#that would mean not going to the beach ( i may not swim but my family does and they like having me around for some reason)

[odietamox]

I'm scared I'm going further and further in the direction of being too anxious to go anywhere (as in leave the house to go to any other isolated place. like just the act of not sleeping in my own bed) (especially without my mom, because as pathetic as it sounds she's the person I trust the most in my immediate family) and if that happens just kill me. put me out of my misery. I can't have another thing that I can't do I have enough as it is

[hopelesswritergall]

Better than revenge (Part 1/?)

Summary: Aemond isn't aware of your feelings for him and brings his girlfriend to the family's vacation. Careful thought out plans, fucking a brother and a mean girlfriend leads to some interesting situations

A/N: I've decided to split it, to give myself more motivation and to post more :)) I have really, really really worked hard on this and would love to hear your guys's thoughts!

Likes, Reblogs and Comments aren't required but are much appreciated!!

Taglist (Send me an ask or comment to be added For this series or in general) @daenerysapologist @simp-aholic @howyouloveyourdragon

TW: Aemond being clueless(?), Alys being bit creepy, fingering, cheating (not on reader)

Aemond Targaryen x reader, Aemond Targaryen x Alys, (Slight) Aegon Targaryen x reader

The story starts when it was hot and it was summer

You never would’ve thought your summer would be this good. Six whole weeks of pure enjoyment, swimming, tanning, drinking and summer love. Your friend Helaena invited you to her family’s luxurious villa. You were practically packing your bags the moment  she mentioned there would be a private beach and sea, already imagining all the adventures that would take place on the beach. But when she mentioned that  you guys would be joined by her brothers…. That caused you to almost sprint out the door, buy a whole new wardrobe and get your nails done. It was the set up for a perfect vacation. Alcohol, beach, guys, and Helaena. 

And, I had it all I had him right there where I wanted him

Helaena did not exaggerate. The villa was more luxurious than the grandest hotels you’ve ever seen. It radiated rich energy. As you approached the villa, you could feel that this was going to be the best summer ever. You were in awe of even the smallest things, and Helaena found it quite amusing to see her best friend gawk at the stuff she found normal. Like the way they had the most beautiful view ever, the way the beds made you feel like you were in heaven and that the shower was a whole experience on its own. 

It was no secret to Helaena, at least, that you had a massive crush on her youngest brother Aemond. He was perfect in your eyes. He was tall, handsome, studying at university and he basically looked like he came right  out of an action movie as the bad guy. He was the perfect guy. Well in your eyes. So, you thought this little vacation would be the perfect opportunity  to make a move on him. You’d practically set it up, hinting at a possible crush on the man in front of him. But while he may be handsome and book smart…. He wasn’t the best at picking up the hints. You thought it was pretty clear what your feelings were. Because to any normal person, they would’ve picked up the hints. But we’re talking about Aemond here… and he did not.

She came along, got him alone and let’s hear the applause 

You were excited to finally see Aemond, and maybe for something to happen. But when he arrived at the mansion, he wasn’t alone. He was accompanied by a slightly older woman, and you never wanted to kill someone this much before. The way his hand was on her waist. The way he expressed his love for her when Helaena inquired about her. 

“Oh this? This is Alys, she’s my girlfriend.” 

That word, Girlfriend, made you want to punt Alys into the sun. The room went silent as he said it. Nobody knew, nobody expected it. If at all they expected Aegon to bring someone along. Helaena was the first to speak up “Great..for you? Idk man we just weren’t expecting this, or her.” She said slightly nodding to Alys, who was noticeably older than Aemond. You felt like you needed to know more so you asked a question for yourself. 

“How’d you guys meet? Aemond isn’t exactly known to go out and socialize..” 

She took him faster than you can say sabotage

“Oh, we met at the library, I was reviewing some essays and he was studying. I couldn’t help but see him and make a move on him. He just looked so cute, studying and being all focused like that.” Alys says as she rubs his upper arm. It made you want to remove your eyeballs from their sockets. 

I never saw it coming, wouldn’t have suspected it

“That's...great. I-I’m..i'm happy that he finally found someone, it was starting to get a little sad for Aemond…” you choked out, not meaning a word of it. Your eyes met Helaena’s, her eyes telling that she was clueless that this was happening. 

I underestimated just who I was dealing with

Alys didn’t look like someone Aemond would date, but also at the same time she looked exactly like someone he would date. It was weird, you’ve never felt so jealous in your life. Not even in kindergarten when someone else got selected to erase the board. This tops it all. 

She must’ve known the pain was beating on me like a drum

The look in her eyes… They told a different story. They told the story of a woman who was well aware that what she was doing was hurting you. To make it even worse she grabbed his face on both sides and kissed him, making sure to have him positioned like that so you could only see her face and the enjoyment on her face as she torments you. You tried to be strong and kept a neutral face.

She underestimated just who she was stealing from

“Let’s go and have some drinks.” Came your voice, breaking the silence as the ‘lovers’ finished kissing. Alys lifted her eyebrows in surprise, she hadn’t expected you to be so calmly about the whole situation. Inside you were screaming, crying and doing unspeakable stuff to Alys. But like I said, you’re strong. You grabbed a big bottle of whiskey and poured some of it into the 4 glasses present at the table. 

“Oh, Alys, we’re a glass short. We weren’t expecting anyone else to join. Do you mind grabbing another glass from the cupboard? I think it’s in the kitchen.” You said, feigning surprise that there was a glass missing. You knew damn well there was a glass missing. Just felt like pestering her a bit. 

“Oh, well I’m not so sure where it is. Could you show me? It would give my dear some time to talk with his siblings.” Alys said and it made your blood boil, she knew the game and she was a master at it. 

“Actually I’m not familiar with the place, I think it’s best if you take Aemond.”

“Well then it will be fun for both of us won’t it? Exploring the place, becoming besties.” You could feel the need to throw up getting increasingly stronger with each sentence she got out of her mouth.

Holding back words you accepted, as to not make it suspicious. 

“Fine… I’ll join you.” 

Everything about the woman made you want to drown yourself in the ocean, but the way he looked at her made you want to go through the fires of hell and challenge the devil to a boxing game. His look was full of love, love that wasn’t aimed at you. You followed her to the kitchen, trying to act like the perfect person.

“It was kind of inevitable, wasn't it?” Alys said as she grabbed the glass from the cupboard, twirling it a bit around in her hands

“What was?” You asked her, genuinely confused as to what she was aiming at.

“Aemond getting someone like me. I mean come on, you didn’t make a move, so I did. Can you blame me?”

This fucking bitch.

She’s not a saint and she’s not what you think,

How she talked to you at that moment. If only Aemond knew. She wasn’t the perfect little saint she pretended to be. She was just another common whore. Probably interested in the money he’d get if his father were to pass away. And the way she looks at Aegon, the same gaze in her eyes as the one she gave Aemond. 

 She’s an actress, whoa 

She doesn’t actually love him, you know of it. You caught her on a particular evening in hers and Aemonds bedroom. You were just walking by when you noticed the door was open, so you took a peek inside. There was Alys, laying on her stomach, wearing only her lingerie, taking photos. You knew they weren’t for Aemond because after she was done taking the pictures you heard her take a phone call. “I’ve taken some pictures for you Derek. You’ll be getting them soon, I hope you’ll like them cutie.” 

 You just needed to either show to Aemond that she is lying, or make him realize she isn’t the one without mentioning that part. And boy, oh boy, you got a plan. Involving none other than the player himself, Aegon. 

He was a moth to the flame

He seemed so impressed by her. Like she was everything he ever wanted. But still you couldn’t accept it. Somehow he still glanced over at you.. in a way that isn’t platonic. You could see the longing in his gaze when he looked at you. Like he wasn’t entirely happy in his relationship, which wasn’t surprising. 

She was holding the matches, whoa

Alys seemed a little too smug that vacation. It started, of course, when she walked in by his side, but the rest of the days she was awful. Not just to Aemond, but to basically everyone. Making everything about her, making everyone work for her, it was excruciating to watch and endure.

 “Oh, I’m sorry Helaena, I know you just went to the store to get the groceries for dinner. But I forgot to mention I don’t eat meat, you see I’m a vegetarian. Can you maybe work around that?” Alys asked ‘sweetly’

“Well… we’re making hamburgers on the barbecue today.. I can’t really work around that unless you want to eat only bread?” Helaena said to her truthfully 

“Oh well. That’s not very inclusive isn’t it? A shame, I thought you guys knew better.” She said before walking away.

The other incident was when you, Aegon and Helaena wanted to go to a club in the city and were asking them to join.

“Yo Aemond, Alys. We’re going to the club, you guys wanna join?” Aegon asked while leaning on the door frame.

“That’s sounds good-“ Aemond was quickly cut off by Alys

“But honey, you said we would walk down the beach together.”

“We can do that another time… I’d like to go to the club.”

“Well I guess you don’t love me then?!” She started to guilt trip him, it probably wasn’t the first time as it seemed a natural reaction. Whenever Aemond would say no, she’d start the guilt tripping.

You guys went with just the three of you to the club, leaving Alys and Aemond alone.

She had no issue flaunting her body during her stay at the mansion, after taking a shower she’d gladly only wear a towel around her or better only wear panties and his shirt. The smell of his cologne would fill the room and it was almost enough to reduce you to tears. And Aemond? He seemed under some kind of hypnosis by her, he was avoiding you like the plague, it really did make you wonder what she told him

Soon, she's gonna find stealing other people's toys

So you made an action plan, if not to get Aemond for yourself, atleast to have a little fun at your stay and not be a miserable cunt all day long. It would happen at the next beach party, where Alys would of course insist there would be lots of alcohol. Because, you reasoned, that’s the only way Aemond would think she’s pretty. Aegon knew about your feelings for Aemond, everyone did except him. So he was more than willing to help you out and get an evening of pleasure for himself. I mean who wouldn't want to, you were stunning. Aegon knew you were in love with Aemond, but still. One night together won't hurt anyone

On the playground won't get you many friends

You approached Aegon to go over the final points. You were both sitting on the terrace outside the mansion. You wanted Aemond to already feel a tad uncomfortable so your head was on Aegon's shoulder. “Okay so, let's just go over it one last time. Your room is next to Aemond's and Alys’ room. So we shall do it there.” You said while playing a bit with his hair, just because you wanted Aemond didn't mean you wouldn't enjoy the night with Aegon. You had heard the stories about his skills in the bedroom. Everyone has.

“Yeah, so after we've all relaxed on the beach and the rest goes to their respective rooms, you and I will go together to my room, already alluding to something being there. Then we have the best night ever, and then bam you leave the room after Aemond has left his and then it's all up to you.”

She should keep in mind, she should keep in mind

It was the evening you would commence your plan. It started off great, you guys played some monopoly, drank on the beach and just had a great time. Then Helaena spoke first “It was a great evening but it’s already getting late and I’m going to head for bed you guys.” You shot Aegon a look that said ‘This is the moment to go for it’.

“Yeah guys.. we’re going to head to bed as well.” He said while grabbing your hand and rubbing your knuckles lovingly. 

“Yeah we’re getting up early tomorrow to go for a walk to the village.” You said as you let yourself get led by Aegon towards the house.

It left Alys and Aemond quite confused to say the least. Aemond didn’t quite know why he didn’t feel happy. He was very confused as to why he felt jealous. He had Alys, why would he care that you and Aegon were heading to the house together. Maybe there was nothing happening between the two of you and he was just imagining things. He hoped at least.

“Well, I think we should go to bed then as well. It’s getting colder as well. Come on Alys.” Aemond motioned for Alys to join him, he wanted to see if you would go to your own room or join Aegon. The walk to the mansion was silent. Nobody said anything. There was just the sound of the sand crunching beneath all the shoes and the sound of the ocean in the background. Aegon opened the door for you and playfully bowed.

“My lady.”

You laughed at his antics before entering the mansion with him right behind you. Instead of going to the right, where your room was. You followed Aegon to the left, towards his room. Aemond’s heart dropped and he felt a tightness in his chest. Why did he feel like this? He had Alys, he shouldn’t have to mind that you and his brother were sharing a night. Sharing a room. Sharing a bed…

He quickly went to his own room when he saw the two of you enter the room. It felt like his world was crumbling down. But he had Alys.. that was what he wanted…..right? He started to doubt himself. Maybe the person he wanted had been right in front of him the whole time. Maybe he had been blind the whole time.. a small light bulb seemed to turn on in his brain. All the times you have tried to confess to him and he was just too blind to see it.

At New Year’s Eve when you wanted someone to kiss you, you had been looking at Aemond when you voiced your complaints. 

Last winter when you were cold and needed someone to hug you, it was him you were looking at. 

God he was a fool, he didn’t notice and now you’re in bed with his brother. 

He tried to forget about it, but his attempts were futile as his bed was directly next to the wall to Aegon’s room. Where you were voicing your excitement quite loudly. Moaning Aegon’s name, begging for more and making lewd noises. Aemond wished he was the one causing you this pleasure.

“Well. They’re having fun. Wouldn’t have imagined it.” Alys said

“Just shut up for once.” Aemond replied, his tone rather sharp. He was realizing his mistakes and he wanted nothing more than to rush into your room and kiss you. But he had Alys

There is nothing I do better than revenge (Revenge), ha

Aemond did not get a good night's rest. After you and Aegon were finally done fucking, he couldn’t close his eyes without picturing you. Well picturing you naked and underneath himself. It was wrong! He had a girlfriend, whom he loved… He thought at least he loved her, but now he isn’t so sure anymore. At 9 am he decided that to get through the day he needed coffee. So he went to exit his bedroom and when he opened the door his heart seemed to fall into a bottomless pit. 

In the doorway of Aegon’s room, were you. Standing in shorts and Aegon’s shirt. It was like the gods were playing a cruel game with him. Making him see you in situations he wished he was a part of. Wishing it was his shirt you were wearing right now as you were walking in front of him, also going to the kitchen. He had to restrain himself, to not go up right behind you and hold you in his arms. As you walked to the kitchen you plopped yourself on the kitchen island, completely ignoring the bar stools. 

“So you’re making coffee? Can I have some as well Aem?” He had his face to the wall where the coffee machine was, but if you could’ve seen his face as you called him Aem. It was completely red. He was blushing so hard, he had to cough to compose himself.

“Uh yeah for sure.” There was a short awkward silence before the machine pinged to let you know it was done.

“You’re up pretty early, that’s a new one.” You said teasingly 

“…..I couldn’t really sleep last night.” He said, not wanting to admit the reasons why he couldn’t sleep, but you knew. You hid your face behind your coffee cup a bit as you were biting your lip to not burst out laughing.

“Yeah….. I also slept pretty late, had a fun night.”

He couldn’t help himself anymore. As your legs were swinging while sitting on the kitchen island, he positioned himself between them, coming real close to your face. The smell of his familiar cologne and the smell of coffee hitting your nose. He gently grabbed your chin making you look up to him.

“Oh I know you had fun last night, the walls are pretty thin here. Princess.” You pretended to be absolutely embarrassed about the whole situation while you were cheering inside. It worked,

“Now don’t pretend this wasn’t your end goal. For me to feel jealous, for me to want you, wanting to show you who can make you scream louder.” Now this, this was even more than you’d ever dreamt of happening because you fucked Aegon.

His hands started to caress your thighs getting close to the place Aegon ate out last night intensively. 

Your breath seemed to hitch in your throat and you could feel your cheeks heat up. 

“Well… What if it was my goal? What would you do?”

“I think that if that was the case, hypothetically of course, I’d do something like this.” In one fluent movement he had freed you of your shorts and panties dropping them on the ground whilst still in between your thighs keeping them spread and giving him free access to what he wants. 

“Mmm look at you, all flustered. Am I having this effect on you princess? Am I making you feel stuff? Maybe….right here?” At the last part his hand was teasing your folds. Feeling the wetness already coating it.

“All for me isn’t it, pretty girl? Bet you had to refrain yourself from screaming my name last night didn’t you? You drive me crazy, you know that?” He said as he slowly entered his finger, making sure to hit your walls, driving you crazy.

“Aemond…. anyone could walk in..” You said. 

"Now, now.That didn’t seem to stop you last night now did it?”

Aemond continued teasing you before he brought you to your first climax, he pulled his fingers out of you and licked them clean. He leaned in to kiss you, letting you taste yourself on his tongue.

“There’s more where that came from Princess, all in due time, all in due time…” He then walked away, with his coffee in hand like nothing had just happened. You on the other hand were blushing like crazy, pulling your shirt down and trying to compose yourself

[bloomingforerza]

May I please request headcanons for what kind of wedding and honeymoon the Style Five would have?

notes from bloom: hi!!!! im sorry this took so long. ive been stressing out and i could give u all of my excuses and tragedies but instead i’ll reward ur patience with ur request 🫶🏻🫶🏻

also for general notes please know not all of this is 100% accurate to japan’s marital laws and traditions, i just doubt some of our boys are destination wedding type men, and this is my idea of what they would enjoy.

Haruka Nanase

🫧 You better like water.

🫧 Maybe you won’t have to like it as much as Haru does, but be prepared for Haru to argue for the two of you to be wed in a pool.

🫧 Instead, you may settle for a beach. Haru would be able to rip his tux off after the wedding and take a dip, and you’ll join him as his bride.

🫧 It’s something that’s probably not normal for most people, but for those that know Haru, they know you’re partaking for the same reason you’re marrying him.

🫧 Meeting his elusive parents almost seemed like it was something you had only dreamt. It wasn’t like they were bad or weird people, they were just never home.

🫧 The wedding reception is super awkward for Haru. After being stared at by loads of people, talking to not just his friends and family about the same things and then to your friends and family about the same things was really socially exhausting for him.

🫧 Especially when his ridiculous best friends put together a speech that was actually pretty embarrassing thanks to Nagisa

🫧 So when it’s time to leave for your honeymoon, he’s more than relieved.

🫧 The two of you planned to set out to Okinawa for your vacation. Not too far from home, but also very beautiful and a great place to swim.

🫧 After getting married and not having a moment alone with you all day, all he wanted to do was swim with his wife.

🫧 And the moment you guys were able to set your suitcases in the hotel room after checking in, you changed and raced to the ocean.

🫧 Haru loves that you can bring a slight child-like sparkle when it comes to normal things.

Makoto Tachibana

🫧 This beautiful man is READY to marry you. He was ready the day he proposed and he couldn’t believe it when the day finally came.

🫧 Mako seems like the type to have a traditional Shinto-style wedding. He’d want to have it at a shrine too

🫧 (But if Mako’s fiance is foreign, he would also want to have a wedding that was traditional to your country.)

🫧 Considering it’s a traditional Japanese wedding, you had found the most beautiful white kimono for your wedding day, and it gave you chills looking at it morning of.

🫧 Ren and Ran were 15 now, so thankfully they were allowed to attend the wedding. Makoto purposely waited until they were older so they could behave they way they needed to (and they did great he was such a proud big brother)

🫧 The gift giving ceremony was definitely the most emotional part for you both. Aside from the goshugi, both of your parents had made you both matching aprons.

