#this is like watching two pet cats fight in your neighbor's window

[angry-geese]

Sea, Swallow Me

Satoru Gojo x Reader

Warnings: not OSHA compliant. hurt/comfort, light angst, ex-husband Gojo. angry/hate sex, unprotected sex, oral (cunnilingus), fingering.

Synopsis: some ex-husband Gojo smut except him and the reader are still totally in love with each other >:)

a/n: this has been rattling around in my drafts since like march and I finally got my thoughts gathered enough to write it out lol

Word Count: 4.7k

jjk masterlist

Outside, the sky grows dark, signaling an incoming storm. The weather report called for it yesterday; off and on thunderstorms all night, and well into this afternoon. Not uncommon for this time of year. This morning’s grocery trip was one made with the hope of being back before another downpour started, and from the looks of it, you were successful.

Typically, when you come home, the cat is the first thing to greet you. Today, even after she hears your keys hit the counter, she remains just out of view. You don't mind it so much, even if you do find it odd. It gives you time to put away groceries, and the treats you bought for her without her begging for anything. 

The foul weather makes it as good a day as any to spend inside. Plenty of chores need to be done around your apartment, as work has begun to consume much of your free time. That’s nothing new. Certain times of the year are busier than others at Jujutsu Tech. It certainly doesn't help that two people are out due to injuries, and another is on maternity leave, meaning you’re on call nearly 24/7. 

The cat makes herself known only after she hears a can of food open, chirping as she trots into the kitchen. She stays long enough to finish eating, and get some pets from you, before settling into her spot on the window sill, intently watching leaves being blown around outside. You settle on preparing dinner: thawing meat, and chopping veggies for a soup that’ll take nearly an hour to simmer. 

A noise from the other room draws your attention; in the living room, the TV is on—something you vividly remember shutting off. A drama was playing, but the lead was giving you such bad second-hand embarrassment that you just had to shut it off.

Maybe you really are starting to lose it. 

You’ve seen it happen to others. The stress of the job—this way of life—gets to some. You could chalk it up to forgetting; maybe the cat stepped on the remote, or maybe you really did just forget. Come to think of it, didn't you turn off the lights in the kitchen before leaving too?

The back of your neck prickles with fear. Did someone really break in? You know this isn't a particularly nice part of town, but the chance of that happening is unlikely. Besides, there is no sign of forced entry. It's just a feeling of being watched. Nothing is missing, just some lights are on, and the books on your coffee table have been moved around, as if someone looked through them. Why go through the trouble then?

Nothing in particular tips you off to the presence behind you. It comes suddenly, and without warning. Fight or flight kicks in. With your elbow and wrist parallel to your collarbone, you swing outwards.

Any normal person's elbow would have been shattered by that hit. Satoru blocks it with little effort. He uses the weight of your movement against you, allowing you to fall against him. It doesn't take much time for you to realize what he’s doing, and shove yourself away from him.

“You broke in?” You say, although your voice doesn't carry any surprise. “I gotta admit, Satoru, that's a new low.”

“Technically I didn't,” he says, “I explained to the guy up front that I was your husband and he let me in.”

Internally, you curse your landlord, a sweet old man by the name of Saito. He was one of the few people who would let you move in on such short notice. This was never meant to be a permanent placement, but you suppose you don't have much to complain about here. It's an older building, but maintenance is consistent, and the interior has been completely redone. Your neighbors are quiet, pleasant people, and this is a nice corner of the neighborhood. Not nearly as luxe as your previous home, but not bad either.

As he sits down on the couch, the cat jumps straight into his lap. You know it's not fair to project human emotions onto her. She's just a cat. But you swear you see a smug little look on her face. She chirps, and bumps her head against his hand, purring loud enough it's audible across the room. 

“I think I would have rather dealt with a house robber,” you say.

“I mean, if you're into that kind of thing,” he says, “I can put the mask back on. We'll roleplay…”

“Absolutely not,” you say, snatching the remote for the tv, switching it off, “what do you want?”

Even sitting, he’s nearly eye-level with you. His hand comes up to tug at the silver chain around his neck. You don't know whether to feel angry, or sorry for him. Gojo is almost pathetic enough that you feel bad for him. Almost. 

“What?” He asks, feigning hurt. “I can't drop in to say hello to my lovely wife?”

“Ex-wife,” you say. 

Despite your current irritation with him, the separation was about as amicable as it could be. Although it’s not official in the legal sense yet, the two of you have been living separately for months now. There was no great turning moment in your relationship, just a lifetime of little things that forced a wedge between you two. These things happen. You were young when you married, and so consumed with grief that perhaps there wasn't enough thought put into it. You don't blame yourself for it, or for anything that happened. At the age of eighteen, you had a skewed view of the world. Mistakes were common at that age. That’s just part of growing up. You were young, and every emotion felt so much more potent back then. It felt right at the time. Hell, it was right.

Maybe you still love him. It’s hard to spend so much time with someone—have so many memories with them—and not love them.

“Tsumiki has a game Saturday,” he says, “you coming?”

You're slightly offended at the suggestion you would miss it. She sent you a text about it nearly a week ago. You swore to her you'd make it, even going as far as to make arrangements to leave work early.

“Of course I am.” You say. “I’ll take her—I’m off work early anyway.”

It's better for the kids that you remain an active part in their life. Megumi and Tsumiki have already dealt with so much upheaval in their life. It's cruel enough that one caregiver left them, but two? 

You tell yourself you couldn't do that to them. That alone was enough to get you to stay in your old apartment for a few more months. By then, the kids knew something was up. They're smarter than people give them credit for, and there's only so many excuses you can make for sleeping in separate rooms.

It's been maybe a year since then. Six months since you moved out. You wouldn't call it easy, but you’ve settled into your new routine quite nicely.

“Great,” he says, “why not go together then? I’ll drive. We can get dinner together afterwards.”

Your mouth opens in protest. Although it’s phrased as a question, you know him better than that. Satoru will do everything to weasel his way into this situation. Your barely-pleasant expression sours entirely.

“No, thank you,” you say, gesturing to the door, “now get out of my house.”

“Don't be like that, baby,” he says. His arms stretch out towards you, and you immediately dart out of their path. 

“I hated you calling me that when we were married,” you say, “what makes you think I’ve changed?”

“You haven't.” He says. “That’s why I’m still here.”

Within the air here hangs a rift that time won't heal. This room—this space—is too emotionally charged for you to think straight. Your head spins, clouded with anger and spite.

“Don't tell me you left the kids alone to come bother me?” You say.

Tsumiki is nearly fifteen, and pretty independent, but you don't like leaving the kids alone any longer than you have to.

“Of course not,” he says, almost looking offended, “Tsumiki is off at a sleepover, and I got your mother to watch Megs for the weekend.”

“You what?!” 

A look of shock and betrayal crosses your face. You love your mother dearly, really, but sometimes she can be a bit… much. Early on into your marriage, she was asking when you were going to have children of your own. Being freshly twenty at the time, your answer to her was simple: never. Megumi and Tsumiki were enough. You wanted to be able to devote your time—and attention—to them, not a newborn. 

Satoru catches you in your moment of shock, his arms snaking around your waist. Your hands plant on his wrists to shove them away, yet you stop yourself. 

The sound of your phone ringing in the other room gives you a reason to escape. You free his arms from your waist, heading into the bedroom. You don't hear him get up to follow you, yet you know he does. Sitting on the table beside your bed, still charging, is your phone. It’s Tsumiki. You only glance at your phone long enough to see her name, not what she’s saying. 

The end of the bed dips under his weight as he sits. He tries his best to be covert about it, but you feel his gaze wandering around the room. From the photos on the wall, to the papers on your desk, to the stuffed animals on your bed. Oh, you can hear his snide comments now.

“Those earrings are new,” he says. And you swear you hear a slight tone of disappointment in his voice. “Pretty.”

Goosebumps rise along your arm as he reaches out to feel it, brushing across your shoulder in the process. Crystals, although they may be glass, cut to look like gems, dangling from your ears. They’re blue in color; not a light slate, but a deep cerulean. Subtle enough that they’re rather unnoticeable from a distance.

“Shoko gave them to me,” you say.

She took pity on you once she found out about the divorce. Maybe she felt partially responsible, seeing as she was the one who introduced you two.

Getting sent off to the religious boarding school known as Jujutsu Technical college was a major blow to your teenage social life. At fifteen, all you wanted was to go to a normal high school with your normal friends. Yet you weren't granted such a luxury, and instead were thrown into a world you knew nothing about. You quickly found solace, and a strange kind of companionship in the girl that smoked behind the school: Ieiri Shoko.

If you didn't end up marrying him, you probably would have married her. 

For you, it wasn't love at first sight. You could barely stand him in the beginning. It was a rivalry that slowly turned into friendship, ending in romance, albeit with much prodding from Suguru and Shoko. Teenage love consumed the two of you harshly, and entirely.

It wouldn't be until years later, after the wedding, when you would find out they bet on it.

You don't push him away when he kisses you. Just a peck, nothing more. Like you’re teenagers, exchanging affections in the stairwell between classes. When the higher ups would get upset at you, not him, because he was the strongest and could get away with just about everything.

Of course you still love him. How couldn't you?

You were one of the first to look at him as something other than the strongest. Even after the star plasma vessel, and Toji Zenin. Even after Suguru’s death. Even through your own grief, your presence was constant. To him, the concept of not having you around was strange.

The taste of coffee and lipstick lingers on your lips. Your thumb comes up to wipe away the smudge of red that’s transferred to his lips. And you, so pliable and eager, fall right into his lap.

His lips find your neck, hands wandering from your arms, to your chest, to your waist. He’s savoring your closeness—the scent of your shampoo: coconut. Little do you know, he keeps a bottle of the stuff in his own bathroom. If anyone asks, he claims it’s Tsumiki’s. Only you would know otherwise. She hates the stuff, and has been buying her own since the moment she was able to. Really, he keeps it around because he can't bring himself to throw it away.

“Satoru, we shouldn't do this.” You say. You don't really want him too, it’s only to preserve your pride.

Then why is your body responding so well to him? Your body knows this routine. Maybe the last several months of living alone has sped up the process considerably. Blood rushes where it needs to be, and perhaps most shamefully of all, you’re wet. Although you’re not quite prepared yet, it’s just in the early stages of gathering.

A line of saliva connects his lips and your neck as he pulls away. “If you really wanted me gone, I wouldn't still be here,” he says. 

You tell yourself that, if you really wanted him to stop, then you wouldn't have spent so many nights dreaming of this. You wouldn't reach out to the cold spot on the bed beside you. Your subconscious wouldn't long for him in nearly every way imaginable. 

His hands trace across your waist, coming to take yours. They’re warm, albeit a bit shaky. He’s just itching to undress you—to claim what’s his. It's a sick, possessive side of him that’s only fueled by your recent months apart. He comes to kneel before you like a man bowed in prayer. Satoru sits in worship, but not for the favor of a higher being. You might as well be one to him. Should you wish it, the strongest—wielder of the six eyes—would worship the very ground before you. That devotion would soon become suffocating. It was a bandaid on an already failing relationship.

“Still want me to stop?” He asks, squeezing your hands. Whether that’s on purpose, or an accident, you can't tell. “You say no and I’ll stop here. Just give me the word and we won't ever have to do this again.”

In this moment, your body betrays you: you shake your head. You don't truly want him to go; you know that, he knows that. He wouldn't be poking and prodding at every little unhealed wound if that wasn't the case.

“I need to hear you say it,” he says. That’s when you notice what’s on the chain around his neck: his wedding ring. 

It's like he’s mocking you. Of course he still has it. Of course he saw that yours was still sitting on the bathroom counter. 

Satoru has always been like this. He pokes and prods, finding out where you’re weak. What cracks or wounds he can press his fingers into. Pushing boundaries comes natural to him. 

Maybe you’ve changed. Maybe he hasn't changed at all.

“I just want to get off,” you say. 

“Poor baby,” he coos, “you haven't gotten off at all while I was gone, have you? You should have called me. I would have taken care of you.”

“I think I'd rather call Nanami for that.” You say.

The chuckle he lets out sounds nervous. “I know you're joking,” he says, “but judging by the way he looks at you? I think he'd take you up on the offer.”

You believe it. It was a thinly veiled secret that Nanami harbored a little crush for you. The man would never go as far as to pursue his coworker, let alone his coworker's ex wife. This entire time, he’s kept a respectful distance, only speaking about your marriage if you expressed a want to do so. You’ve considered it. Hell, you’ve given it a lot of thought. You think maybe… just maybe, if the two of you were drunk or desperate enough, something could happen. But fraternizing with coworkers in such a way is ill-advised. 

Satoru is going to give him hell tomorrow when he sees him at work. Nanami will be none the wiser, assuming Satoru is up to his usual antics.

“One last chance to back out of this,” he says, “if you don't want to do this…”

“Are you going to fuck me or not?” You ask.

His fingers trace down the curve of your spine, before coming to the hem of your sweater, pulling it up—and over—your head. From him comes an audible little gasp once he realizes you have no bra on underneath. That part wasn't intentional; you need to do laundry, and your shirt was baggy enough that a bra wasn't necessary. Your nipples stiffen once exposed to the open air. Although you know how this looks, it sends a pang of self-consciousness through you, causing you to cross your arms in front of your chest. It’s not like he hasn't seen this before. Maybe it's a last ditch attempt to preserve your pride. And he’s nearly tripping over himself to undress, pulling off his coat, then button-up, then trousers. Off comes your skirt, the silky fabric pooling around your feet. 

If you could stop for a moment and think, it would be endearing: the desperation that falls over you two like teenagers. He can hardly keep his hands off you, while you don't quite know what to do with yours. Eventually, you settle on wrapping your arms around his neck. 

You sit on the edge of the bed before him, still in your panties. Plain black. Nothing fancy, but cute. Maybe if you knew…

You almost scold yourself for thinking such things. It’s not like you had any way of knowing this would happen. You know part of it was to preserve your pride. Being able to move on without seeming like you needed him. He’s not your husband anymore; why go through the effort of getting dressed up?

Beside you, on the bed, he finds a spot to sit. He’s half hard already. His hands ghost up the outsides of your arms, before coming to cup your face. They soon fall to your waist as you move to straddle his lap.

Satoru leans in to kiss you, and it’s… uncharacteristically sweet. That almost makes things worse. If this were something over and done with quickly, that would be tolerable. You could chalk it up to raw emotions or hormones or something other than the fact you still have feelings for him and haven't come to terms with that.

Sex for the sake of mindless pleasure is one thing. It’s tolerable. You can explain it away easily. But the way he handles you—like you’re going to break—sends a pang of pain through your chest. It's too much. Should he act selfishly, that would be far more bearable than this. 

You almost want him to. It would be so much easier if he just took what he wanted, and left.

“Lay back,” he says, “like that. Good girl.”

You scoot back on the bed just far enough to fall against the pillows. Your thighs part just enough to accompany him. The body above yours is warm. His lips find yours, then your neck, then one of your stiffened nipples, softly biting down on it. That draws a sharp gasp from you, although the shock it sends down your spine is rather pleasurable. 

His fingers hook under the waistband of your panties, tugging them down your legs slowly. Achingly slowly. Shamelessly, his eyes linger on the way they stick to your already slick cunt. This moment is only dragging out because he wants it to. They’re tossed away alongside the rest of your clothes. Long, deft fingers come to trace along your slit; teasing motions done by a man who can barely contain himself. The patience of Satoru Gojo has limits, and you’re testing them.

He palms himself through his boxers. He's completely hard now. That doesn't stop him from trailing long, sloppy kisses down your stomach, and up your thigh. His thumb traces across the bundle of nerves. Slow and steady. Just enough to get you aching for him, but not enough to get you anywhere. You try to angle your hips towards him—to grind against him—but Satoru cruelty pulls his hand away. 

“Just… let me have my moment,” he says, chest heaving as he breathes in. 

So he admits it…

His thumb is soon replaced with his mouth, greedily licking and sucking at the bundle of nerves that is your clit. There's little rhyme or reason but it's just messy enough that it'll get you off. First, his index finger pushes into you, then another. Satoru must be moaning nearly as loud as you. The hand that isn't fucking out is wrapped around his cock, and he's bucking into it like it's a warm body. Judging by the noises he's making, he's going to cum, so he stops himself before he does so. You don't. Satoru guides you through your own orgasm, his mouth leaving your clit only after you've stopped trembling. It felt rushed. You're not quite satisfied.

Satoru makes a show of licking his fingers. When he kisses you, this taste only grows more prominent. He's making you taste yourself and you're not quite sure how to feel about it. It's not unpleasant, akin to unripe persimmons in taste.

“Is it how you remember?" You ask, a coy expression spreading across your face.

“Different,” he says, “better.”

There’s no time to grab a condom. Not that you have any in here anyway. Whatever consequences that result from this will be dealt with in the morning.

A small groan leaves him as he bottoms out. It's obvious that he tries to stifle it, and fails, resulting in a noise that certainly has your neighbors questioning things. You'll avoid their gazes in the hall tomorrow morning. This won't become a regular thing, you tell yourself. 

Hardly a few thrusts in and he knows he is going to cum too soon. You can see it all over his face. Pleasure turns to concentration, then thinly veiled stress. The sound of skin slapping against skin fills your bedroom. Some small, sick little part of you is grateful for your thin walls.

You hate him. You still love him. You wish he would walk out of your apartment right now. But part of you can't bear to sleep another night alone.

“You don't know how much I've been thinking about this,” he says, making a noise between a grunt and a huff, “about the way you feel. Taste. I couldn't get it out of my head.”

His mouth finds yours again and the kiss he exchanges with you is dripping with desperation. Something small, and quiet leaves his lips once they part with yours. You soon recognize it as an “I love you.”

He cums sooner than either of you expected, and from him, your name spills past his lips like a prayer. Though, you suppose that this is the closest he'll ever get to praying.

Your own release is still just out of reach. It doesn't take much effort to get him on his back, and you on top, riding him. He’s still hard, despite having just cum inside you. The fruits of his effort can be seen streaming down your thighs. Your movements grow sloppier as you grow nearer to your release, grinding down against him and his softening cock. Within your stomach, it’s as if an invisible band is tightening. Your own orgasm comes out in the form of a noise that sounds like both a moan and a sob. It's anger and pain mixing with pleasure. Tears of frustration are brimming along your lower lash line. You hate him. You love him. You wish he would leave but you don't want to sleep alone. A rift exists between the two of you that time will not heal.

Instead, you lay beside him on the bed. From beside you, he grabs a blanket for you to cover yourself with. As much as he missed the sight of your naked body, he knows this room is cold, and you’ll be getting up to get dressed anyway. 

To him, there’s not a more beautiful sight: you, laying on the bed beside him, leaking of his cum. It would be better if it were his own bed, he thinks, but this'll do. 

“I take it we’re on speaking terms again?” He asks.

“I don't know yet,” you say, “depends on how this conversation goes.”

From beside you on the nightstand, you retrieve your glasses, putting them back on. Outside, the sky still appears dark, only lit up momentarily by a bolt of lightning. The rain has slowed to a drizzle, running down your window in streams.

“Seems like great weather to stay in bed,” he comments. 

An arm snakes around your waist. You debate with yourself on whether or not to shove it off.

“I think some time apart will do us good.” You say, and the arm around your waist stiffens. He seems to be deciding whether to pull away or not.

“And what? Couples therapy too?” His tone suggests he's making a joke, but not one in bad faith.

“Just in general, you need therapy,” you’re only half joking when you say it, despite it applying to you too, “but I don't think there's one that specializes in whatever you have going on.”

“Funny.” He says flatly.

He lays on his back on the bed, and you lay on your side, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest. 

“I don't know what I want.” You say, finally. “I guess I could use something to eat.”

You had plans to make a nice, elaborate dinner tonight, although you’re no longer feeling like it. You went through the effort of buying the ingredients, and cleaning the kitchen, so you might as well. 

Satoru follows you as you make your way to the kitchen, stopping once to pull on a shirt. It used to be one of his, he notes. Maybe enough time has passed that you don't remember. Maybe you do. It’s just long enough to fall towards the middle of your thighs—you won't be giving the neighbors a show. He stops long enough to pull his boxers back on, leaving the rest of his clothes discarded on your bedroom floor.

From a cabinet, you retrieve two mugs. On goes the kettle to boil. He watches as you fill the french press with one… two… three scoops of coffee grounds. Just enough boiling water goes in to wet the grounds—they have to sit for a few minutes before the rest is poured in. 

Your taste in coffee hasn't changed much over the years. You still take it with cream and sugar. Satoru—when he does drink coffee—takes it with enough sugar to make your teeth hurt. 

“We must be on speaking terms,” he says, “otherwise I'd have been kicked out by now.”

“If I was going to kick you out, I would have done it before we had sex. Not after.” You say, taking a sip of your coffee. 

Something about the casualness of this moment makes your chest ache; like the last year hasn't happened, and the two of you are just sharing a moment over coffee. 

Neither of you notice the front door opening, nor the jingle of keys being inserted into the lock. Tsumiki, standing in the doorway, nearly drops what she’s holding: a book. Her eyes are wide with a mix of shock, before narrowing into anger. 

“‘Miki!” You say, almost as shocked as her, if not moreso. “What are you doing here?”

“Returning this,” she says, holding up the book in her hand, “I sent you a text about it like an hour ago. What are you doing?!”

Truly, you don't have anything to say for yourself. Your mouth opens, and a few, broken fragments of an excuse come out. Satoru, looking nearly as surprised as you, simply waves to her, before disappearing into another room. That won't help your case at all. 

“Having coffee,” you say, “we were just talking about your game on Saturday.”

She seems unconvinced. Tsumiki, like most teenagers, is a lot smarter than people give her credit for. Silently, she sets the book on the counter, before turning back towards the door.

“I’ll see you at dinner," she says, leaving.

[eyeofnewtblog]

This is Noni cat, and I got her 8 years ago from the shelter. They told me she was maybe six years old when I swiped my credit card for her.

She’s been a pretty active cat for at least the last 6 years; when I was living alone with just Noni as my roommate, she would jump out of my open 3 story window down to the second story window and demand food and pets, which my neighbor was happy to provide. Luckily he only had to do this once, but I was still mortified (especially since I was living in a no pets place and passing off my adoption of a cat as “my coworker is going through a divorce and asked me to watch his cat for a few weeks so that his ex didn’t cause more trouble” and all my neighbors were single older men, and I worked in a motorcycle place with 90% male coworkers so it honestly did fly under the radar…the only reason I was able to get her at all was because I did laundry/cleaning for one of my single coworkers for a week and put his number down as my landlord and he was like “yes, she can get a kitty, she’s done a really good job of keeping things clean and being responsible, I trust her.” FYI, I was also taking his dog on play dates at the doggie park down the street from me on my days off just for my own amusement, so like. He wasn’t my actual landlord but he also wasn’t lying about my ability to take care of an animal.)

