#the ending is kinda... nothing of that sort happens in the movie but i wanted this to have its own version of vfd

[gellavonhamster]

near dark (1987) but make it asoue

@carnivorous-horses-lover first of all, thank you for enabling me

Secondly, imagine, if you will, a small-town young man who works at his stepfather's farm. The young man's name is Fernald, and his life is pretty miserable - his attempt at an acting career in the City failed, forcing him to return to his hometown, and now he's stuck in a routine he doesn't enjoy. His relationship with his stepfather Widdershins isn't great - in part, probably, because his stepfather is a pretty miserable man too, a former sea captain now bound to live on land after sustaining injuries that made him unfit for life at sea. Nearly the only bright spot for Fernald is his teenage sister, Fiona - she's talented and smart, and surely won't become a failure like him.

One evening, as Fernald is getting drunk at the bar after a particularly angry row with his stepfather, he meets a cute and charming person called Orlando (I think this name would fit in fine in this AU - iirc, Sunny refers to the Henchperson like that at some point either in the books or in the series, and Virginia Woolf's Orlando is able to live for centuries without growing old). They hit it off right away, and damn, this might be the drink talking, but Fernald feels like he's falling in love. At the end of the night, just before sunrise, as Orlando is about to leave, he kisses them.

And then Orlando bites him. Bites him and sucks his blood.

After that, Orlando runs away without explanation, so at first, Fernald doesn't understand what has happened to him. But then the rising sun starts burning his flesh. As he's trying to hide in the shade, an RV drives up, and Orlando pulls him in. Inside, he finds a group of people all screaming at Orlando that they should kill Fernald, but then Orlando tells them that they've already turned him, and, after some discussion, the strangers inform him that they'll let him live - for now. Fernald learns that his new acquaintances are a band of vampires who roam the Land of Districts under the guise of a travelling acting troupe. The band is led by Count Olaf, a man claiming to have been an 18th century nobleman. Apart from him and Orlando, there's Olaf's girlfriend Esme, a Bald Man, two White-Faced Women, and Carmelita, a tween girl recently turned by Esme when the latter decided she wanted a daughter. They travel from town to town, kill people to feed, and occasionally steal a new vehicle and burn the old one to cover up their tracks.

The Count and the others tell Fernald that they're going to give him a probational period of sorts - he gets a week to learn to hunt, and if he doesn't, they're going to get rid of him. The problem is, Fernald can't make himself kill people. His thirst is strong and he can feel his organism starting to reject human food, but he cannot overcome his fear and disgust. Orlando helps him by hunting for him and feeding him their blood after they have fed themselves, but they tell him this cannot go on, and Fernald knows that eventually he has either to become a murderer or be murdered. In the Village of Fowl Devotees, where the vampires attack a bar, he fails to kill a local handyman and lets him escape. Everyone but Orlando is furious and wants to kill him, but then the police arrive, and Fernald risks his life to help the rest of the group escape. This pacifies the vampires, and they decide to give him more time to adjust.

Meanwhile, Widdershins and Fiona follow the trail of the vampires' rampage from town to town, hoping to catch up with Fernald and see if he can still be saved. They meet the handyman, Hector, who has seen which direction the vampires drove off to. After driving all day, they decide to stay at a motel, not knowing that Olaf's troupe is also staying there. At some point, while Widdershins isn't present, Fiona goes out of their room and runs into Carmelita. They strike a conversation, and Carmelita, happy to finally have someone her age to talk to, invites Fiona to their room. When Fiona sees her brother, she is overjoyed, but he immediately gets worried and tells her to leave. It is, however, too late: Carmelita wants a friend, and even though Olaf hates the idea, Esme is still fond enough of her toy - pardon, her child - to indulge her whims.

Luckily, Widdershins arrives and threatens the vampires with a gun. A scuffle ensures, and the whole family, including Fernald, manages to escape. For some reason, Widdershins is sure that a blood transfusion might help Fernald revert to human state. They try it, and it works.

The family returns home and wards the house against vampires ("but Stepfather, how do you even know all these things?" - "don't worry about it"), yet it turns out they've been followed. At night, Orlando comes and persuades Fernald to go out and talk to them. They try to convince Fernald to let them bite him again and go back with them, but eventually, unable to lie anymore, they break down and reveal that the other vampires made them distract him. Turns out that while they were talking, Olaf's troupe somehow broke through the protection of the house. Fernald discovers that his stepfather is grievously wounded and his sister is gone. Widdershins tells him that the vampires took Fiona away and urges Fernald to follow them. Fernald calls the ambulance for his stepfather and leaves to chase the troupe, who have by then picked up Orlando and driven away. He is attacked by the Bald Man and the White-Faced Women, but manages to defeat them.

Orlando, who is genuinely in love with Fernald, decides to risk incurring Olaf and Esme's wrath and help Fiona escape. Together they break out of the car and run towards Fernald. The sun is rising, and Orlando has to cover themselves with a jacket, because the sun keeps burning them. Furious Olaf and Esme, with Carmelita in the backseat, pursue them and attempt to run them over with their car. Fernald manages to push Fiona and Orlando away, but the car crashes into him, and he passes out.

He regains consciousness in the same small - and, honestly, shady-looking - hospital where his blood transfusion was performed. He is aching all over, and one of his hands has been amputated, but he's alive. Fiona is there, and so is his father, bruised but still standing - and Orlando, who has also been cured by a blood transfusion. Another person present, strangely, is the handyman from the Village of Fowl Devotees. He tells them that the car with the vampires exploded in the crash, but no human remains were found when the fire was extinguished. Perhaps they burned to ashes completely. Perhaps not.

Okay, says Fernald, what the hell. Why are you here? How did Stepfather know that the blood transfusions would help? What kind of hospital is this?

Widdershins and Hector share an awkward glance.

There used to be an... organization some years ago, they tell him. An organization created to battle supernatural threats. It was founded long ago by people privy to the secrets of the world. But it has been dying out for decades, and their generation was the last. Too many died, too many quit out of fear (Hector looks away, embarrassed), too many were seduced by the occult and joined the other side. But the few still remain - the ones who don't seek out the enemy actively, but still remember how to fight against it.

They call themselves volunteers.

And it seems no one can hide from what one is forever.

[alwritey-aphrodite]

hii ! can i request this prompt « my ex doesn't understand it's over, so I tell them I've already got someone new » with sirius or remus ? tysmmm

I went with Sirius, I hope you enjoy!!

Sirius is sitting at the table, peeling an orange and methodically removing any of the “stringy bits”, as you call them, so you won’t have to go back and do it yourself and ruin your freshly painted nails, courtesy of days and days of bugging on Sirius’ end. You’re washing dishes, and clearing your throat over and over like you have something to say.

“Just spit it out already,” Sirius gripes, still cleaning off the orange, after you clear your throat only to stay silent for what feels like the millionth time.

“I have a favor to ask,” you say, somewhat uncomfortably, drying your hands on the dish towel before turning to face him, leaning your hip against the counter as if you need the support.

“Shoot,” he replies, not bothering to look up at you for more than a glance, determined to get the orange spotless.

“It’s kinda a lot,” you cross your arms around your middle, and from your tone Sirius knows you’re practically crawling in your skin, so he finally puts down the orange and gives you his full attention.

“I’d do anything for you, you know that.” He tells you, voice dripping in sincerity, and his heart practically glows when you smile at him in response, a soft, shy thing as if he hasn’t seen you dancing on tables and stumbling home and lounging around in your rattiest, comfiest pajamas for a junk food and movie marathon. Sirius is your best friend, and even though you know you can come to him with anything, the fact that he’s your best friend makes your favor slightly more than a little awkward.

“Can you take me out on a fake date on Friday?” You ask, jumping in without providing any sort of context so you don’t chicken out.

“Darling, I’d love to, but what the fuck does that mean?”

Pushing off the counter, you sigh, all big and dramatic as you make your way over to where Sirius is sitting at your kitchen table and throw yourself into the chair next to him.

“So, you know Henry, right?” Sirius’s nod is accompanied by a rather exaggerated eye roll, but you plow ahead anyway, “Well, I saw him when I went out for a walk yesterday, and it seemed like he didn’t really understand the fact that we’re broken up for real.”

“What do you mean?” Sirius asks, suddenly more alert than he was moments before.

“Nothing, really,” you attempt to quell his fears, knowing exactly where his mind went the second the words left your mouth, “just that he kept asking me to go out and do things together that seemed pretty couple-y, and he’s nice enough, but I broke up with him for a reason.”

Pausing in your story to take a breath, you see Sirius nodding along, but can tell he’s not really sure where the whole fake date situation comes into play. The fact that he’s even listening, even entertaining this bizarre idea of yours, makes your heart seize up, just a little, with affection and all sorts of things better left unmentioned and unnamed. 

“I just really wanted to let him down easily, so I said I couldn’t because I have a boyfriend, and he asked who and I could have made up a name but I was just thinking about you, because I had just bought the stuff for that salad you told me about, so I said you.” 

Unsure of what to say, Sirius just tugs his bottom lip between his teeth, and you plow on ahead.

“And I said we had plans on Friday and he asked where so I said that Italian place you like and apparently he works there.”

‘Well, I could have told you that,” Sirius says, his first contribution to the conversation since you started your little rant.

“I’ll buy you dinner and it doesn’t have to be anything too weird, we’ll just walk in holding hands and maybe a kiss on the cheek and we’ll just look like we’re in love if he happens to walk past us,” you’re practically pleading now, taking Sirius’ unusual silence for proof that this is one favor that’s too much, too awkward. 

“Please, I’m not that awful,” he slides the plate with the orange, now split in half, over to you, “I’ll pick you up at six and pay for your meal because I’m a gentleman.”

“Thank you, really, I owe you one,” you say, picking up your half of the orange as Sirius does the same.

“Hell yeah you do,” he responds, as if going out to dinner, out on a date, with you is some big chore he has to do, and not something he’s been thinking about for months now.

[beat-the-morning]

🖤 Fumigation Journal || Hozier x Reader🖤

BOTH PARTS

READ ON TUMBLR UNDER CUT || READ ON AO3

Rating: 18+ || smut

Tags: oral sex, multiple orgasms, cum eating, cum swallowing, marsturbation interrupted, love confessions, fingering, face fucking, dry humping, marking, creampie (kinda), squirting, breakfast in bed

Summary: Andrew is staying at your apartment while his house gets fumigated, you come back from work one day only to find him with your dream journal in hand. What will happen next?

Word Count: 7k

A/N: This fic was co-written with oomf :) We both wrote both chapters— go give them some love!!

Their Wattpad

💙FULL FIC UNDER CUT💙

You gazed out your window, sleepy eyes reverently observing the sunrise. Your heart swelled— somehow, the sunrise always felt prettier when you had someone to love. Really, everything in life gets slathered in beauty

And, oh, how close your love was. He was staying in your shitty apartment instead of his big, old house. The one that had no air conditioning, that he needed to get renovated when he moved in to even be able to piss in the bathroom. It also frequently got infested with bugs. Andrew tried everything, but nothing really worked. Not bug traps, nor the exterminator, nor closing the gaps in the house.

So, currently the house was getting fumigated. Maybe these bugs realized how he was made for you. Maybe they were on your side— the ultimate matchmakers. You giggled into your pillow at the mere thought.

You got up and rolled out of bed. Work was in 30 minutes— it was probably best to suck it up and stop staring at the sky, like some sort of romantic. Even if you very well were. You stumbled out of your room, hair frizzy, face bare, eyes blurry.

Your sleepy legs made their way into the kitchen, every step a battle. You weren't paying attention, your mind was way better at thinking about your pretty best friend. In consequence, you bumped into the man himself. Face hitting his chest, you let out a tired groan. You looked up at him with weary eyes— one of his hands ended up on your shoulder, steadying you.

“Clumsy morning, huh?”

You cover your mouth, hiding a yawn. Andrew laughed, a warm, mellow, welcoming sound. Wanting him was your only absolute this early. Everything was blurry, you really didn't care about anything, you were tired, and your head hurt. But you wanted him, and you wanted him now.

“I made french toast.” He said, letting you go, interrupting your thinking.

You happily hummed, sitting down at the table as he set a plate in front of you, “Thank you, Andy”

“No problem. And I'm sorry for this being all so sudden. Thank you for taking me in. It… it really means a lot, you're a sweetheart. Truly.”

Your cheeks flushed, and it took you a few seconds to compose yourself before you dug into your pancakes.

Once you were done stuffing your face, you quickly got ready for your job. You organized books at the local library— and you sure as hell dressed the part. You decided on a patterned button down and black trousers- hell, your elderly neighbor dressed younger than you.

Work was boring as fuck, but at least it was Friday, so no more work for a couple days. You got through the day with one too many cups of coffee and at least one “smoke break”, which was really just a lap around the block to get away from work for a few minutes.

You didn't have the worst job ever—hell, the pay was the best you'd had. But it was tedious, and mind-numbingly boring. Especially when you had a man at home. Not your man, but rather the man you were given the curse of being “just friends” with.

You were utterly thrilled, yet exhausted at the end of the day, when you took the bus home and planned what movie you and Andy were to watch.

Your aching legs made their way up the stairs, your hand holding tightly onto the handrail, trying not to fall down the steps from how drowsy you were. The sweet promise of seeing your best friend filled you, though, and it did almost numb your pain.

You finally reached your floor, opening the door, heart warm and fuzzy, and your eyes befell a beautiful, but shocking sight.

Andrew lay there, on your cozy couch, in sweatpants and a white ribbed tank top. Even that was enough to stun you. His eyes were focused, glazed over, head tilted back. His hair was messy, tangled.

In one hand, he held a small, black journal- with striking similarity to your dream journal. You’d been using it for a few months now and had written every dream you’d had in it, while it had started out with innocent little fairytales, your dreams had become far less appropriate as of late. So the journal mostly was composed of dirty descriptions of intimacy- all with Andrew. This was the book that you mistakenly left open on your coffee table the night before. His other hand was under his sweatpants, gripping tightly, stroking his cock with wild abandon. He knew it was wrong, that he was invading your privacy, but god, was he weak for you.

“So fuckin’ hot…” He groans, the world around him fuzzy and blurred. “Please” he whimpered, bucking into his hand, a bit of drool leaking onto his chest, soaking the hair that peeked out from under that singlet.

You took it all in, and realized that you should not be watching this. You quickly shut the door, followed by a loud curse from Andy. You could feel your heart pounding in your ear. Fuck, were you wet. You were still in your work clothes, very much dressed like a librarian. But you couldn’t deny the wetness underneath it all, you felt your panties soaking more and more as the seconds passed by, you hated and loved what his simple yet perverted act was doing to you.

Behind the door, Andrew quickly put his conscious, ever twitching length away under those unintentionally slutty grey sweatpants. Or intentionally— you knew this man. Despite his very common bouts of disliking everything about himself, he knew how hot others saw him. And he wasn’t an idiot— he'd seen your reverent stares. He'd noticed how you always stayed wrapped in his arms just a second too long after hugs. He knew that you were attracted to him on some level. Maybe not the full extent, but he knew something was up.

How could he ruin this by wanking off to your private journal? Once his dick was put away, still twitching, leaking a bit in his pants, he ran his hand through his hair, hunched over, filled with guilt. Your moleskin-wrapped journal was abandoned on the floor. Man, did he fuck up.

You leaned into the door, your voice shaky— you were embarrassed, turned on, and terrified all at the same time.

“Andy… you decent?” you called out on the other side of the thin door, meek.

He looked up from his hands covering his flushed face, and responded a very pathetic, “Yea… Ehm, yeah, I am.” He shifted awkwardly, before his pretty hazel eyes fixed upon the floor. Shamed, and rightfully cockblocked.

You opened the door, slowly walking back into your apartment, your eyes focused on the floor, too embarrassed to look over at him. His breathing was shaky— he was scared to take even one step closer to you.

“I’m sorry, angel, I didn’t—“ he cut himself off, taking in a deep breath before speaking again. “I have no excuse, I really, really don’t. I just… I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say. I was.. you were gone, found yer book… and… and I thought you were working, and I'm so fucking sorry, Ang-” He cut himself off with a sob, one finger nervously twisting at a curl.

Angel, huh? The man was always such a sweet talker when he fucked up. Now you weren't even mad at him, how could you be? You wished you could have the image of him pleasuring himself burnt into your eyelids. But you snapped out of these filthy thoughts when he spoke again.

“I’ll just leave, I know you probably need to process this whole thing, but please don’t—“

“No- I mean, it’s…” You took a heavy breath in. Please keep going. You thought, but what slipped out was a little more civil;

“We all do it, yeah? So… so…” You took another heavy breath in, your tone changing to a softer one. “Don’t leave.”

His heart broke with your last words, how could he say no to you?

“No, no, I'm… really sorry, that journal was private. And… and it's not fair to you,” cue the chorus of sniffles, “It's none of my business, even if it's about-”

And when you thought your cheeks couldn't flush more. Your best friend was sobbing, and yet you couldn't help but notice the outline in those sweats. Long, hard, twitching, leaking onto the waistband. Oh, how you wish to swallow it whole.

You took a step closer to him, finally looking into his eyes, they were red and teary, begging for forgiveness. You hugged him, awkwardly, but you knew he didn’t care much about that. He just needed the embrace of another. He felt horrible—disrespectful, dirty, perverted. All he wanted to do was sink into this couch and die from pure sin.

But the closest he could do was sink into you. He was so disappointed in himself that he didn't really notice his face was between your breasts. Fine, he did notice, and it made him even harder. But it was a shameful boner— and he really did derive a lot of comfort from your embrace.

You gently stroked his hair, whispering the occasional ‘you're okay’. Did he notice how hard your nipples were? Did he feel your heart beating? Oh, you felt him. Obviously he was hunched over, in a way that you couldn't feel his cock, but you could feel his shaky hands holding onto you. You could feel the way he nuzzled his nose into your breast— and fuck, did it turn you on.

You moved to the couch, sitting down next to each other, you gently pulled his face from your chest, holding it tenderly in your hands. He looked so ashamed, yet aroused. He closed his eyes for a second, relishing in your touch and caresses, surprised that you even wanted him near you.

He sighed softly, eyes still closed, you placed a tender kiss on his forehead, your thumbs softly rubbing his cheeks in an attempt at comforting him.

When you pulled away slightly, he let out a little whine. He didn't mean to– he was ever so flustered. His cheeks under your fingers were hot, very hot. Like he'd never been kissed on the forehead by someone as pretty as you. You were sure he had, but it was cute to see him fumbling around like he hadn't.

“I really am sorry, I don't deserve this.. you being so damn sweet, when you should really just be yelling at me.. and in your own house, I'm such a-”

“For God's sake, could you shut up?” You blurted, your hand stilling in his hair.

He looked at you with big, wet eyes, almost like a kicked puppy, he looked like he was on the brink of tears. “But I-”

You saw those pretty shining eyes, and that blabbering soft mouth. And all you could think about was shutting him up yourself. You leaned in, the bow of your lips drawn against him in a slow, but nevertheless desperate affair. Andrew sobbed a little into the kiss, but held you close. He needed this, he needed you.

You were the first to slip your tongue into it, tasting his spit. He tasted like coffee and tears. Poor man, an insomniac and depressed. What he needs now is pussy. Plenty of it, to drown his sorrows in.

You kept devouring him, feeling his hands shaking throughout, yet incredibly needy. One hand landed on your thigh, and you fell into him, groaning needily.

God, he could feel the heat radiating from you. He pulled off your kiss-swollen lips and got at your neck, quickly finding the spot that drew you in. He spoke quietly, under your ear

“This good?” He whispered, eyes half lidded. He didn't even try to hide his boner, and you could feel his precum leaking out.

“Mhm..” you whispered reverently, moving his hand up your waist.

He fumbled while unbuttoning your shirt, quickly followed by your bra before he latched onto one of your breasts, needily sucking at your nipple while his hand played with the other one. You whimpered quietly, your hand immediately moving to his hair, fingers tangling in his brown curls. His lips moved to your other nipple, sucking it passionately while his hands travelled lower on your form, undoing your work pants after a bit of a struggle.

You tugged at his hair, leading him to where he was so obviously so very giddy to lap at. He looked up at you, heart eyes so pretty in the golden hour, but ever so feral. You met his gaze with a smile. He kissed a trail down to your clit as he inched both your panties and trousers down at the same time, moving down, licking a firm stripe up your warm pussy, then digging in, and eating you like a man starved.

And god, did he eat you out. Like he was made to. Eager and adoring, he worshipped you between your legs without even pulling away to breathe. His long tongue, soft lips, and nice big fingers— what else would he use them for? Yes, guitar playing, but he'd much prefer to play you instead.

His tongue worked at the lips of your pussy, nose dug into your clit, his stubble drawing giggles from you. It quickly became his safe space. He loved it. He'd always loved it, and he loved it even more now that it was you. His sweet muse.

And his favorite melody, out of all the love songs that he's heard, were your moans. A sweet crescendo, starting soft and shy, but loud enough for all your neighbors to hear by the time his fingers were inside you. You were his, all his. And everyone had to know that. They had to know that he was devouring your decadent body as it deserved to be.

His fingers curled into you, tickling the very spots that made you squirm and squeeze his face with your thighs. You returned his heart eyes before they rolled back.

You moaned so loudly, lewdly. A noise that you didn’t even know you could make. You felt a familiar knot in your belly, the feeling of it tightening only to suddenly snap overwhelming you.

“Fuck, you- Andrew, fucking- God!” You said, frustratingly riding the waves of pleasure running through you.

He looked up, eyes shining, still so very big and needy, but drowning in your orgasm, just as you were. He curled up next to you, catching your lips in a hungry kiss. When he pulled away for air, you smiled, in a way that you hoped he adored.

“You taste like pussy, Andy” You teased with a little giggle.

“Mm… Wonder who’s fault that is, angel.”

You giggled, kissing him again. His hands grabbed your waist and moved you so you were straddling his thigh, you ground against it, unknowingly rubbing his cock while doing so. One of your hands travelled lower towards his sweatpants, slipping under the waistband and wrapping your fingers around his cock. Slowly, you stroked it, the tip of it red and glistening with precum, poking out under his clothes. Your other hand pulled his top off, consumed with the need to feel his skin against yours.

He moaned softly into the kiss, pulling your hips firmly onto his thigh and making you hump it, you moaned in return, and he deepened the kiss. It wasn’t long until you felt him twitching in your hand, his hips buckling towards you ever so slightly, you were going to stop, you wanted him in your mouth before he could finish, but you were too late. He came on your hand and on his abdomen not long after, a thick pearly coating on his slight pudge. You broke the kiss, looking down at his lap and pulling your hand up to your mouth.

He looked into your eyes, and you returned it, almost asking for permission, to which he gave you a small nod and a smile. Your eyes focused back on your hand, still covered with his seed, and you licked it off, quiet, soft moans escaping you as you swallowed his delicious sin.

“Baby, look at me,” he commanded softly, his grip in your thighs tightening. You looked at him, his eyes full of love and lust. “Good girl, now look here,” he pointed at the mess of cum on his abdomen. “Look at what you did.”

“Sorry.” You said with feigned innocence, looking at him with puppy eyes.

“Don’t be sorry, my sweet angel.” He cooed in a patronizing tone, knowing you were putting on an act. “Just clean it up for me, yeah? Be good and clean up your mess.”

You nodded, sliding off his lap and onto your knees on the floor. You leaned in close to his tummy, his dick still hard even after his climax. He grabbed you by your hair, pulling you even closer, then, you started licking him clean, his happy trail tickling your tongue in the best way possible. You swallowed him, over and over again while he moaned softly. You slowly started to run your tongue over his cock, looking up at him with your sweet bedroom eyes. He gasped. He adored having someone suck him off after he's already come. It made him see stars, truly.

“Mmmm… you like this, sweetness? You enjoy cleaning me up after you made such a mess of me?” He cooed again, hands brushing through your hair.

You nodded the best you could while his dick was stuffing your mouth up. God, his sweet whimpers and words of encouragement. They really could kill you.

You swallowed him deeper, closing your eyes, trying your best not to gag. You ended up getting a little carried away, your nose pressed hard into his pubic bone, like a puzzle piece. There was a bulge in your throat. You decided to try something out and stroked it from the outside, looking to see if it did anything for him.

And God, did it do something. He let out a noise you thought was impossible. He was there, on the couch, legs spread, back arched as you were on your knees, sucking from the tap. He pulled your hair tighter- probably not intentionally so hard, but it's not like it didn't turn you on.

You kept at it, closing your eyes, drowning in those growls and whimpers. You'd think he was some sort of slut.