🫧 He definitely would love to honeymoon with you somewhere you two can be alone. He’s tired of being bothered by everyone

🫧 Probably somewhere in the mountains, in a cabin

🫧 He seems like the wholesome kinda man that’d wanna go camping, sit by a fire and stargaze with you

🫧 He’d dote on you the entire time, just appreciating the fact that you’re his wife now

🫧 He cooks all your meals for you the entire time you’re out there. He doesn’t want you to have to lift a finger after singlehandedly planning the entire wedding.

🫧 He just loves you so much and wants you to know he’d do anything for you. Never hurt him please

Nagisa Hazuki

🫧 Nagisa would love to get married in a penguin aquarium. He isn’t super religious I would (personally) think

🫧 Which mean’s his wedding would probably be more western style. Most traditional weddings aren’t at the penguin aquarium

🫧 He loves the idea of giving you pebbles like penguins do on the days leading up to your wedding

🫧 He’s so excited. And considering he went with the western style approach, he wanted Rei to be his best man

🫧 He almost said no, but Makoto convinced him with a whole “This is so important to him Rei you don’t understand” argument

🫧 Nagisa’s older sister Nanako is just as amazing as your husband. She offered to do your hair for the wedding; and she helped make your day special.

🫧 Since his parents aren’t always the most supportive of everything or everyone, he’s so happy that they love you. His mom greets you with a “I’m going to have another daughters!” the minute she walks into the room.

🫧 He’s sooooo excited for the honeymoon! One of the best places to scuba and snorkel in the world. Koh Tao, Thailand.

🫧 Between the penguins at your wedding and your deep-sea adventure honeymoon, he’s more obsessed with you than ever.

🫧 He’ll find your cute knickknacks while out and about and just buy them; seashell necklaces, little plushies of sea animals, and even some cool pieces of sea glass he’ll occasionally find on the beach

🫧 He’d honestly love to have picnics on the beach every night of the honeymoon. He always says it’s because ‘loves the view’

🫧 He’s so grateful for you and he’s so happy that he can enjoy the things he loves with the woman he loves

Rei Ryugazaki

🫧 Rei’s the kind of man that would love a destination wedding.

🫧 He’ll work hard for it. He wants a beautiful spot for it, and in his mind the best place for him to marry you in Paris.

🫧 He’s a man of beauty, and I personally feel like he’s an art man. He’d appreciate classic and timeless art.

🫧 I think he’d love to tour Italy for your honeymoon and spent a few days in Paris together. He’d need time alone with you eventually.

🫧 But he would 100% plan sightseeing trips for you and both of your families for your wedding week.

🫧 He would love to spoil you when it comes to the wedding and honeymoon. He’d love to just dote on you and show you amazing sights just to see the look of amazement on your face.

🫧 And when it came to the honeymoon, Rei had planned wine tours in Verona, art in Rome, food focuses in Bologna, fashion exhibitions in Florence, and of course a gondola ride in Vienna.

🫧 He’d tell you how amazing it is to be able to call you his wife now.

🫧He loves you so much and wants to give you the world but he can’t, so he’ll show you everything the world can offer instead

🫧 He wants to give it all to you. He would bring down the stars and hand them to you if he could.

Rin Matsuoka

🫧 Rin obviously wants a destination wedding, no questions asked.

🫧 He’d LOVE a Hawaiian wedding. As cliche as it may sound, he loves the way they look in western movies.

🫧 He’d invite his host family from Australia as well. They played a big part in his life, he couldn’t wait for you to meet them.

🫧 Gou was your maid of honor. Ever since you’d first met Rin, just a little while after he came back from Australia, she was always asking if you were dating her big brother yet

🫧 You both want everything to be perfect. You chose millennial pink for your color theme to match some of the flowers at your wedding. The bridesmaids all had flower crowns if hibiscus, baby’s breath and plumeria.

🫧 The cake was his favorite part. He’d always dreamed of a western style wedding that he had seen in movies, but he never imagined he could live his dreams right here with you

🫧 His mom cried the whole time about how much she’s going to miss her baby boy, but also told you she was glad she was entrusting him to you. She knew she could count on you to make sure this silly athlete takes a break once in a while.

🫧 The honeymoon was set to be in Hawaii, but Rin’s the type of husband who’d love to spoil you. He’ll book a side trip for just the two of you in Bora Bora.

🫧 One of the cute little island houses and everything, with a little wine-stocked fridge. He’d love a night swim with you under the stars

🫧 You’re his real dream come true. Swim is his passion and first love, but he swears you are the key to helping him succeed at everything he does

🫧 He’s going to big spoon you all night, and give you kisses on the back of your head and shoulders before going to sleep every single night he spends with you.

🫧 My personal favorite boy please never hurt him, he would fight off an orca whale for you if it really came down to it

[soshadysoquiet]

TUA fanfic WIP: Sibling Beach Trip

I've recently devoured @assaily 's WIP posts and you know what, why hoard all of my WIPs when I may never finish them and people might enjoy them?

Having said that this isn't a snippet so much as it's a 2 thirds done fic that I've lost inspiration for the ending for so grab yourself a drink and enjoy!

Working Title: Beach No Beach. Love a working title

Length: 6k. Self control? Who is she?

Premise: Post apocalypse a family beach trip is proposed. Five has his reservations and is finding real life hard to adjust to, but he'll go if that's the Sibling Movement of the week. This is basically a slice of life fic that I'm pretty sure was going to build to Diego needing to save Five from drowning at the beach, because of course it was, but I think the rest of this has enough low-level angst and family moments to be entertaining on it's own.

Warnings: This fic discusses body dysmorphia in small detail and has underage drinking from Five.

It was embarrassing. More than embarrassing, really.

Shameful.

But Five couldn’t swim.

They’d had what constituted as ‘lessons’ when they were kids, apparently. Five had very limited memories of life before the Apocalypse, and often they seemed more surreal than anything.

‘We did?’ He asked blankly, barely looking over his morning cup of coffee to Viktor and Klaus.

‘All the time bro!’ Klaus replied breathily, laughing, eyes just a little wide in the thrill of memory, or possibly at Five not remembering something. ‘You don’t remember the pool? I’m pretty sure Dad blocked off the door after we started sneaking down there to play.’

‘I remember.’ Viktor nodded along, smile curling his lips so that his face lit up. ‘That’s how we found about Diego-‘

‘And his creepy fish power!’ Klaus looked ready to implode with hysteria and even Viktor bent to the table with a snort before looking between them.

‘You really don’t remember that?’

‘Diego isn’t a fish…’ He spoke slowly. He was talking to children after all. Or maybe he was hallucinating again. It happened. Hiding his grimace, Five took a sip.

‘Yeah! Yeah he can really hold his breath, come on you have to remember that, we teased him for weeks!’

‘Yeah that was kinda mean of us.’ Viktor grimaced a little into his own coffee. Probably for no reason, Viktor at that age wouldn’t have said Boo to a goose.

Hold his breath? It almost was a memory. Someone laughing, Diego pouting, then throwing a fit.

‘I think I’d remember us finding out about that.’

‘Maybe you blocked it out, it was pretty horrible at the time.’ The tone shifted after Viktor’s words.

‘Why doesn’t that surprise me.’

‘What doesn’t surprise you?’ Diego.

‘Speak of the devil!’ Klaus chorused, Five flinched a little at Diego’s hand falling briefly onto his shoulder as he passed. But it was barely noticeable now, he’d almost got a hang on it. ‘We were reminiscing about the time Dear old Dad decided to test out our underwater endurance.’

‘You mean when he held us all under the water until you all near passed out and I beat all your asses.’

‘Definitely would have remembered that one.’ Five murmured, covering up the chill skipping over his flesh.

‘Technically you didn’t beat my ass, since I wasn’t included in How to Drown Your Kids 101.’ Viktor replied with a darkly amused smirk and the sort of steel satisfaction that only true trauma inspired.

‘Well I’d have beaten you too.’ Diego retorted, confident as he went about fetching some ungodly looking juice concoction from the fridge.

How many different fruits went into just that, how many vegetables? The math wasn’t worth it, wasn’t worth the pang of mixed dread and desire it inspired in him.

‘And then we all called you, ah, well, never mind eh?’ Diego’s glare had silenced Klaus.

‘For the record, we’re sorry.’ Viktor offered, voice so gentle and meaning.

‘I’ve got nothing to be sorry for.’ Five retorted. He wasn’t there after all, and he was above childish name calling. He had found more creative insults.

‘Well you got off the hook easily anyway, you weren’t even there.’ Diego chimed in, but did take the time to nod to Viktor in a passing sense of camaraderie. He sat heavily at the table and looked at them all as he took a drink. ‘What brought this on anyway?’

‘We’re trying to convince little Fivey-‘

‘Older than you!’ His insistence was soundly ignored.

‘To come to the beach with us all at the weekend.’ Diego hastily swallowed the mouthful of his juice. What could all those ingredients even taste like together? Five shook his head at the sight.

‘Hell yeah you should come! You don’t get out enough.’

‘I get out plenty.’

‘To the library maybe.’ Klaus mumbled, twiddling with the buttons undone on his shirt.

‘Come on Five, it would be fun!’

‘Would it really?’ He sighed, wished he’d just blinked back up to his room with the coffee.

‘Its the beach bro.’ Diego’s voice was so deadpan that Five managed to feel insulted.

‘There isn’t even anything there! It’s all dead anyway!’ One of his hands gestured with the coffee cup for effect as he complained but the others were staring at him and, oh, right. Nervously he cleared his throat. ’I mean-‘

‘No, no what is it?’ Klaus was too gentle. They’d started doing this recently, paying attention to him rather than responding with their own drama and pushing what he said aside. Five didn’t know what to do with it. And it only took a few rapid equations to work out the cheapest way out of this situation.

‘Fine I’ll go. But don’t expect me to enjoy it.’ He blinked away. But not far.

Paranoid.

‘Alright alright.’ Five muttered quietly at Dolores’ imagined critique from where he sat in the pantry, listening.

‘Well, that was surprisingly easy, only took ten minutes.’ Klaus sounded both pleased and a little disappointed. Had he not wanted Five to come after all, or had he just wanted to do more wheedling?

‘What do you think he meant by it being dead?’ Viktor asked, voice contemplative and too damn observant.

‘I swear to God Klaus, if you making him go to the beach causes another apocalypse-‘

Diego and Klaus devolved into childish squabbles and Five blinked out of the pantry.

The beach huh. He hadn’t seen it in decades. He’d only been the once. If they’d ever done any missions by the sea as children Five certainly didn’t remember it.

It could be nice this time.

‘We can’t swim Dolores.’ In the emptiness of his room, the reminder drifted lifeless. He’d learned that one the hard way. ‘And only you can float.’

-

A weekend beach trip sounded like hell to Five but apparently he was one of the few. Yet it was interesting that the closer they got to the date the more cracks appeared in the others’ armour.

Diego would boast about his abilities, but when Luther had guffawed ‘oh my god! Fish-Boy!’ Their knife-wielding vigilante had begun to stammer on and off when they talked about the ocean. Allison had bitched at Luther down the phone for it, as had Klaus in person. Five had been listening in on parts of the phone call.

Because he liked to hear their voices, not because he was paranoid, Dolores!

But it wasn’t just Diego.

Allison had sounded hesitant, and wanted to bring Claire, but remained nervous about mixing Claire with their family. Five usually made himself scarce on the rare occasions that Allison brought Claire around. It had only been twice, but no matter how much he wanted to meet her, Five didn’t have anything to fall back on when interacting with people outside his siblings. Unless they were a threat, or it was for less than two minutes.

Three minutes fifteen had been his record, at the library where he went to practice. And after that he’d had to go hide in the bathroom stall and have a minor panic attack.

With people that mattered it was harder. Because there was only so long Five could talk to someone who mattered before he fucked it up. He’d only been able to say ‘Hi, nice to meet you’ to Claire before becoming overwhelmed by her childlike open-stare and making an excuse to run away. But he wasn’t the only reason for Allison’s hesitance.

Five thought she was worried about the crazy rubbing off.

During last month’s visit Klaus had told Claire the story of Dead Uncle Ben after she’d caught Klaus talking to what looked like thin air. Five had overheard on the phone call the week after how Claire had begun ‘talking to Dead Uncle Ben’ at school. For a custody battle situation, it was understandably a nightmare.

Diego always had knives on him, and children had sticky fingers. Claire kept trying to pull them out from Diego’s pockets and holsters and fingers. It wasn’t as if Diego encouraged or approved of it, but he had offered to teach her before he’d caught Allison’s look. And even at the beach Diego would probably be packing at least three knives. Probably more.

Luther had been fine at first, and was Claire’s favourite uncle. But then  the Holy Trinity of Stupid; hitherto named Klaus, Luther and Diego, had loudly reminisced about the all the times Luther had accidentally injured them during training when they were kids. Even Five had joined in; Luther  smacking him hard enough into the wall after a mis-timed jump and cracking his arm during combat training were ironically some of his clearer memories. Allison trusted Luther with Claire’s life, but she had looked a little green around the gills as they all laughed about it.

Viktor hadn’t done anything to directly inspire worry, but Allison had told Luther she was worried about Claire finding out what she’d done to her sibling when they were children. Five had stopped listening to the phone call once Allison started crying, feeling more than a little guilty about his eavesdropping.

So, Allison was apprehensive about Family Fun-Time at the Beach because it involved Family Fun-Time. Otherwise known as ill-facilitated chaos.

Klaus worried about taking Ben to the ocean and Ben being sad about only being able to be so-corporeal in the ocean. A guilt Five felt Klaus didn’t need to put on himself, given that without him there would be no beach for Ben. But he’d been told he had a rather unsympathetic view on things and asked to leave. It didn’t help that Ben was apparently desperate to go to the ocean and also sad about it, apparently.

Or so Five could tell from what he’d heard when he stood nearby Klaus’ room at night, or followed him at night down the street, or when he was hiding in the pantry eating fluffed-nutter sandwiches and just listening to his siblings being alive.

-

Friday lunchtime and Five thought that most of the pre-beach drama had probably run its course, that said nothing for what would blow up when they were actually there in typical Hargreeves-style. And he counted the journey to and from as a separate nightmarish entity altogether, but at least this time he was one of the cats to be herded, not the one doing the herding. Small mercies.

They were just lucky that Lila had decided not to come. Apparently their powers ‘gave her a headache’ whilst she was pregnant. Five had gone to visit her out of boredom and sibling duty, and swore to report back on the idiocy for her, and had somehow gotten roped into shopping.

‘Just zap us all there, I want to feel alive again.’

‘You could do it yourself.’ He pointed out, and she groaned and grabbed his hand. They did that a lot, held hands. Five had actually come to enjoy the brusque contact with his most violent sister. There remained a certain comfort in the knowledge he was holding the hand of another killer.

‘Don’t be a prick.’ She groaned. He waited, brow raised. ‘Look you’re more practiced than me alright! I don’t want to jump there and find out little Lila Junior is all over the floor somewhere else!’

‘Okay that’s disgusting.’ He’d blinked them just to stop the conversation, but not so quick that he hadn’t seen her wicked grin at his pain.

And, of course, after jumping that far, he didn’t have the juice to escape.

‘Do you even own anything that isn’t some god-awful dark academia bullshit?’

‘Rich coming from a punk.’

‘You’re going to the beach not a banquet-‘ They’d snapped and bitten at each other whilst grinning through their shark teeth and Lila had forced him to buy a pair of truly heinous swimming trunks about the length of the Academy shorts he’d used to wear. At least until Allison had dragged him out shopping again.

‘You wore that nice suit in the Sparrow timeline, you do not need to go back to looking like a prep-school kid.’

At least Allison had taste.

And secretly, Five had been glad that someone had made him do it. Old routines were the hardest to break for him when they seemed so ultimately unimportant.

‘Sunglasses!’ Lila belted out, breaking his musings and dragged him roughly over to a stand. She’d fussed over trying on shades and insisting on him doing the same and Five had allowed himself to pick out a pair he actually quite liked.

They suit you better than those goggles. Five huffed a smile at that. Dolores always had deplored his apocalyptic wardrobe.

‘I just, I want to be out there, but I’m not sure I’m ready to be out there.’ Five’s head popped up over the sunglasses stand.

‘Viktor? Luthor?’

‘Five!’

‘Lila?’

‘There’s the boys! No Klaus?’

‘He was, um, what are you doing here?’ Luther stumbled the words, other than Klaus and Five, the siblings were still somewhat awkward around Diego’s partner. Lila didn’t let it show, but Five thought the distance there bothered her. Five certainly wasn’t the one to know what to do about it. Klaus had told him he ‘imprinted’, like a duckling, and that had been enough ‘friendship’ talk to last another lifetime.

And he got embarrassed enough by Diego’s obvious happiness at him taking the time to include Lila.

Five held up the shorts he was being frog-marched into buying.

Not that there was a point, because he wouldn’t be stepping foot in the ocean ever again.

‘Apparently this is required dress code.’

‘Oh, same.’ Luther grinned a bit, before his face fell. Viktor, who’d been the one talking earlier, looked a little sullen.

‘No offence, but me and my spawn are going to walk away from all this.’ Lila gestured and excited stage left back towards the child section where, embarrassingly, Five had just come from to get the shorts in his hand. She had meant that their powers were bothering her, a weird pregnancy side-effect, but the pair of them looked a little slapped in the face.

‘What’s up with you two?’ Five asked, coming around the sunglasses stand to eye them up and down better. ‘Was it Diego? It’s usually Diego.’

‘What? No.’ Luther insisted. Viktor cleared his throat.

‘It’s just,’ Viktor paused for a breath and looked to Luther, who nodded encouragingly. ‘It’s hard to, cross some hurdles, with the dysmorphia.’

‘It’ll get easier, or I hope it will.’ Luther’s half-encouragement was half-hearted but well meaning, and Viktor offered him a small sad smile. Five just frowned at them.

‘Dysmorphia?’ He rolled the word around, squinting. ‘The medical condition?’ He frowned harder. In a sense, Luther’s ape-like physicality could be called that. But Sloane had gone a long way to helping with that. But she wasn’t fully welcomed into the loving disaster that was his family yet, so she wouldn’t be at the beach. Maybe that was the problem.

He’d said the wrong thing, Luther was flushed in embarrassment and Viktor put a hand on his arm before cutting in.

‘No, well-‘

‘Sort of, in my case. Both I guess.’ Luther spoke over Viktor, seeming to pull in his confidence with a truly remarkable strength. Strength of character that their father had always failed to measure. Much like Viktor’s patience.

‘Body dysmorphia. It’s when you might feel like the way your body looks isn’t how you think it should be. It’s how I felt, before. And somedays there’s another new hurdle to cross.’

‘It’s not comfortable, the idea of being on show like that.’ They managed their words with aplomb, but Five was somewhere between them and himself.

Maybe that was selfish, but he found himself looking at his own hands as they spoke, jaw a little slack.

Dysmorphia.