Anyway, the only reason I ever ended up with Noni was because on my second date with my now husband I said I didn’t know if I wanted to buy a cat or a gun, and he and I spent 8 hours just bumming around all the pet places and gun shops that we both knew about (and meeting my aunt and grandparents because they live just up the street from one of the best pawnshops in the area, I “have some mail I need to pick up right quick, it’s just a five minute detour” and oh my goodness…you know that feeling when you see your family immediately like the person you’re dating? Yeah.)

So after husband and I move in together but before anything is official…there is a wildly out of control feral cat population in the area his apartment was in. Noni cat was fine, because she only ever hung out in the front or back yard, but the lady two houses up would put out multiple trays of food for 30+ cats. She was very sweet but also wasn’t trapping and spaying/neutering them, and we didn’t have any central ac (so doors open and fans on, we die like men, sleep with ice packs, and scrub the mud daughter nests out with dawn dish soap), so every summer, about once a week, I’d hear typical cat fighting noises, and go charging out to the living room where some random cat had Noni cornered. I stomp and shout and chase the stay cat out, Noni cuddles me for ten minutes in gratitude before the heat is too much for both of us, we move on.

Then me and husband buy a house in 2018. We move into our new suburban paradise, but alas…Noni cat is a straight up gangster cat, right out of Commerce City.

In all the years we have lived in this house, Noni cat has left a minimum of ten bunny corpses on the front lawn. Per summer.

I love her, I really do. And I recognize that cats should be indoor pets, for environmental reasons. But I legit cried when she brought a still alive baby bunny to the door (with every intention of eating it as is on the living room floor) and she accidentally dropped it and it tried to run away and instead of doing anything productive I just went inside and cried to my husband. Who laughed at me, rightfully so.

Anyway, she’s getting older now, and there’s definitely something wrong with her. She didn’t murder any baby bunnies at all this summer, got “old cat skinny and bony” and honestly refuses to go outside at all. She was always super cuddly during winter because cats like warm things, but now she wants cuddles and attention all the time.

With me starting a new job, I don’t necessarily have the money to get her fully checked out. I want to, she isn’t just a great cat, she’s the only cat my husband has ever liked; she’s wonderful and worth every penny, but fuck are we in a tight spot with his medical stuff and me having three jobs in the last 18 months. There’s no fucking ROOM on the credit cards to take care of her.

Husband found a vet that charges a lot less, but is an hour outside of town. What we save in vet bills we spend in gas to get there.

I don’t really have a point I’m leading up to, or a critical argument or analysis…my cat is dying and it fucking sucks on so many levels, because she was so instrumental in how I got where I am.

I just wanted to tell her/my story and have it be shared with random strangers who might have an interest.

[earlgreydream]

the garden.

| 1940s!bucky barnes x reader | fluff | mild angst |

You walked home from work, seeing your new neighbor, Bucky Barnes, leaning against the wall of his house. His arrogant smirk appeared as you walked up the path to your door, scrunching your nose at the sight of him. 

James Buchanan Barnes was irritating. The first day he’d moved in, he and his friends were loud until the early hours of the morning, drunkenly shouting along with his record player. Then, his drunk friends had walked through your garden, trampling half of your flowers and some vegetables. And he was always outside with his stupid smirk, thinking his pretty face was enough to win you over. 

Bucky was also gorgeous, and the worst part was, he knew it. You’d seen him in town flirting with girls in the market, and everywhere he went. Even your friends all fought for his attention. When they’d come over, you’d sit outside on your porch and they would all wave to him and giggle. He greeted them, chattering with the blushing and giggling girls who fell at his feet. You always rolled your eyes and ignored him, unamused.

Bucky was fascinated by you, the only girl to never fall for his charm. He was charismatic and had every girl at his fingertips that he had ever wanted. He knew that the two of you had gotten off on the wrong foot, and you despised his smoking habit. However, he had made it his goal to win you back over, but you had proven to be stubborn. You were a challenge, and Bucky was determined.

“Hey doll.” He greeted you as you stepped up onto your porch.

“It’s Y/N.” You scowled at him, and he said your name, winking at you.

He checked you out, admiring you in your high waisted pants and button down. You shook your head at him, going inside your house, closing the door. You put your grocery bag down and started to make dinner, when you saw Bucky on your porch. You groaned and opened your window, looking at him.

“What are you doing here?” You asked.

“My stove is out of gas. Could you put me up for dinner?” He gave you a boyish grin, rocking on his heels.

“Why would I do that?”

“To be neighborly,” he suggested.

“C’mon. Because I’ll buy you dinner tomorrow?” Bucky tried again.

“You’re so full of shit.”

“Y/N, the stores are closed, it’s late.”

“Fine. Get in here.” You gave in, shaking your head and shutting the window. He waltzed through the front door, looking too pleased with himself.

“Plus, I brought a gift!” He held up a bottle of rosé.

“So you can get drunk and ruin my flowers again?”

“I apologized for that. Please forgive me.”

“You’re forgiven.” You said, not convincing him or yourself. 

“Where’re your glasses?” He asked, and you pulled a cabinet open, stirring your pot of pasta. He pulled down two glasses and filled them.

“Maybe I don’t drink.”

“You do, this is your favorite wine. I’ve seen you drinking it on the porch swing at least twice.” Bucky called you out.

“Oh, so you stalk me?” You accused. 

“No, you just sit outside all the time.” 

He lifted the glass to his lips, smiling behind the rim. You drank from your own, needing it in order to deal with him. You noticed his dog tags, resting against his skin with the top few buttons of his shirt undone. He caught you staring, but he held eye contact, wanting to make you blush. 

“You fight in the war?” You asked, and he shook his head.

“I will. I haven’t been deployed yet. Me and my friend Steve recruit here, but we’ll go with the next team.”

“Where will you go?”

“Germany, maybe. Or Poland.” 

You hummed, thinking that Bucky didn’t seem like the military type. You supposed it was his duty though, and he didn’t want to be labeled as a draft dodger. You strained the noodles and mixed them with the sauce, serving him a plate. Bucky thanked you, taking a seat at your tablecloth. 

“Hey, get down, Pepper.” You scolded your cat that jumped onto his lap. You apologized and he smiled, petting her head.

“She has no manners. Push her off,” 

“She’s fine. I don’t mind.” He smiled, and your cat jumped onto the floor, prowling for dropped food. You ate quietly, ignoring his silver gaze. 

“How long have you lived here?” He made conversation.

“Since I left my parents’ house when I was sixteen,” 

“That’s awful young. Why?”

You didn’t answer, pouring yourself another glass of wine, and he tilted his glass for more. You emptied the rest of the bottle into his glass, earning a thank-you. 

“You don’t have to buy me dinner.”

“I’m absolutely buying you dinner. We’ll go out, to Brooklyn.” He grinned, and you rolled your eyes. 

“Is there any way to get out of it?” You asked.

“I’m afraid not.” 

“You’re an amazing cook.” Bucky complimented, standing and taking your empty plates before you could.

“Thanks. I got that-”

“No, you cooked. I’ll do the dishes.” He turned on your sink and began to wash everything, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. You watched him, biting back a small smile. 

“I’ll just be getting out of your hair. Have a goodnight, doll.” 

You rolled your eyes, closing the door after him. You picked up your cat and held her, watching him walk across the lawn. He waved at you when he saw you watching through the window, and you shut the curtains.

You came home the next day, tired and annoyed from work. You were in a bad mood, and you just wanted to relax.

“James?” You stopped when you saw him kneeling in your yard.

“Y/N, you’re home.”

“Why the hell are you in my yard?!” You demanded, opening the gate. 

“I’m sorry, I should’ve asked. I was replanting your flowers.” He said, kneeling in your garden. 

Your eyebrows shot up as you saw the rows of freshly planted daffodils, and you walked over to him slowly. 

“Thank you.” You were impressed, and he leaned back on his heels. 

“I’m... I can’t take you out like this. Let me change, then we can go for our dinner?” He smiled down at himself, dirt and grass staining his pants.

You nodded, hiding your smile behind your hand, feeling butterflies in your stomach. You shook your head, watching him go toward his house. You went inside and quickly changed your own clothes, into wide white pants and a yellow button down. You fixed your makeup, and went to meet him on the porch. You bit your lip, smiling as you opened the door to find him standing with a bouquet of daisies.  

“Bucky...” You couldn’t keep the grin off your face.

“I thought you’d like them. I’m trying to be a gentleman.”

“It’s working.” You whispered before putting the flowers in a vase. You walked to his car with him, and he opened the door for you, being so charming.

Bucky lived to see your smile. When he finally earned it with the flowers, warmth erupted in his chest and spread through him. He had truly felt bad about your garden and spent the whole afternoon replanting it for you. He drove you into the city, music playing softly on the radio.

“Where are we going?”

“New York pizza, Y/N,” Bucky looked proud of himself.

“That sounds amazing.” You confessed, your stomach growling. You’d missed lunch at work, and you were starving. 

“Pizza is my favorite.” 

“Mine too!” Bucky announced, and you giggled at that. He turned and smiled at you, his gaze lingering a little longer than it usually did. 

You arrived at the pizza place, following Bucky inside. He put his hand on your lower back, and you felt the butterflies again. 

“What would you like?” 

“Margherita pizza. I’m a classic girl.”

“Perfect.” He ordered for the two of you, leaning against the bartop while you waited.

“We’ll take it to go.”

“We’re not eating here?” You asked, confused, and he shook his head. 

“Got a better idea.” Bucky winked at you, taking the pizza box once it was done. 

“Can you take this for a second, doll?” He asked, handing it to you as we stood outside. You took it from him, and he leaned into his car, pulling out a blanket before taking the pizza. He nodded for you to follow, and you walked a few blocks down to a park, where he spread the blanket. You were beaming as you sat down beside him, the glow of the street lights and the stars making him look impossibly more attractive. 

“You’ve outdone yourself.” You smiled, biting into a slice of pizza. He looked pleased, and the two of you found yourselves talking until the streets were silent. You were sitting in front of him, when he leaned forward, kissing you. You kissed him back, threading your fingers into his dark hair, letting him move you onto his lap. His tongue pushed past your lips, your mouths moving in sync. 

“Will you be my girlfriend?” Bucky asked, surprising you. You were blushing furiously, and you almost said no, but the feeling his words gave you, made your heart race.

“Yes, James.” You pecked his lips and he grinned into the kiss.

That was how you and Bucky ended up spending most of your time together. He helped you tend to your garden, and you taught him about the plants. You were a botanist with a green thumb, and he was in awe of your tender care of your plants. Every night in the following weeks was spent with the two of you gently rocking on your porch swing, drinking coffee, listening to records, or making out. Either that, or you were listening to him read on the couch or in your bed. 

You and Bucky had been together for almost two months, when he came home late from work one evening when it was nearing October. You were waiting on the porch, wrapped in a blanket, watching for his car to roll in. 

“James!” You called, and he walked up to you. 

“Hey, doll.” He leaned down and kissed you sweetly. You looked up at him, and your gaze meeting with sad eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Worry filled you, and he sat down next to you. 

“I’m getting deployed. We leave in two weeks.” He breathed, and your heart fell into pieces. 

“I’ll wait for you.” You said finally.

“Y/N, you could be waiting for years, or I may not make it back.”

“Don’t say that!” You cried. 

“It’s the truth--” 

Tears started rolling down your cheeks, and you shook your head. You climbed onto his lap and clung to him, gripping his shirt and crying into his shoulder. He rubbed your back and held you on the porch. 

“I want to get married, before you go.” You said, and he turned your face to look at him.

“Doll, you can’t mean that.”

“No, I do. Marry me. Marry me and promise you’ll come back for me.” You touched his face, and he brushed tears from your cheeks. 

“I will marry you, and I will fight every single day to come home to you. I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you.”

For months, you and your cat waited on your porch, the cool metal dog tags resting against your sternum. A box of his letters sat on your bedside table, telling you how much he missed you, and loved you, and he wanted to come home to his beautiful wife. All of your friends thought you were mad for marrying a man you’d only dated a few months, the week before he went off to war. A star hung in your window, and every day was spent waiting. Your garden flourished, pumpkins growing as autumn approached. The nights you spent outside began to grow colder, and you waited.

When you saw him, it was like fireworks exploded inside of you. He was tired, he looked wartorn, and he was definitely more muscular. You screamed, tossing your blanket off of you, and running. You jumped over the fence, making him laugh. You threw your arms around him, and he caught you as you jumped into his arms. He held you tightly and spun you around, planting a deep kiss to your lips.

“I love you.”

“I love you.” 

You were crying as Bucky held you, overwhelmed with joy to see him. You didn’t sleep that night, or the next few. 

[writhingcreature]

I LOVE the idea of jock/nerd Mericcup and cheerleader/jock Rapunstrid, do you have any more headcanons for that au?

I tried writing this and got distracted and now O have to start from the beginning so... let’s try this again

- Hiccup keeps trying to ask Merida out but his awkwardness and self Doubt keep tying his tongue and hands and feet and he fails again and again. Merida knows what he’s trying to say but she wants to give him the chance to do it since she knows it might hurt his pride if she asks him. Eventually she does anyway though and Hiccup is so relieved he’s been put out of his misery he kisses her right then and there and everyone’s like OoO

- Hiccup and Astrid are neighbors and they grew up right next door to each other. Like, saw each other through the window and climbed onto each other’s roofs and such. They did that thing where they opened their windows and just... talked if they were too lazy to climb up onto the roof. So they’re like actually really close friends. As kids Astrid always found Hiccup annoying and it was like “your mom is friend with my mom” but eventually he started tutoring her and she thought she was doing fine at school but suddenly she was acing everything and it all made sense and after that she thought Hiccup was cool

- Merida and Rapunzel live quite a bit from each other but Merida skateboards and Rapunzel goes on morning bike rides and walks and jogs and skates (on rollerblades) and really ANYTHING that gets her out in the morning. They end up meeting when Merida falls off her skateboard and busting her knee - Rapunzel took care of it with the med kit she always takes with her everywhere. After that they were best friends and upon hitting middle school, joined sports together to figure out what they liked. Rapunzel was good at cheerleading, being very petite and acrobatic, and Merida was better at the classic sports (soccer, hockey, baseball, football, etc.). They do figure skating together. When Merida had to fight to be on the guys’ team, or just. Create a girls’ sports team, Rapunzel was there to support her every step of the way.

- Astrid and Merida are on a team together. Astrid does either hockey or soccer (or maybe both Idk which seasons they are but it feels like they’d be in different ones) but eventually Merida talks her into joining every one that Merida is in too. They get each other SO much and eventually develop like a secret language. No one knows if that’s true for sure, but these two girls can communicate without moving their body or saying a single word and it’s so effortless and perfect a system that people thought they were dating for the longest time. When someone finally brought it up (it was Snotlout) the two laughed so hard and so long that he blushed, and they NEVER let him live it down. It was just so absurd to them....

- Astrid and Rapunzel actually happened pretty fast. Everyone thought Astrid would take charge, and normally she does. She’s confident and sure of herself and has fingers in SO many pies, and she doesn’t ever shrink from any competition. Everything seems very easy for her and she never falters off fumbles... that is until she tries to talk to Rapunzel. Because Astrid can affectionately bulky Hiccup and Merida already gets her so well that she doesn’t have to try to communicate with her. But Rapunzel is... her opposite in a lot of ways. She’s small and soft spoken and artistic. Her mind is creative and her hands are gentle and her eyes are huge and her smile is warm. Rapunzel is this golden stream in a fairytale and Astrid is.... probably a rock. Of some kind. Anyway, the point is Rapunzel approaches her with that pretty smile and those large eyes and very clearly asks her out and Astrid’s lucky that Merida’s there to say yes for her because her mouth forgets how to move

- Rapunzel cheers SO LOUD for Astrid every game, and they start to sit on the bench together if there’s any free time. During the half time show, Astrid cheers just as loud for Rapunzel and the phrase “THATS MY GIRLFRIEND” gets thrown around a. Lot. They get super competitive all the time and end up having so much fun. Rapunzel is a bit of a softie and let Astrid win a lot in the beginning until Astrid called her out and called her a loser (affectionate) and from then it was ON. No one thought anyone could beat Astrid at anything until Rapunzel came around.

- Hiccup tries to follow what’s happening in the games but he often gets really distracted and confused and ends up analyzing the plays and bombarding everyone with questions afterward. Astrid and Merida eventually directed him to Rapunzel, who actually listened to him and realized how genius his ideas and observations were. They started to talk with the coach about ways to make the team better, and Hiccup eventually starts to just. Help the coaches in general and no one even asks anymore.

- Hiccup has a cat named Toothless and he and Rapunzel are the BEST of friends. Astrid didn’t like him at first but softened upon seeing Rapunzel and Hiccup be so adorable with the little creature. Toothless HATED Merida for the longest time no matter what she tried and it made everyone laugh constantly. Eventually the little thing warmed up to her but for a while there Merida stayed by Astrid “where it’s safe” as she said.

- Rapunzel also has a pet chameleon and she DOTES on that thing. She knows everything about them and anytime anyone asks about Pascal she just wants and rants and rants about fun facts. It’s the only time Astrid will without complaint Listen to someone just talk facts and knowledge. Astrid usually finds it so boring but Rapunzel is so adorable when she goes off about this thing she’s so passionate about that Astrid doesn’t even mind.

- After watching Hiccup with Toothless for a while, Astrid gets her own cat named Stormfly and they are a DYNAMIC duo. Stormfly is almost as well trained as Toothless a lot sooner, and they just have this very clear understanding. Stormfly doesn’t hate Merida, so the red head prefers this cat, and Toothless often glares at her for hours for it. Rapunzel and Stormfly take to each other even faster than Rapunzel and Toothless did. Rapunzel smells like Astrid and Stormfly is HERE for it

- Rapunzel and Merida take riding lessons on the weekends. It was something they looked into when they were really young and when they finally convinced their parents to let them it was the single best thing to ever happen to either of them. Riding Maxmimus and Angus are the best parts of their week in most cases (unless something special happens) and the horses are considered as much their pets as the cats or chameleon. They end up buying them after they get out of college and securing a house for all four of them with a big enough back yard to keep the horses in. It’s a good time.

- Hiccup works as a mechanic, fixing mostly cars but also small stuff like bikes and the such in his free time. Toothless came to him missing a leg, so Hiccup comes up with a lot of really clever contraptions and systems to help Toothless move around the house without Hiccup’s help. He still prefers to be lifted into bed, but anywhere else is free game.

- Rapunzel gets a job at first at a diner, where she spends her highschool and college career working her butt off. It wasn’t the best experience but it achieved the goals Rapunzel needed to so she could go to college and become an art teacher instead. It wasn’t the best paying job, but it allowed her to show others why she valued painting so much, and left plenty time in the year to also go traveling if she wished. She’s very good at saving money so she makes it work.

- Astrid works a lot of fast food at first and even takes a stint at the diner with Rapunzel, but her short temper ends up getting her into a lot of situations where she hates her job and ends up leaving after six to eight months. Nowhere was very good for her until she finally got a job at a gym where she ended up learning a lot of really fun skills like self defense and axe throwing. She did it for so many years and got so good that she was hired on as the instructor, and she’s never been happier than in a position where if a man pushes the limits or a Karen tries her patience, all she has to do is sink an axe into a target and turn to them with a raised eyebrow and ask, “What was that again?” It works every time and unless someone has an actual problem they don’t bother her.

- Merida struggles with work. She gets every job under the sun, taking stints at the diner with Rapunzel and the mechanic’s shop with Hiccup and even eventually at the gym and fun enter with Astrid. She gets bored very easily and doesn’t keep a job more than like four or fives months at Max. Ever. She doesn’t think she’s good at anything and might have peaked in high school... until she discovers archery. In an attempt to help her out, Astrid pitches to the fun center to add archery as an activity, and Merida begins to come to it. Unfortunately they can’t really find a teacher who knows what they’re doing and Merida is the only one who shows up so for a while it’s threatening to shut down. But then Merida teaches herself via the internet and insane amounts of practice, and tries out for the job. They give her the position, but tell her that without customers it’s still going to go down.

- the four gather ALL of their friends and begin mass sharing any and all information they can get out there about the fun center and Merida’s growing skills and how helpful she’ll be as the teacher. They just spread the news and encourage people to at least try it out. Through sheer force of Will and hard work, they get enough people with interests peaked who end up coming. Merida’s classes are full of all kinds of people of all kinds of ages, and she loves it.

- none of them get paid a LOT, but Rapunzel and Hiccup are very good at saving money and slowly, Astrid learns as well and between the three of them they can get things figured out even if Merida doesn’t want to waste energy on budgeting and planning everything out and such. When the fun center is out for winter time, and school is out for Summer, they start taking temporary jobs that pay a lot more money. These jobs end up being labor intensive, but they always try and work together and combined, they can find the fun in even the most annoying jobs. Sometimes Hiccup will join them if he’s having a slow time at work, but he never lasts long and the girls tease him a lot about it.

- Yes the hall live together and yes they have ��family nights” where they all go out and do something fun once every month, and they eat dinner and breakfast together as much as they can and they’re all very close and mean a lot to each other god I love them.

There are obviously a ton of other characters in this little world I’ve built so if you have any questions feel free to ask!

[demonicpiano]

How do you think rukus would play the sims? I bet England would spend more time designing the house than anything. Alfred would get bored and kill the sims. If someone looked at what russia was doing in the game they would be disturbed.

Asking me about RUKUS and The Sims? You sure know how to hit all the right buttons, don't you! 😁💖

The beautiful thing about The Sims, any of the installments, is that there's plenty to do with the games alone. However, there is also a VAST modding community. I think they would all take at least some advantage of that.

England would totally spend so much time designing pretty houses, I can see that so well. Those castles that take weeks just to build—that's him. With stunning accuracy, too. He'd even browse pages upon pages of Custom Content for proper furnishings. I also see him fancying Create-a-Sim, like I do, and that means spending 10 hours on making one Sims just perfectly. All of his creations are unique as they are marveling.

