#this is literally just word soup but its the best i can do. brain full and i need to get it out now

[ayatheav]

you ever think about wriothesley and neuvillette. like not even in a necessarily romantic way. in a "i trust the justice system but fought hard to put the man boy i condemned in the position in power in the place outside my jurisdiction because he's so good" way. in a "the person who trusts me now saw me at my worst, recognised that, does not hold it against me" way. in a "i couldn't help you but you forgave me" way. neuvillette seeing how the system can hurt people further, but not destroy them. there's always hope in humanity. wriothesley being kicked down all his life, finally being fought for by no other than the powerful man who decided his fate, yes, but who would not let it define him. "congratulations, i see you finally found something you wish to do". im fine this is fine its cool

[deansmom]

(ao3) pls accept this very old mcdanno fic I never published, in which there are feelings and a kiss. also, soup snakes.

"So, Steven."

Steve smirks a little bit, leaning back against his desk like the smug asshole he is. This conversation has been a train wreck from the start. 

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Danny raises his voice for dramatic effect to accompany the accusing look he's shooting at Steve. "You and me."

"Have you ever considered that maybe I'm interrupting you because you talk in incomplete sentences when you're nervous?"

Danny glares at him and flails his hands around unhelpfully, "See, this! This is what I'm talking about!"

Steve rolls his eyes, "You weren't talking about anything Danny. We were tailing a suspect and you said, out of the blue, 'do you know what a soup snake is' and here we are.”

"This -" Danny shakes his head and runs a hand over his face, "You know, if you ever let me finish a sentence I wouldn't have to bring things up like that."

Steve grins as he watches Danny start ramping up to a full-blown rant-down (the Williams version of a meltdown). He gets up after a moment and sets a hand on the other mans shoulder, his smile a little kinder. "Hey. I'm listening."

Danny looks up at him and deflates. He brings both of his hands up to his face and groans, "Okay. Okay, so..."

He walks a few steps away from Steve and collects himself before saying, "So Gracie is reading this book, right? And it's been so long since she was excited about a book so I said sure, I'll read it with her, cause y'know, that's what you do, you read books you don't care about just to spend time with your daughter before she starts to hate you."

"Danny," Steve sighs and rests against his desk again, "Gracie could never -"

"Shut up," Danny interrupts with a flail. He's yelling with his hands. "Shut up or I'm never gonna get through this okay?"

Steve stays silent as way of answer. 

It takes another few seconds before Danny says, "So this book. Some actress wrote it and she was on that show The Office."

Danny turns to look out at the rest of the squad room and runs a hand through his hair, "She's got this friend and he's - he's her ex. Best friends though, like, the kinda thing you hope for growing up.

"And Mindy - that's the actress - everybody wants to know why they're not together. So she's got this chapter in this book and she says y'know, it's weird, their relationship, but they're soup snakes."

Steve has to bite his tongue. 

"And - Gracie, you know, she turns to me and she says, 'That sounds like you and Uncle Steve, Danno.'"

On instinct, Steve's body tenses up and he's got to remind himself to breathe. 

"So I'm thinking you know, she's just a kid, she doesn't know things. She's smart but she doesn't, you know - she doesn't know this."

Danny lets his head fall forward so it's resting as close to his chest as it can. "Do you know what soup snakes are, Steven?"

He has to take a moment to get his voice to work before he responds, "Uh... No, afraid I don't."

Danny spins around suddenly, and gestures around, "It's from an episode apparently. The main guy, his ex comes to town and he spends the whole episode trying to explain why he doesn't have feelings for her when he clearly does and he doesn’t want to be friends with her and - it's jibberish. Makes a toddler look like a genius."

He takes a few steps closer to Steve, apparently more determined now, "And he makes this list. The number one reason on it is because they're soup snakes."

Danny pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket and pretends his hands aren't shaking. It's harder to pretend his voice isn't shaking though when he starts reading it. 

"I lied to Kevin. Holly and I can never be just friends. I wrote down a list of bullet points why Holly and I should be together, and I'm going to find the perfect moment today and I am going to tell her. Number one: "Holly, you and I are soup snakes." The ... and the reason is... because... in terms of the soup, we like to- that doesn't make any sense. We're soul mates. Holly and I are soul mates."

Steve's heart is pounding in a way that it hasn't since he went through basic training and he's suddenly sweating bullets. "That's, ah..." He licks his lips and tries again, "That's a nice story, Danny."

Danny seems to ignore him, keeping his eyes on the paper, “So, there I am, sitting in my living room with my daughter, my lovely, amazing girlfriend in the kitchen and...” 

He looks up at Steve finally and he looks terrified - like walking into a tunnel terrified.

“And see I’m - I’m having a crisis. Because this?” He gestures in between the two of them, “This wasn’t - it’s not -” 

“Yeah,” Steve croaks out, his voice rough for a number of reasons. 

Danny opens his mouth uselessly, the words on the tip of his tongue and refusing to come out.

Steve takes a step closer, well within his personal space now and swallows nervously, “It doesn’t have to be. I mean, if you...” He lets out a breath, ignoring his stuttering heart, “If you don’t -” 

He’s not an idiot. Despite what Danny likes to think, he’s not a ‘neanderthal.’ He’s got feelings, lots of them, and he knows what they all mean.

He knows that he’s been in love with Danny since the day they met. 

“But it is!” Danny yelps, his hands coming up to rest on the back of his head, “It already is Steven, it doesn’t matter if I -”

Steve sets a hand on his shoulder, effectively shutting him up. It doesn’t matter, not really, because the only thing he can hear is the sound of his heart racing in his ears. 

“Did you break up with her?” He asks, terrified of the answer. 

Danny makes a face that clearly communicates how dumb he thinks Steve is, “What, are you insane? What kind of person do you think I am, huh?? Realize I’m in love with my best friend and keep dating a perfectly nice -”

And, well, that’s enough.

Steve leans down, slamming their lips together in both an effort to shut him the hell up and finally, finally find out what kissing Danny feels like.

Danny groans into it, his hands coming up to fist Steve’s shirt. 

They’ve always been a bit of a disaster together, two halves of different puzzles that shouldn’t fit, but they do, they fit so well, and kissing is no exception.

There’s a literal push and pull and before Steve realizes what’s happening, he gets pushed back into his chair. Danny’s standing there looking absolutely wrecked, the toes of their shoes knocking against each other, and Steve has never seen anything more beautiful.

“You,” Danny huffs, trying to catch his breath, and points at Steve’s chest. “Are an asshole.”

Steve squawks, his hands coming up to grab Danny’s thighs, “Me?!”

Danny glares at him, but still moves so that he’s partially on Steve’s lap. 

Something fizzles out in Steve’s brain with all this physical contact and he’s expecting something, something like a kiss or frotting or - something. 

Instead, Danny pinches the sensitive part of his upper arm, hard, and Steve yelps. 

“Do not interrupt me when I’m talking to you,” he hisses. 

“Talking at me is more like it,” Steve mumbles, unable to take his eyes off of Danny. They’re so close, they’re so fucking close, and he’s got years of pent-up frustration and theories he wants to explore. 

There’s a bead of sweat rolling its way down Danny’s throat and Steve just watches it go, wonders how angry Danny would be if he leaned up and licked it right now. Probably really angry, he seems like he’s really pissed, and Steve’s not sure why. 

Then again, he usually isn’t totally sure why Danny’s mad at him. 

Danny’s hand grabs his chin, forcing Steve to look back up at him, “Steven.”

Steve licks his lips, his mouth feeling suddenly very dry, “Yeah?”

“We are at work,” he reminds him, his tone going a little softer. 

He sounds, for lack of a better word, wrecked. He sounds like Steve feels, which is a little raw and a little off balance and - 

Steve groans, his head falling forward and landing on Danny’s clavicle. Stupidly, some part of his lizard brain can only think about how good he smells. 

“Yeah,” he sighs, his eyes closing. “Yeah, okay.” 

Danny presses a kiss to his temple, softer than anything Steve thinks he deserves, and finally pulls away from him. Steve makes a noise of complaint at the loss of contact and it feels like his chest is going to explode with the quiet laugh from Danny it earns him. 

God, he really loves him. 

He watches as Danny fixes his hair, fixes his shirt, tries not to look like his whole world has been rocked in the last ten minutes. 

Steve doesn’t even try to pretend he isn’t doing exactly what he’s doing. 

Danny catches his eye after a moment and grins, walking around to the front of the desk. 

This is the part of Danny that Steve’s always had to experience from the outside looking in, and now, he’s the center of that look and. Wow. 

“Hey Danny,” he hears himself choke out right as Danny’s about to walk out of the office.

Danny turns around, the door half open, and somehow the bastard looks like he always does, like this is all normal. “Yeah?”

It takes his brain a little bit longer than normal to figure out what it was he was going to say, and when it does he wants to laugh.

“I’m gonna need that report before we leave tonight.”

Danny’s face does that thing where it scrunches up like Steve’s being the most unreasonable dictator in the world and he starts yelling (’I don’t yell at you Steven, I explain loudly’).

Because he’s an idiot, and he’s hopelessly in love with his partner, Steve just grins.

Yeah, he thinks to himself. Yeah, this could work. 

[solasnagealai-escapism]

When I saw my third “how do I crawl out of depression” post in a day I had to write something. There is no silver bullet but I am a trained social worker who has lived with depression for over 15 years and hope there is something here to lighten your load

💜  Please let me remind you: it is completely ok and not your fault you are feeling this way. Feelings happen no matter if we want them to or not and sometimes, we do everything right and they still hit us upside the head. And needless to say, very few of us are having a great time right now. So please, be kind to yourself. Sometimes that is hard so please be kind to my friend (you) because they are pretty awesome and I will throw hands with anyone who says otherwise.

💜 Watch or read or listen to something familiar (if you need a suggestion, I am re-watching Phineas and Ferb and truly recommend) Studies have shown that watching a familiar show allows you to enjoy the emotions of the show with less anxiety or other negative feelings because you know how it ends.

💜 Try to eat at least twice a day. This isn’t always easy but its completely ok if you throw some frozen chicken in the oven or a bowl of soup or something that takes no energy. It is important to fuel your body when you feel you have no strength

💜 Try to shower. I know its not easy, there are days I literally have to crawl into the show. But it never fails to make me feel a little lighter after. Maybe a lot exhausted after but a little lighter. If you can’t manage a full shower, try to brush your teeth or throw some dry shampoo in your hair or just wipe off your face. Something to make you feel a little more put together.

💜   If you managed to shower, or really even if you didn’t, maybe try to throw on some clothes that you actually like. Braid your hair up nice, throw on some moisturizer, maybe even some makeup. If you can find something you like about your appearance it can push your brain in a positive direction.

💜 Try to change your scenery. Can’t leave the house? Try moving to the couch. Can’t leave your room? Try setting up pillows on the floor. Can’t leave your bed? Set up your nest on the other end of the bed. Small breaks in the chains of monotony will help push you out of the rut

💜 That being said, if you have any ability to, take a walk. Even if it is just to get the mail while huddling in your sweats and biggest hoodie. If you get to the mailbox and think you can manage to the end of the block? Look at you go! And who cares who sees you, if you are hiding in your hoodie no one will know, and you just look wicked comfy.

💜 Find a project that is consistent with your energy level. Something, anything, that will let you feel a little productive. Borrow your niece’s coloring book and coloring in a simple cartoon, just so you can finish something. Write a word vomit story just so you can get something on paper. Taking up a simple crochet project, I tend to make coffee sleeves just so I can say I made something. Bake something. Cookies make everything just a little better.

💜 Clean something: it could be your glasses, take those dirty dishes that have been building up to the kitchen, clean off one counter, throw a load of laundry in, anything. There are so many studies that show cleaning your space helps clear your mind.

💜 Interact with someone. Skype someone, or if you don’t have the energy, call someone and let them talk to you. Send an ask to someone just saying you love them. Write a stupid letter, even if you just draw your best friend a silly stick figure and throw it in the mail. (Look an excuse to walk to the postbox hiding in your hoodie).

💜 Be aware of your media feeds. Is it full of news that is pissing you off? Snooze that shit. Is it full of ‘friends’ who just make you feel bad? Unfollow. Are there any puppies? No? FIX THAT! Follow puppies and kittens and other silly things that will give you just a moment to smile.

💜 Most important than any of this: Be patient with yourself. Sometimes you can do everything right and still not push your brain to produce those yummy neurochemicals you need. That is ok. This feel will not last forever. I know that sounds too simple but really sometimes it is completely ok to hide in your blanket nest and consume media and just wait it out.

💜 This too shall pass. Today you may feel surrounded by bleh, meh, and ugh but beneath it all you are still an amazing human being and no matter who you feel right now you deserve love, respect, admiration, and devotion. I so glad you are still here and proud of you for existing

[crackheadgeminibby]

So my birthday is tomorrow/today (its 2am july 19th) and i was wondering if i can request a Chris evans x black reader or henry cavill x black reader(im not too sure if you write stuff about him) and nothing angsty im too sensitive for angst thanks

birthday surprise

pairing: chris evans x black!reader

warnings: language, age gap, teeny tiny angst maybe?

word count: 1.5k

i do not consent to my work being copied in any way, shape or form or reposted on any other platform

not my picture

You were freshly out of school when you were hired as an assistant to the head makeup artist on the set of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Most of the time, you were tasked with making touch-ups on the main cast during filming. This had given you the opportunity to get to know Chris more than you ever thought it would.

After the wrap party, Chris had suggested he give you a ride home as you had been drinking and the night ended with you two kissing. After that, Chris and you had agreed to try and take a slow shot at a relationship together. As everything was going great, you had moved in with him in Los Angeles.

When the Coronavirus outbreak happened, you were working on the West Coast and Chris on the East Coast, so you had both decided that it would be better for both of you to quarantine separately as an effort to keep you both healthy, as much as you missed each other.

As you worked on different new makeup techniques at home, when Chris’ birthday passed, you had planned a whole day of Facetime celebration that had gone beautifully well as you both enjoyed yourselves.

Today is your birthday and as you know that Chris has his hands full with the launch and reception of A Starting Point, you had told him that you didn’t want to do anything big for your birthday: a simple Facetime dinner would be special enough for you.

You had decided to just relax all day and, later, get ready for your virtual dinner date with Chris. You left for the grocery store around 6pm as Chris and you had agreed to start cooking together at 7:30pm.

However, it was almost 7:30pm and you were stuck in the cash line of the grocery store. You were starting to get impatient as the man presently paying for his groceries was taking his sweet time to flirt with the cashier. You were about to ask him to hurry up when your phone signaled an incoming message.

baby🥰, 7:29pm:

Hey princess, are you ready?

You bite your bottom lip and answer.

you, 7:29pm:

baby i am so sorry i’m stuck at the grocery store and this idiot in front of me won’t hurry up

can we facetime at 8 instead?

You look at your screen closely as you see the 3 dots pop up and disappear at least 3 times until they disappear permanently.

Shit. He’s mad at me. On my fucking birthday. That’s just a fucking great-

You’re taken out of your anxiety rabbit hole by the cashier calling you over. You stuff your phone back in your pocket and hurriedly finish at the grocery store to make your way home.

As soon as you park your car, you hurry to get all the groceries inside the house. You throw the front door open and slam it shut as you drop your groceries on the floor of the kitchen and head to the office to get your computer and facetime Chris. As you’re about to pick your computer up, you stop in your tracks.

“What the fuck?”

You head back into the dining room in which you swear you just saw Dodger through the window. You stop at the door of the dining room when you see that the whole table is completely set up with ten plates each covered by a metal cover. You frown, turn around and are about to go in the backyard when you knock your head into a muscular chest. You look up and see Chris sporting the biggest smile you’ve ever seen while looking as handsome as ever in a black suit. Your eyes widen as a smile forms on your face and you immediately wrap your arms around him.

“Oh my God, Chris, what the hell are you doing here?”

He chuckles at your reaction and says, “Well, I certainly couldn’t leave my baby alone on her birthday now, could I?”

You smile and hug him even harder.

Dodger then comes barrelling through the house and starts jumping up to try and get your attention. You let Chris go and kneel next to Dodger, petting him.

“Hi there, bubba. How’s my best boy doing?”