‘Oh.’ He didn’t have many more words for them, but the silence suggested he should, so he pulled away from himself and looked to them again. ‘What are you going to do about it?’

Taken aback a little by the blunt question, they looked at each other. Viktor found his voice first.

‘We were debating between making a ’t-shirts are ok’ pact or a-‘

‘’Skin or nothing’ oath.’ Luther finished. Five didn’t think he had the skill set to say the right thing.

You do. Dolores insisted softly. You’re kinder than you think.

‘Well, let me know what you decide.’ He offered, hoping he was somewhere on the track to wiping the misery off their faces. Three apocalypses and it’s still the human condition bringing us all down. ‘I’ll join you.’ Decidedly he nodded, and turned to make sure Lila wasn’t getting caught shoplifting. Honestly her skills needed some improvement. Although she would probably say the same about him.

Viktor and Luther’s seaside-problems Five could understand maybe a bit better on a personal level than those afflicting the rest of his family, because there was a certain degree of dysmorphia to all their bodily situations that didn’t bother dwelling on but couldn’t not be dwelt on at the beach. It wasn’t like he enjoyed looking at himself in the mirror, so on some level he got it.

He’d bring a t-shirt in case.

-

Despite their united worry, and Five’s pessimism, the Hargreeves family all descended on the mansion Friday evening for their trip to the beach the following day.

Five nearly blinked to the roof when Claire ran up and hugged him, standing with his fists clenched throughout and then vanishing behind the bar. As in hidden behind the bar. He had long ago sworn to Allison that he wouldn’t drink in front of Claire. They could at least both agree that she was a child.

Luther and surprisingly Viktor got drunk on the other side of the bar and Klaus merrily joined in.

Lila dropped Diego off to stay overnight since they had an early start come the morning, and Five contemplated blinking into their car to escape whilst Diego shouted at her to not do anything criminal while he was gone.

Allison escaped to smoke twice in between fretting about which sibling to entrust Claire to in the meantime, and quickly decided to just put Claire to bed instead.

Five listened to it all hidden behind the bar. Klaus knew he was there, he kept passing his glass down for Five to refill. Five left a shot out for Ben as well, because it felt polite, Even if apparently Ben disapproved of alcohol.

All too soon, they were turning in for the night in dribs and drabs.

Five hung on until the end. Surprisingly with Luther and Viktor.

‘Ahem.’ Luther cleared his throat and knocked a little sloppily on the bar top as they were turning to go. Five had been humming ‘Dream a little Dream of me’ for Dolores for the last few minutes and hiccupped himself to a stop. ‘For tomorrow, no shirts.’

‘No shirts!’ Viktor chorused loudly and very, very drunk, toppling a little from the sounds of it.

‘No shirts!’ Luther joined in and the pair stumbled up for the night.

‘No shirts.’ He toasted to the air, took his last swig and went to pick up Dolores-

But she wasn’t there. The shop had thrown her away.

In a flash the martini glass he’d been drinking from smashed against the bar where he’d thrown it.

You’re gonna have to clean that up now.

‘I know, I know.’

He ignored the catch in his voice as he moved to do just that, craving to hold her and getting glass shards instead.

—

‘Get up Five! Christ, there’s always one.’

‘And it’s usually him, or you. Actually it's usually you.’

‘Shut up and help me! Oh wait you can’t.’

‘Wow, low blow.’

‘Oh I can go lower-‘

‘Shut up.’ Five smacked his pillow at Klaus like a true teenager and glowered. His hair was ruffled and he smelt like a bar.

‘You look like some nasty little cat I found on the sidewalk and just want to put in a blanket,’ Klaus half-crooned, half sneered, grabbing his grumbling gremlin of a brother. ‘Now come on, get up and showered or Allison will have our asses.’

‘Have our asses!’ All three of them turned with slightly horrified gazes to see Claire standing in the door giggling, fingers pressed over her mouth and looking like she knew exactly what she was doing. The little tyrant. With a final giggle she turned and ran. ‘Mooooooom!’

‘No no no no no!’ Klaus abandoned Five to his fate and sprinted off after his favourite little terror of a niece. If she made it to Allison, they were all doomed.

She made it Allison.

Five managed to get himself somewhat presentable, down the stairs and into clothes. In fact they all did, more or les on time, it was a Hargreeves miracle.

‘Loving the shorts buddy. You needed more colour in your wardrobe.’

‘Keep talking and I’ll sk-‘ Five stopped himself, Ben snorted uncharitably behind Klaus’ shoulder as Claire looked eerily around at them, eyes wide and guileless. Klaus cleared his throat whilst Five’s brain seemed to re-wire itself, clutching his coffee for dear life and eyes shielded by shades. ‘Skkkunk you.’

‘Skunk you.’ Claire mouthed, hand benignly in Allison’s, eyes bright with hell-fire.

‘Skunk me?’ Klaus turned to Five again, disbelief and laughter battling for dominance in his chest. ‘That’s the best you could do?’

‘Keep talking, and you’ll find out.’ Five’s coffee got grumbled into and Ben guffawed behind them.

‘You’re both idiots.’

‘Shut up Ben!’

‘Dead Uncle Ben’s here?!’ Klaus shrivelled under the weight of Allison’s incredulous raised brows turning to him with the sweet promise of death as Ben ‘awwed’ behind him.

-

Allison had already had to put up with Claire having a tantrum about not being able to talk to Uncle Ben, and had thrown her hands in the air when  Klaus had said Ben also wanted to talk to Claire.

‘Sure, why not! Let’s just wheel her right into therapy rather than window-shopping it!’ She had stormed to the back of the bus and sat next to Five, because he was currently the quietest and she saw the least of him.

Ben’s blue conjured form absolutely enchanted Claire, and her eyes swelled so large and happy and un-affected by rumour as she looked gleefully between Dead Uncle Ben and her Mom that it made Allison’s heart lighter.

Watching Ben form into what existence Klaus could give him was always a delight, if a bittersweet one, and Allison found herself relaxing a bit at watching the joint joy on her child and brother’s faces.

They had taken the bus to the beach, changed three times and by the time the ocean breeze was coming salty and refreshing through the window Allison’s hungover siblings had drunk enough coffee, water and juice to grace the land of the living. Viktor and Luther had woken from their nap enough to tease Diego about his upcoming life of parenthood. She’d berate them, or join them, but honestly they were just the warm up act for the terror Allison herself could inspire if she told Diego the truth of parenting. But she didn’t quite want to do that.

Something in her knew the horrors too well to joke about them right now, the emotions always too present. And some dark voice inside her said that she didn’t get to lord it over anyone. Not with the mess she’d made the first time round.

And probably was making, letting her kid talk to her ghost Uncle.

‘It’ll be fine.’ Allison jolted a bit, and glanced down at Five, slumped still somewhat bonelessly, dressed in a plain top and tropical beach shorts that were almost the same shade of yellow as Allison’s own bikini under her wrap dress. Five was alert enough to be verbal, which was good, but not quite enough to move further down the bus and put up with their family’s particular brand of unending bullshit.

‘What will?’ She asked, bewildered. ‘This family trip? I’m pretty sure its’ already gone way better than it should, which means we’re due for a tsunami at least.’ He snickered at that and she smiled at the rarely heard sound.

‘Well I won’t disagree, but I meant Claire with Ben. If anyone can talk sense to her, it’s the one who usually holds the brain cell.’

And Five was somewhat right. Despite the way he very awkwardly coughed and looked through his fringe out the window when Claire came to sit between them.

‘Mom, I’m sorry about pretending to see Dead Uncle, I mean, Uncle Ben at school. I know it’s a Serious Topic now.’ She nodded solemnly, and Allison felt her face crease up in adoration at the attemptive-adult look on her daughter’s angelic face. And the apology that she wasn’t sure she deserved, but couldn’t help melting over. ‘But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop talking about him because Uncle Ben and Death are important.’ And just like that, adoration turned to the sort of disbelief that only children could inspire. Five snorted.

‘Smart kid.’ He muttered, and Allison found her smile reforming.

‘Thank you Claire, and you’re right, those are important topics. We’ll have a talk about bluntness at, a much, much later date.’ Because there were only so many Serious Parenting Moments she could handle before 10 in the morning. She thought she had an easy out, but then Five was turning to Claire with a devilish look at Allison over his glasses and a truly awful smile. Her stomach dropped.

‘Whatever she says don’t listen to her, your Mom mastered bluntness at age Six.’

‘Six?!’

‘Six.’ Five nodded.

‘I think you should go talk to Uncle Ben while he’s here sweetie, Uncle Klaus can only keep him visible so long-‘

‘But I wanna talk to Uncle Five too!’

‘No you don’t-‘ Allison and Five flashed each other an awkward look at their matching words.

‘Hey Claire! Claire! Wanna see the octopus in Uncle Ben’s belly-‘

‘NO SHOWING HER THE HORROR!’ Allison shouted as Claire squealed and ran for a glaring Ben and shit-eating Klaus.

She didn’t have one child, she had a whole bus of them.

-

The beach spray in the air wasn’t like he’d thought it would be.

Five watched the unreal blue hue of the ocean, heard the waves crash rather than slosh thickly, felt sand rather than trash and rubble under his feet.

It was beautiful.

‘So, we doing this?’

‘We’re doing this.’ He glanced to Luther and Viktor. They’d set up their family’s base-camp on the beach, and Allison was over at the nearby changing huts getting Claire sorted. Diego had set them up under one of the available umbrellas and was lecturing Klaus on sunscreen. Because of course he was.

Red rays from the too-hot sunlight burnt through the distorted atmosphere, piercing dust-and-storm clouds, lighting the grey sloshing water in an eerie light.

‘Don’t you want to swim? I always wanted to swim.’

‘Hey Five!’ Sand hit him in the face. Five spluttered and spun around. No crap littering the golden sands. Just his family and the blue tide. Disguising his shaky breath, Five glared at Diego. ‘You too, sun cream, come on line up.’

‘Sun cream Nazi.’

‘Want me to spray it in your face Klaus?’ Klaus just groaned, turning around obediently as Diego sprayed an endless can of aerosol ‘factor 30’ onto his pale skin.

‘Might as well get it over with Five. He’ll have his way.’ Klaus pouted.

‘That I will, alright, you’re done, come back in three hours.’

‘Alright Mom.’ Klaus mocked with a grin and escaped away, donning his brimmed hat and heading to the ocean.

‘You’re up.’ Diego beckoned him over and Five shook his head snorting.

‘The sun’s not even radioactive at this point.’ Diego stared and then grabbed him.

‘You’re the most in danger, young skin is important to protect.’

‘Get off me!’ Five snatched the can and roughly sprayed over himself before throwing it back. ‘Happy?’

‘That’s not how you apply sunscreen bro.’

‘Its literally what you just did.’

‘No sunscreen, no sun.’ Diego stated with an impressive amount of finality and pointed at the towels under the parasol where Viktor and Luther were lurking. Beyond them, Allison was running after Claire to the water.

‘Fine by me.’ He wasn’t swimming anyway, and he’d had enough of the sun’s harsh rays. Diego seemed appeased, and headed to the ocean himself.

Five settled down and, seeing his remaining brothers had already removed their shirts, did the same. Solidarity and all.

Job done, he settled back, and watched the ocean.

It was even more mesmeric now than it had been back then, thick with ash and ruined life, but the largest amount of water he’d seen in months.

He hadn’t washed in months.

Is it even real? Dolores laughed at him

‘Of course it’s real.’ Walking there had been a dream, heart thudding, shedding clothes along the way haphazardly, stumbling over ruble and Dolores in his arms, in a dream till the water sloshed over his ankles.

The sensation had sent shivers up his spine.

‘Hey, you swimming?’ Viktor nudged him back into focus and Five looked around him, glad of the sunglasses hiding his eyes.

‘No.’

‘Really? But we’re at the beach, and it’s pretty empty, even Luther’s in.’ It took Five a moment to notice that yes, he was. Tossing Claire up in the air and into the water as she squealed in delight. Diego looked like he was doing some pretty serious swimming while Klaus and Allison lounged in the shallows.

‘You go, have fun. I’ll guard the camp. Wouldn’t want us loosing our clothes.’ He got a frown at that, but Five had lost his Academy uniform that day on the beach and with it the only reminder of home he had left, the only identity he had. Not to mention the only clothes he’d had.

Just because he’d wanted to feel water and hadn’t weighed them down.

‘Well, come over when you’re ready. You’ll like it.’ He grinned in lieu of answering and Viktor shrugged and went off, both him and Luther bare-skinned from the waist up and wearing it with growing confidence.

Smiling a little, Five folded his arms behind his head and stretched his toes into the sand. It burned a bit, but the feeling was unlike anything he’d felt before. He kept doing it over and over, finally sitting up and admitting that he wanted to touch it.

Five settled off the towel and felt the sand all over, shivering, digging his fingers into it.

Dry and hot on top, cool and heavier underneath if he dug down far enough.

Golden, soft.

His fingers found a shell and Five took a while staring at the delicate pattern, mesmerised. He looked for more.

‘What are you doing?’ Five had to get a better handle on being snuck up on. He looked around to see Claire staring at him, rocking on her feet.

‘Finding shells.’ He replied.

‘I’ll help!’ She lay down next to the hole he’d dug and reached her arms in to tease through the sand. ‘They’re pretty.’

‘Uh, sure.’ Seeing how deep Claire had to reach into the hole, Five looked around and winced. Half of their belongings were covered in sand and to match the hole was a large mountain he’d moved aside, digging straight down mindlessly.

‘Is this one good?’ Claire pulled out a long, thin shell, poking Five’s knee with it.

‘Its great.’ He took it and tried not to feel her eyes on him as he looked it over. ‘It’s a razor clam shell.’ He offered, turning it over in his fingers and admiring the barred pattern. He put it in the ‘clam’ pile.

‘Really? What’s this one.’

‘A snail.’

‘And this one?’ Five glanced over from where he’d reached for another speck of porcelain white buried in the sand.

‘A crab claw.’

‘Where’s the rest of the crab?’

‘Given that that’s it’s arm, I’m assuming that it’s dead.’

‘Like Uncle Ben.’

‘Like Uncle Ben. Although, I don’t know if crabs have ghosts that stick around, that’s really an ethical and philosophical debate on the presence of a soul and frankly it’s exhausting.’

‘Oh.’

‘Claire! There you are, don’t run off like that!’ Allison looked vaguely harassed as she hurried to them. ‘Oh, Five, thanks for looking after her.’

‘Don’t mention it.’ He replied, somewhat guilty where he had moved to sit in the hole he’d dug, and hadn’t even noticed Claire being ‘missing’ in the first place. He’d been too focused by the texture of sand and delicate shells.

‘What are you two doing?’ The frown and amused quirk to her mouth suggested that this wasn’t normal.

‘Uncle Five’s collecting shells.’ Incredulous eyes turned his way, Five scowled.

‘I can stop.’ He snapped out.

‘No, no Five, it’s okay. People collect shells at the beach.’ Her assurance was swift but gentle, genuine. Claire was looking at him wide-eyed.

‘Oh. Okay.’ He replied, somewhat derailed from defending himself.

Prickly. Five ignored Dolores’ fond chuckle.

‘Impressive hole Five.’ Luther came up behind Allison and Five hopped out enough to sit on the rim of his sand pit. Claire squealed on seeing him and reached up to be lifted, she kept hold of the crab claw.

‘What is that?’

‘It’s Uncle Five’s dead crab!’

‘Don’t touch things like that!’ Allison wrestled it from Claire  who pouted.

‘Uncle Five touched it!’

‘Well, he’s a heathen, not a lady.’ Five snorted, but didn’t deny it. ‘Let’s go wash your hands.’ Claire was led away with a plea of ‘but mooooooom’ and Luther took her place.

‘You’re not swimming?’

‘Apparently I’m collecting shells.’ Five gestured over to the neatly sorted collection he’d accumulated.

Dolores liked them.

‘I just thought you were digging a hole. Maybe we should make a sand castle.’

‘A what?’ Luther was already gathering the sand Five had piled up and grinned.

‘I’ll show you! I used to try and make miniature ones on the moon with the moon dust I collected, but we could make a really big one!’ The childlike enthusiasm was enough to stir Five’s eternal curiosity, he followed Luther out of his hole and felt the sun lap his skin as they began forming a ‘foundation’.

It was surprisingly enjoyable. Therapeutically technical.

It looks good.

It did, Five thought.

Give it a tower for me, like a princess would have.

‘It needs a tower.’

‘Good idea. And a flag.’

They built for a while before Diego came to join them and added himself in with a comment of ‘sick’. They stuck one of Diego’s knives in the top in place of a flag and Viktor and Klaus came by with a heaping assortment of lunch foods.

‘Feeding time at the zoo!’

Allison and Claire followed having been in the sea again, and Five got up and stretched from where he’d been hunched over. The water glittered in the sun.

Five thought he might like the beach.

‘Five, your back!’

‘What about it?’ Five looked at Diego askance but got pushed under the shade.

‘It’s coming up red already, I told you to stay in the shade.’

‘Such a parent in the making.’ Klaus teased. ‘What? I think it’s sweet, really!’ Ben, apparently, was getting involved.

‘I’m fine.’ Five protested, but was wrangled onto one of their sandy towels and he watched bemused as Diego wetted a t-shirt and draped it over Five’s shoulders. The coolness did feel good, he hadn’t realised how hot his skin had gotten. Sometimes it was hard to feel things.

‘After lunch, you’re putting sunscreen on.’ Diego warned with a raised finger and firm stare. ‘Now drink your water.’

‘You’re not the boss of me.’ But he wasn’t about to waste water, so he drunk what he was given and ate the hotdog passed his way and listened to their chatter. With the distraction of the sand gone, his thoughts ticked lazily back to the last ocean trip he’d had.

He’d been so hungry that time that he’d contemplated eating one of the rotting fish carcasses before deciding better.

-

[byemambo]

We Are Main Characters as BTS Songs: A Deep Dive

Everyone on my dash is assigning BTS songs to the We Are characters and I have to put in my two cents actually 5 million dollars because I can't be normal or shorthanded about anything but this time it's about We Are and music:

Peem - Just One Day

I wanna be locked in you and swim in you I want to know you more, an explorer venturing through your deep forest of mystery I appreciate the masterpiece that is you because your existence alone is art

Just One Day always had the nostalgic, sitting in an empty classroom on a sunny day with the windows open and the curtains flowing from the wind, and I associate that feeling of warmth and solace with Peem. He's always been someone with a big heart and we can see that through his upbringing with a loving family and earning a solid group of friends and juniors that love and appreciate him just as much, if not more than how much he loves and appreciates them. Despite their rough beginning, slowly but surely, Phum and Peem become each other's safe space and lets each other enter into their individual worlds: the art studio, Phum's apartment with his stuffed plushies, the festival, the art gallery, the beach, the pool, Peem's hometown in Chiang Mai. Once both of them start exploring each other's existence and leaving room for vulnerability, Peem showers Phum with affirmations (along with teasing of course) and the physical touch he was depleted of, while also leaving room for his own boundaries and desires that build up their relationship rather than beating down.

