#they're both very FUCK IT WE BALL so they do whatever they want

[csidepooltide]

I love queer people

I think their relationship is so queer and confusing that they call it whatever they want, so this means marxolor yuri real

[boxingcleverrr]

Popular Hades & Persephone "retellings" are, rightly, getting dunked on all over the socials right now and, as a Pagan who has an altar to the Queen, I could not be happier. But also, I feel like a lot of people miss WHY they're bad - aside from just plain bad writing and lazy tropes. Which are, yeah, also REALLY bad.

Pretty much all retellings try to wave away, or excuse, or twist the whole kidnapping bit. And I actually do have sympathy and understanding for why, when speaking from a modern perspective.

But honestly...you gotta get over it. There are other stories to play fix-it with, not this one.

The Abduction is The Thing.

Were I a little more sober I could bring up chapter and verse of the Hymn to Demeter but frankly, if you know even the middle school mythology curriculum version of the story, you SHOULD know the themes. The story of Persephone was one mothers and daughters in the ancient world held dear, because it was a reality: you will, one day, be swept away from your home to go cleave to a man you most likely know nothing about. You will miss your mother, but chances are very good that he will be a good husband, once you get to know him, certainly better than Zeus or Ares, and he will make you a queen of his home.

Leaving home to marry was often scary, and violent (look up the history of the tradition of Bridesmaids, if you don't already know it - they were originally decoys on the marriage road). Centuries later we'd have tales like Beauty & The Beast serving the same function: comfort, hope, you are leaving your safe loving home to figure life out with a (often older, powerful) stranger. Your trauma over this sudden ending of your childhood made manifest in a Beast, or a God of The Underworld.

It's wonderful that we don't NEED stories like this anymore to comfort us (here, at least, in this culture). But if you try to force them into modern vernacular it just will not work, not really, because you're gutting out the whole point just to have a more tidy romantic male hero.

I have read MANY very good ...novelizations? fanfic(? however you would frame them, but they're certainly not "retellings"), etc. that simply take advantage of the blank spaces in the myth, and there are many!

It's not explicit that sexual assault happens - "The Rape of Persephone" as a title was coined in much earlier eras, when the word was just as often used to simply refer to abduction.

"She was starving!" the gods didn't need to eat. So it's easy to read her eating the Pom seeds as a deliberate choice on her part. Like, shit, people, scholars have written whole papers on the symbolism of this moment, between marriage rites and even yeah, Seph choosing both worlds with her husband's knowing consent.

And that, I think, is the real heart of the thing. People want an utterly mundane, spelled-out story here, as opposed to what it really is, has always been, just like any other myth or religious parable: IT'S A METAPHOOOOOOR.

They don't need to be destined, or meet at a goddamned BALL and then CONSPIRE to fake her kidnapping, or shit, I once saw one where Hades got MIND CONTROLLED by Zeus?! Jesus.

Persephone was yoinked into the Underworld against her will.

That's how it went.

I don't mean this in a "stay out of my belief system!" way, shit I'm a white American chick with delusions of witchery. I mean this in a "stop stressing yourself out trying to make things palatable" way:

This is a very real, very precious myth to many people, BECAUSE for at least that one event, Persephone had no autonomy, BECAUSE for thousands of years most women had no autonomy. Erasing that, sanitizing the fact that a girl is ripped out of the spring, from her mother's arms, is erasing the thing that gave comfort to women for centuries. And people can and should still find power and healing in it now!

Fill in the blanks the story leaves in whatever manner seems fit to you, there's plenty of room, but. Come the fuck on.

[leilanihours]

hiii ! req for paige x teammate gf reader (they're in a secret rs but the teammates know) — when kk and ice went live on insta then while they're interacting with fans, they didn't notice that paige and her gf is shown in the live while they're cuddling and kissing on the bed until they saw a comment about them. You can add anything you want to add, this is just my idea hehe THANKS !!!!

# ADORN

pairing: paige bueckers x reader

word count: 1657

warnings: none !

summary: your relationship with paige gets exposed, but with her still in your arms, is it really the end of the world?

⭑ from lani: idk how to feel abt this one and lowk feel like my work has been so flat lately but fuck it we ball 😭

masterlist !

“OKAY SO BOOM,” you hear your teammate, kk, say to her phone, “we back with another insta live! how y’all doin’?”

“kk someone said they saw you at chick-fil-a being a big back, can you confirm?” ice snickers as she reads a viewer’s comment.

“man, y’all never stop, huh?” kk side-eyes jokingly.

you giggle off-camera as you peer over your girlfriend’s shoulder to watch the two girls interact with fans. you were rested against the headboard of your hotel bed, paige lying comfortably on top of you with her arms around your torso and face buried in your neck.

you aimlessly rubbed her taut muscles underneath her loose shirt, relieving her stress from the game earlier in the day. the team was currently away from its home in connecticut, as they had an away-game against ohio state.

the huskies won, of course, but the score was much too close for anyone’s comfort, especially paige’s. with this season being her first after her acl tear last year, she felt immense pressure to come back twice as good and carry the team on her shoulders all the way to a national championship.

she never talked with anyone about how she was feeling - except with you. she claimed that you were the only one that truly understood her fears and would be able to chase them away simply with your warm smile and passionate words. when she told you this with tears in her eyes from her overwhelming emotions, your heart swelled immensely at her vulnerability.

the two of you had been together for close to a year now, and all your teammates and close friends were aware, but you both opted for a private relationship. there were many reasons as to why this was the decision, the most important being that you knew how the media would react - and neither of you wanted to jeopardize your careers.

there had been a few rumors and speculations about your particular closeness with the blonde, but you had been very careful around the cameras, ensuring that no one would have concrete evidence of your relationship.

as of right now, your entanglement with paige was out of frame, shielding you two from the camera and live viewers. paige was half asleep on her phone, still nestled in your arms while you listened in on your teammates’ silly bickering.

“i know they’re beefing right now but kendrick definitely won!” kk exclaims.

“okay, but who’s the better artist overall?” ice responds as her eyes scan the rapid-fire comments.

“that’s not even the point of this discussion, bro.”

“whatever,” ice laughs, shaking her head, “someone asked where everyone else is - yanna and aubrey are out getting dunkin for all of us, nika is already sleeping, aaliyah is taking a shower, and…” she stops herself before she mentions you and paige, “i actually don’t know what everyone else is doing.”

“what are you talkin’ about, ice? paige and-“ kk is cut off by ice swiftly kicking her leg under the table they’re sat at. she gives her a pointed glare as if to say “shut the hell up,” which makes you chuckle.

“anyways…” ice moves on from the close slip-up, “did y’all watch the game today? i think it was on youtube live or something.”

you tune out of their conversation when you feel paige groan lightly into your skin.

“you okay, babe?” you whisper into her ear.

“mhm,” she responds with a slight rasp in her voice, “can you do that thing you were doin’ earlier, though?”

“what thing?” you didn’t even notice what you were doing, or at least what you stopped doing, until she mentioned it.

“when you rub my back,” she answers.

“you like that?”

“'course i do,” she hums, “it’s like a massage.”

a flushed smile graces your face as you go back to caressing her soft skin, focusing on her tense muscles. when you press particularly hard on her lower back, she lets out a satisfied groan as she drops the arm that was stretched and holding her phone.

you can practically feel her melt into your embrace entirely, body going limp as she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. after placing a delicate kiss on her head, you too let your eyes close as you began to fall asleep with her.

“kk, i think they want you to sing,” ice says, pointing to one of the messages on the screen.

“oh i gotchu,” she smiles, instantly getting up from her chair, “what song should i sing?”

“do…” ice responds before reading one of the fans’ suggestions, “oh someone said do adorn by miguel.”

“that’s a good one, okay let me warm up a bit,” she says before obnoxiously and very poorly attempting to do vocal runs to “warm up her voice.”

“hold on you’re, like, not in frame right now,” ice says before she slightly adjusts the camera so that kk can be seen clearly.

but unbeknownst to all of you, your compromised position with paige can now also be seen clearly. you were too comfortable in your slumber and on the girl in your arms to pay attention to what the camera was showing.

kk was too busy "performing" for the fans and ice was too busy making fun of her for doing so, which is why nobody knew what what going on.

"did she eat guys?" ice asks the fans with a grin as kk sits back down, slightly out of breath from dancing.

both of them scan the comments, slightly confused with furrowed eyebrows at what the comments were talking about. it certainly wasn't about kk or ice.

user01: OH MY GOD

user02: THIS SHIP IS SAILING GUYS

user03: is that who i think it is in the bg 😳

at the third comment they read, they both inch closer to the screen to try and understand what their fans' were so enthralled by.

ice is first to realize how you and paige could easily be seen cuddling on the bed behind her and kk. with wide eyes, she quickly yet subtley moved the camera so that you and paige were once again hidden.

kk, still oblivious as to what they were so focused on, whispered to ice, "what happened?"

"they saw paige and y/n," ice replied putting a hand up to cover her mouth while leaning to whisper back in kk's ear.

now it was kk's turn to widen her eyes and cover her mouth, this time in shock. she turned to look back at you two, still fast asleep with arms intertwined.

she stood up from her chair and moved to block the bed entirely, not wanting another incident to happen. she knew that the fans loved to screenshot and record their lives, which always ended up being posted all over social media no matter what.

she also knew that she and ice would be getting an earful from you two once you caught drift of the situation.

------

you began to wake up as soon as you felt your girlfriend move from her position on top of you. she’s now next to you, head resting on your shoulder as one of her arms rests on your stomach.

“where you goin’?” you mumble, voice hoarse from just waking up. you were only half awake but you could tell that the room was now empty, the silence comforting and sunrise peeking through the hotel blinds.

“nowhere, ma, i’m right here,” paige rasps with a light kiss to your collarbone.

you were about to fall back asleep but are disturbed by your phone vibrating violently next to you. with a tired groan, you blindly reach for it in an attempt to silence it. even as you pick it up and unlock it, you are still bombarded with notifactions from all kinds of social apps - instagram, tiktok, twitter - you name it.

you’re now awake with curiosity, confused as to why you’re getting so many messages. you usually had your phone on “do not disturb” with the exceptions of your family, friends, and select media accounts. you scroll aimlessly through some of your dms, but when you don’t find an answer, you relocate and scroll through your explore feed.

your eyes shoot open as you register one of the top posts - a video clip of you and paige sleeping peacefully behind ice and kk on live.

“shit."

"what?" paige mumbles into your shirt.

"look," you nudge her, showing her the post on your screen.

"oh shit."

"my thoughts exactly..." you say, heart beating faster with anxiety at the thought of your careers at risk, "what do we do?"

"i mean," she starts cautiously, "i don't think there's much we can do."

as much as you hated to hear it, it was the truth. clips and captures had already spread like wildfire. people have always speculated and theorized, but with this mishap, their suspicions were practically confirmed.

paige sits up against the headboard of the bed when she notices your reaction - or lack thereof. your expression remains unmoved as you think of any way to de-escalate the situation.

"hey," she says, grabbing your phone from your grasp, "don't stress it too much, alright? what's done is done, and all we can do is act normal - like nothing happened. i can even beat up ice and kk if you want."

you know she's only half joking but the sentiment brightens your mood, "you're right. thanks, p."

"whatever it takes to get you off your phone and back under this blanket," she shrugs, "i mean, did you see the time? we have a full hour before we have to meet up with the team, i'm not letting it go to waste."

"so you're spending it...sleeping?" you giggle.

"no," she protests, "i'm spending it in a nice ass bed with my beautiful girlfriend."

"and who is this girlfriend?" you tease.

"at this point, i think the whole world knows it's you, ma."

— leilani signing off ! 📁

[neoplatinum]

we meet again | huh 'jennifer' yunjin

summary: yunjin and reader go on their non-refundable anniversary trip...as exes

pairing: ex gf!yunjin x ex!reader

themes: exes to lovers, miscommunication, discussions of needs, angst, fluff, suggestive-ish, paris!, sprinkles of humor here and there

wc: 4.5k

you stare into your cup of coffee as you wait for your plane to be ready to take off, the warm coffee is a nice contrast from the coldness you can feel from the woman next to you: your ex of four months yunjin.

she's been all frowny and defensive ever since you picked her up for the trip. her huffing and puffing and crossed arms and legs as she looks away from you.

you haven't spoken to her in months until you got an email that the trip you planned for your anniversary with yunjin sent a reminder email. you cursed your old self for setting up an auto-email service to notify her of the trip too.

then she texted you:

jennifer huh (ex): did you plan an anniversary trip for us?

you call her immediately, knowing you have to explain what happened.

"hi jen, and yes i did plan this as an anniversary trip." you begin rubbing your forehead as you try and weasel your way out of this awkward conversation.

"okay...it says here it's non-refundable." yunjin has always been quick at reading between the lines and you practically prayed for her to miss that portion.

"ah yes, well it is non-refundable." you fiddle around with a stress ball as she talks.

"so are we going?" yunjin cuts you off.

"what?" you sputter out, the stress ball that's been in your hand turning being smashed as small as possible. you begin pacing back and forth and even end up stubbing your toe. "fuck!"

"are you okay?" yunjin stops in the middle of her explanation when you curse through the phone. you mutter a quick yes and she continues, "well its my ticket, and i want to go. were you planning on going with anyone else?" yunjin goes silent.

"well no, maybe my sister but you would still have to transfer the ticket." you explain and sit back down, damn that pinky toe hurts so much.

"so it is my ticket." yunjin continues and you nod through the phone, "okay, i am going then." you groan out loud and yunjin begins calling you dramatic.

"whatever yunjin, i'll pick you up for the airport, i'll talk to you later."