You hear Chris whine and see him pout as Dodger starts to lick at your hands. You wink up at Chris and laugh as he crosses his arms across his chest. You get back up and turn to look at the table again.

“Chris… I can’t believe you did all of this for me. Really.” You turn around and look at him, smiling. “Thank you so much.”

He takes you back into his arms and whispers, “You’re welcome, princess.”

You give him a kiss on the cheek and look between the table and him, “Guess I should go get dressed up, huh?”

After taking a quick shower, you look in the closet for a dress capable of matching the ambiance that Chris had set in the house: classy and elegant but relaxed. You decide on a dress that you had gotten for a red carpet that you had attended with Chris.

You head to the dining room and find Chris already sitting at the table. When he hears you come down, he gets up and adjusts his suit.

“My God, Y/N… You look so beautiful.”

You feel the heat rush to your cheeks as butterflies swim in your stomach; Chris never failed to make you feel this way.

Chris comes to you, gives you a chaste kiss on the lips and pulls out your chair. You sit down and smile as he heads to the opposite side of the table and sits down.

Chris had prepared a five-course meal consisting of bruschetta, a French onion soup, a Mediterranean salad, Fettucine Alfredo and a chocolate mousse for dessert.

As you’re finishing your chocolate mousse, you can feel Chris’ eyes on you. You slowly look up at him and smile,

“You okay?”

He smiles back at you and scratches the nape of his neck before answering, “Yeah, I just like looking at you.”

You feel the heat fill your cheeks again as you contemplate his answer and tilt your head back to your dessert. He continues to look at you and smile as he says,

“Why don’t you go choose a movie for us to watch while I clean this up?”

You nod, get up and make your way to the living room. You turn on the TV and start browsing Netflix when you hear,

“Hey Y/N? Can you come to the kitchen for a second, please?”

“Yeah!”

You head to the kitchen and confusedly frown when Chris is nowhere to be found. You start to turn around and say,

“Chris? Where are-”

You stop in the middle of your sentence when you see Chris in front of you, on one knee with a black, velvet box in his hands. You choke on your breath and whisper, “Oh my God…”

“Y/N. Ever since the first day I met you, I knew that you would have an impact on my life. I didn’t know exactly when or how, but I could feel that you were going to completely change my life. You have been my better half for almost 6 years now and I couldn’t ask for anyone better. You have helped me understand the true meaning of happiness. There are a million reasons why I love you but the ones that, without a doubt, make me question why it took so long for our paths to cross are that you are smart, you are talented, you are literally so funny, you are loving, you are compassionate, you are the most beautiful woman on this planet and you make me a better person. The greatest gift that you could ever give me would be to allow me to wake up next to you, every day for the rest of my life.” He now opens the black box and reveals the prettiest diamond ring you have ever seen.

“Y/N Y/L/N, would you do me the honor of marrying me?”

By now, you could only see Chris’ blurry silhouette as tears were pouring out of your eyes and down your face. You’re at a complete loss for words as you continue to cry your eyes out. Chris starts to breathe heavily and becomes anxious as you don’t say anything or move at all for the next minute,

“Y/N?”

Hearing him say your name again seems to reactive your brain as you rapidly nod your head and your voice cracks as you answer,

“Yes, Chris. Oh my God, yes!”

Chris’ smile returns as he removes the ring from the box and slides it on your finger. He gets up and immediately crashes his lips to yours. He passionately kisses you as he picks you up, bridal style. Chris looks down at you, smirks and asks,

“What do you say we consummate this proposal or, you know, whatever it’s called?”

You laugh and nod your head as you kiss him again.

Chris really had the best birthday surprises.

[brideofcthulhu10]

Behold another Lost Boys holiday special! It was between this and Valentine’s day, but honestly I love writing Christmas specials, its such a cozy time despite the high suicide rates, but lets not get into that. A BIG SHOUT OUT TO @imlostinsantacarla FOR HELPING ME EDIT MY FINAL DRAFT!

Fun Fact! My husband, David (yes, that is actually his name) actually does have the bah humbug hat I mention in the head canons. He’s a heavy metal goth so when I found it at the store I had to get it for him. And you just know if our David found that, he wouldn’t be able to resist it!

Christmas with the Boys

Alright, so the whole touchy, feely and mushy feelings that surround even the topic of Christmas time is not something any of the boys will ever openly admit to enjoying. After all, they see themselves as these bad ass brutal killers who thrive off of death instead of holding hands and caroling with the goodie goodies of this coastal town. 

Yet, it's challenging for them not to get sucked into the glitz and glam of the holiday season. Everything is a big deal in Santa Carla. Dia De Los Muertos, Halloween, Thanksgiving- everything! But especially Christmas.

Christmas in Santa Carla dwarfs the frenzy craze of Halloween. The entirety of the boardwalk is decked out with red and green lights that are tightly wound around palm trees, red bulbous bows are wrapped tightly around street lamps, the reds and whites of velvety fabric swirl down the posts, creating the effect of candy canes. All the store windows are painted to appear frosted, or covered with painted snowmen whilst several rooftops are covered with white felt in which mimics the texture and sight of snow. Even the boats in the harbour are all extravagantly decorated in a sea of lights that parade around brightly at night in every color imaginable.

Between the dates of the 30th of November all the way to the 24th of December the city of Santa Carla hosts a plethora of wondrous events in it's annual Holiday Festival. Large green, white and red kiosks are erected, selling a wide range of baubles and treats, from delectable chocolate coated rice krispy Santa Clauses, elf candy apples caked in a plethora of dark chocolate and peppermint, to a variety of Holiday hats, masks and even hand made costumes by the many local artists. Even hand carved candles in wondrous scents of pine, mint, or spice.

Currently, David possesses a black fur Santa hat which he acquired on a night out that boasts the words "Bah Humbug" proudly sewn over the front. It's the only holiday attire he'll even humor. Last time Marko attempted to place reindeer antlers on his head, David had set them on fire roasting atop a pan of chestnuts. Now it's not to say that he's a grinch persay. Rather, the complex and intense emotions that come hand in hand with Christmas can leave him perpetually indifferent at best, disdainful at worst. The whole occasion leaves him displeased. After all, he was an orphan who had been almost eagerly abandoned by his hooker mother left to fend for himself from the beginning, and  of course never met his father. Even she could not identify which of her many clients may have been responsible. Most of his mortal life he had lived as a street rat, barely making ends meet by picking the pockets of tourists and Santa Carla citizens oblivious to the true dangers of the lower side of town. The rich and uppity classes who often snubbed their entitled noses his way would never suspect as he lurks between alleyways, leaving them cornered at knife point. It was scarce that he ever did see a kind face in the sea of those who had little interest for anyone that was not themselves. Back then it was rather uncommon for anyone to step outside their own little lives, which led to most interactions, outside of the other boys, having been met with great hostility, thus he had learned to be just as equally hostile in turn. Even the mere thought of anyone suddenly dawning a false kindness due to a certain time of year simply agitated David. It rattled him to the very core in a way very few other things did. Why bother with the lies? Couldn't people just face the very basic fact that they weren't nearly as charitable as they often deemed themselves to be? I mean, the young man had seen firsthand a family having previously snubbed a dirty homeless man with appalled disdain at the sight of his muddied clothes and dirt stained skin, only to then begin volunteering at a soup kitchen to purge whatever guilt they carried on their conscience once the holiday season began. The whole ordeal was pitiful! Nevertheless, - more so for Paul and Marko's sakes than his own -, he did humor these traditions amongst the holiday's festivities. Ruining a good time just wasn't his style. Unless they started fucking singing.

Most traditions David could tolerate, some he even enjoyed slightly; although he would never be caught dead admitting something as embarrassing as that! However, he just couldn't stand Christmas carols! They were the bain to his immortal existence. The repetitive nature of these overly cheery jingles left him covering his ears lest they nest in his brain leaving him humming the same damn melody for weeks. This was the case because the dynamic duo of dumbasses were well aware of his hatred for Rudolph the Red Nosed fuckin' roadkill! Stupid red nosed abomination. 

“OOOOOOH-,” Paul begins with cheerful mischief.

“Don’t. You. Fucking. Dare.” David seethes through tightly clenched teeth, eyes screwed shut in indignance. 

Paul hesitates. He looks at Marko. Marko looks at Paul. Wicked grins of agreement spread wide like wildfire across their faces as their master plan comes into play. Full throttle. What’s more fun than annoying the shit out of David? One on the left, the other on the opposite side of the cave on the right. This was nothing but Divine perfection if you asked the two troublesome vampires.

“OOOOOH DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW!” Paul belted out at full volume.

“IN A ONE HORSE OPEN SLEIGH!” Marko followed in suit, the widest eerie grin plastered on his face.

“OVER THE HILLS WE GOOOO” Paul howled enthusiastically. 

“I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU BOTH!” David's voice hit a whole new octave it had never in all his life so far. All the while Dwayne had opted to vacate the room lest he be caught in the middle of the escalating madness with Laddie in tow. He loved these guys, but not enough to dive head first into their fuckery.

Paul thrives during the Christmas holidays! How could he not? The food, the punk rock covers of Christmas songs, the absolute babes prancing around the town in Santa hats under mistletoe?! He loved it all! You can find him sneaking under mistletoe with many sweet honeys on a constant basis, regardless of whether or not he's acquainted with them. Most do roll their eyes or laugh it off, but every once in a blue moon the guy will get a little lovin' from a beach babe in the Yuletide mood. What else could he ask for? You can bet he’ll run into the woods December first, and quite literally RIP a pine tree out of the ground to bring home like a wee carrot being plucked from the ground. The bigger the better! He may even drag Dwayne or Marko along with him if it's too big for him to carry himself. And all the boozy drinks he can concoct up? This boy is in his element! Mulled wine, spiked eggnog, candy cane vodka, butterscotch bourbon hot chocolate?! Yes! David straight up refuses to try anything that Paul creates himself (remember the concoction he made in Max's kitchen? Those poor goldfish....) which is also another reason why he has Dwayne help him. Or rather, the other boys insist the most responsible of them monitors the blonde lest he poison them with some sickly brew. That, and the fact that Dwayne's the least likely out of all of them to blow up the damn kitchen!

Dwayne is indeed the designated cook during the holiday rush, albeit a field even he tends to struggle. Avoiding the kitchen catching aflame, perfecting his craft lest he blow up the stove, leaving only a pile of ash in its wake. As previously mentioned, ever since the dreadful chain of events that lead to the unfortunate destruction of Max's kitchen, this raven haired vampire has attempted his hand at learning to use a stove properly: Although he often finds himself forgetting ingredients either in the midst of cooking or after the final product is done and he's taken a big bite. 

“Shit! I forgot the milk and eggs!” Dwayne grumbled with a mouthful of dry crumbs, a true disgrace of a cookie.

Paul always gives him crap for it of course.

“Oooh I just thought you were going for a sandy, dusty dry cookie kinda thing.”

"Yeah man, these taste like ass!" Marko would cough out in midst of choking. 

"And what, like you dumbasses could do any better," Dwayne retorts with a huff. Only Star manages to have any manners when testing his failed baking endeavors.

"Well I mean, the taste isn't that bad. Just a little dry is all."

"At least Marko wouldn't be choking to death." David would mutter from the darkest corner of the room, a little late in the conversation.

In all honesty, Dwayne's biggest motivation when it came to improving his skills was obviously Laddie. The kid never got much of a Christmas whilst living with his mom, so now that he was with the boys, he wanted to ensure that Christmas's were something that Laddie would remember for all eternity. Though granted, it is quite the mess when he was helping in the kitchen. But when the mini vamp grins from ear to ear whilst coated in flour and rapidly stirring an overflowing bowl of chunky cookie dough--the sight is too freaking cute!

Since Laddie joined the boys, they participate in Secret Santa every single year, which definitely includes Paul bursting through the entrance of the hotel as Santa on Christmas day. We won't talk about the fact that each year he almost falls flat on his face and swears, ruining the surprise for the kid. 

"Santa where are your reindeer," he'd question, to which Santa Paul scoffs

"Pff, reindeer, I don't need any fucki- Ow," cut off by a firm and covert kick to the shin from Star, Paul quickly changes his response. "Oh! Ho ho, well, you see little boy, Santa can fly too! On his, uh, uhm… magic motorcycle! Yeah, that!"

But it's okay because Laddie already KNEW (he figured it out a year or two ago after Paul's beard fell off not once, but three times), he just doesn't have the heart to tell any of them because, well Paul really gets into it. And he knows the others are playing along for his sake. But to be fair, Laddie would have to be pretty dumb to believe it was Santa. I mean, the beard Paul's wearing is hanging half off his face by this point! But anyway, just like Paul's style, the entirety of the goody two shoes schpiel is thrown out the window, replaced with sleeves that have been ripped off, muddy boots, spiked bracelets and his Metallica shirt in full view beneath his flared red coat. He calls this BIKER CLAUS!

Laddie is not a squasher of traditions! But there was the one time that David had to intervene when Paul and Dwayne thought it would be great to use Laddie as the star at the top of the tree. David practically had a heart attack. Well, that's impossible but it still felt like he was having one!  

“Ho ho ho! Now, don’t be a bitch, little David or Santa will have to give you coal.” Paul stated mockingly to David, brows furrowed. 

“Well, Santa,” David scolds, a wry smile developing on his face when setting down the eight year old now off to shake his presents beneath their behemoth of a tree. “You best be careful. You never know what's in those milk and cookies, hm?”

Each year Marko buys bird toys for the pigeons in the hotel. Well, buy is probably the wrong word. More like he liberates the stores of their stock. And then for the next six months, David has to hear the agonizing jingle of bells. David almost roasted one pigeon in particular that kept flying over him to drop the ball with a bell in it on his head. That was Paul's entertainment for the next five hours, hell, he'd try to find it if the bird lost it and give it back. Marko defends the pigeon. Between running through stores buying up surprises for his friends, he's helping Paul throw out decorations for the cave. The dollar store has some surprisingly unexpected treasures, allowing him to deck the fucking halls to the max. Tinsel here, ornaments there,  tiny light up trees to hide around the caves, a butt ton of cinnamon pine cones which he ends up throwing back and forth with Paul.

And Paul often steals his gifts or goes dumpster diving for any hidden gems. He forgets to take the tags off of them the majority of the time, which is always an indicator whether or not its new. Any time Star asks where he got them from he refuses to answer. Just gets up and walks away. But for David's gift? Well this lucky bastard has found coal in the dumpster and chucks it to David when he's not looking and he sighs deeply in disappointment because this is the third year Paul has done this. 

 "Huh? What? Who did that? Wasn't me. Somebody's throwing stuff."

Other than that he'll find a fat bag of charcoal and just tape the name David on it. David is certainly not amused. Dwayne will actually try to figure out what the others want, and has the sense to save the money taken from their previous meals. After all, they're dead, they wouldn't have much use for it anyway. He's not about to waste his hypnosis on some poor cashier. That would be a waste of time in his eyes. 

When Christmas did arrive the tree was piled with mysterious boxes crudely mashed and taped together with bows and ribbons underneath it. It's obvious which ones are from Star since those gifts are wrapped in neatly pressed paper, wound tight beneath curled ribbons that remind the boys of her hair. Marko often goes on a food run rather than allow them all to be subjected to a potentially charred turkey, no offense to Dwayne of course. So, with a table covered from end to end with copious bowls of gravy, potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, a beast of a turkey in the center packed to the brim with cornbread stuffing, the boys cram into their chairs knocking back beers and spiked cider. Keeping to their own traditions, after fattening up, they gather around the tree and play card games, just as they had over eighty years ago on that frigid night. David still slays them in poker, and Marko is an utter dark horse when it comes to blackjack. Paul insists they try Go Fish. No one ever wants to play Go Fish. Closer towards the end of the night Dwayne will slip away to Jasper's shrine and bring him a fresh glass of rum as well as unwrapping what he got him that year. While Dwayne is there, the other boys will join him - omitting Star and Laddie left unaware of the Lost Boy they'd never met - in celebrating the last hour or so of the Holiday season with their fallen comrade.