He also, undoubtedly, dabbles in Wicked Whims (Sims 4)/Kinky World (Sims 3). Ahem. A good break from all that building.

I have a feeling if he plays the Sims 2 and manages to get into actually playing, he will get plenty of visits from the Social Bunny. No, I'm not speaking from experience. There's just...lots of other things to do, skills to increase, jobs to do, okay! I can't spend the entire time socializing with my neighbors. 🙄✨

When Sims don't do as he asks, he yells at the screen, "The hell is wrong with you?! Get on the bus already, you twit!"

America would also be quite the builder, but he's making those insane builds such as 'Raised UFO Platform Restaurant' or tombs with trips and traps and all their fancy little triggers. I'm sure he's made a phallic-shaped house before, too. Played a completely serious game in there.

He also does the 'challenges,' like 100 baby challenge, legacy challenges, rags-to-riches challenge, so on and so forth. When something crazy happens in the game (a meteor falls on the school and wipes out all the kids and teenagers?!) he rolls with the punches. I think he would try to make people he knows in the real world and put them in game to see what they would do. Slap George Washington down in there. He gets into a fight with Ronald McDonald. A Sim England. Oops, his house burned down from a stray fire spell!

I'm torn between your 'Alfred would get bored and kill the Sims' and 'He would be very upset if one of his Sim's cats died.' If he's making legacies, his computer is full of half-finished playthroughs. He gets an idea and constantly churns out new saves. However, I can see him have a messed-up save (affectionate) with violent mods and alien invasions turned up to max just for the LOLZ.

Russia. He's the kind of guy to have a rectangular house with minimal windows and crazy floral wallpapers (AKA me because I can't build for shit). But! After finding out he can have a HUGE garden, adopt and take care of little animals, his lot is flooded with plants and pets, very busy despite having one or two Sims at a time.

With mods, I think he would try them out, but be more infatuated with the sweet and quiet parts of the game. Mind-filler. Something to relax him. He plays with a soft smile at the screen. He's proud of his Sims' accomplishments.

He's also the kind of dude when a townie will beat up his own Sim, he will be creative in petty revenge. An ice-blast from a witch (Sims 3). Freezing the townie with the SimRay (Sims 4), or even train his Sim in martial arts/athletic and watch them into a fistfight. That's one of the few times he gets serious with the game, other than somebody trying to interrupt him while doing so, but they're mostly ignored.

[summonerscenarios]

Can I ask for a scenario where MC finds and takes care of a stray cat and brings it around with him causing some of the other feline transients(tezcatlipoca, macan, nomad, and sitri) to become jealous because the cat is possessive of MC and is getting attention. On another note thank you for creating this blog, it really is nice for you to continue doing something like this for others to enjoy and i hope you are enjoying it as well. (P.S, agyo probably glares at the cat from behind the couch)

I WAS SO WORRIED THAT I’D LOST THIS BECAUSE I SWEAR I ALMOST COULDN’T FIND IT BUT HERE IT IS!!! Thank you so much for liking my blog I’m having so much fun with it!! And I hope other people are having as much with it as well~! 

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Tezcatlipoca

Honestly, you’re starting to get pretty fed up with how many times Tez tries breaking into your dorm through the window when you’ve got a perfectly good door to use (especially because you gave him a key, dammit). It’s something about ‘stealth’ or ‘a surprise attack’ but it’s seriously starting to grate on your nerves; so when you decide to bring the stray who you’ve been feeding and taking care of for the past few months home with you, you decide that the jaguar can find out about the new arrival the next time he tries to make an ‘impromptu visit’ in the middle of the night.

And sure enough that’s exactly how he gets to meet your cat. Usually the loud declaration he makes as he bursts through your (thankfully open) window is what wakes you up from your slumber, but this time it’s the sound of your cat hissing up a storm as it leaps from your bed to confront the ‘intruder’ while he’s half-way through the window. It’s enough of a surprise to Tez that the therian slides right off of the frame and hits the floor loud enough that you feel bad for the person living on the first floor. However, he’s quick to recover, and by the time you’re out of bed you’re standing between the two trying to get Tez to at least lower his voice before he wakes the neighbors as he glares over your shoulder at the protective feline, the latter of which purrs and rubs against your legs vying for your attention.

That should have been your first sign that things were going to be tense between the two, but you didn’t actually think that Tezcatlipoca would get jealous of your new kitty just because it was a tiny bit attached to you. Little do you know from that point forward what ensues is a full out war between the therian and your cat. Perhaps its due to the fact you’re so doting, or just because you feed it and give it a place to sleep, but your cat is ridiculously attached to you, but Tezcatlipoca isn’t about to let a possessive stray take up the space at his brother’s side that Tez had waiting so long to reclaim - if it’s a battle for you that this little kit wants, then he is more than prepared to show it who your true favorite is. Tez gets increasingly more petty in his attempts to lure your attention away from the cat, and considering that he’s pretty adept with tactics you’d imagine this would be fairly easy but it isn’t.

Tez tries to get a moment alone with you by closing the door behind him before the cat can enter, and not two minutes later it’s pawing at the door and meowing so loud that you hurry over to the door to let it in and warn Tez to check next time. He also attempts to pawn the cat off onto his subordinates for a few hours under the guise of a play-date and to get the cat used to company; and yet that plan backfires spectacularly when you start getting pictures of its ‘playdate’. Group photos of the Luchadores all fawning over your cat and giving it treats alongside videos of them jumping around and letting it leap between them as they perform - it’s clear that the feline has successfully won them over just as it had with you, and you’re soon distracted cooing over the messages much to the therian’s growing frustration.

The lightbulb finally goes off when you catch Tez glaring at the cat when he thinks you’re not looking like he’s trying to convey the words he can’t say to the little feline due to your presence. You’re laying with your back on the floor as the kitty drapes across your chest, hands running through its fur and rubbing its ears as you coo and shower the cat in affection and praises. Your cat is absolutely loving the affection, purring hard enough that it’s practically rumbling as it stretches out and pads at your face with its paws; Tez on the other hand is staring the cat down like it’s going to claw your face off and he’s just waiting for the moment to jump in and intervene. When you tilt your head back to look at him you catch his expression before he notices you’ve spotted him; you ask him what’s got him so miffed, but in the split second it takes for him to look in the opposite direction and insist nothing’s amiss you look between him, the cat, then him, then the cat again.

Then it clicks.

“Tez, you’re not...jealous are you?”

His reaction is just too good - the lack of verbal response makes you lift the cat off of you so that you can safely roll over and look directly at him, taking in the lowered ears and ruffled feathers as he looks away from you. Assuming that he’s just feeling left out with the attention you shuffle over to where he’s sitting and apologize for not giving him some time too in a cooing hum that’s pretty similar to the tone you use when you’re coddling the cat. He goes to complain, but the moment you lean over to start scritching a spot right behind his ears he chokes on the words, expression tensing for the brief moment it takes him to realize what you’re doing to him. 

Tezcatlipoca grumbles about underhanded tactics and how he won’t fall for them so easily even as he tilts his head up with a noise akin to a deep purr when you move your free hand to scratch just under his chin. At the forefront of your affection Tez almost has to laugh in triumph - of course you may lavish the little fluffy kit you’ve taken in with affection and praise, but you’ll always end up pouring your attention back onto him when it really counts. You’re pretty sure you catch his tail flickering languidly out of the corner of your eye as you pet him, but you don’t bring it up when it brushes up against your legs as you shuffle around to get a better angle to fuss him with. If the cat doesn’t try to make too much of a fuss and he keeps receiving your undivided attention like this, then Tez supposes that he can allow this kind of arrangement…

That is until the moment is interrupted when your cat promptly shoves itself between the two of you and turns it’s back to Tez so that you have to pull your hands away to look down at it. And just like that it’s back to square one, with Tez glaring daggers as the feline has the audacity to use his leg as height leverage to nuzzle its way into your arms, effectively regaining your attention as you turn back to fussing the cat - completely oblivious to the pointed stare-down the pair share when you’re not looking.

Macan

Taking in a stray for the first time you’d worried a lot about it wandering off or losing interest if it went outside, and the stories you had heard only heightened the worries you had about owning a cat. Turns out you didn’t have to worry at all, as the feline sticks to your side everywhere you go, even following you to school and sneaking its way into your classes even when you were sure you closed your dorm door - it was a running gag that where you went your new fluffy buddy was sure to follow, and it significantly eased your concerns as you gained a little more confident about taking it out with you. It even came with you when you went out to see friends, dropping by on the Berserker’s guild to catch up with your allies with your fuzzy companion in tow. Granted, it did in fact wander off from time to time, but rarely ever out of your direct line of sight. However, this time when you pull yourself away from a conversation with Andvari about merch revenue to check on your cat who’d been perched on the counter, only to find it missing from its spot and not in direct sight, you begin to panic. The main floor is thankfully empty of most of the visitors, with most people in the arena watching one of the fights and leaving the space mostly clear, but you still end up running circles around the room looking for the cat in question. Eventually, a familiar mewl catches your attention, followed by a sharp hiss and a growl that you recognize and you slide around the corner the moment you hear it.

Then you spot your cat, latched onto the Macan’s snout with both bearing their teeth and you nearly scream as you bolt over to pry the two felines away from each other. It takes a while to separate your cat and Macan, and you’re honestly flabbergasted that your kitty had such a wild reaction when up until this point you’d never had any of these problems before. Macan at least doesn’t seem entirely fussed about the sudden outburst - if anything he seems a bit entertained that your cat had the guts enough to try anything - but you still make a point to make sure his nose is okay, checking for any lasting claw marks as you apologize over and over.

From that point forward, it doesn’t take a genius to piece together that Macan and your kitty don’t entirely get along...well, that’s not exactly true. In the times where you’re doing your own thing and not focusing on the two of them, you notice that your cat has little qualms with sidling up to the bulky tiger therian and lounging all over him, and Macan doesn’t even shrug it off or push it away whenever the furball trots up to him looking for attention. It’s bizarre seeking the two of them actually getting along with each other, though you do have to laugh at how easily Macan’s able to pull your cat away when it starts getting too playful with his tail - it almost makes you wish you had a camera so that you could save these snippets. 

However, those moments only last about as long as it takes for either of them to notice that you’re paying attention; then your cat’s racing me over to your side kicking up a fuss until you relent and give the feline some well deserved pets. You honestly don’t know who’s more attached to you - as when your cat comes to curl up on your lap, meowing and pawing for your attention, chances are Macan’s right there alongside it, leaning up against your back and resting his head atop yours nosing in on whatever you’re doing. It’s cute, but frustrating when this happens right as you’re in the middle of doing something important - and yet you don’t have the heart to get either of the cats to budge.  (not that either of them actually would - you’ve now got two stubborn felines to deal with in your life, hope you’re ready.)

Nomad

Taking in a stray wasn’t your initial plan, but you definitely don’t regret it. You always came across the same cat on your way to and from school, and while you’d only stop for the occasional fuss and to give it some treats if you carried some with you, it didn’t take long before it started travelling with you as you made the walk. And then one day you got back to your home and the cat just...stuck around - and needless to say you just didn’t have the heart at that point to not take the cat in; how could you not? The fluffy feline needed a place to stay, and you were more than happy to have a new roommate in the form of the tiny cat. It takes a lot of trial and error to ease your new pet into its new life, taking your time to get it used to being around some of your friends so that it feels more comfortable coming over - and honestly, things go a lot better than you expected. Your cat warms up to just about everyone you’ve introduced easily, going in for pets or at least giving them a curious sniff before deciding whether it likes them or not; seeing how well it gets along with everybody you’ve introduced so far, you thought it was high time to introduce it to your favorite tiger detective - after all, you’re sure they’d get along just fine, right?

Your way of ‘introducing’ Nomad to your new kitty isn’t so much an introduction as it is you quite literally plopping the cat right into his lap the moment he sits down, looking up at him with an excitable smile and kneeling down beside him as you present the small cat to the exceptionally bigger cat. Your cat and him share a look, and you just about melt watching it purr and nuzzle up against Nomad’s jacket like you’ve seen it do with some of your other friends before - it looks like it’s taken a shine to him, which is honestly incredibly relieving after the initial worry that this introduction wasn't going to go as well as you’d hoped. What makes you even happier is that Nomad doesn’t seem to mind the cat either, leaning a hand down to give the kitty headpats as it preens and purrs under the action.

But then you turn away for a moment to check something on your phone, being pulled away by a message, and in that split second that you shift around to check your cat does a complete 180, just about hitting him square in the chest as it whips around and hops off of his lap to trot over to your side, meowing all the way until you turn around and focus your attention back onto him. What seals the deal is the warning noise that your cat makes as it turns back to face him, slinking into your lap with a pointedly sharp stare before it turns its attention back to you.

It’s not exactly jealousy, per se, because Nomad’s been around the block long enough to not get hung up over you doting over your cat and giving it a lot of your attention - though at the same time he gets pretty embarrassed realizing that what he does get hung up on is the fact that most of your attention is pulled away from him when you are together. When he realizes that’s what’s got him upset, the therian wants to just about kick himself for sounding like a damn kid about it, and he’s not about to go around admitting it out loud, so you’re gonna have to figure that out on your own.

What’s more, Nomad’s fully prepared to just cut his losses and accept that him and the cat just aren’t gonna get along, and he would if it wasn’t for the fact that this same cat was so damn affectionate when you weren’t around. Without fail, whenever you go out to run errands and he’s stuck with the cat it’ll come plodding up to him and flop down into his lap demanding pets and attention. And he falls for it every single time. You can practically see the frustration rolling off of him when you return, and the cat just about claws his head off trying to get to you as soon as possible, leaving Nomad nursing more than a few nicks thanks to the sheer protectiveness the little fluffball possesses when it comes to you.

Sitri

When you’d first brought the stray you’d adopted home it was a learning experience for you. Figuring out what toys to get and what kind of food and bedding to go and buy were just some of the things you needed to get and asap, and you’d been so focused on making sure the little guy was settling in okay and comfy that by the time everything was sorted out you’d pretty much neglected to let everybody know that you were a cat parent now. Once things have calmed down however, you’re eager to show off the fluffy feline to just about everyone and everyone, and who better to show that Sitri? You were planning to meet up with him after school anyways, and you figured if the kitty was going to warm up to anyone, he’d be a pretty good start, right? 

Though perhaps you should have actually let him know that the cat was home when he’d stopped by your dorm room to see if you were ready to go, as while you’re mid-way through tossing a jacket on and grabbing your bag you hear a yelp and Sitri nearly barrels into your back. You’re about to ask him what’s wrong, but as you spin around you spot your cat dart across the room, and you have to catch the little fluff ball mid-pounce as it aims directly for the poor therian’s tail. Turns out, while you’d been getting ready, the cat had spotted Sitri at the door and had slipped past your feet to investigate the newcomer, only to latch onto Sitri’s tail the moment the flickering had peaked the feline’s interest. A slew of apologies wasn’t how you’d intended to introduce Sitri to your cat, but you really can’t stay mad at the kitty for long when it sticks you with the wide eyes and cuddles into your arms mid-apology, gently butting your jaw with its head.

You just about melt at the action, especially because this is still in the early stages of your cat settling into your home, and the apology quickly filters off into you cooing over the feline as you hold it up for Sitri to see. For a split second Sitri swears that the cat’s glaring at him as it wriggles free and drops back down to your side to curl around your legs, but surely he’s just imagining it, right? Wrong. That cat spends just about every second that he’s there curled protectively right beside you, sticking Sitri with a stare and swatted paw if his shoulder so much as touches yours. It even kicks up a fuss and follows the pair of you out of the door, which ends up with you asking if you can bring it along, which of course he’s not going to say no to. This quickly becomes a regular occurrence, where almost every time the two of you get to hang out your cat comes with you, and it must know it’s damn cute because every time it tags along you and just about everyone else comes over to pet it and give the cat attention.

Sitri absolutely refuses to admit that he’s even a tiny bit jealous of your cat - getting jealous over a cat is super dumb, and Sitri’s not the kind of cool cat who gets hung up watching you fuss and fawn over the cat every single time you’re together...okay, maybe he’s a tiny bit jealous, but it’s not like he’s going to tell you that he is. Instead, he stews with the thoughts for a while, and just kind of puts up with the presence of the cat in favor of hanging out with you, and he’s sure the cat knows because boy does it push the limits of what it can get away with. There was even one instance where Sitri had made the mistake of having his wings out around your cat, and the little ball of fluff just about ripped a few feathers free the moment it caught sight of those bright orange wings. That at least got your attention focused back on him as you’d worried over his wings and checked that he was okay, but Sitri really doesn’t wanna go through something like that just to keep your attention - he’s pretty sure he’d end up losing all of his feathers if he did that.

With that being said this is Sitri, and you’ve known him long enough that you can tell when something’s starting to bug him, and clearly something has been bothering him for a while. You don’t make the connection for a little while, after all while he does get a bit frustrated watching your cat nuzzle into your hands and curl up on your lap, so you’re blissfully unaware. However, after a while you start to realize just how little attention you pay to Sitri when you guys are together, having your attention pulled away by the cat, and you start to think that maybe he’s feeling miffed that you’ve been leaving him out as a result. You can’t say for sure though until you decide to bring the topic up with him, curious to figure out what’s got him so ruffled.

Once you put two and two together he gets notably embarrassed, and you don’t even have to voice your thoughts aloud before Sitri blurts out that he’s 'not jealous!’ automatically jumping in to deny it before you’ve said a word. Seconds later he realizes what he just said and his hands fly to his mouth as though hoping to stuff the words back in but it’s too late. Your jaw drops, but just as quickly you spin around and exclaim “You’re jealous!?”, watching as he flushes. Sitri tries to deny it again, but it’s significantly less convincing when even the tips of his ears are starting to turn pink; soon enough the moment dissolves into you repeating that he’s jealous, sounding more and more amused each time he tries to argue that he swears he’s not. After a while of this though you make sure to assure him that you’re not making fun of him, ruffling his hair as you assure him that as much as you coddle and fuss the fluffy feline you’ll always have time for him - after all you’d be a fool not to remind your friend he’s the number one cool cat, right~? At your words he goes from flustered to groaning at the cheesy remark, but you can tell he’s feeling a bit better about the whole thing, if not still a bit embarrassed over being seen through so easily.

[biwenqing]

So this is for the day three prompt: Social Media AU for Spring Sleuthing over at @tsomdevents! I wrote this fic a while ago, and it fits perfectly for this. But I realized it was going to be more than one chapter. I will continue it once the prompt week is over!

teen | pre-relationship | WIP | ao3 link | formatted as tweets | wc:1767

WZ @theroommatedilema

i made this secret account to live tweet my two oblivious roommates having a quarantine romance. or not. they are idiots. follow to find out will they/won’t they.

he/him | Joined March 2020

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 27 we are starting week 2 of quarantine and i realized i needed to document this. my two roommates who have been dancing around each other since before shit hit the fan are driving me crazy and if i have to watch this the world has to as well.

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 27 we need to give them code names because, while i don't think either of them will find this account, best not to tempt fate. so we have 'hot chef' and 'smart aleck'.

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 27 all that out of the way, we can now get to the live tweet. hot chef was doing his laundry so he was walking around the apartment shirtless. smart aleck walked into a wall, not once, not twice, but three times. hot chef didn't help this when he put on an apron

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 28 smart aleck started the day by almost burning down our kitchen trying to make breakfast to impress hot chef. luckily i was awake and stopped things before there was a grease fire, before making breakfast myself. they both seemed to like it.

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 29 hot chef thinks we should try and exercise, but i think it is cold and slippery out, so if he expects me to join him on his morning runs, he is wrong. smart aleck did make an attempt and i got to watch him wipe out from the window. lucky for him hot chef caught him. yea i know

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 29 follow up to wipe out: hot chef helped smart aleck back into the house and then took care of him, before then still going on his run. smart aleck pouted next to me on the couch, watching out the window for when he came back like a puppy.

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 30 smart aleck has decided he needs to clean and organize the whole apartment. i think he just doesn't want to do his real job. this has led to an argument with hot chef because smart aleck has taken everything out of the kitchen cabinets and messed with his books.

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 30 as a household, we have a pretty solid 'don't touch my stuff' understanding, but that apparently goes all out the window during a pandemic. hot chef keeps all his cooking tools and supplies in a special order that makes sense only to him and i leave it be

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 30 but smart aleck wants to "help" and didnt ask if anyone wanted help so here we are. don't worry, this account isn't in vain, i can confirm that their argument is more bickering and that bickering is the stereotype of an "old married couple"

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 30 SA: but you do so much, i wanted to help! HC: if i need help, i'd ask for it SA: *arms crossed* would you? give an example of when you have asked for help. HC: ....i haven't needed help SA: bullshit! remember when you got the flu last year and didn't tell us?

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 30 SA: you practically passed out before you let WZ and i take you to see a doctor! and then you still argued about us making sure you got the food and fluids and everything you needed so you didn't die! HC: ...i didn't want either of you to get sick

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 30 SA: oh yes so ignoring the issue really helped? it’s better that you almost died? in case you didn’t already notice, smart aleck is always dramatic.

WZ @theroommatedilema . March 30 for those wondering, smart aleck is not wrong here. this is exactly how events occurred. it was only a few months after I moved in with them. for the fight i think smart aleck somehow won this round. tune in tomorrow for what happens next!

