#this really was just quick art for him sorry ashe fans

[queerly-done]

Happy birthday Ashe and get cookie runned(cookie ran? That sounds wrong)

I’ve been busy animating oc’s so I haven’t posted. I’ll be back tomorrow as well.

[morgana-ren]

Pale Imitation

The front page of any porn site is always a marriage of humorous and disturbing, but he can honestly say he wasn’t expecting to see his name at the top of any list that had a direct connection to satiating someone’s libido, yet there it was, plain as day on the top ten.

He didn’t think of himself as particularly narcissistic, but this he had to see.

Rating: E

Warnings: Porn, Masturbation, Yandere, Stalker Shigaraki, Shigaraki is a total creep, Rough sex, Noncon Fantasy/Roleplay

Preemptive Note: Before you continue I just want to note: I'm not a sex worker but I have nothing but the highest regard and respect for them. What ensues in this story is pure kink and fantasy and is not meant to reinforce any harmful/mean stereotypes what so ever. My personal fantasy is degradation and I can't really seem to get off without it so it's a majority of what I write, but I swear to you it was not written with the intent to insult or hurt anyone in the profession! I realize the hardships endured by the men/women/NB/GN in the adult sex work profession and this is just intended to be a pure sexual fantasy and is by no means attempting to reinforce or normalize toxic behaviors in the workplace.

Bad wig? Check .

Poor voice imitation? Check .

Shoddy, unsealed makeup that sloughs off onto the unfortunate scene partner’s skin? Check .

All the tell-tale signs of a bad porno but with one distinct peculiarity that drew his interest.

You know, this certainly wasn’t what he was expecting to see when he settled in for his first nightly wank. The front page of any porn site is always a marriage of humorous and disturbing, but he can honestly say he wasn’t expecting to see his name at the top of any list that had a direct connection to satiating someone’s libido, yet there it was, plain as day on the top ten.

He’s no stranger to the villain kink page. Tons of civilians indulged in their darker fantasies through their nighttime excursions below their pantyline, and being a villain himself, naturally he was curious. Most of it is about what he’d expect. Villains, ancient and new, participating in copulation of all sorts. Some of it is that extremely out of character slow and romantic pornography. Other times, strangely enough, it’s the villains themselves getting taken advantage of. Sometimes by heroes, other times by random people, objects, or even tentacles. It’s interesting, to say the least.

Him though? He’d never seen himself in one, let alone being featured on the front page.

Up until recently, the media and all it’s sinful offshoots had opted to ignore him. However, his recent exploits must’ve caught the attention of the general public, and alongside it, the licentious denizens that dwell within. There had been a few forum posts, a little fan art (most of it flattering), and even a few oddly obsessive fangirls he’d come across. But this? Oh, now this was a whole new caliber.

He didn’t think of himself as particularly narcissistic, but this he had to see.

The guy they’d hired to play him was naturally a flat disappointment; Too bulky, and way too short. He could tell there was a classically handsome man underneath all that poorly done makeup that was meant to make him look pallid and dry. A sad, pathetic, and pale imitation of the real thing, missing some of his scars and moles entirely. The ashy gray wig they used to try to mimic his shaggy, unkempt hair had an awkward cowlick and kept flopping down too far on the actor’s forehead and looked far more dead than even his own unwashed mop. The voice he was using to mimic him was strained and scratchy, far too forced to be comfortable or even remotely realistic. If he had to place it, it sounded like the guy already had a terribly sore throat and had continued yelling for several hours to achieve the ‘desired’ effect.

He hadn’t expected much, but it was still disappointing. Though to be fair, they nailed the clothing, minus the brand of shoes he wears and the exact coat he’d chosen as his signature.

A part of him was ready to shut it off. Whatever lies ahead could only be utterly insulting, right? This grotesque pastiche lifelessly parroting his mannerisms was already curbing his sexual appetite toward something more violent, and not in the way he liked. Yet, out of sheer curiosity, he kept watching. What exactly did the average screenwriting porn cinematographer think he was into anyway?

It was a little ambiguous at first. At least until the shaky camera followed the Walmart brand Shigaraki knock-off down a generic hallway and into a borderline barren room, bringing into frame a quaking young woman tied up on a filthy mattress. After that, it became very quickly apparent just what type of smut he’d stumbled onto.

The camera zooms in on her face, tears leaking from her eyes and leaving trails of thick black makeup and mascara trailing down her cheeks, her begging and pleading muffled by a rag hastily stuffed in her mouth and secured with what appeared to be a bandana tied around her head. She’s clad in nothing but a flimsy tank top with the straps yanked down over her shoulders and a small pair of lace panties, covered in what appears to be made up lacerations and fake bruising. A nice touch, he notes.

He’ll admit, he’s intrigued now. It looks like they got one thing about him right, perhaps two now that he inspects the adult actress hired to play his unfortunate victim. She’s flattering, far more flattering than he expected given the low budget circumstances. Her watery eyes and quaking body coupled with the slight rope burn embedding into her chafing skin is enough to get his legs stirring and his pants tightening. She looks so pretty, so vulnerable behind all the waterworks and thick stage makeup. He thinks, just maybe, he might be able to get into this if he hyper focuses on her.

As his imposter approaches, she pushes her bound legs out, squishing herself back against the wall and as far away as she can manage from the threat encroaching on her personal space.

“Heroes can’t save you now.”

The shallow mockery of his voice grates at his ears, but he’ll admit the comment is on brand. The actor harshly yanks the bandana out of the woman’s mouth, her pouty lips trembling as she begins to grovel, blinking more tears down her swollen cheeks.

“I-I’m sorry! Please just let me go! I won’t tell anyone anything!”

All things considered, she’s convincing enough to get his blood pumping. Tomura readjusts himself in his chair, reaching his hands beneath the band of his sweatpants. If he can ignore her counterpart, he thinks watching her squirm and squeal will get him off. After all, it’s supposed to be ‘him’ violating this cute girl. Maybe if he defocuses his eyes enough, he can pretend it really is.

“I’m going to show you how much of a villain I really am!”

Ugh . Whoever wrote this dialogue clearly had never met him, or probably any real villain for that matter. It’s enough to make him want to retch, but the feel of his own hand on his cock and the soft whimpering of the actress  as the villain stand-in strips off his coat brings him back and makes him throb. The camera moves in to offer her a close up, face dropping and eyes widening in horror as she comes to the “realization” of what he means.

“No! Please! Anything but that!”

She kicks at him, trying to fend him off with bound limbs as he crawls over her onto the bed. A harsh slap to the side of her cheek is enough to quiet her down and allow the assailant to cage her to the bed with one hand, the other clumsily fumbling with the buttons of his jeans. After he shimmies his ill fitting skinny jeans down his thighs, she looks at him with eyes widened in horror, shaking her head erratically.

“No! Please Mister Shigaraki, it’s too big! It won’t fit!”

A hand far too burly to be his wraps around her neck, pointer finger plucked awkwardly upward. “Quiet! You’re my prisoner and you’ll do as I say!”

Just ignore it.

The free hand goes to grab at her tank top, a brief but noticeable pause in the filming leaves her topless with stage prop ash sprinkled along her torso, the ropes around her wiggling legs conveniently gone now. While the cinematic effect was laughably bad, Tomura can’t bring himself to care. Not when her tits are now on display for him to ogle.

Chest bare and heaving, perfect nipples perked to attention just for him. Smooth, creamy skin goose pimpled and tender, so tempting that he's aching to feel her. A quick swipe of his thumb over his sensitive, spongy tip elicits a rumbled groan from deep in his chest. It’s easier now to ignore the shitty portrayal of himself, especially when he can lose himself to the throes of lust and pretend that it actually is his hands wrapped around her little throat, other fingers drifting lower and lower down her trembling belly.

A quick hook around the seam of her panties and they’re ripped clean from her hips, legs splayed and leaving her pussy center frame, already wet and glistening. He swallows hard, the sight enough to make him salivate. She fumbles around beneath him, desperate to buck him off, but it’s to no avail. Fingers, his fingers, tease the entrance to her tight little hole, slipping one finger, and then two inside, oscillating in and out preparing her to take all of him. Just like she said, he’s so big. He doesn’t want to hurt her, not like that.

After that, it’s all too easy for him to slip into his fantasy. He strokes his cock in tandem with the pumping of the fingers, pausing only briefly as the girl mewls as the fingers slip out and the tip of his cock is aligned with her little entrance. He pistons his own hips as it slams inside, head reeling back on the edge of his chair.

The high pitched whine that escapes her throat as the fake buries himself deep inside has him biting his lip, slowing his hand by force on his shaft. Fuck, even her moans are hot. Her bouncing tits and staggered breathing as his imposter rails into her has him enraptured. The subtle way she leans into the hand on her throat, back arched off the filthy mattress, face expressing clear distress but body betraying her clever act.

It matters little that she’s being paid to partake in the scene with ‘him’. The fact she was open to it says more than he could have hoped to know, and clearly she’s enjoying the treatment. His hazy eyes focus in on her face, working his hand harder with every little nuance she gifts him. The twitch of arms as her nails imbed themselves into her palms, the parting of her moist lips. He’d be willing to bet her tongue could work magic, taking him all the way to the back of her throat. God, she’d look so cute like that. Hands tied behind her back, a sloppy, drooling mess around his dick.

“S-Shigaraki! You’re too rough!”

The hand clamped around her throat tightens, her final word more of a croak.

“You like it, you little slut!”

At least there’s one thing him and this mediocre porn actor can agree on; she certainly does like it. Rolling her hips against him and wailing in a way that has him wonderfully immersed in his fantasy. Hearing his name on those sighs only strengthen his hold, he can practically feel the warmth of her skin, indulge himself in the wet, clenching tightness of her cunt.

It’s fucking insulting that this trash gets to wear his skin, steal his countenance to fuck her. It should be him. If this whelp could get her all hot and bothered, just imagining what the real thing could do sends the remaining blood reserves rushing between his thighs, prick pulsing even harder in his palm. Yeah, he could get this little bitch squealing. She’d fucking like it too, judging by the look on her face as she gets plowed by a man wearing his visage.

Oh, he’d make her scream. Leave real bruising in place of that cheap costume makeup they’d so lazily applied to her naked form. Truth be told, the video itself was rather boring. He’d only kept watching because of how enraptured he was with the little witch being stuffed full of cock by his imitation. He’d never really been taken with an adult actress before but this one? Oh yes, he could really get into her.

He wasn’t sure what it was about her. So pretty to him, so deliciously pliable, so completely worked up about a villain using her as a toy, pumping in and out of her warm little pussy until he fills her with his hot cum and she’s overflowing with every fluid thrust. Sweet, sensitive neck exposed just for him to bite and abuse. Face stained with tears, puffy cheeks just aching to be squeezed and smacked. Probably tastes like rapture, eager to swallow whatever he decides to spill into her mouth.

And she could take it. He just knows it. Bent over for him, any hole he pleases free for him to use, hand-shaped welts raising on the swell of her ass. Fingers fisting her hair and arching that cute face back to look directly at him as he spits between her open and waiting lips. She’d swallow it like a good girl, just like a good girl, he knows she would.

He works himself faster, his own breathy whines joining the cacophony of licentiousness that echoes in his eardrums. His imagination shifts into overdrive, clumsy, irregular strokes of his hand tenting and deflating the crotch of his sweats. Soft, pillowy tits bulging through his fingertips as he kneads them, sucking on those tender nipples until they harden just for him. Fucking her mouth until her lips are swollen and red, face covered in a mixture of drool and cum with lipstick smeared around her cheeks. Legs locked around his narrow waist as he slams into her repeatedly, chanting his name and begging him incoherently not to stop, never to stop.

“P-please don’t cum inside me! Please- I-“

Oh, he’d cum deep inside. He’ll cum anywhere he wants on his little whore until it’s slick and dripping. He’ll tie her up, smudging it across her broken expression and let it dry nice and thick. Slip his cum covered thumb into her mouth and then ignore her until her thighs are grinding together and she’s begging for his thick cock again, any way he wants her.

Fuck- fuck she’d love it too. Ride him until each slap of her ass on his bony hips made his cock punch hard against her cervix, crying in pleasure and pain but never stopping until he allowed her. Dig his nails into her back, his teeth into her flesh and mark her up real good, let everyone who sees her know just what she’s been up to with him-

“Shigaraki! Fuck! Shi-Shigaraki!”

His name spills from her lips in a needy sob, voice cracking and so utterly genuine that it sends him over the edge. His cock throbs and stutters in his hand, shooting jets of sticky white seed all over the inside of his black sweat pants and staining his fingers. His entire body shudders, legs stiffening and balls tightening and clenching as his cum spills in fat ropes across the fabric. Try as he might to focus on her face as she cums for him, he simply can’t, eyes slamming shut and mouth left agape as a strangled cry erupts from his throat.

He gives a few subconscious pumps into his hand as searing pleasure crackles through his body, toes curling in his shoes as his lower body lifts off the chair to chase his high. Millions of images flash across his mind, the foremost of which is her, greedy eyes hungry for pleasure only he can give her, silky cunt milking him eagerly. A jagged tooth bites a little too hard into his blistered lip, enough to crack it open but he’s too submerged in bliss to notice. The only thing he can feel is her.

His thighs tremble as his body falls back down into the worn computer chair, orgasm leaving his entire body feeling weak and drained.  His breath comes in heaves, gulping down air as he tries his best to shake off the residual searing pleasure so hot it almost hurts. Overstimulation looms on the horizon and his heavy eyes drift open, feeling so drowsy now he can hardly keep them apart. The orange bar at the bottom of the video is all the way to the right, the video having concluded itself.

He’s never cum so hard in his life.

Her name. He needed to know her name. He needed to know everything .

He doesn’t bother reaching for the tissues. He simply withdraws his hand from his waistband, wiping his mess onto the knee of his pant leg before grabbing his mouse and scouring the page for any crumb of information he can find. The comments, while amusing, are hardly helpful.

So hot xx thanks

Who’s the guy even supposed to be?

This babe is so hot, luv her stuff everytime

Yall r gunna get rekt when he sees this shit lol

any sexy girls wanna reenact this with me? Hmu

I’m a girl and I love this!

Wish he’d do that to me <.<

He’d dwell on all of that later. For now, he settles for a quick search through the uploader’s account. It’s a small studio, only a few films out to date, most of which revolve around taboo relationships between villains and society. Following a hyperlink to their main website leads him to bio, complete with her stage name and picture, and even another link leading to an interview with a small time adult magazine, an article called “Cum to the Dark Side” that he bookmarks for later reading.

Even post-cum, she’s just as beautiful. Enchanting, sultry smile and cheeky little expression in her picture. Maybe it’s fate that he stumbled upon her. Maybe she really was just that good at acting and she didn’t have a thing for him at all. Either way, he wants some time with the talent. For research, of course.

Her personal details, as expected, are hidden. They go the lengths to protect their employees it seems. What isn’t hidden, however, is the studio’s number.

He thinks he can work with that.

[hopelesshawks]

Ash and Dust Part 7- Opportunities

18+ Dabi x fem!reader

Summary: You first meet Dabi on the worst night of your life after unwittingly walking into the very bar the League of Villains made infamous. That should probably be the end of the story. You stumble on the remnants of one of the most infamous terrorist groups in the history of Japan, get viciously murdered or call the cops and get them arrested, the end. Except that’s not the end of the story. It’s only the beginning.

Masterlist Help Lulu (Kofi)

Waking up the morning after reclaiming your bedroom (at least in part) is jarring for two reasons.

The first is that you’re waking up next to Dabi.

For some reason you thought he might wake up before you, even though he’s pretty routinely demonstrated that he’s not an early riser. Perhaps you expected the knowledge that he was sleeping in the same bed as you to perturb him enough to get him up early. Instead your eyelashes had fluttered open to find him still deeply asleep with his face only a few inches from yours.

You fully intended on simply rolling over to either fall back asleep or get on with your day but you’d found yourself enthralled with his sleeping face instead. You know Dabi’s smirks, sneers, and scowls like the back of your hand after a little over a month of living with him. His resting face, however, is entirely foreign to you. You’ve never had a moment alone with him where he wasn’t antagonizing you and it’s odd to see him so peaceful. Your eyes trace over his face, taking in the extent of the scarring on his jaw and beneath his eyes, but also appreciating the unmarred expanses of skin as well. It strikes you that Dabi is pretty. It shouldn’t be surprising considering what you’ve seen of the youngest Todoroki in the press but even still. In another world where he’d never become the wanted criminal he is today, you wonder if he’d be a heartbreaker or a sweet, gentle type. Would he be as quiet and polite as his brother seems to be or would he still get a thrill from bantering with someone who isn’t afraid to banter right back? Would he be in the tabloids with a different girl every week or settle down early with his high school sweetheart? You’re fascinated by the idea of what the scarred man before you would be without the tragedy and the trauma. You might’ve sat there just taking him in until he woke up if not for the second reason waking up that morning was so jarring.

Your phone has been pinging literally non-stop.

You’ve never resented your notification sound more as its shrill tone continues to echo in your room, putting the fragile peace at risk. Even before you found yourself as alone as you are now your phone was never this busy. As much as you try to ignore it and wait for the tidal wave of what you assume are spam notifications to end, the sound finally drives you to turn over and grab it. Your eyes widen as you take in the sheer amount of Twitter notifications you have. As you unlock your phone and navigate over to the app your mentions are literally flooded with Deku fans screaming about your talent and how lucky you are. It’s a confusing litany of fangirling that you try to weed through until you get to one mention in particular that makes your breath catch in your throat.

You got a mention from the rising hero himself.

Holy shit.

You’ve never clicked a tweet so quickly in your entire life. Not only are you stunned to find he’s seen and loved your work but he also mentions wanting to talk if you’re interested. Sure enough, when you navigate over to the messages section of the app, a feature you’ve never bothered to use, you notice a message request from Midoriya ‘Deku’ Izuku waiting for you. It takes everything in you not to scream as you read the message there over and over before finally hopping out of bed and moving to the kitchen to call the number he’d left you. It’s a little endearing that he’d been so quick to hand out his number to a complete stranger on the internet but you also can’t help but wonder how someone so naive could be the same man drawing headlines over his heroics and combat skill. You’re not exactly a Deku fangirl but it’s still wild to be dialing a celebrity’s number as you punch in the numbers and then wait for it to ring.

On literally the second ring the phone is answered. “Pro Hero Deku at your service! Who’s calling?” the young man answers chirpily. “Uhh, this is (y/l/n)? You messaged me on twitter?” “Oh! Right! Yes! Hello! One second!”

You can hear Deku excusing himself from whatever room he’s in, a disgruntled voice mumbling something you can’t hear, causing Deku to reply with a hushed “Sorry Kacchan! I’ll be right back!” before there’s more shuffling and finally the sound of a heavy door closing.

“Ok I’m back! Thanks for reaching out to me so quickly!” he finally says now that he’s, apparently, in a better place to talk.

“Yea, of course I guess I’m just shocked you liked my art so much and really appreciate you drawing so much attention to it,” you explain, feeling short of breath at how surreal the situation is.

“Of course! You’re really talented! Your work deserves to get attention!”

“Thank you but, uh, why exactly did you want me to call you?”

“Right! It’s about your artwork.”

“Ok?”

“I want to sell it!”

“What?”

“Wait well no not sell it. Or not sell that particular piece although it is a nice piece and if you wanted to theoretically you could probably sell it although I guess it’s available for free online already so maybe people wouldn’t want to pay for it. Although it’s a painting right? And people buy or pay to go see paintings you can see online all the time so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad but if it’s for your own enjoyment you may not want to give it up which would be totally understandable and also how would that work logistically? If the painting is rather large it may be unwieldy to try and ship it to whoever purchases it, in which case would you have to meet up to try and give it to them by hand? But then that necessitates meeting up with a complete stranger on the internet and what if the person who buys it doesn’t live near you or, since it is the internet, doesn’t even live in Japan? Then you have to contend with international shipping and-”

“Uhh, Deku?” you ask cautiously, barely able to process the mumbling of the young man on the phone.

“Ah! Sorry! I can kinda end up on tangents sometimes... What I mean to say is that I’m not trying to sell the painting you posted or anything but I think you’re really talented as an artist and one of my friends is looking for someone to design a new merch collection.”

One of his friends? Your mind instantly starts running through his impressive list of ex classmates. Your first thought is Dynamight and immediately you shudder at the idea. He may be years younger than you but the aggressive pro hero still scares the shit out of you. Uravity could be an interesting hero to work with although you’re not quite sure you vibe with her aesthetic. Or maybe he’s talking about the new Ingenium?

“You’re real fucking loud in the mornings, you know that Doll?” Dabi asks with a groan as he comes walking into the room with a stretch.

You hurry to shush him, not wanting to lose the opportunity being presented to you, which earns you a curious look. Before you can react Dabi is snatching your phone out of your hand and putting it on speaker. You don’t dare protest verbally and risk alerting Deku of the situation so you have to settle for glaring at Dabi as he smirks at you.

“Yea so, anyway, Shouto really needs new merch but wanted something a little more sophisticated on the designs and I feel like you’d be perfect for that you know? Making all his stuff mini works of art. So what do you say?” Deku asks, his voice still brimming with that same enthusiasm while your blood runs cold. You’re genuinely scared to look up at Dabi’s face to see what he thinks about the idea of you working with his little brother. You hold your breath, Deku’s chipper voice going nervous as he asks “Hello? You still there?”

To your immense surprise, when you finally have the courage to bring your eyes up to meet Dabi’s, he’s got an almost feral grin. “You better take the fucking job,” he hisses delightedly, sending a chill down your spine as you stutter out a response to Deku, your eyes never leaving Dabi’s.

“Yea, sorry just processing. I’d, uh, I’d be happy to help out.”

“Great! I’ll pass your number on to Shouto and you two can meet up and figure out details!”

“Ok.”

“Cool, thanks (y/l/n)! Hopefully I’ll see you around!”

You hum noncommittally before hanging up the phone, still waiting for the other shoe to drop as you practically watch the gears turning in Dabi’s head.

“You’re…. Not mad I’m going to be working with your brother?” you ask cautiously.

“Oh no, I’m fucking delighted Doll. You know why?”

“Why?”

“Because you’re gonna help me have a little fun.”

A/N: We are finally starting to get to the meat of the story omg. I’m sorry this fic has been so slow going, especially compared to my others, but if you stick with I’m pretty sure it’ll be worth it. I appreciate each and every one of y’all that’s been reading this fic because main motivation to write it has been hard

Taglist: @thechroniclesofawriter @simpsfortodoroki @ahtsuwu @oliviasslut @larkspyrr @oikawaandkuroostan @tina-98 @vibesdontlie @clubfairy

[wenwenbittercake]

✨Dabj x reader✨

(Thank you for reading my fan fiction. This fan fiction is inspired by Freak by Lana del Rey. I suggest you to listen the song and read it. I apologize if there's any grammar and spelling errors, I apologize.✨✨✨)

You look down at your phone, scrolling through Facebook angrily while waiting for your boyfriend in front of a nightclub. You're pissed at your boyfriend for being late. He knows that many creeps are around at this time. Speaking of a devil, an ugly bastard Kabedon you against the wall. You try to walk away but he blocks you with both arms.

"Hey sweetheart are you looking for a date tonight?"

You sigh, "No need, I already have one.

The alcohol in his breath makes you want to vomit right there and then.

"Not to offend you but guys like you are not my type."

"No need to play hard sweetheart."

You roll your eyes but then panic when he starts to touch your thigh. And then you saw it. The blue flames you long for. The ugly bastard in front of you screams in agony as he turn to ash with thin seconds. You step on his ashes and walk over to your man. You throw your arms onto his shoulders and play with his hair.

"Oh I thought you even forgot about me."

"How could i?" He said as he hugs you tight. Giving you a quick peck on the cheeks.

"Sorry darling, Tomura has been giving me extra job."

You pouted not saying anything. He laughed at your reaction.

"Hahaha fine fine, you can drink any drinks tonight. It's all on me."

"Really?" Dabi nodded in respond.

The music in the club is booming. Everyone in the club is dancing. The amount of alcohol you took is kicking in. You sit on Dabi's lap and kiss him crazy. You can feel the metal tongue piercing dancing along your tongue and lips. Your lips meeting the rough lips of his. He gave an angry glare at the bartender that is staring at you. Tbh, he loves how you're not shy to show the world that you're his. Maybe this is why you're his. His one and only girl. You part from your deep kiss, you giggled at him. He smirks at you back. You glide your fingers along his staples along his cheeks and his neck. Gliding along his rough skin in a teasing way. Making Dabi impatient. You know exactly what you're doing.

You stood up and pull him to the dancing floor. Dabi just smile and let you lead the way. When you got to the middle of the crowd, you start to dance to the song that is playing right now. He just grin in satisfaction at your moves. You then start to grind against his semi hard cock. He grinds back on your ass in the same rhythm as yours.

You feel like everything around you starts to turn into slow motion, maybe it's due to all the shots you took but it feels amazing, move when you know it's dabi who you're grinding on. You turn around and kiss him. You can feel his hand along your back and your ass. You know it's his due to the warm feeling of his quirk. The same hands that are use to warm you up at night or cremate anyone who dares to lay a finger on you. It's fine. It's fine if he cremates you on the spot, to be intoxicated in his flames are much better then dying in the hands of a hero.

"I'm all yours babe." You whispers into his ears.

"Hmm all of this?" You said as you feel dabi's warm hands groping your ass making your knees weak.

"Yess all of this." You said as you return the favor by kissing him more in the dancing neon lights.

(Woah it's one hell of a ride. Make sure to hit that follow button so you can see my next posts. Thank you for reading my fan fiction and I hope you have a beautiful day.💕💕💞💞💗💗✨✨)

(Art by Cami on Twitter)

[stringing-words-onto-a-chain]

Vampire!Ash AU (NOT SEXUAL)

I found a few different fan arts of vampire Ash recently, and I decided to write some. Yes, I fell into the “uncontrollable thirst” trap, but I’m a sucker for angst where the perpetrator can’t be blamed. Also there are like a bazillion different ways to tag this ship, so I just wrote   A L L   O F   T H E M.

Sal POV:

As Sal ate, his eyes wandered over to Ash, and he frowned, setting down his food and lowering his mask. She was shifting in her seat, licking her lips, and her emerald eyes were darting all over the street. While he watched, the whites of her eyes flickered briefly to a soul-piercing coal black, and back again. His movement drew her gaze for a split second, and she tensed as her eyes fell on his wrist, pausing momentarily before she shook herself.

“Hey, Ash?”

She finally met his eyes, still turning her head towards the slightest sounds around them.

“Yeah?”

“Is… something wrong?”

Ash tried for her signature smirk, but her fang caught the top of her lip in a way that reminded Sal of Larry’s nervous habit. 

“No, no, I’m alright.”

He raised an eyebrow behind his mask.

“Don’t lie to me, Ash. I may not have super senses or anything, but I can tell when something’s bothering my best friends. So get talking.”

“I -” she began, then sighed deeply, dropping her head. When she looked up again, her eyes were black once more, the green smouldering like an ethereal flame. “Sal, can you possibly do me a huge favour?”

His eyes narrowed in concern, and he swung round to face her, straddling the bench.

“Of course, you can ask me anything.”

Ash glanced round the room. Her unsettledness was beginning to unnerve him; it wasn’t like her at all.

“Okay, so usually I don’t drink from people. You know that. But it is better than most other blood - more fulfilling.”

“I’m not sure I like where this is going…”

She laughed, but there was something off about it. Sal couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but his hand crept to the cross Ash had insisted all of them carry in case of an “accident”.

“Sorry, Sally. But anyway, I didn’t have time to drink bottled animal blood this morning, and I… wait, I never told you what happens if I don’t drink enough, did I?”

“I don’t think I wanna know.”

“No, you definitely don’t. Point is, I don’t drink, your friend Ash disappears, and something much more aggressive comes out instead.”

His fingers curled around the cross behind his back, slowly drawing it from his pocket. Ash’s eyes fell on his hand knowingly, and she smiled sadly.

“Don’t worry, it’s not desperate yet. I’m still me - for now.” He slipped the cross back in his pocket with an exaggerated sigh of relief, but he kept on alert, his hand still on it, just in case. “Now, I could, theoretically, go hunt some animals in bat form, but that will drain me quicker, and considering we’re in a relatively clean and busy town, if I can’t find anything…”

Sal laid his other hand consolingly on her shoulder, and almost immediately regretted his decision as Ash’s eyes fell hungrily on his wrist again. He settled for leaning forward and speaking softly, gently removing his hand.

“What can I do to help?”

“Well, as I see it, I have two options.” Ash’s eyes bored into him, not having changed back. “I can go bat-form and pray to… I don’t know, Satan or something, that I can find something in time, or…” She looked at him meaningfully, and he understood exactly what she meant.

“Or you can drink from me.”

“I swear I won’t take enough to kill you, or turn you, or even knock you out, and I will only do it if you let me. I’d never hurt you if you didn't tell me it was okay.”

Sal considered, weighing up how much she needed it with how much he trusted her.

“Alright.”

Her unnatural eyes widened.

“Really?”

“Yeah. You’re clearly struggling to not… go psycho, or whatever it is that happens. I’m here, and you won’t actually damage me at all, so why not? Heck, I’ve probably gone through more painful operations.”

She threw her arms around him tightly.

“Holy crap, Sally Face, you’re the best!”

A slow smile spread across his face, and he returned the hug, letting his already unbuckled mask fall into his lap. She pulled back for a second, looking pleased at the visibility of his face, and running a hand through her hair.

“There’s one more thing I can do to make it easier for you.”

“Which is?”

Her eyes shifted sideways, and she smirked bashfully.

“One of my weird-ass powers is… sort of like hypnotism. I can’t control you or anything, but I can put you in a trance. If I do that, you won’t feel a thing while I drink. Otherwise, it’s gonna hurt. But again, I won’t do it unless you let me.”

“That’s probably a good idea. Thanks, I guess.”

“No, thank you. You didn’t have to do this.” She stopped, tilting her head to examine him. “Seriously, you don’t have to do this. I’m not sure what you think it’s gonna be like, but Hollywood lied to you. This would normally hurt like hell, and it’s blood, so it’s sticky, and messy, and gross, and… yeah. Just generally not fun.”

“I know.” Sal leaned forward again, knowing exactly how dangerous it was, but this time not caring. “I trust you. I don’t think you’ll hurt me.”

“I won’t. I mean, I will, I’m literally about to, but I won’t do any major damage, and I’ll do my best to minimize the pain. Ready?”

He tugged down the front of his jumper quickly, brushing his hair out of his eyes, and shifting to face Ash.

“Yeah. See you in a minute?”

“Maybe a few.”

Ash POV:

“Maybe a few.”

She closed her eyes, focusing hard on the tiny pinprick of power inside her. It wasn’t much, vampires were an extremely diluted type of magic, but it was enough for this. She let her eyes slide open again, throbbing with her will, and met Sal’s eyes. She could feel him instinctively resisting the pull, trying to keep his head clear.

“Don’t fight it, Sally, you agreed to this. Remember?”

He smiled. Honestly surprising he could hold out this long.

“Is this the part where you tell me to stare into your eyes and just relax?”

She snorted.

“Pretty much. Kinda shocked you’re still lucid enough to make that joke.”

“Yeah, it’s not going to last. You do know how to wake me up, right?”

She just smirked, leaving herself the last laugh as Sal’s joking eyes widened in nervousness for a split second before they glazed over, and his expression became completely neutral. The smile faded off her face, and she looked over her statue-still friend remorsefully. She stuck a hand in front of his face and waved, but there was no acknowledgement. He was utterly bewitched.

