#this post was originally gonna be for scans I took of this book but I got so enamored by this meme I made for spacing

[iholdwhatican]

tension

part two to reunions - must read part 1 first!

pairing: art donaldson x reader x patrick zweig

length: 3.2k

author's note: this took wayyyy too long for me to do yall, i'm so sorry. these two have a tight hold on me and i'm in the trenches. i've got some good stuff lined up tho, and i'm super excited to write it heeheehee :) also smut in the future will be much longer and much more detailed, just fyi

tags: y/n is art donaldson's wife ; birthday party ; art is down bad ; patrick wants y/n ; possessive!art ; the boys are fighting ; no use of y/n ; pining ; sexual tension ; sugar mommy y/n? ; unapologetic flirting with your bff's wife at his birthday party

warnings: sexual content, p in v, not super detailed but still there!

summary: the stressful night of the birthday party continues, and you find yourself pinging between art and patrick like a tennis ball. how the hell did you get yourself into this?

originally posted by iholdwhatican

It took four minutes and 36 seconds of Art and Patrick being alone outside before the anxiety became too much. Your dress was too tight against your skin and the chatter of the guests rattled in your skull. Your mind replayed the anger on Art’s face over and over, convinced that he’d direct it at you the moment he came back in. And if you were being honest, you couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. 

Your blood boiled with the ferocity of it, and an ache in your core begged for another taste. 

Another three minutes and 18 seconds passed while you downed half of your second glass of wine. You made conversation with a few people who caught your eye, making sure all the food and drink were up to par. Not that you really could care about that right now. Your mind was a jumble of thoughts about the two men on the balcony. 

Art, Patrick, Art, Patrick, Art, Patrick, Art, Patrick

“You look like you’re gonna puke.” 

For the second time that night, Patrick Zweig’s voice made you jump. 

You looked at him, catching sight of that damned smirk that made your stomach flip, and furrowed your brows. One quick scan of the room came up empty for your husband, forcing the anxiety in your chest to worsen. 

“Where’s Art?” You asked, not missing the way your voice wobbled slightly. 

“Relax.” Patrick responded, resting a hand on your shoulder, “He went to the kitchen, I think. I didn’t kill him. And he didn’t run for the hills either.” 

You decided not to comment on how easily he’d read your worries without you saying anything. For some reason, you were an open book to him. 

A deep sigh left you. You licked your lips anxiously- which immediately caused Patrick’s eyes to fall on your mouth. 

“What happened out there?” 

The man gave you a shrug, letting his hand fall back to his side, “Nothing, really. We just talked for a bit. He told me I could stay, as long as I stopped flirting with you.” 

“So does that mean you’re going to stop?” The idea made you slightly unhappy, which in turn filled you with guilt. Why were you so excited by his flirtations when you had a wonderful, loving husband who treated you like a queen? 

But then Patrick grinned, and you knew the answer before he said it, “Well, I’ve never been one to do what I’m told.” 

A smile grew over your lips, and you tried to hide it with an eye roll, “Why don’t you mingle? Try some food. I’m going to find my husband.” 

He didn’t miss the enunciation you put on ‘my husband’, and you didn’t miss the way his eyes darkened as you said it. You didn’t give it time to linger, instead turning away and moving towards the kitchen. 

You knew the look Patrick had in his eyes. You’d seen it a dozen times in Art’s. On the court, over a board game, in all sorts of scenarios. And every time, even now, the look sent a chill down your spine. 

That expression was clear, resolute competition. 

Just as Patrick had said, you found Art in the kitchen. With his back to you, you had a perfect view of his tense shoulders and hanging head as he poured himself a glass of water. He was all wound up, and you knew it was your fault. Now it was your responsibility to fix it. 

You stepped up behind him, sliding a hand between his shoulder blades. He didn’t hesitate to lean into the touch, a subconscious reaction. He knew it was you just by the feel of your hand on him. And, even if he might be furious, he still found comfort in it. 

“Hey…” You breathed, leaning to the side to meet his gaze. Art looked at you over his shoulder, a half-smile quirking his lips up, “How are you doing?” 

“Hey.” He responded, turning and sliding his hands over your hips. Your chest pressed against his as he leaned down and placed a kiss on your hairline. Then he just lingered there, breathing in your smell, “I honestly don’t know. I just- it was so weird to see him.” 

“Yeah, of course it was.” Your words reached him in a soft, comforting tone. The guilt of putting your perfect, doting husband in this situation was enough to make you feel like you had barbed wire around your neck. You had to pay penance- somehow. You rubbed your hand in circles over his back, “I’m sorry, sundrop. I don’t know what I was thinking when I invited him.” 

Sundrop. A nickname that went way back to the early days of your relationship. Art was an energetic puppy dog with a halo of golden curls and a smile that made your insides feel hot. He was what you pictured a personification of the sun to be, hence the pet name. He pretended not to like it, but his eyes always sparkled a certain way when you said it. 

Art pulled his head away to peer down into your eyes, his own pensive and confused, “No, baby, don’t be sorry. It was a great fucking surprise. Just… a surprise.” 

You shook your head. He was so fucking good to you, “You’re allowed to be mad at me.” 

“Mad? At you?” In one quick motion, he picked you up and set you on the counter. Your legs opened for him without hesitation, allowing him to slot right in between them, “I don’t think that’s possible.”

You fought the blush rising in your cheeks and rolled your eyes, “You think too highly of me.” 

“No. Never.” He replied instantly. He kissed your chin. Then your jaw. Then your neck. Then down your throat, “As far as I’m concerned, you’re God.” 

“Art-” You argued, though you weren’t sure what for. You tilted your neck back and offered yourself up to him. 

“I could spend my life on my knees for you and be happy.” His words were muffled as he mouthed at your neck, sending shivers down your spine. This, combined with the kiss from earlier, was making you ache with need. You were half-tempted to end the party early and take your pretty husband to bed. 

You bit your lip when he ran his tongue over a sensitive spot above your collarbone. If he wasn’t in between them, you’d be squeezing your thighs together. 

When Art pulled away, his eyes had darkened. Dilated pupils and heavy breaths told you all you needed to know. He was just as fucking horny as you were right now. His hands held your hips tighter. 

“Do you think we’d be left alone long enough for me to show you how much I mean it?” He asked. It was almost as if he were begging. As if he couldn’t bear the idea of doing anything other than dropping to his knees and devouring you. 

And God, when he looked at you like that, you had no choice but to say yes. 

Unfortunately, fate intervened, and you were kept from making a scene at your husband’s birthday party. 

“Hey, you two, quit snogging and come entertain us!” One of Art’s tennis friends called, sticking their head into the kitchen. The big grin on their face told you it was just teasing, but you still felt your face burning with embarrassment. 

“It’s my birthday, let me do what I want.” Art jeered right back, lifting you off the counter and back onto your own two feet. You laughed airily at the comment, feeling more light-headed than anything. 

Before following his friend back into the action, he whispered a quick, “Later, okay?” to you. And then he left you standing in the kitchen- touch-starved, foggy-headed, and excruciatingly aroused. 

It was then that you realized you didn’t even get to ask him what happened with Patrick.

Upon re-entering the party, you found yourself taking note of two things- or rather, two people. One, Art- conversing with some friends from the foundation with a big grin on his face. Two, Patrick- having his fill of finger foods from the refreshment table. He was alone. And though you tried to fight it, you found yourself gravitating towards him. 

“Do they not have food where you’re from?” You teased, falling into place at his side. Your gaze slid over the spread before flicking up to his face. 

You’d caught him mid-bite, and he attempted to swallow quickly and regain his composure. Something warmed slightly in your chest. Endearing. 

“Well, I’m kinda… in between places right now.” He explained, tongue stuck in his cheek to clear out residual bits of food, “And there’s never stuff as good as this.” 

You let the compliment slide away, instead focusing on his more troubling response, “Are you homeless?” 

“What? No.” He chuckled, as if the question were preposterous, “I go all over for tennis. It’s just easier to stay on the move.” 

You raised an eyebrow, “And on off-season?” 

Something in his expression darkened, only for a moment, and then he was back to cocky smiles and overwhelming confidence, “I’m too busy to care about that. And what’s it matter to you, anyway?” 

“I’d like to think I’m a good person.” You said, plucking a snack off the table and popping it into your mouth. You chewed it halfway before continuing, “And a good person worries if they think someone they care about isn’t doing well.” 

Patrick grinned at you for five long seconds. And it took him actually saying the words to realize where you’d slipped up. 

“You care about me?” 

Shit. You had not meant to say that. Why was this man so damn good at getting every little thought in your head to spill out of your mouth? 

“If caring about you means I don’t want you sleeping under a bridge somewhere, then sure.” 

“Okay, I would never let it get that far-” 

“I wanna help.” 

He blinked, “Help how?” Briefly, very briefly, you thought of your bed. Your comfortable, spacious bed, perfect for three individuals. You could picture it- you, safe and sound and nestled between the two men. Art, your lovely, obedient husband on one side, letting himself love and be loved. And Patrick on the other side, nice and cozy with a roof over his head and a full belly. 

The image flashed in an instant, and you were left with hollow, heavy guilt. You swallowed. 

“How much do you need?” 

“Huh?” You rolled your eyes at him, “How much money do you need? To keep you afloat for the next little while. And I’ll send you home tonight with leftovers.” 

Patrick let the words wash over him, slowly smiling as they did. He took a step towards you, close enough that one tiny shove would have your bodies pressed together. You could smell him, all sweat and cigarettes and woodsy cologne that made your head spin. You’d been wound up all night, and this was absolutely not helping. 

“You gonna write me a check? Use your hard-earned money to get a practical stranger a hotel for a couple nights?” He murmured, heavy on the charm, “What would your husband think?” 

He knew he’d gotten under your skin. He knew what he was doing. He was fucking enjoying this. 

You tried to hold your ground, looking up at him through your lashes, “It’s his money, actually. He makes sure I never have to work unless I want to.” 

“Guess he treats you pretty well. And look how you’re taking advantage of it.” His hand lay on the table next to yours, his fingertips nearly brushing the skin of your wrist. How bad would it be if you closed the gap? 

You bit your lip, “You’re allowed to turn me down.” 

“I don’t think I’d ever turn you down, Mrs. Donaldson.” 

Something about that title, something about the way he said it, made your blood run hot and cold at the same time. It reminded you of the myths of sirens. Beautiful monsters of the sea that used their voices to bring others to their demise. Talking to Patrick had that same type of allure, and the sense of danger. 

“Then tell me what you need.” 

“What do you think I need?” 

Oh, you could think of a few things. But you could also feel a pair of eyes on you, and you knew exactly who they belonged to. Part of you wanted to tempt him, see if you could get another reaction like out on the balcony. However, you quickly shot the idea down. Not right now, not in the middle of a crowded party.

Lips curving into an innocent smile, you pushed yourself a step back from him, “I think you need a nice place to sleep. And a few good meals. And maybe a hug.” 

The sudden switch-up took Patrick by surprise, but he handled it smoothly and responded only a beat later, “You’re offering?” 

“At least for the first two.” You didn’t know what you’d do if you were in his arms. With the way you were feeling now, with two glasses of wine in your system, your boundaries were getting blurrier and blurrier. How humiliating. 

His bottom lip jutted out into a pout. Which unfortunately dragged your gaze right down to his mouth. It took you a moment too long to meet his eyes again. 

“What, we can’t hug? Don’t you consider me a friend?” 

“I do.” You shrugged, tucking loose hair behind your ear, “Maybe I’m just not a touchy person.” 

A lie. You knew it, and you could tell by the look on his face that he knew it too.

“Yeah.” He smirked, sounding the opposite of sincere, “Art’s wife isn’t a touchy person. Sure.” 

You needed a cold shower. Or to go have some one-on-one time with your vibrator. Or maybe move to the seaside and spend your days going mad in a lighthouse. You weren’t sure. All you knew was how increasingly hot you were feeling. 

“Speaking of Art, go talk to him. Try to make amends. Meet some of his friends.” You suggested, glancing over at your husband. He wasn’t watching you anymore, at least not straight on. But he had a radar when it came to you, and he was very diligent in keeping tabs. No matter what.

“You trying to get rid of me?” Patrick asked lightly. No heat behind the words. 

“Oh, yes.” You admitted, placing your hands on his shoulders and pointing him towards Art, “Find me again before you leave and I’ll have your check.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” He grinned at you over his shoulder, sending a wink before sauntering off. 

Finally, you felt like you could actually get a breath in your lungs. 

The party had ended. Guests went home, Patrick got his check and headed to a hotel you recommended, and you and your partner left all the cleanup for the morning. You barely gave it a second glance as you went up to bed with him, your hand held tightly in his. 

Art fucked you like a starving man that night. You barely got into the room before his lips were plastered on your skin, his hands unzipping your dress with quick precision. He was usually much more reserved, but something about tonight had made him ravenous. And he wasn’t the only one.

You ended up on his lap; bare chests pressed together, skin sweaty and breaths heavy as you rolled your hips into him. His hands clutched your thighs, keeping you close, fingers pressing into the flesh. You pulled on his hair and his head immediately fell back. As if he were a puppet for you to position and use however you wanted. His eyes looked up at you with a fire in them you’d never seen before, but the adoration, the reverence, was all too familiar. 

Your name fell from his lips over and over again like a prayer. The single word weaved with threads of devotion, possessiveness, desire. A song joined in chorus by whatever nonsensical phrase entered his head. I love you, so perfect, all mine, please, please, please. 

He was claiming you. Marking his territory in his own special way. It didn’t matter that Patrick wasn’t here to see it, or that he probably would never even know. As long as Art could tell himself that you were his, he’d be okay. Jealousy was a good look on him. 

You could feel your core tighten with each and every movement of his hips against you. You weren’t going to last much longer. But by the look in your husband’s eyes, neither was he. 

Parted lips claimed yours in a messy kiss, tongue sliding into your mouth and exploring every open space. Then you were being flipped over; back pressed into the mattress as Art rocked into you with reckless abandon. He intertwined his fingers with yours and pinned your hands above your head without ever breaking the kiss. 

You lasted about thirty seconds. Finally, the tension in you snapped and your orgasm washed over you in waves, leaving you limp and trembling. Art finished only a moment later. You could feel him pulsing inside of you as the aftershocks slowly faded away. The room reeked of sweat and sex and your head was spinning. 

Art, your precious, dutiful man, rested his head on your chest as he attempted to catch his breath. You could feel the tickle of his lips kissing your skin, the soft squeeze of his hands on your hips. You ran a hand through his damp hair, fingers massaging his scalp. 

“I love you.” He murmured against your ribs, right over your thundering heart. He said it like he couldn’t quite believe he was allowed, like he didn’t believe you were here, that you were his. 

Dark hair and cigarette smoke flashed through your mind. Almost-touching hands and paper checks. 

“I love you.” You responded, kissing his hairline, “Happy Birthday, baby.” 

The only response you got was a tired, happy sound and another kiss to your collarbone. A quick adjustment later and the two of you were tucked under the blankets, your head on Art’s chest and his arm around you. Neither of you cared enough to clean yourselves up or to put pajamas on. Art was already softly snoring next to you, and you could feel your eyelids getting heavy.

As you listened to the baddump of his heart, a strange thought flitted through your mind. You’d just had the best sex of your life, and it was because of Patrick. You weren’t the only one who’d been thinking of him while in the throes of passion. The notion made something strange twinge in your gut. 

And then, like he’d somehow read your mind, your phone lit up with a text. 

Patrick Zweig: You free for lunch tomorrow?

***

Taglist: 

@jxssimae

@jackierose902109

@dvrkstxrlightt

@yesimwriting

@1989tvcore 

@kookie29 

@dopeoafslimebanana

@vadergf

@nsyncvinyl 

@ireallydontcareanymorebrooo

@brunettegirl

[saltydkdan]

Salty i wanna get into Baki which one do you recommend,the manga or the anime?

Oh you just woke up the fucking beast (I'm so sorry).

I LOVE this question, and as a recent Baki fan myself, I can tell you that getting into the series as a Western consumer can be rough if you don’t have a basic guide to know what you’re getting into…. so that’s what I’m gonna make this post (TEEHEE).

This series has gotta be one of the most insane shonen- actually no- one of the most INSANE PIECES OF FICTION I've ever experienced, and I NEED more people to check it out. Like, LOOK AT THIS SHIT DUDE.

Baki out of context somehow even puts Jojo's Bizarre Adventure to shame. The way I usually pitch it to people is that Baki is as insane as people THINK Jojo is before they read it. Shit is just... MAN LMAO. OBAMA IS FUCKING IN THIS.

Unlike more popular stuff like Dragon Ball and Hunter x Hunter, a lot of this series has just never been officially localized, so knowing where to start, and even how to support the series, is a hard task if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Thankfully THAT’S WHAT YOU HAVE ME FOR. This Tumblr post is gonna be your one stop shop for how to get into Baki as an English speaker (and it’ll give me some space to ramble about one of my latest favorite series).

But uh before we get into the nitty gritty, wanna put some trigger warnings for the series for those who may want to know. Listen, I know how some of these are gonna look to the average person, but this series just be like that sometimes, if you can’t take stuff like this trust me it’s insanely valid. You’ll understand if you choose to take the plunge.

SERIES TRIGGER WARNINGS:

Animated Blood/Violence, some animated gory imagery, Incest (???), Nudity, Urine stuff, Bigfoot/Animal Violence, Death, Uncomfortable looking muscles, and one instance of sexual violence (offscreen)

If you are comfortable with all that (and again, valid as fuck if you aren’t) then let’s talk BAKI!

First off, Manga or Anime?

You would think that either would be fine, but my personal recommendation for Baki as a beginner, is to watch the anime over reading the manga. Simply put: The anime is a lot more widely available and accessible in English speaking territories, and is fairly easy to support officially with its current iteration.

For whatever reason, the manga just never really took off in the West when compared to other series, so it was only ever officially released in English a handful of times, and they only ended up publishing the first few volumes. Theoretically, you can read the first few books to start, but the entire series all together is legit longer than One Piece at a whopping 1,203 chapters, so you are gonna run out of material real quick. The fraction of officially available manga barely scratches the surface of the series.

Even if you’re stubborn about reading the manga and want to try reading fan translations, they come with their own separate batch of issues. Plenty of fan scans you can find online range from wildly outdated, to generally being poor quality at best. There’s even some fan translations that just straight up make shit up and don’t even properly translate the original script. Adding in extra dialogue and slurs randomly to make the text seem way edgier than it actually is.

Full disclosure, I wanna cut through my bias here and say that there are indeed some great scans available on the internet if you look hard enough, especially for the more recent content! But they aren’t super easy to track down with how the series is formatted, and you may accidentally find yourself reading the story out of its proper order.

The watch/read order of Baki is a bit of a toughie for new people, but is actually pretty simple once it’s explained. The story of Baki is split up into multiple different series, kind of similar in format to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Though instead of “Parts”, Baki is split up into completely different manga and TV series. This is why many fans get confused initially, especially with the watch order, because it isn’t laid out in an easy to understand way at first glance.

The most well known series are currently streaming on Netflix, but those aren’t the ones you wanna start with. Nope, the story of the Baki anime actually starts way back in 2001, in a TV show that isn’t streaming officially online. Now if you want to watch out of order, I’m not gonna stop you. You can do whatever you want, by all means, but you’re gonna be missing some VERY important story context, and some characters just won’t hold the same weight.