--

leading to you both now sitting by the airport benches, both of your luggage separating you by a seat. all around you are families or couples headed for paris, when all you can think about is how soon this will be over.

yunjin is sporting her long leather jacket and her newly dyed red hair, which if you were being honest scared you when you first saw her. now all you can do is stare at how well it works for her, even near cursing her for still making your heartbeat after dumping you.

"stupid red." you mutter to yourself as you swirl your cup.

"what was that?" yunjin takes off one side of her headphones and leans into you.

"oh, just nice red hair." she nods at that and turns back to her music, plugging her headphones in. you scoff at the audacity of her. with that you turn back to watching planes, and hope that this three day trip ends quickly.

--

you're settling into your seat and ready to plug your earbuds in for this flight when you notice the couple next to you giggling loudly while cuddling each other, rolling your eyes at them two.

the girl looks at you and yunjin who has taken the window seat, "are you guys going to paris for your honeymoon?" she asks you while the guy nods excitedly at you.

"uhh, no we're not." you let out a nervous chuckle as the two begin going on a long conversation (very one-sided by the way) about how in love they are, and how they're going to paris for their honeymoon/anniversary. all you can do is sheepishly smile along and hope their monologue ends soon (it doesn't). yunjin chuckles next to you and you kick her subtly to get her to stop.

while you suffer through the long monologue of how they met, how many cats they raise and even drama about their friends, yunjin finds it hilarious yet sad, because honestly, you two could've been that couple, had you two not broken up.

-- day 1

"gosh! they talked my ear off, you know i downloaded like five different movies and a bunch of playlists for that flight, only to not watch a SINGLE movie." you begin venting about the couple to which yunjin finds amusing and pokes fun at you.

"that's on you for not knowing how to exit a conversation." she smiles as you both get a cab to the hotel.

once you've placed your luggage into the trunk and set off, you continue, "listen, i've always been horrible at exiting those situations, didn't help that they were both so enthusiastic."

"i know, it's how i got your number, remember?" yunjin says and you stop for a second, thinking about the first time you met. It was at a concert where she was next to you, talking your ear off about how much she loved the artist. she came alone because none of her friends listened to the artist. you, being the kind soul you were, let her talk to you through the whole concert, even letting her talk through your favorite song.

"yeah, i guess so." you turn away from yunjin in the cab, with the rest of the ride turning quiet.

--

"roses on the bed, and a single king bed?" yunjin questions as you enter the hotel suite. you begin to heat up, remembering how you specifically requested rose petals in the shape of a heart and champagne in an ice bath, along with towels folded into swans facing each other and kissing. god, the things you do when you're in love.

"ah! well, it was for our anniversary so i made a special request." you say really hoping she couldn't hear you.

"well, i'm glad i came, now that i can see this, i can make fun of you for being so cheesy," she says as she grabs the champagne from the metal bucket. "damn, champagne's expensive too. how much did you spend on this trip?"

she pops the champagne cork and starts pouring the golden liquid into two champagne flutes. passing one of the flutes to you.

"too much, had to dip into my savings," you say as you think about the credit card bill, a full body shiver running up your spine just at the thought.

she laughs and smiles at you, "well, consider me lucky."

you cough and try not to think about how different this trip would've been had you two not separated.

"i'm going to go wash up." yunjin puts her flute down and starts digging through her suitcase. you nod settle into one of the armchairs and turn on the hotel tv.

the shower turns on and with that you try to quiet your heart, constantly reassuring yourself that you will get through this trip and be able to be back at home away from an ex you're still in love with.

"what did i get myself into?" you groan and close your eyes, letting the sleep overtake you.

--

"hey...hey wake up." yunjin gently shakes your arm as you wake up from your nap. you groan and mumble incoherent thoughts.

"how long have i been asleep?" the grogginess is still settling into your bones, you open your eyes to the sight of yunjin wearing more casual clothes but still looking effortlessly beautiful with her wavy red hair and adorable glasses perched on her nose.

"long enough, i'm hungry, let's get dinner." she says and you nod, feeling the hunger from not eating on the plane and immediately falling asleep in the hotel.

outside, the sun has started to set, people are chatting and bright lights are adorning the streets. people are lively and there's even buskers playing violin and guitars, enticing the people to spare a few coins for their astounding performance.

you trail behind yunjin, watching the way she absorbs into the parisian night, with her film camera in hand and a smile adorning her face. it makes you yearn, yearn for another universe where you're hers once more. but to also yearn for answers of why she dumped you all those months ago.

"let's go in this one." she turns around and you're snapped out of your thoughts, she points at the restaurant and you follow her in. the smell of delicious food and the warm atmosphere is making you more hungry.

"right this way." your server brings you to your booth. and you seat yourself in front of yunjin, honestly something you haven't done in so long, that it's like you're falling in love all over again. the warm yellow lamp hanging over the booth makes her skin glow, and not to mention just her in general has your knees weak.

instead of staring at her like a fool, you try to focus on the menu in front of you. it works well because after a few glances at the mostly french menu, you're beyond confused with what to order. eyebrows furrowing and biting your nails at the french words.

"are you ready to order?" the waiter stands before you and before you can get out a word asking what these dishes are yunjin is quickly ordering her dinner in french and you sit there anxious.

"and for you?" the waiter turns to you.

"uh, this one?" you point at the menu and show him, he nods taking quick note of the orders before leaving.

you're back to the awkwardness of not having a menu in front of you to distract you from the beauty that is yunjin.

"so....how are you doing? dating anyone?" you start, trying to break the ice. you fiddle with your thumbs and avoid her gaze as she processes the questions you have thrown at her.

"are you kidding me? that's how you are going to start the conversation?" she scoffs at your lame attempt at having a serious conversation.

"what? i think those are reasonable questions." you mumble to yourself, feeling embarrassed you start drinking the water next to you.

"fine. i am doing fine and no, i am not dating anyone." she crosses her arms and glares at you from across the table.

"cool cool...." you trail off, trying to watch other people and feeling a little giddy when yunjin said she wasn't dating anyone.

the waiter returns with a basket of bread and butter, also refilling water cups and smiling at you both before leaving quickly. it doesn't go unnoticed that he keeps eyeing yunjin and smiling at her throughout the interaction.

"what about you?" yunjin starts with a slice of bread in her mouth.

"oh me, no not dating anymore, of course not." you let the words tumble out of your mouth, forgetting how you are trying to keep your walls up around yunjin.

"what do you mean by 'of course not'?" she questions as she spreads more butter onto her baguette.

you also grab a slice of bread and start smearing it with butter, thinking of ways to exit this topic as smoothly as possible, "just you know...not there."

she nods and you can see that she wants to prod more into why, but the waiter shows up with both your dishes in hand.

"for you madam," he places her beef bourguignon in front of her. meanwhile placing your seafood pasta in front of you. "and for you."

"shit..." you mumble as you stare at your dish, yunjin sighs but lets out an amused smile at the sight.

"of course you managed to order a seafood dish because you didn't understand french." she laughs at you, and all you can do is feel even more embarrassed from how this trip is going. "let's switch."

yunjin trades plates with you, your heart warms when she remembers your seafood allergy. you thank her sheepishly and begin digging into your dish. "jen! this is delicious!" you exclaim with a piece of beef in your mouth.

she smiles at you warmly and takes a quick photo of you, making your cheeks warm at the sentiment, remembering her habit of taking photos of you when she found you cute.

the waiter returns this time, but you look at him confused because you haven't ordered anything else.

"hello madam," he starts while leaning on the booth by yunjin's side, showing off his pearly white smile and trying to be suave, "how are you enjoying paris?"

"it's lovely here, thank you for asking." yunjin starts, you can only watch as the two engage in conversation, making you more and more quiet as time passes.

they speak about parisian culture and even share a few phrases in french that you definitely could not understand. you end up only focusing on your dish until he leaves much later. yunjin looks back at you and is confused by the switch in your demeanor.

yunjin goes quiet at the sight of you so down, so she also begins quietly eating her (your) seafood pasta, and as the time dwindles to the end. the waiter returns with the bill and a napkin that he slips to yunjin, it doesn't take a genius to understand what he gave her.

you huff angrily as you pay for the dinner. and yunjin follows you out of the restaurant and disposes of the napkin in front of you. she turns to you with her hand open and waiting for yours. you take it as you both stroll down the streets of paris with full bellies and a noticeably happier mood.

-- day 2

yunjin has managed to convince you (you really don't know how) to go and get caricatures of the both of you for "memories". you groaned at the idea, but there you sat in the small ratty chair in front of the french artist, and waited for this quick drawing. after a few quick minutes, the artist hands you the drawing, showcasing a funny imagery of yunjin stomping your head to the ground as your relationship.

"hey! you can't draw that!" you exclaim as you go over the painting, you can't lie though, the guy was talented.

yunjin just laughs and drops euros into his hand before dragging you away from the chairs. "don't take it too seriously, it's just a drawing." she takes the drawing from your hands before stuffing it into her purse and folding her arms with yours.

"so, what should we do today?" she says to steer you away from thinking about the drawing.

"well actually, i had an itinerary ready for this trip," fishing your phone out of your pocket, you begin listing places that you wanted to take yunjin to. "the louvre?"

she stops her feets and her jaw drops and you can see her happiness just overflowing.

"yes yes yes! you know me too well, lifelong dream to see the mona lisa." she says and you smile, remembering that's why you put it on your itinerary, and soon you're flagging down a cab to head to the louvre.

god, you're never getting over her at this point. you try not to dwell on that thought and instead let things come as they are.

--

she's busy capturing photos of the mona lisa and other pieces, while you are capturing memories of her in your mind. taking slow steps behind her as she reads through the description of each piece that intrigues her.

she's gorgeous in her dark green leather coat, red hair flowing down her back with her trusty film camera looped around her wrist. she looks like she belongs in an art museum and you're left wondering if you can ask the art curators to put a picture of her as a piece.

once you reach the end of the museum, you begin to realize there really hasn't been any piece that has intrigued you to look at, even when yunjin was admiring the mona lisa, all you could focus on were her gorgeous eyes.

that day, you hope that you can always make her happy, even if she no longer is yours.

--

"of course we have to go to see the eiffel tower, i don't care that it's cheesy and cliche, we HAVE to go." she explains to you as she's touching up her makeup again. the two of you returned to the hotel after a long day of exploring local attractions, but now yunjin is explaining that you two definitely need to go despite how tired you are.

while she goes on and on about the importance of a paris trip including eiffel tower pictures, you try to keep your eyes open. the warmth of the jacket that you still have on, swallowing you.

"okay okay, we should go." you get up and start rubbing at your eyes, even letting out loud yawns as you put on your shoes. yunjin finally takes a look at you and starts to feel bad for pushing you to do so much today.

"you look tired, we can go another time?" she starts, feeling embarrassed.

you grab a hold of the wall as you tuck the back of the shoe over your sock, "not at all, let's go!"

you look tired, eyes lower than usual. with a stretch and a neck crack, you look more energized and ready to take on the night.

"let's go!" you exclaim, opening your palm for her to hold onto. she can only smile and think about how sweet it is that you are trying to do activities that she wants to do.

"okay, let's go." she responds, your hand wraps around hers tightly as you both get out of the car and walk through the crowd to get closer to the eiffel tower.

while yunjin stares at the little lights adorning the eiffel tower, sparkling like the stars in the sky, you try and take discreet photos of her. thinking about how you are basically in an alternate universe that exists only you and yunjin, and soon reality will return with you alone and single. these photos will remain to remind you that this trip wasn't a dream, what little you have to cling onto.

she's enjoying the night breeze and the liveliness of the people around her, but you're focused on her. she's also capturing photos of the eiffel tower but taking time to snap photos of the people around her. until her camera lands on you, snapping a photo of you, taking a photo of her.

then you both move away from your cameras and look at each other, and time feels like it stops when you both just admire each other. her eyes become glossy and tears are flowing down her cheek.

you make a quick dash to hug her, holding her tightly. you feel her lay her head on your shoulder and you can feel her body wrack into yours, with quiet sobs and she wraps around you like she'll lose you too.

it feels like the world is crashing around you two, with her grabbing onto your jacket and pinching it so hard. you start rubbing her hair in the motion that you know will bring her comfort, as it has done many times before.

you must've been there for a long time, because people are looking at you two in sympathy, a traveling florist even hands you a free rose to cheer you up. you immediately slip the rose into her pocket. and she stops hugging onto you to see the rose in her breast pocket. she smiles a little, and with a shaky voice, "let's go back to the hotel please."

you nod and hold her hand as you two take the long way back. her hand is still very much holding onto yours tightly. and by the time that you two are back in the room, she drops onto the bed and taps the be urging you to join.

you slip off your shoes and jacket and settle on the bed, facing yunjin. she twirls the rose between her fingers and finally looks at you.

"do you know why i broke up with you?" she whispers, and your body has frozen up, yunjin kept the break up very simple. a single 'let's break up.' over coffee and then she left.

"i don't." you whisper back.

"do you want to know?" she whispers back.

"yes, i really do." you sit up and watch her thinking for a while.

"i broke up with you because i didn't feel like you loved me anymore. whenever we hung out it never felt like you cared anymore, you were even inconsiderate at times and i think, no, i believed that you fell out of love with me."

you nod, but each word cracks your heart a little more, thinking about how wrong each word feels. it simply wasn't true, you never stopped loving her and the guilt of making her feel this way makes you want to vomit.

"this whole trip, i feel like i saw the old you again, the you that fell in love with me and showered me with attention." she continues her monologue and breathes harder at the emotions that were being kept at bay. "earlier, when you were taking photos of me and i caught you, it was exactly like our first date, it hurt so bad..." and by now she's sobbing and you're sobbing and it's all just a big mess.