“Sorry, Sal.”

She made to grab his wrist, then stopped. She looked up at his blank, scarred face, then gently rose up on one knee, kissing his forehead tenderly.

“You really are incredible”, she told him, but she knew he didn’t hear.

Sal POV:

“Sally?”

A voice cut through the haze surrounding him, and for a split second of clarity, he realized his mind had been completely shut down, not registering anything at all.

“Sal.”

Such a beautiful voice. Silvery, flowing, and gorgeous, like ribbon.

“Come on, Sally Face, you’re stronger than this.”

Familiar? 

“Goddamn it, Sal, snap out of it.”

The voice was almost pitying, but there was a soft edge to it, and it sounded like it was holding back laughter. 

No, not it. Her. 

Green eyes settled into focus in front of his own listless pair. The rest of her face spiralled into his vision as well, and the pieces of her slowly connected, becoming more and more familiar. Like an old friend.

Ash.

  All at once, everything sharpened, and Sal’s hand flew up to his head, an abrupt awareness of his rebooting mind. As he did, he registered a dull pain somewhere on his body, where she must have bitten him, but he wasn’t quite conscious enough to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. The memory of what he’d just thought about her voice sprung up on him, and, realizing the mask was no longer in place to hide his blush, he decided to dismiss it as a result of the enchantment.

“Hey, sleeping beauty. You in there?” asked Ash teasingly, but there was something heavier behind her words, something a little too sober to be good. 

“I… I think so. Your weird power thingy really did a number on me, but I’m just a little groggy.” He let his hand fall back in his lap, bumping against his discarded mask as he did, and gave her a tired smile. Now he was actually himself again, he noticed a roll of gauze and a clinical looking spray on the table next to them, and he glanced up at Ash. Her eyes were back to their normal human-passing appearance, and there was a subtle smudge of red at the corner of her mouth.

“I figured it was best to keep you under while I cleaned up the bite. Antiseptic spray is a little bitch.”

He smiled at that, but it dropped off his face at the thought of what she’d had to do. Absently, he put a hand up to his neck, feeling for the bite mark, and frowned.

“Where’s the -”

“The whole thing about vampires and necks is mostly a myth,” Ash replied, the weight behind her words still prominent. “Check your other pulse points.”

A vague dread began to settle over him, and hesitantly he looked down at his hands. Gauze was poking out from his sleeve, and upon seeing it, he instantly knew exactly what was wrong. He pulled his jumper back to reveal two twin holes bound under the fabric bandages, where she’d drank, then pulled the thick cotton back further. The neat gashes lined up across his arm were bound as well. A quick tap on his other arm told him the marks there were treated too. Shame washed over him, and trying to meet Ash’s eyes was like fighting a brick wall with his non-existent powers of telekinesis. Her hand slid under his chin, cold from the wind like one of the undead bloodsuckers he’d seen in movies, and brought his face up level to hers.

“Sally…”

“What can I say to pass this off as not a big deal?”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Ash curled back her lips, revealing her gleaming fangs, and her brow furrowed, her eyes earnest in their utter horror, before she dropped her head, letting out a long, slow breath.

“Listen, Sal, I don’t know why you’re doing this to yourself. I don’t know what could have driven someone like you to pick up a blade and… I just don’t. But I also know I can’t stop you. It’s an addictive habit, I know, and you’ll find a way to do it if you’ve made up your mind that’s what you’re gonna do.” He finally turned towards her, needing to see her expression clearly. It was pointless, though, as she’d looked away, hiding her face. “Knowing how deep your self-hatred goes, I don’t think I can convince you to stop. And vampire hypno powers only go so far. But please, I am begging you, stay relatively safe while you do it. I can’t lose you.” She met his gaze, desperation lining her body as she leaned towards him, cupping his face. “At least get yourself some fucking bandages.”

“I’m sorry.” The hoarseness of Sal’s voice caught him by just as much surprise as the hot tears that spilled over his lids out of nowhere. Ash’s face softened, and she leaned still further forward, her hands bunching up the back of the jumper as she pulled him in for a hug. He squeezed his eyes shut, the tears forcing themselves out, and tucked his head against her shoulder. 

“You should be apologizing to yourself, but I’m not delusional enough to think that’s gonna happen.” She stroked his hair understandingly, the feeling registering through the despairing numbness. “I know I literally just had you under a spell, which I did to give me an opportunity to take some of your blood, but… I genuinely don’t want you getting hurt.” Her grip tightened, and she rested her chin on his head. “I love you, Sally Face. You know that. And if you won’t take self-preservation as a reason to stop, maybe you’ll take the three of us needing you as one. We need you, Sal.”

“Thank you…” he mumbled, clutching at his mask. Ash seemed to understand; she gently pulled back, watching him buckle on the mask sadly. He paused, feeling her gaze still on him, and looked up. “I mean it, Ash. I love you too, and that… really helped.”

[mintseesaw]

huling sandali 

translation. last moment ⇀ an entry for paraluman playlist

pairing: namjoon x reader genre: angst, est. relationship au word count: 2.2k warnings: themes of insecurities being triggered, emotional struggles, a break-up drabble a.k.a not a happy ending // pg-13

drabble request by @jim-parkin​​ with “pighati + namjoon” hi hjdgdhsgsg im sorry it took me 3254 years to write this :((( i hope you like it. Also, happy belated birthday, alyssa!!! huh i just found out like 10 hrs ago prior to posting this on my first attempt hfdkdjdh im a horrible friend but ily ;-( *unedited

Namjoon arrived home by the time you started packing your stuff. He found you sitting on the living room floor, casually sorting things and putting them in labeled boxes laid in front of you.

You were supposed to ignore him, just like what he’s been doing in the past week. You realized, days of argument after argument before seems better than a whole week of silence in the apartment. The loneliness becomes greater, the glassy tension— unbearable, and his passive treatment more than anything else, hurts you the most.

You couldn’t look at him, having no will to possibly see the indifference on his face while he watches you gradually removing your traces in his place.

As seconds turn minutes since the distinct click of the door closing snaps shut, you took notice of the prolonged silence without the tap of the heels of his black shoes on the granite floor resonating through the living room. With your curiosity suddenly distracting you out of your focus, your head tilted on your side to peek behind you.

There he was, standing so tall and so formal with a frown on his face. His eyes shone not because of the lenses of his glasses but from the unshed tears on his eyes. When your gazes met, he was quick to crane his neck to the opposite side.

You open your mouth to call him to gather his attention. But he was already walking away out of the living room.

It’s been a whole week since you told him you’ll move out. He perfectly understood the implication of it. He objected, tried to convince you not to leave. When his attempts went futile, he did stop trying. Then fostered the silence between the two of you.

He avoided you while you try to make things right by keeping the break up somewhat acceptable on both terms. His refusal to speak with you seemed to convince you that, somehow, he had given up, silently giving you the signal to proceed on your plans.

Half an hour later, you began emptying half of the wardrobe in the walk-in closet. Coincidentally, he was in the shower at the time. After work, he’d routinely clean himself up before he rests or eats dinner with you. However, he stopped taking meals with you nor stayed in the bedroom to read the day you broke the word to him. With his persistence to avoid your presence, you’re almost sure he would let you be in peace while you packed the last bit of your clothes from the closet.

You’re supposed to leave days ago. The tenant of the apartment complex you found weeks prior has been non stop bugging you to move in.

However, you cannot just leave without a proper goodbye to him. In fact, he should be the one leaving you, not the other way around. But he couldn’t do that. Because he owns this place just as much as he owns nearly everything here including your heart.

Namjoon would never ask you to leave, even if he wants you to. That’s how much goodness there is in him. You just happened to take advantage of it and live comfortably by his side.

With your emotions at bay, a silent tear spid down your cheeks, leaving a dot of patch on the fabric of your folded clothes as you fill up your luggage on the bed.

Mere seconds later just as you hear the bathroom door opening, you feel the familiar, strong arms snaked over your waist from behind making you still instantaneously on the spot.

“Namjoon—“

“Don’t… don’t leave.” He says to you for the first time in a week.

His wet hair quickly drenches the spot on your shoulder where he laid his forehead.

Squeezing his hand pressed on your stomach, you smile weakly without facing him. “We talked about this.”

You felt his forehead grazing your shoulder blade as he shakes his head, “I don’t agree with this.”

“We both need this. We need to give each other time to breathe.” You murmur under your breath, nearly admitting the real reason behind your decision. That you knew. You knew he was suffering, and he was trying not to show it to you.

“I don’t need it if you’re not with me.” Namjoon says back, the grip of his arms around tightening.

Sighing, “You’re smarter than me, Joon. You know it’s been tough for the both of us. You’ve been so patient with me and I know you’re getting tired.”

“We can s-still make this work. Fighting is normal. Arguments allow us to speak of our minds. We learn but we move on from it because we love each other.”

“We tried, Joon. So many times. So many times that there’s nothing left of me but doubts and insecurities.”

Namjoon plants a subtle kiss on the side of your head. You remained pliant to his embrace, almost not wanting for him to let you go. For him to insist his place in your life despite your determination to fulfill what you need to do.

“I can wait until you’re ready to love yourself, again.” He attempts once more. He’s always honest with his thoughts so you know he’s sincere when he speaks his heart out.

“That’s not how it works.”

“Then tell me what I should do, please don’t give up just yet.”

His words are like a twisting fire of a knife in your chest, slithering your heart apart and burning the shreds into ashes. The room suddenly feels suffocating and stiff.

Disentangling his arms around your waist, you turn to finally face him. If you’re not only so emotionally invested with the confrontation, you could have stared at him and let your eyes admire every detail on his face until he shies away from your peer that cheeks bloom with crimson tint. Just like the old times.

But your chances have run out, moments have fleeted, your time with him is almost over. Your palms harshly wiping wet traces on your cheeks, refusing to cry in front of him. With a tilt of your chin up, he struck you with his sorrowful, pleading eyes.

“Do you really want someone like me? Someone who depends on you— financially, physically, emotionally? You meet a lot of successful women and I fear that I’m not gonna be enough for you. Joon, I’ll always worry and pick up fights with you.”

Tears brimmed on his eyes, shaking his head to stress his disagreement. “You are more than enough for me. I didn’t love you because of what you have. I fell in love with you because of what’s in here,” he points at your chest.

“Why, it’s you who has a pure soul. You have everything a man could have asked for. Any woman would fall at your feet to earn your attention,” your voice deteriorating as your head falling in morose, suddenly losing the ability to hold his stare with the facade of a strength you’re putting up. “You know, I’m so lucky to have you. I’ve always told you that. But now, things changed. You’re suffering because of me. It’s how I realized I have to let you go because I want you to be happy, again.”

He gathers your face with his palms, forcing you to look at him. “No, no, no. That’s not true. You make me happy.. Please, stop this, you’re everything to me…”

His warm breaths fanning your skin with his heavy, calculated breathing.

“It’s me,” you pause, “You’ve taught me how to love but I chose the wrong way, I loved you too much than what I’m capable of giving. Now I’m lost and I don’t even know who I am anymore.”

He inches his face closer until his nose is touching your cheek. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, “I didn’t mean to change you. I thought I was doing the right thing for you. I want you to dream, I want to see you soar high with your chosen profession. Please, baby don’t leave me. We could fix this.”

No, he was getting the wrong impressions. You didn’t regret going back to college when he pleaded you to. You didn’t regret setting aside your passion for art to continue the education you once took up before you left ran away from home. None of the ugly thoughts poisoning your mind were his doing. It was you and your insecurities.

“It’s not your fault. You saved me, remember? I met you at the time I was drowning in grief. Then I started dreaming. And the day you confessed your feelings to me, you made my dream come true. That was more than enough for me, Joon. Every inch of you became my happiness and it pains me to see I’m the one making you suffer.”

“Listen to me, _____. You make me happy. There’s no perfect relationship. But you’re perfect to me. You’ve always kept me grounded, made me think of my future, made me thrive for our future. No woman has had me at my worst, they only want the good things in life. You’ve been through tough times. But the kindness in your heart remains immeasurable, do you hear me? You deserve everything I have offered and so much more, baby.”

His thumbs patiently brushing the tears away.

“I can’t keep dragging you with my downfall.”

“I don’t want us fighting but sometimes, it gets out of hand. I stay at an arm’s length but it doesn’t mean I want you gone. Because at the end of the day, I’d want to go home to you even when we’re not okay.”

Your eyes fluttered close, not bearing to see the tears free-flowing on his cheeks. Namjoon rarely cries in front of you. Even before when you were purposely trying to aim his heart with your sharp words, nothing could seem to break him down. It’s always you who’s end up losing. Crying.

Silence filled the air for a moment until you heard him shifted. Then you felt a pressure on the side of your thighs and when you caught up what he did, your knees almost gave out.

“Namjoon— w-what are you doing? Stand up!”

His fingers dug deep on the skin of your thighs, head hung long, “Don't leave,” he begs.

“No, stand up!” You sob in disbelief. He couldn’t do this when you should be the one begging for forgiveness for failing him.

Hurriedly, you shuffled on your knees, fisting his shirt as you sobbed on his chest.

His arms gave you warmth as they enveloped over your back. As the room starts to drown with your muffled cries, he cups your face and in a matter of second, Namjoon’s lips are on yours, swallowing your sobs and murmuring sweet I love you’s while keeping your connected lips with his.

Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours, your insides are a mess, dreading for the end of this moment. With his concern to your plan, he refuses to loosen his hold on you. Even when you urged him to lie down on the bed with you, he didn’t move not until you tugged his body down beside you.

The rhythmic brushes of your fingers on his hair have calmed him down but with his arm secured over your back. It was only when he finally fell asleep when the grip of his arm loosens.

It’s been hours. You haven’t gotten a wink of sleep, and the sun will soon rise in a matter of an hour or two.

It doesn’t resolve the issue. It won’t because you know the next day, things will be the same. Same insecurities will eat you up alive until you burst your anger at him. And then the fight starts, arguments will inevitably tear you two apart. It’s an unending cycle of toxicity that not even yourself can control. Not until you allow yourself to heal.

Until then, you deem yourself unworthy of his love.

You need to leave before he wakes up. You know, it wouldn’t take long before you regret your decision.

“Meeting you was the best thing that happened in my life. I’m sorry for failing you, for failing myself. I hope,” you choke as a lump forms in your throat, “... you’ll be proud of me when I get better even when you have found someone else.” You ended your parting words with your lips pressing gently on the back of his hand.

Your shoulders slightly shake, your hands tremble as sobs threaten to break from your throat.

Your thumb carefully caresses his knuckles, watching him sleep so peacefully with your blurry vision. Suddenly, you couldn’t find the strength in you to pull yourself up.

“Why is it so hard to leave?” You whisper, looking at his sleeping figure.

He is your strength. Your happiness. The owner of your heart. Your dream come true. Someday, you’ll return and take your heart back from him. But for now, you’ll have to start living without it.