He gasped, and starting fucking into your throat, pretty eyes rolling back, legs shaking. After another few languid strokes, he came down your throat, basking in the way you enjoyed this, just as much as he did.

“Good girl, fuck.. your throat, fuck,. Jesus fucking Christ, angel… so tight, Mmm—!” He babbled mindlessly as you pleasured him. God, he adored you.

Adored you so much that he came down your throat. You choked on it a little, pulling back and clearing your throat. You smiled sweetly up at him, cum dripping down your chin, then kissed the tip of his cock, warranting another little burst of cum to shoot at your face.

“Such a messy eater…” He teased lovingly.

You were in the middle of a reply when he stuffed his cock into your mouth again, holding you there.

“Shhh, princess. Nobody's ever taught you to not speak with your mouth full?” There was a smile on his face. God, was he a vision… Cheeks flushed, hair the messiest you've seen it, hands shaking, stray drops of cum on his pale skin. You started to bob your head, but he stopped you.

“Two rounds of sucking me off in a row? I'm sure you get tired. So tired. How about I just do it for you… keep your mouth around me, and I'll take care of the rest. Is that okay with you, angel?”

You gave him those puppy eyes, humming happily as a way to say “yes”.

“Mmmhm? Okay, then..”

He started to fuck into you, a little bit sloppily, his hips bucking. He was feral, truly. He moved quickly, hyperventilating, a third orgasm threatening to happen at any time. He moved faster, fucking your mouth with a surprising amount of strength for a man that had already come twice.

But it became too much, and you had to pull away to take a breath, warranting a surprisingly bratty whimper for a man acting so dominant.

“Wha- Wha- FUCK,” He belted, shooting cum onto the floor, right onto your moleskin notebook, it wasn’t much, just what was left inside of him after the last two orgasms. Your hand was still wiping your chin, and your mouth fell open.

“Jesus, sorry, I didn't know-”

“I didn't either,” he said, irrationally upset. It took him a bit to calm down. He caught his breath as he leaned back on the couch. You got up and sat next to him, gazing up into his brimmed eyes.

“Andy, you know I wanted to swallow, I really did. I want it…”

He looked back down at you, gaze softening. He leaned to your level, grabbing your chin and opening your mouth, then, moved his head on top of yours and slowly let his spit flow from his lips and onto your tongue. You smiled, a little naughtily, and swallowed. God, that was hot.

“Mmmh.” You hummed.

“That's something to swallow, isn't it?”

He leaned in and kissed your tired lips tenderly, as you tangled into him, ending up a cuddling, naked mess on your—now, filthy couch.

He moved you to lay on his chest while he played idly with your hair, his nose buried in it as well, taking in your scent in the quiet evening. His other hand traced patterns on your back, his fingers dancing carefully over your skin, almost fearing you’d shatter like a porcelain doll just from his touch.

His lips pressed onto your forehead, giving you a soft, affectionate kiss that took your breath away for a second. You looked up at him from his chest, your eyes wide and adoring. “Hi,” he murmured softly, not really thinking about what he was saying.

“Hi,” you responded, making the two of you burst into a fit of giggles.

“This doesn’t feel real.” He whispered softly, still caressing you with all the love in the world.

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“I never thought I’d actually get to hold you like this, to have been with you like we have.” He elaborated. “This was always more of a fantasy, I didn’t think it’d be real.”

“What, you thought I didn’t like you like that?” You asked, a bit incredulous.

“I knew you thought I was hot, I’m not stupid, I see how you look at me.” He sighed again, his arms tightening around you, his gaze avoiding yours. “But the… ehm, the extent of just how much you liked me was more than I thought it’d be.”

You smiled softly, your hand playing with his chest hair as you listened to him. His voice was like a melody in and of itself, every word he said a note in the symphony of your dreams.

“It’s just…” He continued, his tone even softer. “It’s like there’s steps to all this, you know? There’s finding someone attractive, then there’s wanting to- ehm, have sex with them, and then there’s just wanting to be with them, in every way possible…” He trailed off.

“Andy. What are you trying to say?” You asked, his eyes immediately focusing on yours the moment you finished your sentence.

“That I love you, angel, I have for a long time.” He finally confessed. You felt his heart speed up in his chest, he was so incredibly nervous.

“I love you, too.” You timidly whispered, then placed a quick, loving kiss on his chest. “You can calm down now, your heart is beating way too fast.” You added teasingly.

“Maybe a proper kiss will calm me down.” He teased back.

You moved carefully, crawling up to his eye level and kissing him deeply. He kissed back almost immediately, your mouths moving in tandem to make the perfect kiss. Andrew pulled back after a few seconds, his mind too crowded with thoughts to fully lose himself in you no matter how much he wanted to do just that.

“Let me take you out on a date, somewhere nice,” he caressed your cheek with his thumb. His voice little more than a lovesick whisper. “If not, at least let me call you mine.”

“Yes, to both.” You smiled, nuzzling your face into his hand.

“Good,” he kissed your forehead. “Sorry to change the topic like this, but I’m exhausted, wanna go to bed?”

You chuckled softly at the change of subject. “We haven’t even had dinner yet.” You argued lovingly.

“I had my fill with you already.”

“Then I guess we can go to bed, but I have to shower first.” You stood up from your cuddling position on the couch, watching Andrew follow suit not long after. “Maybe put a movie on my laptop and we can watch it afterwards?”

You looked up at him with begging eyes while holding his hand in yours, he smiled, he couldn’t say no to you, especially now.

“As you wish, princess.” He took your hand to his lips and kissed it playfully, a small giggle escaping you both. “Any movie in particular you desire to watch, your majesty?”

“Okay, cut it out,” you continued to giggle, “just choose one you like, yeah? I’m gonna shower.”

With that, you went to your bathroom to clean yourself up while Andrew went to your room and set everything up, including cleaning himself as best he could and fixing his messy, post-orgasmic appearance.

You came back from the shower after almost an hour, hair still wet, in comfy sweatpants and a tank top. You made your way to your room, waiting to see your angel. He sat there, in bed, scrolling on his phone, hair up in a messy bun. He looked nothing short of adorable— cleaned up nicely too.

Your laptop was next to him. It seems he'd already chosen a movie, Legally Blonde, for some reason. You sank next to him, leaning against his shoulder.

“You like chick flicks?” You asked, with a giggled cadence.

“Nothing short of modern masterpieces, they are.” He replied, starting the movie and letting your body adjust against him. You clicked, your arms the perfect length around his waist, your lips the perfect curve against his, your nose perfectly nesting into his pulse.

You fell asleep first. Fast asleep- not stirring in the slightest. He thought your slight snores and weird murmurs were adorable. He'd much rather fall asleep to those than any movie. He closed the laptop and set it on your bedside table, his long arms holding you tight into the late hours.

He ended up having the best sleep in a while— no thoughts of upcoming concerts or snobby dinners to torment him. You somehow made it all stop. In his busy world, you were his only constant. Something he wanted to hold close to and never let go.

——

Andrew adored your face. He saw it everywhere- the pure beauty of it. He saw your beauty in the Irish hillsides. He heard your voice in every old timey love song. Everywhere, everything, it was always you.

In the early morning, he found himself gazing at you again, a long finger tracing your cheek. He sighed contentedly, completely enamored with you. His limbs tangled further into yours. This went on for about half an hour— his sweet touches and comforting, soft kisses.

Your eyes fluttered open. Your first view of the day was Andrew cupping your cheeks, his head tilted. You smiled dorkily at him, your view still unfocused.

“Morning, sleepin’ beauty” He greeted in that soothing Irish lilt of his. You responded with a groan— giving him the opportunity to scoop you up in his arms, holding you to his chest. You giggled into the firm, warm body.

“Hey!” You grogged. He pulled you even further up, paving a path of smooches along your face, whispering sweet nothings.

“So pretty when you wake up, you know that? Sweet, sweet angel… and you're all mine…” he was getting lost in you, reciting all his best praise while you were barely away from the sandman.

It took a while for you to properly wake up. When the consciousness came, you returned his kisses sloppily, hand coming up to tangle in that messy brown hair.

The kisses got more desperate and messy as you went, desperate to taste each other, to catch up on everything you've missed. You grew a little dominant— even a little frustrated. You rolled him over, warranting a whimper, then pulled away, laying on your side next to him.

“You're so needy in the mornings.”

“Huh?” He whispered hoarsely, looking up at you with half lidded eyes.

“I said you're needy in the mornings. All kisses and sweet words…”

You got onto him, warranting a little ‘oomph’ to squeeze out. He quickly wrapped his arms around you, holding you steadily, groaning as your thigh brushed against him.

You put your thumb in his mouth, slowly grinding and watching as he sucked it at the same pace. The little pacifier kept him quiet, even when you were ruthlessly rutting into his growing hardness.

He looked up at you with shiny eyes before his head tilted to the side, giving you a full view of his beautiful, biteable neck.

You stop grinding for a second. You ached to keep staring into those lovely breaking eyes, “Andy, look up.”

He obediently gazed up at you through thick lashes, mouth biting your thumb a little. You kept going, watching as he tried not to lose his locked stare. His hand moved to your wrist, trying to pull to take your thumb out of his mouth, you shushed him in return, pushing it in a little deeper.

“Keep it in,” you ordered softly, starting to grind on his crotch once more. He listened, lightly biting your thumb to suppress his moans. “That’s it, good boy.” You added in a sultry whisper.

Andrew’s eyes shot open, you felt his dick harden almost immediately, the size poking at you through the layers of clothing. He pulled your thumb out of his mouth, his eyes dark with lust. His hands moved to your waist and threw you onto the bed, making you whimper.

You looked up at him as he moved on top of you, caging you into the mattress with his long arms. He grabbed your wrists and held them above your head with just one hand, then pushed his knee between your legs, smiling devilishly at you.

“Grind.” He ordered, his voice stern yet undeniably full of love for you. His thumb found your clit, tracing obnoxiously slow circles over it.

You obediently rubbed against his knee, the dual stimulation of his finger and your actions making your back mold into an arch. You struggled playfully against his grip, moaning softly as your hips moved.

You kept grinding, eventually losing yourself and collapsing onto him. “Awww, that's not all you have in you, is it, baby?” He teased, his grin widening.

“C’mere, let me treat you.” He spoke in a lowered octave, gently nudging you over, as if asking for permission to take you.

You let him guide you over, your eyes hungry, legs wrapping around his waist. He firmly kissed down the side of your face, sinking down to your clavicle, and getting to work, sucking at it for a good few minutes- summoning giggles that quickly turned to moans of pure desperation. When he finally pulled away, what was left of all the sucking and biting was a reddish purple mark that he blew on, the air sending a shiver down your spine.

“Was that okay, darling? I’m sure you have some turtlenecks you can wear for a couple days if you need them.” He continued to kiss down your body, his voice even more rough. “Though I’d rather you didn’t, the idea of you going out with my mark on display is so fucking hot.”

“I work at a library, I can’t just have hickeys on displa— FUCK!” Andrew sucked on your chest, intending to leave another mark while his hand had traveled down to your core again, only to insert two fingers inside you this time, thrusting away any words left in you.

He smiled as he pulled away again, blowing softly on the second mark he’d left, his eyes already scanning your body in search of a spot for the third and fourth ones, all while never stopping his fingers inside you.

His mouth found your tummy just as his thumb found your clit, you moaned loudly, trying to thrust into his fingers but getting stopped by the rest of him on his quest to mark you fully. Not like you’d complain though, you’d be lying if you said the thought of being marked by him all over didn’t turn you on.

The pattern repeated as he went lower, marking your abdomen a few more times while his fingers worked on you, getting you closer to your climax. He sucked on your inner thigh, leaving his last mark on you before replacing his thumb on your clit with his mouth, sucking on it while he fingered you still. You screamed from pleasure, your hands gripping the bed sheets as you felt your orgasm washing down on you in intense waves of ecstasy. He didn’t stop until your legs were shaking and your moans turned into whines, he slowly pulled his fingers out of you, almost making out with your clit before sitting back on his heels.

He put his soaked fingers up to your mouth, you welcomed them, sucking off your essence and making Andrew smile. He took one of your legs and put your ankle over his shoulder, straddling your other one in a way that made his cock perfectly align with your entrance. He pulled his fingers out of your mouth, trailing them down in a path that connected all your hickeys and continued down your belly, pressing down on the weak spot right under your belly button.

You giggled, batting your lashes up at him. Truly, you wanted him to fuck you until your guts split, and the best way to get that would be to put on the innocent act— one that you had quickly learned was his favourite. Even if he knew it was little more than that.

He rubbed the tip of his cock over your soaked folds, watching as you tried to keep the little act up. And it was hard, when he was there, with his chest hair and stupid smirking pretty face. When his hair was in a side part, tossing every time he made a sudden move.

He pinned you down with his lean arms. He squeezed into you, feeling your pussy envelope him, squeezing around his cock in just the right way. He didn’t take the time to ease you in, quickly building the pace up, gritting his teeth. He fucked the woman he loved the most in the most feral way possible.

You loved this side of him, your body instinctively moving your legs to where he perfectly hit your g-spot with each needy thrust. You abruptly came after a few of these- making that your second orgasm.

But he kept going, and you kept laying there and looking so utterly fuckable. Legs spread, tits bouncing, eyes rolling back every time he hit your sweet spot.

“God, you're such a pretty thing. Wish I could just stay inside you all day, keeping me warm…”

He kept going. At this point, your eyes couldn't even keep open. Your nails dug into his back as he leaned closer to you, little half-crescents engraving into his pale skin. He was close to you now, chest sweat dripping onto your face. You could feel his hot breath and hear his beautiful moans, and feel the spit dripping out of his growling mouth.

You yelped as a strange sensation took you, snapping him out of it. You whined and wrapped your leg, that had now fallen off his shoulder, around his hips, practically begging for him to continue his thrusts. You didn't even notice at first— it was him who pulled out. He felt your squirt soak his dick, biting his lip, slapping his dick lightly to try and drain you as you squirted all over him.

“Jesus… You just do that, love?” He whispered lowly, dripping in shock— still incredibly turned on.

“No! I… I didn’t know I could…” You said softly, still trying to catch your breath.

He laughed and leaned in, kissing your cheek, “Well, I'm glad to be the one to help you find out, Mmm?”

He was silent for a few beats, then placed his hand tenderly on your cheek, “Are you okay? Can I keep going?”

“Please put it back in…” You begged.

He smiled. “As you wish, my love.”

He did exactly that, pushing back into you, getting lost in your body once more. Sweet moans escaping him as he chased his own release.

He felt his balls growing tighter, moaning in almost your key, his hot seed bursting into you. He gave you a big dorky smile, still slowly fucking in and out as his cock started to soften.

Andrew leaned in and kissed your face all over, still buried inside you, feeling your warmth around him, and, slowly, coming back to earth from the heaven that you’d taken him to. Your arms enveloped him lovingly, he melted in your gentle touch, his heart swelling with love for you. His eyes widened in a split second, realisation setting in.

“Shit, baby, I- I’m so sorry, I didn’t- christ.” He mumbled apologetically, caressing your face, “I’ll make it up to you, I swear, I didn’t mean to, angel.”

You looked at him, slightly confused as to why he was apologising so much.

“What are you talking about?” You asked, slowly getting your strength back.

“I didn’t put a condom on, I’m sorry, I completely forgot, I’ll go to the store and get you the pill.” He apologised again, his voice threatening to break from the nerves.

“Andy, hey, calm down,” you smiled, caressing his face with one of your hands. “It’s fine, I’m on birth control, stop worrying.”

He breathed a sigh of relief, smiling at you with loving eyes. “Thank God,” he chuckled, kissing your lips for a split second, “still, I’m sorry, I should’ve put one on anyway when I didn’t know if you were on birth control or not.”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind.”

He kissed you again, deeper this time, taking the moment to finally pull out of you, swallowing your soft whines as he did. His cum flowed out of you, the sight of it making Andrew smile darkly. He went to your bathroom and came back with a washcloth, gently cleaning you up.

“The bed’s wet, love, want me to carry you to mine?” He asked, caressing your cheek with all the tenderness in the world.

You nodded in response, then felt his arms wrap around you and carry you to the guest bedroom he’d been staying in. He laid you on the mattress, you yawned, your legs exhausted. You had to admit, you always got so sleepy after sex. Your exes hated it— but Andrew found it so endearing. He gently tucked you in, kissing your sweat-slick forehead.

“You’re so beautiful, angel. Be a good girl and get some good rest for me. You deserve it.” You reached for him with grabby hands as he threw boxers and a big knit sweater on. He smiled at the sight. “I’ll be back, okay? I just have… something to do. Go to sleep for me. Please, angel.”

So, you— being the sweet, obedient angel that you were, fell asleep after just a few seconds. He got up and washed his messy hands, then got to work on your breakfast. He decided on pancakes. Which he was able to make into somewhat perfect hearts.

He put the pancakes, along with fresh berries, on a platter and brought them in after an hour and a half or so.

He placed them on the bedside table, then gently shook you awake.

“Wake up, love, I made breakfast.” He greeted, like he wasn't deep inside you two hours ago.

You looked up at him with a hazy stare, “You can cook?” You mumbled, looking at the plate.

“Of course I can cook. What other way could I have charmed girls?”

You rolled your eyes playfully, sitting up and placing the heated platter on your lap, “No idea.”

He sat next to you, snacking on some of your berries, watching as you ate. He was possibly the biggest loverboy in the world, obsessed with everything you did.

“What?” You ask, noticing his constant puppylike stare

“I don't want to go back to my house. I want to be like this. For as long as you'll have me.”

God, was he an angel. He really thought you'd grow tired of him?

“Then I think you'll be living in this shitty apartment forever, Andrew.”

“Forever?”

“Or until it finally falls apart and the building collapses on our heads, whatever happens first.” You giggled.

“In that case we could move to mine, then.” He suggested, smiling lovingly. “After the bug problem gets fixed, that is.”

“Be nice to the bugs, technically they’re the ones that brought us together.” You teased, kissing him gently.

“I’ll tell the exterminator to be gentle when killing them.” He teased back, returning the kiss passionately.

[voxisdaddy]

Sweets

C/TW: Mentions of sex but otherwise nothing bad.

Nah but imagine Vox knowing you have a crush on him and he’s thinking like, yeah I could take advantage of this—meaning ‘hell yeah I get laid and an attractive partner? Sign me up’. Regardless of what your relationship with him is, he is interested and down to fuck and have a possible sexual relationship with you from here on out. So he makes his move by inviting you to his personal living quarters in the Vee Tower. You walk in, heart fluttering about at the prospect your crush wanting to spend time with you, and are quickly met with Vox. He of course puts the moves on you; charming smirk, the correct choice of words, arm wrapping around your hips or your waist as he pulls you in closer to him. He hints at something—a burning desire. You’re flustered in his arms. He’s thinking, yeah he’s got this in the bag. But then you push on his chest and unwrap yourself from his arm. Wait what? “Vox,”—You’d start, “I’m flattered but…I’m not that kind of person.” You then excuse yourself and before Vox knows it, he’s standing alone in his living quarters. You’re into him? He knows this. What happened? Despite his annoyances with the results, he still persists. He spends the next several weeks trying to seduce you, flirting with you very sexually—not Valentino level but still sexually charged. Yet every time he gets shot down. One day he’s ranting to Velvette about it to which she rolls her eyes and scoffs, “Is sex the only thing you can think about?” Velvette whips out her phone, pulling up your social media pages, all your likes, comments, reposts, music playlists, shows and movies you watch, ect,. “They’re a romantic—A fucking sweet one at that. Taking advantage of their feelings just so you can get your dick wet whenever you want isn’t gonna get you anywhere, darling.” Vox spends a few days thinking it over. Okay so a more romantic approach. But he tried inviting you over! He even set the mood and everything. Though it was with the hope that…it would quickly lead to having you naked on his bed. He probably has some sort of mental war with himself about it too. Like why’s he trying so hard? It isn’t until he spots you on one of his cameras where he realizes he may want something much more than just sex with you. But is it too late? Did all his attempts at wooing you really scare you away? He watched with bated breath as you sat on a water fountain, gingerly typing away on your phone. You were wearing the loveliest looking spring dress/shirt. You looked so…beautiful. So sweet. So innocent. And romantic. A type of romance that seemed like it didn’t exist in hell. He was so mesmerized he didn’t even realize a second figure coming to sit next to you. He only realized when you put your phone down and smiled sweetly at the person. Who was this person? Why are you so close together? Why do you look like you’re blushing—? Oh. It’s a date.

As a hopeless romantic, reading Vox x Reader fics and so many of them having some kind of sexual undertone or more mature tone makes me kind of sad. I truly love tooth rotting fluffy romance. Think—picnic in a cherry blossom field while wearing the strawberry dress. So I wanted to write a little (not so little, it kinda got away from me) imagine where Vox’s idea of romance clashes with readers and it ends up only pushing them away. So yeah. Here’s that. I mean no disrespect to everyone’s fics of them tho—trust me they’re delicious in every way possible but I just really need to feed my hopeless sweet romantic side for a bit <3

[watcheraurora]

A Promise Broken, A Promise Kept

Okay fine, brain. I give in (I got this idea and it wouldn't let me go until I finished it) (The idea for this kinda possessed me and I wrote this over the course of like four days. It's 43 Google Doc pages but I wrote it in Tumblr drafts lol) 15.8k words

—

"Where... where did my tissue box go?" Jimmy demanded, lifting up the novel off the end table as if he'd find a whole box of tissues hiding underneath it.

He texted his housemate—who was out with some friends—while he searched. You didn't happen to move my tissue box before you left, did you?

He doubted it. If Scott moved things in the house, he usually told Jimmy about it or asked if something was okay to be moved. But Jimmy always kept a box of tissues on this side table. They liked watching movies and Jimmy was a crier in a lot of them. So he kept the tissues next to where he sat on the sofa.

Except it was missing.

He scoured the living room, checking behind the sofa's throw pillows and underneath the sofa as if there was room in any of those places for a full tissue box to hide.

Nothing.

Jimmy stood with his hands on his hips in the middle of the room and looked around, confused and frustrated.

He stomped to the bathroom and grabbed a tissue from the other box to finally blow his nose in the hopes that his stupid springtime allergies would give him a rest.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out.

Scott: No... I haven't touched it. Why?

Jimmy replied quickly, It's just not there. I must have moved it and forgotten I did, I guess. Or maybe Norman snatched it

He didn't actually believe he forgot he moved it, but he didn't want Scott to get worried or irritated at him for losing something so silly.

He huffed in frustration, threw away the used tissue in the bathroom bin, and went to go check Norman's usual haunts (cat tree, litter box, bed, the back of Jimmy's closet) to see if there was a shredded tissue box at any of them.

There weren't. Jimmy huffed. He went back out to the living room to go back to spring cleaning. His mother had taught him, many years ago, how to oil the wood of the side tables once a year to keep them nice. In his old, worn out football uniform that was so tattered he only ever wore it to paint or clean these days.

As he sat next to the end table with his oily old washcloth—he'd been using the same rag with furniture oil that never got out for a few years, keeping it in a plastic bag in the back of the cleaning cupboard—he caught sight of the living room vent.

The slats were covered in dust.

He bent back and snatched up the duster from where he'd left it on the back of the loveseat. Then leaned closer to the vent.

He blew hard to get the initial layer of dust off.

"Achoo!"

"Bless you," Jimmy said automatically.

Then froze.

"Hello?" he called. "Is someone there?"

Silence.

"Hello?"

"Achoo!"

That was definitely a sneeze.

Followed by a skittering noise that sounded like quick footsteps of some sort of creature.

Inside the vent.

Most wall vents were bolted or screwed to said wall. But this house was so old that it was loosely clipped instead. Jimmy kept meaning to get some bolts and drill some holes but had yet to actually do so.

He popped the cover off and peered in.

There was nothing in there.

Jimmy scrunched his brows and pulled off his glasses. The lenses were a tad dusty but otherwise not terribly dirty. He dug into one ear with his pinky nail. No excessive amount of wax. He looked around. "Norman?"

The jingling of the cat's collar was audible from Jimmy's room.

Jimmy got up and grabbed his phone. He texted Scott.

Running to the store. I think we might have a mouse. Gonna grab some traps.

He got a thumbs-up emoji of acknowledgment from Scott.

He threw on a different outfit quickly and shoved his slip-on sandals onto his feet before heading to his car.

Forty-two minutes later, he made it back.

