SJ ch. 2

super first draft that i just need to put out here so i don’t delete it all again fjnksdnjfs

wc: 4.8k

Autumn morning tossed a silken gold sheen over Cang Qiong’s craggy cliff-sides, and amidst some boulders about five meters overhead, Yue Qingyuan spotted strawberry runners. They were such a sight to find in the hazy dawn light that Yue Qingyuan was on his feet before he really thought about it, eager to use his spiritual energy to coax the runners down. He could feed the green enough to cover the entire cliffside, to have strawberries dripping off the stones like jewels from the earlobes of a rich person.

Hand half in the air, Yue Qingyuan stopped himself. All in their own time, he reminded himself. This little plant didn’t need to be expansive to be charming. It was flourishing enough without his interference.

Not everything needed you to live, Yue Qingyuan. He withdrew his hand, resumed his post outside the Spirit Caves, and began waiting again.

For the past month, Yue Qingyuan’s disciples and assistants surely thought him possessed. He knew the rumors already without having to hear them—that Yue-zhangmen’s dearest shidi Shen Qingqiu had gotten into another fight with Bai Zhan Peak Lord Liu Qingge and leveled accusations. That was why Yue Qingyuan was standing guard over Liu Qingge’s retreat into seclusion, eager to catch Liu Qingge the moment Liu Qingge’s meditations finished so he could exact revenge—justly or unjustly—for Shen Qingqiu.

Of course, none of that was even remotely true except for, perhaps, the part about Liu Qingge taking up extended meditation in the Spirit Caves. And yes, Yue Qingyuan was waiting for him, but other than that, the rumors were all off.

Firstly, Shen Qingqiu never leveled any accusations, which was part of the problem. Having gone to the scene of Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge’s battle on the day of the qi deviation, Yue Qingyuan knew it hadn’t just been any regular battle. Shen Qingqiu—marked by the devastation Xiu Ya wreaked on the trees and stones and ground—had been out for blood, which would have been a death sentence in the making against Liu Qingge, who generally took murder attempts as blanket permission to end the other person’s life in turn.

However, the sword marks were notably one-sided. Yue Qingyuan spotted this quickly, having been a sword-less fighter for most of his life. Cheng Luan may have been drawn but had not been wielded with the destructive force that Yue Qingyuan knew Liu Qingge capable of.

So what did it mean that the Bai Zhan war god looked a murder attempt in the eyes and did not fight back?

Yue Qingyuan could only come up with one hypothesis to that question, which was that Liu Qingge had been in the wrong. Hypothesis had remained hypothesis though, because Shen Qingqiu’s account of the incident amounted to a barely polite version of wouldn’t you like to fucking know? Liu Qingge himself had disappeared into the caves before Yue Qingyuan could even question him. Circumstantially, this felt nothing like all of Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge’s previous fights. Even without forensic preoccupations from the scene of battle, Liu Qingge’s current seclusion could be construed as a retreat. And from Shen Qingqiu, of all people. What else was Yue Qingyuan meant to think?

So, standing for the fifth day in a row in front of the entrance to the Spirit caves, Yue Qingyuan had already worn a bald path in the scruffy grass due to excited pacing. Yes it was inappropriate, and of course it was bad that they’d fought at all, but at the same time, this was a dramatic deviation from their typical pattern! Shen Qingqiu hadn’t done something poorly construed and Liu Qingge hadn’t called him out on it. Shen Qingqiu hadn’t gone pale-lipped with wordless fury and Liu Qingge hadn’t gone stomping out because yet again, Yue Qingyuan was refusing to punish Shen Qingqiu for some harm Shen Qingqiu had “obviously” done but nobody could prove.

If Liu Qingge had been the one to wrong Shen Qingqiu this time, it could mark a change in their old dynamic. Liu Qingge obviously felt accountable enough to not fight back. For the first time ever, Liu Qingge was perhaps forced to perceive Shen Qingqiu as victim instead of perpetrator.

Hence Yue Qingyuan’s anticipatory camping out. He’d even been having all his work redirected to this post. He wanted to catch Liu Qingge the moment Liu Qingge came out and ask for the whole story. With any luck, Liu Qingge would have thought things over during meditation and agree to apologize. Two of the people most important to Yue Qingyuan might finally stop despising each other and fighting on sight. Heavens, they could even become friendly.

Gaze drifting back up to the peak of tender greens rooting among unforgiving rock, Yue Qingyuan struggled to keep excited feet still as he blessed the strawberry with every well-growing wish he could remember.

//

There was, unfortunately, no luck to be had, not where Yue Qingyuan was concerned. He cursed himself for not remembering this character flaw of his earlier as he chased after Liu Qingge on the way to Qing Jing Peak. The conversation had gone so quickly and decisively, just like all of Liu Qingge’s battles. Yue Qingyuan cursed himself again for not being ready for that.

Shen Qingqiu didn’t tell you?

Perhaps Yue Qingyuan should feel gratified that Liu Qingge was demonstrating some loyalty to Shen Qingqiu—but annoyingly, it was coming at the cost of Liu Qingge’s loyalty to Yue Qingyuan. No, no, he mustn’t think that way. Liu Qingge not telling him everything immediately was not a betrayal because Yue Qingyuan wasn’t trying to work against Shen Qingqiu. All Yue Qingyuan wanted was for them to get along and—and this was good. This was good.

Things got a little less good when they arrived on Qing Jing Peak and descended before Shen Qingqiu. The chilly onset was immediate, and Yue Qingyuan couldn’t help but feel a tinge of woe for the fact that Liu Qingge and himself were in all likelihood the two people Shen Qingqiu hated the most in this sect. Yet here they were, barging in on their swords, looking like judge and executioner.

To dampen some of that thinking, Yue Qingyuan lingered a few steps behind, letting Liu Qingge take the lead on this confrontation (which was not at all his usual tactic for dealing with those two).

“Terrific,” Shen Qingqiu called before they’d even gotten out of the air. “Skip the song and dance then. What is to be my punishment for improper conduct toward a fellow Peak Lord, Yue-shixiong? Or should I even call you that? Have I been summarily dismissed from the sect?”

“Of course not,” Yue Qingyuan rushed to say. He attempted a placating smile in response to Shen Qingqiu’s little eye roll (yeah, of course not). “There’s no punishment. Liu-shidi had just come out of seclusion. I was inquiring after the nature of your last disagreement, and—”

“If you’re concerned I’ll use it against you,” Liu Qingge interrupted, scowling and crossing his arms, “I won’t.”

Yue Qingyuan could practically see Shen Qingqiu’s vision go red. Xiu Ya flew out of its sheathe with a murderous gleam and midair, Cheng Luan joined it in a spectacular clash.

“How dare you?” Shen Qingqiu threw himself at Liu Qingge, taking his sword with him. Once more, Liu Qingge was retreating, though being on the defensive still looked just on the edge of offense for him. There was annoyance bleeding into Liu Qingge’s frown, and Shen Qingqiu’s teeth were grinding with fury. Yue Qingyuan’s hand twitched on his scabbard. “Can heavens’ beloved Peak Lord Liu not conceive of something that’s not for him to know?! How dare you saunter in here with your grand proclamations—”

“What’s wrong with you?”

Sword. Forearm guard. Cheng Luan again, pressing in. This was a proper fight now, Liu Qingge’s every block increasing in both momentum and threat. His words could be a battlefield taunt, yet Yue Qingyuan understood his true meaning with a chill in his gut—Liu Qingge wasn’t insulting Shen Qingqiu but asking a genuine question after sensing something wrong. Something physical? Something in his qi?

The latter was more likely, given that Shen Qingqiu was just coming up from a qi deviation. Yue Qingyuan tamped down the pressing scream in his mind to interfere (there were too many factors at play and Liu Qingge wouldn’t—he wouldn’t—actually kill Shen Qingqiu) and tried to spot it, but Shen Qingqiu’s motions shifted to deliberately conceal—he’d also understood what Liu Qingge meant.

“I’ll send you to hell,” Shen Qingqiu said, jawline sharp as a knife held downward to his own neck. Liu Qingge’s eyes gleamed and Cheng Luan sliced forward, slamming Xiu Ya off to the side with brute strength.

“With cultivation like that?”

Liu Qingge was a man of pride, confidence, and skill—there was no reason for him to shy away from cocky battlefield taunts. A well-timed insult could even prove beneficial by throwing the opponent off their rhythm, giving Liu Qingge an opening to aim his attack.

Which was exactly what happened. Energy tearing and tattering at the edges, Shen Qingqiu’s swing with Xiu Ya went wide. Several things happened at once: Yue Qingyuan finally spotted the tangled mess that was the source of Shen Qingqiu’s qi troubles; Liu Qingge must have as well. Liu Qingge began to move in and Yue Qingyuan had only a drop of a moment to determine where Liu Qingge was going to strike in order to intercept.

Head? Stomach? Chest?

Intending to stun or finally exact vengeance for the multiple murder attempts?

It was an aftereffect of the qi deviation because Shen Qingqiu wasn’t dodging—was in too much pain to manage.

Liu Qingge would not aim to kill, but—

Wind whipped. A billow of impacted qi.

Liu Qingge’s wrist in Yue Qingyuan’s grip.

Liu Qingge’s outstretched fingers a hair’s breadth away from Shen Qingqiu’s chest.

Shen Qingqiu’s pupils trembling with their effort to stay still, focusing on nobody in particular.

Tightening. Bruising.

Bones creaking.

Liu Qingge finally grunted in concession, and Yue Qingyuan released him.

//

Over the course of his life, Yue Qingyuan had been inducing bodily injuries on Liu Qingge with startling regularity. He’d been repeatedly invited to, was the thing, and Liu Qingge with his Liu Qingge philosophy of being was entirely fine with it.

The night before the prior generation of Peak Lords would ascend and the Qing generation would officially take up their mantles, Liu Qingge had dragged Yue Qingyuan away from all the scrolls and books to be anxiously memorized by the future Sect Leader and up to an abandoned training lot on Bai Zhan. There, he proceeded to bait Yue Qingyuan with rude scabbard whacks and flippant dodges until Yue Qingyuan grabbed hold of a training staff and jabbed back.

That night, Yue Qingyuan ended up breaking four training staffs, three training swords, and five of Liu Qingge’s ribs. By the time he was a worn out, bloody mess collapsed on a bench, there wasn’t a single unblemished foothold of land left on the field and Liu Qingge had never looked prouder.

Feel better?

Yue Qingyuan remembered looking up at Liu Qingge, vibrant and glowing in the moonlight. He remembered telling Liu Qingge yes, thank you and Liu Qingge rolling his eyes, summarily dismissing the gratitude with a wave of a bruised hand. He remembered not knowing how to tell Liu Qingge the truth, which was that he found Liu Qingge horribly beautiful like this, smeared in muddy blood with violent satisfaction in his eyes, so damn happy to bear witness to Yue Qingyuan’s ugliness and loss of control.

(See, Qi-ge? Breaking shit feels good, doesn’t it?)

A Sect Leader can’t be so impulsive, Yue Qingyuan remembered saying as if reciting from a wall hanging. He remembered flexing his aching knuckles and Liu Qingge sitting down next to him with a snort. We can get attacked tonight or tomorrow. I’m no use if I’ve gone and worn myself out for no reason at all.

Who cares? You have to take this for yourself.

Cang Qiong must come first.

I know that. Liu Qingge had turned to him, expression as solemn as he’d ever seen. So you handle Cang Qiong, and I’ll handle you.

A lick of dry lips, and Yue Qingyuan was placing a shaky hand on the top of Liu Qingge’s head. Liu Qingge, an older brother himself, looked bewildered.

The thing was, Yue Qingyuan didn’t want to compare Liu Qingge to Xiao Jiu, not when Xiao Jiu was dead by Yue Qingyuan’s own useless and tardy hands. He didn’t want to entertain the possibility of failing again now that he had Cang Qiong and Cang Qiong had people like Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge.

I think I’m scared, he’d confessed before Liu Qingge’s unfaltering gaze. His hand had been left undisturbed and was now slipping into Liu Qingge’s hair. But I’ll still do my best.

For Yue Qingyuan, becoming the Sect Leader was penance in every way except in relief. He did not get to be forgiven. Care was what he’d been born to do, what he’d failed at, and still all the lot that was left to him after. Honestly it was a lot less tragic than it sounded; all he had to do was throw himself into his duty. Just care for his people. Protect them for however long eternity lasted without tiring or ever taking a break.

Then Liu Qingge had nodded and turned away.

You know what I’m good for. Use me as you see fit.

And instead of grabbing hold like he so suddenly hungered to, Yue Qingyuan had made his hand fall away.

//

Liu Qingge backed up three steps and Yue Qingyuan stood between him and Shen Qingqiu. Shen Qingqiu’s eyes were still stuck a little bit wide, bloodlessness on his lips and a tough wrap of qi lashing at him from the inside. Yue Qingyuan had more of the pieces now, and could surmise that perhaps Liu Qingge had attempted to help Shen Qingqiu with the qi blockage and seen something he should not have seen as a result.

And he hadn’t even completely cleared the blockage, a child’s voice scoffed in his mind as Yue Qingyuan turned, consciously relaxing his stance and offering Shen Qingqiu a smile. Upsettingly, that only seemed to make Shen Qingqiu tenser.

“Qingqiu-shidi must be suffering,” Yue Qingyuan spoke softly, happy to pretend the little interlude with Liu Qingge never happened. It wasn’t like Liu Qingge would press the point with him, not here and now. “We can send for Mu-shidi as quickly as possible but I would recommend letting me help.”

Before the symptoms return. Cold sweat beading along an elegant hairline, Shen Qingqiu cracked open dry lips, still trying to keep up an unaffected front.

“No offense, but what does Yue-shixiong know about my qi blockage?”

Tracing a finger along the air in illustration, Yue Qingyuan named the three pressure points and meridian at play.

“Two of the points burn, but over here the sensation is freezing. Down along the meridian, your qi will seem to go through but then hit something. It doubles back with a snap.” At the expression on Shen Qingqiu’s face, Yue Qingyuan smiled faintly. “Shixiong has suffered this specific sort of qi deviation long ago.”

He did not tell Shen Qingqiu that it was the aftermath of poorly formed foundations from their relative lateness coming to cultivation. He did not care to remember how bad his own qi deviation had been, to the point that he’d sealed himself back up in a cave as Xuan Su ripped his core apart again from the bottom up.

“…Fine. But make it quick.” It must really be bad for Shen Qingqiu to accept Yue Qingyuan’s help, especially in front of Liu Qingge.

“I will endeavor to be thorough and efficient,” Yue Qingyuan promised. “Please have a seat.”

As Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu folded their legs down beneath a tree, both of them could clearly sense Liu Qingge still lingering. Approaching, even, as if he wanted to get a good look at the proceedings. Shen Qingqiu threw one last contemptuous glare over Yue Qingyuan’s shoulder at the man before squeezing his eyes decisively closed.

Yue Qingyuan, after committing the map of veins on Shen Qingqiu’s eyelids to memory, filled his fingertips with spiritual energy and began the procedure.

//

The damage came with little warning. Yue Qingyuan had spent perhaps a cup of tea’s worth of time redirecting qi and cooling inflamed meridians when all of a sudden, his torso jerked and blood flew out of his mouth. Shen Qingqiu’s eyes flew open at once, but the hand that came up to ostensibly tear Yue Qingyuan’s hand away from him froze midair.

“Don’t move.”

Brows furrowed and eyes screwed shut, Yue Qingyuan had already started to guide the primary backup of stagnant spiritual energy out of Shen Qingqiu, and the flow was hefty enough to cause a heavy backlash if cut off halfway. Shen Qingqiu scowled when more blood spilled past Yue Qingyuan’s lips, teeth looking on the verge of breaking around a curse.

Biting down on his own urge to curse, Liu Qingge dropped swiftly to his knees and stamped both his palms onto Yue Qingyuan’s back. He was hardly an expert when it came to qi and healing but the nature of his cultivation meant that Liu Qingge grew up in and out of healers’ care, ears full of exasperated warnings to stop overdoing his practice already that sometimes didn’t unstick themselves from his eardrums. As a result, he could with some confidence identify most reparation methods on sight.

The method Yue Qingyuan had chosen was redirection, using himself essentially as a coal-and-cotton filter for the rancid buildup of energy around Shen Qingqiu’s chest. Liu Qingge had seen this method work safely before, the idea being that whatever had caused the spiritual energy to snag in the patient’s meridians did not exist in the healer’s. Like warming the water up in another cauldron before pouring it back into the first, had been Mu Qingfang’s description. So the first cauldron doesn’t crack under the sudden intense heat of the fire.

For the reparation method to whip back at Yue Qingyuan like this, therefore, there must exist a matching snag in Yue Qingyuan, or at least something that was similar enough to it that Yue Qingyuan could not smoothly push Shen Qingqiu’s spiritual energy through himself. Hypothesis formed, Liu Qingge immediately dove in, shoving his qi intently through Yue Qingyuan’s meridians as quickly as possible to look for where the qi was catching.

Almost immediately after his entry, Liu Qingge found a blockade in his way. The qi was not Shen Qingqiu’s (which would have been evidently foreign and inflamed), so assuming Yue Qingyuan’s body was just unconsciously spitting up defenses, Liu Qingge shoved right through it. It wasn’t great for Yue Qingyuan but it wouldn’t damage Yue Qingyuan beyond repair either. At worse, for a cultivator of Sect Leader Yue’s caliber, Liu Qingge was leaving what was akin to a bruise on his energy body.

The problem was that barricades kept coming up. Yue Qingyuan twisted a few times, keen to break contact with Liu Qingge but Liu Qingge wouldn’t let him, clamping down on his shoulders instead. From where he kneeled, Liu Qingge could not see Yue Qingyuan’s face, but the expression on Shen Qingqiu’s as he watched Yue Qingyuan bore only poor omens. Liu Qingge doubled down, figuring whatever damage was already done he might as well get to the bottom of it; better that than having nothing to show for hurting the Sect Leader.

With another two meridians traversed, Yue Qingyuan started to shake. Shen Qingqiu’s hand finally closed over Yue Qingyuan’s wrist as his eyes met Liu Qingge’s in furious warning.

“Hurry up you—”

“—I know.”

He spotted the snag almost the moment the words left his mouth, Shen Qingqiu’s tetchy aggression apparently propelling Liu Qingge to superior performance as always. “Snags” and “cracks” were only metaphors, apparently; Liu Qingge found the real thing to be much more like a whirlpool of swollen flesh, like perhaps a bee’s stinger was buried into the base of it underneath the onslaught of both Shen Qingqiu’s and Yue Qingyuan’s aggravated qi. With little hesitation Liu Qingge jumped into the torrent and shoved his way through, prying open all the superheated spiritual energy with scalded fingers until he caught a glimpse of—

—an exit? No. A steel wall? Also no. But it was something, Liu Qingge was certain, that was both other and dead end. Any spiritual energy he threw at it was simply eaten up. It was not Yue Qingyuan, though it seemed to be eating Yue Qingyuan’s qi and snugly sitting in Yue Qingyuan. It bore no sign of willpower or intention. All it did, it seemed, was consume with indiscriminate voracity, chewing at Shen Qingqiu’s fevered qi despite the way it was also bleeding into the stream of Yue Qingyuan’s.

Looking wildly about for a solution, Liu Qingge did the only thing he could think to do: shove a mass of his spiritual energy up against the torrent of Shen Qingqiu’s. If he could keep it from going into this strange hungry wall inside of Yue Qingyuan, the bleeding might slow.

“Liu Qingge!”

His eyes snapped open.

“I’m trying—”

“—help me.”

At Shen Qingqiu’s call, Liu Qingge’s attention honed in on where Shen Qingqiu was still holding onto Yue Qingyuan’s arm, but now had two fingers pressed to a pressure point in Yue Qingyuan’s inner elbow. Apparently he was healed well enough now to help with the qi redirection inside Yue Qingyuan. Face pale and expression pinched, Shen Qingqiu jerked his chin at Yue Qingyuan’s shoulder, indicating a pressure point there.

“Hit—”

Liu Qingge hardly needed instructions at that point. Together, with four hands working to stabilize Yue Qingyuan (with Liu Qingge’s open palm taking the brunt of the work shoving Shen Qingqiu’s qi away from the now-ravenous wall), the two of them managed to finish what Yue Qingyuan had started: wash the flood of Shen Qingqiu’s damaged qi clean and cycle it all back into Shen Qingqiu without also infecting Yue Qingyuan in the process.

The moment it was done, Shen Qingqiu shoved Yue Qingyuan’s hand away and hoised Yue Qingyuan up by the collar of his robes. Yue Qingyuan’s chin was still bloody, but his eyes were clear and conscious when they opened.

“Are you an idiot. What the hell were you thinking—”

“—apologies, a horrible miscalculation on my part—”

“—could’ve killed yourse—could’ve killed me—”

Tuning out the yelling, Liu Qingge was looking up at the tall, broad swathe of Yue Qingyuan’s back, eyes narrowing. Completely encased in Yue Qingyuan, Liu Qingge hadn’t been able to tell what the wall-thing was. Now that the rush of action was over though, and Liu Qingge was simply using his eyes…

Something on Yue Qingyuan that was both part of him and decided not him. Something that ate spiritual energy. A steely wall. Something that had been with Yue Qingyuan since a qi deviation “long, long ago,” bearing a scar from it.

There was only one thing it could be, couldn’t it? Liu Qingge slowly rose to his feet.

Before Liu Qingge could touch Xuan Su, Yue Qingyuan’s hand stopped his again. And for a split second, what was left of Liu Qingge’s spiritual energy reserves went haywire, convinced their owner was going to die.

Not even in the midst of their most vicious spars had Yue Qingyuan ever looked at Liu Qingge with such intent to murder in his eyes.

But just as soon as it came, it was gone, Yue-shixiong back in full force with a kind smile but steel in his gaze. He gave Liu Qingge a little head shake of warning before letting Liu Qingge go.

“What? What’s going on?”

Shen Qingqiu was demanding to know this without having seen the little exchange of gestures—when he’d felt Liu Qingge reaching for Xuan Su, Yue Qingyuan had turned so that his body blocked Shen Qingqiu’s view. Yue Qingyuan turned back now to give his excuses and Liu Qingge stayed partially hidden behind that broad back. He lifted his sleeve to look.

Sure enough, Liu Qingge’s wrist was well and truly bruised now, marked by Yue Qingyuan’s unforgiving grip. It was…concerning. It wasn’t so much that Liu Qingge took physical injuries personally, more that Yue Qingyuan, who was always so genuinely (and annoyingly, in Liu Qingge’s book) reluctant to hurt, had acted out twice in a row.

The first time was concerning Shen Qingqiu’s well-being, which Liu Qingge grudgingly considered in-character. The second time, however…

“—leaving so soon? Didn’t Yue-shixiong escort Liu-shidi here intending for us to talk?”

“Qingqiu-shidi must be exhausted. We all must be, I believe. Why don’t we retire first to regather our energies—”

“—Liu Qingge?”

Liu Qingge looked up to find two pairs of eyes staring at him, both intent with meaning. The sharp bite of Shen Qingqiu’s tone conveyed that he had tired of Yue Qingyuan’s explanations and was looking for a more accurate one. It wasn’t so unfamiliar to Liu Qingge, actually, because Shen Qingqiu had used that tone on him in the past to goad him into sharing blunt critiques of Shen Qingqiu’s own plans.