"it hurts so bad that now i know you never fell out of love with me. that i made a mistake by breaking up with you and we've been months apart when we could've had this happy anniversary together." she continues with tears in her eyes and she's holding you close. alternating between crying and talking.

you take in the words openly, understanding the position that you've put her in and how hurt she was by your lack of attention. you can't even deny it either, those last weeks before the breakup felt like a rift between the two of you, neither knowing how to go forward. with yunjin making the final and unfortunate decision of dumping you.

"jen, you mean everything to me, and i'm so beyond sorry if it feels as if i never prioritized you." you are also trembling in her hold as she listens to you, nodding to your words every so often. "i never and mean never fell out of love with you. i'm sorry that it took a vacation to figure this out too."

she stops completely and holds your face in her hands as she completely dives herself into a passionate kiss. searing her lips against yours and pushing you into the bed more.

"you're mine." yunjin speaks in between kisses.

"yours." you move your hands into her hair and pull her close, bodies molding into one as the night goes on.

-- day 3

three quick knocks disturb you from your sleep, you rub your eyes and open them to the harsh rays of the windows.

"cleaning service!" you could hear outside the room, and you examine yourself. naked as ever and clothes all sprawled around, yunjin dead asleep on the other side of the bed.

"shit!" you run to the closet and grab a bathrobe and quickly tie it around yourself as you rush to the door. finally giving one glance at the bird's nest of hair, you pat down the hair as much as you can before opening the door slightly.

"hi! um, we don't need cleaning right now, maybe later?" you ask worriedly, the lady eyes your bathrobe and your hair and gives a smirk before walking away to the next room. you cringe at the idea that she knows exactly what you have been up to and close the door quickly.

"phew." you are relieved that they didn't walk into you and yunjin butt naked for cleaning service. meanwhile, yunjin has approached you from behind and wrapped her arms around you.

"hi, come back to bed." she pulls at your robe and pulls you towards her.

"oh okay..."you're confused but let her pull you back to bed. cuddling with her feels nice and reminds you of the days you spent lounging in each other's place.

--

"jen! i cannot believe you!" you stand on the far end away from her, backing yourself into a corner.

"what? i didn't do anything wrong." she stalks towards you with a devious smile as she watches you examine yourself in the mirror.

"you mauled my neck!" you exclaim as you claw at your neck looking left and right at the damage she's done. yunjin rather looks proud of her handiwork and instead pulls you onto her lap.

"okay no need to be a big baby about it, let me touch it up." she pulls out her concealer and starts going to town on the many hickeys she's left littered across your neck.

you huff and complain while yunjin lets you drone on while applying concealer until you're satisfied. she doesn't mention the new marks she's dug into your back, quite happy that only she can see them.

--

you both set out for a much chiller day outside, leisurely walking in parks and chatting while enjoying the parisian weather. you reach a quiet spot in the park, pulling out a blanket and your picnic basket.

yunjin doesn't comment on the humongous scarf that you have wrapped around your neck, but it does make her laugh a bit to see it.

you two are enjoying the nice breeze, when you hear smacking sounds nearby. looking around, you don't spot anything unusual until you notice a couple practically eating each other's mouths off. a closer look and you realize you recognize the two as the couple from the plane into paris.

you immediately turn your head to yunjin, "pss, the couple from the plane is at my six."

she quickly whips her head around and lo and behold the couple is still loudly eating each other's faces off. she laughs at the sight before capturing your lips with hers. "we should beat them."

"jen noooooo." you groan and turn away from her, uninterested at the idea of attracting their attention. she simply laughs and continues to enjoy the picnic. the rest of the trip goes well, often sharing little tidbits of your lives in the past couple months without each other.

after enjoying your "anniversary" trip in paris, you both get ready to go home. holding hands and kissing through the cab ride, plane ride and even through baggage claim.

you spot your sister out front of the pick-up terminal with a big sign "welcome back lovers!" you groan at the sign, of course she would show up with a poster plastering you and yunjin's photos to pick you up.

"she knows we're back together?" yunjin comments in confusion.

"i didn't even tell her, she just kept saying she knew we would get back together when the trip was over." you hold yunjin's luggage as your sister tackles yunjin into a hug, spilling about how much she missed her.

"i'm here too you know...your actual sister." your sister simply swats you away and enthusiastically asks about your trip to yunjin.

you drive off with yunjin's hand in yours and a warm smile as yunjin talks about the trip to your sister.

--

a/n: i apologize if there's any inaccuracies about paris, i've never been 😭 this post was inspired by a fic i read a longggg time ago. stay safe and stay healthy everyone!

[euphorajeon]

in the sheets | jjk

— pairing: boxer!jk x f. reader

— genre: fluff | college!au, boxer!jk

— word count: 1.1k

— warnings: short-haired, chubby-cheeked, sleepy jk, they're crude ahahah, a bit teasing on jk's end because what is jk without teases (non sexual), basically nothing big it's just jk and oc being fluffy in the morning.

— summary: a sleepy jeongguk in the morning is very soft and whiny, a stark contrast to the usual annoying and full-of-tease jeongguk. (either way, you love him all the same.)

— author's note: i just miss boxer!gguk and what better opportunity to bring him back than this sleepy jk live hahaha. hope you enjoy! :)

masterlist | boxer!gguk masterlist

There’s a norm to mornings you spend at Jeongguk’s house after dating him, one involving his white blankets, his pillow that sometimes you both struggle to share, and his inked arm draped heavily around your waist. Most mornings see you both fighting to keep sleep away from your eyes and denying the warmth of the blankets to get ready for whatever you got planned that day, but on the mornings you have the luxury to stay a bit longer in bed, Jeongguk always makes the most of your time by pressing his lips to yours in slow kisses, pinning you further against the sheets. Often you find yourself panting under him after said slow kisses escalate into something more, his sweaty body on top of you not faring any better.

This morning, that norm is broken as you’re standing beside Jeongguk’s bed watching him hog the pillow and blankets to himself as he puts his arm around the bunched up blankets instead of your waist. His recently-cut hair sits like a nest on top of his head, stray strands curling into his eyelashes. It frames his face way differently compared to his long hair, letting you see the roundness of his cheek pressing into his pillow. His half-open eyes stare blearily at you, squinting to fight the sunlight peeking from behind his blinds.

“You haven’t slept, have you.” It’s not even a question anymore. “Your mom told me you were having a karaoke session and just stopped like thirty minutes ago.”

“I couldn’t sleeeep,” Jeongguk moans, pressing his face into the pillow. “Got tired after boxing, then I slept, woke up at two. Couldn’t fall back asleep so I just picked up the mic.” His voice is mufled by the pillow but somehow you understand him through experience and willpower. Drunk Jeongguk is way worse than sleepy Jeongguk. “What are you doing here at seven anyway?”

You climb into his bed to sit next to his lying down form, leaning against the headboard. “Mom kicked me out,” you sigh.

The way Jeongguk sits up quickly sends you into a fit of giggles, his alarmed eyes jumping around the features on your face in panic worsening it. “Kidding, kidding. Annoying Aunt is coming so mom sends me here to avoid her.” A big yawn interrupts your sentence. “Plus, your mom asked me to check on you and your karaoke-ing ass.”

“I told you I couldn’t sleep,” Jeongguk mumbles around a yawn as well, slumping back into the mattress upon knowing your mom isn’t evil. “Judging from your yawn, you couldn’t either?”

“No, I slept.” Another yawn. “At four.”

Jeongguk snorts. “Yeah, that’s hardly sleeping.” He lifts the blanket without even opening his eyes. “C’mere. Sleep with me.”

The silence you responds him with is obvious, which makes him chuckle while dropping the blanket back down. “Just sleep, babe, I don’t have the energy to fuck you right now.” He purses his lips in thought. “Although, if you want to fuck me, that can be arranged..”

“Jeon Jeongguk.” You swat at his shoulder weakly, having little to no energy either today to scold him your usual way. “Don’t tempt me. Having your dick hard while being sleepy is worse than being blue-balled.”

“Hm.. speaking from experience, are we?” Your boyfriend lets out a small grin. “You’re hot but I don’t think I can even get it up if I want to. I’m really beat.”

“Then you should’ve gone to sleep instead of singing your ass off at the crack of dawn,” you say without any real bite, fingers combing through his hair slowly. Jeongguk lets out a sigh, seemingly enjoying your touch on his scalp.

“Yeah, yeah. Now will you let me cuddle you or not?” he whines, taking your hand away from his hair to press his lips softly on your fingers. Sleepy Jeongguk is one soft and mushy Jeongguk indeed. “Cold without you here.”

“Tempting, but pass,” you say, letting him wedge your hand between his lips and pillow. It lets your fingers graze the smallest of his cheek and you poke it playfully with what tiny room you have to move your fingers. “I promised your mom I’ll eat her pancakes with her.”

Your poking results in an exaggerated pout of your boyfriend’s lips, which lets out the most petulant sound you’ve ever heard come out of this man. “So you choose mom over me.”

He’s petulant, but his puckered lips are cute and tempting all the same, so you don’t resist the urge to lean down and give him a kiss right on his pillowy lips. “Pancakes,” you say after, slowly pulling your hand from his grasp. “Later, Jeon. Go to sleep, I’ll come back after eating.”

Jeongguk lets out a sound between a whine and a hum from deep inside his chest, nuzzling his pillow and letting his hair get even messier on top of his head. This time, you have to fight yourself from reaching out to run your hand through his hair again, to slip the stray strands behind his ear. Instead, you slip off his bed to finally go downstairs to Mrs. Jeon and her awaiting pancakes, but you find yourself stay rooted in place watching the steady rise and fall of Jeongguk’s chest as he slowly slips into slumber.

It’s not every day that you have the opportunity to map his face with your eyes like this—because most of the time he’d wake up earlier than you—so you take your time tracing over his features, from the way his bangs are covering his eyebrows, the ends of it touching his eyelashes, to his big nose that sometimes get red around the bridge from his glasses, to his very round and pinchable cheek, made more prominent by his shorter hair. Your eyes land on the pair of his lips last, now no longer pulled into a pout as soft breaths come out of it. The pair of lips with the piercing that started it all, the thing that got you addicted to having your lips against his, the tiny piece of jewelry that stays cold even when his lips are warm after working out.

Jeon Jeongguk is beautiful.

Your eyes are still stuck on the metal ring when the plush flesh around it spreads into a grin. “You’re staring, aren’t you?”

Caught red-handed, and he doesn’t even need to open his eyes.

“Shut up.” But still, his grin is contagious as you find one creeping onto your face as well. You shake your head to yourself, unable to believe just how much you love this guy. “Go to sleep, Jeon.”

“Mhm. Love you, babe,” he mumbles, then adds: “enjoy the pancakes.”

A chuckle bubbles up from your chest, finally getting your hand on the door to step out.

“Love you too. Sleep tight, baby.”

a/n: i hope you enjoyed this little drabble of sleepy jeongguk~ any feedback here would be very appreciated :) thank you for reading!

[quantum1mmortality]

Guess who's suffering from writers block!!! No but fr I wanna write SO BAD but I just can't 😭😭 so take some twst pp hcs until I decide to work on commissions again

Not proofread idc shank me

♧CW!!! Fem reader! twst dick hcs duh, every NRC student EXCLUDING ortho, might have some other hcs too

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♧♧~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riddle:

Its... cute? Idk how to explain it

He is VERY sensitive

5.5 inches

Slight curve downward

The tip is a really deep red

Cum is watery, tastes like rosewater(this is a fantasy world i can make cum taste like anything i want)

Balls aren't all that heavy, very soft and squishy tho

Likes rimming. No further comments

Trey:

EEK MY BOY

I'm gonna try not to be biased

Hes BIG tho

I know you've seen him. Let's be honest, we all know he's PACKING

So I'm gonna say a solid 7-8 inches with a nice amount of girth

No curve, but very veiny

Heavy balls. Like, HEAVY. Bros got a whole bakery in there

Soft pink tip

Cum is the normal consistency, he takes care of himself

If you're sucking him off he'll change the flavor of his cock and his cum to whatever you want (thank god for doodle suit)

Cater:

Easy 7 inches

Not too sensitive, it takes a while for him to cum

His cum is pretty thick, its all the spicy ramen he eats

Curve upward, huge thick vein going from his balls to the tip

Cum tastes salty, but not overwhelming

Will have his clones fuck you silly

Deuce:

Another small boy

I'll say 6 inches, no curve

Hes sensitive too, but not as much as riddle

He really like getting his balls sucked more than his cock itself

Cum is watery too, but it tastes good

Like sweet in a way

Tip is a light blue dont ask why

Ace:

Another small boy 😭

He is CLUELESS

Poor man is a one pump chump

5.6 inches, curve to the left

SENSETIVE. pussy got this boy on his knees

Balls squishy, balls soft?

Yes to both

His rip is red, like a blush red

Azul:

A good 6ish inches with a curve downward

Not as sensitive as you may think

I think it would be funny if the bottom of his cock had like little suckers or some shit

Tip is dark purple and he has some veins, not many tho

Heavy balls, no squish :(

Cum is thick and black bc octopus

Tastes like what watered down hand sanitizer smells like

Jade:

😨

Its slimy.

No further comment on that

No but its like wet, a lot

So is floyds but we aren't there yet

Its like lube 🥺

Okay but he's LONG

8.5 AT LEAST

He also enjoys rimming

Tip is dark cyan

Cum is slimy too

Add some borax water and sell it on etsy

Floyd:

Basically the same as Jade

Hes smaller tho

Hes 6 inches but has SO much girth

His cum is more watery than slimy and the tip is a light blue

Lots of veins too

Kalim:

6 inches

So sensitive

He begs.