"—had to go to two different stores to find the humane kind," Jimmy was saying into his phone when he threw open the front door with a bag in his hand. "No, Joel—Joel—you know I don't have the heart for the other kind." He rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, don't 'Jimmy, lad' me in that tone! I'm not gonna call the exterminator! That defeats the purpose of getting a humane trap to capture the mouse instead of kill it. This will be fine, I promise." He paused. "Yeah, yeah. You too. Bye." He tossed the phone carelessly onto the sofa and got some bait out of a cupboard to get the mouse traps ready.

—

Jimmy woke to the sound of skittering footsteps. He jolted and looked around his dark bedroom. It was blurry. He patted gently at his bedside table to find his glasses, which he shoved onto his face.

Something metallic creaked. Jimmy's head whipped to look at the vent in his room, between his dresser and his desk.

It was slowly tilting open. Jimmy watched with wide eyes.

A tiny human-shaped figure stepped out from behind the vent, slowly closing it behind themself. A pair of insectoid wings drooped down their back. One of them was bent at an angle Jimmy had to assume was unnatural. In the darkness, they had fire for hair that cast a gentle, soft candlelight glow on the area around them.

He watched the figure tiptoe over to his desk and jump up onto the handle of the bottom drawer with a tiny, quiet grunt. The non-bent wing wiggled. The bent one just twitched. The tiny person kicked their legs and scrambled to get up onto the handle. From there climbing up onto the drawer's ledge. Then the next handle. The next ledge. The next handle, then up onto the top of the desk. Every time, the tiny little person wiggled and kicked their legs to scramble up.

Once on the desk, the little person crept directly to the pencil cup. Jimmy watched them hop up with a flutter of the non-bent wing and snatch a pencil out of the cup. A short one Jimmy had been using to draw.

The little person inspected it and sat down on the desk in a shaft of moonlight, mixing the silvery moonlight with the golden firelight. They pulled something out of their pocket. Jimmy watched as the tiny person stuck their tongue out in concentration and began to carve the pencil. Specifically sheering off a small section of the wood from one side. The little person started muttering under their breath.

"And we do the carve-y carve-y. Make a nice little thin stick. Nice sturdy stick. Hehehehehe." The voice and figure seemed masculine, though with the tiny person's size it was hard to tell.

Jimmy watched as the rest of the pencil wood was broken off. The tiny winged person pulled a short loop of thread out of the pocket of his little red outfit and unwound it to get to the thinner fibers. He started to try to brace the piece of wood against his bent little wing. He winced as he tried to bend the wing back into a straighter position, hissing and baring his teeth like it hurt. He tried again to bend the wing back.

Then he whimpered and Jimmy couldn't stand to just watch anymore.

He sat up. "Can I help?" he asked.

The tiny guy screamed and scrambled—falling off the desk and scattering the bits and pieces he'd had in his hands.

"Whoa!" Jimmy lurched off his bed and managed to catch the little person before he could hit the floor, careful not to close his hand to crush the wings any more than they already were or burn his hand on the fire for hair. Which had gone out for just a moment to reveal normal gold hair beneath it in short waves, though it quickly sparked back up to its prior merrily-burning flame. Though the fire didn't burn around his hair. Rather, his hair became the fire.

Jimmy lifted him close to his face.

"Are you alright?"

The good wing fluttered fast as the little guy screamed again. "Human!" The word was an exclamation of fear as he tried to get to his feet and run away. But he had nowhere else to go on Jimmy's palm.

"Hey, heeey there, little guy. I'm not gonna hurt you," Jimmy said soothingly. "I want to help you."

The tiny person—the word fairy hit Jimmy in the face like a train when he finally put together why he had wings and those pointy ears—was still scrambling to try to get away. He was shorter than Jimmy's hand was long and as he screamed, he showed off little fangs as his good wing fluttered and the bent one twitched. Red dust fell from the movement of the wings, landing on Jimmy's palm.

"Ssshhh! You're gonna wake my housemate," Jimmy hissed. He brought his other hand up as flat as the first so there was more room to stand on. "I'm not trying to hurt you."

"Put me down, put me down, put me down!" the fairy pleaded.

Jimmy slowly lowered him down to the desktop and waited for him to climb off. Then returned the scattered thread, pencil shaving and sharp tiny piece of metal that the fairy had used to cut the pencil from the floor to the desk top. The fairy bundled the pieces up in his arms and looked around wildly for a way down.

"You can call me Jimmy," Jimmy said. "What's your name?"

The fairy regarded him with suspicious eyes. They were as red as his little outfit.

Jimmy took a step back and crouched on the floor so he could be closer to eye-level with the desk, rather than looming over it.

"You can call me T... Tango," the fairy said reluctantly.

"Hello Tango. Are you hurt? Your wing looks bent."

Tango still regarded him with suspicion. The bent wing twitched as the normal one flickered. Scattering more red dust. "I'm trying to fix it," Tango said, the slightest of pouts forming on his mouth as his pointy ears drooped a little. He tightened his grip on the small scraps.

"Can I help you fix it? I can hold the stick in place."

Tango's tiny red eyes narrowed. "No," he said. "I'll do it myself."

"You don't trust humans, do you?"

He took a few steps back over the desk top.

"Okay. I don't have to help. You just seemed to be struggling on your own and I wanted to offer if you needed it." Jimmy bounced a little and moved back a bit. "You're a fairy, right?"

Tango nodded. A tiny little nod, even for someone his size. Almost impossible to see if Jimmy hadn't been searching for a response.

"What happened to your wing?"

Tango glowered into the middle distance as his fire for hair flickered faster. "Stupid cat," he muttered. Almost like he didn't want Jimmy to hear.

Jimmy rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "Big fluffy cat? Kinda creamy-grey? Blue collar?"

Tango muttered something else that Jimmy couldn't quite make out.

"I'm sorry. That's my cat. Norman. He must've thought you were a bug. He likes bugs."

Tango mumbled something Jimmy couldn't hear.

"Is there any way I can help you that doesn't involve touching you? Can I get you something to drink? Some water? Or some milk?" Jimmy had heard a few stories about fairies. They liked gifts of cream or milk, didn't they? Jimmy and Scott didn't really keep cream in the house but...

Tango's normal wing perked up completely at the suggestion. "Milk?" A tiny smile seemed to be trying to form.

"Yeah. Can I get you some?"

Tango nodded. His fire hair grew a little brighter. "Yes please!"

Jimmy smiled. "Let me go get some. Don't go anywhere." He got up and tiptoed off to the kitchen.

—

Tango plopped back down onto the desk top, sitting and trying to re-fit the little stick and the threads to splint his wing. Maybe he should've asked for Impulse's help after all. Maybe if he wasn't so stubborn—he could have clenched Zed and Skizz's hands while Impulse realigned his wing. But no. He had to get caught by a human in the middle of the night. Idiot. Stupid Tango.

He put his knife back in its sheath in his pocket and pouted. This was going to hurt.

But a bit of milk... that would be quite the treat. A nice little reward for resetting his wing.

He quickly set up the splint and got it ready to brace against the ridge of his wing and tighten the threads. His small hands moved quickly. He ignored the fairy dust that fell from his wing, shaking some off his hand.

He bit down on a piece of wood that had come off the long pencil he'd carved the splint from. Humans would call it a shaving. But it was a perfect size for Tango to bite down on while he realigned his own wing. He'd balked before and he got caught by a human because of it. He couldn't allow that to happen this time.

Carefully, he positioned his hands on the ridge of his wing. His fire hair simmered low.

He couldn't count himself down and reset the wing on the wrong number to avoid tensing up. That wouldn't work when he was aware that he intended to do it.

So he just jerked his wing back into place.

He bit through the shaving with his fangs and his hair flared bright and hot as he screamed.

Quickly, he tightened the threads to splint the wing. Only once that was accomplished did he finally relax. Slumping to lie facedown on the human desk, all his limbs splayed out and the tears of pain mingling with the fallen fairy dust. Making it into a red paste.

The human—Jimmy—burst back into the room, trying to be quiet but there was a wild glint in his eyes behind his spectacles. Tango's head snapped up to look. "Are you okay?" Jimmy whispered loudly.

Tango nodded. "I'm fine." He twisted to look at his wing. The ridge was still a little wonky, but it would straighten out in time as it healed. "Just... Had to reset my wing." He shrugged, his good wing fluttering with the movement, though the bad one could still do no more than twitch.

Jimmy stepped over and placed what appeared to be the lid of some sort of small bottle on the desk beside Tango before crouching to be at eye-level. Or as close as a human could get, anyway. "We don't, er, have any cups meant for someone your size. I hope this is okay."

The lid was the same width and depth as a soup pot back home. Though it wasn't completely full of milk, it still had quite a bit in it. More than Tango thought he might be able to drink on his own. But that wouldn't stop him from trying. He loved milk. Most fairies did. "Oh this should be just fine!" He reached for it and took it up in both hands. The lid's white plastic was lighter than the metal pot Skizz and Gem used to make soup. Easier to lift to drink.

Tango surprised himself by drinking it all. Fairly quickly. He must have really needed the sweetness after fixing up his wing. He shuddered all the way down to the tip of his good wing after wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

"That was delicious! Thank you!"

Jimmy smiled. "You're welcome."

Tango's wings flittered as some sort of vibration hit them. He gasped and ran across the desk, diving behind the pencil cup to hide. He sucked in a deep breath and his fire hair went out, turning back into normal hair. Hiding the light just like he'd done in the vent earlier when he'd borrowed the tissue box to try and make a cast for his wing.

The door to the room creaked back open. "Jimmy?" another voice asked, with a different accent, around a yawn. "Who're you talking to?"

Jimmy had stood up when Tango moved. Tango couldn't see what either human was doing. Just listening and feeling the disturbances in the air to stay hidden. "I'm not talking to anyone," Jimmy said. Maybe too quickly.

"I heard voices. I thought I heard screaming. Like. Really quiet screams."

"Oh! Sorry. I was watching a movie on my phone. I thought I had the volume down enough. Earbuds were irritating my ears."

"You were asleep hours ago. I heard you snoring."

"Yeah... then I woke up. Had a messy, stressful dream. Woke up. Turned on a movie to try to quiet my mind. Got a bit of milk to try and sleep."

There was a long pause between Jimmy and whoever the housemate with the different accent was. Tango did his best to keep his shivering wing as still as possible so it didn't chime with magic like fairy wings often did. He crouched low, feeling his bad wing slide soundlessly over the somewhat bumpy woodgrain of the desk that the human would think was incredibly smooth.

"You're sure you're okay?" the housemate asked.

"Yeah. Scott, I'm fine. I promise."

Another silence stretched out.

"Okaaay," the housemate—Scott—said. "I'll see you in the morning."

"See you in the morning," Jimmy replied.

The door creaked. The heavy footsteps of a human retreated. Another door creaked.

The human house fell silent.

Jimmy was standing carefully positioned in front of the desk to hide the mangled pencil from the door.

"I should go," Tango whispered. He went over to the drawers he'd climbed up to get up onto the desk in the first place as his hair sparked back into fire. He sat on the edge of the desk and started to reach out with his tiptoes to reach the ledge of the drawer, holding onto the edges of the desk for stability.

"Can I help you down, at least?" Jimmy whispered, crouching again. Holding out a flat hand toward Tango.

Who shrunk away. Jimmy twitched back just a bit.

"Or I don't have to. Just don't want to risk you falling and hurting your wings."

Tango kicked his legs. "Promise you'll just set me on the floor?"

"Of course. I promise."

Jimmy wouldn't feel it—but Tango could. A twist in the fabric of the world that came with making a promise to a fairy. Magic. If Jimmy broke that promise, he would be left to the mercy of the Fae.

Carefully, Tango extended one bare foot toward Jimmy's waiting hand. Jimmy moved it closer and let Tango slide onto it. He stayed low so he wouldn't lose his balance and fall.

Jimmy moved his hand down slowly. "Is that how you got into the house? Through the vents?"

"Mmhmm. Lots of lovely little tubes and tunnels with these nice little ventificators to move around in." Tango wiggled playfully, and Jimmy smiled. He had a nice smile. Tango decided he liked it. Humans had such small canine teeth, compared to a fairy's fangs proportionally.

Jimmy hesitated before lowering his hand all the way to the ground. "Will you come back?" he asked. Tango's good wing began to bristle as the magic did. "I, er... I'd like to see you again."

"I gotta return your tissue box. It didn't work to help my wing. So... yeah. I'll come back. Just... don't try to catch me in a jar."

"No, I would never. I promise," Jimmy said.

Another twist of magic stretched between the two of them.

"Be careful making more than surface-level promises to fairies, Jimmy. Your folklore exists for a reason," Tango said, hopping the final distance off Jimmy's palm and onto the floor. That first twist of magic eased and disappeared. He stumbled a bit through the thick carpet and pried open the vent. "Sleep well."

Dodging into the unnaturally rectangular ductwork, Tango skittered out of the house, his way lit by his hair.

—

"Where have you been?!" a voice demanded. Tango squawked in surprise and whirled to see Skizz storming over, all seven inches of him, his dark blue wings fluttering fast behind him, buzzing and chiming with power.

Tango curled in on himself. "Just, y'know, out and about."

Skizz's thunderous expression didn't ease. He reached around Tango and grabbed at his good wing, pulling it up. The bad wing lifted slightly in tandem. "And what is that?!"

"A splint. To heal it."

"Tango!" Skizz exclaimed. "You can't go running around human areas by yourself!"

"What about humans?" another voice asked as Impulse poked his head out of his hole in the tree's hollow trunk. His black moth wings with their yellow eyes swept back and forth slower than Skizz's more traditional fairy wings.

"Tango was sneaking around human territory!" Skizz snapped.

"No, I was fine! I was safe!" Tango protested. "I just needed something sturdier and straighter than a normal twig to splint my wing!"

Impulse didn't look convinced either. "Tango, you know how dangerous humans are. Lizzie got too close and she was never heard from again. She disappeared."

"I know. I wasn't—look. I just have to return something I borrowed and then I'll never go back, okay? I just needed something to help me fix my wing. I have it now. And once I return what I borrowed, I'm done."

Lizzie had vanished years ago and no one else had turned up missing since. Tango didn't understand why the whole court was still so scared of getting too close to humans. Sure, humans were enormous and physically stronger than any fairy could ever hope to be, by the nature of their size, but fairies were the dangerous ones. Humans didn't have magic. They couldn't. Their blood simply couldn't conduct it the way a fairy's could. Fairies were the ones that held the true power over humans. Sure some humans were bad and there would always be stories of fairies getting their wings ripped off—but most of them were relatively harmless.

Skizz's grip tightened on Tango's shoulder. "Make sure you are."

—

Tango returned to the human house the next night, dragging the tissue box through the ductwork. For a human it probably weighed next to nothing. But it was no small feat for a fairy to drag it all the way through from the exhaust vent outside to the one in Jimmy's room. The weight wasn’t the problem so much as the size. It was unwieldy compared to Tango’s height. And while it was fairly heavy, he could still drag it.

He peered through the slats in the vent to confirm he was, in fact, in the vent that led to Jimmy’s room. He recognized the bed and the rest from the night before. Slowly, carefully, he pushed open the vent. The metal creaked.

The bedcovers rustled and Jimmy sat up, putting his spectacles on. Cub needed spectacles too.

“You’re back,” he whispered with a delighted smile.

Tango nodded and began to drag the tissue box out of the vent. “I told you I needed to return the tissue box,” he said.

“How’s your wing?” Jimmy got out of bed and tiptoed over to the vent, pulling it open more and pulling the tissue box out with one easy, effortless movement.

Tango shrugged. His good wing fluttered and the bad one twitched. "Doesn't hurt as bad now that it's got the brace-ificator."

"That's good." Jimmy bent down and offered a flat palm to Tango.

Who just stared at it for a few moments. "I have to walk everywhere. I can't fly," Tango pointed out, his eyes slowly traveling up Jimmy's muscular arm to meet his eyes. Which where warm brown in the firelight of Tango's hair. "That's not fun for a fairy."

"Sorry," Jimmy said sympathetically.

"It's fine. It'll heal soon enough." Tango hopped up onto Jimmy's palm and sat cross-legged in the center of it. Jimmy lifted him up to be almost eye-level. "Fairies tend to heal quickly."

"That's good, at least."

Tango nodded.

"Can you... can you stay? For a little bit? I just—gosh, I have so many questions! I didn't know fairies were real."

Tango fidgeted. The longer he was away from the tree, the more his family would think he'd been caught. And sure, technically, he had. He'd been seen. But he hadn't been trapped. And he didn't need the whole court swarming to try and save him. He took a deep breath. "I can stay for a bit," he said. "But not too long. And I might not be able to answer all your questions."

"That's fine, that's fine," Jimmy said with a nod.

Tango's ears flicked as his good wing wiggled. "What's your first question?"

"How do you hide from humans?"

Tango snickered. "Well. I don't mean to alarm you, but we're pretty small," he said, smiling. Jimmy smiled back and Tango's tiny heart thudded faster. "We're not too small to see, obviously. But being small helps us hide."

"Do you, like, have magic?"

Tango's gaze flicked up to where he could almost see the flames of his hair. "What do you think?"

"Does that help you hide?"

"The fire doesn't but the magic does."

"And the fire comes from the magic, right? I saw your hair turn back into hair and then into fire."

Tango nodded. "Yep! I'm a fire fairy!"

"Oh, I definitely couldn't've guessed that," Jimmy said, voice colored by playful sarcasm.

Tango giggled.

Something in the house creaked and Jimmy went utterly still, holding Tango closer to his chest and looking toward the door. Tango's good wing flitted and then rested. "Housemate?" he whispered.

Jimmy listened for a few long seconds. "I think it's just the house settling," he whispered back.

Tango nodded.

Jimmy perked up. "Oh. Come with me into the kitchen." Still carrying Tango on his palm but moving slow to not cause too much motion, he climbed out of bed and held his hand up to his opposite shoulder. "Care to hop over there? Might be easier."

Tango looked at where Jimmy's collarbone—exposed by the loose sleeveless shirt he had on—made a hollow below his shoulder.

Fluttering his good wing, Tango stepped onto the collarbone and braced his feet there to sit on Jimmy's shoulder, holding onto the edge of the sleeveless shirt.

Jimmy walked slowly to the kitchen. Creeping through the house. "How long can you stay tonight?" he whispered.

Tango shrugged. "Not too long. I need to get home."

"Will you come back?"

Tango didn't answer immediately. Jimmy was opening the fridge. He pulled out a large jug of milk.

"Here. I went to the shops today and bought these. They're meant for a little girl's dolls but I thought it might be a good size for you." He opened a drawer and pulled out a tiny plastic cup that he set on the counter. Blue and clear. Next to the cup in the drawer was some sort of dropper. That he stuck in the milk and squeezed the bulbous top. When he released the pressure, it sucked milk up the tube, which he then used to fill the little cup. "I think this was supposed to be used for medicine but we've never opened it from the plastic before," Jimmy added, indicating the dropper.

The cup was still a little too big for Tango, but after the lid the night before, Tango knew he could more than handle the cup. Jimmy held a hand out and let Tango hop onto it and lowered him down to the counter.

"I... might be able to come back," Tango said. "But it won't be easy. Fairies are supposed to hide from humans. My family will get mad if they know I got seen."

"Well, I certainly won't tell them."

"I know." Tango took a big drink of the milk. "That would require you seeing them and no one gets this close to humans besides me."

"Why?"

"I'm curious and they're scared. We lost a fairy who got too close to humans years ago. Never heard from her again. But I can't just... quit." Tango's bad wing twitched. "Even when stupid cats get me."

"Mm... you might be a little bit reckless."

Tango laughed, trying to stay quiet, as his wings tried to flutter in tandem. "You... are singing to the wind there, skippy," he said.

"I'm what?"

"Y'know. Telling me something I already know."

"O-oh."

“Is that not a human phrase?”

“Er… I don’t think so.”

Tango hummed in thought and took another sip of milk. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah—what did you mean last night when you told me to be careful and folklore exists for a reason?"

"Did you do any reading on Fae?"

"Er..."

"It's dangerous for a human to break a promise to any fairy. Just like it's dangerous to give one your name."

"I think I've heard of that."

"I'd hope you had."

"What about fairy rings? The mushrooms in the woods?"

"Be careful of them. Humans don't often survive well in Avalon. And if they do come back, they're forever changed."

"So it exists?!" Jimmy hissed.

"Of course. That's where we're born." Tango sipped his milk. "That's where we'll go when winter comes back. We're only living on the human plane because spring and summer here are delightful." His wings tried to flutter.

"What's it like to fly?"

Tango looked up at Jimmy. A small smile formed on his face. "There's nothing like it."

—

After doing his best to wash the Barbie doll cup and dropper, Jimmy hid them away and took Tango back to his bedroom. "I should probably go now," Tango said quietly. "I don't want to risk my family noticing I'm gone."

Jimmy nodded. "I get it."

Tango hopped into Jimmy's hand and let Jimmy lower him to the floor. He slipped nimbly into the vent.

"I hope to see you again," Jimmy said.

Tango's wings flickered and twitched. "I'll try to come back. No promises, though."

"I understand."

Tango pulled the vent shut. His footsteps were quiet in the ductwork and faded fast.

Jimmy pivoted and flopped onto his bed, climbing under the covers.

Sleep claimed him quickly and before he knew it, morning light was streaming through his bedroom window. He could hear Scott whistling in the kitchen, bustling about making himself some breakfast.

Slowly, Jimmy clambered out of bed and went out to the kitchen. Scott was standing in front of the stove with a frying pan on it, whistling as he cooked what smelled and looked like hash browns. He was in an Extravagant Breakfast mood, then. Not surprising for a Saturday.

Jimmy, making no move to be quiet and letting his footsteps make the floorboards creak, approached from behind and planted his face on the topmost curve of Scott's spine, groaning in complaint into the loose fabric of Scott's T-shirt. He and Scott had been close friends for years and knew he wouldn't mind Jimmy planting his face in his back to complain. Something Jimmy could really only do with Scott—Scott was one of very few people who was taller than Jimmy. That group also included Etho, next-door.

"Bad night again?" Scott asked.

"Yeah."

"Sorry." Scott turned off the stove and turned to wrap a comforting arm around Jimmy's shoulders. "Should we try getting you some sort of sleep aid?"

Jimmy took a deep breath and huffed a sigh. "No... not yet, anyway. If it persists, maybe." He wasn't sure how to explain that his lack of sleep was self-inflicted.

Scott pinched his chin in order to examine his face, tilting it around. "What's been keeping you up?"

Jimmy shrugged. "It's more like I've been waking up in the middle of the night and then struggling to get back to sleep."

"I'm sorry, Jimmy. You can always wake me if you need to."

Jimmy shook his head as best he could with his chin still pinched. "No. No reason for us both to be tired. I'd hate to make you share my suffering for no reason."

Scott sighed, affectionate and exasperated. "Helping you isn't suffering."

"Lack of sleep is."

Scott tutted. "How about this, if you're struggling to get back to sleep and you think it'll help, come crash with me. Just climb in and wake me up and I'll help you get back to sleep."

Jimmy was quiet for a few moments. "We'll see," he said.

"I have a good idea to tucker you out tonight."

"Do tell."

"Joel and Grian called this morning. Well. Grian called this morning on his and Joel's behalf."

"Mm."

"Ultimate Frisbee. They want to go to the park and play tonight."

Jimmy perked up. "Really?" A smile formed on his face. He blinked, trying to force his eyes to focus. He forgot to put his glasses on. Scott nodded. He wouldn't call himself an athlete compared to Jimmy, probably, but neither would Grian and Joel. Joel used to be an athlete before he'd wrecked his knee when they were kids. Now, they all just liked to all be bad at sports together. Messing around more than actually playing.

"Yeah."

"Did you tell them we're in?"

"I told them you would be in and that I'd think about it."

"I'll text them. Are Lizzie and Mumbo joining?"

"I think so. And I think they were considering extending the offer to Martyn and Pearl."

"Awesome!" Jimmy felt himself smiling, his fatigue forgotten. "We're gettin' the whole gang together!"

"Well. Enough for a four-on-four, anyway," Scott remarked.

Jimmy beamed. "Sounds fun."

—

In Jimmy's experience, getting eight adults together to hang out was nearly impossible. How Grian and Joel managed it, he had no idea. But he wasn't going to complain. He had all his friends from school in a park and they were playing Frisbee. What more could he ask for?

"Martyn, pass it!" Jimmy called, running and clapping to show he was ready to catch. Grian was tailing him hard, but Grian's legs were significantly shorter and Jimmy was quickly outpacing him.