So if you DO want to watch in order, come with me my friend. Let me show you-

BAKI’S SUPER COOL AND NOT AT ALL CONFUSING WATCH ORDER:

Baki the Grappler (2001) (24 episodes)

This is the original 2001 anime adaptation, the very start of serialized Baki anime. You’re gonna wanna start here trust me.

This series isn’t streaming anywhere officially online, but you can find it… places. Seek it out, trust me, because otherwise you’re gonna pay way too much for out of print DVDs on Ebay. Thankfully though you have options! The series is both subbed and dubbed (as well as every series I discuss from this point forward.

This show is the very start of serialized Baki anime, the very beginning of Baki Hanma’s story. Although it’s not in the way you may think. Despite this being the earliest point in the Baki timeline, it’s actually an adaptation of a later story arc from the manga.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Didn’t you just say this is where I should start? Why is it adapting something from later in the story?”, and yeah it’s valid to be confused. While yes this is the first ever Baki anime, for some reason the staff behind it made the decision to move this later arc up a bit from the original manga. In my honest opinion, I feel like this is actually a great decision.

As you will see as you watch, this honestly FEELS like this should be where the story begins. The escalation of power and storytelling from this point onward feels very natural, and you won’t miss out on anything or spoil yourself whatsoever on later events.

This is the de facto best starting point.

Grappler Baki Maximum Tournament (2001) (24 episodes)

This is effectively the second season of Baki the Grappler. For whatever reason they decided to title it something else, and while this is the norm for the series later on, this name change is weird because it adapts an arc from the original manga just like the first season of anime I just talked about.

Whatever lol.

Anyway this series, much like the previous, isn’t officially available as of now. So your best option is to SEARCH for it. SEARCH on the INTERNET. Or y’know. The good ol’ expensive out of print DVD on Ebay route.

In my opinion, compared to the first season, this one feels a bit slower paced and a bit of a slog at points but HOLD STRONG TRUE BELIEVER. This season is the introduction to a lot of mainstay characters in the series. Many of which you will come to love, even if you don’t know it yet.

BAKI (2018) (39 episodes) (NETFLIX)

This is the modern adaptation of Baki. After the last series ended in 2001, the anime went on hiatus for 17 years before it was announced that it would be coming back with a modern coat of paint.

Contrary to what you may think, this isn’t a ground up reboot. It’s a continuation of the exact point they left off years ago, right after the Maximum tournament. The only thing that kind of sucks about this is that, at least for the English dub, they replaced most of the voice cast. Most of the new VAs do a great job, however you may need to get used to Yujiro Hanma having Shadow the Hedgehog’s modern VA from the games haha.

Thankfully, you can officially support this series easily via Netflix. Normally I’m pretty eh on Netflix as of late, but this being the only way you can support the show officially in the west, I personally recommend it.

Baki Hanma (2023) (39 episodes) (NETFLIX)

This is the most recent anime! It’s also on Netflix.

Me and my friends just got to this on our watchthrough together.

Anyway, this is my list! If after you catch up you wanna hop into the manga and read the fan scans, I’ve heard that you can start on Baki Hanma/Baki Son of Ogre (chapter 183).

Hope you enjoy the funny man punching show! Feel free to report back and tell me how you feel about it (positive OR negative)!

Like I said, I've been watching the series with friends on Discord every night or so when we're free and MAN. Baki is fucking AMAZING WITH FRIENDS. It just never slows down after a certain point, and it just gets stranger and crazier.

[soliro-moonlight]

Woke and chose violence today so have an unnecessary list of how long it took me to make the transparents based on what ibisPaintX.

Yes, I do these by hand. Is there a better way to do it? Yes, but do I hate myself? ...well my arm seems to think so. Anyway, here's the shit post:

1. Shinigami in Yuma's art (0:13)

Tried to boom kill me since I yeeted her from Yuma's art so I gave her a transparent. Easy to do since she is basically a blob, but she's cute.

2. Seth sitting (0:21)

Couldn't stop cackling when doing this. This man had a chair in the main game but in the art book he looks like he is going to drop the most mid rap album. Immediately faceplanted when I was finished.

3. Desuhiko sitting (0:22)

His wavy hair was annoying but it was in big chunks so it was easy to manage. Overall his design is so cute especially with those big shoes but I did slap him when I was finished.

4. Vivia sitting (0:30)

His hair was more annoying than Desuhiko's given they are smaller, but I got through it. Belts were cool to transparent. Fell asleep two seconds into the process.

5. Yakou sitting (0:30)

The chair was easier than I thought to transparent but points docked for Yakou's hair being so curly and thin. Love the man but I have half a mind making him bald.

6. Guillaume sitting (0:36)

Her chunky hair. It's so nice and big enough where it's not annoying but there is so much of it. Def took time but the rest was fine.

7. Original Yakou art (0:48)

First attempt at making a transparent so not too bad of time, but at the same time I just did just one of the Yakou. Couldn't do the jacket version cuz his hair was going to kill me. Didn't help the scans colors were off so his hair def got chopped in the process.

8. Original Vivia art (0:51)

Second transparent I made and it went moderately better given I also did his jacket. Like with Yakou I probably chopped some of his hair off and those strings, but he didn't care.

9. Yuma art (0:55)

Over the best of the character sheets to transparent so far. No little fly away hair, no wavy curls, and no strings. Worst part was probably the ahoge, but it was nothing compared to the other hair I had to deal with. I love him so much, I'm gonna transparent him more.

10. Halara art (1:32)

Bribed them with cats to get them to work with me, but it was a smooth process. The worst part was they were so pale and their hair was so white it was hard to distinguish them from the background. Almost chopped their hand off in the process.

11. Seth art (1:40)

Nothing really notable other than his poncho is really nice to transparent. It's big and his bunny ears are so cute. Also I almost chopped off his neck cuz his uniform is so white and it was hard to distinguish it from the background.

12. Makoto art (2:10)

I swear Makoto heard how fun I was making the transparent for Yuma cuz his string thin hair was a pain to deal with. It was made worse compared to all of the others having white backgrounds, his is tan, making it hard to distinguish which was hair or not. The fact it didn't take it longer cuz I threw out one of his back art cuz it was the same.

13. Guillaume art (2:57)

The chunks. The chunks of her hair. It's so cute, but it's hard to erase around. I created a whole new system to get through her specifically. Although it was worth it cuz Guillaume gave me a horoscope reading. She told me to give up, fun.

Bonus: Yomi transparent I forgot to post (3:06)

Honest to God it was just a blur to me, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't hell. Took longer cuz I measured his waist and he was fighting with me the whole time. But dw, I got the results. Yomi's waist is 13 cm.

[moonpascal]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

pairing: singledad!remus lupin x teacherfem!reader

summary: it’s orientation night wc: 1.3k

warnings: fluff, reader goes by “miss lovey” from previous students, paragraphs look bulkier than i remember

a/n: this was originally gonna be written first but “lessons in humility” took the reins so this sat in my drafts for awhile, debating if i should post or not. but i wrote more to it and edited. i also suck at endings sorry! if you enjoyed like, comment, reblog 🤎

Gathering up all the papers for tonight’s orientation never seems to get easier, despite being a teacher for at least three years. There are always new rules added or extra lessons someone comes up with. It would be so much easier to use the older packets if things weren’t constantly changing.

You also use your own money to buy each kid a folder with their name on it, to help out the parents and yourself. Each one has their name with some stickers inside if they decide to decorate, and then labels on each side for their ‘take home’ and ‘return back’ papers. It helps ease some of your stress knowing it's complete and not relying on parents to get it done.

You place each folder on the designated desk for each student so once the parents come, it will be easier for them to find their seats. The only problem is that you have a set of twins for the first time, which, in hindsight, isn’t a big deal, but the seating arrangement had to change from alphabetical by first name to alphabetical by last name.

Once everything is set up and perfect in your head, it’s a quarter till parents start showing up. No matter how long you’ve been a teacher, orientation night is always the most nerve-wracking. Meeting the students is a breeze, but the parents? A room filled with give or take 40 parents—if both decide to show up—is an anxiety-filled ordeal. Especially since some parents like to act as if their kid is better than the others and give you “tips” on how to be a good teacher.

“I’m so sorry I’m late! I promised I would help, but then my boyfriend and I got into it, and I’m just sorry,” your teacher assistant Emerson says, in and out of breath. While it would’ve been nice to have the extra hand, you don’t blame her. It wasn’t too much work to organize.

“Don’t worry about it,” you reply, waving off her apology with a smile. “I’m just relieved you’re here now. Facing a room full of parents alone isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.”

She visibly relaxes and starts putting her things down at her desk, pulling out her notebook and pens. Of all the TAs you’ve met, you lucked out with Emerson. She loves the kids, doesn’t treat them like burdens, and helps in any way she can.

“Welcome, parents! I’m so glad that you could make it tonight!” A chorus of tight smiles and unenthusiastic hums followed, fantastic off to a great start already, but that doesn’t discourage you. Not at least with the gorgeous, sweater-clad man giving you a genuine grin that could have you melt on the spot, but you shake away those thoughts, that’s a students parent. Unprofessional in all the ways.

Quickly shifting your attention back to the rest of the group, you gesture to your own packet. “On the desks, there is a folder containing everything that we’ll be learning over the course of the year, along with some things that need to be signed and returned as soon as possible.”

You glance around as some parents nod along while you continue going through the specifics: allergy lists, planned school year trips, books the class will be reading, and the lesson curriculums.

A few parents lift their hands as they scan each page, and you know it’s going to be something already in the packet if they just actually read it.

“What’s your homework policy? Because my Nicole has a lot of extra electives not associated with the school, she doesn’t need homework on top of it,” one parent asks, ignoring the others and blurting out her question as if she were the main priority.

“Great question. On page four, I noted that I don’t give out homework. If they have homework, it’s from an assignment they didn’t finish in class or if they asked for extra credit.” Internally, you roll your eyes and plaster a fake smile on your face. A few other hands are put down, and you want to smack your head on the podium.

After a few excruciatingly obvious questions and barely getting through half of the packet, you decide it’s time to wrap it up. They’re adults; if they have questions, your email is attached to the folder—if they can find it. As if they were here out of obligation, most jump at the chance to leave, hastily grabbing their coats and booking it out the door.

As the room emptied, you let out a deep sigh of relief, your nerves finally starting to settle. Emerson walked over, her sympathetic smile easing your tension a little.

“That wasn’t too bad, right?” she offered, though the fatigue in her voice mirrored your own.

“No, not too bad,” you agreed, starting to gather the leftover materials. “It’s just the same every year. Parents seem to forget that teachers have rules to follow too.”

Emerson nodded, helping to stack the remaining folders. “At least Mr. Sweater Man seemed interested,” she teased, winking at you.

You chuckled, shaking your head. “He’s probably just a dedicated dad,” you replied, though a small part of you couldn’t help but wonder. He was the only parent who asked legitimate questions and paid attention, never once looking bored or annoyed. It definitely helped you get through the night.

With the parents gone and the classroom quiet, you and Emerson finished tidying up. Just as you were locking the classroom door, you heard a voice behind you.

“Excuse me, Miss Lovey,” the voice called out. Turning around, you saw the sweater-clad man standing there, looking slightly sheepish. “I’m sorry to bother you, I know it’s late, but I forgot Luna’s folder on my way out.”

“Oh, right! I managed to grab that,” you said, shuffling through your full hands, careful not to drop everything. “Here we are, one Luna Lupin!” you smiled, trying to remain calm as he flashed a smile that made you pause.

“Thank you so much, and thank you for all the effort you put into this. It means a lot,” Remus said, his voice carrying a sincerity that caught you off guard.

You paused, momentarily taken aback by his genuine gratitude. “Thank you,” you replied, a real smile breaking through your practiced teacher’s mask. “It’s always nice to hear when the effort is appreciated.”

There was a brief, almost comfortable silence as Remus seemed to consider his next words. He then extended his hand, a shy yet warm gesture. “I’m Remus Lupin, by the way, in case it wasn’t obvious.”

You took his hand, noticing the gentle firmness of his grip, and met his gaze, which held a mix of kindness and something else—an understanding, perhaps, of the challenges you face. “Nice to meet you, Remus. I’m looking forward to having Luna and Theodore in class,” you said, your voice more confident than you felt.

His eyes brightened at the mention of his children. “Likewise,” he responded, his tone soft but filled with quiet pride. “And if you ever need any help or have any concerns about the twins, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I know they can be a handful sometimes.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks,” you said, feeling a warm sense of relief. It wasn’t often that parents offered their support so readily. As he turned to leave, you found yourself watching him for a moment longer than necessary, a small, hopeful smile lingering on your lips.

Emerson sidled up next to you, having watched the interaction with keen interest, breaks you out of your daze. “See? Not all parents are bad,” she said, her tone teasing but affectionate as she nudged you playfully.

“Yeah, you’re right,” you admitted, feeling a bit more at ease.

With the classroom finally ready and the orientation over, you and Emerson headed out, looking forward to the start of a new school year. Despite the challenges, moments like these reminded you why you loved teaching—and maybe, just maybe, this year would be the best one yet.

© moonpascal 2024

[pleb-the-original]

Day 17: Pesudoartifact

(So just like last time, I had a character in mind from the start but had no idea where to go story wise. But then i recently started to think about how paranormal creatures would use the internet sphere and I realized just how funny it would be for a cursed book to do a reddit AMA. Hope I got the format down)

I am the soul of a master of alchemy willingly trapped inside a book. AMA

You read the title right. I finally managed to find my way onto both the normal and magical sides of the internet. I will be crossposting between both versions for this post. You’ve read the title already, my new name is the Liber Primus. Yes I am real and yes, most of the rumors are true. Except for the one about my original identity being a fallen djinn prince, I have no clue where that came from.

Are you affiliated with Cicada 3301? 

Not in the slightest. Apparently the reason my name and the coordinates to where I was buried was in that game in the first place was because of something completely out of my control. Some fallen angel calling himself the Engineer made a deal with an Elder demon that would reveal where I was buried, but they decided the catch would be putting the information in some web game.

What was your original identity?

Well my original name was Morrissey, back when I lived in Ireland and was, well, alive. I was also a half-Atlantean half-human. Dad managed to woo an Atlantean pirate when he was taken hostage and then I happened. I didn’t go with mom because she feared what the community would do if they found out I was less than human. Turns out they weren’t the problem I should’ve been worrying about.

How’d you end up in a book?

That’s actually a great question. That has to do with my alchemical practices. See when I was first getting into soul alchemy I had no clue what I was doing. So I combined that with whatever knowledge I could find about human alchemy. That’s when I started figuring out what soul alchemy could do, and all the rules it could break. Even my old partner was surprised with what I was capable of. Then the threats started coming in. Weird letters, dead fish on my doorstep, even alchemical symbols were being painted on my walls. Then one day when I was going to bed, there was a whirlwind of symbols that clouded my vision. I felt myself getting bombarded from all sides as the light faded from my eyes. Luckily, me and my partner always had a contingency if we ever died. My plan was that when I died, I would bind my soul to my spellbook so that I could live as a part of it eternally. But the problem with that became prevalent when my assassin just grabbed the book, took me far away, and buried me where no one would supposedly find me. 

Can I use you?

Nope. Not even with a nicer question. I’ve already seen for myself how dangerous soul magic can get so giving that power to the average person wouldn’t be the smartest thing in the world. Besides, I have a pupil to mentor so I won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. You can just find me in Atlantis with him, but make sure to ask the receptionist at the Capitol building nicely. 

Can I at least scan you online as a PDF?

I feel like that counts as an invasion of privacy so I’m gonna say no.

[secondhello-moved]

Theyre regular , normal even

[loousir]

Neighbours {Uno}

Uno x Male Reader

Anime: Nanbaka

Warnings: Uhm, this one might be weirdly written...

Masterlist

Originally Posted on January 4, 2021

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

"Ow! That was really unnecessary!" You yelled at who you know as Supervisor Sugoroku. "It was more than necessary considering you're being a pain." He said locking the cell you were thrown in. You groaned and explored your cell a bit.

Building 13, cell 12, inmate number (#)

(F/N) (L/N)

You sighed as you laid down in the middle of the room, not knowing what to do since you knew you were being watched extra considering this was the third building you've been transferred to. You started out in building 5 with Samon but it quickly turned out that you really liked to slip out of his grasp and run off to building 3.

Kiji didn't mind too much that you got transferred into his building considering you always called him out if his makeup was off or fading. He really appreciated you for that until you offered to do his makeup and make him look like a clown. Or at least more of one than he already was.

Finally you were transferred to building 13. That was where you would be from now on considering Supervisor Sugoroku wouldn't take any of your shit. You were told about the boys in the next cell over but didn't really think it was true until you heard the alarm go off. You scrambled to your feet to see what was going on and saw the four infamous inmates run by. The guy with long pink and blonde braided hair really caught your eye.

"How does someone even get hair that long.." You asked yourself softly. Right as you said that, the supervisor ran by. "I can see why they put me here." You said out loud as you laid out your blanket. It was getting late so you decided to just try and sleep.

Before you drifted off into the only peaceful place in this prison, you heard a faint, "Hajime, you didn't tell us we have a new neighbor!"

~The Next Morning~

You felt something poking your face, thinking it was your cell mate so you just ignored it.

Wait.. I don't have a cell mate anymore.

You shot up and slapped the hand away, becoming defensive and glaring at the person who was poking you. "Jeez man chill! I thought you died in your sleep or something, we've been here for a while now." You noticed it was the blonde from yesterday. Looking around him you saw the other three guys he was running with.

"I have two questions. How the hell did you get in here and why." You more or less stated than asked. "Well, my pal Jyugo here is the key to the world so we slipped out of our cell, as usual, and snuck into yours while you were sleeping!" You tilted your head slightly and raised a brow. "So you're saying hes good a lock picking?" The boy with green hair nodded. "Yup!"

"Now, why are you four in here again?" You said looking around, seeing their numbers. "15, 11, 25, and 69. So you four are the ones that are always trying to escape right?" 11 nodded. "And we came in to see who you were, Hajime didn't tell us we had a new neighbor." "I can understand why he didn't say anything.." You mumbled. "Hey I heard that! It wasn't even my idea." 69 said crossing his arms.

"Yeah, it was all Uno's idea!" 25 said copying 69's pose. "I'm guessing that's you." You said pointing to the mentioned male. "That's him." 15 said. "Anyway, now that you know why we're here, mind introducing yourself?" Uno said sitting next to you and wrapping an arm around your shoulder. You instantly tensed up and tried to push him away but he didn't budge.

"So.. My options are respond to the questions or wait till the Supervisor comes.." You accidentally said out loud. "I mean, pretty much." 15 said. You sighed and said, "(Y/N). I'm a transfer from building 3. Number (#)." 11's eyes widened slightly. "Wait you came from building 3?" You nodded. "I was originally from building 5."

"That's crazy. What did you do to get transferred twice?" 69 asked. "Well I liked to run away from Samon to building 3 so they shoved me there with Kiji." You said shrugging. 11 still hung on your shoulder as you talked, staring at the side of your face. You could feel his eyes watching your mouth move. "In few words, I made Kiji look like a clown. And that's how I got here."

You stood up leaving 11 on the bed behind you. "Mind telling my your names since this is my cell after all?" You said standing by the window. "My name's Nico!" The boy with green hair perked up. "This is Rock, Jyugo, and Uno." He said pointing to each as he said their name. You turned your head to Jyugo and analyzed his face. He looked uncomfortable as you stared him down.