From constantly reminding Phum that he validates his existence, to allowing Phum to express his own affection through physical touch and words of affirmation, Peem becomes someone that attracts the admiration of others. He becomes people's home away from home, or a home that one never had. Not only from Phum, but also from Kluen. His selflessness and attention to detail is vital for long lasting relationship with others, but one of his best qualities will always be his temperament. That he doesn't have to condemn himself to hell on earth, either for himself or for others. That he can be content over the smallest of things, disappointed when things don't go his way, angry when he confronts mistreatment from others, calmness and empathy when letting another person down but still having the capacity to continue on with how a dynamic currently stands and at the same time, having the ability to relinquish and let go of feelings and experiences that no longer serve him. Now that Phum has earned a prominent spot in his life, as a fellow artist, I can only imagine how exciting it is to claim and adore your muse.

Phum - Hold Me Tight

Hold me tight, hug me Can you trust me? Can you trust me? Can you trust me? Pull me in tight

Hold Me Tight is one of my favorite songs, especially when I'm feeling down and need music to reflect that. Phum has always been a shut off person that hid behind money and arrogance to brush off how much his trauma affects his every day living. Knowing that his family failed to meet his emotional needs as a child and neglected him once he was sent abroad, he lived a life full of inconsistency from the people who should be most important to him, Fang being the only solidarity in his life that he can really allow himself to exist in his own right. Once he meets Peem, he uses their unusual circumstances to bring entertainment into his life, even if it meant compromising someone else's comfort and security. However, a turning point takes place around the time he ditched Peem at the mall in episode 3, believing he would give up after some time and wondering why Peem continued to wait. Once Peem establishes a moment of clarity by telling Phum "You said to wait, so I did," and setting a boundary due to his mistreatment, Phum confronts his complicated relationship with the integrity of others. How there are people who are consistent in saying what they mean and meaning what they say: if he met someone that does just that, that doesn't make him different from those that consistently disappointed him.

We see Phum's first attempt at accountability by apologizing to Peem, which he was very reluctant on doing so due to his value system at the time. But knowing that he must earn the trust and presence of Peem just as everyone else that's important to Peem has earned, Phum starts realizing why so many people love and adore Peem. His straightforwardness, his passion, his wit, but most importantly, his compassion are all things that become a karmic mirror to others, forcing those around him to start questioning their own values and beliefs and if they deem so, change for the better. Once Phum does earn his way into Peem's daily life, Peem becomes a safe space for Phum, allowing him to express who he is and how he deals with his response to dysfunction: confrontation rather than avoidance. Even though he'd rather not say, Peem understood this immediately and offered his reassurance through physical touch: holding him tight.

Q - Still Life (with Anderson .Paak)

I'm still life, but I'm movin' Just live now, goin' forward, yeah A still life that does not stop, keep my flower blooming again Gimme no name 'cause I'm untitled (Oh, yeah) My life is on display, still life, still life

Still Life is such a groovy and upbeat song, which I feel best suits Q as a person. Someone full of passion and care for his work and the people most important to him, he becomes someone where "what you see is what you get." Just his mere existence seeks out praise, admiration, and respect, which of course the best example of this is Toey's relationship with him pre mentee and post mentee. Q has very few areas where his life isn't transparent or straightforward, but he had been protective of revealing much information about his first love or allowing someone to enter his arena.

I think of Q as someone that has capacity in candidly opening up to his friends or noverbally through his own artistic expression, but when it comes to love (which I've seen people claim his demisexuality which as a fellow member, I 100% agree), an entirely different battlefield presents itself. The challenges of opening your heart to others due to immense protection and guard, the lengths we go by jumping to conclusions or setting ourselves up for failure by choosing inaction to prevent further disappointment and guilt rather than action in fear of not being met with the same feelings or worse, hatred and disregard. Knowing how special his relationship was with Milk Frappe Boy as Pencil Senior, Q reveals a sensitive side that's avoidant of deceit, entertainment from his personal matters, and the potential of pursuing someone who cannot return the same feelings and being met with heartache. Regardless of the trials and errors when he established his coping mechanisms to move on from the past, once he is convinced and torn apart of his logical fallacies, Q becomes the same, if not more, vibrant and radiant person he had always been. You can see his love and adoration with Toey once they made up and he took that final leap of fate.

Toey - Euphoria

You are the sunlight that rose again in my life A reincarnation of my childhood dreams I don't know what these emotions are Am I still dreaming?

Toey is easily one of my favorite characters and how much glow and aura he has with the other characters, which is how I feel when listening to Euphoria. We see how Tan is the main bridge between all the different friend groups and dynamics, but Toey also plays this role in a different way by being the junior/younger brother figure that everyone wishes to take care of and adore. His energy is full of life and magnetic in pulling anyone in, as he creates soft spots for a lot of the people in his life. Peem and Q being his seniors/mentor that he can play with and tease, Phum and Fang being older brothers that he can cling onto as they protect him.

The backstory of Milk Frappe Boy and Pencil Senior is one of the sweetest depictions of young romance I've seen in awhile and really encapsulates the puppy love that Toey has for Q before they truly knew each other and the journey they embarked on. Knowing how Toey risked going to the same school as Q despite having plans to study abroad, we can see how Toey is willing to take risks and chase after his dreams, while still being someone who's afraid of the ever changing future if his past is revealed to the person he loves and honors the most. Feeling like his world filled with affection and "one sided love" shattered when his feelings were accidentally revealed to Q and presenting itself as if his actions were a joke and form of entertainment for the rest of the group due to their involvement, we see Toey fall apart as if he woke up from his dream. Luckily, which I can see how Q's temperament as a person allowed this transition to flow in a realistic way, Q yields to Toey shortly after their misunderstanding, bringing their relationship back full circle and entering a new era of authentic love and desire for the whole world to see, not just between them in their own intimate world.

Tan - Friends

A somewhat strange kid Me from the moon, you from the stars Our conversations were like homework BFFs on one day, enemies on another I just wanna understand

Friends is such a heartfelt song that reflects the upbringing and memories of the BTS members, but I feel that it suits Tan well. It highlights the duality of Tan's personality, where he has a very lovable and bright aura with various moments of silliness and fun, but once those moments pass or may be inappropriate in certain situations, Tan is actually a very serious person when it comes to caring for the people who mean most to him. Knowing the backstory of how his friends mentioned his days of being a playboy and getting into fights (which I can't get over that being how he and Fang first meet), we see him softening up after realizing the worth and value of those that care so deeply about him to the point where he must choose between having them remain an important part in his life or to continue heading down a rocky decent from his resorts to violence and impulsivity.

Although impressions with Fang were far from glamorous (which I talked about in one of my deep dives!), Tan's walls start crumbling once he realized that he must do better for his loved ones, not for his sake but for theirs. That his friends and loved ones deserve someone of honor and integrity. And he does just that: becoming the lovely and compassionate person he is today. His emotional intelligence is well balanced, making room for both reassurance and playfulness when dealing with the mental distress of others. Tan has an innate quality of protectiveness and care for the people around him, which we see most clearly with Fang throughout the series but also seeing him taking care of Peem's dad in episode 14 when bringing him a drink after he arrives home. He has one of the purest hearts and easily became one of my favorite characters in media, not just QL!

Khaofang - Love is Not Over

Love is so painful Goodbayes are even more painful I can’t go on if you’re not here Love me, love me Come back to my arms

Love is Not Over is one of my top BTS songs, which gives me similar feelings as Hold Me Tight but with more longing and adoration. Fang has also become one of my favorite characters due the handling of the juxtapositions he deals with on so many levels. His inability to yield between his younger brother feuding with their parents, his deep rooted insecurities of his sensitivity and "unattractive" moments of vulnerability, his abandonment issues and dealing with survivor's guilt. He is such a well written and admirable character and this reveals itself once Tan integrates himself back into his life, which took a pause from their times in high school where they were like water and fire.

Because of his family's dysfunction and angst, Fang also deals with the inconsistencies and develops his own coping mechanisms with the trauma, through a reserved facade which actually contains the deepest of wounds. Feeling as though it's his responsibility to sacrifice himself for the family to not enter war times, refraining from expressing himself from shyness and fear of abandonment. His definition of love is complicated and pessimistic, his anxiety driving a wedge between his desire for love while questioning if he's worthy of it. When he revealed to Tan that if he ever chose to leave, to tell him so he could prepare his heart for the heartache, Tan immediately inserts confidence in their relationship through his vocal expression of devote and earnest love for Fang, showing Fang that there's nothing to fear and that he will remain in his life for the long run. Once this moment occurs, we can see just how much more expressive and bold Fang becomes in displaying his love for Tan, realizing that their love isn't over, and won't be for a long time.

Chain - Embarrassed

Why am I getting weirder in front of you? I’m not a pre-schooler but why is everything so childish? Look at my eyes, my jokes aren’t serious Saying this is so hard, I like you

Embarrassed/Blanket Kick is one of the most wholesome songs and I think is describes Chain's dynamic with Pun within the friend group. Someone who is clearly displaying individual interest and adoration towards Pun, however, Pun's density and ignorance whittles each and every moment. Even if Pun doesn't show clear signs of understanding Chain's true feelings towards him, we can see how reliable and attached Pun is to Chain on a platonic level. How Chain is always willing to yield himself in taking care of Pun's needs, whether it's sitting through and accompanying his off key singing, being the first person to call when Pun finds the injured bird, going out of his way to coparent the bird back to good health while also caring for Pun (the bird being called Guin is just too cute).

Even though Chain's efforts in being alongside Pun and his shenanigans are physical, as of episode 14, we still haven't had a moment of clarity in addressing the elephant in the room and finally dedicating their feelings for one another, becoming the slowest of slow burns. I can only imagine all the moments they share where a moment of intimacy comes up and Chain has every opportunity to confess, however, I know they will arrive at their destination in due time and in their own silly little way. It's one thing to be physically present for the person that means most to you: it's another thing to lay out your feelings with the chance that they won't be reciprocated. The battle between "should I or should I not" is what Chain is currently dealing with, only making you want to root for their success even more.

Pun - Moon

You were the one that made your way to me I do believe your galaxy, I want to listen to your melody Your stars in the Milky Way, don't forget that I found you anyways

Pun's character has always been so endearing to me and on the surface, seems like he's just serves as comedic relief alongside other characters that serve the same function. However, we start to see the multitude of qualities Pun exhibits as a person and how he carries himself: that even though he's usually upbeat and playful with lots of unserious moments, he's a deeply empathetic person that wants to give back to the world around him. Although he needs lots of help with navigating the world sometimes, Chain has become such a person that it's second nature to rely on him for all sorts of things, truly becoming the Moon revolving around the Sun. However, the beauty of Pun's relationship with Chain is just how unconditional Chain's care and willingness to do just about anything for Pun is crystal clear.

I understand Chain's innate attraction to Pun and his character, just based on individual moments throughout the series that establish Pun has someone that doesn't have a mean bone in his body. How despite his silliness, he's actually a well rounded individual that has the ability to command a room and establish himself in a leader position through his empathy and desire to make the world more beautiful (which always cracks all of us up that he's a political science major). Even though we know Pun is capable of taking care of things himself if need be, he's someone who allows himself to let go of his seriousness and seek out help and assistance from those around him in any given moment that feels necessary. I think his relationship with Chain really encapsulates the trajectory of where Peem and Phum's relationship is slowly amounting to: that there doesn't have to be a moment where you have to handle life alone and that someone is willfully ready to be by your side. Pun is slowly starting to realize how much Chain has been by his side through all their adventures, which makes me root for their slow burn that will end in a wholesome establishment of what their relationship truly became over the course of the series: an established married couple.

This was so fun to sit and talk about despite not being a hardcore BTS fan like I used to back in the day, however, maybe I'll assign my more current favorite group songs to the We Are characters. I'm thinking ATEEZ, THE BOYZ, ONEWE, DAY6, Xdinary Hereos, definitely groups with well written lyrical content and a diverse range of genres.

[melanieph321]

Ruben Dias - Lost in Sardinia Part 7/8

Summary - Ruben is on a getaway in Sardinia. There he meets a girl named Fiorella. She starts to wonder why Ruben won't tell her what exactly he is getting away from, or even what his real name is.

Enjoy!

There was a cluster of rocks overlooking the white beaches of west coast Sardinia. It's where Fiorella took Ruben. A peaceful place to watch the sun go down to the sound of ocean waves.

"The pressure was getting to me. I was aware that the team was bringing in new players for the upcoming season, players that could replace me if I didn't perform well."

Ruben told her everything. Everything that Chiara had mentioned and more, like the reason he punched his coach.

"And that made you want to punch your coach in the face?" She asked.

"No, I never intended to do that. That was just a result of all the pressure I put myself under. It's normal in football to buy and sell players. But I play for arguably the best football team in the world, with arguably the best football players. If I were to get replaced by another player it would essentially mean that I'm not good enough to..."

"Play with the best?"

"So you get it?"

"Why you punched your coach?" Fiorella snorted. "No, no I don't get it. But feel free to tell me what led up to the event."

"I was just so fucking tired." He sighed.

"Tired of what?"

"Mostly from working overtime. I'm always the first one to arrive at the teams training grounds and the last one to leave. I never give less than 110% during games and I've always remained on a strict diet to stay healthy and fit. I've missed so many family occasion because of training, birthday's, anniversaries, holidays, you name it. Worst part is that I've ruined so many relationships with people I love." Ruben chuckled. "Just ask my ex girlfriends who've ended up hating everything about me,  from the way I brush my teeth to the way I comb my hair."

"So you have many compulsive habits?" Fiorella interrupted, forcing Ruben to stop talking about the many women he had been with before her.

"Yes." He nodded. "I guess you can't say that I have a few compulsive habits. Good habits, but compulsive."

Fiorella nodded, taking it all in. "And the reason for punching your coach?"

Ruben was avoiding the altercation, however, Fiorella wasn't gonna let him. From now on Ruben would have to be completely honest with her even if it hurt. That's what Fiorella's mother once told her was the foundation of love, honesty.

"Right, that." Ruben ran a lazy hand through his hair. He was smiling softly, as if the memory wasn't all too painful.

"Pep, is the name of my coach. For somone who knows football they'll know about Pep and the peculiar way he likes to coach his teams. Don't get me wrong, he's definitely one of the best coaches out there, however he can be very blunt and harsh with his critic."

"What did he say?" Fiorella gasped.

"Nothing I've never been called before, the difference this time is that I was so mentally exhausted that I couldn't see past the critic he was giving, resulting in me loosing my cool and....well....you know."

Fiorella nodded, releasing the big chunk of air that compressed her torso. She still had so may questions, one question in particular, however, Ruben beat her to it.

"Why did you bring me here?" He asked, his eyes shimmering with the distant sunlight.

"Oh, I..." Fiorella crumbled with embarrassment. She had never wanted to bring someone to The Kissing Rocks until now. When she was younger her friends would tease her for running home after school. Fiorella would rather run down to the docks for a swim or play on the farm with her dog, than spend an evening shoving her tounge down somebody's throat. The thought of kissing had never amused her, more so disgusted her. That is, until she met Ruben.

"Can I ask you something first?" She said, feeling like he owed her that.

"Of course."

"Why come to Sardinia of all places?"

It was a question that had been itching her scalp. His decision to come to the island, her island, had certainetly changed the course of Fiorella's life and so she curiously wanted to know what drew him here.

"Well, although it's a tourist attraction there's not so many people here, especially during late summer. I needed privacy, a place to think and stay out of the spotlight, Sardinia was the perfect place to get that. Besides, I used to come here with my family during summer vacations when I was younger."

"Really?"

He nodded. "Every summer for the first twelve years of my life."

Fiorella couldn't fathom the idea. If Ruben had spent his childhood summer's in Sardinia the two of them must have crossed roads before. Perhaps when Fiorella was a young girl, roaming the streets with the puppy she received from Nonno for Christmas.

"My family used to rent an apartment on the island, it was actually at the complex that I'm staying at now..."

"Wait, so you're telling me that you don't live in your boat by the docks?"

Ruben eyes widened in suprise. "Why would you think that?"

"I mean...it's where I first met you, where you always told me to meet you. A person could comfortably live in your boat which is practically a smal yacht."

Ruben chuckled.

It was nice to hear him chuckle.

"No i don't live on a boat, but an apartment. It's where my friend Bernardo is waiting for me. His parents are lawyers and has been helping me with my case against my club. If things go well I'll be able to return at the end of the summer, just ahead of the start of the new season."

"Right." Fiorella nodded. Return....We should probably return you to your friend then." Fiorella would be returning to the flower shop where a fuming Nonna would be waiting for her.

"I remember this place."

Fiorella had risen to her feet, wiping dirt of her shorts when Ruben spoke. He was looking up at her, his head tilted back.

"You do?"

"Yeah, a girl brought me here once. She was also Sardinian."

"Was she?" Fiorella felt a slight beat appear in her chest.

"Yes. She called this place the Kissing Rocks. I don't know why, but she told me that we couldn't leave until I'd kissed her."

"Huh, funny." Fiorella muttered.

"Fiorella?"

"Yes Ruben?"

"Can I kiss you?"

The soft light from the sun made the shape of his face look smooth. Fiorella stepped forward, placing a hand on his cheek. She bent down her head, stopping when their foreheads came together.

"How would you like to kiss me Ruben,  soft hard or a bit of both?"

He smiled. "Whichever way you like it."

Fiorella was brought back, eyebrows furrowed. "What does that mean?"

Ruben looked up at her, his expression serious. "It means whatever you say goes, okay? "

Fiorella nodded. "Okay."

Ruben's hands on her waist drew her back in, still, it was Fiorella who was running the show. She bent down to softly kiss his lips. They took their time exploring, finding new depths of thier kiss. Fiorella brought both of her hands to Ruben's face, letting his rough stubble tickle underneath the palm of her hands. Ruben released a deep groan from beneath his throat, indicating that whatever she was doing he liked it.

To any starnger passing by the kiss looked soft and sweet. But it was far from it. It was overwhelmingly passionate, a desire for one another that could not be transmitted into words. Fiorella wanted more and Ruben wanted more but somehow a silent agreement was made between the two, an agreement that from now on they would take things slow, real slow. All on Fiorella's terms.

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

Leaving The Kissing Rocks behind Fiorella and Ruben returned into town. As they walked, their fingers intertwined, Fiorella felt a sense of happiness that she hadn't experienced in a long time.

"Look, there she is!"

They were approaching the town square when unexpectedly, Fiorella's heart sank as she spotted her entire family standing there, including her beloved Nonna.

Confusion washed over her as she saw the worried expressions etched on their faces. Seconds later, her mother rushed towards her, engulfing her in a tight hug. "Fiorella! We've been searching everywhere for you! We thought something terrible had happened!"

Fiorella's eyes widened in surprise, still trying to comprehend what was happening. She exchanged a bewildered look with Ruben, who squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I'm sorry, Mama. I lost track of time. I didn't think anyone would worry."