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 4 no updates because they have been pretending to ignore each other and focused on work. hot chef in particular. smart aleck claims it is because hot chef isn’t used to being cared about. he told me this in a deliberate stage whisper.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 4 i think it is important to note that hot chef did still make dinner each night to share... he just went back to his room after.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 5 i got a question asking what we all do for work. that’s classified. and mostly unrelated. though it is how we met in a very odd course of events.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 5 that was not an invitation to send me more questions. i know you are all nosy, or else why would you be following this account. but we have established this account must go unnoticed.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 5 fine. general ages = smart aleck is in his 20s. hot chef is in his 30s. and because you for some reason all want to know: i am also in my 20s.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 5 pets = yes one. smart aleck has a pet cat named goat he inherited from a past roommate. goat the cat tries to eat anything and everything, thus the name. she particularly likes to eat house plants. she likes smart aleck the least, hot chef the most. i hold a pretty solid 2nd place.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 6 update: they made up. a package arrived today and it was apparently a pan to replace one smart aleck had destroyed. hot chef made smart aleck’s favorite dinner. SA talked the whole way through to meal, and HC looked smitten. so we’re back to normal.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 10 where do we rank the level of domestic where one person brushes their teeth/gets ready for the day while the other is in the shower? bonus points for some mild discussion and/or bickering.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 11 smart aleck has a new scheme. he is trying to persuade hot chef to teach him to cook. so far HC has held firm. we mark day one of this new standoff.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 12 i’ve been asked a few times why i don’t just use initials of smart aleck and hot chef’s names. it’s all part of keeping this hidden. i have also chosen nicknames that i don’t think they would think i’d use for them.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 12 smart aleck is the type to figure this out if i’m not careful. he’s both too clever and too dumb for his own good. which is part of the reason i must document all of this, so i can shove it in his face later.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 12 we are also on day two of cooking teaching standoff. i think some of you rightly assume SA is imagining hot chef standing behind him and idk helping him cut vegetables

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 13 standoff continues. i made dinner to see if that would throw the balance off. no change yet

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 14 resolution! hot chef did give in, on the condition that he teaches both of us. i didn’t manage to escape because smart aleck seemed to decide this was the only way. don’t know how this fits into whatever romantic daydreams he had.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 14 i see those comments that this might give me a chance to put them together. but i think it is more fun to not help them at all. they need to do this on their own

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 15 to do such teaching, a grocery shopping mission is needed. because the world is... well. i suggested just they go together so fine. maybe i will try and assist.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 15 level of domestic of sneaking things you know your “just friends roommate” loves but won’t buy for themselves in the cart without them knowing?

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 15 you ask how i know that and it is of course because smart aleck, so proud of himself, announced it as soon as he reentered the apartment. goat the cat tried to get into the bags to eat raw fish while this occurred.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 16 first cooking lesson, some simple stir fry. i already can cook this so i get to just perch at the counter and watch. vote on the poll below how you think this will turn out

[hands brushing softly] [sparks, and not the sexy kind] [food hopefully?]

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 16 everyone who voted for fire won. the neighbors are quite upset. and not even goat the cat will eat the final product. i ordered take out and a fresh fire extinguisher while they dealt with the mild fire and smoke detector.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 17 smart aleck is pouting so there will be no cooking lessons today. the good news (for his employer) is he seems to actually be focusing on doing his job.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 20 hot chef actually asked smart aleck if he wanted to try cooking again. very interesting. this has mostly been coming from SA’s side, so i would call this positive movement.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 20 SA has completely perked up and agreed.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 20 oh apparently the plan is SA will watch and i get the place as the student in the kitchen. this is probably safer for everyone

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 21 for those asking what happen: dinner was made with no issue. I was in charge of the main dish and that left HC to work on side dishes. SA even helped wash and chop some vegetables. goat took some chicken right off SA’s plate and ran away with it growling.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 21 i take that to mean the cat approves of my cooking. but she also tried to steal things from the trash, so that isn’t much of an endorsement.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 22 SA is avoiding work and trying to clean again. he actually asked if he could move stuff around. growth.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 25 hot chef spotted leaving smart aleck’s room this morning?

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 25 false alarm, he was just looking for the cat.

WZ @theroommatedilema . April 30 final report for this month: progress made in communication. new together activity established. the apartment has not burned down. a baby step closer, yet still so far away from them figuring this out...

[stargazer-balladeer]

Crush [Pokémon]

[Steven Stone x Female! Reader]

Inspired by: Crush - David Archuleta

Note: I decided to upload my works from both Quotev and Wattpad here. Hope ya’ll don’t mind :) And I hope ya’ll enjoy this (bc Steven Stone is my husband -///w///-)

Warning: none

[Y/N] groaned as she entered her apartment with exhaustion written in her face, it was a tiring day for the young lady. Constantly getting told to do this and that and this and that, constantly running around to do some errands for her stupid boss and getting told off for not doing her job right. It's just not her day today. She sighed as she removes her shoes and leaves it on the welcoming mat near her door, as she groggily stomped her way in her apartment. It was a relatively small apartment but a shelter nonetheless. It has a kitchen, dining table, living room, bathroom and bedroom. And it fits with her daily salary so win-win. 

[Y/N] plopped down on her [F/C] couch as she laid down on one of the cushions, face plat on it. And then she screamed at it, getting rid of her frustration easily. Then she hears her PokeNav vibrating on her bag. She looks up to look at the time, only to see it's quarter to midnight already. She groaned once again. "Who the hell is calling me this late?!" Catty, Delcatty, purred as she jump to sit with her master. "Hey Catty." [Y/N] greeted while petting Catty on the head, which made the cat-like Pokemon purr more. With one hand, she rummaged her bag for her PokeNav and once found, pulled it out. She didn't bother to check her caller's ID as she pressed the green button and put it on her ear. 

"Hello, who is this so I'll know who to murder tomorrow." "That's one way to say hello." [Y/N] jumped when she heard a familiar laughter coming from the PokeNav, and feeling her heart jumping from her chest. "S-Steven?! H-Hey!" [Y/N] laughed weakly, now embarrassed that she told her childhood friend that. "Hey to you too, [N/N]." 

[Y/N] and Steven were childhood friends, having met accidentally on Meteor Falls. They were on a Journey at that time, and coincidentally bumped into each other. Catty was still a Skitty back then, and wanting to evolve it must've been the reason why [Y/N] was there in the first place, looking for a Moon Stone. Ever since then, they've been close friends. You can say they were rivals, though [Y/N] never participated in the League challenge. Now that Steven was the current Champion of Hoenn and [Y/N] starting to work, they've hardly talk anymore. So [Y/N] was surprised to have received a call from Steven so late in the night where they're supposed to be sleeping.

"What's up? Why'dya call this late?" [Y/N] asked as she brings her knees up and hug them with one arm, while the other held her PokeNav to her ear. Catty curled up beside her and fell asleep. She hears Steven humming on the other side. "I don't really know. I just have this sudden urge to hear your voice." [Y/N] feels her face heating up from Steven's blunt statement. If her heart was beating rapidly awhile ago, now it's beating thrice as much than normal that [Y/N] thought it's gonna burst out of her chest.

"W-Wha--?" "Besides.. we haven't been talking to each other for a while now... and.. I just miss your company." "I swear Steven if your doing this purposely, I'll go there and kill you myself" [Y/N] took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, before smiling. "I also miss talking with you, Steven." The other line went silent, which worried [Y/N], thinking she must've said something wrong. What she doesn't know is that Steven was dying of heart attack from the other side. "H-Hello..? Steven? You still there?" Steven snapped out of trance as he hears [Y/N]'s voice from his PokeNav. He shakily took a deep breath before answering his crus-- friend.

"Sorry. I thought I saw something." Steven lied while staring at the view from the window of his office. He's been doing paperwork for a while now, and he needed a break. Then he remembered [Y/N] and decided to call her, and suddenly remembering that its quarter to midnight when he click her number. He actually prayed to Arceus that [Y/N] was still awake or else he might feel the wrath of the woman again. He learned his lesson, he swear, he just forgot from the fatigue building inside of him. "Oooooh. Is it a ghost?" Steven chuckled as he shake his head. "Nah. I'm just seeing things."

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"You did what?" [Y/N] laughed along with Steven as he told her a story between what happened to the dinner of the Elite 4. It turns out it became eventful as Steven watches it unfold while eating his food. It started out simple and fine, no chaos. But Sydney and Phoebe started fighting about something and started throwing food at one another, but it seems like one hit Glacia. And the fight started. Drake also joined in as food were thrown everywhere. "I'm serious! I was merely enjoying my food while they fight." Steven laughed as [Y/N] giggle.

Soon it became silent for the two of them, neither speaking. You can even hear the background noises. Steven took a deep breath, it’s now or never. “Say... [N/N].” Steven called with a shaky smile. [Y/N] hummed in response, letting the platinum-haired man know that he has her attention. “What if.. you have a crush on somebody.. but you don't know what to how to tell them?” Crack. That was all [Y/N] could hear. The cracking sound of her breaking heart, as she lets out a shaky laugh. 

“W-Wow! Y-You? Having a crush? What a surprise!” [Y/N] feigned surprise as she feels her eyes getting blurry. She could hear Steven laughing on the other side. “I-Is that so surprising?” [Y/N]’s [E/C] betrayed her as a tear came out and began rolling down her cheek. She swiftly wipe it as she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. What she didn’t know however is that Steven could feel something was wrong with [Y/N]. 

“[N/N]? Are you alright?” Steven asked, worried about his friend. [Y/N] forced a smile on her face, even though Steven couldn’t see her. “I-I’m fine.” She reassured him, well, tried to atleast. Steven knew she was lying but decided to shrug it off. “Y-You just got to go with it. If that girl doesn’t like you, then she i-isn’t worth it.” [Y/N] responded to Steven’s question. “I-I gotta go. I need to sleep. Bye Steven.” [Y/N] simply said. Before Steven could protest though, she already hung up.

[Y/N] threw her PokeNav to the table in front of her and hugged her knees closer to her chest, bursting into tears while doing so. “I-I should be happy! W-Why the hell am I crying for?” She whined as she used her sleeve to wipe away the tears overflowing from her eyes. But as she wipe them, more tears came. Catty woke up from [Y/N]’s cries as she puts her paws on her thighs and whined her name to get her masters attention. [Y/N] looks at her with a pained look on her face, which Catty returns with a concerned face. 

“O-Oh Catty. I’m a horrible person..” [Y/N] trailed off as she hiccups and sniff. Catty whined her name as she tries to comfort [Y/N] the best she could. 

Meanwhile with Steven. Steven stared at his PokeNav, which was beeping, signalling that his friend hang up on him. He frowned deeply as corncern and worry overtook his face, his fatigue long gone now. “What happened to you, [N/N]?” Steven whispered as he stuffed his PokeNav into his pockets and standing up. He grabbed his jacket from the rolling chair and put it on. The only thing in his mind is [Y/N].

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

“[N/N]? Are you in there? It’s me, Steven! Open up!” 

[Y/N] groaned as she blocks out the noise, not wanting anyone in her apartment just yet. It seemed like [Y/N] fell asleep while crying. Steven, who was outside of her door, frowned when he didn't hear anyone inside the apartment. He's been here for quite a while now, constantly knocking and calling for her. One neighbor opened their door to see what was the noise all about, which Steven sheepishly explained. Steven tapped his foot repeatedly on the concrete floor beneath him while eyeing the door. "[N/N]! Open the door!" Steven called for the sixth time now, getting annoyed. 

When [Y/N] still didn't open her door, he sighed, bringing his hand to his forehead. "I'm so sorry, [N/N] for doing this but since your not opening your door.. I have no choice." Steven mumbled as he brought out a familiar looking red-and-white capsule from his pocket. He pressed the button on the middle and it became the size of a tennis ball. "Come on out, Metagross." Steven called as he threw the Pokeball upward and out came the familiar Steel-type Pokemon. It made a noise, similar to a wondering sound. Probably curious why its been let out. Steven smiled apologetically at it.

"Sorry to disturb you, Metagross. But do you mind using Psychic to open the door? [N/N]'s not answering the door, I'm afraid." Steven explained to the Steel-type Pokemon. "This is actually invasion of privacy but it must be done." Steven mentally gulped as Metagross obeyed Steven and started using Psychic on [Y/N]'s door. After a few minutes, it opened. This made Steven grin. He turned to Metagross. "Thank you very much, Metagross. Have some rest." After he said that, he returned Metagross to its Pokeball. Steven put the Pokeball back to his pocket as he entered [Y/N]'s apartment.

"[N/N]? Sorry to intrude but you weren't answering so I had Metagross to use Psychic on your door.. Hope you don't mind." "OF COURSE I WOULD MIND! THIS IS AN INVASION OF PRIVACY STEVEN!!" [Y/N] mentally screamed when she heard footsteps coming near. [Y/N] pretended to sleep as she felt Steven's gaze on her. Steven sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. Steven stared at her sleeping face, now noticing dark bags under her eyes. He frowned at this as he crouch down to level her face. He lifts his hand to run his thumb underneath her eyes, which made her (accidentally) flinch. Steven quickly drew his hand, afraid that he might've woken her up. But he saw she's still sleeping, he sighed in relief, still not noticing that she's awake the entire time. 

Steven stared at her face with a deep thinking face as he watch her breath, not creepy at all (-_-). He sighed as he ran his hand over his hair once again before settling on the back of his neck. "Why did you react like that over the phone?" Steven mumbled, whether he's really asking her or talking to himself, [Y/N] doesn't know. She just remain sleeping. Catty woke up when Steven entered, she went away to give her master and Steven alone time (I swear Delcatty is more aware of their situation--). He took a deep breath. "Why did you react when I asked you about me liking someone?" 

[Y/N] was internally panicking in her mind, and trying to calm her still beating heart. BUT her nose pick up something that it made her sneeze. This made Steven jump in surprise, while [Y/N] is more embarrassed than ever. "WHY DID YOU BETRAY ME NOSE?! YOUR MY PARTNER! YOUR A PART OF ME FOR ARCEUS' SAKE!!" She then heard Steven chuckle. "Cute." Steven whispered, which made [Y/N] open her eyes. "What?"

Now this made Steven jump in surprise, he practically stood up while staring at [Y/N], with wide-eyed and mouth agape. "Y-Y-You're--?!" [Y/N] sweatdropped as she sheepishly laughed. She made a surprise motion with her hands. "Surprise!" She announced weakly. Steven stared at her before heating up. "D-Did you h-hear what I s-said?!" [Y/N] looks away, which is enough for Steven to realize that she was aWAKE THE ENTIRE TIME. "W-W-WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING?" Steven couldn't help screaming while asking, more embarrassed than her. [Y/N] sheepishly laughed. "I..."

Steven sighed as he took a deep breath, effectively calming himself down. He stared at [Y/N]'s [E/C] eyes before looking away. Both of them were covered in silence as neither talked, probably too embarrassed at this point. Steven broke the silence with a cough, whether to get her attention or clearing his throat, [Y/N] doesn't know. But it made her snap to the flustered Stone. She quirk her brow at his odd behavior, almost like a lovesick puppy.

"Y-You said over the phone that I should... be front about my feelings.. c-correct?" Steven nervously said as [Y/N] tilted her head before hesitantly nodding her head. Her mind conjuring all kind of scenarios, none of them with Steven returning her feelings though. He took a deep breath before weakly smiling at her. "T-Then.. would you like to b-be my date for the upcoming Champion's ball?" "Oh? Sureee.... wait... date?!" [Y/N] screamed the last part as Steven sheepishly nodded his head.

[Y/N] froze, blinking once, twice, thrice.. Before gasping, face overheating and staring at Steven with a shock expression on her face. This action made Steven think that she doesn't return his feelings, as he smiled sadly. "I-It's okay if you don't agree though.. I understand.." Steven trailed off while looking away from her. [Y/N] stared at him, her mind unable to understand his words yet. When her mind finally caught up, her eyes became blurry as tears started pouring out of them. 

Steven's head snapped to her when he heard her sniffle, only finding her in a crying mess. Did his confession be THAT bad?! Steven quickly went to her side and gather her form in his arms. He rubbed her back in a soothing matter as he comfort her. "Are you alright, [N/N]?" [Y/N] then started laughing in delight, which made Steven confused. "Actually, better question is, is your mind okay?" Steven rephrased, now fearing his friend's sanity. She shook her head as she drew back from Steven's warm hug. She has a big smile on her face and affection and adoration dancing in her eyes. Steven could feel his heart beating more rapidly than before, and feels his face heating up. "Of course I'll go with you to the ball, Steven." She laughed. This made Steven hug her with a huge smile also present in his face, laughing alongside her. "Oh Arceus! You don't know how my heart stopped at that moment." [Y/N] hugged him back as her laughter became giggles, before stopping entirely.

"I-I-I thought.. you liked.. May." [Y/N] asked, now remembering why she thought Steven didn't like her. Steven furrowed his brows. "May? She has a crush on Brendan though.." Steven stated, remembering the cheery brunette girl. [Y/N] was now embarrassed, not realizing that the cute brunette girl has a crush on the Gym Leader's son. "Ah.. is that so.." 

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

"Who knew that this started with a crush.." [Y/N] laughed as she and Steven enjoyed the view from Mossdeep Space Station, watching a meteor shower together. It's been a 2 years since they've started dating, and became official. Now, [Y/N] was living with Steven in Mossdeep and Steven now being the Devon Corporations new president, after his father retired due to old age. Wallace managed to beat Steven, effectively gaining the title of the new Champion. Steven would admit that he was saddened at the fact that he wouldn't be a Champion anymore, but he was glad that Wallace beat him though. It means spending more time with his precious girlfriend. Steven laughed alongside [Y/N] as she cuddled beside him.

"We were like teenagers in love." Steven chuckled, [Y/N] laughed even more at what he said. After their laughter died down, plastered on their face was a content look with a smile. "Hey.. do you mind getting off me for a second?" [Y/N] pouted at this as she complied and move away from Steven. "I'm not heavy!" "Says who?" Steven snickered as [Y/N] hit his arm while glaring at him and huffing, returning her gaze at the sky. Now that she's distracted, Steven quickly grabs the velvet box from his coat. It's now or never after all..

[x] Main Page || [x] Pokemon RSE, Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Page

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #444

“the monster you made is wearing the crown  /  i’ll be the king, and you’ll be the clown”

Do you take off from school, or work for your birthday? Ha, I used to try to talk Mom into letting me stay home from school... It only sometimes worked. Have you ever created ‘open when’ letters for someone? No. That'd be cute for an s/o, though. What is the best thing about being in the relationship you’re in right now or about being single? Not having to fear my partner leaving because of the struggles I'm going through. Not having to worry about not being enough for another person, because I'm not even enough for myself. Do you have a favourite painting? Not by a historical artist, no, but there is a piece by a deviantART artist called "Denialism" (by NukeRooster/Tatchit, if you're interested) that I adore so much I've actually gotten her permission to get it tattooed one day when I can afford a brilliant artist to do it. What are some of the best life hacks you know? /shrug What makes you smile without fail? MARK LAUGHING laj;sdkafjwlk;erj Do you know what you’ll be getting your loved ones for the holidays this winter? No clue. That's still a whiles off. What is your biggest short-term goal (within the next month)? Just lose a decent amount of weight for a month's time. What will your next tattoo be of? It depends on what cash I have available, really. As much as it sucks, I think my next tat is a whiles off because I just have more pressing things to pay for. Has anyone very close to you ever died? Besides pets, the closest human to me that's ever died was Jason's mom. If you were throwing your significant other/best friend a themed party, what would the theme be? Uh, Frieza-related, obviously. Do you feel prepared for the apocalypse? I don't believe in the apocalypse in the biblical sense of it being determined by an ultimate power, so this isn't something I really think about. Whenever humanity ends, it ends. I don't have a say, so I may as well not obsess over it. Do you think you will have children naturally, adopt, or forgo having children altogether? I'm not having kids, but if I did, I know that either I'd have to give birth to them or my hypothetical wife would for me to feel *properly* connected to them as a mother should. Oh, or if my male partner had a kid from a previous relationship, but I'd have to be REALLY in love with him to feel like that child is also my own. Do you take pictures of yourself on a daily basis? Oh god no. Do you believe in angels? No, but rather just spirits. Is there anything in your past that you used to regret, but now you don’t? Hm, maybe? Does your knee hurt? My knees always hurt. Has anyone ever called you sexy? Yes. Do you like raisins? omg nooooo What is your favorite bug? Butterflies! :') Do you like Scrabble? Sure, it's fun for a board game. Do you have a printer? Yes. What is your favorite food? Cheeseburgers or pizza, probably. I know, so American. Have you ever overheard a conversation you weren’t supposed to? Yes. Do you like ants? They are very fascinating when you really think about it, but I still find them incredibly annoying. Did you like the movie Antz? I loved it as a kid. Have you ever drank goat milk? No, I don't believe so. What’s your favorite video game? Silent Hill 2 and Shadow of the Colossus. Do you like cats? I love kitties!!! :') Are goldfish your favorite fish? No. I think my favorite is probably the lionfish. Do you like vanilla pudding? No. I only like chocolate pudding. What is your opinion on gay marriage? I 100% support it and would fight to the death for it. What is your opinion on gay adoption? Don't even fucking look at me if you see a problem with a parentless child finding a home with two people in love. Who was the last person you had a crush on? Sara. What’s the most expensive piece of clothing you own? I have zero clue. Why do you drive the car you have right now? I don't have my own car. Have you ever seen your best friend cry? Omg yes and it sucks. Are you friends with your neighbors? No. What is your current desktop picture? One of my favorite pictures of my late pup, Teddy. What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen out the window of an airplane? Mountains! Does your neighbor have any pets? *shrug* Have you ever swam in a mountain lake? No, but that sounds VIBIN'. Has a cat/dog ever thrown up on your bed? alksdjflk;a;jdfalwe yes Have you ever had a concussion? One or two. Do you know anyone who has a pet gecko? Not currently, I think? I want a fat-tailed gecko, though. :( Would you ever go bear hunting? I wouldn't dare hunt ANY animal. Have you ever seen two movies at the theater in a row? I have not. How many teenagers do you know who have babies? I know no teen personally that has a child, but there were some pregnant students in high school. If you could keep your parents or trade them for other parents, which would you pick? I would NEVER change my parents. Is there a piggy bank in the room you’re in? It's not a "piggy" bank, per se, but my sister got me a skull one that she says is for my tattoo funds. :') How many sets of twins do you know? Two, off the very top of my head. If you have younger siblings, are you very protective of them? Yes. No one fucks with her for as long as I live. If you have older siblings, are they very protective of you? Not especially. Who is your favorite Disney Channel person? Uhhh, maybe Raven Symone? How many pets do you have? Just two. Do you think you will be successful in life? No. :/ What do you have pierced? My earlobes, twice, and my bottom lip. I have been dyinnnnggg for some new ones lately. :/ Does techno annoy you as much as it annoys me? No, I actually enjoy quite a bit of techno. What’s your comfort food? Ice cream. Do you like paranormal stuff? YES. Do you have a favorite stuffed toy? Rebel, my adorable meerkat plush from Jason, and Brownie, my moose from Cabela's. What’s the most exciting project you were given? In a way, my senior project since you got to choose your own topic, but I dreaded the presentation. Do you have a good sense of direction? Not at ALL. What are your favorite colour for a cat? Orange! If you had to live your life carrying a shield, what would its design be? This is gonna sound super, super cheesy, but probably a heart to symbolize how love should and could block the effects of hate and general evil and that we should pursue that instead of violence. Out of all the cancers, which one do you think needs to find a cure first? Oh god, they all do. If I had to pick one though, it'd be one of the inevitably fatal kinds, like pancreatic. What are your general afterthoughts when you’ve finished a book? I feel accomplished for actually reading to a story's completion. How many pairs of glasses (not sunglasses) have you owned? Two, I think? What color is your flash-drive? Hot pink. Have you ever built a sand castle? Yeah. How many houses have you lived in? Six. One I have no memory of. Do you shut off the water while you brush your teeth? Yes. What video game should everybody play at least once? Amnesia: A Machine for PIgs for the symbolism. It blows my mind how most horror fans hate it; it's like they totally miss the point. 100 years from now, what modern things will people look back on and say, “WTF?” Hopefully things like homophobia, racism, misogyny, concepts like those. What is impossible to understand until it happens to you? Mental illness, to name only one thing. What fictional food item from a television show, cartoon, movie, or video game have you always wanted to try? Hm. There's a lot that has looked super good, really. What’s something that gets much more hate than it deserves? Nickelback, lmao. What phrases or sayings drive you crazy? "Everything happens for a reason," "it could be worse/some people have it worse," "it's all part of God's plan," "just think positive"... a lot of stuff. Do you have a deviantART? I do, even though Eclipse made it fucking suck. I only really stay because I cling to the dying hope of being at least somewhat successful on there, and I enjoy keeping tabs on the artwork of the hundreds of people I watch there. Who is your favorite character in your favorite movie? Mufasa, even if he doesn't last long in the movie. :''''''( Have you ever been to Germany? No, but I'd love to! What is your favorite holiday? Christmas. Have you ever been ice skating? No. The blades on the skates scare me. Have you ever taken a karate class? No. Do you have any nieces or nephews? I have a lot, if you include my half-siblings' kids. Do you own an Xbox? Nah, I've always been a PlayStation gal. Would you date someone who’s well-known for cheating? Nope. Would you break up with someone your parents didn’t approve of? No. I'd consider their reasons, but ultimately, it's about me loving the person. Could you be in a relationship without sex? Yeah, sure. It's not ideal, but I mean if the other person is just very opposed, I'm certainly not forcing them. Emotional intimacy is more important to me, anyway. Have you ever been “friendzoned”? Yep. :') Briefly, anyway. Jason tried for my sake, but it was VERY short-lived by no one's fault but my own because all I know how to do is fuck shit up when it comes to him. Which “famous couple” is your favorite? LOOK Mark and Amy are FUCKIN GEMS Have you ever “destroyed” a relationship? Pretty fucking much. Are you the “dominant” or the “submissive” part in a relationship? I'm submissive by nature. Do you think Valentine’s Day is overrated? No, I think it's a cute holiday. Which do you feel is worse of the two to smoke: weed or tobacco? Well, weed has more carcinogens, but at least it has actual health benefits. Who did you last see that you haven’t seen in ages? *shrug* Are you photogenic at all? God no.