With one last look, you stood up with all your might and let the tears fall mercilessly as you fought back the urge to run back to him.

~~~

That moment still remains vivid in your mind, as fresh as the wound in your heart a year later. If you could only turn back the time, you wish he was awake to stop you from leaving. Now, all you could do is watch him from afar at his favorite coffee shop with someone else. The same one he used to take you at. He looks genuinely happy. At least, the break up did him good.

Every time you stood up from your seat to leave, you keep reminding yourself it’s the last time you’ll hope for your paths to cross. Somehow when the pain gets too much to bear, you always find yourself coming back here. Hoping. For another chance. You have the answer to that now. Someone else has already taken your place in his heart.

Inside the coffee shop, the girl sitting across him huffs while watching you walk away out of the establishment. She shifts her gaze to the man in front of her whose attention has speechlessly zeroed in on your figure through the glass walls.

“When will you actually start talking to the girl? You’ve been dragging me here for over a month now. My time is precious, Kim. It’s so obvious you’re smitten for her!” She glares.

Namjoon didn’t answer, only because he doesn’t know how. How do I win her back?

mintseesaw © 2020

[khadij-al-kubra]

Worst Impressions are the First (ch 7)

Main Characters: Logan, Patton, Roman, Virgil (Human AU)

Pairings: Romantic LAMP

Word Count: 5036

AO3

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Author’s (longer than usual but it’s for good reason) Note: *The Apocalypse—2020. Zoom in on a plague rat turned writer. She has survived thesis projects, getting a Master’s degree, burnout, writing and illustrating a children’s book, being a slave for the U.S. census bureau, months of overthinking anxiety spirals, and one or two incidents involving an asshole skunk. But now, battle weary yet unwavering in her love of art and love for her loyal readers, this onesie-clad tea slurping book dragon....has finally arisen from the ashes*

I LIVE BITCHES!!!!!!! And I am SO SORRY for taking so long!!! I’ve been hard at work, been editing like a mad woman, and I even have a beta now! The gorgeous and talented @humbletortoise So I  am OFFICIALLY off hiatus!!! *cue confetti canon* 

Also, one of the biggest reasons I’ve taken so long to update is because I’ve spent the past month or so essentially retconning the fuck outta this fic. I realized looking back at earlier chapters in this story that, although I was proud of them at the time and greatly appreciate the positive reactions, they were...not my best work. (shitty first drafts if I’m being honest) That’s because, at the time, I was trying to split my attention between writing this fic and working on grad school stuff, which resulted in my writing for this not being as best of quality as it could have been upon first posting. This story deserves my best, and so do all of you. So now I hope to give you that. 

I encourage you to go back and re-read the previous chapters up till now (trust me, they’re near unrecognizable to the first drafts, but in the best way). Or if you don’t feel like doing that, you can just continue on from here. totally cool. For the sake of convenience and my own sanity, I’ll attach the AO3 Link to this fic from the start. I may also start just posting chapter updates on tumblr but only have the link to the chapter and add my reader tags. Again, for the sake of my sanity because Tumblr is a bastard when it comes to posting fics. (Also PLEASE let me know if there are any tagging issues if anyone’s on my tags list; yet another reason i’m considering just linking my fics in the future)

Anywho, without further ado, at LOOOOOONG last, here is the next chapter!

Chapter 7 - (POV Roman)

When Roman had offered to walk with Logan to class, it was only partly out of an innate sense of chivalry; a side of himself that he rarely got to show on account of being a socially awkward gay disaster. Though mainly, he saw it as a chance to get to know his second soulmate better.

He certainly hadn’t expected two long minutes of civil but silent walking. Well, as silent as a stroll through their school could be with its usual racket buzzing around them. With a vocabulary as big as the continents of Africa and Eurasia combined, you’d think Logan would be more of a conversationalist. Alas. He merely walked in step with Roman. They glanced over at each other every so often, but Logan stayed tight lipped and seemingly impassive; fiddling with his bumblebee hair pin every now and again. Damn. Looked like he was going to have to make the first move.

Roman was bad at this. How did people usually…Oh yeah, common interest. That’s a thing. He wracked his brain for some sort of ice breaker. One that’d make him look cool and calm or, something, in front of Logan. He was a fairly decent student though not quite mathletes level. He could compliment his outfit maybe? Was that too forward? Too shallow? Maybe he could find common ground? That was as good a place to start as any.

“So! So uhh…What kind of music do you like?” Roman asked. Yeah, that’s good. Everybody likes music.

Logan glanced at him. “Can you be more specific?”

Roman’s brow furrowed. “I mean, like, your favorite genre of music to listen to?”

“Classical,” said Logan in a clipped tone.

“That’s cool. I don’t really listen to classical myself.”

Logan only hummed, his face neutral. Roman was really hoping for more than that. A few awkward seconds passed, then Logan spoke up.

“Are you perhaps a fan of the classic Sherlock Holmes novels?” He inquired.

“Um, I haven’t gotten around to the books yet, actually,” Roman said, scratching his earlobe. “I mean, I’ve heard great things about them. And I’m a big fan of the Robert Downey Jr. movies.”

“Ah. I see.” Logan said, giving him the judgiest side eye.

Come on, Roman thought. Give me something to work with. “Oh! What about theater?”

“What a frustratingly vague inquiry.”

“Well, excuse me for trying to get to know my soulmate a little better.” Ay come jode, work with me here, man!

Logan sighed. “While I understand and appreciate your intention, I believe ‘getting to know someone’ as you put it, requires a certain level of specificity. Anything less indicates a somewhat shallow level of sincere interest, and I greatly despise shallow conversation. That said, if you’re inquiring as to whether or not I enjoy theater, no. I don’t understand the concept of professional make believe, though I appreciate it as an art form. I assume you’re a fan?”

Is he seriously implying I’m shallow? Roman groused, pushing his red frames up the bridge of his nose. Ugh, forget it Roman. He’s throwing you a bone here. Take it.

“Obviously,” said Roman, gesturing dramatically. “I mean I’m no actor—Eesh. No. Yikes—but everything about the artform enthralls me. And I like all kinds of genres and eras of plays, from Shakespear to Ruhl, but musicals are by far my favorite, because like, there’s so much you can do with them design wise. I mean just look at how groundbreaking Hamilton was.”

For a second, Logan’s face actually softened, his eyes lighting up. But just as Roman thought they were finally about to make some progress, his stony companion was back to wearing that platinum puss.

“Ah. How… original.”

Roman blinked. “Are you saying my tastes are basic?”

“Well, yes.”

Augh! Okay. Yep. I don’t like him. Patton was going to be so disappointed, and Roman was too. He’d wanted so badly to get along with all his soulmates, but Logan was a snob! Way less intimidating than Virgil and his ilk, but still a jerk. I wonder if soulmarks can make typos or something? Thank the stars they’d already arrived.

Roman and Logan filed in with the rest of the class for seventh period. Somebody had the liberty of opening a window– the AC was still busted in this classroom– so for once there was actually a decent breeze cutting through the usual mucky Florida humidity. Still smelled like it would probably rain later. Good thing Roman had packed an umbrella just in case, Mom’s orders. His hair looked too good today to be wrecked by frizz.

Roman took a seat at his desk, running distracted fingers over the carved letters in the wood while he mulled over his predicament. Just look at him over there, thought Roman as he glared at Logan, not two rows away from him. Sitting with his hands clasped on the desk all smug—of course he’d be near the front—and with such disturbingly good posture. What is he, a robot? Who is he to call my interests basic, the NERVE! And okay, sure, like Hamilton, sometimes I get over excited and shoot off at the mouth. But great Zeus, does that guy show passion for ANYTHING besides academics? Roman blew a raspberry, plopping his head in his hands.

He always thought soulmates were supposed to get along, even as just friends for life. Balancing each other out, bringing out the best in you and forming a deep connection—that was the whole point. He sighed to himself. Cymbals clashed less than he and Logan did.

He was stirred from his brooding by the bell. Apparently Mr. ‘Call-me-Terrence’ Williams had materialized without him noticing. Okay fine, he should probably pay more attention, but he was having a crisis here.

“Afternoon everyone,” Terrence greeted in that measured, upbeat tone of his.  

He draped his navy blue blazer over the back of his desk chair and rolled his shirt sleeves to the elbows. Roman pitied the poor guy;  he had to teach sauna of a classroom all day. He could see the glisten of sweat on his teacher's smooth forehead as he wrote things on the board. Yet he still kept a pleasant attitude towards his students.

“Alright class!” Terrence started, “Today we’re covering the next section on the American Revolution. Specifically, the Battle of Yorktown...”

Roman mentally punched the air. My time has come. He opened his textbook to the right page but didn’t bother looking at it. He already knew most everything about Yorktown. Not just because he’d listened to the Hamilton soundtrack fifteen and a half million times, but also because he’d done actual research on the event and time period that the musical took place; There was always the off chance he’d get to stage crew or, heck, even dramaturg the show. He liked to be prepared.

“So the battle of Yorktown took place in 1781, but a great deal of its success was thanks to the French Allies. Many especially aided in fighting the British Troops surrounding New York. Now who can tell me where the French Soldiers first landed?”

Roman half raised his hand. He was pretty sure he knew the answer.

“Logan.” Terrence called.

Roman turned to Logan desk, where his hand was held high and mighty.

“The French Ally ships first landed in Rhode Island, then made their way to Chesapeake Bay,” said Logan, adjusting his glasses. Not even a hint of second guessing in his voice.

“That’s right!”

He almost missed the quick smirk on Logan’s frustratingly pretty face. Look at that smug—thinks he’s so smart...Okay yes, he is smart, but he doesn’t have to be a show off about it. Terrence continued through the passages, calling on a student every now and again to review. Of course, Logan got called on most and he got every answer right. Roman didn’t feel like raising his hand anymore.

“Of course there were many turning points in the revolution, but Hamilton’s return to the field for Yorktown was a key point.” Terrence continued on. “And keep in mind- this was a man who up till now had never been in a position of command before. Not to mention the mental strains he must’ve been under, especially having had to miss the birth of his son Philip, the first of three children he had.”

Wait a sec. “Well, that’s not right.”

Even though he’d muttered, apparently Mr. Terrence still heard him. “Come again, Roman?”

Shoot. “Um, I said,” Stop sounding timid, you know you’re right. “I said that was, um, wrong.”

The whole class turned to him. Oh great, history class has its eyes on me. Roman cleared his throat and tried to look taller.

“What I mean is: Hamilton had eight kids, not three. And on top of that, Phillip was born a few months after they won the Revolution, not during, so Hamilton didn’t miss the birth of his son. I mean sure, it’s a small thing, but the devil’s in the details as they say. Heh.”

Terrence gave the most insultingly bemused look. And Roman definitely heard a few kids snickering behind him. He glanced quickly at the culprits and felt his ears go hot. This is what he got for putting himself in the spotlight.

“Roman, I applaud you for participating in the class discussion,” Their teacher started gently, “but I’m afraid you’re wrong on this one. If you read your textbook close you’d see in the fifth paragraph where it mentions from one of his later letters—“

“Actually Mr. Williams, if I may, Roman is correct.”

Roman saw Logan at his desk, one hand raised while the other adjusted his neck scarf. Was the teacher’s pet actually… backing him up?

“It is a common misconception that Alexander Hamilton only had two children, even more so modernly, what with the musical having only named two of them. However Roman has clearly done his research on the plays historical accuracies, which is more than I can say for some.”

Logan shot a cool but scathing look at their recently snickering classmates and they withered. Roman fought the urge to point and laugh aloud. He did however stick his tongue out real quick. What? He could be shy and petty at the same time.

“My guess,” Logan continued, “is that this textbook edition is also either misprinted or outdated, judging by the publication date in the copyright section.”

Brows furrowed, Terrence looked at the textbook laid open on his desk. He flipped back to the front, before pulling out his cellphone—“I’m the teacher, I’m allowed to do this. You guys aren’t.”—and after what Roman guessed was a quick Google search, their teacher looked up. His eyebrows drawn in a ‘hm, well damn’ expression.

“Looks like you’re right, Roman. And thank you Logan for bringing to my attention about the textbooks. I’ll have to talk to the principal about hopefully getting some updated materials. But we’ll see how that goes,” Terrence, muttered the last part, though Roman was close enough to catch it. Terrence cleared his throat and moved back to the board. “Maybe if we call on assistance from the inside. Much like how the Sons of Liberty sent in Hercules Mulligan to spy on the British...”

“Perhaps if we knew of an immigrant who was unafraid to step in,” Logan said just under his breath.

No one else seemed to notice the reference, but when Roman did, he felt like a mini volcano about to burst rainbow lava. Apparently there was a lot more to his soulmate than first meets the eye; and now that he knew, Roman was determined to see more of it. The rest of class passed quickly and everyone filed out to the halls as the first bell for the last class period of the day rang. Roman made sure to catch up to Logan on the way out and staccato tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey, Logan?” He said.

When Logan turned, he swore time slowed down for a moment. The brilliant boy’s skirt flared around his waist, and somehow his skin glowed even under the dull, inconsistent school lights. His posture was erect yet natural, he could have been raised among nobility. Amidst the stench and clamor of loud sweaty students, Logan was as poised and striking as the goddess Athena. Oh...

“Yes, Roman?” Logan asked.

Roman gulped. “I uh, just wanted to thank you for backing me up in there.”

“Thanks are unnecessary,” Logan said. “I detest when someone is shamed by other students for speaking up in class, regardless of whether or not they have the correct information.”

“Well regardless, thanks for coming to my aid in the face of academic danger.”

“Dramatic, but my pleas—oof!”

A hurried passerby bumped into Logan from behind, rushing off with a half-assed ‘sorry’. Logan, caught off guard, stumbled right into Roman’s arms. The two looked at each other, cheeks filling with heat. Roman caught a whiff of something faintly floral on Logan, something natural– a lavender and honeysuckle perfume, perhaps. It was heavenly. They were still in the middle of foot traffic though, so he maneuvered them to the side. Which was tricky since Logan was still so close to him and also a good two inches taller with the heels.

“Well,” Roman flashed his pearly whites. “Seems you’ve fallen for me.”

Logan pulled away, but his lips quirked upwards in a teasing smirk. “Oh please, I merely stumbled into you.”

“Ah, but stumbling is the first step towards being swept off your feet.”

“Bold words from an abashedly charming homunculus in such an… eye catching ensemble.”

Did he call me charming!? He composed himself, “Hey, don’t let the sweater vest fool you. I may be short but I’ve got guns.”

“Aaah. But mind over muscle, as they say. Do you find yourself up to the task?”

“Only if it’s you, my brainy blossom.”

Roman’s class was in the other direction, but Logan didn’t need to know that. They walked through the halls, conversing. class was still in the next ten or so minutes, but Roman was having fun. Banter with Logan felt surprisingly easy. Natural like they’d been at it all their lives.

“By the way, was that a ‘Guns n’ Ships’ reference I overheard, pastel poindexter?” Roman asked.

Logan cleared his throat. “It… may have been, yes. I found myself unable to resist toppling the figurative dominos.”

“In other words, you seized the opportunity you saw,” Roman said, matching his own reference to the source’s cadence, which got a chuckle out of Logan.

“Precisely. Under more casual circumstances, I may have even recited Lafayette’s part.”

“You can rap? You can rap Guns n’ Ships? Like, the whole thing, no tongue twists?”

Logan stopped for a moment, turned to Roman. The taller boy cleared his throat, and after a moment wherein he seemed to mentally restrain himself, he simply adjusted his glasses.  “I have an appreciation for poetry.”

Roman blinked rapidly. Holy shit, he’s an even bigger nerd than I am. He definitely needed to see that at some point.

They turned a corner, stopping just outside of the science room. Some students were going in to take their seats, and the teacher was already making notes on the board. Logan pulled an AP Physics book from his backpack, but made no move to leave, much to Roman’s delight.

“So then,” Roman leaned against the eggshell wall, “How come you acted so indifferent earlier and called my tastes basic? Oh, and I think I remember you also implied I was shallow?”

Okay, yeah, he was still kind of salty about that. But then he saw the shamed look on the nerd’s face, and Roman wished he could have taken it back. Logan looked at his shoes then back at him.

“To be candid I was… hesitant to show the full extent of my enthusiasm. In case you thought I’d be—I believe ‘being the most’ is the term— it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve caused someone to lose interest in conversing with me due to informational overload. I nearly bored my Aunt Patricia to sleep once talking about a fascinating article on jellyfish. And considering how I blundered our initial meeting—“

“Pfft, ya think?” He mentally slapped himself again when Logan went tight-lipped and turned to go. “No, no, wait. I—I’m sorry. Truly. ...Truth is, I was no gentleman either. I’m not always great at thinking before I speak. It’s why I’m so awkward around people. Takes a while for my true charming nature to shine through.”

“Clearly. Still, you show a level of interpersonal aptitude that I, well, lack.” Logan fiddled with his hair pin again and a stray hair came loose. “Reading people and expressing emotions has never really been—It’s something I struggle with.”

Much as Logan tried to maintain his cool composed posturing, Roman could tell that this was something that really bothered him. He tried so hard to seem put together and confident and serious, but really he was just as awkward and insecure as anyone. Roman smiled softly and stepped closer to Logan, reaching up to tuck the loose ebony strand behind his ear.

“Hey, everyone’s got things about themselves they can work on. Including me,” Roman smiled. “And believe me when I say that I will never judge you for being passionate about something you like. So if you ever want someone to ramble about jellyfish or Sweeney Todd to or—I dunno, calculators or something?—I’m all ears.”

Logan’s cheeks went pink and he gave a hesitant yet sincere smile. “That’s...very kind of you, Roman. And coincidentally, I also greatly enjoy Sweeney Todd. The use of iambic pentameter and alliteration to give a succinct synopsis to the story in just the first sentence alone is pure brilliance.”

“Right!? I mean the man’s a mad genius. I’m dying to design sets for one of his musicals someday. Like last year? I came up with the concept of having the Sweeney Todd sets done in a way that highlights the class differences with the characters.” Roman went into a small three minute ramble regarding the specifics before he cut himself off abruptly. Logan was blinking rapidly, a look of mild shock crossing his feature. Roman nearly started sweating; Had he messed this up again?

“That… that’s ingenious”

Roman’s ears were burning. Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!

“Hey, Logan!” They both startled and turned to an impatient cheerleader with a ginger undercut and they/them pronoun pin shaped like a coffin. “What’re you doing just standing out in the hall, ya dork? Oh, hey Roman.”

“Uh. Hey, October,” Roman said, waving awkwardly to them.

“I told ya, Red, you only get to call me that when we’re working on a show.”

“Wait, October? Red? You two know each other?” Logan asked, brow arching.

“Kind of. They sometimes help out with costumes for the drama club,” said Roman. And they have terrible timing. I mean seriously Tobes, we were having a moment.

“Come on Lo, class is about to start, and you promised to go over my homework with me real quick beforehand. See ya ‘round, Ro.” Toby grabbed Logan’s hand and pulled him into the classroom. “You can fill me in on what you were doing with Red later.”

Logan followed his—apparently—friend into their classroom, but he shot Roman an apologetic look over his shoulder. Roman bounced a bit on the balls of his feet before following halfway into the room. Logan was in his seat with Toby showing him an open notebook. A teacher in a tight grey hair bun was writing on the board. Students at their seats were chatting, and some looked up at the short dork in red who burst in. For once Roman ignored them, his mind set on one last attempt at wooing his green skirted genius while he still had the nerve.

“Hey, Logan,” he said. “I’ve also got some great layout designs for an Into the Woods set. If you’re interested, maybe we can meet up after school and I can show them to you? Maybe we talk a bit more over iced lattes or something?”

“Excuse me, Mr. Prince, seventh period starts in five minutes,” said the teacher. “Unless you’ve suddenly transferred to my class, I suggest you stop distracting my favorite student and get going.”

“I’ll be gone in just a second,” he said. “Well?”

Logan smoothed the silky fabric of his pink scarf and said, “That sounds optimal, Roman. I’ll meet with you. By the first floor water fountain perhaps?”

Roman grinned. “I shall be counting the minutes.”

“Mr. Prince,” said the teacher with a warning glare.

Roman blew a kiss at Logan and then ducked out of the doorway. Was he embarrassed of himself? Oh definitely. Did he regret it? Absolutely not. He felt ten inches tall.

Now to complete the quest of making it to class in time. He slid off a shoulder strap to unzip his classic Mickey backpack, getting out the notebook and the relevant homework. He found them amidst the mess of spiral notebooks, granola bar wrappers, two textbooks and rainbow sticky notes. But something was missing from his folder.

“Where are those– it should be here.” He could’ve sworn he had his stapled the blocking notes in his folder. No, wait, the last place he saw them was— “Ah shoot! I left them in the tech closet again.”

Under normal circumstances, Roman would’ve grabbed them after school, but the auditorium was locked on weekends. He’d have to wait till Monday to get them and that just wouldn't do! he wanted to show Logan his notes today! I’ll bet David Korins never has these kinds of problems. Okay, okay. Still got four minutes. He could rush to the auditorium, grab the notes, and then head straight to class. I should have enough time, right? Right. Besides it was only Spanish Class, he was already pretty fluent after all those summers visiting his grandparent in Nicaragua. He spent most of class time dreaming up blocking notes anyway.

Despite not being totally convinced by his own argument, Roman immediately turned on his heel and started running in the opposite direction. After a teacher told him no running in the halls, Roman power walked through the halls with a skip in his step and a song in his heart, feeling absolutely gay in both senses of the word. Logan had actually called his idea ingenious! And the way those sharp eyes softened just for him- he would squeal if not for the fact that it would draw too many eyes to him. The halls were still filled with a few stragglers rushing to the last class of the day, and he was already trying not to get caught being late for class.

Now he knew how Maria felt in West Side Story. Y’know, before Act 2. Oh sure, they’d gotten off to a shaky start, but as the Bard’s adage on the course of true love said; and Roman felt it in his gut that this was certainly the start of true love. Not just with brilliant Logan but also with soulful Patton as well. He didn’t know how an awkward geek like him ever got so lucky in the soulmate department…Then again, there was still the matter of Virgil. So maybe not so lucky.

Roman touched his arm, remembered flustered yet flattering purple words. I know they both said Virgil is secretly sweet and I can sympathize with the terrors of closet town, but COME ON! Virgil? Really? That gloomy gladiator? There had to be a mistake in that. After all, Patton liked to see the good in everyone. Logan was much more of a skeptic, but he does seem to have a blind spot with sarcasm. Maybe Virgil was messing with them somehow. Even if he’s not a jerk jock, the guy’s still kind of a creepazoid; with his dark eyes and cheeta-esq gait and those probably huge muscles hidden under that bulky jacket and big hands...

His gay disaster train of thought came to a merciful halt as he reached the auditorium. Roman pushed open the doors, took a pause to breathe in the quiet comfort of this chapel of the arts. Okay yeah, chapel was maybe a little kind for the school’s auditorium which doubled as the drama Club’s rehearsal space/prop closet backstage/Mx Joan’s unofficial office because the school didn’t fund the arts programs enough. Even so this space was Roman’s sanctuary. The place where he could help create magic from the shadows, bring stories of those gone and living to life. Here, Roman found something of a community with his fellow backstagers, glee club losers, and budding thespians (the nice ones). So he loved every squeaky stage plank, every duck taped seat cushion and every speck of dust that floated in the spot lit air like fairies.

Mx. Joan wasn’t around for once, thankfully. Probably in the teacher’s lounge or rendezvousing with the school nurse or something. They were pretty chill and Roman knew he was their favorite student, but the choir director/drama club moderator/music teacher (this school really needs to fix its funding habits) wouldn’t have been too keen on Roman being deliberately late for class.

Roman walked down the aisle and to the side room by the stage. It was originally a janitor’s closet, but their club moderator transformed it into a ‘Crew Only’ Storage Unit… Okay it was still a closet, but with less bleach and more coils. This was where they kept important equipment for semester shows, like the lighting and sound boards, along with other supplies. Roman made a quick mental note to get more gaffer tape later, seeing their supply was low.

He looked through the small pile of scribbled and highlighted sheets with the lighting cues for the spring show. I’ve really gotta get a binder for these…Ah-Ha! Here you are! Roman pulled out the stapled sheets titled ‘Into the Woods Dream Set’ and carefully shoved them into his bag. Perfect timing too. He might just be able to make it to class after—

RIIIIIIIIIIING

“GAH!”

What the heck? He could’ve sworn he was alone in there, but that yelp just now said otherwise. Up close, Roman saw that the curtains were rustling, accompanied by sounds of heavy breathing and moaning, yet not a footstep to be seen or heard.

Holy SHIT, this place IS haunted! I KNEW that backdrop fiasco last semester wasn’t caused by cheap slit plywood. My supplies are the best quality allowance money can buy. Great Macbeth’s bloody knife, I TOLD Kai we should've sprung for a ghost light! Remus always teased him for being superstitious but look who’s laughing now.

He dashed back into the crew closet and grabbed the heavy push broom leaning in the corner. Roman Prince was NOT about to be caught unawares and possessed by the ghost of a disgruntled student without a fight. He would defend his domain of imagination!

Roman slowly climbed the stage steps, wielding his broom like a bow staff, turned the curtain corner where the noises were coming from and was about to release a war cry on the—

“Virgil?”

Roman nearly dropped his weapon at the sight of Virgil Alighieri—star athlete, object of his fears and supposed soulmate—curled in on himself trembling and crying.

His jacket was pulled over his head like a hood, yet Roman could see the tear stained face peeking out from underneath. Virgil’s eyes were squeezed tight, making the dark circles he’d never noticed before more prominent. There was no denying the athlete had muscle but he was more lithe—thin enough for Roman to wonder if the guy ate enough. Virgil’s trembling could rival a chihuahua, shaky hands clutching his knees, and he was clearly in the midst of a bad panic attack.

Roman had built Virgil up in his mind as being like some odd combination of Hades and Ares. The strong silent wolf within his pack of jocks, a surging thunderstorm just waiting for the right nerd to come along and piss him off enough to strike down like the bolt of Zeus.

Someone to be afraid of.

But now? Seeing him in this state, all alone and whimpering like a wounded animal...it broke Roman’s heart.

He set the broom down gently and carefully crouched down in front of Virgil. “Virgil,” he said softly. “Virgil, can you hear me?”

Virgil let out a breathy sob but otherwise didn’t seem to register him. Just how long had he been sitting here like this?

Roman was at a loss for what to do. Sure he knew plenty of people with anxiety but never saw someone having an actual panic attack before. He did know that if he didn’t help the other calm down soon, Virgil was liable to pass out. He’d never wanted to hug someone so badly in his life. Roman tentatively reached out a hand but stopped. What if touching him makes it worse? What if I startle him so badly he actually has a heart attack!? Maybe I should get the nurse. But I can’t just leave him like this.

He caught sight of the colorful soulmarks written on Virgil’s arm. Saw his own harsh thoughts: ’Dios mio, he’s staring right at me—like he wants to punch my face!’ 

Roman took his shame and forged it into steel. I won’t abandon you...my soulmate.

Virgirl’s let out a hiccuped cry, and this gave Roman an idea. Something from back when he was a child. It was probably stupid and a long stretch, but it was all he could think of. He readjusted himself so that he was now sitting right next to Virgil, making sure not to startle him. Roman cleared his throat, then as softly as he could, he began to sing.

“Come stop your crying, it’ll be alright.

Just take my hand, hold it tight.”

Roman one and carefully gentled his hand over Virgil’s. After a moment, he felt a light squeeze, and that encouraged him to keep going.

“I will protect you from all around you.

I will be here, don’t you cry…”

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[serendipitoustae]

What Your Father Says

pairing : alt band! taehyung x reader

genre : college au, established reationship, fluff, implications of smut but not that explicit

word count : 7.8k

summary: your father doesn’t want you to be with taehyung but you simply do not care

a/n: loosely inspired by the vamps song because all i could think about whilst listening to it was rebellious teen romance.

“That ridiculous band have been wreaking havoc again” your dad sighed as he looked at the local paper whilst you ate your bowl of cookie crisp cereal. “Says here that they spray painted the local skate park before having a bonfire on the premises all for a silly little music video” he continued shaking his head.

“They were getting permission to do it” you told him before realising what you’d said “I mean I assume they did because they used to always ask before they did things for videos” you quickly added

Your boyfriend Taehyung was part of the local rock band that the majority of adults over 40 absolutely despised. They hated their style, their music and most importantly the so called trouble they caused in the name of art. Your dad had never been a fan of Taehyung no matter how polite he was whenever he came to your house. A couple months ago after you helped the band set off a load of fireworks in a car park, your dad forced you to break up with him. He didn’t want his precious little girl involved in that kind of thing. You’d never understood why he cared who you were with, he never cared about your life at all. He rarely even asked how your day was but to avoid arguments and tension in the house you “broke up” with Taehyung. As far as your dad knew you had no contact with him at all but of course you did. You weren’t going to break up with the boy you loved because your dad didn’t like him. Your mother knew you were still with him, she’d always loved Taehyung and was outraged when your dad suggested you broke up with him. She often covers for you when you go out with Tae and says you’re studying at a friend’s or simply that you’re ‘out’ because your dad really didn’t care that much about your whereabouts.

“I bet you’re glad you’re not involved with those trouble makers any more” your dad said as he turned the page of the newspaper

“Yeah I’m really glad” you said in a blunt tone before your phone went off

From: Mik

outside angel x

You’d changed Taehyung’s name in your phone to ‘Mik’, his last name backwards, so that if your dad saw your phone he wouldn’t know you were still with him. You looked out of the window and saw Jungkook’s truck on your drive way, Jungkook was the bands lead singer and despite being the youngest he was often the designated driver. Taehyung used to always drive you to college but since you ‘split up’ he’s been riding with JK so your dad didn’t recognise the car.

“Namjoon’s here I’ll see you later” you said

You always used your best friend Namjoon as a cover up for anytime you were going out with the band. Your dad loved Namjoon and often asked why you’d chosen to date Taehyung over him as he was so intelligent and sensible.

“Bye, send Namjoon my regards” your dad said not looking up from the paper as you left

“I will” you said as you walked out of the front door.

You opened the back door of JK’s truck and were instantly met with the sound of ‘something in the way’ by Nirvana one of the band’s biggest inspirations. Taehyung was sat in the back behind JK just in case your dad ever happened to look in the car. He didn’t actually know what the other band member’s faces looked like so if he saw JK you’d be able to lie about who he was.

“Hey baby” Taehyung grinned as he pressed a kiss to your lips the second you were sat next to him. You brought your hand up to cup his face as he nestled his ring cluttered hand in your hair and deepened the kiss

“Ugh! Guys come on it’s not even 9 am it’s too early for your pda” JK groaned from the driver seat next to Yoongi, the bands bass player.

“You’re just jealous you’ve not got a girl as hot as mine” Taehyung smirked as he wiped the remnants of your lip balm from around his mouth “is that strawberry flavoured?” he asked licking his lips to which you nodded “it’s nice” he said pressing another kiss to your lips. This one a lot shorter lived than the other.

“Can we just get to college before they fuck in the backseat” Yoongi groaned causing you and Taehyung to laugh.

The drive to college was fairly uneventful other than the boys talking about the big show they were playing at the end of the week. It was their biggest show yet and there would be a tonne of record labels scouting for new talent so to say they were nervous was an understatement.

“My dad heard about what you guys did at the skate park” you said

“Let me guess he said ‘aren’t you glad you aren’t with that absolute rapscallion Kim Taehyung anymore’” he said mimicking your dad with a pretty spot on impression

“Yeah pretty much” you laughed “you guys did get permission though right?”

“Of course we did, they said they’re thinking of demolishing the skate park soon so we’d be doing them a favour” JK explained.

When you got to college JK and Yoongi went straight to their music class but Taehyung walked you to your lesson as he always did even if it made him late.

“I’m perfectly capable of getting to class by myself you’re going to be late” you told him as you walked up the stairs to the art department

“It’s a music class, the teachers don’t give a shit about us so it doesn’t matter” he replied as you got to your class door

“If you get in trouble don’t blame me” you said

“I would never” he said as he pulled you into a quick kiss, you went to pull away as you knew your whole class was probably watching but he followed your lips and held you there for a bit longer

“I don’t think my whole class needs to see that” you laughed as you pushed his chest away from you

“Sorry that strawberry lip balm just tastes really good” he smiled licking his lips

“You can have it if you like it that much” you told him

“No it tastes better this way” he said quickly kissing you again

“Bye Tae” you said as you rolled your eyes and walked into your class.

Your lesson was off to an extremely boring start. There was only so long you could listen to your teacher talk about colour theory before you were ready do a Van Gogh and cut your ear off.

“I wish we could just get on and do some painting already” Namjoon whispered from his seat next to you, you agreed as you doodled on the page you were meant to be taking notes on. Even though he complained about it you could see Namjoon’s page was full of notes written in green biro.

Once you had finally got on with some painting your phone sounded from the pocket of your denim jacket.

“Phones on silent please” your tutor said, you knew it was Tae texting you because your phone was on silent but you had it on the setting so it would go off no matter what if it was him.

From: Mik

can you come outside please x

You looked up at the window of your class and saw Tae looking at you with his big puppy dog eyes. Despite the majority of your friends not caring for the school system at all you were somewhat of a goody two shoes. Tae was well aware of this so you knew he’d only want to get you out of class if he really needed to.

“Can I go to the toilet please sir?” you asked, your teacher said yes without even looking in your direction. You quickly left the class as you wanted to be out of class for as short a time as possible.

“I’m so so sorry I didn’t want to pull you out of class but I need to calm down because if I ditch again I’ll get expelled and I can’t get expell-“ Taehyung rambled before you interrupted

“Babe it’s okay what’s wrong?” you asked as the two of you began walking out of the art building