Nonna approached, a mix of relief and sternness in her eyes. "How could you just disappear without a word? We were so concerned, Fiorella. And who is this man?" She gave Ruben the evil eye, all of her family members did.

Ruben, sensing Fiorella's predicament, stepped forward introducing himself "Ciao. I'm Ruben Dias. I'm sorry for causing everyone to worry. It's my fault we lost track of time."

Nonna studied Ruben intently, her eyes softening. "Well, young man, you had us all half out of our wits. But since you seem to bring a smile to my granddaughter's face, I suppose we can overlook this slip-up. Just don't let it happen again."

Fiorella's family, their initial worry transforming into a mixture of curiosity and amusement, surrounded her and Ruben. They bombarded them with questions about who Ruben was, how they had met, and what their plans for the future were.

"She's not married you know."

"Nonna."

"Her sister is getting married though,  the day after tomorrow."

"You should come...Fiorella wants you to come."

"Chiara." Fiorella frowned. They were embarrassing her.

"Ruben Dias...aren't you that football player that punched Pep Guardiola in the face?"

"Dad please." Fiorella said, clenching her teeth. Ruben only smiled, answering each question thrown at him with genuine warmth and sincerity.

Fiorella felt a sense of relief wash over her. Despite the unexpected circumstance, her family had embraced Ruben as part of their lives with open arms. The initial panic had quickly turned into a joyous reunion.

"...no really, it would be an honor to have you at my wedding." Chiara was clearly fangirling over Ruben, however her fiance didn't seem to mind, the opposite really. To have Ruben, a professional footballer, come to their wedding would simply be the coolest thing.

"And bring Bernardo!" Enzo shouted. As he and the rest of Fiorella's family returned ro their respective car's.

"I'm sorry about them." Fiorella sighed.

"You have alot of people that care about you, that's good."

"I guess, sometimes I wish they didn't care so much."

"Don't." He said. "Your amazing Fiorella, if anyone gets the honor having you in their life I understand why they would be so afraid of losing you, I am too."

"Ruben." She lost for words. Nothing needed to be said though, the way Ruben bent down and kissed her siad it all.

"I have some things to take care of tomorrow." He pulled back from their kiss. "But if you'll have me I'd love to accompany you to the wedding of your sister."

Fiorella shook her head, trying to hold in the tears. What a day, she was so overwhelmed with love.

"Is that a yes or...?"

"Of course you idiot. Yes, I'd love for you to be my date for my sisters wedding."

He grinned. "It's a date then."

Ruben bent down and stole another kiss. He spoke against her lips. "Buonasera Fiorella Costa."

She smiled. "Buonasera Ruben Dias."

Taglist:

@christianpulisic10

[fluffle-writes]

So, I saw your twst isekai idea post, and had IDEAS!

so I'm not super familiar with most of those series/fandoms, BUT...

What came to mind for me was Stardew Valley (since it's been on my mind recently). I don't know how familiar you are with the game, but I think that if he was isekai'd there, Jade would THRIVE as a farmer! I mean, he's got a green thumb and knows about plants. There's a mountain (with a mine), plenty of local flora to forage, and a possibility for a MUSHROOM CAVE on the farm. He'd LOVE IT!! Plus, the people in town are incredibly interesting - he'd never get bored there. And he's sketchy clever and resourceful enough to know how to get what he wants. His family are suggested to also be 'businesspeople', after all :)

Epel would also do just fine there, obviously. He already comes from a farming family, so I imagine he'd do a good job setting up an orchard in Stardew Valley.

On the other hand, I think that Idia would STRUGGLE in that situation. He's very clever, but NOT GOOD with new people, or much manual labour. And unless he already knew about gardening/farming/foraging/fishing/etc. from a game or series, he'd probably be totally lost on how to manage. (It would probably be pretty funny for us, but very stressful for him.)

(I put a buncha stuff under a 'read more' because I wrote. Many words lol)

I LOVE STARDEW VALLEY I'VE BEEN PLAYING IT ON MY SWITCH AND HAVING SO MUCH FUN OBLITHERATING PIERRE IN THE STARDEW VALLEY FAIR (I care about this a normal amount)

AND YESS FARMER JADE!!! OMG HE WOULD PROBABLY MAKE THE MUSHROOM CAVE HIMSELF BEFORE DEMETRIUS EVEN THINKS ABOUT SUGGESTING IT TO HIM!

Just,,, Demetrius showing up at Jade's house and being all 'hello I could set up a mushroom cave for you if you want' and Jade showing off his already thriving mushroom colonies completely filling the space lmao. I wonder if they'd be mycology buddies with how Demetrius is a biologist (iirc)

He'd love to forage in the surrounding areas and hike around the forests - and fishing! I remember him being super passionate about everything in the Camp Vargas stories he was in and I just love how he can get so happy when he's able to indulge in his interests.

(I wonder if he would mess with some of the villagers by swimming in the ocean in his merform... I may end up shipping him with Elliott if I think about that too much - typical bachelor on the beach falls for the mysterious merperson in the ocean typa story idk my brain is running away from me haha)

----

EPEL WITH AN ORCHARD YES!

He would be in his element! I can imagine him with expertise from what his family taught him on his farm - how to selectively breed plants to make the best produce, how to graft two parts of heirloom species of plants together to get the best traits from both (like the roots from a tomato plant bred to resist root diseases and the stem from a plant that produces large, delicious fruits! I've seen a video about it and it was really cool lol)

And he has the type of face and vibe that I feel like would make older ladies fawn over him a little if that makes sense? Like Marnie, Caroline, and Jodi - their group. Like, he's polite because of his time with Vil, he's quite short and has a boyish face, he's hardworking etc. I can see him receiving cookies from Evelyn and stuff like that.

----

AND LMAO IDIA SUFFERING HAHA

I'd say that he'd get along with Sebastian but I doubt that they'd end up meeting with how neither of them really go outside (I know from waiting outside Sebastian's door before I thought to look up his schedule online haha)

Idia's internal dialogue would probably be an absolute disaster haha - he is NOT built for this environment! There's too much focus on socialisation! And his noodly gamer arms cannot do farming! He would be having a Bad Time and it would definitely be funny to watch it pan out haha

At least there's a chance that he could have some meta knowledge due to the fact that he's a gamer. Maybe it'll be exactly like some sorta game from Twisted Wonderland called 'SunMist Hollow' (I just searched synonyms for that haha)

[nowoyas]

thinking started feeling like burning - nishinoya yuu/reader

m.list - deleted smut scene - read on ao3

A/N: would you believe I wrote the majority of this BEFORE having a complete mental break and quitting my job without any sort of plan? this one is gonna have a smut spinoff oneshot sometime before the end of the month but no clear ETA yet due to school and job hunting. this boy needs more love and goddammit I may not be confident in my noya but I'M GONNA GIVE IT TO HIM

Summary: Nothing had changed since you left. Not him, a brilliant hurricane, and not you, a lost robot moving forward with no goals or dreams of your own. Opposites attract, after all.

Warnings: past minor character death, suggestive themes. reader is gender-neutral but for purposes of the deleted smut scene coming later is afab. reader basically has an anxiety disorder and it's implied they have not great parentage but no major detail is gone into.

Word count: ~8600

desolate

/dĕs′ə-lĭt, dĕz′-/

adjective

1. Devoid of inhabitants; deserted

2. Barren; lifeless

Yeah, maybe that was it. Desolate. In this hotel room—small, furnished but empty—you set aside your phone and its little dictionary definition of what’s wrong with you and the definition imprints itself on your brain all over again. Hardly the first time you’ve known the meaning of the word, but perhaps the first you’ve recognized it in your face.

In high school, you’d occupied your time with almost nothing but studying. There had been friends, one or two, and a blip towards the end in the form of a boyfriend, but you had potential and didn’t need to focus on things like going out to karaoke or making out with a guy when you had exams to study for.

You had so much potential.

You recall, dimly, having memorized the definition for desolate one day among all your vocabulary. More than that, reciting it for a hopeless light in your life who just didn’t get all this school stuff.

Your nose wrinkles at the memory. Best not get caught up in that spiral, yeah?

Against your better judgment, you flop onto the hotel room bed face-first and sigh. What the fuck are you even doing here? None of this was necessary. None of this was planned for.

There’s, of course, the simple textbook facts of the situation: you attended a work event, and halfway through, went to the bathroom and just stared at yourself in the mirror—much like the way you spent the past half an hour in a hotel bathroom—went home, got in your car, and drove to a hotel precariously close to your hometown. Sure, there’d been some kind of internal monologue going on, but you don’t remember any of it anymore. Nothing beyond what you’ve known for the past six years:

Something is fundamentally wrong with you.

“So, what, we get in our car and drive away and don’t show up to work and hope it all works out?”

The desolate room does not answer the desolate you.

~

Some species of sea turtle have been observed returning to the beach where they were born in order to nest, a phenomenon known as “natal homing”. There are many theories as to how they are able to return to their birthplace…

Like the sea turtle, you swim through endless water and find yourself, of all places, back in Miyagi, staring at a house you only vaguely remember and wondering if your instincts really led you here, or if you’re staring at a random stranger’s house you’ve never been to. Maybe there’s more than one family with his last name in the area.

It looks like all the others—a house in the countryside, standard and homely. You were here… what? Three times? Five?

Not even in the double digits—you know that much. You and Noya had spent more time together at school, or at your house. Your parents hadn’t wanted you to spend too much time alone with a guy at his house. In hindsight, you kind of get it. His grandfather hadn’t exactly been the type to make sure you two were being good kids, or whatever.

Still, you run your fingers over the nameplate, the kanji of Nishinoya’s last name, and try to figure out why this, of all places, is where you’ve drifted to.

“[name]?”

You startle, looking to the voice. Familiar, yet matured. Perhaps a bit lower. Perhaps carrying an emotion you don’t recognize. That, you know, must be him.

You note with a barely-stifled laugh that Noya has not changed his hair in the years since you’ve seen him. Still that stupid, adorable tuft of dyed blond hanging down in his face. Good.

Then, the feeling passes, and the panic sets in.

What the fuck are you doing at your ex-boyfriend’s house?

“Noya,” you breathe. You nod to him, stunned.

“Holy shit, that’s actually you!” He’s closed the distance in an instant, swept you off your feet in a hug that has you crying out in surprise. When he sets you down, you stumble, trying to catch your brain before it falls out your head. He studies you with bright, sharp eyes. “What are you doing here?”

Ah. “Uh, yeah. About that? I… I have no idea.”

He blinks slowly, and then he’s laughing. “That’s not like you at all! Come on, if you’ve got the time to sit down, I’m sure we’ve got something around here to feed you with.”

“Feed me…? Wait, I…”

But he’s already grabbed your wrist, pulled you across the forbidden threshold and right to the front door. Maybe you should have thought about literally anything before showing up at his house.

Too late for regrets, you guess. You’re in way too deep for him to let you slip away now.

~

In your mind, Nishinoya is steepling his hands together like a stern employer trying to figure out the best way to admonish a bad employee. The image doesn’t really suit him, and you do know that, but you still feel like cubicle fodder waiting to get chewed out.

In reality, he’s resting his chin in his hand, watching you carefully as you run your thumb over the glass of water he’s given you and try not to meet his eyes. (It had taken quite a bit of debating to keep him from actually feeding you. The water was a concession in a valiant fight.)

“So, you don’t know what you’re doing?”

A slow nod.

“You don’t know what you’re doing.” The statement, repeated, does little to hide how astounded he is at the concept.

You sigh. It is easy and so, so heavy as the air escapes you. Maybe you can drown your errant thoughts in water until you understand just what, exactly, you’re trying to do here. You try, but no matter how much you drink, you still don’t have an answer. “Pretty much, yeah. I just sort of ended up here.”

He has an easy smile on his lips, sharp eyes taking you in. “After what?”

“What do you mean, after what?”

“I mean, it’s not like you to just run off and end up anywhere. You’re, you know, thoughtful and stuff! I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of you just doing something without at least three plans ready to go in case something went wrong.”

“I mean, there was you,” you admit with a laugh.

Shit. That was the wrong thing to say, but here you are, panicking and thinking you’ll make things even more awkward than you already feel, and there he is, smiling like he’s looking at…

What?

It isn’t until he’s leaning in further like he’s about to say something dirty that you realize your real mistake in that response.

“You didn’t think before you did me, huh?”

Your cheeks flare, and you hurriedly down the rest of the glass of water while you try to think of a suitable redirect. “You know what I meant!”

“Sure do! You meant—“

“Oh, hush.”

He laughs, and you fall into silence, trying to commit the sound of his laugh to memory.

That’s what sucks about this, oddly enough: you sit at his dining room table, holding a now-empty cup, and it’s just as easy as it always was. He tells you what he’s been up to: how he doesn’t play volleyball anymore (tragic—you loved watching him play) and he’s been traveling a lot (infuriating—you love to travel) and he’s dated once or twice since you last spoke, but nothing really lasting.

(heartbreaking.)

(you love—)

(you loved him when you left.)

“So,” he says, ever enthusiastic to redirect the conversation onto you, “what have you been up to?”

“Nothing, I guess.”

“Oh, come on. You’ve always been amazing. I bet you’ve been doing something awesome with that brain of yours. You wanted to write, right? How’s that going?”

Hah. Amazing. He’s only saying that because you were useful when you tutored him. “No, really. Nothing. Sales, I guess. Convincing people to give up money for a product I don’t believe in for a company I hate. I guess I’m up for a promotion soon. Really though, I think I’ve probably just been dead for the last… what, six years?”

You’d picked the number because it was when you graduated high school. That had made sense to you—college, too, had felt like nothing. No parties, no partners, just studying, exams, and keeping your body moving forward until you had a neat little degree in a field you didn’t care about. But when you spare a glance away from the window, where your attention has been glued in hopes of avoiding letting the awkwardness and pain of this whole situation actually hit you, it’s the first time since he ran into you that Noya isn’t smiling at you.

Oh yeah. And right before you graduated, you’d broken up with him.

“You broke up with me, you know,” he says after a long moment. “Are you saying you’ve been a ghost this whole time?”

And ouch. He’s right, and you hate that. It hadn’t been his fault you’d left. It’d been your insecurities, your inability to handle the weight of your parents’ disapproval, your unwillingness to fight for something that seemed so correct, your stunning realization that Noya would always shine too brightly for you to be the one standing beside him. He always thought you were amazing, but you were nothing compared to his whirlwind personality, his passion, his sense of life.

Maybe this would have been easier if you’d ever told him that.

“I don’t know what I’m saying. Probably just that high school was the last time I felt like a real person, and that ever since, I’ve just been going through the motions and slowly losing my mind and trying not to panic about the fact that not only do I not have any direction in life, I don’t even know how to enjoy it if I did.” Your words come out calm and metered. You try not to betray the worst of it.

For a moment, talking to him, you’d been able to forget the person you’ve been since graduation. You were always moving forward a step at a time, but at some point, you stopped being a hiker on your predetermined life path and just let yourself be a robot. Mechanical step after mechanical step. Just keep moving forward and you’ll get to where you’re going. When you get to where you’re going, you’ll take another stupid, empty step towards where you’re going now. Some successful career, some boring partner that your parents like, kids, wake up, go to sleep, another day, another day, another day doing exactly what you’re expected to do. Just keep following that bright, clear line. That bright, clear line to nowhere at all.

And then you stumbled. And now you’re here, again. Dizzy, sitting at the same table with the same guy.

At some point, you’d trailed off, staring at the table and searching for scars of a life well-used on its surface. You hear the shuffle of him standing over you, and look up to find him reaching out a hand to you. “Alright. Come on.”

“Come… on?”

He leans forward a bit more to take your hand and pull you up. “I’m taking you out to dinner.”

“Huh? Wait, but where?”

“Don’t know yet!”

He drags you out, and you stumble after him in mind and body.

“It’s one o’clock!”

“So we’ll scout places that look good while we get lunch. You don’t have anything to do, right?”

“Well, no, but—“

“Then we’re going!”

He pulls you right past the entryway, nearly has you out the front door before you can protest. “I’m not wearing shoes, Noya! You’re not wearing shoes!”

He only laughs, only pauses, only gives you a moment. “Get them on, then.”

“And do you even have your wallet?”

He blinks and pats his pockets. “Guess not! You’ve got until I’m back with my wallet to get your shoes on and decide to let this happen!”

Decide… to let this happen?

He disappears around the corner, deeper into the house, and at last you sigh, sitting to put your shoes on properly. You doubt he’ll be quick finding his wallet—if he’s anything like you remember (and so far, he’s exactly like you remember) then he has absolutely no idea where he put it last. If you didn’t think he’d absolutely drag you out the door once it was found, you’d kick your shoes back off and help him look.

After getting your shoes on, setting his out in ideal kicking-feet-into-without-stopping position, and five minutes of listening to him rustle about the house, you glance at a table in the entryway and smile at the sight of a plain black wallet in the dish. You inspect it, just in case it’s not his—there’s been no sign of Noya’s grandfather around, but almost nothing’s changed, so he probably still lives here. Better to check.

You open it, just to see that it’s got his ID in there and not someone else’s, and nearly slam it closed again immediately.

Yeah, it’s his missing wallet. ID and everything. And, in the little photo slot, a six-year-old photo of him in his volleyball jersey, million-volt smile on his face as you push him away with your own brilliant smile. He’d just won a game, and you’d been busy trying to get him, gross and sweaty, to stop getting all that gross and sweaty on you even as you laughed the entire time. Tanaka took the picture, you think—there’s a bit of thumb in the bottom right corner.

Noya keeps a photo of the two of you in his wallet. After six years without talking.

A noise bangs from somewhere else in the house, and you close the wallet and force down the warmth welling in your chest and rushing to your face. “All good?” you call out.

“I can’t find my stupid wallet!” he shouts back a moment later. He sounds a bit frustrated. “This isn’t going to work if I spend the whole day trying to—“

“Nishinoya,” you cut him off, half sing-song, “you left it by the door.”

No reply except the thudding of feet as he runs right up to you and plucks it from your hand. “There it is! I found it!”

“Oh, really? You found it?”

“Yep! Are your shoes on? We gotta go now!”

“Go where? You’re in an awful rush. Do you have plans or something?”

He kicks his shoes on and grabs your wrist again. “Nope! You’re gonna love it!”

~

Really a type of plankton, jellyfish possess extremely limited swimming abilities, if any at all, and rely on the currents to control their horizontal movements through the sea.

It occurs to you, as you make the trek to the bus stop, that you didn’t have to say yes to this. Well, really, it’s not like you said yes so much as didn’t say otherwise, and Noya, ever the trail-blazer, pulled you along for the ride. What’s even the difference in what you’re doing now and what you’ve been doing these past six years?

You barely make the bus. Nishinoya pays the fare for both of you, before you can protest, and when there’s only one open seat, he takes it.

“You’re such a gentleman,” you snort.

He responds by tugging you down into his lap. “I am!”

You’re stronger than you were in high school. Really, you are. You don’t collapse into emotions like embarrassment. You don’t let the sensation of being flustered consume you. You do not.

…you bury your face in your hands. “What are we doing right now?”