You did the same to the other three. Rock didn't seem fazed by the staring and Nico just smiled brightly at you. Uno on the other hand just smirked at you. "Like what you see?" He asked, the cocky tone in his voice showing clearly. "No." You said straight faced. A look of hurt quickly replaced his smirk.

I love what I see.

You went back over to window and stared out of it. "We should get back before someone comes by." Uno said, sounding hurt by your words but clearly trying to cover it so no one would ask. "Bye (Y/N)!" Nico said as they walked out. "Uno, quit being so pouty." Rock said once they were outside. They said something else but you didn't hear. You yawned and continued to look out the window until one of the guards came by.

"(#), its time to go eat." They said unlocking your cell. You nodded and held out your hands to be cuffed. The bluenette looked at your hands before looking back at you. "Just come on." He said leading you to the cafeteria. Once you entered you looked around and noticed the boys from cell 13 sitting down and eating. You didn't want to bug them so you found a different spot before going to get some food.

After getting your meal of choice, you sat down at the empty table and started to eat. Damn, this is way better than the other buildings.. You thought to yourself as you continued to eat. While you did so, you didn't notice the pair of blue eyes staring at you again. It's a lot calmer here, kinda nice.. You scanned the room and looked at the people who stayed in the same building as you. While your eyes were examining your surroundings you locked eyes with a certain someone you didn't expect to be staring.

The both of you stared at each other before you broke eye contact, a slight blush on your face. Even though you two were a distance away you could see his eyes perfectly. You reached into your pocket and pulled out a gemstone, almost identical to his eye color. You quickly slipped it back into your pocket once you heard footsteps growing closer. "Hey neighbor~" Uno said sitting close to you, close enough your sides were touching.

"What do you want." You said as you continued to eat. "So cold. I was wondering what you just slipped back into your pocket." He said sneakily reaching to grab it out of your pocket while you ate. "Uno don't even try." You said looking over to him. The both of you locked eyes again and he was the one who broke the gaze. "What? I wasn't trying anything!" He said acting as if he did nothing. "Suure.." You said as you started to eat again.

The two of you were quiet for a moment before he spoke up. "Did you really mean what you said earlier?" He asked with his head laying on the table. You looked over to him, surprised by his calm tone. It was silent for a second before you answered. "Yeah, I just think you took it in a different way than I intended." His head tilted slightly as he looked at you from the table top. "What do you mean by that?"

"Think about it. If someone said no to liking something whats the other reason they would say no? And I don't mean because they dislike it." You said while you finish what you had. Uno looked confused as he thought. "I still don't get what you mean." He said looking at you again.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"

Uno had a shocked yet understanding look on his face. "I'm guessing it finally clicked." You said smirking. "Alright! Back to your cells!" One of the gaurds yelled. You stood up to throw your plate away but Uno stopped you. "I'll be at your cell in a few." You raised a brow and rolled your eyes as he walked off to join the others. You did the same and headed back to your cell.

Once you got back to your cell you went to your bed to sit and read. You chose a random book and started to read. A slight breeze made its way past you, causing you to shiver. Its way colder here. You thought as you continued to read. As you got lost in the sea of words you were pulled out of it when your door opened. Uno and Jyugo were standing there. "Thanks Jyugo!" Uno said walking in. Jyugo just nodded and shut the door behind Uno and walked back to his cell.

You marked your place and set it aside as Uno joined you on the bed. "So what did you come here for?" You asked looking over to him. "I never answered your question!" He said with a smile on his face. "Which one?" You asked tilting your head slightly. "You really forgot? This just happened." He said getting a bit closer. You backed up slightly only for him to keep getting closer. Eventually you ended up against the wall and Uno had you trapped under him.

"What are y--!!" Uno closed the gap between the two of you with a kiss. Your eyes widened slightly as a blush dusted your cheeks. You didn't kiss back due to shock. He pulled away and looked into your eyes, his blue ones showing brightly. "Yes, I do believe in love at first sight." He said kissing you again. You closed your eyes and kissed back. You could feel him smirk against your lips before he pulled away.

You blushed and looked away from him. "I'm gonna get going before I get in trouble." He said getting up and walking over to the door. "See ya later!~" He said walking out.

You glared at the door and rolled your eyes. Reaching into your pocket you felt that the gemstone wasn't there. "You piece of shit!" You yelled going to the door. Uno just laughed and went back into his cell. "Y'know Uno, that looks just like your eyes!" You heard Nico say. "Yeah, it kinda does! No wonder he likes me so much." Uno said just loud enough for you to hear, knowing you were still listening. You groaned and laid down on the bed.

Stupid cute asshole

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

1905

[ynscrazylife]

hi!! may i request hermione granger taking care of reader after reader gets injured from quidditch practice or a magic lesson gone wrong? thank you!!

The Warrior and the Knight  | h.g fluff fic

Summary: After getting hurt during Quidditch Practice, Hermione becomes a doctor for her girlfriend.

Authors Note: Thanks for requesting! I’m so excited to write for Harry Potter again.

Request to be on a taglist (or multiple) here! (Taglists are at the end of the fic)

Harry Potter Masterlist |  Main Masterlist

PSA: Do NOT copy, steal, translate, plagiarize, republish, etc any of my works on Tumblr or any other platform. Also, do NOT claim any of my works as your own. All of these works are either requests I’ve gotten that people have wanted me to write or original ideas I’ve had for works. If you happen to take inspiration from anything I’ve written and want to write something inspired by that, please a) ask me first and b) IF I say yes, credit me as inspo in your post by tagging me and link whatever work of mine that inspired you. Thanks.

header c @/byblackswan

Hermione Granger usually wasn’t a big fan of Quidditch. The crammed crowds, loud cheering, and especially the competitiveness stirring inside her and how disappointed she got when the opposite team scored against Gryffindor. She had been to far too many games of Harry’s for her liking and she did like seeing her friend play, but couldn’t deny the longing to be curled up in her dorm, reading.

That all changed when her girlfriend came along.

Hermione had met Y/N when she was coming to get Harry from practice so they could go to Hogsmeade one day. Y/N was their age but new to the team, playing as a chaser. She was immediately enchanted by the girl and found herself a blushing, blubbering mess. It didn’t take Harry too long to connect the dots and soon, he set them up to date, and they did.

Being with Y/N made Hermione incredibly happy. She quickly fell in love and wasn’t afraid, because Y/N had a tendency to calm her nerves and fill her with some courage instead.

Hermione found herself getting more and more eager at games, doing her best to keep her eyes on her girlfriend and how she zoomed every which way. Her cheers got louder. Her signs for Y/N and Harry (but mostly for Y/N) got bigger. And she truly enjoyed being a fan of Quidditch.

Which was why it wasn’t surprising to see Hermione climbing up the stands to sit at the Gryffindor’s team practice to watch. They had planned to go on a date afterwards, but Hermione finished her book and wanted to just see her girlfriend in all her glory and awe.

Her gaze immediately zeroed in on the fifth year in the Gryffindor jersey that was too big for her and watched as she zipped around. One second she had the Quaffle and the next it was soaring through the air to her teammate. Hermione smiled when her teammate caught it and scored. 

The game continued on with Y/N having little mistakes. She was dominating the field and Hermione was so captivated that she didn’t notice the Ravenclaw in the stands, wand out and muttering under his breath, focussing on the game, definitely for a different reason and not to watch the players, well, play.

After the Quaffle soared through the hoop again, the team’s keeper flew down, got it, and threw it back. Y/N, being the closest, went to get it but her broom decided to disobey her. When she tried to go down to catch the underhanded through, the broom jerked her upwards. She tried again but this time she was jerked to the side. Hermione began to notice and she frowned in concern while Harry, who was on the field, tried to fly over to her. 

In the amount of time that it took him, though, the broom was going even more wild. Y/N could tell that this wasn’t going to lighten up anytime soon and at this rate, it’d be near impossible for her to safely get onto another teammate’s broom. Making a quick decision, she decided to take matters into her own hands and, in an attempt to gain some control, directed her broom downwards. 

The jerking all about was starting to make Y/N dizzy, but she didn’t give up. It took longer than it normally would but finally, when Y/N was closer to the ground (and when she was trying to block out all her teammates’ words because she had to concentrate), the broom went even more wild. She wasn’t at the height she wanted to be and when she tried to go down even further, the broom sped up, causing her to crash into the ground. Y/N rolled forward and the broom’s end managed to stab her in her stomach, but the momentum she had caused her to roll to the side, breaking off from the broom, onto the grass. 

In a matter of seconds, the Gryffindor players had landed and Hermione was making her way onto the field as fast as she could. Harry was scanning the crowd, trying to figure out the source of this, but the other players all went to Y/N, trying to help her. Once Hermione got there, her protective instincts kicked in and she pushed them out of the way, not trusting them with healing spells. 

“Hey, hey,” Hermione tried to comfort Y/N, whose face was scrunched up in pain, in a soft voice which she usually didn’t have. “You’re gonna be okay, yeah? I’m gonna take you to Madam Pomfrey.” She pressed her hand against Y/N’s stomach. Thankfully, the wound wasn’t too deep, but it still hurt. 

“Madam Pomfrey can’t help. At least, not right now. I passed the Hospital Wing on my way over to practice - it’s filled with students with that nasty cold,” one of the Gryffindor chasers told the brunette. 

Hermione cursed under her breath but gave Y/N a smile, wanting to be strong for her. “Harry!” She called her friend over. “Help me get Y/N to my dorm. I’m at least competent in the practice of healing spells. I’ll help her out.” 

Harry nodded and they both helped Y/N walk to the dorm since she had also hurt her ankle. When they got there, Hermione stepped into the leader role. She got Y/N comfy on her bed and ordered Harry to get all the healing books he could from the library. After he left, she grabbed her wand and went to jump into action, but Y/N grabbed her hand softly, making Hermione pause, at first worried that something was wrong, and went to go ask all the questions until-

“Hey,” Y/N said, her voice gentle, gaze full of adoration. “Take a deep breath.”

Hermione shook her head. “You’re hurt - there’s no time.” 

Y/N just shrugged. “I’ll be okay . . . I just wanted to say, I’m glad you were at the practice today, and not just because I’m hurt,” she said. 

Hermione smiled, allowing herself to relax for a couple moments. “I’ll always be here for you, I hope you know that,” she replied, kissing Y/N’s forehead before taking a deep breath like her girlfriend told her to. She then straightened up and brought her wand out, healing her ankle (though it took a few tries) first.

Afterwards, she dealt with Y/N’s stomach wound. It wasn’t that bad, but she didn’t want it to get worse, which is why, after she used a spell to stop and clean the blood, she washed out the wound the Muggle way. Then, she conjured some bandages and bandaged her up tightly. 

“My warrior,” Hermione said as she got into the bed also, slipping under the covers. 

Y/N chuckled and leaned her head against Hermione’s shoulder. “My knight in shining armor,” she replied.

Permanent Taglist: @natasharomanoffismywife @hehehehannahthings @paulawand @blackbat2020 @cerberus-spectre @marrymemcgrath @celestialbarnes @kathryndimitrescu @snipyloulou @cc13723things

Harry Potter Taglist: @stephanieromanoff @okkulta @marauderenergy @thewidowsghost @basiclesbianbitch @mycosmicparadise @kidswhofightmonsters @mads-weasley @afraid-to-be-me @lilymurphy03

[devildomimagines]

Solomon: Simeon broke the Purgatory Hall's router, so I'm borrowing your guys' router for a bit. Hope you don't mind.

How do bros react?

I'm not gonna lie, I laughed when this came in. I took this as Solomon hanging around the HOL but as I was writing I realized you might have meant Solomon taking the router so I put that in Levi’s part.

Belphegor

He probably wouldn’t notice at first.

Rudely awakened, in his opinion, by an explosion below his room in the attic.

He was going to go back to sleep but when he smelled the lingering smoke, he figured he should check it out.

Yawning, he opens the door and finds Solomon fanning a cauldron while reading through his tablet.

“Belphegor! Did I wake you? I’m sorry, there was an unexpected reaction.”

Always one to get right to the point, Belphie asks, “Why are you here?”

“MC said I could come over. Simeon broke the Purgatory Hall’s router, so I’m borrowing your guys’ for a bit. Hope you don’t mind.”

Belphie furrowed his brow and answered, “No, just keep it down or move somewhere else.” Ultimately he didn’t care as long as his naps wouldn’t be interrupted.

Beelzebub

Beel was on the way out of the kitchen and passed Solomon sitting on the couch in the common room.

He was a few steps from passing the room completely when the sight of Solomon finally registered. He took a few steps back.

Solomon giggled as Beel came back into view. “Hello~”

Beel popped a chip in his mouth as he replied, “Hi Solomon, no offense but what are you doing here?”

“No offense taken, Simeon broke the Purgatory Hall’s router, so I’m borrowing your internet for a bit. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Ah. I don’t mind.” Then a thought popped up, “Does Lucifer know you’re here?”

“MC invited me so I assumed they asked permission.”

Beel nodded, “Probably. See you.” He then headed towards his room to get ready for a run. He also doesn’t really care.

Asmodeus

“Solomon!?” Asmo gasps, “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming over!?”

Solomon sighed, “If I told you then I wouldn’t get any work done.”

“Work?” Asmo walked over and rubbed Solomon’s shoulders. Asmo scanned the papers spread over the dining room table and the website pulled up on Solomon’s laptop.

“Simeon broke the Purgatory Hall's router, so I'm borrowing your guys' router for a bit. Hope you don't mind.”

“Of course not! You’re always welcome!” Asmo smiled warmly at his pact partner.

Solomon couldn’t help smiling back, “Do you want to join us? MC should be back shortly with some snacks.”

“How can I say no to my two favorite humans?” Asmo giggled, “I’ll go grab my school bag.”

Satan

Irritation flared as he came across someone sitting in his favorite chair in the HOL’s library.

The flash of white hair had him seeing red, he was ready to rip Mammon out of the chair with force if needed.

When he stomped around to be face to face with the wrongdoer, he was taken back, “S-Solomon?”

“Oh hi Satan! Doing some reading?” Solomon gestured to the book in the blond’s hand.

“Mhm,” he hummed as he wrangled in his wrath but he couldn’t stop his next statement’s bite, “What are you doing in our library?”

“Simeon broke the Purgatory Hall's router, so I'm borrowing your guys' router a bit for research on this project. Hope you don't mind.”

Satan nodded, “That’s fine.” He resigned himself to his second favorite chair, “Simeon sure does have a penchant for breaking technology in unexplainable ways.”

“Right?” Solomon laughed and the two settled into an amiable silence.

Leviathan

30 minutes to release, Levi reminded himself. One of his favorite animes was premiering their season and series finale and he was binge watching the show to be ready. He had it timed perfectly, he’d wrap up 5 minutes before, get some water and snacks and settle in.

At 20 minutes, his TV and computer both went black. He freaked out and when they both booted up with an interrupted connection error he stormed from his room.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Levi yelled with a pointed finger as he found Solomon packing up the router.

“Simeon broke the Purgatory Hall's router, so I'm borrowing your guys' router for a bit. Hope you don't mind.”

“I absolutely do mind!” Levi ripped the router from the bag and started plugging it back in. As it reestablished the connection, he looked at the time, 10 minutes!

“Well what am I supposed to do, MC said I could use it for a bit?” Solomon looked to Levi for answers.

Hating to cross MC and also running out of time Levi said, “I don’t know, just work on the project here? I need the internet for the release of the season finale that’s dropping…” another glance at the time, “in 5 minutes! Whatever you do, don’t unplug that router or I’ll come hunt you down.” Levi made a gesture that he was watching the sorcerer and then bolted from the room.

Mammon

He wasn’t doing anything important, just scrolling through Devilgram when the video wouldn’t load. Weird, he thought, refreshed and now his whole timeline wouldn’t load. His D.D.D. was still connected to the internet so he figured Levi was playing around with too many devices.

He pushed himself up out of bed to give the third born a piece of his mind.

On his way to Levi’s room, he found Solomon posted up in the common room. He had his laptop and tablet on the table with paperwork scattered around. It looked like he was taking a break by looking at his D.D.D. just as Mammon had been.

“So it was you, sucking up all the internet,” Mammon accosted.

Solomon jumped, he looked embarrassed to have been caught on his phone, “Hello Mammon. Simeon broke the Purgatory Hall's router, MC said I could borrow your guys' router for a bit. Hope you don't mind.”

Mammon wanted to tell Solomon to get lost but if MC had given the ok... Mammon felt conflicted and when Solomon smiled, he knew he was right where the wizard wanted him.

“Whatever! I’m heading out anyway,” Mammon grumbled and decided to head to a casino, he deserved to blow off some steam.

Lucifer

Lucifer sighed, how did I end up like this? He looked up from his office chair at Solomon typing away on his laptop.

Originally MC asked if Solomon could come over to finish his essay. He hadn’t minded as long as MC was with him, not totally trusting the sorcerer to keep his nose out of the secrets of the House of Lamentation.

Solomon had come over earlier than MC had mentioned, “Simeon broke the Purgatory Hall's router. I hope you don't mind that I’m early but I have other assignments that I need to get done.”

MC wasn’t back yet so Lucifer led him inside and to his office, offering it was a good quiet spot to focus until MC returned. The unsaid added benefit that he could keep Solomon under his watchful eye.

The next time Lucifer looked up, he caught Solomon’s gaze. He narrowed his eyes, “Were you watching me?”

“Maybe,” Solomon shrugged, “Were you watching me?”

Lucifer sighed again as he thought, when was MC going to be back?

[itsallyscorner]

Ooo I finally got a Tom request for you! This one’s more fluff since you’ve already written a smut so~

Tom stumbles into a library and falls for reader that works there and tries passing off as a regular guy just so he can watch her from afar whether it’s cataloging books or reading to kids.(libraries were the original bookstores so they’re superior)

I’ve seen you’ve read my smut for Tommy! It’s one of my favorite ones that I’ve written😏Thank you love for the support and request, I appreciate it! Happy reading❤️

💌.

Sequel: Through Your Words

From Afar

warnings: none. Some spelling errors?

(Gif from Pinterest)

(I love him sm, ugh. He’s so cute in glasses🥺)

The brisk winds of New York City blew harshly against his cheeks as he walked towards the book store. The faster he walked the closer he saw the book shaped sign and baby blue store front that he had been visiting for the past few weeks. When he approached the door, he took his hand out from his warm pocket and pulled it open. He felt a wave of hot air embrace him as he entered the store. The sudden change in temperature caused his glasses to fog up, obscuring his vision. He didn’t actually need the glasses, but it helped him get around the city without being noticed every few minutes.

He wiped his glasses with his sleeves and slid them back to rest on the bridge of his nose. He took in the warmth of the cozy book store, sniffling as his body adjusted to the heat. He had stumbled upon the unique store when he first came to New York. It had been snowing when he first arrived and he was looking for a place to get some nice hot coffee. There wasn’t a single Starbucks near his hotel and the closest thing to coffee was a small cafe just a few blocks away from him. He ended up visiting the cafe, later discovering that it had a library hidden in the back. After days of hanging out at the cafe and reading some books, he had become familiar with the staff there. Especially you. Although he’s never spoken a word to you. Instead he’s only seen you from afar, exchanging glances and shy smiles at each other.