“So you know we’ve got that massive show on Friday, we wanted to practise for that in our lesson because obviously that’s our priority right now” Taehyung started as you entered the smoker’s area and he sat on one of the tables pulling out a box of cigarettes.

“Our teacher said we had to learn some shitty pop riff instead and obviously we should get an exception because we’re the only people in the class that actually give a shit about music but no, apparently they don’t give a shit about the biggest opportunity of our lives” he continued as he lit a cigarette with the lighter you’d painted for him and pressed it past his lips. The lighter had your own take on Van Gogh’s starry night as you knew Tae loved that painting. You’d done it so the moon was the Nirvana smiley face and you still remember the smile on Tae’s face when he’d received it for his birthday. After blowing out the smoke carefully to avoid getting any in your face he began speaking again.

“I refused to do the task and explained to the teacher why but she didn’t seem to care so she kicked me out for being disrespectful” he said taking another drag of the cigarette.

You felt bad for him, you really did. He’d gained such an awful reputation as a student for speaking out against the system. He hated being told what to do with an absolute passion. Obviously he listened to his teachers, but sometimes he just didn’t think they were fair and more often than not he was right.  You stepped closer to him and rested your hands in the traffic light red hair at the back of his head, careful not to loosen his bandanna. You felt his entire body relax under your fingertips.

“I know you’re stressed about the show but I promise you could do it tonight and absolutely smash it so not much more practise is needed. I know it’s unfair and stupid that they won’t let you practise in your lesson but you’ve just got to suck it up, I know that isn’t what you want to hear but you know your parents will stop you from playing the show completely if you get in anymore trouble with school” you told him as you continued to play with his hair.

He sighed as he put his cigarette out in the ash tray beside him.

“I love you” he muttered as he dropped his head to rest on your chest “I’m sorry you have to put up with my bullshit”

You pressed a kiss to his head before pulling him up by a hand on his jaw so he’d look at you

“It’s not bullshit you’re passionate about your music and your teacher should understand that , I love you too please don’t think you’re something I have to put up with helping you is what I’m here for” you smiled

“Thank you, can you come over tonight please?” he asked

You knew you’d have to tell your mother in advance so she could make up a lie to your father as to why you weren’t home.

“Of course I can I’ve gotta get back to lesson are you gonna be okay?”

He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into a tight embrace

“Yeah I feel a lot calmer now sorry for keeping you from your lesson” he said as he released you

“Stop apologising I’m here for you okay?” you told him once again holding his face so his dark eyes were looking in yours

“Okay” he grinned before pressing a kiss to your lips

“I’ll see you later” you said walking back to into the art department.

“Was I gone for suspiciously long?” you asked Namjoon as you carried on with your painting

“No not really, is Tae okay?” Namjoon asked obviously having seen him outside before you left

“Yeah he just needed calming down but he’s okay now” you said

“You’re really good for him you know he’s been so much calmer since you two got together”

Namjoon and Taehyung were neighbours so they grew up together and were still best friends now. That’s how you’d met Taehyung in the first place.

“What’s that noise?” you asked Namjoon as you sat at his dining table studying

“Oh it’s Taehyung and his band” Namjoon told you.

You’d seen Taehyung around as you spent a lot of time at Namjoon’s so it was inevitable you’d see him every so often. You’d never really spoken to him though oddly. You were quite happy about that fact though, he was extremely attractive so much so that it intimidated you slightly.

“They sound good” you said

“We could go watch them rehearse if you wanted? I think we’ve earned a study break” he smiled as he closed his textbook and removed his glasses.

You loved the sound of whatever they were playing but you weren’t sure if you’d be able to cope watching Taehyung playing drums and actually being in his company.

“No it’s okay I’m sure they don’t want us intruding” you said

“Oh come on I know you’re just scared because you think Tae’s hot” Namjoon laughed

You looked at him with wide eyes and furrowed brows.

“Did you think I didn’t know? You think I don’t see you staring at him through the window every time he gets home” Namjoon chuckled

“Okay fine let’s go then” you said as you stood up pulling your oversized Kurt Cobain t-shirt down as you did so.

You and Namjoon walked over to Taehyung’s garage and Namjoon let himself in as you assumed he’d done hundreds of times before

“Hey guys this is Y/N she thought you guys sounded cool is it okay if we watch you rehearse for a bit?” he asked.

The garage was painted a dark blue and covered in old rock band posters, it actually looked quite similar to your bedroom. Once you’d taken in your surroundings you looked at the three boys before you. The guitar playing lead singer was smiling at you as was the bass player, it was the sort of smile that made you feel like they knew something you didn’t. You looked at Taehyung as he was sat behind his drum kit running his hands through his dark hair as he shot you a small smile.

“Yeah that’s fine” Taehyung said as he twisted his red drum stick round in between his fingers.

Namjoon introduced you to all the boys properly and Yoongi told you he liked your outfit even though it was simply just a long t shirt with some fishnet tights. You sat on the sofa opposite their set up and watched them perform a cover of ‘Paradise city’ by Guns ‘n’ Roses. You were surprised that you’d never been friends with any of the band considering their style and music taste was very similar to your own.

After that day you realised Taehyung wasn’t nearly as intimidating as you thought he was. He was actually really sweet which most people wouldn’t assume from his leather jackets and the multiple metal hoops in his ears.

It took around a month after officially meeting for you and Taehyung to get together. All the boys had said from the second you met it was obvious you two would get together as you were just perfect for each other.

When your lesson had finished and you were off to lunch you and Namjoon met the band at their usual table. Once you were sat down you texted your mum telling her you’d be going round Tae’s tonight.

“Would you be able to sleepover tonight?” Tae asked as he rested his arm on the back of your chair.

Sleepovers with Taehyung were always harder to get away with. Your father wouldn’t allow you to sleep round a boy’s house not even Namjoon’s and unfortunately you had no girl friends that you were close enough to that they would lie for you.

“I don’t know I’ll have to think of some sort of excuse” You told him

“I was thinking we should all get new piercings so we look cooler for the show” JK announced

“Yes I am up for that idea” you answered knowing the statement didn’t include you but you would love to see your boyfriend with more piercings. He already had loads in his ears and one in his tongue that he got done when you got your nose pierced. You still remember the horror on your dads face when you came home with studs on either side of your nose. That was probably the start of his hatred for Taehyung.

“What would you like me to get?” Taehyung said as he faced you. He was so open to things like tattoos and piercings and didn’t really make a big deal out of them.

“A nose ring maybe?” you suggested excitedly

“Okay gorgeous, do you wanna go after college?” he asked to which you nodded.

“I was thinking of getting my eyebrow pierced” Yoongi said

“Okay great I’ll get my nose done too” JK said

“Are you gonna join us?” Taehyung asked Namjoon

“I’d pass out if I even saw a needle so I think I’ll just go home” he said

Namjoon was very different to the rest of you, he had completely different style and completely different music taste but you were still all great friends which you couldn’t be happier about.

Once you’d finished college for the day all of you minus Namjoon piled into JK’s truck and made your way to the piercing shop. It wasn’t the most amazing place but it was cheap and you didn’t have to make appointments.

Yoongi and JK went in to get their piercings first as you went in two at a time.

“I’m gutted we can’t even post a cute photo of us having almost matching piercings after I get it done” Taehyung said as you sat on the black leather sofa in the shop.

The chances of your father seeing anything you or Taehyung posted on social media were low but not zero so just to be safe you hadn’t posted anything accept for on your private stories.

“We can take some and put them up in your room maybe” you suggested

In the year and a bit that you two had been together Taehyung had made a photo wall of the two of you above his bed. There was photos from your dates, from his gigs and just stupid little selfies you’d taken together. You wished you could do the same in your room.

“You ready?” the piercing woman asked Tae as she came out with Yoongi and JK. Taehyung nodded and you both inspected the boys’ piercings before going into the room.

Taehyung laid on the chair like he’s done several times before and you sat in the chair opposite. You watched as the needle went through his nose cringing as you remembered exactly what that felt like. Despite his eyes watering slightly due to the pressure on his nose he was fine. After thanking the woman he came over to you standing close to you so you could see the piercing.

“It looks so good” you smiled

You both left the room before joining the other boys. They all had a proper look at each other’s piercings smiling as they did so.

“We’re gonna look so cool at the show” JK said everyone instantly agreeing.

JK dropped you and Taehyung back at Taehyung’s house and you were still thinking of a way to stay the night without your dad finding out where you were.

“Dad I’m home” Taehyung called as you both walked through the door

Taehyung’s dad came to meet you at the door quickly noticing the piercing

“Oh nice piercing, loving the outfit Y/n” he smiled

You’d always adored Taehyung’s dad, he was always so complimentary and supportive of you that it made up for what you lacked from your own father.

You and Taehyung went upstairs and you laid on his bed as he hung his jacket up on his door. He came and laid next to you before pulling out his phone to take photos of the two of you. You did multiple poses making sure you could see his new piercing. He also did a little video because he loved being able to take screenshots from them to have genuine photos of the two of you smiling together. Once he’d edited the brightness and vibrancy of the images he sent them to his Polaroid printer that he had. Once they’d printed he grabbed the ball of blue tack from his bedside table and added them to the photo wall.

“I’m so jealous of this wall” you told him as he laid back down with you

“Why don’t you just tell your dad we’re still together? I treat you well I’m polite I don’t see his problem” He said as he fiddled with your fingers that were rested on his chest

“I know it’s just that he thinks you’re a bad influence and think you’re the reason I dress like in his words ‘a groupie’ and the reason I got my nose pierced” you explained causing him to scoff

“You dressed like that before we even met properly and you’ve always wanted a nose piercing, it’s not like I’ve impacted your life badly your grades are still perfect and the only time I’ve got you in trouble was when I snuck us into that pool that one time” he said

You could feel his frustration through the way he was speaking and how he sighed after each sentence.

“Babe you don’t have to tell me I know , I just don’t want the argument with him and I don’t want him being an asshole to you” you told him you know your dad would eventually get over it but it would just cause a lot of problems in the house and there didn’t need to be anymore.

“Last time I checked we’re planning our lives together you’re gonna have to tell him at some point you’re almost eighteen he can’t control who you’re with” Tae said sitting up which made you fall to the mattress as you’d been laying half on his chest.

“Why are you blaming me?” you asked as he pulled his bandana off and ran his fingers through his hair.

“I’m not” he muttered

“Well it sure sounds like it” you told him

“I just don’t understand when you’re planning to tell him , he can’t really do anything about it and if he kicks you out or something you can just live here” he exclaimed

You sat up and looked at him. He was deliberately avoiding your gaze and you rolled your eyes at him.

“Well maybe if you didn’t have such an awful reputation then he wouldn’t want me to date Namjoon so bad” you said

You knew it was a low blow and something Tae often got jealous over but you couldn’t believe he was blaming you for your father’s disapproval.

“If it makes your life easier go fucking date him then! You know all the shit your dads heard about me is just rumours” he yelled instantly turning to you as he stopped.

“I’m so sorry babe” he said, he’d always had a rule that he’d never yell at you. There wasn’t a specific personal reason for you it just didn’t sit right with him. “It’s just so frustrating I treat you like a fucking princess and I still can’t get his approval because of things other people have said about me”

You didn’t mind that he’d yelled at you, you found the situation frustrating but it must’ve been even worse for him. Your dad used to somewhat like him but the bigger the band got the more rumours about him spread and eventually your dad didn’t care about the whole year he’d already got to know Taehyung.

“It’s okay I get it I’m sorry about the Namjoon comment you know I’d never want to be with anyone but you” you told him

He sighed and wrapped his arm around you

“It’s not okay I should never raise my voice at you I’m not mad at you I’m just mad at the situation” he said before kissing your head.

“I’ll see if I can talk to him at some point soon” you said

“I don’t want you to feel like I’m pressuring as long as I can be with you I don’t care” he said before pressing his lips to yours.

You gently moved your weight forward so he was laying down and your position was more comfortable. His hand gripped your hair as his tongue moved against yours the metal of his tongue piercing creating an icy contrast to the warmth of your mouths. He hummed slightly into the kiss as your hands travelled under his ‘Children of Bodom’ t-shirt. He sat up slightly, assisting you in pulling the shirt over his head before laying back down and pulling you further up his lap. You could feel the cold metal of his rings on your skin as his hand ran underneath the skirt you were wearing. It was then that your phone rang causing the two of you to groan at the interruption. Sitting up, still on his lap, you leaned over and grabbed your phone seeing it was your mum before answering it.

“Hello?” you said sounding more breathless than you’d hoped

“Hi sweetie there’s not a way I can convince your dad to let you stay out for the night especially as it’s a school night, he’s home late from work tomorrow so Tae’s free to come round here I’ll leave the house to you two” your mum said

“Okay thanks what time do you want me home?” you asked

“Eight pm latest”

“Okay see you then”

You hung up before tossing your phone on the bed next to you

“Take it you can’t stay” Tae mumbled against your neck as he pressed kissed up to your jaw

“No I’ve got to be home for eight but dad’s out all day tomorrow so you can come to mine” you told him as you tangled your fingers in his hair and leaned your head to the side giving him more access to your neck.

“Ooh sneaking about now are we?” he said as he trailed kisses back down to your collar bone “that’s hot”

You laughed at his words softly before you felt him bite lightly at your neck

“You can’t leave marks remember” you reminded him

“Not in visible places” he smirked as he undid the zip at the back of your skirt.

“Babe”

“Babe!”

You stirred at the mellifluous sound of your boyfriend’s voice

“What?” you groaned as you snuggled deeper into the warmth of his bare chest

“It’s almost eight I’ve gotta get you home” he said

“I wanna stay here” you whined still half asleep

“I want you to as well but you can’t” he said as he got out of bed gathering both of your clothes and underwear before dropping them in a messy pile on the bed “You gonna be able to walk?” he smirked as you did up the clasp on your bra.

“Don’t flatter yourself” you replied

“Excuse me” he grinned in false offence causing you to laugh

Once you were both dressed and you’d made yourself look presentable, he drove you home stopping a road before your street so your dad wouldn’t see.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, I love you” you said pressing a kiss to his lips

“I love you too” he told you as you got out of his car.

“I’m home” you said as you entered the dining room to see your parents

“Hi sweetie did you have a good time at Namjoon’s?” your mum asked

“Yeah it was great” you said

“Why does he never come in to say hello?” your dad asked

You look at your mum quickly “Uhm he’s a busy guy these days lots of studying to do” you lied as best you could

“he used to always come in when he dropped you home, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re secretly still dating Taehyung behind my back” he chuckled causing you and your mum to let out nervous laughs

“No never, I’d honestly forgotten about Taehyung until you mentioned him” you lied as if you hadn’t been laying naked in bed with the boy less than twenty minutes ago

“That’s what I like to hear” your dad said

You quickly exited the room and went to the bathroom before turning on the shower as you hadn’t had a chance to have one at Tae’s.

Once you’d finished and were in your pyjamas back in your bedroom you checked your phone.

From: Mik

my bed smells like you come back please i miss you

To: Mik

trust me i wish i could, almost thought my dad was onto us a second ago

You explained what your dad had said and discussed whether or not you thought your dad knew. You two had been so careful that there’s no way he could know and it’s not like your dad was that clued up about your life so you were pretty sure you were in the clear.

“Okay I’m going to be out as long as you want me out for later” Your mum said the next morning as she came into your room “I’ll tell your dad to let you know when he’s on his way home you’ve got to make sure you leave no proof of Taehyung being here though” she continued

It was risky sneaking Tae into your house whilst your dad was at work. You’d never done that since you “broke up” but you thought if you were careful it would be fine.

“Get him to come in the back door so that the neighbours are less likely to see, I’ll unlock it on my way out” Your mother added

“Okay I will” you told her before she left the house

Text From: Mik

house empty?

Text To: Mik

yep, come in the back door x

You had a couple hours until you had to be at college so you were hoping you’d be able to get some more sleep in whilst Tae was there. Within ten minutes you heard the back door open and footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Morning beautiful” Tae smiled as he entered your room instantly pulling his shoes off and climbing under the sheets next to you. His cold body sliced through the warmth you’d previously been surrounded by as he wrapped his arms around you.

“You’re freezing” You whined despite curling into his chest

“Would you rather I wasn’t here?” he said

“Of course not” you replied as his hands began playing with your hair.

You laid in silence for a while, simply enjoying the comfort of a sleepy morning together that you hadn’t been able to have for a while. When you were allowed to be together he’d stayed most nights and if he didn’t it was likely you were at his. You’d spend every morning wrapped in each other’s warmth having nonsensical half asleep conversations.

“I’ve missed this” he muttered into your hair but you had already fallen back to sleep.

You were wrenched out of what was a seemingly pleasant dream by the screeching of your alarm. Tae’s arms tightened around you as you rolled over in his embrace to turn the alarm off. You managed to sit up out of Tae’s arms slightly deciding that as he was already dressed he didn’t need to be woken up yet.

As you sat next to him you took the time to fully take in his appearance. The slow rise and fall of his chest signified his relaxed state as did the way his thick lashes that were smothered with eyeliner sat upon the flawless skin of his cheeks. His red hair that was once flat against his forehead was now sticking up in the air exposing the slit he’d shaved into his eyebrow a couple weeks ago. You were flooded with a sudden rush of adoration for the boy lying next to you, you never got to properly relax and appreciate him for what he was as you were always worried about getting home and making up excuses these days. He groaned slightly as he rolled over, his arms wrapping around the duvet you were previously laying under. You’d always found it endearing that the Kim Taehyung most people were intimidated by had to cuddle something in order to sleep, whether it be a pillow, a teddy or ,his preferred option, you.

“Stop staring at me you weirdo” he grumbled as his puffy eyes opened and met yours

“Is it wrong for me to appreciate how beautiful my boyfriend is?” you asked

“When you’re denying him morning cuddles it is” he said through a yawn as he made grabby hands at you

“I’ve gotta shower and get ready” you told him before ruffling his hair and getting out of bed

“Can I join?” he asked smirking at you

“No you cannot you can get me an outfit ready though” you laughed before heading to the bathroom.

Once you’d showered and put clean underwear on you walked back into your room and saw Tae sat at your vanity table his hair now a lot neater than when you’d left him.

“I chose the AC/DC t shirt and your red skirt” he said as he quickly stood up to grab the clothes “I was thinking you could where the long sleeved fishnet thing you wear sometimes with your red boots maybe to match the skirt” he said as he looked up at you with his pouty lips and wide eyes showing you he wasn’t sure if he’d chosen well.

“Yeah that sounds great” You smiled walking to your draw to pick out your fishnet top.

“You look so hot in that” he muttered as you pulled the fishnet shirt over your head “Shame JK’s getting us in ten minutes”

You rolled your eyes at him and the way he was like most boys constantly thinking about one thing.

“Don’t forget we’ve got all afternoon once we’re back” You reminded him

“How could I forget? My favourite person all to myself with no interruptions, it’s a dream come true” He grinned as he pulled you into him by your waist and pressed his lips to yours

“I’m starting to remember-“you said into the kiss “why we were late all the time when you’d stay here” you smiled as your arms wrapped around his neck

“That’s young love for you” he grinned as his hands began trailing down south

“Go downstairs so I can get ready with no distractions please” you said as you took his hands off of you

He feigned offence as he looked at you

“The one time your boyfriends here with you in the morning and you’re telling him to leave? The audacity” he said

You giggled at his expression

“You know I take ages to get ready even without distractions and you said it yourself JK is gonna be here soon so please”

“What if I don’t want to?” he challenged as he stepped closer so he was towering above you face inches away from your own

“What if I make it up to you later?” You shot back raising your eyebrow at him looking him up and down for extra effect

“Done!” he said before leaving the room

After being only slightly late to college you were in your usual spot next to Namjoon.

“Are you sure sneaking Tae into your house is the best idea?” he asked as he mixed his water colours

“My dad’s at work all day and my mum has left us the house so what can go wrong?” you asked

As much as you loved him, Namjoon didn’t have a rebellious bone in his body and would often make you think through your antics properly before you did them. You weren’t particularly rebellious apart from dating a boy your Father hates and consistently lying to him so that you can go and see said boy.

“What if your dad comes home early or what if one of the neighbours sees and tells him?” Namjoon said

“He’s going to text me when he’s on his way home and Tae’s going to go in the back door so the neighbours probably won’t see” you assured him

“Okay let me know if you need me to cover for you at all for any reason” he said

No matter how much he disagreed with your actions he’d always be there to help you if you needed it and for that you were eternally grateful.

Once you finished college you got JK to drop you home, you went in the front whilst he drove round the back to drop Tae off. You dropped your bag and walked through the house to open the door for Tae.

The second the door was open his hands were on you as were his lips. You stumbled backwards into your living room as Tae walked forwards, his lips still feverishly attached to yours.

“What’s the rush? We’ve got all afternoon” you asked as he started trailing his lips down your neck

“We never get to be this alone, I’m making the most of it” he mumbled as his lips reconnected with yours your dark lipstick now smeared all around his mouth. He continued walking the two of you backwards before grabbing the back of your thighs and pulling you up to wrap your legs around his waist. Taehyung carried you through the house for a second before pushing you up against the wall simultaneously pushing himself into you causing the both of you to groan slightly.

“As much as I love this just go to my room already” you said moving your lips only millimetres away from his to speak.

“What’s the rush? We’ve got all afternoon” he smirked mocking you

“Shut up” you rolled your eyes

“Gladly” he said as he reconnected your lips and began blindly walking to your bedroom.

Once you were there he dropped you onto your bed before taking his shirt and jeans off and climbing on top of you. You’d already taken your shirt off so he instantly placed his hands under your skirt and began pulling your underwear down with one hand whilst the other held your face. Seconds after you’d put your lips back on his you heard the front door open. Tae pulled back and you stared at each other with a similar look of horror.

“Y/n?” Your dad called

“I thought he was working late?” Tae whisper shouted

“He was supposed to be!” you replied as you quickly got up throwing your shirt back on and checking yourself in the mirror. You quickly grabbed a makeup wipe to get rid of the lipstick on your chin and neck.

“Y/n are you home?” your dad’s voice sounded again

“Yeah I thought you were uh working late?” You said as you made your way downstairs

Your dad was in the living room placing down his brief case and loosening his tie when you walked in

“I was meant to be but my meeting got cancelled, I was going to text you but my phones dead” he explained

Your mind was running a million miles an hour trying to work out a way to get Tae out of your house without your dad seeing.

“When you didn’t answer and I saw the back door was open I thought someone had broken in” your dad laughed causing you to laugh in return

“Sorry I had my headphones in” You lied avoiding eye contact with him. As you did so you noticed a pair of shoes by the still open back door. Tae’s shoes. How did you not even realise he’d taken them off? Anyone that had ever met Tae could recognise those shoes as his anywhere as they were covered in little doodles he’d designed. Your father was yet to see them but there was no way you could discretely hide a pair of size 10 Doc Martens.

“Would you mind getting me a beer?” your dad asked you as he sat down on the sofa

“Yeah of course” you said but you didn’t want to leave the room because you knew your dad would see Tae’s shoes if he wasn’t distracted by conversation. As you grabbed a beer from the fridge and were making your way back to the living room you heard your dad yell your name.

“Where is he?” your dad said as he met you in the kitchen

“Who?” you said knowing there was no point lying but not knowing what else to say

“Don’t play dumb with me Taehyung’s here his shoes are by the back door, god I thought he’d be smarter than to leave evidence of him being here right in the living room” he scoffed

“In his defence you weren’t meant to be home for hours” you said knowing it would just make the situation worse

“He’s upstairs isn’t he?” your dad asked despite knowing the answer and already heading upstairs

“Dad wait!” you called rushing after him, oh how you hoped Tae had put his clothes back on and wiped his face before your dad found him.

You trailed behind as your dad opened your bedroom door and saw Tae sat on your bed. You let out a sigh of relief as he was now fully clothed. “What are you doing in my house?!” Your father said causing Tae to jump to his feet “Dad it was my idea don’t be mad at him” you tried as you stood between them both but your dad dismissed you completely “She’s lying sir it was my idea I’m so sorry” Tae said You snapped your head towards him a his words “What are you doing!” you exclaimed at him “Dad I promise you it was my idea he’s just trying to protect me” you said turning back in your dad’s direction. “I don’t care whose idea it was I want him out now!” Your father shouted pointing at your door. Tae looked at you with an apologetic look on his face before walking towards your door. “Tae stop” you said causing him to look back at you “Dad what’s your problem?” “What do you mean? Isn’t obvious? Look at him!” Your dad exclaimed gesturing towards Tae “He looked like that when you knew we were together so what’s happened to make you hate him so much?” You asked as Tae made his way too your side Your dad sighed and sat down on the chair of your vanity table “For starter’s he didn’t have red hair and a nose piercing when I knew, I just don’t want my daughter involved in the antics him and those boys get up to” he explained His words made absolutely no sense to you and you were about to voice that when Tae spoke up “Sir if you don’t mind me saying the things the papers write about us and our music videos we always get permission for everything we do, we’d never do anything against the law and if we did I wouldn’t involve Y/n” Taehyung explained “I understand you’re protective of her as any father would be but I can confidently say I treat her perfectly and have given you no reason to think I don’t” he finished Your dad looked up at him and shook his head “I never said you don’t treat her well I know you do, but I also know what it’s like being in a rock band it starts out harmless and legal but the bigger you get the worse it gets and before you know it you’re all drug addicts and alcoholics and I just don’t want her getting caught up in that like I did” he said You never knew your dad had been in a band. You’d never think he’d ever have the guts to do something like that, he’s always been so sophisticated and quite frankly up himself as far as you were concerned. “How have I never heard about you being in a band?” You asked “Because it’s not a time I’m proud of and I wanted you to think better of me” he admitted causing you to laugh “I’d have thought better of you if you’d told me” “Well now you know , Taehyung I never asked for you two to split up as a personal thing I’m just afraid you’ll get into things like I did” You father said looking at Taehyung without disgust for the first time in a while. “You know how headstrong and stubborn she is she’d never do something out of peer pressure and would probably be the one stopping us from doing anything like that” Tae laughed smiling at you “I know you’d rather her be with someone like Namjoon I’m aware I’m not good enough for her but by some miracle she thinks I am so would there be any hope at all of you letting us be together?” Tae asked “Honestly I always knew she’d end up with someone a bit different and alternative and if you continue to treat her well and promise you won’t get her involved in anything bad then I suppose you can stay together” Your dad smiled “Seriously?” you asked making him nod

“Thank you! I promise I swear on my life and hers I will never involve her in anything bad” Taehyung grinned at him

“Thank you dad” you smiled as Tae pulled you into his arms

“This door stays open though!” Your dad said as he left the room.

“I can’t believe that was so easy I should’ve snuck you in weeks ago!” You said

“I told you if we just spoke to him it would turn out okay” Tae said

“so where were we?” he added as he kissed you running his hands under the hem of your shirt.

“We weren’t anywhere, not with my dad right downstairs” you laughed as he continued to trail his hands under your shirt

“That’s definitely not stopped you before”

[thedeaditeslayer]

Crash Palace Interview: Catching Up with Dana DeLorenzo.

This interview briefly brushes over Ash vs Evil Dead and Dana’s latest projects.

Even though it has been over two years since Ash vs Evil Dead has been on the air, fans still clamor for their favorite badass, Deadite slaying heroine, Kelly Maxwell. Dana DeLorenzo, the actress behind her is equally adored and cherished by admirers of the Sam Raimi legendary horror franchise.  

So, as always, I was thrilled to speak with her about life after Ash, her latest movie, the heartwarming holiday comedy, Friendsgiving and what she has on the horizon. Welcome to the Crash Palace Interview with Dana DeLorenzo…  

The Denouement of Ash vs Evil Dead Crash Palace: Thanks for speaking with me, Dana. It’s always a pleasure. Let’s talk about life after Ash vs Evil Dead. As you know, Lee Cronin is helming the latest installment in the Evil Dead franchise, Evil Dead Rise. Fans were hoping that the Ghostbeaters would be a part of that venture. While we know it is going in a different direction, do you think Kelly Maxwell could show up some time in the future?  

Dana DeLorenzo: One can dream, right? Let me take this moment, right off the bat to say something I say often because I mean it, and I can’t say it enough. People who know me know this is not fan service. I say it when I’m not doing interviews; I say it to my closest friends and my family on the regular.

I am so grateful to the fans of Ash vs Evil Dead and the Evil Dead franchise all over the world. They have truly been my Jiminy Crickets throughout this insane, bizarre year that is 2020. They have gotten me through so many of the toughest days, just by keeping the bloody love alive. With every year that passes, even though we haven’t filmed a season of the show for three years, it feels like it’s fresh because of the fans .

So, to all you Ghostbeaters out there: I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope I get to meet all of you someday. But I can’t convey enough how your passion and love of the show has gotten me through this 2020 roller coaster; thank you for keeping Kelly’s ass-kicking spirit alive! On that note, I have really missed the show, I’ve missed playing Kelly. I posted some things recently about Ash vs Evil Dead, photos I hadn’t looked at in a while. I miss it a lot. I like to keep hope alive that someday, somewhere, the Ghostbeaters will be reunited. Even just for a quick Ghostbeaters fist bump.

Is Kelly Maxwell going to show up in this film? No. I won’t say never, but from what I understand, this is an alternate universe for Evil Dead Rise, separate from Fede Alvarez’s movie with Jane Levy and it’s separate from Ash vs Evil Dead. It’s a new adventure in the Evil Dead universe. And I can’t wait to see the new blood and guts journey Lee Cronin takes us on. I would like to think in the Ghostbeaters’ universe, we’re still kicking it and we’re still fighting evil. But I am loving that the fans are clamoring for it! They can keep pestering Rob, Sam and Bruce the way they have for twenty-five years before Ash vs Evil Dead came to be — their persistence is what got me that dream job.

So, if they want to continue to pester to bring us all back, I won’t stop them! Because we know the fans have the power to persuade. It might take another twenty-five years. But I am always down to play with those guys and our great crew.  

CP: Do you keep in touch with anyone from the show?

DD: Yeah, I try and keep up with what everyone is doing and shoot them a message to tell them I miss them like the sap that I am. I just miss seeing their faces every day, you know?  I miss Lucy’s face pretty hard, and not just because she’s ‘Lucy Flawless’! She’s got new shows left and right, she never stops! Ray and I randomly text Pablo and Kelly’s catchphrases to each other. “How are you holding up? / What is happening?!” We said that pretty much every episode so it still makes me laugh. Arielle and I chat often even though she lives in Australia, she’s like my little sister! Bruce often responds “ in character” with the latest Snapchat filter. He loves those — just check his Twitter feed — and it’s all my fault. I showed him how to make them while filming Season 3. He could probably do a show solely with Snapchat characters — I’d watch.  

Fall from Perpetual Grace

CP: Let’s shift gears for a moment and talk about another series that you appeared on. You had a great run on EPIX with Perpetual Grace, LTD working with the talented Jimmi Simpson, Luis Guzman and of course, Jacki Weaver and Sir Ben Kingsley. There was some talk about a possible movie to tie up all the storylines after the show ended. Do you know if that is in the works?

DD: I have no idea, but I really hope that happens. Steven Conrad is a genius and so was that cast. If you haven’t seen or become a part of the cult following of Patriot on Amazon or Perpetual Grace, you should. But the people he casts and the stories he writes and the beauty of the cinematography, all  create a piece of art that is in its own category. He has such a strong point of view, aesthetic and vision, you always know when you’re watching a Steven Conrad show.

I’ve been very lucky to be part of two shows where both casts were like extended family. Like Luis Guzman. We  talked recently, I adore him. Side bar: I feel like in a crazy, crossover world, Luis could be Pablo’s other uncle because of his giant heart and comedic delivery. Anyway, we’re both working on my friend Joe Ahern’s indie comedy, The Disappearance of Toby Blackwood, which he co-wrote with Doug Mellard. And I can’t wait for people to see Luis slay the screen, yet again. The filming process is pretty innovative during COVID, where everyone but the two main characters filmed their parts at home using an app. These guys were doing it before anyone else, so kudos to them.  

Friendsgiving: The Gift that Keeps on Giving

CP: I had the pleasure of watching Friendsgiving the other night and it was an enjoyable holiday film. You had some hilarious bits as Kat Dennings’ wise cracking sister, Barbara. What drew you to the project?

DD: Thank you for watching the film and I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It’s the kind of original comedy we all need right now.

I knew I was auditioning for Kat Dennings’ (Abby)  sister Barbara, whose part of Abby’s Jersey-Italian family. Within the first two lines of that family exchange, I was cackling. I’m drawn to anything that grabs my attention on the page and holds it for the entire sitting of reading the script. Those lines of dialogue, the way the family members are unapologetically who they are, and the fact they mean well but are constantly giving you their two cents when you don’t want it or ask for it, hooked me. And that kind of art-imitating-life comedy held up for the rest of the script for me. Nicol Paone hit it out of the park, both on the page and behind the lens. And I’m pretty sure it’s loosely based on a Thanksgiving that Nicol and Malin Ackerman shared.