Martyn was currently trying to throw it around a frantically-trying-to-intercept Pearl, waving her arms through the air.

"Timmy, go long!" Martyn shouted, hurling it as hard as he could at an angle.

Jimmy pivoted and took off. Laughing as Grian shouted in protest behind him that his long stride wasn't fair.

—

Tango lingered in the canopy, hiding amongst the leaves. Watching the humans play a game with a flying disc of some sort. Jimmy he recognized—though he hadn't been expecting to see him here. But he didn't know any of the others. Which he did expect.

Jimmy wasn't wearing his spectacles. Tango wondered if he could see okay.

He was playing with seven other humans. Two with long hair and feminine frames, five with shorter hair and more masculine frames. All of them seemed to be having a good time.

One of the feminine frame humans went running. She had long pink hair pulled back in a pair of pigtail braids.

One of the human men caught her around the waist. He had curly dark brown hair with a bit of green in his bangs. "I got her, Jim! Throw it!"

The woman squealed and laughed, kicking and writhing, smiling wide. "Joel!" she protested. "Let me go!"

Tango's entire body went rigid.

He knew that laugh.

He knew that smile.

He knew that voice.

"Lizzie?" he whispered.

His body kicked into motion all at once. He leapt for the next tree over and caught a branch, scrambling up onto it. He ran across it to the next branch, getting closer and closer to the big open field the humans were playing on at the edge of the woods. Trying to get a better, fuller view of the area. He cursed his stupid wing for not being able to fly. To move faster.

When he finally got to a clump of leaves he could hide in while still watching the humans, he slowed down to pant and then peek.

The woman had rounded ears. She was human-sized. She was wearing human clothes. The roots of her hair appeared to be a light brown, making the pink fake.

But, no doubt about it, that was Lizzie.

She was alive.

Tango reached for his magic and plucked at it, sending the vibration of it across the field to Lizzie—only to feel it dissipate before it could touch her.

She had no magic anymore. Nothing to resonate with his bid for connection. No way to reach back.

She wrenched out of Joel's grip and went running after that flying disc.

Tango grabbed at his magic again. But instead of gently directing it toward Lizzie, he formed it into a spear of words and hurled it in her direction.

She stumbled while trying to catch the disc and went completely rigid.

Lizzie, is that you?! It's Tango. Do you remember me? How are you human?

Her eyes—big and blue and oh-so-familiar—scanned the trees. Sweat clung to her brow, plastering a few pink strands of hair to her face. She panted.

Joel slowed to a stop beside her. "Love? You alright?" he asked, setting a hand on her lower back. Tango realized they were wearing colorful rings on matching fingers. Lizzie's was pink with flowers carved into it. Joel's was green with leaves carved into it. He glanced toward the trees she was peering at. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing," she replied. "Just tired."

Her eyes found Tango's and locked on.

"I'm gonna take a bit of a breather," she declared, straightening up and marching toward the trees. She sat at the base of the trunk of the tree Tango's branch was part of and leaned back. She waited for her human friends to stop looking at her and then knocked twice on the trunk, pulling her braids from her back to drape down her chest. Her gaze searched the canopy for Tango.

He was already running down the branch for the trunk, using the chunky bark to climb down, hiding away from the humans until he hit the grass and circled it.

Lizzie's hand was waiting in the grass for him, her body turned away from her friends to hide him.

Tango jumped onto her palm. "You're alive?" he hissed quietly.

"Ssshhh!" she whispered, bringing her hand up to her lap, body still angled to block him from sight of the other humans. "Tango, please—you can't tell the court!"

"What?! Why not?!"

"Because they'd never understand."

"Lizzie, we thought you were dead!" Tango whispered.

"I know. Well, I figured, anyway."

Tango's bad wing tried desperately to flutter in tandem with his good one. But the splint and the pain stopped it. "Lizzie—why did you—how could you leave us like that?" He grabbed onto her finger with his whole hand where he was kneeling on her palm.

She twisted, a fond expression on her face, as she watched Joel and a shorter man in a red knit sweater argue and bicker about something. "I love him, Tango," she said quietly.

Tango's heart thudded in his chest. "How could you leave us though? Your family? How did you... how did you become..." He looked her up and down. "One of them?" He didn't mean to sound disgusted, but his disbelief clouded his tone and might have come across that way.

"Magic."

"Obviously. But what kind of—"

"Lizzie? Everything alright?" Joel called.

"Fine, babe!" Lizzie shouted over her shoulder. She whipped back to look at Tango. "Listen—please don't tell the rest of the court. I don't—Skizz would lose his mind and I can't do that to Gem and the others. It's better if they think I disappeared. Please, Tango." The desperate pleading in her eyes made Tango's heart twist.

"N... no it's not," he whispered.

"Tango. I married a human. I can't go back to being a fairy even if I wanted to. Not anymore. And I don't want to anyway." She put the barest tip of her finger under his chin. "Tango, please. Promise me you won't tell the court."

Tango blinked up at her in disbelief. "You know I can't do that," he replied. "Fairies never make promises."

She sighed. "I know. But... please?"

Tango sat in silence for several long moments, listening for any other humans approaching.

"You... you loved him enough to give up your life and your court and your magic to be with him?" Tango's voice had gone small. "To be human?"

Lizzie nodded.

Tango took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay. I won't tell anyone."

She sagged a little. "Thank you."

His red gaze hardened. "But you should."

Not waiting for her response, he hopped off her hand and slid down her leg into the grass. His good wing flickered irritably.

He leapt up onto the trunk of the tree and climbed until he was up in the canopy's branches, catching glimpses of Lizzie's pink hair through the leaves.

"Lizzie?" Joel called.

"Coming!" Lizzie shouted back. She picked herself to her feet and ran toward him, kissing his cheek. He smiled softly at her. Fondly. Affectionately.

Tango's heart twisted. He wasn't sure whether to be happy for her or sad that the court lost her forever.

"Whoa—WHOA!" a familiar voice shouted. Jimmy tripped and spilled onto the ground, rolling over in the grass as the smaller human man in the red sweater dogpiled on top of him, cackling. Another tall man (this one with blue hair and dark brown roots showing it was fake like Lizzie's pink) draped himself over Jimmy's legs and the tall, willowy, brunette woman flopped over all of them. They were all laughing—even Jimmy as he shouted for them to get off of him. Despite the conflict tumbling around in Tango's heart, he couldn't help but smile.

It seemed humans and fairies weren't that much different when it came to friends.

—

Two weeks passed before Jimmy saw Tango again. He wasn't woken in the night by the vent cover creaking open. Nothing else went missing. Norman wasn't on alert. Jimmy was starting to convince himself that he wasn't going to see Tango ever again. And that would be fine. Tango said it would be difficult to get away and not make his family suspicious. Jimmy was disappointed—he found Tango fun and friendly and he enjoyed spending time with him—but he didn't want Tango to risk his own safety.

But Jimmy found himself leaving the Barbie cup with some water in it next to the vent on nights when Norman slept out on his cat tree in the living room instead of at the foot of Jimmy's bed. Just in case.

He was roused from his sleep by something irritating his nose. He twitched it and sucked in a deep breath, peeling his eyes open.

Tango was leaning sideways, his head tilted, to try to be parallel to Jimmy, his hair normal rather than burning so he wouldn't light the pillowcase on fire. He was holding onto Jimmy's nose and squishing it back and forth. "Jimmy! Jim-my!" he stage-whispered in time to the squishing of Jimmy's nose.

Jimmy jolted backward as clarity snapped to attention in his brain. "Whoa!" he hissed. "Tango! What're you...?"

Tango beamed and bounced on the pillow like a kid jumping on the couch. "I finally got to come visit!" Both of his wings flicked. The bad one was still splinted, but the splint wasn't as long, like it could move again but hadn't yet regained full mobility. "How have you been?" he asked quietly.

Jimmy rubbed his face and patted around his bedside table for his glasses. "Er... I've been alright. Just going through life, y'know?" He pushed his glasses onto his face.

Tango straightened up properly and his hair sparked back to life, burning merrily. "I guess," he said. "Human lives seem so boring. You just, like, clean things and go to work."

"Well what do you do?" Jimmy asked. "Do fairies not have jobs?"

"Pfft. No. Why would we need jobs? We gather our own livelihoods and we share when we don't have enough and someone else has excess. We dance and we play and we enjoy the world and her natural beauty as she gives it to us."

"Sounds nice."

Tango grinned. "It is!"

Jimmy grunted as he sat up properly. He offered a hand to Tango. Who hopped up onto his palm and knelt. Jimmy lifted him to his shoulder and Tango moved to perch there instead. "Did you see the cup I left next to the vent?"

"I did! Thank you. It was very much appreciated." Tango wiggled and smiled happily.

Jimmy got out of bed, Tango clinging to his tank top's collar to stay steady. "Want some milk?"

"I'd love some!"

"Let's go then." Jimmy went to the vent and picked up the small cup and took it with them out to the kitchen.

Partway there, Tango stood up on Jimmy's shoulder and clung to his ear to stabilize himself. "Guess what?" he whispered directly in Jimmy's ear.

"What?"

"A human fair is in town. And a small court of fairies hides among the fair's equipment when they travel around. Their court and mine are going to have a little party while they're here. I'm so excited."

"Fun," Jimmy said, opening the fridge. "Maybe I'll get my housemate to go with me. Keep an eye out for you."

"Oh, I won't be at the actual fair," Tango said dismissively. "That's too dangerous and my big brother would never let me be around a crowd that big while my wing is still busted. Our party will be in private, silly."

"Right, yeah. 'Course," Jimmy replied. "I knew that."

Tango giggled.

Jimmy lifted a hand and lowered Tango down onto the kitchen counter, where the cup had been filled with milk. Tango picked it up and lifted it in both hands toward Jimmy like a toast. "Cheers!" he chirped before taking a sip. Jimmy smiled. "I saw you playing the game with the throwing disc thing, by the way."

"Oh, did you?" Jimmy asked. "You saw us playing Frisbee?"

Tango nodded and drank more milk. "Mmhmm! It looked like fun."

"It is."

"I saw the smaller red man tackle you."

"Oh, Grian didn't tackle me. I tripped and he took advantage to just fall on top of me. He's a menace. But he's also my older brother and I love him."

Tango was quiet for a moment. "I have an older brother too," he said softly. "He's the main protector of our court. He keeps us safe. He's a good leader." He cleared his throat. "Which one was your housemate again?"

"The really tall one with blue hair."

Tango's chin dipped in a quick nod. "Got it." He looked around Scott and Jimmy's kitchen. Well, mostly Scott's kitchen. Jimmy didn't consider himself handy in the kitchen whatsoever—thankfully Scott preferred cooking for at least two or more.

"What were you doing at the park?" Jimmy asked.

Tango shrugged, his wings flicking a little. "I wasn't at the park: I was in the woods. But I heard humans shouting and got curious."

"Ohhhhh," Jimmy said, nodding sagely.

"My older brother would be really mad if I was actually in the park. Humans are likely to hurt fairies."

"Makes sense."

—

Tango slipped out of the exhaust vent of the house and climbed down the drainpipe. He snuck quietly across the small backyard and ducked through a diamond-shaped hole in the chain-link fence. Putting him solidly in the forest.

He headed back to the court's hollow tree. It was a long walk for a lone fairy and dawn wasn't far off. But he didn't dare reach out with his magic to see if someone was willing to come get him. The rest of the court would tattle to Skizz and Impulse if they knew Tango had snuck out of the tree again to visit a human.

Tango kicked a speck of dirt as he walked along with the sole of his bare foot.

He thought about Jimmy. Who would be quite the catch were he a fairy. He'd probably be a defender, like Skizz and Scar. Big and strong. Fairies didn't have jobs. They had roles. Skizz was the defender and the leader. Tango and Impulse were fixers. Bdubs was a maker. Gem was too, but specialized mostly in textiles. Fern kept the library. Scar and Cub were tricksters on top of being defenders—or semi-defender, in Cub's case. Cub was one of the thinkers. The wickedly smart one who mostly got put in charge of planning.

But Jimmy would probably be a defender, if he was a fairy. Dark blond and dark-eyed with that strong jaw—maybe he'd be another mothwing like Impulse...

No. He'd have a swallowtail butterfly pattern. Like Fern's. Except Jimmy's would be yellow—a tiger swallowtail rather than Fern's spicebush. Despite the fact that Tango almost exclusively saw Jimmy wearing blues and whites, he got the feeling that yellow wings would suit him nicely. A vibrant accent color.

If Jimmy were a fairy, Tango would have snatched him up years ago.

The thought pulled Tango up short. He stopped walking and leaned against a tree trunk. Where had that thought come from? Sure, Jimmy was handsome—but he was also human. Being attracted to him did Tango no favors. It was pointless. It could never be—

Lizzie.

She became human permanently.

Tango shook his head and went back to walking quickly through the woods. Lizzie might be willing to abandon her court, her family, her magic, her wings for the love of a human—but Tango wasn't.

Skizz would probably stop him if he tried even if he wanted to.

Plus, Tango wasn't that great at complicated magic and he couldn't imagine a ritual like that could be anything less than astronomically difficult.

No.

No handsome human for him.

That was fine.

He was almost to the tree when he heard a fairy's wings behind him. He ducked into a bramble, put out the fire in his hair, and looked back. It wasn't forbidden for him to wander the woods at night, but if Skizz was the one who caught him, he'd probably get lectured (again) for being reckless. Out in the dangerous woods alone at night.

Tango wasn't that worried. As a fire fairy with burning hair, most big creatures that could eat him—like owls and foxes—didn't get anywhere near him. Most of those creatures were afraid of fire.

But who else was heading back to the tree just before dawn?

Keeping low and quiet, he saw a familiar figure heading into the hollow knot in the tree that led to the court's homes. Insectoid wings shaped like a traditional fairy's like Tango's and Skizz's. The fairy was wearing a fluffy coat made of moss.

What was Bdubs—the king of hounding the court to get a good night's sleep—doing out and about in the woods in the middle of the night?

Tango watched him land gently and disappear into the hollow trunk before he ran at the trunk himself and leapt into the air, grabbing the bark as high up as he could and climbing it to get inside.

—

"Y'know, I've never had funnel cake before," Scott remarked as they wandered the fair, watching a family walk past with a funnel cake in hand.

Jimmy halted in his tracks, putting a hand on Scott's forearm to stop him too. "Shut up! You haven't?!"

Scott shook his head and brushed his blue curls off his forehead. "Never."

Jimmy squeezed Scott's arm. "We have to remedy that right now," he said, smiling. "C'mon. Let's find a vendor. My treat. We're splitting one—I think we'd both be sick if we tried to eat a full one on our own. And they're better when shared anyway." He smiled, and received a smile in return. His hand slid down Scott's arm to take his wrist and drag him through the fairground to find a place selling funnel cake. "I should warn you: the powdered sugar is messy. But it's so worth it."

Scott laughed. "I trust you," he said. "I don't mind a little sugar."

He pulled Scott along behind him until they found a vendor selling funnel cake and Jimmy dragged them in line. While they waited, he looked around. Trying to catch sight of any fairies sneaking around. Not that he expected to see any of them. But he still kept an eye out.

At one point, Oli and Eloise rushed past, giggling and throwing Jimmy and Scott a brief wave before falling into a line for one of the rides. A rickety-looking roller coaster Jimmy was not getting on, no matter what. The Ferris Wheel looked a little safer but still a bit sus—he was only getting on if Scott asked.

They made it through the line and got a funnel cake. Scott located a picnic table in the shade where they could sit down and try it without worrying about getting bumped into while walking.

Jimmy broke off a piece of the cake. "Wanna try it first or shall I?"

"You go first," Scott said. "You were the more excited."

Jimmy put it in his mouth. Sweet, soft, and slightly crunchy from being fried. He hummed in rapture. "Oh, that's good," he said around his mouthful. He broke off another piece and held it out for Scott. "Try it."

Scott leaned forward and took the piece between his teeth, smiling all the while.

Jimmy's eyes widened just a little. He'd expected Scott to take it from him with his fingers, not his mouth. He wasn't worried Scott would accidentally bite him, just surprised.

Scott chewed thoughtfully, eyes unfocused and nodding as he did so.

He swallowed. "That's delicious," he declared.

"Right?!" Jimmy agreed.

The two of them sat at the picnic table for a while, eating their treat piece by piece, sharing as equally as possible when they both wanted to just devour the whole thing on their own. Jimmy knew if he had that much sugar and oil all at once, he'd probably be sick and Scott agreed, but the taste was almost enough to make the idea worth it.

Partway through, Oli and Eloise collapsed at their same picnic table. "What a rush!" Oli exclaimed.

"That roller coaster doesn't look safe," Jimmy said.

"Didn't feel safe," Eloise agreed. "I could almost feel my brain rattling around in my skull."

"But it was fuuuuun!" Oli drawled.

Jimmy met Scott's eyes. Scott nodded with one small movement. They each broke off a piece of the funnel cake and offered it to their friends. Both turned it down, claiming their stomachs needed a moment to settle before they could try to put anything in it.

Jimmy and Scott didn't complain about getting the whole thing to themselves, but both of them would have felt remiss had they not at least offered to share with their friends.

They were just polishing off the last little bit when a shadow fell over them. "Well, well, well! Look who we found!" a voice said. Jimmy looked up.

"Etho! How are ya, man?" he asked. "I'd hug you or shake your hand, but..." He looked at the veritable mess the funnel cake had left behind. Etho just chuckled, one arm around his partner—a somewhat short guy with fluffy, curly black hair who was somehow braving the heat of a summer evening in a green jacket that appeared to be made of moss. He was holding a large bear plushie that was eye-achingly vibrant magenta.

"It's all good," Etho said. "We're fine, aren't we, Bdubs?"

"Uh-huh!" Bdubs nodded enthusiastically.

"Enjoying the fair?" Etho asked the four sitting at the picnic table, the corners of his eyes crinkled to show he was smiling behind his face mask.

"Yep!" Oli chirped.

"Lot of fun," Scott agreed. "Just tried funnel cake for the first time."

Bdubs perked up. "Funnel cake?" He spun to look at Etho, pressing his front to his side and wrapping both arms around him. "Can we get some, please, please, please, please, please!"

Etho gave Scott a playfully-chiding look. "Look what you've done." But he rested his chin in Bdubs' curls. "Yeeeaaahhh, I guess. Let's go find some."

"The nearest stall is right over there," Jimmy said, pointing toward the one they'd got theirs from.

"Thanks," Etho said as Bdubs began talking loudly and dragging Etho in the vendor's direction. Etho was smiling.

"I take it you know them?" Oli asked.

"Next-door neighbor," Jimmy said. "And his partner. Who I don't know as well but seems nice."

"Aaahhh, I see," Oli said in a goofy voice like he was a Film Noir detective.

"Look at that sunset," Eloise said quietly. Everyone turned to see the sun dipping toward the horizon, turning orange and painting the sky and its clouds golds, oranges, pinks, and almost reds.

"Ferris Wheel?" Oli said to Eloise.

"Ferris Wheel," she agreed. They got up and went to go get in line with a brief goodbye.

"Should we, too?" Scott asked. "Take some pictures?"

Jimmy smiled. "Sounds fun!"

They dusted themselves off—the powdered sugar got everywhere—cleaned their hands of the remnants of the funnel cake, threw away their trash, and went to follow their friends.

They got on right as the sun was touching the horizon, pausing every few degrees to let others board as well. It was an old, more traditional Ferris Wheel with benches big enough for two people, rather than a huge one with dangling baskets for six or more.

That suited them just fine.

Scott had his phone out, taking pictures of the sunset. He turned his camera toward Jimmy. "Smile," he said.

Jimmy did. Scott's camera shuttered.

"Ooh. That's a new profile pic right there," Scott said, showing the results to Jimmy. In the light of the setting sun, his early tan was bronzed and his hair had glints of gold. The whole picture was warm and glowy.

"Yeah—please send that to me."

"'Course," Scott said. But he switched his phone to selfie mode. "Bring it in, first." He leaned close. Jimmy leaned to match.

Scott took a couple selfies of the two of them. Including one where they turned around to let the half-sun silhouette them. Jimmy smiled and laughed.

When the pictures were done and Scott's phone tucked back in his pocket, he rested his head on Jimmy's shoulder. "Thanks for this," he said softly. "Thanks for telling me the fair was in town. It's been a long time since we did something just... out-of-the-norm."

Jimmy nodded. "Welcome. Happy to be here, having fun."

Scott hummed agreement as they watched the sunset continue to deepen. The highest points of the sky were already inky with stars poking out. The rising moon was bright opposite the sky from the sun. Jimmy took a deep breath and sighed, content and happy—and wondering where Tango was and whether he was having a good time.

—

"Sun's down! Time to paaaaarrrrrtyyyyy!" Zed exclaimed, falling off the mushroom of the fairy ring and catching himself with his pink-and-yellow wings. The fairies cheered. Someone broke out the wine, its distinct scent filling the air. Tango smiled, his wings wiggling. He still couldn’t fly, but at least he could move his bad wing just a bit.

The music started, and so too did the dancing. Tango was the only fairy stuck on the ground, but by Oberon that wasn't going to stop his friends from making him dance with them. Gem, Impulse, Skizz, and Zed all got their hands on him and lifted him into the air.

He laughed as his friends hauled him around through the sky, singing and dancing along to the music. At some point, someone shoved a hollowed-out seed full of wine into his hand.

Never one to avoid a bad time, Tango drank down the whole thing. There was nothing quite as delicious as fairy wine. It always left him feeling sparkly. His wings chimed as they fluttered, but his right one still couldn't hold him up. Gem laughed where she was mostly behind him. "Tango, that tickles!" Green fairy dust drifted down from her orange monarch butterfly wings, mingling with the pink-and-gold dust from Zed's.

He glanced around. Bdubs wasn't here. He'd claimed exhaustion and had gone to his room last night and hadn't emerged since. Fern was sitting on a mushroom, a seed in her hand that she'd probably only had a single sip of, talking to one of the fairies that had been traveling with the human fair. The fairy was taller than even Skizz with reddish, mechanical wings, curled horns, and green skin. An uncommon type of fairy, but not unheard of. The horns and skin, at least. The mechanical wings were almost unheard of. Fern's expression was one of sorrow as she talked to him.

But other than that, both courts seemed to be having the time of their lives. A Fae Revelry was a party like nothing mortals could even hold a candle to.

Tango took the next seed full of wine that had been handed to him and downed it too.

He wasn't going to remember most of this party in the morning, probably.

He was fine with that.

He let himself get lost in the moments and the wine as it went straight to his head. He danced with his friends and ate whatever food had been provided by the fair's court, enjoying his court's specialty wine with abandon. Fairies partied a lot, but it had been a while since they had a second court to enjoy partying with. The other court seemed to think the same because they were matching the same level of overdoing it that Tango's court was doing.

At some point he found himself back on the ground, holding both of Fern's hands as they jumped in circles. Gem's appeared at some point but left after a bit. Scar crashed into them both with Cub right behind. "Watch the wing, watch the wing, watch the wing!" Tango exclaimed as he crashed into the grass. Thankfully, both his wings were unharmed as he hit on his side.

He heard himself laughing, but he wasn't really fully present in his own mind. Addled by the wine and the food and the music.

He hoped, distantly, that Jimmy was having a good time.

—

Tango woke up in the lawn behind Jimmy's house, half-hidden by a flower bush. He'd heard of the concept of a hangover before but fairies didn't get them, so he was just tired.

He pushed himself upright and looked around. He had no idea how he got here. He had vague memories of Skizz and Impulse lugging him back to the tree, suspended between them as they flew. But at what point in the night had he stumbled through the woods to get here? Why had he come here? He couldn't remember. Another vague memory of him wanting to tell Jimmy "something important" was lingering just out of reach of his recollection.

A masculine voice on the other side of the fence shouted, "Aurora? Have you seen my trowel?"

Followed by a feminine voice shouting, "Check under the wheelbarrow!"

The shouts jarred Tango out of his thoughts as the neighbors started arguing. Lighthearted and friendly with no real bite to any of the words.

"Don't make me come out there, Etho!" the feminine voice called with a laugh.

Tango peered around, making sure the stupid cat who'd busted his wing wasn't outside and that the neighbors wouldn't see him. Once he confirmed, he took off running for the exhaust vent, leaping into the air and squeezing himself through the gaps to access the ductwork.

He snuck quietly through the ducts until he found the living room. Where he'd borrowed the tissue box from originally. It had been restored to its place, apparently. He could see it through the slats in the vent.