(To be fair, it never took much goading on Shen Qingqiu’s part, a fact which had unwittingly made itself a front and center object of Liu Qingge’s meditations during seclusion.)

Yue Qingyuan’s look wasn’t unfamiliar either. It was one he often directed Liu Qingge’s way during political and business meetings and the like to cue Liu Qingge into backing up his play. Whenever Liu Qingge got that look, it was him and Yue Qingyuan against the world, even other members of their own sect sometimes trying to calm Liu Qingge down or stop the barrage of Liu Qingge’s impolite words. But only Yue Qingyuan could call him off, typically from making a threat. Now, Yue Qingyuan was asking—commanding—Liu Qingge not to say anything about all the strangeness around Xuan Su to Shen Qingqiu.

If he had been asked a month ago who he’d choose to follow between Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan, Liu Qingge would have been finished with Yue Qingyuan’s bidding before the question had even ended, with enough time leftover to scoff in Shen Qingqiu’s face. Now, however…

Now, Liu Qingge had a stomachful of things he wanted clarified with Shen Qingqiu, and knowing what he did about Shen Qingqiu (and about Shen Jiu), he knew the fastest way to lose all possibility of getting his questions answered was siding with someone else against him.

(Which was a character trait Liu Qingge used to looked down on in Shen Qingqiu with ease. Having met Shen Jiu, however, Liu Qingge could more easily see the way being shut out of something translated to fear, panic, and ultimately distrust.)

So now, Liu Qingge looked straight into Shen Qingqiu’s eyes.

“Liu-shidi? If you’ll accompany me?” Yue Qingyuan asked pleasantly. Shen Qingqiu’s glare was already shuttering in defeat, knowing who in this little clearing held most of Liu Qingge’s loyalty.

But then Liu Qingge told him: “I’ll come back.”

At once, both their attention flashed to Yue Qingyuan, Shen Qingqiu’s in surprise and Liu Qingge’s in warning. Yue Qingyuan himself looked stunned at this turn of events, expression blanking the moment he correctly interpreted Liu Qingge’s warning:

So you better give me a good reason to not tell Shen Qingqiu what happened.

The very thought of betraying Yue Qingyuan’s confidence to Shen Qingqiu, of all people, made Liu Qingge’s gut crawl with rebellion. But he hadn’t gone into seclusion for no reason; he’d come out of meditation with a clear set of decisions.

One of which was to desist from drawing any conclusions about Shen Qingqiu’s general trustworthiness until new evidence provided itself. This, Liu Qingge told himself, was not evidence.

Not yet, anyways. It all depended on what Yue Qingyuan would tell him.

“…Fine,” Shen Qingqiu spoke, shuttering anyways, though not out of cold disappointment as before. If anything he seemed a bit…stunned, and trying to compensate for it. “Come find me at the Jade Pavilion.”

Without another word, Liu Qingge stepped onto Cheng Luan, shooting off at top speed in the direction of Qiong Ding Peak. He was in part trying to remove himself from the useless loaded tension, yes, but if he were honest with himself, Liu Qingge knew he was mostly trying to get away from the guilt of putting that expression on Yue Qingyuan’s face.

He wouldn’t hurt Yue Qingyuan, he promised himself. He would just do right by them—both of them, his most trusted leader Yue-shixiong and Shen…Qingqiu.

[heyitsyn]

Keeping Up With Seijoh Pt. 10

a/n: based on this post uwu

okayokayokayyeyyy

LOOOK I LOVE THIS SCENE LIKE I CAN GO ON A RANT OF HOW IMPORTANT THIS SCENE IS LIKE SKDJSLDKKSSM

okay so

yuhhhhhh

the way this is set up is basically seijoh simping for you

also they have their own separate gc just for them bc they dont want you to see them just simping for you

even tho oiks ltr does that everyday

but hes not ready for that conversation

there was a few times that you were kinda curious as to what was in the chat

but they would click off and they would blush before diverting you to a different conversation

this might sound hella weird and creepy

idk bout yall but i think its cute that they take random pictures of you doing the sinplest things

this all started bc of one picture

from baby aki-kun

so basically you stayed behind with kunimi during monday to just study and you sat in front of him while sharing his desk

babie took a pic of you just studying and he sent it to the gc with no context

its a known fact that seijoh doesnt practice during mondays so they were all doing something out of school

but they were all missing you so seeing you with kunimi fueled jealousy in everyone

even kyo

oikawa blew up in the chat and was keyboard smashing

the others were just teasing him like hes lucky youre with him

but behind the screen, they were blushing and red and envious and AAAAA

thus spurred on some sort of competition

like they would send the chat pictures of you like 'hA TAKE THAT SHES WITH ME'

unbeknowst to you, these boys have folders of just cute candid pics of you

oikawas insta is filled of you and his snap is full of you in his story and his tiktok is full of screaming simp rants about you

the tiktok comments are all like, 

‘IS SHE YOUR GIRLFRIEND?!’

‘OIKAWA-SAN SHES ADORABLE’

‘BACK🤺OFF🤺OIKAWA🤺I🤺CALLED🤺DIBS🤺ON🤺HER🤺FIRST🤺‘

random ones like him doing a day in my life type of vids and you appearing and everyone can just see the small blush on his face and the bashful yet happy smile on his lips

its really adorable

but the real ones know that shes been appearing in his insta since day 1

moilk.bread.1

thats practically your account now 

welll,,,

its more of a fan account for you and a lot of people from aoba johsai follow that account since you dont have an official one yet so they all simp for you there

the pictures were all from everyone like the boyz group chat was a haven for your candids

you did think it was strange that the boys would constantly ask to take pictures with you and everyone was just trying to get a pic to have aesthetic couple pics w you

and they would put it as their wallpaper or lockscreen

IMAGINE THE BLUSH THEY WOULD GET WHEN COMPLETE STRANGERS WOULD ASK THEM IF THATS THEIR GIRLFRIEND

oooo i mentioned this in the post too that iwa and you went to the gym and you guys took a mirror pic

after, you didnt really like the gym bc its just hard yanno?

iwa went back and while he was setting up his weights and equipments, his gym buddy noticed his phone light up causing your picture to show up

'oh? is that your girlfriend, iwaizumi?'

duh he doesnt have a girlfriend so he was like 🤨 until he saw his phone

the lockscreen was blaringly bright and your 'couple pic' was showing with the notifications

totally not oikawa blowing up their group chat bc he was with you

ofc babie hajime got all flustered and he blushed before shaking his head

'n-no'

he mumbled and his buddy laughed before clapping his back

'well, you obviously like her so do somethinf about it before someone does'

dont you think he doesnt know that?

also with mattsun!

this mans works in a cute cafe that this old granny owns and this thought has been living in my head rent free

and he was working during the weekend at the cafe

there were other people there but granny loves him bc hes been working there sibce he was like 15 and she took care of him a lot

he was like a grandson

so while he was serving, this granny was manning the cashier and checking people out

issei's phone was there on the table behind the counter and it started glowing at the indication of the messages being received

'have a nice day-oh!'

she noticed it right there and she saw the picture on his lockscreen

you were probably being carried by him due to your levelness with his height and you were kissing his cheek while issei smiled brightly

that was a picture you both took during an outing at the mall and the sunset behind you was just perfect to take a picture in

poor granny was like 'oop dont look at the messages' so she turned it over to not go to his privacy

there again you were

it was a polaroid of you two and he was backhugging you at school

hint? 👀

askldfjlsdkf

she knew issei was a very handsome young man so there shouldnt have been a surprise that he would be dating someone

can we name this granny?

granny inko lol

okay so granny inko saw issei coming over to rest the serving board thing and she beckoned him over

mattsun nodded and leaned over the counter to see what she wanted only to be greeted with a flick to the forehead

‘oW what was that for?’

he whined while holding the spot

granny inko tutted disapprovingly before crossing her arms

‘youve been working all week this week when you could’ve taken time off to spend it with your pretty lady. is this how men are nowadays? didn’t i teach you right to treat women properly?’

duh baby mattsun was confused like O_O

‘wha?’

his dumb question made her grab the phone and place it on the counter in front of him

‘your girlfriend, child. women need attention constantly and as much as you want that money, is it worth losing that smile full of happiness?’

okay stop it granny im getting emotional

more like disagreeing bc that wouldnt put food on the table BUT ANYWAYS

baby issei was surprisingly embarassed and scratched his neck

‘um,, baa-chan,,,,, she’s not my girlfriend’

he flustered and gave her an awkward smile

granny inko shot him a confused look and tapped the phone

‘well, she looks like she is. and if not, better hurry your move, boy. girls that make men happy like that only comes as rare as a good scratch ticket’

LMAO 

i do not encourage gambling so please save your money kids

you know what

these boys do that just to actually feel like it

okay thats confusing so imma explain it in greater detail

whenever someone mistakes you as their girlfriend, it makes them feel like you are for that split second and its just an addicting feeling

its like what if you were their girlfriend?

i mean, youre already the whole team’s girlfriend but theyre greedy brats and just want you for themselves

ohohohohoh

kyo!!

kyo def has a selfie of you both with the doggie filter but it was actually you who took it while he was just staring at you in the background

that was his lockscreen for like the rest of his high school career

lol

anyways!!

he was actually in a fight and during it, his phone fell off to the ground and conveniently oikawa messaged causing it to light up

one of the thugs had their hands gripping kyo’s collar and was pushing him against the wall while the others were surrounding them

they saw the phone flash and kyo cursed at the terrible timing and he made a mental note on killing oikawa later

a guy picked it up and he smirked, seeing the pretty smile of a pretty girl

‘heh? whats this?’

kyotani pushed the guy who was holding him but other two surged towards him and held him tighter

their leader snatched the device and chuckled

‘oh. its that bitch from his school. what is it’

he snaps his fingers as he tries to remember before stopping

‘aha! l/n y/n!’

kyo growled

‘shut up!’

the guy grinned at him and tapped the phone against kyo’s chin

‘oh yea. i heard shes a cutie. most people here know her, kid. now we know shes connected to you and guess what. you cross us again, she’ll take your place as you are right now. orrrr, we can,,, use her as our pet. thats how she is in your team, right? so let us have a turn. maybe we can send you a pic, hm?’

yea no that wasnt happening

kyotani easily beat those people up after because even just saying that unleashes power he didnt know he had

‘bastard. youre lucky this is just a warning. you touch her and i will kill you’

he landed one last kick on the guy’s face before taking the phone and leaving

now he has to figure out how to hide the bruises

you fussed later and he didnt tell you the reason instead just saying they said something that made him angry

nah

you were a person he didnt want to disappoint and he knows how much it hurts you to see him in that state

that was one of the things he hated but loved at the same time

you were such an empath that you would treat him and wince as if you were the one feeling the pain instead of him

and it made him feel special

you were one of the few things he holds close and he would be damned if anything happened to you because of him

the group chat was actually just blowing up with more screaming and the third years yelling at each other with the first years just casually reading the texts

they were used to the arguments within the team and you would remain so naive with the whole thing

kunimi is the type to keep silent and he didnt really care about anyone getting angry if you were spending time with him

but he does get annoyed if you were with kindaichi because you three were a package lol

like when kindaichi and you were at the arcade, this kid walked all the way there just because he didnt want kindaichi to hog you to himself

duh you thought this was adorable and endearing bc they wanted to hang out w you

no LUV theyre greedy brats who gets jealous over yOU

OH

so like i mentioned before that you and makki would walk over to the bakery and you guys would buy food there and such

and its also canon in here that makki only shares his food with you and no one else lol

why?

because when you eat the puffs, you put one in each cheek and it makes you look so adorable like a squirrel

sorry but squirrels are so cute like AAAAA

makki takes so many pictures of you and a lot are surprise shots where your eyes would be wide with cheeks full of food

aaaaa so cute

like you and makki sat down on a bench in the park across the bakery and you excitedly dug in to your own treat

makki chuckled at your excitement but he placed his hand on you arm to stop you

‘y/n-chan. say aaa’

you lit up and let him put the puff in your mouth and thought he was done but was surprised when there were two

you happily chewed it and went back to looking at your treats

but makki interrupted you again by calling you out

‘princess~’

the nickname made your eyes widen with red painting your cheeks and the shutter of the camera made you realize what he did

‘makki-senpai!’

you whined and he laughed

makki had a lovestruck smile on his face and he wiped the bit of creme on the corner of your lip

‘gotta take care of my princess~’

STOPPPPP MY HEART? GONE MY SOUL? GONE HOTEL? TRIVAGO

OH MY GOD IM IN SUCH A MAKKI AND MATTSUN AND IWA AND OIKAWA AND THIRD YEARS IN GENERAL BRAIN ROT PLEASE HELP

but we gotta give love to the second years :’)

ive mentioned that watari is the only person to ever go into your house right?

well, he comes over to cook and such so you guys spend time making food for the team 

watari takes this opportunity to take pictures of you cooking and the group chat cries bc its so domestic and they all start having the same thoughts

they really said seijoh braincells

it was like seeing a glimpse of a possible future for them

you, wearing an apron, cooking on the stove with your hair thrown in whatever with baggy clothes

gosh

thats like you someday being their wife and waking up one morning to see you there cooking in the kitchen

oikawa swears he had a dream that night because of that picture and he continuously thanks watari for YEARS because of that picture

okay are you curious about the dream?

yuhhh

oikawa woke up in an unfamiliar bed in a foreign room 

he felt his bones crack when he stretched and his hand extended out to a side that was still quite warm

hm

somebody must be sleeping next to him

then he stood up, catching his reflection in the mirror in front of the bed

;)

why would there be a mirror there hmmmm????

ANYWAYS

he noticed he had a bigger build and his hair was longer

then came the itch of the facial hair that he swore wasnt there a minute ago

this guy even checked out his butt and to his surprise, wow

obviously he was confused and a part of him thought this was the future

tooru walked to the door to go into the hallway and concluded, yep, this was not his house

then he heard music being played somewhere and a mixture of voices coming from a room

sounded like a woman and children

he stops at the top of the stairs, suddenly hit of the thought that this voice was so familiar

‘hm?’

tooru walked downstairs and stopped when down the hallway in front of the steps led to the kitchen where the voices seemed to lead to

‘mama! mama! mama! toast! i wan toast!’

‘in a bit, darling. just let me finish flipping the pancake’

the song was lo-fi with the volume being turned low enough to hear the voices fine

tooru wandered down the hallway and he stopped, finally seeing the owners of those voices

there was a handsome little boy sitting on the chair by the island and his brown hair was a mess of wild curls

there was a woman with h/c hair swaying to the tune and a beautiful little girl curled up in her arms while sitting on her hip

‘hey’

oikawa spoke out and caught everyone’s attention

‘papa’s awake!’

‘pa!’

‘hello tooru’

tooru froze

that was you

he knows it’s you

‘y/n-chan’

he whispered and you looked back at him from the pan

‘yes? if youre looking for coffee, we ran out apparently’

that was not what he was talking about

he hastily walked over to the boy and he blinked rapidly

‘you look like me’

he mumbled and the child grinned

‘eung! papa  and yozo look the same! mama and nana say so!’

yozo?

feeling like all the attention was on him, the little girl whined and her hands made grabby motions to him

‘pa pa’

she whined and tooru just felt something in him that screamed to hold the kid

you shushed the little girl

‘dont worry, looney loon. papa’s right there’

loon?

tooru stayed frozen at his spot and you raised an eyebrow at him

‘tooru? luna wants you’

oh

luna

that snapped him out of his trance and he held the little girl in his arms where she smiled at him and then he felt tears welling up in his eyes

then he woke up

okay sorry that was a long dream

so this dragged on for so long already okay

this was only meant to be small but aaaaa i couldnt help itt!!!!

but anyways!

the boys are just simps for you and theyre creeps that take pictures of you and they think about you all the time pls accept their love

also a mild continuation of the dream:

oikawa was holding luna and she was happily laying there when another figure emerged from the hallway

‘iwa-chan?’

he asked, surprised

what was he doing here?

iwa heard his name and grunted before going to a beeline for you

you smiled at him and he leaned in to give you a kiss to which oikawa froze in

iwa noticed his best friend holding his daughter and luna saw her father there

‘daddy!’

she shrieked and tooru blanched

‘uh, what?’

iwa extended his hands out to hold the girl but tooru held her tightly and leaned back

haji narrowed his eyes

‘um, give me my daughter, oikawa’

he grumbled and tooru shook his head

‘no! shes my daughter!’

you blinked

‘your god daughter, yes. but she’s half of your best friend, tooru’

half of his-

god? daughter?

‘so that means-’

‘piece it together, oikawa. did ya get brain damage or something? babe, call the doctor’

oikawa screamed

a/n: lol look WHO ROSE FROM THE GRAVEEEEEEE :) anyways. i really want to deeply apologize to everyone for taking an unexpected break and i shouldve told you guys and im really sorry :( everythings just chaotic lmao and im just like taking a breath for a second uwu and im so AMAZED at how many people still follow me even tho ive been gone for so long like bls yall are real ones :’) i love you all and the req box is still closed at this time as i need to finish the ones i have first soo thankyou for reading thiss and hopefully ill update soonerr!!! :)))

also not me completely messing up my kuws and missing 8 and 9 in my masterlist and having a mindblowing realization that i have 10 keeping up with seijoh fics

[skiyoosmi]

if fate permits

⤷ chapter nineteen: when it's too late

previous < masterpost > next

YN'S POV

ATSUMU'S POV

TWO DAYS LATER...

[THE FOUR IDIOTS’ APARTMENT, 6:55PM]

Kiyoomi only watched as your eyes became melancholier, as if it were not already in the first place, the longer you stared at the screen of his phone. Probably rereading his conversation with Atsumu, he thinks. Initially, he wasn’t really planning on showing it to you but just like any other day, you decided to be the whipped soulmate (or more like an idiot, at least to him) you were, all while saying “Atsumu is important to me, should I really leave this apartment while not making amends with him?” He almost retched, is this girl really fixated on becoming a saint? How could someone be this lenient? He has no idea. And so, he showed you– that even after all this time, the piss-haired boy will remain as he is; that no matter how many years may pass, Miya Atsumu will be Miya Atsumu.

And he was the exact opposite of you: he was self-centered, conceited, prideful, juvenile, and so many more that it would take Kiyoomi more than a day to list all the things he detested from the boy. He can only remember how much he loathed the boy upon their first proper meeting; not that he likes meeting new people anyway. Kiyoomi was no genius but he knew, right at that moment, that Atsumu was far from being the ‘knight-in-shining-armor’ soulmate his dearest sister was so engrossed to have.

Kiyoomi also knew that he was not the best brother in the world; hell, he is way too far from being a good one even. He couldn’t care less if you have an admirer from afar (like that Iwaizumi who seems to be around you all the time these days), nor when you finally get yourself a suitable boyfriend, not even when you finally get wedded to someone. He wasn’t overprotective... or at least that’s what he believed. But he was only human, after all– now that he contemplates about it, he realizes that he isn’t really fond of seeing you cry.

“Stop hurting yourself over and over again, you fool of a sister,” he said, clicking his tongue afterwards and grabbing your bags after hearing your father call from downstairs, “Know your worth a little, will you? It’s kind of painful for me to watch you get hurt too, you know. It’s not just mom and dad.”

And with that, he left the room, leaving you to tend to your other belongings and perhaps, say goodbye to this little house that managed to etch itself to your heart. Compared to your childhood home, it wasn’t enough to make you sob your heart out dry. But for some reason, tears still found its way on the corner of your eyes as you remembered the fond memories you’ve made here with your boys – the moment you stumbled upon this house when you four were trying to find a place to stay, the smile on your face when you decided that this was the one (cue Atsumu literally hauling you three towards the agent to settle the down payment), the moving day when Kiyoomi and Osamu brawled for the first time in their lives because they both wanted that bedroom that was the only one downstairs, “to be away from the idiot disease” as what they said. You can only wonder if you could make new memories as happy as those in your future home.

“Ah… you really are a fool of a sister, YN,” you whispered to yourself, wiping the tears away and getting the last of your things before proceeding downstairs, finding your father standing by the front door, arms crossed with a face mask adorning his face (you never really questioned where your brother got his traits, it was as clear as the day), “Kiyoomi is already in the car but I think you should bid Osamu-kun a proper farewell first. He’s in the kitchen. We’ll be waiting so just take your time.”

You nodded before proceeding to the said area, finding the gray-haired with his arms already wide open. Your lips quivered before jumping at him, “I’m gonna miss you.”

“We’ll still be seeing each other at school, you damn gorilla,” he chuckled before burying his face in your neck. You clicked your tongue, pouting at his very much realistic reply, “But it’s different! Eating breakfasts together, going to school together, going home together… and drinking wine until we’re brains out! I’m pretty sure my dad won’t let me do that at his house!”

He cackled, releasing you from his hold and flicking you on your forehead, “what an alcoholic woman! Are you sure you’re going to be a student in a prestige university abroad? You’ll be left behind by your classmates if you keep on prioritizing your wines before your studies.”

“Hah! You’ll see, Osamu. Those red wines will be the reason I even become one of the most famous writers in the world. You better wait and I’ll release an autobiography saying a man named Miya Osamu used to bully me to death,” you huffed, smirking after you saw him stare at you in disbelief. Your smile gradually disappeared upon the realization that the center of your heart was not home… even when I’m already leaving, huh?

Osamu frowned as well, scratching the back of his neck because of the sudden silence that indicated your little recognition, “I’m sorry. I told him to go home before 7 but…”

“It’s fine, Samu. We’re still not in the best terms so it’s probably better this way – a more peaceful way of farewell, you know? No fighting or anything else. Besides, I couldn’t tell him anything about my moving, scholarship, and so many things,” The lad didn’t miss the way you quickly wiped your tears away though. Damn you, Atsumu, why are you always making her cry, he thought.

“I’ll see you at school then, Samu. I’ll miss the dinners you cook,” you smiled, walking quietly outside, and shutting the front door. At the same time, a chime resonated from your phone that was in your pocket. Opening it, you released a long sigh… of relief? of anxiety? You didn’t know.

[Haji, 7:15PM]: I did it, YN. My thread, it’s… black.

You looked up at the night sky, finding stars twinkling as if they were gazing back at you.

Should I start moving on too, Haji?

[TOKYO UNIVERSITY GYMNASIUM, 7:20PM]

For the umpteenth time this week, Atsumu heaved yet another deep sigh, hands weaving itself with his hair to ruffle it out of frustration. Today, he couldn’t care less about the girls lurking around the university gym… because for the umpteenth time this week as well, his twin brother expressed his disappointment towards the boy, leaving him in the said place with the same words he had uttered yesterday and even the day before that, accompanied by a threat this time: “You’re such an immature asshole I wouldn’t be surprised if YN finally gives up on being your friend. You better come home before 7PM or else, I will drag you by your feet with my own two hands.”

Clicking his tongue, he grabbed another ball, gripping it so hard his nails almost left a dent on it. 7PM? He only scoffs. No, he won’t go home yet. He doesn’t care if Osamu gets furious at him and drags him nor if you give up on your friendship; all he thinks right now is that he wants to spike this ball straight onto the other side of the court, make it burst if it was even possible. It wasn’t his fault he got mad at you, he’s entitled to his feelings; he’s right, Kiyoomi’s mistaken… you shouldn’t have promised something you would just break in a span of less than thirty seconds. You shouldn’t hav–

But is it really her fault though? A voice in his head refuted him, or is it just because you’re really an immature asshole who can’t be happy for her?