He approached the counter and was greeted by Marco, the barista of the cafe/library.

“Hey man, you gettin’ your usual?” Marco asked as he reached for one of the festive cups near the register. Tom pursed his lips as he looked at the menu.

“D’ya know what, I think I’ll have a hot chocolate today.” Tom smiled as he took his wallet out. Marco nodded and scribbled the order onto the cup.

“Anything else?” Tom shook his head and handed Marco a $10 bill. He shoved his wallet back into his pocket, scanning the store for a place to sit.

“Keep the change, mate.” Tom told Marco waving a hand at him.

“I’ll bring your drink to you.” Tom nodded thankfully and found a table towards the back. The smell of books brought him peace and comfort as the low hum of music surrounded the store. He took a seat debating on whether or not he should go through the library or read his script. He decided to read the script, remembering that he should go over his lines for the scenes they were going to shoot tomorrow.

Pulling the script out his backpack, a smell of vanilla and a hint of fruit breezed past him. He looked up to see that you had walked past him. A small smile made its way onto his lips as he watched you interact with some of the customers. Your bright eyes were accompanied with a kind smile as you conversed with an older lady. You were dressed in a knitted sweater, some jeans, and brown boots that went up to your knees. You settled into the seat across from the old lady which was a few feet away from him. You were wearing something so simple, but he thought you looked absolutely stunning. Tom found himself being more focused on you than his script.

Suddenly a steaming cup was placed down on the table, startling him. He looked up to see Marco smirking at him as he followed his line of sight. Tom quietly thanked him as his hands gripped onto the warm cup.

“Ya know, she’s single.” Marco whispered before walking away from Tom’s table. Tom blushed furiously as Marco turned back to him with a shit eating grin. He’s been caught staring at you. Tom rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment as he forced his focus onto his script. He barely looked up, only looking at his script and cup.

An hour had passed and he was halfway through his lines. His cup was almost empty, only a few sips of hot chocolate left. Tom sighed, taking his glasses off and rubbing his tired eyes. He put the glasses back on and looked around. Outside, the sun had started to go down and there were different people in the store. He suddenly heard a laugh, a sweet sound, like a melody. His eyes followed the sound, only to see you laughing with one of your coworkers. The two of you were organizing books at the back. Your eyes averted from your friend, connecting with Tom’s brown eyes. A strand of hair fell from your face and Tom couldn’t help but feel tempted to tuck it back behind your ear. You shyly smiled at him with a small nod towards his direction. Tom felt the butterflies erupt in his stomach, making him feel breathless. He smiled back at you, his fingers fiddling with the highlighter in his hands. You were the first to turn away, returning to your task at hand.

At that moment, Tom felt pity for himself. You were just a few feet away from him looking as beautiful as ever. But there he was glued to his seat, only admiring you from afar. He was too scared to approach you, you just seemed too good to be true. His leg bounced nervously as he continued to sneak glances at you. His script was long forgotten, the hot chocolate now cold. He wanted to approach you but he was too nervous to go up to you. Suddenly an idea popped into his head.

Tom looked around, trying to discreetly wave down Marco. The man was busy wiping down the counters until he saw Tom flailing his hand at him. He threw the rag into the sink and approached the British man.

“What’s up? Refill? Or have you finally mustered the balls to ask (y/n) out?” Marco questioned him nonchalantly. Tom’s head snapped at the barista.

“H-how? Wait, her name’s (y/n)?” Tom’s voice trailed off as he paired the name with your face. (Y/n). The named rolled off his tongue so naturally.

“Yeah. How can I help you?”

Tom leaned in closer to Marco keeping his tone low, “Has she been reading any books lately? Like anything in the library?”

Marco took a minute to think to himself, “Ummm, she mentioned something about rereading The Great Gatsby.”

“Great, uhm. Where can I find that?” Tom asked eagerly.

Marco waved him off and patted his shoulder, “I’ll get it for you.”

Marco returned a few minutes later with the book. The book was aged but still in good condition.

Curiously, Marco asked, “What are you gonna do?”

Pulling out post it notes from his bag and a pen, he opened the book to the first page.

“I’m going to leave a note for her.” He muttered, “For (y/n), I mean.” He quickly elaborated to Marco.

He stuck the post it note to the page and thought of something to write.

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it. If you want, I could give it to her. Just hand it to me when you leave.” Marco offered beginning to walk back to the counter.

“That would be great, thanks man.” Tom sent him a grateful smile and looked down at the book. He racked his brain for something nice to say that would set a good impression on you, but instead he went with the first thing he thought when he would see you.

“I think you look very beautiful today :) — Tom xx” were the words he scribbled onto the post it note. He closed the book, looking down at it nervously. Would you think the note was creepy? Would you cringe? Maybe you would appreciate it? Would you find it cute? Many questions formed in his head making him second guess his decision of leaving the note for you. But then he finally mustered the courage to just give it to you and hope for the best.

Packing his things, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and threw his cup away. He quickly looked around and saw you standing on a ladder. You were still sorting books, but now your hair was pulled up into a ponytail. With one more glance at you he took the book and approached Marco.

Marco looked at him expectantly. Tom double checked to see if the note was still in the book.

“You good?”

“Yup, I think I am.” Tom sighed finally giving the book to Marco.

“I’ll give it to her as soon as she’s done over there.” Marco motioned to you placing the book in his large apron pocket.

“Thanks, Marco. I appreciate it.” Tom smiled at him. Marco shrugged as if it were no big deal.

“No problem man, you have a good night.” Marco waved at Tom as his hands pushed on the door. Tom was about to leave but heard Marco call out to him again.

“I better be seeing you tomorrow. She’ll read the note by then.” Marco pointed at him.

“I’ll be here.” Tom confirmed before leaving the store with one more wave at Marco.

As he walked through the blanket of snow a smile was on his face the entire time. When he got back to his hotel, he laid in bed wondering if you have read the note already. He found himself anticipating the upcoming day. He couldn’t wait to visit the cafe after set or during his lunch. Maybe by tomorrow he’ll stop admiring you from afar and finally talk to you, who knows?

[otp-holic]

The one place (where something happened) (A03)

“In your life there are a few places, or maybe only the one place, where something happened, and then there are all the other places.” Alice Munro. (or the one where they receive a letter from a familiar name and we go into 4Ks of fluff around a lost afternoon in France)

4K. Lamely explicit at one point. Fanfic + Pictures Inside. Trigger for FLUFF as the main plot. Part of the Never let us lose what we have gained series (AO3)

This was supposed to be a manip with 200 words of bantering and it's now 4Ks of fluff with a few pictures. I've decided to leave them inside the cut because I feel they work better with its context there. I'm sorry for the hassle, but I really hope you give this a chance... unless you have cavities, only like fics with amazing plots or are allergic to shameless fluff.

Please do not repost the pictures, I know this is futile, but… I try :)

DAGUERROTYPE, France 1944 Private Collection.

Steve is cooling down from his very early run, enjoying the feeling of the pink sunrise looming over the awakening Brooklyn streets as he walks the last couple of blocks on the way home, when his phone beeps.

“Check your actual mailbox, we dropped something for you there. I think you should appreciate us making it old-fashioned just for you, grandpas!”

Steve smiles at Sam’s text and as soon as he arrives at their building he snaps a picture of the very common and flat envelope with “Barnes&Rogers” scribbled on top of a Stark Logo, to send along his response.

“Nice try, but this is inaccurate. A letter would have never made its way to us without an address or stamp. We’ll send you a proper thank you card to show you how it’s done.”

He can’t help but chuckle at his own joke rereading the text while he opens the door, and when he looks up from his phone and into the kitchen, he is received by a sleepy Bucky looking at the coffee machine like he looks at Steve during their most soft and embarrassingly cheesy moments.

“You love that thing more than you love me, confess it.”

“In the mornings? Yes. I don’t even like you in the mornings most of the time,” he answers matter of factly. “Want some?”

Steve playfully wiggles an eyebrow.

“No way. Your sweaty self is tempting, but coffee smells better. I might join you in the shower later.” Bucky offers him one of the two cups he has poured and he notices the envelope Steve is holding. “What is that?”

“We’ve got mail!” He hands it to Bucky. “I have no idea what's on it, but Sam texted me to say they had something delivered to our mailbox and there it was. Open it.”

Bucky leaves the cup on the counter, face sparked with a curiosity that makes him look twenty-one (and Steve weak on the knees), and goes for it.

The content is a bit underwhelming at first glance: Another envelope, white, no Stark logo, but topped with a bright green post-it with a note on Pepper’s script.

“This got to me via PR. We analyzed it and checked with the source (no peeking, I swear) and it seems legit. With that return address, it’s likely to arouse your interest. Love, P.”

Bucky tears off the post-it and the letter is revealed to be addressed to Steve Rogers at the Stark Tower, but it is when they turn it around when everything goes still for a second.

The return address is some street in Marseille, but what has Steve’s mouth dry and Bucky’s hand trembling just a bit is the combination of the place and the name written on top: Emmanuelle Jaques Dernier.

“Boom?”, Bucky says, trying to cut through their heavy hearts and taking Steve’s hand. It’s a terrible terrible joke, but Dernier would have loved it and he grins.

“That’s a terrible terrible joke,” Steve verbalizes, “but I think at least we’ve reached the same conclusion.”

“Elementary, my dear Steve,” Bucky answers as he opens the second envelope, only to reveal a folded letter and yet another envelope. “It’s a fucking vault of paper!”

Steve takes the letter from him, unfolds it, and quickly scans it (normal office paper, printed, hand-signed) before he starts reading it out loud to Bucky’s undivided attention.

“Dear Mr. Rogers,

My name is Emmanuelle Dernier and I am the great-grandson of Jaques Dernier of the Howling Commandos.

First, let me tell you that we all in our family grew up with amazing stories and praise for you, Sergeant Barnes, and the rest of the team. I never got to meet my great-grandfather or any of them (you), but I’ve always felt like I did.

In fact, that’s the ultimate reason behind this letter: I ached to honor him and I’ve been putting in order all his remaining letters, pictures, and memories so they don’t get lost forever, and there are many things I’m discovering through this journey. So many pictures and tiny details… and amongst them, you and the rest of the Commandos appear at the most random and memorable moments. Nothing that’s going to make it into history books, more like the stories my grandpa used to share with us over and over again, those important tidbits that make him more human.

Anyway, I was going through the pictures he kept when I came across some war photos that didn’t seem to match the 40s timeframe. Typical daguerreotypes from the 20s in a very bad state, probably taken with a camera from the era in 1944 and developed on a later date by somebody who clearly didn’t master the technique.

They were in a very bad state and hidden inside an envelope that said “Terribly drunk soldiers in France making idiots of ourselves in unique and creative ways. Fun evening, horrible hangover. About 20 miles west of the Maginot Line. Autumn ‘44”. I’m attaching a photocopy of that, I hope you can understand my decision to keep the original.

After restoring the daguerreotypes with some experts, all I got were five very bad pictures with silhouettes of people apparently having fun…. but there was one that got a lot better in the cleaning process that feels important somehow. I’m sending the original, as well as the restored version I got.

I, of course, don’t have the whole context, but I hope it brings back a good memory. My great-grandpa might be in the picture, but I don’t think this one belongs to my family or to a museum.

Thank you for your service, I really hope this letter finds its way to you.

E.Dernier.”

“I can’t believe… Steve, most days I’m convinced that day and that place are a figment of my imagination,” Bucky smiles, remembering. “When I think of a moment of pure joy during the war, I think about that afternoon in France, and it always feels unreal. A bubble of air and laughter while we were so surrounded by death.”

Steve nods, reminiscing about that warm and humid September morning when they arrived at yet another abandoned and destroyed little village, this one about twenty miles west of the Maginot Line. They had orders to lie low and wait for twenty-four hours before they started the maneuver to wipe another Hydra base off the map, and that little town was perfect for that.

Among bomb debris and fallen walls, they found one small building miraculously standing next to the remains of the church, so they decided to set camp under a roof for a change since the weather was being a little flickery with the rain, and they had the rare luxury of time.

The inside of the tiny house was as unusual as the outside: nothing was destroyed beyond being dusty and worn by time, and everything they found (furniture, kitchenware, and even fabrics) belonged more to Steve and Bucky’s early childhoods than to 1944, a living museum frozen in time.

Only it was not a museum, but the parish house left untouched and non-raided: old-fashioned clothes, outdated church books, yellowing clergy collars, and, of course, the wine cellar. Oh, that wine cellar… the havoc it unleashed.

“I remember the absolute excitement when Falsworth found all those bottles of old unscathed mass wine from the parish,” Steve brings his memory to words, looking at Bucky, “I’m still a little convinced that we are going to hell for drinking them.”

“Not for that, probably, but it was a wonder nobody died on the spot of wine poisoning, it tasted like sweet vinegar, ugh.”

“But it did his part, right? Took our minds off things; got us drunk, bold and silly.” Steve answers.

“Apparently not all of us,” Bucky says very seriously, looking at Steve.

“Technicalities… I got drunk by proxy. Seeing you all so happy made me giddy and tipsy, too.”

“I came and went… I remember being a little surprised at the clarity of my thoughts at some moments there when some of the guys were basically drooling on the floor. Now I understand, of course.”

Steve squeezes his hand, not much to be said there.

They were already way too drunk by the early afternoon, drinking to the sound of a sudden rainstorm pouring outside. All of them scattered across the small dusty living room and its adjoining kitchen while they went through all the bottles of wine they had been able to find. Cheering for the foregone priest every time somebody raised a glass, and laughing as if there were no ruins or war on the other side; just silly men (boys, really) laughing their hearts out.

“Earth to Steve… I don’t know about you, but I’m dying to see what the hell that envelope is hiding. Especially now that we know about its time stamp.”

“I’m sorry, me too! Gabe drunkenly handling that old camera and those glass plaques the way he did? I’m honestly impressed that he was able to take any pictures at all,” he muses. “Shit, is it weird that I’m nervous?”

“I’m gonna save us the bantering because I’m nervous, too,” Bucky answers in all sincerity. “Truth is, Steve, I remember everything about that day.”

It’s a new admission, a newly opened door for them because for some reason, they have never talked about that peaceful surreal afternoon, and Steve nods in recognition as he silently goes for the envelope one-handed, not wanting to let go of Bucky’s hand because his surface is way cooler than his wrenching insides. Maybe the picture is an overexposed french wall but maybe…

The photo he extracts from the envelope is clearly the original and damaged one Emmanuelle specified in his letter. Anybody else looking at it would see nothing beyond Dernier’s blurry profile, but since Steve and Bucky were there when this was taken, they know exactly what moment Steve is holding in his hand.

“Buck,…” is all Steve can say, struck by the blurry keepsake.

Later in the afternoon when they had already consumed most of the wine and there was not a single coherent thought left in the room, one of the guys took the parish books and besottedly announced that there was a wedding set for today… thirty years ago. Alcohol fueled a goofy idea that escalated at the speed of light, with Morita saying they were going to a wedding because they deserved a celebration, Dernier confessing that he had once considered becoming a priest, and Dum-dum bringing out all the old fashioned clothes from the wardrobe and deciding they were getting nice and clean for the festivities.

“That’s clearly Dernier in the picture killing it in his priest role, right?” Bucky says, half smiling and interrupting Steve’s thoughts. “You know, I went all-in with that fake wedding party. I was laughing to tears when I saw you put on that ridiculously long and ill-fitting jacket from the 10s, feeling weightless and silly for the first time since sailing off, and God knows we all deserved that. And it was all safe and light-hearted until fucking Morita decided you had to be the groom, and...”

“Were you jealous because I won the dashing groom competition?”

Steve’s attempt at a joke is weak, but there’s truth behind it: Morita chose Steve as the groom (“Cap, you are the most dashing and the least drunk”) to a chorus of excited voices cheering for him. Somebody else, most likely Dum-Dum, chose the rest of the roles (Sarge, best man duty; Jones, camera; Morita, keep the wine flowing; the rest of you, misbehave!) and in the blink of an eye, they were all going outside laughing under a light rain, and about to celebrate Steve’s fictional wedding to nobody.

“How could I be jealous?” Bucky cuts in. “Do you remember all you said to me that afternoon? During World War II and in front of a battalion of men?”

“I was drunk.”

“Fuck you!” Bucky disentangles his hand from Steve’s to use both of them to hold Steve’s face and kiss him with violence. “Tell me. Do you remember what you said?”

As if he could ever forget. He can recall every step he took from the house to the makeshift wedding spot amidst the trees where his best man (looking dapper even in that ludicrous jacket) was laughing along Dernier. He can still smell the petrichor, can still sense the blush coloring his cheeks while hoping nobody noticed and can still hear the beating of his heart when Bucky handed him a battered umbrella (“You don’t deserve to get rained on your wedding day, punk”) and a fucking ring made out his shoelaces (“You’ll have to buy something a little more permanent.”). And then…

“Dernier started the ceremony and he wanted to know if I had somebody in mind and I said ‘of course’.” He replays, his voice barely a whisper. “I said I’d had my eyes on a brown-haired Brooklynite since before I could remember. I said that I was pretty sure those blue eyes were set on mine too and that hopefully those eyes would be set enough to want to marry me even if I had never dared to ask.”

He’s been holding Bucky’s gaze the whole time, and he’s far from over yet, but he needs to fucking breathe before he goes on. Neither of them has moved a muscle for the past minute.

“Then he asked me to repeat the wedding vows after him and…”

“And you said Buck, right?”, Bucky interrupts, voice winded. “You fucking whispered I take you, Buck, as my lawful wedded husband till the end of the line. I heard, Steve. Even if the rest of the world didn’t, I did. But you never said anything, so I always deemed it impossible, a product of the corniest nook of my mind trying to outweigh all those bad things, because not even you could be as bold, reckless, and mushy as to do that,…it’s my fucking fault, I should have known better!”

“Not completely reckless, pal. I was scared shitless as I said those words, but what else could I do? You were right by my side about to put a ring on my finger as my “best man”, everyone, including you, supposedly drunk past recollection, and everybody else too far away to hear my whispers. It was such an easy choice in the end because truth should always win over fear. And those vows were. The truth.”

“You have always been too honest for your own good, Rogers,” Bucky is breathless and exasperated and goes for his mouth again, bringing in all he (they) couldn’t in 1944. “You destroyed me, Steve. My knees were as weak as a teenager’s in front of his first crush. I wanted to kiss you so badly when I heard you say all that there in the open… and I couldn’t even acknowledge it.”

“I know. And for what it's worth, I really thought you didn’t remember.”

It is too much. Is it normal to feel this much? Steve would blame it on the serum enhancements, but he was already overwhelmed at 16, so that’s clearly not the answer.

He craves, no, he needs touching, grounding, closer. Bucky. There’s too much space between them even if they are back to kissing like they would have that day in 44, and at any other time if their own lives wouldn’t have stolen those moments from them.

“It happened.” Bucky whimpers, biting on Steve’s lip who abandons his own stool to straddle him, both of them gasping in sync at the feeling of their cocks, hard against each other’s through their soft pants.

Bucky soon ups the stakes by carding his metal hand through Steve’s hair pulling his head backwards to help himself into that spot on his neck.

“Same two moles as when you were tiny, as when we were at that war... Your cute vampire bite. Favorite spot.” He licks on them with the tip of his tongue. Steve growls on cue and Bucky giggles. “Favorite chain reaction.”