Jimmy was lounging on the sofa, holding one of the glowing rectangles. He'd called it a phone... right? Tango didn't remember. The stupid fluffy cat who'd busted his wing was on Jimmy's lap. Jimmy's free hand was idly petting him. The tomcat's ears twitched in the direction of the vent and his hair started to raise a little. Jimmy noticed.

Tango held his breath and turned his fire hair back into normal hair.

The cat was still bristling.

"What's wrong, Norman?" Jimmy asked, his hand stilling in the cat's fur.

Norman hissed toward the vent.

Tango hissed back, baring his fangs and flaring his wings.

The cat mewled pathetically, looking surprised, and buried his face in Jimmy's shirt.

Jimmy set his phone on the low table by the sofa and rolled off the sofa, landing on his knees on the floor, holding the cat in one arm. "Tango? Is that you?" he asked quietly. His voice sounded tired. He had a button-up shirt on over his sleeping sleeveless shirt.

Tango ignited his fire hair again. "It's me."

"Okay. Be quiet, my housemate's home, but..." Jimmy looked around. His free hand reached up and touched the pocket on the chest of his shirt. He lifted the flap and pulled it open. "Hop in."

Tango dodged out of the vent and creaked it shut before running across the floor, jumping up Jimmy's leg and climbing the loose overshirt before crawling in the pocket and pulling the flap down over the top so no one would be able to see him. The pocket was muffled and a little darker, but it was warm. Right over Jimmy's heart. Which he could feel in the vibrations of the fabric.

Tango couldn't help himself and Jimmy wouldn't see—he snuggled closer to Jimmy's chest. Closing his eyes.

"How was your party?" Jimmy whispered.

"Wild," Tango whispered back with delight and rapture. "How was the fair?"

"It was fun! I had a good time."

"That's good." Tango yawned.

"Tired?"

"I was awake for most of the night."

Jimmy hummed. "Sleep in my pocket. You're safe with me," he said.

"I don't think that's a good—"

"Tango. I promise: I will never hurt you."

Magic twisted between them.

Tango yawned again. "I warned you about making promises to fairies," he pointed out. But he was already burrowing down in the pocket, snuggling close to Jimmy's warm chest and eyelids growing heavy. "'S dangerous."

Jimmy's hand gently cupped his pocket. It was warm. "This one I think I can keep," he said softly.

"I promise not to hurt you either." Tango hummed and rested his head against Jimmy's beating heart. Drifting off.

—

Tango woke up from his unexpected nap disoriented. Where was he? Why was he surrounded by fabric on all sides? What was that rhythmic thumping?

Peeling his eyes open, memories came crashing back. Right. He had taken a nap in the chest pocket of Jimmy's shirt.

That rhythmic thumping was Jimmy's heartbeat.

He shuffled a little.

Jimmy was humming softly. A tune Tango didn't recognize. Occasionally singing some lyrics under his breath. There was quiet clatter accompanying him. "—I keep on hopin' we'll eat cake by the ocean..." Jimmy sang.

Tango managed to get to his feet in Jimmy's pocket and lift the flap covering it just enough to peek through.

Jimmy was cooking. There was a black metal frying pan on a stove and something yellowy in it that he was moving around with a black plastic spatula.

"—lose our minds and go crazy-crazy, ay-yayayayaya—"

"Whatcha makin'?" Tango asked, keeping his voice down in case Scott the housemate was nearby.

Jimmy jolted. "I didn't realize you'd woken up!" he hissed.

"Just now," Tango reassured. He twisted and moved the flap out of the way so he could look up at Jimmy's face. Laid back and relaxed—and really, really handsome. That strong jaw and nose and brow bones framing his face. Tango's heart was going about as fast as a hummingbird's wings and he forced himself to look away. "Whatcha makin'?"

"Eggs," Jimmy said. "I'm not good at making much else, but I can make eggs."

"Where's your housemate?"

"Out in the garden. He has a blood feud with the morning glories going."

"Why?"

"Morning glories twist around other plants and choke them out. They kill the flowers and the hedges and they grow back too fast. I guess. The garden is really more Scott's domain. I let him futz with the flowers and the hedges and I do my best to take care of the inside of the house. Which includes making us both some lunch while he weeds. You can talk normal volume for now. I'll warn you if I see him on his way back in."

Tango shuffled in the pocket a little bit. "Morning glories are good for being able to climb otherwise-unwieldy plant stalks," he said. "Which fairies really only care about when..." He released a long breath. "When their wings are busted." He looked down at the frying pan.

Jimmy reached up a free hand and cupped the pocket comfortingly. His hand was warm through the fabric. "It'll heal, right?"

"Yeah. It has been healing. It'll be fine soon enough. I just hate feeling useless and grounded." Tango rested his chin on his hand that was holding the top of the pocket.

"Is taking it easy not an option?" Jimmy asked.

"I get bored."

"Ohhh..." Jimmy's body rocked like he was nodding in understanding. "I get it."

Tango looked out the window nearby. The sun was past its zenith. Afternoon. "I need to get home before my court freaks out about where I've been," he said, starting to pull down the top of the pocket and push the covering flap up. "I've been gone too long already."

Jimmy turned off the stove. "Okay. I'm sorry to see you go. But I understand. Can I get you anything before you leave? Some water or some milk?"

"I wish I had time for that. But it's a bad idea. I gotta go."

Jimmy sighed. "Be safe." He moved over to the vent Tango had come in through and crouched low, opening his pocket and helping Tango out onto his hand. Which he then lowered to the floor as his other one popped open the vent.

"I will." Tango smiled as he hopped off Jimmy's hand and into the ductwork.

"Will you come back?" Jimmy asked quickly, before Tango could disappear into the ducts. Tango paused, his hair simmering lower, going from yellow to red.

He smiled, though. "I'll try," he said.

Before turning and running into the ducts, his bare feet making soft thunks against the metal.

He made it to the exhaust vent that led outside—and saw the blue-haired housemate bent over a bush, wearing gloves covered in dirt, ripping morning glory roots out of the ground. His back was currently to the exhaust vent, but there was a lot of open grass between Tango and the nearest hiding place.

Tango shifted back and forth on the balls of his feet, fidgeting with his fingernails nervously. He was already wasting time. Skizz was gonna be so mad at him for being missing for so long the morning after a revelry. Especially one as crazy as the one the night before.

"Scott! Lunch is ready!" Jimmy shouted.

"On my way!" Scott called back. He ripped out one final morning glory and got to his feet. He pulled off his gloves and headed for the back door.

Tango seized his chance to leap from the vent and bolt into the hedges. He wove between the bushes' stems, grabbing branches to lift himself up and swing his legs through gaps where the floor was obstructed.

Through a hole in the fence and into the trees.

The buzzing of wings met his ears.

Right as he got bowled over. A tangle of limbs and wings falling to the forest floor.

"Ack!"

"What the—?!" The loud voice was familiar.

"Bubbles?"

"Tango?"

Bdubs and Tango disentangled themselves from one another, brushing off dirt and shaking off their wings.

"What're you doing here?" Tango asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, mister!" Bdubs exclaimed.

Tango searched around for a good answer, and couldn't find one. "I, um... I..."

"Don't tell me you're in love with a human too!"

"I wouldn't say tha—wait. What do you mean, 'too'?"

"Rats," Bdubs cursed under his breath.

"Bdubs, are you... in love with a human?" Tango was fairly certain he already knew the answer considering Bdubs' shifting eyes and shrunken demeanor. Which was saying nothing about his prior response. But it seemed kinder to ask.

Bdubs shredded a piece of moss off the sleeve of his jacket. It started growing back immediately as Bdubs picked apart the bit he'd pulled off, making tiny little flakes fall to the ground. "Don't tell Skizz," he whispered. "Please. I know he's just trying to protect us while we're in the human world but—"

"No, I wouldn't." Tango shook his head.

"Are you..."

"I don't know," Tango admitted. "I... might be falling. But we're just friends. By accident."

"That's how me and Etho got started. Accidentally met."

Tango nodded. "If Skizz asks, we were out in the woods together." Fairies couldn't lie, and that was technically true. "He'll be less suspicious if we show up together."

Bdubs jumped on the excuse. "Yes!"

"Let's head back. Walk with me. We were together in the woods the whole time."

—

Are you in love with a human too? Bdubs words chased each other around and around in Tango's head. He laid on his bed in his room of the tree and put his arm behind his head, looking up at the woodgrain of the ceiling. Lost in thought.

Jimmy made his heart get faster. Jimmy was handsome and sweet.

On the way back, Bdubs had told Tango that there was a spell he used to make himself temporarily human-sized so he and Etho could spend time together in the human world. There was also a spell to make a human fairy-sized, but it was much trickier to accomplish and humans couldn't be disguised as fairies—no wings—as easily as fairies could disguise themselves as human.

Tango liked spending time with Jimmy. But it felt too soon to say for sure whether he was in love. "In love" seemed like a big step. Maybe the first initial pieces of a crush were falling into place. But he wouldn't go so far as to say he was in love with Jimmy. Handsome and sweet and kind as he was... It was too early for in love.

He rolled onto his side, listening to an owl hooting nearby, thinking too hard to fall asleep yet.

Maybe he'd get Bdubs to teach him the temporary spell. Maybe he'd... could he give it a shot? Outside of fire magic, Tango wasn't the best at magic. He wouldn't want to fail the spell and end up a tadpole or something. Which wouldn't surprise him.

He pursed his lips. Not yet. He wasn't in love yet. And he wasn't going to ask Bdubs for the spell yet. Maybe one day. But not yet.

He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Trying to ignore the way Bdubs' words were still spiraling through his head.

—

A month passed, spring gradually warming up. The days getting a bit longer. Tango visited Jimmy about once a week, if he could swing it to get away. Though sometimes more time passed between. Ten days to two weeks. But Jimmy was always happy to be woken in the middle of the night to Tango poking him in the nose or pulling on his hair to wake him up.

"Jimmy?" Scott asked, snapping his fingers a few inches away from Jimmy's face to catch his attention.

Jimmy shook his head to clear it and smiled. "What's up?"

"I asked if you were interested in going to the shops with me. There are a few things I need to get for the garden and then I thought maybe we could grab some lunch while we were out, for once. If you wanted to join me."

Jimmy nodded. "Sounds fun! Let me go get some socks and shoes on." He got up from the table and went off for his room.

—

"Psst! Jimmy?" Tango crept around the house, darting between hiding places where the stupid cat couldn't paw at him and bust his other wing. "Jimmy, are you home?" The house was dark. None of the artificial lights were on. The only light was whatever sunlight could make it through closed blinds and curtains.

He found his way to Jimmy's room. It was both empty and messy. And dark. Unoccupied. "Jimmy?"

Silence.

Tango adjusted the threads on his splint and his wings fluttered. And then drooped.

He climbed up on Jimmy's desk and found the pencil he'd mangled to make his splint. Holding it in both arms, braced against his torso, he wrote a note on a little square pad of paper—that he put under Jimmy's pillow so he'd find it when he was in private.

Stopped by to say hi. Sorry I missed you. -T

—

The tiny independent café was pretty empty for lunchtime on a Saturday. Maybe the looming clouds were keeping people at home.

Jimmy had his mouth pressed against his thumbs where his hands were clasped and his elbows were on the table while he and Scott waited for their lunch to be ready. Scott was checking his shopping list and hadn't really even noticed Jimmy was watching him with a thoughtful expression on his face. He was ticking things off and muttering under his breath while Jimmy just watched.

"Scott?" Jimmy finally said.

Scott looked up. "What's up?" he asked.

Jimmy took a deep breath. "I was thinking about that fair we went to," he said.

Scott nodded. "It was fun. Thanks for telling me it was in town."

"Yeah. 'Course."

"There's something more you want to say, isn't there? You've got that face on."

Jimmy nodded. "There is."

"Alright. Out with it."

"It's about how I found out it was in town."

Scott put his elbows on the table and interlaced his fingers, phone discarded, screen down, off to the side. "I'm listening."

—

Tango scoured the court's library, deep in the roots of the tree. He had a little paper and some ink ready to write down everything he'd need.

"Whatcha doin', Tango?" Bdubs asked loudly.

Tango whirled. "Ssshhh!" he hissed. "I'm glad you made it. I need your help to find something."

"What?"

"You were right. And I need your help."

"Tell me what you need," Bdubs said.

—

“Jimmy! Jimmy! Jimmy!”

Jimmy woke up to Tango scrambling up the side of his bed, clutching at the sheets to pull himself to the top of the mattress. Fatigue vanished. He propped himself up on his elbow. “Tango! I’m glad you’re here. I have a big surprise!”

“Oh! I do too!”

“Ooh! I bet my surprise is bigger,” Jimmy whispered.

“I seriously doubt it,” Tango whispered back playfully.

“You go first.”

“No, you. I insist.”

"No, no. I want you to say yours first."

"Mm-mm. My lips are sealed until you tell me yours!" Tango beamed cheekily, shaking his head.

Jimmy grinned. “You remember my housemate, right? Scott? With the blue hair?” Tango nodded. “Well. He and I have been dancing around feelings for each other for ages now. Neither of us really wanting to ruin our friendship. But I thought about what you’d said about taking what life gives us and finally decided to tell him. And he felt the same and—he’s my partner now! We’re together! Tango, I love him so much. Thank you for helping me have the courage to say something.”

Tango’s wings dropped. “O-oh,” he said. “Yeah. That, uh… that certainly is big news.”

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?”

“No, I am! Just… My news isn’t as big by comparison.”

“Well, what was your news?”

Tango’s wings lifted and fluttered in perfect unison. “My, uh, my wing is all better. I can fly again. Kinda, uh, paltry news compared to yours.”

“Oh, Tango, that’s amazing! I’m so happy you’ve got that part of your life back!” Jimmy smiled. He reached out as though to offer Tango a friendly touch with one fingertip, but Tango took a step away.

“Yeah. Me, uh, me too.” His wings trilled like a hummingbird's as he lifted off the bed. “I should… I should let you get back to sleep. I’m sure you’re busy now with a new romance.” He swooped over to the open window he must have come through, his wings trailing red dust. “Sleep well, Jimmy.”

"Do you not want to stay a few? Have some milk or water?"

Tango's wings glimmered in the shaft of moonlight. "No, thank you. I don't want to keep you. Some other night, maybe."

“Tango, are you sure you’re okay?”

Tango smiled. But his hair was simmering low and red, rather than big and yellow. “I’ve certainly been worse,” he said before ducking through the window and disappearing into the night.

—

The shock broke before Tango made it back to the court’s hollow tree. He plummeted into some soft-looking leaves and clung to the branch, sobbing. He’d found the spell Bdubs used to be human-sized temporarily to be with his… Etho. He’d found the ritual Lizzie used to become human permanently. He’d been all ready to square up and tell Jimmy his real feelings. Ask for a real chance as equals on a level playing field. Confess he’d been in love with Jimmy for awhile.

A sob wracked through him.

Not meant to be.

He wasn’t lying when he said he was happy for Jimmy. Of course he was. He loved Jimmy and wanted him to be happy. He was happy Jimmy found someone who made him happy. He just couldn’t ignore the overwhelming tidal wave of sorrow that crashed over him.

He pulled his little scroll of magic notes out of his pocket and began to lift it up to his hair.

He stopped.

He couldn't bring himself to do it.

His grip on the scroll was going to crease the paper, probably, but he couldn't quite bring himself to burn it.

He just let himself cry. Away from the court. Away from any prying eyes. In a tree where he could just release the emotions where no one would ask questions he didn't want to answer.

His heart broke and his chest felt both hollow and like he was caught in the vice-like grip of a human fist. Unable to escape. Pain gnawed at his chest and heart, spurring tears to fall, plopping on the bark of the tree branch.

Something else burned—and Tango cried out, clutching at his chest in surprise. "Wh... what?" he rasped out.

The burning—it was magic.

That twist in the fabric of magic that Tango had almost forgotten about over the past month.

A promise.

Which promise had Jimmy made? Why had it broken?

"J... Jimmy," he whispered as panic descended over him. He spilled himself off the side of the branch, his wings fluttering fast to catch him in the air. He twisted and shot back toward Jimmy's house. Trying desperately to remember which promise Jimmy had broken. Why was his memory so bad?

He got back to the house just in time to see a rather vacant-eyed Fern climbing over the fence from the house next-door. The one Bdubs often left.

"Fern! Fern!" Tango hissed, darting out of the trees to intercept his friend. Her eyes were glassy and empty, her black wings mostly blending into the night. "Fern, what's wrong? What's going on?" He knew, already, but he was hoping she would remind him which promise had broken.

"Someone broke a promise," Fern droned blankly.

The door to the neighbors' house opened. "Fern?!" a voice hissed. Tango turned to see a woman about the same age as Jimmy with brown hair that turned to purple toward the ends in a loose T-shirt and trousers leaning against the frame.

"Someone broke a promise," Fern repeated.

"Rora? Something wrong?" a voice Tango now recognized as Etho's called from deeper in the house.

"Everything's fine," Rora called back. Her eyes locking with Tango's for just a moment before she stepped back and nodded. The back door shut.

Fern moved around Tango and headed for the window to Jimmy's room. Somewhere distant, he could hear humming and buzzing.

Tango twisted just in time to see the rest of the court emerging from the trees.

"No, wait—wait!" Tango exclaimed, zipping to cut Fern off. He threw his arms out to stop her from being able to open the window. "Now wait, just listen to me—"

He got cut off by Fern waving a hand and the window flying open.

Skizz slammed into Tango and they both went tumbling into the room, landing on the desk. Skizz didn't even seem to realize he'd done it, getting up and flying over to the bed.

The court landed on the pillow around Jimmy's head.

All of them were muttering about broken promises, not seeming to really notice Tango at all. All of them were leaving colored fairy dust all over the pillow and bedding.

Jimmy's eyes were open but they were just as glassy as the court's. His mouth was slack and he seemed to be in a sort of fugue state.

"Stop—wait—Skizz—stop!" Tango pleaded. He flew over and hovered in front of Skizz, his wings fluttering madly, feet dangling an inch above the pillow to be level with Skizz's height. "Skizz, wait! Please!" He grabbed Skizz's shoulder and shook it.

"The human has broken a promise to the Fae," Skizz said, voice toneless. "He falls under Fae rules. Left to the mercy of Fae control." Skizz grabbed Tango by the shoulders and pushed him down.

Tango's bare feet slipped a little on the cotton pillowcase.

But it seemed to snap the court out of their drone state. Zed's mismatched wings flittered as he looked around. Impulse sneezed his own gold fairy dust off his face. Gem's brow was furrowed as she kept Bdubs from falling over. Scar and Cub were near one another, as always, shoulders pressed together for comfort.

"Tango?" Zed asked. "What's going on? Who is this? Why are we here?"

"What promise was broken?" Fern put in.

Tango ignored their questions. "Go home, all of you," he said firmly to the court. "This isn't any of your business."

Skizz's firm hand rested on his shoulder. "We can't leave yet, Tango. Not until the price for a broken promise is paid."

"Price..." Tango couldn't remember what the price was anymore.

Skizz bent to give him a gentle look. "The promise was made to you. You have to lay a geas on him. He's under your control. He can't be freed from this state until you give him a command."

"No," Tango insisted, pushing Skizz's hand off his shoulder, his wings fluttering madly, but not lifting him up in the air. "I made him a promise too. That I would never hurt him. I'm not going to curse him with a geas."

Bdubs' mouth fell a little slack. "This is the human you fell in love with," he whispered quietly.

A murmur rippled through the court.

Skizz's expression hardened. "You what now?"

Tango set his jaw. "It doesn't matter," he spat. "He doesn't feel the same. He has a partner he's in love with. But I'm not going to hurt him. Broken promise or not, he doesn't deserve that. I won't be the wicked trickster fairy who ruins his life. I'm not that spiteful. I can't do that to him."

"Then you confine him to this forever," Skizz retorted.

Tango stiffened. He thought quickly, looking around Jimmy's bedroom. "You said the geas was a task to fulfill?"

"Them's the rules, Tango-Top," Skizz agreed.

Tango fluttered over to Jimmy's ear and knelt next to it. He closed his eyes and thought. One of his hands curled into a fist in Jimmy's hair. Just to ground himself.

He took a deep breath. "Get rid of any evidence that we ever knew each other," he said. "That mangled pencil. The doll cups. Throw it all out."

Clarity sharpened in Jimmy's eyes as Tango stood up and took a few steps back. He took a deep breath and blinked several times, rousing. "What in the... Tango, hang on!" he protested quietly. Tango's shoulders were curled forward and his wings and pointed ears drooped.

"How much of that did you hear?" he asked quietly.

"All of it!"

A pang ricocheted through Tango's chest. "So... you know. How I really..." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He looked at the rest of the court. "Go home. The price is set to be paid. Leave," he said, a sharp edge to his voice.

Bdubs was the first to take wing toward the window. Gem followed. Then Scar and Cub. Fern looked wary but she lifted off the pillow and crossed the room. Zed, Impulse, and Skizz were quiet for several long moments, all looking at Tango. He narrowed his eyes, his fire hair flaring brighter and hotter.

"Go," he ordered.

For a moment, he thought they wouldn't. "Come on, guys," Impulse said, his moth wings sweeping through the air. Skizz and Zed took wing just after him and the three of them went through the open window.

Jimmy sat up. His body seeming to be moving without his conscious command. "Wait—Tango—hang on—why—" He stumbled a bit getting out of the covers, one foot getting caught in the bedding for a moment. "Why did you order me to get rid of the evidence that we've known each other?" He was already moving to his desk—which was covered in multi-colored fairy dust from the entire court's flight in and out of the room—and pulling the mangled pencil out of the cup.

Tango swallowed down the lump in his throat, flying alongside Jimmy's head. "Because with the evidence disposed of, it'll be easier for you to forget me."

"Forget?!" Jimmy demanded. "How do you mean forget? Are you going to magic away my memories?"

"No. I'm not good enough at magic for that. You're gonna forget eventually because you're human and that's how human memories work. Not too long from now, all I'll be is a recurring dream you had for a month and then never again."

"What?!"

"I'm never coming back here, Jimmy. I'm not putting you in this position again. Your broken promise wasn't even your fault. It was mine. And I won't do that to you again. You'll never see me again. I'll be a pleasant memory of a fuzzy, funny dream you once had. A silly fairy with fire for hair."

"Tango wait. That part that the moss-covered fairy said. About you being in love with me—"

"It doesn't matter. You're in love with your housemate. You should be with him. He makes you happy. I was just a friend and I have no right to any of your feelings. I, uh..." Tango rocked in the air. "I'm going back to Avalon for the rest of the year. Leave the rest of my court alone. They're not as forgiving as I am. You probably will never see them anyway." Tango stopped directly in front of Jimmy's face, making him halt in the hallway on his way to the kitchen where the doll cups were. "Jimmy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I messed it all up."

"Wait, Tango, don't say that—"

"I was gonna tell you, earlier, that, uh... that I'd found some magic that could temporarily make me human-sized. I was gonna ask for a shot with you. But I'd rather you be happy with your human partner. It'd be much easier for you. So... thank you. For all the fun we did get to share. It was worth it, to me." He flew close to Jimmy's face, his fire hair turning back into normal hair to not burn him. "Be happy, Jimmy. That's your real geas from me. Your real command. Be happy and live a full, human life. Forget about me. Let me be just that pleasant, silly dream. Nothing more."

Tango leaned forward and pressed a warm kiss to the space between Jimmy's eyebrows.

"Be happy and love freely," he whispered.

He darted around Jimmy's head and flew for the open bedroom window, zipping out into the night as little more than a tiny ball of red light.

—

Jimmy's body moved of its own accord, taking the mangled pencil and the plastic Barbie cups to his neighbors' rubbish bin before delivering him back to his own bedroom and finally releasing him from whatever hold the magic had on him.

He ran out into his backyard. "Tango!" he whisper-shouted. "Tango?"

Silence. Nothing more than the crickets and other night bugs.

—

Tango packed up his room in the tree, making sure everything was neatly organized.

"Knock-knock," a voice said from the doorway. He turned to see Skizz, Bdubs, Zed, and Impulse lingering there. "What're you doing?"

"I, uh... I'm going back to Avalon for the rest of the year. I'll come back next spring. I just..." He shook his head. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to be here. Not with everything I messed up. I need to go home. Clear my head."

Zed was the first to step over the threshold. "We'll miss you," he said softly.

"I know," Tango said. "I'll miss you to. But I'll see you when autumn gets too cold."

"That's right, you will," Impulse said.