The subject matter was also relatable. I’ve celebrated Thanksgiving with my family as well as a couple of Friendsgivings. And the bottom line is, the holiday is just dysfunctional, always. It might be a lot more fun with your friends but it’s still going to be dysfunctional.

That concept makes me laugh. It’s not funny when you’re the one going through the stress and drama of Thanksgiving. However, it’s very funny watching someone else go through it. It’s cathartic. That’s why I loved it.  

CP: With so many talented actors in the cast, do you have any behind the scenes anecdotes?

DD: There was a lot of laughing in between takes. It’s always a good sign when the crew laughs. Abby’s (Kat Dennings ) Jersey-Italian family was cast perfectly, and the actors were so damn funny! Rose Abdoo plays our mom, Nadya Ginsburg as Aunt Anna and Johnny Williams plays Uncle Sal. Like I said, it was already funny on the page, and Nicol being a New Jersey Italian herself really captured the essence of those family conversations. The actors brought Nicol’s words to life, and on a few takes she let us riff.  In one scene the Aunt Anna character was telling the scripted story of a sexual gesture; I remember laughing so hard at her adlibbing additional euphemisms for that particular act by referencing Italian food.

One of my favorite things Nicol did was add some of the funniest ad-libs and bloopers in the end credits. I love seeing those! Now everyone who sees the film will get to see those behind the scenes moments.  

The Show Must Go On

CP: When we were coordinating this interview, you told me that you were going into the studio to do voiceover work. Can you give us a hint about this upcoming effort?

DD: The show features a cast of familiar faces that might have worked together recently. I just realized what everyone is probably going to think when they read this.  

CP: Sorry everyone, it isn’t Ash vs Evil Dead. However, you have more work on the way. According to IMDb, you have completed a short film called PCH. What else can your fans look forward to?

DD: The Disappearance of Toby Blackwood which I mentioned before but we’re still filming that. I am so excited about this voiceover project because it’s completely original in every way, it really hasn’t been done before. And of course, Friendsgiving is out now in select theatres and VOD. It’s the perfect film to watch this Thanksgiving when we can’t celebrate as we usually do. You can laugh at the characters’ holiday drama and maybe even be grateful to take this year off.  

CP: Will you be appearing at any virtual conventions like Bruce and Ted are doing for Wizard World events?

DD: There are a couple in the works. But in the meantime, I’ve teamed up with this new platform called, Real Talk Live, which is both an app and on the web. It’s like a virtual convention where you can live video chat one on one, basically like a Zoom call. You can schedule the video call in advance or whenever catch me whenever I’m live. I think it’s a great solution, and personally I’m really looking forward to connecting with Evil Dead fans this way until live events pick back up. And it’s accessible worldwide so this will be great to finally see the amazing fans I hear from overseas. I miss interacting with them in the flesh, hearing their stories and seeing their badass cosplays! And do I miss pose-punching them in our epic photos. So I end with this, because I can’t say this enough: “Thank you, Ghostbeaters! I love you more than Ash Williams loves his Delta!”  

Many thanks to Dana DeLorenzo for spending time with me at Crash Palace. For those of you that haven’t had the chance to catch Friendsgiving, it is available online by buying or renting it as a video-on-demand on iTunes, FandangoNow and VUDU.

[luci-cunt]

On this episode of “I’m-nostalgic-and-wouldn’t-rec-anyone-read-my-book-but-some-bits-of-it-are-actually-kind-of-funny-to me-and-I’m-addicted-to-validation” JSoC addition!

[the only context u need is that Ash = mc, she’s depressed but coping barely. Cal = incognito rich kid looking for his “girlfriend.” Aatami = softboy/ Ash’s love interest. Mia = Cal’s “girlfriend.”]

----

“The world wasn’t much different now that it had an expiration date.”

----

*in an abandoned house* “Uh… you got a name?” I asked, opening the fridge and peeking inside. It was empty, except for a rotting rat. I sighed and closed the fridge.

----

“So, where are you from?” I asked, he made a face at me but let it drop to an exhausted one. He’d given up being suspicious when he realized the only reason I was pressuring him about his past was because I was a nosy bitch. 

----

“Aye Bee, good to see you again,” he said, I turned and pulled on Cal’s sleeve so he’d follow me. Uncle B gave him a wary once over and Cal just crossed his arms and glared. Uncle B looked back at me and pursed his lips. “That was way too quick for food Ash, and I’m not selling you drugs.” he said, I sighed.

“Fine, Cal, no meth today sorry,” I said, acting disappointed. Uncle B rolled his eyes. 

---- 

I rolled my eyes as I threw another handful of nuts in my mouth and then screwed up my face as I bit into a raisin and spit the whole mouthful out. Cal made a face at me. “You’re so gross,” he muttered.

---- 

Thinking about my mom made me want to do something illegal.

----

Cal was too busy making his ‘there-is-one-single-fiber-keeping-the-impulse-to-punch-you-from-happening’ face at me to notice my sudden tenseness.

----

“Whatever, I’m hungry, let’s get food,” I said. He narrowed his eyes at me. “You just ate an entire bag of trail mix,” he said, I nodded. “Yeah, but Cal, food is literally the only good thing about the world, you can never have enough,” I said, he rolled his eyes.

----

“Chill man, it’s not even three yet, you’ve still got six days to find your Juliet,” I said, he pursed his lips.

“Romeo and Juliet die at the end of that play,” he said, I grinned.

“I’ll be Mercutio and we’ll have almost the full cast, complete with tragically young deaths for all of us.” 

----

“So? What’s the verdict Mr. Grinch?” He spared me a glare and leaned back in his seat so he could cross his arms over his chest. “Salad.” “But that’s so boring.” “You’re ordering tamales.” “That’s because they taste good.” “Salad tastes good.” “Yeah, maybe to giraffes.” “Are you calling me a giraffe?” “If you think salads are good then yes.”

----

Angry dude was hot.

----

“Do you have a deathwish?” “Yes, don’t know how it took you that long to–hello,” I said, seeing Aatami suddenly standing in front of our table.

----

Cal had given up glaring at either of us and was now stabbing the vinyl booth seats with a butter knife. He looked at me pointedly between stabs and I pretended not to get the message he was sending.

----

“You do? Oh thank god, we’ve been hopping busses for forever,” I said, Cal rolled his eyes. “One bus,” he muttered under his breath. I ignored him.

----

“Yeah, she’s a cheerleader and they’re the next Romeo and Juliet,” I said, Cal rolled his eyes, still tapping something on the phone. “Don’t Romeo and Juliet die?” Aatami asked, glancing between me and the road, I smiled brightly. “Tragically,” I said. “Oh.”

----

“Good afternoon! How can I help you?” the lady said, she sounded way too peppy, and I heard Cal growl into my shoulder. I think I was the only one who heard it though, it made me smile.

----

*about the hotel room Cal paid for* “That’s a lot, Cal,” I whispered. He groaned, dropped his hand, and turned his head back so his forehead was on my shoulder. “I’m not sleeping in a regular cramped stupid room. And I want a big bed, so you better fuck in the bathroom if you’re going to,” he whispered back.

----

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckfuckfuckfuck fuck. Fuckkkkk.

----

*Cal talking while there’s a gun in his face* “Nope, you’ve got the wrong guy,” Cal said again. “You’re really not fooling anyone,” Hans said, anger creeping into his voice. “I’m not trying to, you’ve just got the wrong guy.” “You look exactly like him.” “I get that a lot.” “So you’re saying if I don’t reach into your pocket and pull out your wallet–” “No, no I wouldn’t do that.” “Why?” “I... don’t even have my wallet on me.” “Really?” “Yeah–hey, hey hey hey, no don’t do that–fuck,” I made a mental note to punch Cal in his stupid rich boy face.

----

“It’s Robert,” Hans said, and I scrunched up my face. What kind of name was Robert? That’s not even evil sounding at all.

----

*Aatami, high on pain meds after being shot* “Are you guys ok–? Stupid question, don’t answer that. I mean, what happened–? No wait, stupider question. Hey, Ash can you drive? I don’t think I can right now. Or should, oh my god you guys were both so badass. Wow my head's spinning, I’m going to go sit in the car now–” Aatami rambled as he patted both Cal and I down. “Are you guys ok? No wait, I already asked that, ok I’m going to lie down now,” Aatami said.

----

“You’re going to need to lose the pants so I can see whatever’s bleeding,” the nurse said. She glanced between us, Cal jumped off the table and pried his arm out of my hand. “Nope! Not happening, I don’t want to see your ass, I’m out,” Cal said, he rushed out.

----

“You’re the stupidest person I’ve ever met,” Cal said, I smiled. “I think you’re pretty cool too,” I said.

----

“Ash?” Cal asked, looking over at me. “Where the fuck are we?” he asked. “I don’t know, where’s Aatami?” I answered and he gave me a look. “How the fuck would I know that?” he growled and I glared at him. “Fuck you, I was just asking.” “I just woke up!” “So did I!”

----

I was balancing so precariously on the edge of whatever self control I had, and one more word from Rose-Count was going to send me flying into de-dicking territory.

----

“You can cook? I thought that was just something for the poor and needy,” I said, Cal glared at me. “You would know.”

----

“Morning,” Aatami said, I laughed again and he laughed with me. “I drooled on your shirt,” I said, my voice sounded muffled by Aatami, and he laughed again. “I know I can feel it,” he said. “Gross,” Cal muttered.

----

*Cal handing Ash a plate of pancakes* It was stacked with pancakes covered in blueberries and syrup with a huge commercial looking pad of butter on top. I started drooling. “You’re losing your edge,” I said, Cal glared and stabbed a fork into the top of my stack and then a knife through the butter pad. I raised a brow and he walked out of the kitchen. “Fuck off,” he said, bumping Aatami’s shoulder on the way out

----

“But this is Hotel-Holdup Chique,” I said, he rolled his eyes. “It’s Homicidal-Vagrant Mystic,” Cal said, “And someone’s going to call the cops on you.”

----

The shower in this house was fancy. It had one of those waterfall shower heads I’d only ever seen rich people fuck under on TV.

----

“I need chocolate,” I said, and took another stabilizing breath, “and maybe some alcohol,” I added after a moment. “Koda’s coming,” Cal reminded me, I nodded and walked into the kitchen. “Exactly.”

----

“I’m glad we met,” I said quietly, Cal’s expression didn’t change, and he held my stare. “Don’t expect me to suck your face, I’m not that good of a friend and not nearly straight enough,” Cal said. I laughed and he took a step forward and we hugged. Cal was a lot shorter than Aatami, and I didn’t have to stand on my toes to hug him. “But I’m glad we met too,” he said in my ear. I smiled and squeezed him again. “The idea of making out with you makes me want to throw up,” I said, we both laughed. “I’m glad,” he said as we pulled apart.

----

Waking up in a trunk is the worst way to wake up.

----

STREETSMARTS.

----

“23% chance the world ends in ten minutes,” I said with a laugh. “It’s like the worst New Year’s party ever,” Uncle B said with a smile. “Meh,” Cal said with a noncommittal shrug.

----

“Michelangelo who?” Cal said sarcastically, and Mia cocked his head to try and tell what it was, before blushing furiously as he realized. “Look Mia, we have fan art,” Cal said, holding the picture up to a completely red Mia. “Why?” Mia managed, and Cal laughed.

----

laksdjflaksdjf;j sorry this is so long

[toastie-the-know]

The canon bases of RudeAggro!Felix and Apologetic!Dimitri

(Since I actually spent an entire evening doing this, I’m posting it because I don’t want to feel I “lost” all that time haha! I sort of do this kind of stuff for work sometimes, so this is clearly the sad fate of a person who can’t leave their work at work and brings it into their hobbies 😂 )

I’ve read a lot of Dmlx fic (in English), and have seen a lot of art, and there’s a trend I’ve noticed in the characterisations of both Felix and Dimitri that stands out to me: Rude and aggressive Felix, and Apologetic Dimitri. More specifically, Felix being rude/aggressive to Dimitri, and Dimitri apologising to Felix. The characterisations stand out to me only because my hc characterisations are more like “tsundere” Felix, and polite Dimitri. There’s obviously an overlap between “rude/aggressive” and “tsundere”, as well as “apologising” and “polite”, but they are not the same thing, at least from the part of the world I come from (I played with the JP audio on English text). I wanted to figure out if I was missing something from canon, so decided to take a short dive and check out the source material.

This meta isn’t an attack on people’s preferences. Creators of fan works depict characters in a variety of ways for personal reasons, and it’s no one’s business to pass judgement on that. I’m not trying to legitimise my hc, or delegitimise othere people’s hc. All I want to know is whether there is  strong canon basis for the characterisations, which I might have missed. I’m also not saying that “unless a characterisation is based off canon 100% it’s not legit”.  I don’t believe in that statement. Looking at canon is one way for me to see whether the “RudeAggro Felix”, “Apologetic Dimitri” is more a case of creator extrapolation, or based off something very clearly there in the canon.

So I’m gonna look at three bits of text. 1) The words and expressions used in the support conversations, both JP and EN 2) The tone in the voice acting, both JP and EN in the support conversations, and 3) Dimitri and Felix’s lines in Azure Moon route chapters + in the monastery, but only in the JP (it was easier for me to search the JP text quickly, more effort required for the EN). Of course there’s more you can glean about their characters from other supports etc, but I don’t have that much free time… 

Heads up I’m a bilingual and bicultural Japanese/Aussie (have lived in both countries), so I’m pretty confident in my interpretations of the JP text and audio.

Rude and Aggressive Felix

There’s a lot of canon for this characterisation to be based on. Listing the words and expressions Felix uses when talking to Dimitri is pretty aggressive, and is meant to be demeaning if we take it at face value.

Felix insults/expressions of aggression 

Support C

その気味の悪い笑顔で話しかけるな。/ Go away. (I would add “Don’t talk to me with that creepy/spooky/grotesque smile of yours.”)

見ているだけで胸糞悪くなる。/ Just looking at your face makes me wanna retch 黙れ。獣は獣らしくしていろ。/ Shut up. And stop walking around on your hind legs. 獣 / beast 猪 / wild boar ならばさっさと失せろ、邪魔だ。話しかけるな、この化け物が。/ Hurry up and get out of my sight.  I don’t make a habit of talking to beasts.

Support B

猪 / wild boar 貴様 / an aggressive form of addressing “you” in Japanese, although in this sentence it’s not used aggressively 阿呆が。/ Do you take me for a fool?  (I took the Japanese more along the lines of “Are you stupid?”) 腹立たしい……。/Looking at your face is making me angry (No JP equivalent) / Farewell, Your Beastliness.

Support A

獣 / beast (but used in the context of the “the face of a beast vs the face of a man” line) 手が滑って斬りつけないうちに、答えろ。Answer quickly before my hand slips and I cut you in half お前の辛気臭い顔が、癇に障って仕方なかっただけだ / I couldn’t stand the pathetic look on your face.

Stepping out of the Dimitri/Felix support conversations for a bit, we know from Felix’s other interaction he is also rude and aggressive. Calling Dedue “dog” is probably the rudest and most demeaning example we have. Telling Ingrid to go and get married is also pretty rude. So overall we have a lot of evidence that Felix is ok with being abrasive, at best. Intentionally hurtful and malicious at the worst.

So Felix is rude to Dimitri in their support conversations, but the rudeness lessens as the support levels increase.  As you can see from the list above, the number of expressions of aggression go down between conversations C and A. Felix doesn’t call Dimitri “boar” once in the A support conversation. The last line “癇に障って仕方なかっただけだ / I couldn’t stand the pathetic look on your face” is a bit tricky, since I think there’s a bit of a divergence between the JP acting and EN acting. The JP is very clearly a "tsundere" intonation, meaning there’s a vibe of “I care but am too embarrassed to admit it”. The EN was a lot less obviously for me, so if you only got the EN there’s a chance that Felix’s  “I couldn’t stand the pathetic look on your face” comes across at face value - an actual insult.

Outside the support conversations, Felix uses the words “boar/beast” to describe Dimitri specifically quite often. But the intention behind the use seems to change (from an attack on one’s character to a nickname). Looking at the AM route, lines within each chapter + in the monastery phase, we find he uses the words ten times in total. That’s a descent amount, considering the number of lines he probably has overall (I’m not that dedicated to count all his lines… proper methodology would want me to do that though…). The last two times he uses “boar” it seems more of a nickname rather than as a way to attack Dimitri’s person.

A surprise find was that Dimitri uses “beast” five times overall , in the same contexts that I checked for Felix’s use (AM route, lines within each chapter + in the monastery phase in JP). In all cases he is describing either Imperial soldiers, or the baddies at Remier village. Never in reference to himself (which I thought might come up, but didn’t).So 

TLDR; There is canon basis of Felix being rude to Dimitri, but it looks like he mellows out a lot by the end of the game.  The JP flags the “tsundere” vibes a lot more than the English.

Apologetic Dimitri

I’m gonna start with the numbers from the chapters + monastery sections first, because these are the bits that clearly form the canon basis of “apologising Dimitri”. But with some interesting twists!

As a quick and dirty measure, I searched for the characters 謝 (to catch 謝る、謝罪 etc), 悪 (to catch 悪いな、悪かった), and すまない. I didn’t search for ごめん/ごめんなさい (gomen/gomennasai) bc I bet you three cups of coffee that you won’t find Dimitri using this expression.  ごめん/ごめんなさい is more typical of children and women, or super casual. So Edelgard and Claude might use these, but not Dimitri.  

Dimitri apologise a ton in the chapters and monastery sections. For all three words, we have 16 expressions of “sorry” from Dimitri. For comparison, I just checked the first five chapters for Claude. Chapters 1-5 Dimitri apologises 7 times, while Claude apologises once. So yeah, canonically, we find good grounds for Dimitri being a person who apologises often. We’ll see later that in his other supports with Blue Lions characters, he apologies to them also.

Dimitri apologises 6 times after Rodrigue dies in chapter 18. And 4 of these apologies are concerning his behaviour while he was disengaged with the war effort/unwell. These kind of feel a bit different to the “sorry to inconvenience you” type apologies that are more typical of his sorries (see list below)

To Byleth: 4, for being boring (1), for making a weird request (1), for Byleth helping out (2) To Edelgard: 2, once about making Edelgard feel bad bc she thought he was underestimating her, and once about the poor choice of gift he gave her during their childhood. To Lonato: 2, for the general badness of the situation To Claude: 1, (but unclear to me what exactly he’s apologising about) To Dedue: 1, for surprising him To Mercedes: 1 (need to check again To a Kingdom soldier: 1, because the soldier was looking for him To Lonato’s soldier: 1, for the general badness of the situation

Most of these apologies are of the “sorry for being an inconvenience” type. This could be interpreted in a variety of ways ranging from just being polite right through to low self-esteem. Whatever the construal, it does seem objectively that Dimitri says “sorry” a lot more than other male characters who might have as many lines.

Dimitri and apologising to Felix

Dimitri apologising to Felix, we have exactly one example in the chapter conversations. In chapter 18, Dimitri says to Felix “I have no words to apologise adequately” or something along those lines, regarding Rodrigue’s death. (And shortly after, Felix addressed Dimitri by name).

We have zero cases of Dimitri apologising to Felix in the support conversations. For a quick comparison in his other support conversations, Dimitri apologises to Ashe once, Sylvain once, Ingrid once, Annette twice, Mercedes three times (but the expressions he uses are different to the three I mention earlier). Interestingly, Dimitri also doesn’t apologise to Dedue.

These numbers might just be reflecting the fact that Dimitri and Felix’s support conversations aren’t really topics where apologies would be made. Dimitri and Felix’s support conversations aren’t about burdening each other, being a nuisance, or supporting each other. Their support conversations are actually about Felix coming to terms with Dimitri’s dual nature, while Dimitri himself seems seems unbothered by it.  (The only place in canon we really see Dimitri using his words to express remorse and discomfort over his dual nature seems to  be his A+ support with Mercedes).

Dimitri’s responses to Felix’s rudeness in support C are more like indirect affirmations of Felix’s characterisations of him (“A beast craving blood, am I? I assume you’re speaking of the events two years ago”, “I deny nothing, Felix.”, “Perhaps you’re right.”). Maybe a little bit resigned. There are a handful of sad-faces. It actually seems to me that Dimitri is in general agreement with Felix.

In support B, Dimitri is unbothered by Felix’s abrasiveness. When Felix gives him a hard time, Dimitri tends to push back (“As though I would be careless with something so valuable.”, “Come now, that was so long ago!”).  In this entire exchange it’s only Felix who is bothered by something, while Dimitri seems quite oblivious to Felix’s turmoil. The final line in this support is Dimitri saying “What is going on with him…”

Support A Dimitri is quite assertive of himself  (“ Do not waste your breath on questions with such obvious answers / 当たり前のことを聞くな”, “ You are wrong/ ……違う”), still a it resigned (“Always so ominous / お前はいつも物騒だな。”), but unlike supports A and B, showing awareness of Felix’s internal state, and thanks Felix.

Dimitri seems generally unbothered by Felix giving him a hard time, and Dimitri does not apologise for his character. Dimitri seemed ok with his dual nature, while it was Felix who was more bothered by it. But by the end of the game, if support A is reached, Felix also comes around to accept the dual nature. Dimitri and Felix aren’t really in an “apologise to each other” relationship, because it seems from Dimitri’s POV, there is nothing about himself that he needs to apologise to Felix for.

So TLDR

There is good canon basis for rude/aggro Felix. There is good canon basis for apologetic Dimitri. Dimitri apologises a lot in canon, but not really Felix. The one time he apologises is concerning Rodrigue’s death. But given that Dimitri does apologise to people often for inconveniencing them, it’s not hard to imagine how Dimitri would apologise to Felix for inconveniencing him in some way.

So I don’t think I missed anything in canon, but fan creators extrapolate these canon bases into various directions. Which is cool! Because isn’t that the fun of doing fan works!

The end.

Links out: JP Text, EN Text

[afterthelastreset]

Rules Of One’s Soul Ch 3 A Story and Memory

(Mak belongs to @coffincrawler)

What followed after that was a sudden rush of adrenaline kicking in when he realized what had just happened was real. That Jevil had actually pecked him on the mouth and took off laughing up the stairs towards the elevator on the 'outside'. He spun around and ran face first into the top of the metal bars, making him stumble back, hands flying to his face and groaning in pain. The metal clang rang out and he took a few seconds getting his bearings and remembering he had to duck down to get through the cell door, before actually stumbling forward and out of the cell door just as he could hear a very familiar sound.

Ding!

His head snapped up just as the doors began closing and Jevil gave off a tiny wave with his fingers."Jevil! Thou stupid worm! Stop thine doors from closing this instant!," he yelled up in frustration as he stumble-ran his way up the stairs towards him. The imp only giggled.

"The fun, fun has already begun Rouxls.~ To play the game you have to stay on light, light feet.~ Such a chaotic play.~"

"Why you insolent little-!" The rest of the door closed just as he reached the top step, his arms slammed into the doors just as insanely happy laughter echoed within it. Rouxls could feel his teeth grit in frustration as his ears pressed tighter to his head. Did that little worm really think he could just escape that easily?! .....Wait a minute. "FUCKETH THINESELF!!" His hands flew up to his head as he just realized, Lancer was still most likely up there doing who knows what!! "MINE BOY!!!" His voiced raised a pitch as his breathing picked up pace again.

That lunatic was on the loose and could do who know's what to anyone! He wouldn't let anything happen to his child if he could prevent it! And he would live up to that promise. The familiar buzzing of magic surrounded him making an almost static cloud of energy and soon a blinding blue light overtook his entire vision. For about 3 seconds his whole body felt like a part of said static energy, completely weightless before he all came rushing back together in one split moment. The blinding blue light disbanded and he opened his eyes to the completely different surroundings around him. A pair of Rudin guards had been startled of the sudden teleportation of the Duke of Puzzles and gave each other a quick look before blinking back up at their annoyed looking boss. The worm monster gave an annoyed look at the closed elevator doors up ahead and narrowed his eyes.

Taking a moment to right himself, he marched towards the doors. This was the first floor from the dungeon and the special cell way down below, so this would be the most likely stop for the crazy clown to step off from. Just as Rouxls thought, he could hear the running elevator approaching and sped walked faster to the doors. The two Rudin guards watching with confused faces behind him. Probably wondering why the Duke teleported out of nowhere and why there were bruises on his face. His face still hurt from his smack into the bars. But none of that mattered now as the elevator stopped with a ding noise and slowly opened-

"Thou art insane," he hissed when the door opened, "Doth thou knoweth you can't just walk-" He stopped and blinked. The elevator was completely empty. He stared unbelievably at the empty space for a good moment before shaking his head and sticking half his body into the empty space to turn around. "Are....thou invisible?" He reached an arm around to feel the empty air but he got his answer when a high pitches wail pierced the air followed by crashing noises and more shouting. "Shiteth!"

The two guards watched in confused worry as the duke ran back up the hallway with panic on his melting face, passed them and continued down the corridor before turning the left corner....Before looking back at each other again. The Duke however was running as fast as his legs could carry him towards the loud noises. Other guards and servants looked on with mixed emotions on their faces towards what happened to be the largest room on the first floor or at the Duke running past them all. The room's light became slightly darker and the smell of ash filled the air....Smoke? There was smoke in the building!? And where there was usually smoke there was fire, and the fire... The panicked adrenaline in his veins urging him on towards the rucus. The kitchen doors were thrown open as the panicked worm threw them open and looked around with a wild look in his eyes.

"What tis happening?! Where is he!? Wh- *cough cough* Where's thy fire?!," he shouted through a few coughs. The black cloud was coming from the corner of the room where a hathy was doing her best to fan the smoke away with a small towel which was currently pooling from an old oven. The poor hathy took one look at the duke before turning back to fanning the smoke faster whimpering apologies. The smoke began to make his eyes water and he turned his head to give off another round of coughing as the vile air filled his lungs. "What happened here?! *cough* I want aan-answers! *ach*"

"U-Um, s-sorry, Sir." Another hathy reached a tentacle behind their head sheepishly while giving the duke a sorry look. "B-But it's the first day on the job for some of our new recruits." He motioned to the panicking hathy still fanning the smoke from the open oven. "Uh....D-Dinner might be late tonight."

He waved a hand to dismiss them before turning and exiting the room. His eyes watered from the amount of smoke coming from one room alone. "Windows. Open thine windows!" He choked out between coughs at the still watching staff, they didn't have to be told twice as they scrambled for the giant windows lining the far wall. Rouxls hacked and coughed his way from the kitchen to somewhere he couldn't smell the ghastly stench anymore. Thankfully he didn't have to walk a long way to get clean air. He gulped a lungful of the sweet air and slowly began to regain some kind of composure. How humiliating that a simple overcooked roast could reduce him of all people into a sick dog so easily. How embarrassing. At least Jevil didn't start a fire....Oh. Right.

"Stupid, insolent, dammed hellspawn from thy deepest depths!!,"he shouted once he got his breathing back in order. The anger and anxiety flaring up made his eye twitch, alongside the dread of not knowing where Lancer was made him feel sick again. For all he knew the imp could be doing something terrible with Lancer. What if he was already in trouble? What would h-

"Lesser Dad?" He squeaked out a startled noise and turned to find the child no less than two feet from him. He stared up at the man with his tongue sticking out in a confused manner. "Why were you saying all those bad words? Did someone steal something from your shop again?"

He instantly sighed in relief from seeing the small child in front of him, he straightened back up immediately and gave Lancer a smile to his question. "No need to worry about that, mine littlest worm. I'm just relieved to have found you safe and sound and not being dragged into thine jester's schemes." He said the last words through gritted teeth.

Lancer was even more confused. "What does that mean? Did Uncle Jevil get his food?"

"Uh....T-Thou could sayest that, but thou doth not needst to worry about that right now." He gave a look around before holding out his hand to which Lancer instinctively grabbed. "Right now thou should really worry about other things."

"What other things? I'm done being king for the day, so now I can go ride my bike and see Ralsei!"

He sighed again. This would be a long night. "Lancer, thou doesn't simply just be done with being King for thee day. Being King is a life time thing, tis your responsibility as one of thee kings to uphold thine duties-"

"Oh, I already did that!"

"Thou has?" He rose a brow. Maybe there was hope yet for the boy's attention span. "In the hour I was....busy thou accomplished thy royal duties?"

"Well,....I had some help and I left all the paperwork on your desk like Dad used to do." Of course, he should've known better. More work for him later, but at least he'd have some excuse to keep his attention on other matters. He was dragged down to hunch over as the much smaller boy tugged on his hand towards the kitchen. "C'mon. I'm hungry-"

"I think I hast already lost mine appetite."

========================================================================== Being a single father to a spade child wasn't easy. He should know.

Feeding Lancer and trying to keep him out of trouble was no easy feat. Trust me, he's done this job for quite a few years but it was harder when one has to consider the fact that as a very energetic child and now as king he technically didn't have to follow the same rules he had to when he was simply a prince less than two months ago. But that didn't mean he didn't listen to Rouxls either, calling him Dad still and listening whenever Rouxls scolded him or gave him advice. But that didn't mean he still couldn't pull the 'I'm King now so you have to do as I say now' card, and Rouxls had to obey the laws set down by the king. And while worms were enough to content him for now, he had a feeling he'd be bothered again with the matter very soon

The rest of that day had gone by slowly....VERY slowly. The boy had him running around behind him for the remainder of the day, wearily looking his shoulder every show often out of habit, expecting you know who to show up magically at any moment, but no matter how many times he thought he heard the unruly laughing or feared of seeing that madman's smile upon his face like the other incidents between the two, it never came. It was probably just the darkness of the shadows that he always saw, but couldn't help but flinch at. It just reminded him too much of what really used to take place behind closed doors when the small bouncing boy wasn't looking. He still had nightmares of what he'd heard about at the hands of the Ex-King Spades or the rare times he'd walk in on something he'd rather forget but couldn't....Or the few times he....personally had his own demonstration of what happened when one displeased their king......Which Lancer didn't need to know about, not now or ever. He'd die before letting the child be tainted by his father's past actions.

"Lesser Dad?" The worm monster stopped his internal rambling and snapped his head back down to the small boy holding his hand. Lancer gave off a tired puppy sounding yawn showing off his mini fangs and bright blue tongue for a couple seconds before his mouth reclosed. He gave a tired smile up at him. "I'm starting to get tired from all this King stuff. Can I go to bed now?"

"*sigh* Of course. Even the greatest of kings needs their sleep." He gave another smile before looking over his shoulder again around the darkness of the hallway behind them for a moment. Lancer leaned sideways to take a look at what his father was looking at, when he didn't see anything he turned back to Rouxls.

"What are you looking at?"

"Uh..I- N-Nothing. I'm just tired as well." He gave off another fake smile to try and seem relaxed around the child. Tugging his hand gently to motion him along down the hallway. "N-Now thou was saying?"

Lancer didn't question the smile and just tiredly trudged along, trying to keep up with Rouxls's long strides in his tired state. He yawned again showing off his k-9s and inner mouth before reaching up a paw to rub at his face hole.

"I'm tired...."

"I can see that. Thou's had a long day haven't you?" He chuckled trying to lift the invading feeling of anxiety from bubbling up from the surrounding shadows. It's going to take a while to get over feeling constantly drained from the last person he took orders from.

"Mmm hmmm."

Rouxls gave a sigh before trying to walk a bit faster towards the royal bedroom. He had a few things to get down that night and needed to put Lancer to bed to have one less thing to worry about doing that night- He stopped when he felt Lancer's hand slip from his, and he turned around. The small boy stood there slightly rocking back and forth slowly blinking his tired face hole. He yawned once again and reached both paws up to wipe at his face. Rouxls stopped and stared at the child for a moment before sighing and shaking his head, his legs carried his back over to the spade where he stopped and leaned down, holding his arms out to either side of him. The small spade reacted instantly by reaching up and wrapping his arms around the worm's neck, Rouxl's arms instantly went around the child before lifting him up with a grunt. Lancer being a spade, was naturally bigger and heavier than any other child his own age due to the fact that he would grow to be HUGE adult like his father as he got over, so naturally the duke stumbled a bit on his first few steps carrying Lancer towards his bedroom. The small child sighed and snuggled into the cool feeling of Rouxls's skin. It was almost like a water bed, but firmer.

They went down the hall shuffling and grunting until reaching a door connected to the far wall. It was a bit difficult to balance a heavy child in one arm while trying to reach for the door with the other. He fumbled a bit, but managed to turn the knob before shoving the door open with his foot. It swung open with a creek and Rouxls shuffled his way into the dark room. He could still faintly see the small toys scattered across the floor and a few other various knick knacks here and there despite it though, and was able to kick most out of his way as he made it over to the bed. Upon reaching it, he sighed and once again did the juggling act of balancing a now sleeping Lancer in one arm as he reached over to pull back the blankets with the other hand all the while not trying to fall over himself. He ended up gently plopping Lancer down onto the mattress and accidentally waking him up in the process. He blinked a couple times before yawning as Rouxls pulled up the blankets to be level with his chest.

"Lesser Dad...*yawwwwwwnn* C-Could you tell me a story?"

"Aren't thou a little old for stories?" A small paw grabbed his hand as he was about to tuck in the small spade.

"Please?"

A small silence. And then he sighed again but this time with a smile. "Alright. But just a short one." Lancer happily complied to the tuck ins as the duke pulled the blanket farther up his body- "Once there was a King and Queen, and they eventually bore a son-"

"Like me?"

"In a way, but not everything was well." A grimace came to his face and he leaned back up from the bed. "Thy king was always a bit....unpredictable with his behaviors, but it got worse when his Queen vanished-"

"Where did she go?" The small spade questioned still blinking sleepily at him, battiling the urge to nap.

"*sigh* I wish I knew-...Uh- I mean-" He coughed and looked away. "N-No one really knewest where thine Queen went. She may have runneth away or went into hiding somewhere far away from her kingdom. You see-...Thee King's wasn't very nice to everyone despite thine Queen's patience o-or her kind words....but h-he loved her. V-Very much, and I guess losing her pushed him to thou's edge."

He gave off a spaced expression and almost forgot Lancer was still awake when he asked-

"What happened to them?"

He flinched and stuttered. "U-Uh...Well-...The King grew to be more...." Cruel, murderous, insane?? "....More distant to his true duties as his subjects king. H-He made a lot of....mistakes that everyone nay liked, nor did he do anything to fix said mistakes."

"What happened to the baby...?"

Rouxls chuckled and his face became the slightest bit softer. "The king's son grew up to be very troublesome, but also very kind and...determined. Everything the king once was but had forgotten. He...was the good that came out of something so evil. I still shan't ever knowest how but he did-"

"What....happened...n-next..?"

"Thy prince rallied an army of his own and defeated the evil king of course. And became a good ruler as he would've been either way, and grew up to be a happy man with a family of his own one day-"