Of course, it’s her fault, he argues. Immature? Him? He’s almost twenty-two, for god’s sake! He has been living in this world for more than two decades, how could Osamu call him underdeveloped? He swears he’s going to give his twin brother a good punch or two once he gets home.

… But she’s just trying to reach for her dreams, why are you not supporting her? She always does that when it comes to you, doesn’t she? Or have you already forgotten?

And at that, everything went perfectly still. The sound of the ball falling from his hands resonated throughout the quiet gym. Even with just hearing words from something or someone he can’t even identify, Atsumu felt as if he was hit on his head with a ton of bricks.

“E-eh…? W-why… why am I crying?” He whispered, fingers going up to touch his cheeks and furrowing his eyebrows when he felt the dampness of the said area.

Because you know you don’t deserve her. You know that it’s your fault. It has ALWAYS been your fault.

“Shut up,” he said to no one, plopping down the floor while he clutched his ears this time to shut the voice out. As it kept talking, he tried hitting his head with his hand, tried talking over it, tried retorting savage remarks back; however, everything was futile for it kept talking, kept torturing his mind with nothing but the truth.

You hurt her, then apologize, then do it again. What are you playing, a tug-of-war? How selfish of you, Miya Atsumu! Are you really her best friend?

“Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!” He screamed, his throat feeling as if it was getting scratched from the rawness of his voice. There was no way he was gonna have a voice tomorrow.

You’re so aggravated whenever you think about losing YN, are you sure you’re not in love with her or something? Yanno… have you never thought about the fact that maybe she’s your sou–

“Atsumu-kun! Wake up!” A voice yelled while grabbing him by his shoulders and shaking him awake, finally bringing him out of his… dream? Was that even considered a dream? Because Atsumu was sure as hell that what happened was just plain torture to him.

“Are you okay, Atsumu-kun? You were having a nightmare,” turning to the girl who kept her hold on him, he finds Yui, who was looking back at him as if he lost the screws in his head. He starts to believe that he, in fact, did after all that weirdness. After all, who in the world would randomly just fall asleep in the middle of an empty gym then proceed to have a nightmare while on it. Surely, there would be no one except for him. How in the world did it happen anyway? As far as he could remember, he was just practicing his serves and tosses a while ago.

“Yui, why are you still here? It’s getting late,” he asks the girl whose eyes just lit up, for some reason, at his question before lifting her hand up and showing… what? She continued to smile though and waved the same hand right in front of Atsumu’s face, much to his slight annoyance. He wasn’t really in the best mood to play guessing games right now, so he only sighs exasperatedly, “Just get to the point, Yui-chan. I’m feeling the exhaustion now.”

“I told you before that I could see my thread, right? Well, it turned black! Me and my soulmate met up a while ago and turns out, he was a Moira, so we performed the mini ritual, which is so weird by the way, before cutting it. He said one of us has to ‘affirm’ their desire to cut the thread, so I did! As far as I know, based on my previous researches about soulmates, it doesn’t really matter because the ‘gods’ know the deepest desires of our hearts but you know, I don’t really care because I’m free!” She exclaimed, squealing afterwards, and flinging her arms around Atsumu’s neck to give him a hug. But the boy stayed still and gaped because how can someone afford to be happy at this situation? His arms remained motionless at his sides, confusing him; wasn’t he just itching to have this weeks ago? In fact, he was just dreaming about it about three days ago. So why? Why couldn’t he bring himself to hug her back?

“Your soulmate cut it. How can you be happy, Yui-chan….?” Before he knew it, his mouth spoke for him faster than his brain could process. He removed himself from the girl’s embrace, watching as confusion begin to form on her face; though it only took her milliseconds before an odd smile showed up on her face once more.

“Because that means I could finally date you without feeling guilty for my soulmate, silly!”

Atsumu felt like a hundred years had passed in just a single night and yet again, he sighed. If anyone sees him right now, they will probably laugh at his rather pathetic-looking state. Never in his life has he felt this exhausted, not even when Kita Shinsuke would force him to do an unreasonable number of receives and then make him clean the whole gym with the said captain; no, not even that could beat this fatigue and strangely, it makes him miss the captain.

Maybe he should’ve just gone home before 7PM, like Osamu said. He then shudders as he remembers that he still has to face his twin’s wrath.

“Can’t I just go back to being a toddler… like the brats that have no problem in the world?” He whines to himself quietly, relief spreading throughout his whole body as he sees your shared apartment; can already smell the meal Osamu cooked for you four; can visualize the disgusted look your brother will give him once he enters the house, all sweaty and gross-looking. Though, he thinks it’s odd that upon looking at the window of your room and Kiyoomi’s, he finds that they weren’t lit up unlike the usual. Maybe they’re already asleep, he shrugs given that you both love getting your beauty rest as much as you can. Twins, you are.

As careful as possible, he opens the front door, wincing when it makes a sound that would possibly wake up the very sensitive ears of Sakusa Kiyoomi from his room downstairs.

“Don’t bother trying to be quiet, Atsumu. You’re not going to wake anyone up in this house,” The voice of Osamu startles him. Fastly recovering from the mini-scare, he turns to his twin to glare while clutching his chest in hopes to calm his heart down, only to stop when he finds his brother glowering at him with a much worse scowl on his face.

“Samu, I’m sorry. I just got caught up with som–”

“You know, Tsumu, it’s kind of ironic, don’t you think? You always come around when it’s already too late,” Osamu speaks, trying to find the right words to say, “YN and Kiyoomi… they left and went back to their parents’ home. They will be staying there until YN and her mom leaves for abroad which would be in less than a month, right after this semester ends.”

Miya Atsumu was self-centered, conceited, prideful, juvenile, and so many more that it would take Kiyoomi more than a day to list all the things he detested from the boy. He didn’t care if you gave up and break off your friendship with him… at least that’s what he believed. But like Sakusa Kiyoomi, he was also human – and at that moment, as his brother stares at him and waits for a reply, he only stays still. Why is it that instead of the volleyball he was holding at the gym moments ago, it’s his heart that’s about to burst?

⤷ notes. we didn't have internet connection for a whole day and phew.. this was the result of me being bored out of my wits, i guess? and i apologize in advance for the pain that i keep on giving and WILL keep on giving :>

[ducknotinarow]

What the Hell was he thinking? Was this really going to be the best thing for him to do. After the other night at Ozzy’s, everything had been so...painful. Yet, the heart yearned for what it wanted, and as much as Blitzo wished it would just stop, it wouldn’t. This may be the biggest mistake of his life, another regret to the never ending list, yet despite it, he clicks to call the one person that for a second, just for a brief perfect second, makes the World felt right.

Phone to his face, Blitzo sighed, hearing the phone ringing. Rubbing the back of his neck, he hears as the phone is finally answered. Before the other could say a word though, Blitzo up,

“Hey Stolas...it’s uh, it’s me, Blitzo.”

Yeah no shit it’s Blitzo, he highly doubts the Prince has deleted his number,

“Are you busy tonight?” He asks, “I uhm, I keep thinking of what happened Ozzy’s the other night, and how fucked it all get because of that stupid fucking clown.”

He grumbles some insult beneath his breath before continuing,

“I wanted to...I dunno, have another night with you? An actual date this time, and not at fucking Ozzy’s, the prick,” He’s going to be pissed off about that for years to come, “I mean if you wanted to...”

There’s a moment of silence, before he throws his head back and groans,

“Fuck, I’m being stupid Stolas, I shouldn’t just call you for this sorta shit,” He scolds himself, “Look, if you wanna, yanno, go on a date just call me back, I need to go slam my head against a wall until I no longer feel like a fucking idiot.”

|Muse interaction

Stolas had been hoping that the night at Ozzie's had to be a nightmare. That was the only case in the situation the owl wanted to accept. Curled up in a blanket wrapped up around him tightly binding him as he was slumping on the couch. Eyes focused on his tv screen in the living room a marathoning of 'Hell-a-Novela' was all he had really been minding since the other night. He needed the companionship of dear poor Gabriella, only she would understand his woes. The poor woman chasing after a love she just barely had in her grips but just couldn't seem to get her feelings to reach. Even when the chance finally arose for things to move in a more promising direction, like everything else it was torn down. Fantasy ruined and pulled back by harsh reality as consequences of actions were put in a literal spotlight. A heavy sigh escaped him, okay the last thought was more for his own situation than anything but viewing it through his favorite character just made it easier to digest if anything. Wiggling a bit so he could readjust how he was lying at the moment. In good timing, as his phone rang out suddenly, he glanced to watch the smoke screen rise and show it was Blitz calling him. Ever since they drove away in their van the other night Stolas wasn't all too sure if they would want to see him ever again. After all, they had stated about what he felt Stolas only sought and wanted from them. What could they be wanting? Stolas felt maybe for the best to give them a bit of space...well decompressing himself from everything. Struggling with the blanket to free his arms as he reached for the phone. Swallowing thickly before he answered.

should he use the usual nickname? just their name? would that be weird at this point, ah but the nickname was far too casual, right? Stolas went on to think as he reached up to his neck and started to scratch at it slightly. Luckily the imp cut in before he really needed to worry over his greeting anymore.

“Hey Stolas...it’s uh, it’s me, Blitzo.” Stolas felt a bit more at ease hearing them speak at least, hearing their voice and no yelling was a good sign, was it not? slightly tugging at his feathers now rubbing the ends of once between his talons. "Yes, of course, uh hello..Blitz" it just seemed more fitting to use their actual name he assumed now. Everything felt so off already, he thought to himself as he found himself tugging hard in the feather he was playing with as it came free from his neck. Leaving it to naturally fall to the couch. Oh, what could this sudden call be for? it was obvious right? Blitz didn't want anything with him anymore..he hated Stolas because he failed to make his intentions better known..well when intentions changed at least. He deserved this after all he had done if Blitz also wished to leave. Then who was Stolas to try and stop them, soon another feather was yanked out.

“Are you busy tonight?”

...well this question was far too and eerily familiar to his ears right now, for a moment Stolas needed to remind himself of his current surroundings because for all he knew the other day had truly been a nightmare. Course the slight sting from pulling at another feather was all he needed as a reminder...so was this a second chance? “I uhm, I keep thinking of what happened Ozzy’s the other night, and how fucked it all get because of that stupid fucking clown.” Stolas just listened closely to the imp every word even if he couldn't fully hear when they mumbled he needed this to be real. He thought holding tightly to the hand set of his phone as he press it closer to his ear.

“I wanted to...I dunno, have another night with you? An actual date this time, and not at fucking Ozzy’s, the prick,”

Stolas had to agree with that thought, if he ever stepped foot in the club again it would be far too soon... but they just said an actual date?! Standing up from the couch he couldn't help it. Needing to mute his story no longer cared what the poor imp woman was getting up to as he was reeling from the fact this was an actual date and with Blitzy made it far better! “I mean if you wanted to...” Of course, he did! nearly bouncing in place from the idea alone as he placed a hand to his cheek and let his eyes close just from the mere idea alone. Oh! eye's opening wide as he just noticed himself, he hasn't spoken a word, has he? “Fuck, I’m being stupid Stolas, I shouldn’t just call you for this sorta shit,” Shit Stolas speak! he yelled to himself. “Look, if you wanna, yanno, go on a date just call me back, I need to go slam my head against a wall until I no longer feel like a fucking idiot.” "WAIT! wait wait, please do not hang up Blitzy," hard to break the habit when he was in such a good mood now. Smiling to himself as he held the phone close to himself, running a talon through the curled cord of the line. " And please don't cause any harm to that handsome face of yours." He said first as he let his tone grow soft now "I've been thinking about the other night a lot as well, and I would love another chance for a proper date with you. To make up for what happened" Blitz didn't deserve that was all he could think in his biased mindset, not what happened at Ozzie's at all. Stolas started to pick his mind for ideas. Sure a night in was an option but.. Stolas wanted to avoid any chance for confusion on his intentions. No, they had to go out, out. "Why don't we go out for dinner together? I know many fine places that I can get us into just by saying I'm showing up after all and it'll be my treat. I'll even go pick you up." Stolas began to suggest, he just wanted to make up for what happened dotting and spoiling the imp seemed a good way to start. "Somewhere we can sort of just talk you know?" if things lead to more then that just meant a good night but it wasn't Stolas goal honestly he just wanted to spend the time with Blitz.

"Since I'm picking you up though I feel you should dress you're best for me Blitzy" He playfully added, "We can discuss details later, of course, I look forward to seeing you tonight though." He smiled relieved. "But please don't slam your head in the wall? promise me you won't? Guess I could always just take care of you instead?" he mulled over a moment before shaking his head. "I'll see you later say 8?" smile growing as he hung up. Looking back at his tv as he went to turn it off "Sorry dear but unlike you, I have plans with my man so I can't waste a second more on this I have to clean up after all." a slight giggle escaping him feeling the giddy feeling from the last time but this time more aware of what to expect...mmm Stolas best lookup conversation topics as well.

[myeverythingisyourstruly]

Richie and Eddie at the beach

Warnings: language

Request: Richie and Eddie going to the beach together for the first time.

“Richie! Do you ever read or do you just pick up things and go?” Eddie barked.

Richie froze for a moment and then scratched his scalp, ruffling his wild curls. 

“Is that a trick question?”

Eddie sighed loudly. “You brought the wrong sunscreen. I knew I should’ve packed it myself.” He took the bottle and squeezed out a good amount in his hand before rubbing it all over his arms. “I guess this will have to do.” Eddie muttered.

Richie shrugged. “Sunscreen is sunscreen.”

Eddie looked up from where he was sitting, a beach towel stretched out underneath him, to give Richie the evil eye. “That is not true. At all. This sunscreen you brought is SPF 30, I needed SPF 50!”

As Eddie went on a rant about the dangers of UV radiation and the increased risk of skin cancer without a good sunscreen, Richie was standing above him, letting his mind wander to another place.

Richie was picturing himself hauling Eddie over his back and--- well maybe not fully picking him up, realistically Richie’s back would go out. That’s what being 40 does to you. 

Instead of picking him up, Richie would drag Eddie out into the water and let him fuss and fight until finally he would plant a fiery kiss on him mid rant. Eddie would melt into Richie’s arms and then he would pull away and say, “I need you to take me home and fuck me, Richie.”

“Why are you smiling?” Eddie squinted, crumbling Richie’s fantasy.

“Oh, no reason spagheds, I just love you.”

Eddie looked taken aback. “I love you too, Richie…” he responded softly, feeling a little guilty. I mean he had just chewed the man out for not bringing the right sunscreen and Richie responds by saying he loves him? 

Eddie stood and slathered Richie’s long arms and broad shoulders with sunscreen, making sure to massage it all the way down to his lower back. He couldn’t help but admire what he saw, he loved Richie’s figure; quite frankly it turned him on.

About a month ago, the losers reunited at this same beach and had a blast; so much so that Eddie and Richie decided to come back for some quality time with each other.

After the evil demonic space clown that we do not mention by name incident, they made a pact (without blood this time), to stay in touch and have regular meet-ups/vacations with each other. This was also around the time Richie finally admitted he loved Eddie, and had for a very long time. They’ve been together ever since.

During the loser’s beach reunion, it had been an extra hot day which meant Richie was visibly sweating. Before Eddie got together with Richie he had found perspiration quite gross but on Richie it was a whole different story. Not only was the sweat giving Richie’s back a nice sheen, it was also dripping down his neck, mixed with the water droplets from the salty ocean.

It’s safe to say Eddie had a hard time concentrating on anything else. Eddie was full-on staring as Richie guzzled down a bottle of water, watching his adam's apple bob up and down, and the way the water left his lips glistening--

“You like what you see?” Richie asked, with a goofy grin plastered on his face.

Eddie turned away, “shut up, Richie.” It seemed like deny deny deny was the only thing Eddie knew how to do with Richie, even when they were an actual couple.

“What?” Richie laughed. “I couldn’t help but feel your bambi eyes burning a hole in my skull. You should learn how to subtly check someone out.”

“Fuck you,” Eddie scoffed.

“Anytime,” Richie winked.

“I was not checking you out, by the way. I was just waiting for you to finish so we could go back in the water.”

“Mhm, sure Spaghetti, you can lie all you want to but I know how you really feel about me.” Richie came up to Eddie and smacked a wet, sloppy kiss on his cheek. “You looove me,” he teased with a childlike voice.

“Ugh, you’re so annoying,” Eddie rolled his eyes but he secretly liked it.

Ever since that day Eddie started thinking about how hard it was for him to just give Richie a compliment, especially when it came to his physical appearance. During his marriage to Myra, he felt obligated to give false compliments about how great she smelled or how beautiful she looked, in order to be a good husband. But now he didn’t need to be that way.

He got past saying ‘I love you’ with Richie, why couldnt he get past this?

Richie stepped away from Eddie after he finished with the sunscreen, spreading his arms out with a smile. “So am I good to go, Dr. K?”

Eddie looked at Richie but didn’t say a word.

“What?” Richie questioned.

“You look.. nice.”

Richie looked down at himself, not really sure of what Eddie meant. “Really?” He was completely oblivious to how hot he was and it was pissing Eddie off.

“Well, yanno, I got these swim trunks from Target and-”

Eddie smashed his lips against Richie’s.

“I’m trying to say you look sexy, dumbass. You’re hot as fuck and it’s driving me crazy,” Eddie blurted.

Richie looked a little dazed. “Oh, okay...how long has that been on your mind, Eds? You seem a little constipated.”

Eddie kissed Richie again. “Shut up, you talk too much.”

“They don’t call me trashmouth for nothing,” he mumbled against Eddie’s lips.

Richie pulled him closer, wrapping his arms loosely around Eddie’s waist. “So you think I’m sexy, huh? How about we forget the beach so I can take you home and bend you over the couch?” He remarked in his strange Vinny Vedecci voice.

Eddie hummed. “We can do that...or I can do this,” all of a sudden Eddie grabbed Richie’s glasses off his face and ran towards the ocean.

“Hey! Give ‘em back, I need those! I’m too old to run like this, Spaghetti!” Richie took off after Eddie as the two of them laughed like they were kids again. Except this time, there was nothing or no one that could ever keep them apart.

[crocodilenialledfics]

You’re all I need (the air I breathe)

One - in which Niall and Stella make a great team 

join the taglist

The love-at-first-sight, falling-too-fast, uni au that will make your heart ache (in a good way)

catch up here 

Stella followed Veda up the steps of Zayn’s flat, a bag of takeaway in her arms. Was Stella nervous for game night? Maybe. There was a rumor that Niall would come along. 

When Veda opened the door, Stella’s breath caught in her throat. Veda gave her a look as they walked in as if to tell her to chill. Stella laughed, shaking her head. 

“Stella Bella,” Louis declared, taking the bag from her. “And Veda.”

“Fuck off,” Veda muttered, handing him the bag she had. “We’ve been friends just as long and you still love Stella more than me.”

“Stella is actually nice,” Louis shot back. “And I was hoping she’d be on my team tonight because we’re playing Trivia Pursuit.” 

“Right,” Stella laughed, shaking her head as she took her shoes off. “That makes more sense.” 

“I was hoping Stella would be on my team,” Zayn announced, emerging from the living room. “I bought that wine you like.”

“Wow,” Stella grinned, eyebrows raising. “Keep the offers coming.”

“I’ll do you laundry for a month!” Veda exclaimed. 

“Tempting,” Stella agreed. “I think you can do better than that.”

“Are we picking teams already?” A voice asked from behind her. Stella turned around, surprised that she hadn’t even heard the door open. 

“We are,” Louis nodded. “Trying to make Stella decide who she wants. She’s an absolute genius.”

“Z offered her wine, I offered her laundry for a month,” Veda explained. “You have anything to offer?” 

“Unfortunately, no,” Niall shook his head, eyes meeting Stella’s. “I am a history major, though.”

“Shit!” Louis exclaimed. “I forgot about that. Stella don’t do it. Please. Niall’s also a genius. Niall pick me, yeah?”

“I want Niall,” Stella decided, her lips spreading into a smile. 

“That’s completely unfair,” Veda argued in a petulant way that made Stella shake her head. 

It’s possible that it was unfair but as they all settled in various spots around the coffee table, Stella didn’t have it in her to care. Niall was beside her, dangerously close for someone that had a lover in London. 

It wasn’t a surprise when Niall and Stella cleaned up. Question after question, until the rest of the lot called it quits on account of being unfair. 

The Xbox was pulled out and then Stella had drifted away, sipping wine coolers on the balcony with Veda. It was a wonder they never got sick of each other. 

“I texted Heather,” Veda told her, eyes on her phone. “She’s gonna bring Liam and Danielle over. Liven the place up.”

“Great,” Stella muttered. 

“Again with this heather stuff?” Veda asked with a laugh. 

“She doesn’t like me,” Stella laughed. “And it’s so obvious. Pretty sure she’s in love with you too.”

“It comes from a place of jealously,” Veda explained, sitting up. “Heather’s told me how jealous of you she is.”

“Why?” 

“I don’t know,” Veda shrugged, looking over to Stella. “You’re funny, beautiful and incredibly smart and kind. It makes sense if you really think about it.”

“So is Heather,” Stella argued. “And like I’m not jealous of her. I’ve tried to be friendly but she just gives me the cold shoulder. Ignores me.”

“I know,” Veda chuckled, nodding. “I can’t offer any advice. She just needs to get over herself.”

“Did you find out if Niall has a girlfriend?” Stella asked, effectively changing the subject. 

Veda sighed, shaking her head, “I have no idea. His Instagram is practically ancient. Hasn’t posted anything in over a year. Louis didn’t know.”

“Fine,” Stella sighed. “I’ll just ask him.”

“The only logical way to solve this problem,” Veda agreed. She finished the last of her drink. “Want another?”

“Sure,” Stella nodded, watching her stand up. “Thanks.” 

“Anything for you, Stella Bella,” Veda grinned, ruffling her hair. 

Stella laughed, pushing her prodding fingers away. Veda went back in, sliding door slamming behind her. Stella couldn’t bring herself to move from her spot. The sun was setting but it was so warm for the beginning of September. Fall was coming soon, she could tell. 

The door opened again a few minutes later and Stella was surprised to see Niall handing her a drink. He had his own beer in his hand when he sat down in the patio chair beside her. 

“Thanks,” Stella smiled, looking over at him. 

“We make a great team, you know,” Niall told her, holding her gaze. 

“I agree,” Stella nodded, pulling her eyes from him and back to the setting sun. She wouldn’t think too much into that. 

“Veda’s smoking,” he told her after a second. 

“Figures,” Stella chuckled. She looked at Niall for a moment and asked, “can I ask you something?” 

“Of course,” he nodded, meeting her eyes. 

“Do you have a girlfriend?” 

Niall chuckled, scratching the back of his neck as he looked away, “that’s quite literally the million dollar question.”

“Sorry,” Stella murmured, watching the smile fade from his face. “I was just curious. You don’t have to tell me.”

After a long moment, he answered, “yes and no. It’s a bit complicated, t’be honest.” 

“Gotcha,” Stella nodded, feeling a twinge in her stomach at that. 