Although Christmas time is often about uncomfortable mushy moments and emotions that create deep, unfamiliar times for David. The entire ordeal becomes that for everyone of the boys and Star. But God forbid anyone who even mentions it! I mean, it's kinda obvious though considering he's spending it with the people he always called family, knee deep in traditions that are sentimental to himself and the boys. There's a fluster of emotions running rampant during this particular Holiday Season, and although the blonde brooding vampire decides to squint at it with skepticism he savors these moments, knowing like Jasper, it could all be swept away with a single ray of light or the foolish hand of a hunter. So as they sit, drunk, full, and laughing beside Jasper's grave he can't help but smile at the sentimentality of it all. Christmas is a pain in the ass, but… it's a pain he'll gladly sit through for his brothers.

[keith-the-hoe]

The Glimmer Hoes Master Plan| Crack Fanfic Mini Series

Episode One: [X]

Episode Two: [X]

Episode Three: [X]

Episode Four: I'm Flyin'

Episode Five: [X]

Warnings:

This may contain weird questionable subjects, no no words and sex scenes. It may cause you to lose a couple of brain cells and fall into a state of confusion. Do not read if you are under the age of 16. Read at your own risk.

Cast:

Keith Richards

Ronnie Wood

Bill Wyman

Charlie Watts

Rod Stewart

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

It was around midnight when the huge slaughtering went down around the small motel in CaliFOnia. The Rolling Stones were on the search for a hospital since Ronnie is a dumbass and got attacked by a Mick robot. Keith has been on his side the entire trip. He was quite upset about everything that happened since they went on vaca. His whore side hoe got killed, his Cyborg Mick didn't work out well, and now his best friend is now slowly dying.

"Don't worry buddy, you will be fine, I swear," Keith said calmly.

Ronnie didn't seem to be having a problem with anything. He was just there looking at Keef, smiling.

"Well.... this has been a helluva ride! You Rolling Stones whores are something!" He added.

Bill just rolled his eyes and looked out the window. Charlie was still trying to figure out why he's in a band full of dumbasses. Keith looked away for a second and later realized that Ronnie wasn't there anymore. He panicked.

"G-guys!! Ron disappeared!" Keith yelled. Bill and Charlie looked back at him. They were confused. Charlie sighed in relief. No more dumbasses.

"Where in bloody hell did he go, you monkey!?" Bill yelled. Keith searched the whole van and did not find him anywhere. Charlie looked out the windshield and spotted Ronnie on top of a roof of a strip club.

"Bill! BILL!" He pulled on his hair to get his attention. "That big nose whore is on top of that roof!" He said as he pointed up at him. Keith pressed his monkey face on the glass and spotted him.

"RON! How in the actual fuck did ya get up there!?" Keith asked as the van pulled up to the parking lot of the strip club. He kicked the door open and ran up to the building.

"Oh hiya there Keith! Beautiful view up here! I can see every single building from here!" Ronnie said with a chuckle. Keith extended his arms in case he decides to jump off.

"Ron! Get down from there! You're going to fall!" Keith said sounding very worried. Ronnie just laughed.

"Nah! Mate! I won't fall! I've done this many times with my mate, Rod!" He said. Keith was utterly confused. Bill and Charlie walked up to Keith to tell him that they should get going. Keith refused to leave Ronnie behind so he climbed onto the roof. He then realized that he is afraid of heights. He slowly walked up to Ronnie.

"Alright mate, just walk over to me and lets get down safely, okay?" He said calmly. Ronnie just smiled widely at him. He did a T-pose and fell forwards. Keith panicked and ran to the edge of the building. He didn't see him anywhere.

"Charlie! Where did he go!?" He said in a very shaky voice. Charlie pointed up to the sky. "You dumbass! Why would you even consider that huh!?" He yelled. Charlie shook his head in disappointment.

"You Muppet! That is not wot I meant! He's up in the sky flying!" Charlie yelled in response. Keith looked up to the sky. There he was, flying around like a chicken. He was so confused. He the heard music coming from a building that was across from the strip club. A blonde big nose whore was standing on there singing some song that said something among the lines of "I'm flying."

"Wot the fuck?....." Keith said to himself. Bill and Charlie seemed to be entertained by the music. Bill looked up at Keith, who was still on top of the roof.

"Hey matey! Get your monkey ass down from there and come look at this spectacular show!" He yelled. Keith was hella annoyed by everything. He got down from the building and headed to the van. Ronnie was preparing for landing but a pamper flew into his face and caused him to fly into the dumbass bitch, Rod. It caused a huge explosion. Bill and Charlie hugged each other in fear. They slowly looked at each other and pulled away. That was awkward. Keith was once again hella upset.

"Let's get the fuck out of here...." He said as he hopped in the van. The Rolling Stones were once again on the run. Keith could not believe that he'd just lost his two best friends. Ron was like a corn dog to him.

"Where are we headed?" Bill asked Charlie. He just sat there thinking if they could possibly go back home because he just wants to go home. The only problem was that they didn't have money to book a flight to go back to Britain. They were stuck in the states for a while. Keith reached into his underwear and pulled out a picture of his whore best friend, Mick. He seriously wished he was by his side, even if it was for just a little bit. A tear ran down his monkey face and quickly wiped it away. Bill and Charlie saw someone crossing the street.

"Jesus CHARLIE STEP ON THE BLOODY BREAKS!" Bill yelled.

Charlie did what he was told. The van did a loud skkkrt sound. Keith flew into the seat. Dumbass didn't wear his seatbelt. Charlie and Bill sat there completely startled. There stood a man who was average height with longish hair and blue eyes. Keith took a glance at him. He could not believe his eyes.

"M-Mick?" He said softly.

The figure walked closer to the van. His skin was pale and was covered in dry blood. His clothes were worn out and dirty.

"Sweet mother of-" Charlie added.

Keith quickly exited the van and ran up to him. Mick took out a blade and pointed it at Keef. He stood there in fear of him getting stabbed by his zombie friend.

"M-Mick," he began, "Its me, you're buddy. We've known each other since we were dumb fucks."

Mick slowly turned his head to look a Keef. His eye color was faded to a light blue shade. He stared at him for a while until he put away his blade. He was shocked to once again see his monkey friend after he had gotten killed by Mick Taylor.

"Its okay buddy, I ain't going to hurt ya..... Just want to be with you again...." Keith explained.

Mick stood there in silence.

"Jesus wot is this!? Some kind of weird romantic zombie movie!? Oh fuck that matey! I ain't here for that! I just want my damn band back!" Mick said.

Keith chuckled and pulled Mick in for a tight hug. Surprisingly, Mick hugged him back.

"Jesus Mick! Where the hell were you!? How did you find us!? I thought I lost you forever!" He rambled.

"Well, Monkey, after you had left me there at the dumpster, I woke up and followed the tracks from the van." Mick explained. "It was a helluva ride!"

Keith was glad that his bestie was back. He couldn't stop smiling like an idiot. Bill and Charlie just sat there in the van face palming their faces.

"Well.... We're back to square one....." Bill said to Charlie.

Charlie just wants to go home.

"I am hella glad you're alive! Heck I even tried to replace you with a cyborg version of you!" Keith said as he fixed his pants.

"You did wot now?..." He asked.

"Doesn't matter! You're here now! Meaning we can go back to being friends and being in our band!" Keith added.

Mick just smiled in response. They both hoped into the van. Bill and Charlie shook their heads in disappointment. They threw Mick in the dumpster for a reason and somehow he managed to find them. They really thought they did something. Lol. Mick and Keef kept going on about plans they had for their road trip. Mick really wanted to go to January so Keith yelled into Bill's ear to drive them to McDonald's because he really wanted some lettuce from there. All Mick wanted was eat brains but he resisted. Bill rolled his eyes and began to drive. Mick sucked Keef's penis to pass the time. Charlie shoved them out of the van because he seriously did not want to see dumb fucks sucking each other's dicks.

The Rolling Stones made it to a fairly large city that was located in Wendy's bathroom. Mick and Keef kept making out in the back of the van.

"We should totes do that....." Bill said to Charlie with a small chuckle. Charlie just sighed deeply.

"I just want to go home.... Is that too much to ask for? We've been all over the place and it's been exhausting for me." Charlie explained. Bill just sighed. He patted his shoulder and looked at him dead in the eye.

"Don't you worry about a thing, we'll go home soon." He said in a soft voice. Charlie just looked into his dark eyes. He began to feel warm. Mick chocked on Keef's dick and was trying to figure out how the fuck that happened because his monkey penis isn't the biggest here. He then saw Bill and Charlie kissing each other.

"Oh shit matey!" Mick yelled which resulted in him getting a shoe thrown at him.

Keef got lost and has no idea what just happened. The Rolling Stones stopped by a motel that has been vandalized by Led Zeppelin.

"Oh no.... those damn crusty ass bastards are here...." Charlie added. Bill spotted one of the members who was pissing in the pool. He was truly concerned about them.

"Wotever you lads do.... do not get near Led Zeppelin, those bastards do witch craft and eat goats hearts." Bill explained.

"Oh shut it you! We literally eat goats head soups!" Keef yelled. Bill was hella confused. When did they do that? They checked out rooms that had two singles. Mick and Keef are going to share beds while Bill and Charlie sleep on the other bed. This was going to be a sexy night. Sorry, Rod Stewart is holding me hostage as I write this whole fanfic. The Glimmer Hoes removed their clothes and laid in bed. Keef fell asleep pretty quick. Charlie and Bill stared at the ceiling and fell asleep. Mick didn't need sleep at all. So he went out to the porch and saw two led zeppelin members fucking each other in the pool. He's got some inspo there! There was another band staying in the motel. Mick absolutely hated them with a burning passion.

"Oh those bloody Beatles! we're constantly getting compared to one another!" Mick said angrily. He came up with a very beautiful idea. He reached in his trousers and took out his blade. "Let's Dance! Put on your red shoes and dance the Blues!" Oh Mick loves Bowie so much. He walked up to The Beatles and began to slice their head open to eat their brains. He let one go but was killed by a Led Zeppelin member. There was no point in doing that honestly. Mick went back to the room. He was still hungry and needed more brains to devour. He stood there in the doorway looking at his buddies. He slowly walked in and shut the door behind him.

[sleepless-rain]

Karasuno studies! – View from the second years (Part 5) –

Translator: Leo | Sleepless-rain | Leoppii Editor: San | Naffnuffnice Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

NOTE: PLEASE READ ALL THE OTHER PARTS BEFORE THIS ONE (or at least part 4) as understanding the punchline of this section relies on the previous parts.

Kageyama left the bookstore with his monthly volleyball magazine, head filled only with thoughts of tako-pho. Combined with the post club activity hunger, Kageyama stumbled down the street. With a bump he walked into someone...

“WHAT?”

TRANSLATORS NOTE:

Please do NOT repost this translation ANYWHERE. If I see the whole thing elsewhere I will stop translating novel chapters and delete all chapter translations I have done. Sharing small snippets are okay but not the whole thing. Please link back to this tumblr post if you want to share it.

Jerking his head up in response to the angry outburst, Kageyama found himself looking up at the volleyball club’s second year member, Tanaka Ryuunosuke. The others, Nishinoya Yuu and Ennoshita Chikara, were here as well.

“…wait it’s just Kageyama. Why are you walking around all spaced out? You alright?” Tanaka asked.

Kageyama, still dazed, answered, “Huh. Uh, I’m fine. Just went to buy the monthly volleyball magazine.”

“Oh, lemmie have a look tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

“Thanks… wait, that’s not what I meant! You’re looking spaced out! Are you seriously okay?” Tanaka gave Kageyama a worried look.

“No…” Kageyama pouted.

“What’s wrong? Is it something you’re worried about? You can tell Tanaka-senpai anything!”

Behind the proud Tanaka, Ennoshita had given up. “There it is, the senpai thing...”

But Kageyama played into it and told him, “Well, uh… I was just wondering what tako-pho was… ”

“Tako-pho?”

Upon hearing the unfamiliar word the second years exchanged glances. 

“What is it?”

“Do you know?” 

“Never heard of it.”

Ennoshita smiled teasingly, a second’s worth of eye contact saying, “Hey, you’re the senpai he can talk about anything to.” And flustered, Tanaka opened his mouth.

“Ah, well you know, it’s that thing! Ah… that thing! Yes! Like… the octopus version of pho!”

And to that Kageyama muttered quietly, “Ah, that’s what I thought…”

“What about it?”

“It’s just that I heard that Hinata and Yachi-san were going to make tako-pho…”

Why he was so concerned about them making tako-pho was unknown to even Kageyama himself. But it stuck to him like a thorn in his side and that bothered him. What was tako-pho?

Kageyama had clammed up and Nishinoya piped, “In other words, is it like imoni*? An imoni party? Is it time for this imoni leader’s debut? ” (* Imoni: this is a traditional dish in the Tohoku area, literal translation being “potato boiling” usually done in autumn on the riverside (this segment takes place in winter). A massive pot is set on rocks, and seasonal vegetables are put in to make a soup. The main ingredient is something called sato imo. There are different versions of imoni depending on where in Tohoku you have it (for example using beef instead of pork, miso instead of soysauce for the soup base). The original reference was to gyuujiru (a supposed beef version of tonjiru) . But I didn’t want to replace this whole Imoni section so it may seem a bit random for Nishinoya to suddenly bring it up. I apologise. )

“I don’t really get what you’re saying…” responded Kageyama, and Ennoshita cut in.

“No, isn’t it too cold for imoni?”

“What are you saying? If you put your spirit into it you can do it!”

“Really? Isn’t it too cold out?”

“Put some spirit into it Chikara!!”

“Imoni and spirit have nothing to do with each other!?”

“What are you saying Chikara? This is imoni we’re talking about!”

A sense of discord began to descend between Ennoshita and Nishinoya before Tanaka interrupted, “Wait, you guys. Stop it. We shouldn’t be arguing about miso based soup or soy-sauce based soup, or sato-imo or potatoes, right now is some precious time before the spring tournament, we don’t have time for this.”

Just as T anaka finished, Kageyama came to a realisation.

That’s it.

He wasn’t sure of the details of what Hinata and Yachi were talking about. But he was curious as it involved a topic similar to imoni. It wasn’t about the soup base or the type of noodles, not about the beef or chicken but….octopus. Thinking about it weighed on Kageyama’s thoughts and his hunger increased.

Imoni – this was a problem involving the identity of someone from Tohoku and Kageyama was a fine Tohoku born person.

“I knew I could count on you senpai…” he muttered and looked up at Tanaka, his face completely different from before, free of worry. “Thanks!” He bowed energetically, and took off at full sprint.

Tanaka, watching Kageyama’s silhouette, commented after him, “What was all that about just now…”

“I have no idea but it seems like he’s cheered up so it’s fine right?”

Tanaka replied to Ennoshita’s words with a “RIGHT!” He picked himself back up. 

“It’s your senpai power!” Nishinoya responded with a triumphant pose.

“You’re right! Senpai-power!”

Ennoshita started walking, leaving the laughing Nishinoya and Tanaka behind. “Hurry up, let’s go, it’s cold.” 

                                                            ***

“Hey sis, can I ask you something?” Tanaka, who had just arrived home, turned stiffly towards his sister, Saeko, who was wearing a face mask. 

“What is it?”

“So… what do you think tako-pho is?” Tanaka asked his face mask covered sister awkwardly.

“Huh? Tako-pho? No idea. Like an octopus version of pho or something? Is this a new menu item at the restaurant?” Saeko replied through her teeth as to avoid wrinkling the mask, and hearing her response, Tanaka laughed in relief. Thank god. 

He didn’t tell his precious junior any lies. Thank god...

Seeing her relieved little brother, Saeko let out an unrestrained laugh. “I’ll be the one to tako-pho** this Tanaka household though.”

“A pun, really? You drinking already?”　Tanaka frowned and Saeko’s expression changed quickly.

“Shut up. Get to your room and start studying already. Didn’t you do badly on the term tests?”

“What? Did you look at them without telling me? It wasn’t a failing grade so it’s fine!” 

Seeing Tanaka’s face go red, she gave his head a poke. “Haha, you can’t fool me. You just missed the failing grade. With a brain like that, are you really my little bro?”

“W-what!? You mean you lied about seeing my papers!?” 

“High school students should be studying! Study!”

And so the pitiful Tanaka was pushed upstairs to his room by his older sister who had taken over the house and its residents. 