Loves blow jobs but would NEVER ask for them

Heavy soft balls

A dark brown tip and there's lil red swirlies

Cum is thick

Tastes like coconut toothpaste

Jamil:

mmmmmmmmMMMMMMM

BIG

So big

Destroy me PLEASE

7.8 inches and a big curve upwards

Likes fingers in his ass, just like Kanye west

Doesn't like blow jobs he cums too quick :(

Gets overstimulated easily and when he does hes highly submissive

Cum a lil thick (its all the curry he eats)

Its yummy tho

Tastes salty and a lil sweet

Like a pretzel

Tip is a redish-brownish

Vil:

Hes a very odd case

Hes big, dont get me wrong

But mans does NOT have sex 😭

He complains it ruins his makeup

7.4 inches with a few veins

Oh yeah hes unclipped too idk why but he is

Tip is a pinky purple color

Balls got some weight, they're not sensitive

Rook:

Hes an even weirder case

Hes very big but almost NEVER penetrates you

Hed much rather be in between your legs for hours on end

Making you cum on his face gives him so much pleasure

He doesn't touch himself either

When he's eating you out he has one hand thrusting fingers into your pussy, the other hand thrusting fingers into your ass(hes an ass man I know he is) while he sucks on your clit the whole time

He cums on the sheets whenever you do bc he knows how good you feel

Hes 8.5 inches with a curve down, large vein going upward

A creme colored tip

Cum normal consistency, you don't know what it tastes like because he never let's you suck him off :(

Epel:

Small boy

Whimpers

A lot

Hes 6 inches with a curve to the left

Light purple tip bc I said so

Light balls, but no squish :(

Cum is watery and tastes like lavender oil

Idia:

Oh god

Contrary to popular belief he has a lot of stamina

He doesn't have ANY experience tho

Played a lot of hentai games but thats the extent of his experience

I think it would be really funny if instead of whispering dirty talk or praise during sex he tells you the fnaf lore

Like he'll be blowing your back out and he'll just be like "so the crying child was actually william aftons son-" and then he cums

After hes done and doing aftercare he'll quiz you on the fnaf lore

If you get any of the questions wrong he'll fuck you until you can't walk as a punishment

If you get them all right he'll eat you out for hours until you also can't walk

Win win honestly

8 inches

TIP IS BLUUUEEEEEE

Cum is thick and salty, he doesn't take care of himself

Heavy, HEAVY balls. Very sensitive

He loves blow jobs too

Leona:

8.8 inches, but if we're being real to how ACTUAL lion anatomy is hes closer to 3 inches but yall aren't ready for that convo

Not sensitive at all, it takes so long for him to cum

But when he does hes so sweet, whispering praise after praise to you and lots of kisses

Cum is normal consistency, a lil on the thicker end

Its a bit bitter with a sweet aftertaste

Hes also unclipped and I will not elaborate

Idk if lions have them but if they do then he has a knot, not as big as jacks tho

Heavy balls, they're sensitive

Brown tip, like, dark brown tip

Ruggie:

7ish inches with a curve down

Also likes eating you out

Doesn't like having his balls touched

They're cute and squishy tho

Cum is also thick and doesn't taste like anything

Tip is a light brown and has a vein going through it

Jack:

8 inches.

Has a huge knot. Physically cannot pull out when it comes to it

Cum tastes like strawberries

Doesn't let you suck him off often bc he doesn't wanna knot in your mouth

Also gets pleasure from eating you out

Tip is grey and sensitive

Malleus:

Hes also like rook in the way he'd eat you out for hours if you'd let him

But he does penetrate you

Our big dragon boy loves the feeling of being inside your tight cunt

Will probably cum if you praise him

He has 2.

One on top one on the bottom

The one on top is longer, 9 inches while the one on the bottom is 7ish, the bottom one is a lot thicker tho

He'll be so slow easing them in and almost never goes fast when it comes to sex

He sees it as love making

They both have a black tip and the cum is normal consistency, tastes like... eggs? Hardboiled don't ask

Oh yeah his cum glows in the dark

Lilia:

Idc what you guys say this man is SO EXPERIENCED

He knows how to have sex properly and can make you cum in seconds if he feels like it

7 inches, his dick is where all his height went

Because he's so experienced he doesn't cum easily

PINK TIP PINK TIP

His cum is normal consistency, a little watery maybe

Tastes like citrus

Silver:

Loves when you ride him

Likes missionary too tho

7 inches too

His tip is grey

Very sensitive and gets overstimulated easily

Hes also just very submissive in general

Cum is watery and tastes like what a new car smells like

Sebek:

LOUD

SO LOUD

CANT TAKE THIS BITCH ANYWHERE

Cries during sex

Loves when you pull his hair

Does he have horns? If he does they're very sensitive

Cums if you touch them

Hes a crocodile right

Nah he has horns

8 inches no other comments

GREEN TIP

Cum is thick and bitter

We love him tho

Balls squishy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♧♧~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/n: im so fuckibg tired god help me

[atlabeth]

Girl for one get that glass of water! andddd this is a loose request but I LOVE knight Luke and we just gotta see them have that cinderella live action ball scene like romantic dancing maybe the secret garden as well but either way we gotta see these gals at a ball! Have a great day you're an amazing writer!

under the moonlight

fic about the ball

pairing: knight!luke castellan x princess!reader

a/n: thank you so much for this request it is so fucking cute lmao. i changed it a bit to make it work with my vision (bc they wouldn’t really be able to dance at a ball) but the core is that they're dancing together!!! and it is much more intimate and personal lol. here is the cinderella scene that the ask mentioned (and that i took inspo from because it's a beautiful scene lol)

wc: 2.5k

warning(s): basically all fluff

as usual, a mix of hcs and traditional fic!

ALRIGHT LAST TIME WE LEFT OFF princess was dancing with princes during the ball and luke was sulking at his first ever ball accompanying you as a knight 

and thankfully, that all goes okay. 

You don’t get murdered, Luke only goes slightly insane, and you don’t fall head over heels for any royals. 

All in all, a pretty alright night in retrospect. 

But post-ball is rough on both of you. 

You complain about how much your feet hurt from your heels and how uncomfortable your dress is and how your cheeks ache from smiling so much. 

To your surprise, as Luke follows you down the halls, he laughs. 

You stop in your tracks as you whirl around. “And what do you find so funny?”

“Nothing,” he says with a slight smile, almost private. “Just… good to be back with you, princess.”

A small smile of your own starts to creep on your lips. “It was only half the night, Luke.”

“And you have no idea how much I missed you,” he muses. 

You just shake your head and continue walking. “You’re funny.”

(he’s not joking. he’s just going through it now that he’s not training 24/7 and actually has time to feel emotions again) 

You finally get back to your room—thankfully, you got out of any post-ball events with any princes by citing exhaustion, and it’s very rude to demand more of an exhausted lady—and Luke shuts the door behind you as you sink into the edge of your bed. 

“God,” you groan as you immediately peel your heels off, letting out a sigh of relief. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to those.”

“If it’s any help, you looked very regal out there,” Luke says.

“It is my duty,” you say as you smile inwardly. “You looked very knightly out there.”

“And that’s my duty,” he says in kind. He gets a chuckle out of you. 

You begin to take everything off—you undo your hair from whatever elaborate style it was in, you strip your wrists and fingers bare of bracelets, bangles, and rings (though you leave a certain necklace on), you undo parts of your dress. When you take your nightgown from your chest and go behind your folding screen, Luke clears his throat. 

“Princess,” Luke says, “do you want me to—?”

“You can stay,” you say. “I don’t mind.”

And Luke, idiot that he is, gets all in his head. 

(Does she not want me to leave because she doesn’t even see me as someone who could like her like that???) (We’ve been friends for so long, does she just see me as an older brother???) (Does this mean she trusts me or sees me as like. a painting on the wall.) (what the fuck) 

It’s not any of those, poor boy. it’s just that you feel more comfortable around him than anyone because you’ve been around each other for your entire life—he knows you better than anyone. What’s the harm in him being in the room when you’re separated by a folding screen anyway?

but Luke is dramatic and also so fucking insecure when it comes to your feelings for him lmao 

and he has a reason to be i guess?? because at this point while he knows that he has feelings for you (hasn’t fully realized he’s in love) you haven’t realized your own. you just think you have a lingering childhood crush on Luke and it’ll go away as you get older and start being courted 

(spoiler alert: it will not go away.) 

so he gets all weird and silent, giving one word responses as you talk with him, and when you come out in your nightgown you immediately stare him down. 

“Luke,” you said, “what’s wrong?” 

He blinked, as if he wasn’t expecting you to say anything. “Nothing.” 

“Luke,” you repeated. “Come on.” 

“Nothing’s wrong,” he repeated as well. 

You crossed your arms. “Don’t act like I don’t know every single thing about you.” 

“If you do, then you should know that nothing is wrong,” he countered. 

You stared at him for a moment more, then you held out your hand. “Dance with me, then.” 

That actually seemed to throw him off guard as he frowned. “What?” 

“Did you go deaf back there?” you joked. “I want you to dance with me.” 

He managed a smile, though it was slightly awkward. It only made your smile grow. “I don’t dance, princess.” 

“Which is why I’ll teach you,” you said with a nod. “I’ve had plenty of practice.” 

“And I have none.” Luke gestured at his armor. “I’m not exactly suited for it, either.” 

“You can take off your armor,” you said. “It’ll make it all much easier. And a lot quieter.” 

“My job is to protect you, princess.” Luke laid his hand on the hilt of his sword. “I can’t exactly defend you if all the armor’s gone.” 

You rolled your eyes good-naturedly. He really did worry too much. “Nothing’s going to happen here, Luke—not now. I’ll even let you keep your sword with you if it matters that much.” 

He still didn’t seem sure. You inclined your head and took another step forward, still holding out your hand. 

“I’ll count you through it all,” you promised. “And if you like, I can hum one of those orchestra tunes they played earlier tonight. And I promise it’ll make you feel better.”

“...Fine,” Luke relented, and he started undoing his armor. “But you don’t tell anyone about this.” 

“Your secret is safe with me,” you remarked. 

It took a fair amount of time for Luke to get his armor off, but it took just as long for you to get every layer of your ball gown off earlier—and besides, you had endless patience reserved especially for him. The toned forearms revealed as he rolled his sleeves up certainly helped. 

“Are you ready?” you asked as you held out your hand again. 

Luke took it uncertainly. “I feel as if I’m the one meant to be asking you that.” 

“You can lead next time we train together,” you said with a smile. “For now, you’re in my domain.” 

You put Luke’s hand on your waist and reached for his other one, adjusting until it was right, then you looked up at him. “Does that feel alright?” 

His eyes were startlingly dark this close, surprisingly intense. He nodded. 

“Good. I’m going to teach you a few basic steps so you can get used to it.” 

Luke nodded again. You wondered why words seemed behind his grasp. 

yeah girlie I wonder why 

Luke is. not a great dancer 

You’re not surprised, and you don’t say a single word about it as you teach him the basics. he spent his childhood swinging a sword around, and you spent yours learning etiquette and ballroom dances lol 

He steps on your foot about ten times and apologizes like a freak every time, you just laugh and smile and tell him you’re fine. Sure, your slippers don’t provide much protection and Luke’s boots aren’t great against them but you honestly don’t even feel it. you’re too busy getting lost in his eyes lol 

And for someone who spent two years training like an insane person, he gets frustrated very easily when things don’t go his way. 

“How do you do this? It’s impossible.” 

“I learned this dance when I was twelve, Luke.” 

as much as you jest while you’re teaching him the basics you’re encouraging him the entire time because he’s your best friend above all else!!! and you honestly believe he can do anything lmao 

And he’s a quick learner! He didn’t become the youngest kingsguard in history by learning slowly. So soon enough, you’re actually dancing together. 

Luke’s hand on your back feels like the most natural thing in the world, and you can tell he’s actually starting to get a little into it. 

You didn’t have to count your steps off anymore, so you’d switched to humming one of your favorite symphonies from the musicians back in Aurelda. 

Luke is still focused on landing every move, but your lead and the music gives him confidence in this that he didn’t really know he had. He spins you, and you get an idea as you twirl your way to the balcony door. You open it and look back at him. 

“Princess—” Luke starts as he takes a few steps towards you, but you just shake your head with a grin and hold out your hand. 

“Trust me.” 

And he does, somehow. 

You didn’t know what part of himself Luke had to get to in order to actually go along with this, but he allowed you to fully take the lead. His eyes never left yours as you guided him through one of your favorite dances—sometimes you called out whatever move that was coming next, and he would do it perfectly. His instincts and reaction time, sharply honed by his training, actually came in handy. 

“And lift!” 

Luke braced his hands on your waist as he raised you into the air without missing a beat, and you found yourself actually laughing with pure glee as you landed. You grinned at Luke who had a smile smaller than yours, but that you knew meant the same. He glowed with exertion and the light of the full moon shone down on him. 

Angelic was the only word you could think of to describe him. 

“Princess,” he said, bringing you back to the real world, “are we done?” 

“I see no reason not to end while we’re ahead,” you said, slightly out of breath from his lift. “You’re a natural. Are you sure you’re not a prince?” 

Luke’s smile didn’t fully reach his eyes for the slightest moment—he covered it up before you could fully analyze it. “Thankfully, I’m not. Otherwise I would have had to do that all my life like you.” 

“Oh, it’s not that bad,” you said offhandedly. “Especially when you’ve got such a great partner.” 

Luke suddenly lowered himself into a bow, his arm held in front of his chest as he bent over. You couldn’t stifle your laugh in time, but he was smiling when he rose. 