Zed wrapped his arms around Tango. "Come on, bring it in," he said. Tango clung to his friend tightly. Skizz and Impulse wrapped arms around the both of them in a crushing group hug, Bdubs draped outside them all as best he could.

"I'm sorry, Tango," Skizz said. "I was too harsh earlier."

"No. You were right. I got too close to the humans and I made a mistake and it almost hurt one. It won't happen again."

Skizz rested his chin in Tango's hair. "Be safe in Avalon, buddy."

"I will."

[secretidentie]

SuperBat but they're 2 complete strangers stuck sitting next to each other on a 16-hour long flight ✈️

What immediately makes this funny is that if Bruce is flying commercial he's already holding onto his sanity by a thread and is in no mood for bullshit. Clark on the other hand is really excited since it's probably his first time actually using a plane to fly. The daily planet already paid for his ticket and he doesn't want it to go to waste. He's kinda scared coz it's the first time he's had to rely on machinery to stay in the air instead of himself.

This starts off at the check-in queue with Clark claiming Bruce as his airport crush (since he's trying to do all the classic airport things). He's then pleasantly surprised when they're seated next to each other on the plane. This excitement dies pretty quickly when Bruce snaps at him for trying to make conversation.

This gets worse when Bruce (who has the window seat) decides to close the window and turning on the light to read. Since Clark can't look out the window (lead lined paint) to make sure everything's fine and can't sleep to distract himself he starts panicking a bit and ends up fighting with Bruce, telling him to keep the window open. Bruce starts questioning why he's freaking out over nothing and the fight culminates in Clark saying he was the sole survivor of the plane crash that killed his parents coz they threw him out with an open parachute while they blew up so seeing that the sky is clear keeps him calm (which is only sort of a lie if he squints).

Bruce obviously feels like a jerk but he's too stubborn to apologize out loud. Instead, after about an hour of silence, he gives Clark his snacks and looks away. Clark picks up on this being a piece offering and asks Bruce if he wants to watch a movie together. They get to know each other, joking and teasing then at some point during a movie Clark falls asleep on Bruce's shoulder and this is when Bruce realizes he's falling for this stranger he's known for all of 10 hours.

Unfortunately, his bliss is shortlived coz there's some unexpected turbulence. The violent shaking of the plane wakes up Clark who's panicking because if the plan goes down he knows he won't be able to get everyone to land on time and still keep his identity in check. But to Bruce it looks like Clark is having a trauma flashback so he tries to calm him down which surprisingly works when the plan levels out again.

The bad weather does still force the plane to land and all the passengers have to find somewhere to sleep for the night before their connecting flight. Luckily for Bruce, he already owns a penthouses in this city and he asks Clark to stay the night with him if he has nowhere else to go.

Idk what happens after that but I think this would be such a fun plot for a fic.

[eddiestightywhities]

TRUST ME, I'M A LESBIAN

.

Hen was actually so, so wrong.

Buck was completely one hundred percent uninterested in how disgustingly attractive New Guy was, with his lean, mean firefighting-machine physique and those super pretty, long-lashed, stunningly big brown doe eyes of his.

Eddie Diaz. Ugh.

Ex-army medic. Top of his class at the academy. Infuriatingly unflappable.

Also too cool for a dumb nickname like any other normal fucking person. The douchebag was too cool for school in general, apparently.

Although neither of those things ended up being true, as Buck found out after two hot seconds of his ego pointlessly scrapping for position of Top Dog. Like when his new kick-ass partner answered to ‘Eds’ as if he always had, the moment Buck's subconscious decided it was just gonna be that way. Like when he'd discovered his awesome new friend was a single dad with a son, a kid of elementary school age, who just so happened to be the brightest shining light Buck had ever had the privilege of having to squint at.

That kid, just—wow. Buck was completely smitten, right from the off. Christopher was amazing. Way smarter than Buck, and way cooler than Eddie (who actually, adorably, turned out to be six-foot-worth of pure marshmallow that Buck kinda wanted to simultaneously squish and eat).

These irrefutable facts were first presented to him after inviting himself over to the Diaz residence with an offer of help to clean up following the earthquake, and then he sort of just…

Well, he sort of just never really left. At least, his heart always stayed behind at 4995 South Bedford Street, each and every time he reluctantly drove away from what very quickly became the undisputed best part of his life.

Until all of that changed in the space of a single heartbeat.

A few years down the line came the day that Eddie almost gave Buck a fucking coronary when he crowded into Buck's personal space and backed him into the fridge with a hand bracing either side of his head—post-it notes coming as unstuck as Buck did, magnets clattering to the kitchen floor and managing to sound like wedding bells to Buck's pathetically romantic ears—when suddenly Eddie was kissing him, and kissing him, and kissing him.

And—holy fuck.

After seeing God, Eddie had nervously asked Buck and his heart to stick around, for long enough to not just have (make) dinner and choose their after-meal movie, but to be the little spoon with Eddie in Eddie's too-small bed until morning time came around.

Eventually, after so many cosy nights on the porch with a beer and and arm snaked around his waist, and mornings consisting of packed lunches and pecks on the cheek, Eddie asked Buck to never leave.

Obviously, Buck and his heart sang out with a chorus of yes, yes, a thousand times yes! Or rather he'd screamed it with every goddamn fibre of his being, because Jesus fucking Christ, Buck was just as in love as Eddie apparently was.

Eddie didn't just want Buck; he wanted Buck to stay.

They'd grinned at each other like toothy, goofy idiots, before Eddie was kissing him again, and again, and again, and kind of never really stopped—never for very long, at least.

Yeah, sorry, Bobby and Co.

Funnily enough, it wasn't necessary for Buck to go home and pack a bag, seeing as most of his stuff already lived at Casa Buckley-Diaz (that was what Chris had started calling the place a while back). Thing was, all three of them already knew Casa Buckley-Diaz was Buck's real home, and had been for a really long time.

So that's how everything and nothing at all changed: Eddie and Christopher weren't just a part of Buck's life anymore; they just were his life.

Hen, it turned out—both annoyingly and completely wonderfully—was actually so, so right.

And yes, Buck definitely learned his lesson: Always trust a lesbian.

.

look, i've had A Time of it this last couple of weeks, and also have the dreaded block and just needed to write something—like, anything, y'know? i guess that this is the silly little fanfic-y no-dialogue something-anything i managed to come up with xp

[impactrueno]

I saw an oldish post of yours where you mention something about the musicaljuice and musicalLyds dinamic after the musical, and it was a fair thing to wonder about cause, yeah, tf do you do after that? Not a particularly openended story, in any case here's my cup of tea.

no one rlly likes beetlejuice besides Lydia and well, not just the fun parts, he helped her develop and put her in a situation where Charles had to listen to her, basically indirectly solved her daddy issues lol, don't know if Lydia would rlly think about the latter though.

But thing is he isn't rlly the ideal friend, nothing rlly happened during the musical to demonstrate growth from beetlejuice or any kind of communication with the whole "leaving him" thing from Lydia's part, in Beetlejuice's head she still was gonna leave him, bro rlly has no object permanence ANYWAY so that, it's likely that similar stuff (maybe not the full blown marriage thing but yk, a lot of misunderstandings and things happening because hr has the separation anxiety of a two month old puppy)

It would take some character development for him to not think Lydia is gonna leave him forever as soon as she walks to a different room, and bringing up another thing you said, Lydia isn't exactly the best either, they were just using eachother to feel better but it wasn't rlly sustainable, but the difference is Lydia changed and Beetlejuice didn't, and most likely he won't, similar to your toonjuice comic where he is capable of caring and he can develop yes, but he isn't gonna change, there's just so much wrong with musicaljuice he can grow in his own Beetlejuice way, but in the end of the day he's still him.

weirdly enough,both toon and musicaljuice are the more "human" of the juices in a sense, or at least, the most emotionally vulnerable and even relatable to a level (more leaning towards musical in this point, I haven't really seen much of the cartoon) because at his core he wants to connect and feel loved, he kinda sucks at both of em tho which makes it hard for any dinamic he could be a part of to work 💔

So yeah that's my thoughts sorry for the mess of dispersed ideas and the long ass text.

-🌧

yeah musicaljuice is the definitely most "human" of the three. i feel like this is because musicals thrive on exploring characters' feelings and emotions, so we get to see a lot of that from him, and that helps the audience understand him better and relate to him to a degree you wouldn't usually see in the cartoon…much less in the movies lmao (even so i still find toonjuice the most relatable. me, personally.) bj's arc in the musical really hit home for a lot of people.

but i'm gonna have to disagree with you that bj didn't change or go through character development. at the beginning of the show, death means nothing to him. we all die. let's kill some people. it's whatever. but after the wedding ceremony where he came to life just to die a minute later, when he protects lydia from his mother, he shows that his view on life and death changed quite a bit after what he just went through. he saw that lydia's life was precious and would not let his mother take that away from her. note that in Say My Name, he's stopping her from jumping off the roof only because he needs her alive, since she's the only living person who can actually see him and therefore summon him. but after the wedding, he's very selflessly protecting her right to live. not just that, but he kills his own mother (the cause of all his emotional issues) in order to save lydia. that's HUGE. symbolic, too!!

he's the only one of the juices who actually went through a character arc and showed growth by the end of it. toonjuice is notoriously bad about this sort of thing lol. and moviejuice is…..question marks. what even is he. we just don't know.

the thing is we didn't get to see much of him after the events that changed him. the only interaction he has with lydia after that is their goodbye, which was very sweet and did a great job at showing that there are no hard feelings. but like…how different would their dynamic be after all that? because it was a pretty significant shift in character from him, which would probably affect how they get along with each other.

…OR WOULD IT….?

see, there's also the possibility that they would simply go back to how they were during That Beautiful Sound. just two fucked up friends having fun in ways that only make sense to them. although maybe his abandonment issues wouldn't be such a problem after doing the incredibly cathartic act of killing his mother lmao. or maybe lydia, now understanding him a lot better, would help him figure out how to deal with his issues (this is a big maybe because she doesn't come off as the type of person who would do that…that's more of a toonlyds thing.) perhaps maybe they would talk things out, she would probably tell him "i wasn't leaving you, stupid." bro was scheming against her while she was literally upstairs gushing to the maitlands about "her monster" lol but he didn't know that!! after the whole wedding stuff and meeting his mother i think lydia would go "oh now i get why he acted so weird."

it's all one big "maybe" because i think it could go either way with these two, and it all hinges on the direction you want to take them in. you mentioned bj isn't an ideal friend, and i guess you could try making him one?? but he doesn't have to be. i certainly wouldn't expect him to be the ideal best friend, not by any sane person's standards anyway. and that's the thing about them, they're both chaotic and messed up, and it's likely they would remain so even after the events of the musical because that's just the kind of people they are. not to mention the fact that you can't get rid of bj's emotional issues overnight. all of this, and they would still be inseparable because of the unique type of connection they have. there's these posts i saw the other day that i think encapsulate them pretty well lol

i would say that the one thing we know for sure is that he now has an undying loyalty towards her. she tricked him and then killed him, and yet he still went out of his way and faced his own personal demon to save her and showed gratitude for allowing him to be alive, even if it was just for a bit.

this dumbass though. instead of scheming against her, if he wanted to become alive so he could stop being invisible, he could've just told her that. considering how big of a weirdo she is, it's so easy to imagine her agreeing to the marriage thing just to make him alive, if he had brought it up in a less insane manner lmfao but then we would have no plot now would we

[amica-aenigmata-naboo]

Saved

David Howard Thornton x Y/N - drabble - 2.3K WC

Masterlist

Warnings: homeless reader for a tad, reader works her way to an actress, female reader, David being hot, L bombs, marriage, so sappy, very sweet, kinda long but I think it's worth it, obviously fake blood and shit its Terrifier I think that's gonna come with every fic tbh

-----------------------------------

You sighed as the fake blood splashed on your shirt, “Another casualty…” you whispered as you rolled your eyes. The one day you don’t wear black to set, of course this would happen. Your boss had given you the opportunity to create the next set for Terrifier 2. It was a small movie with a small budget and she wanted to see what you could do within those ramifications. You looked at the wall where you had finished writing in blood, adding some excess drips here and there while also trying to make the lettering look messy. You added different bloods to the floor, some darker or lighter than others. There would be more added tomorrow as some blood was going to be in the shots and needed to be seen flowing in action. You made sure all the props for Samantha aka Victoria would be perfect. You wanted to make sure she would be extra comfortable since the blood would be coming from between her legs. You finally stepped back, looking at your goretastic creation. You smiled, thinking it looked perfect. The room still looked like a sanitary asylum room but also knowing when the cameras rolled and the props got to be used it would be fantastic. After you admired your work for a second you looked down at yourself. You would never get used to constantly being covered in fake blood. Unlike real blood it never dried down, it always remained sticky and shiny. You sighed, wiping your hands on your shirt since it was already ruined. You walked towards the door, finally getting ready to leave for the night. As you turned the corner you jumped, letting out a shriek when your body collided with David. Your shoes slipped on some of the fake blood on the floor causing you to instinctively grab David to prevent yourself from falling. Instead, you both ended up falling to the ground, fake blood getting all over you two. You groaned, tile floor was never fun to fall on.

“Are you ok?” David asked.

Your eyes shot open and you tried to sit up but an immense pain in your head raged against you. “I’m so sorry Mr. Thornton!” you said, trying to scramble up.

David stood up as he noticed your wobble. “It’s David.” he chuckled.

“Right… I’ll get all this cleaned up, you have a good night sir.” you said, stumbling slightly as you tried to walk around him to get cleaning supplies. 

“Hey, you don’t look so good. Why don’t you head home, this can get sorted out tomorrow.” he said.

You looked down, nobody on set had figured out you were living out of your car. You graduated college with nothing but mounds of debt and nowhere to go. You had only gotten a few checks so far from working on Terrifier and they had all gone to your car loan and student loans. You got up every morning before people arrived and moved your car to a different spot so nobody caught on. You gave David a curt nod, walking to the parking lot with him. You both got into your cars, only a few spots away from each other. You turned your car on, as did David. He waved at you before leaving the lot. Once he was gone you turned your car off and reclined the seat a bit, using one of your blankets you had stashed away for warmth. You tried to will yourself to sleep with no luck. You screamed when you heard a knock on your window. David? 

“Did you forget something? You can borrow my keys.” you said once you rolled the window down. You were so tired you didn’t even think of being embarrassed. 

“Come on,” he said.

“What?” you asked, rubbing your eyes to wake up fully.  

“I can’t let you sleep in your car.” he said, pulling on the door handle.

Now you felt the flames of embarrassment eat at you, “I… I’m fine, thank you.” you said, trying to get him to leave.

“You might be ‘fine’ but you’re not safe; anyone can break into a car and it's supposed to be freezing tonight. Come on.” he said, this time popping the door open.

You don’t know why but you listened to him, getting into his car. He shut the door and you couldn’t help but relish in the heat of the car, feeling sleepy already. New Jersey was incredibly cold this time of year and filming in an old metal factory and abandoned buildings all day didn’t exactly help with the cold. David got in the car; the drive was quiet but not entirely uncomfortable, just slightly awkward. You two had spoken on set before but not extensively, just in friendly passing. He had complimented your set recommendations a few times, making your boss ease up on you a bit. 

“This is it.” he said as he shut the car off, walking around to open your door. He led you into a small house, it was cozy once you went inside, his decorations making it feel lived in and quite nerdy which you found cute. 

You stood in the entryway, shifting your weight from side to side not quite knowing what to do. 

“Here, let me take your coat.” he said, moving towards you. He looked at you before he touched you, you nodded at him and he slid your jacket off. “Oh geez, you’re still covered in blood.” he said, more to himself than anything.

You slipped your shoes off, following him further into the house. He handed you two towels out of a small closet. “The guest room and bathroom are right through there… I’ll stay out here.” he said, his smile trying to reassure you. He could tell you were wary of him, or at least the situation. He understood, and did his best to make you feel comfortable. 

----------------------------------------

You emerged twenty ish minutes later, fake blood in layers took a hot minute to scrub off. David left a sweatshirt and some shorts on the bed for you which you gladly took, preferring the warm clothes from your cold, sticky ones. You walked back out into the living room. David turned around and smiled at you before turning around and pointing at a plate he left on the kitchen table. “I thought you might be hungry.” he said, moving to sit at the table.

You made your way over, looking at the food before you. A pb&j, some chips, and a few strawberries. “Thank you.” you said, yet you didn’t move to eat it. You bunched the sleeves of the sweatshirt up to hold them so you didn’t nervously pick at your nails. “Why are you helping me?” you blurted out, even surprising yourself.

David stalled for a moment, “I just… couldn’t leave you there.” 

“You don’t know me, you don’t have an obligation.” you said, sneaking a chip off the plate.

“You’re right, I don’t. But I still wanted to make sure you’re okay. We work together, you work in… makeup?” he said, guessing the last bit.

“Props and set design.” you corrected him, continuing to eat the chips.

“Right! You came up with the carved up head in the pizzeria - fantastic idea by the way.” he smiled.

You smiled softly, nobody had really praised you on your props or designs before, you were an intern and treated as such. “Thank you, nobody has ever said that before. It means a lot coming from the star of the movie.”

David gave you a big smile just like Art. You chuckled, finally picking up the sandwich and eating it. You could see David relax a little, taking you eating as a small sign of trust. “Have you always wanted to work in film?” he asked curiously.

You nodded as you finished chewing, “Especially horror. I always wanted to be a ‘scream queen’ but never knew how to get into acting so I went to college for film and focused on sets and props and foley, etc. It’s fun to see it all come together in the end.” you smiled, rambling on about your job which you did truly love. 

David watched you talk with animated eyes, you were passionate and he loved to see you come out of your shy shell to talk about a side of movie making he wasn’t entirely familiar with. You two made your way to the living room at some point, still talking. It was like two old friends meeting up after a long time apart. Utterly comfortable and safe. You fed off each other in the best ways. As David left the living room to get some tea for you both you couldn’t help but let your eyes flutter closed after such a long day. When David returns he smiles gently. His chest swelled with warmth, he liked you and he knew it. You were funny, kind, interesting, passionate,  and so much more. He put the tea down before gently picking you up. He laid you down on the guest bedroom bed and pulled the covers over you before leaving to his own room. 

-----------------------------------------

“And is it true you two got together under Cinderella like circumstances?” the interviewer asked you.

You laughed a little, reminiscing slightly before answering “Yeah, actually. I was living out of my car at the time. I was a lowly intern and just stoked to be working on a movie. All the money I made went to other more important things and rent isn’t exactly cheap so I did the best with what I had. David took me home one night because, ever the chivalrous gentleman, he didn’t want me to be unsafe or cold. And ever since then…” you gushed about him, blushing when you looked over slightly and saw him gazing at you like you were his world. “He saved me, in more ways than one.” you said, reaching out and holding his hand. 

David kissed the back of your hand, “We saved each other.” he said.

“And how do you feel about your relationship becoming public with the release of Terrifier 3?” the woman asked, directing it towards David. This was a panel completely dedicated to you two so you both rambled on. 

“Honestly I feel really good about it. She worked her way up from intern prop & set designer to full blown scream queen. And none of that had to do with me, she worked for that shit fair and square. And now with the release of the new movie, everyone can see how badass she is. The fans have been overwhelmingly supportive and it's amazing to see. ” David said, praising your work ethic.

“So how long have you two been together romantically? I know, nosey - but everyone is so curious since you just became public.” she asked.

“Well we were friends for what? Two years? Mind you, I was completely in love with her after just a few months but didn’t want to ruin the friendship so I admired from afar. And she was practically the only person I saw during COVID. Spending so much time together during that, I don’t know. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I kissed her and…” he said before you cut him off.

“We had some crazy ‘I’ve wanted this for so long’ sex and have been together ever since!” you smiled triumphantly. 

The crowd laughed as did David and the interviewer. “Well, all good things must come to an end - what does life after Terrifier look like for you two?” she asked.

You didn’t actually know how to answer that one. You’d been together for 4 years yet even you had subconscious worries about your relationship after the thing that brought you together ended. Your eyes shifted to David, seeing if he had an answer ready. You looked back at the interviewer but heard multiple people in the audience suck in breaths. You looked out at the crowd, seeing if everything was ok. Some people pointed behind you so you turned. David was on one knee holding out a ring before you, the black diamond glistening in the light. 

“Y/N - you are the most amazing woman I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. You excite me, you challenge me… you love me unconditionally. I want nothing more than to wake up every day to you and be worthy of you. Will you marry me?” he said, his voice was firm and confident but you could see the slight tremble in his hands. 

You didn’t hesitate, you jumped up straddling him and knocking him back slightly. As you sat on his lap on your knees you kissed him deeply over and over again. The crowd was losing it - screaming, clapping, whistling, etc. 

“1000 times yes.” you whispered in his ear. You hugged him tightly before moving to stand up with him.

He raised his fist triumphantly, the crowd cheering with him once more. He pulled you in by your waist, dipping you slightly before kissing you hard. You both walked off the stage, the panel time ending on a high note. As soon as you checked your phone you saw Twitter and Instagram flooded with pictures and videos of the proposal. You smiled but put your phone away, relishing in the fact that you were officially going to be Mrs. Thornton. It was crazy to even think that but with David kissing up your neck the minute he closed the door to your private guest room you let yourself enjoy the feeling; your hand slipping down the door to lock it. 

“Wanna recreate the ‘I’ve wanted this for so long’ sex? Because honestly, I’ve wanted this for so long.” you said, holding your hand out and pointing to the ring.

David smiled seductively before hoisting you up by the back of your thighs so your legs wrapped around his waist, “Nothing would make me happier.” he said, kissing down your chest.

“I love you…” you moaned out between your little whimpers. 

“I love you…” he smiled up at you before slipping his hand down your pants.

---------------------------------

Naboo's Note:

Hello! Posting for our favorite guy again as promised. I got a request half way through writing this and here is the outcome so I hope you all like! Thank you so much for the support around these fics especially, I know its a relatively small fanbase, or at least one lacking in fics so I appreciate all the love around the DHT/Art fics. I hope you are all well, talk soon! XOXOXOXOXOXO!!!!!!!

[punkpandapatrixk]

💝Valentine & White Day Love Transmission ♦︎ Timeless Pick A Card

In Japan and Korea, Valentine's is when femmes give gifts to hommes; and exactly a month after that, on March 14th, the hommes return that Love with white (preferably) gifts that are expected to be at least three times the value/price of whatever gifts they’d received from the femmes😏

Traditionally it’s kinda like that. Hmmm… isn’t it obvious the celebration has never had quite any meaning in a country such as Japan and that the festivity is nothing more than a heavily-commercialised youth-tradition focused on the pursuit of shallow material desires?🤮

But…I guess it’s OK; because it’s cute anyway🥴

Within the context of this reading, the Valentine and White Day Love Transmission imparts the perfect synchrony of the Love shared by the Divines Feminine and Masculine. It is when affection is given and returned in Love and everything becomes beautiful and worth living for~💝

SONG: Space Orphans by Aoba Ichiko

MOVIE: Peter Pan (2003)

[PAC Masterlist] [Patreon] [Paid Readings]

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 1 – Don’t give up just yet; I’m on my way!

8 of Cups Rx, 4 of Pentacles Rx, Knight of Cups Rx

Darling, are you on the precipice of giving up on me?! Do NOT settle for someone—ANYONE—who’s NOT me! OMG, babe! I’m coming! Divine Timing is just being a bitch but I’m on my way to you!🦎Well, the thing is…we both have this annoying thing called a spiritual transformation… Until that’s happened—and nearly completely—we can’t be together just yet. But wait, I promise you it’s all worth it in the end🎁

I mean, why wouldn’t you wait for someone like me? I’m romantic; kind and sweet; I AM RICH; and I will always be there to protect you—I intend to always be your confidant and best friend🥰I will never betray you in any way. I’m your best friend who will skip right next to you on our way to beat up a bitch; figuratively, babe—I’m not really the type of person who gets violent LOL

What I do mean is, I want to give you a Life in which you cease to worry about small things. I want it to be that when you’re with me you no longer worry about a lack of means, a lack of warmth, or a lack of security. You’re somebody who deserves to be loved and to be very happy; and I want to give it all to you. And that’s why it’s important for me to become the best version of myself first😝

I’ve got to admit I’ve not always been the nicest, goodest person to have walked on Earth. I’m changing my ways, you know. I’m growing up; I’m developing; I’ve now been awakened and I’m still working on me, so that when I finally meet you, I will not disappoint you. Because I will never want to be a reason you stopped believing in the good of people😤I intend to be the complete opposite of that.