                                                              ***

“Studying… huh…” Tanaka laid out over his bed and reached over to take a textbook from his desk. And as he opened it to look at the pages, as if he had been knocked unconscious, he fell asleep.  That was quick. A strangely clean and new English textbook closed neatly on the bed covers. 

It seems that it’s a little too early for some of the first and second years to be focusing on studying.

And so the third years will graduate soon and new students will start high school. Tanaka and the others will become third years and a new Karasuno volleyball club will be born. And when that day comes, this responsible senpai will surely be the support for an amazing team. Probably. 

TRANSLATION NOTES:

**Tako-pho: In this case a better translation would be “rule the roost” but Saeko has used the same word play from part 4. Her intention for it to mean  “Take over“ as Hinata had used when speaking to Yachi.

As a small disclaimer:  I have taken some liberties in translation to make the novel read smoothly. So please don’t quote specific words as canon. That being said I tried my best to stay faithful to the original.  For this reason I will not allow translations into another language using this as the base text. I apologise to anyone who is keen on sharing it in another language but please do so using the original Japanese text.

Anyway, if you enjoyed this chapter please consider supporting Haikyuu and buying a copy of this novel (volume 11) ! I may consider doing more novel translations in the future!

I do have a Ko-fi so if you do feel like it, please donate!

[magnoliawhetstone]

h e a d c a n o n s, pt. 1

( tw: mentions of eating disorder )

When Lia is drunk/ tipsy she likes to act our favorite movie scenes—even if she’s alone.  Most recently was the titanic scene (where she also got her knee suck in the balcony). She can quote all of the legally blonde courtroom scene and definitely knows the mean girls Christmas dance as well.

When Lia bakes, she has this small habit of humming or singing when she does so. Interestingly enough, for how involved baking is, she’d done it for so long she’s relatively good at shutting her brain down for a while when she does it. Or, at least, it takes all her energy to bake instead of overthink. It’s why she stress bakes so frequently and it’s also why she hums/sings when she does it. It’s mindless and she’d be embarrassed if anyone heard it–but she doesn’t always realize she’s doing it.

Surprisingly, while Lia’s favorite book is Pride and Prejudice, her favorite movie is Love Actually. She can quote most of the movie–as she can with most things she loves–and her favorite scene is when Hugh Grant dances to “Jump (For My Love)” by the Pointed Sisters. This is another scene she sometimes recreates when drunk.

Lia is not the biggest fan of Harry Potter. She doesn’t even know what house she’s in (its Ravenclaw but she can’t remember that). She never got into the series, never found it to be that interesting–magic didn’t quench her thirst the way some other books did…

Yes, that’s right. Magnolia Barnes was absolutely a Twi-Hard. You could not pull her away from these books–it was even worse since, at age 18, you’d think she would have had better taste. But no, she was #TeamJacob all the way. And yes, she did go see the movies when they came out. And yes, she did cry at the end. Don’t judge her.

Lia loves watching home renovation shows, though she literally has no reason to watch the show. She’s never had to do a home reno in her life. But she likes to imagine a day when she would–she thinks she’d be quite good at it. Sometimes about being able to use her hands in a meaningful way strikes her as soothing–its why she likes baking so much. She doesn’t have proof she’d be good at it, but she has a feeling she’d be pretty good with her hands if she can make delicate pastries so well.

Lia loves college football. Like absolutely adores it. Big Clemson gal, Tiger Rag is her jam. She remembered spending fall weekends at their Lake Keowee home so they could easily drive over to Clemson and go to a home game. Hates the Gamecocks with a passion. Rivalry weekend was her favorite time of year growing up–it was so full of excitement and energy. In fact, the most heated you might ever see Lia out of an argument is walking a Clemson football game. And yes she knows exactly what’s going on down on the field and if you ask her one more time if she’s sure–she will throw a piece of pie in your face.

Speaking of Clemson, Lia wanted to go there for college–get her degree in English. But she also had high dreams to be the baton twirler on the field–the one who dots the i with whatever family they’re celebrating that day in the pregame ceremony? Yeah, she wanted that. She thought that maybe she could mix the two worlds of hers, her two areas of interest–but no, that was never to be the case.

Lia grew up going to State fairs every summer–but never an amusement or theme park. She has never been to a planetarium, and her first trip to an Aquarium was with Beckett. Her first trip to a Zoo was with Ryder. So sure she’s ridden some rides, but it’s never been like most people have. It’s her dream to go to DisneyWorld one day and somehow, someway, stay in the Cinderella Suite. she’s watched enough youtube videos to know that not one gets to stay there but contest winners and celebrities, but still–a girl can dream.

While her peers took their vacations in Paris, Nice, Monaco and Italy, Lia’s father preferred north–like Amsterdam. Which, to be fair, was really very nice and Lia liked going. She even had a friend, Tess, who she’d hang out with when they would go on holiday as they called it. Tess was cool–she was into collecting model trains and really liked to read also. But then Tess’s parents sent her to boarding school after they had found out that she had been chatting with people online that she shouldn’t have been. Lia thought that sounded awfully harsh and hoped her parents would never do something like that to her. (Oh, irony)

When she’s sick, she doesn’t want chicken noodle soup, she wants wonton soup. Why? She doesn’t know, but she’s never liked chicken noodle soup. She thinks its the mushy carrots and celery. But wonton soup is essentially the same thing, but with a wonton and better flavor. She likes hers with spinach.

If toast is cut diagonal, she can’t eat it. Vertical squad for the win.

Big Bon Appetit fan. The quickest way to make her smile is to make her watch an episode of “one of everything” or “gourmet makes”. she might have a small crush on alex delany but we don’t talk about that.

Lia believe in aliens but not ghosts. She’s not big on conspiracy theories either–but she might be tempted by the stories at Denver Intentional Airport. She just can’t accept that humans are the only living things in the universe. That’s a lot for her–but she doesn’t go actively searching for them. Ghosts, on the other hand–she just never believed in them. Why would anyone want to haunt someone? Seemed like a weird power play to her. And no, despite what some people at the Malnati think, the moon is not made of cheese.

Lia is obsessed with spreadsheets. If you asked her what the dorkiest thing about her was–she’d tell you it was her planner and spreadsheets. She has a spreadsheet for probably every aspect of her life. her planner–which is really a bullet journal–is how she keeps track of things when she can’t get on her computer, but she has one for chores, her books, work, her bucket list, hell–even a bachelorette watch party she had a few years ago. She loves being organized.

Office supplies are her kryptonite. She absolutely loves blank notebooks and pens. She has a favorite pen for different things. Pentel RSVP RT Retractable Ball Point in black for everyday items, Staedleter fine tips felt pens for her bullet journal, sharpie pens for when she wants her notes to stand out, Zebra Mildliner for headers in her bullet journal or giving the pages shape. She is incredible persnickety on who can borrow what pen, and even keeps less important pens in her pencil bag just to lend out. And under very few circumstances will you ever see Magnolia Barnes using a pencil unless she has been required too. She hates the darn things.

Lia doesn’t swear–her mother taught her ladies don’t swear and while she doesn’t believe language as a gatekeeper for femininity anymore, the expectation still holds. So if you do hear her use a curse word, something is very very wrong.

Go to coffee order, you ask? Easy. Grande White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha with Blonde Espresso and Almondmilk and yes whipped cream. Sometimes she’ll get it with Raspberry instead. If its iced, it’s a tall and no whipped cream. However, she can also be bought over with a Venti Iced Guava Tea Lemonade with 8 pumps sweetener.

Lia has seen the Chatworth House–the house used as Pemberly in the Kiera Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice. While its not her all time favorite movie, she sure loves it still and begged her parents to take her one summer. They relented and it was everything she had dreamed of seeing.

It’s well known that Lia cannot dance–she often tells people she can only line dance and Viennese Walz, and the former only happens when she’s tipsy on PBRs.

Lia loves sleeping with windows open because she can’t sleep in silence. The white noise of the city helps relax her and and makes her sleep easier.

However, she must read in silence–any noise will distract her and she gets relatively grumpy if anyone interrupts her reading. She also adores reading by a window. She likes the way the natural lights illuminates the pages.

Words are some of Lia’s favorite things–she thinks they’re magic. So loves the way they sound and likes to think about the way they feel in her mouth and how they roll off the tongue. She does her best to take her time when speaking too–because if words are so important, its better to get them right the first time. (Although perhaps she would learn that getting it right may not always be nearly as important as saying something at all).

(tw: eating disorder) Not many people know this, but after the book incident, Lia has begun to go to therapy. Her counselor, Tonya, has been helping her try to work through what things are Lia and what things are Lia’s mother. They haven’t gotten to the eating disorder conversation yet–and Lia dreads it. because Lia has never used the term out loud–in fact, the only time it was ever spoken was by the doctor the night of the incident. She has never named it and technically never claimed it out loud–though she knows its true in her heart.

Lia hates pickles. Don’t know why, but she thinks they are gross. Also parmesan cheese.

Magnolia loves horses–perhaps not the extend of others, but she had grown up riding them and when she rode them, she always sensed a freedom that was just out of reach at home. Perhaps that was because who was always riding wit her, but she doesn’t like to dive deep into that. It complicates things (that maybe needed to be complicated, just sayin’). Leaving her childhood horse Butternut was like leaving a pet (something the Barnes did not have as Lia grew up). Butternut and her went on a lot of adventures together, usually along side Buttersquash and Jack. It was good squad.

Lia’ favorite dessert is Mrs. Whetstone’s peach cobbler–and she has pour her life’s work into recreating it since she never asked for the recipe before she left. Every time she tries, she feels like she gets a little closer, but its never quite right. But it does remind her of home and its one of those memories she loves dearly. Anyone who asks her, though, what her favorite dessert is, she’ll say cheesecake because nothing even compares in her mind to that cobbler and she doesn’t want something to try to do something that will never reach what she expects. And she does love cheesecake.

Favorite flavor of yogurt? Chobani Raspberry Lemonade. Its only available in the summertime, but boy is it worth the wait.

[leechfluff]

Transformation (2/2)

Part 1

Content Alert For - Stuffing (aftermath), transformation, body horror, vague hints to blood drinking, mild belly kink, hurt with comfort, very mild whump, gagging (no vomit), hints to a past abusive relationship.

Note- I plan on doing way more with these characters but this is the end part of their first story. Please feel free to send in asks for my OC's at anytime or to ask me anything! I'd love some ideas for drawing them.

Cardinal cursed at the lock, jiggling the key until it finally gave and let them cross into the dark room. It was messy, but not overly so. The desk (as usual) being the focal point, covered in its usual clutter of pens, paper and coffee cups.

They entered the kitchen, not bothering to hit any of the lights on the way through. The light was unnecessary, their vision worked better in the dark than in the light if they were to tell the truth. As they bent over to put the container of soup into the fridge, their stomach gave out an unhappy grumble.

"Oh hush." Cardinal mumbled in response, rubbing at the taught skin in an attempt to quiet it down and wishing they had thought to wear a hoodie rather than the snug T-Shirt. Really, they'd barely even fed. Just enough that they wouldn't have to worry about it. Still, their stomach stuck out unhappily and complained at any sudden movements. It would be an excuse to steal one of Grace's hoodies, something soft and warm.

The young vampire was brought out of their thoughts by a loud thud from Grace's bedroom. Followed by crashing and more thudding, like furniture being knocked over. Cardinal froze, listening up at the rapid heart beat pounding overhead.

It was louder than it should have been, faster too. The most concerning thing however was the sound of claws on wood. A fact that was especially upsetting considering Grace didn’t have any pets, especially nothing that large.

Cardinal crept up the stairs, not even breathing as the sound of breaking glass carried through the home. The door was closed tight, and no light shone from underneath. The scrabbling noise increased, it sounded like the claws were scraping drywall now.

In a single, fluid, movement Cardinal wrenched the door open before sliding in and slamming it behind them. Whatever they had been expecting, the large wolf escaping through the (now broken) window left them at somewhat of a loss for words. There was no sign of Grace, and the animal had clearly not been dragging her with it.

There was no evidence of a struggle, no blood on the sheets, and the air smelled strongly of Grace albeit sharper than Cardinal ever remembered it being. The dresser had been knocked over in the creature's (in her) attempts to escape. It was apparent nothing had entered or exited the room recently other than the concerned vampire.

The pieces fit together in an unfortunate manner, making Cardinal groan in dread. This… wasn't how they had ever wanted to introduce their girlfriend into this world but it was happening regardless. Time to minimize the damage, at least to Grace anyway. 

--------

The first thing Grace did when she woke up was groan.

Everything hurt. Her joints cracked and popped as she stirred and her muscles complained. Her head pounded in a way reminiscent of a hangover, but worse in it's own special way.

Potentially topping the migraine however, was the cramping pain coming from her stomach.

"Easy, I don't know exactly what you did but I reckon you feel pretty bad right now"

It was Cardinal, in a voice as smooth as honey. Soothing the headache to a degree. 

Grace struggled against the blanket laid over her, feverishly trying to get up.

"Hey, just lie down. Please, Grace. Just lie back down."

She did, that sticky-sweet voice drawing her in. The blanket was pulled back, leaving a sheet to cover her.

A sheet that was the only thing covering her naked body.

"I'm going to grab you some clothes and help you get them on, ok?"

The voice was less sticky now, more recognizable. Once again Grace felt acutely aware of the heavy, painful feeling in her stomach. A feeling accentuated by a prolonged groan.

Finally, her eyes fluttered open. Cardinal was holding a tshirt and shorts, an older outfit Grace usually wore when sleeping. Their hair was wild, sticking up all over and falling in their eyes. Their dark shirt was ripped and muddy and their pants were much the same way. It was a simple outfit that Grace didn't think she'd ever seen worn before on the petite figure. 

"Wha' happened to ya shirt?"

Grace didn't even register how bad her mouth tasted until she opened it. Coppery and foul, with a touch of something gone off.

That was the breaking point and she bolted upright despite her painful stomach and leaned off the bed as she retched.

And retched.

And try as she might nothing came up but strings of saliva for her efforts.

A cool hand rested on one shoulder and supported her until it ended.

"I'm sorry. God- just- just lean back. Oh God" 

Grace hadn't even realized she had her arms cradled around her stomach. What was typically fairly average and flat was stretched out painfully. Hard and round, it had expanded outwards a significant amount and with every threatening gurgle she felt as though she was going to vomit.

But it never happened.

The cool hands pulled her back until she was no longer hanging off the bed. Hands pulling her shirt over her head as she numbly complied by lifting her arms gently. The soft shirt was still baggy around her shoulders and chest but was just barely snug around the mysterious belly. Every movement of her midsection left her panting on the verge of gagging as she worked with her partner to get the shirt on.

Cardinal leaned her back onto the bed before lying beside her, on top of the sheets that covered Grace's bare legs. Her stomach let out a long gurgle in protest of the movement and a pale hand reached tentatively for it, pausing before gently rubbing it. The motion was painful as first, eliciting groans both from Grace and her tortured stomach. Soon however, the pressure seemed to lessen and Grace belched wetly. The taste almost brought on another retching fit, but the slight decrease in pressure and the relief it brought helped immensely.

"What…" Grace coughed, and held a hand to her swollen midsection.

"I…" Cardinal froze. Their voice was soft as they stammered, "What do you- um. You…" 

They took a deep breath.

"You might be a, uh…"

"Werewolf?" Grace croaked out.

Cardinal shifted their body weight suddenly.

"How did you even know to guess that?"

"Had an ex-boyfriend who bragged... well it was threats really but I thought he was full of shit. Not to say he wasn’t-" she burped again, less satisfying this time but it helped "Just not about that. I guess."

"How much do you know?"

"Not much." Grace admitted. "I thought he was trying to be funny, then I thought it was annoying when he threatened me with it. He called me last month all pissy and angry. I told myself that the nightmares I had that night were coincidental. That it didn’t mean anything, just my subconscious picking up on his claims."

Another burp, more relief and unbelievably her brain presented the idea of actually trying to go get something to eat. An idea that made Grace almost want to weep.

Instead, she curled up as Cardinal lay still and silent at her back. Soon she was asleep again.