“Buck, you cheater, you know what that does to me!” Steve cries out followed by Bucky’s evil chuckle.”Bed, couch, countertop,…I don’t care, but naked. Now. Stained pants due to heavy petting are too much of a trip down memory lane for me. Let me keep a bit of my dignity.”

Steve stands up liberating Bucky from his grip but aching at the loss of contact.

They are naked and making out in the middle of the kitchen in no time; Bucky steadily pushing him against the refrigerator while fiercely grinding against his crotch.

“Hey, ‘teve,” Bucky pants. “The way this is going, it’s my dignity now that's at risk. I don’t think I can make it further than the floor before I come.”

Steve groans into his mouth just at the thought and they start sliding to the floor the best they can until he’s a human blanket moving over Bucky. With no lube at hand, and no time, that’s their best option.

They kiss and kiss and kiss, his hands not leaving Bucky’s sweaty hair. Bucky’s hands on his ass, forcing their groins closer with one while he (almost absently) plays around his hole with the other, driving Steve crazy in the process. Dicks left to do their own thing through pressure and friction. Everything is working. And fast.

“Oh, fuck!” Bucky exclaims “Can you promise me all this stuff with the letter was real and not a long-con plan to assure your fragile masculinity that I love you more than I love that espresso machine?”

That. That silly unfunny excuse of a joke that screams Bucky all over is what pushes Steve all the way over the edge. He fucking laughs as he comes making absolutely embarrassing sounds, pressing their foreheads and noses together until it hurts, and shaking from head to toe without stoping his pressure on the stupid and smug man under him. His lover. His partner. His unofficial husband. His best friend.

His Buck.

“There’s still too much blood in your brain if you can play that dirty,” Steve states, placing one hand between them grabbing Bucky’s hard cock. “Let’s see if I can do anything about it.”

“Your hand, usually so helpful, but I was already following you after that sound you make when you come and laugh at the same time, shit, it always goes straight to my dick, I’m,…” he keeps talking with difficulty between breaths and moans until he leaves his speech unfinished coming all over Steve’s fist.

They kiss on the lips breathing into each other before Steve rolls over. They are sticky and panting in silence, spread on their kitchen’s floor, Steve’s shoulders crushed between Bucky’s and the dishwasher. Domestic bliss at its most literal.

One lavish fuck and two showers later they reemerge into the kitchen in search of something to eat: Bucky is in charge of the food today, while Steve cleans the mess they left a couple of hours ago.

He’s decluttering the counter when their damaged picture laying there puts a smile on his face but also reminds him of the restored version presumably still waiting inside the disregarded letter, so he grabs the envelope to retrieve its contents: one photocopy (from Dernier’s original writing), and the promised photo.

And it is restored. Everything is clear where it was blurry before: Dernier (so deep into his priest impersonation that he’s not even looking at them), the trees, the battered umbrella, the ridiculous jackets… and them.

“You had the nerve to call me reckless and mushy, Buck?” Steve laughs as he stares at the picture where a very young Bucky is about to put a ring on his finger with the least subtle lovestruck expression he’s ever seen (“and it’s for you”, his brain proudly reminds him) “Wow, you might as well be kissing me there, anything would be more subtle than this!”

“Don’t shame me, you punk, especially not when you were the one responsible for breaking my brain back then!” Bucky answers coming from behind and stealing the picture from his hands to scrutinize it. Goofy grin and raging blush quickly taking over his face. “But you’re one to talk, Cap. You are gazing at that shoelace’s ring as if I were handing you a diamond tiara!”

Steve laughs softly at that and moves his right hand to his pocket, feeling the weight of the little compass he had retrieved earlier from one of his drawers. He used to carry it with him everywhere for comfort, but he has a better option now.

“Didn't you know that shoelaces are forever?” He asks, taking the compass out of his pocket and holding it in both hands as he opens it, nudging Bucky with his elbow to get his attention.

Bucky is confused for an instant while he looks at his young face staring at them from inside the little box. Of course he knew that (he made fun of Steve for days and days) but Steve detects the change in his expression when he notices the other thing.

“Wow, you gigantic sap,” Bucky says, taking the compass out of his hands to double-check he is seeing what he thinks he’s seeing. “You saved my shoelace.”

He had. While they were all celebrating his wedding under the rain dancing to no music, he quietly slipped the little string off his finger and tied it to the most secure place he had back then.

“It’s not a shoelace, you jerk, it’s a symbol. A declaration.” He laughs, stealing the compass back to safely pocket it again.

“You are delusional,” Bucky snorts, kissing the top of his head. But he’s widely smiling and lost in thought as he goes back to their sandwiches.

Steve stays on the spot enjoying the peace in their silent companionship, his focus on the latest news showing up on his phone, the text he’s writing to Sam and the comforting sounds of Bucky moving around the kitchen.

“You might have married me, but I never actually married you.” Bucky blurts out of the blue a bit later, sitting by his side as he hands him a plate with a sandwich and some grilled greens on it. “Do you want mayo with that?”

“Uh?” Steve forgets all about the news and the text and looks at Bucky in confusion.

“Mayo, do you want some?” Bucky repeats nonchalantly.

“No mayo, thank you; but I was actually more interested in the other part, you know, that thing about marriage?”

Bucky looks him in the eye: earnest, blushing and with the same look of smug adoration he had on the picture.

“Oh, that part.” He jokes. “You apparently married me in 1944, but I never married you back. And I would like to.”

“Marry me?” Steve asks and Bucky visibly nods.

“I’m sorry for throwing the idea at you like this, books tell me I'm supposed to have candles, music, and a ring, but you showed me that restored picture and I couldn't stop thinking about it, about proof,” Bucky speaks uncharacteristically slow and very softly, voice trembling here and there while he claps his hand with Steve’s finger by finger for reassurance and as a distraction. “A single photo had the power to transform a moment that existed just as a made-up happy place inside my mind into something tangible and real. Something that would be tangible and real for anybody getting a hold on it and looking at our stupid faces.”

“So stealthy,” Steve says, and they both laugh together.

“Proof, Steve. I was slicing tomatoes and thinking how there’s so much evidence, thousands of files! out there proving that all the stuff that fuels my nightmares were real, but nothing solid about this. Us.” Bucky stops for a moment collecting his thoughts, still smiling even with the heavy subject he just dropped into the mix. “Sorry, I believe I put more time into these sandwiches than into thinking this all the way through so I’m…”

“Take your time, we’ve gone from mayo to marriage to nightmares in five minutes so don’t worry, you have me hooked here.”

Steve makes Bucky laugh again as he intended, and he feels their calloused laced fingers immediately squeezing closer.

“It’s stupid because it doesn’t change anything for us but,.. I don’t fucking know, Steve, I think that picture has messed up with my mind! I instantly found comfort in the idea of people finding facts beyond the nightmares now or in the future. An easy to understand, universal and oversimplified proof of how much I loved you and how much I was loved in return.” Bucky takes a breath and stares at him sporting a million-watt smile. “Marrying you,… I would really love that. And for real this time.”

“Ok, Buck.” Steve instantly replies, eagerness winning over thoughtful and heartfelt declarations. He tightens the grip on their joined hands to drive them to his lips and seals the easiest answer he’s ever had to give.

And it's done!Sorry for the cavities, for going on with the fic when it should have ended and for ending it where it might have had to keep going. It was painful and fun. I'm free!

[bebepac]

The Double Date Mistake?

I am participating in @wackydrabbles​ prompt # 92 “I don’t think that was meant to go there.” will appear in bold.

This is also chapter 2 of The Meet:  To catch up on what you’ve been missing of the Meet so far Please click:  The Meet Masterlist

Original Post Date: 05/01/2021 at 3:15PM

The Book:  TRR

The Pairing:  Liam x F!OC (Liam x Jilian) 

Word Count: 1948

Summary: Jilian goes on a double date with Bebe and meets Leo for the very first time.  Jilian and Bebe share how they first met each other to the guys.  

Warnings: Sexual innuendos.  Profanity.  

Leo and Liam belong to pixelberry, Jilian belongs to @queenjilian borrowed for the duration of this series. All others are my own to help us tell the story.  

“And done. He has your number now Jili. Now fly my little birdies fly.”  

She thought he would text right away but he didn’t.  The whole way to Bebe’s apartment the twenty minute drive Jili’s phone was silent.

Bebe looked at Jili as she glanced at her phone.  What the actual hell?

She texted Jilian.

“Bebe why the hell are you texting me? I’m sitting right next to you?”

“I was just making sure your phone was on.”  

“I mean he’s still working Bebe.  He can’t just drop everything and just start texting away.”

“The hell he can’t. What in the actual fuck is wrong with you bruh?” Bebe grumbled as she angrily typed on her phone.

“Wing Woman are you trying to crash this plane?”

“The mother  hasn’t even taken off yet with you two trying to pilot it. I’m gonna need you to get your life together Jili.”  

The driver pulled to a stop. “Damn I really wanted to see how this turned out.”

Bebe got out of the car in a huff.

“I’ll let you know.”   Jili called out the window to her.

Jilian wasn’t going to let it stress her out.  He was still at work. She knew her job got busy at times, and she couldn’t just sit on her phone and do nothing.  As she was walking up the stairs to scan her door key fob, the phone rang.

It was a local number she didn’t recognize.

“Hello?”

“Jilian. It’s Liam.”

“Hi Liam.”

“I apologize for not texting or calling sooner.  Things got busy at work.”

“Oh I figured that was what happened.”  

"Bebe is something else. I feel a little attacked. I can tell it's from a place of love though."

"She's my best friend Liam. My true sister from another mister."

"So it's safe to assume you are single?" Liam inquired.

"I am, and for you the same?"

"Yes Jilian I am. Is it forward of me to say maybe we can change that for each other. I would really like to see you again. I'm off next Friday would you be free then?"

Jilian sighed.

"Friday is my date night."

"Oh. I just assumed you being single you weren’t seeing anybody even casually."

"With Bebe. We restaurant hop. We're self proclaimed foodies. 

Do you have any friends maybe we could double?”

“My brother, both him and Bebe have big personalities, I think they’d really get along.  Think she would be okay with that?”

“Yeah I think I could convince her.”  

They continued to talk, and about everything under the sun.  Liam was funny and witty and kept her attention.

She began to realize how much she had in common with the charming Liam Rys.  

She had cuddled into her bed under her covers laughing and chatting with him.  She finally rolled over realizing it was almost dawn.

“Oh my God! Is that the sun?!?!?!” she shrieked, surprised into the phone.

“I’m so sorry Jilian I completely lost track of time.”

“I have to go, I have to be at work in forty five minutes!!!”

Jilian said her goodbyes to Liam and hurried to work.  

Right when Jilian was sitting in her office reading over her chart  for her first patient’s checkup, there was a delivery.  

A large coffee drink had been delivered to her with a sweet gooey cinnamon bun.

“Gift for you Jilian Winchester.”  

Liam was really sweet.

She texted him thank you.

He had let her know he had an extra espresso shot added to her coffee.

Liam was a lifesaver.  

*^*^*^*^* The Double Date *^**^*^*^*

When Jili and Bebe got to the restaurant  Liam and Leo were already seated at the table both stood to greet them.  

Liam softly kissed  Jili’s cheek.  

Bebe glanced at Leo.  He was cute, but he was probably about five inches shorter than Bebe, not to mention Bebe was wearing heels making her tower over Leo.

Liam changed the subject breaking the ice between everyone, and the conversation between the couples started flowing.  

Jilian slipped in the subject of Liam and Leo honestly not looking much like each other.  

“We’re half brothers, we have different mothers. But don’t get it twisted Bebe.  I can scale you like Mount Everest. Taller women don’t intimidate me one bit.”

“Um….thank you for that blatant honesty…. Jili will you accompany me to the restroom please?”  

“Excuse us for a moment.”  Jili smiled politely.  

“Absolutely not Jili!!!!!”  Bebe was adamant when the door to the bathroom closed.  

“Bebe I didn’t know!  I swear when he said older brother, I was thinking he looked like him.  You would think older brothers are taller, bigger, and wiser. He is funny though.  You two do have similar personalities. Maybe try to focus on that Bee.  Let’s just try to have a fun time.  You don’t have to see Leo again.  But I know I want to see Liam again. I like him.”  

“You owe me big for this!!!”

Both women come back to the table.  Their drink orders had arrived.  Bebe takes a long sip on her drink.  

“That’s what I’m talking about!”  Leo smiled.  “A girl after my own heart.”  

“How did you and Bebe meet Jilian?”  

“We actually met in NOLA. We were both presenting at a medical conference.  Bebe for the Pharma side, because she’s a pharmacist,  and me for medical for being a nurse practitioner focused in the at risk population.”

Leo eyes flit to Bebe.

“So you’re a drug dealer?”  

Bebe smiled.  “ Legal Drug Dealer. Yep, that’s what I call myself. I’m slinging pills to pay the bills.”  

“I can dig it.”  

“We met the night before our conference began, in a bar.”  

When Jilian walked into the bar she noticed her right away.  There was a woman at the bar,  drinking her drink telling what appeared to be a funny story that had multiple people’s attention.  All were laughing with her.   She had to be a local. Jili thought.  

She had strings of beads around her neck.  

“What can I get ya?”  the bartender asked.  

She looked at Bebe.  “I want whatever she’s having.”  Bebe was the life of the party.  

“Well I did a little pre-gaming at the drive through daiquiri shop though. 

But mostly Hurricanes.  Get her a Hurricane Sal.”  

The bartender winked at Bebe.  

“Don’t skimp on the good stuff either!”  She yelled out.

Jilian’s eyes widened when the bartender  brought her the drink.

Bebe held up her glass to clink with Jilian’s glass.

“Laissez le bon temps rouler!!!!!”   The crowd screamed in agreement at Bebe’s declaration.

“What?”  

“LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!!!!!”  

Jilian took a long drink of the cocktail.  No wonder.  

“Yep! You like it.  I’m Bebe, what’s your name?”

“Jilian.”  

“I’m gonna call you Jili.  What brings you to NOLA?”  

“Work, a conference.”  

“Bleh you said the “W.” word.  That’s not existing in my life right now.  We’re here, we’re alive, no regrets Jili.  Let your hair down and enjoy yourself.  I mean literally.  That bun is a buzz kill.”  

Jili pulled the pins out of her hair shaking out her locks.  

“So much better!!!! You’re a babe!!!  See they’re already looking at you differently.  We’re not interested though.  Unless they’re buying more drinks.”  

Jili glanced at the guys that were now looking in her direction.  

“You’ve got a lot of bead necklaces going on.”   Jili commented.  

“There are two ways to get beads in NOLA.  Buy them or earn them.”

Jili looked at Bebe and raised her eyebrow with a smile.

“Let me guess, your ass hasn’t spent a dime tonight.”  

Bebe took a long sip of her hurricane.  

“Nope.  Not a single dime.  Including alcohol.  I'll tell you what Jili.  Life’s too short.  I’m not going to regret any of my choices.  I spent a year in Costa Rica, living my life Pura Vida.”

“Pure Life.”  Jilian smiled.  Bebe was a carefree spirit, and people gravitated to her.

“We’re only here for a blink Jili.  How do you want your story to be told?”

She decided to throw caution to the wind and party the night away with Bebe.

Jilian’s alarm went off the next morning.  She was incredibly hung over as she tried to pull herself together.  

She had a random memory of her and Bebe walking down  Bourbon Street singing “Lean on Me”  while they were linked arm and arm.  The drunk leading the more drunk back to the hotel.

She smiled, straightening her black business suit.  She was about to pull her hair up into her signature bun but decided to let her tresses fall free instead.  

As she was getting checked into the convention she slipped her ID badge and program of speakers, herself among the list.  

She heard her laugh.  Jili whipped her head around and saw Bebe at the back of the line with two others.  Bebe was wearing a bright pink business suit, and her shoes and clutch had the print of medications on it.  

“The legal drug dealers have arrived!!!! Big Pharma in da house!!!!!!”  

Jili laughed, shaking her head.  

“That’s how we met Liam.”  

“We found out later we lived near each other, and made plans to meet up.  Been friends ever since.  That was like six years ago.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t ask us how we met.”  Leo asked.

“I assume you are brothers…. You met… at birth?”

Bebe shook her head at Leo.

Everyone was calm after not to mention the alcohol free flowing.  They headed to  a lounge after dinner, called Blue Notes.  The music there was full of soul and blues.  

The drinks continued. The music there stirred the soul.  

“May I have this dance?”  Jili nodded, taking Liam’s hand.   He held her close.  

Leo eyed Bebe.   “You know, I have always been one to have a huge case of FOMO.  So you and me let’s hit the dance floor too.”  

Bebe downed her drink in one swallow.  “Why the hell not.”  

They walked out to the dance floor.  With Bebe’s high heels Leo was chest level to her.  He pulled her close resting his head on her bosom.

“Um….so we’re doing this… okay…”  Bebe looked surprised but she was smiling.

Liam laughed softly when he glanced in their direction.

“I don’t think that was meant to go there.”  

“The height difference honestly never crossed my mind Jilian.  Things seemed really awkward for them for a bit, for more so Bebe.  Not so awkward now.”  

Bebe and Leo were looking at each other laughing.

“You know this is never going to happen Leo Rys.”  

“A man can dream.  Well….It could happen for the night.  I can tell you’re curious. Let me tickle your fancy tonight.”

Bebe laughed harder at him.  “You don’t give up do you Leo?”

“Nope because I get what I want.”    

“If nothing else Jilian, I think they will at least be friends from this, if nothing romantic happens.”

The next morning Liam was cooking  breakfast when Bebe walked out of Leo’s room. Leo’s sweatpants looked like capris on Bebe.  

“Good Morning Bebe. Would you like some breakfast?”  

“Sure.”

Leo walked out of the room a few minutes later.  

Liam smiled looking at the two of them.  

“Breakfast Leo?”  

“I already ate.”  Leo winked at Bebe.

Bebe choked on her orange juice.  

“Oh you were talking about bacon and eggs, sure.”  

Nope not at all awkward at all.  Liam thought as he fixed plates for himself Leo and Bebe.

Bebe was climbing in her ride share when her phone rang.

“Bebe… Liam just told me you had breakfast with him and Leo… at his apartment.  You spent the night with Leo?”  

“Leo was right, Jili.  Not all of him is fun sized.”

Tags in the comments !!!! 

[ladyyatexel]

I Went On A Manga Binge

So you don't have to

For those of you who have wisely avoided the shreds of it I've left around the blog thus-far, I had some weird notion to go re-experience Yu-Gi-Oh uuuuuh a week ago? We'll go with that. Time is meaningless.

I'd been able to read a good portion of the early manga at the end of highschool, and somewhere in my stacks and stacks of paper is fanart from this dark time, so you know I cared. I also still own a Dark Magician action figure somehow, so. I'd also watched a large portion of the anime with my brother because it had been laced with some kind of crack and we couldn't look away? I remember when we both were just like shit, wait, don't change the channel, I can't stop looking at it. And the next thing we knew we were waiting for new episodes and I was doing research on the Japanese original because I was that kid.

Anyway, unnecessary backstory out of the way, here are some... let's call them Observations and Consequences of having read somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 chapters (and growing) of a manga primarily hinged on card games from a spectrum of sources ranging from boringly lawful to sketchy as fuck.