"W-Wait." He sat up slightly and blinked up at him with his last awakeness power. "W-What about the mom? Did she come back?"

The Duke stared at nothing silently for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. "I'm afraid not."

"What? But that's not fair!"

"Well-..." He finally looked back to him. "Sometimes there are some people who nay have any happy endings to their stories, and sometimes stories don't have thine happily ever after at all....or completely. Some still deal with their own...uh- difficulties even after they get thou's happy ending-..."

He was interrupted by the sound of a soft snore and he glanced back to Lancer, who was happily asleep now. He sighed before reaching a hand over to pull the blanket up slightly before slipping his grip free. He took few moments just staring at the sleeping child before silently turning and taking his leave from the room careful to not step on anything on the way out and closing the door silently.

"We all have our happy endings eventually. But I'm afraid thou's is just in the beginning pages."

==========================================================================

The long walk back towards the Duke's own private courters was barely a blink before he ended up back in front of his old shop, usually the long walk would've taken at most fifteen minutes if he sped walked, but he had been a little busy looking over his shoulder every few seconds out of fear he was being watched or followed. His body shook with the slowly built up anxiety and fear that had been plaguing him since early that morning. But he didn't see or hear anything indicating where the deranged fool may have gone or where he currently was. H*ll for all he knew he could be back in that cell, or right behind him....or- GOOD LORD! Why didn't he check Lancer's room before he sent the child to bed?! Too late now though. The child would put up a fuss if he went back to wake him up over his own paranoia, and what would everybody else think if they saw his paranoid behavior? The other Kings could see him as a threat to the boy king and he was NOT about to be sent to be locked up with the Ex King Spades. The very thought made him shudder. No. He'd have to trust the guards tonight and find a way to deal with this madness in the morn-.....He froze.

"...W-What thy f*ck?"

Up ahead was the 'Hip Shoppe' as he called it. Every so often he'd get the occasional customer and earn a few extra dark dollars on the side, but what customer would come in the middle of the sleeping hour? That's what he thought when he saw a faint orange light moving about through the front windows of the shoppe. Why would anyone be there at this hour- His eyes slowly traced to the sign in the window that still said open, and he froze before eternally cursing at himself. He had stupidly left the open sign stuck in his window all day!...Come to think of it, when was the last time he actually put the sign away? ...No. You shouldn't be thinking of that now. Now is the time to ask, who the heck was in the shoppe and why?

For a moment he reconsidered going back to the castle and just sleeping in his office or getting some guards but the light suddenly stopped moving and he stilled stared at the shop from in the middle of the road leading up to it. His legs slowly began carrying him towards the shoppe. If this was some midnight guard trying to steal something or a theif, then they had another thing coming. The Duke of Puzzles wasn't the strongest monster, but he wasn't the weakest when it came to fights. He could always teleport away if it came too much. He just hoped it wasn't who he thought it was. If it was...

The light still hadn't moved as the duke slowed his pace before stopping a few feet away from the door, he stood there for a little while before shakily looking over his shoulder towards the darkened trees and shadows behind him...Yeah. No way he was staying out here. So sucking a breath he began approaching the door again before stopping directly in front of it. He stared at the doorknob for a long time before slowly reaching his hand out watching as it slowly wrapped around the cold metal. The door was slowly opened and the duke froze at the sight before him.

".....oh, sh*t..."

A lantern shown bright above the counter next to the register. It's soft glow illuminated a good portion of the shoppe...and the giant furry figure next to it. Though he didn't react when the door opened, he did react to the soft cuss mumbled with a flick of the ear and turn of his head. The figure was easily a foot taller than himself, covered in fur. His body looked old and worn from the many scars his face showed. Both froze as they made eye contact. A small silence followed as they stared at each other before the slightly taller one smiled.

"Well, well. Another visitor to rummage through the wares I see. Welcome Stranger." He greeted in a voice that sounded younger than the body it came from.

Rouxls stood there dumbfounded. "...Who...What art thou doing in mine shoppe?!" He looked past him at the counter and noticed a small box by the lantern filled with what he assumed the furry thing had been taking...Nonono. Not taking. Stealing. He narrowed his eyes at the figure, a new feeling of anger replacing the fear. "Thief!" He pointed a hand accusingly at the....cat?? It looked sorta like one. "What does thou think you're doing coming into mine shoppe and taking mine wares?! "

The cat didn't even flinch. "Oh, so you own the place?" Rouxls nodded with pursed lips and the figure hummed. "Oh, I see....Ahahaha. I think there's been a mistake. I was told the place had been abandoned by the previous owner a month ago. Never saw anyone so I assumed the rumors to be true."

".....Whom art thou?"

The figure chuckled again. "How rude of me. The name's Sham but spelt with an 'e a'." The cat thing held out a paw from the tattered cloak with a smile. "For give me. I didn't know someone would be coming back, so I have been helping myself to some of your stock whenever I got low this month. Mr...."

"Rouxls Kaard." He glanced down at the paw before frowning more and holding a hand to his chest. "Duke of Puzzles and Royal Advisor to King Lancer. Not to the mention thine owner of the very place thou stands." He was expecting the cat to start begging forgiveness for his mistake, what he didn't expect was this Seam to chuckle.

"Oh...So you're this 'Evil Duke' the jigsawries used to babble on about stealing their jobs." Rouxls sputtered at the cat's reaction as well as the term he just used. Evil?! Him?! Seam chuckled at the Duke's reaction before saying. "I do beg my pardon. I wasn't aware I was in the presence of nobility now."

"W-Well...Thou shouldst be!" He crossed his arms and pouted in a way Lancer would sometimes do (Gee! I wonder where he learnt that from?) making Seam chuckle again. "I-In fact, thou should be thanking me for not throwing thou's self in thine dungeon for theivory and trespassing!"

"To be fair, you were not here for over a month. I thought for sure it was abandoned just like many other things in this world-"

"W-Well it was nay abandoned!"

"My apologies. Would you prefer I put everything back? I could pay you back for what I remember taking but I lost count. These old stitches aren't what they used to be I'm afraid."

Rouxls just stared at him. Did-...Did this old cat just apologize and offer to pay for things he thought were abandoned?? He searched his face for any trickery but all he got was a patient smile back. He opened his mouth but glanced back to the small box on the counter for a second.....

"...N-No. I have nay time to deal with such trivial things this late at night,and I'm quite busy with royal duties to the kings!" He pointed behind him at the open door before saying. "Take what little things thou have taken and leave. I do not wish to see you unsupervised within mine courters again. Or next time I shan't show mercy upon thee."

Seam chuckled again before asking, "If that's your answer, then who am I to ignore the duke?"

Turning back around, the stranger grabbed the small box in one hand and the lantern in the other before turning towards the door. Rouxls had to step aside to allow the stranger to get past him and out the open door. Seam stopped and turned back around to give the Duke one last smile.

"Perhaps friend, next time you should consider locking doors."

Rouxls didn't get a chance to answer before he turned back around and began to shuffle away. He stood there dumbfounded before quickly going over to close the door and lock it tight. He turned his eyes towards the window to watch the stranger walk away becoming a shadow among the other shadows with the light. He watched from the window for as long as he could before giving off another sigh and reaching over to tug at the sign. Turning it around to say: Closed.

When would this stressful day even end?

Sighing, he turned to stumble his way towards the back. Back there was a room with a bed that wasn't a his office desk and chair he was very interested in sleeping in and right now he just wanted to sleep and nothing else. It didn't take him long to find it either. He sighed in relief just as he flopped face first onto the soft but dusty bed which made him cough a little bit but it WAS better than a desk and chair. He let himself sink into the soft, a heavy feeling sinking in as his eyes closed. He had a lot of stuff to deal with right now and didn't need to deal with anything Jevil or this theif Seam caused until tomorrow.....Wait a second. His eyes blinked back awake as his brain wired a memory.

Didn't-......Didn't Jevil mention a Seam??

[lampmeeting]

since i can now do this ldsfk 1-Metalocalypse (obvi) and 2 Chickles back at you :3

oh HELL yeah *rubs hands together* okay this’ll be long so i’ll do a cut

Favorite character: PICKLESSSSS

Least Favorite character: everyone says rockso and like I GET IT he’s revolting, but my ultimate least-fave is toki’s dad. fuck that old man.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): CHICKLES, HAMMERTOOTH, uhhhh (what else is there?? i’m kidding) nathan/abigail, charles/magnus, nathan/toki

Character I find most attractive: oh fuck don’t do this to me. i have too many types!! i can’t pick! fuck. i’m just gonna say charles. even though it’s magnus. wait. no. it’s pickles. charles. toki. fuck. magnus. i can’t do it dfkgjhf

Character I would marry: realistically?? like, i would say charles but unless i’m a member of dethklok i’m gonna be getting like .02% of that man’s time. honestly i would pick toki or nathan. toki would be so sweet and attentive, all the huggings and kissings, awww. nathan i feel would be the same, but only in private. you gotta kinda work on him a lil bit haha.

Character I would be best friends with: my heart says pickles but my soul says murderface. i would FOR SURE laugh at one of his off-hand under-his-breath comments because that’s just what i do, i fucking laugh at everything, and he’d be like OH? someone thinks i’m funny?? and then my life would never know peace (in a good way)

A random thought: i wanna hear all the dethklok albums from before the show started. like that album where their abs were airbrushed, wtf did that sound like?

An unpopular opinion: season 4 was good. :O i feel like i hear the sentiment from quite a few people that season 4 on the whole was bad. i love all the seasons equally actually.

My Canon OTP: CHICKLES. may i present to the court, exhibit A *points to my icon* (shhh no, let me dream)

My Non-canon OTP: toki/magnus :’) i think this is just about as non-canon as you can get, really. but the heart wants what it wants.

Most Badass Character: DEFINITELY charles.

Most Epic Villain: sorry, mags... salacia.

Pairing I am not a fan of: i think i’m willing to at least entertain most any ship. i’ve read some interesting things for sure. i draw the line at seth/pickles though (i’m glad that doesn’t really seem to exist anymore? it was around more back in the day).

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): aside from magnus and abigail, who both needed WAY more screen time?? i would say dr rockso in a sense. he was sort of that kooky rascal you wave your finger at when he gets in trouble, and then they had to go and do the whole dory mclean thing. and i get the point of the episode, but after that i wasn’t rooting for rockso anymore and he kinda became more of this sinister kinda figure? i dunno. i think that whole angle could’ve been done away with and it would’ve been a lot better. also him trying to fucking drown toki in the christmas episode. 8( ouch, man.

Favourite Friendship: probably nathan and pickles, since they’re the lynchpin of the whole outfit.

Character I most identify with: pickles with some toki on the side. :’) ahhh.

Character I wish I could be: i wanna be that girl that nathan was dating for a while, the one the boys end up befriending and playing scrabble with. i want to be their friiiiiiiiiend

OKAY CHICKLES TIIIIIIIME

When I started shipping them: WELL....okay so i actually just went back and looked at my old deviantart account and the first drawing i did of them (yes i’m linking to 14-year-old art pls don’t judge me) was on Oct. 18, 2006, so like...the dethfam episode hadn’t even aired yet. god damn. there was someone in the sausage festival livejournal community who had drawn the two of them, and then i fucking went ravenous for it real quick and it became like the only thing i drew for months hahaha. i had been nickles up until then. :O

My thoughts: MY THOUGHTS??? this is so vague. i have many thoughts. uh, for one? they’re perfect together? the straight-laced workaholic and the lazy degenerate? yes please, gimme. they’re like yin and yang, opposites attracting. and yet i feel like, once they get past that, they realize they’re both so similar at their cores. and pickles helps charles loosen up, and charles gives pickles some structure. they both give each other someone to lean on when shit gets bad. pickles can be a surprisingly good caretaker when he wants to be. :’)

What makes me happy about them: everything?? i really don’t know how to adequately describe just how much i love them and just how much that means hahah... you ever ship something for 14 years?? i know some of y’all have. it gets in your blood. that’s like over a third of my life right there. not to be dramatic or anything hahaha but they’re important to me. that ship helped get me through some rough months back when i lived alone in a crappy apartment, and it’s hilarious to me that i’m getting back into it hardcore like i was back then considering everything that’s going on right now, just current events-wise and personal stuff-wise.

What makes me sad about them: god damn, anything about those 9 months charles spent “dead”. anything post-doomstar. anything snakes ‘n barrels where they’re together for a short time and then never see each other until charles becomes dethklok’s manager. pickles pining after him for like a decade after the band forms. or charles pining, having to watch pickles party and do drunks and sleep around. or BOTH of them pining and not realizing it, or REALIZING IT and not acting on it because what if it hurt the band somehow? maybe charles wouldn’t want to jeopardize it but pickles would be okay with it, and charles would have to be the one to say no. ahhhhhhhHHHHHH

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: oof, i agree with you here, Ash. i’ve read a couple fics where, like, the bdsm aspect wasn’t even fun. i probably know the exact fic that left a bad taste in your mouth because there’s one specific one i’m thinking of that left a bad taste in mine (actually two...). like i had to actually get up from the computer and go do dishes hahah... uck. but yeah. don’t like charles being abusive to pickles. i think pickles does like some punishment from time to time, and he definitely has some daddy issues. but i don’t want it to get fucking sinister haha y’know? pickles, at his heart, is a good-times guy. he likes good feelings. he wants to feel nice. and charles, at HIS heart, is all about service.

Things I look for in fanfic: are they in love or just hooking up?? i mean i’ll take either at the end of the day, but i’m a romantic and i need the love, i crave it.

My wishlist: give to me all the fics about snakes n’ barrels chickles. how i haven’t written one baffles me (though i did have that huge plot write-up from months back haha...i should turn that into a real fic sometime). would also love a huge fic about their marriage, complete with canon-typical buffoonery. fics about them retiring together. ;0; fics about them just having nice peaceful moments. literally just.....any fic haha...

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: my soul literally begins to shatter apart if i consider them ultimately ending up with anyone else hahaha... other relationships can come and go, but at the end of the line i need those boys to be together. <3

My happily ever after for them: after galaktikon II, dethklok has kinda run its course. the band uses their near-infinite resources to help rebuild the earth. shortly after, it’s pickles who proposes in a surprising turn of events. shaken after the battle, he doesn’t wanna waste any more time. they get married barefoot on the beach probably in like fiji or something (pickles’ idea) with friends and family present (the okay ones haha, also magnus is there with toki because this is my dream, damnit). pickles has white flowers in his dreads in lieu of a bouquet. T~T everything goes well, no one crashes the wedding. they have a lovely honeymoon there when everyone else leaves. pickles says he’s decided to retire from music, but it’s not long before he’s working feverishly on new music in the home studio at their new place. some real expansive stuff. he’s kinda doing it as a weird therapy, coming to terms with some stuff. he never gets clean but he’s not using drugs and alcohol as a band-aid for his problems quite so much anymore. charles retires from managing bands (he doesn’t have the heart for it if it’s not dethklok) and ends up doing the adjunct professor thing whenever he gets bored. but he practices guitar a lot, pickles teaching him some advanced stuff, they jam together sometimes. he takes up sailing because it’s something he’s always wanted to do but never had time for. after pickles releases his first solo album, charles takes him on a long, romantic sailing trip. everything is perfect, everything’s gonna be good forever. 8′) forever. the end.

[scullysexual]

Pictures of You

It took a while but it’s finally completed. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed writing something as much as I did this and it’s a shame that I can only write when it’s like 3am otherwise this would have been out much sooner. Anyway, it’s here now.

So I just want to say that these little moments (4/5) are pretty much inspired by these by @morewinepls. It’s probably my favourite fan art I’ve seen and I just couldn’t get them out of my head. I really liked doing these picture-prompts as they are so you should expect more.

Anyway, I give you this. It’s wrote in chronological order but a lot of time has passed between each moment. I hope you like it :)

(It includes the first moment I posted a few weeks ago)

i) It’s a little after midnight when he finally gets a chance to head down to the basement. Carrying a pizza box from the night before in one hand, and a blanket he’d pilfered from his parents wardrobe in the other. His glasses balance precariously on the edge of his nose, hands currently unavailable to push them up, he tries not to fall down the stairs. And he succeeds.

Mulder had promised to check on her earlier yet complications with the basement door being in the kitchen and a mother who seemed to live in said kitchen prevented him from doing so. All through dinner he felt bad. Unsure of when she had last eaten, he had no doubt that the smell of food had wafted through the gaps in the door. Cold and hungry she could’ve sat down there, waiting for him.

He shivers, goosebumps appearing on his arm and he finds he was right about the cold. (It does nothing to ease his guilt) His eyes scan the room until they fall upon the couch and the figure huddled against the cushions, lost within his jumper that swarms her entire body, the thin material being used as a makeshift blanket.

He smiles, his stomach fluttering as he’s overcome with us how small and adorable she looks burrowed against the couch and cushions (he would never admit this to her out loud, she’d punch his face in before he even finished the word adorable) He let’s himself think it, however, his own private thought for him and only him and without thinking, his hands search the table behind him, knocking over 20-sided dice and miniature figures in an effort to reach his camera.

To outside eyes (and her’s) it may be creepy to take a picture of a someone sleeping; of a girl he barely knows and has no clue what he’s doing. But this is for him. Just like his thoughts, this is also just for him.

He brings the camera up to his eye and before he knows it the camera snap, flash blinking just before her brow creases and her eyes open.

Mulder tosses the camera away, ignoring the photo that prints and slips onto the table. He reaches for the discarded pizza box, holding it out as a secret apology.

“Hi,” she says yawning and stretching. He peels his eyes away from the tiniest speck of skin that shows.

“Hi,” he answers back, still holding out the pizza box.

“What time is it?”

“A little after 12am.”

Her eyes widen at the answer. All tranquillity gone as she frantically begins lacing up her shoes.

“In need to go,” she tells him in a huff. “I I haven’t been back since I left and my mom especially, she’ll be going crazy, have all of DC out looking for me.”

Mulder just stares at her, pizza box still outstretched. It’s not fair for her parents to have driven her out the house only to have her crawling back out of panic.

“Stay,” he says, unsure exactly where it’s came from.

She stops what she’s doing to look at him, a look of ‘you’re an idiot’ wrote on her face and he tries not to look offended by it by swallowing.

“I can’t stay, Mulder. I need to go home.”

“But it’s late,” he argues. “You can call them tomorrow, say you stayed here. Which you did.”

The look turns into an eyebrow rise. “Tell my parents that I stayed at a boy’s house?”

“Better a boy’s house then being kidnapped.” His tone softens when he sees a smile break through. “Stay. Eat. You haven’t eaten.”

Her gaze finally falls to the pizza box, as if only just noticing it. Dana sighs, toeing off her shoes and opens the lid.

“It’s ham. Not one I’d go for personally, I’m more meat feast but it was Langley’s turn to choose and he always chooses ham.” It’s a babble of words he’s not even sure she’s listening to, she just pokes the pizza with her finger.

“How old is it?” she asks, looking up at him.

“A day, technically. But it’s okay, it’s still edible.”

She gives him a ‘sure’ look before her stomach grumbles and she gives in. Picking up a slice, she bites into it.

“Good?” he asks, sheepishly.

“It’ll do,” she answers, mouth full of cold pizza.

“I have a blanket for you, too.” He hands her the fox covered blanket, a present one of his cousins gave him as a birthday present thinking they were funny.

She looks at it and smiles to herself, before looking back up to him.

“Thank you, Mulder.”

“You’re welcome, Dana.”

She gives him one of her rare, genuine smiles and his stomach flutters once more.

  ii) “You know it’s rude to take pictures of someone without their consent.”

He brings the camera away from his face, feeling guilty at his lack of restraint as the photo falls onto the grass.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, pushing both the camera and the picture away from himself. Ashamed, he looks down to the grass, watching the ash from her cigarette flit across the earth.

A smirk breaks out across her face as she looks up at him.

“It’s okay,” she says, rubbing away some of the guilt and awkwardness. “Explain it to me again.”

Mulder glances up just in time to see her take a puff of the cigarette and boy, if it isn’t the hottest thing he’s seen in his life.

He swallows, fumbling to push his glasses up as he reaches for the dice once more.

“Okay,” he begins, holding the die up to eye level and finding her surprisingly attentive to what he has to say. “So, this is a D-20. It’s your most used dice; you roll it to hit and for any skill checks and saving throws you need to do.” He drops the die into her hand, feeling more confident how he’s talking about something he knows.

She plays with the die in one hand whilst flicking ash with the other. It’s a weirdly captivating image and Mulder is once again resisting the urge to snap a photo.

“What about those?” she asks, pointing to the rest of the dice in the box.

“They’re mostly damage dice, sometimes healing.”

She drops the D-20 back into the box, leans back and takes another drag.

“And that’s how you spend your free time?” she asks, an eyebrow raised. “Rolling dice?”

He tries not to feel embarrassed as he nods, pushing up his glasses once more.

“Yeah. Every weekend. I have a campaign. You’re free to play if you want…” His request trails as he realises what he’s said. Avoiding the probably amused look on her face and begins frantically gathering his stuff up.

Stupid, he repeats in his head. Stupid, stupid, Stupid Spooky.

Lost in his own thoughts he barely feels her hand on his arm, halting his movements.

His lips purse as he looks up, bracing himself for the quip about how dumb he is. Instead, what he’s met with a smile and four words he’d never expected to hear.

“Sure. I’ll come round.”

Somewhere in the distance the bell rings and Mulder doesn’t stop the smile that escapes. She stands and he follows, haphazardly holding his things in his arms. She flicks the cigarette over the fence and turns back to him.

“Thanks for you sandwich. I’ll bring you one next time.” And with one last smile she walks off, headed to whatever her next class is.

Mulder remains standing there, dumbstruck and excited. He couldn’t wait to tell The Lone Gunmen about their new party member.

   iii) It’s the third time he’s done it and he doesn’t understand why.

The camera he’d been given for a Christmas two years ago had never been used as much as it had been in the past month.

Why the sudden urge to take photos when he’s never had it before?

Maybe it’s her. Maybe it’s her wielding some command spell. Take a picture of me. Take a picture of me. He’s failed the saving throw and his weak-minded brain does.

That’s stupid, he chides to himself. It’s all me.

The camera clicks, the familiar quick flash of light across the darkened basement and he waits for the reprimand, waits to be told off for taking pictures again.

It never comes.

Instead she smiles. Something he almost misses because he’s too busy being distracted by the picture he just took.

“I was waiting for you to do that.”

She takes the cigarette out of her mouth before she speaks and he watches, now mesmerised by the by the puffs of smoke she hadn’t breathed out before talking.

“Are you ever going to let me see these pictures?”

Mulder attempts to smile knowingly (it probably looks more like a cheesy grin then the coy smirk he was going for) and tucks the picture away into his shirt pocket.

They’re for me, he thinks and not for the first time does he think it’s true that he’s a creep.

She shuts her eyes again and only when he’s certain she’s not looking does he pull out the picture. The other two he’d hidden away in his Monster Manual, not having been looked at since he’d first picked them up, resisting the urge to stare at them, to always have her in his sight.

This is the first time he allows himself to stare at a moment caught in time, a beautiful moment. It feels less creepy, less weird to look at a picture he’d been allowed to take then to gaze awestruck at the physical version that lies barely a step away.

The replica in his hand, he’s free to touch. No hand slapping his out of the way, no disgusted look that he- Spooky Mulder who’s sister ran off because even his own blood couldn’t stand to be around him- had dared touch her. This copy is still, none the wiser. He lets his thumb trace her cheek, tickle the long edge of her nose, trace her lips.

He loses himself in imaging what they’d feel like, under his fingertips, under his lips…Could he kiss off all the purple lipstick she occasionally wears before some teacher tells her to take it off for the fiftieth time that day, would it repaint itself onto his own mouth, a living proof of what he’d just done.

He gulps, his mouth aching, hands clammy and his glasses foggy. Is it hot down here?

“Scully,” he calls, his gaze still stuck on the picture.

“Hmm…?”

He wants to say it. He wants to ask her. The words just on the tip of his tongue but his tongue’s too fat, bloated with words too heavy to form. Maybe he doesn’t need words, maybe he could just do. But he’s stuck. Paralysed like on the same night the aliens came for his sister. He’s a sweaty mess and she’s waiting for his reply but he can’t see, he can’t hear, speak, or move.

“Goodnight.”

The spell is broken.

He falls. All senses rushing back into him. Overwhelmed and hating himself for not doing it, for not just upping the courage and kissing her, doing nothing like he did that night.

He pushes the picture into his pocket, stumbling over his feet in an effort to get up and out the basement.

“Mulder,” she calls but he’s reached the top of the staircase, thankful once again for his long legs, and he doesn’t turn back.

“I wasn’t planning on staying.”

He hears her but doesn’t respond. He doesn’t care what does she, where she stays, he just needed to get out.

Out and away.

 iv) He doesn’t try to pretend that he hasn’t been avoiding her. After the war with himself the other week he decided he needed a break, a breather away from the gorgeously-brilliant-yet-overwhelming being that is Dana Scully. A chance to regain some kind of control over himself.

And also to deal with the guilt.

He just left and hadn’t said a word to her since. She’d walk down one end of the corridor and he’d turn around, his gut twisting and pulling at the old guilt and the new guilt. He just wasn’t ready to face the situation, to talk about what the fuck actually happened down there in the basement.

Because nothing happened.

He wanted it to and she knows it.

Or at least he thinks she does.

But this time he isn’t so careful about where he’s turning. He forgets to take it slow around the corner and walks smack-bang into Scully herself.

“Fuck! Sorry…” He steadies the books in his arms and keeps his eyes anywhere but at her. Maybe if he doesn’t look at her she won’t see him.

But that lack of logic fails him.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

“No I haven’t.”

“Yes you have.”

There’s a pause for a moment, as Mulder still refuses to look at her. He doesn’t want to see it. Doesn’t want to see the sadness, the confusion, the wondering why the sudden halt in their friendship.

“I’ve been busy,” Mulder says after a while.

“Busy…” Her voice is full of scepticism and it only makes it gut twist harder.

“Yeah…”

It’s a lie, of course. His days have flit between baseball try-outs and D&D- something he’d not been inviting Scully to- but that’s all. The breather he hoped for, the attempt at regaining control, was futile because he was too busy thinking about Scully and staring at that empty seat during the sessions.

“Why did you run out the basement the other week?”

His eyes flick around the corridor, students run past them but they don’t pay them any attention.

“Is this the right time?” Mulder groans, wanting to leave, wanting to leave everything as it was, to go back to how it was because he fucked it up. “People are looking.”

She immediately counters a, “People don’t care.”

He tries to find the words, to come to his sense, but how does he explain that he ran out because he couldn’t kiss her? He ran out because she was the only perfect thing left that hadn’t been destroyed by Fox Mulder. How does he begin to explain all that?

The words falter, unformed, and when he does finally make eye contact with her his stomach plummets. He lips part slightly and her eyes fall downcast, but not before her watches her blue eyes turn greyish and her aura change to blue.

“Forget I said anything.” The cockiness and confidence has disappeared and it only makes Mulder feel more sadness, more guilty. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

She turns to go and his brain screams at him to do something, to stop her from leaving his life forever- somehow, he knows, that this will be the last he sees of her and it can’t be. His heart squeezes, his brain screams, stomach twists. If she walks away then maybe he is destroying her.

“Scully, wait-” he calls. Just as she turns, he grabs her arm, pulling her towards him and without thinking, without any gut tug or weary thought he bends slightly and his lips touch hers. Just a touch, a taste, a promise of more, and an apology.

It’s only a second but it feels much longer and when he finally finds the courage to open his eyes, her own stare back at him, bluer than ever before. Her cheeks tint pink and it’s incredible; never has he seen her display such a pallet of colours before.

She bows her head, letting her hair hide her face and Mulder resists the urge to push it away. He just smiles and whispers That’s why I walked out.

The realisation passes across her face and she smiles back.

He takes no pictures that day but for the one in his memory.

 v) He waits outside the Sushi Bar- the best he could do. The reviews were good and the place was cheap but he’ll do better next times, he promises.

He sits, waiting, outside the Sushi Bar absolutely shitting himself.

The nerves had been with him since he’d woke up. Never had he fussed about what clothes to wear as much as he did today. He tried to gel his hair, too, but that just resulted in pouring too much on his hand and it didn’t work anyway. He’d cleaned his glasses more times then he could count and he just hoped to whoever that he hadn’t been stood up.

He tries to override the irrational thoughts with rational ones: This was her idea after all, she’d all but begged him to take her on a date. If she wanted it so much why wouldn’t she show?

That answer seemed to subdue his irrational thoughts. For now.

It had been a whirlwind of a month and at times Mulder wondered if his heart would keep up or would it just explode from it all. A few stolen kisses, a shared carton of apple juice from the cafeteria, that one time she stayed over after a longer D&D session and she’d fallen asleep on him. A warmth ran through him when he thought of that one: her weight against him, her evened out breaths and how sometimes she’ll talk in her sleep, dibbling on him in the progress, the smell of her hair. He’d stayed awake just a revel in it all, unbelieving that this was real.

He smiles to himself now. It was real, the whole month. And Scully was going on a date with him today. She is.

“You could’ve waited inside, you know.”

Lost in his thoughts he hadn’t noticed the shadow cast over him and when he looked up, a toothy-smile rips across his face and relief spreads through him.

“I didn’t think you’d show,” he admits before he can think.

Scully frowns, “Why wouldn’t I? It was my idea.”

His smile doesn’t go away and as his eyes unsubtly check her out it’s only then he takes in what she’s wearing and how she looks.

Gone is the thick grey jacket, the yellow beanies, and shorts. The shirt she wears is colourful and she owns a pair of jeans that aren’t black. As a whole she looks different; hair pulled back with tendrils framing her face and her makeup is much lighter too.

There’s an unsettling feeling that she’d changed her appearance because of them and that doesn’t really sit well with him.

“Why the change?” he asks when his fun-hearted scrutinising his done.

She gives him a knowing look. “Melissa didn’t think I’d get in anywhere dressed as I usually am, so she dragged me back inside and made me change. This was all her idea.”

He smiles at the comedic image of her sister chasing her out of the house whilst Scully fights to break free. He doesn’t bet that it was an easy ordeal.

“So, are we going inside or was your idea just to sit here all day?”

Mulder stands, opens the door and gestures, “After you.”

They find seats easily and order their food soon enough. Whilst they wait, Scully doesn’t miss the moment to take Mulder’s chopsticks. A questioning look from Mulder as he watches her proceed to stick her chopsticks up her nose, and his in her ears.

She laughs at the horrified look she gives him.

And he doesn’t miss the chance to snap the picture.

“Am I ever going to see these pictures you keep taking of me?” she asks as she pulls the chopsticks out and throws them in the trash.

He tucks the photo away, smiling shyly. “Soon,” he promises.

.:.:.:.:

“So where else are you taking me?” she asks as they walk along a long stretch of field that Scully had more eloquently described as “Nowhere” during the drive.

It was a long shot, his second idea of a date, one he was wholly confident about but the way he saw it they were going to be sitting on a field in a big open space, she could smoke and he could watch.

“Please don’t be mad at me,” he says as they reach a wired fence.

She looks at him questioningly before her eyes move to the wires above. When she looks back forward, Mulder already has the broken fence moved over enough to climb through.

“Something tells me we’re not supposed to be here,” she says.

“You’re not supposed to smoke and you still do,” he nods for her to climb through before he follows.

“If we get caught…”

“I’ll tell your parents it was my idea.”

They begin to trek through the high grass. Adrenaline creeps through at the thought of being here. He’d only heard about it at this point, from Langley and Frohike who’d only heard it from a few of their buddies, and for ages he’d wanted to come here.

He laces their hands together, cautious of losing her as they delve deeper into the leaves. The sky is dark now, any moment he’ll see them and he wants the best view.

“Mulder, what is this place?” she asks. He doesn’t pretend to not hear the slight worry in her voice.

“I know it’s a push but just wait it out with me okay, and then decide.”

They make it to a clearing and Mulder scans the area. There seems to be no one around. Content he sits down on the grass, pulling Scully down with him. She sits on her knees, eyeing him cautiously, her own eyes darting around.

“Mulder, will you tell me why we’re here?”

Mulder sighs, enough of the riddles, he hears her say.

“I was told they fly spaceships here, Scully.”

Her mouth falls open and he waits for her to run. To get up and leave. It’s the one thing he’s not revealed to her yet. Sure, she knows that she has a fondness for aliens and space but she has no idea how far deep it runs.

“Spaceships?” she asks.

Just as the word is spoken a light zooms past above them.

A rush of excitement runs through him, his hand clutching Scully’s arm, all nerves and trepidation forgotten.

“Did you see it, Scully?” he all but screams at her. “Look, there’s another one.”

The second one zooms past before a third quickly joins them. Mulder is struck, unbelieving, doubting what he’s seeing but he revels in it anyway, wanting to believe just for this moment.

His thoughts wonder and he pulls his gaze away, a sombre mood filling him up. He looks to Scully, sees her awe-struck by the lights above her, and swallows.

Pushes up his glasses.

“Scully, can I tell you something?”

She doesn’t look away as she answers, “Sure.”

“I think my sister was abducted by aliens.”

It’s all out now.

[yoon-kooks]

Witch Hazel- Pt.1

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader 

Genre: FanficWriter!Jungkook, Idol!Reader, College!AU, Angst, Fluff 