“We’re like on a break, I guess,” Niall shrugged. “Dunno. It was my idea. Just...” he trailed off looking over to Stella. “I haven’t really talked to anyone about it.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Stella asked, eyebrows furrowing. 

“I don’t know,” he shrugged again, looking away. “Maybe.”

“My longest relationship was on again off again for a year so I don’t know if I’d be of much help in regards to advice,” Stella told him with a chuckle. “But I’m all ears if you want to.”

“We’ve been together for three years,” he told her and that surprised Stella. Her eyes widened almost comically. Niall chuckled, “I know. A long time.”

“I can’t even imagine...” Stella trailed off, not willing to finish her thought. “Wow.”

“That’s exactly it,” Niall nodded. “I’m a completely different person than who I was when we started dating. And we’ve been though a lot but it feels like I’m at a different spot. Like-like I’ve grown faster than her.”

“That’s understandable,” Stella nodded. 

“And it’s comfortable, I guess,” Niall shrugged. “Long distance isn’t ideal but I’m willing to do it.”

“What do you mean by comfortable?” Stella asked, eyebrows furrowing as she looked at him. “And you guess?” 

Niall chuckled, shaking his head, “I don’t know. It’s- I don’t know if I can put it into words. The firsts are over and it feels like the spark isn’t there. Like there are things that I feel obligated to do or feel.”

“Like you’re obligated to love her?” Stella asked. 

“Kind of,” he nodded. 

“That sounds tough,” Stella murmured. 

“I feel really guilty,” he admitted quietly. “I just find myself thinking about someone else instead of her.”

“Oh,” Stella mumbled, eyes darting over his face. “Maybe you should tell her. Your girlfriend not the... the other girl.”

“Just a tough conversation, yanno,” Niall shook his head. “We agree to talk over the holidays.”

“That’s a long time away,” Stella said, before she could help herself. “A lot could change.” 

“A lot could change,” he agreed, looking up at her. “A lot’s already changed, though.”

“What does a break even mean?” Stella asked. “I’m sure you’d hate for a Ross and Rachel fiasco to happen.”

Niall laughed, nodding, “yeah I don’t really know what it means. We just don’t text all day, I guess. Don’t call each other. Some time away. At least, that’s what I take it as.”

“Shouldn’t you have clarified what a break means before you go on a break?” Stella asked, eyebrows raising. 

“Shit, Stella, I don’t know,” Niall laughed, rubbing his forehead. “This isn’t exactly a situation I’ve been in before.”

“Well I haven’t been in it either,” Stella shrugged with a laugh. “I’m trying to be helpful.”

“You are being helpful,” he nodded. “More than you know.”

Stella felt her eyes drift back over to him. And she hated to be this person. The one adoring every feature on his face while he talks about his girl at home. It was devastating in one of the worst ways. And to know that someone else was on his mind. Doubly devastating. 

Before Stella could tear her eyes away, the sliding glass door opened and Louis poked his head out, “Liam’s here. We’re gonna play FIFA. You in?”

“Yeah,” Niall nodded, looking over his shoulder at Louis. “I’ll be in.”

The door closed and Stella let out a breath, turning away from him. Niall cleared his throat, sitting up, “I’m gonna...”

“Yeah,” Stella nodded, giving him a smile. 

“Thanks for your help,” Niall told her. “It means a lot, you know. I don’t know many people besides Louis, and you know he’s not too great in the advice department.”

“I know,” Stella chuckled, nodding. 

“If you need any advice...” he stood up. “I’m your guy.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Stella nodded with a smile. 

Stella watched Niall leave, wondering where she went wrong. She took a gulp of her drink, shaking her head. The door opened once more and she didn’t have to look over to know that it was Veda. 

“What the fuck,” Veda laughed, almost breathless. “What happened.”

“He’s got a girlfriend,” Stella told her, head lulling to look at her. “Of three fucking years, V.”

“Shit,” she breathed out. “I’m sorry.”

“He asked me for advice,” Stella continued. “He doesn’t know if he really loves her. He’s apparently been thinking of someone else. Thinks he needs to tell her.”

“That’s just...” Veda trailed off. “I’m sorry.”

“Is there something tattooed on my forehead that says ‘I’m one of the guys’?” Stella asked, incredulously. “First Conner and now Niall. Honestly. This friendzone shit is too much.” 

“Conner is not all guys,” Veda argued. “He was objectively an asshole douchebag idiot. Niall is no Conner. I can tell that much.”

“It’s the same thing!” Stella cried, beginning to feel the anger already. She wanted to punch something. She shook her head, “I think I’m gonna go back to the room.”

“Stel,” Veda murmured. “I don’t want to get your hopes up, but why do you think you’re not the person he’s thinking about?” 

“Because,” she sighed, exasperated. “I don’t know.”

“It could be you,” Veda urged. “Who does Niall hang out with? Louis? And you?” 

Niall said it himself, he didn’t know very many people in Manchester. The thought was ridiculous, though. That Niall couldn’t stop thinking about her. It was absurd. 

“Veda don’t get my hopes up,” Stella snapped, looking away from her. “I think I’m gonna go back.”

“Let’s talk about this,” Veda groaned, leaning forward. “If you’re the person he can’t stop thinking about, hanging out with him will make it that much easier for him to break up with his girlfriend.”

“Easier!” Stella echoed with a dry laugh. “You don’t just end a three year long relationship because of the first uni girl you meet.”

“Stay,” Veda urged softly, a hand on her arm. “Have another drink. Kick Louis’s ass in FIFA and see how you feel then.”

The idea was tempting. Stella thought it over as she met Vedas eyes. She could convince her to do anything. Stella swore Veda had magic powers that could change her mind in an instant. 

Stella gave in. She found herself on the sofa between Louis and Zayn, controller in hand. Louis was already defeated. Stella thought she psyched Louis out more than anything. 

By the time she beat Louis, Heather, Danielle and Liam arrived. She was relieved and dreadful at the same time. Danielle was nice enough, and so was Liam. Heather didn’t even have to say anything and she was on edge. 

Stella went to the kitchen, grabbing her third wine cooler of the night when Louis leaned on the counter beside her. “Ya alright?” 

“I’m alright,” Stella nodded, meeting his eyes only for a second. She knew she’d give herself away. 

“What is it?” Louis urged, straightening up. “Come on,” he nudged her. “Spill.”

“Nothing,” Stella shook her head. “Really.” 

“Veda asked me if Niall had a girlfriend and I knew that she wasn’t interested in him which could only mean that you are,” Louis decided, voice quiet. 

“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” she whispered, looking up at him. “Please.”

“I just want to tell you that the other day when you left, he wouldn’t stop talking about you,” Louis told her. “Asked me a million and one questions.”

“Louis,” she warned, shaking her head. “I don’t want you to get my hopes up.”

“Okay,” he nodded. “I’m just saying, though. I’ve heard him talk about Nadia and it was nothing even remotely close to the way he talks about you.”

“Leaving now,” Stella decided, walking toward the living room. 

Stella sat down on the floor beside Veda, hoping she didn’t look as grumpy as she felt. Veda gave her a reassuring pat on the knee and a bright smile. 

Only when her eyes met Niall’s from across the room did her grumpiness begin to fade. That smile on his face was what she never wanted to get tired of seeing. The softness. It was too much. Stella had to look away. 

But then Heather was on the couch beside him and they started talking and Stella felt like she couldn’t look anywhere else. Just eyes on Niall, watching his face. Watching the way he shifted away from her. The way she just didn’t get it. 

“You’re staring,” Veda whispered, leaning toward Stella. “And he has a girlfriend, remember?” 

“I’m not,” Stella whispered back but she was and she didn’t care that she was. She really wanted to be sitting where heather was. Stella felt the jealousy burn in her belly. 

Despite the millions of conversations going on around her, Stella simply didn’t care. It took a while but finally, Niall caught her glance. He rolled his eyes at her and Stella had to smile. And then Niall smiled and she felt the jealously fade. 

“What’s so funny?” Heather asked, eyes locked on Stella. 

“Nothing,” Stella answered. “Just an inside joke.”

“Care to share?” She asked, a bite to her tone that made Stella’s eyebrows raise. 

“Not particularly,” Stella answered, an equally as harsh bite. “Not with you, anyways.”

“Stel,” Veda mumbled quietly. 

“She literally made it so awkward,” Stella expressed, exasperated. “Why do you constantly take her side?” 

“I’m not taking anyone’s side I’m just...” Veda trailed off, eyes flicking between the two of them. “I don’t want it to be like this where you guys don’t get along.”

Stella shook her head, standing up, “I’m just gonna go.”

“Stella,” Veda sighed.

“I’m just beyond the point in my life where I need to put up with the Heathers of the world,” Stella said, setting her half drank bottle on the table. 

“It’s not even that serious,” Heather laughed, looking around the room as if everyone would agree with her. 

Stella had one shoe on and was working on the second one when Louis beat her to the door. “You’re not leaving by yourself,” he said. 

“I am leaving by myself,” Stella retorted, slipping her other shoe on. She stood up, looking more defeated than she should have. “Let me go, please.”

“I’m going with you,” Veda said from behind her. 

“I don’t want you to come with me,” Stella shook her head. 

“I don’t care,” Veda shot back. “I’m coming anyways.”

Stella didn’t have it in her argue. She pushed the door open, stepping out into the hallway. Veda was two steps behind her, closing the door. 

“Stella, why do you always think I won’t choose you?” Veda asked, voice soft as they got out onto to street. 

Goosebumps rose on Stella’s skin as the cool air hit her. She shook her head, eyes glued to the cracks of the concrete, “I don’t know.”

“It’s been 8 years, of course I’m always going to be on your side,” Veda told her, arm slung over her shoulders. 

[zippapotuhhmus]

Flannel Excursions.

IN PROGRESS

March 3rd, 2020

Zippy reaches out to knock on the door a few times as she makes sure to hold onto the cardboard drink holder thingy, chock full of a few diff things not sure what Odie was...really in the Mood for.

Odetta moves out of the kitchen where she had set up the little breakfast spread, chock full of favorites from that place Zippy liked, moving to run her hand through her long dark hair as she goes to answer the door, instantly drawing Zippy into a warm, deep kiss. “Hi...” She lowly murmurs when she finally draws back, a smile peeking onto her lips.

Zippy feels Odetta's lips pressssssss down onto hers, her hands drawing her in close, a beat...two...passing before she closes her eyes and joins her, softly opening them again as she holds up the holder, "I've...umm, got...Coffee, OJ, Two different smoothies...and um...yeah..." She offers out, giving her a weak sheepish smile. "Help yourself."

“Wow, is my spread going to be able to compete...?” Odetta teases out, moving to take Zippy’s hand and lead her towards the full spread, letting her take it in, before offering her a plate. “Help yourself.”

"Whoa..." Zippy breathes out, not really having expected...All Of...her lips pushing a little to the side as she moves to put some of the food onto her plate finding it really hard to say no to Champ's even at a murkyyy jerky time like this, sitting down as she reaches out to grab the Green Apple Smoothie taking a deep drink as she takes in a forkful of the vegan blueberry pancakes after drizzling a little syrup on the top, the flavors jussssst popping mmm, chewing some as she looks over at Odie, "How...was...practice?"

Odetta takes a smoothie of her own as she takes a few things for her own plate, moving to grab the smoothie and take a deep drink, finding it refreshing, before she listens to Zippy’s question. “Not bad. Gearing up for the big match on Friday...would you...want to come? I’ve missed seeing you there,” she ventures back to Zippy.

Zippy chews on another hefty forkful of food, spreading the looove this go around as she hears the question tossed back, giving a quick swallow...ooof, "I...yeah...yeah, I could?" Zippy softly agrees, giving Odie a bit of a smile, until she scratches the back of her neck some...breathe...in...breathe ouuuuuut....i...her palms already feeling eughhh. "...About l...the flannel...did you end up Seeing it...?"

“I’d like that,” Odetta replies, a small smile peeking into her lips, before hearing the question, trying to recall...”Oh,” she offers, setting her plate down to head into her bedroom, finding the flannel that she had had pressed and cleaned for Zippy, offering it to her. “When did you start wearing Flannel...?” She teases out, a bit of lightness to her tone as a small smile tugs onto her lips. “It’s cute, though...”

A gentle peek of a smile flutters upwards as she hears Odie's response about the match, "Me too..." She warmly agrees, a swirl of surprise moving through her as she sees how Nice it and Professional it looked...taking hold of it and placing it onto her lap, "You...didn't have t..." She begins, her fingers scratching a bit at the side of her head as her lips twitch a littttttle, a soft chuckle escaping her as her cheek leans along the side of her hand, her dimples peeking through, "Uh...it's New...was thinking of buying some...though, it's comfy..." She reveals in a bit of a murmur, turning her head up a bit to look over at Odie, chewing the side of her lip a littttttle. "Are...we...are weee like Cool...?"

“I Wanted To,” Odetta correcta and reinforces with a small smile, before letting out a small bit of a chuckle, moving her arm around Zippy’s shoulder. “...want to go buy some after breakfast?” She posits, before taking in Zippy’s question, furrowing her brow a bit in confusion, before pressing her lips against Zippy’s cheek to reinforce that everything was Good. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

Zippy closes her eyes for a brief moment as she feels the kiss warm her cheek, drawing a momentary upwards twitch of her lips, before they flutter down a bit as she remembers the night from....letting out a deep breath of sigh as she Tries Her Hardest to just... "....u...mm..." She barely mumbles out, pressing her eyes closed...another breath..."...because we're...not...um...n...nnnnnnot...“Girlfriend's”?"

Odetta stops for a moment, furrowing her brows as she tries to...Get It, but it not Clicking. “What do you mean? Thought we got back together...?” She offers, having been pretty sure that was what was up after their talk.

Zippy presses her eyes harder together as her nose scrunces up, internally screeching a low throaty hum emanating from her the only...evidence of it...not that she could really hear It, over the multitude of "ohfucks" recycling and overlapping in her head at being...Right, ohfuckingman...swaaaaaalllowing, "I just...thought we were..." Zippy starts off, chewing and sucking in her lip a bit...anxiously..."hanging....out? like a...sorry...kinda make-up thing or something?”

“Like you...want to...take it slow, before possibly getting back to things...?” Odetta surmises as she studies Zippy closely.

Zippy slowly opens her eyes as she hears the tone of Odie's voice, trying to chillllllllllthefuckoutttttt....whhhheeewwwww...a stream of air passing through her lips, "I...think maybe you were...Right the First Time...and mm, maybe...I mean, I don't...know, maybe I'm not really a Girlf....riend kind of girl, especially in the way you...Need?" She softly breathes out, her lips pushing upwards...and out a smidge, as a sorta...awkward, pained, expression shadows over her, her brows creasing together as she looks over to her..."I...did really miss you though...and it's...I like hanging out with you...y'know...?"

“Yeah?” Odetta replies back, a bit of softness moving into her tone, taking a look at Zippy as she gently moves her hands through her hair. “Is everything...okay?” She tries to start with, taking in all the little bits and pieces of Zippy’s expression and tone, her own lip moving to the side a bit. “I missed you, too, though, A Lot, and...I don’t want to, y’know...push you away by being...Too Much, either,” she admits as she looks up at Zippy.

"Is...It?" Zippy asks back, looking her over some more as she hears her words, her lips pushing a bit to the side. "I'm still Here..."

“I asked you first?” Odetta ventures back, keeping a softness to her tone, wanting to hear Zippy’s thoughts first and foremost, but also...realizing that maybe wasn’t the most Clear way to asks. “If we went Forward, in whatever form that could take...how would you...want it to look?” She attempts, to see if that would help the question on her mind come out more clearly.

A crease crinkles across Zippy's forhead as she tries to think on How To Answer the questions, scratching above her left brow some as she keeps at it. "U....hhh...I don't know we just kinda...figure it out as it goes? While we still be our own People and....mmmm...yeah?"

“You didn’t...think you were your own person Before...?” Odetta ventures back as she tries to process what Zippy needed to be Different this time around.

Zippy's lips push towards the side of her face as she finds her fingers fiddling with the ends of her hair, moving her shoulders up a little...."...more like YOUR person..." She mumbles out some, biting off a few bits of skin from the inside of her lip. "...I like you a lot, Odie...I just...wanna be Me...and like what I like or who I like without being...mmnnhnh...that you're going to get Hurt or that...you Lose It...or something..." She lowly vocalizes out after a bit more....internal pushing over herself, "So...I mean...we don't have to do it like...we did the other night if it's not something that clicks anymore or you're not comfy with, I really just wanna like to...I dunno...do more little things like This still...where we just...hang..."

Odetta releases a small breath through her nostrils, a familiarity moving through her at the words as she recalls what Gem had said way back when, too...before her lips twitch a bit as she looks at Zippy. "I want you to...do That, to be able to do That..." She concedes, even as a flit of...uncertainty moves through her, if she could...handle people like Toby being around Zippy, but...She releases another small breath. "...I want to see what it's like, being with You while you're able to...Freely be you, and maybe I need to get over my...Shit, if it's making you feel like you Can't be you, because...I know how shitty that can feel, to not be able to be...You," she vocalizes, her nose twitching a bit as she trails off, scratching her arm a bit.

"...really?" Zippy softly murmurs out as she finally moves to Look At Her, "I want you to be...You too, I..." Zippy offers back, her lips twitching somewhat as her voice trails off...

“Really...” Odetta replies back, wanting to Try, Really Try this time, to be Better, before taking in a small breath through her nostrils, moving her hair behind her ears as she tries not to think of her parents and all of That...before a soft smile moves onto Odetta’s lips as she gives Zippy’s hand a squeeze. “You always made me feel like I Could Be,” she seriously says, even as a bit of warmth moves through her tone. “...and I want to do the same for you, and I’m sorry for making you feel Less than that.”

Zippy's lips curl softly upwards as she looks over Odie, leaning to rest her head on her shoulder as her palm slides along her back.

Odetta softly moves her fingers through Zippy's hair as she holds her tightly, just...lingering in the moment, reinforcing her words through her actions, committing to being Different this time around...letting Zippy be Her.

"...thanks, Odie..." Zippy softly mutters out, as she holds her close, rubbing her head against her some as she lets out a breath, "...you're really cool, yanno...?"

"It's no problem," Odetta murmurs back, continuing her motions, letting out a small, soft smile as she hears Zippy's words. "Nah, that's totally you. You're Really Cool, You Know, right?"

Zippy draws back some more even as she keeps her arms tugly around Odie, "Why can't we Both be Cooooool?"

“You’re right. We can both be Cool,” Odetta acknowledges, even as a small smile moves onto her lips, leaning down to place another kiss on Zippy’s lips.

Zippy's dimples happily make their all-star debut as she hears where the convo had landed, closing her eyes as she moves into the kiss, until she happens to open her eyes and see the time on the microwave, shittyshitshit! "I have to go to classssssss!" Zippy cuts through the moment, springing up in a panic before she leans to press a few more kisses onto Odie's lips, "Thanks for...all of...Everything. After we can go to the...where do you buy Flannel at anyway?" She moves to say before anything else, until she stopssss not exactly sure where To Go...if she was Honest, was there just a lumberjack ladies store or something? Maybe...right?

“Then go, we can hang again later,” Odetta replies, giving Zippy a kiss in affirmation, before taking in her question about the flannel and her thanks for the breakfast, a small smile peeking through onto her lips. “Thank You for coming. And...I know a place?” She offers, thinking of the Woodsy store she had stopped at to get things one time for her team’s retreat one year.

Zippy leans in to press a few more, high energyyyyyyy, pecks before finally pullling herself back, swinging her bag over herself, "You have to show me after, I'll text you!" She calls out with a lopsided smile as she shuffles out of the door and to the subway as quick as she was able, hoping she wouldn't be lateeeeeeee...Too Late....

“Will do,” Odetta offers with a flit of a smile, giving Zippy one last kiss before holding up her two fingers to give a little salute, moving to get ready for classes that day, planning on finding that outdoors store later.

Later that day, at Rei

Odetta walks with Zippy into this...woods store she had heard about, keeping a stoic expression even as she looks at everything going on in the store with a bit of an internal confusion, wondering how exactly this store was managing to stay afloat in New York City, not sure what the Demand was, and the whole fish tank? Just, mm...focusing in on the Task as she asks...Ian, that was what his name tag said, where they could find Flannel, giving him a firm No as he asks if they want to try the fishing game, before making her way with Zippy in a streamlined manner towards the flannel section. “Quite the spread,” she acknowledges, taking in just how much flannel there...was, her eyes moving over it all.

Zippy takes hold of Odie’s hand swinging it loosely as she loooks and loooooooks and OOOO! quickening her pace some as she finds some flannel-y looking stuff before her right eye closes as she looks through the racks none of them really vibing with her like The One she had before...mmmmm, oooh! letting go of Odie’s hand as she sees a yellow looking one moving to put it on and do a half-spin, “Do I look like....Mustard?”

A brief bit of a chuckle escapes Odie's lips as she hears Zippy's reply, the tiniest smile peeking through briefly as she sees the little half-spin. "Cute mustard," she offers back as she stands beside Zippy with her hands in her pockets, taking in the full look.

Zippy draws the flannel into both of her hands as she crosses them, moving it tightly around her as a cheesy grin breaks out across her face, alighting it at the words...her eyes squinting a bit as her tongue peeks out from between her lips, blowing a bit...moving closer to Odie as she wraps the flannel a bit around her the lil bit it coulddddd, “and now, you’re a cute hot dog....”

A little bit of a chuckle moves out of Odie as she looks down at Zippy, before pressing the tip of her fing er to the tip of Zippy's nose, a flit of a smile momentarily moving across her lips. "We're a cute hot dog," she corrects.

“Ohyeaaaahhh...” Zippy kool-aid mans out, continuing her little shimmy flannel hotdog shake shake shake shimmy until she’s startled by an employee asking if she Needed help, oooopfhh, giving a cheesy smile as she declares she was going to buy This even if she did kind of stretch it out some feeling a little bad about it, buuuut...her arms coming back down as she turns back around, “You have to get one too...” She says to Odie even as she tries to figure out Which One...

A little flit of a smile crosses Odetta’s lips as she sees Zippy’s smile as the employee arrives, the briefest chuckle moving from her lips once the employee left, before her eyes move along the flannels, her hand moving on top of Zippy’s. “Pick one out for me,” she offers, a little curiosity moving through her at which one Zippy thought might suit her...

Zippy pulls a faaaace as she hears Odie laughing, “Not funnnnnnnnyyyyyuhhhh!” She declares, giving her a little shake before her eyes catch on the purple one trying to find her size tada! holding it out for her, “For You, so you can be a cute blueberry girllllll...”

“A liiiittle bit funny,” Odie offers back, moving to pinch her fingers together to show a little bit, taking in the purple flannel, actually kind of...digging it? “Come in to the dressing room with me and we can try them on together?” Odetta proposed, her gaze trailing towards the fitting rooms towards the back of the store...

Zippy pushes her upper lip under her noseeeeeeee at Odie’s funny not funny stuff, before sucking in her bottom one and crossing her eyes some as she squishes her face in a funny Actual funny way, until she hears about going to try them....ohhhh...turning to the side to grab another one at random to try walking alongside Odie to the dressing room sliding in one together, her hands moving against one another and under her chin. “Now make like a blueberry and....” Zippy’s brows shifting down as she tries to think on how to make like a Blue...berry....what punned with Blue...berry...?