Surprise actual character that develops in typical shounen fashion being Jounouchi. My limited experiences with the 4Kids dub and only early manga had not painted him in a particularly good light. I don't know if episodes were being aired out of order or if I had just missed the ones that established that he was making shit up as he was going along, but Wow I liked him a lot more going through the manga than I ever did watching the (dubbed, heavily edited and censored and thrown into a slurry machine) anime. I'd managed to come out with the impression that he was just as reasonably experienced with the game as Yugi back in the day. Wild.

I'm now reading every single comic-style post on Tumblr backwards.

Striking inverse to first point, wow, I don't like Seto Kaiba. Though he gets points for his general philosophy of the future, and the line I read in my sketchy online combo of scans and scanlations in which he said, "If God is in your way, you run him down," was Metal As Fuck. I somewhat shame-facedly admit to enjoying him a lot more as an Abridged Series character. (I watched Abridged as it came out back in the day! The experience of watching the anime with my brother had been so fresh that I got all the in jokes about the way things were edited and dubbed, it was great. Series remains influential part of my life to this day, which is hella weird.)

I almost understand how Duel Monsters works now. I don't want this.

That said, wow a lot of the decisions made in the anime made everything a lot more ridiculous than the admittedly already ridiculous original. I got the distinct feeling in the manga that the Duelist Kingdom stuff we were seeing was designed to be used and exploited in ways that don't make sense in an actual cardgame just played on a table like a normal person and this was part of testing everyone to think higher, differently. Maybe this is obvious to everyone already, I don't know. I had always liked that it was very, 'Not so fast, I'm going to blow up the moon to change the tides,' but I'm not really sure the anime gave enough explanation that this was an extra layer added to things for that event? You can see people actively getting used to it in the books, and people who aren't considering the real or 3D nature of it getting owned, but my memory of anime version is everyone just like, 'oh, shucks, fuck me, I forgot to consider the phase of the moon before i played this card, can't believe I forgot.' No one calls Yugi on any of this stuff because it's valid play in that situation. Plus Yami Yugi had mad trickster energy in the beginning and it suited him to think of ways to do things inside these little simulation boxes the way it suited him to set perverts on fire. I imagine the real card game trying to emulate this element as something that would be to its detriment, but I neither know nor particular care haha

Ryou Bakura.

Really, though. I think he became kind of casualty of 'wow, we have a lot of characters who really aren't able to do anything in this story anymore,' despite the fact that his whole inner life could have been as interesting as Yugi's. I always like thinking about the possibilities of stories in which main character falls into magical world and is given magical item and told they're the hero and then they find out they've been the bad guy the whole time. The first several volumes of manga were about the quiet weirdo kid that no one talked to who was always blacking out and turning into a fucked up version of himsef because he was so attached to his ancient Egyptian jewelry, so like, Bakura could have much the same shit going on. I want to know what's happening with him so much. He clearly doesn't love being possessed, but he's also so drawn to the ring. Despite it having stabbed him at least twice and him knowing it's a danger to him and his friends, he keeps being pulled back into it. You see so much more of him being like, 'Oooh, a creepy thing, I love that! :D' in the manga than ever in the anime, which I'm all about. Also more blood. I'm very about that as well. Though my memory of the anime also made it look very much like normal regular daily Bakura was just a weird facade in places before he ever would have been. I think that was it trying to compensate for what people didn't see from the Toei anime, but okay whatever, that I love everything about this guy is not news, I don't need to talk about Bakura excessively here, I'm pretty sure that's gonna show up on my blog by itself

On a related note though, damn, more of these people need to talk to each other. Can we have some existential crisis support clubs or something. Can we get like some apologies or something? "I respect you as a duelist." "Cool, but you literally built a tower designed to specifically assassinate me and my friends? You were supposed to get Better after I retaliated by putting you in a coma, but you kinda didn't." "Why would the coma have made it better" "I just told you it didn't" ---- "Sorry I went along with the plan of your evil parasite stabbing you, misled you, and then also jumped in and took up some real estate in your head too." "I understand, I also have an evil thing inside me that does things while I'm blacked out." "...no, I was conscious for all of that." "Oh." "..." "..." "..." "Do you like Ouija Boards?" "sure okay" ETC. Like damn we are reading shounen manga because no one is talking extensively about their feelings here and I'm tapping my foot angrily.

Holy shit there are so many mythologies happening at once. The ancient family guarding the Egyptian Pharaoh has a surname that's a Mesopotamian goddess. None of the god cards make any Egyptian sense except Ra, and just like. Baaarrrrely. Somewhere either Evil Ring Bakura or Mar/lik makes a reference to cremation and spirits being taken to heaven with smoke which several things, but definitely not Ancient Egyptian. Marik/Malik meanwhile is clearly trying to head Arabic, along with Rishid, but then, hey, our sister is just Isis. Goddess McGoddess. Sometimes they're the same goddess! Her name could be Isis Isis or Ishtar Ishtar. Meanwhile, all the obviously 'occult because Christians think it is freaky' stuff. ~ancient egyptian pentagrams~~~This isn't a complaint, I guess so much as a 'Wow, I can kind of see the cultural spot the author was coming from and where he was aiming' kind of thing.

Wonder where things would have gone if the card games had not been latched onto the way they were.

Managed to forget how gross the pre-cardgames stuff was on the sexual harassment front. I'm glad there was a sort of explanation of everyone drifting away from being dick heads and that that decision was made. It got way more comfortable to read after no one was bringing Yugi p*rn on VHS.

Yugi looks better with a nose, glad we got that upgrade.

Interesting to watch the series style shift as it goes away from being horror to being over the top cardgames and friendship (with blood!). The first picture of Mokuba is fucking Jarring. Also noticed that the nicer a character is, the less their teeth are defined.

Glad manga did not go as completely off the fucking the rails about Marik's face. I never got as far as seeing him back in the day because college occurred, but I remember seeing pictures and stuff and being like, "what in the Fuck happened to that dude, I think the house style has collapsed in on itself"

Things the author Really Likes: motorcycles, belts, SHOES, holy shit the shoes. These are some of the most lovingly rendered sneakers I've ever seen. All the detail on his characters goes straight to their feet and then it's stretched upward until it forms stiff peaks. Gently fold in 3000 years of trauma and bake face down in a crumb coat of scattered mythology. Remove when you roll two zeros.

Where the fuck am I going to put the extremely large omnibus volumes of this comic I purchased in order to balance out how much I would be reading for free on the internet. I should have grasped that a three in one edition would be Thick and yet somehow I was still :O when it arrived. Have I strategically purchased volumes that contain my favorite parts, maybe, what's it to you will i eventually get the whole thing because incomplete book series gnaw on my soul? yes

Wish the transition from "I've murdered several people in delightfully karmic ways" to "all you need is friendship in your heart and cards in your hand" Yami Yugi/Pharaoh had been discussed more/transitioned better. Buddy, where did you get this approved for television high horse? Please go back to strangling people with yo-yos or at least tell me why you stopped.

I still can't tell anything that looks like a big robotic monster apart from any other big robotic monster. My dude, I can't tell cars apart, all these monsters look the same.

Yami Yugi fascinated me way more in highschool? Maybe because it was still super early and the anime was like 'we need to torture you about his origins WeEkLy. Now I'm just like 'wait hold on, can we go back to Bakura and Marik for a minute, there's some extreme unpacking to do here?' Those two are paying so much more in baggage fees here my guy wow

Violently uninterested in any of the spinoff media

[seerofmike]

The Writing In Apex Kinda Sucks And Also They Use Ship Bait As A Plot Device I Hate It Here

a stupid essay/rant encouraged by @zombiegloss that originally started as a youtube video script so if its like. weird at points. this was intended to be a verbal rant SNZISKSIA

basically i'm gonna talk abt the caustic-wattson-crypto relationship drama and how i think it was mishandled and how much the writers kind of Suck because i Can

you are free to disagree with me on any of my points and think that this aspect of the story was handled well, this is just my opinion, and i'd love to hear your thoughts and counterpoints !

first, addressing some things:

i know this is a battle royale and not necessarily a story-based game, so i can’t expect it to have masterful witcher-style writing.

but with the direction the game seems to be going; putting quests, evolving interactions, and comics in the game, plus coming out with a lore book and hinting at something bigger in the future, i think it’s fair to criticize it for lackluster writing, especially since what i’m criticizing has been something present since Apex’s story technically began.

secondly, i am not a professional writer. i’m a high schooler who writes as a hobby. i don’t have the decades of experience that some of the apex writers do, and i can’t claim to be a better writer than they are--but i also don’t have to be a five-star chef to realize that something tastes bad. when i critique something and give suggestions, i am not saying i could’ve done it better. i’m just bringing up what i think could have worked.

third, before i upset anyone , when i say a relationship is badly written, i’m not telling you that you can’t ship it or that your ship sucks. i’ll briefly touch on the shipping aspect of this and how it’s a detriment to the story but Ye

okay, so with that out of the way, let us Begin

relationships are often the emotional core of a story, and how strong your reaction is to conflict in these relationships depends on how the story sets them up. if you want the audience to care about these characters and what they go through, you need to develop them and establish the type of relationship they have well. it’s why so many people cried in the last episode of telltale’s the walking dead. you’ve spent roughly 12 hours bonding with clementine and protecting her, and your relationship with her is part of several story beats as well as character beats for lee. 

when these two characters’ relationship reaches its peak at the end of the game, it’s powerful, and it’s emotional. you care. you feel something, and the fact that you have to choose what to do to lee only makes it more gut-wrenching. 

now, the walking dead is entirely story-based and especially character-driven, so it may be unfair to compare it to apex, but i just wanted to lay the groundwork down for what i think is a strong relationship that makes you feel something when conflict arrives, in this case the conflict being lee getting bit and clementine having to decide his fate.

the broken ghost in general is kind of not-good sometimes, tom casiello previously wrote for soap operas and you can really, REALLY tell sometimes.

this story feels like it should’ve taken place a little later, and that we should’ve had a season to actually set up the characters and their relationships, but that’s a story for another day.

to put it bluntly, the set-up for the crypto, wattson, and caustic conflict is done poorly. for caustic and wattson's relationship it’s a little better, but not by much. 

wattson and caustic having a relationship was hinted at in season 2, when her lore indicated that caustic was among one of the Legends who comforted her after her father died. In season four lore materials posted on Twitter, an email from Jacob Young states that Caustic is acting paternal towards Wattson. In season five, interactions get added to the Game, and this is the first time we actually see their relationship in action, as they have unique revive voice lines for each other. in the quests, when wattson is injured, caustic lashes out at loba and attacks her out of what seems to be anger at wattson’s current state.

Side Note this plot point was really stupid and done for cheap drama because she literally wakes up like two chapters later and they don’t even give her anything to say it’s just suddenly oh yeah crypto and wattson are working together. the same exact injury thing happens to octane later but nobody gIVES A SHIT because again, it’s just cheap soap opera drama.

their relationship might seem a little bit sudden for anyone who wasn’t on top of twitter lore drops, but like, it’s okay, i guess. i’ll give it the slightest credit for at least establishing something between the two in terms of voice lines and stuff, even if for some it might seem like it came out of nowhere.

what did come out of nowhere, though, was crypto and wattson’s friendship. in the quests, crypto and wattson are tasked with rebuilding the broken ghost because of their respective skills, and they’re seen talking in chapter six while they work on it. we’re not really given a clear timeline on how long the story in the broken ghost is, but i think it takes about a week, maybe.

unlike wattson and caustic, their relationship has been given absolutely zero material to work with before now, not even a passing glance in the trailers--which is a little weird considering crypto took down the repulsor tower and destroyed wattson’s home, but. Whatever.

tl dr of the chapter: crypto and wattson talk to each other while doing nerd shit, crypto laughs at wattson’s bad pun, and then suddenly they’re BESTIEEEES, until a couple dozen lines later in the same chapter. then they’re Not.

crypto’s drone gets hacked by revenant while everyone was kind of on edge after the reveal of a spy in their midst, he gets framed as the spy by caustic, anddddd wattson gets upset.

before i get into how dumb this storyline is, i’m gonna talk about the set-up to this conflict.

we have been given no reason to believe that these characters have ever talked to each other, and quite frankly, their friendship doesn’t really make sense.

ignoring the fact that crypto destroyed wattson’s home--which she probably doesn’t know about, so that’s forgiven for now--crypto is a paranoid guy. in the lore book he makes people stand on fucking footprints in his house so he can scan them for weapons and listening devices, and he apparently doesn’t stick around much after the games and nobody knows anything about him because he doesn’t talk to them.

a key part of crypto’s story is the fact that he is undercover and afraid of anyone finding out anything about him ever. him becoming friends with wattson kind of comes out of the blue, and we’re not even given a reason as to why they supposedly became close in the first place. i would kind of understand if like, maybe he draws parallels with her and mila in his mind and it makes him open up a little more, but that doesn’t happen. he just laughs at her joke and suddenly they’re friends.

maybe they’re trying to go for this ‘wattson can become friends with anybody’ angle, kind of hinted at with caustic but not really we’ll get into that, but that also? kind of doesn’t make sense since so many of her voice lines straight-up say she doesn’t understand people and electricity is more her thing, but honestly, she also does have those really friendly elements in her voice lines too, so its not as egregious as what they did with crypto.

their sudden out-of-the-blue friendship would’ve been fine if they spent a little more time fleshing it out, and giving us something to work with, but instead, the story immediately tries to rip it apart and frame it as this grand conflict where crypto is framed as the mole, crypto then accuses caustic, and wattson feels betrayed.

except it doesn’t really work, because we don’t give a shit. for several reasons. 

one: crypto and wattson became friends and then ended their friendship in the same exact chapter. they did not speak to each other onscreen until this chapter began, you can read the entire quest on the wiki and see for yourself that their interactions up until that point were nonexistent aside from mentions in the narration that they were building something together.

the reason wattson feels betrayed is kind of stupid too. why does she really care that much if one of them betrayed loba? nobody else really cared about the fact that one of them was a spy, in fact, nobody even seems to like loba that much, and they just found out that loba’s been lying to them this whole time, and wattson was conscious for that conversation and had a speaking line, so she’s fully aware of the situation. 

maybe it’s just like, the idea that one of them lied, but that’s still kind of a weak reason. 

this entire betrayal thing is just dumb, and it gets even worse when you realize that there could have been an actual legitimate reason for wattson to feel betrayed by crypto--even if it still would’ve come across as weak conflict because of their newly established friendship, it would’ve made more sense than this. 

Crypto destroyed Wattson’s home. He took down the tower and then all the flyers and stuff invaded Kings Canyon and made it their bitch. Not only that, but Wattson considers the Syndicate her family. The Syndicate are the very people who framed Crypto for murder and he’s trying to take them down. 

They could’ve set up actual conflict with these things, and it almost seemed like they would, because Caustic briefly brings up that Crypto could be working with Revenant because he has something against the Syndicate but then that doesn’t really go anywhere and we’re just back to Wattson feeling betrayed because either Crypto or Caustic was a spy and she doesn’t know who.

Weak conflict could’ve been made better by a strong relationship and a weak relationship could’ve still been interesting with strong conflict, but both the relationship between Crypto and Wattson and the conflict that drives them splitting up as friends were really weak and didn’t make much sense. 

It would’ve been ten times more interesting if Wattson found out Crypto ruined her home, the arena she grew up in, and was now participating in the Games to take out the people she regards as her family. That’s where her distrust could’ve manifested and conflict could’ve began, but instead it was the stupid betraying loba thing. why do you care. you just started talking to this guy like 2 hours ago.

also caustic’s whole reason for framing crypto feels stupid as fuck. he didn’t just frame crypto randomly, he framed him specifically because he doesn't want him to influence wattsob because he likes her Big Brain, but this is the FIRST time we have seen those two interact. 

what influence is he talking about? wraith and wattson have been shown to be friendly with each other in the trailers, according to tom’s tweets, and in the story too so why doesn’t he frame her? at this point the audience had slightly more build-up for those two’s relationship than crypto and wattson and a betrayal storyline would’ve felt a little more deserved if still weak.

this is the point where i briefly want to touch upon shipping, and the fact that part of this conflict feels driven by shipbait. 

aside from their relationship coming out of nowhere and the writers trying to make the stakes seem high and deeply emotional to the characters involved (despite this essentially being the first time they’ve ever interacted) tom casiello literally addresses shippers in a tweet regarding chapter seven, and as the story between these characters progresses, it becomes clear to me, at least that the crypto-wattson thing is just bait for shippers, and it’s lazy. 

it’s easy to get away with giving your characters little to no relationship development if you’re just counting on shippers to do the heavy mental lifting for you

why should i put any effort into making this relationship seem believable? people are going to see a young guy and a young girl having bare minimum interaction and assume there’s romantic interest! then i don’t have to do any work, see look, it’s a ready-made relationship wrapped in a bow for me! all that’s left for me to do is give them conflict so i can keep teasing shippers with lines like ‘you never deserved her’!

i think it’s reasonable for me to suspect shipbait, since tom casiello likes doing darksparks shipbait on twitter, and i’m like, eighty percent sure mirage and bloodhound suddenly being childhood friends in the book is shipbait too, because these characters were the number one ship in apex for a long time despite little to no interaction, and then all of a sudden in the lore book they’re childhood friends despite this literally never being mentioned before?

like bloodhound is set up to be mysterious and nobody knows what they look like, or where they’re from, or who their family is--except for mirage Apparently, who played with them when he was a kid on their home planet, and has seen them with their mask off, because bloodhound did not wear a mask when their parents were still alive.

its weird.

i’m pretty sure they’ve said somewhere they were working on this book before apex even came out, so i could just be completely wrong and they always planned for mirage and bloodhound to know each other, but if that’s the case, why did they never mention it like they did octane and lifeline?

i refuse to believe MIRAGE never brought it up either like ‘heeeeyy bloodhound remember when we used to throw eggs at our parents lab haha wanna go do to that to bangalore’s room’ 

[silence]

‘good talk buddy’

ANYWAYS I GOT OFF TOPIC. POINT IS, shipping is a detriment to the story because the writers don’t feel like they actually have to put any work into establishing or developing the relationship between characters when they know the community’s just going to do it for them anyways, and that they can put in shipbait and it’s fine and it makes sense when it really doesn’t.

imagine watching captain america civil war after not seeing a single other marvel movie.

why would you care about the avengers splitting up or tony and steve butting heads or steve’s commitment to bucky? you wouldn’t care, at least not as much as someone who’s seen all the movies and knows the relationship between the characters and why the sokovia accords exist in the first place. you don’t have context and you don’t have any reason to be emotionally invested in these characters’ relationship.

 this feels like that. the writers tried to squeeze this relationship and stuff into a single chapter and we don’t fucking care unless we were already invested in the idea of their relationship (shippers) because we barely spent any time with it.

so to summarize this little section, the set-up of this storyline Kinda Sucks! crypto and wattson barely seem to know each other, because we the audience barely saw them together and the writers are relying on shipbait in place of a relationship.

wattson and caustic are a little better but not great, but the conflict is stupid and it only gets stupider.

moving onto summarizing the rest of the broken ghost, gibraltar and caustic talk, caustic LITERALLY confesses to being the mole and says he framed crypto so he couldn’t corrupt wattson and to appear innocent because his identity was suspected, then that wraps up the season storyline.

season six begins with new voice lines, where wattson has had enough of crypto and caustic’s shit and is all passive-aggressive and going ‘this doesn’t change anything’. she has to decide who to trust, and how to figure out The Truth for herself because she’s not a little girl anymore. crypto and caustic are both trying to convince her they’re innocent and it creates some interesting conflict.

just kidding. it’s terrible conflict. you want to know why?