“The only proper way to truly end a dance, so I’ve seen,” he said. “I wouldn’t be such a great partner if I forgot that.” 

You grinned as you took the skirt of your nightgown in your hands and bobbed into a curtsy. “Thank you for the reminder, my lord.” 

A shiver ran through you and Luke’s eyebrows creased. “You should get back inside. You’re not dressed at all for this weather.” 

“It’s simply a night chill,” you said, and you walked over to the railing and rested your forearms on it. “And it’s too beautiful a night to ignore.” 

“It truly is.” 

You heard Luke walk up next to you, so you glanced over. His gaze was only set on you. 

You felt your cheeks flush and you bit back your smile as you stared back up at the stars. For a moment, you stood together in comfortable silence. 

“Thank you for tonight,” you finally said. 

You could hear his frown in his words. “What do you mean?” 

“Exactly what I said.” You leaned a bit closer to the railing, shifting your balance. “Your presence always… calms me. And I was a bit nervous for tonight.” 

When Luke finally responded, it was more restrained than usual. “Why?” 

“Well, I was nervous tonight because you put the idea in my head that I was going to get murdered,” you said wryly. “And your presence calms me because it always has.” 

“So… I made you nervous and calmed you down for what I made you nervous about?” Luke shook his head. “I’m sorry, princess.” 

“Why are you apologizing?” You finally turned to look at him, the smallest smile on your lips. “Anytime I got overwhelmed on the floor, or felt as if I was going to keel over from boredom, I just searched around until I found you.” You shrugged. “The sight of you alone was enough to get me through the rest of it.” 

“And of course,” you tipped a shoulder as your gaze drifted back to the stars, “you danced with me for no reason. That gives you all the good will you need from me.” 

“It wasn’t for no reason,” he said. “It made you happy. That’s reason enough for me.” 

The chill in the air was a blessing as you felt heat rise in your cheeks, and your smile grew just so. 

“Besides.” You could feel his eyes on you as he continued. “This was my first ball. Anytime I got overwhelmed, I would find you in the crowd, and your confidence got me through it.” 

You chuckled as your gaze fell to the marble railing. You didn’t know if you’ve ever felt less confident at a ball—but knowing that Luke was looking for you the same way you did him made butterflies arise in your stomach. 

Warmth spurned all through you, and the fingers on your forearms felt bumps rise on your skin. You didn’t exactly know what possessed you as you cleared your throat and started back towards your room. 

“It’s late,” you said, perhaps a bit too hasty. “We— we should turn in. It’s going to be a long ride back to Aurelda.” 

You paused at the door, waiting to hear Luke’s footsteps or his voice, and it took a few seconds for him to do anything. 

“...Yes,” he eventually said. “I apologize for keeping you so long.” 

You couldn’t help but laugh to yourself as you opened the door and walked back in. Always so noble—it was no question he had knight’s blood in his veins. 

“It’s not your fault, Luke,” you said. “You were just meant to drop me off—I got you to stay.” 

You sat on the side of your bed as Luke put his armor back on. There was no point in it, but he refused to let the implications of him leaving your room at this hour in his underclothes fester. 

“I chose to stay,” he said. “I know better.” 

“You can give it a rest for a night, Luke,” you said with a slight laugh. “I’m your princess, aren’t I?” 

“Certainly.” 

“And you are my knight.” 

“Yes.” 

“Then I don’t see how anyone could have a problem with my knight spending time with me.” You smiled as you leaned forward, meeting his eyes. A smile twitched on his lips for just a moment before he continued to get dressed. 

Soon enough, he was ready to go. Luke paused at the door, fingers on the handle, and met your eyes. 

“Thank you again for tonight, princess,” he said. “I…” 

His breath caught for a moment. His eyes flickered down to your neck. A millisecond later, they were back at eye level, and you allowed a knowing smile. 

“I enjoyed it,” he murmured. “Goodnight, princess.” 

“Goodnight, Luke,” you said softly. 

And you got one more smile out of him before he closed the door behind him. 

[stevieschrodinger]

There’s a quiet beeping noise. It’s very regular and kind of annoying; but then Eddie fucking hates the ticking of clocks. Finds them impossible to ignore once he’s heard it.

He shifts, and then almost immediately stops because fucking ow.

Ow. Well this is shit.

Eddie hums in agreement.

The mattress made a terrible creaky noise; like it’s plastic, and the air smells like disinfectant. Oh. Hospital. Which means holy shit, he’s alive.

Well, I sure as fuck wasn’t expecting this.

Eddie hums again, blinking open gummy eyes. It’s dark other than a rectangle of light on the popcorn tiled ceiling; shining through the door from the hallway. It’s a pretty average hospital room, except for the glaring anomaly that is Steve Harrington, snoring gently in an arm chair.

Holy shit, is that Harrington?

“Yeah-” Eddie starts to answer out loud, and then finally realizes that he’s answering someone. His voice is fucked and his mouth is dryer then Gandhi's sandals, but he still tries, “errr…who are you?”

Wait, you can hear me??

Eddie tries, really hard, to think loud thoughts, firstly because his throat is fucked and it hurts to talk, and secondly because he doesn’t actually want to wake Steve, yes?

Holy shit. It’s me. I mean. Hargrove. Billy Hargrove.

Well...fuck. I thought you were dead?

No. No, I just kind of got...absorbed. Like I was in the, you know, in that place with everything else.

The upside Down.

Whatever. But then Henry died. We all felt it when Henry died. And I was just kind of...loose.

You knew his name?

We all knew his name.

Which is not a terrifying thought like, at all. Especially not with how weighty the thought is when Hargrove delivers it. We all knew his name. Holy shit.

And then there was you and I saw my chance. I was so sure you were going to die, and I figured if I was in there, you’d take me out with you.

Oh. Well I was kind of assuming that I was dead, considering I now have the ghost of Billy Hargrove talking at me from in my own head.

Yeah. Death is a pretty solid explanation for me too. Think the afterlife could do better than this, though. Eddie can feel it when Hargrove yawns. Can feel that they’re both tired. Tries not to be vaguely offended that the inside of his head isn't good enough for Hargrove. Why is he here?

I dunno man, I mean, I was kind of with them at the end you know, I was part of the plan. Maybe he feels responsible or something.

Eddie can feel Hargrove turn that one over, what do you think he’s dreaming about?

Wet tee shirt competition, Eddie answers instantly and without thought, can feel Billy snort a laugh, can sense his amusement clearly.

Being Prom king? Sinking the winning ball?

Being asked to judge a wet tee shirt competition because he’s prom king?

Hargrove sniggers again, but then becomes thoughtful, you’re taking this really well. What if it’s like, permanent?

Eddie yawns, ask me again tomorrow. He's way too tired to deal with this.

It takes four days for Eddie to be able to actually stand alone long enough to take a piss in an actual bathroom, which is amazing. It's four days of having his life choices sometimes critiqued by Billy Hargrove, but it isn't the worst. At least they're on first name terms now, and Billy has been surprisingly sensitive when it comes to Eddie's recovery.

The first piss after the catheter came out was pretty fucking unpleasant, but not being alone for this stuff has actually been okay. Having Billy saying ow ow ow in the back of his head during that first piss had made it somehow more bearable. At least he's not suffering alone.

And he’s so done with pissing into those funny little bottle things and then enduring the mortification of handing it to someone.

You’re feeling pretty pleased with yourself over this.

“Yeah well, some of us enjoy pissing in private,” Eddie grumbles back.

When he turns to wash his hands, he squeals and nearly knocks everything off the counter. He then whimpers in pain, because he turned way too fast.

“Eddie? You okay?” Steve asks, knocking on the door.

“I’m fine. I’m fine man. Give me a minute,” Eddie looks over the bathroom. The empty bathroom. But no, no, he definitely saw- Eddie turns slowly back to the mirror, and there, leaning against the wall, “Billy?” Eddie breathes.

He looks over his shoulder again, just to make sure, but nope. He’s still definitely alone.

What?? Can you see me?

Billy moves, standing next to Eddie. He looks...good. Clean. Perfect. Blue jeans and a white polo with the collar popped a bit, gold chain around his neck. He looks exactly like Eddie remembers. “I thought you were like, inside my head?”

I am. I mean. I thought I was but...I can see me too.

Steve knocks, “Eddie? You talking to yourself man? You’re taking a while-”

“We should go, before he can untwist his panties, we can...check this again, later?”

Yeah. Yeah, later.

Part Two

[iron-sparrow]

Elftober 【第十二天】 Knowledge

Yeah, that's a cup of pearl milk tea in Yein's hand. I'm using today's prompt ✨KNOWLEDGE✨ as an excuse to drop some mad unsolicited facts about the popular Taiwanese beverage. What's the occasion? Some dumb racist motherfuckers going viral, particular in the English-speaking Asian social media sphere.

So anyway, pearl milk tea (珍珠奶茶) originated in Taiwan (ROC) back in the 1980s. Some of you likely hear bubble or boba milk tea more; the "bubble" refers to the literal bubbles (泡泡) that form when shaking the tea, while "boba" refers to the enlarged tapioca balls. Yes, "boba" is actually derived from Chinese slang for large breasts, coming from Hong Kong sex symbol Amy Yip.

You'll find plenty of trivia all over the Internet about tapioca milk tea, but I want to stress the importance of this drink as a cultural icon for an entire nation that has struggled for decades to be recognized by world governments as its own country.

In Taiwan, bubble tea has become not just a beverage, but an enduring icon of the culture and food history for the nation. In 2020, the date April 30 was officially declared as National Bubble Tea Day in Taiwan. That same year, the image of bubble tea was proposed as an alternative cover design for Taiwan's passport. According to Al Jazeera, bubble tea has become synonymous with Taiwan and is an important symbol of Taiwanese identity both domestically and internationally. Bubble tea is used to represent Taiwan in the context of the Milk Tea Alliance.

Ignore your own feelings about pearl milk tea for a moment to simply appreciate its cultural impact around the world and how much that means to the millions of Asians spread around the globe. Here is a drink that came out of a Chinese-speaking nation that's been so widely accepted in its most basic form, without having to be altered ten different ways to be more palatable and marketable toward locals. It's a big deal, really, especially given the Western world's longstanding xenophobia toward Chinese people and just about everything we do or eat or whatever. While Japanese and Korean cuisines have enjoyed elevated pop status (double-edged blade there), the information war against Chinese continues and affects how we are perceived versus other Far Eastern ethnicities.

And how many instances have we seen by now of White people attempting to "rebrand" Chinese food (and mahjong lol) by claiming to have discovered a healthier, cleaner way to make it? Further perpetuating the belief that Chinese food is unhealthy or dirty, which can't be separated from the enduring sentiment that we are vermin or a virus since immigration out of China to NA became a noticeable trend in the 1800s.

The latest racist nitwits attempting to colonize for profit is a couple who appeared on Dragon's Den (like Shark Tank but Canadian, for those who didn't know) trying to get backing for their Montreal-based company, Bobba. Yeah. They fucking called it "Bobba."

"Yes, I'm talking about bubble tea: that trendy, sugary drink you are queueing up for, and you are never quite sure about its content. Those days are over with Bobba."

With their whole chests, these people had the caucasity to pitch this company to a panel that included Simu Liu, who has always been very outspoken about struggles unique to the Asian diaspora.

When grilled by Liu over their disrespect toward the origin culture, the idiot with the leopard-print collar went on to say "it's not an ethnical product anymore," because he and his business partner threw in popping bobas and fruit teas and juices. Hey, newsflash, chucklefucks ⸺ popping boba pearls and fruit teas/juices are also staples for most modern Chinese tea shops.

Simu Liu was the only one of the three panelists to offer scrutiny, even pointing out that the products the couple offered did not mention anything about Taiwan, despite the one guy's attempts to win Liu over by saying they're working with a Taiwanese manufacturer.

The couple is being torn apart online for very good reason, and I'm an even bigger fan of Simu Liu after his very eloquent summation of why Bobba (ugh) and the way it's being pitched is so problematic.

To quote author and journalist Kat Lieu, who founded Subtle Asian Baking ⸺

It's not that selling boba or other Asian products is wrong, but the issue arises when they're marketed as superior or "better" while portraying the original product as inferior, strange, unhealthy, or dirty and make a profit. It's crucial not to erase the identity and culture from which these products originate. To the person who said I appropriate the French when I make madeleines, tell that to my colonized Vietnamese ancestors who were forced to bake baguette for their colonizers

Before you come at me about not liking the texture of boba pearls or the flavor of traditional milk tea or whatever, bear in mind most legit tea shops will offer a variety of drinks with different toppings. Look around, explore your options, and most importantly, do not support colonizers.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm gonna go get me some fruit teas with diced kiwi and aiyu jelly.

Back to your regularly scheduled Elftober tomorrow.

ELFTOBER PROMPT LIST

[solitary-bones]

so dndads live show St Paul! idk how much of this is a spoiler for anyone else going to shows so I'ma cut here!

we had!

- so many gay people in the audience that as I was walking in to the venue I said to my friend damn this is like a pride parade and a bunch of gay people in front of me were like TRUEE

- a live performance of both! dead and gone and rocks rock! it was so incredible. Beth and Will both POPPED OFFF!!!!!! they were so cool oh my god. and Freddie fucking shredded it on the electric guitar it was so sick.

- silly St Paul themed dad facts plus Ron just uhh thinking all manual labor is called a hand job.