Odetta slides into the dressing room along with Zippy, moving to draw her fully into a kiss once the door is shut behind them.

...Kiss Me? Huh...not funnnnny but...her eyes closing as she drapes her arms over Odie’s back, pressing herself closer against her as the soft smacking sounds take hold of the airwaaaaves...mmm, a small curl of a smile appearing as she pulls back some looking up at her, “You still have to try Itttt...”

“Well, first I have to take my shirt off to try it on...” Odetta lowly murmurs as her eyes meets Zippy’s as she slowly pulls back. “Will you help me...?”

[annteasocial]

Hihi! I really loved your arashi nee-chan x reader! It was so cute! May I request a Mika one where the reader is pretty skilled at embroidery but she’s embarrassed (I’ve noticed people often think it’s like,,, for grannies ;-;)so she hides it? And he finds out somehow??Maybe she’s Valkyrie’s producer or something? Thank you in advance if you do decide to write it, and don’t forget to rest enough and drink lots of water!

Omg I should have gotten this done a lot sooner but I was so busy and Word crashed on me :’). This is quite long, about 1.6k words X’D. AND I AM JUST GOING TO SAY THIS NOW BUT THIS WAS SO WHOLESOME TO WRITE LIKE I WAS PHAT UWU-ING THIS ENTIRE TIME. I love Mika ugh he’s adorable :’))))))

Mika X Fem!Embroiderer Reader:

You sat in the handicrafts club, sorting out the staging setup for Valkyrie’s next DreFes performance, which was approximately two weeks away from now. “Hmm…hopefully the costumes are finished soon so there’s one less thing for me to worry about. Oh, and some of the lighting still needs to be rigged in preparation…I should let the operators know about that,” you mumbled to yourself, scribbling down your schedule in a cute notebook Mika gave you for your birthday last year.

 The notebook was a light baby blue in colour, decorate           d with black and silver lace. There were bits of paper sticking out from the pages and all sorts of little stickers covering the front cover. “Alright…just need to work out when the stylist is available so I can contact her…aaaand done!” You closed the notebook with satisfaction and leaned back in your chair.

 It was about 3:15 in the afternoon, so you had about 15 minutes left of your spare period. “No one’s around…so maybe I’ll work on my embroidery,” you hummed, pulling out a medium sized embroidery hoop from your bag that had the beginnings of a beautiful cherry blossom pattern on it. You also grabbed a needle and some coloured threads from your kit, fearing that if you took anything from the handicrafts club, Shu would find out and have your head.

 Sighing, you began to work on completing the branches of the cherry blossom tree, threading the brown string into the desired pattern.

 ~~~

 “(Y/N)-chan~! Are ya in here?”

 Startled, you shoved your embroidery hoop into your lap and quickly scooted your chair forward to hide it from view. “Oh, Mika. You gave me a bit of a fright there,” you said, watching as the 2nd year’s expression turned into a slightly panicked one. “Bwah! Sorry ‘bout that, I guess I didn’ realise ya’d actually be in ‘ere.” Mika scratched his head awkwardly but continued to talk. “Were you workin’ on s’mthin’ jus’ now? Hope I didn’ interrupt you or anythin’…”

 You swallowed nervously, “uhh, I was just sorting out my schedule of things to do before Valkyrie’s DreamFes performance,” you replied. “Wow, s’mtimes I think Oshi-san and I don’ deserve ya. Yer really hardworkin’ yanno?” You blushed slightly at his compliment and fiddled with the fabric hidden in your lap.

 “Ah! I should get goin’ now, I have practice with Oshi-san. Sorry if I disturbed ya before. See ya tomorrow, (Y/N)-chan!” Mika waved to you and you returned the gesture. Once he was out of the room, you sighed in relief, pushing your chair back out again. Thankfully, he hadn’t noticed the embroidery you were doing.

 A buzz sounded from your blazer pocket, and you pulled out your phone to see your mum calling you. “(Y/N), honey? Are you almost home?” Her voice chirped from the other end of the receiver. “I’m still at school, I was just talking with one of my friends.”

 “Do you think you could go to the shops and pick me up some eggs and milk? Your dad and little brother have raided the fridge again.”

 “Sure, how many of each?”

 “Two dozen eggs and 2 cartons of milk will be plenty. Thanks sweetie!”

 The call ended and you began to pack your things away before heading over to the shoe lockers. The shopping district was only a 10-minute walk away from the school, so you were able to make good time.

 It was late afternoon but the district still had students and locals bustling around the area, bringing a lively buzz to the atmosphere. You went and grabbed the things that your mum had requested you to buy and decided you’d browse the rest of the stores before heading back home.

 A small, quaint shop caught your eye and you walked over to the window to see a gorgeous array of embroidery designs, coloured threads, and fabrics displayed behind the glass. ‘I don’t recall this being here the last time I visited the shopping district…maybe it’s a new shop,” you pondered to yourself.

 “Eh? Is that (Y/N)-san over there by that shop?”

 “Mm…I’m tired…carry me Maa-kun~”

 As you were standing around, lost in your thoughts, Mao and Ritsu happened to spot you on your little window shopping spree, and the two of them walked, well more like the maroon haired boy half dragged his lethargic companion, over.

 At the sound of footsteps, you turned your head up out of your daze. “Oh, Mao-kun, Ritsu-kun, um, what brings you here?” You asked, instinctively moving away from the shop window, worried they might ask you what you were looking at. Mao gave you a tired grin, “I was taking Sleeping Beauty here back home but he kept pestering me that he wanted a soda, and the closest drinks vending machine was in the shopping district, so here we are.”

 You nodded as Mao heaved Ritsu’s arm around his shoulder, effectively trying to keep the ravenette standing up. “What about…you (Y/N)-chan? What were you…doing here…?” Ritsu slumped more of his body weight onto his poor childhood friend who really couldn’t do much except put up with it.  

 “I was just picking up some stuff for my mum. We ran out of eggs and milk and she probably wanted to make an omelette tonight,” you replied. “That’s nice of you to do that, I usually help my parents out as well when they need to.” Mao smiled as he held his friend up, the latter looking like he was on the verge of falling asleep whilst standing.

 Mao seemed to notice that Ritsu was practically asleep and straightened him again. “Well, I better get going now before Ritchan passes out, later (Y/N)-san!” The Trickstar member proceeded to somehow get the sleepy member of Knights flopped onto his back and carried him off.

 "Whew...dodged another bullet...” You were thankful that they didn’t ask you about what you were looking at, otherwise you’d probably freeze up and die on the spot.

 Ever since middle school, you had an interest in embroidery, but your classmates often picked on you and called you all sorts of mean nicknames like “granny” or “old lady”. It could have been worse, but you hated that embroidery was stereotyped as a hobby for the elderly.

 You sighed for the umpteenth time that day and began your trek back home.

 ~~~

 The next day you sat in the Handicrafts club room again during lunch time, desiring  some peace and quiet whilst you worked on your needlework in secret. You were almost done with the final touches, with only a couple of the petals on the last cherry blossom requiring stitching. You were so engrossed in finishing that you didn’t hear someone enter the room behind you since you had your back turned towards the door.

 Mika had been searching for you during lunchtime to ask you about his costume which had just been completed today, and you so happened to be sitting in the clubroom like yesterday after school. You hadn’t noticed his presence which gave him the opportunity to walk up behind you to see what you were doing. When he was close enough to peer over your shoulder, his eyes widened at the beautiful, delicately crafted handkerchief, decorated with cherry blossoms and pink petals.

 “Wow (Y/N)-chan~! I didn’ realise ya had that kinda talent for embroidery! Looks really nice!”

 You immediately flinched and screamed in shock due to being so absorbed in your little workspace. “Waaaaah!! Mika!? What are you doing here!?” You screeched making the black haired boy jump from your outburst. “E-eh!? Ah–‘m sorry! Didn’ think I’d scare ya like that…” He looked down guiltily and you felt bad for shouting at him.

 “Wait, no no I’m sorry I shouldn’t have raised my voice like that,” you mumbled, playing with the ends of your hair before realising that you still had your embroidery in your hands for all the world to see. You gasped and quickly tried to hide it but Mika caught your wrist.

 “Why’re ya tryin’ to hide yer work? ‘s really pretty to look at yanno?” He grinned at you but you averted your gaze away. “I…uhh…s-so you saw it d-didn’t you…” you stammered, still trying to get the hoop out of vision.

 “Was I not s’posed to?”

 “N-no…it’s just…”

 You took a deep breath in and exhaled it all out again. “Back when I was in middle school, people often teased me about being into embroidery. They would call me things like “granny” or “old lady” and make fun of me for my hobby…” you admitted. Mika listened intently but said nothing. “I guess from all those bad experiences, I’ve always kept this a secret because I was scared of being judged again…”

 You felt tears start to prickle in the corner of your eyes. No one in Yumenosaki knew about your passion and you intended to keep it that way.

 “(Y/N)-chan.”

 “…”

 “(Y/N)-chan, look at me would ya?”

 You felt Mika’s hands cup both your cheeks and tilt your face upwards to meet his heterochromatic gaze. He used his thumbs to gently brush away at the tears that were threatening to fall from your eyes.

 “I don’ think yer hobby’s bad at all. ‘n fact, I really respect ya after seein’ yer needlework. ‘m still practicin’ jus’ stitchin’ holes up in clothes but yer out ‘ere makin’ really pretty cloths ‘n stuff.” He gave you a heart-warming smile and let go of your cheeks to grab your hands.

 You were shocked to silence. You hadn’t expected anyone to be this understanding.

 “Mika…I… ”

 You felt an tug on the corner of your lips, only to realise you were smiling. You squeezed his hands in return, feeling a faint blush start to spread across your face.

 “Thanks Mika…really, that means a lot to me,” you giggled and the latter scratched his cheek bashfully.

 “Ehehe~ ‘s nothin’~”

 You smiled again and quickly leaned forward to place a peck on his cheek before standing up to leave. “We should head back soon, class is starting in about 3 minutes,” you grinned, escaping the room and leaving the poor boy in a stunned, flustered mess.

 Mika slowly brought it hand up to his cheek, feeling where your lips had been.

 “H-huh?! W-wait, (Y/N)-chan!!”

[one-spidey-boii]

BUMMER SUMMER || peter parker; ch nine

read ch eight here

masterlist

an; i’ve really struggled with juggling all my responsibilities lately so please forgive me. i just ate questionable fried rice and i’m feeling mediocre at best. have a great day you guys.

warnings; mentions of battle wounds (i.e. blood/scars/etc), smut, mature language, fluff, angst, both peter and oc are 18+!!

word count; 3.1k+

edie's pov

i take in a deep breath and click the call button on my phone after hovering over it with my thumb for a few long and painful seconds. i slowly bring it up to my ear. on the third ring, a small click sounds on the other end.

"ah! you're still alive. yippee!" tony's voice chirps jokingly at me from wherever he and the rest of the avengers were staying. i sit up in my bed and play with the end seam of my shorts.

"i am..." i trail off awkwardly, not entirely sure what to say to the man. he's making me call him everyday, and i don't know how long it's going to last, but i'm already running out of things to tell him at this point. i'm healing, my bruises are fading, the pain is subsiding.

"is peter treating you right?" he asks. i gulp at his question, remembering the moments peter and i shared only a day ago.

"u-uh yeah, wait- um what do you mean?" i stutter out, mentally kicking myself.

"i mean, is he taking care of you? yanno, making you chicken noodle soup or hot chocolate and giving you back massages- actually scratch that last one, i don't wanna think about that." he rambles on, my face flushes and i pull loose pieces of fabric off of my shorts completely in panic. no way can mr. stark find out about peter and i...whatever we are.

"hey! it's not like that." i mumble, doing my best to cover my nerves.

"yeah, sure it's not." tony retorts back with a snort, his voice just above a whisper. i'm at a loss for words, "uh, pfft, yeah, it's not."

"i don't care either way- well, that's a lie, i care a little bit. just keep healing and make sure peter stays sharp out there." i squirm in my spot and continue to update mr. stark on my condition, eager to get off of the phone.

with a final 'goodbye' and 'don't do anything stupid'- he ends the call and i flop back down on my bed. my side only slightly aches when i move now, becoming less of an annoyance and more of a numbing feeling.

i glance around my room at my fresh yellow walls. the color brightens the space and brings a warm feeling to the pit of my stomach. but my bed is still in the middle of the room, making me feel open and vulnerable on all sides. with one big huff i roll out of bed and plant my feet at the end of the frame. i give one push with both hands and the bed goes skidding back to the wall. in the process, my side cramps up and a burning sensation pushes its way through my body, making me wince.

"you okay there?" a soft, yet teasing voice speaks up from behind me. i dip my head down between my arms still placed on the bed and peek at the intruder through my legs from upside down. peter stands there, a lazy smirk spread across his lips. i roll my eyes and flip my head back up to turn around and face the boy.

"absolutely. i don't always need your help, parker." i reply and lean against the end of my bed. after the alarm went off last night, peter and i spent our time making food until he had to go out on patrol, more hesitant that ever to leave. none of us said a word about the disturbance, despite my suspicions. he returned late in the morning, later than his usual schedule. and when he did get back, he went straight to sleep, not even making it to his room. he stayed fast asleep on the couch until late afternoon. i guess he came straight to me after he woke up.

it's only been two days since i've been out, but my body is growing restless at the lack of adventure. jealousy poked at heart knowing that he would be the one seeing and protecting the city until mr. stark deemed me ready to get back out there.

i push the feeling away, not wanting to focus on things i have no control over.

peter takes a few steps closer to me, speaking playfully, "so, mr. stark gave me a call today. he wanted to know if i was taking care of you." once his body reaches mine, his fingertips immediately move to trail along my hips, "what do you think, wolfie? am i taking good care of you?" his voice lowers the closer he leans in.

i gulp audibly at his question, thinking back to my own conversation with mr. stark. my eyes meet his and i can’t t form any words under his gaze. so i just nod sheepishly at him, it seems to be the only thing i can do lately. peter's mouth curls into a satisfied smirk and it makes my stomach drop into my feet. an overwhelming surge of heat passes through my body and i have to lean back farther into the mattress for support.

peter and i didn't really talk about what had happened yesterday. at the time, it didn't seem weird or out of the ordinary. it felt natural, good. now that we've—i've—had time to think about it, well, i don't know what to think. i don't even know what to say to him. it's embarrassing how much control he seems to have over me, after so many years of being able to joke around as friends.

now his closeness makes my heart squeeze both in adoration and frustration. i'm angry at how fast he's able to make me melt into his hands. i used to tease and make him blush, now he somehow turned the tables. just add that to the list of things i can't control.

peter leans in, close enough to pepper a soft kiss to the corner of my lips, "i gotta head out, but i'll be around." he pulls away and points to his ear, where his comm rests.

"see you around." i say with a level voice, now too focused on gaining a hold of myself to be sweet with him. he drops his remaining hand from my hip, choosing to ignore my change in demeanor. with a small wave that reminds me of the nervous boy he used to be, he turns the corner and i'm alone again.

my skin is buzzing. the feeling is mostly concentrated on where peter's fingers had been, but it's spreading quick. needing a distraction from the feeling, i change out of my comfy clothes into something a little more suited for action. i rumble through my luggage and pull out a black sports bra with leggings to match. before i leave, i shove my own comm in my ear.

after making my way to the training room, i set up a few different targets. the first one is a simple circle with three red rings spaced around a red center, i place it firmly on the ground. the next one is the same, except this time i suspend it into the air, letting it sway back and forth. the last one is a little different. it's human shaped. as a fighter who refrains from hurting people as much as possible, i'm hesitant to set this one up. but after what i went through, i need the practice on a human target.

i flip through my phone and search for some music to get my energy up, i connect to the speakers that run throughout the house and crank up the volume. the bass of the music cancels out the continuous buzzing through my body, allowing me to shake the tension away. i stretch in front of the mirror before pulling a table to the far side of the room, opposite the targets.

on the table i set out an array of throwing knives, each one reflecting the fluorescent light from the high ceilings. i run my hand over the edge of one knife in particular before grabbing the handle and nailing the middle of the hanging target in one fluent motion. the knife sticks out from the center as the momentum violently swings the target in the air.

i take in a deep breath and pick up two more, one in each hand. i throw both at the same time, hitting the grounded target side by side with barely an inch between them. i continue to practice on the two targets, using up all the knives on the table in the process. i'm sweating and panting as i go to collect them and start again. i let my eyes pass over the human shaped target, but i quickly look away and focus on the other two once again.

after ignoring the last target for what seems like forever, i stop myself mid throw as i notice how shredded the others have become. i drop my arm to my side and use my other hand to turn off the music.

the silence of the room makes the pounding in my ears almost unbearable as i scope out my last challenge of the night. the lifeless figure has no face. it's only the silhouette of a head and torso, a simple shape. despite the fact, i can still see the features of one person in particular.

i raise my hand and ready myself to throw the potentially deadly weapon held in my grasp. i can feel my heart rate pick up and i stare down the figure before me.

a female, seemingly innocent.

my breathing grows heavier as i fall back on the memories of that night, only a few days ago.

she looked scared, all i wanted to do was help.

my stance falters at the thought. my eyes clouding over as i grit my teeth and shake my head to snap myself out of it.

"see what happens when you try and help people?"

with a grunt, i charge at the inanimate target before me. my legs cross the floor in three simple strides as i jump up to plunge the knife into the head of the target. i slide down and i hold the knife tighter in my grasp, letting it slice all the way down the figure, nearly severing it in two. i drop the weapon.

with heavy breaths, i turn to grab another human shaped target. i kick the other one out of the way, replacing it with the new one.

i try different attacks, needing to set up a new target every time i 'kill' the last one. i do it again, and again, and again- picturing the same face every time.

peter's pov

i can't just come out and tell edie i'm searching for the people that attacked her. but i can't come up with any explanation as to why i'm staying out so late—err, early? i don't know. i do know that every second i'm not out here looking, it's becoming more and more dangerous for her. it scares me.

the sun is peaking out from behind the tall buildings of the city. i spent the entire night staking out two people specifically, but no such luck. now i'm sat atop a building, hesitant to call it a day and go back to edie. but, oh boy, i want to see her. thinking about her makes my heart swell, and now that i'm finally able to show her how i feel, it seems like the whole world let out of sigh of relief for me.

i like the way she reacts to me. it being a huge contrast to the playful, witty banter that we used to share exclusively. now, when we get close- i'm the one who takes control. it's a weird change of pace between the both of us, but i don't mind it one bit. it’s almost like i crave it.

once making the decision to go back to the compound, i swing myself across the city, eager to see edie. i get to the door and press a suit covered thumb over the touch screen. the glass door slides open and i slip into the cold air of the compound, making sure the glass shuts and locks behind me before i go any further.

i pull the mask off my head and stumble into the living room, hoping edie is somewhere close. when i don't see her, my face drops and i turn to jog down the hall towards her bedroom. not finding her again, i raise my hand to the comm in my ear and speak.

"e, you there? where've you run off to?" i turn on my heel again to step into my room down the hall. as i do so, her voice floods through my head.

"training room." she utters, her usual soft voice sounding hardened and cold. i quirk an eyebrow up as i change into more comfortable clothes, confused by the girls tone. nevertheless, i finish up and trot over to her.

as i round the corner, my eyes settle on her standing in the middle of the room, rolling her shoulders back with a knife in her hand. i stand quietly and watch her movements, hesitant to step in and become an accidental target. edie raises her arm to throw and adjusts her feet into a low stance. so quickly, i almost miss it, the knife flies through the air towards a human shaped figure. to my surprise- it clatters against the target and falls to the floor.

she lets out a groan and pulls at her hair, muttering profanities under her breath as she turns to see me staring. her body stiffens under my gaze and slowly she lowers her arms to her side, a doe-eyed expression on her face.

"you're back." she mutters. i take a few steps into the room and gulp at what i see. targets similar to the one she just attacked are shredded and thrown across the room in piles. there must have been fifty of them, each one damaged in a different way.

looking back at her, i force a smile on my face, "you've been busy, yeah?"

her eyes follow the path mine took and she shrugs, indifferent, "mhm. training." i nod hesitantly.

"have you slept at all?" i pipe up, curious at how long she has been here.

"not really, no."

another nod, and i shuffle over to the table that holds her collection of weapons. i'm impressed with her skills, seeing as she has no 'super powers'. but damn, she could take anyone down in seconds. i admire the girl in front of me, hoping she knows just how much i do. not long after, a bug of curiosity wiggles around my stomach.

"do...you think you could teach me?" the words slip out of my mouth before i can think of the consequences. edie looks at me with a stoney expression that makes my heart jump. i regret my words immediately, afraid that i offended her or something.

i try to take it back, "i mean- only if you want! i know it's stupid so you don't..."

the devilish smile that creeps along her face shuts me up, "i'll teach you."

i let out a small breath, "o-okay. i should probably go change." i say as i look down at my baggy clothes and compare them to her tight fitted ones. edie shakes her head and waltzes up to me, the smug smile still gracing her lips. i grow nervous, realizing i'm in her territory now. this is her thing, so i force myself to hand over the reigns.

she gestures to the rows of knives on the table, "take you pick, parker." her cool and confident voice sends a small shiver down my spine. i look closer at the table and gingerly run my fingers along each sharp edge. i stop at a knife with a shiny black blade and red handle and i pick it up to feel the weight of it in my hand. the blade isn't metal or steel and it has small ridges on the surface. i bring it closer to examine it even further.

"that's obsidian, black volcanic glass. it was used a lot in the stone ages," edie takes the knife from my hands and twirls the point on the tip of her finger, "it's sharper than steel, and nowadays surgeons use it in their scalpels...good choice, peter." she smiles up at me. i can feel my cheeks flush. she places it back in my palm and struts to the center of the mat, "we'll start close, hopefully you can hit the target. how's your aim?"

i roll my eyes at her taunting words and walk over to her place on the mat. edie strolls around me in circles, observing my body language- which is less confident than i'd like to admit. she stands in front of me and plants her hands firmly on my hips, twisting them into a desired position. next, she does the same with my shoulders, all the while sticking her tongue out in concentration.

then she comes to the knife in my hand and pulls it away, only to place it back and wrap my fingers around it one by one. it immediately feels more comfortable in my hand. she circles me one more time and hums in satisfaction at her work.

"now, obsidian is brittle, so it's really important to make your shot count or else you risk breaking the blade," edie comes back around my front and leans in close, her finger resting under my chin, "don't break my blade." she threatens with a smug smile curling at the edge of her lips. i can't stop my eyes from dropping down to look at them, and she notices.

edie traces her finger along my jaw line, making me shiver once again. i groan at the lack of control over my body and my eyes widen at the sound. she just smiles and lets her hand fall down my chest to finally rest at her side before taking a step back. she points behind her to a circular target a few yards away.

"give it a go." her voice grows softer, encouraging me to make a move. i tighten my grip around the knife and raise my arm to chuck it at the target. i stop short.