[thesolitarystripe]

History of a Building Written Through the Perspective of a Door.

Writing from the perspective of a door was, harder than I thought. When my new sister-in-law first suggested this prompt I was super excited because of how unique it was and honestly, as someone who talks to inanimate things all the time, I thought it was such a sweet idea. Hubby and I are gearing up to move, as some of you know, and Sarah said "Imagine how the door to your new house feels" and that was all it took to start the gears in my head. This is a feel-good story, unlike much of the other stuff I have been writing. I hope you enjoy it and I hope that this new house we're fighting for is as excited as we are.

It had been six months since the old Willow home was lived in. In the middle of winter, just after Christmas, the old owners left—leaving their home vacant. It never seemed to bother any homeowner when they moved on, some were more hesitant than others; and of course, there were the few that shed tears upon leaving but, they still went. The promise of newness was too alluring to keep them within the same four walls. They never looked back nor did they ever stop to think that perhaps the house was watching them go, panels and wood layered in sadness.

The door of every home, unbeknownst to humankind, were the eyes of the structure while the heart was most assuredly the furnace. There was no brain per se but a general knowingness throughout the plumbing and electric, the flooring and walls, it simply was. It existed with the intentions it was built with. To protect and care for those that dwelled within. No one knew, how could they, a house had no other ways of communicating other than breaking appliances or creaking in the wind—it had no words. The Willow home was no exception. From the moment its door was slapped onto the hinges in the 1960s, it watched and grew to care deeply for those that lived inside. First, there was the original family that bought them after the initial construction. The Bakers. No, they did not have a special knack for baking at all, it was a handed-down surname. The house met the married couple first and was proud to be the first home the newlyweds bought. When they first moved in, the whole home stood taller, felt the excitement in every socket and vent—a new life. The Bakers were content for some time to leave the home as it was; until they had children.

Upon the concrete patio in the backyard, the Willow home raised two sets of tiny feet. Stampings of watery footprints littered the dry concrete as the Baker children shrieked and played in the lush grass and a sprinkler. The young years of those babies were the best the house had ever seen. Every shingle and every wall strengthened beneath the harsh weather, ensuring their little ones were safe as they slept inside. Nothing would harm the Bakers. Thirty years the Bakers stayed. After the first ten, the house grew to think that perhaps this was forever! Every morning the door would peer out into the neighborhood and watch other families adopting pets and noted how they would keep them from pup to senior, and yet no one did the same for their homes. The house to the left, looking out toward the street, of course, had new owners almost every year. The Willow home would watch as another moving van was parked out front and the house’s roof would sag a little bit more.

The next one is the one! It was a thought the Willow home tried to press through the air between the homes but, while they had sentience, they were not gifted words. In fact, the Willow home had learned their entire vocabulary from the Bakers. It was quite easy to exist, to be, but no one ever looked at the front door and said, ‘okay, now you’re called a door and you will swing open and closed to allow your family to enter and leave.’ There were no instructions from the construction workers that built them. The whole house agreed that they did not wake up into existence until the Bakers were brought into the home for a viewing. It was only then, that the door’s eyes were opened and within them, it saw their new life.

Their neighbor to the right was more fortunate than the other neighboring home, while it certainly saw a few families come and go, the space between the moves was larger. The Willow home was the only place to keep one family and it would not have had it any other way. Within the sturdy walls, the home raised the children and watched until they were no longer babies but blossoming young adults.

Then it happened. One morning, the door blinked against the sunlight and saw an unfamiliar sign. A for sale sign. The windows shuddered as if the wind blew fiercely against it, but the day was sunny and still. It was obviously a mistake. That is what the door told the rest of the home until it was apparent from the boxes that began to stack, that the door was very wrong. Every other piece of the home began to question and shake.

What about Anita’s first kiss? That happened right on the front steps, the door saw it happen! Are they leaving that behind?

And what of John’s workbench in the garage? He spent at least six months finishing that project, will he take it with him? We will miss the bench!

The door was silent, staring out at the street as the rest of the home creaked and moaned. The Bakers were leaving, they were not an exception to the fate all houses had. They were not a pet or seen as family.

We are just wood and stone.

After the Bakers left, the house sat dormant for three months. Random strangers were allowed inside to see the innards of the home, all beautifully updated by the Baker family before they left it behind. Why had they done so much if they intended to leave? The countertops in the kitchen asked that a lot. The door never replied. The home finally found new owners within another young couple. Married for several years, no children but a lot of pets. Cats. Dogs. The wooden floors wept for their fate. The door made sure to squeak loudly whenever it was opened, hoping that the new owners would hear the discontent within it. If the door could have swung open and knocked them down, it would have. It took a year for the Willow home to warm up to the new couple, and perhaps a few extra months to embrace the animals. The dog was well-mannered, but those cats liked to claw at the couch. It was not technically part of the home, but it was still difficult to watch. Each time the home heard the rip of fabric, visions of those claws digging into the walls or the floorboards made it shudder.

For six years the couple stayed. The door hardly remembered the names of them. Now six months later and the house was still vacant.

One morning, a man walked up to the door, and behind him followed a young man and woman. The door noted wedding bands on their fingers. A couple. They stepped into the home to look at its insides and something came alight within the structure. It was as if the pair brought a breath into the home that it had not been able to suck in for the last six years. The door alerted the rest of the home.

Look your best!

Why so they can leave us too?

Don’t you feel that?

The door saw it, felt the newness and the excitement of young love and a new chapter. It was the same feeling when the Bakers walked in past the threshold. Oh, if they could stand any taller the house would come apart wooden plank by wooden plank. The countertops glistened and the windows appeared wide and clear. Every appliance, young and old, did its best to show how well it functioned and looked even if some were a bit aged. The young couple let their hands trail over the railings and the walls, perhaps feeling the same measure of electricity that coursed through the house.

“This is it,” the woman said.

“Yeah, we love this place.”

While the door could no longer see them, it could hear just fine, and it almost shot the storm door off its hinges in excitement. This couple was meant to live there, there was no doubt. As the pair made to leave with the man who had shown them in, the young woman let her fingers linger on the door, feeling its weight as she softly closed it. Her eyes drifted over the front of the house, toward the large tree out front.

“You’re not cutting him down!” She yelled back at her husband. The door beamed beneath her hand that still rested on the middle of it. The Bakers never wanted to take down the trees either. The door wanted to press itself into the warmth of her palm but, it was just a door. A hunk of wood and metal. “I hope we’ll be back soon,” she turned suddenly back to the door and spoke to it. “Keep the house safe for us until we get back,” a few gentle pats were placed on its front. “You’re a handsome little door.” That was a new vocabulary word, but the door felt the meaning of it down to its core.

Please come back!

The door wanted to shout as the woman walked away to join her husband on the sidewalk. If there was any couple the Willow home could love as much as the Bakers, it was them. No matter how long they stayed the home wanted to be there for the memories, to keep them safe. The door would wait, watch, every day until the woman who called him handsome returned and was lovingly protected behind their walls.

[zodiacrant]

What are you doing in August?

(Zodiac text RPG game)

*First what will you be doing?*

Sun:-

Aries: Clubbing

Taurus: Having a gathering

Gemini: Sleepover

Cancer: Visiting friends

Leo: Birthday party

Virgo: Taking pictures

Libra: Going out

Scorpio: Cooking

Sagittarius: Family gathering

Capricorn: Watching Netflix

Aquarius: Joining a club

Pisces: Playing video games

*With who?*

9th house:-

Aries: My bitch

Taurus: My BFF

Gemini: Random drunk girl

Cancer: S/O

Leo: Tinder date

Virgo: My parents

Libra: My crush

Scorpio: My pet

Sagittarius: My second personality

Capricorn: My favorite family member

Aquarius: My neighbors

Pisces: A homeless person

*Where is it?*

10th house:-

Aries: An abandoned barn

Taurus: A 5 star resort

Gemini: Around the block

Cancer: Someone’s remodeled basement

Leo: A house party

Virgo: Broadway show

Libra: Your friend’s boyfriend new car

Scorpio: A mansion

Sagittarius: The beach

Capricorn: High-rise penthouse

Aquarius: A junkyard

Pisces: A sketchy club

*Time to get dressed*

Raising:-

Aries: Something bold but simple

Taurus: Something elegant but comfy

Gemini: Something oversized

Cancer: Something Sweet but unique

Leo: Something flashy but not too much

Virgo: Something dressy but practical for any event

Libra: Something trendy but with your own taste

Scorpio: Something Black but with pops of color

Sagittarius: Whatever is available

Capricorn: Jeans and a T-shirts

Aquarius: Something with a statement

Pisces: Pajamas

*Oh no!*

*As you were about to change you trip on your own feet*

Saturn:- What will you grab to balance?

Aries: My dildo

Taurus: My boobs

Gemini: My bag

Cancer: The bed

Leo: The dresser

Virgo: The closet

Libra: The mirror

Scorpio: My junk

Sagittarius: The door knob

Capricorn: The chair

Aquarius: The window

Pisces: My blanket

*Oh no!*

*You ain’t grabbing shit!*

*Now what?!*

Saturn:-

Aries: Push yourself to the back

Taurus: Look at yourself go down in the mirror

Gemini: Curse one last time before making contact with the ground

Cancer: Call for your mom

Leo: Protecting your face

Virgo: Cry on the way down

Libra: Save your phone

Scorpio: Falling with a graceful resting bitch face

Sagittarius: Screaming fuck

Capricorn: Bracing

Aquarius: About to take a shit

Pisces: About to fart

*Your attempts in saving yourself have failed*

*you slam into the floor*

*You’re feeling pain*

*What’s hurting?*

8th house:-

Aries: My face

Taurus: My mouth

Gemini: My eyes

Cancer: My chest

Leo: My stomach

Virgo: My arms

Libra: My ears

Scorpio: My junk

Sagittarius: My legs

Capricorn: My head

Aquarius: My back

Pisces: My feet

*You’re scream in pain*

*There’s a sound behind the door*

*As you wail, you hear someone’s voice*

*Who is it?*

4th house:-

Aries: My sibling

Taurus: My partner

Gemini: My young sibling

Cancer: My mother

Leo: My dad

Virgo: My grandmother

Libra: My friend

Scorpio: My step sister Rebecca ?!!

Sagittarius: My Teacher

Capricorn: My grandfather

Aquarius: My cat

Pisces: My dog

*The door opens*

*What are they doing?*

5th house:-

Aries: Shaking you

Taurus: Giving you CPR

Gemini: Slapping you to wake up

Cancer: Crying that you’re dead

Leo: Pulling on your hair and clothes

Virgo: Calling the police

Libra: Passed out on top of you

Scorpio: Hugging you as they cry

Sagittarius: Shouting so you’ll get up

Capricorn: Pouring water on your face

Aquarius: Screaming for help

Pisces: Pulling you outside for some reason

*You’re clearly awake*

*They’re not paying attention to you*

*You’re getting mad*

*What do you do?*

Mars:-

Aries: Square up on that bitch

Taurus: Kick that bitch in the crotch

Gemini: Slap that bitch

Cancer: Bite that bitch

Leo: Scratch that bitch

Virgo: Pull that bitch’s hair

Libra: Poke that bitch in the eye

Scorpio: Choke that bitch

Sagittarius: Punch that bitch in the stomach

Capricorn: Grab that bitch from the ear

Aquarius: Twist that bitch’s arm

Pisces: Push that bitch

*They got off of you*

*What will you do/say?*

3rd house:-

Aries: Curse that bitch out

Taurus: Scream at that bitch

Gemini: Push that bitch out of the room

Cancer: Scream cry at that bitch

Leo: Continues on beating that bitch’s ass out of the room

Virgo: Lectures that bitch

Libra: Aggressively explains what happened to that bitch

Scorpio: Drags that bitch out by the hair

Sagittarius: Frantically scream as the bitch runs out

Capricorn: *Death glare*

Aquarius: Throwing shit at that bitch

Pisces: stays a couple more minutes on the ground moaning

*Now with that over let’s go*

*A few hours later*

*You see someone checking you out*

*You take breath of courage*

*Or a shot*

*You start walking towards them*

*How do you walk there?*

Venus:-

Aries: with confidence, knowing you’ll get them

Taurus: On the outside you’re confident but on the inside you’re freaking out

Gemini: Taking short walks as you think of what to say

Cancer: Reluctant, you walk towards them, then you walk back, you stop yourself and then you walk back towards them

Leo: You walk with all your might, giving them the impression you’re not going towards them but you’re

Virgo: Walking slowly, as you’re reciting all the moves and things you should and shouldn’t say

Libra: Acting like the best to mask the terror on your face

Scorpio: You’re scared they’ll be like the last one

Sagittarius: Memorizing and thinking of catch lines to impress them

Capricorn: You’re walking feeling guarded, like you’re about to go to war

Aquarius: Unsure of whether it’s worth it or not

Pisces: Thinking about memes to talk about

*You get there*

*You introduce yourself *

*How do you introduce yourself?*

Mercury:-

Aries: You start up the conversation by straight up telling them that they have caught your attention

Taurus: You take time warming up, standing next to them. You wait about what to say and then they catch you off guard by making their first move

Gemini: Out of nervousness, you pull out your phone and act as if you’re doing something to buy yourself some time to think. You then attempt to say hello only to say jello! They laugh it off and ask if you’re speaking Spanish

Cancer: As you got there they turn to look at you and compliment you, as you give a blushing thanks

Leo: You’re making poses next to them as they’re attempting not to look at you, as you get bored and restless and about to scream what’s wrong with them, they give a simple hi

Virgo: You two look over at each other waiting for one to talk, as you’re about to say hello they also say hello, then you both say sorry at the same time and laugh

Libra: You give them your hair-flip, smile and wink technique, and they smirk at you and get a little closer. You start acting like you don’t know what’s up as they come closer to you and say a simple hi

Scorpio: You take a deep breath, get a drink, and walk over there ask them if there’s a problem by mistake, you slam your head on your forehead and as you stumble on your words they tell you it’s okay and introduce themselves

Sagittarius: You try to act cool, like you own the shit and fail miserably. This, however, gives you an advantage, as it happens that this person has a good sense of humor. You introduce yourselves as you laugh.

Capricorn: You try to play hard to get and appear like you’re all that, pretending you don’t see this person. As you notice by the corner of tour eye that they’re getting frustrated, you take a breath and turn around with a “WHAT!” that sounded like a fight more than a flirt. They get pissed off and start to walk away as you apologize and then they chuckle under their breath.

Aquarius: You try to find a subject to talk about, you take your time looking around, so you start a conversation about their drink that ended awkwardly. Then as you wait for them to talk, you say “I am…..” as they’re about to talk.

Pisces: You don’t trip after thinking about walking straight, you get a drink and as you turn you drink flies out of your hand and falls on the floor. As you apologize and try to clean the mess up, you slip and they catch you

*After the puke fest of unrealistic cliche romance meeting scenes*

*It’s a make believe game. Leave me alone*

*You start to get to know this person*

*What are they like?*

7th house:-

Aries: A biker, bad boy/girl vibe, leather and jeans, tattoos and a lot of attitude

Taurus: Charming, elegant, classy, has an old school Hollywood type of vibe, seems opulent

Gemini: Skater, jeans and a hoodie, laid back and easy going, looks like a lot of fun with a good amount of trouble

Cancer: Classic looks but so captivating, beautiful eyes with a matching smile, your notebook fantasy boy/girl

Leo: Dressed for the 10’s, flashy, confident, owns the room, mesmerizing you with those eyes, they got the moves

Virgo: Someone that knows what they want, very intelligent person with an eye for detail and beauty, the muse to your artistic self

Libra: Classic heartthrob that everybody wants, got style and a whole lot of swag, knows what to say to make your head spin, sweet kisses

Scorpio: Seductive, absorbs all the lights in the room, undresses you with your eyes, knows how to show you a an unforgettable night

Sagittarius: A little nerdy, has that next door boy/girl kind of charm, get what they like and love what they get, will show you the world

Capricorn: Strong personality but reserved, put together and clean, angel on the street and a devil in the sheets

Aquarius: Commands and shifts the room’s energy, the wild one, eccentric, marches to the beat of their own drums

Pisces: A big hippie, an artist with an eye that separates things and put them back together, such a weirdo but they’re cute, they see you as their muse

*You two are hitting things off*

*Gasp*

*Someone unexpected came through!*

*Who is it?*

12th house:-

Aries: Your hateful sister-in-law

Taurus: Your ex partner

Gemini: Your ex Best friend

Cancer: Janet Jackson??

Leo: Your rival

Virgo: Your elementary school bully

Libra: Your frenemy

Scorpio: Your enemy

Sagittarius: A date that you ghosted

Capricorn: Your annoying boss

Aquarius: Your sister’s asshole boyfriend

Pisces: Your drug dealer!

*You start to freak out*

*You look for your friend*

*You found them*

* You run out with them losing on the possibility of love*

*1 Hour later*

*You sigh as you go to bed*

*And order some food cause ain’t no relationship feels as good as food*

The end

[tara-the-quiet-bookworm-2016]

Dance For Me (Traci! Kara x Human! Connor) (Chapter Seven.)

Authors Note- And here we are with chapter Seven of Dance For Me. I got to say this story isn’t even a month old and I’m already half way through this story. Now, I’m not trying to rush through the story, I’m just really into it. After all, the world needs more Connara, am I right? 

Enough rambling now as you know I like to mention anything potential triggers in the Authors Notes I can honestly say aside from a few mentions of blood there’s nothing too triggering in this. If none of this is your cup of tea then this is where we part ways but I’ll remember our time fondly. Now without further ado here is Chapter Seven.

Chapter Seven: Tender Moments

Silence fell over the car as Connor drove, his eyes fixed on street before him. He needed to head to his house, it was the only place where he knew he could hide Kara. Connor mentally thanked the fact that he lived in a rather secluded area where none of his neighbors where the nosey type. At least not to the point where they were in his business 24/7. Like some neighbors, that is. Connor frowned as he thought about the neighbors Hank tended to have. Remembering more than once escorting the drunken Lieutenant home, the neighbors living next to him peering through their windows at the duo. 

Frowns on their faces as they shook their heads at Hank before ducking away behind their curtains as Connor scowled.

“You’re really quiet.” Kara murmured, jerking him from his thoughts. 

Looking over at her, Connor could see that her wound had stopped bleeding. Blue blood drying on the sleeve on of her sweater, making the fabric stiff. “It’s been a really long few days.” Connor said, eyes glued to the road, he was close now. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

Kara looked to him, scanning his face, noting the dark circles under his eyes, and his messy hair, had she really caused him so much trouble? Guilt gripped her, as she turned her gaze to her hands, eyebrows furrowed. “I’m sorry.” The words were barely audible in the car as Connor looked to her. “I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you-”

“Don’t,” Connor said firmly. Making Kara start slightly as he pulled into driveway. “Don’t apologize.”

Kara blinked. Connor looked to her, eyes narrowed. “You did what you had to do to survive. If you didn’t you would have died... and I....” Connor trailed off, brow furrowing as he looked away. “And I would have done everything in my power to bring the man to justice.” The last part was said in a growl, sending shivers down Kara’s spine as he met her gaze once more.

His eyes, his usually warm, soft eyes, were now cold and dark. The sight of them frightened Kara, was this what criminals saw when they sat across from Connor in the interrogation room? Where as she saw warmth they saw this? Shaking that thought from her head she looked away. Only to meet his gaze when he placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. Warmth seeped back into his eyes as he smiled at her, the same way he had always smiled at her, and as she looked to him she wished she could go back to before, before that man, before everything. She wanted to fall into Connor’s arms once more and forget everything that had happened.