BECAUSE GIBRALTAR TRIED TO TELL HER THE TRUTH, RIGHT AFTER THE SEASON 5 QUEST HAPPENED, AND SHE LITERALLY REFUSED TO HEAR IT.

LIKE THERE’S A SEASON 6 LOADING SCREEN WHERE HE’S TELLING EVERYONE THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED, AND WHEN HE GETS TO WATTSON AND IS LIKE HEY I KNOW WHO THE MOLE WAS AND WHY THEY DID IT, SHE JUST GOES i dont wanna hear it. i need to think

IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH WHY ARE YOU REFUSING TO HEAR IT

SHE SPENDS ALMOST TWO ENTIRE SEASONS MAD AT CRYPTO FOR SOMETHING HE DIDN’T DO BECAUSE SHE TOLD GIBRALTAR TO FUCK OFF WHEN HE TRIED TO TELL HER WHAT HAPPENED

ITS SO DUMB

i think it was towards the end of season 6 or the beginning of season 7 where apex posted this picture of wattson asleep at her desk where she has a letter from gibraltar on it that looks like it tells her the truth, so she knows now, she knows what happened, but NOW her issue is the fact that she doesn’t know anything about crypto.

WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT IS YOUR GODDAMN DAMAGE. YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT BLOODHOUND EITHER ARE YOU THIS UPSET WITH BLOODHOUND TOO?? HAVE YOU EVER TALKED TO PATHFINDER. DO YOU HATE PATHFINDER TOO

oh but she was friends with crypto and now she’s mad that he lied to her EXCEPT THEIR RELATIONSHIP WASN’T BUILT UP WELL SO IT JUST FEELS STUPID. THEY SPENT LONGER BEING NOT-FRIENDS THAN THEY SPENT BEING FRIENDS. THEY BECAME FRIENDS IN ONE CHAPTER AND THEN IMMEDIATELY AT THE END OF THAT CHAPTER THEIR FRIENDSHIP ENDED AND THEN WATTSON SPENT LIKE 2 SEASONS MAD AT HIM FOR SOMETHING HE DIDN’T DO . 

AND THE WRITERS TRIED TO RECTIFY THIS BY SAYING OH SHE’S NOT MAD ABOUT THE TRAITOR THING SHE’S MAD BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM AND IT’S LIKE WHY THE FUCK DID YOU NOT MAKE THAT CLEAR WHY DOES SHE SAY ‘IT DOESN’T CHANGE WHAT YOU DID’ IN HER VOICE LINES WHY DOES SHE CALL HIM A TRAITOR IF HER CONFLICT WAS HER NOT KNOWING MUCH ABOUT HIM . WHAT DID HE DO. 

HE JUST STOOD THERE AND LAUGHED AT HER JOKE AND THEN HE GOT FRAMED AND THEN THAT WAS THE END OF THE CHAPTER AND NOW SHES SUDDENLY LIKE IM ACTUALLY MAD BECAUSE YOURE A LIAR AND I CANT TRUST YOU EVEN THOUGH I NOW KNOW YOU WERE FRAMED I STILL DO NOT LIKE YOU AND HES LIKE YEAH THATS MY FAULT

The Caustic voicelines are stupid too, again his reason for framing Crypto was stupid and a lot of his voicelines just seem to be that shipbait thing again but like from the angle of overprotective dad who doesn’t like the new boyfriend. it’s stupid but not as egeregious as this next part which is

crypto telling wattson his identity.

CRYPTO was framed for MURDER and is paranoid and can’t trust anyone and doesn’t talk to anyone and the last time he did talk to someone he got framed for Another thing and the person he was talking to turned her back on him and actively refused to know the truth for like 2 seasons and then he went This Is Fine I Can Tell Her My Identity

the stupidest update to this storyline was crypto telling wattson the truth

why did they do it on the dropship where there are presumably syndicate members and other legends around.

why didn’t he scan wattson for listening devices like he did for pathfinder in the book.

why is he telling her his identity when he knows she has very close ties to the people that FRAMED HIM for MURDER. Does he trust her that much? WHY? They spoke to each other in a chapter and then spent two seasons not talking to each other beyond passive-aggressive BS. why are you so fucking stupid taejoon

their relationship was so poorly set-up that even if the writers maybe intended for them to come across as close friends who had spent weeks bonding, it really feels like they became friends in a single conversation, had a falling out, and now crypto suddenly trusts her with his identity after an undetermined amount of time because he wants to be friends again. 

that does not make SENSE this conflict feels contrived AS FUCK and the resolution feels even worse and unearned UGGGHHHH

it honestly comes across as crypto feeling desperate for friendship, and maybe this would’ve worked better if that’s the angle they played it as.

he’s been alone for roughly two years, and just wants a friend, and he’s honestly so lonely he just breaks down to the first person who’s really talked to him. it could’ve been an interesting little part of his character, and they could've gone into depth about how much this situation has affected him, but that’s not what they’re doing. he’s still paranoid and anxious and doesn’t trust anyone, except for wattson, because the plot needs him to or else there won’t be any stupid soap opera drama.

and to rub salt in the wound, wattson’s new voice lines with caustic have him telling her that she forgave crypto.

WHAT ARE YOU FORGIVING HIM FOR. ARE YOU FORGIVING HIM FOR BEING FRAMED? WHY DID HE HAVE TO APOLOGIZE TO YOU WHEN YOU WERE THE ONE WHO REFUSED TO HEAR THE TRUTH?

 did the conversation just go hey my real name is taejoon park and something bad happened to me and she went aight i forgive you WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

Caustic’s new voice lines to Crypto where he’s like ‘what did you tell her’--YOU TOLD GIBRALTAR STRAIGHT-UP YOUR EVIL MASTER PLAN LIKE A SUPERVILLAIN AND NOW YOU’RE SURPRISED WATTSON AND CRYPTO ARE ON GOOD TERMS NOW?!

THAT’S LIKE TELLING SOMEONE YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER AND THEN BEING SURPRISED WHEN YOU BECOME THE VICTIM OF IDENTITY FRAUD. YOU SET YOURSELF UP FOR THIS WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE CRYPTO DID SOMETHING SINISTER OR LIED OR WHATEVER. WHAT THE FUCK. WHY DO YOU HAVE LIKE 3 BRAINCELLS

this is at like ten pages already so i’m going to just try and wrap this up quickly. 

it’s frustrating seeing this storyline play out when there are actually good relationships and storylines written into apex. i’m kind of getting tired of the loba and revenant conflict, but we at least had set-up to it in the form of a few animated shorts and it doesn’t play out as stupidly as this story does. bangalore and loba’s friendship is actually developed well, even if the point between the end of season 5 and season 6 where they suddenly talk like each other feels like it could’ve used a little more. 

where crypto and wattson having an established friendship in the broken ghost failed, lifeline and octane’s established friendship works because we’ve been told since octane’s release they were childhood friends and given lore materials that indicate they’ve known each other for a very long time.

apex wants this storyline between crypto and wattson and caustic to feel dramatic and tense and ultimately rewarding when crypto and wattson did become friends for real and stuff, but instead it just comes across as hollow and empty. 

there’s nothing there. it’s a case of tell, don’t show, and it looks like this stupid conflict is gonna keep going for another couple of seasons at this rate. 

side note: this entire script was written before the new twitter comics

please tell me ur thoughts and feel free to respond with ur own lil essay

also believe it or not this is not the "shipping is a detriment to apex's story" essay i was gonna write this is a completely different essay that has some overlap SKXISOSOW

[echos-lighthouse]

Erased Memories Chapter 1: Erased

AN: This is the first chapter of Erased Memories

This is an AU about everyone forgetting that Sun Wukong existed. Lot’s of angst and fluff potential

This is VERY long I highly suggest reading it on AO3. In case you can't, (and for master list reasons) I’m also posting it here.

This came out sooner than originally anticipated thanks to anxiety and insomnia. Love you guys

After the light died down, Wukong found himself in the middle of the street. A truck drove by, almost running the Monkey King over. He barely managed to dive out of the way. “Ey! Watch where you’re going!” The driver yelled. Wukong quickly ran to the sidewalk so as to not get hit by a car. After reaching the sidewalk, he took a moment to look around. No rubble, no smoke, no Spider Queen minions. It just seemed like an average day. “How did that happen,” He murmured to himself. Wait. “Did I miss the fireworks!?”

Pedestrians turn to look at him. He may have yelled that part a little too loud. After the people stopped looking at him (which was uncharacteristically quick) he looked a little ways down the street to see a familiar noodle shop. He tried to avoid the pedestrians as he walked by. They all seemed to be more pushy than usual. He walked into the shop, shut the door behind him and leaned against it with a sigh.

“Welcome to Pigsy’s noodles! Home of the world’s longest noodles! What can I get ya?” The man (or rather pig) behind the counter said. Wukong jumped at the suddenness, but when he realized who it was, he  came and sat down at the counter. “Hey Pigsy. What happened to Spider Queen?” Pigsy glanced at the monkey, looking at him like he had three heads. Not that he hasn’t had three heads before, but he was sure he only had one at the moment. “I’m sorry, do I know you?” Pigsy asked. “Uh… yeah? I train your kid? He’s my successor?” Wukong reminded him. Pigsy’s face scrunched up. “Successor? He’s just a noodle boy. Look, I don’t know how you know I have a kid, and I don’t know who this ‘spider queen’ is, but if you’re not gonna order anything I’m gonna have to ask you to leave,” The Pig said, threateningly hitting his rolling pin like a bat. Knowing Pigsy would definitely pick a fight, Wukong thought it would be best to leave. He didn’t want to have to hurt him. Again.

“Wait, before I go, where’s Tang?” he asked, heading for the door again. “Who’s Tang?” Pigsy was still clearly pissed, but there was a slight bit of confusion on his face. “Nevermind,” and with that, Wukong left the restaurant.

“Where would that nerd be?” Wukong asked aloud while walking down the street. He was hoping Tang would know what was happening. He didn’t personally know Tang, but MK had shown him a picture of the guy on his phone, and if his memory served him right, Tang was often found at Pigsy’s Noodles, or at the library. He decided to head there next. Then he  realized he had no idea where the library was.

Looking around the streets, he noticed a familiar kid riding a golf cart, heading back to the restaurant. “Kid? Kid!  MK!” Wukong excitedly shouted to him and ran over. “Uh, hey… sir? Do you need something?” He asked. “Yeah. What happened to Spider Queen?” The young apprentice’s face morphed into one of horror.

“Spider!? WHERE!?” He started looking around himself looking for a non-existent spider. “Kid, there’s no spider on you,” Wukong said. MK let out a sigh of relief, before laughing nervously. “Sorry about that. Can I help you?” He asked innocently. Wukong frowned. “Do you not know who I am?” He asked. MK thought for a moment before shaking his head. “Nope, sorry dude,” MK didn’t know who he was. Wukong’s heart sank a bit before saying, “Uh… Do you happen to know where Tang is?” MK enthusiastically nodded.

“He’s at the library right now. I just got back from delivering noodles to him.” The library. “Where is that?” He asked. “Around the corner? Says ‘LIBRARY’ in big letters, it’s hard to miss dude,” MK said before taking off again. Of course it was obvious. Now MK was going to think he was crazy. Was he? He had to be if no one knows who he is. Or remembers Spider Queen. Right?

The library was familiar in a way. He had never been here personally, but it had a nostalgic feel to it. It kind of reminded Wukong of Tripitaka. Speaking of Tripitaka…

There Tang was, at the front desk, eating noodles and reading a book. “Tang?” Wukong asked cautiously. If Pigsy and MK didn’t remember him, Tang HAD to know who he was. Right? The guy is a huge Sun Wukong geek. There’s no way he would-

“Go see someone else. I’m on lunch.” He said, not even looking up from his book. That was out of character. Wukong needed to talk to him, and to do that he had to get this guy's attention. He just did the first thing he thought of doing. Even if he would regret it later. “Well I’m Sun Wukong. Isn’t it cool to meet your hero in the flesh?” He asked, almost flirtily. Tang looked up from his book to scan Wukong before shoving more noodles in his mouth.

“Is that like an OC or something?” He asked, turning back to his book. Wukong’s jaw dropped. Tang? TANG!? Tang didn’t know who Sun Wukong was!? What was happening? Suddenly, the phone was ringing, but Tang didn’t move to pick it up. “Aren’t you going to get that?” He asked. Tang slurped the last of his noodles, looking in the carton as though it were hiding more noodles. “I’m on lunch.” He said again.

Wukong groaned before asking another worker where the records of “Journey to the West” were. After finding out where they were, he meandered his way over to the books and plucked the first one off the shelf. He opened it up, and the first chapter didn’t even MENTION him.

He thought back to what happened before he realized no one remembered him.

He was fighting the lady bone demon. He jumped to gain force in his punch, but she faded away into a patch of cyan smoke, slowly dissipating. His fist only met air. Then the whisper. “I will erase the memory of you from this world.” It was quite haunting. He didn’t know what to make of it, looking around for the darn demon. Suddenly, a blinding glow encompassed his vision. When his vision cleared up again, the first thing he saw was a perfectly blue sky, and he was standing in the middle of the street.

“Sun Wukong, was it? Were you here all night?” Wukong woke up to Tang gently kicking his side. He groggily sat up, lifting the book up off his lap. It was the first volume of “Journey to The West.” He didn’t even remember falling asleep. He stretched as Tang picked the book up. “Journey to the West? I love this book!” He cheered. “Do you like it too!? I’ve been wanting to discuss it with someone, but no one else reads it or wants to discuss it with me.” Wukong felt a pang of guilt at Tang’s disappointed face.

“Sorry, no. I’ve never read it. I WAS in it though.” He said with a smirk. Tang squinted at Wukong as he stood up. “Are you sure? There weren’t any monkeys in it aside from Six Eared Macaque. Plus if you were in it, you’d have to be immortal or something,” He laughed as though that wasn’t a real option.

“Hey! I was in it! You know! Sun Wukong, the great sage equal to heaven, the monkey king, the leader of Tripitaka’s band TO THE WEST.” He pointed at the book. Tang just laughed again. “Alright, whatever you say,” Wukong was losing him. “How am I supposed to prove to you… Ah! I got it!” He said. He scooped Tang up and started running out of the library. Tang just accepted it. Being kidnapped was a pretty good excuse to miss work, right?

Wukong turned the corner back to Pigsy’s Noodles. He slammed the door open, where MK was talking to Pigsy. “We’re not open. Get out,” Pigsy said angrily. Wukong ignored the shop owner, and threw Tang into a chair, before picking up MK by the shoulders. “MK! Have you seen the staff yet!?” Wukong asked. MK blinked in confusion before stuttering an answer, “Uh… no? What staff?” He was clearly confused. “Come with me.” Wukong said, enthusiastically taking MK out the door.

“Hey get back here with my boy!” Pigsy yelled. Tang snickered. “Wow. Two kidnappings in a day. Gotta be a record of some sort.” Pigsy turned to the new guy sitting at the counter. “Who are you exactly?” He asked. “Tang. Huge fan. Love your noodles. Can I get a free bowl?” He asked with a teasing smile on his face. “No.”

Wukong carefully navigated his way between pedestrians as he took MK to where he had trapped the Demon Bull King. His staff should still be there. Although just to be sure. “Do you know who Demon Bull King is?” He asked as he walked into the surprisingly shallow tunnel. He set MK down as they walked in. “Kind of. Redson talks about him a lot, saying that guy is his father, but that’s all I really know about him. Why?”

Wukong didn’t look down at MK as they continued further in. “Because if you don’t know who he is, then he’s still trapped under the mountain with my staff. That’s a good thing.” He stopped MK as they were about to enter a giant room, surrounded by pipes. This was it. There was a mound of dirt with a tree, and a red and gold staff sticking out of the dirt. But there was also a lot of people surrounding it. “Who are they?” MK asked.

“That’s Princess Iron Fan. I’m assuming you know her son, Redson, and the others just look like robots. But we need to get through them, get that staff, and get it back to Tang so I can prove to him I was in ‘Journey to the West.’” He whispered. MK’s eye’s sparkled. “You’re in ‘Journey to the West’!?” he whisper-shouted. “Yes now look. I’ll hop on the robot bulls there, there, and there. I’ll distract Princess Iron Fan and Redson while you get the staff.” He said. “Wait, I’m sorry, what bull bots?”

Instead of answering MK’s question, Wukong leaped right into action. He  jumped and stealthily landed on one. Then he jumped on the other two, before landing directly in front of the royal family. “Why Hello Princess Iron Fan, Redson, it’s great to see you two again after so many years. It’s been a while. We should catch up. How’s the hubby?” His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Princess Iron Fan growled. “He’s been trapped UNDERGROUND for a while now, no thanks to… actually I don’t remember who trapped him here,” she seemed surprised, but her demeanor eventually lead to not caring. Wukong was going to go on a rampage. “ME! It was ME! I trapped your HUSBAND under MY STAFF! How do you not REMEMBER THAT!? He shouted. The princess gave him a disgusted look. “Really, I think I would have remembered you,” She said. “Mother, who is this?” Redson asked. Princess Iron fan shrugged, to which Wukong made a condescending face.

“Hey! What is he doing there!?” Redson called, pointing at something behind Wukong. Wukong turned around to see MK with his hands on the staff, trying to pull it out. Shoot. Kid’s been seen. “A little help?” MK strained to get the staff out of the mound. “No can do kid, you need to know you can do this by yourself. Besides, I’m busy,” he said. The bull bots’ eyes began glowing red. “With what!?” MK shouted. Wukong turned to face the crowd of bull bots. “Taking out the trash.”

As MK continued to pull the staff out, Wukong was destroying bots left and right. “I got it!” The kid finally called out. “Great! Let’s get out of here,” Wukong said. He zipped over to MK, summoned a cloud, and they rode it out of the cave. “After them!” Redson called out. As they left the cave, a group of bull bots followed them out with Redson on a hoverbike. “Uuuuh, would you mind picking up the pace, like, now!?” MK screeched.

Wukong suddenly stopped the cloud, as a thought came to mind. “Why did you stop!? I said FASTER! How do you driv-”

“Are there any citizens behind us?” Wukong asked quizzically. “Oh no. Just a junkyard, the ocean, and an ARMY OF BULL BOTS AND A DEMON BOY WHOS GETTING CLOSER BY THE SECOND!” MK yelled. Wukong smiled. “Perfect,” was all he said before turning to face the bull bot army. He summoned a bunch of golden energy, and created a large golden explosion, causing all the bull bots and Redson’s hoverbike to malfunction and start falling.

“Woah! What was that!?” MK asked, his eyes practically shining with joy. “I’ll uh… I’ll tell you in a moment, kid,” Wukong said. We sounded kinda woozy. “Uh, Mr. Monkey, are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine, hey, you should call me Monkey Kin-” Wukong was cut off by the cloud beneath them suddenly disappearing. “AH! Mr. Monkey WHAT’S HAPPENING!?” MK yelled as they began to plummet to the ground.

Out of nowhere, there was a flash of green, and MK realized he had stopped falling. “Mei!” He said happily. “Hey MK! Pigsy told me you were kidnapped by some monkey guy so I came to get you,” She said. Her voice was kind of muffled from her helmet and the wind, but it was still easy to make out what she was saying. MK gasped as he realized something.