"could you...maybe show me first?"

|| taglist; @my-patronus-is-mabel-pines @whycantileaveyou @lovewolfspirit @kitykatnumber @franksholland @goddamnit5sos @thehugslut

[carrera-ffxiv]

Morning Shadows Pt. 2

Her taunting farewell echoed in his mind as he set the table, waiting for Mira to arrive. It was his turn to cook. A few simple dishes as best he could muster. A variety of small side dishes littered about the center with some egg rolls. A rice and soup pairing would be the main course. The mood lighting on the top floor of his manor was spot on but the cooking really didn’t match the ambience. He wasn’t a culinary specialist but he knew how to make the stuff he liked and it was edible in the least.

Hadriel had pictured this moment dozens of times since his reinitiation to his former organization. A simple do or don’t. Does he tell her, or not? Until now he felt it better to keep it a secret. Now doubts lingered. If he was to move forward with her and keep her safe he couldn’t simply leave her uninvolved. He also knew that keeping secrets of this magnitude could only spell ruin.

A shake of a wet umbrella called out as S’mira ascended the staircase. Caught in a downpour on her way from the Ashen House -- typical! Rare were the days that the Lavender Beds didn’t see a bit of drizzle. The lacquered handle of the umbrella came to the railing and S’mira had begun removing her gloves, “What a surprise to find you home before me. Annnnd...having cooked?” she rose a brow, perhaps deep down she might have been a little insulted for being outdone with a meal though some might argue it could have been a pleasant welcome in comparison to S’mira’s own meals, “I never figured you for a cook.” and she rounded along the final bend of the railing.

“Less than busy day for you I assume? How’s the bar? V’shesre came by today for a bit of a visit, offering some sincere sorries for being as absent as she had been.”

He offered a smile in greeting and waved her statement off, “Had a reason I assume. Is she looking to come back to work? The bars have been fine. No issues as of late. Business grows steadily. How was work for you? Have a seat, relax, take a load off and have some food, I imagine you’re hungry.”

S’mira lifted a hand to adjust the crease at her yukata, “I’m not sure if she mentioned what she planned on doing indefinitely but I can imagine having an offer for a job once again upon a return isn’t something everyone can say they have privilege in having.” There was a mildly low chuckle and a raise of her eyebrows. Damn V’shesre’s ramen. “Famished!” she lied and took a seat to continue her gaze upwards to Hadriel, “Work is about the same as usual. I cannot say we’ve had much of an incline in our work load, not like we did when I first began but a consistent workload is a healthy one I think.”

“Mn?” he raised a brow, “Well… fair enough. I suppose part of that responsibility lies with me. I should do more to help around the company.”

Hadriel began to indulge in the dishes set before them yet he would pause to assess and note Mira’s pace. “Sorry, I should’ve asked you what you liked. I thought just making a hodgepodge assortment would do the job…” he offered apologetically. He casually reached through his hair, catching the strap along his eyepatch as he removed it and continued eating.

Of course S’mira had taken her time eating. She figured if she could slow her eating enough it would have given her time to digest the ramen from earlier -- it just wasn’t being digested fast enough to not look like a complete goon in front of Mr. Cool. Her crush? Her boyfriend? It wasn’t as if she really had a name or title for it, especially since they never really knew ‘what’ each other were in a sense, “Mhn? Oh.” and there was a pause as Mira took the napkin to her mouth and finished chewing before offering a response, “I’m not picky. Food in the belly is, well, food in the belly.”

His asymmetrically colored eyes settled on Mira. One a dark brown hue, the other a dazzling blue color. “I have something to tell you, and… I don’t know how you’ll take it. I didn’t want to tell you but… I think it’s better that I do than not.” he spoke in a solemn tone.

‘Perfect!’ she thought, more talking meant less eating. Not that it wasn’t good, but….

“Hm?” she hummed out again in his direction. She had never seen him fully remove the eyepatch until now, in all the months and time she had known him, S’mira had only caught a glimpse of that singular blue eye one time before. Suddenly, it felt as if the mood shifted into something a little more serious; possibly somber?

She lowered her hands to her lap and folded them there, “Well, I’m listening.”

He huffed a moment, “Sorry to ruin your meal but… I feel like I need to tell you. It’s not something easy to speak of but you at least deserve to know. Some time ago I was a part of an organization in Doma that fought against imperial rule. Those men and women were called the Black Blades of Doma.” he explained as he gauged her response.

From across the table S’mira was quiet though her eyebrow did hike ever so slightly. Curiosity written all over her face. She knew of him having worked alongside some sketchy folk before and it was barely a conversation even breached before now, “I have never heard of them.” in truth, she hadn’t. Most organizations she only knew of through Gado and his general dealings in and out of the cities. Then again she had never been to Doman territory until she met Hadriel, “Go on.” she offered and sniped a swallow from her glass.

“Well… if you had heard of us, we weren’t doing our jobs right. To be fair, it’s not really the name of the organization. We were nameless until that’s what people started calling us. Protectors. Defenders. Avengers. We saved lives by taking lives. Imperial lives, or any enemy of Doma.” he sighed a bit and scratched at his head, trying to figure out a way to word what he wanted to tell her.

He continued “Anyway, I left them when I came across the sea to Eorzea because we had a fundamental disagreement. Left every gil I had behind to help with reconstruction and took one of my subordinates with me to handle that disagreement. I’ve since righted that wrong. I met with some old friends afterwards and there was a decent amount of inner politics involved but it ended with an offer to retake my place. And I did.”

That brow lofted a bit higher as Hadriel spoke and S’mira gently prodded at her food. She wanted to look like she had been eating more even though listening seemed a bit more entertaining for the moment, “And now?” she asked. Surely there was more to it. The story didn’t seem too damning nor did she quite understand the necessity of why he would have to tell her.

“So where do you go from here with retaking that place then? Is it not something you wish to do or is this dinner a soft way of saying ‘I’m sorry, I have to leave’ sort of scenario?”

He shook his head. “I’m not leaving. In fact I’m looking after their interests as we speak. One of those things is handling someone who might be overstepping their bounds. Someone else in the organization. Someone that was once close to me, a student of mine. That vial that Kohaku recovered contained illicit drugs. The person behind bringing those items here along with a sizable number of their subordinates is… that student. I should mention that person is now also one of the nine Shadows that lead the organization. I just... wanted you to know, just in case things spilled out once I went to handle this situation. I didn’t want you to think I was keeping things from you to deceive you maliciously. I’ve thought about this scenario in my head over and over again, and I couldn’t see a result that was going to be good. But… every scenario that played out in my head that involved me keeping this a secret from you was worse.”

Silence rested between them once more after Hadriel spoke and Mira hadn’t even touched her food again, not that she was trying to avoid it at this rate, it was natural by now. It looked as though everything flew right by her head, in one ear and out the other. Green eyes offering a series of delicate blinks and she finally moved, setting her napkin to the side of her plate and in dainty stride settled herself saddle style along Hadriel’s lap without invitation, “I appreciate you letting me know but if your little side jobs pollute the Wolves and the people within…” S’mira smiled sweetly and she adjusted that fancy tie resting along that crisp white shirt of his. Yanno, the ones he always wore? “-- You’ll have wished you did keep it a secret and I was none the wiser.”

A devilish grin escaped his calm facade. “I’ll keep that in mind.” A part of him wanted to fuck around and find out, but he retained a sense of normalcy. “I wouldn’t put you in a compromising position if I could help it Mira.” the ronin placed a hand at the small of her back, intentionally tracing his hand around her waist. “I’ll keep my business on my side of the house with specific people. I’ll prepare a list of personnel that do report to me for the organization and the… more questionable jobs. Rest assured… I’m always on your side, Mira, first and foremost.” The other gloved hand freely found its way to the top of Mira’s head as it brushed alongside one of her ears. He rubbed the side between a couple of his fingers, almost pinching as if to feel the texture. “Always wanted to do that.”

The ear within his touch gave a bit of a flick and a weird expression spread over her features, “Its as if though you’ve never touched a Miqo’te before.” there was a long sigh and she seemed to straighten up a bit more in her ‘seat’ of choice, “Okay, well from here on out you will have to keep me in the loop, for everyone’s safety and no hiding important stuff, okay?” 

The tip of her finger had been brought up and it poked him in the center of the forehead, “You are tampering with dangerous stuff and there are others to consider just by association. I’ve lived with Gado long enough to know how these things turn out. You do the quelling or you do the running. There is rarely any in between.”

His hand settled along her cheek. A thumb running along her face gingerly. “I don’t want to keep secrets from you. Hence the… talk. I didn’t want to risk ruining what we have.” he said in almost a whisper, considering their proximity.

“And what is it you would label, ‘what we have’ per se? I don’t think such has been established.”

He would simply answer her question with a gesture he was longing to give for a long while. Lips meeting and confirming what feelings stirred about in his heart.

What fingers had been along Hadriel’s tie had ceased and S’mira froze though barely a blink had passed until she finally melted into the gesture with heavy thoughts and spark-returned kiss. Did she hold her breath? How long did it even last?

Enough to where when she finally pulled away there was little room for words, light nearly nonexistent between them in the dimly lit living area of the large mansion. That had certainly answered her question, an answer in which she had not anticipated but far more explanatory than any slew of words or excuses Hadriel could have given her.

“I… hope that answers the question. Or… do I have to invite another Miqo’te from your tribe and fight them to the death? I’m not sure how all that works.” he joked, knowing she wasn’t beholden to her kin.

A series of blinks was given, cheeks pink and mouth agape at Hadriel’s comment, “N-no. I mean if you were planning to be a breeding male within the Seeker Tribe’s, sure, you would have to fight the Nuhn for that right but it is a good thing that I don’t live by those rules and weird lifestyle.”

“Good. I want you all to myself.” “Even if a Nuhn could, I wouldn’t be interested.”

He scoffed a moment, “Better not be.” A grin returned and he met her lips again, drinking in the elation of the moment. For a brief moment he forgot about all the stress to come.

“Was never one for a man with a tail.” the Seeker managed to snipe in beyond parted lips and her frame shifted, arms curling up along the Hyur’s neck. This had certainly beat filling herself sick on a second meal and she had a warm lap to boot.

[flightofaqrow]

🌟 gently puts this here

Send 🌟 for lines of your writing that I enjoy a lot! ** accepting

“Ok, right now I’m going to need you to suspend your disbelief a bit. /the disbelief is at a 9, I need it to be at ‘Ruby is having a tea party and we need to pretend’. Trust me, it gets a hell of a lot more enjoyable when you’re anthropomorphizing the marbles.”

EAT. BUG.

“I’ll give us credit, at least we’re entertaining human dumpster fires.” [ “keeping the poorest sods of the world warm on a cold night, yeah sounds about right.” ] “If we cant keep our lives from sucking ass, the least we can do is be sure that other people have at least one happy night and good memories, after all.” [ “i kinda get concerned when we finally start agreein’ on things.” ] “Something does feel a little off about it, doesnt it?” [ “you know what this means?” ] “If this were a couple months ago, I’d say we need to have a drink to celebrate some sort of milestone.” [ “no! quit that! you’re supposed to say it’s time to go find someone in need of a dumpster fire.“ ] “Oh. … I suppose you make an excellent point. But now without the alcohol, all the anxiety is back. I dunno if I can summon the same level of dumpster I had drunk.”

Again, dark thoughts seemed to press in with the shadows from sunset. He shivered, wondering why it still seemed so cold despite his aura being active. “I dont like this place. Something is super fucking wrong, even without the fact there’s no real reason these people should have died.”

“Dont lie to yourself,” Qrow scoffed. “You’re no less a coward than she is. You’re just more skilled at hiding the truth.” And not even that good at hiding it, if he were honest with himself. Qrow was adept at drinking to forget his cowardice. That was his entire reason for holding the flask in his hand, wasnt it? The self loathing and bile almost was rising too fast for the burn of bourbon to push it back down.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[ I do want to go into some other threads here bc you and I mostly shitpost XD This has proven to be obnoxious because even when I know exactly what I like about people’s stuff FINDING has been a different story shdjkd plz ilu I hope I can illustrate it enough. Stuff from angst threads with Reju bc they’re so good, aaaaand whatever I have enjoyed from the most recent couple pages of ur blog. ]

Qrow balled up a fist and punched the mattress underneath them in frustration. Oddly enough, the soft, forgiving surface didnt really provide him with any satisfaction. It wasnt fair. Someone like Tai didnt deserve to bear all that grief and pain, and what business did Qrow have sharing his own? And yet, here he was, nearly two decades after the fact, flailing around like a toddler having a tantrum, complete with waterworks and snot.

There was no way in hell that Qrow ever wanted to discuss this sort of thing with Tai. He barely wanted to talk about his negative feelings with himself. The last thing anyone wanted was to hear Qrow unload fifteen years of baggage, and the last thing he wanted to do was bare his soul only to have someone brush off that pain with a bullshit you cant blame yourself for that. Like he enjoyed feeling like this or something.

Qrow nodded, and pulled out the old picture he kept in his wallet of Team STRQ, fresh out of Beacon and ready to take on the world. Coolest team in a generation. What a flop they turned out to be.

“Sometimes when you start thinking hard, I can hear the gears of your mind spinning so hard they make a buzzing noise.

“I swore I would kill you one day. Why complicate that with things like deep emotional talks and getting to know you? Its going to change nothing in the end when Harbinger gets buried deep in your guts.”

He tried to sound nonchalant, even scratching the back of his head. The glass that tinkled out of his hair and down his collar was just Misfortune trying to spite him, if you asked Qrow’s opinion.

Story telling had been a great part of his childhood. Though it didnt seem like a group of bandits would be the type, evenings were spent as a community around the fire, where music would ring out or old stories would be dusted off and shared. There was very little in the way of entertainment out in the wilderness, and that community time was vital in order to strengthen the bonds that held them together. [^ This one might be less writing and more SCREAMING IN SOLIDARITY over hcs but yanno. It’s still put succinctly *chef kiss*]

“If you think for a second that your personal life doesnt affect your professional life, than I know a farm in Anima we should go to. Perhaps a few hours with some Apathy Grimm will help you see that. It sure as fuck helped me.” His hands trembled, just a little, at the memory. Qrow had thought that he’d built some sort of wall, that as long as his drinking didnt get in the way of doing his job he was ok. One Grimm species that could get inside his head was all it took to prove how stupid that thinking was.

[seconding the amazing curse of The Brother’s Divine Buttholes ]

When he spoke, his voice had a certain amount of resonance and gravity to it, as Qrow was a firm believer that if you told a story, you were going to tell it right.

[bonebreakjack]

What Would I Be Without You?

Tenko and Hana take a leap of faith changing their lives for better or for worse. Along the way they uncover many secrets hidden away, try to find their way in life, and deal with their new eccentric roommates and their even more eccentric friends.

But at least their doing it together.

(An AU of what would have happened if AFO hadn't interfered with the Shimura family's lives. (Cause I refuse to believe he had no part in that horror). This is my take of what could have happened via what little we saw of the family.)

Chapter 2: What A Day...And It’s Not Even Over yet

If this was going to be a new normal, Tenko would rather take his chances and hide from society back inside the apartment becoming a shut in. It’s as if the universe was like ‘Fuck You’ to him and his sister the moment they stepped out. First they missed  the first two busses. Not even just one, but both of them, to get to the station. So they both had to run all the way to the station so they could make the train. Then there was a villain attack along the way and the crowd watching the Hero and Villain go at it. (Is that the new upcoming hero Mirko? She’s moving around like a frenzied rabbit keeping the guy disoriented.) Tenko would have been more happy to see the fight if we weren't worried about getting to school on time. ( Which really was more about keeping as much stress off his sister as possible she’s got enough on her plate besides worrying about him.) Navigating the crowd  was a nightmare and a half, no one wanted to move, half of them were being rude assholes and the other half kept hesitating cause they didn’t want to look away from the fight. Hana nearly tasted dirt more than a couple times and Tenko sure as hell did taste the dirt with being shoved around. They finally make it to the station only for the ticket machine to break and them missing the train having to wait nearly an hour for another one. Thus making them late.

 Hana tried to lighten the atmosphere by suggesting they go buy snacks while they waited, only for Tenko to tell her he was broke cause he spent the last of his money on house items they needed, and she herself had forgotten her wallet. Meaning they don’t even have money for the train to begin with. Wonderful. They did have a bit of luck in Hana digging through her bag and finding enough change to get them on the train, but she would probably have to ask one of their roommates to get her her wallet when they wake up. She paid for the tickets and they sat in silence on their phones. Tenko saw that his phone battery was in the red and went to get his charger …..that he didn’t bring . So he just wasted what little he had on mobile games. He threw the damn thing in his bag and scowled for the next hour, as the rage bubbled up inside him and he stewed like a pressure cooker. The train comes and one again he's surrounded by people, who were far too close and pushy as they packed into the train like sardines. He could feel his very thin rope of patience fraying quickly. He hated being touched, there were too many people, and today was NOT working in their favor, he has to go back to school in the middle of the year, they moved all the way into the city in a stranger's house he had never met, and its too much for the first fucking day- Hana reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing lightly and he throttled the urge to scratch at his face and neck. His sister hated it and it made her distressed. He stewed in stillness instead, thinking positive. At least they were together. Not.

Tenko was seriously contemplating homicide right now. He was jam packed alone on the train to the new school he had to go to, his sister got dropped off at her Highschool two stops before so he had to suffer alone now. This was pure crap and what's worse because of his height made him easy to push and shove around, and God help him Why is everyone TOUCHING HIM?

This was the start of what Tenko was sure to be a Hellish day.

Fuck.

The hiss of the doors alerted him to freedom and he clawed his way out nearly knocking over an elementary school girl. From what he could see she apparently had a similar plan but was using the wall to avoid death by stampede. Apologizing under his breath, Tenko pulled her up and then shoved her through the door before following. He yelled out another apology as he ran, noticing the time.

A plain faced boy passed him wearing the same uniform, his face more panicked as he ran to get to school. HE was a bit weird out by the boys muttering of wanting to avoid his mother's fly swats.

More and more students passed by him as he slowed down wearing the same uniform as him. He couldn't help but stare at how much more unique looking everyone was in comparison to the private school he went to. A sense of more freedom filled the air and the students seemed more lively. They seemed pretty happy and content rubbing their good mood to everyone today.

Maybe today won’t be as bad as he thought-

He was shoved to the side very roughly by a much taller bastard of a kid with dark red brown hair with needle like appearance and gold eyes. He smirked condescendingly down at Tenko who glared back up at him. He began to walk away but Tenko wasn't about to let him. Nope that was the last fucking straw that burnt up the rest of his self restraint. He couldn’t help his lips twitching, wanting to stretch into a smile as a thought passed through his head. Hello, Misplaced Aggression.

"Hey bastard what was that for?" Tenko was snarling at the now surprised boy, assholes like this think they're so damn mighty until someone barks back. But they messed with him on the wrong day.

"You were in my way shortly, learn to make room for your betters!" The Tall Bastard, as Tenko now deemed him, had gathered himself after he realized Tenko wasn't backing down. His two friends flanking him to try and further intimidate him.

Tenko just scoffed and wondered when they started cloning cliches. Different schools have the same bullies, how predictable. The ones back home were scarier anyway, they actually knew who his dad was.

"Oh I'm sorry your majesty, I didn't realize you have a Caution: Wide Load sign on you."

The silence was too beautiful, he should have recorded it, or took out his phone to take a picture (he was still mad at leaving his charger at home). The Tall Bastard’s face was turning a funny shade of red from humiliation and anger. His friends looked wary and looked at their leader  before backing away slowly. “You looking down on me you puny bastard!” Tall Bastard picked Tenko up by the scruff of his collar and Tenko could almost hear a choir cause it was as if his prayers were answered and someone decided to send him a punching bag.

If that’s the case then… A yelp that sounded like a came from the mouth of a dog came out of the Tall Bastards mouth and he dropped Tenko to cover and hold his injured crotch from where Tenko kicked him. One doesn’t play fair with those who won’t give the same treatment. As soon as he was on the ground Tenko’s leg shot out to kick Tall Bastard on the back of the head making him hit the ground. He picked up his backpack where it had fallen and went to walk away. “Hey asshole I wasn’t done with you-!” “Wait Soga! You can’t get in trouble again. You could get expelled this time.”One of the friends spoke up, he had a reptilian appearance and on the short side. He grabbed his friend Soga’s arm to keep him from attacking Tenko. “Let's Just leave besides I get the feeling this kid isn’t all there if yanno what I mean.” Tenko felt a scowl pull at his lips at the remark which caused the reptilian human to hide behind Tall Bastards-Soga’s- body. The two boys stared at each other down before Soga tsked and spat on the ground. “Fine whatever, he’s not fucking worth it anyway.”They walked to the school entrance, though Tenko noticed with slight satisfaction that Soga was limping as he did. It didn’t help the bitterness that burned in his lungs as the words ‘Not worth it’ , ran in his head. The small fight didn’t help his bad mood and he grumbled all the way to the Staff office as how unsatisfied he felt.

  He got scolded for being late on his first day of transferring by a bulbous looking teacher. He was just in time for the 2nd period to begin but they weren’t lenient on tardies. And no, you can’t use a villain attack as an excuse. Asshole. Tenko looked sourly down at his schedule and the added papers on top of it. Apparently his sister had asked the staff to give him a list of clubs he could join this late in the year. He and Hana transferred to their new schools in the middle of fall, a really weird time but they didn’t have much of a choice. Ugh he didn’t even do clubs back home, why would she think he would now? He trudged all the way to homeroom and was met with the Class representative, a lanky boy with a split mouth and slim face. When he spoke his voice contained a slight hiss and small bumps of flesh along with extra needle-like rows of teeth shows. A snake-like quirk it seems. The boy was polite and said u anything to ask him. The only seat available was the one in the cornerback near the classroom closet. Another good thing that happened today seems, best place to pretend you're doing work and take a nap. He had a few minutes before 2nd period officially started which was physical education and all the boys were changing. Since he hadn’t gotten his uniform for that yet he was allowed to sit out or stay in the classroom. Obviously he decided to stay and the class representative went to go change himself while Tenko worked on setting up his desk to take a nap on. At the corner of his eye he spotted a strange looking teenager with bandages all over his arms and neck. His hair was black in a way that clearly looked dyed, and his eyes were almost a luminous blue. Something about him kept nagging at Tenko’s brain. He decided to just go back to minding his business and didn’t even know why some random kid caught his attention anyway. The moment every one left he  laid his head on his desk and knocked solidly out. ----- Tenko and Hana were walking home when a man with white hair stood in front of them, he smiled kindly at them and for some reason Tenko was having a hard time putting a face to this stranger or even a name. Is he new around here? Did he just move in? Tenko didn’t hear the others talking about anyone new in the neighborhood. The man was talking to them about something but Tenko can’t remember what he was saying. The words just sounded like noise. He reached out  to him with a hand but Hana put herself in front of Tenko and started screaming about a pervert and calling for help. Whatever ease Tenko had felt disappeared when she did and followed her lead bringing the attention of whatever adults in the area to them. Hearing a familiar dog-like growl, Tenko felt relief as he saw Mikkuns mother stomp up to them and the man backing up as she interrogated him on what he was doing with them. Getting vague answers she tells him she has never seen him around here before, putting her body right in front of them blocking their view of the man. The words became a blur again and whatever he said seemed to pacify her but then Mikkuns mom was leading them home. She was talking to herself, french accent thick with anger and suspicion as she was going to tell the other neighborhood parents about this. His own mom opened the door demurely as if waiting to receive bad news and apologize. It hurts Tenko to know she was already suspecting that he got in trouble for something. To her surprise and fear Mikkun’s mom was talking about how a strange man had begun talking with her children but Mikkun did not recall anyone moving in recently. She was going to ask the other mothers but warned his mom Nao to keep an eye out. They ended up receiving praise from the French woman for their quick thinking and instincts before getting head pats from her paws. She bidded them a good day before marching off intending to go warn the others parents. Mikkuns mom was pretty cool. Both kids were brought into a hug by their mom who was so happy they were okay before ushering them to the living room and rushed to go talk to grandma and grandpa. Tenko wondered why he can’t seem to recall this mans face-

“Shimura-san, Shimura-san…”Somebody was shaking him, ripping him from his memory. Tenko blearily looked up to see the class president looking down at him in concern. Shooting up from his desk thinking he slept while class came back, but was happy to see it was just the class  President there. Seeing his gym uniform showed he had come from where the class actually was to find him. “Sorry about that Shimura-san, a man had come to school saying he bought something from home that you forgot..” A shadow image of a taller man with slicked back hair and cold eyes flashed in his mind making him shudder. A wave of fear ran through him and all he could think was pain. The President looked concerned at Tenko reaching his hands out as if to prevent him from falling over but Tenko stepped out of his reach.