Could they do that though? She thought, as she watched as Connor got out of the car, she following soon after, eyes glued to him still as he lead her up a drive way, arm draped over her shoulder, being mindful of her injured arm. Warmth seeped through his jacket into her, relaxing her. 

Opening the door, Connor lead her into the house, before closing the door behind her. Watching as Kara moved around his living room, taking it the sight of it. Noting the few pictures on his walls of him and Hank along with Hank’s dog, Sumo. To a picture of him on the day he had graduated from the police academy, along with various other pictures, before Kara turned to face him, hands clasped behind her back.

“So this is where you live, huh?” Kara murmured, moving towards him, a soft smile on her lips as she looked up at him.

“Yup, this is where I call  home.” Connor said, closing the door behind him and move to shrug his jacket off, when a plaintive meow drew the attention of the two of them and a small black and white cat trotted into the room, green and blue eyes looking up at Connor. 

“Oh?” Kara crouched down, scratching the cat behind the ears, smiling as it purred in response. “And who is this?” she asked, looking to Connor.

“Oh this little guy? This is Nines, my little kitty.” Connor said, picking the cat up  and giving him a pet. “He keeps me company in this lonely house, and well...” Connor looked up at her, removing a leaf from her hair, something she had no doubt required in her fight with Gavin. “He’ll keep you company while I’m at work.”

At that Kara cast him a worried look, her thoughts going back to the other Detective, a shiver running down her spine as she recalled the crazed look in his eyes as he had her on her knees, gun trained at her head. A look that would haunt her till the end of her days, she hoped that she would never have the misfortune of running into him again. 

"You’re worried, aren’t you?” Connor asked, noting that the smile had disappeared from her face, and that she had fallen silent. Hell, she had every right to be worried, she had just had to deal with a near death encounter with his... partner. Connor frowned, thoughts going back to Gavin. No doubt the other Detective knew that something was up. 

After all, everybody knew he was always someone who never gave up, who relentlessly chased every lead and always brought suspects to justice. And yet... And yet he had allowed Kara to slip from his fingers so to speak. No doubt Gavin would suspect something. At that thought Connor almost dreaded going back to the precinct to face him, but he knew unless he wanted the police kicking down the door down and dragging Kara away to be destroyed, while he ended up being locked away for aiding a criminal he would have to keep up the ruse. And pretend to continue the investigation. Connor worried at his bottom lip, eyes never leaving Kara.

Shaking his head he placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to force a reassuring smile to his lips. “I know you’re worried, I can’t really blame you.” He told her, as Kara looked away. “But I assure you I’ll let nothing happen to you, I promise.”

Kara looked to him, searching his face for any sign that he could be lying to her, seeing nothing she smiled as he looked up at him. Placing a hand on his cheek, thumb brushing against his cheek bone as she moved to kiss him. Connor buried a hand in her hair as he pressed his lip to hers. The kiss lasted only for a few moments but it still left Connor breathless as he looked down at her, her face cupped in his hands as she looked up at him.

Silence fell over them once more, as Connor moved in for another kiss, only to have Kara place a hand on his chest, stopping him. Seeing confusion in his eyes she offered him a smile as she gestured to the gaping bullet wound in her arm that had long since stopped bleeding. Connor mentally kicked himself for being so selfish, here she was still hurt and they were were standing in his living room kissing. Gnawing at his bottom lip he looked her over once more, before taking her hand and leading her towards the bathroom. Closing the door behind him he moved towards Kara, still gnawing at his bottom lip he looked at her clothes, briefly wondering how he was going to go about doing this. 

“I, uh, I need to clean you up...” Connor felt his cheeks heat up, what was his problem he had seen her naked before, had felt her skin beneath his fingers- No! Shaking his head he forced those thoughts from his head, bringing himself back to reality he noted her looking at him. “I’m... I’m going to clean you up, I’m going to need you to remove your clothes.”

Kara smiled at him, seeing his cheeks redden, god he looked so cute. “I’m going to need some help, with my arm messed up like this it’s going to be hard, will you help me?” she asked, noting his cheeks reddening further. Why? She thought as Connor closed the distance between them once more, grabbing the edges of her sweater. He had seen her naked more than once, did it have to do with her being deviant? 

Shaking that thought from her head she let him pull her sweater off, before moving to her equally bloodstained undershirt, leaving her in her bra and jeans, both of which were removed before Connor turned away from her, as she stood nude before him.

Turning on the water Connor gently guided her into the tub, watching as she eased into the warm water, a sigh escaping her lips as warmth engulfed her. Her injured arm resting on the edge of the tub as to not get water in it, the last thing any of them needed after all they had endured was her to short circuit because she got water inside her. Grabbing the sponge Connor gingerly wiped away the dried blood off of her, eyes fixed on her face, her eyes closed as a soft sigh escaped her lips.

After what seemed like forever Connor slowly helped her out of the tub, being mindful of her injured arm as she stepped out of the tub. Grabbing the robe that was hanging on the back of his door he wrapped it around Kara. When a new thought hit Connor as she looked at her, draped in his robe, blonde hair clinging her face. The towel she used to dry off on the floor at her feet. If he was going to keep her here she was going to need some things, right? Or Connor thought as he eased her into a computer chair in his room, before moving to rummage through the closet for his first aid kit, he knew it wouldn’t exactly help, since Kara didn’t heal the same way humans did, but until he could get what she would need it would do. He knew android owners often purchased blue blood, but would there had to be something else she would need, right?

“You seem quiet.” Kara murmured as he moved back towards her, easing himself in the seat in front of her he gingerly took in her injured arm in his hands, noting the wound was a through and through. Biting down on his bottom lip he wrapped the wound in gauze before looking up at her. “Well, since you’ll be staying with me for a while I’ve been thinking about what you might need. I know you might need more blue blood but what else could you tell me?”

Kara worried at her bottom lip as she thought about it. Before shaking her head. “Nothing, we don’t really need much.” She told him. But there was one question that was bothering her, what was she going to do when he was at work?

“Are you sure?” Connor asked, placing the gauze back in the med kit he looked to her. “Is something wrong?”  he asked.

“When you’re at work,” Kara worried at her lip as she looked at him. “What should I do?”

“What do you mean?” Connor asked, arching an eyebrow at her. “You don’t honestly expect me to treat you like some household android, do you?”

Kara was silent. 

“You’re here because you need protection, you’re not my property, hell you’re not even an object anymore you’re alive.” Connor’s eyes widened at those words let his lips, slowly meeting Kara’s gaze he saw her eyes were wide. She was alive, Connor thought, just as he always thought she was long before she deviated, when she would sit there and listen to him rant, to when they lay together, her fingers carding through his hair after they fucked. But, now he knew it she was alive...

“You really think I’m alive?” Kara asked, not seeming to believe the words, despite how much she wanted to. Oh, how she wanted it, after years upon years of human seeming her as nothing he was the one that mattered the most to her, seeing her as a living person. 

Swallowing Connor nodded as Kara searched his face, looking to any sign that he was lying to her, though why would he? Why would he after all he had done for her? Without a word she wrapped her arms around him, the side of her face pressed against his chest, listening to his heart beat as tears spilled down her cheeks. Connor wasted no time returning the hug, pressing his lips to her hair.

“Thank you.” She whispered, as he pulled her closer, her eyes sliding shut. She was finally safe, safe with Connor. She hoped that as Connor guided her to the bed after dressing her in one of his long sleeved dress shirts that from now on things would be better. That life would go on, and nothing bad would happen to either of them from here on out.

Little did she know that things for them were far from over...

[lloydskywalkers]

exposure therapy

Prompt three for @ninjago-angst-week , this one’s “hunger” - I’m taking a kind of...loose interpretation of it, I guess?? Listen hunger can go for a lot of things and I’ve been wanting to write something about Lloyd and abandonment issues for forever so!! That’s what this is.

it’s also the longest prompt yet oops 

(Takes place between s7 and s8!)

Lloyd is about four years old the first time someone leaves him and doesn’t come back.

He says about because he doesn’t really remember it all too well – he’s listened to the others bicker enough to know that technically you don’t start forming concrete memories until like, age five or something, and any that you do form before that you probably forget by the time you’re old enough to care.

Lloyd remembers the sting, though. In his eyes, that is – the ache in his chest was a whole lot worse than a sting, but it’s not like he’s going to spend that much time trying to describe it when he’s trying to get over it. And he is – over it, that is. He’s over being left alone on the doorsteps of some dumb school as a kid because no one cared enough to take him in. He’s over being the kid without a family for years and years because his parents left him and didn’t come back, because his uncle didn’t care enough to visit him, because clearly there was something wrong with him—

No, that’s – no, he reminds himself. They were busy, that’s all. With way more important things than some snot-nosed little kid who was pretty much useless at the time, and even better at causing trouble.

There’s nothing wrong with Lloyd. He’s over it, has been, and will continue to be, because someone in the mess that’s the family line of the First Master needs to have themselves together.

And if it does sting, sometimes, when he thinks about doorsteps and windows and how stupid he felt when he realized no one was coming back—

Well. It’s not worse than what the others have to deal with, is it? Lloyd should be thankful that’s all he’s been dealt.

(That and the whole, like, green-ninja-savior-of-the-world stuff, of course, but that’s — kinda whatever, at the moment. No one’s asked him to fight an ungodly being anytime recently, and Lloyd isn’t gonna complain.)

__ __ __ __

The thing about carefully constructing nice little (enormous) walls in your head to block out all the messy stuff is that, eventually, you’re going to have a few cracks in them to patch up. And while Lloyd’s dealt with those cracks before, he kind of wasn’t…really expecting this one.

“Oh,” he says, and he’s proud of how his voice doesn’t waver. Twice proud, really, because it’s been threatening to crack a lot lately, and that’s not just from emotion. “Yeah. That does make sense, I guess.”

Kai nods. “I mean, I don’t like the idea of us all splitting up, but it’s the best way to cover ground.”

“Additionally, this is a rare time in which Ninjago is not facing any immediate threat,” Zane chimes in. “If danger does occur, we should have plenty of time to regroup.”

Nya taps her foot. “I don’t like it,” she mutters. “And I don’t like leaving Ninjago City on its own.”

Especially with someone running around with my Samurai X armor on, is her unspoken complaint.

“We’re wasting time just sitting around like this,” Cole retorts. “The sooner we get out looking, the sooner we find Sensei, and the sooner we can come back.”

Lloyd looks down. The pain in Cole’s voice is obvious, and Lloyd knows he misses Sensei Wu. Lloyd misses him, too, but Cole’s always had a close sort of relationship with him.

Lloyd takes a breath. He’s leader now, right? Time to act like it.

“I can stay behind in the city,” he says, even as his brain gives him a nice little Lloyd what the heck warning. “That way I can keep an eye out for trouble, and listen for any tips on Sensei.”

Kai immediately looks concerned. Nya’s eyes spear into him. “You’re alright with that?”

Lloyd shrugs. “Finding Sensei’s first priority,” he says. “But someone’s gotta make sure the country doesn’t burn down.” He flashes Kai a smile. “Seriously, I’m taking the easy job from you guys. I’ll be fine.”

“Pixal can watch out for him on comms, as well,” Zane says, slowly. “That way you won’t be entirely on your own.” Kai nods at that, and Nya relaxes a bit.

Lloyd sours. He’s not a child anymore — they can stop treating him like one. They just made him leader, didn’t they?

A small part of him (a large part), though, has to admit that the thought of Pixal being with him brings no small amount of relief.

“Alright,” Lloyd says, trying to sound authoritative. “That’s it, then. We’ll split out at the end of the week. And we will find Sensei.”

“Fingers crossed,” Jay murmurs.

No one looks particularly excited about the plan, but they’re at least eager to start moving. Lloyd, for his part, takes the building amount of dread at the thought of watching them all leave, shoves it in a corner, and locks the door on it.

It’s not like they’re leaving-leaving. They’re coming right back, obviously. Lloyd is just – being paranoid, that’s all. His team is strong, and Kai definitely isn’t gonna go down to some low-level crooks while traveling the countryside.

(They aren’t like – her, either.)

And speaking of his family — Lloyd finds himself wondering, later, when exactly he started calling Wu sensei in his head, instead of uncle.

He thinks it might have been after Morro. That was around the time he started to feel like he didn’t have the right.

__ __ __ __

He says goodbye to the others at the end of the week. Jay and Cole are going together, and so are Kai and Zane.

He and Nya will be on their own.

No one is super excited about that development, either, but it makes sense. The guys are taking the more dangerous areas, so they’ll need backup. He and Nya can handle themselves just fine on their own – Lloyd isn’t even leaving the city. He’s got it easy.

Besides, the guys are used to working in groups. He and Nya are more experienced with functioning on their own. They’ve had to be, that’s all. They’re more familiar with fighting while knowing there’s no one watching your back.

They close up the monastery for now, everything in neat boxes and beds made indefinitely. They don’t pack much – either from convenience or hope that they won’t be away long, no one’s really sure. They say goodbye and make promises to check in as often as possible. Kai hugs Lloyd extra tight, his spiky hair ticking the top of Lloyd’s forehead as he’s crushed against him. Lloyd doesn’t mind, not even when he’s pretty sure Cole almost cracks a rib with his.

And then they leave, all trailing off in different directions, leaving Lloyd standing alone on the edge of the floating island, wind whipping cold through his hair, the monastery eerily silent behind him.

And it’s…

…he’s fine with it.

Like — there’s this weird sort of ache in his chest, kind of like he forgot to eat this morning, so he’s all empty and yearning inside, but that’s – that’s fine.

Perfectly fine.

__ __ __ __

It occurs to him, after he has what’s definitely not a breakdown that definitely does not last long at all, that he’s volunteered to look after Ninjago City, and Ninjago City is a considerable amount of distance from the Airjitzu Temple.

It hits him immediately after that moving to Ninjago City requires somewhere to live. He probably…should have thought of that before everyone left. Maybe he should call—

No. Lloyd shakes himself. He’s leader now. He can’t keep relying on the others for everything. He can find an apartment or something all by himself — how hard can it be, right? The guys found one for all of them back when they were a bunch of half-trained ninja and Lloyd still came up to about Kai’s knee. This is one apartment, for one person. And Lloyd’s got money — he thinks. Somewhere.

…maybe.

Stupid sensei creeds of peace and their obsession with not owning anything material—

Okay fine, so Lloyd’s got zip-zero-nada in the way of family inheritance, but his mother, who took off last week — yeah, she’s leaving too, big surprise —

Lloyd shoves down the spark of bitterness. Misako has better things to do than babysitting him, like finding Sensei Wu. And she did send him money, so he doesn’t even know why he’s feeling all empty about it. She’s made sure he’s not gonna starve and she sent him the name of a housing agent, Lloyd can’t ask for much more.

Maybe a nice landlord, but that’s about it.

__ __ __ __

On the list of bright sides to look at: finding an apartment isn’t as mind-numbingly difficult as he’d thought it’d be. He didn’t name drop or anything, but he did kinda have to fill out his full name on the application, so maybe that’s why. Either way, it wasn’t as bad as he’d worked it up to be, so that’s nice.

On the not so bright side — standing in the middle of his brand-new and also completely-empty apartment, it occurs to him that he should probably have asked for like, curtains, at the least. Or a table. How much do beds cost?

On the whole, though, it’s not a bad place. Really. Like – okay, he does need to get a bed and stuff in here, but – the walls are a nice color, and it’s got a little kitchenette off to the side, and the shower works, and the windows provide both a nice view and an easy way to slip outside to the rooftops. His neighbor is also pretty nice, in the way that he doesn’t hate Lloyd’s guts on sight, so that’s cool.

(Look, the way his life goes, guts-hating is just something you prepare for.)

His landlord is actually a landlady, and she’s mean, the kind of mean that makes Lloyd think of one of his Darkley’s teachers. But she’s got about eight cats that roam about the apartment at will, and she lets Lloyd bring in the stragglers he finds late at night on patrol and adopts them sometimes, so Lloyd could honestly care less if she actually was a teacher at Darkley’s. He gets to pet cats! On a daily basis!

(And maybe cry into the fatter one’s fur at two in the morning when he stumbles in from patrol sometimes but nobody needs to know that part.)

It’s like he’s off to college, he tells himself as he stares at the ceiling trying to fall asleep, in the apartment that’s completely empty except for him. If college was a full-time job that included regularly getting shot at by criminals and the police on the occasional bad night, of course, and if he’d actually finished high school, which he’s pretty sure you have to do if you want to get into college…he thinks. School is not a strong point for Lloyd, considering about eighty percent of his education came from Jay, Nya and Zane trying to stuff advanced algebra down his brain.

Either way, the analogy holds. Lloyd can just pretend he’s off to college, and before he knows it he’ll be back home and everyone else will be too. They’ll all come back.

They will.

__ __ __ __

He likes to think he has reason for being scared about it all the time, even though he’s the green ninja and team leader now so he shouldn’t be scared, much less of something this stupid, but it just. It blends together, sometimes. Whether he’s watching through cage bars or lingering after a funeral, held on the edge of a plane or standing on the deck of the Bounty while war rages below.

People leave. That’s life, that’s all.

That doesn’t mean Lloyd has to like it, but he does have to live with it. And he’s gotten really, really good at that.

__ __ __ __

He starts a growing list of bright sides to focus on, in what’s totally not a desperate attempt to keep up the optimism angle. His first attempts are decorating his apartment, which is actually kinda fun. He scrounges up a couch somehow and sinks entirely too much of his budget on little house plants and cool wall prints he finds in the market, and he probably didn’t need the little dragon lamp, but Mystake pawned it off on him when he stopped in for tea one day, so he starts basing the general aesthetic around that. See, bright sides.

Another one of these bright sides is that Ninjago City starts putting in sky trams the week he moves in to his apartment.

He’s a little wary, at first. Sky trams are like subways but in the sky, which means a whole lot more trouble if someone decides to hijack a subway and hold it hostage, or something. But then he pulls himself up on the roof, clambers over onto a station, takes a few tentative steps out over the thick steel cables, and — oh yeah, he gets it now. Lloyd’s never been scared of heights, and dangling this high above the city, skipping over traffic jams and cutting his patrol time in half, is something he can definitely get used to.

He gets in a whole lot of trouble the first few days for scaring the operators half to death, but all in all — worth it. Once the trams start running he trades the cables for the top of the cars, letting them steer him wherever they want in the city. It’s got a pretty great view of the sunset, which he’s been missing since leaving the Airjitzu temple, and the others are gonna love it when they come back.

Because they are coming back.

Lloyd’s just dangling one leg over the edge of the sky tram, considering dangling the other so he can drum them both on the side of the empty car, when his phone blares loudly and nearly sends all of him off the sky tram side.

“Hello?” he manages, clinging to the side of the sky tram with one hand, holding the phone to his ear with the other.

“Lloyd!” Kai’s voice is loud and cheerful over the phone, and Lloyd winces at the volume. “Hey bud, how’s it goin’? I didn’t catch you in the middle of anything, did I?”

Lloyd watches where his feet dangle over open air, the city far down below. “Nah,” he says, and carefully pulls himself back up. “Just finishing up patrol. How — how are you doing? Is everything okay?”

“Oh yeah, we’re good,” Kai assures him. “Just stuck between towns for the night, Zane didn’t wanna drive anymore.”

“Good for him,” Lloyd says. He bites his lip. “So uh, any luck?”

Kai sighs heavily over the phone. “Not yet,” he says. His voice picks up in determination. “But we’re still looking. We’ll find him, okay? No one’s giving up yet.”

“Yeah,” Lloyd exhales what might be a laugh. “I know.” He glances toward the horizon, the setting sun leaving white spots in his vision. “How’s it been, though, for you? Where all have you guys gone so far?”

“Oh man, we’ve been everywhere—“

Lloyd leans back on the roof of the sky tram as Kai fills him in on their ongoings. He closes his eyes, letting the conversation wash over him, Zane’s voice occasionally interjecting a point as Kai argues back.

Lloyd swallows. Kai’s voice is warm and familiar, and he feels a sudden ache of homesickness so bad that tears almost prick at his eyes.

Get it together, he thinks frantically, swiping at his left eye. It hasn’t even been a month yet.

“Lloyd?” Kai’s voice has turned uncertain. “You okay?”

Lloyd startles up, shaking his head. “Yeah, yeah I’m good,” he says, quickly. “Just a little tired. My uh, my landlady has a bunch of cats? And I stayed up late chasing one down last night.”

Kai snorts loudly. “I feel like you’re gonna have a lot of stories about cats when we get back,” he sighs, and the hollow part in Lloyd’s chest warms at the fond note in his voice.

“Or a couple cats.”

“Yeah, sure, good luck with that.” Lloyd can hear the grin in Kai’s voice. “Aw — shoot, I gotta go, but I’ll check back in, okay? In the meantime, take care of yourself before the cats, Master Lloyd.”

Lloyd rolls his eyes. “Will do, mom.”

“And that’s enough snark from you this evening, young man.”

Lloyd tells Kai goodbye on a laugh, and waits for him to end the call first. The evening grows unusually quiet without Kai’s voice to fill the silence, and Lloyd bites his lip.

Master Lloyd, he thinks absently, swinging his leg out over the edge as he watches the lights of the city turn on down below. He snorts without humor.

What does it say, he wonders, that they make him master, then immediately decide to jet off all over the country before he can actually lead them?

Probably something bad, Lloyd thinks to himself. He shakes his head, stifling a yawn. He’s too tired to even imagine what the others’ answers to that question would be. It’s not like they’re here to voice them, anyways, and Lloyd would probably get them wrong.

__ __ __ __

Kai’s text comes in clockwork as promised, reminding him to eat and take care of himself and eat, please, something other than just junk food. Nya’s follows almost immediately after, reminding him to do laundry and take care and take a shower, I know you’ve been skipping—

Normally Lloyd might have some snappy remark to send back about mother hens. This time he ends up staring at the texts until his eyes water, the empty ache in his chest growing tight. Half of him is considering blocking off his schedule so he can video call them for a couple hours, like they used to pester him with when he was off being the Golden Ninja around Ninjago, when his dad was still—

Right. Anyways. The team stays solid on their promise to keep in touch, and two hours later he gets a text from Jay. It’s a slightly blurry picture of him throwing the camera the peace sign as Cole struggles with camping gear, with a quick “hope you’re doing alright!” that follows after.

Lloyd laughs at the expression on Cole’s face, then spends the next two hours trying not to cry into his pillow, because yes, he’s that pathetic.