-----

This time when Grace woke up she could move. She felt… good actually. Really good. Her stomach still had a small paunch to it but nothing like the painful, heavy lump she had woken up to. 

The smell of coconut curry soup wafted through the open door, and Grace was on the verge of drooling as she pulled on her shorts and hurried towards the kitchen. Trying hard not to run down the stairs and trip in her haste she stuck a head around the corner into the kitchen

Cardinal was standing there, with an amused expression. 

"Glad to know you feel a bit better."

Grace nodded as she grabbed the bowl of soup sitting on the counter, barely even bothering with the spoon. It didn't fully end the ravenous hunger, but gave her room to think with a clearer head. 

"Yeah, I do." She glanced around the kitchen hoping to spot some more but was out of luck. The rest of the soup must have been in the fridge still 

"God. This is insane. I don't think I've ever been so hungry in my goddamn life and considering this morning I really shouldn't be."

"I think it's just part of it darling. Best to eat when you're human, at least then you have more of a choice."

Grace stopped for a moment. Gears turning. If her stomach had been full, then she must have eaten something and if she were to go by the rancid taste in her mouth when she first woke up...

"What exactly did I eat last night?"

"Honestly? Not a fucking clue but your breath was rank and you certainly seemed to regret it. I had to carry you back. That is, after I chased you through the woods for several hours."

Grace groaned and leaned against the counter. 

"It's not over yet, is it? So will several days a month be trying to consume literally anything I can rationalize as food or is this an all the time thing?"

"You're asking the wrong person, I have no idea."

Grace eyed them suspiciously. Her rational side finally catching up despite the weirdness of it all. 

How did they know this? How did they know any of this?

"Got something you want to share?" Grace kept her tone controlled, looking Cardinal dead in the eye.

Their partners' body language shifted, from comfortable to mildy self-conscious. Like they were trying to shrink in on themself.

“What do you mean?

She poked Cardinal in the stomach, where the soft skin bulged beneath the hoodie stolen from her closet. It was obviously an attempt to be subtle, but it wasn't the first time they had been mysteriously bloated. Typically they just tried to pass it off as a food allergy or intolerance. Other times they both just ignored it.

"Between the belly and the nighttime disappearance act-"

"I'm not a werewolf. I'm something else. Think more along the bloodsucking side of the spectrum."

Grace recoiled before gently poking Cardinals firm stomach. 

"So… You're like a tick or a leech or something?"

"I think vampire is the politically correct term, but yes."

"So… you were going to tell me when?"

Cardinal grimaced.

"Probably not now and not like this. I just… I was worried about you."

"Hmm."

"Are you mad?"

Grace paused in the tactile exploration of her lover's distended stomach before grabbing them by the face and kissing them slowly.

Cardinal pulled away gently, lifting their head and looking them in the eye.

"We should make sure you actually eat enough today. I really don't want to have to chase you through the woods again."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I have a friend who’s a bit more in touch with this sort of stuff that I am. He said you should actually go ahead and cave to that growling stomach of yours. Supposedly it’ll make the change easier, and will hopefully keep you from trying to go hunting.”

"Hunting? What was I even hunting?"

"Judging by the smell, you didn't hunt anything. You found it."

Grace grimaced, not even wanting to know anymore.

She leaned into her partner, the ghost of the pain she had felt this morning when she woke up was still fresh and that gut had to be a little sore. It gurgled softly, as if in reaction to her thoughts.

"You ok?" She said, putting a hand gently on their stomach.

"Hmm?" Cardinal glanced down and laughed. "Oh yeah, this is mild really. I stopped short to come back early. I wanted to go ahead and check on you. Turned out that was a good idea, wouldn't have wanted you stumbling naked back to your house just to find the door locked."

Grace hummed in response, already casting her eyes around the kitchen for more food. 

It was going to be a long day.

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

Grace woke up suddenly, having fallen asleep on the couch with her small partner curled up next to her.

It was easy to realize what had woken her up.

"Holy hell."

At her exclamation Cardinal stirred.

"What's up?"

Grace didn't even answer, trying to stand up and immediately collapsing onto her knees as a wave of vertigo washed over her.

There was swearing from Cardinal, then the short vampire picked her up and set her down on the couch. 

"Your bedroom window is broken. We decided you should stay down here, remember?"

Grace shook her head, a clawing pain in her throat starting to bring her to tears. As if reading her mind Cardinal grabbed a water bottle, removed the top and steadied Grace's hands as she downed the whole thing. The pain didn't go away, but as she moved her joints started to crack and pop.

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

Cardinal watched helplessly, their enhanced hearing picking up every shift and squelch as Grace's body began to rearrange itself. The taller girl curled in on herself, shivering even as her temperature skyrocketed.

"I-it's going faster this time." 

Grace managed to force out the words as Cardinal helped her with her shirt. Despite the close relationship, the vampire still grabbed a light blanket and wrapped it around the werewolf. Covering her bare torso and hiding the disconcerting warping of tissue and bone beneath the skin. Then, they carefully massaged her back along the spine and shoulder blades and tried to ignore the feeling of bones moving under the skin every so often.

Caelum had said this would be rough, and not just for Grace either. As usual, the witch was right. However, Cardinal had more sympathy for the person actually going through the change than for the person who only had to listen.

And watch.

And feel.

Grace moaned feverishly, a sound that lengthened into a yell as her muscles clenched abruptly.

It cut off suddenly with a choking noise, and Cardinal instinctively backed away as the girl convulsed. When it got to be too much, they closed their eyes. Refusing to look at Grace’s body was forced into its other form.

Until the noises stopped, and something bumped their leg. They jerked their head up, obviously startling the large gray and copper wolf who jumped up and scrambled back like a scared dog.

Guilt tugged at Cardinal’s insides from the sight. Some half forgotten tidbit of information presented itself to her mind. Something about helping werewolves by saying their name.

Well, it was worth a shot. Right?

“Hey-” 

The wolf began snarling, and Cardinal swiftly realized the large animal had backed itself into a corner.

“Grace, it’s ok. You know me. I won’t hurt you, and you don’t have to worry about hurting me, ok?”

The animal still seemed wary, but it recognized the name.

“Grace, you there sweetheart?”

They suspected they knew the answer. The wolf was definitely intelligent, but something was clearly lost in the transformation. Leaving a wild animal with some version of human rationality. A fun concept considering Grace already had the incredible ability to get into heaps of trouble, even when not high off of adrenaline and moonlight.

The wolf stopped snarling, cocking her head before rushing Cardinal and knocking them to the ground.

Cardinal yelped hands going up in an instinctive attempt to protect their face as the wolf-

Started licking their face like an excited puppy.

The vampire laughed, gently rubbing their hands through the unbelievably thick fur while they tried to come up with ways to keep the energetic werewolf occupied and the damage to a minimum.

[chxnyeol]

Karaoke Night (Reader x Lucas)

Pairing: Reader x Lucas

Setting: Boyfriend!Lucas

Summary: You and your boyfriend have been spending a night out with his friends, drinking away all of your troubles and having the most fun. As always, Yukhei is there to take care of you after you got a little carried away, and drunk minds exposespeak sober thoughts.

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 2.1k

A/N: Lucas is literally going to end me, he is the embodiment of cute. This is a request- I had planned for a karaoke night thing with Lucas anyway because of how silly he is, so I smashed the two ideas together, and I hope it’s enjoyable and super cute like he is! 

“All I wanna do~ Is kick it with you~!” Though it was one of your favorite songs, and though he had dedicated it to you before beginning, the way that your boyfriend was screeching it now (with Haechan at his shoulder as backups and harmonies) only left you a breathless, cackling mess. Your laughter only egged Lucas on, however, and he began to bounce forcefully to the beat, limbs flying everywhere in the small space of the karaoke room with his enthusiasm, his cheeks flushed and his smile wide. On one swing of his arms, one of his big hands accidentally whacked Haechan in the face and you and everyone else in the room doubled over in laughter, so hard that you nearly fell off the couch in the process.

“O-kay!” Mark had helped you slide back to your seat and, afterwards, he stood up and clapped loudly to get everyone’s attention, the crazily colored and strobing lights making his face look so funny you fell into a laughing fit again- definitely that, and nothing to do with all the alcohol in your system. “I think it’s time we cut everyone off!”

He was met with groans and protests from the room full of his friends- all except from Lucas, who refused to let the song die, even as Haechan got distracted and set his microphone down. Instead, he picked it up and sang with both, sometimes letting them crash together and causing feedback to make everyone shout. His eyes were focused on you and he danced towards you, trying to be sexy, though his movements were jerky and clunky due to the partying you all were doing. His efforts earned him a big grin from you, though, with giggles and sparkling eyes, so he took it as a win. He only stopped when Ten leaned over and gave him a shove, tugging the microphones from him, wanting to save his ears finally. “You’ve been off-key this whole time!”

“My la~dy likes it, though!” Lucas shot back and you gave him a thumbs up as he attempted to get his microphones back from Ten, though the song was winding down to a close. The smaller boy ducked away from him and Lucas gave chase, his leg hitting the table close to you and causing the few drinks left on it to spill over, another series of groans and yells coming from all corners of the room.

“No more drinking!” you weren’t sure who or where the declaration came from, but you had been nursing your drink in your lap, and you raised it to your lips to take a long sip from it, defiantly. It earned you a few cheers and whoops, and suddenly Lucas was at your side, playfully jostling Mark off the couch to sink down beside you.

“No more drinking!” he mocked in an overexaggerated mimic and fake whisper, causing you to laugh again and his face to blossom back into a smile. It had always been that way with you two. Lucas craned his head down to steal a few sips of your drink and then swooped back up to press a kiss to your forehead, ignoring the “gross!”, “get a room!”, “we’re still here, you know!” shouts as he wrapped his arms around you, snuggling into you for a moment. “Your laugh is my all-time, favortist thing- do you know that?”

Now, you were regretting all your life choices from earlier in the night. You laid on Yukhei’s (because, out in the world, the giant insisted you called him Lucas- but inside, in intimate moments, tucked away from everyone else, he was Yukhei) couch, a glass of water sitting next to you on the coffee stand that you couldn’t bare to touch, a cold rag laid across your eyes to help you with your headache and keep the lights out, even though not a single light was on in the living room. You groaned pitifully and you heard a tsk sound from somewhere nearby you, then suddenly a large hand pressed down against your forehead, the touch gentle and comforting. You leaned up into it slightly, and then it was gone.

“I told you not to drink too much, Y/N,” Yukhei scolded lightly, and you pouted and he chuckled, fingertips brushing against your lips before they were gone. “I guess I should have been watching you a little better, hm?”

You shifted suddenly, moving to sit up and then wincing as the world around you spun, the rag falling from your eyes. “I’m not a baby,” you huffed at him- though a quick search of the room showed that you were just speaking to the air. In truth, you had just wanted to keep up with him and his friends. The night was intended to just be a simple hang-out session at a bar, but then you all had gotten a little tipsy and decided that the night was meant for dancing and later, after more than a few drinks had been consumed, karaoke seemed like the best way to top it off. It wasn’t often that you two got to spend time with his friends like this and you were still relatively new to his life, so you’d wanted to make a good impression- you didn’t turn down any drinks that were offered to you by them, and you thanked the liquid courage for making you seem more interesting and less antsy. Now, however, you knew when you woke up in the morning you’d be paying for it. After karaoke had ended, you’d all spilled out into the street and parted ways slowly, saying slurred goodbyes and chirping happy “seeya laters!” Yukhei had offered you to come spend the night at his place where, he promised, you’d only cuddle on the couch and get caught up on the latest episodes of the show you had been watching together- and you were more than happy to avoid the wrath of your roommate, so you took him up on it.

At the moment, though, you kind of wished you’d gone home. Yukhei had had to practically carry you up the stairs, and you’d hardly moved since he’d gotten you on the couch, too afraid that you’d throw up at your boyfriend’s apartment and mortified at the thought. Maybe you hadn’t needed that last defiant drink- or the other three after that. Maybe it wasn’t too late, and he’d see you off if you begged enough.

“Y/N,” a voice cut through your thoughts and you squinted in its direction, watching as Lucas made its way back to you. “Lay back down! You’ll get too dizzy.”

“You don’t have to take care of me, you know!” You paused the slurred speech foreign to your ears, then repeated, “I’m not a baby.”

“You’re my baby.” You paused again at his words, a rosy hue beginning to rise to your cheeks, and Yukhei chuckled a little as he came around to the other side of the couch and set down a cup of something that smelled amazing and a few other things he’d collected on the coffee table beside the water. “It’s my job to take care of you. Especially when I let you get like this.”

“I’m a whole grown person, I knew what I-” your feeble attempts at an argument were cut off as you felt a spoon hit your tongue, spilling warm soup into your mouth and down your throat, and you hummed appreciatively, chasing after it as Lucas pulled it back. He raised an eyebrow at you, teasing, as if questioning your earlier words about being a baby, but you just flopped back down and waited for him to bring the spoon back again, closing your eyes once more. You felt another rag settle over your face this time, this one warmer and placed over your forehead, and you let Lucas feed you and coo at you this time without complaint.

“I hope at least that you had fun?” he had asked, after the soup was gone and you had drank some water, now back to laying flat and snuggled in a blanket up to your chin.

You mhmm’d in response and opened your eyes just a bit to watch him, his long fingers working at the package of something that, through your dancing and spinning sight, you couldn’t quite place a finger on. “And, Yukhei?” he looked up from his current project to look at you, his head tilted just a bit, “Thank you. For babying me.”

Yukhei’s bright smile cut through the darkness and your dizziness, and he shifted to hover over you for a moment, and placed another, gentle kiss on your forehead again, before sitting back up and fiddling with the object in his hands more. You let your eyes close, finally stable enough for the whole world not to spin and swirl and dance behind your lids, and you sighed happily as you felt another wet cloth began to press against your forehead, trailing down to your cheek, brushing gentle over your eyes.

“You know, earlier, when you said my laugh was your ‘favortist’ thing?” Yukhei hummed in response, pausing his work to pull another makeup cloth out, and bring its soothing touch to your flushed skin. “Well, I can’t decide what my favortist thing about you is. Sometimes I think it’s your smile- I know you smile like that at me on purpose when I’m mad at you, because you know how it makes me melt,” From above you, Yukhei rumbled out a chuckle, “or, see! Sometimes I think it’s your laugh. I love it when I can make you laugh. Other times, I think it’s all these other little things- how you seem like you always know what I’m thinking, how you always let me win our play fights even though you pretend you don’t, how you send me little gifts and say you got them just because you were thinking of me.”

You take a pause- it was getting harder to think, your voice getting heavier as sleep began to threaten to take you under, but you continued on anyway, letting your brain go on autopilot and your mouth ramble out the words, “And then, sometime awhile ago, I realized that it’s just you. You’re my favortist thing ever. How you’re filled with so much pride for your friends when they do things, how you always go out of your way to make sure everyone’s comfortable, how you listen to everyone rant without a single complaint and look at each person in each moment as if they’re the most important thing in the world, because you know how much that matters. How you bounce your leg when your nervous and reach for the nearest thing to distract your hands with- and how I always hope that it’s my hand you pick. How you frown when you’re really focused on something, how you light up when you’ve figured it out. How you’re always level headed, and laughing, and happy, and how it melts from you and into the world around you. How you’re always willing to help, willing to try, willing to do. How you take care of your drunk girlfriend,” you stopped to laugh a little, your head comfortably nuzzling into the pillow he’d tucked under it ages ago, “how you made me soup, tucked me in, took off my makeup because you knew I’d be kicking myself in the morning if I didn’t. How lucky I am to have you. How in love with all of that and with you I am.”

You could hear Yukhei draw a sharp breath in from above you but, half asleep, it didn’t register to you that it was because of your words. You could just barely feel his hand as he rested it on your cheek, and you nuzzled into that instead, lazily reaching a hand up to curl your fingers around his. “How very, very in love with you I am,” you finished your words with a low murmur, your voice barely above a whisper, and no more words tumbled from your lips after that as you fully drifted off into your dreams. Yukhei remained like that with you, for a long time- sitting beside you, hand on your cheek, eyes searching over your face as he watched you sleep and hoped that you were having the sweetest of dreams, his heart swelling seemingly each time you took a breath. You didn’t feel the kiss that he left lingering on your forehead after sweeping your hair aside, nor the smile that his lips formed against your skin as he replayed your words in his head, drumming out with each beat of his heart- but, your dreams only got sweeter after that.