“It’s fine, I wasn’t doing anything anyway. Who did you say came by?”He let out a shuddering breath and gathered himself in case it was who he thought it was. The President's tongue slipped out as if tasting the air before letting out a sign. “A Shirakumo Oboro? Do you wish for me to tell him you're busy? I will if you want.” That was surprising, most people wouldn’t lie to an adult so blatantly like that and not for someone else. It made Tenko feel a bit awkward but also a little happy. “No it’s fine I know who that is. Thank you….” Tenko trailed off. A flush of heat hit his cheeks once he realized he has no idea what the president’s name is. It got even worse one the other taller boy realized and laughed softly. The president led him out of the class to the front entrance. “Uroko Sogen. Now let’s hurry, there isn’t much time before the rest of the class comes back.” Making it to the door he tried not to look too surprised to see one of Hana and his new roommates, or really he should be calling them the actual tenants, here at his school. The man was on the taller side with tan skin and a scar on his head, his hair flowed around white and fluffy like a cloud even though it was pulled back into a ponytail. Blue eyes caught Tenko’s form and waved at him like an enthusiastic idiot. 

Which had the opposite effect it intended, making Tenko want to do an 180 and go back to class. “Lil Shimura-chan!” Actually never mind he’s just going to go back to class. “NO WAIT, I GOT YOUR CHARGER!”The older man screeched, panicked seeing Tenko actually maneuver to go back inside. Tenko looked confused and a little suspicious that the man came all the way here just to deliver his charger. “Hana texted me saying she forgot some things at the apartment, and that you also forgot this. I wasn’t working so-” He went to one of the multitude of pockets he had and pulled it out letting it fall gently into a confused Tenko’s waiting hands. “The first day can be rough, and from what I heard from Hana it was far from ideal for the both of ya. It ain’t much but I can take you two somehwere to eat after she’s done training? I know a place with great Sushi.”  It was a bit silent after that but Tenko felt his lips twitching into a small smile. Shirakumo didn’t have to do that, he could have just dropped off his sister's stuff and be done. It felt nice to be considered. “I think I would like that.” The smile he got from Shirakumo was downright blinding, seriously did he employ the sun into his teeth why was it so bright?! 

“Alright! I’ll leave you to it then. Have a good day Lil Shimura-san!” The older man waved at them before taking off on a cloud like a dragon ball parody character. Huh so that what his quirk was, he wonder how he implements that into his hero work- “Shimura-san class is about to start.” Tenko’s thoughts were interrupted before nodding at the boy as they went back in. He couldn’t help but squeeze the charger in his pocket, happy that some good things came out of today at the very least. They got into class and all the boys had finished changing back into their regular uniforms. His eyes caught the blued eyed black haired kid again and was shocked to find he had piercings in his ears, nose, and lip. He couldn’t believe the school even allowed that. The other kid looked up before giving him a wink flustering Tenko.

Distracted he didn’t see the small girl trying to get into class and tripped right over her knocking them both over.

Dammit he jinxed himself. Tenko quickly got up and pulled her up to her feet. She was so small for a second he could have mistaken her for a younger elementary student. Her hair was a pinkish red and she reminded him of cherub from those paintings but without the wings. “Ah I’m sorry-!” They both started and it became a babbled mess that the president broke up since they were in front of the door. The girl sat in the front seat looking down at her now dirty uniform, and Tenko winced before deciding to pay her back later for that.

The class filled in and sat around talking to each other. He tried to ignore the occasional glances his way from his new classmates and especially that bastard with the glowy eyes. A heavy knocking and the class stood up as this ridiculous amazon of a woman walked into the door. She was clearly built under her suit and skirt and looked more like she would fit in a fighting ring than she would as a teacher. Her hair long purple pink, and eyes that looked shiny and red. She looked even bigger as they sat down. “Helloooo class!”And Loud, she was very loud, it grated on Tenko’s ears a bit “Now I’m sure you all were gossiping about it during gym, but I’m a say it again anyway. We have a new classmate with us.” She looked at Tenko and invited him up and damn he hated this. He trudged along slowly to the front as the teacher clapped her hands. “Let’s make this quick, we have free time and I’m sure your classmates are excited to get to know you. Why don’t you tell everyone your name, what you like, and your quirk as an ice breaker?”

Her voice became softer as she handed him the chalk. His classmates leaned in excited to gossip or rip into him the moment he was done and Tenko felt like he was in the spotlight. He wanted to puke. It would have been fine if she didn’t mention the damn quirk thing. Tenko was hoping to avoid that a little longer. So much for good things happening, right back where he started. A familiar rage boiled inside him, or it could be the stomach acid from his anxiety. His hand shook a bit as he wrote his name down slowly trying to buy himself some time. He looked at the board hoping for some answers but got now. Resigned, he put it down and turned to his excited classmates. Sogen, Dye job with blue eyes and the small cherub girl were the only ones who looked subdued.

“I’m Shimura Tenko, I like video games and syrup covered mochi,” He took a breath and decided to rip it off like a bandaid. They would find out sooner or later anyways.

“Quirkless.”

[returnn-of-the-mac]

I love the way you write the companions! Especially X6! Companions react to Sole giving them nicknames based on pre-war movies?

Thank you! X6 is one of my favorite characters to write (along with Ada and Danse)! Sorry this took so long, there were a few characters I struggled with (looking @u gage & preston). Also, again, I usually write a silent Sole, but I couldn’t for this one, obviously. Please enjoy!😄

Fo4 Companions React: Sole Giving Them Pre-War Movie Nicknames

Strong:

Strong and Sole where walking around Sanctuary when the super mutant heard rustling in the bushes.

“COME OUT, PUNY RADROACH! STRONG SMASH YOU INTO THE GROUND!”

Sole smirked, “Easy there, Hulk. It’s just Dogmeat.”

Strong scratched his head, “Who Hulk? He a Radroach?”

Danse:

Sole was in Danse’s quarters as the Paladin was trying on some new patriotic power armor he had designed. He stepped out in his red, white, and blue mechanical suit and twisted around a bit to show Sole.

“What do you think,” He asked, “Is it too much?”

Sole giggled, “You kinda look like Optimus Prime.”

“You mean Liberty Prime?”

“Nope. I mean Optimus Prime. He’s a Cybertronian from a pre-war movie called Transformers.” Sole explained.

“Cybertron? Is that like a synth,” Danse scoffed, “Cuz I’d be damned if I looked like a synth.”

“Well, no. Cybertron is the planet they’re from. It’s complicated, but it’s basically a fictional species of robots that can transform from ordinary objects. Like cars.”

A confused Danse gave his companion an acknowledging nod, “Ah, okay. That actually sounds pretty interesting. Maybe the Brotherhood could start crafting armor based off of these ...uh...’Cybertronians.’ You’re going to have to show me sometime, soldier.”

Nick:

“Hmm...” Nick pondered, looking over his latest case, “This Marowski fellow seems to be up to no good, yet again. His chem lab is more secure this time too...I’m thinking we’re going to have to tinker around with some scrap and invent a device to break into there undetected.”

“And what do you suggest we create, Inspector Gadget?”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Ha ha. Very funny. I happen to who that is, you know.”

MacCready:

MacCready and Sole where camping out at Outpost Zimonja for the night, lying under the stars, next to a campfire.

“You know what stinks,” Macready began, “Being an adult. So much is expected of you, and all the other adults are all just a buncha bullies.”

Sole gazed at their companion and he continued, “I swear, the kids at Little Lamplight were more mature than at least half the mungos in the Commonwealth. I wish I’d never had grown up...I wish I could’ve stayed a kid forever.”

“Okay, Peter Pan,” Sole laughed, “Growing up is a part of life. Everyone goes through it. Society wouldn’t thrive if people didn’t get older.”

MacCready was still caught up on the first part of Sole’s statement. “Peter...who? Who’s that?”

“Peter Pan. He was a mythical boy who never grew up, and he lead a group called The Lost Boys in Neverland. They’d go on adventures and stuff. It was a story that got adapted into a popular pre-war movie,” Sole explained.

MacCready was captivated by the description. “That seems...awesome, actually! Can you tell me more about it?”

Ada:

Sole and Ada were trekking through the wilderness just beyond the glowing sea when a RadStrorm hit. Adamant about making it to their destination, Sole continued to their journey, despite the wind, rain, and rads.

“[Sir/Ma’am],” Ada beckoned, “Being that I am non-organic, these rads don’t have an effect on me. You, however, might get sick if we continue.”

Sole ignored Ada and continued to press forward. Ada tried again.

“[Sir/Ma’am]? It is highly likely that you will not be able to successfully complete your mission if you were to fall ill.”

Sole, once again, ignored their companion and continued forward. Ada, ardent about keeping her companion healthy, tried a third time.

“[Sir/Ma’am]? I believe I saw an abandoned barn a few miles back. We could camp there for the night.”

Sole stopped and gave Ada a stern look. “C-3PO. Please. Be quiet for just a minute. I can’t even hear myself think.”

Ada beeped a few times. “I am unfamiliar who this model C-3-P-O is. My model number A-D-4.”

Piper:

“Okay, look. I think we’re really gonna get him this time, Blue,” Piper began, peeking through her binoculars at an unsuspecting Mayor McDonough, “Oh! Oh! Look! He put the toilet paper on the holder flap-side-up. Mm-hmm. Definitely a synth.”

Sole raised an eyebrow, “And what’s your master plan here? We gonna break in there and catch him in the act of changing his toilet paper, Lucy Stevens? Kinda not a good look.”

Piper cocked her head to the side, “Lucy...Stevens? Who’s that?”

Sole giggled, “She’s a reporter from one of my favorite pre-war movies.”

Piper smirked, “And what movie would that be?”

“Detective Pikachu.”

Gage:

Sole and Gage were building a raider base when suddenly Gage stopped hammering.

“Hey, got any more nails over there? Can’t see for shit with this eyepatch.”

Sole rolled their eyes and handed the raider the container of nails, “Why don’t you just take it off then? I know you have a fully-functional eyeball under there.”

“Yeah but it’s part of the image.”

“Alright, One-eyed Willie.”

“The fuck is that?” Gage asked, “You pickin on me, boss?”

Hancock:

Hancock and Sole were hanging out in Hancock’s quarters listening to the radio, taking hits of jet, and drinking whiskey.

“This is niice,” Hancock mused, taking a long hit of jet, “Sometimes ya need a break from running the city, yanno?”

Sole nodded.

Suddenly, the song changed and Hancock grunted. “I hate this one. It kills the vibe in here.”

As he got up to change the station, drink in hand, a random Goodneighbor resident barreled into the room, nearly knocking the mayor over.

“Woah, friend, I’ve got a beverage here.” It was then the ghoul noticed he had spilled his drink all over himself and the rug. “Ah, come on, brother. That was a new rug.”

“Easy there, Lebowski,” Sole consoled, standing up and putting a hand on their companion’s shoulder, “Whiskey shouldn’t be too difficult to clean off a rug.”

“Sorry Hancock,” the resident apologized, “But your friend here is right. I mean it is practically water.”

Cait:

Cait and Sole were crouched behind a stack of boxes, fully prepared to ambush a group of raiders who were holding an innocent settler hostage.

“Can’t wait to use this new machete ye gave me,” Cait gushed, excitedly studying the weapon, “Never have had the chance to use one of these before.”

Sole smiled.

“Ready darlin?”

“Ready.”

The pair sprung out from their hiding spot and began their onslaught. Sole took cover behind an old desk, shooting at the raiders with ease and Cait decapitated them with her machete.

“I’m just gettin warmed up, ye clowns!”

The redhead suddenly ran up a side wall and did a flip, slicing two raiders heads off at the same time. Sole lowered their weapon and watched in awe as their partner singlehandedly decimated the raiders with her melee weapon. When the last raider was taken out, Cait took a little bow.

“Damn, Uma Thurman! Leave some for me next time,�� Sole joked.

“Couldn’t help it. This machete is way too much fun.”

Deacon:

Deacon and Sole were hiding in an air vent, preparing to take out some synths as asked by Drummer Boy, when Deacon started fumbling around.

“What are you doing?” Sole whispered harshly, annoyed by their partner’s commotion.

“I’m due for an image change,” Deacon answered matter-of-factly, taking his shirt off, “I’ve been in my Elvis Presley Wannabe disguise for two hours now.”

Sole clenched their teeth in frustration.

“What do you think I should go for? The intelligent Bald Doc or intimidating Street Punk?”

“How about the bumbling Austin Powers?”

Deacon chuckled, “Yeah bAbY! I’m flattered you would even suggest that. Such a cool character.”

Sole rolled their eyes as Deacon began to dress as the iconic British spy.

Curie:

Curie and Sole were walking along the coast of Salem when the synth suddenly stopped. Sole turned around, concerned.

“You okay, Curie?”

The synth looked at Sole and smiled. “Oui. I was just thinking...thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to exist in human form.”

“No problem! I’m just glad you’re happy.”

Curie nodded, “It’s not like I wasn’t happy being in my old body it’s just...I can do so much more now in this new body. Do field work, collaborate, share my findings and be taken seriously. That and...this body is very flattering. Much more attractive than metal and bolts.”

Sole laughed, “Hey, I thought your EVE form was adorable.”

“Eve? Who is that?”

“She was a character— a robot— from a pre-war movie called WALL-E.”

“I see...well, that is very interesting, [Madame/Monsieur]!”

Longfellow:

“Damn snow. I hate the North. Move me to the tropics,” Longfellow complained as he and Sole walked through a light snow flurry.

“It’s not even that bad,” Sole reassured, “Besides, what would Christmas be without snow?”

“I don’t care about Christmas. Got no family to celebrate it with anyway.”

“Oh come on, Scrooge,” Sole teased, “We can celebrate Christmas together if you want.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I am old Ebenezer. Bah humbug,” Longfellow grumpily muttered, taking a shot of whiskey.

X6-88:

X6 and Sole were on a mission tag a synth with a tracking beacon when Sole suddenly stopped.

“Is something wrong, [sir/ma’am]?” the synth asked, concerned.

“No it’s just...what would you look like without your glasses? I’ve never seen you take them off. Do you even have eyes under there?”

X6 nodded, “Of course I have eyes. The glasses make me look slick. More professional, if you will.”

“You look like Morpheus from The Matrix.”

“And he was an influential individual, was he not?”

Sole remained silent.

“Case in point, [sir/ma’am].”

Preston:

Sole had just returned to Sanctuary after a lengthy fight with some gunners with Preston beckoned to them.

“Another settlement needs our help,” he began, “The settlers at Nordhagen beach are complaining about a wobbly chair and—“

Sole raised their hand in the air, “Do it yourself, Fix-it-Felix,” they mumbled before retreating to their room for a nap.

Codsworth:

Sole and Codsworth were in their old house, assembling furniture and reminiscing about the past.

“This was such a happy home before the bombs dropped. I wish we could go back to it, [sir/mum].”

Sole nodded in agreement as they discovered old photographs in cracked frames. Codsworth hovered over to examine Sole’s finding.

“Ah! That photograph! That was the first day you adopted me,” the robot gushed, “I’m so glad you chose the name Codsworth and not any of the absurd names the [hubby/wife] was suggesting.”

Sole laughed, “But Codsworth was their idea! I was going to name you BB-8.”

“Seriously? Why? Just because I’m round and I’m a robot?”

“Exactly!”

Codsworth huffed in annoyance and floated away from an amused Sole.

[parkersvibes]

finding out peter is spiderman

read part one here

a/n: omg guys. i got so much feedback from you all on part one so i decided to make a part 2. and yeahh i really hope you guys enjoy. if you do lmk and i’ll do a part 3 (:

(i also apologize if the read more doesnt work )))): )

warnings: fluff, a smidge on angst

pt 2. peter parker x stark!reader

• figuring out he was spiderman

• alright you’re a stark

• but no one knows that

• but you’re really intuitive

• so there were little things you started to notice

• after uncle ben died there was some weird shit (if you want a part ab comforting peter ab uncle ben lemme know. he deserves his own part)

• like how he stopped wearing his adorable glasses

•and i guess started almost bulking up????

• he got WAY taller

• and usually you’re used to seeing him shirtless but this one time you walked in on him

• holy mother of god

• IT WAS LIKE HE GREW ABS OVER NIGHT

• BECAUSE FRESHMAN PETE DID NOT HAVE A 6 PACK

• freshman peter also got winded walking up the stairs

• AND NOW HE’S RUNNING LAPS IN GYM LIKE ITS NOTHING ??

• must be nice

• but then things got more sus

• all of a sudden he was skipping class more

• leaving early

• cancelling study sessions and skipping movie nights with ned

• and you and ned were clueless

• you and ned started hanging out more

• MR. LEEDS IS HILARIOUS LEMME TELL YOU

• he was like this little ball of happiness

• you found out his real name is Edward

• HOW CUTE

• and WOW HIS MOM BEING FILIPINA MEANT THAT YOU WERE BEING FED ALL THE TIME OH MY GOD

• ngl pete got a bit jealous

• one night,,, when pete cancelled YET AGAIN

• ned asked you, “hey y/n?”

• “hm”

• “why don’t we ever hang out at your place”

• “i told you ned, my family is just a lot yanno. plus your family and may are really cool”

• “okay but how come you don’t have any social media under your name?”

• “wdym?”

• “like you go by ‘y/n Smith’ but everything that pops up on the internet isn’t YOU”

• “pfff i told you,,, i dont believe in that stuff”

• “y/n, you know you can tell me anything”

• you wanted to be honest. this was one of your best friends. and you’ve been lying to them about your family for over a year now

• “ned i just. it’s complicated”

• “like peter’s family?”

• “nonono, i’m lucky to have both of my parents- well i have a step mom. my real mom wanted nothing to do with me. so she left me on the steps of my dads house. never came back”

• “oh shit bro, i’m sorry”

• “nah don’t worry. my dad is really cool and my step mom... she’s awesome.”

• “what’re their names”

• NATASHA WAS GONNA KILL YOU IF SHE COULD SEE HOW BAD YOU WERE STRUGGLING

• “well- uh- my step moms name is,,, um. well her real name is Virginia”

• THE WORLD KNEW PEPPER AS PEPPER NOT VIRGINIA

• “and my- my dads name is ehm... st, steve???”

• natasha was gonna have your ass

• “y/n,,,”

• “yeah”

• “you’re a horrible liar”

• “PFFF WHAAAT? NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT”

• “dude you left your spiderman fan tumblr open on my laptop that one night,,, and i MAY have done some snooping”

• okay you mightve had a slight obsession with the webslinger. HE WAS COOL. and what better way to keep track of him without alerting your family,,, good ol tumblr

• oh god ned, HOW MUCH SNOOPING”

• “enough to know that you have a weird obsession with that spider guy and that your last name isnt smith”

• so you told him the truth. you were a stark

• and well,,, he reacted with

• “okay cmon,,, don’t lie”

• so you showed him your late night dance parties with Nat when she was feeling goofy

• and your random snaps of steve when he was trying to figure out how to work technology

• videos of you reacting to vines with bucky

(if yall wanna see domestic life with the avengers just lmk)

• which usually results with THE WINTER SOLDIER ALMOST PEEING HIS PANTS. and trying to reenact it with sam or the other avengers

• “heyheyehy y/n guess what?”

• “what bucky?” *is in the middle of doing hw*

• “FRESHOVACADO” *bolts out of the room before you throw something at him*

• only the two of you getting vine and meme references

• (meaning getting in trouble during meetings bc you’ll make eye contact and start laughing)

• OH HIS FAVORITE IS THE “country boiiii, i love you,,, 😛”

• anywaayyy

• ned was SHOOK

• “nowayohmygodyoureanavenger”

• “no ned,,, only when they need me to be”

• *led to him asking 100000 questions*

• “does Mr. America smell like old man”

• “what language does Ms. Widow think in”

• “how many shirts does Mr. Hulk own”

• “so do they wear normal clothes or are they always PREPARED”

• “does your dad have to walk a weird way when hes in his suit”

• “do they ever chafe in their suits”

• “yes ned. we’re stocked up on baby powder”

• which you didnt mind bc it felt nice telling the truth

• ned WANTED TO TELL PETER SO BAD

• “ned no, i don’t want him to think of me differently”

• he understood. but still defended peter and said that hed still treat you the same

• anyway,,, peter started showing up with bruises and stuff which had you v concerned

• “pete what’s up? you’ve been avoiding ned and i and you have skipped out on every movie night since sophomore year started”

• “t’s nothing. dont worry ab it”

• “peter cmon, it’s just me”

• you figured maybe it had to do with ben??? but you gave him his space. you just wanted to be there for him yanno. you didnt want him to shut you out

• “Y/N I SAID ITS NOTHING. FOR FUCKS SAKE CAN YOU LEAVE ME ALONE???” he snapped (and not in the good way)

• and this was on your way to class so the whole hallway heard

• ouch

• so you left him alone. probably more than he meant. but it hurt

• i mean he was your first friend here, and now he yelled at you to leave you alone

• ned felt awful at first. trying to comfort you and tell you it wasnt your fault

• but then he started acting weird. whenever you brought up peter hed be super antsy about it

• you- “i think he got into another fight or something”

• ned- “pFFT PETER? FIGHTING? no way,,, i got-i gotta go”

• so you figured that whatever peter was hiding, ned knew about,, which also hurt your feelings

• so you closed off

• and wow could the super family tell something was wrong

• wanda- “little stark, i can feel your sadness all the way to my room”

• sam/bucky/rhodes- “okay what’s the deal, we’ve played 5 rounds of fortnite and you havent once rage quit even though you’re doing terrible”

• tony- “kid, what’s wrong? everyone here can tell you’re not feeling great”

• nat- “cmon. ive given you 3 opportunities to kick my ass and you havent once complained about me going easy?”