He wants to go home.

But see – it’s stupid, ‘cause he can’t. He can’t go home, because there is no home to go home to. His home ran off all over Ninjago and sure, while he can call them, he can’t go home to them because there isn’t – a home that’s home because they’re all there anymore.

“I mean, that probably doesn’t make any sense to you,” he finishes, ducking his head. “But that’s like…where I’m at.”

“No, I believe I understand.” Pixal’s voice is soft over his car’s radio. “Your home is people, and they’re out of reach from you. You could run to them, but there’s no guarantee they will stay.”

“Yeah, that’s — that’s exactly it,” Lloyd blinks.

Pixal makes a quiet noise. “My home is a person as well, Lloyd,” she admits. Her voice turns rueful. “But I cannot go anywhere. Not really.”

“Oh.” Lloyd’s stomach twists. Geez, he’s here feeling sorry for himself when Pixal doesn’t even have a body. Why doesn’t she have a body? They should get on that—

“Don’t worry yourself about it,” Pixal says gently. “I am fine. And our people will return, we just have to be patient. It’s only been a month.”

“Just a month?” Lloyd glances at his phone, checking the tiny digital calendar. His eyes catch the date ahead and his stomach turns. Oh. He hadn’t known that date was — that soon.

He quickly thinks of something else.

“Hey,” Lloyd says, breaking the silence. “What if I like – what if we snatched some old robot model from Mr. Borg for the day, and we checked out that new market downtown?”

Pixal is quiet for a beat, and the silence sounds almost guilty. “That wouldn’t — I’m afraid that’s not quite possible at the moment.”

“Oh.” It’s Lloyd’s turn to fall quiet for a moment. Then—

“Okay, but what if I brought you with me as a radio? I can just lug it around the whole time, and you can look at – aw, shoot, you gotta be able to see too – what if I brought you as like, my phone or something, like a laptop and I just have Skype running the whole time—“

Pixal sighs. “The radio will work just fine.” Her voice is more amused than exasperated, and Lloyd feels a wild surge of relief that he didn’t just drive her away, too.

__ __ __ __

Look, he knows he didn’t drive them away. Okay? He gets that they needed to split up. And he’s used to it. People leave all the time, and he should just be glad this isn’t one of the permanent ones. Because he’s had a lot of people leave him for really, really long times, too. He’s used to it.

The only problem there is that if he is, in fact, used to it, he should be desensitized to it, and not – feel as much, about it.

It’s not even like they leave him, really. It’s Lloyd. Lloyd is the one complicating things or driving people away or failing one too many times or just – sending them to Cursed Realms and losing them in a time stream because he couldn’t—

It’s Lloyd. He can’t go blaming them for his own issues.

Besides, it’s not like this time is – it’s not the same. Again, the ninja aren’t leaving-leaving him. They’re splitting up for a mission, they’ll be back.

This isn’t like with Zane. They’ll be back, on their own this time. Lloyd won’t have to wear them down, or lure them to a tournament, or anything. This is different.

It’s different, he tells himself fiercely, staring up at the cracked ceiling of his apartment, the ceiling fan drifting in slow, dizzy circles. This is different.

__ __ __ __

On Lloyd’s list of Things He’s Never Going To Voice Out Loud, To Any Sane Person: sometimes he feels like Morro’s still in his head.

Like – it’s trauma, he gets that. It’s bad memories and flashbacks and whatever acronym Zane keeps throwing at him that Lloyd can’t remember.

But sometimes the voice is just – it’s Morro’s grating timbre pitch for pitch, all mocking and bitter and sneaking up on him at the worst of times. Like right now, when it’s been two weeks since he last heard from anyone, and the silence in his apartment is getting too loud.

It’s you, the voice’ll say. That’s why they left. They grew tired of you. You drove them away.

Shut up, Lloyd thinks.

You’re not useful to them anymore, you know that, right? You couldn’t even save your own uncle, much less lead anyone. Why would they keep you around after that?

Shut up! Lloyd thunks his head against the wall, eyes squeezing shut tight. A throbbing pain echoes from the impact, and he winces.

Oops, he thinks, staring dully at the dent in the bathroom wall. Of all the things to get charged extra rent for.

Lloyd shakes his head, as if to shake off the thoughts as well. His wet hair swings out as he does, sending little droplets all over the bathroom mirror. Lloyd makes a face. As if he needed more evidence that his hair is getting too long.

And it is, really. His usual haircut’s almost entirely grown out, shiny blond locks long enough that they can form wavy little curls now. Lloyd brushes one from his face as he digs through the cluttered drawer of his bathroom vanity for scissors. It’s taking him a minute, because it’s a bit of a mess, but he’s not going to just admit that, not when Pixal’s been hounding him about cleaning your bathroom a lot lately.

It’s not like she has to live here, Lloyd grumbles to himself. He snatches the scissors from the bottom of the drawer, running a hand through the tangles in his hair and preparing to cut it back into the more familiar style—

Lloyd’s hand suddenly hesitates, his fingers stilling on the scissors.

It’s his father’s style. He’s known that. But looking in the mirror right now, at the sharper edge of his cheekbones and the dark red of his eyes, he realizes that he’s starting to match a little too—

Lloyd swallows. And there’s a reminder. He’d almost forgotten, that the date’s coming up. He isn’t gonna call it an anniversary, because that makes it sound like a celebration, and it’s definitely not, it’s just…an unfortunate date, in Lloyd’s history.

At any rate, he won’t match his dad. Not when his dad’s dead.

And who killed him, I wonder.

Lloyd chucks the scissors back in the drawer so hard he’s pretty sure he hears them break. He slams the drawer shut, exhaling shakily.

You know what, he’s kind of liking the feel of longer hair right now. It looks okay, he thinks. It looks like — well, Lloyd, he guesses.

__ __ __ __

His bathroom is a mess, though. Lloyd should probably clean it. He should probably call the others, too , just because — well, he needs to — he’s leader, so—

He needs an excuse.

Lloyd sighs, toeing the bathroom door shut. Aw, whatever. He can clean it tomorrow.

__ __ __ __

With the benefit of hindsight, Lloyd should probably retract his earlier claim that he’s used to fighting on his own enough not to screw up.

Probably because he screws up.

It’s not even his fault, really. How was he supposed to know that the rumors about the local biker gang getting more aggressive were under-exaggerated? They’re bikers, Lloyd can explode stuff with his hands, it should’ve been an easy fight.

And it was, right up until the part where the biker with the red mask whipped a gun out and shot him through the leg.

Jerk move, Lloyd thinks hazily, half-hopping through his apartment door, trying to stop at least some blood from getting all over the floor. Real jerk move.

He didn’t even catch the guy, either, which makes this whole thing so much worse, he thinks darkly to himself, as he stumbles his way to the bathroom. He probably should’ve just sucked it up and checked himself into the hospital, but Lloyd hates the hospital, and it’s really not that bad. He’s got plenty of medical supplies he stuffed in the sink cabinet of the bathroom, so he can just — patch it up with that real quick, then sleep it off.

You can’t sleep off a gunshot wound, Zane’s voice echoes in his head, and Lloyd blocks it out, carefully lowering himself down to the floor so he can—

His leg suddenly shifts wrong, and it flares in an agony so fiery that Lloyd’s vision goes white for a beat, a high-pitched keening echoing like a bomb’s been set off in his face, except it’s not his face it’s his leg, FSM that hurts, that hurts—

Lloyd braces himself on his forearms, drawing in strained breaths through his nose. It’ll stop hurting in a minute, he knows it will. He just has to give it time. But in the meantime, it’d be really nice — if he could just be sure — it’d be nice to ask Zane, you know, or have like, Nya here, or Kai, or—

The pain in his leg is finally starting to subside, but Lloyd’s still swallowing a sob. He wants his family here. He wants them here now, right now, so they can make it better—

His leg throbs again, and anger lights in his gut. No, you know what? He doesn’t want to see them. He doesn’t want them to come back, because he’s angry at them — he’s angry, they left him here alone and they should feel bad about it, should feel bad that Lloyd’s here all alone with his stupid leg bleeding everywhere, should feel bad when Lloyd doesn’t even wanna see them because he wants them to feel how he feels, all torn up and scared and dumb and miserable—

Lloyd exhales on a gasp, and the dam breaks.

He’s being an idiot, he tells himself fiercely, through hot tears. That’s something nine-year-old brat-from-hell Lloyd would think. Of course he wants them back. It’s not their fault Sensei went missing. None of this is their fault, Lloyd would give his right arm to have them back right now, if he could.

It’s not their fault Lloyd is—

Fine.

He’s fine.

Mostly.

__ __ __ __

Patching his leg is easy, once he manages to stop crying and choke the painkiller down.

Lloyd scrubs at his eyes, sniffling miserably. His nose is horribly stuffed and his head feels like it’s about to explode, but the awful need to sob is finally ebbing into residual shudders that leave Lloyd wrung out, miserable, and just – exhausted, he’s exhausted, that’s the word. Tired. He’s tired of getting up and feeling miserable every day, he’s tired of feeling sorry for himself, he’s tired of missing everyone, and he’s really, stupid tired of bikers that get lucky hits in when he’s got his guard down.

He stares at the dirty floor through grainy eyes. There’s blood all over the linoleum tile, and an old stain right by his foot that looks a lot like dried blood. It probably is blood, he thinks. And now he’s just adding more. Gross.

That’s…probably unsanitary.

On second thought, Pixal has a point. Lloyd does need to clean the bathroom already.

__ __ __ __

Several hours later finds Lloyd on one knee — the other is sprawled out awkwardly as it occasionally sparks green, which he’s ignoring right now — the sleeves of his too-large hoodie pulled up and his hair pushed back by the hideous purple-blue tye-die headband that’d been on sale at the checkout counter when he’d picked up groceries a while back.

He’s hauled the radio into the bathroom, and it’s playing some new synth-pop music that echoes weirdly off the tiles. He thinks he might like the music — that or he’s just been listening to it for too long.

His nose wrinkles as he strains further over the shower floor, scrubbing harder at a particularly stubborn stain. He’s really gotta start taking better care of this place, he thinks.

His leg twinges, and he winces, closing his eyes and taking a breath.

He should…probably start taking better care of himself, while he’s at it. He’s been doing a pretty sucky job, apparently.

Lloyd just wasn’t meant to live alone, he decides dully. It doesn’t suit him.

__ __ __ __

By the fifth day out Lloyd’s leg is starting to heal up pretty nicely. There’s a very large part of him that suspects the unusually quick healing time has something to do with the vivid green that’s bleeding into his irises, growing by the day. He’s not sure where suddenly having green eyes gets off equating to accelerated powers, but he can walk to the grocery store before he starves, so he’ll take it.

He buys himself enough to last a few weeks, which ends up being one grocery bag too many, so climbing the stairs to his apartment is a pain, especially when Minerva, the fat cat, runs between his feet and almost trips him back down the stairs. He finally manages to reach his floor and shakes the key from his jacket, balances the grocery bags in one hand, and keys the door open.

And promptly has a heart attack.

“Hey, about time!” Kai says brightly — Kai says brightly, where he’s sprawled across his cheap sofa, in his apartment.

Why is he in his apartment? Lloyd blinks once, hard. Still there. Is he hallucinating—?

“Need help with those?”

Nya is suddenly in his apartment too, grabbing a grocery bag from him and setting it over by the kitchenette.

“Sorry we didn’t warn you,” Cole says, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, and — FSM, are they all here? “Pixal told us where you lived, so we’d all planned to meet here, and I guess we…kinda all…forgot to tell you.”

“We all assumed the other group would,” Zane says, spearing Cole with a look. “Our apologies for barging in.”

“It’s a great apartment, though!” Jay exclaims, where he’s bent over his book case. “I wouldn’t have guessed you’d be into the whole interior design thing, but this is pretty nice.”

“Admit it, you were betting he’d moved into another volcano,” Kai snorts.  “Seriously though, green machine, how many plants do you need—“

“Leave him alone, I like the plants, I think they’re a nice touch—“

“Lloyd?” Nya’s voice is suddenly quiet. “Are you alright? I really am sorry we didn’t call first.”

Lloyd just stares at her with the same blank look he’s been staring at them all with for the last few minutes, still frozen in place. Is this what shock feels like? a part of him wonders.

“You’re here,” he says, blankly. “You’re all — here?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jay says, as if it’s obvious. “We said we were gonna check in, right? You didn’t get hit in the head while we were gone, did you?”

Nya whacks him on the shoulder. “Of course we’re here,” she says. “Your apartment is super easy to break into, you know. Gotta get a better lock.”

“Oh,” Lloyd says, weakly. “Um. Yeah. I — sorry, I just…wasn’t expecting, I guess. You guys to come now, that is.”

The mood suddenly shifts, and Lloyd’s not sure to what, but they don’t look as bright and happy anymore. Kai lifts a shoulder, then drops it, suddenly looking a little unsure. “I guess we should’ve checked, about the date,” he admits. “But we, uh, we just wanted to be here, for you.”

Lloyd blinks rapidly. “You wanted – why?”

Kai looks at Cole, chewing on the inside of his cheek briefly. “Well it’s…the day your dad got banished, isn’t it?”

The breath rushes from Lloyd’s lungs like a freight train, and oh. Oh. They remembered. They remembered, all by themselves, and they came back without him even asking, and—

“Oh,” Lloyd says, quietly.

Kai looks stricken. “Oh no,” he says. “You’re not going to cry. Lloyd, please, every time you go off I go off, so don’t — oh Lloyd, no.”

He tries, okay? He tries to stop it. But the cracks in his walls have turned to cracks in a dam, and the dam’s gotten a lot higher than he realized, and the cracks are suddenly big and torn and gaping—

Lloyd opens his mouth to reply and ends up hiccuping out a sob instead. “I’m sorry,” he croaks. “I just—“ he wipes fiercely at his eyes. “I really missed you guys, and that’s — that’s really nice of you, and—“

“FSM, Kai, suck it up.” Cole’s eyes are sympathetic, and suddenly Lloyd is in a very warm and very tight embrace. “This isn’t about you.”

“That’s not what I—!”

Kai cuts his own self off and joins the hug, and then Nya’s there, and a couple more arms that are Zane and Jay and Lloyd’s kind of suffocating a bit because the AC still isn’t on yet, but—

They came back.

Oh wow, Lloyd really wasn’t fine about that, was he.

__ __ __ __

They all stay in Lloyd’s apartment that night, which is a horrible decision, because he’s got one bed and one couch that shouldn’t really be called a couch, and there’s no room at all, but it’s free, Jay argues, so they can suck it up for the night.

They do, and Zane makes dinner with the few edible items Lloyd has and it actually tastes good,  Cole gets music on and Jay’s chattering with Nya and Kai’s hounding him about his hair, and it’s the loudest Lloyd’s apartment has been in months.

His landlady’s gonna give him heck about it, but Lloyd can’t find it in himself to care. He spends that night on his terrible sofa, crammed up between Nya and Kai with his cheek smushed into Kai’s shoulder, listening to Cole snore a room over, and it’s easier to fall into a sleepy lull than it’s ever been here.

“Hey,” Nya whispers to him, after Kai’s breathing evens out. “I really missed you, by the way.”

Lloyd rubs at his eye, yawning. “I missed you too,” he murmurs. “I mean, it hasn’t been awful, but—“

“Being alone sucks,” Nya finishes. “A lot. I miss everyone.”

Lloyd is quiet. “I do too,” he finally whispers.

“It’s too quiet,” Nya continues. “I keep having to blare music so I don’t lose it.”

“That’s what I’ve been doing,” Lloyd whispers. “Hey, have you heard, uh — it’s that weird sort of synth music—“

“The only thing they play on the hits channel now?”

“Yeah, that one. It’s not half bad.”

“Please tell me that’s not what you’ve been listening too, Lloyd. I thought you had taste—“

Lloyd stuffs down a giggle, burying his head into the couch. He knows it’s not gonna last much longer, and soon they’ll be off again, but—

They’ll be back. And for now, with them here—

That aching hunger in his chest doesn’t feel as much like starving.

[madpanda75]

“The Negative” Part Two

Greetings from Boise! During my cross country travel day, I was able to edit the conclusion of my Nevada story. Please forgive any blursts, editing is not easy in a crowded loud airport terminal.

Get ready for some super fluffy soft Nevada and of course his beloved sidekick Vegas ❤️😍

Check out Part One of the story

You came back from your run, exhausted, sweaty, and in need of a long hot shower. Not wanting to wake Nevada, you tiptoed into the apartment, only to see that he was already awake and sitting on the couch, waiting for you with a pregnancy test in his hand.

You stopped in your tracks, looking between the test stick and your boyfriend. “Where did you get that?”

“I found the cat pissing on it this morning,” he dryly said.

“Really?” You glanced down at Vegas and for a moment seriously believed Nevada. It wasn’t that ludicrous an idea, you had heard that cats could be potty trained and Vegas was highly intelligent.

“No, not really. Where do you think I got them,” Nevada snapped. “I found them in the bathroom. Care to explain?” He stood up and walked towards you, holding up the empty E.P.T. box. Hearing the betrayal in Nevada’s voice made you feel like you had just been caught with your hand in the cookie jar. You said nothing and simply stared at the floor, studying the grooves in the hardwood. “Someone in this house bought these tests for a reason and it certainly wasn’t me or the retarded cat,” Nevada continued.

“They’re mine,” you confessed. “The tests are mine.”

Nevada ran his hand through his hair. Of course he knew the tests were yours but somehow hearing you say the words made it seem all too real. “How long have you known?”

“A few weeks,” you said with a shrug and walked past him to grab a glass of water from the kitchen.

Nevada’s eyes widened, following close behind you. “You’ve known for weeks! Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?!”

It suddenly dawned on you that he thought you were pregnant. You should’ve told him that the test was negative but you couldn’t get the words out. Maybe they were stuck in your throat. Maybe you weren’t ready to say them out loud just yet. Whatever the reason, you played along with the idea that you were pregnant. “Because I wasn’t sure how you would react. I didn’t think you liked kids or even wanted kids.”

Nevada glared at you. “Who the fuck do you think you are. I have a right to know if you’re pregnant. It’s my kid too!” He stepped towards you, his voice booming. All of the emotions and stress that had been building up led to this moment. “Were you never gonna tell me?! It’s only after I catch you hiding the evidence that you even decided to come clean!” He paced the floor before stopping and pointing his finger at you. “You’ve shut me out for weeks. I’ve asked you what’s wrong and you don’t talk to me.”

“Well the floor’s yours, Papi! I’m letting you talk! So tell me Nevada, do you want kids? Do you want a family with me?!” You got right in his face and screamed at him. To be honest, it felt good to be angry, to have an excuse to lash out. “Do you!?! Fucking tell me!”

Nevada didn’t say anything. His face unreadable. “I thought so!” You hissed. “Oh and by the way, there is no baby. There never was a baby! I’m not pregnant! Happy now?!” Finally the words came out, lingering in the room, long after you had said them. It was a shot right through your heart. You walked past Nevada, leaving him standing alone in the kitchen, completely stunned by your confession.

The sound of the door opening brought him back to reality. He followed you down the hallway to the elevators, the two of you creating a scene that would give a trashy reality show a run for their money. It wouldn’t have surprised you if you nosy neighbor, Mrs. Castillo, had her ear pressed up to the wall, listening to your shouting match. “Oye, where are you going?! Get back here! We’re not finished.”

“Oh yes we are,” you said as the elevator doors closed.

Nevada ran back into the apartment and opened the window to see you leaving the building. “Get back here!!!”

“Suck a bag of dicks, Nevada!!!!!” You yelled, several innocent bystanders stopping to watch the scene unfold.

“Hey, you forgot your fucking cat!!!!” He bellowed back. You flipped him off and continued to walk down the street.

Nevada slammed the window down so hard it nearly broke. He whipped out his phone and called for one of his men to follow you. Even though you had just had a fight, he wanted you to be safe. The anguished look on your face when you told him there was no baby nearly broke his heart. You may not have wanted to be near him at that moment, but he would be damned if he left you alone right now.

People glanced your way as you brushed past them. You were sure you looked a mess, sweaty with tears streaming down your face, but you didn’t care. You didn’t care about anything. Walking was all you could process. One foot in front of the other. Maybe you’d find another cat and bring them home. Out of the corner of your eye, you spied a large black SUV Escalade practically pacing you. Turning your head, you spied one of Nevada’s men.

They would follow you for blocks, giving you your space but still keeping a watchful eye out. In a small way it brought you comfort that they were there. When it felt like your feet were about to fall off, you stopped and went to get in the passenger side of the car.

“Manny, will you please take me home,” you quietly instructed the driver. He nodded his head and turned the car around.

*****

Nevada stared off into space. It had been hours since you had left. He sat in the living room, puffing on his cigar, trying to process the bomb you had just dropped. A wave of emotions washed over him, shock, anger, followed by sadness. Nevada never thought about being a father. It was one of those things that normal people who led normal lives may have wanted but not Trujillo. But then again he never thought he would ever fall in love until he met you. Nevada knew you would be an amazing mother. Hell, you were already like a mother to his men, always doting on them, stopping by the club to bring them a home-cooked meal, making sure they were taking care of themselves. But would he make a good father? Did he even want kids? Moments flashed before his eyes of you barefoot and pregnant, cradling your protruding bump then later you at the hospital, placing a baby in his arms. A baby that had your delicate features, gazing up at their father as they wrapped their tiny hand around his finger. An inexplicable warmth radiated from his heart at the thought and right then he knew. Yes, he did want kids and he wanted them with you.

Vegas jumped up on the couch, interrupting Nevada’s reverie and pawing at his leg. He glanced down at the cross-eyed, scraggly cat. “I suppose you’re pissed at me too, huh?” The cat crawled up onto Nevada’s lap, nuzzling his head against his stomach. With a tentative shaky hand, he reached out and pet the cat. Vegas purred and tilted his head while Nevada scratched behind his half-bitten ear. “This is pretty nice. I can see why Y/N likes you.” That was when he realized how much of a comfort Vegas was to you. Taking care of Vegas helped heal your heart. You needed him just like he needed you. Even though it stung that you never came to Nevada with your pregnancy scare, he was grateful you had someone or something to rely on. “Listen, thanks for taking care of my girl. I owe you one, pero I can take it from here, ok?” The cat yawned in response and soon fell asleep while Nevada waited for you to come home.

*****

You opened the door of your apartment. Nevada glanced over when he heard the latch unlock and stood up, walking over to the foyer. “You ready to talk?”