Summary: There are two students in your art class with a secret: you and the quiet Jeon Jungkook. You’re a problematic idol singer, infamous for your ice cold reputation and perpetual resting bitch face; he’s the artist and author behind the viral comic series based on a certain ice queen idol. After a blowup of destructive rumors, lost motivation and inevitable solitude, you stumble upon Jungkook’s comic and find a new and unexpected light.

Word Count: 3.6k

Warnings: none

Parts: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // ?

A/N: after a million years, it’s finally here guys! my first jeon jungkook series :’)

“For homework this weekend, I want you all to sketch a self-portrait. It can be realistic or abstract, but just make sure it still represents you,” your professor says before dismissing class.

As you shove your sketchbook into your bag and pick up your guitar case, you hear one of your loud classmates, Kim Taehyung, talking with his friend who’s always so quiet in class that you don’t actually know what the fuck his name is. All you know is that he only ever wears oversized hoodies.

“Psst, Jungkook. Wanna draw my face for me?” Taehyung makes a flower pose with his handsome face.

“What’s in it for me?” Hoodie Boy throws his eraser at Taehyung to make him stop, perhaps out of secondhand embarrassment. You snicker silently to yourself as you pass by them to exit the room, but not before they mention something that triggers you.

“I’ll pay for your ticket tonight.”

“And tomorrow night, too, lol.” 

“Bitch, I’m not even going to tomorrow’s concert.”

“Then I guess you have time to draw your own face~”

“Wait, Jungkook. I’m busy tomorrow. Really. I have a date, remember?” Taehyung is basically pleading for his life at this point, and you can’t really blame him. Out of the entire class, he’s the only other non-art major besides you, so his drawing abilities are almost as shitty as yours. “And besides, we both know you could spend five minutes on the assignment and it’ll still look better than if I spent an hour on it.”

“Fine,” Hoodie Boy sighs. “I’ll take a ticket to tonight’s concert and a signed album instead. Thanks in advance.”

“Deal… I just don’t understand how you can be so whipped for an idol like Snow. She might have a nice body and a pretty face, but her personality is the worst. Even worse than Y/N’s,” Taehyung spins around to wave at you. “Right?”

“Ew, don’t compare me to her, Tae.” You give him an unimpressed face. The boy literally talks to everyone as if they’re his friend, and it kind of pisses you off.

“But you agree she has a shitty attitude, yeah?”

You notice Hoodie Boy is keeping a close ear out for your opinion on his supposed favorite idol. He accidentally makes eye contact with you for half a second before flailing around to gather his shit into his camo backpack. Were you really that intimidating to make those around you so flustered?

“Her shitty attitude isn’t the problem,” you hum as you walk away before they can bother you some more.

When you arrive home, you only have half an hour before you have to head out again. After tossing your bag and guitar case off to the side, you slip into slightly more fashionable clothes and break out your makeup bag. A quick layering of shadows, winged liner, and falsies paired with contouring and rose lip tint is enough for you to transform out of your barefaced college kid self. With a mask and your signature icy blue lens, you leave once more.

-

“You’re late, again,” your manager, Kim Seokjin, only sighs as you casually walk into backstage with a nonfat latte in hand. “I’m the one who’s going to be fired if you keep showing up late for soundcheck, Y/N.”

“It’s not my fault, Jin.” You pass your latte over to your cranky manager, who’s long overdue for another caffeine fix. He takes a sip, still glaring at you. “I was held up after class by two cute boys~”

“Cute boys? Y/N, you know you’re not supposed to be-”

“I know, I know. I’m just fucking with you,” you shrug. “All they did was ask me about Snow’s shitty personality. Oh, and apparently they’re coming to the concert tonight.”

“Don’t let them recognize you.” Seokjin finally hands you back your latte after chugging down half of it.

“I’m sure they would’ve said something months ago if they recognized me in class, Jin…” No one at school knows you’re an idol. As a matter of fact, no one in the world is aware that you, Y/N, are the idol with a cold piercing gaze and an even colder personality, Snow. No one except Seokjin, of course. He’s the only one you trust enough. “Besides, taking that art class has improved my makeup disguising skills, so don’t worry~”

“Well speaking of cute boys attending your concert, there are a few other idols that’ll be coming as well, so be careful.”

“Great, because all we need is another dumb dating rumor to get out of hand.” You’ve already experienced far too many of those in your short idol career. As an idol equally looked up to as you are frowned down upon, you’re pretty much at the center of every rumor or scandal. And it fucking sucks.

“Just try to stay positive about it, and don’t put yourself in a situation that the media can take advantage of, okay?” Seokjin has a worried look in his eyes—not for his own sake, but for yours. It’s his genuine tenderness and concern for you that keep you from walking away.

“Okay…”

The concert goes as usual. There are no technical difficulties, your vocals are on point, and nothing scandalous happens on stage. But at what cost?

Fan engagement is always kept at a minimum—the most fanservice you can offer is a split second of eye contact while you’re singing. You often wonder why anyone would want to see you perform live when there’s an invisible yet obvious wall standing between the stage and the audience. Like Seokjin advised, your company is doing what they can to ensure that their loose cannon idol stays out of any potential problematic situations.

But this distance doesn’t simply go away after your concerts. If it did, you wouldn’t be known as the Ice Queen, and your personal life wouldn’t be such a mystery to everyone. And for that, you cannot even put the full blame on the strict rules of your company. A large part of you appreciates the privacy that comes with this distance. Even if it is a little selfish and unfair to those who only wish to support you and your music.

As your concert comes to a close, you’re finally given the opportunity to address the dedicated fans who came out to see your performance.

“Thank you for coming tonight.” I’m sorry if it feels like you’ve wasted your money and time.

“A lot of you might be busy with school and studying right now, but you still made time for me.” I know because I too am a student.

“That means a lot, even to an Ice Queen.” I know what my reputation is, but please remember I’m human as well. I’m really grateful even if my resting bitch face doesn’t reflect that.

“Let’s meet again next time.” Next time, I’ll try to show a better version of Snow.

“Good night, everyone. Please get home safely~” I hope I was able to make you guys smile at least a little bit.

On your way out, you do your best to avoid both the media and the crowd. If you’re quick enough, you’ll be able to make it home in peace. Tonight is not that night, however.

You don’t even get outside of the venue before you see two familiar faces from class sitting on the stairs near one of the exits: Taehyung and Hoodie Boy. This is exactly why you never take off your makeup or lens until after you’re home where you don’t have to face anyone.

Of course it’s the loud one who approaches you. Hoodie Boy stays put on the stairs and watches from afar. You give them a halfhearted wave in hopes that that’s all they want, but of course it’s not.

“My friend is a huge fan of yours, Snow,” Taehyung lowkey pointed his thumb back at Hoodie Boy. He pulled out a copy of your latest album and a black sharpie. “Of course I love your music too, but would it be alright for me to get an autograph for him? He said he didn’t want to bother you himself.”

Usually you’d refuse. Whenever people say their “friend” is a fan, you get the impression that they’re just too ashamed to identify themselves as a fan of you. Like they don’t want to be associated with the kind of idol that you are.

But you’re certain that Taehyung is telling the truth since you heard that same promise being made earlier in class. And you know how shy Hoodie Boy is. So just this once, you’ll allow it.

You take the boy’s album and pen. “What’s your friend’s name?” You want to know, not only so you could write his name out, but also so you could stop calling him Hoodie Boy.

“Taehyung,” he says in a rather hushed voice.

“Taehyung?” That asshole. You glance over at Hoodie Boy just for a second. He’s busy taking pictures on his phone—not of you, but of the now empty venue. You feel bad, but there’s not much you can do besides sign the album to “Taehyung”. As you hand back the album, an idea pops up, “May I ask what your name is?”

“Me? Uhh-” You catch Taehyung off guard. “It’s Jungkook.” The name sounds familiar to you.

You nod and pull out a spare album from your bag to sign for Jungkook. You even decide to get a little fancy and draw a cute heart next to his name, just to spite Taehyung. “Here,” you say, looking back at the real Jungkook once more, only to find that yet another unwanted visitor had appeared. In moments like this, you question your decision to become an idol despite hating the attention.

Quickly you shoo away your classmates before the media shows up. You wouldn't want there to be another “misunderstanding”. The other boy now approaching you is already more than you’d prefer.

With his bleached ash blonde hair and an expensive yet casual fashion, you recognize him as fellow idol, Park Jimin, aka Korea’s Sweetheart. If you’re the devil, he’s most certainly an angel.

You’ve never spoken to the boy, but you’ve seen him at music shows plenty of times and have even competed against him for several awards. The two of you are “rivals”, or at least that’s how the media loves to phrase it. To you, there is no such rivalry; it’s clear that Jimin is the likable one. Your name is only ever placed next to his to generate newsworthy content.

“Is it really a good idea to visit your rival at her concert?” You don’t know how else to welcome the unwelcomed idol.

“It’s always good to scout out the competition,” Jimin shrugs, going along with your unfriendly greeting. “But for real, the concert was a lot of fun.” He glows with sparkles in his eyes. You can’t deny he has the most gorgeous smile.

“I’m glad…” It’s reassuring to hear compliments, especially from a fellow idol. But at the same time, you know Korea’s Sweetheart would never say anything rude—even if he feels differently. He’s perfect, after all.

“Anyway, I heard from the boy in the black hoodie that you’re handing out free autographs?” Jimin tries to point back at Jungkook, but he and Taehyung have already vanished. “I thought you were notorious for refusing autographs?” He pokes fun at you, but not in a way that annoys you like Taehyung had.

“They were bothering me and that was the easiest way to get them to leave,” you explain in half-truth. “Should I give you one too? It’d be better for you to leave before the media shows up.”

“Only if you have a stash of albums hiding in your bag.”

“I don’t.”

“Why did you happen to have one with you?”

“You ask too many questions.”

“I’m just curious. Idols don’t just carry around their own albums like that.”

“…My friend gave it to me,” you say after a moment of hesitation. That isn’t a lie, but a vague truth.

“Your friend gave it to you as a gift, and you just gave it away to a stranger?” Jimin chuckles, amused by you for whatever reason. “Living up to your reputation as Ice Queen, huh.”

You narrow your eyes at him. You hate when other people call you that, and you hate it even more when they aren’t wrong.

“I’m just kidding, Snow.” The way he smiles while speaking is so mesmerizing that you almost forgive him. “I know you did it with good intentions. And because of that, those two boys were able to leave here with a smile.”

“Good.” Your expression softens. “Anyway, did you need something or…?”

“I just wanted to say hi before heading home,” Jimin shook his head. “But let’s hangout some time, yeah?” He waves farewell and leaves before you can properly reject him.

On your way home, however, you take the time to consider the boy’s offer again. Truthfully, it would be a nice opportunity, especially since you don’t have any friends besides Seokjin. Plus, Jimin is pretty fucking attractive in your eyes.

But the conclusion you come to remains the same. There’s no way you can say yes.

By the time you finally return home, it’s late, you’re exhausted, but you still have that self-portrait to draw. In all honesty, you’re quite jealous of Taehyung who has a friend willing to do the work for him. If anything, Jungkook should draw your face, since you were the one who ultimately ensured that he got his signed album. But that’s just you being salty.

You pull out your sketchbook and pens and stare into the oval mirror that hangs from your bedroom wall. Your eye makeup is smudged, your dark circles are prominent through the fading concealer, and your eyes are as icy as ever. To finish your homework as soon as possible, you don’t overthink anything and just draw what you see. At this point you just want to get it over with so you can roll into bed and laze around.

“Finally~” you squeal about an hour later, plopping yourself onto your bed in your pink penguin pajamas. You’re always in a more cheerful mood after taking a shower, so you snuggle up under your blankets and take the time to check up on social media before dozing off. This wouldn’t be the first mistake of the night.

According to the latest news that has blown up on Twitter, you’re apparently dating and fucking Park Jimin, who made a special trip just to see you, his secret lover. How. Fucking. Romantic. You laugh because you notice a confused Jungkook with his hoodie and album in the shadowy background of the tabloid photo. But other than that, you’re pissed.

You want to post a tweet to express your outrage over the dumb rumor, but those kinds of messages need to pass through PR first, and you’re sure as fuck your company’s not going to approve of anything you have to say. As always, they’d just rewrite your statement in a more civilized manor, and at that point, it’s no longer your words.

So instead, you move away from the toxic hellsite that is Twitter and move somewhere a little more tranquil. You wish you could just find a few posts about fans who enjoyed the concert—that would be enough to set your mind at ease. It isn’t easy, considering all of the positive posts are buried beneath the massive amount of shit you’re getting for sleeping with the Park Jimin, but you eventually reach a cute blog post.

“guys! i saw snow tonight and shes so pretty😭💕”

“her vocals? fUCK. yes pls”

“also she might have rbf but shes super sweet ok”

“btw new fanfic coming tomorrow bc i was suddenly inspired lol👋”

You’re not sure how to feel about being the central subject to someone else’s fictional fantasies, but you do really love that you’ve inspired this person. Being able to have a positive impact in someone’s life; that was perhaps the deciding factor for you to walk the path of an idol. You only hope that this rewarding feeling can outweigh all of the bad.

Before closing your eyes, you check the name of the blog: jk.seagull. What a funny name, you giggle to yourself. But at least there’s someone out there who’s able to make your cold-hearted soul laugh. And for that, you’re as grateful to that person as your fans are to Snow.

-

7:27AM jinnie❤️ “We have to cancel today’s concert.”

7:28AM jinnie❤️ “There have been multiple threats made against you overnight after that rumor broke out, so we believe this is the safest thing to do.”

7:31AM Y/N “at least now i have more time to spend with my boyfriend park jimin~”

7:32AM Y/N “(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻”

7:33AM jinnie❤️ “Y/N, just take it easy today, okay? I’ll keep you updated on everything.”

7:35AM jinnie❤️ “Let me know if you want to talk.”

7:40AM Y/N “can you come over now?”

7:41AM Y/N “and can you bring another album please?”

You roll out of bed much earlier than expected to change out of your pink penguin pajamas and into sweats. Usually, you’d kill time by scrolling through Twitter, but since you aren’t in the mood to see all of the death threats, you decide to check up on that jk.seagull blog instead. You’re delighted to see that there’s a new post waiting for you. It’s a comic of some sort.

The first thing you see is a cute drawing of a pouty magic girl with bright blue eyes and a tiny snowflake in her palms. You’ve never seen fanart of Snow before, but you’re pleasantly surprised by the amount of detail and effort put into the drawing. It looks a lot like you, except cuter.

What impresses you even more is the storyline of the comic. Snow is a powerful ice witch who wishes to protect the world from evil. The only problem is that the world fears her and bans her from using magic. Rather than shunning the world that has shunned her, she decides to find new ways to be a positive light for others without the use of magic. She decides there are other ways to be a hero.

You want to keep reading, but there’s a knock at your door.

“Ooh, pancakes~” you sniff the plastic bag of sweets that your manager hands to you as you sit him down on your couch. “Thanks, Jin~”

“You’re in a rather good mood, despite all the shit that’s been going on,” Seokjin says, putting a warm hand against your forehead to make sure you’re not sick.

“I just read an interesting fanfic.”

“You read fanfics?”

“Not usually, but this one was super cute by this funny person named jk.seagull.”

“jk.seagull? He’s a pretty popular writer and artist for Snow fanfiction, you know.”

“How would you know that? Are you saying you read smutty fanfics about me, Kim Seokjin?” you smirk.

“I never said anything about smut!” He gets overly dramatic whenever you tease him, but you always find it adorable.

“So anyway, has anyone addressed the dating rumors yet?”

“Jimin apologized for the misunderstanding, but that’s all so far.”

“We shouldn’t have to apologize.” You take an angry bite of the pancakes. “I’ll deny the rumor, but I’m not going to apologize for something that didn’t happen.”

“Look Y/N, I understand, okay? But you should at least relay a statement to PR so you can clear things up on your end.”

“Just tell them I’m sorry for interacting with another human and I’ll never do it again.”

“Y/N…”

“What, Jin? It’s bullshit. I can’t do anything without it being twisted into something scandalous and getting a shit ton of hate for it. And the company isn’t even trying to help. The only reason they want me to apologize is to save their own asses, not mine.”

“Then what do you want to do?” Seokjin speaks in his calm voice.

“I want a break,” you sigh. What’s the point of being an idol if you’re doing more harm than good?

“I’ll ask the CEO on your behalf,” Seokjin pinches your cheek. “So cheer up.” He hands you the album you requested before heading out to give you some space to think.

The rest of the day is spent being a sad potato. You honestly don’t mind the threats or rumors by themselves, but what irks you is the fact that you’re not the idol you hoped to be. You’re not a light that people look to when they’re feeling down. You’re not someone who’s made a positive impact on the world. You’re no one’s hero.

You pick up your phone and go back to jk.seagull’s comic and reread everything that’s posted so far. You’re not sure why, but it’s as if this comic understands you—not just you as Snow, but also you as Y/N. The only difference is that the Snow portrayed in the comic is a much better version of yourself; a version you’re not sure you can achieve.

One other thing you don’t yet comprehend about the comic is the title: Witch Hazel. Who would ever name a story after skincare products? Then again, who would ever name himself jk.seagull?

After looking over Witch Hazel once more, you’re finally done being a sad potato and log back onto Twitter. You link the comic to tweet and post it out to the world. No caption is attached to the tweet. You want the comic to speak for itself.

[tuxiedjabberwock]

Ft Big Bang - Smoke Always Follows Fire (Fairy Tail fan-fiction)

My piece for the @ft-bb Fairy Tail Big Bang event! Partnered with @h-eartfilias as my artist!

This is actually a part of the full story - I plan on making it multichaptered after all. It’s Rated M w/lime and features Edo!Nalu so read at your discretion

Mini fires from all over the school, of which he’s taken blame for, leads Natsu to the real source: Lucy Ashley. She counter-threatens him to reveal his underage circuit driving, and the game continues when they find more and more secrets to hold over the other. Soon enough, they’re in deeper waters than expected.

Although completely unintentional, fire always seemed to follow Natsu, and so as he ran down the school’s green with his bag bouncing on one shoulder, heavy textbooks in the other, he was distracted by the sight of it curling from a small building’s open window. So distracted, in fact, that he skidded to a stop, his sneakers scuffing against the wet crosshatched stone of the path as he spun around and warily stalked towards the source. For once, there was a fire and he wasn’t at the source—he had to look, even as his heart pounded out of his chest and his cowardice screamed for him to turn back and get to class before he was late.

 The building wasn’t marked, but it was in the vicinity of the Art and Design section, so he believed it was one of those classrooms. And as he peered through the window, he spotted several literature-based posters pinned on the wall. English Composition, probably, he thought, daring to lean closer. And what a dare it was, as a slender but strong hand snapped out from inside and seized the color of his white polo shirt. He shrieked in alarm, eyes bugging out from his head. The owner of said hand quickly pulled into his peripheral, but all he could see were eyes like smoldering coals.

 “—Oh,” said his accoster shortly, and a moment later he was released to the ground. His possessions scattered over the grass and he stared on with open-mouthed gasps as she met his gaze, arms crossed over her ample chest. Very short blonde hair pulled into a side ponytail adorned her head, and her face, while beautiful, was marred with a scowl. Pinched between two of her black-painted nails was a lit cigarette, the source of the smoke. “I thought you were someone else,” she said as means of an explanation, taking a drag. She never broke eye contact.

 “I—uh—you—” Natsu stammered, but he couldn’t get any sensible words out.

 “You’re that Natsu Dragion kid, aren’t you?” One hand curled into her cheek. “I’d recognize that dye job anywhere.”

 It was on his tongue to say that no, that was actually his natural newborn hair color, but his tongue didn’t want to move to form the words.

 “Don’t talk much, do you?” She raked her eyes over his frayed stonewashed jeans and long-sleeved polo. “Great. Makes this easier.” Removing the cig and pinching the tip between her nails, she tossed the butt into the trash and leaned close to him, close enough for him to count each golden-brown lash. “Say a word to anyone about this, you’ll be ashed faster than one of my fags. Well?” she said when he didn’t respond, baring her teeth.

 “A-Affirmative!” Natsu said in a voice far too high-pitched to be his own. She snorted and turned her nose up.

 “Who fuckin’ says affirmative?” She dusted off her black sweater and smoothed the folds of her far-below-regulation pleated skirt. “Whatever. Scurry away. I don’t want people to walk by and think we’re having a tryst.”

 And as Natsu beat his hasty retreat—without scurrying, he might’ve added with a smidge more courage—he wondered how a top ditcher like her knew the word tryst.

 ——————

 He saw her again the next week, and this time he discovered her name was Lucy Ashley. He knew because at the start of his mid-semester class, she loudly responded to the call of her name.

 “I’m here, as you can see, Four Eyes,” she told the poor professor.

 When Natsu’s name was called, he meekly responded upon feeling her eyes burning into the side of his face.

 Like her, he was hoping never to have a second confrontation. Luck, on the other hand, would speak otherwise.

 After class, he was alarmed to see her standing a way’s away in the hall beckoning him with a finger and a sugary smile. Fitting considered her insides were corroded and rotten. He stalked after her, still balking, and into another empty classroom, where she promptly locked the door and barred it with her body.

 (Granted, she was a whole foot shorter and probably thirty pounds lighter, but he did not want to make a joke of the situation.)

 “Are you stalking me or something?” she said, a nasty skew to the corner of her mouth. Her lipstick was the color of blackberries, and Natsu couldn’t help noting it matched her nails, but stood out stark as death against her pale and blonde complexion.

 “N-No! Of course not!” Why would I be a glutton for punishment? “I just, uh—it’s, err, coincidence?”

 “Coincidence,” she repeated. “Events which act in synergy by nothing but a casual connection.” He balked a little more openly as she set her hand on her cocked hip. She wore a denim skirt this time with ripped leather tights that certainly didn’t come that way, and a cut-up band t-shirt with a grey sweater hanging unbuttoned over her slim frame. “Although, since we never so much as breathed the same air before, I doubt this is a coincidence, Pinky.”

 “W-Well…” Natsu’s words failed him and he took a step back. Lucy’s eyes narrowed and like a predator, she matched his step with two. They continued towards the other end of the room when (expectedly, since he wasn’t quite looking where he was going) Natsu pitched over a desk, overturning it and hitting the ground with a loud noise. He opened his mouth for a pained shout when Lucy’s hand suddenly clapped over his lips.

 “Quiet,” she said under her breath. Natsu’s heart didn’t take the advice, pounding like a war drum, but he didn’t speak, and soon he detected the sound of footsteps. They passed after a moment, but Lucy remained unpleased. “They’re bringing security,” she said in a low voice. Her next action was hauling him up by the elbow and nearly dislocating his shoulder. God, she had a good right arm. “You drive?”

 No, nonono. “Um, that’s not—it isn’t—I don’t r-really—” She released him and was next to the window in a few quick steps, hoisting it open and swinging through. The doorknob clicked and in a fit of nerves Natsu followed.

 “Lookie there, Pinky’s playing truant,” Lucy said as he caught up with her. She moved quick for someone in platform boots.

 “P-People will start thinking I’m a d-delinquent,” he said anxiously as they approached the parking lot.

 “Maybe they’ll think you finally got that stick in your ass surgically removed.”

 Natsu, amid going towards his car and pulling out his keys, gave her a scandalized look. Lucy was unrepentant as she circled the vehicle. “Uh-huh. ’02 Mustang. Wouldn’t have taken ya for a speed demon.”

 You’d be surprised. “I, uh, I’m not.”

 “Well anyway, in exchange for my not kicking your ass and letting you get off scot-free, you’re giving me a ride home. I guess you’re a notch above the shitty people on the train.”

 “I-I-I’m sorry, b-but I—I j-just can’t—” The side of her fist hitting the roof startled him up, and he looked to see her dark expression.

 “Drive, or else.” Natsu complied faster than he would like to admit, and quickly unlocked the car. Lucy slid in first, crossing her arms and legs and glaring at the dash. Gulping, Natsu took the driver’s seat. He was in his right mind up until the door clicked shut. “Well?” Lucy said, looking at him with a raised brow. “Are we going anywhere soon?”

 “You didn’t say the magic word.”

 “What?” Her brow arched further when Fireball Natsu gave her a flat look, hands locked behind his head.

 “Let’s see… You threatened me over your folly, then dragged me into a classroom, and hijack my car for a ride. You got a nice face, Sugar Tits, but that ain’t a payment.”

 “—Excuse me?” Lucy let out a little incredulous laugh before her hand snapped out to fist in his collar. “I don’t know where you’ve been hiding your pair this whole time, but it better get back in hiding if you know what’s good for you.”

 “How about you listen?” In one move, Natsu grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her forward over the center console, bringing them face to face. He held her tight enough to bruise and said in a dangerously low voice, “You’re in my car. You don’t get to give orders to me in my car. Get that through your blonde skull.”

 Lucy stared him down just the same, but her breath was coming a little quicker. Anticipation, or fear?  Either way, he liked a fight.

 “And you don’t make things happen snapping at me. The magic word’s a place to start.” He tossed her back and her back hit the door with a light thump. Lucy braced her hands against the seat and dash and made to move forward again.

 “Quit fuckin’ with me, Dragion!”

 “Another word of advice.” He turned the car on, threw it in drive, and laid on the pedal. The Mustang lurched forward and he made a sharp turn into an emptier section of the parking lot, throwing her back against the door again. “Always wear a seatbelt, eh?”

 “So, what do you call all that?” Lucy said once she regained her bearings, giving him a murderous look. “An act? You’re damn near professional.”

 “No, not an act. I wish it was.” He barely slowed before entering the main road and weaved through the early afternoon traffic with old experience. “It’s more than I want to explain to you anyway, Sugar Tits.”

 “Okay, fine. You’ve made your stupid point, Dragion. Stop the car.” He ignored her and turned onto the highway where he really put the pedal to the metal. Lucy went flat against the seat with a surprised breath.

 “Fireball. Call me that.”

 “Fireball…” She scrutinized his face with narrowed eyes and the corner of his mouth quirked. He never disguised himself on the circuit, only wearing a pair of goggles that just about every other racer did, but he didn’t need to: people naturally saw no connection between the wimp-ass Natsu and the fastest man on four wheels, Fireball. “So, you race. Illegally, I should add. Didn’t think you had it in ya.”

 “Looks can be deceiving. I, for instance, thought you shitted rainbows, and look at us now,” he said very dryly. Lucy snorted.

 “Well, Fireball, I don’t think you’re in a spot to talk about my smoking. You’re no law-abiding citizen either.”

 “Then we have an agreement: neither of us blab.”

 “For now,” she said darkly. “But for this, you can bet your ass I’ll find something else to dangle over you.”

 “How about those tits?” He could hear her teeth grinding and grinned at the sound. “The main girl in my life’s my car, but I don’t mind making room for another.”

 “Shove it up your ass.”

 “It’s not my ass that’ll be on the receiving end, sweetheart.” Instead of responding, she whipped her head around to the window, but not fast enough for him to miss her blush. Well, well, it seemed like he found the trick to shutting her up. He was in a much more pleasant mood as he took the next exit to a rest stop. The overly large parking lot only had a couple worn buildings, a gas station and convenience store, before falling away to forestry on all sides. He hit the brakes where the little dirt road turned to asphalt. “And here’s your stop.”

 “You’re shitting me. This is on the other side of town from my stop.”

 “Heh. You must think I care.” He unlocked the doors and gave her a grin. “See ya, Sugar Tits.”

 He continued grinning until five minutes later, she realized he wasn’t budging and grudgingly exited the vehicle. “I’ll get you back,” she said again before slamming his door shut. Then she strode off with her head high and Natsu leaned out the window to watch her retreating behind.

 “And a good fucking day to you too!”

 ——————

 For the next week Natsu fought to not even breathe the same air as Lucy Ashley. He was mortified over how he treated her as Fireball and terrified she would find another thing to blackmail him with on top of the unsolved fires around the school. So, he buried his head in his books during class and beat a hasty retreat as soon as the professor dismissed them. It worked until he was confronted by a thoroughly pissed-off Lucy (which, to be fair, might have been her default state, but this time she was extraordinary beyond normal standards).

 “Boys’ bathroom, now.” She had cut him off in the cafeteria’s line almost literally breathing fire. Natsu’s fingers tightened around the plastic tray.

 “I, I haven’t p-paid yet—”

 THUNK!

 Natsu had a bit of a memory lapse, and next thing he knew he was on the ground with his cup of Jell-O staining his blue shirt and the blood rushing to his left cheek. Lucy’s fist was still raised as she said in a very tight voice, “Move your ass, Dragion.” And she spun on her heel and swept past the curious onlookers.

 “H-Hey, Natsu?” Someone came from behind and pulled him back to his feet. Natsu turned to see Gray offering him a glass of iced water.

 “Thanks…” He pressed the glass to his swelling cheek.

 “Who was that? And why is she so upset at you?”

 “I…we…well, she met F-Fireball,” he said, averting his eyes. It was mostly true anyway. Gray’s eyes widened.

 “Ooh. Yeah. Makes sense.” He looked at the cold Jell-O seeping through Natsu’s shirt. “Want one of mine?” Not particularly, since Gray’s shirts were super thick and (to normal people) it was ninety degrees outside, but it was somewhat better. “I have to meet her in the restroom.”

 “So she can get the other side of your face?” Gray gave a dubious squinty-eyed look.

 “Well, if I don’t go, she’ll do it for sure. If I do…w-well…it’s unlikely.”

 Lucy was leaning against the wall with arms crossed when he entered the restroom. She wore a baggy tunic shirt over denim shorts and combat boots, one of which immediately planting itself in his stomach. Natsu’s back hit the door behind him, then his skull when Lucy grabbed him by the neck.

 “You should know,” she said, her breath coming heavy, “I don’t like being made an ass of.”

 Instinct was a funny thing: there was no cowardice involved in it, just knee-jerk reactions honed by years of environmental factors. Natsu’s hands went out and tangled in her loose hair, and he used his elbows to push against the insides of hers, breaking her grip and pulling her head forward and into his at the same time. He headbutted her hard and she stumbled backwards when he released his grip in shock. The blood drained from his face at the sight of her startled expression. This was nothing he could blame on Fireball.

 “L-Lucy, so-sorry, I’m sorry, I just—”

 The lights abruptly cut out, bathing the windowless room in darkness. Natsu heard Lucy’s footsteps retreat from him before she let out a yelp on the other side of the room.

 “L-Lucy?”

 “Stay back th-there!” He started. Did she just…stutter?

 “Lucy, I’m r-really sorry about—”

 “I said s-stay back there, Dragion!” So it wasn’t his imagination. Certainly, his actions didn’t have her so terrified—if so, she wouldn’t have retaliated for what Fireball did to her. But the only other factor in that situation was…the power went out. So…?”

 “U-Um…sorry, I’m overstepping boundaries, but, err, are you…scared of the—”

 “Not another word!” she interrupted in a shrieking voice. Immediately after, the lights returned. He blinked until his eyes adjusted and saw Lucy pressed against the far wall and crouched under a sink, her hands clasped over her head. She was trembling, he could see that even from a distance, and her eyes were red. “Just…shut up,” she said in a shaky voice. He pressed his lips together and moved forward.

 “I…I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t make fun of you like this…if that’s what you mean…”

 “Yes, you would, because you’re a shitty person.”  She rolled her eyes and added, “Well, everyone is. Just know, if you so much as breathe word of this to anybody—”

 “I won’t.” She gave him a hard look and he returned it with a placatory one. He had incentive to do so—disregarding the Fireball thing, he was still at fault for the brushfires around the school—but there was just something so inherently dirty about exploiting her weakness. That was more up Igneel’s alley to do, and Natsu had long since sworn to do the opposite of his late father in everything. “U-Um…it’s gotta be wet under there, so don’t you wanna, uh…” He offered a hand and she slapped it away hard.

 “Move.” He gave her a wide berth to crawl from under the sink and get to her feet. She didn’t spare him another glance when she stomped through the door and slammed it shut behind her.

 Well, Natsu thought, hand still out in front of him, now she really hates my guts.

 ——————

 Ironically, Lucy was the one to ignore Natsu the following few days. He didn’t like leaving things as they were, but he also didn’t like setting his ass up for a good kicking. As it were, faith was determined to keep bringing them together in the unruliest circumstances.

 “One part of the project requires you to pair up,” Professor Gryder said once the last of the information sheets were passed around. “And you’ve already been paired by a random algorithm. I’ve already posted the sheet on the bulletin board outside.”

 “Well that really sucks the fun from a group project, don’t you think?” Levy Ström said in the most derisive voice possible. Natsu heard Lucy click her teeth.

 “Each of you will spend a day with the other and analyze their interactions and habits. By the end of the week, you should have a reflection prepared: does this person act based on societal influences, or by their own free will? With that, class is dismissed.”

 Natsu watched Lucy from the corner of his eye as she grabbed her binder and dodged past him on her way to the door. He never really thought about it, but he began to wonder what she was doing in a Sociology class as he packed his notebooks away.

 “Fuck no!”

 It said something that Natsu didn’t even flinch at the sound, quietly slipping his backpack on and making to creep past the crowd around the bulletin board outside. Once he heard Lucy scream again and burst into the classroom, he dared sneak a peek at the groups.

 —

NATSU DRAGION & LUCY ASHLEY

—

 Okay, hmm, yeah, that made sense. Hearing Lucy’s muffled vitriol from the closed classroom, Natsu decided to air his grievances later. If Professor Mine even possessed a head after today.

 “Natsu, will you be alright with such an uncouth young…lady?” Cana Domènech was entirely the opposite of Lucy: conservative, refined, and thought “oh my gosh” to be her swearing quota for the day. She looked at him with concern when he let out a little nervous laugh.

 “Y-Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ll, uh, I’ll survive.”

 “Well, I do wish you the best of luck.” Cana gave him one more sympathetic look before leaving. Natsu heard the door open behind him and looked to see Lucy in noticeably lower spirits than before. She met his eyes and clicked her teeth, tossing her head to the side.

 “I’m not big on the idea—” Obviously, “—but I have to pass. So, let’s go.”

 “L-let’s g-go?”

 “Did you not read the stupid paper?” She fluttered said paper in front of his face. “Analyze each other’s societal interactions. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather get this done sooner than later. I don’t want to spend a second more with you than I have to.”

 “B-B-But, me, I don’t think th-that’s a, that that’s a g-good—” His words died off at her look. He let out a shaky breath and rubbed the back of his neck. “You’ll have to deal with…you know…Fireball.”

 “Sooner than later.” She raised an expectant eyebrow and he sighed again, gripping the straps of his bag.

 “Al…Alright.” She followed him to the parking lot and stood aside a bit awkwardly as he anxiously slid inside.