- the people royally fucking up the dice roll (not my fault I was in the balcony I cannot be held responsible)

- the people absolutely manifesting the complete improv prompt as the live show topic. and all of the cast going into mourning over it (will fell to his knees on the stage so dramatically it was so funny)

- the cast deciding to do a DND game with their characters! Starring: Will Campos as Henry oak as Mr Chris (later Dr Chris), by the book health inspector! Matt Arnold as Darryl Wilson as Darryl, ex football quarterback now accomplished priest searching to remember all 10 commandments! Beth may as Ron stampler as Nor Relpmats, doctor (the best health inspector of them all)! and Freddie Wong as Glenn Close as Glenn The Closer, weed enjoyer moonlighting as a health inspector relying on his gut! Anthony Burch as Patrick as Patrick the shit (among other characters)!

- the audience not being able to stop being horny when giving suggestions for what their location, bad guy, and theme were gonna be (bdsm dungeon, just a guy from the audience named Patrick, and a 10 commandments dildo)

- an abundance of flashbacks and one single flashforward

- butt spanking competition to get past the second door (it is a bdsm castle ig)

-mr Chris tests to see if the floor has been cleaned recently and thinks it hasn't. Glenn the closers gut says it's fine but Mr Chris says if he tastes some of what's on the ground he'll be able to tell better. Glenn the Closer bites his fingers and Mr Chris is into it.

- Mr Chris finding a dead cockroach on the ground and revives it using CPR and mouth to mouth (Anthony is the cockroach and also when will tried to fake the mouth to mouth yelled DO IT PUSSY so yeah they actually kissed like twice at least) and revived it to ask about the cleanliness of the floor and found it not very.

- none other than paeden bennets on the second level, who Darryl proceeded to obliterate with a holy football. I'm not lying (not before asking how Patrick the DM knew about their friend Paeden who was long dead and us getting a lively npc on npc scene by Anthony of Patrick meeting Paeden and getting punched in the balls and saying "I'll never forget you")

- Test by the health inspectors to see if the blood of paeden would get cleaned up. all of the soots from spirited away came in with little mops to clean it and cleaned all the party. Glenn rolled to see if he's into it and got a 9 but the crowd gave inspiration and he got a 6, which is 69 so he was and wanted to stay there forever with the soots. Henry as Mr Chris used his persuasion to get Glenn the closer to leave the soots by saying that whatever they're doing he could do it better. because apparently they're ex lovers now. (Anthony yelled something about Will wanting to kiss another boy)

- Flashback reveals that they were highschool sweethearts but were going to health inspection schools on opposite sides of the US and were talking about how their relationship would progress from there when Mr Chris' secret lover barges in and informs them that they're pregnant and he's the father! Glenn the Closer gets upset and asks what happened and Mr Chris proceeds to another, extremely graphic, flashback where Ron the doctor commentates the uhhh conceiving of said child. and Glenn is understandably upset at the graphicness of this explanation about being cheated on. They end with bitter words, stating they're now nemesis in health inspection.

- Nor asks Mr Chris how long it's been since he saw his son Patrick. (not since birth lmao)

- they go up to the final level, find Patrick using the commandment dildo, on the 8th one I think, and upon seeing his absent father run in and ask "are ya winning, son!?"gets extremely turned off. he understandably asks what he's doing there after being absent his whole life. Mr Chris explains that he's finally ready to be back in his life, with his husband Glenn the closer, and his newfound belief in Christianity from Darryl the priest who's really good at football.

- Flashforward to Mr Chris and Glenn the Closer living together and apparently "they're bougie enough to have their own priest" so Darryl lives with them too. Nor comes to visit and we see the commandment dildo hanging above the mantle.

and that's that on that.

[tossawary]

Thinking about how hard the "Star Wars" prequel films dropped the ball in terms of female representation. Like, looking back on the original trilogy, it kind of sucks that the only main female character is Leia, and while Leia does kick ass and I love her, it also sucks that the last film 1) put her in that bikini and 2) abruptly made her Luke's twin but didn't let her have a lightsaber or use a lot of the cool space magic powers.

When you only have one female character, she often ends up bearing the unintended burden of a lot of hopes and expectations of fans. She's just one person. She's never going to be compelling to everyone.

And then you have the prequels and you'd hope that they'd do a little better with male-female ratios this time? With experience? But the only main female character is Padmé, who's pretty fun, but also ends up 1) desperately in love with a murderer, 2) spending most of the last movie barefoot and pregnant, staring out a window, because they cut the "founding of the Rebellion" plotline, and 3) dying not because she was Force-choked but because she has "lost the will to live" because "fuck them kids", I guess.

(I know there's theories about Sidious siphoning her life force or what the fuck ever, but I don't caaaaare, because I hate the idea that Sidious has that kind of reach for no fucking reason and also it's not actually IN the movies! It doesn't count!)

The Nubian handmaidens are a cool concept, but they're all background characters, who barely get named. We don't get to actually see them and Padmé do a lot of on-screen work together. She doesn't get to confide in them regarding her love or her fears. She speaks to her guard captain more onscreen than her handmaidens.

And while we do see female members of the Jedi Order in the films, they're ALSO all background characters, like Jocasta Nu and Aayla Secura and Yaddle. As opposed to more active Jedi characters like Qui-Gon Jinn or Mace Windu. Like, damn, the prequels are the perfect opportunity to introduce and show off even a female Jedi supporting character, and they just did not do that. That sucks. The careless absence of women in this universe sucks. The careless absence of women as significant characters in these films sucks.

Every other piece of additional material for "Star Wars" has to move to patch this. The "Jedi Apprentice" and "Jedi Quest" novels strive to add and name female agemates and mentors. "The Clone Wars" television shows add Ahsoka as a protagonist and Ventress as a villain and a whole bunch of new female characters.

Yes, given that these are prequels, there are some characters who are not really realistically changeable. (Yes, trans people exist, obviously, that would be very cool; not sure that "Star Wars" was going to go for that back in 1999.) Obi-Wan. Anakin. Yoda. The Emperor. Unnamed Sad Mother of Luke and Leia. You need those ones. EVERYTHING ELSE was up for whatever they wanted to do.

So, anyway, I'm currently thinking about characters you could potentially genderbend without affecting the story pretty much at all. Qui-Gon, obviously. Mace Windu, as well. I think fandom would then hate both of these characters even more then, unfortunately, because fandom is what it is. Whatever legitimate criticisms levied at both of these imperfect characters would have increased tenfold, I am certain of it. But we're talking about the prequels's badly executed stories, not fandom's misogyny. (And misogynoir. A black woman as the leader of the Jedi Order when it was destroyed by the Sith? Fandom would have been even more of a fucking nightmare.) It would suck that they both die, but the prequels are a tragedy anyway, so, eh.

Bail's role in the prequels could have potentially been played by Breha Organa instead. Although, I don't know how well the Extended Universe novels had extended Leia's backstory by that point in time, maybe Bail had already been established as the Senator and Breha as Queen, so maybe not. At the very least, you could have had Mon Mothma in there doing his superspy stuff with him or something. Padmé's guard captain could have been a woman.

Both Darth Maul and Count Dooku could have been women. Yes, they're both evil, and yes, they both die, so it's not perfect on the representation front. But it's something, especially if you balance that out with some good characters, and look, I can't coherently complete this thought, I keep getting distracted by the mental image of hot evil Sith ladies. I think a female Count Dooku would have kicked ass, honestly, as much as I enjoy Christopher Lee in the role.

My main goal with this thought exercise is purely upping the number of plot-relevant female characters, pointing out that it wouldn't have been hard to add more women without changing all that much if anyone involved had actually bothered to think about that.

The original trilogy only mentioned "The Clone Wars", so the clone army didn't all need to be copies of Jango Fett. There could have potentially been a half-dozen genetic donors, with the Kaminoans creating different clone soldiers for different purposes. Some of them could have been clones of women. (I hold the unpleasant headcanon that the clone soldiers are all sterile (or functionally sterile, incompatible with unmodified humans) anyway, because the Kaminoans don't want clients to be able to "steal" their work.) And the clones are actually a fairly minor role in the films themselves, admittedly, not given any more development than any of the droids (it's the show that does the work), but again, it's still something more.

[reidslovely]

Peter’s eyes are absolutely beautiful 😩😩 Have any frat boy peter headcannons? Maybe him trying to get the reader but she doesn’t like greek life (and him being a cocky asshole)

He has gorgeous puppy dog eyes I can't describe them any other way.

Frat boy peter is...mhm if you could see my face. he and I have a interesting relationship because greek life and I are not besties. But we can say Pete is the actual exception. I mean look at him

You met Peter in your elective sociology course because out of some type of spite your professor told you to look to your right and you'd see your partner for the whole semester. Any discussion board completed had to have both of your names on it, any project you had both would turn in together. Meaning it felt like you spent every waking moment with this geeky asshole. The first thing he did after your first class together was ask you out.

The absolute audacity of this man because what the fuck? You had traded maybe a total of five sentences to one another the whole class. He was cute, you had to give him that..till he opened his mouth.

"Do you want to like go out with me sometime?" "Like to work on our discussion posts? Or the project one like what do you mean Parker?" "No, no." He laughed throwing his head back holding the door to the lecture hall open for you. "Like I take you to a movie, or a bar or something and we get to know each other. A date, you ever been on one?"

How dare he assume you'd never been on a date? You'd been on several dates since getting to ESU, did you look like someone who never went on dates? For that sole reason you turned down his offer, and you didn't feel like listening to him talk about his dumb frat and whatever stupid four year degree he was completing. (He was probably a business major or something.)

However he was a very good sport about it, shockingly, most frat boys would throw a tantrum like a three year old in the you section of a Walmart but Pete was chill. He nodded and said he understood and when, not if, when you changed your mind the offer would stand. What a cocky asshole.

A few weeks later in the semester is when you finally get to know Peter Parker and not Peter the frat boy. He showed up to the library (30 minutes late) soaking wet and shivering. "Where's your jacket?"

"Harry took it, they're doing rush stuff in the rain he needed it more than me." He says shaking his hair out of the ball cap he was wearing, and what was hidden under the hair shocked you.

Peter's dark brown hair that was there in class Monday morning was now a (unevenly) bleached blonde. "What the fuck did you do to your hair." "I didn't do fucking shit to it." He said a laugh in his chest. "Fell asleep in the den woke up being told to rinse my hair out. The older guys got to me for prank week or whatever." "That's fucked up." "Mhm I put itching powder in their after shave and shampoo after don't worry about me pretty girl. I get even." He smirks. "This is why I hate greek life." "Mhm pays for college what can I say. I wouldn't be here without it." You hadn't considered that as the reason Peter joined greek life. You knew they got benefits but, Peter just fit the stereotype to well. "Really?" You asked. "I'm a poor kid from Queens babe, I missed my SATS and ACTs more than three times. It's a wonder they even accepted me into the biophysics department. Then I wanted to double major with biochem and I basically had to get on my knees and beg the frat to let me in and pay for my degree." He laughed looking at you, playfully tapping your arm. "Didn't hurt that my uncle was an alumni, so I'm a legacy." You stared at him like he had three heads, he seemed so real in that moment. Suddenly he wasn't the asshole you met on your first day assuming you'd want to date him, or he wasn't the jackass you saw playing basketball in the front yard of greek row with girls drooling on him. He seemed like everyone else you knew.

You also stared at him because his hair was distracting. Slamming the book shut you put it into your bag, and stood up. "Come on, blondie." His head snapped up at you, eyes squinting a smirk on his face. "Is this you picking up that date offer." "No this is me fixing your hair because this is an eye sore and I feel truly bad for you." You laughed putting his hat on his head pulling it over his eyes. You stood in the middle of your dorm room that night, clipping a pink princess peach towel around Peter's neck as your re-bleached his hair, and he typed up the last few parts of your first project. Having him explain his bad chemistry jokes to you, which he sneakily replied:

"The one spark I know is positive is between us" You rolled your eyes calling him a cheeseball. It seemed that moment on wherever you were Peter went or vice versa. You found yourself in the bio lab with him a lot, working on discussion posts or doing notes while he worked. You two enjoyed each others company, with no labels. You had taken him up on the offer and didn't even notice until you were walking out of the bar a couple blocks from campus, having gotten drinks with him and his frat friends. Who knew you by name before you even walked in. Peter held your hand as he walked you back towards your dorm, a cigarette in his mouth. "You tell your friends about me Parker?" "Yeah I do. I'm slowly indoctrinating you into the greek life." You rolled your eyes in response, nudging him playfully. He laughed blowing smoke out of the side of his mouth, putting his cigarette out on the brick wall. "But no, I told some of them about you the day we first met." "Really?" "Mhm I thought you were fascinating, I couldn't get a word out to you, you were so smart and pretty. Only thing I knew to do was to ask you out and you said no and I had to tell them the moment I thought I feel in love." He jokes. You stopped in your tracked staring up at him. "You are such a..just kiss me." Peter laughed grabbing your face, pulling you into a soft kiss. Hands stroking your cheeks, as you soaked in every second of the moment you can. "Still hate frat boys?" Peter teases. "Little bit..but you're the exception."

[ottpopfic]

“We got some new campers in,” Jason eventually says “They were, really young”

“Hmm,” Leo presses a kiss into his husband's hair “How young?”

“Like four and six”

“So you young?”

"Yeah"

---

Leo and Jason talk about kids

Every once in a while Leo thinks his man’s job is bad for him.