Fall in love with me, my dear. Fall in love with Life again when you meet me. Life is an adventure and finding me has got to be the greatest story ever told. I’ll tell you all of my crazyass stories when we meet. And I’m longing to hear you talk of your losses and triumphs. We’ll both gaze at the stars and wonder how they aligned to have us meet in this lifetime. I will be so grateful.

You know, generally speaking, I’m somewhat of an extrovert and I socialise well and I think quite positively about people. Maybe you will worry that I’m a playa of sort but right now, let me promise you this one thing: I’M NOT! I’m friendly, my love, but it doesn’t mean I wanna fuck somebody who’s not you. I dunno, I kinda have the handsome face of a smooth operator but on the inside, I’m really NOT!😩I’m really quite romantic and I believe in true love.

And honestly, at this point in my Life, I know you’re out there being all destined for me. You’re all I want. I’m on my way. So don’t you settle for any low-quality slob. Get ready, baby~ KNOCK KNOCK~🪄🚪

A LIFE WITH YOU, MY LOVE🔻❤️

Priestesses of Purity & Divination

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 2 – Everybody finds Love in the end; you included~

Ace of Cups Rx, 7 of Cups Rx, 4 of Wands

My Dear, I know Life has not treated you too kindly and your heart’s been broken too many times. It’s been pretty much like that for me, too! I’ve lived a very lonesome existence, wondering where my people are. Wondering if I’ll ever find Love in this lifetime. I know now that those whose hearts are tender find it harder to truly connect with someone. We’re not BROKEN! No, we’re not! The ‘problem’ with us is that we crave soul-deep connections~ And damn, that’s rare, indeed🍀

You know what I’m doing right now? I’m single as a pringle. I’m not opening my heart to anybody. My colleagues all think I’m crazy, offbeat, and even difficult, just because I ain’t settling. Tch, I’m the only one noticing all of their subpar relationships, and some of them are not even the slightest bit happy with the partnership they’ve got. I don’t want that. For fuck’s sake I DON’T want that, ever! I’ve always had this strange, inexplicable feeling, that people are supposed to marry whom they love.

I want LOVE. I crave that shit so bad I dunno what I’m gonna do with myself🙈

One thing I know for sure though: if I’m not with you, you who are just like me, everything in the world is pointless. There is only calm in my world when I’m thinking of you. I don’t even know who you are; but I get optimistic every time I indulge in thoughts of finding you. I… fantasise a lot…?🌈Do you ever think about me? Does your heart bloom with a peculiar kind of softness when you touch upon my consciousness?💫

I am out here in this Star System. Dream of me. Want me more. And believe that we can manifest each other through resonance. We are so much closer than you fear us to be, my Dear. You have to believe in me. The Stars have begun to align and Earth’s temperature is nearing just right🍵Our time is here :D When dreams become Reality and all that’s ever been sad turn to glory, what would you do?

I know what you’re gonna do: you’re going to be married to me😝We’re going to start a new chapter of our lives together and be very happy and abundant. I’m gonna help you prove everybody who’s ever hurt you, gaslit you into believing that you’re hard to love very, very wrong😒All of that gas, when I light the match, is gonna burn their entire house down!🔥

OK, I’m a bit crazy, but anyway—

You do know that good people always find Love in the end, right? That’s just how it always is in fairy tales. You know fairy tales are more real than any of Hollywood’s propaganda, right?🐵Right??🙊I love you. I have loved you for what feels like an eternity. Return to me now. Come home to me, my Love. I am You; you are Me. We’re going to turn everything back to balance; we’re gonna create Heaven on Earth; a harmonious Life of you and me; so have faith in us~🎎

A LIFE WITH YOU, MY LOVE🔻💙

Priestesses of Integrity & Solitude

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 3 – You are someone’s Dream Come True; you ever thought about that??

9 of Cups, 2 of Cups, King of Cups

You, are someone’s Wish Fulfilment; you ever thought about that? No, of course not; you only thought about yourself and how lacking you are as a person blablabla😡Don’t you know there’s a little someone walking this Earth who’d be SO glad to have you in their Life? Yup, that someone is ME😏You are a treasure of a gal/boy and if you’ve been surrounded by fools who can’t see that, it’s because you’re meant to travel the world and meet me~!

Have a change of scenery; you aren’t meant to thrive and live and die on the land you were born. When you cross borders and seas and realms, you’ll meet people of other cultures and points of view who are going to be more appreciative of the good you’ve been mocked(?) for🥰I promise you, babe~ You are where you are (or were) only because it was part of your Soul’s contract to learn about contrasts.

When all’s said and done, you’re going to be THE most interesting person anybody could listen to!🍿I, for one, could listen to you aaalll week long if you ever want to HAHAHA

My heart right now is like half-full, babe; I’m still waiting for you to appear in my Life. You probably won’t like hearing this because you’re independent, and you’re strong, and rebellious, but… I want you to be mine!🌹I don’t mean that I wish to suffocate you, no, it’s not like that at all… What I mean is, I wish to be the only one who could make you happy, for that would make me feel special🌞

I know I’m silly, I’m sorry~🥰I want to bring stability and certainty into your Life; that much I can say with clarity, for surely, you and I, we’re going to be pouring into each other’s Cups. We’re gonna be the kind of couple who can read each other’s minds and burst out laughing when we see something only we find funny without even exchanging words😂All of that, because of shared empathy~

Honestly, I couldn't care less for all the treasures in the world; I only want you around. Maybe that makes me a romanticist? Hm, that word doesn’t quite encompass all the feelings I have for you. All the things I wish to share with you. All that I’d do for you. What I know is that this is no mere romance; I LOVE you, you know? It goes so much deeper than that🌊

I’m mature, nurturing and caring. Find me, my Love. I’ll nurse you back to health—spiritually and everythingally; I’ll be the reason your faith in Humanity is restored. Actually, it doesn’t even matter; I just want you to trust in me, see yourself through my eyes, see how wonderful of a being you are. I want you to trust in yourself. You’re so fucking special. You’re MY very special kind of Wish Fulfilment☃️

A LIFE WITH YOU, MY LOVE🔻💗

Priestesses of Love & Healing

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

[PAC Masterlist] [Patreon] [Paid Readings]

[plutoswritingplanet]

Unpunishable (Shang Tsung x F!Reader)

a/n: no one asked for this, but hey, i've been in love with that soul stealing stink-man, i had to finally write something for him. this one is specifically MK1 story mode adjacent, but i do want to write more (for MK11 and the movie), Cross-Posted on AO3

Warnings: Dub-Con (kinda i guess), Captivity, playing fast and loose with the canon, Kinda Soft Shang?, Reader is a Blood Mage (nothing too serious tho)

Summary: After you and your friends raid Shang Tsung's laboratory, you get caught and kept captive by the Sorcerer himself.

Is it wrong to want more?

That was the thought plaguing you from the beginning of your training at the Wu-Shi temple. Blood magic was frowned upon in Outworld. For you to even cross the threshold of the realm, there had been some serious negotiations set in place. Still, the Fire God has managed to convince Empress Sindel of your assets as a healer.

And, you were a curious thing, after all. Humans were not born with magic in Earthrealm, it could only be bestowed by a God. Which is why your natural talent at commanding blood, both yours, and later someone else's, was a strange sight indeed. Strange enough to stir the interest of Outworld's nobility, granting you a safe passage to the tournament with your training companions.

Which is how you landed here. Between helping Raiden navigate the Tournament, through the secret mission on behalf of Liu Kang, and right up to now. As you sit, poised like a decorative doll, hands locked behind your back, intricate, golden cuffs digging into the skin of your wrists. There are piles upon piles of golden coins surrounding you, gold trickles down the walls in long smears of paint, golden dust stains your skin. A kink forms deep within your spine, from the uncomfortable position you have been put in.

And then, there's the deep, bleeding cut, stretching the expanse of your thigh. It was a stupid idea, tagging along for the mission to find Shang Tsung, and bring him to Liu Kang for questioning. You shouldn't have followed your friends into that one. Even more idiotic, was your short stand against Princess Mileena, as her Tarkat affliction took control of her. The fight, if you could even call it that, ended with you gaining a black eye and an awful, ugly cut, made by Princess's knives.

You shift in your position, trying to relieve some of the discomfort. Instead, the thick fabric of your pants slides on the wound, making you wince in pain. Flexing your fingers behind your back, you try to focus on the constant throbbing in your leg. If the traditional means of escape have been taken from you, perhaps a more finessed touch would be efficient.

Blood trickles on your skin, and every fiber of your being zeros in on the feeling. Sweat forms on your forehead, as you slowly force the stream to run upwards, towards your hip, and around your back. Your fingers flex into intricate positions, a thin line of your own blood reaches your wrist.

You have never tried this trick with your magic, all your life dedicating your gift to the art of healing. Dealing with the blood of other people, stopping, pushing, extracting, those were the things you were good at. Solidifying your own plasma, so it can cut through metal cuffs, was an entirely different topic.

But you have to escape. You have to. There's no telling what will happen to you, should you remain in this prison. Surrounded by gold and jewels, like some sort of perverted spoil of war. You valued yourself too much, to allow that. And, most importantly, your friends needed help. The intel you've gathered while being stuck in this wretched place wasn't much, but it was something, which in turn was enough to keep fighting.

Breathing becomes a hassle. You've already exerted far too much of your power, trying to extract from your bleeding thigh, and your hands shake behind your back, as you visualize particles sticking together, forming something solid, something that would free you of this prison. The liquid curling around your wrist shifts, an outer layer forming around it. All you've managed to achieve, is a sort of coagulated jelly, sticking to your skin.

"Your dedication to freedom in commandable." a familiar, male voice surrounds you, and you whip around, chain jingling at the sudden movement.

There he stands, in all his glory. Your captor.

Shang Tsung stalks towards you, his hands clasped behind his back as he leans down, hair flowing past his shoulders and obscuring the two of you from the world in a thick, black curtain. He smells rich. Sandalwood and jasmine, mixed with a nauseating undertone of blood and rot, no doubt, a leftover from his laboratory. It forces you to reel your head back, to try and escape it, but your efforts are quickly destroyed, as the sorcerer closes in further.

"Your skill, however…" his dark eyes fly around your face, taking in your distressed expression with a cruel smile "Well, let's just say there's some room for improvement."

Your eyebrows crease, as he flashes you a grin, before straightening up to his full height, allowing you a moment of relief from his overpowering presence. The bloody clot you've managed to form around your wrist falls to the floor as soon as you lose focus, and silently, you mourn the feeling of blood sinking between golden coins, never to be recovered again. You couldn't even if you tried, not with the Outworld's Snake right in front of you, circling your body like a hawk ready to strike.

Suddenly, he crouches down, right beside your abused leg, your breath catching in your lungs at the sudden change. The way he moved never seized to amaze you, as much as you hated to admit it. There was grace burned into his very being, every step a slithery dance. It terrified you, rightfully so, but underneath something new was brewing. A feeling, which you could easily dismiss during the rush of fighting, was no longer satisfied with staying dormant.

There was a strange pull between the two of you, like two magnets on the opposite sides of a table. Whenever your eyes met with the Sorcerer, you could feel something buried inside your soul start to wake. It felt so foreign, yet so very familiar at the same time, like a ghost of some ancient prophecy clawing at your mind.

Once you free yourself from this hellish predicament, you'll ask Liu Kang what is going on with you. He has to know, or at least, suspect something, and you knew very well, feelings like those could not be ignored. Too much was at stake, to keep secrets out of some misguided shame. That is, if you even make it out of here, because the man beside you suddenly pushes his robe outwards, producing a small box with a practiced flare, like a magician during one of his shows.

"Do not fret, Mortal" you're not sure if the "pet" name is a thinly veiled insult, or if it's just the way the Sorcerer speaks "This is simply something to heal your leg."

Now, your confusion must be palpable, because Shang Tsung's smile widens, as he takes in your face. Then, he laughs quietly to himself, barely above a whisper, and the hairs at the back of your neck stand straight at the sound.

"I don't want anything from you" it's a pathetic effort at staying defiant, and both of you know it.

Instead of entertaining your little outburst, the Sorcerer grabs your leg with his free hand. Immediately, you start to struggle, despite the sharp pain overtaking your senses, as his grip on you tightens. Then, you let out a sharp squeak, when the man's golden claws tear into the fabric of your pants just above the wound, and dangerously close to the apex of your thighs.

The wound looks back at you, swollen and bloody, and you swallow thickly, as blood flows from your face. You could treat it, successfully as well, if only your hands weren't currently bound behind your back, with very limited moving space. Shang Tsung opens the box with delicate fingers. There is some sort of salve packed inside, a rather large indent right in the middle proving it's been used quite extensively.

His hold on you becomes less of a grip, bordering almost on a soft caress, which brings an entire wave of concerning feelings to the surface of your mind. If he notices the way your cheeks flush, he says nothing, opting instead on dipping his fingers into the salve.

"This might hurt" he warns you, although there is not a single note of concern in his voice.

"What is that? Another Tarkat experiment?" you try to mask the shaking in your voice, as the thought of being experimented on genuinely frightens you.

Your leg twitches under his fingers, and he digs in deeper, turning to face you with an unexpected, serious expression. Again, you feel short of breath, as his dark eyes bear into yours with intensity you haven't yet experienced.

"I would never..." he cuts himself off.

The word, or rather, the tone in which he says it seems to startle you both. His eyebrows furrow in an expression of annoyance, or worry, you're not entirely sure, and he turns back towards your wound, his black hair shielding his face from your gaze. Was that repulsion, hidden within his voice? Your chest suddenly feels much too tight. Was the merciless Sorcerer disgusted by the prospect of conducting his inhumane experiments on you? You weren't sure if the sentiment warmed your heart… Or terrified you to the very core of your being.

Still, all your thoughts leave your brain, as soon as Shang Tsung places his fingers on your wound. At first, a cold feeling overtakes you, pain letting go for just a split second. Then, fire. White, hot, burning ache, seeping into your wound. It feels as if it reaches your bone marrow, and with a silent scream you fall on your back, writhing on the floor. Golden coins fly from under your feet, as you kick around, the golden chain tying your hands together strains, as you pull on it with all your might. Slowly, the pain fades, some sort of tight sensation pulling at the skin of your thigh.

And one more thing.

As you come down from the initial shock of the painful treatment, your brain registers something warm and firm, rubbing circles into your flesh. It takes you another while longer to realize it's Shang Tsung's hand, resting right above the wound, claws tapping on the inside of your leg. He watches you, as your breathing starts to slow, eyes following drops of sweat falling from your forehead and mingling with tears. Your lips parted, your eyelids flutter, and you let out a long sigh, finally being able to look down on your leg.

Where the wound once was, now, a long, pink scar shines in the light of the torches strung around the chamber. Shang Tsung closes the box, before hiding it amongst the many layers of his outfit. You half expect him to stand up and leave, but your hopes are squashed once again, as the man kneels down next to you, turning his attention towards your heaving chest.

His hand comes up, towards your face, claws shining gold. You wince and close your eyes, despite your best efforts to appear strong, but the pain you've anticipated doesn't come. Instead, you feel something sharp drag itself across your forehead. You risk cracking an eye at him, face scrunching, before relaxing into an expression of utter confusion.

There he was, your captor, tormentor, your enemy, brushing flyaway hairs from your sweaty forehead. Your eyes meet, and again, feelings swirl inside your gut, some you're too scared to decipher, and some need no explanation. His lips curl into something akin to a smirk, yet his eyes remain focused on you entirely, thoughts swimming behind his irises. Then, as if some magic spell has been broken, you can see him shift into his true self, the same scheming energy overflowing him, as if a new, frightful idea has formed inside his mind.

Once again, he reaches into the pockets of his robe, this time producing a deliciously red apple. Its skin is shiny, the potent smell makes your mouth water, and suddenly you remember you haven't eaten in Gods know how many hours. With a dark chuckle, the man turns the apple, from side to side, as if he wants you to take full stock of just how sinful it looks. Then, with a simple gesture, he tips it towards your lips. Your eyes snap up at him.

"I can't eat it with my hands tied" your voice sounds rough from all the pain you've experienced before.

"Nonsense, I shall feed you" he answers, as if this was the most obvious way out of your predicament, and the heat of embarrassment mixes with anger in your gut.

"You want me to eat out of your hand like some damned pet?"

Now, he laughs, fully. His eyes crinkle at the sides, as he inclines his head towards you.

"I know full-well you're too dangerous to let roam freely" your eyes flicker towards the apple, "And after all you've been through, aren't you hungry, Mortal?"

Your teeth grind against each other, as you weight your options. Shang Tsung moves the apple again in a tantalizing manner, and your resolve crumbles. Your eyes lock onto his, giving him the best performance of defiance you could muster, and slowly, you open your mouth.

"Good girl" he croons, and for a split second you ponder, if spitting at the man was worth the consequences.

He brings the apple closer, lets it rest on your bottom lip, before giving you a patronizingly inviting smile. Swallowing your pride, your teeth sink into the fruit, and you can't stop the absolutely shameful moan from slipping out of you, as the sweetness of the apple hits your tongue. Damned be precautions, damned be your dignity, you were hungry, and that apple was delicious. So you take a bite so large, it almost reaches the stem, letting some juice flow down your chin.

Shang Tsung watches you eat with a laser focus one might imagine he reserves for his experiments, teeth catching his bottom lip.

Another bite, this one silent on your part. His eyes follow the column of your throat, when you swallow. One more, and you give him a show of looking up at his darkened expression when your teeth all but tear away from the fruit.

Your hands are shaking behind your back, a coil is forming deep within you, and you press your legs tight together, to shield the rest of your dwindling dignity from completely being torn away. He notices. Of course, he does, as your actions seem to have a similar effect on him, if his bitten lips and heavy breaths are anything to go by.

"Why go through all this trouble, Sorcerer?" you ask, licking your lips from the remnants of your meal.

His eyes follow your tongue, before looking back right into your eyes. The rest of the apple is thrown somewhere amongst the golden piles of treasure, forgotten entirely. Time seems to slow down, air becomes thick between the two of you, surrounding you like a vat of tar. The pull you've been feeling since meeting this infamous monster becomes almost too strong to ignore.

Shang Tsung raises his hand, grabbing your chin and pushing it upwards. There is a myriad of emotions running rampant on his face, until it finally settles on something so dark and wanting, your stomach tightens at the mere sight. His lips come down upon yours in an avalanche, slipping towards your chin, where he provocatively licks at your skin, tasting the apple's juices and humming to himself.

Your voice comes out as a small whimper, entire body reacting to his kiss, as you fight between pushing him away and pulling him much closer. He decides for you, coming back to claim your lips again, as his hands start to travel up the sides of your stomach, gathering your shirt in the process.

His clawed gauntlets scratch at your skin, not enough to actually hurt you, but enough to elicit a wave of shudders from your body. Finally, he pulls away, considering your swollen lips and disheveled hair as one would their newest painting. Pride and mischief mix well in his black irises, and he licks his lips slowly, making you blush impossibly red.

"You look quite beautiful, like this" he croons, tangling his free hand in the hair at the back of your neck, "So pliant under my fingers."

For a moment, all you can do is stare at him, poised above you with his usual smirk gracing his features. Then a thought materializes in your head, a chance at finding an escape route, if you could play your cards right.

"Untie me" you moan wantonly, arching your neck, as if to give him better access.

He launches at your exposed pulse point immediately, licking a long stripe up, before giving your skin a few delicious nips, ones that make you almost forget your half-formed plan. Almost. Gathering all your resolve, you writhe against him. His clothes are hiding a lean, but well-muscled body, and you wish so hard, you could run your hands down his chest.

"Untie me, please" you don't recognize your voice, so broken and needy.

The Snake stops his ministrations, tugging at your hair, before sliding his hand towards your shoulders, where he grabs you and pulls you even closer, so your body is leaning almost completely on his lap. His other hand makes quick work of the zipper on your trousers and worms itself into your underwear. A wave of humilation hits you, as your pink, polka-dotted panties look at you from between the fly.

"I can't risk you getting away" he whispers in your ear and takes a long whiff of your hair, humming in pleasure, "My Benefactor has made it clear, you are crucial to their plan."

That startles you. Or it would, if the Sorcerer hadn't began to delicately rub his fingers over your lower lips, just shy of entering you. It's torture, a new brand of cruel experiment, you think, as you buck your hips against him, trying to get some sort of pressure

"I would've thought you wanted me for yourself" you pant between heated kisses you're leaving on the exposed skin of is neck, "It certainly - oh - seems so."

The hand which is currently not occupied sneaks around your middle, before grabbing a handful of your right breasts.

"Would you like that?" he asks into the crown of your head, his fingers finally dipping into your opening.

It takes you several tries to form an answer in your brain, and another few to vocalize it. His thumb makes quick work of finding your bundle of nerves, and instantly starts to abuse that newly-found knowledge. You bite your lip, hard, to stop any sounds from escaping you, but the Sorcerer wouldn't have it. His mouth finds yours, and he swallows your moans of pleasure with an approving hum reverberating through his chest,

"Would you like to be kept by me? Be mine and mine alone" his lips brush against yours as he talks, and you tug mercilessly on your binds, wanting to hold onto something, anything. Him.

"I-" you can't quite finish your sentence, because the hand that's been, for the most part, playing with your breast like it's a stress ball, begins to travel further down, until it rests on the lower part of your stomach. "No."

It comes out as choked and desperate, as his fingers curl upwards inside you, hitting a spot that nearly makes you fly off the ground. He laughs, right in your ear.

"No?"

"No" you swallow, "I'm- oh fuck... I'm too good for you."

Another deliberate motion of his fingers and your toes start to curl. He might be the key to undoing the entire universe, but hell, he does know how to use his fingers. Long and elegant fingers, trained by years spent on studying ad practicing spells, made dexterous by whatever horrors he has committed in his laboratories. Fingers, which are currently pumping in and out of you with a pace set specifically to drive you insane.

"Yes" he hisses through his teeth, pressing his nose to the crown of your head, "You are too good for me, aren't you? That's why you're here, taking my fingers like you were meant for it."

Gods, his voice really isn't helping you focus. By the feeling of something hard and rather large poking you in your thigh, you guess you're not the only one getting off on the sound of his voice. A coil starts to tighten deep within you, growing tighter with every movement of his fingers, every word coming out of his filthy mouth

"Even the Fire God couldn't keep you away from me" his thumb presses down onto your clit and begins to rub it in quick circles, "He was so scared to let you go into my lair, wasn't he?"

You nod absentmindedly, thrashing in the Sorcerer's lap, as a strong shiver of pleasure wrecks your body. Experimentally, you move your backside, rubbing against his growing erection, and the man hisses into your ear, his movements faltering for a split-second.

"He was right" Shang Tsung seethes the words into your skin, before coming down to bite on your shoulder, "We will be each other's undoing."

His palm presses flat on your lower stomach, as his efforts inside your pants increase tenfold. The coil is so close to breaking, you can feel tears start to form in the corners of your eyes.

"Ladies first, sweet thing" he hums, pressing your writhing body even closer to himself, "Come undone for me."

And you do, as if compelled by some ancient magic. Your face buries itself into his robes, teeth catching on the skin of the juncture between his neck and his shoulder. And you bite, hard enough to break his skin, taste his blood on your tongue. The coil shatters, and so does your grip on the world. You let out a muffled wail, the Sorcerer pulling you even closer, engulfing you entirely in his presence, his smell. Your legs are shaking, as Shang Tsung lets you ride out your orgasm on his nimble fingers, and soon, your body becomes boneless.

He doesn't let you go for a while longer, still pressed to your body, swaying with you in some sort of perversion of intimacy. Or perhaps, as much as the thought terrifies you, there is some link building between the two of you. Something more than lust and curiosity. Then, his hand leaves your pants, coming up out of your field of vision. You catch a glimpse of his soaked fingers, and your imagination fills in, what might be happening just above your head, as an obscenely wet sound of sucking reaches your ears.

Then, like the gentleman he is, he helps you button your pants back up, straightens your shirt and ties your hair more neatly. You want to kiss him again. There is another need brewing inside you, as you watch him stand up and dust his clothes, which are now stained with gold dust in places.

Is it wrong to want more?

You want to reach up, brush your fingers through his hair, kiss him until he can't speak clearly. You wants to feel his breath quicken again, feel his pulse run wild. You want to drain his blood and feed on his power until there's nothing left.That last thought freezes you in your spot, cold shivers climbing up your body like a dead hand gripping you from beneath the earth.

Too dark, too power-hungry, and you were none of those things. You never will be.