You stared at him, masking your pain behind cold eyes, refusing to let him see you cry. “I forgot my cat,” you sneered and tried to move past him.

Nevada stopped you, pulling you to his chest. All attempts made to wriggle out of his grasp were useless. The harder you fought back, the harder he held you until you eventually gave up and began to sob. He wrapped his arms around you, running his fingers through your hair.

Nevada enveloped you, resting his cheek on top of your head, not saying a word because he knew you didn’t need words, all you needed was to cry and he would hold you until every single tear was shed. You clung to him, soaking his shirt, feeling the strong sinewy muscles under your palms. The sweet smoky smell of cigars combined with the musk of his cologne calmed you. For the first time in a long time, you felt safe.

Vegas brushed up against your leg, softly mewling. You pulled away from Nevada and scooped him up, nuzzling your face against his soft fur as you walked towards the living room.

Nevada followed and sat down next to you. “I’m sorry,” he softly said. This was a historical moment in Nevada’s life. Trujillo never said he was sorry to anyone. It was a hard rule. Saying you were sorry meant that you were weak and Nevada never wanted to come across as weak. You were the only exception. The only person that he could be vulnerable with.

“I’m sorry too. I know I should’ve told you about the pregnancy but I got scared. Then when it turned out we weren’t pregnant, I was heartbroken,” you said, your voice beginning to crack. “Taking that test made me realize how much I want to have a family. How much I want that with you, Vada.” You reached out and took hold of Nevada’s hand, meeting his gaze. “But if you don’t want children….if you don’t want a family with me…. then I understand.”

The silence that followed was unbearable. You could hear a pin drop. During your walk, you had steeled yourself to the fact that you would probably never have a family with Nevada. It hurt like hell, but you had accepted it.  

Nevada leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, steepling his fingers. “I know I didn’t react so well to the news pero it was a shock. I didn’t think you were gonna spring this on me. I needed time to think, ya know.”

“I know,” you said in a barely audible whisper.

He sighed and turned towards you, watching you stroke the cat. The image of you cradling a baby in your arms once again drifted back into his mind but then he thought of himself as a father and that gnawing sense of doubt began to creep in. “You’d be an incredible mom. But me? I don’t know if I would be that great of a father.”

You shook your head and squeezed his hand. Nevada may not have believed it but he was already like a father to his men, taking care of them and their families. He was fiercely loyal and protective. If only he could see what you saw in him. “Don’t say that. You’d be an amazing father.”

His lips quirked into a smile. “You think so?”

“I know so.” You ran your fingers through his hair, kissing his temple.

“Well, while you were out, I did look online at one of those baby store websites to see if they made baby leather jackets. Turns out we can get one custom-made.” Nevada said with a shrug and motioned towards the hallway. “We could change the guest room into a nursery or we could move somewhere else. Maybe someplace bigger with a backyard.”

Your heart skipped a beat as you listened to Nevada rattle off several more ideas he had for your family. “So does this mean we’re doing this? You and me?”

He reached out to cup your face, stroking your cheek with his thumb. “I think we are.”

You burst into tears and practically jumped into Nevada’s lap, planting a big kiss on his lips only to pull away when another thought crossed your mind, a thought that had been plaguing you ever since you peed on a stick. “But what if I can’t get pregnant. What if this doesn’t happen for us. I can’t pick a cat up off the street every time I have a negative pregnancy test.” You looked over at Vegas, who was currently licking his crotch. “You’ll end up with a crazy cat lady.”

“That was one time. One result. We can try again. I mean practice makes perfect, right?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “If we don’t get pregnant then I’ll buy you a whole fucking zoo. Don’t worry, mi amor.” He ran his hands up and down your back, kissing your forehead, then the tip of your nose, and finally dropping a sweet kiss on your lips. “And remember no matter what happens, you always have me. I’ll always need you and I’ll always love you.”

“I love you too.” You whispered before softly kissing him. The kiss quickly gained momentum, becoming feverish. He parted your lips with his tongue, groaning against your mouth. You moaned and tugged the hairs on the back of his neck, craving his touch. It had been so long since you had been intimate with each other. Your body was quivering with need. “Why don’t you come hop in the shower with me and then we can spend the day in bed. We have some lost time to make up for,” you softly said, playfully biting down on his bottom lip.

You stood up and grabbed Nevada by the hand. Your lips never leaving his, tangled in a passionate embrace as you both stumbled down the hallway, ripping each other’s clothes off. You whipped off Nevada’s shirt and blindly tossed it. The garment covered Vegas, who was traipsing behind you.

When you reached the bedroom, he stopped and picked up the cat, placing Vegas in his kitty mansion out in the living room before heading back to the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

“What about Vegas?” You asked still panting from your makeout session.

“The cat can wait.” Nevada slowly approached you, his eyes darkened, full of lust as he raked you over from head to toe. “Tonight you’re mine,” he purred and lifted you in his arms, carrying you to the shower.

*****

One year later:

Nevada stood outside your room, casually glancing around the bustling hallway. A nurse sitting at her station, glanced over at him. She had been cautiously eyeing up Nevada for the last twenty minutes. “Can I help you with something, sir?”

“No, gracias. I’m good, Mami.” He said with a wink, trying to appear completely innocent or as innocent as a man dressed in leather could be. After a few minutes, Manny walked down the hallway with a large duffle bag in his hand, sidling up to his boss. “We all good,” Nevada mumbled, adjusting the ring on his finger.

“Yep, got it right here.” Manny looked around and made sure the coast was clear, handing the bag over to Nevada.

“Gracias, mi amigo. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Nevada said, pulling the man into a half hug.

You smiled at the tiny baby girl in your arms, humming a lullaby while you stroked the soft dark downy hair of your newborn. Nevada quietly entered the room, drinking in the sight before him. He thought he knew what love was when he first met you but this was different. Seeing you cradle your child in your arms, it was almost overwhelming. Nevada could feel his heart swelling.

“Look, Lara” you whispered to your baby girl. “There’s Papi. Can you wave hi to Papi.” You gently shook her tiny hand towards Nevada, making it look like the newborn was waving to her father.

He laughed and came to sit next to you on the bed. “How’s it going in here?”

“Good. Just finished feeding her,” you said, tugging your hospital gown back up and dabbing away some milk that had dribbled down Lara’s chin.

“She’s so beautiful,” Nevada whispered.

You nodded your head. “She’s perfect.”

“You were amazing,” he said with a smile and kissed your temple. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”

You turned and kissed him fully on the lips, resting your forehead against his when you spied a bag that you could have sworn was moving. “What’s in the bag?” You asked, arching your eyebrow at Nevada.

“This?” he replied, picking up the duffle bag and moving it onto the bed. “A surprise for you.”

“Another surprise! I thought this was the big surprise.” You giggled and held up your left hand to show off the large diamond ring on your finger.

“I always have a trick or two up my sleeve, Mami.” Nevada unzipped the duffle bag and pulled out your beloved black cross-eyed cat. He had snuck him into the hospital just for you.

“Vegas!” You exclaimed. The feline softly meowed and brushed up against your arm. “Vegas, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” You leaned forward towards your cat, showing him the baby in your arms. “This is Lara.” The cat blinked and glanced down at the tiny baby, nuzzling against her blanket and purring. Vegas had been by your side for your entire pregnancy, laying his head on your ever-growing stomach for the past nine months, always keeping a watchful eye on you.

“You’re going to look out for her.” Nevada smirked and scratched behind the cat’s ear. It took some time, but eventually Vegas had grown on him. The two became quite close. Although Nevada still could not understand why the damn cat always wanted to sleep on top of his head.

You smiled at Nevada, his eyes transfixed on the baby. “Do you want to hold your daughter?”

“Yeah, I do,” he replied, nodding his head.

You handed Lara over to him. He leaned down and gently kissed her forehead. “Hola, mi princesa. I’m your Papi. I promise I’m going to take care of you for the rest of my life, mi vida.” The tiny baby cooed and wrapped her hand around his finger.

Nevada locked eyes with you, feeling a lump form in his throat. “I love you,” he mouthed.

“I love you too,” you mouthed back, tears forming in your eyes. You and Nevada sat there gazing down at your brand new daughter completely mesmerized by the beautiful life you brought into this world, experiencing a love like no other. Finally you had the family you always dreamed about and to think it all started with a cat in a rainstorm.

@glimmerglittergirl @southern-magnolia @sweetcannolicarisi @delia26 @obfuscateyummy @sass-and-suspenders @eclecticminded @thatesqcrush @katmstanton @amirightcounsellor @beltzboys2015-blog @letty-o @sonnysdoll @lyssa1385 @sweetsummertime99 @burningsorr0ws @gibbs274 @izzythefanfreak @riodallas @babypink224221 @livxrafa @esparza-army @obsessionprofessional @ottosuricato @melsquared79

[blue-sunshine]

That House of Dreams

Do you remember that house we started to build? Do you still go back to it, like I do, just to see what it looks like? I take a look at every brick we laid, the cement that made up the foundation, and remember every moment we spent doing that. We never did get past that. Maybe we should’ve done more, worked faster, so we could’ve finished before the storm hit.

I know we’ll go back to that land someday. The foundation may be stripped away by then, ripped up from tornadoes and storms, but we’ll still come back. We’ll know what was there. It wouldn’t be right to build over it, would it? As if replacing it. I hold onto those images, those days spent bent over blueprints, the sun beating down on our necks, the blisters I got from working. I can’t let go. 

It would’ve been a beautiful house. If I close my eyes, I can see those high ceilings, the effortless shine of the windows when the sun glints off of them. It would’ve been all ours, made with our own hands, someplace we could finally call home. And everyone who told us we were too young for such a serious relationship, all those years ago, they would’ve been invited over and gaped at the place we’d called our own. They would have smiled and taken off their coats, complimenting the house, choruses of “I always knew you two matched so well together,” spilling out. A strange sort of satisfaction twists our smiles slightly, but they never did learn to read either of us enough to notice.

We still live in this small apartment. I’m happy now, and honestly? This is better than living in that house we imagined, that house we planned, because it would’ve been so much to keep up. So much work. So much money. But not this apartment, with our little sphinx cat because you’re allergic to cat fur; not the dishwasher that keeps falling out of the counter and we keep putting off permanently fixing; not the way the neighbors scream at each other every night.

This is better for us. Who needs an entire house at our age? We have our whole lives ahead of us for those sorts of investments.

Somehow, I find myself pulling out those blueprints again. Often. I keep them in a book, folded up and out of sight, squashed flat by the weight of the book. What’s funny, but doesn’t make me laugh, is that the book is about building your own house and how a professional is needed for projects like that. We didn’t have a professional, did we? No, that’s right, we talked to my uncle about it—he’s got years of experience, remember? But he never did help in person.

I gravitate towards this book when you’re asleep. Sometimes, our friends remind me of it or mention it without meaning to. Without even realizing what they’re saying, half the time. Their comments about “that house project” that we “really tried doing” make me smile weakly.

I know it was stupid—I know I didn’t do well enough, I know I lived right up to the expectations about my age and responsibility. But they don’t have to tell me that, not when my heart aches painfully every day as I recall how stunning it was going to be. How liberating it was going to be to finally get the true home we’d craved for years, that place that was truly going to be ours. It was going to be a responsibility, and we were going to have financial struggles that would have us scraping together money and getting three jobs. It was going to be exhausting, we were going to fight, we were going to hate each other sometimes.

But we were going to love it, because that meant we’d finally gotten the opportunity to even have those problems. Just like we always wanted.

This apartment feels as if we got off easy. I know you feel the same way sometimes. Is it wrong, that we just abandoned that house we tried for? Is it wrong to think we’re better this way, when months and months of money and love were poured into those bricks? We tell each other that it’s easier this way, that it’s just temporary until we get married and get settled in our lives enough to do it.

It is better this way. I know that. I see that. Where would we be now, if not asking our parents for money every month, if we’d made that house? It’s safer. This is safer. We’ll be okay like this.

Yet, I long for the what-ifs, of what it would be like to see you pull up in that driveway just past sunset, looking up at me with a tired smile at my place by the window. The way we’d cuddle up on a couch I’d chosen, watching the TV you picked out while we ate the dinner we made together. The way we’d positioned the house, the sun would spill through the living room window at sunrise, where we’d probably wake up the next day.

People don’t name houses. They name pets and cars and stuffed animals. But for some reason, on that mailbox we never made, I can see Samantha painted cutely on the side. Our guests would laugh and ask, “Samantha your nickname or something?” And I’d say no, that Samantha is my pride and joy, made with my own two hands, and isn’t she breath-taking? You’d stand beside me, arm around my waist, smiling proudly.

The foundation crumbles on that property your grandparents own. The grass will have overcome it by now. I don’t go back to see it now, never again, not after so many dreams died along with it. But I trace my fingers along the blueprints once more, longing, hoping, waiting for the day it’ll be safe for us to try this again.

And all along, the fear that you’re hesitating over this too. Because if you are, will we ever go back? I wonder if it would be bad if we just . . . didn’t. I gently press the blueprints back into the book and shut it, pushing it beneath the bookshelf. Out of sight, out of mind, isn’t that how it’s supposed to go?

I climb back into bed, curling up against you, your arms wrapping around me in your sleep. My fingers itch to touch those blueprints just one more time as I try to fall asleep, my heart aching a deep, horrid pain. Your arms soothe it, stopping me from crying, as if you can feel my hurt even in your dreams.

If I’m supposed to be able to forget this, then I’m not doing a very good job, am I?

[overanalyzingelswordiswhatido]

12 to 1 Chapter 2

“Rena. Ain and I are going on a dungeon run,” Rose reported after breakfast.

Add looked up. Rose stood next to Ain by the door. Both of them were more than prepared to go out in the chilly weather.

“Okay,” Rena nodded.

“Try to be back before lunch,” Raven advised with a wry smile. “We may not be able to save you guys some.”

Ain chuckled, “If it becomes necessary I’m sure we can get something for ourselves, Mr. Half Nasod.”

Raven nodded.

Add grinned. He slid up the stairs, noticed only by Sunshine, who watched him without a sound. Once he reached his room he shut the door as quietly as he could. As long as he stayed far enough behind them he could follow them out to the dungeon at least. He may even be able to get into it. With a small grunt he opened his window as high as it would go.

Dynamo carried him over to the roof of the neighboring house. Add crouched down just behind where the roof turned downward away from the street. Every house on the street was decorated with lights and decorations that hadn’t been there the day before, like it had all been put up overnight. He watched Ain and Rose walk down the street. “Dynamo, plot a course to follow them,” he whispered.

Dynamo buzzed when it was finished and Add pulled up the screen. He followed the course it laid out, staying far enough behind they wouldn’t notice him.

“What are you doing, Little Ancient?”

Add jumped and spun around to stare at Ain in surprise. Rose stood right next to the angel, her arms crossed over her chest. He thought they wouldn’t notice him. How did they know he was following them? The annoying bot thing that assisted Rose was outlined in a softly glowing orange color. The stupid thing must’ve sensed him somehow. He scowled, “This isn’t fair!”

“You were going to follow us into a dungeon?” Rose asked, a mix of shocked and annoyed.

“I can take care of myself,” Add snapped defensively. His eyes narrowed, “Besides, Dynamo’s with me.”

“There’s a reason we didn’t bring you along, Little Ancient,” Ain commented mildly.

Rose rolled her eyes, “I swear. I don’t think I’ve ever met a child with as little sense as you.”

Add hissed, “I’m not a child!”

“Whether you like it or not, you are right now.” Rose sighed, “Go back to the house.”

“No,” Add shook his head defiantly.

“Little Ancient, I highly doubt you got permission to be out here. Ms. Elf will be worried about you.”

“I’ll be fine!”

“You’re going back to the house,” Rose commanded.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Add studied them carefully. It was his goal to get on their nerves after all. They both remained composed, but Rose showed clear signs of agitation underneath.

Rose reached down and grabbed his hand. Her grip was firm without being tight.

Add tried to pull away from her. He argued, “I’m not going back! I told you I’d be fine!” He planted his feet into the ground and refused to be moved. That kept him in place until Ain’s hand pressed into his back, pushing him forward. After that he didn’t have much choice but to stumble after Rose. He continued fighting them the entire time, making sure they knew he had no intention of making it easy for them.

Rose opened the door to the house. Her teeth were clenched from irritation and the amount of effort it took to drag Add inside.

“Where have you been?!” Rena demanded immediately.

Add pulled free of Rose and raced up to Rena. He glared at Rose and Ain over his shoulder before looking up at the elf, “I wanted to help! But they dragged me back here!”

“Of course we did.” Rose sighed, “Dungeons are dangerous. No sane person would let a kid come along.”

“Dynamo doesn’t make much of a difference if you’re tiny, Little Ancient,” Ain commented.

“Add,” Rena remained calm. “You need to stay in the house unless one of us invites you along, okay?”

Add pouted. He shot another glare at Rose and Ain but reluctantly agreed, “Fine.”

Add followed Rena back up the stairs, trying to come up with something else to do. “I’m tired,” he complained. It was true. He was very tired, but he didn’t have any energy drinks left. He decided it would be better to ask for one later since he just got dragged back into the house.

Rena sighed, “I’m not surprised. You’ve been doing a lot of running around.”

Add stuck his tongue out.

“Hey!” Lu skipped up to them, a broad grin on her face. Ciel followed along behind her. She patted Add’s head, “Elesis said you were tiny but I wasn’t expecting you to be this small!”

Add stared. Lu of all people was taller than him? He expected the others but… Lu?! It was only by a little bit, probably not even a full inch, but Dynamo confirmed it. He laughed weakly.

“Ciel!” Lu spun around to face her butler, “He can have cookies right?!”

Add brightened. He turned a pleading look to Ciel, “Please?”

Ciel hesitated, his voice obviously catching in his throat. Faced with two kids staring up at him, he sighed and nodded, “Of course. He can have cookies.”

Lu beamed, “Come on! Help me grab the cookie jar!”

Add hurried after Lu, leaving Rena behind. He could feel the elf’s gaze watching him as he headed back downstairs. He followed the demon queen up onto the counter.

Lu grinned at him and leaned in close. “There’s a toy store just down the street,” she whispered in his ear.

Add looked at her. He cocked his head to the side, “Okay?”

“I’m gonna get Ciel something but I want it to be a surprise. So, now that Ciel is busy getting lectured by Rena, we’re gonna sneak away to the toy store,” Lu’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

Add paused. Rena had said it was okay for him to go out as long as one of them brought him along. Lu counted right? She wasn’t an actual child after all. She was just a demon that lost her power. He grinned and nodded, “Okay.”

Lu slid off the counter and Add followed. She led him down a side hallway. They passed the stairs that led down to his and Eve’s labs. He realized he hadn’t followed the hallway to it’s end and grew curious. The demon queen led him all the way down to where a door leading to the alleyway at the side of the house was, according to Dynamo, sealed shut.

Add watched in amazement as Lu pushed calmly against the door and a small section near the floor slid open. She crawled through the opening out into the alleyway. He followed, grumbling about the dust that insisted on clinging to his fingers and clothes. Lu closed the flap and helped brush some of the dust off. Dynamo set a course for the toy store and Add followed it.

“Where are you going?” Lu asked curiously, trotting after him.

“Dynamo says to go this way,” Add shrugged. He led the demon queen along the path Dynamo laid out.

“What happens if you don’t follow it?” Lu wondered out loud.

Add shrugged again, “I don’t know. I always do.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t you wanna test what happens if you take a different route?”

“No,” Add shook his head. There wasn’t any need to test it. Dynamo always laid out the best way to get somewhere. It was efficient and meant he didn’t have to waste time trying to figure out directions.

“Hmph.” Lu shrugged, “That’s pretty boring though, don’t you think?”

Add shook his head again, “Not really. It’s not like Dynamo doesn’t come up with interesting routes.” Just as he finished speaking the path led up and over a low wall. He got on top of it easily but had to reach down to help Lu up.

Lu jumped up and caught onto his hand. Working together the two of them managed to get her up onto the wall. Her tail twitched with irritation, “Well that was harder than it should’ve been.”

Add brushed off his shirt. He was all dirty now after laying on the wall to help her. He frowned.

“Come on, silly!” Lu called.

Add turned. The tiny demon had already dropped off the wall. She waited for him at the bottom with her hands on her hips. He scrambled down after her, but not without complaining about how dirty he was now.

“Don’t worry. We can just walk the normal way back.” Lu skipped alongside him while he hovered just above the ground on Dynamo.

When the two reached the toy store, Lu walked directly over to the plushie section. “This is for you!” She grabbed a gigantic cat and dumped it onto Add.

Add fell backwards with an embarrassing squeak. The thing was bigger than he was but it was extremely soft which was a major plus. He shoved it off to Dynamo, sighing when it took all six to hold the giant cat stable. Lu was wandering off and he had to run to catch up with her.

“Hmm.” The demon looked around thoughtfully. She pulled out a slightly smaller but no less fluffy wolf for herself. “Now, what should I get for Ciel?” She looked around, “He’ll like all of these, so it’s really hard to choose.”

Add looked around. He grabbed onto a giant rabbit’s ears. He grunted from the effort of tugging it free. “A bunny!”

Lu gasped. A grin spread across her face, “It’s perfect! It even has blue eyes!” She held out the wolf, “Here, trade you. You carry this one, Dynamo can carry yours and I’ll carry Ciel’s!”

“Um? I would prefer not to.” Lu’s wolf wasn’t much smaller than the cat she grabbed him. He was going to have a hard time keeping it off the ground.

Lu shook it insistently so he very reluctantly took it. She skipped up to the cashier, with Ciel’s rabbit in her arms and paid for all three plushies. She dragged Add out of the store just as Ciel was jogging up. “Ciel!”

Add looked up and smiled innocently, “Hi, Ciel!”

“Here you guys are!” Ciel’s voice was stern, “You can’t just go disappearing like-”

“We got you one!” Lu interrupted holding up the rabbit with a bright smile, “See!”

“U-Uh…” Ciel struggled to keep up his firm appearance.

“It’s all soft!” Lu reached out and grabbed her butler’s hand. She placed his hand on the rabbit’s head and made him pet it.

Add snickered watching Ciel crumble.

Ciel inevitably took the rabbit so Add could hand Lu back her wolf. The half demon also inevitably told Rena he took the two of them out to the toy store to keep them out of trouble. That was apparently the unspoken deal between him and Lu. Ciel helped the two of them get the monstrously large plushies up to their respective rooms.