[stainyourhands]

29. “I thought you were dead.” JonJon

Lovett has a routine.

The rooster, its vocal box deep and scratchy with the disease, crowing a mating cry into the dawn light is Lovett’s least favorite part of it.

Mornings have never quite been Lovett’s thing. When he was still working in politics, he’d work until most of his colleagues’ alarm clocks rang, then close his blackout curtains. When he was working in Hollywood, one p.m. was the new seven a.m. When he was working at Crooked, even after he started joining Tommy at that unbearable - and, he realizes now, pointless - cycling class, he waited until the East Coast made the first round of hot Twitter takes before he really joined the world.

But now, blackout curtains are a luxury Lovett can’t afford, Twitter disappeared with the actual blackout, and Lovett’s in the best shape of his life with no-one, not even that damn rooster, to share it with.

It serves him right, Lovett thinks some days, that all he needed to stick to a diet was the extinction of all deep friers, pizza ovens, and delivery workers. He’s not even sure he remembers what a Whopper tasted like. He’s pretty sure he misses them, though.

The rooster crows again, a sad, strangled sound that scares every animal for a mile around. Pundit lifts her head from the end of the bed, whoofing back half-heartedly before dropping her head again.

Lovett laughs, scratching between her ears as he slides out of the covers, stretching his arms above his head. He grabs the knife from his bedside table and scratches a mark into his bedpost.

436 marks.

436 days since civilization bit off its own nose to spite the face of progress.

When the authorities first started to warn of a string of bizarre cases, they warned against forming a routine like the one Lovett has now. Trump’s commerce secretary begged people to go out, do things, be productive members of the world economy even as bodies were piling up in the CDC morgue. Talk show hosts and news anchors and Oprah urged people to fight the fear, fear isn’t productive even as the virus was spreading through Europe with the force of the Black Plague. Doctors spoke into every microphone they could find, warning that routine is the first sign of illness even as they knew they were no closer to a vaccine than they are to rebuilding civilization on fucking Mars.

Lovett still remembers the first zombie he saw. He remembers standing on the sidewalk, watching the middle-aged woman who used to give Pundit treats from her stoop repeat her morning ritual - a lather, rinse, repeat of mundane tasks like brushing her teeth and brewing coffee - until there was no coffee to brew and there was no water to brush her teeth with and there was almost no skin on her bones.

That was day 137.

Lovett’s lost count of the zombies he’s seen since.

Lovett wonders, sometimes, if someone stood on his sidewalk, watched him go through his routine, if they’d be able to tell that he’s still healthy. If only in the most literal sense of the word.

Pundit hops off the bed and stretches at his feet with a disapproving yip. Lovett snorts and pets her side. “Yeah, yeah, let’s see what we can scrounge up for breakfast, huh?”

Pundit barks happily, dancing around his ankles as he reaches for the last clean shirt he has - a threadbare red FotP shirt that had seen better days eight months ago - and pulls it on as they head through the house. The sun is just rising over the horizon, illuminating the furniture Lovett had bought when he moved to LA so many years ago, when he thought furniture was disposable and his life was only on an upwards trajectory.

It’s wearing out now. Lovett’s been marking out furniture on his scavenging missions, rearranging his living room in his head. There’s a loveseat in a house around the corner that’s a pristine red leather that he’s been coveting for weeks. If he can only find a way to bring it back. He’s debating skateboards. Four of them. It might just work.

His pantries are looking a little bare, too, as he opens them and roots around for the can of chicken he knows he’s been saving for Pundit. He mixes it in a bowl and puts half in her dish, sitting the floor so he can eat the other half next to her. “Not so bad, huh? I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

In the distance, the rooster hoots again. The disease can’t tell sunrise from eight a.m. The disease only knows routine.

Lovett sighs, calling “we know, we’re up! You crazy fucking bird,” before he can regret it. Before long, the rooster will be gone and Lovett will miss him, too.

Pundit finishes licking her bowl and crosses to the door, already pawing at her leash. Lovett’s honestly not sure if he’s trained her or if she’s trained him, but he gets up. He shoves his feet into his shoes and reaches for his backpack. He’s pretty sure there’s a street two miles west of them that is mostly untouched. If he’s lucky, he might be able to restock his soups and beans.

He pulls on Pundit’s leash, smiling at her “we’ve got a long walk today,” as he opens the door.

And freezes.

Mentally, Lovett makes a checkmark next to the 436th mark on his bedpost. He’s made it through 435 days and now, on the 436th, he’s finally lost it. He’s made it through the initial food shortages and the power outages, through the cutting of the phone lines and the end of their oil supply, through friend after friend falling ill, through more funerals than he can count. Lovett made it through all of that, only to fall ill on the most innocuous day of the most innocuous month of the most innocuous year.

Because standing on his doorstep is a hallucination.

He’s looking a little worse than he does in Lovett’s dreams. His hair is long around his ears, his face half-obscured by a scraggly beard that could use trimming if not a full shave, his clothes thin and threadbare and a large khaki duffle slung over his shoulder. But Lovett would recognize those eyes anywhere.

Jon Favreau has stepped out of Lovett’s dreams and onto his front porch.

“Lovett,” the hallucination says. His voice is sore with disuse, his tongue darting out to lick at his cracking bottom lip. “Lovett.”

Pundit rises onto her hindlegs, her front paws resting on his thigh. He’s a three-dimensional hallucination, then. Sometimes, Lovett’s mind amazes even himself.

The hallucination rubs her ears, murmuring something low and unsteady, before looking directly at Lovett again. “I’ve been walking for a year and a half to fucking get to you. Are you doing to let me in or just stare?”

Lovett swallows. “I didn’t know that hallucinations needed permission.”

The hallucination laughs and, even under the beard and the three layers of dirt, it sounds so much like Jon’s laugh that tears fill Lovett’s eyes. “Feel like a hallucination, somedays, but, I assure you, I’m completely real.”

Lovett shakes his head. “That’s not possible.”

The hallucination holds out his arm. His fingers are thinner than Lovett remembers, but they’re still wider at the knuckles, still tan and long and the fixtures of Lovett’s dreams. “Pinch me. Come on. Hallucinations can’t be pinched right?”

Lovett shakes his head. “This is ridiculous.” But he steps forward, reaches for the arm - fuck, it’s solid, his imagination is fucking amazing - and pinches, hard.

The hallucination - Jon, Lovett’s brain supplies, hope rising from the deep, dark recesses Lovett’s pushed it into for the past 435 days - yelps.

“See?” Jon asks, stepping forward. His body is warm. His chest is solid. Pundit barks at him, recognition and excitement warring in her wiggling body. “I’m me, I’m here, I made it to you, just like I promised.”

Lovett shakes his head, his voice choked and desperate, “I thought you were dead.”

“No,” Jon whispers, closing the last inches between them. He smells like sweat and smoke and dirt but, under it all, just a hint of Jon. Lovett sways forward. Lovett never wants to stop smelling him. “How could I die, when I still had you to get back to?”

Lovett makes a pained noise, pulling at Jon’s neck, tugging him down and into a kiss.

436 days after the world ended, Lovett starts living again.

[mandowh0re]

The Universe Takes, and It Gives

CH 1

Summary: The war with Thanos is over, but some sacrifices still need to be made. Will Steve and Tony ever get their happy ending?

Warnings: language? Look you should know by now that all of my fics have that. Angst, unhealthy coping habits, mentions of suicide, eventual fluff.

A/N: In this fic, Thanos happens earlier, Civil War didn’t happen, and Peter is a baby. I also made up the name of the orphanage because I didn’t want to do research. The irondad part of this will be in the next chapter okay thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Word Count: 1554

Happy reading!

In order to destroy the soul stone, someone had to sacrifice themselves.

Steve and Tony stood on the edge of the cliff on Vormir, with Red Skull and Strange waiting behind them.

“A sacrifice for a sacrifice.” Skull had told them.

They had been standing there in stunned silence for the past two minutes. Finally, Steve spoke up.

“It should be me.”

Tony’s head snapped up, his eyes meeting Steve’s.

“What?? No. It needs to be me-“

“The world needs Tony Stark,” Steve interrupted, “It needs its best defender. It doesn’t need Captain America anymore.”

“But I do, Rogers! You can’t just… You can’t just leave! I can’t lose you!”

His voice broke at the end, and by this time tears were streaming down his cheeks and he was choking back sobs.

“Tony,”

“What about everything we wanted? What about the future we talked about! I- I had a ring, dammit! I had a ring for you when this was all over with and I… I can’t do this! Please, you can’t do this,” Tony was full on sobbing now, no longer caring who saw him.

Steve was doing his best not to cry. He didn’t want Tony to see him cry, to see that he was scared. Or that he too, had a ring.

Steve opened one of the many zippers on his pant legs and pulled out a small black, silk bag with a red string that kept it tied shut.

He gently placed a hand on Tony’s cheek, the smaller man leaning into the touch, and kissed his forehead, then his lips. He placed the small contraption Tony had created to hold each infinity stone into his lover’s hands, along with the tony bag.

“Keep the world turning. Because it doesn’t stop without me.”

Tony’s eyes flew open, “Steve, no, please-!“

Tony reached out with his empty hand, but it was too late. Steve had let himself fall back off of the cliff. He watched with horror as the love of his life fell to his final death.

A world war, a fight with a psychopath with a tesseract, a plane crash, seventy years in ice, a fight against aliens, a fight against a HYDRA super soldier and the rest of the murderous group, only to die by his own sacrifice.

The next thing Tony knew, he was sitting in the water, a ways away from where he had previously been a just few seconds ago. In his hand was the purple infinity stone, shattered and no longer glowing.

Taking a few moments to gather what had just happened, he tossed the pieces into the water and opened the bag that was now soaked.

Tipping it upside down, a beautiful silver band tumbled out onto his calloused hand.

Tony’s breath caught in his throat.

Carefully turning the ring, he caught sight of inscription on the inside.

You have been in every way, all I could ever want. I love you.

Strange ended up having to come get him, opening the portal and the cloak carrying most of Tony’s weight as they walked back to Earth.

As soon as the pair came into sight, it was immediately obvious that Steve wasn’t coming back. Nobody spoke a word.

Bucky did, however, fall to his knees. Natasha and Sam went to help him.

Strange handed Tony off to Rhodey, who took him back to the compound to try and sleep, and told the others to meet up there later.

Of course, Tony didn’t sleep. He didn’t eat. He didn’t tinker. He stayed in bed and cried, sometimes showering, and only because Rhodey threatened to use sedatives and give him a sponge bath.

After two weeks of unhealthy habits, starving himself, little to no sleep, and hardly getting any sunlight, Tony’s body shut down.

He was sitting at the table in the dining area, attempting to stomach the noodle soup Rhodey made for him when his vision began to blur and his hearing began to ring. When he tried to say something, he fell to the floor.

The first time he came to he couldn’t open his eyes, and his hearing was muffled, like he was underwater.

“-blood sugar is way too low… gurney up here…”

“-carry him…”

“-heart attack?”

Then he was out again.

The second time he came to he was laying on something softer. But he still couldn’t manage to open his eyes, or even move, to attempt to figure out his situation.

And to make matters worse, this time his hearing wasn’t even clear enough to make out any words around him.

Just an annoying rapid beep.

And what seemed like shouting.

Then he was out again.

The third time he came to, he woke up on the shore of the most beautiful beach he had ever seen. The sand was pink and the water was crystal clear. The sun was high and glittering off the water. There were shells scattered about. But not the tiny, broken, malformed shells you usually find. No, these were fully shaped, brightly colored shells, along with sea glass and sea dollars.

He looked around, finding he was the only one there.

“Hello?” He called out.

“Hello.” Answered an angelic voice.

He turned back around towards the water to see a woman walking out of the water onto shore. She was glowing, literally. Her dress was tan and seemed to flow with gold. Her hair was loose down her back, and a tiara sat on her head perfectly. Water droplets glinted off her dark skin.

For the first time in a long time, Tony was rendered absolutely speechless.

The woman smiled at him, stopping a few feet away.

“I have been so excited for this day. To finally meet the great Anthony Edward Stark. The mortal who defied all odds.”

Tony cleared his throat, his brain finally kicking into gear.

“I- I’m sorry. Who are you?”

“I do not have a name. Nor am I a being. I simply am.”

“That… Actually is the furthest thing from an answer.”

The woman chuckled.

“I am everything. I am the universe. But for the sake of making things easier, you may call me Celeste.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “You’re the universe… Like you control all things and are all things?”

Celeste shrugged, “In a sense. I am here to help you-”

Tony scoffed, taking a step back, “Help me? Help me?? I’ve been suffering my whole life; I lost my parents, was blown up, tortured, ripped open, backstabbed, poisoned, beaten, lost the love of my life, and now you want to help me??” By now Tony was pacing, his heart pounding in his ears.

Celeste sighed, “Please believe that none of that was my doing. There is good and bad in the universe. As you already know. I am in control over the good. My brother is in control over the bad. Since you were born, we both knew you were destined for greatness, but we both wanted your greatness to amount to something different. When you became a hero, he became angry.

But when you destroyed the infinity stones and defeat a monster who was out to destroy half of of our being, he gave in. I can finally give you what you want most.” She spoke with confidence and power. She outstretched her hand and a white light moved from her palm to Tony, manifesting itself into Steve’s Captain America helmet.

“Steve,” Tony whispered.

But it seemed too good to be true.

“There is just one thing I ask in return,”

“Anything,” Tony looked back up at her.

“There is a boy. He is just over a year old. He lost everyone in this war. He needs someone. You and Steven will adopt him. Raise him as your own. This boy is special, and will grow up to change the world.”

Tony deflated, “Are you kidding me? I can’t just, become a parent! I’m not built to be one! Have you seen me lately? My boyfriend commits suicide to save the rest of us and I’m nearly killing myself.”

The woman only nods, “In time, it will come to you. Just like fighting, it is all in your instincts. You are a smart man, Anthony. You have many people by your side. And you would have Steven as well.”

Tony pulls at his hair and squeezes his eyes shut.

Get Steve back, and adopt a baby?

Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. They’d finally have the little family they’d always joked about.

“Fine. Fine. I’ll do it. Just, please, give me back-“

***

“Steve!” Tony sat straight up clutching at nothing.

“Woah, Tony, calm down.” Bruce gently pushed Tony back against the medical bed.

“But S-Steve he sh-should have-“

“Yeah, he’s in the next room. Cho’s checking him right now.” Tony relaxed and Bruce made himself busy with checking his vitals, asking him basic questions, and checking his reflexes. Finally, he brought up the elephant in the room, “He just… Appeared out of nowhere. I thought you said he was dead?”

Tony stared at the wall, then at the TV which was displaying the news on mute.

At that moment, the name Queens Heart of Children Orphanage came across the screen, making Tony’s heart squeeze in a way he didn’t quite expect.

“Yeah,” he replied, “He was.”

***

Iron Dad tag list: @tranquility-or-chaos @a-black-pegasus @phiauniverse @justsomeone-notimportant @do-you-downey @ididntdothatnope @marvelbased @superlock-dispatch @terriblygoodrockandroll @love-every-fandom @starkaroos2034 @prism-opals @howisavebrainspace @multifandom-slytherin

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Strikethrough means I couldn’t tag you.

[yukiwrites]

Morgan, Comparing

Thank you for the support as always, @xpegasusuniverse! This one was so much fun to write askdjlkasd Morgan will be the death of those three someday!

Summary: Morgan, now Linfan, has gotten used to travelling with the people from this Valla world, already considering them her companions. Even so, or perhaps because of that, she couldn’t help but feel as though she were meeting some of the same people of Ylisse in this world, but in another form entirely...

Commission info HERE and HERE!

_______________________________

Morgan had already felt at home amidst her newest companions during the war against the invisble-y, purple-y things -- they were something related to something that Azura tried her best to explain at least five times, but it honestly all went over Morgan's head.

Of course, she would most likely understand if she actually applied herself to it; or if her Father were the one to explain it to her, but as it stands, she just wanted to take things on her own pace. She had found her brother and pulled his ear like their Mother wanted, so there would be no problem in enjoying herself for a bit, right?