"Beautiful" he murmurs again, watching you from above, but this moment of sentiment is cut shortly, as his head snaps towards the entrance to the chamber, expression souring instantly

Your eyes follow his, but there's nothing you can see in the darkness. A chill runs up your spine.

"Get ready, Mortal" oh, so we're back to thinly veiled insults, "My Benefactor will want to meet you soon."

With that, he turns to leave, not sparing you a second glance, and you're back to being alone. Used and left between the piles upon piles of gold surrounding you, like your part of this chamber. A pretty thing, stained gold, made to exist only when it's owner is looking at it.

You need to get out of here, before you lose your mind.

[mx-paradox]

Every Bomb Has a Silver Lining {Shidou Ryusei x Reader}

A rooftop conversation

Depressed reader, warning for general depression and some suicidal ideation, gender neutral reader, pre-relationship, shidou here has more emotional intelligence than any of the blue lockers have in canon but whatever this is self indulgence, i pulled heavily from shidou's egoist bible entry for this, hurt/comfort i suppose, hopeful ending, written to cheer myself up. title from fine by lemon demon. word count: 1700 | Ao3 version

The concrete of the ledge was warm against your hands, but inside you were cold.

Your legs dangled over the edge of the building as you looked out over the cityscape, eyes wide and wet. You had been sitting out there long enough that afternoon had turned to evening, and now the sun was staining the horizon golden as you watched on.

You didn't know what was wrong with you. (You did. You just didn't want to admit it.) Your life was just so pointless, devoid of any sort of meaning…and when your existence was so empty, for so long, that emptiness began to creep inside of you. Like some sort of parasite, it consumed all that was warm and moving and living inside of your body to make room for itself as it made its icy home within your chest.

You weren't going to jump. You weren't that far gone. But this rooftop was one of the only places where you could feel a modicum of peace…that, and the vertigo that happened whenever you looked down made you feel at least a little bit alive again, even if that sliver of life was a sickly, fearful thing.

As you watched the sun sink lower, a wave of some unexplainable feeling crashed over you. It certainly wasn't happiness…perhaps not even sadness, or, not true sadness. The best way you could describe it was…an awareness. A single moment of true awareness, of what your life had become, about what you had become; a moment where your mind (or the parasitic emptiness inside you) said to you, 'this is the best it will ever be. Things, for you, will never ever improve.' It was a wretched feeling.

Your body wanted to scream, but you could only manage a broken, animal wail. It trailed off into a high whine that grated your throat as it tore its way out of you. You could feel your head start to throb and your eyes water. A jagged, shaky inhale, as you tried to swallow a sob back. Another whimper, like a dying animal. You wondered if something inside of you was dying. A part of yourself, perhaps. The last bit not fully scraped empty.

"Y'know, your first scream sounded kinda like a dinosaur screech from one of those shlocky movies," said a voice way too close to you.

You let out an actual screech, almost launching yourself off of the edge in shock. Luckily, a strong arm wrapped its way around your waist and pulled you firmly off the ledge and onto the roof proper before you could do anything more than wobble.

You sat there for a moment, lightly shuddering as you tried to come back to yourself. Your head was beginning to pound, a mixture of the crying and the fear (and the annoyance at whoever shocked you) overwhelming your mind. You wanted nothing more than to just curl up there and never have to get again, but you forced yourself to look up at the person who had saved your life (after nearly ending it).

(Would it have been so bad to fall, though? Maybe things would feel better, during those last few seconds in the open air?)

It was your neighbor. Shidou, you thought his name was, though to be honest you had stopped speaking to or even paying attention to most of your neighbors months before he even moved in. All you really knew of him, from what little glimpses you got when entering and leaving your apartment, was that he was loud, and vulgar, and he fed the alley cats by your building canned tuna every day. (It did almost make you smile once, seeing such a loud, intimidating man, with his spiked hair and bright outfit, kneel down and coax some feral cat out of a garbage can. But you didn't stop, and never spoke to him, even when he looked up and met your eyes.)

He looked more relaxed than you were used to seeing him; his hair was free from his typical spiky hairstyle and instead held back into a tuft by an elastic band, and he was only wearing a wife beater and a dull pair of worn sweatpants. His smile was too sharp to be called gentle, but there was no trace of mockery in his eyes, only understanding…and a sliver of what you thought might be concern.

That bit of concern made you feel sick to your stomach.

"What," you said roughly, before coughing. "What the hell are you doing?"

He shrugged, flopping down on the ground beside where you were sprawled. "Came to see the sunset. But you were here, and you were making some pretty wild noises."

You scowled at the reminder of what he saw. "Just leave me the fuck alone." For as much as you complained of your loneliness, the idea of someone seeing you like this (empty, crazed) made you want to claw at your skin and peel it off your flesh. However, as viscerally uncomfortable as you felt, you still didn't have the energy to get up and leave. So you needed to get him to go away on his own.

Shidou ignored you. "You were doing a pretty good velociraptor impression…they're my favorite animals, you know? Velociraptors. I think they're cute."

You stared at him in disbelief.

"You seen them in Jurassic Park? When they're ripping into people all rawr and everything? Adorable!" He grinned like a lunatic. "You're pretty cute, too~ Even without your dino sound."

You didn't even bother to reply to his inane chatter; you felt as if you were dreaming. You're almost too surprised to feel horrible. Almost. You're glad Shidou isn't looking at you directly, because you could feel a few tears slip down your cheeks, unchecked, after the emotional roller coaster you've been through.

He was silent for a moment. You tried to keep from audibly sniffing. His manic grin slowly faded, the line of his mouth turning flat and contemplative.

"You feel like nothing, sometimes, don't you?" he said, seriously. "Like you'll never be warm again."

You whipped your head around to look at him. The both of you locked eyes. He looked…brighter, than you ever felt, but you could see deep inside of his eyes something hollow. Maybe the two of you weren't all that different.

"Empty," you whispered. "Everything is just…so empty."

He gave you a half-smile, more of a baring of teeth than anything, and replied, "I try to do the most I can. Make my mark on the world. Make explosions!" At that word, he spread his arms out wide, face lighting up in an almost childish delight. You found your lip twitching, despite yourself. "An' it feels fucking incredible. But it doesn't always work. It doesn't really last."

You scoffed, voice still a bit rough from your sobs. "I'd take an explosion. I'd take a fuckin' birthday candle, at this point."

He barked a laugh. "I like you. You're feisty."

You didn't feel feisty. You felt like you gave up on everything in your life so easily these days. You felt just as empty and bitter and unlikable as you had for far too long. But maybe you were just a bit warmer inside, just a bit more human-feeling; was that all it took? A few words spoken between you and a stranger? Were you truly so desperate for human interaction that this was all you needed to feel better about your miserable existence? Pathetic, you thought to yourself. Wasn't that just—

You're stopped from falling farther down that spiral by a large hand patting your head. It was awkward, and even you, touch-starved shut-in you were, could tell that Shidou wasn't used to this. (Whether this was contact or comfort, you weren't sure.) A part of that settled you; at least you weren't the only one off-center. But the absurdity of the whole situation won out, and made you let out a half-choked snort.

Shidou pulled his hand back, face looking pinched. (At least he seemed aware of his own shortcomings.) After a moment, he broke the silence once more. "So…what's your name?"

For the second time that hour, something inside of you broke, releasing a flood of emotion. This time, it leaked out of you in the form of ugly, shuddering laughs, almost indistinguishable from your previous sobbing.

He must've been able to tell the difference between them, because he laughed with you. Your stomach hurt from your cackling, and you tipped over until your forehead rested on his shoulder. (Just that one point of warm contact, for barely a second, made your skin tingle. Touch-starved little bitch, you thought to yourself, but it was more rueful than sharp.)

Eventually, you're able to sit back up and spit out your name. He repeated it after you, a bit too enthusiastically, and asked you to call him 'Ryusei.'

Shi—Ryusei was the one who stood up first, popping your strange little bubble. He towered above where you sat on the ground, but you didn't have it in you to feel intimidated. He reached his hand out to you, in offering. His bright pink eyes were lit a deeper red by the last dregs of the sunset, the fading beams of light painting his skin umber. He looked so warm to you in that moment. Like he was set ablaze.

"Come on. Let's go somewhere a little nicer," he offered. "At the end of the day, life is equally beautiful and ugly. What do you say we enjoy it together?"

You looked up at him. Your body, though lighter, still felt like it was weighed down by concrete blocks. A part of you wanted to decline. But.

You grasped his hand. He was strong enough to pull you up with what seemed like no effort at all. He didn't let you go when you were on your feet. The sensation of his palm against your own chilled one nearly burned.

You sighed, closing your eyes for a moment. When you opened them, you smiled at him, a small thing, but a genuine one. "Sure. I'd like to see your explosions, dinosaur boy."

His teeth glinted. "Don't worry, I'll getcha something way better than a birthday candle, cutie."

The sun slipped beneath the horizon as you both walked away from the edge.

[katamaricule]

What is dmbj? I've googled it but idk if it's one of those 'I love it and recommend it' shows or a 'I love it - pls never watch it <3' kinda show yk lol

Is there an answer somewhere in the middle? Because that's where it should go.

DMBJ is a franchise based on a set of novels by an author we'll call NPSS. These are mostly first-person tales narrated by a spoiled little dipshit named Wu Xie, as he and his friends go on tomb-raiding adventures, encounter supernatural obstacles, and learn about all the ways snakes don't work. The series has several giant holes in it, as NPSS tends to get bored and wander off mid-story. Several dramas and movies have tried to adapt various pieces of this gap-ridden, wholly unresolved saga, to varying degrees of success.

So to answer your question: There are installments of DMBJ that are a hoot that you should watch, and then there are installments of DMBJ that are also a hoot but you shouldn't watch before you have an affection for the franchise as a whole, and then there are installments of DMBJ that you should not watch even if you are a fan of the franchise because they are just not worth your time.

The problem is, not everybody agrees on what goes in which category. But if you're interested and want to give it a go, these are my personal takes on what's what, in chronological order of events as they happen in the series:

The Mystic Nine

Good starting place: Yeah, actually!

Requires prior knowledge: Nope

Actual ending: No resolution whatsoever

Wu Xie: He's not in this one

Best part: Charming characters you love or love to hate

Warning: Very cheaply produced, with cuts that render significant parts of the story incoherent

Worth watching: Yes, if you're willing to accept the jankiness

The Lost Tomb

Good starting place: Weirdly, no, considering that it's the first series they made

Requires prior knowledge: Not really

Actual ending: Oh, heavens no

Wu Xie: Cardboard twerp, kinda cute

Best part: There's ... some antics, I guess?

Warning: Makes some bizarre additions, condenses several books, just ... isn't very good

Worth watching: Not especially

The Lost Tomb 2

Good starting place: You could do worse

Requires prior knowledge: Some, but who knows if it helps?

Actual ending: Ha ha ha you're funny

Wu Xie: Breathtaking idiot twink street-parking a Maserati

Best part: Wu Xie and Pangzi are in love

Warning: Interminable bronze tree plotline, incomprehensible timeline especially at the ending

Worth watching: Sure, but bring a book for the long stretches

The Lost Tomb 2: Explore With the Note

Good starting place: It doesn't matter, because you're not going to watch this one

Requires prior knowledge: It can't save you

Actual ending: Nothing of the sort

Wu Xie: Shove that whiny nerd in a locker

Best part: There is no best part

Warning: Don't do this to yourself

Worth watching: What do you think

Ultimate Note

Good starting place: It seems like no at first, but it actually is!

Requires prior knowledge: It helps, but you can get by without it

Actual ending: Complete cliffhanger

Wu Xie: Precious muffin

Best part: Everyone is so cute, also heihua

Warning: Tonally way goofier than the other series

Worth watching: Yes! This one's so fun

Tomb of the Sea/Sand Sea

Good starting place: If you like things on Hard Mode

Requires prior knowledge: The main character doesn't have any, so why should you?

Actual ending: It thinks it does, but it's stupid and slapdash and leaves a million loose ends

Wu Xie: Mafia widow (also he's not the main character)

Best part: Seeing from the outside how fucked-up the whole Tomb Raiding Industrial Complex is

Warning: A hot mess, but occasionally a beautiful one

Worth watching: Yes, but maybe save it for later

Reunion: The Sound of the Providence

Good starting place: Shockingly, yes

Requires prior knowledge: No, though it recontextualizes everything once you know more

Actual ending: Yes! Holy shit! We got an ending here!

Wu Xie: Consumptive angel with a gun

Best part: Some truly impressive performances from Actual Actors, Wu Xie and Pangzi are married

Warning: Honestly, just watch this one first so you don't know what you're missing, because once you do, you can't unsee it

Worth watching: Definitely

I hope that ... helps? Or at least doesn't make your confusion worse?

[noctiva]

hihi tiva

so I’ve been listening to as the world caves in like over and over this week idk why it’s just my jam this week, BUT

I was wondering if toby and his s/o (me. obvi.) did end up somehow live through an “end of the world” scenario do you think toby would go all loverboy on them, or would he be too shocked to process it and just go on with his life as normal.

NOW. I wanna clarify on that last part.

I feel like he can do this in two ways,

A. intentionally.

because you’re both going out in the most normal way possible. him sharpening his axes while you sit in the living room or something literally while they’re about to drop the bomb. or you both watching a movie cuddled up together pretending nothings wrong. It’s natural, it’s raw, there’s no meaning and yet so much at the same time.

B. Just spur of the moment, “this isn’t happening.”

It’s kinda the same thing, except he is internally panicking. existential dread as you both sit on the couch in your final moments, in complete and utter silent dread.

instead of giving you a tighter hold than usual, he just stares ahead, and you can practically hear his thoughts “it’s a false alarm, this isn’t happening. no way this is fucking happening right now.”

anyway.

HOLY SHIT I DID NOT MEAN TO WRITE THAT MUCH I done wrote the goddamn fic for you whoopsies

but my first (kind of) request! hip hip hooray!

-📱

OOH INTERESRING!! okay I think it would be kind of sort of a mixture of the two

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie “don’t look up” but I think that the ending dinner scene would kind of sort of align with how Toby would react in a situation like this

if you haven’t seen it - brief rundown: comet is going to hit earth and wipe out humanity, there is literally nothing the cast can do at this point it’s inevitable and it’s happening in like 10 minutes. so what do they do? they sit down and have dinner, make small talk and say what they’re grateful for - acting almost as if it’s just another dinner. using this comfortable, familiar situation as a way to negate fear before they’re all completely wiped to smithereens. accepting it, and yet ignoring it all at the same time.

I think Toby would react quite similarly. mostly because he wouldn’t want you to leave this earth panicked and choking on your own tears. so, he’d be shitting his own pants internally, but he’d push it all down in the hopes of getting to have one last good moment with you.

he’ll cook dinner for you, letting you help out here and there and listening to all of your favourite songs while you do so. share one last meal with you, before retiring to the sofa to snuggle up and watch the last episode of that show you had been meaning to finish. his grip on you is tighter, and you can feel him tremble, but he won’t say a thing about it. he’ll just pull you in close, press kisses into your hair and tell you how grateful he is to have you. how lucky he was to have met you.

he’d tell you that he’s sorry he never got to marry you, that he would’ve if he could’ve. that there’s so many things he wishes he could’ve done for you

so, you’ll have to shut him up before he starts crying

preferably with a kiss

[ronearoundblindly]

Wednesday ask!

Kinda silly, but do the guys have a game (uno, poker... etc) that they're good at?

-👜

Gang, I might be wrong on some of these, so be sure to tell me if there are other games you think the boys enjoy!

James Mace

Not for nothing but Mace loves solitaire. He does enjoy classic poker, of course, but he likes having a card game he can do alone with some thought and strategy. It's like therapeutic background noise: the order, the matching, the planning. Tons of different games are great, and he'll play whatever with anybody. Solitaire is what he wants to be good at consistently though.

Curtis Everett

OK honestly? He has the most fun with Uno. Good for all ages. Can get competitive but still light-hearted. Starts the stupidest, most hilarious fights among participants. Curtis loves it.

Jimmy Dobyne

Horseshoe or cornhole or maybe even axe throwing? Whatever it is, it's probably got to do with aim and is definitely outdoors. Helps that he can hold a beer in the other hand the whole time if he wants.

Johnny Storm

Twister, but not with Reed because he ruins it. Johnny likes the excuse to get handsy and stay nimble. Richards is both a killjoy and a showoff in that game. If Reed has to be there, then Dance Dance Revolution is the way to go because his brother-in-law may be flexible but he is not coordinated at all. Bonus points that Ben Grimm was always terrible at both of those games.

Jake Jensen

That's...not a video game??? Or Dungeons & Dragons?? Those are giveaways, really, but beyond that is probably Settlers of Catan (does not want to just call it just 'Catan'). Plays Risk, sure, though he grew up with Settlers and then later on found Risk.

Lloyd Hansen

Russian roulette lol, or rather, strip poker but sometimes the person he's playing with gets shot in a different appendage each time they lose. Lloyd still just strips. If he's feeling frisky, he takes out his switchblade and marks himself with a notch.

Ari Levinson

Chutes and Ladders or Yahtzee. Had both since he was a kid. Sticks with the classics. Doesn't necessarily play a lot of games anymore.

Ransom Drysdale

Cards Against Humanity. Ran is basically, genuinely 'against humanity' so no surprise there. Sneaks the most offensive of cards into stuffy bitches' purses just to mess with them. Nothing so satisfying as knowing a 60-some-year-old woman clutched her pearls after finding "three big black dicks" in her bag at the end of the night... It's the little things in life.

Andy Barber

Kinda...dislikes games in general??? He'll play them, but Andy would rather be watching a movie, a show, or a sports game (in person or on TV) then play any sort of board game. Knows how to play poker, etc, but not much of a betting man. Also not a fan of using skills of lying, bluffing, and hiding (aka having a poker face) outside of what's absolutely necessary for work.

Steve Rogers

Scrabble, the dweeb, because he both has a large vocabulary and always wants to increase his vocabulary. Knows a stupid amount of words with silent letters, X-s, Q-s, and Z-s. Will attempt to play with Cyrillic letters as a way to use Bucky's knowledge for good, clean fun. Is...not very good with Russian.

Bucky Barnes

Any sharp-shooting or precision game. Duck Hunt. Those water-gun things at carnivals. Air-gun stuff at the fair. Bucky was a sniper in the army before anything technically bad happened to him, and it's actually a skill he likes to keep honed and show off. Hope you like stuffed animals because you're getting won nine of them every date out!

[Main Masterlist; Who Would...Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

[fruitsoxs]

Having Vash and Wolfwood as roommates would include;;

warnings;; i don't define a relationship, but it kinda hints at all three of you being together, lots of fluff, nothing nsfw (but I'm thinking about doing some nsfw headcanons for this in the future if anyone is interested)

How it happens/Meeting Vash

You’re basically desperate when your plans for moving in with your ex best friend fall through, leaving you basically homeless right before the semester is about to start

Looking online, in the newspaper even, you’re searching for any place that doesn’t look scummy, creepy, or charges you up the ass

Knowing full well that living without roommates in this economy is impossible, you’re hoping to find some nice people-

And boy do you luck out

Posted on some stupid roommate finder website is an add for a three bedroom apartment that’s in a sort of sketchy part of town, but offers protection for anyone willing to brave it. The guy that posted it seems nice, the ad is kinda funny, and the rent is cheap

You decide to try it out

When you first meet Vash, it’s in a little coffee shop near the uni you’re attending. It’s a safe spot to meet with a stranger, and he was cool with whatever you suggested. Green flag.

He’s pretty nice, funny, and insanely cute. He tells you that the other roommate, a man he calls “Nicholas” is at work, but from the way Vash talks about him you assume he’s a chill dude too

You can’t help but feel a bit intimidated by how attractive Vash is. He’s blonde, with a cute little mole, and his eyes are like…woah

Plus he’s got a cute little piercing !!!

No guy this good looking should be this nice

You decide pretty quickly this feels like a good match, and bam the deed is done

You move in next week, get your stuff situated and suddenly you have two new roommates

Meeting Wolfwood

It’s almost disappointing how little you see of the other roommate in the first week. Vash explains that he’s been taking on extra shifts at work but you still kinda feel like maybe the man is avoiding you?

All you know of the man is that he smokes, drinks a little, and has weird taste in movies

You see random objects strewn across the house that belong to him and you start trying to figure out his personality in your head

You decide that he’s probably some skinny stoner, and you’re pretty confident in that hypothesis until you actually see him

You bump into him in the morning right before you head off to start your first day of class

You literally bump into him-

As he’s leaving the bathroom, you’re in the hallways and a collision occurs. To make matters worse he’s shirtless

And he’s hot

He’s wearing sweatpants, his toned torso out in the open, and his hair is a bit of a mess. You can tell it’s sort of a short wolf-cut though- and it’s definitely working on him 

He kinda smirks down at you and says it’s nice to finally “run” into you

And fuck- how are you supposed to survive having TWO hot roomates

General Chaos

You find out pretty quickly that these two are not the most normal people

And you freaking love it

Once Wolfwood’s insane work schedule chills out, you finally get chance to see the duo in action

They kind act like an old married couple. It’s a bit scary at first, and you fear you might be third wheeling but you soon mix into their dynamic quite nicely

Once wolfwood starts calling you some funky nickname you know you’ve wormed your way into their hearts

Your schedules all clash a  bit, but you all find time to see each other throughout the day. Wolfwood has a morning class like you, and so you end up eating breakfast together most days. You start taking turns making food for each other

No matter what you both at least drink an entire pot of coffee together, and complain about life

Vash and you meet up in the afternoon, since your afternoon classes are close to each other. He’s the one who texts you the first time to ask if you want to meet up- and your heart does a little flip

It has become a habit. Whenever you two aren’t busy with other things, you’ll sit outside on a grassy area and talk for a second

All three of you hang out at night when Wolfwood isn’t working insane night shifts

Saturdays are movie nights. You HAVE to attend movie nights

It gets crazy. Especially when Wolfwood graciously shares his stuff.

The first time they see you cry- you’re pretty sure they might explode

You’re stressed from school, whatever job you might have, and probably a few family problems too. Vash walks in to your room to ask you what you want for dinner, sees the tears and whips out his phone to tell Wolfwood

He then immediately rolls you up in a blanket and makes you cuddle him on the couch to destress.

He’s insanely patient with you, rubbing your back and letting you vent

Wolfwood kicks open the door with your favorite comfort food moments later, and the three of you sit and watch a stupid movie

Wolfwood keeps his arm around you, and lets you rest your head on his chest

Vash’s hand is in yours

They’re pretty respectful of your privacy at first- but they’re both like the clingiest friends ever

Vash doesn’t mean to- and will apologize if he oversteps boundaries 

Wolfwood on the other hand just doesn’t care. He’ll waltz into your room and go “Hey- stop screaming- I need you to make sure I got this math correct.”

Crazy competitive game nights, that sometimes end in you pulling Wolfwood off of Vash as Vash screams for his life to be spared (he like staking stars from Wolfwood in mario party) (It ends in bloodshed every time) (He should really stop)

Grocery shopping is just Wolfwood acting like a dad while you and Vash are off shoveling sweets into the cart (He secretly puts his favorite treats in the cart too though)

You and Vash stage an intervention for Wolfwood when he gets a little bit too into buying random jewelry covered in crosses (“we know you have religious trauma- and yes you look good in them- but come on-”). He walks into the apartment, sees the sign, and then walks out

Vash invites his brother over once and you’re pretty sure you’re about to be cut. (“No Vash- Knives is nice…he’s just scary.” “He just has a resting “I want to murder” you face!”)

Feelings bloom?

They really warm up to you. One day it becomes clear that you’re just…part of them now. Like they can’t imagine you ever leaving their side

It’s the same for you. You walk out one day, and grab your mug of coffee from Wolfwood and…you just kinda spot and think that you really like these guys. Things feel right

I think overtime things just slowly get intimate- 

like you start holding Vash’s hand just casually throughout the day

And sometimes Wolfwood will come rest his head on your shoulder from behind, and you’ll reach up and run your hand through his hair

Casual soft touches just become a thing you know?

Vash lets his hand rise under your shirt a bit when you’re sitting with him on the couch

And eventually…maybe they become less casual?

Wolfwood puts his hand on your waist as he passes by behind you

The sexual tension is like palpable 

I don’t really know who finally kisses who- or how things go from wholesome to spicy- but it gets there eventually

And soon you three are more than just roommates, more than friends, and even if you don’t know what it is- it’s kinda perfect

You renew the lease for the next year, and you’re pretty damn happy you were homeless for that little bit now