 “Well, Sugar Tits, you coming in or what?” Fireball asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Lucy rolled her eyes to the sky and practically threw herself into the seat. “Glad to see you’re eager,” he said as he put the car in drive. Lucy barely flinched this time when he laid on the gas and cut onto the street at speed. “So, what’s a respectable young lady like yourself doing in a Sociology class?”

 “It’s a stupid elective that I’m regretting more and more by the second.” She folded her arms and fell back into the seat with a frustrated sigh. Natsu looked at her from the corner of his eye.

 “Any particular reason we’re not doing your part first?”

 “Because I don’t want to.”

 “Sugar Tits, that reasoning’s not gonna fly with me.”

 “Stop with the Sugar Tits shit already, limp dick.”

 “My mouth, my tongue, my car, my rules. Don’t blame me if those jugs are the most appealing parts of you. I can look at them and still feel some semblance of hope for womankind.” Said jugs were encased in a thin black tube top that did nothing to hide their volume or save them from Fireball’s roving eyes.

 “Seriously, do you take improv classes? I don’t get how you can be such a pushover normally and then cart around a record-sized pair when you get behind a wheel.”

 “I’m an enigma, Sugar Tits. Get used to it.”

 There was a slight itch of trepidation as Fireball headed onto the row of dark side streets he called home. But at the end of the block was a building that shone a little brighter than the boarded-up adult stores and bail bond places surrounding it. A place built upon legends of the past and which would continue creating legends well into the future.

 “Aren’t you a little young to be going to a bar?” Lucy said derisively as he pulled into the parking lot behind the place.

 “Not a bar. Home.” He put the car in park and turned it off. She recoiled a bit at his somber tone.

 “This run-down old place?”

 “That’s what you call it.” He let out a sigh and smiled a bit. “Well, Lucy, time to head into the belly of the beast.”

 Lucy’s burning gaze followed him out of the car as he shrugged his things higher on his shoulders. This was the only place he felt as in-control as when he was in his car—not that he thought it’d last with Lucy breathing down his neck. Lucy fell in step behind him as he walked around to the front entrance. “B-Be ready,” he said under his breath as he pushed the door open.

 “What?” Natsu sensed something flying and ducked in time for a beer bottle to miss his head and fly over Lucy’s. She spun around to watch it hit the street with comically wide eyes. “What in the flying fu—”

 “Move it or lose it, Dragion!” Jet shouted. Natsu shrunk backwards.

 “S-Sorry, I was just—”

 “Still apologizing? I don’t know who’s more of an eyesore, you or Elfman!”

 “Jet, stop bothering my brother,” Lisanna Stonestrider said, resting a hand on the crying Elfman’s shoulder and shooting Jet a glare. It didn’t affect him too much, and she turned to give Natsu a warm smile. “Welcome back.”

 “H-Hi, Lisanna.”

 “Ooh, Natsu, you’ve brought a girl.” Mirajane said it very casually but it had heads turning anyway. Natsu turned a deep red and did his best turtle impression when someone let out a loud laugh-whistle.

 “I’m Lucy,” she said, startling him a bit with the sound of her voice. She had her hands on her hips and was standing with her feet apart and chin raised just high enough to squint down at all of them. “And know that next time a bottle comes flying at my head, it’s going up somebody’s ass.”

 “It’s going to be your ass this time, Max,” Warren said. Someone whistled again, then the previous conversations bubbled back into the silence. Natsu went to sit at the bar and Lucy followed him, perching herself with crossed legs on the stool.

 “I’m Mira,” the barmaid introduced, smiling at Lucy. Lucy, as per her dignified nature, snorted.

 “Do you shit rainbows or something?”

 “P-Please don’t,” Natsu muttered, folding his hands atop the clean wood countertop.

 “I’m used to worse coming from these people’s mouths.” Mira, that’s not a thing to happily admit to. “Would you like something to eat or drink?”

 Lucy slid her hands across the bar and her eyes narrowed as she peered around the clientele. “Is there an undercover cop here…?”

 “No, no,” she said with a laugh. “Whatever happens in Fairy Tail stays in Fairy Tail.”

 She still seemed incredibly dubious, so Natsu slowly raised a finger. “Can I get a fireball cinnamon whiskey?” Mira hummed softly as she took a glass from under the bar and filled it halfway before sliding it over. Lucy still looked as if she expected cameras to pop out at any moment, but she slowly slid back in the seat. Natsu didn’t get to the glass before Lucy snatched it and downed it all in one go. “Can I get another?” she said, ignoring Natsu’s indignant yelp.

 “For a friend of Natsu’s, of course. He doesn’t have many, outside of us,” she said as she refilled the glass. Natsu flushed under Lucy’s subsequent scrutiny.

 “For how much of a turtle he is, doesn’t surprise me.”

 “Well what about you? You’re hiding behind a lot of vulgarity.” Natsu jumped when Lucy slammed the glass down mid-drink, splashing the whiskey all over the countertop.

 “Don’t act like you know me!” she said in a voice that bordered a growl. Mirajane held Lucy’s gaze for a long moment, and Lucy was the one to back down in the end.

 “It’s none of my business anyway,” she said breezily, retrieving another glass and pouring Natsu’s share, along with refilling Lucy’s and swabbing the mess she made.

 “Damn right it ain’t, Princess.” Lucy knocked back the glass with marked aggression before slamming it down yet again. Wisely, Natsu retained a Sugar Tits-related comment as he slowly sipped his drink.

 “Sup, idiots?” The door banged open and Levy sauntered in, flanked by Gray and Cana behind her. Sitting down with Jet and Droy created a new course of ruckus in the place and Natsu almost missed Wendy and Romeo sneaking in. She caught his wave and responded with a half-smile and a hair flip; Romeo turned away and hunched a bit more, but Natsu caught a bit of a smile before he did. He’s getting better.

 “You bring little kids in here too?” Lucy nodded at Romeo as Wendy led him to a booth seat. He squared his shoulders and gripped his glass with both hands.

 “W-W-Well, it’s, err—he’s, I-I’m—all of u-us, actually…we, uh, we…” His stammering peaked with his anxiety and Lucy let out a loud groan of frustration. Mira rested a hand atop his.

 “The upper level has a few bedrooms; he stays in one alongside Natsu.”

 “You guys…live here?” Lucy’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked between them. Mira’s smile hadn’t dimmed, but her eyes darkened with a bit of grief.

 “It may seem like a dingy bar to most people, but to us, it’s our only home.” Lucy’s lips parted and she craned her head back to take another long look at the people of Fairy Tail. Young, old; grizzled, bright-eyed; weak, strong; happy and joking, depressed and silent… Her eyes returned to Natsu, but there was no outright malice this time.

 “Your only home?” she asked in a voice so soft it was nothing but earnest. He tipped his head in a nod. She put her hand to her mouth and stared, seemingly at a loss for words. Natsu gave a little sheepish smile and shrugged a shoulder. She blinked a few times to clear a suspicious sheen from her eyes, then pushed away from the bar. “We’ll do this another day,” she said quietly, and took a deep breath before rushing past the tables to the door.

 “Natsu?” Mira asked quietly, bringing his eyes back to hers. She regarded him with a concerned look and he laughed a bit, though not with humor.

 “W…We have a funny relationship,” he said, finishing the last of his whiskey. “Unintentionally exchanging secrets. This time, though…I think this was too much this time. I don’t know, Mira.” He sunk forward until he could rest his head in his arms, and Mira’s hand gently combed through his hair. Well, she got her payback for last time, plus change…

 ——————

 The next day was a Saturday, which meant no class and no Lucy. He just almost pushed yesterday’s happenings from his mind as he came to Aicha’s Autos for his usual weekend shift. He was supposed to open, but when he arrived the garage door was already rolled up and a sports car was waiting with an open hood. He peeked around the corner to see Metallicana reclining in a folding chair, the top of his coveralls loosened around his faded Guns ‘N Roses t-shirt. He was drinking a bottle of Guinness and grinned when he saw Natsu, waving him over.

 “I thought I opened?”

 “Yeah, well, I had a little extra time. Wanna drink?” He nodded at the small cooler next to him. He had about as many qualms as Fairy Tail with underage drinking—not that Natsu minded. It was the “drinking on the job” part that made him uneasy.

 “I-Isn’t this a job here?” He gestured to the sports car. Metallicana shrugged.

 “’s all done save for the test drive, and anyway client’s not comin’ ‘til tomorrow.” Grinning, he pulled the driver’s key from his chest pocket and let it dangle from his fingertip. “Just up and down the block so’s I can make sure the frame’s right an’ straight.”

 “Just up and down the block…” His fingers twitched and he realized he was leaning forward towards the key. Metallicana laughed not unkindly.

 “Haven’t been racin’ in a while? Don’t usually see ya so antsy.”

 “The police got some sort of tip and have been swarming around the usual spots, so the people in charge have to find a new…venue…” He was distracted as his phone received a notification. To his utter surprise, it was a text from Lucy.

 Finished the report. Come check it out.

 Below that was an address not too far from the auto shop. Natsu knew the area: a lot of open road and torn-down homes, leaving plenty of unpurchased lot space. It also was a wonderful place for festering crime, since it lay far from any police station. He might’ve been looking too deeply into matters, but the locale sounded a little too coincidental for his liking.

 “Natsu?”

 “E-Err, yeah, test drive.” He took the keys and pocketed his phone. “Up and down the street. Got it.” He excused himself and locked the hood before sliding into the driver’s seat. He turned the key in the ignition and heard the engine turn, heard the gears in his mind whir to life as he reversed from the garage.

 She ran away, he mused, stopping in the street and heading straight down. Beats me as to why, but she ran. I don’t know what she wrote, but it somehow leaves a pit in my stomach anyway.

 He rounded the corner despite his promise to move up and down the street and cruised along the quiet suburb. Whatever she has to say, I can take it in stride. I don’t regret joining with the Fairy Tail gang—they’re a hell of a lot more my family than that old prick. His hands tightened around the wheel. And as pleasant company as Sugar Tits is, she’ll be in for a heck of a time trying to pull me from my family.

 He lost track of time circling the neighborhood and caught himself as he drove past a gas station. Glancing at the meter, he realized he used up a few gallons in his reverie. He stopped to fill the tank and bought himself a root beer at the convenience store. Well, regardless, he thought as he popped the cap, taking a long gulp. I won’t know until I go there…and I can only hope it’s good news. W-Well, as good as it can get considering Lucy.

 By the time he returned to the garage, Metallicana was working on an SUV. Natsu parked the car on the dirt lot outside and honked once to catch his attention. As he approached, he spotted a suited man about his age sitting against the wall. He had dark curly hair and red eyes that sized Natsu up as he came over.

 “Pink hair. Mr. Dragion?”

 “Um…y-yes?” Metallicana slid out from under the car with a sigh, dropping a wrench and pulling his long auburn hair from his grease-stained face.

 “That’s Gajeel, my son,” he said without delay. “And this is his shitshow he calls a car.” The SUV was old for sure, but Natsu couldn’t see the big deal with it.

 “Nice to m-meet you, Mr. Aicha.” He offered a hand and Gajeel again appeared to size him up before shaking it. His hand was calloused and his grip was firm.

 “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

 “Don’t say nothin’ too incriminatin’ ‘round him…it’ll be all over the headlines come daylight.”

 “I don’t, um, I don’t understand.”

 “I’m a reporter for Magnolia Times,” Gajeel said. Natsu nodded slowly.

 “That makes sense…”

 “My father has also told me much about you, Mr. Dragion. That you’re his most reliable assistant, and that you’re the most pleasant young man he’s met.” Natsu let out a nervous laugh and ducked his head to hide his blush.

 “Mi…Mister Metallicana gives me too much c-credit.”

 “Nah, yer just too deprecative,” Metallicana said airily, leaning his back against the car. “Anyway, Natsu, met any girls lately?”

 It was something he asked fairly often because Natsu was “that age” according to him—whatever that meant—and now the question made him flush a deeper scarlet and trip over his tongue. “I, err, I don’t, I h-haven’t—”

 “Ooh!” He grinned and his wine-colored eyes glittered. “She got big tits?”

 Natsu choked on his spit while Gajeel face-palmed. “That’s not…socially acceptable to say.”

 “Well, I said it. Does she?”

 “She—she—yes,” he admitted in a mutter.

 “Congrats!” Gajeel sighed.

 “S-S-She’s not, she’s not m-my girlf-friend or anything…!”

 “She single?”

 “Father, act your age,” Gajeel said once Natsu covered his red face with shaky hands. Metallicana let out a hearty laugh.

 “Alright, alright… Let’s finish up his car so’s real customers can have their turn.”

 Despite his words, it was a pretty quiet day once Gajeel left with his repaired SUV (and some choice words on Metallicana’s part; seriously, the old man had a mouth to make a sailor blush, yet there was nothing but endearment behind the coarse profanities). By two o’clock, Natsu’s shift was over, and it was time to face Lucy yet again.

 “I’m leaving, Mr. Metallicana…”

 “Right, see ya Mo—two beers?” Metallicana raised a pierced eyebrow as Natsu shut the cooler, cradling the bottles in his other hand.

 “I need the support… See you Monday.”

 “Yeah, see ya.”

 The tension coiled and formed a pit in his stomach as he headed towards the indicated address. He had already knocked back the first beer at the halfway point, and he was nursing the second one when he realized he was close. It wasn’t enough to impair his driving, not by a longshot, but it fooled him into thinking this was maybe a good idea.

 Lucy’s house was entirely average with two stories, a garage, and a tree out front. It looked too innocent for someone determined to give him hell. He parked in the empty driveway and went up to ring the bell. He stood awkwardly on the porch for several minutes, shifting from one foot to another and feeling like some kind of trespasser, before the door swung open. She stood there and blinked at him dazedly, not saying a word, and the silence melted Natsu’s anxiety a bit.

 “Good…afternoon,” he said. Lucy inclined her head to one side.

 “Yeah,” she replied softly. She wore an extra-large grey hoodie and tights underneath, a surprisingly simple and unassuming outfit choice, but if she was at home, what did he expect? “Come on.” She turned inside and left the door open for him. He self-consciously removed his sneakers before entering, making sure to drop them beside the door after shutting it behind him.

 “You, err, y-you finished it early. The report,” he said lamely as he followed her past the unused-looking living room to the stairs.

 “I thought it’d be harder than it was. Turns out I was wrong.” She shrugged and Natsu balked internally at how sedated she appeared. The stairs led up to a carpeted hallway and she took him to the door at the very end. Opening it, Natsu was bombarded repeatedly with the thought of Lucy’s room Lucy’s room Lucy’s room. Band posters, gun show ads, and social propaganda posters covered every square inch of the wall to where he didn’t know its color, and while the rectangular room could barely fit a work desk and a twin bed, a record player and small bookshelf made the place fit to burst.

 “Cramped,” he said without really thinking, and immediately clamped his mouth shut after.

 “But lived in, unlike the rest of this dump.” She took the comment in stride as she slid past everything with practiced ease to sit cross-legged on her bedspread. Natsu awkwardly stood in the doorway until she gave him an expectant look. “You gonna start sprouting leaves there or what?”

 “N-N-No, I, uh...nothing.” He bowed his head and sat at her desk, which was crammed with untouched journals, bent and dog-eared poetry books, and mismatched puzzle pieces. Lucy picked up her notebook from the bed and flipped to a random page.

 “Listen up,” she said, then started to read: “Natsu is a weak-ass who couldn’t take candy from a baby. Hell, he’d probably be jacked by the baby. Point is, he’s a noodle.” Already he felt like going home. “He’s spinelessly compliant for the most part, and when he’s not he’s an insufferable prick. But not as insufferable as his family. He’s gutless, but he wouldn’t speak out against another person, or hurt them anyhow. All of Natsu Dragion is a good person, and that’s free will.” She dropped the notebook in her laugh and looked at him with a huff. “Well?”

 Natsu gave her a gentle smile. “Lucy, I think you’ve missed the point of Fairy Tail.”

 “What?” She looked at him crossly, which he took in stride.

 “They’re not burdens I have to bear, they’re my family. We’re all family.”

 “Pretty rude-ass family you got there.” He winced; he couldn’t argue for the most part.

 “They’re not…well…they’re not the most optimistic people, not anymore, but we have this…this…” He tried and failed to find the word and gave up. “You don’t really understand us past the surface.”

 “Dragion, I know shitty adults when I see ‘em.” He could only smile again, which she didn’t take as pleasantly. “You’re makin’ fun of the wrong person,” she said, getting to her feet and cracking her knuckles. Natsu instantly went on the defensive.

 “N-N—I didn’t m-mean it like that, no!” The door opened downstairs and Lucy straightened as if by an electrical shock. Her expression changed and she marched purposely from the room and down the hall. She didn’t tell Natsu to follow, but he felt at a loss and trailed behind like a stray puppy anyway.

 She returned to the living room where Natsu was surprised to see an older woman strewn on the sofa like she simply didn’t have the energy to go further. Her blond hair was long and silky and streaked with grey, and when Natsu went around, he saw her in an unkempt server’s uniform. Lucy walked past, combing her fingers through the woman’s hair as she went to the kitchen. The woman didn’t respond.

 “U-Um, L-Lucy, it’s not my place to ask, I know, b-but is she…?”

 “It isn’t your place,” she said tonelessly, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and filling it from the tap. She set the glass down on the coffee table still with no response. Natsu swallowed.

 “M…Maybe she should go to a h-hospi—”

 “This ain’t anything new, okay? Come morning, she’ll be perfectly okay and ready to do it all again.” She pushed her fringe up and Natsu frowned at how exhausted she sounded. She glanced at him over her shoulder, then looked at the wall. He followed her gaze to a photo featuring the woman with less grey hairs and a blond, mustached man holding a laughing little girl. “Sorry if I insulted your family or whatever, but as you can see, I don’t have a splendid example of a stable one. Not anymore.”

 “Lucy…” She opened her mouth, then abruptly shut it and walked out the front door. She sat hard on the porch and pulled a cigarette from her pocket. Natsu glanced at her mother again, who still had her face buried in the cushions with no sign of life, and slowly walked out to join her. He grimaced a little at the smell of smoke as she took a long drag but didn’t complain. “Is she…ah…drugs?” he asked, fully expecting a tirade in response.

 “More like drunk off her ass,” she said without looking at him. “She’s been doing it for six years now. Can’t hold down a job, can’t hold down a conversation… If not for our relatives, we would’ve lost Papa’s house a long time ago.”

 “Why don’t you get help?”

 “She’s the one who has to get help. It ain’t for my lack of trying, me and the rest of our family.” She threw the half-finished cigarette to the concrete walkway and ground it under her sneaker.

 “I’m sorry.”

 “You didn’t make Papa sick, you didn’t turn Mama into a chicken, what do you have to be sorry for?”

 He looked her right in the eyes. “I’m sorry we both have broken families.”

 “I thought you love the people over at that bar.”

 “I’m not talking about them.” She gave him a curious look and he fidgeted with his fingers. “My father…wasn’t the n…nicest person. Not to my mom or me. He wanted her to ‘listen like a wife should.’ He wanted me to ‘grow up an’ be a fuckin’ man.’” He laughed even though nothing about it was funny. “He was… Igneel was a mean, manipulative, and secretly cowardly sunovabitch. And now he’s dead.” He choked on the word dead and almost suffocated at the memories it brought. He doubled over and saw Lucy reaching for him from the corner of his eye, and he bolted to his feet to throw up in the grass. “S…Sorry,” he muttered when he was done, dragging his hand across his mouth. Lucy was on her feet and staring at him with wide eyes.

 “He was killed?” she asked. The word hit Natsu like a blow and he had to fight to not vomit again.

 “Y…Yes, he was killed.” He sat on the grass and pulled his knees to his chest, gripping them and failing to stop his trembling. Warm, he felt warm then and he felt warm now—feverishly, dizzily warm. And his mother’s quick words in his ear; he didn’t understand then, but in the aftermath, they engraved themselves in his soul. The warmth persisted; it was years before he could sleep without twisted nightmares of that day forming.

 Lucy came up behind him and her hand rested in his hair, gently tangling in the strands. Her hand was warm too, but it didn’t make him feel faint and anxious; it was grounding, pleasant, and it made him feel a bit stronger.

 “I’m sorry.”

 “You’re not the reason he’s dead, are you? What do you have to be sorry for?” He laughed bitterly until Lucy’s hand moved to his shoulder and she crouched behind him. Her words dragged him to a pensive stop.

 “I’m sorry we’re both broken people.”

 ——————

 “This is a cruel world. You have to be crueler to survive.”

 “Spend the rest of the week sleeping outside. Maybe you’ll learn something.”

 “I’m the father! It’s my job to make sure things are in order, that my son becomes a man and my wife keeps in line. That’s the father’s job.”

 “If you don’t like me, get out. Life’s gonna fuck you in your little pussy and you’ll come running back anyway.”

 “If you don’t like fighting, you’re gonna get mauled. That’s the rule of thumb.”

 “If you don’t like me, do something about it.”

 …Do something about it? To his father? To the “head of the house?” It was a pipe dream at best, a dangerous fantasy at worst. But…but…

 “Mom!”

 Like a dream, like a fantasy, he made it reality.

 ——————

  Natsu had a headache when he woke up the next morning, and the sunlight streaming through only made it worse. He groaned and turned into his pillow.

 “Natsu…” He peeked one eye at Romeo as he struggled to climb on the bed. Natsu sat up and helped him the rest of the way. “Who’s the girl?” he asked with a little tilt to his head. Natsu rubbed his neck and yawned.

 “Lucy— Huh? Why are you asking now?”

 “Well, she’s here now.” Natsu stared dumbly for a few seconds until Romeo repeated himself.

 “She’s what?” He pushed Romeo aside and jumped to his feet. “D-Did she say why?” He was about to leave before remembering he was in his boxers. He ran to the dresser and rapidly sorted between their clothes (ugh, he had to organize that thing one day).

 “Nope.” Romeo was sitting cross-legged on Natsu’s bedspread rocking back and forth. “But she told me I’m perspicacious. I think it means cute.”

 Natsu was too engrossed in getting dressed to argue no, it did not mean cute, it meant he was probably being a know-it-all little shit to her. He picked a blue collared shirt and a pair of jeans. “Does this look fine?” he asked before remembering he was talking to a seven-year-old.

 “Why does it matter?”

 “N…No, well, I guess it doesn’t.” He smoothed his shirt automatically and Romeo inclined his head.

 “You’re acting weird, Big Brother.”

 “Me? Weird? No, nonono. I’m neurotic all the time. Typical Natsu, right? Aha!” He did an uncomfortable smile that made Romeo grimace.

 “Maybe you should lie down again.”

 “I’m fine.” Despite his words, Romeo followed at his ankles as he went to clean up in the restroom and then marched purposefully downstairs. It was still early on the weekend so many of the adults were asleep; only Mirajane, Gray, Cana, Wendy, and Juvia remained in the bar, lounging around or helping clean up from the busy night. Lucy was on a barstool turning side to side with her head lolling onto one shoulder. She wore a school sweatshirt cut to just below her breasts and high-waisted jeans. Her hair was loose and wet from a shower.

 “Natsu, your friend is back,” Mira said as way of greeting, giving him a not-so-subtle wink and grin. Natsu flushed and tried to hide in his shirt.

 “Yo.” Lucy sat up at the sight of him and smiled. It wasn’t huge and blinding by no means, but it was genuine, and it got Natsu smiling in return.

 “H…Hi.”

 “Slow burn-ass romance,” Juvia said quite loudly, deepening Natsu’s flush and getting a glare from Lucy. Then her face changed to a sinister smirk.

 “Yeah, you know what? I’m totally in love with Pinky. So, like, you should let me in on you guys’ secrets, considering I’m gonna be stickin’ around.”

 “Yeah? Kiss him.” Juvia again, and her smirk was ten times more sinister. Natsu felt Romeo tugging on the back of his shirt but ignored it in favor of some wild-eyed boggling. Seriously? She isn’t going for that. She’s not. She isn’t going for that for real is she? She wouldn’t just—oh—oh yeah nope she’s totally kissing me.

 Lucy had grabbed his face with both hands and pressed her body flush against his to snatch his lips. He could taste her green apple lip gloss and the mint toothpaste on her breath. And…and…shit. He thought only four wheels and an engine could do it, but the kiss, whatever the circumstances and reasoning behind it, stoked the fire in his belly to a roar. He grabbed her forearms, backed her against the bar until she was almost bowing into it, and deepened the kiss. In response to his heat, she melted in his grip, and Fireball relished the little mewls she made as he explored her mouth with his tongue. He wondered what sounds she would make when he explored her body, when he explored her—

 “Eww,” Romeo said before Wendy shushed him. Natsu pulled away in a rush, his face sporting a shade of red not even on the spectrum. Lucy was still leaning against the bar and supporting her body with her hands, staring off into space.

 “It’s not nice to interrupt people when they’re snogging,” Wendy told him. Romeo didn’t respond and directed his attention to Lucy.

 “Big Sister, wasn’t that gross?”

 Lucy snapped out of her fugue and turned to face him. “Uh, well— Big Sister?” She began weirdly fidgety, but suddenly looked at Romeo with wide eyes. Romeo nodded from where he sat on Wendy’s lap and Lucy broke into a wide grin. “Big Sister knows how to handle herself in the face of creeps,” she said, putting extra emphasis on her new title.

 “I…I’m a creep?”

 “Well, you’re trying to get with Big Sister,” Romeo said quite matter-of-factly. Wendy patted his head.

 “Lucy’s not our sister.”

 “Not yet,” he said, “but she likes Big Brother.”

 He was only a kid and his words left Natsu mortified all the same. He ducked his head and asked Mira for a couple glasses of fire whiskey. “You’ve a very adorable wingman.” Lucy grinned at Natsu and he slid a glass her way, sitting next to her.

 “I don’t mean it offensively, but why did you come?”

 “No offense taken. Well, I want to know more about you. And, well, you kinda fled the other day.”

 “Yeah. Um. Sorry that I…fled. It was…” scary, terrifying, horrifying, traumatizing, “…I’m sorry.”

 “It’s another thing we have in common: we’re excellent runners.” She took a sip of whiskey and set the glass down quietly. “Not really a good thing.”

 “No, it’s not.” He took a sip as well and sighed. Mira, who had disappeared for a moment, returned with a plate starring a mushroom omelet for Lucy.

 “I didn’t pay for this,” she said. Mira winked.

 “Breakfast is on the house today.” Natsu gave her a squinty look knowing it was bullshit and she giggled before going back to the kitchen. Lucy pushed it around a bit before cutting in and taking a bite.

 “Wow. This is, like, orgasmic.” She proceeded to stuff her face with it and make very unladylike noises at the flavor, making Natsu warm for an entirely different, not so unpleasant reason.

 “U-Um, Lucy, m-maybe you should…not…should not make those…s-sounds.”

 “Shove it.” And she was back to the Lucy he knew. Honestly, he was a little relieved for it.

 “A-Anyway…there’s not much more to learn about me. You can talk to my friends here?”

 “Seriously.”

 “Ooh, yes, I am very curious to meet the girl Natsu’s making out with.” Natsu started when he realized how close Wendy had gotten, leaning over the counter with her cleavage in his face. “Nice to meet you, Big Sister. My name’s Wendy.”

 “Hmm? Yeah, pleasure’s mine or something.” Lucy looked at Wendy’s tits, then her own, then noticed Wendy was holding Romeo’s hand. “Little brother,” she said, then smiled. Romeo turned his face into Wendy’s legs and she ruffled his hair.

 “He’s a little uncomfortable around people.” She jerked her chin at Gray and Cana’s table. “Gray is the human cocoon over there. Nice guy, but he wears too many layers. And Cana is—”

 “Oh, yes, I know Cana,” Lucy said with a not-so-pleasant tone of voice. “I’ve seen Gray around. Hard to miss.”

 “Well then, you’re already partway there.” She tugged a lock of Lucy’s hair and stopped to gawk. “Your hair is really soft. How do you get it like this?”

 “Don’t really know.” She let Wendy play with the strands and Natsu wished he could as well without it being too weird.

 “Wakaba and Macao are a couple of the oldest regulars. We don’t know what they do when they’re not here though. Mira’s the barmaid and chef; she and Levy room together. Jet and Droy, Juvia, Cana, Laki, Warren, Nab, and Max are the early-birds around here; they start early and you usually don’t see them until the evening.”

 “So who’s the owner?” It was an innocent question that instantly dimmed the bar’s mood. Wendy bit her lip, Natsu averted his eyes, Gray stared at his hands, Juvia clenched her fists, and Cana’s eyes turned glassy. Romeo was the one who answered.

 “He was um, he was extra-diction.”

 “Extradited to Russia some years ago. He’s been imprisoned ever since.” Lucy turned to where Mira was standing, her head lowered and eyes distant. “We never found out what he did.”

 “If he did anything,” Juvia said.

 “Gramps had the kindest heart of anyone around. We can’t imagine him committing a crime so serious they’d drag him transnationally,” Gray said softly.

 “Because he wouldn’t,” Wendy said with finality. “And we’ve never stopped fighting it.”

 Lucy looked between them all before her eyes landed on Natsu. He nodded. “And we won’t ever stop."

 “Family…” She shook her head and straightened, throwing her hands in the air. “So, what do you guys do for fun around here?”

 Wendy smirked. “Ever play King’s Cup?”

 Lucy did not in fact play King’s Cup, and Natsu, while not speaking up, loathed the aftermath. Since Romeo and Cana couldn’t participate, they sat on the side as Mira set one table with six glasses, filling five of them with Guinness, and set a deck of cards next to the empty one. They took their seats and Natsu was the first to pick up.

 “Queen,” he muttered, turning it towards everyone. Juvia, Lucy, and Wendy grabbed their glasses and drank.

 “Okay, okay.” Wendy set the emptied glass down and took a card, flipping it out. “Seven.” Gray was the last to put his arm up since he had so many layers to work with, so he drank.

 “My turn.” Juvia had a wicked smile as she took her card and flashed the 5. “When Lucy drinks, Natsu drinks twice as much.”

 “Seriously?” Natsu cried. It went unnoticed as Gray drew.

 “Nine.” He thought for a moment, shivered, then said, “Cold.”

 “Sold,” Lucy said.

 “Uh…gold,” Natsu said.

 “Mold.”

 “Told.”

 “Bold,” Gray said. Lucy hesitated for a second and Wendy grinned.

 “Let’s go, Big Sister.”

 “Hey, sometimes you hafta know when you take a loss gracefully, as women do.” Natsu gave her a look as she gulped her beer and slammed the glass down. Graceful, my a—

 “Natsu, aren’t you forgetting something?” Juvia said. Natsu drank down his glass and the following glass when Mira refilled it. On Wendy’s turn, she drew 3, so she drank three. Juvia drew a King and the guys drank. Gray drew an Ace and everyone raised their glasses. Lucy choked before Natsu was done, and she had to take another glass as punishment; duly, Natsu drank two glasses after. He was racking up five total, and on an empty stomach, he was past his limit.

 “Alright, Bimbo-gami, take this.” Lucy held up her card, a 2, and Juvia gulped her glass. “Geddit? Bimbo with those tits, and a binbōgami is bad luck.” For how drunk she sounded, her intelligence was still impeccable.

 “M’kay, my turn.” Natsu grabbed a bunch of cards by accident and let them flutter back to the table until he was left with one. “That’s a 4. Gray, yer gonna take two, an’ I take two.” They did their drinks and Gray, at the end of it, started peeling away some jackets.

 “It’s hot as hell in here,” he said with a grimace, tossing his topmost layers to the ground and leaving himself in a black turtleneck. The game continued until there were two dozen empty beer bottles clanging around, Gray was down to his skivvies, Wendy was passed out cold and the warmth was reaching new heights in the pit of Natsu’s gut.

 “Okay, okay, so’s I gotta 10,” Juvia slurred, holding up the card. “I say you guys gotta name your top pick fer hot an’ heavy sex. F’me, a kiddie pool.”

 “Chocolate parfait.” Lucy gave a crooked smile and swirled the last dregs of beer around in her glass. Her shirt had ridden up the last time they raised their hands and she wasn’t in a state to notice; the hem sat at the crest of her black lacy bra.

 “Natsu, ‘s on you.”

 “Sugar Tits,” he said without missing a beat. She looked at him with a confused murmur and he grabbed her wrist, getting to his feet and pulling her up as well. “Let’s go fer a ride.”

 “Too drunk,” she said, stumbling along behind him as he went to the backdoor. “Yer too drunk off yer ass, Dragion.”

 “I know.”

 “Then don’t drive, stoo-pid.”

 “Who said ‘nythin’ ‘bout driving?” He slammed the door open and burst into the sunlight where he pulled her along to his car. It took a moment of fumbling with the keys before he got the passenger door open, and he forced the seat forward and pushed her into the back. He shut the door and settled between her raised knees, kneeling between her legs.

 “Natsu—” she said, then was cut off when he devoured her lips in a searing kiss.

 “M’mouth tastes like ass,” he said once he pulled away, pinning her wrists against the seat. “Let me taste something better.” He kissed the junction of shoulder and neck before sucking the same spot, earning a long and delicious groan from her in response. Her body proved enjoyably receptive as he continued showering her neck and jaw with attention. She trembled like a purring engine, spurring to life when he handled her just so.

 “N-Naat…suuu…” Her breath hitched when he gave the back of her ear a long, slow lick, then she cried out as her body bowed outwards. He grinned at the sight and straightened, releasing her wrists to fumble drunkenly with the buttons of her jeans.

 “Mm. One part I haven’t tasted yet…”

 ——————

 Often times Fireball wondered Laki’s story. He only saw her in the dead of the night in a fishnet top and denim shorts, and she never spoke to him; her presence began with a swing of her arm and ended as he crossed the finish line. His eyes narrowed against the glare of the streetlamps to catch the swing now.

 Three…two…and go.

 He hit the gas and sped off in time with his two opponents. There was nothing else, nothing but the moonlight shining from the leaves surrounding the thin roads at the city limit, the sound of the engine, the night air crisp and clean in his throat—

 “Mm…smells like sex in here.”

 “Wonder why?”

 “You’re a coy asshole.”

 He gritted his teeth and clenched the steering wheel a bit tighter. He walked himself into deep shit with Lucy, he knew that well. The problem was finding his way out again while loathing every step he took away from her. He couldn’t…he could stand her knowing his petty problems, but the big secret… No, she couldn’t learn of that. forget the consequences involved, he didn’t want her to walk from his life as she surely would.

 His reverie made him fall behind a driver and he laid on the gas to regain his head start. Regardless of his activities with a certain blonde, he had to win. Not so much for the money, which he earned a fair bit of from Metallicana, but the peace of mind a simple victory brought. Without that, he’d probably be as self-destructive as his old man.

 They finished a lap as they circled past Laki and the cheers of the onlookers chased Natsu along the track. The adrenaline fueled the fire in his belly and he depressed the pedal as far as it could go, gaining a burst of speed on the straightaway. The next road led into a sharp curve and he caught it at a slow drift that carried him too close into the opponent’s BMW. The cars ground against each other as the road straightened and the BMW, with better positioning, shoved Natsu towards the grass on the side. He lost his traction and speed and lost a lot of ground in the race.

 Dammit, dammit! Get your head out of your ass!

 He got back on the road but finished the lap in last place. The third lap, too, he was a couple cars’ length from the others. His jaw was clenched so tightly it hurt. I have to get ahead. Push, push, nothing matters but the race, the wind, the sound of the engine, the taste of the night…Lucy’s lips taste sweeter than the night—

 Police sirens weren’t a foreign sound in the neighborhood, but they came so close Natsu immediately hit the brakes, skidding to a stop on the dirt alongside the other two. Cop cars materialized from the night and everyone in the vicinity disappeared save for the drivers. Natsu watched the closest car as the doors opened, revealing a striking figure with short hair the color of fresh blood. Nightwalker.

 “Make this easier on yourselves and exit the vehicles now,” she said, making no effort to hide the pistol strapped to her hips. The three of them stood up from their seats and put their hands in the air, none happily. Corporal Nightwalker’s eyes raked over them, sharp as blades. “Reitei Lyon, Sorano, and—” Her eyes narrowed on Natsu. “Natsu Dragion.”

 “A-Ah…” He flinched back at the fiery intensity of her gaze, falling back into the driver’s seat. Nightwalker’s officers advanced on the other two while her sights remained on him.

 “Don’t try to run. There’s no corner of Edolas you can run to now.” Her boots kicked up dust as she walked towards him, purposefully but at a moderate pace, knowing she had him on lock. He stared with wide eyes and his heart feeling like it would jump out any second. “Your street racing has reached its climax.”

 Street racing. Street racing. Despite himself, relief flooded his veins and he put up no fight as she cuffed him. She mentioned his car would be impounded and the cost of bail, but it was small change. His most serious offense had yet to come collect, and he was relieved. After all, what would Lucy think of him knowing he killed his own father?