She was way too excited to be around so many new people and fighting such interesting enemies! All of that alongside her brother and her friends, as well! New and old!

Think about it! A male manakete (although Nowi did mention knowing one or two, but since Morgan had never met them, they didn't exist to her) with short ears and wriggly fingers in dragon form, able to stop a dragon-slaying sword. A water-controling dancer with next to no magical ability who uses the power of a floating pendant to instill her comrades to fight harder on the battlefield.

Not only one but three legendary swords wielded by a grumpier, blonde and royal Frederick, a shorter and hairier version of Walhart and the male manakete! Not to mention a legendary tome and a bow! This world was AMAZING in every sense of the word!

On her way to deliver her daily report to Corrin's tent regarding her patrol of the perimeter, Linfan wore huge grin on her face by just thinking about all of the awesome stuff this world had to offer. Her mind in the clouds, she bumped into something oddly fluffy right at the entrance of Corrin's tent: a... cleavage?

"Whoops! Lady Camilla! Thanks for the save." Linfan giggled after the nohrian princess caught her lest she fell on the ground after their bumping. "Visiting Lord Corrin?"

"You are very welcome, darling," the eldest princess smiled softly, lingering one hand over Linfan's shoulder. "And yes, I am... Though I must admit I am rather worried..." she took her free hand to her cheek, a dark cloud shadowing her brow. "Say... is that the report of your patrol, my dear?"

Oh, I wonder what this nagging feeling is...? Where did i see that dark look before... Linfan squinted at the beautiful princess' face, trying to discern what was it that bothered her.

Noticing how the young woman had once again flew into her own mind while gazing upon herself, Camilla giggled then patted Linfan's shoulder so as to guide her away from Corrin's tent. "My dear, why don't we have this conversation over there? I do not wish for my darling Corrin to be disturbed more than necessary..."

"Huh?" Linfan blinked as she saw the report she had been carrying slipped out of her hands into Camilla's -- smoothly so! How did she DO that? Was she secretly a ninja? Wow, that world had to be the best thing ever! But, wait- "uh, but he asked me to give it to him even if there were nothing out of ordinary-"

Camilla took her index finger to her lips, "that will be our little secret, hm? Dear Corrin has been much too stressed lately and only just now I managed to coax him to take a little nap." She giggled adorably, but her eyes were covered in a dark shadow. "Truly regrettable that I had to resort to a... calming kind of tea for that to happen."

Nagging feeling, nagging feeling, nagging feeling... Morgan couldn't hide her surprised yet scrutinizing expression, her brain working at its full capacity to be able to discern the origin of that insistent prickling at the back of her mind to think about where Lady Camilla was taking her to.

From a nearby corner, Laslow had just about finished helping a maid carry some supplies into a tent -- let us not mention how he was drenched in cold water due to the maid's... vehement refusal of his advances -- and caught a glimpse of Morgan being led through camp by none other than princess Camilla herself.

"Linfan?" He raised one eyebrow, taking it upon himself to tail the unusual duo.

Somehow, the air around Lady Camilla at that moment made the retainer unable to approach as he normally did -- and to think that Morgan was (happily?) chatting with her despite all that only meant that his childhood friend was still as oblivious as always to the world around her. Following from behind tents and barrels, Laslow watched how Camilla never lost her grip on Linfan's shoulder, a somehow uneasy feeling grasping his chest. He felt the visceral urge to go grab Odin immediately, but was afraid to lose sight of the two of them while he did so.

What to do... what to do...

"Oh, they went inside the- huh? The mess hall?" He whispered to himself, popping his head out of the flying banner he had badly concealed himself against. "No, wait, they went into the kitchen attached to it... Must follow!"

"Ugh, creeper, much? What're you doing following people by attempting to hide as lamely as that?" Selena scoffed beside him, as though she had been there the whole time.

"WAUGH!" Laslow jumped out of his skin. "Selena! D-don't scare me like that, I almost- wait, no time to waste, come with me!" He pulled his friend by the arm, tip-toeing as fast as he could towards the mess tent.

"Wh- hey, I didn't agree to-"

"Lady Camilla just took Linfan here!" He whispered-yelled, making a shushing gesture.

Selena slapped one hand over her mouth lest she gasped loudly in surprise. "What does Lady Camilla want with Linfan-"

"Let's find out-" Laslow whispered back, peeking inside the tent.

"What're looking for again, Lady Camilla?" Morgan asked joyfully, scavenging sacks and barrels alike, mostly for the fun of it since she didn't know what the thing Camilla wanted look like.

"It is a pear-shaped, grape-sized vegetable, my dear. You are a treasure for volunteering to help me look for it." Camilla's voice sounded a bit distant for the observing duo right outside, but they could feel the lack of mirth coming from it, which made them shiver.

Linfan frowned slightly, stopping her search to look up in wonder. "Huh? Did I volunteer...?" She searched her memory for the exact time that happened, but then shrugged. "Oh, well! I'm here helping now, and that's what matters! Pear-shaped, grape-sized, got it!"

"Don't go helping people without asking what it's for, you dimwit!" Selena said behind her teeth from outside. "If I remember correctly, that vegetable..."

"... Is used in a lot of soups, yeah." Odin replied, kneeling beside their friends as though he had always been there.

Selena's twintails and the entirety of Laslow's hair went up in surprise, but they managed to only yell inside their minds. "Odin?! Since when-"

"I saw you two sneaking about and thought it'd be fun to join, but then I saw it was about Linfan so I just stayed quiet." He replied with a serious expression, oblivious to the dark air around the nohrian princess right inside. "What's going on?"

Laslow opened his mouth to reply, but Selena slapped it shut for Morgan had started to speak.

"There! Is this it, Lady Camilla? The box was squashed under a big sack; no wonder you couldn't find it!" Linfan raised a medium-sized chest overhead, twirling around to the princess.

Camilla's mood shifted so quickly it was as though the cloud had never been there. "You are a treasure, dear Linfan! That is exactly it!" She smiled gracefully, taking the chest with rather ease from Linfan's hands. "Thank you so much for your help, my dear! Now I can finally cook up an invigorating soup for my darling Corrin. I will beat down his exhaustion by nurturing him in every way possible!"

Realization hit Linfan as strong and sudden as a slap on the face. "AHA!" She unabashedly pointed at Camilla after doing the 'I see' gesture. "That's what's been bothering me all the time! How could I have been so blind?!"

"Whatever do you mean, my dear?" Camilla placed the chest over a nearby crate, tilting her head to the side. Linfan placed her hands akimbo, proud at her discovery.

"That alluring cleavage; carefully cared-for hairstyle, the use of mixtures for the sake of others... And that care for your prince's health and well-being... The dark femininity of Tharja and devotion of Frederick! It's like someone mashed them together, put them on a wyvern and gave them a crown: Ta-da, princess Camilla!"

"F-FATHER?!" Laslow tripped over Odin, falling inside the tent.

"You idi-wahh!" Tangling her limbs on both fallen comrades, Selena rolled atop of them both, making the situation similar to a human rockslide.

"Heehee! What an amusing bunch you four are! Selena, my dear, are you quite alright?" Camilla threw her head back in laughter, extending one hand to help her retainer up. "Are those the characters from a story you three are well-acquainted with, dear?" She asked Linfan without even turning to her.

"Huh? No, they're from bac-mmmph!" She lifted her index to explain, but Odin had managed to tackle his sister in time, slamming her mouth shut with his hand.

"HOW PERCEPTIVE OF MY LADY! HAHA! That it exactly it! No wonder you are the cleverest, most beautiful and adored first princess of Nohr! None could compare! Now, if you’ll excuse us!" He laughed loudly, taking a step towards the exit with each word.

"Hold it, dearies."

Three words out of Camilla's mouth and the entire tent froze over, almost literally.

"Now, you four will help me with this soup, will you not? I need it done before Corrin wakes up from his little nap..."

Odin, Selena and Laslow breathed out in relief. Linfan struggled to speak under her brother's grip. What was that about? She was complimenting Camilla, you know! The beauty and shrewdness of one coupled with the strength and loyalty of the other! The perfect mash!

[futurewriter2000]

Potion

A/N: Oh my god I am so freaking proud of this one and I’m so glad my writers block didn’t ruin it. Also this one is my first severus one and I know I said that it Will probably come after Thursday but this is just..it couldn’t wait.

PAIRING: Severus Snape x Slytherin reader

REQUEST: Do you think you could write a random Snape x reader fic? XP

TAGS: @shadyladyperfection, @geeksareunique, @huflerin

How long? How long have you been in Slytherin and never in all your years of attending Hogwarts have you not noticed a boy crushing on you. Ambitious, cunning, resourceful, determined, clever and more amongs other things. You were the definition of a true Slytherin.

And him. Who was he to be in your lane? 

Never has he took eyes off of you. Your bright smile, blessing the Slytherin table with its light. It was almost addicting. 

“Severus!” snapped Regulus, waving his hand in front of Severus and breaking his gaze from you. “Honestly mate, you need to stop with that.”

“Stop with what?” replied Severus surprisingly, his voice low and cold.

“Don’t play daft, Snape. We all know you like her. I think even she know that.” winked Regulus and put another spoonful of soup in his mouth.

Wait. Was he really being this obvious about his feeling towards you? He couldn’t have been. He hid them pretty good for Lilly, what makes it so different from now? he wondered while his eyes stuck on you.

That’s excatly when you turned your gaze away from your friends and made an eye contact with Snape. His eyes widened in shock as you were literally seeing him, not through him, but seeing him. Placing even a bigger smile on your lips you waved at him and looked back at your friend.

“Severus...” grumbled Regulus as he glared at his friend for gripping his hand tightly and spilling the soup from the spoon on his robes.

“ Sorry.” he mumbled quietly as he let go of Regulus’ arm. To be honest Severus was never good with girls. Being the main victim of infamous Marauders and their pranks, most people from other houses thought of him as a freak. His house on the other hands, saw him as a brilliant mind with a great talent for Potions and the Dark Arts. Except he didn’t know that and the only attention he ever got from a girl was you right now at this very moment. He felt his heart rate growing faster and faster, while his cheeks coloured his pale skin pink.

“I think I just witnessed Severus Snape melt for a girl for the first time.” snickered Regulus and immediatly got an ugly look from Snape.

“Oi, (y/n)!” yelled the boy with dark curls and gorgeous grey green eyes, making you slightly blush as he ran closer to you.

You couldn’t figure out what his name was but being a pureblood yourself you definetly knew his surname. Every strong pureblood family was connected with eachother and you definetly knew this boy as a member of the Black family. 

“Black.” you greeted, pulling your books tighter to your chest with a small smile appearing in the corner of your lips.

“Please, call me Regulus.” he smiled, making your cheeks grow roses after hearing his lovely voice.

“Regulus, right.” you replied, trying to seal that name in your brain. “So how can I help you Regulus?”

“Well as a big fan of Potions, that I am, I am even bigger fan of your friend you are partnered with.” he grinned and walked along side you. “So I was thinking if you would be a dear and-”

“Switch up partners for you.” you finished his sentance. It wasn’t hard to figure out where it was leading but you had to admit to yourself you were a bit disappinted. Regulus was handsome, everybody knew that but if he was interested in your best friend, who would you be if you didn’t help your best friend score a hot date. “Of course Regulus. Just know that if you hurt her I will ruin you.” you smiled jokingly and walked away.

“Thats rubbish! You couldn’t hurt a pretty face like this in a million years.”he grinned and started walking backwards, further away from you.

“No beauty is forever Black. Remember that!” you shouted back and walked into your next class. 

‘Damn those Blacks and their charm. Just like his brother.’ 

“You did what?!” whispered Severus to Regulus as they stood at the table.

“Don’t be such a wuss Snape. It’s just a potion, not a wedding. Now as soon as she comes in you are gonna put on your best smile and you are going to woo her and ask her out.” demanded Regulus, putting his hands on Severus shoulders and looking him deep in the eyes.

“No I will not! Do you know what you di-” he spoke angrly but was interrupted by the bell and incoming students filling up the classroom.

“Saved by the bell. Make me proud.” grinned Regulus, tapping Severus on the back and walking away from him.

“No! Reg-” he whisper-yelled but was interrupted by you walking closer to him and making him shut up immediatly.

You placed your books on the desk and looked up to Severus. Knowing he was Regulus’ partner you never worried about today. You always saw Snape as a brilliant student yet a bit mysterious, which always made you a bit curious. “Hello Severus.” you greeted him with a lovely smile gracing your lips.

God he was about to melt to hearing his name come from your lips. “Umm...hello.” he mumbed out, trying to sound as normal as he could but you could notice the high pitch voice.

It was no secret that Severus Snape liked you. Your friends kept teasing you about him and you caught him watching you from time to time. But to be honest, he did seem to catch your attention every single time. He was quiet, yet quite a smart-mouth when he was asked a question. Sometimes you saw him read a book under a linden tree, sitting there and looking so peaceful. Those times all you wanted to do was walk over there just to get a bit quiet and peace, away from all the noise. You never listened to the rumors, true or not, you always judged a person after you met them. And Severus, he was quite handsome. His interest in the Dark Arts made girls swoon and not only that but every girl in your house wanted to know his secret. His deep and dark secret that nobody figured out what it was, just few of his closest friends. His mysteriousness, brilliance and fraternity sure made him a catch, whether he knew it or not.

Severus Snape. This is sure going to be interesting.

When the two of you were working on your potion, you couldn’t help yourself but to observe his features. His dark eyes were focused on the book and reading through the ingridients while his neck-length hair fell before him. They weren’t greasy as the Marauders and others teased him about. They were normal, black long hair, washed or not, they were still looking quite attractive on him.

This time he noticed your eyes on him so he looked at you from the corner of his eyes and a sly smirk quickly formed as he spoke. “ Can’t focuse?”

You shook your head as you heard him say that, knowing he must have known you stared at him for too long. “Um...well.. “ you mumbled, feeling your cheeks heat up and your heart beat faster. “I was just...yeah, you caught me.” you then smiled, knowing you couldn’t get out of this situation.

He was surprised to hear you say that. His crush was just staring at him. Were you checking him out too? I mean, maybe the bunn but what girl doesn’t check that. ;)

“Here. Let me show you.” he smiled and moved away from the couldron.

“Show me what?” you asked him while you moved closer to the couldron with Doxy eggs laying in front of you. 

“I get Regulus with not doing all the work, but it’s definetly not going to be the same with you.” he smiled and stepped behind you. 

As soon as you felt him stand behind you, you felt warmth wash over you. He wasn’t touching you, no, but his presence made your lungs squeeze and your heart beat faster. Feeling his breath on your neck, you couldn’t help yourself but to get even more distracted than before.

“Got it?” he asked and you suddenly realised you haven’t paid any attention to a word he spoke to you right now.

“Can you repeat one more time. I’m still a bit confused.” you replied and tried not to look at him.

“Yeah, sure.” he smirked as he knew you got distracted once again. Maybe because of him, maybe not, but today you sure weren’t your usual self.  “See the colour of the potion. It’s still too bright, so to get the exact colour we want to, which is blue, we’ll have to add the doxy eggs. Now usually, the right amount is a fist-full, but I believe it will cause more damages, so I usually take half of that.” he explained, this time his voice low and attractive as it was coming right behind your ear.

“Umm...okay.” you replied taking a fistfull of doxy eggs. Hearing his chuckle behind you, you realized you must have done something wrong. “What?” you smiled.

“You just did the opposite of what I told you.” he chuckled and reached over to your palm. “Here let me.” 

You let go of the doxy eggs and slowly let them fall on his hand until there was half of them left. He put away his, getting them back in the bowl and he reached to your hand one more time. He gently took a hold of your hand, lifting it up and leading it towards the couldron. He didn’t even know his other hand was on your waist, but you sure did and you liked it. Looking over your shoulder you noticed his eyes fixed on the potion and you immediatly turned your gaze back to your holding hands. His hand was much bigger than yours, his slim fingers gently wrapped around your wrist, while his palm supporting your arm. 

“Now slowly drop them in.” he spoke, almost in a whisper.