It's a draining process that doesn’t really have an off switch, being both camps super pope. Jason gets dreams and demands from gods in the least gentle way they can possibly deliver them. Then there's paperwork (which looks to Leo like its own personal hell but that might just be him), and research and politics and travel . Jason excels at it, he's been trained for it for one, and it suits him. He's doing important work that keeps the peace and shit, it looks fulfilling and he openly enjoys it

But it also pulls on that deep-seated need for him to be the perfect soldier, that cellular-level demand to put duty and country and others first. It's destructive at times, but Leo thinks that's why the flaw is called fatal. And Leo has decided somewhere along the line that he’s allowed to be greedy when it comes to his husband ; he chased him out of hell enough to earn that right. He's also decided that he's not chasing him out again, they're both alive now and he would like them to stay that way. This means that Jason is not allowed to self-destruct. Even if Leo is a hypocrite, as he likes to run around self-destructing all the time. But Jason can pick him up and physically throw him on the bed when he starts down that path (and then lay on him until he passes out from the comforting weight of his man and sheer exhaustion) but whatever that's not the point

The point is his man looks like death after his trip to New Rome and went right back to work without a full twelve hours of sleep after doing some crazy ambassadorial work and being gone for two weeks. Leo can smell the overwork spiral starting, he's an expert as it's one of his favorite kinds of spirals to take down himself. The issue is he can't physically force his man to take a nap, when Leo was supposed to do a good chunk of his growing he spent it malnourished and sleeping under bridges, even into his thirties he's never gotten over 5’5” and is a scrawny twig to boot. He's better, the moms got some weight and muscle mass on him in his late teens when he wasn't going around dying on repeat, but not enough to physically force the 6’6” wall of muscle that is his walking marble sculpture of a husband out of his office.

Fortunately what he does have is access to a state-of-the-art workshop and a brain that can engineer just about anything. He has Rube Goldberg his man out of his office on three separate occasions just this year, for some reason it makes Jason all blushy and heart-eyed each time the fucking nerd. Something about being able to physically watch Leo’s brain work, and also that he always has the blond landing at his feet and Jason loves looking at him. It's something he's had to get used to, those piercing blue eyes tracking his every movement like him sitting soldering for two hours straight is the most distracting thing in the world

Apparently this is the main reason he needed an office, said he couldn't get any work done with Leo in the room. At the time Leo just thought it was because Jason was anxious watching him work, both of them fresh from watching each other die a lot and Leo being around heavy machinery, he now knows it's because he was looking at his ass

Whatever, whatever . What matters is that Jason needs a day off and Leo is not above getting creative. Or becoming a nuisance, he's also very good at being a nuisance. He can start by being a nuisance, the bowling balls and pulley systems aren't going anywhere. Also, he doesn't want to explain why he needs the legos back to Will and Nico, their godkid is busy with them anyway

Being a nuisance includes climbing on top of Jason's desk and possibly getting the grease on his pants soaked into fancy paperwork, but who's fault is that? Definitely not Leo’s, he's been a good noodle getting his full eight hours even with his husband gone and everything. He doesn't even let his husband start in on him, because he's the one in the wrong this time, Leo just gets himself comfy with his feet on either side of Jason's hips. He uses his ankles to hook into the armrest of the rolling desk chair to pull the blonde a little closer so he can take his face in his hands, squishing his cheeks together until his lips pucker like a fish

“You need a break” Leo scolds “You didn't even set your alarms or anything”

Jason grumbles about needing to finish something or whatnot, very illegal with the amount of sleep he's gotten after all the travel. Leo squishes his face more so he can't talk

“You need a nap,” he demands “And I want cuddles, you were gone for two weeks I'm in withdrawal”

Jason just sighs, sliding his hands up Leo’s thighs to rest on his waist under his shirt and presses his face into his hands like he's trying to soak in Leo’s touch. And that's, concerning. Usually when he gets like this it takes more than just the first try to get him to disengage, and he's way more snappy about his hyperfocus being disrupted. Leo pulls his man’s face into the crook where his shoulder meets neck, Jason immediately melts

“Hey, what's up?” Leo asks him softly. Jason does a snort huff sign that Leo can loosely translate to ‘Something was a lot more than usual and it followed me home’. Leo gets one arm around Jason’s shoulder and the other hand in his hair for scratchies, settling in to wait for his man to find English again

Jason takes a while to gather himself, scratchies don't really help with coherent sentences but it's fine. Leo just starts in on his cuddle quota and looks at the photo from their godkid's recent birthday perched on the bookshelf. Nico took it, over-excited freshly turned ten-year-old watching Leo’s disembodied fingers light the candles as Will and Jason look on with worry. It's crazy that Katie has only been with them for two years, it feels like longer

Leo really enjoys having a kid in their lives, and Katie is awesome. She's clever and spunky and is basically unspookable when it comes to magic shit (grocery stores on the other hand, not so much). Somehow they ended up in a four-way co-parenting arrangement. Legally she's Will and Nico’s, but she half-lives at the Way Station with how their schedules go. And it's great, Leo loves it and so does Jason. It's like everything is better having the kid around, everything is that much more fun getting to watch her experience it too.

“We got some new campers in,” Jason eventually says “They were, really young”

“Hmm,” Leo presses a kiss into his husband's hair “How young?”

“Like four and six”

“So you young?”

“Yeah”

That tracks. They have been making a lot of progress at Camp Half-Blood, but in comparison New Rome has been stagnant when it comes to the treatment of their youngest orphaned charges. It's been bothering Jason more as of late, especially since Katie came into their lives. Almost like looking at this little girl day in day out puts it in perspective how young they were when they went through so much. When Leo was ten he had just run away from his latest foster home because they were starving him, when Jason was ten he was a soldier.

It's damn near impossible to picture Katie in those situations, not because she hasn't gone through her own shit, but because Leo would be personally burning down everything in his way to prevent it.

But that's the difference isn't it, Katie has family looking out for her. Unlike they did, unlike those new campers do

“So whats the plan?” Leo asks, resting his cheek on his husband's hair

Jason sighs and leans into him harder “I don't know” he says “I just keep getting all upset”

“About what part?”

“I don't know. The age? Or how small they are,” Jason leans his face in even harder, his arms now wrapped around Leo’s waist like he can merge their bodies together if he presses enough “It also made me think about Katie, how small she must have been at that age. Then it got all jumbled up”

Leo might be able to read between the lines a little “You were probably that small too” he tries

“I guess”

“Do you think it's about you too, or just the kids?”

“Mabey, I don't want it to be”

“It's okay if it is”

“Is it?”

“Of course it is” Leo plants another kiss into his husband's hair “Your allowed to be upset for Puppy Jason, he didn't do anything to deserve what happened to him”

“Puppy Jason is a son of Jupiter” Jason dismisses with a snort

“Yeah, but he didn't ask for that”

“I guess”

“Hey,” Leo pulls back to meet Jason’s eyes so he knows he means it “Puppy Jason didn't deserve to be a child soldier, you know that right?”

“But he's supposed to-”

“Would it be okay for any of your godkids to join that young?” Leo pushes on, keeping his tone kind

“No! No, I would-” Jason gives a disgruntled snort-sneeze like he's trying to blow away the idea before turning back to him “But it's different ”

“How?”

“I don't know, it just is ”

“Oh, Cielito ,” Leo takes his husband's face in his hands and pulls him in so their foreheads rest together “It's okay”

Jason does a little sigh and facial motion that Leo can translate to ‘It's not’, and it breaks his heart

“I wouldn't let Puppy Jason go do war shit,” he tells him instead, nuzzling his forehead into his husband’s “I would probably just have to take Puppy Jason home with me”

“Even though Puppy Jason bites?” Jason teases with a small sad smile

“Adult Jason bites” Leo insists deadpan

“And eats bugs?”

“Have you met our godkid?”

That makes Jason chuff out a laugh, Katie is truly a ferocious bug eater, she even shares with Jason sometimes the feral weirdos. There has been more than one occasion where Leo has had to stop the both of them from eating grubs when they do the wedding in the roof garden. Like he knows they're edible, but still.

“I’d do kids with you any day,” he says, pulling his husband into a hug with his arms around his neck “You know that. But especially puppy you, got a soft spot for that one”

Jason sighs as he melts into the hug, winding his arms back around Leo’s waist. Leo can practically hear his husband's brain ticking, taking everything he said and adding what he was feeling and molding it into something closer to processing it all together. He needs a moment, Jason is good with snap judgment in crises and leadership scenarios but when it's quiet and slow-paced it can take him a moment. Leo is content to hold him as he puts things together and finds the right words

“What if I said I didn't want to keep the kids?” Jason probes after a while, hiding his face in the hug “What if I said I just wanted to help lots of kids?”

“Like foster care?”

“Would you be okay with that?”

“Why wouldn't I be?”

“You didn't have the best experience, they were pretty awful”

“I mean not all of them, the last one was pretty great”

“The last one?”

Leo pulls back so he can gesture to the room, and in turn the Way Station, as a whole

“O-oh!”

“What did you think I meant?”

“I don't know, I guess I just forgot that your moms were your foster moms” Jason's face lit up a bit at the realization “It's home here now”

“It is, isn't it” Leo smiles at him, he will never be over the both of them and home “But foster families adopt all the time. And theres people out there trying to make it better”

“Like Piper”

“Like Piper”

Piper who somewhere along the lines decided she needed to take down the troubled teen industry and expose its abusive underbelly. It's a sight to behold, the woman got her social worker license and has been using her charm-speak for good ever since. Last Leo heard (as of last week) she just finished a case with with a place that preached ‘tough love’, it was all over the mortal news.

“You could do that too,” Leo reminds his husband “You have a say in laws and shit right. Age limits are a thing, and there are a lot more adult half-bloods now”

“Make a demigod foster care network?”

“Yeah”

“You would do that with me?”

“Absolutely,” Leo says, and he means it, “I told you, I'll do kids with you any day”

Jason’s expression goes gooey and lovesick

“What did I ever do to deserve you?” he asks with a smile

“I mean you did die a bunch for me sooooo”

“I’d do it again,” his man swears like breathing

“Please don't,” Leo tucks a stray lock of fluffy blond hair back in place “I'm enjoying us being alive right now”

Jason laughs, it's cheesed and geeked and dorky, with eyes gleaming full of devotion. Leo kisses him, a solid proper kiss, one turning into many that pulls giggles out of him too

Foster kids huh, it's a full circle

“I also had to have some ambrosia when it was there,” Jadon tells him when they separate “It changed again”

“Oh, is it not our wedding cake anymore?” Leo asks with mock offense “I've been ousted?”

“It's Cheerios and chocolate chips”

“You and Katie’s after-school snack?”

“Yeah”

“Man,” Leo squished his face once more, but it's purely cuteness aggression “You need to stop being so adorable, I can't handle it”

“How is that adorable?”

“Just you and your big squishy heart” he gives him a smooch on the nose “I love you”

They kiss again, it's wonderful

“I should call Piper,” Jason says when they separate

“Uh, no.” Leo insists, pulling back so Jason can see his disgruntled face “You should take me to bed so we can take a nap”

“But I need to-”

“A nap Mr. Valdez,” Leo insists, ignoring the way his husband's eyes sparkle over the mention of their now-shared last name. It's been a year and a half they both need to get a grip “You were flying and I need cuddles. I am withering away from lack of cuddles, I’m a sheet on the wind”

“Is that so?” Jason places a kiss on a fading hickey on the side of his neck “I can think of other reasons to take you to bed, might do the same thing”

“Oh no,” Leo says, starting to push his man away “You are not getting out of nap time by being all sexy cute, absolutely not”

Jason does a snort and nip that Leo knows translates to ‘I can find ways to change your mind’, rude. And also illegal with the way he's been working. Leo starts squirming away from his husband backwards on the desk, rumpling papers and pulling an unhappy whine out of his man. Jason hooks his fingers under the waistband of Leo’s pants before he can get far

“You gonna be good and go to bed?” Leo asks, leaning back on his elbows so his husband can't get back in his space. Jason gives a puff-huff and flashes a canine, trying to pull Leo back in by his grip on his belt. Leo doesn't let him, putting a foot on Jason’s soft middle so he can't bend or pull him closer. That just makes his man whine, the big baby. Leo quirks his eyebrow and bares his own teeth, telling his husband that he means it

They have a little standoff, which includes two sneeze-snorts from Jason and one exhale of smoke from Leo, but in the end his husband relents.

“Fine,” the blond gives in with more whining “Just, cm’mere”

Leo lets himself be pulled into his husband's lap, knees on either side of his hips, and starts in on peppering kisses on every inch of his stupid handsome face. Jason makes a happy little noise and leans into the affection, sliding his hands up the back of Leo’s shirt so his fingers can trace the Lichtenberg scars running between his shoulder blades

“Nap time,” Leo demands once he feels like his man has been thoroughly smooched “And if your a good boy we can play later”

The grin that gets out of his husband is blinding, Jason eagerly scooping him up under his ass to take him to their room.

[dragonshoardofworks]

DP x DCMK (x DC)

Where Danny and Shinichi meet at the Hawaii where's a Ghost Convention (pre-portal and Conan, when they're both around 11–12 years old) since both sets of parents are invested in the topic. (The Fentons because they're the Fentons and Yusaku because he's researching for one of his books).

They become friends and keep contacts through messages, sharing school shenanigans, crushes, cases and family mishaps.

The One Thing that Danny doesn't share, though, is his halfa status.

First, because Shinichi doesn't believe in the supernatural (according to him, magic is just unexplained science) and second, because his change is far from any kind of "normalcy" and Shinichi had categorically stated that he doesn't want anything to do with superheroes, he's just a "normal" detective and they (the Justice League) save the world.

Though, it's not unusual that, if something weird happens in a case, Shinichi asks Danny's opinion and intel since the Fenton's library has "weird"/obscure material. (If the answer gets him too close to superhero-stuff, Shinichi passes the ball to the JL, more specifically to Red Robin, but that's something for a following reblog of this thread.)

So when Shinichi becomes Conan and settles in Ran's home, he contacts our favorite boi.