Always laughing. Always lighthearted. “What do you mean? We’re taking the bus someplace we can find some restaurants.”

“You know exactly what I mean!”

The bus passes over a bump, and he wraps an arm around your waist to steady you. “You know, you’ve barely changed at all.”

“Neither have you,” you fire back. You meant it as an accusation, but the words come out tender. “You’re still a complete hurricane.”

He laughs, his own tenderness bleeding through. “And you’re still not letting yourself have anything you want.”

“When have I ever—“

“I think you know.” His other arm comes around your waist, holding you in a loose hug, chin resting against your arm.

You try not to stiffen at all the contact. This, too, is something you haven’t felt in ages—simple, casual touch. He had always been that way, resting a hand on your shoulder, your back, running fingers through the ends of your hair, like if he stopped touching you, you’d run away.

Maybe he was right. Maybe he is right.

“You didn’t answer me before. Are you still writing? I’ve been keeping an eye out for your name on the shelves, you know.”

You rest a hand on his arm, half considering pushing his arm off. The bus stops, but apparently not at a stop Noya is interested in dragging you off at—he steadies you as the bus jolts, and as a few passengers file off, you consider admitting the answer.

“Poetry these days, mostly. It’s not like I’d ever get published if I went for it, so I just scribble out a few half-assed lines and—“

“See, stop that. That’s half your problem right there, you know!”

“Another seat just opened up, you know,” you mumble. If you try to fight him on this, he’ll end up talking you into these grand ideas that you’ll never be able to accomplish, and by the end of the day he’ll probably have you in love with him all over again, even though you know it would never work, even though you know you’d never really be anything—as an employee, as a person, as his. “We don’t have to do this… couple-y thing.”

“I want to, though. It’s nice, isn’t it?”

…it is. It really is.

“…I still like to write, but I never have time anymore. It’s work, recovering from work, getting ready for work, waiting to come home from work so I can prep lunches and wash my clothes so I have something to eat and wear at work. I don’t have energy for anything except meetings, emails, and phone calls where no one means anything they say.”

“Damn. No wonder you seem so lost. Why don’t you quit?”

“And do what? It’s not like I have a dream job. I just want to get by and survive—“

“Why? You’re not happy. Don’t you want to do something more than survive?”

“I don’t even know what that would look like, Noya.”

He says everything so simply. Just quit. Just move on. Just move forward. He’s lucky, you think. He doesn’t know what it’s like to have parents planning out your entire life for you.

…okay, that was mean. Add that to the list of things that are wrong with you.

He sighs, shaking you gently in his hold. “It’s worse than I thought. Hey, [name], why’d you come here?”

“I told you already. I have no idea.”

“Alright. Adding it to the list. Today, you’re experiencing adventure for the first time in six years, and you’re gonna figure out what you were doing standing outside my house at noon on a Saturday. If I have my way, you’re also going to be quitting your job and starting a promising career as the greatest writer Japan’s ever seen, renowned the world over, but we can get to that some other time if you want!”

“Noya, I’m not—“ Your words die in your throat as his fingers slide between yours. You hadn’t realized your hand was sliding up his arm, but here he is, holding hands with you like it’s nothing.

God. How old are you, again?

~

Lunch ends up being crepes. Never mind the fact that crepes are not a meal, not even when Noya suggests buying two each—he proudly declares it lunch, and so lunch it must be. You’re lucky that he graciously allowed you to get a table, though he’d insisted on grabbing one outside even as the sky above has started to loom with rainclouds.

“And what’ll we do if it rains?” you retort drily as he sits across from you.

“We’ll figure it out,” he grins, sliding you a menu. “Dry off after we get rained on, not before.”

You snort. “How about we just try not to get rained on?”

“Then we would be sitting inside, and you wouldn’t get to look up at the clouds while we eat! You always liked the way the sky looked before it rained, right?”

A soft huff leaves you, a small smile unbidden. “You actually remember that? I think I said that to you, like, one time.”

He nods. “Only had to say it once! Besides, I caught you staring up at the sky in the rain more than once.”

“And yet, I had to repeat the same information for you so many times, only for you to still get it wrong on test day…”

“Hey! I was distracted!”

“You weren’t supposed to be,” you tease.

“What was I supposed to do? There was this gorgeous person sitting across from me telling me all these complicated things in a nice voice. I’m a simple man!”

Though your cheeks heat at the declaration, you can’t help but laugh. “Clearly.”

“Yeah. Clearly.” For just a moment, he’s soft, unbearably soft, and you fear looking at him. Quick, change the subject before you have to acknowledge whatever’s going on here!

“S-so!” Smooth! You’re doing great, sweetie! “Any idea what you’re going to get?”

He slaps a finger down on the menu without looking. “A… monte… monte…”

You sigh and peer over to look at the fanciful English he’s pointing to. “A Monte Cristo crepe?”

“Yeah!”

“Did you read the part where it’s got onions as a main ingredient? Don’t you hate onions?”

He wrinkles his nose, but stands firm. “I’m sure!”

You huff softly. “Alright. Far be it from me to stop you.”

“What about you? Make a pros and cons list for each menu item yet?” he teases.

“For your information, I don’t have to do that when ordering in restaurants. That’s for big decisions. But…” You sigh. “I haven’t eaten out in a while. It stresses me out.”

“Why?”

“So let’s say I pick something that looks good, and it sucks. I won’t eat it because it sucks, but then I feel like I’ve insulted the chef and wasted my time and money.”

He narrows his eyes at you. “If you don’t like it, you don’t like it. But at least you’ll know! When’s the last time you actually ate out like this?”

You bite your lip thoughtfully. When was it?

“I… think I did a celebration dinner with my parents when I graduated?”

“College?”

“No, high school. We didn’t celebrate when I graduated college.”

Once again, he’s staring at you in blank disbelief. “[name], that was six years ago.”

You flush. “Yeah, so?”

“That’s so sad. What have you been doing? I’m about to take you on a food tour just so you can catch up on all the restaurants you’ve been missing.”

You wrinkle your nose. “Please, no. I can’t eat that much.”

“Then we’ll spread it out!”

“Noya…”

The waiter drops in at exactly the wrong time. Flustered, you stumble your way into lemonade for you, apple cider for him, and then, as he’s confidently mispronouncing “Monte Cristo” to the waiter, you panic and end up ordering some curry crepe, a concept which intrigues and horrifies you.

“How’d you even find this place? Seems weird for there to be some half-French, half-English upscale crepe restaurant out in Miyagi.”

“What do you mean, how did I find it? We found it together. I’ve never eaten here.”

Right. He’s completely winging everything. “Amazing.”

“Right?”

Drinks come, and you sigh into a masterful lemonade and try to think of things to say to fill the space between you and your ex. (You have to try not to forget that bit—that this isn’t natural, that this can’t lead anywhere. For your sake and his.) “So, how’s your grandfather been?”

The easy smile on Noya’s lips drops. “Oh. He died late last year. Age caught up to him, I guess.”

Oh. Fuck. “Noya, I’m so…”

He shakes his head. “Don’t apologize. Crazy bastard had a hell of a time of it. He’d hate for me to sit around feeling bad about it, anyway.”

He wouldn’t want you to pity him. Doesn’t want you to pity him. You know that. But…

Did Noya ever talk about any other family members when you knew him? You know he lived in that house with his grandfather. No siblings. Never mentioned any cousins. You know he didn’t grow up around his parents, either…

Has he been alone this whole time?

You reach across the table. Place a hand on his. “Maybe I’ll visit more often.”

In silence, the two of you sit and wait for your crepes.

~

The crepes come out, and with them, new points of conversation that carry you both to finishing—all the way until Noya manages to argue you into letting him pay. He pulls you along, a bit slower than before, a bit easier. You can’t help but let him take your hand and bring you wherever the wind is leading him, half-pitying him and half from the complete lack of will to fight him all day.

“I told you you weren’t gonna like what you ended up ordering.”

“You liked it though, right?”

Predictably, he’d taken one bite of the crepe and instantly realized his mistake. Far too much onions for his tastes. Your curry crepe had been… well…

Let’s just say that you weren’t especially upset when Noya asked you to swap.

“It was really good, if you like onions.”

“I know what I like! Onions aren’t it!”

It’s easy like this, and the day really is nice. There’s rain on the breeze and in the clouds, a pleasant scent and a comforting gloom over the day. You tease and joke back and forth, hand in hand like it’s natural, and it is. It’s easy, being around him. It was easy back then, too. So easy it scares you.

You’re just waiting for the bottom to fall out.

You’re waiting for the bottom to fall out, and it does—with a shriek and loud laughter, rain chases the both of you underneath a tree and within sight of the nearest bus stop, soaking you both through to the bone.

“See?” Noya says, grinning as he pulls you a little closer underneath the tree. “Now we can worry about getting dry.”

“You’re unbelievable,” said with a smile. “What is all this meant to prove again?”

“Well, why’d you come here?”

“Here? You dragged me out here.”

“Yeah, but why’d you come back to Miyagi? I’m just saying, my doorstep is not the first place I expected you to turn up on when the inevitable nervous breakdown hit.”

You fall silent, shiver in the rain. It’s peaceful. You try to focus on watching for a bus, anything except the question you were asked.

“[name].”

You glance at him, yelp a little to find how close the two of you have gotten. This close, in this kind of situation, it’d be only natural for you to lean in, for you to brush your lips against his.

God, have you even kissed anyone since you burned everything down?

You’re not doing this. You’re not falling into a hurricane like him again. You won’t be able to come back if you do that. (Especially with such a fucking cliché.)

You turn away. “You already asked me that. I told you before, I don’t know.”

He hums thoughtfully. Drapes his jacket over both of your heads in an attempt to keep you both from looking any more rained out than you already do.

“I’m just saying, if you want my opinion, you’re going to have to do a lot more adventuring and a lot less sales for a company you hate if you want to remember what ‘happy’ is supposed to feel like.”

“Not sure I ever knew what that was like to begin with.”

“Never?”

“When I was a kid, maybe.”

He tilts his head. “Not even when we dated? Is that why you broke up with me?” He sounds genuinely curious. Would it feel better, you wonder, if he sounded hurt?

You wince. “I didn’t mean… I just…” A sigh. “It’s more like, I was too afraid to let myself be happy when I was with you.” In the close proximity, you find it easier to let your head rest against him a little. “Please don’t misunderstand. I like you. I probably would have been really happy with you if there weren’t something fundamentally wrong with me as a person.” Shit. You definitely misspoke there.

“I don’t really know how to teach you to relax a little, but it’s gotta be easier now that you’re out of your parents’ house. Maybe you need to go somewhere completely new. Get a fresh outlook.”

You arch a brow his way. At least he’s not commenting on your slip of the tongue. “What are you suggesting, Nishinoya?”

“I’m leaving for Italy. Six weeks. That’s enough time for you to plan your little heart out, right?”

“Italy.”

He nods, as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Italy.”

“And if I came back after six years to kill you or something?”

He barks a laugh, stark against the pouring rain. His eyes linger on you. The part of you that’s charitable to yourself thinks he might be mentally undressing the clothes sticking to your skin, though you know it’s more of a challenging look. “I’d like to see you try.”

~

One soaking wet bus ride back to Noya’s house doesn’t save you from this little adventure plan of his. Instead, you’re given a towel or two to dry off with and a change of clothes from his closet, as though it’s the most natural thing in the world. The way he acts, everything is.

So now here you are, wearing a shirt far too large for you that you’ve wrestled into looking somewhat nice with Nishinoya’s jeans. It slides off your shoulder a bit no matter how many times you fix it. You admit, you do manage to pull it off, but the whirlwind of the day still has your head spinning with just how wrong this situation is.

You’re supposed to be at work right now. You should be in office clothes, sitting at a desk in a too-cold cubicle that you never got around to decorating, perfect and polished while you tap out yet another perfectly-balanced email, three-quarters professional, one-quarter gentle familiarity to lure your clients into a false sense of security. Not standing in your ex’s bathroom, tying one of his t-shirts at the waist, adjusting your hair to look closer to “decent” than “drowned rat”. This, this day, this situation, was never supposed to happen.

Is this whole day going to be a stumble? How long will it be until you catch yourself and get back to moving forward? When you do, will you still have a place at your desk?

Do you even want one?

A knock at the bathroom door. “If you give me your clothes, I’ll get them started drying,” his voice filters through the door.

All of these actions have been so easy. Your wet clothes, picked up from where they hung shower-side. Easy to wring them out a bit more to keep from making the floor worse. Easy to open the door. Easy to hand them to him.

Nothing had ever been particularly hard before him, but falling in love with him had been just like this: easy.

Maybe the first easy thing you ever remember.

~

So you go along with it. Another bus ride, this one less crowded than before. This time with umbrella in hand—just one, because of course Noya didn’t even think about it on the way out the door—and a determination to figure out what the hell you’re doing here to begin with.

Everything is as everything was, you think. Shops lining the street, one familiar sight in particular, one of two things you had never had the strength to deny yourself back in school. At the sight of the bookshop, you tug Nishinoya to a stop. You’re a little surprised when he actually does stop.

“Sorry, can we head in? I used to love this place back in school.” You nod to the bookshop. He smiles and lets you lead the way.

“I think that’s the first time you’ve done something selfish today,” he comments as you lead him in.

You refuse to meet that one with a reply.

The shop is exactly as you remember. High stacks of books, books, books everywhere. The scent of old books and a slight spice in the air, scents blending and mixing until, for just a moment, you’re in high school again, marveling at rare finds coming through the used books section and finding some new world to escape into.

You sigh into the scent and disappear into the stacks. Noya is kind enough to humor you as you pick through, find a title or two to take up to the register. If you really do come back to visit from time to time, you’ll have to make sure to stop in here when you do. The old woman at the register hasn’t aged a day. She smiles when she sees you the same way you’re smiling as you approach her.

“Is that little [name]?” she asks, though you both know she already knows the answer. “Why, I haven’t seen you around here in ages! You’ve grown so well!”

“It’s wonderful to see you again, ma’am.”

“Just as polite as you always were. Find everything you were looking for?”

She’s got a poster on the counter by the register. You steal a glance, then meet her eyes with a smile. “Sure did! I’m glad to see you guys are still here.”

Her smile turns bitter. “I’m not sure how much longer, I’m afraid.”

Ah. There’s the heartbreak, panic, fear. “What?”

“It can’t be helped. It’s getting difficult to watch this place in my age, and my Taka’s not been doing so well lately. The kids are all off worrying about their own lives now…”

Your chest twists at the thought. “Can’t you find help?”

“We’ve been looking, but…”

It cannot possibly be this easy.

There’s no way.

“But…”

Noya slides a few bills over the counter while you’re busy fighting a war in your head.

“Oh, and who’s this? You’ve got to introduce your boyfriend, dear.”

“Oh, he’s not—“

“It’s nice to meet you, Granny! I’m Nishinoya.”

Already, they’re spiraling off into some side conversation, too fast for you to make the obvious correction as the old lady makes your—Noya’s—change. She tucks a little bookmark into the front of the stack, and you slide your new books into your bag in resignation. It becomes his space as easily as it was yours, and somehow, it doesn’t feel wrong.

After you’ve left, you consider clearing the air, bringing up… whatever that was.

…it’s not worth the argument.

Another few shops, another few stops. Another few steps forward, another few hours, and yet again you’re sitting across from him, fretting over being underdressed at the restaurant you’ve both happened across and settled on.

“Are you sure we’re dressed alright?” you mutter.

“They let us in the door, didn’t they?”

…yeah, you don’t know what you expected him to say.

“Besides, you look great,” he adds. His eyes dance over you, over the bare skin on your shoulder where you’ve finally given up on pulling the neck of his shirt back up. “I think you wear that better than I ever have.”

You ignore him in favor of another menu, another decision to make that feels earth-shattering. At least you’re aware you’re being ridiculous when it comes to ordering. Really, what’s going to change if you get the fun-looking drink you might not like over the safe one? How bad would it really be if you didn’t like your meal that much?

Drinking too much. Discovering a new allergy. Food poisoning—

“You’re overthinking again,” he teases.

“I’m always overthinking,” you grumble.

“Maybe you need to take the edge off.”

He’s right, and you know that in theory. But in the practice and the day-to-day, you stare at the drinks menu and feel your chest constrict with that itch of anxiety all over again.

“You’ve just got to jump in before you can talk yourself out of it. Come on, [name], let me distract you a little.”

…you don’t think he’s trying to flirt, but your face feels hot all the same. And, well, shit, Noya is a great distraction. He’s a bit less keyed-up than he was back then, but he’s still endlessly charming, endlessly easy to get wrapped up in if you lower your guard even a moment.

“…fine. So what’s this you were saying earlier about Italy?”

His eyes light up. You rest your chin in your palm, glance over the menu again as he tells you about his dreams of traveling the world, how he wants to seek new thrills and see all these new things. You can see every potential disaster of the situation—for one, he has a house back home that someone’s going to need to care for while he’s away, and he doesn’t seem to have thought of that. For another, he’s got an inheritance and no passive income to work with. His grandfather’s leftover money may be substantial enough for this to work in the short term, but longer-term…

Well, one day, he’s going to run headfirst into a hole he can’t climb out of himself.

The thought scares you. Who’s going to be there for him when that happens?

The waiter stops by. Before you can talk yourself out of it, you pick out something alcoholic and fruity and try not to preen under Noya’s delighted approval.

“I’ve never seen you drunk before. Looking forward to it,” he grins. This time, you’re sure he means it flirtatiously, given the wicked gleam in his eyes.

You reach across the table to bat at his arm. “Keep looking, then. I don’t plan on getting drunk tonight. Just buzzed enough to put up with you.”

“Well, that’s no fun. I wanted to know what you’re like when you finally let loose.”

“Excuse you, I can be plenty fun without getting drunk off my ass.”

“Then let’s see it.”

Drinks come out, food orders are placed. You get your margarita halfway down before the buzz starts really setting in, a pleasant warmth blossoming through you. At least now when Noya makes your face hot with some offhanded comment, you can blame it on something other than your own weak heart.

“You know, this is the most adventurous thing I’ve done since I dated you,” you admit once you’re both walking back to the bus stop. Fully sober you would never have this conversation. You recognize that, but there’s enough pleasant fuzz in your head that for once you do not give nearly enough of a fuck to stop yourself. The night is warm, maybe even romantic. “This whole… running around, stopping at random restaurants, getting drenched in the rain without an umbrella. All that.”

He’s got this soft look in his eyes as he regards you. “Really? I can’t say I’m surprised. You were always worrying about everything.”

You snort. “Someone had to.”

“We were kids, though. You probably could have left at least some of that worrying to your parents.”

“Believe it or not, they gave nearly all of that worry to me. On purpose, I think.” You sigh, lean against him just a touch. Your balance never was all that great sober. “I had to be perfect. You were that one little blip.”

“Hey, it felt perfect to me.”

“Did I make a mistake, do you think?”

He looks a little wounded at that. To your credit, he’s definitely misinterpreting. “Dating me?”

“No. Leaving you.”