“Mr. Monkey! We need to go back and get him,”

“Why? Didn’t he kidnap you?” She asked, confused. “Yeah, but he seemed to have a pretty good reason though. Plus, he kind of saved me from an army of bull bots,” He chuckled nervously. “Bull bots?” Mei asked as she turned around. “It’s a long story I’ll explain later,” They saw where Wukong was falling and Mei picked up her speed. But the Monkey was falling fast. “We’re not going to make it,” MK cried. “Not if you keep shaking me we won’t!” They were just about to reach him, but they were too late. He hit the ground so hard it made a small crater in the street below him. “NO!” MK yelled. Mei stopped her bike, and MK jumped off to go see Wukong’s limp body laying in the middle of the crater. “M-Mr. Monkey?”

Wukong suddenly burst into a coughing fit, causing MK to jump. “Oh Mr. Monkey, you're still alive!” He quickly hugged him as Wukong stopped coughing. “Kid. There’s something I need to tell you,”

“Yes Mr. Monkey?” He said. Wukong coughed again. “Show the staff off… to… Tang… bleh.” The monkey fake fainted. “He’s okay,” MK said softly.

--

“Redson! Demon Bull King? Bull bots!? That’s where the weird Monkey-”

“Wukong,”

“Not NOW Tang,” The shop owner grumbled. They had been talking while Wukong had MK out, Tang  offering comforting words (and maybe sneaking a bowl of noodles) and Pigsy freaking out for MK’s safety. But when the kids brought back a passed out monkey and a tale of a golden explosion, they realized Wukong probably didn’t have any ill intent for MK.

“But how is he not dead?” Mei asked, poking the monkey’s cheek. “He’s immortal,” Tang said ominously. “What?” the others asked in unison. “Earlier I found him in the library, claiming to have lived through the events of Journey to the West. The problem with that, is that he would have had to be immortal. Considering the fall didn’t kill him, I say it’s a pretty good chance he is what he says he is,” Tang explained. He reached over the counter for another bowl of noodles, but Pigsy whacked his hand away.

“So he was being honest?” MK said, looking back at the sleeping monkey. “Well, most likely. If what you say is true, and you saw a golden explosion, then it’s quite possible, since the one in the records say Pigsy was the one to that.”

“I don’t remember ever-” Tang looked over at Pigsy. “Uuuh reading that Pigsy had powers like that,” He said. Tang’s face lit up. “You’ve read Journey to the West!?” He asked excitedly. Pigsy couldn’t look at him. “Yeah, something like that,”

After a moment of (awkward) silence, Pigsy spoke up again. “I have a friend who can help with your friend’s condition,” Tang chuckled. “Oh he’s not my friend.”

--

“Pigsy! It’s great to see you! How have you been?” The blue and orange giant asked his friend as he hugged the air out of him. “I’d be better if I could breathe!” Sandy put Pigsy down. “Well what brings you here buddy?” He asked. Pigsy simply pointed to the limp monkey he had dropped when Sandy picked him up (Pigsy was the only one who could carry him). Sandy leaned down to get a closer look at Wukong. “I know my teas are great, but I don’t think it can bring people back to life,” he said.

Pigsy blinked for a moment. “He’s not dead, just in critical condition,” he explained. Sandy looked up at Pigsy, then down at the monkey again. “Hmmm. Well I know just what to do about that!” He picked up Wukong and lead the group into the boat. Sandy led them to a small living room and he started to get the tea prepared. “Why do you have so many cats?” MK asked. “My therapist suggested it. Apparently I was harboring a lot of anger, and cats and tea help with that a lot.”

He served the rest of them tea before helping Wukong gulp some down. After Wukong woke up, he was instantly berated with questions. “So you’re actually in Journey to the west?”

“Did you know Tripitaka?”

“How do you all know who we all are?” “What do you want with MK?”

“Woah, woah guys calm down. Let him tell his story.” Sandy told them. They all turned to look at Wukong. “So uh… Where do we begin?”

He told them about the Journey to the west, and the lady bone demon. He told them about DBK, and spider queen (RIP MK), and waited for their reactions. “So everyone who’s ever known you, has forgotten you?” Tang asked. Wukong just nodded. “That’s rough buddy,” Pigsy said. “Actually, what about Quan Yin?” Sandy said. “Quan Yin?” Wukong felt his heart swell with hope. “Yeah! If it’s a demon’s curse, then a goddess or other celestial being should be resistant to it right?” MK said with a smile. Wukong’s face slowly began to light up. “You’re all right! We need to find Quan Yin!” He said excitedly.

“How do you suppose we do that?” Pigsy asked. Wukong stood up with a grunt, still beat up from the golden explosion and his fall. “We need to go to Flower Fruit Mountain.”

--

Over on flower fruit mountain, a monkey sat in a big cave behind a waterfall. He looked up at the mural again, looking at the familiar face he didn’t have a name for. The mural was strang. Macaque wasn’t sure why he hated it, but everytime he saw it, it enraged him in some way. The monkey at the top. Who was he? Why did he feel like Tripitaka owed him something. He didn’t get it. He wanted answers. He wanted them from the mural.

He looked out the waterfall at the other monkeys playing about the paradise. It was also familiar. Why was this place  so familiar!? Macaque walked back inside staring at the forsaken mural infrustration. He felt like he was missing something. But what?

“I think I can help you, you know,” a demon said in the distance. “I thought I told you I don’t want your help,” Macaque yelled back. “You did. But I could help you get revenge on the people in that mural. Especially Tripitaka,” The demon whispered in his ear. He turned back to the demon. “No. I already told you no. Leave me alone.” The demon sighed. Oh well. I’m sure you’ll be getting your answers soon anyways.”

-----------

So this story came about because I wanted to know what would happen if Lady bone demon made good on her promise to Wukong from Revenge of the Spider Queen.

Pigsy has totally adopted MK change my mind

So Tang never had Sun Wukong in common with MK, so he never came to Pigsy’s Noodles to snag free noodles from him. He’s still a huge fan and buys noodles every day

I love Tang so much

One time Tang fell asleep in the library and stayed there all night. He almost got fired

Sassy Tang we stan

I mean, I’d excuse you from work if you got kidnapped

MK and Mei already knew Redson

Uh, yes, Lady bone demon reversed time a bit

I FORGOT THE SCENE ALL I REMEMBER ARE PIPES IM SORRY

They should've called them bull bots

He exerted too much energy with that golden bomb thing

Lol drama queen Wukong

Love how Tang and Pigsy barely know each other and are already acting like an old married couple

Sandy and I love tea and cats. I love his tropes

Also yes Sandy is basically Mystake don’t @ me

So yeah basically first episode rewrite but if no one knew who Wukong was and he was only a driving force in person

Macaque: ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST

I feel like I should mention Tripitaka has a similar level of respect as the crystal gems did for Rose Quartz, and he's held in extremely high regards to both the heavens and the people, regardless of whether or not they’re avid JTTW fans. This is mostly for angst lol

[jflemings]

Rudolph ; oliver wood

warnings: light swearing, not proof read

authors note: first fic posted! i originally had a fred fic lined up but could’t get this idea out of my head. reader is in Gryffindor!

It was approaching christmas time and as per usual Hogwarts was all decked out with decor of all kinds, christmas songs playing, rich scents of cinnamon and fire and of course the snow that covered the campus every year.

It was utterly magical.

You had been on the Gryffindor quidditch team since your second year as a chaser and since then you had made it your mission for your team to dress christmas theme for your last game of the season before break. This year was no different.

The bag of charmed headbands swayed in your grip as you walked through the cold halls to find your teammates. Donned in your gryffindor quidditch sweater, school skirt and casual shoes you were practically skipping down the corridor while looking out to the snow covered courtyard. With your head in the clouds and your mind on the festivities coming up you were blissfully unaware of the pair of Weasleys that were currently barreling toward you before it was too late. 

Frantic hands made their way to grip your shoulders with anticipation before a female voice was booming down the stone halls, echoing directly to your direction. 

“y/n! please! you have to help us. We swear we didn’t mean it!” George’s voice filled your ears while he continued to duck behind you

“yeah honest! we had no clue that angie was walking our way!” fred flailed before hiding behind his twin who was hiding behind you. Before you had time to properly retaliate a fuming Angelina was heading straight for you and the boys. 

“You two have done it this time! do you know how long it takes me to wash my hair let alone style it exactly how i want it!? ugh! and we have a match this afternoon I’m not going to have enough time!” Angelina launched herself over your shoulder in an attempt to grab their shirts 

You were always somehow caught in the middle of the twins an angle’s antics. Moments before disaster struck the chasers wrists were caught in your hands.

“angie! go find hermione, she surely knows a spell to fix your hair. she has a spell for quite literally everything!” your face was soft as you spoke in an attempt to sooth evergrowing temper. She took a deep breath in and out and nodded to you, giving you the okay to let her go the twins still making the effort to stay behind you where they thought they were safe. 

Once Angelina had stalked off to go and find the young witch you turned around to face the pair of freckled faced fifth years with your hands on your hips, silently waiting for an explanation. 

George was the first to break. 

“y/n we swear on our own graves that the slimey slugs were’t meant for her! we swear!” the younger twin pleaded

“please don’t tell Mcgonagall! or wood! oh for the love of merlin and mum’s apple pie please don’t tell Oli anything”

at this point the pair of them were practically on their knees which is a sight your personally don't see too often but unfortunately all good things must come to an end.

“truthfully boys as much as i would love to stand here and have you beg on your knees for my forgiveness I have things to do today, starting off by giving you two the prop for this year’s last game!” the enthusiasm practically seething off you as you rummage through the bag to find the two matching headbands you had organised for the boys.

“like every other year, identical and charmed to stay on all game: just how you liked it.” 

the pair beamed at you and gratefully took them from your hands 

“you two would’t have to know where golden boy is, do you? i want to give him his now before he gets too in ‘in the mode’ for this afternoon” 

the twins looked at each other thoughtfully “we saw him in the great hall before running into you. he was alone and kind of just minding his own business so you should get to that asap” Fred answered, proping his arm up on his other half’s shoulders. 

George was trying to get a peak inside the bag you were still holding, probably to try to see which headpiece you had picked to sit on top of your captain’s head for the game. 

“Say, y/n, what do you have dear ol’ oliver wearing this year? trying to see who’s the favourite” 

Fred lightly scoffed “C’mon Georgie, you and I both know who the favourite is” 

Although he wore a playful smirk and his tone was half joking he was right. The twins, along with literally everyone else, knew exactly who your favourite was but it’s not like you made any proper effort to hide it. As you got older, the less care you had about exposing your own feelings to the whole school. You had become shamelessly flirtatious with your captain with him often returning the comments; despite this you never did truly understand where exactly you stood with oliver. you knew he liked you but you did’t know the extent of it or if he only had eyes for you. 

you went along with fred nonetheless.

“yeah sorry, G you know who’s first place in my book” you said confidently while pulling out a set of antlers and a bright red nose. The twins stood dumbfounded before snickering.

“he won’t wear that” fred said flat out 

“hmm not too sure about that my dear brother”

“you have more of a chance of Georgie here landing a date with Angelina than you do getting wood to actually wear that on the pitch against Slytherin”

you smirked wickedly and turned on your heel “you, my dear friend, are going to be proven wrong”

*****

okay so Fred wasn’t that wrong.

“Oli pleasee, we do it every year” you dramatically drew out 

currently, you were sat straddling the seat whilst looking at oliver infront of you who was running over the drills out in front of him. He looked up from his parchment at you and tilted his head 

“l/n I’m not wearing antlers and a bright red nose to a quidditch game! i probably won’t be able to play”

you huffed but refused to give up the fight.

“they’re charmed to stay on through the whole game so you can play AND they will bring you extra good luck while we’re out there” you exclaimed as you picked up the red nose from the table and began fiddling with it. Oliver looked from your hands to your face and sighed.

“what do you mean ‘good luck’” he raised an eyebrow at you with curiosity laced in his words, almost like he wanted to believe you. You grinned.

“Because your favourite chaser is giving you them of course!” the grin etched upon your face somehow widened at the sight of a slight tinge of rose pink dusting the keeper’s cheeks. 

This prompted an eyeroll and a sigh escaping his lips. “just because you’re the favourite doesn’t mean I’m wearing a nose” your ears perked at the unexpected response you just got and you leaned in closer to his face.

“So i am the favourite, huh?” the smirk gracing your lips was cocky yet it flattered when he turned to look at you.

His honey coloured eyes drifted from your eyes to your mouth and back to your eyes “you know damn well you’re the favourite” 

You felt as though a whole zoo had been let lose in your stomach and the soft smile that then graced your lips was the only tell sign of that. You did know, of course. Everyone did. But it’s not like he’d ever said it out loud and if he had it certainly wasn’t to you or while you were around. 

“But you aren’t getting me in that headband and nose” 

your head dropped before throwing it back dramatically “Oliver wood you are going to look like a fool if you’re the only one on the team without a costume” 

“then i’ll look like a fool, darling” the smug smile off his face never left until he watched you get up and walk out of the great hall to go and find the remainder of your team, leaving behind the costume for him on the table. He smiled softly to no one but himself before returning back to what he was doing.

*****

Lunch time had rolled around and you were sat with Lee and the twins discussing the match you were set to play in less than few hours with wood nowhere to be found. You found yourself pushing your food around your plate with your fork in an effort to think of another way to get oliver to wear the stupid antlers. It was only one match for crying out loud! you were all going to look like idiots anyway so why not join in.

Your train of thought was broken when Lee Jordan had directed the topic of coversation away from the match and onto you and oliver.

“y/n would so make the first move are you kidding? I love wood as much as the next guy but all the quidditch going on in his head has surely been a distraction from his plan about how he’s gonna plant one on y/n” Lee was confident in his answer and Fred agreed 

you looked up from the miserable plate of food infront of you to hear george speak 

“oliver is as dense as a doorknob when it comes to his feelings for y/n. if they were gonna kiss he would just do it as a spur of the moment kind of thing, no think just do and hope for the best.” he shrugged as he spoke through potatoes while waving his fork about, angelina and katie agreeing by his side. Then they all turned to you.

“We haven’t kissed, if that’s what you are silently asking” you dropped your fork with a clank “but since we’re talking about it, I would be the one to make the first move, no questions asked” the smirk on your face was triumphant and Fred and Lee high five you from over the table.

“Let’s make a bet then” George piped up “five galleons to me if Wood makes the first move or five galleons to Lee if y/n makes the first move”. He scanned your group looking for a sign of protest before shaking on it with lee 

“Don’t lose me those five galleons, y/n” Lee complained.

you shifted in your seat and gave him a thumbs up and the best smile you could muster while eating food. All you had to do was think of how you could get wood to wear that darn costume and then give him a big ol’ kiss, no worries at all.

*****

It was go time. 

The whole team was ready to fly, charmed headbands and new plays were ready to go but your fearless captain was no where to be seen. 

Anyone who knew oliver knew that he lived and breathed all things qudditch and now with such an important game about to start he was no where to be found. nonetheless, the team was lined up with angelina filling in as captain for now because it seemed you didn’t have one at the minute.

this made you unbelievably nervous, so much so that you felt like you were about to pass out and if it wasn’t for the twins and their antics you might’ve been on a one way trip to the hospital wing right now. 

“do ya reckon oli is dead? because I mean why else would he be late to a match against Slytherin?” fred deadpanned while george stood behind him snickering to no one in particular.

you had momentarily thought about fred’s statement simply because you really couldn’t think of any other reason why oliver wouldn’t be here 2 minutes before you were set to fly. Your hands were now starting to lightly cramp around your broom and you were beginning to nervous sweat despite winter being right around the corner; internally you were an absolute shitshow. volcanoes were erupting in the depths of your stomach and your heart was hammering against your ribcage and the only thing that was on your mind was where the hell was oli?.

As if the gods above had heard your question one frantic keeper donned in red and gold came barrelling through the change rooms and you swear on your own grave you had never felt so much relief in your life. 

“sorry I’m so late! I lost track of the time and was trying to find something important” oliver apologised 

walking through your team his hand found your shoulder and he leant into your ear “can’t have all my reindeers losing their way because they don’t have a Rudolph” 

looking up at him, he sent you a cheeky wink while putting the nose and antlers on his head before returning to his rightful place in the front and centre. 

“You guys know what to do, let’s stomp on some snakes” the confidence oozing from his voice was indescribable. the way he spoke was powerful and reckless yet when he turned to look at you over his shoulder the facade dropped when he began to speak softly “Hope my favourite chaser is ready to win” 

a warm smile graced your lips “always, captain” 

*****

The sheer determination and house pride coming from the stands was overbearing. the screams, cheers, house war cries and encouragement made the desire to win even stronger than before. You, Angelina and Alicia were flying laps around Slytherin; your teamwork unmatched as you continued to set up and score goals for your friends. Fred and George were on their A-game. their aim had improved tremendously since last season with them becoming more coordinated to make sure you and the girls were able to score all you needed. Oliver was so focused on the opposing team and their chasers that you were certain he was unaware of the close score right now. It was 100-110 with Gryffindor taking the lead. all harry had to do was catch the snitch.

He had spotted it and now was neck and neck with malfoy. they were flying dangerously close to the stands where screaming students were situated. this was going to be the closest game you had had in a while. 

Just as Alicia had set up a goal for you to score harry caught the snitch and your whole team hollered at the outcome of the game.

“YES! GET IN HARRY!” George had yelled at the top of his lunch while Fred and Alicia laughed in delight at the sight of George almost falling off his broom. 

You flew over to an exhausted looking Angleina and did your best to pull her into a hug mid air 

“You were amazing Angie! absolutely brilliant! the hard work payed off!” you praised your close friend and the two of you made your way to the ground where students had begun piling off the stands but there was only one person you wanted to see down there.

The sound of your broom hitting the grass could be heard by the people around you when you caught sight of oliver hopping off of his broom. You ran to him and flung your tired arms around his neck with him instantly returning the favour  as his arms held a tight grip on your waist. 

“Oli we did it! everything that you drilled into us payed off, all the early morning training, that staying up into the early hours of the morning, all of it! every single bit!” you exclaimed and pulled away to get the first proper look at him that whole afternoon. His smile was splitting his face in half and for the first time in a while it felt like the two of you were the only ones in the world. 

One of his hands moved from your waist and up your back to grip your shoulder from behind before he dipped you and gave you the most passionate kiss you had ever gotten.

it felt like the twins had let a bunch of fireworks loose in your stomach, his neck felt hot under the touch of your calloused hands and his lips melted perfectly with yours. The both of you pulled away for breath, still not breaking eye contact.

“If I get this lucky every time I wear these stupid antlers I might as well glue them to my head” he half heartedly laughed at himself while continuously ignoring everyone around you who had now decided to pay attention.

Lee’s voice rang out over the microphone.

“Y/N! I thought i told you to not lose me those five galleons” he groaned while George grinned in triumph 

Oliver, who still had you dipped but was now looking up at lee, looked back down at you “you placed a bet on our kiss?” he quizzed you while an eyebrow raised.

all you could do was laugh and feel your heart swell in your chest 

“sorry, love. but i was fairly confident that our first kiss was going to be my doing” you smirked and grabbed his face pulling him in for yet another kiss.

Christmas had certainly come early this year. 

tags: @castieltrash1​