(A bit late to the @crossoverdanuary party... (^～^;)ゞ Anyway, long post in chat-style, plus an extra, so I decided to use the read more function because it was getting out of hand... (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) )

Shinichi: Hey Danny, do you know anything that should be killing you, but instead it shrinks you? Danny: Shrink as in size or age? S: Age D: Hold on, gotta check some books to be sure, but usually anything age-related is dark shit. What's for? Fun or case? S: ...It's for a case D: Well, that didn't sound ominous at all, then gotta go *faster* *few minutes later* D: Okay, the closest thing (still in the Mortal Realm) to what you asked is this jewel most commonly known as "Pandora" (if she knew, she would definitely lose her shit) D: it's a gem hidden inside another gem that glows red under the moonlight D: "if bathed in the light of the Volley Comet, it would shed tears capable of granting eternal life" S: This doesn't sound anything like what I asked you (⁠눈⁠‸⁠눈⁠) D: Cut the sass beanpole and let me continue D: since the legend exist and it's documented, it should be reasonable to presume that someone managed to attain it, right? S: ...right *squinty eyes* D: So if some scientist tried to reproduce the same results in the *scientific way* instead of the magical one, they could have either the original "Tears" or the one who consumed them and run test and experiment on them D: whatever the case, there would be either some inferior or failed products that instead of making you immortal, *de-ages* you, which is the next best thing (i.e. you would live longer) D: but since they were "failures" compared to the immortality elixir, they could definitely become poisons. D: So! Since you were so ominous, was it really for a case or did our dear Professor Agasa dabble in alchemy? 👀 (read) D: Beanpole, I know you read my explanation and since this is really dark shit you *have* to at least give me context D: because among the warnings that the grimoire gave me, there's the thing that you become somewhat cursed S: ...Or you're cursed or you're not, there's no "somewhat" D: He speaks! 🙌 D: Give me *the deets* *long pause* D: *Shinichi Kudo* ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ S: Okay, fine! I can feel your disappointed stare all the way to Japan, stop! >Д< D: Then explain S: Okay S: so you know how I can't leave things alone when they have suspicious all printed on them? D: Your worst defect, yes, but continue D: ...wait D: Shinichi no D: HOW OLD ARE YOU NOW?? S: Still 17, thank you very much D: I mean physically, you little shit, don't dodge the question! S: ... S: ...we think 7 D: What in the Infinite Realms everloving fuck, Shinichi D: Okay, you know what? D: I'm coming to Japan and you can't stop me, you *midget*, I know what you're already going to say D: it's dangerous, yada yada D: nothing I've already seen and fought S: What do you mean?! D: Since you're *such a good detective*, deduce it yourself D: give me your coordinates in the meantime and don't you dare move from that spot S: If you send me Superman or anyone of his creek, I swear to Kami, Danny D: Please, Superman could only desire to be anything like me, now *coordinates* ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ *coordinates sent* D: good boy D: now get ready in 3 S: 3 what? D: 2 D: 1

🕵️👻

A full body shiver run over Shinichi as soon as the "1" appeared on the screen, so he looked up from his phone, searching for where the cold draft could have come from. However, the agency toilet window was closed and the closed door had a good insulation, last time he had checked.

So what...!

"Boo."

Shinichi shrieked with all the high pitch of an elementary schooler, as he whirled around to look at what, or better, who had whispered by his ear.

A white-haired green-eyed floating teenager with a black hazmat suit with white accents grinned almost maniacally at him, showing their fangs predatorily.

Anatomically they looked male and despite the unhinged expression, the body language didn't project "danger". If anything, it was loose and casual as if he (until otherwise stated) belonged here.

The unearthly glow suggested either some substance coating him that gave him that illusion, or there was magic afoot.

Irritation surged inside Shinichi: Danny knew his rules! No direct superhero meeting, only exchange of intel!

"Who are you and why did Fenton send you?" Shinichi gritted, crossing his arms to appear less like a 7 years old.

"You disappoint me, little detective, I thought you would have figured it out at first glance!" The supposed hero pouted, crossing legs and arms midair and staring back at Shinichi. "I guess that your fame had been an exaggeration, after all. Some East Highschool Detective you are!"

The teasing little smirk incensed Shinichi more than alarming him (the other knew his secret!), but the last thought made him pause.

Danny wouldn't betray him like this by informing whatever "superhero" of this situation just to help him without his consent. Their boundaries had been awesome like that and had been respected so far, despite the many trials both had faced.

So who was this person really?

Shinichi's mind focused back into deducing the teen before him, and the more looked, the more disbelief made way in his heart. (...He had said he would be coming to Japan, but not in that instant!)

"No way, Danny?"

"Fucking finally, midget! What took you so long?" Danny huffed, untangling then touching down on his feet and looking him over. "It even gave me time to take a look at your situation!"

"Hey! Your voice is different, so I could deduce it only because "if you exclude the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Truth"! Since you would never spill my secrets to anyone, this must have been you!" Shinichi gestured to his friend, who flushed green when he registered the meaning of the words.

"Wow," he breathed, sounding pleased, as he scratched his nape, "you would believe that a ghost of me is still me instead of me betraying you, wow!"

"Wait, ghost? I thought you just become a superhero, not that you died!" Despite his insistence on not believing the supernatural, Shinichi had read the Fentons' papers on ghosts (the most recent ones, AKA the "no more biased version" as Danny had called them). And, while he hadn't told his friend this, the scientific breakdown of what makes a ghost what they are, had made Shinichi believe in the existence of ectoplasmic beings.

But to discover that one of his best friends had died, he hadn't known or could have done anything, plus Danny hadn't felt safe enough to tell him until it had become unavoidable, made Shinichi clutch his heart in agony and despair.

Probably sensing the shift and interpreting the action for what that was, Danny's face shifted into regret, as he knelt down before the shrunk detective and a ring of light lit up at his waist, washing over him and leaving a hoodie-and-jeans-clad raven-haired and blue-eyed teenager.

Slowly, as if not to spook a frozen Shinichi, Danny laid a hand on his shoulder, while the other took the free little hand to his NASA hoodies chest and splayed it there, allowing him to feel his heartbeat. As if he had known that only words wouldn't have been enough to convince the detective.

Slowly but surely, feeling Danny's sluggish but steady heartbeat, made Shinichi unclench, then lean against his friend's chest, head tucked under his chin.

Carefully, Danny wrapped his friend in a hug, knowing well that, while physical affection was welcome from him, Japanese social conventions and the Kudo's upbringing had left Shinichi a little adverse to prolonged contact.

As the apparent 7-years-old melted into the embrace and clutched Danny as well, followed by a suspicious wet sensation on his chest, the halfa realized that this was bad.

Shinichi had never sought comfort like that, according to professor Agasa (who Danny did keep in contact with, since he was more a parent than the Kudos), so to do this now...

"It's okay, Shinichi, I'll explain better what happened to me, but it's not your fault." Shinichi shuddered at these words and buried deeper in the embrace, making guilt shoot through Danny. He had caused this breakdown. The least he could do was to help him through it and some.

"And we're gonna find a way to solve what happened to you, I promise."

[familyvideostevie]

may I humbly suggest a cute lil winter date with Steve or Eddie whoever u prefer like going ice skating or something and bf is NOT good at it hehehe it’d be so cute

ok my darling i took this and ran in a different direction but i hope you like it anyway!! here is very short sweet stuff about steve not being able to make a snowman very well <3 | fluff, 0.8k, gn!reader

___

"If you keep laughing at me I'm going to go inside," Steve says. He frowns at you from his place on the ground as he half-heartedly pats the ball of snow he's been working on for almost 10 minutes.

"I'm not laughing," you say, laughing. "It's just--" You abandon your shaping of the base of the snowman and get on your knees across from him, placing your gloved hands over his. "This is the biggest snowman head I've ever seen, Steve."

He rolls his eyes at you. You have to swallow another laugh, this one hitting you for the same reason -- he's so handsome you can hardly believe it. Here in the cold, on his knees in the snow, he's the prettiest thing you've ever seen. His cheeks are flushed and the tip of his nose is pink and he's a little puffed up from the three sweaters he put on in lieu of a real coat. His hat is askew, one ear showing more than the other, and you reach out to tug it down.

"Quit it," he says, but he doesn't move away from your touch, allowing you to fuss over him as he crinkles his nose. "Is it really that bad?" he asks, eyeing his snowman's head dejectedly. "I was always shit at this."

"No, not that bad," you tell him and mean it. "But if we let Dustin see it..."

"Asshole will never let me hear the end of it," he sighs. "Alright, how do we fix it?"

It's the ease with which he says we that makes your heart race like always. No matter how long you're together, how many mornings you wake up next to him, how many times he tells you how he feels, you sometimes can't believe that he's yours. He's Steve.

You both start to pull off chunks of snow to make the ball a normal head size, swatting at each other like kids the whole time. The laughter of the rest of your friends is clear in the chilly air as they search for sticks and whatever else they're going to saddle your snowman with.

"You cold?" he asks you. I love you, he's saying. It makes you the opposite of cold. You raise your eyebrows at him but he looks at you innocently.

"Are you trying to cop a feel right now, Steve Harrington?" He grins at you and rolls the slightly less misshapen head to the side so he can shuffle closer on his knees.

He shrugs. "Depends," he says. "Will you let me?" You stop patting the snow and settle back onto your heels, pretending to consider it.

"No," you say. He throws his head back and looks at the sky like it's personally offended him. Always so dramatic, your Steve. "But I guess my...lips are cold."

He looks at you with naked delight. "Oh my god," he says. "That was so bad." He pulls one of his gloves off with his teeth and says something else that you can't make out.

"Don't tease me, loverboy," you say. He reaches for you with a bare hand, gently cupping your jaw. His skin on yours is warm.

"I said that I just have to kiss you," he replies. "Don't you know by now that bad flirting is, like, the key to my heart?"

You laugh right as he kisses you, your smile big against his mouth. His fingers press firmly into your jaw as he leans into you and you kiss him back properly, pulling his lower lip between yours. Any cold you felt is quickly chased away.

"Alright, what the hell are you guys doing over there?" Dustin calls. Steve pulls away from you with a sigh. "That thing on the ground better not be the hea--"

"Not a fucking word about the head, Henderson," Steve says. He's still close enough that you can feel his breath on your skin, and his eyes roam over your face, crinkling at the corners as he smiles. "Unless you want snow down your collar."

"Steve," you chide. "We really should fix it." He rubs his nose against yours, his bare hand firm on your neck and the other still gloved one gripping your hip through your coat.

"Nah," he says. "They can finish. Let's go get the hot chocolate going." He pecks your mouth one more time before releasing you and hauling you up to your feet.

"You mean let's go make out in the kitchen after we put milk on the stove?" you tease.

"Now that's a great idea," Steve says, mouth agape in mock surprise. He grabs your hand and tugs you towards the front door, ignoring the calls from the kids. "Seriously, it's like you took the words right out of my mouth."

[7thcirclebaker]

Alright, so since we don't know who's the lead for season 4, and we mostly think Eloise needs someone who will actually call her out on stuff, and clearly the canon relationships at this point are up for grabs, I propose a Theloise potential storyline.

In this season there was the focus on heirs and family inheritance and how surprise titles just are like a thing. From Season 2, we know the Sheffields don't have a male heir, or at least we can assume so, as we never see or hear of one. As Edwina has made a good match on the continent, likely her first born son would inherit whatever title is there, assuming there's only one. And she doesn't seem to have gotten pregnant yet either. This means the Sheffields would need to hold out another couple of years to have an heir, even from the daughter they basically disinherited. But clearly, it's also possible for families to go searching for the nearest male next of kin who would inherit which we saw in the Mondrich plotline this season.

Enter Theo, a like 4th cousin of the Sheffields. They find him, and quite forcefully don't let him out if it, because well he can actually read and is young, fit, and healthy. But he's really not a fan of this, doesn't want it really, is always talking about workers rights etc. in an attempt to tire him out, and for him to be more palatable to the Ton, they buy him a commission, because there's very much a war on. It's a cushy one that's unlikely to see too much battle so he's not at major risk but it should alter his life priorities or something.

Danbury hears that the Sheffields are sending this poor lad of to war, doesn't connect Theo Heir to be Sheffields, to Eloise's printer apprentice Theo and tells Kate about him. They decide to invite him to the next ball as he's kind of her cousin and she wants to do some fence mending. Eloise bumps into him there and they're both just an absolute mess, but like defensively angry at the other. Still people don't connect them to the scandal from season 2, and the only one Eloise would tell is Pen, who won't be writing about this.

They cool off after a little bit and send an apology letter, I wanna say Eloise apologizes first because Pen calls her out faster, and also Theo might die like, is that what you really want the last things you've said to him to be. Thus we get the letters over several months.

Boom! Combat! Things actually go pretty okay, and Theo gets a commendation and a shiny medal. He's horribly wounded though, like weren't sure he'd survive wounded. He does, and gets sent to the country for air from the military hospital only no one told Eloise. So she's thinking he's ignoring her or dead, he thinks she's ignoring him because he's now somewhat fucked up (I wanna say in a way that means being a professional printer is no longer viable because of the work, so he has to accept that he's the Heir now). Someone tells Eloise that he's not dead and is in fact at the Sheffields. She storms herself up there all abluster and yells at him for letting her think he was dead and after that last letter was somewhat touching and like maybe he proposed in it. They argue, they make up, they make out.

Eloise was of course unchaperoned, as we'll say the Sheffields died or were in the city lauding how great their heir was in battle. We get three angry Bridgerton Brothers battle ready for their baby sister. They agree to get married and the family slowly come around once they see how in love they actually are. Also because he's like actually maybe willing to ask for help about how to do the estate management and also how he can implement some reforms and it makes his brother's in law think about the estates they manage and do some reform as well. Everyone wins.