He pauses, an awkward motion that has you both stumbling just a bit. He’d drank over dinner, too—you’re both buzzed, and the bubbly, floaty feeling ebbs out as you stare at each other. “Why do you say that?”

“I just… I thought about it a lot,” you mumble. “What it would have been like. If I’d just stayed, instead of letting the thought of my parents scare me into running away.”

He huffs a soft laugh and winds his arm around your shoulder. “I thought about it, too. Come on. You don’t need to make it back to the hotel alone; I’ve got a guest bedroom you can use tonight. That, and I’ve still got your clothes.”

Oh. Right.

You nod and let him walk you back to his home.

~

“Have you figured anything out yet?” he asks as he finds another oversized t-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts for you to sleep in. “Gotten even a little closer to figuring out how to do something you actually feel like doing?”

“I had fun,” you mumble in reply. “I know that much, at least.”

“Good. That was mostly the point.” He hands the clothes over to you. They’re more neatly folded than you would have given him credit for.

“Mostly?”

“Well,” he grins, “I also wanted to spend the day with you. Didn’t figure you’d ever agree if I didn’t drag you out before you could think about it too hard.”

“It was nice,” you admit. “Thank you. For all of it. I… I still don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow, though.”

“Is it so bad listening to what you feel like doing every once in a while, though?”

“If I knew what I felt like doing, maybe.” You linger awkwardly in his doorway, bounce your shoulder rhythmically against the frame. “You’ve got your work cut out for you if you think one day is gonna get me that in tune with my brain.”

“That’s why I asked you to come to Italy with me.” He tilts his head, some question lingering unspoken. “Try it now, though. What does [name] feel like doing right now?”

He’s close to you. Too close. He’s close, and pretty, and magnetic, and—

“[name] feels like doing something stupid.”

His grin widens. “Nice to meet you. My name’s Nishinoya Yuu, and I’ve been told on more than one occasion that I am pretty damn stupid.”

—fuck it. You grab him by the collar of his shirt and kiss him before you can talk yourself out of it.

He reciprocates in kind, an eager hand coming to settle on your waist like it’s been waiting to rest there all night. You kiss him hot, heavy, open-mouthed; let your hands slide from gripping his collar to locking loosely behind his neck. When you’re both out of breath, he pulls back and leans in to whisper into your neck:

“Why did you come here, [name]?”

It’s hard to think with his breath on your neck, his hands on your body leaving your skin on fire where he touches, but you are great at thinking and finally off the deep end enough to admit it.

“I wanted to remember what it was like to feel alive,” you breathe out into his ear. His lips brush your throat, and you let out a breathy whine. “You’re the only person who ever—who ever seemed to know how to do that.”

“Let me show you how to let go, then.”

There’s no illusions about what he means. Not this time, not with his lips dancing down your neck to your exposed shoulder. Not with his hips pressing into yours, not with his fingertips toying with the edge of his shirt you’re wearing, and not with his fingertips brushing the bare skin at your waist.

You nod and hope you won’t regret it.

~

If there’s regret to be had, you expect you’ll see it in the light of morning. As it is, Noya returns from the bathroom and collapses right onto you, a lithe arm pulling you into his chest.

“I’m glad you came back,” he mumbles into your hair. You’re both tired—it’s late, and that might have been the best workout you’ve gotten in a while.

“Because you missed me, or because you got to fuck me?” you tease, sliding a hand over his.

“I missed you,” he replies without missing a beat. “Not too late to come travel the world with me. Quit your job and feel peace for once in your life.”

“Peace? With you around? Not likely. Besides, I’m renting a place in Tokyo. I can’t meet rent if I quit my job.”

He laughs and pulls you in a little closer. “Then just Italy, and you can go back to the way you felt before you turned up on my doorstep looking more lost than I’ve ever seen anyone in my life.”

You sigh. “When you’re traveling the world, who’s gonna take care of your house? It doesn’t seem like you’re selling it, are you?”

“Italy, come home, we’ll break in the place, and then I’ll come home to you between trips while you work on writing an international bestseller.”

Your heart flutters at the thought. Admittedly… it’d solve a lot of the problems you have with his little “plan”.

“And how do you suppose I pay for being alive aside from not having rent?”

“Ask that old lady at the bookshop if you can help at the store.”

“Why do you have an answer for everything?”

“It’s okay if things fall into place once in a while, you know.”

You sigh into him. There’s too many unknowns. How is he going to keep paying for traveling? What if the book never works out? If there’s no space for you at the bookshop? If—

He nuzzles into your neck. “I’m waiting on an answer, baby…”

“It’s late, Noya. I’ll think about it.”

“Do me a favor and think yourself into something for once, instead of out of it. I might die if you leave again.”

He presses one last kiss into the back of your neck before you both draft off, sore and exhausted.

There’s one thing, at least, you can be sure of, at least for tonight: you’re glad you came here.

~

Epilogue

“You’re looking much better,” your coworker nods to you as you settle back into your desk. “Get some much-needed rest?”

You nod your reply. “I did, thanks. Sorry for disappearing so suddenly. That cold was killer. Think I slept about fourteen hours straight.”

She snorts. “Man, no wonder you weren’t answering your phone. Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

She wanders off to her own desk. You take a long sip of your drink, stretch a bit, and get right to your stupid little emails.

You tap away, pausing between sentences to consider, to answer the phone, to sip your drink. Occasionally, to tab over to some other draft when you worry a passing coworker might see exactly what you’re writing. At one or two points, over to your web browser, either to the wikiHow article you’re referencing, or to one of the many other tabs: your online banking, to confirm that this isn’t going to completely kill you (it won’t—all work and no play gives Jack a hefty savings account), or to any number of other wonderful things on the Internet that you suddenly feel comfortable accessing with the letter you’re drafting in the background.

It takes an hour to settle. The letter is drafted, all the right people are copied. You’ve triple checked everything, gotten all your things already slid into your bag or in a box to carry out with you. Made sure everything you need to leave behind is in clear view on your desk. You’ve even prepped an auto-response on your email client so people know who to bother, if not you. It’d take three, maybe four clicks to blow up your life.

You can’t do it.

You reach for your cell and dial.

Noya, despite all that worries you about him, has always been an early riser. He picks up on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Distract me,” you order in lieu of a greeting.

You hear laughter, a slight shuffle. “From what?”

“Doesn’t matter. Just distract me.”

“Ah, you’re doing something you don’t want to talk yourself out of. I’m proud of you!” You hear the smile in his voice, close your eyes to try to visualize it. “Am I allowed to ask what you’re up to? Where you are?”

“No and no. If I tell you, I’ll back out by the time I finish saying it.”

“I get it. Hey, do you still have that mark on your neck from when I—“

Your cheeks burn, fingers dancing along the bruise in question. It had been a bitch to cover with makeup this morning. You’re still not convinced you did so successfully, but no one’s commented on it yet, at least. “No thanks to a certain someone. I still can’t believe you did that.”

“Hey, you said you felt like doing something stupid. Who was I to deny you?”

“Cheeky bastard.” You smile, lean back in your chair a little bit. Click ‘send’. “Oh god. I did it.”

“Am I allowed to ask what you did now?”

“I might throw up. Not sure yet. Hey, how do you feel about renting bikes?”

“Bikes?”

“In Italy. I was looking up, like, bucket lists and stuff, and there’s this road, the Appian way? You can rent bikes and bike it. Apparently, it’s pretty old, and there’s this café we could eat at, and—“

You hear the thunk of something falling in the background of the call. “You’re coming!?”

“Well, I just emailed my resignation letter to my boss and HR, and I can see him panicking in his office from here, so you better have meant it. Here in a minute or two, he’s probably going to call me in, or come yell at me at my desk—“

“When’s your resignation effective? Did you give a notice?”

“Effective as soon as he stops panicking.”

A bark of laughter sounds in your ear. “So if he comes to yell at you, just leave. You already quit, anyway. What’s he gonna do?”

“Good point. Leaving now.” You stand, scoop up your bag. “I have two months left on my lease. If you didn’t mean that thing about me housesitting while you’re off seeing the world, speak now before I call my landlord and let him know I’m canceling that, too.”

“All yours, but your rent is walking around without pants whenever I’m home.”

You roll your eyes. Pause to wave at your boss on your way out the door. If he shouts after you, you don’t hear it. You’ve got a trip to Italy to plan.

Tags: @deeplightgarden @idonthaveanameideayet @dusstory

If you'd like to be tagged, shoot me a message or an ask, or ask here in the replies, tags, or reblogs and let me know what you'd like to be tagged in (all works, all works specific to a character, all smut works, etc.). If your name appears on this list but is not underlined and you didn't get a notification, please check to make sure that your blog is NOT set to not appear in search results in your blog settings! If you've got that set that way for a particular reason, consider subscribing to the fic on ao3 for an equivalent update notification, as I always crosspost simultaneously! After three unsuccessful tagging attempts, you will be removed from the list.

As always, thanks for reading! <3

[321spongebolt]

Imagining My Mind in the Style of "Inside Out"

Before we get started, I thought I would take a moment to mention that the first "Inside Out" movie was released on the same month I graduated back in 2015 (Probably one of the best years of my life next to 2011). With that out of the way, here's how I imagine my own mind in the style of "Inside Out".

CORE EMOTIONS

Joy

Sadness

Anger

Disgust

Fear

Anxiety

Envy

Embarrassment

Boredom/Ennui

Nostalgia

Love

Distraction

Focus

Luck

Intelligent

CONCEPT OF WHAT MY MIND WOULD LOOK LIKE

HEADQUARTERS

Emotion Headquarters = The office where all my emotions can see and hear everything I see and hear.

Belief System

ISLANDS OF PERSONALITY

Goofball Island = Same as Riley's, with a few changes.

Friendship Island = Same as Riley's, with a few changes.

Honesty Island = Same as Riley's, with a few changes.

Family Island = Same as Riley's, with a few changes.

Disability and Sensory Awareness Island = A tame and sensory-friendly land, even though it does come at a cost of some type of risk, but nothing too extreme.

Creativity Island = A land where all my ideas would be processed. Be it OCs I've made or ideas for entertainment that either can happen or could've happened at its respective point in time.

Social Media Island = Same as Riley's, with a few changes.

Video Game Island = It would sort of be like an arcade, except there wouldn't be arcade machines. You could just visit a booth to play video games from the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 era to the current day era where we now have PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo's upcoming console (releasing either next year).

Movie Island = The place where everyone views movies I see. Either in theaters, or if I want to see a movie on my own time in either 2D or 3D.

Bakery Island = A land filled with recipes and cooked goods. All of which are allergy free. Use caution with this island. Your mouth may start to water.

IMAGINATION LAND

Similar to Riley's interpretation, French Fry Forest would be there. Unlike Riley's interpretation, my take on Imagination Land is filled to the brim with fictional characters from shows, movies, and video games I like. They serve as meet-and-greet characters for photo opportunities and autographs, just like any theme park would (particularly the Disney Parks, the Universal Studios Theme Parks, and Six Flags.). Down below are what my own Imagination Land would be like.

French Fry Forest = Same as Riley's.

Rib Fest = Annual contest event for whoever could eat the most ribs (with your choice of spare and baby back).

Personality Quizzer = Anyone can play personality quizzes, and like in "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-it Ralph 2", when all the questions have been answered, the character that appears on stage is the result you got.

Imagination Theater = An air theater for reenacting fictional media. The stage would have wiring and harnesses for plays that involve flying, smoke machines for scenes where smoke is required (and can also be used for some rock bands) confetti cannons for either finales or other celebratory means, and of course an open backstage for actors.

Hug Fest = Loosely based on the one seen in the "SpongeBob SquarePants" episode, "Ditchin'". It's just a place where people go hug each other. Meet and greet characters show up on occasion.

Leisure Oasis = A beach similar to Walt Disney World's "Blizzard Beach" and "Typhoon Lagoon" areas. The main beach area is a wave pool, with some passage ways taking you down a lazy river. The area would also have a hotel resort where you can see the view above the water and sand, or if you'd like to stay in your hotel room for indoor entertainment and getting a good night's sleep. The water is in fact safe to swim in. Other areas of Leisure Oasis include water slides, hot tubs, spas, and even a shuffleboard pool game similar to Shuffleboard was depicted in the "Madagascar" video game, but with up to 4 players individually and 2 players for team battles.

The Soar Spot = Ever dreamed of flying? This land allows you to fly either in a wind tunnel, a zero gravity area, and a harness area for zip-lining over a foam pit and a stationary harness area for hanging in front of and/or next to projector screens to make it look like you're flying.

OTHER AREAS

Long Term Memory = Same as Riley's, but with different memories in storage.

The Vault = Like in Riley's mind, the Vault is home to my personal secrets, like my constant obsessions and love for Jenny and Kitty for example.

The Land of Hands = A forest or jungle setting where there's a bunch of arms on the ground and dangling from trees like vines. Only, these hands aren't mean, they're actually friendly. They just want to either shake or hold your hand. And there's a variety of four and five fingered hands (bare and gloved) to touch depending on which paths you take.

Think Tank = Ideas I have get stored in the Think Tank, which later be shipped off to Creativity Island for some form of a test screening.

DreamWorks (no relation to the actual DreamWorks studio, and of course, the DreamWorks Animation studio.) = The studio where dreams come true, just like at Hollywood. It's similar to Dream Productions from Riley's mind.

[saintlevrant]

I would like more thoughts on merman Lev, Like how do we meet him and how does he realize 'Oh shit. I'm in love"?

ANON!!! ANON! I KNOW THIS IS LATE, BUT...

€ I have one main scenario where a merman!Lev sighting would take place; however, I am not a romantic person, so bear with me.

Now, this is probably where you take a walk along the beach, and- oh my! What is that odd figure laid up on the sand like it's sunbathing? Can't be a human cause the way it's squirming around is NOT very bipedal-esque. As you get closer, you realize it's a merperson. You approach the being, and this is where it begins. Cue the... whatever this is!

£ By heaving him back into the ocean, you help him out of the beached merman situation, and of course, he's very grateful.

£ Well, he shows how grateful he is cause bro only makes aquatic whooping and chittering sounds.

£ From then on, you go to the beach just to see how he's doing, yk, yapping it up and checking on his health and stuff. And that develops into a friendship!

£ Little by little, you guys start exchanging trinkets; for example, you'd bring land shit, like apples and flower crowns, and he'd bring you valuable items from the sea, such as pearls and handmade necklace.

£ There’s a lil unspoken competition between you two, trying to present the better object to the other with each round of gift-giving; but you never seem to be able to outdo each other.

£ And giving you valuable deep sea knickknacks is one of the only ways that Lev communicates with you, besides the occasional, broken mimicry of your words and the playful splashes he gives you with his tail.

£ He's never gotten upset with you. Maybe he feels a little irritated when you give him a gift just as beautiful as the one he gives you, but never truly upset.

£ That changes after he sees you walk along the beach with a human man. Knowing that you're not alone, the merman can't approach you, so he stays away from the shore, only peeking out from the sea surface.

£ Although he's far away, he can tell that you're smiling and laughing along with that man, and it makes an unpleasant bubble up within him. Who the hell does that bastard think he is walking with you? Haiba Lev's human?

£ You should be talking to him right now, not wasting your angelic laughter on whatever cheesy thing that man just said to you.

£ This is the moment where it hits him; you may mean more to him than a precious friend. Yes, it takes seeing you with someone else to make him realize.

£ Cliche. I know, but what else do you expect from me?

£ Lev doesn't come to the surface for days after that, even when he knows you're sitting at the edge of the water waiting for him, even though he wants to give you a token of his love.

£ He wants to. He really does, but he's scared. What if you don't understand his sentiments? What if he can't convey his feelings properly? What if that guy got to you first? What if you reject him?

£ Days pass with these thoughts clouding his mind, and the only thing that pulls him out of his head is the sound of you humming next to the water.

£ Mindlessly–like a man falling under the spell of a siren–he follows your tune. His head pokes from the surface of the water, surprising you; you didn't expect him to show up today, but you're happy he did.

£ Lev's emerald eyes watch your surprise melt into a warm smile as you beckon him closer. His heart beats faster at the welcoming sight, swimming closer to you until he reaches where the water meets the sand.

£ You talk to him as you normally would, speaking excitedly and rambling about what's happened in your life.

£ He doesn't understand half of what you're saying, but his finned ears twitch when you mention bringing a family member to walk on the beach with you.

£ Family? His gills flare as he roughly garbles the word back to you. After you explain that family means "same blood" and related, he clicks happily and disappears beneath the surface of the water.

£ He comes back after a few minutes, chirring with a hesitant rhythm.

£ Obviously, you don't understand what he's trying to tell you, but from the flush of color on his cheeks and the stiffness of his shoulders, you can see that he's nervous.

£ Mid-trill, the merman extends a webbed hand to offer you a stunning necklace decorated with pearls, delicate seashells, and coral.

£ Just by looking at it, you can tell that the necklace is of much higher quality than any of the other items he's gifted you; then, you piece it together.

£ He's confessing to you.

© xenclev 2024. ♡ thank you for the ask!

[hippolotamus]

Tagged by @panbuckley @honestlydarkprincess @heartbeatdiaz @spotsandsocks @prince-buck-diaz @alyxmastershipper @buddierights Thank you loves 🥰

Soooo, I, uh, may have started a new WIP today. It in no way resembles how I thought my writing would go today (I know, I know... when does it ever?)

Eddie Diaz is eleven years old when he meets the love of his life.  His parents have finally agreed to take the family on a vacation that isn’t a week away at Abuela and Abeulo’s ranch. They even got to ride on a plane for part of the trip.  From the balcony of their rented house, Eddie stares at the crashing waves of the Pacific, watching the water recede and roll back in again. He’s never seen anything like it in his life. How the sun reflects off the water, making it shimmer, like someone had dipped the ocean itself in gold. The endless stretch of sandy beach is a colorful mishmash of umbrellas, patterned towels and blankets, grown ups laying out, and kids gleefully running through the surf. There’s seagulls taking calculated dives for the chance of snatching someone’s sandwich, and other shorebirds cautiously skittering near the waterline. In the distance, there’s a pier to the left and right that he fully intends to explore.  At his mother’s instruction, he helps get his baby sister changed into her swimsuit while his parents pack bags and a cooler of drinks and snacks. Finally, finally his family leaves the house to search for an open patch to lay their things. An anxious current runs under his skin as he spreads out a large blanket and hastily sets up a folding chair. The sand under his toes is hot and gritty, making him all the more eager to be off dry land.  Before anyone can tell him what to do next, Eddie dashes away from the blanket, grinning from ear to ear. He loves the sound of his bare feet slapping against the cool, damp earth; how the foamy surf bubbles over his skin and blueish, greenish water laps at his shins, occasionally licking up his thighs. It’s warm and pleasant, heated from the midday sun, enticing him to wade in further.  Why did it take so many years for his parents to finally bring them here? Eddie tests out the water in every way he can think of – floating on his back, swimming out against the current, riding the waves back to shore. Out here he feels… free. There’s no expectation to be man of the house (whatever that means), do better in school so he can get into a good college later, or to babysit his sisters. Part of him wishes he could stay here in the ocean, uninhibited. At least he has five more days to just be before it all comes crashing down on him again.  He suddenly becomes aware of a commotion on the beach. People are shouting and he realizes they’re trying to get his attention. They point in his direction, but he’s still not entirely sure what he’s supposed to notice.  When Eddie looks around he realizes he’s drifted well beyond the other swimmers and his feet can’t touch bottom anymore. He doesn’t panic – not yet – he took swim lessons and can figure out a way back to shore. Eddie takes a deep breath and raises his right arm, ready to cut through the water one stroke and kick at a time. He’s just about to reach forward when he feels the wet, heavy smack on the back of his head, plunging him into darkness.