And you did. You let him take all the lead and you dropped your doxy eggs, slowly one by one, while your potion soon turned its colour into beautiful bright blue. Looking over your shoulder one more time, you caught him smiling at the finished potion. It was the first time you saw him smile like that. Like a real, true smile.

You turned around, only inches apart from him, and looked up. “Severus?” 

He looked down, finally snapping back from his dream world of passion and potions to reality of you being really close to him by now. He realized he had his hand on your waist, so he quickly removed it and stepped back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to you know...I just kind of forgot while I got lost in the potion. You know I always have a thing for that and how perfect it needs to be..I just kind of forgot-”

“Severus.” you giggled as he continued to ramble on.

“It was just Regulus and sayins how I need to ask you out cuz I’ve kind of liked you for a long time and I just don’t know how to say it correctly becasue I’ve never-”

“Severus!” you said a bit louder  than before, shutting him up and taking another step closer. “Ask me.” you smiled, looking up to his dark eyes and putting away a strand of your hair.

Ask you? Ask you wh-oooh. he suddenly realized what you meant. He fixed his tie and put away his hair. “(y/n)(y/l/n), Will you go on a date with me?” 

“I would love to.”

[cyclicallife]

I had another seizure yesterday. We’re attempting to get the medication right and I stopped one and increased another. Yesterday, however, I wasn’t at the target dose. That’s the only logical explanation. Regardless, it has left me, as all my seizures have, physically and emotionally worn. It happened while on a woods walk with my mother. Luckily she was there. I had enough of a warming that I was able to indicate its arrival her. She, in turn. sat me down safely… then it arrived.

When I started to come around I distinctly remember the cold earth underneath me. Though we were in a place along the path that had no snow, the earth itself was cold and damp.

My mind was a jumbled mess, as it always is afterwards, but somehow we manage to walk back to the car. In a post seizure state, at least for me, nothing adds up, at least for awhile.

Today I realized what was going through my mind as I came to on that damp earth; it was the memory of being a child of about 3 or 4. Evidently I had asked my mother if, when the snow melted,  could I play in the mud. So, I did just that. I sat in this puddle of mud, & plastered it upon my legs. The most vivid part of this is the cool, dampness that soaked through the legs of my pants. I have been told I have the memory of an elephant. Though, I think this was initially meant as an insult as I tend not to forget things. It isn’t that I choose to remember the positive over the negative, or vice versa, I just remember things. During treatment, the traditional “chemo brain” effected certain cognitive functions, but my memory held strong. They became little islands I could swim to when the storm raged.

I believe in memories and their potent influence to transport someone. Two years ago today I went to my dear Friend Jose and his partner’s house for dinner. I remember immediately feeling this sense of warmth, this level of comfort in their abode, a feeling of being welcomed. They both exuded this, it came from them as individuals.

I love Chicago. I wish I had left on different terms and not for medical reasons, but alas, such is life. I didn’t, however, enjoy the graduate program I was in there. I feel privileged to have studied there, to have received my MFA from such a school, but the program itself, or rather my home department, didn’t agree with me on many levels.

Jose was one year ahead of me in his studies there and we became friends. He had a very older brotherly feel and I felt comfortable sharing ideas and speaking openly about a number of things. This comfort, naturally, was part of the welcoming energy that greeted me for dinner that night. We sat casually in their kitchen and had delicious, homemade vegetable stew, drank sparkling juice, and talked about life and art. I clearly remember walking up the couple of flights of stairs to their condo entrance and, once at the top, wheezing and being winded. This was strange and disconcerting to be so out of breath from just a few flights of stairs. The dry cough appeared a few times that night, too. A few weeks prior to our dinner meeting, Jose and I met at starbucks and after our tea and coffee decided to take a little stroll. Andersonville, in mid/late March, has such a nice feel — spring is just oozing out of everything and ready to pop overnight. The dry cough was present then and I said I didn’t know what it was from but I couldn’t get rid of it.

This nagging cough didn’t prevent us from having a lovely dinner a few weeks later. I hadn’t met Jose’s partner, now husband, but enjoyed his honesty about art. It was a breath of fresh air to step away from the heady, overly conceptual art-school realm and just hear someone speak openly about what they thought and how they perceived the work. We talked about my thesis work and I was excited to tell Jose how I did, eventually, decide to have this large painting I was working on split into two. I say “painting” but it was really a gestural study that consisted of the ritualized act of rubbing carbon dust onto linen. When we had last met I hadn’t decided if splitting it into two was the best move for it on a conceptual level. I finally opted to do so because the two, in my mind, divided time, past/present. The division of time… I haven’t considered this phrase before for the various circumstances that would occur very, very soon. The following day the most definitive division of time occurred in my life; I awoke and felt nourished by the delicious soup and conversation and happy that I had discussed my thesis work and received feedback. I was still full, literally and figuratively, from the evening. I felt positive that end of this chapter in my life coming to a close — I was ready to move on from grad school. However, the cough was more present and as the morning went on I began to feel worse. It was a bodily feeling; this heaviness, this burden that seemed to rest upon me. This pervasive feeling that something wasn’t right deep inside of me. Sluggishly I prepared myself for the day. Outside the weather was glorious and I stood for a few moments in the sun to soak it in. I envisioned the sun’s powerful rays penetrating my being and ousting whatever was causing the cough and the feeling that seemed to be weighing on me. As I made my way to the red-line stop closest to my apartment I felt even worse. I thought it’d be best to return home and rest, to let my body be still for the day and put aside the demands of school and work and just rest. I turned around and made it just a few paces before my body contorted in a way that I had never experienced. This lack of control spread across my face and rendered me incapable of calling out for help. It ran down my arm and bent my fingers inward and took the strength from my legs and I collapsed, and then… darkness. I hold onto memories as a means of self-preservation. I think, oftentimes, about how would I describe something in a book or how would it appear in a play, how I might see it and hear it from an outside perspective. By description and recall there is a solidification; a movement from, perhaps, a fleeting moment in time and space to a solid foundation upon which something can grow, something can be constructed. How would I describe the kindness I felt entering Jose’s for dinner? How would I word the fear I felt when I had my first seizure? In remembering, in actively assisting in the solidification of memories, one can access the warmth during the cold, recreate the laughter during the flow of tears. One can nurture compassion and love for those struggling. Being sick has taught me this. I held onto memories before, well before my original diagnosis, without any real understanding as to why. Like the matriarch of the herd of elephants who leads the other members miles and miles to a certain watering hole during times of drought, memories can save us, they can nourish us. The photo attached is a still from a performance video Jose and I collaborated on. I’ll refrain from drowning you all in the ‘heady, overly conceptual art-school” BS I am happy to have left behind. The basic premise; two beings tethered by a length of rope, each takes a turn walking while the other remains the grounding center, a place of pivot. One can walk as little or as much as they wish. The other merely witnesses and rotates with them. It, for me, was about an exchange of guidance and care… it was about trust. This is a memory I hold dear.  

[vandnana]

Loving You Is Easy

Part Five

The energy that lasted me the entire day began to drain as we lapped the lake inside the park. At first, the amber glow that shined throughout the park felt magical, but as it neared three in the morning, it became an agent to my languidness. Chanyeol wasn’t infected by the sleep deprivation as much as I was, but his occasional yawns proved that he felt some sort of weariness. My walking turned to trudging, and the only thing that kept me moving forward was the pull of Chanyeol’s hand. 

“I can carry you June. It’s fine.” Chanyeol suggested, hopeful that I would say yes.

“No, because then you’d have to carry me down the subway stairs. And I trust you a lot, but physics doesn’t.” I replied slowly, rubbing my eyes. 

“I don’t know what that means at all, but fine. I’m just gonna make you run.” 

Chanyeol suddenly started running at full speed, yanking me along with him. My mind, although seemingly detached, worried that I would fold like a Looney Tunes character, causing my body to match his speed. We reached the subway station, Chanyeol navigating the way like he had the whole night. We got into the first subway car this time, and we were the only ones in it. I sat down instantly, Chanyeol plopping himself on the seat to my left. My eyes threatened to close, but I fought the urge because I knew that Chanyeol would carry me while I was unconscious. But of course, my own body betrayed me and I succumbed to the jadedness that crept up on me. 

I naturally leaned on Chanyeol’s shoulder, sending his eyes my direction. His eyes lit up, twinkling brightly at me, his yearning smile, tender and sweet. He carefully adjusted himself so that he had his arm around my shoulder, and when I suddenly moved, he froze, afraid that I had woken up. But, I only shifted my body to move closer to him, and he relaxed, satisfied at his success of not disturbing my sleep. Chanyeol kept himself alert in case anything happened, and he held onto me tightly as my sleep became deeper and deeper. At one point, I wrapped my arm around him, making his breath hitch and his cheeks and ears redden. It took him a while to breathe normally, but for the rest of the ride, he was perfectly at ease, noticing the magic that always found us.

Once we arrived at our stop, Chanyeol didn’t have the heart to wake me up, so he carried me all the way home, only putting me down to unlock the door to the shop and apartment. He tried his best to tip toe, afraid of waking up his grandma, but as he rounded the corner to get to our room, he jumped at the sight of her on the couch reading. A warm smile formed on her face as she took in the sight in front of her. 

“I told you that you would tire her out.” Mrs. Park hummed quietly, getting up from the couch. Chanyeol gave her a teethy grin, and she rolled her eyes. 

Before disappearing onto the other side of the apartment, she turned back toward Chanyeol, who carefully whipped his head around to look at her.

“Make sure that you wipe her face and take her shoes off before you go to bed.” She instructed.

“I will Halmeoni. Good night.”

“Good night! And don’t worry about waking June up tomorrow. You can work for her tomorrow.” 

Chanyeol nodded, and Mrs. Park left with a satisfied smile. 

The door to our room was already open, making it easier for Chanyeol to get inside. He gently placed me on the bed the followed his grandma’s instructions. The fear of accidentally waking me up was no longer inside of him, remembering how I slept through the unfiltered noise of the streets on the way home. Chanyeol delicately washed my face, and he found himself smiling at me, looking back on all of the memories we had made that night. He was genuine about his feelings and he couldn’t allow himself to not do the best to take care of me.

After he washed my face, he took it upon himself to smooth some lotion over my face, and even brushed my hair out. I was in too deep of a sleep to even notice any discomfort I had, but Chanyeol remembered how much I hated the feeling of sand in my shoes. He wet another wash cloth, wiping off the remnants of sand stuck to my feet. He inspected them carefully, making sure that no sand remained before he put lotion on my feet too. 

Getting up, he looked at me again affectionately before getting himself ready for bed. He laid out extra bedding on the floor and grabbed a pillow off of the bed quietly. He even made a tiny bed for little Yeol and little Junie on top of the dresser, wrapping them in a large scarf Mrs. Park had lying around. 

Although I looked perfectly content sleeping the way I was, Chanyeol was still unnerved. He noticed that the room felt a little cold, mentally scolding himself for not putting the covers over me. His anxiousness of waking me was still very much alive, as he slowly tried to unfurl the covers. The sheets were stubborn underneath me though, and he resolved his problem by lifting me up instead. I was sunken deep into my dream world, unaware of what Chanyeol was doing and unaware of my own actions. He sat on his knees on the bed, leaning forward to gently place me back onto the middle of the mattress. As his arms began to retreat from my body, I wrapped my arms around his back, making him stop his motion entirely. His eyes were widened not in their normal excitement and elation, but in a state of nervous panic. His ears reddened again, along with his cheeks, and he gulped, looking down to see if I knew what I was doing. 

My eyes were shut though, engulfed in my dream world still, and Chanyeol felt a pang of disappointment in his heart. He started to lift his arms, but my grip was abnormally tight around him, which made him want to laugh. He couldn’t believe the situation that he was in. Chanyeol was literally stuck. A large part of him didn’t want to suction off my grip, and a small part inside of him urged for him to go to the bed he prepared on the floor. Chanyeol weighed the options in his head for a second before listening to that larger part inside of him. He didn’t think there was anything inherently wrong with him sleeping next to me because it felt like we’d known each other forever. He remembered my words:

Because it’s too easy being around you.

It was the same feeling for him too. The day didn’t feel real, but it was. It felt like we lived out countless years in a day, and because of this, he let go of the apprehensions he felt. Nothing about our relationship was normal, but it was easy. He wanted nothing more than to hold me tightly and never let me go. 

So, Chanyeol readjusted himself so he was laying down on his back, and I instinctively shifted on top of him. He reached toward the lamp light, turning it off, covered the both of us with the sheets, then returned his hand to my back. For a few minutes, Chanyeol smiled to himself as he admired my sleeping figure, dazed by our magic. Eventually the dream world overtook him too, but his reality was a dream in and of itself as he clung onto me, the one person he saw himself loving forever. 

I’ve always had a hard time sleeping by myself, always needing something to cling to, always wishing that someone felt enough affection, enough care for me, that they would choose to stay by my side. The moment I had fallen asleep sitting in the subway, I never expected that I would plummet into what felt like pure unconsciousness. But I felt comforted and safe. Comforted and safe because I knew Chanyeol was there with me. Any worry of what the day would bring tomorrow never even crossed my mind, just thoughts of him and how lucky I felt to have him. I was completely vulnerable, but my mind didn’t care. It felt a calmness for the first time because my heart finally had something to cling to.

As the morning sun peeked its head up in the early morning sky, waving the moon goodbye as she took her leave to the other side of Earth, my body became restless, acknowledging the racket of the world outside of my dreams. There were a few car horns that blared and occasional yelling coming from the window in the room, but what became more obvious were the audible sounds from Chanyeol. Before my brain could process our intimate proximity, my ears took notice of his slow breaths and even a slight hum that resonated in his throat. Throughout the night, he didn’t find himself moving all that much, but once he felt his own body hating numbed sleep, he couldn’t help it. While he still firmly embraced me in his arms, he shifted to his side first before sprawling onto his stomach, his face creviced in my neck. Because of the remnants of drowsiness still clouding my head, I thought I was dreaming still, allowing me to dismiss the sudden weight of Chanyeol’s leg draped over mine and the warmth coming from his breath on my neck. 

Mrs. Park planned on waking Chanyeol up that morning, but before she did, she cooked breakfast in the kitchen, revitalized by the ascending sun. She took it upon herself to make a large breakfast of fried eggs, spam, a beef soup, kimchi fried rice, and an array of side dishes. Once everything was done, she put everything on the table,  setting the table then covering everything well. The lingering smell of the food she cooked clung onto her though, and she took a quick shower before finally making her way to our room.

She opened the door slowly and carefully, more considerate of waking me up than her own grandson. Her eyes expected to see a soundly asleep Chanyeol sprawled out on the floor, but to her confusion, the sheets were neatly folded and seemingly untouched. Walking further in, the first thought in her mind was the possibility that Chanyeol could have woken up earlier than her to go somewhere, but the plausibility of that thought fled her mind as her gaze fell on the bed. 

She blinked repeatedly as she looked, her mouth hung open, unable to reconcile if the sight in front of her was real. Mrs. Park knew that she instigated the idea of us sleeping in the same room, and she genuinely hoped that it would bring us closer. But, she never expected for us to get this close so quickly. The sudden rapidness of a growing love seems too good to be true, and any other grandmother would have eaten their words out of concern for their grandkid. Yet, for some reason, she trusted me, and for some reason, she instantly saw something in the both of us that told her we were meant to be together. 

There was a happiness stirring inside of her, but it was masked by her mouth that hadn’t yet found its way back from the floor. Even though she felt she had every right to disturb Chanyeol’s sleep, she felt a sudden embarrassment to do so. The pang of excitement over seeing us hugging each other in our sleep overwhelmed her with pride, but she still couldn’t shake away her flustered feelings. She quietly paced back and forth suddenly not knowing what to do, putting her hand over her mouth then frantically placing them back at her sides, but only to put them back over her mouth again. Mrs. Park felt like a maid in a hotel that accidentally walked in on a sleeping married couple who forgot to put up the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign. 

Mrs. Park felt conflicted. She could quietly leave the room and pretend nothing happened. But that would mean she wouldn’t have Chanyeol to help her in the shop. Her other option was to wake Chanyeol up, knowing his ears would be red with embarrassment at having to be woken up by his own grandma, next to the girl he adores. 

Her choice was clear.