• thor- “lady y/n what is causing you distress? not once have you smiled, i even wore my hair in pigtails,,, and that seems to always do the trick”

• and you gave the same response every time “‘m just tired” “lots of homework”

• they noticed you werent going out on weekends anymore

• so tony figured that your friend group and you were having some Stuff

• pep gave him an idea of meeting his new prodigy

• now tony knew it’d be kinda sus because peter went to midtown but he figured that if the kid kept his mask on it’d be fine

• “dad i don’t wanna see another one of your weird maid robots”

• “wha- no i want you to meet someone”

• “dad college isn’t for another 2 years. if it’s your friend from MIT-“

• then right before your eyes was the insect boy that youve been admiring through the internet

• needless to say

• your jaw dripped

• “y/n meet spiderling, spiderling meet my daughter y/n stark”

• *seconds pass*

• “i uh- oH- um- sp-spidERman, h-hi. biG fan of you- your work”

• *silence*

• you- “oH dad diD you hear th-that? moM is calling mE”

• tony- “what?? pep wouldve called on the interco-“

• spiderman- “y/n”

• you- SHOOK TO THE CORE BECAUSE YOU KNEW THAT VOICE. THAT WAS THE VOICE THAT SOUNDED LIKE HONEY BUT COULD CUT YOU DEEPER THAN ANY WEAPON IN YOUR HOUSE

• you- “p-peter???”

• tony- *shocked pikachu face* “you know each other???”

• you- “so-something like that yeah”

• peter takes off his mask

• “ohmygodpeterisspiderman”

• “ohmygodyourlastnameisntsmith”

• tony- “im gonna let you guys figure this out” *walks backward slowly*

*insert silence*

• you- “so this is what you were hiding, huh?” with a cold tone

• “IM HIDING? YOU LIED ABOUT YOUR WHOLE HOME LIFE TO NED AND I”

• *yelling at each other for another minute. even though you couldnt hear what the other is saying*

• you- *yelling loudest “I DIDNT WANT YOU TO SEE ME DIFFERENTLY OKAY”

• peter- “you really thought id do that?” (heartbreaking voice)

• you- “i- once i got to know you, i knew you wouldnt but i was scared. i didn’t know how to tell you. for once in my life i had found someone my age who liked ME for ME. not for my name or money or my dad. and i didn’t want to change that. i’m sorry i didn’t tell you sooner”

• peter- “... i get what you mean. after ben died everyone gave me that look. except you and ned.”

• you- “why didn’t you tell me”

• peter- “everyone i love or ever cared about dies. my parents and then my uncle ben. so once i got my abilities i knew that the risk was even higher and i didn’t want to put you in that position. i wanted to keep you safe. but it seems like you know how to handle yourself” (referring to the fact that you grew up with THE EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROS)

• y/n- “so how come ned found out?”

• peter *scratches back of neck* “well- he- i- May let him in my room and i happen to be crawling on the ceiling in my suit and he dropped the death star” *head hangs in shame*

• you had to giggle at that i mean CMON

• you stepped closer to him

• “pete you’re my best friend. you can tell me anything okay?”

• “no more secrets?”

• “no more secrets”

• and you both pinky promise and your thumbs “kiss” bc IF THEY ITS THE ULTIMATE UNBREAKABLE VOW DONT @ ME

• peter parker gives you the biggest hug that maKES YOUR HEART JUMP BC PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH A PERSON AS PRETTY AS HIM MAKES YOUR HEART FEEL A CERTAIN WAY

• but you wrapped your arms around his neck and enjoyed the moment

• wow he is really cozy

• * the avengers are watching from the cameras in awe*

• led to MANY questions at dinner

• and so everything went back to “normal”

• it wasn’t until you went to bed that night that you realized peter said the L word

• WHAT

• so much for no secrets

taglist: @silver-winter-wolf @emmmmszy @everythingaboutnothingsstuff @rexorangecouny @wishiwasanavenger @marjoherbo @nologinisoksothatsit @mindset-jupiter @hpnjrph @soup238

some favs/mutrals: @h-osterfield @starksparker @stuckonspidey @sunshinehollandd @keepingupwiththeparkers @hey-marlie @spyder-bites

[rosedarkfire]

So since I am unable to draw really. Seriously cannot draw hands to save my life enjoy my little snippet. Thank you @themsource and @rubydracogirl-blog for making me do this. 😋

Luna has heard about the whole soulmate mark going on. Apparently you wrote a message on your arm and it was sent to whoever your soulmate was. Being one of those yanno hopeless romantic types she found herself on her break starring at her arm. A black sharpie in her right hand taking the back of it against the bottom of her chin.

Grillby's looked down at her from his post behind the bar. He was a good guy and a good dad to the little brunette. "Nervous?"

"What if no one gets it?" Luna wasn't sure if she was ready to consider herself being a spinster. Then again maybe owning twenty cats and calling them her babies wouldn't be so bad.

"You're too sweet not to have a soulmate, spark." Luna wrinkled her nose at that comment lifting her head up to shoot a glare at him with her mismatched edges. It only made the elemental chuckle. " Now that you are not dwelling on those negative thoughts. You are a lovely woman who the universe gifted a compassionate soul. I would have to think that it would not gift you a soulmate."

"What do you say to someone you haven't possibly met?" Luna whined throwing her head back since she forgot she was against a bar. The wood proving to not be so nice to her soft fleshy exterior.

"maybe start off with somethin' humerus." Luna looked up up there lazy skeleton that frequented the bar. Pale blue eyes lights watched her making her miss the adoration they held.

"You think a joke would be a good starter Sansy?" She asked him running her hand over the sore spot that had formed on the back of her head.

Sansy had been the name she had gifted him the day that she met him. Of course trust that be there name that stuck. The skeleton lifted his shoulders only to let them drop shortly after. "couldn' hurt kid." Kid, that made her snort. She was not a kid not by a longshot.

"Okay. Think I know what to write." She got up from her position from the bar and walked to the bathroom not wanting the skeleton to tease her about her what she was going to write.

Sans watched Luna leave a sigh exiting him at the thought of her finding someone other than him. He always teased her because he knew that he wasn't the one she was destined to be with. And in moments that sickening feeling of being right was going to come. Making him silently hate and envy the person that would get her.

Clutching his bottle of ketchup in his hand he hummed debating whether to go home or not. He liked coming here after his dance class to unwind and spend time with Luna. Should he consider another spot if Luna's soulmate decided this was a good spot to spend time with her? Nah, the little human was too cute to do that to. Besides just cause they were a soulmate didn't mean Sans could attempt to run them off. Shoving the tip of his red condiment bottle in his mouth he sucked the sweet tangy contents already plotting how to win Luna.

His arm started to itch and normally that didn't bother him. But the fact that he was getting an itch concerned him. At first he started to scratch above his jacket. That was not soothing it at all. In fact he felt like it was getting worse. "Sans? You okay?" Grillby's voice reached his ear holes.

Looking up at the elemental he took note of the concern he currently held. "just a bit itchy is all grillbz."

That startled the bar keep. "Can bones get itchy?"

"not usually." Sans proceeded to scratch deciding to remove the jacket from the equation. Sliding the hoodie delicately from his shoulders he placed it on the bar top. Hoping that it wouldn't fall off while attending to his current irritation. Maybe this was the universe telling him not to fuck with Luna's soulmate. Well suck an elf universe maybe you should have made her his soulmate!

Turning his arm he froze when he saw the cause if said itch. There in his ulna written in delicate handwriting that he knew so well was: Sorry for stalling but wasn't sure what to towel you. So I figured I just say hello.

He felt his soul stop at the sight of stalling and towel in a cursive handwriting. And at the end of the sentence was a little drawing of a crescent moon. Oh the universe was certainly screwing with him now because he knew who that drawing belonged to. He had watched her draw it so many times.

"Are you going to respond to her? Or are you just gonna sit there and state at a love stuck idiot?" Grillby's barked at him before tossing a marker at Sans' head. Sans caught it quickly unable to fight the painful grin that was going to be cemented on his face for the rest of the night.

He tried to be neat about it as he wrote on his radius. Thanking the Stars he didn't have a large gap between the two bones. that's okay how about you mustard up some courage and come out to relish in our night together. because i need to help you ketchup on how happy i an right now.

He made sure to sign his name at the end. Starring at the two messages he couldn't help but take out his phone and snap a picture. Just in case she was just as shocked as him he texted the image to her.

[juju-on-that-yeet]

There Are Worse Things I Could Do, Chapter 4/10

Summary: Yancy finds himself in a bar talking to an attractive and charismatic woman. Maybe she can help him forget about Lio, even if just for a night. Warnings: Mild sexual content Characters: Yancy, female OC

Read on AO3

Enjoy!

~

After a long day of aimlessly wandering through LA and fighting with himself on whether or not he should go home, Yancy ends up in a cheap bar.

The place is decently busy, not very clean, and most of the clientele seem rough around the edges. People are shouting over each other to be heard, punctuated by the thunk of glasses being slammed down. There’s a minor catfight going on in the corner of the room, with two women pulling each other’s hair and trying to scratch out each other’s eyes. It’s not all bad, though. There’s groups of friends genuinely having a good time, and couples standing together around the room. There’s even a pair of women, talking and obviously flirting with each other, and no one else even seems to notice. Yancy can’t help but feel a little safer.

He’s not sure what his goal here is. It’s not like he has any money, he doesn’t even have an ID (he owns a fake one, but it’s back in his room at Ego Inc.). He sits at the booth anyway; maybe if he drinks enough water he won’t get hungry until morning. The bartender gives him a funny look when he asks for only water, but he gives him a glass anyway. Yancy wonders how he comes across to others: His clothes are brand new and clean, but he knows his expression is tired, unhappy, pale cheeks and baggy eyes.

He must look pretty pathetic, because a woman sidles up next to him, sitting in the stool to his right.

“Long day?” she asks with a sympathetic grin. Yancy can’t help but snort.

“You have no idea.” He chuckles quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Long week, more like.”

“Rough. I hope you don’t mind company.”

“Nah, I could use some. You are…?”

“Danielle.” She smiles, genuine and bright. “You can call me Dani if you want.”

“Cool, I’m…”

It occurs to Yancy that most of the egos with strange names have some sort of alias they use to avoid suspicion. It also occurs to Yancy that Dark has a rule about the egos getting too close to humans. But it also occurs to Yancy that he’s not in Ego Inc. right now, and he’s not even sure if he’s going back, and in that case, why should he care about those rules, anyway?

“Yancy,” he finally says. “Yan or Yance is good too, though.”

“Yancy.” Danielle says it slowly, not mocking, but curious. “I’ve never heard that name before. Where are you from?”

“Uh, Ohio.”

“Ah.”

The conversation seems pretty dead in the water, but then Yancy realizes something.

“Hey, weren’t youse talkin’ to that other gal over there earlier?”

It’d be hard to mistake her; Danielle is Yancy’s height, with long, thick black hair tied back in a poofy ponytail. She’s wearing a white, knot front blouse with long, draping sleeves under an unzipped puffy vest, and flared jeans over spiky black boots. This close, Yancy can see how her nose is slightly bent, and how her eyes are strikingly blue. Her features are strong, solid-edged, and very attractive, at least to Yancy,

“I was, but we didn’t come in together,” Danielle explains. “She’s cute, I guess, but we didn’t really click.” She sees the look on Yancy’s face, and rolls her eyes. “I know that look. You’re wondering why I’m here with you when I was just with a girl, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah,” Yancy admits. He wants to explain himself, but he lets Danielle keep talking first.

“Put simply, I swing both ways,” she says, “I hope it’s not a problem that I like girls.” She sounds less worried about upsetting Yancy and more about getting bothered by him.

“No, no way, I mean, me too!” Yancy exclaims, but then realizes how that sounded when Danielle’s expression changes to unimpressed. “No, aw hell, I mean…” He rubs the back of his neck again. “I mean…I like both, too. Was just surprised to find someone else here who does, s’all.”

“Oh!” Danielle says, first shocked, then she starts laughing. “Oh, shit, I’m sorry! I’m so used to people giving me a hard time–”

“No, I get it, I must’ve sounded like a real tool–”

“I don’t know how many straight guys have said what you did–”

The two are laughing, apologizing and explaining to each other through it all. In the process, they end up leaning towards each other, closer. Danielle really is beautiful.

“This calls for a drink,” Danielle giggles, “On me.” She notices Yancy’s water. “Oh, wait, are you driving?”

“No, nothin’ like that,” Yancy says, embarrassed. “I, uh, left my wallet at home.” It’s not a lie.

“Rough! Well, they never check IDs here, anyway, so I’ll get us something.”

The beer Danielle orders them isn’t bad; it’s better than Shithole Hank’s hooch wine, that’s for sure. She even takes pity on his growling stomach and orders fries for them to share. They talk for a while, and Yancy eventually ends up telling her what he’s doing here.

“Confessed to a friend,” he says with a shrug, trying to play off the still-raw hurt. “Didn’t work out. Don’t help that we’re roomies, too, so I just…had to get away for a bit, yanno?”

“Yikes,” Danielle murmurs, “That sounds terrible. I’ve fallen for friends before. It’s always more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Youse tellin’ me.”

“I got out of a relationship a few weeks ago.” Danielle leans closer, like she’s trying not to be too obvious. “It was pretty mutual, though. I’m ready for something new.”

That much was already apparent. The more Yancy and Danielle talk, the more overt Danielle gets. She gets so close they nearly bump heads, and even puts a hand on Yancy’s thigh once or twice, removing it the second after he notices but before he can say anything. Not that Yancy would. Danielle clearly wants a one-night stand, and maybe it’d be good for Yancy, too. Maybe this is what he needs to scrub Lio out of his brain and actually enjoy himself. Maybe if he finds out how Danielle tastes he’ll stop thinking about how Lio might taste. Maybe if he sleeps with her he’ll stop dreaming about sleeping with Lio. Not to mention he’ll have somewhere warm and comfortable to stay for the night if he goes home with her. It feels dishonest, but realistically, Danielle already knows his baggage. Yancy’s told her how he’s getting away from his roommate and ill-fated crush, she has to be aware of what he’s looking for…right? And Danielle really is a beautiful woman; anyone would be lucky to be with her. She’s fun, too; witty and kind and tough. She’s exactly the type of person he’d fall head over heels for if he wasn’t already tripping over Lio.

They end up leaving the bar a little bit tipsy, enough to give them both red cheeks and constant giggles. Danielle leads the way to her apartment, and Yancy is almost too drunk to feel guilty about imposing. When they walk in, though, he’s distracted from his thoughts by what he sees.

“Ohhhh, hello!” he coos at the beautiful brindle-coated pit bull that rushes into the room to greet them.

“That’s Bruce,” Danielle explains with a grin, gently fending the dog off as she takes off her puffy vest. “But I call him “Brucie” and “BruBru” so often I don’t think he knows his real name anymore.”

“He’s a real handsome dog,” Yancy says appreciatively, giving Bruce a hand to sniff after he’s taken his gloves off. “I ain’t allowed to have pets where I’m at.” He laughs as Bruce starts vigorously licking his hand.

“Yeah, I really lucked out here,” Danielle says, “So many buildings have a stick up their ass about bully breeds. But this place is good, I swear the landlord like Bruce more than me.”

“Well, he is a charmer,” replies Yancy, now sitting on the floor and letting Bruce bowl him over with affection. Danielle laughs at the sight.

“Alright, alright, come on,” she giggles, “You passed the Bruce test with flying colors, let’s go to my room.”

Yancy’s chest flutters (With nerves? Excitement? Something else?) as he gets off the floor and gives Danielle a quizzical look.

“Sure, but…what’s the Bruce test?” he asks.

“Well, Brucie’s a sweet dog, but he’s got a sixth sense for terrible partners,” Danielle explains. “He can be downright mean if he senses something off about someone. I’ve dodged a few red flags thanks to him, but it seems like you aren’t one of them.”

“Oh great, it’s not enough that you’re using Danielle to sleep somewhere warm tonight. You’ve duped her sweet dog into trusting you, too.”

Yancy tries to ignore his thoughts as he follows Danielle to her room. Bruce follows too, and Danielle has to muscle him out of the doorway to close the bedroom door. It’s clear she’s done this many, many times.

“You’re still in, right?” Danielle asks, unknotting the front of her blouse.

“Yeah,” Yancy says, though he makes no move to take his own clothes off yet.

It’s only partly from his lingering thoughts of dishonesty. It doesn’t matter how many times he sees someone disrobe, it’s still attractive to him. He can certainly appreciate the tightness of Danielle’s stomach, visible as she lifts her shirt over her head. He finds himself sitting on the end of her bed to watch the display. Danielle’s bra is simple, nearly the same color as her skin, but what really attracts Yancy’s attention is the tattoo on her elbow, now visible without the sleeve of her blouse over it.

It’s a spiderweb, branching from the point of her elbow out, as though a spider made a home there. It doesn’t go very far up or down her arm, but it’s there, unmistakable. It could just be a spiderweb tattoo and nothing more, but Yancy’s seen tattoos like that before. Plenty of inmates at Happy Trails had them, too. In prison, they signal that someone’s been locked up for a while, that they’ve been trapped like a bug in a web, so idle with prison life that they’ve grown cobwebs. Yancy almost got one himself but decided he didn’t want anymore ink on top of what he already has.

“Nice tattoo,” he ventures. Danielle, who was shimmying out of her jeans, pauses.

“Thanks,” she says. Something in Yancy’s voice must have given him away, because she stares at him, considering. “You…know what it means?”

“Yeah,” Yancy answers, “I, uh…I almost got one, too, back when I was in the big house.”

Danielle relaxes, a bit like how she did when she realized that Yancy is bi, too.

“No kidding?” she asks, laughing a little. “I really wasn’t there that long, not compared to others, anyway. It was eight years; would’ve been less, but I kept causing havoc in jail that added time.” She must see the curiosity on Yancy’s face, because her smile turns less playful, her eyes get faraway. “Drug possession; heroin, to be specific. Just a few too many grams to get a light sentence. I couldn’t stay away from it, even in jail. Eventually I forced myself to drop it so I could have a life again.” She resumes taking her pants off. “What about you?”

Yancy freezes then. He looks away.

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me!” Danielle backtracks hurriedly, kicking her pants off from around her ankles. “I forget that not everyone’s as candid about that kinda thing as I am, sorry I asked.”

“S’alright,” Yancy mumbles.

“Would she still want you here if she knew what you’d done?”

Yancy looks back to see Danielle in her underwear, lacey and dark blue. His breath stutters, and his thoughts suddenly short-circuit. Danielle has really nice legs.

“Thanks,” Danielle giggles.

“Ah, shoot, I said that out loud, huh?” Yancy asks, sheepish, as Danielle approaches him.

“You did,” she affirms. She looks him up and down. “Are you gonna maybe…” She gestures to his still-clothed body. “Do something about all that?”

“Hey, we don’t gotta rush, doll,” Yancy answers, leaning back. “’Sides, I’m cozy. Maybe if I got too hot, I might take somethin’ off.”

His accessories and hoodie are sitting back by the door on Danielle’s coatrack, and his sneakers are beside it. But his shirt and jeans are still on, just tight enough to bolster the imagination without revealing very much. Danielle grins at his words.

“Alright, we can play that game,” she says, leaning down and sitting on Yancy’s lap.

Even with the worries of deceiving Danielle still in Yancy’s mind, it’s not hard to push them to the backburner once Danielle’s lips meet his. She doesn’t taste like anything he can name, but she’s an excellent kisser, slow, deep. Her nails find the nape of Yancy’s neck, sending shivers down his spine as she plays with the tufts of hair he missed when he gelled it this morning.

“No, yesterday morning. You haven’t gelled it since then, remember? You haven’t been at Ego Inc. to do it.”

Yancy tries to chase the thought away by reciprocating Danielle’s touches, gripping her waist with one hand and letting the other wander over her thigh. Danielle hums appreciatively, the sound vibrating through Yancy as their lips stay connected. He eventually pulls away to mouth at her neck, sucking marks into the flesh. His grip on her hip changes to let his fingers dip below the band of her underwear, dangerously close.

“Slow down, tiger,” Danielle chuckles, breathy and light, “I wanna play, too.”

Yancy finally pulls away from her to take his shirt off, doing it maybe a little more slowly than he needs to, giving Danielle a nice view. The moment Yancy’s shirt hits the floor, Danielle’s hands are all over him. Yancy can’t get enough of her, either. She even smells good, something vaguely spicy on the edge of Yancy’s senses. Her skin is soft but tough, it takes effort to mark her up. On top of everything else, she’s a great kisser, undoing Yancy from his jaws to his chest. Did he notice her good kissing already? Probably. It’s hard to think like this. It’s been a while since he got to sleep with someone. At some point he gets her bra off, giving him even more skin to play with. Danielle arches into it, happy to let him.

Eventually, Danielle’s hands finally travel down to Yancy’s straining jeans, palming him, letting out an appreciative hum. Yancy grins against her skin.

“Do you want me yet?” she asks, low and sultry.

The words fling Yancy somewhere else completely, to a familiar memory.

“Are you in love with me yet?”

Yancy pushes Danielle off and stands, surprising her.

“What the–” she starts, “Did I do something? I thought–”

“Sorry,” Yancy mutters, hardly able to breathe, “I thought I could do this, but I can’t. I can’t. I’m sorry.”

He grabs his shirt off the floor and hurriedly tugs it over his head, but all he can see is Lio. Lio’s easy grin, Lio’s handsome eyes, Lio’s sharp jawline and rough stubble that Yancy wishes he could touch–

“Wait, come on, what’s this about?” Danielle asks, voice getting sharper, frustrated.

“It ain’t you, Dani, I swear, I just–” Yancy runs a hand down his face, upset. “I ain’t over it. I ain’t over him. I thought I wanted to be with you, I thought it’d take my mind off, but I just…I just want him so bad. I can’t do this.”

A tense silence settles over the room. Danielle sighs and savagely grabs her bra off the floor.

“I knew it,” she mutters as she puts her bra back on, “I knew you weren’t gonna go through with this, I knew you weren’t over that guy and trying to use me for comfort, but I brought you home anyway.” She shakes her head. “Look, you’re not a bad guy, Yancy, but you better leave until you can be honest with yourself, much less others.”

The words strike right through Yancy’s heart, and he gasps.

“Wait, hold on, are you–” His voice almost cracks. “Are youse kickin’ me out?”

“I invited you here for a reason, and it wasn’t for a friendly sleepover,” Danielle answers, deadpan. “Just go home and deal with your shit, don’t make me your cure-all.”

“Aw, come on, doll, I just – I gotta – C’mon, don’t put me out–”

“Go home, Yancy.”

“I can’t!”

“You can, and you will, because you’re not staying here.” She sighs again, less frustrated, more sad. “I know from experience that enabling helps no one. So I won’t enable you, not tonight.”

“I…” Yancy hangs his head. “Okay.”

“Let yourself out, I’ll relock the door after.” She turns away from him to pull her shirt back on. “Come back to that bar when you’ve sorted yourself out, maybe we can see each other again.”

“When the hell is THAT gonna be?”

“Who knows?”

Yancy leaves Danielle’s room in a daze, passing Bruce, who looks up at him from the bone he’s been chewing.

“You shoulda warned her, buddy,” Yancy grumbles as he puts his hoodie on, followed by his hat, scarf, and gloves. When he bends to get his shoes on, Bruce trots over and tries to lick him, but Yancy gently pushes him back until the bog goes back to his bone, oblivious to Yancy’s mood.

Yancy walks out of Danielle’s apartment, not looking back once he closes the door and ventures into the cold night. He turns her words over and over in his mind, thinking, wondering.

He finds and sleeps on a bus stop bench for the rest of the night.