No pressure tagging @shortsighted-owl @elvensorceress @mysteriouslyyounggalaxy @heartshapedvows @911onabc @monsterrae1 @eowon @the-likesofus if you wanna

[spectre-does-stuff]

Ok so I have a stardew valley hc and maybe it's a lil wild, a lil wonky, but hear me out:

Transmasc!Sebastian.

Maybe my genders a lil bent (it is) and I'm projecting, but here's my evidence:

-after unlocking the Ginger Island resort, the only bachelors who wear shirts to the beach are Shane and Sebastian. Shane's can be chalked up to a dislike of his body, but for seb... Every other bachelor his age (see: Sam; Alex), is shirtless. He might just be insecure buttt he might be hiding either a binder or top surgery scars.

-perceived/past feelings of rejection could lead to his unwillingness to spend time around friends/family. Any kind of rejection of identity can make me instantly wary of a person; perhaps in the past Abigail or Demetrius was rude/invalidating towards Seb's gender identity in the past, etc.

-during the summer, one of his dialogue options is "I definitely don't want to go swimming, if that's what you're going to ask. Oh, you just stopped to say hi? Sorry." As a transmasc person myself, an aversion to swimming is something I've learned. I'm afraid if bathing suits/skin tight clothing and probably would be even if wearing a binder. Especially if a person wasn't aware of my transness, I think I'd want them never to find out.

-However, once at 10 hearts after receiving the bouquet, "If you ever wanted to go swimming... I guess I'd do it." Is one of his dialogue options, implying that after all this time he trusts the player enough he's no longer scared of swimming around them, and/or that swimming is something he does only with trusted individuals.

-At Ginger Island, he may say, "I usually wear black, but in this heat..." Now of course this is probably meant to be a reference to his emo type style and aesthetic preferences, but a small tip for those who bind is to wear dark colors so there's no risk of their binder showing through sheer clothes, and so the edge of the strap should the binder be black will blend in.

-at 6+ hearts during fall he may say "Who does Demetrius think he is, telling me what to do? He's not even my real father.” perhaps in reference to an attempt at controlling his transition.

-After being married to the player for a minimum of two days, he may say “Living here with you is teaching me to come out of my shell a little bit. I think it's good for me.” This could mean that Sebastian just wanted, or that it's relaxing of him to have someone who never knew him when he was femme presenting. Everyone else in the town has known him his whole life, and there's a high likelyhood he'd be the only trans individual in the whole place. Additionally, George is canon confirmed homophobic (“How can two men get married? It's unnatural... Hmmph. I guess I'm just "old fashioned"...” if the player is male and married to alex). Townsfolk dont seem to have the highest option of Seb, as indicated by There's some weird people living in this town. ...like that guy Sebastian. Why does he wear black all the time? I don't get it.” (Alex).

-frogs. The obsession with frogs is just queerest, most LGBTQIA+ thing I've ever heard.

All in all, is a stretch to say Seb being trans is canon? Absolutely. But! The headcanon is canon conforming, and I will be keeping it.

EDIT: ANOTHER POINT!!

Seb is the shortest bachelor, at around 5'8. Of course, trans men can be tall and cis men can be short, but it's just another bit if evidence for my silly little hc

[straight4joekeery]

Teach Me How To Love In Your Own Lyrics

(Part two)

Prev

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With the finals happening, his classes were actually quiet for once. Except for the constant “Mr. Harrington may I use the restroom?” At least they used correct grammar. His fourth period was by far his favorite of the classes (although he would never admit it). They were the smartest group and they actually listened. They got done impressively quick leaving them with 20 minuets of class. He collected their papers and leaned back on the front of his desk. “So,” he begins, “anyone have any fun summer plans?” Which he knows is like the most teachery question to ever be asked but oh well.

They all had the basic answers : going to the beach, spending time with family (he loved the kids that said this), and the classic going to spend every day at the arcade. However, there was one answer that stuck out to him.

“What about you James?”

“I get to go to my favorite bands’ concert!” He sounded so excited

“Oh really? Who?”

“Corroded Coffin! They’re coming to Indy!”

Sometimes Steve forgets how big they actually are so the answer kind of took him by surprise. “That’s awesome! Okay random question. Show of hands, who listens to Corroded Coffin?” Almost every single kid raised their hand. Wow. They are in for a treat.

“Now I’m sorry kids but I think I have you all beat, I am 100% their biggest fan.” All the kids protested. James especially about how “I don’t see your tickets!” Steve grinned “okay okay maybe not but…” he reached behind him to his desk in search for something. He pulled out 2 Polaroids. One was from about 5 years ago of him and Eddie on the swings at the local park. They may or may not have been as high as a kite, but that wasn’t important. The other was more recent. It’s the two of them in the Wheeler’s basement. Eddie is playing the most ‘metal’ song ever his guitar while Steve plays a kazoo. He smiles at the memories to himself before turning the pictures around to the kids and saying, “Is your best friend the lead guitarist?”

The kids were in awe. James stood up and pushed his way towards Steve. “You?”

“Yes?”

“Friends with THE Eddie Munson?”

“The one and only, yes.” He looked so shocked? Excited? Angry? He could not read any of his students emotions no matter how hard he tried. James turned around and sat back down with the same expression plastered on his face.

All of the class wanted to know how they knew each other. Oh. Steve had to make up a story on the spot. He really couldn’t say “oh yeah when the inter-dimensional portal opened up I went looking for him, because y’a know he had murder charges and had to hide, but anyways long story short he died and I gave him cpr, and we have been BFFS since!” So he goes with:

“Well we went to high school togeth-“

“WAIT!”

“What now James?” he sighed

“You went to school here right?

“Correct.”

“That means Eddie went to school here?!?!”

“Yeah? The whole band did, now if I can cont-“

“WHAT???”

Steve took a deep breath, “now can I continue?” James mumbled some sort of yes. Steve laughed, “Okay. So yes we went to high school together but we didn’t really now each other then. We were on opposite sides of the field I guess? He started his own d&d club. And I..” he sighed, “was on the swim team.” All the kids booed. He laughed and continued, “I know I know. Anyways, we met through mutual friends, and after all said friends left town he became my best friend, not to mention I have saved his life.” The kids were all silent except for (you guessed it) James.

“What is he like?”

“What do you mean?” He asked while looking back at the pictures.

“Like is he one of those celebrities who’s really mean in person?”

Steve snorted, “not at all, he may look like he’s really mean but I swear he’s the sweetest person I’ve ever met,” he paused and smiled, “This one time his car broke down so I drove him home and,” he giggled, “he saw a cat on the side of the road. He yelled at me to stop the car, and we had just went to get fast food, so he jumped out of the car, gabbed the cat, and started giving the cat fries. I had to force him back into the car. He cried actual tears for HOURS because he didn’t get to keep the cat. He already named it too. Get this, Jameson the third. He doesn’t even know a James let alone a Jameson.” He set the pictures down and glanced at his watch. “Oh guys we have 2 minutes before the bell rings. So yes James he’s super nice.”

When the bell rang and they all told him goodbye. They seemed more cheery then normal. He was glad for that.

It was his lunch period next. He wanted to look over some papers so he stayed in the classroom. He got done but didn’t want to leave, so he just stared at the ceiling and got lost in thought. He thought about Eddie leaving. He really got sad just at the thought. 3 months was going to be a long time. He realizes that he hasn’t even left and he misses him. The only person he’d have left in Hawkins would be the English teacher Julie Smith and to be honest she’s starting to annoy him. He doesn’t know how Eddie did it for a year. He thought that maybe Steve didn’t mean as much to Eddie as Eddie did to Steve. He quickly discarded that thought along with the tears that were now rolling down his cheek. He felt like they all needed a formal goodbye to Eddie. And that’s when he had a great idea. He picked up the phone and dialed Robin.

“Helllooooo?” She answered

“Robin.”

“Steve! What’s up?”

“I have an Idea but I kinda need your help.”

“I’m listening. ”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next

Here is part 2! To be honest this wasn’t planned at all. It was meant to be a paragraph or two of part three but oh well. More stuff for you guys 😉. I think I might love making Steve cry. Idk why I do it constantly tho. This part is also kinda short :(. Anyways hope you enjoyed! I think this one is pretty good. You can probably tell how low my self esteem is by this 🤷‍♀️. Ngl i kinda hate it. Oops. So far I have parts 3 and 4 written. I think I will post one part a day. Also part count update: it’s now going to be 7-9 parts! Comment or reblog if you want to be tagged!! Thank you for reading!! <3

Tag list: @asbealthgn @queerbeansworld @bird-with-pencils @vecnuthy !!

[senditothemoonn]

UKFR PLS 💜

Gives nose/forehead kisses: Fran obviously 💖 although I can see Artie giving him lil pecks when he's sad or tired - just coming to engulf Fran in his arms and press his lips against his worried lil forehead. Of course, the odd soft lil nose kiss first thing in the morning, that’s also adorable.

Gets jealous the most: Arthur. Like I said, he's an insecure, anxious lil guy and I imagine Fran is constantly reassuring him. That's not to say Francis doesn't get jealous either, I just think that while Arthur sees anyone as a threat, Francis will be really intimidated by certain people in particular. Like those he sees acting particularly soft with Arthur - he thought he was the only one who got to be soft with that grumpy little gremlin ! >:’(

Takes care of on sick days: overworking RT Chan strikes again 😩 like take a break before Fran forces you to take a break.

Drags the other person out into the water on beach day: do I even need to say? The image of Arthur clad in T-shirt and knee length swimming trunks reluctantly being dragged towards the sea by Fran all sunny smiles is SO clear in my mind. Perhaps I need to draw this...

Brings the other lunch at work: Francis. But I also think that Arthur would bring some form of takeaway to Fran because he knows he won't eat otherwise. Like just bringing him a sandwich and coffee from Pret and then he does the James Acaster bit like 'I like to manger un sandwich' and Francis rolls his eyes but he laughs anyway and please they are so CUTE.

Tries to start role-playing in bed: we all know they'd both be into the nastiest freak shit, but honestly I'm not sure who would initiate it. I can imagine, in the heat of the moment, Francis being like 'choke me' and Arthur obliges with suspicious vigour and later they're both like 👀👀

Embarrassingly drunk dancer: Arthur, it's always gonna be RT. And I think his dancing gets progressively worse with every drink he has ajsjsjs

Cheesy disco moves that would make even your grandpa look cool.

Why is this guy forcing his boyfriend to foxtrot in the middle of a club?

Oh dear lord he's twerking.

Firmly believes in couples costumes: ofc I think Fran is the queen of dressing up (I mean he's out every Saturday night in the club in full drag) and Arthur thinks dressing up is for kids. But once Fran gets him into it, he adores it. Like this is the man who goes to battle reenactments in historically accurate chainmail. He may pretend to be above it on Halloween, but this man loves dressing up and he needs to admit that so he can have the fun he deserves by dressing up like an evil wizard and scaring children.

Breaks the expensive gift rule during Christmas: I think they both would. Francis would initially (he can't help it, he is a man of expensive taste) and since Arthur has come to expect this, he will also go all out and try to outdo Francis. Only these 2 could turn gift giving into a competition.

Makes the other eat breakfast: they are the type of couple that has to force each other out of bed in the morning. It's more like brunch at that point and it's basically just Francis telling Arthur to at least bring a slice of toast with his flask of tea on the way out and Arthur reminding Francis he needs something besides a cup of coffee and a cigarette.

Remembers anniversaries: neither of them are good at this so maybe they've just given up. Equally, they have to plan anything months in advance if they want to do something on a special occasion because I think they're both a little scatterbrained. Fran because that's just who he is and Arthur because this man is so stressed. Seriously, someone get him some help.

Brings up having kids first: I see Arthur being similar to Alasdair in that, even if it sucked at times, he looks back on his childhood with fondness and part of it is because he had such a big family and I think he wants to recreate that with Francis. He wants to be a dad 🥺

Kills the bugs: Arthur ajsjd the spider fiend.

First to define them as a couple: I think they would get off to a rocky start no matter the au but once they've settled, I think that Arthur would be kind of shy and anxious about speaking too soon and Francis would recognise that and voice what they were both thinking. (That they are in love 💗)

Who hides their guilty pleasures longer: Arthur. This man is riddled with shame and anxiety.

Snorts while laughing: Fran ✨

[countrymusicjunkiekd]

No more Sun PT.2

WHERES SUN!?!?! WHYS THERE BOTTLES EVERYWHERE!!!!???"

"Moon calm down....sun upstairs, sleeping with Lunar,"

"Is he ok?"

"He had a bit of a break down and....well....drank every bottle,"

"I'm going to wake him up,"

"Just don't get mad at him Moon,"

"I just want to know he's ok..."

I quickly ran upstairs when Earth moved.

I found sun curled uo under the blanket and Lunar pretty draped over him. Both were snoring softly.

I move to Sun, gently touching one of his rays, which retracted, "Sun....brother...wake up,"

He opened his pupilless eyes and muttered something beofr closing his eyes again.

"I think he's a bit...drunk....I mean, he drank all the wine bottles. That's a lot for him,"

I tried again, genlty shaking him this time. I ended up waking Lunar instead. He fell to the floor with a small yelp

"Wha!? Oh hi Moon..."

"Hey Lunar. Sun, please wake up,"

"Whyyyyyy?"

He sounded....differnt. Maybe he was drunk.

Please be ok my dear brother

"Sun! We need to talk!"

"But I want to sleep....."

"Sun PLEASE! I LOST SOLAR I CANT LOOSE YOU TOO!"

He went quite and I started crying

Wer both hurt, and we both can't take anymore....

"Sun please....talk to me. Or Earth! Or even Lunar!"

"I may not be the best at helping, but I'll eat Nutella straight out of the jar with you....all night,"

Lunar always knew how to make people laugh

I watched as sun's rays retracted, he sat up and stated at his hands.

"I'm the only one who hasn't died yet....you have....solars gone....Lunar wa sgoen for a while, and Earth technically died for a few hours....I've lost everyone then got them back

I'm scared ill loose everyone again. Scared that, the ones I love will get pulled away once more.

Moon, you know I've never been good at dealing with this stuff. I don't know how to control the shit inside my head!

I couldn't stop Eclipse! I started all this because I wasn't strong Enough! I'll never be enough! ILL never even be smart enough!  ILL NEVER BE GOOD OR STRONG ENOUGH!!!"

And now we were both sobbing.

"It's my fault sun! If old me wasn't so selfish, he would've found a way to get rid of his kill code instead of leaving it in you! He loved you, and so do I!

He would die again for you, I would die for you.

Your my brother Sun, and I Love you! I wouldn't care if your not enough! Your the glue holding me togetehr! Holding us together.

Sun.....you may not be the smartest, or the strongest....but you've got the biggest heart.

You give chamces, your alway there for me...for us.

Sun, your so much, more then I'll ever be. Your the heart of our family. And we all love you!"

"You and Moon were the first ones to care about me,"

"You helped me understand what was going on, even tho you just lost Moon. You didn't even push me away," Earth added

"I think it's time for a break. For all of us. Wer all hurting. How about....we go and....maybe just chill on the beach. Sleep, Build sand castles...can we swim? I don't kneo, but we can still chill in the water," Lunar said from his spot on the floor

"Family time actully sounds nice...."

𓅭 𓅰 𓅭 𓅰

And there we were...on the beach.

Earth was building a sand castles with sun

Lunar was just floating in the water.

I watched as Sun was trying to dig a moat for Earth's castle.

Sun looked a little better.

I grabbed some damp sand, balled it up and chucked it at sun.

It hit him right in his rays.

"Mooooon!!!!!"

"What? What happned?"

As I was acting dumb, I had a sand ball fly by my face.

A big sand ball fight started.

I just hope we can all get better

𓅭 𓅰THE END𓅭 𓅰

[sugar-omi]

(The inner mermaid loving child in me heard Our Life mermaids and RAN-) Okay but on the topic of mermaid AU's for OLBA hear me out, Mermaid AU where either the MC or Cove is a mermaid that through some sort of means can shift back and forth from a human form and a mer form, but they keep it a secret

If Cove is the mermaid I imagine it's kind of a "mysterious stranger" situation. Where as a kid the MC is playing alone on the beach when they find some boy (Cove) that they've never seen before just sitting on the beach and staring at the ocean. They go over to him to say hi and while Cove seems really jumpy and wary when they first speak to him he does calm down a bit after meeting the MC and they become fast friends. From that point on Cove just kind of becomes the strange kid that appears on the beach every now and again when no one else is around, and also MC's new playmate (though Cove's really insistent on the MC's family never knowing about him.. wonder why?). Skip to when they're both 18 and the MC is walking along the beach earlier than they usually would and come across either a tide pool or a cove (like the place, not the person haha-) and see a real life mermaid inside! It just seems to be laying on their stomach and hanging out but oh my god its a real mermaid!! MC thought they were fake but theres one right in front of them!!! Man the stories were right about mermaids being irresistable cause dang this one is really pretty.. look at those back muscles- oh the mermaid noticed them! Wait a sec.. IS THAT COVE????? Cue panicked screaming followed by a panicked explanation from Cove

If the MC is the mermaid I kind of got inspired by this one webcomic I read which I forgot the name of but basically the MC is just staying on land which their moms and Lizzie (who may or may not also be mermaids idk) because for some reason they can't stay in the water with their actual parents, and it's basically the same start as the canon game where the new neighbours move in and it's Cliff and Cove and him and the MC become friends, just now that whenever Cove suggests going in the water whenever they hang out MC kinda freezes and nervously declines, Cove is a little bummed he cant play with his favourite person in his favourite part of the world but he assumes they're just scared of swimming or the ocean and respects that. Then when they're both 18 Cove finds out MC is a mermaid similarly to the last scenario where he's walking along the beach late at in the afternoon when no one else is there when he sees the MC lounging in a tide pool and excitedly calls out to them and runs over, then when he reaches them Cove sees the MC freeze and try to stutter out something which confuses him until he actually processes everything he's seeing and oh my god his best friend and crush of 10 years has been a mermaid this entire time Cove thinks he's gonna faint-

I rambled a lot here my goodness the mermaids got me thinkin-

omg asking cove "so.. are you gonna lure me into the sea?" and when cove is all confused you remind him. "you were worried abt a pretty merperson taking me away, so are you?"

he's so flustered...